Movie: Taken

Teenage daughter vacations in Paris. Father has 96 hours to rescue her from kidnappers. Visceral, compelling tale - to parents, about what evils may befall their offspring; to older children, a reveal of how evil others can be and how playful ignorance can kill.

I put this with Braveheart as a story parents should share with their older (!) kids, a platform for frank discussion of how much of the world operates and how we should behave in response.

Well done as an entertaining thriller. Downfall is how so much of the story relies of nick-of-time coincidences; consider how different an end if only actions spanning days occurred a few seconds off. As a father of a playful little girl, I hoped for somewhat more applicable solutions to every parent's nightmare. Perhaps a trip to Storm Mountain's High Risk Personnel training (to wit: how to survive a kidnapping) is in order.

Movie: X-Men Origins Wolverine

Teeth-grinding adrenaline-pumping low-cognition guy movie. The three prior X-Men movies alluded to the mysterious amnesic history of the unsophisticated yet compelling character Wolverine; this story at long last unfolds his 175-year lifespan - and why that one nasty badguy is so keen on almost but not quite killing him.

Understand that this movie is a tangent to the obsessively complex X-Men comic book series. Lots of characters are introduced, many with very brief involvements featuring unexplained extreme behavior which will leave fanboys smiling and nodding while their SOs tilt their heads wondering "what the heck was THAT all about?" Relax, enjoy, and recognize this is just a small part of a much bigger story.

Movie: The Woman in White

Another nicely-done Victorian-era chick-flick about aristocrats jockeying for positions to marry up, access fortunes, and bump off anyone in their way. This one is a bit darker than usual, as we discover why the ghostly, disheveled & deranged woman in white is the key to the high-society combat that unfolds.

Surgery: complications and recovery

Went home for a couple days, then had signs of internal bleeding so I went back to the hospital for another week.

Upshot for the whole affair:
- Lost one organ (gallbladder)
- Almost lost another organ (pancreas)
- Seriously annoyed another (liver)
- Got knocked out 4 times
- 4 CaT scans
- 1 radioactive injection
- Transfused 9 units of blood & plasma
- Starved for most of 2 weeks
- Lost 10 pounds
- Jabbed with needles maybe 100 times
...and thankful for all of it.

We have a wonderful health care system. Everything done was just between me and my 8+ doctors. Keep government bureaucrats out of it.

Recipe: No-fat Peach Cobbler

 
No-fat Peach Cobbler
 
1 cup self-rising flour
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup dried milk powder
1 15-oz can sliced peaches “lite; no sugar added”
 
Reconstitute milk powder using 2/3 cup juice from can (which should contain right amount; add water if needed).
Mix flour, sugar, milk until smooth.
Pour into 8” non-stick baking pan.
Lay peach slices on top.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.
 
Convenient for camping! No refrigeration needed. Carry dry ingredients in zip-loc bag, mixing in bag when ready. Don’t forget a can opener. Heat Dutch oven in campfire coals, use 3 pebbles to raise baking pan from bottom of oven.

Surgery: success

Seems all went well. Am very tired. More details later.

Surgery: Gallbladder

Long story short, here I am in a hospital bed waiting for my anti-coagulation reversal so I can get my gallbladder yanked out torrow afternoon. Karen is napping, and Kirsten is figuring out how this bed works. I'm trying to ignore the pain in my upper abdomen caused by gallstones, an inflamed gallbladder, and possibly a plugged pancreatic duct. And I'm sharing it with you! Soon I get pumped with "fresh frozen plasma" to bring my blood clotting rates back to near (but not too near; see last year's heart surgery) normal.

Not sure what else to add. Next post may be after surgery, and I may be groggy/incoherent.