It begins...

I got the stitches in my thumb removed today.  It went fairly well, except the doctor used a medical student for the removal who needs a bit more practice.

They had me put my hand on this table, and the student would grab one end of the stitch with tweezers and would snip the intersection with clippers, which is fine, in theory.  What was aggravating though was that when the student needed a better angle, instead of asking me to move my hand, he would try pulling it into position USING THE STITCH HE WAS HOLDING WITH THE TWEEZERS.  Essentially pulling on my wound to move my hand.

Luckily there were only three stitches.

This campaign video for a guy running for School Board is hilariously terrible...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people who feel they can make a difference running for office, but somehow I don't think this commercial was a key to winning...

9 day in and my thumb is doing much better (though it still looks kind of nasty).  Friday I get my stitches out.  It no longer causes stinging pain to touch anything with it, however the end "feels" different than before - hopefully this is due to the sutures/healing and not some sort of damage.

Just in time, too!  Gears of War arrives today for the Xbox 360, and the Wii and PS3 come out next week.  Thumb - get ready!

My Master Replicas Kermit the Frog photo puppet arrived today.  I ordered him back in April, so it was a long order cycle.

It's a replica made from the plans and materials of the original Kermit puppet, so it's as close as they come to the real thing short of an original.  Photo puppets are different from the typical puppet in that they are built with wire frames to pose for still photos rather than being held by a puppeteer.

Sarah Kargol has completed my commissioned computer-themed monster painting for my office!

Monsterboard by Sarah Kargol

Normally at Halloween I post photos of the pumpkins Kim and I have carved, and this year I had intended to do the same.  We got a couple great pumpkins (not to be confused with The Great Pumpkin) at Howell's Tree Farm the weekend before last, and upon our return from Orlando yesterday afternoon (about which there will be another post), I had an Autobot symbol sketched into my pumpkin ready for carving.

Unfortunately I ended up carving my thumb instead.

I was using our Cutco meat carver, when I did a crossways cut that slipped.  The Cutcos are REALLY sharp, so when it slipped it sliced across the pumpkin and right into the side of my thumb, right up to the base of the thumbnail.  I immediately dropped the pumpkin and dashed for the sink, holding it under water.  Kim called my mom's boyfriend Tom - a former police officer - who came over and drove me to the clinic.  A few stitches later and I was feeling better.

So no pumpkins this year, which is too bad.  I was really looking forward to my Autobot pumpkin, but at least I still have my thumb.