Molly and I went to the state fair today. We had a solid plan AND WE STUCK TO IT. This plan optimized our ability to stuff as much junk food as possible into our gullets without getting sick, which is pretty much our favorite thing to do during the fair ;)

 

We started the day off with a caramel pecan roll and hot tea at Bunni's outside of the sheep and poultry barn. After we finished that, we saw the rabbits being judged inside the barn. Some of those rabbits are so damned cute!! I used to have a giant lop-eared rabbit named Benjamin Bunny when I was a kid. My mom litter-boxed trained him and he even got along with our cat. We thought the light-brown mini-rex rabbits were incredibly adorable.

 

The only other non-food events we were interested in were the fine arts show and the bee hive demonstration at the horticulture building, so we ate our way around to those, then back to the south exit. We were only there for about four hours, but we managed to get in a lot of eating. At the food barn we had: cheese curds, a caramel apple sundae, scallops on-a-stick, a funnel cake, and deep-fried mashed potatoes on-a-stick. The potatoes were just like the ones we used to get at a fun little restaurant by our apartment in Chiang Mai, EXCEPT NOT NEARLY AS GOOD!

 

Outside of the food barn we had: a key lime pie bar on-a-stick, a lemonade, a root beer float, and a glass of milk. Over by the giant slide we got some deep-fried Oreos, and I had deep-friend peanut butter cups on-a-stick. These were not very good, and were EXTREMELY heavy on our tummies. The batter for deep-fried candy bars seems to have gotten progressively thicker over the last few years, and I don't think I like them as much as I did at first. We had a shaved ice on our way to the art building, and roasted corn-on-the-cob on our way back down to the exit. YUM! We were pleasantly stuffed as we left for the day, and we took a nice long nap when we got home.

YAY! After not preparing well for the first test of the 2nd semester, I buckled down hard and pulled an A-. The next semester starts in two weeks, so I'll be hitting my grammar review sheets and kanji flashcards hard next week.

 

I really liked the White Rabbit Press cards, and a few other students liked them enough to buy them as well. I'm going to order the Volume 2 and Volume 3 flashcard sets since the kanji for the next year are spread all over all four levels. I think that includes all of the daily-use kanji.

 

I'm also writing a simple Japanese dictionary application .NET using custom auto-complete datasources for the form fields to easily lookup words in English or Japanese that appear in the Genki I and II glossaries. MUCH faster than flipping through the book ;)

After not doing as well as usually on my last test, I pulled an all-nighter to study for the one this week. I got the highest score in my class, so I guess it was worth it. Last time I didn't prepare well and didn't have all the vocab memorized, so I bombed the listening comprehension portion and missed points in the translation sections for words I didn't know. I made sure I had all vocab memorized and picked over the Japanese-to-English translation section much more carefully, but ended up losing points by not reading the instructions on Kanji translation :( Only one more lesson test and the final oral interview to go before the end of class! After that I'm starting a couple of small software contracts and hoping to do more Microsoft developer certification before Japanese starts again.

 

-ジェシー

I went to Obento-ya with my Japanese class Friday after school. It won 2008 City Pages Best Japanese Restaurant, so we were all pretty excited to see what it was like. We ordered ahead and there were enough of us to fill their outdoor seating on the back deck (which is very cozy and has a great garden). The food was soooooooo good. I ordered the tempura combo bento, which came with rice, salad, a small scoop of their unique mashed potatoes, some pickles, and some exceptional tempura vegetables. Some of us are going back after our last day of class next Friday, too. I CAN'T WAIT!

 

I took Molly to see the orthopedist on Wednesday, which was great. The doctor ordered a contrast MRI so they can get their eyes on the current nature and extent of her injury, and then we'll talk about surgical options. The doctor only mentioned endoscopy, which is less invasive than anything we've been offered in the past (admittedly it's been ~10 years since Molly talked to a surgeon about the problem). I'm excited to get Molly on the road to recovery!

 

My bike woke up with a flat tire this morning. That was just weird, because I road home on it just fine with no noticeable pressure issues. Molly dropped me at school and I looked at it when I got home. I removed the front wheel and carefully investigated the tube and the tire, but could not fine a leak or any (new) puncture or damage to the tire. I put it back on and re-inflated it and it's fine. Whateva, guess my bike just wanted a day off. When I hung it up in the garage I noticed that I've neglected cleaning the dérailleurs since I started putting 400 miles a month on it. I scraped a considerable amount of goo from the front and rear assemblies, then used the last of my lube on the chain.

 

Because of the flat, I rode the bus home from Obento today, which is something I haven't done in a long time. The ticketing machinery (and fare cost) is considerably different than last time I rode, if that gives any indication to how long it's been.

Last night while Molly was getting ready to use the rowing machine she lost her balance sitting on the sliding chair on the machine while putting on a sock. She fell off the machine and into the basement wall, smacking her bad shoulder hard enough to dislocated it in the process. She's had a rotator cuff injury since she was 16 and has occasionally needed the assistance of the local emergency room to pop it back in place. This time it was really bad. She was in extreme pain and could barely move. I spent about 10 minutes trying to follow her instructions to manipulate it back into place, but it was going nowhere fast and causing extreme pain. She wanted to be left alone for a bit to see if it would pop back into place like it has in the past, but all that happened was she fell over in pain and laid on the floor for 10 more minutes before I got her into the car and over to the emergency room at HealthEast a couple blocks away.

 

After x-rays, Dr. Jackson spent a couple of minutes manipulating the shoulder while Molly generally screamed in agonized pain before she administered morphine to dull the pain and relax her. That had an immediate affect--Molly stopped shaking and seemed to calm down quite a bit. (It should be noted that at no time during our previous visits to emergency rooms for this injury has a doctor administered anything for pain.) Morphine required an IV--which was also a first for Molly--and generated considerable medical waste in the process, but Molly was extremely grateful. Dr. Jackson spent a few more minutes trying to manipulate the shoulder, but that seemed to bring the pain right back in a huge way. She decided on conscious sedation, but her attending came in with a very doubtful look on his face and decided he'd give it a go, too. After a few more minutes of intense pain and screaming, they all agreed that sedation was best.

 

They gave her some white goo through her IV, which knocked her right out. They warned me that Molly would still resist and cry out in pain while they relocated her should, but that she wouldn't remember anything. Two med students stabilized Molly's scapula and upper body while Dr. Jackson relocated the shoulder. The attending and another doctor looked on while this occurred, so it was a very full room. It still took about a minute, but Molly had an immediate personality change--sedated as she was--so it was pretty easy to see it was back in place. They strapped her into a shoulder immobilizer, which is like a really wicked sling that uses velcro straps to lock your arm tightly into one position (Molly says it's way better than a sling, even if it is a PITA to get on and off). X-rays showed the shoulder was definitely back in place, so they removed her IV and sent us home. Hanging out in a full ER until 2AM is definitely not fun, so we were really happy to get out of there.

 

Molly is seeing an ortho specialist tomorrow, and surgery is definitely up for consideration. Five hours in the ER and extreme pain almost the entire time was really hard on Molly, so hopefully she'll finally get this injury take care of properly this time. The HealthEast doctors and nurses were all super friendly and really cool about everything--even though the ER was crazy busy while we were there. I'm off to fill Molly's prescription for pain meds. Thanks Dr. Jackson!

Haven't updated the blog in a while. Been crazy busy with school and other stuff.

 

I was riding home from Concordia the other night when my rear fender came loose and was immediately gobbled up by my rear wheel, bringing me to a screeching halt in the middle of a busy intersection and ejecting one my saddle bags into the street. A stranger in an SUV attempted to scoop my bag from the street about five seconds after it fell off. He seemed angry that I actually wanted it back. Some people. I realized for the first time that my fenders require the only tool I don't keep in my bike bag: a screwdriver. Since I lacked the ability to remove and discard the fender, I had to wait for Molly to give me a ride.

 

My ability to manage my time appropriately is at an all-time low. Molly and I seem more content procrastinating together in the evening than doing anything serious. TAKE THAT, REAL LIFE! After being too casual with my 2nd semester of summer Japanese, I've buckled down again. New class started up at Concordia this week too. Too soon to tell if I like it or not. Trying to finish two books tonight, then I have lots of Concordia and JPN homework.