Who needs a Rooster?

My dog lately has been nutty. Aggrivatingly so.

Yesterday was a constant battle in which she acted like the sky was
falling (aka constantly under my feet) to the point of trying to get
us to evacuate the house (literally trying to get me in the car to
drive away). The weather is sunny and we are no where near the
hurricaine weather.

Today she seems to be all ok except one thing. She woke me up.

I absolutely hate being woke up. Partly due to a long history of
people thinking they know better than I do when I've slept "enough",
partly due to the fact that if I don't get a minimum of sleep I'm
sickish all day, and partly due to my tendancy of not being able to
get back to sleep once woken. If emergency, fine wake me. If she
needs to go potty, sure wake me.

But this morning there was no reason to wake me other than she thought
I needed to wake up. M was up (and not left for work yet) and able to
put her out if needed or to get her food, or anything else her little
doggie heart desired.

Unfortunately the one thing her little doggie heart desired was to
wake me up. I never did get back to sleep, and thus feel like zombie
woman this morning.

As for doggie, she's just fine and extremely happy that I resemble
awake. I don't have to get up or let her out. She's perfectly happy
with me sitting in bed reading or typing away on my phone. (though if
I look like I'm dozing off she gets pissy)

She's completely crazy.

-V
Out & About. Sent from my phone.

The Holy Spirit Debacle

I've been having a debate the last few days with someone online who
insisted that the Holy Spirit is confined only to human bodies. She
claims that the Holy Spirit can only exist inside (live inside)
people. That any external spirit must be of the devil.

Since I'd never heard of such limitations on the Holy Spirit & know of
absolutely no Biblical evidence of this I started a debate (which
turned to an arguement).

This person has of course "left the Internet" due to evil influences
on the net. So I won't be getting any proof of these txts coming my
way (despite great illogical efffort she failed to provide proof), but
I figured she had to have gotten this idea some where.

So if anyone knows where it says these limitations for the Holy Spirit
or the Spirit of God, please feel free to let me know in the comments
here.

-V
Out & About. Sent from my phone.

Wife and children were kept prisoner for three years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4528487.ece

Sometimes when I haven't heard any stories like this I find myself
wavering a little on the death pentalty.

But how can you possibly read a story like this and not think, "Kill
the bastard!"

There are some things for which there is no excuse.

-V
Out & About. Sent from my phone.

Murphy Got Me Again

Today started fantastic. That should have been my first clue. I got up feeling fairly good. I had tons of prepared food in the fridge, so I could snack at leisure. And I decided to try to make some headway on the Corn-Free Foods List.

Just as I finished answering emails, I got a call from a new friend asking me to come over for a lazy afternoon of movies. I thought to myself, "YEAH!!" of course knowing full well that this would mean putting off The List for another day.(Whats one more day in the face of like 6 months?) This is also the first time this lady's invited me over, so yeah I was going to go! She also wanted me to bring my dog for a doggie playdate.

So I start getting showered, and I see my dog shaking violently shaking her head as if she's trying to throw water out of her ears. CRAP! I'm fairly certain its mites, but I couldn't see any, so I set up a vet appt tomorrow just to make sure.

Then I called my friend to tell her that I wasn't bringing my dog because I was afraid my dog would give her dogs something. She sounded disappointed, but hey I was still coming.

So I go out to my car. Throw in the drinks I'm bringing with me (I don't go anywhere without safe water), and my jacket, sit down, and put in the key.. turn.. Nothing! A few lights came on, but the engine did nothing. Of course, now I'm cussing!

Now it was going to be too late to go by the time I got my car fixed, so I called my friend and canceled. She was pretty disappointed, and I'm not sure if she thought I was just making up excuses not to go, or if I really had car trouble.

But Honestly, I can't make this stuff up.

So just as I hang up with her, I get an email from M, which I reply telling him that now I'm not going to my friend's house, cuz the car won't start.

He comes home and gives me a jump.

So I keep the car running and head to my normal Hyundai Service Station. As an afterthought, I give them a call .. a sort of "heads up" if you will. A lady answers the phone, and I say "I need to get my Hyundai in for service." She replies with "We don't service Hyundai anymore" WTF?? At this point, I have to use all my power not to cuss her out, and instead end the call.

Now where to go? Luckily I have my handy dandy iPhone, and pull over (car running) to search for there nearest Hyundai service center. Both are in BFE from me. One way freaking north, and one way freaking south. North is faster to get to, so I call them and ask if they can squeeze me in. Sure, on THURSDAY!!

By this time I'm frustrated beyond words and no longer care if my car drops dead on the side of the road. Sure I like my car, but this is so NOT what I wanted to do today and the attack of Murphy's Law isn't helping me any.

So I remember this one fix-it station that I used to take my old car to a long long time ago. Its close to my house, so I decide "screw it" and drive there. They are of course wall-to-wall working on cars with hardly an empty space in their lot, but by this time I'm not going anywhere else. If my car is going to die, its going to die here. Tough!

So I turn off my car.

Wait a few minutes. (While the service men are looking at me like "Who is the idiot sitting in her hot car?")

Then I turn it on again. She started right up! No problems at all! SURE! The final icing on the cake of today. Nothing wrong with the car at all, just enough mess to make you want to crawl back into bed or hit something very hard with a bat.

Grrrrrrr

I've since turned it on. Off. On. Off. On. Off. Works like a charm.

Somebody somewhere doesn't want me to make friends today.

AAA - Antihistamine Addicts Anonymous

It's been 5 days, 8 hours, and 36 minutes since my last dose of
compounded benadryl. (Well 5-6 days give or take.) I'm going crazy.

Crazy might seem like a strong word, bit there is no other word for
it, unless you feel like delving into obsessed, neurotic, and lunacy.

Since I have to be off antihistamines for a doctor appt, I've had to
take things careful. That means only leaving the when absolutely
necessary, and only going places where I'm relatively certain not to
get corn-poisoned.

Unfortunately I had to go out last thurs, reacted to something. So I
had to manage it cold turkey, and spent the next two days "under the
weather" detoxing from the allergic reaction which included a lovely
bout of "chicken little" obsessive doomsday depression.

By Monday I was myself again, though some nagging nasal drip &
sneezing remained, I had finally regained my energy! (not to mention
optimism)

Of course that was just in time for me to go to my next "leave the
house" obligation at an establishment with a popcorn popper onsite!
Yeah!

So after 3 days of chest congestion, an extremely vile & persistant
runny nose, watery eyes, and in all other ways feeling like a huge
ball of phlegm, I had one good day before plummeting back into it.

I will say that this detox is much much better than last Friday, but I
still want my meds. I want them now.

Currently I'm in the lovely tired insomniac stage, thus the dark
picture of my bathroom & my lazy posting from bed on my iPhone.

Sleep has to come soon surely. Until then, I'll be sniffling and hoping.

The funniest thing (or saddest)

I was on my way out of Fry's and running the gauntlet of junk foods,
gadgets, and chocolates when my eye happened across Ghiradeli labeled
bottles.

Once upon a time, not that long ago, Ghiradeli chocolates were a well
respected chocolatier, or at least somewhat. This latest invention
though has put to rest any remaining respect I might still have held
onto since going corn-free (aka no able to actually eat it anymore).

Curious about this "white sauce" they were selling, I picked up the
bottle and read the ingredients hoping to vicariously "taste" the
sauce from the ingredient list. I expected to find milk, sugar,
vanilla, and maybe cocobutter on it. It looked tasty & the Ghiradeli
name made my taste buds water for the last time.

On the back of the bottle was listed the ingredients. I read it
rapidly at first scanning for what I was hoping to see. Of course the
first ingredient was HFCS, so I skimmed further. Maltodextrin. Hmm
nothing yummy there. Artificial flavors & some things I can't
pronounce let alone spell. I skimmed the list again still not finding
an actual tasty ingredient. Puzzled I read it again slower, I was
sure it had to have something to it besides corn & chemicals, but I
found nothing.

Then I laughed. I laughed a cackle not unlike that which brings evil
old ladies and witches to mind. It was an insane laugh & then I smiled.

At least I am no longer one of their fools who just buy crap because
the label says "this is good stuff". I know what's going in my body,
and it isn't any of that.

Funny how close they can make nothing seem like something special.

-V
Out & About - Sent from iPhone

Glade Plugins Are Evil!

Last night I thought I'd be brave & try to go to a new friends house for a movie night. It wasn't too far away & since I don't have many friends here I've been trying to work on getting out & being social. This group we're both in was doing a movie & pizza night (without popcorn) so I thought I'd chance it.

I figured it's a short drive & since she knew vaguely of my allergies I wouldn't offend her if I had to leave early or if I reqested something like blowing out candles or whatever. Mostly we all had been meeting at neutral places such as bookstores & eateries that don't serve much corny stuff.

Anyway all was great as we sat outside & chatted (& they ate). But then the movie started & we went inside. I noticed a vanilla scent & secretly tried to find the source, when I saw some candles were lit in the corner I asked her if they were the source of the scent & she said yes & was very ok if I needed them blown out. She's really nice.

Unfortunately, either she forgot or most likely didn't think about it (I think if she'd have known she'd have unplugged it), there was a Glade Plugin in the corner of the room which really was the source of the scent. I of course didn't notice it there until the movie was about over & until then couldn't for the life of me figure out why my nose kept running & my breathing was getting labored. We were watching a teary chick flick as well so watery eyes & runny nose could partly be from that, so I kept debating "Am I reacting? or just enjoying the movie?". Anyway the lights were dimmed & when I finally noticed enough chest congestion that I KNEW it was a definite reaction I looked around more carefully and saw the glowing plugin & muttered cuss words in my head. 5 mins of the movie left, most of the damage was already done so I just waited for the movie to end & politely ran out. Omg fresh air was never so GOOD!

I got through last night with some prednisone & still having lung trouble (among other things - thermometer says 96.8 - crazy) today, but hoping benadryl takes care of it. If not I guess more prednisone.

(see more comments @ Delphi "Avoiding Corn" Forum)

Some Days!

Some days I really dislike my dog. Despite what the photo shows I just
vaccumed yesterday & it looked pretty nice still today until I let the
dog in and went into my office to answer the pile of emails that built
up yesterday.

I was in my office maybe an hour? I come out to the living room &
voilà!

Dirt dirt everywhere!

So not happy with puppy right now!

A New Game

I've been playing a new game online & since I'm "hosting" this months edition of it, I thought I'd share it here with you to see if any of you are up to the challenge.

In the empty space on that table in the picture is placed a "Mystery Item". It cannot be fully concealed if you held it in both hands, but it isn't much larger than that.

Please feel free to guess the item by using the comments feature below. Good Luck!

New Stuff

Well believe it or not, I've now joined the official ranks of the "Technology Yuppies" with a purchase of an iPhone.

Ok, so now that they're all cheaper, its not so much of a yuppy thing though I do have the 16gig one.

So this passed weekend, amid some major brainfog, I got an iPhone, signed up for a MobileMe free trial (which so far is sucking, but stay tuned), updated to Leopard (for some reason is required for MobileMe?), and am now trying to get my MAC back into where it was.

Of course the look of everything is different, which of course bugs me. :)

But so far so good. The phone is awesome btw.

Just a couple complaints.

iPhone - Addresses in calendar - like events you're going to, and other things, you can't click on them to bring up the map program (aka map it). You instead have to remember the addy and then open map and enter it in manually.

iPhone - Email - you can email photos, if you go to your camera or photos, go through a couple screens, click the photo, click another thing to click there to attach it to an email. However, you cannot attach anything to an email from the actual email programme. Odd.

MobileMe - Does not sync pictures. So you still have to sync your phone to your computer. Then you can buy iPhoto 08 (known as the iLife 08 package $99) in order to easily use the MobileMe picture album thing on your iPhone, in which you then can send pictures one by one to your MobileMe album. Easier - just use friggin Flickr.

Anyway, I haven't quite figured out the in's and out's of everything yet, but it seems every time I want to do something easily.. I can't.

Oh and YAHOO - Friggin make a real chat app for iPhone. AOL has. It can't be THAT hard.

ok.. I'm done. For now. :)

Too much computer learning lately, and all while I was brain foggy.. so it might actually be easier than I let on. Who knows.