So, training class is officially over as of 1 pm today, and I will be back at my old desk full time come Monday. I know it is just odd that I am happy about having my old desk back, but I am. Of course, I would be even happier if I had every other week off, but we can't have everything, can we?
I went to my rheumatologist today for my normal visit. The PA, the person I normally see, is out until January or February of next year due to health issues, so I saw Dr Kim today. He is a nice guy. Really nice. I told him all about my knee issue but he isn't gonna make me have any injections or anything just yet. He said, basically, once you start injecting cortisone into the joints, it goes downhill from there, and he really wants to avoid any early knee replacements or further bone damage (since cortisone injections can destroy bone). I totally agreed with him - lol. I sure don't want any shots or crap like that. I don't like pain! But he said it may be inevitable down the road. I think I can hold off going down that road for a while....a long while.
He did give me a piece of news that I really did not want to hear. For years, the doctor has been labeling what I have as inflammatory arthritis. But, from the test results and the fact that I always run a low-grade fever and from my consistent low white blood cell counts, he has determined that it is lupus and not inflammatory arthritis as I have been told all this time. But, then Lupus is hard to diagnose and can take years to diagnose, from what I have read. I have been taking Plaquenil for quite some time, and he said as long as I stay on that medication, I should be fine. Still, I think I would rather have the arthritis than lupus - lol. I dunno. It is probably all similar anyway. But still.....
So, I am a bit bummed about that, but there isn't anything I can do about it, since there is no cure for the crap. Blah blah blah. I sound like a whiner, I know. Part of me is relieved in a way, knowing now what it is instead of all this uncertainty. Things could be worse, I know.
I could be held hostage in an 8x8 room, strapped to a chair and being forced to watch Steven Seagal movies 24/7.
That would be WAY worse!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Random Fact of The Day
The Japanese liquor, Mam, uses venomous snakes as one of its main engredients.
Funny Stuff From Dave Barry
"Hi, I'm Preston A. Mantis, president of Consumers Retail Law Outlet. As you can see by my suit and the fact that I have all these books of equal height on the shelves behind me, I am a trained legal attorney. Do you have a car or a job? Do you ever walk around? If so, you probably have the makings of an excellent legal case. Although of course every case is different, I would definitely say that based on my experience and training, there's no reason why you shouldn't come out of this thing with at least a cabin cruiser. Remember, at the Preston A. Mantis Consumers Retail Law Outlet, our motto is: 'It is very difficult to disprove certain kinds of pain.'"
Stupid News Story of The Day
(Bigger is better!)
Size matters for makers of Aussie "Wonderjock"
SYDNEY, Nov 2 (Reuters Life!) - Size really does count, just ask Australian underwear maker AussieBum which has just launched the "Wonderjock" for men who want to look bigger.
Since the launch seven days ago, AussieBum says it has sold 50,000 pairs of "Wonderjock", mostly on its Web site www.aussiebum.com and a handful of stores around the world.
"The design of the underwear, separates and lifts. The fabric cup protrudes everything out in front instead of down towards the ground," said "Wonderjock" designer Sean Ashby.
"There is no padding, rings or strings," said Ashby, a co-founder of the Internet-based AussieBum firm.
Ashby said the idea for the "Wonderjock" was the result of online feedback from customers who expressed an interest in looking bigger, just like women using the "Wonderbra".
"When you go to a department store to buy underwear you usually get a grandmother serving, which is not the ideal way to get feedback," said Ashby. "Our customers give us feedback. We didn't realise that big is better."
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Halloween Happenings
Well, Halloween came and went without too much fuss. I had a grand total of 5 trick or treaters last night...yes.....5. So, that means I have a lot of candy left over - hehe. I went and bought a pumpkin, as is my tradition on Halloween, and carved it while watching scary movies. Last night's movie was Stay Alive, as so generously loaned to me by my good pal Kia. It was a good, bloody movie...perfect for Halloween. I was totally bummed out that I couldn't stay awake long enough to watch all of Ghost Hunters last night. Grrrr. I was simply too tired, despite the Coca Cola I drank at 9 pm. Caffeine does nothing to keep me awake. Hopefully, they will re-run it in the future sometime. Anyway, there is another episode of Ghost Hunters tonight for me to watch
The training class is nearly over. They all took their final today and, I am happy to say, they all passed. I go back to my old desk tomorrow afternoon, and I will be happy to be back at "home." It is too cold in the morning in this room! BRRRR!!!!
Again on a totally unrelated note...I was watching Freddy Vs Jason last night (yes, AGAIN, as if once wasn't enough) and was thinking.....didn't Jason X come out before Freddy Vs Jason? I am sure it did. So they went into the future and Jason was around then....so obviously Jason survived the whole Freddy ordeal, which kind of ruins the ending of Freddy Vs Jason (not that the ending is all that unexpected anyway since the bastard never dies!) Nevermind. I am trying to put logic into a Jason movie, and we all know trying to put logic into a Jason or Freddy movie is like trying to make Steven Seagal look like a master thespian. It is impossible!
I think wayyyyyyy too much.
The training class is nearly over. They all took their final today and, I am happy to say, they all passed. I go back to my old desk tomorrow afternoon, and I will be happy to be back at "home." It is too cold in the morning in this room! BRRRR!!!!
Again on a totally unrelated note...I was watching Freddy Vs Jason last night (yes, AGAIN, as if once wasn't enough) and was thinking.....didn't Jason X come out before Freddy Vs Jason? I am sure it did. So they went into the future and Jason was around then....so obviously Jason survived the whole Freddy ordeal, which kind of ruins the ending of Freddy Vs Jason (not that the ending is all that unexpected anyway since the bastard never dies!) Nevermind. I am trying to put logic into a Jason movie, and we all know trying to put logic into a Jason or Freddy movie is like trying to make Steven Seagal look like a master thespian. It is impossible!
I think wayyyyyyy too much.
Funny Stuff From Dave Barry
"Let's talk about how to fill out your 1984 tax return. Here's an often overlooked accounting technique that can save you thousands of dollars: For several days before you put it in the mail, carry your tax return around under your armpit. No IRS agent is going to want to spend hours poring over a sweat-stained document. So even if you owe money, you can put in for an enormous refund and the agent will probably give it to you, just to avoid an audit. What does he care? It's not his money."
Stupid News Story of The Day
(Paranoid much?)
Masked robbers revealed as costumed children
BERLIN (Reuters) - Two sharp-eyed Germans saw what they thought were masked bank robbers in a car with tinted windows in front of a bank and called police, but the occupants turned out not to be thieves but children in Halloween masks.
The two women in the small northern town of Bad Zwischenahn separately spotted the vehicle, police said Monday. But it took off before police arrived.
Authorities picked it up two hours later and detained the driver and three passengers -- children in Halloween costumes.
"We got a call that there were 'masked people in front of a bank' and assumed it was a hold-up," officer Juergen Harms said. "After we brought the man and the children in ... we were able to quickly establish it was a case of mistaken identity."
"It was hard for the witnesses to see that it was three children wearing Halloween masks," Harms said, adding police had thanked the women for being observant.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Random Fact of The Day
Perspiration is odorless; it is the bacteria on the skin that creates an odor.
Funny Stuff From Dave Barry
"Dogs would make totally incompetent criminals. If you could somehow get a group of dogs to understand the concept of the Kennedy assassination, they would all immediately confess to it. Whereas you'll never see a cat display any kind of guilty behavior, despite the fact that several cats were seen in Dallas on the grassy knoll area, not that I wish to start rumors."
Stupid News Story of The Day
(Sorry. Wrong number.)
Mayor mistakenly hands out sex number
EDMOND, Okla. - The mayor personally distributed thousands of fliers discouraging underage drinking only to find they mistakenly contained the phone number for a sex talk line.
Edmond Mayor Saundra Naifeh and more than five dozen volunteers went door-to-door Saturday to deliver 22,000 fliers. The city attorney notified Naifeh Saturday night after the police department learned of the mistake.
"Obviously, it made me feel sick," Naifeh said. "I had a blister on one foot (from going door-to-door) when the city attorney told me the number was wrong. I have no idea how the error happened."
Callers dialing the number were promised "exciting live talk" if they called a second number offering provocative telephone conversations or text messages costing 99 cents to $2.99 a minute.
City Manager Larry Stevens called the wrong listing an inadvertent error that occurred when the card was designed by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Naifeh said writing a story identifying the nature of the wrong telephone number was sensationalism and tabloid news.
"It will change the focus of what we were doing," she said. "It is not part of the story."
Naifeh had chosen the campaign to fight underage drinking as Edmond's contribution to Make A Difference Day, a national day set aside to help neighbors and the community.
___
Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com
Monday, October 30, 2006
Random Fact of The Day
Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.
Funny Stuff From Dave Barry
"All you have to do to see the accuracy of my thesis is look around you. Look, in particular, at the people who, like you, are making average incomes for doing average jobs - bank vice presidents, insurance salesmen, auditors, secretaries of defense - and you'll realize they all dress the same way, essentially the way the mannequins in the Sears menswear department dress. Now look at the real successes, the people who make a lot more money than you - Elton John, Captain Kangaroo, anybody from Saudi Arabia, Big Bird, and so on. They all dress funny - and they all succeed. Are you catching on?"
Stupid News Story of The Day
(Boo to you.)
"New" holiday called Halloween
TOKYO (Reuters) - Ghosties and ghoulies, princesses and pumpkins took to the streets of Tokyo this weekend as Japan celebrated one of its newest festivals -- Halloween.
Little known two decades ago, Halloween has spread in cities such as Tokyo, where autumn now sees florists selling pumpkins, shopping arcades festooned with paper Jack o'lanterns -- and even black-and-orange costumes for dogs on offer at pet shops.
Halloween, as Japan now knows it, is unabashedly American, and few Japanese know much about its origins.
"It's a time to dress up and have fun," said Yukiko Kobayashi, 34, whose 4-year-old daughter Kao wore a princess costume while watching a Halloween parade at Tokyo Disneyland.
Shunsuke Fujita, a 7-year-old dressed as a ghost at a Sunday Halloween parade, said: "It's a festival for ghosts, and it's fun because we get candy."
The festival's roots in All Hallow's Eve -- the day before All Saint's day, which commemorates the death of Christian martyrs -- resemble a traditional Japanese Buddhist holiday known as Obon.
But the three days in August when Japanese spirits are believed to return to earth are a mostly solemn time when families visit cemeteries to honor their ancestors.
"Halloween, like Christmas here, has no connection to religion," said Takayo Yamamoto at Hakuhodo Inc. Institute of Life and Living.
"It's all promotion for toyshops, florists and candy stores."
Most people trace the start of Halloween in Japan to Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983. The same year, a Tokyo toy store sponsored the first "Harajuku Pumpkin Parade," now an annual event in a Tokyo shopping area popular with youth.
Merchandisers have seized on Halloween as a welcome oasis in a long dry stretch from the summer holidays to Christmas.
"After all, in October there's nothing else to catch anybody's attention," said Masako Asaji, who has filled her restaurant's window with tiny Jack o'lanterns.
Some shops put up Halloween decorations in early September.
"When we first started with Halloween, we only had a one-day event, since people didn't really get the idea," said Hiroshi Suzuki of Oriental Land Co. Ltd, which runs Disneyland.
This year, though, Tokyo Disneyland began its daily Halloween parade on September 12, three days before Disney World in Florida.
"It's a good way to bring in customers," Suzuki said.
Thousands packed the park one recent weekday to scream and shout as skeletons and Disney characters dressed in Halloween costumes cavorted. Vendors sold treats with a Japanese twist: sweets made from pumpkin and sweet red bean paste.
The number of Japanese marking Halloween is still tiny and few engage in the American custom of "trick-or-treating" -- going door to door to collect sweets.
But awareness of the holiday is growing. A recent survey showed some three-fourths of Japanese had heard of the holiday.
For Japanese youth, some of whom already engage in the hobby of "cosplay," dressing up as characters from "manga" comics or "anime" cartoons, Halloween is another chance for fantasy fun.
"Halloween is a time when you can do whatever you want," said Rie Kakuda, 20-year-old florist dressed as a princess in an ankle-length dress with ruffles at Disneyland. "You're free."
Random rantings of a sick mind
'Tis the season to get sick. (cough cough) I was sick all weekend. I did nothing but lounge around my apartment in my pjs over the weekend. And I came home from work early today and canceled my physical therapy appointment cuz I felt like total crapola. I still feel icky, but the Benadryl did help stop the sneezes. I took a nap from like 3 to 6 today, and I will probably go to bed early tonight. Blah. I hate being sick!
I only have like 2 physical therapy sessions left, and frankly, I am glad. The therapist's office is out on Stockdale Highway and it takes me nearly a half an hour to drive out there since the traffic is always crappy out that way. And it hasn't done much good, to be honest. I am still having the same pain issues that I had before I started. But the therapist said that he can only treat the symptoms and not the cause. He did say it felt like there was fluid in my knee....and I know what that means. Ugh. I hate the idea of having needles in it to drain it, but if it needs to be done, then there is nothing I can do about it.
I only have a few more days in the training classroom and then I go back to my old desk....my home sweet other home-away-from-home. I am taking 2 trainees with me to the training unit so I can inflict more pain upon them as they continue to train with me - hehe. Just kidding. I am not THAT mean. I will be glad to be back at my desk and away from Powerpoint presentations - blah. Those put me to sleep!
On a totally unrelated point, I was watching Jason Vs Freddy the other day on tv (yeah - there was nothing else on) and there was a part where Freddy uses water to scare Jason, since he is supposedly afraid of water and won't go near it. Yet, in Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (yeah, that title is misleading), Jason kills not one, but two people in the lake. And he was in the water. IN it. Yet he won't go near water in Jason Vs Freddy. Exactly when did Jason develop hydrophobia?? In part 5...part 6??
I know, I know. I think too much.
Stupid movies - grrr.
I only have like 2 physical therapy sessions left, and frankly, I am glad. The therapist's office is out on Stockdale Highway and it takes me nearly a half an hour to drive out there since the traffic is always crappy out that way. And it hasn't done much good, to be honest. I am still having the same pain issues that I had before I started. But the therapist said that he can only treat the symptoms and not the cause. He did say it felt like there was fluid in my knee....and I know what that means. Ugh. I hate the idea of having needles in it to drain it, but if it needs to be done, then there is nothing I can do about it.
I only have a few more days in the training classroom and then I go back to my old desk....my home sweet other home-away-from-home. I am taking 2 trainees with me to the training unit so I can inflict more pain upon them as they continue to train with me - hehe. Just kidding. I am not THAT mean. I will be glad to be back at my desk and away from Powerpoint presentations - blah. Those put me to sleep!
On a totally unrelated point, I was watching Jason Vs Freddy the other day on tv (yeah - there was nothing else on) and there was a part where Freddy uses water to scare Jason, since he is supposedly afraid of water and won't go near it. Yet, in Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (yeah, that title is misleading), Jason kills not one, but two people in the lake. And he was in the water. IN it. Yet he won't go near water in Jason Vs Freddy. Exactly when did Jason develop hydrophobia?? In part 5...part 6??
I know, I know. I think too much.
Stupid movies - grrr.
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