Evil

I am feeling tremendously michevious and entirely evil right now. In
just a little bit, lower down in this post, I shall tell you things
that have the potential to ruin your enjoyment of life in the near
future, to take away the adventure in store and to squish it. Likewise,
the mystery of what awaits might just satisfy and please you. Yes,
reading on to the parts below is a gamble- a risk that could result in
ruin for you, or joy, or simply nothing particular at all. Is it a risk
you will take? Muahahaha. Dare you try? I warn you, most who dare will
regret it. Many will weep and wail, some will gnash their teeth in
anger at me for my pure execrebility! Read on, my poor reader, only if
you dare. YOU have been warned! Better to turn back now than risk this
grave risk, this potentially fatal error- only read on if you are
willing to take this risk! You have been warned, so do not complain to
me when your very existance is ruined!

--------

Almost there....

-----------
Cedric Digory dies, Mad Eye Moody is actually an evil death eater out
to set up and kill Harry, and Voldemort returns at the end of the
movie!!!!

YES, my evil has been done- that is what happens in Harry Potter's most
recent movie. Of course, if you've read the book you know this already,
BUT if you haven't... that is the crux of some of the plot mysteries.
Nope, nope, you cannot complain if you were foolish enough to read
this! I DID warn you it was evil! Ha ha haaa. The movie is not much
different than the book, however, except it is simply a visualization
(unlike the last one, for example) of the book- simply more compressed.
It is not as good as the last movie, BUT for the movies so far this
year it is a VERY good movie and worth seeing. They take out some of
the elements that add depth though- in the end hedge maze, for example,
there are no real in depth encounters except for battles with evil
hedge roots sadly. Some very powerful emotional parts though- at least
they focus well on those important ones. And a GREAT villain is born
with Voldemort!

So, now that I may or may not have brought ruin upon you- I have
released my evil tendencies for the evening. And remember, I DID warn
you... those of you who tempted fate by risking it who are upset, best
go let it out elsewhere. Those who don't care, or even like knowing...
or already knew... well, at least I got my own thrills.

Until next time!

-Patrick

On the same page- Conor’s Birth

In order to get everyone on the same page,
it’s about time I sat down and gave a brief (I’ve explained it enough I don’t
have tiiime for the long version, and I’d bore everyone anyway!) run-down of
the birth. There’s a LOT that happened! The end result is a healthy baby boy-
with a little jaundice, which is normal- and a somewhat tired Katrina. But how
we got from point A to point G is a bit more complex! This way you all (and
anyone else who wants to know what happened) can read it here and future
conversations can all start off from the same page!

Pre-Labour

I mentioned in a previous post the Easter
Lilly Story- you can go back and take a look if you like. Here’s how it
happened. Monday night Kat didn’t get more than a few hours sleep, and that
more in the early morning. I got a LONG nine hour sleep, and woke up on my own
around when her alarm for work went off- about 7 AM EST. About this time, when
she woke up, she began having a different feel to her normal braxton-hicks contractions-
or “practice contractions” if you will. Instead of a specific cramping feeling,
it was more like the broad kind a woman gets around her period- it started
mainly on one side and later spread to the other, starting in her back and
going to the pubic area. From this point on, Katrina never really let herself
believe this was the “real thing”- no matter how much convincing it took. It
was not until her water broke, and she stated this, that she would really feel
“this was it”.

Meanwhile, Mom has an Easter Lilly that
belonged to Kat in college. It was almost dead, but she nursed it back to
health over the last few years, and it bloomed already earlier this year. It
was outside, and so it shouldn’t bloom again- but one single bud came up, and
Mom was certain that it WOULD bloom when Conor was being born. That morning,
ten minutes before I snuck a call to her, Mom (who looks at it every morning,
so knew it hadn’t bloomed the morning before) looked and saw that it had
bloomed for the first time. She was going to call and tell me- but I got her
first. Before she could say anything, I told her… labour had started! She
responded, “I knew it… you may not believe me, but the lily bloomed this
morning.” I made her promise not to tell ANYONE but Colleen, and later I agreed
Dad could know- so she sucked it up, and when her good friend and neighbour
called she said “No, I was wrong” when asked about the lily- even let Anna
laugh at it. I’m sure Mom got the last laugh, though.

Kat stayed in pre-labour overnight, and the
next day- Wednesday- I called our Bradley (natural birth method, you can google
it) instructor, Janalee, who is a dear friend and has guided us a lot. She felt
that we should just go on with life, not focus on the pre-labour, but she had a
feeling this would be a long labour and this very well could be it. Conor was
officially due on November 25, but based on Kat’s chart of her period he was
due on the 18. However, labour started on November eighth! If she could eat,
drink, and function well- getting the rest and nourishment she needed- then we
should let it play out. However, Kat had NOT gotten a solid sleep at all since
Sunday night- the fact she got a poor sleep Monday night was just really bad
luck, it seems, and made things worse. We decided Wednesday that we would call
the midwifes and move our Friday visit up. If they wouldn’t do that, then we
would just come in to the emergency room like we would if she were in full
labour (full first stage, contractions 5 minutes apart, etc). They got us an appointment…
ironically, with the ONLY midwife of five midwifes that we had NEVER met with
up until this point. It was frustrating- we didn’t know her, and she didn’t
really know us or understand our desires yet- so it made communication
difficult in the middle of things.

To Induce, or Not to Induce

Katrina wanted to be induced by this point,
and Janalee had said she wouldn’t blame us at all by this point. We wanted a
natural birth- and if Kat could have gone on, it probably would have been about
Thursday or Friday at the earliest before her body moved on to full labour on
its own. However, Katrina was wearing down, and by that point she would have
had serious trouble with exhaustion. She wasn’t favourable for induction- and
while she was 38 ½ weeks along, due to the fact her original blood test put
Conor a week younger she was 37 ½ weeks old. The midwife, since she felt Kat
had motive, would not believe her- and said that even if the baby were
favourable for induction, she could not induce her at 37 weeks. She was going
to let her go, but… she couldn’t get the baby’s active heart-rate to get up
quite as high as she wanted. It wasn’t BAD, but it didn’t meet their “official
criteria”. So she had an ultra-sound done to check. The woman who did it said,
very clearly, “This is probably an eight pound baby! There’s no way he is just
37 weeks.” She rated it a 4- I’m not sure what that means, but apparently it
was a 4/8, and that was enough to get us to suddenly be sent to the labour and
delivery. Our new midwife apologized for the mistake- that he was indeed 38 ½
weeks due to his size- and said she would induce Katrina.

After this, everything went awry- at least,
for us. We’d planned around a natural birth, and we were trained to watch the
body for signs… but these signs and stage are based around a body delivering
WITHOUT unnatural conditions or drugs. The two induction drugs they gave her-
the first one, sydotec (sp) was used off-label, to induce but also mostly to
thin out her cervix, since she was only about 20% effaced. The next morning we
started a pit (I forget the full name, something like pitosin) drip IV, which
would push her forward slowly into full labour. The draw-back was there was no
break- breaks her body would normally have given her. Since most women induced
use pain medication, Kat was going at this behind from the start. Wednesday
night was a long, hard night with no sleep from Kat. She went from light
labour, to very uncomfortable labour by morning on Thursday. By Thursday
afternoon she was in hard, painful labour. I was ready to hear, based on her
body signs and the pain- and the fact she was begging for an epidural- that she
was in transition, and soon she would move on to second stage, and get some
relief. But that is how it would happen naturally- this was with drugs.

So we were informed late afternoon that Kat’s
cervix was 90% effaced… but… she was dilated only 1.5 out of 10. This was just
the start of some of the heavier labour, and it could go another day at least.
Kat and I had agreed ahead of time that we would not use pain medication, and
to avoid the fact she would beg for it when transition came- it’s very common,
even in natural birth- we agreed that it would NOT happen unless I agreed to
it. Oh, and that morning our midwife had changed to one we knew- the one we
both liked and wanted- Terri! Kat also liked Linda Ballist, who… by God’s
grace… ended up being the one who took over her delivery about an hour before
she gave birth! But I’m getting ahead.

(To be continued... since nobody likes a nine page entry, and that's how long this story is...)

Conor Gets some Sun

That pesky jaundice needs to be dealt with, so Conor and the gang went outside Tuesday to get a tan.

He was so warm, he slept and slept- for the first time since we came
home, he even slept through his normal three hour breastfeeding time
all the way up until after five hours! We're not supposed to let it go
to six, but since he is very punctual all the time, we knew this once
wouldn't be a problem- plus, let the baby sleep when you can! And
remember, click on these to enlarge!

Before...

After!

Katrina has been in pre-labour and then early labour (the two are VERY
close, so you can't always tell what is what) for twenty nine hours
now. It's quite a story, one I don't really have the energy to go into
right now. Not much point, anyway, since I won't be making this public
until AFTER it is all over! Why? Well, Kat really does not want a lot
of people knowing she is in labour until after she gives birth- she
would not even have told any of our family unless my Mom had called. I
support her in this decision, as well. So I will journal as I can, and
later I will share these entries. Her labour has continually gotten
stronger and progressed, without going over into full first stage
active labour- at which point, after a few hours and thought, we will
call the hospital and prepare to go. Obviously it is still early since
she is in the putsy-putsy stage, and it could go on for a while. We'll
wait and see.

-Patrick

My Mom has kept Katrina's lilly, back from her college days- it was a
dying plant, barely alive when she finally gave it to my Mom. Mom has
nourished it, and it's grown into a lush green plant. Yet it has not
bloomed yet. Now, completely out of season- especially since it is
staying outside, not inside- it has a single bloom. And today, this
morning, my Mom saw the bloom open for the first time.

-Patrick

It's "I LOVE MY SISTER" DAY!

Aaaaaaand...

I LOVE MY SISTER!

Yes, on November 2nd beginning in the year 2005, the annual "I love my
sister" day has begun- a day you can tell your sister (either your real
sister, or someone you consider one!) how much you appreciate them and
brag about them to others! Have you told your sister(s) what she means
to you today? Have you told lots of others? Well, do so now!

Just a random idea, really. My sister chattered with me by email twice
yesterday, and the second time even send over a nicely written section
developing the characters on our series of books. Yes, we figured since
Colleen and I both love to write- and we both have contrasting
strengths- we should combine them and form the dream team! We've been
doing preliminary work for some time now, and then we'll begin writing
the actual "stuff". We're not stupid- we're not writing to be
published. We won't post it online just incase it could happen- posting
something online pretty much is suicide for whatever you post, in terms
of publishing it ever. So we'll write it out, and share it with family
and friends as we go along. It will be particularly nice that, when I
first begin reading stories to my baby boy, I can start with a story I
wrote. Oh, I'll make them up too- but it will be quite fun to get to
read books I've written myself with Colleen. In addition- I've always
found that two heads ARE better than one in writing. And Colleen and I
are about as compatible as it is possible to get when it comes to
writing anything. Kat and I haven't tried, and we might even do well,
but there is just something that can't quite be matched. Colleen and I
trained ourselves to think alike over the years- we just work.

When I see a movie I love- often times Kat probably wouldn't always
like it, at least as much, but I almost ALWAYS think "Wow, wait 'till
Colleen hears about this!" It's a lot more common that Colleen likes
what I enjoy. It's the same the other way, too- usually Colleen will
bring something to me, and right away I'm into it. Books, movies...
even parts of them. We both knew right away what parts the other would
enjoy in the Star Wars prequels.

I think good books occur when someone writes them for the love of it-
AND with an eye to creating a work of art, willing to let others
influence and shape it with them, as well as putting in effort and
time. The goal isn't to "get published" or popular- the goal is to
create, and enjoy it. That way, even if it isn't a success
(publically), there is always more to do- and that might be a popular
success to. And that way, it is ALWAYS a success to you- the creator of
the work. Plus, writing with someone else is always- for me- a fun
experience. The characters come alive, and even YOU don't always know
what will happen next! It's an interactive book, and you help steer it.

-Patrick

Even Spammers Have Sundays

Yes, it seems that even Spammers take Sundays off. I wonder if any
of them actually go to Church? I get such a HUGE load of spam in the
week- even on Saturdays- but on Sundays, suddenly I only get maybe two
spam messages. How hilarious! Obviously, Sundays are a spammer holiday.
Perhaps some illegal/questionable (ie-
they are technically just within the law, but they manipulate and
deceptively are so) spammers view their work somewhat like many
Christians (particularly a lot of folks I've known at CIU- including
myself until recently) view speeding. Yes, the LAW says we are to stay
within the speed limit. Everyone goes at least five miles over usually-
in fact, they made the speed limit 65 near Columbia but lowered it to
60, just because everyone was going 70 and now they feel more people
will go the ACTUAL speed limit desired which is 65. Lots of people go
far more than 5 over. I went 5 over on average myself, 10 over in the
60 zone since I knew what they were "up to". But recently, with the
sudden energy crisis around the hurricanes, I finally made the decision
to go the speed limit or below unless there was an emergency. I can
admit I didn't do it for grand moral reasons regarding the law- rather,
I did it because it was a way to help those in need, a way to help
conserve the fuel our country needs, and also a necessary way to try to
keep the VERY high gas bills down for my parents (who are, lovingly,
letting me use a card they pay for, for my gas. We'd be struggling a
lot without that help).

So, I wonder if spammers view it the same way? Just like people are
speeding, and it really is safe if you don't go too fast- people expect
it- it's not hurting anyone if your careful... etc, etc. Maybe spammers
think the same way? "Oh, everyone sends out spam. It isn't hurting
anyone. They can just delete it. I don't send out harmful virus' or
anything, so I'm not hurting anyone." They put this little link on the
bottom, to supposedly allow us to voluntarily remove ourselves. But
anti-spam organization tell you not to click them anymore- why? Because
some of those links, entering your email just causes you to get MORE
spam! Some, lead to dead ends that don't work. It's just there to make
it LOOK legal. Others work- but if you get 20 junk email a day, who in
their right mind will waste 10-15 minutes a day just to delete JUNK in
the hopes it MIGHT not come back? When it always does. Hotmail is the
best- because you can instantly send it all to be reported, and it
works. Hotmail gets less spam now than my primary email does.

I suppose spam, in the end, doesn't hurt anyway- with some
exceptions. For example, I've been getting, almost regularly, paypal
emails- that is, they pretend to be paypal wanting my information, but
are actually seeking for me to mistakingly enter my information so they
can steal it and use it. Whenever you get emails from a company
requesting PERSONAL information- especially financial- ALWAYS go to the
company's website (do NOT click on the link the EMAIL gives you- go to
where you know the website always is, like www.paypal.com, or
www.ebay.com. Try looking at their fraud area if they have one, and if
not, try to find out seperately from the email). Company's RARELY
"loose" your information, or need you to re-enter it. Which means you
should always be suspicious if you get an email- even an official
looking one- asking. It's called identity theft, so be careful.

I don't like Spammers

I don't like spammers, though. One or two, I could tolerate- and I'm
sure THEY think that way. But I get loads. Why? Because organizations
SELL emails- and those organizations SELL them again. So more and more
spammers get my email. One tip- NEVER read the spam except to identify
it. And NEVER go to their sites. Also- spam has an evil side to it.
SPAM is how minors get ahold of pornography- even if it is only a
"preview" and they have to lie to get in. Come on, what 13 year old boy
isn't willing to say they are 21 if it only means clicking "YES, I AM
21- and wanna see great free XXXXX content duuuude". And many other
men- and women too- get constantly barraged with this.

I think it gives me a different view of speeding too- which I still do,
by the way, just not as much now. I'm just as wrong for it, and I'm
working on it. Spamming is fine in small amounts- but it NEVER is
small. And you notice that speeding is RARELY something only one or two
cars do. Really, I think that going 5 or even 10 miles above the speed
limit on a freeway is often safe- BUT the law says "no". And if
everyone went the speed limit, they'd probably RAISE it- so we get
punished for it. They lower the speed limit in places because more and
more accidents happen. Does that fix the problem? Not really- bad
drivers are bad drivers, accidents still happen, and TV's in cars and
cell phones still distract (not that I want cell phones outlawed for
drivers, as they are in France). But as a Christian, I've never been
able to deny truth.

Truth

When something is clearly wrong, it's wrong. I don't rationalise. If I
get pulled over by a police officer for speeding- I'll admit clear and
honestly, "Yes, I was speeding, and I deserve a ticket for it." And I
realise that, since God has told us to submit to the authority of our
governments (unless it contradicts His laws) and leaders, that I am
putting myself in a position to be in sin whenever I speed. For a long
time I just did it and set it aside- but I knew that eventually God
wouldn't let me just "set it aside" anymore. I doubt many people (if
any at all) reading this now don't speed regularly. It's something
that, if you are a believer in Christ, God will eventually deal with
you on- God never tolerates sin, and as he makes us more like Jesus he
convicts us of it. It'd be interesting, you know, if I could stop every
car going to CIU that speeds and interview them- ask them how they feel
about speeding, and if breaking the law that way contradicts their
beliefs at all.

I would have said, were it me, "Yes, it does. I'm breaking the law, and
I'm contradicting God- it's a sin in my life, and I've put it on the
backburner just because so many others do. Is it right? No, never. But
I'll need God's strength to actually deal with it."

-Patrick

What you mean?

My attention got caught my a new rising band called "The Like", and the
lyrics to their main song I thought were very interesting. I enjoyed
the song, but it was not until last night that I realised what the main
chorus was saying- and I went and found the lyrics. After all, the song
is titled "What I say and What I mean"

Never going back and forth

I'm only going forward

That's what I keep saying

Never going back and forth

I'm only going back

It's what I mean

Isn't that an interesting and insightful chorus? It's a good song in
general (you can hear it for free in their homepage, just google "The
Like") but the chorus is rather intriguing when you read it.

-Patrick