BiddiesInMyBrain

Goodness!

It appears Miss Crankypants struck again this past weekend! However, I have good news: I'm feeling much better and have reverted (mostly) back to my usual even and easygoing demeanor.

Needless to say, I did NOT take my morning dose of Rifampin. Ugh! I called the doc about it, and he officially took me off of it, though he would like me to take one experimental dose late this week to make certain that was the cause of my symptoms this weekend and not just a random summer cold/flu-like thing. I am NOT looking forward to that!

Poor Crash has had a long day - and a bizarre one. Further, something last week took a chunk out of the top of his hand - some sort of bug - and it has gotten infected, so I lanced it, pulled a lot of infection out of it, cleaned it really, really thoroughly, and now have it all bundled up with plenty of antibiotic cream. Poor guy.  

But still, we went out tonight to Sushi Happy Hour at A-Tan... and as always, we were very, very happy - three rolls and one nigiri for $12. YUM.

Crash is currently at a going-away party for a colleague of his from school. I am still feeling just iffy enough that I didn't want to push it too hard, so I am staying home and trying to continue the upward trend. I slept almost the whole day and feel pretty perky, but unsteady, so here I am.

Don't know much else - but I am happy to have banished Miss Crankypants yet again. She's a tough one sometimes.

Trying to Get Over the Crabbies

My usual bouyant mood is somewhat marred by the really lousy feeling that I am coming down with the flu. However, it would appear that this feeling is also one of the potential side effects of the Rifampin I am taking for the sinus infection, so I am taking Tylenol and trying to grin and bear it; only ten more days. However, I am calling the doc tomorrow and making sure that this isn't a bad side effect, just annoying. The Cipro has never made me feel like this, so I am assuming it's the Rifampin. Nasty stuff.

This morning was a comedy of errors involving two of our animals, the house-flipper next door, and a colleague of Crash's - and the whole fiasco began at 5:30 - so I didn't get too much sleep last night on top of the flu-like feeling. Needless to say, I didn't make church today, and I was really planning on it to the point that I had picked out what I was going to wear the night before; usually I just throw something on the morning of. I am really sorry to have missed this morning's sermon - we had a guest pulpit leader - Rabbi Micah Greenstein - and he was talking about why America needs liberal religion. I can't wait to hear the details from Crash when he gets home this afternoon. The Rabbi always gives a good talk, and I am sure this was no exception.

Watched Casablanca this morning/afternoon on TCM - I had forgotten how much I love that movie. But, now the television is off and I am hunkering in to study hard. Mostly French, but some history in there, too.

Don't know much else, but I am going to try to stop biting people's heads off and recognize that I am the one who is really off right now.

Mea maxima culpa to anyone I have really snapped at lately. ::hugs::

Playing Along

Today is just... a struggle to get through, for some reason.

Woke up with the dog at 5:30 a.m. in what is becoming a (mostly) unwelcome ritual and, after taking the massive morning round of antibiotics, went back to bed. The antibiotics are tearing me apart and I just feel... blah... and really don't have any energy, so bed was pretty much where I stayed until noon.

Got up and puttered and am studying, but really - *all* I want to do is go back to bed. I am yearning for it with every fiber of my being and resisting it as hard as I can. I really need to be up - much to be done - but am not getting much done because I feel so crappy.

French exam is on Wednesday... and I feel *so* unprepared - and utterly unmotivated to try and remedy the situation (see above).

Feeling guilty about hating Jesse Helms with the viscera I do - but I can't help it. I hate very few people, but he has been a long-time target for my anger. I cannot forgive his racism and stupidity, nor is it mine to forgive. We can move forward much more readily with him out of the picture. He stands as a bad example of what parts of this country once were and are, I hope, no more. We *can* overcome... even me. I wish I could be as charitable as the blogger Fausto quoted in my comments - that it's a shame he didn't live to see the 2009 election - but I am just so glad he is gone. Thich Nhat Hahn would have a field day with my anger ... but so be it. I own it, and it is mine. My bad.

Sorry today's entry is such a downer. Maybe I *should* go back to bed and maybe I will awake refreshed in a little while. God, I am just so exhausted I can hardly move.

Jesse Helms Is Dead

I wasn't going to say anything about the damned old coot, but I find myself unable to restrain myself. As we commented to each other earlier, it would not surprise us one bit if the Jesse Helms Foundation conspired to have him on life support until 1:15 this morning JUST to have him die on the Fourth. Yeah, I'm cynical that way, and feeling terribly uncharitable towards a bigot and racist who blocked so much that would have been good for our country.

I will always choose instead to celebrate the holiday which commemorates the idealist founding of our country, and remember the deaths of Presidents Jefferson, Adams and Madison, which also occured on this day.

Don't ask me to remember the originator of these quotes alongside those other men.

Oh, and I like the cartoon on this site. 'Nuff said.

Happy Fourth!

In honor of the Fourth of July, I am dedicating my blog entry to Mercy Otis Warren, a long-forgotten, but recently resurrected Founding Mother of our nation. We hear a lot about the men who "put it together" but rarely, if ever, hear about the truly amazing women who answered the call of freedom in ways that transcended the bounds of gender - and often propriety - to help found our country.

In Warren's Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions cited in the article below, she has some tart observations. Particularly of note is item thirteen: "A Senate chosen for six years will, in most instances, be an appointment for life, as the influence of such a body over the minds of the people will be coequal to the extensive powers with which they are vested, and they will not only forget, but be forgotten by their constituents — a branch of the Supreme Legislature thus set beyond all responsibility is totally repugnant to every principle of a free government." Did she get it right, or what?

See the WONDERFUL review of a book about her on the most recent Beacon Broadside. The book appears to be truly worth checking out, and is going on my wish list now!

::chuckle:: I am just going to roll with the punches

What else can I do??

Woke up this morning with the dog at 5:30 and realized when I stood up that my back and hips were at a lightning pain of about an 8-9 on a scale of ten... excruciating... and I think this has to do with all the driving I did last month - the pain is in all the right places. I took pain meds and tried working in the yard for a couple hours, stretching my muscles, but it just didn't work. Came in and took more pain meds and went back to bed.

Was awakened by a call from my ENT's office... the sinus swab came back positive for an exotic bacteria, so I am on Cipro and another heavy-duty antibiotic normally used for TB. @@ I feel so... honored.

::chuckle:: I am just going to throw up my hands and giggle tonight. What else is there to do?

Continuing... On a Better Note... But Continuing

This afternoon I got a call from the Claims Department of the City of Memphis... and their rep was very sympathetic. She listened and asked appropriate questions and got the name and number of our plumber - and is going to follow up first thing tomorrow morning. She is sending me a claims form for the City, but has advised me that because the people who actually did this were contractors, we may need to file our claim directly with the contractor itself. Not happy about that. I plan to file with both the City AND the contractor, just to cover my butt. She is going to investigate THAT, too, and let me know about the situation in the morning as well. I have no intention of letting the City off the hook for this one. THEY dispatched these yo-yos. THEY are, ultimately, the responsible party, regardless of who actually pumped the water through my sewer lines and potty. Hmph.

Needless to say, this has all given me a headache. A bad one.

OK. Off to nurse this mess with something other than imitrex. I think I'll start with a nice, hot bath...

The Saga Continues

Fortunately, so far it's been a great day today. Lunch with Ann - and a long one at that - at Blue Coast Burrito. Happy tummy!

Yesterday? Not so much. Here's what I wrote some friends last night:

I was getting ready to go out to lunch with one of my best friends and her son, in fact - when I noticed the water in my toilet going back and forth. Whaaa? I finished brushing my teeth and went to the front of the house just in time to see two feet of soiled water erupt out of my husband's toilet. TWO FEET. I slammed down the toilet seat and the mess promptly went... sideways... all over my legs. I ran out the front door and yelled at the men who were working on the drain lines and told them to STOP RIGHT NOW... and when they FINALLY did, they basically told me "a little water on the floor was to be expected" and that "this would cause no damage to my sewer line." However, as I found out later, they were evidently running commercial grade psi through residential pipes - somewhere around 250 psi through mostly 60-year-old terra cotta and old cast iron - not a bright idea - in order to "clear a blockage further up." I told them I didn't give a damn where the blockage was, but they had better stop doing what they were doing to my house. I think it's pretty clear that when you have a blockage further up the line, and one really clear line, the pressure on the line is going to go to the really clear line and that one is going to take a beating. That's us.

@@

I called my plumber.

He came out loaded for bear - and has filed a complaint with the city. I have done so from my end as well - with both the sewer department and with the city's legal department. My plumber will be out next Monday to check the lines and we will determine at that time what needs to be done. They've been under the house and have already identified what appear to be two, possibly three cracks in the sewer line. My yard, which I just mowed today for the very first time, may have to be dug up... again.

What a freaking mess. This is the first I have been calm enough to sit still enough to write about it, and I am still just seething. The city crews are out right now checking lines and looking at what kind of a mess they have made, though I am certain they will say it's not their fault. We're going to hold their feet to the fire, though. I just had $14,000 worth of plumbing done, and I am not about to see it screwed up by some yo-yos who don't know what they are doing, acting on behalf of the city.

Now? I am just at a slow burn. We have to wait until Monday to get the results of whether or not they have screwed up the plumbing to the point that it has to be redone... and I am just going to be as zen as I can be until then.

Meanwhile, I am studying like crazy. The sun is too intense for me to be outside during the middle of the day, so I am in here working on French and Directed Readings reading. I plan to get through one of the history books today, and start another one tomorrow (AM-BI-TION!!! AMBITION! -- you're supposed to imagine Topol singing that), and continue reading the history of the US in French. Need to get over to the University at some point this week - perhaps tomorrow. I know they will be having a short week, so I probably had better make it tomorrow, or I may miss the boat entirely.

Wish I could get outside. ::sigh:: What sadness that I can't. Maybe tonight.

Incredible Ethnographic Video

Wow. Every college professor and lecturer should see this. This short video talks about - from the students' perspective - what students are facing and doing in the classroom - and why they aren't learning.

See more videos - and more revealing information - at http://mediatedcultures.net/mediatedculture.htm

Speaking of teaching, there is a tremendous history teaching website at the National History Education Clearinghouse. I got information in the mail on it the other day, and while it is directed to the K-12 audience, it is *very* relevant to what I am doing in the intro-level college classroom. VERY good stuff.  

One of My Favorite Videos

I've been searching for a high-quality version of this video this afternoon (playing hookey) and finally found a decent copy: Animator v Animation. It's one of my favorites - an oldie but a goodie.