Saturday, January 12, 2002
Not much, you?
I'm burned out. Half the family had doctor appointments yesterday. (I'll let Plato tell you his experience here.) I had an eye doctor appointment in the morning. My problem with my corneas threw off their equipment that reads the mapping of the eye. The doctor said it just spit out jibberish that didn't make any sense. I wanted to ask him if anywhere in there were the words "Cooper Cooper Cooper" but I figured he probably wouldn't get my Twin Peaks reference. He said as a worse case scenario I would need to get a corneal transplant or laser surgery if the problem progressed, but that is highly unlikely as my prescription is almost identical from 14 months ago. Anyway, last year after I stopped wearing contacts for a couple months so that I could be checked out by a corneal specialist, he told me that my condition is rare but it doesn't effect one's ability to wear contacts. I guess I'm vain enough to want to keep wearing contacts, but not vain enough so that I've ever opted for laser surgery. Of course I've never had a spare $5,000 (the cost of laser surgery which is not covered by any health care I've ever had) either.
After our various appointments, I also bought more houseplants. I am so addicted now that I have a sunny room. But I'm beginning to run out of room. I think I'll do some rearranging today, putting shadier plants in the living room.
It's a grey, cloudy day. The weather has been strange...no snow. None. It's almost mid-January in Wisconsin and there's no snow. It's weird. Not that I particularly mind--I love going out in a jacket in January and not having to worry about slipping on ice. I love it! It reminds me a little of a Colorado winter during a warm week, moreso than any Wisconsin winter I've ever seen. I mean even the warmest Wisconsin winter has at least had freezing rain...not that I want that.
Posted by Ann @ 10:07 AM CST ..::Link::..
Friday, January 11, 2002
Inner Frog
Argentinian Horned frogs seem to have been designed for the sole purpose of eating as much as possible. They appear to consist of two main parts: a mouth and a stomach. This is probably where they got the nickname "PacMan". Their needs are fairly simple, a warm habitat in a simple plastic box or aquarium with some shallow water and a few rocks so that they can laze around all day suits them just fine. They don't mix well with other frogs, even in their own species, as they are just as likely to eat them.
Posted by Ann @ 07:13 PM CST ..::Link::..
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Ouch!
LOL! My former blog site is 18th on Google for "speculum exams that went wrong".
I put the about me section back up, not that my bio has anything to do with speculum exams going wrong.
Posted by Ann @ 01:12 PM CST ..::Link::..
Atilla the Hon
I had a really lousy day yesterday (post Macadamia Nut hangover, perhaps). Stan was home sick with a cold (he's over it now...good to know if I get it, it won't be that bad) and he slept for most of the day doped up on Benadryl (sp?) and Calms...heh...we're such lame druggies. He probably wasn't even aware that I was upstairs at my computer crying my eyes out the whole time. But I decided to do a couple things...join a new webring "Pawed," a ring for cat owners, and the "Z List." I even made some Z List buttons. And I feel much better now, and much more cheered up as I know I'm in good company. I mean, any group who has a founding member that looks like this (picture on right) is Z-OK in my book. Makes me want to bring back my Halloweenie pictures from EyeBlog.
BTW, Why do telemarketers feel entitled to call you "hon"? One called up this AM, asked for Mr. Stanley Stawbuck (they can't ever pronounce "Rs" for some reason), then asked me if I was an authorized user on his (insert name of company) credit card. I honestly didn't know...it's not something we actively talk about, you know? I mean I have my own credit card...I don't really give a dog's butt about what I can charge on my husband's cards because I DON'T charge stuff on his cards. So I said I didn't know. Then she asked me another question and called me "hon." I hate that kind of patronization. Shyeah...like that's going to make me want to do business with them. I told her not to call me "hon" and hung up on her. Thing was, I was probably her age...I just sound young because I have a nice voice and she's used to hearing haggard old voices from shredded vocal chords that have smoked too many cheap cigarettes and yelled at too many ex-husbands.
Posted by Ann @ 12:00 PM CST ..::Link::..
NIGHTMARE
I dreamt that I was trying to install Moveable Type. I was installing it on my computer rather than on my website. I got really confused in the middle of the installation and didn't know how to go either backward or forward, but I had to do one or the other because if I shut my computer down, it wouldn't be able to boot up correctly.
I hate dreams like that.
Posted by Ann @ 08:48 AM CST ..::Link::..
Wednesday, January 9, 2002
DREAM
Another weird animal dream. Caligula had markings like a white Siberian tiger. All our animals had their mouths open, like they were panting. I was hoping that we didn't have some sort of toxic gas in our house that would make them do this. I think Natasha was there...she had an underbite. Weird.
Posted by Ann @ 09:41 AM CST ..::Link::..
Tuesday, January 8, 2002
Stan gave me an 18 oz jar of Macadamia nuts at the end of December.
I finished them off this afternoon.
Someone just shoot me. I can't afford the next pant size up.
Posted by Ann @ 05:43 PM CST ..::Link::..
DREAM
I dreamt Stan and I were visiting his (adopted) mom in Colorado. There were lots of relatives there with lots of children. Sleeping arrangements were strange...I think I had to share a room with an infant. I also think Hieronymus was a toddler instead of a dog, and I couldn't find him...I was calling his name but he never came. Also, there was a part about one of our female cats (we only have one now, Persephone) being very sick with the same sort of problem that IRL one of Stan's female cousins has...except it wasn't Persephone, it was like it was a cat I had a long time ago when I lived with my parents, Dottie. I had a feeling she was going to die (Dottie died about a decade ago IRL) and I was sad that we would be losing two pets within the span of a year, Natasha (IRL), and in the dream, Dottie.
Posted by Ann @ 08:39 AM CST ..::Link::..
Monday, January 7, 2002
Wow.
New iMac. A while ago Stan was saying they should come out with a round Mac as an answer to their Cube. Well, they're halfway there.
Remember those round AM radios on a chain in the early 1970s? I had a yellow one.
Posted by Ann @ 09:49 PM CST ..::Link::..
Brian!!!
WOW! I just got an email from a college friend that we totally lost touch with! What a great surprise to hear from him. Brian, if you're reading this, HI!!!!!! And hey, are YOU the one who did the Google search on Dave Dietemann where Eyeblog was the only listing that came up? :-D
Posted by Ann @ 05:38 PM CST ..::Link::..
It keeps getting better...
My favorite RH Character!
Posted by Ann @ 01:48 PM CST ..::Link::..
I just can't take this one seriously...
Which Brady Bunch kid are you most like?
Well, I don't now about loathing someone I live with, but I think I'm Jan Brady because:
-I had both braces and glasses at the same time when I was a young teen. It was hell.
-Stan says that Jan is actually the prettiest of all the Brady women. :-)
-I do a damn good Jan impression.
-Our names rhyme.
-It really is always Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. I really do say this a lot. Really. You don't believe me, do you? It's true.
Link via Clarablog.
Posted by Ann @ 12:44 PM CST ..::Link::..
Nobots
I think I had a 'bot infestation. I had a plethora of karma votes in my mailbox when I checked this morning. That's VERY unusual...this journal isn't that well-visited. The weird thing was, most of them were from one of two addresses, and many of them voted both negative and positive on the same entry. (I had duplicate address karma voting disabled, but they'd vote from 123.45.678.90 as well as from 123.45.678.91, for example) It was most weird and disturbing. The odd thing was that I couldn't discern any visitors from those addresses (the addresses listed above are just examples...these are NOT the addresses that were involved) via my stats, but I checked my visitor log via my host and found that my site was indeed being visited by bots (www.inktomi.com?) from what I suspect was around the time the karma votes kept trickling in. It was so freaky because my email client checks my email every 5 minutes while I'm online, and each time it checked, there was another karma vote! It was freaky....like a lab rat that is conditioned to keep pulling a lever to get a pellet. So I removed the Karma Voting as I do not need 'bots voting. If it was not a case of 'bots, and it indeed was a human (which I don't think it was from what I could tell) then they SERIOUSLY have too much time on their hands, not to mention split personalities hence both the positive and negative duplicate votes. Anyway, don't you think that casting karma votes affects the karma of the voter more than the writer? I did leave the Comments as they're impermeable to non-humans.
Trying to stuff my face as much as possible before noon. Stan and I have appointments at 4pm with some medical place that does pee-in-a-jar tests for insurance companies (specifically, for life insurance) so we can't eat anything for four hours. Ugh. I mean, sometimes I go all day without eating when something has upset me, but under normal circumstances I get hungry around mid day, but not too early in the morning. It's really hard to force yourself to eat so early in the day when you're not hungry. The hardest part will be just drinking water for the rest of the afternoon. I hate water (except the carbonated kind). I must have flavor in my drinks. I can't even drink tea (my favorite drink), dammit! Grrr!
Posted by Ann @ 12:01 PM CST ..::Link::..
My inner Bowie
Collaborations with Eno and Pop...hey, that's the life.
Posted by Ann @ 10:08 AM CST ..::Link::..
Sunday, January 6, 2002
Plants and Stuff
It's good to see you back, Diane. Yes, I know exactly what you mean about wanting an online diary as opposed to a blog...me too, hence my recent changeover.
Just got back from the southeastern part of the state picking up art in Kenosha and visiting assorted greenhouses (Steins in Milwaukee and another Stein's and Mileager's in Racine). More baby plants to add to the collection. A bunch of Begonia Rexes from Mileagers. I used to grow them so well before we moved to Wisconsin, then they all died. I'm trying my hardest to keep plants alive in our new sunny bedroom. I'm trying really really really hard this time.
Found a loose stem of a Wandering Jew on the ground when leaving Mileagers--the color I was looking for! Will try to root it. I hope it's not already too late, having been out on the cold ground and all. When I was about 14 or 15, my parents made me shut up one time when I was talking about Wandering Jews in the plant aisle of a grocery store...yeesshh...how PC...what was I supposed to say, "Tradescantia zebrina 'Quadricolor'"? Now *that* would make people stare coming from the mouth of a young teenager who they probably thought was nine.
Posted by Ann @ 05:17 PM CST ..::Link::..
DREAM
Last night I dreamt I was living in a house that I think was more modern, perhaps one story with lots of open windows, stone floors and diaphanous draperies. Unfortunately, our bed was a double (I HATE double beds) and was worried that I'd keep bumping into Stan at night, but there was also a single bed that I thought I'd probably have to use when I couldn't stand the close proximity at night any longer...I need much personal space. There was a bathroom off the bedroom, with lots of open windows that would expose me to anyone outside the house. As I sat on the stool, I keep falling into it, like the seat hole was huge. I also noticed that there was another room adjacent to the bathroom that could be seen directly from our bathroom with just glass separating them. There was a hottub there, and the people in the hot tub were our former neighbors, Dave and Mary. I didn't want them to see me going to the bathroom, so I tried to be discreet. Then Dave came over to our side and started talking to Stan and I, and he said he had some interesting news/updates that he had to tell us. But he never told us.