tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893Tue, 18 May 2010 03:13:49 +0000Wife,Parent,Student,Teacher,Volunteer,Writer,Cook,Crazy.http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/blogger.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)Blogger1505125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-2746667304648697157Tue, 18 May 2010 03:13:00 +00002010-05-17T20:13:49.282-07:00 This blog is now located at http://quieti.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://quieti.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/05/this-blog-has-moved.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-2168893863124532516Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:05:00 +00002010-04-20T00:17:17.274-07:00Marginally better. I had to over-hydrate myself this morning for a blood draw (6 tubes - whoa), and found my eyes didn't burn so much. Of course, it's cloudy and cool today, and the pollen count has fallen from its insane peak, so that's probably helping, too. It's not as if my eyes aren't dry, they're just not completely parched and painful. My RA was only bad in waves today, or maybe http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/04/status.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-4527953042713504933Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:19:00 +00002010-04-15T13:29:02.743-07:00Hope springs eternal.barely an inch longNo, not olives!If they survive the heat of the summer and we get enough of a cold snap in the fall, we might just have a little peach crop this year.http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/04/even-tiny-green-ones-are-fuzzy.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-6107527317569455048Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:51:00 +00002010-04-15T08:18:41.461-07:00I've been taking Arthrotec since Saturday, and haven't really noticed much improvement. Sometimes my hands are better, but they still bother me throughout the day. Although they don't appear as swollen, they still hurt. Some days (yesterday, for example), my eyes are fine; this morning, I could barely open them, they were so dry. That's what I get for neglecting to put drops in before I went http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/04/quite-spell.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-5151501953534680611Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:41:00 +00002010-04-08T15:00:28.825-07:00The shooting pains in my hip this morning convinced me to call my rheumatologist. I had perfect timing in calling, because they just had a cancellation so I'm getting to see her tomorrow afternoon. That's practically a miracle. It has been quite a while since I've been in (12/08), so they've sent me a new patient information packet to fill out -- I'm not looking forward to doing the pain http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/04/staying-on-top-of-things.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-801007798282295630Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:35:00 +00002010-04-07T00:56:13.588-07:00A couple of things I need to keep track of...I have an eye/sinus thing that's well into its third week. I let it go for a while but then it became painful -- I thought it was just a temporarily blocked tear duct, but then it moved into my face and is not fun. I broke down and went to the doctor last week, he started me on anti-biotic eye drops on the theory that whatever it is started in the http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/04/latest-ows.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-7308931122688917880Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:12:00 +00002010-03-29T14:38:05.654-07:00March 16th: cooked a bunch of new stuff, ate way too much, felt sick all night.March 17th: diet!Wait, how could I start a diet on St. Patrick's Day? Honestly, it wasn't a problem. I didn't want to eat anything on St. Patrick's Day. I felt so miserable I was compelled to do something. A huge internet search led me to a new gastroparesis blog with some good suggestions. Since the 17th, I've hadhttp://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/03/diet-gastroparesis-etc.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-2915965469209297709Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:49:00 +00002010-03-24T19:54:43.791-07:00The neighborhood turtle comes out to bask in the warm afternoon sun.And (finally!) blossoms appear on my peach tree.http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/03/signs-of-spring.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-1596441976043282574Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:10:00 +00002010-03-24T10:20:40.444-07:00DS2 (9yo) gets the hiccups all the time. If he laughs for more than 10 seconds, he gets the hiccups. Sometimes he'll just get the hiccups for no reason. He used to get very frustrated because often it would take a while for them to go away -- the usual tricks of drinking water and holding his breath were useless.Both boys had their well visits with the pediatrician last week, and the only issuehttp://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/03/new-cure-for-hiccups.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-5983484099296782170Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:06:00 +00002010-03-05T18:36:03.146-07:00LeapForceAbout six months ago, I got a contract with LeapForce to work at home as a search engine evaluator. I've written about this before, and consequently I've received a handful of emails from people asking me how it worked out. I don't mind answering LeapForce-related questions because I had a lot of questions before going ahead with the contract, and I found other people's comments to be very http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/03/leapforce-experience.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-1005649404226956553Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:12:00 +00002010-02-28T19:39:05.482-07:00Recently I checked my gMail inbox to find a message from Google: they will no longer be supporting FTP-published blogs. Originally the day of execution was set at March 26, but apparently there were enough screams from the FTP-publishing crowd that they pushed it back to May 1.You may not know or care about blog publishing, FTP-based or otherwise, but I did when I set up this blog, and I still dohttp://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/02/whither-blog.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-2111217939703468879Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:20:00 +00002010-01-20T20:17:29.243-07:00(Spoilers, in case you didn't know it)10. Continued abuse of the "events occur in real time" conceit. Apparently, everything in New York City occurs within five or ten minutes of everything else. This is less egregious than it was when CTU was in L.A., but it's still laughable.9. Letting CTU be redesigned by rejects from Top Design. Glass walls everywhere, again? Orange? Humongous room-sized http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/01/top-10-things-24-has-done-to-piss-me.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-1040584578655270119Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:57:00 +00002010-01-20T11:06:48.351-07:00Anniversary Roses -- 15 years!Lots of stuff going on, mostly good, some minor irritations. Top of the list: Sonora Quest did not send my blood work out to CA for testing after my Thyrogen trial, so I don't have my results yet. Oh, they ran the test themselves and everything came back negative, but their tests aren't as sensitive and are not comparable to my previous results. And the order http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2010/01/where-did-that-month-go.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-6020432445357206388Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:39:00 +00002009-12-21T02:04:33.558-07:00ThyrogenI managed to schedule my Thyrogen administration just before Christmas -- having already met my health insurance deductible this year, it was rather important to do it now rather than in January.First shot (right arm) was on Thursday, second shot (left arm) was on Friday. Fortunately this time I have only a tiny bit of soreness around the injection site. The preliminary bloodwork drawn on http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/12/thyrogen-trial-2009.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-4905938402822174882Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:30:00 +00002009-12-21T01:39:40.020-07:00I have a problem with staying up too late when I know the next day won't be too demanding, and that describes most of my days lately. I fall asleep in front of the tv (or computer) and then wake up and stay up, instead of hauling myself off to bed. How late? Late enough to not want to admit how late, because it's embarrassing.Even more embarrassing is why I stay up late. If I were doing http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/12/brief-moment-of-clarity.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-6961986923099406747Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:10:00 +00002009-12-07T02:39:59.589-07:00We saw the Trans Siberian Orchestra with the kids this afternoon. The first part of the concert was an extended song/story, interspersed with Christmas classics and original pieces, that told the story of an angel, a lonely man, and his daughter far from home on Christmas Eve. Through the intervention of the angel and the kindness of strangers, she's able to go home on Christmas Day. TSO is http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/12/nobody-cries-at-tso-concert.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-2360429116057285880Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:48:00 +00002009-12-07T01:56:54.275-07:00Thanksgiving was perfect, except I made too many pies.Since then, we have been inordinately busy. It is much easier for me to be in school when the children are not, and trying to put in even a couple of hours of day at my job proved difficult to impossible for most of November. I have to go fold laundry or else no one will have socks for tomorrow, but I did want to put up a post to remind me tohttp://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/12/perfect.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-6589969919689750643Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +00002009-11-24T01:06:06.406-07:00School work and paying work have been sadly neglected this month. It's not that nothing is getting done, it's just that all sorts of things -- more interesting things -- keep interrupting, like dates with my husband and outings with the kids. And moving DS2 into his own room, which necessitated cleaning out the playroom and purging 5 years worth of toys the children never even look at. It's http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/11/blocked.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-523057377008942866Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:03:00 +00002009-11-10T01:31:12.790-07:00Chocolate peppermint birthday cake, with chocolate mint buttercream frosting, mint (green) glaze, and chocolate chips.DD turned eleven last week, and it feels as if we've been celebrating her birthday for a month now. It started with the purchase of the netbook last Sunday at the Microsoft store, and it continued on her actual birthday straight through to the weekend. The bday itself was full http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/11/bday-weekend-recap.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-7642003825090453592Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:17:00 +00002009-11-03T20:17:35.360-07:00Mammogram came back normal. *whew*http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/11/yay.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-5230918928290634042Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:54:00 +00002009-11-03T01:22:01.172-07:00Sunday we all trooped up to Scottsdale Fashion Center to go to the first ever anywhere Microsoft Store. We wanted to talk to them about Windows 7 and see what they were offering.We ended up buying DD's birthday-Christmas computer, an Asus Eee. It's pink! And it came with Windows 7 Starter as its OS. Win7 Starter doesn't let you customize the desktop or change colors, but that wasn't important http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/11/adventures-in-technology.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-7914258022738773933Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:45:00 +00002009-11-03T00:52:54.103-07:00Patience is not my strong point. I'm waiting for mammogram results. I don't have any particular reason to suspect that something will be wrong, other than my general, persistent belief that I will get breast cancer someday. I have many risk factors (family history, left-handedness, thyroid cancer, melanoma) but also some protective factors: my three children, all of whom nursed for about a yearhttp://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/11/waiting.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-61377598154650066Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:29:00 +00002009-10-27T08:49:50.087-07:00The tail end of the cold I picked up in Tucson is still hanging on, and I often feel as if my brain has turned to oatmeal. The cold has dwindled into nothing more than an annoying post-nasal drip, and eventually that will be gone, too. Patience is required.I finally got my blood work back from USC and it shows my Tg, my tumor marker, has further decreased to 0.21 from 0.23 last time. One of http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/10/updates.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-720937652257240706Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:16:00 +00002009-10-18T20:11:28.849-07:00We left Wednesday after piano lessons, arriving at the Casa Grande National Monument just about a half hour before it closed at 5PM. The ride to Case Grande was easy, and the monument itself is very cool, and the little museum accompanying it is charming as well.The Big House, a 4-story building made entirely of caliche, about 600-700 years old.Leaving Case Grande, I realized that somehow the http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/10/touring-around-tucson.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466893.post-4545603950822997182Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:47:00 +00002009-10-10T01:54:26.742-07:00© 1970 Mark A. Dimmitt / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital LibraryGrowing up on the East Coast, I never had a fall break, because school didn't start until the Wednesday after Labor Day. Sure, we had a long weekend in October for Columbus Day, and an extra-long weekend in November for Thanksgiving, but our first vacation was over Christmas.This year, the kids started school on August 10, and it's a http://www.farscapeweekly.com/weblog/2009/10/fall-break.htmljhedman@alum.mit.edu (Joan)0