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Michele had her tonsils taken out on Thursday. They have been chronically infected for some time now and had to be removed to bring an end to the trouble they were causing her. But, as an adult the resulting pain from this procedure is quite intense. After reading a dozen or so medical news groups and first-hand accounts of the postoperative pain levels I have found that it has been rated as causing a higher pain level than many types of abdominal surgery. Also her type of tonsillectomy was electrocautery. A heated type of scalpel is used to burn and cauterize as it cuts. This procedure makes for an average blood lose of about 4ml and it is the fastest method in use. Unfortunately it is also the most painful postoperatively.

I am taking care of her while she heals and working from home. There's to be no physical activities exceeding 5lbs as any increase in blood pressure could cause bleeding. No coughing, no clearing of the throat, no nothing. Recovery time for this procedure, based on the posting I have read from patients, ranges from 12 to 22 days.

I have a new respect for Michele. i would likely not do it if I knew all this before hand. I love her and bothers me greatly that I can do nothing to reduce the pain. All I can do is keep filling the ice bags, keeping her full of cold water and get her meals and anything else she needs. I'm sure that the pain is a real downer too. Not being able to do anything other than wince in pain every time you have to swallow and is hard to sleep through.

I can't wait for her to be pain free. She'll definitely be better with her tonsils. But, I want my happy bubbles back. :(

What's a Gundam you ask? Well it's a huge robotic suit piloted by a human for combat on land, in the air or in space. And on this an entire industry, a couple dozen TV series and dozens of movies have been based. The Gundam comes from Japan. I have a been a fan of the various Gundam series and movies since the late 80's but it was not something you saw here too much till a few years ago when Cartoon Network started to carry a few of the various series.

Well we have a store here called Tokyo Discount. It is a Japanese store with a little bit of everything from Japan on the shelves. This includes a small toy section with models t-shirts, noh theater masks etc. Several months ago they had on the shelf a five inch tall completed model of a Mobile Suit RX-78-1 Perfect Gundam. It's a completed kit with the Gundam in it's original form from 1978. It also has with it all the equipment and armor that can be added on to it for aerial and space combat. I wanted this thing in the worst kind of way but did not have the money. I'm not going to say how much but it's pricey for its size. :) I kept checking that it was there from time to time. I even pointed it out to Michele. We went in one day for visitation back in April and it was gone. Someone had bought it. I was way bummed.

But, on my birthday, Michele presented me with that very Gundam kit. She was the one that absconded with it from the store one day while I was at work. I love her. It's a great present. I may be 37 but inside I have a 12 year old that likes his toys and this one is one of the best. I took it to work and put it in my cubicle where it got quite a bit of attention as I assembled it for display.

I put everything on mine for space combat. It comes with a stand as well so you can pose it while off of its feet.

My box does not look the same, but this is the same kit. Mine was a blister pack in a box. The image [here] is just for reference so you can see what came with it. I forgot to take a shot of my box to show you.

Here are the pics
Front view 01

Front view 02

Back view

Front detail

On its stand

Everything on it moves and is poseable, even the little rocket nozzles can be aimed in any direction. It also came with six pairs of hands that you can change out if you want it holding one of its different swords, shields, gun, or three different hand poses.

Now at first glance this thing looks like there was a lot of work in painting it. But, not so. It turns out that all the parts are a semi-flexible latex or vinyl. If you were to scratch any part of this thing it would be the same color under the scratch, with the exception of the decals of course. The Gundam and all of its parts have been cast in their corresponding colors. The parts don't snap together, they just kind of ease together as you push them into their sockets. For lack of a better description, it's as if it is made of blocks of dried latex paint. It feels the same anyway, same luster, same flexibility, solid with no hollow parts save for the ones that were made to go around others.

You can completely take this apart down to it's skeleton and then rebuild it. There are a ton of parts and the instructions, which are in Japanese, have loads of pictures showing how it all assembles. Everything fits perfect and the flexibility gives it some forgiveness if you miss align something while pushing the pieces together. Durable, flexible, pose able and highly detailed. This is one of the best kits I have ever seen and it was a great present for Michele to get me. I love it.

There is also a 30 inch tall version of the same thing I have been tracking on line for a few months. It runs about $1000 and has even more detail and parts. It takes around one to two hours to assemble. And then there is the end all be all of Gundam models....

It's called the Giant Gundam by Bandai, the company that makes it. The name fits. This is the one the guys at work want to see on my cubicle wall. It stands 5.5 feet tall, weighs 70 pounds, has hundreds of parts and takes about 4-6 hours to assemble. When Bandai first offered these things in 2006 they were $3,500. I'm still hunting for even mention of one of these things for sale some where. Not that I'd be buying it any time soon but I am curious if they're out there. I'm sure that the people who bought them are not going to part with them anytime soon...I wouldn't. If I had one at work it would be like having another person in my cubicle with me. I mean sheesh, look at it, it's bigger than the girl standing with it! Awesome!

There's always Christmas :D

So as you heard on Michele's blog, we have a new turtle in the house. A yellow belly slider, which we still do not have a name for yet. If you have any ideas, post them....SCHNELL!

(please note that I am zoomed in more on the new guy so these are not to scale)

Ping Pong at about 8 months old

No Name or T2 at about 3 weeks old

And so you can see the sizes of the two of them together...

Ping Pong looks like a beast next to the baby. The two did not have an uneventful start. Ping Pong has been pretty used to the idea that he is the only thin in the tank that gets all the fish, pellets and time under the sun lamp that he wants. Enter the baby. Ping Pong has, on several occasions, walked over to the baby while sitting under the lamp, put his nose under the edge of the baby's shell and flipped him into the water. He has also shoved him off as well. He has nipped at him in the water and even uses him as a stepping stool to get out the drying box.

It used to be that Ping Pong could not get out of this box and it was convenient to leave him in it for a while so he could dry off. You never know if he actually does this on his own as he will shoot off of his little rock whenever you walk by the tank. He's either frightened or he thinks your going to feed him and rushes to the front of the tank to see what you have for him.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, he made his first successful escape from the box while it was up on a chair. We heard a thud, then a clang and then another thud. We looked over and here he was trucking across the floor away from the chair. On his way out he hit the cushion (first thud) then the rung of the chair (that would ebbe the clang) and then the carpet (the final thud) and then home free.

Normally his attempts are less successful as can be seen in the following photos of various landings and flips. Yes, he does right himself when he lands upside down. I think that this ability will fade as he gets larger though. If you wan to see him flip, go here. I posted it on YouTube.

Ha! Made it!

And he has apparently taught these skills to the new guy as well. He tries to escape just as much and even attempts it in the aquarium.

As time goes they seem to be getting along better together. I have seen the baby try to get on Ping Pong's back at least once but Ping Ping ran off the dock before he'd let him get on him. They sit next to each other now or at opposite ends of the dock while sunning.

All in all, not bad. They're getting used to each other. Or, more importantly, Ping Pong is getting used to the baby in the tank. The baby has started eating fish flakes, beta pellets and baby turtle pellets. I'll introduce him to fish next week. Muuuahahahhaa!!!

It has finally happened! Our offer was accepted on a house that was for sale near by. Michele and I have been looking at houses since we got here. Most of the time it was for fun and it was an easy way to go shopping that didn't involve spending any money. We were mainly looking at new construction. We've seen houses as small as 1200 square feet and as large as 7800 sqft. And here they don't include the garage in the square footage. Back in PA they do. We found that out when we were looking at houses initially to rent when we came here house hunting in 06.

The house were made an offer on was only on the market for eight days. It was supposed to be a fast sale. The house is bank-owned. All offers had to be in by the end of business two Fridays ago and they had to be the best offer possible as this was a one-shot deal. We made a high bid, as we really wanted it. While we were back East we got a call that there were nine other offers on the house and the bank was countering all of them saying "Ok, now what is your best highest offer?" What happened to one-shot? We told our agent to resubmit the offer with no change, that that was our best.

Well, today we got the call from the agent saying that our offer was the best and was accepted! Of course this means that the bank was just trying to squeeze some more out of the sale. Feh!

In any case, we're getting a house and making a home here. We will officially be Las Vegas residents with this move of just a couple of blocks.

We'll have pictures up as soon as possible but right now, time to think about home improvements.

My brother and his wife just had their first child, a girl.
Congratulations!!!!!!

Allison Gayle Little
7 lbs. 14 oz.
21 inches
10:17 am
02/01/2008