Why I didn't go to grad school

To best sum up why I chose not to go to grad school, check out Mattel's latest toy - Grad School Barbie!

carry on...

The big goverment plan to deal with pandemic bird flu

They'll throw their hands in the air and say "sorry, can't help you much".

I was surprised to hear that. It's the brutal reality of what a multi-city pandemic will be like, but I never thought I'd hear the government say so. I suppose after their handling of Katrina, having mutliple Katrina cities is not even worth attempting to help.

I suppose if it hits D.C, the situtation may be a bit different.

But let's see - national guard troops to prevent looting and rioting. Um yeah, by the time you get the troops back here from Iraq, it'll be too late.

I'd be nervous - I work in a hospital environment for goodness sake! It makes for great people watching if I have lunch in the cafeteria, but I'll probably bring my lunch back to my building if there was a pandemic threat. I could still come to work and keep a three foot buffer (most of the time).

Wouldn't go to a movie theatre, but they were closed down in the 1918 pandemic. Schools aren't a problem since I don't have rugrats to deal with. Let them out of the schools and in the streets unsupervised - just as many that get run over will probably die from the flu pandemic anyway.

I don't have canned tuna stocked away - I don't like canned tuna. But I suppose I should stock some up for the kitties in case Target stores close and I can't buy their regular cat food. Gluten-free foods don't do as well for storage because a lot of the preservatives have gluten products in them. So I'm in trouble there. But I just learned that Comstock fruits are gluten-free, so I can stock up on canned fruits.

If I can buy a large freezer, I can buy lots of gluten-free flours, breads, and such and put them in the freezer. That's assuming the power will keep running. I suppose I can take my freezer to work and plug it into the emergency generator.

What else am I forgetting to plan for?

Gut cleansing

Having celiac, I know when I've had something with gluten in it. Typically, I don't know until hours after the consumption, so there's little I can do to prevent the gluten from getting to my intestines. And I'm not a big fan of purging....

So Sunday I was having terrible problems, most likely from the kettle corn I ate Saturday night. A fellow support group member offered me something to help with the problems. It wasn't a drug, all natural, and supposedly works very quickly. I tend to be of the mindset that if I'm trying to get problems out of my gut, I should let it run its course. But the abdominal pain was pretty bad. So I took it.

Sure enough, the pain subsided, and I didn't need to make a bathroom run the rest of Sunday. Same with Monday.

But Tuesday, whatever was left in my system came out in full intensity. So I was pretty miserable.

So should I just keep taking the medicine to keep the gut in check, or just let it run its course?

A squeak from the peanut gallery

I know that those of you in Europe don't have much sympathy for us with our increasing gas prices.

I say, here's what the rising fuel costs mean to me:

I only get a pay raise if the state of Arizona comes up with the funds. I get my salary from a grant, and every year it's the same amount. And working for the University, I make peanuts.

I've already had to declare bankruptcy, and am trying to salvage what I can. I don't have a credit card (unless you count my VISA debit card). With summer heat up and coming, my energy bill will go up. I don't have much padding from paycheck to paycheck. So I'm seriously wondering how I'll make the payments this summer.

So gas is going up. Which means my meager budget will have to cough up something somewhere to cover the difference. It's not quite a gallon of gas to make a rountrip from home to work (if I don't stop somewhere). Let's say I have to stop at the grocery store. Every item in the store will start going up a few cents here and there because the transportation costs are going up, and the cost has to get passed to someone. So now a week's worth of groceries will cost me a few more bucks.

Will I see a salary increase to cover increase of cost of living? Probably not. And that's what depresses me....