attacked in the garage

I know this is two "wildlife" posts in a row, but I still couldn't get over the humor in this event.  I was taking some trash out to the garage on an evening of significant rainfall and almost stepped on this little thing that was scurrying around.  Being from Texas, when I first caught a quick glance at this attacker I thought it was a scorpion and jumped back in haste.  However, upon a closer look, it was merely a crawfish trying to find some peace from the days of rainfall and thought our home may do better than his creek.

I tried to make friends thinking that maybe some day I could convince his entire clan to stop digging their holes along our yard at the creek's edge, but he saw through the thinly-veiled attempt for friendship and immediately rose to "attack."

So I left him alone and opened a garage door so he could find his way out eventually - and have no visits from him or any others of his kind since.  Now I need to dig around and find some photos and videos of the snakes that have come on our property - both big and small.

jxibalba

turtles - big and small...

More wildlife found in our yard a few months back - either a very very small turtle or a very large hand - I'll let you decide.  I was amazed to spot this little guy near our AC units while on the riding mower. I have found larger ones and even accidentally killed one of them with the mower.  With the small creek running behind our home, we seen snakes and turtles quite often during the warmer months.  I am continually and refreshingly reminded of the beauty of nature by living just outside of town surrounded by acres of woods - something I missed growing up in the heart of Dallas.  I need to make a concerted effort to take regular prayer walks like I previously have done and not take our land for granted.

Above is a larger turtle that our mini Dachshund Dexter was barking at repeatedly and had "trapped" in its shell - he was definitely acting like a true hunting dog - although his breed was designed for badgers he still did a good job with this turtle.

Above is the smaller turtle on the run - "darting" across our sidewalk back into the abyss of safety afforded by the woods.  Not a bad photo at all for my simple point and shoot Nikon Coolpix S210.  I have debated several times finally upgrading to a DSLR camera but want to make sure that I would truly put in the effort involved in photography to make it worthwhile.

jxibalba

Another Jeep!

Well, my wife and I have added yet another jeep to our family. We got her a gorgeous black 2005 Jeep Wrangler today and she is thrilled! And she looks absolutely stunning behind the wheel of her new ride. Our garage and driveway is full since we now both each own Jeep Grand Cherokees and Wranglers.  And my wife is thoroughly enjoying her new ride - it is so great to see her so extremely happy!  I have just a few plans for modifications - starting with some new larger tires to match my 1991 Jeep and will hopefully find some good Goodyear Wrangler MTRs.  Then maybe an aftermarket front bumper and some running stickers and she will be set.

Life is good.

jxibalba

New Belgium 2 Below Ale

I was amazed to find the New Belgium Winter Seasonal Ale “2 Below” at our local liquor store today. I first tasted this delicious brew about 2-3 years ago and desperately bought what I could then since it was the end of the season. It is the perfect blend of Sterling and Liberty hops with tawny-roasted malts. I am in heaven!

jxibalba

Windows 7 is here - now what?

The ridiculous PC vs Mac battle has been rehashed over and over with poorly constructed arguments by flamboyant fan-boys on both sides of the fence for years.  I have personally spent the great majority of the past 13 years of computer hardware and software involvement with building and troubleshooting PCs.  However, in August of 2008, I permanently made the switch to Mac and have never looked back.  Now Windows 7 has been released and the early reviews by the almost 8 million beta testers have been quite positive.  "This is the best Windows yet" is just one of the common quotes.  "Many of the problems of previous Windows operating systems have been improved."  While good comments, it does make you wonder why there were so many problems before that needed addressing and why any new OS would not be the best yet because if so, why would it be new?  Of course, it's just marketing spin anyways.

This new release does come with some sadness for me as this is the first Microsoft operating system release over the past 13 years that I have not had the earliest version for testing months before official release - I was even an official Microsoft beta tester for Windows Home Server.  Personally, the days of building and re-building machines is over and I am glad for the time restored to my life.   I would spend countless hours reviewing sites like Newegg.com for the newest and greatest PC components and make purchases on cheap peripherals from "deal" emails.  It was actually quite eerie after converting to Mac not spending so much time doing such activities.  But there was also a sense of "release" and "freedom" from the pursuit as well that was very refreshing and just cannot be put into words.

So now that Windows 7 is here more people will continue to argue over Microsoft Windows vs Apple Mac - which is just what happened last month with Apple's upgrade to OSX - Snow Leopard.  In the end, each computer user will need to decide what operating system works for them.  Personally, I could not be happier with the Apple Mac OSX and their ingenious and beautifully-crafted hardware.  Everything always works beautifully - no driver issues, no freezing, no major virus, worm, or trojan issues - all while sporting a wonderful aluminum shell.  Plus - iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, and Safari are great.  There is a premium price to Apple hardware, but the benefits way outweigh the extra cost - at least to me.  And now with the recent news 2 days ago of the new line of iMacs, my wait is over for a new desktop.  I am in heaven...

H1N1 or swine flu - why the hype?

I am often asked by patients and just received a message from a wonderful high school friend about the Swine Flu or the H1N1 virus and why the media and CDC are making such a big deal about the virus and should we be scared. Below is her message to me and my response follows.

"Okay, so you're a very intelligent doctor...what do you say about the stupid Swine Flu? I just read the CDC site and that with all the media hype is freakin me out! Seriously, I need some answers from someone who knows-not a cardiologist, etc, is it something we should really be scared about?"

Well, thanks for the kind words. I haven't read all of the most recent hype but understand that apparently an advisory board to the President discussed a planning proposal (and not a prediction) that included a large number of infected and/or deaths this fall relating to the H1N1 flu virus. There is a valid (although frustrating) reason that the media and the CDC are elevating the H1N1 flu situation. It is primarily from a public health point of view to raise and maintain awareness and thus vigilance regarding containment or reduction of the potential spread of the virus this fall during the traditional flu season. Understanding the history of influenza will help you realize why the media and CDC are creating the hype.

The history of the flu (or influenza) involves some serious pandemics with terrible numbers of deaths (usually around 1 million worldwide each time with the exception of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed somewhere between 20 and 100 million). Each year the flu virus undergoes mutagenic drift and thus we may get sick but our bodies' antibodies recognize and destroy the virus after a few days of feeling sick. Every 30 years throughout history over at least the past 120 years or so we have experienced a mutagenic shift that creates a virus strain that our bodies' current antibodies cannot recognize. These can be the deadly ones as those who are susceptible die before they can create antibodies to fight off the infection. We are about 20 years overdue for a serious pandemic and thus the media does not want to miss something this potentially dangerous. Keyword is "potentially" dangerous. We already made it through the initial phase of spread of the H1N1 virus and it failed to be as dangerous as expected. Here is another fact for perspective: The "regular" flu kills 36,000 Americans each year and the H1N1 flu has killed 522 in the US so far.

So now the media wants everyone to be aggressive this fall with hand washing, coughing into covered hands or tissue, and staying home when sick with flu-like symptoms. Do not worry (remember Matthew 6:25-27) but just be wise as above.

jxibalba

apple's iphoto vs google's picassa

This is more of a personal reflection that a true review of these two very fine photo management programs. Until I switched from Windows to Mac as my operating system of choice in August 2008 I would without a doubt say that Google's Picasa is the only photo management program worth using. However, once I fell in complete love with Mac OSX, I had to give iPhoto the opportunity to challenge my love for Picasa. Initially, I was not very impressed with iPhoto 08 and actually would use my windows PC to manage photos until Google released a Mac version of Picasa around January 2009. For the next several months I attempted to throw my complete support and time into using Picasa and it worked quite well - even interfacing with my iPhone with ease.

However, I was still not completely satisfied but unsure exactly why as there were not any particular features that I was yearning for or that I felt missing from Picasa for Mac. In fact, I have always preferred the way that photos can be scrolled within the Picasa program versus any other photo management program. But once I began using iPhoto 09 regularly, I thoroughly enjoyed how well Faces and Places worked but especially liked the easy sharing features for MobileMe, Facebook, and Flickr. Sharing your photos is just as important as organizing them and so I have now "comitted" to iPhoto 09. And once I better learned how to use events and albums, I felt that iPhoto 09 was definitely where I should be - for now...

jxibalba

airport computer problems

While we actually had a great experience with our flights home from the Florida vacation (much different than the flight cancellation and significant re-routing to get there), I did get an amusing opportunity. Apparently, the flight monitors at the Memphis Airport are managed by Microsoft Windows and when Internet Explorer crashes, it takes the system with it (as viewed in above photo). This monitor, as well as many others, were frozen due to an error in iexplore.exe that crashed it all. Now I fully understand that Microsoft Windows holds quite an extensive market portion compared to other operating systems and that there is not as much software available for the other more powerful, robust, and stable systems like Mac and Linux. However, I would hope that upon review of a "black box" from a crashed plane, it would not have a blue screen error or memory dump listed as the cause for all those fatalities.

jxibalba

Destin, FL Travels

I am sitting in the Memphis Airport waiting for the connection flight to bring us home from a wonderful trip to Destin, FL to spend time with my family. We packed a lot into a short trip and had a great time on the beach and in the resort pools as well as some neat excursions to Baytowne Wharf and Seaside, FL - which is the original "Urbanist" community and filming location for the 1998 Jim Carey movie "The Truman Show." The photos above and below were taken from the resort balcony with my iPhone. There will be more photos to share and more details of the trip revealed upon return home.



jxibalba

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

New Puppy!

Last week we welcomed a new puppy, Dexter, into our lives after one of our patients rescused him. She was unable to care for any extra puppies and even had another that our in-laws took home. Both are Daschund puppies less than a year old and are wonderfully behaved even with a history of abuse. After several days of wrestling with our current Daschund puppy, Lexie, he and she are getting along quite well. He even dealt with some bloody diarrhea the first few days from stress reaction. The picture above is the best I could take with the iPhone since he is mostly so active. Hopefully I can get some videos uploaded over the next few weeks.



Above photo of Lexie and Dexter laying asleep on my lap.

j.xibalba

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

wife & nephew birthday party

So my beautiful wife turned 30 last weekend and we celebrated with her family. Her nephew (who she actually delivered turned 7 on the same date). We had wonderfully grilled steak and chicken and some delicious dessert. She has really taken this milestone in stride but you really can't blame her since she looks so much younger - and even just ran her first marathon just a few weeks ago. I love her so much and we thoroughly enjoy livin the dream...


- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

being thankful

This image is the front of a card that I received from a patient as thanks after an in-office procedure for removing her toenail. She was very thankful that it went so well and was not painful. Apparently others in town make removing a partial or full nail a painful experience and thus I have quickly become the physician to go to for toenail surgery. This card matches my sarcastic style of humor and the inside states something to the effect of how people in general aren't very thankful in life. I loved the card and have showed it to many as the humor and biblical reference are classic. A gentle but humorous reminder to be thankful to others...

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

princess?

Is it true that our miniature Dachshund puppy Lexie lives like a princess? Probably. But do we care - definitely not. She really likes to sleep in like her daddy and some mornings it's hard to get her up completely before we leave for work. Here she is just sleeping the morning away in our bed...very comfortable...




- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

Cleveland Marathon 2009

Well, I am very proud to say that my wife and two of her best friends ran the Cleveland Marathon just a few weeks ago and they did a magnificent job! They finished the 26.2 mile run in under 4 hours! And, frighteningly enough, afterwards, they stated that they were ready for another. I can not and will not ever be able to understand running without a purpose - I used to be able to run miles during a soccer game but at least had a ball to chase. I can barely even run 2-3 miles on the treadmill before my mind forceably removes me due to complete boredom. They only way that I could run longer would be to take ADHD medication to allow me to focus enough and not become completely paralyzed from lack of interest.

Our stay in Cleveland was quite nice and I enjoyed walking around downtown and checking out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Browns Stadium. Lake Erie was also quite pretty at dusk as well. It sounds like their next running trips will be planned around shopping epicenters and thus more of a girl's adventure.

mushroom-hunting?

One thing that I have learned recently about living in a small town is that "Mushroom-Hunting" appears to be an extremely common adventure about this time of year - almost everyone I asked of all ages do this annually. I have seen numerous patients in the office over the past several weeks with poison ivy, tick bites, and even sunburn - all from being outside more and in the woods "hunting" for mushrooms. Being a city-boy and growing up in the concrete jungle that is Dallas, TX, I was always told to never eat a wild mushroom and only those that are store-bought. I have since learned that some are safe and some are questionable.

The picture I took above is a morel mushroom that was just 10 yards into the woods behind my house - these are the highly-sought kind that locally are worth about $70-80 per pound. Since these are so distinctive, they are easy and safe to hunt whereas the standard umbrella-style mushroom may or may not be safe - more knowledge is needed. My patients have informed me that these mushrooms are prepared by (1) soaking in salt-water for 24-48 hours, then (2) cut in half lengthwise, (3) rolled in batter, and finally (4) pan-fried until floating for usually about 4-5 minutes.

Although I do enjoy fried mushrooms at restaurants, I have yet to try some homemade mushrooms but have several patients saying they will bring me some - guess I will have to wait and see...

j.xibalba

night away

My beautiful wife and I escaped town for a night for some rest and time together away from the suffering at work. We actually found a luxory hotel within an hour from our small town - Le Merigot in Evansville. It was very nice and we were treated excellent during our stay.



It had a very modern feel and a really neat bathroom setup with frosted glass and rainmaker shower that poured from directly above.



Several restaurants and pubs were within walking distance in a part of town called The District.



It was such a nice time that we plan on making this a regular and frequent experience for us.

j.xibalba

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

my 3 red rings of death

It finally happened to me - funny since I believed I was immune after all this time. The other day as Halo Wars was loading up with another new co-op mission with a good friend I saw this...



Being very well educated in the specifics of the Xbox 360 hardware I knew that I would need a new box while this one went for warranty repair. This box was one of the early ones - not a release 360 - but a very early 2006 model.

I hopped in the car and ran to Walmart to solve my problem with a Resident Evil Red Xbox 360. Back to glorious gaming in no time - and now with the new faster and quieter GPU/CPU combo (code-named Jasper), a spacious 120 GB hard drive, and gorgeous HDMI.

Ironically enough I was able to "repair" my original 360 through a forced over-heating and have had no errors since. Still this was perfect timing for the new motherboards and now all is well in Xibalba's Theatre.

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

Mobile Blogging Part II

So I bought another new blogging app on the iPhone called Blogpress that can incorporate photos and this will be the first test post.

Here is a photo from my iPhone that I used another iPhone app called ColorSplash to create. It allows you to add or remove color to any photo quite easily to create impressive effects.



The above photo was taken at my favorite place on earth - the Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs, CO. I always enjoy a sampler of their majestic brews everytime I find myself near Denver.

God Bless American Brewing!

- mobile blogging posted from iPhone

Mobile Blogging

So I just downloaded a free blogging program for the iPhone to test out if I can post more regularly by doing it on the fly - we will see and only time will tell. This free version will not allow me to post pictures and so I must commit soon to purchase a version that will allow me to share photos.

I have been spending more time recently on Twitter and enjoy more of the anonyminity to share rather than Facebook. Being a physician in a small town really limits certain personal freedoms and thus this is one area I must protect.

Until I post again...

dillingham brothers reunion

Wow, has it really been 4 months since my last post - I am terrible at updating this. Anyways, there was a momentous event just a few weekends ago - a reunion of brothers - Mike and John Dillingham had a weekend to remember (or not) after a 2 and 1/2 year absence. It was a joyous celebration of life and pleasure - a true example of existential viscera for sure. I will share some of the events that occurred but others are meant only for the annals of deep recollection and not for public revelation.


There definitely was a large amount of reverence towards whiskey - in particular the beloved and internationally respected Jack Daniels products - including black label, Gentleman Jack, and of course Single Barrel. Large amounts of delicious meat were also devoured. Plenty of video gaming delight ensued as many spartans, covenant, and zombies were massacred without mercy.


Exhilarating night and day ATV riding was experienced as we dashed through the woods and fields and somehow ended up covered in cold wet earth.


An in-house surgery ensued since John has honed in his surgical skills over the years.



And of course there was fire - and with it the destruction of memories from the Dillingham brothers' medical school experience.

And there was more that was legendary but will be passed on as lore only by those experientially involved.

How could anyone accomplish so many momentous feats in such a short time? The world is left speechless as the Dillingham brothers truly live the surreal existence.