An Ode to Sugar Breath.

I was talking to Lady Di last night about a cool app on our semi-new i-Phones: a free sample of Discover Magazine in the i-NewsStand. The issue is "Vital Signs" and it included a little vignette where symptoms are given, and you follow along as they figure out what's wrong. The one I read had to do with subtle changes in the smell of one dude's breath. Lady Di, ever the health educator, offered that it was probably ketoacidosis. One of the things that can cause ketoacidosis is diabetes. You can read up on it in Wikipedia (you can try the link, but ever since Blogspot changed the format, it's kinda hit or miss...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketoacidosis Anyway, the name of the ailment sounded familiar to me... Ah, Mary Poppins! Remember her and Bert dancing on roof tops? At one point or another they sang Supercalifragisticexpialodicious, which sound like the perfect place to plant ketoacidosis. Anyway, first, my take, then, for the purists, you can listen to Mary and Bert.

An Ode to Sugar Breath (sung to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialodicious)

It’s too bad we have to smell that ketoacidosis,
Even though a whiff of it is worse than halitosis,
If we complain too loud, they’ll say we have neurosis...
Super stinky sugar breath, it’s ketoacidosis.

Because I was afraid to speak,
When the big guy reeked too bad,
The odor gave me nose a tweak,
Enough to drive me mad.
But then again it can’t be helped,
The situation’s sad,
The super stinky sugar breath, It’s ketoacidosis.

Everything Reminds me of Food...

I saw a stash of failed fountain pens in an office waste basket the other day. Made me hungry. No, I'm not a pen chewer. It's just that, where a lot of folks would just see a pile of pens; I saw food. Specifically, I thought of last week's stirfry. Check it out below:

See what I mean? Tell me you're not at least a little hungry?

You Might Be an Observant Muslim if...

Most folks in these parts are fans of Jeff Foxworthy and his "You Might Be a Redneck if..." routines... and mugs... and calendars. My brother, the Amazing AndyMan, got me a "You Might Be a Reckneck If..." calendar last Christmas. There are some good ones, some okay ones, and some "365 days is a lot of days to come up with a different You Might Be a Redneck If joke" ones. I've gotten a bit behind in both my posts and in my calendar adjustments, so I was going through a couple of weeks of calendar readings this morning, when I caught the one for Friday, October 26th, pictured at left. I'd put it in the "okay" category. It's mildly amusing: You Might Be a Redneck If... Sitting on your sofa means waking a relative." But wait, what's that little observance notation above the date?


Go ahead and look below.

  

It says Eid al-Adha. I know President's Day, Christmas, Hannukah, and even Canada's "Boxing Day", but what the heck is Eid al-Adha? Apparently,  Eid al-Adha is a Muslim Holiday in remembrance of Abraham's obedience to God's demand to sacrifice his son, who is spared when God sends a substitute ram at the last minute (you can read about that in Genesis, if you want. It's in the Bible, so Jewish folks and Christians are stuck with it, but most of the priests that I've heard talk about this one sort of hem and haw. Islam, apparently, celebrates it. You gotta figure that family reunions at Abraham's place were, uh, strained. Abraham, "Isaac, could you please pass the yams? Isaac, "Sure, Dad, as long as I get to carve the turkey. You know how you get when you get hold of a knife!" Gales of laughter ensue.) Anyhow, I never thought of any of the Four Horses of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour as messenger of Muhammad. But then, maybe I'm a Redneck.

The Prodigal Son Returns.

Oldest son, his fiance, and their dog, just returned to the Palmetto State from South Korea (they may not forgive me- well, the dog (in the yellow tote) will- for using this photo of the quite road-weary warriors at left). Davis had been gone for more than two years. It's great to see him. His sibs are happy to see him, too, but it's not difficult to pick up a subtle "what's the big deal?" vibe. Reminds me of a story: In the parable of the Prodigal Son , Jesus relates the story of an irresponsible kid who cashed out his inheritance, and went abroad,  leaving his brother to continue to tend to the family business. After wasting all the money on wild living, he found himself starving, and he returned  home. He expected to be rejected by his pop, but his dad was just glad to see him. No lectures; just a big celebration. Prodigal's brother was not pleased. He'd been responsible, hadn't he? Dad didn't throw him any party. He'd been working his tail off, and he railed about how unfair it all was. Pop tells him he appreciated all the good son did, but not to be so hard on his brother: he was lost, but now he's back home. The parable is widely cited as a tale of redemption and forgiveness of the wayward child, and of God's unexpected and unearned mercy toward each of us. We're all that child from time to time... but we're also the good son sometimes, aren't we? We can be jealous of unexpected, and unearned, mercy given to others. So, cheer for the Prodigal Son, but pray for his brother, too!