Whovian's vs. Trekkies

No matter the name, Geeks, Nerds, Outcasts, Brilliant Minded or just plain weird. We all love our "special" shows.
Many such shows are Monk, House, Big Bang Theory, Star Trek and my personal favorite Doctor Who.

While many of us have watched all or many of these. I have noticed a rather large difference between, Whovian's and Trekkies.
Don't get me wrong - large amounts of both groups watch both shows. However, its how they act that show what camp they really belong to.

You see a few months ago I joined a discussion on Star Trek and again this week (hence the post). We were talking about our favorite shows, captain's, characters ect when I noticed that many people would preface their questions saying - Do not say, Star Trek Enterprise.
For some odd reason most of the devote Trekkies refuse to watch or acknowledge the last Star Trek TV series.
I for one like it. I like the cast, the crew and the premise.
However, I am also a Whovian.
You see us, Doctor Who'rs, are used to change. We might not always like losing our favorite doctor (mine being David Tennant) but we move on and allow the new doctor to grab our hearts.
Each new Doctor brings something new to the Tardis.
His own personality, quirks and isms.

It does not seem that Trekkies have the same open heart/mind. Which has left them without a continuing TV show.
Why would they create another TV show for a group of people who love Star Trek, but ONLY the versions already out. Loving only the past.
Even the new Star Trek movies - which are amazing! - are still causing ripples in the Trekkie groups.
Many are hoping that the movies will find a way to realign the time lines - allowing the Star Trek they know and love to still "continue".
Instead of allowing the new off rail version of the timeline.

For a show that was supposed to challenge the way people thought or saw things. Challenging preconceptions and ideas, their die hard fans don't seem to like change.
They don't even seem willing to try.
I have read too many times, I heard the Enterprise wasn't good so I didn't watch it.
Eh? Really?
You love Star Trek, but some random person's opinion is going to stop you from forming your own opinion?

So I say if you are a Stuck Star Trekkie, give Enterprise a try. If that concept is too radical for you at first then try watching Doctor Who.

Update: A few ideas to re-launch the Star Trek Series for ALL the fans.
1. Joss Whedon directs it.
2. Bring Wesley Crusher on as the Capt. Will Wheaton is at a perfect age to come back for this role! (The idea that he has a special future and special powers being added in would make a wonderful new twist to the series.)
3. Have Star Trek move into the area of space occupied by The Alliance/Rebels from the Firefly series. They made comments about "Earth that was" but never stated that it was gone - just that they left after pollution - which fits in line with Earth's history in Star Trek Deep Space Nine's Bell Riots.

Crazy Hair & Everything Else!

Prissy loves Crazy hair day! Each year we try to do something different - as I am not the amazing hair mama this is about as good as it gets!
G'man does not laugh at himself and really hates it when anyone else does - hence I was banned from touching his hair... poor kid.

Last night I had a meeting with his speech teacher, teacher & principal. The meeting is called an I.E.P, however, speech isn't like normal I.E.P's.
We talk about progress, about goals... and about his very rigid, self imposed, standards. You see my son aims for the moon and is very upset any time he misses.
Very upset.
Melting down, tears and self directed anger for coming short of his own goals.

We (myself and the team) all just want him to try, even if he fails, he learns and gets better.
He, doesn't see life that way. For him, right now, its all or nothing.
I am at my wits end. Thankfully, despite his growing tantrums his teachers love him.

Ps. if you are dropping by for the first time I am not a "Mommy blogger." I am not the amazing crafty, art project, every moment filled with kodak moments.
I am a brutally honest mom who fails more often than not. I have two kids that are both struggling with reading (I'm a writer, hence the irony.)
We have insane and crazy moments.

Two weekends ago I ended up in the ER with Prissy because she stabbed herself in the finger with her Epi Pen. This weekend while playing outside in the snow, she ran out of her boot.

She ran out of her boot.
In the snow.
And left it there.

When she realized that she didn't have a boot on anymore, did she come inside? Go back and grab the boot?
Nope.
She wrapped her jacket around her foot and kept playing.

....I promise I could not make this up.
The insanity gets worse... its been 5 days since she walked out of her boot and guess what?
Even though its a black and hot pink hello kitty boot, its still lost somewhere out in the snow.
We have looked, all of us, every day, for hours.
I feel like singing, oh where or where has my little boot gone? Oh where oh where can he be?

Then last night, after bathing the kids I go in for a rare long hot bath.
While my head in under water I hear loud voices. Upon resurfacing I find my son on the other side of the curtain of the bathtub - crying.
I cover up, open the curtain and find him holding a bump on his head.
First words out of his mouth?
"Mama, *Prissy* just tried to kill me."

Yup 10 minutes into my bath and already the world is ending. I really should know better. I should know by now that I can not take a bath while they are awake or at home.
After questioning both of the children and my husband, no one knows anything or saw anything.
All my husband knows is that one moment my son was sitting, then his sister walked over, and then his head was hitting the floor.

In spite of everything, somehow, I have managed to convince my children's teachers, doctors ect. that I am an amazing mother.
These day's I just smile, nod and wonder if this is how most mothers feel. Like somehow we've defrauded them into thinking we are better or different than we are.

Utah's Toxic Air

Before the almost full foot of snow that's dropped in the last two days, we had Toxic Fog. A thick heavy layer of smog, fog and pollution.

It hard to tell due to the large amounts of white, but its around 3 feet, yes its a four foot fence but it slopes down. Its hard to describe and depending on drift, my yard has anywhere from 2 1/2 to 3 feet. We have more snow inbound tonight and tomorrow so we will see what we end up with.
The rest of this post will be on last weeks issue of Toxic Fog ;). Hope you enjoy my rant.

New's Quote, 

The icy fog has smothered the Salt Lake Valley for several weeks and trapped lung-busting soot emitted in the city underneath.

The level of pollution in the city is now the highest in America according to the Environmental Protection Agency and medical experts are now urging residents to stay indoors.

And

The greater Salt Lake region had up to 130 micrograms of soot per cubic meter on Wednesday, or more than three times the federal clean-air limit, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Utah regulators are working on a set of plans to limit everyday emissions, including a measure to ban the sale of aerosol deodorants and hair spray that contain hydrocarbon propellants. Those plans, however, will take years to show results.

Snow cover amplifies the phenomena called a temperature inversion - Salt Lake City was a foggy freezer box Wednesday at 18 degrees, while Park City basked in sunny 43-degree weather. The warmer air aloft acted like a lid on the frigid valley air, leaving it with no place to go.

For weeks, industrialized cities in northern China have been dealing with bouts of sickening smog several times more toxic than Utah's. But by U.S. standards, Utah's pollution index is off the charts with readings routinely exceeding a scale that tops out at 70 micrograms a cubic meter. The EPA sets a standard for clean air at no more than 35 micrograms.

News links on our Toxic Air.

Daily Mail - Utah's Toxic Fog make's UK's newstands - great photos of the fog.

CBS News

Fox 13 - Attempting to make it sound better

Fox 13 - Our government not really making any changes - trying to leave cleaning the air up to using public transportation. 

Fox 13 - Utah Mom's for clean air trying to get government legislators to pledge to a more active role in cleaning Utah's Air.

Utah Mom's For Clean Air - How did I not know about this group until now?

So while the snow has in fact "cleaned" the air for us once again, the simple fact of the matter is any time the air "settles" (still air, dry air ect) we get inversion. That by itself is still nasty to breathe. Add in varying factors and voila Toxic fog/air. 

The main problem is that even if this legislative session makes and creates real air changing laws and ideas, it will be years until they are implemented and even more until they are effective. 

It can be another 10 years before we see cleaner air on a full time basis. 

So what do we do in the mean time?

I for one am looking into buying special masks for Asthma and Allergy. (links at bottom of post) Since my daughter Prissy has sever Asthma and hayfever, buying washable, re-usable masks is key.

I will also pick one up for my son and I - not sure if hubby will agree to wear one or not even though he also has asthma.

We may look silly for the first year or so - however, if things continue the way they are we may be at the forefront of a new fashion. At least locally.

How about you? IF you live/lived in a polluted area what measures would you take?

 

Links to masks

Here are the top two I am looking at

For the kids (latex free & washable)

For me and the hubby (washable)

and others

I can breathe Masks

Mask buying guide 

One Long Day

The day started early. My BFF picked me up bright foggy and early. Utah is having toxic fog, smog and inversion the last few days - its horrible!
We went downtown to the new salt lake Library where the Utah Autism Coalition was meeting. They are getting ready for the coming legislative session.
For those that don't know Utah has the highest amount of Autistic kids in the nation and yet we still don't make sure that they all qualify for health care!
The UAC is trying to get a bill passed that will allow people with Autism to receive the treatments or meds they need.
Now many people say that this is too expensive. NOT helping is too expensive. With the proper help 70-80% of the kids can grow up to hold jobs, take care of themselves and be all in all, "Normal".
Without help of any kind only 2-6% make progress enough that they will be able to care for themselves as adults.
Helping them now will save taxpayers a fortune in long term care. Not to mention that the numbers of Autism continue to grow!

Next up in the day my hubby went with my BFF to see if he could fix her grandmothers shower - long story short - Nope.

She returned, dropped him off and mentioned that she had the rest of the day off!
My husband and her husband agreed to both watch the kids and give us the day for a girls day!
We went and watched Les Miserables! It was amazing!
We cried for almost 3 hours straight!
Then we went out for dinner at our favorite place (at the moment) Iggy's!
Yummy!
We spent the time talking back and forth both about the movie and about Autism. Her two amazing children have autism, so this is a subject near and dear to us.

Before going home we ran by the store, grabbed a few groceries.
When I got home it was almost time for the kids to go to bed.
I started to help them with their bedtime routine.
Right before Prissy went to brush her teeth I sent her out of the bathroom to take her night asthma mends... That's when the crap hit the fan!
My daughter started screaming!
I mean bloody murder, terrified screaming!
Hubby ran from the living room and me from the bathroom.
My daughter had her EPI Pen, sticking out of her FINGER!

HINT: if you look up EPI Pen in finger on the internet they will tell you MANY times to NOT put an EPI Pen into your finger!!!!

This is a needle that is meant to go through blue jeans into your thigh! Its long and its sharp!
Not to mention the medicine is life saving, but dangerous! It is not meant to go any where near your fingers!

We ran to the ER.
Alright, I didn't run, but I did drive like a crazy woman!

Note: my hubby and I had both tried to pull it from her finger, to prevent the releasing of more medicine... it wouldn't budge.

The ER Dr. gave us the option of numbing the area before pulling it free - to which I reminded him that she is allergic to Lidocaine. He told Prissy tough luck and yanked the needle free - pulling it from the bone!
We had to x-ray the finger to make sure that it didn't cause a bone fracture.
Thankfully it didn't.
We have been very blessed!
The EPI medicine didn't not release into her finger because the needle pierced the bone.
It didn't fracture or hurt nerves or veins.
Again we are blessed!
She will be fine.

On the way home I bought her a finger brace to protect the weakened bone and we will need to watch it to make sure it does not get infected over the next few days.

So the day was a great girls day, the night a bad night with Prissy!

SNOW!

Powder, tires or men, snow is fun, cold and a pain in the bum!

Yesterday it snowed. 10-12 inches of snow depending on the drift from 3 pm to Midnight. If you are a person who loves to ski, you have the money and can leave whatever you are doing... now would be the time to head for Park City, Utah - this is the best Powder Snow - its so light and flaky!

Its also a huge pain in the bum to shovel! You pick up a scoop - its light and flaky - it dribbles slowly off the side of the shovel... as I said beautiful, crystal clear, sparkly, powder snow that is annoying as heck!

See that large snow plow? Yeah it was stuck in front of my house for five minutes! Better than the Magna Senior Center van that was stuck for almost 15 minutes in front of my house before getting help from two men - one a Salt Lake County employee!
Me on the other hand - after calling and confirming that there was no snow day granted and the kids did still need to go - I went dug out the car and then voila! I remembered my BFF gave me a car with brand new snow tires!
 SCORE!
Yeah I wrote her and thanked her again and she keeps telling me to stop! I don't think I am ready for that yet I a still just so happy that I had better traction than half the other people on the road! And that I have a car - did I mention that I have a car?

Then because school wasn't cancelled I went to the PTA meeting! Another mom has joined up and I am so happy! Thank you Tera for braving the insanity!
We are lucky we have a very involved school and lots of people willing to help out making the PTA an easy fun place to be.

Can't wait for my hubby to be home and safe for the weekend!

Blizzards and Family

Its a blizzard out side so I tell the hubby its his turn to get the boy. 

He says, "I wouldn't know where to get him."
I say, "What would you do if I break my leg or get in an accident?"
He says, "Drive carefully!"

So I went and got G'man in the snow, car's sliding all around, half the cars are driving without their lights on.

Visibility is 20 feet max.

I get there, get the boy, clean the car off again - as it was covered again in the 3 minutes it took to get him.

On the way home I'm yelling at all the cars that are driving like idiots. 

Then a large WHITE truck is driving toward me I can barely see it at 10 feet away because aha! it doesn't have its lights on!

Yeah they win the prize - the your the dumbest idiot on the road prize, lets drive in a blizzard, in a white out, in a white car without our lights!

Brilliant.

Two hours later when its time to pick up Prissy from the after school program... yeah hubby does it.

I take the photos above, go back inside and get comfortable. 3 minutes later hubby calls me to come out side to help him get the van out of a snow bank!

Luckily he only got stuck the once, but he did have to take the long way to pick her up.

Now finally my whole family is home and safe!

As of this moment we almost have a foot of snow in just 3 hours! Most of it being dumped in the last hour in a half.

As for the hubby health update

Yesterday - hubby saw the new doctor. The CT was a much clearer photo, he has ONE kidney stone its not 11.8 instead its 8.8 and its not obstructing anything. So its not causing the pain.

Doctor thinks its due to hubbies weight and previous back surgery. 

Not (like the other doctor) that the surgery area is having issues ie a screw loose, but that due to his having fused the lower sections of his back and still being over weight that the vertebra above the surgery area is now also being pulled out of alignment and may need another surgery.

Today - hubby (before the snow storm) hubby went for an MRI with contrast to check his back.

So we will see soon if its his back or if we are still searching for answers.

Thankfully this doctor seemed much more tuned in. 

Also if you live in an area like or near mine you might want to try a new family favorite recipe

Oven Chili Cheese Dogs - check it out!

Hubby's Heath Update

And why I hate Doctors...

So we've fired his most recent doctor and today we are giving our current clinic their last shot at being in charge of my husbands health.
Two months ago my husband started to have intense back pain. Having had both a back surgery AND kidney stones in the last 10 years we had to submit to several different tests to determine the cause.
An Ultra Sound revealed that he had stones in both Kidneys - one as large as 11.8 mm.

Since a stone over the size of 6 mm can not pass on its own we know we have two options - one where they break up the stones with sound waves and allow them to pass in smaller forms. - Two surgery.
The doctor wanting a clearer photo of his kidneys sent him for a CT Scan, yesterday he went in to get the results of the CT Scan.

She didn't have it, didn't look for it, didn't remember asking him to get it. She also thinks he may have gall stones since his liver levels are still off.
Meanwhile, he is having severe diarrhea  vomiting and is starting to get dizzy.
So to re-cap possible liver failure, possible kidney failure, possible gall bladder issues.
No tests, no help from the doctor, and no surgery scheduled - in fact the doctor still somehow thinks that it maybe a screw loose in his back (from his back surgery) despite the fact that we KNOW he has several large kidney stones.
Does she have any plan on dealing with them? Nope.

Yeah, we fired her and complained about her lack of professionalism.
Today we try again.
We are also looking for an internal medicine doctor who will stay up on his Kidneys, Liver and other functions.
Today we will find out what the scan shows, make possible future plans or appointments.

Friday we have an MRI scheduled for his back - this way we can check to make sure everything is still in place correctly back there and allow the doctors to focus on his Kidney Stones.

I am frustrated.
Tired.
Grumpy.
Worried.
Stressed.
Aging quickly.

Now I am going to find something, somewhere that will help me to calm down - chocolate and tea hasn't touched it! (yes that is truly depressing)
Also my happy pill is not working so approach with caution.