3275 Four tires in four months

Saturday, June 4, 2011

“Religious freedom means not only freedom to practice your religion,
but also freedom from being forced to practice someone else's.”
-- Charles Manning, letter in the Mensa Bulletin --

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I save the quotes you see in green at the top of most posts because they make me think in some way. The above quote kicked off thoughts on our system of laws. Like, if I am forced to obey a law which is based on someone else's religion, then am I being forced to practice that religion? (Practice as opposed to belief.)

A simple example might be "Blue Laws", where businesses must close on Sunday. Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. If I must close my business (or am prohibited from selling certain wares) on Sunday, as opposed to Saturday, or whenever I chose, then I am being forced to observe the Christian Sabbath, regardless of whether I am Christian or not.

We have many laws based on religion as opposed to common law or agreed-upon morality.

This is not freedom of, nor freedom from. You see it as freedom only if it's your religion.

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Steven King has said that his favorite stories involve ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

I agree. Me too.

I joined a movie Meetup group yesterday, and one of the organizer's questions was "What movie genres do you like best?" I found that difficult to answer, because I don't think in terms of genres. But it got me thinking about types of movies. It seems like many of the "big" movies coming out these days (those that don't involve gross-outs, anyway) revolve around extraordinary people in ordinary situations.

That doesn't interest me, because I feel no connection, and I'm not after escapism. I guess that's why I prefer the lower budget independent movies.

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I spent a significant amount of time in the tire place waiting room yesterday. I had ordered two tires, but when they went to put them on, they found a bubble in a third tire, so that had to come from the warehouse. That makes four tires in four months.

On the left, the upper diagram shows an ordinary flat tire. The lower diagram is of a "run-flat" tire, like what's on Hal.

"A" is a reinforced sidewall that supports the weight of the car when the air pressure is too low to support it. The darker gray around the outside is a softer rubber. It needs to be softer for traction.

What happens, what makes the run-flat tire fragile, is that if you hit any sudden bump - a pothole, a curb, a sharp ridge in the road - because of the difference in the "give" between the two layers, the layers may (probably will) separate. That's called "side wall shear". If air gets into that space, you'll get a visible bubble on the sidewall of the tire. You can drive on it, but it will eventually go flat, and the possibility of a sudden blowout exists. Although a mechanic might not worry about it on his own car, he's not going to tell you it's safe, because if it's not, if it suddenly, unexpectedly, fully separates, it could cause a serious accident.

So. I drove Hal a lot in NY, May 2010 thru December 2011, with no problem with the tires. I brought him down to NJ, and in the past five months on NJ roads I have replaced all four tires! All due to bubbles. The damn things had about 3,000 miles on them - still had the little feathers of rubber that stick out on new tires.

After the first one, which I know was due to a deep pothole, and finding out what Hal's tires cost when bought through BMW, I have been very careful. I've avoided certain roads, and I've watched the road ahead so I can take evasive action if I see a hole or bump coming up. Hal's very very good at those quick evasive moves. He's got sports car react time. I am positive I have hit no significant potholes since that bad one. And I am 100% sure I have never hit a curb.

Surprise - a quick move, a jerk to one side as you'd do to avoid a suddenly visible pothole, can also cause side wall shear. So can taking a tight turn too fast.

You're kidding me.

I've got a sporty little sexpot, who can dance sideways, and take turns like a quarter horse, that I have to drive as if it's an old bent man with a cane?

What's the point?

I already have less enjoyment driving Hal, knowing that hitting a bump, or NOT hitting a bump, can easily cost me a small fortune. And NJ roads are mostly ridges, holes, lumps, and bumps. I've never seen such bad roads in my life, not even on the back roads of upstate NY, or in the woods and mountains of central PA.
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3274 This one took a minute

... then cracked me up.

[From http://xkcd.com/745/]




(This assumes, of course, that you're familiar with the original joke it's based on.)

3273 A good thing

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Infidelity isn't about whom you lie with. It's whom you lie to.
-- Frank Pittman, MD --

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My potted patio tomato plant has really taken off. It's big and lush and covered with blossoms.

The two potted sweet pepper plants, however, haven't done as well. There was no change in size for three weeks. Then, about three days ago, I checked it more carefully, and found it covered with cheek-by-jowl aphids. They weren't there the day before.

About the same time I noticed some kind of tiny bee-like insect hovering and darting around almost all my flowers - the pansies in particular. They move like bees. A bee with a very pointy behind. It looked dangerous, bite or sting, and was showing far too much interest in the flowers on the porch.

I wasn't able to get out to find something that would kill aphids without poisoning the peppers or the soil until yesterday. I found a spray that is all plant oils, like peppermint, rosemary thyme, and clove, and not much else (EcoSmart). The directions said to wait until the cool of evening to spray.

So last evening I went to spray the peppers, and was amazed! In one day they'd almost doubled in size and had a healthy knot of infant leaves. And no aphids! None. Two days before they had been covered with them. Now there were none.

Very strange.

Later, out of curiosity, I got out my bug book and looked up the tiny bee-darting thingy.

It's called a snipe fly (family Rhagionidae), and they are predators, and their favorite snack is aphids.

Cool.

That's where the aphids went.

In this photo, scarfed from the internet, it's obvious it's some kind of fly, not bee, just by the shape of the head and eyes - but they are so tiny you don't notice that. One easy to notice characteristic is that if one lands near you, and you move to touch it, it will hop and sidle away rather than take off.

So if you see any tiny (less than 1/3 inch) bee-looking things with long pointy behinds in your garden, don't hurt them. They might LOOK like they could bite or sting, but they don't.

Send them my way.
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3272 Frustration

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

One can be spiritual without being religious.
One can be religious without being spiritual.
They are two different things, with a casual, not causal, relationship.
-- Silk --

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It is now June. My plan was to be out of the old house by now, and to be started on the repairs to be made before I can sell it as something more than a "fixer-upper". Ha!

First there was the miserable winter that grounded me, then this kidney thing that has floored me.

I'm very frustrated.

I called the doctor's assistant yesterday, as ordered, to set up the blasting of the stone ("ESWL", google it) which I thought was supposed to happen on "Friday or Monday". I foolishly assumed that was this coming Friday or Monday. Of course not.

I actually swore at the assistant when I was told that the machine travels around among hospitals, and won't be here until June 17th. And the doctor does procedures only on Friday and Monday, because otherwise he's seeing patients in his office. So it won't happen until the 17th.

I am extremely upset. As I said to Daughter, maybe the Fates are trying to teach me something.

Daughter wants me to give up and find another urologist. But given that three CT scans and three X-ray sets haven't clarified exactly what my physical arrangement is in there, I'm afraid another doctor would simply want to start his (they're all "he" on my network list) exploration all over again, so I'm not sure that would make any difference.
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3271 nookindle

Monday, May 30, 2011

"Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute."
-- Josh Billings --

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For a little while now I've wanted to buy one o' them newfangled e-reader thingies. Nook or Kindle, Kindle or Nook? I knew nothing about them, didn't know which was better, each have their adherents, and besides, they're always coming up with "improvements" and next generations, and maybe I should wait until the dust settles a bit. And the cost is significant. If I make the wrong choice and end up disliking it, I'd feel worse.

Well, last week, before getting the news of Hal's tires, back when I was feeling flush, I came across a deal I couldn't resist. Two different websites were having competing one-day sales of reconditioned e-readers, the most recent model (there are new models coming out now), one the Barnes & Noble Nook and the other the Amazon Kindle, each for about 1/4 the list price. I could get both for 1/2 the price of either one new.

It's been my experience that reconditioned is generally as good as new, pretty much the same rate of problems, especially since a large portion of "reconditioned" had nothing more wrong with them than buyer's remorse, so how could I not?

The Kindle arrived Thursday, and the Nook on Friday.

Instructions:

The Nook's instruction book is easier to read, understand, navigate, and apply. The Kindle's instructions are less well organized, it's difficult to skip over functions you know you won't use, there are just too many options and functions, and too many esoteric terms that I'm sure the writers understood well, but are Greek to us neophytes. Nook's technical writers win.

On the other hand, to do all the things *I* want to do with it, with the Kindle everything is pretty much intuitive. The way the onscreen menus work, I don't need more than one pass through the basic instructions. With the Nook, I often stare at the blank screen thinking, "Now how do I get to xxxx?", and I have to go to the instructions. Kindle's usability people win.

Keyboard:

Nook has a touchscreen keyboard, which is ok, except that it wants SKIN ONLY. You can't use a pencil eraser, or fingernail, or anything but skin. My fingernails are long. The squares for each letter are tiny. Using the side of any finger spills over to adjoining tiny letter squares. I finally resorted to folding my index finger and using the point of the knuckle, which hurts, and one out of four letters it spills over anyway. Not cool, Nook.

The Kindle has a permanent button keyboard. The key buttons are tiny, but at least I can press them with my fingernails, which is how I usually type. I think Nook's thinking is that most people won't use the keyboard that often, so why waste space on one.

Kindle wins usability of keyboard.

Navigation:

The Nook has a touch screen at the bottom where all the menus appear. That's similar I guess to a smart phone.

The Kindle has buttons instead. There are Home, Menu, and Back buttons, and a little toggle thingy that acts like a mouse and cursor. That's similar in operation to a browser and a mouse on a computer.

I guess which one prefers depends on one's familiarity, but I vastly prefer the Kindle arrangement.

Turning pages:

You can use Next and Previous buttons on the sides of both to turn pages in your book. One thing that's annoying about the Nook is that there are those little locator "pegs", tiny stick-up dots, on the page turn buttons. With the Kindle, the buttons are smooth, and you can locate them by the softer feel of them. I guess I'm like the princess and the pea. Those Nook locator dots HURT!

You can also turn pages on the Nook by swiping across the touchscreen at the bottom, but only when there's no menu displayed there, and it doesn't always work on the first swipe.

Kindle wins, even if it is "old" technology. Fancy isn't always better.

Downloading books:

They're both pretty much the same. You need an account on the (B&N/Amazon) bookstore website, register your device, provide a credit card, and you're ready to go. Both devices use wifi, and it's fast. I mean really fast. A 600-page book arrives in like a second or two. (Howcome I'm not getting that speed on my laptop?)

I was at first a little concerned because I have no wifi here. How will that work? Heh. Silly Silk. Apparently they use cell phone towers. It just works, period. And it's completely and totally free for books downloaded from the stores. On both devices people can send files (documents, photos) to your device's email address (name@kindle.com, for example), and that does cost, charged to your bookstore account credit card.

Both stores have the usual library of books. I haven't explored what's available on B&N yet, but I discovered a slew of free classics on Amazon. Free! No charge at all. I've already downloaded 37 books - some Twain, Poe, Austen, Flaubert, Eliot, Christie, Wilde, and so on.

I've also purchased one book from each store, and that was pretty easy.

So, assuming B&N has some free books too, they're pretty equal there.

[Flash! Later edit - I went looking for free books on B&N. There are a bunch, but they are all in other languages, or things like "The history of the village of Rothugh", by the committee to promote Rothugh, ya' know? The same classics that are free at Amazon are about $1.99 at B&N. However, keep in mind that I haven't checked out the transcription quality of the free Amazon stuff yet.

The B&N website is a bit awkward to navigate. Like, there's a few "free books" links, but one gets you a 1500+ list of untranslated titles that you can't sort and have to scroll through 100 at a time, a second gets a list of books in English, at least, but they're all cheap bodice-rippers or sound rather dirty, and a third gets books selling for $7-8 (Free?), and another gets what they call "samples" - which appears to be an excerpt.

So, so far, the Kindle is ahead here, too, in website usability and really free books worth having.]

Reading:

You can't read either of them in the dark, but you can't read paper books in the dark, either, so that doesn't bother me.

I've read both in the glider on the front porch in full sun, with no great difficulty. No glare.

Both allow you to change the print size and font. I'm fine with the defaults.

General:

There is one problem, and I consider it a big problem. We know I like bargains. I'm used to buying hardcovers in the remainder bins in bookstores, and at yard sales, and at library sales of donated books, or getting them free from friends who have read them and are passing them on.

Other than the free classics, there will be no bargains in e-books. (They do both have a "lend" function, but you can lend a particular book only once, and for a limited time.) You have to pay their price, and I doubt there will be any "stock reduction" sales. No need.

On the other hand, the writers will do better. They get paid full contractual price for (almost) every reader.

Conclusion:

Both devices are pretty much the same in any area I haven't mentioned. The Nook is a tad smaller in height and width, but it's thicker. Weight is about the same, as is screen size. Battery charges pretty quickly in both, and seems to last a satisfyingly long time.

Right now I prefer the Kindle. I find it more comfortable to use - with my long nails, tender thumb pads, and preference for buttons over touchpads.
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3270 My watermelon exploded!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

“[Marriage is] about being together some of the time and apart some of the time.
About entering and leaving together.
About being free to follow your own tastes
yet always conscious that there is a seat saved for you beside the other.”
-- Terry Bisson, The Edge of the Universe -

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...well, I think it would have exploded if it had gotten warm.

I love watermelon. A few days ago I bought a very small round one, and put it on the kitchen counter. It was uncut, the refrigerator is too small, and you see them sitting in bins in the grocery store for a few days, right? So it never occurred to me to put it in the refrigerator.

It was ok this morning. This evening I glanced over and noticed that it looked ... deflated. It was flat on the bottom, sinking into the counter exactly like a leaking soccer ball.

I touched it, and it was empty-squishy-feeling. I scooped it up and ran for the sink, just in time for it to literally fall apart in my hands.

What you see in the photo is what happened when it landed in the sink. I didn't scrape it out or anything. There was a little "meat" in it, but not enough to so much as block the drain. It was mostly water.

I'd read a story about Chinese farmers who were losing their watermelon crops - that the melons were exploding in the fields because they'd had a very wet spring and the melons contained a higher ratio of water to fiber, and when they got warm they blew apart.

---------------------------------------------

Friday morning very early I drove 1.5 hours to Harriman, NY, to get Hal inspected. He's one year old this month. I'm not ready to change the registrations yet because Suzy is still in NY and that just makes things too complicated.

He passed inspection, but I got a severe shock. Both driver's side tires have bubbles in their sidewalls. Probably from potholes. PLUS both driver's side wheels are bent. They'll need to be replaced.

Hal's tires are $417 EACH! I have no idea how much the wheels cost. Note - the guy didn't say "rims", he said "wheels".

The tires are not dangerous, but they'll eventually go flat, and they can't be repaired. They're so expensive because they're "drive flat" tires. Once the sensor says it's flat, I can drive something like 50 miles - at a lower speed - then it needs to be fixed or replaced. Well, that's the dealer's definition of "drive flat", anyway. Given that this makes three bubbled tires in four months, I think it means "drive them and they go flat". And honest, since the big pothole that blew the first one, I've been very careful NOT to hit potholes, even to avoiding the north section of route 35, and the back entrance to the post office.

Sigh. I was just beginning to get control of the finances, too.

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The worst part of that diagnosis was that Fred was sitting outside with a flat tire, passenger side rear (another valve stem shot, that's the fifth of Hal's five tires in the past five months), and a holiday weekend is coming, and Daughter and Hercules are away until Monday, and now I hear Hal could go flat any minute, which would leave me stranded.

Neighbor George helped me put the spare on Fred this afternoon. (Well, he actually did it all.) The big problem with Fred is that his floor and rear axle are dropped 10 inches for wheelchair access, so an ordinary jack won't fit under him, and NO jack will fit under when a tire is completely flat. George had a compressor and pumped up the flat enough to get a special jack in there, and got it done.

George is 72 or 73, not in the best of health, and it was 88 degrees and sunny. He was bright red and sweating up a storm, lying on hot blacktop poking around under Fred, but he wouldn't be deterred. I was very worried.

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Yesterday and today I did some yard work (in bits and pieces. I stopped every time I saw a trace of blood in the urine. Since I piddle about every 20 minutes (I've GOT to get this stent out!) it was easy to keep track of.)

Today my (new, replacement) gardenia bloomed. I took this picture before the blossom was completely open. There are two other swelling buds, but, if it goes like every other gardenia I've ever tried to keep, that simply means it will die next week.

Sigh.

3269 Aaaaargh!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

“Bad news stops you for a while, then you move on. Hope is paralyzing.”
-- A line on “Criminal Minds“, 09/09/09 episode --

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This is today's Dilbert. It struck a chord with me, and not in a good way. That guy on the right, Asok, I think? That was me in The Company. I got so sick and tired of other people getting awards for things I did.

3268 Orb of Madness

Friday, May 27, 2011

“You have to expect as much from yourself as you do for yourself.”
-- Chris Darden's Nanny --

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This video was on CuteOverload.com a few days ago, under the title ""Reginald Locates the Orb of Madness".

I loved it.


[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MqHN-4okZ4&feature=player_embedded]
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3267 The Nugget

Thursday, May 26, 2011

“Women like their men occasionally childlike, but never childish.”
-- Silk --

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3266 Falling Apart

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

"We sense that life is a dark comedy and maybe we can live with that.
However, because the whole thing is written for the entertainment of the gods,
too many of the jokes go right over our heads."
-- Dean Koontz, Mr. Murder --

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(Click on the photos to see them without interference.)

Photos from Joplin and Minneapolis, from Boston.com:
Full set at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/05/deadly_tornados_strike_again.html.

Photos of the latest volcano in Iceland, from Boston.com:
Full set at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/05/another_icelandic_eruption_gri.html.

---------------------------------

I get annoyed at people who go on and on about how there are so many "more" and "bigger" natural disasters "these days", and how that's "proof" of whatever their pet theory is.

There aren't more tornadoes, hurricaines, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, tsunamis, floods, mudslides, anything, really, not in the long view. (Maybe more and larger forest fires in the western US, but that has a lot more to do with forestry management policies than anything natural.)

It just seems like there's more, but only because we hear more about them now. Some years there are more than others, but that's always been true. The human impact is higher now, but that's because there's more people, not because the event is worse. For example, tornadoes that used to tear through prairies with little notice, now, following the same path, tear through suburbs.

Nature (or God) isn't out to get us. Humans are out to get Nature.
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3265 Meetup mess up

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Epitaph: This is merely a temporary setback.

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I was supposed to see the new 3-D Johnny Depp Pirates movie this evening with a Meetup group.

I'm very annoyed because the Meetup was canceled, and nobody notified me! Like nobody has to plan their day?

Just as well. I've got a lot to do, and I agreed to babysit Nugget this afternoon while Daughter does some shopping.
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3264 Moving forward, but slowly

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

“The deeper insanity becomes, the more consistent it becomes,
until it wraps around and looks like sanity.”
-- Silk, August 9, 2008 --

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It was a beautiful day today, sunny and warm with a gentle breeze, the first nice day in the past week and a half. And I spent most of the best part of the day, from 10:30 am until almost 4 pm, in the doctor's office or the hospital.

I admit I was worried when the doctor, to all appearances, was in no hurry to look at my scans, and then once he did look at them he wanted to see me immediately. That's almost never a good sign.

Last night I ran through all the bad scenarios, what he could say, end-stage renal failure, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, etc. etc., and pretty much came to terms with it all.

When I got there, the nurse put me in an examining room, and then later the doctor stuck his head in the door and asked me to come to his office. You know, with the big desk, and the two chairs in front, and the box of tissues on the corner. Another bad sign.

That made his news a relief. The most recent scans do not confirm either the first set which implied one collection chamber and one ureter on the left, or the second scan which says two collection chambers and two ureters. This latest set says two collection chambers, with the stent in the upper, and the obstructing stone and a few smaller ones in the lower, but neither the x-ray (IVP) nor CT confirm a second ureter, because I've got really good kidney function apparently, and the upper chamber cleared the contrast solution so quickly that it never even reached the second chamber or ureter (which is blocked anyway, remember?). So we still don't know exactly what we've got in there. But at least it is pretty clear where the stone is.

So we're going to smash the stone(s).

Not this week, because of the holiday coming up, but probably the end of next week. The procedure is Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL), described here: http://www.healtheast.org/st-joes/programs-services/kidney-stone/treating-stones/shock-wave-lithotripsy-eswl.html.

I told him how the stent is now causing bleeding after physical activity, it's irritating the bladder, and how I can feel it poking and it is getting worse, to the point where the seat belt hurts, and the urinary urgency is getting worse, so will we be removing the stent at the same time? He said no, because we're not sure where and how the second chamber drains, and the worst case is only one ureter, and some piece of the smashed stone gets stuck in it, blocking the entire left kidney. So no, the stent stays until we know what's going on.

Crap. I can lessen the bleeding and poking and irritation by avoiding physical activity. No lifting, raking, mowing, walking far, dancing, driving long distances, etc. etc. etc., anything that makes the stent move. Crap crap crap. I want this damn thing OUT! NOW!

So when I got home I read up a bit on ESWL. Two possible negative consequences are damage to the pancreas leading to diabetes, and damage to the capillaries in the kidney, leading to renal failure. The pancreas thing is unlikely because we're working only on the left kidney. The capillary thing worries me a little. I have fragile capillaries. I'll have to tell him about that. However, my stone isn't very big, so it (I hope) won't require much to break it up, and it's localized, and my clotting abilities are ok, so maybe that will be ok.

[My theory of what's in there is different from his, I think. I do think there's a second ureter, which the larger stone is blocking, because there are also a few much smaller stones in that chamber which, if that chamber connects with the chamber with the stent, seems to me that I should have passed those stones by now through the stent. A few other details argue for the second ureter joining the first somewhere north of the bladder. So the stent could actually CAUSE the moving stones to get jammed at the joining point. But at least then the second ureter would show up on a contrast x-ray for the length that it's open, and the blockade could be eased by pulling the stent. So I'm not going to argue with him.]

I just want this DONE!

After I left his office I went to the hospital to pick up my personal copies of the scan and x-ray done elsewhere a few weeks ago, that they had asked for for comparison, and to get copies of the recent scan and x-rays with contrast. There were at least three misunderstandings. It was three and a half hours before they managed to get it all together. About every 40 minutes or so they'd bring out part of it, and I'd have to ask again for the rest. And then wait. (At one point they actually insisted that I had NOT had the CT scan.)

When I first arrived at the hospital, at about noonish, as I was putting the top up on Hal, I got a call from Piper. We had a lot to talk about, and about 20 minutes in I mentioned that I had a bone to pick with The Angel, and told Piper about the IRS and NYS letters. Piper said he was worried about The Angel. He's had some kind of serious medical problem for the past few weeks or months, and Piper had called him twice yesterday and again this morning, "...and he always returns my calls immediately", but he hadn't heard from him. Piper was afraid The Angel was in the hospital, and if so, it was bad because otherwise The Angel would have contacted him.

Piper said if he hadn't heard from The Angel by this evening, he'd call his parents. He'll let me know.

So. Onward. Fred's tire is still flat. Sigh.
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3263 Snapper

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of Charades.
-- Demetri Martin --

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Can't post comments to blogger blogs today. Getting error messages. So, to RockyCat - "Coincidence! I found one in my back yard this morning (photo to follow in blog). They're out now looking for places to lay eggs."

And here's the subject of my comment:
Snapping turtle in my back yard this morning. Slightly larger than a dinner plate. Her throat is thick, but her actual head and eyes are tiny.

She'd dug several holes in the grass for laying eggs, but hadn't filled any of them in. This hole (following photo) was the closest to her. It's not in focus because I was afraid to get too close or stand there very long. There are some brown round things in the hole, but I'm not convinced they are eggs. They seem too small. But unless a very brave rabbit ran up and pooped in the snapper's nest, I don't know what else they could be.
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3262 I am overwhelmed.

Monday, May 23, 2011

People who are easily annoyed are more annoying than the people who annoy them.

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I am feeling very beaten down.

I spent much of Saturday on my knees with pruning shears cutting down the thicket of Japanese knotweed taking over the back yard. There was nothing there but grass when the snow melted. Now it's already four feet tall. It's next to impossible to get rid of. The websites say stuff like getting a hypodermic needle and injecting weed killer into the stems - for years! And then maybe it'll die.

Saturday night, I had a lot of blood in my urine again. Apparently any kind of physical activity causes a problem. Sunday morning the first urine was dark brownish, but it quickly went to the usual pale yellow. This morning it was brownish again, and then alternated most of today between pale yellow, and the color of pink iced tea. I'm hoping it's the useless misplaced stent tearing up my bladder, not something more nasty going on.

The urologist has had my contrast x-rays and CT scan since Monday of last week, and hadn't even LOOKED at them as of Friday! I was so angry that over the weekend I researched another urologist. I figured if the current one didn't have something to say by mid-afternoon today, I was going to make an appointment with the only other in-network urologist within 15 miles who has a local hospital affiliation.

Well, I guess he looked at them this morning, because his office called just after lunch and asked if I could come in tomorrow morning. So now I'm a little worried. First there's no rush, then there's a rush?

And, the urinary urgency is getting worse. Like, oh gee, maybe my bladder is irritated. By a useless stent. Which is in the wrong place. Thank you.

In Saturday's mail I got a letter from the IRS. They think I owe more, want their money immediately, and are assessing a penalty.

In today's mail, I got a letter from the state of NY. Apparently The Angel didn't file my business sales tax return for 2010. (I've made no sales and have filed zero-dollar returns for years now.) They want their money immediately and are assessing a penalty.

Yesterday I figured it was about time to force the builder to fix the crappy stuff, like the bedroom windows that won't open. NJ has a new-construction warranty that builders have to honor. It's one year on everything, two years on structural defects, and three years on dangerous stuff. It's supposed to start from the closing date. So I dug the booklet out of the file to find out what the process is. Surprise. The starting date on the warranty is 6/30/10, which means it expires for the non-structural stuff next month! Um...I didn't close on the house until 10/13/10. I'm getting screwed out of four months of the warranty?

Uh uh. Hell no.

I fired off an email to my attorney this morning. He said to write a certified letter to the builder reminding him that he has to change the date, and listing what I want fixed. And copy my attorney on it.

Sigh.

Then I remembered that Hal needs a state inspection by the end of the month. I haven't changed registration on the three vehicles yet because two are here and one is still at the old house, and that makes things very complicated. (Also the titles are still at the old house.) I made an appointment for Friday morning with the nearest BMW dealership in NY, one hour 35 minutes up the road.

I need to pick up copies of my records and films from the White Plains hospital. I need to actually go there, because there are some things I want that I don't know what the technical words for them might be, and back and forth by phone or mail (no email) would be a pain.

And then this evening, just a half hour ago, I discovered that Fred the van has a flat tire. I know how to change a tire, but -- funniest thing -- because of the dropped floor, when a tire goes flat on Fred, you can't get a regular jack under him to lift him. I guess I'll have to call AAA tomorrow afternoon.

There's just too much pecking at me.

On top of all this, the old house is abandoned up there, probably overrun by mice digging nests in all my upholstered antiques and mattresses and closet contents, I'm losing my possible buyer, and I'M SITTING HERE ON A STOOL WITH NO REAL FURNITURE!!!
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3261 Tornado

Monday, May 23, 2011

I read an ad for a toy that "flies as far as a football field".
I'm wondering, just how far can a football field fly?
-- Silk --

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Those green quotes at the top are random, honest! About once a week or so I set up skeleton draft posts, numbered, with the next seven or so quotes on the list, and then use them in order over the next few days. This quote is apt for today - I think maybe Joplin, Missouri, can tell us how far a football field can fly.

Wow. It looks really bad there. Houses are just heaps. I wonder how many people are trapped in basements under those heaps.

A hospital got hit. A reporter said that patient records from the hospital were found 60 miles away. What about the patients? Where are they now?

It's completely overwhelming.
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3260 Durn squirrels! And cats!

Saturday, May 2011

It's almost always dangerous to be right too soon.
David Gerrold, The Martian Child

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I put some peanuts, in shells, on the porch railing for the squirrels and for Jasper's entertainment. Then I went to the Wawa (I hate that name) to get some Greek yogurt. I was gone maybe 20 minutes.

When I returned, all my potted impatiens had been dug up, and a peanut planted in each pot.

Ok squirrels. No more nuts for you!

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There's a very ballsy black feral cat who visits my back yard and scares the beans out of Jasper when they see each other at the window. Last night Jasper was on the dining room window sill when the black cat visited and startled him.

There was an explosion.

There was a traverse rod on the floor under that window, waiting for curtains to be chosen. You know, the kind with all the cords?

Well, when Jasper exploded from the window sill, he got tangled in the cords somehow, and in his panic he dragged the heavy rod out of the dining room, across the breakfast area floor, knocking over a stool which scared him more. The 7-foot long rod somehow got airborne going over the stool, came down on his food tray 6 feet further on, spilling his food and water all over the floor, and it then jammed in the hall doorway, with one end somehow stuck behind my desk. The other end knocked Roomba off his power base and turned him on, and with a "ta beep ta bah" Roomba took off after Jasper, who tore down the hall and up the stairs, trailing traverse cords the whole way.

The whole thing happened in an instant. All was quiet, and then suddenly three rooms were destroyed. Jasper is now afraid of the dining room. Poor timid little chicken. He did not have a good night.

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I'd been considering befriending and semi-adopting that black cat, but you know, somehow I don't think it would work out.
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3259 The End?

Friday, May 20, 2011

“Those who help those who won't help themselves are stupid.”
-- LaVerne of "Empty Nest" --

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An awful lot of self-satisfied Jesus-centric Christians are going to be very surprised when only Jews are "raptured".
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3258 Unfair

Friday, May 20, 2011

"An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it."
-- Jef Mallett --

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If someone wrecks, totals, your car, civil court will award you the "Blue Book" value of the car. However, the value awarded is not what it would cost you to replace the car - the dealer value - which in the book includes the "costs of business". You get the private party sale value, which is significantly less.

So, if the guy wrecks your car, he has to give you $13,000, and then you have to go shopping, dealing, and pay a used car dealer $18,000 for the exact same car.

That doesn't seem fair.

I think the bad guy should be required to do the shopping, the dealing, and present you with a paid-for replacement car, which meets your mechanic's approval.
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3257 Frustration

Friday, May 20, 2011

PMS - the time just before a woman's menstrual period when she acts like a man.

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It's now 4 pm. When I called the urologist's office yesterday afternoon, the receptionist said that he was back, but had not yet looked at my reports. He'd call me when he did. He hasn't called yet. I'm getting angry.

Yeah, I know many of the people sitting in his waiting room have bladder cancer, end-stage kidney failure, prostate cancer, things more serious than my miserable stones. BUT! It's serious and important to me!

I can't go anywhere, like up to the old house, because the stent keeps the valve between the kidney and the bladder open, so the kidney keeps dumping into the bladder and causes urinary urgency. When I get the first slight hint that I have to go, I have to go immediately! Like within five seconds. It's exactly ten steps from the computer to the downstairs bathroom, and when I'm wearing the jeans with the side buttons and zipper, I almost don't make it. So if I know I'm going to be away from a bathroom, I can't drink anything. The drive north is too far. I can't get repeatedly that dehydrated while I have the stones.

I'm worried that the useless stent is rubbing and messing up my bladder.

I'm worried that the blocked collection chamber is damaging my left kidney. The kidney is almost unique in the body in that it's the only organ that can't heal. Any damage is permanent, does not get better, ever. In fact, any damage gets worse over time. It's like the kidney is made of dominoes.

I want this fixed NOW!

I'd change doctors, except that being a new patient, I know it will take at least two weeks, probably more, to get an appointment with another.

I am extremely frustrated.

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I heard on TV yesterday that they're seeing an increase in skin cancer on the fingers, a very unusual place, and have pretty much identified it as due to nail polish dryers that use UV light. (I have to wonder about that. Why UV? Wouldn't infra red light be the logical choice for drying nail polish?)

Anyway, today on TV Dr. Oz was pushing teeth whitening systems using UV light. You stick the darn light in your mouth! Ok. How long before they start seeing an increase in mouth cancers? And how long will it take them to figure out why?
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3256 Training a dog at the end of the world

Thursday, May 19, 2011

"There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths.
It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil."
-- Alfred North Whitehead --

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I overheard two (both male) neighbors talking on the street this morning. One joked that there was no point in mowing the lawn because "the world is going to end on Saturday".

It turned out neither of them had any idea what it meant, what the actual prediction is. They wondered if it was a meteor headed for earth, or earthquakes and tsunamis, or the sun was going to explode, and so on. One of them did comment that no, it's not this Saturday, it's December 21. The other said he'd heard October something.

Sigh.

They did express a concern that I share - that some fools will figure that since "the world is ending", it doesn't matter what they do, so they'll shoot up their workplace, or rob banks, or whatever.

They didn't mention my major concern - that since it's a "Christian" concept, a few nuclear bombs in Christian areas would be appropriate.

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One of those neighbors was walking his dog, a happy young pit bull (yeah, it's that kind of neighborhood), and he was trying to "train" the dog.

I felt so sorry for the dog.

One of the basics of dog training is that you use the dog's name before every command, to get his attention and alert him that a command is coming, use a short distinct word for commands, like "sit", "stay", "come" (or "here"), "heel", and show the dog what you want, rewarding him when he does it.

This guy had the dog on a long spooled leash, letting him run out, and then was yelling "Come here!", "Get over here", "Stop", "Calm down!", without showing the dog what he wanted. Naturally, the dog looked at him, wagged his tail, and kept going, and the guy got mad.

I guess he doesn't understand that dogs don't parse sentences.
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