Still Here, Barely

I've had stuff I needed to do, and I've been feeling bad lately. My failure to write has nothing to do with you.

The doctor's treatment has been both helping and hurting. I felt dizzy and light headed, had a terrible headache, and my heart was going like I was running somewhere all the time, and I was dazed and exhausted. It finally occurred to me that it would be a good idea to switch back to the decongestant I had been using before rather than what the doctor said to take. The decongestant the doctor said to take really kept my head cleared out and stopped the post nasal drip, but caused all the other symptoms. A simple switch to the old decongestant stopped all the bad symptoms, but leaves a little post nasal drip left over. At least I'm not drowning anymore!

In spite of feeling bad, I had three errands to do yesterday. One of them was to visit the dental clinic to give them my new phone number and ask what's happening and when can they schedule the rest of the work. I got there, and they had already left for the evening. I would have been there on time if the bus had been somewhere near on time, but it was running about a half an hour late.

I checked my knitting bag and discovered that I hadn't put the package I intended to mail in it like I thought I did, so there was no point in going to the Post Office. At that point, I caught the bus and went to WalMart, which had just what I needed.

So, that left the other two things to do today.

I did get to the Post Office, and get my package mailed, and put up with the usual annoyances there.

I got to the dental clinic in time, and, as it happens, they're just at a point where they're starting to be able to help people who need dental work that involves lab work, so they gave me an appointment for the 6th of October! I just can't wait until it's over, and I can actually bite into something again! I can't tell you how happy I am that I was able to get an appointment!

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My mouse and keyboard are acting funny at the moment. I'll be away from my computer for a while over the weekend, so I won't be posting then, But I'll be back on the internet on Monday, so I'll be writing more then.

Have fun in the meantime!

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!

Long, Hard Day

Today was a long, hard day that involved a lot of walking.

I got up early (for me), got on a bus and went to WalMart to pick up the things I went to get on Sunday with Holly, but they didn't have.

Then I just missed the bus and had to wait for the next one. I walked around the Dollar Store because it was cool in there, and they have lots of neat stuff.

Came out and caught the next bus and got off as near as I could to the Post Office, and mailed all my IRS stuff, along with all the forms for the hospital to tell them that I really can't afford to pay them $200 because I saw a doctor there a couple of weeks ago.

The stuff for IRS went certified mail so that I could prove that they got it.

I was hoping to get a chance at the free clinic, but missing that bus at WalMart made it too late.

There is a free clinic locally. You have to arrive sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 on Tuesday with proof of income and local residency. If you meet all those requirements, you get a number, and after 4:30 there is a lottery. If your number is chosen, you get a chance to see a doctor.

It sounds pretty awful, but there are too few doctors volunteering, and too many people who need help. The volunteers aren't able to see everyone.

Anyway, it was 4:30 almost exactly when I left the Post Office. Catching a bus and riding back there was not an option.

I have a long list of stuff I have to do, and I'm trying to get at least one thing done every day. And I did get some more spinning done yesterday for the Tour de Fleece.

If I had gone to the clinic and actually gotten to see a doctor, then I would have had to decide how to spend the money I borrowed from Holly. I had planned to pay my phone with it, but a clinic visit would have given me (probably) a prescription that I'd have to fill to get any use from it. And I have a tooth in the front that had a small cavity, but during my recent illness, took the opportunity to virtually explode. Now I'm desperate to get something done about it, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it. That money is enough to get it x-rayed, and for the dentist to tell me what can be done and how much it's going to cost. I'm hoping I don't wind up without one of my teeth in the front.

So, the hard choice is: doctor and prescription, dentist or phone?

Incidentally, there's a "donate" button on the right for anyone who feels moved to help.

Obviously, this problem wasn't caused by the IRS, but it was made much worse by them. I'd have about $250 more now to get some help with if it hadn't been for them. I did get them to release my Social Security payment in August. They said it was too late to get the collection for July released. But by the time they take a payment this month, it should make us close to even. I thought I was going to get some money back, but they told me about other charges that I wasn't previously aware of. So, I don't know how it's going to come out, but they said I could expect to hear from them sometime in September.

Incidentally, when I went in the post office, my knitting bag set off their alarms. I pulled out the #8 Options circular needles (nickel-plated) that were in the bag and stuck them through the sensor, and they set it off. That may be something to consider for those of you who are traveling by air. I was really surprised that they'd do that. Although my knitting bag set off the alarm at CVS the other day, and the knitting needles weren't in there. So, there's something else that's doing it. WalMart's sensor was perfectly happy with my knitting bag, though. So, I'm perplexed.

Running a couple of quick errands without a car is an all-day experience.

I hope all of you had a much better day than I did.