feeling better

Thank goodness I am feeling better today. No diarrhea, though still bloody and gassy down there. I spent most of the day resting quietly, watching movies. etc.

I watched Helen Mirren in The Queen and it was a good little quiet and well made film. I can see why it was up for a bunch of Academy Awards. And she was first rate in her role.

Tomorrow I hope to go Christmas shopping. Dan could use some hand tools, so I will probably go to Sears fort those. Steven wants a game for his Wii, and so far Sam's Club has everyone else beat by $5, so I will probably go there for the game.

You could not pay me to go shopping on Black Friday; I have heard too many horror stories from friends who go. Today some poor Wal-Mart employee was freaking trampled to death by a mob out on Long Island. How can televisions on sale become more important than a human life?

best wine I've ever had

Dan took me to the Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor earlier this month, and we had the best wine I've ever tasted.

I wanted to keep a record of it so here we go:

Merryvale Starmont 2006 Chardonnay Napa Valley

it can be ordered at:
http://www.merryvale.com

thankfullness and wishes

I am, of course, thankful for my family (including the pets). I love them more than words can say.

I hate my job, but given this terrible economy, I am glad that I am working. And that I have benefits. And the ability to have a plentiful meal today - which is so much more than so many other people have right now.

I am thankful we can pay the bills, and keep up with the mortgage.

I am thankful for the Detroit Red Wings - one bright and shining thing for this area right now.

I wish the economy could be better. I wish everyone who wants a job with decent pay and benefits could have one. I wish all families could have a roof over their heads and three square meals a day. I wish all terrorists could find their humanity, and stop attacking the innocent. I wish people could stop prejudice against people for the color of their skin, they way they choose to worship God (or not worship at all, if that is their choice), what sort of genital they have, and what the people do with their genitals in private provided that they do no non consensual harm to others, and for what people weigh.

On a personal level, I wish for less stress in my life. And more time for myself, for activities like creative writing and photography.

India terror attacks

My heart goes out to those who have been wounded, and to those who have lost family members.

What a terrible crime; and a terrible tragedy for all of the victims and their families.

At least the Indian Americans I know all have families elsewhere in the country than Mombei. It is horrible just seeing the footage on the television and Internet; I cannot imagine how much worse it would be if I knew friends had family there.

(And I obviously cannot imagine how terrible it would be to be in that city right now, or to have people there).

How can people act in such ways? To attack a hospital for women and children? Every religion I am aware of is very protective to children in particular - especially the Muslim faith, if it does turn out that these particular terrorists are Muslims. If so, they have broken greatly with the teachings of their religion - and given how cosmopolitan Mombei is, they have probably killed plenty of innocent Muslim civilians (along with people of many other religions) in their attacks.

Horrible, just horrible.

sick for Thanksgiving

On Tuesday I was eating a lunch before heading into work. I had made nachos and cheese. I was eating, and something crunched really funny. I spat it out and it was a shard of broken glass. I do not know if it came from the chips or from the bag of shredded cheese, or since both had already been opened somehow got into one or the other here at home. Needless to say, I threw out what was on my plat along with what was left of both the chips and the cheese.

I rinsed out my mouth several times and brushed my teeth several times and rinsed out my mouth again.

My stomach felt upset, but I do not know if any glass actually got down in there, or if it got upset because I was so upset. And I did not know if it would be better to throw up or not, so I held it down, even though I felt like throwing up.

So I hoped for the best.

This afternoon I started having bloody diarrhea.

I do not know if it is from possible glass, or just stress diarrhea over how bad work has been combined with stress from finding broken glass in my food. It was the first time I have gone since eating that meal, so I suppose either or both is possible.

Not fun.

snowy day

Over the last week or so we have been lucky to have temperatures above freezing, so the ground has frozen. We have had snow this season, but it has been melting as it lands. Today, with the frozen ground, it is sticking.

No sign of any road clearing equipment yet. It looks pretty slippery out there, and the cars are driving very slowly.

With the economic problems in this area, they will not be doing as much road clearing this year. They had a huge article on the front page of the local paper a couple of weeks back saying they do not have enough money to pay for salt or man power for proper road clearing.

It makes me very glad that I have four wheel drive - though even that does nothing on icy roads.

Of all days, I have to go into work early today. They are making everyone in my department go through civility training. Which is fine and good, and I really hope that it works! But it will not address management at all, so far as I know, and that is also a part of the problems of the poisonous atmosphere.

Ah well.

rough at work lately

I have not been posting much lately. I have been really stressed out because of work, and all of my energy seems to be taken up by by working, worrying about working, and it seems like all I can do most days to get out of bed, eat, wash, and go to work. I am a mess, and my doctor actually wants to put me on medication for anxiety.

And with today's terrible economy, I cannot walk away from a job with full benefits, no matter how poisonous that job is.

Sometimes life sucks, or parts of life can suck, and my work life sucks royally right now.

On the other hand, Dan has been very kind and supportive, and has been trying to spend time with me, as he knows that cheers me up. Friday we went to one of my favorite places to eat, The Earle in Ann Arbor - a romantic place with great food and live jazz. And on my off week he took me to the Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor, where we had the best wine I have ever had and good food.

http://www.theearle.com

http://www.thequarterbistro.com

The children are, as always, a light and delight in my life. I cannot even express how much I love them, there are simply not words that strong.