I woke up with it in my head

and after watching several episodes since about 2 this afternoon with a friend (so about 4 1/2 hours), the theme song to 'H2O: Just Add Water' is probably stuck there for good. But it was fun, and it kind of took me back to the good things about being a teenager (although I didn't grow up on the Gold Coast of Australia, and I didn't have magical mermaid powers). :)

Now I'm looking forward to a quiet evening at home. But first I'm going to scrounge for something to eat. Hope your weekend is going well.

Do you subscribe to this blog through RSS?

Did you know that July 1st, Google is discontinuing Google Reader? You should know, of course, as it hasn't been a secret, but just in case you didn't, you might want to start looking for some alternatives. I've chosen Feedly as mine, as it has both a web and mobile application version, is free, and allows you to migrate your feeds very simply. You might find one that better suits your needs, but it does really well for me. There are some alternatives listed at: Goodbye, Google Reader. Here are 5 alternatives. I hope you keep reading this blog, and if for some reason RSS is dead to you, there's always the web version or mobile version of this page to look at as well. If you go to this page on your phone, it should automatically bring up the mobile version, although you can choose the web version by the link on the bottom of the mobile page. Or, you can scan the QR code to the left on the sidebar to bring up the mobile version and bookmark it. Enjoy, and as always, I'd love to have feedback on how to make this better. I'm nearly at 9,000 posts and in October I'll be starting my thirteenth year of blogging. Thank you to those of you who read this.

Well, despite a nap, I have finished the notes

although Brenda had to cancel this week, for good reason. So tomorrow I'll go over a little later than usual, do the usual Sunday things, and visit. Maybe later in the day I can do that laundry; I'm not really wanting to do tonight.

One of the tangents we went on during the game was the costuming of the upcoming show, 'Reign', which is supposed to be about Mary, Queen of Scots in the court of the French, but which seems to be mostly, as I put it, 'teen angst in fantasy mediaeval dress'. Of course, it should have been Tudor-style. Brenda is a professional costumer and long-time Society for Creative Anachronism participant, and the game master is a gay man with a history degree who also studied theatre. Nothing was architecturally correct, the clothes were just completely Renaissance Faire, and as I (also a history degree, and lots of graduate level classes, mainly dealing with Europe form ancient to French Revolution) looked up earlier, Mary didn't go to France as a teenager for the first time--she was five and grew up at the French court. In other words, there is nothing vaguely historical about this show. There was much frothing. See for yourself:



Now there were a couple of interesting trailers we saw, also from the CW network. There's the 'Tommorow People', which originally was a British show that both YKWIA and I grew up with in the 1970s and loved, that was then remade in the 1990s (it was okay, not as good as the original), and now it's made it to America, with a much darker feel and yes, teen angst. The jury's out on that one. Here's it's preview:



Another was 'The 100', which looked interesting. It's about 100 young prisoners who did not fit into an overcrowded society in a space station sent back to Earth decades after a global nuclear war as a test to see if humanity can return. Here's that preview:

A very productive day

In addition to my morning activities I've been to the grocery twice today (once for my friends' two-cart order). I fixed lunch for a friend and had a nice time visiting. Now on my list is to return a phone call from another friend, do the game notes, and if there's time left over, the hand-wash laundry (which is about a third of my summer wardrobe, I now realise).

In addition to the bounty from earlier, I watered and trimmed some of my window box herbs so I use them in my herb bread. There's sage, oregano, basil, and thyme. I'm letting the dill go to seed. My kitchen, where they're out on a paper towel to dry, smells lovely. :)

I do have a couple of questions for those of you out there:

1. Do any of you know someone in our area who would be willing to take in a 12-year-old female Basset hound whose owners are no longer able to keep her? I thought I'd check for a friend, who was trying to find a home for her.
2. When I was a teenager we had soft, non-canned cat food in pouches that we fed our cats. I'm looking for something like that, without gravy, etc. The closest we've come so far is Whiskas or Friskies, but they have the gravy, and the cat is somewhat indifferent to what it's tried so far. When we went to the store today we accidentally got food that was basically canned, but in a plastic container, with many of them in a box today, and the cat turned his nose up completely. He needs an intermediate food, between dry and canned, but the owner prefers no gravy. If you have any ideas, feel free to e-mail me (link on the sidebar) or comment on this post. I've only tried Kroger and Incredipet, but the Kroger was a Marketplace store which has separate aisles for cats and dogs and a very good selection, and Incredipet has quite a good one, too. I've also checked online at PetSmart, and generally online. Apparently most of the 'soft' food has gravy. :( Thanks for any input you might have!

I got a lot done in an hour

So for $15 I got four tomatoes, six ears of corn, an onion, a cucumber, and a pint of black raspberries. The squash in the picture comes courtesy of Brenda, who brought it at the last game, along with salad greens and snow peas. The little purple peppers are from my plant. I've had about seven so far, maybe more, and it's full again. So now I have the fixings for corn-on-the-cob, salad, and the dish I make with cheese, squash, and onions that I have no idea what it's called, but it's very yummy.

I ate breakfast at McDonald's, where a fly kept buzzing around me in the dining room. I know it's impossible to keep them out in hot weather, but it was annoying. But breakfast (egg and cheese biscuits) was good, and then I headed for the bank, where the drive-through was really hopping. I had to go inside for my transaction, and had to wait awhile because there was only one lobby teller open, but I was patient and eventually one of the drive-through tellers was able to do my transaction. I got the cashier's cheque for my rent and some money for the farmer's market, then headed there. After browsing the stalls and buying from about three of them (I like to spread the bounty), I headed to the leasing office, paid my rent (early!) and came on back to the house.

That's all I had planned for the morning. So pool or notes? Hmmmm....

Slow to wake up this morning

but I'm up and ready to engage the day. First stop, get some breakfast, then bank, then farmer's market, and then leasing office. The pool may or may not happen--it's 77 degrees outside and cooler, so I don't know how warm the water will be. But I definitely want to do the others. Then maybe I'll work on game notes so I won't be scrambling to do them tonight. It would be the sensible thing to do. I've got my sunscreen on for walking between the booths/driving about, and it's going with me in my purse. Hope you have a pleasant day!

So glad the weekend's here

I'm up briefly. I fell asleep by about 9 pm, mainly because the week has been long and tiring, although I have gotten plenty of rest, really. The afternoon was odd, as I went by the pharmacy, got one friend's medicine, delivered it, came home, another friend called asking if I could bring over food, so I did (Texas Roadhouse salmon!), but the other friend wasn't home yet, so of course when I got over there with the food he called and said he was getting off in a half an hour, pretty late at work, and of course, it would take a long time to get home on the bus, so I went ahead and ate with my other friend, got the other afterwards, and then he ate while we spent some time in their library at the computer talking. Meanwhile another friend texted me as he didn't hear from me last night (I fell asleep so early). So much running about was to be had, but friendships are doing better. Yay!

I'm getting a farmer's tan on my arms, especially where I'm driving this summer. I really must learn to put on sunscreen even when I'm not 'out' in the sun. I'm quite pink, even on the back of my neck (since I no longer have hair to cover it), and that's all from just driving about.

Tomorrow, the plan is to get up, get my rent from the bank and some money for the farmer's market, go to said farmer's market (really, this time; it will at least be less muggy and cooler), and maybe go to our pool at the complex for a little while (assuming I can get sunscreen on my back). Tomorrow afternoon there's a big grocery run with a friend and game notes to do. Sunday is the game.

I'm looking forward to the short week next week. I plan to go to our downtown Fourth of July festival as usual on Thursday, and then go to the fireworks at the Idle Hour Golf Course. I'm lucky that because I work right across the street, I can go see it from the front lawn and park with my badge in the hospital parking lot. Yay! I hopefully will be able to take Friday off as well, as it will be dreadfully slow at work that day otherwise. A four-day weekend sounds lovely. Too bad my friend A couldn't swing it; we could have gone somewhere, maybe. I also want to see the movie 'Despicable Me 2'. I loved the first one, and I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel. That's coming out next weekend. I think I still have a free admission ticket for Cinemark that was given to us as an employee gift last year (well, we had two, but I used one last year for Hunger Games. Speaking of that, in one weekend in November, Catching Fire, the 50th Anniversary 'Doctor Who' programme, and the return of 'Sherlock' all happen, although I'm not sure if that's just on the other side of the pond or here as well. :) That'll be a busy weekend if the dates are the same for here!

Okay, I think I'll go on back to sleep so I can get up early and get some things done. Have a good night!

Correction

My blood sugar is much higher than I expected. No wonder I feel bad. I've taken some insulin, and I'm heading to bed. Hope I feel better in the morning.

So at least three nights running

I have come home, gone to sleep (sometimes as early as 6:30 pm, like I did today), slept for several hours, got up for a bit, and then struggled to get up in the morning. It's like I'm exhausted, even though I'm not really doing anything that should make it that way. My blood sugar is not unduly high (for me). I'm just curling up and going to bed. Than indicates an emotional reason to me, and that might be the case, but I won't go into it here. But I am sorry I've just been basically coming home, collapsing, and not doing much in the way of blogging.'

Let me say that I was incredibly happy to see the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) struck down, and that marriages can resume among gay couples in California. Plus the court dismissed some cases today, which were favourable to gays. I have two dear friends who have to been together for over fifteen years. I would love to see them get married. I recognise that Kentucky will no doubt be dragging its feet to join the ranks of states that will allow this; but I have faith it will happen.

Even now I seem very groggy and just out of it. I think I'll check my blood sugar, take my long-acting insulin, and head back to bed, even though it means getting nothing done tonight. Oh, and I'll run the dishwasher, which I loaded this morning before the Terminix guy came to do the apartment. I can at least say I got something done, then. :)

Drat!

I fell asleep earlier and totally forgot that it was the 25th and my phone bill and a book at the library were both due. I've taken care of both, renewing the book and paying my bill, but because it's after midnight, they're overdue. :( I usually do a little better with that.

Feeling bad because I ran off at the mouth

and hurt a good friend, for no good reason. Then I worked on his computer, and he fell asleep, and I went on home, so I haven't really had a chance to properly apologise. I'm hoping things will be okay between us when we can talk it out later. I hate going to sleep without any sort of closure on matters like that with people I love. You never know when one of you won't wake up. Oddly enough, it was something I said to our (mutual) lawyer, as I was setting the wheels in motion to place him in charge of my will, durable power of attorney, and medical surrogacy/living will. But I have every faith that our friendship, which has lasted something like 24 years, will endure this speed bump. As a result of things, I've been a little down tonight. I shouldn't have said what I said, and I was out of line.

Another friend called me after I got home and we had a long talk, mainly about the Paula Deen dust-up, because I'd posted on Twitter and Facebook that I did not support her, and had tried to explain why, but when you're limited to 140 characters, it's a bit hard. So I explained my reasons and he understood where I was coming from and why. We found we agreed on such things as the n-word is not appropriate in any situation or said by any person, white, black, or purple. My main issue wasn't that she had said it, but rather comments about how people who didn't like her jokes had no sense of humour, and certain aspects about her apology. That word is never funny. It was never used in any way other to be hurtful and derogatory, despite comments I've read attempting to say otherwise. There were other words, yes, used instead of 'black', words that were not pejorative. Even now, for example, we have the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which uses a legacy term. But the n-word was always foul, and it's not something you can 'reclaim' simply by using it or a variation every other word on the bus, whatever your race.

We all say stupid and sometimes horrible things in our lives, often without thinking, often from emotion. I have a minor in Judaic Studies, am very pro-Jewish (although not exactly pro-Israel at times), have a Jewish best friend, etc., etc., and am not, in my own mind anti-Semitic. But I once said something absolutely terrible about a Jewish professor who I felt had humiliated me (and in retrospect, rightly so) in front of a classroom. I came to really like and respect the professor, and I never said anything inappropriate to his face, but my friend was there when I said it, and has never let me completely forget it, nor should I. When I think of what I said, I feel shame. Maybe, if nothing else, the Paula Deen thing will get people to think about what they say about others, but I doubt it. Instead, it seems to be about giving celebrities a free pass on things they do just because they apologise and we like them. I think that's all emotional twaddle, rather than looking at things as they really are. Most of the supporters of Deen and others in similar situations justify it because they're likable and famous, which is a shame. It shouldn't make everything okay. Yes, an apology is a first step, but it should be sincere and not done out of fear of losing lucrative contracts. And yes, there are people who do other and perhaps more egregious things (I'm thinking especially about adultery, like Tiger Woods and Bill Clinton, or doping and squashing any challenge about it, like Lance Armstrong) and largely they come out pretty clean when all is said and done, because people look the other way when their heroes (or heroines) become tainted by their own actions. That's wrong.

SO this has been a pretty serious post, but let me end it on a odd news note. YKWIA called me early this morning to tell me about a fashion show where they had coats for men and women made out of some mysterious fibre that was all the rage, and then when people asked what it was, it turned out to be men's chest hair. Really. Check out: Hair-raising fashion! Would YOU pay £2,499 for a fur coat made from male CHEST HAIR? Gross.

The humanities DO really matter

The Decline and Fall of the English Major

Writing well used to be a fundamental principle of the humanities, as essential as the knowledge of mathematics and statistics in the sciences. But writing well isn’t merely a utilitarian skill. It is about developing a rational grace and energy in your conversation with the world around you.

No one has found a way to put a dollar sign on this kind of literacy, and I doubt anyone ever will. But everyone who possesses it — no matter how or when it was acquired — knows that it is a rare and precious inheritance.

Apparently I am withdrawing from caffeine

I was irritable to nearly the breaking point earlier and went through all the usual suspects such as not taking medicine, wonky blood sugar, or premenstrual syndrome, and realised that they were not the culprit, but rather the fact that I've cut down on my soda intake, the way I get my caffeine, may have something to do with it. I've had only two 20 oz. diet drinks today; everything else is water. Once I realised this (and took some ibuprofen for my headache) I did better. I played the game and enjoyed myself, although I did discover the string cheese I bring is actually a far worse culprit sodium-wise than most soda. There's 200 mg of sodium per serving. Brenda brought some veggies out of her garden for both of us, yay! Here's to squash and snow peas and various lettuces.

I don't normally post on Sundays, but thought I'd write a short bit. I'm home now and I've been looking for a book for a friend (one of those questions librarians get where they get very vague plot points and description, that we see as a challenge). I should go on to bed, though, as I must be up very early to take said friend to an appointment. I have to get over there by 7:15 or 7:30. At least that's what I'm shooting for. So I'm going to go on to bed. Good night!

I guess the universe is taking care of me, after a fashion

I have curtailed my soda intake, and I haven't had any Diet Sunkist, which has 180 mg of sodium per 20 oz. bottle, whereas Diet Coke has 70 and Diet Pepsi has 60. I have had a Diet Pepsi today, but considering I usually drink 3-4 20 oz. sodas as a minimum and sometimes, like on game day, 1 or 2 2-litres, I think I'm doing pretty well. But I was getting terribly sleepy while working on the game notes (despite a little nap earlier) and I decided I needed some more caffeine. I went over to the laundry room and put the money in, got one. Then I decided to get one for later. A regular Coke came out. Thinking I'd hit the wrong button, I put money in again. Another regular Coke came out. :( Apparently they'd mixed them in to the Diet Coke slot. One of my neighbours was out walking her dog and I asked if she drank regular Coke, and her husband does, so I gave them to her. At least I got one out of the bunch. (Sorry A, I would have brought you them, but figured you're trying to watch your intake and you usually choose Diet).

I'm working on the notes, but it is time for a break. I'll come back in a little while and start working on them again. We played for a lot longer than normal and most of this was investigation, so it'll take quite awhile to finish.

It is apparently the afternoon of napping

I was doing my laundry over at my friends' house and everyone in the house except me--humans, dogs, and cats, fell asleep, One had been up since four something in the morning and was falling asleep at the computer before he laid down. Another fell asleep to 'The Flying Nun', which was the only thing he could find on television he could handle. The dogs and cats were ranged around him. I took a picture of everyone but the one in bed, which I'll show them later. But my laundry finished, so I folded it and got my stuff and crept out of there. A barely stirred. :)

I feel like a nap, too. I watered the outside plants as soon as I got home because they were looking peaked in the heat, but the sun is beating down through the windows and it's a pleasant afternoon. The plan is to get up later, do game notes and hand-wash laundry, as well as dishes and a bit of straightening, before calling it a night.

I did send the disc of 'Grimm' I have out from Netflix back today so I could get another. I checked and the first season is on Amazon Prime, which I have, without paying anything additional. So I'm going to go that route. I couldn't get Silver Linings Playbook at the library, so I added it to my disc queue to watch in a little while. I have a couple of other discs first, but they should be quick to watch, I think. A said it was fine to wait a bit. Okay, now for my nap. :)

I was going to write

about how absolutely relaxed I was after taking a cool shower, getting into my sleep shirt, and settling into the bedroom with the radio on. But that was an hour ago, and I've spent the whole time trying to reconnect the laptop to the wi-fi after an update to the adapter. Turns out that even though my router was working fine, and both the desktop and phone could get to the internet through it, it still needed to be reset for the laptop to get a clue. Yes, I did solve the problem, but my relaxation is shot. I'm going to just go on to bed. :(

Tomorrow I also might

check to see if I can find a copy of Silver Linings Playbook at one of the local libraries for rent...A really has been wanting to watch it, and I must admit, I think I'd like it, too.

What a day

It did take two tries, but I did get my passport application in. I should get it in about six weeks. I even took a fairly nice photo that YKWIA described as 'perky'. Afterwards I went by the pharmacy and got medicine for three people, then went and got some food from Texas Roadhouse and ate with YKWIA and A. YKWIA and I watched some YouTube videos that were wonderful as they debunked a lot of conspiracy theories, and then I decided to head on home about 8:30 or so. I'm just now sitting down and deciding what to do next. Given that I 1) need to do notes, 2) could have some fun watching videos, or 3) am so tired I could just go straight to bed, I am somewhat in a quandry. Notes will probably be pushed to tomorrow night, although, as usual, that's last minute. What I really want to do is take a shower, put my jammies on and get comfortable, maybe listen to some music for a bit. Basically, I need to relax. There were lots of frustrations today and a great deal of traffic to navigate, as I think I spent my day, about 9:30-6:30 running full tilt.

For tomorrow, I plan on:

1. Going to the farmer's market (for real this weekend)
2. Doing some laundry (at my friends' house if possible, and then the hand washables at home later)
3. Getting the car washed and detailed (A is treating me to this, which is great)
4. Doing game notes

That's doable, I think. For now, though, I'm going to listen to my plushie cat that plays 'Soft Kitty', get into a sleep shirt, and go into the bedroom for a bit. Maybe I'll even read for a bit. I have the latest (and last) of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series (the one 'True Blood' is based upon, with Sookie Stackhouse as the main character) and I'm interested in how she'll end it. :)

It is a day when things are not going according to plan

1. Got to the passport office; their camera wasn't working. Then they figured out the problem (a bad power strip), but it turns out I needed one more piece of paperwork that wasn't mentioned anywhere (because of my name change, where they marked out my old name on my birth certificate and put in the new name, even though the case # and date, etc., is all on the certificate, I still need the court order). The lady was very nice and asked me if I could come back at 4, which is technically after they close, to finish the application, since tomorrow she's booked.
2. My doctor's office is in a building where there are two elevators. One has been out for about two or three weeks apparently. The other went out today, and the people fixing it had all gone to lunch when I got there. So it was up four flights of stairs and an asthma attack for me.
3. I waited nearly two hours to see the doctor, which took less than five minutes, and then no one, either the phlebotomist or doctor (who usually does well), could stick me and get any blood out of me today, even after three sticks and several searches for veins. I now have an order to drink lots of water and go to an outside lab for my blood draw. But they are sending in my diuretic and potassium to the pharmacy so I can get those today. I am to limit my sodium intake, which includes my favourite drink, diet soda. YKWIA will be pleased; he's been trying to get me off them for years. For the record, I am drinking ice water right now.

Well, at least I remembered to pay one of my bills by five so it will be considered on time. I really want to take a nap, but I have to leave in about ten minutes with the paperwork to head all the way across town to the post office. I want to get there a little before four just in case she forgot. Actually, I should go ahead and get ready to go. I'll write later.

:)

It took about 20 minutes for me to do the same setup I did for my friend in the migration from Insight to Time Warner Cable tonight--and that was only because I didn't receive an e-mail with the starting link and had to look it up on the website. Granted, I learned most of what I needed the other night through the techs and trial and error (a lot of trial and error), but it was ever so much easier. I hope my post from the other day that lists my discoveries of some of the pitfalls and solutions helps some of those who experience difficulty.

Okay, time for that nap!

Been doing some more computer maintenance on the laptop

I scanned for viruses (yay, found none, which was a concern as it had been unprotected for awhile) and had a program analyse problems, and it found several thousand junk files and several hundred registry issues. I suspect it's because my friends had it and had some stuff on it, then took it off. The hard drive isn't fragmented, at least. The whole thing was running slow as molasses, especially during the antiviral scan, but now it's working like a charm. I just hope I didn't accidentally remove something important. :) Anyway, it seems to have helped. I'm in my trial period for the security program, but I'll probably go ahead and get a year's worth of protection before the month is up. I still have a few Office updates to do.

Tomorrow I'm off from work, although I have two appointments lined up that will take up most of the day. The first is that I'm going to the post office to apply for a passport and get a photo taken. I'm not actually planning a trip, but at some point I'd like to travel outside of the US (remarkably, I was an Air Force brat and never did so). The Medical Library Association meeting in 2015, for example, is in Canada, which now requires a passport or passport card for entry from the United States. I never could get through to the post office nearest me, so I'm going to Lexington's main post office on Nandino, but then my office, the Bluegrass station on Landsdowne, isn't particularly near me, either. :) Then I have an appointment with my doctor about my swelling ankles. Yeah, kind of boring, I know, but it's become a problem. I can't get into any of my shoes towards the end of the day except my adjustable sandals, and even then I push the envelope on those, with the velcro barely holding together sometimes on the ankle that was broken. I need a diuretic according to the podiatric surgeon. Tomorrow I also need to go by the pharmacy to pick that up and my short-acting insulin, as I only have a pen and a half left of that, and I want to make sure I have plenty for the weekend. I think I'll also stop by the Y and see about finally working out.

Tonight's plans are laundry, dishes, and well, that's about it. Maybe I should fill the fish tank, too; it's kind of low. I want to take a brief nap, but that worked so well last night. :) Of course, I'm not super tired like I was, so maybe I can do it.

So glad!

Exodus International: 'Gay Cure' Group Leader Shutting Down Ministry After Change of Heart

A Christian ministry that claimed people could change their sexuality through faith, prayer and therapy is shutting down its operations, and the group's president issued an apology for causing the gay community "pain and hurt" through its past work.

When I was at school, a friend of mine knew a guy at the university who was a graduate student and who was hounded by these people. They showed up at his workplace and threatened to contact his family in India. The young man wound up committing suicide. I know that ultimately it was his choice, and it was the result of a few individuals' zeal, but still, I can't imagine how he must have felt, and I've never forgotten what this group did. This news gives me some hope that the world is, indeed changing, and in some ways, for the better.

Okay, it's bad when even the KKK is part of a sting to keep you from building a death ray

This bit of news is brought to you by YKWIA, my source for the off-beat sorts of things he just finds bizarrely online:

Feds thwart KKK member's plot to create mobile death ray to kill "undesirables" (with links to several articles, one of which is:)

KKK member, accomplice created lethal X-ray system, FBI says

Two New York state men have been charged in a bizarre plan to develop a mobile X-ray system that would be used from afar to silently kill people that they deemed "undesirable," federal officials said.

Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, and Eric J. Feight, 54, were arrested Tuesday after an undercover operation by the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. They were charged with conspiracy to provide material support for use of a weapon of mass destruction, according to the criminal complaint.

Crawford and Feight were developing a device "intended to be mobile ... designed to turn on remotely from some distance away" that would emit "some dangerous levels of X-ray radiation," according to John Duncan, executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.

They contacted two Jewish groups to try to get interest in buying their weapon, and someone contacted the authorities, starting the investigation. Later, Crawford met with a high-ranking KKK official and two other people who were working with the FBI, where he discussed the scheme and asked for money to get it off the ground. Sounds to me like they were petitioning to get into the Evil League of Evil.

Weird

Okay, so I just woke up after four hours. That is not so weird. But I went to give myself a shot of Lantus, the long-acting insulin, and it refused to work. Apparently I got a pen needle that wasn't open all the way or something, kind of like when you get a dud straw that is closed on one end. I've never had that happen before. It didn't work for the air shot or anything, and when I tried to push, wouldn't go anywhere. I had to change needles and then I was fine. Odd.

Ready for a quiet night at home

I did go over to my friends' house for a couple of hours, just to spend time and eat a little dinner. But I am very tired after the great e-mail migration, so I think I'll do a little relaxing (and maybe work in a load or two of laundry). :)

I suppose it was because I ate so late last night, even though I took my insulin, that my blood sugar was through the roof (over 400!) this morning. By lunch it was about my norm, a little over 200 (still too high). By mid-afternoon it had dropped to 140, which was very good for me these days, but I felt absolutely awful. I think when you tend to run high, your body seems to respond to relatively normal blood sugars as if you're low. I don't have any proof of that, but it's how I feel when it happens. I had a little peanut butter and crackers, got up and walked around a bit, and felt much better.

Okay, I've come home, watered the plants, and fed the fish (I usually do that last in the morning, but scooted out of here very quickly as I got out of bed at 8 am and had to be at work by 8:30--and I wasn't late, yay.) But I'm still a bit tired from everything last night, so I'm going to take a nap. I'll try to write later, maybe check the news and see if there's anything of note.

Up late working on a computer, this time for someone else

Note to any of you making the switch from Insight to Time Warner Cable e-mail:

1. Do not choose a password over 12 characters even though it gives you that option, because it won't let you change it later and you'll wind up on the phone with tech support for a long while.
2. The POP and SMTP server names are both mail.twc.com--the techs don't know this, because the twc.com thing is so new.
3. If using Outlook, you have to put your entire e-mail address in as a username in order to receive incoming mail.

It took me five hours and three techs from phone support (including one very helpful one who was a level 3, whatever that means) to figure all this out. Let me save you time. My brain has turned to mush, I've had to have two backrubs, and I am now treating myself to Taco Bell and will soon curl up in a ball and shut out the world.

Up kind of late...

tweaking and updating the laptop some more. The Windows updates were fairly straightforward; it's the HP ones that are taking forever. There were also some for Office, for my mouse program, and then there was the fact that it was time to take Norton off the thing because the trial had ended, I had replaced it with another I liked better, and it kept popping up saying there was a conflict and asking me to remove the other program. In other words, it wasn't doing anything anymore to protect my computer, just annoying me for choosing a rival. So off it went. I would have told them that (they kept trying to get me to buy a subscription to their product every step of the uninstall, progressively going down in price, then asking me to fill out a survey as to why) but I wasn't actually connected at that point and couldn't go online due to a driver installation going on. So I'll say it here. They basically annoyed me into removing the program.

Brandon and his wife are back safe from their post-vow renewal trip to the beach, for which I'm thankful. I spent awhile speaking to YKWIA on the phone right after I got Brandon's text. We had a long talk, which was enjoyable.

I'll probably regret going to bed late tomorrow, but I want to finish up these updates. Tomorrow I'm going to help YKWIA with the migration from Insight (our former cable company) to Time Warner (our new one) in terms of computer stuff. I'll have to do that as well, so I might as well figure out what to do. So tomorrow will be quite a bit of computer fun. :)

One last thing, as I know she sometimes reads my blog: Happy birthday to my aunt, Sharon Karnes! She and my uncle are library folks, too. Hope it's a great one!

I think I'm getting closer to the end of the installations....Good night.

The rain is coming in...

so, of course, I'm avoiding laundry again. I am having a nice quiet night at home and have straightened up the house (I had some stuff on the table and couch that I'd brought in from last-minute prep for the vow renewal and the like, and I had an iron and ironing board out from working on some wrinkles in a shirt last Friday before work.) So, everything's in it's place or recycled. I do have just a few dishes to do. Mostly I've been lying in bed thinking (not exactly napping, just resting and thinking). I've had a lot on my mind lately and it sort of came to a head today. But it's rather personal, and even though I know I overshare in many cases on this blog, it isn't something to discuss here.

I made an appointment for next week to discuss making a will and other legal documents with my lawyer today. It's long overdue. I've done my advanced funeral planning and pay every month for that, but I don't actually have a will. Not that I have much in the way of property, mind you, but I should get my desires down on paper. The other documents are for what happens to me if I am unable to take care of myself or if the plug needs to be pulled. I have a do-it-yourself advanced directives, but this comes with the package, so it's nice to get one that I'm sure will hold up in court. Since I'm already a client, I get a little discount. :)

I'm not really feeling like watching anything, although I should be doing that, I'm so behind on things. I am starting to realise I mainly like watching TV with other people, and that's part of my problem. Perhaps I need to drag YKWIA over to my place to finish up 'Doctor Who', watch the first season of 'Grimm', etc. Oh, and there's 'Downton Abbey'. He hasn't seen any of them, although A and Brandon both really love them. I'm still working my way through the first season.

The movie we watched yesterday, The Four, which came out last year, was pretty decent. I'd compare it to a sort of Chinese X-Men: First Class kind of movie, with chi mastery and psychic ability in place of mutant powers. Not historical, not as one person put it, with the eloquency of Shakespeare, but a nice fantasy with lots of action and a decent story. I am tempted to get the DVD. It is part of a planned trilogy and is based on a book called The Four Detective Guards or The Four Constables by Wen Rui-An, which doesn't appear to be available in English at Amazon except in comic form, and then number 1 is not available. It is available in Chinese as Ni Shui Hai--Four Famous Detectives. Ah, well.

Today I:

1. Cleaned my friends' house like I normally do on Sundays.
2. Planted mint we'd rooted from some from the grocery outside in their yard.
3. Helped wash three dogs at Incredipet's dog-washing station.
4. Watched an enjoyable movie with a friend called The Four, which was in Chinese with English subtitles.
5. Came home just as it was sprinkling.
6. Got onto the laptop to blog and now it's raining buckets outside and lightning. Looks like I won't have to water the herbs.

Now I'm considering a small nap after such a busy day. I should do laundry, but I'm not going to while the rain is pouring down. Maybe it will clear up later. At least I do have some clean clothes left. Tomorrow I plan to do a little straightening up around the house, do dishes and laundry, and watch some of those videos, assuming nothing more important comes up. :)

Well, the morning was rough, but the day improved

I decided to forgo the Farmer's Market after all, as I felt rushed and couldn't really browse. I dropped my books off at the library but didn't go in. I did get the lease turned in, although I almost missed the agent and was actually pulling out of my parking space when she came walking up. Then I went over to my friends' house and we did the grocery run and some other projects, and watched some videos, had some fun. Tomorrow we're going to try some dog washing; three dogs, $12, one hour, thanks to Incredipet, since there's no game.

Feeling tired and I have a headache. I'm thinking of going on to bed early rather than doing some things I need to do around the house. They'll keep till tomorrow, I think. Hope your Saturday went well.

Not surprisingly, I overslept

So I'm getting a later start to my morning than I liked. But I'm ready to go; I have the lease signed, the books ready for the library, etc. So it's just eat a bagel and then I'm off. Brandon texted me a photo of the sunrise at their present location, which was lovely. :) I did get a couple of VERY early morning texts that I thought was him at first but it turned out to be some sort of scam to determine if my number was legitimate, I think. Someone texted a picture and another one where it tried to send a read receipt back to the person. I deleted them without sending such a receipt. If they're going to do this, I wish they wouldn't do it at five in the morning. Grrr....Then I lost a contact. I am 98% sure it is not in my eye, although now my eye is red from my searching for it. I can't see it, I can't see out of that eye, and if I put my glasses on, it's normal. But I'm not sure what happened to it. I guess it went down the drain (no, I did not close the drain--mine doesn't do that anymore). I like to never got the other one in, the first one I put in. So I had to take that out and now I'm wearing my glasses and my eyes are irritated. :(

Okay, finished with the bagel. I'm going to go to the leasing office, farmer's market, and library, then head over to my friends' house (who have already called; that's what woke me up eventually). Have a great day.

So tired I'm actually blogging from bed

I should be doing some laundry, but instead I have my feet up, am sitting in front of a fan, and am listening to Natalie Merchant. I was really tired last night when I got home from the vow renewal, so I didn't do any blogging. It went off really well. I got to meet the couple's friends and family, it was lovely, and it was kind of nice to dress up and go out. I got several compliments on my dress, but alas, no pictures (Brandon did try, but my camera is a little tricky and my phone was turned off so nothing would interrupt the service, and I didn't think to put it back on.) But any sort of social situation with lots of people I don't know is always very hard for me. I don't mingle well, for one. I usually latch onto the one person I know, which I couldn't do much there because of course, he was one of the principals in the whole thing. It was a very nice mix of all sorts of people, though, and I did enjoy myself. I stayed through the meal, cake, and toast, but didn't really do any dancing. I'm really no good at it. I got home a little after 10 and then filled a friend who missed it in on things. Then I went straight to bed. I so should not have stayed up the night before with the computer.

Now the happy couple are on a road trip as a getaway (the kids are with family). I took a friend to an appointment this afternoon and then we had dinner together. Then I headed on home about sunset, stopping at the liquor store for some wine for my monthly libation and the bank so I could get some cash for the farmer's market tomorrow. There was an ATM at the store, but I was NOT going to pay $3.25 to some no name ATM for taking my own money out of the bank, when I could just drive down the street and get it for free. In the bus days, of course, I'd have probably done it. On my way back to the house, I was in the right-hand lane of a double left turning lane on Man O'War when someone turning left from Richmond Road turned into MY side of the median, into the empty extreme left lane next to me. They then realised their mistake and tried to go over the median, scraping the underside of their car pretty badly. It was a stupid mistake, but I could see it happening given the lower visibility at dusk. But I'm glad they didn't wind up in my lane. At least everyone was okay, although I doubt their car will be.

My plans for tomorrow:

1. Stop by the Bluegrass Farmer's Market
2. Turn in some library books, pay my fines (I lost track of the time this past month a bit)
3. Sign and turn in my lease
4. Help a friend out with a project
5. Do laundry
6. Work on the game notes (although I think the game will not be on, as it's Father's Day Sunday and Brenda will probably be doing something with her family)

If I can accomplish all that, I shall be happy. If I can also watch some videos that I'm behind on, I'll be doubly so. Okay, my back is hurting from sitting up in the bed. Good night.

Doing some general computer maintenance

I got the laptop back today from the couple who borrowed it a few months ago, so now I'm downloading various updates, making sure it's got some protection on it, setting it back up on my wi-fi network, etc. It's taken a couple of hours but I'm almost finished.

Today I ran some errands with a friend after work, hitting Lowe's, Fayette Mall, Meijer, Kroger, and Subway all in the Nicholasville Road area during rush hour, but cleverly avoiding most of the traffic. I discovered that A startles very easy at the least little thing (loud noise in the next car, or a car he perceives as too close), making these horrible, panicked gasping noises that then startle me. He doesn't drive, and he's just not used to traffic, mainly riding on the bus. I showed him the new bus stop at Fayette Mall, which is in a stupid place, out on the service road in the back over by Dick's Sporting Goods. It has been at the entrance to Macy's for awhile, and before that at the main mall entrance. Apparently the move was requested by the mall and Macy's. So they've put it in a place without any shelter from the elements and heavy traffic. Heaven help you if you're in a wheelchair, or have small children with you, or the like. Mark my words, someone's going to get hurt due to this.

Tomorrow I get dressed up all fancy and go to my friends' vow renewal on their tenth wedding anniversary. I had to go to Lane Bryant today and get the last piece of my outfit, some Spanx hose. I'll try to get Brandon to take a picture of me in my finery after the event and post it here. I don't get to dress up much. I've sort of vacillated back and forth about how I feel about the event, given all the fuss, stress, and money for just a few hours of fun, but I know it's very important to them, and after all, it is their day. I definitely want to be there. Plus I get to meet their friends and family.

I forgot that typing on the laptop takes some getting used to. I use four different kinds of keyboards on a daily basis: my ergonomic keyboard on my desktop, the Swype keyboard on my phone and tablet, a regular keyboard at my work desktop, and then the laptop. There seems to be a bit of a lag on the laptop right now and I'm finding that between that and the placement of the letters being somewhat more compact that I'm backspacing almost as much as I'm typing.

I think I'll check on the computer's progress with its various tasks and then turn in for the night. Here's hoping we don't have any truly horrible storms. There's still the possibility of a derecho event, especially a bit north of us. It's possible we'll get storms tonight and tomorrow morning. It's supposed to clear up after that, which would be great for the vow renewal. Good night.

I think I'm back

to some semblance of normalcy. I woke up this morning and it's like someone turned the dial and my mood seemed, well, mostly okay. That's how it happens. sometimes. It's like the hormones and brain chemistry just shifted into place. I'm not going to complain.

I went over to YKWIA's for awhile and we watched the very last 'Jam & Jerusalem'. I'll miss Sal, Tip, Rosie, and the others. It was a fun little show.

Now I'm home and contemplating what to do next. I need to go over my lease and sign it, but it's not vital I do that tonight. I might watch a little something or maybe read--I haven't decided. I'm hopelessly behind on shows like 'Doctor Who', 'Grimm', and 'Downton Abbey'. What I do know is that it's time to take out the contacts and get into comfy clothes. Then I think I'll check out some stuff online. I haven't touched the computer at home in something like three days--I've been blogging (what little I've been doing) from my phone while curled up in a ball in bed.

If I don't write anymore tonight, I hope your week is going well. Take care.

Listening to

Linkin Park, 'Lost in the Echo'

Okay, Ed Sheeran's album + tends to help my mood, but I've listened to it a lot since I got it and I'm kind of immune to its initial effects. Ophelia by Natalie Merchant brings up some painful stuff from my past. I think I'm going to go for a certain catharsis with Linkin Park's Living Things. Maybe that will help.

Still blah

Came home, slept, and now I'm up. Don't worry, I'm on all of my meds. This, too, shall pass. But it has reached an annoying level. I spent most of my day just trying to hold it together so I didn't cry or snap at anyone. The social niceties are a little harder to navigate, but I managed.  I have a social event Thursday and I hope I'm feeling better then. The drive across town in rush-hour traffic and back almost got me. Spending a little time with friends helped, especially the Big Bang Theory clip with Sheldon and Amy having Dungeons & Dragons sex (I am, or used to be much like Amy, although she is smarter). I'm finding I'm feeling both needy and standoffish at the same time, so I didn't stay too late. This should resolve soon; it's partly hormonal. I know that. And it's not the kind of lingering, heavy depression I've seen in others. Mine is cyclical; it will tip the other way eventually, or if I'm lucky, just back to balanced. Usually that's the case. Welcome to bipolar disorder II.

That's a little better

Listening to Ed Sheeran's 'Lego House'

I've eaten, I'm boiling eggs, I've gotten the trash and recyclables together to take out. I feel like I've got a groove. Yay.

Things I meant to do today but didn't get out of bed for

1. Sign my lease and return it to the leasing office
2. Go to the Bluegrass Farmer's Market
3. Go to the library
4. Go shopping for a little machine that plugs into the car for cleaning upholstery (good for a beige car interior)
5. Take the trash and recyclables out
6. Do laundry
7. Go to the pool at the complex or the YMCA
8. Watch 'Grimm'
9. Watch 'Doctor Who'

The library, leasing office, and farmer's market are a loss for the day, as they are closed. Maybe I can do some of the other stuff, though.

So it's 6 pm

and I'm just now getting out of bed for what I think is good for the day. Really. I haven't done a thing today except come out for food and take my meds. All of them. I'm officially in what they call doldrums. I feel a bit hung over, although I haven't drunk anything except diet soda and water. I just feel blah. Maybe that's because of the high blood sugar the last couple of days. Maybe it's because of something my psychiatrist once called premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is like PMS on steroids. I've been very irritable and depressed and the timing is right. I don't know. Pity because it is sunny and cool and generally looked like a nice day to go do something, and instead I slept the day away. :( I will try to get a few things done tonight, though.

I did not mean to drop off the face of the planet like that

Thursday night I came home, was in bed by 8 pm, and slept until nearly 8 am. It took five alarms to wake me up. The easy explanation is that I stayed up till 3 am the night before doing game notes, and was tired. But the real explanation is this: I've become very frustrated with my diabetes. No matter how good I am or how I take my insulin or eat, I always seem to be over 200 on my readings, although when I was off with my ankle injury I was dead on normal. My doctor just increases my insulin and tells me we've got wiggle room for increasing it more. I am taking 118 units of Lantus (long acting) insulin per day (in two doses) and 116 unites of inulin (divided into three doses) of Novolog (short-acting) insulin per day, with no oral diabetes meds whatsoever. I got to a point where I just stopped checking my blood sugar and taking things as regularly as I should, and I know that's stupid, and didn't really help, but I guess I felt like I'd reached a what's-the-point, depressed mood over my diabetes. It started out just 'forgetting' to take things or test. But it's been real erratic. When I admitted this to YKWIA Thursday evening, he hit the roof. He even turned me in to a friend of ours, who called me today with some otherwise good news but who took the time for a concerned rant.

Since Thursday evening, I've been trying to stay on track. I've taken my Lantus like I was supposed to do, starting Thursday evening. My blood sugar on Friday morning, when it was so hard to wake up, was 357. Then it turned out I only had enough Novolog for part of my breakfast dose with me. I went by the house after work, got it, but didn't take it at dinner, forgot and took it later. When I tested about an hour after eating, my glucose was 407. No wonder I could barely function mentally. I came on home after working on some character sheets, texted with Brandon a bit, and went on to bed, after taking my Lantus correctly. This morning, thankfully, it was 230--still high, but back to my 'norm' rather than what it was doing. It stayed at that before lunch, too. After talking this morning on the phone with the friend who ranted a bit, I've decided it's time to go to a proper endocrinologist. While I like my family doctor, I don't really think I'm getting the care I need. If I can get to where I feel good, both physically and mentally, about controlling my diabetes, then I'll be less likely to self-destruct.

So there's my confession. I know it was stupid and self-harming. 'I'm tired of feeling bad so I will do nothing and feel worse' doesn't make much sense, I know. But this is part of dealing with diabetes and I'm putting this up there because maybe a medical person, caregiver, or fellow patient will read it and understand that there's an emotional toll to it as well as the physical. In the meantime, I'm back on track.

*Yawn*

I worked on the game notes from 9-10 pm, went to sleep from about 10:30 pm-1:30 am, woke up and decided to go ahead and finish the notes. So that was three hours altogether or so, mostly due to the investigative issues and having lots of history to write down. It is now 3:30 am and I just finished--but I did exactly what I said--I finished before tonight was over. Yay. Now I'm going back to bed. :) Good night.

One nice thing

about the new hairdo is that if you are caught in a downpour, say leaving Meijer's when it was just a bit cloudy a few minutes before when you went in, you won't look like a drowned rat. Just comb it into place with your fingers and it looks a little gelled until it dries. Yay. That was essentially the only exciting part of my day. I worked, I paid my rent, I went to Meijer for something for a friend, went over to the friend's, watched 'Jam & Jerusalem' and some clips from 'Big Bang Theory', then came home, forgetting the Lean Cuisine meals I got at Meijer in their freezer, which I will reclaim later if possible. I've chatted a bit with Brandon via text, but it really is time to hunker down and do notes, which did not get done yesterday either. On the other hand, I've gone ahead and transferred them, and we only played for about four and a half hours last time, so that's better than transcribing one of those marathon six hour sessions. But it was largely investigative, which takes more time than action because you're actually having to include all the clues. :)

Discovered

yesterday that where my feet and ankles swell, my New Balance shoes pinch my feet on the sides and top rather painfully at end of day, which happens to be when I tried to go work out last night at the YMCA. So, no go for that unless I can get better shoes or work out early in the morning. I'd rather be in the pool anyway, but that's an issue right now as I can't go in with my fever blister. :( So, we'll see. I promise I won't use the shoes as an excuse for very long. I think I'm going to go to John's Run Walk Shop and get their opinion; they're supposed to be really good. It's where a couple of friends get their shoes.

I did get my dress for my friends' vow renewal yesterday and it fits and looks fairly nice on me. It was really low cut, though, so I bought a black lacy camisole for $6 at Gabriel Brothers to put under it, and I think that helped, as you can see in the picture.

Today I did some running around after work, spent some time with YKWIA (who chastised me rightly on one count and who talked me out of adopting a cat for now), and now I'm going to try to work on the game notes for awhile. Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I'll try to get back on schedule. :)

What a long and prolific life

Jack Vance, prolific, prize-winning pulp author, dies at 96

Jack Vance, prolific author of science fiction, mystery and epic fantasy, died Sunday at 96, his son John told the Associated Press. He had written more than 60 books during his long life.

Vance, whose real name was John Holbrook, also published under the names John Holbrook Vance, Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See and Jay Kavanse, and he wrote three Ellery Queen novels. His best-known series, "The Dying Earth," was set in a future in which the sun is slowly dying out, and a world where technology and the supernatural exist side-by-side.

I bought Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth at the suggestion of YKWIA, who thought I would like them a great deal, but haven't read them yet. I assumed that Vance, like many classic science fiction/fantasy writers, had already died. So I was surprised to see his name in the obituaries in our paper today. I will definitely move his stories to the top of my reading list.

Nice day to sleep in

It's cloudy and although I haven't gone outside yet, it's supposed to be a good deal cooler than in recent days. I plan to go over to the game master's house and do some stuff for the game, but I'm not on a time table, so I slept in, took a nice shower, made the bed, ate breakfast, and in just a bit I'll head over there. There's a terribly twangy song on about rolling windows down. It's annoying, both in the accent and the lyrics. I don't mind crossovers, but if I wanted something that twangy I'd be listening to a country station. I prefer people to open their mouths when they sing, too. Ah, good, we're to Maroon 5 instead now.

Well, I guess I'd better go. I'll make a stop at the store and get there about 10:30. Hope your weekend is going well.

Isn't transliteration fun?

Some Say the Spelling of a Winning Word Just Wasn’t Kosher

The national spelling bee spelled it wrong.

Or so say mavens of Yiddish about the winning word, knaidel, in the widely televised Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. Knaidel is the matzo ball or dumpling that Jewish cooks put in chicken soup.

But somebody may have farblondjet, or gone astray, the Yiddish experts say.

The preferred spelling has historically been kneydl, according to transliterated Yiddish orthography decided upon by linguists at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the organization based in Manhattan recognized by many Yiddish speakers as the authority on all things Yiddish.

The spelling contest, however, relies not on YIVO linguists but on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, and that is what contestants cram with, said a bee spokesman, Chris Kemper. Officials at Merriam-Webster, the dictionary’s publisher, defended their choice of spelling as the most common variant of the word from a language that, problematically, is written in the Hebrew, not Roman, alphabet.

“Bubbes in Boca Raton are using the word knaidel when they mail in their recipes to The St. Petersburg Times,” said Kory Stamper, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield, Mass. The dictionary itself says the English word is based on the Yiddish word for dumpling: “kneydel, from Middle High German knödel.”

I love Yiddish. It's a complex language akin to German spelled with Hebrew letters which is very useful for expressing things in one word that take far more in English.

Four hours and at least two downpours and a thunderstorm later...

I'm groggy, but I'm awake. I saw this and thought it was interesting:

The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill: Colonoscopies Explain Why U.S. Leads the World in Health Expenditures

Deirdre Yapalater’s recent colonoscopy at a surgical center near her home here on Long Island went smoothly: she was whisked from pre-op to an operating room where a gastroenterologist, assisted by an anesthesiologist and a nurse, performed the routine cancer screening procedure in less than an hour. The test, which found nothing worrisome, racked up what is likely her most expensive medical bill of the year: $6,385.

That is fairly typical: in Keene, N.H., Matt Meyer’s colonoscopy was billed at $7,563.56. Maggie Christ of Chappaqua, N.Y., received $9,142.84 in bills for the procedure. In Durham, N.C., the charges for Curtiss Devereux came to $19,438, which included a polyp removal. While their insurers negotiated down the price, the final tab for each test was more than $3,500.

“Could that be right?” said Ms. Yapalater, stunned by charges on the statement on her dining room table. Although her insurer covered the procedure and she paid nothing, her health care costs still bite: Her premium payments jumped 10 percent last year, and rising co-payments and deductibles are straining the finances of her middle-class family, with its mission-style house in the suburbs and two S.U.V.’s parked outside. “You keep thinking it’s free,” she said. “We call it free, but of course it’s not.”

In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care.

My biggest worry regarding the planned end to my job in two years isn't actually other costs; I'll get a severance and unemployment, and that will help some. It's the fact that I'll lose my health insurance that worries me the most.

I'd heard the rumours but the confirmation makes me sad :(

Matt Smith announces he is to leave Doctor Who

The BBC is today announcing that Matt Smith is to leave Doctor Who after four incredible years on the hit BBC One show. Matt first stepped into the TARDIS in 2010 and will leave the role at the end of this year after starring in the unmissable 50th Anniversary in November and regenerating in the Christmas special. During his time as the Doctor, Matt has reached over 30 million unique UK viewers and his incarnation has seen the show go truly global. He was also the first actor to be nominated for a BAFTA in the role.

Still, it's not quite over yet...

Matt's spectacular exit is yet to be revealed and will be kept tightly under wraps. He will return to BBC One screens in the unmissable 50th anniversary episode on Saturday 23rd November 2013 - TUNE IN!

He'll also be in a Christmas special in which he will regenerate into yet another Doctor. I must admit, I loved Matt Smith from the get-go. I'm sorry to see him leave.

Thinking of taking a nap

It's a beautiful day, with a light breeze and sun at the moment, although it rained a bit earlier. I've been over at my friends' house for awhile. We watched a bit of 'The Vicar of Dibley' (I do love Dawn French), and we did the grocery run, so I picked up some fruit, cheese, and crackers. I really love the Milton's Everything crackers that Kroger carries, especially with pimiento cheese. I find it very filling, and I don't overeat with that.

There were two unfortunate things that happened today. The first is that I developed a fever blister, something that happens occasionally and which annoys me to no end. I used to get them right before school pictures. But I have a prescription cream with an antiviral medicine that I hope is still good and will help. The second is that I killed a bird with my car. It was a robin who tried to land on the roadway right in front of my car, swooping in rather fast. I couldn't stop in time, felt the impact, and it happened so fast I wasn't able to avoid it. It's like the poor thing committed suicide by car. But I do feel rather bad about it.

Otherwise it's been a good day. I found out we won't be playing the Cthulhu game tomorrow because Brenda had to cancel, so instead we're going to work on some character sheets and do some upgrading to my characters, something she did while I was off cleaning the apartment. I really should go ahead and do the last game notes tonight, but I think I will lie down for just a bit.