Recent Choice Tweets

I didn't dive into Twitter right off, but the more I've used it the more I find myself using it. :)

Some recent choice tweets:

From asdquefty^: "Next total lunar eclipse is in 2 years 3 days 9 hours, on 12/21/2010, just so ya know. Will be visible from North America and South America."

From datafaucet^: "Definition of EVIL: Ending the X-Men movies at 3 and continuing Saw to 6 or more."

Mood:

Amused

Urgent Communique from the FBI

Yes, friends and neighbors, the FBI has been in URGENT CONTACT with yours truly.

I'm sure you've all heard of the "Nigerian Bank Scam." (If not, click here^.) Well, YOU MUST HAVE REST ASSURED that the FBI is totally on top of this.

Or ... maybe not. You decide.

"URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED (805)"

Monday, December 1, 2008 11:54 AM
From Federal Bureau of Investigation Mon Dec 1 09:54:57 2008
Return-Path: fbinewsreport@uk2.net
Authentication-Results: mta164.mail.ac4.yahoo.com from=uk2.net; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 80.12.242.113 (EHLO smtp2e.orange.fr) (80.12.242.113) by mta164.mail.ac4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:03:38 -0800
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Reply-To: robertmuelleriii_fbi@yahoo.cn
From: "Federal Bureau of Investigation" fbinewsreport@uk2.net
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED (805)
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:54:57 -0000
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Anti-Terrorist And Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J.Edgar.Hoover Building Washington Dc

Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, Dr. Philip Mogan, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, Barr. Derrick Smith, kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of FedEx, Ibrahim Sule,Larry Christopher, Dr. Usman Shamsuddeen, Dr. Philip Mogan, Puppy Scammers are impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.

Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by cordinating your payment intotal USD$11,000.000.00 in an ATM CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $4000 to $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.

Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in this transaction, you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk free it is our duty to protect the American Citizens. All I want you to do is to contact the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $250.00 only and note that your Approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.

CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: MR. DANIEL SMITH
EMAIL: smithdanielng@yahoo.cn

Do contact Mr. Daniel Smith of the ATM CARD CENTRE with your details:

FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELL:
CELL:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
BANK NAME:
AGE:

So your files would be updated after which he will send the payment information’s which you'll use in making payment of $250.00 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer for the procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your ATM CARD will be effected to your designated home address without any further delay.

We order you get back to this office after you have contacted the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTER and we do await your response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you.

Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

ROBERT S. MUELLER, III
DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with Mr. Daniel Smith of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

"ATM CARD PAYMENT"

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:47 PM
From Federal Bureau of Investigation Wed Dec 17 20:47:31 2008
Return-Path: robert@state.gov
Authentication-Results: mta138.mail.ac4.yahoo.com from=state.gov; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 80.12.242.150 (EHLO smtp2f.orange.fr) (80.12.242.150) by mta138.mail.ac4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:47:48 -0800
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Reply-To: robertmuelleriii_fbi@yahoo.cn
From: "Federal Bureau of Investigation" robert@state.gov

Subject: ATM CARD PAYMENT
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:47:31 -0000
Message-Id: 20081218034631.A86137000081@mwinf2f16.orange.fr
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Anti-Terrorist And Monitory Crime Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J.Edgar.Hoover Building Washington Dc

Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. Soludo of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Aziza, Mr Frank Nweke, Dr. Philip Mogan, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, Barr. Derrick Smith, kelvin Young of HSBC, Ben of FedEx, Ibrahim Sule, Larry Christopher, Dr. Usman Shamsuddeen, Dr. Philip Mogan, Puppy Scammers are impostors claiming to be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.

Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by cordinating your payment intotal USD$11,000.000.00 in an ATM CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $4000 to $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.

Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in this transaction, you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk free it is our duty to protect the American Citizens. All I want you to do is to contact the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $250.00 only and note that your Approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.

CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: MR. DANIEL SMITH
EMAIL: drdanielsmith@yahoo.cn

Do contact Mr. Daniel Smith of the ATM CARD DEPARTMENT with your details:

FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELL:
CELL:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
BANK NAME:
AGE:

So your files would be updated after which he will send the payment information’s which you'll use in making payment of $250.00 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer for the procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your ATM CARD will be effected to your designated home address without any further delay.

We order you get back to this office after you have contacted the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTER and we do await your response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you.

Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

ROBERT S. MUELLER, III
DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advice only to be in contact with Mr. Daniel Smith of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.

The Next Step

It's darn hard to be productive with interruptions every 90 seconds or so.

The last two days have been largely dominated by indeteric study ... Yes, I just made up a word. :) As a word smith (and linguistical artist), I get to do that.

Sheta Kaey^ and I often run into problems communicating ideas because of terminology. She has studied the work of others and has a massive working vocabulary of terms used by mystics, magic(k) practitioners, and energy workers. I have not, and do not. (Not that I haven't tried; I get frustrated too easily with other people's attempts to explain, and admittedly disgusted with the ego that too often pervades the documentation.)

So we have agreed that the best route is coining new words, history-free, to share experiences. A few days ago the mission was a new word for energy work in general, something generic and without previous meaning so that it can be accepted and understood by anyone, regardless of background, prejudice, and experience.

At the time (more or less) I suggested "esoteria," but I wasn't satisfied with it, as "eso-" is only half of the equation (the other half being "exo-").

So, as these things often happen, this morning as I was attempting to do other things between interruptions, my speech center finally cooperated with "indeteric."

inde, from the Latin prefix for "next," "succeeding from," or "as a result of," and -ter-, Greek root for (?) knowledge, experience, reality, etc.

Thus, indeteria is "the next step of experience," the study of both overt and subtle actuality; indeteric is an adjective describing the focus of such study. (And just to be tidy with the etymology, "indeterium" would be the singular form, indicating a unit or specific sphere of study.)

---

Cross-posted

---

My First Award!

A Rant and a Prayer

Just to be clear, I am not Christian. I do have a personal relationship with Jesus, but I don't consider Him my Savior - I get the impression He trusts me to save myself should I need it (which doesn't seem to be the case anyway).

For years I have watched the holiday shopping insanity with bemusement and some sadness. When and why did Christians become not only okay with the massive commercialization of one of their highest holy days, but the worst offenders of this annual madness?

How is it that I, who knows full well Jesus wasn't born in winter and doesn't worship Him anyway, feels so deeply offended at the materialism attached to this holiday, and the Christians in my life knock themselves out perpetuating the greed and financial stress of "holiday gift-giving"?

I must have missed the memo that the Pope sent out telling everyone to forget the old school messages of peace, love, and tolerance, and the proof of your devotion lies in the size of your tree, the lights on your house, and the pile of presents you give away.

Most years I just watch in silence. This year I can't. A death by trampling in one store; two deaths by shooting in a toy store.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!

Those of you taking part in this sort of thing have my unending disgust; those of you who don't only because you can't have my pity.

This is the year I take my stand and refuse to back down. I am not shopping for presents, and I am not accepting anything purchased. Some one has to point out the Emperor is naked, and in this case, he's not just naked, he's a rotting corpse with a death grin, and his poison is spreading faster than plague.

Am I alone in this? It doesn't matter if I am. I am shut of this whole business of holiday greed.

Jesus, on behalf of the sheep, I apologize. While Your message has been lost to many, I remember, and I keep it in my heart, and I will walk Your steps in serenity. Please help the blinded see their error, and give the weak the strength to share their love instead of baubles and trinkets, and comfort the bereft and hurting in this darkened season of pain and madness. Help us all to remember the joy and promise You gave, and be Your light in this time of need.

Dire-y!

Perfect Xmess gift for the emo goths on your list!
124 pages, weekly style journal
featuring
Awful Anniversaries, Bad Birthdays,
Morbid Memorials, and more!
and artwork by
Sheta Kaey

A Little Story

Once upon a time there was an administrative savant known as Cally. She could run an office like a finely tuned machine. She enjoyed the challenge and predictability of her work.

Then arrived the monster, a horrible entity known as a PPO which had been fiendishly designed to separate poor Cally from her sanity.

Finally, Cally admitted defeat: the monster could not be tamed nor slain. So she planned her escape and all was going well for her future freedom.

Then, on her last day, arrived the mystery package. It wasn't really a mystery as far as the contents were concerned: she knew by feel the package had applications. The mystery was, how badly would the applications be screwed up?

So with the tender of the monster near at hand, brave Cally opened the package and determined the three applications inside were indeed very badly done, incomplete and unsigned.

"See, this is what I'm talking about," Cally said to the tender. "Look at these things! If I hadn't already given notice, this would have put me right over the edge."

"Oh, I know," the tender said sympathetically.

"No, really," she replied. "I mean it would have put me right over, fire axes, stuff burning, body count, not a good time!"

And so Cally expressed her relief to be free of the monster's horrific influence, and now plans to live happily ever after and never again work in health care for any amount of money.

Twitter Haiku Day

today is the day / try some haiku for Twitter / you might just like it! :)

Lessons from Cinema

Don't bring me water.
Tell me you have also known thirst.

Some Miscellany

First, an apology to my EC and blogging pals: assorted health issues have been preempting my timely participation and updatings.

Second, Twitter Haiku Day^ is next Sunday. Help Twitter go haiku!

History repeats

Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot
I know of no reason
The Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot

In 1605
The news did arrive
The Parliament building to blow
But who is to say
Who conspired which way
The truth we'll never know

Remember, remember
That fateful September
The Terrorist Treason and plot
I know of no reason
The Terrorist Treason
Should be swept away and forgot

Since that one fateful date
The evidence weight
Is proving us badly betrayed
But they cannot hide
The fact that they lied
Nor the depth of their evil crusade.

It's NaNoWriMo!

My NaNoWriMo profile


Help yourself to a copy of the NanoRhino image!

NaNoWriMo ends in

The Beginning of the End

I have been working as a temp at a hospital for too damn long.

Grumble!

Never in my professional life have I been a temp at the same client for five years. It's unheard-of. It's stupid, for starters. Add to that my whopping 71 cent raise during that time, and the fact that I have been expected to manage 300+ doctors, 120+ groups, and a dozen health plans that merge, buy, sell each other, and at random "lose" applications and terminate doctors for no reason, and it's a nightmare of slave labor. But really the worst part has been that there is no boss. The person overseeing the work I do had it dumped on him in addition to his regular job, more than 15 years ago, with the directive to keep the "loss center on life support until [they] figure something out."

I have repeatedly told him that this is madness, and they either need to get some one in charge to take care of the insanity, or let it die the death it is seeking. But no one listens. "Job security," he tells me. I wonder if the slaves heard the same about picking tobacco.

I've suspected since talk began about building the replacement hospital that one of the changes would be that my position in the department would be phased out. So as they talked about the future in the new location, I knew I wasn't going to be part of that picture, and I was okay with that: I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life.

But then last week I heard a rumor about the bus routes being replanned, and this week found out for certain that the bus I take to work won't be running as of November 24. The closest other route leaves me almost a mile from the office, on a street with a bridge and no sidewalks.

So yesterday he's giving me a pep talk about "embracing" the chaos that is my job, "stepping up" and taking charge of the department, and then tells me that the largest payor, the only plan that really makes any money for the hospital and keeps this mess going, is losing membership in the area and will likely be suspending business.

Every time I opened my mouth to tell him the buses had taken the option off my hands, he got more peppy.

But when I got home, I realized that the anxiety was gone. I realized, I'm FREE!

Next week I get to tell my company and my clients that they need to get a replacement ASAP, and I will train that person to beat the dead horse, and then I never have to worry about that mess again. None of the problems are my problems anymore!

It doesn't matter yet that I'll need a new job, that I'm losing my sole source of income in xmess shopping season, that it's nothing less than cruel to dump this mess on some one else. Right now it's only the relief of being liberated.

Relief and the hangover from celebrating last night. It's all good.

Bad Spam

Checking my email this morning, I had four messages in the Spam folder advertising child porn.

Most spam I just delete without concern. But in this case I wasn't going to just dump the junk. Gmail doesn't have a one-click reporting feature, so I did an online search and found that the Cyber Tipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children http://www.cybertipline.com/ has an online reporting form. (It includes options for reporting incidents in or from the UK, Australia, and Canada as well.)

I'm pretty liberal about live and let live, but the exploitation of children is something that no one should be okay with.

NaNoWriMo 2008

It’s almost November! You know what that means ...

Nah, not the elections. More important than that, it’s National Novel Writing Month.

NaNoWriMo calls to us all to connect with the writer within and write 50,000 words.

Had an idea lurking forever that cries out to be shared with the world? Now’s your chance to get it out and let it shine. Can’t string a sentence together? No problem! The goal is just to write – good, bad or indifferent – and celebrate the wonders of the written word.

And there’s no need to go it alone. Sign up for free (free is great!) at the official National Novel Writing Month website, www.nanowrimo.org^. Connect with other writers – professional, amateur, and hopeful – in your area and around the world.

See you there!

Help yourself to a copy of the NanoRhino image!

Sunday Rewind

Well. It's been an interesting month to say the least. :)

I've hit 150 posts and 3,000 visitors. Not bad.

I've got my dot-com going with products from Zazzle and Cafe Press, as well as helping to promote the collection "An Essential Jinx" by C.A. Broz.

Who knows what this week will bring ...

Mood:

Productive

An Essential Jinx

The short-story collection introducing the Quasiverse, following Jinx.
From the internationally recognized rising star of occult fiction, C.A. Broz.

---

Mood:

Impressed

Grr!

Trying to do cover art for a book and I have no inspiration whatsoever! It doesn't have to be fancy, the author says plain text on solid background is fine, but I want to do something at least a little more evocative than that.

Mood:

Frustrated

Internet-Taming Tools

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the Internet is a mess. It's full of stuff!

As I'm trying to regain some control over my virtual life, I've found some useful tools for doing so I wanted to share.

Flock is a "social web browser" - that is, you can log into your Faceook or MySpace account and have your friends available in the sidebar. But that's only the beginning: web-mail, bookmarking sites, bloghosts like LiveJournal and Blogger, and media sites like Photobucket and YouTube also "plug in" to Flock.

Twitter^ is great for those bits not long enough for a blog post. If you also use Facebook, you can add the Twitter application and have Twitter update your Facebook status.

Digsby^ is a multi-platform chat client for Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, ICQ, Facebook, MySpace, GoogleTalk, Jabber ... You can also create a chat widget for blogs or websites right from the application (you don't have to go to the Digsby site).

Last but not least is Netvibes^ to bring it all together. I have Netvibes set as my Flock homepage, and the Twitter widget on the start page. There are plenty of premade modules one can add for newsfeeds, games, and more, or you can add your own content with handy HTML modules. And because it's saved online, you can access your start page from any computer with Internet access. You can see what I've done with mine at www.wildaspie.com^ and www.wildaspie.net^.

Mood:

Determined

Rough Week

It's been quite a week ... But on the up side, I have gotten some organization in my online doings.

1. Twitter: I added a Twitter feed widget to the right sidebar here. You can follow me^ (caliedo) on Twitter.


2. Digsby: I added a Digsby chat client widget to the left sidebar. You can use it to chat with me right from this blog.


3. I redirected wildaspie.net^ to my Netvibes "universe." I have a Digsby widget and Twitter feed there too.


4. I redirected wildaspie.com^ to Netvibes as well: check out my Zazzle and Cafe Press shops.


5. I added a Digsby widget to my LJ^ - and although I hadn't been posting there much lately, I will be again, so interested parties are encouraged to comment there to be added to my "friends" list, as most of the entries are filtered (not public).


6. I made some new mood icons.

Mood:

Reeling

(insert catchy subject line here)

A kaleidoscope, once shaken, cannot recreate the pattern that was lost.

Being shaken does not, however, change the fundamental nature of the kaleidoscope. It remains overall as it was, and part of its fundamental nature is its purpose: change.

More at my LJ^.

Mood:

Shock

Emergency Fundraiser

The Wild Aspie needs your help!

I need to raise $300 to cover my deductible for oral surgery to have a wisdom tooth extracted. I’m not very good as asking for help and I hate asking for money, but I have set up a PayPal donation button ... Better still, check out my Zazzle shop and consider buying yourself a spiffy, Wild Aspie original T-shirt, and I’ll be able to apply my little commission from the sale toward my surgery.

Thanks!

Banned Books Week!

Celebrating the Freedom to Read:
September 27–October 4, 2008^
(link goes to ALA's Banned Books Week homepage)

Check out the Banned Books Meme here^.

Mood:

Thoughtful

Wild Aspie Awards

Wild Aspie Awards are coming, October 2008!

Awards will be given to blogs and websites exhibiting excellence in the following categories:

• Artistic Expressions
• Cryptozoology/Paranormal/Weird Stuff
• Dare to be Different
• Design/Layout
• Education
• Humor
• Neurodiverse Author/Focus
• Personal Diary/Survivor/Self-Improvement
• Overall Excellence

For more info, visit the Wild Aspie Today blog^.

Mood:

Busy

Friends

I don't have a lot of friends. I don't want a lot either. Social interaction, even with people I like, exhausts me, and sometimes I even get something like a hang-over following intense connections.

But there is no doubt that friendship is good for the soul, even for those less socially-dependent like myself. I recently made the acquaintance of a fellow I'll call "Silent D" who is bright and funny and a pleasure to chat with.

Neither of us is good at small talk, which is fine, because we don't waste time with frivolity when there are so many interesting things to discuss.

Mood:

Befriended

Back again

I could sum it all up as my life sucks, but that sounds overly dramatic and whiny. I'm not particularly dramatic nor complaintic in general. Which is probably part of the current host of problems.

Drama

In May I broke a tooth, the molar in front of the lower left wisdom tooth. When the wisdom tooth emerged, there was of course no room in my jaw (no need to replace a lost molar) so it remained at the far back on the angle of my jaw, the top of it facing forward, that is, against the back of the molar in front of it.

Which of course in turn led to the dreaded cavities. I couldn't get that little area clean enough. But for years it didn't much bother me; if I was otherwise run down (tired or sick) those teeth would be sensitive to sweet, cold or heat, but that was all. But then one of the migraine medications, coupled with high stress, was making me clench my jaw. And finally, after a lot of punishment, the molar in front of the wisdom tooth cracked, exposing part of the nerve.

I have been in low agony since. I don't generally notice mild-to-moderate physical pain, and a lot of the time I am not really *aware* of the pain in my mouth, I don't really *feel* it so much as I notice it affects my cognition and mood. But with everything else I am dealing with now, I can't take another day of this annoyance, and today I go to the dentist and let her do whatever she has to so that the pain will stop.

And on the subject of medication, the shrink that put me on the Lexapro and then upped the dosage into mania-producing range has bailed on me. I have been waiting for his office to get me in with another doctor, and they haven't called me. My primary care physician doesn't want to manage my headaches, saying I have "too many kinds of migraines" for him to feel comfortable, since he is only a family practice doctor and not a neurologist.

AND in the last three weeks I seem to have developed Crohn's Disease-type symptoms, which coincides with a friend's cessation of same - she's been dealing with CD a long time, and I have always had the gut of a billy goat. So not only do I have my usual lack of appetite and apathy toward feeding myself, I know that most solid foods are going to pitch me into horrible cramps and other gastric distresses.

My 12 year old now is a few inches shorter than me and outweighs me by five pounds. :( We both need to get more active but I haven't been up to it. Some days I can barely drag to work.

The one bright spot lately has been making the online acquaintance of a young man recently diagnosed with AS. The nice thing about chatting with aspies is that there's no worries about not being good at small talk. It's also nice to be free to range a discussion from silly to serious and back again without concern that the other party will get lost.

Mood:

Sour

News from the Fronts

Sheta (and her home) survived Ike! Yay!

Mood:

Relieved

And my uncle managed to be bitten by a bat.

A Few Good Laughs

As I was doing EC drops, I was treated to this awesome post at Slightly Drunk.

I didn't just laugh - I guffawed. Check it out. :)

Mood:

Amused

Announcing Moods!

Blogger doesn't offer "moods" like some other blog sites, so I made my own, starring my all-time favorite strip "Calvin and Hobbes^."

Mood:

Pleased

Customer Disservice

I had a problem with my Internet access.

So I called tech support about noon yesterday. Ray tells me he sees the problem, it will be fixed, and our connection should be up again within four hours.

Four o'clock, check the connection. No dice. Call tech support again.

Tricia tells me she will expedite the order. Should be up in 30 minutes. I ask her if I'll need to reset the modem or anything. She assures me I won't, it should just come on and be fine.

It isn't. At five-thirty I call again. Another CSR (didn't catch her name) tells me she sees the calls at 12:04 and 4:10, with the expedite request. *She* says it could take four (more) hours, usually it's 48, but with an expedite it drops to 24.

Nine last night, still no connection. Call the tech support line. I get a recorded message telling me the "24/7" office is closed, to call back during normal business hours, or I can go to their website for help and information.

IF I COULD GET TO THE WEBSITE, I WOULDN'T BE HAVING TO CALL TECH SUPPORT, NOW WOULD I?

This morning, call again. Debra tells me that from what she sees, our connection was fine as of 10:25.

I tell her it certainly isn't, and I want to talk to a supervisor. She tells me she will find one, but the supervisor won't be able to do anything more than she would be. So I explain to her the repeated calls and the fact that every CSR told me a different time frame, and not a single one of them was right.

When I worked in sales, customer service, and customer retention (ick), I learned the same thing in all three jobs: Under-promise, Over-deliver. It's not that hard. If you are positive that connection will be fixed in four hours, you tell the customer it will be twelve. They won't like it. They will bitch and moan. But when they check in five hours, just because they are hopeful and impatient, and the problem is fixed *only* five hours into the time frame, they are happy. They thought they'd have to wait twice as long.

You never, ever, EVER tell the customer "30 minutes" unless you are delivering pizza.

So when I talked to the supervisor, I gave her polite what-for and suggested they give better training to their CSRs. These poor people sit in their cubes all day, having angry, frustrated people like me calling and verbally dancing on the edge of abuse. The last thing they need is shoddy training and craptacular tools making the customers angrier.

She agrees, then advises me she will connect me directly with a tech-support agent instead of just transferring me to their call queue, and suggests I reset the modem and reboot my computer while we wait so that when the tech comes on the line, we can skip that time-consuming part of the process.

"Wait a minute," I say. "I was told I wouldn't have to reset the modem."

"Well, yes you do," the supervisor informs me. "I apologize for the misinformation, but when the connection is affected like this, you always have to reset the modem from there, we can't do it from here."

So. I reset and reboot. By the time the tech comes on the line, I have my connection restored and don't need to talk to her. But I vent anyway, now completely fed up with the entire mess and as close to profanity as I've been in such a situation in a very long time.

"I appreciate you letting me know your concerns and I apologize for any inconvenience," Maria the tech tells me with the bland, rote-memorization they have all used. And then she twists the knife:

"Thank you for choosing [company] for your Internet service. We appreciate your business. Have a nice day."

Banned Books

There's an email going around that's presented as a list of books VP-hopeful Palin wanted to ban. Turns out the list (as presented) is "just" a list of books that have been banned or challenged (meaning a request was made to ban them) as recorded by the American Library Association^ (ala.org^).

Me, I read "banned" books. Some books, I agree, have no place in grade school libraries ("A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess, as an example). But others - like the Harry Potter series - you've got to be kidding me. I can understand the discomfort of a strict Christian parent concerned that the content might lure a child into "the dark arts," but let's be rational a moment. The kid is *reading* for *pleasure*. With all of the competition literacy has for a kid's attention nowadays, let them read whatever they want, as long as they are reading! If you're really worried, try reading the book yourself first, and if you *really* find it objectionable, go to the library or bookstore and find something better.

Anyway, the Annual Banned Books Week is coming up! Bloggers are often (not always) readers too, so please get the word out.

Celebrating the Freedom to Read:
September 27–October 4, 2008^
(link goes to ALA's Banned Books Week homepage)

And though I don't usually participate in memes, for the sake of books (which, I admit, I obsess over) I am offering one here.

Banned Books Meme

1. Copy the list of books into a post at your blog.
2. Bold the books you have read.
3. Italicize the books you started or plan to read.
4. *Star* the books you really liked, felt changed your life, or would recommend to others to read.
5. Comment back on this post (i.e., the post you saw the meme at) with a link to your list.
6. Find a copy of one of these banned books and enjoy!

[Note: this list is from the anti-Palin email, not the ALA archive.]

*A Clockwork Orange* by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
*Carrie* by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
*Cujo* by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
*James and the Giant Peach* by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
*Little Red Riding Hood* by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
*Lord of the Flies* by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
*The Shining* by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
*To Kill A Mockingbird* by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff [N.B.: A dictionary? WTF?!]
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth

The Boy's New Smile

While I was working on the "August EC Stuff" post my son was playing at his friend's house on the trampoline. I don't like the trampoline, and have a standing rule that the kids can't be on it if there isn't an adult outside watching them on it - not just outside doing stuff, but actually watching them.

Of course, just having supervision can't prevent accidents.

And he's the kind of kid that, through his tears of pain, apologized for breaking an adult tooth! I got him calmed with the assurance that the dentist will be able to cap it and no one will ever know unless he tells them (or loses the cap); and got him back to smiling by pointing out he has a fierce fang now and a wolfish grin, and had better not bite his sister Blossom no matter how bad she torments him since he'd cut her up bad for sure (not that he's ever bitten anyone, but silliness was called for).

I suppose it is the natural perversity of childhood that they can't have these minor accidents during normal office hours; it's always the middle of the night or on weekends. I almost hope he doesn't get his cap done before Halloween: he plans to be a pirate, and the broken tooth would enhance his costume nicely.

August EC Stuff

I joined Entrecard about August 17, so I don't have a full month's info ... but it seems to be "the thing" to make these posts, and I do appreciate those participants that have dropped and|or advertised on my blog. So here goes:

Top Droppers
Whatever Comes To My Mind
PipeB Web Hosting
Top Form Secrets
The Traveling Pants
Juliana's World
Red Pine Mountain
The Simple Witch
Journal of Journey
Modern Witchcraft
My gypsygoods

Advertisers
(this is a partial list, sorry: I didn't think to start keeping track sooner)
Just Renae
Infinite Possibility
Crete Delights
Comely's World
Young Urban Professionals nOOk
Atom Sounds
Barefooted Me
Hawk's Photos

And my personal favorites (in no particular order) I would not have found without EC:
Eco-friendly Life and Toys
Homebound
Clean Solutions
Thyme2dream
My Name's Not Mom
Asdquefty's Journal
Red Pine Mountain
Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff
Wahm Cafe
The Shopaholic Nightingale
Environmental Chaos
PlasticLess
BlueStem Winery
Tiggyblog
Learn tricks of blogging
Easy Homemade Fragrance and Essential Products
My Autism Insights
Connect with your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology
Squidom.com
The Peanut Butter Blog
Just Renae - A Digital Scrapbooking Addict
The Transparent Hypnotist
Coffee Tickle
Geek Riddles

On a Personal Note: Blargh

Today was one of those days at work that definitely call for a "TGIF." Maybe a "WTF" and a "DIAF" too.

(Acronyms)

TGIF: "Thank God It's Friday"
WTF: "What The F!ck"
DIAF: Die In A Fire

I have a simple job I like very much: coordinate enrollment of physicians in health plans. Mostly I create and track paper, a comfortable endeavor for someone like me who probably has OCD (but hesitates to cop to it because it would interfere with my dedication to being lazy). The problem with my lovely job is there are two faces of health plans: HMOs and PPOs. The HMO side is a breeze. The PPO side is nothing less than a nightmare.

PPO Nightmare

For starters, there is no director in charge of the PPO as there is for the HMO. That got dumped "temporarily" on a guy who is already overworked about 12 years ago. So the day-to-day stuff falls to me (which now, after five years, is fine, although at first it was scary as hell). Only that guy won't just let me handle it. He waits - lurks even - until the last possible minute, then second-guesses, pointlessly badgers, and nit-picks every little thing.

Four years ago, the president of the PPO Medical Advisory Board (the group of doctors that approves new physicians for membership in the PPO) died. He has yet to be replaced. He was the guy who signed the contracts, so I have four years of contracts, unsigned, waiting for either his replacement or the end of civilization, cluttering up my workspace.

The health plans keep buying each other, merging, splitting - and in all that, they lose our doctors. Just *poof* - gone. So I have to resubmit applications years later, and meanwhile their claims get rejected and they don't get paid for the work they've done, and their office managers call me - not the health plans - screaming or in tears or both to fix it.

And the doctors themselves do all sorts of cute footwork - going independent, then joining a different group, then going solo again, all without mentioning to us - and their claims get rejected and there is screaming and tears ... or they move their offices and don't mention it, and claims get rejected, and ... you get the idea.

So all week I worked on getting an update ready to send out to the health plans. A few new applications, a couple of resubmissions, a change of address, and some terminations. It took longer to do than it should because (1) I am having a hell of a time adjusting to the medication I'm on and (2) all of the applications had expired licenses and I had to wait until I got updated copies from the office managers.

The "temporary" director signs the cover letters for these updates. I had printed them out Thursday afternoon and left them for him to sign. He signed them all, then when I went in this morning to get them, he asks why a particular doctor isn't listed in the summary of changes. Because of the medication I couldn't remember off-hand and had to go back to my desk to check the database; meanwhile he's talking at me about "he's on staff, he was approved by the Board, why aren't we sending out his application?"

Finally I get words in edgewise: "Because his license is expired and I haven't gotten the new one."

AND THEN he has the GALL to ask me, "Well, did you call them?"

The only reason I didn't quit right then was because two things tangled on my tongue: "No, dumbass, I figured I'd just throw his application away and pretend I knew nothing about it forevermore," and "You know what? YOU call them, I quit."

The PPO doesn't pay me a cent for the work I do, and easily 85% of my workday is filled with PPO crap. I'm done. Monday I'm talking to the HMO director (the HMO is the side that actually pays the temp agency to have me there) and let her know that either the PPO has to (1) get a director, (2) demand accountability from the health plans if not the doctors and (3) start paying me, or I have to no longer do PPO work there. Otherwise I have to quit. I can't handle that level of stress at work with everything else I am trying to manage; I'll be damned if I do it for another week for free.

---

Tune in tomorrow when I should be less cranky and getting to some overdue posts on August's Top Droppers, great blogs I found through EC, and my paranormal adventure.

Back from Reality

I took a couple days off from cyberspace ... it was one of those rare weekends that I felt "IRL" calling and couldn't ignore it.

We'll return to our irregularly scheduled ramblings tomorrow. :)

Meanwhile, feel free to check out my new "other" blog at Today.com (where you can get paid to post without renting out your opinion!).

Wow

Did the EC card drops (and yes, I comment when a post "speaks" to me) and hit my day's 300 just by going through the cards that have been dropped on me since I signed up.

So now I wonder ... how do other EC participants pick and choose at this point? I suppose I can stop hitting the stock trading, sports and car blogs, since those things don't really interest me. Others, like crafting, diets, and pinoy, I like to browse, but I always feel something like guilt since I have nothing to add and can't much relate to. Same goes for the faith blogs - I'm spiritual but not religious.

How do the rest of you do it? (Those of you who, like me, feel compelled to be told "300 a day" otherwise you've let some blog down by not clicking.)

Hydrodynamics and Psychopomps

This morning on my way in to work the hydrants were having problems, spewing water all over the streets (possibly a planned flush, but I didn't see any Water Dept. trucks or workers around). The one on the next hill up from the office was attracting a lot of sparrows to the flow, which had just started to work its way past the corner as I got off the bus.

I slowed to watch the birds playing, and noticed one of them hadn't been quick enough and had been flattened by a vehicle not long before. Poor thing ... and then I wondered, Will a human spirit guide it to some avian afterlife?

In some cultures, birds (most notably the crow in North America, the raven in Europe, and the sparrow on both sides of the Atlantic) are thought to conduct the spirits of the deceased from one plane of existence to the other (brought to popular media by "The Crow" comic books and movies, and perhaps a lesser extent by Stephen King's The Dark Half). Generally speaking, the dark birds take spirits from the land of the dead to the land of the living; sparrows take them the other way.

And then I saw ... The. Coolest. Thing. EVAH. I was still walking slow, watching the water coursing along the opposite curb. It reached the bottom of the dip between the hilltops, shot past the storm drain, and started flowing uphill.

I had to stop to watch, then cross the street to observe more closely. This determined rill just kept going, getting thinner and shallower but still making its way uphill. Finally it reached another drain and that was that.

So now I have to revise my typical point-of-lecture on water and electricity: they usually take the path of least resistance, and flow in very similar manners, but as with most other things in this Universe, once you think you've got it figured out, it will show you how little you knew.

Headaches and Migraines

Doctors have yet to definitively decide the whys and wherefores of headaches. There are no nerve endings within the brain to create "pain," so why we can have headaches is a mystery. So, too, is a riddle that some people can have headaches and others - blessed that they are - never experience a single one.

Doctors do know some causes for headaches. Trauma - a bump to the head - can cause a headache; also hunger, dehydration, lack of sleep, too much sleep, hangovers (from alcohol, actually a combination of low blood sugar and dehydration), noise, eye strain, and muscle tension in the neck and shoulders (often caused by stress).

Aspirin - in its pure form a preparation of bark from the unassuming willow tree - is a known blood-thinner, and quite effective on most common headaches, which leads some to believe that headaches might be caused in part by increased blood pressure within the skull. (Of course, if your headache is caused by lack of food, water, or sleep, aspirin will not help you.)

More, on migraines:

Migraines are another matter. A migraine is a headache on steroids - bigger, stronger, with a nasty temper. Most come with extra concerns: sensitivity to light, noise, scents, even motion; nausea, dizziness, or light-headedness can occur as well. There are different kinds of migraines, and like their tamer cousins, not much is known about their causes. But unlike regular headaches, some migraines can actually cause tiny bits of damage to the brain as they occur.

I'm so special, I get to have three different kinds of migraines, and possibly a fourth (I'm still debating that with the doctors).

The "classic" or tension migraines are the most common type; they are usually caused by stress and can be treated with many over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription (Rx) painkillers, although there are also a multitude of homeopathic remedies and prevention techniques that involve ingesting nothing at all (like warm compresses on the forehead and|or back of neck, a nap, meditation, etc.). I started getting classic migraines when I was fifteen (about 18 years ago - egad, I've lived more of my life with them than without!). The likelihood of falling prey to them seems to run in families; when I got the first one, my mom knew right away what was going on. (Also, for some reason, if as a child you often got "brain freeze" from icy treats, you're more likely to suffer these kinds of migraines as an adult.)

Then there are "band" migraines (that's what I call them, I don't know if neurologists have a special name for them). A "classic" migraine usually hurts in a vaguely bandlike area of pressure across the forehead and around, like where a hat brim would be. But these others are more like a ladies' headband in placement of the pain, further toward the top of the head and just about following the hairline along the ears and toward the back of the neck. Where a classic migraine tends to be "stabbing" or "throbbing" in nature, a band migraine is, for me, more like a grinding sensation, and always comes with extreme intolerance of bright light (fluorescents are brutal) and sharp noises, and urgent nausea that never resolves into anything.

Then there are the "cluster" migraines. I've had these for a long time too, intermittently; for a long time I called them "Random Sharp Pains" because that's what they were: a sudden sensation similar to what I imagine being stabbed through the skull with an ice pick might feel like, lasting a few seconds, then passing without further effect. But about 12 years ago I learned that they are actually migraines, and when they do their stabbing act, they are actually causing tiny tears in the brain tissue. Contrary to what medical science thought for a long time, brain cells do grow back, so the damage can usually repair itself given time. And as I paid more attention to them, I realized they weren't so random: they only occur (for me) in four places, the parietal and temporal lobes.

I am fortunate to have found a medicine that prevents the cluster migraines, and another that prevents most of the classic and band migraines (and when I can't prevent those, I have another prescription to help, which doesn't get rid of the pain but does make it so I don't care that my head hurts).

But the last one, the one in contention, is the one worrying me the most right now ... it doesn't much feel like a headache, it's more like the feeling after a concussion, a ground-glass-in-the-head sort of sensation, and while I've had concussions in the past, I haven't had one in years ... and a couple of years ago, the first time I was getting these non-aches, I went for a CT-scan and I had a "hypodensate mass in the left posterior temporal lobe" - which is doctorese for "a hole in the language center" of my brain. It was unusual in that such things generally only occur in the elderly; it was downright bizarre that, at the follow-up scan two weeks later, it was gone without any sign of having been there, not even the light scarring that is usually found after such things heal.

On the plus side, with all the migraines, I don't much notice normal headaches anymore - usually one of my unfortunate family members points out (from a safe distance) that I seem a bit grumpy, then I think about it and realize my head hurts a little.

Yeah, It's a Monday ...

Some random bits and pieces ...

My eldest daughter, Rose, really likes Gaia Online (no link for them! They've captured enough people without my help) - I'll be nice and not say she has an addiction. But I think I may be making headway in getting her to gain some self-control. Since I have family that uses Facebook^, the Hubby and I decided to let her get an account too. The upshot is, she's transferring some of her addiction to FB. But I also encouraged her to set up her own blog, and she's warming also to the idea of helping me do some reviews on my other blog.

Saturday the Hubby and I got to go out sans kids for the third time this year. It was the "Annual Summer Party" of some local friends; the husband thereof is a master meat-griller, and since the vegetarians that were invited didn't show, the only green in sight was the guacamole. The Hubby scolds me often for not eating better, but once in a while I get to indulge in a meal of just meat - especially since I was at my doctor on Thursday and have gained four pounds! (Yay, me - just six more to go, and I might have a butt again.)

This morning The Boy was complaining his hands were itchy; I suggested he wash them (which, with a nine year old, is always a safe suggestion). After he did he said his fingers still itched, and showed me some little blisters on the side of his middle finger. I recognized right away he'd gotten into some of the poison ivy that is all over the neighborhood; fortunately we have a bar of Burt's Bees Poison Ivy Soap^ and I told him to wash again using that. And then I discovered an interesting thing: my son didn't know how to wash using a bar of soap.

We've been using liquid soap in pump dispensers forever, it seems; generally we refill the dispensers with a 3:1 water-dish soap solution, since we use the antibacterial dish detergent, and that has been working great. But as I supervised his second washing, I saw he had no idea that holding the bar and both hands under a stream of water was not going to help him get the upper hand, so to speak, on the ivy oil. So I educated him on the "old fashioned" way of washing, the while marveling how the little things can seem like such huge, culturally significant changes.

And this afternoon I decided to take the new Flock^ browser for a test-drive ... it's built on the Mozilla FireFox^ technology, but is designed to work with many different social networking, file sharing, and feed aggregating sites and softwares. So far it works like a browser ... I'm not yet committed to an opinion, but rest assured I'll let you know when I form one.

Note to EC Surfers

Apparently some IE users cannot see the EC widget/current ad card. I don't know why this is, or if EC has plans to fix this issue ... so all I can suggest is a better browser.

Let me know (comment on this post or send a message at EC, my card in the right sidebar links to my EC profile) if you have problems viewing the widget or current ad card.

Thanks!

A List: Blog Attributes That Bug Me

Given the popularity of lists, the fact that I am "dropping cards" at the moment, and my propensity to rant when things annoy me, here is a list, in no particular order, of:

Blog Attributes That Bug Me

1. Blogs that have HUGE pictures at the top that fill the entire "first page" of the browser window. I don't care about your picture, I want to see what you wrote.
2. Blogs that have bad Flash plug-ins that cause the browser to crash or freeze the whole computer.
3. Blogs that are full of other people's content. If I have to scroll past that stupid "OMG this this so cute kitten scared of RC mouse" video one more time, I am going to blow up the Internet.
4. Blogs that have horrendous typos or grammatic abuse in static modules (the titles, sidebars, etc.). I understand typos and so forth in individual entries, but spelling something wrong in your graphics or blog title is shoddy. (This of course does not apply to those blogs where English is not the natural language of the author.)
   
5. Blogs that have so many ads in the sidebars it's an eye-straining nightmare patchwork of conflicting colors, designs, and themes.
6. Blogs that have so many widgets, ads, plug-ins, etc., that they take forever to load.
7. Blogs that say "subscribe to me and I'll subscribe to you!" If I like your blog I'll subscribe to it, maybe; or I might just favorite it so I can see the layout instead of just getting the content. And I don't want to just bulk up my feed subscriber count or inflate my hit counter numbers. I want readers who actually appreciate my efforts, and you should too.
8. Blogs with the "pay me to write about you" ad buttons. I understand the "Pay per post" stuff is nice for some bloggers or whatever ... I have no problem, generally speaking, with affiliate programs and sponsored blogs. But, similar to #7, I don't want to buy your opinion. If some one is going to write about me, I want it to be honest and legit, even if the post isn't favorable. Own your opinion, don't let it be rented.
9. Blog layouts in umteen shades of pink. I hate pink. Not only is it an obnoxious color all by itself, too often the people who use it have saccharine content.
10. Blogs participating in the EC program that don't have fkg EC widgets on their blogs. That's not fair, guys. Also, EC "cards" that link to sites that are not blogs.
11. Blogs by people selling blog layout templates that have lame layouts for their own blogs. WTF is up with that?
12. Blogs filled with flowers or cats, or both. There is so much more to the Universe, and so many other symbols of peace, simplicity, comfort, humor, earthiness, etc., dare to be a little original. We don't see nearly enough turtles, platypuses, or loons. Hedgehogs are freakin' hilarious. Give the cats a a rest already.
13. Blogs that repost "lolcats" from ICanHasCheezBurger.com without mentioning where they "borrowed" the image from. Seriously, give the cats a rest.
14. Blogs that hotlink. Bandwidth theft is not only wrong, if the image gets moved, you get nothing. Host your own darn images. Photobucket is free.
15. EC "cards" that use copyrighted material for their images. Intellectual property theft is still theft.

That being said, please, if your blog includes any of the items on my list, don't leave angry comments about it or go out of your way to pick on my blog. Everyone is entitled to hir own opinion, and as an American I have the right to share mine fairly freely. If you see items on my list that could apply to your blog, and some one else comments that they agree that attribute is annoying, please, for the love of the blogosphere, consider a change.

Musings on Bloggings

I wonder if, somewhere, somehow I am doing something wrong. Since I started participating in the EC program, I've seen a lot of blogs ... I'm delighted to have found some of them: excellent content, witty and talented authors, appealing layouts.

But what really puzzles me are some of what I've taken to thinking of as the "Pink Mommy" blogs. (Not all of them are actually pink; it's more a flavor of the blog than a literal hue.)

They blog about they did this, that and the other with their brood (often 3+ kids). They went shopping, they did crafts, they visited, etc., etc., etc.

They are also active in various blogger groups and activities: card drops, blog commenting, message boards, and so on.

What I wonder is, when do these women sleep?

I have four kids and a part-time job. I have two dogs, and the Hubby has a cat; we have a house with a yard; I have extended family to keep in touch with, groceries to buy, unschooling to guide the kids through, my compulsion to write, and my own need to periodically learn new things.

And, oh, yeah, now and then I have to eat, clean myself, and sleep.

I have been attempting all week to find a schedule for myself that allows me to do all these things in a timely manner. And my conclusion is that it is impossible to achieve with only 24 hours in a day.

So apparently the Pink Mommies have found a way to sideslip time, wedging more hours into their days than the rest of us have access to. (The ugly alternative is that some of them are stretching the truth about their offline activities, and I am not one to cast such stones.)

So, if you are a Pink Mommy Blogger (henceforth herein PMB) that has happened across this post, consider this an invitation to initiate me in the arcane skill of time-wedging. I could use it. Thank you.

expand

Yesterday's Adventure

Brought to you in part by:

A few weeks ago I spotted an ambulance ... that in itself isn't astounding, I work at a hospital and I see them all the time. Except I'd never seen one in green and white. Then I noticed the hospital name on the side:

"Dark Knight" had some scenes filmed in Chicago, and the lot must have gotten hold of it after filming. (Yeah, okay, I'm easily amused.)

But yesterday on my way in to work, I noticed something else ...

See what I saw:

I pass a cemetery that's as old as the area's known habitation (pre-European), and there's a particular monument to a young girl:

How's this for ironic: Emma was at a funeral with her family, and died by electrocution during the service. Her father had the statue commissioned from a portrait that had been done of her shortly before her unfortunate death.

As you can see in the first photo, some one visits her grave and leaves trinkets, and recently a plastic rosary ... Well, yesterday I noticed that her stuffed animal had been knocked down. Having a touch of OCD, I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I went there after work to take care of it.

Her second necklace had also been broken, so I collected up all the beads I could find and stashed them in the crook of her elbow.

After that I had some time to kill before the next bus, so I headed to the back of the cemetery where the burial mound is.

The first time I was there, I didn't even know what it was. It's about four feet high, girded by three large trees (two oaks and a something-or-other), and although there is a post for a sign the sign itself is missing.



What I found online indicates it is estimated to be over 1,000 years old, the work of an "unknown Woodland Indian Tribe," with over 300 individuals noted (during an archeological excavation by the University of Chicago in 1928). There's indication that the burial was hurried, perhaps indicating en epidemic of disease.

Flowers on the mound:

A Thank You (and a bit of a brag)

I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have subscribed to my feed (13! in just two days!) and to my visitors (70! in two days!). I sincerely appreciate your visits and interest: of all the blogs out there, mine is one you found worth reading. It really does mean a lot to me.

I'll give a shout-out to the EntreCard program: it really is a boon for bloggers. I have found some great blogs I never would have seen otherwise, and I know I'm getting visits I wouldn't have if I didn't sign up.

And mad props to Sheta Kaey of Spirit Companion, for so many reasons: she encouraged me to get motivated, told me about EntreCard, and she made the "Dare to be Different" badge and blog-movement. (She's also a fab graphic artist, as well as being a real classy broad.)

So thanks again, everyone. It's an honor to be part of all of this.

About This Blog ... And Its Author

Oh, where to even begin? :)

I'm a wife, friend, daughter, sister, and mother. I write, edit, code and caption. I'm not always nice but I'm honest; I'm not always strong but I'm resilient; I'm not always focused but I have a good time anyway.

I like Wikipedia a lot - I know it isn't really an authoritative source, but it *is* an excellent starting point for learning stuff, or a great way to pass some time with a little light browsing (like appetizers for the brain). A lot of the time, I'll link to a Wikipedia article for more info on a subject; almost always, links open in new windows (or tabs, depending on your browser settings) and I'll try to remember to mark Wikipedia links with a ^ symbol, like this: Wikipedia^.

Still with me? Okay. Now it starts getting a little weird.

Curious? Read on!

I have a high IQ - well above average, have tested at "genius" level (160+) - but I am also naive and make mistakes like everybody else.

I did well in school and was a lousy student. I emulated my Dad by being an agnostic, and in high school became an atheist, probably because I went to a Catholic school for a year and a half. Now I'm more of an agnostic pantheist with a side of apathy. I am spiritual but not religious. (I think religion can be one of the worst things to happen to spirituality.)

I have a Husband, Will (sometimes called "the Hubby"); we were married in 1994. Ten years later, give or take, we became polyamorous^. I know a lot of people have misconceptions about polyamory, but that's a post in itself. For now I'll just touch on the basics: it's not polygamy^, where one person (usually the husband) has many spouses (usually wives); it isn't swinging^, and it definitely isn't cheating. It takes a lot of strength and trust in a relationship to be able to consider non-monogamy; it also isn't for everyone. So far we are taking it slow and things have been okay.

I have in the past identified myself as bi-sexual, and have had romantic and physical relationships with other women. However, I'm not entirely sure "bi" is accurate; I think in my case I just am not mentally constrained by gender when I feel an attraction to some one; to me, personality counts for so much in regard to what I like in another person, so male or female doesn't always come into it.

The Hubby and I have four kids: Rose (14), Blossom (12), THE BOY (or Boo, he's 9) and Lily (6). I can't keep actual plants alive but my "garden" of children is flourishing. We homeschool^ - or more accurately, unschool^ - all of them, with help from the Internet. Rose and Blossom recently finished a summer class at the library for computer skills; Rose spent more time helping teach the class than playing the part of a student. Their neighborhood friends envy them for it; some days I envy the other mothers for being able to get rid of their kids five days a week. But generally I enjoy their company so much I can't imagine doing anything else.

I started writing stories when I was very young; they become more ambitious in theme and scope as I grew older, but I didn't finish my first novel until 2004. Then, a lot more frustration and false starts, until November of 2007 when I wrote a novel in 28 days. I followed that with another in early 2008, and since then have been working fairly steadily on my sprawling fiction project.

I began studying the occult at 13. I was Wiccan^ briefly, but grew out of that pretty fast. By the time I met Will, I was finding my own path, and when I began joining Internet groups in 2002 I identified myself as pagan, although I was already fairly agnostic by then, because those were the groups doing what interested me: they call it magic(k), I call it energy work.

After a few interesting attempts to participate in pagan magic rituals, I realized I'm better off working solo, so as not to disrupt other people's efforts. I also discovered that other people's energy (OPE) can trigger something like an allergic reaction in me, so avoiding high concentrations is preferable to throwing myself into the mix.

This spring I joined the team at Rending the Veil and became friends with the owner/Editor in Chief, Sheta Kaey. It is without a doubt one of the best decisions I ever made - not only is the website and magazine an excellent resource, Sheta is an intelligent, admirable woman (with a damn freaky blog).

I've always been weird. Even among "freaks" I was still the odd one. In 1998 I read the absolutely incredible autobiography Nobody Nowhere by Donna Williams^. And for the first time in my life, I realized that there were other people out there that experience things the same way I do, have similar hurdles and comforts, frustrations and elations. They're referred to as being "on the autistic^ spectrum."

I learned everything I could about it. And when the day came that I realized I could be diagnosed as "having Asperger's Syndrome^," I was both relieved to know I was not alone in the world, not an alien out of place, and horrified to think I was "disabled." I didn't *feel* disabled, although I acknowledged then and do now that I have a lot of hurdles in my life that many others do not, particularly in regard with interacting with other people. I became very depressed. I didn't want to be disabled. I wanted to just be me, and be able to enjoy this new understanding of myself.

Again, I turned to the Internet, and found many "Asperger Support" groups. I joined them and hoped for understanding and compassion. What I found were people complaining about "how hard Aspies are to live with" and the best ways to keep them "managed" - usually by heavy drugging, even in small children!

I was outraged. I complained right back that "neuro-typicals" (non-autistics) aren't any baskets of sunshine to live with either. They have an excess of social dependency, a fixation on superficial physical contact, and an appaling degree of xenophobia. One of these "supporters" called me a "wild Aspie" and told me to get medicated. I left the group in a huff, and the Wild Aspie was born.

I started my own group on Tribe.net, mostly as a place to sulk, in April of 2005. Slowly at first, without me inviting a single soul, the group grew. Membership has gone up and down, but has been holding steadyish around 100 for a while. One of the first members coined the phrase "self-identified" as a way to refer to oneself, and the group is a truly supportive, pleasant place for Aspies and non-Aspies alike. The ironic thing is, they get on so well I can't keep up with the messages, and rarely go there anymore.

So that's me: author, energy worker, mother, possible lunatic, linguistical artist, free thinker, mad genius.

Comments on posts are always welcome; questions about me, my experiences, or the bizarre bits of my life are fair game as well, but be sure you want the answer before you ask, because it's hard to unread something once it's been read. ;)

There are worse things to hear on a Monday morning ...

As I was walking down the street from bus stop to office on my way in to work, this guy drives past in the opposite direction, and calls out the window, "Nice tits."

Well, okay.

He must have been really looking, since I'm not wearing a particularly flattering shirt as far as enhancing the bustline goes.

But I'll take it as a compliment. Thanks, anonymous gawker.

Volcanoes and Coffee

I was telling Rose, my oldest daughter, about the Toba Event

(Toba was a volcano in Sumatra that erupted about 73,000 BCE, with an explosion far greater than anything seen since. It produced a volcanic winter - ash and gas blocking the sun - that lasted six years. This caused a general cooling that plunged the planet into an ice age)

. I told her about the cycles of warming and cooling the planet has seen just in the last 75,000 years (a blink of global history). Then I concluded that this cycle will continue, and that sooner or later, another volcano, comet, or other dramatic event will once again alter the planet's climatic cycles.

"But life will continue," I reassured her. "Life will once again crawl out of the sludge, blink in the weak sunlight, straighten its spine, find its thumbs, and proclaim to the universe:

I'm gonna put a Starbucks right there.

Site Tweaks & Additions

This was to be my day of rest, but apparently I didn't know what I was talking about.

But that's okay! Good stuff happened.

A tale of tweaks

I learned HTML and CSS by taking webpages apart and then trying to put them back together. "Oops, I guess that code was important" was a common utterance. :)

Javascript was too much for me though. I'm not a designer, just a hobbyist, and there seemed to be no reason to work so hard on a webpage.

But today I realized I really, really wanted a three-column layout for this blog. I really like the template design, though, and it even came "out of the box" in a color scheme that pleased me. I didn't want to have to start over. I wanted to just add a column.

Easier wanted than done. But I did it! All by myself, even. Usually when I have computer trouble of any kind, I'll e-tap an online friend who's a whiz with this stuff and cry on his shoulder. Then he tells me how to fix it and everyone is happy. But today I wad determined to puzzle out the arcane coding myself and get that column in.

The end result isn't as polished as what I started with, naturally, but I am happy with it for now. After some more practice I'll make it sparkle.

So in my new column (on the left, there) you'll see some buttons and badges and things. Having considered some off-hand advice from my good friend Sheta, I decided to go ahead and get a bit more serious about blogging.

More about those programs ...

Sheta is participating in Entrecard, and had made up some nifty badges - the "Dare to be Different" one - so I decided to join the fun. It's free and easy to sign up, and you get exposed to a lot of neat blogs, as well as getting exposure for your own.

Blogged.com is a rating site. My personal blog merited an 8.3, Great, and I'd really like to see this one inch higher than a 6.4. So do me a solid and vote there, 'kay?

I also signed up for Feedburner, along with their email-update service. That's another cool, free webtool. Who doesn't like free? Not only will they "burn" your blog feed, they make it easy to make sure the webcrawlers find it and keep it current. They also provided the active headline generator over in the right sidebar. Tech toys are so much fun. :)

As I sign up at more places, there will be more buttons, badges, widgets and updates.

It will be an interesting journey.

Site Update

www.WildAspie.net
has been updated!

New links on main page, and:

• Added "Clickables" page
• Added "Writing Archive" page and selected works

More Prohibition! (Since it worked so well in the 1920's!)

This is the way it goes. A vocal minority passes itself off as the righteous majority, stupid laws get passed, some people end up jailed at great expense to taxpayers, or dead, while others make ridiculous amounts of money (untaxed) by breaking the stupid law, or get killed.

Fab system, guys. Truly a wonder.

Let's review.

The U.S. Senate passed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917, and was ratified on January 29, 1919, having been approved by 36 states, and went into effect on a Federal level on January 29, 1920. It lasted until repealed with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, on December 5, 1933.

You couldn't legally make, buy or imbibe alcohol in this country from 1920 to 1933. And it worked great! Just ask the mobsters that ran the bootlegging enterprises. They made money "hand over fist," and fought bloody street wars to protect their empires.

Fast forward 36 years. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, claiming it has "a high potential for abuse and no acceptable medical use." Suddenly a bunch of relatively harmless potheads are felons, and genuine criminals - much like the bootleg empires of the 1920's - suddenly have entry to a huge, lucrative (and tax-free!) market.

A few years later, enter, stage right, the "D.A.R.E." program. Lies, damn lies, and propaganda. I don't know of anyone personally who avoided drugs because of D.A.R.E., but I do know plenty of people who got so pissed off at being lied to that they DID experiment, and made their own decisions on whether or not to continue using drugs. (For the record, most of them tried many things but stuck with only one: marijuana.)

A few more years, and we get the ridiculous PSAs on TV about "smoking pot supports terrorism." Wut?! Smoking pot supports the snack industry, that's for sure, and probably MTV as well. Terrorists know the score, and the smarter criminals can do the math: cocaine and heroin products are more compact to smuggle and give a higher return on investment at street level.

Now a moment for comparison. How many people have been killed by drunk drivers in this country, plus the number of deaths from lung cancer in people who smoked tobacco (alcohol and tobacco being legal and highly taxed commodities), versus the number of people killed by drivers under the influence of marijuana, plus the number of people who have developed lung cancer from smoking marijuana? (I don't have the figures myself, but we can all estimate that set one is a significantly higher number than set two.)

And then you have incidents like what happened to Rachel Hoffman.

More here, including relevant links:

From SpiritCompanion.com blog:
"Police caught Hoffman with pot but promised to drop charges if she agreed to go undercover in a drug bust. She was killed soon afterward.

Rachel Hoffman is dead. Rachel Hoffman, like many young adults, occasionally smoked marijuana.

But Rachel Hoffman is not dead as a result of smoking marijuana; she is dead as a result of marijuana prohibition.

Under prohibition, Rachel faced up to five years in a Florida prison for possessing a small amount of marijuana. (Under state law, violators face up to a $5,000 fine and five years in prison for possession of more than 20 grams of pot.)"

http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS01/805120325/0/COMP
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5442615&page=1
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4530
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=5442615
http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/VIDEO/80509031
http://stash.norml.org/2008/04/04/stoners-in-the-mist-more-prejudiced-propaganda-from-ondcp/
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5454035
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/63988/

And now, in the infinite wisdom of our government, we have a ban on contraceptives looming.

Seriously, people, am I the only one who sees something WRONG with this?!

We don't need MORE government in our lives. We need better education and more personal responsibility. The more freedoms we allow our government to take away, the less able we are to take care of ourselves, which gives the government more opportunity to restrict our freedoms. It's a cycle we need to break, and it's not like it's hard to see. They aren't doing this in secret. There's no back-room, clandestine operation here. It's going on RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU and only by speaking up, raising a fuss, refusing to be quietly complacent out of apathy, fear, or disgust can we stop this.

Please, people of America, if you love what this country should stand for, if you believe what we pledge about "liberty and justice for all," STOP BEING SO STUPID and take back control of our nation.

cross-posted at my LJ