:(

A mix-up over bioengineered tomato seeds sparked fears about spread of GMO crops

This has got to stop--we're killing ourselves for convenience

Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution

And I'm just as guilty of creating demand as others...I've got to stop buying plastics.

Sanity

Maryland's 'Freedom to Read' act bans book censorship in libraries, bolsters rights amid national debate

Yay!

NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet

I've actually joined a book club at work

 Amazingly enough, in all my years of reading and being a librarian, I have never been in a book club. It's with co-workers from the hospital. Our first book is Nicholas Sparks' The Wish. I've never read any of his books or seen the movies. Any opinions on his writing?

Beautiful and informative and # 17

Of the 50 species this new book from the University of Kentucky Press, I have only seen two: whooping cranes and red-headed woodpeckers. At the rate things are going, I may never see any of the others that are in Kentucky at least part of the year. Since 1970, 3 billion birds have been lost in the US and Canada. The author writes that that means nearly 30% of the birds that used to live in the two countries have disappeared. 😥 Many of these are very colourful. The bill was very intesting. I just hope it doesn't become a historical catalogue. The bird on the cover is a painted bunting. I've heard of them, at least, but many of the others were new to me, so I learned a lot from it.

Citation: Williams, Matt. Endangered and Disappearing Birds of Appalachia and the Southeast. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2024. 248 pp.

Oh, and that's book 17 for 2024!

Sometimes I wonder why people do the things they do...

Four things made me sad when I went to the Chinoe Kroger for cat treats. In order of sadness, they are:

1. One man was sitting in a BMW cocked across a handicapped spot without any placard. Now granted, the car was standing, not parked, so it was ambiguous as to whether he should be there, but still...
2. A giant truck was stretched halfway into a handicapped spot and halfway over the line into a regular spot. It was parked that way. If it had a placard, it may have been on the driver-side dash rather than the rearview mirror, which is fine per the law, I just couldn't see. But regardless of that, folks, if you can't park your humongous truck correctly, don't buy one. Or at least park at the edge of the lot.
3. When I came out, there was a small cart straddling the other handicapped space next to mine and also a regular space, so no one could park. At first I got in the car and turned it on. Then I turned it off, got out of the car, and walked the 10 steps to the cart corral. Now, it's possible the person who used the handicapped spot did it, and couldn't make it to the corral, but if that's the case, put it next to the sign. And no one walking by had bothered to take it to the corral or into the store. My faith in humanity is waning.
4. Saddest of all (but before that last bit), the lady ahead of me in the fast lane and I chatted about cats because she'd seen my treats. Her order came to $74.01. She gave the cashier a hundred-dollar bill and a penny. He hit the button without putting that in. And then he fumbled for a minute or two, finally pulling out some random change. She tried to explain that he'd given her the wrong change (although she didn't say it was $26 even), and he just directed her to the customer service desk. It is the main aspect of his job, but he couldn't make change--not because he was stupid, I think, but because he'd never been taught to, and that's just sad. I've cashiered many times. It just boggles my mind that many today honestly can't do it if they don't type in the right amount and let the register tell them how much to give the customer. He didn't really seem embarrassed, just inconvenienced. He was probably about 24 or 25 years old. We have done such a disservice to students in the last couple of decades. Don't even get me started on cursive.

My journey so far...

In November 2021 I was at my highest weight in my life with a BMI of 58.1 kg/m², had just gone into a 4x in women's clothing, and was miserable. My liver specialist had just added another diuretic because despite being on Lasix, my feet and ankles swelled horribly. I lost 20 lbs. of water weight that month. You heard me. 20 lbs just from fluid retention.

In December I got with a weight management doctor at the University of Kentucky. She put me on Ozempic at that time, which helped with my appetite, and while I was somewhat sketchy about when I ate well and didn't, and my weight fluctuated, overall I went down, sitting at the 60 lbs. total loss mark for awhile, going up and down 10 lbs. Last October I had to go off the Ozempic (which I'm actually on because of my diabetes--the weight-loss version is Wegovy), which was impossible to find. I tried _ten_ pharmacies. I was off for a month. My blood sugar soared. She then put me on Mounjaro, a different drug in the same class for diabetes (the weight-loss version is called Kepbound). What I found was that for me, the Mounjaro has been more effective with appetite with fewer side effects. I went down to 60 lbs lighter total.

Anyway, due to being off the meds and the holidays, I wound up soaring back up to the 40-lb loss mark in January. I managed to lose 10 lbs before my surgery in late February. Since then, I am officially 70 lbs lighter than my original high weight, according to the records at my doctor's office last week. That's mainly because I've been eating much better, I was home with my roommate's cooking, and have reduced my use of the vending machines at work, which is a real struggle because I stress eat at work.

So why is this all important? I desperately meed a knee replacement. Not only are imy knee joints bone on bone, my left patella is even shifted completely out of alignment. But understandably, my knee specialist [lthe same orthopaedist who did my rotator cuff surgery] is concerned about my weight. He won't do a surgery if the BMI is above 45, and prefers it to be under 40. My current BMI is 44.15 kg/m²--greatly reduced from what it was, but in the danger zone still.

However, when I did the calculations the other day, I am about 27 lbs from reaching a BMI of 39.9. We think that's doable. So we're starting to talk about doing the surgeries and I got a pamphlet on what to expect from them at my request. I am excited about the possibilty of reduced pain and greater mobility. Also, if I can do that, I will have officially lost over 100 lbs and have a total BMI reduction of 18.2 kg/m². It obviously won't happen tomorrow, but that gives me some time to prepare for the surgeries.

It was never about looking good, it is about health, and for that matter losing weight actually ages your face and makes you saggier, but I really want to do these surgeries and be more mobile. I'm only 57, too young to be as decrepit as I am. I've had trouble with my knees since high school. It's time to help them. Oh, and here are the obligatory photos. The first one is from September 2021. The other one is from yesterday. PS Shoutout to Dr. Stephanie Rose [women's health/weight management] of UK and Dr. Janak Talwalkar [orthopaedic surgeon] of Baptist. They've both helped me tremendously.

PS Both of those shirts are 3X, and the pants on the second picture are 3X. 70 lbs and I'm still in that size for the most part. Women's clothes are weird. But I was going into 4X and I think I'll be able to transition to 2X soon...I have one pair of pants already. And of course the shirt is mainly due to my bosom. :)  

[Update: I gave blood today and got a shirt for donating. They didn't have any in size 3X, so I took a 2X because I figured I might be able to wear it in the future. When I got home, I tried it on. I won't say that the line is perfect in terms of the cloth's drape, but I can wear it, and it's comfortable, even if it shows my belly roll a bit. I'm a little proud of myself. I could be doing better in my eating, but I'm apparently doing some things well.]

Something to remember

The monkey is from my therapist, a reminder to calm 'monkey chatter' when I'm anxious. The post-it was given to me by my supervisor the day before my surgery when I had a massive panic attack. I need to remember to be mindful. It works for autism meltdowns, too, I'm sure.

Totally unrelated, my to-be-read pile of library books

 I did get some reading done on Belle Brezing, the famous Lexington, KY madam today.