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This Diamond Ring

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:27:37 -0400

These are pictures of the ring and earring set that belonged to Richard's grandma on his Dad's side. His mom & dad offered them to us to use in our wedding rings.

Diamond earrings

When I heard that we could use a pair of diamond earrings I envisioned something more like this:

But they turned out to be vintage Eastern Star past matron jewelry -- a pair of screw back earrings set with diamonds and colored triangular stones, in 14k yellow gold with a 14k white gold overlay. And the ring was formerly a pin, also 14k yellow with a 14k white gold overlay. The center diamond on it is a little larger, as is the gavel which symbolizes her having served as a Past Matron.

Though the ring fits perfectly and I am wearing it for now, of course as is it will not work. But now that I am seeing all the pieces I am thinking about so many kinds of options to re-work into something really unique and interesting.

Your Ring on my Finger

And the other side of my concern is that there may be more historical value to the set as is, than if taken apart. A pretty extensive google query came up with nothing even close to as nice as any one of these pieces. Take a closer look.

Any ideas?

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New York Nights

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:42:48 -0400

Richard & Samma Skyline

I spent last week in New Jersey presenting our Global Compliance training and showing the love to some of the co-workers I support. I always enjoy traveling for work, and, when I can, I like to link it to a weeknd so I can enjoy some personal travel time. I'd convinced another co-worker in town from Atlanta who had never been to NYC to do the same. so we both had Saturday evening flights.

WTC Ground Zero Memorial

86th Floor Empire State Building

Flags on 86th Floor

City Lights

I enjoy traveling, but this time, it was a lot harder to be away from home and Richard. Fortunately, he was able to use his travel benefits to join me Thursday night. He teleworked from the hotel Friday, and then we checked into the Newark Airport Hilton which I got for a STEAL on -- $89.

Of course, I printed the driving directions to the Newark Penn Station Hilton, and the usual wackiness that comes from letting me navigate. Which ultimately cost us about 2 hours, a few mad dashes through NJ rush hour traffic with luggage in the rain, and my co-worker's ability to hang for more wackiness getting into the city Friday night.

Richard, on the other hand, is a trooper! So off we went into the night, seeking food and adventure. We took 3 different trains (Airport Rail, NJ PATH, NJ Transit) to the World Trade Center Station -- being there 7 years and a day after 9/11/2001 certainly gives perspective to what was otherwise a grand frolic. After paying our respects, we wandered up West Broadway, just soaking up the night, enjoying each other's company, and looking for something to appeal to us for dinner.

I spotted this place, with a fun looking bakery and streetside seating and so we checked it out. Turned out to be much more upscale than we expected, and the 'casual' side of NY's Chez Panni cook fresh, seasonal local influenced chef, David Bouley. We had about a 30 minute wait sipping beer/martini and checking out the Bakery, then had an absolutely AMAZING dinner:

wild mushroom salad truffle dressing and parmesan cheese

chatham day boat lobster red wine sauce and parsnip rosemary apple puree

Kobe Tataki seared Kobe beef in a ponzu dipping sauce

Chilled Creamy Dill Soup with fresh shrimp (and an oddly placed hint of vanilla)

Kamo Roast Duck & seared eggplant

Kakuni

Next day: (to be updated)

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OH! Savannah!

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:22:31 -0400

Richard & I tried to go diving off the GA coast this past weekend, but between Fay, Gustav and Hannah, somebody had other plans. Before we knew all that, though, we decided to break up the drive by stopping in Savannah and have brunch with Paula Deen at "The Lady & the Tramp". It's not bad, but doesn't live up to the hype. None the less, we found ourselves needing to walk it off before driving down the coast another 2 hours. As we were ambling up the main drag, we saw crowds and lots of police activity. Here's what we saw. Click on the pictures, it's totally worth it.

Found a great post on the history of the building and fountain by Julia C. Muller. She also says the driver has already been released from the hospital!

Here's her article; Cotton was king in the late 1800s. The Factors wanted a build as a trading center. The City had to pass an ordinance to allow the construction of the building on the site and did so on Nov. 18, 1885. The Exchange Board of Directors then advertised for an architect. They chose Boston architect William Gibbons Preston. After consulting and designing, ground was broken in June 1886. The grand opening of the building was held on Sept. 19, 1887. The guardian fountain lion was also designed by Preston. It was installed 2 years later on Oct. 15, 1889. FYI, Preston also designed other local buildings including Independent Presbyterian Church, Guards Amory, Baldwin Mansion and my favorite, the old Hotel DeSoto.

The building was occupied by cotton factors until about 1947. Then various other businesses had offices in the edifice. The Savannah Chamber of Commerce moved in there in 1954. The Freemasons brought it about 1976.

Also from the same post, got this great image of the statue and light post, apparently taken the day before. Photo Credit belongs to a Savannah Now blogger named 'emom'. Such a spectacular guy. What a shame!

Statue & Lightpost 09 29 08

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On a lighter subject

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:15:09 -0400

Richard's company held a Braves night out in the all you can eat section. This was my first time to Turner Field, Braves vs Giants. I was rooting for the Giants, of course and they won, 5 - 1. Picture on far right shows Chipper Jones for the Braves at bat (I know, you'll have to just trust me).

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Not a Spider at all -- I'm a MERSA statistic

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:33:48 -0400

Woke up Sunday AM with a pain in my right arm. And I saw a really angry red mark, about the size of a dime. Had a little pus colored dot near the center, and an even tinier black dot in the middle of that. It hurt and kind of burned, so I put some Hydracortizone on it and tried to ignore it. WRONG!

Richard was off getting Re-Breather certified so I was running around doing errands & shopping. I kept noticing that the spot was getting an increasingly larger ring around it, and the skin was noticeably hot to the touch. Not good, I thought, but this will pass. WRONG!

When Richard got home that night, he told me I should go to a doctor. But I had opted for my company's Health Savings Account plan this year, and hadn't figured out exactly how to go to a doctor, nor how the payments worked, plus, I'm not exactly the "go to the doctor" type. I played my trump card:

Samma -- If this was on YOUR arm would you go to a Dr?

Richard -- that's not FAIR!

Samma -- <smirk>

But he continued to express concerns as we got ready for bed, so I decided to let almighty Google decide. LOTS of NASTY looking images later (Spider Bite Images was the query -- I do not recommend it) as well as some quality time on WebMD, I decided to just keep an eye on it. I learned Hydrocortizone was the exact wrong thing to do, and that if I was smarter, I'd have been icing it all day. But I didn't have any of the scary symptoms, so no ER trip Sunday at midnight. As a concession to Richard's fears, I drew a circle around the swelling area, and the initial bite site.

The next morning, it looked like this. Richard was convinced there was a red streak moving up my arm, but I think he was just trying to convince me to see the Dr.

Spider Bite Day 2

You can see both the initial bite site with a circle around it, and the larger circle. And extending beyond that, you can see the red and swelling extending over and around the back. And not only was it HOT to the touch, but it hurt a LOT. Aspirin helped.

The Urgent Care Clinic Doctor was terrific (though I waited 3 hours to see her when I should have been frantically managing Payroll Processing Monday). She told me I'd be a human pin cushion, then sent in a nurse to give me a new tetanus shot. Luckily, she put it in the right arm, so I had new and different pain to deal with!

Then, she had me bend over to get a thermo-nuclear antibiotic shot in the bum. Burned all the way down.

Spider Bite Pill

And finally, a 2x/day prescription for some huge antibiotic to take for a week. Dr. Nailor came back in for some comforting words:

Dr: Come in tomorrow AM so I can see how it's looking. Maybe we caught it in time. But if not ....

Samma: The scary pictures on the internet?

Dr: Well, yes, actually. But keep it covered because it is possible it is a Staph infection. Sometimes at the outset, they can appear to be the same.

Samma: How will we know if it's Staph and not a spider bite?

Dr: Well, we'll look for ... Nevermind. I'll know because I went to Med School!

Samma: oooooooooohhhhhhh ! Had to play the Med School card, didn't you! You figured little miss won't go to the doctor, look it up on WebMD, do all the exact wrong things to self-medicate needed to be put in her place! (Clearly Dr. & I had bonded -- she was awesome.)

Day 3, Went in for the AM check up, and there were lots of good signs, but the initial bite site had gotten bigger, harder and more swollen. And the pus center had grown quite a bit as well. Dr. says probably a bite, and as long as the bite spot stays hard, or starts going away on it's own, it'll be OK in a few weeks. BUT, if it gets soft & squishy, oozy or black or yucky, come in right away.

Spider Bite Day 3

Here's what it looked like that evening. You can still see the sunburn red extending out my arm, but it's the center that has really started to get icky. Still hard and not yet oozy, so I'm optimistic.

Day 4, I can't tell any more if the edges are hard, but they are definitely not yet soft & squishy. I'm a little less optimistic, and decided to VoxBlog the progress. I'd have liked to find a post like this when I Googled Spider Bite Images Sunday night.

Notice in the side view how my forearm looks more like a breast.

Spider Bite Day 4 Side

Not exactly a sight to drive the boys crazy, though, huh?

Spider Bite Day 4

Day 5, and there is definitely more oozing and general yuckiness going on. There is also a blueish cast around the bite-site, as well as a burning soreness that (overactive imagination alert!) feels like my arm muscle decomposing. (update: Dr said later that's pretty much exactly what was happening. Not good.) Of course the blue may just be bruising from my obsessively attempting to rid the wound of toxic pus build-up.

Spider Bite Day 5

I know. Big shocker. I can't stop picking at it. I keep trying to feel for the transition from 'hard' to soft & squishy. When I press on the skin around the bite site, the imprint remains for quite a while. I don't think that's great news.

Spider Bite Day 5 before

Spider Bite Day 5 after

I decided to go to the clinic on the way into work Friday so that I didn't have to worry about it all weekend long. I knew the Dr. I'd been dealing with was only M-F. When I got there, she was in the front desk area, and surprised to see me. But when we got back to the exam room, she made tsk tsk tsk noises said she was very glad I'd come in. A nurse came in to take my temp (been normal through this whole ordeal) then told me I needed to go into another room. I was a little disconcerted to see this ....

Day 6 Tray 2

Day 6 Tray 1

Looks like Implements of Destruction to me.

And sure enough, that's pretty much what happened. I took a 'before' picture, posted below. But warning: after this picture, the post and the photos get pretty graphic.

Day 6 Before

Dr came in, and told me she was going to need to open & clean the wound. She started by shooting me with a local anesthesia. The needle went in about 1 1/2 inches from the bite site, and the fluid came streaming out the opening. Dr explained that means the hole went that far, and that is not good. She continued with the meds, then began pushing, poking, and pressing to get as much gunk out as she could. She took samples of both the clear and clotted looking pus to send to the lab. She's still concerned this could be either Staph or some other celitus infection.

Next, she used the scalpel to cut the opening another 1/8 inch or so, and began digging around with the forceps to pull out dead tissue and gunk. The hole was bleeding pretty well at that point which Dr said was not of concern. Easy for her to say! At some point she took the tip of the forceps and probed in all directions. She determined there is an abscess about the size of a dime but more oval shape under the opening, and that it goes about 1/8 inch deep. She then flushed the wound with what I assume was saline. You can see the container of fluid in the Tray 2 pic, and pretty much all of that went in, then out of me. Lots more blood, as well. She started trying to pack a 1/4 cotton tape into the hole, but it became too saturated. So she snipped the other end of the wound a couple of times, and began to put in a 1 inch medicated tape. The anesthetic was wearing off at this point, so she had to hurry. I would swear she put in about 10 inches of tape. Then she had the nurse cover it, and give me another thermonuclear antibiotic in my other buttcheek.

And I am supposed to change this out daily myself! You can see the tape packing the hole in this picture.

Day 6 After

Saturday, I didn't have clue how I was going to do this for myself, being right-handed, and it being pretty darn painful. So I asked Richard to go with me and have the clinic show him how to pack the wound. A different Dr on duty, also very pleasant though the pain was excruciating.

As you can see from this photo, what felt like 10 inches of tape was more like 3 or 4. Richard says that's one of the things he loves about me. I gotNOIDEA what he's talking about ;D

Day 7

Saturday Dr prescribed another antibiotic, plus tylenol w/ codeine to take about 30 min before Richard changes the packing tape. It definitely did help last night. No picture of day 8, looks pretty much the same as day 7.

The new antibiotics seem to be working. No redness or swelling, and last night when Richard helped me change the dressings, minimal blood. And the flesh under the packing looked fairly pink and healthy. Haven't heard re: Lab culture yet.

Day 9

Each night I've been taking my tylenol w/ codeine & Richard has been patiently playing Dr. The wound is not looking better but it's not looking worse so I guess that's good. I decided to hold off til Friday for a follow-up. Meanwhile, here's Richard in action last night:

Day 11 Packing 3

Dr Nailor had the lab results Friday, and was able to say definitively I've been dealing with an Antibiotic resistant strain of Staph infection, more commonly known as MERSA. Fortunately the variation I had was susceptible to both kinds of antibiotics she had pumped me full of from my first visit. Even though my arm looks worse because the bandage adhesive has been pulling off my surrounding skin, the actual hole looks much better. It still is weeping blood, but we don't have to pack it any more. She prescribed what she calls her miracle ointment (Collagenase Santyl) and I am to put that in the wound 1 x daily, then keep it covered. I can manage that myself, though Richard says he didn't mind playing Dr. ; D Hopefully I'm on the mend now. As long as the wound doesn't get re-infected, I'm OK. Dr. says I am likely now more susceptible to new occurances, and gave me samples of another magical cream that is supposed to prevent infections from abscessing like this one did.

Lessons Learned:

NO Hydrocortizone on pus pockets

Ice it if it starts to swell and get infected looking

See a Dr early

Get a culture early and keep it covered

Make sure you have the most awesome boyfriend on the planet to help take care of you.

Update (Day 16):

Yes, we're calling this 'looking much better'.

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Never say Never

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:23:15 -0400

Richard says no one ever takes pictures of him.

Richard 7 1 08

I wonder why ......... ; D

In other recent developments, Richard's Mom & Dad have accepted our invitation to come to the ranch for Thanksgiving, so we are looking at flight options. Current thinking is to take Wednesday off and travel out Tuesday night. If we can figure out a way to dive Monterrey Bay while we are in the area, we may. (Kyle, wanna come? I know you'll be in new baby mode, but the invite is there).

Also, we are taking Mon/Tuesday off, and are heading down to West Palm Beach for a dive trip. Got a 3 1/2 star hotel for $50 on PriceLine so I'm pretty excited about that! I'm sure we'll have pictures. Meanwhile, have a SAFE & SANE Fourth of July, and don't forget -- if you're not wearing a flag lapel pin, you're probably a terrorist!

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Aquarius: Undersea Space Station

nobody@vox.com(Abel Valdivia) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:33:21 -0400

Aquarius Live Support Buoy

We have been navigating for almost half hour off the coast of Key Largo, Florida Keys. In the distance a yellow platform is rocking with the waves surrounded by a series of black and yellow buoys. There is a 20 feet tall tower in the middle of the platform bearing antennas, radar like device, a red marker light and an anemometer that is spinning like crazy. On a side of the tower three letters: LSB. LSB or Live Support Buoy is a heavy metal structure that marks the surface position of the America’s inner space station: Aquarius.

The world’s only undersea laboratory, as proudly is named by its owner, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is deployed at 60 feet beneath the surface in an underwater canyon next to moderated deep coral reefs. Managed and maintained by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), Aquarius has been characterized as the inner space counterpart of the International Space Station that orbits earth and therefore aquanauts are those human creatures that explore, and study the watery environment around the “vessel”.

After a detailed briefing on the surface about our tasks, scenarios and emergency procedures, we, the aquanaut candidates, awkwardly get in the water. There is a set of two heavy aluminum tanks in my back (45 pounds each), a huge buoyancy control device with straps around my chest, a pressure and depth gauge on my left side clipped in one the metal rings, an emergency second stage regulator attached to a bungee cord around my neck, a buoyancy control device inflator hose at some place on the left side, a filling hose sticking out under my right arm and the main regulator in my mouth with a six feet long hose also around my neck. It is impossible to walk around with all that, or do a giant stride in the water or not even roll back. So we have to necessarily and awkwardly get in the water pushed by the captain and at the same time slapping your face in the surface.

Today we are practicing looking for a lost excursion line underwater. Excursion lines are a network of ropes signaling the right direction to the Aquarius. Bright oranges arrows are placed every 20 feet and these lines are life saving for the aquanauts outside the underwater laboratory. The technique is swimming in circles aid by a thin line attached to a salient in the reef. Fair enough I said but this skill must be performed at 45 feet beneath the surface and the most exciting part: mask off. Salt water in your eyes is not a major problem even for those that wear contact lenses. But, salt water for a long time in your eyes could be irritating and even painful. Mask off, I start swimming with all my gear on top, line in hand and eyes open like a dead fish on deck. I can’t see anything, my eyes are burning, I push air out from my nose, salt water enters trough my nostrils and reaches my sinuses, irritating the interior of my head. The substrate passes below me and the images are recorded in my brain magnified, blurry, bright, far, close and out of focus. Dizziness attacks me and more water is coming in. So far, I have not seen the stupid orange arrow that marks the rope. My dive buddy is next to me and she is also with the mask off, I am in the leader but I have no clue where I am going. Suddenly, I spot a blurry orange….thing…. in the water column. I swim eagerly to the point and success I have found one of the depth limit lines that takes you to the excursion lines. These lines are marked with orange ribbons and delineated a 45 feet depth that aquanauts must remain below that threshold.

Besides all the pain and irritation the drill was a success for all the aquanauts. Hopefully during the mission we are not going to lose our mask or the lines but we need to take in considerations every single possible scenario. Back in the surface we called the day and another day of training is over.

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Voxin' Fox

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:27:30 -0400

Date nite with my baby at the Fabulous Fox last night. It was the kick off for their Summer Movie Festival, and they were showing Martin Scorcese's Shine a Light. Local musician Chuck Leavell, keyboardist with the Allman Bros and now plays with the Rolling Stones opened the show. During a Q&A prior to the screening, he told a story of one of the film nights, and everyone came in their Halloween costumes. This is him, showing the picture of his nephew, dressed as Keith Richards, being held by Keith Richards. Pretty darn cute!

RS at Fox

The big surprise for me out of the movie, was how completely sweet, charming and funny Keith Richards comes across as. I guess I've never seen anything but the caricature of thim, and of course the cheesy and fun Pirates of the Caribbean role.

And most of the movie, he's either clearly just reeling from the effects of an off-stage hit, or getting carried away in the music. This is, surely, a man who continues to model better living through chemistry. Every bit of his body is relaxed and dream, shoulder slouching and moving, but not to the rhythm of the music at all, but then you'll see his hands are going at the guitar strings like crazy.

Here's the obligatory geek shot of Richard & I, with the beautiful skyscape ceiling of the Fox behind us.

US at Fox

No date night is complete without a romantic meal. Since we'd taken the bus we walked down Peachtree from the theater, and stopped at a place I've been curious to try for a while called Eno. Just sampled from the appetizer menu, but we enjoyed what we tried. Highlight was a beautiful composition with a poached egg, white asparagas in a lemon basil sauce served with super fresh Georgia shrimp. Subtle, rich, and gorgeous on the plate.

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O!M! FREAKIN!!! G!!!!!

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:09:53 -0400

As the election cycle has progressed, I've really held my tounge. But last night's non-concession speech, though not unexpected, was a disappointment to me. And I kept reading about Hillary's request to tell her what to do. Then I saw a blog commentor who was disgusted because she went to www.hillaryclinton.com to try and explain her preference was for Hillary to bow out gracefully and found the ONLY OPTION is to send a form letter with the following text:

I'm with you Hillary, and I am proud of everything we are fighting for.

AND, to put the cherry on it, there's a running box: join supporter first name, last initial, town and state. Which means IF YOU SEND A DISSENTING OPINION, it's going to register as SUPPORT. Oh my FREAKIN GAWD.

You know? I really didn't want to join the anti-Hillary camp. I really didn't want to see it come to this. But if her intent is to stir up party unity, believe you/me, she's done it. I am now a fully blown ANYONE but Hillary, ANYWHERE, ANY WAY registered voter.

Outrageous

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Kilts & Springs

nobody@vox.com(Samma) — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:06:36 -0400

We had a busy weekend between Richard's best man duties in a Kilt and my officiating duties on Saturday, then
Richard teaching both an Intro to Cave and Cave class, and my taking/passing an Intro to Cave class. That means on Sunday, my co-student dive buddy Greg and I were about 400 feet into the earth at a depth of about 65 ft. Very clear water, which was great to be able to see the layers of sandstone.

David (the groom) Cody (son & ring bearer) Richard and Park Ranger Aaron prep for the Ceremony

Kilts & Ranger

Here's David & Lynn (bride & groom) on the dive platform above Madison Springs. You might recognize the Minister ;D After the ceremony & reception, Richard (best man/cave dive instructor extrodinaire) took them for a tour of the Cavern Zone.

Ceremony

This is my favorite of the Richard in a Kilt photos

Me Hearties

And we have no idea what we were doing when this was taken, but it makes us laugh.

In Sync

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