Spring Break

It's that time of year again at the University. Midterm exam cram sessions, students packing up for the beach, staff and faculty looking forward to a week of peace and quiet. Meanwhile those of us who are both staff and student simply look forward to a little rest before it all starts up again.
On a personal note, I'm planning my vacation in May and beginning to put together an aquarium for my apartment. I'm also planning a weekend trip up to Dollywood a couple days before Easter. Dollywood is only about 80 miles away from here, so it's a nice, inexpensive (with a season pass anyhow) mini-vacation that I'm really looking forward to.
As to the diabetes, I've lost around 20 lbs so far so I'm doing pretty good. Hopefully this time next year I'll be down to my weight in the military or at least close.

Oh, No!

Well, I saw the doctor recently and found out I'm diabetic. I wasn't really surprised as I've been letting my weight go every since I got out of the military in '96. What did surprise me was how nonchalant the doctor was about it. It was almost like he said "yep, its a hang nail". This sounds odd but I now actually have a reason to be thankful to have been with my ex-wife (she had type 1 diabetes which is much worse). Being with her taught me pretty much everything I needed to know as a new diabetic.
I'm still learning of course, its been 13 years since we were together and there's been some pretty great strides in the realm of diabetes in terms of both the blood meters and diets. Fortunately though what I already knew has allowed me to get my blood sugar under control quickly so now I can concentrate more on losing weight and hopefully coming off the pills at some point (I hope).

UK Facing National ID Card Woes

At first when I began reading this article about the National ID card and how it poses a loss of basic right to privacy I thought it was about how here in America we are facing the Real ID requirements to State driver's licenses. Unfortunately freedom seems to be dying everywhere, and Great Britain seems to be next on the chopping block. It shouldn't come as any surprise I suppose, given their love for surveillance cameras. In fact in Middlesbrough, England they've even gone so far as equip these cameras with loudspeakers so the operators can fuss at passersby dropping litter or whatever. Even George Orwell would be shocked at how far we're devolving.

Art Project Finished!

I finally finished my sculpture "America is Entertained, Africa is Starving"

Here it is

Art Update

Well, I thought I had my outhouse project done, but after talking to another artist about it I realize it needs a bit more work. Small, simple things are needed, but it's still not quite done. I should be able to finish it monday and then I can 100% concentrate on the elephant. I'm REALLY looking forward to this semester being over so I can quit spending so much money on materials.

Update

Well, I finally got the peanuts for my elephant art project. Also my mom brought me the
sash for it. I designed it but had to get her to sew it since I cant sew at all.

The outhouse project is close to being finished. I still need to put the seat in and make the door, but otherwise it's pretty much done. I'm hoping to finish it Wednesday so I can paint it.

Ron Paul: Tea Party '07