tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55895072024-03-13T14:16:10.565-07:00SelfUnfocusedComing to terms with being human.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-52783471354614419522008-10-19T17:36:00.000-07:002008-10-19T17:42:08.876-07:00On Saving Cash90 day Netflix hold.<br /><br />I have a lot of subscription based services tying up my funds; Netflix, E-Music, etc... Often these act to save me money. I used to purchase a few DVDs a month. I haven't bought any in 2008 thanks to Netflix. However, this month I've been much too busy to watch films. Why pay 14 dollars to have a few DVDs sit around unviewed? Netflix will let you pause its service for up to 90 days. I'll save 30 dollars or so. See you in January, DVD player!<br /><br />A helpful tip from Moneywasting Matt. Don't live like me. Save cash.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-26943210187150814042008-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:002008-10-16T12:22:30.623-07:00TrustocracyMy latest project is <a href="http://trustocracy.squarespace.com/">Trustocracy</a>, a somewhat more focused blog. It's about tech, politics, society...you know, the small things. I'd appreciate it if you'd mention the site to any policy nerds you think might find it interesting. Thanks.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-87314675294006778622008-07-27T19:40:00.000-07:002008-07-27T19:48:33.641-07:00CNNI'm glad I don't pay for cable.<br /><br />I just watched a few purported news clips from CNN.com. How the mighty have fallen. Back in the mid-ninetys, when I was an intelligence analyst, CNN was my informative wallpaper. We kept it on 24/7. Why? Because it kept us informed, the commentary was useful, and there was nothing else like it. Well, Fox News started getting crazy ratings by entertaining instead of informing and CNN sure jumped on that bandwagon (have any of you ever seen an actual bandwagon?).<br /><br />So tv news is crap, newspapers are useless, and vote weighted sites like Newsvine.com are so overran by the frivolous that finding anything pertinent is an hour long event. Somebody freeze me and wake me up in twenty years when this is all straightened out...or when cars drive themselves. Whichever comes first.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-43261417722966813902008-06-28T18:24:00.000-07:002008-06-28T18:25:55.234-07:00Play This GameA Flash based time travel puzzle game. What isn't <a href="http://www.addictinggames.com/chronotron.html">to love</a>?Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-20831055174142164992008-06-04T09:18:00.000-07:002008-06-04T09:24:46.085-07:00I love Sarcasm. No, Really I do.The New York Times has an article on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/health/research/03sarc.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">neurology of sarcasm</a>.<br /><br /><blockquote>To her surprise, though, the magnetic resonance scans revealed that the part of the brain lost among those who failed to perceive sarcasm was not in the left hemisphere of the brain, which specializes in language and social interactions, but in a part of the right hemisphere previously identified as important only to detecting contextual background changes in visual tests.</blockquote>It's really cool to know that detecting a change in intent is similar to recognizing foreground/background differences visually. It makes me wonder if highly emotionally and socially intuitive people have a skill that's similar to staring at those odd pictures that turn 3D if you see them right.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-23063966066822203962008-05-30T14:23:00.000-07:002008-05-30T14:31:47.516-07:00Interest TrinityThis week's three links, sans comments, include a piece on poetry and synesthesia, China's coming effect on food prices, and some tunes.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/synesthesia-cre.html">Tarzan as Poet</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/30/food.china1">Pork Fried Rice</a><br /><br /><a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=2094163">A Beautiful Voice</a>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-47178073601067329072008-05-29T11:37:00.000-07:002008-05-29T11:43:58.501-07:00Roots: Like LeVar BurtonHere is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-TFS6YeVUc">the video</a> that is taking Holland by storm. Apparently, I am a Dutch speaking savant. Who knew?Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-17274761850893459502008-05-28T11:40:00.001-07:002008-05-28T11:40:47.535-07:00My new little buddy<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfunfocused/2531873482/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2531873482_6623043f35_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfunfocused/2531873482/">My new little buddy</a> <br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/selfunfocused/">selfunfocused</a></span><br clear="all" /><p>I have my Asus eee pc 900, Linux version. It is tiny and awesome like a young Joe Pesci.</p>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-73554646331739734332008-05-28T09:27:00.001-07:002008-05-28T09:35:33.836-07:00Bring Out Your DeadNew York City is working on plans to have a specialized vehicle collect the recently dead and get them to the hospital quickly. I mean, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/2008/05/27/meat-wagons.aspx">STAT</a>!<br /><blockquote>New York City is working on a plan to deploy a special ambulance to collect the bodies of people who have died suddenly from heart attacks, accidents and other emergencies and try to preserve their organs. If the "rapid-organ-recovery ambulance" succeeds, officials would like to expand the unique pilot program citywide with a fleet of ambulances and eventually duplicate it in other cities.</blockquote>I think I like this idea. I do understand the argument against viewing a dying patient as a minty fresh organ bank, but I think those sort of moral pitfalls could be avoided. In any case, I'm betting that this idea will stimulate some real meaty conversations about medical ethics, which is a good thing.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-7238193114078645282008-05-22T09:14:00.000-07:002008-05-22T09:26:02.735-07:00It Seems I'm a Hit in the NetherlandsA few weeks back I was hanging out with two lovely girls who were visiting from Holland. They noticed that I own a book on speaking Dutch, one which I have neglected to use. The video camera came out and film of my attempts to speak Dutch now exist.<br /><blockquote> Oh, you didn't see the video? Maybe Greg has it. He<br />copied some pictures from our cameras. If he doesn't<br />have it, I will try to send it to you.<br />It's so funny. especially for people who speak dutch.</blockquote>I'm a good laugh in the Motherland.<br /><br />In other news...<br /><span id="contributor" class="c cs"> Bruce Schneier of Wired has issued a call for a <a href="http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/05/securitymatters_0515">Data Privacy Bill of Rights</a>. I think the idea has some merit. This is the sort of thing that interests me and an active campaign to bring a concept like this to fruition would get my attention. I'm going to have to formulate a stronger opinion over the summer so I'm ready for the revolution.<br /><br />I've also noticed that Naomi Klein, who I'll always love for <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2H7DnsppfG4C&dq=no+logo&pg=PP1&ots=MYuF5g9LqZ&sig=DTcBn5_Ue_0M1CYC_OIdzWSua9A&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3Dno%2Blogo%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail">No Logo</a>, has written an article about the high tech end of the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye/print">Chinese police state</a>. I haven't made it all the way through yet, but it looks like a worthwhile read. It has implications for the States, since the contractors that have developed the various technologies of oppression are from the U.S.<br /><br /></span>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-1491113138895971612008-05-18T08:14:00.000-07:002008-05-18T08:21:12.867-07:00Mushy Bananas Get TrashedThe New York Times has an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18martin.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">interesting piece</a> on food waste in the U.S. It seems we throw 27% of our food in the trash, in the midst of a global food crisis. Now, I doubt that all the food we are trashing could be distributed to those in need but still, that's a significant amount of waste. I know I've been trying to not waste food, mainly as a budgetary move. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find single guy portions, so things like bread tend to go bad before I've used it all.Maybe I'll try a bit harder though. I'm not supposed to ingest so many carbs anyway.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-87644616255380742392008-05-08T18:02:00.001-07:002008-05-08T18:06:43.543-07:00Things That Are Interesting.Ok. I've been quite busy escorting pretty women from around the world. I haven't had time to think of something to post. So instead, I'm going to link to the articles I wanted to write about and you can draw your own conclusions. It's all the fun of my links, with none of the crap I tend to throw at you!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=mind-control-by-cell">Cell Phone Mind Control!</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/health/06mind.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1210090247-UFzw7UhkPa1/OgoC1Fldtg&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">The Art of Lying.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/smalloy/atomic_tragedy/photos.html">Hiroshima Pictures.</a>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-83240260308828698672008-04-29T12:31:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:47:34.820-07:00Vengeance Inside UsI've been reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Diamond">Jared Diamond</a>'s article, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_diamond">Vengeance is Ours</a>. It is an illuminating piece, not only about the politics of revenge in a non-state society, but also about the individual response to vengeance.<br /><blockquote>When I asked Daniel how he felt about the battle in which Isum became paralyzed, his reaction was unapologetically positive: a mixture of exhilaration and pleasure in expressing aggression. He used phrases such as “It was very nice,” and his gestures projected euphoria and a huge sense of relief. “I felt that it was a matter of ‘kill or else die by suicide.’ I was prepared to die myself in that fight. I knew that, if I did die then, I would be considered a hero and would be remembered. If I had personally seen the arrow go into Isum, I would have felt emotional relief then. Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually there to see it, but, when I heard that Isum had been paralyzed, I thought, I have everything, I feel as if I am developing wings, I feel as if I am about to fly off, and I am very happy. After that battle, just as after each battle in which we succeeded in killing an Ombal, we danced and celebrated and slaughtered pigs. When you fight with thinking and finally succeed, you feel good and relieved. The revenge relieves you; now it can be your turn to help someone else get his own revenge.</blockquote>I often tell people that I am a philosophical urbanist. I need a better term for this, but in short, I honestly believe that when human societies organize at the city level, human life becomes better. The very fact of advanced organization creates the opportunity for positive change. I believe this has to do with the increased communication of ideas. I am not claiming that urban individuals are a better breed of human. I'm not talking about individual change at all. I'm saying that the social environment of the individual will cause that person to act more pro-socially (at the species level) than if he had been raised in a less connected environment. Why bring this up? The article got me thinking.<br /><br />I absolutely empathize with the feelings mentioned in Diamond's article. In a similar environment, I believe I would act in much the same way. It is the outlets afforded me by society that allow me to react in less destructive ways. Well, enough of that. I think the article is interesting.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-53868722600988131132008-04-27T08:46:00.000-07:002008-04-27T08:53:43.500-07:00You Are Not Wasting Your TimeClay Shirky's latest post is receiving so much attention that I'm basically just going to do a repost. "<a href="http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html">Gin, Television, and Social Surplus</a>" is a really good article. In short, Shirky argues that collaborative media is taking advantage of a surplus of thought hours that has built up with the advent of leisure.<br /><br /><blockquote>So how big is that surplus? So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project--every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in--that represents something like the cumulation of 100 million hours of human thought. I worked this out with Martin Wattenberg at IBM; it's a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but it's the right order of magnitude, about 100 million hours of thought. <p id="yn1o36" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads. This is a pretty big surplus. People asking, "Where do they find the time?" when they're looking at things like Wikipedia don't understand how tiny that entire project is, as a carve-out of this asset that's finally being dragged into what Tim calls an architecture of participation.</p></blockquote><p id="yn1o36" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p>As an aside: If anyone finds out what book had the historical gin antecdotes in it, let me know.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-7588520382257864102008-04-25T23:26:00.000-07:002008-04-25T23:42:48.656-07:00Geeky AffirmationTime magazine has used the quote "There can be only one" on a <a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/20055/thumbs/r-TIME-COVER-large.jpg">cover</a>. This means that Time believes a significant segment of its audience can spot a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091203/">Highlander</a> reference. I respect their boldness, but am guessing they are wrong. Most people that have seen this film are like <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5961334194768605278&q=highlander&ei=yMwSSKnVEoGEqwPajfDQBA">this jackass</a> who believes that Immortals are referred to as Highlanders...and most people have not seen this film. Still, I like the image of the Democratic candidates fighting with swords to decide the nomination. Although Obama should probably avoid beheading white women on camera, even Clinton.<br /><br />Edit: On closer inspection, the Time headline is "There can only be one". The question becomes, did a Highlander fan create this cover, or did a Highlander fan happen to read this cover?Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-15327265509387966112008-04-25T15:01:00.000-07:002008-04-25T15:05:49.578-07:00Examples of What I'm DoingHere are two very short stories that I finished recently.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/11078.The_Nature_of_Miracles">The Nature of Miracles</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/7323.Good_Fortune">Good Fortune</a><br /><br />The basic world concept of Good Fortune is informing the stories I am working on right now.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-74792537380560571562008-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:002008-04-24T18:12:25.693-07:00America: Now Gattaca Safe?<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t want to become “the guy who reposts Wired articles,” but they did just mention another interesting item.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>A bill designed to protect Americans from <a href="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/genetic-non-dis.html">genetic discrimination</a> has just passed the Senate and is ready for Bush to sign it. This bill is supposed to keep employers, insurance companies, and the like from using genetic tests against us. This is a very good thing, assuming the language of the bill is effective. With laws like this one in place, research can move forward at a quicker pace. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Without protections, it is likely that people would have been reluctant to use new genetic screening technologies. Why find out you might be prone to a rare cancer if that information could raise your insurance premiums? This new bill was crafted with foresight that will pave the way for better preventive medicine, with much more desirable social consequences. Good job, Congress (1).</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(1) Good job contingent on <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-358">S.358</a> being crafted effectively.</p>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-65487389591008541402008-04-24T16:24:00.000-07:002008-04-24T16:27:21.989-07:00I’m a Writer!<o:p></o:p>Writing fiction is something that I’ve often dreamed of doing, but rarely have put into practice. Sure, I’ve sat down and pumped out the occasional poem, maybe a story that’s so short it barely qualifies as a paragraph, but that’s all. So recently, I turned my life into an experiment and I have been testing what it takes to get myself to really write. I have been somewhat successful. Here’s how.<o:p><br /><br /></o:p>1. Allowing myself to suck…badly. <p class="MsoNormal">I have to thank <a href="http://isbw.murlafferty.com/">Mur Lafferty</a> for this. It’s good to be reminded that you don’t get to be a world class writer on day one...or ever, really. I’ve been writing to enjoy myself and that has done more for my abilities than anything.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>2. Sacrificing time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I took a creative writing class so that I would have to write. Now it’s a habit. I go everywhere with a notebook so I can write when it suits me, or just jot down story ideas. It’s either this, or keep refreshing <a href="http://www.yelp.com/sandiego">Yelp</a>. I try to choose writing more often than not.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>3. Call myself a writer.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I’m a writer, damn it. Sometimes you need to label yourself. It forces action. I write, therefore I am a writer, it’s that simple. Plus, it says writer on my business card, so there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br />Anyway, I’m excited. It’s fun to work hard at your craft. I’m trying. It’s working out.</p>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-933512697923386002008-04-23T15:07:00.000-07:002008-04-23T15:13:17.782-07:00Buzz HackingWired has a <a href="http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/gs_02caffeinate">short piece</a> on the best way to keep that beautiful caffeine buzz going. Basically, small amounts of caffeine ingested throughout the day will do you best. This hardly surprises me, as I find most of life follows this pattern. Take my work ethic or my fantasy life: small amounts, spaced throughout the day...works for me.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-26180554126208969032008-04-21T22:39:00.001-07:002008-04-21T22:39:49.599-07:00My Little Friend!<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="240" height="180" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=798227f0a0&photo_id=2433405990&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.173" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=798227f0a0&photo_id=2433405990&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="180" width="240"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/selfunfocused/2433405990/">My Little Friend!</a> <br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/selfunfocused/">selfunfocused</a></span><br clear="all" /><p>Now that Flickr allows video, I'm going to make a series of inane videos and post them here!</p>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-5600838876834184522008-04-21T22:01:00.000-07:002008-04-21T22:03:54.124-07:00Wow!OK. How's about I revive this after the next Easter. Seriously, I'm going to shift around the sidebar stuff, link to all the new content I've been creating this year, and see where this goes.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-1176163526181048002007-04-09T17:02:00.000-07:002007-04-09T17:05:26.193-07:00Appropriate for After EasterI'm planning a little revival of my dormant media empire. I need to be established in my new digs first, but check in with all the fervent anticipation you can muster! Heck yeah.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-1162071217594269892006-10-28T14:26:00.000-07:002006-10-28T14:34:21.840-07:00Intelligence, Violence and Elephants<a href="http://roguejeff.com/rogue-elephants-in-the-ny-times/">RogueJeff</a> alerted me to a compelling NYT article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?ex=1162094400&en=8e823134e605f346&ei=5070">about elephants</a>. It is a fascinating account of violent attacks, extreme intelligence and the possible effects of human encroachment on the planet.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-1160970623971770122006-10-15T20:34:00.000-07:002006-10-15T20:50:23.983-07:00Boredom, Alcohol and BlogsIt's been months since my last post and I'm a little tipsy... so you know what that means. A POST! This evening I'm thinking about the various feedback systems that I've come to enjoy. For instance, Netflix. I have two friends on Netflix, actually a friend and a friend of my wife. I have the option of browsing their movie selections and seeing how they've rated them and, of course, I rate my own films. Now, I am aware that a good 10 percent of my picks are lost on both of them. I have a taste for blue comedy that doesn't translate well to most sensibilities. The difficultly is, I now have a <span style="font-weight: bold;">need</span> to have my picks shared and appreciated. Because of feedback systems I expect and demand that someone positively acknowledges my enjoyment of Jesus is Magic. It seems that I am one of the masses that desires to be on a reality television show. Not that blogging doesn't make that obvious. Anyway, there's a post. It isn't eloquent, but it exists. As the Irish say, <span style="font-style: italic;">if you only post when you're drunk, may you drink often. </span>Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589507.post-1148600085423987602006-05-25T16:32:00.000-07:002006-05-25T16:34:45.436-07:00AbsentThree months ago I slipped into a coma. I had been sitting at home, working on a short story about a jar of Crisco and a nun, when my wife saw my head just drop towards the table. Fifteen minutes later I was in an E.R. Good response time ambulance guys! My neurologist (never thought I’d have a neurologist) believes that I had a rare reaction while coming off of my anxiety meds, something about my neurotransmitters getting all wacky.<br /><br />So I woke up two weeks ago. It was around two in the morning. I was confused in a dark room. There were tubes coming out of my arms...and other places. It was disturbing, to say the least. On a positive note, I nearly obtained my goal weight of 170 pounds just by laying in a bed.<br /><br />Ok, this didn’t happen. It’s just that my usual absences from blogging include the standard apology, a promise to be better, etc… So this time it’s a poorly written short story.<br /><br />Hello again.Matt Van Nattahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11939607051801004139noreply@blogger.com2