Interview on The Big Idea, originally broadcast February 7, 2008
by Stephan Pastis Email Stephan! NEWS + FAQ
by on May 18, 2009
A Little “Pearls Before Swine” for Monday – Get Inspired
by Stephan Pastis Email Stephan! NEWS + FAQby on May 15, 2009
Great Strides Walk for the Cure for Cystic Fibrosis
I am a late entry to walk in the annual cystic fibrosis walk, but decided that I have enough contacts and means to reach them in one day to raise my goal of $1,000 toward research for a cure for cystic fibrosis.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with CF, here is some info for you:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_Fibrosis
- http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/Faqs/
Approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States have cystic fibrosis. An additional ten million more—or about one in every 31 Americans—are carriers of the defective CF gene, but do not have the disease. CF is most common in Caucasians, but it can affect all races.
The severity of cystic fibrosis symptoms is different from person to person. The most common symptoms are:
- Very salty-tasting skin
- Persistent coughing, at times with phlegm
- Frequent lung infections, like pneumonia or bronchitis
- Wheezing or shortness of breath
- Poor growth/weight gain in spite of a good appetite
- Frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements
- Small, fleshy growths in the nose called nasal polyps
by on May 14, 2009
The Rainstorm of a Century – At Least a Year
We are definitely in a drought in our part of Tampa. Before yesterday evening, it had been a good 3-5 months since our last decent thunderstorm. Both of the retention ponds in our development were threatening to completely dry up and are pretty good eye-sores at the moment.
We finished up dinner and were catching up on Dr. Phil and noticed a very slight sprinkle on what water remains in the pond. Sprinkle turned to a steady shower. I commented that I’d love it to just rain like this for 4 days and get the level back where it looks nice again. A 10 or 12 year old girl had been outside earlier and I guessed that the water was a good 4′ lower than the grassline and figured it would take a good week or so of evening showers to fill that up.
Shower turned to a downpour. Downpour turned to pausing the DVR and sitting to watch the rain instead of the TV. Water was running down the lanai screen, running down the street and taking garbage cans with it, and washing every bit of dirt and debris into the pond and creating a swirling current from the volume of water entering from one point. Photos do not do it justice.
By 9pm, the pond was completely full for the first time since October. Going to bed after American Idol, there was a cacophony of happy creatures sounding off in the peaceful drizzle that continued into the night. I’m happy to report that this morning found a still-full pond.
The first photo is from December and the second one is from May 9th with the rest of them being from last night. The constant in the different shots is the concrete lift station to measure the water height. Notice the corner of the one night time photo – it was the end of a huge lightning strike. It’s blurry because I jumped as the shutter went.
