They Didn't Ask Me

What Sort of Holiday?

Memorial Day Weekend. The official start of summer. Memorial Day (Observed). Three-Day Weekend. No mail service on Monday. Garbage pickup delayed by one day all week.

What are we to make of Memorial Day? Well, I guess we do a better job of commemorating the official job of it than we do Veterans Day.

Of course not everyone makes it to parades. Or to cemeteries. Not everyone has served in the military, though my dad did and most of my uncles, a couple of cousins. Many, many friends. In the U.S. we give such short shrift to many working people in terms of vacation days and holidays, that making a big commercial deal of Memorial Day is inevitable.

It's the Indianapolis 500 -- won this year under caution as one driver tried a bold move on the start of the last lap and ended up crashing. It's baseball -- with the Cubs swept by the Pirates to complete a 12-game losing skid, mollified only by a dramatic 11-7 win on Monday against the Evil Padres. (If you don't know why they're evil, then you don't know Cubs history.) (grin)

It's the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington DC, hosted by Joe Mantegna and Gary Senise, with dramatic readings of letters of those left behind by war, carried live by PBS... well up until the point that they had to switch to a tape of last year's concert, due to severe weather rolling in and having to clear the space.

Even were I to wish to go to any of the public celebrations, parking and my left leg and crowds would have made it difficult. We mostly stayed home.

War Movies

AMC in particular spent quite a lot of the weekend showing war movies -- it's how a lot of people who don't read, serve or talk to those who do, know anything about war. The weekend started, as I recalled, with Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which we hadn't seen before. Wikipedia says it's "Tarantino's highest-grossing film to date." More than Kill Bill? Amazing. And quite an entertaining train wreck of a movie. Think of it as The Dirty Dozen but more improbable. (grin) Then there's Midway, which aside from some silly personal plotlines, I've always liked Midway more than Pearl Harbor's Toro! Toro! Toro! -- you can't beat not knowing how many carriers there are, or "sinking" the Yorktown twice, to turn an assured defeat into a great victory. And thank goodness no one seemed to be showing that stinker Pearl Harbor. Patton, always a personal favorite of mine and George C. Scott's greatest, gravelly role. Heartbreak Ridge, is also improbable and implausible, but there's very little else that covers the invasion of Grenada to free the American medical school students. Call it a guilty pleasure, especially to watch Clint & Co. chew up the scenery. The Great Escape, a romanticized version of an actual breakout during WW II. From the age of Big Epic Movies. I'm surprised it isn't paired up with Stalag 17 for a killer POW double-feature every time.

Then they ran Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers followed by Letters From Iwo Jima, his bookend movies about Iwo Jima -- one about the American invasion and the using of the publicity machine regarding the raising of the flag(s) over Iwo Jima to sell War Bonds, and the other about the Japanese essentially abandoned in place and dug in to delay the Americans and die for the Emperor. I saw most of both, Mrs. Dr. Phil packed it in because the second was running into the early morning hours. We hadn't seen either in the theatres, particularly since (mostly) B&W films don't get booked much and I swear Letters From Iwo Jima was only shown for a couple of days shy of a week on one screen in one theatre-plex in Grand Rapids.

History Channel's six part/three-night miniseries Hatfields & McCoys also began airing on Monday, and given that the roots for the feud began during the American Civil War, which also prompted the historical roots for Memorial Day itself, I suppose it could also be grandfathered into the Memorial Day war movie filmfest.

So there you have it -- a day (or weekend) of Memorial and remembrance of those who have fallen, distilled down to a few public events and hours of movies. Thanks to all who have served, who are serving and who will someday sign up to serve.

From others in the UCF:
David on family who served.
Vince in a poignant Ken Burns moment.
Random Michelle starts with a WW I sad comment.
And then there's Jim Wright from last year, as only Jim can put it.

Dr. Phil

The Long And Short Of It

Amongst the digital SLRs based on the 35mm camera, there is a divide between full-frame cameras, with sensors the same 24×36mm size as used in 35mm film, and smaller sensors. In Nikon's case, that's FX and DX (16×24mm). The smaller DX cameras don't use all the lens image from FX lenses, so for easy comparison, the effective 35mm focal length for DX camera has a 1.5× multiplier.

That's great for telephoto lenses -- the same 200mm lens in FX acts like a 300mm lens on a DX camera. Not so great for wide angles. A 35mm short wide angle is a DX normal. My 20mm superwide angle is barely wide on a DX. And worse, Nikon doesn't even make many DX wide angles, and many are expensive zooms.

So here's the problem -- one of my bucket lens list items is a full-frame fisheye lens. It's a specialty thing which you don't want to overuse. Yet it really opens up tight spaces and emphasizes items in the central zone of the picture. But I own both an FX camera -- the Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n -- and the DX D1 series. So I would need both the 16mm f2.8D and the 10.5mm f2.8G. They look almost the same and cost about the same at $700 each. That's a lot of money for a specialty low use lens.

Here's where knowledge and research comes in. When I first got into photography in the late 60s and early 70s, there were a ton of trash lenses made by other than the big names like Nikon, Pentax and Canon. Many weren't worth buying from a quality point of view, but they could add capabilities to the camera bag.

Enter The Oddball

So while Mrs. Dr. Phil was away I discovered this on eBay.

It's a Sigma 12mm f8 Fish-eye with a Nikon T-mount adapter, circa 1968. Now, 12mm is too short to be an FX full-frame fisheye (16mm) and too long for a circular fisheye (8mm) -- so what the hell good was a rounded edge 165° fisheye-like lens? I dunno, but it becomes a 150° full-frame fisheye DX lens.


(Click on photo for larger.)

In some ways, it's not a great lens. The focus at the edges is poor. It's an f8 lens and offers only three discrete apertures (f8 f11 f16). And it has no focusing ring, though at 12mm f8 the depth of field is huge.

On the other hand, it's all metal, the coating is sufficient to keep the lens flare down, despite the sun being in the frame, and the damned thing is cheap.


(Click on photo for larger.)


For comparison, this is from a Nikon 12-24mm f4 DX wide abgle zoom at 12mm -- 18mm equivalent and 99° angular coverage, not 150°. Remember, that extra angular coverage is compressed in the edges and corners. (Click on photo for larger.)

Amazingly, the wide angle SB-80DX electronic flash reasonably covers the whole thing, since the edges are compressed right where the light falls off.


You can read more about its strange history here.

Dr. Phil

The Weather Is All Back And Forth

It is warm, about to turn HOT. When we left the house today at 3:30pm, it was around 77°F -- as I handwrite this in Holland, it's around 81°F. Sunday it is supposed to be in the 90s and very humid, also hot on Monday -- but Tuesday through Thursday has highs forecast in the 60s. And did I see on the weather map that near the Indiana border it'll be 98°F?

It's been so warm for so long this year, that it's hard to remember that May is NOT summer. And I'm not talking about the technical start of summer nearly a month from now. But until you get to Memorial Day weekend, it's really not summer in America.

The air is filled with cottonwood fluff. Not quite the same as the pulsing flowers of Avatar, but close. The parking lot at the Holland 7 was sealed recently, so there's still some puddles from earlier, which now have become fluffy with fluff. The pictures don't quite show off the 3D nature of the effect:


Cottonwood fluff on puddle. (Click on photo for larger.)


A closer view. (Click on photo for larger.)

We were in Holland on a mission. It's been ten years since we saw Men in Black II. There's been a lot of talk about how bad MIB 2 was, but we didn't think so -- the post office scene alone was worth it -- and we quite enjoyed it. Sure, it follows the emotional and quality letdown that follows Dr. Phil's Rule of Sequels, but so what? So far, the one comment I'd heard about MIB 3 was "better than 2".

Men in Black 3 3D [PG-13]

Holland 7 Theatre 5, 4:30pm, $18.50

Well, we thoroughly enjoyed MIB 3, which we saw in 3D, but not IMAX 3D, and overall the 3D was nicely done. Certainly didn't detract from the movie. As for the movie itself, it is useful to note that Mrs. Dr. Phil and I are old enough that we watched all the Apollo 11 coverage from July 1969 live. And in stirring Black & White. But in November 1968, I'd moved to White Plains NY, 27 miles north of New York City, so I watched the Mets become the Amazing Mets and pull off their miracle. Mrs. Dr. Phil was a loyal Cubs fan living in Chicago during the swoon. So perhaps this movie will always be a little more special to us than to the young whippersnappers of the Summer Blockbuster Ideal Demographic.

It's been some time since we've had a Will Smith "I own the 4th of July" summer blockbuster, so this year we get one on the official Memorial Day kickoff to summer. Considering that Spiderman is coming and how strong some of the spring movies were, it's still a pretty big weekend. Because with good popcorn and a suitable summer mindset, MIB 3 doesn't disappoint.

Our villain is pretty villainous. Reminds me of Mickey Rourke's villain in Iron Man 2, but, you know, alien. Good lord, how meta is it to be comparing sequels to sequels? Of course my big question in the opening shot is this -- I understand why high heeled boots have zippers, but why does the zipper go all the way down the stiletto heel to the floor? (grin) And it's no spoiler secret to know that we have a time travel adventure to deal with or that Josh Brolin has managed to channel an excellent young Tommy Lee Jones. Meanwhile Emma Thompson is flawless -- no one can deliver lines like she can (snicker) -- and the Andy Warhol bit is great fun.

But this isn't just about "the usual" time travel issues of what to reveal about the future to anyone in the past. Or even the small nods to recognizing Will Smith's special problems in dealing with 1969. No, where this movie becomes a joy for us is Griffin -- a (mostly) joyous alien who has a rather special relationship with time. Or his appreciation for the significance of temporal and cultural events. Even when the setups are obvious -- think Cracker Jacks -- he's still a fun romp of a character.

Unlike Battleship, which intends to use real world technology to battle the invincible aliens, there's no point in trying to worry about the Physics in a MIB movie. This is a special effects fest, delivered in a big tub of summer popcorn, emphasis on the corn.

What the time travel plot does -- besides inventing yet another novel AND ridiculous method of jumping in time -- is to put a fresh spin on what would be just the same old retread of the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones J & K schtick. And the puzzles and clues aren't too devious to figure out with or ahead of the characters. Although I have to say that the final two reveals, one in 1969 and one in 2012, are unexpected.

I'd really hoped for a Dr. Phil Special at the end of all the credits, but alas, producer Steven Spielberg is too cheap for that. (grin) Still, MIB 3 follows Dr. Phil's Rule of Sequels in that it doesn't have the innocence of the first, but knowing how this series goes, the third installment really delivered for us. Mrs. Dr. Phil opined that this was her favorite. And I think that'll suffice to leave this review there.

BTW, methinks that the Wikipedia entry is in error, referring right now to liquid nitrogen, when it makes perfectly more good sense that it should be liquid oxygen. I'm sure it'll shortly be changed. (double-entry-grin)

Highly Recommended

Trailers: Finding Nemo in 3D. Sure it's a Disney re-release, but it's been years since this one has been on the big screen and frankly the colors and the 3D animation are really great looking. And in November we get a new James Bond film with Daniel Craig. Still fence sitting on the new The Amazing Spiderman movie.

Added: 5-27-2012: First trailer I've seen of the new Total Recall. No Ah-nold. No Mars. No decision yet.

Dr. Phil

Rocket Science Sighted On This Side Of The Pond

The drought is over. (DW) When the Rocket Science anthology launched in April at Eastercon in the U.K., they ran through the first print run and now with a second print run delivered, editor Ian Sales finally was able to ship contributor copies to those who weren't at the two launch events. Ian's also put up a link to reviews.


Three copies was just stiff enough that they didn't try to stuff it in the P.O. Box, but gave me a key to one of the lockers. So they all arrived in perfect shape. (grin)

Of course part of my interest is my story The New Tenant. But it's nice to see an anthology of near term space SF stories. One of the one's I read is an interesting alternate history piece with a hoax lunar landing -- by the Soviet Union.

You can order through Mutation Press -- U.S. delivery is £8.99 + £5 discounted airmail shipping ($14.00 + $7.30 approx, depending on currency). Both Amazon and Amazon (UK) have it listed, but the U.S. site says Out of Print--Limited Availability and the U.K. site has it out of stock.

There will be a Kindle version -- I'll pass on the word when it gets out.

Dr. Phil

Saturday Night

Friday Mrs. Dr. Phil flew in and called home safe and sound at her dad's old house in Chicago. She and her stepmom Pat spent nearly 3 weeks in Nicaragua with a GVSU business and engineering design program. They were really tired. Debbie then took the train to Holland Saturday, arriving exactly on time at 9:21pm.


Home! Or at least at the train station.

Since she had a decompression day in Chicago -- and was still essentially on Central STANDARD Time -- Nicaragua doesn't bother with Daylight Saving Time being at 12° N -- we copied all 616 photos she'd shot on Wendy's Canon SureShot onto a USB Swiss Memory then plugged it into the Sony 32" Bravia and we watched them all.

Sunday Morning

We dispensed with all alarms, but eventually got up and had our Sunday morning downstairs with banana, bagel and newspaper. Last weekend I realized that the lily of the valley out underneath the back deck had flowered -- the scent wafting in from the open windows -- and luckily Mrs. Dr. Phil didn't miss them.


Fragrant lilies of the valley peeking out from under the lush foliage. (Click on photo for larger.)

Monday

Around noon it was 56°F -- 35 degrees cooler than Sunday. AC shut off, again. Will have to consider heat tonight, again.

Dr. Phil

Not A Good Forecast

So here in West Michigan we were expected to get a piece of the solar eclipse on Sunday 20 May 2012. Though we were far from seeing the maximum of the total annular eclipse, we were expected to have some 40% totality, I believe it was, at sunset.

This is not the first sunset eclipse around here -- we had one ten years ago.
Minor Solar Eclipse of Monday 10 June 2002.

What's an annular eclipse? It's when the whole Moon passes in front of the Sun, but the Moon is at the far end of its orbit, so its angular size is smaller than that of the Sun, leaving a ring (annulus) of bright Sun -- we had a 91% off-center total annular eclipse here eighteen years ago. Total Annular Solar Eclipse of Tuesday 10 May 1994. You had to be west of the Mississippi to have any chance of seeing that this year.

But... we've had high heat and lots of haze for a couple of days. And Sunday's forecast was in the low 90s and only partly sunny.


24 hours to go -- and this is Saturday's hazy sunset at the Holland MI Amtrak station.

It's Getting Darker

But not from the eclipse. By 8pm, it was socked in to the west.


See that big cloud? That's where we need to be looking...

Ironically, the big dark cloud moved east, but it was clearing in the east.

Ersatz panorama shot from West to North to East. You can just make out a reddish glow above the white trailer, but that still may be too far south.*** (Click on photo for larger.)


And then the rains came...

No eclipse for us. Six hours later and the rolling thunderstorms are still coming in.

Ah, West Michigan wins another round against astronomical events.

Dr. Phil

*** WZZM-DT13 showed the clouds rolling in from their Weather Ball tower, which is east of us by about 20 miles. They did some enhancing and managed to pick out a red disk on the horizon at sunset with a bite out of the bottom -- the eclipse did happen. (grin) I tried some editing tricks on my photo, trying to pick out just the red channel and boosting it, but didn't have enough pixels or bits to work with, I guess. (double-grin)

Cooking For One

... isn't a lot of fun, at least in terms of doing anything elaborate. But I've done okay during the nearly three weeks Mrs. Dr. Phil is in Nicaragua. With one real exception.

Probably ten years ago, when Mrs. Dr. Phil was off conferencing, I decided to try some childhood favorites. One was Spaghetti-Os. Every family has certain common meals and often standard brands of foods and snacks. We did Franco-American canned spaghetti, often with hot dogs, and never Chef Boyardee. As I recall, the Spaghetti-Os were fun.

This year? Not so much. Oh the sauce had the right flavor, as did the flavor and texture of the little round concentric nesting pasta-like substances. And the Beef Ball Park franks were lovely as usual. But my palate must've changed, because in two meals the Os were just blah. Plastic. Ugh.

I'll have my childhood memories. But I shan't be repeating that childhood meal ever again. (grin)

On Being Alone

The six weeks of Clarion in 2004 was tough on everyone. Some quit jobs to attend. One had just gotten married. For us it was the longest scheduled time apart since we got married twenty years earlier.

But I was lucky. Not only had I arranged to not teach during the summer, after a year of full-time teaching, so I had the time and the money. And Clarion was still in East Lansing, which was just a 90 minute drive away. So we weren't really apart for six weeks, as I chose to bop home most weekends to do laundry and Mrs. Dr. Phil drove out for the 4th of July.

This time we only have had a few emails and no phone calls. And I'm the one kicking around the empty house -- not teaching this summer -- and Mrs. Dr. Phil isn't even in the same country.

I'll be very happy to have Mrs. Dr. Phil back in a few days and hear all about her adventures.

May

The weather has been mostly pleasant, yet still odd. Not sure I've been able to go with more than a day or two with the heat completely shut off, with overnights in 30s and 40s. So very nice daytime temps the last two days -- low 70s. But hazy overhead. And two days of humid 80s coming? Why do I feel like we won't be able to see the sunset partial solar eclipse on Sunday?

Ah West Michigan weather versus astronomy... West Michigan wins most of the time. (wry grin)

Dr. Phil

Leaving A Sour Taste In An Otherwise Enjoyable Experience

When we first saw the trailer for The Pirates! Band of Misfits in 3D, I really laughed out loud -- it was the funniest trailer I've seen in years.

Of course when I was setting up for this blog entry, I found out that this movie was released everywhere except North America and Australia as The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Great. Can't make it marketable with a nation toying with Science Ignorance by appealing to "an Adventure with Scientists". Grr. Snarl. ANNOYED.

I mean, when the first Harry Potter was retitled for the U.S., it was thought that Americans wouldn't know what a philosophers stone was -- or maybe Philosophy is perceived as a big enough turnoff as Scientists. Sigh.

Am I overreacting? Perhaps. But come on, guys, grow up!

8:45pm, around sunset but it is much brighter to the east, than the west. 9:05pm, dark with a big rippling peal of thunder. Guess that 20% chance is going to be upgraded due to reality. (grin) 9:12pm, power momentarily out. Not long enough for the generator, of course. Heavy rain followed. Quiet now.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits [PG]

Holland 7 Theatre #3, 5:15pm, 1×$6.75

The geniuses at Aardman, makers of those most excellent Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, have done it again. With poultry, even. Literally, figuratively and with costumes. These films take forever to make, what with their stop motion work. But you really need to see it on the big screen. It's all eye candy.

I had to pick up some stuff at Office Max, so Holland 7 was more convenient. But that meant only 2D, though based on the trailer, the 3D should be spectacular. And enjoy the tons of throwaway side details -- I swear every gag shows up at least twice and figures in the plot -- and the backgrounds to the credits are well done, too. Stay for them.

The plot is, well, it's insane of course. Pirate Captain is trying to win Pirate of the Year. Think Pirates of the Caribbean, but really funny. Oh, and given the long lead time to make this film, I wouldn't think too much of any similarities with the fourth POTC movie. (grin) Speaking of poultry, in all the musical numbers and running jokes, there's one reminiscent of a Robot Chicken routine -- What's Best About Being A Pirate. And it isn't the loot. (big-hammy-grin)

The pirate captain Pirate Captain is voiced by Hugh Grant and the Doctor, er, Charles Darwin, by David Tennant. QV I, whose motto is "I Hate Pirates", is Imelda Stauton, another veteran of Sense & Sensibility with Grant. Ah, nothing like a little class to the operation, though poor Old Vic does not get a fair shake here.

Did I laugh out loud like I did with the trailer? Not really, but that has a lot more to do with the fact that I had a private showing. (double-grin) Indeed, I note that The Pirates isn't even on the schedule any more this week. So I guess I did good in not putting off seeing this. And that makes me smile.

Recommended

Trailers: Ooh, Minions! Despicable Me 2 in 2013 -- absolutely no details.

Pre-Show: They're selling toys and costumes for The Avengers. The Hulk. Iron Man. Thor. Captain America. Anyone notice what's missing from that foursome? Guess it's a No Girls Allowed club.

FYI: The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe is a 2004 book, first in a series, which Wikipedia suggests isn't exactly aimed only at children. Haven't read the books, but based on the PG film, there's fun for all ages.

Dr. Phil

Saw Two Movies Last Week

Still have to write up a review on the one. This week I was busy with a variety of things, what with poor weather the beginning of the week and the abortive dinner plans (DW) of midweek, so I didn't get out to the movies until Friday. But it was a really pretty day out, which made a late afternoon drive exceptionally pleasant.

When I came out at 6:30pm, it was still bright blue sky nice. Still over a month to the longest day of the year, but what a difference a couple of months can make. Anyway, there were these two seagulls squawking on top of this light pole in the parking lot. I'd brought a camera, so I changed to a longer lens. By the time I got the shot, they were no longer on the same lamp housing, but they still amused me.


One pair of gulls, bathing in sunlight -- or the emissions from that cellphone tower. (grin) (Click on photo for larger.)

The Avengers 3D [PG-13]

Holland 7 Theatre 5, 4:00pm, 1×$8.25

The start of the summer blockbuster popcorn season came early this year and oh what a biggie. There was no way I wasn't going to get a small popcorn and drink, especially since the Holland 7 has the best popcorn around.

In the week since The Avengers blew up the box office, many people have raved about how good the flick is. Especially given the results of some of the comic book adaptations. I even think the local reviewer at the GRPress gave it four stars. And a lot of that love is justified. But there's also some carping about the lack of diversity -- despite Samuel L., Scarlett and Gwyneth among the major players. And that, too, is justified to some extent.

But, given that Marvel already has in the bag movies with Iron Man, The Hulk and The Mighty Thor, they've been building up to The Avengers for years. And Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally gets to come up to bat and bring everyone out to play. Everyone gets to have a lot of fun, sufficiently such that Tony Stark doesn't completely dominate/steal the whole show. And that is what makes this movie incredibly fun. The interactions and banter between all these powerful heroes -- and villains. Even the Big Guy. That big green guy. (grin)

Sure we have the usual Things That Go Wrong and Teams That Won't Team at first, plus the usual setbacks and stuff. I mean, they've got two hours and twenty minutes to fill, so they have to pack a lot of stuff into this movie. But there's actually dialogue and whole scenes of expository development. Really. Hard to believe.

Look, I know we're dealing with willing suspension of disbelief, but I do have a few issues with firepower, numbers of rounds and energy requirements. You've got all these bad guys pouring out of hyperdimensional hole in the sky, like so many anime shows or reminiscent of The Matrix: Revolutions. At least the latter made an attempt, even if poorly executed, of trying to include some semblance of having to actually carry a lot of rounds and reload from time to time. Instead we get one good indication of why having only one shot isn't such a good tactical move and then we have Black Widow blasting away the invaders with pistols. Right.

There were a handful of people at the showing I was at, including a bunch of teens after school. But only one group of adults stayed with me to see the first Dr. Phil Special -- you had to stay all the way to the very end to see the second. (grin)

Good popcorn.

Highly Recommended

Trailers: We're getting longer trailers for some of the movies we've seen previously. Two animated movies. Disney's Brave certainly looks entertaining. I can pass on Frankenweenie, since I have a bad feeling I've just seen all the best lines about a boy trying to resurrect his dog. And heavens to Betsy, they're trying to make me like Battleship.

Dr. Phil

Starting Up

When Sam The Dark Wonder cat was diagnosed with diabetes in October 2009, of course we didn't know how it would go. But someone had brought back a partial unit of insulin syringes -- they come 100 to a package which includes a hazardous sharps disposal container -- and the wonderful folks at Allendale Animal Hospital passed it on to us. At first he got two shots a day, but diabetes in cats isn't the same as diabetes in people, and eventually we got him stabilized on a single small shot in the morning after breakfast. The insulin was like rocket fuel, working wonders on Sammy for 2½ years.

And we must've ended up with 60-80 syringes in that first partial unit.

Settling Up

So the other day we got the last statement from the vet's office for last month. (DW) And today I swung by and settled up.

On the way, I bagged up some of our remaining supplies. The last vial of insulin can't be reused, so it'll get tossed. But I had a full container of spent sharps for recycling and most of a new container of syringes. Plus most of a case of cans of Science Diet w/d diabetic cat food.

So I dropped that off, too, for the next cat who suddenly turns diabetic and its owners who have to take care of them. I took a picture of Sam's gift, along with Eileen who runs the vet's office. Actually, Eileen was also the practice cat in October 2009 -- I gave her a shot of saline to learn how to give Sam his shot. (grin) I did it very well. (double-grin) And Sam almost never objected during all those hundreds of shots I gave him. (extra-special-grin)


Some number of insulin syringes and 17 cans of feline Science Diet w/d -- while Eileen glares slightly on the third picture. (Click on photo for larger.)

And paying it forward.

Dr. Phil