Dubya

Well as many know, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, is coming to wee little Manhattan, Kansas on Monday to speak about the 'war on terror.' On Thursday tickets were available to pick up for free on a first come, first serve basis, and I ended up waiting in line for an hour before I got my ticket. I am located in section 5, row 20, which according to the seating chart below could be a pretty good seat.



So far this semester as been really relaxed. In studio all we have done is do some reading, getting our minds prepared for when our guest professor, Alberto Campa Baeza, comes in on the 30th. Our only project this semester is to design a house, which will start with a charette for the week when Baeza is here. My studio professor has taught 5th year a couple of times, so I think he knows how we will have a tendency to slack off at the end of the semester and has therefore structured our project appropriately.

Aging

From dictionary.com:

stent (stnt)
n.

A device that is used to maintain a bodily orifice or cavity during skin grafting, or to immobilize a skin graft following placement.
A slender thread, rod, or catheter placed within the lumen of tubular structures, such as a blood vessel, to provide support during or after anastomosis.

Yesterday my 86 year-old grandfather had 4 stents inserted into his heart and surrounding arteries. He had been complaining of a tightness in his chest when he would walk up stairs, and when he went into the doctors office yesterday they checked him out and decided to put the stents in. About 15 years ago he had quadruple bypass surgery on his heart, and has had various problems and conditions with it since then. If he had not starting walking every day about 20 years ago, he probably would not be with us anymore. His condtition right now is good, it is not a serious surgery, but it still is something that concerns me. He has been a very important person in my life, someone who I look up to and someone who I hope I can live my life like. He grew up in the Great Depression when his father left them at age 12, and after that my grandpa had to provide for his family. He fought in the War, went to college, got married and started a family, and got a job working at the University Hospital at Missouri. He is a very strong person, and I know that he will weather this just fine.

Here's a pic of him eating cake at a band supper in his hometown from this summer:

A New Year

2006, hurrah!!

Well, actually I don't really care. It was a good night though, I got to watch the apple drop in Manhattan, Kansas. Not quite like NYC, but hey, I'll take what I can get for now. My girlfriend just left and I won't be seeing her until spring break. Boo. However, I do have two more weeks of boredom in this boring town before school starts. I am taking an intersession class on the history of the American movie going experience, and there is nobody in town right now. I sit around all day, reading and watching movies, and don't talk much. I have to read a lot for my class, and with doing that and watching movies for leisure I feel like I am a film student or something. I did get a month long subscription to Nexflix for xmas, so I am going to take advantage of that.

Oh yeah, it sucks having to sit for 4 hours straight, 5 days a week.