the thoughts and experiences of Heather Meadows
Mom went to Peoria this past Tuesday to be with Aunt Carol, and she tweeted me this morning to let me know what’s going on. She says Carol is doing much better. Thankfully, it wasn’t Respiratory Distress Syndrome after all. Carol is off the ventilator and sat up in a chair for two hours this morning!
Thanks to everyone for your well wishes!
(Previous Aunt Carol post is here.)
Lots of stuff has been going on with me lately, and since I never seem to blog properly anymore, here are some links to pictures.
On October 1, we rearranged the living room in order to better accommodate our new TV table. This is the happiest I’ve been with our living room…well, ever. There’s plenty of floor space for Wii Fit and Wii Sports, all seats provide an adequate view of the TV, and Sean has a nice big contained area for his clutter–comfortable for him, livable for me. This living room arrangement is composed entirely of win.
On October 3 and 4, I attended the Webmaster Jam Session in Atlanta. I live-tweeted the whole thing, and also sent a few iPhone photo updates here. The photos I took with my regular camera are here.
It was a great conference. Having never been to a web conference before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and certain things were different than I’d imagined. But I learned a lot and even met a few new people. Hopefully I’ll be able to go again next year.
Once the Webmaster Jam Session was over, I headed over to see Charles and Heidi. Charles and I went to the Buford Highway Farmers Market, which is the greatest grocery store in the history of the universe. The next day, all three of us went to the Atlanta Greek Festival. We also spent some time just relaxing and chatting, which was nice. It was a short but really fun visit. I love seeing Charles and Heidi :)
The Atlanta Greek Festival gets its own gallery because it was so huge. I loved seeing the dancers, listening to the band, eating all the delicious Greek food, and exploring all the shops. I even bought a cookbook! The church where the festival was held was absolutely beautiful, so I took lots of photos. You can see them all here.
Settling back into my normal routine after the whirlwind Atlanta trip was not an easy task. The following Monday I went to Riverwalk during my lunch break. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and there were lots of boaters out on the water. I jogged the walking path once, then sat by the river and took pictures. (I’m fairly pleased with how blue my eyes look in this one.)
I went back to Riverwalk on Thursday, not to jog this time but simply to look around. We’d had a great deal of badly-needed rain Wednesday night, and Riverwalk was transformed. The Savannah was mud-colored and drab and the sky was overcast, but the plants felt vibrant and every surface was beaded with water. The very air felt fresh. It was a different kind of beautiful.
So there you have it. Lots of adventures, with hopefully more to come. :)
Sent from my iPhone
Grapefruit is gross.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
The Savannah isn't quite as beautiful when there's no blue sky to
reflect :>
Facebook’s Likeness application has a Superpowers quiz. It lists the following powers and asks you to rank them in order, from most desired to least desired.
Flying
Mind reading
X-ray vision
Invisibility
Shapeshifting
Invulnerability
Super speed
Telekinesis
Time travel
Super strength
I found this to be pretty intriguing. Here’s my list:
Flying
Time travel
Super strength
Super speed
Invulnerability
Telekinesis
X-ray vision
Invisibility
Shapeshifting
Mind reading
I’ve always wanted to be able to fly. I love being in airplanes. I love the clouds. I love the feeling of wind buffeting all around. But…I hate falling ;)
Time travel would just be cool. But it’s dangerous, and being able to do it would be a huge responsibility. So I ranked it #2.
After that, I ended up ranking by things that bothered me the least, because I really don’t care to have any of the other powers.
Strength seemed fairly innocuous, so I went with that next, then speed. I don’t really want to be invulnerable, because I believe pain is a part of life, but it seemed less terrible than the rest of the list, so it’s next.
Telekinesis, the altering of the physical world through thought…the idea sounds cool until you really start to think about it. Can you imagine what you might do without realizing it? Without meaning to?
The last four were hard to rank, because I have issues with all of them. They’re all severe invasions of privacy. What other purpose would these powers have besides misrepresenting who you are and discovering things you wouldn’t otherwise know?
X-ray vision is probably the least invasive, so I put it first. Invisibility came next because while it does allow you to be a fly on the wall, it doesn’t grant you any particular control. You’re still physical, still constrained by the things around you. A locked door would still be an obstacle.
Shapeshifting is next. With shapeshifting powers you can pretend to be anyone or anything. You can get through those locked doors by changing into someone who’s allowed to open them. You can gain trust by being untrustworthy. You can make every relationship you have a lie.
But the worst super power of all would be mind reading. It’s the ultimate invasion. You’ll know things you don’t want to know, and others will fear and ostracize you. Those are givens. But even worse, it destroys the mystery of life. It requires you to have little imagination. You don’t have to deduce anything because everyone’s an open book. Can you imagine how boring that would be?
I prefer to watch for signs, add up clues, and lever my experience to determine how I think someone’s feeling–or, and I know this is an outlandish idea, simply ask them.
So how would you rank this list of superpowers, and why?
“Hey guys, I think we missed something here. I can’t put my finger on it, but something doesn’t look right.”
My aunt Carol, Mom’s oldest sister, tripped and fell last Wednesday, hitting her head. She is now in the hospital in a great deal of pain, on a ventilator. At first they thought something was wrong with her bowel, so they did surgery, but found nothing.
She was moved to what Mom says is a better hospital, and now they have found pancreatitis. Unfortunately Aunt Carol has also entered into Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. They’re not sure of the cause.
Originally we were hoping that Aunt Carol could be weaned off the ventilator and sent home in a few days, but now it’s uncertain when that might happen. Mom may go to be with her (Mom’s in Kentucky and Carol’s in Illinois).
This is the same Aunt Carol who had a heart transplant. The Aunt Carol who suffered gangrene and had to have a toe removed. The Aunt Carol who lost her husband to a stroke. The Aunt Carol who lost her only son when he was just a teenager. The Aunt Carol who sacrificed so much to take care of her ailing mother.
My Aunt Carol has always only ever wanted to live quietly, love her family, and do her own thing–write, paint, and enjoy life. But she keeps having obstacles thrown in her way.
She’s a fighter. She’s gotten through everything up until now. She can get through this too.
But if you could keep her in your thoughts, we would all really appreciate it.
It's another beautiful day at Riverwalk.
Heading home.
Well, there go this week's points…
Sent from my iPhone