Actually

I've put on a blues anthology CD,  which is very relaxing.  I may try to read some more of Hollow City,  which I am enjoying and only have it from the library for two weeks,  but my eyes are a bit tired after the tests and the book and typing up the review.  I should check and see when it is due,  along with the other, physical,  books I have it.  I'll go check now.

Whew!

I just sent my review for an excellent book called Leading Libraries: How to Create a Service Culture by Wyoma vanDuinkerken and Wendi Arant Kaspar to my editor for review, barely making the deadline (well, technically, yes it was due today, but it would have been better if I'd gotten it in during business hours). But with the scheduling gig, life has been pretty hectic the last three weeks, plus stuff in my personal life (even the really happy things) have just made for a very busy bee. But it's submitted, yay. If accepted, it'll be my 33rd publication and (I think) 15th book review, as one is in process right now and should be published next month (I corrected the proofs a couple of weeks ago), and the others have all been published. Now this one is starting its way to publication.

Today was a little better in scheduling, as I actually was able to get away from the phone a bit and go get a drink or use the bathroom, whereas yesterday I was glued to the phone the whole three hours. Today was also about catching up on some things in the revenue cycle and library aspects of my job, too. I worked very steadily all day. After work, I went to the optometrist and had my eyes examined. I got a prescription for both glasses and contacts, although I'm using my vision benefit for the contacts, since that's what I wear most. That means I won't be able to get new glasses until this time next year, unless I pay for it myself. Maybe I'll increase my flexible spending account a bit to allow that, so I can get them earlier. This year the FSA worked pretty well--I have $59 left in my account, and a $40 bill from a doctor's office from before I met my out-of-pocket expenses, which I need to go ahead and pay. The other nice thing was that my vision has actually gotten a little better in one eye and remained unchanged in the other--we weakened my prescription a notch.

The practice I go to is Abel, Klecker, and Robbins, and they are associated with Pal Optical, so afterwards I went around to that side and asked about getting some eyeglass cleaner and also if they could check and adjust my glasses, which were slightly off, which they did. They also gave me the eyeglass cleaner and a cloth at no cost, as well as a case (I had my other pair of glasses with me, and my trial contacts in, and when he saw I didn't have an extra case for the other, I think the optician couldn't bear to have me just put the glasses in my bag without one). All this, and I wasn't actually getting new glasses with them right now. Of course, I'll go there for my glasses when I do get them--I have for years and they've always done a great job and had great customer service. And the eye doctor had given me a trial cleaning kit with new case and (dum, dum, dum) the little bottle of cleaning solution that is perfect for travelling, better than the so-called travel version, which goes quickly through airport screenings. This is good, as I'll be heading beck to Chicago in November, most likely.

And even though I've been home for two or so hours, I haven't taken the trial contacts out, so I could check them out. I've done a lot of reading and writing, and they seem to be making things clearer than they were. Road signs were also pretty clear as long as they weren't too far away. So I think I'll call in a day or two and order the contacts. I'll know for sure after I do my data entry tomorrow. They're bifocal (or more properly, multifocal) lenses, and they help with looking back and forth between the computer screen and the small print on my charge sheets.

Otherwise, I'm in comfy clothes; I am actually not feeling sleepy, though, so I think I might watch something. So, this is good night, I think. Have a great evening.

A very stressful day

And I'm glad it's almost over. We were very busy in scheduling and I spent three hours glued to the phone except when I was at checkout,  and that was weird because I scheduled someone,  sent them on their merry way,  and then couldn't complete the scheduling because the order was changed midstream while I was scheduling.  There were also several complex appointments,  too,  like two doctors,  with multiple tests or images,  all for one patient/encounter. I am certainly not a pro at this,  yet.

Afterwards,  I left over lunch and got a friend and dropped him off at an appointment,  went back to work,  ate lunch while I worked,  and then got him again when he was finished,  went back to work,  finished up what I needed to do,  left for the day,  took him to pick up some medicine,  visited for awhile,  and came home.  Each time I went out,  I got caught in the rain,  the first time in an actual downpour,  because I thought my umbrella was in the office, and I was wrong,  and the other times because it was sprinkling when I left the library,  but raining harder by the time I got outside. Apparently,  I refuse to learn.

When I got home,  I really wanted pizza,  but there were no good deals and I decided to be fiscally responsible and also diabetically responsible. I had a sandwich and went through my Facebook feed and blogged,  and then I was delighted to find I had some sugar-free dark chocolate pudding I'd forgotten about,  so that was a plus.

Now I'm in the bedroom with the lights low,  Loreena McKennitt singing on Pandora through the Roku box on the TV,  and I'm in comfy shorts and a tank top,  and I'm going to relax for awhile.  If I don't blog anymore tonight,  good night.  Tomorrow will be more scheduling,  plus I have an optometrist appointment in the evening and a book review due. But as Scarlett put it,  'Tomorrow is another day.'

Pretty interesting--the body from top to bottom, as seen by an MRI

Your body, from top to bottom.

Posted by I fucking love science on Monday, September 28, 2015

I'm keeping an eye on this

Inspection of King Tut’s Tomb Reveals Hints of Hidden Chambers: Secret doors may conceal the burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti, but tantalizing clues await further testing.

Nearly a century after the rediscovery of King Tut’s tomb ignited a worldwide craze for Egyptology, new findings could turn out to be almost as stunning.

On Monday, after a group of Egyptian and foreign archaeologists examined the famous tomb, Egypt’s antiquities minister confirmed that they found evidence suggesting the existence of two previously undiscovered rooms. “This indicates that the western and northern walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb could hide two burial chambers,” minister Mamdouh Eldamaty told the Egyptian state press.

This is really cool

Did a timelapse last night of the super blood moonjoecappa.commusic by Milver

Posted by Joe Cappa on Monday, September 28, 2015

by Joe Cappa, wending its way through Facebook. Hope you got to see it in person, but if not, this makes a nice recap.

Fungi!

Another mushroom has popped up in my planter with the baby oak tree.

That was a train wreck visit to Taco Bell

First,  they rang up just my drink,  then tried to ring up 5-layer beefy burritos instead of the 7-layer ones I asked for.  I finally got up to the window and they dithered for almost five minutes without acknowledging me or apologising for the wait. Then they tried to charge me for someone's order that was almost twice mine.   Then they asked me if I had an order that was not remotely mine.  Finally they figured out which order they were on,  but were waiting for part of it,  so I offered to come inside.  They said they'd bring it out to me,  gave me my burritos but offered no sauce.  I drove around to the front and realised they also had not given me my drink,  so I went in,  crossing the wet floor.  They gave me a drink,  which was at least the right one,  but without the lid on properly and later I found it was about half a cup of ice and little drink. I had to ask for a straw,  as the two bins were both empty. I finally got the item I was waiting for,  and left,  travelling a second time across a very wet floor. Then I went home.  Thankfully,  the burritos were the right kind.  That's the only other thing I can think of that could have gone wrong. But although I was annoyed,  I didn't want to actually fill out the survey and have it impact negatively - - they're usually more together than this.  But,  wow,  not tonight.

I did get to see the eclipse after all

Reddit user Bluerainbowsanddrain (Public Domain photo from Wikipedia)

Although I came back in once we reached totality because, frankly, I got spooked by a skunk. See, I live near a reservoir and its associated marsh, and we've got raccoons, muskrats, all sorts of animals. So I had set up a chair and was watching the moon, which was about a quarter obscured when I began, with binoculars [which I did not recall having them in a pack that came with a tiny flashlight, a compass, and a pen knife, but that's so cool], and I hear something. I look and about 10 feet in front of me a HUGE skunk came by, and I was very, very quiet. It slipped up by the neighbouring building and then across the parking lot. I continued and watched until the dragon had eaten every bit of the moon, made a couple of tweets, and then headed inside. It was pretty hazy towards the total eclipse peak, and hard to see the moon with much clarity even through the binoculars. But I got some lovely views prior to that. I wish I could have actually taken a decent picture--my cell phone doesn't do much of anything, and I have a very basic little digital camera that isn't much better, in terms of photographing moving celestial objects. I even tried to take a shot with my phone through the binoculars, to no avail. Ah, well. Hopefully you got to see it, too. I went out again a couple of minutes ago and the moon is a dark blood red, but is obscured by clouds so it's really hard to see. Still, it was nice to see one; I haven't in quite awhile. And I'm totally psyched for our total solar eclipse in two years. Yay!

Well, I finished the notes

But I sort of grazed while I did them and now I feel like a bloated cow,  and my stomach hurts,  but it's my own fault.  I'm so happy not to be limited to peanut butter and jelly that I ate a little bit of everything--and so shouldn't have.  So I'm going to go lie down for a few minutes,  then hopefully get up and watch something.  Good night,  if I don't write more tonight.