Okay, so we have a happy item... so now, if you're bummed, down, depressed, saddened, etc. Please, tell us why??594 responses total.
I'm saddened that my problem with my neighbors seems compltely
unresolveable.
IBB according to news reports, Tiger Stadium may be torn down to put up a Walmart. : (
The latest notion I've heard is that Tiger Stadium may be torn down so the land can be sold for development. There are no current specific proposals for development, as far as I know. I just heard about Tiger Stadium on the radio this morning, from sports talk station WTKA (AM-1050). Detroit is currently paying the Tigers about a half-million dollars per year to maintain Tiger Stadium. From what I've heard, the field still looks like a ballfield (though not a major league one). The grass is mowed, the infield is being maintained, the outfield isn't pristine as it used to be, but it's not bad. Some parts of the stands are not safe any longer. If they ever opened Tiger Stadium up for any events, as they did once for a women's baseball game a few years ago, there'd be restrictions on where you could sit and what parts you could go to. The outside of the stadium looks shabby, from what I've heard from friends. I guess it's not being painted and repaired any longer. I'd very much like to go visit Tiger Stadium before it is torn down.
IBB it'll be at least a month before I see my girlfriend again.
IBB I don't have a girlfriend to see. B-( Now don't you feel better, Dcat?
oh yes, much. :-)
IBB my cat died this week.
condolences about your cat.
Sorry to hear about that,Puke...er, Vomit ;-)
Leon Uris died this weekend, of renal failure. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/25/obituaries/25URIS.html
So sorry novomit. I miss my Harlis cat terribly.
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I read a lot of his stuff, but I never finished Exodus. Have been meaning to try it again.
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IBB there's a beautiful piece of stained glass in my office, but I can't seem to find a way to hang it safely in my window. Drat.
I have found my ex-wife has had her live-in boyfriend watching John, without my knowledge (until John told me of it) for the last two days while she was not present. I have made it explicitly clear to her that that person is not to be with John without a responsible adult's supervision. After I found out he was watching John yesterday, I contacted the Friend of the Court's office to find out what I can do about it. My case worker is a man, and was very reasonable at listening to what I had to say. I'd expected him to berate me because my issue is not pressing compared to others he must hear. I was wrong; he was respectful and helpful. There wasn't anything he could do on the spot, of course, but he was very nice. He advised me to write him a letter, outlining my complaints about the violations of the mediation agreement. He will then take appropriate action. The boyfriend was watching John again today. I had a shouting match with my ex-wife over it over the phone a few minutes ago. There will certainly be no doubt that I'm opposed to that person watching my son. I managed to also point out this was a violation of the mediation agreement regarding "right of first refusal" (today) and an abuse of the right of first refusal (*she* was supposed to watch John yesterday; he explicitly was *not*). The final straw has been loaded onto the back of the camel. There will be no more wishful thinking, that maybe the mediation agreement is better than the alternative, even if it's only being kept to by me. I'm going to write the letter which was suggested to me; actually I've mostly written it. Also, I will be calling my lawyer tomorrow to see if there's anything she should be doing.
Jim complained to the court one summer when his ex refused to let his daughter visit for a month. The only result of this was that a few months later they sent her a letter telling her not to do this again. Do you want to offer to pay for daycare somewhere at times when both parents are working?
Best of luck with getting the situation resolved to something more stable, John.
re resp:17: I am quite willing to pay for day care, if that's what's needed. I am already paying more than double the FoC recommended child support, which was supposed to be compensation to her for watching John mroe than half the time. (It's a miniscule amount of money.) I am not willing to pay for her boyfriend to be alone with John. I'm willing to pay quite a lot to prevent him from being with John. I am also willing to leave work in order to watch my son for an hour, or an afternoon, or whatever else is needed. The mediation agreement specifies we'll give each other the "right of first refusal", which means she has to ask me first. But she doesn't do it. re resp:18: Thanks! Divorce is the most disillusioning experience I can imagine.
IBB my sprained ankle is being very s l o w in healing. I hurt it on Memorial day and it's still bruised and tends toward swelling. It's gotten better, but not fast enough; I have stuff to do, not the least of which is moving. I'm moving back in with some old roommates because my current one is moving back down south (she's finished her master's and gotten a teaching job in Tampa) -- that'll be this weekend, and I'm STILL working on packing that I wish had been done a week ago. On 7/1 my benefits begin; I work in a neurology office that's adjacent to one of the hospitals, and working for doctors means great benefits, I've discovered. I can go have it looked at on or after that date.
IBB i found out that a guy i like is already taken =( oh well i'll move on.
I'm giddily in love, but he lives three hours away. It's not hopeless, but it's annoying enough to make me a bit bummed.
been there. <brandishes the t-shirt> my condolances, Sarah.
Does John III's school have a daycare program for kids to go to before and after school that he could attend just 2-3 days a week (your days)?
I'm giddily in love, but he lives four hours away from where I am right now. Bummage.
resp:25 and not only that, in the fall he'll be about seven hours away. :-(
speaking of daycare, we will have to have our daughter go to one. Julie likes the one she found, thankfully, and it would be a temporary arrangement most likely if all goes the way we want it to, i.e., she gets to participate in the Community Jobs program and gets an afternoon assignment.
Speaking of daycares. Yesterday here a 2 1/2 year old little girl died in a Day Care van. The driver forgot her and left her in the van. She was there for 8 hours in 90+ degree heat. She roasted, literally. This happens here about three times each summer. Last year two kids died in the same way on the same day. Just something to think about.
Parents do that more often than daycares do.
Re #25: I know how tough that can be. I'm in love with someone 1,900 miles away.
I wonder if there is any chance of renegotiating the mediation agreement such that Andrea agrees to allow David to spend time with John II. I have no idea what she is afraid John might do to David. In exchange, John II could agree in writing not to say or do anything about John III spending time unsupervised with the man he is already living with anyway. Again, I have no idea what John II is afraid might happen to John III. Would he be fed vodka for lunch? Are recovered alcoholics dangerous people, any more than recovered smokers? Andrea is clearly violating the spirit of the agreement regarding David, if he was supposed to visit 'whenever he wanted'.
All of the recovering alcoholics/addicts I know are generally fun, down to earth people. But I suspect that John cares less about his addiction status than just the idea of the man himself.
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Is he *currently* an alcoholic?
I have neighbors with a genetic tendency to alcoholism. The adult son has let it run his life and has been in and out of treatment programs. He is a very very nice guy who would never hurt anyone (except of course himself). His sister, a doctor, says she knows there is a family problem, and she therefore avoids alcohol. Other relatives have had various other drug problems. The fact that you are unable to control yourself once you start drinking does not mean that you cannot keep yourself from starting. I think it might be harder to quit smoking than alcohol, judging from a couple of other neighbors and how often they have quit.
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It is both more and less likely for kids to start smoking if their parents smoke. It's easier to get cigarettes & associated necessities, certainly, but you also get to see first hand just how disgusting it is. (, he said from personal experience.)
I have no true love nor even slightly plausable prospect within *ANY* finite distance. (Now who's gonna one-up that, and how?)
I've got a Sport's illustrated Swimsuit screensaver installed. It shuts down the computer anythime I walk into the room.
resp:38 - ditto the no true love thing *and* I have my period :P
Perhaps slynne and i could be true loves? My father smoked until I was 11. He tried various means of quitting (pipe, cigar). I don't know how my mother ever married a smoker. She and both my brother and I detested the smoke, which made us ill. Perhaps I would not be allergic if I had not be continuously poisoned during my childhood. My father refused to believe his vice was making us all sick. He did quit when the doctor told him it was necessary to cure his ulcer. I find a true friend to be much more useful, longterm, than a true love.
Hello!Everyone! I'm new here.
i -- Does that mean you're madly in love with someone an infinite number of miles away?
re 41: If one's true love isn't also a true friend then it isn't much of a true love.
IBB, having not gone to bed till 3, I didn't wake up till 11, and thus missed not only Habitat but Grexwalk.
Four hours after putting my laptop away in my car tonight, I noticed that it was extremely warm to the touch, and now the battery appears to be completely discharged and its indicator lights won't even work. I'm nervous about even leaving it back in its slot for fear it will cook the computer.
I drank waaaaaaaaaay too much tonight, and now I have a headache. Water is a Very Good Thing. I'm NOT getting onto that waterbed until I've sobered up a bit. :-P
?Roller coaster sleep-ride?
IBB I went to Hell and I found *nothing* worth buying as gifts for friends. All the tasteful "Hell" silkscreened logos, all the quality embroidered flannel stuff... nowhere in evidence.
I am moderately bummed because my knees have been bothering me since coming to Bulgaria. The last time I went to Europe, my knees adjusted to all the extra walking within about a week. They are being much more recalcitrant this time.
Re: #40 - nope, you must stay within the "love" category - no upping the
ante with ailments, bills, car repairs, drunken roommates, etc.
Re: #43 - no...i don't even believe anyone's out there at such a distance
Re: #39 - kinda cool as a one-up attempt, if it is
Re: #41/44 - i'd guess that for most people, "true friend" is a more long-
term stable/reliable relationship than "true love".
hey. no one ever said anything about rules! but ok... how about, I have no true love and I am unlikely to get a date because I keep talking about my period in public.
IBB my bathroom exhaust fan motor has dropped from 3000 RPM (nominal) to 1600 RPM (measured). Must have lost a coil.
How did you measure your fan? Slynne, there are people who appreciate honesty, don't despair! What has your period been up to recently? (Or is grex TOO public?).
Probably with a timing strobe.
resp:47 yep. After all, intoxication is dehydration of the brain, and so water is a good thing for a hangover.
I don't have a strobe so I rigged a contact point on the blower, a battery, and a frequency meter, and read 26.8 Hz. (I had to add a R-C filter to stetch the pulses a little and remove some higher frequency noise.)
Re #56 - Yup. I learned long ago that the trick is to drink three glasses of water before bed and then take aspirin with another three glasses of water the minute I wake up. I have yet to be hungover. :) (I ended up sleeping on the couch instead of the waterbed... a wise decision since the motion would have made me sick).
If drinking three glasses of water with aspirin before bed and then having three glasses of water when you wake up keeps you from having a hangover, you havent had enough to drink!
IBB cuz my vacation's over and all I have to show for it is a broken toe. As for this "love" thing, I gave up on that concept years ago, so who cares.
The water probably helps more than the asprin. Most hangover symptoms are caused by dehydration. (Alcohol is a diuretic.)
Re #60: I thought I'd given up on it until I met someone...it was a gradual thing, to. We were only very casual friends at first. I tend to think real love is something that comes along when you're not looking too hard for it.
re 62: yup, but most of us are control freaks and can't stop looking in the wrong places while waiting for the right person to come bop you on the head. I think I'm beyond "in love" with a person who, I'm firmly convinced, is THE most wonderful person ever created. Except for living 2600 miles away.
resp:62 - HAHA. I dont know, I know plenty of people who found true love by looking for it just like I know a few people who stopped looking and then never found it. I think looking for someone to hook up with probably increases ones chances of finding someone. Although, of course, not looking doesnt elimiate the chances of finding someone. I think it just has to do with luck for the most part. I used to think it had a lot to do with a persons looks and/or personality but then I started to notice that lots of ugly people and lots of people with horrible personalities were able to find mates. Yup. I pretty much think it is just luck. And, fwiw, it isnt the end of the world to be single although it can get a little depressing sometimes.
resp:60 et al.: i can assure you that i wasn't 'looking for' anything two & half months before moving away to a school six hours away. . . esp. since i wasn't really planning to come back. . .
Feh. My whole face hurts again. So much for the "miracle dry socket cure".
you just had an extraction?
A person's attitude has a lot to do with their ability to find a relationship, trying or otherwise.
I suppose that is true and yet, some of the most awesome people I know havent found a relationship. Seriously, these are people who dont have attitude problems. When a physically attractive, smart, educated, kind, emotionally healthy, outgoing person with LOTS of friends cant find a relationship, it must just be bad luck. Of course, those people (and me too) do share a common attitude and that is that it is better to be single to be in a bad relationship. I have known people who have stayed in pretty abusive situations because they are afraid of being alone. I dont think that is what you meant though.
I'm inclined to agree with slynne.
re 60, 65: Roger that, I certainly wasn't looking for a relationship at TOP setup... I was ind of looking forward to being single in Chicago.
I still get a kick out of being an unintentional matchmaker. :):)
resp:71 as was i in Pittsburgh. . . . ah well, best laid plans of cats and men, eh?
IBB I have a dental appointment this afternoon. I hate dental appointments. It should be relatively painless, though, since this time I haven't put it off quite so long.
(psst... "cats and women") jor -- yeah: got all four wisdom teeth out.
There's a difference between being healthily selective (which is undervalued) and being excessively picky. I know more than one person who disqualifies every potential match on some grounds or another, and/or who sabotages those relationships to keep them from working out. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes otherwise. There is no sure-fire method--otherwise, people would be doing it. All people would be doing it. There are, however, things to do that can help.
I think it is easy to be critical about people being "overly picky". Let me ask you this, since you are about to get married. Are you in love with this woman who is your fiance? I would submit that most people who disqualify every potential match on some grounds or another probably are not really in love and are looking for a way out. In other words, they havent been lucky enoungh to find a person they could really fall in love with. If you didnt really love your fiance, would you stay with her or would you maybe start thinking of reasons to disqualify her? Of course, there are people who choose to be single but pretend to make an effort to be with someone because of societal pressures. And there are certainly things a person can do to improve the odds in the romantic relationship game. I dont dispute that at all. Let's face it, the Jennifer Anistons of the world have more options than the Roseanne Barrs. But, ultimately it still comes down to luck.
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How many people think you have to fall in love with someone to want to live with them? That seems like a pretty unrealistic requirement.
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IBB Katherine Hepburn died on Sunday. Not only was she one of Hollywood's greatest stars, but she was a feminist well before her time. She was living in sin with a married man, Spencer Tracy, for many years during a time when such arrangements would have been scandalous. She didn't care what other people thought, she did her own thing. Katherine Hepburn was cool. Also liked the story that she won a record four best actress academy awards, and never showed up to accept any of them. When Hepburn won for "Lion in Winter", a friend went and picked up her oscar at the ceremony. She told him to just drop by her house, put the statue in a paper bag, and stick it in a cupboard. Two decades later, this friend was visiting and remembered doing that. He looked in the cupboard and the oscar was still there, in the paper bag. Hepburn had never looked at it, much less had it engraved. She was one of a kind. RIP
re 81 - it is not about housemates.
I'm talking about people who disqualify peotential mates before it gets very serious. Of course, people don't always realize what's involved in committed relationships.
Bummed because our office has had windows replaced and my allergies flared up big time, so had to use personal time to book it out of there. And because the cat is having a big "MEW MAMA FIX THINGS" breakdown, all night, every half hour, she'd come in and MEW at me.
Gahhh. I have about 48 hours' worth of work to do in the next 24. Also, my boss is a complete ass. Just in case I haven't mentioned it before.
And hope he/she doesn't doesn't Grex. IBB I bought an SATA HD and didn't know it required a different power connection than that used with ATA drives. So now I have a drive and no way to power it. B-(
re 81: I would argue that "living in sin" with a married man could/would and perhaps should still be considered "scandalous", or at least wrong. I've said it before, I'll say it again: there's too much cheating in the world today.
"Living in sin" is a nice concept if you subscribe to that particular
system of beliefs. A lot of people don't. But it doesn't imply adultery or
non-monogamy.
Oh, I'm pretty sure he knows he's an ass. And positive he doesn't grex. IBB Richard misspelled "Katharine Hepburn".
#89...no I didn't...re-read my post, I spelled "katherine hepburn" correctly
richard's original post: "IBB Katherine Hepburn died on Sunday. Not only was she one of Hollywood's greatest stars, but she was a feminist well before her time. She was living in sin with a married man, Spencer Tracy, for many years during a time when such arrangements would have been scandalous. She didn't care what other people thought, she did her own thing. Katherine Hepburn was cool. Also liked the story that she won a record four best actress academy awards,and never showed up to accept any of them. When Hepburn won for "Lion in Winter", a friend went and picked up her oscar at the ceremony. She told him to just drop by her house, put the statue in a paper bag, and stick it in a cupboard. Two decades later, this friend was visiting and remembered doing that. He looked in the cupboard and the oscar was still there, in the paper bag. Hepburn had never looked at it, much less had it engraved. She was one of a kind. RIP" don't see any misspelled katherine hepburns...
Katharine vs Katherine (a - e) If she was living with a married man, he was probably not also living with his wife, meaning they were at least physically separated but not divorced. Divorce used to be more difficult.
okay I did a google search, and its spelled both ways in numerous places. they are both correct spellings
my 13 mo. old daughter is cutting her first molars and a canine, and it's just knocking her out. Poor little Sarah.
IBB famed children's author Robert McCloskey died today at age 88. McCloskey was the author of one of my alltime favorite books when I was little, "Make Way for Ducklings" I love that book. In fact I gave a copy of it to my little niece not too long ago. RIP
(While there are many spellings of the name, each holder usually uses only one spelling. Using a different spelling is incorrect. I don't know how Ms. Hepburn spelled her name.)
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(FWIW, it's spelled "Katharine" in her New York Times obit and everywhere on IMDB. I think we can assume that this spelling is correct and others are not.)
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Thank you, remmers. And gelinas.
Richard, "Sarah" and "Sara" are both correct spellings, but you'll get beat if you spell my name as "Sara". Get it now? :)
s/beat/beaten
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Yet another job rejection. I cannot take this anymore. All I want is to support myself. I'm not sure why this is apparently too tall an order.
Keep at it, bees. It gets really tough at times, but if you keep
slogging through eventually you'll eventually get the one call that leads to
something.
You've got *lots* of company - unemployment hit another new high this past week. Every day, though, a few folks *do* get jobs. Remember that you've got to keep playing to win, and that the slim odds are the fault of the house, not you.
Trish, have you tried employment agencies/websites? Also, I forget the name, but there's a government agency that provides free job search assistance helps with things like resumes, interview skills, etc. Also, check with your college/university Career Planning & Placement office. Even if your a former student, they often still provide their services. Good luck.
I let my bike idle in the hot sun for too long today, which ran the electric fan and drained the battery to the point at which it wouldn't start the bike when I wanted to come home tonight. I tried push starting it by running down the ramp and popping the clutch into fourth gear (the highest), but to no avail. I asked some co-workers for help jump-starting it, but they had no cables. Finally, I improvised and grabbed a couple of guitar cords from the sound shed at TOP, and using them as cables and with my two co-workers holding the ends in the right places in lieu of clamps, I successfully got the bike running.
resp:101 Indeed. I spell my name "Jonathan," not the alternate and uncommon "Jonathon," and certainly not the blatantly wrong "Johnathan". p.s. we spell our daughter's name Sarah too, hence some confusion in the past ;)
<envisioning other's helpers holding bare metal wires in bare hands. agrees to leave it to professionals and not try it at home>
The leaking plastic coolant bottle I had to take out of my car was not marked with a recycling symbol, so despite it probably being a good grade of HDPE I had to toss it in the trash instead.
Mad goatheads at Eric for his Spinal Tap style hardcoreness.
Suffered through a 7 hour or so power failure yesterday. The storm knocked some wires down. janc was closer to ground zero than I was. From near 1pm to after 8pm.
(If I was really hardcore, I'd have two quarter-inch patch cord jacks built into the battery cover so I wouldn't need clamps or assistance to jumpstart the bike with guitar cords.)
Making guinea pigs hold the wires is good for a few extra punk rock
points, though.
Only the tips were making contact, and I knew the cords were good, since we've been using them throughout TOP, so there was no risk.
I've done all I know to do in looking for a job. Believe me. IBB I woke up this morning to a red, splotchy and peeling face. Alas, it was mine. I don't know what caused this. Maybe too much chlorine in the pool last night, but I didn't get my face all that wet.
Oh, guitar chords, not guitar strings.
An inlay fell out and I can't get it dealt with until Monday. How annoying.
ibb this 'retirement' community is still hell-bent on kicking my mother out. even the judge is in onthe deal - judicial whatever ]sommission will hear from me. sill inside the 'legal' 'process' and it's not looking too good. these fsckers even sued my deceased father for trespass - go figure.
(Actually Eric would have gotten even more punk rock points for failing to start the bike at all, instead pushing it into the street and then sleeping in a puddle under the stage)
I'm tired and my feet hurt.
in a short time I will again be 4 hours away from dcat.
Our electricity managed to survive the Friday storm, but went out today.
Re #104: I hate this economy. Didn't Bush tell us he was going to jump-start it? Maybe other should loan him some guitar cords.
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Meetings. Feh. I was just starting to build some momentum and really get things done (good for a monday) and had to sit through an hour long meeting during which, as usual, not one single important thing was said. My momentum is wrecked, and since for the last hour I've had nothing to do but sit and think about how much I dislike this company, I expect a hard time getting it back.
Today is blah. Last night some high schooler pulled the fire alarm in my dorm in the middle of the night (this is the 3rd time since I've moved in) so I got even less sleep than I would have otherwise. Almost falling asleep on the bus to school. Ms. Lemons was at school today and Ms. Rocha is a wimp so I didn't really push the kids to think today knowing that I'd have no backup if I did. I officially teach tomorrow, my "supervisor" is coming. And because I'm so brillant I left the book I was going to take home to prepare with at school. Oh well, I'll just get there early tomorrow and look at it... shouldn't take too long to make some decisions, the investigations aren't long. I wish a lot of the questions were better phrased in the book, the kids don't always understand what is being asked, and its not their fault. Most of what I did today was take attendance and then staple worksheets together. Attendance in the second class is erratic and its hurting my name learning. On the way home, I got coffee at dunkin donuts cause I was still feeling stupid. I then proceded to spill in on myself on the 'L' and drop the donut I bought on the floor (I didn't need it anyhow, I guess). the AC in my dorm room is broken, so its even hotter in there than it is outside. They have thrown my stuff out of the way of the AC to look at it. They aren't exactly sure what is wrong with it. I have professional development in 20 minutes. I'm SO not in the mood. What I want to do is find a corner, crawl into it, and sleep. Without being bothered, for at least a day or so. I guess its not that bad of a day, now that I read it. I'm just tired and cranky. I feel better now. :)
Glad we could help.
Sometimes venting makes everything better. I know it works for me!
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IBB I read Eskarina's msg. Everybody sing!... Monday, Monday Can't trust that day...
What sort of job are you looking for, Trisha? For me, looking for work with a "what I want to do is keep myself busy (but support myself probably would have been interchangable), why won't anybody let me?" attitude didn't get very far. Once I shifted to, "what can I do that is really needed," my luck got a lot better. I'm seeing that a lot among people I know these days. In my case, yet another resume being added to the hundreds that were being received for every network engineer job posting didn't do anything to help anybody.
Today, the 6 person part of my department in which I work had 2 people on vacation and 2 more out sick. It was a horrendously busy day.
I was understaffed and overstressed today. I fear tomorrow may be similar.
Yeah, for the first time Staci came home and collapsed on the couch while getting up enough energy to go upstairs to her room. I can only imagine how much you guys had to do that exhausted her considerable energy levels.
Hm, I dont know where to begin. About a week and a half ago I had to deal with the hardest thing in my life. I'm still dealing with it, but I seem to be ok as of now. His name was Victor, and he took his own life. He suffocated himself, but how he did is not actually as important as I thought it was. He was 26, nearly 27. At his wake, his funeral, walking down the streets, passing Jimmy Johns al I can/could do is look for him... but he wasnt there. Its very odd for someone who is always around to not be around anymore. Nothing could really be said to make me feel better. But then again, what can you say when something like this happens? No words can bring him back, and no words can ease the heart and mind. For most of the day I didnt really say anything. I got hugs, told people what happened and cried alot. I eventually found a friend who somehow managed to make me feel somewhat better. When I found him all I could do was hug him, and after I told him what happened I couldnt let go. He held me for awhile, and held my hand for most of the night. He didnt try any words, and I thank him for that. Every time I've seen him since he's asked how I was doing, and knowing that he cares helps. I cant really express what I would like to him, but I think he knows I love him. I havent cried in several days, although I'm starting to as I write this. I dont really know what to say. I've felt numb the enitre time. Empty, and alone. While I know I'm not alone its hard to accept the fact that someone I loved very dearly is gone forever. At his funeral I spoke of him, and it helped. I told the people of the fun times I had with Victor, and I told them what he meant to me. At this point in time all I can is continue to live my life and remember him. But its still hard.
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I am sorry to hear of your loss, Staci. Suicide is a hard way to lose someone you love.
Todd and I both lost the same friend a few years back, and then a year
later, I lost another to suicide. I agree with everything he's said.
Staci, I grieve for your loss. I also have lost friends to suicide. I was angry at them, especially the first time it happened. How *dare* he do that? He dropped a bomb on the people who loved him; his mother, the rest of his family, his friends, all who knew him. Like Todd said, it is the most selfish act there is. It hurts other people to the degree they care about you. I might have a different perspective on it if it ever happens in my life again. Suicides are calling out for attention in the most serious way they can, because they think nothing less than that is going to work. Or else they're so miserable (lonely, sad, hopeless, in pain, desperate) they just can't stand it any more. Or else they don't know what they're doing; they're so insane they don't understand. There are other reasons... but if you imagine their state of mind, sitting somewhere by themself with a gun in their mouth or on top of a tall building or with drugs or whatever... it is terrible that anyone would have to feel that way. Of the people I've known who have gone that way, they all had alternatives. They all had someone who would have done *anything* to save them, to stop them, to ask/beg/persuade/force them to reconsider. I think, in all of those cases, *they* *didn't* *know* anyone felt that way. And no one knew they felt the way they did, either. I think I'm over being angry at those people in my life who took their own lives. They did a very selfish thing... but it's pretty selfish of me to be mad at them about it, too, especially now, after it's too late. For now... mourn. It's good to let it out and to let people share what they can to try to help you. Maybe a lot of it doesn't make any sense to you now, but later on, some of it will come back and it'll help you to feel better then.
My condolences, Staci.
Mine, too.
Staci, I'm so sorry. I can only say that I know how it hurts, because I've been there. I wish it hadn't had to happen to you, or to your friend Victor.
Anyone who calls suicide a selfish act is speaking from an entirely irrelevant perspective. The state of mind which produces the act prevents one from seeing it as anything but the only route of escape from absolutely unbearable circumstances. Suicide is an act borne out of deep illness, not selfishness. We should mourn only that we were too late to realize and help those who needed it, not what they took from us.
The two views aren't inconsistent. Great desperation usually makes
people behave in completely selfish ways; it's difficult to see the pain of
others when one is in great pain one's self. It's a productive way of seeing
things, though, to realise that someone was in enough pain that they didn't
think (and probably couldn't) of what they were doing to the people around
them, and it motivates some people through tough times to stay alive.
Thank you to all. And I think I'll stay out of the debate on suicide being selfish.
<hugs Staci>
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I can't hate the person I know who did it. I miss her far too much. I will always miss her. I will always wonder if I could have done more. It's been over six years, and it still feels like a hole in my life. I have felt angry that she didn't take the help that was offered (and it was offered, by many people) but in the end, the fact that she's gone is much more to the point than any other fact -- I wish she weren't.
re #149 Thank you for your comfort, but I have to agree with Twila. There is no way I could ever hate Victor. Even more so now that he is gone. While suicide is somewhat selfish, it is also very selfish to hate someone because they are no longer around. What about the things the person was going through at that point in time? Are they supposed to suffer needlessly because we are attached to them? I do not hate Victor, nor am I angry at him. I'm sad he's gone, and I dont understand it. But he made his own choices, and even if we think they werent the best, they were his to make. re #148 Thank you, love. :hugs Anne:
I'm very sorry to learn about your loss, Staci.
I have been there, and so I very deeply empathize. I miss Tom a lot. But all I got was an obituary in the mail, and so the closure was rather... muted.
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Fair enough, but that's your way - and mine. Not hers. She's chosen
her way to see things. Just respect it.
Also consider that Staci is only 15 and this is the first time she really has had to deal with this sort of thing. Grandma was 96 and it was expected, our friend Kelly died when Staci was 2, so she really doesn't remember it. These are the only deaths she has had to deal with. I think she is taking it remarkably well and with the right attitude.
I'm sorry mother, ubt this isnt my first real death. Victor is about the fourth person this year, aside from family and Kelly. The difference being Victor was a close friend, the others being people I barely knew. Todd, I can understand what your saying, but I dont agree with it. I'm not quite sure what else there is to say about it.. Again, thank you to all for kind words.
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<hug>
I meant deaths of those who had close ties.
Either way, I was going to comment to Glenda and Staci that A) Staci, you seem to be (from a totally on-line perspective) handling things well, and B) I'm sorry. I watched my cousin go through losing one of her best friends when she was a junior and it was hard to see her bearing that much pain.
Oh wait, I'm bummed cause I'm back from my awesome vacation.
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Wait! You're squishing the hiker!
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Gonna be at work late tonight. :P (On the plus side, I'm paid hourly, so at least it isn't unpaid overtime.)
my left knee is a little sore.
I wasted several hours today trying to get answers from tech support regarding my inability to get a network connection through the hub on my desk at DCI. Eventually, I was informed that the switch had been replaced with one that only allows a single connection per downstream line. That configuration is absolutely counterproductive for the work I do. It means I have to occupy a separate cubicle for every laptop I work with at one time (in addition to the one my desktop machine is in).
IBB I have come to the realization that my sister-in-law (the one that is the mother of my neice) is only nice to me when she wants something from me. Otherwise, she considers me beneath here... I have concluded that I will not paint her wall fresco or make her pillows in a fit of immature spit. These observations where brought to my attention by my mother who found it rude of said sister-in-law.
IBB after three weeks in California, my parents are finally (probably) coming home on Tuesday.
Copycat.
You really know you're a pack rat when you realize that your e-mail archives run to a quarter-gigabyte, without any images or sound files for bulk... and you haven't even had CD-R's to store it all on.
One final time, thank you to all. <hugs Eric>
jiffer, that's not immature. (well maybe the snit is). But deciding to use your time to do favors for people who like you rather than donating it to people who don't is a quite grown-up response to that kind of manipulation.
Re #168: Sounds like you need to sneak in a NAT box. ;)
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I have a sis in law like that too, Jiffer. Sucks, but it's manageable. I just dodge her phone calls most of the time, because they're usually last-minute babysitting calls. re 136 or so... I am looking for a job in either teaching (English) or communications. At this point I would do a secretarial type job in the meantime. Although, it looks like I'll have a sweet tutoring gig lined up and that will help tremendously.
I told her that I couldn't do the murals or the pillows till after things get manageable... (wonderful excuse to be attending school, and having 2 study guides to use as visuals)
More annoying than a bummer, but... Most of the way through a long file transfer, a temporary glitch cancelled it. For some reason I can't get compression to work over the link nor can I boost the speed, so for assurance's sake I have to do the whole thing over again the same slow, tedious way.
Drama on the front with the roomie. The strict 'no overnight guest" policy in our dorm is creating quite the ruckus.
IBB one of the bicyclists on the AABTS One Helluva Ride had a stroke or seizure and was pronounced dead at the scene by one of our (The Arrow) Ham Operators (who is a doctor and drives one of the Sag wagons).
ouch, what a spoiler. :(
IBB I'm missing Elvisfest again.
Elvisfest? Oh man. Reminds me that Dead Week is coming up. Oy.
Yeah, Elvisfest in Ypsilanti. The A2 News had a big article about one of my dojo brothers doing Elvis - Chris Solano. Does a great young Elvis.
Plenty of other folks saw him, however. We had to double the number of lines to get into Elvisfest (take money, apply wristband, offer program) and even then it was almost continuous work-as-fast-as-you-can from 2 to 6, with substantial lines backing up a few times.
Child overexposure - good thing all of my niece's friends are starting to come back from vacation. I'm out of energy for playing with her.
re #151- anytime
I woke up this morning to the sound of about 120 books jumping off the bookshelf in the other room to the floor at 7am. (On the top shelf of the bookcase, books are stacked. 40 high, six stacks across, two deep. Approx the top halves of all the front stacks were on the floor. . .) Ah well. This'll give me a nice chance to exercise the obsessive-compulsive in me & nicely reorder the books. . . .
IBB I got the following report from the Discovery office today: ALL THE POWERPRESENTER LAPTOPS IN THE PREMIUMS CLOSET WERE STOLEN OVER THE WEEKEND, ALONG WITH MOST OF OUR OTHER COMPUTER HARDWARE This is especially boggling to me because the office requires a keycard for access, and the thief would have to have known both that the closet had the laptops in it and where to look for the key to that closet. In a strange twist, since I am in possession of a keycard which I grabbed on my way out on Thursday evening, figuring I would use it to return tomorrow to finish my work -- a keycard not officially issued to me -- I may be considered a suspect in any investigation of the theft.
resp:185 Young Elvis-- that's cool. I always thought the Vegas Elvis was a bit overdone.
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IBB Rabih Hadad (spelling?) has been removed from the country.
Vacation ends today - with some 16-20 hours of getting home.
sorry , dewshine - the first and the most recent always hurt a lot. the hurt receeds slowly - many of us - many of us - have lost friends by the same sudden device. life is not fair, but keep onliving anyway.
I am NOT Bummed Because Rabih Hadad (spelling?) has been removed from the country. Why would you be bummed because a man who broke the law was sent home?
IBB because I am in desperate need of a part-time job, and Abilene is in a bit of an employment slump right now *sigh*.....
I am bummed because I dont believe that Rabih Hadad was treated fairly and I believe that reflects badly on our country.
But if he was here illegally (which he was), then he should have been deported. Apparently he entered on a tourist visa and overstayed it by five years, so he was eligible for deportation.
If that is the usual outcome for overstaying a tourist visa, then I agree. However, it is still important to treat people fairly. He should have had due process and it should have been public. Did you know that his wife found out that he was deported when he called her from the airport in Amsterdam? One has to wonder what the government was hiding to conduct all the business of deporting him in secret. Heck, the odds are that nothing sinister was going on but now it looks like there could have been.
I was under the impression he had filed for an extension in the appropriate manner, and the delay was ENTIRELY the fault of INS. NOT grounds for deportation, in my view. Since it was all done in secret, though, NONE of us know what ACTUALLY happened.
What Joe said. Haddad was trying to become legitimate, and was hosed for it.
Then there are the thousands of illegal aliens here that didn't even have a visa when they entered, but no one in INS is looking for them very ardently. And Haddad had during his incarceration been kept in solitary confinement, denied visits from his wife, and otherwise treated in ways our government would be screaming about if it happened to a US citizen abroad. Of course, since he was not charged with any crimes, apart from the visa overstay, he should be able to obtain quickly a new visa and return to pursue the permanent resident status that has been in the works for a long time - right?
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No one has been very clear in their public utterances about the ins and outs of the visa matter - the left just minimizes it as an outdated visa, and the right rants and raves about terrorism. It is certainly true that if you don't have the right kind of visa you can get into trouble engaging in business. If this is an issue, he should ot have done that until his visa status was appropriate. But why would he be so dumb as to ignore that? A good terrorist would be sure to do all the paperwork correctly.
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For what it's worth, I don't think I know any non-US citizens living in the US who don't have an INS horror story. I even know people who have been deported despite being in the US on valid visas, when the INS lost their paperwork. Even when it's been easy to document that the visa existed and was legitimate, it's apparrently a very expensive and time consuming process to get back into the US (a year, and somewhere around $8,000 in legal bills, in the case of a Canadian I know). I don't know much about this particular case, but the way the US treats immigrants in general is a disgrace.
quick retort - teh way immigrants treat teh u.s. both in general and in particular is a disgrace, but more on that later. i;ll grant, without argument or complaint, that the i.n.s is about teh most fscked up gummint agency in existence today. there would be an improvement if they learned from the i.r.s.,actually. our permission for slopppiness and 'so what' attitudes - the defacto attitude of too many of us - has gotten us into a nasty mess. only we, applying *pressure* to the congress can force responsibility.
Re #207: A friend of mine who immigrated from England has had a terrible time with the INS. It took him three tries before he and his lawyer got them to process the paperwork for his green card without losing it. I've also heard that if you come into the U.S. on a student visa, and *immediately* start the paperwork to extend it the day you arrive, it will still expire before the INS has finished processing the paperwork to grant the extension.
New item, please. :)
To get this back on track, I've scratched my eye and must not wear my contacts till it heals. I do not own a pair of glsses that isn't mangled. So looks like I'll have to cough up the dough to get a new pair made :(
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re: 209 Most sstudent visas are for duration of Status, that is, as long as you are in a school studying for a degree, you can be here.
IBB the power switch in my oldest mini-tower is dying. Anyone know where I can get a new front-panel rocker switch that fits an old CCS case? (I suppose I could just throw the case away, but the modern stuff is chintzy.)
Would you like a replacement case? We may generate one soon. Also Kiwanis keeps old power supplies that might have your switch.
Purchase Radio might have such a beast. Or try Mouser (www.mouser.com) for a plethora of obscure switches.
I have a bunch of switches left from the CCS auction. I'll see if any of them are rockers.
The other bulb in my dashboard apparently burned out recently - no light for the speedometer and other gauges! Drove home last night and had to estimate speed by gear & engine sound.
Perhaps bringing the attention of ancilliary lights!!!!
#218 reminds me of the joke--driving the Heisenberg uncertainty car on the highway, every time you look at the speedometer you get lost. :) IBB I can't seem to get myself to go to sleep before 2 a.m.
lol
...and now IBB Fedorov signed with friggin *Anaheim*. How lame is that?
IBB I didn't take sunscreen to the lake with me today. I know better.
IBB my feet are very sore from working at the coffee shop for 11 hours. Grrr. Damn boss needs t schedule people when he plans to go to redneck boat races.
gosh....it must totally suck to have to have a job and stuff!
Yeah, well, get off your butt and get a job and stuff. But I also have two jobs...
thanks, no. i'll just chill with being a stay at home dad. :)
Man. At least no one pukes at me at my *current* job. ;)
her puke, poop, & pee is a joy to clean up compared to the adult version back in our A.S.H. daze, fer shore.
HAHA. I dont doubt that. :) Still, I have a feeling your feelings are biased a little bit ;)
My father was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage 4, in early February, and no one informed me until today. It has spread to his liver and brain, and chemo has been discontinued. My dad hasn't smoked in over 40 years.
Federov is going to be a Duck????? Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!
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I don't know. I received a letter from his wife this morning, postmarked last Thursday. There is no answer at their home. I suppose he may have passed away by now. I think I should have been told sooner.
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So very sorry, Katie.
I am sorry to hear that, katie.
Oh, Katie, I am so sorry to hear that.
Katie, you have my sympathy. My boyfriend got the "stage four" diagnosis for his cancer in mid-february. Its a tough time all around, for both the person and their family.
It's time to see the doctor(s) about sleep apnea. It started when I had a case of the sleepies late yesterday afternoon but couldn't fall completely asleep. Julie was napping with me and woke me up a little because I was breathing shallow. Then I kept waking up repeatedly all night. My psychiatrist and med nurse have suggested for a while that I check in to a sleep clinic. But I won't be able to get a hold of my psychiatrist for a referral (medical coupons, see) until Thursday. So I called my physician's office. Same story-- I can't see him until Thursday at 2:15 p.m. PDT. So I suppose I'll be going to the emergency room tonight. I really hate missing work, as I had to do so today, but I called my site supervisor and she won't be expecting me for a few days. I promised to keep her posted.
(No, I'm not estranged from my dad. But he has been uninterested in maintaining relationships with his first set of children.)
I'm sorry Katie. You and your family will be in my prayers.
I'm receiving a mailflood at my domain because someone's Windoze box sent out a virus to large numbers of people with a forged header indicating it came from a nonexistent address at my domain.
Katie, I'm very sorry. That is nasty news indeed and a horrible way to receive it. I agree you should have been told sooner, much sooner.
Katie, you and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Sure hope the DVD burner for my nerw computer comes in today. Can't install any software without it, and no other CD drives lying around.
Regarding sleep apnea - I have read that it is most common in overweight men and if you raise the head of your bed (or sleep on a lot of pillows) or don't sleep on your back that should help. So should losing weight.
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I lost 10 cds and my visor cd holder in a rental car :(
I don't think Mormons use alcohol or tobacco. The same things are bad for lots of other diseases including acid indigestion.
IVVBB the people who access Grex by modem are apparently not important enough to rate a check to see that the modems are working before someone leaves the Pumpkin. (Obviously nobody checked, otherwise we would have seen some kind of notice as to what's wrong and when it might be fixed... right? Right?)
maybe grex should get rid of the dial-in modems altogether. I mean are they really necessary anymore? I suspect that most anyone who dials in now has other internet access and is doing it purely as a matter of convenience or old habit. they could either be eliminated altogether to save money or reduced to one or two, and priviledge to dial in to grex could become a member only perk. it is a reasonable thing to consider if there isn't a whole lot of staff presence and the modems are falling into disrepair as claimed in previous response by russ
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Sigh. Russ continues to abuse volunteers.
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re 247 + 248: Or, how about a CPAP? Or is it not the type of sleep apnea that that helps? My dad was diagnosed with sleep apnea when I was 10. If you're in need of jokes about it, we've got a few. ;)
IVBB it seems that some people don't seem to understand that Grex staff are volunteers, and do this in their loving spare time... which for some is not much. For shame on you unappreciating people.
And a corollary to that, which I'm sure would be argued if not mentioned, is that Grex cannot guarantee the quality or consistency of the services it provides, which is why we do not sell our services per se.
(Well, it's one reason, anyway...)
It might be nice if we had a way to dial out from the pumpkin. But that would at most confirm that one modem was working.
Is there a way to monitor the connections the terminal server is making, perhaps via a screen on that machine?
IBB some folks want to use the "Bummed" item to solve grex's various problems.
The terminal server does not have a screen.
Re #243: Sometimes I think our mail server at work spends more time sending bounce messages than actual mail. Re #251: <sarcasm>IVBB the half-dozen people who refuse to use Internet connections they apparently have anyway to reach Grex expect Grex to spend lots of money supporting dial-in lines for their use.</sarcasm>
It takes three paid members to support a phone line. This frees up the internet connection for use by people who prefer to use that.
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IABB the song-parody items are proliferating. I'd prefer one item I don't have time to read to a half-dozen (and growing). :(
Regarding sleep apnea: good luck. It took me over a year from the time I determined to my own satisfaction that I had sleep apnea needing treatment to the point where I got the medical community to actually give me the treatment in question (BiPAP machine). Granted, some of that time was because I needed surgery to correct a deviated septum before the machine could be expected to work. Frustrating, but worth it: I sleep much better now and have more energy.
BiPAP?
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Up my nose, you're actually just allergic to the garbage collected by cats' fursz,
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re270: diesel, eh? those fumes trigger my asthma.
BiPAP = Bilevel positive airway pressure. Basically, there's a computer in it that blows harder when it detects that I'm breathing in, and not so hard when I'm breathign out. A normal CPAP (C = continuous) just blows the same all the time. I may yet end up doing something like a tonsil and uvula reduction, just to lower my pressure, which is pretty high.
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A co-worker went on vacation for two weeks, leaving me in charge of her two tropical fish. They died today, after 3 days. I gave them the spiral funeral and sent her an e-mail.
You fucking muderer.
I'm extremely bummed because my opera workshop is over, and now I'm all alone in Bulgaria. I think I've forgotten how to be a solo tourist. I'm also bummed because this stupid internet cafe doesn't have telnet available on its computers, so I can't use party. Crapola. This sucks beyond belief. Also, I'm experiencing severe cyrillic fatigue. I can hardly wait to get to a country that uses an alphabet I can read quickly.
Is the computer in cyrillic? That would be tough....
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I have a neat time picturing tampons up one's nose. IBB the traffic situation is still bad. Burglaries are up 500% in the areas where power hasn't been restored. People are being told to treat the intersections like 4-way stops, but many people are dumbasses and drive straight through them. I cannot drive without getting hella cranky.
What does power have to do with burglaries?
Alarm systems are disabled, making it easier, for one thing. IBB the State's Saturday-midnight showing of Monty Python & the Holy Grail isn't until after I leave town (it's the night of the 30th, i think).
You can toggle back and forth between cyrillic and roman alphabets on computers in Bulgaria...or at least you could when I was there a ridiculously long time ago. <wanders off in search of the past 4-5 years>
IBB there was a huge mix-up between the university health center and the pharmacy. It was the health center's fault, and the pharmacist was really sweet when she tried to make it easier on all of us, but I still had to take two hours out of work to get my prescription. Hmmph. On top of that, Planned Parenthood now requires that I have an exam through them before getting birth control pills. They used to just allow me to fax my exam results and prescription over. So, instead of paying $5 for pills, I had to pay $36. Not. A. Good. Day.
Better than paying $450 at the ER for the morning after pill...
No power + major darkness at night = thieves paradise.
IBB it took me three days to figure out and fix what turned out to be a fairly simple problem, especially since I'd seen the suggestion on the web. :(
A good punch in the stomach is free. ;)
I'm slightly bummed because it looks like I'll be spending 9 hours in Budapest on Monday, but I stupidly mailed my Budapest guidebook home a couple of days ago, after deciding that I wasn't going to go there after all. It's apparently pretty hard to get to Poland from Bulgaria without going through Budapest, and I can't get a direct train all the way to Krakow, hence the 9 hour stopover. Oh well, I'll probably just check my bags in the luggage office and wander around the city for a few hours. This response, by the way, is being written in an Internet cafe called "The Real Matrix," in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. I continue to be bummed because telnet is absent here as well. PS - the default keyboard setup here is the Latin alphabet, and you can toggle to the Cyrillic alphabet. A lot of Bulgarians can write in both alphabets.
There is a lovely recreation of a bunch of medieval buildings, reduced size, in one of the city parks in Budapest. And some really good pastry shops.
resp:248 resp:250 Correct-- not a part of the dietary law. Yes, a "nightcap," so I've heard, does more harm than good. It may help get you to sleep, but the sleep will not be as profound. My understanding is the sleep aid is in the hops-- which can be brewed into a tea and taken before bedtime instead of alcohol. Hops are bitter, of course, so it takes nasty as hell, but I've heard it helps. resp:247 Done. I am working on the weight issue (fatty tissue tends to block the airway, yes-- it's most noticeable with men with neck size over 16 or 17, I think) following a low carbohydrate diet. As discussed elsewhere, it cuts out the refined sugars and flours, and encourages more vegetables. I am eating a lot healthier now. If only I could get exercise back on track-- I can no longer walk at work because of the blistering heat. The machine and surgery-- wow. I might have to go through similar processes, too. I have my referral and my physician has made sure I am taking my allergy medications.
One of my cousins at the family reunion "entertained" my mother with a discussion of how he evaded arrest for two years by hiding out in the woods of Virginia. For two years! He finally turned himself in and did his time, and thankfully appears to be turning his life around. Some of my relatives are a bit too colorful for me. My mother was shocked, as I'm sure my cousin meant for her to be. Why would anyone walk up to a 75 year old woman and talk of such things to her?
Just curious: did he have help from the locals?
Re #293: would your mother have been as shocked at, say 55, as she was at 75? I ask seriously as I would like to know if age is relevant, as from my experience people retain their personalities into older ages (although they might be less reckless).
During the move, a jagged piece of metal on a crate snagged and ruined an otherwise perfectly good pair of pants. Also, I'm up at an ungodly early hour of the morning.
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And besides, that's where Zsa-zsa and Ava Gabor are from, I believe. B- )
The Detroit Zoo is not as magnificent as I remembered it being. It is, like the Nashville Zoo which I visited last year, underpopulated with animals, and underfunded. I thought it compared unfavorably even with Potter Park Zoo in Lansing (an outdated, small but still reasonably nice zoo). I took my son to the Detroit Zoo today, and wished we'd gone to Toledo instead.
Re 295> For my grandmother and her sister, age seems only to have made them more "jaded" if you will. It seems, at the age of 80 something, very little serves to shock them. This was evidenced when they were taken to a topless cabaret in Paris, and neither batter an eyelid. This coming from little old ladies from India, where even a little bare skin send people into a tizzy. Especially my grandmother's sister. You could say anything to her, and she'd continue like everything's normal. I guess age brings experiences, and nothing surprises them anymore
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My grandparents are pretty laid back as well. But then, we have some interesting distant realations as well.
Did some recording, and boy does my singing suck. Need to start vocal practice again...
Another week wait to see if I get a job with The State of Michigan.
I still can't get teaching stuff straightened away, nor do I have my contract signed yet, because the power is still out at the school. Stupid storm. IBB people don't seem to understand that when traffic lights aren't working (and half of them still aren't due to trees crashing down everywhere), you treat it as a four way stop. I've nearly been run over several times a day due to people who think no light = excuse to book it through an intersection. There's been at least 100 robberies per night since the storm hit.
General malaise makes it difficult to concentrate or accomplish much of anything--despite boss breathing down my neck. <ew. that's kind of a gross visual. sorry.>
i am looking at packages meant to be sent to MI long ago. i suck, now the postbank is closed. TOMORROW! /writes it on hand.
IBB my winning bid on ebay fell through. After winning and paying, the seller informs me that he can't get the item from his "Vendor" for 4-6 weeks, so he is returning my payment by money order. I think he discovered his "Vendor" wanted more for the item than my winning bid. I filed negative feedback and have contacted the ebay fraud site. I think sellers should only offer items they have, or will accept the consequences of having to pay too much to get them if they are dealing with "Vendors".
It sounds like how I'd handle that situation, Rane. I'm sorry you aren't going to get the item. Would it be meaningful for us if you were to explain what it is? I'm curious!
My son tells me his mother and her boyfriend may be flying to Las Vegas to get married this weekend. While this is slightly good in the short term -- John won't be living with his mother's live-in any more -- it's got a lot of bad to it as well. The bum will be his stepdad until the next divorce, unless the bum really is dying. Either way, I see it as an unstable, temporary thing, not much different than the live-in situation they've been in. It's going to be a bit more difficult for me to be effective when I object to my son spending time alone with this person. I'm not really looking for commentary on this situation. I don't want to argue viewpoints about it. I understand that some will disagree with me (and that some will agree with me) about how I view the whole situation. When it comes down to it in the end, I'm the one who has to deal with it, and that's just how it is.
Most of today didn't go the way I wanted. Got pulled over for speeding and couldn't find a current insurance identification card. Yeah, bet that made your day, piggie.
IBB I didn't get the chance to go see clees. IABB I have not had hot water since Sunday. The Lennox Corporation sucks. (though IHB we have a hot shower at work)
Re #311 - you're mad at the cop because you were speeding and didn't have a copy of your current insurance where you could easily locate it?
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#308-- rcurl, you should have sent the money he returned to you right back to the seller. Insist he honor the deal. Ebay should also insist he honor the deal or suspend his seller's privileges
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Re#316: that's true, but they should have the merchandize to sell, not short-sell. I have to swear up and down (electronically) that I will honor the outcome of the *auction* and pay for what I win. I think the sellers have the same obligation. I thought that sending back his money order (which is how he said he was refunding my payment) would complicate matters. I am hoping ebay will insist that he honor the deal, whatever it costs him.
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Look that up under Policy on the ebay website.
re resp:314: Thanks, Todd. The guy is going to be John's stepdad; that's the title he's going to get when he marries John's mother. I can't do anything about it.
resp:313 no, I'm torqued because I knew I had a recent copy but all I was finding was outdated crap. It's history now.
IBB the Wolverine Gaming Club was less than I expected from a gaming club. IBB I had learned of Tango instruction at the Michigan Union, and there was no lesson the night I went. IBB I have forgotten the combination to my padlock, right when I was getting ready to get back into an exercise program.
Heh. I just found and put back into use a combination lock I had in high school. I still remember the combinations of all three combo locks I ever owned, one of which I acquired (a push-button sort) by playing with it until I figured out how to discern the combination from a mechanical flaw in the design. I don't use that one for anything really important.
IBB the 7-year-old stepson of an old friend of mine was stolen by his biological mother, who is emotionally unstable and is very likely tramatizing the child with lies about his stepmom. There is a warrant out and police in Maine are searching, but there is a possibility she might have fled the state.
Sorry to hear that, lovely. I wish for the best.
My back hurts from bending over engines and lifting things at bad angles, plus my air conditioning has died for the second time this year and I wasn't able to cool my place down very well overnight. Aspirin and fans have been scrambled, but the patient may be too far gone for them to effect a rescue.
I hope you didn't eat Aspirin with ibuprofen.
IBB I managed to read the ring my crush wears. "Love Waits" or at least that's all I could make out. While not on the traditional finger, it is on the traditional hand. O well, I knew it might not work out.
Re: 327 Why? It's my understanding that the combo is fine when one is looking for pain control. The only issue is for those who are taking low dose aspirin for its anti-coagulant effect - they need to know Ibuprofen may negate this action. We're talking those at immediate risk for myocardial infarctions and strokes. I doubt that's Russ.
Because if he's taking ibuprofen, he's probably taking a 300mg to 400mg dose. If he then combines that with ASA, he'll probably get incrediably numb or something. This is why they shouldn't let women be nurses; they don't have any common sense.
He's probably taking a 400 - 600mg dose like everyone else, silly boy. Next. ;-)
IBB my boss was a complete *ass* this morning. See if I ever again humor one of his requests to meet on a Sunday morning.
resp:326 I empathize with the A/C, having been there. Soon, we will have our final unit-- we do not yet have one that is big enough to replace the one that bit the dust. The existing new one does not cool the apartment enough on a hot day and has been aided only by recently cooler temperatures.
IBB I've been spending so much time in Caro with the boy, his friends, and his family that coming back to Kalamazoo makes me "homesick". :-P I find it horribly ironic since I live in K-Zoo.
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IBB I live very far away from someone that I do not want to live far away from.
IBB I knocked over a flask containing coumarin 343 ( a *very* highly colored and hydrophobic dye) all down my leg and onto the floor. The dye spilled on my leg came off pretty readily; not so the floor, which remains bright yellow. The wax soaks up the dye, so the only way to get rid of it would be to strip the wax and then refinish the floor. My friend Sarah just spent the past hour-plus getting me drunk and trying to talk me out of quitting grad school. It's been that kind of week already.
Re #336 - I hear you, and I can't move near him until I graduate next year. :(
resp:337 - Was it your floor?
re 338 Yeah, but there's a difference between a few hours - and 3000 miles.
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OooOoooOOO - Are we going to have a "woe is me" contest?
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Wow... I didn't know he was 3000 miles away, Edina. And Lynne, I was NOT in ANY way saying that I felt as much pain as you, so no need for a tirade. Apology accepted since I've known you for a while. For the record, I consider myself *damn lucky* that I can see my boy on occasional weekends. Sheesh.
342: Oh yeah. Bring it on! I stubbed my big toe WAY worse than you, slynne. 343: Go tell someone who gives a flying fuck. 344: I know. Needed to vent, saw a ghost of an excuse, and did so--if it helps, I felt guilty about going off on you after I posted. I'm sorry you're having to deal with long-distance--even medium long distance.
OH yeah, I've got a hang nail!
IHB I am going to a "White Party" this Saturday in honor of the proper etiquette to wear white until Labor Day. That I have a date for this party is an additional coup. That I have a date is just weird. This will also be my last raging binge of drinking till after the microbiology class has ended for the semester.
Lynne - it's okay. I knew you weren't really mad at ME so much as your situation. :)
Re #347: Did you ever see the movie "Serial Mom"?
(By the way, #347 looks like it was intended for the happy item...)
Re #343 - wait a second... are you saying that those of us who have boyfriends/girlfriends that don't live in the same town are only dating those people because we don't want to "commit to reality"? I hate to say it, but trying to make a relationship work on top of the financial and scheduling strains that traveling requires *is* a strong, difficult commitment and is based in reality. This is the most work I've ever put into a relationship, and it takes a TON of communication to make it last. So don't tell me about reality and commitment... I'm quite aware of the definitions. Unless, of course, I read that statement incorrectly. :-P
re 351: Thank you. 343 was presumptuous and offensive.
or totally accurate.
355 will be presumptuous and defensive.
Do you mean this response? I'm not usually all that defensive... or at least I presume to think so...
I'm going to fucking whine up a storm. I don't pick who I'm going to like. I'm sure you too, Todd, have had your own issues in relationships that weren't always easy. Dave and I have been friends for a while, and it just hit me when we were together, "I like this man more than I thought." So, it just means I'm gonna rack up some frequent flyer miles. And that's ok. I'm majorly bummed because I am in the process of some pre-surgical testing and I had a cardiac stress test today, where they shot me up with adenisone and I'm feeling pretty crappy right now.
I was wondering recently if I was still susceptible to sinus headaches. Turns out the answer is "yes".
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IBB I put a Happy item in the Bummed Item. IABB work is turning into a "shit" pot due to my former supervisors lack of looking at notes, following up and a huge amount of other crap. So my A/R with patients has doubled. I DON'T NEED THIS BEFORE AND DURING THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.
stress test? Do NOT come to the border.
There's a difference between traveling and getting shot up with adrenaline, Bruce. Trust me.
358: You are more than welcome to post about things that bum you. You are not welcome to tell me that my boyfriend, who I love dearly and for whom I regularly and gladly go to a great deal of trouble, is nothing more than an excuse not to date someone nearby because I can't handle the reality. Similarly, you are not welcome to post such things about michaela or edina. If you choose to do so, you should expect flaming posts such as 345. Ass.
Ending that with "Ass" just made me laugh so hard I awakened my roommate. :-P I didn't mean for this to become hostile... I just didn't know what you meant, Tod.
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Hah. You will *all* be sorry when I invent a cure for cancer and refuse to divulge it to people I don't like.
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Re 356 etc - good luck with the surgery and I hope you feel better afterwards. You must be under a lot of stress just from that.
re: 337:
Can you move a lab bench to cover the spot on the floor.
Good freinds help you move. Better freinds help you move heavy
lab benches.
In this case, lab benches that are implanted in the cement. Don't think that's an option, but thanks for the suggestion.
If you have really, REALLY good friends, they'll lay there and hide the spot with their bodies.
I did not mean the work on the border was stressful. I meant stress tests tend to set off some of our detectors and requiring further inspection.
Great friends would poor another substance over it to react with the floor "stuff" and see what other colours can be achieved... thus making another excuse to finish your dissertation up that much faster.. or slower... depending on your head honcho.
I'm still at work, trying to solve a problem for someone. Pretty soon he's going to accept we're not getting an answer tonight; I'm about out of brain cells. And then I've got to drive home tonight. Sigh.
My health insurance premium just went up 17.4% and is now over $200 per month out of pocket, and this just after they cut the extent of their prescription coverage.
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IIRC stress tests involve an injection that causes the patient's heart rate to elevate. A doppler ultrasound is used to observe the flow of blood through the heart. Not a terribly nice procedure, but not one with obvious symptoms. (I may be conflating a couple different cardiovascular tests here.) No idea why it would set off the bordor guard.
Re 376 That's exactly right. I was hooked up to an IV and EKG ad then shot up with adrenaline - it's quick, but I felt kinda crappy for the rest of the day.
Oh, and thank you Sindi. Yeah, the stress is kinda wearing on me.
Oh, we've been having a great time trying out different things to try to take the stuff out of the floor. Nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, combinations of the above with acetone to carry it into the very hydrophobic floor, soap, dichloromethane, potassium permanganate... Amazingly, we haven't been able to even mark the floor except with organic stuff. As I believe I already mentioned, we literally scrubbed the floor off--which was the only way to get rid of the color. next up: leaving a uv-vis lamp on it overnight to see if we can induce photodecomposition. I'm guessing that the fluorescence will fade but the bright yellow color will remain.
Some stress tests involve some other stuff injected besides adrenaline, I think. I know that the one test I had done for my thyroid would have set off the detectors. (Twila's radioactive! Grin.)
Oh - I had the radioactive stuff too. It was funny - the doctor asked me 5 times if I was pregnant. I finally said, there would have to be a star rising in the east and he said, "Miracles do happen".
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A former girlfriend had a thyroid disease (hyp(o|er)thyroidism, i don't recall which), but I don't remember if she'd had the radioactive stuff. . . .
Eric, re health insurance, 17% a year increase is normal. My previous policy doubled in cost in two years. I am paying $100/month and I am probably 20 years older than you, American Community Mutual, very high deductible but it covers drugs and preventive care and accidents with no deductible. If you pay for a whole year just before your birthday you get the prebirthday rate.
You'll get a very brown floor with KMnO4. Try regular old sodium hypochlorite.
Man, Lynne... things must really be bad for you. My sympathies.
386: Er, thanks. Not quite sure what prompted that--the floor doesn't matter *that* much to me. 385: Bleach was one of the first things we tried. No dice. Amusingly enough, one of my labmates suggested toothpaste--haven't tried *that* yet. :)
If you do have the radioactive stuff, you do set off the detectors at the border for a while. Don't know how long, but Bruce said that people often do set off the detectors, and it's that -- some folks bring in notes from their doctors.
I just got to ingest barium this morning. Nasty nasty nasty!! No gall stones though, so that's a good thing!
A bunch of savings bonds that I was given had not yet matured --- although the bank person couldn't tell me when they *would* have matured --- so slightly-less-than-$3000 turned into $2750. Still more money than I've ever had, but a lot more less than I'm going to owe the university by the end of the year.
Slightly bummed because I'm at an Internet cafe in Warsaw, and telnet is forbidden here too. Sigh. I'll be home in 3 days, which does *not* make me bummed.
IBB I got locked out of my apartment last night (while it was raining no less). The key wouldn't open the lock. Seems the bolt broke. It was an old lock and its time had come. The fire escape is on the other side of the building and my windows were locked, so after pounding and shaking on the door, trying to get the key to turn, I had to call a locksmith who took more than hour to get there. He couldn't get it open either and ended up having to get out a drill and break the lock. He showed me the pieces of the broken bolt/lock as I'd been skeptical when he said the bolt was broken and he explained (logically) that locks are mechanical objects, and like anything else that is mechanical, it was never going to last forever. Locks do break, particularly old ones that are opened and closed every day for decades. I just turned an old lock one too many times So now I have a brand new shiny lock on my door, and can probably look forward to a conversation with my landlord over the locksmith's bill.
wow. that would put me in a bad mood for sure.
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We could also put up a Java telnet client on Grex, that anyone with a Java-capable web browser could use to telnet to Grex.
I am bummed becaus eO lost my sons Air Force ring yesterday at the dollar store in ypsilanti. It may be in the trunk of the car, but I have not found it so far.
IBB I ran out of valium today.
I pulled another muscle in my rib area and it hurts to walk or lie on my right side.
you should eat a thick juicy steak and some fries followed by a milkshake.
I had steak today and yesterday.
IBB I came in to one email from the gym administrators saying "sorry--we accidentally cut the lock off your locker and threw out all your stuff because we didn't realize you'd renewed it" and another from my advisor ordering me in to explain some results--understandable, but not quite the welcome back I was looking for. Bah.
Are they going to compensate you for the stuff they threw out?
IVBB Herb Brooks, the former coach of the New York Rangers and coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic gold medal hockey team, died in a car accident this morning. "The miracle on ice" was one of the great sports moments. I remember watching the U.S. stun the Soviet Union in the semifinals like it was yesterday, so its hard to believe it was 23 years ago now and coach Brooks is now gone. RIP Also Gregory Hines died of cancer yesterday. Hines was one of the pre-eminent tap dancers in the world and a wonderful actor. Somewhere on one of my old tapes, I have on tape the tribute concert they did for Hines's idol Sammy Davis Jr., who was himself dying of cancer at the time and had only a few weeks to live. Davis was Gregory Hines' idol and mentor, and Hines came on and did a tap dance tribute to Davis. And then he invited Davis-- by then very sick and unable to speak due to throat cancer-- on stage, and Hines gave him some tap shoes, and they danced together and brought the house down. A great tv moment. Now both are dead and both dyed of cancer. Gregory Hines RIP
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Yeah, kinda weird, isn't it? Hella tap dancer.
re 402: I dunno, probably not. They're strapped for cash over there since the new gym went *way* over budget. Besides, a significant amount of the stuff isn't really replaceable--my athletic shorts from being in the NU marching band eight years ago; some shampoo that I've been hoarding because I loved it and they discontinued it. Sentimental value only. Bastards.
Herb Brooks did not die of cancer - he was in an automobile accident. Roger Neilson died of cancer. I am sad about both losses, but Brooks hit me harder. I thought he was an amazing coach and the game has lost something.
8D
407-- I didn't say Herb Brooks died of cancer, I said Gregory Hines died of cancer, just like his idol Sammy Davis.
The housing situation is frustrating me. I moved into a new house at the last minute, on assurance from the co-op office that they had a wait list and several people waiting to take my room if it opened up. Well, go into the office today and find out that Joan shooed away everyone on the wait list because she didn't have a written release form from me, even though we had been phoning and emailing all last week about me getting out of my phoenix contract. On Saturday my dad and I painted my new room in the new house "jungle green", which was fun and the color is cheery and far superior to the depressing dark blue that it was before. However, I still cannot get the room to air out, and the two guys who live in the house keep turning the fan that I put in the window off. The doors don't have individual locks so I can't leave the fan on and lock the door. Any suggestions for airing out a room? I have never had it take this long in my life before... I want to get my stuff moved out of the co-op, and all my furniture up from A2, and its hard to do when the room still gives me a headache if I'm in there too long! Grr.
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Is the fan blowing out? If so, why do they keep turning it off? Don't they realize that it will help with the paint fumes?
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get a lock.
Re 409 I'm sorry Richard - I misread.
My CT scan was Wednesday and was one of the worst days in my life. Someone forgot to tell someone else I was supposed to drink a contrast solution (which is why they have you come in an hour early) so they jabbed a needle in my arm at 2:30, left me for 1/2 hour on my back on a stretcher and then brought me 16 ounces of really smelly stuff to drink and then had me wait an hour. Two hours with a needle and syringe in my right arm. Could not use left arm because of pulled muscle and I had to keep getting up and down. Had to climb up on the machine with no arms. Another bad day was when I got the results - probably lymphoma of the spleen. Lymphoma is suppose to be easily treatable with radiation. It will hopefully let me gain back 20 pounds and sleep at night so I guess a diagnosis is good. Anyone have any good stories about lymphoma?
Wow - sorry to mear that, Sindi.
Likewise. Please get well.
I wish you a speedy and healthy recovery Sindi, I'm sorry to hear it;s so serious..
Indeed. Have heard no good stories about lymphoma, but no bad ones either.
I am working like a dog to get a job as DSHS is about to apply pressure. (I meet with a case manager on Tuesday who is said to be over the top and is going to blow a lot of hot air.) I spent 2 1/2 hours Thursday getting 7 resumes faxed, about 1-2 jobs sent online, and looking over several more jobs. Most of these were professional jobs that sometimes required tests. I definitely had to get cover letters crafted for them, and some I had to print off applications for. I had some help from staff with the agency that is sponsoring my current state job. The usual search involves looking over the newspaper classifieds, job bank websites, employer websites, and so on. Some sites gave us the runaround-- had to put in all this information just to look at jobs.
Sorry to hear that you're ill, Sindi. Best of luck with the treatments.
What does DSHS stand for? Department something something Services, I'd guess, but from the somewhat minimal context of your message I'm rather at a loss for what the middle letters mean.
IBB I ended up in the hospital last night. I got stung by something, and my hand was swollen like the Michelin Man. I managed to get the ring Ken bought for me off my finger by wrenching it and yanking it all the way there, but they had to cut off my Clauddagh ring. I've had that ring on my finger since 1993, so I was pretty bummed. :( (I went to the hospital because the swelling was spreading, and I wanted to make sure it wouldn't move to my throat and cut off my breathing).
I was advised to take Benadryl-type pills for beestings. I also swell. The Benadryl worked immediately (and also put me to sleep). Every 12 hours for two days. I carry it with me.
There's no way the Benadryl pills worked immediately. They must've taken some tens of minutes to work!
I knew someone for whom this was such a serous problem that she always carried a hypo for a shot of adrenaline. The first time, though, I got her to a doctor barely in time as her throat swelled shut.
Best wishes, Sindi. I'm sorry to hear about your lymphoma. Do you know when you'll be taking the next step in treatment, and what that treatment will be?
Very sorry to hear that, Sindi. My *impression* is that diagnosis of anything like lymphoma via CT is really just guesswork - they have to eyeball the suspect cells under a microscope (or similar) to really know what the "extra blob thingie" shown by the CT actually is.
They will be doing a biopsy under guided ultrasound next week.
Best wishes, Sindi. Take it day by day and be good to yourself. If it feels right, keep us up to date.
I dont know much about lymphoma but I am sorry to hear that you'll have to deal with something like that.
Good luck, Sindi.
I'm sorry about your illness. Good luck with it.
resp:423 Department of Social and Health Services
in washington state it operates out of a refridgerator box ar aurora & denny way.
Thank you all for your wishes. My brother in Boston suggested I get some sort of power of attorney form to give Jim the right to make medical decisions for me (and visit in the hospital). Where do I find one of those? Jim's brother is a radiologist. I have yet another pulled muscle. I hate lying down. I am trying to get back some back muscle strength and now it hurts to sit again. I seem to be okay at the office chair in front of the computer that Jim set up for me. The board is from JEP and now it does not do random resets. It did not like its Cyrix cpu. It is happy with an Intel MMX. It also has no Com2 but we don't use a modem and mouse at the same time. It has replaced two Compaq 486s with noisy power supplies that drowned out the radio. This case (from a 286) also has a noisy power supply that drowns out the radio. Jim fixed me up a really nice little room here, with a mattress instead of a camping map (that was pretty uncomfortable to sleep on, especially with no body fat) and more than 16" next to the bed. I have a chair, a lamp (compact fluorescent so as to heat less, thermometer (so I will know why I am too hot to use a top sheet, until yesterday), little boombox on the wall. Armchair out in the bigger room to eat at and play scrabble and I can sit for an hour at a time in it. Nice little bucket in a milk crate with a toilet seat on top of it. (There is a rainwater flush toilet downstairs but I am not up to stairs right now). The stuff they gave me to drink Wed. is still coming out - it stinks. Even in my sweat. During the blackout I had a portable radio with little speakers plugged in. And a fancy round battery lamp on the wall that you had to push just right. You need body fat to sleep. I keep waking up after an hour with a very sore bottom shoulder. Any ideas? We put a thick polyester sleeping bag on the cotton mattress. Hope this is amusing for people. Jim has been awfully nice about dragging all sorts of gadgets for propping yourself up in bed and bed tables here and he even somehow carried over the armchair (on his head or his bike?). My apt is over a block away. It is too noisy to sleep there - the upstairs kitchen is over the downstairs bedroom.
Sindi - you can buy some foam mattress covers that fit under a fitted sheet. They add support and padding. Also, make sure your pillows are extra-fluffy-feathery types (if you aren't allergic). I don't really know what to suggest, since I have enough body fat for three people. ;-) As for the power of attorney form -- can you get that at a hospital? I remember talking about it with the nurses when I went in for surgery, but I can't remember (thanks to Demerol) what they told me about the forms. If anything, I'm sure you can get one at the city offices or a lawyer's office.
Check the web for a "living will", "durable power of attorney" etc. Because you and Jim are not married, you may need an attorney to double check that your family cannot override your wishes if you are not able to make decisions yourself, like being under the influence of strong narcotics, unconscious, etc. A simple form may not be sufficient for your situation.
Sindi, I'm very sorry to hear about this, but stay tough: people beat lymphoma every day. Here's the UM Health System page on establishing a durable power of attorney for health care: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/umlegal02.htm It's a good starting point, but I agree with cmcgee that you should also check with a lawyer who knows this area of law and see if they think you need anything else because you and Jim aren't married.
Also, consider that the most critical issue may not be "which treatment to give" but whether or not to _withhold_ or withdraw a treatment. Families can get downright hostile when one person decides that the doctor's recommendation to withhold or stop a treatment be followed. That happened recently to a friend who was suffering from cancer. His family's grief and anger about the cancer got focused on his live-in lover, who had been there for the 6 months of diagnosis and treatment because his family lived too far away. When hospice decisions needed to be made, even though he was pretty rational, his family displaced a lot of their hostility about the decisions on the lover.
My brother would be happy to have someone else make decisions. When my mother died he went on vacation for three months and left me to empty out the house (keeping what I wanted) and sell it and do all the paperwork. I talk to him once a year on his birthday. I will look at that website next time I sit up.
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My brother beat lymphoma when he was eight years old. Stay strong. :)
I'm sorry to hear about that, Sindi. What hospital are you attending for treatment? Cat Scans aren't all that pleasant, but you learn to get used to them and in the end it's not all that bad. My dad had to get them every six weeks, and he would barely mention it if we didn't ask about it. I know of several people who currently live normal lives following various lymphomas. Even more serious cancers, such as what my dad had, are only obstacles to be overcome. Good luck. If you want to read something rather inspiring, read Lance Armstrong's book. Consider, when you read it, that he just won his fifth consecutive Tour de France this year, tying the record. I hope things go well.
I overslept and missed my doctor's appointment for an initial sleep evaluation-- how bitterly ironic is that-- and had to reschedule to a time that now conflicts with work.
Good luck Sindi. Though I don't know much about the medical issues, if you have insurance issues, pop me an email since I do a lot of medical billing.
Re #446 - if I'd been the receptionist and you'd called me with that excuse, it would have been very hard not to chuckle politely at the irony (and then laugh once the phone was back on the hook). :)
Didn't sleep well last night, and somehow also picked up an extremely sore neck in the process.
Take a fucking Benadryl.
Dammit. Back to the can't-go-to-sleep, then can't-wake-up cycle. I was really hoping to be through with this. Especially annoying because I'm totally exhausted by the time I can call boy, but too tired to make sense, but can't fall asleep if I hang up either. Bah.
Thanks to all three of you with the good stories about lymphoma. That is really encouraging. I feel better already. Tomorrow I have outpatient biopsy to determine the details. Re the sore shoulder - I think I would be okay if the muscle would stop pulling as I found one position that works. I already have an inch of foam (that cmopresses to nothing) and two down pillows.
I'd tell you to cocoon in some blankets and the sleeping bag, but it's too hot. :(
RE#450 that wouldn't do any fucking good.
I deal extensively with insurance billing myself (what do you do, exactly, jiffer? I'm mostly registration and problem-solving), so let me know if you have any questions. Particularly if you attend St. Joe's, Sindi, because I can tell you who to talk to if I'm not the guy to help. Then again, my mum could tell you all about the U of M oncology unit, so there's more resources out there. People talk about "losing the battle" when someone dies from a disease. I find that to be innaccurate--everybody dies, not everybody loses. My dad won his battle with cancer, and it wasn't something the doctors could do for him--it's all about spirit. Keep yours up, Sindi, and it will do you a world of good.
re452: consider spending some time on the cube with gabriel chin (if he's still around). some of the stuff he does might ease your muscle problems.
He's still around.
IBB I learned from an article in the newspaper that a friend, and a damn nice person, was likely murdered by her boyfriend.
Yikes.
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resp:448 maybe. But at a sleep clinic? No, although it would normally seem funny, this is actually very, very serious. I'm starting to get very scared. I hate waking up after a full night's sleep dead tired or even sleep some nights waking up 3, 4 times a night. I just about freaked hardcore because missing an appointment with a referral counts as two no-shows with my primary care physician and I get dropped. We frantically rescheduled the appointment. Laugh if you feel like it. I'm actually hurt.
I know it is serious, but the irony did not escape me. I'm not actually laughing AT you or your problem.
When he's more awake, the irony will seem funnier.
Bummed because someone cut a fiber optic cable and our phone service is out probably until the 25th of this month. So no Internet/grex at home for the next week. :-(
Ack! And you live not far from us. My sympathies - internet deprivation is serious stuff. <remmers checks the phone. it works...>
re back there: AC's a fantastic invention. I turned it back on last night for the specific purpose of cocooning in a feather bed, and I actually slept pretty well. (going to bed at 10 pm didn't hurt either...and caught boy at his lunch hour. :))
My car was almost, but not quite, overheating; it would heat up to just short of the red line. I took it in today, and have been told I need a new radiator. I also need a new thermostat. The estimate is $400, which must have pushed my repair tab for my 1992 Taurus with 130,000 miles over $1500 for the year. This is the first time I've gotten a new thermostat without also getting a new water pump.
resp:455 Senna, I do data entry (demographics), A/R, precollections, and some coding. I am learning the coding now. But I know how to lay on sweetness while telling people to pay the doctor. And I am learning to deal better with medicare. IBB I am totally out of shape. I went to pots over the summer. I couldn't swim a whole lap, I got three quarters through it, and was breathing to hard to do an american crawl. So, I am going to have to do "homework" to make sure that I can get a decent grade in my PE class (decent grade in a PE class will always be an A in my book).
Would someone who remembers how start me a separate hospital-type time? Today I had the biopsy and they made me wait four hours afterwards with a needle in my arm, then another hour after taking Tylenol to get my temperature down (from 102 - it had been 97) and then they pestered me about staying two more hours because I was exhausted and things hurt. I just woke up off the downstairs camping mat and managed to climb the stairs by myself. Thanks for help with insurance but there is no need. The U of M submits the bill to PPOM, which provides a discount to the insurance company. Then they send this discounted bill to me (unless they forgot and billed the company directly and have to redo it). Then I pay it. Up to $5000. After that I only pay 30%. I have a $5000 savings bond.
RE#460 -- She was an employee at my credit union...I learned today that she started there the year I moved to Ann Arbor. After my divorce we flirted a bit and I almost got up the nerve to ask her out. Had I done that...well I suppose she could have turned me down and still dated this bastard that killed her....but who knows. The whole thing just really sucks. I always looked forward to saying hi to her when I ran into her at the credit union....
Sindi, I entered an item for you, item:167.
Chris, I think there was an article about her in the front of the Local section in Tuesday's Ann Arbor News. I am really sorry for the loss of your friend. What an awful thing to have happen.
Yeah, there's been a couple articles in the paper about the death.
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resp 467. jep you should have another place look at it, It sounds to me like the place you were at just wanted to cover all things that could be wrong and charge you for it. If it is just the thermostat there is no need to replace the radiator. Do that first, it's much cheaper. I replaced my radiator in my taurus myself, it was a hassle but cost me only about $180 total parts. (go to A&B radiator if you in the ann arbor area.
Goose - I'm really sorry to hear that. :(
Does it overheat all the time, or only when you're stopped in traffic? If it overheats all the time, replacing the thermostat, then the radiator is probably on the right track. If it only overheats when you're stopped, your electric radiator fan isn't working.
No, it was overheating when I was driving, and it didn't get any worse when I was stopped in traffic. I have a lot of confidence in my mechanic. He's refused work before because he thought it didn't need to be done, and gotten really upset when he found out I was overcharged by $20 once. I don't know cars. I need someone like that to watch out for me. I should have asked if he could get a used radiator, though; I didn't think of it, and now it's too late.
I don't think a used radiator would be a good value, but a recored radiator is a pretty good deal. I've had one or two radiators recored on previous cars.
A lot of modern cars have radiators that can't be easily recored, unfortunately.
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I've never had the cooling system flushed. I guess it'll get flushed now, though.
Then consider some $35-$69 of the bill to be for coolant system flush and refill. Your mechanic might break it down for you.
He will.
(My mechanic's son is into computers and technology, so my mechanic has a computer with a complete billing system, and also has pagers, cell phones and walkie-talkies for all of his cars. It's quite humorous, at times, to go in and see one of the mechanics fumbling with all this stuff, trying to figure out how to accept a check.)
IBB I'm working today. B-(
During my ride, I tried to turn my bike light on but it came off its mounting instead. The case is banged up and it's not working. If I'm lucky it's just the bulb, but if it's not...
Another bat got into my apartment. As usual, it spread scat on the carpet, kitchen counter, etc. Wish i could rent a non-allergenic flying cat this time every year. Time to hassle the landlord to look into how they're getting in here.
My parents actually caught one squeezing through a gap under their bedroom window screen.
resp:488 get one of those genetically re-engineered hairless cats. I hear they maybe on discount at the Mad Scientist's Lab up the mountain. Careful of the monkey with an extra something.
Bats? Aiyeee. I've never seen one in my corner of the world.
I do not want to wait 8 weeks to sleep better... *sigh*
Re: #490 That and the through-wall AC units are top suspects. Tempting to wire the former to the 240...
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IBB my boss wanted to meet with me "midafternoon" today, thus putting the kibosh on any trips to my favorite outlet mall--it's an hour drive each way and closes at 6. But mostly I'm bummed because I really can't afford to go shopping anyway. Wahh! I want shoes!
It's taking a long time to re-activate the home internet connection. As a result, I must do everything from a computer lab some driving distance from my house. It's not actually that bad, but sometimes it's a bugger.
Pitt's PPPOE campus network is making it somewhat difficult to get my (linux-running) computer working properly and usefully.
I removed a bat from my house 2 days ago. When I left the house, it was flying circles in my sunporch. I just opened the outside door and it flew out.
This is the time of year that bats, along with their young from this year, invetigate new potential hibernacula or roosts. It appears to be "get acquainted with the neighborhood" training. The technical term for the behavior is "swarming".
IBB I failed to plan and the Amtrak tickets to Chicago that were too expensive anyhow are now sold out for the weekend. IABB my wireless ethernet in teh house is spotty and keeps going out every 3 minutes or so and I dont know why. I am currently using my housemate's computer and it works fine.
IBB I don't get paid until the 15th, and my bills are all due NOW.
I didn't get the job I'd been interviewed for. It was a really good job, too, that would have made use of my degree that not doing me much good right now, would have paid well, had benefits, and would have furthered my work experience. The job market is really tough, man. Stack another one to the rejection pile. But this one was a good showing-- someone just had more of the qualifications they were looking for.
IBB one of my friends' goals will eventually make her my enemy. This, naturally, makes it hard to remain friends now.
IBB because people like vidar insist on posting cryptic responses that leave me curious about the situation
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and then you will need to wash it off, somehow.
(I treat cryptic posts like #503 as an opportunity to exercise my imagination.)
MY imagination is running wild! I need the facts
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Ok, if you really want it perfectly clear: one of her goals is to become a missionary. After my experience in Malaysia, I think of missionaries as ranking among the most evil "types" of people on Earth.
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Father Ralph was not gay. But Thornbirds did seem to point out the hypocrixcy of the whole situation
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<Joins the people who need too much info> re 510: I'm curious about your experience in Malasia.
Most of those memories are not good, and I either repress them or try to selectively kill the brain cells that remember them with alcohol. Granted, it was mostly the school that lead to the bad memories. The best thing that came from that experience is that I did manage to breakthrough the brainwashing the kids at that school had, and I have later learned that some of them realized just how horrible they were under that school's evil influence.
Whatwas the school doing with/to the kids?
prolly some sort of religious indoctrination.
happyboy has it right. It was a Fundamentalist Christian Missionary school, and most of the students had become as bad as their parents. My religious experience includeded "trying on" Christianity (Presbyterian to be precise) in my youth, but I had rejected it by the time I was 12. So, as a pagan with 99.99% of the school trying to convert me, it wasn't pleasant. I have to admit that some people who already were of more tolerant versions of Christianity had a problem with that school too.
Richard Cahmberlain may be gay, but Father Ralph was not
he was too a fag, you boys. i installed 2-way mirrors in his pad up in brentwood and he come to the door in a dress.
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Me neither.
you can't trust them, them commies an christians.
The boy and I are still together, but I'm not feeling so great. He says everything is fine, but he keeps saying things that make me think it won't last much longer. This is driving me nuts, which makes me depressed, which pushes him away. It's a bad cycle. He's always been honest, but idiots in my past make me not want to just let myself be happy and trust what he says. This is so not good.
The usual grind of the job search. Man, I really want that new job to bite with all this fishing, so to speak.
that and being tired all the time. May Oct. 12th come soon...
re524: try smiling and singing "High Hopes"
IBB I have to reiterate that not all christians are bible thumping zealots. IBB I have detention duty after school, so I stay an extra hour.
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re529: general tso's kitten re528: they are all dirty and smell like polyester and armpit.
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Oh my.
I think if you had to kill a kitten it'd be best to do it quickly and as painlessly as possible. I would hate to do it, but I would, if it were hurt badly. (Twila remembers her great-aunt put down kittens who were born deformed by cats who were too old to be getting pregnant... but who were stuck with it because their owner wouldn't have them spayed.)
(I'm surpised the cat lived that long after having its neck broken. Especially if it was being moved around as much, and as carelessly, as indicated above.)
I suppose this is an indication that I've spent way too much time on the internet, but I have a hard time keeping a straight face when people talk about killing kittens.
re534 didn't notice the word "novel"?
Yup, but I was responding to #533.
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Methanol......that should work.
resp:528 *sniff sniff* Man, I knew I shouldn't have worn that leisure suit... *whoa damn!* I sure am ripe! Guess I need to take a bath now.
:)
I gave up bundling the foliage I'd pruned after getting stung by a wasp and getting a thorn (from the buckthorn) right in the tip of my right index finger.
IABB because it took me ALL day Saturday to upgrade an iMac from OS 8.6 to 9.2.2.
IBB my car was broken into, and my cd player was taken. Also bummed because I have suffered what appears to be a hip flexor injury, and it's making walking difficult.
IBB my week of vacation is over and I'm back at work--with red-eye hangover. Can I go home now? Also vaguely noticing a few subtle bits of weirdness that I think mark the end of the "honeymoon" period of our relationship. Not too worried--it's been nearly 15 months, which is exceptionally long for that perpetually- glowy phase. I think I can settle for 94% glowiness. And it was a wonderful vacation any way you cut it.
I forgot to mention Memphis, Tennessee in my list of places I've been in the last month, and I also didn't know how to get a hold of beeswing so I could stop by and say hi while I was passing through the neighborhood. (I hadn't specifically planned to be there, and didn't have access to a computer once I realized I would.) That was the day before yesterday. (Saturday)
I have a skin-cancerish looking thing on my arm and a lump in my other armpit. The thing on my arm tripled in size in 3 days' time.
Yikes! But probably it's not quite so bad as you are afraid. I had a weird lump in my armpit once, and it turned out to be a minor thing from the cats.
A kitten!
A cat impregnated your armpit? Whoa, dude! ;)
We had a lot of cats in the house that year. 8)
An allergic reaction to a cat scratch? I've had those.
It could be a sabacious (i bet I miss spelled that) cyst in your lymph glands... I tend to tget them fairlyoften.
IBB Warren Zevon died on Sunday of cancer. About a hundred million years ago, when I was in school at UGA, Warren used to hang out down there. We're talking early/mid eighties here. Warren used to sit in with local bands and close down the bars afterward. He was a real character. He was also a real talent, although I regret that I didn't appreciate that at the time. I got into his work much later, long after I knew him actually. Listen to his work sometime. Warren Zevon. Warren was only 56. I know realize how young that really is. I can't even conceptualize Warren as being old. He wasn't the type who'd ever get old. RIP Warren
(553: not too far off..."sebacious")
(sebaceous?)
Best wishes, Katie. I hope to hear soon that it was nothing major.
Argh, other. Wish you'd emailed ahead of time... Milton the cat has worms. A round of pills should kill 'em dead.
The way I "plan" my trips, I didn't know until that day that I was going to be going through Memphis. (I pull out a map each day and look at where I am, and where I'm sort of generally headed, and pick out a route to follow as a baseline, with no guarantee that that is actually the route I'll follow that day.) I didn't have email access again by that point until I got home.
<doh! never mind.>
IABB both Johnny Cash and Tex Ritter's son died overnight. I also learned this morning that Johnny's wife died recently.
Tex Ritter's son - as in John ritter, most known for his role as Jack on Three's Company. I am bummed about that. I was really enjoying "8 Simple Rules to Dating my Daughter"
Ritter died after collapsing on the set of his current show, "8 Simples Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter", of a heart attack caused by a previously undetected heart condition. Really sad. He was a great talent. John Ritter, who was an emmy winner for Three's Company, and had been in a long list of tv shows and movies (he was the preacher on the Waltons), was 54. RIP Johnny Cash was sadly maore expected. He was 71 and had been in poor health for several years, and his beloved wife June Carter-- also a country music legend-- died a few months ago. I don't think anybody thought he was going to live long after she died, as they were said to be so close. Johnny Cash was a national treasure, a giant in music.
i doubt that cash would want you to be sad at all, every day was GRAVY for him.
I have entered item #221 about Johnny Cash. I listened to Johnny Cash's music all my life. And no its not sad really, Johnny had been sick for a long time and I don't doubt he was ready to go, since June had died. The Man in Black lived a full life. People used to say that if God had a voice, a singing voice, it would be the deep soulful voice of Johnny. His was a voice that haunts...
IBB now all I'm going to remember about Johnny Cash is that cover he did of the NIN song 'Hurt'. It irritated me mightily (largely because they played it literally once every 30 min on Boston stations.)
*huggles*
John Ritter died? How sad. No more voice of Clifford, either.
Comcast internet is down - at least there's still Grexmodems.
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/09/16/3f6697dc60608
Re #570 - oh wow... that's terrible. :(
IBB it seems that forbidden love is the only kind I fall into. IABB I am having difficulty finding the balance between doing what is honorable and doing what is healthy for me.
IBB I ate something that produced some kind of supernatural poo that has clogged my toilet beyond any plunging.
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IBB I've entered the time zone where I should be hearing from Amgen about an interview. Nothing yet, and I'm very antsy--I really, really would like to work there.
I'm being bombarded by bunch of virus email on my
earthlink account.
Glad that mail here is clear.
A friend of mine is suffering, and there is little to nothing I can do to help. As I have put it, I cannot reach out to one posturing like an armadillo.
IBB it looks like the IEEE, driven by interests such as Diebold, is about to ram through an endorsement of un-auditable, un-accountable electronic voting systems. http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/IEEE/
Ick. The current companies in electronic voting machines are definitely worrisome.
IBB another coach has to learn how to explain a failure that isn't really his.
It's especially worrisome given stuff like this: http://www.ohiocitizen.org/moneypolitics/2003/controversy.htm 'Columbus - The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." 'The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.'
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No, because the Bible-makers won't be in any special position to falsify the results of the election. Diebold *is* in such a position because, as has been reported elsewehere, their vote-counting software cannot be audited: there is no way to know that the vote it counts is the vote the voter cast. Maybe someone _else_ should read "The Stainless Rat for President."
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My friend was kicked out of the "Ann Arbor Gospel Chorale" because of his sexual orientation.
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Re #585: people can be really vicious. Doesn't sound "Christian" to me.
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Electronic voting machines should be pretty easy to test beforehand -- simulate lots of elections, keep very close track of how many votes were cast for which candidates, and audit the results. My understanding is that the Diebold machines aren't quite so easy to test, as part of the Diebold election program involves Diebold having remote access to the voting machines while the election is going on, so they could at least in theory be issued commands during the real election that wouldn't have been issued to them during the tests. That said, there are plenty of rich and/or influential people who make promises to deliver a state to a certain candidate, generally through the use of endorsements or fundraising, who have no control over the voting process. Sometimes such people actually succeed. Sometimes they fail (John Engler's promises to deliver the Michigan Republican Primary to George Bush in 2000, for example). While Mr. Diebold is in an interesting position to fulfill his promises through sinister means, I don't think we can conclude that his intent is to do so. On the other hand, the lack of an audit trail also opens up lots of possibilities of fraud by local election officials. Reset the machine in the middle of the day, input the right number of votes to match the number of voters who came through that morning, and you won't have any risk of somebody noting that more ballots were used than counted, or of your ballot boxes being found floating in the Bay (San Francisco, a few years ago). It seems to me that all the usability of the touch screen voting machines (ignoring that they're not actually all that easy to use) could be gotten along with an audit trail, by having the voting machines print out a completed ballot that could be looked over and placed in a ballot box, after each voter finished voting. If nobody was suspicious of the results, the counting could be done easilly via the machine's internal counting features. If the results looked wrong, or somebody wanted to challenge them, a handcount of paper would still be possible. If what was being printed on the paper was different than what was being entered into the voting machines, presumably somebody would notice.
if (today == ELECTION_DAY) {
mode = REPUBLICAN_UPSET;
} else {
mode = HONEST;
}
Which is why I like optical scanning of paper ballots marked by the voter. But this is a long way from the "I'm Bummed Because . . . " topic.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/09/23/bev_harris/index.html is another interesting article about this. It talks about the general problems with electronic voting machines, and about a specific problem with Diebold machines that allows the results to be easily altered with no audit trail. (Diebold was made aware of this problem and responded, essentially, that it was a feature, not a bug.) It also points out hints of touch screen vote fraud in Georgia and King County, Washington. Finally, it notes that in a 2001 MIT/Caltech study the only voting system that had a worse error rate than punch cards was...touch screens.
IBB it is officially fall today and we are still in summer agora. will this summer ever end?! bring on the fall!
Oh, relax, richard. IBB I've not yet registered Sol II and now it has expired. (Sol II is a Palm application that computes sunrise, sunset, BMAT, BMNT, BMCT, EECT, EENT, EEAT, moonrise and moonset. "BMAT" is "Beginning of Morning Astronomical Twilight.")
You have several choices: