Ice Age Preparedness: Improvision

On Saturday we got some snow, 1 or 2 inches. We had a slight thaw beforehand, which resulted in ice formation, not a fun combination. Truth be told if I had to choose I would actually prefer the snow and cold to a day of it being a little warmer. As much as I loathe the cold having a sheet of ice covering everything is worse. When it is really cold and snows the snow tends to be the light and fluffy kind (yes there are different kinds of snow, many), this makes it much easier to shovel. The drawback is that it blows, this can be a nuisance in town but in the farmland, which takes up the majority of the midwest, it can be deadly because there is nothing to break the wind and there are hundreds of acres of snow.

I had to go into work today, I was supposed to be doing a run but since my cultures did not all grow I had to start over and just inoculated today instead. I procrastinated all day like usual when I am not on a time schedule and so lost some opportunity to clean my car off while the sun was out and possibly could have helped. I love Oldsie's dark color for that very reason, when the paint is exposed the sun hits it and warms the interior, not a whole lot in the winter but sometimes enough to soften the ice. Kinda sucks in the summer but all cars get hot then and mine doesn't get a whole lot hotter than the light colored ones. But I digress, between us having that mini-thaw and the new snow and the sunny day water got in my car's door and froze. I decided to share with you all how one such as myself deals with such a problem in case the ice age becomes more widespread and permanent (plus my intelligence/competence is being questioned after my last couple posts):

The neighbor was totally staring at me, like he has never seen someone perch a digital camera on top of the adjacent car and record ones self complaining about how horribly cold it is and such. He missed my awesome car opening trick so you don't get to see him standing there in awe of my brilliance. I wonder if it were his car, probably not since he took the bus to Cub Foods and who in their right mind would go shopping on a Sunday night with the bus, Sunday has the most pitiful schedule!


Oh and one last tips, never leave your car door opener in your car, and coat drawstrings double as an extra holder for things like car door openers and spray bottles of alcohol. Also carrying a spray bottle of isopropanol to the pharmacy while dying of the plague so as not to spread said plague will result in pharmacy techs who already thought you were amusing falling in love with you and helping you plot against your doctor giving you even better service (my pharmacy has good service to begin with). I have not had to take out and swipe my ID since November. The only reason I have to wait is because I want my favorite tech and will do the hover thing until she is free. I get to see her tomorrow, though it will just be a stopping by to say hi most likely since this visit probably won't result in a script but a referral, unless there is a wrist drug that won't screw me up...

OK I'd best get to work on preparing for my visit with Doc tomorrow, I told my lovely nurse to try and make it so he is complacent but she is so a double agent! And by that I mean she has my real best interest at heart and so totally sides with him when I try to get sneaky talk him into stuff and she often successfully tries to be the voice of reason. But I am so going to be super compliant (kinda, define compliant...) and brag about how I didn't down a bag of candy to gain weight before the visit (because I ran out, though brag worthy is that I could have bought more but chose not to). I will probably post about the visit, either way do not worry since as I have said before, my issues suck but they definitely are not life threatening or anything like that. Either way it should be fun, I hate being sickly but I don't get out much and definitely enjoy getting to see Medical Team Karen, they are the best!

The Adventures of Flat WeaselMomma

In my previous post I introduced you to my guest Flat WeaselMomma (FWM) from World of Weasels, she came in the other day. I nearly had a heart attack when I found her smooshed into my little mailbox, I was expecting the mail carrier to prop her in my door like she has done with that size envelope in the past, perhaps I had a newbie or something...


After making sure she was OK I took her to dinner at the Pita Pit, my newest eatery here in town, I go there maybe once a week more or less, it depends on my mood, time and if I am hungry when I am on that side of town. I wish they had smaller pitas, we had trouble finishing the whole thing, they are so big!


Then we headed into the lab. I am still sickly but was starting to feel better and wanted to get some prep work done so I could start working on my next rep as soon as I knock this virus out of my system once and for all (unfortunately it is rallying, sigh). We made the broth for my next rep, broth keeps for quite awhile so I knew if I took a turn for the worse it would be fine.

Then we went to the super walmart, I let FWM hang out with her own kind a bit, see it may look like she is waving but in reality that is the Flat Pride sign.


So all in all a good and relatively productive day, hopefully I will soon get over this virus and perhaps we can go on some more adventures soon! Oh and rumor has it I don't share with FWM and I will admit that it definitely appears that I am a selfish donut hog in the video in my last post but let me assure you that I do in fact share with my beloved guest. This was the scene before I made that video, you can clearly see that FWM had ODed on the chocolate, the thought of taking a bite of the donut made her feel sick.



Doc Disclaimer: Those wrappers were from the past couple days, I am totally not living on chocolate. Oh and if they call you tell the psych ward people they can let me go, or at least give me internet access so I won't go into blog withdrawls, it will so not be pretty otherwise...

Tasty Tuesday Two: Taste the Rainbow

OK so I procrastinated and it is not technically Tuesday anymore but I am going to pretend it is and it is my blog so I can, hehe. It has come to my attention that at least one of my readers struggles to eat veggies and so this post is dedicated to Nonna, hopefully it will help her get her 5 a day of fruits and veggies as is recommended. The little icon on my raisins (above) says that one should eat all kinds of different colors and so I went through my apartment and found examples of fruits and veggies for each color of the rainbow, and here they are:

Red:










Apples













Pomegranates

Orange:










Clementines











Carrots (accidentally frozen)

Yellow:











Yukon Gold Potatoes

(Bananas not pictured since I peel and freeze them and they look weird that way)

Green:












Broccoli












Peas

Blue:








Blueberries
Purple:












Grapes

and bonus:
Brown:







Chocolate (it comes from a bean, beans are vegetables)

I hope that was informative and shows just how easy it can be to get your 5 a day!

And here is a spotlight on nutrition vid and the introduction of a very special guest who is hanging out with me for awhile:



Special thanks to my BFF Pasha who told me about Windows Movie Maker, the end got messed up and his recommendation saved the vid!

Doc Disclaimer: In case you read this I am not living on donuts and sadly both times I have eaten them recently they have made me sick, you should refer me to Dr. Kevorkian since I am not sure if life is worth living without donuts (kidding, don't refer me, cursor away from the psych referral button!). Oh and I am so not kidding about chocolate, it is a vegetable! And it is milk chocolate so counts as dairy too, see I totally do NOT need to see the dietitian. Am I your best patient or what!

"Tastey" Tuesday

Yesterday I went to the clinic and my amazing nurse sprayed the live attenuated flu vaccine up my nose (get vaccinated!). On the way back to my building across campus I decided I was hungry and since the library is between the clinic and my building and has a cafe this seemed like a good choice. The problem with this location is that the sidewalk leading into the library is a "free speech zone", and is often populated by clubs/people pushing an agenda. It is potentially irritating enough under normal circumstances but as we are quickly approaching the season finally of the "reality" show that is this year's presidential election (November 4, 2008: Find out who the American people will give the rose to and who will get voted off the island. Obama wins the swim suit competition but there is something about a man in uniform...), this area is often infested with annoying politically minded individuals. What's a poor microbiologist to do you ask? Why what she does every night, try to take over the world... oh wait wrong show. The trick to making it through this area unbothered is to not make eye-contact, walk quickly, and look occupied. Luckily for me my wonderful nurse gave me the vaccine info sheet, so I suddenly became engrossed in "reading" it and made it past all of them unscathed. I almost lost it at the register to vote table, they had a hilarious poster thing with people shaped cardboard cut outs with black and white pictures of the candidates' faces stuck on the heads. I wanted to get a picture but there were people manning the table that smell attention just as sharks sense blood.

So I made it past the insanity sidewalk and went to the cafe. All the sandwiches looked gross* and so I decided to not bother with solid foods (I could totally have gotten a cookie, you should all be totally impressed with my healthy choice!) and went to look at the drinks. I found this "health" drink stuff and looked at all the weird juices and concoctions they had to offer while longingly thinking about the AE milk in the next cooler over (I am a milkoholic but need more than just dairy in my diet). I decided the "Chocolate Protein" drink looked the most useful and had the highest probability of being drinkable, plus I decided that it was probably something my dietitian would approve of since she was talking about me drinking ensure and stuff like it to replace meals I don't eat. I think Doc and I need to have a chit chat about the dietitian thing, not sure she is "what the doctor ordered". Perhaps if I go through with the follow up with her it will be more useful if I have more of an idea of what we are aiming at with my seeing her. I have very mixed and confused feelings/thoughts after my first visit with her. Some of it reminded me of the last time I "allowed" Doc to refer me, which was a disaster**.

I actually had warmed up to the idea of seeing her (shh don't tell Doc, it would ruin my reputation) and was hoping she might have had some suggestions of foods I could eat and not get as sick on but she didn't really. Most of the time was spent with my defending myself because she could only see parts of my chart and on paper without context I come off as the worst patient ever to plague a doctor and that I was a waste of his time and hers and she was a waste of mine. But then she switched a bit and wants me to follow up next month, my sucking up to try and get her to not hate me and not think I am a total waste of everyone's time worked I guess. Not sure if she is going to earn a place on Team Karen or not, I think giving her one more try is in order but if the second visit is like the first then I won't go back again. I have enough trouble with feeling like I am a hypochondriac whining to Doc as much as I do and often allow my condition to get really bad before I cave and call him, and like many people I have insecurity issues that cause me to feel that I am a waste of his time (he does NOT make me feel this way). It has taken me quite awhile to realize this and I have been trying to overcome it since it is not healthy to let things go as much as I do, but having a professional practically tell me I am a waste of time does not help.

Anyway, back on topic, I bought the chocolate soymilk drink and left the library. This time I messed up, I glanced back at the poster that amused me earlier and one of the voter registration kids caught me. I quickly told her I already registered and intend to vote but thanks and she threw back a request that I volunteer to help them out, even if for only an hour. I told her sorry but I can't, need to be back in the lab and then I walked away as quick as possible. I am so not standing outside in the freezing cold to try and con idiot children to vote, I figure that if someone is not registered at this point that they have no intention of doing so and that is their choice, besides they are either informed and hate all the candidates or not informed and I don't like the idea of them voting anyway if that is the case. After making it out of that area I took my drink back to my office and made a video for your enjoyment, I think this is the first time I have ever drank soymilk, I've tried a few soy products but not that. Note I did not go to the campus book store, I have no idea why I said that since I am boycotting them and have been boycotting them for a year (they screwed me over). I was too lazy to redo it and besides my camera was running low on battery so it may not have been able to take another video. So here you go, my first soymilk experience and a product review on it.

~~~~~Copy LiteralDan Section~~~~~
*I am a picky eater in general but with my stomach issues I have become extremely picky since I have trouble digesting and can have a food "haunt" me for many hours. The food looked fresh and perfectly edible if it didn't contain nasty (by my definition) ingredients.
**What Doc says goes in the end, he lets me have input (awesome!) and he will let me get away with stuff as long as it won't hurt me so it is kinda like getting my own way and makes me feel more in control of my issues (which some days I totally need). If Doc says I am going to the GI then I am going to the GI, I try and convince him not to send me because I don't like the idea of it and I hated the last doc he sent me to (wrist doc). It is all his fault, if he wasn't so perfectly suited to my personality and the best doctor ever then I would not be quite as reluctant to see someone else. Another factor is the thought of cameras being shoved everywhere and it costing me who knows how much to run worthless tests (I have insurance but it is best for clinic visits). I find the whole thing kinda scary, especially if Doc "gives up" on me, psychologically I kind of see it as if he lets me get away with my crap that means I am not as sick.