Today was not a good day for random reasons.

The morning started out with my highly anticipated strawberry-peach smoothie receiving a high-fiber boost from a wooden spoon (which should have clued me in that this was going to be a long, long day). Making two smoothies is not a good way to start a day.

Later in the day, after our run, Richard, Priyanka and I were almost run over by a small silver SUV (5ELM748, if you'd like to know the license plate). We were waiting at the south west corner of the Gateway-Bayside intersection when the SUV of note came whizzing up and stopped just before the crosswalk (about a foot away from it) as the light turned green for us. The light changing included the walk sign for us.

Figuring the guy was waiting for us (and saw us since he stopped just outside the crosswalk), we started crossing the street. Priyanka was at the driver side headlight, I was right in front of the car and Richard was at the passenger headlight, when the car started accelerating. It was a real acceleration - the "accelerate fast to get in front of the car coming through the intersection" type of acceleration.

Priyanka shrieked and jumped out of the way. Richard jumped back. And I cried out, twisted, and threw my arms up. The driver hit the brakes and stopped. I looked up at him - he had a look of terror on his face. He never saw us.

That look stayed my anger. Any other look and I would have launched a fury at the car.

Priyanka started laughing. Richard was shaken. I was relieved we were okay.

Later as I was driving home, the car in front of me stopped at the metering light at the 880 south onramp from Gateway. I had no idea why it stopped. Several times I could have passed the car on the way to the onramp, but I didn't (I wanted to drive home calmly - what was I thinking?). Perhaps needless to say, I drove around the stopped car on the onramp and took off.

What is it with big metal object rushing me today?

I'm on a roll! Migraine number two in two weeks!

Woke up this morning with a migraine. Fortunately, I wasn't blind, or I would have been completely upset, instead of just mostly upset.

I woke up at 9:30 (having gone to bed at 3:30) with my hand numb and my mouth numb. At first, I thought it might just be from sleeping on my arm. Until the numbness started moving up my arm in the oh-so-migraine way it likes to do. Following the numbness spreading across my face and I knew it was another one.

Priyanka had some tylenol, so I downed two and tried to go back to sleep. I wasn't very successful, unfortunately.

The day ended up being a lazy, sit around and avoid the light sort of day. I ended up sleeping at 6:30 and awake again at 9:30, so my sleep is _all_ messed up.

I had another migraine last night.

I was driving Jamie and his family back from the airport when I realized I couldn't see half of the car in front of me. I can probably not express fully how sickening it feels to discover, once again, I'm going to be blind in fifteen minutes and there is nothing I can do about it. Worse, that if I hadn't noticed it when I did, I could have caused a serious accident because I couldn't see a car one lane over and didn't know I couldn't see it.

I was fortunate last night that I could pull over. I was fortunate last night that Jamie could drive us the rest of the way home. I was fortunate that Kris could take care of me.

I was less fortunate with the severity of this migraine, though. I was in bed by 9:45, asleep by 9:50 and awake at 12:30am crying (screaming?) in pain. This was the worst headache I've had in years. The pain was so bad I was nauseous - something I hadn't been in years, if not decades. (Hey, I can say that! Whoo!)

Kris gave me two tylenol at 12:45 and rubbed my head. He also agreed to take me to the hospital if the pain didn't drop by 3:00 am. Thankfully, I feel asleep with thoughts of, "The tylenol is working... the tylenol is working..." drifting through my head.

So, two days before my vacation is over, my day is shot. No playing ultimate today. No heading off to track practice today. No loud noises. No bright lights. No walking the dogs. Just another lazy, dark room day, where I rediscover my frailty.

Every once in a while, a person's email system can become, um, confused. When this happens, email sent out can end up places you don't mean it to.

Take for example, my wedding site. The domain name has "kris" in it. When my Aunt Mary received an email from me from that domain, her email program replaced her daughter Kristin's email address (think "Kris", her nickname) with my email address. I then started receiving emails from my aunt that were clearly intended for my cousin.

Not a problem, really. I informed my aunt of the issue, she updated her email address book, and all was good.

But not before I received this email from Aunt Mary. I liked it, so I kept it.

Date:    Fri, 2 Jan 2004 14:03:38 -0500
From:  	 Magnut Mary
To:  	 Kitt Hodsden, Michael Mendez
Subject: Notable Quotes to live by!

I would like to share with you some thoughts on Success, written by 
Brian Tracy:

"I found every single successful person I've ever spoken to had a
turning point.  The turning point was when they made a clear, specific
unequivocal decision that they were not going to live like this 
anymore; they were going to achieve success.  Some people make that
decision at 15 and some people make it at 50, and most people never 
make it at all.

The single common denominator of men and women who achieve great 
things is a sense of destiny.

The establishment of a clear, central purpose or goal in life is 
the starting point of all success.

Make a decision to be successful right now.  Most people never 
decide to be wealthy and that is why they retire poor.

Every study of high achieving men and women proves that greatness
in life is only possible when you become outstanding at your chosen
field.

Resolve to pay any price or make any sacrifice to get into the top 
ten percent of your field.  The payoff is incredible!

Whatever you believe with emotion becomes your reality.  You always
act in a manner consistent with your innermost beliefs and 
convictions.

If you could find out what the most successful people did in any 
area and then you did the same thing over and over, you'd eventually 
get the same results they do.

Develop a benevolent world view; look for the good in the people
and circumstances around you.

Every great success is an accumulation of thousands of ordinary 
efforts that no one sees or appreciates.

The future belongs to the competent.  It belongs to those who are
very, very good at what they do.  It does not belong to the well
meaning.

The great breakthrough in your life comes when you realize that you
can learn anything you need to learn to accomplish any goal that 
you set for yourself.  This means there are no limits on what you 
can be, have or do.

Ask for what you want.  Ask for help, ask for input, ask for advice
and ideas - but never be afraid to ask.

Happiness comes when you believe in what you are doing, know what
you are doing, and love what you are doing." 

BRIAN TRACY (excerpts from The Treasury of Quotes). 

Bella almost died last night.

While Kris and I were cleaning up the house, I gave Bella and Annie each a twisted pig skin treat to chew on. They came in Annie's food bag when we adopted her, so I didn't think anything of them when I gave them to the girls.

Kris had wandered out to the living room to talk to me after I had asked him a question. He looked down as Bella stood up oddly, with her back arched and her back legs stiff. Kris asked, "What's wrong with her?" I looked down at her and thought, "Oh, she just has to go to the bathroom." I hurried to the back door to open it, lest she defecate on the living room rug. When I turned back around to call to her, I noticed the panicked look on her face.

"She's not breathing!" I exclaimed, then rushed over. Kris picked up Bella by the back end and had her upside down, trying to shake the food out. I grabbed her to try a Heimlich.

Bella's belly was quite full, as she and Annie had just finished dinner before munching on their treats. They had eaten their Greenies earlier in the evening, so the pig skin treat was for variation. I couldn't get her to cough up whatever was in her throat.

I squeezed up, just below her rib cage, and each time I tried I heard a little wheeze, but I couldn't get whatever was stuck unstuck.

Kris opened her mouth and tried to get out the piece of food, but couldn't feel anything. We were in a panic at this point. After trying for what seemed like a minute (but was probably 20 seconds), I cried out that it wasn't doing any good. Kris gave me encouragement, as we heard her wheezing each time I squeezed.

I asked Kris to try, watched as he did a few. He didn't seem to be doing it right (he was more squeezing her ribs than pushing up on her diaphragm), so I pushed him out of the way and tried again. I tried to be more violent with the thrusts, but was having no more luck than I was earlier.

As some point I told Kris to take over and ran to find the vet's number. Thankfully, I had actually filed the dog's paperwork, so I knew where to look. I dashed out to call, called the vet, and received an answering machine message listing an emergency number. I hung up and called the emergency number, only to realize I had dialed the wrong number.

I called the vet again, and gave the phone to Kris, as I tried more Heimlich maneuvers on Bella. Her back was still arched, her back legs still stiff, and she was drooling a bit. The line was busy, so Kris called again, cursing the whole time. Eventually the message played, he called the emergency vet number and shouted, "My dog is choking!" when the vet answered. After maybe 3 sentences of conversation, Kris had the vet address and hung up.

During the call, the Heimlichs weren't helping. All I was getting were little wheezes from Bella. When I heard Kris say, "I know where that is," I jumped up, grabbed Bella in one arm and dashed to the front door. Noticing the garbage next to the door, ready to be taken out to the trash can, I flung the door open, and ran out to the truck. It was then I realized I didn't have a shirt on (I had flung it off at one point when Kris was working on Bella), I didn't have shoes on, and I didn't have the truck keys. I whipped back, and ran back to the house, to meet Kris rushing out. "Go, go!" he called. I turned, calling, "Take the other one away from Annie!" He didn't hear me as we rushed to the car.

With Bella tucked under one arm, I opened the car door after Kris unlocked the doors from the driver's side, and dumped Bella on the seat. I took a moment to think, "Where am I supposed to sit?", before I shoved her aside and squished next to her. Kris has started the truck, and was backing out as I closed the door.

I turned to lift Bella onto my lap so that I could fasten my seatbelt. As I did, she inhaled one long raspy breath. Oh JOY!

She started breathing slowly. Very labored and raspy. I held her close to me, calling her name, petting her, and uttering soothing sounds to calm her down. She flopped on my legs for a bit, but as we reached 85, she started to sit up. She was panting after that. Kris was driving fast, getting us to Palo Alto at Oregon & Middlefield very fast.

At about 85 & 101, Bella was alert and looking around. By the vet clinic, she was subdued and panting, but more aware of her surroundings. She wiggled a bit when I carried her into the clinic. She hadn't wiggled at all when I rushed her to the car, so this made me feel good.

The vet's assistant heard us when we came in and came out to the lobby. He took Bella and disappeared for a bit, then called us into an examining room, where Bella was sitting, shaking on the examining table. We explained what had happened. He talked to us, then left to talk to the vet as we petted Bella, trying to calm her.

The vet assistant came back, and asked if we wanted X-rays done, which we answered yes. Off Bella went for X-rays. She returned about five minutes later. We heard her howling in the back, which helped calm us a bit.

As we waited, the other emergency dog came out. Turns out, Percy, a tri-colored beagle, had eaten a king-sized bar of chocolate and had vomiting induced on her. She didn't seem too happy. Apparently there was another beagle coming in after us that had also eaten a bar of chocolate. The night of beagles.

We went back into the examining room when Bella stuck her head through the door. The vet showed us the X-rays, and explained how Bella's stomach was full, her lungs were clear and there was no obstruction in the esophagus. Bella does have a narrowing then widening of her esophagus, so she may be prone to getting food stuck where it narrows back, we were also told.

Bella received an anti-inflamatory shot, we paid the bill and went home.

Annie, in the meantime, had finished her treat, finished Bella's treat, ripped open the garbage bag and eaten the remains of last night's burritos. No way we could be upset with her, as we had left the garbage out.

All in all, a horrible evening, and one I hope to never repeat.