NYC, Nov 16, 2008
taken with my new Panosonic Lumix
Last Sunday we went north to see the colors. Found lots to see, and some to share.
We got our Wedding bands yesterday, and we're pretty happy. We wanted something simple, but also personal to us.
When cave diving, you dive down to the cave entrance, and use your reel and line to keep track of where you are. Once you enter the cave, you are leaving open water, which means you are leaving light, the surface and the world you knew. If the cave you are diving has been explored, typically there is a gold rope running down the main path, and you tie your line into it so that you can always find your way back. And if something goes wrong, you follow the gold line back to light, air and life.
So our rings are Palladium, with a 14k Gold Line down the center.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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)
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!
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Not exactly a sight to drive the boys crazy, though, huh?
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.
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.
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 ....
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.
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.
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
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.
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:
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'.
Richard says no one ever takes pictures of him.
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!
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!
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.
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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