Sick And Tired

No, I mean I'm physically sick, and fatigued as a result. I've experienced this feeling off and on in the past; it usually passes in a day or two. Meanwhile, I have little choice but to stay at home and let kitty Esther try to heal me. Hey, a mother of five kittens all of which grew to healthy adulthood is bound to be pretty good at healing...

Sick

Flu? cold? hangover? food poisoning? reading a new vegan cookbook 'til 3:00 AM? Whatever this is, it's got me a bit (blue-)green around the gills this morning. Sorry about the scarcity of posts! I'll be back as soon as I'm able.

UPDATE Thursday morning 9/3: Last night, kitty Esther piled on top of me for several hours with her patented healing embrace, not to mention her considerable bulk; the result is that I'm feeling somewhat better today, albeit still exhausted. I may be ready to face politics tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.

Yes, I Seem To Be Taking A Blog Break — I'll Be Back Soon

We've had a lot of things going on lately, including some genuinely fun stuff (see next post about the concert we just attended). If I haven't blogged as much lately, it's because of the goings-on and my geezer's need for more rest than younger people. I promise I'll be back in the next day or two with comments on the concert in Miller Theatre (Hermann Park) last night.

Cool!

... cool enough for Stella, even! This morning, Stella arose, headed (as usual) straight for the thermostat, cranked the temp down to something she considers acceptable (i.e., below 70°F), and... nothing happened. No, the system was not broken; the outside temp was 67°F! After weeks of temperatures of 100+°F, heat indexes a few degrees hotter than the actual temp, we finally got a break.

Not our lawn, but no lovelier...

After doing the absolute minimal wake-up chores ("coffee! coffee!" breathed Stella; "feed me! feed me! feed me! ..." shouted  kitty Esther telepathically), I headed for the one remaining intact patio chair (repeated battering into fences by thunderstorm winds doomed the other, and my bulk finished it off a few days ago) to enjoy a perfect beginning of a Houston Spring day... yes, Spring; that's what it felt like... and to watch as the sun rose, the critters emerged, the oh-so-gentle breeze moved a few leaves, a few inoffensive clouds appeared, the sounds of morning traffic emerged and then subsided, etc. I haven't had a morning like that in a long time!

Of course it won't last. I have (as I used to say in my working days) "lines to code before I sleep, and lines to code before I sleep," and the cool weather will not survive even until noon. But what a treat it was, a respite from the relentless Summer From Hell we've been having. Like a greedy pet cat, I find myself meowing, "More! More! More! ..."

Stormy Weather; Stella Under The Weather

Sorry; it's not a good morning for blogging or anything else. Lightning storms are all over the city including here; of the kitties, one hides in a closet and one seeks company. Stella is home from work, having contracted the bug going around her office, a bug which requires proximity to the smallest room. Both storms and sickness are expected to pass by late afternoon or early evening; maybe there will be some blogging at that time, if there are no direct lightning strikes here...

Gaaaack! Cough Not Worst Ever, But Bad Enough...

This is truly unpleasant. Stella or I (I don't know which yet) will pick up one of my regular meds, not a cough med but one of my ongoing prescriptions, by Sun. at the latest; meanwhile, I feel like a bucket of warm spit. I got little if any sleep last night due to this cough. It's raining, again, not the worst I've ever seen, but enough to inconvenience us. Sometimes the good Dog just doesn't want you to get out of bed, and like a fool, I ignored her and did that anyway. Now I'd better go empty the spit bucket. Don't expect a lot of blogging today, or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

The Community Cold

Stella has had one version of it for over a week; she got it from literally half her coworkers and brought it home to me. I've had it for 3-4 days, the version that is mostly a head cold and a sore throat... yucky and unpleasant, but not life-threatening.

At night, I have adequate concentration to read novels, news and blogs, but not to follow anything complex or to write anything of much substance; don't expect any intellectual tours de force from me this week. I've successfully read a not unduly challenging private eye novel and had rather less success facing some of Noam Chomsky's oeuvre for the first time... and I do want to give Chomsky his due; IMHO he deserves my close attention.

Beyond that, my intake has been confined mostly to PBS Kids, probably entertaining because I don't have kids, PBS or otherwise.

I'll check in occasionally, but don't expect any great works from me until I stop drowning in my own fluids and rasping every word I speak.

18 Years — Cause For Celebration

 As of today, Stella and I have been an "item" for 18 years. This Lichtenstein-like work shows "Stella," but with all due respect to people who love their kids, the woman depicted here expresses (sarcastically) an attitude for both of us. Search the Web for "forgot to have children" and you'll learn how very many people feel that way!

We plan a splendid meal (probably at Vietopia), a walk in a park (weather permitting) and... our signature activity for most such celebrations... a trip to a bookstore!

Not Yet Back To Good Health

I don't know what it will take to shake this cold, not to mention some aspects of my usual medical problems which are demanding attention. At a minimum, I need another few days of rest. A trip to the doc is probably also in order.

And I need this !@#$%^&* band-in-a-brain (see previous post) to STFU, no matter what its source.

AFTERTHOUGHT: It occurs to me that many people may not recognize "band-in-a-brain" as a sideways ref to Band‑in‑a‑Box™ accompaniment s/w by PG Music. Recommended... BiaB is about as much fun as you can have playing with yourself.

Stella And I Are Home

... thank goodness. It was a good hospital with a good staff, as such things go, but even the best of such matters is necessarily unpleasant, and while we are nowhere near the end of the problem, at least we are at the end of Stella's hospital stay. She has considerable pain and is not as mobile as she had expected to be at this point.

I'll tell you more later. Right now, I have to run to the pharmacy...

Stella's Surgery Is Today...

Dawn's crack, at which we get up

 

... so both of us must get up at dawn's crack, as someone I knew who was not named "Dawn" used to say. Notwithstanding the early surgery, Stella will not go home until Wednesday. I'll post a very brief message when I know the results. I don't know when that will be; I think the surgery is a few hours long.

Stella...

... learned today that her surgery has been postponed a week and made contingent on approval by yet two more doctors running an assortment of tests. Meanwhile, when she drives (e.g., to/from work), she suffers even greater, almost incapacitating pain. Isn't our medical care system wonderful? (Steve's sarcasm, not Stella's. Steve is the one who thinks this is a case of yet another two doctors sticking their thumbs into her case and pulling out a plum...)

Stella...

... very likely has to have surgery this Tuesday. The procedure should not be life-threatening (above the dangers posed by anything requiring general anesthetic), but she will be hospitalized at least overnight, and I suspect her mobility may be limited for an as yet undetermined period after she is released. I doubt I'll be blogging much for a few days, other than to note the outcome. Wish us both luck!

Stella...

... is at the hospital this morning having her cast modified. This is in no way serious, but it requires immediate attention. In addition to the cast's causing her a lot of pain, she had at least one episode of numbness. The @#$%^& thing goes from tip of toe to top of thigh; she can barely sit down, and walking is difficult.  To top it all off, my car wouldn't start this morning and we had to call a cab. Stella is being examined and treated now; fortunately, this first-class hospital has a PC specifically for visitor internet access. Hey, it's browse the web or watch NASCAR...

We will probably be home before evening. Probably...

UPDATE: the orthopedist replaced Stella's cast with one considerably shorter, an inch or two off each end, thigh and toe. As a result, not only can she walk much better (still with a walker), but she can actually drive. She was truly depressed at the thought of being off work for so long (about a week); now she can return to that grindstone...

Stella...

... has a serious medical problem, not life-threatening, but requiring a huge cast on one leg for 4 to 8 weeks. Her limited mobility keeps her at home most of the time; indeed, we are not sure when she will be able to drive to work again.

Just to complicate matters, her computer monitor blew out overnight late last week, rendering some work from home difficult if not impossible. Today I went to Micro Center to get a replacement; the old monitor lasted 7 years, so I have no complaint... as you know, as computer equipment goes, 7 years is a long lifespan indeed. I replaced it with a Samsung 22" diagonal display, movie-screen proportions (as most all of them are these days). It proved truly plug-compatible: within 5 minutes of plugging it in, I had a perfectly satisfactory Windows main screen. For better or worse (better IMHO), the new monitor has no speakers and no iPod dock; the old monitor's speakers were dog-awful, and Stella's life revolved around the iPod for only about two months several years ago, so she won't miss the iPod dock.

I won't be blogging as much for a while. I already prepared probably half the meals; now, for a while, it's all meals and all cleanups. Trust me: Stella is worth the effort, and she's already done the same for me during my most crippled period a couple years ago.

No Black Friday For Us — But It Was A Close Call

Stella and I, as a matter of principle (not to mention a matter of sanity), don't shop on Black Friday. We are fairly relentless in our determination not to do so.

But when I started to back up my bills-paid file to a probably five‑year‑old external laptop‑friendly (i.e., tiny) hard drive, I found that it was unresponsive. Ruh‑roh!

The drive was plugged into an external USB 2.0 hub, on which the power light was cheerfully bright; the drive itself was powered from the USB hub over its one and only cable, and its light was similarly bright. A reboot didn't help. Unplugging/replugging the drive cable from/to the USB hub didn't help. With a big sigh, I contemplated the possibility that I would have to go against my principles and head for Micro Center on Black Friday (shudder).

Suddenly I realized something looked funny about the whole apparatus. Where was the signal cable from the computer to the USB hub, which usually goes into the back of the hub? Sure enough: it was plugged into the big box, but not into the hub! The connector on the hub end is one of those square-shaped USB connectors, good and sturdy, the kind that doesn't simply fall out on its own, and indeed it never has fallen out before. I looked on the floor beneath my feet... sure enough, there was the cable with the connector! Plugging it in restored the external HD, and I could do my backup.

The connector surely had some help unplugging itself. I don't know if the help's name was Esther or Lily; I suspect Lily, but I really can't pin the deed on either of them. Hey, it's the day after Thanksgiving, and they're wonderful cats; there's no way we would deprive them of their treats on a holiday for such a minor offense!

Medicare Application: One Small Step For A Man...

... hardly a giant leap for mankind, but at least one man has taken one step toward getting into the Medicare system. I ran into only one technological glitch in the application process: I had to pause my sign-up to ask Stella a question about our current insurance; when I came back to sign in again, there was a mysterious obstacle. When the help line called me back (better than waiting on the phone for the advertised 55 minutes), I explained the problem. Try again, they said; although I had already tried three times, I did as they asked, and it worked. I'm guessing there was something keeping my previous session alive, though for the (session) life of me, I couldn't have told you what it was. Perhaps it had to do with the partial Social Security sign-up one must do even if signing up only for Medicare.

One recommendation to anyone else about to face medicare.gov for initial sign-up: don't try to learn everything before you try to do anything. It isn't possible; it is exasperating, and it isn't necessary. I tried yesterday only to end up a basket case; I abandoned the attempt for the day. If you try reading the entire "Medicare and You" pamphlet as an introduction, you'll end up screaming in frustration. Being led by dialogs through the process today worked pretty well when I got around to trying it. And there appears to be no penalty for not having all your ducks in a row before you start the process: they'll tell you what they need that you've forgotten.

Now I have to decide on some options and pick a plan. I have an idea, but I'm waiting for some info from Stella's brother, who just went through the same process. I'll let you know what happens.

Brief Break

Welcome to Our World!

Stella and I are both exhausted (don't ever imagine that artists or their mates lead easy lives) and about every 2 hours the skies dump barrels of water on us for about five minutes as if [insert name of favorite deity here] is pissing on Houston and both of us feel slightly ill as often happens to us when the barometer goes up and down like a wasp trapped in your window-screen (no, we don't have one of those) and kitty Esther has decided that my office chair is hers and kitty Lily has decided that one corner of the den, a different corner every day, is her new litter box and [BIG GASP] I NEED A BREAK! I'll be back to the blog in a day or two.

Stella On Display

Well, actually, Stella's artwork on display. Hers is one of the works chosen to appear in a juried exhibit called "Freeing The Word In Small Spaces," hosted by the local Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVL_Λ). Her work, a model of simplicity, depicts a prison cell, door open, with the words "Freedom of Speech!" escaping. The exhibit, which opens tonight, is at Houston's wonderful Museum of Printing History, at 1324 West Clay, north of West Gray and south of Allen Parkway, between Montrose and Waugh Drive. The exhibit runs through December 21. (Note: Stella's name IRL isn't Stella, but you'll recognize it easily anyway.)

Those @#$%^ Government Bureaucrats — [/irony]

My disability parking hang-tags expired this month. (Don't ask why tags for a permanent disability ever expire; this is Texas, after all!) The Great State of Texas in its infinite wisdom requires a trip to the tax office at the county courthouse to renew the tags every four years.

The nearest county courthouse to our home is always a mob scene; I've never been there at midnight, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were lines twice around the perimeter hallway and out the door even at that hour. So it was with trepidation that I headed for the courthouse this morning.

I parked, staggered to the door (note: since I was renewing hang-tags, I couldn't hang one of them in the car, so the regular parking space I found in the jam-packed lot was not close to the building), and got in line. A state worker spotted me as I entered the line with my cane and my limp, smiled and redirected me to the one line (one of 15) reserved for disabled people. Then she sat in the chair herself, took my old hang-tags and created new ones for me... no fee, no forms (for me at least) and no fuss.

Five minutes later I was on my way, hanging onto my hang-tags, precious items that they are. Five minutes... I could recover that much time in a single instance of parking near the door of a big-box store instead of parking a block away and hobbling over that block.

Ah, those @#$%^ government workers... I hope they get a raise and a good retirement plan!