**Announcement of Partial Hiatus**

Posts will still appear on this blog from time to time, but for the next few months, I plan on devoting most of my energy to developing my Iron Man fan comic and working on a possible book idea. See you on the flip side! 

I'm Back!

So what the heck happened to me?

On September 3, I went to the local ER because I was feeling very unwell -- nausea, severe muscle weakness (including difficulty swallowing solid food), dehydration, etc. That afternoon, the hospital's routine work-up revealed an alarmingly high level of troponin in my blood, which most commonly indicates a heart attack or heart injury. Promptly, I was admitted to the ICU for 24 hours so that my cardiac function could be monitored more closely.

Over the next two weeks, I stayed in a general cardiac ward where I underwent two echoes and a cath (in addition to a bunch of other diagnostic scans and blood tests). These all revealed that my blood vessels were squeaky clean and my heart was pumping normally. At this point, the aforementioned local institution was stumped, so they transferred me to a larger teaching hospital where I could be seen by specialists in cardiology and rheumatology.

After a completely normal cardiac MRI at the new hospital, a primary heart problem was ruled out, and the focus turned to an autoimmune cause for my weakness and other signs/symptoms. Several tissue biopsies were conducted, and a feeding tube was inserted so I can still get nutrition while my throat muscles remain inflamed and weak. The results of the biopsies are still being reviewed by the big-time specialists at Johns Hopkins, but the suspicion at this point is that I have a mixed connective tissue disease. I am showing classic signs of dermatomyositis (an autoimmune disease of the skin and muscles), CREST Syndrome, and - of course - the rheumatoid arthritis I already knew I had.

I am now home from the hospital on high dose immunosuppressive medication. Over the next month of follow-up appointments, we're going to work on finding exactly the right combination of medical therapies that will - hopefully - restore function and allow me to, once again, lead my normal life.

TL; DR: My body essentially collapsed for reasons unknown, and I am still trying to bounce back.

I did keep up with the political landscape while I was in the hospital, though. Neither of the debates were, for me, especially enlightening. (Trump is not the smoothest, most polite public speaker? This is my shocked face.) And the responses to said debates were even less of a surprise. (Pence was "mansplaining"? Really? Stop making me hate my own gender, you absolute media assclowns.) 

And as for the other stories in the news? Yeah: they're making me even more inclined to crawl over fields of broken glass and swim through gator and shark infested pools to vote for Trump. 

Particularly of concern to me is an effort by Democratic, "antiracist" politicians in my own backyard to completely gut our prized STEM magnet because, damn it, too many ambitious Asian immigrants are getting in (and not enough blacks and Hispanics). My take on this controversy lines up with my take on affirmative action in general: look at the pipeline. Which elementary and middle schools are adequately preparing students for Magnet High School's entrance exam and rigorous academic expectations, and which schools aren't? Do a comprehensive analysis -- and then fix the schools that are underperforming so quality instruction is more justly distributed across the region. 

You see, as a teacher, I actually care about educating kids for real. Lowering the admissions standards for a top high school does not serve that goal. All that does is reinforce existing inequities; all that does is put lipstick on a pig. Unfortunately, more and more supposedly educated (mostly white) people around here have been captured by this season's delusional, cultish ideology-of-the-moment, which argues against all common sense that playing quota games to buff the numbers for Magnet High School (and other exam schools nationwide) is in fact to strike a blow against "systemic racism." Because black and Hispanic students can't in fact earn spots at this school in the traditional way if they're just given more opportunities to do so -- apparently. 

Wait, what does racism mean again? Sigh.

Anyway -- I should have a more normal post ready for you next week. Any prayers for my continued recovery are, of course, greatly appreciated.

Brief Hiatus Announcement

My annual trip to Dragon Con has been canceled this year, but I've decided to take my standard Labor Day break anyway in order to catch up on a few things. I shall return next Thursday. Don't burn the place down in the meantime! 

ETA 9/7: Oops! Actually, I'm in the hospital right now with myocarditis, so the hiatus may go on even longer. Many apologies!

A Warning

Things might be a bit quiet around here for a bit. We're all safe and healthy at Casa Right Geek, but I just got hit in the face with inspiration for a geeky project that, at the moment, is completely consuming my spare time.

Besides, I need to find other things to discuss besides the worldwide coronapocalypse. ;)

Talk to you soon!

No Post Tonight

I just got robbed at gunpoint, so I'm busy talking with the police.

Don't worry: I'm currently safe, and he didn't physically hurt me.

Wish I'd had my gun.

This Blog's Author Has Passed Away

Just after Christmas, the original writer of this blog passed away peacefully in his sleep due to complications of neurosarcoidosis. Below is the text of the eulogy that was delivered by his son at his viewing:

We’re gathered here to celebrate the life of love and service of my father, Robert (or "Spike"). His career was as a Navy Submariner, but his vocation was at home with his wife of 41 years, Charlotte, and his two children, Stooch and Mooch. His family was always his north star, even as a child.

You see, Spike had the benefit of two loving parents, two sisters, a brother, and countless cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents – a close-knit band of mainly working-class Irish Catholics. Multiple generations of [his family] grew up in the row houses of Ambler, PA, and played by the asbestos slag piles across the railroad tracks. He told us stories of licking the sugar-lined waste pipe behind a candy factory, doing 65 mph around a blind downhill curve on his bike with his cousins, orienteering and camping as an Eagle Scout, and blurting out, “You see, Penny…” in the middle of reading time in school.

He was a fierce protector of the innocent and the vulnerable. Penny remembers him defending her from bullies during their summers at Mermaid Lake. BJ tells stories about Spike sitting with his brother Brad for hours when he was ill. And I will always remember him going to war with doctors who weren’t taking Mom’s care seriously and going to bat for us in the PTA.

So strong was his love of family that, when Spike enrolled at the Navy Academy – class of ’77 – he was on a mission. He was looking for a wife, not merely a good time or a job. And find her, he did. God gifted him with a chance to find his soulmate when the Naval Academy welcomed its first class of women in 1976 and Charlotte joined the Masqueraders to get out of afternoon PT.

My Dad always used to say, “The key to a happy marriage is to marry a saint.” But I think his life proves that isn’t enough. He embodied the true meaning of Catholic romantic love. As Paul said to the Ephesians, he loved his wife just as Christ loved the Church. He imparted his view of marriage on both me and my sister whenever he got the chance. He had a dozen colorful sayings he repeated again and again. He often said, “whatever Mom wants,” when we were making a family decision. When I got in a fight with my wife Juliet, he’d say, “Matt, when you argue with your wife and it turns out you’re right, apologize at once.” He echoed Robert Heinlein’s sentiment when he advised us to have a budget, but budget for luxuries first. Mom has the jewelry and Lladro collection to prove he meant it – and I have the memories of a dozen family vacations to hold onto now that he’s gone.

He was devoted to family, but he was also devoted to country and to God. He served for over twenty years in the nuclear Navy and, though it took him away from home for months at a time, he was proud to keep America safe. He was a patriot to the end and spent his later years battling the decline of American values in the culture. His extensive network of friends from sci-fi [fandom] and Liberty Con can attest to that.

Spike loved real life, but he also loved the worlds he found on the pages of the endless piles of books he read. He cut his teeth on Perry Mason and the Hardy Boys and came to love Sue Grafton, but his first love was golden-age science fiction and fantasy. He was formed in his philosophy by Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Asimov, Clarke, Tolkien, and Card -- among others. He passed his love of the genre to both of his kids and it has filled our hearts with a hope for our future and a love of man’s potential.

When my Dad was ten years old, he helped his father build a family home in Blue Bell, PA. That house still stands, strong as ever. Spike dreamed of building his own family home someday. His final gift to Charlotte and her children now stands nearly complete in Amissville, VA, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When I look ahead to move-in day, his absence is almost unbearable.

Dad, you were taken from us too soon. You used to joke that you raised a couple of good kids but had no idea how. I can tell you how – the Holy Spirit came with you, brought you back to the Church, filled you with an undying love for your family, and, we pray, is now taking you home to be with your brother, mother, and father. We’ll miss you.

Now allow me to introduce myself: I'm Stephanie, this gentleman's daughter. I intend to take up Dad's baton and continue this blog's conservative political commentary. Currently, I maintain a blog here that is primarily devoted to fannish, geeky stuff -- but if you check out the posts here and here, you'll get a good sense of my worldview. I hope I can continue to entertain the readers of this blog!