Real life interferes.  Between work, choir rehearsals, and a pair of illnesses (DH and I both had the creeping crud) I've been neglecting y'all.

And frankly, I haven't been that motivated by what's going on in the world.  More like disgusted into oblivion.  Lately it's been easier to just turn it off than to vent about it.

We did watch the Oscars, though.  As expected it was a lovefest for Manbearpig, who didn't really win an Oscar.  He wasn't eligible, actually.  Also not surprising, the adoration heaped on Hollywood's two "current" issues: global warming and gayness.

Ugh.

Do some people just not get it?  There was NO major hoohah (which was a good damn thing, IMO) when two black actors won, or that latinos and asians were front runners in several categories.  Just "the most diverse Oscars ever."  So can we get over the Gay thing already?  Please.  Hell, gay people have been winning Academy Awards for years.  Really.  And they get married and have babies, too.  It's a beautiful thing, so can we just move on?

And this whole Global warming thing.  Honestly people, 30 years ago we were terrified of a new ICE AGE.  Really and truly.  30 years from now, we'll be back there.  I promise.  And the Apostle of this new religion is the BIGGEST wastrel of all.

There's nothing wrong with being an environmentalist.  I think it's important to conserve and recycle and reuse and repurpose and be smart about our energy choices and decreasing pollution in general, not just CO2.  But we can not get hung up on the idea that WE are causing global warming.  That's like saying a bucketful of water drains the ocean.  On a 5 billion year old planet, with a sun that provides millions of times MORE energy than we can ever hope to produce without nukes, it is difficult to predict exactly how our weather is affected, if at all, by us.

What we should do is continue to study the Earth's processes and how we affect them, how other factors affect them, and how time affects them.  This will take longer than the 20-some years we have been hooked on global warming.  Far longer, in fact.  Especially as we know that weather cycles are probably a century long, or longer.

And, if we really want conservation, we need to practice what we preach.  Like Ed Begley, Jr ., rather than algore.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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As is usual for a Tuesday morning, DH's alarm went off at 5:30 am. Unusually enough, however, he opened our sliding glass door and woke me so I could enjoy the sound of the rain.  Then he got back into bed and we snuggled with the dog and listened to this morning's storm.

Until about 5:50.  At 5:45 there was a terrific downburst and a great gust of wind.

And then the neighbor's alarm system went off.  The rain had shorted the alarm bell mechanism on the fire system in the townhouses next door.  By 6:05 the firemen were knocking on doors looking for a fire or malfunctioning sprinklers.  Finding none, they left.

Alarm still ringing. E flat, in case you were wondering.

The alarm FINALLY was silenced at about 7:30 am, although I'm not sure if it dried out or they got an alarm repairman in to fix it.

It was a hell of a morning!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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On hiatus for the long weekend. Have a good one, everybody!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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One of the things I find most useful in recovery from ANY illness is laughter. Especially the drop your teeth, wipe off the keyboard , run for the bathroom kind of laughter you find all over the net.

Today, I bring you three examples of such. And if you don't think it's that funny, you must excuse my sense of humor. It's high on cold medicine.

First up, political humor from Goldstein (too good to NOT steal)
"Q: Why did the Neocon cross the road?"

a. To push over an old woman and take away her healthcare subsidies
b. To beat those Dixie Chicks traitors with a tire iron
c. Because, though he was really hungry for the blood of an innocent brown person, he decided to settle for some McNuggets and a medium Diet Coke
d. THE MONIED JOOOS TOLD HIM TOO!
e. To burn down a Planned Parenthood, deny battered women a voice, and further the aims of the Christofascist Patriarchy
f. all of the above
g. none of the above
h. don't even look at me, you same-sex married homosexual gay fag

Finally, photoshop phun from Darleen.  Or should that be phrom Darleen?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If the timestamp on this thing posts even remotely correctly, you'll see that it's well after 1am here on the left coast.  Although the insomnia is a constant presence, I was holding it at bay pretty well over the last few weeks courtesy of some sleepytime allergy meds that were helping me get to sleep.  Then this sinus thing came along, with Phinneas Gage pain.  Literally.  I've thought about bashing in the left side of my face more than once in the last week.  It has to be less painful than what has been keeping me up at night.

And really, that's why I went to the damn doctor at all.  I hate fucking doctors, really.  They always want to tell me that they know more than I do about what's wrong with me.  Really, ego man?  Living in my body doesn't give me any clues?  Not to mention that I have TAUGHT doctors before.  Nervous system of the head and neck.  Just happens to be my specialty.

Either that or they want to shit on me for being fat.  Guess what?  That's an easy answer, but it's wrong.  WRONG.  My heart's good, my BP is good, my load-bearing joints are healthy, and frankly, none of that has ANYTHING to do with why my fucking face hurts, thank you very much.

So it's taken me a while to actually go in and see someone.  In fact, I hadn't even been to a primary care doc since before I left NC.  I've been seeing my EXCELLENT, KICK-ASS rheumo like clockwork for a year, and I've been for my annual girly parts checkup, but I've never had a reason to see anyone else.  So I put it off until I couldn't put it off any more.

I actually liked the doc.  I liked that she sat and talked to me for a few minutes, that she seemed interested in making sure the RA was getting taken care of, and that she didn't seem to be in a rush to put me out on the street again.

But I digress.  Evidently the little troll in my ear decided it doesn't like broad spectrum antibiotic therapy.  It is currently throwing a tantrum in my left ear that feels like my teeth are turning to molten lava and my jaw is about to follow suit, and then everything is going to drain out my ear canal.  So I'm propped up on the couch, trying to drink warm chai tea and relax enough to do some meditative breathing in addition to the pain pills I took earlier.  Hopefully that will put the monster off.  It worked this afternoon, but the pain wasn't so intense.

I really don't know how people handled shit like this before good damn drugs.

On the other hand, I think I now know why Van Gogh cut off his ear.

/vent

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:26 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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This is why.

This is the SECOND rotavirus vaccine to cause these problems in young children and infants.  In 1999, the Rotashield vaccine caused the same problems.

Until we know FOR SURE that the Gardasil vaccine is safe, it is entirely irresponsible to mandate it for every female child.

Furthermore, Rachel makes a good point here:

"We (the collective) do not want the government to pass laws about our right to murder our unborn children, but we're not up in arms about the government forcing us to inject foreign matter into our little girls' bodies?"

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:16 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Sorry for the lack of posting, but now I know for sure why I have been feeling like poo: I have an ear infection. Courtesy of someone else's child.

As the doctor said today, one of the crappier things about being treated for RA is that you catch EVERYTHING that comes along because the drugs suppress your immune system.  In my case allergies = vulnerable sinuses -> sinus infection -> ear infection.

So excuse me while I suck my thumb and tug on my left ear until the antibiotics kick in.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:51 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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