I'm trying

to make things more ergonomic at home as well as work, to be better for my neck. To that end, I've hooked up an external keyboard to my laptop, and I went by YKWIA's and got one of my monitors (I have two, one with the desktop he has borrowed, and one that he had borrowed before his desktop tanked). I found a nice, sturdy box to elevate the monitor, which doesn't adjust normally, that my Bulova clock came in when I reached my ten-year anniversary at the hospital. (Yes, I have kept this box for nearly 10 years, without using it for anything. Have I mentioned I'm a hoarder?) Unfortunately, I forgot to get the power cord to the monitor, so I can't hook it up just yet, and I apparently didn't hoard an extra monitor power cord, and so I have the entire laptop up on the box, which does better for looking at the laptop screen. Just having my normal ergonomic keyboard on its tray should help.

Today my neck, shoulders, and arm have been pretty painful. I have taken ibuprofen, arthritis Tylenol (not at the same time), used the muscle rub--nothing has come close to taking it away. The muscle rub actually does best, because I think it actually gets to the nerves, as opposed to the oral medicine. I will have to go back and look at last night's post that I did while under the influence of the muscle relaxers. I remember it being damn difficult to type. I was also waiting for my bread to bake, and it had something like 12 minutes still on it, and I was trying to patiently wait while practically falling over. So the relaxers do make me loopy after all. I definitely cannot take them till bedtime tonight--I'm getting A, who is doing a special shift at work, at midnight, and I certainly can't drive if I take them.

Today was good. I was as productive at work as one in severe pain could be, and I got all sorts of things done. I found out that they can participate in DOCLINE (the National Network of Libraries of Medicine's interlibrary loan system) even after I'm gone and there is no longer a library, because they will have access to enough electronic journals that if they're willing to lend, they can borrow as well. That gives research and other clinical staff access to the information they need.

I also paid some bills, went to my allergist, got my shots, went to the grocery store, and took a care package over to YKWIA (and picked up the monitor, sans cord). I now have a Halloween costume to wear to work Monday. I'm going to wear my Miskatonic University School of Library Science t-shirt, with a headband I got at Kroger with light-up tentacles. Yes. A graduate student who has read too much, most likely. I have a box that looks like a large book, and I'm thinking of putting something on it (that's removable) that says Necronomicon. There's only one person at work that I know who has read HP Lovecraft, so most people really won't get it, but they'll like the headband, anyway. :) That's the second Cthulhoid costume I've worn to the hospital, the first being Great Cthulhu himself.

Alright, I've hooked up the keyboard, I've eaten. Now I am going to put away the rest of the groceries, queue up some music through the Bluetooth headphones, and start folding clothes, after rubbing some more of that stuff on my neck and shoulders. It really is the best option. I should have gotten some more while at Kroger's. Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day.