My oldest son was so excited for Halloween, he woke up around 12:30AM and asked "is it Halloween?"

Unfortunately, he was up for a significant portion of the night. Partly he's just excited for Halloween, but I'm sure the relatively high doses of prednisone he's on also jacked him up.

Prednisone can make it hard for you to sleep.

He's extra excited because we have like 8 carved pumpkins to put out (3 of which were home grown in his garden).

I'm forcing him to try and take a nap right now. I don't want him all cranky, fussy and whiny for trick or treating tonight.

My son's continued medical problems are a mystery. He apparently has optic neuritis, although I'm not certain even that diagnosis is firm.

What scares me more is that Optic Neuritis can be related to, or a symptom of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

He's done several blood tests, a CAT Scan, and X-rays. He's seen a Rheumotologist and multiple Opthamologists.

The Rheumatologist mostly ruled out Sarcoidosis, but that's still a possibility.

The vision in the affected eye could be permanently compromised to some degree.

But we don't know anything for certain. There's still a chance it could just be an acute onset. They've ruled out a number of other things (which is somehwat unfortunate, because many of those 'other things' could be easily treated with antibiotics).

We just want him 'better' and to lead a normal, happy, and preferably disease-free life. He doesn't feel bad or anything, but he is pretty tired of all the doctor's appointments (as are we).

The last two weeks have been really rough. My oldest son has had trouble with his left eye. It was initially mis-diagnosed as "pink-eye", but after treatment failed to work it was re-diagnosed as Iritis.

Several opthamology, doctor's visits, and consults later, his eye looks better but his vision in it is still compromised. Now they think Sarcoidosis might be possible.

The poor little guy has been in and out of doctor's offices nearly every day for the last 2 weeks -- and he's seeing a Rheumatology doctor at Children's Hospital today, and an Opthamology doc at Children's next Tuesday.

Now he's taking high doses of prednisone -- something I'd rather he didn't have to do, but it's necessary now. I fear that he has inherited some sort of auto-immune disorder; perhaps not Lupus, but Iritis and Sarcoidosis are both similar and related to Lupus -- or maybe something else entirely.

I'm also terribly worried about his eye, and the possibility of him going blind in it.

Even worse, I guess I'm worried that my son is just going to have to spend a large part of his life in and out of doctors' offices, on and off various meds -- in short, not exactly the 'normal' life we all dream of for our kids.

I'm trying to stay positive, but right now, until we have more answers, fear and uncertainty holds sway.

A friend's blog clued me in to this. Pretty cool. But at the end, they should add "...unless you're a dumbass."

A company named Cyberdyne is making a robot-cyborg suit named HAL?

This can't be good... read the full story.

'Totaling' my old car wasn't how I wanted to come into a new car, but ultimately it's proved to be a good thing.

I liked my old car (1999 Saturn SL2) when I bought in 2001.

It was loaded with features I'd never had (cruise control, sun roof, etc.), and it was a nice car. But by 2006 it was becoming a money sink. Little things kept breaking, and some big things as well, such as:

• 3 valve gasket repairs in less than 2 years at about $500 a pop. I didn't have to pay for the last one because it was still covered by the shop's warranty... so two of these replacements occurred within 6 months of each other.
• The sunroof no longer worked.
• The rear passenger-side window didn't work anymore.
• The car burned oil.
• The glove box was broken and wouldn't close properly.
• And to top it off: The 'Service Engine Light' had been coming despite a $500 fix to the computer/control system and some sensors less than 3 months ago.

Bear in mind, I took my car in for regular oil changes, 30/60/90k services, etc. I didn't treat the interior real well, but I did the best I could to keep it running. Regardless, by 2006, it was just breaking all too often and costing too much money. (It never broke down, at least.)

That said, I really dig my new car (2004 Hyundai Elantra GT 4dr Hatchback). It's more fun to drive (has some pep), it's more organized and has lots of convenient places to put stuff -- and it still manages good gas mileage (old guidelines it's rated at 27/ 34mpg, but more modern guidelines peg it around 24/31mpg.)

I've never been much of a car guy, but I can say that the Elantra has given me some appreciation of 'sporty' performance.
The Saturn's response to the gas pedal/clutch was like "yeah, hang on a sec" whereas the new car basically says "right away sir!"

Throw in a hatchback for more storage, better stereo, etc. and it's a winner. Hopefully it holds up better over time.

So I was sitting with my son last night at dinner, and noticed a huge spider (probably a 'hobo' or 'brown' spider I think) up on the wall in the corner of the room.

I decided not to splat the spider and collected him in a cup.

Then I walked outside and tossed him gently into the brush...and into the web of a garden spider.

So in an attempt not to kill a spider, I basically fed one spider to another. Oops.