A Tentative Hello

I think I may start blogging again. Had fun playing with the new design tools.

Ten days ago I had eye surgery, a vitrectomy. I had my ten day check-up today. Everything looks great according to the doc. My eye is pretty much back to normal except for what I noted in that photograph - my vision seems unchanged.

My youngest brother and two of his daughters were to visit the mister and me for a few days starting tomorrow. My brother's request for a passport was turned down by the state department due to something I won't go into here (he's not a bad guy, trust me). I'm conflicted. On one hand I'm disappointed that I may not get to see them. And yet I'm uncomfortable having a bunch of people staying at my place, relatives or not, so I'm relieved at the same time. My older niece is still coming up north to see her boyfriend. We may get a chance to see her depending on schedules. And we may yet get to see my brother and my other niece if we schedule a meet-up for lunch half-way between Mum's and our place. I've already turned down the offer of us going down to Mum's for a couple days. I'm really not up to that. I just had the eye surgery and prior to that Mum and I went on a two week road trip. I just want to hole up in my cave.

The road trip blog with photos is here. My family is unaware of this blog (but have access to the trip blog) and I'd like to keep it that way, thanks.

Glee!

I just watched the pilot episode of Glee. It was fun! I was in choir for most of my time in school. Choir is a bit different from a glee club, but it sure brings back memories. They've already filmed 13 episodes so it's here for a while at least. I'll keep my fingers crossed hoping that it's picked up for a full season.

It Burns!

My throat and stomach that is - I'm having a bad gastric reflux attack. I hate stress.

The mister and I spent Monday morning to Thursday afternoon at a local motel while the hazmat crew was at work. The motel was fine. We swam once, took a couple drives, a couple walks, ate way too much junk food and watched the complete extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We even lucked out and the motel management let us in the room early Monday and let us stay an hour late on Thursday. And I'm totally amazed at how Kaylee took the whole thing in stride. Good dog! She did better than I; silly me got kinda of teary Wednesday night due to homesickness.

We had been told the whole thing would be done sometime Wednesday afternoon, but that obviously didn't happen. And the only way we knew it wasn't going to happen is because the mister had to keep calling various people to get some info. We had no problem with them running later than they thought they would, shit happens, but would it kill someone to pick up a fucking phone?

Anyway, the new bathroom flooring looks really good and they did an excellent job reassembling the bathroom itself (toilet, vanity, etc). It's nice to be able to poop in your own bathroom.

Now we just need to know when the actual plumbing work is going to start.

Cataclysm

A new World of Warcraft expansion pack has just been announced. It looks totally kick-ass. Two new playable races (worgen and goblins), new race/class combos (humans and worgens can be hunters, yay!), new territories, a new secondary profession (archaeology) and major changes to the terrain. And - hold on to your hats - flying mounts in Azeroth. Blizzard said they weren't going to do that because it was a whole rewrite of the game. I guess they changed their minds. I am so stoked!

I can't find a release date. Maybe xmas?

Plumbing Update

I'm talking pipes, baby!

The hazmat team is supposed to be here Monday through Wednesday (prepping, working, clean-up). What hazmat team, you ask. We have to have a hazmat team because there's asbestos in the lower of two layers of vinyl in the bathroom. Please note that we have one (1) bathroom. Fun, eh? We're going to be staying at a local motel during those days. We'll take the dog with us but the cats and rats will have to fend for themselves. Actually, we'll do our best to keep them comfortable and out of the way of the workers. And the mister is going to visit the house once a day while we're in the motel.

The plumbing work itself may start on Monday as well. Coordinator dude says the plumbing repair should take only a day or two. We've been sleeping in the living room for three weeks and while that's not a total hardship, it'd be nice to be back in our bedroom. (The plumbing problem is in the wall between our bedroom and the bathroom. Well, actually it's in the floor but the wall is the starting point.)

The bottom dollar: it appears we'll have to pay $1800 to $2000 for the plumbing work. Rumour has it that the insurance company may cover some of that. They will cover all decor restorations (flooring, drywall, paint, etc). We've already picked out the bedroom carpeting and bathroom vinyl. I'm hoping we can pick paint colours.

Call me cynical, but I bet dollars to doughnuts that it takes another two weeks at a minimum.

Special note to readers: don't buy a place with fewer than two toilets.

Hello

How're you doing?

Okay, enough about you, let's talk about me.

Lots of stuff has happened. There have been health issues for both the mister and me, some of them taken care of, some ongoing. I've played several online games and am now (kinda) back at WoW. I missed this year's family reunion because of a passport screw-up; the next one is in 2011. We're currently going through some plumbing problems that have us sleeping in the living room. The plumbing problem arose when we would have left for the family reunion, so it wasn't a total loss. I have three fancy rats as pets - Newt, Becket and Scout. I got them mid-March and they're now almost eight months old.

I think those are the highlights. Back to my hordes of followers. What do you think of all that's happened to me?

WoW

I wonder if I should turn this into a WoW blog. Hm, decisions... decisions...

As mentioned in a comment Ravenhart, my Draenei Death Knight, hit level 80 on Tuesday. That was pretty exciting. She's also finished Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Grizzly Hills, Zul'Drak and Sholazar Basin (and all the achievements, quest- and exploration-wise). Not sure which of the last three zones (not counting Wintergrasp, the PVP zone) she's going to hit next.

I was also thinking of respecc'ing (aka: respecialising) her into a more current/popular Blood Knight build, but why fix what ain't broke. It works for me and until I'm shown that a different build works better I'll stick to her 61/0/10 build.

I've updated my WoW link list to the right. I've added a couple blogs to the list and, if you hadn't noticed, my five mains are listed at the end of the list with the little squiggly things by them (yes, I know - tilde).

Ravenhart in her Winter Veil glory:



Happy New Year's, folks. May your best moment of 2008 be your worst in 2009!

Stand By Me

For ShelaghG

I love my Draenei Death Knight. I'm using this Blood build (one point to go in Unholy). I got it from Talentchic but, oddly enough, that exact build isn't there any longer. I tried the build known as Ghoul Knight, but didn't enjoy having the pet as much as I thought I would. Anyway, Ravenhart is about halfway through level 79 at the moment, and questing through Zul'Drak. I really don't like that zone, but I'm trying to finish off each zone at least once. That way, with another toon, I'll know what I can and can't skip.

I'm also enjoying the new Achievement thingie. I'm quite goal oriented in my playing: I hate farming and prefer to work toward something. Having a goal - finishing a quest or getting an achievement is my cup of tea.

Squeeeee!

I am, as I type this, downloading the final patch for Wrath of the Lich King. I can't wait to create my pink-haired gnome Death Knight.

For the Lulz

The mister and I were in the new 5 Bucks store. I saw a display of flowered necklaces and asked the mister if he wanted to get lei'd. The looks from passerby were priceless.

Yes We Can

I cried when CNN announced for Obama. What an amazing day.

[Update]
40 minutes in and the goosebumps haven't stopped.

[Update]
My favourite comment at Metafilter:
How bad did Bush fuck up?

America just chose a black man named Barack Hussein Obama as next president of the United States.

Quote

Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack is running so our children can fly. -- unknown

I've seen this quote all over the net lately; powerful stuff. And here's an article that really brings it home.

Express Elevator to Hell

I'm watching Family Feud. The contestants are celebrity lookalikes.

Frustrated

I like how my new banner turned out, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the text version of the blog name (on the left). I'm going to contact the designer, but please speak up if you have any ideas.

Quote

Conventional people are roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such departures as a criticism of themselves. -- Bertrand Russell

Relief

One health matter was taken care of today. I have, as my mother so eloquently put it, a critter in my cooter. Family Doc sent me to a Gyno. Gyno examined me and sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound was a wash - they couldn't find the critter. Gyno then sent me for a CT scan. CT scan was also a wash - they couldn't find the critter (but I did get to see the new hospital). Gyno is pissed off at ultrasound and CT people because the critter is right there (not to get overly graphic but you can see the thing if you're in the right place). Gyno says it's a cyst or blood tumour, most likely a cyst; neither of which do we need to worry about unless it becomes bothersome.

Now y'all know much more about my hooha than I ever thought I'd mention on the internet.

Better

I'm not totally back to normal (whatever that is), but I'm feeling much better. Lots of sleep and killing the minions of evil seems to be working.

I added a link/graphic to the right for Diabetes Day. For thems who didn't know, I'm an insulin dependent Type 2 diabetic. Whatever you do in life, don't become diabetic. It, to put it mildly, fucking sucks.

Running on Empty

Between worrying about the mister's health (heart problems I have yet to write about) and my own (some you know, some you don't) and now my mother's health, I have nothing left to give.

If someone said boo to me, I'd crawl into bed and never get up.

New and Broken

New:
I finally have a new blog name that suits me. I never liked Silverbee Says. It's from an Evanescence song named Hello.

Broken:
Just spent a few days at Mum's; she fell last Thursday. She did okay for a couple days but called for help on Sunday. Got her to the doc on Tuesday. The xrays show she broke her pelvic bone. There isn't really anything they can do except let it heal. The doc told Mum she'd probably be in pain for a couple months until it healed. Fun, eh? At least she has a prescription for Tylenol #3, although she's complaining that it's not really helping

I'll be visiting Mum overnight every Thursday for the next while (laundry, tidying-up, garbage pick-up, etc.). Bro#1 will see her earlier in the week (he lives about 45 minutes away). Thanks to the internet her grocery shopping is taken care of. And it's a good thing she can afford cleaning every two weeks or so (no, I can't vacuum for her due to my own limitations). The only sticking point will be entertainment (library books and dvds). I'll do my best, but taste in books can be quite different than Mum's.

New:
500gb external hard drive. Tried to download WoW's newest patch and was told my hard drive was too full to install it. Yikes. Off to Staples we went and bought one for $125 or so.

Broken:
You may remember I mentioned my uncle availed himself of Oregon's Death with Dignity act after being diagnosed with cancer. Since then a cousin of mine, who lived in California, has also died of cancer. Kendra was two years younger than I. By the time she was diagnosed, just like Jack's, it was too late to do anything except try to keep her comfortable. I found out today that she committed suicide. Too bad California doesn't have a DWD act. Kendra hid her sleeping pills till she had enough to end her pain. The State of Washington has a Death With Dignity act on the ballot for this November. I hope it passes.