So there I was just watching tv minding my own business when all the sudden there comes a knock at the door. I went to see who it was and it turned out to be Emily’s folks. We weren’t expecting them, but they often stop by to visit so I wasn’t really wondering why they had were here. Then Paul pulled a box out from behind his back and said Happy Birthday. To be honest, I had kinda forgot that my birthday is tomorrow, but now I have a whole new reason to be excited…

If you’re thinking “hey, that looks like an X-Wing Fighter Kite.” then you’re exactly correct. Now I just need a clear windy day to take it to the park and see if it really flies. You ready up there R2?

So I had to have surgery on an infected tooth this week. The infection was the result of a root canal that took place some time ago, but the point of this post is that this is only the second time I’ve ever been “put under” and I’ve decided I don’t like it. This is mainly due to the fact that there are gaps in my memory where I know I was awake enough to be mobile, but I don’t remember anything about them. At the risk of sounding to presumptuous, I have to think that this must be what it’s like in the early stages of Alzheimer’s (I just watched an episode of Scientific American Frontiers about memory loss the other day, hence the reference).

It’s just weird to think that my brain was working enough to get me from the Doctors office to the car, but I honestly can’t remember getting to the car or even getting home for that matter. I do remember talking to the nurse briefly as I woke up after the surgery. She asked me if I felt ok and if I was prone to puking. I told her I felt fine and that I don’t puke too often. Then she helped me stand up to move to the recovery room, but I don’t remember walking down the hall. I only vaguely remember laying down on the bed, but then I don’t remember anything until Emily got out of the car to get the kids from my mom. After that, the next thing I remember was laying on the couch at home. I don’t really even remember getting out of the car and into the house. It’s quite disturbing to think that I was up and interacting with people, but that I’m unable to recall most of it.

Anyway, the surgery went ok and aside from a little swelling I feel pretty good. My jaw aches a little, but for the most part there hasn’t even been any pain. I just hope the fix sticks and I don’t have to have that tooth worked on ever again.

Let me preface this one with the fact that I’ve seen WALL-E multiple times over the last few days. It was our Netflix movie last week and as such, was viewed far more than it might normally have been.

Anyway, the other night I was having a strange dream regarding the seemingly endless supply of energy that the Axiom ship (that’s the human “life raft” ship in the movie) seemed to have. As I dreamt, I recall wondering how, after 700 years, the ship was still able to power all the lights and billboards and robots and other electrically powered items on the ship. Keep in mind I was dreaming so the possibility of some alternate source of energy didn’t really enter my mind. I was thinking strictly in terms of energy storage circa 2009 so my mind was boggled while trying to figure out how they hadn’t run out of energy yet.

I pause for a moment here to acknowledge that to this point, there really wasn’t anything interesting about this dream. It might be an odd subject for a dream, but I’m sure many of you have had stranger dreams. However, the thing I found interesting about this particular dream is how it seemed to be a result of my physical situation at the time. I’m sure many of you have experienced something similar when you can’t seem to stop dreaming about water and then when you’re forced awake, you realize that you’ve never had to pee so badly in your life. Same sort of thing here.

As most of you probably know, I have a little ailment called Diabetes. One result of the medications that I take to control this ailment is that I occasionally experience the effects of hypoglycemia which is basically what happens when the sugar content in your blood gets too low. Basically, without a high enough content of sugar, your body literally runs out of gas and it results in weird side effects like shaking, sweating and loss of concentration. So to tie this back to where I started, as I lay there dreaming about power consumption in a fictional space and as I wondered how power could be maintained for 700 years without a recharge, it happened that I was at the time experiencing the effects of hypoglycemia. Luckily this condition tends to wake me from sleep (which, if any of you know how heavy a sleeper I am, you may find this rather miraculous). As soon as I woke up, I started to put the pieces together. As I rushed into the kitchen to shove anything I could find into my face I was a tad amused at how the brain works. I couldn’t help but find it amazing that as I lay there sleeping, my brain was still interpreting input from it’s surroundings and trying to put that information into some sort of context that made sense. I was literally running out of juice and my brain subconsciously turned that into an apparent need for a quick recharge via my hideaway solar panel.

It’s things like this that make me wonder about our true capacity for knowledge and learning. Brains are amazing things and it’s my opinion that they can do so much more than we can even comprehend presently. Guess we’ll just have to wait for that next sphere of existence to learn all the secrets. Until then, I should probably investigate some way to rig up a personal limitless energy supply so I can survive the next 700 years in space… or something like that.

So, just like last year, Emily and I had one night again this year where we got to get all dressed up for a night out on the town thanks to Omniture. Once again I went and got a tux and Emily found a fancy dress and we went uptown to the Grand America hotel for the annual Omniture holiday party. This years party was a bit more financially conscious (no more open bar), but it was still out of control. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was fun and the entertainment was “uncomfortable” according to Emily. We had a good time seeing everyone all dressed up and listening to Josh James’ fairly comedic monologue. We played a gigantic game of rock/paper/scissors and didn’t win anything once again. It was a fun just to get out for the evening though. Thanks Omniture for a fun night out.

- Originally typed at 5:51am on Nov 24th -

Either way, it’s probably the greatest idea EVAR!!! (Yes, I meant to spell it that way, please refer to my post from Oct 22nd, 2007 for details.)

Anyway, I woke up from a dream this morning at 5:51am in what can only be described as “a moment of genius”. Emily and the babies probably wouldn’t agree because I woke them up as well as I scurried to the computer and began furiously typing in order to get it all down before it fluttered back to the land of dreams, but I’ll let you judge for yourselves. I won’t go into the details or the scenario around which the dream was centered (let your imaginations run wild), but here it is…

Conan O’Brien circa 1979.

I googled it and found no results that matched my idea so I can only assume my brain concocted it during REM sleep, but the brilliance of the idea makes it hard to believe that it could have come from my own brain. Some of the details of the dream wouldn’t have really worked so I guess that adds fuel to the dream argument, but in the dream Conan announced that they would be doing a whole seasons worth of shows from 1979. He announced that due to some crazy snafu, all of the Late Night shows from 1979 had mysteriously vanished and were no longer in the archives (yes, I’m aware he wasn’t on the air then). There was some contest or another in the dream, but basically they would be doing an entire season of shows as if the year was 1979. The theme would include retrofitting the set and making sure that all costumes were chronologically correct (guests included). All musical guests would also have to conform to the time shift and Max and the band would cover all sorts of hits from the 70′s during commercial breaks.

- Typed this evening -

It’s been a week or so since I first had the dream and the idea doesn’t seem nearly as amazing as it was after being startled awake at 6am, but I still think it would be a clever running gag for a few shows. And if there’s anyone that could pull it off, it’s Conan (or maybe Craig Ferguson). Anyway, Conan, if you’re interested, feel free to use the idea but please give me some sort of acknowledgment in the credits. Or you could fly me out to be a stupid extra for an episode. Regardless, I’d love to see the end result put into practice. It’s just too bad I’m not a comedic writer for Conan’s show or maybe I could show you all what a great dream it was.