Michael: You win! You got all the mail!
Michelle: Really? What’d I get? Anything fun?
Michael: Lowe’s bill…Credit card bill… well, those are in my name, but you pay ’em, so they’re yours.
Michelle: Gee, thanks.
Michael: John Edwards… XM… USAA… Gardener’s catalog…
Michelle: Oooooooh! Gardener’s Catalog! I could spend some money there.
Michael: I didn’t say Gardener’s catalog. No Gardener’s catalog here. Nope.

Could be worse. Coulda also been Baker’s Catalog and a catalog from Sur la Table.

Doctor: I’m prescribing you the 20mg tabs, but I’d like you to take 10mg for the first week. You can just cut the pills in half.

Pharmacist: Your prescription plan won’t pay for this medication in smaller than 40mg doses, so you’ll need to cut the pills in half to get a 20mg dose.

Perhaps I’m just paranoid, but it really seems like someone out there screwing around with me.

On the bright side, this medication only cost $4, and a pill cutter cost $4.50. So all in all it’s still $102 dollars cheaper than the last medicine.

Just how much of a geek is Michelle?
(more…)

…has always squicked me out.

wetware \WET-wair\ noun
: the human brain or a human being considered especially with respect to human logical and computational capabilities

It makes me think of the kinds of noises you’d hear if someone opened up your skull and went poking about in your brain.

Theological world views:
(more…)

After a month and a half of phone calls and hair pulling, a new DSL modem, multiple checks by Earthlink and Verizon, and finally a new line from the telephone pole to the house after we eventually had difficulty with our phone service, we finally have stable Internet!

As a complete and total geek, you can’t imagine what it’s been like having an internet connection that wouldn’t stay up for more than a few seconds at a time. I was reduced to playing minesweeper and solitaire!

So with internet back I spent the evening catching up on book reviews and trying not to pay attention to the Star Trek: Next Generation that Michael and my grandmother were watching.

As far as everything else goes, I’d say I’m feeling better, but that’d be a lie. Let’s say I’m feeling less horrible, and maybe I’ll be back for more regular posts next week–depending.

West Virginia least like the rest of the country!

No kidding.

Here are the bottom five:

Kentucky 47
Vermont 47
New Hampshire 49
Mississippi 50
West Virginia 51

We’re still having internet problems at home. (At this point, we get about 30 seconds of connectivity, then crash.)

So until things are better, enjoy this:
Bound for Glory: American in Color 1939-1943

This is probably my favorite picture. It’d be just as interesting in black and white as in color.

It’s like being nibbled to death by cats.

Context?
(more…)

So, we’re now watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and of course we’ve started with Season One, which is only marginally better than Season 2, which I find… horrific.

However, while watching the pilot, I realized why I find the character of Wesley Crusher so grating–he’s a Mary Sue.

Lo and behold, I look up Mary Sue and there it is.

Doesn’t really help me as I sit here and watch Season One. (cringe)

Which leads to the bigger question of how it happened. In my opinion, Jake from Deep Space Nine was very well written and rarely made me cringe, even when he was being his most teenager like. So how did things work out so badly in Next Generation?

As I was walking from the ATM to the cafeteria, I noticed that one of the signs I regularly passed had two words in English that you never want to see together.

Emergency Dentistry

I can’t think of any dental emergency that would be anything less than horrific.

And there’s your reminder to make sure you floss every day.

vomitorium•
noun (pl. vomitoria)
1. each of a series of entrance or exit passages in an ancient Roman amphitheatre or theatre.
2. a place in which, according to popular misconception, the ancient Romans are supposed to have vomited during feasts to make room for more food.
— origin Latin.

Okay, I also thought that the definition of vomitorium was the second. And I’m pretty sure I’ve read it used in fiction with the second (incorrect) meaning.

Actually, it might be amusing to point out exits at the CAC as vomitoria.

sparagmos noun [mass noun]
the dismemberment of a victim, forming a part of some ancient rituals and represented in Greek myths and tragedies.
— origin Greek, literally ‘tearing’.

I think the most disturbing part is the idea that it happened so often that they needed a word for it.

Went to pick up my prescription yesterday.

Cash price was $133. My cost? $110.

I am really hoping that was just me needing to meet my deductible. Though things like this are why Michael and I live under our income level. As much as one doesn’t like spending $110 out of nowhere, at least we have the money.