Miscellany

March 1 the overnight parking ban on snow routes was lifted. It seemed crazy... after all, to all appearances, we were in the depths of winter. That week, the words "bitterly cold" were used to describe the forecast. Today, I was confused by my thermometer, because it wasn't using a minus sign. (+6? How can it be +6? Must be heat leaking through my cheap apartment windows.) Although the weather web page isn't saying it is as warm as my thermometer, it also isn't using a minus sign.

There is, however, a blizzard warning for today. The pain in my sinuses appears to confirm that.

Oh joy... sounds like the engineering "band" is playing in the atrium. (Drums, cowbells, some sort of brass wind instruments. Only approximations of "music", in the loosest sense.)

It appears that I'm *not* scheduled to meet with the student I tutor this morning. He wasn't where we usually meet, and none of his e-mails mention today... but I don't remember hearing the words "we aren't meeting tomorrow". However, I think he has a midterm today, so the fact that we aren't meeting isn't that surprising. I guess I should do a better job at confirming these things.

Too bad my marking is at home. However, I have a program I'm working on, and can use the time for that.

I think my angora "ice queen" thing sheds fur in my eyes. I seem to have problems on days I'm wearing it. I washed my eye when I got in, and put some drops in. (Those drops are *expensive* for such tiny little bottles!)

A friend of mine has family stationed in Japan... does anyone know the condition of the US military bases there? I haven't heard much about the levels of damage yet, just that an emergency number has been set up, and that phone lines are tied up. My sympathies to all who are affected by the earthquake and after-effects.

Crunching Numbers

I don't think the MacBook Air will cut it for me... not as a main computer, and not with how long I keep my laptops. If this laptop weren't so out of date, yeah, it would be awesome. Perhaps if I upgrade to a nice laptop now, and then have some extra spending money a couple years down the road...

So. Then the question narrows to the 13" MacBook Pro, and the 15" MacBook Pro.

(I suppose the non-pro is an option, but I would have maxed out the ram, wouldn't have the backlit keyboard, and would gain 0.2 lbs for a savings of just under $200. Plus, it's bulkier. In five years, would 4 GB of ram be enough?)

With a 500 GB drive, iWork, VGA adapter, and AppleCare, prices for the 13" pro would be $1815 or $1964, depending on processor speed. (Difference: $149 for 0.27GHz.)

For the 15", with all the same options, but the faster drive, the prices come to $2279, $2474, and $2621, depending on processor speed. (Same drive speed, subtract ~$50; antiglare screen, add ~$55.) Difference from first to second: $195 for 0.13 GHz plus extra graphics. Difference from second to third: $147 for 0.14 GHz plus double L2 cache and fancier graphics. There is a final processor speed upgrade... an additional 0.26 GHz would be an additional $302... but that's starting to get quite pricey ($2923).

Going up from the 13" to the 15" (at the same processor and drive speeds) adds $265 for the extra screen space, but adds one pound of weight. Doing a quick online search, $265 would buy a 20"+ LCD monitor. But then, that monitor would be on my home desk, not either of my work desks (different positions require different locations) or my couch. Most of my home computing is at my desk, but not all. I do spend more hours at work than at home, though.

Of course, none of the prices above include a spare power adapter... I'd really like one of those, so I'm not lugging *that* back and forth as well. Since they've changed connectors from my five year old model, I'd need to buy a new one. There's another $89.

All this number crunching, and I'm still no closer to making a decision. (Too many choices! All these little incremental price increases!)

I know my brother prefers the anti-glare over glossy screen option. Anyone else have an opinion? (Anti-glare is only an option on the 15"+ models.) Is the new anti-glare the same as on my current laptop?

Given my current drive size is ~150 GB, would the 250 - 320 GB model be enough of an increase, or is the 500 GB size worth the extra $100 - $150? (I suspect that buying the larger size later would probably come to more than $150.)

Enough waffling... time to go to bed, so that I can be up and marking at a relatively reasonable hour. *sigh*

I can't brain today...

...I haz teh dumb.

Political Musings

Blagojevich: Is he really that stupid?

Obama: *love*

Canadian parliament: Where's our Obama? *sigh*

Miscellany

I stayed up late, puttering, last night... and subsequently slept *late*.

I just bought a bunch of books from KnitPicks in their 40% off sale. (Slightly guilty glee...)

I'm still in my pajamas, and haven't eaten breakfast. I should go do that... I'm *hungry*!

It's windy out today. They blow-a-plant-off-my-coffee-table windy... although that hasn't happened yet today.

I was going to be going to the Highland Games Festival in Selkirk today with some friends, but they both had to cancel. So I'll be doing laundry and other chores instead.

I think I'll try to patch my jean "quilt" today... it's getting holes in places where I used jean fabric from at the seams. Note to self: don't use those parts any more... they look cool, but wear out fast.

I could probably think of other things to ramble on about, but I'm hungry... so I'll go deal with that now. :)

Dear TV

Dear TV,

When I press the button labelled "power" (on either the remote or on your box), that means I would like you to turn on. Not only that, but I would like you to turn on immediately. Not thirty seconds from now. Not five minutes from now. Immediately. (I'm okay if it takes you a few seconds to get your picture fully going, but please give me some indication that you are trying to wake up.)

This guessing game you play with me, where I wonder if perhaps you didn't understand me, and I start pressing the buttons again, and then I wonder if you're in the process of turning on, or if you received the signal an even number of times, and therefore think you are supposed to stay off? This game is not fun for me. Especially when I want to try to catch the last few minutes of the news. When there is only ten minutes of news left is *really* not the time for you to play these games with me. Taking five minutes to turn on when there is ten minutes of news left is really frustrating for me.

I realize that you feel neglected, and that you probably enjoy my touch, when I try stroking you to find that magic place where the static electricity seems to convince you that it really is time to come on, but that magic place is getting much harder to find. (It doesn't help that it's unpredictable. I only managed to find it today when I noticed the screen was dirty, and wiped it off. It turns out that today the magic spot was your screen.)

Please stop toying with me. Is it getting time for us to end our relationship? Our time together has been so brief! I would like a lasting relationship with a piece of electronics. My last TV left me after only about a month. Am I cursed? Or had you both been too badly abused in your previous relationships? Is it just that your times were/are up? Perhaps I should simply stop dating older TVs? It seems a shame to pick up a brand new set when when you older, still functioning sets keep falling in my laps. A new set is so expensive, too, whereas you older models are simply content to have a warm end table to call home.

Perhaps that's the problem? Do you feel neglected, and under-appreciated? If I spent some money on you, would you feel better? If you can give me some indication that you'd like a lasting relationship, I'll buy you a new remote... clean, probably colorful, and nowhere near as finicky as your current one. Would that make you happier? Do you not like it when I push your buttons myself? Do I push your buttons too often?

Please let me know your decision.

Yours (for now),
Noricum

PS: What were you trying to tell me the other day, when you were flickering blue? Or was that the antenna trying to communicate?

In The Neighbourhood

Living on the third story of a building on a moderately busy street, I sure do get to watch a bunch of stuff.

Just now, I saw someone walking down the back lane, wearing dark clothing and flicking a lighter. (The zippo kind, that makes that metallic clink.) Given that there have been people breaking into cars, and tagging buildings... someone flicking a lighter made me rather nervous. So I called the non-emergency police line, told them what I saw, and suggested that if they had a patrol car making rounds in the area, that they might want to do a sweep through here. It could be nothing, but I would rather call *before* something went up in flames, rather than after.

A few days ago I saw a fire truck and ambulance arrive, and the first responders rush into the building next door. A while later, they wheeled out someone on a stretcher. I think (s)he as still alive, since (s)he had an IV hooked up. I'm guessing heart-attack, since one of the responders was carrying something that looked like a portable. The person looked old, and very pale.

Today I noticed that someone was moving out of the building next door. In the trash, I noticed a cheap "painting" like you'd expect to see in an old person's home. I'm guessing that, since the middle of the month isn't a normal time to move, that this is related to the ambulance visit from a few days ago. I'm guessing that either the person didn't make it, or they're moving into assisted living.

Note: a police car just zipped down the back lane. Nice to know they care. :) (Uh... but they went the wrong way!)

Other things spotted recently:
• A service van that blocked off two lanes of traffic so that it could send someone (or something) down a manhole... I think to inspect the traffic light camera.
• Really backed up traffic... I think an accident on the bridge.
• A car accident... looks like a case of whip-lash, and a back bumper that needs replacing.
• A small set of *very* suspicious looking plants in my neighbour's window. (Dad told me to call Crime Stoppers on that one, but not to report it to my landlord... the plants have since disappeared from the window sill.) And my landlord mentioned that someone else saw something that looked like joint butts in the hall. Whee.
• City workers removing a set of no-parking / loading zone signs.

I think I may have heard the accident that put my building's caretaker out of commission for six weeks (the first of which was spent in the hospital). I do know I heard a screech and a thud, and saw cars having to change lanes to avoid the accident, but the accident itself was blocked from view.

I have four channels of 24-hour reality TV: kitchen, living room, bedroom, and office (windows). (There's the bathroom window too, but you have to stand in the tub to look out, and you can only really see the wall of the brick building next door.) The programming is generally pretty boring, and you need a lot of imagination and guesswork to follow the plot, but the reception is excellent. Much better than the antenna on my TV gives me. (Clarity would be improved if I didn't have to look through screens... but this is Winnipeg. I'd much rather keep the mosquitoes *outside*.)

I got a call from the cops. They checked the area out, and couldn't find anyone that didn't check out, but they thought that I was right to call.

Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I'm going to stop rambling and go to bed.

Brain Fog, Rambling

I woke up this morning with a killer headache, and my neck was all stiff too. It's not a pressure change... the barometer on my wall is holding pretty steady. I took some tylenol with breakfast. I hurt less now, but I feel rather zombie-like.

Yesterday I went out with Dad and his girlfriend and we bought a tree ($7.44... it's small, but boy do those prices drop right before Christmas), and I picked out my Christmas present from dad. I also bough a kilo of pecans to try out Bron's candied pecans recipe. When I was getting the pecans, dad asked if he could share the cost and get some of the candied pecans. I told him that I was actually planning on giving them to him for Christmas (in addition to his big present). He paid for the bag. I didn't object.

What else has been going on...?

I've been working on blanket squares.

I seamed most of one expansion panel onto Durrow, and it bags funny. Durrow is now in time-out. I have an idea that might work. Basically the problem is that Durrow is ribbed, and thus gathers in, except at the (brain fog is preventing me from thinking of the correct word) shoulder lines, causing the shoulder lines to bag funny. It might be fixed when the yarn softens with washing, and blocking the ribbing might help too. Durrow might end up being a "wear around the house" sweater though. I might be able to fix things a bit by pulling in the shoulder lines of the expansion panels a bit. But for now, it's in time out.

I screwed on the non-skid feet on my wheel. The rubber of the feet didn't seem to agree with the adhesive on the sticky pads, and they slid off the other day. This happened partway through spinning up some superwash merino for my first attempt at sock yarn. I stopped spinning until I could get the feet reattached, and haven't gotten back to it yet. My wheel is now in my (cramped) bedroom so that it's not cluttering up the living room when company comes for Christmas. I don't think I want to wait until after Christmas to continue spinning, so I may bring it upstairs and back down whenever I want to use it.

With Durrow in a state of near completion time-out, I've decided I can start my second Klaralund sweater. I haven't gotten the yarn and needles out yet, though.

I sure am grateful for the red-underline spell check feature today. My brain fog is making it hard to type coherently.

I really need to clean my room. It's a disgrace. I don't want people to see it. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but H offered to help me move. I'm rather embarrassed to let her see what a pig sty my room has become. It doesn't help that I don't actually have space to put most things away... especially since the clutter makes it difficult to dust/vacuum, and I'm not that enthusiastic about cleaning under the best of circumstances. I need to do *something*, though. I look forward to having space in my new apartment.

Moving Dilemma

Mom has decided that I need to move out of the house by June. Recently a couple of apartments came up for rent in the small blocks at the end of the street. Since they don't come up for rent often, and living close to home would have benefits (especially since I don't own a car, which would make visiting difficult), I went to check them out.

One block has two apartments available, a one bedroom and a two bedroom. The one bedroom is currently occupied, so I wasn't able to peek in, but I was shown around the two bedroom. The apartment itself is fine (not "OMGmusthaveSHOWMETHELEASE," but no major flaws), but the hallways stink of cigarette smoke. UGH! (Smoking in the public spaces is not allowed... so either people aren't following instructions, or the smoke is seeping from their apartments.) That was pretty much a deal-breaker for me. I don't want to have to hold my breath whenever I come in or out.

The second building only has a two bedroom apartment available, but it's basically the same price as the one bedroom in the first block I looked at... so in a way I'd be getting a spare room for "free". It was hard to get a good look at the apartment because the previous tenant was in the process of moving out (*very* cluttered!), but the apartment seemed equivalent to the one next door, but the rest of the building was much better. There was no smell of smoke in the hallways (there are some smoking tenants, but new tenants are all non-smoking, plus the halls had linoleum tile instead of smoke-absorbing carpet), and the room with the storage units and washer and dryer were nicer. Basically, I really like the place. I just also happen to enjoy living at home, and five more months of free room and board vs paying for myself makes a difference in the bank account (or a difference in when I pretty much abandon my dissertation and get a "real job".)

Apartment Pros:
• doesn't stink
• top floor of building, so no one walking on my ceiling
• I think the landlord said the walls are cement, so no noise through them
• building well maintained (the landlord was even upgrading the stainless steel plumbing simply because the other stuff he's putting in is better)... he even asked me what colour I'd like the kitchen cupboards painted! (They're currently painted an extremely pale blue and are kind of hard on the eyes.)
• two bedrooms, spacious kitchen (big enough to eat in, although not big enough for a large table)0
• no signs of insects or mildew
• close to family
• supposedly decent apartments are hard to get these days
• it's in a neighbourhood I'm familiar with and know people
• fairly close to downtown, so not too bad to get to other areas of the city
• good neighbourhood (close range... further away it gets rougher)
• close to the art club I've joined
• single bus ride to get to two yarn shops (not that that is high on my list, but it is a "pro")
• I could potentially have a roommate
• the bedrooms both face away from the busy street (It's not a highway, but it's not a residential street either)
• close to a number of bus routes
• I think I like the apartment
• the apartment has north, east, and south exposure, and the west side is a hallway... so only adjacent neighbour is below
• hardwood floors, except kitchen and bathroom which are linoleum
• if it comes to it, I should be able to afford the apartment on a full-time minimum wage job
• really cute landlord, who appears to be my age (but I don't think he's single... I think there were two names on his answering machine)

Apartment Cons:
• available January 1
• no fan in the bathroom (although also no sign of mildew)
• not close to grocery store
• I haven't looked around much, so I don't know how this apartment compares generally in terms of price and/or advantages
• not close to any of my close friends
• may not be close to where I end up working (more knitting time on the bus, but still a drawback)
• only a single washer and dryer in the basement, so I can't do all my loads at once (that ability is, in my opinion, the only benefit to coin-operated washing machines), or may have laundry-collisions with other residents (I think there's only 8 apartments in the block, so I'm not sure how bad it will be)
• third floor walk-up (only really one and a half flights of stairs, not a real problem)
• January is a *cold* time to be carrying boxes and furniture outdoors
• switch from dissertation-mode to support-myself-mode earlier
• really cute landlord is probably not single

(I'm sure I'll think of more pros and cons... I'll add them as I think of them.)

So, do I rent this now to ensure a nice place, or do I play the waiting game, saving money but perhaps ending up somewhere not as nice? Am I just hesitating because I like living at home? Will I feel any better about moving out any closer to June?

Miscellany

I won a blog contest! Yay! (Too bad she wasn't able to get a definitive answer as to what the yarn was.)

Just for fun, last night I filled out the profile survey at eHarmony... I'm in the 20% they can't help. :P

I finished making a purple thread snowflake at lunch. The purple thread is crunchy, and a royal pain to work with. (Beyond the fact that it's thread.)

Last night I used some of the sweater felt to make a case for my swift, and used some more to start making a case for my niddy noddy. (I already used what I needed for my slippers, which just need a bit more securing of the patches for the current patching job to be called "done".)

I'd like to have a foot rest at work... I think I would be more comfortable with one. I figure I can make one... if I knew what height to make it. Perhaps I'll just guess at the height and slope. On a related note, my legs and feet are still bothering me.

Today

Today wasn't so bad... the power washer is huge, but with ramps and a pulley (throw in a lever and we'd have an elementary physics lesson) it was fine. Well, except for the heat and mosquitoes.

I may be a slave, but we're missing the slave driver. All we did was bring the power washer in from the farm, then dad sent me home so he could fiddle with getting it working. (I actually walked Nicky instead... we weren't sure if both the kennel and the power washer would fit in the truck, so I felt the poor doggy got cheated out of a run. It was a short walk... after he went nuts over a rabbit I put him back in his yard and retreated to the air conditioning.) Anyway, when dad got it working (figured out what went where, and unclogged the nozzle), he decided it was too hot to start the stripping (of the old paint... get your minds out of the gutter!).

Blah, blah, blah. I'm rambling. I don't feel like being alone, but neither do I feel like hanging out with my dad. But that's pretty much the options. Well, I suppose there's the lady next door, but I don't feel like "visiting". I feel like not being alone. I could try calling friends, but it's getting late to arrange anything, even if they were around and not out at the lake. It's times like this that having a lake that isn't eight hours away is an advantage. I suppose I could call long-distance friends, but it's kind of late in the evening for that too.

So here I am, attempting to hang out with you guys. I'll post here, then I'll check out your blogs. (Oooo... Deneen's got a new post, and Bron has two, and...)

Well, I'm off to read blogs. Cheerio!

Come Walk With Me In Fredericton

Friday, June 1, 2007.

La la la...

The talk is ready. I should practice, but I'm taking a bit of a break.

Except for smelling of smoke (which I think is mostly coming from the heating ducts, and isn't too bad with all the windows open and exhaust fans running), the residence is quite nice. I'm in the graduate residence. I have my own little apartment complete with kitchen (small by Canadian standards, large by New York standards, standard for graduate housing) and bathroom. My apartment is two stories, with the bathroom and bedroom upstairs.

This morning the convenience store on campus is open, so I bought some Cheerios. Am I forgetting something, or is $4.19 outrageously expensive for 300g of Cheerios? Oh well... I at least have some now.

For lunch yesterday we went to an Italian buffet. Buffet food is never as good as real stuff (it's the heat lamps), but it was quite acceptable and filling. So filling, in fact, that I skipped dinner and just had a bowl of cereal just before bed.

Right now I'm camped out in the main floor of the building that houses math, since there's wireless here. (Yay! Fast internet!)

York has a fairly pretty campus. i'm thinking of going to check out the pond (or was it creek?) that W mentioned yesterday. For some reason, now that my talk is ready and W isn't in, I feel like just relaxing. I have a nice "no pressure, nothing needs doing" feeling that I rarely have.

I think I'm done rambling here, so I'll go over and upload some photos and a post or two to the Swatchy blog.

Cheerio!

Miscellany

Another miscellany post.

Last night I stopped in to see my dad's dog on the way home. Nicky was *so* excited to see me! :) I wasn't excited to have the muddy footprints on my jacket, though. Dad had just come home, so I talked to him for a bit too. When I left, Nicky stood longingly by the back gate and whined and howled the way he does when dad is gone. Heh, heh, heh! (Dad now gets to know what Nicky is like when he's gone. Or not... dad's a bit deaf.)

I told dad I'd help him replace the track on his back gate. I'm not sure when we're doing this, but at least the weather is nice.

Mom painted cool chickens this week:

I think she did a fantastic job. It's really hard to let loose and paint with a big brush and still have something recognizable. (A lot harder than you'd think.) It's for sale, if anyone is interested. ;) (Although it may change slightly when she takes it in to her art class today for critique.)

I made some progress on my dissertation last night... my advisor wants me to do the proofs with invariants rather than procedural steps... I think I managed to make some progress on that. :) I have my meeting with him this morning.

I fell again this morning... I wasn't being too careful, because I wasn't walking on ice. It turns out, however, that there was some slippery frozen mud under a thin layer of slippery wet mud, and, well... I got mud on my hands, knee, and shoes, and my other knee feels a wee bit wrenched. Luckily I was close to home and had enough time to get a paper towel to clean my hands and shoes, although I didn't have enough time to change my pants.

I lost my size E crochet hook!!! I went to work on the socks on the bus, and my hook wasn't in it's bag! I'll check on the path I took from the bus stop to home, at home, and then home to the bus stop to see if it fell out one of those places. I have a spare, but I was a wee bit sentimental about how I had used this one so much I had worn off the finish in one spot. I need to go to Ram Wools to pick up a few more spares (now that I'm down to one hook)... perhaps I can console myself with a skein or two of koigu? ;) (I shouldn't, but I might anyway.)

My new glasses are ready! Here they are:

and here I am with them on, this time with no flash (but more zits and an unflattering colour of t-shirt):

They're a wee bit stronger, so I'm having to adjust. Everything looks just a bit funky. (To match my glasses! ;) )

SNB at L's last night was a blast again! I brought Debbie New's "Unexpected Knitting" to pass around, and everyone was fascinated. E brought a traditional Chinese dessert containing red bean paste and sticky rice flour. I'm about two thirds of the way through the first repeat of the second chart of Durrow's sleeves. The knotwork looks *awesome*!

Miscellany

Whee. This morning I had a regular poke and prod appointment with my doc. Those are always a joy. Thankfully this one didn't seem as uncomfortable as previous ones. I asked about the cholesterol test, and it turns out it was just to see how my liver is handling the Prozac and antihistamines. There was one enzyme that was on the high end of normal, but that could just be the way things are with me. She wants me to do another test around June as a comparison. And she doesn't have an explanation or cure for the tiredness. (As I suspected. Blargh.) I just need to keep on keeping on.

One of the songs from my Anne Murray "Hippo in my Bathtub" cd is going through my head this morning. These are the lyrics as I remember them:

In every tree there sits a bird,
And every one I ever heard
Can break my heart without a word
Singing a song of love.

A song of love is a sad song,
Hi-lilly, hi-lilly, hi-lo.
A song of love is a song of woe,
Don't ask me how I know.
A song of love is a sad song,
For I have loved and it's so.
I sit at the window and watch the rain,
Hi-lilly, hi-lilly, hi-lo.
Tomorrow I'll probably love again,
Hi-lilly, hi-lilly, hi-lo.

This morning before my alarm went off, I was thinking about how someone recently said that I seem to be unnaturally happy, and don't experience the whole range of emotions. I do. I just know that I have to push aside and ignore the bad feelings as best I can so that they don't drag me back down into depression. I put on a brave face. Mostly what makes me unhappy these days is my poor progress on my dissertation, but if I let it get me down, progress will only get worse. I need to keep putting one foot ahead of another and go through the motions, or I'll just stop. And, yes, I was unusually happy between May and February: I was in love. Love is a wonderful feeling. Now that I'm single again, those feelings are just another thing I need to set aside so I can keep putting one foot ahead of another, keep on keeping on. I know things will be better again someday, and for now I just need to find small happiness where I can. That's not the Prozac talking, that's me. There have always been things I've had to cope with, and I've just gotten better at it with time.

Birthday Weekend, Etc

Thanks everyone who's left a contest entry so far, it's been great reading them! If you haven't yet, you have until the end of today, and I'll pick winners tomorrow morning. :)

Well, the rest of my birthday weekend was also wonderful. Saturday I slept in a bit, then called my sweetie in Barbados. After that came breakfast, more sleeping, knitting, more sleeping, then finally a shower and getting up. ;) My brother, grandma, and a friend all came over for dinner, which was really yummy! My mom cooked shrimp, green beans, and rice. Mmmm! Plus her terrific cake for dessert! After dinner my friend and I watched the version of Pride and Predjudice that came out about a year ago and knit. :) I like the version with Colin Firth as Darcy better, but this was a nice version too.

Sunday was another relaxing day with more knitting. :) I had thought of going to see some of the Festival du Voyageur, but I really felt like being lazy. ;) I got to talk to my J Sunday night too. :)

My wonderful weekend continued into a great Monday where I made a bunch more progress on my dissertation. Monday night was a bit of a downer, though. My brother was being a twit, my advisor didn't show up for our scheduled meeting, and I missed a chance to talk to J on the phone. I decided to go to bed early. Luckily J called me back a bit later, so I got to talk to him. :) Free long distance plans sure do help with long-distance relationships.

Tuesday I drove my dad to the airport in the morning, then drove to H's place. H gave me a chocolate chocolate chip moose cookie for my birthday! :) Yum! Thanks H!


Oh, presents! That reminds me... I got two turtlenecks from my grandma, and two pair of pajamas (one winter, one summer) from Mom and B. My friend M gave me a really neat black and white print of a mushroom that she took with a large-format camera. (M has lots of artistic talent.)

Back to Tuesday... at lunch time (both Monday and Tuesday, actually) H, L and I went for a half hour power walk. :) I've decided that I need to burn off some of these spare calories I'm consuming. ;) We also stopped by the bookstore, and I saw something really cute that I'm considering getting for J if it's on sale on Thursday. ;) I didn't get much work done, but that's life. Since I had driven in, I was able to bring home some bulky plastic bins L gave me a while back, so that was good. :)

After I got home I took Nicky for a walk (which I've already blogged about), and was rather damp when I got back in! I went downstairs to change my shirt, and I woke up my computer to see if I had any mail. As soon as I had a dry t-shirt on, my advisor called! So we had a 15 minute meeting that was quite nice... except for the fact that I was cooling off after my exercise, and sitting in a cold basement in just a t-shirt and jeans was rather chilling.

After dinner my brother, B and I watched Cars and I knit on the blankie some. I was tired, so I decided to go to bed early. I called J, then went to get into my new pajamas for bed... and realized the dog on my new pajamas looks an awful lot like an excited Nicky! Ow! ;)


Boy, am I ever stiff this morning! Mom is stiff too, and wanted to know if the weather was bothering me too. I said I couldn't tell... not with all the Nicky aches!

I hope you have a lovely Valentine's day today. I wish I were with my sweetie, but I'll be thinking about him all day! I'll be back later (probably, unless I get caught up with other stuff) with another post, reminiscing about that romantic day in New York last fall. :)

Rights

Warning: controversial thoughts expressed in this post.

I've been thinking recently about rights... particularly Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions. Two articles in particular have me thinking about it. The more recent one is about a Winnipeg girl who cannot refuse treatment, and a still recent but slightly older one about sextuplets.

Adults are allowed to refuse treatments. The question, however, is about children. The older girl is 15... probably old enough to make an informed decision. In this case, "three justices on the Court of Appeal [...] ruled that the treatment was justified on the basis of the sanctity of life and the duty to protect children."

In the sextuplets case, the Jehovah's Witness parents refused to terminate some of the embryos to give the remaining ones a better chance at a full term pregnancy. The parents refused on religious grounds. The babies were born premature, and two have already died as a result. Three of the babies were seized by the government in order to give them treatment, which included blood transfusions. The babies are obviously too young to decide for themselves.

So, here we have a situation where the government wanted to terminate embryos, but allowed parents to choose not to, then fought to save the babies from the beliefs of these same parents that caused them to be born in the first place. From an abstract point of view, it seems rather hypocritical. I suppose it falls back to the argument about when a clump of cells becomes a person. (I think, personally, I believe it happens around the time that the fetus can survive outside the womb. A woman can then still choose to have the fetus removed from her body, but it then becomes a ward of the state that can be adopted, rather than terminated.) Anyway, it seems silly to let religion rule in one case, but not the other. (However, if your religion says to murder your children, I definitely don't think that should be allowed.)

Hmmm. So, religion shouldn't be allowed to kill people, but embryos rights don't overrule parents rights.

The next bit is on when people should be allowed to refuse treatment. Obviously, a premature baby can't decide for itself, however, adults can. But where does it switch from one to the other. I would think a fifteen year old could decide for themselves, as long as you could make sure a parent isn't pressuring them to decide against their will. I imagine the judge thought the kid had been "brainwashed" by the religion... but that's not going to change when the kid turns 18. So if a brainwashed 18 year old can refuse treatment, why can't a brainwashed 15 year old? In this case, to protect the child, it's really the brainwashing that should have been prevented... but that runs against religious freedom.

I think it does make sense for the government to decide for children who are young enough to not be able to make their own decisions... after all, if they're young enough that they can't make medical decisions, they're also young enough that they can't make religious decisions either. I don't think the parent should be able to decide what the child's religion is if it risks the health of the child. Just like adults aren't allowed to do other things that harm children. However, older children should be allowed to decide for themselves.

*Tired*

*Yawn* I should be doing something productive right now, but I'm tired. *sigh* Since I'm not getting anything done anyway, I figured I might as well ramble on a bit.

Cool... I just got an e-mail from Jewels that she got the yarn I sent along with my brother, and likes his toque. :)

I miss my J. He's down in Barbados right now. That would be really cool, but between what he needs to do for the meetings there, and other work he's trying to get done by a deadline, he doesn't have time to enjoy being there. Or time for us to talk on the phone. (He took his voip phone down there, so I can still call him for free... if he gets time while the internet is actually working, *and* I'm at home.) *sigh* Being in Barbados with too much work to do has got to be rough. Hopefully the workshop next week will be lighter, and he'll actually have a chance to enjoy himself. (Yes, he's got two back-to-back workshops in Barbados.)

Barbados is a cool place. I got to go to a workshop there once. I wish I could equalize pressure in my ears... then I could scuba dive, or even get a better look at stuff while snorkling.

Hmmm... I think this Knitty article on colour theory actually has useful information for applying to presentation design too. La, la, la... sent link to H (who likes it!), and my advisor (in case he's interested too).

I feel like I can concentrate now, so I guess I'll go try to work for the few minutes before we head out. (H heads home early to meet her son after school.)