why doesn't this surprise me? Hi-tech workplace no better than factories. 08:54 am

i'm rather glad my parent's never resorted to nailing my feet to the floor. 08:46 am

yesterday was self-portrait day. my wonderful neck scar is visible. and i managed to catch jason looking grim. more ... 08:36 am

yesterday, after the fun of my annual gyn appt, we went to fry's. i seem to have a hard time *not* buying anything there. it's kind of like costco. impossible to get out without spending over $100. which is why i spent last night playing Ratchet and Clank. excellent game. i just wish i could take it to sacramento with me. 08:25 am

ugh. driving up to sacramento this afternoon. we're taking the dogs since jason's dad is in love with them and wants to take care of them over christmas while we're in oregon. i'm gonna try to forget to pick them up. unfortunately, this means we have no excuse not to stay overnight. which means we're staying both tonight and tomorrow night. ick. what's worse is that jason's dad thinks that jason is a computer customer support person. he'll be spending hours installing programs and a printer. 08:18 am

andrea recommended this bark collar. jason actually found the (1) citronella collar that we have. of course, it needs a battery and a refill. jason keeps adamantly claiming that neither the shock collar or the citronella actually work. i still don't believe him. 08:15 am

i find it rather revolting that eugenics was still happening as late as 1981. it's something that i always think happened in the 19th century or in ww2. what's worse is that they're not apologizing for it, they're celebrating how much they've progressed. isn't it great that they 20 years ago they stopped acting like nazis? 08:12 am

which is worse? thanks andrea. 11:29 am

is it so bad that your TiVo Thinks You Are Gay? 10:55 am

i find it extremely irritating that none of the address search sites will give me a complete address without charge. i'm trying to send out xmas cards and all i need is the street number for jason's dad and i can't get anything but the city, state & zip. grrr. 10:07 am

my vns was turned on yesterday, unfortunately only for 1/2 an hour. i fully blame jason. my voice has been screwed up ever since my surgery. probably because the area around my throat wound is still swollen. apparently, i'm the first person out of the 75 they've done to have this problem. while they didn't really know what was going on, and they were planning on talking to the neurosurgeon, jason decided to ask if the electric pulses could make my throat worse or stop it from healing. annoyingly, my doctor decided that it wasn't worth the risk. so they turned it off.

they couldn't find the surgeon, so i was going to have to come back for another appt. luckily for jason, who hates taking me to the doctor, the surgeon showed up while i was checking out. i made him take a look. he had no idea what it was, but ordered x-rays. and agreed that i shouldn't have it turned on until my voice got better. sigh. 08:54 am

while searching for our old bark collars yesterday, which i did *not* find, i found my yoyo and silly putty. i promptly discovered that maddie likes to play yoyo. well, more like she likes to try and bite it while i toss it. i don't think she's quite sane. 08:47 am

more... 08:44 am

08:52 am

Mobile keypad gets real. now that would be a vast improvement on my mobile phone. a real keypad. 10:35 pm

Microsoft plans online life archive. i'm sorry but backup brain is already taken as a concept. 10:33 pm

more... 11:33 am

i go through phases where i feel compelled to take pictures. probably because i've been drooling over a new 3 megapixel camera.


more... 10:37 am

The Myth of Potent Pot. 03:22 pm

Woman Attempts All-`Man-Juice' Diet. unless the "man-juice" makes her so nauseus that she can't drink all those banana smoothies, she's never gonna lose any weight. who told her smoothies were a good diet drink? 03:06 pm

woot! tape is finally off. and yes, i took great pleasure in peeling it off this morning. i'm surprised at how little scabbing there is. some parts are almost completely sealed up. the cuts are longer than i expected by about 1/2 inch. don't trust doctors when they hold their fingers together. while they *say* the incision will be about 2in, they're holding their fingers about 1.5in apart. very misleading. 10:22 am

i get the impression that penbid has a much more realistic valuation/bidding than ebay. 04:45 pm

the Fountain Pen Hospital is a bad place to shop if you're obsessed with pens. you may find yourself wanting to buy limited editions, until you look at the price tag of course. 03:39 pm

i've been watching a lot of the fine living channel lately. i find it rather disturbing how well they've geared their programming towards me. at least the "concept" of their programming. the verdict is still out on how much "meat" there is. one show that i do really like is The Genuine Article. yesterday's show was on watches and pens. unfortunately, it reminded me of my obsession with pens. while drooling over the $200+ models, i managed to rein myself in and settled for the lower end model. it would have been easier if jason hadn't insisted i use my paypal money :( 03:29 pm

i had actually decided *not* to mention the laxative thing, but since andrea did it for me, i'd like to comment that tylenol 3/codeine makes you constipated. it's important to take the laxative that they offer you and the laxative they prescribe to you. 4 days is just a little too long for anyone's comfort. 01:52 pm

btw, i get this thing turned on next monday. i know everyone will be hanging off the edge of their seats waiting for me to report back that i haven't noticed any changes, but one can always hope. 05:06 pm

hmmm. i thought i'd posted this, but maybe i just dreamt that i did. the thing about codeine dreams is that they seem so real. like sunday evening i dreamt that i'd opened the front door and my cat had just walked right in. i even commented to her how surprising that was since she usually requires coaxing or the pet and grab maneuver. unfortunately, i woke up an hour later only to find that she wasn't inside.

surgery sucked. it hurt afterwards. they shoved a tube down my throat and it pissed me off because they didn't tell me they were going to do that. but mostly i was hating life in general until saturday afternoon. by saturday i'd managed to get the codeine schedule down pat so that i never really came down.

several important things to remember if you're ever in the hospital. (1) exaggerate your pain level. when they ask how much you hurt on a scale from 1-10, make sure you add a few for good measure. (2) if they offer pain medication take it. you may not need it at that moment, but an hour later when you're screaming for it, they won't be around. (3) when they ask if you have any allergies, make sure you say you're allergic to plastic tape. otherwise, you'll wake up with saran wrap glued to your body for several days and discover a nice rash when you take it off. (4) your doctor will never show up post-op. when they tell you he does his rounds early in the morning, don't believe them. at whatever time you were supposed to get out, make them call up someone, anyone, so that you can be released. waiting for your doctor to show up means you will spend the rest of the day hooked up to an i.v., wearing a gown, sexy white stockings and foot-booties. (5) before you go into surgery make sure you trade in your s.o. for the sympathetic model. i got asked at least 10 times who was waiting for me, and got pitying looks whenever i said "no one". so many looks, i felt compelled to add "but my husband's going to come by after work". for some reason, that only got me even more pitying looks. aside from the hospital staff thinking you're a loser, the sympathy upgrade will mean that your husband won't expect you to cook and clean for at least a week after surgery. unfortunately, i hadn't realized the importance of this. maybe it should be in bold. (6) when they say it's only minor surgery, but you'll be under general anesthetic, don't think that means it will hurt any less than major surgery. it just means the recovery time is shorter. (7) recovery room nurses aren't very nice. when asked if i was in pain, i replied "yes, my wounds hurt." the nurse's response? "well, of course it hurts, you just got out of surgery." also remember that if you try to pull off the oxygen mask, they *will* put you in restraints. (no, it didn't happen to me, just to the guy across from me. it was however, memorable enough to have penetrated the anesthesia haze.) (8) don't eat quickly the morning after surgery, even if you're really hungry. you may throw up and then they won't let you leave until you've kept a meal down.

i've finally weaned myself off the codeine, which may or may not be a good thing. i've still got 10 or so left just in case i need a vacation. and i actually left the house today, so i must not be an invalid anymore. but don't tell jason, i'm not getting enough sympathy as it is. to sum it all up, if this thing doesn't work, i will *not* be getting it removed. i think i'll try to avoid that kind of living hell for the rest of my life.

all in all, i'm doing pretty good now. although i'm having a hard time refraining from peeling off the tape. i'm supposed to let water run over it in the shower and eventually it'll "lift off" but i think it needs some encouragement around the edges. i had wondered why my fingers were sticking to the keyboard. 04:41 pm

woot! icq finally created a way to find out your icq #. unsurprisingly, i have 2 since last time i couldn't remember my # and signed up again and promptly forgot that # too. icq #21091860. now i have a record of it. i also need to remember aim: eatonweb and y!m: brig_ there, now i'll never forget. 11:29 am

i'm thinking that it's time for a new pda. my palm v is almost 4 years old now. a little bit dated. so i'm drooling over the sony clie PEG-NX70V. 10:11 am

having surgery for my vns today. i'm feeling a little queasy. but i think it's from lack of sleep and having to eat at 7am. i was *allowed* 1/2 a protein bar and 1 cup of clear liquid. hopefully i'll feel better as that gets digested. 08:44 am

omg! i wouldn't have believed he could look any worse. 10:39 am

You Are a Suspect. ugh, that's really scary. 10:32 am

my beta of everquest online adventures for the ps2 yesterday. too bad i can't play it unless i shell out $250 for a wireless lan. 11:01 am

lol. thanks andrea. 10:15 am

Tablets Mightier Than the Keyboard? 02:20 pm

cafepress now lets you sell calendars. my mind is churning with the possibilities for this one. 11:58 am

Ecstasy 'could aid Parkinson's patients'. why is it that drugs that help people are immediately abandoned because they're illegal? it's just plain stupid. 02:41 pm

Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus is the best ps2 game i've played this year. the story line is great, the cell-shaded graphics are awesome, the play is smooth and the perfect difficulty level and the thief moves are just too cool for words. buy it. 09:08 am

weird. the portal is taking forever to load. i wonder if it's been mentioned somewhere. 08:53 am

The Color of Cool. i could have told him that blue led's used to be too expensive. back in 1995, when i was working at eip, they were debating whether it was worth the cost of such an expensive item in their latest product. they're being used now because they look better and they don't cost so much anymore. 08:50 am

to heart. 08:52 am

Slobs Make Better Lovers. "Despite the messy socks-good sex connection, the people at IKEA maintain that being organized is a good thing." hmmmm. i think i would disagree with that one. 08:49 am

why on earth did this person feel the need to create blogwise? aside from the fact that it offers nothing new as far as directories go, running one is a lot of unappreciated, unfulfilling work. 08:45 am

hehe. RIAA Wants Background Checks on CD-RW Buyers

"A CD-RW can be a dangerous weapon when it falls into the wrong hands," said RIAA President Hilary Rosen, "You wouldn't sell a gun to a convicted felon and you shouldn't sell a CD-RW drive to a Gnutella user."

Morocco's miracle mule 'confirmed'. weird. after all these years of knowing that mules are sterile. 08:27 am

working on my dad's marketing plan, we were talking about mass mailings. so, i just decided to see what the prices were online. i've spent the last hour drooling at the usps online services. aside from all the useful business stuff, you can use it to send your christmas cards. it's too cool for words. and now, i have to spend the next hour designing our xmas cards... 07:22 pm