drpaisley | Entries tagged with real life shit

I don't remember if I've done this since Worldcon, and am too lazy to go look. It was a fun couple of weeks out of town, but home and one's own bed and cats are good, too.

For those who haven't been following along on fb and other blathersites, Dragonet got her first prosthetic the day after we got back from Chicago, and has been making great strides (yes, I meant that) in getting used to it. She is very much looking forward to attending Archon for the first time since 2007(?).

In other news, after two weeks of dicking around, competent people came to check out our fridge, and discovered the water was leaking from INSIDE! RUN! Ahem. Between that and a missing foot, Nebraska Furniture Mart decided it was easier to just replace the damned thing. So we has a new fridge, which seems to be working just fine, and putting water into cups, not on the floor.

Sadly, I will not be at FenCon. It was part of the fall plans, but lack of funding will cause changes. Next year for sure!

Otherwise, things progress, sorta kinda. When all else fails, there's always music.

1) Crash Years, The New Pornographers

2) Morgan Freeman's Alleged Relationship With His Step-Granddaughter, Yellow Ostrich

3) fred the fish, Daevid Allen

4) Nothing That I Didn't Know, Procol Harum

5) Unknown Legend, Neil Young (11/15/92 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI)

6) GOOD DRESS, we are smug

7) Maria Christina, Los Lobos

8) Uncle Arthur, David Bowie

9) Down The Road Apiece, The Rolling Stones

10) Morning Beat, Brian Wilson

bonus time!

11) Lemon, U2

12) Ballpark Incident, Roy Wood

13) 'Round Midnight, Miles Davis [Live November 2, 1967 Tivoli Konsertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark]

Got my Kickstarter package from Amanda Fucking Palmer last week, and Theatre Is Evil is an amazing album. I recommend it very highly. Here's the video for "I'm Not the Killing Type," to send you into the weekend.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: TV on the Radio, Dancing Choose

I did do this this morning, but we had to leave early to take Dragonet to the wound doc, who thinks the hole is closing very well (so not a euphemism). Took her back home, went to work and slaved over a bunch of crap that exacerbated my continuing problems with lower back tightness and a nasty stabbity pain in my right hip that goes away when I am sitting or otherwise not standing and walking much.

Then, at 4:47, I got a call from the KCPD, telling me my car had been recovered in Independence, MO and was described and "undamaged and driveable." We shall determine to what extent that is true in the morning. But for now, happy dance!

1) I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles

2) people got a lotta nerve, Neko Case (CBC Radio: In Session at Studio 211)

3) Until The End Of The World, U2

4) Bonus Track, Faust & Dälek

5) Merry Go Round (Version 2 - Stereo Mix), The Monkees

6) Idioteque, Radiohead (08-13-08 : Comcast Center : Mansfield, MA)

7) Sofa Head - Give Booze A Chance, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Top Gear, Rec 29-07-69)

8) Steps Columns Pillars, Mountain Goats (Somerville, MA, 2009-03-25)

9) The Sun Goes Down On Girlsville, The Awkward Stage

10) When Everybody's gone, Triplexity

and then some

11) Superstition, Chango Malo

12) The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes, Elvis Costello & the Attractions (Live At Leicester 10-22-77)

13) I'll Tell You Why That Is, Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks & Tom Waits

So, tomorrow is pick up the car and pick up the rest of the late, lamented (but oh, so tasty) pig, then nothing much for the rest of the day. Maybe some activity Sunday

And a special thanks to whoever left a Club™ at our door the other day. It will be used.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: The Beatles, Drive My Car

I got up this morning at 6a, after a fine evening of steak, beer and baseball (Royals win!), went outside to get the paper, and found that it hadn't been delivered yet, which happens occasionally. I also found my car had been stolen, which also seems to be happening on an occasional basis.

Police were called, info taken (this time I had all the paperwork from last time, and the registration stub with the new license plate numbers on it), case number given. So far, no call, which does not surprise me. I think it was probably the same assclams who did it last time, because there was once again no sign of damage (broken glass, etc). These are professionals, and alas my car (2002 Intrepid) is one of the easier to break in to without making a lot of noise).

Due to Dragonet's current hiatus from work, I have the van to drive so I can do my 28 hours a week of wage slavery. If it found (relatively) unharmed*, fine. If it is wrecked again, we'll give it to the knackers.**

When I told my boss this morning, he said "Man, you need a break." Boy, is that true.

*Replacing the window trim removed to get to the door lock and the steering column and ignition was $500 or so last time, so this is for expensive values of "unharmed."

**Pardon my lack of kindness, but if it wrecked, I do hope the perps are driving it, and are rendered severely incapacated by said wreck. Not quite "die in a fire" level, but "Walk? Good luck with that" would be acceptable.

Current Location: teh hellfry
Current Music: Dave Edmunds, Crawling From the Wreckage

Dragonet tested out her new leg on Wednesday (they had been waiting for the foot to arrive). There's a bit of minor adustment to be made to the socket, but she should have it in the next week to 10 days. So she'll be able to dance to the music!

1) South Australia, The Pogues

2) Constellation, The Cranberry Isles

3) Go Amanda, Steve Earle

4) My Girlfriend is a Witch, October Country

5) Memory of a Free Festival, David Bowie

6) Wild Horses, Maigin Blank

7) Sober, The Little Morts

8) Nobody Loves You Like Me, Jonathan Coulton

9) Back In The U.S.S.R., The Beatles

10) Everybody Rules, Morningwood

more

11) Make A Noise, Katie Herzig

12) Sea Change, Jeff Parker

13) Charming Snakes, Andy Summers

Oh look, an empty weekend! Probably the last one for some time. Or not.

Current Location: teh hellfry
Current Music: The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema

Or "Hot Hot Hot," and not just here in the belfry.

But first things first, the weekly recap. Dragonet went back to work Monday, and has been doing better each day (seeing a chiropractor friend who got her shoulder back where it belongs helped, too). Rohanna saw her oncologist today, and remains cancer-free.

And now to the hot stuff. Yesterday morning, Ro called me at work and told me I sounded terrible and should tell the boss I was sick and should go home. Turned out her company had tickets to the KC-Seattle game that afternoon. The boss let me leave early (with a promise to return after), and we headed to the ballpark. It was easily 100˚ there, and more in the very good, but very sunny seats we had. After a couple of innings, we moved up into the shade and watched the Royals lose to one of the few teams worse than them, 6-1. Alas, I did not get to tell Ichiro that if he had the rats, we had the sock.

Went back to work for a few hours to catch things up, and headed in early today. Got there to find signs on all the doors: due to water main break, the a/c for this building is turned off. We're on the 17th floor; the laminating room is on the east side, the main room on the west. Conveniently, I was in each as they got hotter. Finally got out at 4p (hour early). Now up here in the toasty belfry, hoping to drink myself into coolth. Here's this morning's music, which I ran out of time to post.

1) Won't Get Fooled Again, Hayseed Dixie (2010-10-22 - Oran Mor)

2) Come Dancing, The Kinks

3) The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Decemberists (7/22/07 Edgefield Winery, OR)

4) Representing Memphis (Featuring Matt Berninger & Sharon Jones), Booker T. Jones

5) We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives, Los Campesinos!

6) THE UNEXPECTED, DJ Babu

7) Near Wild Heaven, R.E.M.

8) Frank and Jesse James, Browne & Zevon (WPRO Studios)

9) Cat Food Sandwiches, David Lindley & Wally Ingram

10) Dying Seas, Hawkwind

injury time . . .

11) We Rule The School, Belle & Sebastian

12) It's About That Time/The Theme, Miles Davis [Fillmore East-March, 6 1970 (Early Show)]

13) Drunken Sailors A Happy Pirates, A Jigsaw

So tomorrow it's up to Lawrence for pizza, and then home, and then another ballgame! We must beat the Twinkies!

Current Location: teh belfry (hot as hell edition)
Current Music: Squirrel Nut Zippers, Hell

Got up yesterday at 8a, got the paper, went back in to read and surf the net and prepare for the day's activities. At 10.30, went outside to shuffle cars, and discovered my 2002 Intrepid was no longer parked on the street. Stolen from in front of my house.

Called the cops, then we ran our errands. Later in the evening, Dragonet and I joined Rohanna and her two cousins, Dee and Karen, for dinner at Jack Stack (Dee lives here now, in Lee's Summit; Karen was in for her annual visit). While waiting for our food, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but realized the exchange was the same as the police station, so I answered. The nice person informed me my car had been recoved and taken to the city tow lot, and that "it looked driveable" despite some front end damage.

This morning Ro and I went to check it out. Not good. It was take by pros. They popped a piece of trim on the base of the window to get the lock popped, the took out the ingnition like an apple core. They got breakfast at Burger King, then eventually abandoned it about 3 miles from home. They took my parking card for work, so I'll have to get that replaced at some point, but left a bunch of stuff, including a pair of Colorado plates that they replaced with mine on some other car.

The extent of the damage to the front end, plus the need to replace the ignition, seems to be more than the car is worth. Of course, once we paid it off two years ago, we rolled back the insurance coverage, so that won't be of any help.

Tired, tired, tired of all this shit. Blah. Oh, and it's 100˚+ up here, as I haven't managed to get the a/c wrested into the window.

Current Location: teh belfry (hot as hell edition)

So, it's been a rather busy spring, but things seem to be settling down into a new structure of "normal." Dragonet has been home a week, and we have adapted fairly well to her new living space in the dining room. I must once again thank the crew who helped to get it ready on ludiicrously short notice, including Parris McBride-Martin, Bradley Denton, Lyle Wilson, Sheril Harper, Marisa Means, Claire Beaumier, Ted Poovey, Eric Orth and whoever I am forgetting. A special thanks goes out to Ann Totusek, who came down from Des Moines to stay with Dragonet for the weekend.

D2 is doing very well. All of the nurses, PT and OT people have been very impressed by her attitude, resilience and progress. First followup visit to Dr. Go is Monday. For now, back to the music.

1) Sugar Mountain, Neil Young (Auditorium Theatre, Chicago 15-11-76)

2) Dead Flowers, Steve Earle (BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert)

3) Mozart: Requiem In D Minor, K 626 - Hostias, Herbert Kraus: Vienna Mozart Ensemble

4) Tenderness On The Block, Warren Zevon (1978-05-13 - Chicago, IL)

5) Life In Technicolor, Coldplay

6) Four Brothers, Charlie Parker & Woody Herman And The 3rd Herd (Municipal Arena, Kansas City, 22 July 1951)

7) Equalize (First Demo), Gomez

8) Over the Waterfall, Michelle Shocked (Live 08-1990)

9) Hello Goodbye, The Beatles

10) Sally is a Girl (live), 50 Foot Wave

onward

11) Helpless, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Roosevelt Raceway, Westbury, NY)

12) Kiss (Daft Punk Remix), Prince vs Daft Punk

13) Little Red Rooster, The Jesus & Mary Chain

And for the first time since the start of April, I have a couple of days off that aren't either involved with a con or a hospital. So the weekend will be spent getting a semblance of order back to the kitchen and living room, and making D2's access to these areas easier.

(Note: Cool new icon by

ursulav. I was fortunate enough to purchase this original piece at ConQuesT, and she was kind enough to give me permission to use it in this manner. So, behold my Big Blue Cock!)

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: The Beatles, Moonlight Bay

OK, folks, here's the deal. It's not pretty.

After two surgeries, X-rays and consultations, the doctors have determined that the only available option is for Draqgonet to lose her left foot. There is too much damage and infection for it to be saved. Tomorrow at 3.30p or so she will be going into surgery to amputate it at mid-calf, which will make it easier to create a base for a prosthethic once she heals.

Her background in biology and physiology has stood her in good stead, and she understands the necessity of this rather drastic action, and is ready for it to happen. As she put it this evening, "Either we take it off or it kills me, so I'm good with it."

She is incredibly thankful for everyone's thoughts and good wishes, and the cards she has received. The pain meds she is on ("The Stupid Juice," as she calls it) have limited her ability to post, but she is aware of the outpouring of love from you all, and very thankful for it.

Ideally she will be home by the weekend, though it is doubtful that she will make it to ConQuesT. Thank you again for all the good thoughts, and please keep them coming.

Margene S. Bahm and I are holding up as well as we can. When we know how things are going to shake out and what we will need, we will be letting you know.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: Royals 6, Yankees 0 (gotta find the upside)

On Monday Dragonet went to the doctor to get the wound on her swollen left foot looked at. It turned out to be infected, and she was admitted to the hospital instanter. After an MRI, it was also revealed that her foot was swollen not because she had bruised it some time back, but in fact because it had been broken and/or fractured.

She just called me from the hospital to tell me they are going to operate on the foot later this afternoon to clean out the infection, which has gotten into the bone just a bit. When she asked if that was the only alternative, the doctor (I have my suspicions which one) told her the other option was removing the foot (a la Game of Thrones) and she went for column a.

Info will be posted when we have it. Good thoughts and such are great appreciated.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: The Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows

But me, I'm headed there today. It's an "All Hands" meeting for the upcoming World Science Fiction Convention, Chicon 7. And since I'm a ~~moron~~ Division Head, I must needs be there. We will be leaving sometime around 1p, and getting there late tonight. Songs are being loaded on the Jesus Phone as I type, and here's some more. 1) Powderfinger, Cowboy Junkies (2009-06-19 - Capitol Theater) 2) Hello Mabel, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Saturday Club, Rec 29-10-68)) 3) Old Man, Neil Young 4) Vrbana Bridge, Jill Sobule 5) Surf Solar (7" Edit), Fuck Buttons 6) Fu-Yu, DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo 7) Oh, Injury [Reprise], Rasputina 8) Just Got Paid, ZZ Top (La Grange Fest, The Backyard in Bee Cave - Austin, Texas 10-22-2011) 9) Monotony, Teesh Brown 10) Nous Les Plus Que Respectons, Clara Clara more more more! 11) United State of Pop, DJ Earworm 12) I Want To Be With You, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band 13) The Warmth Of The Sun, The Beach Boys Just hit the Pem-Day sale. No big item like last year's duster, but got a couple of pairs of jeans for $3 each. And back to the packing and prepping for the trip. See yz on the flip side. But first, some bad news. As I put it on FB last night: "It's always a bad thing when you get an email with nothing but a friend's name in the subject line. Kd Wentworth died today from complications of pneumonia while battling cervical cancer. She was a fine author, a tireless advocate for writers (served way too long as a regional director for SFWA), and a fan (helped found Conestoga in Tulsa). It was always great to see her, and hear her call me "Reverend Jim" in her sexy Oklahoma drawl (hers was sexy, not the rest of you Okies). Not right, not fair; in other words, life. Farewell, Kathy. You will be missed." Take care of yourselves, people.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, Lookin' For A Happy Life

After a thrilling week that was highlighted by spending five hours in the ER with Rohanna (good news, not her appendix; bad news, possible chronic bowel pain), time for another round of spin the iTunes (over 35K songs and growing)!

1) I'll Be Glad, Bonnie Prince Billy

2) towards the sun, sri aurobindo

3) Coming Right Along, The Posies

4) who knows where you are, The Harpeth Trace

5) i go to sleep [bonus track, unreleased demo], the kinks

6) All I Wanna Do, The Beach Boys

7) Going Down, Lynch Mob

8) White Riot, The Clash (Velodromo Vigorelli, Milan, 05-21-81)

9) Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen), Concrete Blonde

10) Portia, Throwing Muses

plus

11) The Rockafeller Skank (Mulder's Urban Takeover Mix), Fatboy Slim

12) Invisible Man, The Breeders

13) Nothing (Lifestyle Of A Tortured Artist For Sale), The Dandy Warhols

And off we go. March Madness (fuck you, NCAA™) comes to an end, ideally with the Jayhawks cutting down the nets in Nawlins, just in time for the baseball season to begin. And for those considering attending Chicon 7, this year's World Science Fiction convention, rates go up Sunday, so get that membership soon!

Current Music: Buddy Holly & The Crickets, Rave On

My car, the '02 Intrepid, had been doing pretty well, other than the problems with the corroding rims that had me filling the two passenger side tires every few days. But Monday, as I was pumping the front tire up to prepare for work Tuesday, I came out of the house (where I was preparing four-beast chili: beef, bison, bambi and Bruce, the elk) to find a pool of coolant by the good front tire. I shut it down, and it sat until today, when I got paid. Had it towed to the local mechanic who is close to my workplace. They called as I was getting ready to eat lunch.

Turns out the water pump was in the midst of Cheyne-Stokes (not you, Keith) breathing, and was polite enough to hack up a lung in the driveway, rather than on the road. Because of the special way this vehicle was put together, many of its internal organs had to be removed to get to the pump and replace. Total cost (including getting the rim job [so not a euphemism) to keep the tires up (and again), $630 and change. So much for my paycheck this fortnight. What a lovely holiday gift. And then I come home and find out that Albert Pujols has signed with the Cucamonga Angels of Lompoc and KU has hired the worst coach in college football.

Kill me fucking now.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: John Lennon, Gimme Some Truth

Today (technically March 22, but I haven't gone to bed yet, and it isn't anywhere near dawn here, and shut up, he explained) marks my 19th anniversary at my job. Of course, I received cake, congratulations, an iPad with the dates engraved on it and many other wonderful things.

Or not. I went in, did my job, went home. Just like most other days, my interaction with the boss consisted of him bitching that I had no work to do. If I were supposed to magically bring in work that I then would do, this would perhaps make sense. But we have a lying, incompetent sales dweeb who would rather look at tranny porn* (people and/or cars) on the company computer rather than go out and find work for us to do when the boss goes home in the afternoon. So work is occasional, at best.

Nineteen years. The previous record for work longevity was four years, and that was working for Parking Services at KU during my undergraduate years. I mostly sat in a toll booth for a major parking lot on campus by the football stadium. Let the people with permits in, extort money out of those without. Went by there Saturday, and said lot has been mostly converted into practice fields for the football team.

Nineteen years. Over a third of my life. Not working career, life. And here I am, trapped in a pointless job with no benefits beyond paid parking and vacation, which could disappear any day, depending on the whimand/or health of the owner. Whatever desktop skills I had have severely atrophied, between the lack of an up-to-date machine and software and my transition to laminating monkey five years ago.

I like graphic design. No. I love graphic design. Solving the puzzle of fitting pieces together to make a zine, flyer or progress report is just so damn much fun. Putting together the Anticipation Souvenir Book was something I'd been working towards for many years in my fannish life.

But I see no hope that when Darrell pulls the plug I will be able to find any kind of work in the field. I am far too far behind. Still trying to get a newer machine at home. Lost another Ebay fight tonight at the last second.

So when you see the guy by the side of the road with the sign reading "Will Design for Beer," be kind.

*Yes, I am serious. Yes, Darrell knows about it, as he monitors the work computer from home after he leaves, and will call let me know if a job has come in. But the sales dweeb is his "friend," which is how he got the job, despite no knowledge of the industry. And now we're stuck with him, as Darrell can't afford to hire someone who could do the job right.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: the Police, Darkness

As some of you know, I have been in the market for a new(er) computer for some time. I have been working on a Mac G4 Dual 450MHz since 2003. It has been a good machine, but is no longer able to use most of the current software, much less the more recent iterations of the OS.

So, when Rohanna got a nice bonus from work, she used her Ebay fu to find me a better machine. There were a number of near misses, but last week she came to the stairs to let me know I had finally won! A Mac Pro 2008 8-core desktop with 6Gb of RAM was shortly to be mine! Huzzah! Excessive exclamation point use! Leventy!

Then it began. First, the FedEx ground people tried to deliver it Wednesday, but after I had reluctantly gone to work. When I called about picking it up, I was informed Ground didn't work like that so much, and the best bet was to have it delivered Saturday. OK, fine, I can wait a few more days. That allowed me to get a 2TB hard drive to put in it. And wait. And wait.

Saturday morning I rose at 7.30a, and did my usual morning things (cup of tea, read the paper, check the interwebs, etc). At 9.30 I went downstairs to do some cleaning, and shortly thereafter, I looked up to see the FedEx truck pulling up. A quick signature later, and it was mine!

I hauled the 40+ lbs of computer upstairs, pulled it from its original box, and set it up. It had a pristine version of Snow Leopard (the newest OS, until this summer), so I went through the basic setup for it. At one point I went to check something on the web, and it told me I wasn't connected. Silly me, I had failed to plug in the Ethernet cable. But wait, I thought, this baby should have an Airport card, and I should be able to connect to our wireless router!

And that's when it really went wrong. No Airport card (which turned out to be optional on the machine I thought I bought). And no Bluetooth, which the box said was standard. I went to the "About this Mac" screen, and my worst fears were confirmed. This was not a 2008 dual 2.8GHz machine, but the original dual 2.66GHz first iteration Mac Pro, from 2006. Not happy.

We contacted the seller, who was quite apologetic (he's got a perfect record on Ebay), is willing to either a) refund us an amount to be determined if I decide to keep it, or 2) take it back, full refund, he pays shipping.

I am torn. On the one hand, it's not the machine I wanted, and being the earliest of the Mac Pro models, most likely to become obsolete.

On the other hand, IT's RIGHT HERE IN THE BELFRY! And a metric shitload faster than what I am typing this on.

Depending on how much he's willing to refund, I am leaning towards sending it back. I am not looking forward to another round of bidding wars on Ebay, though. It took several weeks to get this one.

Gaaaaaaaaah.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: The Beatles, I'm Down

1) The Toe of Doom™ is doing very well under the new antibiotic regime (doxycycline, to be specific). This is good.

2) We tried to get a new fridge at Nebraska Furniture Mart, only to find the credit line we thought we had no longer existed, thanks to our crappy credit ratings. A repairman was called, and the solution involved the compressor and about $175. Fridge is cooling as we speak. Contents will be reapportioned tomorrow.

3) Dragonet had Monday off for the holiday (this was not guaranteed, but her department had their workload well under control, so day off!) and decided to catch the laundry up. She put a mixed load of underwear in, and the washer filled, but didn't actually, y'know, wash. So she scooped the cold, wet load (very much not a euphemism) out and took it to the nice, reasonably new laundromat over on Main, which happens to be located on the former site of Ray's, one of the city's finest purveyors of adult literature, visuals and novelties for many, many years (the old coal-fired vibrators they carried in the early days are greatly prized by steampunks throughout the metro and beyond). Fortunately, a couple of hours of direct application of a space heater to the washer resulted in it unfreezing, and working properly. I pointed out to Dragonet that this site was in fact an ancient Native American porno mound, and only bad things could result (or reslut–sometimes typos are talking to you0.

4) Went out last night at 9.30, and spent an hour or so removing snow from the driveway and around the cars on the street. Got back up a 6a, and cleared the cars off with a broom (an advantage of the dry, fine powder we got this time), and shoveled out the mouth of the driveway where the plow had filled it in. Never been a big fan of winter; this one isn't changing my opinion. I mean, I do like watching a classic snowstorm, I just they could happen when it was 75˚ out and someone else would clean up afterwards.

Current Music: The Avett Brothers, Kick Drum Heart

From The Daily Show, a wonderful evisceration of the new "nigger-free" version of Huckleberry Finn.

And as for Sarah Palin and "blood libel," I can only echo TBogg: Shut Up Dumb Lady.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: KU 84, ISU 79

I am back to working part time, four seven hour days a week. Can't say I'm surprised, given the lack of work the past couple of months, but I was kinda hoping we'd make it to the new year before this happened. Beats no work at all, I suppose.

In other updates, the Toe of Doom™ is maintaining, and I will be doing another two weeks of I.V. antibiotic infusions. Unfortunately, making less money does not make it easier for me to miss six weeks of work to recuperate from the Toecapitation, so we're just hoping to keep the infection from spreading. Although I have been researching interchangeable peglegs . . .

SMOFcon was fun, and I hope to have a more complete post on it up soon. And for all those wondering, the cooler with 12 bottles of the fine products of the Stone Brewing Co. made it home just fine. Nom nom.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: Iggy & the Stooges, Search and Destroy

The fact that human group sociability and solidarity is based on exchange rather than, as with chimpanzees, grooming each other or, as with dogs--well, I don't think I should go there--has, Adam Smith thought, extraordinary consequences.

Brad DeLong, not quite America's Treasure (that's Ha'ard Waldrop of course), but working on it.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: Eagles 59, Potomac Basin indigenous persons 28

Saw a podiatrist this morning concerning the Toe of Doom™. He took some new x-rays, and I got to see the main one. You know how the final bone in the toe comes to a sort of point, almost looking like a space capsule? Well, the Toe of Doom™ doesn't do that. The tip of the bone appears to be gone. Not so good.

Dr. Mandel said he thought I had had a corm on the toe, and it was the source of the path for the infection to enter and take hold. The fact that this has been going on since March concerned him a lot, and he said there were two ways to deal with it: amputating part of the toe, or undergoing a course of IV antibiotics. We discussed my workplace, and the complete lack of benefits there, along with the fact I spend most of the day on my feet.

So next Tuesday I have an appointment with an infectious disease specialist, who will discuss with me IV option. I would have a shunt put in my arm, and Dr. Mandel said he thought I would be able to do it at home. Which is good, as the course of treatment is for twelve weeks. Dr. Mandel said that even if the antibiotics don't manage to clear it up, at least it shouldn't get any worse, which is his main concern.

And if it doesn't work, Stumpy will join Skinny in the pantheon of diminished Paisley digits. Joy.

Current Location: teh belfry
Current Music: Countdown with Keith Olbermann

I have a Kensington Pilot Board Wireless Laser Desktop Set. Tuesday evening, the left button on the mouse stopped working. I could move the cursor, and things I moused over would react onscreen, but I could not access pulldown menus or the Dock. I borrowed a wired usb mouse (Inland brand) from Dragonet, and it worked briefly, then it froze. Didn't matter if I had it plugged into my usb hub, or the usb 2.0 board in the computer, or the built-in original usb 1.1 ports.

Wednesday morning I borrowed Rohanna's Logitech usb wireless mouse, and it seemed to work fine for the hour or so I used it. After work, I went out to MicroCenter and discovered I couldn't get an exact replacement for the mouse that came with the original set without buying the whole thing again. Since the keyboard was functioning just peachily, I thought $70 was a bit much to spend. I wound up with a Kensington Ci60 Opticall Wireless Mouse, which came the closest to what I was using before (none of the mice available had the combination of buttons the original one, and most had none. WTF?).

I got home and plugged its dongle in and booted up. Seemed to be working fine for a couple of hours, and then once again nothing. New batteries and shifting of dongle again no help.

So, pretend Internet friends, I call upon your superior knowledge: what in the wide world of sports is agoin' on here? Is something interfering with the wireless signal of a sudden? I have added no new items to the computer or the general area. And why does the wired mouse lock up after a short period? Note: When it does, I unplug it for a few minutes, plug it in again and it works. For a bit.

The computer in question is a G4 Dual 450, and if anyone wants to throw large amounts of cash at me, I'll be happy to upgrade, but otherwise that ain't gonna be happening any time soon.

Help me LJ overmind! You're my only hope! (I'm doomed, right?)

Current Location: teh belfry (still batless)
Current Music: The Beatles, Help!

Intergalactic House of Paisley

Teh Right People Will Get This

Friday "Where Does the Time Go?" Random 10+

Friday "Nothing Seems Right, In Cars" Random 10+

Second Verse, Same As The First

Friday "I Believe I'm Sinking Down" Random 10+

Friday "Hello, I Must Be Going" Random 10+

Because It Can Always Get Worse

Friday "Everybody Cut Footloose!" Random 10+

Dragonet Update

Not Goodness All Around

Friday "Jesus Just Left Chicago" Random 10+

Friday "If You Call Me In the Morning I'll Tell You What to Do" Random 10+

Fuck Me Running

How Did I Get Here?

Because It Is My Life, And It Sucks

Miscellaneous Updates

Words. They Mean Things.

And Speaking of Starting Over

Quote of the Millennium, Leader in the Clubhouse

Half A Toe Is Better Than None (Or Is It?)

Continuing mouse crisis

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September 2017

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