Very tired

Although I didn't go out today like I'd hoped to, I still am very tired for some reason. I haven't done a lot, to be honest. I've been on the phone ironing out something, watched some videos YKWIA found for me, have texted throughout the day with Brandon, had a co-worker bring by my laundry that she and another lady did (thank you!), and another dropped off some food (yay!) So I've had some brief visitors, done a little wrangling on the phone, etc. Not anything major. If I'm this tired after that, then maybe it's good I didn't go out today. It would have been two days back to back.

I have a sinus headache and my foot is hurting, so I took some Tylenol. I'd like to go ahead and just sleep some, but I couldn't get comfortable earlier. I wish I had a recliner. Not that I could necessarily get in it and back at the moment, come to think of it. It would have to be the type that goes back down with the handle, rather than kicking it down. But it would be nice just to lie back and put my foot up. The bed doesn't quite do it, even with judicious use of pillows. Still, I think I'll try one more time. I'm not particularly comfortable sitting up tonight, either.

I love this tweet!

From Periwinkle Jones (@peachesanscream) on Twitter:

*Click the picture to enlarge*

I had some disappointing news on two fronts today

but the good thing is neither is major, and the will be virtually meaningless in the long run. I just have to have a little bit of patience. That being said, that doesn't mean I wasn't bummed. Still, overall it was a good day. I had my doctor's appointment, picked up some medicine from the pharmacy, got some groceries, and got my rent in to the leasing office. It was very productive. I think I almost broke a three-year-old, who'd had a very long day, was hungry and cranky, and probably got home with precious moments before a total tantrum evolved, but he did really well up to that point. Thanks for everyone who tagged along with me and got me where I needed to go.

Yet again the cart at Kroger died, although this time it was right at the U-Scan. Since I was there, I started to put my things on the unit and the lady was like, 'Do you have more than 15 items?' Mind you, I had a bit more than that, but the carts on those things are fairly small. I also had a dead scooter with someone trying to go find me another. Also, there was not a soul in the express U-Scan, and there were five other units free. Still, I packed my things up and Angenette PUSHED the entire thing with me on it with what little tiny juice the battery had helping to the next bank of U-Scan machines (which was busy) so we could properly check out. There was no way to make it to a lane with a real person checking out at all. Thank you, Kroger lady, for protecting your empty U-Scan from disabled people with dying carts. On the other hand, since the thing died completely there at the checkout, we had to leave the thing right there, although Brandon pushed it back out of the way a couple of feet. So at least they had to deal with it.

I have not had trouble with the machines at Tates Creek, but I have at Richmond Road now twice. Last time I talked to a manager who said they had trouble when it was busy or on Senior Day (it was rush hour, but not on a Senior Day that day). Today it was the middle of the day and should have been fine. They seriously need to do something. The thing I objected to last time is both carts I had were showing full charge and within five minutes would show empty. This cart didn't have a very high tech display, and at least ALMOST made it. Because of my last experience, we were actually going to get a push wheelchair cart, but that wasn't available. I think they have one for the whole mega-marketplace store. Note to self, do not try to go on the first Wednesday of the month (I think that's when Senior Day is) ever, if you're in need of an electric or wheelchair cart.

But on balance the day was okay. Tomorrow I'm not going out after all (that was one of the disappointments), and I don't have another doctor's appointment for a couple of weeks, so I don't know when I'll be out again. I may have to get some groceries at some point. So until then it's just me, my apartment, and maybe the occasional visitor.

Of concern

Heart Gadgets Test Privacy-Law Limits

The small box inside Amanda Hubbard's chest beams all kinds of data about her faulty heart to the company that makes her defibrillator implant.

Ms. Hubbard herself, however, can't easily get that information unless she requests summaries from her doctor—whom she rarely sees since losing her insurance. In short, the data gathered by the Medtronic Inc. implant isn't readily accessible to the person whose heartbeat it tracks.

"This is my health information," said Ms. Hubbard, 36 years old. "They are collecting it from my chest."

The U.S. has strict privacy laws guaranteeing people access to traditional health files. But implants and other new technologies—including smartphone apps and over-the-counter monitors—are testing the very definition of medical records.

The article also discusses issues with health-data-collecting applications for smartphones.

I have found one other bug about the Windows 8 upgrade

When I set my time in the tiled interface's settings, it shows the time as three hours later than it really is, even with Eastern time chosen. But if I choose Pacific, it worked. Unfortunately, it then translated all of my times from Google Calendar into the calendar app as three hours earlier than they are supposed to be. So I went in the old fashioned way (through the desktop) and set it that way, and now everything is working. Still, it's an odd bug.

While I was looking for instances of that on the Internet I found the following:

Windows 8 killed my PC

Windows 8's growing pains could deliver a major blow to Microsoft's already dwindling market value. The company has bet the farm on the success of its new operating system as well as its new Surface tablet and Windows-branded smartphones. But with a lukewarm reception by users and sporadic issues with system migration, it's possible that Microsoft may soon have to make a lot of awkward, value-destroying apologies about Windows 8.

It has been just three weeks since the launch of Windows 8 and the new operating system has claimed at least two victims: 1) Steven Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division at Microsoft and 2) the, Z580, my relatively new Lenovo laptop.

Cyrus Sanati's laptop was just three months old, and couldn't handle the new operating system. He makes some very good points--and he's not a lowly blogger like I am. He's writing for CNN: Money. I will say Microsoft support tried to contact me by Twitter, but in the forums I saw a lot of blaming the users' systems and in some cases users who let Microsoft remote in and the system was now unusable. I don't think they're addressing the user experience in a way they could. Now I have a functional computer, with a few glitches, so I won't complain too much. But I lost of lot of programs, too. Thank goodness I got Office on, at least. But I'm running Office 10. What if it were an older version? And it's the gitches that make things a little more ominous. I mean, if you buy a computer or device with Windows 8 on it, then you avoid the whole install problem, but if the system is still buggy, than why buy one? I'll stick with Android for my mobile devices, thank you. And keep an eye out for odd things on my computer and see if with the updates I can get installers to work that aren't now.

Ever have one of those days when you needed a do-over?

We don't usually get them, of course, but today I actually went back to bed for an hour and started my day over. I'd gotten up about 8:30, promptly dropped the toilet paper, which rolled across the floor. Then I had to stick myself six times to get enough blood for a blood sugar read, wasting strips. Then I dropped the peanut butter lid on my phone and got peanut butter all over it. At that point it went downhill from there; I won't give details. But after all was said and done, I just went back to bed. When I got up, granted, this time I dropped the toilet paper behind the commode, but otherwise things are much brighter.

Congratulations! A year in space!

Two space veterans named to yearlong station flight

Astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, both veterans of long-duration space flights, will spend a full year aboard the International Space Station to help scientists learn more about how the body reacts and adapts to weightlessness and other aspects of the space environment.

If Scott Kelly succeeds, it will be the longest an American has been in space. (One Russian cosmonaut, Valery Polyakov, spent 438 days aboard Mir.)

The monumental task of revising psychiatry's bible continues

And these are some of the stickiest to define:

Thinking Clearly About Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly.

Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe’s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a new model to explain those strange behaviors.

This weekend the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association will vote on whether to adopt a new diagnostic system for some of the most serious, and striking, syndromes in medicine: personality disorders.

Fancy a try at cryptography?

Here's an historical puzzle:

CAN YOU CRACK THE PIGEON'S CODE?

A coded message found attached to the remains of a hero D-Day carrier pigeon may never be cracked, British top codebreakers have admitted.

Hand-written on a small sheet of paper headed "Pigeon Service," the message was found in a red cylinder still attached to the bird's leg bone.

The pigeon's skeleton emerged in 1982 from the chimney of 17th-century home in Bletchingley, Surrey, when the home's current owner David Martin decided to restore the fireplace.

The code is transcribed in the article's text and what elements are known are mentioned. Have at it!

I went back to sleep this morning and slept about four hours

Most of which was spent dreaming about a worldwide beauty contest set in Korea where I was being prepped with handlers similar to Katniss Everdeen's in The Hunger Games. Turns out midway through the dream, it was a contest for drag queens, and I was one, too. I'd broken up with my boyfriend and was trying to escape into the contest when someone else won without me even performing. But the boyfriend kept trying to get to Korea, finally did, and there was a tearful reunion. This is what I get for watching the movie Clue on Logo the other day. There were many, many ads for RuPaul's Drag Race.

I very rarely dream I'm a guy, and I've never dreamt I was a gay guy with a partner. The drag thing was obviously something I was new at. But I'm just glad there was a happy ending, and I woke up about 10 seconds before my alarm went off.

If you've ever had cats AND dogs, this is hilarious!

And for YKWIA, here's a link to the video, since you can't seem to watch them on my page for some unknown reason: Cat-Friend vs. Dog-Friend. Thank you to Alexandra Bond for sharing on Facebook.

Today is Giving Tuesday

We've survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday, now it's time for #GivingTuesday. I can't get out and volunteer, so instead I'm going to make a small contribution to God's Pantry, a local food bank. What can you do today, whatever small, to make someone's life better?

Obviously I had too much

caffeine, as I've slept about two hours and I'm up again after mostly lying in bed with my brain racing. Ah, well. As a result, you get cat videos. :)

Agenda for the Day:

1. Wash hair.
2. Water plants.
3. Work on the game notes some more.
4. Arrange for a laundry pickup (maybe soon I'll be able to do it for myself again).
5. Do dishes.

Thanks, by the way, for sticking with me since the accident. For those just tuning in, I was hit by a car and broke my ankle and bones in my foot and have been non-weight-bearing on that foot ever since. I know my writing has been, well, probably less than riveting as my life is pretty much defined by this apartment and I haven't been at work, but I promise I'll try to look for interesting things to post and hopefully soon I'll be on both of my feet again. Also, I should be back to normal in terms of insomnia. While it's nice that I'm not sleeping too much, I really have overdone it. Part of it is the caffeine, part of it is simply not being comfortable. For one, I can't sleep on my left side at present, and that's how I normally sleep, sort of on my left side and stomach together. Once that changes, I expect to get better sleep. Also, once I can take a blessed shower again, I'll be much more myself. It's been 46 days since I was hit, and I am so ready to go back to doing the things that seemed so simple before then. It'll still be awhile before I'm back to normal, but at least things are progressing, even if it sometimes seems slowly.

I haven't embedded a 'Simon's Cat' video in awhile

This one's adorable. If you haven't seen the series, check them out. They're always fun. If you can't see the video for some reason, check out Simon's Cat in 'Catnip'.

Why would you take stairs?

And by that I mean off a building and abscond with them? I know. Because you can.

Poe House vandalized while closed during transition

The historic Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, which lost its longtime curator and was shuttered in September amid an operational reorganization, has in the last month been defaced by graffiti and robbed of its wooden front steps, according to those involved in the museum's revitalization.

Oh, how terribly sad!

Family swept out to sea in attempt to save dog

Howard Kuljian and his family were out for a walk on a damp, overcast morning at Big Lagoon beach, playing fetch with their dog Fran as 10-foot surf churned the water just feet away like a washing machine.

Signs near the beach warned of "sneaker waves," the kind that suddenly roar ashore.

Kuljian tossed a stick that took the dog down to the water's edge, and in an instant, authorities said, a wave swallowed it, setting off a nightmarish scramble.

"Everything kind of snowballed from there," Coast Guard Lt. Bernie Garrigan said.

Kuljian's 16-year-old son, Gregory, ran to save the dog, only to be captured by the surging surf himself. Kuljian, 54, followed, and then his wife, Mary Scott, 57. On shore, their 18-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Gregory's girlfriend could only watch.

Ironically, the dog did manage to make it back to the shore. This poor girl has lost her entire family. I love to be near the beach, but I do not go into the ocean because the waves make me very nervous (I am a weak swimmer). But these sorts of waves grab you when you're down by the water's edge. I don't think I'll ever think of an idyllic beach setting the same again.

Thinking of those in North Wales today

BBC News - Wales floods: Hundreds told to leave homes

I learned about it through Twitter, via Eilir Jones, who has been retweeting Welsh-language alerts (no, I don't know Welsh, but I could tell from the format). Roads are impassable in places and several schools are closed. Hopefully everyone will stay safe. The rain is abating but the rivers continue to rise.

Oh, my

University of Kentucky researcher accused of falsifying data for a decade

A former high-ranking researcher at the University of Kentucky has been penalized by federal investigators in a scientific misconduct case that spanned a decade and included allegations that he falsified data in at least 10 papers and numerous grant applications.

Eric J. Smart, who was an associate professor and vice-chairman of the UK Department of Pediatrics and the Barnstable-Brown Chair in Diabetes Research, resigned from UK in May.

Smart is now a chemistry teacher at a local high school.

Now that's the power of libraries!

Despite Ruin, Library Offers Books and Community

It was the little things, the sudden absence of everyday fixtures, that disoriented residents in the Rockaways in the days after the storm, as much as the loss of house and home. The traffic lights had gone dark. Where was one to get a prescription filled? And oh, what about books due at the library?

The Rockaways still look like ghost towns. But the community libraries are there — if only in the form of a bus, parked in front of the gutted, muddy Peninsula branch. Days after the storm laid waste to four Queens Borough Public Library branches in the Rockaways, a colorful mobile library bus has hummed just outside its former location on Rockaway Beach Boulevard, offering warmth, power outlets, emergency information and books.

My headache's back

But maybe that's from too much caffeine. I don't know. It's not a migraine, although I'm a little light-sensitive. I don't feel super wide awake. I've been drinking water for awhile today, but had quite a bit of soda earlier.

I have been on the phone in some capacity about 70% of my day. Two people have come to my home, one being Brandon with the soda. The rest of my time has been spent on game notes or on the computer in some fashion. I've watched several clips from 'The Big Bang Theory', for example. I'm almost halfway finished with the notes. Also, I got my product key for the free Windows Media Center to accompany Windows 8 and installed that. I also did a very thorough baby-wipe bath, including my poor 'good' foot, which has been carrying so much of my weight. I'm not sure it will ever be soft and happy again. I'm actually going to have to invest in a pumice stone. I think I'll wait to wash my hair till tomorrow, though.

It's rainy and icky outside, with a possibility of some small amount of snow overnight. Fortunately both the days I have to go out this week are supposed to be in the 50s and sunny. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do when it gets icy and snowy--still plug my way on my hands and knees up those stairs, I guess.

Come to think of it, I'm kind of aching. Maybe the headache is weather-related. I've had it since before the cold front came through. Hope I'm not getting anything; I have been sniffling all day, blowing my nose, and thought it was my allergies, but I have been around someone who had a bad cold not too long ago.

Plus, I'm tired. I think I'm going to go back into the bedroom and listen to some soft music. Maybe that will help my headache. If I don't post anymore tonight, I hope you have a good night.

Horrible

Teen arrested for assaulting woman on Thanksgiving day

A teenager accused of a beating a woman so severely, that she may require plastic surgery, has been released from jail on bond.

The family of Mallory Owens said 18-year-old Travis Hawkins, Jr. targeted her because of her sexual orientation and they want to see the charge for the Nov. 23 beating upgraded to attempted murder.

The incident occurred as Thanksgiving Day turned violent at Hawkins' home on Bourgeois Drive in Mobile. Mobile Police Department said officers responded to the home for a report of a person being assaulted.

When police arrived, they found Owens, 23, had been punched repeatedly in the face.

Owens's mother said her daughter was attacked because of her sexual orientation.

Woman beaten on Thanksgiving by girlfriend's brother will be released from the hospital today, family says

Family members say the woman who was severely beaten by her girlfriend's brother on Thanksgiving Day will be released from the hospital today.

Mallory Owens, 23, suffered multiple skull fractures and crushed bones after the Nov. 22 attack. Family members say she had metal plates put under her eyes because of her injuries. She also has internal and external injuries.

Owens says she was beat on Thanksgiving while at her girlfriend's family's house for dinner. Avery Godwin, Owens's sister, said Owens was blindsided just before she left the Mobile home of the Hawkins family.

Reviewing Windows 8

I said I would review Windows 8 when I'd had a little time to explore it.

Pros:
1. It does seem to run faster.
2. Has a built in anti-virus/firewall (I just used the firewall on Windows 7) and other tools that help with performance.
3. The tiled UI does put everything at your fingertips (moreso if you're on a mobile device, I'm sure).
4. The tiled UI has applications that are easy to install and can be useful.
5. In the previews I saw, they said Internet Explorer from the tiled UI and the desktop did not mesh or keep things synced between the two. I don't know if that's the case, as I run Chrome. Chrome does so regardless of which interface you run it from.
6. If you are having trouble finding something on the desktop, you can go to the tiled UI and search or search using the charms, straight from the desktop, and it'll pop right up. You can then pin it to either (or both) the desktop task bar and the tiles.
7. The desktop pretty much is the same as Windows 7, with the exception of the start button, so for people more accustomed to that, it still is there and works the same. In fact, launching some things from the tiled UI brings up the desktop automatically, so they are linked.
8. Really nice if you're on a mobile device. Tiles, although rather ugly, are easy to see and touch, I'm sure.
9. Microsoft is running a special right now. Windows 8 is only $39.99 until January 31st (the main reason I upgraded). Also, Windows Media Center (which you need for watching TV or DVDs on your system) is free, again until January 31st, so long as your'e running Windows 8.

Cons:
1. Many people will tell you that compared to updating other versions of Windows, this is a breeze. They lie. I installed an upgrade from XP to Windows 7 without problem, only that it required an external hard drive. Granted, this was easier--to a point. But many people, many, including myself, have had trouble with Windows 8 getting all the way to the end, then restoring back to Windows 7 without giving a chance to really troubleshoot, and giving an error that says 'page fault in non-paged area'. I think this involves mostly third-party software or settings, although hardware could be at fault, according to some of the troubleshooting tips found on the forums. But the only thing that worked for me was installing without saving my settings and just my files. That worked like a breeze, but meant that I lost all my installed programs, some of which I was able to install, and some of which I just lost entirely.
2. People will tell you that if it runs under Windows 7, it will run under Windows 8. Not necessarily. I had a set of National Geographic DVDs that would not install back onto the machine.
3. No start button on the desktop. Okay, it's not too bad, but going to the tiled UI instead of just staying in the desktop and getting what I need is a pain if I'm not needing to.
4. The tiles, like I say, are pretty ugly. If you're using a mouse, clicking on the tiles are not too bad, but bringing up the charms or anything else involving the corners can be tricky. Also, you need a wheeled mouse to easily scroll through tiles on a desktop computer or laptop without a touchscreen.

In summary, this probably works great on touchscreens. But on a desktop it's a little unwieldy. Still, there are reasons to upgrade a desktop, according to the experts, such as the faster speed and extra tools. Still, I think the average user running Windows 7 will be more irritated by the changes than pleased. Unless you're a tech geek who has to have the latest, you may want to wait. On the other hand, if you are interested, then keep in mind the special pricing ends January 31st, so get going.

I hope that helps you. This is, of course, based on my experience. Your results may vary. :)

PS I will say Microsoft's support department on Twitter (@MicrosoftHelps) did reply to my plea for ideas with a suggestion. Unfortunately, I didn't see it till later. So I didn't try a clean boot. It might help prevent you from losing your programs.

Blessed caffeine

Okay, I caved. My headache was such that I still was in bed for two hours before I managed to sleep last night, and I woke up with one, too. Bless Brandon for stopping by the store and getting me some soda. I'm going to drink it in coffee mugs to try to stretch it out, altering with water, so I don't overdo it. That's the plan, anway.

Now that I've had a little soda in me, I feel more up to facing the day. So on my agenda today I need to make some phone calls, work on game notes, so some dishes (plastic ones this time, so no loading the dishwasher) and try to wash my hair/get cleaned up. That's not too bad. The busy part of the week will be Thursday and Friday, when I need to go out back-to-back.

Oh, my head

I have had a headache all day, and I know it's from lack of caffeine. The Tylenol isn't really helping. But hey, this is what I get for getting myself addicted to sodas and then quitting cold turkey.

I finished my holiday shopping today. I felt like I shopped till I dropped even though I didn't go near a mall. But I found some nice things, they weren't too expensive, and I think they'll like them.

The main other accomplishment I had was getting the leg lifts back on the wheelchair. I took them off, stupidly, during my exercises yesterday rather than just swinging them out of the way. I had to transfer to the loveseat in order to see what I was doing when I put them back on. But my foot was hurting and I was watching the old Clue movie with Tim Curry, so I had to get the lifts back on.

I didn't get any of the notes worked on today. I did some last night. I'm about a third of the way through. I'll try to work on them early tomorrow.

I think I'm going to head back to the bedroom and lie down, stretch out. I wasn't able to get comfortable in there earlier, but it was really not a great time for a nap or anything, I was just listening to music. Now I'm ready to go to bed, despite the headache. I'll try to get some sleep anyway. The lack of caffeine should help in that department.

So, on the days that I have too much caffeine

I have no trouble staying up for long periods of time, but it takes a couple of hours to wind down into sleep at best. On the days without, I'm up for a couple of hours and then sleep very soon. Obviously I need to find a balance, or somehow just break the caffeine cycle. My caffeine comes in the form of Diet Soda, so it's not as strong as coffee. I don't drink tea. I don't do energy drinks. But it is definitely an issue with my sleep-wake cycle.

On an average workday I have two-three 20 oz. sodas, and then rarely have any at home. I don't have trouble sleeping then. But at home I'm drinking more than that, a whole 2-litre a day or five-six 12 oz. sodas. So I've got to throttle back on it. It's not like soda's particularly good for you, including and especially the diet ones. YKWIA has been getting on to me for years for my soda consumption. So even though I'd like to get some more and I'm sure I could ask someone to bring me some, I'm not going to. I'll try to go a few days and see if my sleepiness abates. If not, then I'll try to go back to my norm instead of the way too much I've been drinking.

Sad

Grandparents killed in Thanksgiving day pileup on Texas highway were heading to Mississippi to celebrate anniversary

Vincent and Debra Leggio were described as incredibly devoted family people who were 'always smiling' and in love. They were trying to escape usual Thanksgiving festivities and have a romantic getaway in Mississippi when they were killed by an 18-wheeler that crushed their SUV.

Visibility was about 1/8 of mile in fog when the pileup occurred. The fog, in fact, was so thick, that at first the authorities couldn't tell they were dealing with one giant pileup. I feel so sorry for this family.

I have to admit, fog is tricky. It lures you in thinking it's not too heavy in some places, then gets worse when it's too late. And unfortunately once you're on the highway, it can be really hard to find a place to turn off. Smaller roads can be even worse, even with less traffic, and pulling over isn't an option because someone is just as likely to plough into you. For all those injured that day, I wish you a speedy recovery. Some are still in critical shape. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I tried going to bed

but couldn't get comfortable. So I got some Christmas gifts for two more people. That's most of my list. My grandmother is always a challenge. What do you get someone who has most everything already? Last year it was a soft, warm blanket. I'm not sure what to do this year. I have just a couple more other than that. Not bad for me. I tend to wait till the last minute. And the best part? Yes, I shopped on Black Friday, but didn't go near a store! :)

Forget Black Friday

The most important day? #GivingTuesday! From the website:

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. This year help create #GivingTuesday™, the giving season’s opening day.

On Tuesday November 27, 2012 charities, families, businesses and individuals are coming together to transform the way people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season.

It’s a simple idea. Find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to join in acts of giving. Tell everyone you can about what you are doing and why it matters. Join a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity. And together we’ll create ways to give more, give better and give smarter.

I've been occupying myself with a game of

Civilization IV. I almost had the spaceship built, but not quite, but did win a time victory at least. I refused to give Louis XIV the diplomatic one. :) I do like the turn-based game where you build up cultures (and I try not to get sucked into wars, but that's just me) but my back is hurting because of the wheelchair I'm in being not at all ergonomic with the rest of the workstation. But hey, at least I can get to the computer.

The sun came out awhile ago and is now very bright. It's warm in here, too, although it's cool outside and going down in temperature. I've noticed the Christmas cactus buds are starting to open just a bit. I managed to water the pepper in the bedroom, but the rosemary is quite dessicated. I cannot seem to grow them inside at all.

Of course, the humidity in here feels like it's almost nil. Where I'm spending so much time inside (and we're on day 42 of no proper shower, but I did take a sponge bath today), my skin is terribly dry. Again, I want that loofah and a long hot shower soon. I do have various lotions I've been using. Right now I have some Bath & Body works Stress Relief Aromatherapy lotion with eucalyptus and spearmint on.

I did some shopping earlier online, getting something for YKWIA and for my mother. I called and asked A what he would like for the holidays. Despite being stuck inside, I am trying to get ready for the holidays, though. I'll give him a little time to think it over. I may have to do some searching for the other folks on my list; nothing just jumped out like the others did.

I think I am going to take a break from the computer for just awhile so my back puts itself back into some semblance of order and then start working on the game notes again. It would be nice to lie down, although I've only been up for about six hours. We'll see. I've done really well about staying up and don't want to backslide at all. But stretching out would be nice.

Hmmm....that puts things into perspective

Seen on Facebook: 'I skip Black Friday because my hatred of mankind outweighs my love for stuff.'

Um. Okay, I do love my fellow man in theory. But not in crowds. Or pushing. Or in malls....you get the point.

Thanks to Amanda, one of my former co-workers, for sharing that one. Good luck on the new job.

*Evil grin*

It's a little gloomy out there

which is probably why I slept late; I'd turned my alarm off because I'd been waking up way before it, but the sun isn't shining, so the glow in my window is a little subdued. I went to bed at midnight last night, but didn't manage to sleep until about one-something, but that's alright, I got in eight hours of mostly undisturbed sleep. One of the first things I did this morning, though, was wash my hair, as it was positively driving me crazy. It was worse than Snape's.

So now I'm up and have had a little cheese for breakfast, and I'm thinking of all those crazy people out at the stores this morning. Well, a lot probably are heading home by now. I do not get the mad rush for bargains. It's not worth it to me, and I very rarely have much money to spend on the holidays, so I like a bargain as much as the rest of the world. But not that much.

Now that my hair is washed, the only other thing is to work on the game notes today. Today is a day of relaxation for a lot of people, shopping for others. It's a day like most any day for me at the moment, but that's fine. The end is in sight and I'll hopefully be back at work someday soon.

It looks like most of my neighbours have the day off, too. There are a lot of cars in the parking lot for this time of day. I feel a bit like Mrs Kravitz from 'Bewitched'. I'm usually sitting at the computer by the window and am doing a lot of watching the world go by, whether it's squirrels and birds or people coming in and out of the building. I usually know my visitors are here before they knock (well, in truth, most have texted or called ahead; they know it takes me awhile to get to the door).

I have determined that once I am up walking well again there are two things in my house that must be done: vacuuming and dusting. I have dropped so much on the floor, everything from Jell-O and jam to tiny pen needle covers, and so a good carpet cleaning might be in order, too. Since I'm sitting down as I go through much of the apartment, I'm seeing the dust much better. I hate dusting, and it doesn't build up easily in my house, but it has. It's the last thing I always clean over at the gamemaster's house each Sunday. I think it's because I am allergic to dust and dust mites and hate that feeling of getting stuffed up and sneezing. But it must be done.

Well, I checked the news. Let me go see if there's anything else blog-worthy of note on the Internet to put up here. Hope you have a restful Friday after Thanksgiving.

I'm going to turn in

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I managed to do some more with the notes (although I'm stopping right at the climax, which is unfortunate, but I'm tired). The game is definitely unique. We're at the point that the two of us are having our organs telekinetically crushed by a comrade who has been taken over by an evil bug thing and who, as a necromancer, is killing an animating students at a frat house party. In desperation, the only thing I could do is set him on fire, which broke his concentration and saved us. Beware the pyrokinetic when push comes to shove and you're busy monologuing. I can't remember much of what happened after that. I think it involved the bug thing going out of him, using a magical netgun to trap it, and then blasting it with the Elder Sign. Then there was putting out the fire, putting the comrade, who was barely alive, in stasis, packing all of our friends (almost all of whom, at this point, were in stasis) into a van, and hightailing it out of there. Ah, scenic Kingsport. You have to love it. Welcome to our brand of Call of Cthulhu. That has to be the most stunning ending to an adventure in awhile. Most of the rest of the game was healing up those hurt.

Hey, some people garden. Some play paintpall. Some sit in front of a gaming console and call it roleplaying. We are old-school gamers and have been playing the same game for 21 years. It's our fun, our release, our social interaction. And I miss it terribly. It's been almost seven weeks we've missed because of my accident. Here's hoping to resuming it soon. But I have to get the notes finished by then. I have a little time, but I want to go ahead and get them done. Besides, it keeps me up during the day and active.

Have a good night. Don't go crazy on Black Friday. Remember, that mp3 player isn't worth getting hurt over.

Building up some stamina

I was up for seven hours earlier today; I've been up nearly six now and hope to go to bed about 11:30 or midnight. That's three days of staying up for goodly amounts of time. I am having some trouble with using the walker for fairly short trips, like down the hall and into the bathroom and bedroom without getting winded. I think my allergies are bothering me despite taking Claritin this morning.

I just spoke to YKWIA for two and a half hours on the phone. My poor phone is down to 25% of battery. But it was nice to chat. We both had a lovely Thanksgiving. I have to admit, I am more relaxed than usual during the holiday.

I was planning on working on the game notes tonight, but it's gotten late, so I may for just a little bit and save some for tomorrow, since there's nothing else on my agenda. I have checked and I have everything re-installed so that I can do so.

I've been playing with Windows 8 and getting the programs I need pinned to the right menus so I can go right into them either from the tiled interface or the desktop. I can already tell that if we ever need to upgrade YKWIA's computer, Windows 8 is enough of a radical change that there are going to be issues. I love YKWIA, but he doesn't like change much. He's still using an old copy of Office XP because it doesn't have the tabs and ribbon. Just taking the Start button away may be enough to make his head spin, but hey, I'm sure he'll do fine once he gets used to it. Hopefully that won't have to be for a long time. I will say it would be much easier to use on a touchscreen, but I'm not going to get one of those any time soon, and I already have my Android tablet, which I adore and which I am so thankful to have had during my recovery. I use it several times a day, and while the computer was busy updating, was able to look up several things on the tablet.

Now that we've almost reached the end of the holiday, I hope things went well for all of you in the US who celebrate it. The one regret I have is that I totally forgot about the Macy's parade; I'm usually on my way to my mom's during it. I could have watched it today. It's nice that it gave some cheer to those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Oh, my tummy is happy

I slept for about three hours then got up and grazed some more of the Thanksgiving meal and now I'm listening to the local news. It was nice to have home-cooked food. It really does make a difference, especially if you're not a cook yourself, and you're basically microwaving everything. I was brave enough to heat (and lucky enough not to burn myself) something in the oven once, but I have some macaroni and cheese to make on the stove and the whole dumping boiling water is a little beyond me while I'm gimpy. So I've just been putting things in the microwave. I'm also looking forward to the kugel YKWIA promised to make when I'm finally able to come over to his house. :)

The Black Friday and pre-Black Friday stuff is insane. It's on the news right now. Even White Castle is offering 'Black Friday swag'--clothing and the like. How bizarre.

I'll probably do all my shopping online this year. I've already found a couple of gifts I like, one for YKWIA and one for my mom. I'll have to think about the other people. But I have a small circle of people I get gifts for, so I should be able to take care of it. But I do have two holidays to shop for (Chanukah and Christmas) and one to celebrate (Yule). :)

Bill Meck of channel 18 just started to talk about Black Friday weather, and said something about people's Black shopping needs. I'm so glad I don't do live news and weather. :) We've got a cold front coming through, plus rain early. So those shoppers may get a bit damp and cold. I just do not understand the furor over trying to get bargains on one day of the year. But then, I hate crowds, and try not to go near Fayette Mall or Hamburg (a huge shopping district I like to call the world's biggest strip mall, because it's terribly laid out, bad for paedestrians, and not great for drivers either. One year I went the day before Christmas to do my shopping and it was like taking my life into my own hands. There is a reason so many people shop online these days.

I have

run over the smallest toe on my left foot (the 'good' one) with the wheelchair. As YKWIA puts it, I am a danger to myself, but not others. Fortunately it's just a little sore, I think. This is what I get for driving the chair with my left foot (it's easier than doing it all by hand--works great when you're backing up, not so much when going forward, given that it winds up near the wheel). :)

One casualty of the upgrade is my collection of National Geographic DVDs with all of the issues from the 1800s to 2008 on them. The installer will not work. :( Otherwise, things seem to be. I'm going to stop working on the computer for awhile. I've been up for seven hours and I'm seriously considering a nap.

Yum!

One of my friends from work and her husband (a former co-worker) visited and brought me food from their family Thanksgiving. I've already eaten the broccoli casserole (since that doesn't normally keep as well due to the crackers, and it was excellent) and slice of cherry pie (which was homemade and still warm). The rest will last me for tonight, too, and maybe into tomorrow. Those folks can cook! Thank you, Rhoda and Harold! I really appreciate some company and food on Thanksgiving.

Thank goodness for sticky notes

I realised that before I could work on the game notes, I also had to reinstall Office 2010 Professional Plus. This was something I put on my computer last year as part of a special through work where we got the full suite for $9.99. I do have a backup DVD, but I'm not sure where it is at the moment. Fortunately I had the filename and product key written on a sticky note on the hutch above my computer, and the file was still in my downloads folder. Yay! By the way, it's a National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region sticky note. :)

Okay, I think I'll try to put Civilization IV on and see if that works. That covers most of what I use.

Oh, man, how not to start out Thanksgiving

Report: 80 injured in 50-car pileup in Texas fog

I can so understand how traumatic this can be right at the holidays. My thoughts and prayers are with the people involved.

Success!

I am, indeed, running Windows 8, although at some cost. I disconnected the USB devices, except for the mouse and keyboard. Then I specifically asked the installer to keep my files, but not my settings. I don't have a lot of favourites or anything. However, it didn't keep the programs installed, so I may have to try to recover some of my games, although in truth I've only been playing Civilization IV, and I have the DVD for that, so that shouldn't be an issue. I have some neat ones from GameHouse from years ago that may or may not play on this anyway, we'll see.

I have discovered the best way to find something like, oh, putting the mouse back to left-handed (I'm not, but it saves wear and tear on my carpal tunnel to use the number pad on the right and the mouse on the left), and I'm pretty ambidextrous, by just searching in the main interface, and then it brings up the desktop with the right thing. After I've had a chance to play with the system, I'll try to review it. But for now, my frustration level has gone down.

I slept through the night, mostly

waking up just briefly a couple of times to reposition. It's warm in the apartment, but still in the 40s, so I'm not running the air conditioner, even though later it's supposed to be in the mid-60s. But I feel well. I've taken a baby-wipe bath and changed clothes. I've had a couple of fake-sausage, cheese, and egg biscuits from Morningstar Farms. I'm in a skirt today. I'm getting a little low on clothes but didn't want to bother anyone over the holiday. I'll call on Monday. I think I can stretch it till then.

The sky is a beautiful blue. It really is a tremendous Thanksgiving. How often do we get this weather near the end of November? Tomorrow's supposed to be cooler, and then I think we go down some more. But today should be glorious.

One of my co-workers is bringing me food from her family dinner later. She actually invited me to her family's celebration, but I declined. I didn't want to be an imposition and I'm kind of shy around people I don't know. But the food is appreciated. One of my other co-workers offered to bring some as well, but of course I already had some coming. They are both very sweet.

Most everyone I know is doing something today with family. My friends are going to celebrations out of town. And of course, I couldn't go to visit my family. So it's particularly nice that my friends at work are thinking of me. I really appreciate it.

On the agenda today is to work on the game notes and research the problem I'm having with the Windows 8 installation. Hope you have a good holiday, should you celebrate it. Hopefully it won't be too stressful. And hopefully you're actually off from work for today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving Day, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those people who have helped me since my accident.

There are so many at work, in the medical field, and in my daily life who have really helped make a difficult time better. Rhoda let me borrow the walker. My boss has checked on me frequently. My officemate Jill has brought me small gifts and things from my desk work, and kept my plants alive. Three of my co-workers are doing my laundry, trading off. A whole slew gave me gave me food and cards. I've spoken and e-mailed with many co-workers giving me well-wishes and checking up on me.

Thank you to the folks who treated me both in the initial emergency and the later stuff, too. I'm lucky to have good, caring people who are taking care of me.

To YKWIA, who has me watching Big Bang Theory clips he finds on YouTube and then gives me over the phone to look up to cheer me up and keep me entertained, and who bought me baby wipes, dry shampoo, and something to counteract the effects of the pain medicine, and who helped get me over a stair in a wheelchair on a particularly difficult day. Getting a nearly 300 lb woman over a step in a wheelchair that weighs 45 lbs is no easy task. To A who calls regularly. And thanks to Brenda Evans and Brandon Sharp, who have rearranged their schedules and literally pulled me up the stairs to get me to my appointments. Brenda particularly is getting to be an expert at handling a fold-up wheelchair. And thanks as well to Brandon's three-year-old son, Ben, who has patiently gone to those visits without much complaint. I'm going to be the old auntie that you get dragged to doctor's appointments to. Oh, wait, I am already. :) Your momma and daddy raised you well.

Ten hours up and active

On a day I didn't have to go anywhere, with little sleep the night before, isn't so bad. Soon we may be gaming again and I may be up to a full workday. Granted, the computer frustration helped, but I've also been on the phone, talking to visitors, texting, doing dishes in the dishwasher, writing emails, that sort of thing. Building up my stamina is about as important as building up my muscles. I can't work until I can sit up comfortably for several hours. I think that yesterday and today prove I can. That's fairly recent. Now if I could just walk.

There's still a lot of healing to go through, but I am more hopeful than I have been that there is an end in sight.

It's eleven and I think that I will try to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a quiet Thanksgiving. I hope it's a safe and happy one for those of you celebrating.

Tried again

This time I was in front of the screen for an hour and a half (I've been working on this a total of 3-4 hours), and actually saw the error. It is 'page fault in nonpaged area' and according to the web forums is pretty darn common but no really consistent solution seems to be popping out at me. I am tempted to contact Microsoft and see if I can get a refund. Troubleshooting a troublesome operating system is not my idea of a happy Thanksgiving, and some people have sought tech support and then the system wouldn't restore their old system, so they were left with a useless computer. Thank you, no.

Okay, Microsoft is pissing me off

I paid for and downloaded the Windows 8 upgrade. I then tried to install it. Although the compatibility was supposed to be fine, it got all the way to the end, said there had been an error (but didn't explain what) and then restored (thankfully) my Windows 7 operating system.

So I went to Microsoft, and signed up for an MSN ID so that I could get live tech support, signed in, and it kept looping me right out of the support area and back to square one.

So basically, I just paid $39.99 (plus tax) for something that doesn't work and can't get the help I need from the manufacturer, because their system is apparently screwy. This does not give me faith in Windows 8. Oh, well, I'll keep looking for a solution.

Some fun Thanksgiving facts

Thanksgiving 2012 Myths and Facts

Here's more on that 'first Thanksgiving':

The 1621 Thanksgiving

On a personal note, one of my ancestors, Edouard Bompasse, came here right after that, on the second ship to reach Plymouth Colony, the Fortune:

Ship Fortune's 1621 Arrival at Plymouth: The ship Fortune arrived at Plymouth Colony just after the Pilgrims celebrated their first Thanksgiving.

He's the first recorded ancestor in this country. We do apocryphally have native tribes in our lineage, but of course that wasn't really recorded, and while I'm supposed to be something like 1/16 Blackfoot with some Cherokee mixed in, I've never pursued that connexion because I have no cultural or real-life ties to the tribe or reservation, and I have enough respect for indigenous peoples that, unlike certain people I've known, I do not want to be part of the Wannabe tribe of mostly white people trying to be Indian. I knew one guy who kept coming up with strange fractions in a bid to be legally recognised as full Indian. He was blonde, blue-eyed, but would go about spouting stuff about the sacred hoop and how our ancestors killed his, never realising that he was a loon. Sure, I believe he had some Indian in his background. But he wasn't doing any of that out of respect for the culture--he was trying to be special, and trying way too hard.

I don't get it

Why allow a woman to be a priest (as opposed to a priestess), but not allow her to ascend to bishop? Obviously it came down to a vote, and there are a lot of areas of where the Church of England has domain that isn't as (in my opinion) as forward thinking as others, but I want to know the religious justification. I understand the case in the Catholic church, where Apostolic succession and Judaeo-Christian ideas of ritual purity of women surface, but I don't get this. But then I'm Pagan, not Anglican.

The Church of England Votes Against Women Bishops

This lends some clues:

Meanwhile, others believe allowing women bishops is not only the right thing to do, but also the necessary thing to do to keep pace with modern England. The Church has been bleeding members for a number of years, with reports from the Research and Statistics Department of the Archbishops’ Council for 2010 showing that less than 2% of Britons attend regular services. And the Church’s latest move isn’t likely to register well with the average citizen; a July poll showed that 74% of Brits thought the Church of England should allow women bishops. “Theology doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Jan McFarlane, the Archdeacon of Norwich, pointed out during her speech to the Synod on Tuesday. “A church so out of step with the world around us becomes an irrelevance.”

Incidentally, even some advocates of women bishops weren’t fully supportive of Tuesday’s measure anyway, as it included a clause allowing individual traditionalist parishes to opt for a stand-in male bishop to oversee a women bishop. The clause was an attempt to placate inflexible opponents of women bishops, but it obviously wasn’t enough to win over everyone. After the measure was rejected on Tuesday, Archbishop Williams expressed his sadness over the decision and added that “this vote of course isn’t the end of the story. This is not an issue that is going to go away.” Which, unfortunately, was the one conclusion that the entire Church of England was hoping for.

That provision for opting for a man just was stupid, in my opinion. Either allow women or not. But it just seems inconsistent to allow one to be a priest but not allow her to rise up in the hierarchy of the church. If it were a business, rather than the state church, it would be considered discrimination. Um...I think it still counts as that, regardless of the organisation's position.

I went back to sleep for an hour and a half and it did wonders

And no more nightmares, thankfully. I was able to actually get fairly comfortable, and I could have stayed in bed longer, but it was better to go ahead and come out here, as I want a chance of sleeping tonight. So I've gotten up, eaten my salad, packet of string cheese, and orange juice, and I've done my exercises. My thigh does not like me at the moment, but I think it's getting with the programme.

I may not be doing Thanksgiving, and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do before Chanukah/Yule/Christmas (the first of which is just a couple of weeks away!), but I did get a Christmas cactus to bring out a little cheer in the house. Granted it's one more plant to try to keep alive right now (I've lost my rosemary, but they're touchy anyway), but it seemed better to spend $3.99 on that than $20 on a small Yule tree I can't really decorate right now. Besides, the Norfolk Virginia pines always have glitter sprayed on them these days, and I kill them every year. I blame the glitter. The sun is starting to kiss the plants in the double window right now, and the cactus' red buds are quite bright.

I'm glad I had Jill, my officemate, bring me my fan from my desk. It plugs into the computer and blows a fair amount of air around. The air conditioning is off (I just couldn't get used to running it) and it's 64 degrees outside, and beautiful. The fan takes some of the stuffiness out of things. I wish I could open the windows, but I'm just not physically able to do that right now, and even if someone opened them for me, I can't close them either, and I'd have to by nightfall.

Okay, someone is coming over in about an hour. I think I'll try to read a bit, since the light's so nice in the living area right now.

I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 8

despite the fact that I don't like the ugly tiled interface (but you can still get to the regular desktop, which I usually personalise with slideshows), and I can live without the start button as long as things come up when I go to that part of the screen. Microsoft is offering Windows 8 Pro for only $39.99 if you download it electronically ($69.99 if you get a DVD). Windows Media Center Pack is not included if you want movie DVDs to play on your system, but they're offering that for free during the same promotional period, from October 26th-January 31st. So for $39.99 I could get the new operating system. I'm doing some research on the web, but if you have already upgraded I'd like to know your experience and if it was positive or negative, or what new features you think make it worthwhile. Feel free to comment below or send me an e-mail with the link to the left. Thanks!

Sometimes videos capture the good in us

I've never tried to embed a video I found on Facebook that wasn't also a YouTube video, so I don't know if you will be able to see this if you're not on Facebook, but here's a good try. :) Thanks to Jolion Pollai and Vanessa Irwin Morris for sharing.

For fifteen years

I watched my great-grandmother's decline from Alzheimer's. But I wasn't her primary caregiver; that was my grandmother, her daughter, who was a registered nurse. So I didn't see her day in and day out. But every holiday I was there, and whenever I could get away from school and work. The changes were probably more apparent to me then. My great-grandmother went from being a vibrant, feisty woman to someone who thought the people on the TV were taking her on joyrides, to finally being uncommunicative and trapped in her own strange thoughts. She needed constant care, and my grandmother provided it. As sometimes happens, she became lucid right before death, and sadly, by the time my great-grandmother died in 1991, my grandmother, worn out from caregiving, was battling lung cancer, and outlived her mother by only a couple of years.

Even though it's been so many years, the pain of seeing what Alzheimer's did to my family is still very fresh in my mind and emotions. It is a horrible disease, and the Baby Boomer generation is poised to be the largest to suffer it of all, a generation already 'sandwiched' between truly elderly parents and their kids. And their kids, my generation, will be caring for the Boomers who have it. My own fear is that I will get it. Some have linked diabetes to it, for example, and I am diabetic, as is most of my family. It's a shadow hanging over us. Granted, my great-grandmother was on my father's side; I pretty much just have my mother's side of the family left. But still....

So this story brought up memories:

Celebrating Thanksgiving with 'Generation Alzheimer's'

Judy Warzenski didn't realize how bad her father, Donald's, memory had gotten until he turned to her sister Joyce and asked, "Where's the girl who was sitting next to you?" He did not recognize Joyce as his own daughter.

This Thanksgiving, Warzenski and her younger siblings will eat Thanksgiving dinner with their father in a private dining room at a nursing home in Pennsylvania. Moving her father there in October was an agonizing decision.

"It's really very upsetting to me," said Warzenski, 62, of central New Jersey. "I promised him I would never do this. I promised him I would never put him in a nursing home, which I've come to realize is an unrealistic promise."

For all those families touched by Alzheimer's, spend time with your loved one as much as you can, before they slip away. And you will be in my thoughts....

No more sleep for me for now

For one, the sun has come up. Two, while I didn't actually fall asleep until about 3:00 (and that was after breaking out the no-sugar added hot cocoa, and then I slept fitfully after that--I was too wound up from my day and couldn't get comfortable), I also had a horrible nightmare this morning and woke up abruptly and in pain.

So I'm up, eating a little string cheese for breakfast. I've taken some acetaminophen and my other morning meds. For better or worse, I'm up now.

One more hour or less

I told myself I would go to bed at ten, so that would make thirteen hours I'll be up, which isn't too bad. I decided to do all of my physical therapy exercises, not just the ones with the band, and now my thigh and buttock feel like they're on fire. I broke down and took some acetaminophen. I think I need to increase this to once in the morning and once in the evening, at least. (Yes, Brandon, you told me that.) Got to get those muscles in shape for walking eventually.

So when 10 pm rolls by, I think I will definitely be ready for bed. It's been a good day. I've emailed two people, spoken with three friends on the phone, texted with one of those, and I've seen one of my friends in person. I've gone to an appointment, gotten groceries, listened to music, blogged, watched videos, and played on the Internet. And I've stayed awake! (Although getting a little caffeine in my system did help. But I don't feel too awake, either.)

So now I am down to thirty minutes. I'll start shutting things down. Hope you had a good day.

PS Made it to midnight, actually, although I've been in bed, so we won't count the unwinding time.  :-)

Aww...

I like Rob Thomas and Matchbox Twenty--I've never heard a song of theirs I didn't like. This is off Matchbox Twenty's new album NORTH.

Interesting how the same song can be interpreted and arranged

The original, by Tears for Fears in 1983:



A later slowed-down, stripped-down version by Gary Jules, best known from the movie Donnie Darko:

Is it wrong

to turn the air conditioner back on even though it's November because your apartment is stuffy and you can't open the windows? Granted it's 60 degrees outside, not hot, but practically balmy for this time of year. I actually got to enjoy it a little, too, as it was appointment day.

So now I'm home, and tired, but I'm going to stay up anyway because I really need to start building up my stamina, as YKWIA has suggested. I've been up since 9 am, so 9 hours so far. Let's see if I can stay up a little longer. I've had caffeine, so I shouldn't be crashing as much. But hopefully I've had just enough without going 'bazinga!' again and not sleeping at all.

Listening to:

PS 11/20/12 YKWIA pointed out that it is sad, pathetic, and lonely for a person to put up a shopping list on their blog. I agree. I have removed said offending list. [But managed to get most of it on Tuesday, despite the Kroger rechargeable carts running out of juice halfway through the store. Twice.]

YKWIA found this

You have to admit, they have a point.

Agenda

1. Stay up for four hours at a time
2. Work on game notes
3. Watch 'Doctor Who', "Vampires in Venice"
4. Listen to Pandora for awhile
5. Confirm time for doctor's appointment tomorrow
6. Arrange for a ride to my doctor's appointment tomorrow
7. Water lavender
8. Make a grocery shopping list
9. Wash dishes
10. Wash hair
11. Take a sponge bath

Relaxing to Loreena McKennitt

Some of her songs that are less Celtic-y or traditional and more Eastern sounding:







(This last has various religious dances and ecstasy interspersed with the auroras, and is quite well matched with the music.)

Well, I did go back to bed

but then I got up and got all my non-bathroom trash together [I have lots of full little Kroger bags I've been using around the apartment that I put into a regular trash bag] and put the recyclables together, too. It's getting to be quite a stack, between the two. But those are definitely the things I can't take out on my own. Oh, and I can't do laundry. The laundry room is across the complex and downstairs. Fortunately some co-workers have volunteered to take care of that. I'll try to get someone to take the trash out when we get back from the doctor on Tuesday. I also put things that needed to go out of the refrigerator into the trash on the bottom shelf. I'll put those together on Tuesday so they don't rot in the meantime. I wonder if I dare try to do dishes? I'll put that down for tomorrow.

I did some of my exercises, the ones with the band. I'll hopefully have some upper body strength when this is all over. :) My shoulders just ache from a few minutes of band work. We're also working on muscles in my legs.

It's been a quiet day of rest. Tomorrow I definitely want to wash my hair and maybe take a sponge bath, or at least a baby wipe one. I managed to find one towel that didn't go down on the floor when the toilet overflowed, so I have that. Definitely should get some more; I only have about five, which I thought sufficient, but apparently not. I should probably call tomorrow and see if anyone can do laundry before the holiday; I don't want to bother them over the weekend.

Trying to find a reason not to go back to the bedroom

I was there till 9:30 this morning, of course, and then from 12-2. Now I've watched a double-header of 'Doctor Who' ("The Time of the Angels"/"Flesh and Stone") and I'm listening to music and texting with a friend. I've just had a bit of spreadable fruit on bread (raspberry) and some water and am thinking of what to do next. The light is fading in the afternoon sun as it heads to evening. I'm a little warm (it's 61 degrees outside) and just kind of want to nap. Is that terrible on a Sunday afternoon? Or am I just being a sloth?

I need a giant loofah

That can exfoliate me from head to toe. When all this is over and I can shower and bathe again, I am going to scrub all the dry skin off and uncover my normal pinkness. I feel like a reptile, all scaly and dry, with no amount of lotion really helping. And we're not even going to go into my hair. Or cuticles. I've never had a proper manicure or pedicure but I am tempted to celebrate my freedom, once it comes, with them. I will definitely bask in my own personal spa, um, bathroom, with attention to detail.

Speaking of the holidays

Today, Charity Begins With the Phone But Shouldn't End There

From texting to Facebook, charitably minded consumers will have more ways to give at their fingertips this holiday season. But not all these options work to the advantage of the philanthropists—or the charities.

Charitable giving has been slow to rebound since the downturn. While giving has historically risen an average of 2.4% in the two years following a recession, it inched up just 0.9% last year, when gifts totaled $298.4 billion, according to a report from the Giving USA Foundation and The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The slow pace of recovery means donations may not get back to prerecession levels for another decade, says Patrick Rooney, executive director for the philanthropy center.

If you can do something to help others this season, please do so, regardless of fiscal cliffs and the pros and cons in taxes of giving this year or next. The thing is, give if you are able, whether it's during the holidays, New Year's Eve 2012, or New Year's Day 2013. And if you can't give money, then by all means, do something good that impacts another life. Sometimes the most meaningful gifts are personal and don't involve money at all.

I found a great video

but can't embed it, drat, although, YKWIA can't see any of the videos play on my blog, so maybe others of you are having problems, too. Let me know if you are. But it is funny, true, and worth watching, especially if you like 'The Big Bang Theory'.

Why Sheldon doesn't celebrate Christmas

Since I'm Pagan, I don't mind bringing in some greenery for the holidays. And what he says about gift-giving is true but it's still nice to give and receive. So as we go into the holiday season, I thought I'd post this.

Interesting bit about how we have lost freedom on campus in the name of political correctness and anti-harrassment

How Free Speech Died on Campus: A young activist describes how universities became the most authoritarian institutions in America.

In his new book, "Unlearning Liberty," Mr. Lukianoff notes that baby-boom Americans who remember the student protests of the 1960s tend to assume that U.S. colleges are still some of the freest places on earth. But that idealized university no longer exists. It was wiped out in the 1990s by administrators, diversity hustlers and liability-management professionals, who were often abetted by professors committed to political agendas.

"What's disappointing and rightfully scorned," Mr. Lukianoff says, "is that in some cases the very professors who were benefiting from the free-speech movement turned around to advocate speech codes and speech zones in the 1980s and '90s."

Today, university bureaucrats suppress debate with anti-harassment policies that function as de facto speech codes. FIRE maintains a database of such policies on its website, and Mr. Lukianoff's book offers an eye-opening sampling. What they share is a view of "harassment" so broad and so removed from its legal definition that, Mr. Lukianoff says, "literally every student on campus is already guilty."

Good that there are folks like that defending free speech it an atmosphere where ideas and ideals are so important.

How to go right to sleep

So I slept from 6-9:30 am;, then spent some time on the phone with friends. As I prepared to go to back to sleep, YKWIA, who wasn't on the phone due to Sabbath, still managed to relay to A, who in turn relayed to me, the words to 'Soft Kitty' from 'Big Bang Theory'. And you know what, I fell right to sleep for another couple of hours. If only I'd thought of this last night. Maybe I need the plushie:

Squee!--a little more than a month till the Doctor returns!

And there was this as well...

Doctor Who: When's the Doctor, which is like Where's Waldo, but cooler. Go to the link, look at the pictures, see what you can see. It's actually available on the Kindle, too, but I'd rather have the book for this.

By the way, these were released as part of Britain's Children in Need fundraising drive, which is underway. If you'd like to donate or check it out, go to the BBC's page for Children in Need.

Oh, how horrible

Egypt: Train hits school bus; 47 children killed

A speeding train crashed into a bus carrying children to their kindergarten in southern Egypt on Saturday, killing at least 47, officials said. Distraught families searched for signs of their loved ones along the tracks in the aftermath of the latest disaster to hit the country's railway system.

The bus was carrying more than 50 children between 4 and 6 years old when it was hit near al-Mandara village in Manfaloot district in the province of Assiut, a security official said, adding that it appears that the railroad crossing was not closed as the train sped toward it.

I feel so sorry for the families in this terrible tragedy.

That's a little odd

I went to bed about 2 am. I laid there for a short time. Then I listened to a Loreena McKennitt album. Then I tried getting comfortable and laid awake some more. But I would swear it wasn't three hours' worth or more, and I'm almost 100% sure I didn't fall asleep. I am also almost 100% sure aliens didn't come get me and make me 'miss time'. I guess your perceptions just alter sometimes, and I was there, lying in bed awake, the whole time.

This is not a complaint, mind you, just an observation. My lack of sleep is my own fault. But it's really almost morning and I'm not the least bit sleepy. Somehow I suspect I'll be crashing and burning till noon or so. Oh, well. At least it's Saturday, and I have nothing to do except maybe an hour or two of game notes. I need to start getting on a regular schedule again, although in truth I'm normally awake by 7 am because that's when the light outside wakes me these days. I do occasionally ignore that, of course. As I will in the coming day, no doubt.

Ah ha!

The Roku remote was between a couple of things, having fallen to the floor. It has been retrieved with some effort, working some muscles I haven't been using, apparently. All is right with the world. But it was still cool that I could use the tablet (or my phone, for that matter) in a pinch.

Now, do I watch something or make an attempt at sleep? I think I'll try the latter first. Good night (for now).  :-)

Bazinga!!!

Okay, I can't complain about insomnia tonight. I slept part of the day and drank way too much soda after several days without caffeine. So if I seem a little chatty into the night, well, it's the caffeine. :)

Because of course humiliation is the ticket to getting kids to read, right?

Or so seems to think this so-called "teacher".

Fourth-Graders Who Flunk Reading Have Faces Marked

A fourth-grade teacher in southern Idaho is being criticized after having her students use permanent markers to draw on the faces of classmates who failed to meet reading goals.

Some parents and administrators say the punishments given to nine students in Summer Larsen's class were inappropriate and left the children feeling shamed.

Cindy Hurst said recently her 10-year-old son came home from school Nov. 5 with his entire face - including his eyelids - scribbled on with green, red and purple markers.

"He was humiliated, he hung his head and wanted to go wash his face," Hurst told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He knows he's a slow reader. Now he thinks he should be punished for it."

Reading should be fun. It should be something that people love to do. These children are not learning that. They're learning that if they're slow readers, it's a reason to feel shame. I can't think of a better way to get a child to hate reading, especially out loud in front of class. Kids have enough trouble with bullying in schools and the like. They don't need teachers who are bullies, too, or who model this sort of behaviour to other children, who no doubt will continue the shaming.

If I were a parent, I'd be calling for Ms. Larsen's dismissal, plain and simple, and not because I was being oversensitive, but because because Ms. Larsen apparently has no sensitivity when it comes to her students, and that's something the people we entrust our children to cannot be without.

Can someone explain

why the new Facebook update for Android does not include the 'share' feature like it's supposed to for either my tablet (which runs Ice Cream Sandwich) or my phone (which runs Gingerbread)? I have an e-mail in to the folks at Facebook, but it's the weekend, so I don't expect an instant reply. Surely I'm not the only one affected? I'm excited about the new feature, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Thanks!

PS Okay, weird, after being opened and closed and re-opened several times, the 'share' popped up on some posts in my newsfeed on my phone. Still working on the tablet to see if I somehow shake it into cooperation.

Listening to:

'Stolen Child' by Loreena McKennitt

But I was watching Netflix earlier. First I watched an episode of 'Rosemary & Thyme', which is a fine British mystery. Then I looked up the first season (series 5) of 'Doctor Who' with Matt Smith. See, I actually didn't watch much of that season. My recording of "Victory of the Daleks" was messed up, kept going out, and I got behind. Then eventually I started watching series 6, but never actually completed series 5.

Now that Amy Pond and Rory Williams' tenure on 'Doctor Who' Is finished, I thought I'd go back and watch those missed episodes, back to the first days, when both the Doctor and the Ponds were new. So I watched the Dalek episode, and enjoyed it. The next on, "The Time of Angels" was queued up and starting when I realised I just couldn't watch it tonight. It was the first episode with both River Song and Amy, and of course it has the Weeping Angels, which figured so prominently in the last episode. Alex Kingston, the actress who plays River [and I won't go into the significance of both women in the same episode, as that would involve, as she would put it, 'Spoilers!' for those who haven't watched], mentioned that it was fitting that the last episode with both of them would involve the Angels, given the beginning with "The Time of Angels". And it is fitting. But I couldn't watch it right then. Perhaps tomorrow. But it was just too close after what happened with Amy and Rory. I suppose it's a little silly, getting so emotional about a television programme, but hey, it's the one show these days I really do put some passion into. It's certainly my favourite science fiction show as of now. I grew up with the fourth Doctor, and I'm glad they revived the series. I didn't have BBCAmerica for awhile, or even cable, and missed a lot of the 9th and 10th Doctors, but I plan to go back and watch those, too. That this show has been going on since before I was born is a wonderful thing, especially as I am 45. Next year it will turn 50. That's just amazing. And the folks writing and producing the programme now are top notch. So even though I don't watch much TV, the Doctor is the main reason I keep my cable.

I couldn't find my Roku remote anywhere

And wanted to watch something on Netflix. Fortunately my tablet has the Roku application, which among other things allows you to use it to remote control the box. :) YKWIA had asked me to watch a show from 1969 called 'HR Puffnstuf'. I liked it a lot as a child, although I saw it mostly in re-runs, as it came out when I was 2, whereas YKWIA was older and adored it. It was one of the Sid & Marty Kroftt shows, with a boy and a magic flute trapped on an island being sought by an evil witch. Some of the things are very non-politically correct (the redwood tree is an Indian who says 'how!' and that sort of thing, the east wind is Asian and well, let's just say this probably wouldn't have been made these days, but it was normal at the time, and the show is still fun.

Now I'm listening to Pandora over the TV/Roku, a Loreena McKennitt channel, specifically 'Bonny Portmore' from the album The Visit. The sunlight is shining throught the window and the mail carrier just drove up.

It's been a good day. I did some of my exercises after I got up. I've started two books (yes, I am actually reading again). One is called The Diviners by Libba Bray, and is set in 20s New York and involves an occult murder investigation. Another is a young adult novel called The Sound and the Echoes by Dew Pellucid (obviously a pen-name). It has as a premiss that there is the material world, Sound, and a somewhat aethereal world of Echo. Every Sound has a counterpart in Echo, and if one dies in Sound, the Echo must die, according to those who police Echo. A young boy in Sound is hunted by the forces of Echo in an attempt to kill him, for that will force the Echo prince to die.

I need to do my other exercises, but otherwise have a clear agenda until Monday. So I guess it will be mostly reading or watching TV. I wish I were at work. But I guess it's good to have some free time for awhile.

Okay, I guess I'll go see if anything of import came in the mail.

I just cried my heart out

I finally watched the last 'Doctor Who' episode, "Angels Take Manhattan", where we say goodbye to Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. I put this off knowing I would be sad. But it was such a good episode. Looking forward to the Christmas special next month. The Doctor, of course, will go on. But they were wonderful companions, and I've enjoyed the adventures that were unveiled with them.

I've cried myself out. I think it's time for some quiet time now. Maybe I'll listen to some soft, relaxing music. Thank you, folks at the BBC, and to Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill for giving us Amy and Rory. And of course, Steven Moffat for writing the story that made me cry.

I feel better

I've done my exercises and I think my allergy medicine is kicking in, so I'm not as winded as I was earlier. I was beginning to think I was catching a friend's cold. I feel more awake and with it. The mail just ran three hours earlier than normal and I have a large catalogue to look through and the newest circular from Science Fiction Book Club. Not sure I really want to set an agenda for the day. I have made the phone call I needed to, paid what bills don't come out automatically, that sort of thing. So the rest of the day is pretty much left for me to amuse myself. Still haven't watched Doctor Who, and a friend wants me to watch something from our childhood in light of today's sensibilities to see just how non-politically-correct it may be.

They're vacuuming the hallway outside my door right now. I wish I could vaccum in here. I keep dropping tiny things like the pen needle tips that I can't pick up, and it's been over a month since I vacuumed. Oh, well. I'll have plenty to occupy me once I'm up and walking again.

I'm going to check the news and see if there's anything worth blogging about. Sorry I've just been sort of doing inconsequential posts today, but this is kind of life at the moment.

Okay

I went ahead and cleaned up a bit and changed clothes and I feel 80% better. I am going to hang out in the bedroom for a little while, and then do my exercises. Maybe that will wake me up.  :-)

I'm up, but a little bleary-eyed

Although I did pretty much sleep seven hours through, so that's an accomplishment. I got up, ate breakfast, and paid the bills that I couldn't last night because of the computer issues. I'm still not quite ready to face the day. I have someone coming over in a couple of hours, so I really should stay up. I need to make a phone call or two. But I really just want to go back to bed.

I also feel grody. It's time to change clothes and do a baby-wipe bath, but I just don't seem to have the energy yet. I think maybe it's that my blood sugar is running a little higher than it has been. I'm going to go take some long-acting insulin and try this whole get up thing again in an hour.

Apparently I am being thwarted again

This time in paying bills. I wanted to pay my cable and phone bills before going to sleep because I got paid and just wanted to get it over with. Unfortunately the Insight site (which has converted finally over to a new online bill pay system, so I had to register and go through all the hoops) kept giving an error, meaning they're probably doing some sort of maintenance, and T-Mobile's site is definitely down for maintenance. I realise they have to do it sometime, but it's awfully inconvenient if you happen to be up and wanting to pay them, and their systems won't take a payment, plus the Insight page doesn't mention what's going on at all.

Oh, well. I'll try tomorrow. Just a little annoyed that I came out here for nothing. I guess I'll go to bed and try to get some sleep, although I'm not particularly sleepy.

Shameful

Abortion debate flares in Ireland after woman denied quick termination dies

Savita Halappanavar was in agony but her doctors remained obstinate.

The 31-year-old dentist was 17 weeks pregnant on Oct. 21 when her husband Praveen rushed her to a hospital in Galway, Ireland. After an examination at the coastal city’s university hospital, Halappanavar was told she was miscarrying.

Over a three-day stretch, Halappanavar and her husband asked repeatedly that her pregnancy be terminated.

Doctors refused, saying that they could still detect a fetal heartbeat. At one point, Halappanavar was told, “This is a Catholic country,” according to The Guardian.

Halappanavar was neither Irish nor Catholic, but died due to a constitutional amendment passed in 1983 that states that one is an Irish citizen from conception. Thousands of Irish women go abroad to end their pregnancies in a country where abortion is not available. She did not have that recourse, as she was undergoing an emergency miscarriage. Now she is dead, her case mishandled by a profession that promises to 'do no harm', who in turn are bound by a backwards property of the constitution that means choosing a dying foetus over the health of the mother.

No one likes the idea of abortion. I certainly don't care for the idea of abortion in place of birth control. [And I stress that birth control is a better option. It amazes me that some people oppose that, as well, even though I understand their reasons. But it does prevent the more invasive abortion.] But I think that's relatively rare that you have women who just abort at the drop of a hat. The two people I have known to have had one made very difficult decisions and were certainly not doing so blithely. But I think women have a fundamental right to safe medical services for abortion, no matter what the situation. And the idea that a woman should carry a pregnancy to term in the case of rape or incest is insulting to women everywhere. Or, in this case, risking the life of a woman, I think it should be criminal.

I hope this case will open up a dialogue in Ireland and other places about providing the medical services needed to save lives despite, and providing abortion services to women who need them.

I made the bed!

Which was complicated by the fact that I was in it at the time but now I have new sheets and the ones I've been sleeping on for a month can finally go in the laundry. Yay!  :-)

PS And yes, I did feed the fish.

Consequences of little sleep

So far today I have overrun the toilet (try dealing with that in a walker), dropped everything I have picked up, practically, and nearly had my cheese--Miracle Whip and all--slide off my bread. I'd like to tackle the bed and get the sheets changed, but at this point I'm not even sure if it's safe to try to feed the fish.

So it's 4:30 am

and I'm wide awake, despite some calming music by Loreena McKennitt. I finally just got up. I can almost get comfortable, but not quite, and it's maddening. And I'm itching, which I'm sure is a sign of healing, but is not conducive to sleep. I could understand if I'd stayed in bed all day, but I didn't. I should be crashing. But I'm not. :( So I've had about two hours' of sleep tonight, and I would do better to get more rather than sleeping late tomorrow because it's the last day of the annual apartment walk-through, and unless they came during my appointment they haven't come by yet. I don't want people wandering through when I'm in bed. I may just call the office and ask them to give me a head's up before they come. That way I could catch up on sleep a little, at least.

I think tomorrow I'm going to try to work on the last game notes. I transferred the recordings to the computer today. That's the longest I've let the recorder sit without transferring; it occurred to me if the battery got super low I might lose things, and that would be bad.

Also on the agenda tomorrow is to watch the last episode of 'Doctor Who' off the DVR. Still haven't done that yet.

Well, I fixed some music on my tablet where the initial conversion of one of my CDs to MP3 files didn't work so it was treating two of the songs as the correct person and the rest of the album as 'unknown artist'. All is right with the thing now. I also ate some canned peas, so my stomach has stopped grumbling. Dare I return to bed and try this again?

Happy Diwali!

Here's more on Diwali.

This is rather cute

One approach to censorship

Davis district sued over flap about lesbian mothers book

A Kaysville parent sued the Davis School District on Tuesday, alleging her children’s First Amendment rights were violated by a school committee’s decision earlier this year to remove a book about lesbian mothers from shelves of elementary libraries.

Students can read the picture book, In Our Mothers’ House, by Patricia Polacco, only if they have a permission slip signed by parents. The policy decision brought applause from parents who felt the story wasn’t appropriate for young children and criticism from opponents who believed it was unjustified censorship and hurtful to gay and lesbian families.

Also nice to know, the lone dissenter on the committee which voted to remove the book from general circulation was a librarian, a high school librarian, Trudena Fager. Kudos to her.

Listening to

Evanescence, "Imaginary", from Fallen

Tonight was meant to be the eve of a fun and adventurous trip to Chicago. I was going to leave tomorrow, flying there at the expense of a regional committee I am on, but going up a day ahead of our meetings on Thursday and Friday and staying the night at my own expense. I was going to go to the Field Museum of Natural History for sure. Instead, I'll be at home, although possibly using Skype to attend the meetings on some level.

All is not lost. I should be able to go next autumn when they meet again. But it's not every day you get to visit a large city for three days for the price of a hotel room (at a group rate) for one night and one day's expenses. So that's one loss from the accident.

Oh, well. Maybe something good will come out of all this that will make things better.

Okay

I noticed on my tablet about an hour ago that one of the updates it had was for the banking application, so I updated and decided, especially as the notes said that the main improvement was Mobile Deposit for high end devices, that I would try one more time to do the deposit. It worked like a charm the very first try. Maybe there was a system problem right before or as the update was being rolled out. It works now, at least. So thanks to my bank for improving the process. And since it was before ten tonight, the funds will be available tomorrow morning (or probably midnight tonight). That saves a trip to the bank and is very helpful.

I just spent an hour

trying to deposit a cheque by phone. I've done it before, it worked fine, but I was under fluorescent lights then. But no, did this? Even in the brightest light of the house? At a time when I'm basically homebound and could really use that feature to work, did it? The problem is they require you to write 'for deposit only [bank name] mobile banking' under the endorsement. I was afraid I messed up the cheque so they wouldn't honour it at the branch, although surely this happens fairly often. So then I called my bank and went through a robomenu from hell that wouldn't understand a word I was saying. You'd have thought I had a Scottish accent. :) But I finally got a representative, who gave me the secret (*00) to cutting through that. He assured me that I or someone else could come in and deposit the cheque and since it hadn't gone through already everything was fine. I hope that's the case when a friend takes it in soon.

Grrr. On the other hand, I've been up since 7 am without going to bed once. I've washed hair and self, gone out to an appointment, done physical therapy, talked to friends in person, on the phone, and also texted with Brandon, tried to deposit the cheque, just a whole bunch of stuff. And so far I haven't crashed. That may be coming soon, though. :)

Yesterday was

the one-month anniversary of the accident that has left me stuck at home for the most part and often bored out of my skull. But at least I know that barring any complications I will be back at work soon, and the memory of the pain and boredom will eventually fade. I'm thankful for that.

Today I am going out; I have a doctor's appointment. I was very ambitious this morning and had a full-on sponge bath (no baby wipes this time!) Then I washed my hair. It's not something I think I could do every day easily, but I managed this morning. I got some of the old skin off, washed and rinsed everything I could get damp, put lotion on the dry skin, and got dressed. I may have gone 32 days without a proper shower, but at least I'm as clean as I can be. I've also taken my medicine. About the only thing I haven't done is eat. I'm just not hungry yet.

It would have been nice to sleep a little more as I had a period of two or three hours where I was wide-awake in bed last night, but I'd forgotten to turn the heat on, had run the fan, and woke up to a chilly apartment when the temperature outside was something like 25 degrees (and that's Fahrenheit). We would be going out on the coldest day in awhile. The entire rest of the week is warmer, at least somewhat, and we're just coming away from a weekend in the 70s.

Wish me luck--the stairs are always a challenge.

I spoke to my mom tonight

and it looks like Thanksgiving is officially cancelled in our family. My stepfather's mother is elderly and can't negotiate the stairs. His sister is in a wheelchair. My grandmother and I are in wheelchairs and/or walkers, and their stairs are too difficult to deal with/the house isn't particularly handicapped accessible. So it looks like my mom is going to bring something over to my grandmother and call me from there, so we can talk at least. In 45 years, I've never missed celebrating Thanksgiving with some family member (when I was married, it was sometimes both families). There was one year my dad was stationed away from us and my mom and I had turkey TV dinners, but we always tried to do something.