*OK seriously, I don’t want to talk about it, but I just have to say that these hypocritical assholes who are using this Park 51 community center (aka the not-actually-at-Ground-Zero, not-actually-a-mosque, “Ground Zero Mosque”) as the new wedge issue to drive the rednecks crazy need to stop it. Are these yahoos out of their fucking minds? Don’t we have enough hate in this country? Hasn’t the Bill of Rights been trampled on enough over the last decade? Sheesh.

So, um, where was I? Oh yeah, reading. Yeah I’ve been reading a lot, and I think it’s all because of my Kindle. Having that thing makes is so ridiculously easy to take books with me wherever. And I’ve also learned to love the Kindle apps for iPhone, PC, and Mac. With them, I’m able to keep my library completely synced and read whatever I want, pretty much wherever I want. BIG WIN, Amazon. You rock.

Here’s all the fantastic things I’ve read this summer on my Kindle:

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta: interesting read, although I did not like the [spoiler] abrupt ending. Great character development though.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson: whoa, this took FOREVER to get going, but once it did I couldn’t put it down. Read lots of it on a road trip to West Virginia, making the trip that much more surreal. I’ve got some more Stephenson lurking in my library, and I’ll be starting on it this fall for sure.

Blockade Billy by Stephen King: you’d probably get more out of this than I did if you’re a baseball fan. I don’t mind baseball, but I’m not obsessed with it. That said, I still enjoyed this yarn. Typical King – there’s a twist that you can sort of see coming for pages and pages before it happens, but when it does you still kind of go “OMGWTF!!”

Dead and Gone and Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris: oh these horrible, trashy, poorly written, incredibly entertaining Sookie Stackhouse novels. I wish I could quit  you!

The Descent by Jeff Long: this was a re-read. I read it first several years ago, loved it then, loved it this time too. That movie “The Descent” is loosely based on the basic concept of this book, but if you ask me, the book is so much better. Especially enjoyable if, like me, you’re fascinated by hidden places and cities buried deep underground, the kind of stuff just strewn all over H.P. Lovecraft.

Fly Away Home: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner: Jen has been in the news a bit recently because she, along with Jodi Picoult, had the nerve to suggest that maybe the New York Times’ fawning coverage of heavy tomes by white male literary darlings wasn’t serving their dwindling readership all that well. I love Jen’s books. This wasn’t my favorite, but it was still pretty darn good.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/The Girl Who Played With Fire/The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson: who hasn’t read at least the first of these by now? I was late to the party but I really enjoyed them a lot. After reading the first book, I watched the Swedish  movie on Netflix streaming. It was great! Why does Hollywood need to remake this? Anyway, all three of these books were real page-turners – even the long section on shopping at Ikea (really!).

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: I guess technically this is supposed to be young adult fiction? Doesn’t matter, I loved it. I had it sitting in my Kindle for months before I finally got around to cracking it open and I have to say I wish I’d read it sooner.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells: one of the many books that are now public domain and available in e-format for free. I’d never read this classic, though of course I had seen both the 1960 and 2002 film versions. Guess what? It was much better than either film. That Wells, he knew what he was doing.

And that’s just in the last few months! I’ve recently started reading another classic (free) e-book, Dracula by Bram Stoker. I have read it before, but it’s been years. I’m enjoying reading it again. I also have King’s The Stand queued up for a re-read; I re-read it every few years or so but this will be the first time I’ve read it in digital format. The version I bought for my Kindle supposedly includes those wonderful illustrations that appear in the unabridged hardback, and I’m really looking forward to reading it again.

I read some dismissive comment about e-books last week (was it Roger Ebert? I don’t want to believe that, but it might have been) making reference to the fact that you can’t see what people are reading when they’re reading on their Kindles, which deprives you of the opportunity of knowing other people’s business, I suppose, and then deciding based on their reading taste if you maybe want to harass them on the Metro or something. WHATEVER, OLDS! Personally, I love the fact that nobody can see what I’m reading. If I want people to know what I’m reading, I’ll write a blog post about it (like this), or Tweet about it, or post on Facebook about it. I don’t feel the need to make an ostentatious display to people on public transportation that I’m reading War and Peace, or try to hide the fact that I’m re-reading that last Harry Potter book AGAIN.

Also, a Kindle is so versatile and just works for my lifestyle so well. In combination with the Kindle app on the platforms I mentioned above, it’s perfect for me. Also – saving me money, because if I didn’t have one I probably would have bought an iPad.

Thanks again, Amazon!

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start in earnest now. Maybe tomorrow. In the mean time, I leave you with this. Kisses!

Bean’s doctor called me last Friday to let me know the results, and they were a mixed bag. On the positive side, there were no arrhythmia’s of any kind. But the bad news is, the evidence of an accessory pathway did show up intermittently. In other words, she does still have WPW, although the intermittent nature of its appearance on the monitor means that the accessory pathway is most likely weakening. It might still go away on its own, someday.

Needless to say, at first I was pretty bummed. However, the doctor was optimistic. First, since she stopped taking heart medication three years ago, Veronica has never had any episodes of SVT or other arrhythmia. Second, as mentioned, the intermittent nature of the evidence of the pathway means that it’s probably weakening. He felt that all we needed to do was continue as before, and have her come back again to be checked out next summer. Further, he didn’t think that surgery was necessarily indicated next summer, even if the WPW is still present. He actually said that if the condition is still present when she’s a teenager, at that time we might consider the ablation that we had previously discussed with other doctors in the practice.

So overall, the prognosis is good. While I was a bit depressed and let down at first, on further reflection I’m actually feeling pretty positive about this. Honestly, every day that Veronica is alive is really a gift. I know that sounds ridiculously melodramatic, but let me just tell you…after you’ve stood in an emergency room hallway, watching eight people surround your three-week-old baby on a giant bed, trying desperately to find a vein where they can insert an IV to give her medication to slow down her heart, beating a wild 300 or so beats a minute; after you’ve watched in horror and disbelief as paddles are applied and her little body jerks wildly as they try to re-start her heart, which they finally slowed so much it stopped; after you’ve seen your baby strapped to a cart and attached to many machines rolled down the hall away from you to a waiting helicopter that you can’t ride in, to go to the regional children’s medical center; well… After all of those things and more, when you see that same little girl at four years old, happy and healthy and funny and creative, it really does seem like every day with her is a blessing.

Therefore, if we need to take Veronica to the cardiologist once a year until she’s 18, or have a Holter monitor every year, or even give her medication again at some point, I’m not going to complain. I’m just glad she’s healthy, and that at least she doesn’t remember any of those horrible things that I’ll always remember.

That made me laugh really hard, because I was raised Catholic, and it seriously warped me. OK, that’s not the REAL reason. I mean, yes, I was raised Catholic, and it did warp me just a little bit. But the reason I laughed was because this was the kind of question I used to drive the teachers crazy with in CCD.¹

In fact, I remember once asking specifically what would happen if a person took Communion, and then vomited. Our entire class was both horrified and fascinated by the teacher’s colorful description of how a priest would have to (SKIP THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE A WEAK GAG REFLEX OR ARE VERY SQUEAMISH) pick through the vomit, find what was left of the communion wafer, and then have it buried in consecrated ground.

OMG, y’all. That is some seriously spooky stuff right there.²

¹CCD, for those who don’t know, is religious education that all Catholic children who don’t attend Catholic schools are supposed to get every week until they graduate from high school. Ours was every Tuesday night, and afterward we had pizza for dinner and would watch “Happy Days” and “Laverne and Shirley.” The classes were boring, usually. Except for that night when I asked about the throwing up thing.

²No idea if it’s true, actually. Wikipedia was not helpful on this subject. I always thought it sounded a little bit too dramatic to be real.

1. I was in the middle of laundry (washer AND dryer full, in mid-cycle)
2. Fridge full of food will most likely spoil (and probably some stuff in freezer too)
3. Hard to explain to Bean why she can’t watch TV on ANY TV
4. Missed season premier of Mad Men
5. HOT HOT HOT OMG NO SLEEP SO HOT
6. Dressing in the dark
7. Wet hair (thank God my hair is so short)

Wow, I really take electricity for granted. Our power company (who suck, by the way) are now estimating the power will be back on by 5pm today. About 27 hours without power, if they are correct. I have no faith in their estimate – yesterday, their recording (you aren’t allowed to talk to a real person when your power is out, apparently) kept saying power would be restored by 10pm, an hour which obviously came and went without power.

The most frustrating part of this may be the fact that while our entire side of the subdivision was powerless, right across the road the other side DID have power. I’m happy for those people (I guess?) but damn…

I’m doing research today on what to keep and what to throw out when your refrigerator has been off for 24 hours or more. Here’s a semi-helpful article from the USDA. Unfortunately, it seems to be geared towards people who have some hint they’re going to be without power. In our case, it was a complete surprise – the storm came out of nowhere. And even when we’ve lost power before, it’s never been for more than four to six hours. Live and learn, I guess.

This time: Internet radio services. Our contenders are Sirius Internet Radio and Pandora One.

I am a Sirius subscriber, and have been for several years. I used to use a portable device in my old car, and then when I got my xB, I upgraded to the integrated Sirius tuner. I like Sirius a lot – though I originally subscribed so I could keep listening to Howard Stern, as time goes on, I listen to him less and less and instead find myself listening to the music and the NPR stations. The only drawbacks to regular Sirius satellite radio service are the fact that you lose the signal when you go under bridges, tunnels, etc.; and the fact that it keeps getting more and more expensive every year. Case in point: the Internet streaming service. It used to be included with subscription plans for the satellite service, but now if I want to listen to Sirius on my computer, I have to add it to my subscription, for $2.99 a month.

Now, I might have seriously considered doing that and not looking back, but I already sprung for a Pandora One subscription for $36 annually. Pandora does have a free service, which I recommend very strongly if you’re looking for a way to listen to high-quality music online for free. Pandora One offers some enhancements and actually I’m on my second year of it, and I do like it quite a bit. Still, I went ahead and used a free seven-day trial of the Sirius Internet Radio service, in order to contrast and compare. Was I making the right choice with Pandora, or should I switch to Sirius?

After trying out the Sirius service and analyzing both products, I came up with this little list of pros and cons:

So, in case you can’t tell from my table, I’ve decided after listening to both, that I’m happy with Pandora One, and I won’t be adding Internet radio to my Sirius subscription. In fact, as far as Sirius goes, I do love it but…dang, it is getting SO expensive. Next Spring, when my subscription comes up for renewal again, I may just bite the bullet and cancel. I’m starting to think I can manage to live without it. But Pandora, well, I love it. Totally worth $36 a year.

And that’s this vs. that!

I was pretty happy when the doctor looked at her EKG and told us that he sees no evidence of WPW anymore. He mentioned a slight heart murmur, which is apparently normal for her age and nothing to be concerned about. He listened to her heart via stethoscope for a long time, then they ran an electrocardiogram, just to be sure. Everything looked good. My baby is cured!!

They still want her to endure a Holter monitor, just for thoroughness. I suppose I shouldn’t fault them for that, but try explaining to an active four-year-old why she has to wear all those stickers and some device for 24 hours (along with pulling off the very sticky leads later). Not fun. So we go back in a week and a half to get that. Then we just have to follow up every two years or so.

And THAT news is good for MY heart.