A Curious Statistical Anomaly

November and start of December have seemed to pass in a haze at times. Hyperion and I have both had swine flu. However, we both had lots of commitments — things that just can’t be pushed off. Some days it seemed like pushing that boulder up a mountain just to do it over and over and over again.

However, I did find a December coffee cup. I spotted this at Home Goods and just burst out laughing. After the rough few weeks I just had, anything to make me smile, let alone laugh out loud just had to be the December cup. The only drawback to this design is it has to be used right handed. So, good ole lefty me has to remember to pick it up with the right hand.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love it. I love the smiles, the happiness, the anticipation. The happy holiday wishes from everyone. I don’t like buying gifts, wrapping them, or doing all that other stuff. But I love the feeling behind the holiday, not the commercialism. Heck, today is December 11th and I’ve only watched two holiday films so far this month. Well okay we’ve been watching the Star Trek (original) movies and just finish The Undiscovered Country but still I miss not seeing the Christmas ones. The ones I did see are The Polar Express (this is the 25th Anniversary of the book) and Love Actually. Maybe if I finally get caught up on my writing and reading I can watch some more as I quickly knit to finish off Christmas gifts.

Last year I complained because we’d looked and looked and looked and couldn’t find a tree topper. We ended up buying a Santa that was made of white painted tin in a conical shape that fit on the top though it wasn’t an actual tree topper. This year, we stopped at one store and looked and found this one. This one looks much better lit up than in the box. It’s sort of poinsettia shaped and has lights inside it. It took a while to get it up since the cord is short and the tree we have has the lights already on it so the cords for each section go all the way down. Took two days to find an unused extension cord. But it really does look good at night.

We didn’t feel like going all out for Christmas this year, so just did the tree and put out my collection of Santa statues — or most of them, some are still packed. We’ve been collecting Santa and folk art ornaments for years and the statues were just an extension of that collecting. If you look very carefully at the tree you’d see that most of the ornaments are Santa variations, bears, or folk art type, or some from our childhood trees.

My son is coming down for Christmas this year. He normally only comes down for Thanksgiving, but this year he couldn’t make it then and will be here for Christmas. We’re looking forward to his visit and we hoped to put up all the decorations since he hasn’t seen the house fully done up. We normally put up the tree the evening of Thanksgiving day or the day after since he lives in a small apartment and has a teeny tiny tree when he bothers with one at all. We may do more later but probably we’ll call it enough this year since we still catching up. I feel like I lost November all together.

However, I hope that you’re all enjoying getting ready for the holiday and forget the stress and the rush and just enjoy the spirit that’s in the air– I think it’s pine, cinnamon, and spice.

A bit late to say so but it snowed most of Saturday. We didn’t intend to go out but realized that mailing deadlines were approaching and some things just needed to be finished so we could mail them out. So, we got all the odd jobs taken care of on Saturday — driving wasn’t too bad actually as the snow was mostly melted or slush.

Today, we got the tree up and the ornaments on. I’ll post a picture tomorrow. It’s been a quiet day of decorating the tree, catching up on all the volunteer work we’d said we do, and then watching The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I managed to nearly finish a Christmas gift.

The cough is mostly gone — I’ll be glad when it’s completely gone but finishing a project — or nearly so just makes me feel that things are looking up.

I’ve been kidding myself and I suppose you all knew that, right?  It’s definitely flu and since I got a flu shot months ago and I’ve got all the symptoms except fever — I’m guessing swine flu.  I have asthma and allergies and the past three days I’ve been forced to use my rescue inhaler.

That doesn’t sound too bad unless you know that normally, I use the rescue inhaler one a month when I go to a meeting that’s at a house with two dogs, two cats, and a bunny (all indoors).  On that evening I usually have to use the inhaler once maybe twice depending on how long I’m there.  Yesterday, I used the rescue inhaler four times.  Today, I searched the house and found my nebulizer, which I haven’t used in about two years.  I’ve managed to keep myself breathing (and I’m saving you from some TMI too).

Tomorrow I hope to get in touch with my allergy doc and see if I’m doing all I can or if I should be doing something else — something to keep me from getting so shaky — I hate the nebulizer, it always leaves me shaky and dizzy but breathing better so useful but not pleasant.

Anyway, if you’re looking forward to the zines going live tomorrow night — they will but with content coming in over the first few days as the staff recovers from illness, computer crashes, and other incidents of severe life experiences.  But believe me we’ve got a lot of stuff lined up to help you with finding new things to read over the holidays and maybe to buy for gifts.

I think I’m going to sit and breathe deeply while I can and enjoy the experience before my chest tightens up again.

It was time. I’d upgraded my old phone a couple of years ago when it went through the washer. Hyperion still had the original cell phone which no longer really worked that well since when he called me it sounded like he was clear across the room from the phone rather than next to his mouth. So, the time had come.

It was also time to move off the family and friends plan to our own plan consolidating with our Sprint Air Card (data card). So, we changed our plan to include a data plan since it will come in handy for Hyperion with work and just might be handy for me occasionally.

Hyperion got an Android HTC Hero. So, far he’s loving it. New toy with features. He’s configuring and playing with all the features. Me. I got the LG Lotus in red. I liked the square shape and the fact that when you look at the screen I can pretty much read it without my glasses on. When I open the case I can definitely read it without glass but with them on it’s even clearer.

Haven’t called on it yet but I got all my contact in and had someone already call me and the sound was good. Need to see if my headset works with it. Set up so I can use voice commands. You know stuff. Meanwhile I’m feeling a bit adventurous with a red cell phone. So, I get excited over the little things at least I’m happy.

About the only thing that would make me happier is to have the exact cell plan I want with all the bells and whistles that I want at a price I like. So, when they make the Gayle Plan — I’m so there. Meanwhile, this one is close.

Now step 2 — eliminate land line.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a great holiday weekend. If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, then have a great Thursday.

We’re having Turkey and the trimmings — the picture is not our little bitty smoked turkey but one from Amazon — looks great doesn’t it?  Ours doesn’t look that polished and pretty but it sure will taste just as good. Hyperion and I are having a very low key Thanksgiving this year. My son couldn’t make it for Thanksgiving but will be here for Christmas instead (normally he does Thanksgiving with the parental units and Christmas with his friends).

Traditionally, we put up the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving Day dinner. This year with us both suffering the after affects of a cold/flu thingy — we’ll get it done this weekend. I’ll post a photo when it’s up. Christmas is my favorite holiday but for the spirit of it, not the gift giving/getting of it. In fact we do very little in the gift giving area except for our mothers and my son. And we keep telling the mothers to forget the gifts for us and get something for themselves that they normally wouldn’t get and tell us about it — that would be gift enough for us, but so far no agreement on that front.

For Thanksgiving, though, it’s traditional to give thanks for the blessings and joy in your life so here’s some thanks in bullet points:

For being able to work at home. With my health problems, sitting in an office eight hours a day is not an option … but putting in that time at home is — wish more employers would twig to that fact of health problems.

For life. I’m a cancer survivor and every major holiday is a joy that can’t be measured. Each day is a special event and no matter how much I complain or whine, at my core I’m well aware that every day is a gift. Now if I could manage to stop squandering that gift I’d be ecstatic.

For my husband. I’m one of the luckiest women in the world to have someone who supports me and is such a match for me — I don’t know many other men who’d sing the grammar rock songs with me or laugh hysterically at the funny bits in Hogfather, or just quietly hand me a tissue during Pride and Prejudice. He’s a gem and I’m totally thankful.

My family. I love them all. Granted sometimes they drive me crazy but that doesn’t mean that I love them any less.

My friends near and far. I have local friends I see often and I have made some amazing friends through various activities and groups on the Internet who I’ve never met in person. My friends have given me hope, advice, shared a shoulder when I needed it, and been the means of keeping myself centered and moving forward. Thanks to all of you for your wisdom, advice, and caring.

Lord knows I could go on and on but I’ll spare all of you the wee minutia of my thankfulness. So, enjoy the holiday and make your own lists of thankfulness.  Maybe I should have included the fiber thankfulness…hmmm.

Some days it hardly seems worth getting up Today for instance, it’s wet, rainy, foggy, and cold.  I haven’t checked the outside temp so maybe it’s just me that’s cold.  So anyway, I’m sitting here at my desk shivering even in all my layers and trying to catch up on some work when I get this link to a YouTube video.

What can I say? Sometimes the video says it all.  If the Muppets doing Bohemian Rapsody don’t cheer you up on a dreary Wednesday before a major holiday with a drop-dead deadline looming on the horizon well, check your pulse.  So for everyone else having a downer of a Wednesday.  Enjoy!

It just doesn’t get any better than the Muppets — not a bad rendition either.

It has rained all day today.  It seems like it’s rained more than not lately.  Matches my mood though since I’ve been headachy and out of sorts — maybe flu maybe not.  Hyperion though definitely has the flu but is back to work (out of sick time).  Luckily the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up so he’ll get a long weekend — hopefully that will help.  Telecommuting would help but contractors are not allowed to telecommute (not that the govies are allowed to either).

Anyway, I ran into this article the other day on “Ten things mobiles have made, or will make obsolete” on recombu.com. The ten things listed are: phone booths, wristwatches, bedside alarm clocks, mp3 players, landline home phones, compact digital cameras, netbooks, handheld game consoles, paper, and brains. The author gives a reason for each choice.

I found the list and the reason interesting. However, computers were supposed to get rid of the need for paper. Remember the paperless office? Well, we still have paper — lots and lots of paper. Can’t see that it’s reduced in amount just because a copy of each document is electronic.

It’s the phones screen size that doesn’t work. I’m older and even though you can increase the font size somewhat on the smartphones it’s not a pleasant experience for long term use. Though for emergencies and for keeping in touch or just giving you something to do while stuck somewhere the phone is taking the place of many gadgets.

One that was not on the list was books. Many phones now have software so you can read books on your phone. Of course I’ve got my Kindle but I know many people who read on their mobiles.

I don’t carry a watch anymore. My cell has the time in a small window on the front. I don’t listen to music on it because my mobile phone is older. I may upgrade to a blackberry or android-type soon but I’m happy with what I’ve got for now because I have an iPod, a Kindle, a digital camera that fits in my purse along with my netbook.

The problem with a mobile taking on the jobs of all those items is that when you lose one — the phone — you’ve lost them all. If I lose my phone, well I’ve lost the phone but I still have the music, camera, computer, and books. So, while having one item instead of five is seductive — the thought of losing everything because one item died is just too scary for me right now.

Thought I’d give a run at this meme:

1. Get a pilots license and fly a plane — just a small one, fixed wing.  Took lessons once and have 9 hours of flight time.

2. Speak a foreign language.  I took three years of high school French.  Two years of college German. One year of college Latin. I also know a handful of words in Russian, another handful of Swahili, four or five in Japanese, and one in Klingon.  I’d just think it would be really neat to be able to communicate with someone else in their native non-english tongue.

3. Be able to fix things.  I can add oil, brake fluid, and water in the appropriate places in the car.  I can, if I have to, change a tire. But I’d love to be able to actual fix an engine if something happened to it.  I learned most of what I know about engines from the guys my brother hung out with when I was a teen and from flight school.  But what about the washer’s motor or the dryer or the dishwasher.  These shouldn’t be such mysteries.

4.  I’d love to be able to play the piano.  I’ve got one in the living room.  We bought it when we got the house.  The owners gave us a deal because they didn’t want to move it.  I got books on how to play.  I can even read music since I was in a band, in glee club, in an A Cappella choir, and played clarinet for years in Jr. High and High School band.  But finding the time to practice and learn two-handed playing rather than plincking out single notes is not yet something I can do.

5. Be able to plan a garden, take care of it for a whole summer, and gather the bounty.  Note there are parts to that list.  I usual get things planted and then life gets very, very insane and busy and the rest of it goes kabluey.   We usually get some stuff but not as much as we should if I really paid attention.

6. Finish what I start.  My name is Gayle and I’m a starter.  I start all kinds of projects.  I sometimes even finish them but mostly I get into a project a fair distance and just get bored or put it aside and out of sight out of mind.  I’ve been working on finishing unfinished projects and have completed three over the last six months.  Of course, I started three other projects too.

7. Clean the house without the threat of house guests dropping in.  With limited time I just don’t see the sense in it.  The house won’t be condemned by the board of Health but it won’t pass the good housekeeping seal of approval either.  Someday I hope to be able to afford to have someone else clean it for me.  Meanwhile, it’s good enough but every now and then I dig in and do a complete yearly top-to-bottom but it’s not yearly.

8. Visit Antarctica — read books and it sounds like the closest I’ll get to an alien landscape unless I visit the Arctic but  with all the melting going on that might not there long enough for me to get there.

9. Finish at least one of my started novels.  Again with the startitist.

10. Greet each day and each minute as a special bit of time that will never come again and not waste it.  Yeah, right.  I’m learning to appreciate so much more than I used to but living in the “now” is difficult.  Even when we try very hard we’re always think about the future (tomorrow) or the past (yesterday).

What 10 things do you wish you could do?