The Dreaded Eeewww Factor...

This will be another short post today.  I'm a bit worn out.  The battle of the flea rages on.  We thought we were getting the upper hand in the war,  maybe not.  My roomie kept a rolling cart near her computer to hold things & a couple of those things lately have been two of the cats sleeping on the top shelf of the cart.

It was a little annoying for her, but she let them stay.  She cleaned the shelf occasionally & had done so just a week prior to get a lot cat fur off of it.  She picked up a crate, to get something out of it & saw more fur.   So she emptied the shelf to clean off the fur.  That's when it happened.

The shelf was covered in fur, flea dirt, eggs & worst off all squirming flea larvae.  The revulsion was awful & the mess was worse.  The clean up began in earnest.  The cart was drug outside & scrubbed & sprayed & scrubbed some more.  Then came spraying the area where it had been.  Then vacuuming the whole area.  

We are both disgusted & exhausted.  But the battle of the flea has been halted for the moment.

Hope you have a good, flea-less day

Here Comes The Sun...

The past few days we've worked our way into the 90's F.  That really isn't that hot, but add the humidity into the mix & things start getting unpleasant.  I used to love the summer as a kid & even as a twenty-something.  But when I started getting ill, the sun was just too much.

After being diagnosed as +, they put me on several drugs & many of them cause reactions to excessive heat & can make you extremely photosensitive.  The straight heat I can handle for quite a bit.  However, I do not fair so well with humidity or bright summer light.  I can go out in the heat for a bit & be OK, but let me be in direct sun & within five minutes I'm heading back into the house.

HIV patients can react in a multitude of ways to be photosensitive.  I wind up depleted, exhausted & with migraine symptoms.  + people can also suffer more from heat stress.  I know that I can't handle the heat nearly as well as I used to & I don't think this one is just from being older.

If you are +, then you need to make sure to watch your temperature & hydration.  Do not play games with summer heat & humidity, it can kill you.  Remember to take breaks out of the sun & drink plenty of fluids.  Pay attention to you meds & see if they are adding to your issues with heat & sunlight.  

Here's hoping you're staying cool

Irritation...

My roomie & me decided to go see the movie Thor today.  We had read the reviews & opted not to see it in 3D.  It'd been a few months since I had been to a theater.  We wanted to get out of the house & just have a fun day.  Going to a movie sounded like a reasonably good idea.

Oh what little we knew.  In February when I went by myself, I paid $8 for the non-matinee ticket & $4 for my drink.  I thought $12 was expensive, but it had been a while since we had gone out anywhere, so what the hell?  Right? Hah!  Let's take a look at those prices, shall we?

Two matinee tickets came to:   $12

Theater special for two large drinks & popcorn cost:  $18

Gas over to the theater in Fort Smith, AR cost:  $10

That comes to a total of:

Now, if I had gotten candy at the theater for the both of us, it would've tacked on $10 more.  That would've been a total of $50.   I would've been another $6 if the movie had been in 3D. I pay around $19 a month for Netflix & can see all the movies the mail can get or that I watch on streaming.  

It's hard to enjoy a movie when you feel like you just got gouged.  There is no movie out there worth paying $20 + to see.  I realize that the gas cost isn't the theater's fault, but still we all have to pay gas to get to theater, so I think it should be taken into consideration.  

Oh well, Thor was an OK movie & this was a lesson learned.  A sad lesson, I used to love going to the theater, but I can't afford to pay that much to see a movie.  Good-bye theater, it was nice knowing you.  Now it's just Netflix & me.

Hope you had a good holiday weekend.

Cards We're Dealt...

Many of us would like it if the hand life dealt us looked like the one above.  However, that isn't usually the case.  Yeah, some people have that hand dealt to them & some figure out ways to get to that point.  For most of us though, Our hands look more like this.

What the hell are you supposed to do with that?  When's the last time a pair of deuces won a hand?  Well, you have options:

1. Hope you're not playing Five Card Stud.
2. Cash out & cut your losses before they get any worse.
3. Bluff like hell.

People with hands like this learn to adjust & to adapt to the situation at hand.  These people have two choices, take life as it's thrown at them or make their own luck.  The one's who get the super royal flush hand don't have to adapt or change.  Therefore, they have little call to ever learn anything new.  Why should they adapt when the have the perfect hand?   They are counting on nothing ever changing & that is rarely the case. What will they do if & when they meet another person holding the same hand in a different suit?

My roomie plays The Sims.  She's not as much of a junkie about it as she used to be & that is entirely the game designer's fault.  Maxis, the developer of the game dropped the ball on the latest edition of The Sims.  They led people to believe that there would be more development with the game than there has been.  Gamers respond to this type of situation in many ways they might; stop playing the game, refuse to buy any more product from the developer,  download custom made content or take the matter into their own hands.

My roomie opted to play less & not purchase any further content.  However, yesterday she found that another player had taken the matter into her own hands.  One of the add-ons to this version was Sims: World Adventures.  This introduced three distinct lands to the game.  These brought in new skills & activities.   The idea was that Maxis would continue to develop new worlds.  They did it once with a piratey one  & charged an unrealistic amount.  This world wasn't well received & they haven't bothered to produce anymore. 

The player in question on the hand did continue development.  She developed an entire world based on a moon base.  She not only developed it, she did so in a more fully rendered & flushed out manner than any of the other preceding worlds.  Guess what, she put it online & it was free.  Add to that, she wasn't the only one.  There are other player developed worlds out there for my roomie to explore via Sims.  Great, the addiction is back.

The point is no matter how crappy a hand you've been dealt, if you try, you can make it work for you.

Have a good day

TGIF...

It's Friday & most of the crap we have to do this week has been done.  We're still at war with the fleas, but we've amped up our efforts..  We decided to give flea collars a chance to see if they could at least dampen the fleas' enthusiasm some.  The exterminator is returning today to do a second round of flea control on the yard.  I guess we just sprayed too early this year.  Not to mention, the yard treatment got washed away by torrential rains & high winds in our area.  

Hopefully this time it will work & the fleas will die.  I know I'm writing about fleas a lot lately, but the little pests drive me crazy.  Every time a hair on my arm moves I look to make sure it isn't a flea. Well, the Bug Man arriveth so I've got to go.

Cya next time, best of luck to you

A Chilly Day...

Woke up to a slightly chilly morning.  Actually, woke up the first time at just past 4 AM.  There was a a loud beep.  Then a few minutes later another one, then another one. I got up & finally tracked the damnedable  beeping sound down.  It was the carbon monoxide detector.  Apparently it's batteries were dying.  It was unceremoniously yanked from the ceiling & sat aside so that I could go back to sleep.  Hah.  A few minutes later it beeped again.  I hadn't completely taken the batteries out of the awful thing.

By the time I went back to bed it had grown a bit sticky & so I turned on the fan.  When I woke the air was much crisper & I was under covers.  This day was not starting off well & I wasn't even out of bed yet.

I wound oversleeping a bit & I have things to get done, so this post will be short.  I will leave you with a video that somewhat illustrated how I felt last night.  

Dammit... I Am Just Not That Handy...

I admit it, I am not that handy of a person.  I will do what I can, but that is at best limited.   I hate to paint.  I am not a fan of power tools (the noise & vibration).  My ventures into plumbing end at installing a new faucet. I avoid most yard work because of allergies.  However, today, I had to be somewhat handy.  Damn.

We've had a lot more storms here recently, we're just a few couple of hours south of Joplin, Missouri.  Which largely looks like the pictures above due to a storm earlier this week.  My area was lucky, there was just a lot of wind damage in the area.

The rain gutters weren't so fortunate.  They were pulled away from the roof.  I thought, surely I can tighten up some loose screws or even drill a few more in to the soffit.  Hah.  This old house is a grand old bitch.  Adding to the lack of upkeep on the place, was the complete idiocy of whoever installed the gutters in the first place.

The gutters were installed with 1 inch metal screws.  Metal screws that were drilled into questionable wood.  Instead of anchoring the gutter with long gutter screws & ferrules into the fascia board & header, they mounted it onto a tiny add-on strip of 1x2 strapping.   This placed the gutter almost an inch from the actual house & allowed all sorts of crap to get behind the gutter, like dirt, ice & pissed off wasps.

I live in a town where NO ONE seems to know how to do the simplest of construction skills. So I, the one with little, to no knowledge of these things, attempted to fix it.  In the back, there was no lowered soffit panel, so I anchored the gutter on both sides with a bolt fastened with a nut & washers on both sides of the bolt.  In the front, there was a soffit panel in the way so I stuck with self-sealing metal roofing bolts.

Will it hold?  For now, but probably not for long.  Once they come down again, it's so long gutters.  I checked around & just for someone to do what little I did would've cost over $300.  To have the whole gutter system replaced would've been closer to $600 - 800.   & there is absolutely no guarantee that the next people would do any better of a job than the one I'm dealing with now.  That also fails to take into account for all the wood on the fascia that would need replacing.  So the total would probably be closer to $800 to $1,000.

I hate maintenance...

Tell me again about the joys of owning your own home.

Hope you're all doing well wherever you are.

Seasonal Stickage...

It was that time again.  This morning I went down to get my quarterly blood draw.  Here's hoping the lab doesn't screw it up & make me get stuck again.   Even to this day, I am no fan of needles.  I count myself lucky though, I could have to drive all the way to the next town just to get my labs done.  That'd suck.  Pain in the arm & the wallet.

So it's time to see what the test can tell me:  I usually get four:

1. CD4
2. CBC
3. CMP
4. HIV - VL Ultrasensitive Quantitative 

Sometime I have to get a Fasting Lipid Panel, for cholesterol.   The CD4 & HIV - VL are fairly specific to HIV patients.  The CD4 is looking for CD4 molecules in the blood that aid in viral repression.  The VL or viral load, is looking to see how much of the virus is actually in your blood.  The CBC & CMP are general labs drawn to check blood count & blood traits.

I wait & hope for no mess ups.  Then I'll get my results.  My numbers are never as high as they'd like, but they are consistent.  

I'll see my Dr. via telemedicine in the middle of June.  It's always an event.  I still get a little anxious.  I don't like to go, but I do.  The bus wobbles & their are strange people there, but it's better than driving  120+ miles one way to Tulsa, OK like I used to have to do.  

Oh well, that's weeks away.  Have a good day & I'll leave you with another video.

We Meet Again...

Yes, Humidity, my old nemesis, we meet again.  Humidity is the name of a demon from some hell dimension.  It is torment to man, beast, house & even electronics.  It can interfere with an animal's ability to regulate it's own heat.  It can lead to condensation in household/construction materials & electronics.  It comes in two forms High & Low.  Low is more prevalent in the winter & equally as damaging.

Low Humidity can dry out just about anything.  It can leave your skin like a dessert river bed.  It can dry out & warp materials like wood.  This can cause problems with floors, windows & even wooden instruments.  Another problem with humidity on the low end is static.  Static electricity can fry electronics.

Oklahoma is part of the southern United States, thankfully towards the upper part of that region.  Because the south seems to have cornered the market on High Humidity in the U.S.  High humidity is only friendly to tropical plants.   Higher humidity levels can lead to a host of health issues.  It interferes with the body's ability to cool itself & can lead to a host of heat related illnesses. Humidity at this range can also mess with electronics via condensation.  

It isn't that hot today, only about 82 F.  However, there is a 85% humidity level making it feel like it's in the upper 80's & possibly into the low 90's.   Again, that's not that hot, but sticky is just miserable.  So the fans are blowing & the pets are panting.  But this is just the beginning.  Summer hasn't even got started yet. Oh Yippee.

Wherever you are, best wishes to you...

The War Rages On...

The war on fleas that is.  Fleas are just plain nasty business.   There is nothing redeemable about a flea, ask your dog or cat.  Fleas are one natures nasty, little, vampires just waiting to get staked, sprayed, squashed, vacuumed or whatever other means you may use to implement their demise.

Fleas are irritants.  They bother your animals & you.  They are annoying to deal with & can be expensive to treat.  Another problem is that my cats are allergic/sensitive to most the flea treatments on the market.  We used to use bio-spot topical & it worked right up until the point the company changed their formula.  Not only did the new formula not kill fleas, it nearly killed our cats.

After researching & discovering that most of the other products on the market such as: powders, shampoos, sprays or things like CapStar were either completely impotent against fleas or lose their potency within days, if not hours, we turned to other options.

We opted for the home-remedy approach & it works fairly well, but it's a fair amount of work.  Do take care of your lawn.  Hire it done or do it yourself, but if the lawn isn't treated, nothing else you do will matter.  Then clean & vacuum  like there's no tomorrow & don't stop until flea season ends.  Quickly dispose of any vacuumed up matter in a sealed plastic bag & clean out your vacuum's cannister.  

You can employ various herbs & essential oils to fight fleas.  Google this & you'll find lots of sites.  Be careful not to gas yourself out of the house with these oils.  Use lavender soap or fragrance on everything you can.  Finally, use a flea comb on your cat daily.

We recently found a new product that sounded promising, Sentry Natural Defense Squeeze on for Cats.  It sounded great until I researched it.  Like I've said before, always research your herbals, so that you know what you're getting yourself into.  This thing had horrible reviews ranging from useless to toxic. Very few gave this product good reviews & the threat to my cats' health is too great to risk it.  

We are left with daily diligence & cleaning practices.   Death to all fleas...

Have a good day & may the fleas not come calling at your house...

Dark Days & Misadventures...

The season is upon us, the flea season that is.  We have already dealt with the yard & have begun the near constant ritual vacuuming.  I hate fleas.  Fleas make the cats nervous & cranky.  Therefore everyone else has to deal with the issue.  The worse part about this isn't really even the fleas.  We have two cats that are allergic & once they even think about a flea bite, they start yanking out their fur.  

I've been looking into alternative flea solutions.  Our cats can not tolerate the topical flea treatments.  We used them up until a few years ago & the topical treatments nearly killed our cats.  So the alternative war began. We use the following:

1. Vacuuming as often as possible.
2. Always dump the vacuum into a plastic bag to prevent escape.
3. Lavender scented everything, fleas hate it.
4. The dreaded cat bath, not sure who dreads it more, us or them.
5. Apple Cider Vinegar wipe helps with fur shine & acts as a repellent.
6. Household flea spray on the carpets.
7. Diatomaceous Earth (Food Grade) kills lots of bugs.
8. Keeping laundry from acting as a cat bed.
9. Soapy water filled flea traps at night.
10. Flea comb the cats until their nearly bald.

The problem is that there are outdoor animals which are not being treated.  They bring fleas near the house.  We decided to do something about it.  That's where the misadventure came into play.

I stopped by Petco, the worst pet store, ever.  To pick up some flea powder.   We decided to try the powder because we had awful luck with the sprays.   Petco, always one to fail, did not have any powder.  They were also out of the herbal topical I wanted to try.  So I decided to go to our local pet store to see what they had.

I hit the health food store to check on lavender essential oil, OUCH, $18.00 + tax, for less than two ounces.  This is a time for online shopping.  Then we tried to go to the other pet store.  No luck, they arbitrarily decided to close on this Friday.  It looks like online will be the way to go for us.

Got home & are were welcomed by dark skies & half-hearted rain.  

May your adventures fair better than mine

Thursday...

Well, it's back to Thursday again & I've been posting about supplements stuff for the past few days.  Today, I'm going to change gears a bit & talk about some things I'm happy with recently.

I'm happy that Brittani won America's Next Top Model.  It was an enjoyable season of the show.  Sometimes you know the winner from almost the first day, but not this time.   

I am happy that Boston Rob finally won & is no longer the Susan Lucci of Survivor.  It was a good season & well played.

I am happy the Voice is doing well.  I am happy to no longer be watching American Idol.  I don't have to look  at those people anymore. 

Albeit, I am happy that Smallville is over, I will miss the character, Chloe Sullivan.  Best wishes to Allison Mack's career.

Finally, I am very happy that they saved NCIS: Los Angeles.  That means I get more Hetty.  Love Linda Hunt.

Well, those are some things that I am happy about, what about you? And no, they don't have to revolve around TV.

Cya

Stevia...

Years ago I switched to Diet Coke.  It wasn't for a caloric issue, it was for the sugar issue.  At that time, the majority of my dietary intake consisted of Coke & Snickers & the occasional protein.  I didn't have a weight issue then, but I figured I should cut back on my sugar intake. So I did.  Diet Coke & Diet Dr. Pepper were the only two diet soda that were out back then that I could stand.  I still hate Diet Pepsi.  

Within the past few years I've weaned myself off of most sugar for drinks.  I went with Nutrasweet or Aspartame.   In the last couple of years I've tried the Splenda or sucralose.  I do not like Splenda at all.  It's way to sweet & has a weird back taste.  Splenda was out.

Now, the problem was that aspartame came with its own issues.  It has been alleged that aspartame can lead to a host of dangerous physical reactions.  I don't know if they are true or not.  What I do know is that drinking things with aspartame did have it's effects on me.

• A near constant slight headache
• An increased craving for sweets
• Memory issues
• Fuzzy vision not associated with allergies
• Slight bulging of the eyes
• Tinnitus
• Drowsiness
• Numbness in the limbs
• Restless Legs
• Increased emotionality 

Now, I am not saying that all these things were the direct result of exposure to aspartame.  But I will say that since I have switched about half of what drink to stevia sweetened beverages, these symptoms have  markedly decreased.

Stevia comes in an extract or a powder.  It does come already mixed into some things & there is even a line of soda available.  I haven't tried the soda yet, it's expensive & I'm picky on my pop.  I like stevia, not enough to make my own extracts, but I like using it.   Since I've introduced it into my diet, I've noticed that my palate is much cleaner & I taste things with more precision or exactness. 

I am  not going to tell you that stevia will save your life, but I will say that it isn't too expensive & it works for me.  I buy my online, because the local stores tend to be pricey on it.  Again, do your research & see if you have any potential for unwanted outcomes from stevia.  But, I think you'll like it.

Have a good one...

Omega 3...

Omega 3 is a fatty acid with a ton of health benefits.   They range from aiding in cardiovascular health to lessening chances for some cancers to occur.  Now, I remind you as I said about cinnamon, omega 3 supplements can have interactions with your medications & your current health situation.  Do your research & talk to your health professional to see if this a good supplement for you.   There are risks with this & almost every supplement.

I take omega 3 to aid with inflammation, digestion & it is supposed to aid in memory/brain function.  Who doesn't want a better memory?  It does seem to aid in these things.  Again, this is not an immediate reaction, give it time to build up in your system.

To the choices.  You can get omega 3's through your diet.  Many foods have the nutrient in them & if  you consume enough of these foods, then you'd have your daily allowance.  However, most of us don't.  Past your diet, you have fish oil pills & flax oil pills.  

I started out on fish oil pills.  Fish is considered to be a better source of omega 3's than plants.  However, there are some considerations that may not make this the best choice.  Fish oil can be contaminated by pollutants with things such as mercury.  Fish oil can also contain high levels of active vitamin A.  Finally, it is from fish & this might not set well with vegetarians.  For some people it can cause nausea & diarrhea.  It did that to me & I simply do not need any more digestive distress in my life than my HIV meds already cause me.

Then there is flax seed oil.  It may have a lower content of the omega 3's but it will suit vegetarians.  Now flax seed oil can also can digestive distress, but it seems to less frequently than fish oil.  So far it hasn't bothered me. Flax seed oil pills are now part of my daily supplement intake.

If you start taking supplements, remember to introduce them one at a time.  Start one & give it a while, at least a week, before starting to take any others.  That way if you have a reaction, you can at least have some idea what it was to.  Dietary reactions can be serious.

It's sunny here today, I hope it's pleasant wherever you are...

Cinnamon...

Cinnamon is a spice derived from the bark of a tree with numerous uses from cooking to repelling pests to medicinal.   The medicinal value of cinnamon is diverse from aiding in smoking cessation to digestive issues.  But I tend to take it for other reasons.  Besides being a good sources of various nutrients cinnamon has three benefits that got my attention. 

The first is that it helps control cholesterol.  After I went on my HIV meds I gained a lot of weight from being on steroids for my breathing.  Luckily I am no longer on them, but the weight remained & my metabolism was shot.  Any one even a little over weight needs to be concerned about higher cholesterol levels.  Not that weight & cholesterol levels always correlate, but they often do.  Cinnamon can aid in lowering LDL cholesterol levels.

In addition to cholesterol, any one overweight, especially if they have any Native American blood in their heritage, needs to be concerned about their sugar levels.  Sugar levels can be associated with diabetes.  Cinnamon has been shown to aid in regulating insulin levels.  Some people combine their cinnamon intake with apple cider vinegar to aid in weight loss.

Another reason I take cinnamon is for aches, especially joint aches.  Many of my meds list aches as a possible reaction to the medication.  Cinnamon can aid with lessening these aches for me & for people with arthritis.  It doesn't completely take away the big aches, but it does dull them considerably.  Which results in me taking fewer pain medications.

Cinnamon can be taken via pills/capsules or via the spice itself.  You need about 1000 mg. daily or about a good solid teaspoon.   If you can get this much uncooked cinnamon into your diet daily, then go for it.  Do yourself a favor & don't try & take it by the spoonful, you'll regret it.  Cinnamon absorbs water & will close your throat if you don't drink a lot of water with it.  Even if you take the capsules remember to drink a lot of water with the pills.  If you don't you can get a cinnamon burp & imitate a dragon.  Trust me, it isn't pleasant.

You have to remember, as with any supplement, the effect isn't instantaneous.  It took about a month for me to really start noticing the effects of the cinnamon.  However, I have to say after that time I deal with far less aches & the ones I have are nowhere as bad as they used to be.  The swings in my sugar level are drastically lessened.   In addition, between this & apple cider vinegar I've had good results from my cholesterol tests.

Before you start taking cinnamon or really any supplement you should research it & check for any possible side effects that might affect you. You also need to check to see if any supplement your interested in taking might interact with any medication that you may be on at the time.  Many supplements do interact with each other & medications.   Google it or ask your pharmacist.

Here's to cinnamon...

ACV ...

I've mentioned before that I take some supplements.  The one's I take can usually be bought at any big-box store. I am not a supplement nut, however, my Dr. suggested that I take some due to the fact that some of the medications that I'm on may wash out some nutrients from the body.  It was suggested that I take a multi-vitamin & a B-complex.

I have added a few that I take daily or near daily. I'll talk about them over the next few days.   The first is apple cider vinegar or ACV.  Some people swear by the filtered, others the unfiltered.  I think it's personal preference.   ACV has been said to aid with weight loss, lowering triglycerides, lowering blood pressure, improving digestion, improving skin condition & much more.

I usually take it two to three times a day after meals.  I take 2 teaspoons mixed with an equal or more amount of water, then chased with more water.  It took about a month for me to notice any changes, but I did notice changes.  It did lower my triglycerides.  My blood pressure dropped about ten points.  It also dampen my appetite.

I use ACV in a variety of ways now.  It really helps with household cleaning.  I keep it in my shower & spray it on after wards.  Then I wait a bit, then rinse.  It seems to help keep the body oil & sebum down a bit.  It also makes hair shinier.   Past that I add a bit (1/4 tsp) to the cats water daily.  That helps keep the water bowls clean & it cuts down some on flea issues.  I also rub it on the cats' fur when they have flea issues.  Fleas are not fond of ACV.

There are tons of uses for ACV, just google it.  Perhaps the simplest is to take 3 tsp of ACV, 1 - 2 tsp Oil, a little salt, pepper & whatever spice you like  & mix them up.  there you have a very simple salad dressing or vinaigrette.  If you do a dressing like that once a day, you can cut out one dose of the ACV.

Apple Cider Vinegar is amazing stuff, I hope you look into it...

Have a great Sunday...

Saturday the 14th...

Today is Saturday the 14th.  It has it's own movie just like the previous day.  A lot of people have issues with Friday the 13th.  I'm not one of them.  If anything, I always sort of looked forwards to them.  I do not suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia  or Parakevidekatriaphobia, the fear of the dreaded Friday the 13th.

What I do suffer from is Schadenfreude.  I do take a bit of joy in seeing others preoccupation with the superstition revolving around this day.  All the effort it must take to live a life filled with such anguish over a day that could appear on the calendar up to three times in a year.

For all of you reading this, you made it.  You survived another Friday the 13th.  You were victorious against a  date on a calendar.  You have survived the corruptive nature of the number 13 & the badness associated with Fridays.  It's now the following day & you can laugh & resume life as normal.  You can act like you were never bother in slightest by the previous day. 

But some of you were.  Some of you were bothered by the previous day.  What will you do to prepare for the next Friday the 13th looming just a few months day the road?   How do you stand the knowledge that it is coming & there is absolutely nothing you can do about it?  The dread must be awful.

Here's to hoping you all come up with plans to handle you next Friday the 13th...

Just remember Jason is watching...

Nothing Important Today...

I'm not going to be writing much today, because I'm not sure how reliable Blogger is going to be for a bit.  I can barely access anything the blogs I follow have posted.   

It's been a fairly normal day, went to Walmart to do the shopping & hit a barrage of older men who do not know how to shop.  I hate it when they're there, they have no idea of what they're doing, but worst of all, they plop themselves right in the middle of the aisle.  Then they get upset when you say excuse me & try to get by them.  It seems they own the whole blasted aisle.

I've talked about aisle hogs before.  What I don't understand is why these people do it.  They were old enough to have been taught better. That leaves me with one thing, they want to be bothersome so that they can get attention.  I hope I'm not that desperate at their age.  Hah, like I'll make it to that age.

So, I've done the shopping, got lunch & moved on into the rest of the day.   Like I said, it's a short one today.  At least until I figure out what they're doing with blogger.  I refuse to write some elegant piece or raging manifesto if Blogger's just going to screw it up.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for Blogger.

Do something fun today...

The Next Day...

This is not going to be long post, matter of fact it's going to be a short one.  This has been a frustrating week.  Things keep breaking & quite frankly I'm fed up.  Used to I would've just gone for a drive, but gas is so damn expensive, that really isn't an option any more.  So I'll just post some road trip music today.

Hope your day is going well...

Third Day...

We are on day three of our adventure into the water heater hell lands.   Day one, the water heater goes out.  We call the plumbers, but it's Sunday so there is nothing to do but wait until Monday, but hey at least we got an appointment.  Well, sort of...

Day two, the roomie calls in to check on the situation with the appointment & they assure here that they'll be just a couple of hours.  That was at about nine in the morning.  By three in the afternoon they still hadn't shown up.  I called back & they somehow had no record of my roomie's call & were completely unaware of the appointment.  Luckily someone made it out.  Well, again, sort of...

They got there & began to look it over & were with the water heater quite some time.  Finally they emerged, to tell us that we would have to get a new water heater.  Besides the extra cost to buy the water heater & the extra $ for another plumber coming out to install it, this wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except for the time.  

They had waited so late in the day that all the places I could've purchased a water heater in my town were closed & according to the plumber, I needed to have for him, first thing in the morning.  So, we pack up & head to Fort Smith, AR. to get a water heater.  Mind you my internet is on the fritz again, so I can't comparison shop online.  When we got there, we hit a few places & finally found one that suited us.

Then the ordeal began.  We had to get the water heater into the back of the van.  The flatbed dolly was slick, the cardboard container was slick & we were both tired & frustrated by this time.  We both banged ourselves up, but we got the damned thing into the van.  Then the roomie had to try to hold the thing still while I drove home.  The box was so slick it was sliding every where.  The awkward thing spent the night in the van.

Day three arrives.  Roomie calls the plumbers to check on the time of our appointment.  She was informed that it'd be at least a couple of hours before they arrived.  Go figure, the first thing in the morning turned out to be a little past noon.  We start trying to drain the blasted thing.  It didn't want to drain into the hose. Bring on the buckets.  Roomie sat on the side of the tub watching the buckets fill up & dumping them as they did.  It got wet & messy.

Finally they arrived & the process began.  They unloaded the new one from the van & hauled off the old one.  I waited & hoped that all would go well.  Finished.  Then there was the bill.  Hold on to your hats.  

April's Bill for Water Heater:  $105.00

May's First Bill to be told to replace the water heater:  $125.00

May's Second Bill to Replace the water heater:  $240.00

Cost of water heater:  $360.00

Total:  $830.00

Why the hell didn't I become a plumber?

Odd Monday...

I turned my phone off early yesterday & missed a call.  A call some might have considered important, but there was nothing I could do regarding the matter, so I'm glad I turned off my phone.  The call came from my brother, a person I haven't seen in over twenty years & have tried to have as little contact with as possible.  I am not close to my family & it has nothing to do with being gay or HIV+.  We all went our own ways long before any of that.

He had called to inform me that my mother had passed.  I had known that she was suffering from cancer.  I won't go into details, mostly because I do not know them.  I choose not to know them.  My mother was the proverbial baby-maker, there are eight of kids.  Add to the fact she choose not to work, to be an alcoholic & have revolving door men in her/our lives, left me feeling that she was no one's mother.  So, I find it ironic that she passed on Mother's Day.

It was over twenty years ago when I accepted the fact that she was never going to change.  I knew then that I had two options; hang around & hope for the better or accept the reality of the situation.  I choose the latter. A lot of people get pissed off when I tell them I have little to do with my family, especially my mother.  They can take their opinions & place them in a very dark place as far as I am concerned.  My mother had the chance to a mother, to be part of my life & choose not to do so.  I simply respected her decision.

To be honest, she was never the one that raised me, that role was mostly filled by my sister & sometimes my grandmother.  My grandmother was difficult to say the least & hated my mother.  My sister was barely seven years older than me.  She did her best, but she was kid.  She always thought out mother would change, would take responsibility, but that never happened.  My sister's hope for her mother's change ended yesterday.

My sister & my grandparents taught me what most people's parents teach them.  My mother treated me like she was cat.   She taught me how to read people, how to play cards, shoot pool, bowl.  Because of her & my father I learned to drive at the age of twelve.  I had to get them out of bar brawls & get them home.  Mind you the cops knew how old I was, but no one said anything as long as I was coming to take my parents away.    From them I learned how to fight, argue & con, what positive role-models.  They taught me how to survive as some type of creature living on the fringe, but not as a normal person.

My actions are mine, but the stage on which I play was built in large part due to these people.  I'll never know what it could've been like to have parents who weren't drunks.  Did my mother care about me?  Most likely,  in her own peculiar way.  She may have even loved me at one point.  But not enough.  Not enough to be a good parent, to give up drinking or to give me a descent life.  

Now for the questions.  Will I miss her?  No, she was already gone.  Will I let go of any resentment I still hold towards her?  I hope so.  What do I most feel at this very moment?  Relief.  That may sound harsh, but I know that my mother & her wave of destruction & chaos can never touch any one ever again.  The hurricane that was my mother has died, let their be peace & clear minds.

As one last act of respect I'll post some music videos for her:

This is one she requested for her memorial...

This one was driving music:



More driving music




How I saw her...




Cya

Annoyances

Three weeks ago we had to have our hot water heater looked at because it was leaking.  The man came out & charged us an outrageous amount to tighten some fasteners.  He was supposed to inspect the water heater.  I guess that part eluded him.  Today the pilot light went out.  I went to relight it & it worked for about a minute.

Of course this had to happen on a damn weekend as usual.  There is no one to day anything on Sundays, so we have to wait.  Virgos hate surprises.  Especially ones they thought they had already dealt with on another occasion.  This idiot was supposed to have fixed this already.  Now there will be the wait & then the $.  I hate the plumbers in my area, damn vultures.

Needless to say, I'm moderately pissed right now.  This isn't good for me, my health or anything else for that matter.  I should be allowed to kick that damn plumber for not doing the job right in the first place.

Wherever you are, I hope your appliances are in good working order.

Here's hoping you're having a better day than me.

Hydration...

As a + person, I take a lot meds.  These meds have to be metabolized by the body & that can be thirsty business.  There is the old story of 8 - 8 ounce cups of water being enough to keep you hydrated.  As with most things, there is no one-size-fits-all quantity of water needed daily the fits the bill for everyone. One of the most commonly accepted methods of determining water consumption is to take your body weight & divide by 2.  Take that amount as the number of ounces you should drink a day.  Example, if you weigh 128 pounds then you would need 64 ounces of water or the proverbial 8 cups.  However, if you weigh 240, then you'd need 120 ounces or 15 cups or just under a gallon.  (If you use metric measurements, you'll need to convert these numbers.)  I am not going to go into citations here.  If you have any question, then google it, there are lots of web-sites on this matter.  

There are other things to consider when determining water amounts.  Iis it very hot or cold?  Is it very dry out?  Are you pregnant?  Are you breast feeding?  Do you take medications?   Do you regularly exercise?  All of these can add to the amount of water you need to drink.  I know that the amount of water may seem daunting, but remember that most studies state that your get 20% of your daily water from food, so a 100 ounces goes down to 80.

I start every morning drinking between 16 - 20 ounces before I take meds or eat anything.  This helps rehydrate the body.  It's also the easiest time for me to drink the water.  I take meds & I will tell you from experience that not drinking enough water with your meds is a bad idea.  The water can somewhat buffer your stomach from the meds.  I drink at least 8 ounces with my meds.  So by the time I've been up for 30 minutes I've already had at least 24 - 28 ounces of water intake.

How do you know when you've drank enough?  Take a look at your urine.  If your urine is pale or clear, you are probably well hydrated,  Don't expect any urine output that takes place right after you wake up to be clear.

Can I drink caffeinated products?  For a long time the standard answer to that was, No. However, research is showing that caffeinated drinks hydrate as well as non-caffeinated.  For the caffeine to act as a diuretic you have to drink a lot of the stuff.  It's still probably best that most of your hydration comes from plain water though.  Juice can count, but do remember, juice can hold some serious sugar levels & calories.

When you are hydrated, you just feel better.  It's reflected in your appearance, especially your skin & hair.  It can lessen your appetite.  Proper hydration affects just about every system in your body; joints, skin, bones, mental state, digestion...  It can aid in reducing fatigue, aids circulation, lowers the chances of some cancers... Oddly enough drinking enough water can actually cut down on fluid retention in the body.

Our bodies consist largely of water.  It only makes sense that the water would have to be replaced.  I know that when I am hydrated that I feel better.  I wake up feeling less groggy & sluggish.  My meds bother me less when I drink enough water.  My advice to any + person out there is to drink lots of water.

Happy Hydration

HIV & The Sixth...

It's May sixth.  This day like most has a lot meaning for someone, somewhere.   There are a lot of religious observances, Military Spouse Day, Police Day & the one I like the best is International No Diet Day.  

This observation is to celebrate body acceptance regardless of size.  It exists as a line in the sand to say that sizism, fatphobia, weight discrimination or any other action or perception against a person based on their size is unacceptable.  I choose this observance for two reasons.

First off, my roomie is heavy.  She used to teach college level English & humanities.  Then the school cut her position to give another one to some good ol', preacher boy's, flaming, PK son a job.  I wasn't that worried at  first, she was well educated & reasonably experienced.  Hah, I should've known better.  Job after job was denied, interviews went well & then no where, then there was no one even willing to see her.  She sat for hours at a time in the park depressed over her situation.  Some interviewers even told her, that her size was the only reason they wouldn't hire her.  This led to her having no choice but to go on disability while struggled to get her life back together.  My roomie was being denied the ability to support herself just because she was overweight.  The misperceptions about heavy people are nearly limitless.  

The second reason for chosing this day concerns HIV.  This day deals with a lot of things people with HIV deal with all time if their status is known or in question.  There are those people who seem to think that they can contract it just by being in proximity of + person.  While there are others that seem to think they or their type are immune to the virus.  If it wasn't so serious, I'd laugh at the ignorance I hear concerning HIV.

HIV + people & people with weight issues are targets.  We are the targets of capitalistic companies looking to sell various snake-oils to make us "better."  People who have combined their ignorance, intolerance & ideological hellishness often target both groups. There are so many people who feel it is their right to lob whatever they like at the heavy or HIV +.  No matter what the excuse, those doing the lobbing are the monsters.

Some next time you find out someone is + or you see someone who is heavy, stop, check your preconceived notions at the proverbial door & then go forward with an open mind.  If this is someone you just met, then remember that you do not know this person.  You do not know what has gone on in their life. Before you judge them & begin with your epithets, remember there is probably more than enough about you for them to turn around & hurl some nastiness right back at you.

On this day, I wish you all an open mind...

Fifth Of What...

Today is May fifth or for some Cinco De Mayo.  I really don't care too much for people who celebrate holidays that aren't part of their culture.  It just comes off incredibly fake & self serving.  Respecting someone else's culture & their holidays is one thing, but for most people I know, Cinco De Mayo is just an excuse to get stupidly drunk & loudly flatulent.

American (non-Hispanic) corporations capitalize on the day like vultures fighting over roadkill.  This a Mexican military victory.  How do you think most Americans would feel if other countries like Saudi Arabia, China or Argentina celebrated the Fourth of July or the Battle of Gettysburg?  I doubt they'd like it very much.  

There are a lot things we do in this country without ever even thinking about where or how things originated.  To celebrate a holiday you have no connection to or understanding of is being very disrespectful.  If you try to tell people about the holiday in question they tend to get angry & inform you that they don't care what's about, as long as they get to party.  Do you think most religious people are OK with that attitude towards their recognized Holy Days?

I'm sure other people do this as well, but Americans seem to have a tremendous knack for devaluing things that are so very important, if not sacred, to others.  Maybe one day, the Canadians will celebrate the US Veterans day by selling pinatas & balloons that look like soldiers, that their children can then burst. Now wouldn't that be fun?

So, I won't wish you a festive Cinco De Mayo.  Instead I will wish you a very happy Thursday, may it be a productive day for you.

Woo Hooo  Thursday

That Time Of The Month...

Today is the day when most, if not all, the $ in the house flies the coop.  At least the bills are paid for another month.  That just leaves groceries, gas & incidentals.  It's those last two that get us every month.  Gas prices keep soaring, which makes everything else go up.  Then there are those damn incidentals.  These last couple of weeks have been bad for them.  Had to replace a ladder to fix the rain gutter.  Had one, but due relatively unknown circumstances, it is no longer available.  Then there was the roomie's computer that decided to die.

Incidentals will kill your budget.  They are those things you just can't plan for, even if you try.   My roomie's computer was less than two years old, damn gateway.  Gateway is a sucky company, even worse than Dell.  Either way it's, "Dude you're getting a dud."  I have to feel at least somewhat grateful.  After all we did have the $ to cover those expenses & still pay the bills.  

Today is the first day of the month with the bills paid, it all racks up from here on out.

Hope you have a happy humpday....

Four Months Down...

This marks my fourth month of blogging.  Not long for some, I realize, but for me it's the first time I've stuck something like this for this length of time.  Hoo rah to me.  Fours are odd.  They can be seen as good luck as with a four leaf clover or as bad  in feng shui.  Four are important to the beat of music & our hearts.  Fours have grand places in philosophies & empirical studies.

I've always seen fours as a bit problematic myself.  Fours give off this false sense of stability.  A table has four legs, but it'd probably be more stable with five.  Fours have the luck of being very accepted in regards to shape.  Squares & rectangles have four more acceptance & use in our society than triangles or pentagons.

Things often come in fours:

• The seasons
• The Beatles
• The directions
• Horsemen
• Suites of Cards
• Even the Fantastic Four

But on this day, the sun has come back out & the sky is clear.  The ground is starting to dry out some.  There may have even been a rainbow this morning for all I know.  What I do know is, that I have remained committed to this blog for this long.  It may not always be about HIV or being +, but it is about my life & I am HIV+.  I can't talk about HIV everyday or I'd drive myself crazy.

On this day, I am happy I've stuck to this blog.  I am thankful the rain has passed for now.  I have a relatively good, although sometimes frustrating, life.  My wish for everyone today is simple...

May the sun shine for you today...

High Waters Still...

This is the Poteau River near Fort Smith, AR.  I live almost 40 miles away from this point, but the water has been pretty high here as well.  More rains are expected tonight & then we'll have a reprieve for a bit.  Even if it doesn't rain for another week, it won't take much to flood everything again.  The ground is saturated & it'll take time for it to dry out.

Driving around here isn't fun when it rains.  The roads aren't that great to begin with & the big trucks that run our back roads leave them riddled with potholes. All those ruts & holes fill with water & make it damn easy to start hydroplaning.   I've slipped more driving in the last week, then I did driving during the ice storm earlier this year.

It's weird to see all this water & to know that technically we're still in a drought.  Oklahoma has seen low rainfalls for years.  All this flooding really doesn't help with the overall dryness of the area.  These downpours saturate the ground quickly & most of the water washes away downstream.  What we need is a series slow, light showers that will permeate the ground like a soaking host, not a fire hose.

The only good thing about this weather is that the allergies are getting washed away for now.  They'll be back, but for now, no need for the allergy pills.  It's been chilly enough to have the furnace on for a bit to take out some of the dampness from the air.  The cats are friendlier right now, they're snuggling up to get body heat.

Hopefully, this weather will pass soon & things can get back to normal.  Here's hoping you're dry wherever you are.

Someone Forget To Tell The Rain It Was May Day...

Today is the first of May, or May Day.   There are many stories of this holiday from Labor Day to Beltane.  Some are rooted in ancient traditions & others in modern socioeconomic systems.  Regardless of the origin, it always reminds me of a may pole.

We had one in my hometown park when I was a kid.  It wasn't a grand pole with colorful streamers.  No, it was an iron post with four chains hanging down with handles to hold on to as you spun about the pole.  It was really more like the flying swings at the fair than a traditional may pole.

May is supposed to be about fertility, prosperity & flowers brought to us by April showers. Sometimes April just can't take a hint & leave.  Today is soggy & flooding.  The may polers would be knee deep in mud & that isn't cute or sexy, well maybe a little cute & sexy on the right people.

Nonetheless, this is the first day of a new month, the new moon is cresting & things are renewing. If you've got some plans & they need a bit of a lucky boost, this would probably be a good time to get started with them.  May is a good month for beginnings & endings.  The weather is warming & school is close to ending.  What will you do in May?

I have to start the blood work thing over again this month.  Later in the month, I'll go in & get my lab orders & have someone at the hospital lab draw my blood into too many vials.  Then I'll  hope that no one screws up & ends up with me getting stuck again.  

Happy May Day to you all