response 327 of 480:

Nov 25 01:34 UTC 2003

Then a gaffer is  a lighting electrician on a motion-picture or television
set.

response 329 of 480:

Nov 25 15:06 UTC 2003

(The current issue of _Smithsonian_ has an article on the Aubrey books & their
author, FWIW.)

response 331 of 480:

Nov 25 21:12 UTC 2003

Yup. From the web: "To be 'three sheets to the wind' is to be drunk. The
sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If the line is not
secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and
control. If all three sails are loose, the ship is out of control." 

I would only add that only some boats have three sails (and sheets), so
you can also be out of control with one or two - and more - "sheets to

response 333 of 480:

Nov 25 22:30 UTC 2003

"Gaffer" usually means "boss"; Sam Gamgee's father and
predecessor as Bag End's gardener in Lord of the Rigns was
known as Gaffer Gamgee, on account of his being an
authority on all things gossipy, probably.

response 335 of 480:

Nov 26 06:05 UTC 2003

The definition of gaffer I gave in #327 was #4 copy/pasted from the
Merriam-Webster online dictionary. At least they have caught up with the
"times".

response 337 of 480:

Nov 26 13:25 UTC 2003

I have also come across 'gammer'.  Jim says the electricians are the ones who
are in charge at construction projects because they are there throughout most
of the job.  He was once an apprentice electrician for a year.  This year he
might get around to switching from fuse box to circuit breaker panel.  The
insurance company says that can cut the rates 30%.  It will also cut our
heating costs by 2/3 if he finishes the wiring.

response 339 of 480:

Nov 27 01:37 UTC 2003

Today I read an Agatha Christie novel whose blurb starts off:

For thousands of years the ancient city of Baghdad had been the scene of every
kind of evil known to mankind.

The book continues with something about a secret organization stockpiling
nuclear weapons somewhere in the mountains in some place like
Baluchistan.....There is a band of men, mostly young men, so evil in their
hearts and aims that the truth would hardly be believed....Antichrist!....
There must be total war--total destruction.  The small chosen band of higher
beings...when destruction had run its course, they would step in and take
over.

Apparently the current paranoia is not recent.  

Today my legs are still so wobbly that I did not go for a walk.  It feels as
if I would pull a muscle in my calves if I tried, or my knees would bend the
wrong direction.  This seems to be getting worse each cycle.  I was warned
the side effects could be cumulative.  Some people do eight cycles somehow.
But I am much better than in July-September.  They told me things would
average out between getting generally stronger and the side effects getting
worse in some ways.  Hands are shakier than last time.

response 341 of 480:

Nov 27 03:30 UTC 2003

This group was supposedly trying to set the Americans against the Russians
(in 1951, McCarthy era) so that they could take over the world after both
sides lost.  Agatha was still writing novels in 1973 and died in 1976.  The
Baghdad novel was slightly autobiographical in that she really did go to
Baghdad and she also met and married an archeologist there, as did the
heroine.  There was reference to avoiding charming and lovely men - her first
husband must have been both, and he fell in love with someone else after they
married and moved out.  She wrote a 1973 Hercules Poirot novel in which the
main character is an elderly lady with a servant who writes murder mysteries
and is friends with Poirot and hates to give speeches.  
The heroine of the Baghdad novel likes to invent stories about herself.

response 343 of 480:

Nov 27 15:02 UTC 2003

As predicted, got swollen glands in my throat and a headache yesterday evening
but they went away overnight and with luck will not come back.
I want to thank whoever entered invisible-to-me responses in the last ten
items for treating this one seriously.  I plan to post it at my site after
I am done with therapy for other patients to read.  Which is why I continue
to discuss side effects even though it must be dull for grexers.

My tongue is working better than last cycle and I plan to enjoy our Chinese
Thanksgiving dinner today.

response 345 of 480:

Nov 28 18:00 UTC 2003

(I think certain people may be unclear on when nuclear weapons became an
issue, as well as on when Christie was writing.)

response 347 of 480:

Nov 30 16:39 UTC 2003

This is the time in the cycle when the  side effects start to go away.
My legs are less wobbly, as oftoday my hands are much less numb.
This cycle the headache lasted only one evening instead of 3 days (cycles 3
and 4) or 6 days (cycle 2).  My left hand only had a few twinges of pain
instead ofbeing swollenfor 3-7 days. The pain in my ribs due to pleural
effusion is less frequent and less severe.  The laryngitis wasa bit better
but is worse again now. 
Jim has been sick for 10 days now - muscle aches, very hoarse,says he feels
awful or terrible, sneezing, coughing...  I sneezed a few times this week but
don't have his cold or flu.  Amazing.  

I have gained only 1 pound in 2 weeks because he does not feel like cooking
and I did not feel like standing on wobbly legs, or cutting with shaky hands
(which are also getting a bit better now).  There is still no sign of any body
fat or increased muscle mass. I must have lost a lot of internal fat.

I am strong enough to sit putting linux on a computer for hours, but it still
hurts to sit.

We are getting Chinese food delivered daily or cooked here since Wednesday.
Jim ordered more sticky rice pudding with jujubes.

I may go for my first walk in a week today while the sun shines.  

response 349 of 480:

Dec 2 05:09 UTC 2003

I phoned U of M Billing and they put me on hold for a while to check why I
was being billed more than 20% of $138 and then told me the insurance company
was paying part of this and someone at U of M had 'posted' it wrong.  Who?
'The poster'.  I owed $43.  This is actually 30%, meaning the insurance
company also made a mistake (it is 70% of amounts over the deductible but 80%
of preventive care up to $400 that they pay), however I decided to pay the
extra $15 since this had been going on since July, just to end it.  I paid
by credit card over the phone.  I will check my statement carefully.

My hands continue to feel a lot better and today we went out walking in the
cold and wind, and even took a shortcut through an area overgrown with trees
and a bit hilly.  It still wears me out.  But my legs no longer feel numb.
My feet don't feel anything but pressure.  I am hungry again.  My big chance
to gain 2 pounds this week to keep up my average.  Jim feels like cooking
again.  He is happy with the linux computer I am making him to use for photo
editing and browsing (five browsers).  He is also happy that he was able to
break a piece out of his printer so that it would work with the same
cartridges as a friend's printer that he is doing refills for, and that lets
him test the refills.  And use the friend's old cartridges for everyone.