Russian Spam Invasion

Things have been relatively quiet on the referral spam front for awhile, but the last month or so has seen an uptick in my Blogger stats. Most are not shown as links due to Google filtering, however the country of Russia is showing a ridiculous amount in my “Audience” figures. In fact, it is close to matching my traffic from the United States which is mostly legit.

Remember not to click on strange links in your Blogger stats because you never know where they will take you. Leave that to people crazy or skilled enough to safely investigate.

The latest spam from the Land of the Bear comes from a fake auction site. Oh you can really buy stuff there, but the timer is just a come on to influence you into an impulse buy. A long running con is magnetic bracelets for athletes and arthritis sufferers exploiting the placebo effect to work “miracles” through bogus science. Power Balance is one of those cheap trinkets being flogged at http: // power-balances . apishops . ru / proving that scams are universal or at least international.

The Bobo (1967) Review

Famous comedian Peter Sellers anchors an excellent cast in this inconsequential yet highly enjoyable comedy about a penniless bullfighter tasked with seducing a beautiful gold digger. Gently charming humor, well written characters, and note perfect performances highlight this little known gem from the great comedian’s career. It also illustrates just why one should never trust a singing matador.

Ah, the 1960s. Though there was much going on in that decade, one defining characteristic of the era is all but forgotten today. That would be the airy and sometimes witty comedies from Europe that graced the silver screen like effervescent bubbles floating through the air. Often they were international productions filmed in Italy or England and featured actors from all over. These films were whimsically entertaining in a way that simply isn’t seen in today’s more vicious and crude culture.

Being old enough to have grown up with reruns of the genre on television, I grew rather fond of them during my childhood. But even then they were fading away so recountings of certain movies were told to me by my late mother and half brothers. One they kept regaling me about was The Bobo which turned out to be very obscure. In fact, I didn’t get to see it until the late 1990s on a cable movie channel.

Fortunately for me, the film was just as funny as they claimed.

In Progress

Now that things have calmed down somewhat, I’m hoping to have a movie review up by the weekend. That is barring unexpected circumstances, which have gotten dangerously closer to the norm than one would wish.

Everything is done but the writing on the review and that was started over a week ago. Now to remember the film! There’s a reason I take several pages of notes…

Hints would be dropped about which film it is, but nobody would get it since it’s an obscure ‘60s flick. Instead I’ll tease that actor starring was most famously associated with the color of pink, was something of a goon, and wasn’t all there even when he was being there. For posterity and the random chance someone will actually pay attention to this post a final clue will be given to actor’s identity:

He was the kind of guy who drive his boss homicidally insane.

Now off to work on the thing…

Complications, Part 2

First half here.

On my way back to the house from the hospital, I first stopped for gas then again at our neighbor’s place to make a request that he take over the driving once I started the return trip. Thankfully, Randy was home and willing so I tore up the hill toward the house.

Once in, the cellphone I needed so badly was nowhere to be seen. I’d been sure it was in a certain place, yet it wasn’t there. After minutes of running around and scaring the cats, I calmed enough to say a short prayer for help. Shortly after that, I spotted in a place I’d passed by before sitting in dark chair, belt holster and all.

I’d had problems getting my belt on properly in the earlier rush that morning so I thing it fell off while I was sorting that out. By the way, I found out later I still had the belt twisted. That somehow seems to have fit the theme of the day.

Complications

The past week has been exceedingly difficult and two posts back I explained why I wanted July to end. In fact, I accused the month of refusing to go gracefully. True to form it exited in ugly fashion.

Wednesday I started coming down with a vicious cold and hoped that Thursday would be a slow day for my father so that I could stay home and rest. At 10 AM I received a call from a nurse that he was going to have the stent placement procedure in an hour. To my surprise, the PET scan thought to be done later in the day had been performed at 7 AM. There went any chance to rest.

In my rush to get dressed and out the door for the forty-five minute drive, my cellphone holster fell off the belt.That one little event turned a bad situation far worse as the day progressed.

A Slowly Developing Picture

Quite a bit has happened since the last post with further events yet to come as well. Where to begin?

The endoscopy yesterday morning had to be aborted before completion due regurgitation threatening to get in the lungs. Even so, the specialist saw an obstruction of the gastric outlet that looked like lymphoma to him. A biopsy was taken to be tested and a PET scan is needed to decide if cancer is still present.

I should rewind a little to explain how this cancels the surgery planned for today. Yesterday afternoon it was thought the nerve damage diagnosis was correct, therefore a drainage tube was going to be implanted into the stomach in order to relieve future build up. They have pumped 1.5 liters of fluids and matter out of him as of today, plus all he vomited before.

Imagine a two liter of soda residing in the stomach with nowhere to go but up to get an idea of what my father has been contending with.

Getting back to the new data, if Dad is cleared of having lymphoma that implies inflammation or scar tissue causing the blockage. Another EDG would be attempted with the goal if placing a stent in the outlet. This may be attempted even if the cancer is present, conferring with oncology is yet to be done.

There are no guarantees we won't be revisiting the original surgery discussed, of course. However, there is now some hope that Dad might be able to eat again even if only liquids or soft foods.

The Achilles' heel of modern medicine is specialization especially when dealing with a problem spanning multiple fields. It is said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I'd add that the more links there are, the higher the odds of having a weak link or two. The medical profession is made up humans so imperfection (mistakes) are inevitable.

Despite writing that, I think the rollercoaster ride could have been smoother. It would be no surprise if more bumps are on the way.

July Refuses to Go Gracefully

Normally complaining about a month involves that eternal and universal topic of weather. Yeah, the weather has been weird with ferocious gnats making the good days outside miserable, but it has been the unrelenting bad news that makes me want the month to just leave already.

The latest is my father having to be hospitalized again. After more than 24 hours of vomiting brown blood, he caved and we journeyed to the ER to see now familiar faces. At the rate he’s going, we’ll start being invited to family outings of the staff. Symptoms are the same as two weeks ago, but in greater volume and violence.