Another General Update

* Work is insane, but good. Reviews were just completed, and mine was glowing. Thanks to all my work peeps that had such nice things to say. It's very much appreciated. Raises should be announced soon, too. *Crosses fingers!* When I'm up there next Monday, I'll make sure to buy a round of drinks at the party! Yay!

* My visit to Salt Lake City is rapidly approaching. Got in touch with a childhood friend of mine, and we're going to hookup for lunch while I'm there. I'm looking forward to seeing her and my family.

* Left arm has been driving me absolutely batty. Both wrist and elbow are having lots of problems lately. I'm sure it's directly attributable to my awful posture and excessive time at the computer, but still. *hrmph* Should pay a visit to my local, friendly orthopedic surgeon, see what he has to say. Dr. Roz is the shiznit...

* Not a whole lot going on right now—it's been relatively uneventful. My druid in WoW is up to 45 (and half-way to 46!), still feral, but now she's a corporal. That girl's going places, I tell you.

(* Heh - just got off the phone with Sprint. My Blackberry is now data enabled. Oh joy of joys.)

All Glory to the System

I know it's tacky to post song lyrics to blogs, but I really, really like these lyrics:

Egobrain.
Man-made shame.
Shame, love after it rains

You see my pain is real.
Watch my world dissolve
and pretend that none of us see the fall.

As I turned to sand
you took me by the hand
and declared that love prevails over all.

Annoying Coffee Accoutrements

Stir sticks. I use mine for hot chocolate, but the result is the same. If you use one, they end up bending in half, rendering themselves nearly worthless. I usually grab two, but then it annoys me that I can't get two sticks of the same length. There are 1,000 stir sticks in a box, and none of them are equal in length to another in the same package; sure seems like I should be able to have a matching pair.

Naughty Naughty

I haven't posted in, what, over a month? So lazy. Here's what's going on, for those of you that care.

Getting ready to move on Saturday. House isn't even close to packed. We'll be doing the mad dash tonight and tomorrow night to get ready, and still may come up short. We'll end up moved, one way or another. :-)

Work is nutty, as usual. Still understaffed considering the amount of work that we have, and I feel like I'm barely managing to keep my head above water. I hope they start fleshing out our team a little more in the near future.

WoW Update: Level 27 Night Elf Druid (Feral), rank: Private. Can you say kick ass? I knew you could...

Through some strange changes, which I will not delve into here, the step-son (SS) is living with us now. We modified our living arrangements so that we'll be in a large, three bedroom townhouse, instead of the two bedroom apartment we were originally taking.

Thyroid treatment is coming along well. The medication that I'm on doesn't seem to have too many negative side effects. My weight has held steady for the last couple of weeks, but I think I'm about to see it start sliding back down again. Just bought new pants, and I've come down another size (that makes 4 sizes since June).

I can't think of anything post worthy at this point. As always, looking for good book recommendations (finished both Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion; both were good, once you got the half-way point), and have started on The Eye of the World (a Wheel of Time novel by Robert Jordan, recommended by a friend. Very good so far.)

General Update

The goings-on for the past couple of weeks:

* The SD got back from her mom's house. It was a very good visit, and I'm happy that she and her mom got along well.

* We flew out one of SD's friends from SLC, and she spent nearly three weeks with us.

* We went camping (SD, her friend, me, Ed, and then our two friends, TSJ and DBA. Girls took a tent, adults were in the RV). The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it wasn't a long drive, so it was a good weekend for camping.

* Took a little shortie cruise to Nassau (Bahamas) last weekend. SD and her friend had fun (first time the friend had been out of the country), and it was cool to just relax. I'm very glad that we didn't pick a super long trip - 3 days was a little short, but by the end of 7 days I'm climbing the walls, ready to go home. TSJ watched the kitties for us (thanks again!). I managed to set of the Geiger counter at DCA (Reagan National Airport), but no one stopped me. Go figure. (Just as a side note, we had a bunch of pictures taken on the cruise, and I look like crap in every single one. What's up with that? Why didn't the photogenic gene pay me a visit?? WTF?)

* SD is all registered for her new school (Ed took her in this morning to finish the registration process). I can't believe what a PAIN changing schools has been. First, show up with a copy of your new lease, and documentation showing that you're actually planning on moving (utility disconnect notices work), and present all of that information to the residency baoard—because we want to start her in school a mere two weeks before we move!—and wait for an approval letter. Then appear in PERSON and withdraw the student from the original school, making sure to get a copy of the withdrawl notice, and then take all of that information to the NEW school (again in person!) and wait several days for them to check it all out. Then, discuss class schedules & levels, and then appear one more time (in person) to finish the registration process. What BS.

* Mom and Dad aren't going to make it for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty bummed out.

* Work is insane, as usual. All sorts of things going on that have to be finished now. It's been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

* The State of Maryland has graced us with it's ineptitude. We have to go back and pull the cancelled checks for our 2005 taxes, 'cause they don't think we filed (even though they cashed the checks). Idiots.

Business as usual...

A Return to Normal

I've been feeling much better, lately. I'm starting to return to my pre-depo, pre-hyperthyroid self (and she's not so bad, if I do say so!).

Lots of little things that add up to a huge difference. I'm far more emotionally stable. I don't feel shaky all the time. I eat alot less, so I'm loosing weight. I feel energetic - like I can stay up all night again, and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning. My brain is starting to work at full capacity again (I can form sentences, and I don't have to strain for words).

I'm back, baby!

Iceland Pictures

I finally have a few Iceland pictures to post. Took me long enough...



This is the south-western shore of Iceland. The picture does not do it justice - it's breathtaking, magnificent; the sounds of the water, the feel of sea-spray on your face, the wind in your hair. It's beautiful.


This is the waterfall Gullfoss. It's not very tall, but the river is wide, and the water cascades down several steps at this point. If it weren't so cloudy, you'd be able to see the Langjokull glacier in the background on the left-hand side. Langjokull (translates to "long glacier") has an area of about 950 square kilometers, and rises in between 1200 and 1300 meters above sea level. Langjokull is about 1/8 the size of Iceland's largest glacier, and Europe's biggest icecap, Vatnajokull


This is Ed with one of the many geyers in Iceland. This particular geyser, Strokkur, feeds from the same hot spring that gives life to Geysir (the one and only - the geyser namesake).


Ed and I at one of the many small falls in Iceland. There are a million little waterfalls, rivers, ponds, hot pots, and steam vents. This one was particular pretty - we were on our way to one of the smaller glaciers, Snaefellsjokull, and stopped on the way back.

Lucky Girl

I've been trying to post Iceland pictures for the last half-hour. Blogger keeps timing out. Lucky me.

StReSs!!

It's been a stressful couple of days here. Ed's been working incredibly long hours, I'm still feeling side-effects from my treatment, SD has a friend visiting & they've both been doing teenager-y things, the ex has called to make a stink about the living arrangements of the kids (specifically, she wants the SS to come live with us), Mom & Dad aren't going to make it out for Thanksgiving, work is very amorphous right now, Ed's stressing about our scuba trip to Rawlings (although I'm stoked - it's the only diving we've done this year, and it took lots of sweet talking & promising to my endocrinologist to get clearance - thanks, Doc! I'm forced to play delicate little princess for the weekend, but I'll still get to dive. :-).

The list goes on and on.

Last weekend was good, but busy. We had a good time with our friend Anton for his birthday, including a quick trip to Dave and Buster's (never been before, but definitely planning on going back!). For the first time in several weeks, I went without a headache. It lasted all of two days, and now it's back with a vengeance.

I'm tempted to cram the next couple of months full of things, because who knows what'll happen when I start on the thyroid medication. I know that in time it'll be easy and beneficial, but getting the right dosage of the right drug will take time.

I'm at the end of my post, and I never know how to conclude. I don't like those cheesy sign-offs ("Well, talk to you later!"), and I don't feel that there's any resolution to any of the above issues that would provide closure. I guess I just leave it as is.

Updates

Iceland was great. We took a ton of pictures, but I haven't done more than copy them to CD. I haven't gone through and named anything yet, but when I do I'll post some of the better shots.

I completed the I-131 radioiodine treatment last Thursday (the 20th), and have been feeling some of the effects. Mainly, I'm tired & have a sore throat. I've also been plagued with a headache the last several days, but I think it's starting to subside.

I believe the worst part of the treatment was the pill. Not actually taking it, but the nuclear medicine tech bringing it to me. The pill itself is a blue capsule, less than half an inch long (think of a Tylenol extra-stregth capsule - about that big). The storage container, however, is close to 8 inches tall, 5 inches wide, made of lead, and weighs probably 15 pounds. The tech brings out the container and sets it next to you, but you have to open it, retrieve the vial with the pill, and do all of the medication handling - they won't touch it.

That, in conjunction with "DANGER! Radiation Area!" signs all over the place left me not-so-comfortable ingesting that little blue pill. Ed was fantastic, afterwards - picking out movies that I liked, going into work late to make sure I was alright, making dinner, and tending to other things that I couldn't do. It was nice to have him so supportive.

We got out new bedroom furniture on Friday (the 21st, one day after my treatment), and it's bee-YOO-tiful! The wood color is called "Espresso", and it contrasts nicely with our light walls and carpet. The mattress is fantastic too!

SD finally got her report card for the end of last year, and she got straight A's, again! She almost had A's for the entire year (three B's at the beginning). She also had a great visit with her mom & brothers, and is looking forward to another visit. On the flip-side, we had a great time with SS over the summer too. He was pretty well-behaved for the duration, which is all we could've asked for!

Work is great, same as usual. It's been really nice to be out of the frantic "too much to do" mode that we were in for so long. Nice and quiet. I got the meet the new VP of Technology, and he's a pretty cool guy. I'm looking foward to having all sorts of new, cool projects!

Looks like we're going to a movie this weekend, either Pirates of the Caribbean or Cars. Either way, fun fun fun!

Update (round 2)

I just finished writing several paragraphs, and the website ate it. Stupid pop-ups. Let's try this again.

It's been about two months since my last post, and Ed's recent blog revival prompted me to write this. Thanks, honey!

Things have been going well. We've been pretty busy the last two months. We just finished a site redesign at work. The actual setup wasn't bad - server configuration went together really well. I expected big problems, and we were lucky. There have been a handful of emails from users about the design, and we've already fixed most of those problems. I was at work 18 of the last 24 hours, so I'm going back to bed when I'm finished with this.

I've been having thyroid problems & have been seeing an endocrinologist. She wants me to get radiation treatment, but because were A) Going to Iceland in two weeks (YAY), and B) I don't want to be setting off radiation detectors in foreign airports, she has me on medication instead. The main concern with the drug is liver damage, so I'm going for more bloodwork today. I'm a human pincushion.

The SD is out at her mom's house for the summer, and we have the SS (step-son) instead. We went camping two weekends ago in Pennsylvania, and had a blast. SS goes home the same day we leave for Iceland.

I've nearly beat Diablo on Nightmare, I finished Tomb Raider:Legends, and am back into WarCraft. I also have friends that keep talking about Oblivion, so I'd like to give that a try too.

There's a leak in our roof right over our bed. This is on the heels of three air conditioner failures (complete with water leaking through and setting off the smoke detector), maintenance being in my apartment with no notice, while leaving the window open (screen out) for 10 hours, and the apartment manager telling me that he's sorry he can't keep track of the movements of his staff. I hate this place. I can't wait to move.

Everyone is healthy and happy (cats & fish included). I'll make sure to post pictures of Iceland when we get back.