I made it there...about two hours before the insane storm came in. Lots of wind. Crazy rain. Thursday was mostly spent hanging out inside doing a lot of nothing like reading. Thankfully, the crazy weather stopped in time for us to walk to The Court of Two Sisters for dinner. Fabulous food! I had bbq shrimp to start and then some pork tenderloin dish for dinner with cherries jubilee for desert. Nomnom!
I am so over this trip and I am not even gone yet.
Someone peed on my camera bag. A cat. I am pretty sure I know which one and this time it wasn't one of mine. *sigh* The bigger issue lies in that my next best bag to use as a makeshift camera bag was the Ogio laptop backpack that Neil had given to me, that I gave back to him because I wasn't using it and one of his cats had peed on his (to the point of no return...his bag got thrown away). (Are you seeing a trend here with the bags?) Anyway...and now that backpack is already in New Orleans...with Neil.
ARGH!!!!
On to other things...
My left leg is killing me and is accompanied by a nasty rash that flares up at random intervals and has for a couple years now. (Yes, I know I should have had this looked at sooner...I hate going to the doctor. Period. Don't hassle me on that.) While I was out and about today I finally went to the urgent care clinic near my house and had it looked at. Or rather, had my suspicions confirmed...I have shingles. Gross, huh? They are caused by the same virus that gives us chicken pox (i.e. if you've had the chicken pox, you could get shingles...neat huh?) They don't really know why the flareups occur other than they seem to be triggered by stress or when the immune system is otherwise compromised. For instance, I am guessing the holiday stress, mixed with work stress, mixed with fighting off a cold is what triggered this bout. Also I find heat and humidity bothers mine a lot. There is no cure. It is not contagious, with the exception that I could give chicken pox to someone who has never had them. So I have to be extra careful around smaller kids, etc. but only while I have the rash, it isn't contagious at all when dormant and is even nearly impossible to detect in testing unless active.
Usually, this shows up in people over 60 (something like only 2% of people get it at my age, however, they say that 1 in 2 people who have had chicken pox will deal with it before they die)...the problem is that there is a possible side symptom that can come with it...severe nerve pain that does not always go away after the rash heals...and that is what finally drove me to the doctor this time. My leg is KILLING me and it seems to be getting worse each time this shows up. Unfortunately, the doc I saw today was of the ultra conservative mind bent...and since this was my first trip in to get this diagnosed, told me to stick with taking extra large doses of ibuprofen for the time being and see how things are in a few weeks. Seriously? I look like I am addicted to pain killers and am coming there to get a random Rx that I don't need?
I am so frustrated. And scared. And embarrassed. On the flip side, I am SO grateful that this didn't manifest in its usual place of a band around the torso...essentially right where a bra would wrap around a woman's body under the breast. It only effects one side of the body or the other (left or right) because it is nerve driven and they are divided down the center of the body. I cannot imagine having to put any kind of restrictive clothing over this...I don't know how women survive that. I would have to get ultra skinny so I could just go without the bar (or teleport myself back to the 60's where no one cared. LOL) Anyway, luckily, for me it is a band/patch on the back of my thigh which sucks for sitting for long periods of time, but I can usually find a way to prop up my leg so there is no pressure on the back of it.
I am really struggling to wrap my head around the fact that I will be dealing with this until I die. When I get back (after new years and all) I am going to search for a good general practitioner who can either help me manage this or refer me to a specialist who can. If I am already having nerve pain issues now, I can't imagine what it is going to be like in another 15 years.
One more thing to add to the list of why I am not looking forward to being squashed in a plane seat for two hours (or more) tomorrow. I guess at least I am not trying to fly all the way home. Heh. So there you have it. My dark, dirty little secret.
I am going to go drink a beer and cry some more now.
]]>Of course there was something missing and forgotton with this stupid trip...I am blaming the stupid snow/ice on Friday night. Sadie's bordatella vaccination had expired and thus I was supposed to take her in to the vet Saturday morning. But with the weather insanity and then plans with Neil to go see the movie, I completely forgot.
Thank goodness the lady who owns the kennel is awesomely (this seems to be my new word as of late) on top of things and called me today to tell me according to her records she needed the vaccine. So, I rushed her over to the vet for the shot...while there, I also discovered that somehow I missed her annual physical this summer. So we did that too with the usual work-ups and tests and shots and what have you.
Ugh.
So, that's even fewer keepsakes coming home with me from the trip...or whatever. I am so frustrated at this point I don't even care anymore. ARGH.
Also, my left leg is killing me. *sigh* That is another entry for another day. I am scared about what I think the cause is and I need to get my thoughts sorted out sometime soon. Nothing life-threatening, but soemthing that could drastically effect me as I age. One of these days I will go see a doctor about it, not that there is too much to be done about it.
]]>Wow. For real...it's this week. So hard to believe.
I am stressing out about the trip to New Orleans. Thank goodness that I don't have gift madness to deal with too. I got Caleb's sent directly to my mom's house and am not doing anything for anyone else. So there.
1/2 day of work tomorrow morning and then it is vacation time through the weekend. That is somewhat of a relief...a couple days will get to be spent at home.
*sigh*
Really, I am going to miss being with the critters for the holiday. I hate that the dogs will be at the kennel and I hope the cats don't totally destroy the house...four days is about their max by themselves. Heh. I guess we'll see. Unfortunately, I have no vacation time when we return, so I seriously hope I don't have any major messes to clean up. It is bad enough to jump right back into work with "vacation" laundry and stuff to do too.
Yes, I am bitching. This trip is looming at me like some sort of monster out of a bad dream. Only I am not waking up and it is not going away. It will have to be dealt with when it gets here, I guess.
]]>We went to see the matinee of Avatar 3-D yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot. The plot was very nativist and (I thought) trite, so don't expect anything new or mind-blowing there and the corporate head-honcho character annoyed the crap out of me with his apparent wishy-washiness (I don't want to throw in any spoilers so I won't go into any more detail). The movie itself though was stunning. It is amazing how far 3-D technology has come...I remember watching some 3-D movie as a kid with the red and blue glasses...this nothing like that.
A friend on Facebook asked about getting nauseous...I could see someone feeling ill if you have a tendency toward motion sickness. Even with the advances, the 3-D sometimes has trouble keeping up with the fast action (I learned about the whys and such from Neil LOL) which sometimes makes it feel a little wonky to watch. I noticed in some of the fast action scenes people became sort of see-through...I think that was how my brain was processing the images.
And I would definitely caution against sitting too close to the screen - our seats were almost all the way at the back of the theater in the dead center of the row (which was amazing considering the theater was already packed when we got there!). And I can't imagine trying to keep up with the action while watching it on an IMAX screen. With that said, our friend who went with us was worried about that because she tends to get ill and she LOVED the movie. I believe her words were "the best movie she's ever seen".
All that aside, it was beautiful. It is long (nearly 3 hours), but I sat through the whole thing even after pounding a 32 ounce Coke at the start of it. ;-) The scope of it really draws you in, and even with the script predicatbility, you want to keep watching (well, _I_ did anyway).
My only other gripe about the movie is that they recycle the glasses...mine looked like someone had taken fine grain sandpaper to them...so check yours out in the lobby before you get into the theater (I didn't).
Bottom line is, I would recommend seeing it in the theater for the spectacular imagry. If you are worried about cost, do what we did and hit up a matinee (still not cheap, but much less than prime time). :)
]]>Yesterday there was some snow...definitely a lot of ice, and apparently freezing rain during the night:
This morning was quite lovely just as the sun was coming up before it all melted (though, I am thankful it DID all melt). I snapped a few shots before retreating back inside to the warmth of my morning coffee. I guess winter is officially here even if the calendar doesn't quite say so yet.
I suppose there will be more of this to come as winter progresses...we'll just have to wait and see!
]]>And laryngitis type stuff that comes and goes.
The voice thing is sudden and annoying my throat hurts like hell which makes me want to not talk anyway, but I CAN talk...until suddenly I can't. With two conference calls today, that is not so convenient.
Thank goodness, not much going on I need to talk to anyone about.
I have been trying to reactivate my account to play Lord of the Rings Online (yes, I am a geek)...but I am getting an error online. I've submitted a trouble ticket, but so far have heard nothing back. Their customer service department leaves a lot to be desired...
Really nothing much to report. Both dogs seem to have upset tummies, but I don't know why. Sadie pooed runnies on the kitchen floor...thank goodness it was on the hard floor for easier clean-up. *sigh*
OK off to conference call #2 and then to eat some lunch because despite not feeling well, I am starving!
]]>It is another gorgeous, sunny yet cold winter day here. However, I noticed this morning that there is a winter storm watch for my county...apparently they are expecting snow storms to come through tomorrow. Crazy! Usually we don't get our frozen precipitation until much later in the winter. Guess I should go look for my boots just in case.
Work is still work. This week is my last real review of the year. YAY! I am doing a site inspection locally here after Christmas, but I don't have to talk to anyone to do it, so that is kind of nice.
Moo stayed with Neil this week while I was gone and was mostly a good girl! At Neil's she has to sleep in her crate because his house is not Moo-proofed...so there she usually really freaks out in the middle of the night. Our solution was to move her crate to the garage (it is a finished, insulated garage...plenty warm and protected for her). This seems to have worked. He told me she barked a little right at first, but then settled down and he didn't hear her all night. And there were no accidents in the morning. She did get into the food bag and chew up one of her zip lock bags that I pack her food in. Luckily, there was no food in it.
For whatever reason, she still gets up in the middle of the night to go outside. I've been trying to work with her on this by giving her a really long potty walk before bed and then insisting on her going to lay back down when she does wake me up/ignoring her when she is just being whiny. My concern is that the couple times that she has listened and has gone to lay back fown, she has also gotten sick. I am not sure what is up with that - maybe she has an upset tummy from her antibiotics (it has only happened after her surgery)? And I know if she REALLY has to go, she lets me know by grunting and getting up on the bed if she has to to get me up...so now I don't really know what to do. Some nights she hasn't woken me up and there have been no problems. Last night I don't know if she tried (I never heard her), but this morning there were three barf spots in the living room. *sigh* Thankfully, I haven't cleaned the carpets yet. That is on the agenda for Saturday. I guess I will just keep trying to get her to sleep through the night and will continue to clean up barf as needed.
Bonnie's new trick is to sneak out the front door when it is opened and then dash around the house to come in the back door. I am guessing she wants to go outside, but also doesn't really want to be left out. LOL However, I am learning that if you chase her then she keeps going and doesn't come back in for awhile. Bad kitty.
I have been being better about washing my face at night and in the mornings and using lotion on it...my skin is starting to look pretty darn good again. I like it.
Now I am working on getting my geeky games reloaded onto my computer...I had to repartitiion the hard drive to make room for one of them. I am SUCH a dork.
Next week I will be headed to New Orleans. I am trying to get excited, or at least happy about going. I am really. right now I feel a nice cold settling in so that isn't helping my mood.
Moo's knee is healing really well...at least the incision is! And she seems to be feeling pretty chipper, so that makes me happy. Sadie is her usual playful, happy self too.
Now I am going to go see about some lunch...
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As I mentioned (I think) in a previous entry, I stitched up the torn seam on a toy monkey that had been given to Moo when she was a brand new puppy and then gave it back to the dogs to play with. Sadie immediately latched on to it - she LOVES stuffed toys. She likes to find the squeaker inside and then rip it out...in the process, completely unstuffing the toy. This time, though, she was happy just tossing it around.
So yeah, I'm bragging a bit when I chronicle all my to-dos that are getting done. But it feels so good to finally be getting around to all of this, I have to spill it somewhere!