Friday, December 21, 2007

the wee hours

Life Sucks.  And Then It Sucks Some More.  And Then A Little More After That.

Cricket is currently spending her second night at the vet’s office, getting IV fluids and possibly pain meds still.  Last night around 8p, when all the vet offices were closed, Cricket started vomiting constantly.  When I say constantly, I mean every two seconds.  She was diagnosed with pancreatitis a couple of weeks ago and she’d been doing well.  She spent the day acting weird, but Cricket is high strung, so she sometimes just acts weird.  Well, now we know, she was in pain.  I’d even given her the pain meds in the morning, but apparently the pain went way beyond that.  We had to take her to the emergency clinic that’s 15 or so miles away.  Cricket settled down a tiny bit in the car, which was a relief, because she couldn’t have kept up the constant retching much longer.  I feel sorry for people whose pet stops breathing or something, and have to drive so far to get emergency help.  We have a vet’s office a couple blocks away that used to be an emergency clinic.  We called them, and the vet called back five minutes later, telling us that they’re no longer an emergency clinic.  He basically told us that it was $100 to leave his home, did we want him to get off his warm and cozy couch to come treat our dog in distress?  Gee, why would we want that, Mr. Vet Guy.  Duh.  So, since it would’ve required waiting for Mr. We Don’t Have An Emergency Clinic, we drove to the actual emergency clinic.  Also, that’s the vet that screwed up Carlo’s neuter and had him bleeding all over the kitchen floor...and had him under-medicated for pain.  The emergency clinic is all women, all the vets, all the techs (that we saw), the receptionists (that we saw), and they’re very very competent.  And expensive.  But competent.

Cricket was probably having a bad pancreatitis attack, although we’re not sure why because she’s been eating a special diet...and really not eating very much.  Her x-rays also showed that she has a narrow area between the disks in her back.  Not oozing out like my herniated disk, but a flattening of the cushy material between them.  We don’t know if she’s always had that, or if she got that when she fell off the bottom step of the stairs two days ago.  It was a very short fall...and one where the brunt of it sounded like it was taken by her jaw.  Ouch!  But, she seemed okay after that.  We were at the clinic until 11p, then had to drive home and get back up to pick her up by 7:30am, because the clinic closes at 8am.  They’re open during all of the hours that the other vets are closed - evenings, weekends, and holidays.  While I’m grateful they’re there, and I’m glad to know that the pets receive really terrific care there, the prices are higher than our vet’s office, which is one of the more expensive offices in town.  Although, again, the care there has proven to be at a much higher standard than the office run by Mr. Are You Sure You Want Me To Leave My House?

We picked Cricket up and had to take her directly to our regular vet’s office.  We left the emergency clinic with a goodie bag of vials of blood, a bag of fluids, and a cd with her x-rays on it.  She was put back on IV fluids and kept overnight.  We wanted her to stay overnight to make sure she was on the road to wellness since Leigh-Ann is leaving for Canada on Sunday night.  I don’t want any pet medical issues while she’s gone.  It’s awfully quiet without Cricket here.  Phoenix is such a peaceful well-behaved dog.  Cricket is more, well, yappy.  Let’s just say that she makes her presence known at various times throughout the day.  If the doorbell rings, if one of the cats walks in front of the bedroom door, if we’re downstairs and she’s lonely, well, you get the idea.  If any of you have a poodle or terrier, you probably know what I’m talking about.  Cricket seems to be a combination of poodle & terrier (we rescued her from a puppy store that couldn’t sell her because she’s a mix), and she gets the worst of their characteristics (yappy sometimes & high-strung) and the best (she’s adorable).  See, isn’t she cute?

So that was the sucks part.  My paycheck was the “and sucks some more” part of the equation.  I asked when I’d get my invoice because it was later than it normally is, and I need the invoice in order to bill for my work.  Well, my invoice was held up by the editor who decimated the previous invoice - yeah, apparently he was too busy to look at it then, but now was an excellent time to reject commissions that I’d been expecting right before Xmas.  Although, really, who needs money during the holidays?  Oh, not us folks who work on commission only, no sirree.  Not only will it be too late to pay the mortgage (on the 26th), it was a whole whoppin’ $350 for two weeks of work.  Merry Effin’ Xmas, no?  Let’s add this up - the mortgage (a lot), the car payment (a lot...and due Monday), and the power company wants $500 on the 31st, after I paid them $781 on the 12th.  Not only that, I called them on the 11th and made payment arrangements (they billed for the equal payments overage all at once), and then paid them on the 12th.  On the 17th, they shut off the power.  Yes, after I’d called them and made payment arrangements.  You’d think that paying almost $800 would keep your power on for more than a week, right?  I called them, in horror, telling them I paid them.  Two different people (I asked for a supervisor, which is something I don’t ordinarily do) gave me the most ridiculous reason - they said it was because I hadn’t CALLED BACK after I made that payment and made payment arrangements.  The hell?  When you’re on the phone, talking to someone at the power company and they give you an amount to pay and a date it’s due (which I paid them by), isn’t THAT the damned payment arrangement?  Why on earth would someone tell you to call back to make another different payment arrangement?  Honestly, I’m so sick of worrying about money.  It’s no wonder I can’t get the Fibromyalgia under control - I don’t have a single day without financial stress.  My body is probably attacking itself inside.  Oh wait, I didn’t finish the power company story.  I had to make ANOTHER payment arrangement to pay them another $500 on the 31st, or they wouldn’t turn the power back on.  When I finally agreed to it, because I would’ve agreed to anything to get the power on, they told me, “Oh, we can’t guarantee that you’ll get the power back on today.” Yeah, they said it like it was no big deal.  The guy had left our house less than ten minutes prior to that point in the conversation and they’re telling me that they can’t guarantee I’ll get the power back...when the lows are in the 30’s.  They turned it back on at 8pm, which beat their deadline of 8:30p by thirty minutes.  So, we had to spend 8 hours without power, and we both work online.  Luckily, I’d worked through the previous night until 10am, so I’d only been in bed for two hours when the power went out.  So, we just went to bed and hoped to have power when we woke up.

It’s been a crappy crappy week.  Leigh-Ann’s leaving on Sunday for Canada, and I’m glad.  It’s depressing being here, so I want her to get away and have some fun with her family.  Maybe I’ll have sold a kidney by the time she gets back.  A kidney and maybe three toes.  What the heck, and a spleen and a gallbladder.  Wait, and an appendix.  People have those removed all the time without a problem.  So, I can have them removed and someone who’s been missing their extraneous organs can give me some cash for them and have them inserted ASAP.  They’re barely used.  I personally think I have a lovely appendix and that no one could give them a better deal.  Well, no one in North America.  Oh wait, and tonsils.  Oh, what the hell, I’ll throw in the tonsils for free.

Monday, October 08, 2007

terribly early in the morning

Blog World Expo - I’m So Excited!

I’ve been waiting for the Blog World Expo for almost a year, and now it’s only a month away.  Unfortunately, the Executive & Entrepreneur Conference where you get the more advanced sessions, is OUTRAGEOUSLY (in my opinion) expensive.  So, several bloggers that I’ve personally signed to syndication contracts for Newstex...and Arianna Huffington, will have to just wait until next year (if I can even afford it then - it’s $695 before Oct. 19th and $895 after!) to have me as an attentive student in their sessions. Leigh-Ann and I paid for the poor people’s “Standard” conference, although my employer offered me a free pass that they received with their payment for a booth/sponsorship, but those don’t come with any sessions, which I’ve been looking forward to for a long long time, so we had to fork over our own cash.  I’ve wanted to get as much learning and schmoozing out of the conference as possible since I haven’t been able to go to any of the blogger conventions over the past couple of years.  Ah, that just reminded me, I need to make up new business cards.  “Flippy - Blogger Extraordinare or maybe just Ordinaire.

Here is my schedule (and Leigh-Ann’s too - we have similar interests for the sessions we could afford, although we probably would’ve taken some different ones if we could’ve afforded the Executive & Entrepreneur ones) for the conference next month:

Thursday - 8 November
OPENING KEYNOTE 8:45 AM 9:45 AM
Good to Great: Blogging & Profit Potential 1:30 PM 2:30 PM
How Online Conversations Change Markets 2:45 PM 3:45 PM
Maximizing the Benefits of Small Business Blogs 4:00 PM 5:00 PM
THE NEW MEDIA MOGULS ROUNDTABLE 5:15 PM 6:15 PM

Friday - 9 November
The Future of New Media Publishing Tools 8:45 AM 9:45 AM
Using Social Media to Drive Traffic to Your Blog 1:30 PM 2:30 PM
Building Relationships with Bloggers 3:00 PM 4:00 PM
FEATURED SPEAKER KEYNOTE 4:15 PM 5:15 PM

Hmm, I just looked over the sessions list again, and we’ve signed five or six of the speakers whose sessions are too pricey for us.  That’s kind of sad.  Maybe we can wave at them from down the hall.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

terribly early in the morning

Answer Me This?

On Thursday, after plenty of decent sleep, I woke up feeling like I’d been run over by the fatigue bus.  If we didn’t have the dogs to take out or any of the pets to feed, we both could’ve gone back to sleep, that’s how terrible we felt.  On Friday morning, after waking up about every two hours or so, which I would think would be a fairly crappy night of sleep, I woke up feeling almost like I used to feel.  I felt decent all day.  Actually, it was the first day in a long time I could remember waking up and not bargaining with myself, “If you get up, you can have some Tully’s coffee downstairs, and a peaches & creme parfait cup.” I just got up and was fine.  Unfortunately, I’m now still awake from that oddly refreshing day.  It’s 22 hours later.  However, I did accomplish some stuff for work, got a haircut, watched an excellent episode of “Veronica Mars” and a totally incredible episode of “Heroes”, and fastforwarded through the Leafs shootout win over the Devils.  Although, I’m a little worried about Tomas Kaberle.  He got a late hit elbow in the face from Cam Janssen (dirty hit or just jerky?), which caused him to slam awkwardly into the boards.  His face was immediately bruised (at the very least) and he looked dazed.  Like concussion dazed.  But the Leafs need him.  Desperately.

An added note:  my writing quality suffers tremendously as the hours awake climb over twenty. 

Sunday, February 04, 2007

the wee hours

Let’s See, Where Have I Been?

I think this has been one of my longest blog breaks ever.  Believe me, I would’ve rather been blogging than...having a pelvic ultrasound (and no, not the external one that the silly girl at the radiology office said I was having), having many vials of blood taken out of my arm (the lab still had a Xmas tree up, and the place was totally depressing; however, the phlebotomist was a pro - nary a bruise did I get), making an appointment to have a cystoscopy on the 12th (if this last step doesn’t tell me what’s wrong with my worsening bladder, I’m going to have a hissy fit), figuring out a way to fix the very very bad financial damage of many many rainy days, most of which could not be foreseen, and working, working, working.  Plus, lots of feeling like crap.  My bladder has been extra bad lately.  I tried to meet my family for breakfast early last Saturday (and you know how I hate early mornings, but I did it, I got up and ready and left the house on time), and I only made it a few miles away from home.  It took me several panicky stops (I’m not sure if any of you know what those are like, but let’s just leave it at “not fun") and jumping out of the car and standing up.  I finally realized that even if I was able to make it, I would’ve been like an hour late and totally miserable.  I gave up and made a few phone calls, and made my way back home.  The whole trip there and back took 40 minutes.  Under normal, non-stopping circumstances, it would’ve taken five minutes in each direction.  Blech, just blech.

The ultrasound was on Monday afternoon, and I left extra early so in case I had to make some stops, I’d still get there on time.  During the ultrasound, I discovered one more thing that makes me have to, uh, go.  When someone sticks something inside me to poke around and see if everything is where it should be.  Makes me feel like I have to pee, it does.  I didn’t, but laying in those stirrups, it gave me the same panicky feeling I get when I’m in the car and need to stop, only the tech wasn’t going to stop.  The experience wasn’t the most fun in the world, but it was painless and quick, and I want this thing taken care of so badly that I wasn’t even embarrassed like I normally might be.  It was more like, “Get it over with!” The tech was really nice, and spent most of her time looking at her monitor versus looking at any part of me, so that helped.  Afterwards, Leigh-Ann and I (she went with me, to keep me company) went to the depressing lab that was a couple of blocks away.  I left Leigh-Ann in the car with her reading material and suffered the lab on my own.  It wasn’t bad.  As long as I don’t have to watch the blood being taken, it doesn’t bother me.  Then, like a good phlebotomist, she immediately put lots of pressure on my arm.  I’ve had some that didn’t and I’ve had some truly amazing bruises.  This woman was so good that right after it was done, I completely forgot about it.  I never even got a tiny bruise, just one needle prick point.

On Tuesday, we had invitations for a Microsoft Launch Event (Partner Track) at The Venetian.  My bladder was horrible hell from the get-go, but there was no way we were going to miss that event.  I can’t even count how many stops we had to make, but let’s just say it was b-a-d. Luckily, we made it to the event exactly on time and we each came home with a free copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2007.  It’s worth $400+.  I’ve installed it and for now, while it’s kind of neat looking, it’s not that useful for most people at home.  Also, every time I save a file, it wants to reinstall, which is annoying me.  I’m waiting for Leigh-Ann to use hers and see if she has the same problem.  The new ‘07 setup is interesting.  Instead of clicking on File in the upper left corner of the program, you click on the Microsoft logo.  I guess it’s visually prettier.  It also has Outlook ‘07, and again, it’s prettier.  The feature I’m looking forward to using once I get the whole password problem taken care of (it happens to me every time I change email programs), is the shared calendar.  So, Leigh-Ann I will be able to share a calendar online, while using different computers.  It’ll be handy so when we’re making appointments (usually for the doctor), we’ll know not to make one on the one day of the month we have something else planned.  You’d be surprised how often that happens.  We rarely have any major plans, but you can be sure that if something else comes up that we want to do, it’ll be on the exact same day.

The financial mess - let’s just say that it’s on the path to getting fixed.  I shouldn’t have waited so long, but I was scared and didn’t know what to do.  Anyway, I talked to some very nice and helpful people, and worked out almost everything.  There are some details that need a little more work, but my stress level went from, a on scale of 1-10, it went from a 12 down to a 5.  Damn, I hope that doesn’t mean that I’ll gain the weight back that I lost because I was so stressed. :D Also, Leigh-Ann and I got a big raise at our main job.  It’s a commission job and it’s now on a tiered scale, so if we work very very hard (and we did!), we will be well-paid for our success.  If our employer is reading here, which I kinda doubt, but THANK YOU!  I love this job.  It’s the best job I’ve had since working at my brother’s tanning salon.  Only, it’s better because I don’t have to leave home to do it.  I have a great job, working from home (because, with my bladder and other health problems, I kind of have to), and I’m working with blogs and bloggers.  It’s still work, and there are still frustrations (arrrgh, people who don’t write back when they say they will or sign something when they say they will, grrrrr), but it’s way better than digging ditches.  It also gives me the opportunity when I’m feeling well to work long hours and hopefully start saving some money.  And you know, it’s not like I’ve been blowing money either.  Except for the occasional pricey computer-related item that is needed for work, my big splurges have been tea bags, coffee pods, and the occasional book...although we usually buy those with our Amazon gift certificates.  Mostly, the extras we’ve spent have been on other people - family, friends, strangers.  We like to buy gifts.  We don’t buy them for each other (we didn’t get each other anything for Xmas), although I bought Leigh-Ann an interesting necklace for her birthday that was close to 90% off.  The gift wrap & shipping was more than the gift, but the gift was pretty unique, if I do say so myself.  And pretty.

Tomorrow, we’re going to my brother’s house for a family Super Bowl party.  I’m torn because I want both Jesus freak coaches to lose.  I want religion to stay out of my sports.  I like sports, and I hate it when it becomes about anything but the sport itself.  I think I’m rooting mostly for the Bears defense, as they were my fantasy football defense and they mostly did really well for me.  They’re pretty awesome to watch.  I just hope it’s a good game, and that there are some really good commercials.

Since I’ve been working (and stressing) so hard lately, I’m way behind on my blog reading.  If I haven’t commented or you haven’t seen my IP even visiting your blog, it’s nothing personal.  I truly haven’t had any real free time for fun blog reading, only work blog reading.  Alas, my work blog reading list rarely overlaps with my fun blog reading list.  For work, I mostly read legal, marketing, and tech blogs.  Some of them are really great and fun, but I don’t have a lot of time to get too involved in them.  I make sure they’re well-written, have enough entries, have been blogging long enough, and stay on topic.  Then, I write to them and beg them to sign.  I like when the blogs are written in a more casual manner, so I can write to the blogger in a more casual way.  One blogger kept referring to me as Ms. Odegard versus just plain ol’ Flippy.  So, I called him Professor.  I refer to almost everyone else by their first name, as that’s how they blog.

Okay, that’s about all I have to say for now.  I’ll try to write more frequent shorter entries, just to keep in touch.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

early evening

Science H. Logic, I’m Tired

I confess, I stole Science H. Logic from “South Park”, but it was too good to not be used.  Anyway, it’s been a really tiring week, and I’ve realized that I’ve gotten to an age where I need regular sleep.  The week started with not going to bed at all on Monday night because by the time we were ready for bed, it was already close to 5am.  I figured that rather than go to bed for a few hours, which often makes you feel crappier than if you hadn’t gone to bed at all, I’d stay up and work a little more, then shower and go vote.

The morning part worked out well.  We left for the polls around 7:30am or so, which meant that we were due for a couple of our special early morning treats.  First, we got to listen to our favorite radio morning team, Mark & Mercedes on Mix 94.1, which is a really rare event, us being in the car during their horribly early hours.  The last time was the morning Leigh-Ann had her immigration interview and we had to drive across town to pick up her lawyer, so we left at maybe 6am or something.  If I wasn’t so lazy, I would look it up in the blog entry about that day, but I’m not gonna.  Anyway, so we listened to Mark & Mercedes, I went to vote while Leigh-Ann played with our new phone, then we went to the grocery store and stocked up on goodies we thought we’d want later.  Our next early morning treat, was to go to McDonald’s for breakfast.  Normally, that’s a once a year deal for a couple of reasons - one, it’s too early, but also, McDonald’s breakfast on a regular basis makes me feel queasy.  Anyway, I treated myself to a McGriddle, which I first tried, with help from Rory (a kitten we found on our doorstep, who found a permanent home, and new name of “Vegas”, with Leigh-Ann’s brother & sister-in-law in PA...picture at the bottom of this entry) in May.  I thought of Helly this time though, because she recently described how much she hates the sweet & savory flavor combo, which the McGriddle embodies.  Granted, I don’t want it all the time, but both times I had it, it was delicious.  Plus, the yummy goodness of greasy crunchy hash browns.  We also got orange juice, but I don’t like McDonald’s orange juice anymore.  Do any of you (other than Leigh-Ann) remember when they used to keep their orange juice in little frozen plastic containers?  It was so much better!  I don’t like my juice at room temperature.

So, that was the beginning of Tuesday.  We thought we’d take a nap, then get up and feed the birds.  I had a lot of trouble napping, even though I was sickeningly tired.  I was so tired that when I laid down, my body felt like it was vibrating.  It made me think about what hospitals do to interns, making them work horribly long shifts.  Frankly, it seems like a recipe for fatal mistakes to me.  I know I couldn’t have been trusted to make important decisions after not sleeping.  I even had trouble speaking in normal sentences to Leigh-Ann.  So, if any medical schools are reading this, let your interns sleep, so people don’t die!

This morning, we went to bed around 6am.  This definitely has to stop, although I admit, I got a lot of work done last night/this morning.  But, my body can’t take the schedule anymore.  Tonight, we’re going to bed at a reasonable hour of maybe 1am, because we have to get up for our pest control guy.  It’ll be good practice because we’re going to a sports convention with my brother and sister-in-law on Saturday, so we want to be able to function and enjoy it.  I think my brother might have a booth for his invention, the Bullpen Buddy, but honestly, I’m not sure.  I just know that I’m supposed to remember to go to the convention center, south hall, and call for them to come outside and meet us.  See, now that I wrote it down, I don’t have to remember it.

So, work.  I think I’ve finally discovered my unique work skill.  I’m able to talk (talk = email, to me) to bloggers, tell them how much I like their blogs, and ask them to sign contracts.  You know, it’s really easy to talk to people in email ("Oh, you want me to talk to highly educated, multi-millionaire, respected in their field, John/Jane Doe, and ask them to sign a contract?  Okay, no problem.") and offer them something for nothing.  It’s like asking to pay people to do them a favor.  Sure, in general, I don’t get to read the blogs that any of my friends write, for work, but I still get to read a lot of really interesting blogs and talk to interesting people.  I have to say, it’s SO much easier than the two months I spent trying to sell industrial chemicals.  While it was a great company, I honestly haven’t a clue which industrial lube is better for which engine...and I won’t ever care.  I do know blogs.  I love blogs.  I love your blog (yes, you, I’m talking to you, I love your blog), I love reading, I love complimenting bloggers on their writing.  I don’t love the electronic equivalent of paperwork & filing, but I know it’s important to keep track of where I’ve been and who I’ve talked to, and about what.  I haven’t made a penny yet (I work on commission), but you just wait.  My first and second contracts were the blogging/writing equivalent of signing professional athletes.  And they just said a simple, “Okay.” The others who haven’t signed yet have been more work, but I’ve realized that I know how to convince them.  I have to thank an internet illiterate, but very smart, attorney for teaching me that even in 2006, not everyone who is savvy in their professional career is also internet savvy.  Those people need information to reach them too, even if they don’t know it’s out there and they don’t know how to find it.

Okay, I’ve blathered enough, here’s the picture of Rory/Vegas that I promised.  She’s enjoying her tiny nibble of McGriddle.