The Shortest Day of the Year

The shortest day of the year, or winter solstice, was just 10 days ago.  But, already, I am noticing that the days are growing noticeably longer in the evening.  Just a few short days ago, it was dark  enough by 6 PM that I did not want to take the trash out into the alley to the dumpster.  Today, it was not that dark at 6 PM, although getting there. 

There is a second factor involved.  That during the time approaching the shortest day of the year, we had some very cloudy weather that made the evening seem to darken even faster than usual.  But it is the day length that is changing, and I know it is.

That is one of the things that really struck me about Lubbock, when I moved here:  The summer days are so very long, staying light till well after 9 PM in the summer.  And the day length changes very noticeably whenever we pass a solstice or equinox.

I really like the very long summer days. I really like the fact that the short days change very quickly after the winter solstice.  

Nuts and Sunflower Seeds

I have previously written that my cats like the Friskies Sunflower Seed treats http://www.friskies.com/Cat-Food/Cat-Treats/Natural-Sensations-With-Real-Chicken.  Well, tonight I was standing at the kitchen counter cracking whole nuts for a snack for myself.  I bought some whole nuts last year at the holiday season, and had a few left but bought some more this year. Especially because the news is out that just a handful of whole nuts is a good snack or treat. 

Well, Taki came into the kitchen and kept pawing at me and reaching for the counter.  She does not jump on the counter, although Sake and Haiku both do that.  If I have something on the counter that they want to check out, they help themselves, although, lately, Sake has not been able to jump that high very well. So Taki would go away and then come back, paw at me and reach up again, and again.  I finally offered her a small piece of nut, but she did not want it.

So, I check the dishes that hold the treat foods.  And, there was dairy and chicken treats left, but no sunflower seed treats.  So, I put some in the dish, and Taki started eating right away. That was what she was asking for.  It is conceivable to me that whole nuts have enough aroma to stimulate the thought or idea of wanting sunflower seed treats.  This I will have to keep in mind.

The Open Computer

Well, I screwed up yesterday morning.  I had turned on the computer, thinking to look up something quickly before I went to work.  I got distracted, and never did look anything up, and did not shut the computer down before I went to work.  I thought about it on the way to work, but decided it would be okay.  In retrospect, it was probably not the best thing to do.

I know that the cats like to sit on the computer, I think because it is warm.  I keep the house cool, but not cold, and cats like it to be warm.

When I got home last night, I realized that someone had been on the computer: there were lots and lots of windows open, including 48 searches for files.  Well, this was easily tended to.  But today, when I tried to type numbers, I could only get the symbols to come out.  I am not sure what I did, but I went into some controls, and changed somethings and then was able to change numbers.  I really did not know what to do to fix the problem, I am just lucky that it got fixed.

Lesson learned.

New Year's Resolutions 2013

I wrote about New Year's Resolutions last year.  Maybe this will become a tradition, that on December 31, I blog about New Year's Resolutions.  Doing something two years in a row is a sort of tradition in and of itself, already, wouldn't you say? 

So, I have already indicated I wanted to make a change or improvement next year, in a previous blog:  I want to read more books in 2014, than I have read in 2013.  I ended up reading 49 books this year.  That should be a goal I can keep, given the fact that I really do enjoy reading.  I am not sure that is a real improvement, because I frequently read a book when I should be doing chores around the house.  But I believe that reading is a very good past time, and it is not time wasted. I believe it challenges the mind and keeps your mind active, and helps you to learn.  Although, I have to admit, I read very little non-fiction.  But I like historical mysteries, and mysteries with a theme that gives me new information (a specific topic, culture, science.)  And, I have started reading more non-fiction. 

Handwriting vs. Penmanship

When I was in elementary school, we learned to print in the first grade (I did not go to kindergarten.)  We had large lined papers, like Big Chief Tablets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chief_tablet and pencils that were fat http://www.pencils.com/all-pencils/jumbo. 

I think it was the third grade when we started having penmanship.  It was not handwriting or even cursive, although sometimes it was called cursive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursive.  But it was penmanship.  And, my school system used the Palmer Method of Penmanship http://palmermethod.com/. With that, you would think that all of our handwriting would be very similar, but the truth is, that was not the case. We each put our own distinctive style in our handwriting, no matter how much the teacher tried to get us to make letters that looked like the examples in the Palmer books.

As the years progressed, my hand writing has changed some. It actually can change in the course of a few minutes.  A colleague noted that one time when we were in a meeting, that my handwriting got larger and sloppier the more stressed I was.  That day, there was a great deal of noise outside the meeting room, and as the noise continued, my handwriting got worse. When the noise stopped, my handwriting became more what I normally wrote like.  That was not something I cognitively realized about myself, although I did know that when I am stressed, my handwriting changed.

I do not do much handwriting anymore.  Most of the documentation I do at work is on the computer.  So, when I have to hand write something, my handwriting is jerky. Another colleague noted the same thing has happened to his handwriting. My printing is usually better, but very often I will start printing something and it will evolve into a kind of cursive that is not full cursive but is not printing, either.

I recently read a book, The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester.  He commented on the writing of "the madman," Dr. William Chester Minor, which was a form of Copperplate.  He had very neat handwriting.  I suspect the presentation of the information he shared was very important to him.  Sometimes, I feel the same about my handwriting, but mostly, I do not even notice it.

Early Morning Crescent Moon

This was unusual. There was an early morning crescent moon, and it was a waning moon http://lunaf.com/english/moon-phases/lunar-calendar-2013/12/30/.  The official new moon is on January 1, 2014, and the moon will start waxing. The morning sky was so neat today.  I am so thankful I took a few minutes to look at the early morning crescent moon. 

The moon in Lubbock is very interesting.  Who expects to see the moon in the morning sky?  But we do.  Who expects to see the sun in the east and the moon in the west in the early morning. But we do. Is it the wide open spaces? The latitude? The longitude?

I am not an astronomer even by avocation, so these questions are not some I could even begin to more than ponder.  But I love the wide open sky of West Texas.

The missing phone.

I mislaid my phone the day after Christmas.  I ran into a friend at the library, and as we shared Christmas stories, I embarrassingly added that one.   As I was leaving for home after the library, she agreed to call me in a time frame, allowing me to get home.  What a great help that was: my phone was charged, and I found it right where I had put it, in the pocket of the folding chair I have in the kitchen!  I have what used to be a state of the art flip phone, but is now a non-smart phone.  It is small and slips into nooks, crannies and pockets quite frequently.

I Very Grey Cold Day

It is very cold today, but at last look, it was 34° just above freezing.  But it is grey outside, and the wind has been strong, and from the north, which makes the wind chill make the temperature feel much colder.

It is winter.  Cold weather is to be expected. This is the kind of day that it is nice to stay inside and stay warm.   I am thankful for my house.  I wish I had a wood burning fireplace, but that is not the case, so it is what it is.

Reading

I have read 48 books this year.  I may finish one more book before the end of the year. I am not sure how that number compares with most years. I know there have been times in my life when I have not done much reading.  I am not one much for making New Years' resolutions, but I think my resolution will be to read that many books next year, and try to increase that number.  Ideally, I would like to read 52 books a year, but a book a week will not always occur, and then sometimes, I will read more than a book a week.  That happened this year. 

We shall see.

Losing Track of Days

During this holiday season, we have had a lot of days off.  They have been interspersed with work days:  Work December 23, off December 24-26, work December 27, weekend, work December 30, off December 31 and January 1.

This has resulted in my not really being able to keep up with what day it is.  This morning, when I woke up, I thought I knew it was Sunday, but I had to review my Saturday activities, and double check, to make sure I did not have to go to work today.  I figured it out. 

I do not do well with change and lack of structure.  I feel lost, out of place and unsure of myself.  I do better with routine and structure.  I try to be flexible, but still like the routine and structure better.

Cats and Sunshine

Since I have been home a lot because of the holidays, the cats have become very attentive and seeking attention from me.  So, one day, I was sitting in the sun shine in my kitchen. If I open the back door in the kitchen, which faces south, I can sit in the sun.  To the left of me when I sit in the sun is the refrigerator.  Haiku was on the refrigerator, and she decided to jump down on me.  She scratched me, I am sure unintentionally, as she landed.

During this holiday time, the cats have sat with me in the sun on various occasions.  Sometimes, Haiku or Taki sat on my lap. Sometimes, Sake wanted me to hold her and just sit. I have accomodated their desires as best as I could to my understanding.  I am not sure I always understood their desires.

Premium TV - We Did it To Ourselves

When the "premium channels" for TV came out however many years ago that was, people bought into the idea.  They could get new movies and special programming for an additional fee. So, they paid.  Maybe the mentality was that it was like paying for going to a movie.  I remember that mentality. We did it a few times when there was a special sporting event in the late 70's or early 80's.  We would generally have a party, and everyone chipped in to cover the fee.  We did HBO for a while, but found the selections too limited for the price.

So, more and more, many of the sporting and special events on TV are on premium channels.  You have to subscribe to the "sports level package" or the higher than basic satellite package. Or some other subscription service. The NFL channel. The Yankee channel. The NBA channel. The MBL channel. And, stupid, we do it. 

What would  happen if people stopped paying for these extra premium channels, and said, "No thanks, I'll stick with the basic, and when you do not offer quality programming, I will turn to alternative entertainment: board games (not online premium games), card games, dominoes,  books, music, conversation, or hobbies that do not involve media.  Or, I will go to a movie at a movie theater. Or a local concert. Or play. Or, whatever.

Well, of course, this will never happen.

I often question if I really get my money's worth of the Cable service I use.  I like the access to NASCAR events, which, so far, do not require a special network access, and the Weather Channel, the programming of which has gone done hill, now that they do not offer continuous weather but they offer canned programs (yuck).

I blame the consumer.  The supply is out there, and we watch this schlocky stuff instead of tuning out and finding something better to watch.

I am as guilty as the next person.

Over the last 8 or 9 years, I have become more discriminatory about what I watch on TV. I do not have the TV on for background noise, as I used to do many, many years ago.  I use other media including books (they are media) CDs, DVDs, and because I have a good turntable, vinyl, for my entertainment.

Attack

I spent some time this evening doing laundry.  The cats were trying to be helpful when I hung clothes, but they were involved in the middle of my trying to hang clothes, and grabbed and clung and otherwise interfered.

Taki, especially, was trying to be helpful.  But she lunged at me, and grabbed at my abdomen with her claws. My howl scared her. I did not mean to scare her.  But her sharp claws did hurt.  And, she caught skin, not laundry.

I love my cats, but sometimes, they are more aggressive than they realize. It is a trade off. Yesterday, inadvertently, I stepped on Haiku's tail. I did not mean to, and I hated that it happened. Sometimes, though a cat is underfoot, and I do not realize it. Which is what happened yesterday.

Mostly, I try to make the household quiet and calm, and a place where the cats do not have to attack or otherwise be aggressive. Sometimes, they are, with each other, but not viciously, just assertively.

The Missing Glove

So, sometime yesterday, I discovered that I was missing a glove. I have a pair of gloves for every jacket that I have, and the pair that I had for my winter jacket was missing the left glove. I knew I had it when I started my shopping chores yesterday morning, but could not recall when it went missing.

So, I put a different pair of gloves in that winter coat for the mean time, and decided I needed a new pair of gloves.  I could think of several scenarios in which I might have inadvertently lifted the glove out of my pocket. The most likely was when I took the disposable camera out of the left pocket of my jacket to get the pictures developed. So, since I had to go back to Wal-Mart today, I spent the less ten minutes in line to see if they had a match to my missing glove in lost and found. They did not. They had a lot of other detritus of shoppers, including a scarf and someone's keys.

No big deal, so I bought another pair of gloves. The selection was minimal, but if the pair I purchased is not as good as I would like, I can always buy another.  The pair that had one missing was not the best pair I ever had: they are Thinsulate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinsulate  gloves and they let through cold air and moisture in the webbing.  However, when I was doing laundry tonight, the missing glove appeared.

That was great. Now, I have options regarding winter gloves. I could return the new pair I purchased today, but I think it good to have a spare pair.

Curling

Curling is a sport I do not know much about, and do not understand.  There is a curling club within 20 miles of where I grew up, but really, we never watched them perform.

Curling has been an official Winter Olympic sport since 1998 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling.  But, curling has been demeaned, ridiculed, and satirized.  The comments about curling likened it to watching bowling on TV (I like watching bowling on TV) and watching grass grow (I like watching grass grow.)  At the 2010 Olympics, curling was wired for sound, and it TOOK OFF.  When you can hear the comments of the participants, all of a sudden, curling takes on a whole new dimension.

I do not understand the rules, and I will need to read up on it, but I think curling is a great sport.

A Wild Hair Day

I think I have talked about my hair before.  Until 2007, my hair has been always straight and thin, except when I was a child and my mother made me have a permanent.  I finally, after some years, got my way and convinced her I did not need my hair permed.

For years, I wore my hair long.  It was thin and stringy, and I probably should have kept it short.

When I finally started wearing it short in 1992 or 1993, it seemed thicker.  But it was straight. I sometimes wore a middle part, but just as often or more often, wore a side part.

Well, sometime after 2007, my hair started to wave. So, I changed my hair style.  Now, I still wear my hair short, but have it layered. That way if it sticks out here and there, it is part of the layering.  Most days, my hair sticks out over my ears, and it gives me a "Dutch Girl" look. 

I do the same thing every day: I wash my hair in the shower and then comb it out afterwards. I comb it the same way.  But for some reason, yesterday, there were places my hair stuck out where it does not usually stick out.  I could not re-direct it, and stopped trying after a bit.  It was just wild. 

Today, it looked less wild. I do not know why these vagaries occur, but they do.

Physical Therapy, Gregorian Chants, and Learning to Relax

Okay, so I learned about relaxation therapy many, many years ago when I was a teen pregnancy counselor, and accompanied many of my clients to their Lamaze classes and deliveries. The principle of Lamaze is that if you teach the pregnant woman to relax and do relaxation breathing during the labor contractions, she can sustain herself without medication, or with less medication. Another principle is to be educated regarding what to expect as the pain intensifies or changes, and to be able to adapt to that.

Now, as a social worker who works in a psychiatric prison, one of the basic coping skills we teach is relaxation exercises:  deep breathing, diaphramatic breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation.

Well, with this knowledge, I have powered through my pain for years.  It might be sciatica, caused by a bulging disc of my spine.  It might be something else. For now, it is being treated as if it is sciatica and a result of the bulging disc.    I am awaiting a pain management consultation. 

I have endured this pain for some time.  It would be nice to be able to resolve the pain, but I have limited hope:  Hope that this can occur, but awareness it may not.

The Saga of Sake

Sake seems to be doing better. She is eating more regularly,  if not at all meals, but she may be eating in between, when I am not around. She expressed her desire to eat, and ate the smashed liver I give her.  It used to be she did not like smashed liver or paté foods. She liked chunks and gravy.  But now, she is eating smashed liver. 

Tonight, for the first time, I saw her eat some hard treats.  That was after she ate some paté and then some other food that was out. I think she was hungry.  I wish I could find the right combination of foods for her to eat, so eating is not uncomfortable.  She did not lap up the baby food.  I put out some finely chopped turkey, but that did not interest her, either.

Well, the blessing is, the liver paté will sustain her.

I will continue to offer her options, and hope that one or more is palatable to her.

Latino Americans

PBS is airing a series called Latino Americans http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=Latino%20Americans.  I have watched some of this.  I believe it is a very well done series. It explores the various aspects of the Latin Americans, and their many, many stories.  Latin Americans include the historical Americans who were of Spanish descent in the early years of the United States. It includes the people from Mexico, from Central America, from Puerto Rico and Cuba. 

Although somewhat less dramatic, but not totally less traumatic, especially for the individuals and families involved, the discrimination against Latin Americans was not always as intense and ingrained as it was against the Afro Americans. But even as the discrimination was perpetrated, it was hurtful and inhumane. It was inexcusable and unacceptable. And it continues to sometimes relegate Latino Americans to second class citizenship.

No discrimination is acceptable. Although the United States has legislated equality, those laws are not always enforced as intended. There are still many, many barriers for peoples to overcome.

Maybe the series about Latino Americans will shed some honest light on their history, and offer some source of pride to those Hispanic Americans who watch the show.

Physical Therapy

I have written about going to physical therapy.  It was a very good experience. For the time being, I will not being going to PT until some other medical procedures are considered, and more information is known, analyzed, and a plan is developed. 

The PT experience was excellent:  The staff were knowledgeable, friendly, communicative, and worked as a team. I learned some things about my body, and gained some flexibility, strength, and endurance.

I was given a lot of information about self care and a lot of homework (exercises) to do. If I do the regimens as assigned, I am exercising about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes a day.  Most of my co-workers and friends who do home PT exercises do 20 or 30 minutes a day. I have to admit, I sometimes skip a day, especially if I have another activity that day, and my time is limited. But I do participate in PT regularly, and plan to continue to do so although I will not be going to the PT clinic for a while.

When I do PT, I sometimes have the television on. But just as often, I play Gregorian Chants. This has the effect of turning my PT regimen into a very soothing, relaxing routine.  Which I so appreciate.

PT has been good.

Physical Therapy

So, I have been going to physical therapy for quite some time, to try to help the pain in my lower back, hip, and the cramping in my right leg and tingling in my right leg and toes.

This is a problem that I have had for years, and I cannot remember when it started, but well after my mother died in 2007. So maybe 2009 or 2010.  Maybe later in  life.  I do not know.

What I do know that I have a strange tingling sensation in my right hip.  It advances down my right leg, and numbs my right toes.  If I am walking, and I am experiencing these problems, I also experience a "foot drop" because my right foot is asleep. I can power through these problems, and have done so for years.

However, as I have had other medical problems recently, I decided to address this with my medical provider:  She ordered xrays and authorized physical therapy.  The physical therapy has been good.  I have regained some strength in my right leg.  Combined with the NSAID celebrex, I have had Some pain relief. I am stronger.  I have more endurance, flexibility and stamina.  But I still have the pain.

Most recently, I have had an MRI: I have a large area of bulging discs, with one very prominently bulging. The next step will be a pain management clinic.

I may be facing more invasive treatment in the future.  I hope not. We shall see what becomes of this.

More Cat Care

Well, Sake ate pate as well baby food this morning. She did not act as ravenous as she did last night. But she ate well.   She avoided me as much as she could, but came around to eat.

Soft and hard food was available during the day.  I hated it, but I got involved in something at work, so left from work late, and still had to go to the grocery store for more foods, including liver and baby food, for Sake.  I was late getting home.

Sake still ate a good meal, but she avoided me today. I think this is a sign that she is better. She is either angry or hurting enough to not want me to mess with her, although she accepted food, when I brought it to her "hideout."

The Ongoing Saga of Cat Care

Well, I was amazed that I was not awakened by a cat looking for breakfast until right before the alarm went off.  I delayed my rising on purpose. I wanted to delay feeding the cats because I thought it would be prudent to put Sake in a crate right before I fed the cats, so she did not eat.  So, I did every other early morning preparation thing that I could do, before I fed the cats. Then, I crated Sake, and fed Haiku and Taki.  Haiku took a couple of licks of human tuna, and Taki booked: she hates having the crate in pre-eminence, although, at that point, it was just on the closet floor. So, neither she nor Haiku ate.

I thought, when I returned home from bringing Sake to the vet, that they would have eaten some, and if they did, it was not moist food. The treats dishes were pretty full, and the dry food was not vastly depleted.

I took Sake in for her treatment, and the vet and I talked about medication vs. surgery, but with Sake's disposition and failure to respond to a second antibiotic treatment, we agreed on surgery. Late morning, the vet called me and left the message that Sake had done well during surgery, and was recovering. They would normally keep her overnight, but given her "attitude" (a kind word from the vet) they said she could come home tonight with me.

I brought Sake home, and at the recommendation of the vet, left her in the crate.  But she kept head butting the door, and trying to get out. Early in the evening, I tried letting her out and she could not wobble anywhere. I kept offering her water every 30 to 45 minutes.

A couple of hours later, I tried letting her out again. She wobbled towards the food, and lapped quite a bit of baby food chicken and even more paté style cat food.  She wobbled off under a dining chair with a throw over it, so she had a tent.  Later, she made her way to the top perch of the cat stroller.  She has been up and down a couple of times from that perch. She is back in the cat stroller. She looks like she is resting as comfortably as she can be, given the assault to her body today. 

I hope this resolves the problem. The vet tells me that some cats have ongoing mouth issues even after their teeth have been removed. I pray Sake's issues are resolved.

Kitty Kat NPO

For the regular reader, you know that Sake has been ill with a mouth infection, and has not been eating well.  I waited a long time to get her to the veterinarian because it is so traumatic for her. The first trip was amazing: she was so sick, she even let the veterinarian do a precursory exam.

Since then, we have been back twice.  I am not really having trouble getting her in or out of the carrier, but she has been very hostile in the exam room. During the last visit, just a consult, she screamed, growled and howled and finally escaped into the carrier.

The veterinarian was not sure she wanted to do major dental surgery.  I am not sure I want to do that, either, but they are not offering any other treatment options.  We did schedule surgery, and tonight Sake is NPO for food, although she is allowed "some" water.  I have some options: put Sake in a room with no access to food, or remove all food for the kitties.  I opted for the latter.  And, about 45 minutes after I lifted the food, both Haiku and Taki wanted a snack. So, I gave them a snack, and supervised, but Sake did not even appear. 

Blessedly, Sake ate well tonight, comparatively.  She goes about 4 meals eating minimally, then chows down, and tonight was a chow down meal.  She has options: pate style cat food, slurry style food, pureéd baby food meats, and smashed liver. She prefers smashed liver.  So she ate smashed liver tonight.

I am anticipating that early morning, 3 or 4 AM, I will be awoken by one or more of my cats:  they are accustomed to having food available all the time.  Even if they are not hungry, I suspect one of my cats will want to be sure they can have something to eat!  Just to be sure they can.

I am worried about what I will need to decide tomorrow about Sake's care.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela died December 5, 2013.  I did not know who he was until I was a freshman at Cornell University in 1970.  We prayed for him every day at Mass, and wished for his freedom.  I now know that he was a freedom fighter, trying to get equal rights for Black or Native  South Africans vs. white South Africans.

Sorry to say, after I left the Cornell community, I lost track of Nelson Mandela. Until years later, when he was freed.

And even years later after that, I was re-awakened to his story by the movie Invictus.

Mandela was a member of the African National Congress that advocated equality and the demise of apartheid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africasystem in South Africa.  Apartheid was like the Jim Crow Laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws in the United States.  Although the laws said separate but equal, there was nothing equal about these laws and they way people were treated.

The resources, services, treatment of persons, and whatever was not only inferior to black citizens, it was intended to denigrate, and other wise demean the black population and continue to keep the black population as an underdog.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movements_for_civil_rights  worked to change these conditions. Although it has been somewhat successful, I will sadly say that there is still a lot of undercurrent of racism in this country.

We have so much to learn from Mr. Mandela.  Mostly, we need to learn forgiveness and conciliatory behavior so we can co-exist peacefully.  These are hard lessons. But the way for all nations to exist.

The Sound of Music Live

So, I so do not usually just watch TV. I am usually working on the computer, knitting, doing a puzzle, or even doing chores around the house. So, when NBC broadcast "The Sound of Music" http://www.nbc.com/sound-of-music/ live, on Thursday night, I sat and watched the musical.  Without doing anything else.

This was a great presentation. I really enjoyed it.

I will remark that I had heard a Carrie Underwood interview, that there were some new songs.  Well she was not quite right. The "new" songs she referred to were songs from the original Broadway production that were not included in the movie, so might be unknown to folks who do not have the music of the original Broadway production.

Frankly, the songs from the play, deleted for the movie, make the show much more politically relevant regarding the role of the wealthy and the impact of the Germans in Austria after the  Anschluss, or the take over by Germany of Austria.

No matter, the live production of this show was GREAT!

Tire Pressure

So the major cold front blew in Thursday night.  Along with freezing rain and ice and snow.  It took me about 20 minutes to defrost and scrape the ice off of the Vue when I left work. And, as I was driving home, the tire pressure indicator light came on.  Well, this might be to be expected, as the colder the weather, the lower the air pressure in the tires.   However, I could have actually had a flat tire.  I pulled off when it was convenient, and check the tires, and there was not a really flat tire.  So, I decided to deal with it in the morning.

So, in the morning, I went to a local self service air pressure station, and succeeded in deflating the tire even more.  Around the corner was a Firestone store.  I used to use them regularly, when I trusted the service manager. When he left, I was never sure if I was being taken advantage of or not, but use them from time to time, most recently, when I needed a flat tire repaired. When I explained my problem, the service manage told me to get in line.  The service technician who inflated my tires told me they have had multiple requests per day during the cold weather. This was a free service! 

We do not get much free service these days.  I wish I trusted these people because it was so nice to use them when the service manager was one I trusted.

Page Views

Recently, my page views skyrocketed for a couple of days, to over 150 a day. That is a lot for me. I cannot tell why or what postings prompted that. I suspect it does not matter. I suspect it was some automated service that scans blogs for keywords.

The biggest reason I suspect this is that I do not get any kind of feedback. Which tells me that no one is reading for content, but some automated program is "reading" for keywords.

Well, I do not understand how this works.  I wonder if some automated programs will eventually refer me to other readers.  I doubt it. I think these automated programs are a dead end.

The Third Person

I had a return visit to the optometrist today, and it went well from my perspective. People were much more explanatory and communicative, and personable than the last visit.  I signed in as I was supposed to but did not get taken to my appointment in a timely way. The nurse I was to see came looking for me:  the front desk was so busy, they never told her I was there.  She understood the problem.

Something happened that disconcerted me, and I am embarrassed to say that I did not speak up, but should have. At one point the optometrist and his nurse were reviewing my record and talking about me in the third person as if I were not present.  I understand this phenomenon. I try not to do this when I am talking about a patient with another provider, but it is an easy mode to fall into.  I did not feel comfortable enough to say "Hey, I am in the room, talk about me as if I am present."  By the end of the visit today, if that had happens again, I would have felt I could say that. 

Before today, my last visit was as had been on a previous visit to this optometrist: I felt like I was treated as a number, a case, a non-entity.  Today, largely because of the personableness of the nurse who did my field of vision test, I felt as if I was being treated as a person, an individual. She even offered me a drink!  Wow!

Anyway, they repeated some tests that they did last time. Last time, one attendant put me in front of a machine that had me sitting in a very uncomfortable position, and although I complained to the attendant (she may be a nurse) she just blew me off. This time, she made a point to ask me if I was comfortable.  The other test they repeated that I had a problem with was frustrating. Last time, the same attendant just "powered me through."  This time, after having dealt with the really good nurse, I asked for time to rest my eyes between session, and asked for the machines to be adjusted better.  I still flunked the test.

Even the optometrist this time was more personable, and talked to me as if I was present, instead of talking over me or talking at me.  I cannot say he talked with me, but he did better.

I am reminded of a situation that I was in some many years ago at my current place of employment. We were in treatment team, which involved a variety of different professionals: social worker (me), psychologist, medical provider, nurse, security and probably some ancillary therapists meeting with a patient.  The patient was Spanish speaking and we had a certified interpreter present. As the meeting progressed, I talked to the patient when it was appropriate for me to talk, and the interpreter did the interpreting. Part way through the session, the psychologist said something that maybe I should have said but did not.

The psychologist said that we were not using the interpreter appropriately, that we all should be talking to the patient and let the interpreter do his job.  That we should not talk about  the patient with the interpreter as if the patient were not present. He also said that he suspected that the social worker in me caused me not to confront my colleagues about the fact they were not behaving as they should, but I just continued to model appropriate behavior so the rest could figure it out for themselves.  You could have heard a pin drop.  Everyone in the room apologized to the patient that they were not talking to him.

I have to wonder how long that lesson lasted with the professionals in that room.

I am reminded about that session because of the way the optometrist and attendant behaved today. I am determined, when I go back for my 6 month follow up, if they behave that way, that I will speak up and say do not talk about me as if I am not in the room, talk with  me and to me.

Did I Ever Tell You?

Did I ever tell you how difficult it was for me to adjust to the semi-arid desert of Lubbock, when I moved here.  I hated the flat, dry, brown lands.  When I needed relief, I would go out to Ransom Canyon or Buffalo Springs Lake, for the hills, and water, even though the water was brown. So often those early years, and even now, I miss the hills, green, trees, and water. I would frequently go out to the canyons and hills in the parks of Lubbock, or outside of Lubbock, and sing to my self the songs I could remember from "The Sound of Music."  Specifically, I would sing about the hills being alive with the sound of music. Mind you, this was before tape players were inexpensive, and other sorts of music players were not even invented. My singing is atrocious, and I could not remember all of the words.

But, I made Lubbock my home.  I learned to adjust.  In fact, when I go back east, and the trees, and buildings close in around me, I feel claustrophobic, because I cannot see the wide open spaces and especially the sunsets. 

I still have nostalgia for the love of hills that I have.  I have become a flat lander, though, because I need the wide open spaces.  The assimilation of this is when I am at the top of the hills and can see the wide open spaces.  That is the best!

Your Karma Just Goes Away

Since about 2008, my life has been easy.  I was recovering from the grief of the loss of my mother, but she was in a better place.  Since 2007, I had been to the Northeast for a number of family events: a funeral, 3 weddings and a graduation. I made an independent trip just to travel around and visit family and friends. I made trip to Seattle, Washington that was very fine. I made a trip to Northeast New Mexico that was so relaxing that the sense of well being lasted with me for months. I made a trip to Phoenix to visit my brother and his extended family.

Life was good.

I have had some health issues since then, but mostly hip and leg pain, commonly referred to as sciatica.  And, finally after toughing through it for several years, I sought treatment and am getting medication and physical therapy for it.

Since late August, I have had a series of events that have caused me distress. I have chronicled these, and will not again in this article, do so.

But it occurs to me that this is not the first time in my life that my Karma just "went away."  I will not revisit the times this has happened in past, except to say that it usually surrounded a life changing event.  A career change, a divorce, a death, a move. The thing is, I am not sure what life changing event I am experiencing right now.

I am a firm believer laws of physics:  a body at rest tends to stay at rest; a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  I think this applies to human life.  When we reach a plateau or level of stasis, our lives go on in a pretty even keeled sort of way.

Upset the applecart, and all heck breaks loose, and one change after another occurs.  The problem is, I am not sure what I did to upset the applecart.  Was it a sprained ankle? That seems so ridiculously minor that it would have this impact on my life.

I think that my time was due.  And even a small thing upset the applecart of life enough to cause my series of distressing events.

A Biblical Plague

I really feel like I have been infested with a Biblical plague.  I have chronicled my automobile and cell phone problems.  Thursday night, my skin infection returned from out of nowhere! And, today, while I was doing laundry, my drains backed up.   So that put the kibosh on laundry.  The drain clean out was covered with leaves, so I thought I should clean that area of the backyard.  And, of course, I ended up cleaning the entire back yard.  I did not even plan to do that this weekend. I will say that between the celebrex and my physical therapy exercises, I am getting stronger.   It only took about 2 hours to rake the entire yard, with only two rest breaks.  That is about what it used to take before my back started bothering me.  Of course, I am very sore tonight.

On the other hand, the snow and freezing rain we had last weekend and early this past week knocked most of the leaves off the trees around my house, except the Bradford Pear, to the east.  I sometimes do not even rake leaves until New Years, because I want to wait until they are all down.  The last couple of years, I have raked a couple of times for two reasons 1) I get tired of looking at the leaves and 2) it takes me so long to rake.

I still have to do the front and alley, but that is not so bad.

I did some serious house cleaning that I was not planning to do, but did not mess with the bathrooms until I can get the plumber in. Nor did I wash the kitchen floor, for the same reason.  I called, but it was about 1 PM, and the on-call guy had 8 calls ahead of me.  I will check in the morning and see what the prospect is for repairs tomorrow.  Amazing, at 10:15 PM the plumber called.  He has had a long day, but says they only take weekend call once a month.  He was willing to come out tonight, but I told him not to: the cleanout is in a corner of the backyard where there are no lights, and he will have to get on the roof to do the washing machine cleanout.  So we have an appointment for noon tomorrow. That makes me happy.  I will be able to do the laundry in the afternoon.

The car starts once, but does not hold enough of a charge to start again. I am hoping it will start Monday morning so I do not have to bother a neighbor to get a jump start, but either way I need to be able to get to the repair shop. 

The injection that Sake received last Tuesday just did not work as well as the first time.   She runs to food, but does not eat.  She smacks her lips, but does not eat.  She did eat some baby food chicken, some hard treats, some turkey wing meat, and liver tonight. Just a little of each.  It is so frustrating. She eats a little at a time, but will not go back to something she has eaten earlier in the day.  I am thinking the next step is to have her teeth extracted.  I hate to do that, because she will have so much trouble grooming. She will just have to let me help her more. 

Well, the cell phone works.  The car is safe in the garage.  I can renew my library books online or by phone tomorrow.  I did get groceries today, but had to get a jump start to get home.  It takes almost nothing to start the car, so that is weird. 

One thing that has come out of this is that I can now back the car into the garage.  I did that for the first time Wednesday night, and I bet it took me 30 minutes. Maybe not, but I sweated over it and did it inch by inch, correcting and recorrecting.   Yesterday, it did not take me that long, and today, it took even less time. Of course, I still need to be careful, but it is nice to know I have that skill.

What is really weird, is that I do not think twice about backing the car out of the garage, it is just a straight shot, but sometimes, I end up crooked off the driveway.  Well, I am glad I have learned this new skill!

Suspended Responsibility

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  My car needs work, and may not even start, although it did Friday. My cell phone was not working, but finally, Sprint corrected the problem on Friday

Even though I was aware I had these problems, I basically suspended responsibility yesterday, and did not worry or care about what was going wrong. I paid attention to what I wanted to be right: I cooked a turkey.  I sat in the sun and read. I played with my cats. I watched Texas Tech football, although they lost.

I was thankful to have a house, a roof, food, and a place to be me.   I would have liked to call family but I sent emails. 

Friday, I tended to things, and the world seemed righter and brighter. Sometimes, being thankful makes a difference.  I want to remember to be thankful more often.

Well, Thngs are a Little Better

Since Monday night, I have not had service in my home, and today I did a survey and the problem was between Boston and Hartford, 56th and 67th St.  I contacted Sprint 3 times Monday through Wednesday, and they kept telling me the cell tower strength was the strongest in this neighborhood, and I should upgrade my phone. I finally, Wednesday night, after insisting on talking to a supervisor and telling him I would get a different service today, got to talk to someone who agreed they would send out engineers who would specifically check my neighborhood.

About 4:45, the service was fixed.  I talked again to Sprint tonight, and they acknowledged that there was indeed a cell tower out in the area that they were unaware of, and they gave me credit for the 5 days I did not have service.

I have been thinking about upgrading my phone, but I am now thinking I need to explore other services before I upgrade to a smart phone.

After not using the Vue yesterday, it started today.  I was amazed.  The battery did not hold a charge Wednesday, and we shall see what happens tomorrow and Sunday.  I rode around today to charge up the battery a little, and scope out my problem.

It was like since Monday I was in the technology warp where nothing worked, then all of a sudden, today, things worked.  Too weird!

All of This STUFF Happens at Once

I went to physical therapy on Monday morning. Texas Tech Health Sciences Center http://www.ttuhsc.edu/ delayed opening until 10 AM, due to the winter weather conditions, so I did not have to report to work until then. I went to PT.   There were patients at PT who cancelled, so I benefitted with more time, and the PT found somethings he could do that would help me more than what we were doing.

I had to get some paperwork for NASW for the next meeting, that the branch chair had. These documents were some that I would have kept, had I been able to attend the November meeting. However, I was attending the National Runaway and Homeless Youth Conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, as a board member representing Catholic Charities, Diocese of Lubbock. But, I did connect with the branch chair, and get the paperwork.

So, Sake stopped eating again, over the weekend of November 23, 2013.  I know now it is a gum infection that bothers her. She tries to eat, but is not interested in the food, be it chunks, or paté or pureé.  I called the vet, and we had a Tuesday morning appointment scheduled.

Monday night, the Sprint service to my phone went out at my house. I spent almost two hours online with Sprint chat, and mostly kept getting advice to upgrade my phone.  I had planned to physical therapy exercises, but finished so late with Sprint, I watched Jay Leno for the headlines, and went to bed....

As suggested, I shut my phone off, and in fact left it off overnight. But there was no resolution to  the problem in the morning. So, I sent another message to Spring (via chat) about my problems. I received a response, by email, per my request, but no real help.

I took Sake to the veterinarian on November 26, 2013, and while she was upset, she did not act out as badly as she sometimes does, so we knew she was not feeling well.  When we got home and she was able to get out of the crate, she did not hide, but actually sought comfort and solace from me.  The vet gave her more anti-biotics, but this does not seem to be helping as much as the combined antibiotics and cortisone did last time. We will have to see what happens.

Tuesday, I did not have cell phone service at home. I had cell phone service in the parking lot at work, and again called Sprint, because they did not give me a service plan or offer any help Monday night, but during that call, they cut me off because they could not assist me while I was calling from the device that needed assistance. That was about 9 AM.

Tuesday, lIfe went on, and as I drove home, I had cell service until I turned off University Avenue onto 62nd Street west. I had some errands to run, and service resumed when I got onto Indianna Avenue, due west of my house.

I called Sprint again about this, from the parking lot of Hobby Lobby.  I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Sprint, trying to convince them that although their tower reports excellent service in my zip code, my neighborhood has no service.  Not dropped calls, not interrupted calls, but no service.  I am not sure I got through. I was very frustrated, and I know I took that frustration out on the service representative. I apologized to her several times.  But ultimately, our conversation deteriorated to her suggesting I upgrade my phone.  That was very infuriating.

While I was doing this, the battery in my car ran down. I did not realize it until I had made my purchases at Hobby Lobby.  I was able to ask someone to give me a jump start, and I had cables.  After the car started, the dash lights went out.  I had no tachometer, no gas gauge, no speedometer, no odometer, and no radio.  I drove home on side streets, and went to Auto Zone before going home.  While I was parked in the Auto Zone parking lot, I changed the fuse for the dashboard cluster, but that did not help.  I picked a place where there were people and auto parts, but did not need their service, and Auto Zone is close to my home. And the battery was holding a charge.

I started the car a few times overnight, and it started okay.  I was able to get to physical therapy on the morning of the 27th, and then  finished running the errands I had planned to run Tuesday night. The car battery was holding the charge okay.  What a blessing.

One of the errands was to respond to the email I had received from Sprint about my complaint. Again, I had to be out of my neighborhood to call Sprint, so I sat in a parking lot about three quarters of a mile away from my home and made the suggested phone call.  Again, this person ultimately tried to convince me to upgrade my phone. At that point, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor told me that they would try to resolve my problem in 3-5 days. I told him that I could have service from a new provider sooner than that. He told me they did not want that to happen, and would prioritize my service call.
                  
I went to the dealership for my car, and as I suspected, they could not get me in until Monday.  I just wanted to talk to a person, rather than deal with a voice about this. The battery was holding the charge, so I went on to work.  I had purchased the battery from the dealer, and I was thinking that they need to give me some sort of credit for the lack of longevity of the battery.

At the end of work November 27, 2013, I went to my car, and discovered I needed a jump start to get home from work. I took a long, slow way home, thinking to recharge the battery. I was planning to start the vehicle every couple of hours to keep the charge in the battery. As I drove to the house, the "searching for service" beeping started on my phone.  I checked my phone, and I had a voicemail.   I went again to a nearby parking lot, and listened to my voicemail.

It was a call from Sprint, about the service problems I was having. They gave me a different number to call, and a menu option to use. The representative I spoke to  "got it" that the service problem was not dropped calls or interrupted service, but that my phone was searching for service. She understood that they could not call me at home, because I had no service at home, but they could email me if they needed to. She "got it" that the problem was in a defined geographic area in my neighborhood, no matter what their towers reported regarding available service in the neighborhood.  I told her that it might not be a Sprint problem, but a blocking problem.  She acknowledged that, but said they needed to find out what was going on.  What a relief.  To speak to a person who was not spouting platitudes, but was acknowledging the individual problem I was having.  I will not say unique, someone else maybe having the same problem, but it is my problem.

Well, in the parking lot, I was stranded: the battery was no longer holding a charge.  It was late, and dark. I did not want to drive around town to find someplace where I could get a new battery. I should have purchased a new battery earlier in the day.

I went home and backed into the garage. This took me a while.  I was not able to park the car centered, but to one side. But, I did it.

My plan is to stay home on Thanksgiving Day.  And, to ask a neighbor for help to jump start the car on Friday, and get a new battery, so I can run errands, do chores and continue activity as I need to during the weekend. And, get to the dealership on Monday.

But in the mean time, I have to deal with all the STUFF that has happening. 

Cell Phone Service

I have been a Sprint Cell Phone customer since 2003, and generally have been pleased with the service. Until recently.  Some months ago, I did not have cell phone service, and contacted Spring on their website.  They acknowledged, after a lot of back and forth, that there was a cell out in my area, and they anticipated it would be repaired in 2-3 days, and gave me credit for the down time.

Tonight, once again, I am without cell phone service. When I got on line to report it, the technician I contacted tried to talk to me about upgrading my phone, and intimated that it was my phone that was the problem, not their service. But, when I asked about upgrades, the technician could give me no details. This person tried to send a SMS through, and it took three tries, and finally I got all three, but could not respond. After going back and forth multiple times, the technician finally agreed to contact engineering to check on service in my area, and said they would call me back tomorrow. What good is a call back if I do not have phone service. These people are nuts.

My phone is old, and while I hate the idea of planned obsolescence, I have had to deal with it before. As in when Suddenlink, my cable service, upgraded their service, and my modem became obsolete. Of course, if I rented a modem from them, they would have provided a new one. But, in the long run, buying one is cheaper than paying interminable rent.

So, tonight, I will hope that I am safe without a phone.  This makes me think I might want to investigate bundling a land line, just for emergency purposes if the cell goes out. 

Well, technology is nice when it works.

Cellphones on a Plane?

I have a cell phone, and I use it in public.  I used to have a hands free device, but it stopped working and I never replaced it. Sometimes, I use the speaker phone when I am on the phone. Mostly, I talk into the phone.

I do not like listening to other people's conversations in public, and try hard not to subject the people around me to a serious conversation.  I might call someone and ask about a purchase, for example, or call someone to give them an update on my status, such as "running late for our meeting."  But I really try to keep my phone conversations private.

I do not fly much, but recently took a trip by plane.  Getting on or off the plane, people were bonded to their cell phones. I heard lots of person information that I really did not want to hear.  I understand calling about status updates:  the plane is getting off late, the plane just landed late, etc.  I get that, it makes sense.

But I do not want to hear your business problems and orders. I do not want to hear your personal problems. I do not want to hear your romantic trysts, your lover's arguments, or your parent-child interchange.  

I for one, hope that airlines do not allow cell phone usage while we are flying.  Or, better yet, do not allow cell phone conversations.  If you want to text or send email, and I do not have to hear it or read it, go for it.  But no conversations.

Noises

So, we are in the midst of a winter storm.  In Lubbock, that might mean snow or it might mean freezing rain, or sleet, but I am not sure what the difference is between freezing rain and sleet . Since yesterday, intermittently, it has meant freezing rain, snow, rain, and freezing rain again.

I have had some weird noises in my house. Freezing rain, sleet, and hail reverberate in my heater closet.  I am not sure why, but they do.

Sometimes, when my heater is running, I am hearing a clicking noise. Sometimes, I am not. I am trying to be very observant about this, but who knows why this is.

The fairly new space heater that I purchased last year and am using in my computer room has taken on a strange noise. I suspect that a metal fan blade is slightly bent and is intermittently hitting on another component in the heater. I am not too pleased about this.  I am debating about taking the heater apart to try to straighten out the components.  

But, no matter what, I will be vigilant and try to watch for any problems.   Noises signify changes. But what the changes are, who knows.

The Haircut

I have blogged before regarding getting a haircut and all that is involved in that for me.  Well, I went today to the local Pro Cuts http://www.procuts.com/ for a haircut that was 3 or 4 weeks past due.  There were several reasons for the delay, none of which I wish to discuss. 

There are at least three stylists, hairdressers or whatever you call them at the Pro Cuts near where I live that do a really good job when I get my hair cut, so I do not ask for anyone in particular.  I probably should, because one of the stylists does not do so well. But even her work is tolerable, and what the heck, it grows out.

So, I was blessed to get one of the stylists that I like.  When I told her how much hair I wanted cut off, 2 inches, she was a little concerned. I "get this."  If you cut too much hair off, you cannot put it back, and people can be very ornery about a bad hair cut. I have been at the Pro Cuts shop before when someone has come in with a complaint about a haircut, and the stylist had to try to fix it.  I would probably not do that to a stylist. I would just let my hair grow out, and find someone else to cut it next time.  But two inches of hair when my hair just barely touches my collar is a lot of hair. The stylist seemed more comfortable about the cut when I told her I was past due for a haircut.

She did a good job, and I got the haircut I was hoping to get.

Could This Be True?

Surely I have written about the fact that Sake,Haiku and Taki all keep their distance from each other, with exceptions.  Taki and Haiku will eat together, and get into slapping matches.  When Taki was young, Sake would play patty pat with Taki.  I have not seen that in a long time. For years, Haiku and Sake would not be in the same room with each other. Until the addition of Taki who changed the dynamics of the relationships in my household. 

Well it is the rare occasion, even now that two cats, not three, will join me on the sofa.  Very rare. Today, because Sake was using the afghan I usually cover up with on the sofa, I took another one to use, and left it on the other end of the sofa. Tonight, Sake and Haiku were each laying on an end of the sofa, on a afghan.  I am not sure I understand this.  The sofa is soft and overstuffed. They both like to sit on an arm, or the back. but to sit on the seat, they like an afghan under them.  I could understand if they burrowed under the afghan. But, they just lay on top of it.

Well, whatever pleases them, pleases me.

Caught!

I have previously written about Sake's illness, a mouth infection that turned her into a very picky eater and required a trip to the Veterinarian.  And, after that, she immediately started eating better.  And acting less irritable.

She still seems to pretend to be picky about what she eats, and prefers cut up chicken to baby food chicken, or hard food.  But I have long suspected that she is availing herself of some of the other food I put out.  At each meal, I put out some Fancy Feast for Taki and human tuna for Taki and Haiku. They also like hard treats.  All the while that Sake was ill, she would intermittently eat the hard treats.

A few minutes ago, I walked into the kitchen, and there was Sake eating human tuna.  When she saw me, she stopped.  She looked at me like she knew she got caught.  And then decided to continue eating the tuna.

Sometimes, you just have to cut your losses.

Winter Weather

Lubbock, like much of the mid-west of the nation, is under a winter weather watch.  The local weather report says we have dropped 55° from 74°, since 2 PM today, until almost 10:30 PM tonight.  There is a wind chill factor involved also.

There is the possibility of winter precipitation tomorrow, also.  Schools and other entities are on alert to decide if they need to alter their start times, delay or cancel activities. 

The winter weather is scheduled to continue through Monday of next week. At best, it would be nice to get some moisture. Sadly, the moisture will cause dangerous travel conditions.  We hope the wind does not cause power outages due to wires being downed. The amount of winter precipitation we expect does not appear to be enough to cause major power outages, but could cause very slick road conditions, which becomes very dangerous for motorists.

I had planned to stop at the grocery store to buy a couple of regular items tonight. As is typical for Lubbock when a winter storm is expected, the grocery store was very busy.  The milk supply was low, and people were stocking up.  I usually keep a good supply of many items so I can survive without having to go to the store. The items I wanted today were optionals, but desirables.  I could have done without, but I was not concerned about having to wait in line at the store. 

I wore a light jacket to work this morning. It was so mild, I really did not need the jacket.  When I left work tonight, I could have used a heavier jacket. One thing that helped is that I keep gloves in the pockets of just about every jacket I own, the exception being my "hoodie."  Having gloves helped with my comfort level on the way to the car from the prison tonight. The parking lot at work is wide open and subject to the winds that add to the wind chill factor.  My stop at the grocery store was not bad: the parking lot is not large, and the buildings around temper the effect of the wind.

It is that time of year.  We can expect wintry conditions from now until March.  They occur intermittently, and we are blessed with shirt sleeve weather in between. 

I like West Texas weather.  Except the dust, and destructive hail and tornadoes.  

The Gettysburg Address

This week is the 150th commemoration of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery on November 19, 1863 http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm.  This address was delivered when the city of Gettysburg dedicated the cemetery for the victims of the Battle of Gettysburg http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html.  I was blessed to tour the Gettysburg battlefield and cemetery areas, tour the visitor's centers and other buildings.  I do not think I have ever been more emotionally or spiritually moved by any place I have visited.  It was just awe-inspiring.  Of course, Lincoln's words ran through my brain much of the time as I was touring Gettysburg.

I am so thankful that I was able to tour Gettysburg.  I am thrilled at the commemorative media coverage http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/11/seven-score-and-ten-years-ago-the-gettysburg-address-entered-history.html. In my email queue today, was a letter that President Obama wrote regarding his reflections about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/gettysburg-address?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email263-text1&utm_campaign=gettysberg 

It is amazing to me how powerful, how important, how all encompassing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is. 

We are blessed to know the significance of this address. We are blessed to know that the Union survived, (something Lincoln did not know for certain at the time of his address).  We are blessed to see the racial integration of this nation, and although we have much more work to do, how wonderful it is that we have made the advances we have made.

The Assassination of John F Kennedy

This is a time of very important anniversaries in the history of the United States.  November 22, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy http://www.jfklibrary.org/.  There has been a lot of media about this assassination, and I have watched it, remembering how sad I was for our nation.  I was in the 6th grade. I remember that we heard about this as the boys came back from the mid-afternoon break. The janitor had the radio on, and they heard the news and brought it back to us.

I remember watching  a lot of television: the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, the funeral cortege and the explanations of all the symbolism, the stories about the Kennedy children.

This was a very sad time for our country.  It is a hallmark of the United States government that instead of being thrown into chaos, although I am sure the players felt they were in chaos, the oath was administered to Lyndon B. Johnson and he became the next President of the United States.

To this day, there is controversy over whether Lee Harvey Oswald http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald was the lone assassin, or if he worked in conjunction with a conspiracy to assassinate the President.  I know that the Warren Commission http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-1.html basically said that Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the assassination.

I am reminded that a news commentator remarked that a whole generation of Americans will go through life thinking that there was a conspiracy, not based on history, but based on the Oliver Stone movie JFK http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102138/. 

There are many history, discovery and news media outlets that air stories that may be based in fact, but also have some questionable information in them.  Some are blatantly ficitonalized, or take "creative license" to make the story more interesting, more amenable to the time constraints of the media outlet,  but some try to stay true to the facts. But it is difficult to discern what is the reality of these media offerings.  Usually, I trust the stuff on PBS http://www.pbs.org/.  I used to try to believe the stuff on The History Channel https://www.google.com/search?q=The+History+Channel&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF, but realize it is an entertainment outlet, not an educational venue, and I have been disillusioned by it.  But I still like it. I do not watch the Discovery Channel http://dsc.discovery.com/ or the National Geographic Channel http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/, so I will reserve judgement on those two outlets.  

But, there has been some interesting programming about the assassination of JFK, and it is an important reminder about this tragic time in the history of the United States.

Dark Early

It gets dark early at night, now that we are in standard time.  Sometimes, the fact that it gets dark so early really is difficult for me.  It is as if the day has ended prematurely.   I am not tired, I am not ready for bed, but I feel cocooned into my house.  That is not totally true, because if I have some place to go or something to do, I will do it. But it is as if I am locked in.

This is the time of year I wish I had a fireplace.  Not only would the warmth be wonderful, but the cheery brightness of the flames would improve my spirit.

I can go out and do if there is something to go out and do.

But, it gets dark early, and I retire in early.  Even if I do not retire to bed early.

Physical Therapy, Discouragement and Persistence

So, I have been going to physical therapy (PT) for the sciatica condition that I have lived with since I am not sure when, maybe as long ago as 2007.  The pain has prevented me from doing the walking I like to do, and has limited my activities, including doing housework and yard work. Over the years that I have suffered with this pain, and I have connived to limit my walking at work, while shopping, and I have done less and less housework and yard work.

I kept telling myself I needed to go to the doctor to get help with this problem. And, I kept avoiding this.  But this year, I had a sprained ankle, and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. So, if I was going to have to be in the doctor's office, I was going to see about getting my back and leg pain tended to.

So, in addition to the back and leg pain, I have had some right leg weakness. Wisely, in addition to prescribing an NSAID, celebrex, my provider referred me to physical therapy. I went gamely to physical therapy.  And have diligently done the "homework" exercises that were assigned to help me.  

Last week, I was at a professional conference, and was not able to go to PT.  This morning, as I readied myself to go to PT,  I had a mental argument regarding the value and benefit of physical therapy.  I was not sure it was worth my time. I was not sure there was any benefit to me. I was feeling discouraged.

Part of the reason I was feeling discouraged was that I had done some serious physical activity over the last two weeks.  So my back was hurting, my lower back was hurting, and I was not feeling great.

But I went to PT.  And the thearpist reviewed with me what we had accomplished.  I was surprised. I had actually developed some strength in my right leg. I still have some pain, but I am able to do some things that I was not able to do a month ago.

I am willing to give PT a go for a while longer.  I hope it makes a difference. We shall see.

My Skin Condition and Advice From Coworkers

I have had this skin problem that started on October 27, 2013.  I kept trying to figure out what I could have done or gotten into that would have cause the problem, that mostly manifested itself on the backs of my hands, but spread to my forearms, initially. I thought it might be related to yard work, or the pumpkin I purchased that day, for Halloween.

When I was in high school, I had a reaction to something that manifested itself like this, only over much more of my body, including my face.  The skin around my eyes was swollen, and I had pustules oozing over my body. I was prescribed pills (maybe cortisone) and cream, and it took about 2 weeks for things to dry up, and a maybe two more weeks for the dried up skin to return to normal.

Well, whatever I had waxed and waned. I tried to manage it with cortisone cream and calamine lotion. It got worse the night I carved the pumpkin, but was localized on my hands and forearms. For about 10 days. Then, it spread to my neck and chest, in a V-shape under my neck. 

I called the doctor, got in and got a diagnosis (that I did not agree with) but got creams and ointments and treatment that I did agree with.  I did the treatment. I was not really pleased with the results of the treatment.  It included topical ointments and washings. The stuff on my hands was contained.  I had stuff on my nose and lips.  The creams and ointments helped some, and I also used dandruff shampoo on my nose and lips and that helped a lot.

My coworkers, especially the physicians' assistants, were very helpful, concerned and supportive. Then, I took a week off, and took a trip out of town.  I kept up with the ointments, creams and dandruff shampoo.  I did ointment and lip balm on my face and lips. I did a second treatment after I returned home (within the specified time frame.) 

And, things seemed to be drying up. And, when things started drying up, things changed from burning to itching. Burning is manageable, but itching is almost intolerable.  Or at least very uncomfortable.

Today at work, the physician's assistants checked me out.  They were pleased that things were doing better, but one was concerned that the drying up of the inflammation looked red and angry still, and wondered if I needed to see a dermatologist.  If the inflammation does not resolve, I will go back to the doctor, and ask if I need something else.  But I believe it will resolve. Because it is taking the course that the inflammation I suffered as a teenager took.

Well, during the day, a couple other coworkers weighed in on my skin problem: Both thought that I needed a skin cream that their doctor prescribed, without knowing what my skin problem was. I appreciate their concern. But I have to ask myself, where did they get their medical degree?  A coworker who says, get a specialist opinion makes sense.  A coworker who says this is what I did no matter what your problem is, is dangerous.

Watching History

I watch a lot of history on TV: on PBS, and this includes The American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/ and on The History Channel http://www.history.com/. 

Tonight I watched the episode on The American Experience about John F Kennedy http://www.jfklibrary.org/.  I almost did not watch the show, because I knew the outcome. But, I did watch the show. It was well done, and touched on many aspects of the President Kennedy's life and presidency. 

I watched the show and felt at the end, the very emotional loss experienced by the death of President Kennedy.  While I sometimes have an emotional reaction to the history I watch, the intensity of my reaction to the death of President Kennedy was very powerful. Maybe not as in depth as the sadness we all felt when he was assassinated, but still very powerful.

Watching history is sometimes a dispassionate activity for me. But sometimes, it evokes from me a great deal of emotion.  Sometimes, going into the show, I know that I will be emotionally moved. Very often, I do not realize how deeply a history show will impact me.

When I was in junior high and high school, history was a compilation of memorizations of dates and facts.  I hated history.  When I was in college and had to take a history class, a medieval history course fit into my schedule.  I was studying to be a social worker, partly because I find myself fascinated by people's stories.  I enjoy reading biographies. And had been reading history books that covered the human story, not the facts.  Well, this college course was about politics and human stories, not facts, and I found out that I really do like history.

One of my best friends in Lubbock was a junior high school Texas history teacher. As we walked our dogs, she regaled me with stories of Texas history.  The stories were not facts and dates, but the human stories that fleshed out those facts and dates.

I am a very firm believer that we must learn history, because we can learn from history, from the mistakes in our history.  Mankind makes the same mistakes over and over again, but we stand a chance to improve our story if we can glean some things from the past that can help to teach us how to improve our future outcomes.

Slippers

I have several pairs of slippers, including some fluffy boot slippers with some sort of hard foam sole.  This is the second or third pair of slippers I have had like this over the years.

Recently, I have seen some hard foam flakes in the living room that I could not easily identify.  Until yesterday. I realized that the flakes were from the soles of my slippers. Someone kitty is destroying my slippers.

Today, I bought a new pair of slippers.  Instead of pink fluff, the top of the slippers is like a knitted multicolor yarn boot, but with a hard foam sole.  I will have to keep the new slippers out of reach if I am not wearing them.  I will not take the already decimated fluffy boot slippers out of circulation.

Once is a Tradition

I was afraid this would happen.  Earlier this week, I had to get up very, very early, 3:30 AM, to get to the airport in time to take a very early morning flight out of town.  Well, we do what we have to do.  I set the alarm, and managed to get up and get out of town on time.

I had the forethought to shut the alarm off while I was gone. I do not always remember to do that, and it must drive the cats nuts, because the alarm will shut it self off, but only after ringing for about two hours. Those poor cats.

I know the cats do not care for the alarm, and for years, Sake would wake me up about 5 minutes before the alarm would go off. That has changed in the last few years, but still sometimes one or the other of the three cats does wake me up before the alarm goes off.

I was gone a few days. I had hoped that my absence would intervene so that the cats did not think I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning. Well, Friday morning, Haiku woke me up about 3:30 AM.  And, this morning, she woke me up about 3:45 AM.

Well, a friend of mine says that with her pet, one time creates a tradition.  I have noticed the same is true with my cats.  And, if I try to change the tradition, they learn quickly and adapt to the new tradition, but do not want to give up the old tradition.  Hmmm.

The World of Coca Cola

I just recently returned to Lubbock from a trip to Atlanta, Georgia. It was a business trip, but we were able to include some fun things while we were there. One thing we did was go to "The World of Coca Cola  http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/."

My travel companion is a big Coca Cola collector. But even if she was not, I probably would have advocated to go to the World of Coca Cola. I wanted to do something "Atlanta" while I was in the city.  I would have prefered to tour the aquariaum, but as I judged our timing, I realized, long before we got to Atlanta, that we would not have enough time to do the aquarium justice.  

So, we were both happy to do "The World of Coca Cola"  http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/   My sense of the experience was that it was a "Willie Wonka" type experience.  We first viewed an animated video that was supposedly instructional about wellness.  I did not get it. Then we travelled through the attraction (as it is called).  We went to see the "vault" that houses the Coca Cola formula, and we watched the bottling processing, then we got to sample international Coca Cola products.

I did not have an expectaion of this experience. But if I did, I suspect I would have been right on the money.

Unpacking

So I have been out of town.  I have an excellent, well trusted cat sitter tend to the girls while I am out of town. When I return home, the girls are not skittish, nor overtly in any way put off by my absence.  In some ways, that makes me sad, because the cat sitter just comes by twice a day. But on the other hand, she is meeting their needs for food, water and affection to a great degree. So, I am blessed to have such a cat sitter.

Tonight, as I was unpacking, I had the large suitcase on the floor, and was taking things out of it as I would.  I am not in a hurry, so there are items to remove that are not clothing, but documents from the training I had attended, my creative activities, including a knitting project, books, word puzzles, and other stuff I collected while I was at the conference.

Well, I unpacked my carry on bag first.  And then, when I was ready to unpack the suitcase, Haiku was laying on top of it in a very possessional sort of way.  So, I decided to do my physical therapy exercises rather than disturb her.

After I did my physical therapy exercises, Sake was on the suitcase in a very possessional sort of way. So, I decided to do some blogging.

Here it is, after midnight, and no one is on the suitcase. I have to decide if I want to work on unpacking or go to bed.

Well, I am not ready for bed, but I am not going to worry about unpacking tonight.

My Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia

I just returned from a stay at the Westin Peachtree Plaza
http://www.westinpeachtreeplazaatlanta.com/ in  Atlanta, Georgia.  The room was payed for by the agency I represented, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Lubbock, http://www.cclubbock.org/, and the price was not bad ($129) for a downtown big city hotel.  Of course, the hotel is under renovation, and the rate included free wi-fi (instead of the the $14.95/day the hotel usually charges) and a discounted rate, as we were part of the 2913 National Runaway and Homeless Youth Grantees Conference http://www.rhyttac.net/training/national-conference.

The hotel was nice enough.  The room was small, the bathroom and closet very small. There were the amenities: complimentary coffee in the room, a "wet bar" if you wanted to purchase food (snacks), bottled water, wine, or soda pop, among other things.  The typical complimentary hygiene products were in the bathroom.  A hair dryer, an iron, ironing board and in closet safe.  And of course, a cordless phone, with two receivers, no less.  As usual, there was maid service, which you could defer as a "green" initiative, which I remembered to do the first night, but not the second.  There was even a recycling container.

The outside wall was a huge plate glass window, covered with a sheer, and a full heavy drape.  The weather in Georgia, like a large part of the southeast, experienced a cold front http://www.weather.com/weather/today/USGA0028:1.  On Monday, the air conditioner in the room was on, and although it was warm outside, I turned off the air conditioner as the room was cooler than I like.   On Tuesday, I turned on the heater, due to the cold near the window. In bed, I could get warm. But sitting at the desk, I could feel the draft coming in from the window.

Again, Wednesday, I had the heater on as I could feel the draft, sitting at the desk.  This was not the most comfortable hotel room I have ever had.   Aside from the safe and wet bar, the amenities were not much different than some $55 to $89/day rooms I have had.  And those usually were not as drafty.

At the same rate and with complimentary wi-fi, I would stay at the Westin again. But not if it was cold outside. 

The staff of the Westin at Peachtree Plaza were as attentive as one could ask for. Mostly, I would hope that in the future, the Westin at Peachtree Plaza would continue to to try to accommodate the needs of their guests, given the constraints of the renovations. And considering the impact of the outside environment given the outside plate glass windows.