Laugh and cry

Hey, I finally got an email regarding the disaster Friday night:

To All LSN Occupants

Although we have no exact information at this time, please be aware that UA Facilities Management and UA Risk Management are working to determine the cause of the power failure which occurred last Friday evening.

We have been notified that the emergency generator did indeed start however some unidentified technical problems prevented the power from being switched on in Life Sciences North. When more is known, you will be notified.



Well, that clears up everything. You idiots could have sent this yesterday and at least gave the pretense that gave a frick about the fact that lab techs were blowing fuses with long extensions cords to plug in incubators and freezers.

If the power failure has anything to do with the construction of the new buildings a couple blocks away, I'll be really pissed. They've already caused a water line to burst, giving us an evening without water. Plus the big new building is putting up these copper panels. With copper at an all time high, it seems like such an excessive waste of money. So on that principle, I hate it already.

Deliberate?

I know I'm not crazy in this regard.

Last month, I looked up my cell phone contract details. I'm going to jump ship to someone with better coverage. I will swear up and down that it said the 26th of June. Makes sense since I know I went on a weekend to get the new plan.

I made a fricking note on my calendar.

Today I look it up again, and it says the 27th of June. WTF?

I went to a store of new provider to talk about options, phones, discounts, etc. He had suggested to me that I wait until the day after my contract is up to activate the new phone.

That's pushing it close for me since I will be in Phoenix that Friday, and after that on my way to San Diego. I was hoping to have all my phone numbers transferred by then. If I don't get my phone activated until Wednesday night. Thursday I'm sure I'll be scrambling to get things ready for the Phoenix meeting.

The odds

I would like to think that the odds of meeting another person at a random party that also suffers from TN pain to be quite small.

Yet it happened this last weekend at the birthday party for my best friend. Someone has a damaged lower jaw bone with some serious spurs.

I made the offhand comment "Gee, there are a lot of nerves that can get damaged by your jaw problems."

She looked at me and say "Yeah, I know."

I said "Like the fifth crainial nerve?"

"Yeah."

So we got into a serious discussion about medications. For now, Lycria is helping her through most everyday things. But the party and all the related activity was setting her off. I totally understood how that could happen.

That's the scary thing. You don't look obviously deformed or damaged. And unless you're in a pain episode, you look and act normal. Most clueless people think you're just "shut down" when you are in a pain episode.

She was very much intrigued by my MCS. I told her that they'd probably want to do other things first for her like nerve blocks before doing the surgery. And since she hasn't ever had one, she probably shouldn't expect to walk in and get scheduled for a MCS. But she left very encourged that there were things that could be done that could help.

I also think she felt a lot better knowing that there were people going through the exact same thing as she was. I remember how isolated I felt when I had no other options than to just survive the pain.

A better reason for a wall

I don't know what the best answer is for illegal immigration. I could probably win a Nobel prize if I could figure out someway to make everyone happy.

But the weekend's death toll of illegals shows the need for something to be done.

Honestly, incidents such as the accident of a vehicle fleeing the border patrol is what scares me the most. I try and avoid roads where accidents have happened at night because I don't want to be the unfortunate victim that is in the wrong place at the wrong time. High speed pursuits of a car of illegals is a danger to themselves and anyone that happens to be in the area.

If not in car, then on foot they come. It's fricking hot right now. It's supposed to be 108 today. That's hotter than it's supposed to be. Just in running a couple errands in my air conditioned car dehydrates me. You'd need to be pulling a water tanker with you to have enough water to get through the desert right now.

So they get in trouble in the desert. To get help, THEY SET A FIRE. How many wildfires have been started this way this year - too many to count. It's all good intentions, and so far nobody's lost a home to such a fire, but I expect that to change the rate the fires are coming.

These are good reasons why there should just be a wall to prevent them from coming in the first place. The current system is putting more and more people at risk which could be avoided if they can't come in at all.

No pity here

Since I used to ride a motorcycle, I might as well toss in my two cents about Ben Roethlisberger.

Looks like he'll be able to play again after this accident. It didn't seem to badly hurt his hands or arms but instead his head and jaw took the brunt of the damage. At least he'll be able to hide in a helmet on the field if he's left with scars.

I don't understand how anyone can ride without a helmet. I was wearing glasses at the time, and people would tell me it had to do with how my glasses sit on my face that gave me the impression that you can't see without a helmet. I think it's a lot of crap. Especially the morons pushing 85 MPH on I-17 on Saturday, it has to be difficult to keep your eyes open enough to be a defensive driver.

Second, Roethlisberger was warned several times by various football people to wear a helmet or stop riding until he retired. The Steelers should have had a clause in his contract that if he screwed up his arm or hand in a motorcycle accident, he voided the contract.

If you ride, you're very likely to get involved in some sort of accident. I got into three. The first two I escaped with road rash, but picked the bike up, and rode off. The third time, I didn't get road rash, but I broke my wrist from the force of the impact of hitting the ground. I was wearing my helmet in all three incidents, and after I broke the wrist I was thankful the helmet protected my few remaining brain cells.

A motorcyclist who doesn't wear a helmet better be prepared for the consquences. For some guys they feel that if something happens, it happens. But Roethlisberger has obligations NOT to get his brains squished on a road leaving him a vegetable. It was very irresponsible of him, and he deserves a decent bitch slap for it.

In Roethlisberger's accident, it wasn't his fault because a car turned in front of him. But a defensive rider would anticipate everyone else around you being stupid and protect yourself to survive their episode of stupidity.

I need to learn to sew

I have a decent sewing machine. I have some nice patterns and instructions on how to do it. I even have some pretty fabrics. The problem - it's all greek to me in trying to UNDERSTAND the instructions.

My Mom used to sew stuff for us when we were little. It's mostly the Halloween costumes I remember most. But there were patches sewn on jeans when the knees would get worn through, and the Polish costume dress that also came from her sewing machine.

I was too young to learn from her and her techniques. She still has her sewing machine. But after she started working when I was 10, the machine gathered dust in the closet.

My sudden need for shutting up and learning to sew - blouses. About six months ago, I grew a couple more inches in the bust area. This morning I had to try three button down blouses to find one that wasn't constricting my chest with every breath. And it still pulls more than I like in bust area. I don't want to look like a slut, but I want blouses that aren't frumpy big in the waist either.