| Long Term Care Insurance |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|10:47 pm] |
It's that time of year again where I get to decide which employer insurance offers I want to take advantage of for the next fiscal year.
What's different this year is that I'm thinking about long-term care insurance again. When my employer first offered it, it sounded like a good idea (insure being stuck in a nursing home which for some reason is not covered by regular health insurance) except that I thought it would cost me $350 a month or something. But my co-worker, who's about my age, says she's paying more like $50 per month.
Today we had a benefits fair which is like a regular fair except that instead of cotton candy and pie contests, they have toothbrushes and insurance booklets and instead of carnival rides they have PowerPoint presentations relating to insurance.
Based on what I learned there and from subsequent web searches, I have come up with the following pros and cons.
Why I Should Get Me Some of This
* Long term care can be catastrophically expensive (averaging $125/day in my state); 72% of those admitted to a nursing home are impoverished within a year. I like insuring against catastrophe.
* It's not already covered. Long term care is what you receive in a nursing home or even your own home when, according to my employer's policy, you can no longer do some "activities of daily living" such as bathing, dressing, eating, and getting to the bathroom or when you get a severe cognitive impairment requiring help to keep from being a hazard to yourself and others. Health insurance covers only "acute care," not this kind of care, and disability insurance replaces part of your income but won't cover this added expense.
* Often this care is done by relatives, but I don't have kids and now that I'm no longer dating 21-year-olds, it's likely I'll outlive any spouse I may acquire.
* Medicaid would cover that, if they are still solvent by the time I need it, but only after I (and any spouse) have become impoverished.
* Lots of people actually need long-term care at some point in their lives, not just when they're dying of old age, but also when they've been in a horrible car wreck.
* Once I buy it, I lock in my rate which otherwise would increase with age.
* I am protected against inflation - I can either periodically increase my coverage with reasonable rate increases or I can pay more up front and the benefits will increase 5% per year while my premiums remain constant.
* Premiums are waived while receiving benefits.
* If I pay for at least three years and then quit, I'll still have some benefit equal to either 30 days worth of benefits or the total amount I contributed, whichever is higher.
Why I Don't Need Any of This
* There is a 90-day wait period--I'd have to pay for the first 90 days myself anyway. And 46% of those admitted to a nursing home are impoverished within 3 months.
* The majority of people who go into a long-term care facility are discharged in less than a year, so it might not be so crazy to self-insure.
* My policy pays for only five years.
* Rules of thumb - don't pay more than 5% of your income and don't buy it unless you expect to have substantial income ($50,000 per year) and assets (over $300,000 in today's dollars) in addition to your house at some point. No matter which plan I get, my current income is high enough but some options might be pushing it with my post-retirement income. I am quite unlikely to ever have these "substantial assets," though I suppose I might marry into some.
* I might have a retired spouse by then who can take care of me cheaply.
* Companies can and do raise rates, though they have to do it for everyone of the same age. There is nothing to keep them from raising the rates just when your age group becomes risky. Or companies in trouble can make it very difficult to make a claim. Or your company could go out of business, and there you are relying on the government again.
* Plans may improve between now and when I need it, but I will be stuck with this one. For example, fifteen years ago, care in assisted-living facilities wasn't covered, but now it's a standard.
Monthly Rates for People My Age
Daily maximum benefit of $100:
$16.17 - flat
$45.18 - inflation protected
Daily maximum benefit of $125:
$20.21 - flat
$56.48 - inflation protected
Daily maximum benefit of $150:
$24.25 - flat
$67.77 - inflation protected
Daily maximum benefit of $200:
$32.34 - flat
$90.36 - inflation protected
Pondered Strategies
The trusting strategy - go for the $56.48 inflation protected $125/day benefit plan. This would be my favorite if I trusted insurance companies, but it's not currently in the running.
The sweet spot strategy - wait until the age right before a big premium jump, and start then. The next big jump is at age 50, but that jump is only about twice as big as the other jumps.
The start small strategy - go for the $16.17 flat $100/day benefit plan. This is how I started saving for retirement and how I sometimes recommend people start using their flexible spending accounts.
The work-the-system strategy - go for the $24.25 or $32.34 flat $150 or $200/day strategy, but only for three years. Then I will qualify for 30 days of benefits ($4500 or $6000) or the total I have contributed ($873 or $1164), whichever is higher, for the rest of my life.
The rejection strategy - continue not having this coverage. |
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| Retiring Old Clothing |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|10:11 pm] |
When is it time to stop wearing an article of clothing?
* 1. You can't find it.
* 2. You no longer do the activities for which it is appropriate (still good for Halloween, though).
* 3. You can't fit into it.
*** 4. You can fit into it, but it's uncomfortably tight (you could move carefully while wearing it).
** 5. It keeps coming unbuttoned or unzipped or untied (you can keep checking and refastening it).
*** 6. It's too big to stay on properly (you can keep pulling it up).
* 7. It doesn't go with anything (you could wear it with something that clashes).
8. A non-essential button is missing or broken.
*9. An essential button is missing or broken (you could pin or tape it together).
** 10. A hem or other edge is shredding.
** 11. A hem is coming undone (you could pin or tape it).
* 12. It's coming apart at the seams (you could pin or tape it).
** 13. It has a small tear that is camouflaged by the pattern.
** 14. It's getting awfully thin in the elbow, knee, etc. (you could wear the thin shirt under a sweater--and hope you don't get too hot)
* 15. It has a hole or tear that is easily visible.
* 16. It has a hole or tear that is easily visible and exposes your undies or lack thereof (you could make sure to wear nice undies).
* 17. It is so torn up that you can no longer put it on--that would be more like wrapping a mummy (you could dress as the Incredible Hulk).
*** 18. The elastic is shot (you could pin it or hope it works well enough).
**** 19. You are tired of looking at it (it could save you from doing laundry).
**** 20. It's connected with bad memories.
** 21. It now seems politically incorrect or otherwise possibly insulting.
* 22. You have always managed to find something better to wear for several years now.
23. It's so faded that it's no longer the color you think it is (maybe everyone else calls your black swimsuit "brown." Or your red sweater is "rose.")
** 24. It has shrunken to a new size or shape.
*** 25. The (knit) sleeves have gotten ridiculously long over the years (you can just keep pushing up the sleeves).
26. It's out of style (like I'd even know).
** 27. It's badly out of style (like I'd even know).
** 28. It's laughably out of style (sometimes I get hints--usually compliments that don't quite ring true).
** 29. The fabric is pilling.
** 30. It's unflattering.
** 31. You don't like the image it gives you.
** 32. It is difficult to maintain (requires ironing, dry cleaning, etc.)
** 33. It has no pockets or is otherwise annoying.
**** 34. It doesn't go with your new hair style, hair color, glasses, engagement ring, etc.
* 35. It gives you blisters (you could wear a band-aid or wear it carefully).
* This means I quit wearing it.
** This means I think I should quit wearing it, but sometimes I wear it anyway.
*** I used to keep wearing this sort of thing, but I don't anymore.
**** This doesn't apply to me.
Blog entry of the day - the bizarrely related Things Wear Out by Philip Brewer of Wise Bread - "No doubt everybody has had some things wear out, if only a favorite t-shirt, but it's not like the old days when wearing out was the most usual reason that things needed to be replaced." |
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| Vacation Idea Origins |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|09:23 pm] |
There are several ways I get vacation ideas.
1) People invite me on their vacations
* skiing in Colorado
* Big Bend National Park
* Grand Canyon
* Disney World
* Cruising
* Las Vegas
* Vermont
* London
2) People move to cool destinations and ask me to visit
* San Francisco
* Belgium
* Paris
* Lausanne
* Phoenix
* Denver
* Florida Keys
3) I myself move to cool destinations and do lots of nearby touristy stuff
* Boston
* Atlanta
* Austin
4) I take extra time off when I'm going to a conference
* northwestern New Mexico
* Arkansas
* San Antonio
I've also dragged people with me to places I'd already been so they could see, too.
It's quite possible I've never picked out a new place to go on my own (besides my future over-the-hill 50th birthday party) and then actually gone.
Isn't that weird? |
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| Shoulder Update |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|09:16 pm] |
I did indeed see my doctor about my shoulder. Her diagnosis was "rotator cuff." After reading up, I'm guessing I have a (very minor) strain of these tiny muscles in the shoulder.
What she wants me to do matched what I hoped much more than what I feared. She said I should take my choice of either four ibuprofen pills, three times a day (yes, 12 pills a day), or one of some other pill she could prescribe once a day for two weeks.
I asked her if one was safer or more effective than the other. She said the single pill is better because you only have to take it once, so you're more likely to actually do it.
She said the pills would reduce the swelling. I asked if that was just to reduce the pain. She said, oh, no, it also helps with the healing.
She also prescribed three exercises/physical therapy:
1) Lean over, hanging my arm down, with my elbow bent so that my right hand is on my right shoulder. Then move my elbow to make small circles, and then tiny circles, and then small circles in the other direction and then tiny circles.
2) Stand up straight in front of a door and walk my fingers up the door (until it starts to hurt) and then back down.
3) Stand up and lift my arm straight out to the side and then straight up, only as far as I can without hurting.
She told me to do these 100 times a day.
These exercises, also referred to as "stretches," are supposed to keep my shoulder from locking up. If you put your arm in a sling or quit using it because it hurts, eventually you won't be able to use it any more.
She also had me get an X-ray. There was an X-ray place right next door, and they had sent the images to my doctor's computer by the time I walked back. She said everything looked fine, but there might be a small (forget what it's called) growth on the bone.
So raaga123 has the winning guess (yea!). And madspark doesn't (yea!). I actually got to see the X-ray myself, and there was no sign at all of any alien forms growing there. (Also very little sign of any muscle-it was kind of creepy.)
Overall, the treatment sounded very easy to live with. And I thought it would have the side benefit of no headaches at all for two solid weeks.
The two weeks were up on Monday. The prescription was going to cost $50, and although my co-pay would have been only $10, I decided not to waste the money. It only cost about $3 for 14 X 12 = 168 ibuprofen when I bought the big bottle. I had very little trouble taking all the proper doses. I went for 7:00, 3:00, and 11:00, and I was late with the second one a couple of times, but it wasn't bad.
I did have three headache twinges-basically, headaches that lasted about one second or less. My shoulder felt exactly the same, though. But I didn't have any bad side-effects (stomach destruction).
As for the stretching, the first one above was very easy. The second one was so easy I didn't need a door. I just lifted my arm up and would feel a tiny sign that I was damaged during part of the exercise, but it didn't hurt. The third exercise started hurting by the time my arm got parallel to the floor. Unless I did the first exercise first. If I did the first exercise first, I could move my arm all the way up with only a tiny discomfort at one point.
I definitely didn't do all the exercises 100 times a day, but I did get close with the first (magical) one, because I would do it every time I was doing the other ones, plus any time I was going to do something dangerous like put away dishes, hang laundry, or go to dance class. I was much happier in class, which probably let me do too much.
Now that I've stopped the ibuprofen therapy, I continued to notice no change in how my shoulder felt until last night when (after the stretches) I was definitely doing some things painlessly that I'm pretty sure would have hurt previously. I'm going to keep doing the stretches for a while until things don't hurt anymore. Then I will look into the strength-building exercises that prevent shoulder strain which I've read about on the web. |
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| Exercising in 99-degree weather |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|12:30 am] |
Which of the following is the best way to exercise in 99-degree weather?
a) Ultimate frisbee (the best aerobic exercise, even though supposedly it's not aerobic) followed by rock climbing (at the right difficulty to finish using up all your muscles in 10 minutes) followed by a little tai chi (for stretching and balance)
b) Exercise involving wind such as roller blading or bicycling
c) Walking in the air conditioning (that's good) in a mall (that's bad) with friends (that's good)
d) Ballroom dancing in the air conditioning and fans with friends
Today, the best answer for me is: d. The a answer is the best exercise except for the 99-degree weather part. Answer b you could live through especially if you had plenty of water and a head covering (and didn't have a wreck). Answer c feels more pleasant to me. But answer d was the best for me today.
I got lots of dances with Robin. Even though only one of my other favorite partners was there, I got a few dances with other acquaintances I liked. I got to dance hustle and samba, which I rarely get to do. I got dances with strangers who knocked my socks off: I got a killer cha cha and several good dances with one guy and a totally awesome crazy foxtrot with another guy leading me in steps I never even imagined before, but they still seemed to work.
I hardly sat through a dance and so my pedometer recorded almost a whole 10,000 steps from the dance alone. Also I got cookies. Really good ones. |
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| Book Review: You're History! |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|01:55 pm] |
This book is supposed to tell me that I can make a real difference in reducing poverty. It starts off talking about the UN Millennium Project which I first learned about in the movie "The Girl in the Cafe" (which has a very fun-to-watch protagonist). The point is that we actually know how to reduce poverty; we just have to make it a priority.
Here are their suggestions:
1. Write to your political representatives.
2. Organize letter-writing campaigns.
3. Write letters to local newspapers.
4. Sponsor an awareness event (at which everyone writes letters).
5. Adopt a Quick Win.
6. Join existing networks such as One Campaign in the US, Make Poverty History in Canada and Fair Share Campaign (now also Make Poverty History) in Australia.
Bleh. Politics. The book chastises me for not realizing that some politicians will do good, especially if they get encouragement. I'm not so good with the letter writing stuff, but I may join or at least monitor the One Campaign.
The book is a compilation of essays all informing us of various kinds of economic and other inequities and philosophies on how to fix them. Here's a quote that struck me: "[O]nly humans take from nature far more than we need to survive, and in that process many millions of our fellow human beings are left without the basic means of survival, generating a non-sustainable social, economic and political world. At the same time, this irrational behaviour endangers our own living conditions because it threatens the ecological base on which we all depend." I don't normally tie poverty and ecology together in my head.
One article that really threw me explained how my favorite environmental charities may be making things worse. "[M]uch of what we perceive as 'virgin rainforest' may well have actually undergone significant modification by indigenous people, or indeed even be the product of their cultures." And when some charities buy up this land, they also kick out these peoples who have been caring so well for the land. Now I'll have to do more research on my favorites. The author of that article works with the UK's Rainforest Foundation. I'm going to check out the US chapter of that organization as well.
Another article that really threw me was the one explaining that religious organizations are some of the very best organizations at delivering help to the poor. Specific strengths are "their responsiveness to and respect of the poor, their trustworthiness, their honesty and fairness, and their attitudes of caring, loving, and listening." The fairness surprised me. And I'd always assumed they'd be moralistic and divisive because of my own experience with religions and in taking history classes. And in fact they "scored less well on the extent to which they empowered poor people to participate in decision-making and help themselves, and on their accountability to local communities, and they were often seen as a source of conflict rather than unity." So ha! Except that a World Bank study of twenty kinds of organizations ranked religious ones as second only to community organizations in which the poor themselves participated in their ability to deliver help to the poor. Scoring worse were "kin and family, local leaders, non-governmental organizations, shops and moneylenders, private enterprise and traders, banks, politicians, police, health services, schools, [and] various government agencies." So maybe I shouldn't dismiss religious organizations out of hand even though I really, really want to. |
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| Review: Life After Welfare |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|10:21 am] |
One fairly recent policy idea has been to just kick people off welfare after a certain amount of time, regardless of whether they could actually use the services anymore or not. The impending doom will motivate people to go get a job already.
Wondering if that were really true, I checked out Life After Welfare by researchers Laura Lein and Deanna T. Schexnayder. It did not answer my question. First, they ignored people who had been kicked off welfare looking only at people who left for other reasons such as getting a job, getting married, getting more child support, or getting sick of dealing with the associated bureaucracy. Second, they only watched them for 18 months. Of course after 18 months they are still struggling. I want to know how they are doing after five years. Or ten. Third, although they do show evidence that most people on welfare do want to work and do want to be seen as people with jobs (claiming they were employed when they had been hired but had not yet started work or when they had been hired by a temp agency but hadn't gotten any jobs yet), the authors had a bias to talk only about those people. Surely there are some people who would rather have hand-outs than jobs. There was no sign of this in the book whatsoever.
The book was really addressing the question of what if you were trying hard but just had some bad luck? What would be the best way for welfare to work then? The introductory example was of a single parent who had had her children while married but then was divorced and was now job hunting, but had trouble finding affordable childcare.
They recommended that providing health insurance and child care subsidies, even after people got their first crappy minimum wage jobs with no benefits, is a big help. Disallowing welfare for people with cars over a certain value makes it difficult to get reliable transportation while still job hunting. Having to go in for appointments when you can't get permission to leave your job is also unhelpful.
The author of the book explained that people with relatives who could take care of their kids or provide crash space or lend a car or drive them around did a lot better at staying off welfare than people without any of these advantages. That whole inter-generational family thing that some other cultures have comes in handy at times like these.
One thing that surprised me is that I was in a very similar situation myself once but had so many advantages that I never thought to look for welfare. This is when I graduated from college with no job. My first advantage was that I had parents who let me move back in with them for free without my worrying about wearing out my welcome there. My second advantage is that I had no dependents myself. My third advantage was good health.
Still, I had the problem of there being no good jobs nearby, no mass transportation, and I didn't have a car. So, I got a crappy job in walking distance (fast food) to save up money until I could get a car. However, once I had a down payment, they still didn't want to give me a loan for a car even with full-time work at just above minimum wage and even though I had no expenses at all except for having a car. I didn't think of buying the sort of car I buy now (very old but still reliable). I was going for a slightly used car.
My parents couldn't co-sign a loan with me, but my mom had found a lender willing to take a risk on her after the bankruptcy and she talked him into taking a risk on me too, explaining that I was actually going to be much less of a risk. So that fourth advantage meant I was able to get a car loan and a car.
My fifth advantage was I had a college degree. So then I got a job as a teacher's aide, and I could have worked up from there into actually being a teacher and voila, no longer needing any help. Instead I went to grad school.
After grad school, I once again took advantage of the free room-and-board, no dependents, good health, and college degree advantages. At least I still had a car this time. And that's the last time I've needed help.
The authors implied in one place that most people were much better off by the time their kids were in high school and beyond, but didn't discuss why. Did they finally have time to work their way up the corporate ladder? Were their kids less dependent and easier to take care of?
There was a PBS show (I think) that showed one guy who, because he got kicked off welfare, got so desperate that he finally did something he would never have done if he could have stayed on welfare. He also had free living space, in a trailer in his parents' back yard. He lived in the country and there were no jobs around him and he had no transportation. But he couldn't afford to move into town. Finally, he decided to walk into town (2.5 hours each way) to job hunt. For a while, he would just have this horrible commute, but eventually he could save for either a car or the deposit on a closer-in apartment. So that's at least one example where it seemed impossible to get by without welfare, but then once it was gone, it turned out to be possible after all.
One thing I did learn from the book is that welfare in Texas sucks. Even if you can qualify, you won't get much ($300/month for a family of 3 plus medicaid and maybe some child care subsidies, maybe some food stamps, and maybe some job training). I also know that Texas houses an extremely high percentage of its residents in prison. There might be a correlation. The book did not mention this issue at all. |
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| Whining About the Heat |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|05:02 pm] |
I don't like the cold, but 103 in June is a bit much. If you're thinking, yeah, yeah, whatever, it's not like you're in Houston with 90% humidity, you're right. But if you're thinking it was probably that hot for just for a few minutes, and at night it cools off and I can open all my windows, turn on the fans, and get cool: last night's low was 82. That's right, it never dropped below 80 degrees.
The other day, the breeze was so hot it didn't even feel good. It felt more like bus exhaust than a refreshing breeze--yeah, air is rushing by, but no thanks, I'm not really interested in that particular air.
Basically, it's generally uncomfortably hot or dark or both, except when it's deathly hot. When, exactly, am I supposed to go jogging? At least there's a lot of shade in the early morning and late evenings.
I like it being too hot for a little while; it helps me appreciate autumn. But having crazy heat for the entire month of August, like we usually have, is really plenty. That totally works for me, even though I used to dread fall because it meant winter was all too near. Three months of crazy heat? Arg! |
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| Leonard Cohen, "The Tempest," and "Ka" |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|09:24 pm] |
One of my goals for the year is to see at least three live performances. This goal has morphed from goals involving watching plays, even though they cost more than movies, and watching bands live, even though it costs the same as buying a whole album that you can listen to over and over. I decided that occasionally it was worth some extra money, now that I have it, to occasionally see live performances. And that's true even though you can't fix your mistakes on a live performance, and so I'm more likely to feel bad for the performers than I would in a recorded performance where they have more chances to get it right.
I have now accomplished my goal of attending three performances during the year.
First I saw Leonard Cohen live. I was a little worried because I knew he didn't actually want to perform. He stopped touring something like 20 years ago, but then his accountant, along with the guy he hired to watch the accountant, managed to steal so much of his money that he could no longer live in the style to which he had become accustomed.
He's no spring chicken, either, being in his seventies.
He made Austin his first stop and I am happy to say that we gave him a fabulously warm welcome. He seemed happy to be here and to be performing. He obviously brought lots of his favorite musicians (ten?). He skipped on stage several times.
His voice was even above average (for him). He picked good songs. His other musicians were amazing. We had decent seats. And also binoculars. It was great fun, and I'm glad I went.
Second, I saw a performance of "The Tempest" starring an acquaintance/friend of a friend. Fortunately, he was quite enjoyable in the role, so there were no awkward silences afterwards. There were a couple things that weren't done as well as I would have liked, but also a couple that were done better than I had imagined.
The play was performed outside at a site also used to host SCA events, so it was pretty. It was also kind of a theatre in the round, in reverse. The audience was in the middle and the action occurred all around the audience. This worked quite well for "The Tempest," which has fairies flying all around and people wandering around different parts of the island.
There was also audience participation, which normally scares me, but involved partner dancing with my stranger cast partner giving verbal as well as regular leads. And even though I was in my socks at that point, we managed to avoid all the most painful looking rocks.
The third performance I attended was a showing of "Ka," one of the Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas. At $100, it was the most expensive performance I've ever been to. But in the same way that Disney World is actually worth more money than Six Flags, "Ka" was a good show.
Throughout the show, I felt that my friends Chikuru and Raaga123 would be so jealous if they were there because they would want to be in the performance.
I asked Robin what his favorite thing was and what he thought was the scariest. His favorite was a flying machine that looked home-made and involved flapping wings powered by humans (and hanging from ropes).
The scariest thing was the scene where a girl kept almost falling out of the grip of her friends, over our heads, as they were doing trapeze-like acrobatics trying to escape from the bad guys.
My favorite thing was a huge boat that was rocking like a rocking chair only also revolving slightly on every rock. The people on the boat kept sliding everywhere and swinging around on the masts; it was very exciting. After a while, I realized that the rocking action was actually being powered by the people on the boat, so they not only had to deal with being flung all over the place, their actions together had to keep the boat going properly.
The scariest thing to me was some giant hamster wheels that guys were running in, and doing flips in, and swinging out of, and running on top of. There were two connected to one rod that was also rotating (like a ferris wheel), and both the spinning and rotating happened due to the actions of the human hamsters. There was also a similar set of three hamster wheels with people doing less crazy things on them.
A super fun thing that I knew all my rock-climbing friends would want to be on was just a giant slab in the sky at a ridiculous angle. People would run up it on the sticky parts of their shoes and slide back down on non-sticky parts. There were also some poles sticking out of the platform for swinging around and bouncing off. These poles popped out one by one and later disappeared again as more and more bad guys slid off the platform into oblivion.
Another cool thing was the illusion of one person falling unconscious to the bottom of the sea as another person swam down to get her and pulled her back up, all done on ropes behind a waving translucent sheet.
Another cool thing was how people were dressed as animals on a beach: the starfish, the turtle, and especially the centipede. Sorry, can't describe it well. No pictures either: they were not allowed. They took the camera away from one guy who was taking pictures and threw it into the abyss. He kind of smirked as he pulled out his iPhone from his pocket. He replaced it hastily but they threw that into the abyss, too. Then they threw him into the abyss. So, yeah, no pictures.
I did learn a nice way to simulate having tattoos: paint the tattoos on some sheer hosiery, and then wear that. This is an excellent way to provide for quick costuming because you only have to paint the tattoos once, at least until the fabric rips or runs. Some extra muscle definition was also painted onto the hose of some of the already highly muscled men, and we never would have known that if we had been further away. |
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| Gratuitous Blog Entry |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|10:46 pm] |
I've done it again. I want to post a link, so now I have to make a whole blog entry.
Um, two-day work weeks agree with me. We're off to Las Vegas tomorrow.
I probably should finish packing.
That is all.
Blog post of the day - Decorating Pink Birthday Cake on Like Merchant Ships - another use for strawberries, with pictures. "I held my breath when Andrew wanted to get fancy with the decorating tips. The soft pink cloud began to look like a pile of fat pink worms." |
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| Free Stuff: Root Beer and Undies |
[Jun. 6th, 2009|01:12 pm] |
Warning: both of the offers below have now expired. However, these are both repeats of earlier offers, so you may get another chance later.
Although I'm the sort of person to be attracted to free things, I'm now rich enough that the attraction has lessened. I am no longer willing to stand in line for hours to see a movie for free (or at least the chance to see it free if there's enough room), for example. Nevertheless, this week people talked me into walking two gauntlets of free items recently, and it was okay.
First, S wanted to go to Sonic Wednesday night because they were giving away root beer floats. I would never do this myself because of long lines! in cars spewing poisons! But I had already set aside the evening for socializing with S, and she wanted to go, and I can socialize just as well sitting in a car, so we went.
Sonic had the usual parking spaces, mostly full, plus a drive-through with a line almost to the entrance, plus the path to the parking spaces and the exit (between the drive-through route and the parking places), also with a line almost to the entrance. The people in the last were attended by folks with trays of nothing but root beer floats, just handing them out. So the quickest way to get out was to just pick up root beer floats (they ask you how many, even when they can clearly see how many people are in the car) and drive off without making any additional purchase. And that's what we did.
I was quite pleasantly surprised by how smoothly things went, but surprised that they made it quickest to order nothing else. Their news release (linked above) explains that they are thanking their customers, although they did not request a receipt to make sure they were thanking the right people. I guess they're hoping this will give us a warm fuzzy feeling inside (or, rather, a cold fizzy feeling) and we will be more likely to go to Sonic next time we're thinking of that sort of food. Or guilty-feeling people like me can assuage their guilt by returning as a paying customer. And the news release implies that this happens regularly, so apparently they have done this before and not regretted it.
I didn't notice much fizz in the root beer but the float was heavy on the ice cream, so I just mixed it all together and called it a root beer milkshake. Mm.
**
R sent me a link for a coupon for free panties at Victoria's Secret. I printed one (should have printed at least 2, but I was just going to give it to D when we met to walk at the mall). I once had a generous gift certificate to that store, but it took me quite a long time to pick out anything because either too much of me was hanging out the top, too much was hanging out the bottom, or the sleeves were too long. Finally I went with too-long sleeves. Later I learned they have good opaque black tights.
The store was not packed at all--I don't know when that coupon came out, but it didn't appear to be causing a run on the store on the last day it was good.
D asked, and we were led to the "panty bar" from which we could choose just about anything without lace. D insisted we look for something I might like before she took the coupon and we did find something perfectly reasonable: hiphugger panties in a near skin-tone pink color. Then the very nice attendant answered more questions of D's in a way that showed she was very pleased with her store's offerings, even for people looking for practical items.
The cashier had no problems with me getting nothing but the free undies and even packed them a shiny but sturdy handled bag with tissue paper on top and included a coupon good during their upcoming sale.
I have now tried on the undies and they seem thin but good, but my size L pair was a little too small. I'll happily keep them, though, because I'm still a little too big. They might fit me fine later.
Now if you've ever seen me, you know that I am not large at all, yet this store thinks that I am a size extra large. So I'm very sorry about you regular-sized and large people who were hoping there would be something good there for you.
I often find undies and swimsuits to be sized too small, though, so maybe most people prefer these items to be very tight, digging into their skin, and/or riding up into their butts.
Another thing I learned is that the tissue paper is perfumed. Very fancy and special. And I hope to never get any again. |
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| In Which I Finally Make an Appointment |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|10:53 pm] |
I finally made an appointment to see my doctor about my shoulder. It feels like I've strained my shoulder, though there was no particular incident before which it felt fine and during/after which it didn't. I just started noticing more and more often that the front and top of my shoulder hurt in certain positions. Like when I'm putting away something heavy on a high shelf. And when my arm is up in the air and I have to push on something. And sometimes when my arm is behind my back.
Finally I decided it was quite likely due to being led into a hammerlock ballroom dance position too many times by beginners. My awesome dance teacher strongly emphasizes that the woman's hand must be brought all the way down and then brought up again behind her--rather than moving the hand directly from in front to behind--in order to protect the shoulder and he rarely teaches this move at all. My mediocre dance teacher barely mentions the safety issues and then has us do millions of these. In the past it's been no problem, but now it is.
Once I made this deduction, I immediately began making sure to bring my own hand down all the way when I was being led into hammerlock position. The ache didn't go away.
I started leaving my elbow closer to my side than usual during all dance moves, which is sometimes bad form but felt better. Still no healing.
I started pretending I was left-handed in many situations, not even using my right arm for things like opening doors and getting things out of the microwave. No progress.
I completely skipped the mediocre dance teacher's class for a full month (when it was switched to an inconvenient time), the last week of which I didn't go to my other teacher's class either (when it was canceled due to AC installation in the building). No progress.
I've been telling myself to call the nurse hotline for a while but couldn't imagine what to say exactly. Then I told myself to see my doctor, but a) I mostly told myself this when I was already in bed and didn't want to get up to do it or while I was in class and b) I've been uncomfortable with my doctor's appointment system.
First, appointments have to be made using an online request form. (Surely this isn't true--not everyone has a computer and internet access. But I couldn't find any other way.)
Second, you have two choices. You can request a same-day appointment if you're sick or you can request a less urgent appointment for things like annual check-ups. I'm not sick, but I don't really want to wait 3-4 months either, which is how long the wait is for a physical. Finally I decided to just go for the same-day version.
But then I had to wait until a day when I didn't have meetings at work. Ideally I should have done this between spring and summer semesters when I could have parked free on campus. But no, that is not my way.
Well, even for a same-day appointment, you're still supposed to tell them your preferred days of the week and your preferred times of the day. Strange. At least now they have an extra note field where I said things like I am unavailable during my upcoming vacation and during the times when I had meetings.
Even though I did this at about ten in the morning, plenty of time for a same-day appointment, I was notified that I have an appointment for a week from Monday. I like to think if it actually were something urgent, I would have gotten an earlier appointment. But at least it's soon and seems like it will be fine. I have added it to my work calendar so no meetings will be scheduled.
I am hoping they will tell me to do some exercises to strengthen nearby supporting muscles. Or tell me which neglected nutrients I need to fill up on. Or even make me keep my arm in a sling for a while. Or that something else simple will work.
What I don't want to hear is that I waited too long and now I have ruined something beyond repair. Or that I am middle aged and should just get used to aches and pains. Or that the only cure is surgery. Or that an alien life form is eating through my muscle and the only way to save the world is to kill myself before it escapes.
Another issue is that my doctor moved to a new place that is less convenient to my house. However, it appears that both a city bus and a campus shuttle can take me directly there from my office. So maybe I don't have to schedule appointments for as early in the morning as possible anymore to minimize commute time away from the office. Though I do like not having to starve myself very long for the blood sugar test and I do like being able to get up a bit late on doctor appointment days. |
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| Trip to Denver |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|09:20 pm] |
Vacation agrees with me.
The biggest difference I noticed when I got back this time was the sleeping. On vacation, I stayed awake until I was yawning a lot. Then I went to bed. Then I slept as long as I wanted. When I woke up, I wasn't late for anything and I hadn't missed anything.
At home, I often don't go to bed when I'm sleepy because I feel I haven't had enough fun yet. I'll stay up way too late reading. Then get up with the alarm. Or not. And hope I get to work on time. And try to think at work with sleepy brain.
Denver had perfect walking weather the entire weekend (except for the parts when it was raining). It smelled good--like pine needles, not like exhaust or grackle poop. (Actually, Austin is smelling nice lately, too--like flowers). I saw worms. And ducks. And mushrooms. And really big houses, one of which was for sale and came with a $15,000 credit to build a garage if you wanted.
We visited the Denver Art Museum. First we checked out some modern art. One thing I remember from that section was a painting of three teenagers. It was larger than life and had pretty bright colors. It was three dudes wearing baggy clothes, cell phones, etc., but in an odd pose involving a wedding ring among other things. The story is that this guy would paint regular modern people in the pose of people in a famous painting and the kids got to pick the painting. These guys chose "The Marriage of [somebody or other from medieval times probably]" even though one of them was clearly going to end up posing as the wife.
We also checked out the Psychedelic Experience. The accompanying exhibit was mostly hundreds of posters for bands from the sixties. It was interesting to read that they were not designed to be read but to be interpreted. Unlike most ads, they didn't make it easy to find the information-you almost had to decode the poster, even the font, to get the scoop on what was happening, when, and where.
Then they had another room with the "experience" part. You could watch the TV show "Laugh-in" or make your own poster, for example. My favorite part was basically a documentary showing on the TV in a sixties-era hippie living room that you could sit in. (The coffee table was made of a door lying across two stacks of concrete bricks, for example.)
From that I learned that the summer when Haight-Ashbury was getting a lot of news about cool events, young people around the country got the idea that they could get away from their troubles by running away from home and going to Haight-Ashbury where someone would give them a place to sleep and they could hang out. It reminded me of things I'd read in history books about people running away to "the new land" or during the gold rush. Scary. And this is even though no one was trumping up lies to get their money.
By the following year, there were just too many people and there were too many drugs and it was no fun anymore and not safe.
That night we watched "The Girlfriend Experience." This was a good contrast to the Psychedelic Experience where people wanted to be true to themselves and not have to work. The movie was about people who did want to work even though it sometimes or often meant being untrue, at least to their clients.
It was a good movie for talking about afterwards because then you can help each other figure out what happened in what order. Once you figure out the order things happened, it's easier to see why they happened and thus what actually happened. Ideally you want to be awake and paying attention during the movie.
Unlike most movies, it is about both work life and personal life and how the two are related even when you do your best to keep them apart. And the work part really shows the dog-eat-dog aspect, especially for people who are self-employed, always hustling for more clients. And it's about what it might be like to be one of the dolls from "Dollhouse" if the dolls were doing things voluntarily using their own personalities.
We saw this movie in the Mayan theatre, which reminds me of the Paramount in that it's highly decorated, only this one is in the Mayan Revival style of architecture. Who knew there was such a thing? Definitely cool. Although it was filled with the "cloying stench" of popcorn. Actually, E had a much longer phrase for this aroma that I love, but I remember only those two words.
The next day we visited the Denver Botanic Garden and their totally awesome Jurassic Gardens Exhibit. What that means is that nestled between the plants like garden gnomes or pink flamingos they have dinosaurs. It's like an Easter egg hunt only better because (most of) the eggs had hatched and because when someone else finds a dinosaur, that makes it more likely that you'll find it, too rather than that you won't find it. We met E's grampa there: the edmontosuarus.
We did also look at some plants. T noticed that the new bright green leaves on evergreens feel all rubbery like a koosh ball. This was true of all the different pine species we tried.
Later we saw "Monsters versus Aliens" in 3-D. I barely noticed the 3-D, but I still recommend the movie. It has plot problems but is fun.
Still later we saw "Logan's Run" which R had never seen and which I hadn't seen since it came out. I had forgotten pretty much everything except that the women wore short skirts. The plot was pleasingly more complex than I remembered. However, prepare yourself for huge plot problems, especially the idea that the ending is happy.
We also ate out at a bunch of interesting restaurants. Blue Sky Cafe and Yoga has a sky painted on the ceiling over a wooden floor. Breakfast and lunch are served in the cafe, then the place turns into a yoga studio in the evening. I couldn't resist the hot chocolate onto which they added not only whipped cream but also chocolate syrup and cocoa powder.
We also saw for ourselves Vita versus Lola. Vita is the elegant, affordable, delicious, totally empty restaurant we went to. Lala next door was the totally crowded slightly more expensive Mexican food place next door. We never could figure out why Lala was so much more popular than Vita. We felt that we had made the obvious best choice.
I also had yummy Tex Mex in a café, shockingly good ravioli in a bakery, egg salad on extremely thick but delicious bread in another bakery, noodles at T's favorite Vietnamese place, and other things I'm forgetting now.
We also saw a multi-use area sort of like our old airport and the Triangle and the Domain, only it had evil parking meters that would take your money even if parking was supposed to be free because it's Sunday. (At least we assume it took T's money-she paid with a credit card.) They had a big tourist-destination-type Whole Foods like the one we have on 6th street.
It was great having T drive us around and almost magically know where things were all over town. If one plan got knocked down, she would know something cool to do in a more convenient location.
On the plane home we had a plan to deal with the annoying TV screens on the backs of the airplane seats, which E and T taught us with their eyes rolling: change the contrast to nothing. Unfortunately this didn't work. They said it might not work at first, but would work once the plane was up. It didn't work then either. Or after the seatbelt light went off either. The contrast bar would claim it was reducing the contrast, but wouldn't actually do it. I had one giant sticky note sheet I had been using to keep track of characters that I used to cover up my screen because it was so annoying. Then I realized that R's screen might be broken and tried the controls for mine, which worked, so I let Robin block his screen with the paper for the rest of the flight. FYI, Frontier has more leg room than any other airline I've been on in years except Midwest (which I like even better because they also have chocolate chip cookies). It's the same amount of room as planes used to have.
**
It's weird remembering that my audience includes at least one of the hosts (no, it did not take me this long to think of nice things to say--I just was hoping to get some pictures but then decided to write something anyway). It includes a host's best friend. It includes the people whose recital party we accidentally scheduled this trip during. And whose next party I think we will be able to make it to unless our flight home from our next trip is very late. It includes other people who went to that recital or who stayed away from the recital. And it includes some people who don't know any of the people I have mentioned so far. |
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| Carry-On Rules |
[May. 21st, 2009|06:26 pm] |
The airline I'm using to get to Denver this weekend allows one carry-on and one personal item.
"Your carry-on bag's dimensions can't exceed a total of 49 linear inches (9.5" height + 15.5" width + 24" length)." Mine is 9" x 14.5" x 22". Ha!
In the olden days, I brought a knapsack as my "personal item." These days just my purse counts or just my camera or just a computer bag or just a "reasonable amount of reading material," all of which I used to fit into my backpack.
It costs $15 to check a bag.
Fortunately, it's only a four-day trip. Because I'm feeling awfully stubborn.
Quote of the Day - Today's quote comes from today's Alamo Drafthouse newsletter.
THINGS I LEARNED AT LAST WEEKS PIRATE PARTY:
A short essay by Caitlin Stevens
I know it totally sucks to hear about fun things you missed a week after they happen, but there are some things that you just HAVE to share with the rest of the world. I successfully followed my golden rule of "drink slowly" and my other rule of "even though those rum drinks are OH SO DELICIOUS, stick with the Tecate" so I remember all the shenanigans that took place. First, it is super fun to yell and wave plastic swords and cutlasses at the people trying to peacefully watch the bats on the S. Congress bridge. Second, when you are actually on a boat, you do not get tired of singing "I'M ON A BOAT! I'M ON A BOAT!" especially when that song is remixed by Car Stereo (Wars). Third, it is wonderfully empowering to push Creative Director Henri Mazza off the upper deck of said boat in a mutiny. And finally, above all things, I learned to never, ever, under any circumstance, leap from the pedestrian bridge onto a boat NO MATTER HOW AWESOME IT LOOKS! Yes, there was someone who attempted that, and now he has broken legs and probably a hatred for pirates. |
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| Bike From Work Day |
[May. 18th, 2009|06:38 pm] |
"Bike From Work Day" is not an official event. But I did end up just taking the bus on Friday because at quarter to 5, I noticed I had that butt bruise people get from bike seats.
So I rode my bike home today instead. I was panting continuously throughout the first half of the ride, even going so far as to sit through an entire light cycle at one point because there was construction ahead and I wanted to merge with the traffic, but I was too dead to go at any kind of reasonable speed.
Clearly my so-called jogging is nothing at all because I never pant like that when I jog these days. True, I deliberately have been jogging slowly so I could last for 20+ minutes, but I can do that now (and have recovered from being sick enough to be able to do that again), so it's time to start speeding things up, at least for part of the run.
My ride felt quite safe, but I felt quite exhausted when I got home after, again, 30 minutes of riding. I had no trouble changing gears (just like I never have before last Friday). On the other hand, I may have strained something in my right forearm. (I know. Weird.)
There's also weird emotional stuff. I normally look forward to my commute (even though I may not be enjoying every moment while I'm actually experiencing the commute) because I always have a book to read. But with bicycling, that wasn't the case. Instead of, "Woo hoo! The work day is done and I get to read!" I was thinking, "Well, I may as well get this over with already."
I am not going to become a bicycle commuter anytime soon, if ever. So sad. Ah, well, not everything can be a victory.
I'm glad I finally tried, though, and I may try again when I am in better shape and/or when the good buses aren't running.
In other mildly sad news, I couldn't pay my gas bill online over the weekend because they were re-vamping their website. And now they're charging $1.50 to pay online, so I'm back to mailing in my payments.
Video of the Day - How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent - Do you like goo? Do you like slop? Then this may be more fun than you expect.
Is this my favorite video in the world? No. I'm not even going to try to make my own laundry detergent after watching this. But a) it's the kind of video where actually seeing things helps you learn it and b) I love the silly text pop-ups throughout the video (even though some were not up long enough for me to read all the way through). This helps keep things interesting. |
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| Bike To Work Day |
[May. 15th, 2009|11:40 am] |
I am exactly the type of person who should be riding my bike to work. I actually own a bike. And a helmet. I'm basically in shape and know how to ride a bike. I'm opposed to wasting gas to get somewhere when there's another good way. I work only 3.5 miles from my house. There are routes that aren't that dangerous. I already don't drive to work and the bus system drives me nutso sometimes. I could use more exercise.
However, I never do ride my bike to work. Why is that? I'm not totally sure, but one reason is weather. It's usually too cold or too hot. Or too rainy. And there are no showers (or at least you have to be a member of Rec Sports to be allowed access to the gyms which is where the showers are, and I don't want to blow $308 a year just for that). Another reason is that it's hard to get my bike out of the garage. Another reason is that I like to read on the way to and from work, which I could not do while riding a bike.
Those are some pretty sad excuses. Yet somehow strangely effective.
Bike-to-work day happens every May and was designed just for people like me. Various places are setting up breakfast stations, including my employer. And it's certainly possible to take a sponge bath at work and to change right there in the roomy bathroom stall designed for handicapped folks. So I've often told myself I should at least TRY riding my bike to work on bike-to-work day. For several years now.
I was telling someone this and they informed me that my employer now offers commuter showers even if you aren't a Rec Sports member. That takes care of my biggest excuse (except maybe for the one about not being able to read during the commute).
So, I picked out a specific route: neighborhood streets to a four-lane street to an unused bridge over the freeway (with a no-pedestrian sign but without a no-bicyclist sign) to a street with a good sidewalk to a long street with a good bike lane to some scary narrow streets on campus where at least people do realize they sometimes have to go very slowly to deal with bicyclists and pedestrians.
I decided to scout out the commuter shower and bike rack situation in person. I found where the showers were in the building and practiced getting there from different entrances. Then I created a strategy for getting to the building. The building is currently surrounded on two sides by continuous construction with no bike entrance and only one pedestrian entrance along a time-consuming maze-like path. It's surrounded on the other two sides by connecting buildings with only a single bike entrance off a busy road. Once you get in, there is only one tiny bike rack, hidden behind a row of bushes. I decided to park at a very long bike rack sort of near the entrance to the pedestrian construction entrance, which is between the shower and my office. I'll have a nice cool-down on the way to the shower and a short hike up the hill to my office afterwards. I resolved to get up very dang early in the morning to make sure I'd have time for all this.
**
I did get up somewhat early. Robin got my bike out and made sure the tires were aired. I had no trouble finding my helmet and lock. I remembered to bring clothes and shower stuff and a towel and a hair brush. And I actually rode my bike to work today.
I haven't ridden in years and was a little rickety but not bad. My route was just about how I expected--a little scary but not that bad. Two drivers turning right at corners where I was stopped were unbelievably polite. Several cyclists passed me. The route is basically flat, but being as out of shape for biking as I am, every tiny incline made me pant, even if I'd been able to get up to a pretty good speed before hand. Being a chicken, I didn't go very fast and even braked down some of the hills that didn't have stop signs or red lights at the end of them.
I tried to remember that bike riding is fun. It's not quite because it's too dangerous, but it's wonderfully faster than walking, and even I do feel a pretty nice breeze.
When I got to the guard shed = breakfast station I had planned to visit, no one was there.
Turning down the last road, the one with the bike rack, I got injured. I was holding my gear-changing lever wrong and pinched my finger while changing gears. I didn't break the skin, but now have a blood blister the size and shape (and almost the color) of a doodle bug (aka pill bug aka roly poly). I was typing funny at first, but feel better now.
I parked my bike as planned, 30 minutes after leaving the house. On the way to the gym, I saw another guard station and asked if they really did have goodies for people riding their bikes to work. They did. There was a paper bag containing an information sheet on biking at UT and an apple. Written on the bag was the message, "Please wash apple." There was also an entry form for prizes. Okay, that was a little disappointing.
I got to the gym and the first two showers I tried had no shower head. The third one had a shower head, but none of them had water. That was more than a little disappointing. Fortunately, I was no more sweaty than I usually am when I get to work in the summer, so I just changed my clothes. On my way out of the gym, I heard running water. The lights in the gym are controlled by a motion sensor, so I walked over to the other part of the gym with lights on and found that the showers in that section did have water. Yeesh.
**
Overall, I estimate that on a normal day, I would have to leave the house one hour before I wanted to be at work, so riding a bike currently takes more time than taking a bus, even on the worst days when I have to leave the house 50 minutes before I want to be at work. I would get faster with practice and once the construction is finished, though.
My pedometer, which claims it doesn't work for bike riding, still recorded that I had done some work, which was a good surprise. It was definitely some exercise with several bouts of panting, and my quads did need a nice stretch afterwards.
I was hoping that I would see that riding my bike to work was much better than I feared, but even taking into account that if I ride more often, I will build my muscles and confidence and speed (and learn how to shift gears without smashing my finger), I'm still not thrilled with the idea. So sad.
Now I still have to get my bike back home, or actually to the mall where I am meeting friends. Bleh. Maybe I will ride it home next week. |
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| Strawberry Muffins |
[May. 10th, 2009|10:54 pm] |
It all started when I came upon a recipe for strawberry muffins topped with cinnamon sugar. The blogger who introduced this recipe to me was pleased that it was a recipe that didn't involve strawberry jello or anything like that, but actual strawberries. (I can't find who that was now, so sad.)
Then I did my usual substitutions (whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flower, walnut oil instead of butter, less sugar instead of more). I also left out orange zest because I didn't have any, and I continued not having any the other times I made these muffins. I accidentally left off the cinnamon sugar topping twice. I accidentally left out the oil. I substituted blenderized strawberries for the yogurt. I tried adding walnuts. I threw in some extra leftover shredded carrots. I possibly overcooked them a bit. And no matter what, this recipe still worked. By "worked," I mean "tasted delicious," not "looked beautiful." And so, I present to you
Low-fat Strawberry Muffins
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound strawberries
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and sugar.
Dice enough strawberries to get one cup (about 6 strawberries). Puree enough strawberries to get one cup (about 13 strawberries).
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together. Add the pureed strawberries. Stir this wet mixture into the flower mixture, mixing until a batter forms. When all but a few grains of flour have been mixed in, add the diced strawberries (and chopped walnuts, if using).
Add batter to prepared muffin tins, filling each cup to 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes until inserted fork comes out clean.
**
Once the liquids hit the baking soda and baking powder, the rising begins, so don't go overboard with the mixing or you will lose some of the air bubbles. The batter is thick.
This uses all but about 2 strawberries from a pound of strawberries. You can just eat those or use a little extra in the recipe. If you don't have that many strawberries, you can substitute yogurt for some or most of the puree.
Most baked goods involving strawberries seem soggy around the strawberries, but this isn't bad. I suspect that cooking them a little extra, like in the photo above, may help. I'm a bit paranoid and try to let them dry out a couple of hours before putting them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. They look and taste best right out of the oven, but are still good for several days after that. |
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| Singing Stomach |
[May. 5th, 2009|08:06 pm] |
After taking medicine, I made it home from work fine.
While eating a bowl of high-fiber cereal and milk, I read up on the symptom: "Medicines that stop diarrhea may be helpful, but they are not recommended for people whose diarrhea is caused by a bacterial infection or parasite. If you stop the diarrhea before having purged the bacteria or parasite, you will trap the organism in the intestines and prolong the problem. ... Until diarrhea subsides, try to avoid caffeine, milk products, and foods that are greasy, high in fiber, or very sweet."
Oops.
Then I slept all day.
The burbling and singing--almost whistling--of my innards is actually quite interesting and almost fun so long as I can make it to the next room in seconds and do not have to try to get work done or be around people. |
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| Pecan Street Festival |
[May. 3rd, 2009|04:07 pm] |
Today I went to the Pecan Street Festival with a couple of friends. This is an arts and crafts festival held every spring and fall. I used to go frequently, but haven't been in years and probably won't return for years.
So sad, almost nothing tempts me anymore. I liked some "mesmerizers" - things that spin in the wind and look like a spiral of copper wire is holding a marble up and rolling it up and down as it spins. I liked some expensive cutting boards other things made out of gorgeous woods. Tables and picture frames with wood inlays in the shape of leaves were especially awesome. There were some very nice earrings, but not quite in good colors for me.
A few people were out there selling very odd things. Like windows. And solar panels. I asked one of the solar panel guys what I called "the worst question." How do solar panels handle hail? He said they've only had problems with two installations with the last hail storm and in both cases the hail was tennis-ball- or baseball-sized. (No, I did not ask how many installations they had so far.) The panels are designed withstand inch-thick metal balls impacting at a speed of 90 miles per hour (okay, I probably have the numbers wrong, but solar panels are not as delicate as I feared).
I also saw a balancing act and some tap dancing. And an amazing number of dogs.
The festival food would have been tempting (gyros, burgers, chocolate-covered strawberries on a stick), but we had just eaten way too much brunch. Some of the festival food did still smell quite good, though.
Oxymoron of the day - hot pepper soap. It actually said "nonirritating" on the wrapper. So I guess they left out the pepper oils.
Quote of the day - How to ask when someone is ready to watch "Dollhouse," once the latest episode has been recorded: "Are you ready for your treatment?" |
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| Creations: Skillet, Song, and Stage Play |
[Apr. 29th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
Yesterday I tried a new recipe, Mexican Tortilla Skillet. It's basically tasty, filling, nutritious, and cheap but could use some adjustments.
I recently picked out the song I'm going to play for the next recital. It's a good song and I'm already to the point where if I played it right now, you could tell what the song is about and probably even how someone could actually like it. I'd have a rough start, but then get up to speed, and I might trip up to a complete halt only two or three times.
Play recommendation of the day - "The Tempest" - Over the next two weekends, The Baron's Men are performing this play on an outdoor stage in the shape of a ship. You can actually see the ship on Google maps. [Click on Directions to the Curtain, then go to the Google map at the bottom and click on Sat (Satellite view), then the + (enlarger) 3-5 times.]
I admit that I have no idea how good the play is going to be, but a friend is in it. Actually it's my sister's friend but he also rides my bus and we talk sometimes though usually I read and he writes poetry (or, lately, studies lines). And who can resist "The Tempest" on a ship out in front of the sea? (Or river. Or rather large creek at the very least.)
My sister has been out to this area many times. She has warned me that the road is unpaved, hilly, and actually kind of scary. She also recommends bringing a blanket and bug spray. |
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