Ready for bed, almost

I gave the fish just a little food, since I don't know when they were fed at the store. In a little while I'll turn it over to the moonlight (blue) setting, get ready, take my meds, and go to bed. It was a full day. Still to do tomorrow, though:

1. Pull out the things from the walk-in closet. [I'm going to wait till Monday, since I'm starting out slowly this morning, and that'll give them a whole day to do it.]
2. Call in the air conditioning and toilet issues. [Ditto]
3. Unload the dishwasher.
4. Load the dishwasher and run it.
5. Do the mountain of non-dishwasher-safe dishes.
6. Take out the trash and recyclables.
7. Contact my stepfather. He and I texted just a bit today but I didn't get a chance to talk with him and wanted to see how he was doing.
8. Check on YKWIA and take him to an appointment.
9. Pick up A and see if the guys want to go to Masala. [YKWIA wasn't up to it.]
10. Run some errands for the guys.

PS Golden Algae Eaters are apparently good when juvenile at cleaning tanks of algae and other detritus, but as they mature get less useful, may become territorial, and even suck on to slow fish like goldfish. Here's to it staying small for a bit, at least, although with that tank, it might grow exponentially.

Class went really well tonight

So after work, I headed over to class because A was working late, and he couldn't make it. I got there early, did a few things on the phone, read a library book on my Kindle, that sort of thing. There was a lot of participation this time; this was the class on empathy. I disclosed my own diagnosis tonight, which I've been very careful about so far, but it was at an appropriate time, somewhat ironically about 'coming out' with mental illness. I always think of my co-teacher as the 'main' teacher and myself as the 'supporter', but people are coming up to me with questions during break and after class, and it feels nice that they feel comfortable doing that. It's hard to believe we only have four more sessions to go! Next week involves an interesting communication exercise, and I'm curious to see how people react to that.

After class I went over to my friends' house, to see if they needed anything, as YKWIA had indicated he'd like me to earlier, but the house was dark, they were obviously asleep, and so instead of rousing the dogs by knocking without a porch light on or anything, I called to see if they might be awake at all. There was no answer, so I went on, checking as I went to see that the bedroom light was also dark. I'll catch up with them later.

Tomorrow I'm going in to work early for a birthday breakfast. They have it twice a year, the administrator makes us omelets, and otherwise it's a free breakfast bar served by the directors. Although my birthday was in April, it falls in this particular breakfast. Unfortunately, I have a doctor's appointment (which fortunately isn't fasting) at 8:30 am, so I'm going to go into work, eat breakfast, go to my appointment, and then go back.

I'm feeling good about work lately. Today I sent my boss an interesting article on the use of codes during active shooter situations and using plain language, and she really appreciated it. I'd found it on Facebook last night as a link via The Joint Commission. Also, in my other job in the revenue cycle position, I've found several things lately in reconciliation that translate to quite a bit of money. So I'm feeling like I'm contributing. Despite that, I really need to step up my job search, as my job is not going to the new medical centre and it's going to take awhile to find one, particularly if I want to stay a librarian (which I do, if at all possible).

Okay, I'm home, I'm in comfy clothes, and I've had a couple of peanut butter sandwiches. I spent my last five dollars on menstrual pads, 79 cent marked-down bread, and fruit spread. Sigh. I do wish things would get better financially, but I don't see that happening. I have a quarter of a tank of gas in the car, too, and that's certainly not going to last a week till I get paid. :( Tomorrow I need to call and make arrangements for an extension on my electric bill, or it'll be shut off Friday.

Oh, well. I think it's time to finish getting ready for bed, take my contacts out, snuggle up in front of the fan, and hopefully have pleasant dreams, for the morning comes early. Good night!

Time for bed

I think it's time to water my plants. My spider plant just plunged off the top of the computer desk in an effort to tell me (okay, so when it gets dry, the 'baby' plants outweigh the parent plant, and they all hang in basically one direction, so it gets too light to keep its place, and just fell without being jostled or anything). But still, I'll take the hint. And with that, I'm finished for the night. Goodnight, all. Hope you are safe and happy and having good things happen in your life. And just to leave on a happy note, I bring you baby goats. :) [You're welcome, YKWIA.]

Aww

YKWIA saw my last post and called me to keep me occupied for awhile and relieve me of my boredom. We had quite a good talk for about two hours. So now I am charging my phone, and I've taken my nightly meds and am ready for bed.

Tomorrow I have three people coming over at various times, so my plan is to get up early, get cleaned up and changed, and try to straighten things up here a bit. I also hope to wash the few dishes that couldn't go in the dishwasher. Not too ambitious, but it will keep me occupied for awhile.

Have a good night.

A friend called me and woke me from a bad dream

And we must have talked on the phone for over an hour. My headache's gone, although I did run into the door jamb on my way to the computer to look something up for him. Ah, grace, thy name is not Lisa.

So now I'm considering going to bed for real, and I've closed the windows and taken my evening pill and taken my blood sugar, which is pretty decent tonight. Now I just have to take my insulin and get ready for bed.

Much of the discussion on my e-mail today had to do with the upcoming Medical Library Association meeting in Seattle and the epidemic of pertussis (whooping cough) in Washington State. It was bordering on panicky for awhile, which I don't understand because we are all information professionals and should be able to get the facts. Some people were upset that the organisers did not send out a general warning. At least one cancelled their trip (the conference starts May 18th). Some were saying it took 2 weeks for the vaccine to become effective so there was no point in taking the vaccine at all.

That's not true. The point of keeping up with immunisations (including as an adult) is that it will prevent disease not only individually but in the public as well, through 'herd immunity'. And doing so helps prevent the anxiety of when this sort of thing happens. Plus, the two-week thing is addressed very aptly by Nikki Dettmar in her post on the Eagle Dawg Blog, entitled 'Straight Talk About the Washington Pertussis Epidemic', along with some other facts that should allay some fears. I'm not saying there's no chance of infection, especially by the those with compromised immune systems, but the reactions were pretty strong and several people rightly tried to allay fears with facts, and others just got annoyed because they didn't feel their fears were being taken seriously.

I am not going to MLA '12, unfortunately, because I don't have a travel budget. I've never actually been to a national meeting for this reason. I would jump at the chance to attend. But if I were going, I would continue to go, despite the fact that as a diabetic I am more likely to get infections and the fact that unlike many of those people, I can't take the TDaP. (I reacted to the pertussis vaccine as a child so they do not recommend that I take it. As a hospital librarian, I, like other employees, are offered free vaccinations through our employee health. They started pushing the TDaP years ago, and I was willing to take it but my doctor advised against it because of the prior reaction. Otherwise I would be vaccinated.)

But, the more people who do take the TDaP, the greater the chance that those of us who can't take it won't get it, so I'm all for others taking the vaccine. Vaccination shouldn't be reactive; it should be proactive.

And of course children who haven't had their immunisations are at the greatest risk. There is the DTaP vaccine for them. If you have children, please make sure you follow recommended vaccination schedules for them. The complications of many diseases far outweigh the risks of any vaccine. And it's important that we as adults do not forget that we have vaccination schedules, too. The TDaP should be taken every 10 years for example. Shingles vaccination is suggested at age 60. Flu, of course, is yearly. You can fine information on vaccinations at the CDC website.

Okay, getting off my public health soap box now and going to bed. Good night.