Return to knitting

Winter is back in full-force, and after a 10 month hiatus, I decided to pick up the needles again. My husband and I both want specific types of scarves, so why not make them? I seem to be having some difficulty getting started, and not from lack of trying.

My husband has been commenting for a while that he wants a specific design of scarf, and I keep saying that I need him to accompany me to the store and pick the yarn. On Sunday, we managed to be in the right place at the right time to get that done. Unfortunately, for the pattern he wants, we didn't pick up enough yarn. We discovered the pattern after visting the store; I had been intending to wing it. Coincidentally, the yarn company's free patterns included one that is almost exactly what he wants. I thought this was a good sign that I was on the right track to knitting something that might work out for a change.

Back to Michaels I went today on my lunch hour. I'm not sure where the problem lies with yarn labels: do the manufacturers not make them strong enough, or do people just manhandle them in the store? Either way, I couldn't find a matching dye lot, and had to return the ball I previously purchased. I got a rain check to come back and get the two balls, but who knows when that will be in stock. I finally have some motivation to start knitting again and am stymied by this.

Obstacle #2: I like some needles and dislike others. My local yarn store carries a few different brands of needles, but last year I noticed they seemed to be ordering less of the kind I liked, and more of the kind I didn't. I thought perhaps they were phasing out that brand. Today I called the store, before trudging uptown to waste my time, to see if they still had them. A very unhelpful person answered the phone and didn't understand my clear statement of "Do you carry SRK bamboo needles" and proceeded to tell me, in an annoyed tone, "We carry Clover". Well, I can get Clover at Michaels for 40% off with coupon, and I don't like Clover to begin with, so I guess I'll have to source the SRK elsewhere. I emailed the company and asked if they had any online vendors since my local store stopped carrying them. The manufacturer told me the flagship store had placed a large needle order just last week. Well. Thanks for nothing. So I guess I have a couple of options: trudge uptown and talk to someone in person, or just drive out of town to the flagship store and speak to people who actually want to help me.

I seem to have an aversion to knitting with expensive yarn, I tend to screw up and get frustrated about "wasting money", so I generally try to stick with Michaels because I can either catch a sale or use a coupon. I picked out a silk bamboo for my own scarf, and am going to do a simple rib pattern. I want it to be basic black and uncomplicated, but a smaller knit, not chunky. I will need probably 6 balls for this project, and reg price is $6. Luckily there is a 25% off sale Saturday morning at Michaels, so perhaps I can get out there in time to find 6 matching dye lots.

I want to make some progress on something, but by the time I get the materials, I may lose my motivation. I guess I'll start another dish cloth in the meantime.

Small updates

We just had a huge rain and wind storm, which eliminated all of our snow and caused state of emergency flooding in St, Stephen (at the NB/ME border). Today seems to be sunny and "warm" (48°F), so I think I'll be able to walk on my lunch hour. Since the days are so short now, I've gone into hibernation and lethargy mode. I don't feel like getting up in the dark, and when I get home from work I just want to curl up under a blanket. Sunrise is close to 8am and sunset around 4:30. One more week and at least the days will start to get longer. Bed will probably still feel just as comfy.

Our Christmas tree is currently drying out in the garage. At some point last night, it fell over and dumped the bucket of water all over the garage. More of an annoyance than anything else, but I had to stop and right it, then fill it back up again. Romy has decided he loves drinking from the watering can, so as soon as he sees me bring it out, he begins a barrage of meows, despite being in full view of his water dish.

My crashed hard drive, that contained my only copy of a lot of data, is unrecoverable. They are shipping it back to me and then I begin the process of a warranty claim with Western Digital. I ordered a new Seagate hard drive for my OS, since that drive had issues 2 weeks before my data drive. I just want to start over and hope this never happens again. We purchased an external backup drive, so I will be making regular backups. I also still have the data from an older hard drive I found and purchased recovery software for. I was able to get 2009 and earlier data, so in the end I am missing any pictures from Jan-Aug 2010, as well as all my email/contacts. This includes all of the emails from when John and I first met, unless I can find them in an archive somewhere. I'm disappointed in that, I wanted to save them since they are our "love letters". John does have a copy of them though, so all is not lost. In the end, it has cost me around $200 instead of $1300, so for that I am thankful.

We booked flights to Florida for March Break. The best we could get using points resulted in the redefinition of the term "milk run". 7h layover in Halifax plus 3 planes on the way down. 4 planes on the way home. It was that or pay $1500 for near full-fare tickets. Money won out and we got the milk run. I'm going to call Aeroplan every week or two until the trip to see if I can't get it changed to something better. Maybe someone else will change their plans and I can upgrade. We're lucky to get what we got, so I am not complaining, I just hope we can do better and don't actually have to take 7 flights!

Organ donors

My younger brother has been diabetic since 1991. 4 years ago, he was also diagnosed with lupus, Addison’s, and hypothyroid pretty much all at the same time. His health has never been a great subject and has led to hospital time and scary days for our family.

A couple of weeks ago, my father saw a video news report about a new treatment for diabetes. My parents and my brother began talking about it, Mum doing a lot of research and making contacts. Within a couple of days, my brother was in contact with the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta. He spoke to them back & forth about his medical conditions, his medications, etc. Last week he received word that he can begin the application process to be part of the program. He will go through 4 weeks of consistent blood sugar testing & recording, get his doctor’s signature, and fill out the necessary paperwork.

The procedure entails taking islets from cadaver organs and then transplanting them into my brother's liver. Luckily, he is a very thin person and likely to only need islets from one donor. Timing will depend on the availability of donors, but it could happen as soon as March of next year.

There are still more hurdles to overcome, and I try to temper my hopefulness with realism, but it’s hard not to be excited. If this transplant works, my brother’s life expectancy could be increased greatly. He could possibly see some improvements in his other medical conditions as well. Not to mention the freedom of foods and beverages and not worrying about insulin as much, or possibly, at all.

It’s an exciting time for him. I pray that he will continue to get through the next steps of the application without roadblocks, and if he finally makes it to Transplant Day, that it will work without incident.

A few years ago, my grandfather received cornea transplants from an organ donor. I had been thinking about organ donation for a while, but after this event and the improvement to my grandfather's sight, I decided to pull the trigger and actually sign up. The donor corneas allowed my grandfather to have better sight so he could still read and function on his own. I thought of how many people my organs could save, how many stories you hear of people killed in accidents and how their organs can help multiple people. I have a relative and a friend who are both on transplant lists, and I know how much it matters to me that they stick around as long as possible.

I do not drink coffee, tea, or alcohol. I am in good health. My wish is to be cremated after I am gone from this world. While I hope to live a long time, if anything were to happen to me, I'm sure my organs would be quite valuable. I could save and/or improve the life of many people who needed it: daughters, mothers, fathers, sons, brothers. In my mind, it is the ultimate gift.

If you haven't thought about organ donation, please do take some time to consider it. Think about your wishes for your body, your religious views, your health status. If you're like me, in good health and don't wish to be buried, then I encourage you to consider signing your organ donor card. When you do, inform your family so they are aware of your wishes. You never know when you, or someone close to you, may need a donation to live.

No Frills

No Frills opened in place of Superstore on the West Side. It's been a few months, and I have been there only three times, and once I did not purchase anything. They have a few policies I don't like, and I finally got around to drafting a note to send to them:

No Frills recently opened in my neighborhood and I am very disappointed. Your policy of not taking Visa as a form of payment has limited my desire to shop in your store. I use Visa for most purchases and I do not frequent stores who refuse to accept it. I am also frustrated by your shopping cart policy. While the deposit system may be desirable for your company, it is not convenient for the customer. The carts provided are large, heavy, and difficult to maneuver. The smaller carts, which were very popular and easy to use for most of the clientele of that store (primarily senior citizens), seem to have disappeared. It appears that the more senior staff were laid off in favor of student workers, who don't seem to be very helpful or friendly -- they barely look at me, let alone smile, while I am checking out. What used to be a weekly trip to Superstore has now turned into an avoidance of No Frills.

If you don't take Visa, then I'm not going to spend my $100 grocery order at your store, it's that simple. I don't carry a lot of cash, I don't want to use debit, I want to use Visa to build up my points. This policy has driven me to shop primarily at Sobeys, and I have also been spending more of my money at Co-op, who needs it if they're going to stay in business. Co-op's student workers are also quite friendly and helpful.

Having to pay 25¢ deposit to get a shopping cart out of hawk is ridiculous. I know the thinking: if the customer has to pay for it, it will get returned to the stall, people won't steal them, etc. All it has done for me is make sure that if I go in the store, I don't buy enough to need a cart. Or I take a free cart from Zellers lying around in the parking lot. This policy is only convenient for the person who bought the carts, not the people purchasing things in the store. The worst part about the carts is the removal of the small carts. They were my cart of choice, much easier to handle, and I know I'm not the only person who thinks that. There a many senior citizens on the West side, and if I'm having a hard time steering a giant heavy yellow cart, I know they must be too.

They laid off most of the senior people at this store when it changed banners. In their place are student-aged workers who obviously are only there because they have to be. That attitude shows through in how they deal with you at the checkout. One girl mumbles and barely looks at me, I actually try to avoid her line if I am there. Another just seems like he's tired and you're bothering him. I just haven't had a great experience dealing with the checkers at this store.

I'd be interested to know how things are going at this store since the change. I heard some of my co-workers talking about how great the low prices were. I agree, some sale prices are the lowest in town, and that is the sole reason I have been in the store a few times. This store also re-introduced a bag fee, something that had been so unpopular it was eliminated across the Maritimes last year. I'm curious which side has won out: low prices, or cart deposits/bag fees/limited payment options/less selection. I wonder how many have defected to Sobeys, or now choose to go to Superstore in other parts of town.

A Fine Balance

 

Since I missed book club, I decided to blog my thoughts about the book. Spoilers follow.

**********************

This is one of the most depressing novels I've ever read. It seemed as though something bad would happen, and when you think it couldn't get much worse, something worse would happen, then something terrible, then something horrific... it just never stopped. I wasn't expecting a garden of roses, but this novel really wore me down.

For most of the novel, the characters are not likeable and I found myself with no sympathy for any of them. Frankly, I couldn't understand their motivations. Repeatedly Ishvar and Om seemed to allow themselves to go with the flow of injustice, rather than try any attempt to rally against it. Even near the end, when the Family Planning goondas were collecting them, they had the opportunity to attempt escape. Frustratingly, Ishvar decides to stay put because he hadn't done anything wrong. He seemed to learn nothing from his experiences in the labour camp. Dina spent the first 2/3 of the novel being a bitch. Maneck's situation with his parents angered me; people don't live forever, stop pseudo-fighting. He waited until it was too late to understand his father. Om and Maneck together were jackasses, stupid teenagers doing stupid things and being first-class perverts.

It's funny, I spent the majority of this novel saying about Ishvar and Om, "these people should just end things and put themselves out of their misery. Nothing good will ever happen to them." I was frustrated but kept reading because I wasn't sure what the end game was. When I got to it, I had to re-read the paragraph because I had skimmed it too quickly. What? Maneck jumped onto the train tracks? He's the one person who just started to plan a good future, and then he does this?! A repeat of what happened in the beginning, where the train was slowed due to a body on the tracks.

I enjoyed The Book of Negroes. Bad things happened, and even without the pat ending, I felt a sense of hope somewhere inside. I did not feel the same way about this book, especially not after Maneck jumped the tracks. Sure, Dina became more soft-hearted over time, still looking after the tailors years later. I just felt kind of blah at the end.

Ishvar might still have legs if he had gone to the dispensary to look after himself once Om was stable. Om might still have all his organs if Ishvar had just relented and let him choose his own wife. Ashraf Chacha might have lived longer if they had taken their chance to escape. Why in hell couldn't Om have written to Dina to explain at least a very small portion of what happened? So many times they left her hanging, and this time they had the opportunity to send her a simple letter (Ishvar hurt, can't come yet) and yet noooo, Om just doesn't know what to say and does nothing.

Although both this novel and the film Slumdog Millionaire are works of fiction, they are two accounts of the worst parts of India. If there is any truth to both, then it would lead one to believe that conditions have not improved much in the years between 1975 and 2008, and that would be a depressing thought.

I didn't hate the book, but it wasn't an enjoyable read. At least Maneck didn't turn into a tiger right before jumping off the platform. That being said, this book has stuck with me, even after finishing it over a week ago. There’s something to be said for that.

Christmas progress and frustrations

I am both pleased with my progress on Christmas shopping and frustrated at the same time. I have managed to get most people to give me their lists, which I took and turned into an online registry. I hope that by me doing the setup that they will take it and keep it updated after that. Since we all don’t live in the same house anymore, it’s tough to determine what someone wants, needs, or already has. If we’re going to exchange presents, I need ideas.

I still have three holdouts for giving me ideas. One will produce a list eventually. The second I can think of a few types of gift cards to send that I know she would enjoy. The third, I have absolutely no idea. She has refused to answer any of my requests for ideas, lives far away from me so I don’t get to spend any time with her to know her interests, has 2 small children and thus not much time for herself. I gave my best idea to someone else, which leaves me with no friggin clue what to buy her.

If I didn’t think it would be insulting, I’d consider getting her nothing. If you don’t provide ideas, then I assume you don’t want a gift. I am someone who prefers to buy a gift that I think the receiver will actually like or use. Even if I strike out, at least my thought process had them in mind, as opposed to pulling a knick-knack off the store shelf because I have to have something to wrap.

I recognize that it is still early in the process for Christmas shopping, but the sooner I have things settled, the sooner I can relax. I don’t want to keep harassing her, but if she doesn’t answer me within the next week*, I am just going to have to pull something out of the hat and not worry whether she actually likes it. I hate doing that.

*deadline not imposed by me, but by other circumstances.

Toshiba's bilingual notebook keyboard

I have used and purchased Toshiba notebooks (laptops) for the majority of my 13 year working career. Within the last few years, Toshiba Canada made the decision to supply only bilingual keyboards on all of its laptops. Customers do not have the option to choose a US English keyboard even if they wanted to.

Canada is a bilingual country. Approximately 2 million are francophone, 4 million are bilingual, and the remaining 30 million are anglophone. I'm having difficulty understanding why we are catering to the minority by default. I am not saying bilingual keyboards shouldn't be available. I do think the customer should have a choice in what keyboard they purchase. Since the keyboards can be swapped out without even taking the laptop apart, this should be an easy choice.

Below are some pictures of a Toshiba Netbook keyboard:

Bilingual keyboard

US English keyboard

Mostly identical, but the main difference is the Enter key. On the bilingual keyboard, they thought it was a good idea to make the Enter key vertical instead of horizontal. It's as if they have no idea how much this screws people up. Accuracy goes totally downhill on this keyboard. It drives me so insane that I bought a US English keyboard from eBay and intend on replacing the bilingual one before I even power on the unit. Who messes with the Enter key, one of the most frequently-used keys?

I'm interested in the opinions of French Canadians on whether this keyboard is just as annoying in your language as it is mine. There has to be a better layout than this and still include all the necessary keys. There are so many extra symbols and colors on the bilingual keyboard that I find it visually distracting. When I'm not making mistakes, that is.

I've written to Toshiba Canada to express my displeasure of not having the option to choose a keyboard. Any future laptops I purchase for personal use will be bought in the US, purely for this reason. It's that important to me.

Toshiba Canada, I think you need to reconsider your position.

Comments

Every time I re-enable anonymous comments, I get someone who decides to hide behind anonymity and flame me. So I had to remove it again. I'm not interested in what you have to say if you won't identify yourself in some fashion.

Aging: Life's Cruel Joke

Just when you get to the point where you’re comfortable with yourself, life decides to throw the concept of aging at you, and then everything changes. For me, this seems to have manifested in a variety of physical changes: I’ve gained weight, my hair color has darkened rapidly, my skin is extremely dry. When I look in the mirror, I don’t recognize myself anymore. I fight against it, but deep down I know there’s not much I can do. It’s depressing, mainly because in our society, the older you are, the less respect people give to you. I didn’t get much respect to start with, I can’t imagine it going downhill from here.

I find it especially hard going from the straight size 0-2 that I used to be, to having to buy size 4 or 6 “curvy fit” pants and S instead of XS tops. Marketing strategists can come up with all kind of words for it, but essentially it all boils down to the fact that my hips have too much fat on them. “Curvy fit” doesn’t make me feel more feminine, it makes me feel fat. Clothes shopping is no longer a matter of seeing something I like and buying it, it’s now a huge rigmarole of trying a bunch of things on, realizing that clothing manufacturers only cater to people without hips, and deeply sighing at the thought that I didn’t used to have this problem.

I’m trying to eat healthier, exercise more, and hope that I can see some changes on the outside. I’m ashamed of the level I’m currently at, and I swore to myself I wouldn’t let it get this far. I’m probably the billionth person to say that, and may be the billionth person to fail at it. But for now this is my path, and I’m sticking to it.

Manicure

Last year was a particularly busy one for me at work. I worked a lot of long hours on a new system implementation. One of my rewards was a gift certificate to a day spa for 5 hours worth of services. Since I am an average office worker Mon-Fri, and have church late on Saturday afternoon, I could never find 5h to devote to the spa. I chose instead to use the value of the gift cert to treat myself and my best friend to pedicures and manicures.

I opted for colored polish on my hands and feet. By day 2, the polish from my manicure had already started to chip. 5 days later, it's so bad that I will have to remove the polish rather than look this sloppy. I'm not impressed. I will accept some responsibility for being hard on a manicure, since I was out in the hot sun yesterday on an ATV in the woods (not the usual dealings of someone who gets manicures). However, I think my aesthetician and the quality of the products are also to blame. She did not go as far down on the nail with the polish as I would, perhaps this is what is taught in school, but it ends up looking like my manicure is two weeks old and has grown out. I was not familiar with any of the polish products used on me, but I especially am not impressed with the top coat. Top coat should protect against chipping, and yet it has basically worn off after 5 days.

I am debating a complaint to the spa, but I'm not sure I have any leg to stand on. The gift certificate was for a spa which went out of business, but a new spa opened in the same place. They decided to honor any outstanding gift certs for the old spa. They likely don't want to hear a complaint from [essentially] a non-paying customer. However, the service I received seems faulty. I really don't think it should look this bad, even though I haven't been easy on it. I don't think you should have to organize your life around protecting your nail polish. So I'm not sure what to do about it, but I will have to make a decision today. I have a party to attend tomorrow, and I can't leave it looking like this.

Thoughts on Sirius|XM

One of the very few times where I actually want CanCon is in my 80s music. I grew up with Much Music, in a time when it was Znaimer-owned, and still had some integrity. A lot of the bands promoted on Much Music went on to have great careers and notoriety within Canada, and had some great songs. Many of these songs are right up there with Duran Duran and Heart in my playlist.

Listening to Sirius|XM, I miss hearing Canadian artists. They play a smattering of Bryan Adams and Corey Hart, and that's it. There is no time devoted to Kim Mitchell, The Payolas, The Box, The Grapes of Wrath, Alannah Myles, or Tom Cochrane (with or without Red Rider). The more I listen to Sirius|XM, the more I miss these artists. There is a channel for French Canadian programming, no doubt to comply with CanCon, but this leaves the English artists out in the cold.

One of the biggest problems with 80s on 8 is its repetitive nature. Its programming focuses around what was played on MTV, which I will grant were the biggest hits. The problem is that they play a lot of those hits once or more every day. As someone who listens to this channel in my car, and sometimes during the day in my office, it starts to get annoying after a while. A friend of mine, who received a free 3-month trial with his new car, declined to continue with the service. He cited dead zones and repetitiveness as the two main reasons he wouldn't be continuing with the service. "How many times can they play 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'?"

Another problem with the programming is the division of catalog. As an 80s fan, I will flip between 80s on 8, Classic Rewind, and 1st Wave. I can only hear The Cure and Depeche Mode on 1st Wave, certain rock songs on Classic Rewind, and the rest on 80s on 8. Unless they are playing the weekly countdown, I would never hear things that were also hits of the 80s, like Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbit, or Stacey Q. There is a ton of variety to choose from, but they have segregated the programming so much that they end up with a repetitive mess, or as in the case of 1st Wave, some extremely mainstream pop songs mixed in with very obscure artists.

In one very weird example, 80s on 8 rarely (if at all) played Michael Jackson's Beat It until after his death. Arguably the biggest 80s artist, a song which is on the best selling album of all time, and was a big hit for him. XM, before the merge with Sirius, had a better 80s program director and better variety of music, with the small exception of being a little too focused on Jody Watley for a while. I don't think I've heard Jody Watley more than twice since the merger. Kenny Rogers and Eddie Rabbit had hits in the 80s, whether we like them or not. I can't believe they're finally playing an INXS song on 80s on 8. For being such a hit-prolific 80s band, you wouldn't know it from listening to this channel.

I took a look at the playlist for Galaxie, the commercial-free music service that is part of Canadian digital or satellite TV programming. This is pretty much what I want: Prince's When Doves Cry mixed in with National Velvet's Flesh Under Skin. Unfortunately, having only the old-style analog cable service means I don't get this programming, nor Much Retro, which would play the same style only in video form. If I were made of money, I would upgrade my cable to digital. Alas, I am spending too much money already on TV.

If I had an iPod, and a car with an iPod port, I'd be thinking a bit more strongly about canceling the subscription to the car. I'll be taking this into consideration when I go vehicle shopping next year. I just hope GM has finally smartened up regarding this type of technology. My car is a 2007, and yet it only has a 6-cd changer, and can't even play MP3s. I am probably the only person I know who still makes mixed CDs for my car.

All that being said, the current Sirius|XM is still better than traditional radio. It's easy and convenient to use in my car, and I can and do flip around to other channels. As a long time user, however, I realize how repetitive it truly is. Every once in a while, though, they pull something out that I had totally forgotten about. I guess that's what keeps me hanging on. I also like someone else making the decisions for me on the playlist... sometimes.

The game

Some days you just get tired of playing the game.  Today is one of those days.  I can’t get any answers.  I don’t think I have enough energy today to put up a fight.  Even if I did, I would probably just get flicked away.

 

I’m not intentionally trying to make anyone’s life more difficult.  It just so happens that people perceive it to be that way.  It’s difficult to explain that that is not the case.

 

Sometimes I feel the soul is slowly being sucked out of me, and then there will be nothing left. 

 

I’m not sure how I will get through what has been planned for August.

 

 

July 20th

I added an app to this blog listing events on this day in history. Lots of interesting stuff there. Snow and hail fell in Calais, ME. Failed assassination plot on Hitler. 1st men on moon. Scottish settlers arrive in Pictou, NS.

I can't imagine snow on July 20. That would have been a crappy summer.

Speaking of summer, where's it going? It's already over halfway through July. Once August hits, I start to get a little nervy about summer ending soon. Guess I'd better enjoy the rest of July while it lasts.

Just under 3 weeks to go until the start of NFL preseason games. NFL, how I've missed you. I will enjoy seeing how the new landscape of players & teams pans out.

To the California Penal System:

Please keep Lindsay Lohan in jail for the full 90 days. I don't care if they're overcrowded. Find a way.

Anniversary of birth

Nana would have been 86 today, had she not died at age 65. I'm missing her today.

Allergies

I had allergy testing done this week. I tested positive for trees (Birch being the highest), moderate on dust mites, and low on cat pelt. This does not go well with my wood stove and basement full of wood, including lots of birch. There are also birch trees around my property, but about the only place I can go to escape birch is the desert.

I also have Romy, who we’ve allowed to come in and out of the bedroom at night as he pleases. Everything I read says that keeping the cat out of the bedroom is important. So is sleep. Having Romy scratch at the door all night because he can’t come in means I won’t sleep, and then allergies won’t matter so much. I also don’t consider the cat to be that much of a problem since it was one of the lowest-rated positive item. I swore I wouldn’t be a cat owner who was bullied into obeying the cat’s every whim, but the only time Romy actually likes me is when I’m unconscious/just waking up. He gets to stay, mainly because I don’t think he’s the problem.

My doctor has recommended allergy covers on the bed and pillows, keeping the cat out of the bedroom, and some running to determine if I have any signs of asthma. I can probably accomplish one of those. Running is not something I want to take up full-time as I don’t care to create damage to my joints. It may be worth some trial runs just to see how quickly I run out of breath and if I have a “twitchy” airway feeling.

My doctor also thinks that based on my results, I have understated my symptoms. I don’t really think they’re that bad. They were worse when I also had the sinus infection over the winter. Comparatively speaking, I’m much better now. Still, my medicinal therapy is to use Aerius (a.k.a. Clarinex in the US) and Nasonex once a day. I hate using Nasonex, as I find it always drips back down my nose and makes me more sneezy than before taking it. I also don’t want to rely on it as a long-term solution. I’m fine with Aerius, though I don’t like putting any medication in my body if I can avoid it.

This is my path for the next 7 weeks, and then I go back for another doctor visit to see how the therapies worked.

What is it, exactly?

The possibilities:

- Boredom
- Laziness
- plain old lack of caring
- lack of motivation
- Burnout

I haven't pinpointed it, but it's left me feeling pretty lethargic. I haven't yet come up with a goal, so I can't work toward it. That in itself is particularly frustrating.

At the rate I'm going, it feels like it will last this way for the rest of my life.

I need to figure this out.

New template

When I logged in to Blogger, I discovered a new template designer/formatter. Hello, new format! More purple = good!

Santa cables

Santa may be the only one who can get me the cables I need, so maybe I did.

Mysterious washer

How exactly does an article of clothing come out of the washer more dirty than when it went in? I have eliminated the detergent and fabric softener as options. My washer has been doing this to clothing for years, sporadically. When it happens, it's usually a dark load (or at least that's the only place I'm noticing it). It happened using this same machine in my apartment uptown and my house.

I just don't get it.