Nov
7
Note – None of these are from my current employer. Because while there are surely a few silly things about them, it’s overall a great job, and I don’t want to be fired.
1. While quitting with 4 days notice makes them angry, citing the page in the employee handbook says that they are an “At Will” employer pisses them off to no end.
2. Employing business majors to contract as programmers will get the job done poorly – for a million or so bucks.
3. Forcing your employees to use 10 year old technology stifles their learning and therefore employability by other companies.
4. It is more important for the systems administrators to censor what websites you visit than to actually maintain production systems.
5. Doing good work – on time and under budget – is no substitute for schmoozing with the boss.
6. Creating a shell company and contracting dead people to your current employer is a great idea – as long as you don’t get caught.
7. Placing stickers with guns Xed out on every window and door will only make your employees laugh.
8. Perl is not supported. (wtf?!)
Ok, so as I’m writing this, I realize that I learned all of these things during a nearly three year stay at an employer in one of the armpits of the world. I’ll have to see if I can come up with a more broad list, spanning more employers.
Nov
6
The flu ep(idem)ic
Filed Under Geeking, Ranting | 31 Comments
In late 2004 I got my last flu shot. I say my last, because I will NEVER get another after what happened next.
Shortly after getting the shot, my family and I went on vacation in Florida. I was sick with flu like symptoms the whole time. You know, fever, achiness, etc. I also had some tingling in the palms of my hands, which I was attributing to a fall on my bike. It really wasn’t the best vacation, and when we got home, it was practically Christmas. I was so tired, and felt so weak.
After the first of the year, I attended my karate school’s first class of the year. Now, I’d been going to the same school for over 3 years, I should have known better than to go to the first class of the year. It’s ALWAYS a killer. The next day, I was so sore I could barely walk upright. I held off on karate classes for a couple of days, and then went back for more (torture, that is). This class was different. I felt like I was moving in molasses. I couldn’t jump, I couldn’t run (as hard as I tried). It was awful. I was supposed to be the most senior person in that class, people were supposed to look up to me, but I was fumbling around like I weighed 500 lbs.
I let it go, and continued to go to class. But it only got worse. 3 weeks later, I was visibly limping. I figured it was time to visit the doctor. I saw my GP. She wasn’t overly concerned about the weakness and tingling, but more about the frequent migraines and she ordered an MRI. It came back normal. (I have a history of epilepsy and migraines, so normal is a huge relief.) She also recommended that if the tingling and numbness didn’t improve I see a neurologist. There were none in her group, so I was left on my own to find one. My first thought was to find the guy who treated me for seizures in my teens. I found that he had retired. The next step was to find a list of candidates in Austin. I started with a fairly large clinic in Austin, and chose the guy based on his photograph.
When I saw him, he immediately told me it was some sort of polyneuropathy, but he would have to do tests to find out which one, and how to treat it. His first course of action was to order a DNA analysis to determine if it was one of the hereditary neuropathies. It took 3 weeks to get the blood drawn and another six before the analysis was done. When he received the results, he called to tell me I had none of the *known* markers for hereditary neuropathies.
Ok, think about that for a minute. Known markers? If it’s not known, how do you know there are others?
Despite my confusion over this, he told me there was nothing he could do, and that it would probably progress slowly. At this I jumped. I was already limping and dropping my feet regularly. I was falling often. I could no longer run, jump, kick, or jog, and now walking was starting to look iffy. I was even having trouble opening jars and lifting my (then) 2 year old. I told him this. He was very audibly alarmed and told me to come in immediately.
When I got there the motor tests that he did showed I was MUCH weaker. I couldn’t even walk on my tiptoes. I couldn’t even STAND on my tiptoes.
He changed his diagnosis. He asked me if I’d been sick, or had a flu shot before these symptoms appeared. I confirmed both. He came back with “Guillian-Barre“. Now, I knew all about this syndrome, I’d been reading for weeks about nerve damage and neuropathies and possible causes. I nodded. He told me the course of action was to give me a weeks worth of IVIg. This involves sitting in a chair hooked to an IV for 8-10 hours per day.
After the first day of treatment, I was visibly better. My limp was better. I felt better. Over the next few weeks I got better, and then worse. I had to have a second round of IVIg. Six weeks after that, I was bad again. I switched doctors. The new doctor told me that he didn’t think it was your typical Guillian-Barre, that it came on too slowly, and was lasting too long. But he thought it was a related condition called CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy). This is basically the same as Guillian-Barre, but in a more mild form, and chronic instead of acute. More than likely, I would be having battles with it for the rest of my life.
Both Guillian-Barre and CIDP are auto-immune disorders. They both cause a person’s immune system to attack the peripheral nerves (nerves other than spine and brain) and remove the myelin sheath surrounding and protecting the nerve. Think of it this way, if your nerves are like electrical wires, and the myelin is the plastic coating around them. If you run electricity through a wire that has been stripped of it’s coating, a portion of the electricity is lost to the air. Some of the noise makes it through, but it’s not full strength. This is exactly what happens to the signals your brain sends to demyelinated nerves. Part of it is lost to the surrounding tissues because the protective, insulation is gone.
The difference is, that Guillian-Barre often progresses extremely quickly (like in 4-5 days) and that it often causes respiratory complications that lead to breathing tubes and many many months of rehabilitation.
So, getting the flu shot in late 2004 not only gave me the flu (despite what the CDC says about that being impossible) it gave me the wonderful gift of lifelong nerve damage. Granted, if the first doctor hadn’t farted around for 8+ weeks, I might not have had permanent damage, but still, thanks for the warning!
The CDC does mention on thier website that Guillian-Barre is a possible side effect. But they down play the severity of the disease. On the other hand the CDC also says on their website that the flu shot should be had by people who are at high risk for complications from the flu. Those people are infants, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. Um, let’s see, that’s not your average 30 year old joe on the street.
It enrages me to hear commercials telling people that they MUST get a flu shot. Bullshit. It pisses me off that employers post signs around the office about Flu Shot 101, and I’m sure they didn’t mention the possibility of Guillian-Barre or other (more long term) auto-immune diseases. (I’ll have to find someone who went and see what they actually said).
I’ll also tell you that I’ve not had a flu shot since 2004, and I haven’t had the flu since then. My husband, who is mandated to get a flu shot by the military, gets the flu every year. In fact, he’s getting over it as I write this.
Bottom line, do your research. Make an informed decision about that immunization before you get it.
Oh and PS — seems that the new HPV vaccination, Guardasil, is causing Guillian-Barre symptoms as well. There have already been 8 deaths in the US related to the injection. Just something to think about.
Nov
5
Ribbon Storage Box Tutorial
Filed Under Crafting, Sewing, Storing | 34 Comments
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Ever since I made the first ribbon storage box to mimic this box from Oriental Trading, I’ve been thinking about how hard I looked for a good tutorial on the subject. I can’t promise that my tutorial will be “good”, but I’ll show you what I did.
The first big problem is to find a good sturdy box that will accomodate a good number of ribbon spools I ended
up buying two of these (plus a smaller version of the same box) from IKEA. The great thing about them is that they are sold in packages of two, and they require assembly. Yep, you heard me right, I *LIKE* – in this case – that they weren’t complete on shipment. Here’s why:
Because they are shipped flat, it’s much easier to mark the holes and insert the eyelets. But don’t let that discourage you. Any sturdy cardboard box would work.
The first step is, then to mark where you want the holes. I found that because I could put two rows of ribbon in the box, that I wanted lots of holes to poke it through. So I created this layout. 5 large eyelets on the bottom row, and 8 smaller ones on the top. I just drew two horizontal lines where I wanted each row to be and then evenly spaced each hole. (On this go round, I just opened the box I had completed already and traced the holes locations.)
During my first attempt, I cut each hole by hand with an Exacto knife. That proved to be really hard as this is some seriously thick cardboard. So this time around, I asked my hubster to try using the drill. Ahhh… I saved the aching in my hands and ended up with much cleaner holes! Each hole he drilled was just a tiny bit bigger than the opening in the eyelet.
Next, just insert the eyelets. The large and small follow a similar process, but follow the instructions on your eyelet kits.
And voila! Your own neat ribbon storage! You can see that even with the extra holes I still needed to thread 2 ribbons through some. So far, that seems to be working ok. And it’s really easy to see what I have, and actually USE it because it’s easy to get to.
Now, does anyone know what to do with the little “bobbins of ribbon”? I have a million of those too!!!
Nov
1
Just say “No”
Filed Under Parenting | 4 Comments
A friend of mine recently turned me on to a photographic series done by artist Jill Greenberg. Each photo (which is manipulated by the artist after processing) is a child crying. Some are merely weeping while others are in full out temper-tantrum mode.
There is (or was – I’m rather late to the picture) a huge controversy over whether these photos constituted child abuse. The artist has stated that to upset the children, a lollipop was given and then taken away briefly. Most of these arguments contained something about how the children will suffer long term damage from being “exploited” as such.
Now tell me, is there really a case of a sociopath whose only abuse was getting something taken from him? Honestly, why are we putting our children in bubbles? I don’t understand the parental mentality that says we can’t tell our children “no”. But then, maybe I’m abusive, too. I’ve threatened to take pictures of Alexis when she is throwing a fit, and actually done it, too. Guess what? She quit screaming after about the third shutter click.
Either way, you have to admit that the pictures show nothing but raw emotion. Whether or not that is art is in the eye of the beholder.
Oct
31
Halloween
Filed Under Crafting, Geeking, Parenting | 3 Comments
Ah, my favorite holiday and birthday all rolled into one. I hit 32 this year, and well, at least people are still telling me I don’t look it. Well, everyone except that mean lady that gave me a facial on the ship last year. She said I was getting wrinkles!!! Rude. You just don’t tell people that. We want to remain in denial. I want to remember myself as I was at twenty. Wait, no I don’t, I was overweight and had straggly hair. That’s perfect for a witch costume on Halloween, but not so great the rest of the year.
Speaking of costumes, PostSecret has this card on the current list. Sigh. I mean, what’s up with little girl costumes these days? Newsweek did an article on them recently 
Skimpy skirts, barely there tops and French Maid costumes? No way am I letting my kid out dressed like that… but then, you saw what I’m dressing her as… it might be just as bad.
Whatever happened to dressing up like some TV monster in a grocery store costume. You remember those, dont you? They are printed plastic jumpsuits, with a plastic mask that is so hot that your face starts sweating the moment you put it on. And what’s worse, is that if you try to talk, spittle gets all over the front where the mouth is supposed to be but never actually lines up with your mouth. Ah the smell of those nasty old costumes really takes me back.