If you have 25 minutes spare, I have a health video for you to watch (broadband connection required).



My wife has AS (Ankylosing Spondylitis). It's an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people yet doesn't have the same publicity as diseases like Lupus (and AS is more common than Lupus). If you have all-over muscle ache, if you have noticed limited range of motion, or if your neck or spine doesn't move like it should, ask your doctor to refer you to a rheumatologist for a simple blood test. Because treating it early with biologics makes all the difference. The video explains it better than this short blog entry.

Listen : Bees - Caribou ... We Are All On Drugs - Weezer.

My year in revue. But it's quicker for me to say it than type it.

Listen : Bombs - Faithless ... When We Were Young - The Killers ... Vermillion Archer - The Sw!ms.

Christmas is nearly here. You can tell because bloggers like me decide to come out of hibernation for a few seconds to tell you that Christmas is nearly here. And the telly has all those animated reindeer things on. Hooray! Off to buy the tree today.

I like this time of year. Mainly for the food, I think.

This is a pretty random post, so I may as well end with a random web page recommendation. Married To The Sea is the work of husband-and-wife team Drew and Natalie Dee. They take old lithographic images and add stupid modern words to it. Some of the time, it's just out-right offensive stuff, so don't say you haven't been warned. This is one of the tamer ones.

If the text is a bit small, it's because I shrunk it to fit on the page. Stupid blog. You can see the original one here.

Listen - I Believe In Father Christmas - Greg Lake ... Santa Baby - Kylie Minogue.

I feel ill. It started with a sore lip and moved onto my gums. It made one of my teeth hurt so much, I thought I'd have to have the thing pulled.

Then it moved to my nose. Rhinoviruses are not a fun thing to have over the Thanksgiving break. Oh well, at least I got four days off work, which was nice. Downloading mash-up remixes and relaxing.

One small pleasure over the weekend was filling the bird-feeder and squirrel-feeder in the back garden. As far as the birds go, we have titmice, chickadees, cardinals, finches, juncos, woodpeckers. A few pigeons and they're all scared by the crows. It's great to watch how quickly they come and go.

Here. Look for yourself!

Listen - I Feel Crazy (Gnarles Barkley and Donna Summer) - Party Ben ... Don't Bring Me Down (Audiodile's Breakdown) - ELO & Audiodile ... Man I Hate Your Band - Little Man Tate.

The Democratic Party did win a majority in the House and the Senate, and Bob Casey did win. So I'm happy, because that means maybe we'll be able to hold someone accountable for this mess in Iraq, this mess in New Orleans, this mess with the environment...

...and now we look towards Christmas. I wouldnt mind an iPod Nano, and maybe one of those Rabbit corkscrew thingies, and a US footie shirt (or 'jersey' as they call them here). If someone wants to get me the Thom Yorke CD, or the one by Beck, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or maybe even She Wants Revenge, or The Killers new album? A Kurt Vonnegut book would be nice. Or something funny, something like "The Areas Of My Expertise" by John Hodgman.

Or just world peace. I'd go for world peace. That would be nice, for a change.

Listen : Harrowdown Hill - Thom Yorke ... Nausea - Beck ... These Things - She Wants Revenge.