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Glucose Clamping the Conscious Mouse: A Laboratory Course (September 12 - 16, 2016) Registration is now closed.

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*** Considering the cost for set-up and time required to learn surgical procedures and the discounted price made possible by the MMPC grant from the NIH, it is better in the vast majority of cases to have our experienced staff accommodate your clamping needs. If your mice are impractical to ship or studies have a unique requirement that the Vandy MMPC cannot satisfy, learning to clamp may be the only option. If you fit into this category, consider signing up for this course "Glucose Clamping the Conscious Mouse" which is offered once per year.

Short Course: An Organ Systems Approach to Experimental Targeting of the Metabolic Syndrome

This is an intensive two week experience. The objective of this course is to give students the tools needed to assess whether an experimental intervention alters macronutrient metabolism, energy balance, cardiovascular homestasis or animal behavior. A combination of lectures, hands on laboratories and demonstrations and data problem sessions. More information can be obtained at

Isotope Tracers In Metabolic Research: Principles and Practice of Kinetic Analysis

Theory and practice of isotope tracers to study metabolism in man and animals using mass spectrometry and NMR, including isotopomer analysis for metabolic flux rates. More information can be obtained at

Experimental Techniques in Mouse Kidney Injury Workshop

A five day training course for renal scientists. This is a hands-on workshop designed to teach surgical and phenotyping techniques for commonly used mouse renal injury models. More information can be obtained at


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labyrinthmess: (petra)
[personal profile] labyrinthmess

Title: Gossamer Threads Between Our Hearts
Rating/Genre: PG-13. Fluff/Humour/Romance.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Levi/Petra Rall, Eren Jaeger, with brief mentions of Zoe Hange.
Warnings: Levi's language, but that's a given, I suppose.
It had taken her a while, at first – because Levi, being Levi, was a stubborn little shit, as usual – but she’d found a way to coax him into it eventually.
A/N: A ficlet based on Samiy's cute little doodle, and written while this song was playing in the background.

Normally, he would have given a flat-out no if a greenhorn had had the misfortune to come up with such a ludicrous suggestion.

“Put that congealed jelly you call brains to good use and figure this one out yourself, soldier,” he’d snap, to their utter dismay. “Have they not taught you how to use your maneuver gears for other things besides showing off? What, were you waiting for me to teach you ballet so you could bring Titans to a dance date?”

And normally, the poor rookie soldiers would have quailed and turned tail, squeaking out a flustered S-sorry for bothering you, C-Captain! before scurrying off.

Petra wasn’t a rookie, however. It had taken her a while, at first – because Levi, being Levi, was a stubborn little shit, as usual – but she’d found a way to coax him into it eventually.

Besides, there was also the appalling thought that the offending layer of velvety dust–

“–is now home to a cluster of spiders,” Petra said. She was perched, bird-like, upon a chair for a better peek at the top of the musty old cupboard. “And judging by the amount of dead things hanging off the cobwebs, it seems like they’ve been flourishing.”

“Joy,” Levi deadpanned, a flicker of disgust crossing his features.

“I almost want to call them ‘cute’,” Petra continued, a tiny smile playing at her lips now, “but I guess you probably wouldn’t share that same sentiment about eight-legged, walking dust-balls.”

Levi knew she was only teasing but his rolled his eyes anyway. “You’ve been hanging around Shitty-Glasses too much; you’re starting to sound like her and frankly speaking, that scares me a lot more than a bunch of hairy-ass spiders.”

Petra chuckled lightly. “It’s a lot simpler if we do it this way, sir.”

He knew it was. Of course it was; between the two of them, he was heavier and stronger.

Petra met his gaze, a twinkle of mirth in her eyes. “Besides, it’s not as if I haven’t been on top before.”

“Sir? Are you all right? You’ve got that constipated look about you again–”

Fine, Petra.” Levi let out a defeated sigh. “I’ll lift you and you can clean the top.”

And he did, grudgingly so at first, because she was chuckling at him again. Somewhere out the window, he could hear the thrill of birdsong from the nearby oak tree – a robin tittering sweetly, almost as if it was laughing at him as well.

He lifted her carefully; straightening his back and feeling her legs swing lightly around his neck as she sat balanced upon his shoulders. She reached out to dust away at the dirt and cobwebs, sending the spiders fleeing for their lives.

“You’re heavy,” Levi grumbled, fingers gripped around her ankles to keep her anchored safely. “You should stop snacking in-between meal times,” he added.

“Only when you stop being such a terrible cook,” Petra said sweetly, without missing a beat.

Levi could have sworn she’d swiped the next shower of dust into his face on purpose.

For a heartbeat, the barest of moments, he wondered, Is this what domesticity is like?

And then, Petra was done with her cleaning, and with a careful twist of her body, she climbed off his shoulders, hopping down to stand before him again. She leaned up on the tips of her toes, kissing him lightly on the forehead. “That wasn’t too bad now, was it?”

Levi only shrugged petulantly – because he was both a grumpy old man and an over-aged brat like that – but Petra knew better.

(She always knows)

“You might have upstaged me this once, soldier,” he said, a rare half-grin upon his lips now. He lifted a hand to pluck stray cobwebs off her hair, his fingers trailing gently through orange-gold locks. “This doesn’t mean I’ll go easy with tonight’s sparring session…”

He would have kissed her then, except–

“Hey Petra, are you done with this room yet– hyurkghh,” Eren called, bursting through the door, only to freeze awkwardly in his tracks, blinking stupidly at the two, before realisation finally hit him fast in the gut.

“S-Sorry! I-I didn’t see anything!” Eren wheeled around on his heels, fleeing back to the corridor and slamming the door shut behind him.

“Ah,” Petra said, steepling her fingers together, the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks now.

Levi felt a vein twitch under his left eye.

“… Levi,”

“Levi, put the broom down, you’ll scare the poor boy.”

Outside, flitting in between the rustling oak leaves, the robin continued to sing.

- I just cockblocked my own OTP, didn't I? /lolsobs

- I initially titled this fic as 'cobwebs' but well, the current title sounds more pretentious prettier, soooo yeah.

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labyrinthmess: (akane badassemori)
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Title: a trivial comedy of serious people
Series: Beelzebub
Rating: T
Genre: AU. Humour, Friendship
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Furuichi Takayuki/Oga Tatsumi, Kunieda Aoi, Ōmori Nene, Tanimura Chiaki, Hanazawa Yuka.
Warnings: Oga’s general obtuseness and proclivities for violence.
Summary: Enforcer Oga Tatsumi wasn't known as 'Mad Dog Oga' without reason - impulsive and reckless, he was always ready to jump into the fray, no matter the danger. His attempts to help Inspector Furuichi win a date, however, prove only to be inefficacious. Psycho-Pass AU (aka Daily Life with Inspectors & Enforcers AU).
A/N: For my lovely bro Thebibi, who requested for the prompt 'ogafuru psycho pass au'. Thanks for being the main reason why I picked up reading Beelzebub again thanks also for inadvertently leading me unto the Ogafuru ship THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. This was written at the spur of the moment, so apologies beforehand for any errors or oddly-phrased sentences.

“Hey Kunieda,” Oga greeted, walking to where she stood before the vending machine. “You look extremely… um, hang on…” He spared a quick glance at the flash card hidden in his palm, squinting at the tiny handwritten text, before flashing her the biggest smile he could muster. “You look extremely bright today. Like the stars in the sky right now… even though it's afternoon.. Uh, yeah.”

He ignored the disparaging expression and wild gesticulations Furuichi was making from behind Inspector Kunieda.

“Real smooth, Oga,” Furuichi mouthed from where he stood, disappointment etched clearly over his features.

“A-Ah, Enforcer Oga,” Kunieda said, her voice sounding shriller than usual. Her cheeks were flushed with a hint of colour, her eyes brighter.

(…Had she always worn this much make-up? Oga wondered.)

She beamed at him. “Well, I was thinking about the holidays and plans with my family. I just had an idea of what to buy for Kouta.. Ah - you’ve met him before right, my kid brother?”

“Right,” Oga nodded, recalling the park incident with a smile. “Very cute.”

Excuse me?” Kunieda squeaked, her face flushing a darker shade of pink now, fingers clutching at her blazer a little too quickly.

“Yeah, Kouta. Everybody says he’s cute, right?” Oga said, oblivious to the now crestfallen expression on Kunieda’s face. He did, however, catch the intense murderous glare Furuichi was throwing his way - Oga could feel the air crackling with the static of telepathic banter hurling back and forth between them.

O-oii, stop flirting with her! You’re supposed to be my wingman here!

Shut up, idiot. I’m working on it.

Oga coughed awkwardly into his fist and straightened his tie.

“Anyway, speaking about holidays… You heard about the office dinner party?”

“Y-Yes?” Kunieda’s voice definitely rose a notch higher this time.

(Is she okay? Maybe she’s caught a cold?)

“Would you like to go wi–”

“–a d-date with you?!”

“–with Inspector Furuichi?”

Kunieda blinked.

And then blinked again.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT.” The new voice rang out sharply from across the hallway, followed by approaching footsteps. Oga glanced over his shoulder to see the rest of Division 2 – Kunieda’s unit, the Red Tails – making their way towards them.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but Inspector Kunieda already has a date,” Inspector Ōmori Nene said coldly and promptly placed herself between Oga and Kunieda.

Beside her, Enforcers Tanimura Chiaki and Hanazawa Yuka nodded fervently in agreement.

“Yeah, Aoi nee-san is attending the dinner with us Red Tails!” Hanazawa chirped, bouncing back and forth on her toes in excitement.

“And who would want to go on a date with Inspector Creepichi, anyway?” Tanimura added, shooting a dirty look at Furuichi.

“Since when did insults become a Psycho-Hazard as well? Ack…!” Furuichi coughed, spitting blood into his sleeve, feeling a sudden heaviness creep upon his shoulders as his Hue began to turn a shade darker.

“Come on, Aoi nee-san.” Ōmori tugged at her arm. “The cafeteria is serving your favourite curry lunch set. Let’s go grab some before they run out!”

“A-ah, but I’m not very hungry..,” Despite her meek protests, Kunieda was promptly shepherded away by her devoted colleagues.

The men watched silently as Division 2 disappeared down the hallway.

Oga let out a resigned sigh. “Well, that totally backfired.”

Furuichi groaned, throwing up his hands in a show of despair. “It’s no use. We’ll never find anyone to attend the dinner with and I’ll never find a girlfriend again for Christmas. My life is ruined, ruined I tell you!”

Oga snorted dismissively. “How hard is it to get a date for a party anyway? I mean, look at that.” He turned towards the vending machine again, pointing at the figure reflected on the glossy display. “I see a confident, handsome, kind-hearted young man who is just as charming and irresistible. Now who wouldn’t want a date that?”

Furuichi’s head jerked up at his partner’s words in surprise, a sudden burst of emotion welling up within him. Enforcer Oga Tatsumi wasn’t  nicknamed ‘Mad Dog Oga’ without reason – impulsive and reckless, he was always ready to jump ahead into the fray, no matter the danger. And while he was seldom generous about dolling out praise to his fellow co-workers, he had his rare moments of sensitivity at times.

“Oga…,” Furuichi said, his eyes teary with gratefulness.

“Oh look, you’re here too.” Oga continued, the corners of his lips curving suspiciously into a devillish grin as he shifted his finger from his own reflection to Furuichi’s. “What, you thought I was talking about you? My, my Inspector, you sure are full of yourself.”

“Argh!” Furuichi said, realising that he had unwittingly fallen for one of Oga’s pranks again. He stomped angrily at the other man’s shoes.

“Hey, I just polished them this morning!” Oga snapped heatedly, smashing his forehead against Furuichi’s with a special move he liked to call Headbutt Slam. “Idiot Furuchin!”

“OWW! It’s Inspector Furuichi, asshole.” Furuichi hissed back with just as much ferocity. “And quit butting at me with your fucking head! If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re my partner, I would have shot you in the leg with the Dominator!”

“Police brutality!” Oga yelled, waving his arms in mock horror. “Police brutality!”

Several metres away down the hallway and out of earshot, Inspector Ōmori tutted at the sounds of the men’s infantile bickering, smirking victoriously over at her Inspector.

“Aren’t you glad we saved you from landing a date with those useless men-children, Nee-san?”

“Very useless.” Enforcer Tanimura agreed, munching away at a strip of sukonbu.

Inspector Kunieda could only let out a nervous chuckle, sweat dripping from her brow. “Y-Yeah… you’re probably right.”

A week later, Oga found himself standing before the massive and intricately-craved oak doors – a hologram – leading into the fancy  ballroom where the MWPSB held their annual Christmas dinner. He heard soft steps approaching him and knew it was Furuichi even before he felt the brush of his partner’s shoulder beside his.

“I can’t believe everyone else got dates except us,” Furuichi sighed, dejected. “And I can’t believe you had to be my dinner date.”

Oga gave a nonchalant shrug. “Couples get free flow of grilled meat for the night. And no one said it had to be a dude and a chick.”

“I’m not gonna hit it up with a lady tonight, am I?” Furuichi sighed again, clearly not interested in the free food. “So much for hoping for some nice holiday cuddling.”

“Oh, don’t worry. There will be some holiday cuddling.” Oga said, flicking his gaze to meet the Inspector’s surprised look. He pulled up the inside of his coat to reveal what looked suspiciously like leather wrist cuffs and a dark crimson rope bundle stuffed discretely into a pocket. He leaned in close to whisper conspiratorially into Furuichi’s ear, “Guess who’s going to be really pleased with his Christmas gift tonight?”

Furuichi huffed, fixing Oga with a steady gaze of his own, the tiniest of smirks playing upon his lips now. “Only if I get to top. You are so going to pay for last week's headbutt.”

Oga grinned widely and reached for the doors.

Oga is supposed to fit into Kougami's role, so that's why he's an Enforcer (plus 'Mad Dog Oga' was just so suitable, lmao). I decided to put Furuichi into the combined role of Sasayama+Ginoza becuase I thought it’d be funny if Furuichi had the misfortune to end up as Oga’s Inspector (and thus, having to develop a close working relationship with him). And Aoi is sort of an Akane-like figure, while Nene = Shion Risa, Chiaki = Yayoi, Yuka = a combination of Yuki+Kagari... It all made a lot sense in my head at 3am, but I’m probably gonna regret this in the morning. I hope you still enjoyed reading it!

Edit: After watching Psycho Pass S2 Episode 3, Aoyanagi Risa just reminded me so, so much of Nene that I feel I should switch her role to Inspector in this AU!

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Burton-inspired pics from the public

In anticipation of Tim Burton, opening May 29th, we invited the public to show us their “Burton-esque” photos. We have 97 so far. This one comes from our own Erin Sorensen:

A Burton-inspired vision by Erin Sorensen.

Check out the Flickr group here.

garydeo333 submitted this image of Edward Scissorhands, with other Burton characters on the tip of his left hand. “My tribute to the films of Tim Burton,” he says.

ammcnelis submitted several pics of the ultimate Tim Burton (wedding?) cake.

sally’smom1 submitted some pretty cute pics of someone small in dressed as (who else?) Sally, from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Miki has some gorgeous contributions including a photo of a sculpture of Jack Skellington carved from foam.

Some contributors looked at nature through a Burton-inspired lens – like this image of a woodpecker, camouflaged against a tree.

There’s more: tattoos, high school fashions, haircuts, gardens, and…a selection of things from under the sea.

Submit your Burton-esque images here.

Amy Heibel

One Response to Burton-inspired pics from the public

  1. patricia salcedo says:

    I like this.

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Las Vegas Sun

September 25, 2017

Currently: 74° — Complete forecast

It’s down to the final three episodes for Las Vegas cheftestant Shirley Chung on ‘Top Chef’

Leila Navidi

Chef Shirley Chung.

Click to enlarge photo

Las Vegas chef Shirley Chung on Season 11 of Bravo's "Top Chef."

We are down to the final three episodes and six remaining contestants of “Top Chef” in New Orleans on Bravo, but we won’t know if our Strip darling cheftestant Shirley Chung makes it to the finale in Maui just yet.

Tonight, Shirley is tested in a Quickfire Challenge based on culinary legend Jacques Pepin’s favorite dish of Dover Sole with artichoke and asparagus. She gets 35 minutes to re-create the master’s techniques — and it might win her another immunity to continue onward.

The six chefs still standing are divided into two teams of three for the Elimination Challenge to make meals representing French and Spanish cultures.

Chef-owner Julian Serrano (Picasso at Bellagio, Julian Serrano at Aria) is a guest judge along with Emeril Lagasse and Tom Colicchio; all three men have multiple restaurants in Las Vegas.

All I can reveal about tonight’s episode is that it’s a very emotional episode, and you’ll wince when you see Shirley in tears. You also will recoil at a surprise challenge to hunt down discarded food in the Dumpsters of the French Quarter to produce an extraordinary dinner that Emeril can safely put on the menus of his NOLA restaurants.

The only other secret I can reveal as we reach the finals is that my longtime Hawaii chef pal Sam Choy will be a guest when the judges get tangled in a tie and host Padma Lakshmi says it has become the closest finale in all 11 seasons. The bragging rights of being Top Chef and a $125,000 prize are at stake.

You can meet Shirley at chef Rick Moonen’s Jan. 19 dinner at his Rx Boiler Room in Mandalay Place to benefit hospitalized food critic Max Jacobson when she presides over the cocktail hour with a unique hors d’oeuvres meat station.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at

Follow Sun A&E Senior Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

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January Gratitude

Welp, it is about a bazillion degrees below zero here, like it is all over much of the country. It is face-hurting cold, but I’m not here to bitch about it. (Give me a few more weeks–you might get a kvetch out of me then.)

I love winter, and am not surprised when, you know, IT GETS COLD. Winter will do that in a lot of places. There are plenty of reasons why I think winter is great; here are a few of my biggies:

1. I’d much rather be too cold than too hot.

2. The clothes are cuter.

3. And let’s not forget BOOTS.

4. My dog loves the cold, and watching her play and run around in the snow like a maniac makes me smile every. Time.

5. Winter is VERY important for gardening. On the surface (at least around here), everything looks dead and brown and blah. Underground, though, my beloved plants are gestating and sleeping and getting all fat and strong for the big spring push. I LOVE THAT. I have to remember that it can be the same for me if I keep my eye on the ball and don’t let myself simply hold down the couch all season.

But when it gets very cold like this, I am especially grateful for the fact that I have a warm, safe home and food in the pantry. My animals have a warm, safe home and food in their bowls. It is such a basic thing and so easy to take for granted.

A young woman went missing from a nearby town on New Year’s Eve, and the colder it gets the more I worry: Is she safe? Did she just do a rebellious, teenaged runner? Is she at least warm enough? I cannot begin to imagine what her family must be going through; somehow the cold just makes it seem that much more bleak.

I don’t have to worry about being warm enough tonight. I hope you don’t, either. Let’s all snuggle a little closer under the blankets tonight, AND decide what we might do to make someone else’s winter a little safer and warmer.

Action, action, action. That’s the ticket.

Could we give our old blankets and towels to an animal rescue? Can we donate our sleeping bags to a homeless shelter? Can we put in an afternoon of volunteering here and there? Maybe we can write a check, however small it may seem to us. Taken separately, yes, these are small things; but they add up, and they all matter.

The holidays are over (you can’t see me, but I’m jumping up and down a little bit. There might be clapping.), but winter seems to be just getting underway. So let’s all keep an eye out for one another, shall we? It could be another long one.

It’s National Let’s All Just Get Back on with Our Lives, Shall We? Day!

Congratulations, everybody, you made it to January 2nd! It just might be the most wonderful day of the year.

Speaking as someone who treats the holidays with as low-key an approach as possible, I still feel like I have just hauled myself across some invisible finish line. There was no Christmas whirlwind, no New Year’s bash. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful by design… and I’m still exhausted. How you people with a bazillion parties and commitments–even the ones who love it!–do this is beyond me. My hat’s off to you, for sure.

But I am a person who gets overstimulated and overwhelmed in the GROCERY STORE, so there’s that… we are a strange and varied species.

Goodbye, incessant Xmas music. See you in a year, hideous, excessive, crappy decorations. Bye bye, forced jollity, caroling (just creepy–there, I said it), anxiety because we don’t feel how we “should.” Ditto hideous travel conditions, sleeping in airports, obligations that can’t possibly all be met.

For YEARS now, my husband and I have almost completely stayed put during the holidays. We choose instead to visit and hang out with family and friends for no particular reason, at random times, when there’s no added pressure. I know that this wouldn’t work for most people, but it works beautifully for us.

And still, I feel almost impossibly emotionally and mentally hung over. I’ve done plenty of navel-gazing (maybe why I’m so tired); maybe it’s the holidays, maybe something else. The point is, LOTS of people feel this way now, and now we get to GET BACK ON WITH OUR LIVES! Let’s combat the post-holiday letdown by thinking about what we get to enjoy, lo this magical season that starts today, hallelujah and can I get an amen?!

  • Places are more or less open regularly, YAY! We can actually conduct our business, YAYYYYY!
  • No more insane looping of Christmas music (see above), much of which is just damn sad if you ask me.
  • Spending “normal” evenings at home means comfort clothes. My comfort clothes include, but are not limited to, yoga pants (duh) and a wide assortment of my husband’s T-shirts and hoodies (poor bastard).
  • Getting back to healthier, more normal eating. Even as people who avoided many commitments this season, holiday food still managed to wangle its way into our house. Let’s just say we’re both feeling a little… puffy… from extra salt and sugar.

… to name but a few. I know, I know, the sun hasn’t been seen in weeks, but check it out: we have an enormous amount to be grateful for all damn year, guys, even when we’re not feeling especially wonderful.

Today is National Let’s All Just Get Back on with Our Lives, Shall We? Day! So let’s go get it.

Welcome to Your Forties, Face

Let me start by assuring you that this is not some desperate, forced “EMBRACE THIS OR DIE” thing. This is an honest and rather quiet appreciation of Forties Face. Specifically, mine. Other people’s faces are their business.

I mentioned in my first post (“*ping*”), that I rather enjoy being in my forties… now. I had a decent-sized crisis when I turned forty, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it. While I knew the milestone was coming, and I gave my life what I thought was a pretty thorough inventory and frankly liked what I found, I was still rather blindsided. And by blindsided, I mean there was a lot of seemingly-inexplicable crying for a while, enough to get my butt back into therapy for a bit to see if I couldn’t figure out just WHAT THE HELL. Enough for me to go to my doctor and ask her to check my hormone levels.

(And before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I am NOT a person who blames everything on hormones and periods and the vapors. This emotional swing was so drastic that I just wanted to eliminate a big smoking gun if I possibly could.)

My levels were fine. DAMMIT. It was time to get to work.

So I went back to therapy for a little while, and it really helped. I didn’t get any hard-and-fast answers to why this was happening in an otherwise peaceful and fulfilled life–sometimes we don’t get to know why. There IS no why, and often, that’s just fine. What I did get was a quiet place to lay it all out without judgment, with an impartial party who’d seen this about a jillion times before.

(The older I get, the more comforted I am by the knowledge that I am not what they call “terminally unique.” It’s a massive relief, actually. I wish someone had told me in my twenties… ‘course, I’m sure they did but I was NOT listening.)

So, yeah, I rather like my lines. I wear them like a badge. It is fine by me that I am passing into that “invisible” territory that women enter once they’re past a certain age. Like many of us experience, there was a lot of unwanted attention when I was younger and conventionally hotter, and I’m not sorry to see it go. I see younger women dealing with that crap now and it’s just nauseating.

Fewer and fewer people are telling me to “smile!” when I don’t feel like it; this is a fine thing since fewer and fewer people might take an elbow to the face. I can’t imagine anything more selfish, entitled, or presumptuous than to tell a perfect stranger to change her demeanor for you.

We are not your monkeys. We are people walking down the street, trying to go about our business like free, unmolested humans, just like you are. Instead of worrying about my face, why don’t you shut yours?

But I digress.

The point is, my face is just fine. I will continue to cleanse (pretty well) and moisturize (usually) and use sunscreen (most of the time), because I believe in taking care of myself. But I have laugh lines because I laugh a LOT these days. I have creases in my forehead from when I used to fret what felt like all the time. I keep ’em around to remind me that I don’t do that thing with my forehead much anymore.

You know those high-water marks you see in towns near rivers to show how high the flood waters came? I’m keeping mine. Those waters recede.

Here’s Why the Bathrooms in the Unicorn Discotheque Are Excellent

By now you’ve probably noticed that these complaints of mine are not original, they are simply my way of sending out a plea for civility into the void. If these issues weren’t so rampant, I wouldn’t need to keep kvetching about them.The point of today’s rant is not that we behave perfectly, but that we try every day to be decent to each other in small and undoubtedly inconvenient ways.
Cleaning up after yourself and yours is never fun, but ask yourself: do you really expect the world to do it for you? If your dog shits somewhere that’s not on your property, pick it up. It’s gross, but not hard. The rest of the world is not your (nor your dog’s) toilet; no one else need experience the worst parts of having a pet, while you enjoy the best. Unless you truly forgot to bring a bag, or it is too dark to see, or it’s pretty much liquid, there is no excuse for not picking it up. If you simply  leave it there, you are communicating to the rest of us that we are your maids, and if we don’t want your shit, we should pick it up ourselves. This is unacceptable.
Ladies: if you hover over the toilet seat when you pee in a public restroom (and who could blame you?), please leave the seat dry. By trying to avoid the disgusting thing that is that toilet seat and not cleaning up after yourself, YOU ARE MAKING IT THAT DISGUSTING THING. If I follow you, I have the choice to either sit in your urine (or your child’s), or wipe up after you. I suppose I could just add to the puddle of pee, but that is also unacceptable.
Usually, in my crankiness, I dismiss this behavior as mere self-absorption. And maybe it is. But sometimes I wonder if it isn’t a form of self-loathing that, like most self-loathing, spills out (sorry) in strange ways to affect those around us. “If I don’t clean it up, then I don’t have to acknowledge it. If I get away from the scene of my mess, it will become your problem and I can forget I ever made it.”
The same person who leaves a damp toilet seat is likely the same person who will exit the stall, wash her hands (Jesus, please tell me you at least wash your hands), then take about a million selfies until she deems one suitable to upload to social media: “Trying to get purty in maybe the nastiest bathroom EVRRRR.”
Don’t even get me started on the goddamn selfies. Sweetie, you look fine. Now give that toilet seat a swipe.
My point is, the time spent literally trying to show your best face to the world might be better spent making said world just a little less gross for those of us who actually share it with you.
Honey, you really do look fine. And if you don’t look fabulous, no one actually cares that much. It simply does not matter. A truly beautiful person is a whole, real person who understands that we are funky organisms that some even funkier stuff comes out of, all the time. Denying that fact serves no one, especially not you.
All this to say, the bathrooms in the UD are by no means perfect (who has time?), but they are damn clean because we are not dicks in the Unicorn Discotheque.

Unicorn Discotheque guest posts!

Just a quick FYI: The Unicorn Discotheque will be popping in from time to time. It looks a little something like this:setiselfie1The husband took this picture (bugger cropped himself out). What you see here is my silly face, and that of our beautiful dog. I loathe selfies, but I like this one because it looks like the dog is taking the photo.

I technically can clean up better than this, but seldom care to because FUCK IT, that’s why.

Step into the Unicorn Discotheque

It’s early days here on my blog, so I will likely pick random things about my weird mental makeup to talk about for some time. One of these things is the Unicorn Discotheque.

You might call it your Happy Place; we’ve all got one, and mine is the UD. What you will find within its magical, imaginary walls is pretty much anything outside the realm of the serious, political, newsworthy, or even heartwarming. (Have you ever noticed how things that are heartwarming are comprised largely of sad things? THERE IS NO SAD IN THE UNICORN DISCOTHEQUE.)

I mentally check myself into the UD when I am dwelling far too much on things I can’t control (which as it turns out, is a lot of things). In fact, I write to you from the UD right now; I admitted myself the other day after the shooting in Berkeley, MO.

My symptoms include, but are not limited to: not wanting to hear any more shrill conjecture from people who have no more information than anyone else; witch hunting; “us vs. them”-mongering; name-calling; excessive judgment of other people’s experiences; people who say “should” like it’s their job… you get the idea.

We have not had cable in our home for years for several good reasons–not the least of which is we’d rather put out our eyes than give Comcast a dime of our money. Additionally, the 24-hour news cycle is a soul-crushing juggernaut. It’s not enough for a thing to be tragic and terrible, we have to tart it up, turn up the volume, and beat it past the point where we can recognize the features of the actual event. It is exhausting and deeply depressing, not to mention completely unproductive.

I am not advocating that we bury our heads in the sand here, just that maybe we don’t have to turn other people’s tragedies into pain porn. The next time we catch ourselves licking our collective chops over that celebrity going into rehab AGAIN, it’s time to take a step back and tend our own crops. What if we did something useful instead? Help out a friend who’s having a rough time; spend an afternoon at your local animal shelter; clear out your pantry and closet so someone else can have a little more.

That’s the ticket: usefulness. And when we’re not being useful? That’s right.

Declare a moratorium on heavy shit for a day or two. Abstain from drama and bitching on Facebook. Post a lovely comment or memory on the wall of someone you haven’t talked to in a while (a friend did this for me today and it made me feel like a million bucks). Indulge in deeply silly memes. Post unabashedly proud pictures of your kid, your dog (please post dog pictures. I love them.), your parents, how terrible your hair is that day and how little of a damn you give.

The Unicorn Discotheque is a lovely place with loads of room; come on in.

OHDAMN. I’ve been threatening to write a blog for years and now I’m finally here. Is anybody else here yet? Probably not (phew!). Because I have no idea what I’m doing. Yet.

I was inspired by a lot of very funny, smart, and generous people (mostly women) to send this first ping out into the abyss. I have no complete idea yet of what this is going to look like. My hope is that it will be fun and thoughtful, and that from time to time I will be able to talk about serious things without taking myself too seriously. I may not have a thick enough skin to put myself out there (and stay) like so many do; the “comments” section of the most benign posts is often troll soup.

I swear a LOT, so if that offends you, this might not be the page for you. I may or may not change that eventually; I have really nice skin, and I’m pretty sure it’s on account of all the swearing.

I write about things I think about, and things that are important to me. I strive every day to keep my damn mouth shut about things I have no experience with. Ditto things that are none of my business. Perfectly? Not even close. But trying, always trying. Usually trying.

I’m kind of obsessed with my dog, and will likely bore you to tears with pictures of her. She had a rough start in life; all we know about her past is that some jackhole dumped her over the fence at the animal shelter in the middle of the night. The best thing I can say about that is that at least they didn’t leave her on the side of the road. She is shy but sweet and almost impossibly good. She landed in a terrific situation (life is pretty great at our house); all dogs should have it this good. I really mean that. It will be a fine day when pet shops sell only supplies, and people who use dogs for fighting are publicly shamed and prosecuted to within an inch of their lives.

My husband is smart and damn funny. Also, I find him quite easy on the eyes. It is possible he’s more obsessed with our dog than I am. We are borderline hermits, and often wonder if we should be allowed out in public. I truly believed I would never get married, and was more surprised than anyone when it happened.

I am in my forties, and actually love it. The older I get, the more my internal filter rusts and falls away in great chunks (see suitability for public outings, above) . Turning 40 was very weird for me; I did a pretty thorough mental check as the milestone approached, and really believed it wouldn’t bother me. It did. There is a reason people predict you will freak out a little when you turn 40: you probably will, no matter how much you like your life. And you’ll be okay, too.

Welp, that’s me for now. Fingers crossed, future posts will be all snazzy with pictures and quotes and fractals and stuff.


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Merry Day!

I hope this finds you all warm and cozy and enjoying the sights and sounds of the holiday season. No matter what you celebrate, I wish you the happiest of days and that you are surrounded by your loved ones. My family is blessed this Christmas to have a new Angel protecting us and adding to our joy. Lily passed away early in the morning on Christmas Eve and I’m sure she is enjoying watching everyone celebrate below. While I am working today, I was able to spend the day with my family yesterday and am looking forward to spending the evening with Sean’s family – which is just an extension of my family. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Scenes from the week!

Sean and I enjoyed a very tasty dinner (at 3:30!) at B&G’s

Beautiful flowers my wonderful parents sent in remembrance of Deidre’s due date.

Christmas at Durham

Waiting for papa to get home from work

Christmas at my parents house

Bailey’s ugly Christmas sweater

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

~Calvin Coolidge

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Butterflies don’t count as a bug

I hate bugs!

While we were in DC my kid sister wanted to go to the butterfly garden at the Museum of Natural History. My pulse quickened and I had a lump in my throat, but being the older, wiser sister…I couldn’t let her see my fear. Relief came when we found out that tickets were required to attend the butterfly garden, and darnit, we didn’t have tickets. Shew.

Hours pass, we visit many exhibits inside this huge and beautiful museum. Then, across the room, leaned against a large glass wall encasing a buffalo, my husband notices 3 tickets. They were butterfly exhibit tickets for 2:45pm, just 20 minutes from the current time. Said in a completely and totally sarcastic tone, wow…great…that’s just awesome.

We looked around to ensure we weren’t stealing someone’s tickets. My guess is a family got the tickets, but their kid couldn’t endure the museum any longer, so rather than letting the tickets go to waste they set them out for another lucky museum goer. Wow, lucky me.

When I’m nervous 2 things happen.

1. I get quiet.

2. I sweat.

Both of these things happened. Did I mention that I hate bugs? Blech. Their nasty little stick legs and their hard little shell of a body. I just don’t like em.

As we enter the garden, there is a very nice man who explains that the garden is very warm because the butterflies love warmth. And it’s very moist because that helps keep the butterflies healthy. And the butterflies love soap and perfume, so if they land on you they just want to smell you.

Wait, they’re going to land on me? No no no no no no. A little boy in our group says, “I don’t want no bubberfly on me,” and he stomps his foot. I’m with him! I don’t want no bubberflies on me neither. But the host tells us, if a butterfly does land on you, don’t hit it! Just go to the host and he’ll brush it off for you.

Great, as I type this a commercial about pest control is on TV and it makes it look like a cockroach crawling across the screen. Oh how I hate this ad. And I hate bugs.

But I have to say, I had an awakening in the butterfly garden. I realized that butterflies don’t count as a bug. I know technically they are insects, but they are so pretty and soft and fragile. I just can’t focus on their bug-like bodies because then I’ll get all weirded out and run for a can of bug spray.

But I made friends with the butterflies, they were just lovely.

The lighting in the garden was super bright. I never did perfect my film speed. It was kinda tough photographing these little guys, they like to flit around a lot.

Thankfully no butterflies landed on me, I was as tense as a piano string so I’m sure they sensed my nervousness. But they seemed to adore my husband.

See the little guy on his shoulder? He was so sweet, he stuck around on his shoulder the whole time we were in there.

Then one landed on his shoe. At this point I was getting a little jealous…do I stink? Why don’t they want to land on me? Of course they’re like little kids and dogs, they just loooooove my husband. Not that I’m bitter…

I am so thrilled that I had the opportunity to tour the butterfly garden. It was the highlight of our visit.

Okay, this guy is a little too buggy for my liking. I’m getting nervous again…

This entry was published on July 21, 2010 at 10:44 am and is filed under Squawkings. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

5 thoughts on “Butterflies don’t count as a bug

  1. Pat Luther on said:

    A couple of years ago we took my grandson to a butterfly garden and had a small problem convincing him he shouldn’t try to catch the butterflies. We finally got him to hold his arm real still and a butterfly landed on it. We got a cute picture of him and the butterfly to take home to his parents. It was great watching him and the beautiful butterflies.

  2. linda on said:

    Great butterfly pics! There used to be a butterfly habitat at Callaway Gardens–there may still be.

  3. Janice on said:

    Alex – Excellent photos – thanks for sharing!!!

  4. Oh wow! Those are just beautiful! and I’ve heard the same thing from other people about the heat…lol

    Sounds like frizzy hair waiting to happen to me 🙂

  5. Mary on said:

    Ohhh, I didn’t pick up on the fact that you were scared!!! You should’ve said something – if you’d asked me if I wanted to go to a cockroach garden, I would’ve said “Umm, no thanks, I’ll pass.” Sheesh! The pics turned out to be great, though!

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Review – Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Mercy13169828_10154334085903816_1242224427_o

(and the rest of the Imperial Radch trilogy)

Ann Leckie

Published Oct 6 2015

Score: 9.5/10

The conclusion of Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy. As the final book in the trilogy, I doubt it stands alone. Hard to tell since I’ve read all three, but I just cannot imagine being able to just jump into the story at this point. All the history and backstory of the main character Breq and the universe of the Radch took a pretty large chunk of the first book to set up, and is pretty important to understanding anything that is going on in Mercy. Mercy follows on pretty much straight after Ancillary Sword, and without understanding the politics or characters introduced in the previous book, I’m not sure Ancillary Mercy will make much sense.

This isn’t a bad thing per se. Leckie has created a very expansive, lived in universe with well thought out histories and customs. The Radch universe feels beautifully real and is certainly not your standard space opera. It’s quite reasonable that a quick catch up at the start of each book would be insufficient for bringing a new reader up to speed.  However, it’s inability to stand alone is something I’ll take into consideration when comparing it to the other Hugo nominees. For this review, I’ll also be reviewing the rest of the series, since there are many things to talk about that are common across all three books.

The first thing to point out is that the Radchaai don’t really care about gender, and so only have one set of pronouns; represented here as using feminine pronouns for everyone. This combined with minimal physical description of characters mean that you never learn the gender of most characters; Which surprisingly, is not as confusing as it sounds. I found it interesting seeing what gender I ended up seeing various characters as, and interestingly, I saw many as androgynous. I’ve heard people say using only feminine pronouns is gimmicky, but I disagree. It was interesting and really made me think about how I view gender and sexuality. I would love to compare thoughts on the characters with other people. Though I will admit, the lack of description and the really foreign names can make it hard to keep track of some of the minor characters. Especially when a lot are introduced at once.

The other thing that really differentiates this series from well, pretty much everything else is the main character Breq; formerly known as Justice of Toren. Justice of Toren was a massive spaceship in the Radch military, used to go conquering other worlds. Connected to the ship were hundreds of ancillaries – aka corpse soldiers – humans who have had their minds erased and are hooked up to the ship’s AI. Justice of Toren can see with and control all these human bodies at once, though I should stop praising that aspect of the story now since it’s more to do with the first book in the series.

The first two books tell how through the treachery of Anaander Mianaai – the ruler of the Radch Empire, who is a single consciousness spread across thousands of cloned bodies – Justice of Toren became a single ancillary named Breq. Breq then spent 19 years on a revenge mission which has led her to the planet Athoek as a Fleet Captain with one ship at her disposal. Throughout it all, we are reminded that Breq isn’t really human, though she does value some of the same things we do. Throughout the series, the narration conveys Breq’s nature as an AI with a somewhat detached narrative voice. In Ancillary Mercy, Breq seems to really come to terms with her own nature and the relationships between her and the humans and AIs around her really shine.

I found the worldbuilding even better than the characterisation. There are no planets of hats here. Every world we visit has a range of cultures and peoples that feel very real. The religions, the languages, the traditions of this universe are portrayed very well, but without many big info dumps. We see what we need to see from this very diverse far future, and it is glorious.

So, between the complex range of cultures, lack of masculine pronouns, and a viewpoint characters that is able to see many things and take many actions at once, you may be imagining this series as a convoluted mess of wild ideas. But it’s not. Leckie is an amazingly talented writer, and has describes this strange space empire and this spaceship that can now pass as human clearly. The mind twisting concepts are packaged into a story that is fun, hard to put down, and very well written. The start of Ancillary Justice can be a bit confusing at first… but I’m really supposed to be talking about Ancillary Mercy, and if you’ve made it to that book, you should have no trouble following the story.

Okay, time to get to the awesome things in Ancillary Mercy that aren’t in the other two books. First two that come to mind are Station and Translator Zeiat. The AI of Athoek Station was in Ancillary Sword, but here it really begins to shine, as Breq begins to influence its decisions. The role Station plays in the climax is gold. As for Translator Zeiat… okay, some more background. There is an alien race called the Presgar that are so alien, we cannot understand them. So that they can deal with us, the Presgar have created these translators to bridge the gap. The translators seem human, but every action Zeiat does reminds us that she is not human. Some of Zeiat’s behaviour is quite unnerving, but mostly, it’s hilarious. Or both at the same time. Through the sheer craziness of Zeiat, and her attempts to understand aspects of humanity, we get some sense of just how incomprehensible the Presgar are.

Being a bit more general, Ancillary Mercy follows straight on from Ancillary Sword, and wraps up the series nicely. We have the long awaited encounter at the end with Big Bad Anaander Mianaai. In some ways, it can be seen as an anti-climax. The confrontation set up in Ancillary Justice plays out across the galaxy, and Breq is just on Athoek trying to protect those closest to her. If you’re expecting Breq to be a major player in the wider conflict, you may be disappointed by the ending. I wasn’t though; Breq’s story on Athoek is riveting enough to make this a satisfying conclusion, her not being a major player in the wider scheme of things is realistic, and whilst the story wraps up nicely, there is still enough unexplored that it’s possible for more stories in the future.

As usual, there were a few little nitpick complaints I had. Mostly that the lieutenants in the Radch military seem very immature. But then again, traditionally most of the rank and file soldiers of the Radch had been ancillaries, so the concept of a mighty conquering army with immature ‘baby lieutenants’ isn’t too implausible.

The Imperial Radch series is a fun, unique series that you will not want to put down. Thinking about it now, I want to re-read the series again, even though I finished Ancillary Mercy just a couple of months ago. Ancillary Mercy is the perfect conclusion to a truly awesome series.

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Sunday, February 26, 2017

Exotiqa: Divergent meets iRobot by M. Black @ejbookpromos @AmiBlackwelder

Title: EXOTIQA: Divergent meets iRobot
Series: EXOTIQA World Book 1
Author: M. Black
Genre: YA SyFy Dystopian
Release Date: March 1, 2017

Set in the year 2055 in British Columbia, Canada, where humans are part robotic and robots are becoming more humanlike, the line dividing the two is becoming less clear. When 16 year old Irish/Vietnamese mix Fione meets Maci, a 21 year old Flexbot who escapes from ImaTech located along the crust of the Coast Mountains, Fione’s life is taken on a roller-coaster ride of events that begins with trying to save Maci from ImaTech Corporation and ends with trying to save the country.

M. Black's brand ENTER TOMORROW can be found at and focuses on YA SyFy Dystopias. If you enjoy H.G.Wells, Divergent, The Giver, and Hunger Games then this author is for you!

M. Black is the pen name for Ami Blackwelder, who write paranormals with a side of apocalypse at, and has her BA in English and Montessori teaching degree. Having travelled Asia for ten years and taught, while building up schools from nothing, she returned home in 2010 and has been writing ever since.

Enjoy this unique voice with social relevance, dark and sexy characters, and captivating plots that don't let go until the end.

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Duh? You’re in Prison…

Serial child murderer Clifford Olson has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Canadian government if his old age pension cheques are revoked. Now 70 years old, Olson recently received a cheque for over $7000.00 to cover the payments he was entitled to, commencing on his 65th birthday.

The public can rest assured that if Olson makes good on his threat to sue, he will most certainly lose his case. In fact, when Olson’s suit is dismissed, I think it would be just to order Olson to pay court costs in the amount of at least $7000.00.

Frivolous inmate lawsuits abound, particularly in the U.S. of A. Here’s a top ten list of annoying prisoner lawsuits:

1. Mississippi prisoner sues for a missed parole hearing that was scheduled prior to his escape and conducted while he was AWOL. Young v. Murphy

2. New York murderer sues for a defective haircut which he alleges caused headaches and sleeplessness.

3. Missouri inmate claims that prisoners working in the prison law library should be paid the same wages as attorneys. Beverly v. Groost

4. California inmate objects that his outgoing mail has a prison stamp on it, as he does not wish to alert his correspondents that he is incarcerated.

5. Florida prisoner sues because he is required to eat off a paper plate. Procup v. Strickland

6. California prisoner claims that the Department of Corrections has implanted an electronic device in his brain.

7. Death row prisoner from Arizona sues for the return of his Gameboy. Beaty v. Bury

8. Washington inmate files suit when prison guards refuse to call him by his Islamic name. Demos v. Kincheloe

9. Florida inmate sues for deficient prison sneakers claiming that he should be issued hightops that are from Nike or Adidas.

10. Arkansas inmate claims his rights were violated when he missed the NFL playoff games.

There are many more thousands of these lawsuits throughout the US which has prompted legislators to enact laws that seek to prevent meritless court actions.

In Maryland, the law mandates that prisoners must pursue all administrative routes for a solution before filing a suit. To further dissuade inmates from filing frivolous suits, a percentage of the inmates’ “savings” is required for “filing fees”.

In Florida the law permits a judge to review an inmate court action before it is filed and to refuse to accept the suit if the action has no basis in law or fact.

In Illinois an inmate can lose “good time” credits if a frivolous lawsuit is brought. Inmates who behave receive these credits for a reduction in the time they must serve. Other jurisdictions eliminate other prison “perks” such as access to the inmate store.

It is clear that millions of dollars of taxpayer’s monies are expended by state and federal governments to respond to these outrageous court actions.

However, one must also remember that legitimate inmates’ rights violations have been exposed and corrected by prison advocates. Watch for my post on worthwhile prison lawsuits.

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang

2 thoughts on “Duh? You’re in Prison…

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Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE

When Heather first recognized the symptoms of her depression, she felt ashamed. She also felt sure that with faith, prayer, and help from Jesus Christ, the depression could be taken away. She learned that prayers are answered in unexpected ways.

“I remember kneeling by my bed and just asking the Savior, ‘Where have you been? Why weren’t you there in those moments when I needed you?’”

Find out how Heather found health and hope in this raw episode of His Grace.


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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Different Types of Drugs

 We can divide the drugs normally used in the medicine field to cure diseases or to control the symptoms of a patient are of approximately 13 in varieties.  They are of Eye drops, nasal sprays, tablets, nasal solutions, capsule, syrup, ointments, vaccines, inhalational drug forms, vaccines, intrauterine contraceptive device, hormonal drug forms, ointments. We will see about one by one now.

Eye and Ear drops: Commonly eye drops are in liquid form to apply through eyes and ears to cure any infection conditions like conjunctivitis, red eyes, itchy eyes etc.  Ear drops are used to cure ear infections like otitis.

Nasal sprays:  These are used to treat conditions like allergic rhinitis and nasal congestion etc.

Tablets:  They are solid unit of dosage forms of a medicine with active substances of materials to cure  any separate or combined medicinal effect in a patient's body.  We can see tablets in round, elliptical, or square forms generally in medicine shops.

Nasal solutions:  These are also used in liquid forms such as saline liquids used to treat sinusitis like conditions.

We will see about more drug forms in the next post.

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Sunday, July 10, 2016

Routes of Administration of a Medicine

Medicines are used  to cure a disease or controlling symptoms or for any other purposes in any human body or  in  any animals can be administered in three routes, they are enteral, parenteral, and local ways.  We will see about the routes of these one by one now.

Before this we should understand that medicines are of different in forms.  They are of eye drops, nasal sprays, tablets, nasal solutions, capsules, syrups, ointments, vaccines, inhalational drugs,  intrauterine contraceptives, and hormonal drugs etc.,

All kind of these drugs can be given by a medical professional using the enteral parenteral, and local ways to administer inside a patient's body to cure or control a disease or any disease conditions etc.,

Entral:  This method of medicine administration can be given in 3 ways such as oral, rectal, and sublingual.  Tablets, capsules, syrup are for examples are administered through oral route.  Rectal suppositories like drugs are administered through rectal route. Nitroglycerin kind of drugs are administered to patients through sublingual (under the tongue) route.

Parenteral:  Intravenous, intradermal, intramuscular, and inhalational are the routes of administrations  of parenteral drugs.  Injections are use to administer drugs for administering via intravenous, intradermal, and intramuscular routes.  Oxygen kind of respiratory supports are given through inhalational method via nostrils.

Local:  The rest of the other kinds of administration of drugs is local.  Eye drops and ear drops are examples of local route administration of medicines inside the body.

In the next post, we will read about types of forms of medicines. Okay.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Routes of Drug Administration

In the series of free medical transcription course online our new addition of lesson today is about the ways of drug or medicine administration in human. Though we take pills or tabs or tubes via orally, it is one among some routes of drug administration to cure any disease or symptom control in a human body.

The other routes of ways of administration is done not by the patient himself as in oral administration method. The other ways of drug administration are tried when the patient is unable to administer via  oral route or the drug may not be able to administer via mouth of the patient or the medicine may get good effects when tried in other ways of administration etc.,

The other routes of medicine administration other than oral route are inhalational or nasal administration, tracheal, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, and intra-articular. Now, we will see the meaning and the importance of these methods of medicine administration one by one.

Inhalational or nasal administration:  The route of administration of some drugs via nostrils or nose holes is known as Inhalational administration.  Some respiratory disease symptom control nasal decongestant drugs are administrated via nostrils.  Nasal sprays are also used to treat migraine headaches and hormone replacement treatment etc.,

Tracheal Administration:  Tracheal route administration is mainly used in giving oxygen support to the patients who are bed bound and in coma stage. Endotracheal route is used to administer food and medicines to the patients.  Endotracheal tubes made up of mostly of polyvinyl chloride are used for this purpose.

Intramuscular:  In this method of administration of medicine in small amounts can be administered using an injection via the muscle. Some of the important intramuscular sites of injections are in the muscles of deltoid (upper arm), dorsogluteal (upper buttocks area),  rectus femoris (quadriceps muscle),  ventrogluteal (hip), and vastus lateralis (thigh region especially for injecting in children).

Subcutaneous:  This is an important method of administration of drug via under the skin route.  Any selected medicine is administered in the fat layer of tissue  between the skin and muscle.  In the subcutaneous method the medicine is grasped slower than in the other method called intravenous (we will see intravenous next).

Intravenous:  This method is comparatively faster and effective way of administration of a medicine than the subcutaneous and commonly used by healthcare professionals to give a drug to the patients.  To give speed effect of any medicine this route of administration is taken hand by healthcare professionals. As the word suggests any medicine is administered into the vein using an injection. Generally, the vein near the elbow or the posterior part of hand or any other vein can also be used in intravenous method of medicine administration.

Intra-articular:  This method is also used in administering a medicine using an injection, but specifically used in treating patients with joint infections especially to lessen the joint pains. So, intra-articular means within a joint. Any site near the painful joint can be injected using this method.

In the next post, we will study more about Routes of Administration of a medicine in more detail. Okay.

New medical transcription lessons soon

Soon I will start to post new lessons for you all. Due to some time constraints I could not work online for updating new content for all the readers who follow our Free Medical Transcription blog. Please bear, new lessons will be on the way soon🙂👍

The Longest Medical Word

Today, we will know about an interesting medical term in medical language. This post is just to know about a different thing in the medica...


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Excellent Teaching and Learning Every Day

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The Learning Professional

The Learning Professional, August 2017

Rethinking early education: professional learning from pre-K to 2nd grade

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A Systemic Approach to Elevating Teacher Leadership

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Whether you're developing professional learning from scratch or enhancing an existing program this report provides detailed guidance on how to configure and evaluate learning models. Published by Learning Forward and AITSL.
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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Food Truck, January 12, 2016

Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday

Ripley, Mississippi, USA, January 9, 2016

Food Trucks are the latest entries in the centuries-old history of street food. Here in the United States the Texas chuck wagons of the 1800s are given the credit for being the first 'food trucks.' In good weather there will be a long line of customers. Not so many on a rainy day like last Saturday.

Pork barbeque is very popular in our area. Food Trucks generally cook and sell the regional specialties, but gourmet restaurants are beginning to join in, too.

This one carries its barbeque cooker/smoker with it wherever it goes! If you look closely, you can see smoke coming from the chimney.

Have a wonderful day!

For more photos featuring the color Red, visit Ruby Tuesday Too: Click Here!

For an interesting variety of photos, visit Our World Tuesday: Click Here!

NOTE: Please do not use my photos without my permission.

  1. Those are eye catching ! Food trucks are very popular in Eugene (Oregon,)...we decided that when we're there next year we will try a different one once a week. Ethnic food is what most of them are up there.

  2. Great post on the food trucks. They seem to be popular around our area, all kinds of food is available. Happy Tuesday, enjoy the week ahead!

  3. I love this 'find'

    And yes, I see the faint wisp of smoke. And I can almost smell the odor of that luscious BBQ!!!

  4. Great job of capturing the license plates and decor of the food truck. You've done a wonderful job of getting the personality of this business!

  5. Nice example! A step up from a hot dog vendor!

I enjoy your comments!

Thank you for visiting!


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Category Archives: The Willow Show

Willow Completes Her First Recognized Event!

Willow’s loves horse shows and watching the activity. Like “watching TV” as Joanie said.

Considering I haven’t updated this blog in exactly a year, I think of it more as a competition diary now than a useful update to my life’s goings on. Incidentally, I’ve ridden in two competitions since my last report on the 2015 Hillcrest Spring schooling show.

Willow and Ketchen Place Farm’s Fairfax went back to Hillcrest in the fall. Fairfax competed in the three-phase starter division. Her show jumping was perfect, with everyone commenting on how cute and scopey she is, and the cross country was a great learning experience, with her really starting to “get it” and enjoy herself by the end. She’s going to be such a fun partner for someone!

At the same show, I moved Willow up to Beginner Novice and it was not a good day. We weren’t on the same page at all and I was feeling pretty discouraged and concerned.

Fairfax on course (and totally adorable) at Hillcrest Farm. Photo by Eileen Dimond.

I can’t remember if I had already entered Willow in the Adult Team Challenge at the Virginia Horse Trials, but at some point I withdrew her and decided to take Bailey, who would be with me for several months while Mom was particularly busy with work.

Our team won the Beginner Novice team challenge, I had a fantastic and fun return to recognized eventing and we even brought Fairfax for her first overnight trip. She took in the sights of the busy show grounds and even worked a bit in an indoor and a covered ring. I’m looking forward to going on more adventures with her this year!

Fairfax and Bailey at the Virginia Horse Trials.

Bailey is back with mom now, and another Team Challenge opportunity at FENCE, one of my all-time favorite venues, inspired me to get serious about moving Willow up to Beginner Novice, which has been a long time coming. She’s an extremely capable little pony, but it always seemed like my crazy work schedule, untimely injuries and several moves kept us from making it happen. Starter levels are little and low key and you don’t need a whole lot of preparation for them. It has been easy to stick with that.

Sometime late last year I finally broke down and bought a new saddle. The County I had been using didn’t fit Willow particularly well, nor was it especially comfortable to me and it was starting to affect our work. My friend Patty Merli worked with us to find a great Black Country Tex Eventer that fits both Willow and myself (plus, it’s gorgeous!). It was an expensive investment but 100% worth it as I feel like our flatwork really started to progress after this purchase and our jumping improved as a result also.

A fancy pony prancing at Hillcrest. Photo by Eileen Dimond.

In the past I’ve been hasty to enter horse trials on the opening date, and twice now I’ve had to withdraw Willow before closing, so I figured this time I would “prepare, prepare, prepare” and then enter at the last minute. I started raising the fences at home and went off site several times to cross country school, once with Dana Cooke at Kingfisher Equestrian and another time with Mary at Windridge. The week before the event I shipped up to Mooresville for a show jumping lesson with Dana just to get another opportunity to jump around some bigger, unfamiliar jumps.

Dana was a huge help for me getting more in sync with Willow over fences. I’ve been unconsciously trying to ride Willow like I rode Sam, staying more or less in a half seat when jumping. This style clearly doesn’t work for Willow and Dana helped me get more comfortable with sitting down and putting my hands forward in front of the fences instead of trying to place her at what I thought was the best distance.

Willow is a great jumper, but sometimes, especially on cross country, she likes to get close to the fence and get a look at it. This can be disconcerting because in my mind I feel like I should be constantly lifting her neck and shoulder since she’s built a little heavy on the forehand.

In the end, Willow is much happier if I sit back and stay out of her way. Once she realized I wasn’t going to bother her, she starting getting more comfortable with longer distances and jumping out of stride instead of driving all her momentum downward in front of the fence. It was a huge revelation for us, but I still have to tell myself to sit up and glue my bum to the saddle in front of each fence. The minute I panic and lean forward, she will stop or overjump.

So we had a good prep and I entered FENCE feeling only a little apprehensive. Three-phase schooling shows are usually $100 and a fun day trip. The entry and stabling for this event was $340. Since it’s a relatively local event, I used less than a tank of diesel there and back again, and I slept in the gooseneck of my trailer (and froze!). The event fed us Friday and Saturday night and had a coffee/donut stall in the mornings, so I didn’t spend any money on food.

My point is, even though this event was relatively inexpensive as far as recognized events go, it’s still a lot of money and I didn’t want to screw up or have something silly go wrong.

In the end, the competition was a huge success. Willow finished on her dressage score of 35.8 for sixth place in a division of 19 starters. We both enjoyed ourselves tremendously and I’m already perusing the calendars to try and figure out when I can get to her out to another event, hopefully one that her owner Amy can come watch. I’m beyond thrilled. I love this little pony more than I can say and I’m so proud of her.

Rockstar pony!

I finally have a handle on Willow’s dressage warm-up. She knows now when we’re showing and she wants to be sure everyone is looking at her (she whinnies constantly just to be sure). So she works really hard in the warm up and then is worn out by the time she gets to the ring, no matter if I give her lots of walk breaks and stretchy time.

Since we arrived a day early, I went to ride on Friday and set my stopwatch. After warming up for 10 minutes I felt like she would be ready to go in the ring. At 15 minutes, I could feel her tire. Don’t get me wrong, she’s really fit, but she works extra hard when she’s away from home. My girl is a competitor!

So I had a plan for dressage. I walked her a lot Saturday morning to make sure she was loose and limber after being in a stall overnight. I braided her mane and tail, which she totally loved as I figured she would. I’ve never braided her before and she hates for her mane to be pulled, but she let me sew braids in without even wearing a halter; she stood like a stone, watched the world go by and took a nap.

Pony tales!

After a ten-ish minute warmup we went to the ring and she turned on the charm as we circled. There were lots of people there to watch her including some of our stall mates and my mom and her friend Joanie, who was in town to visit. She had a good test and watching it later on video I was still really pleased (we’re trying to get that video uploaded!). Our judge, Jodi Lees, is very good and I appreciate the score and useful comments.

It was far from Willow’s best work and I had to give her a little reminder about the meaning of my leg a couple times. Even though she warms up really well, when she actually goes in the ring, she tends to get a little behind my leg and lacks some lateral suppleness as she is somewhat spooky at the boards and letters, but she improves every time out and I think this is a matter of confidence and education.

I walked the cross country course one more time with mom and Joanie accompanying me. They planned to stand at the water jump and cheer and shout “Ponnyyyyyy!” My mom is a great cheerleader, but those two together are like a high school pep squad.

The first two fences on course were not inviting at all. When we walked, I said if we make it past the first two jumps – a big rolltop on an incline adjacent to the warmup and a vertical type skinny-ish fence on the treeline around a blind turn – then we would be golden. She warmed up really well and I let Willow make all the decisions at the first two jumps. I just sat back and stayed out of her way. She got deep to them but jumped with confidence. We picked up the pace to number three, and she jumped out of stride, looking for the next.

Many of the fences on course were like nothing she had seen before, and there were several questions that took some thinking and confidence on her part. She powered up the huge hill, jumped the bank and ditch without a second glance, did a really difficult turn near the end beautifully, and crossed the finish with energy to spare.

The only time I had to work for it was coming up to the water, which you couldn’t see until you were right on top of it and there was a line of people standing on the hill beyond. I think she was looking at the spectators so she went a little sideways on the approach, but I just kept my hands wide and sat back and she went in, then focused right away on the next obstacle, which had not been jumping well for everyone that day. I was thrilled and exhilarated with our run and felt like all the preparation and time we took to get to this point was well worth it!

I pampered Willow that evening, giving her a nice bath, soaking her bare feet and poulticing and wrapping her legs. I didn’t want to risk any soreness the next day. I kept her out of the stall for a long time Sunday morning, and we had to wait to jump after 1:00 in the afternoon.

I have always been a nervous show jumper and that hasn’t changed in the eight years since I’ve been an active Preliminary level competitor. I was ill and a little agitated while getting ready. I was nearing the end of my coping rope! Willow warmed up really well though, and I reminded myself that we did the cross country, we can do this bit too.

There were two warm up rings and I went to the second warm up with just two riders to go before me. The footing was very deep in front of the fences and she had two bad jumps. I said “forget it!” and went to the ring. I had a planned path to let her see most of the fences before we picked up the canter to head for the first jump.

There was a lot to look at and she was really distracted at first. She spooked at the first jump, got close to the second and made an unbalanced turn to three, then suddenly she got down to business. We jumped in quiet to the two-stride in-and-out and she put in a tidy three strides. She kept a perfect rhythm between seven and eight, which had been causing some problems throughout the day. Turning for nine, I nearly took out the start flag and she was staring down fence 1 again, but we recovered and had a clever jump over the last to finish clear. We moved up two places and got a pretty green ribbon.

I wish we had been able to do a victory gallop as the morning divisions had done, but in the interest of time they were giving out ribbons by the announcer’s stand, which was somewhat anti-climactic. Speaking of the announcer, she loved Willow’s show name, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and it was fun to hear her announce it with a smile!

I dearly love the FENCE horse trials as I’ve been going there since I was small. It was a great return trip and I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better at Willow’s and my recognized debut. It was especially wonderful to have my mom and Joanie there to cheer me on Saturday and the Ketchen Place Farm family came too. Mary also had a successful return to eventing with her horse Rey and I’m so excited for her!

My friends Liz, Mark, Eileen and Carla were photographers that weekend and it was a special thing for my friends to be taking my picture. I ordered the whole photo CD and can’t wait to post some of my favorites. Meanwhile, here is the link to the gallery. How cute it that pony?!

The Willow Show – Hillcrest Farm

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Lovely Hillcrest Farm. Photo by Naomi Eastwood

Due to her bone bruise and my travel schedule, Willow ended up having the fall off entirely. From October through the end of the year she did nothing but eat grass in the pasture. I got back on her on January 1 and she’s been going brilliantly since.

After our last schooling show at Windridge, I had set the task of improving flexibility and building strength in the canter work. I’m delighted that Willow is becoming really strong and really flexible. We started the year doing a lot of slow trot work and introducing lateral exercises, and it’s definitely paid off.

I discovered in her canter work that I have a tendency to get really tight in my hips in an effort to sit her canter well and hold her together. It was a relief when my pal rode her and confirmed for me that she just doesn’t have a particularly comfortable canter.

Taking that information and the knowledge that I need to loosen up, I’ve made an effort to be more relaxed and sit deeper rather than trying to sit still and pretty. It’s been a good adjustment, as Willow is happier in her canter work and I’m not so exhausted when we’re finished.

Willow likes jumping, but she loves dressage, and now that she has the ability to do it a bit more, she’s learning more and eating it up. She’s started on trot lengthenings and is doing more lateral work at the trot. Her way of going has improved overall, as she’s now really pushing from behind, almost working in a medium trot, and she is much lighter in front.

Photo by Naomi Eastwood

Willow winning the warm up. Photo by Naomi Eastwood

With that improved ability she challenges me too because she won’t do something unless I ask her properly, and if I screw up she really gets offended. Silly pony.

We headed out to our first show of the year at the end of March at a gorgeous property called Hillcrest Farm in Mocksville. Janet Cagle is a delight and put on a very good show. It was the perfect outing for Willow and a good opportunity to take a young horse off the property as well.

Willow is such a good example for the young or nervous types, and I was so grateful for her good behavior since the young horse required most of my attention. Thankfully I had my faery godsister Naomi with me. She had come down for a visit and graciously changed her weekend plans to come groom for me at the show. She took good care of me, kept my head on straight and gave me a kick in the pants when I needed it.

She also expected, nay, insisted that Willow and I win. And we did.

Willow has figured out that when we’re doing dressage at a horse show, we’re showing off for other people. I’ve figured out that she will exhaust herself trying too hard to win the warm-up, so I did very little in the way of warm up for dressage and gave her lots of walk breaks. That strategy seemed to work as she wasn’t yet tired when we actually went to ride the test.

Cute little Fairfax! Photo by Naomi Eastwood

Cute little Fairfax! Photo by Naomi Eastwood

She went in the ring and absolutely delivered, save a somewhat crooked entry. She was supple, attentive, and rhythmic. Our only loss of rhythm came when I took my leg off when trotting across the diagonal and she started into a lengthening. I over-corrected, creating resistance that did not go unnoticed by the judge.

The test received mostly 6.5-7.5 scores on each movement, with an 8 on her walk. The collective marks were all 7s for Willow and all 7.5s for me, which was a pleasant surprise. The judge commented “Very well prepared and ridden test – a pleasure to watch.”

We scored a 30.0, our personal best and a full six points better than our last attempt at the same test. Willow also received some really nice compliments from spectators as we left the ring. Good girl!

The young horse I had brought with me was 6-year-old Fairfax, a 15.1-hand Thoroughbred mare with springs in her legs and an adorable face that attracted all sorts of attention from folks at the show. Her test was good for her experience – we stayed in the ring, did all the moves, and she tried really hard. Can’t ask for more than that! In the jumping, Fairfax got a bit spooked by the activity in the warm-up, so I took a bit of extra time to school her until she relaxed, which reduced the amount of time I had to switch to Willow.

I finally hopped on Willow and jumped the crossrail twice, the vertical once, and they were calling us in. She kicked butt! She jumped with tons of strength and concentration, got all her leads on landing and was adjustable and attentive to me. Looking at the photos, I love how she’s using her neck so well and keeps her ears pricked. She looks so happy doing her job – that’s why I compete her under the name Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!

Go pony go! Photo by Naomi Eastwood

Go pony go! Photo by Naomi Eastwood

We went straight to the startbox after show jumping and I gave her a good confident ride to the first, then settled in and let her do her thing. She had a great rhythm and balance the whole way around even though we had to trot at the end so we didn’t get a speeding ticket. She was again really adjustable and seemed to have a good time. It’s time to move up! Hooray!

Since my last post I’ve been on the road quite a bit, returning to Pine Top once more to work for Mark Lehner, then to the Carolina International to cover for Eventing Nation, then to The Fork Horse Trials to work for the famed Shannon Brinkman – a total dream come true.

Coming up is the busiest time of the year, every year. Poplar Place, Rolex, Heart of the Carolinas, Jersey Fresh, a wedding, and then a breather and a chance to schedule more outings with the super pony and the other Ketchen Place horses. Thanks for reading!

Recognized Debut Postponed

Sadly, mine and Willow’s recognized horse trials debut has been postponed. She suffered a minor injury during a jump school and will have a couple of weeks off work. Luckily, the vet confirmed that all the important structures in her leg (bones, tendons, and ligaments) are in perfect shape. She just knocked herself and has a contusion (bump) that is really sore. I get these all the time when I turn corners too quickly or forget about the locations of heavy furniture in the house.

It took a couple of days to get an appointment with the vet, so it was stressful not knowing what was wrong… that it could be nothing, but it could also be something serious.

I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly happened. She was jumping around really well through a fairly challenging grid exercise. She snaps her knees up to her eyeballs and has discovered she can make the horse strides and really goes for it. We were almost done (it’s always when you’re almost done) and she jumped a little disorganized through, so I turned around to do it once more. We completed the grid, turned the corner, and she started hopping. I got off immediately and she seemed to walk out of it on the way back to the barn. She hadn’t knocked any rails down or hit anything hard enough for me to notice and think “ouch!”, so I was really afraid that she landed badly and strained something. A knot appeared almost immediately and then the swelling creeped up her fetlock and the heat was intense. Compare the photos below (left is the injured left leg, right is the happy right leg) and you can see the difference where there is a bit of “fill” high on the outside of the left fetlock.

20140918-124014.jpg 20140918-124033.jpg

So for the next several days we iced, poulticed, wrapped, and kept her on stall rest, which means we did a lot of this:

The swelling did decrease, but the heat did not. Both Willow and I were thankful that she was cleared to go back outside with her friends and prescribed a few weeks of Previcox and rest.

I’m bummed to have had to withdraw from WindRidge but very relieved that Willow is fine! She’s tough and I’m sure she’ll be ready to get back to work soon. She loves her job, but I’ll have to find her a good pair of boots for jumping from now on!

Windridge Photos

Wind in Mane Photography Photo

Wind in Mane Photography Photo

Photos of Willow and I riding at the Windridge Schooling Show have been posted. Click here to see the whole gallery. I apparently forget how to smile, but Willow has a number of awesome expressions, and some really nice moments in all three gaits. Good girl pony Willow!

The Willow Show – Chestnut Creek Schooling Horse Trials, July 2014

Good pony!

I set a goal to enter a recognized horse trials with Willow this fall. So when I came across the Chestnut Creek Schooling Horse Trials Series in Salisbury, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to get Willow out to a three-phase event and see how she goes. I coerced my barn pal Katie into coming too, and Cortney came along and hung out and took pictures.

We entered the 2-foot Maiden class; I know she can do cross rails, and I wanted to challenge us both a little. It was really great to have a goal to work towards during daily schooling once I’d entered. Willow gets stronger all the time and is just so clever and cool!

The day of the show just could not have gone better. Katie had great rides with Bravo, who has a history of being a bit of a pill away from home. And the pony was a superstar. She finished on her dressage score and showed a real aptitude for showing and eventing. Not only was this our first three-phase together, this was my first full cross-country course in seven years, the last being Preliminary level at Poplar Place with Sam. I’m glad to report that I still know how to do it, and it feels good to say “I’m an eventer” having actually recently evented.

Show time? Nah.. I’m pretty sure it’s nap time.

Chestnut Creek was a really awesome venue. It was adorable, well laid out, and the atmosphere was really relaxed and learning-oriented.

How cute is this barn?!

What was really special for me was having so many friends with me in spirit at this event. We had the bridle Katy Carter gave us for my birthday, the gloves Naomi gave me, the girth mom got Willow for Christmas, and the embroidered saddle pad Hannah gave us for Christmas.

Srsly. Nap time.

In hind sight, I might should have given Willow a slightly longer warm up for dressage, but it was going to be a long, humid day, and I was more concerned about good performances over fences than winning on the flat. There was a lot to look at in the warm-up, with Pony Clubbers grilling under a tent right at the fence, horses coming at you from the opposite direction, trees and uneven terrain and such, but holy moly she had some nice moments and settled into working fairly quickly.

So proud.

There was some discontent regarding the judge’s comments on some rides… she certainly wasn’t giving scores away or being “schooling show friendly”… but I was very pleased at how we were judged. As we came down the centerline and Willow’s head got higher looking at the shadowy blue tent ahead, the judge had that “bless her heart” look on her face.

Walk/trot tests are easy, but cantering and staying focused is really hard! I totally flubbed the first canter transition, but we got the second (eventually). Willow was a little tense yet showed moments of pure brilliance. She got a couple 7s on trot work and an 8 on the final turn up the centerline.

The judge wrote on our test: “Super talent. Continue to encourage confidence and relaxation with an elastic connection. Continue to improve prompt canter departs with more lateral balance.” I wholeheartedly agree and love the “super talent” part. In the collective marks, Willow got a 7 on her gaits and I got a 7 for rider with the comment “well handled” which made me laugh.

Show jumping was nice and inviting with a bit of a terrain challenge. Willow was great and I don’t even care that I got laughed at for talking to her the whole time. Double-clear and adorable!

On to the most fun part! There had been tons of rain the day before but it had been steady, not a torrential downpour, so the footing was actually great. The only place where the footing was iffy was in front of the first fence, unfortunately, and though she jumped it a little awkward, when she looked and I kicked, she said “okay!”

By the time we went over this mound and pointed to number three, Willow was ready to canter. “Why are we going so slow?!”

By the end of the course, Willow was confident in her distances and taking me to the jumps. There were a couple fences early on where I should have been less “passive,” which is a bad habit I have in my attempts to not micromanage. Otherwise, the course flew by (there were only 10 jumps) and I was so stinkin proud. She never acted like she wasn’t going to go and seemed to have a really good time! We even timed it right, coming in four or five seconds under optimum time.

We were one of two in a class of six to finish on our dressage score and got second place! Chestnut Creek was a great experience and we will be back for sure! I’m feeling very confident in entering Windridge in October at Beginner Novice now. I’d like to get a couple lessons in with a trainer in Tryon and school cross-country at FENCE, and hopefully we can find another schooling show to get out and do some more dressage tests, too.

I had a silly grin plastered on my face the whole day and was totally over the moon at every moment. I’m obsessed with this pony and having such a fun time with her! Thank you Amy Keller for letting us play and to all our friends for their support.


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One Cold Step… For Free!

Posted on Updated on

We’ve locked David A McIntee in a room to finish The Schizoid Earth undisturbed; in the meantime, we at Candy Jar Books offer you a free short story to set the scene… The story is set during The Schizoid Earth, and the days leading up to it, and features the return of both Anne Travers and her father, Professor Edward Travers, who has not been seen since 1968’s The Web of Fear.

In The Forgotten Son Anne Travers was last seen at the engagement party of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and Sally Wright, and there she explained that she had to return to work at the Vault. While there, Lethbridge-Stewart also learned that Professor Travers was planning a return visit to the monastery at Det-Sen, only another member of the Travers’ family has something to say about that…

Download it HERE on pdf. (Subscribers to Top Secret Files will receive it by email automatically.)

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Helping Hope to Heal History

Today, 21 September, is International Day of Peace. Here in Northern Ireland, it’s also a time redolent with the fear and hope that the Haass process brings.

The leaders of the four main denominations – no longer an all-boys’ club, that august grouping! – have come together to create the Hope and History Statement. Named from the most-quoted line from the recently-lost Seamus Heaney’s “The Cure at Troy”, it is a declaration, a call for forgiveness, and a dedication. I’ve signed, and I’d love you to as well.

You can do it simply by going to

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