The other day

I commented to my friend that his dog comes around on my right and sits for her food when I feed her, so I put it down on her left. He said of course, per etiquette you always serve from the left, so he taught the dog to do it.

:)

When the Manners Police Knock

We are self-appointed, and we wear the badge of moral righteousness. Some of us police the waterfront, and some of us, the mountaintop.

My jurisdiction is the doorways of public spaces. Why do people congregate there? In the presence of these clogged arteries, I become Lipitor Man. I have made strange beeping noises. I have robotically bleated: “Doorway! Doorway!” Once, after I had cleared two chatty bystanders from a tobacco shop entrance, one asked me, “Is this a feng shui thing?” I responded, “No, I’m just very, very passionate about egress.”

Why is this one fashion rule so hard and fast?

If You Must Know: Why We Can't Wear White After Labor Day

The post–Labor Day moratorium on white clothing and accessories has long ranked among etiquette hard-liners' most sacred rules. As punishment for breaking it in the 1994 movie Serial Mom, for instance, Patty Hearst's character was murdered by a punctilious psychopath. But ask your average etiquette expert how that rule came to be, and chances are that even she couldn't explain it. So why aren't we supposed to wear white after Labor Day?

Thanks to Brandon for the link.

PS 09/06/11 It's cold and rainy here today and so I didn't wear my Birkenstocks in to work, since I didn't want them getting wet, but rather my athletic shoes. I always buy black athletic shoes, but someone was giving away a pair of new shoes their grandmother had in her closet and they fit me, so that's what I have. And they're white.

So this morning I'm on the bus, and I look down, and I suddenly freeze, hoping that Kathleen Turner wasn't about to jump out and kill me.

I've been checking out what others think

about testing blood and using insulin in public. I'm still trying to get a good balance of discretion and health in terms of going out to eat or like today, when I was in a professional meeting that involved food.

I do not feel comfortable breaking the skin in a bathroom. So I've been discreetly doing the test/injecting once I have the food at the table. You can do a lot under the table itself, without spreading things all over. This seems to be the best way to do it, and others be damned in terms of any problems with it. Doing so before going to the restaurant is out--sometimes you wait a long time for food or to sit. A test involves very little blood and is not unsanitary. A pen needle is tiny and should not make people faint, and quite frankly if they do, they're weenies.

I have only had one incident, at work, and not in a public place, where I tested my blood sugar and got a deeper stick than normal, and someone I knew who was very sensitive to a lot of things got grossed out, although not upset or anything. But in retrospect, that had more to do with her being weird than what I was doing.

Sometimes, because I'm new to this, I actually forget to take it, and if I'm lucky I'll remember in time to take it after eating. But today I remembered, once I started, but was in a room full of other librarians, very close to one another, and should have just excused myself to another room, but I let it go instead. Later that day, when I tested my blood sugar, it was something like 357. Definitely the wrong call. Now that I am solely on insulin, I need to be vigilant about taking it. Hence the search to see what others think of the proper etiquette for this.

I found one very good blog post on testing that can also be adapted to insulin injection. The author had linked to it on a forum where a woman was very frustrated because her own family treated her like she was injecting heroin if she did it publicly. I think he is the voice of sanity, by an Australian named Alan Shanley, who has written a book called What on Earth Can I Eat: Food, Type II Diabetes, and YOU:

Testing Etiquette

Okay, heading to bed. Good night.

Yay! I finished my class!

On the mashup section I came across a nifty site called Weather Bonk. It overlays Google Maps with weather information, gives you access to webcams, and displays forecasts. Try it out.

Also, I found a wonderful etiquette blog whilst searching about the white shoe rule the other day. It's Etiquette, Charm, and Beauty for the Woman of Today by Hildegarde Fillmore.

Also, if you haven't tried iGoogle, you should. It's a personalised web page that can be set as the home page that allows you to bring a variety of modules into play, such as Gmail or Google Docs. I have a nifty theme on mine that changes as the sun rises and sets and the moon changes phases. You do have to sign up, but it's free, and if you already have an account for other similar projects then you should be okay. In addition to my documents and mail, I also have a virtual fish tank and National Geographic pictures.

Okay, definitely time to go to bed.

Woo-hoo

1. I finally got enough reward points on my debit card/bank account to get a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. My plan is to get the digital voice recorder I wanted to get for the winter holidays. It's a voice recorder, flash drive, and music player all-in-one, and it's $75 on their site. With the remainder I'll probably get some rechargeable batteries and Big Country's The Seer, my favourite of their albums and something that has been rattling around on my wish list for some time.
   
2. I avoided being beaten with a phone Monday when I accidentally pulled out the first pair of sandals I could find for work (I refuse to wear flip flops like some of the girls do), got there, and suddenly realised I was wearing white shoes before Memorial Day. Granted, growing up in the South I was taught it was okay after Easter, but I also know that's really not true. Anyway, hopefully the gods of etiquette will forgive my faux pas.
   
3. I got my Lamictal today after not having it since a half-dose Saturday. I hadn't realised how flat my affect was without it. That may also be why I just wanted to sleep all the time and couldn't bring myself to do much. Just goes to show you how quickly your brain chemistry can break down. At least I didn't have a meltdown or anything. Being bipolar is a challenge, but at least it's manageable.
   
4. I have some groceries thanks to my boss at the gas station. She's giving me extra hours this week (one of the regular full-timers is on vacation), so that will help. Considering gas is now $3.75 and I'm paying about $200 a month just to keep my car running, it's been difficult. I've been eating peanut butter sandwiches (no spreadable fruit, even) for a week or more now. I got some potatoes, macaroni and cheese, tortillas, cheese, beans, chili, bread, peas, and spinach. Unfortunately I couldn't work in fish or fruit, but at least I have more variety. I've lost another two pounds in the last week and a half, bringing my total net loss since the fall to 17 lbs, none of which has been from actual dieting. Imagine what I could do if I actually watched what I ate and exercised. :)
   

Well, that's it for now. Good night.

PS Dear Hillary Clinton. Please drop out from the race so Barack Obama can start running against the real threat--John McCain. You've poured $11 million of your own money into a lagging campaign without momentum. Seriously, give it up, before you become pathetic. Try again next time; thank you for playing.