Great To Be Alive, Literally

Colma is a town on the peninsula, between us and San Francisco. It's most famous for having more dead residents than live residents, due to the number of cemeteries. I learned in this article in the SJMercury today that Wyatt Earp is buried there. Apparently, it's somewhat of an Earp groupie destination, and yesterday they were honoring the actor who played Earp on television many years ago. Mildly interesting, I suppose. What was more interesting to me was Colma's city motto: "It's great to be alive in Colma." I guess they rejected "People are dying to live in Colma." Catchier than "Climate best by government test," I have to admit.

More Purple

Dara could not resist this new Pacific Coast iris addition found in the nursery over the weekend.

Does It Come in a Convertible?

And it's fun to drive, too!

Riding in it is like being in a perpetual parade. Grandchildren wave from Muni stops. Firefighters on call stare for a split second before running into a downtown office building. Shoeshine guys holler out hellos and the regulars in a South of Market alley raise their paper bag libations in toast to the hippo.

Woo hoo!!!

Welcome Francesca

We've added another contributor to the blog! Congratulations Ursula and AJ!!! Can't wait to see Francesca and proud big brother Thomas in person.

Iris Lady's Reward

We didn't go as picture crazy this year as last year, but we have an even more incredible display of both Pacific Coast, bearded, Siberian, and water irises this time around. More pictures courtesy of Dara on Flickr.

Grandma Guards the Coast

Does this make you feel safe?

To everyone's surprise, including my own, I have joined a local Flotilla of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Wiggins Pass Coast Guard Auxiliary station is just a mile down the road from us and they are actively patroling about a 30-mile stretch of the Gulf several times a week.

The main purpose of the Auxiliary is boating safety, but they are also the "eyes and ears" of the Coast Guard on the smuggling front.

My primary interest in joining is to qualify as a radio watchstander when our boats are out on patrol. Right now I'm taking a 16-hour radio communications class one night a week. When I pass the exam I will have to spend 8 hours as an apprentice with a qualified radioman before I can qualify on my own.

It's all a big bureaucracy under Homeland Security (fingerprints and all) and I'm trying not to look too important in my uniform. What do you think?

Dancing with the Walrus

I wonder what Len, Carrie-Ann, and Bruno would have to say about this.

Placebo Update

Wow, after posting those pictures and now blogging twice about my cholesterol medicine, I believe I am really closing in on old fartdom. Still, I know that a significant part of the family blog readership (and those thousands of faithful lurkers) want to know what the scoop is on Vytorin. In short, my doctor said that it got a bad rap in the press, and that things are a lot more unclear in the study. She forwarded the NEJM paper to me, so I got the pleasure of trying to decipher it on my own.

In conclusion, the reduction of LDL cholesterol by the addition of ezetimibe to simvastatin did not reduce intima–media thickness of the carotid-artery wall in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia in our study. The reason for the failure to observe an incremental effect on intima–media thickness despite a reduction in levels of LDL cholesterol remains unknown.

The article speculates as to why the plaque-like crap in the arteries was not reduced when the LDL cholesterol was reduced, but they don't know. They also don't know if the LDL cholesterol reduction could be an indicator that things are actually better in spite of the results. Nor do they know if it had something to do with the specifics of the people they looked at, most of whom were already on statins. So, I guess I'll stick with the stuff, which is what my doctor recommended. Otherwise I get to switch to a statin only, and increase the dosage.

You know, if you lived your life by what you could read in the New England Journal of Medicine, your life would be shorter just because of the erratic behavior that would result.

Time Machine

Guess which are the more recent photos. I will give you a few hints, since it's difficult to tell. Thirty years ago, it wasn't considered to be a bad thing: a) to get a tan; or b) for a beard to make me look older.

DC v. Central Florida

Draw your own conclusions.