So on Sunday, we'll be leaving on the Coast Starlight from Union Station, headed to Portland, OR!

We'll arrive Monday afternoon, and stay with Brianne and Jared for two nights, and then head over to posh accommodations at The Benson Hotel, for which Hotwire provided us an awesome rate of $79/night.  (Quite a deal when you realize that the ( Read more... )

It happens every year. As soon as little tiny tomatoes appear, so do little tiny caterpillars. Two met their deaths at the end of my trowel today, who knows how many more will chomp on my plants while I'm gone.

At least they're not hornworms yet. Yggggg....

No word yet on what's been eating my peppers. I have yet to see a culprit.

Got in to see a partner of my pcp.  He said he'd never seen a more detailed blood panel before, and that everything is negative.  He says it's a possibility that it's a virus they can't test for, and if that's the case, it will resolve itself within a few months, but if it persists, we might start thinking about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but he's ( Read more... )

So I went in to see the rheumatologist, and she says I don't have any other symptoms of any auto-immune disorders, so "we're not going to go looking for something that's not there."  She ordered a bunch more blood tests (the only one I identified was Parvo, which is not only a dog disease) and had the nurse give me an injection of cortisone ( ( Read more... )

I woke up half way this morning in the middle of dreaming that the reason behind my contract delay was because I was only going to be teaching four classes instead of five next year.  At first, this was good, then I realized that that would probably mean that they were going to cut my pay by 20%.  So I had trouble getting all the way back asleep, ( Read more... )

One of the adorable things about teaching high school is that when you experimentally give a group of sophomores The Crying of Lot 49 as an independent book, they make a little construction paper W A S T E mailbox for their presentation.

So today, discussion of Pygmalion transmuted into discussion the legal benefits of marriage and the existence of common law marriage, which evolved into a discussion of gay marriage.

As a teacher, I am not allowed to express my opinion about political matters. This is true for all teachers in all schools, but particularly true for my political view ( Read more... )

Got my test results today. I have positive ANA levels, which the internet tells me could mean many things. I really hope it's not lupus. I've been referred to the rheumatologist. Waiting eagerly for my referral to come in the mail so that I can make an appointment ( Read more... )

• Day 8 of repipe:  They might finish tomorrow.  The last few days have been stressful.  A neighbor was not happy on Friday, and things needed to be worked out.  A compromise was reached, but drain issues were also detected.  Drain solutions were decided on, but then a miscommunication happened between the plumber and another unit.  This morning I ( Read more... )

So maybe three months ago, my knees started feeling stiff. This was odd, but I didn't think much of it because my knees have always ground and popped, and I figured this was the next stage in my eventual arthritis ( Read more... )