I was looking for a backup CD-ROM of photos today, and found a disc of photos taken while I lived in Australia. The photo above was taken in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Apparently I was afraid that the camera was going to steal my soul if my eyes were open.

The photo was probably taken in November 1999, but since it was taken with something called a "film camera," I am not too sure -- there's no embedded EXIF data with that valuable metadata.

After a fantastic Sunday of agony and pain (and a trip to the emergency room), it appears that I have some kidney stones to pass. I can not describe the pain I felt -- words fail me. I had a very small stone about ten years ago that passed without much incident and it hurt like hell. Sunday's pain was one thousand times worse.

It makes sense that the pain was worse, as the stone is much larger (11 mm). X-rays and CAT scans show that I have at least six other stones in my kidneys as well. Seems odd that I could build seven stones in less than two years, as I was X-rayed and checked for them at that time.

SInce an 11 mm stone won't fit down the normal canals, I opted for lithotripsy to reduce the size of the stones. Lithotripsy is the application of ultrasonic sound waves to crumble the stones into small fragments. Sounds pretty simple, right? Unfortunately, it's fairly painful and requires anesthesia to make the patient unconscious, so it's more involved than in-zap-out. Since I can't be normal, I will require at least two sessions as they noticed an erratic heartbeat while I was unconscious this morning.

The most fun part of all is that to expedite the release of the stones, a stent is inserted into the bladder to maximize the opening of the canal. Yep, I have a tube running from my bladder to my junk, and I can feel it in there all of the time. Blood in my urine and a continual discomfort in my nethers -- what could be more fun?

Fabi and I went up to Steamboat Lake State Park this weekend to get our bodies and minds clear and ready for the Democratic National Convention taking place this week just up the street from our house. Fabi, of course, is an independent voter and will feel the pressure this week as the Dems attempt to sway her vote their way. I just wanted to get the fuck out of town for a while, and since next weekend is Labor Day, I chose to not fight the insanity that is a three-day weekend at a Colorado State Park.

We had a nice campsite next to the lake. I cooked hot dogs and pork 'n' beans for five different meals (including breakfast), and the dog swam/chased chipmunks/chased squirrels/chased crows/chased other dogs/pooped all weekend long. One downside was that she awoke at every strange new sound, all night long... which meant I was awake, too, as she got up from the bedroll and investigated by glaring menacingly at the tent door flap.

Fabi rarely sits still for a photo, so I snapped this one before I noticed the sky had gone all gray.

Surfing on Clear Creek near Georgetown:

Still uploading photos, and there's not much more that I can say about Machu Pichu than "Wow!"

My photostream on flickr.com should have all of the photos now.