Today, the Pohick familiy joined over 700 people from the local area to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS.
According to the ALS Association there are 30,000 cases across the county and every 90 seconds someone dies from ALS, a disease that has no treatment, no cure and the cause is unknown.
Many people in the community hope that won't be the case for long as they participated in the annual ALS Walk in Huntsville.
"ALS is a neuromuscular disease that affects the voluntary muscles. What happens is basically all your muscles die off and you become trapped within your body so your mind remains in tact the whole time," said Janet Wright the ALS Association Director.
Walk to defeat ALS
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The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe. The Borg are cybernetically enhanced humanoid drones who are linked together against their will with a bunch of technology and wires. Much like the gentleman in this picture. The Borg have become a symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against which "resistance is futile".
For years, Molly has berated Jake for what she considers to be his extremely loud snoring. Jake tried to explain to her that everyone snores, but like the saying goes, "Resistance is Futile." Jake finally acquiesced and asked his doctor if there was anything that could be done about his snoring. Jake's doctor referred him to a specialist who explained that he may be suffering from something called sleep apnea in which the snoring becomes extreme enough to have an impact on restful sleep. In order to determine if Jake actually has sleep apnea, he would have to undergo a series of tests to evaluate what is going on while he sleeps. Jake agreed to the tests without really knowing what he was getting himself into. The tests are conducted in what is euphemistically called a sleep center. I say euphemistically, because the first night Jake spent there, he did not sleep even a wink. Perhaps it was the weirdness of being wired up with all of the latest technology including a EKG, EEG, Pulse oximeter, microphones, airflow meters that kept Jake from being able to turn his brain off. Or perhaps it was the fact that he could not relax because he was thinking about the people who were starring at him all night using night vision cameras. In any event the first night was a total bust and Jake was feeling a little loseresque as he lamented that he couldn't even sleep right. Jake has now done three nights at the sleep center and has gotten much better about actually sleeping at the sleep clinic. It is much easier to sleep there when you just think of it as a hotel room which is indeed what it looks like. It is also easier to sleep there when you know what to expect. He also know all of the techs on a first name basis and could probably hook up and install all of the monitoring equipment himself if he was pressed to do so. Jake took along his own pillows, a good book, watched some TV and slipped into a blissful slumber. We must now wait for a diagnosis from the doctor, but we'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time, just remember, "Resistance is Futile"!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday night lights
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Ok, so Jake had one of those ah-ha moments just now. When he was a pre-teen, he had a crush on the actress Kristy McNichol. Just one of those innocent pre-teen sorts of things. But years later, he met and fell deeply in love with Molly, the girl of his dreams. As he was flipping through a box of old pictures today, he found a picture of Molly. Or was it Kristy? I don't know. You decide. What does this mean?
Today in honor of Molly's Birthday, Jake took the day off and took Molly on a hike along the Tennessee River. We started off at Ditto Landing and hike North along the Aldridge Creek Greenway.
Along the hiked, Molly found a new friend. It was a little green snake who was certainly more friendly than the Black Racer Snake that she found last year. Molly was afraid that the snake would be stepped on or run over by a bicycle, so she was determined to scoot the snake off of the trail. He wasn't inclined to move out of the way though so we just went about our business.
Rough Green Snakes are fairly long – to 32 in (81 cm) – slender, bright green snakes with yellow or whitish bellies that spend much of their time climbing in vegetation. Their bright green color easily distinguishes them from all other snakes in Georgia and South Carolina but the similar Smooth Green Snake replaces this species in the Appalachian Mountains and the Northeast. Rough Green Snakes have keeled scales and large eyes. After death the color of green snakes fades to blue or black and dead individuals may resemble small black racers. Young Green Snakes resemble adults.
Range and Habitat: Rough Green Snakes are found throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey west to central Texas and south throughout Florida . They are common in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain but are absent from the higher elevations of the mountains.
Rough green snakes can be found in a variety of habitats but are most common in open forests and edge habitats. They can be particularly abundant along the margins of wetlands and rivers, where they search overhanging vegetation for insects.
Habits: Rough Green Snakes are probably the most arboreal snakes in our region and spend the majority of their time hunting for insects, spiders, and other invertebrates in vegetation well above the ground. When encountered, green snakes often freeze, relying on their green coloration for camouflage. At night, Green Snakes can often be found sleeping coiled in shrubs, vine tangles, or thick vegetation. During cool weather Green Snakes often take refuge on the ground and can sometimes be found hiding beneath logs, rocks, or debris. They mate in the spring and females lay 3 – 12 eggs in the early summer.
Conservation Status: Rough Green Snakes are generally common and are not protected. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that this species may be declining in some areas, particularly southern Florida.
Jake got a little surprise this morning when he was out for his morning run. He always greets the people and creatures that he meets along his running route. He greets the people and dogs. He greets the cats and cows and horses. This morning he saw what he thought was a little cat. Just to be neighborly, he greeted the cat with his customary, "Good Morning Kitty Kitty Kitty." The cat upon hearing this, came running over to Jake, which Jake thought was very friendly and he prepared to pet the kitty. That was until he noticed that the kitty had an unusual white stripe down his back. Jake started backing up rapidly, but the kitty kept coming towards him. Jake had called to the kitty after all. By this point Jake was madly running down the street screaming. "LE PEW! LE PEW!"
The morale to this story is that you should use a certain degree of caution when petting black and white cats in the twilight hours.
Who say's you can't have fun after 40? Certainly not Jake and Molly as they rehearse for their new Cirque Du Soleil act.
Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun,") is a Canadian entertainment company. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier.
Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – with the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.
Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to approximately 3,500 employees from over 40 countries producing 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica, with an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$600 million.The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city's visitors, adding to the 70+ million people who have experienced Cirque. In 2000, Laliberté bought out Gauthier, and with 95% ownership, has continued to expand the brand. Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women's clothing line and the possible venture into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs.
Cirque's creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including Bambi, Rose d'Or, three Gemini Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
When Nurse McGillicuddy prepares to perform a procedure, we all get just a little bit frightened.
Actually Molly is preparing her world famous Chicken Pot Pie. This is a bit of a misnomer, because it isn't actually a pie at all. It's more of a chicken stew with big flat homemade noodles floating around in it. Though it isn't pie, it is quite yummy with all of it's rich chickeny hot and steamy deliciousness.
Today, the Pohick familiy joined over 700 people from the local area to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS.
