iPad! I Don't Want to Comment on the Name, but I Can't Help It!

Well, the iPad has been announced today!

For those of you who didn't see it (like me), G4 has announced that they will show the announcement presentation on Attack of the Show tomorrow at 7 pm (Eastern). Check your local listings.

In spite of not seeing the original announcement, I've heard lots about it.

Particularly it's name.

One of the comments was about if you repeat Mac's iPad over and over quickly, it sounds like maxipad!

Alyssa Milano tweeted: "iPad. Let the feminine hygiene parodies begin." In her next tweet, she referred to it as "iTampon" and provided this link. You really have to read all the comments, all the way to the end!

In an attempt to change the subject of the giggling, somebody tweeted that Steve Jobs had opened with "I'm Steve Jobs, and I invented Windows 7!" The tweeter mentioned that he thought that was improbable, thereby revealing that he didn't get the joke at all, i.e., that previous Windows systems have been so bad that Steve expected this one to be, too, and that it would make people want to use a Mac.

In an attempt to stop giggling, you can find some of what Apple has to say about their new device here. The technical specifications are here. More info here.

I was thinking that the new device would be more like a tablet notebook, and I was really looking forward to it. This seems more like an overgrown iTouch, though, not a computer. If you read down to the bottom, though, you'll see that it does provide closed captioning support! It kind of cements the idea that it's an entertainment device, not a real computer, though.

But if you really think you want one, and you're on Twitter, check this out!

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In other (science) news, Holly sent me this link to a photo of the Aurora, which happened to illuminate something else! This is amazing, if true. I have a hard time believing that there is any satellite that looks that large from earth, though.

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Holly also sent me this link to information on the last two Harry Potter movies.

Harry in 3D? I'm not too sure what I think of this. The last thing I saw in 3D was that episode of Chuck, which gave me a headache, and it didn't matter if I used the glasses or not, it still gave me a headache. And it didn't really look 3D, even with the glasses. And the glasses made a lot of the picture difficult or impossible for me to see. I really think I'd rather see it in time-tested 2D.

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It was sunny and beautiful today, and I went out and walked around just to walk around. They're predicting snow for Saturday, so Winter will be back soon, and I wanted to grab this opportunity while I had the chance.

Unfortunately, that made me late to get this post up, and the shows I want to watch are already on.

Oh, and I went for my last visit to the dentist. He checked things out, made a very minor adjustment, and I'm done until next year, when they'll clean my teeth. I have new, beautiful front teeth, and I deliberately went out and bought food that I need to bite into to eat! I haven't had the nerve to try an apple yet, though.

Have a wonderful evening and a better day tomorrow!

Hi! Oh, and Bye!

I had planned to put up a nice long post today. I'm not sure what I would have said in it, but I'm saved from the trouble of finding out because the sun is shining and it's about 60 degrees out, and I really need to pull myself together and get out there and not miss it!

I have one last dental visit tomorrow. All the work is done, he's just going to check things to see how they're working out. From what the dentist said, it should only take a few minutes. Then I have an errand to run. I know that doesn't sound like much, but that's about an hour and a half of actual riding time on the bus, plus about a minimum of an hour waiting-for-a-bus time, probably more like three or four hours total.

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For all you knitters out there, Ann Budd has started a blog today! She's already got 10 comments, and I'm jealous! I've probably had ten comments in almost two years! I guess I'll just have to get famous, too.

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Lost is back on TV tomorrow night!

Don't get too excited! The premier of the new season will be on the second of February. I suspect that this is just the last two episodes of the last season so we can all catch up and be on the same page when it starts.

But Lost is back on TV tomorrow night!

I'm so excited!

I can't stand to stay inside anymore today! Have a great day!

Oh, they're predicting snow and sleet for tomorrow morning!

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Addition:

It's Monday, isn't it? I'm sorry, Lost will be on TOMORROW night!

TGIF!

As you can probably tell from the title, this post was actually posted on Friday, but Blogger messed up!

Let me get you all caught up on what's been happening around here.

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Tuesday, I went back to the dentist for what I thought was the last time. I was almost right about that.

He gave me a shot of Novocaine, removed the temporary front teeth and filled a cavity on a tooth next to the ones he was replacing. The cavity was so small it was almost nonexistent, and now that I know that, I wish he'd skipped the shot.

He then put on the new caps, so I have my permanent caps at last. I can now bite into a sandwich or cookie if I want! I'm planning to get some corn on the cob next time I go to the supermarket.

At this point, the area that the shot affected is not hurting as much, and in a day or two (hopefully) I won't be able to feel the ache anymore.

I have to go back in two weeks just so that they can check out how the new teeth are working with my existing teeth, the alignment, etc. There may be a few minutes of adjustment, but that's all.

Corn on the cob! I've missed it!

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Wednesday was a nightmare of trying to get my computer to work properly again. John was an enormous help, and after reloading the last upgrade to the system, some of the problem seemed to be fixed. My browser still wouldn't open. I tried to use Software Update to update it, but it said I wasn't connected to the internet, and I couldn't do it. Then it asked if I'd like to update my software. I said yes, and it informed me that I had a big problem with my browser and asked me if I'd like to fix it. I clicked yes, and it's fixed. Well, it's still a little slow and glitchy, but at least it works somewhat.

I still have some other programs that I have to repair or replace before I'm back to where I was before it all crashed.

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Thursday I saw the doctor again. She told me that I need to do more walking, and I told her I've been discouraged about doing that because I feel so bad after even a little walking. She looked at me like I was crazy.

So, after thinking about it for a bit, it finally occurred to me that if she thought it was that weird, maybe there is something wrong. She thinks I'm not getting enough vitamin D, and I'll be getting a test for that. I should mention that I'm taking lots of vitamin D supplement, but the gastroenterologist did say that I probably have big problems absorbing certain kinds of nutrition.

I went to JoAnn Fabrics and (finally!) got the yarn for Everett's Christmas present!

Yes, I know how late it is.

Getting to the store involves what is a lot of walking for me, and I felt terrible last night, and still feel like someone beat me up yesterday. I had planned to go to the post office today to return the yarn I bought that looks very different in real life than it does in the photo, but in light of how I feel, I think it's going to happen Monday instead.

I feel bad enough that I don't intend to be on the computer for very long today. I just hurt everywhere!

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There's a new post on the Steve Canyon blog! John recorded a new interview for the next and last of the Steve Canyon DVDs! All the information on it is on the blog. It's very exciting!

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January is Thyroid Awareness Month! I see people all around me almost all the time with very obvious hypothyroid symptoms, and their doctors insist that there's nothing wrong with them and won't even test them, so I feel that this is an issue that people need to know more about because I can promise you that your doctor doesn't know much about it. And if that doctor is an endocrinologist, he probably knows even less about it than a GP, but thinks he knows everything (from my personal experience), and therefore won't listen to anything you have to say.

By the way, there was a study done where they sent out questionnaires to patients with hypothyroidism, and they discovered that, out of patients who had hypothyroidism for two years or more, 95% of them knew more about hypothyroidism and it's treatment than the doctors who were treating them!

The problem with this is compounded by the really bad tests available for it, and most doctors' misinformation on the subject of thyroid testing. Not only are the tests bad (as in not giving accurate results, especially the TSH), but what's considered "normal" is skewed so that it misses all but the worst cases. If the drug companies can keep you sick, they can sell you osteoporosis, cholesterol, and other medicines and make more money from it.

Check out the symptoms here, and if you suffer from many of them, see your doctor! If you actually do see your doctor, print out the list, and check off all your symptoms. He probably won't listen to you unless you do that.

Wow! I just read that list and I have 41 of the symptoms! I knew that I wasn't getting enough natural dessicated thyroid because Armor Thyroid (which is what I'm taking) was reformulated about a year ago, and although the stated amount of hormone is in each pill, the filler that they changed makes it difficult or impossible to absorb the medicine, and everyone who's been taking it has had hypothyroid symptoms. I'll be switching to Naturethroid as soon as the drug store gets it in, and that should solve the problem or at least help the situation. But I didn't realize how bad it really was!

If you have many of the symptoms, check the sidebar for more info.

And don't let your doctor prescribe Synthroid! Ask for Naturethroid or West Throid! Or even Armor Thyroid, once it's available again. They're reformulating it again to make it the same as it was before last year. Doctors keep telling me that some people get along fine on Synthroid, but it's really hard for me to believe because I feel so bad when I take it. Taking Synthroid is like being short on sleep every night. When you fist take it, it's an improvement, but over time, you just feel a little worse every day until it's even worse than not taking anything at all. Switching to Armor Thyroid was like waking up from a nightmare for me!

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Sanctuary has been on SyFy all day today, and there will be a two hour season finale on tonight!

The next-to-the-last episode of Dollhouse is still scheduled to be on Fox tonight according the electronic TV guide on Comcast, but somebody on Twitter was tweeting that it will be bumped to put on a program about the earthquake in Hati. So, at this point, I just don't know.

Other new episodes on tonight include: Ghost Whisperer and Medium.

Tomorrow, BBC in America will be showing the Doctor Who episode The Shakespeare Code, and a new episode of Demons.

Have a fabulous evening, and a wonderful weekend!

No Dentist Today!

When I woke up today, the message light was flashing on my phone. The dentist's helper called to tell me that the lab hadn't finished with my permanent caps, so there was no point in coming in today. I called back to make a new appointment, but we're playing phone tag now.

There was a lot of other stuff that I planned to do today while I was out at the dentist. Then I checked a couple of things and got sucked in to a thread on Ravelry, and here it is after 4 pm, and I still haven't done anything. I do need to do something today, even if it isn't all the stuff I intended to accomplish today!

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Tomorrow night on ABC seems to be the last episode of Eastwick. I'm really sorry to see it go! Feel free to ask ABC to continue it, but I don't think ABC cares.

I've heard a rumor that somebody at the CW was thinking of picking it up. Feel free to contact them, too. On Facebook, there's a Save Eastwick page, a Lifetime Save Eastwick page to encourage Lifetime to pick up Eastwick, a Petition to Save Eastwick page, and another Save Eastwick page.

On Twitter, you can follow @SaveEastwick, @save_eastwick or @eastwickgazette. Spread the word!

I'm looking forward to the next Doctor Who episode this weekend! The BBC in America is starting the new year right with Christmas Invasion at the stroke of the new year on Friday at midnight (here)! This will be followed by New Earth, Tooth and Claw, School Reunion, The Girl in the Fireplace, Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Runaway Bride, Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock, Daleks in Manhattan, Evolution of the Daleks, The Lazarus Experiment, Human Nature, The Family of Blood, Blink, Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, Partners in Crime, The Fires of Pompeii, Planet of the Ood, The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, The Doctor's Daughter, Voyage of the Damned, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Silence in the Library/Forrest of the Dead, Midnight, Turn Left, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The End of Time Part 1, David Tenent Special, and The End of Time Part 2! By this time, we'll be finishing the last episode at 10 pm on Saturday, when they will be premiering a new show called Demons. It looks interesting! Then they'll be repeating a lot of it until 5 am on Sunday morning.

This year won't have anything but Doctor Who on BBC in America until early Sunday morning! Sometimes, I really love the BBC!

You really have to check your local schedules for all this!

Don't-miss episodes include Tooth and Claw (the founding of Torchwood!), School Reunion (Sarah Jane is back!), The Girl in the Fireplace (a fabulous love story), Blink (the best horror story ever!), The Doctor's Daughter (she's wonderful!), Silence in the Library/Forrest of the Dead (a horror/love story), Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End (everyone gets involved), The Next Doctor (a Christmas story), and of course, Parts one and two of The End of Time.

I should mention that if you aren't a Doctor Who fan, you should DVR Blink. The story wouldn't be possible without time travel, and, thus, the Doctor, but he plays a very peripheral role in this. This is a show where they've taken something totally innocent and made it into a horror story. It's one of the neatest little horror stories I've ever seen, and I'm particularly tickled that all the horror is generated out of nothing. I've watched a lot of horror shows and movies, but this is the only one that has raised goose bumps for me. And it stands alone. You don't have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy and understand it.

If you're really into horror, don't miss Silence in the Library/Forrest of the Dead. The Doctor says "All over the universe, people have an irrational fear of the dark. But it's not irrational." This is another one where horror is created out of nothing.

I really have to get going and get something done! I may not post tomorrow or Thursday because I'll be doing all the things I should have been doing today!

Have a great evening and don't miss Eastwick tomorrow!

Another Dental Day

It was back to the dentist for me today. They removed the temporary caps and did impressions. This involved more Novocaine, and some amazingly vigorous mayhem to my teeth, coupled with lots of digging under my gums with sharp instruments.

I had originally planned to go to Manassas and get the shoes I've been thinking about and some jeans, but gave up on that after the way I felt, and the length of time it took to do all of the work.

So, this is going to be a short post. All I feel like doing is watching TV and knitting, with maybe a snack of something soft and soothing. I stopped on the way home and got some rice pudding.

I'll probably only have to go back once more.

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In TV news, Marc Blucas was on Castle last night. Some of you may remember him as Buffy's boyfriend, Riley Finn, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Tonight, Better Off Ted is back!! It had been canceled, so I was surprised and delighted to see it come up on my digital TV guide for tonight. I know it's not really science fiction, but it does have a lot of science run amok in addition to the insane corporate tactics. And it's a very funny show.

I, Robot will also be on FX.

My gums are throbbing, and I don't feel like writing anymore, so I'll wish you a fun evening and leave it at that.

The Prisoner is Over

The Prisoner finished up last night. This link has lots of spoilers in it if you haven't seen it yet. And if you haven't seen it yet, it'll be rerunning starting on 29 Nov. Check local listings. I think it's worth watching.

It's very different from the original Prisoner, and I didn't like it at first because of that. The original Prisoner was about the dehumanization caused by modern life, and about someone who fought back.

In a way, the new Prisoner is a prisoner, too, and so are the people in the Village, but for very different reasons. I think it would have been much better if they hadn't copied the name and some of the conventions of the original.

If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend that you DVR, TiVo or tape it. Once you see the ending, you're going to want to watch the whole thing again, and you're going to find that it's a very different story the second time around.

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Yesterday was my dentist's appointment. I had three caps on my front teeth, so I thought I knew what I was in for this time around, but I didn't.

When I got the first three caps (two around '79 or '80, and one about a year later), they took an impression, cut down the teeth, and did another impression, then put on temp caps in one visit. The stuff from the dentist went to the lab, and when the finished caps came back I had a second visit where they installed them.

This time, in the first visit, they took an impression, removed the cap that was broken and that they intended to replace, cut down the tooth that they were replacing, took another impression, broke another cap, did two more impressions and installed temp caps.

This second visit was not to put in permanent caps, it was to clean up the part of the tooth that was under the cap that broke. When they replace a cap, there's old cement or glue that was used to hold on the previous cap, and they have to get it ready for the new one.

I have another visit scheduled for the first of December to do impressions for the finished caps. There will be another appointment for checking the metal part of the caps. If everything is OK at that point, they will go back to the lab and have the porcelain part applied. If it's not OK, there will be another visit. Then, finally, I will get the new caps.

I told the dentist "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" He said it would be close, but I might get them in time for Christmas.

So, I have at least three more visits before I'm done, maybe four. I will be so happy when it's all done!

When I got home yesterday, after all this, I was so tired, having gotten up at 7am to be able to get on the bus at 9 for my appointment at 10. I took a nap, but there was something wrong with me all day. I didn't seem to be able to actually do any one thing for more than 15 minutes without wanting to stop and do something else. I was still so tired I wanted another nap, and didn't seem to be able to do that right, either. I finally did take another nap and eventually started feeling better by evening. Can Novocaine cause something like this?

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The apartment place stuck a notice in the door today saying that the USDA food program (which I'm eligible for and still signed up for) will be delivering food on Thursday (tomorrow), and that there will be a small, frozen turkey for each person!

So, after the apartment place just gave me a new stove with a new oven, the government is now giving me something to put in it! I guess it's kind of a "chicken in every pot" deal.

I'll be having Thanksgiving with Holly, Robin and all the friends they've invited. Everett and Jeff will be there, plus another guy I swear I don't know but Holly says I do, plus someone I don't know from Ireland. I'd love to find out more about Ireland from someone who grew up there! So, aside from the fact that Robin's a world-class chef, there's lots of reason to look forward to Thanksgiving.

And I haven't even mentioned all the good things there are to look forward to. I haven't seen their new 52 inch TV, and I'll not only get to see it, but Holly says we can pick out which BluRay movies we want to see! As if that wasn't enough, Holly won't feel like driving me home afterward, so she's planning on giving me the car keys and sending me home in their car. I'll bring it back later in the weekend, but they usually don't want to do anything or go anywhere on Black Friday, so the car will probably go back on Sunday.

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Just before I pick up my Thanksgiving turkey, there is a special meeting for people who want to talk to a Comcast representative, and boy do I want to talk to someone. We had a "weekly test" yesterday afternoon, and again today around one pm. They are disgusting in so many ways! I have to bring along the book where I've been writing everything down.

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In knitting news, the beautiful lavender Alpaca yarn arrived on Monday! I'm not really ready to start working on it yet, but it'll be good to have it here when I'm ready for it. The color is soft and subdued, and the fiber itself feels so good! I had planned to make a hat, wimple mitts and maybe a second hat or something, but since I can't start yet, I'm also entertaining ideas about what I could make instead. I don't think the person I'm using it to make something for will want a vest, but I'm thinking about that. Is there enough for a sweater, maybe? That might work.

I've gotten far enough down the wimple from the top so that I need to start to increase, but I haven't planned that far ahead, so it's on a temporary hold while I think it over and decide how I want to proceed. I not only have to plan for the rest of the wimple, but also have to plan how I'm going to do the hat to go with it, and think about if I'll make a second hat or mittens to go with all this and the mitts.

Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up the second sleeve of the slinky ribs sweater. I expect to finish the sleeve tonight, and then the only knitting left on it will be the finishing on the pockets. That will leave weaving in ends, blocking, and sewing down the pocket flaps to finish it completely.

It's rapidly becoming apparent that there is too much knitting and too little time before Christmas! There are only 37 days! Less if you have to mail a present to anyone!

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Tonight, we do not have another episode of Eastwick! I did a little checking, and there will be one available next week, the evening before Thanksgiving!

And that's all the SF/fantasy TV viewing news available for tonight, sadly.

Have a great evening!

Be seeing you!

I'm in a Daze

This is the second week this month that has me getting up early several mornings in one week. Today was one of those days, and tomorrow will be, too.

Earlier this month, I had to get up early on Tuesday to go to the dentist and have my kitchen replaced, and then on Thursday for something else that I can't think of at the moment.

This week, we have another early dental appointment on Tuesday, followed by an appointment to tell me what my new rent will be for the next year, and tomorrow I have to get up early again to get a flu shot.

The dental appointment on Tuesday wasn't fun, but I've just about recovered from that. The awful tastes/smells are almost gone, it feels a little funny, but doesn't really hurt anymore, and the whole center of my face is still not happy about having been filled with Novocaine, but I'm pretty much over it.

Even though my income won't be going up next year (Susan, in her wisdom insists that the newspeople reporting that Social Security will not be going up next year are wrong, and it will), and my rent is dependent on my income, and in spite of the fact that I managed to muster $500 in eligible medical expenses from last year, my rent is still going UP! That $500 in medical expenses is getting me a whole $13 a month discount on my rent. Wow! I'm underwhelmed!

I'm also tired from getting up early two days this week, and I'm going to have to repeat it all tomorrow to get a flu shot.

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There's a lot of good stuff on TV tonight!

Vampire Diaries and Supernatural will be on the CW tonight, and they'll both be new. For any of you who (like me) have missed some of the Vampire Diaries, they've been running reruns at other times. I think there was one on Tuesday, and I know there was another one last night. Supernatural has been dynamite, but I still haven't made up my mind about the Vampire Diaries. I keep hoping it'll grow on me, but so far, it's "Who cares?"

There's a new Mentalist on tonight, too, and a new Flash Forward.

I need to manage to catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, it's impossible for me to "catch up on my sleep" because if I miss those early morning hours, I'm never able to catch up.

Have fun with all the great TV tonight!

Day at the Dentist's Office

Yesterday, I had to get up at 7 am (that's really early in the morning for me!) to get myself ready in enough time to catch the bus and get to the dentist's office at 10!

I wanted enough time to get a chance to eat something because I didn't think I'd want to eat later, and I was right about that.

The plan was for me to get a broken cap replaced, and get a new cap for a badly damaged tooth. Since the teeth were next to each other, and they weren't sure how well the new cap would do because the tooth was so badly damaged, the plan was to get one cap of two teeth stuck together (no space to floss in between).

Things started off pretty well. They gave me the Novocaine and then did an impression of all my teeth. When I got the cap that's now broken, it took something like ten to twenty minutes to do the impression, but this time they did it in under a minute. I thought this was real progress, but it has it's down side.

The next step was to remove the broken cap, which was almost like trying to remove a real tooth. It took a lot of drilling to weaken the cap, and then a lot of force. There was very real violence involved!

Then we moved on to cutting down the other tooth that had already broken and been repaired and then had a bad cavity added to the mix. That went pretty smoothly.

Then we came to the part that was a real problem for me, which was taking an impression of the base of the two teeth that we planned to make new caps for.

They took the impression. But they weren't happy with it, so they added more of the impression material and did it again. And again. And again. And again.

The problem with this is that they were just adding more material to the original impression, coupled with the fact that the impression material seems to shrink a bit as it cures. I'm sure that it doesn't really shrink a lot, but it was enough, since this was an impression of all my teeth, including the back ones that each time he redid it, it was harder to get it back on. Each time they redid it, he had to use more muscle to get it back on. And once it was on, it felt like it was bending all the bones in my face and head. It hurt! It really hurt!

After the third or fourth time they did it, it pulled the cap off my other front tooth. The dentist tried to replace it, but broke it in the process. So, they had to do an impression of the base of that tooth, too.

So, I'm left with the fading taste/smell of: rubber gloves, the impression material, Novocaine, burned teeth (from the drilling), blood and other assorted dental tastes/smells. I thought some of it might be on my hands or face, but no amount of washing/brushing would get rid of it last night. It's starting to fade today. Plus, there are still small pieces of the impression material that I'm fishing out of my mouth and trying to scrape off the inside of my upper lip, etc, and the skin on the inside of my lip seems to be blistered and is partly peeling off.

My whole head, and especially my face, hurt last night from the distortion that was imposed by the impression material. There was and still is a sharp pain in my nose for no reason I can think of unless there was a hairline crack in the area between my front teeth and nose. The whole area that had Novocaine in it still hurts, as it always does for a few days after something like this. The temporary caps are probably a tiny fraction of an inch larger than the previous caps/tooth, so they're pressing against the teeth in both directions, which hurts a bit. And, of course, they had to drill my tooth below the gumline, so the gum is all torn up, and the whole general area has swollen. None of this is major pain, but it's enough to make me feel yucky. I know from past experience that it will be worth it, though.

So, I have temporary caps on three of my front teeth, and instructions not to bite into anything "unless you want your teeth to be all chippy before we can replace them."

In three weeks, I'll go back and they'll remove the temporary caps, fill a cavity next to one of the caps, give me the finished caps, and I'll have time for it all to heal before Thanksgiving!

I had three caps put in almost thirty years ago, and I do know that all this hassle/pain will be worth it. Once it's done, it'll be almost like having my own, real teeth. I can hardly wait!

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Holly and Robin are on their Halloween vacation already. Unless they met with delays at the airport, they should be in New Orleans by now.

Holly called me last night. She's angry at K-Mart. She ordered a camera from them with expedited shipping. They guaranteed absolutely that she would have the camera delivered yesterday. As of yesterday, they hadn't even shipped it! She swears that she will never buy anything from K-Mart ever again! I don't really blame her. So, now she has to spend part of her vacation looking for a nice camera to buy. You would think that in this economy, a store like K-Mart wouldn't want to blow a sale.

So, for any of you planning your Christmas shopping, keep this in mind.

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Eastwick will be on again tonight! I can't wait! The electronic TV Guide on my DVR says that they plan to burn a witch for Halloween! I sincerely hope they plan to do it in effigy! Whatever, it should be good!

I really hope you got to see the Halloween episode of Castle on Monday! It was too much fun!

Have a great evening!

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Addition:

I nearly forgot!

Trick or Treat!

Happy 9/9/09!

Today is the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009! From the standpoint of the numbers, this is a memorable event, and some people on Twitter found this nice site to explain it. Today is (according to numerologists) associated with forgiveness, compassion and success. Actually, I could use plenty of that today for all the errands I have that need to get done.

I haven't heard back from the dentist, and, providing I understood him correctly, I should have had new front teeth by now, but haven't heard a word. So, I'm going to drop by there and let him have my new phone number, and ask what's happening in a polite, friendly way.

I'm also waiting for my package from Knit Picks, which has a good chance of arriving today. I ordered yarn for Holly's socks for Christmas, and a whole set of Options Zephyr needles. I am so excited about this that I can't tell you!

So, you can see that this will be a short post. Well, I'm going to try to keep it short. I keep finding more and more things I want to write about today, though.

Another thing I found to post about is a post on the Knitting Daily blog about knitters who are pickers or throwers. It includes a quick tutorial on both methods, and I plan to put a link to the page in my side bar, so you can find it there in the future.

Someone in the comments said that figures 1 and 2 are reversed, and it looks like they are, so check it for yourself.

I really have to get going if I hope to finish my errands today!

There's a new Leverage on tonight and Ghost Rider will be on FX! And Jake 2.0 will be on SyFy's daytime rotation tomorrow!

Have a great 9/9/09!

Ho Hum

In an effort to brighten up a ho hum Monday, here's a photo of the gingerbread house that Malaia made for Christmas:

I forgot to mention to her how impressed with it I was. She's an amazingly crafty kid.

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I worked myself up into a headache last night over the Comcast thing. I finally realized what was going on and took a Valium (which is why I asked the doctor for them) and some Aleve, watched Harold and Maude, and went to sleep.

Before I did all that, I did some research on the internet about TV and internet connections, and I think that no matter what Comcast does at this point, DirecTV and a Verizon internet connection will make me happier. I have severe doubts about Verizon because they've treated me badly in the past, but they were very nice yesterday, so I'm thinking about giving them a second chance. Also, they're willing to give me a connection for $20 a month instead of Comcast's $45 per month. I am pretty sure that it's a slower connection, but it's a lot less money. I think I can live with that, and if I can't, I can get a faster connection for $10 more, which is still lots less than Comcast.

I just can't imagine anything that Comcast could do to make me want to continue with them at this point. I did ask them for an itemized list of all the charges and payments to my account for at least the last year. Even if they straighten that out, they've made too many problems over too long a period of time for me to want to continue with them.

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I finished the mitts last night, and started on the hat. I'll post photos soon. Come to think of it, I don't have a photo of the finished mitts, but here's something:

There's one finished mitt (L to R), one that's finished knitting but doesn't have the ends darned in, and one that's just started. I think I put this up before. The third mitt is done, and all ends are darned in! You should know that the mitts look weird until you put them on, and then they look and feel great.

Photos of the hat when I get them.

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There are four hours of Lost on the SciFi Channel tonight, and the premier of Kyle XY on ABC Family, which follows a Kyle marathon today. And don't forget that G4 is running single episodes of Lost at random times (usually, but not always at 11 am here), so stay alert! I think G4 is using them as filler, hence the random timeslot. Oh and there will be another three episodes shown on Wednesday on (I think?) ABC. Everybody's gearing up for the big premier later this month.

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I have a lot to do today. I got several letters/bills that are wrong all at once, Comcast being only one of them, and I have to write letters/make phone calls to straighten them all out. 

I also have to get to WalMart for some additional yarn to complete the stockings, a coaxial cable for the DVD recorder, and some blank DVDs to record. I want to get anything I really want to keep off of the DVR so I won't be upset about giving it back. And I want to make a stop at Shoppers while I'm out. That means about 2 hours of bus time (not all actually on the bus, but time spent walking to the stop and waiting).

And I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow morning, so any post that I might make will be late. This will be the last appointment (he says) before getting the caps for the front teeth. That will have to wait until they get more funding next summer.

Have a great week!

Busy Week!

This has been such a busy week!

Monday, I went and did my monthly shopping at WalMart. 

Tuesday and Wednesday there was supposed to be freezing rain all day, so I tried to stay in. Thankfully, the temperatures didn't get down to freezing, so it was just a lot of rain.

Wednesday I had a dentist's appointment, so couldn't manage to stay in. I rushed over there, and the dentist's assistant was out sick, and doing fillings is a two-person job, so they made an appointment for me yesterday.

Yesterday, I went back and had two fillings removed and replaced. Then I walked over to the clinic and picked up my medicine. I had a choice of two bus stops to go to (the clinic is at one point of a triangle between two bus stops at the other two points). I chose to go to CVS for something my local CVS doesn't have and caught the bus nearby.

Then I went to the Post Office to mail a pattern to Germany. The Post Office charged me $1.75 instead of the $30 they said it would cost on their website.

By the time I got out of there, the temperature was dropping (along with the sun) and the wind was picking up. Luckily I didn't have long to wait for the bus, but it was long enough to get really chilled. Then I stopped at JoAnn Fabrics, which was having a fabulous sale. Unfortunately, this particular JoAnn will be moving next month, so they haven't been ordering new anything, so although the prices were great, there wasn't much to buy. I bought a couple of balls of Paton's Classic Wool in the blue rag color. Somewhere in my travels (I think it was at the clinic) I lost one of my mitts, and had to keep my hand in my pocket when I was out for the rest of the trip. I'll get more yarn tomorrow and make a couple more. Normally, I make three at a time, but I ran out of yarn at the end of the second one, and was going to get more tomorrow to make the third one.

Today, I need to take some books back to the Library and pick up a DVD I requested and then stop by Safeway. Oh, and taking down the Christmas decorations might be nice, too, if I get the time.

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In between all of this, I managed to almost finish the second Christmas stocking! I'm down to the white part in the toe. I'm hoping to knock out one of these a week if my wrist and hand hold out.

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Right before I left for the dentist yesterday, there was a knock at my door, and the UPS guy delivered my DVD recorder. I didn't have time to do more than open it and marvel at how wonderful it was at the time.

Today, I tried to wade through the instruction manual, and I have to say, that although I was responsible for putting together the instruction manual (and repair manual, wiring diagrams, etc.) for the BMEWS project, this thing is written in gobbledygook! It says that upsampling makes a better picture and you should always use it when playing back DVDs, but it also says that all the outputs from the recorder are disabled if you use upsampling. It also uses lots of words for which it doesn't supply a definition, and is written in the kind of pidgin English that you get from having a native speaker of another language try to translate to English without any knowledge of English grammar.

I also have to read the whole manual and determine what I need to buy to make it work. Some of the cables it says are included don't appear to be there. Plus, I definitely haven't gotten any blank DVDs to record to.

It will be an adventure.

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I've recently discovered something interesting about the current depression. It's been more than a week since the Safeway near me had any Coca Cola in two liter bottles. I asked the manager of the store about it, and she said that they can't get any more than that from the distributer. So, although the store is able to sell two or three times as much Coke as they do, they can't because the distributer won't supply it.

I believe what the manager of the store said because when they are out of Coke, so are all the other supermarkets in the area. And I'll bet that the CEO of Coke is wondering why their sales are half of what they should be.

I've noticed the same pattern with other groceries, too. Stores are out of certain items half the time, and when one is out, they're all out. Which means that those companies could be selling at least twice as much if they made the goods available.

Another point in case is the WalMart near where I live. I suspect that WalMart and Caron made a deal, because the only place that you can buy the new Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn is at WalMart.

Except that you can't buy it at WalMart. The local store put out a limited display of it about three months ago, and promptly sold out almost all of it. End of story. No more has been put out on the shelves. They have an empty section marked for that yarn with only a few balls of yarn left from the original supply.

And the WalMart in Manassas doesn't carry it at all. There aren't even empty shelves for it. If you want to buy it, you have to go to the WalMart in Dumfries. They have a beautiful (usually full) display of beautiful colors available. The display changes, and there is usually a difference in the display that shows that they're stocking the shelves and selling it.

The other WalMarts could be selling it, too, but they don't bother putting it out on the shelves.

What is wrong with American business? I understand that there's a depression on, but these are things they could sell if they bothered to make them available.

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As far as science fiction on television is concerned, brace yourself for a roller coaster ride! All the great series are coming back for their midseason premiers this month, and they're showing reruns leading up to the new shows in the meantime.

Next Wednesday evening, ABC will be showing a Lost marathon! That will be preceded, of course, by the usual Lost marathon on the SciFi Channel on Monday evening. And G4 is also showing episodes of Lost almost every day. They really seem to want to get people excited about the premier in a couple of weeks.

USA is having a Psych marathon during the daytime today, in case you're in time to catch the end of it.

And, of course, SciFi is having a Stargate Atlantis marathon every day during their daytime rotation this week in preparation for the season finale tonight, witch will be followed by a new Sanctuary.

Well, I need to get moving. There's lots to do today.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Distaff Day!

The day after Twelfth Night is Distaff Day, the day that the spinners have to get back to work after their vacation over the twelve days of Christmas. By extension, this is also the day for fiberartists. 

So,

Happy Distaff Day!

I plan to do some spinning later today.

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I had an early appointment today with the dentist. After getting up in the middle of the night (which was still late), I rushed over there only to discover that the dentist's assistant was out sick and they couldn't do the fillings today.

So, I have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon, and instructions to call earlier and make sure that she's back and that they can do the work.

I'm going back to bed!

Have a great Distaff Day!

It's 2009!

Once again, Happy New Year!

To catch up on old business, I did go to the dentist on Tuesday. He was hoping to remove and replace two fillings, but only had time for one.

The Novocaine worked exactly the way it was supposed to, and there was no pain. Well, there was no pain until it wore off and I discovered that I had bitten my tongue.

It's really odd how I feel about all this. The tooth used to look like it had a filling. Now it just looks like a new tooth. All in all, it was a good trip to the dentist with almost no stress.

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Here's an update on more old news: Robin took the car to be fixed, the repair place kept it for two days and charged her $22 to tell her that they couldn't fix it. She's not happy, and neither am I. She's going to try to find a repair place that will fix it tomorrow, but it seems unlikely.

Whether the car is fixed or not, the trip for Saturday is off because she's going somewhere with Malaia.

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Yesterday was not only quite cold, but also windy. Just short of qualifying for hurricane velocity, in fact. There was one local man killed by a falling tree and one child hit by a falling tree who was in the hospital in critical condition last night. The news showed photos of several area vehicles smashed under fallen trees.

Considering that the temperature only got a couple of degrees above freezing yesterday, the wind chill made me glad to stay at home all day and evening.

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I'll be posting about the rest of my finished objects for 2008 real soon now.

In the meantime, I hope you've been enjoying this year!

No Dental Pain!

I had a long talk with John last night. It was about the power of positive thinking, basically, although a much more complicated and believable theory.

He said I should be confident that there would be no dental pain, and it would be a pleasant visit to the dentist (if that's not an oxymoron).

So, I did.

This morning, I got up between six and seven hours earlier than usual, took the antibiotic I'm supposed to take, plus a healthy dose of Valium, and got over to the bus stop, and arrived at my appointment 15 minutes early.

They weren't there.

I tried calling their number (which is a cell phone, so I figured it would get through wherever they were). No information. So I hopped on the next bus (45 minutes later) and went over to the old place. They were closed, too. I did get to talk to the dentist. He said they turned off the cell phone days ago, and I should call back next Tuesday or Wednesday to make an appointment. He also promised that my next dental visit would be fun!

The move they'd been planning got pushed back and nobody bothered to let me know.

So, I got back on the bus one more time and rode three stops further and did my shopping at WalMart.

I attempted to do my entire shopping for the month all in one trip. I walked out of there carrying a lot of very heavy stuff!

By the time I got home (late in the afternoon. nearly 5 pm), my back hurt, and I was so tired from having gotten up so early. I laid down on the bed to let my back unkink for a bit, and (you guessed it) fell asleep almost instantly. Woke up at about 7 pm, put some dinner in the microwave and sat down to watch TV and knit.

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I got in a good start on the first stocking. There's a name and date, and I'm happy with it so far. The white yarn I found really looks like snow. There will be a photo tomorrow, when there's some natural light to take a good picture.

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I nearly forgot to mention that the first three Harry Potter movies will be on ABC Family this weekend, starting on Friday evening.

I have a sort of a antibiotic/Valium/lack-of-sleep hangover, and am really not at my best.

Have a great day tomorrow!

I Love Etsy!

I made my first sale on Etsy today! I was beginning to think that actually selling things on Etsy was a myth. Anyway, one of my wimple and hood patterns was ordered.

I'll be meeting the woman who is commissioning me to knit Christmas stockings for her tonight. She'll have a sample stocking, pattern(s) and money. I can't wait to get started so I can finish and have some extra money for Christmas (if I can finish it all by then).

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In knitting news, I've gotten up to the neck on John M's hood, and am about to start the face opening. Not much to see, there, just a little longer than it was yesterday. It'll start looking different tomorrow.

I have lots of ends to darn in on various projects, so, hopefully, I'll get a lot of that finished today.

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The project for today is moving my computer and a table, etc., and getting my new printer a place to live and getting everything all hooked up successfully.

I need to get off the computer so I can start disconnecting things and moving them. I just moved, and my back wasn't happy with it. Maybe not today. I'll try for it, though.

The rest of the week will be busy. Tomorrow, I have some heavy-duty shopping to do. My once-a-month-stock-up-for-the-whole-month trip to WalMart. It should be fun but exhausting.

On Thursday, I have a dental appointment. He's going to do everything on the left side of my mouth (while ignoring the most pressing work, which he plans to do last). He'll be removing a number of fillings and replacing them with "composite material." He won't be replacing all the amalgam, but that side of my mouth should look less like a silver mine. It may, ultimately, help with some of my health problems, too. At least I'll have less mercury leaking into my mouth all the time.

I'm never happy about going to the dentist, but he'll be working in the spot that other dentists haven't been able to get numb, so there's a high probability that he'll be drilling on my teeth with no anaesthetic. That's what happened before and it was so much fun!

So, the rest of the day may be spent in bed sleeping it off.

There are so many things I want to do on Friday that I just can't decide at this point, but unless I feel a lot worse than I expect (from the dentist visit), I'll be busy then, too. Unless I ask Holly to come do something with me and do it all on Friday instead. Then again, I may do stuff on Friday and ask Holly for help.

I pointed out that she could do some Christmas shopping while we were out, and she said she's doing all her Christmas shopping on line and having stuff shipped directly to the people she's getting them for. 

What a simple approach to Christmas shopping!

And why didn't I think of that?

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Holly said my Christmas presents that she sent to Kyle had arrived. She described on the phone the conversation she had with Kyle when it arrived. Kyle didn't think the green and black scarf was anything special. Holly told her to put it on and look down, and it blew her mind when she could see the dark mark! She got all excited, and started yelling for Bob to come and see it! It's always nice when you can amaze your granddaughter.

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We have a new Fringe tonight and a new The Mentalist, followed by a new Eli Stone.

I stumbled across a show I've never heard of before on Saturday, and it will be on again this Saturday. The episode I saw was good, but it remains to be seen if it will be one of the great ones. It's sword and sorcery, and seems good for that genre. It's called Legend of the Seeker, and is on at 7:30 on the CW (here). Check local listings and check it out.

TNT is having a new show on, Leverage, starting Saturday. It's sort of a modern-day, high tech Robin Hood story. The trailers look good. Check listings.

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Yesterday was one of the few days we've had in a long while that was sunny and beautiful. I got a chance to walk around for a while, and went over to MacDonalds to redeem one of the coupons they sent me. I got a "Southern Chicken Sandwich" and a senior Coke for 37 cents!

It was fun walking around in the sun for a change.

Here's a pretty photo of the area I was walking in for you.

This was taken on an overcast day last week, but it's still a pretty area to walk in.

Have a great Tuesday!

Fun Day!

I woke up later than I intended yesterday, and scrambled out of here to get to the dentist.

Once I was in the chair, he said it was going to be a "fun day." What he meant by that was that he was going to clean my teeth.

Well, maybe I missed something along the way, but tooth cleaning was never very high on my list of fun things to do. I can never imagine myself saying "Hey, guys, let's cancel that tour or Europe! My dentist has agreed to clean my teeth!"

The other fun thing he had in store was letting me in on his plan for getting my teeth in shape. This will take four visits. He'll start with fixing all the teeth on one side. Then it's time for all the teeth on the other side. Finally, he's going to get around to doing the work that's going to be more and more unlikely to be successful the longer it gets put off. This doesn't seem very logical to me. It seems to me that it would be more constructive to do it in the opposite order.

He will be taking out some (but not all) of my metal fillings and replacing them with a composite material. This may turn out to be a really good thing. The dentist keeps insisting that the metal fillings (including mercury) could not possibly have a negative impact on my health. I really don't understand why dentists do that. It seems to me that putting something toxic in your mouth isn't a good idea, and I don't need an "expert" telling me that it's OK to realize that it's got to be bad for me.

So, anyway, I got a flu shot on Wednesday, then followed it up by getting up early, going to the dentist (after taking a Valium plus some antibiotic) and getting my teeth cleaned. By the time I got home on the bus, it was about the time that I usually wake up. I was in a daze. I went back to sleep.

I still feel like I'm dazed from it all.

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But I do have some more photos from last weekend's trip to Baltimore, courtesy of my sister, Lynn.

Here I am at the train museum.

And another photo of me on the water taxi.

 Holly's turn for a photo at the train museum.

Holly and I on the dock, waiting for the water taxi.

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I've gotten back to the Celtic sweater, and am now down to the bottom of the pockets on the front. I still have to do the back and sides to catch up to the front. The pockets are diagonal, and the two front sections are knit, followed by the pocket linings, sides and back in one piece. When I get all three pieces to the bottom of the pockets, it will be joined again, and then all I'll have is to knit down to the bottom. Well, and then the pocket linings, which won't be knit below the join. Sewing involved will include sewing down the pocket linings and tacking the button loops down. The way it's knit, the loop crosses itself, which makes it want to pop up three dimensionally rather than lay flat. There will be a few stitches to flatten it. Then there will be only blocking and sewing the buttons on. If I do actually sew them on. I'm thinking that I might prefer to sew them to backer buttons and put them through the knit. Then they'll be removable for washing. 

It'll be good to have this finished. Finally.

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I got a call from John last night, and helped him make decisions about the appearance of the menus for the DVD. It was fun.

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Tonight we have a new Ghost Whisperer, Stargate Atlantis, and Sanctuary. The last two are on SciFi. Check your local listings!

Have a great weekend!

Traffic Jam

I got a call from Holly yesterday, asking me to look up information about traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

A big section of the West end was completely closed (both ways) yesterday evening due to an accident that I can only assume must've been really massive to close it down in both directions.

Although, you never know. I was once stuck in a traffic jam on I-95 South of here where there was an accident that closed traffic both ways. The accident was only on one side, but the other traffic direction had been closed to provide a clear spot for a chopper to land to airlift out injured motorists. I wish the accident had never happened, but watching the rescue operations (particularly the chopper) was fascinating.

And why is this relevant, you may ask?

My granddaughter, Malaia was stuck in the jam. She called her mom after being stopped long enough for other motorists to decide to get out and walk around, etc.

I was checking with Holly, and she still hadn't arrived in Baltimore as of pretty late last night. I'm assuming that she did get home, and that she is all right. Sitting in traffic, even for a few hours is so much better than having arrived at the site of the accident just in time to be in it. I am unbelievably thankful that she wasn't involved in the actual accident.

I expect to at least get the knitting on the shawl done today, but there isn't a photo yet.

Today, I gearing up for a visit to Social Services in Prince William County. I know my county was named after someone else, but it's such a trendy name at the moment.

Someone there will be helping me get some information about Medicare, and how to control some of the costs. There will also be someone examining my application for food stamps. I hope the food stamps get approved. It will defray some of the other expenses that are happening. I'm also going to ask about getting dental help, although I don't have a lot of hope about that. Don't forget the donations button in the sidebar.

I have all my information together, and will just have to deal with getting out of here early enough to catch the two buses I'll need to take to get there tomorrow.

If approved for the food stamps, what I'll actually get is an ATM card that will get my food stamp money deposited once a month. It's possible that I could get some or all of my Medicare expenses paid. I have mixed feelings about that.

I've been going to a clinic which I won't be able to go to if I get Medicare. The clinic gives really good help. The usual medical system in the US is the pits! I think of most doctors as "pharmaceutical salesmen." 

The doctor I saw at the ER is a perfect example. He looked at my ear and my throat, then listened to my chest, prescribed almost $200 worth of drugs and billed me $300! And didn't prescribe enough drugs to really get rid of the problem, only to shift it back to a chronic condition. So, for close to $1,000 (ER bill, too), he kept me from being seriously ill, but allowed me to be chronically ill. 

Around the turn of the millennium, the statistics for the previous year listed the eight highest cause of death in the United States as "doctors in hospitals."

The US medical system is terrible.

I hope you're having a great Monday!

Dental Blues

I'm back from the dentist. 

He can solve all my immediate dental problems.

He promised it won't hurt, and it won't be distressing (and gave me a prescription for a heavy dose of Valium to back it up). I actually like the dentist.

And it'll only cost $1,700!

But I have to do it immediately, and I have to pay up front.

I'm in shock.

And I have no idea where to get money on a scale like that. Well, I will buy a lottery ticket tomorrow, for whatever that's worth.

I feel terrible for saying this, but don't forget the donate button in the sidebar.

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Addition: 

For all you Joss Whedon fans, you already know about Dollhouse (I know you do because I told you), but here is new and spectacular news. I could not possibly write the info as well as Joss, so check it out here.

This is really exciting, and if you look here, all you Nathan Fillion fans can see him in a short clip. I had to run it twice to see him, but he's there (I didn't believe it at first, either).

That should brighten up your day!

Down with IRS!

I was going to write about knitting.

Really, I was.

Then the mail came.

First, it included a letter from the Hospital, charging me about $400 for visiting their emergency room. 

I don't have $400.

But the reason I got the mail so early today rather than checking it later was that I got a call from the front desk at the apartment telling me I had a certified letter I needed to come down and sign for.

My first reaction was to jump to conclusions, and think that the finance company had put their threat into action, and was attempting to get a judgement against me.

They'll probably do that eventually, being the scum that they are, but that wasn't who it was from. The certified mail was from the IRS.

Now, I spoke to them on Monday, and it looked like I probably will owe them (after they take money out of my Social Security this month) about $35.

The little note from them today says that they're levying penalties against me for not filing my 2002 return (which I did file) in the amount of just under $4,000! That's right, four thousand dollars!

They have tripped over their own feet on this one. They're mad at me because they kept sending letters to a place I haven't been in about six years, I didn't get the letters, so I didn't respond. But the only way they could've gotten that address was from my 2002 return.

Right now, I'm too upset and angry to deal with it. If I do something now, I'll probably regret it.

So, I'm going to deal with the dental problem tomorrow, and then with the IRS problem on Friday.

All the things that are happening are so overwhelming that I can't deal with them all at once. So, I'm making a list and trying to get at least one thing done every day. Two, if I can (like yesterday).

And just when I think how bad things are, I read this. It really puts my problems into perspective. Don't read that if you don't want a big dose of sadness. It contains a story of unbelievable courage, though, so in a way it is inspirational. But so sad. The story changes narration viewpoint a few times, and is about an SCA member.

SCA stands for "Society for Creative Anachronism" and is a historical reenactment group that does the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We do everything that was done during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I know blacksmiths, brewers, vintners, bowyers, fetchers, etc. It's fun!

Friday I'll get back to the knitting, science fiction and photography as usual.

Tomorrow is my day at the dentist, so you may not even get a post.

Just so there is a little knitting content, yesterday, I took some acrylic yarn from my stash and started knitting a hood as a Christmas present for somebody who will remain nameless (for obvious reasons). I picked up another skein of (no dye lot) yarn to match it while I was at WalMart. Mainly, I wanted a carry-around project, and a chance to really try out my new Options #8 needle.

Instead of buying the whole set, I bought one set of size eight tips, and a set of 24 inch connectors to see if I'd like the Options needles. Well, I love them! Someday, if I ever have any money, I want to buy the whole set ($60 which is why I didn't just spring for it in the first place and wanted to see if I liked them).

I had great fun knitting on the bus, and practically hypnotized one of my fellow riders with it. My hood or wimple patterns are great for mindless, take-along knitting projects. And they make very unusual presents. Most non-knitters have never seen anything like them.

My friend, John, went to Arizona for lunch. He met with the person who is working with him on the Steve Canyon project, and the step daughter of Dean Fredericks, the actor who portrayed Steve Canyon on TV. She donated photos from the TV series and from Dean's private life, and they discussed more DVDs. He alerted me to the possibility of more cover art. I can't wait!

See more on Steve Canyon here.

Have a better day than I'm having.

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Addition:

I read another blog which mentioned the Declaration of Independence. It details a long list of wrongs committed by King George against the colonies and declares our independence of British rule.

I was surprised how similar the situation is to our relationship with the current goverment.