September 13, 2005

A week of long hours and cameraderie and barbecue. I lost some pounds at a KC Weigh-in (probably a different scale calibration) and narrowly missed obligatory Karaoke while ordering beef stew chow fon for takeout. I was a good girl and took all my antibiotic since I developed fluid in my lungs the week before my trip.

My final night in Kansas City was interesting. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was on some HBO spinoff channel. Then a third evening of thunderstorms. Except this one took two hours. The Weather Channel was watching KC closely. It seems that instead of crossing the city, the length of the front traveled through it at an angle.

It was horrendous and constant. Then, the fire alarm went off. I thought it was a tornado warning and freaked. With jellied knees and a pounding heart, I went for my pants. I turned on the TV. "Trying to establish signal." I had the presence of mind to dial the front desk. They assured me that the fire alarm sometimes triggers when thunder is close. It was tough going to bed after that. It must have been two or three hours of sleep total when the clock went off at 5am. Finishing off my packing and grabbing a leftover rib dinner from the hotel staff freezer, my ride was ready to take me to Union Station.

Once there at 6:15am, there was news that the train was delayed by an hour. When the ticket counter opened at half past six, I found that for a fraction of the cost, I could upgrade to a sleeper on the Southwest Chief. I went for it.

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 3:47pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

They buckled. They caved. After successful training sessions by phone, they agreed to send me to the Kansas City office by train...

On the east coast Amtrak trains, there is an outlet beneath every window. Clearly half of the riders took advantage of this, with laptops and DVD players everywhere. It's likely that several were going off to college.

Everything started off okay. We arrived and left stations to the minute. We were past Albany, where we were allowed to get out and stretch while baggage was unloaded and loaded (they call these "smoking stops").

Over the course of the evening, I got to know my "roomate" who shared our seats. He was a photographer from Edgewater New Jersey, originally from Seoul Korea. He was planning to stay with friends in Chicago, then go on to Washington State via the Empire Builder. A row ahead and the aisle opposite was a tall Black man into old movies, and a very kind but tolerant. She was a good listener though, even if it was apparent (to me from where I sat) that she didn't know anywhere near as many old movies to keep up.

Viewliner coach car 25100 during "smoke stop"

We slowed down at some point and thought it was Rochester. Another hour and a half or so would be Buffalo. Then we'd head west...

...There are two routes Amtrak runs from NYC to Chicago. One first goes down to Washington D.C. and the other up to Buffalo. There is no direct route to Kansas City. The route I took runs daily nonstop to Chicago and is called the Lakeshore Limited...

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 2:14pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

I love the way your phone brings out your abs.

Aheh... Well, it was a cyst, and about 11 years to the week, the same hand specialist who removed one from another finger on the other hand performed the procedure on my thumb. For hours it felt like the size of a house LOL. Now the skin on my thumb is tight. Does that make sense?

DD 1:15pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

When I started the year, I was resigned to the prospects of dying by 50. By the middle of the year I decided to fight back. I've lost 30 lbs so far, with over three times that to go by goal. Before then in September 2005 I may attend a Cybertown reunion in Atlanta. Health permitting. It would certainly be interesting to see how that affects my life in cyberspace...

The predatory women would despise me if they carried any unprovoked notions. The ones who treated me like crap and rejected proposals automatically because I was male would have their own reckoning.

The community lotharios will be dumb enough to throw me lines. Who are they kidding?

There would be casualties. There always are. Someone who from out of the blue once confided in me about a prostate condition... a buddy from the UK would be no less thrown. As friendly as he is to anyone on an equal basis, I know the latter's culture dictates a buddy bond which simply would not otherwise exist. Violating the buddy bond is beyond a secret social offence. Running afoul of the buddy bond is that which I fear the most. I've been through both scenarios before; I know.

This factor is just as important as my physical condition by that time in determining whether I attend.

But I digress...

In August after an apparently deadly mix of Diet Sprite and honeydew melon I developed symptoms each time I ate anything with fruit and many raw vegetables. In time I've been able to reintroduce 99% of lost vegetables, but fruit remains on my forbidden list.

A recent visit to a throat specialist revealed unusual symptoms during the onset of bronchitis - and a definite decline in my singing ability - were evidence of reflux. I had plenty of it in early 2001 after having gotten off a 7-month stint of Naprosyn, as well as any time I failed to refill certain supplements. It came back in full force in August for a few weeks with the onset of fruit problems. But this doctor - who's majorly handsome (which got me through his exam of numbing my pharynx to slip a little tube into my throat by way of a nostril) - suggests that reflux during sleep might be the culprit here. As one of my CT friends would say: "Eck!"

More about that and an ominous lump at the base of my thumb in a future entry.

DD 1:12pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

Mount Ararat Cemetery was easy enough to get to - we attended an unveiling.

For those of you who live either under a rock or in a part of the USA which makes you think no other culture or faith exists: one year after an observant Jew's death, the headstone is unveiled in a ceremony on site.

Since I never attend the family Thanksgiving, here was a prime opportunity to see my mom's side of the family. Following the ceremony we were to meet at a nearby diner; for me it meant catching up on old times.

Well, it was partly our faults. Dad and I have this punctuality-efficiency thing happening. With the simple directions, we were among the first out of the cemetery gate. We drove a few miles and realized we weren't running into Sunrise Highway. I suggested stopping in a service station, but you know males; Dad conveniently didn't hear those times I suggested it.

We went around the area a great deal. Thing is the map seldom resembled the actual junction of roads and landmarks in places. It also didn't help that at times when we were going north and away from Sunrise Highway, Dad insisted we were going south.

I told him I could get us to Sunrise Highway, but not via the roads we were told. With map in hand, I instructed Dad onto a never-mentioned Straight Path Road and we did it. At the intersection - where we were initially told to make a right, I looked left briefly just in case and saw no diner. We made our right turn and naturally there was no diner along our side either. We decided to go to one called The Omega on Lakeville Road instead.

We were heading west, but Dad thought we had to turn around. A brief maneuver up a ramp confirmed that to keep moving towards Queens we had to re-enter the same side of Sunrise Highway in order to continue on our way and catch the Wantaugh Parkway.

After putting on her best behavior for Dad's successful 80th birthday party last week, Mom was back to her old tricks at the Omega: complaining about the food, mouthing off conspicuously, etc. I was too tired and hungry to care.

DD 1:07pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

New offensive type.

This time the guy is Black. He pulled the same shit those little old ladies do by stuffing himselfinto a seat too small for him. Here I am on the day I celebrated losing 25 pounds and this jerkoffis barely keeping me from falling off. Yes I know 100 years ago men couldn't sit on trains and ladies had priority seating. But this guy with the little old lady habits... Psst: I think he either hates those which were not born with dicks or a racist - or BOTH!

Welp - karma will hit him between the eyes when he least expects it. Probably blame it on White people or women and he'll never think back on his tyrannical and cowardly behavior (he's oppressing some one at least a head shorter than himself the fucking bully). Also I think he's drunk. Also he tried to fall asleep against me.

Should I get a picture?

Woo I'm feeling lucky!

DD 12:58pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

Oh great - I have a big fat perve standing near me on a crowded train.

The LIRR is not running to or from Penn Station due to some sort of tunnel fire so the Long Island trash is riding the trains.

Wait lemme get some shots...

DD 12:48pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

This morning was interesting to say the least. I hadn't eaten a thing since 8pm last night and didn't wake up early enough to justify a liquid breakfast. The place must have taken me in for the test at noon. A year ago I couldn't move or position myself the way I was asked to here. Got royal treatment too: both a technician and a doctor resided and the stuff didn't taste half bad.

Ohhhh here we go again. Some guy practically sitting on me. Lemme take a pic. And he reeks! What's this about guys reeking and crowding women on trains?!

Anyway I was going to eat out some brunch, but I think I'll pick up the Milk of Magnesia as advised and go right home. As it is I have to pee and it's not liable to subside since l'll be downing lots of fluids.

I can't believe it's taken this long to get tested...

DD 12:46pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

I'm sitting in City Coffee on the first autumn-cool morning we've had. It's windy courtesy of Ivan and 52 F.

The past three months have been interesting to say the least. The office started its own weight loss meetings and so far I've lost 18 pounds and a clothing size. It's easier to walk and slowly I am regaining my agility.

But you know me; there's always something else to add to the list as soon as a problem is crossed off.

It started on Sunday August 22. Our sites relaunched with a revision of our subscription plans. In an executive move which we all knew would cripple us, we were downgraded to a new, inferior version of our message handling system earlier in the week. Emails were piling up and here I was at the office on a Sunday to do last minute beta testing, delete leaks from the boards, and answer as much backlogged correspondence for two countries as possible.

There was free food in the kitchen. Most of the breakfast food was gone, so I grabbed some melon and a Diet Sprite. My stomach bubbled and gurgled for like an hour from that combination!

And from then on, things changed.

I've since pinpointed the aggravating foods. When I eat most raw or undercooked vegetables, ANY kind of fruit or juice or even fruit flavored thing, I feel a pain in my back above my left kidney shortly after swallowing. The symptoms don't make sense. An initial sonogram is negative. I saw a gastroenterologist last week who was thoroughly rude and made an unabashed smirk when I gave him my medical history and mentioned "alternative."

Considering he was on the South Beach Diet, he wasn't in a position to put on airs.

DD 12:38pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

I should add that June 12th was also my Grandmother's would-be 100th birthday.

Granma was something else. She ran her own hat shop in the 1920's in Strasbourg France. The bulk of Mom's side is from that area: Alsace Lorraine. She and Mom have referred to it as either "The Side of France," which makes sense as Strasbourg borders the Rhine, or "The South of France," for reasons I can't figure. I just couldn't tell which they were saying. I was surprised to see that Granma's birth certificate had her born in Strasbourg, Germany.

Anyway, many years later, as one would expect from such a potentially disputed region, the Nazis came. Granma by then was a widow with two kids. Traversing the Alsatian countryside with the kids and a sick mother, a widow steered them clear of German Shepherds and soldiers and kept them fed.

Most of the family went back to Strasbourg once the war ended. But Granma's brother was already in the U.S. (he came during the 1920's) and sponsored them to come on over. I've always known her to be a rather pompous woman, but she was more than entitled.

When she died about six years ago, it affected me more than I expected. I had been more the magick practitioner at the time and for one year - until her unveiling - I could not visualize colors during my relaxation exercises.

So on Sunday the 13th, Dad indulged me by taking us to Granma's favorite jernt, the Flagship restaurant in Jamaica. Its my belief to be in a place the departed one enjoyed and reminisce. Between Mom's predictably childish complaints, Dad told me the story of how he met them in the Catskills back in the 50's. It was a nice time considering.

DD 12:31pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

They've been around for almost three years.

Those pointy, Wicked Witch of the West things.

Why?

They defy human anatomy. Women jam their feet into them and their toes are still half out; you can usually see the beginning of their toes. So support wise they're useless, since half the foot isnt even covered. Please don't tell me this is a fashion statement because I don't buy it.

DD 12:27pm EST on Tuesday, Sep 13, 2005

June 17, 2004

Ah, the annual garden walk.

This day continues to accumulate points of significance for me by the year.

The first time I participated was in 1999. Before then I had no clue as to the heritage of my community. Beginning in the early 1920's or so, developers realized Jackson Heights as prime luxury real estate. The rich flocked to these complexes - among the oldest cooperatives in the country - which were far enough away from Manhattan yet easy enough to get to it via Northern Boulevard. There was a nearby country club and the convenience of shops. The most unique aspect of these buildings were how they would run around a single block; the backs faced a common area, usually utilized as a garden or private park. Many of the oldest of these have maintained their grounds. For a modest contribution to the local preservation org you get to tour these once a year.

You learn as you go. The residents welcome you and answer any questions you may have. Mine usually pertain to who does the gardening (contractor? Group of volunteer residents, etc.) and of course I like to take pics.

In 2000 the day was spent in the ER. I couldn't walk and it would take four months to fully regain that ability. So 2001 was the big achievement. In 2002 Seven came to visit and we went together, but something was wrong; my feet tired out too quickly. In addition to pacing myself in 2003, I also borrowed Seven's old digital camera when the battery on my SLR went out.

Thls year I've got an even more demanding challenge physically and must learn to pace myself. A treat is that a new garden has been added on the tour. It' s a block I pass all the time on the way to work. Heh, it's the place where that tree fell on that car...

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 7:30am EST on Thursday, Jun 17, 2004

Well, the acupuncturist agreed. It's been way too long for this wrist thing to be happening. I think that time I wrote how I saw a needle for the first time was a week since it started to really hurt. I guess it's time to set something up with that orthopaedist in Forest Hills.

Now the Pub Landlord in Oddy, we have a public base of operations where we can host events. Time to schedule one there while research for one we want to throw in Cybertown. Maybe I'll do one for the New Wave Era. Yeah... or maybe Hanna-Barbera cartoons...

I haven't seen that guy who puked on the E train last week. He certainly typified the term "blowing chunks." I suppose if that happened to me, I'd change my route, too! Heh.

DD 7:27am EST on Thursday, Jun 17, 2004

June 4, 2004

Hmm... two days of blogging got zapped during a failed sync. It appears a conflict exists unless I unload PestPatrol.

You missed the part about the well-dressed fat guy who barfed on the E train.

PestPatrol still hangs at 16% when I try to load it for scanning: the updater and cookie monitor work separately, so those may still be maintained. They had me download the file again, but that hangs as well (yes, I uninstalled first).

What else? Wow suddenly I have a curious pain. It is in my back where the hipbone is and echoed in the middle abdomen. Ah. It stopped.

Okay I've been writing this while on my lunch break. I would have been back before half an hour was up but naturally we were stuck at Lexington Avenue while cops looked for someone or something on the tracks. What's up with that?!

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 7:31am EST on Friday, Jun 4, 2004

What is with all these friggin' spywares?!

It happened again last night. Okay I was looking for some midi files. It seems again it struck on the hour. I had just finished scanning a flower and launched my browser, when suddenly my desktop was inundated with popups. Pestpatrol kicked in and alerted me to several pests and a trojan file, which were deleted. Once I managed to get Popup Killer launched, the desktop and taskbar could at last be seen. There were several exe files which I deleted and purged from the recycle bin.

The next thing I did was check c:\Windows\System for any new arrivals. Sure enough, there they were. I deleted all but two: Atl.dll.OLD because it could be something necessary which was renamed, and Bridge.dll which I knew was no good but wouldn't delete.

It was time to bring out the big guns.

PestPatrol identified 422 files and registry entries. Isn't that incredible? And - isn't this illegal?

I told it to delete everything on the list. It took 13 hours. I slept four hours after me and Seven hung out by phone for our designated evening.

For some reason PestPatrol is now crippled and won't load its control center past 16%.

Ouch.

DD 7:30am EST on Friday, Jun 4, 2004

May 31, 2004

Sometime either late Saturday or early Sunday, a car was smashed by a falling tree from across the street. Walking to the supermarket yesterday morning I came upon the evidence about two blocks from my home: on the west side of the street an uprooted stump and a parking spot with slices of trunk and gnarls of leafy branches roped off with police tape. On the east side was someone's former sportscar with a heavy portion of upper trunk across its former roof. Either someone drove into that tree, or Mother Nature struck back.

I wish they'd cover this stuff on the news...

There was record number of seven people at work for the holiday in the office today. I was late by a few minutes due to a futile search for a decent breakfast wrap. You mean tourists don't eat them but they eat quiche? I should have gone to my usual place but noooo - I had to try all the elitest crap places: Europa, Pax... awful, high-priced dumps. I settled on a bagel place at the corner which tourists inundate on holidays. I managed to scoot ahead of a typical tourists-from-hell couple as they appraised the menu boards as though they were seated in a restaurant. "Do you see the flavors list, dear?" That's a twenty minute dilemma right there. I cut down their time by advising them that the "pink" bagel was tomato. The place has gone downhill; their egg salad wasn't all that fresh.

DD 2:34pm EST on Monday, May 31, 2004

The once-revered private buslines in Queens are being taken over by the city come the end of June. I say "once-revered" because for quite some time now they haven't given a damn. You've got the many times one stopped at a red light and unloaded about a dozen school kids,then on the green passed a stop of people (including me) while half empty.

Now in addition to this sellout behavior, the buses have fallen into disrepair. They've begun to wobble badly, especially those uneconomical boxy ones. I prefer walking to work over chancing those deep swerves into stops and the two serioso turns it has to make. Most of them drive tilted like the kneeling mechanism didn't fully retract. I'm on one right now to go to the parents and it's scaring the shit out of me. If you are reading this, it means I've survived and will opt to walk a mile to the subway until these have either been repaired or replaced by the city. We're talking a stop one and a half blocks away.

Oh swell! We've picked up someone in a wheelchair. This will certainly get on the front page.

DD 7:32am EST on Monday, May 31, 2004

May 27, 2004

The Beatles played outside our building at work today. These four middle-aged dudes in dead-on Mod mode (ok, the George one played lefty Richenbacher [sp]) and emulated their performance flawlessly.

During the summer months they usually feature some benign talent: a string quartet, a jazz trio... we'd often get emailed by HR the name of the performers in advance. I suppose in this case it wasn't necessary. I stayed for about four songs and got my lunch. From what I understand they did a costume change to perform the later stuff and in all it lasted two hours. I should have brought this along for a pic. It was just great. No terror organization can ever take the magic out of New York City.

Woo! Brought home candy bars from our god company wholesale! Haven't had these since I went to meetings last year. There's talk of them setting up meetings in our office. It's about time! We're now over 150 people; surely there must be enough interested. Not that the pounds melted away when I attended, but at least they didn't go up.

DD 6:02pm EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

Back as an ND in Cybertown to help a friend out.

Working on message board designs for some blocks and preparing ads to promote them. I'm finally able to implement the promotional plan squelched in Formal Paths.

Well, I could if only for some rednecks in the Employment Office. The current staff in place are deleting hood and block invites, and stating they are job offers.

To add insult to injury, in Oddy the district leader decided to compensate for the size of his dick to a newbie by showing off how he could put them in access on my block. He did this while I slept and without checking with me first. I am perhaps the last person in all of Oddy - nay, all of virtual communitydom - he should try that with. The district deputy in charge of my neigborhood was furious as well. The stranger went off access. Well, she (he?) never replied to my welcome note and hasn't been on since Friday night. They wouldn't even be considered with that behavior.

Hmmm... I lost my Metrocard this morning due to a surprise hole in the pocket of new capris. Thank goodness nothing debilitating was lost - like my bank card. Now we're being held two stops from the office station. On Friday there was a train ahead of us with mechanical difficulties. They're using the same excuse now on our train, only there's cops everywhere. I wonder if I should just go home.

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 7:38am EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

Sexual Harassment and Diversity Training - Have I whined about the Canadians too much? Heh, no everyone at work is getting this. They say we get free (exCUSE me: complimentary) breakfast and the instructor is funny. Hey he'd better be for a four-hour seminar...

Well that was 2 days ago and it went rather quickly. More like interactive exercises. In the name of diversity the instructor gave everyone per table a number, then had everyone sit with their numbers. Velly crever...

In virtual news, there have been staff changes in Cybertown on the hood level. I'm a Neigborhood Deputy again, but this time among friends. I've got carte blanche to promote the blocks and hood with a method I wanted to utilize the last time. Now we'll see if unhindered creativity works.

In the new home Oddy I debut this Saturday with a well-funded trivia event. I created a trophy I'm rather proud of myself for (in fact I'm even working on a biobed for a Sickbay club I've started). I might get a gig there running a Victorian style pub and having it for home base for events. Let's see what the weekend yields.

Meanwhile, we've been kicked out of the office early after having packed up our desks. Our department is moving back into our old space next door.

DD 7:34am EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

Now this - is cool.

I did something to my right hand last week. I picked up my backpack with my thumb and I heard a sound like when you crack your knuckle but softer. Since then my wrist has had this uncomfortable pull and in the morning some bathroom maneuvers have become tests of skill. One evening it felt better when I put a cold compress on the forearm and mobility was easier. HmmI mentioned this to my acupuncturist, so here I am writing this while my other hand has two pins.

Hey I finally get to see what these look like! They have little rubber ends in lavender. It hurts and doesn't in waves, but not where the needles are stuck. Well that makes sense given the science...

Next Day

My hand/wrist feels better. I don't know whether it's healing on its own or that it's just a good day millibar-wise. My limbs don't ache today and I slept very well. Maybe it's just a good day overall.

DD 7:32am EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

Wow - it's been some time since I rode on this guy's train...

I haven't written so much - partly because I got addicted to this game I got off the Mobile Windows site which is like Archinoids called Cubicle Chaos.

The other reason is that while an order of protective covers for the screen have been taking forever to be filled, the area where I write most of my lowercase letters has become scratched. grrrr...

My parents came back from the Catskills Wednesday, both sick. Apparently several attendees for Passover were sick as well. They claimed something similar occurred last year and they brought the health department in. They found nothing. I'm thinking of contacting their primary physician and cluing him in about them. Their thing is if it passes they won't. What if it's someone working in the kitchen who hates jews and put cleaning fluids into the food? Or someone passing on parasites? Who knows...

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 7:29am EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

iCity:

Last week I had felt it was time for a change and wanted to move. I realized I missed looking out my window in the Kibbutz. Unfortunately I was 15 away from my carry limit (we call it a backpack or "BP") and 50 items in my home. Also I had found the house I wanted to move into and it said full when I clicked the door, despite there being a modest number of residents. I would be leaving a far denser building in the process.

I asked management about opening up a spot (it's really quite simple for them) and I got "I'll think about it." Meanwhile I set most of my BP storage for Seven and on Monday night she took whil I picked up. I had seriously considered leaving - I mean, I'm in the minority there in wanting to be in iCity for the experience while most of its inhabitants just buy and sell out of their homes. I actually like to walk up to my door.

[(cont'd)]   ·   DD 7:27am EST on Thursday, May 27, 2004

March 31, 2004

Not far from where I work is this restaurant. It can't be cheap - well, how many restaurants on or near 57th Street are? There are linen napkins and tablecloths of course. The walls and pillars are paintings of scenes of decadence throughout the ages.

In the evenings when I go to the train, I look in their big picture windows and see them prepare these mountains of crushed ice and artfully place raw seafood into positions to make scenes and landscapes. Slabs of salmon filet, shrimps, huge king crab claws... I see an ideal table, where I could see a pillar of dancing naked men from Ancient Greece behind my date, and he would have a view of some hooker waiting for some john by a taxicab.

DD 5:58pm EST on Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004

Valerie put two words after yesterday's date: turning point.

Monday when I got home from acupuncture I called my dad. Without the stigma of needing anything, I told him how much he's helped me and how much I appreciated it. He seemed to be pleased and that too was rare. I felt I could say the herniated disk hurdle had been jumped. Now to regain what I've lost.

A new regimen. She was impressed with how much I could now move and restored back exercises to my "program." Not a single twitch or tingle during the entire physical therapy session and see me in six weeks.

I can squish into seats if need be, cross one leg over another to tie a shoe, and many other things I could not do until recently. On Tuesday morning I gave up my seat on the bus for an elderly man with a cane. It is time to give back.

DD 5:57pm EST on Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004

March 29, 2004

Yesterday, for the first time in almost half a year, I could sit in the front seat of Dad's car. When this herniated disc stuff started my foot involuntarily twitched. I remember the day: it was the first time we went to that orthopaedist in Forest Hills. October 10th or something.

For months I'Ve squirmed in seats, one of the least comfortable being the back seat of the car (maybe the chairs in the waiting room of my primary physician are worst; after the first time in that condition I requested a folding chair). I hadn't squirmed anywhere in weeks, so I thought I'd give it a try. Think I could stand to use a lumbar wedge. I still sit on one at home and at work.

Acupuncture did it! Now I'm going pretty much for maintenance. It holds back my joint inflammation so I have more options in my life and slowly regain my agility.

Three cheers for Alternative Medicine!

DD 11:58pm EST on Monday, Mar 29, 2004