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FB-LJ Sync-up (since Aug 22rd)
Sep. 11th, 2012 07:31 pmSo I was on short-term disability for the unending migraine for three weeks. During that, I almost never opened a laptop, and only posted intermittently from my phone, which is easier to do over on FB. Here's the sum total of what I put up over that time, for those who want a catch-up:
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
With permission I'm sharing part of what I've been emailing back and forth about with two new friend-crushes.
For reference, S has a photography blog, and C blogs about minimalism as it applies in her life.
Hey there, me again...
I've been having a pretty damned rough day, after finding out at about two this morning that an old friend from high school actually unexpectedly died about a year ago. I've been trying to pull myself back together after writing a post about her, so I decided to catch up on reading through your other journals (you know, chatting simultaneously with a couple is enough to make me really resent the English lack of distinction between 2nd person singular and 2nd person plural -- I rather approve of the southern work-around of y'all because I definitely see the linguistic need!)
S, your photography really is beautiful and calming in a way that hit me just right, right now. Thank you. (and the post about seeing rather than looking was lovely)
C, [the minimalist blog] is more challenging for me, even scary, and I'd love to talk some about that, compare perspectives a bit. I very much understand the logic and reasoning behind this kind of minimalism, and perhaps as a packrat I paradoxically understand it better (and I'm very familiar with the Paradox of Choice research), but also as a packrat it's scary and threatening to me in weird and emotional ways. I "declutter" now and again in small ways, but I'm so far from minimalist in my own life partially because of a difference in how I think about stuff as a resource. Part of that is a result of spending many years extremely cash-poor and therefore loathe to discard anything I might need again and not be able to replace. The even bigger issue, though, is how I construct my place within my community. I'm the packrat amongst a social circle made up much more heavily of minimalists. Several of my housemates showed up at my door with little more than a duffel bag. I'm the stable home base, the storage place for everyone, the junk store anyone can rifle through for the things they need. If being communal in that particular way weren't so central to me, I think I'd find it less scary to get rid of things, but it reminds me of my "spare pills" case in my messenger bag, which I was re-sorting the other day. It contains 10-15 pills, tablets, etc, of every med in the house, even the ones I never take, or am contraindicated from taking. I'm not so much carrying it around for me, as so that I always have the best chance of having what someone else needs when they need it. Over and over again, folks have found "just what they need" in my house, and I love that experience, find it rewarding and joyful. Best friend in a panic because he has an art project due that day, procrastinated, and hasn't the foggiest where he could possibly find a disc of wood in time for his plan? Well, damn, I have that. A souvenir piece of an art project someone else had done several years ago, making use of cross-sections of tree trunk. Same thing with my books; I have close to 4000 in the house. I wish I had digital copies of all of them for backup and ease of personal access, but for giving others access to new and interesting stuff? For enticing someone to pick up a book on the spur of the moment and leaf through it? I don't think we've figured out yet how to balance intellectual property and ability to share when it comes to online copies of books yet. There's progress, but it's nowhere near where I need it to be before I'd feel like I'd still be giving people the same opportunity to explore when they come into my space. I really regret some of the books I've ended up purchasing in digital format because of how it's limited my ability to share.
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts about the complexities of balancing a minimalist approach based on careful awareness of your needs, and a deeply communal approach that I feel requires me to have handy exactly the things I can't predict. Also, how do you navigate the balancing of minimalism and financial fears of lack of necessary resources to pick things up on the spur of the moment if they do become necessary again?
I hope I'm not coming across as defensive or attacking; I don't intend to be either -- these are things I've honestly struggled with philosophically over my life, and I'm very aware of the certain ways in which my mass of "stuff" also limits my life in certain ways, but I'm not at all certain that minimalism is a good choice for me, personally. Thoughts?
[Awesome Responses]
Good grief, I am intellectually smitten with you and would like to subscribe to your newsletter *grin* more later. Need to remember to talk about how pet decisions play heavily into all this. Watching lightning now, though!
[More awesomeness]
So happy to hear more from you! Oh, the backpacks I have had!
Sorry to say 'more later' again; you're meeting me at an extraordinarily intense and bizarre period. The past few weeks are eating my brain, and my LiveJournal doth overflow. Really, really interested in continuing to talk with both of you, but I may vanish intermittently and I'm really worried I'll end up sending mixed signals and damaging a set of baby-new friendships that I very much want to develop. I've been babbling to people in my life about you, and how excited I am at what seems like it could be Important Friendship for me down the line. And I don't mean that at all euphemistically. Your collective sexy brainmeats certainly aren't discouraging me feeling a bit tingly about things, but that's not the center or necessary element at all. When I feel what seems like potential exciting new friendship I get about twice as giddy and nre-ish as when I find new casual partners. It's always been a quirk of my personality and the role friendship has in my life, but it's been the source of confusion, misunderstandings, and unnecessary stress at times, so I just wanted to make very sure I'm clear with you about what's going on, especially since we're text-only at this point.
Also, way to grok the poly/stuff connection. Other big factor? I am miserable without my animals. Have lived about two years of my life without having my own pets, usually many, and barely emotionally survived thanks to the multitude of professors' dogs. It's a decision I joyfully take to limit myself mobility-wise in order to make as sure as possible I can continue to provide for a pretty large number of decades-long commitments.
Also, what I've just written here feels worth expanding into an lj post. Is what I've written about minimalism, and my excitement about developing friendship, something you'd be comfortable with me using that way?
[And yet again with the Awesome]
So much yay on all fronts!
Off to continue drenching LJ in my thinky-thoughts.
For reference, S has a photography blog, and C blogs about minimalism as it applies in her life.
Hey there, me again...
I've been having a pretty damned rough day, after finding out at about two this morning that an old friend from high school actually unexpectedly died about a year ago. I've been trying to pull myself back together after writing a post about her, so I decided to catch up on reading through your other journals (you know, chatting simultaneously with a couple is enough to make me really resent the English lack of distinction between 2nd person singular and 2nd person plural -- I rather approve of the southern work-around of y'all because I definitely see the linguistic need!)
S, your photography really is beautiful and calming in a way that hit me just right, right now. Thank you. (and the post about seeing rather than looking was lovely)
C, [the minimalist blog] is more challenging for me, even scary, and I'd love to talk some about that, compare perspectives a bit. I very much understand the logic and reasoning behind this kind of minimalism, and perhaps as a packrat I paradoxically understand it better (and I'm very familiar with the Paradox of Choice research), but also as a packrat it's scary and threatening to me in weird and emotional ways. I "declutter" now and again in small ways, but I'm so far from minimalist in my own life partially because of a difference in how I think about stuff as a resource. Part of that is a result of spending many years extremely cash-poor and therefore loathe to discard anything I might need again and not be able to replace. The even bigger issue, though, is how I construct my place within my community. I'm the packrat amongst a social circle made up much more heavily of minimalists. Several of my housemates showed up at my door with little more than a duffel bag. I'm the stable home base, the storage place for everyone, the junk store anyone can rifle through for the things they need. If being communal in that particular way weren't so central to me, I think I'd find it less scary to get rid of things, but it reminds me of my "spare pills" case in my messenger bag, which I was re-sorting the other day. It contains 10-15 pills, tablets, etc, of every med in the house, even the ones I never take, or am contraindicated from taking. I'm not so much carrying it around for me, as so that I always have the best chance of having what someone else needs when they need it. Over and over again, folks have found "just what they need" in my house, and I love that experience, find it rewarding and joyful. Best friend in a panic because he has an art project due that day, procrastinated, and hasn't the foggiest where he could possibly find a disc of wood in time for his plan? Well, damn, I have that. A souvenir piece of an art project someone else had done several years ago, making use of cross-sections of tree trunk. Same thing with my books; I have close to 4000 in the house. I wish I had digital copies of all of them for backup and ease of personal access, but for giving others access to new and interesting stuff? For enticing someone to pick up a book on the spur of the moment and leaf through it? I don't think we've figured out yet how to balance intellectual property and ability to share when it comes to online copies of books yet. There's progress, but it's nowhere near where I need it to be before I'd feel like I'd still be giving people the same opportunity to explore when they come into my space. I really regret some of the books I've ended up purchasing in digital format because of how it's limited my ability to share.
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts about the complexities of balancing a minimalist approach based on careful awareness of your needs, and a deeply communal approach that I feel requires me to have handy exactly the things I can't predict. Also, how do you navigate the balancing of minimalism and financial fears of lack of necessary resources to pick things up on the spur of the moment if they do become necessary again?
I hope I'm not coming across as defensive or attacking; I don't intend to be either -- these are things I've honestly struggled with philosophically over my life, and I'm very aware of the certain ways in which my mass of "stuff" also limits my life in certain ways, but I'm not at all certain that minimalism is a good choice for me, personally. Thoughts?
[Awesome Responses]
Good grief, I am intellectually smitten with you and would like to subscribe to your newsletter *grin* more later. Need to remember to talk about how pet decisions play heavily into all this. Watching lightning now, though!
[More awesomeness]
So happy to hear more from you! Oh, the backpacks I have had!
Sorry to say 'more later' again; you're meeting me at an extraordinarily intense and bizarre period. The past few weeks are eating my brain, and my LiveJournal doth overflow. Really, really interested in continuing to talk with both of you, but I may vanish intermittently and I'm really worried I'll end up sending mixed signals and damaging a set of baby-new friendships that I very much want to develop. I've been babbling to people in my life about you, and how excited I am at what seems like it could be Important Friendship for me down the line. And I don't mean that at all euphemistically. Your collective sexy brainmeats certainly aren't discouraging me feeling a bit tingly about things, but that's not the center or necessary element at all. When I feel what seems like potential exciting new friendship I get about twice as giddy and nre-ish as when I find new casual partners. It's always been a quirk of my personality and the role friendship has in my life, but it's been the source of confusion, misunderstandings, and unnecessary stress at times, so I just wanted to make very sure I'm clear with you about what's going on, especially since we're text-only at this point.
Also, way to grok the poly/stuff connection. Other big factor? I am miserable without my animals. Have lived about two years of my life without having my own pets, usually many, and barely emotionally survived thanks to the multitude of professors' dogs. It's a decision I joyfully take to limit myself mobility-wise in order to make as sure as possible I can continue to provide for a pretty large number of decades-long commitments.
Also, what I've just written here feels worth expanding into an lj post. Is what I've written about minimalism, and my excitement about developing friendship, something you'd be comfortable with me using that way?
[And yet again with the Awesome]
So much yay on all fronts!
Off to continue drenching LJ in my thinky-thoughts.
Hooboy, it's going to be a long day.
Jul. 13th, 2012 07:22 pmToday started at 4am when I woke up and started back on household organizing until about 9am. The basement's largely done and the bedroom is about half-way there, so we're making progress! I napped for a bit until work, and now it looks like I'm going to be working a double, until 6 or 7am tomorrow. Major system downtime tonight. On the positive side, this lets me make up some time from earlier this week.
It's otherwise a quiet weekend for me; Chad's in West Virginia, and my only real plans for tomorrow involved more household work, including a run out with Holly to pick up two more carpets from Craigslist.
Hamlet, Holly's pug, has been making friends with Ringo (our incredibly chill dog-loving cat - that's him in the icon curled up with our dog Tarma). It's been very amusing to watch.
Not sure how my energy level is going to go for the rest of tonight; I might end up getting a lot of linketies out just to keep myself awake, I might find other things to occupy myself. First, though, I'm redoing my To Do List. Again. Oh, the joys of frustrated mania. And on that note, yes, still manic (if "up at 4am cleaning house" wasn't a clue), although the mixed state elements seem to be substantially minimized from where they were. I've finally got my new scrips, so I can start tapering down the Cymbalta, which we think may be a factor at the higher dose we moved to a few months ago. We're still ramping up the Trileptal, so the mood stabilization isn't really hitting yet.
It's otherwise a quiet weekend for me; Chad's in West Virginia, and my only real plans for tomorrow involved more household work, including a run out with Holly to pick up two more carpets from Craigslist.
Hamlet, Holly's pug, has been making friends with Ringo (our incredibly chill dog-loving cat - that's him in the icon curled up with our dog Tarma). It's been very amusing to watch.
Not sure how my energy level is going to go for the rest of tonight; I might end up getting a lot of linketies out just to keep myself awake, I might find other things to occupy myself. First, though, I'm redoing my To Do List. Again. Oh, the joys of frustrated mania. And on that note, yes, still manic (if "up at 4am cleaning house" wasn't a clue), although the mixed state elements seem to be substantially minimized from where they were. I've finally got my new scrips, so I can start tapering down the Cymbalta, which we think may be a factor at the higher dose we moved to a few months ago. We're still ramping up the Trileptal, so the mood stabilization isn't really hitting yet.
Life Update (and a very few links)
May. 18th, 2012 10:00 pmIt is a GOOD day.
The first strawberries in our patch are almost ripe! We've been eating greens and asparagus from the garden for a few weeks now.
This morning we met the folks who are buying our neighbor Christina's house. We've been nervous about this; we're an odd little bunch of freaks, and we've been very grateful to have Christina and her general tolerance for all our weirdness. Worries alleviated! The couple buying the place seems very cool; they have gardening plans of their own, and chose SOL intentionally, and seem to understand the advantages and disadvantages to living here. (South of Lorain -- it's a negative local term to describe where we live in the Ohio City neighborhood, ie not in the gentrified bits) They'll likely be installing a privacy fence, since they have a very athletic dog with dog-aggression issues, but we're also making plans with them to arrange some safe socialization time where we can work on that with our dogs. Hopefully we can improve things over time like we were able to with Coco. As much as I'll miss Coco, and appreciate Christina being such a great neighbor since we moved in, these folks seem much more like "our people" and could potentially become friends on a level that didn't really develop between us and Christina (she's nice, but very reserved and pretty personally conservative). So. That. Yay!
Also in News of the Good, I got really hopeful news about a work issue I can't discuss. At the very least it means my workplace will continue to make me happy for longer (it's a bit of a reprieve on a loss I didn't want and still hope doesn't end up happening).
Tomorrow Chad and I are taking Kidlet to a Thomas the Tank Engine event. Sunday I'm scheduled for a 13 hour day, which will be some nice overtime.
Also, I've been playing with this jigsaw puzzle post for several days now. At this point I'm just going to link you to it and leave it open, although I'll continue fiddling with it.
And because it got long, a comment I made in a friend's post:
Honestly, of all the mammals smaller than cats, I like rats the best by far. They're smart, they're social, they're affectionate. I've had a number as pets over the years, including one who was so badass that she was allowed to free-range in an apartment with three cats and a dog (they were all scared of her).
Downside: They're short-lived (2-3 years). Males are STINKY. Females aren't very much, but can be prone to estrogenic tumors if they're not spayed (not something I've ever been able to afford for a pet rat). I'd recommend one female if you're going to be interacting with her very heavily, two if she'd otherwise be alone a lot. Rats are social creatures, and don't do all that well solo.
Finding and building toys and challenges for them can be a great deal of fun; I constantly found myself picking up random stuff and thinking "huh, I bet Nico'd have fun with that". There isn't that much out there that's meant for rats without special ordering; it's all either ferret or hamster supplies and a bit too big or too small, so I repurposed things however I liked.
Also, having a rat is almost as good as having a garbage disposal; they often got veggie cuttings, fruit cores (I never saw mine trying to eat the seeds, but some folks warn against apple cores for that reason), meat bones, and other random goodies and leftovers. Nico LOVED both V-8 and yogurt smoothies, too (she'd drink drops of them off my finger). It's still good to do some reading on proper nutrition for rats before getting one, but you don't have to have the kind of worries that come along even with dogs, since rats can eat basically everything we can and well beyond. Even most of the warnings I've seen about specific foods and rats are pretty hypothetical "this might be bad for them in some way" kind of warnings.
Also on the critter front, I was wondering the other day whether all tailless cats carry the manx trait, or if different strains of taillessness have appeared in the cat population over time. Wondering because we don't know how Spike came to his old owner, but when he was passed on to us he was described as bobtailed, but not as a manx. In doing some reading I came to two conclusions; there are many tailless or bobtailed cats that aren't Manxes. On the other hand Spike seems to have a number of other Manx traits, although that may just be confirmation bias on my own part (But, damn, does this look just like him!). Doesn't matter either way, but I found it interesting stuff. Here, learn:
BOBTAILED AND TAILLESS CATS
Random: I caught an episode of System Crash on Smithsonian Channel the other day. I really enjoyed it, and felt a huge sense of sympathy for the IT folks stuck in the middle of those messes. The episode I watched didn't seem overly fearmongering, but I have to say most of the text descriptions of the series sound that way. I'll have to check out some other eps and see if I continue to be pleased with it.
Also, I am apparently an old dog in the new tricks department. Months since I moved from QWERTY keyboard on my phone to one with touchscreen. I still hate touchscreen typing, still can't type anywhere near the speed and accuracy I could with my old keyboard. Blarg. At a regular desktop keyboard I'm close to 100 wpm, and I'd guess I was thumb-typing on the qwerty blackberry at about 20-30 wpm, so I have no patience at all with being this slow on the device I use most often. I think I'm too tactilely oriented; even setting the phone to vibe on keystrokes only improved things minimally. I want my keys back. That and the loss of my camera flash have been the biggest irritants with moving from my old Blackberry Curve to my current Optimus V. I normally wait 'til my devices are totally dead, obsolete, and hosed before considering replacement, but I'm really thinking about upgrading to an Optimus Slider sometime soon. It's got touchscreen (which I love for everything _but_ typing), a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and from something I found when I dug around for a while, it does apparently have an LED flash. And it has twice the internal memory of my current phone, which is another constant irritation (not everything can be moved to the SD card, so I tend to run out of space on the internal memory and have to remove apps on a semi-regular basis). Now I'm just trying to figure out if I want to learn how to root the new phone as soon as I get it; I considered doing it with my current phone in order to free up space by deleting bloatware, but by then I'd already installed and customized a bunch of stuff and didn't want the hassle.
The first strawberries in our patch are almost ripe! We've been eating greens and asparagus from the garden for a few weeks now.
This morning we met the folks who are buying our neighbor Christina's house. We've been nervous about this; we're an odd little bunch of freaks, and we've been very grateful to have Christina and her general tolerance for all our weirdness. Worries alleviated! The couple buying the place seems very cool; they have gardening plans of their own, and chose SOL intentionally, and seem to understand the advantages and disadvantages to living here. (South of Lorain -- it's a negative local term to describe where we live in the Ohio City neighborhood, ie not in the gentrified bits) They'll likely be installing a privacy fence, since they have a very athletic dog with dog-aggression issues, but we're also making plans with them to arrange some safe socialization time where we can work on that with our dogs. Hopefully we can improve things over time like we were able to with Coco. As much as I'll miss Coco, and appreciate Christina being such a great neighbor since we moved in, these folks seem much more like "our people" and could potentially become friends on a level that didn't really develop between us and Christina (she's nice, but very reserved and pretty personally conservative). So. That. Yay!
Also in News of the Good, I got really hopeful news about a work issue I can't discuss. At the very least it means my workplace will continue to make me happy for longer (it's a bit of a reprieve on a loss I didn't want and still hope doesn't end up happening).
Tomorrow Chad and I are taking Kidlet to a Thomas the Tank Engine event. Sunday I'm scheduled for a 13 hour day, which will be some nice overtime.
Also, I've been playing with this jigsaw puzzle post for several days now. At this point I'm just going to link you to it and leave it open, although I'll continue fiddling with it.
And because it got long, a comment I made in a friend's post:
Honestly, of all the mammals smaller than cats, I like rats the best by far. They're smart, they're social, they're affectionate. I've had a number as pets over the years, including one who was so badass that she was allowed to free-range in an apartment with three cats and a dog (they were all scared of her).
Downside: They're short-lived (2-3 years). Males are STINKY. Females aren't very much, but can be prone to estrogenic tumors if they're not spayed (not something I've ever been able to afford for a pet rat). I'd recommend one female if you're going to be interacting with her very heavily, two if she'd otherwise be alone a lot. Rats are social creatures, and don't do all that well solo.
Finding and building toys and challenges for them can be a great deal of fun; I constantly found myself picking up random stuff and thinking "huh, I bet Nico'd have fun with that". There isn't that much out there that's meant for rats without special ordering; it's all either ferret or hamster supplies and a bit too big or too small, so I repurposed things however I liked.
Also, having a rat is almost as good as having a garbage disposal; they often got veggie cuttings, fruit cores (I never saw mine trying to eat the seeds, but some folks warn against apple cores for that reason), meat bones, and other random goodies and leftovers. Nico LOVED both V-8 and yogurt smoothies, too (she'd drink drops of them off my finger). It's still good to do some reading on proper nutrition for rats before getting one, but you don't have to have the kind of worries that come along even with dogs, since rats can eat basically everything we can and well beyond. Even most of the warnings I've seen about specific foods and rats are pretty hypothetical "this might be bad for them in some way" kind of warnings.
Also on the critter front, I was wondering the other day whether all tailless cats carry the manx trait, or if different strains of taillessness have appeared in the cat population over time. Wondering because we don't know how Spike came to his old owner, but when he was passed on to us he was described as bobtailed, but not as a manx. In doing some reading I came to two conclusions; there are many tailless or bobtailed cats that aren't Manxes. On the other hand Spike seems to have a number of other Manx traits, although that may just be confirmation bias on my own part (But, damn, does this look just like him!). Doesn't matter either way, but I found it interesting stuff. Here, learn:
BOBTAILED AND TAILLESS CATS
Random: I caught an episode of System Crash on Smithsonian Channel the other day. I really enjoyed it, and felt a huge sense of sympathy for the IT folks stuck in the middle of those messes. The episode I watched didn't seem overly fearmongering, but I have to say most of the text descriptions of the series sound that way. I'll have to check out some other eps and see if I continue to be pleased with it.
Also, I am apparently an old dog in the new tricks department. Months since I moved from QWERTY keyboard on my phone to one with touchscreen. I still hate touchscreen typing, still can't type anywhere near the speed and accuracy I could with my old keyboard. Blarg. At a regular desktop keyboard I'm close to 100 wpm, and I'd guess I was thumb-typing on the qwerty blackberry at about 20-30 wpm, so I have no patience at all with being this slow on the device I use most often. I think I'm too tactilely oriented; even setting the phone to vibe on keystrokes only improved things minimally. I want my keys back. That and the loss of my camera flash have been the biggest irritants with moving from my old Blackberry Curve to my current Optimus V. I normally wait 'til my devices are totally dead, obsolete, and hosed before considering replacement, but I'm really thinking about upgrading to an Optimus Slider sometime soon. It's got touchscreen (which I love for everything _but_ typing), a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and from something I found when I dug around for a while, it does apparently have an LED flash. And it has twice the internal memory of my current phone, which is another constant irritation (not everything can be moved to the SD card, so I tend to run out of space on the internal memory and have to remove apps on a semi-regular basis). Now I'm just trying to figure out if I want to learn how to root the new phone as soon as I get it; I considered doing it with my current phone in order to free up space by deleting bloatware, but by then I'd already installed and customized a bunch of stuff and didn't want the hassle.
We're doomed.
Feb. 12th, 2012 04:18 pmOur cats have apparently successfully trained our dog (which is better than we've managed).
Last night when Erin and I went to bed, I let Tarma in, because she gets anxious without me, but closed the door to keep the cats out, since Erin's allergic. We got all settled in, and Tarma laid down and was being very good. About 15 minutes later, Ringo is scratching at the door and meowing to try to get in (the door doesn't latch, but it swings outward). Tarma's head goes up, she quietly gets down from the bed, walks to the door, and noses it open so Ringo can come in. Then she comes back to bed and lays down again. They're colluding against us. We are indeed doomed. Raise a glass in our memory after the coup.
Last night when Erin and I went to bed, I let Tarma in, because she gets anxious without me, but closed the door to keep the cats out, since Erin's allergic. We got all settled in, and Tarma laid down and was being very good. About 15 minutes later, Ringo is scratching at the door and meowing to try to get in (the door doesn't latch, but it swings outward). Tarma's head goes up, she quietly gets down from the bed, walks to the door, and noses it open so Ringo can come in. Then she comes back to bed and lays down again. They're colluding against us. We are indeed doomed. Raise a glass in our memory after the coup.
Life and Girl Scout Cookies
Jan. 17th, 2012 03:48 pmRiley update: he's at the vet, inpatient, getting fluids and a barium xray. They suspected a bowel obstruction, but the barium is going right through him, so they're holding him overnight for more observation and testing. Gateway is staffed with excellent folks; I'm worried but confident he's getting good care, and we'll have the best shot possible at getting him healthy again.
In more positive news, what-ever-the-hell weirdness was going on with me yesterday has resolved itself. I'm back on omeprazole to see if that makes a difference in the next few weeks, but I'll talk to my doc about it in March when I see her, even if it doesn't come back before then.
Also in news of the good: I've been working really hard on being frugal and self-aware with my new budgetary limitations, and I've done so well that I can afford to take Chad out to dinner for his birthday tomorrow night! Go, me! That's the day before payday -- normally I'm dead broke. I checked my bank account today, and had to doublecheck to make sure everything had processed, because I wasn't expecting that much left over!
And in news of the weird, the HR department somehow mixed my paperwork with someone else and informed me today that my request was for short-term disability for treatment at the spine center. Forms have been re-faxed and confusion alleviated. At least for me. I feel bad that someone else is probably listed as having fibro for 20-plus years and needing intermittent leave and doesn't know it yet.
Also, here's my letter to the Girl Scouts, and their reply:
From: Sarah
Subject: From GSUSA Web Site: How you keep earning my respect
Although I've never been involved directly with Girl Scouts, over the
years I've grown to respect your organization more and more, especially
in regards to inclusion of GLBT scouts and leaders. Your principled and
humane stance regarding the little trans girl who's been accepted into
Girl Scouts does my heart good, and I plan to order double my usual
cookie order, and encourage everyone I know to do the same (I've also
made sure to repost the girlscoutcookies site so everyone can find a
place to order).
Reply:
Thank you for your message to Girl Scouts of the USA. We appreciate
your interest and kind words. Girl Scouts of the USA is an inclusive
organization, and we welcome all girls in kindergarten through 12th
grade as members. Acceptance of transgender youth is handled on a
case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child in
question as a top priority.
Thanks again for contacting Girl Scouts.
And a reminder about how to find Girl Scout Cookies in your area: GirlScoutCookies.Org
For folks in NE Ohio:
Thank you for your interest in purchasing Girl Scout Cookies during our 2012 Cookie Sale. Troops are now taking orders for cookies to be
delivered in February, 2012. If you would like a troop to get in touch with you to take your order, please call 1-888-9-THIN MINT.
Girl Scout Cookie Booths will be held for two weeks beginning February 17th through March 4, 2012. Girl Scout cookie booths will be
Located in many area malls, grocery chains (Giant Eagle, Heinens) and major retail chains (Walmart, K-Mart, etc.). Booths will also be held
In many local grocery stores, banks, hardware stores and pharmacy chains.
Betty A. Dugan
Business Services Assistant
Girl Scouts of North East Ohio
One Girl Scout Way, Macedonia, Ohio 44056
330.983.0371/800.852.4474, ext. 0371
gsneo.org
In more positive news, what-ever-the-hell weirdness was going on with me yesterday has resolved itself. I'm back on omeprazole to see if that makes a difference in the next few weeks, but I'll talk to my doc about it in March when I see her, even if it doesn't come back before then.
Also in news of the good: I've been working really hard on being frugal and self-aware with my new budgetary limitations, and I've done so well that I can afford to take Chad out to dinner for his birthday tomorrow night! Go, me! That's the day before payday -- normally I'm dead broke. I checked my bank account today, and had to doublecheck to make sure everything had processed, because I wasn't expecting that much left over!
And in news of the weird, the HR department somehow mixed my paperwork with someone else and informed me today that my request was for short-term disability for treatment at the spine center. Forms have been re-faxed and confusion alleviated. At least for me. I feel bad that someone else is probably listed as having fibro for 20-plus years and needing intermittent leave and doesn't know it yet.
Also, here's my letter to the Girl Scouts, and their reply:
From: Sarah
Subject: From GSUSA Web Site: How you keep earning my respect
Although I've never been involved directly with Girl Scouts, over the
years I've grown to respect your organization more and more, especially
in regards to inclusion of GLBT scouts and leaders. Your principled and
humane stance regarding the little trans girl who's been accepted into
Girl Scouts does my heart good, and I plan to order double my usual
cookie order, and encourage everyone I know to do the same (I've also
made sure to repost the girlscoutcookies site so everyone can find a
place to order).
Reply:
Thank you for your message to Girl Scouts of the USA. We appreciate
your interest and kind words. Girl Scouts of the USA is an inclusive
organization, and we welcome all girls in kindergarten through 12th
grade as members. Acceptance of transgender youth is handled on a
case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child in
question as a top priority.
Thanks again for contacting Girl Scouts.
And a reminder about how to find Girl Scout Cookies in your area: GirlScoutCookies.Org
For folks in NE Ohio:
Thank you for your interest in purchasing Girl Scout Cookies during our 2012 Cookie Sale. Troops are now taking orders for cookies to be
delivered in February, 2012. If you would like a troop to get in touch with you to take your order, please call 1-888-9-THIN MINT.
Girl Scout Cookie Booths will be held for two weeks beginning February 17th through March 4, 2012. Girl Scout cookie booths will be
Located in many area malls, grocery chains (Giant Eagle, Heinens) and major retail chains (Walmart, K-Mart, etc.). Booths will also be held
In many local grocery stores, banks, hardware stores and pharmacy chains.
Betty A. Dugan
Business Services Assistant
Girl Scouts of North East Ohio
One Girl Scout Way, Macedonia, Ohio 44056
330.983.0371/800.852.4474, ext. 0371
gsneo.org
Household and life
Jan. 16th, 2012 05:44 pmIn other news, our cat Riley is seeming ill at the moment, and we're all very worried. He's going to the vet tomorrow. Good thoughts welcome.
Also, tonight is the Household Blue Monday party, although I can't be there for it. Caleb made awesome candy sushi, though. And last night we opened my Blue Monday presents, and those I had for the household, since I wouldn't be there tonight. Awesome Doctor Who t-shirt from Caleb (it's got a fake chest pocket with a sonic screwdriver sticking out of it), and a lovely rainbow glass mirror from Bec and Jer. Caleb liked his 3rd Doctor action figure, Bec was happy with her Doumbek video, and Jer is quite happy with all the extras that turned out to be in the transformers collection I got him. I'm most pleased about the present for Grafton, though, who's been having hellacious back problems, and likes to camp. He's also very tall. I found a special tall-people camp chair so he can sit in front of the fire without wracking his back.
And the entire household has now shared in the WTFery of "The Queen's Dragon" (review a post or two back). It was amusing to watch Bec's face do the same thing I'm sure mine did as she read through it.
Also, tonight is the Household Blue Monday party, although I can't be there for it. Caleb made awesome candy sushi, though. And last night we opened my Blue Monday presents, and those I had for the household, since I wouldn't be there tonight. Awesome Doctor Who t-shirt from Caleb (it's got a fake chest pocket with a sonic screwdriver sticking out of it), and a lovely rainbow glass mirror from Bec and Jer. Caleb liked his 3rd Doctor action figure, Bec was happy with her Doumbek video, and Jer is quite happy with all the extras that turned out to be in the transformers collection I got him. I'm most pleased about the present for Grafton, though, who's been having hellacious back problems, and likes to camp. He's also very tall. I found a special tall-people camp chair so he can sit in front of the fire without wracking his back.
And the entire household has now shared in the WTFery of "The Queen's Dragon" (review a post or two back). It was amusing to watch Bec's face do the same thing I'm sure mine did as she read through it.
I'll post about the Occupy Cleveland rally in a separate post, because I'm in post-greasy-spoon food coma at the moment.
So instead, I'll ramble about my new phone. I ended up going with Virgin, since they run on the Sprint network which was what I was switching from, and that way I already know my coverage area quite well.
I got the LG Optimus V, since it was approximately in my price range and didn't have horrible reviews. I'm switching from a Blackberry Curve 8330.
So far I've found Virgin's phone support more annoying (in terms of background music and crap) and somewhat less knowledgeable than Sprint's, but not hopelessly so.
I'm picking up speed on the touch keyboard, but I still really miss my real keyboard on the Curve. I do love the rest of the touch features and the android functionality.
I'm not impressed with the camera, especially since my blackberry had a flash and this doesn't. In general it's very slow to take pictures. I don't know if I poke around with settings on it more if I can get some better results, but I hope so. I haven't tried it as a videocamera yet. The speaker isn't as strong as my blackberry, either. I could use it as a little mini-radio when escorting and hear it reasonably well with not-too-bad sound quality. The Optimus only gets about 2/3s as loud when used that way, and it's a lower sound quality overall (haven't used it with headphones yet, but I suspect it's not a problem there).
The biggest issue is the Low on Space issue, I've been running into that some, and am still googling the various fixes (everything I can move has been moved to the SD Card, but I'm leery of trying to root the phone completely to remove bloatware due to lack of experience). Also, I've been having intermittent problems accessing LJ posts from the phone, which seems to have cleared up after I cleared the browser cache, but two days into owning it that seems kind of ridiculous.
Also, I found a Tardis background screen that makes me happy, and my alarm is now the 1963 Doctor Who theme (the phone ringer is the 2010 theme for the moment, but not sure I'll stay with that, normally it's "Can You Picture That" by Electric Mayhem). Notifications are the Cloister Bell. And once I moved those I could to the SD card, I have managed to fit a decent number of apps despite my frustrations on that side of things.
Sadly I can't seem to find a good Bloxorz option for Android yet, but I'm getting surprisingly hooked on Unblock Me instead. And I now have Othello, Towers of Hanoi, mancala, and sudoku. I also like the ability to create desktop shortcuts for sites and contacts. I've now got a handy desktop link direct to the wikipedia list of Doctor Who serials (essential reference material!), and contact short-cuts for the household and family. Nifty. I also installed some practical stuff; a first aid manual, a pill identifier, a swiss army knife app with compass and other gadgets (the compass is actually really handy when navigating RTA -- ever get on a bus going the wrong direction because you couldn't tell your orientation on the street corner to match to the N/S and E/W routes?). And, of course, Netflix, Audible, Pandora, an e-reader, a music player, youtube, twitter, facebook, and the usual. I also found a nifty knot guide, and an Urban Dictionary app. Next up, nature identification apps. For those, I may even be willing to pay.
In general health and household update, I've had an up and down week. Mostly been pretty antisocial and low energy, and I rather trashed myself physically with the Occupy Cleveland rally on Thursday. Overall not too bad, though. NL's in town this weekend, which is lovely. Even with feeling all antisocial, I find I still very much enjoy his company (much like the housemates that way). Today we slept in way too late, but drowsy and cuddly was more appealing than anything outside the bed. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Nicks and rushed me in to work. And here I am.
I think the funniest thing about Spike (our new/returning cat) is how he manages to combine being ridiculously exploratory and pushy with being flat-out timid. It's weird. He's not shy at all. He'll climb all over people, even poke their noses if they don't pay him enough mind. He loves attention, pretty much all the time. He's mouthy as all get-out, and often narrates his way around the house. He comes when he's called (more reliably than most cats, at least). However, he's like a bunny (especially with that stub tail) the minute there's an unexpected noise or anything. Zip-zoom and he's gone. Then he's back again a few minutes later, being just as pushy and talkative as before. It's somewhat different from how Ringo's temperament works. Ringo's just not bothered by much of anything. He'll literally climb over the dogs if they're in the way, you can pick him up and roll him around and clip his nails and nothing fazes him. Except closed doors and outside. He'll freak out if he's closed in a room even for a minute or two, and he'll only explore the porch as long as the door is totally open so he can run back inside at a moment's notice. Also, he has a disconcerting habit of trying to burrow into my crotch. Ow. No. Between the two of them there is much affection and hilarity. I am pleased. Cat and Riley and X don't seem to overwhelmingly put out by the Spike addition either, which is good. Although Spike has been chasing Riley out of Caleb's bed, which does not make him Caleb's favorite critter (he and Riley are tight).
So instead, I'll ramble about my new phone. I ended up going with Virgin, since they run on the Sprint network which was what I was switching from, and that way I already know my coverage area quite well.
I got the LG Optimus V, since it was approximately in my price range and didn't have horrible reviews. I'm switching from a Blackberry Curve 8330.
So far I've found Virgin's phone support more annoying (in terms of background music and crap) and somewhat less knowledgeable than Sprint's, but not hopelessly so.
I'm picking up speed on the touch keyboard, but I still really miss my real keyboard on the Curve. I do love the rest of the touch features and the android functionality.
I'm not impressed with the camera, especially since my blackberry had a flash and this doesn't. In general it's very slow to take pictures. I don't know if I poke around with settings on it more if I can get some better results, but I hope so. I haven't tried it as a videocamera yet. The speaker isn't as strong as my blackberry, either. I could use it as a little mini-radio when escorting and hear it reasonably well with not-too-bad sound quality. The Optimus only gets about 2/3s as loud when used that way, and it's a lower sound quality overall (haven't used it with headphones yet, but I suspect it's not a problem there).
The biggest issue is the Low on Space issue, I've been running into that some, and am still googling the various fixes (everything I can move has been moved to the SD Card, but I'm leery of trying to root the phone completely to remove bloatware due to lack of experience). Also, I've been having intermittent problems accessing LJ posts from the phone, which seems to have cleared up after I cleared the browser cache, but two days into owning it that seems kind of ridiculous.
Also, I found a Tardis background screen that makes me happy, and my alarm is now the 1963 Doctor Who theme (the phone ringer is the 2010 theme for the moment, but not sure I'll stay with that, normally it's "Can You Picture That" by Electric Mayhem). Notifications are the Cloister Bell. And once I moved those I could to the SD card, I have managed to fit a decent number of apps despite my frustrations on that side of things.
Sadly I can't seem to find a good Bloxorz option for Android yet, but I'm getting surprisingly hooked on Unblock Me instead. And I now have Othello, Towers of Hanoi, mancala, and sudoku. I also like the ability to create desktop shortcuts for sites and contacts. I've now got a handy desktop link direct to the wikipedia list of Doctor Who serials (essential reference material!), and contact short-cuts for the household and family. Nifty. I also installed some practical stuff; a first aid manual, a pill identifier, a swiss army knife app with compass and other gadgets (the compass is actually really handy when navigating RTA -- ever get on a bus going the wrong direction because you couldn't tell your orientation on the street corner to match to the N/S and E/W routes?). And, of course, Netflix, Audible, Pandora, an e-reader, a music player, youtube, twitter, facebook, and the usual. I also found a nifty knot guide, and an Urban Dictionary app. Next up, nature identification apps. For those, I may even be willing to pay.
In general health and household update, I've had an up and down week. Mostly been pretty antisocial and low energy, and I rather trashed myself physically with the Occupy Cleveland rally on Thursday. Overall not too bad, though. NL's in town this weekend, which is lovely. Even with feeling all antisocial, I find I still very much enjoy his company (much like the housemates that way). Today we slept in way too late, but drowsy and cuddly was more appealing than anything outside the bed. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Nicks and rushed me in to work. And here I am.
I think the funniest thing about Spike (our new/returning cat) is how he manages to combine being ridiculously exploratory and pushy with being flat-out timid. It's weird. He's not shy at all. He'll climb all over people, even poke their noses if they don't pay him enough mind. He loves attention, pretty much all the time. He's mouthy as all get-out, and often narrates his way around the house. He comes when he's called (more reliably than most cats, at least). However, he's like a bunny (especially with that stub tail) the minute there's an unexpected noise or anything. Zip-zoom and he's gone. Then he's back again a few minutes later, being just as pushy and talkative as before. It's somewhat different from how Ringo's temperament works. Ringo's just not bothered by much of anything. He'll literally climb over the dogs if they're in the way, you can pick him up and roll him around and clip his nails and nothing fazes him. Except closed doors and outside. He'll freak out if he's closed in a room even for a minute or two, and he'll only explore the porch as long as the door is totally open so he can run back inside at a moment's notice. Also, he has a disconcerting habit of trying to burrow into my crotch. Ow. No. Between the two of them there is much affection and hilarity. I am pleased. Cat and Riley and X don't seem to overwhelmingly put out by the Spike addition either, which is good. Although Spike has been chasing Riley out of Caleb's bed, which does not make him Caleb's favorite critter (he and Riley are tight).
Life and Linketies
Oct. 1st, 2011 06:59 amI might get to go to the zoo tomorrow! Since I'll be home instead of working tomorrow afternoon, I might be going to the zoo with NL and his son. Will need a pretty intense power-nap between when I get home in the morning and when we go, and I bet I'll collapse again soon after, but it should be fun. If it works out, it'll be my first chance to meet NL's son, which I'm excited about (I may not want kids of my own, but I do enjoy having them about to teach and read to and explain things to).
Also, I did get my shit together this week and get some financial stuff sorted out that was hanging over my head. That's a big relief, although it does mean things will be tighter for me for a while. Now I just need to further get my shit together and finish my bedroom, which has been at the same point for the past month. Oops.
Oh, and although I accomplished nothing else during my "weekend", I did teach both Wednesday and Thursday night. Nurse Practitioner students, and I generally love working with them. All four students were pretty great, so it was happy and good.
Also, we'll have Amy's pug Bella tomorrow night again, so it works out well that I'll be home anyway.
OK, time for linketies, and Hogfather, and maybe a nice roast beef sandwich (I have a small loaf of fresh-baked french bread from one of the bakers, a little wheel of brie from the cheese vendor, and a rather ridiculous quantity of rare roast beef, because the deli vendor offered me a deal). I already ate my marinated artichoke salad, but still have teriyaki mushrooms and a half-dozen of the world's most awesome lemon bars, too.
Mmmm-tasty. Slices of the goat's milk brie wrapped in rare roast beef just don't need bread in order to be a most excellent sandwich. I do wish I hadn't forgotten to hit the fruit vendors today, though. Need more fruit.
2am: *phew* This is NOT how third shift is supposed to go! Major assignee team goes MIA, massive influx of calls, multiple conversations with my poor sleep-deprived boss about MIA team, etc, etc. I've barely been able to breathe since 11pm. At least it's kept the time passing quickly. Oy. Time to grab a very quick "hope nobody calls" break.
Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street: Take the Bull by the Horns
Related: We Are the 99 Percent
Related: Wall Street Mocks Protesters By Drinking Champagne
Related: Chris Hedges at Occupy Wall Street
Related: Occupy Cleveland FB page
More: Main Occupy Cleveland site: first meeting is today, Saturday October 1st, 3pm-5:30pm at the Free Stamp
On Wednesday evening I gave a talk at Kenyon College as part of their annual Take Back the Night Week, about how we can use social justice to combat sexual violence. -- Awwww! I love seeing my passions and my alma mater intersect. And my first TBTN was at Kenyon, and was a really important and tranformative moment for me (it was the motivation to talk to my parents, finally, about the molestation from my cousins that happened when I was young).
35 years of Hyde: Why the fight for true abortion access has only just begun
Likewise, you don't have to actually hit each other to use BDSM methods of negotiation and consent-centrism. "What kind of play do you want today?" is an important question to ask of someone who doesn't have any Officially Designated Fetishes, but still has desires and limits--which would be, yeah, everyone.
And you don't have to be non-heterosexual to question what gender means to your relationship. If "which one of y'all does the dishes?" is a stupid question to ask a gay couple, it ought to be an equally stupid assumption to make about a straight one. The fact that assigned gender roles are available for a straight couple doesn't mean they ought to take them on without question.
What kind of relationship you have is your choice, and one choice isn't better than another. What's important is that you make a choice. That even if you're you're monogamous, vanilla, and heterosexual--you're doing it because it's what you want and because you and your partner have agreed to it, not because that's what people do. What's important isn't what path you take, but that you know there are paths. -- Yes, yes, yes, yes, all of this!
( Read more... )
Also, I did get my shit together this week and get some financial stuff sorted out that was hanging over my head. That's a big relief, although it does mean things will be tighter for me for a while. Now I just need to further get my shit together and finish my bedroom, which has been at the same point for the past month. Oops.
Oh, and although I accomplished nothing else during my "weekend", I did teach both Wednesday and Thursday night. Nurse Practitioner students, and I generally love working with them. All four students were pretty great, so it was happy and good.
Also, we'll have Amy's pug Bella tomorrow night again, so it works out well that I'll be home anyway.
OK, time for linketies, and Hogfather, and maybe a nice roast beef sandwich (I have a small loaf of fresh-baked french bread from one of the bakers, a little wheel of brie from the cheese vendor, and a rather ridiculous quantity of rare roast beef, because the deli vendor offered me a deal). I already ate my marinated artichoke salad, but still have teriyaki mushrooms and a half-dozen of the world's most awesome lemon bars, too.
Mmmm-tasty. Slices of the goat's milk brie wrapped in rare roast beef just don't need bread in order to be a most excellent sandwich. I do wish I hadn't forgotten to hit the fruit vendors today, though. Need more fruit.
2am: *phew* This is NOT how third shift is supposed to go! Major assignee team goes MIA, massive influx of calls, multiple conversations with my poor sleep-deprived boss about MIA team, etc, etc. I've barely been able to breathe since 11pm. At least it's kept the time passing quickly. Oy. Time to grab a very quick "hope nobody calls" break.
Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street: Take the Bull by the Horns
Related: We Are the 99 Percent
Related: Wall Street Mocks Protesters By Drinking Champagne
Related: Chris Hedges at Occupy Wall Street
Related: Occupy Cleveland FB page
More: Main Occupy Cleveland site: first meeting is today, Saturday October 1st, 3pm-5:30pm at the Free Stamp
On Wednesday evening I gave a talk at Kenyon College as part of their annual Take Back the Night Week, about how we can use social justice to combat sexual violence. -- Awwww! I love seeing my passions and my alma mater intersect. And my first TBTN was at Kenyon, and was a really important and tranformative moment for me (it was the motivation to talk to my parents, finally, about the molestation from my cousins that happened when I was young).
35 years of Hyde: Why the fight for true abortion access has only just begun
Likewise, you don't have to actually hit each other to use BDSM methods of negotiation and consent-centrism. "What kind of play do you want today?" is an important question to ask of someone who doesn't have any Officially Designated Fetishes, but still has desires and limits--which would be, yeah, everyone.
And you don't have to be non-heterosexual to question what gender means to your relationship. If "which one of y'all does the dishes?" is a stupid question to ask a gay couple, it ought to be an equally stupid assumption to make about a straight one. The fact that assigned gender roles are available for a straight couple doesn't mean they ought to take them on without question.
What kind of relationship you have is your choice, and one choice isn't better than another. What's important is that you make a choice. That even if you're you're monogamous, vanilla, and heterosexual--you're doing it because it's what you want and because you and your partner have agreed to it, not because that's what people do. What's important isn't what path you take, but that you know there are paths. -- Yes, yes, yes, yes, all of this!
( Read more... )
Happy new critter news!
Sep. 30th, 2011 06:26 pmI need a Spike icon. Should take pics. (that's Tarma and Ringo in my icon)
Spike is a gigantic brown tabby with a little stub tail, about eight or nine years old. He's ridiculously smart and trouble-making and exploratory, and when we fostered him the summer we moved I absolutely fell in love. We had him, Lucy, and Riley for about six months, and kept Riley permanently (previous owner was paring down from 9 cats to 2). Lucy and Spike went back home, but at the time I asked that if he ever needed a home again, that we be given right of first refusal. Sad circumstances have led to that, so we were contacted with the offer to have him back as a part of our household permanently. I jumped at the chance.
So Spike arrived Wednesday afternoon, complete with a giant bag of supplies. I was ridiculously excited; I'm so thrilled to have him again!
We were debating how well cats/dogs retain memory of previous environments, but I'd say he's retained at least a basic sense of familiarity. When we first took him in two years ago it was weeks before we really started to see him confidently wandering around the house (it was such a problem that we _twice_ started making "missing cat" signs for the neighborhood -- his hiding place turned out to be incredibly sneaky). This time it was about six hours before he came out of his hiding spot and started exploring. He's still got a touch of new environs timidity, but only a touch. He's sniffed at the dogs, tolerated Ringo's ever-present curiosity and Cat's occasional hisses (Riley and X have mostly ignored him), and overall been his usual affectionate, mouthy, exploratory self. He's already figured out how to open the cat food storage cabinet, although it was in the midst of being oblivious to the giant bowl of cat food on the shelf above it, so that was kind of funny. As expected, Ringo is following him around like a little brother, much like Ringo does with Riley. I think they'll all do well together.
All in all, everything's going really well with his re-introduction, and proceeding faster and much more smoothly than I'd expected, especially in terms of the cat introductions (which often involve days of hissing and sorting out hierarchy in new introductions). Despite having been gone for a year and a half (if I'm counting right), he's settled right back in. Yay!
Also, it's worth noting that Ringo's additional affection toward me since I lost Mushroom hasn't tapered off at all. I really do think it has to do with not being marked as her territory anymore. I almost never mention her, I know, but she's still very much on my mind these days. Anyway, I'm very much appreciating that about Ringo. Also, I've been enjoying the personality similarities between Ringo and Morph, whom I also still miss. Morph was a very silly, cuddly boy as well. So Spike and Ringo are reminding me of Mushroom and Morph (the two cats I had since college that I've lost in the past couple of years), but in good and happy ways. Riley and X are primarily attached to Caleb, and Cat is Grafton's. I've been doing my best to woo the ever-distractable Ringo, and will be doing the same with Spike, but I'm definitely already feeling less cat-lonely.
Spike is a gigantic brown tabby with a little stub tail, about eight or nine years old. He's ridiculously smart and trouble-making and exploratory, and when we fostered him the summer we moved I absolutely fell in love. We had him, Lucy, and Riley for about six months, and kept Riley permanently (previous owner was paring down from 9 cats to 2). Lucy and Spike went back home, but at the time I asked that if he ever needed a home again, that we be given right of first refusal. Sad circumstances have led to that, so we were contacted with the offer to have him back as a part of our household permanently. I jumped at the chance.
So Spike arrived Wednesday afternoon, complete with a giant bag of supplies. I was ridiculously excited; I'm so thrilled to have him again!
We were debating how well cats/dogs retain memory of previous environments, but I'd say he's retained at least a basic sense of familiarity. When we first took him in two years ago it was weeks before we really started to see him confidently wandering around the house (it was such a problem that we _twice_ started making "missing cat" signs for the neighborhood -- his hiding place turned out to be incredibly sneaky). This time it was about six hours before he came out of his hiding spot and started exploring. He's still got a touch of new environs timidity, but only a touch. He's sniffed at the dogs, tolerated Ringo's ever-present curiosity and Cat's occasional hisses (Riley and X have mostly ignored him), and overall been his usual affectionate, mouthy, exploratory self. He's already figured out how to open the cat food storage cabinet, although it was in the midst of being oblivious to the giant bowl of cat food on the shelf above it, so that was kind of funny. As expected, Ringo is following him around like a little brother, much like Ringo does with Riley. I think they'll all do well together.
All in all, everything's going really well with his re-introduction, and proceeding faster and much more smoothly than I'd expected, especially in terms of the cat introductions (which often involve days of hissing and sorting out hierarchy in new introductions). Despite having been gone for a year and a half (if I'm counting right), he's settled right back in. Yay!
Also, it's worth noting that Ringo's additional affection toward me since I lost Mushroom hasn't tapered off at all. I really do think it has to do with not being marked as her territory anymore. I almost never mention her, I know, but she's still very much on my mind these days. Anyway, I'm very much appreciating that about Ringo. Also, I've been enjoying the personality similarities between Ringo and Morph, whom I also still miss. Morph was a very silly, cuddly boy as well. So Spike and Ringo are reminding me of Mushroom and Morph (the two cats I had since college that I've lost in the past couple of years), but in good and happy ways. Riley and X are primarily attached to Caleb, and Cat is Grafton's. I've been doing my best to woo the ever-distractable Ringo, and will be doing the same with Spike, but I'm definitely already feeling less cat-lonely.
Life and Linketies
Sep. 27th, 2011 11:31 pmGrafton's home from Recycled Rainbow, which means the household feels like itself again. Yay! Spike (new/returning cat that I adore) arrives tomorrow. I'm also teaching tomorrow night for the first time in ages, and it's date night with NL.
This is great. Advocates for Youth, Choica USA and SYRF collaborated to create the 1 in 3 campaign where people tell their abortion stories. It’s a fantastic way not only to remind the public about just how common abortion is, but also to humanize the act and put a face behind the number.
What main street doesn’t know about Occupy Wall street
Media Fail: Obama’s speech to Congressional Black Caucus wasn’t a lecture
Fighting Cervical Cancer With Vinegar and Ingenuity
( Read more... )
This is great. Advocates for Youth, Choica USA and SYRF collaborated to create the 1 in 3 campaign where people tell their abortion stories. It’s a fantastic way not only to remind the public about just how common abortion is, but also to humanize the act and put a face behind the number.
What main street doesn’t know about Occupy Wall street
Media Fail: Obama’s speech to Congressional Black Caucus wasn’t a lecture
Fighting Cervical Cancer With Vinegar and Ingenuity
( Read more... )
Life and Linketies
Sep. 14th, 2011 05:24 amCalled off today. Really achy and exhausted. Feeling much better now that I've gotten a lot more sleep (I've been asleep most of the evening). Otherwise I'm doing really well, though. Likely rather manic, which tends to cause problems for the fibro fatigue, because it makes it harder for me to sleep. NL's been ploughing through the Doctor Who -- he's to the end of Season 3 now, and I'm really looking forward to watching the re-introduction of my favorite companion, Donna, with him when he starts Season 4. Last night he watched Blink before bed. Oops. I'm still watching through Six Feet Under, getting toward the end of the first season. Really loving it. Not too much else going on, at least not that I've been awake for. I've been horribly behind on linketies recently with all the rambling, though, so I'm going to try to get a bit caught up over my "weekend".
Cat and Tarma just found a giant praying mantis on our porch. Luckily they were so befuddled I could get to it before they did and relocate it to a bush. It was gorgeous.
Just saw one of the neighborhood skunks trundling along, too!
Every time I hear REM's "Everybody Hurts" (which I really don't like, actually), my brain automatically inserts lyrics cribbed from Everybody Poops.
Excellent conversations with NL and new happy stuff. Can't wait to see him tomorrow (today).
Female Orgasms: Poor Science Reporting Feeds Obsession and Misinformation
Paper Sculpture Gifts to Scottish Libraries
Watch Star Trek’s John de Lancie playing a godlike entity on My Little Pony
Amazing Underground Cities
Elizabeth Warren running against Scott Brown for Senate -- It's official! Yay!
( Read more... )
Cat and Tarma just found a giant praying mantis on our porch. Luckily they were so befuddled I could get to it before they did and relocate it to a bush. It was gorgeous.
Just saw one of the neighborhood skunks trundling along, too!
Every time I hear REM's "Everybody Hurts" (which I really don't like, actually), my brain automatically inserts lyrics cribbed from Everybody Poops.
Excellent conversations with NL and new happy stuff. Can't wait to see him tomorrow (today).
Female Orgasms: Poor Science Reporting Feeds Obsession and Misinformation
Paper Sculpture Gifts to Scottish Libraries
Watch Star Trek’s John de Lancie playing a godlike entity on My Little Pony
Amazing Underground Cities
Elizabeth Warren running against Scott Brown for Senate -- It's official! Yay!
( Read more... )
Life and Linketies
Aug. 14th, 2011 11:29 pmMore storms today, which is great for the garden, so yay for that! Also, I love sitting on our porch watching it rain. This summer we have a lovely cucumber shade over the entire front porch; Grafton ran twine up to the top of the porch for the cukes to grow up, and it's worked wonderfully (the trellises below are made of random sticks and branches all tied together boy scout style, and I love the very natural look of it all). Also, Grafton and Caleb took out the far end of the porch railing on the back porch and built steps, so now it's accessible from both ends instead of being a cramped dead end (we've got a huge bowler's bench there, so it can seat a lot of people, but heaven forbid anyone need to get out again). Also, it means fewer spots where critters can back other critters into corners, and when managing large numbers of dogs that's a helpful thing to consider. So far, though, none of the dogs will acknowledge the new access at all. Totally doesn't exist in their little peanut-brains. It's rather funny.
I don't know if it's a reaction to Shroom's death, but Ringo (see icon) has been absolutely all over me this past week. I'm certainly not complaining; it's been nice. His best friend in Riley, though, and he never had much to do with Shroom, so I wasn't expecting a strong reaction from him. It might just be that he no longer reads me as marked as "hers". Any which way, it's A Good Thing.
So tired and achy. Blarg. As I was explaining to NL: With the fibro I'm not generally specifically looking for sympathy, just need to be able to state whatever's up with me at the time. It's sort of like a weather report most days. Occasionally I'll have a really bad time and get frustrated and need more emotional support, but that's less common. -- So that's a lot of what's up with the almost daily fibro updates. It's the Daily Sarah-Weather Report, for those who need useful info about my level of functionality.
The war on women has many fronts: one is being fought against doctors who are making a stand for women’s right to choose in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder.
Medical Marijuana Momentum -- Next Stop: Ohio
Republicans Look To Kill Legal Aid
8 Union Victories Progressives Should Be Watching--And Learning From
It might be too early to call it a resurgence, but organized labor has been marking some big victories lately.
Birth Control Coverage for Everyone? Not So Fast. -- The very important religious exception. It's one of the major reasons I'd never accept a reassignment to the ex-catholic hospital in our network -- their employees, even though technically all CCF now, are locked under the agreement made when Marymount was acquired, and get no reproductive services the Catholic church objects to. Because I'm sure all thousand or so nurses, office staff, doctors, etc, are all conservative by-the-book Catholics. I'm sure we're not actually taking coverage away from people who want and need it with this "compromise" crap. Oh no, that wouldn't happen. /rant
Vincent Gray, mayor of the District of Columbia, has given the go ahead for a ground breaking program specifically aimed at job training and placement for transgender members of the D.C. community. -- Excellent news!
( Read more... )
I don't know if it's a reaction to Shroom's death, but Ringo (see icon) has been absolutely all over me this past week. I'm certainly not complaining; it's been nice. His best friend in Riley, though, and he never had much to do with Shroom, so I wasn't expecting a strong reaction from him. It might just be that he no longer reads me as marked as "hers". Any which way, it's A Good Thing.
So tired and achy. Blarg. As I was explaining to NL: With the fibro I'm not generally specifically looking for sympathy, just need to be able to state whatever's up with me at the time. It's sort of like a weather report most days. Occasionally I'll have a really bad time and get frustrated and need more emotional support, but that's less common. -- So that's a lot of what's up with the almost daily fibro updates. It's the Daily Sarah-Weather Report, for those who need useful info about my level of functionality.
The war on women has many fronts: one is being fought against doctors who are making a stand for women’s right to choose in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder.
Medical Marijuana Momentum -- Next Stop: Ohio
Republicans Look To Kill Legal Aid
8 Union Victories Progressives Should Be Watching--And Learning From
It might be too early to call it a resurgence, but organized labor has been marking some big victories lately.
Birth Control Coverage for Everyone? Not So Fast. -- The very important religious exception. It's one of the major reasons I'd never accept a reassignment to the ex-catholic hospital in our network -- their employees, even though technically all CCF now, are locked under the agreement made when Marymount was acquired, and get no reproductive services the Catholic church objects to. Because I'm sure all thousand or so nurses, office staff, doctors, etc, are all conservative by-the-book Catholics. I'm sure we're not actually taking coverage away from people who want and need it with this "compromise" crap. Oh no, that wouldn't happen. /rant
Vincent Gray, mayor of the District of Columbia, has given the go ahead for a ground breaking program specifically aimed at job training and placement for transgender members of the D.C. community. -- Excellent news!
( Read more... )
Thank you all
Aug. 8th, 2011 05:21 pmThank you for all the messages since yesterday. I'm doing reasonably well today; really emotionally exhausted but feeling relatively peaceful about things.
Last night I posted the news about Mushroom, and the pics. Today I called her vet and her pharmacy and thanked them, and Liv took me in to Gateway to have her cremated. I made a donation in her name and dropped off her extra meds for use by someone who needs them. I've disassembled her cage and cleaned up all her supplies. I've talked about her, and my feelings on this as a "good death", as much as I've needed to for the moment. Basically, I've done all the practical and gratitude-related things that help me with closure, and now it's just the getting used to not having her around anymore. Sad, but in a very calm sort of way. I've cried a lot, and am probably not done with that part yet, but I'm doing ok.
I'll miss my furry sleeping hat, and I'll miss the way she refused to stick her face in anything, and instead fastidiously dipped her paw into whatever she wanted to try (with mac and cheese, she'd spear noodles on her claws in you didn't keep an eye out, with liquids she'd daintily lick it from her paw and go back for more). I'll miss her rabbit-soft fur and the way she'd let me sleep with my face in her belly, her tail around my neck. I'll miss her gravelly voice, and her mouthiness. I'll miss her Evil Bitch-Kitty tendencies. I'll miss her beautiful tabby-tortie markings, and admiring all the details of her face. I'll miss her intelligence, and the particular bond we had over the years.
Last night I posted the news about Mushroom, and the pics. Today I called her vet and her pharmacy and thanked them, and Liv took me in to Gateway to have her cremated. I made a donation in her name and dropped off her extra meds for use by someone who needs them. I've disassembled her cage and cleaned up all her supplies. I've talked about her, and my feelings on this as a "good death", as much as I've needed to for the moment. Basically, I've done all the practical and gratitude-related things that help me with closure, and now it's just the getting used to not having her around anymore. Sad, but in a very calm sort of way. I've cried a lot, and am probably not done with that part yet, but I'm doing ok.
I'll miss my furry sleeping hat, and I'll miss the way she refused to stick her face in anything, and instead fastidiously dipped her paw into whatever she wanted to try (with mac and cheese, she'd spear noodles on her claws in you didn't keep an eye out, with liquids she'd daintily lick it from her paw and go back for more). I'll miss her rabbit-soft fur and the way she'd let me sleep with my face in her belly, her tail around my neck. I'll miss her gravelly voice, and her mouthiness. I'll miss her Evil Bitch-Kitty tendencies. I'll miss her beautiful tabby-tortie markings, and admiring all the details of her face. I'll miss her intelligence, and the particular bond we had over the years.
A few pics.
Aug. 7th, 2011 10:19 pmI only have a few handy in my LJ galleries, but here's Mushroom in her younger and rounder days.
| Mushroom 2 |
|
| Mushroom 1 |
Mushroom is gone.
Aug. 7th, 2011 10:15 pmBecca just got ahold of me. They found her already gone, down in "The Pit" (a strange part of our living room that's really more part of the basement), where she liked to retreat when it got hot. Tomorrow I'll take her to Gateway for cremation, and I'll check to see if they can use her newest bottle of meds that was just delivered and is still unopened. They serve a lot of low-income clients, and a month of thyroid meds is $50 someone doesn't need to spend to keep their own beloved critter alive. I also need to call Bartel's (her vet) and the compounding pharmacy (if you need to medicate an animal without making them miserable, a compounding pharmacy is your best friend), and thank both for all they've done to give me several extra years with her.
All in all, it's almost the best death I could wish for her. I wish I could've been there, but a quiet calm death that requires no external intervention is a good thing, and a rare one in my experience.
I knew what Becca was going to tell me as soon as I got her IM asking me to call her right away. I've been feeling it coming recently; Shroom was less interested in eating, in socializing, and her coordination and vision seemed to be declining even further than where they had been. I'm just glad that the news was that she was dead, not suffering.
She's had a good long life, and the past year has been especially all about spoiling her; she's gotten to wander outside whenever she liked and enjoy the sun, she's gotten tasty food and treats and lots of love. I've been very aware we've been on borrowed time, and I've appreciated it as fully as I could.
I'm not mourning for her, really; her life was worth celebrating, not mourning. I'm mourning for the fact that I won't have her in my life anymore.
Thank you, Rosie and Bill, for providing me with one of the best friends to grace my life for the past 17 years. I never thought I'd end up so ridiculously attached to the hyperactive and thoroughly irritating adolescent kitten who originally moved in, but she grew into the most wonderful cat I've ever had.
All in all, it's almost the best death I could wish for her. I wish I could've been there, but a quiet calm death that requires no external intervention is a good thing, and a rare one in my experience.
I knew what Becca was going to tell me as soon as I got her IM asking me to call her right away. I've been feeling it coming recently; Shroom was less interested in eating, in socializing, and her coordination and vision seemed to be declining even further than where they had been. I'm just glad that the news was that she was dead, not suffering.
She's had a good long life, and the past year has been especially all about spoiling her; she's gotten to wander outside whenever she liked and enjoy the sun, she's gotten tasty food and treats and lots of love. I've been very aware we've been on borrowed time, and I've appreciated it as fully as I could.
I'm not mourning for her, really; her life was worth celebrating, not mourning. I'm mourning for the fact that I won't have her in my life anymore.
Thank you, Rosie and Bill, for providing me with one of the best friends to grace my life for the past 17 years. I never thought I'd end up so ridiculously attached to the hyperactive and thoroughly irritating adolescent kitten who originally moved in, but she grew into the most wonderful cat I've ever had.
I've been fighting this same damned migraine since sometime late last week. Mine aren't as severe as many people's (or at least rarely get to that point), but they do tend to last for several days at a time. Five days is really pushing it and deeply obnoxious, though. Even took yesterday off in hopes of killing it by avoiding light and computer screens and headsets. No luck. Also, running low on my migraine meds. Argh.
Anyone local know what interesting plays, lectures, or dance productions are happening in town on the 27th and 28th of this month? That's a Wed/Thurs. Mom and Dad are coming in to town, and I know we're doing the zoo, but we also need some additional things to do. I figure with Mom and me both being pretty limited in the amount of hiking about we can do, following the zoo with a museum the next day is probably a bad idea. I was hoping for something at CPT, but no luck there. We're also hoping for something inexpensive; I'd like ticket prices under $15 if I can find them. I've been looking through some of the event calendars, and will do more when I'm less headachey and spacy, but for now I'm seeking suggestions. My folks are not particularly prudish or easily shocked; topic is less of a consideration than expense and timing.
Also, I'm predicting an imminent Critter Coup D'etat in our household. We've got our four dogs, five cats, and snake. We've got Coco every other week during the days. Yesterday AwesomesauceBoss dropped off his beagle Ellie to stay with us 'til the 27th. This weekend we get Tulip and Hamlet for several days. Hooboy, it's going to be interesting. Happily, Ellie really settled in quickly this time. Last time she stayed with us was the first time, and she parked herself by the front door for about the first six hours after Boss left, whining and waiting for him to come rescue her. This time she settled right down on the couch with us, and there's been a real minimum of whining and forelorn dog-face. Also, while Grafton was asleep last night she fetched all the tennis balls and random socks she could find, and deposited them in his bed.
Work continues to be hectic, between the rush of new residents and the knowledgebase work. My blackberry continues to infuriate me. Reloaded the OS entirely, and lost the browser in the process. I've been doing some research today, and it looks like just resending the service books should fix it, thankfully. I haven't been doing myself any favors on the migraine front trying to wrestle with a crappy laptop, a loose mini-USB port, and a three-year-old blackberry. If one thing doesn't fail, it's another, and it's making all the reloading and such extra-infuriating. Also, while I'm messing about with the blackberry, I'm ending up missing a lot of texts and phone calls. *sigh*
The garden, on the other hand, is full of awesome. I love sitting on the front porch and just looking at it. It's been a slow start, but the plants are really growing and developing so fast now, and we're already harvesting zucchini and a few peppers, as well as some of the earlier onions. The snap pea vines on the front fence haven't survived the more intense heat particularly well, but we got quite a bit off them before they died, so I'm pretty happy. They're early-season plants anyway.
Anyone local know what interesting plays, lectures, or dance productions are happening in town on the 27th and 28th of this month? That's a Wed/Thurs. Mom and Dad are coming in to town, and I know we're doing the zoo, but we also need some additional things to do. I figure with Mom and me both being pretty limited in the amount of hiking about we can do, following the zoo with a museum the next day is probably a bad idea. I was hoping for something at CPT, but no luck there. We're also hoping for something inexpensive; I'd like ticket prices under $15 if I can find them. I've been looking through some of the event calendars, and will do more when I'm less headachey and spacy, but for now I'm seeking suggestions. My folks are not particularly prudish or easily shocked; topic is less of a consideration than expense and timing.
Also, I'm predicting an imminent Critter Coup D'etat in our household. We've got our four dogs, five cats, and snake. We've got Coco every other week during the days. Yesterday AwesomesauceBoss dropped off his beagle Ellie to stay with us 'til the 27th. This weekend we get Tulip and Hamlet for several days. Hooboy, it's going to be interesting. Happily, Ellie really settled in quickly this time. Last time she stayed with us was the first time, and she parked herself by the front door for about the first six hours after Boss left, whining and waiting for him to come rescue her. This time she settled right down on the couch with us, and there's been a real minimum of whining and forelorn dog-face. Also, while Grafton was asleep last night she fetched all the tennis balls and random socks she could find, and deposited them in his bed.
Work continues to be hectic, between the rush of new residents and the knowledgebase work. My blackberry continues to infuriate me. Reloaded the OS entirely, and lost the browser in the process. I've been doing some research today, and it looks like just resending the service books should fix it, thankfully. I haven't been doing myself any favors on the migraine front trying to wrestle with a crappy laptop, a loose mini-USB port, and a three-year-old blackberry. If one thing doesn't fail, it's another, and it's making all the reloading and such extra-infuriating. Also, while I'm messing about with the blackberry, I'm ending up missing a lot of texts and phone calls. *sigh*
The garden, on the other hand, is full of awesome. I love sitting on the front porch and just looking at it. It's been a slow start, but the plants are really growing and developing so fast now, and we're already harvesting zucchini and a few peppers, as well as some of the earlier onions. The snap pea vines on the front fence haven't survived the more intense heat particularly well, but we got quite a bit off them before they died, so I'm pretty happy. They're early-season plants anyway.
Life and (a few) linketies
Apr. 29th, 2011 11:32 pmReally good "weekend" this week; we got a great deal done on the house and yard, it was payday for me, due to unexpected TV-death we're getting a flat-screen TV for the first time (just in time for the next Doctor Who episode tomorrow, which was a factor when deciding how much we were willing to pay for shipping) and the SANE training went really, really well. Also, Ringo does not like baths, and never just gives up and takes it (he actively fought to escape the whole damned time) but at least he forgives quickly. Given that he seems to consider it his job to turn himself utterly grey exploring odd corners (saves us on dusting, I suppose), this is good. And Leroy got his massive spring trim and a bath. I only trimmed from the neck down so far, so he's looking extra silly. All the long neck hair on the back of his head is giving him quite a mullet. Also, my folks and sibs are all safe from the rash of tornadoes in Alabama in the past few days, but not from lack of trying, at least on my folks' part. Mom and Dad decided to drive _through_ the tornadoes, up to northern AL for a clergy campus at a summer camp. *headdesk* Apparently they missed one of the tornadoes by a few minutes. Not sure where in hell they'd've found a basement at Camp McDowell, had the storms come their way once they arrived. We had really high winds up here, but nothing anywhere near so catastrophic. They made a mess of the yard and porches, and I know power was out in some areas, but we just had a quick flicker.
Also, I'd like to fall over go boom now. So very, very tired. Still, I actually did some of the yard work and some of the housework and feel much less useless and slackerish. Grafton's mostly responsible for the lovely new flagstone paving replacing one of our corners of gravel and dirt, though. It really expands the feel of the little side yard, and it now feels much less like sitting on the berm of a highway. Grafton got a line on a bunch of free bricks and flagstone (yay!) due to a friend being foreclosed (boo!), and is collecting even more today. He's already replaced the border of another side yard bed with brick, and things are looking less trashy every day. I actually think we may not hideously embarrass Christina when her house is on the homes tour on the 15th of this coming month, so hoorah for that! I took some pics of the progress the other day, and will try to get those uploaded soon.
The SANE (sexual assault nurse examiners) training was yesterday, and I'm really, really excited about the program we're creating. This was our third meeting, and first trial run-through of a session. Despite some dog-related delays to starting (one of the nurses found a stray in the parking lot, and was waiting for the APL to show up, so we all ended having a nice break out there for a while), it went wonderfully well. There are two experienced SANE nurses running the SANE training program, one trainee for us to practice on (an awesome, and hysterically funny, firecracker of a woman), Casey coordinating it for the Sim Center, and Amy and I working in a dual role-play/instructor role. It's the duality of our role that's really complicated in terms of design of the program, so this was a chance to try out some ideas about ways to handle that. It was also the first chance for Casey and the SANE instructors to really see what we can do, in terms of pelvic exam technique training. We impressed them, and I'm proud. We got hugs and high-fives on the way out; I think we did ok. Also, I survived doing something vaguely related to acting. That's a huge phobia for me, so I'm very pleased.
Some part of my brain is still wrapped up in my dreams from this morning. I don't precisely recall them, but that isn't stopping my brain from meandering back into whatever feeling they were giving me. I've been having more vivid dreams recently in general, I've noticed. I suspect it's a seasonal thing, since I haven't changed any meds recently.
Cashing In On Fear: The Danger of Dr. Sears -- because anti-vax crap came up recently, and I was looking for links. Figure it's worth sharing here, too.
More: While I'm at it, here's a bunch more links
More: And their entire Archive for the 'Vaccines' Category
Honestly, I don't care if folks kill themselves or their own kids by not vaccinating. It's sad, but it's their decision to live with. Unfortunately, it's not usually what happens. What happens is that they get other people sick. Infants too young to be vaccinated, people with HIV, the elderly, etc. Those are the people who die. That's what makes me ragingly angry about this topic. It's like antibiotic overuse; it endangers all of us. It isn't a decision that can happen in isolation. Questioning everything is good. Refusing to accept that once in a while the answers actually line up with with some element of the "mainstream"? Cutting off one's nose despite one's face. There's a lot to fight about our hugely fucked up medical system, this just isn't it. I highly recommend Jerry Avorn's Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs as a starting point, although I've also found that almost anything by Atul Gawande is also well worth reading (more of a surgical focus there, though).
CenterLink's Job Board shows current job openings at LGBT community centers as well as at other organizations and institutions whose work is closely related to the needs and interests of LGBT communities
Joanna Russ (1937-2011)
More: How to remember and discover Joanna Russ
Oscar Wilde takes on Jersey Shore, hilarity ensues
Teacher’s novels upset parents
They are too racy, 2 moms complain -- Oh, good grief.
How many definitions of science fiction are there?
A Gay Girl in Damascus: My father, the hero
Quantum effects brought to light
Top 10 Underground Walks
Study: First stars were massive, fast-spinning
Treating Girls Like Women: Sexualization and Precocious Puberty
Intro to Migraines
More: Migraine Myths
More: Migraine Triggers
Also, I'd like to fall over go boom now. So very, very tired. Still, I actually did some of the yard work and some of the housework and feel much less useless and slackerish. Grafton's mostly responsible for the lovely new flagstone paving replacing one of our corners of gravel and dirt, though. It really expands the feel of the little side yard, and it now feels much less like sitting on the berm of a highway. Grafton got a line on a bunch of free bricks and flagstone (yay!) due to a friend being foreclosed (boo!), and is collecting even more today. He's already replaced the border of another side yard bed with brick, and things are looking less trashy every day. I actually think we may not hideously embarrass Christina when her house is on the homes tour on the 15th of this coming month, so hoorah for that! I took some pics of the progress the other day, and will try to get those uploaded soon.
The SANE (sexual assault nurse examiners) training was yesterday, and I'm really, really excited about the program we're creating. This was our third meeting, and first trial run-through of a session. Despite some dog-related delays to starting (one of the nurses found a stray in the parking lot, and was waiting for the APL to show up, so we all ended having a nice break out there for a while), it went wonderfully well. There are two experienced SANE nurses running the SANE training program, one trainee for us to practice on (an awesome, and hysterically funny, firecracker of a woman), Casey coordinating it for the Sim Center, and Amy and I working in a dual role-play/instructor role. It's the duality of our role that's really complicated in terms of design of the program, so this was a chance to try out some ideas about ways to handle that. It was also the first chance for Casey and the SANE instructors to really see what we can do, in terms of pelvic exam technique training. We impressed them, and I'm proud. We got hugs and high-fives on the way out; I think we did ok. Also, I survived doing something vaguely related to acting. That's a huge phobia for me, so I'm very pleased.
Some part of my brain is still wrapped up in my dreams from this morning. I don't precisely recall them, but that isn't stopping my brain from meandering back into whatever feeling they were giving me. I've been having more vivid dreams recently in general, I've noticed. I suspect it's a seasonal thing, since I haven't changed any meds recently.
Cashing In On Fear: The Danger of Dr. Sears -- because anti-vax crap came up recently, and I was looking for links. Figure it's worth sharing here, too.
More: While I'm at it, here's a bunch more links
More: And their entire Archive for the 'Vaccines' Category
Honestly, I don't care if folks kill themselves or their own kids by not vaccinating. It's sad, but it's their decision to live with. Unfortunately, it's not usually what happens. What happens is that they get other people sick. Infants too young to be vaccinated, people with HIV, the elderly, etc. Those are the people who die. That's what makes me ragingly angry about this topic. It's like antibiotic overuse; it endangers all of us. It isn't a decision that can happen in isolation. Questioning everything is good. Refusing to accept that once in a while the answers actually line up with with some element of the "mainstream"? Cutting off one's nose despite one's face. There's a lot to fight about our hugely fucked up medical system, this just isn't it. I highly recommend Jerry Avorn's Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs as a starting point, although I've also found that almost anything by Atul Gawande is also well worth reading (more of a surgical focus there, though).
CenterLink's Job Board shows current job openings at LGBT community centers as well as at other organizations and institutions whose work is closely related to the needs and interests of LGBT communities
Joanna Russ (1937-2011)
More: How to remember and discover Joanna Russ
Oscar Wilde takes on Jersey Shore, hilarity ensues
Teacher’s novels upset parents
They are too racy, 2 moms complain -- Oh, good grief.
How many definitions of science fiction are there?
A Gay Girl in Damascus: My father, the hero
Quantum effects brought to light
Top 10 Underground Walks
Study: First stars were massive, fast-spinning
Treating Girls Like Women: Sexualization and Precocious Puberty
Intro to Migraines
More: Migraine Myths
More: Migraine Triggers
Critter pics
Apr. 24th, 2011 09:49 pmI'm no photographer, and my b'berry camera is plenty crappy, but some pics I've taken recently, including from when Leroy painted part of his fur blue, and when the cats walked through wet paint and across the floor:
( critter pics back here )
( critter pics back here )
