Monday, January 17, 2011

It's not my fault!

...okay, I'm the one who doesn't blog when I don't want to blog, so yeah, it's my fault, but it's not my fault. Or something.

The big, immediate problem has been my internet connection. The network went haywire a couple weeks ago, and I hadn't been getting any bandwidth, and therefore nothing else; no blogging, no e-mail, no nothin'. I think I stayed sane 'cause I could hit Twitter from my Blackberry, but even then, I was starting to twitch there toward the end.

Ultimately, I think it's a twofold problem. It's my network (network meaning it has its own wifi receiver in it and talks to the network by itself without a computer attached to it) printer sucking the bandwidth. I finally unplugged the damn thing for other reasons, and wow! suddenly, full bandwidth again! I think what put the printer in super-suck overdrive was the Goob's school computer; it's having some software licensing problems that I think are making the entire network wonky.

So, at the least, with the problem(s) identified, we can avoid them or fix them long enough for me to connect to the 'tubes to check my mail and remain sane.

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Problem two? More fucking with my medication. This time it's the FDA's fault. Last year they halted production on my main daily painkiller. Which is total bullshit. They're claiming it's unsafe. It's been in use since the 1950s, and it's suddenly unsafe?!?! Okay, sure, put some warnings on it, and leave me to choose to take the risk myself, but pulling it off the shelf everywhere, for everyone? Total bullshit.

Then, to make it worse, I started physical therapy a couple weeks ago. In case you've never done it, I strongly recommend AGAINST messing with pain medication while doing PT. If anything, you should take more. There's a lot of blah blah about needing to feel my pain so I don't injure myself further, but it sucks oozing rat ass.

Lots of running back and forth to Pigsbird (in heavy snow, at early hours, har), lots of laying on the floor waving my arms around, lots of feeling like shit and cussing and swearing. Though you guys think the cussing and swearing is funny so I don't know why I let the rest stop me.

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So, all that said. I wanted to start blogging more anyway. And as my pain medication has worn off, I've actually felt much better in terms of concentration and clarity of thought (I just hurt - ha). Now I've got the bandwidth to do it again. Which leaves one question.

What do you guys want to read about?

(Oh- knitting another pair of socks, and a buncha gauge swatches. Pics soon.)

24 comments:

roxie said...

How do you endure the snow and cold?
What's the Goober learning right now? Heard any good jokes lately?

Glad to see you again. I was starting to worry!

Barbara said...

Oh, there you are. I'm glad you're still alive in Pigsbird. How does the Goober like living in a snowy place? Mostly I just want to hear about what you're making/knitting and the ups and downs of the Samurai clan.

verification word: "winerse" someone who can speak with authority about wine, especially late at night

Louiz said...

Glad you're still around. I'd be interested in colour stuff, and how it relates to kids - I read somewhere that kids don't see all the colours that grown ups see which is why they like bright primary colours, and also why most 10 - 13 year olds suddenly find lilac the most wonderful colour in the world. It was in a knitting book, and I feel inclined to disbelieve this. I've seen no evidence of it in my kid, or anyone else's either. Would like to hear your take on this.

Anonymous said...

Oh do I relate! I haven't had the internet problems (my laptop is starting to crap out on me) but the PT! I haven't been back since before Thanksgiving when I caught the creeping crud! First I didn't want to share it, then I couldn't breathe. I did get a TENS unit which has helped tremendously. My strength and stamina suck big time though, so I know I need to go back.
I love hearing about raising Curly Top and your fiber exploits. I also like hearing about the part of the country you live in. I have spent very little time outside the Portland area, and we do not have the same historic perspective as that part of the US.
Jeanie

PS It is a hard balance between pain and coherence!

Emily said...

Boy, am I glad you're OK, or relatively so. When you disappear, I know something's wrong. I, too, mostly want news from the Casa Samurai & your fiber exploits.

You do know there's yet another Vogue Knitting out? I've decided the high-fashion stuff is the make-up & accessories on the models.

Laurie (Moo!) said...

Hell. You write it, I'll read it. Between this and Twitter I'm highly entertained...except about the pain stuff. That does suck. My SIL is on pain patches and the pain doc just doesn't seem to get how much pain she is in.

Sarah {The Student Knitter} said...

Glad you're back in the lucid thought world. hehe Did we ever get our Vogue review? Did I miss it somehow? I was waiting on baited break.

Sarah {The Student Knitter} said...

LOL Verification word: FOOKIT . LOL!

Mandy said...

I was starting to worry! Welcome back!

aldona said...

Happy to see you're back. I love to read whatever you write so lay it on me (us)!

NeedleTart said...

I was a little worried about you (and about your brother).
Pretty much everything you write entertains me. More book reviews? More Vogue knitting review? Definitely more pictures of the Goob.
Welcome back.

Nicole T said...

MOAR HISTORY PLZ! I love that stuff. Glad to hear you've fixed your network problem, and here's to hoping the med problem gets better. And speaking of...

Verification word: arbinol. Possibly a new, avant-garde pain med for you? ;)

Anonymous said...

You write it; we'll read it. It's all interesting. Reviews, fiberly stuff, the family, the history, the botany, the....

Here's prayers for your pain med and PT "fun"

Deb

PICAdrienne said...

Besides hearing about your fiber exploits, the Goob's school, and other Gooberisms, the cat and how Goob and the cat are getting along, oh, just about anything. The history of corsets, and the change from Elizabethan to Victorian. Minerals found in Pennsylvania. The effect of the Amish on surrounding communities.

Most of all, glad to see you blogging again. I have missed you. Sorry about the PT, messing with the painkillers and the computer issues. Printers should never be allowed to suck bandwidth!

Donna Lee said...

I finished listening to At Home (bryson) because you recommended it and I loved it. I'll have to listen again in a year or so since i am a visual learner and I tend to forget things I listen to. Good recommendation!

sorry about the drug. My brother's mother in law had the same problem, they took her pains med off the mkt (probably the same one). And this is a tough time of year for pain, all this cold and damp isn't good. Be careful!

Emily said...

Re the argument about feeling the pain being good for you...a friend studying chiropractic once told me the first order of business in dealing with an injury is treating the pain, because the body's response to pain creates new problems...over time, layers & layers of them.She said that she'd sometimes have to work back thru the problems to the original injury.

I was a hard-nose about pain until I heard that. Well, I've been a dancer, so I know there are different kinds of pain. But still, the general rule is, if it hurts, don't do it. If you have to do it anyway, be slow about it & give your body time to adapt. And fie on those who take away your pain medication!!!

Josie said...

Colour. It's months since I've seen colour outside and months more until it comes back again. Anything colour-related would be lovely.

=Tamar said...

I read that most kids under six see _more_ colors than most adults, because they can still see ultraviolet. I never heard of the lilac thing before.

Anonymous said...

Just glad you are back. Like others you write it I'll read it, but I do really love hearing about the Goober the most.

Pam

bobbins said...

As many have commented, "You write it and I'll read it." I enjoy seeing things through your perspective.

Especially love kid and cat stories, history, knitting reviews, cooking, botany, Life in the artic northern lands (hey, in Florida anything north of Georgia is...NORTH).

You are able to make mundane and ordinary fascinating and I love being invited along for a bit of a visit.

So sorry about the pain, and wish it could be better "managed." Although, who ever thought of pain as manageable needs a lesson in chronic pain.

Take care!

verification word: anize. Anise with a sneeze?

G. K. Green said...

I think St. Augustine got it right: ”The greatest evil is physical pain.” Thomas Jefferson also pretty much nailed it: ”The art of life is the art of avoiding pain." Finally, Michelangelo got right to the point: "Everything hurts." No clue how any of them coped, but I bet that a biting review of Vogue Knitting might help! Glad to read your post, though sorry you're back in pain ... 8^(

Anonymous said...

re: what we'd like to see ... History of food, history of fashion, analysis of how models "work" the clothes. You do them so well!

re: what kids can see -- children's color perception is essentially adult by about six months. Remember how when we mid-forties types were little, all baby toys were ALL pastel? Now they're black-and-white, high-contrast, red-yellow stuff. Doctors used to say babies were blind. Moms knew better, and my mom decided to prove it. She developed methods for testing visual acuity and color perception in infants. The Goober might have been tested with Teller Acuity Cards; that's my mom, Davida Y. Teller, and her lab.

(Sorry to hijack!!!)

Sara Teller, aka Gwyndolyn O'Shaughnessy

Galad said...

Nothing you write is boring and I always learn something new. Goob news is always good. Are you studying up on anything new?

Amy Lane said...

YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!! I MISSED you... that's why it took me so long to get here... I was getting depressed! But I want to know what you're knitting to keep your hand warm so it doesn't ache so much...