"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little."
–Sydney Smith
You'll notice that this was posted at the bizarre hour of 4:00 am. Normally I would be asleep at this hour, but about 30 minutes ago, I was woken by a strange thumping noise. I rolled over, felt around myself and found both the cats sleeping. Not a cat. I got up and checked on Teeny Bun. To my relief I found him asleep, having eaten his fill of the Redzilla Guest House Salad Bar--fresh picked dandelion greens, clover, and lettuce. So I walked the house for a while until I heard a suspicious scuttling, scraping sound outside my office window.
Suddenly I remembered a possible source for the thumping: the brick I had placed on top of the sump pump well cover to block the raccoon-made hole and to weight it down. I grabbed a flashlight and ran outside. Around back, at the east* sump pump, what did I find?
A fucking raccoon, trying to get the cover off the sump pump well. Yes, a raccoon who wanted to make the eleven foot fall to NOTHING but the bottom of a pit. Grendel's mother? Another daredevil moron? Or the same? No way to know.
At any rate, I yelled at her and after a few moments of hesitation, she darted up the stairwell roof, over the garage, and away. I put the cover more firmly on the sump well and piled two big limestone rocks on top of it.
Jumping Christ on a Pogo Stick, what the fuck do those raccoons think is in the bottom of my sump well? There is, as far as I know, and according to my plumber, nothing at the bottom of the well except mud, a ceramic tile, a brand new sump pump, and about three inches of water. Did Grendel's grandpa leave a treasure map showing where all the loot from his days of banditry is buried and it's under my sump well? Did Grendel's mother accidentally drop her wedding ring down there? Does the sump well contain an entrance to Raccoon Paradise?
All I know is--I'm done. This weekend I am building an elaborate, heavy, critter-proof cover for my sump pump wells, possibly with a raccoon trap/alarm/deterrent that is not a rudely awakened me, shouting and waving a flashlight. Because I've had it with that shit. Another raccoon falls into my sump pump well and I'm going to go all Tony Montana on his ass.
Late Breaking Stupidity!!
Just as I was trying to go back to sleep, my phone rang, incoming text message. There was an off-chance it was Hubbicula, so I got up and checked it. It was an official "Campus Alert" from the university, telling me to use caution on campus, because a university student had been found dead...off campus. It also gave the name of the suspect in the case: Adolfo Garcia. Because that's the kind of shit I want to be notified of at 4:30 in the morning, after I've been out frolicking around fighting evil raccoons. Plus, I'm sorry, but this has all gone toooo far. Sure, in the case of the Virginia Tech shootings, where shootings were reported on campus, these cell phone alert systems are good.
They're not good when they're used to report on a single murder that happened off campus. They're not good when used to panic people at 4:30 in the morning. Hello! I was already using caution by trying to be safely asleep in bed! Really, what could possibly be the benefit of this particular alert? Thousands of university students, faculty, and staff woken from sleep to what purpose? Lie awake and worry? Check that their guns are loaded? (Ha! Not in cuddly, liberal Lawrence.) Check that their doors are locked?
There's no indication this is anything but a single murder. No suggestion that this guy is on a killing spree. Certainly no likelihood that he's on campus menacing students, who aren't even on campus at 4:30 in the morning, on a freaking national holiday. So, there you have it: university administrators as stupid as my raccoons.
My "baby" the 125 red vino was loaded into a van and driven off to live in Monterey. :::waves:::
Whee... $4600 toward by NEW baby! I made the call for Ben's bike as he was just to anxious too leave the bike at the dealer any longer. That's when Greg told me they knew where my BIKE was. OMG. It is at an Aprilia storage facility. They are going there on their day off (4th of JULY) to pick up my bike! I had to ask the pressing question that's been plaguing me. "Is the seat cream color or black?" The one I saw online was cream and I fell in love with it. I did not want black, but I would have taken it. He said, " it's CREAM!" Happy dance! So we went down and got HIS new bike and paid for mine. I go in on SATURDAY and get my new sweet ride!
I've been looking at new helmets (and jackets) and am shifting toward the scorpion dahila products.
Or, the Dumbest Little Bunny in Kansas. Yup, guess who was in my window well when I got home from work. Not Angelina Jolie.
Teeny Bun strikes again. The good news: I'm getting better at wrangling him into a cardboard box. The bad news: I am tired of this shit.
Early this morning, I received a phone call from the Cottage Dreams people asking if I could sub for their after-dinner speaker (she's been ill) at a golf fundraiser being held this coming Monday in Uxbridge. I was delighted to be asked, and agreed I would do it as long as I did not have a physio appt scheduled - something I would only find out after my physio appt at 11. Turns out my next appointment does conflict, so there will be no speech from me - and this, after I had concocted most of it in this morning's shower!
Today was "assessment day" at Lifemark - the first day of a ten-session reconditioning program sponsored by my insurance company and conducted under the supervision of a physiotherapist/kinesiologist. I was very pleased with the outcome. Amber, the physiotherapist, was outgoing, confident and capable - her in-depth knowledge of the human body astounded me. She spent over an hour checking my range of motion and the extent of my neuropathy, and determining exactly why I am being woken up every night by pain in my back, hips and right leg. Not surprisingly, she focused on the osteoarthritis in my lumbar area and sacrum, which was diagnosed just before I found out I had cancer. Also not surprisingly, it hadn't disappeared, although it had taken a back seat (pun intended!) while I dealt with surgery, chemo and radiation. Amber also noted that my core - abdomen, pelvic floor, etc. - were very weak from a year without any exercise to speak of. She also remarked in a more colloquial fashion, that my body has been "put through the wringer" and I need to build up my stamina a bit at a time. My next appointment is at 4 pm on Monday, when she will complete her assessment and provide me with a treatment & reconditioning plan. I am very motivated, and want to get on with this, as I expect to return to work on a half-time basis on August 18th - a mere six weeks away!
This weekend, my colleague Vida and I are heading up to my former boss, Robin's, cottage for the weekend for some swimming (I hope), some wine (undoubtedly) and plenty of good conversation (a given with those two around). I am really looking forward to it!
last night, inspired without a doubt by miss jen, I dreamed that I was hugely pregnant with twin babies-- they were near full-term-size and moving around inside of a loose sac of skin down the front of me.
in the dream I was also a film-making movie heroine, driving cars into and being rescued out of red lakes and pedalling kinetic sculptures along sunset ridges.
the dream and I both were vivid, epic, and complexly textured.
If I ignored my alarm clock and was still asleep five minutes before I was supposed to leave for work and you woke me, I think I'd be relieved and perhaps even grateful. I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't act like you'd done me wrong and stomp out of the house without even saying goodbye. But that's just me.
I'm serious people, if you like reading and blogging about it, then Lex has free books for you at http://www.minibookexpo.com/. The rules are simple: Claim it, Read it, Blog it. This year, in addition to books picked up at the Toronto Book Expo, Lex has publisher-direct books from dozens of publishers, mailed directly to you, both in Canada and the US. There are also RRS and Twitter link-ups, for those of you who connect in digital real-time. And while I'm at it, if you eat in Toronto or Ottawa, you must purchase a copy of CheapEats Toronto or CheapEats Ottawa, the definitive guides for good food at low prices in these two cities. These guides are written, directed and produced by Lex, with whom I had the pleasure of sharing a burgoir (fancy burger) yesterday at Craft Burger on King Street. You know you are part of the digital age when you start a lunch conversation with, "Now pretend I'm not caught up on your blog...."
Yet another report from the Department of Symbolism Means More Than Action.
The U.S. Mint, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, is issuing a silver dollar with Braille on it. Ooooh! Aaaaah! "This is going to put Braille in front of people in a very dramatic way," according to Chris Danielson, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind.
No offense, Mr. Danielson, but how? This is a silver dollar and as such, it will only be purchased by coin collectors who are NEVER GOING TO TOUCH IT. It's not going to put Braille in front of anyone but numismatic nerds.
According to Associated Press: On the back of the coin, the Braille code for the word Braille -- or "Brl" -- is inscribed, above a depiction of a school-age boy reading a Braille book with a cane resting on his arm. Behind him is a bookshelf bearing the word "Independence."
"It really expresses the hopes, the dreams and the independent spirit," NFB Executive Director Mark Riccobono said of the design.
I want to have a feel good moment like these guys are having, but this is just symbolism masquerading as something meaningful.What would put Braille and the concerns of the blind in front of the American public is an actual dollar coin in circulation with Braille on it. Oh, and how about changing all the fricking paper money so that the bills are readily distinguishable by a blind person? All the spiffy colors and patterns, guess what? No help to a blind person.
To help the blind gain more independence, America could do what most countries do and manufacture bills of different sizes to allow the sightless to tell which bill is which. That way they don't have to depend on someone else to tell them--truthfully, one hopes--that this is a twenty, this is a ten, this is a five.
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