Vegas, baby!

So I'm off to the EMSWorld Expo - honking big EMS conference in Vegas!

Jessi is meeting us there, Boone is on his way, and Joe, Lloyd, and I are catching a flight this afternoon. I'm getting really stoked about the whole thing.

Oh, and I will be blogging from the convention, so stay tuned for more about EMS than you can handle!

Get Kilted!!

http://www.kiltedtokickcancer.org/
C'mon boys - it's time to get checked!

Prostate Cancer Facts:

• About 240,890 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2011.
• About 33,720 men will die of prostate cancer in 2011.
• About 1 man in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime.
• More than 2 million men in the United States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today.
• Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer.
• About 1 man in 36 will die of prostate cancer.

Testicular Cancer Facts:

• It most often affects men between ages 20 and 39.
• It affects 8,000 men a year, and kills 390 of them.
• It is the most common form of cancer in men ages 15-34.
• 95% of cases can be cured if detected early.

Lyle L. Guiles, 1917 - 2011

Rest in peace, grandpa. We will miss you.

I tried to find a picture to post, but with moving and such I haven't found one yet. The one I will always hold in my memory (and one I hope I can get) was a snapshot of him building a runway on a nameless Pacific Island as a member of the Navy's "Seabees" (CB = Construction Battalion). He was standing tall during WWII, and that's how I would like to remember him.

He suffered a stroke 6 weeks ago and passed away at home under hospice care.

I am glad I got to spend so much time with him growing up, and wish I had spent more as an adult. He was a great man and will be sorely missed.

Berry Pickin'

Aims, Tuck, the dogs, and I headed out for some berry picking on Saturday. The huckleberries in Jardine are still very green, but Aims had heard about some good raspberries up Tom Miner basin so that was the plan for the day. We checked out some currants in Cinnibar briefly before going up to Tom Miner.

Let me just say, TM is gorgeous! It is also, unfortunately, mostly privately owned so there are a ton of "do not leave roadway, next 4 miles crosses private land" signs. We found a few good patches of raspberries and black currants, and the hucks up there are green or in flower as well. We should have an excellent crop if the frost doesn't get them.

Good day for us, dogs got to run crazy, and I think even Tuck had fun in the end.

Aims is going to make more jam, I think...

I'm a sucker for puppies

http://www.nps.gov/dena/photosmultimedia/webcams-pups.htm

Denali's sled dogs. Dang cool.

Pingo had 3 pups this year, and they have their own webcam.

Makes me want to run up to AK and snuggle them, or at least adopt a few throwaway alaskan huskies at the pound. Guess that wouldn't go over too well in a house that's only allowed 2 pets...

I need to get back in to mushing. I miss it.

Why must time be so elastic?

So I'm lying in bed this morning, relishing a few extra moments of sleep. Each time I open my eyes the clock has gone into fast-forward overdrive.

Now, though, I'm sitting at my computer at work. It's 1:23 pm. I work on a task, print out a map, deliver it, and return to my desk. Now it's 1:26 pm. Really?

At this point I'm convinced that clocks run more slowly between 1 and 6 every day.