Shoveling Ferret

Planet of the Spray Tan

2012-01-26T21:01:00.000-06:00

Watching "The Apple" at the moment.

Also known as:
"Look at these freaking Oompa Loompas"
"Holy crap, it's the planet of the guidos."
"Beta Carotene is all we eat"

Also, I've discovered another instance of Star Trek character or Republican?

Check it out:

Orange dipshit.

Uncannily similar orange dipshit who borrowed Biden's hair.

Someone find me a Democrat Star Trek doppleganger. I'll give you an internet pie. Or something.

The Sentimentality of Teaching

2012-01-20T22:47:00.000-06:00

Image by shoveling_ferret via Flickr

The past few days and coming week are a time of introspection and memory for me. Tom has gone on a 10-day trip to Sudan leaving me with decidedly mixed feelings. I of course hope he has fun and is safe, but there are emotions connected with some less than pleasant memories of that last season and, I must admit, a tiny bit of jealousy that he can go and I no longer can. Adulthood is a bitch.

I'm also preparing to teach again and have been updating my syllabus and reviewing my old lecturing notes and presentations. I hadn't realized how many memories would be triggered doing this. I have found myself remembering the days in class I learned about certain topics. How difficult translating particular texts was. And in reviewing introductions to formal translations, very amused reading between the lines in discussions of why particular approaches were taken in translation.
I am happy that most of those memories are pleasant and leave me a bit wistful, but not depressed or even particularly regretful.
I am looking forward to teaching again and hoping desperately that my brain fog and fatigue and occasional aphasia won't be too much to deal with. I am optimistic in that regard.

Oreo, on the other hand, is a bit grumpy that I have several books and papers out, which means that I am not available to pay full attention to him at any moment. Poor doggy.

Course Prep

2012-01-17T13:19:00.000-06:00

Psycho-kinetic Ancient Space Greeks Are Assholes

2012-01-11T19:50:00.001-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

Woo, Star Trek.

At the moment, the episode Plato's Stepchildren is on. For those who are not complete nerds, this episode is best known for being one of the first interracial kisses shown on national television in the United States. Shatner got to smooch Nichelle Nichols.

As it was 1968, NBC was worried that backwards idiots might get all butt-hurt about a white guy kissing a super hot black lady. I'm guessing jealousy was a big part of that. I mean, what good, racist asshole wouldn't want to kiss William Shatner? Wait, what?

As it turns out, it doesn't seem to have been a huge deal. Maybe klan meetings were on Star Trek nights? Or no one felt like driving to LA to burn crosses?

Aside from the stupid racism, there's a huge pile of other stupid there. There are far more disturbing things than a kiss in that episode.

Shatner pretending to be a very vocal pony while being ridden by the character Alexander ranks much, much higher in the "holy shit, I am actively uncomfortable watching this" category.

Also, very short tunics. On men. Not good.

Spock is forced to dance around Kirk's head and then be all emotional.

Also, the bitchy "Platonian" lady seems to be getting off on watching Kirk and Uhura being forced to make out.

And Majel Barrett's eye makeup is, um, yeah...

An entire society of ancient space Egyptians would have been waaaaaay cooler.

National Holiday

2012-01-09T19:20:00.000-06:00

Today should be one, because it's Tom's birthday.

Prostrate yourselves before Tom, MASTER OF ARCHAEOLOGY!!!!

Question of Vital Importance

2011-12-31T01:37:00.000-06:00

We do not own a recliner. We have a couch, two kind of uncomfortable but lovely old wooden office chairs, a rocking chair, the four chairs with our dining table, my office chair and if we're getting desperate a balance ball, a zafu, a perching stool, and some random pillows.

Oreo doesn't look this derptastic.

My parents and Tom's parents do, however, have recliners as do some friends. Oreo immediately occupies any open recliner as soon as doggily possible. It doesn't matter how many other comfy spots are open - in the absence of food to beg for or appealing toys he is in that recliner. On occasion, he attempts to occupy the recliner even when the usual occupant is still present. Watching Oreo just wander over, jump onto Dad's lap, and actually try to wedge himself further into the recliner with my dad already in it is hilarious.
"Oh, I'm sorry large boy-human, were you already in the chair? I'm a guest, you know. And I need this chair. Also, I find your gruff demeanor entirely unconvincing and will therefore cuddle with you for a minute."

With Tom's dad there's usually a stare down when his dad returns to his briefly unoccupied chair to find Oreo in it. Tom's dad tells Oreo to get out of the chair. Oreo blinks at him. Repeat until Oreo finally slithers out of the chair looking deeply offended.

We were just talking vaguely about getting a nicer couch and recliner at some point. And I wonder - if we could afford it would Oreo prefer a full size recliner or would he like one of those little ones for little kids?

Serious freakin' business, people.

Happy Holidays, Enjoy Your Balls

2011-12-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

Went to my in-laws for Xmas this year. Nice trip, fun to see little kids for Christmas.

We drove home today. We pass a state penitentiary on the way. Tom says we should take Oreo to the penitentiary (because saying mean things to Oreo is one of Tom's hobbies).
I replied that Oreo did his time in the joint and had paid his debt to society. (I adopted him from Animal Control lo these many years ago.)
So Tom says maybe we should take him to talk to the inmates:
"Once, I was in a place like this, just like you..."
And I finished:
"...and then they cut off my balls and gave me to some strange lady."

I don't think Oreo will be pursuing a career as a motivational speaker.

In other news, Tom got me knitting books! Rock!

And the Children Shall Lead

2011-12-22T00:11:00.000-06:00

Turns out the Plaquenil was doing more than giving me heartburn. I've been out for about a month and the past few weeks my various autoimmune related symptoms have gotten much, much worse. I've been running a fever for at least the past few days, hands have swollen up again, arthritis is worse, tingling/numbness in hands, and my mid-back is like crazy painful. And, really, I was still having wicked heartburn. Dammit.Anyway, I've resumed taking it, hopefully it will work again.

I have also found a wonderful general care clinic. Very happy about that.

Discomfort has been keeping me up late - arthritis or heartburn/acid reflux seem to be taking turns. Grumble.

Tonight I decided some knitting and Star Trek were in order. Tonight, I was particularly interested to notice something about the episode "And the Children Shall Lead."The scary-ass Gorgan dude looks remarkably like a certain former Speaker of the House. Coincidence?

One used mind-control techniques to take advantage of others and sap their strength through fear. The other one is a fictional character.

Ba-dum-tish

And here's some bonus scary:

Identity Crisis

2011-12-15T19:11:00.000-06:00

Image via Wikipedia
How did they do aerobics in those robes?
And what exactly is dude measuring with his hands?
And is Jesus pearl-clutching?

So I finally got around to checking the academic schedule to see when I'm teaching next term. I thought I'd have to be ready to go on the 2nd of January as long, painful, sometimes hung-over experience at the University of Chicago had taught me, but it turns out I have until near the end of January to procrastinate updating my lectures and junk. My textbook samples arrived last week (I had requested them in September) and after a grand total of 5 minutes examining them, I adopted two of them for this term in the hopes they'll be slightly less confusing than the textbooks I used last time.

Cool.

It occurs to me though that I am not quite sure what to say when people ask me what I do. I already had a preview of this after my Nana's funeral. Someone asked what I did and my uncle told them I was a teacher. So the guy asked what grade I taught. And I said "college." And there was sort of awkward silence.

Ahem.

Then the guy asked what class I taught and I said "ancient Egyptian history" because that's the easiest answer. And every few minutes for the rest of the afternoon he kindly (and loudly) warned me to watch out for mummies. Why, yes, there was drinking involved, why do you ask?

I decided that was probably not the best time to bring up excavating cemeteries and storing skeletons under my bed for safety (of the skeletons). Seriously, though, that got really damn annoying.

Anyway, thus my identity crisis.

I'm not a professor. Technically I'm an instructor. But I can already see the hilarity possible in that conversation.

Random person: So, what do you do?
Me: I'm an instructor.
Random person: Of what?
Me: (Gripping cane tightly) Aerobics.¹

Also, the campus where I teach is in a mall. As in next to JC Penny's. Because surreality is my reality.

1 Other potential responses include: "Karate" and "Your Mom"

Grover Is Disappoint

2011-12-09T16:05:00.001-06:00

I'm glad to see that despite no longer living in the big city, we still get stories of utter derpitude locally. Like this bunch of dimwits calling themselves the Savior Unit. I especially like this quote from the news article I linked:

The manual has a manifesto of the group that includes promoting Christ, helping law enforcement, doing community service, reconnaissance, infiltration, apprehension and “retrieval.”

This puts me in mind of a song from my childhood.

I think maybe these guys missed Sesame Street.

Not enough room

2011-11-30T08:29:00.001-06:00

...to expand on her badassness
Justine Petronzi Obituary: View Justine Petronzi's Obituary by Reno Gazette-Journal

Is that Anton Lavey?

2011-11-29T16:06:00.001-06:00

See my confusion?

Image via Wikipedia
Chief Attention Whore

Chief Thrall
Gamesters of Triskelion

The Trouble with The Trouble with Tribbles

2011-11-29T13:39:00.001-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

Folding laundry, packing, etc, and watching Star Trek. The Trouble with Tribbles at the moment.

You know the famous scene of Kirk in the pile of tribbles falling out of the overhead storage compartment?

How creepy is it to realize Kirk is essentially standing in a pile of recently deceased animals? Ewwwww!!!
Reasonably certain they deleted the "ewww! flail!!!" scene.

Spoiler Alert: (for those too lame to watch Star Trek)
At the end we find out Scotty has disposed of the overload of tribbles on the Enterprise by beaming them somewhere.

Kirk is all "holy shit, you didn't beam them into space, you monstrous Haggis-eater!" (I may be fuzzy on the exact dialogue. Oh, wow, that was a horrible pun.)

Scotty is all "dude, chill, what the hell, I'm not that demented! I sent them to the Klingon ship. Geez, are you PMSing or what this episode?"

And then everyone is all LULZ, Klingons and tribbles hate each other - EPIC TROLL IS EPIC!

Except how are the Klingons going to deal with the tribbles unless it's by killing them in some way? Or will this become some interstellar game of Pass the Tribbles?

Gratitude

2011-11-27T15:56:00.001-06:00

Thank you, everyone for all your kind thoughts and messages over the past few days. Schedules being all muddled, I will be going out for the funeral by myself.

Tom and Oreo will be on their own!

I'll be leaving here on Wednesday morning, flying to Las Vegas, and then riding up to Reno for the funeral on Friday, staying to visit for a bit and then coming home on Tuesday.

Thank goodness for my Kindle, smartphone, and plastic crochet hooks - I should have plenty of entertainment in very little luggage.

I think Nana's fabulous shopping spirit was with me yesterday - I needed to find a dress for the service and a new winter coat and managed to find both and some luggage that still rolls and isn't full of archaeological dirt. My new coat is bright pink - one of Nana's favorites.

Today I'm recovering from throwing up most of last night - I think I had a super-migraine-of-super-suckitude. Nausea is pretty typical for me, but not full-on projective vomiting. :( Hopefully this was just an unholy combination of stress, weather, and allergies and will not become a trend given how little good most meds do for me.

Fun fact: sitting on a folding stool in front of the toilet instead of kneeling is a lot friendlier to knees. Also, really glad we have two bathrooms now as Tom's parents were visiting this weekend...

I'm feeling a bit better now, sipping flat ginger ale and chicken broth and eating crackers. Oreo is very pleased about the crackers. Poor Tom has a cold, but is still taking very good care of me.

In Memorial

2011-11-24T16:01:00.001-06:00

My Nana, who had been living with esophageal cancer for a little over a year passed away this morning. She was at home, where she wanted to be, and it was quiet and peaceful.

She was a very tough lady and I'm proud to have been named after her. She was up and about until late last week.

My uncle has been living with her since my Papa passed away and has been her primary caretaker the last few years for which we are all very grateful.

Rest in Peace, Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

Anne McCaffrey Has Died - GalleyCat

The Dragonriders of Pern series is pretty much what, along with Star Trek and a few other bits of science fiction and fantasy, kept a very geeky, socially awkward, frequently bullied, and often bored teenaged Shoveling Ferret somewhat sane and alive and even happy through middle and early high school.

And I still have a huge geek crush on Robinton and sometimes wish Oreo was a fire lizard and would dearly love to visit Pern somewhere other than my imagination.

Thank you, Anne. You made a lot of people very happy, very thoughtful, and very entertained.

Oreo is a Punk

2011-11-14T11:25:00.001-06:00

My dog is a brat. You all knew this, but some of you like hearing about his brattiness and really, this was hilarious.

We just got up and first thing is always to take him out because he's getting older and the bladder, it gets full and hard to control after lots of sleep.

So, I toss on my jacket over my jammies and we go out the front door of the apartment, which leads to a sort of breezeway down the center of the building. One way goes to the parking lot, the other goes to the little patch of woods that our patio faces. We usually go toward the woods because it's more potty-friendly and closer.

So, he hops down off the cement to the woods, pees, and then makes a bee-line for our patio. And hops up on it. And goes to the sliding door. And then looks at me like I'm stupid.

And I (because I've given up seeming normal in public) say out loud: "I can't let you in that door, it's locked." And I try to coax him off the porch and back to the front door. Nuh-uh. Will not move.

Finally, I pinned his leash under the chair on the patio, went in the front door, and opened the sliding glass door. Oreo trotted right in and waited for me to take off his harness and give him his treat.

I am very well trained.

I would like to apologize

2011-11-10T19:14:00.001-06:00

to the people who got here via the last search phrase on this list

And wound up with this:

From this post.

This is relevant to my interests

2011-11-10T18:44:00.001-06:00

From Free Vintage Crochet

I've been re-reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved the books as a child, picked them up again a year or two ago, and have found they make superb comfort reading.

Last night I noticed that Laura was knitting a "nubia" for her sister, Mary. Given my past interest and work in Nubian studies, that stuck out a bit.

As near as I can seem to find in very brief Google and Ravelry browse, a "nubia" or "nubian" is a long scarf or shawl, wide enough to drape gently over the head and around the neck. This PDF from Ragged Soldier gives a modern example along with an historic illustration. They seem to have come into fashion in the late 19th Century and lasted through the early 20th. There are vintage/historic crochet and knitting patterns available as well for free and on eBay and as Kindle "books" on Amazon. (I strongly recommend searching the internet for patterns found for sale on Amazon, as they may simple be free patterns converted (or not) to Kindle file format.

Image by mek22 via Flickr

Not sure this is a Nubian goat, but photo kicks ass.

The term seems to have no connection to Nubia the place or Nubians the people, despite both terms being used. I thought maybe it referred to Nubian goats, but they don't look much like fiber animals. Then I thought maybe the droopy ears and the scarf over the head looked sort of alike.

But, no, I finally found this:

Nubia. [From Latin nubes, a cloud] A knitted or crocheted scarf of Soft, fleecy material, worn about the head and neck. (Source)

So, no telling people their hand-knit or hand-crocheted scarves make them look like goats. Probably for the best.

In other news, the weather has cooled of here and my head and hands are making it felt. Hopefully will level out soon.
Also, the idiotic Personhood Amendment failed. So I will have no reason to use the phrase "pry my IUD out of my cold, dead uterus."

Girly Fru-Fru Stuff

2011-11-07T17:00:00.000-06:00

I got my package of wonderful soap and shampoo bar samples from Chagrin Valley Soap today. Opening our mail box sent the most wonderful minty-herbal scent wafting out. I had taken Oreo over to the big central mail box thing for the apartment complex and actually wound up using the lovely scents to keep him moving.
He's a sucker for pretty smells. Loves chamomile and baby's breath especially. No idea why.

Anyway, my acne has flared up something fierce lately and I've been getting sores on my scalp again. Not fun. I seem to be getting the acne to ease off a little, but cycling through my shampoo/conditioners and even trying some new ones hasn't helped the head much.

I had tried Chagrin Valley shampoo bars several years ago in Chicago. I had fallen in love with LUSH products, but not so much some of the ingredients or the price tag. I had chin-length hair then. Between the water and the hair, I just could not make a go of them, even waiting several weeks, vinegar rinses, etc., etc. So I used up the bars to wash the rest of me and that was that. Then I found one of those old samples stashed in one of my dresser drawers (they smell wonderful, so they serve double duty as potpourri when not in active use). Used it to wash hair and face and it turned out very nicely. Several days in and I don't have that weird grungy-greasy feeling, haven't needed to do a vinegar rinse yet, and scalp sores seem to be improving. I'm guessing the change in water and maybe in hair length helped.

Anyway, Chagrin Valley has lovely, lovely stuff and it is incredibly reasonably priced and there are samples for nearly everything. So I grabbed whatever looked fun. They also have doggie shampoo bars. Tom discovered they're easier to use on Oreo than liquid shampoo when we borrowed one at a friends place. And Oreo is also having some skin itchies, so I'm hoping this will help.

I also scored a solid lotion bar. They're made of waxes and oils that are solid at room temperature but melt when massaged on skin. My hands have become more prone to eczema over the past year, so this is part of my plan of gradually having hand lotion available all over the apartment and in my purse as that seems to be what keeps the itchy, nasty pustules away, but I am sometimes too lazy to hunt for lotion.

So this is the soap I've been making little soap holders for. My first one seems to be just the right size. The one I started last night is going to be too big and will probably need to be frogged. And no, they aren't paying me to gush about their soap on the internets. I will post further info as I try things out.

Also, I have started using Astrid as a to-do list reminder thing. I really like it so far. It's free, web based and has an Android app. Easy interface. You can add in a social component as well.

Bonus Oreo Cuteness

Blurgh and some crocheting

2011-11-05T01:29:00.000-05:00

As I said last time, the past few weeks have been rough. I'm not sure if I've been in a CFS flare, if my thyroid meds need to be adjusted, or what, but most the past month I've been dizzy to the point of greying out for no apparent reason, almost throwing up if I bent over, and exhausted - if I read a book as opposed to a bright, active computer screen I start to doze off, no matter how much sleep I've had or how recently I had been asleep.

Not as much has gotten done around the apartment as some might expect. I've done the best I can while not making myself feel intensely worse, pass out, or throw up. It's made me feel horrible and guilty and useless to not be able to do as much as I'd like, but I've tried to do a little every day, even if it isn't all that noticeable and to be gentle and kind to myself, using some of the skills mindfulness has been teaching me.

We have finally gotten our insurance cards, so I can start seeing doctors again.

This past week has been devoted to coping with and recovering from a bladder/kidney infection. I wound up going to the ER Sunday night after attempts to tough it out from Friday onward failed. I think the last time I was in that much lasting pain was when I had my spinal tap. I was going to wait until Monday and find a clinic or something, but realized I simply couldn't make it through the night with the kind of flank pain I had.

Fortunately the ER staff were nice and I've had a week of Cipro and some pain meds that I've used sparingly. While I'm grateful for the Cipro, the side-effects blow goats. It seems to cause severe headaches (though that might have been the infection) that throb with the slightest movement. Far worse than the migraines I usually have. And no response to meds.
Gut pain from the infection was a problem to the point I had trouble sleeping until recently and I get a little flare of pain again now and again that could be my kidney or could just be a grumpy ovary or a weird back spasm.
Up until today I've had major problems brain wise - lots of forgetfulness, typos, silly errors, forgotten words, dropping things, running into things.

And I've started having major pain and stiffness when I get out of bed. In the arches of my feet and the sides of my hips. What the hell? Why those specific areas? I have no idea. Cipro can do weird things to tendons and muscles, so I'm hoping this will go away when I finish taking it and isn't some new, weird permutation of some part of my sickliness. I've had more generalized weakness/pain. I don't really know how else to describe it - usually in my shoulders and hips. Holding anything up above my head, even very light things is exhausting with the edge of hurt that usually means muscle failure is imminent. Really hoping that's a Cipro thing too, but I suspect it's more a thyroid thing.

Anyway, that's the health report. I've been working through a mindfulness workbook and working on acknowledging my feelings and states of being, including pain and sickness and discomfort and anger along with happiness and joy and anticipation and letting them be. That's part of the reason for the detail here. I also hope that others reading this and going through similar things won't feel quite so alone in it.

I have finally started crafting again. I've been doing some spinning, though I've been limited by that weird shoulder pain/weakness thing.

I ordered a bunch of soap samples from Chagrin Valley Soaps. I tried them in the past and couldn't quite get the hang of the shampoo bars and had trouble keeping the soap intact. I have shorter hair now and very different water, so I'm hoping for a better result. Also hoping the soaps might help with some of my random eczema and cystic acne and seborrheic dermatitis crap. My complexion is an absolute mess at the moment and it makes me sad in addition to being uncomfortable.

To help solve the problem of keeping the soap intact, I decided to crochet some soap sacks. Pop the bar in there, use it as a combo scrubby/soap, and then hang it to dry when finished. Sweet! Just finished the first one in about 45 minutes, using Cassiemarie's Soap Saver

In other news, Google + and Google Reader are pissing me off big time. I cannot find a way to share web pages directly to Google + via a share button browser plug-in the way Facebook, Twitter, and Delicious (and many others) can.
And the new Google Reader has apparently stopped working with the "note this in Reader" bookmarklet, which would also allow you to share webpages directly without having to open a new tab and cut and paste crap.
I am unamused.

Not Dead Yet

2011-10-23T20:02:00.004-05:00

Wow, I've been terrible about keeping up with posting. Ahem.

In my fortune cookie today

I've spent the last few weeks continuing to recover from moving. My arthritis has been problematic, but I've managed to putter around and do a few chores every day and slowly start low-grade exercise again. Swelling in my hands and feet with too much exertion (like a few hours on my feet) and/or high temperatures has been annoying.

Tom has been up to Chicago the past few weekends and this weekend I had the car. SCORE! I completely lost my mind and had a 4-5 hour long shopping marathon with, um, pretty much no breaks. This was epically stupid. "Post-exertional malaise" is really not a sufficient description. And I managed to get so tired that I had trouble sleeping, which is among the stupidest mind-body quirks I can think of.

I did wind up with some comfy pants and leggings to go with some other new-ish clothes from eBay. My weight is still creeping up courtesy of the nortriptyline. I'm still within the healthy BMI range, but getting uncomfortably close to overweight. I've been logging meals and activity with MyFitnessPal, which does seem to help a little bit. It's not quite clear how much of the weight and bloating is weird autoimmune related fluid build up and how much is actual weight-weight. Grumble.

I had never really had to pay attention to my weight until the past year or two aside from making sure it didn't drop too much in the field on a few occasions. So this is an entirely new, weird thing trying to figure out what size I am now, what is flattering on this very new and different body, and realizing just how socialized I am/was to "skinny=good/beautiful." And stretch marks. What the hell?

Bonus fun, of course, is the uncertainty about exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Some camps suggest Graded Exercise Therapy, often in combination with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a useful intervention to increase general function. Others suggest that even graded exercise therapy can increase oxidative stress and in other ways actually be counterproductive or even dangerous for people with CFS/ME. I have found in general that aerobic exercise of any kind tends to be far, far more unpleasant with longer lasting after-effects than more gentle stretching, like yoga or very low level aerobic exercise like walking.

We still have not received our insurance information so I have yet to see any new doctors. I'm dreading it, actually. I hate having to recount the decline of my health and all the details around it for new people. I hate trying to figure out if a doctor is being patronizing or has decided I'm just "nuts." I hate not knowing where the line between self-advocacy and rudeness is.

In the meantime, I have been working through A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook I have it as a Kindle book, but it seems to no longer be available in that format. I'm enjoying it so far and finding that it is helping me recognize when I've tightened up or gotten anxious and pause to relax. It is still a challenge to do the daily meditations. I still feel obscurely guilty for taking 15 minutes to meditate when there are boxes to be unpacked or dishes to be washed or, or, or... It is at least keeping me on a fairly even path until I can begin seeing a therapist regularly again.

I also have done no crafting. For months. I can't decide on a project, I don't pick up things already started. I can't decide on a new thing to start. Hoping to remedy that this week.

Better news - some of my experiments with supplements do seem to be helping a little bit. I ran out of CoQ10 this week and seemed to feel a bit less with it until more arrived. It often seems that various treatments help in increments best detected when the treatment is skipped or removed.

We've made some progress in unpacking.

Well, some of us. Others have been grumpily hogging the heating pad.

Fuzzy Bandito News Flash

2011-10-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Come on, you knew it was just a matter of time before I posted this.

Alert:
A group of raccoons in the area destroyed some papyrus plants and a pepper plant.

Clearly this means they are making paper on which to make plans for world domination. While enjoying some salsa.

Watch for further updates. And raccoons with pencils.

Fuzzy Banditos

2011-10-08T19:02:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The perfect storm of suburban vermin, Grabby and Stinky.

I heard clinking on the porch last night.Flipped the light on and peeked through the blinds to see several raccoons very carefully tipping over the planters to see if there was anything good in them. They didn't break anything.After a while they got bored and annoyed with the light and left, probably to go dumpster diving. Only one seemed to suspect they were being spied upon and kept staring at the glass like "I know you're there."

Fortunately, we don't let Oreo run around alone outside, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Tom put some of the plants in hanging planters today. Do raccoons do acrobatics? And if so, do they wear leotards and capes or should I make some for them?

I am guessing they're smart enough not to eat the peppers from his pepper plant but if I do see a raccoon on the patio frantically swiping at his tongue I'll try to get photos.

In other news, I had insomnia like whoa bad and didn't get to sleep until around 7 this morning and then slept until around 3. I woke up to a shaved dog. He'd gotten into a burr patch and Tom wisely decided shaving was better than trying to pick out each little burr. Those things hurt like hell and I think I have a mild allergic reaction to them. Poor Oreo.

He looks very handsome now, though.

The sliding glass door is becoming a source of random amusement. We've had the raccoons. People cut through between the patio and the patch of woods. Today a Boston Terrier and his person cut through there. Oreo went nuts and they were nose-to-nose through the glass. Oreo is most disgruntled that we did not react appropriately to OMG HE COULD COME IN HERE!!!

We've been mostly trapped in the apartment complex the past few days. Cruising the Coast is going on, which is awesome, except that Highway 90 is the only way in or out of our apartment complex and it is being heavily cruised. Tom biked to WalMart to get me more allergy meds and some food because he is made of awesome.

Two unrelated but awesome things

2011-10-07T17:38:00.000-05:00

Image by Stephen Rees via Flickr
Edit: Formatting on the quotes got super weird. Trying to fix that:

The first is this amazing article by Toni Bernhard, author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers(also amazing, by the way). Toni has a gift for explaining the common lived experience of people with chronic illness and their caretakers in a way that is clear, empathetic, and elegant without drifting too far into the "oh woe is me" or the "I will tough everything out and pretend everything is just fine." Definitely worth the read.
A few quotes in particular resonated with me:

Yes, it's okay to get sick or be in acute pain due to an injury or a surgical procedure, but then we're supposed to get better. Everyone expected that of me and I expected that of myself. For years, I felt embarrassed that I wasn't living up to the cultural norm

And:

Many of us believe that we've let our family and friends down.

And:

The dilemma of how to "present" to the world. Should we spruce ourselves up and risk people erroneously thinking we can participate fully in whatever they're doing?

Also:

We're often misjudged by others if they see us looking nice or being active in any way. Healthy people tend to assume it's all or nothing: we're either sick or we're not; we're either in pain or we're not. And so, if they see us doing anything "normal," they assume we're 100% well. This has happened to me many times. Someone will see me at an espresso place with a friend and assume I've recovered, unaware that I came from the bed and will collapse on it after the visit. People aren't deliberately being insensitive. They just don't know.

And:

Caregivers face their own set of stressors. They must live with the frustration of not being able to make their loved ones better. They're suddenly thrown into the role of patient advocate in the medical system, a role for which they have no training or expertise. They often have to take over the running of the household. Caregivers see us at our worst, as we put on a good show for others (for me, this means running on adrenaline), only to collapse when we're in the privacy of our own homes or apartments.

On a lighter note, I enjoy watching jackasses get their comeuppance and boy has that happened with a vengeance with The Bloggess and a particularly clueless PR company (not the one that tried to recruit me to write for a "Mommy Blog" who had obviously not read much of anything here).
I sort of regret not being in Chicago anymore as I would have given serious consideration to dressing up like Beyonce the metal chicken and going to the PR company's offices downtown to tell them "Knock, knock, motherfuckers." Pretty sure that would have been the best bus ride EVAR.

Good Day

2011-10-06T15:59:00.001-05:00

This week has been one long migraine, which hasn't been so wonderful. But, Twitter friends helped me figure out that it might have been forgetting my magnesium supplements that was at least contributing to the problem. Social networking and asynchronous communication at its finest.

Part of why the migraine lasted so long was also that I was being very, very stingy with my clonazapam because I was running low. We still don't have our insurance cards or account numbers so I'd have to fill things out of pocket. That wouldn't have been an issue except that the clonazapam script was written on the same sheet as two other meds, one of which would have cost $536 out of pocket for a 30-day supply. Apparently in MS, it's standard practice to fill all the meds on a sheet, especially if it's from a hospital (never mind that it was an outpatient clinic, the sheet from UofC says "hospital." So I asked if they could please, please let me just fill one and come back for the others when I have my insurance info. The pharmacy assistant at Walgreen's was fabulous and called around to see if she could fill it. Fortunately they could, because I was not looking forward to either going without my clonazapam or paying for everything and then trying file an insurance claim. We are covered and have been since Tom's first day of work, we just don't have proof of coverage. Bleh.

Anyway, getting the script helped a whole lot.

I'm never getting that arm pillow back.

Yesterday our new washer and dryer arrived. Oreo sounded much more ferocious than he actually is, because the delivery guy was standing well back from the door when I opened it. I had Oreo tucked under one arm and the guy peeked around me and asked if he was really the only dog.

I managed to drive over to fill out my HR paperwork to teach in the spring. And I ordered some evaluation copies of a few potential textbooks.

Today the migraine is almost gone. I've been doing laundry. And I went for a swim, which wore me out, but helped loosen up all the super tight muscles in my lower back (from scoliosis) and neck (from migraines). I only have a few more weeks to enjoy the pool before it closes, so I'm hoping the weather will stay warm enough. It seems to have temporarily helped with the swelling in my feet and ankles too.

For now, Oreo and I are sacked out on on the couch contemplating a nap.

Moving on Up

2011-10-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

So, the move is complete. In that all our junk is in the new apartment.

Also, we have an ice maker:

Two Roman tubs:

And this is the view from the patio and the bedroom windows:

Tom's parents bought us a new mattress in addition to helping us move in and his sister and brother-in-law and niece helping with the move and passing on a queen bed frame for the guest bedroom.

New mattresses are huge. Our bed was already high. It hits just under my boobs now and I'm 5'6 or 5'7 depending on how scolio'd my spine is on a given day.

Oreo on the mattresses before we put them on the bed frame

We got new driver's licenses. I think all the weight Tom lost from the last time he had a MS license I gained since the last time I had one.

Friday while I was in the bathroom I got another call about teaching. Apparently they needed to know right that minute if I could teach in the spring. So I said "um, yeah." I have a job with virtually no effort on my part to acquire it. This is still blowing my mind.

Yesterday we bought a washer and dryer to be delivered on Wednesday. o.O Single largest expenditure we've ever made. There will be photos. Possibly video.

Today I drove Tom to work and drove home all by myself for the first time since 2008. It went very smoothly. Then I spent the rest of the day waiting for the gas company tech to show up, which still hasn't happened.

And I unpacked exactly nothing. My excuse is that we need bookcases before we can unpack most of the boxes which are full of books.

Current view of the living room.

What the...I don't even...

2011-09-25T14:56:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd look at my blog stats because, um, I was bored or maybe hit the wrong button. Anyway, what the hell?

"Bobcat pooping?" Really?

I think I know why, but I don't remember mentioning pooping.

The Real Secret of the Holy Grail

2011-09-25T13:54:00.000-05:00

The Indiana Jones movies were on TV today. Susan shut it off before it got to the Crystal Skull so I wouldn't throw things at her TV.

I realized something, though. The true power of the Holy Grail is that it turns everything into hydrogen peroxide.
See?

Indy pours Grail juice onto his dad's wound, foaming ensues

Random dude on the internet pours hydrogen peroxide on a scrape, foaming ensues.

Thus endeth your archaeology lesson for the day.

Today is weird

2011-09-22T15:33:00.001-05:00

Image via WikipediaToday has been weird even for me.

I decided to browse Craigslist for possible jobs. Wow, scary.
Apparently there are some locally made "adult" films.
And there was one job posting that just said "Pregnant Lady."

Someone said something about "penny wise" and I made a crack about Pennywise from It. Then a few minutes later, the Bad Astronomer tweeted this scary ass t-shirt. Serendipity is disturbing. I'm avoiding drains for the rest of the day.

Fast forward a bit and Oreo and Brownie were sharing the couch peacefully.

Then I decided I needed a nap.

My phone rang and it was someone who had heard we moved down here wanting to know if I'd be interested in teaching in the spring.
o.O

I managed to babble something comprehensible that was not "Hells yes, woman!" but conveyed that general sentiment. After we move into the apartment I'll go actually chat about it.

Then I got up to see Tom had tweeted about D'Iberville telling the early French colonists to breed buffalo, only I thought it said "breed with the buffalo" and I was truly impressed by the ignorance of basic biology back then.

So, now I have things to figure out:
- How do I teach sitting down (this will be weird for me)?
- Better management of dry mouth while lecturing because, seriously, the croaking is not cool
- Can I wear my Vibram Five-Fingers with business casual clothing because I really, really love them.
- Which eccentric professor do I emulate?

I imagine that at some point I should figure out what I'm teaching...

This also nixes the idea I had floating in my head of dyeing the white parts of my hair purple...

And as I get ready to post this, Oreo and Brownie are sharing the couch again and sound asleep.

I haz a monster under my bed, killin all my du5t Bunnehs

2011-09-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

Big Changes for a Little Dog

2011-09-16T17:26:00.000-05:00

I was just talking to Oreo (yes, of course I talk to him - anyone who thinks that's super weird has obviously not known me long) and realized he's still got a lot of big changes coming up. He's already gotten used to sharing (mostly) a house with 2 dogs who are much bigger. And he loves having a yard to trot around in and an extra person to wiggle for.

In a couple weeks we'll be moving into our own apartment though and we were talking about the changes to come.
There will be a whole new big apartment to explore. With two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Tom and I are wondering what he'll do with two bathrooms. Oreo prefers to be in the bathroom with us - there is much scrabbling and whining and head-thunking if he's outside, but until now, we've only had the one bathroom. I have no idea what he's going to do if we are occupying both bathrooms at the same time. It will be a major Oreo conundrum. Will he run back and forth between them? Sit in the middle and cry?

He'll be going back to walkies on a leash, but we'll have a whole complex to explore. Should be fascinating. So many new smells!

There will be a patio. Mmmm, sleeping in the sunshine is a favorite Oreo activity. He'll have container gardening to supervise too.

We'll eventually have a washer and dryer and I suspect there will be lots of head-tilting and inquiry grumbles at the noise.

We will also have a gas fireplace (the hilarity of having a gas fireplace AFTER moving from Chicago is epic). He's sort of been around them before, but I wonder how he'll react.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

2011-09-15T13:32:00.001-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

1. The illness I live with is: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Migraine, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease, Functional Movement Disorder, Hashimoto's Thyroidits, Reynaud's Disease, Scoliosis, Depression, possibly Fibromyalgia
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2008-2010
3. But I had symptoms since: the mid 1990s
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Recognizing that pushing myself to work harder or do more is counterproductive.
5. Most people assume: If I just tried harder I could do more. That my fatigue is the same as having missed a few hours of sleep a night.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Deciding what needs to be done and can be done for the day.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: House
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My cane, with my rubber gloves a close second.
9. The hardest part about nights are: Insomnia, pain so severe that I can't sleep
10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please) 14
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: Am cautiously aware of and willing to try some
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: I honestly don't know.
13. Regarding working and career: I enjoy working and I sometimes regret that my chosen career as a field archaeologist in Egypt and Sudan are not really possible right now. I've come to realize though that my own physical and emotional well-being are more important.
14. People would be surprised to know: I still have times I think I'm just not trying hard enough or think I'm just lazy.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: I really can't just push past my limits even for something I really want to do and would enjoy.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Drive again. I've been cautiously driving short distances with my husband now that we're no longer in the crazy busy environment of Chicago.
17. The commercials about my illness: Annoy the crap out of me and suggest that medications will be a miraculous cure when it's more likely that they will be an incremental improvement.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Riding a bike.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: My career plans.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Spinning with a drop spindle.
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Dance
22. My illness has taught me: What is really important in life; that contentment is based on your own desires and needs and not on meeting the expectations of other people.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "oh, I'm tired/hurt too, it's just the weather or allergies."
24. But I love it when people: Try to keep in mind my limitations when planning things or ask for my input instead of assuming I can or can't do something.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: I just have to get through this minute, hour, day.
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: It will be hard. There will be people - friends, doctors, random strangers who disbelieve you or dismiss you. But what you feel is real, your need to be treated is real. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How judgmental some people can be even when the illness has nothing to do with them.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: Listen to me, believe me, help me.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: The way chronic illness, visible and invisible, is regarded in our society needs to change from an expectation that anything can be overcome if you just try hard enough or take the right medication, that accepting one's limitations is regarded by some people as defeat, that people with invisible illness are malingering or overly dramatic.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Hopeful.

Small Things

2011-09-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

This week is Invisible Illness Awareness Week. My invisible illness has been smacking me around a bit, so I'm only today getting around to writing a post for it.

Oreo enjoying some sunshine and grass

Oreo (for new comers, Oreo is my 15 pound Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso caretaker, companion, comforter, comedian, and partner in crime) was the inspiration for this post. At the moment we're staying with a friend until we move into our new place. Oreo is in the living room peering out the window and barking randomly while I'm in the bedroom nursing a migraine. Having a window he can see out of is a novelty for him, thus the barking. Usually he snuggles with me when I have headaches. He's a small thing and got me thinking about small things in a broader sense.

One of the popular tools to explain invisible, chronic illness is the Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. I encourage people to read the essay when they have a chance but in summary, it's a way of demonstrating how little things add up over the course of a day, a week, a month to sap the energy and wellness of many people with chronic illness, especially illness that causes fatigue. Another analogy I like is lightweight backpacking. Individual items may not seem like they take up a lot of space or weigh a lot, but the full combination can be a lot to deal with.

The small things that so many "normal" people take for granted can have big effects on us. Here are some of the small things that I used to take for granted:
- Showering. It's now something that requires me to rest for at least 15 or 20 minutes afterwards even though I use a shower chair, have very short hair, and use 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner all in an effort to make it as efficient as possible.
- Washing dishes. Standing for extended periods often makes my lower back spasm and my neck knot up and seems to drain me of energy pretty quickly. Reynaud's disease interferes with the blood flow to my hands, fingers, feet and toes making water that is too hot or too cold physically painful. It can also make holding a cup with hot or cold beverage in it painful. Cup cozies are my new best friends.
- Doing laundry. Picking up and carrying a hamper makes my head pound and my back grumpy. Not being able to see the floor messes with my balance in a big way. Folding clothes is sometimes painful if my arthritis is flaring or I have migraine-related pain and stiffness in my neck.
- Shopping. The long walk around the store is tiring. The lighting and noise and motion is almost too much to deal with sometimes. Trying to remember what I need, even with a list is a challenge. Making a decision on which item to purchase can sometimes seem overwhelming.
- Watching TV. A migraine can sometimes make TV absolute torture. Days when my brain is foggy just makes it surreal and confusing.

But in the same way that little things can add up to make me feel worse, they can also add up to make me feel a bit better.
- Oreo is a little thing who can almost always make me smile, if only for a little bit.
- Hugs or commiseration or understanding from friends and family.
- A good book.
- Silly things on the internet
- Sweet, thoughtful things from my husband like a candy I particularly like or special snuggles.
- Meditation.
- Gentle stretching or yoga that helps keep me moving and helps with some pain.
- Satisfaction with small victories like showering or doing the dishes.
- Creature comfort things like a favorite body oil or a comfy hoody or a nice skein of yarn or wonderful fiber to spin.

Hanging Out

2011-09-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to take it easy this week. I've been pretty tired and arthritic, so I've been hanging out with the doggies and Susan during the day and trying to do a few little chores like laundry or looking in to renter's insurance (which is making me stabby).

Oreo is liking the yard.

Ferret Dance!

2011-09-12T09:17:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaTom begins his new job today. Oreo and I got up early to see him off along with Susan and Brownie and Blue.
It's hard to believe we've only been here a little over a week.
Oreo is getting along pretty well with Brownie and Blue - Susan's two doggies that Tom and I actually rescued as dumped puppies waaaay back in 2002 just before (like just weeks) before I moved to Chicago. Susan took Brownie and eventually wound up with Blue as well.
Last time all three dogs were together was right after Katrina and they did not get on well. They're doing much, much better this time. Oreo follows Blue around like an obnoxious little brother.
Susan has a big front window that goes almost to the floor. The dogs like to peek out of it and bark as needed. At first Oreo just barked because they were barking. Then he figured out he should go to the window. Then he was barking face first into the sheers. He seems to have mostly figured out the window concept.
He also does a 360 bark routine when the others are barking and he doesn't know why. Silly doggie.

Tom and I have found an apartment. We're hoping to get the application, etc. done today. Two bedrooms, two full baths, a full kitchen including a dishwasher, patio, washer/dryer hookups, central AC and, hilariously, a gas fireplace. I will be sending photos of the gas fireplace to our Chicago friends in January because I'm a terrible person. There is a pool. A hot-tub. A workout center. It's set back from the beach, but the property in front is still vacant (very common around here). Our patio looks onto a little patch of woodsy area in the complex. I'm looking forward to restarting an herb garden.

I am already browsing inspiration on line for the second bedroom. We want it to be a guest room. I also want an office and crafting space. And I want a quiet meditation spot. I think we may go with a closet workspace in the guest room - there are some really cool ideas. We are getting a queen bed from Tom's sister and I am wondering about pushing it against a corner to create a day-bed most of the time that can be centered in the room for guests.

For a quiet/meditation/retreat place, I think I may try part of our bedroom with a folding screen or maybe another closet. I'm most likely to feel the need for a brief retreat when guests are visiting (nothing against guests, I just get over stimulated sometimes), so having the retreat in the guest room is probably not the best of ideas.

I experimented with driving last week and managed fairly well. Hopefully that will continue and we can get another vehicle so I can run errands during the day.

I also found a great fitness bathing suit on clearance and a quarter-zip UPF 50 shirt. I'm really looking forward to the pool.

We've done a bit of walking on the beach too. Lots of jellyfish so I've been hesitant to go out far or actually swim. I have bad luck with things that sting.

Sweet

2011-09-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

Hero of the Day?

2011-09-06T12:01:00.000-05:00

We moved so neither of us would become this guy

Also, I prefer Cocoa Pebbles.

John Belushi would be proud.

Nesting

2011-09-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

I'm still recovering from the move. Swelling has gone down but I've been running a low grade fever and the eczema on my hands has flared up. I did manage a short grocery trip today. Migraine responded to meds. I've been able to sit up a bit longer without getting zombified.

It's cooled off wonderfully here and will be nice the rest of the week.

Hoping to start home-hunting tomorrow. We have lots of decisions to make - apartment or house? Where? Can I drive or not and how will that affect our choice?

We want at least 2 bedrooms so we can have a guest room and I can have an office/studio space of some kind. At least 1.5 baths or more. Doggie friendly. No or very few (like no more than three) stairs. Fairly quiet and low-key. A porch or sunroom or patio of some kind.

Arrived

2011-09-04T12:51:00.000-05:00

We're here. The stupid-ass storm is still here. I am exhausted. We noticed my ankles had swollen up ridiculously huge last night, but they seem to have gotten a bit better with sleep. Hoping that was just from so much time sitting in the truck.
Had a bit of a return on the involuntary trunk movements too, but again, probably just fatigue and truck.
My hands are swollen and hot and the skin hurts there too. Sigh.

Oreo is being a bit of a punk with Brownie and Blue, but everyone is mostly okay.

We had fabulous dinner last night. Restaurant on the Gulf. Fried dill pickles the proper way - in chips instead of spears and omnomnomnom fried shrimp. I loved watching the storm on the water.

Thunder only started up last night and it doesn't seem too bad today.

Justine and Tom Rebooted

2011-09-01T15:54:00.001-05:00

After a few hours getting the wiring for towing fixed we are finally on our way.
So expect Cylons that look human and random religious hallucinations and dark, tortured characters.
No, wait that's Battlestar Galactica and Batman.

Um, randomness, torture, and hallucinations then.

Veal

2011-08-30T18:29:00.000-05:00

I discovered this morning that my phone autocorrects "crap" to "veal." As in I meant to tweet "holy crap, the hospital elevator is working" and instead sent "holy veal, the hospital elevator is working."

We have been having entirely too much fun with this on Twitter. And I had time to be on Twitter because it took me at least an hour to cancel my phone and internet service today.

In other news, we got the moving truck today and pretty much all the furniture and other stuff is on it courtesy of Tom and our friends Eric and Brian. Yay!

For some reason though, our apartment still looks to be full of veal.

My stupid brain has decided getting dizzy when I bend over is super fun, which makes packing boxes way more entertaining. If I see double, I should get a double to help out. Or something.

Oreo is thoroughly traumatized and curled up next to me on my yoga mat (hard floor is hard).

Original plan had been to leave tomorrow but we're rethinking that and may leave on the 1st after all so we aren't quite so frantic.

Who Arted?

2011-08-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

Tom packed several framed photos and labelled the box appropriately.

He also packed a box containing Oreo's worst nightmare.

So, yeah. Packing continues.
I have a ton of course notes and articles from grad school that I can't bring myself to toss. All of it thoroughly disorganized. I really need to go through that stuff at some point and scan and organize. If I had started grad school just a few years later I might not have quite so many handwritten notes. But much of it is likely to be very useful if I start teaching again.
And then there are the papers I wrote. Shudder.

Zoologically Improbable and/or Terrifying to Small Children

2011-08-25T20:04:00.000-05:00

Zoologically Improbable and/or Terrifying to Small Children : funny

This was the inspiration for my latest online avatar thingie.

Haaaayyyy, y'all

Well, one of the photos in this line-up.

I think "taxiderpy" is my new favorite word. And should possibly become a category on Regretsy.

Saying Goodbye to the Galleries

2011-08-25T19:53:00.000-05:00

I took some time today to go through the galleries to say goodbye. Snapped quite a few photos too.

I threw together a slide show of some of the sillier things.

Hero of the Day

2011-08-23T18:38:00.000-05:00

Whoever added their commentary to this poster in my old department. (I swear it wasn't me, because I would TOTALLY take credit for it)

Leaving

2011-08-23T10:44:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaWhen I moved to Chicago for graduate school almost exactly 9 years ago, I thought I'd be leaving with a PhD and heading off to a junior professorship or a post-doc position. I had wanted to come here to study Egyptology from about age 8 onward. (Yes, I was a very nerdy child. Shocking.) I moved here alone - Tom was finishing his MA coursework in Mississippi and I adopted Oreo after I'd been in the city a few weeks. I knew absolutely no one. I was still pretty shy and awkward. I think I spent a good portion of the first year wondering when they would figure out I wasn't nearly smart enough to be here and send me packing.

Fate intervened and so instead of the PhD and a job I'm leaving with my MA, my cane, a bunch of medication, and a pile of medical records. And eleventy-zillion books. I survived my first adviser melting down and leaving (and having to play a part in that by being honest about what was happening and not wanting to see it continue), giving up my first dissertation idea, spinning my wheels for a year or so getting ready for comps but having no idea what to do for a dissertation, finding a new topic, having an awesome job, going through the field season from hell, plagiarism, family issues, my health slowly declining, and then finally collapsing physically and mentally and never quite getting back to "normal."

I regret a bit not writing the dissertation, but not so much that I would jump at the chance to do so now. I'm still not convinced the trade-off in stress would be worth it.
But I am also leaving with a wonderful husband, a much-loved dog, and some wonderful friendships and memories. And some truly hilarious stories. And a few horrifying ones.

This is truly weird. I haven't been out of academia in 11 years. o.O It will be very interesting to be mostly out of academia if only for a little while. And to be somewhere where very few people knew me before I got so sick.

I'm hoping maybe this will make it easier for me to make a fresh start and really, really work on creating and crafting in a way that might turn into a business. I'll have a better chance at adjunct positions too in a place that isn't super-saturated with colleges and universities.

It's still really strange to realize that I won't be within a short bus trip to one of the best research libraries in the US. Or to a glorious museum collection from Egypt and Sudan and the ancient Middle East. That we'll be somewhere we can see most of the stars and the sky isn't orange at night when it's cloudy. No more parallel parking. Air conditioning nearly everywhere. Being back in a "car culture" instead of a "walking/biking/public transit culture."

In a week or so, I'll be off for my next big adventure. And this time Tom and Oreo will be there from the start. One of my best friends lives right where we'll be moving (and we will in fact be staying with her while we find our own place). I think that will make it much better. I'm older, possibly crabbier, and maybe slightly wiser. I'm no longer frantically evaluating everything I do and say in fear one wrong step could be career ending. I no longer think 16 or 18 or 20 hour days are normal or justified. I am less inclined to tolerate bullying directed at me or others. I've learned to knit and crochet and sew and spin. I meditate. I do yoga. I have an even wider group of friends both "real" and "online."

I still can't believe it's been almost 9 years since I showed up late for my very first class (misjudged the time to walk) and wound up sitting in a window frame (there were no seats left) frantically taking notes on Middle Egyptian and hoping I wouldn't fall out of the window.

Driving

2011-08-20T18:44:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaOne of the things we're excited about with the move to Mississippi is that I might be able to drive again. I quit driving about 3 years ago when my health had taken a pretty significant downturn. I was having major problems with balance and depth perception. I felt foggy and sort of disconnected a lot of the time. I was having pretty significant involuntary movements that would probably be really bad to have while driving. I also was having major issues with sensory overload - lots of motion and noise tended to be really, really disorienting. So, because I didn't feel safe and I didn't think it was a good idea to risk injuring or killing someone, I quit driving.

Now, I think I can safely experiment with driving short distances with someone else in the car to see how I do. I still have days where I'm foggy and slightly out of it. Sensory overload is still a problem - it's one of the major reasons I now HATE malls and grocery stores during busy times. And my migraines can create or enhance depth perception problems. Pain and fatigue are also a distraction. Medication is also a major concern. I can't take anything that might be impairing if I'm going to drive.

But, my depth perception has improved. My balance has improved. I don't have nearly as significant an issue with involuntary movements. Traffic patterns in Mississippi will be far less intense. There isn't quite so much noise and motion with traffic, bikers, pedestrians, trains, buses, and skyscrapers all at the same time. It's easier to pull off most roads. I won't have to parallel park.

So, the strategy I'm developing is to drive slowly (and stay in the slow lane while doing so) and try to give myself a little more reaction time. Avoid driving in bad weather. Try to drive only during quiet times. Make sure I know where I'm going. Make sure I have pain meds that aren't impairing with me. Keep a snack of some kind and water with me as both low blood sugar and dehydration can be major contributors to migraines and CFS symptoms. Make sure I always have my phone with me in case I get somewhere but don't feel well enough to drive back home. Don't force myself to drive if I feel like I shouldn't.

I have also discovered recently that lying flat on my back on a bench or something similar helps a lot with the sort of brain foggy-floatiness that I sometimes get if I've been sitting up or standing too long.

All of the possibly impairing daily meds I have I take at night before bed which should help immensely with that particular issue. Everything else is to be taken as needed and I'll just need to be sure I don't take it when I'm planning to drive.

I think we'll start out with very short drives and increase distance over time to see how I do. I'm really hoping I can drive again at least a little bit. I would make things so much easier. I could run errands during the day so Tom wouldn't have to try to fit them in to his workday or weekend. I'd be able to get out a bit more and possibly have a wider range of potential employment.

Tough Gals: Do They Still Exist?

2011-08-19T14:38:00.001-05:00

Perhaps you could enlighten us, Ms Aloi, as to how you view orchards as you have an entire blog devoted to apple orchards. Seems kind of girly to me, but what the hell do I know? I mean I knit, crochet, sew, and enjoy a good cupcake, and like to be "pretty" now and then. And clearly those activities mean that I am insufficiently "tough" especially when compared to the paragons of toughness one can view on the television once a week.

Never mind that I've been on 3 archaeological expeditions to Sudan and Egypt. Or that I have faced disabling chronic illness that completely changed my life and work over the past few years. Never mind that I stump around with a cane to get where I need to go on days when I'd rather curl up in bed with whatever pain relievers I can find. Never mind that I have worked hard to keep my marriage happy and healthy for over 8 years.

I knit and that makes me girly.

You toss around ill conceived definitions of what a woman should be and what constitutes "toughness."

Frankly, I think I'll happily stick with "girly." I'm not sure I want to be someone who fits your expectations or your definition of "awesomeness."
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Oliver the Puffer fish

2011-08-18T17:39:00.001-05:00

Oliver the Puffer fish
Originally uploaded by DesaBoneka

I haven't featured nifty stuff from Flickr on my blog recently, but this is adorable.

Dammit, George RR Martin

2011-08-13T22:23:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaI finished A Dance with Dragons two nights ago. Mr. Martin needs to cut it the hell out with the cliff hanger endings, especially if he is going to take brazillions of years between installments. This is not good for my patience.

Otherwise, um, we're fiddling with my thyroid dose again trying to find the sweet spot. I'll have to get the lab work done after we've moved to see if we got it right or need to fiddle more.
I have had another round of Botox shots for migraine. Took a bit longer to feel (or not feel?) the numbness and paralysis in my forehead. Still getting migraines, but not quite so many.
I am in an ongoing odyssey of trying to get replacement CPAP supplies and possibly repair before we move. I have been trying for a month actually, but referrals keep getting lost or not sent and it is seriously starting to piss me off. I am sensitive enough to stress and extra activity even with the CPAP but sleeping without it (or without it operating properly) will make everything WAAAAYYYYY worse. And increase the time for my recovery to baseline functionality. So, weeks or months to recover from the move, etc., instead of days or weeks.

I am still tired and shaky and hurty and having sleep problems after overdoing the packing last week. Grumble. The whole moderation and pacing thing with CFS is a pain in the ass ~~sometimes~~ all the time.

Still packing. I have a lot of yarn. Way more than I thought. Mostly single skeins of acrylic or acrylic blend intended for amigurumi. So I should, like, make more amigurumi and stuff. Derp.

I have set aside my emergency travel projects and stash and a pile of actual paper books in addition to my Kindle. I may have done that even before setting aside the important papers that should be easily available.

Oreo has had a bath and is grumpily curled up on my lap in a blanket to keep warm. He finds the packing deeply confusing and a bit frightening and so has been even more of my furry shadow than usual.

It's Not the Flight Suit, Dude

2011-08-08T16:26:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaPacking and watching Star Trek. Tomorrow is Yesterday is on at the moment. That's the one when they get flung back to the 1960s and beam an Air Force pilot aboard after the mess up his jet.

Anyway, Kirk shows the guy around and eventually says "that flight suit must be uncomfortable, why don't we get you a change of clothes..."

Pretty sure that was a come-on.

Awkward!

Progress

2011-08-07T16:57:00.001-05:00

I packed a bunch of boxes today. Nearly all my fiction and all my fabric.

ZOMG They Have Tribbles Glued to Their Boobies

2011-08-04T22:20:00.000-05:00

If you hadn't already guessed, I did some knitting and watching of Star Trek this evening when I wasn't being creeped out by IKEA catalogs.

The colors are even more garish in the remastered episode. I think I may have gotten sympathetic hives.

Shore Leave is another one of those "really, WTF?" episodes in terms of dialogue and interaction between members of the opposite sex.

Most painfully creepy moment: McCoy telling the yeoman she should try on the princess dress because he'd like to see her in it. While they're both on duty. On a mission.

Also, people must have really damn short attention spans in the 23rd Century. Kirk sees a guy he was at Starfleet Academy with and just takes the time to get in a fistfight with him because, um, the other dude was Irish and kind of a dick.

Then he runs into an old girlfriend and is all googly eyed and mushy while at the same time he's loosing communications with the ship and the rest of the shore party.

Sulu finds a handgun and is all "pow pow pow" (what the hell is the gun version of "pew pew pew"?) Because that is ALWAYS what you want to do when you find a random weapon under a rock for no apparent reason.

Serial Killers Shop at IKEA

2011-08-04T19:34:00.000-05:00

You may commence betting on when I'll receive a take-down order in the comments.

But seriously, I like fabric painting and printing, especially on hand towels or tea towels or whatever, but this? This is kind of creepy

All hex wrenches and no screws make Jack a dull boy.

It's on page 40 of the most recent catalog.

Also, Zemanta seems to think that multiple photos of menstrual pads are appropriate to this posting. o.O

Moving

2011-08-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaSo, we should be up for grand adventure soon. Tom has gotten a job in Biloxi, MS as an archaeologist which is, you know, what he's trained for. More money, equal or greater benefits and more opportunity for advancement. So, YAY!!!!!

I know very little about local history and archaeology, but am really looking forward to hearing about stuff from Tom and exploring stuff myself. I'm especially interested in colonial/cultural contact archaeology and history topics and there is a lot of history with various European powers and local tribes interacting, playing off each other, etc. Very cool.

I actually lived in Biloxi for a few years in my early teens - my family moved from Nevada when gaming was legalized. We have friends in the area and before I got sick I was an adjunct instructor there for a summer. So we already have a bit of a support system in place which will make the move easier, I think.

We're very happy but still a little in disbelief that we're actually moving. We've been in Chicago a really long time.

Anyway, we will be moving at the end of the month. Tom starts work the second week of September.

We are hoping to find a rental close to Tom's office so there won't be a huge issue of commuting.

Moving will be awesome - we should be able to get a place with central air and heating, a dishwasher, and washer/dryer hookups. All of those things will make a lot of household chores much easier and climate control will probably help with some of my symptoms.

Depending on where we wind up we will probably have regular access to a pool and I'm really looking forward to that as another way to exercise and relieve pain.

Tom will be able to get back into diving and be closer to some interesting dive locations.

It will all be very exciting I'm sure. I'm hoping after we get settled to get in touch with some of my contacts and see if I can get another part-time teaching position or something similar. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to start driving again at least short distances in an environment that isn't nearly as challenging and hectic as Chicago traffic and parking, etc.

Current plan is to pack up what we're taking either into a rental truck or one of the movable storage box thingies, move it down, stay with a friend for a while and look for a place to live longer term.

We've already been sorting through things like clothes and books for things to donate or sell, so that process is already started. I'm going to start boxing books and craft supplies soon.

Poor Oreo is going to have a stressful month, though. He gets a bit nervous when we pack things either in boxes or suitcases. "The den, the den is changing, OMG change! Are you going to leave me behind?!?!?" So, there will be extra doggy cuddling going on. He's a good little traveler by ground or air though, so the actual moving won't be too bad.

Given the return of the heatwave to Chicago I'm really not able to to think much past AIR CONDITIONING!!!!! at the moment.

Obviously, it gets super hot and humid on the coast too, but it somehow doesn't seem as bad there as in Chicago.

Also, I have a smartphone now, so I can live blog things like "wow, we're driving past yet more soy bean fields!" I know you will all be at the edge of your seats for that.

And Tom and I tend to manage to have surreal adventures during things like moving, so that should be entertaining.

Smartphone

2011-07-31T20:31:00.001-05:00

I has one. I have already taken several pics of my fingers and taught it that I use the word ass a lot

Prioritizing

2011-07-27T15:05:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaHow does that work?

I have stuff that I have to do and stuff that I want to do and a very finite ability to do these things. As in, probably less ability/energy/capacity than "normal" people. And unpredictable capacities - I can't always predict if I'll have a migraine on a given day or be particularly tired and brain foggy or arthritic or whatever.

Unpredictability and finite capacity are two of the major things that make holding a "normal" daily set-schedule job difficult to impossible.

Unfortunately, self-motivation and organization to work on things at home is also a challenge for me.

I try to do a lot of the house cleaning and dishes. Tom manages doing laundry and meals and obtaining stuff for meals.

Then there is reading for fun and for research and self-improvement.

Then there is crafty stuff for fun.

And crafty stuff that I'd like to eventually turn into a business.

And writing, here and other places.

And somewhere in there I need enough energy to spend quality time with my husband and socialize in some way here and there and basic self-care like showering. Plus I usually have at least 1 medical appointment every week, often 2 or 3. And I need to exercise and meditate regularly (preferably every day) for my health.

But I never know when to start and what to start. And I have a huge problem with feeling guilty for doing "fun" stuff. There is a little voice in my head that says "if you are well enough to do x, you should be well enough to have a full-time 9-5 job, you awful malingering lazy-bones." I'm working on telling that voice what to go do with itself, but it's hard. And so I frequently find that I default to mindless internet surfing and find the day gone and very little accomplished either of the fun or the work.

There is also the little voice that says "you're wasting stuff!" when I start a project or am trying to start one.

In addition, I often find myself obsessively finding tutorials or books or how-tos about a given craft or activity and spend so much time collecting the stuff and wind up so overwhelmed with all of it that I do nothing. Sort of the equivalent of spending so much time gathering sources for a paper that you don't actually get to the writing of the paper (until 2 days before it's due, at which point you stop sleeping and write non-stop until 5am the day it's due).

How do you figure it out? What tricks do you have for self-motivating? Or convincing yourself that "waste" is a part of learning? How do you prioritize the must be done/want to do? And how to do you manage all that with unpredictable ability from day to day?

Chicago Botanic Gardens

2011-07-22T14:47:00.000-05:00

We went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens at the end of May, but I only just now got around to downloading the photos from my camera.

It's really beautfiul. I was really interested in their Enabling Garden. It's designed to be accessible for a variety of people. There are lots of suggestions and examples of ways to make gardening easier (or possible) for people with a variety of conditions.

Probably of most use were the examples of vertical garden planters and the raised planting beds.

Very cool!

Knitted Amigurumi

2011-07-22T14:33:00.001-05:00

I finished and sent this ages ago and forgot to post it. It's a little lightbulb for a friend who needed a bit of light.

He is also the first entirely knit in the round on DPNs I've done.

Unhappy Campers

2011-07-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

This is how camp would have looked. Only hopefully the women would be wearing pants.

Sadly, it looks like I will probably not be teaching the adult archaeology day camp thingy. Apparently we priced it too steeply but can't really afford to cut things. Sigh.

Also, it's like eleventy-billion degrees here. With no AC except the crotchety-ass window unit in the bedroom. And I'm afraid to go get in the lake because there's all kinds of foul shit (literally) in there and I am slightly immune-compromised. Also, I'd have to walk through the heat and sun and junk. I damn near passed out catching a bus earlier.

I think I may take Oreo and go camp out in the bedroom with my Kindle and the AC.

Large Quantities of Spray Texture

2011-07-16T13:20:00.001-05:00

Today's blog title answers the question posed by the Star Trek episode What Are Little Girls Made Of?

While this episode is probably most notable for a screencap that appears after the break, it was also set in an underground cavern system on an extremely cold planet.

Apparently the set designer must have been heavily invested in the spray texture industry, given that every "natural" surface is coated in the stuff. It's also used in other "ice planet" episodes, of which there seems to be quite a lot, now that I think about it. They may also have been anticipating the Lisa Frank ¹ craze of later years as all the surfaces are also pink and purple. Because, um, alien ice is purple? Or is this supposed to be rock surface? If it's ice, then WTF is up with this outfit?

I mean, she is an android, but still

As promised, the screen cap for which this episode is best known:

Finding it required a Google Image Search for "Kirk dildo" which was not nearly as traumatizing as it could have been.

I should get some interesting visits to the blog now, too. Let's all say "hi, perv!" to everyone arriving here having searched for "Kirk dildo."

^{1. Warning: I am not responsible for seizures, screaming, blindness, or migraines caused by clicking the link. ↩}

Star Trek is back on Netflix streaming

2011-07-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, the epic red tights are epic. Why the hell did anyone think men in the future would be all about some red tights? Or was Bill Weiss foreseeing the rise of hipsters?

Wow, that is actually worse than the Shat in tights. Impressive.

And I am so not getting any work done.

Things that must be shared

2011-07-10T18:34:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on writing lecture material for the day-course archaeology thing I'm teaching later this month and then again in August.

I'm trying to find examples to illustrate various points. At the moment, I'm trying to come up with an artifact or other archaeological thing that was/is explained or mentioned in an ancient text, thus making it easier to identify. Pretty much, the idea is to show the back-and-forth nifty-ness and exchange of ideas possible in archaeology and history.

Been trying various Google searches. His Alien Holiness up there was the first image result for one of them. I'm about ready to give up. On everything. I will become a hermit. Hermits can have husbands and dogs and books and yarn, right?

Planner Planning

2011-07-01T13:34:00.001-05:00

I have recently started trying to downsize the stuff I carry around regularly. I bought a new sling-bag that I love.

And a folding cane in the hopes that I might be able to fold it up and stick it in my bag now and then on good days.

Unfortunately, my current day planner is a smidge too big for my new bag. I seriously need this planner. I have a week across 2 pages section and a month across pages section that are absolutely vital for recording appointments, work schedule, migraines, and notes. The daily pages get notes about meds I take as needed so I can keep track of when I can take the next dose plus have an idea of my med usage over time.
I especially like having a year or 6 months worth of stuff in the planner, it makes it much easier to show patterns of symptoms or note when medication dose changes or whatever happened.

It also has all my primary doctor contact info (business cards), plain note pages, and a pocket for stowing loose paperwork.

It measures 7" x 8.5" x 1.5" - kinda big and heavy, as it's faux leather, zips shut, and is the six-ring binder style. The interior pages themselves are about 4" x 7" Finding a new smaller, lighter cover seems like an obvious choice, but I'm having trouble finding one that isn't over $20-40 (I'm cheap). I'm not sure if the binder rings from the one I have or another old one could be scavenged to make an new binder myself. If anyone has any handy links about that, do please let me know.

So, I've been exploring other options. DIY sounds fun, but I would prefer relatively little effort or lots of tracking down of supplies. Something that I can get soon would be really nice too.

I've considered a hipster PDA, but the lack of easy flipping back and forth and longer-term organization would be a big problem for me. It needs to be fairly sturdy too. And I'm not confident plain paper will work or that my printer can handle index cards.

I've also looked at the PocketMod - nifty planner folded from a single sheet of paper. I suppose I could print lots of them and bind them somehow.

I'd really like a super easy way to just print, fold in half, and staple a bunch of regular 8.5 x 11 paper, but haven't had much luck finding that sort of thing.

I have found some fill-in date (so I can start it when I want) planners that are adorable, but I'm not sure I want to make the leap. But they are seriously adorable, so I wanted to share.

Vintage Typewriter Style

Stick a Bird on It!

Write Every Day

Flowers!

Squee! Pottery

2011-07-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaIn between colds, UTIs, CFS-flare ups, revenge of the grumpy-ass thyroid, and migraines I've been trying to pull things together for the archaeology day-camp for adults course I'm team teaching this summer.

I found the last time I taught that working out a general outline for lectures and then going to look for pictures for PowerPoint (or whatever presentation software) is often really helpful in getting my own brain in gear for teaching. So, I tend to go type a few phrases in to Google Image Search and see what turns up. This is also immensely helpful in shutting up the little voice in my head screaming "how on Earth are you going to illustrate *that*?" which sends me into fetal-position procrastination. Because if I don't work on it at all, somehow that will make it less scary.

Seriously, brains are stupid sometimes.

Anywho, as is often the case with the wonder that is the internets, I inevitably find things that are interesting but not of immediate use. Like this link:

Project Grant Report | Byzantine Studies | Research | Dumbarton Oaks

Kiln furniture!!! And fabulous incised sherds. And those are the wasters - stuff that got chucked after the first firing because it didn't come out quite right.

Day-Glo Orange

2011-06-24T17:21:00.000-05:00

Image by jima via Flickr

So, totally like these toe nails except pee. In a toilet.

My pee is that color.

Felt like sharing that.

Seriously though, I've been taking a supplement with various B vitamins and that can apparently make your pee look like you've been gnawing on hi-lighters.

Then I got a UTI and the med for symptom relief turns pee super-super orange.

This is kind of freakish.

And I'm on Cipro for the UTI. If I were more uncomfortable, possibly hallucinating, trapped in the middle of the desert, surrounded by jackasses of the animal and human type, and praying for death it would be just like being in the field again.
(Cipro was the usual broad-spectrum antibiotic travel docs would give us for major GI infection, etc. Reading the drug warnings was always awesome - ruptured tendon is one of the possible side effects. So this usually left me working out in my head whether I felt bad enough to be okay with maybe rupturing a tendon. Fortunately, if I couldn't even think that clearly I defaulted to just taking the damn meds.)

Anyway, the Botox seems to be wearing off as far as migraine prevention. Although my thyroid is messed up again and the weather has sucked so that could be something to do with it. All I know is that my forehead is very unwrinkled, I can't raise my eyebrows as much as I used to, but it feels like the connective tissue between my head and my right shoulder and most of the side of my face is actively on fire. Also, I'm dizzy, my hands and feet have swollen up, most of my joints hurt, and my vitiligo is more obvious.

Right now the bright side is literally and figuratively my pee.

Eight

2011-06-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

I am no longer any where near that thin, but whatever. :P

We are still super cute. And I got a pretty magenta-purply African violet and a holographic flower-growing card.

Tom got 8 knitted pimento-stuffed olives in a jar (Olive You) and a card with the same pun that I found completely by accident after I'd already started knitting the olives.

I need to get a photo...

Do Not Taunt Migraine Monkey

2011-06-11T22:45:00.000-05:00

Good news: The Botox and/or CoQ10 supplements have helped reduce my migraines in frequency and severity (at least this week).
Announcing this publicly seems to have angered the migraine monkey. I got walloped yesterday and especially today.

Today's involved one of my least favorite aspects of the migraine aside from the pain - hyperirritability. Even after all these years of being a migraneur, the sudden rush or wash or wave of hypersensitivity to sound and flush of near fury is disconcerting at best.
I think it's only been in the past few years that I've been able to associate this with migraine. Before that, I would just suddenly be pissy and feel like picking a fight for absolutely no good reason. Part of me even recognized that I had no real reason. Figuring out it's associated with the migraines has at least helped, especially because it cues me in to taking abortive meds.

It's a truly bizarre thing though, to go from being fine one minute to the sound of traffic outside or the TV or someone eating or the neighbors upstairs walking across the floor suddenly becoming nearly unbearable sources of infuriating irritation.

The joy of dog companionship

2011-06-07T20:04:00.000-05:00

Image by shoveling_ferret via FlickrOreo just had a walk. The easily disgusted should probably stop reading now.

It's getting near time for another hair cut and so he had a little bit of poop stuck. Tom got most of it with the poo bag, but O still needed a bit of a wipe when we got in.

Tom leaves to walk to the grocery store.

This leaves me with SUPER-EXCITED Oreo. Because apparently using the bathroom outdoors is just that awesome. I have never, ever been that happy after doing so, but hey, whatever.

Anyway, I was trying to coax Oreo to come with me to get a damp paper towel so I could wipe his booty. Still, super excited. And there is the following exchange:

"Okay, come here; no, hold still; no, I want to see your butt, not your face..."
Oreo proceeds to whip out some break-dancing moves.
"No, seriously, you little fart-knocker, I'm trying to wipe your butt, quit squirming, geeeeeeez."

He was still surprisingly bouncy even after he figured out there wasn't really a treat involved in me calling him.

Now he's on the couch next to me whimpering because Tom isn't here.

Still Alive

2011-06-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaWow, time just runs away from me sometimes.

I've been a bit busy and distracted, so not as much writing has gotten done as I'd like. I'm hoping to pull together a few posts and possibly even a bit of a redesign for the blog soon.

Oreo is most displeased that I have not spent as much time in bed lately, which consequently means that he has not spent as much time in bed as he wants. He has actually tried to herd me into the bedroom. And has also taken to going and crying at the foot of the bed or sitting on the side of the bed and barking to tell me he wants to go to bed. At 1 in the afternoon. Brat.

The weather lately has had me in a bit of a pain flair - arthritis and migraines, joy. I've been coping as best I can. The Botox does seem to be helping. I'm still getting migraines (especially with crazy weather changes) but they seem to respond better to abortive meds.

Arthritis stuff is just a matter of trying to stay mobile and trying to keep NSAIDs from eating a hole in my stomach.

My eyebrows are not moving as much as they used to (or at least as I think they used to) and that continues to be weird.

Allergies are insane today. As I said on Twitter, I feel like I've been snorgling a cat. Gahhh.

We went to the Chicago Botanical Garden on Monday for an outing. Beautiful, if a bit crowded.

And I have gotten some Vibram Five-Fingers and am loving them so far. I feel a lot more secure when I'm barefoot, believe it or not, so these are a nice compromise. I went with the Trek Sport kind so they are water friendly as well. Very fun. The only problem so far is the distinct lack of sparkles.

Itty Bity Spinny Committee?

2011-05-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I ordered 2 new drop spindles from Spinerosity earlier this week and they arrived yesterday. One is a full-size lace weight, the other is a mini-spindle that was just too adorable (and too reasonably priced) to pass up.

I decided to play with some Norwegian undyed top (I think it's top) on the mini-spindle and am soooo glad I did. It was ridiculously fun to spin with and I think has really really helped me get a bit better at drafting. For the non-fiber fanatics who read the blog drafting is pretty much pulling fiber apart enough to create a thread of desired thickness via twist from spinning the spindle without pulling too much and having the spindle drop. If you don't pull fiber apart enough you wind up with thick, chunky yarn, if you pull too much the fiber can't sustain the weight of the spindle and breaks.

I have a spindle I bought for my birthday last year that is a bit heavier and in the range for medium weight yarns and recommended for beginners. While I've made some progress with it, I had big problems drafting, mostly with my yarn being waaaay thicker than I wanted.

The smaller, lighter mini-spindle seems to have really, really helped me get the hang of drafting and general hand motion. I'm still doing park-and-draft, but I'm getting better at it.

I have my hood up because I've got a migraine.

In Case of Rapture...

2011-05-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

Image by AJC1 via Flickr...I will probably be very embarrassed about the pointing and laughing.

And on that off chance, I figured I'd better post something in case the internet goes away or something.

Anyway, I haven't been posting much lately because of stupid health stuff - migraines and thyroid meds and buhhh.

Yesterday I got my Botox shots for migraines which is pretty cool. If you have issues with needles, you may want to avoid reading the rest of the post.

I had thought I was over my tendency to faint when needles are involved - I don't mind injections or blood draws and have even made it through cannula insertion for MRI contrast without fainting, and had trigger point injections a few months ago. I took a Klonopin yesterday morning just in case.

My neurologist got a few injections in before I felt all light-headed and fainty. Fortunately, I felt brave enough to say "um, can I lie down, I feel a bit light-headed." I say "brave" because for years I've always felt ashamed and embarrassed by this happening and needing to accommodate it and felt like I needed to just suck it up and deal and stop wasting people's time. Never mind that it really isn't something I can consciously control.

Fortunately, my doctor has a wonderful bedside manner and had no problem at all. I think the fact that all the blood drains from my face when this happens probably helps. She was really good about chattering to distract me without being annoying and not trying to rush and getting me a cool cloth and some water and a hot resident to stare at for the rest of the injections. I actually closed my eyes for the remainder, but I appreciated the thought. :)

Overall, the injections themselves weren't that bad. Maybe 2 or 3 hurt enough for me to hiss a bit but the rest were just that pinchy-sting that is normal (for me) for injections or blood draws.

I was fine after lying still a bit more when we were done and made it to another appointment and then home with no problem.

The effects build up over time, so it's been really interesting to feel a sort of tingling numbness spread out from the injection sites.

They're given in sort of a hat-band pattern between the eyes, by the eyebrows, the around the side of the head and down the neck and across the top of the shoulder. The neck and shoulder for me were the ones we're really hoping will help as I've developed some dystonia related to migraines in my right neck and shoulder.

My face still moves around normally. I spent most of the bus ride home yesterday making funny faces and poking myself to see if I still had sensation, so I was totally the crazy lady on the bus yesterday.

I have a bit of a headache today, which is normal, and I can still feel the gradual expansion of tingly from the injection sites. At the back of my head especially it feels almost like I'm developing a migraine but like lidocaine instead of migraine pain spreading. Very weird and kind of cool.

I go back next week for a follow-up and a longer general visit. The effects of the Botox are supposed to take a week or 10 days to take effect and last 30-90 days. I think the most frequent you can have injections is every 90 days.

I'm really, really hoping this will reduce or eliminate most of my migraines. If it does it may also mean that I'm a candidate for surgery to do permanently what the Botox does temporarily. That would be wonderful.
Two or three days a week of migraine is just not okay.

Still Alive-ish

2011-05-03T22:50:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaMy thyroid is being stupid again so we're fiddling with Synthroid doses. I've also been having a dreadful time with migraines and trying to catch up after the 2-week span of evil pestilence cold.

Anyway, hopefully the new Synthroid dose will get me back in the sweet spot of not too high, not too low and maybe help the migraines.

I've finally decided to give CoQ10 supplements a trial too. There is good, if preliminary evidence from limited trials for migraine prevention. The supplements are a pricey, which has made me hesitate trying it, but I'm desperate. So, 100mg 3 times a day for 3 months and we'll see if it helps.

I've tried getting back to daily exercise after slacking off for most of the winter (because I couldn't bear to take my slippers and socks off to use the Wii in the cold) and managed to over do it Sunday and am paying for it today. Because CFS needed to remind me it owns my ass, I guess. Anyway, finding the right amount of exercise will help the migraines too. My neuro did warn me that too much can be as bad as too little. Fun.

I've been trying to discipline myself to meditate a bit in the mornings too, but I have trouble taking the time. It feels like "wasting time" even though it may help.

Better news though is that the blood pressure med we've tried for migraine prevention is at least helping with my heart rate - it's no longer sky high all the damn time. So, um, yay.

It's also gotten cold again but not quite cold enough for the boiler to be back on for the radiators. My hands and feet are screaming with Raynaud's and even my lips were purple earlier today. And Oreo and I have been fighting over the heating pad.

Hoping I'll feel up to actual posts again soon.

Ozymandias Improved

2011-04-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

Last month, I decided that improving Shelley's poem Ozymandias needed to be on my time-travel to-do list.

Today, I saw something about the site xtranormal, which lets you create little animated movies with whatever script you'd like. It's fairly easy to use, even if you have practically no video or animation experience. Inspiration, or possibly migraine aura, struck and so I decided to make a short movie with the improved version of the line in question.

I can't quite get him to say "bitches" the way I'd like, but hey, for 15 minutes of effort, not bad.

When Progress Isn't Progress

2011-04-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

Online petition - Stop the Dams in Sudan!

The two seasons I dug in Sudan were as part of the salvage campaign before the new Merowe Dam at the 4th Cataract was completed and the reservoir it formed filled, flooding the area.

We got to see first hand what that meant for the people who lived in the area. They were resettled in places not of their own choosing, on land unfamiliar to them, and in areas unsuitable to farming as they were accustomed.

It is unlikely any of them will ever see any great benefit from the dam itself. The hydroelectric power it produces is intended primarily for Egypt and the money earned from that will go to the dictator in power in Khartoum.

In response to attempts to negotiate different terms of resettlement or a different time-line for construction and flooding, people were killed by state police. Flooding was begun ahead of schedule, narrowly avoiding harm to those who remained in the area.

The new dams proposed will not be different. They will not be a source of benefit for the people they displace. They will be a way to enrich a dictatorial, genocidal regime headed by Bashir. They are a way for foreign interests to endear themselves further to Bashir and his cronies for their own enrichment and access to oil and mineral wealth. They will also provide a convenient opportunity to displace the remainder of the Nubian ethnic group who managed to hang on to their tradition territory and way of life even in the face of the Aswan Dam built in the 1960s and the ongoing campaign and bias against them in Sudan and Egypt.

Candidly, no one in power is likely to give a damn if you read the petition or sign it. But I think as fellow human beings, we at least owe the people likely to be displaced a moment of thought and sympathy. And maybe a small hope that things might change.

It will be people like this kid. And places like that run-down goat pen. And while you might say that being placed in brand new constructed villages will make things better for them, remember that they don't get a choice. They don't get input into how the villages are arranged or where they're placed. And if they try to complain or negotiate, they're as likely to be shot or beaten to death as they are given a fair hearing.

amigurumi t-rex

2011-04-17T18:16:00.001-05:00

amigurumi t-rex
Originally uploaded by perlinavichinga

RAWR!!!
Some of you are aware of my standard advice for coping with anger, irritation, fear, or boredom: Pretend to be a R-Rex! There is no way you won't feel better by holding your elbows close to your body to make little T-Rex arms while stomping around sayng "RAWR!!!!"
(Note: Not advised in public places unless you like having psych evals)

Deep Sea Diver

2011-04-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

Deep Sea Diver
Originally uploaded by MrFoxyy

May die of the cute.

Harry Potter Trunk of Spells AKA 8 million kinds of awesome

2011-04-17T17:12:00.000-05:00

Via GeekCrafts
Harry Potter Trunk of Spells: "

Oh, man, do I love these One Tiny Thing swaps on Craftster. Yes, yes, I’ve posted many times how much I love tiny things, but I’m going to say it again. I LOVE tiny things. And the One Tiny Harry Potter Thing swaps seem to yield the awesome-est tiny things of all. This trunk of spells by Craftster user technogoddess is just amazing. Look at all those itty bitty bottles and viles and spellbooks and even a teeny tiny bubbling cauldron! I’m in love!

Harry Potter Trunk of Spells

"

Click through to the Craftster post for more photos and details. Super nifty.

Paramecium Microbe Embroidery Hoop Art

2011-04-17T17:05:00.001-05:00

Paramecium Microbe Embroidery Hoop Art
Originally uploaded by whatnomints

Awesome! Go check them out!

The Trouble with Tribbles

2011-04-17T17:03:00.001-05:00

The Trouble with Tribbles
Originally uploaded by fibrouspics

Fun-fur CAN be useful - just look at this fabulous tribble.

Mummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

2011-04-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaMummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

I have the pestilence (cold) from hell at the moment, but this article was really interesting and I wanted to share it.

If you hadn't already guessed, I tend not to have a lot of patience for people who overly romanticize "non-Western" cultures (and often the concept of non-Western extends into the past to mean anything prior to the Industrial Revolution).
Therefore, this article about artherosclerosis, which is typically characterized as a disease of modern life, being found in Egyptian mummies is particularly interesting. One does have to wonder how much the results were determined by the relatively higher social status of the people being mummified and their greater access to diets that may have been less healthy.

It's interesting, though, the number of people who seem to think that if we could just transport some of the basics of modern hygiene and medicine into the pre-Industrial past that it would be a veritable utopia.

Not sure if this is making much sense as I'm loopy from the cold and stuff to kill the symptoms.

Anyway, ancient heart disease. Interesting.

Oreo Report Card of the Day - EE

2011-04-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

Image by shoveling_ferret via Flickr

Slavering hell-hound of badness

For "Exceeds Expectations." In badness.

We just went for our evening walk. Oreo, because he is a punkass, likes to do his pooping on the triangle of grass by the curb at intersections, especially near busier streets because, I dunno, watching traffic helps or something.
Ordinarily, this isn't too much trouble for me, but today was special. We just bought some of the doggy poop bags that come in rolls because we no longer shop frequently in places that give out plastic shopping bags that are easily converted to poop bags.

Today was the first day I had tried using them.

So, there I am, dog leash held tightly in one hand, cane sort of balanced against my body, trying to get the freakin' bag to open so I can pick up poop.
And then a bus drives by.

Apparently, Oreo's entire family was killed by ninja buses or something because damn does that little dog go bug nuts when he sees and hears a bus. He makes an exception for buses that have stopped, though, especially if the doors are open at which point he tries to get on the bus. Sigh.

So, trying to keep balance, keep dog from running into street, balance cane, and get stupid plastic baggy open.

Then 3 kids wander by all "oh, he's so cute!" And Oreo, attention whore that he is, is all like "I must greet my adoring fans!" And starts yanking in the other direction.

And right behind the kids is their dad. With a Basset Hound.

Oreo immeadiately goes from "aren't I the cutest, specialist, most pwecious doggy ever?" to "ZOMG I will KILL YOU!!!!!! Growly-barky-snarl!"

Still can't get the bag open.

Dude with Basset Hound is like "is he friendly?" I stopped fiddling with the bag and damn near let my can fall over staring at him for a minute before I managed to get out "um, not so much."

So, perfectly nice Basset Hound and family go away. Oreo continues barking and lunging in all directions because I dunno why.

I finally get the bag open and pick up his poop and throw it out.

He was actually fairly well behaved for the rest of his walk, but I think that's because he realized what a little shit he'd been. He's now snuggled on my lap. Only because I wanted a lap warmer, though.

Loot

2011-04-02T17:27:00.000-05:00

My birthday was on Wednesday. There was loot.

The Oreos are already gone. I have to find something to attach the "Beware of Attack Ferret" sign to. And I'm fiddling around trying to figure out a way to send only some of my news from Google Reader to my Kindle.

NAMI | NAMIWALKS

2011-03-31T14:10:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine in Seattle is participating in her local NAMIWALKS 5k. Go sponsor, my minions (you're my minions, right?)! NAMI | NAMIWALKS

NAMI is awesome, they are the National Alliance for Mental Illness working on advocacy for the mentally ill and working to destigmatize mental illness to encourage more people who need help to be able to access it.

I walked for them last year in Chicago, and it was great.

Fun with Hammers

2011-03-28T20:44:00.004-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

What a hammer may look like

It's random tales from the field time again, children. Gather round.

The last time I was in Sudan (2008) I got really, really sick. Flu with complications. Wound up leaving our excavation site for about a week to go back to the capital in Khartoum to see a doctor and get meds and junk. Got to feeling slightly better, didn't want to come home to Chicago, so went back out to the site. Before you yell at me for the stupid, bear in mind it was January. No one in their right mind would go back to Chicago in January if they could avoid it.

Anyway we got back and I was still weak and woozy as all hell. The day after I got back, the rest of the team went on a day trip to visit some other sites, some of which I had seen before. Having just done the 8 or so hour journey from Khartoum the day before I was like "y'all have fun now, don't fall in any tombs."

So it was me and our cook, Hashem left at the house. As an aside, Hashem is a genius. My god that man can cook. He made fried chicken! In a dirt kitchen! With just two propane burners! And soup! He spoke almost no English, but so what. He would wipe the floor with that Colonel dude from Kentucky. If he ever for some reason wants to move the the US I will be at whatever government office necessary waving my cane around and yelling about how we need his awesome cooking for the good of the nation.

Anyway, I had stayed in bed a little late that day until I felt like getting up. Then I staggered over to the dining room part of the house to see if there was tea left in any of the carafes and maybe some packaged cookies or something. Hashem sees me and conveys very clearly that no, skinny foreign woman who looks like she may pass out at any moment, you are eating real food. Off he goes.

I take a seat in one of the plastic chairs and hang out, sort of idly watching flies get caught on the fly-tapes we have hanging from the ceiling. (Remember the fly tape, it's important later.)

Hashem all squinty because some genius
thought staring into the sun
for photos was a good idea

Hashem returns with enough food to feed like 8 people. I express appropriate awe/gratitude and start eating hoping I can at least manage to force down enough not to offend him. It was good, I just still felt like ass. He wanders off again, probably to mix his 87 herbs and spices for his magical, magical fried chicken.

There is suddenly this awful, loud buzzing noise. Enough that I jumped up and away from the fluorescent light we had for use at night even though it wasn't turned on. Then I look at one of the fly tapes. A small bird appears to be stuck in it. On closer inspection, it turns out to be some sort of gargantuan bumble bee. I'm thinking "Chainsaw Bee" is a good name. It's stuck to the fly tape, but is so heavy it's pulled the thing down almost to the tabletop. And it's pissed and sounding even more like a chainsaw. And skeezing me out, big time. And shaking and jerking on the fly tape threatening to pull it down and/or release the lifeless but still disgusting bodies of its predecessors.

Pretty sure
it was about the size of a Space Bee

So, after rescuing my plate of food from possible contamination by the chainsaw bee, I look around for a way to kill it. I was wearing flipflops. No way. All the books available 1) belonged to me and 2) would have been ruined by Chainsaw Bee guts. Other options included plastic chairs, plastic tables, or either of 2 laptops. There was also the option of yelling for Hashem, but I didn't know the Arabic for "the sickly crazy foreigner is a chickenshit and there is a huge fucking Chainsaw Bee up in here."

Then I spotted a hammer. Score!

At first I tried smacking it with the hammer while it was still on the dangling fly paper. In retrospect, this is probably the most obvious evidence that I was still pretty unwell, because even I would ordinarily recognize that as a bad idea.

My feeble swipes at it finally knocked Chainsaw Bee to the ground however. Victory was to be mine!

There I am, crouched on the ground with a good-sized hammer in my hand, raised over my head prepared to strike with a no doubt manic/feverish gleam in my eye when Hashem comes back. He stopped and blinked. I waved my free hand feebly and gestured at Chainsaw Bee. He sort of nodded. And went away.

I smashed the fuck out of Chainsaw Bee.

I considered finding Hashem and trying to explain but, again, wasn't sure how to express "I'm stupid and there was a bee" in either Arabic or pantomime without making myself look even crazier.

Instead, I finished my brunch.

Ozzy, Bitches: New Item for the Time Travel To Do Iist

2011-03-26T16:01:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaI haven't added anything to the time-machine to-do list in some time, but a discussion of the poem Ozymandias on Twitter today inspired me. Along with someone wondering if a nickname for Ozymandias is "Ozzy" and thus also wondering if he bit the heads off of bats, I confessed that whenever I hear the lines:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

I add the word "bitches" to the end. Now, while Shelley was probably too much of a whiny emo-kid to have made the poem that much more epic I'm pretty sure Ramses II (aka Ozymandias) would have been all about that.

1. If someone invents a time machine and I go back to ancient Egypt, scribes better watch out. I will be pimp-slapping every last one of those bastards.
2. Claim Europe.
3. Print this out and take a copy to Charles Darwin. For the lulz.
4. Find the Trolololo guy and kill him.
5. Take photos of Akhenaten and his extended family. And blood samples. And possibly penis measurements (that's totally getting farmed out to some grad student I hate).
6. Convince Percy "Emo" Shelley that his poem will be much better as

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair, bitches!"

Acanthus (ornament) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-03-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaAcanthus (ornament) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"The Roman writer Vitruvius (c. 75 BCE — c. 15 BCE) related that the Corinthian order had been invented by Callimachus, a Greek architect and sculptor who was inspired by the sight of a votive basket that had been left on the grave of a young girl. A few of her toys were in it, and a square tile had been placed over the basket, to protect them from the weather. An acanthus plant had grown through the woven basket, mixing its spiny, deeply cut leaves with the weave of the basket."

I did not know this story, as my knowledge of Classical Antiquity is spotty at best, but I find it very touching, somehow, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Then again part of why mortuary archaeology is so interesting to me is that it's such an immediate contact with people - not just the person interred, but with whomever took the time to carry out the steps of a proper funeral. It's often a last act of compassion for a fellow being and there is a certain deliberate care to do it as right or properly as possible. And there is often an ongoing element of interaction between the living and the dead.

Native Americans modified American landscape years prior to arrival of Europeans

2011-03-24T18:39:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaNative Americans modified American landscape years prior to arrival of Europeans

My Twitter followers will have already seen my response, but because I am particularly arthritic and therefore grumpy today, I wanted to reiterate:

No shit, really!?!?

[sarcasm]
Humans modified landscapes in which they lived? Even the Injun ones? I may die of shock.
[/sarcasm]

Don't get me wrong, having quantifiable evidence is good and the study is pretty cool. I just tend to get pissy about the tendency some people have of thinking humans were somehow way more stupid or incompetent in the past. Especially non-European humans.
We're all still pretty much the same. People in the past and people now are still just as capable of epic awesomeness of achievement of the WIN! or FAIL! variety. And even of somehow managing both at the same time (Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh, I am totally looking at you. "Derpty-do, I'll totally believe these random spies and just go on way ahead of the rest of my army and get caught by a huge enemy force...")

I'll go back to grinding my teeth and being aware of each and every joint facet/point of contact in my shoulder, fingers, and sacro-illiac now.

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

2011-03-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

Some wonderful photos and peeks behind the scenes of the OI's latest temporary exhibit "Egypt Before the Pyramids." Beautiful, beautiful Predynastic pots. Very nifty.

These are on the Oriental Institute's Facebook page, but you should be able to view them even if you are not a member of Facebook.

Chicago Tribune Fail

2011-03-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

So there was a story on the Chicago Tribune about a pilot program trial thing for dementia patients in Illinois. I hit the "like this on Facebook" button on and went on my merry way.
The I checked Facebook today and a friend had commented that the photo with the story was sort of priceless.

If you can't make it out, it's a photo of a building on fire. That was a different Tribune story.

I am going to hell for laughing so hard at this.

My Official Response Is As Follows: "Daaaaaaaaaaaamn"

2011-03-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaUnreported Heritage News: Ancient Egyptians made the arduous trek to Chad ne...: "View From Egypt to Chad in a larger map The Bodele Depression. New research suggests that the Egyptians travelled to this area. Today it..."

Go read the article and look at the pictures.

I wonder what this will do to the ongoing debate over which ancient Egyptian place-names apply to what areas in greater Nubia and Africa

Also: ZOMG A country in Africa had contact with other parts of Africa!

In Memoriam - Donny George Youkhanna 1950-2011

2011-03-12T15:55:00.000-06:00

I just found out that Donny George Youkhanna, former Director General of the Baghdad National Museum, passed away yesterday in Toronto. He apparently collapsed in the Toronto airport, was taken to hospital, and passed away there.
He was a brave and brilliant man who worked tirelessly to protect Iraqi heritage and antiquities before and during the Second Gulf War. I had the pleasure of meeting him and hearing him lecture in 2004 while I was a graduate student.
He was forced to leave Iraq with his family due to threats from militants and a lack of financial and other support from the international community in helping to protect sites and artifacts in Iraq and to stem the looting and trade in antiquities but continued his efforts to protect Iraq's cultural heritage.

Are You Wishing You Could?

2011-03-11T15:53:00.001-06:00

roniAre You Wishing You Could?
I was going through my Google Reader backlog and found this from over a month ago. I liked the idea of a "wish I could" list. Especially since I wonder if actually vocalizing (typolyzing?) some of the wishes might help me find ways to make them happen.

So, I wish I could:
- Take long hikes
- Drive safely
- Bicycle
- Dance, especially take a class
- Go out in the sun without having to be covered in sun protection
- Dig professionally
- work full-time

The Ganja Archaeological Expedition

2011-03-10T22:08:00.000-06:00

They found a medieval brick kiln.

Medieval News: Medieval kiln found in Azerbaijan

Of primary note is probably my vast immaturity about the Ganja thing.

Best Sunglasses EVAR

2011-03-02T18:47:00.000-06:00

-Just like Jack O'Neill, bitches. Bask in my nerdy radiance! Behold my geeky excellence.

(Bask looks like it's spelled wrong, but apparently is not.)

Every time we watch Stargate SG-1 and I see Jack's sunglasses I'm always like "I gotta get me some of those." So, I did. Thanks to the powers of eBay!

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Psychotherapy

2011-03-02T12:25:00.001-06:00

John, thank you so much for publishing this. I was an archaeologist just about to propose my dissertation when CFS finally smacked me down hard. Now I can just barely manage to work a few hours a week and keep my apartment somewhat close to clean.

I've spent years trying to convince doctors and family and friends and at times myself that *something* was wrong; that I'm not just lazy or lacking in ambition or drive; in short, that this isn't a character flaw. Even harder has been accepting that this may be my reality for the rest of my life. Despite what society tends to want us to do - fight constantly, spend all our energy on "getting better" it seems the healthiest thing is to accept things as they are and to plan for the future based on how we are now, not how we used to be or how we hope to be in the future. I find that frightens some people. It's as though acceptance is taken as defeat.

Anyway, to conclude my rambling - thank you again, John. Every voice sharing their reality is a blessing and a gift.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Unknown Dangers of Assitantships

2011-02-15T19:44:00.000-06:00

Image by JnL via Flickr
Slide carousel. They worked via a combo of light projection and cursing

Part of my "treatment" for my depression the past week has been watching Beavis and Butthead, which I haven't seen since it was on air in the mid-90s. I still find it hilarious - make of that what you will.

One of the episodes ("Figure Drawing" when they wind up in a nude drawing class) reminded me vividly of a sort-of archaeological story, in the same vein as this one.

So, long ago when I was a poor, naive undergraduate (as opposed to a poor, cynical, crippled post-graduate) I wanted to go to an academic conference. These things cost money. They're usually in large, expensive hotels, often in large expensive cities. You have to pay conference fees, membership fees, pay for a room somewhere and get your ass there.

This particular conference made allowances for us pitiful, undereducated weaklings and had assitantships that would pay most of the expenses. Yay. I still wound up driving 300 miles there and back (and on the last day I had food poisoning) but whatever. This was my very first-ever grown-up conference.

The assitantship meant I had to help run the A/V equipment. This was long enough ago that nearly everyone was still using 35 mm slides. I had never so much as touched a slide projector before. Plus, I was shy and knew exactly 4 people of the hundreds there. This was when I learned that some ABDs and newly minted PhDs can be ENORMOUS douchecanoes to anyone they remotely perceive as beneath them. I was still young enough to give a damn and not be all "whateva' have you seen the job market lately? Hope you have fun with that attitude at McDonald's."
It was totally not my fault that the hotel had craptastic A/V equipment and that they'd apparently had developmentally delayed wombats erect the projector screens. Or that some dillholes had loaded their slides wrong. At least I didn't spill any slide carousels.

Anyway.

This particular conference had a day set aside for presentations geared toward the general public as well as the specialists typically attending the conference. In one of the huge hotel ballrooms because I guess they thought a whole lot of archaeological enthusiasts have plenty of time mid-week to travel to a downtown urban area with no parking to listen to lectures on topics they may or may not have ever heard of or care about.

At least all the presenters there were older scholars and most of them were remarkably nice. One of them was presenting on the Turin Papyrus.
At the time, that phrase meant almost nothing to me. I figured "hey, a papyrus, with writing, cool." The woman presenting handed me a stack of transparencies (yes, this was a long time ago, shut up) and said she'd just let me know when to switch them out during her lecture.
And I was still like "cool, this will be easy. Also, no one is yelling at me for things beyond my control. Awesome!"
So, she gets to lecturing. And I'm vaguely paying attention to what she's saying, but more listening for the "next slide, please" cue.
And she asks for the first transparency. So I slap that bad-boy on the projector like I know I'm its boss.

Go here for better detail. WARNING: Adult content NSFW

And look up.

I'm guessing my face looked more like Beavis.

Turns out, the speaker had decided to talk about the Turin Erotic Papyrus (guess why it's called that) for her public lecture. Heh.

I swear there were at least 40 transparencies. In excellent detail. And while I did spend my formative years in Nevada where it's fairly common to see gigantic billboards emblazoned with women in feather bikinis, I was still somewhat unprepared for 40 damn transparencies of ancient pr0n. Some of it involving bestiality. That I was responsible for showing to the public.

I have since sat through not one but several awkward, repetitive ("that's what she said") lectures on the same or a related topic. While sexuality and eroticism in the ancient world are interesting topics, I will not weep if I never, ever see the Turin Erotic Papyrus or hear some elderly professor mumble his way through a discussion of it ever again.

Depression Strikes Again

2011-02-13T23:13:00.000-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's the mummy of Ramses II. Not really applicable, I just wanted to put it in

I had another bad episode of depression crop up last weekend, which is why the blog has been so quiet for over a week.
I'm feeling much better now emotionally, though the weather has been hard on me physically. Almost every day has gotten me a weather warning for either arthritis or migraine. Buhh.

We're still watching events in Egypt unfold and hoping for the best for Egyptians.

On a lighter note, I've been sleeping in more the past week (into the afternoon, frequently) and it seems as though every time I stagger out of bed, often the first thing I find out is that someone has been deposed or protests have cropped up somewhere new.

February 5, Four Years Ago

2011-02-05T10:12:00.002-06:00

We were finally, after much to-ing and fro-ing and bureacratic nonsense and confusion ready to leave Kareima (Gebel Barkal) for our excavation site.

Some of us, including me, went in the Land Cruiser. Tom and one of the field directors and our Sudanese inspector went on the lorry with all our supplies.

And thus began a truly surreal and, in retrospect, hilarious experience.

So, the route from Kareima up to the 4th Cataract is over-desert and along rough tracks. There is no pavement. No signs. No lights. Nothing. There are no villages until you get back near the river at the cataract.

We were barely out of the city of Kareima when one of the tires on the lorry went flat. We hung around for a while and apparently they didn't have a tool they needed to fix the tire, so the driver called someone back in Kareima (hurray for cell phones) to send someone out with one.

It was decided that those of us in the Land Cruiser should go on ahead. So, we did.

We arrived at the village where, the previous day, the directors had arranged to rent a house for us to live in only to find that we were no longer exactly welcome. Apparently, the man we were supposed to rent the house from hadn't had permission from the omdeh (a sort of combination mayor/judge/community leader). He did not want us to rent the house because he and the rest of the Manasir tribe were trying to negotiate a better resettlement deal with the Sudanese government and part of their strategy was refusing to cooperate with the archaeological teams trying to do salvage a survey ahead of the dam flooding the area.
Fair enough. Unfortunately the Land Cruiser occupants consisted of:
- the driver who spoke very little English and later turned out to be a sexual predator and speed addict
- One of the co-directors who spoke very little Arabic and that badly and who also has a really nasty colonialist streak. We'll call him by the nickname the local workers we hired eventually started using for him: Abu Hamar.
- me who had never been to Sudan before and knew *maybe* 10 words of Arabic. Also, I was in Sudan at that point mostly because no way was I going to wait at home while Tom was in freakin' Sudan, plus I hadn't been out to dig in 3 years.
- 3 other team members who had also never been to Sudan before and spoke no Arabic

So, one of the words I did know in Arabic at the time was the imperative for "leave" or "go away." About 10 minutes into the um, I guess it was a conversation, but no one really knew what was going on, I start hearing the omdeh saying "Go away. No, really, leave."

Awesome.

That distracted me from my occupation at the time, which was trying to figure out if size and elaboration of sunglasses indicated social status among the men gathered there, especially as the omdeh was rocking some knock-off Chanel sunglasses with the interlocked "C's" where the ear pieces joined the frames.

There was much dithering from Abu Hamar. There was an attempted strategy session with Sexual Predator Driver that went no where because of the language barrier combined with the general lack of having a clue. Meanwhile, a larger crowd is growing and while no one looks super pissed, they also don't look terribly thrilled either. It's getting dark. We had hoped the lorry which had people who both spoke Arabic and had a clue in it would catch us up, but no.

So, finally I piped up and suggested we go back the way we came to the village where a team of Polish archaeologists is based. There is no way the lorry can not pass that location (so we'll be able to stop them before they go to the house we are no longer renting) and maybe the Poles can help us out or at least give us a place to crash. This wasn't an especially well-thought out plan on my part but mostly based on my goals of a) not pissing off people who outnumber us, some of whom might have guns or even pointed sticks; b) kind of wanting a cigarette but figuring then was not the time; c) seriously wondering if we would wind up all trying to sleep in the Land Cruiser with it parked exactly where it was while pretending we couldn't see the people outside if I didn't say anything.

Fortunately, Abu Hamar was sufficiently desperate at the time to accept even one of my lowly female ideas and not pick a fight and/or deliver a long, incomprehensible lecture barely tangentially related to the topic at hand that would manage to be offensive to everyone within hearing and provide absolutely no solution to the issue. The fact that the Poles probably had alcohol undoubtedly helped my case. We managed to establish that it was okay for us to leave some delicate equipment in the (not)rented house for the time being and headed back to hang with the Poles.

We fully expected to meet the lorry on the way back or find it already at the village where the Polish team is based.

They weren't there. It was dark. Attempts to call mobiles failed. I was super cheery after that.

The Polish team welcomed us very warmly, fed us dinner, and offered to let us sleep in an empty house they had rented for expansion of their team. Great, except all our gear was on the lorry and it gets *cold* in the desert at night. Abu Hamar said something about waiting up for the lorry to arrive. I said I would too and was told that wouldn't be appropriate for some reason that was never articulated. I pointed out that my husband was lost in the dark in the desert in the middle of nowhere and there was no way in hell I was going to sleep until I knew where he was so suck it. Wisely, the subject was dropped.

Then the Polish team brought out the alcohol. Alcohol is illegal in Sudan. Punishment involves caning. Nonetheless, the Polish team brought and purchased alcohol in Sudan. Being generous hosts, they begin passing bottles. I sipped politely and finally gave it a pass when the Eritrean cognac came out.

By this time it was about 10 or 11pm. Abu Hamar showed no signs of flagging and the rest of us figured the Polish team would want some sleep before work the next day, so we headed off to the house we'd been offered hoping our departure would let our hosts go to bed if they wanted. The others tried sleeping. I sat up on a woven bed-frame in the courtyard and chain smoked while imagining all sorts of horrible things that might be happening to Tom and how on earth I was going to explain to his parents what had happened and how very much I wanted to punch someone, anyone really. Also, it was freezing!

A little after midnight, we finally heard the sound of a diesel engine approaching. I ran full pelt toward the sound only to be met at the door to the Polish house by Abu Hamar who told me, in what I imagine was intended as a conspiratorial tone, that he was "a little drunk." I may or may not have managed a really sarcastic "no, really?" before running past him to jump on Tom. Between the time I left to go be panicky and the time the lorry arrived, they'd managed to kill 2/3rd of a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, half the Eritrean cognac, and at least 2 liters of Sudanese moonshine that smelled and tasted like perfume.

We all piled back into the house. People kept pouring tea glasses full of cognac and moonshine for Tom, which he shotgunned in the hope that would let him get to bed (he slept really well that night). They apparently had their own comedy of errors out in the desert.

The guy sent with the tool they needed got his car either lost or stuck. Then one of the helpers on the lorry thought he could find them and set out only to get lost. So then everyone fanned out trying to find the lost kid as it was getting dark. They eventually found him and he was fine. Then they got the tire fixed and got under way and were shocked to see our Land Cruiser parked by the road. Apparently it was a long, dusty trip in the back of the lorry and Tom and the other director spent most of it huddled together under a sleeping bag, eating some of our "emergency" supply of Pringles and some melons the driver gave them.

Fun times.
Eventually we had all exhcanged stories and consumed enough alcohol to satisfy everyone and headed off to try to get some sleep. All our stuff was on the bottom layer of packing in the lorry, so we grabbed what we could to try to bundle up to sleep. I didn't sleep at all because Tom kept stealing the sleeping bag we were sharing as a blanket, plus I couldn't stop the freezing cold air coming up through the woven bed frame.

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