Just got off the phone

With a Vonage representative.  I had called to cancel my phone service because it piggy-backs onto the high-speed Internet,  which I no longer have.  I explained that I have always had great service,  but that I don't have cable and am unlikely to get the connexion back for a couple of months or so.  I have been with them for eight and a half years,  so she really didn't want me to cancel.  She offered a deal that would halve my bill and increase service,  but of course,  I still don't have the Internet,  so that's a problem.  So she comped me two months' worth of service to give me time to find an Internet provider but still keep my phone number,  at the new rate.  Have I mentioned there are concrete reasons I am a loyal Vonage customer?  They once gave me a free month when I couldn't pay the bill years ago.  I've never forgotten that.

Anyway,  thank you,  Vonage!

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.

I have a little time to blog this morning

because my mom called me at 8:30. It was kind of comical. I'd left the cordless phone off the cradle the night before and last night, so the battery died. Then I went to call back with my cell phone, but the minutes were low. But wait, I purchased minutes yesterday! So I pull out the ticket and go to add minutes and it's an AT&T pay-as-you-go card. I have T-Mobile. Those aren't usually returnable. But I bought it at the store I work at and the acting manager is the one who made the mistake and remembered the sale, so she said she'll return it today. Fortunately I remembered I had a backup corded phone and plugged that up so that I could call my mom back. After that, I decided I might as well stay up and go into work a little early, stopping by the store. I'm still tired (I went to bed at 4:30 last night and got up at 8:30), but at least I'm up.

Today I work at the hospital, then 3-10 at the store, then I do some more priming work on a bathroom. With all the fixtures installed now, it's proving difficult to reach everything I need to tape, but I'll figure out a way.

Yesterday was very dreary but the sun is out now and it promises to be fairly mild. I've seen a few flowers and leafing of trees and bushes. The forsythia in front of my apartment are ready to bloom. I'm so ready for spring, and it will be here on Friday, thankfully.

Okay, that's all for now. Time to finish getting ready.

The watch phone gadget is really here

Move over Dick Tracy or James Bond. It's really here, although I think it can be improved, obviously. But here it is in action:



Get more info about it at: LG Watch Phone is for Real from Wired.

I still want those flying cars.

I saw a hawk today, flying overhead

I decided to take it as a good omen, for the Time of No Money is ending (I got paid tonight), to be followed by the Time of Tight Money. Today I borrowed some money from a co-worker so I could get home and then pick a friend up from work later. Since I was on mile 36 after the gas light came on, I think I was close to winding up stranded on the side of the road (and I don't have minutes on my cell phone for calling AAA). Thanks to Michelle, that wasn't the case, and when I went to the grocery store after midnight I got the money I needed to pay her back tomorrow. I also paid my friend back for the $5 he contributed the other day. It was a difficult time (I have almost nothing left in the cupboards in the way of food), but hopefully since I'm starting back to work at the gas station tomorrow it will get better. So, yay--tomorrow will be the time for a proper grocery run, more minutes for my phone, and more gas.

I have been seeing crows about a lot, too--usually in groups of two or three, which are also good omens. (Seeing only one crow, raven, or magpie [the article lists versions of the counting rhyme] is usually considered bad in folklore, which pays attention to the numbers, hence the song 'A Murder of One' by the band Counting Crows). Of course, in the movies and folklore they also get a bad rap for being evil, when they're really quite intelligent and engaging. We don't have magpies here in Kentucky, of course, and I don't think we have ravens, but we do have crows. I was listening to them the other day and now only do they 'caw', but there's a comforting gurgling sound they make, too. We did have ravens out in California and they were HUGE. You'd see them a mile away on dry lake beds in the Mojave. They looked like they'd go up to your knees. [They're about 22-27 inches high as opposed to road runners, which we also had, were smaller, maybe 20 inches high--certainly smaller than you'd expect from watching the cartoon. Of course, coyotes aren't really that big, either, and don't stand on their hind legs. :)]

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days

My cable was turned off a little before payday. But now everything's square. So I'd like to catch up...

First, from Monday, there was the finale of 'Heroes'. I enjoyed it immensely; I'm glad we've gone through the introductory story arc now and I hope they can do some more character building over season two. I want to see where they go from here. Who is the man out there who is worse than the Boogeyman? Is there anyway for Peter or Nathan to have survived (everyone expects Peter will regenerate, but in the past, the brain had to be pretty much unobstructed. What about when it's atomised? Did Nathan go with Peter to the very end, or fly off once they were safely above the city? What exactly will happen with Sylar?) There were some questions answered, some posed. I'm really looking forward to the DVD collection, which among other things has the original pilot on it, apparently. It truly is a wonderful show, especially in how things intertwine in the best comic book fashion (I'm waiting for the 3D episode...didn't that wave hit several comic books back in the 80s or 90s? There are details that true comic afficianados probably catch that I don't, but even I know that Kirby Plaza was a reference to Jack Kirby, the famous comic book artist, for example. Anyway, I really have loved the show and all the extras that you can find at NBC.com/Heroes, including web comics, full past episodes, Heroes 360, etc.

Okay, on to the next subject...bunnies. What is it about bunnies lately? I've had three hop out in front of my car in the last couple of weeks. Fortunately I haven't hit one, but I'm beginning to think Mother Nature is trying to tell me something.

Speaking of animals, work continues to coax a mother humpback whale and her calf back downriver from Sacramento to San Francisco bay. They've tried recordings of whales to lure them, recordings of predators to spur them on, clanging noises, herding with boats--the next step is to try fire hoses, something that's never been attempted before. Meanwhile, they're trying to make an antibiotic delivery system to inject the whales, both of whom have apparently been injured by boats.

We were visited at work today by Thumbelina, the World's Smallest Horse. She's not even knee high. She's a miniature horse, but she's also a dwarf, so she's much smaller than most miniatures. She was adorable. She travels in an air-conditioned motor home around the country to raise money for children's charities.

The last night of bunny madness I was driving home after that close call and discovered a car overturned with lots of police lights going on of all places Beaver Creek, which is a residential street near my home. That same night I went to call a friend to let him know I was home safely and that was when I discovered that I had no cable, for I have Vonage, which requires an active cable connexion. So I tried my cell phone and then rememberd I didn't have any minutes (mine is prepaid--it's worked pretty well for seven years; I average about $10 a month). So, I went over to the laundry room, which usually has a phone hooked up when the pool has water in it for 911 (but you can usually make regular calls). Mind you, it's 2 am or so. I fall down the stairs and hit my elbow on the brick wall of the building, then discover they've rigged the phone for 911 calls only. Sigh. So I finally got in my car and went to a nearby gas station and bought minutes for my phone, then came back home and made the call. I know, I'm a danger to myself, although not usually to others. But, there was one time I didn't call and actually slept through getting a friend from work and the alert went off and D and her husband were dispatched to check on me. I had low blood sugar and didn't wake up until they got Cerys barking by tapping at the window. I didn't want a repeat. D has a two-year old and I don't think she'd appreciate it. :)

Speaking of D, she and I are going to go shopping Monday after I get home from visiting my mom and grandmother. I have a gift card for some clothes and she's going to take me out. We get together so seldom; I think the last time was last year when we went swimming at the pool with her son. And we don't get to eat lunch together that much. I miss that. Our schedules are so harried; you should have seen us with our calendars out trying to find a time to get together.

What else? Well, there's the health issues, like the fact that I just went on Avandia and now there's a lot of concern over cardiovascular health due to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine and now an FDA study that backs it up--and opens up questions for how it was approved with such data in place. Now I have to call Dr Nesbitt and see what he thinks. He might put me on Actos instead--it's in the same family and hasn't been associated with those problems--yet (although it has been associated with heart failure). Sigh. Sometimes I think my meds are kind of a crap shoot.

The other medical thing I wanted to blog about was this:

Anger Erupts Over Insurance Company's IQ Test for Weight-Loss Surgery

As the article pointed out, it's not like we require an IQ test to give someone chemotherapy, or refuse to give heart bypass surgery to those who may not know how to do aftercare because they're deemed too stupid. This is ridiculous. It's just another way for insurance companies to try to maintain their bottom line, but it's also discrimnatory.

I think that's all for now. My computer has downloaded some updates and keeps trying to restart, and it's getting very late. Sorry again about the delay. And as always, thanks for reading my ramblings. Good night.

This may affect my phone service

Vonage's future questioned after latest setback