This is the 300th entry for this blog, so I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on my journey here.

I started writing TechnoMonk’s Musings in November 2005. The first platform I used was Blogger.com, a free service provided by Google; back then, I used “TechnoMonk.us” as the blog’s address. In October 2006, I stopped using Blogger and began anew here at TechnoMonksMusings.com, using the Squarespace service.

Although entries have been fairly infrequent for the past couple years, I have, in the last month, given the site a complete facelift and started writing again. I have also, just recently, transferred over most of the content from the 2005-06 era and that now appears here. The old Blogger site has been taken down.

300 posts in 75 months! … even with my noticeable lazy periods, that averages almost one entry per week.

I welcome back my old readers, and look forward to attracting new. I hope you like the revised look, and I sincerely invite you to share your thoughts here, too. Click on the “Post a Comment” link below any entry and tell me what’s on your mind!

One evening last summer I had a guest at my apartment and we were vegging out in the living room watching So You Think You Can Dance (one of my favorite shows). At one point she turned to me and asked, “do you have any sherbet?” I imagine I had a rather shocked look on my face as I replied, “you know I don’t do alcohol anymore.”

Of course, then it was her turn for a totally confused stare.

So, upon reading her nonverbals, I said, “oh, you said sherbet…I was thinking sherry. Sorry. But, still, the answer is no. I really don’t have that kind of dessert stuff around here.”

However, thinking I would try to be an accommodating host, the next time I went to the grocery store I looked for the sherbets in the frozen food case. I didn’t find any. What I did find, though, was a small selection of sorbets. I have since learned that a sorbet is a non-dairy version of the frozen product known as a sherbet (the latter having modest butterfat contents).

I picked out a couple different flavors and took them home so that if I were ever asked that question again, I could say, “well, I have no sherbet, but would you care for some sorbet?”

As it turned out, she only visited once more when the topic came up, and, indeed, we enjoyed small dishes of sorbet together. (She lives out of town and doesn’t often stop by.)

The funny thing is, I have rarely in my life ever indulged in sherbets, sorbets, ice creams, or any kind of frozen desserts … well, except the very infrequent Dairy Queen Blizzard.

But, having been asked that question, and then having sought out those sorbets, I now find myself having become rather hooked. What the heck is going on in this world when I can get addicted to sweet, fruity, frozen water? 

The explanation must be: the end is nigh. It’s 2012. I suspect we’re getting close to the end of the world as we know it.

Soundtrack Suggestion

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

(“It’s The End of the World” – R.E.M.)

I had tried valiantly to avoid this operation for at least a decade. Of all the invasive procedures that can happen … I mean, wow. Not that I’d rather have brain surgery, of course, but still … here I was. The wait was over and the dreaded TURP was going to happen. This was the week I was going to show up at the hospital, point to my private parts, and say “have at it.”

The morning before the surgery, the schedule called for me to go to the hospital and pre-register … which is a smart way to do things. This appointment did exactly what was intended: to save a lot of time during the day of the operation. I answered the receptionist’s and nurse’s questions (verified that I had not been taking blood-thinning drugs, for example), signed their forms, asked my own questions (can I bring my iPhone? my Kindle? my dietary supplements? – yes, yes, yes), and received my hospital wristband (along with the warning not to take it off or I’d have to do the check-in procedure all over again tomorrow). Then, I went to the lab for the final blood work, where I had to be stuck TWO times, by TWO techs, so they could do DUPLICATE tests. Oh, well, better safe than sorry?

I did my best to keep breathing the rest of that day. The anesthesiologist called me in the evening for a short chat, and told me a little bit about the approach: we’d be using a spinal anesthetic, a technique that, when combined with the other drugs, would totally put me out, and also provide maximum benefit to the surgeon by relaxing my midsection for the work on my prostate. I wouldn’t remember a thing, he assured me.

That night I slept very fitfully and awoke early. According to instructions, I didn’t eat or drink anything. My ride was going to be here at 6:45 so I could be at the hospital by 7:00. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30.

The rest of the following two-day period (my time in the hospital) is somewhat of a blur. But I do remember parts … 

The receptionist downstairs pointed me to the elevator. I went up to the waiting area and they almost immediately called my name. I was shown to a tiny curtained-off area where I was asked to disrobe and put all my belongings into a plastic bag. (Luckily, I had also brought along a gym bag to carry things in.) I put on the hospital garb and lay down. “Could I have another blanket, please?” They brought a nice, pre-warmed one. Ahhhh.

Somebody came by and inserted an IV into my lower left arm. Poke. Ouch. The nurses were very nice, though business-like. The anesthesiologist came by and introduced himself. My urologist (the surgeon) stopped by to say hello and to let me know that we’d be underway shortly.

Soon I was rolling down the hallway toward the operating room. We entered, I looked the place over, and said something like: “hmmmm… it doesn’t look like the Grey’s Anatomy rooms.” (I guess things are always different in real life, eh?) The put me on the table and …

… almost immediately I woke up in the recovery room: in the little curtained area where I’d left my stuff. What? It’s over?!? Really?

Well, of course it wasn’t over. The surgery was rather the easy part, even if it did involve inserting a tube up my penis and carving away part of my prostate. (They don’t call it a roto-rooter job for nothing!)

[The story continues here.]

The Occupy Movement emerged from its state of winter hibernation in San Francisco yesterday on the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission.

(As I’m sure you know, Citizens United is the landmark case that removed limits on how much money corporations and labor unions could donate to political causes. As a result of this lunatic 5-4 decision by our high court, a new type of political action committee, the so-called “Super PAC,” is now legal. Taken together, these unregulated, large-money organizations have, so far this year, dominated the political landscapes of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina during the Republican caucuses and primaries.)

The protests here in San Fran were part of day-long, Occupy Wall Street-related demonstrations all over the country demanding that banks put an end to evictions and foreclosures.

I very much wanted to take part in this Occupy protest and to be there to document it photographically. However, I wasn’t able to get downtown as it was a busy workday for me. Of course, fair-weather protester that I am, I’m not sure I would have shown up anyway; it was a very blustery winter day here in the Bay Area.

The event was mostly a success for Occupy: the San Francisco Chronicle reported that there were several hundred demonstrators in the Financial District who took to the streets, made a lot of noise, and shut down the headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank. The thousands of protesters that had been anticipated did not materialize, though.

I will have to get downtown soon for an Occupy-related event. I want to see how it’s evolved since I began my hiatus from protesting (because of my surgery and subsequent recovery). I ferried into the city nine straight weekends during the fall (from October 7 to December 3, 2011) to photograph the people, signs, structures, marches and other happenings of #OccupySF.

(I see the Huffington Post reports that the former (former?) Occupy San Francisco (#OccupySF) movement has reorganized and now calls itself Occupy Wall Street West. I didn’t know that until today.)