Medical Update

Saw the resident surgeon and the anesthesiologist this morning, and they took some blood for tests. Several points of good news:

• Both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist said that for non-smokers, the chance that the lesion is malignant is less than 10%.


• Although the first surgeon said in answer to my question that they don't usually remove a small lesion they're looking at for a biopsy during the same operation, the one this morning said they do. He'll be in the operating room also so I'm hoping we can get this done in one go.


• I'm scheduled for a 1 pm operation so Eve and I will be able to stay up late to watch election returns :->


• I bumped into my division head at work for the first time in a while (she has offices at several campuses now) and apologized for screwing up the India plans. She said first of all that my health was most important and also that the timing might be better in January because they will have the site doc manager in place by then.

I'm feeling better about things than I have for a while.

Medical Update

Saw the resident surgeon and the anesthesiologist this morning, and they took some blood for tests. Several points of good news:

• Both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist said that for non-smokers, the chance that the lesion is malignant is less than 10%.


• Although the first surgeon said in answer to my question that they don't usually remove a small lesion they're looking at for a biopsy during the same operation, the one this morning said they do. He'll be in the operating room also so I'm hoping we can get this done in one go.


• I'm scheduled for a 1 pm operation so Eve and I will be able to stay up late to watch election returns :->


• I bumped into my division head at work for the first time in a while (she has offices at several campuses now) and apologized for screwing up the India plans. She said first of all that my health was most important and also that the timing might be better in January because they will have the site doc manager in place by then.

I'm feeling better about things than I have for a while.

Encouraging Newspaper Endorsements

Excerpts from an article in Editor and Publisher, which is keeping daily track of newspaper endorsements for the presidential candidates.

Kerry now leads Bush by 128 to 105 in total endorsements, and easily tops him in the circulation of the supporting papers by 16.9 million to 10.9 million.

Continuing a trend, one of Kerry's endorsees, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Texas, went for Bush in 2000. This gives the Democrat a rather startling 36 papers that have fled Bush, while the president has only picked up four papers that went for Gore in 2000. The Bush flip-flop total stood at two yesterday, but we have since found out that the Macomb Daily in Mount Clemens, Mich., and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in South Carolina, both of which were already in our tally, are former Gore papers that now embrace the president.

Another paper that backed Bush in 2000, The Scranton Times in Pennsylvania, announced that its board was split 3-3 and it therefore would make no endorsement. That means that at least eight papers that supported Bush in 2000 have declared neutrality this year.

Encouraging Newspaper Endorsements

Excerpts from an article in Editor and Publisher, which is keeping daily track of newspaper endorsements for the presidential candidates.

Kerry now leads Bush by 128 to 105 in total endorsements, and easily tops him in the circulation of the supporting papers by 16.9 million to 10.9 million.

Continuing a trend, one of Kerry's endorsees, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Texas, went for Bush in 2000. This gives the Democrat a rather startling 36 papers that have fled Bush, while the president has only picked up four papers that went for Gore in 2000. The Bush flip-flop total stood at two yesterday, but we have since found out that the Macomb Daily in Mount Clemens, Mich., and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal in South Carolina, both of which were already in our tally, are former Gore papers that now embrace the president.

Another paper that backed Bush in 2000, The Scranton Times in Pennsylvania, announced that its board was split 3-3 and it therefore would make no endorsement. That means that at least eight papers that supported Bush in 2000 have declared neutrality this year.

Looking for a Few Good Geeks

MoveOn PAC is looking for tech support for its members doing voter outreach. Details are at http://www.moveonpac.org/lnvb/phone/. Excerpt below.

We have a plan to get an extra half a million Kerry voters to the polls on November 2 -- our unprecedented Leave No Voter Behind Campaign. At its heart are almost 8,000 MoveOn members in swing states who are walking their neighborhoods with lists of infrequent voters, identifying the Kerry supporters among them and getting them committed to vote. To do this, they need to pull names for their neighborhood out of our web tool, and enter data back in -- and as some of them have limited computer skills, they need technical support to keep things going smoothly.

We’re looking for around 1000 enthusiastic volunteers who can commit to receiving phone calls from precinct leaders who need assistance with anything from basic computer functions to diagnosing and resolving issues using our online tool, the Leave No Voter Behind Web Action Center (WAC). Your phone number will remain confidential. You’ll be ‘on call’ during your shift, and phone calls will go to a central number and bounce to your phone line when you’re logged in. You’ll have access to a tutorial, written materials, a help email account, and an online chat resource to help you answer questions.

Looking for a Few Good Geeks

MoveOn PAC is looking for tech support for its members doing voter outreach. Details are at http://www.moveonpac.org/lnvb/phone/. Excerpt below.

We have a plan to get an extra half a million Kerry voters to the polls on November 2 -- our unprecedented Leave No Voter Behind Campaign. At its heart are almost 8,000 MoveOn members in swing states who are walking their neighborhoods with lists of infrequent voters, identifying the Kerry supporters among them and getting them committed to vote. To do this, they need to pull names for their neighborhood out of our web tool, and enter data back in -- and as some of them have limited computer skills, they need technical support to keep things going smoothly.

We’re looking for around 1000 enthusiastic volunteers who can commit to receiving phone calls from precinct leaders who need assistance with anything from basic computer functions to diagnosing and resolving issues using our online tool, the Leave No Voter Behind Web Action Center (WAC). Your phone number will remain confidential. You’ll be ‘on call’ during your shift, and phone calls will go to a central number and bounce to your phone line when you’re logged in. You’ll have access to a tutorial, written materials, a help email account, and an online chat resource to help you answer questions.