Author: Heather Meadows

I went to the endocrinologist today, for a followup. I had the usual measurements taken: pulse, blood pressure, weight. Weight is down (obviously, though apparently my clothes and breakfast weigh 4 pounds), pulse is also down (70-something, I just remember being amazed that it wasn’t 90), but blood pressure is still icky at 130/90. I’m going to be checking it in the mornings and evenings again to see how it goes…maybe it’s just high because I’m nervous about that thing I refuse to blog about. I also made an appointment for later today with a regular physician, because the endocrinologist was really on my case about it today. She wants to know what the deal is with my blood pressure–can’t really blame her for that.

I’m going to continue with my hormone treatments through February and March. In February I will have a blood test on day 2 or 3 of my period. At the end of March, based on the blood test results, we will decide whether or not to continue treatment. After stopping the hormones, we’d wait 4-6 months to see if my body returns to having periods normally. The doctor is optimistic about it.

She was proud of me for losing weight, but she was unhappy with my blood pressure, so along with strongarming me into going to a regular doctor, she told me to cut down on my sodium intake.

This is going to be really hard. For example, the bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Soup I’m eating right now has 1740 grams of sodium in it…290 more than DietPower recommends. With one meal, I’ve grossly overblown my daily allowance.

I’m going to have to give up on boxed and canned meals, and try to make things naturally, and avoid salting things. I can only assume that eating out isn’t a good idea either.

If anyone has any tips on limiting sodium (Mari, I know you went through this), please comment!

From Japan Today:

A record 28,364 people registered as bone marrow donors in 2004, due mainly to blockbuster movies released last year depicting characters dying of leukemia, the Japan Marrow Donor Program said Friday.

I was lucky. My brother Ben was a 6 out of 6 match for my bone marrow. AJ was a 4 out of 6.

Not everyone is going to have that great a selection.

I won’t kid you, it hurts to donate bone marrow. They drill into your pelvis and suck it out. I only went through a fraction of what Ben went through when I had my bone marrow biopsy. First there was an extraordinarily uncomfortable pressure on the bone, kind of a gritty feeling. But the vacuuming of the marrow was the worst part. It’s hard to describe how that feels. The closest I can come is that it’s like having your soul jerked from your body. I know that seems overdramatic, but what is more inner than your marrow, from which springs your lifeblood?

I had this procedure done a couple of times, each time with only one hole drilled. Ben had his marrow taken all at once, with far more taken out, and with multiple drillings. He was in so much pain that he was in tears, and Mom had to yell at the nurses to give him more morphine.

Ben was sore, unable to really move, for about a week afterwards. He sacrificed a lot to do that for me. But because of his suffering, I’m alive today.

It takes a very strong person to give bone marrow, in other words. It is, literally, the gift of life.

Here’s how you can donate, if you’re interested.

Sid has finally posted again. He doesn’t post often, and when he posts it’s not always interesting, but there are enough gems in his archives that I know I should wait for the next one. Today, he doesn’t disappoint. Any post that begins with the phrase “Tokyo is an expensive-ass city” is bound to be good.

The conclusion makes the entire piece. Enjoy.

Miss Em links to a great post by Jeff Jarvis about the VW ad, and advertising in general.

If I were you, VW, I would hold a contest to get people to create the best damned VW commercial anywhere and promise to spend big bucks to air it on, say, the Oscars. You don’t have to pick the terrorist commercial. You’ll be making clear that the thing was not made by you. At the same time, you will learn a lot about new messages that truly resonate and reverberate from your customers — because your customers are creating them. How’s that for market research?

This is the Cluetrain economy, guys: Markets are conversations. Join in the conversation, don’t try to muzzle it.

I may have to start reading this guy regularly.

I thought somebody (somewhere) might be interested in the methodology I use when crafting my timely and well-reasoned posts.

;P

So, here’s what I do: I visit links.

My Favorites are always open on the left side of my IE window. (Yes, IE. Creature of habit, I suppose.) Of the literally dozens of folders, I visit a mere few with alarming frequency: “AMRN Links”, which contains a link to the main board; “Anime”, which I really only use to get to my AnimeSuki bookmark, “Blitzkrieg Web Portals”, which takes me to My Yahoo!, MSN, CNN (occasionally), and (most importantly) Bloglines; “Blogs”, which takes me here and to Blogger to post, as well as to my del.icio.us bookmarks, smugmug, and to my friend’s joural sites; “Blogs – Interesting People”, which takes me to blogs of people I don’t know personally; and “Friends and Family”, which contains links to Box of Bunnies and das brunogekritzel (a message board for fans of Chris Baldwin’s Bruno, and the only webcomic messageboard I frequent. I go there for the discussion, not because Bruno is my favorite comic).

Now, everything in the “Blogs” folder is a subscription in Bloglines, so I actually don’t go to those sites very much unless I’m checking for new comments. Bloglines is what I am typically using when I make a post here.

What I do is this. I’ll go to my Bloglines (click here to see how my [public] feeds look) and start with the “News Aggregates” folder, which currently contains Slashdot and BoingBoing. (MetaFilter used to be in there, but I was getting overwhelmed with news.) I click on anything that sounds interesting, opening a new window, but I stay in Bloglines to finish reading the entire folder. At that point, if I have a lot of new windows open, I’ll go and read the full articles one by one, and one by one decide if I want to make a blog post about them.

After “News Aggregates”, I go to “Odd/Weird”, “Local News”, “Japan News”, “Japanese”, and “Food”. I save “Language” (which currently only contains the Language Log feed) for the end of my more informative reading, because it’s my favorite, and because I always save the best for last.

Once I’m done with my more educational reading, I move to blogs. I don’t necessarily expect to find anything newsworthy here, though it has happened. First I’ll visit “Interesting People”, to see what, for example, Jeff Laitila has to say about life in Japan. And lastly (saving the very best for last, you see), I visit “Friends”.

This is my typical methodology. If I’m in a rush when I’m reading my feeds, often I’ll save the news for later instead, so I’ll have time to think about whether or not I want to post about it. Also, sometimes I’m not in the mood to plow through a Language Log post (they are awesome, but they typically require more “processing power”), so I’ll leave those for later too. But in general, this is how I work.

Oh shit, I was going to put a zillion links in this post, but I have lost track of time and now I’m going to be late for my doctor’s appointment!

[Edit 5:00 pm]: OMG!!! Look at the art on discs 1 and 6!

Whoever put this box set together really knew their stuff!

(You may interpret the cause of the blurriness of those pictures as excitement, not laziness.)

Another quiz. Sue me. I hate dispatching ;>

You scored as Elizabeth I. I am Queen Elizabeth I of England. I am sometimes vain of my appearance, but usually level headed, though I have inherited my father’s temper. I like to put on a performance. I have a way with languages and with words. I can inspire my subjects. I also accept the counsel of those who would advise me, though I stay true to my own opinions. Elizabeth I 88% Cleopatra 79% Xena, Warrior Princess 75% Boudicca 63% Joan of Arc 33% Which Female Heroine Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

In an attempt to ensure that I wouldn’t have to do it, my coworker didn’t tell me she needed someone to cover her shift. When all her backup choices failed, this meant that I was the only one available to work. I had, literally, zero notice.

I’m glad this didn’t happen yesterday. I probably would have strangled her.

This is an interesting quiz.

You scored as Northern Virginia. Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the nation’s capitol, Northern Virginia is the place to be if you want to meet new people, work hard, and keep up on your politics. Welcome. Northern Virginia 75% Northwestern Washington State 69% Guam 63% Puerto Rico 56% Fallon, Nevada 56% Southern California 25% Where Should You Live? (US) created with QuizFarm.com

I meant to mention yesterday how absolutely fucking brilliant that day’s Penny Arcade was, but I never got around to it. Today, as I check the site, I see that there are apparently many people out there who don’t understand satire.

That’s really all I can think to say. I mean, satire is practically the cornerstone of Western civilization. Most people speak sarcastically on a daily basis.

I’m not sure where these stupid people came from, but as is tradition, they emerged in force.

Luke linked today to The Gender Genie, which purports to be able to tell your sex (gender?) based on your prose. I submitted my most recent post, which I will readily admit was influenced by Stephen R. Donaldson’s writing style, and got the following:

Words: 344

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 247

Male Score: 784

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

When I clicked the link to tell it that it was wrong, I got the following note in a pop-up:

That is one butch chick.

The window went on to helpfully mention that

According to Koppel and Argamon, the algorithm should predict the gender of the author approximately 80% of the time.

I figured I’d try another post, so I picked my ramble about Aishiteruze Baby. Here are the results:

Words: 908

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 1538

Male Score: 1531

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Okay, so, I’m only a woman by a matter of seven points. Guess I blog like a guy!

Next I thought I’d shift gears and try a short story.

Words: 1482

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 2271

Male Score: 1592

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Ah-ha! (Though I’m concerned about whether I picked the correct option. Fiction? Nonfiction? I mean…it’s nonfiction. It happened. But I wrote it for my fiction class, because I’m a n00b. Regardless, I put “nonfiction” in, so there you go.)

Okay, one more test…this time from a diary entry from when I was 13.

Words: 859

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 1754

Male Score: 1638

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS!!!

It would appear, inconclusively, based on this tiny smattering of data, that I sound the most like a woman when I am storytelling rather than rambling. Good to know!

(This post will seem odd to all but a very few of you. All will be explained in time.)

This morning I was driven to the most desperate, urgent point of nerves, enough that I felt sick, enough that small things irritated me and I raised my voice at a wonderful lady, enough that I left curtly and slammed the door, enough that I cursed, loud and long, as I threw myself into my car and drove to the post office.

I had to fight to keep from yelling as I sneered at a woman who parked close to the door. Unlike you, I can manage to walk more than ten feet, I spewed at her mentally, wheeling into a space across the way. Striding into the post office, I labored for control of myself, clutching the thin parcel in my arms as if it could somehow give me strength.

It wasn’t long before I was forcing politeness to the lady at the counter, paying her with my check card, and finally moving out of the building and back to my car.

And then I burst into tears.

Nervous! I realized, and said aloud, “I’m nervous!” The nausea, the snappishness, the anger over inconsequential things…I knew, dimly, that I was going to have to apologize to my coworkers, but at that point I was too gripped with the knowledge of my emotions to ponder on it.

Nervous! I sobbed and stopped myself, repeatedly, as I drove away from the post office, up Old Evans Road, and turned left on Washington. I chose to drown my fear in a McRib sandwich and a low-fat Berry Berry smoothie. It was very difficult not to cry at the drive-thru.

Now, I’m calmer. But that desperation still thrums within me, making me restless. I won’t know something until next week, and even then it will only be preliminary. My mind is filled with the word Please.

Please. Please see what I see. See that this is perfect, this is how things should be. Let me have my dream.

You scored as Hermione Granger. You’re one intelligent witch, but you have a hard time believing it and require constant reassurance. You are a very supportive friend who would do anything and everything to help her friends out. Hermione Granger 85% Draco Malfoy 75% Harry Potter 75% Ron Weasley 70% Albus Dumbledore 65% Ginny Weasley 65% Sirius Black 60% Remus Lupin 55% Severus Snape 50% Lord Voldemort 25% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is…? created with QuizFarm.com

Look how close I came to being Draco Malfoy! And isn’t it interesting that he and Harry are tied in my personality?

I wonder if there’s a “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Alter Ego” quiz.

Probably not.

(If there was, though, I bet I’d be Atiaran…:P)

I’m tired and crabby. That alone would be okay I guess. But as I was leaning over to read the teeny tiny print on the new Famous Dave’s menu updates, I felt a sudden surge of bile in my throat, and I coughed and swallowed at once.

Now I feel just like Thomas Covenant during the beginning of the Quest, when Drool kept reaching out and “biting” him with the power of the Staff of Law. I’m afraid to move or cough improperly lest I feel like vomiting. I even had to put a post-it over the picture of Dave on this menu, because he’s holding a huge rack of ribs and his mouth is wide open, and the sight makes me sick to my stomach.

So yes, I would rather be at home, reading Lord Foul’s Bane, than here, squinting at small print and editing database entries.

Ah well. Such is life.