It's a long story...

Who Rescues the Rescuers?

2010-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

What is your job as a doctor? Is it to know anatomy, biochemistry, pathology and pharmacology? Sure. However, it is more than just that, we share a very unique burden with law enforcement and other emergency personnel. Except for a small number of specialties, you will often be treating patients when they are very ill. It is our job to treat a whole person; part of that burden is treating their emotions. Unfortunately, when you are dealing with the most painful aspects of the human condition it is hard not to let it affect you personally.

Medical school attracts highly motivated, type A personalities who are used to being a person who is depended upon. Medical training also seems to impress upon students a somewhat casual approach to death and pain, beginning with cadaver dissection and moving on through clinical rotations. During the clinical years a student or resident can feel like showing any perceived weakness might hurt their grade or change how they are viewed by their mentors. Much of this problem comes from pride; the culture of physicians includes the ability to be a casual observer of these most difficult parts of life.

Home life may not be much improvement, especially if one does not have a good support system or someone else who can empathize at home. Often times it is even suggested to emergency responders not to “bring work home” with them. So imagine this scenario: you have just worked a twelve hour shift of dealing with other people’s pain, you know you have no one you can talk to about it and you know that when you leave work you have people who are depending on you to complete your responsibilities at home; it is easy to see why there is such a high prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse amongst physicians and other emergency personnel.

It is incredibly important, in my opinion, to learn early in a career how to debrief effectively. It is inevitable that at some point you will see a patient that will trouble you. They will remind you of your mother, your children, a painful situation in your past, or you may have a patient die and feel like it was your fault; something will get into your head. It is our job to be able to compartmentalize our emotions to effectively take care of our job and treat the patient at that moment. However, leaving your emotions compartmentalized will effect all of your personal relationships and in the long run is detrimental to your entire life and leads to burnout.

So who rescues the rescuers? We all do, it is our responsibility as a community to be able to recognize the signs of someone having a difficult time and to be available for them. It is our job to support the members of our teams and realize that everyone will eventually have a problem like this. It is also our job to be open enough to recognize these feelings in ourselves and seek out help instead of letting them fester because we are no use to anyone if we are broken.

“Physician, help yourself: thus you help your patient too” – Nietzsche

P = M.D.

2009-09-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

So, first Anatomy exam in the books. Not great but also not bad. I passed and with a little cushion even, and I now know what to expect from my professors. Also, the way I graded myself may have been harsher than what the professors might, according to one of my TAs.

But I have to go back to the books because we have our second exam (Biochemistry) on Tuesday.

Back to it!

Med School, Part I

2009-08-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

Alright. So. Things have been a little crazy over here at la casa del oso since I started medical school. I have learned alot of things already including but not limited to: 1. Anatomy is less scary than my brain made it out to be. 2. People are weird, including professors. 3. Even the most asinine-seeming lectures can turn out to be really awesome 4. Smelling like dead people sucks 5. Being around smart people again is REALLY nice. 6. Anatomy lab makes everyone hungry, which is upsetting. 7. When people compare any part of anatomy lab to food, it becomes difficult to eat that food (i.e. one of my lab partners thinks that bone saws smell like Doritos) 8. The people you least expect can make you smile when you aren't prepared. For example:

We were given a lecture on loss prevention from our head security officer, who told us in his very best Chris Rock voice:

"That one high heeled shoe you have in the back of your car, it might not be important to you...but it's important to a crackhead.
The sweater you keep in the back seat of your car, might not be important to you...but it's important to a crackhead."

But now i have to go put on my pajamas and go visit some dead people

Discussion Question

2009-07-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

In honor of the moon landing anniversary, i pose a discussion question. When you were younger and learning about (or witnessing, for our older viewers) the lunar landing what did you think life would be like in 2010? Has life lived up to your expectations or are you still pissed off about not having a flying car?

In honor of 40 years

2009-07-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

In honor of the brave men who traveled all those miles to prove that ours is bigger.

Thanks to the people at Cake Wrecks

Auto Tune the News

2009-07-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

How very cool

2009-07-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Spear-wielding chimps snack on skewered bushbabies

17:00 22 February 2007 by Rowan Hooper
For similar stories, visit the Human Evolution Topic Guide
In a revelation that destroys yet another cherished notion of human uniqueness, wild chimpanzees have been seen living in caves and hunting bushbabies with spears. It is the first time an animal has been seen using a tool to hunt a vertebrate.

Many chimpanzees trim twigs to use for ant-dipping and termite-fishing. But a population of savannah chimps (Pan troglodytes verus) living in the Fongoli area of south-east Senegal have been seen making spears from strong sticks that they sharpen with their teeth. The average spear length is 63 centimetres (25 inches), says Jill Pruetz at Iowa State University in Ames, US, who observed the behaviour with Paco Bertolani, of the University of Cambridge, UK.

And the method of procuring food with these tools is not simply extractive, as it is when harvesting insects. It is far more aggressive. They use the spears to hunt one of the cutest primates in Africa: bushbabies (Galago senegalensis).

Bushbabies are nocturnal and curl up in hollows in trees during the day. If disturbed during their slumbers - if their nest cavity is broken open, for example - they rapidly scamper away. It appears that the chimps have learnt a grisly method of slowing them down.

Take a look at the chimps in action, in these three videos

Cave life

Chimps were observed thrusting their spears into hollow trunks and branches with enough force to injure anything inside the holes, Pruetz's research team says. The chimps used a "power grip" and made multiple downward stabs - much the same way as a human might wield a dagger.

Ten different chimps in the population were observed to perform this behaviour in 22 bouts. In one case the researchers saw a chimp remove a dead bush baby and eat it. Here is the chimp enjoying his grisly meal, and cleaning his small spear (5MB, Requires QuickTime).

And, in what is thought to be another first for chimps, the Fongoli population have taken up aspects of cave living. They use the the shady interiors for socialising, taking siestas and picnicking, the researchers say. Pruetz jokes that she would not be surprised if the chimps began making cave drawings.

The Fongoli chimps inhabit a mosaic savannah - patches of grass and woodland - where there are no red colobus monkeys. The absence of these monkeys, which are the favoured prey of several other chimp populations, may explain the Fongoli chimps' unique spear-hunting behaviour.

"Given the lack of opportunity, Fongoli chimps have come up with a way to get around the problem of how to get protein in their particular environment...using tools to hunt," says Pruetz.

Secret snacks

Intriguingly, the behaviour is mostly confined to females and immature chimps. Adults hunt and eat green monkeys, but males have priority over access to the meat. Pruetz suggests that Fongoli juveniles and females get around this by exploiting a niche that is relatively ignored by adult males - and spearing little bushbaby snacks for themselves.

"Immatures and females are innovative in solving the problem of feeding competition," she says.

Chimps regularly seem to be discovered doing things once thought unique to humans (see Stone Age chimps were handy with a hammer). "Back to the drawing board again in terms of trying to define how humans are special," says Pruetz.

Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.12.042

We got married!

2009-07-04T16:10:00.001-07:00

Two months ago, kevin and I threw a party for his graduation. When everyone got there they were surprised to find out that we were getting married. We had the wedding in my lovely sister and brother-in-laws back yard (which was awesome by the way guys thanks). We got to see everyone and celebrate with all the people we love. It was awesome. Here are the first pictures that have been edited. Our wedding was officiated by the Rev. Dr. Ted, which was so much fun and so awesome to have someone important to us who we love as our officiant. All in all, i think it was perfect. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_A80rlve5qt8/Sk_hfBkkJUI/AAAAAAAAAiE/WrRQgfQ4Nvc/s1600-h/Wedding1.jpg">

Update!

2009-04-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give you guys a quick peek into what Kevin has been doing. He is (as most of you know) a month away from finishing the fire academy. As a special treat for putting up with all of them the captains allowed friends and family to go and watch the boys during their first night time burn simulation in the burn building. I got some pretty cool pictures if i do say so myself. Here they are. 100th post coming soon!

This is a survivor

A letter to my boss

2009-03-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

Dude, i know that you feel sorry for yourself because you never amounted to anything. I understand that you feel the need to exert your modicum of power every chance you get because work is the only place you get to show it but really, be human. Don't bully people into working when they really can't. Don't make underhanded comments that are offensive and then get pissed off when people call you out on it. No, doctors are not glorified-college-graduates who can sew. I understand it was a joke but once you push peoples buttons long enough it stops being funny. Ohh and really, you shouldn't snicker under your breath and make snide remarks when there is a huge shipment that i have to stock. Yeah it's funny that you don't have to do it yourself but you know what, at least i still can lift these boxes. Is that the reason you don't offer to help with the heavy ones? Cause you cant?

Ohh and little prissy boy. Really, our job is NOT hard. Why does it take you 3 hours to do a job that takes me 30 minutes? Why do you feel like you are better than everyone else? You are not special! Ohh and really, no one cares that you broke up with your boyfriend this week or that you dropped out of law school to pursue your "dream" which you have since not been able to identify.

And to the stupid people who i encounter every day....screw you. Why would you call FedEx to come pick up a package at our office when you AREN'T here yet? Why do you stay after closing time every night when you know full well what time we close, you aren't dumb (at least in theory). Why would you come to the office and do things that don't count as work (surf the internet, leave and get coffee) and expect me to say you were here?

If everyone could just leave me alone today, it would be great. kthxbye

On a sweeter note...

2009-02-10T22:31:00.001-08:00

but not necessarily a happier one

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Not to be bitchy but....

2009-02-09T05:55:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the movie Idiocracy? It was worth seeing once, the premise is that 1000 years from now the planet is filled with really dumb people because all the smart people put off having babies for their careers or only have 1 or 2 children, while the dumb people replicate like rabbits therefore diluting the gene pool.
I can't help but think of that movie in the last two weeks with the story of the octuplets that have been born. Now don't get me wrong, i like babies. I encourage people to have children, even multiple children. But how is it responsible to have 14 babies in 6 different pregnancies when you are living out of your mother's house, without income? How is it that people i know who CHOOSE not to have children because they know it's not the right thing for them to do have people looking down their noses at them while this idiot and people in similar situations like the Duggar family (who granted have spaced their 18 children out and have enough income to stay afloat without the government) get their own tv shows and hours of news media attention?
And what doctor in his right mind would implant 6 embryos at once, i understand the necessity to implant more than one, really i get it, IVF fails in most cases but if you were a doctor who had done 5 other IVF procedures on this woman which produced 6 children, why would you risk implanting 6 embryos knowing full well there was a possibility that they could all take?
The guy i feel the worst for in this situation though is the poor schmuck that donated his sperm when this chick asked him 8 years ago for him to help her have A child. I bet he is shitting his pants knowing that now he has 14 biological children with a mother with no means of income. Poor dude.
Anyway, enough bitching for now, happy monday!

I know, I know

2009-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

So i have been conspicuously absent from my blog recently. Partially because i haven't had anything interesting to write about and partially because i have exactly zero time. So i guess it's update time. DH and I are both doing well, if very busy. As of today DH has started his fourth week in the fire academy. It is kicking his butt but he seems to be enjoying the process and the brotherhood. I have been working ALOT but it's about to get worse. As it stands DH has to leave the house by about 5:30 or 5:45 to get out to the academy on time. For those of you who know me, I don't exist that early in the day. This schedule also means that he is in bed by 8:00 like an old man. Therefore, depending on my schedule at work i get to see him for a couple of hours over dinner or not at all. This are going to begin to get interesting as well this month because along with the ACT class I am teaching at the local-can't-pull-our-heads-out-of-our-asses-high-school. I am also going to begin to drive an hour down to bumfuck to teach an MCAT class two nights a week from 6-9 at my alma mater.
Anyway, enough with the bitching. Last night held a welcome respite from all of this back and forth working and scheduling. We went to DH's fire recruit class Super Bowl Party. We had a blast. I got to meet many of the men he's been working with and I liked all of them. Which was great seeing as how recently i've grown tired of the immaturity of DH's friends. These boys had exactly the right amount of immaturity and boy were they funny. I even got some really great pictures of the festivities.

DH and the boys pigging out before the party even starts

The boy's posing to see who is prettiest.

Tailgaiting, litteraly!

All the boys at the end of the night

Best quote of the night

2009-01-30T16:44:00.001-08:00

"I will noogie you bald, bitch" - Dr. T

I love this dude

2009-01-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

And for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last year, the original

Guest Blog by El Oso

2008-12-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Overtime it seems many people have forgotten the most important ingredient to a good gaming experience - the good game.
And by good game I don't mean shader effects, high polygon counts, compelling story lines or any of the other irrelevant nonsense that I don't give a submarining fuck about. I mean the actual game play. The part where you control stuff have it interact with other stuff and your brain generates fun. If i wanted a compelling story, I'd read a book. There are only a few million already in existence, the majority of which are written by people whose talents compare to the best video game writer's the same way Kobe Bryant's penis might compare to that of an poorly endowed tit mouse. If 90 minutes of cut scenes dubed with pornography grade voice acting sounds exciting to you I suggest you immediately navigate your web browser to the local torrent site and download something called a movie. Any one really since apparently you are easily satisfied.
Perhaps i romanticize about the past here but I remember a time when most games were about being challenged to explore new game play mechanics. About learning and solving new puzzles about employing your skills against all types of adversary and about feeling proud of your accomplishments.
Now the mostly shiny particle effected vessels guiding any soccer mom caliber gamer through a generally third grade level story where anyone with a brain the size of a steroid shrunken testicle can pretend to be a hero and maintain a fantasy of not sucking balls at video games.
"But...But I need a background story"...do you really need a background story to play Donkey Kong - you twat?? How about poker or football? If the process of playing a game isn't fun for you - maybe you're not a gamer. Not that i am unappreciative for all my free kills in WoW. But lately I've become rather miffed at the notion, that this overwhelming number of noobs has negatively influenced the direction of video game design forever. Instead of humanity persuing the development of the next chess we have an endless supply of 8 hour long interactive B-movie experiences at $60 a pop with unimaginative reskinned sequals announced exactly 3 seconds after the current product is launched.
Congratulations Noobs you've effectively raised an army of consumer gaming zombies who conviently seem to lack no only artistic standards but opposable thumbs. I'd be inclined to look the other way and ignore the thumbless zombie parade but the bummbling whiners have the audacity to hate on us - the gamers that are playing the game for game play. But the truth is the only imbalance is coming from your underdeveloped inner ear you uncoordinated ball of ghey. I'm truly sorry you got your clumsy ass kicked around in gym class like a hacky sack in the 1980's But that's no reason to be a sandy crotch while I'm kicking your ass in Super Smash Brothers. Even more infurinating than the consumer zombie noobs are the noobs whose job it is to play video games then criticize them for mass public consumption.
The champions of mob mentality shouldn't bother me since i've grown rather accustomed to unqualified nitwits performing undeserved jobs.
Within gaming media circles being a noob seems to have become some sort of fucking prerequisite. I know going through life with a lack of a pinch grip may be frustrating but calling a 3 hour single player experience the hight of game design and comparing the dialoge of GTA4 to that of the godfather is nothing less than absolutely retarded.
Here is the unpleasent truth. Your teachers lied to you when they said any one, even you, could be an astronaut. Some people are just naturally better at doing things. There IS something called talent. No matter how hard i try I'll never paint a Mona Lisa or invent the quantum computer. No matter how hard you try you'll never beat Contra without cheating. Many people have a genuine desire to be better this doesn't make them alien or crude it just makes them a gamer. It's no reason to resent them at least no more than you resent John Holmes for his enormous cock.
So the next time you think "I can beat all the pro gamers if I just played as much as them" -Think again. All the basket ball training in the world won't let your pudgy 5''4' dimpled bottom make the NBA. Just like all the Starcraft training in the world couldn't prevent Park Sung-Joon from sticking his golden mouse up your ass.

Agreed

2008-11-10T23:00:00.001-08:00

Welcome to History

2008-11-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you America! FOX news has even called it. Welcome to the future.

Dear Mr. President-Elect:
Thank you, you have made history. Please, please, realize how big a deal this and please don't let us down.

Thank you,

America

Worst.Night.EVER

2008-11-01T03:01:00.000-07:00

I have just had the worst.night.ever. The fact that it was a holiday just adds to the character of an otherwise lousy week. It amazes me that a night meant as a fun night to goof off became so sucky.

The night went something like this:

We started the day with Kevin getting the house ready for trick-or-treaters, he loves halloween and was excited that we would finally have some. During his preparations he threw out his back. GREAT! so after a foray downtown to score him some muscle relaxers (from a doc, don't worry) we dosed him up and decided to go out to party anyway. So we get dressed, Kevin as a firefighter (including fake soot around his nose) and me as little red riding hood. After being stood up by our first plans we called and made secondary plans with another set of friends. Okay, cool no big deal. So the plan was to go down to Frenchman street. Which, for those of you out of towners, is near the french quarter but not in the quarter "proper" so the logic was that it would be less crowded (boy did that turn out to false logic). So we pack up and head out to meet our friends. We pick them up from their house, and drive down to frenchman. On the way we encounter ALL the traffic, apparently the cops thought it would be a good idea to close the quarter to vehicles, so after about a half an hour of creative driving on Kevin's part we get to frenchman. Where we find A PARKING SPACE!!! holy cow, ON Frenchman. Only problem is that there are 5 women standing in the parking space. After asking them nicely to move they told us to shove it up our asses that their husbands' are bringing the car around and are in fact 3 cars behind us and that they "aren't going anywhere and are prepared to stand there all night" We proceed to have a 15 minute stand-off (insert Kevin's spanish machismo) at which point the police get involved and make the women move because they are stopping traffic.
So at this point we are where we want to be with these friends. Turns out that they have pre-gamed it pretty hard. So they are pretty drunk already and I'm sure everyone reading this knows what it feels like to be the sober person in a group of drunk people, not too much fun. So after walking around for a while trying to find a bar that wasn't charging a $20 cover to go use their bathroom, we decided that we are going to go to the quarter proper because at least you can walk up to the bars and order from the street.
As we make the 10-15 block trek down to Burbon we get asked at least once a block by the drunks 1. if there is a place to stop and pee (there isn't legally) and 2. Where we were going.
Once we made it to Burbon, Kevin and I decided to peel off of the group and go get handgrenades which were approximately 2 blocks in the opposite direction from the desired destination of the other people in our party. We told them, "we'll meet you back at XYZ bar we're going to go get drinks".
We go and order our drinks and have approximately 5 whole minutes of calm fun. Then the shit really hit the fan.
When we got back to bar XYZ no one is anywhere to be found. Mind you while we were on frenchman i gave one of our friends my phone to hold in his pocket because i had exactly zero pockets in my outfit. So when we get back to the bar and our friend is no where to be found we call him to ask him where everyone is and he says "I'm done I'm going home." well while Kevin is trying to negotiate the release of my phone and the other hostages I spot this friend's girlfriend walking briskly from the bar CRYING. When i stop her to ask what is going on she says that her boyfriend got separated from the group, and as his side of the story goes "well i walked into the bar, looked around and no one was there so i went home." LEAVING HIS GIRLFRIEND ON BURBON STREET WITHOUT A RIDE HOME! After much screaming and nashing of teeth on my part we establish that he got frustrated and caught a ride home with some friendly strangers/ friends that he knew/ something of that nature. So now we are trying to calm his girlfriend down.
After finally chasing down (literally running down burbon in my heels) and convincing her that she needed to come with us, which took alot more time that it would normally have because talking to a drunk distraught woman is difficult. We decided to bring her home.
Another 15 block walk back to the car, and on the way my graceful ass takes a nosedive. I ripped both of the pairs of stockings i was wearing, not to mention the shit out of my knees, on our LOVELY CLEAN french quarter streets.
Once we got to the car another adventure began. We had to extracate our car from what had become a seething mass of people. Frechman street had become more crowded than Burbon, by far. After 20 minutes of inching down the streets with Kevin's fireman lights and airhorn blaring (with drunk idiots literally leaning on our car while it was rolling) we finally were released from the hell hole. But the night wasn't over just yet.
We decided to go to IHOP to have a cup of coffee and try to comfort our friend. So we go and spend probably a good 45 minutes toward the end of which our friend is crying because she is upset about the events of the night. At one point the people at the next table look over and ask to make sure she's okay and even suggest that she shouldn't put so much energy into a boy. We continue to talk and try to comfort her for another 5 minutes or so. At which point another member (a grown ass man, i might add) of the table next to us yells out "SHE DIDN'T GET ANY CANDY, THAT'S WHY SHE'S CRYING" and starts cackiling because he thinks he's clever. At which point i turn around and remark on how grown up and adult that comment was (hey it was 3 am what do you want?) At which point his girlfriend a rather large woman starts to tell me how i should shut my mouth and how she could beat me up etc etc etc. As Kevin begins to get really angry he looks at me and says "Man they are being such..." and I looked at this woman and said "You're right hunnie they are being assholes" and we began to pick up our belongings and walk toward the door. As we are walking past she remarks on how she should kick my ass for calling them assholes and looks at me and says "...and you are pretty big" at which point i looked at her and said "you mean kinda like you?" Which let me tell you went over really well!
Anyway, as much as i wish i could have actually come back with something creative and better than "i know you are but what am i" it was 3:30 in the morning and i'd had a fucked up night.
So it is now 5:45 in the morning and I have to be to work at 9:45am. Man, my life ROCKS. So here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day!

Dear Technical Support

2008-10-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Technical Support Lackey-
When i called you to tell you that I had a virus on my office computer you were perfectly kind and understanding, thank you for that. However, when you told me that i needed to reimage the hard drive and that you were sending me the disks to do so, it was UNFAIR to send me three disks when only 2 of them were going to function. I have now BRICKED my office computer and my boss is SO happy, so thanks.

Kindly,
LongStory

Etyology

2008-10-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking recently, about the phrase "bless you." The phrase originates from the idea that when a person sneezes their soul escapes through their nose (some say it is because your heart skips a beat.) So my question is, since we now know that your heart doesn't skip a beat and i believe that most people don't think your soul leaks out of your nose when you sneeze. With that said, why do we all still say "bless you"? Is it just some human compulsion to be 'nice' to other people, even strangers? Or is it just something we have been taught that has developed into a human-kind neurosis?

Wow

2008-10-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

So here i go...Today i got my letter accepting me into Tulane University's Medical School for the class of 2013. Here's to the parabolic flight that is med school. Maybe it will make my blogging become more interesting. Maybe it will just make me crazy who knows. While it feels really good to know what's going to happen in the next 5 years or so but, boy, it kinda sucks that i have to wait until June to actually start. Thanks you guys, for believing in me!

Requiem

2008-09-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ruthie the Duck Girl dies of cancer at 74
by John Pope, The Times-Picayune Friday September 12, 2008, 10:36 PM
Ruthie the Duck Girl, a French Quarter eccentric who zoomed from bar to bar on roller skates, often wearing a ratty fur coat and long skirt and trailed by a duck or two, died Sept. 6 at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. She was 74.

Ruthie, whose real name was Ruth Grace Moulon, had been suffering from cancer of the mouth and lungs when the residents of her Uptown New Orleans nursing home were evacuated to Baton Rouge as Hurricane Gustav approached, said Carol Cunningham, a close friend who watched over her for nearly 40 years.

"I've always looked at Ruthie like a little bird with a broken wing, " Cunningham said. "She was always so dear to me."

Miss Moulon, a lifelong New Orleanian, became a French Quarter fixture, achieving legendary status in a city that treasures people who live outside the mainstream. Along the way, she acquired a coterie of people like Cunningham who found places for her to live, paid her bills and made sure she got home at night.

A tiny woman with a constant grin, she frequently sported a bridal gown and veil on her forays because, people said, she considered herself engaged to Gary Moody, whom she met in New Orleans in 1963 when he was a sailor.

Moody showed up at a 2001 birthday party for Miss Moulon at Mid-City Lanes Rock 'N Bowl, but the two never got to the altar. According to a Times-Picayune interview that year, Miss Moulon had a stock reply whenever anyone asked if there might be a wedding in her future: "I got engaged; that's enough!"

In 1999, Rick Delaup made her the subject of a documentary, "Ruthie the Duck Girl."

Miss Moulon's daily routine consisted of roaming from one watering hole to another, mooching drinks and cigarettes. She could be sweet one minute and unleash a torrent of profanity the next.

Although people deemed Miss Moulon's behavior unconventional even by French Quarter standards, no one ever diagnosed her mental condition because she refused to see a doctor, David Cuthbert wrote in The Times-Picayune in 2001.

"She's not out of touch with reality; she's just not interested, " photographer David Richmond told The Times-Picayune.

Miss Moulon's mother, who put her daughter's hair in sausage curls to make her look like Shirley Temple, came up with the idea that little Ruthie should be a duck girl, Cunningham said.

"She dressed her in evening dresses and bought her skates, and she skated through the Quarter with these little ducks following, " Cunningham said.

Miss Moulon's mother, who grew up in rural Louisiana, initially let the ducks live in the house, although the two women sometimes fought over them, according to eccentricneworleans.com.

On that Web site, Myrl D'Arcy, an artist, described a visit to the house: "The duck's living in the bathtub, and the mother wanted to take a bath. Ruthie didn't want the mother to take the duck out of the bathtub because it would upset the duck."

In the documentary, artist George Dureau recalled a conversation with Miss Moulon after the death of another French Quarter character, Eloise Lopez Arollo Samakintos, who always carried a cross through the Vieux Carre.

"There ain't a whole lot of us left, George, " she said.

A Mass will be said Monday at noon at Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home, 3827 Canal St. Visitation will start at 10 a.m.

Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery.

Sabrage + Boys + Dull Knife - Skills = Mess

2008-09-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

You have GOT to be kidding me

2008-08-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we have been back to new orleans less than 3 months. Last weekend we had a "tropical storm" hit the city and we got rained on pretty badly. With the anniversary of Katrina on friday, Kevin and i were planning on taking our labor day break and going over to Houston to visit mom. Well thanks to Gustav (what a fuckin' name) it is looking like those plans are definately goin to change. Tonight we are having a pow-wow between all the medical professionals in our family to decide who is taking the dogs and high-tailing it out of town. Which almost always ends up being me. Off to plan for a hurricane, keep your fingers crossed for us.

By way of pictures

2008-08-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

I have begun a puppy blog and updated with new pictures http://dogimusprime.blogspot.com/

if you're interested

Welcome

2008-07-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

So some of you may not know that Kevin and I are welcoming a new edition to our family. Our new child will be arriving on Wednesday. I figured I would debut him to the world here. Everyone this is "Colorwork's More Than Meets the Eye" or "Prime"

Umm...ouch

2008-06-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah so apparently the kid who had the javaline through his leg took this picture. Pretty impressive i think.

Update

2008-05-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well as you all know from Dr. Shouldagonetolawschool's blog, it has been pretty busy around here for the last week. Last Saturday was her graduation, when she officially earned her MD MPH & TM...yes she gets that many letters. Much pomp and even some circumstance. Sunday we had a party at Teather's house (thanks you guys!) and it went very well considering all the different personalities we tried shoving into one room together. So that was good. There was this

much crawfish (actually there was twice that much, we made the crawfish man go mid-party and cook some more) and a good time was had by all.

A day later, back in the Thib., we were trying to convince ourselves to be useful and start to pack since we are moving on the 15th of June. That's when the fun started. Apparently, Kevin was walking down the stairs when the kitty decided to chase him. This usually is not a problem, however, on this particular morning the kitty misjudged his trajectory and tripped over kevin's foot. He also disobeyed the famous cats-always-land-on-thier-feet axiom and fell on his side on the corner of the bottom step. Again this wouldn't have been a big deal except the cat started to favor that leg and when kevin picked him up to check on him and touched his leg it went CRUNCH. "Shit..." so we call around to all of the vets in the area and finally get an appointment with our normal vet for a few hours later. He takes an xray and it turns out it is a spiral tib-fib fracture. In other words, the cat has managed to break both of the bones in his bottom leg and because of the nature of the fracture will need surgery to insert a pin. So now, we have a kitty who is 1/4 shorn and not to happy with a wicked set of stitches.

And I still have to find a job and pack the house so we can move!!!

Congrats

2008-05-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

I felt the need to say congrats Dr. Shouldagonetolawschool. Heather has officially finished medical school!!! Nice job, it sucked but it's over now.

even better

2008-04-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

For ted...

2008-04-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else see the problem with this?

Caption Contest?

2008-03-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Peep Show...hehe

2008-03-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

I take it back

2008-03-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

This is a hound dog...

see more loldogs are funny dog pictures!

Discussion Question

2008-03-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

While listening to the radio the other day a song by TLC came on. Before i could quickly change the channel i caught a line that i remember singing along to when i was younger but actually listening to it - and thinking about it - i realized exactly how fucked up the line was.

"What ashame your shootin' aint for someone else's brain"

I appreciate and respect that they were trying to discourage suicide but once you think about it, they are endorcing homicide as a replacement for suicide. Which i can't say i approve.

So the question on the table.

What is the most fucked up lyric/movie line can you think of?
Bonus points if it's only fucked up once you think about it

What The FUCK!?!

2008-03-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

For those of you who (luckily) aren't infiltrated by the media. Today a video showed up on the interweb of a US soldier throwing a puppy off of a cliff. If you feel like you can stomach it you can find it here http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=463231. If this is not the most blatent suggestion for the arguement that our soldiers have PTSD and that stop-lossing them is a bad idea then i don't know what could be. What the hell kind of world do we live in?

Nutin' but a Hound Dog

2008-03-02T14:06:00.001-08:00

2008-02-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Happy V-day my Lovelies

2008-02-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

My favorite Super Bowl Ad

2008-02-03T19:56:00.001-08:00

The Cowboy Monkey, Seriously

2008-01-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hamsters

2008-01-31T18:24:00.000-08:00

Total waste of time...but fun.

http://www.digyourowngrave.com/flight-of-the-hamsters/

For Ted...

2008-01-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

moar cute puppy pictures

Another Sighting

2008-01-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

There has been a new sighting of El Oso.

Artsy Pic of the Week

2008-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years

2007-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

I live across the street from a fireworks stand, which is iritating but made for some pretty pictures with my new camera!

Victory

2007-12-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

We did it! We had our first "big" xmas (i.e. containing every member of our family including significant others) without anyone fighting. Everyone came, Both parents, all four children, the two older significant others, and Kevin's parents and sister. WE all sat in our jammies and opened presents. We then all gorged ourselves on a fantastic potluck including three different types of meat and a bunch of sides. We marveled at Heather's to scale gingerbread version of charity hospital. Once the food coma began we indulged (?) ourselves by watching "Transmorphers" (no i didn't mispell that and yes it was THAT awful.) Which after 10 minutes of awfulness and in realizing that it wasn't going to be a porn we decided to MST3K. Once that decision was made the movie was funny. Then we watch the top 80 of the top 100 songs of the '90s. All in all it was a good day, everyone got presents all potential arguments were diffused and I think we all gained five pounds. This is a big step for my family unit. We have a distinct track record of having at least one person storm out or start a fight at EVERY holiday event. They are typically high stress. But we did it and I am very proud...off to the gym!

funny

2007-12-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

From the guy who brought us the Pachabel Rant

2007-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

Heather will like the second half of this

Turkey Day Keepers Part 1

2007-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

I am such a nerd

2007-11-13T13:44:00.001-08:00

caption contest in honor of heather

2007-11-07T20:09:00.001-08:00

You are welcome

Fall

2007-11-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

I love the fall for many reasons. I know, you northern folk will say we don't have a fall and I agree, i include our "winter" with our fall. When the temperature begins to drop a few degrees and I can actually wear sweaters again I am at my happiest. Then there is daylight savingst time and I get an extra hour of sleep during that "fall back" time. One of the other things i like that is a special feature of living in southeastern Louisiana. Around the first cold front of the year they begin to harvest the sugar cane. During the first few weeks of this process it smells starchy-sweet, reminiscent of a freshly opened can of corn. It reminds me of the holidays for some reason. The only problem is that that only lasts for the first week or two. Then they burn the cane fields to refertilize the soil, now this also smells kinda good, if you like the way fire smells. The only problem being that they burn ACRES of fields, so there is pounds of dust that falls on everything. THEN after about a week of that the air smells AWFUL like sulfer. It's terrible. Apparently, something in the processing has some kind of sulfer byproduct.

All in all, i'm happy it's fall. Happy Fall everyone!

I thought this was pretty cool

2007-10-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

Awesome

2007-10-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Oh my...prob. NSFW

2007-10-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Comedy

2007-10-15T18:51:00.001-07:00

This exchange took place between kevin and I the other day i thought it was funny.

Kevin after getting off the eliptical machine at gym: "Man i'm so bummed, i only ran a nine minute mile instead of my usual seven minute mile"

Me: "I love you baby, but i don't think you are running a seven minute mile. We are both way too out of shape for that to be right. I think the machine is lieing to you. Why don't you try running a mile on the treadmill and see what it says."

Kevin: "Ok, I bet you I can run a mile in seven minutes! What will you give me if i run a seven minute mile?"

Me: "CPR"

Happy?

2007-10-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Almost

2007-09-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

yay

2007-09-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

My plumeria is about to bloom (finally)!

Also this was the view from our balcony the other night, pretty huh?

Ewww---that's all i can say

2007-09-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is just gross, these people are selling their daughters and the entries are just gross. "She is a typical teenage girl except that she is impatient to get on with her life, which she sees as having a husband and raising kids. She tells us none of the boys her own age are interesting to her because they “are still little kids” and she is looking for an adult to start a life with." She's 14!!

http://marryourdaughter.biz

Ted's got a secret

2007-09-12T18:55:00.003-07:00

Why didn't you tell me you started your modeling career?

2007-09-11T17:22:00.001-07:00

Kevin has been begging me to post this as a caption contest for a while now so without further ado:

weird

2007-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

For all my swashbucklers

2007-08-18T15:09:00.001-07:00

Anger Management

2007-07-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

I think we can all agree that andy would enjoy this

Anger Management
>
>
>When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take
>it out on someone, don't take it out on someone you know, take it out
>on someone you don't know.
>
>I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I'd forgotten to
>make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying "Hello."
>
>I politely said, "This is Chris. Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?"
>
>Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear "Get the right f***ing
>number!" and the phone was slammed down on me.
>
>I couldn't believe that anyone could be so rude. When I tracked down
>Robyn's correct number to call her, I found that I had accidentally
>transposed the last two digits.
>
>After hanging up with her, I decided to call the 'wrong' number again.
>
>When the same guy
>answered the phone, I yelled "You're an asshole!" and
>hung up. I wrote his number down with the word 'asshole' next to it, and
>put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills
>or had a really bad day, I'd call him up and yell, "You're an asshole!"
>It always cheered me up.
>
>When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic 'asshole'
>calling would have to stop.
>
>So, I called his number and said, "Hi, this is John Smith from the
>telephone company. I'm calling to see if you're familiar with our Caller
>ID Program?"
>
>He yelled "NO!" and slammed down the phone. I quickly called him back
>and said, "That's because you're an asshole!" and hung up.
>
>One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking spot.
>
>Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had
>patiently
>waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I'd been waiting
>for that spot, but the idiot ignored me. I noticed a "For Sale " sign in
>his back window, so I wrote down his number.
>
>A couple of days later, right after calling the first asshole (I had his
>number on speed dial), I thought that I'd better call the BMW asshole, too.
>
>I said, "Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?" He said, "Yes, it
>is." I asked, "Can you tell me where I can see it?" He said, "Yes, I
>live at 34 Oaktree Blvd , in F airfax . It's a yellow rambler, and the
>car's parked right out in front."
>
>I asked, "What's your name?" He said , "My name is Don Hansen."
>
>I asked, "When's a good time to catch you, Don?" He said, "I'm home
>every evening a fter five."
>
>I said, "Listen, Don, can I tell you something?" He said, "Yes?"
>
>I said, "Don, you're an
>asshole!"
>
>Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too. Now, when I
>had a problem, I had two assholes to call.
>
>Then I came up with an idea.
>
>I called Asshole #1. He said, "Hello." I said, "You're an asshole!"
>(But I didn't hang up.)
>
>He asked, "Are you still there?"
>I said, "Yeah."
>He screamed, "Stop calling me!"
>I said, "Make me."
>He asked, "Who are you?"
>
>I said, "My name is Don Hansen."
>He said, "Yeah? Where do you live?"
>I said, "Asshole, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd , in Fairfax , a yellow
>rambler, I have a black Beamer parked in front."
>
>He said, "I'm coming over right now, Don. And you had better start
>saying your prayers."
>
>I said, "Yeah, like I'm really scared, asshole," and hung up.
>
>Then I called Asshole ..2.
>He said, "Hello?"
>I said, "Hello, asshole."
>He
>yelled, "If I ever find out who you are..."
>I said, "You'll what?"
>He exclaimed, "I'll kick your ass,"
>
>I answered, "Well, asshole, here's your chance. I'm coming over right
>now."
>
>Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived
>at 34 Oaktree Blvd , in Fairfax , and that I was on my way over there to
>kill my gay lover.
>
>Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in Oaktree
>Blvd. in Fairfax ..
>
>I quickly got into my car and headed over to Fairfax . I got there just
>in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in
>front of six cop cars, an overhead news helicopter and surrounded by a
>news crew.
>
>NOW I feel much better.

Every involved woman's theme song

2007-07-17T22:58:00.001-07:00

2007-07-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Look what you boys did

2007-07-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

Boys avert your eyes

2007-07-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

So i've been asked to post kevin's sweater in progress...Sorry boys i told you not to look...anyway i have all but the last sleeve done

this is it on the ground

This is it on kevin...be nice to him he's sick and i don't have a program to crop him out of the photo, plus i think it's cute. It's not as see through in person. I was going to post a picture of the stitch pattern but my camera SUCKS ASS.

This is my first wearable FO that fits. I'm really excited. I even installed an "invisible" zipper! Now if we could just fast forward 6 months so he can wear it.

Thought of the day

2007-07-01T17:44:00.001-07:00

Do you think that people from Boston/Philly/New Jersey , you know that accent, do you think they are the anti-pirates?

Sheldon

2007-06-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

So kevin's cousin just had a baby. Since i am still in the trying to impress the family stage with his extended family, and because they were all very nice to me when i visited over last Thanksgiving, i decided to knit her a present for the baby. I saw this pattern and thought it was too cute.

So he's kinda funny looking and kevin says his colors make him look like a Koopa but i like him and i think she will to

Little Connie

2007-06-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

My dad kept telling me this week about the guy on Britain's Got Talent (but as Dr. Ted pointed out -- not grammer) who sang opera like Povarati and i kept countering with the 6 year old who sang just as well. Anyway figured i'd show my evidence, someone messed up and gave this kid the voice of a 30 year old

Final Photo Project

2007-05-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

As requested these are the pictures of my final photo project. Again i apologize for the quality of the pictures. For those of you not familiar with my concept i took pictures of people scars and matted them with the method of acquisition.

What's a synonym for awesome

2007-05-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Calling all fellow book lovers

2007-05-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
As some of you know, I watch a video blog called brotherhood 2.0. Recently on this blog was this video describing how a young adult author's book just got banned from a school library for containing homosexual characters. Now, we aren't talking lurid sex scenes even, the most explicit thing is some kissing. Please join me and the thousands of others who are e-mailing the members of this board and making sure they know how we feel about censorship. I mean come on there is a gay sesame street character now! I think high school kids can handle it.

Mrs. Janet Vernon,(vernonjm@bps-ok.org) Executive Director of Secondary Instruction
UPDATE: Mrs. Vernon’s email box is full, but you can email her assistant, Becky Brubaker,(BrubakerRA@bps-ok.org) and ask her to pass your thoughts along to Mrs. Vernon
Dr. Richard Rosenberger, (rosenbergerrg@bps-ok.org) Executive Director of Human Resources
Mr. Chuck McCauley, (mccauleycr@bps-ok.org) Principal of Bartlesville High School

Coolest socks....EVER!!!

2007-04-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

Even you boys will appreciate that i made these socks by hand!

That's right, space invaders!

Awesome

2007-04-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like this all the time, except for the whole paranoid delusion that a dead musician is following me.

Pictures of pictures

2007-04-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Ok so i promis that these pictures aren't as bad as they look but it's hard to take a good picture of a picture

Wedding Bonanza

2007-04-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you know after the wedding i lost my camera. Well, I've found it! So i thought it would be fitting to post some pictures.

This one i think we can all appreciate. We actually played this game the day of the wedding.

But before all that we had a girls night out on the town.

There was some bubbly.

There was this guy

He taught our martini class

There was zombie bride

And just hanging out

Then the real fun began

There was dancing...

And Drinking...

And carrying on.

And we spent the next day in our pajamas

getting our hair done

So that we could watch heather & Ted walk away into the sunset together

for a TOUCHDOWN!!!

Isn't it sad when things don't suprise you anymore

2007-04-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Fifth-Graders Accused of Sex in Classroom
By MARY FOSTER
AP
NEW ORLEANS (April 4) - Five fifth-grade students face criminal charges after authorities said four of them had sex in front of other students in an unsupervised classroom and kept a classmate posted as a lookout for teachers.

Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year old boy have been charged with obscenity for allegedly having sex in an unsupervised classroom in front of other students. An 11-year-old boy, the alleged lookout, was charged with being an accessory.

The students were arrested Thursday at the Spearsville school in rural north Louisiana, authorities said. Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year old boy were charged with obscenity, a felony. An 11-year-old boy, the alleged guard, was charged with being an accessory.

"After 44 years of doing this work, nothing shocks me anymore," said Union Parish Sheriff Bob Buckley. "But this comes pretty close."

Authorities said the incident happened March 27 at the school, which houses students from kindergarten through 12th grade. A high school teacher normally watches the fifth-grade class at the time, but went to an assembly for older students and the class was inadvertently left unattended, Buckley said.

The class, which had around 10 other students, was alone for about 15 minutes, he said.

Students Allegedly Had Sex in School

"When no teacher showed up, the four began to have sex in the classroom with the other elementary students in the classroom with them," he said.

It took a day for authorities to find out about the incident. A student who had been in the class told a high school student about it the next day, Buckley said. The student told a teacher, and school officials notified the sheriff's office. Detectives began questioning students Thursday.

School officials did not return calls seeking comment.

The students, who were not identified because of their age, were released to their parents after their arrests, Buckley said. They will next be arraigned in juvenile court. A message seeking comment from the district attorney was not immediately returned.

Buckley said it was unclear what the children could face in penalties.

This SUCKS

2007-03-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

I just took an organic chemistry exam. The scary part was, it was easy. Our professor as a gesture of kindness decided to let us have an open book/notes exam, which is weird to begin with for this professor but she also said she wasn't going to make it any harder than a normal test. Terrified, i went to the study session last night, stayed all the way to the end and wrote down everything we went over and then it was ALL on the test. So basically i had the answers to all the questions. Why am I still scared?

Theory Contest?

2007-03-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

So in the spirit of all of the caption contests, I propose a theory contest. What do i mean by that? Well last night while kevin was sleeping he started talking. He said to me in that sleepy sleeptalking voice "I wonder what i tastes like when you mix fear and vodka." So what's your theory? What does it taste like when you mix fear and vodka? Have fun!

Insomnia

2007-03-15T02:10:00.000-07:00

I like to sleep. I don't like not sleeping. I would love to be asleep right now but alas, I'm not and NO TED it doesn't have anything to do with caffeine. I say this because 1) I haven't had any at all today and 2)I'm still awake at 4am.
On a completely different note, have you ever done something so stupid that you felt the need to share? (I know heather has because we call each other with stupid things like this all the time)Well, long story long i am taking a photography class and our next project is on time and motion. It was raining REALLY hard tonight. I set up my camera to take pictures of the lightening. Well since my windows are dirty and it was raining i needed to have the door open to aim the camera. Well in the time that i left the room to patiently wait for the lightning to happen, it went from raining to TORRENTIAL MONSOON...needless to say my carpet, camera, and everything in a three foot radius is soaking wet. DUH!

DeathCab for Cutie

2007-03-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I don't usually agree on music, for the simple reason that we hear it differently. I listen to the words of a song and the melody and Kevin listens to the bass line. Not a huge logical jump to say that we don't usually agree on music, not all the time anyway. Well sufice it to say that when he called me into the room to listen to this song it made me cry. I decided to share. Enjoy.

THANKS

2007-02-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

You know how you see those bumper stickers that say "I am thankful for the thousands of GOOD priests"? Well that aside you also know those people who really hate doctors? I have never been able to agree with those people because where i have met a few inept doctors in my time, I had never been treated by one. Well today changed all of that. Without going into great and gory detail i had unfortunate luck to be treated by the meanest, angriest, and stupidest doctor i have ever met.

So here is my thank you to all the good doctors out there, and those striving to become compasionate, caring and understanding doctors.

oh and on a completely different note i saw this the other day and thought it would be appreciated.

Why?

2007-01-22T18:08:00.000-08:00

Ok after having the day from hell...long and short of it is that after a full day of class 8-3 with no breaks i went to go get in my car to go home before my ANAL. CHEM. class and my car wouldn't start...after two hours of dealing with that i went to my analytical chemistry class and what did we do??? Say it with me boys and girls...that's right, we WEIGHED PENNIES!!!!!! Please someone explain to me why anyone who has made it to Chem 302 needs to have a full 2 hours on how to use a scale and get a standard deviation. I just don't understand.

R.O.U.S.'s

2007-01-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

Does everyone remember the Rodents Of Unusual Size from the princess bride? Of course you do!

They look vaguely like this ugly fucker to our left....well i found out today that they are real! I know i live in B.F.E. swampland but i was driving down the road today and there was a dead nutria on the side of the road that was as big as one of these bad boys...I mean bigger than a telephone pole i swear...For those of you yankees who don't know what a nutria is they are rather large rodents with ORANGE teeth that look like the fellow on our right...I just felt the need to share...I had no idea i was living in the fire swamp!

Let's hear it!

2007-01-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

Man Sues to More Easily Take Wife's Name
By Martin Kasindorf
USA Today
(Jan. 12) - Michael Buday is petitioning a federal judge for the right to take Diana Bijon's last name in marriage as easily as she could take his last name. Bijon, 28, an emergency room nurse, asked her fiancé to change his last name to preserve her father's family name because there are no sons. Buday, 29, a technical manager at an advertising firm, promised he would. "I had a rough childhood with my father," he says. "We never really got along. Diana's father stepped up, gave me career advice. He's family." Keeping his promise has been more onerous than Buday expected. A woman can choose her husband's name or her maiden name on a California marriage-license form after the couple pays a county application fee that ranges from $50 to $97. California and 43 other states provide no place on a marriage-license application for the groom to choose the bride's surname. To officially change his name to hers - and for future Social Security benefits, Buday says - a man must pay a $320 court fee, advertise his intention in a newspaper for four weeks and get a judge's approval. "The law makes it burdensome, if not close to impossible, to adopt the wife's name," says Mark Rosenbaum, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "It reflects the archaic notion of a woman's subordinate place in the partnership."

The ACLU sued California and Los Angeles County on Dec. 15 to have the separate treatment of Buday and Bijon outlawed as gender discrimination and a denial of equal protection. The couple were married in August 2005 under their separate names after state and county agencies rebuffed them. Six states - Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota - give either spouse the right to choose the other's last name. A marrying couple that wants a combined or hyphenated name in California and most other states must go through the red tape of a court petition. That's the route Antonio Villar of Los Angeles took in 1987 when he and his wife, Corina Raigosa, combined their names as Villaraigosa. He's now mayor of the city. A groom seldom asks to adopt his bride's name, says Myleta Miller, a clerk at Atlanta's Probate Court. No national statistics are kept, but Miller says she's seen "no more than five" such applications in six years on the job. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Conny McCormack, named in the lawsuit, says her office uses a state-dictated form and will comply with any change judges or legislators might order. "I certainly am in favor of the law -- being clarified," McCormack says.

2007-01-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

I just found the best blog every and felt the need to share with everyone...heather you will love this one! www.yogabeans.com you should all check it out

Awww

2007-01-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a big sports fan but this was too cute to pass up, apparently undefeated Boise state wins the fiesta bowl and during a CNN interview their RB proposes to his girlfriend. TOO CUTE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5uYDY1y5Qo

Pictures

2006-12-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

Heather and Ted's pictures are loaded and they are awesome! To see them, go to www.gillieweddings.com click on "online proofing" then the password is ted's last name. There are 600 pictures so you'll need some time but they are so worth it!

Teather & Head

2006-12-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

To those concerned, We have recieved an e-mail from heather and ted that says the following: "we arrived a couple of hours ago, a couple of hours late. I don't recomend that 12 hr flight from london, it kinda sucked. we're here now, and can see the atlantic, table mountain, twelve apostles, and lion's head from the hotel balcony where we had breakfast. We're gonna change shoes and freshen up and then go see about climbing lion'shead. please let everyone know that we're here & ok. Thanks a billion for all your help, heather We all agree thanks to everyone for their help (or letting us borrow their husbands) and remember to check www.gillieweddings.com on the 28th for the pictures!

Wow

2006-12-07T16:12:00.001-08:00

Ok all i have to say is wow...a 13-year old girl is being charged as a sex offender...AND THE VICTIM! Utah is so DUMB!! 13-year-old girl charged as both sex offender and victim - Blogging Baby...

HAHA

2006-12-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Saw this on craftster of all places. "When God made the arse, he didn't say, 'Hey, it's just your basic hinge, let's knock off early.' He said, 'Behold ye angels, I have created the arse. Throughout the ages to come, men and women shall grab hold of these, and shout my name!

Deja Vu

2006-12-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Ok so Jerry Bruckheimer has done it again, maybe i just have a soft spot for his work but we went and saw Deja Vu last night and it was pretty awesome. I knew the plot line, kevin didn't and we don't usually agree on most movies. However we both left happy. This movie includes, Denzel Washington, a little pudgy Val Kilmer, a pretty lady in her bra, and they blow up the canal st. ferry. Save a few really confusing inaccuracies of the New Orleans interstate, it was really neat to see a good film shot in new orleans. They also worked the hurricane into the plot line, which i have to give them props for, considering it interupted the filming and they could have just as easily found new places to film on the Northshore. So Kevin and I give it our thumbs up i.e. it was worth the 7 dollar ticket.

Eww

2006-11-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure i was gonna start a blog, even though everyone i know has one. But then the queen of the trailer park went and did something i couldn't reisist sharing with my nearest and dearest. When Paris Hilton is telling you to close your legs you know you are in trouble.

Now, if you want to see the rest of this lovely photo shoot go to this website: http://www.jojoevents.com/britney.htm. However i will warn you, it's not for the faint of heart, stomach or those who value their eyesight. *NOTE* The author of this blog may not be held responsible for instances of hysterical blindness