Welcome to the world, Christopher Byrne the Fifth

At 1935 pacific, March 28th 2013, Christopher Byrne the fifth was born to Christopher Jason Byrne IV and Melody Judith Byrne (nee Stern).

 He came into this world three weeks early... At .2oz under 7lbs and just over 18 inches long; healthy, reactive, good breathing, and a strong sucker.

 Mother and child are resting comfortably. Father is doing his best to tell everyone who needs to know, and fend off photo requests until he can get them off his camera.

 Grandfather Chris the third, has completely lost his mind over his first grandson.

 Baby boy Byrne has three registries established for him: 

Babies 'r' Us registry number 48762442

Target Baby Registry

Amazon Baby Registry

However, as the family is paying all medical costs out of pocket, donations would also be much appreciated:

PayPal Donation Link

Thank you all for your kindness and support and... everything you all do for us... I can't tell you how important it has been.

Babys coming

Mels water broke 2 hours ago. As of right now shes 3cm, contractions are under 3 minutes. He's coming soon. 3 weeks early.

Update at 5pm: 5 hours in, she's a bit under 5, contractions have been consistent at 2 minutes for a couple hours. She's getting her epidural now. At first it looked like we might just have a real short labor, but things have slowed down a bit. I'll keep updating through the day.

Update at 6pm: Epidural is working well, she's relaxed and fine, babys vitals look good, we're hoping the epidural helps her dilate and move along.

Mostly happy Mel:

The view from Mels bed out onto the creek, the train track, and the lake and mountains beyond (this hospital is really located in a great spot).

Update at 1910: Baby's coming soon. Contractions under 90 seconds, 9-10cm dilation. A few minutes more, less than an hour certainly

Update 1935: Baby Boy Byrne is HERE! go to the post for pics etc...

Rules, and laws, don't keep you safe

Alright, let's get down to it here...

Some people seem to believe that laws, rules, protocol, negotiation, consent etc... keep them safe.

I happen to think that's ridiculous self delusion.

Recently, gun control has been a big issue again. Just in the last week or so, rape and "rape culture" (a concept I have some major issues with, but that's for another time)... and questions about individual sexual agency, have been big in the news.

These discussions are for the most part centered around the idea that rules can make you safe. Consent, negotiation, protocol, rules, laws... Somehow, these things are going to keep you "safe".

They can't.

Rules don't make you safe; people who follow them, and respect them, and respect you, can HELP keep you safe... but no rule will keep you safe from people who don't.

Consent doesn't make you safe.

Negotiation doesn't make you safe.

Limits don't make you safe.

Laws don't make you safe.

Rules, and consent, and limits, and negotiation, will not prevent someone who wants to harm you, from harming you.

They will not prevent someone who wants to violate your limits, or your consent, from doing so.

They won't even stop someone who doesn't intend to do anything wrong, from screwing up... though they can help make it less likely, and less severe if it happens.

This is not to say that rules, and negotiation, and consent are not important; of course they are. But they are not magic.

They are not bars of steel. They have no physical force... only moral.

The thing which keeps good people from harming others, is not that harming others is against the rules... it's that they are good people.

The reason good people don't shoot you or rape you or steal from you, is not because it's illegal to do so; they don't do those things because they are wrong.

And you will never know, with total certainty, whether someone is a good person, or just pretending to be... Ever.

Even after decades of knowing them, even after living or working with them for years... something might change... or they might just have been good at hiding, or controlling, what they really were... and it might just show up some day.

People wrap themselves up in their security blanket of rules, as if it really kept them safe. And god help you if you disturb their delusion... You threaten their worldview, and their delusion of safety, and they must STOP YOU so they can "feel safe" again.

Safety, is an illusion.

Certainty, is an illusion.

Control, is an illusion.

One must understand and accept that... no matter how uncomfortable it is...

...And make the best decisions you can, to the best of your knowledge and ability...

...And MANAGE and mitigate your risks where you can...

...And weigh your risks, against your rewards...

...And then live with whatever happens...

Life is scary... but you can't let fear stop you from living it.

Titles wrong, but the concept's right

This illustrates the fundamental flaw of all authoritarian philosophies quite handily... The author titles is as "anarchy in one lesson", but actually it's liberty in one lesson. This is the problem with people who consider themselves anarchists... They don't actually understand what anarchy is (and that it is in fact one of the WORST and LEAST fee states of man).

Well... this has been sucking...

So... I have barely written anything in a couple months.

Simple reason why.

I have been very sick, for quite some time now.

And I'm not talking about in the head.

I've had multiple persistent, antibiotic resistant and or viral respiratory infections, one after another, for something like two months now.

I got the flu in january, which was very nasty and knocked me out for two weeks.  Then while I was still recovering from the flu,  I got a simple cold (viral), which moved on to a nasty sinus infection (bacterial), which then drained into my lungs and became an upper respiratory infection (both. primary and secondary), which then moved lower in my lungs and became bronchitis...

Every time I start to get better, I get reinfected, or get another subsidiary infection etc... because my immune system, screwed up by the endocrine cancer, isn't recovering fast enough.

This past weekend I was feeling good enough that I went out with friends on Friday... and two people in the large group of friends we were hanging out with were recovering from strep.

In theory, they were beyond the high percentage infectious period (more than 48 hours after presentation, with more than 3 days on antibiotics)... in theory.

So, a couple friends came back to the house for the weekend... and by Sunday we were ALL very sick.

VERY sick.

By Sunday afternoon, my voice was gone completely. I can't actually speak right now, just kinda croak.

One friend went to the docs yesterday, and Mel went this afternoon. Both were told at the time that it wasn't strep... But our friends cultures came back late this afternoon, and she definitely has strep.

So, we're going to see if Mel gets worse tomorrow, if she does she goes back in to the docs.

Meanwhile, I've been completely useless since... January?

I've managed... literally a few days... of usefulness in that time, through heavy use of medication. Otherwise... pretty much non functional.

Yes, I know, it's bad. No, there's nothing else wrong with me... or rather nothing else we didn't know about... This is what happens when you have endocrine cancer, and then high dose radiation treatment. Your immune system is screwed for months... sometimes years...

Sucks.

Oh thank you for this...

Still @$^*#*@ Sick

That is all.

Firearms For Sale

Due to current hiring circumstances we're putting a few of our firearms up for sale.

First up, our S&W 625 plus holsters, moon clips, and mooner/demooner:

For any of you who have seen it, this is THAT 625, with the custom trigger set up for pin shooting.

We're also selling a Weatherby PA-08 12ga pump-action shotgun w/ 28 in barrel. New in box, never been shot.

Best offer for either firearm.

Please email me at melody DOT byrne AT gmail DOT com for more info.

Mel

100lbs down

A pic taken by a friend of mine a couple days ago:

I've lost 100lbs since my peak... 110 more to go.

Not dead... just sick

Sick. Been sick for four weeks. Every time I feel better and start to do something actually useful and productive... it makes me sick again.

I went from one nasty cruddy sinus infection, to one nasty cruddy flu, to one nasty cruddy respiratory infection... Yay!

I'm OK, mostly... just recovering.