Random things

Yesterday I:
1. Went to the sleep centre and as he was writing a prescription for a lowering of pressure on my CPAP and a nifty new kind of masque that has the tubing on the top, I discovered that I have, in actuality, been wearing my CPAP masque UPSIDE DOWN for years. All I can say, is you can demonstrate something to someone once, but if they have ADD, good luck on them repeating correctly. The funny thing is that a) it's remarkable I did as well doing so, as I maintain a decent pressure over 90% of the time according to the report, and b) while technically more comfortable (the plastic thingy that looks like a corrugated tie goes on top, not on the back, where it was a little painful if I were on the my back), will be a little hard to get used to.
2. Took a long purifying bath with lavender oil in the water, lavender incense going, and a lavender candle burning. It's hard to get up and down in the tub these days, but I managed. If I every owned a house, I would so install one of those walk-in tubs. I love baths. Showers feel cleaner, but baths are so much more relaxing.

Today I:
1. Wore purple, because well, Prince, and because I love purple and the clothes were comfy for casual day.
2. Had a bone density scan and mammogramme. I still have markers on my skin tags that I need to pull off. Holly, the tech at the St. Joseph Breast Centre, was stupendous, making sure everything was positioned just right so we didn't have to repeat anything and doing the angled shots in two sets to get good images without crushing my boobies too badly. Plus, their gowns for big girls swallow me up, and I'm a very big girl.
3. Carried deodorant around in my backpack all day because you can't wear deodorant while having a mammogram, so I brought it to put on afterwards.
4. Saw a bald eagle flying above Chinoe Road while at a stoplight, with the distinctive white head and brown body. I've never seen one in person.

Happy Earth Day!

I just

• straightened up much of the living area, including my computer area,
  
• made a list of what a friend needs from the store tomorrow,
  
• promptly lost it,
  
• had to dig in the trash bag for it; it was stuck to the inside,
  
• filled up a recyclable container,
  
• unclogged the aquarium filter, which was just nasty--I hadn't realised it was that bad,
  
• eaten some fish (not the ones from the aquarium) :),
  
• drank some water (didn't do enough of that today at work),
  
• threw away the rosemary bush, which didn't make it, along with one jade plant (before I went digging in the trash bag, unfortunately, so I had to dig them out first),
  
• burned some missing files onto a dvd for a friend, and
  
• listened to some music the whole while,

all in less than two hours. What I'm not sure is whether I took my medication. I don't think so, but I don't want to double up as that would probably throw me for a loop. I'll take some right before bed. Tonight I need to do my libation, but that won't be till about midnight or even later. I have to admit, I am flagging a bit, as is normal about this time. I really need to do something with the kitchen, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Oh, I almost had to smack myself in the forehead (figuratively) today, because sometimes I'm not as tech savvy as I could be or think I am. There are these stylus pens I have for touchscreens that weren't working when I dialed the stylus up, and I thought that I needed to take them back and get a capacitive pen instead. Turns out they are capacitive pens--one end is the type you use on handhelds, like back in the day, and one end, the one that I thought looked like an eraser, but couldn't figure out how it could be, is the capacitive pen that reacts with smart phones and tablets. I didn't realise till I went on Amazon and looked at the tips on the ones I found under 'capacitive pens'. Oy.

Tomorrow it's go to Kroger and then over to my friends' house to help with a project. Oh, and game notes, unless I get them done tonight. Yeah. Tell us another one, right? Anyway, I'm going to go do something or other. Hope you had a good week, and thank goodness it's Friday. Have a good weekend.

Oh, good lord--there's security, and then there's stupid harassment

Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List

The Transportation Security Administration, under scrutiny after last month’s bombing attempt, has on its Web site a “mythbuster” that tries to reassure the public.

Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy.

Buster: No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.

“Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. “It’s not a myth.”

Michael Winston Hicks’s mother initially sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name “was on the list,” she recalled.

The first time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried.

After years of long delays and waits for supervisors at every airport ticket counter, this year’s vacation to the Bahamas badly shook up the family. Mikey was frisked on the way there, then more aggressively on the way home.

The simple explanation of the problem is that he shares the same name as someone on that list, and airlines have been determining who should be screened by names alone. But its not a simple problem--thousands of travelers have been put through the ringer based on a similarity of name. One Canadian man went so far as to change his name to be free of harassment. Others mispell theirs, which if you think about it, any terrorist could do as well. New procedures will involve taking down dates of birth and genders of passengers, which should help. Mikey, after all, was born a month before September 11th, so that should flag him as okay. But I think there must be better ways to improve security than a list of suspicious people. It's too easy to avoid for the real culprits and too hard to avoid for the innocents.

For that matter, it's not just names. I have a co-worker who gets frisked every time, probably because she had a darker complection (I think she has American Indian in her) and looks slightly ethnic as a result. She has complained a couple of times of having to strip to her bra. Her husband, lighter complected, has no trouble.

I'm not in the business of security, so I don't have a lot of ideas for alternatives. I suppose face-recognition programs might help, although technology is never perfect either. But there are lots of people in intelligence who are paid big bucks to come up with plans for protecting us, and I think they can do better than a list where an 8-year-old can't go anywhere on a plane and enjoy a simple family vacation without being frisked.