Men are better than cucumbers
May. 20th, 2002 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figmoIt's been a while since I last updated my LJ. As usual, life has this way of interfering with Internet stuff.
Warren is in the battle of his life, or should I say for his life at Kaiser.
I am trying like crazy to impress the place where I'm contracting in hopes they might hire me as a permanent employee. Friday I handed in a 26-page user's guide I wrote from scratch this week.
My arthritis is acting up. Of all the weird places, it chose to hit my left thumb. As places to hit go, it's one of the more innocuous ones. I can still type, I can still play guitar, and so forth. I just notice it when I go to grab things.
Lady has been backsliding. The quake shook her up in more ways than one. She has piddled where she wasn't supposed to about three or four times since the day of the quake. She also chewed up the cord from my microphone to its power supply. That was not a cheap cord. At least she didn't pick a live cord to chew on.
I mailed Mom a bunch of cookbooks for her birthday (the 17th). She was pleased. I also stuck a little gift in there for my niece. I figure it gives the two of them an excuse to see each other. My brother didn't do anything for Mother's Day or Mom's birthday, and he lives within driving distance (unlike me). He always was an Asshole.
One of the reasons I want to be permanent with this compy, besides the fact that I like the people, is I'd be able to get Warren health coverage so he could see a non-Kaiser neurosurgeon. This weekend at the radio station a story came over the wire about how Kaiser's phone answerers got a bonus for keeping calls short and for limiting the number of appointments people could have with doctors.
I decided to investigate further and learned Kaiser has a tendency to deny life-saving care to people just to keep costs down. I came across some horrifying cases, including one lady who'd worked there who was denied cancer surgery by the very doctor she'd worked for and was dying.
Warren, meanwhile, has been good at spending my money. Do remember his cyst presses against his left temporal lobe, the part of the brain that affects judgement.
He insisted I get my car fixed this week. It was in the shop Wednesday and Thursday, so I didn't get to the Savitzkys to welcome Brad home from jail. I had to let him drive me to Berkeley for my appointment with Dr. Jane. Afterwards I had to go to Emil Villa's Hic'ry Pit, a restaurant he adores and I, uh, tolerate.
The car bill was over $550. Today he had it smogged at further expense. Without my approval he scheduled me for a Wednesday afternoon appointment at the DMV. I may have an all-day meeting at work Wednesday. I also won't have the money to cover the bill till Friday.
Afterwards he picked me up at work and we got dinner at an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet (hey, my property tax check is going to bounce anyway), where I got the runs because there was a piece of cucumber in the kimchee (I'm allergic to cucumbers; they give me foaming diarrhea).
We then walked the mall and I picked up a vinyl liner for Lady's pen and the new Bujold book. When I got home I couldn't wait to shower.
Baycon is Friday. I wasn't sure whether it was going to happen. I'm not especially looking forward to the con. I had e-mailed several times asking about concerts and never heard back. Yesterday I heard there were going to be concerts. I'm massively bummed out. I don't know whether it's politics or whether I've got delusions of grandeur and really suck that bad.
It's hard to feel good about yourself when you get little to no feedback that way.
Warren is in the battle of his life, or should I say for his life at Kaiser.
I am trying like crazy to impress the place where I'm contracting in hopes they might hire me as a permanent employee. Friday I handed in a 26-page user's guide I wrote from scratch this week.
My arthritis is acting up. Of all the weird places, it chose to hit my left thumb. As places to hit go, it's one of the more innocuous ones. I can still type, I can still play guitar, and so forth. I just notice it when I go to grab things.
Lady has been backsliding. The quake shook her up in more ways than one. She has piddled where she wasn't supposed to about three or four times since the day of the quake. She also chewed up the cord from my microphone to its power supply. That was not a cheap cord. At least she didn't pick a live cord to chew on.
I mailed Mom a bunch of cookbooks for her birthday (the 17th). She was pleased. I also stuck a little gift in there for my niece. I figure it gives the two of them an excuse to see each other. My brother didn't do anything for Mother's Day or Mom's birthday, and he lives within driving distance (unlike me). He always was an Asshole.
One of the reasons I want to be permanent with this compy, besides the fact that I like the people, is I'd be able to get Warren health coverage so he could see a non-Kaiser neurosurgeon. This weekend at the radio station a story came over the wire about how Kaiser's phone answerers got a bonus for keeping calls short and for limiting the number of appointments people could have with doctors.
I decided to investigate further and learned Kaiser has a tendency to deny life-saving care to people just to keep costs down. I came across some horrifying cases, including one lady who'd worked there who was denied cancer surgery by the very doctor she'd worked for and was dying.
Warren, meanwhile, has been good at spending my money. Do remember his cyst presses against his left temporal lobe, the part of the brain that affects judgement.
He insisted I get my car fixed this week. It was in the shop Wednesday and Thursday, so I didn't get to the Savitzkys to welcome Brad home from jail. I had to let him drive me to Berkeley for my appointment with Dr. Jane. Afterwards I had to go to Emil Villa's Hic'ry Pit, a restaurant he adores and I, uh, tolerate.
The car bill was over $550. Today he had it smogged at further expense. Without my approval he scheduled me for a Wednesday afternoon appointment at the DMV. I may have an all-day meeting at work Wednesday. I also won't have the money to cover the bill till Friday.
Afterwards he picked me up at work and we got dinner at an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet (hey, my property tax check is going to bounce anyway), where I got the runs because there was a piece of cucumber in the kimchee (I'm allergic to cucumbers; they give me foaming diarrhea).
We then walked the mall and I picked up a vinyl liner for Lady's pen and the new Bujold book. When I got home I couldn't wait to shower.
Baycon is Friday. I wasn't sure whether it was going to happen. I'm not especially looking forward to the con. I had e-mailed several times asking about concerts and never heard back. Yesterday I heard there were going to be concerts. I'm massively bummed out. I don't know whether it's politics or whether I've got delusions of grandeur and really suck that bad.
It's hard to feel good about yourself when you get little to no feedback that way.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
*waving*
Date: 2002-05-20 11:48 pm (UTC)Sounds like you have a new canine companion in your life?
Re: *waving*
Date: 2002-05-27 12:32 pm (UTC)She's very cute, EXTREMELY frisky, and when I figure out how to tap the energy she's got I'll be in hog heaven.
Re: *waving*
Date: 2002-05-27 03:25 pm (UTC)Saw a beautiful bichon frise in Animal Planet's Crufts show on Saturday night.
no subject
Date: 2002-05-20 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-05-21 04:22 am (UTC)I don't have any advice. I just wanted to tell you hi and send hugs. Good luck with everything.
A.
no subject
Date: 2002-05-21 08:35 am (UTC)I would sell my soul to sing and play like you do. You do not suck.
no subject
Date: 2002-05-27 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-05-21 11:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-05-21 09:16 pm (UTC)Marcon did something similar to me a few years ago. I asked to be on a panel -- I was on one the previous year -- and I didn't hear that I was on it until 20 minutes before I was scheduled to go on. After a gofer rushed me off the the green room, apologized profusely, and after receiving assurance by a senior concom member that I'd be comped, I did the panel. It wasn't until the following February that I finally got comped, after having to remind them. With more apologizing by their treasurer, was comped for that year's Marcon as well. While they did a great job recovering and getting my money back, I've not asked, or have I been asked, to be on one of their panels since then. Which is fine by me
no subject
Date: 2002-05-27 12:39 pm (UTC)I've been led to believe I slipped through the cracks, but quite honestly, I'll never know for sure whether it's that or I somehow got on someone's wrong side. Every day I got to hear at least an hour's worth of Baycon and local fannish politics. I think I was averaging over 1.5 hours of the stuff a day. It sucks, IMHO, when general attendees feel the politics at a con, and this year too many did.
I have noticed folks either love or hate me and my material. I felt like I got really good responses from everything I did in the filk room even though I was in less-than-optimal form (allergies, trying to perform a parody I'd just written, sheer exhaustion).