We had a very, nice Thanksgiving out here. Donna's BFF, Fran, is visting so the three of us had a great dinner, that Donna really went out of way to cook. Fran was good enough to bring us some Italian bread & pastries, which we're still enjoying.

On the positive front, the specialist has told me that I DO NOT have glaucoma, but will have to have my eyes checked again since I do have cataracts beginning in both eyes. My mother had them, as did her mom, so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm still awaiting the results of a stress test of my heart, which I'm hoping will show good news as well.

Donna will be going in on Dec. 8th for a thyroidectomy. I'll be taking the day off to be with her that day, but she may have to stay in for up to two days. We have our fingers crossed that all will go well.

Like most folks, we have been watching the ongoing drama in Mumbai the past few days. Interesting to find out who may have been behind it, with the Indian press & public believing it to be 'official' sanctioned by the Pakistani government, despite their denials. Naturally, with the crisis still going and little actual information it didn't take long for U.S. "terrorism experts" to announce that it was obviously the work of Al Qaeda or of individuals with ties to them. I saw one such 'expert' who looked barely old enough to be in grad school. How do you get that kind of gig? Shouldn't you have done something besides attend a few classes taught by somebody else who never did anything of note?

Sorry, this sort of thing just pisses me off. Of course, it's all because of Obama anyway!

We're still working with my blogs filtered here at work, but for some odd reason they are not during the weekends.

Have a busy month ahead of us out here. We're going to be watching somebody's cat for a week around Thanksgiving and Donna's BFF, Fran, will be coming out to stay with us for a few days. Saying much about either will just get me in trouble, so I'll leave it at that. :-)

Don't have much to say about it, but Donna will be having some surgery in early December. You never know about things like that, as it depends on other tests and how her general health will be at that time. I'll keep you all updated and appreciate the nice, e-mails folks have sent asking about her.

Unfortunately, the fire season seems to be off to a start, with hundreds of acres and dozens of homes already burned. Odd that one of the big fires up Santa Barbara way happened the very, day after the state-wide disaster drill. We are all hoping that we won't see a repeat of last year's dozens of fires, which cost billions that we certainly don't have.

I'm currently taking part in an online class on legal research for librarians. Pretty interesting stuff! Not sure now much use I will get from it in my daily work, but it's good to know that I'll have a list of great sites & resources if I do.

That seems to be it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Alone - Veteran Support - IAVA

I wanted to share this with you, if you haven't had the chance to see it yet. I believe it was on the Rachel Maddow program that I first saw it. Then a link was sent via the IAVA newsletter, to which I subscribe.

Donna and I both had doctors appointments on Tuesday, so we didn't have the opportunity to attend any Veteran's Day events. I did watch some of the ceremonies on television.

Donna is doing a bit better, with her foot healing. It looks as if she may be taking a leave of absence from work, so that she can take care of some other health issues. That includes a possible surgery in early December. I'll have more on that when I know more.

Still miss reading and posting on Blogger, but it's still blocked on my office computer. Posting these videos gives me a chance to sort of work around that.

For the next two days, here in SoCal there will be a disaster drill taking place, called the Big Shakeout. All city agencies and many state departments will be taking part in a simulated response to a massive quake. You'll probably see something about it on some of the national news shows.

Take care! I'm thinking of you all.

No on 8 PSA: CONSTITUTION

Donna and I spent a couple of hours yesterday holding up signs and waving to traffic in Mission Viejo. Along with The Child and dozens of other folks we were hoping to bring attention to Prop. 8 here in California.

No on 8! Equality for all!!

Think about the issues and the candidates you are going to support. If you haven't already please get out tomorrow and vote!

It actually does, no matter what some in the Blogosphere would have you believe. Is the Democratic candidate my first choice of those who initially ran? No, he actually came in fourth, but he was the best choice I had by the time the primaries came around to California. I've grown to have more respect for Obama and certainly feel that he will actually try to make things a little better for the average American.

The McCain campaign has been going downhill from the beginning. Any respect I had for the Old Man is completely gone at this point. The Palin choice certainly didn't help matters in my mind, or apparently in the mind of a great number of his fellow Republicans.

Wow, I can't ever remember so many people publically declaring themselves for the candidate of the other party. Sure, you'd get somebody like Zell Miller (back in 2004) or Joe Lieberman (this year), who unhappy with the Democratic nominee would turncoat and speak before the Republican Convention. This year, especially in the past month, it seems that every news cycle has another well known conservative/Republican politician coming out for Obama.

In case you're wondering, the new filter system at the library appears to allow me to post only on weekends. Don't ask why? I'll continue to try and get here during the week, either by posting videos with commentary or jump on a public terminal during lunch. Still unsure if I want to create a seperate website or see if another posting service can get around the filter.

Anyway, have a nice weekend and be sure to vote this Tuesday, if you haven't already!