General

Biomet Uniflex Femoral Nail

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A few days from now will mark the 16th anniversary of my first time skiing. It also marks the 16th anniversary of me breaking my right femur. In honor of that glorious month of 7th grade I missed, I decided to see if the surgery I had to repair the bone  is still being performed.

uniflex_fema

The answer: yes. Pretty much nothing has changed if you break your femur in the same manner: Intramedullary Fixation for non-comminuted mid shaft fractures. It’s a pretty straightforward procedure: knock me out, cut hip open, drill a hole into the head of the femur, ream out the center marrow-y part, drive in 13.4 inches titanium nail, insert two proximal screws at the top end to hold the rod in place (keep it from moving up and down in the bone), put the end cap in place, and stitch and staple shut.

Read the brochure, and note the odd choice of text/graphics ala Ralph Steadman.

Being a thirteen year old, and having expectation to continue to grow for 5 more years,  I had the femoral nail removed after a year. I have it next to me as I type this.

2008 Highlight Reel

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• saw Leonard Cohen perform in Toronto

• saw Jonathan Richman perform in Philadelphia

• finished my masters degree

• Phillies win the World Series

• saw Stella live in Glenside

• visited Chicago and Toronto for the first time

• went to the beach twice

• Rudy Giuliani stakes it all on Florida

• Mitt Romney let the dogs out

• Hillary recalls being shot at by terrorists

• Obama keeps his mouth shout

(these are not in any particular order)

Twenty O Nine

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I am excited that this is the last year I’ll have to refer to as an O-something. It’s been very cumbersome and annoying. This was something they didn’t warn us about. For me, this was the real Y2K bug. It would have been nice if my great-grandparents passed a warning down through the familial lines: “Watch out for the 200-‘s! the The 190-‘s sure were a bother.” We should consider passing this warning on to our children and grandchildren (to pass onto their children and grandchildren) for 210-‘s.

Nah, nevermind. With all the futurey technology (and mind control) they’ll have to make their lives easier – they can use a good decade of a trivial annoyance. Screw you, great-grandkids.

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The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny. 
– Albert Ellis 

33rd Annual Artistry In Wood Show

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33rd Annual Mid-Atlantic 

“ARTISTRY IN WOOD” SHOW & COMPETITION

ONE OF THE LARGEST WOODCARVING SHOWS IN THE EAST
DECOYS – BIRDS – ANIMALS – SCULPTURES – WOOD TURNINGS AND MUCH MORE
WOODCARVINGS BY OVER 100 FINE CRAFTSMEN AND ARTISTS

March 28 and 29, 2009
Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sunday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

BUCKS COUNTY
TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
WISTAR & NEW FALLS RD
FAIRLESS HILLS, PA

Google Maps

Directions:

Exit 351 of the PA Turnpike to Route 1 North. Bear right onto Business Route 1. Proceed 6 miles on to Woodbourne Road. Turn right. Proceed through 4 traffic lights and take a left on New Falls Road. The school is 1 mile up on the left on the corner of New Falls and Wistar Road. 

Partial proceeds benefit the Chruchville Nature Center Demonstrations by local artists:
· Wood burning (pyrography)
· Power carving
· Knife carving
· Tool Sharpening
· Scroll Saw
· Wood turning
· Pen Turning
· Airbrushing
· Books, Tools & Materials
· Demonstrations
· Door Prizes
· Free Parking
· Raffle of Carved Artwork
· Snack Bar and Lunch

Donation $5.00 Children under 12 free with adult

www.delvalwoodcarvers.com

The Air That I Breathe

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I hadn’t replaced the filters in my IQAIR for just over a year, namely due to the cost of the filters ($50 and $200), but after examining the filters after one year, it was an easy decision to drop the money:

Pre-Filter (new/1 year old):


 

HEPA Filter (new/ 2-year old):

Watching

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I was at Borders last week perusing the periodicals where I became aware of the plethora of magazine titles about watches:

WatchTime
International Watch
QP
Revolution
Uhren
Chronos
00/24
Montres
GMT

    After perusing the new styles and mechanisms, as well as old antiques, I decided I think i might like to own a watch that costs as much as my car. I do like the Omega Seamaster 300 M, Jager-LeCoultre AMVOX2 DBS, and the Patek Phillipe Calatrava. My favorite (so far, in this onset of chronometrophilia) is the Breguet Tradition 7047BA:

    An Irish Goodbye

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    Irish goodbye is a slang term with its origins in the Irish-American neighborhoods of New York City and Boston. The term refers to the practice of inconspicuously leaving a place where one has gathered with friends (usually for quite some time) without ever formally announcing that one is leaving. Note that an Irish goodbye requires a conscious decision by the person to leave without bidding adieu. It is a decision that reflects the leaver’s dislike of making himself the center of attention and an austere disdain for showy and perhaps empty formalities. The Irish goodbye also allows a person to disappear from a function with the utmost expediency without spending extra time on “thank-yous” etc.

    Election Day

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    It’s about 7 years since I’ve received ashes on my forehead. I revel in the thought of all Americans demonstrating their enthusiasm to vote with some type of symbol comparable to a Catholic on Ash Wednesday. Lets lose the electronic voting machines and use our fingers like they do in Iraq and Africa!

    (AP Photo)
    (AP Photo)

    Starting Over

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    I have finally ended my relationship with Web.com and moved by website to BlueHost.com its been nothing but a blessing. So far everything has been better: responsiveness, features, capacity, and bandwidth.  But the two best reasons are cost (I will be saving $100 over the next two years!) and customer support (they have been a extremely helpful with any question I’ve had). Web.com had the worst customer support and couldn’t resolve a ticket in less than 5 days.

    Hopefully, I will be able to take advantage of all the new features and provide better more interesting content in the near future.