The Martian

マット・デイモン主演の映画「オデッセイ」の原作本、「火星の人」を読みました。
そして読み終わった翌日に映画も見ました。

この予告編は無駄にドラマチックにできてるけど、映画はもっとドライで、小説は映画以上にドライです。
そしてやっぱり映画よりも小説のほうがおもしろかったです。

火星に一人取り残された宇宙飛行士のワトニーが、植物学者の知識と技術者の知識、そして化学の知識を駆使して火星に残された物資を使って救出隊が来るまで（もしくは次の有人火星探索器が来る４年後まで）生き残ろうとする物語です。

映画ではかなりはしょられてしまったけど、小説では宇宙船の仕組みとか、探索器の設計とか、酸素とか水素とかを使ってどうやって水を作ったりするかとか、ものすっごく詳しく説明されてて、まだ現実化はされていないSFであるにもかかわらず、ぜんぜん「ありえる」って思える内容です。
そして主人公のワトニーがとても皮肉屋で、読んでて飽きないです。

映画を見てから小説を読むと、映画も楽しめて、小説も楽しめていいと思う。

I read The Martian by Andy Weir, and as soon as I finished reading, I watched the movie version with Matt Damon.
As is the case for most movie adaptation, I like the book better.

This is a story of an astronaut left behind on Mars trying to survive until the rescue comes (or the next Mars mission comes in 4 years) utilizing his knowledge as a botanist and mechanical engineer, and what we have at hand.

The movie wasn't bad. It just omitted a lot of good stuff from the book, which was the actual science part. In the book, the protagonist explains a lot of how the spaceship works, how he can create oxygen or water from the machine and fuel he has, etc, etc. Though this is supposed to be a near future science fiction, the explanation of the science and the Mars mission makes this book feel very plausible.

I really like the protagonist's personality in the book. He is dry, witty, and very sarcastic.
It was a light book and very entertaining. I enjoyed it.

Salad Greens

今年はちょっとだけほうれん草とサラダ菜も収穫できるようになりました。
ちなみにしし唐は今年も豊作。

Dog Update

ユキ、なんとか山を越えて快方にむかってるみたい？
1ヵ月半ぶりに短いけどちょっと散歩にも行けるようになりました。

I hope she has turned the corner for improvement.
She was able to go out for a walk, though very short, first time in 8 weeks.

I Have a Teenager

ライチ、13歳になりました。ティーネイジャー！この調子で二十歳まで頑張ってもらいたいものです。

Our little one has turned 13 years old. I had never thought I would have a teenager. I would love to see her turn 20.

Collapsed Trachea

ユキの咳が続くばかりかひどくなる一方な上、立ち上がるのもやっとな状態になり、先週の日曜日にまたしても獣医さんに行ってきました。

そしてレントゲンにはっきりくっきり写ったのは虚脱気管。気管が狭くなってるのです。
バレーフィーバーと関係があるかないかは別として、このつぶれたストローのように狭くなった気管がひどくなる咳の原因なのでした。
これまで飲んでいた非ステロイド系坑炎症剤をやめて、1週間後に副腎皮質ステロイドを始めましょう、と言われて帰ってきました。(非ステロイドと副腎皮質ステロイドを混ぜるとお腹に良くないらしい）

ところが、家に帰ってきてから今度はユキ、首が痛いみたいでヒーヒーしちゃって、右に頭を向けられないのでずっと左回りで、夜もあまり寝られず、朝はドッグフードに見向きもせず、普段なら喜んで直上ジャンプになるホットドッグにも見向きもせず。

急遽獣医さんに電話して、午後の予約を入れてもらいました。
急いで仕事に行って、半休とってお昼にあがって、二日連続獣医さん。
でもなんか朝のうちに首が痛いのは直っちゃったみたい(笑）
なんか、多分、レントゲン撮ってる時に首ひねっちゃったのかな。

ちょうど、日曜に撮ったレントゲンの検査報告が放射線科医から戻ってきて、それもぎっしり１ページ強に渡る結果報告で、獣医さんも「いや～、電話で伝えるには長すぎるから、ちょうど予約が入ってよかったよ」だって。そりゃ獣医さんは治療費の心配しなくていいから、気軽にそう言えるわよね。

結果：
１．虚脱気管。
２．肺に水。
３．足のリンパ腺炎症。

なんかもう、なんだよね。診断結果、多すぎ。獣医さんもびっくりしてました。
そんなわけで、具合悪すぎるので1週間待たずに副腎皮質ステロイド療法決行。

副腎皮質ステロイドの効果は抜群で、翌日には咳がすっかり止まったし、元気も出てきたけど、ここ2日ほどまたユキの目から生気がなくなってて、ちょっと心配。
早く良くなってまた散歩に行ける日が来るといいんだけど。

What now, 5 visits to the vet in 2 months. I wish they had a frequent customer reward.
The dog's cough had gotten worse and we took her back to the vet last Sunday. After yet another set of x-rays, we found that she has a collapsed trachea. The narrowed trachea was the culprit of causing her coughs.

Since she was on NSAID, the vet prescribed Prednisone, but told us to wait for a week (because it is apparently not good for stomach to mix NSAID and corticosteroid).

However, she started yelping after we got home, and looks like something was wrong with her neck. On Monday morning, she could not turn her head to right and circling to her left. She did not even touch the dog food. That concerned me. Even though she had been pretty badly ill for the past month, she always had appetite. I tried to give her some hot dogs, which she would usually go crazy, and she did not touch it either. That concerned me gravely. So I had to call the vet to make an appointment right away.

The earliest appointment they had was 1 pm, so I went to work, took a half day off, and came back home and took her to the vet. The good thing was, her neck had gotten better by then. So I just overreacted and wasted my half day and had to spend another vet bill.

The good thing was that the vet had gotten the radiology report back from the radiologist (the vet takes the x-rays and view them on the sport but also send the images to some certified radiologist for review as well). It was a very thick, single-spaced, overflowing to the second page report. (I read people's radiology reports daily and this report was crazy long compared to human radiology report)

The impression:
1. Collapsed trachea.
2. Fluid in lung.
3. Lymphanopathy in hind legs.

Great. Yeah. On top of Valley Fever.
So the vet told us that we are behind the game and needed to up the ante, and we decided to begin the Prednisone right away.

Pred worked its miracle. The coughing stopped almost overnight, and she was able to get up (though still having issues with the hind legs). She has become well enough that she whines now when we take the other dog for a walk and she has to stay home (she had been too frail to even whine before).

She did perk up but she has been doing not so well again for the past couple of days. We'll see.
I hope she will get better soon so that we can go for a walk again.

The Return of the King

｢二つの塔」に続いて、「指輪物語」最終巻の「王の帰還」を読みました。
これで「指輪物語」完読！
ファンタジーだから、半世紀前に書かれていても、あまり古さを感じないのがいいな。

Finally finished The Return of the King. Now I have read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yey.

You know what, I have to say it's a shame that Sam is written almost like a simple servant to Frodo. I think Sam is the true hero in the fulfillment of the quest. He is the one who helps Frodo's morale and he is the one who rescues Frodo. But at the end, all credits go to Frodo, who was "the ring bearer." So I am glad to know that Sam became the mayor many many times afterwards.

I also enjoyed reading the appendices, like Arwen and Aragorn story and family trees etc.
The movie definitely helped picturize the world of Middle Earth for me.

My next book is Overdressed.

Shishito Survived the Winter

しし唐、冬を越えて今年2年目でもちゃんと実をつけております。

Our Shishito Pepper plant has survived the winter and growing fruit.

Suns v. Wizards

バスケットのNBAの試合のチケットをもらったので、人生初のNBA観戦に行ってきました。
フェニックスサンズ対ワシントンウィザーズ。
コート真ん中のとてもいい席で試合を堪能できました。

Went to my very first NBA game. Very good seat, too (tickets were given to me).
Suns lost, but had a very good shrimp taco (though the service was TERRIBLE) earlier for dinner, and overall, it was a nice outing.