Aloha

And mahalo for your patience during my leave of blogging absence. You see, if you haven't already figured it out, or know me personally, which all 8 of my faithfuls do, I have been in Hawaii. Or Hawai'i as they say. It was an amazing trip. I went with my makamae ipo, Steve, and his Ka welo lani. I wore many lei nani's, swam in Wai nani and felt the most soft Koaniani's. Upon my return I am a full fledged Hi'iaka!! Can you believe it? Me neiths.

Well I am home now and miss the moani ke 'ala's of Hawai'i already. And since I am practically fluent in Hawaiian, I plan on returning me ke aloha again someday soon.

Prepare To Scream

This is no joke. It was on msnbc.com. Apparantely, the very saintly woman pictured above and named Kimberly Johnson, selflessly donated a kidney to her ailing niece. Amazing woman, right? Well read on. I will never complain about my 'annual' ever again....

Surgeons remove kidney through vagina
Doctors hope less painful procedure will encourage more organ donations

BALTIMORE - Surgeons removed a woman’s kidney through her vagina so she could give it to her ailing niece, an unusual operation they hope will encourage others to donate because it reduces pain, scarring and recovery time.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said donor Kimberly Johnson, 48, and her niece, Jennifer Gilbert, 23, were both doing well following operations Thursday.
“It was easier than childbirth,” said Johnson, who has three children.

Transvaginal kidney removals have been done before to remove cancerous or nonfunctioning kidneys, and other diseased organs have also been removed through mouths and other orifices. Many donated kidneys are removed laparoscopically, through small keyhole incisions.
But hospital officials think this may be the first time a donor kidney was removed through the vagina.
The operation left three pea-size scars on the Lexington Park woman’s abdomen, one hidden in her navel. Surgeons hope the procedure will lead more women to become donors, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, chief of the transplant division at Johns Hopkins, who led the team that performed the surgery.

Johnson said the operation was less painful than gall bladder surgery and she is recovering more quickly than Gilbert’s father, who gave his daughter a kidney 12 years ago.

Gilbert, of Baltimore, needed the first transplant because repeated infections had destroyed the kidneys she was born with. She needed the second after she began suffering chronic rejection.
Johnson, an assistant sales manager for a St. Mary’s County newspaper, said she was able to get out of bed Thursday night, the same day the kidney was removed.
Quicker recovery and less pain are the key benefits of the new technique, said Montgomery and Dr. Anthony Kalloo, the director of the Division of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins and a pioneer of the method of using natural orifices for organ removal.
Kalloo said more than 300 such surgeries have been performed worldwide, mostly gall bladder and appendix removal through the mouth, anus and vagina. Kalloo said there has been some resistance in the medical community because of concerns, for example, that stomach acid could leak into the abdominal cavity in operations where organs were removed through the mouth.

Dr. Jihad Kaouk, a urologist and director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery, is among those concerned about contamination. He was not involved in Johnson’s surgery.
“There is the risk of infection having the kidney passing through a contaminated area and then going to another patient who is immunocompromised,” Kaouk said. “That is the concern we have and we would like to monitor the outcome in that regard.”

In Johnson’s case, Montgomery said a plastic bag placed into her abdominal cavity through a tiny incision protected the donated kidney from contamination by bacteria and other organisms in her vagina. Johnson was chosen because she has had a hysterectomy, which made the operation easier, but the procedure could be used without affecting women’s ability to give birth, he said.

More than 78,000 people are on the national waiting list to receive kidneys from deceased donors. The need is increasing as diabetes and obesity rise, threatening to further lengthen a wait that can last years. In 2007, more than a third of the 16,629 kidneys transplanted in the U.S. came from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Montgomery said the number of living donor transplants has tripled since laparoscopic removal debuted in 1995, providing an alternative to so-called “shark bite” abdominal incisions. He hopes advances such as the vaginal removal will continue the increase.
“We think she’ll be probably back to her normal activities within a week or two,” the transplant surgeon said. Recovery from laproscopic surgery typically takes several weeks. “So, that greatly reduces the inconvenience of donating and we’re hoping that will encourage more people to donate.”

Okey dokey! Well, what do you think? If one of my loved ones needed a kidney and their survival depended on Doctors harvesting one directly out of my 'area that my bathing suit covers' I would do it. I would just specifically request that they not refer to it as 'Transvaginal Kidney Removal'.

E*TRADE Baby Outtakes

The E Trade Baby. The coolest kid in town. This video is hilarious. My favorite part is when he looks at his buddy and says DUDE.

KeithMorrrrr? Issonnnnn?

Everytime he tells a story on Dateline, or MSNBC I basically turn into a statue. I sit, and listen, and I don't move at all, that includes not blinking or breathing. I usually don't realize it until a commercial break when I've discovered numbness in my fingertips and a sudden onset of tunnel vision due to lack of oxygen to my brain. But, he just tells true crime and human interest stories SO well, and it's all in the way he fluctuates his pitch and tone of each word, especially at the end of the sentence, by sometimes adding a surprise question mark where it doesn't belong, always throwing me off and jump starting my heart with shock. He loves murderers, however, he loves interviewing the loved ones of those murdered even more....he really gets into their heads, and then he is ultimately so THRiiiiIIIIIiiiiLLLLllled with their sadness. I have heard him repeatedly use responses like "Ohhh reeeeealllyyyy?" or "Sounds pretty strange to MeeeeEEEeee". I have noticed that most people he interviews are from the South and usually quite unprivleged. He himself is from Canada, so I bet the deep South is fascinating to him with it's shocking lack of Zamboni's and Mounties.

Something interesting I found out: he is Matthew Perry's (Chandler from 'Friends') stepfather.

For My Friend, D (you know who you are!)

One of my girlfriends isn't feeling well today and at home. She is depending on Books, TV, Internet, Facebook, DVD's, her amazing Dog, etc etc for entertainment. So I thought I would just post some fun things for her to check out today to keep her smiling!!

1.) This is an amazingly funny skit the angelic Peyton Manning did when he hosted SNL
http://www.hulu.com/watch/1603/saturday-night-live-united-way

2.) I LOVE this website.....it is chock full of fun things to read, for your home, your kitchen, you pets, hollywood gossip, your health, entertaining ideas, etc. etc. Click on 'sites' and the pulldown menu offers everything to select from there....
www.teamsugar.com

3.) This reminded me of my friend D. Love these Owl prints!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5164938

4.) Fun ideas for entertaining, cooking, gifts and recipes
http://www.hostesswiththemostess.com/

5.) For mindless Hollywood gossip. Chock full of papparazzi photos, updates, videos, etc. Rather cheesy, yet wholefully entertaining when you feel like leaving your brain at the door.
http://www.bricksandstonesgossip.com/

6.) For old times sake!!
www.continentalbreeders.com

7.) I can't pull up this site because my work forbids me too, but go to Yahoo. Click on 'Games'. Search for 'Text Twist'. Select 'Play Web Game'. It is very addicting and fun.

That's it for now!! Get well soon! : )

Hail to the Queen of Soul

Nobody but the Queen of Soul herself could pull this hat off. However, she is getting a tremendous amount of criticism for it, and I can't understand why.

ARE EEE ESS PEE EEE SEE TEE, PEOPLE.

Nobody is poo-pooing George Bush's trapper hat!!! Noone is mentioning the man in the red pimp suit!!! Okay, okay, the hat was a bit much, with the grey flannel and the Swavorski Crystals. An interesting mix. I read that the hat is from a Millinery in Detroit called Mr. Song. And, that it cost $179.00, which isn't bad for a custom made hat. I love Aretha Franklin, I loved the hat, and deep down I was kinda expecting some pyrotechnics to all of the sudden pop out of the top of the hat, or maybe a few fireworks would've been nice, or what really would have been great would be if all the crystals all of a sudden started lighting up and flashing, red, white, and blue.

President Obama

Today marks the day that many or most people have been looking forward to since Obama began his campaign for the Presidency. It is an exciting new day, but it is by no means a fresh, clean slate. President Obama has his work cut out for him, and I don't doubt that he will give 100% to our country. But I am a little worried about the frame of mind of the regular joes out here. Throughout the day today, as I sat here in my humble cubicle, trying to log on to a live webcast of the Swearing In and Inaugural Speech, I could here the revelers on my floor, shouting for joy and some even crying over the new day that has dawned. True, it is exciting, and certainly emotional. I heard someone sing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" from the Wizard of Oz. I heard someone wishing President Bush good riddance with a loud raspberry sound immediately following. I saw on Facebook, status updates like, so and so "feels good being Patriotic....it's been like, 8 years!". And another status that said so and so "is wondering how we elected the dumbest kid in the class two terms in a row".

I would like to remind my [hundreds of millions of] faithful readers, that there are thousands of American families that have lost a loved one since the war in Iraq and Afghanistan started. It is not necessarily with joy that they welcome a new President. Perhaps new hope, but joy? I am sure this day is tough, a day to reflect upon what has transpired since September 11, how much has changed in our country, but most importantly how much has changed for them personally. I imagine that hearing things like "Now I can be Patriotic again" isn't a comment that they will want to high-five you about.

You should NEVER HAVE LOST YOUR PATRIOTISM TO BEGIN WITH.

I think we need to be mindful of what we say, who we say it around, and remember the fallen. Thank a Soldier today. Thank a Marine. Thank a Sailor.

I am so glad President Obama acknowledged these men and women with the honor that he did in his Speech today. I thought it was beautiful. Here is what he said:

"As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all."