Our new person didn't work out

so next week I'm working at the gas station:

Saturday 10-8
Monday 3-8
Tuesday 3-8
Wednesday 3-8

That plus my day job makes 44 hours, so a pretty full week. But the money helps. And at least I get to see Heroes. :)

Today wasn't that bad, although I did work both jobs for a total of 12 hours. I did a lot at both, so I'm pretty tired. I should have been in bed a couple of hours ago, but here I am.

I've decided I need BB King to come to my house and teach me how to use the feature of my glucometre that supposedly allows you to test on your arm rather than your fingers. I've never been able to get it to work. You stick this extender onto the lancet, and it just never seems to let the needle get to the arm. Sometimes it literally can be a pain to use your fingers over and over (although I do rotate which ones I use and which side). Which reminds me, I need to get more strips.

By the way, I now have a new favourite breakfast cereal: Fruity Cheerios. They're smaller than Fruit Loops, have multigrain goodness, are flavoured with real fruit juice, and have 25% less sugar than the leading brand--and they're quite nummy. Of course, I tend to eat cereal at night rather than in the morning (I picked that habit up from my grandfather) so for actual breakfast I have a Quaker Oatmeal-to-Go bar, which is somewhat better than my former usual choice, a Pop Tart, the latter of which have 75% of your recommended carbs in one package. The oatmeal bar is much less than that.

Okay, that's all for now. I need to take care of Cerys and then head on to bed. Tomorrow is court day. I'll let you know how that goes. I would be able to sleep in, but the exterminator is going through the building tomorrow and I'm afraid they'll come in while I'm in the shower unless I'm up at a reasonable hour. 'Night.

Do I just have a blazing neon sign on my car?

I got stopped by the police again last night--a block from where I started, because I didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I guess I was distracted by my own thoughts and not really concentrating on driving. Fortunately he gave me a warning rather than a ticket. But I am beginning to wonder if my driving is deteriorating or if I just have had some bad luck when it comes to being in the car lately. Well, actually, that's wrong. It's my fault I was stopped, not the universe's. But it's still frustrating.

I did have a bit of good luck yesterday, too, because for the second time this year someone pulled out in front of my at the corner of Lakeshore and Richmond (they were turning left from Richmond to Lakeshore while I was approaching. They were basically turning blind, since you can't see the oncoming traffic because of the cars in the opposite turn lane.) I had to swerve, but we didn't T-bone. I'm thinking of contacting the councilman for that area, whom I've worked with, to see about getting a protect arrow installed on that light. It couldn't hurt, anyway.

It just keeps getting better and better

Heroes, for those of you with your heads in the sand and not an ounce of interest for science fiction, gets better and better with each episode--and it was pretty impressive from the get-go, from what I can tell. The latest episodes shows more of the background of the mysterious organisation that is tracking and studying those with special abilities. I love how all the different subplots and characters weave together with the others. And unlike some shows, they've really done a good job--through the series, the online comics, and the online web experience--at interweaving things in a logical and consistent fashion.

If you haven't seen it, you should. It's really wonderful. That's all I have to say for now. You can check out clips from past episodes at the official web page.

Of course, I'm happy I got to see Heroes at all. I was supposed to work until 11 tonight but since a new person was put on the schedule I got to get off work early. Yay!

A busy weekend, as usual

I pretty much do the same thing each weekend--I work 10 hours or so on Saturday, then prepare for the game on Sunday, then play the game, then put the notes from the game into the computer. But it's been a productive weekend, one which has been helped by making up for my sleep deficit over the week and banking a little more for the days coming up. Monday between the two jobs I'll work 14 hours; Tuesday will be 13. Wednesday I'll be off from both but only because I need to go to court. I don't know about Thursday and Friday yet. We have a new guy training at the gas station. Hopefully he'll work out and I'll be able to go back to my normal hours, although I have to admit, the pay's been nice lately. I don't know, though. One of the girls sent him back with a list to get cartons of cigarettes and he came out with single packs that he'd taken from various cartons--then put the cartons back so there was no telling where the packs came from. That was a pretty colossal error, and he was terribly embarrassed. Hopefully he'll do better, though.

I just wanted to touch base before I went to sleep for a couple of hours till a friend calls me for a ride home from work. Tomorrow will be such a long day I don't know if I'll get a chance to post. So, I'll give you a link now:

Triage to save rare books

I don't know how long it will stay active. Basically a pipe burst down at Lexington Public Library (the main branch) and did a number on some biographies (which could be pitched), but more importantly, the Kentucky Room, which has rare items. So the library closed and the various staff worked to save the damaged books and papers. It was on the front page of the Herald-Leader the other day. I thought that was nice, especially as the main coverage we as librarians have been getting in the paper lately has to do with the 'scrotum' fiasco. I did blog about that, didn't I? I think so.

Anything else? Oh, yes, this--so appropriate, really:

I am Azathoth! Known as the "Blind Idiot God", the center of all cycles known as Azathoth is the great void itself, infinite creation and inescapable oblivion made one. The Great God is without ego, as it has been embodied in a seperate consciousness as Azathoth has cast off the curse of self-awareness. Surrounded by the host of flautist servitors, piping the songs of the unknowable, Azathoth is not to be known by his aspirants. That is the purpose of another God...

Which Great Old One are you?

It was the minions thing. I want flautist minions. Although I rather thought I might wind up as Nyarlothotep or Yog Sothoth (the latter of which turned out to not be a choice, disappointingly). Oh, and be sure to check out http://www.yog-sothoth.com/ for news about the Call of Cthulhu gaming system, if you're interested. Anyway, enjoy the quiz. 'Night!

Well, it's certainly a tradition

Prince Harry to be sent to Iraq with regiment

for the second son to be involved in war or the priesthood, if you look at the history of European kingship. For that matter, most mediaeval kings served directly in wars. William has also received military training at Sandhurst and has followed his brother into the same regiment, but I doubt he'd be allowed to go on such a mission--certainly not a ground troop like Harry. Still, I might be wrong. Regardless, I think it's a good thing for them to serve. These princes more than any other British prince have experienced the life of their people, and this is one additional arena. If the troops are going to be there (and of course you know I don't think they should be in this particular war), it seems the princes may get to see firsthand what it's like, which should be good for their character and for their future potential as kings. But then, I'm just an American with a background in mediaeval history. I'm not sure what my opinion counts for.

Interesting

Women may have invented weapons

Scientists have found that not only do chimpanzees use tools to hunt other primates, the ones who tend to do this are largely female and occasionally immature males--the ones that, being smaller, cannot kill as easily with their bare hands.

There's been a tendency to believe that men, who historically are associated with weapons, must have been the originators of the tools. But this study suggests that women may, indeed, have created tools for hunting and war.

Which bears out my theory that big guys who think they're invulnerable just need one bullet in them from a small woman to equalise things. (Not that I'm advocating it; I just remember one of my former friends who was 6'5", really big, and who thought no one would mess with him because of his size--which would be good, as I rather doubt he'd do well in a fight size or no--but I pointed out that all it would take is a gun and his theory would go out the window. He couldn't really argue with that.)

Being productive

I came home right after work and took a nap, then worked at putting things in order, getting the trash and recyclables together, and going through my languishing mail. I bought a mail sorter from Target the other day. It has a drawer for chequebooks/stamps, etc. and 31 labelled slots for due dates. I now know that I've paid all but my medical and large bills and those are going to take some time to whittle down. But I know where to start, and that's something.

I also got a reminder that I'll be forty soon--the breast centre where I had a mammogramme a couple of years ago (I was having breast pain) sent me a nice little letter saying I was due on April 2nd (my 40th birthday). Yay, let's celebrate middle-age by getting our breasts squished.

I discovered the other day that the points I get for using my debit card and other things related to my checking account are upwards to nearly 20,000 (in only about six months, no less). That's enough for $50 gift cards to various stores. I'm wondering if I should save up for the $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Hmm...

Well, I suppose I should turn in, although I may read a little of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files first. 'Night.

So sad a life and death.

Body going to the Bahamas as paternity fight looms

She was my age, and out of control, and had so much to live for (her daughter), but was devastated by her son's death by drugs--but not enough to stop her own partying and drug use.

Now her five-month-old daughter is an heiress and a pawn in a money-grabbing game of 'who's the daddy?'

So sad. Anna Nicole Smith, or really, Vickie Lynn Hogan, is hopefully now at peace. But the circus continues without her.

Oh my. Did I mention this is a sickness?

Which is bad enough when you live alone, but with children???

New York Cops Find Stomach-Churning Squalor

This is far beyond the clutter that plagues many hoarders' lives. This included hundreds of bottles of urine, used toilet tissue, etc. Authorities are investigating whether the children, ages ranging from 10-14, have adequate food, heat, and shelter. It looks like the house was unheated as well. The discovery came during a custody dispute and bitter divorce.

I can say with some degree of certainty that the woman in this case really has no idea of the scope of this problem. She probably recognises that there is mess, and may be embarrassed by the idea of anyone coming into the house, but beyond that there is a kind of denial that really sets in until you are confronted with cold, hard facts and cannot lie to yourself any more. For me, it was an article on hoarding and the similarity between the pictures with my house. For her, it may be having her children taken away from her.

But my God, this is such a dire case. All I can say is that I'm glad it's being investigated. Perhaps the hoarder will get counseling and help, and the children need to be out of this environment.

Good for him

Texas governor remains firm on cancer vaccine

Governor Perry signed an executive order requiring the vaccine against HPV, a sexually-transmitted disease that causes 70% of cases of cervical cancer, be given to sixth-grade girls for them to attend school. These kinds of requirements are how we ensure good public health. I suppose like most other vaccines, parents will be able to refuse on religious graounds. The controversy arises because 1) it's a vaccine against a sexually-transmitted disease and some yahoos think that will encourage sexual activity among young people and 2) there's only one pharmaceutical company that produces the vaccine and so there are issues over giving them a government-mandated monopoly of sorts, and it (Merck) gave a whopping $6000 to the governor's re-election bid (out of $24 million)--I don' t know about you, but I don't think that would prejudice me into making a decision. Yes, I think those issues are important to consider. But--in the end, what matters is that we have a chance of assuring that this generation of 12-year-olds will be much less likely to die from cervical cancer, right?