Remember the Dead

[Recycled from 09:54, 31 October 2004, and from 31 October 2005, and 2006]

This evening, we will be giving out what we usually give on Halloween: a plastic bag containing a comic book, a small toy, a piece or two of candy, and this card:

Remember the Dead

This is the night when the ancestors return to receive the hospitality of the living.

If we show them proper courtesy, with gifts and food, we will have their blessing through the coming year. As long as we honor the dead, they remain with us. Of coruse, if we fail to welcome them with proper courtesy, things may not go so well . . . especially tonight.

It is all too easy to ignore death and pretend it doesn't happen. But hiding from our fear will only make it greater. Better to choose a time to face our mortality -- and defy it.

So to memorialize the departed, and to confront our own fear of death, throw wide your doors tonight, and heed well the words of the evening's honored visitors:

"Trick or Treat!"

//The Magic 8-Ball says, "Have a mini-Snickers, Grandpa."\\

War of the Worlds

[Recycled from 11:57, 30 October 2004, and from 30 October 2005]

Not nearly enough people saw the excellent film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension, but those who did were treated to Buck's stunned realization that all of the members of the conspiracy he had uncovered had registered for Social Security cards in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, on November 1st, 1938 -- the day after the supposed "Martian invasion" hoax!

I sat there in the theater, thinking, "That's not right -- although Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast was intended as a Halloween fright, it actually went out on October 30th, the regularly scheduled night for the Mercury Radio Theater show. But since that was a Saturday show, November 1st would have been the next business day, so he's right after all."

My next thought was, "Good grief, I know all that stuff!"

What can I say? I'm very fond of the story, both the novel and the radio show. One of my great pleasures over the years has been tuning in repeats of the original broacast every Halloween. Alas, radio stations are now a bit reluctant to put voices on the air decribing the devastation of New York -- one more thing to tax Osama bin Laden with -- but the tapes are still there, and so is the book (the 1953 film and the 1987 TV series I never cared for all that much).

[Update, 2005: Twisting the dial on Halloween this year, I brought in part of a CBC broadcast of the Martian invasion of Ontario -- what fun! I also didn't think much of the 2004 Spielberg film, I'm afraid.]

[Update, 2014: Someone challenged me, and I find I was wrong: the Mercury Theater was a Sunday show, so October 31st was a Monday, and that would have been the proper date for immediately registering for a Social Security card.  http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1938]

//The Magic 8-Ball says, "Across the gulfs of space, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic regarded our Earth with envious eyes and slowly, surely, drew their plans against us . . . ."\\

George and Dorothy's 50th Anniversary

This is a photograph of my parents, George and Dorothy Burt, on their wedding day, October 21st, 1959. When they observed their 50th wedding anniversary today, Kathe and I brought a print of this photo, with a story written by Kathe superimposed over it. That story is below.

The Love that Never Gave Up


There was a boy whose Father was very Old, and as he grew older himself, he resolved that he would never be an Old Father, because it wasn't much fun for the son, and it couldn't have been much fun for the father either.

So as he grew up, he made plans. First, he must make a place for himself in the World. He must find good and rewarding Work, and then he could marry and start a Family. So he went to College, where he expected to learn many things and find something he would like to do for his Work

He found it very difficult, and he had to leave the College. He next tried the Air Force, but it didn't agree with him, or he with it, so he returned to College. It was hard, but he Didn't Give Up. He tried, and again he tried, and he got his Degree. About this time, he decided that he was well-enough along the way to his Work that he could marry, and start to be a Young Father.

But that did not work out well. He and his wife soon parted. But he Did Not Give Up on marriage either. He met another young woman, one who was well-familiar with Not Giving Up. Her parents had been refugees, people without a home. They were so poor that the famous Church Mice were richer than they (at least the Church Mice had a roof over their heads). But they Did Not Give Up, and gradually they became successful, and they raised a large family of boys and girls who Never Gave Up.

Although the man and his new wife started a Family very soon, the man found that to do his Work, he needed more Degrees. So he returned to College again. Again he found it hard. And now it was very hard, for he and his wife had several small boys to take care of, as well as the studying that was necessary to obtain the Degrees. But the man and his wife Did Not Give Up.

In the fullness of time, the man gained his Degrees, and found his Work, and he and his wife raised three happy, healthy boys, and later they had many Adventures.

And when the man was Very Old, and his wife was almost as Old, they looked back at their life together, and saw that it had been very good, and that they had children who were happy in their Work, and grandchildren who were happy and healthy.

And it was all because of the Love that Never Gave Up.


But why do you say that it was the Love, that Never Gave Up?

What was it, my children, but the Love? The Love this man had for his children long before they were born, that he was determined that they should have a better life than he, and that they should have what he had always wanted, a Young Father. That Love Never Gave Up, and it accomplished a Fine Thing Indeed.

All of us will pass from this earth, and our places will be taken by others, but what better thing can people say of us, when we are gone, than that our lives were driven by Love?

[I couldn't simply post the image itself because it is a .pdf, which Blogger won't support]

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Go ahead, make me scrye."\\

Phlebotomy Resources

These are sites that might be of use to phlebotomy students, placed here for the convenience of my classmates.

Miscellaneous Resources



http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/PHLEB/PHLEB.html



http://www.accd.edu/sac/nursing/r2201/pedsg/heelsticks.htm


http://www.austincc.edu/mlt/phb/phb_links.html



http://www.plcofdenver.com/html/general.html



http://www.phlebotomypages.com/phlebotomy_resources.htm



http://www.ehow.com/way_5207554_phlebotomy-tutorial.html



Educational Videos



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yS2iOF7AGo



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRqxy_2g0NQ



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecu2ZewPoNM



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJHGzQXerSc



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERu0vjDEVDw

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Look and see for yourself."\\

A Gathering of Willamette Valley Poets

Kathe and I attended an event called "A Gathering of Willamette Valley Poets", part of Oregon Poetry Month, at the invitation of our friend Lana, whom we met by shopping at the bead store where she works.

At the event, we heard Lana join a group in a charming humorous recitation, and heard some other friends of longer standing read their works, as well as a number of people we didn't know.

It was fun. I wish more people had been there. I wish Kathe and I did things like that more often. Well, if we cultivate the habit, liekly we will.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Practice what you want more of."\\

Going To Phlebotomy School

Well, as Moses said when he stood before the Red Sea and raised his hands, I sure hope this works.

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "May Hermes guide your hand."\\