Morgan: Son of a Itch!

Not all vacations are fun. I did a section hike of the Appalachian Trail last weekend. I won't bore you with our trail of trials. you can read all about it on Mustangs of Destiny, however I'm here to tell you I got a very severe case of Poison Ivy that is kicking my ass. The rash started popping up immediately and now the incessant itching is driving me crazy with sleepless nights. I rubbed cortizone cream to relieve the itching but it just seems to spread further. I thought maybe the chlorine in the pool would heal me so I took a dip this afternoon, to no avail. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow and they will probably prescribe some steroids to clear me up. I started doing some research about global warming and a new strain of Super Poison Ivy and what I found was alarming. Ahhhhhh! I can't stop itching!

Climate Change Brings Super Poison Ivy

Researches Say Boost in Carbon Dioxide Has an Itchy Impact

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Feature

Climate change isn’t just increasing outdoor temperatures and warming up the oceans. It may also greatly increase your chances of getting a really bad case of poison ivy.

As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, it's boosting the growth of poison ivy plants, two recent studies show. These elevated carbon dioxide levels are creating bigger, stronger poison ivy plants that produce more urushiol, the oil that causes the allergic reaction and miserable poison ivy rash. The urushiol isn't just more plentiful; it might also be more potent.

"Initial data suggests that there may be a more [powerful] form of urushiol being produced with increasing carbon dioxide," says Lewis Ziska, PhD, a weed ecologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md., and a co-researcher of both studies.

In the last 50 years, Ziska says, the growth rate of the poison ivy plant has doubled. "The chances of encountering poison ivy and coming down with a rash are greater than they used to be," he tells WebMD.

The urushiol found in the sap of the poison ivy plant binds to skin cells when it comes into contact, says Ziska.

Touching the sap of the plant as well as touching something on which urushiol is present, such as garden tools, can result in an allergic reaction, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Burning poison ivy plants can release urushiol particles into the air.

When the oil gets on the skin, it can penetrate in minutes, according to the AAD.

"Once it is absorbed, there is not much you can do," Ziska adds.

"Most people don't know they have come into contact until hours later or even longer, when they start reacting," says David Peng, MD, assistant professor of clinical dermatology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles. He runs the contact dermatitis clinic at USC, and poison ivy rash is a kind of contact dermatitis.

Typically, there is itching, redness, swelling, and the rash, according to the AAD.

"It can take hours to days to exhibit the rash," says Ronald Brancaccio, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine and a practicing dermatologist at the Skin Institute of New York. A reaction usually occurs within 12 to 48 hours, the AAD estimates.

Mirroring Morgan in PA

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where—" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you walk," said the Cat.
"—so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough!"
—Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

i was just in pa, this past week. we took the boys to hershey park, a nice enough adventure. the small burghs remind me of st. louis and i get happy nostalgic but then i wonder: what's up with the roads? for such a pretty state, you've got some crappy roads.

that, and you make it really hard to get a bumper of beer. on the way back from hershey, we stopped at this store called the beer zoo. turns out the beer zoo only deals with large game—just cases of beer. so in pa, you can get cases of beer, but supermarkets are not allowed to carry beer. if you want a six pack, you go to a bar and they will sell you a six pack, but its expensive. curiouser and curiouser. wonder if only being able to purchase beer by the case has any bearing on the highway layout and condition?

the best part of the trip was when i didn't pay attention to navigating around york. i had to get us through the city as a consequence—and i did it! i was even able to tell by the position of the sun which way was north, so i felt pretty swell about my mad navigational skills. we were on our way to gettysburg, feeling pretty good and my husband sees a sign for the Haufbrauhaus
my husband says, how do you say that? and i say, oh? Haufbrauhaus? i've eaten there. and then we just looked at each other and laughed. we were in that part of PA by ourselves for the first time and i had just succeeded in getting us unlost.

you really ate there? said my husband. yeh. i think i did, my dad will travel for miles to eat at a German restaurant and i remember the name. just then we drove past the restaurant and i said yep. ate there. called my dad to confirm and then we laughed some more. its fun to travel with my husband.

about a month ago, boy1 and i had a you and me night and i took him to see Live Free, Die Hard. really great silly fun, but i had to have a talk about some of the terrible things the hero said of the villian's girlfriend. HEY HOLLYWOOD, I'M TRYING TO RAISE A MAN THAT RESPECTS WOMEN HERE. you give us a completely hot, hardcore if misguided chick that kicked willis' can several times and then you give him some dialogue that totally denigrates that girl. ugh. i give up wid you.

the movie still makes boy1's top 10 list. so did talledega nights. and troy. i know. his mother's child. he lives for those pg13 movies because he's so unfairly restricted from them unless his mother totally doesn't see that troy is R-rated. his father still hasn't forgiven me.

about movies, all i want to point out is that movie, A WALK IN THE CLOUDS? yeh. world's away from my vineyard experience. but when i'm sick, its my favorite secret indulgence. yeh. i cry. i can tell you, though, my husband and i never don glossamer wings and waft our way through the vineyards in our nighties, keeping the frost at bay.

image courtesy of imdb.com

WEEEEEEEE!!!!
ahahahahaHAAH!

Morgan: Live from Canada!

Vacation Volunteer? I guess I volunteered to drive my wife to Canada to visit her mom. Ugh!
Every year we pile in the clown car and drive 9 hours to Toronto. There is no easy way to travel there from Washington DC, because of the near impassable mountains of Pennsylvania...but we persevere like pioneers and find the mountain passes and travel north. We never go in the winter, we only made that mistake once...brrrr, cold! This year we decided to spend the night in Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side of course. The poor Americans have no view or casino. We met our daughter who drove over from Rochester for dinner. It was nice. Without words she knew I had forgiven her for the terrible things she had said, during her last visit. The four of us eating in a Italian restaurant...this was our vacation, just like old times.
I snuck out of the hotel around midnight and went in search of a poker game. The Casino was right across the street and was calling my name...Jeeeef come play with us! Bring Money! I didn't get to play as the waiting list for a table was impossibly long so I went home around two. The next morning I went back to the casino around 11am. First I played in a North American Poker Championship WPT Satellite Qualifier...that didn't go to well. I went All-In with pocket Nines and some donkey called me with K-Q. After that I Played $1-$2 NL for 6 hours and I was Deliciously Aggressive and Dominated some poor Vietnamese guy until he would fold if I was in the pot. It was awesome...and I finish about a hundred (Hunj) up. I went all-in with Kings, Queens and 9-7. Then I played Roulette...which is a quick way to loose your money, but fun. They say, the French invented two ways to kill a man... the guillotine and roulette. I won about $150 on the wheel of death. Not a lot of money...but I love winning. I don't really know what Colette, Christopher and Christine did. Around seven I started feeling guilty so I quit.
We then made the final push towards Toronto, Family and Dinner. I was so hungry I had not eaten all day. It was Nice to see everyone and I was in a pleasant mood the rest of the evening. Awash with the glow of victory.

Destroy your enemy and see him driven before you --Conan

The Boy requested I make Top 10 Best Guy Movies List So here it is....feedback?

1. Heat
2. Kelly's Heroes
3. Rounders
4. Saving Private Ryan
5. Predator
6. Quick Change
7. Hell Boy
8. Hot Fuzz and 300
9. Star Wars allllll of them
   
10. Lord of the Rings allll of them
    

Vacation Resolutions

i'm grateful for my new life, especially when it comes to taking a vacation. in my previous life as a small hunter/gatherer of graphic design business, vacations were a nerve-wrecking undertaking. i would have to prep my workflow--get everything done so i could leave and work hard to book projects so that the week off wasn't a damper on cashflow a month later. i had to prep clients and make sure they understood i wouldn't be available during that time. of course, i also committed business-owner sins during the vacation by checking voice and email. i also snuck in client calls as necessary. one beach vacation long, long ago, i brought my fax machine/printer, designed and coordinated a hot project during the first half of the precious break. that was before the internet had streamlined the design process. now, it is much, much easier. of course, having largely hung my business cap on someone else's door really contributes to the ease as well. I still need to coordinate my workflow, but i got a back-up team of crack designers to ease the transition.

mmm, vacations. i've taken two-week traveling vacations--one of my favorite types, where everyone piles into the car and you drive, drive, drive--sightseeing as you go. i've also done the sacred week long beach trip and unexpectedly had great fun just bumming around with no particular place to go. my weddingmoon was truly a vacation highlight--renting a villa on st. john, usvi, with a jeep, a future husband, a houseboy, watersports and rum, rum, rum. it combined the wanderlust/beach rental very nicely. last year my husband and i tried the all inclusive package style and went to cozumel. which was great in some respects. i did cry out in disappointment as i sat in a tourist bus awaiting the ruins. i looked out the window and saw a plucky girl with a lonely planet book in her hand happily gamboling down the side street. i had refused to do the advance planning i usually do on the trip--preferring to fully experience the all inclusive way of traveling. my husband patted my hand in sympathy. disney? got what i paid.

and now, without the weight of the business upon me and free to travel where my money and inclination could take me--now i think: what's next?

i'd like to do the following:
surfcamp, with my best girls
volunteer travel, with boy1
walking tour, spain! or anyplace mediterrean with my husband.

for the volunteer travel, i found these sites:
global village program
women build
voluntourism industry unethical?

i'm leaning towards volunteer travel, as i think it would be a good experience for my family. of course, my husband could suggest we volunteer travel every weekend, now.

Morgan: It is finished...

Morgan(left) in basic training, Lackland AFB, Texas--Dec 1986

Usually cool and unflappable, I started having a mini-meltdown last night. Everything I did or saw was accompanied by the thought..."well that's the last time you do that in the Air Force"...Ahhhhh my hair is on fire! I think it was lack of sleep that drove me to the brink of madness. I've been laying awake at night thinking of the future and looking back, looking back. I feel as if I'm walking to Final Council by myself and pausing every few feet to pay homage to my fallen comrades who have been voted off the Island prematurely. I don't want to feel like this...this should be a time of joy. This morning I drove to work and out processed with DINFOS in about two hours. I met with the Commadant, who thanked me for "what-not" and gave me a coin, than I met with the Command Sergeant Major who did the same. Around 11:30 I told the class to go to lunch and that I would be taking a long lunch also...They knew what I meant as my box of crap was sitting on my desk...I choked up momentarily. I then took the long walk to my car by myself.