chrisfixedkitty

Another month gone by

2009-09-30T20:21:11Z

My garden is now in desperate need of replanting, but my main project this week shall be known in time as the Great Culling of '09. It is perhaps the greatest act taken as part of YOO, the Year of Organization. I did a decent trip to the used bookstore yesterday, exchanging a bag of books for one paperback for H and the sequel to Wicked. Huzzah, bookshelf space was re-created! So far, I've done a first pass on the closet, the fabric bins, the kimono collection, the dance gear bins, and the underbed costume bins. I have a huge pile of clothing and costumery on the guest bed, at least 6 shopping bags of fabric, a full bag of dance veils, etc, and one small box of items. Today I'm going to tackle photographing most of the dancegear, costumery, and items to stick on my flickr and Ravelry trade pages. A friend who has recently lost weight will be coming over to try on clothing, as she needs EVERYTHING in her new size, and I know how that is. Then it's trading and eventually Goodwill with the rest.

Next week I will garden and post all the fabric and destash notice. There is a biospace job fair in my area, too, and that will kick off the next surge of job-hunting. I really need a part-time or contract-length job (thanks, CFS! ;P ). I can handle working with a short commute, until something goes wrong. I catch passing bugs very easily, but it takes me longer to get better and I crash for another week afterwards. Thus, a regular full-time job isn't in the cards for me right now. Finding a professional level job that is part-time is going to be a trick! Wish me luck!

My podcast vaguely escapes podfading throughout this, and I will be interviewing Laura Scott on Friday about her new book. The new kitten is settling in nicely and starting to demand less constant attention. I have managed to get farther along with the gift knitting and am on the very last bit: fingerless gloves for Mom. They should be finished in the next weekish, as will my first shawl. Grumpily, I seem to have lost my stainless steel blocking pins, and Jo Ann Fabrics now only carries nickel-plated steel, which will rust on my shawl. A run to Lacis may be in order. My first socks are stalled mid-heel, but the clothing friend has offered to finish the heels for me, as she really likes that part. Learning heels with a new and very interested kitten is just not working out. The next pair of socks I want to try is cuff-down, so my hope is that by the time I finish these socks and get to the heels of the next pair, the kitten will not interfere with the heel-learning process.

I have acquired the first two Dr. Who specials of Tennant's final "season" on DVD and am considering asking for one of the cheaper all region DVD players for anniversary/birthday for things that don't make it over here from the BBC. I need to make a list of how many things are currently on that list and see how worthwhile that will be. Anyone have advice?

OK, enough sitting. Time to resume YOO activities!
CF

Tired, catching up with kitten

2009-08-31T20:41:03Z

Zeetha Amelia Fisher, fearless warrior and explorer, has conquered the entire apartment except for the Dark Prince of Fluffiness's patience. Seeing him driven before a creature less than 1/3 his size because she won't stop trying to play with him is simultaneously pitiable, amusing, ironic, and frustrating. She's wearing him down, though. And he's stopped grieving all day.

I'm just pulling it back together internally. I've stopped thinking that shapes on the floor in my peripheral vision are Perry for that odd split instant, and I'm pulling out of my funk.

Planning an upcoming and long overdue vacation, then afterwards a renewed job search. Still need to fix bikes, but the amount of housecleaning I have planned for this week will surely take care of my exercise needs (and/or cause CFS crashes), and my garden is in dire need of a fall planting day. Dire. Extremely dire. The heat has sent all dill and lettuce into seed production mode, the remaining tomatoes are ripening quickly, and our single small watermelon is softball-sized and still growing. Otherwise, pots of dirt waiting for replant. I have, however, successfully cycled the worms and have some of them in the new top bin already. In three months-ish, the current bottom bin will be pure happy nutrient goodness for my winter crops.

I feel like sewing, but the teaching projects for 2 separate folks are on hold due to scheduling issues. As in, schedules just aren't matching up. I also need to finish the area map for the new D&D campaign that starts soon. And I'm still knitting away on Xmas projects (mom is the only one left). Le sigh. That and a closet-costume clearing and sale by the start of October should keep me busy.
CF

Kitties, jobs, CFS, and tomatoes

2009-08-05T23:33:24Z

Garden good, productive, happy. Frantically trying to finish my Mom's birthday scarf before Monday so I can mail it. House mostly clean.

A 3-week QA gig in San Fran turned into a 2-week gig and I learned that a part-time day is well within my limits, but a 4 hour a day commute is not. I was very very tired and missed most of the pre-scheduled social events during those 2 weeks and a few days after. This means that a part-time gig with a short commute may indeed be possible for me, but I'd greatly prefer to start as a temp or contractor for a few weeks to be sure that it is sustainable.

CFS still sucks, but I'm perking up slowly. I'm going to get my leaky bike tires fixed next week and work on slowly adding some physical exercise on a regular basis, biking to post office, etc. during the day.

Kitties... Perry, the Original Fixed Kitty, is going to be put down on Friday. She's been with me for 11 years and it's time. She's been going slightly senile, but the behavior issues and increasing bitchiness over the last weeks and months.... she's clearly unhappy, I'm unhappy, and it's not going to get better. So Friday, she's getting put to sleep. Ghira The Dark Prince of Fluffiness will miss her, too. I'm looking for a new companion kitten or young cat for him now, so we can bring it home a few days after Perry leaves. That should give him some time and yet not make the whole apartment his territory firmly before a new arrival. Wish us all luck and strength through the next 2-3 weeks. It's going to be rough.

etsy mini workaround test

2009-05-05T03:35:34Z

Here is a test of my ability to work around this whole "no flash or java" LJ thingy. If I am successful, a picture of the mini with a link to my store will appear:
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Etsy shop restocked, YOO back in swing

2009-05-02T01:00:58Z

I seem to have bottomed out on the post-off-meds crashing. I'm wondering how much or how long recovering will take. I haven't really been keeping up so well the last few weeks. Big podcasting news: I'm leaving FarPoint Media. No real pod-drama, just can't keep up with their additional activities. You know, stuff like new artwork, clips shows, and promos. It all needed to happen this month, and it wasn't going to happen.

I will be joining the Brass Needles podcast crew, more news when it's for-realsies and details are more certain.

Other news: Henry and I are cooking up a new D&D 3.5 world and game to start later in the summer. Also sculpeying and painting miniatures, monsters, etc. for the current 4e game and the future 3.5 game. If you're local and curious/interested, PM me.

Year of Organization (YOO) report:
This week I managed to repot some cucumber plants that are desperately waiting for the nights to get warm enough to go outside. The anti-cat measures have been successful to date. Tonight I repot some tomato and green pepper seedlings into larger pots, again waiting for those warmer winter nights. It actually got cool and drizzly today, which is really late for rain out here. I appreciate the effect for the farmers and ranchers and hope it has some effect in decreasing the summer fire severity this year.

The desk pile creeped up slightly, with the manga pile worked down slightly. I did a used bookstore run and only bought a Kudoku book for Dad for Xmas and a Pratchett book (Making Money) that H and I have not yet read. In volume, I think that's a victory. Only one book entered the house that will stay; a whole box left.

I've been organizing the Xmas knitting around game/social times. Easy knitting gets done faster, and casting on and gauging that keeps getting un-and-redone. I should be finishing the complicated nearly-done OMG-is-it-done-yet project, my MIL's scarf for Xmas, in the next week.

Major victory that took all day today: All but 3 finished objects made it onto my Etsy store. Booyah! Here are some steamy highlights, but I'm offering a discount to my LJ peeps who have Mother's Day/ Father's Day/ anniversary shopping to do on all of the items. Heck, do all of it at once and save on shipping! For the month of May, enter "SteamMay" during checkout in either the Etsy comment box or the Paypal comment box. When payment is received, I will refund 10% to your paypal account. My trade desires are still open, PM me if you have any of this kind of stuff to trade.

Here's an etsy mini... ok, no... it isn't. Go see my etsy store. And if you know how to make this work, please share the secret.

Mild CFS backslide

2009-04-16T19:35:26Z

Yeah. I'm needing 11-12ish hours each night instead of 10ish now, or I have that dragged-out-of-coffin Zombie Chris thing going on. I'm wearing out earlier in the evening, and I've had a few miserable days of fuzzy brain on days when I got less than 10 hours of sleep. I am NOT amused. We'll see where the slide stops *fingers crossed*, and I'll make a doc appointment in another few weeks.

This has, understandably, set YOO on pause. So has teaching someone how to sew. Patterns and fabric stashes were out all over my office. Now that we've got the first pattern/project selected, I'm putting them back where they belong. Some knitting has gotten finished and ferrets have been safely returned. Look at my twitter for pics. Still ChrisFixedKitty.

The garden is at the uncomfortable stage of summer seedlings on all the windowsills but not ready for going outside until May. No container is safe; I've sawed apart milk cartons and jugs, seltzer liter bottles, and every tub of schmeer becomes a container. May better hurry. I'm running out of elevated surfaces!

CF

off the antivirals

2009-03-24T20:41:47Z

HENRY STILL HAS A JOB!! The 2nd round of layoffs missed him, and we're not expecting any more for at least the next quarter. While the budget will mostly stay at current levels, a few long-awaited purchases were made in celebration, and we went to see Coraline in 3D. Watchmen sometime this week/end. Anime purchases included the Emma season 2 box set and the Mushishi box set. Also, used copies of the 2nd Bale Batman film, Hellboy2, and Get Smart. Yes, I rent from Netflix and buy used from Blockbuster online. If Netflix still sold used disks, I would prefer to give them my funding for anti-censorship reasons. We also used our annual REI money-back certificate on a GPS, but the model does not support the topologic maps as we thought it did. I'm going to try to exchange it for the model that does acc the manufacturer's site and the map software site this afternoon. Wish me luck.

I took my last antiviral on Thursday morning, and a series of loud neighbor/faulty fire alarm/loud neighbor incidents have made it difficult to see how that has affected me. Not enough sleep is not enough sleep, which I don't handle all that well. I'm currently voiceless due to a tree pollen allergy. I'm going to see my former coworkers tonight at a retirement party, which will be extra-fun voiceless. Two interviews have been rescheduled for next week. Oh, all the woes.... woe. ;p Really, this is a minor crash in energy level compared to 6 months ago, with some brain drain.

Garden update: My lemon tree has at least 3 lemons making a sizeable go of it. Also, one of the three Douglas irises I planted in the fall has worked out. They're my favorite cut flower, but I'm leaving this one attached to the dirt. They last much longer that way. Chives and onions planted in late February have been transplanted out into the broccoli and carrots' pots. My "what to plant" decisions are based on what I'm sick of having the last bits go bad in the fridge, for the most part. I'm expecting a chance to harvest and use fresh shallots in my pork-with-cream-apple gravy recipe sometime this month. The basil chibi-forest beneath the lemon tree is prospering, as are the thyme and poppies under the lime tree outside. The pepper plants, on the other hand, are limping along. I have a few heirloom yellow tomato seedlings that have at least another month to live indoors, and I may be replanting cherry tomato and mini-peppers at the end of the month if I still don't see sprouts.

YOO update: The year of organization has hit a weeble-wobble point. I've lost ground to the paper pile on my desk, but the dustpiles by our window and heater unit have taken a major hit. Also, the yarn-to-gifts conversion continues steadily, but more yarn has entered the house through jewelry trading. It takes up more volume than the jewelry, that left, so I'm not convinced I can call that a draw. Yesterday's nap and enough sleep has helped me regain some of the energy required to push onward with cooking (next) and maybe some of that cleaning. My next target is putting all the photographed jewelry on my Etsy store (sellername chrisfixedkitty) to hopefully convince it to leave the house in a more fiscally constructive way. That said, no one is spending much money these days, so trading may be a faster option. I've done as much trading for yarn as is feasible for me to use this year. I'm not sure what the next best target for trading is... books for Xmas gifts (SF, D&D, knitting), DVDs for H's birthday in the fall, heirloom seeds? Anyone have ideas?

CF

one week left...

2009-03-12T18:46:50Z

I'm almost done with 6 months on antivirals, and while not completely recovered, this is the most of my brain I've been able to use since I got sick 2.5 years ago. I'm able to enjoy reading short stories again. I'm doing ok on 10-11 hours of sleep most nights, and the crashes are less frequent and less hard. I don't think I'm up for a full work day, but I'm going to work on building up my physical and mental stamina over the next few weeks. This assumes I will not have a horrible crash and backslide when the antivirals are no longer onboard. Time to update the resume, line up my reference folks, and prepare for a hunt for a PT QA or other biology job in April or May. I'm not sure those exist in the part-time format. We'll see.

My garden continues to grow. The winter lettuce plants are clearly ending their season. Spring lettuce, onions, peas, green peppers and minis, and tomato seeds have been planted. I decided that anti-aphid spray, while not as much fun as a balcony sprinkled with ladybugs and too many praying mantis hatchlings, was cheaper and not as likely to migrate away. My worm bin is also doing well and not smelling. This is a big bonus.

I'm getting more into knitting and keep leaving the sewing stuff in boxes because we're going to have company over. No need to anti-vacuum and have fuzzies and threadbits everywhere. I'm also feeling like making another Steampunk costume (that I've already started) may be a waste of time and resources, as I don't seem able to make it to any local events. Either too late in the day or too expensive for my make-Lincoln-scream budget. I don't want to work on real-life clothes until I've determined how much exercise I can build back up to. I like well-fitted clothes. That doesn't mean tight, but it does still require knowing what my shape is going to be. I hate reworking things. Hate it.

The Year of Organization is doing all right in the areas of papers getting processed and yarn/beads getting used. Fabric, not so much yet. Still, it's only March. SO far, so good. I may even tackle my bookshelves and all those binders and notebooks soon...
CF

Big February trade idea.

2009-02-17T02:27:43Z

I've finally photographed everything I have to trade and made my lists. We're all broke, but we all have stuff. What if we would be happier with each other's stuff? Check the blog post for all the steamy, yarny, costumey, techy, just plain stuff I have to trade. Check the list of stuff I'm looking for. Maybe we can help each other out!

http://gettingby.net/blog/nfblog/2009/02/february-2009-trade-list/

Noncorporate shill,
CF

Guh... sick Kitty. Also, YoO continues!

2009-02-09T19:00:22Z

I've been ill for the last few days, which has broken several social engagements and been an all-around bummer. It has also slowed my progress on 2009, the Year of Organization!

While my desk is now down to a one inch pile of "to deal with later" materials, and I have finished another knitted object and 3 pretty little somethings, I have 2 other trays of jewelry projects laid out that I haven't felt up to working on. Hopefully that will happen this afternoon. I might just take more Nyquil and nap, once the hell bass music downstairs shuts up.

It hailed late last night, a rarity in this area and the second time this winter! So all possible plants came in off the balcony, including a lemon tree with 10 flowerbuds on it. I'mm not seeing any fallen petals this morning, so hope for summer fruit lives! IT LIVES!!! MWAhahaha... sorry, wrong web persona. Ahem. Looking at the forecast, the plants will be indoors for a few days/nights to save schlepping them back in. Does anyone local to me have some spare ladybugs? Not for while the plants are indoors, but they would help me with some of the outdoor insects who also really like my plants!

OK, time to steam my head again.
CF

Crazy, crazy January!

2009-02-01T20:33:33Z

My Birthday was awesome!! Having a party with all my ppl around me is emotionally a big deal to me (I blame 2 or 3 blizzards cancelling parties of mine hours before they were to start as a kid), and it was great. Several of my friends who really should meet each other did, the conversations were varied and energetic, and much food was brought AND eaten.

January has been odd. I've been needing more sleep for awhile, but I haven't actually gotten sick. This is the first of 3 Januaries that I didn't spend at least 2.5 weeks sick, so that's praise for my recovering immune system. The increased need for sleep is doing bad things to my sleep/wake cycle (26 hour cycle, blegh), but I'm handling it. I'm hoping that this means my system is fighting off teh Evil that Henry's coworkers had last week.

I sold my Lucrezia costume for yarn money. Yay, it sold! Yay, yarn money! The annual gift knitting yarn was halfway paid forby this, and I still need to buy the needle set to do all of it. I should look through the closets and bins and see if anything else really should find a new home. Free up some space, admit the need for a very limited number of femme fatale velvet numbers in my life...

I have been pursuing 2009 as the Year of Organization. The stack of paperage on my desk is down at least 3 inches. ;) I'm also working on turning the craft supply stashes (fabric, trims, beads, wire, paints and dyes, yarn, etc) into finished projects that mostly leave the apartment. I'm using etsy to find some things new homes, and I'm considering going to one of the local yarn stores with a batch of stitch and row counters to see if they'll sell them there, what terms, etc. Supply stashes need to shrink! I gave a discount code out to my Tweetpeeps, I'll do the same here: put Yarn1 in the etsy and/or paypal comments box with your order to get 20% refunded off any items in my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5744719 seller name chrisfixedkitty until Feb 15. I will Paypal-refund the next day; it's the only way to do a sale code in Etsy.

It's been a very restful weekend, because we both needed it. Yesterday, big breakfast with pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Today is laundry, transplanting and planting, and cooking a stirfry and probably a tupperware of onigiri for the fridge snacking later. I'm planting the spring garden seedlings indoors in various washed out plastic food containers. A strawberry clamshell and a sushi lunch tray work excellently. This month: peppers, celery, more peas, herbs, and always more onions. Tomatoes and melon seedlings get planted in mid March. A few things planted last month are now ready to go outside with the big plants. I've started a worm bin to handle our veggie scraps and make fertilizer. So far, very low smell. As in none. Let's hope this continues.

OK, time to be about it!
CF

2009- year of Organization!

2009-01-20T00:11:01Z

Early signs are upon us, from multiple sources who may not wish to be named, that 2009 may well be that long-awaited Year of Organization! The year when closets are cleared of no longer required articles, when emails are found and acted upon without delay, when craft supplies turn into finished projects! Yea, verily, the stack of books from last Xmas may even get read before the next Xmas! *deep breath*

The time is at hand! The moment is upon us! I'm going to dig into the pile at the left of my desk and... it looks like I'm starting with paying bills and then following up on my convention notebook and pile of business cards collected! Carpe momentum, people! Or it will get away from us again! ;)

In other news, my winter garden continues to produce herbs and lettuce, I am slowly recovering further from chronic fatigue, and it turns out my former workplace just eliminated 1/3 of the workers a month after I left. After this weekend, the box of 3 sewing projects in progress will return to the living room for completion. 2009... Year of Organization!!

I can haz etsy store?

2008-12-14T19:04:30Z

Here's a mini of the store so far, if I did this right:

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
chrisfixedkitty.etsy.com

Updates, and loss of DragonCon 2009

2008-12-14T03:06:49Z

I continue to improve slowly. I'm starting to be ok with just under 10 hours of sleep nightly, and my brain is online for most of the day and into the evening now. I still get wiped out beyond all reason for very minor overdoing it, but I'll take some progress over none! Small steps!

I continue to garden and have been eating homegrown salads and snow peas.

I've built an etsy store (etsy.com, user search for chrisfixedkitty), but only ~1/2 of my items are posted yet. You bet your sweet bippy I"ll be posting when it's all up and glorious.

This week we learned that our health care insurance contribution is going up, as are the copays for meds. This shrank our budget for everything else. In a choice between having a sufficient emergency fund for car breakdowns, etc. and going to DragonCon, we made the "grownup" choice. This sucks. But reality is, and my car is over 10 years old, so there it is. Here's hoping I get better soon, get employed very quickly thereafter, and still get to take a few vacation days on either side of that long weekend and we can then go to Dragoncon. I am SO incredibly bummed. How will I keep podcasting without my annual recharge of the Tribe's gathering?

I've spent the last 2 weeks cleaning for visitors, but vagaries of small aircraft have interfered. Hoping to see them soon.

6 weeks, and slowly feeling a bit better

2008-12-05T19:39:28Z

I've been out of work for 6 weeks now, and the recovery is going very slowly. Henry corroborates that I'm a little more coherent in the evenings than I was at the end of my medical leave. Might be the antiviral taking effect, might just be time and rest. Either way, I'm feeling a little better, despite a crash this last week following a Tday trip to friends and family. I'm reorganizing my office/guest room and finding all manners of things I haven't seen since we moved here. I've done one used bookstore run and 2 runs out to the recycling bin of paper and cardboard. Another extra bag of trash went out. I might even get the frequently-used beading and sewing stuff back into my office rather than the living room before my in-laws visit at the end of next week! (It could happen... mostly... I think!)

I've discovered that travelling with knitting is much easier than travelling with beading or sewing beyond small embroidery projects. Also, yarn has come a long way in the last 10 years. This could become another semi-expensive hobby! Darnit, but it's soooo fuzzy!

I've started putting some phone photos on my flickr account: http://flickr.com/photos/chrisfixedkitty/ and will continue to do so.

I'll be attending Dickens Faire this Saturday, unless H ends up working through this weekend. Need to trim my bonnet today. Or I might just stick with the Steampunk Catwoman costume again without any attempt to shift it toward an earlier time period with accessories, petticoats, bonnetry. That will depend on how tired I am by this afternoon.

OK, now to start the chicken soup and get to the day's cleaning!
CF

Still doesn't feel real...

2008-10-29T19:34:32Z

It's been 2 weeks today since my last day, and I still don't feel unemployed. More like a long vacation, but I'm still catching up on cleaning and seriously overdue projects around here, which may be part of it. Henry has worked through the last 3 weekends, so I've taken on more of the house and cooking stuff lately. Poor boy is seriously close to the exhaustion point.

I've been sleeping 11ish a night lately and had a fever yesterday, which I'm hoping will pass by the weekend. I'll be attending the Steampunk Convention in Sunnyvale, CA and doing a lot of interviewing as the Electronic and Western Frontiers Correspondent of the Steampunk Spectacular Podcast. Finishing up my petticoat today for under the Steampunk Catwoman costume, as the bustle makes this naughtily necessary for period propriety. Hope to finish bead embroidering the matching spats by then.

RIghty-o. Time to be about it.
CF

Back online!

2008-10-23T20:35:48Z

And it's good to be here! New ISP, took a week to get signed up and all that.

A real entry soon. RIght now, bills to be paid, etc.
CF

Dragon Con pics

2008-09-30T01:18:25Z

(reblog from my blog at gettingby.net... ding!)

I think I earned the name “Steampunk Ambassador” for all the times I explained “about all the goggles this year” to people. Here are the photos of my costume’s final version from other people’s Flickr sets. If you know of/took other photos of my costume, please send me a link! There were other photographers at the shoot, but there was a lot happening, and the goggles only give me tunnel vision, so I’m not sure who they were…

First, the ivory twenties’ dress that I rebeaded, photo by Jason Adams:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cryptonaut/2811536734/in/set-72157607022482234/

A tribute to Panda of Free Planet X, photo by P.C. Haring:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30754239@N00/2834271893/

This shot is going to be my new web 2.0 icon, thanks to P.C… I just need to crop, upload to the various apps, etc.:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30754239@N00/2834157679/in/set-72157607131240636/

And from Gutshot (ah, web 2.0, which makes “Brandon” sound off, or unfamiliar as a friend’s name):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34791259@N00/2829607134/in/set-72157607062144734/

And the pages with the League of Justice-Minded Citizenry shoot:
Jared Axelrod/JR Blackwell:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetx/sets/72157607224659259/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetx/sets/72157607224659259/?page=2
Jason Adams:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cryptonaut/sets/72157607022482234/?page=2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cryptonaut/sets/72157607022482234/?page=3
Stuart:
http://flickr.com/photos/thekinginyellow/sets/72157607067572391/?page=2
http://flickr.com/photos/thekinginyellow/sets/72157607067572391/?page=3
(and some b/w!) http://flickr.com/photos/thekinginyellow/sets/72157607166598983/

It was a blast. I miss everybody, but I hope to see you next year!
CF

Still on the planet

2008-09-20T22:37:54Z

I miss everyone from DragonCon. I will post costume gallery links soon. I mostly recovered from the ConSars, and I returned to work only to find out there's a potential hostile takeover (results expected on Tuesday). My iRiver died when I got back, taking all interviews done at Con with it, hissss. Still, that is a recoverable setback.

Very tired emotionally and physically from the return to work and all the drama. It took 2 weeks and 1 unfortunate rough spot of life (car repair necessitating 2 days of 3+hour public transport commutes) to start wiping me out again, getting the headache back and brainfade before the end of the day. So part 1 of my personal experiment (6 weeks' leave) was successful; I started to feel a lot better with unlimited sleep and naptimes whenever I needed them. Part 2 (returning to work) was unsuccessful; the benefits did not last significantly. Good to know but not what I was hoping for. Discussions at home have concluded, minimal though they were. Plans have been made. They will be announced publicly and at work sometime soon (~3 weeks). First I want the dust at work to settle.

I recently got a Blackberry phone and an unlimited data plan. If anyone knows of a LJwidget I could use to post and read LJ messages/friend pages on a Blackberry, that would be ultrasweet.

I've done a little balcony-container gardening lately. Very satisfying without so much physical demand, and I have a LOT of basil. Also, tiny snow pea plants are growing like gangbusters. San Francisco's cool season is beginning, which means I can plant onions and daikon radishes and lettuces in the spaces that basil will soon be vacating and start a few new containers. These will mostly finish their growth season in early spring, and then spring plants will fill in their spaces. Now let's see how this all works in reality. ;)

OK, naptime.

Steampunk Catwoman costume photos

2008-08-27T04:39:11Z

Reposted from my blog at http://gettingby.net/blog/nfblog/2008/08/steampunk-catwoman-trial-run-pics/

Here are some pictures of this year’s DragonCon costume. Per the experienced costumer’s tradition, I always test the whole ensemble before the event. In this case, I discovered 2 breakages which were easy to remedy at home but would have been difficult in Atlanta.

League of Justice-Minded Citizenry, beware! The promenade also displays less lofty members of society.

So many months of work. Worth it, although I forgot the cat ears and makeup for the trial run.

The parasol and boots are staying home due to suitcase space limits, replaced by matching slippers, cat ears, and a fan. Should the bustle stay home? The one that’s small enough to pack into a suitcase is very “Natural Forms era” in scope and probably too subtle for the majority of congoers to perceive. It may seem as though I simply have a mutantly oversized arse+hips WRT the rest of me. Opinions? Leave a comment, tweet DM, or email me.

Oh, and if you see a gal in ivory 20s dress and cat ears at Mssr. Sigler’s party or at the Parsecs, say hi and take my picture, OK? I am leaving the photography to others this time around, again due to the space limitations of modern air travel.

CONNNNNN!!!
CF

Endocrinology last test has.... grey area result.

2008-08-23T18:29:19Z

Another 8am draw for Chris on Monday to confirm the result. Yay for mild abnormalities if they yield a treatment?

In other news, Dharma Trading Company's store is a knitter's dream (not me, although why did all the cool yarn wait until I stopped knitting to emerge?) as well as a silk dyer's dream. The image for what to do with this 1930s pattern... sueded silk charmeuse, yes, my precioussssss... is coalescing in my mind. Vicky ballgown and 1940s sundress first! Resist! Resist buying supplies that far out on the list except for really neat metallic resists! Gah! And I still need to visit Thai Silks, which I have ordered from for years. They're local-ish and have open hours. This could be dangerous.

A day of car ride and shopping=11 hours of sleep after. This weekend begins Henry's week of vacation and our apartment preparations for DragonCon. DragonCON! DRAGONCON!! CONNNNNNNN!!!! I can't wait to see everybody. I can't wait to get through the TSA and then see if my luggage arrived intact. Sans corset, bustle, and hat, I believe I can fit all of my 20's dress and my Steampunk Catwoman costume in my carryon if I wear the skirt. What Tshirt goes with a black velvet skirt? Mmmm, Hotlanta....

I want to do a photoshoot of the costume this week and post pics before con, so that it is recorded in pre-ruined glory (No faith in TSA and slight worries about at-con damage). Also need to pack, superclean apartment, do all laundry, eat fridge food to avoid spoilage, and maybe even finish my 40's sundress to wear outside the con grounds. The muslin is done and the fabric is washed. The muslin on my CSO coat is now also done, but I think that will have to wait for a few weeks. I need a break from sewing for awhile, so besides finishing normalwear projects and the sewing spats to go with the catwoman bodice for steamcon later, I'm going to bead in the evenings for awhile (those spats and Xmas gifts). Also find the big 1/2 gallon jar of goldtone buttons in one of Henry's bins WRT not/buying CSO buttons. It's 20ish and 10ish smaller coordinating buttons, so that's no small expense.

OK, off to be about it.

Endocrinology visit went well but nowhere

2008-08-21T00:56:21Z

She was very nice. She was thorough, and she was honest that the one lab left to test, judging by history and physical, is probably going to be normal. She was very sorry to have no leads on treatment and that thyroid treatment would be inappropriate for my fatigue. In fact, she got so sorry and "you going to be ok to drive home?" that I started doing that awful throat-closing-nearly-crying thing. Luckily, she was conditioned to leave the room when the patient stands, says a grave "thank you", and delivers a firm handshake.

So I go for adrenal testing in the morning, and I followup with my primary doc by phone next week, with a scrip for Valcyte from the quacky-esque fatigue specialist. Based on PCP's comments last visit, I think she would prefer me to wait until next summer when the ID guy at Stanford will have his next new patient appointment to try an antiviral approach, although she did assure me that it was a normal drug+dosage for HHV suppression.

Hrm, wait a year to see yet another doc (and lose another year of my normal life) or try something that stands a logical chance at helping now... barring some abnormal adrenal news, think I'll be filling that next week and starting it toward the end of/right after DragonCon.

Le Sigh. Luckily I backed ramekin chocolate cheesecakes earlier in case of just such an event... ok, and I just like cheesecake. Then broiled chicked and potatoes when H gets home.

The big CFS specialist review... mixed bag.

2008-08-09T16:48:43Z

So, the CFS specialist I saw in LA about 2 weeks back... This was a mixed bag. If you want to know their name/contact info, messsage me. That said, I cannot recommend them very heartily at all.

For those of you who don't know me personally, let me give you the shortest version of some pertinent facts: I attended the first half of medical school, left, and got a Masters in Cell and Molecular Bio, pending dissertation... thank you, EBV mononucleosis and chronic fatigue round 1. I fully recovered in 8 months. A year later, I got a horrid viral-fever-chest-sinus-throat thingy on vacation in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, it didn't stay in Vegas, and a familiar-feeling spiral of nonrecovery, daily and weekly progressive brainfog with all-weekend crashing, and needing 11 hours of sleep/24 hours just to function ensued. That was 1.5 years ago. Enter voluntary part-time work schedule (luckily, my husband is supportive AND has good medical benefits), change of primary care doc, and no normal lab-verifiable cause for fatigue. I didn't quite meet CDC definitions of chronic fatigue syndrome, but came close enough... my very thorough doc (an internal med doc, very thorough in the test ordering but a bit timid w the unknown) wanted me to find a chronic fatigue specialist to help find a diagnosis and treatment plan, as no one within her network had XP with this either.

Finding a specialist with an M.D. (not chiropracty, acupuncture, hypnotherapy or other things that no well-controlled studies have given me significant enough reason to spend my limited resources on (remember, very tired and now on PT pay vs med school loans.... I didn't need busy-work or expensive long shots!).... sigh. I looked every which way, the clinicaltrials.gov site pointed me to 2 clinical trials within travelable distance, and I should hear from those docs about seeing me middle of 2009 according to their desk staff. Looooong wait lists. I got desperate and put out a cry of help to the podcast sphere, having many contacts there with many contacts and listeners. Someone pointed me to this practice. By this time, I had gotten so worn down, even with the PT schedule, that I was starting to not be able to compensate any more. I was making mistakes, or more accurately, not catching other peoples' mistakes. I work in QA in biotech. I requested 6 weeks medical leave to rest and get myself back to functionality before a big project gathers its head of steam and crashes into my workload. The rest seems to be helping a bit. OK, now you're caught up with the pertinent facts.

Review of my experiences at the specialty clinic:
Weird thing #1: this multidoc practice does not bill to insurance. Their website explained that they have 1-hour long visits to explore these complex conditions, and no insurance will reimburse for that adequately. Also, some of the lab testing was unlikely to be reimbursed by insurance, and all services were to be paid at the time they are done. They do provide receipts with the typical billing codes and other info required for the patient to submit for whatever reimbursement their particular insurance will give. The fee for the visit was not (per time) that different than my regular doc visit. Weird, suspicious, but definitely plausible. They did use a national lab service which took my insurance. I haven't yet seen what my copays/uncovered lab fees will be.

First bigtime negative: it is not typical medical practice for the doc to sell you stuff directly. In the US, pharmacies are separated from prescribers. Eye docs have interesting ways of meeting this requirement behind the scenes, but that's off-topic here.  Studies show that a fiscal interest on the part of the doc (investment, paid work with a drug company, etc) has a significant effect on the treatment chosen which may/not conflict with what's actually best for the patient. So I disregarded all specialty clinics that had online stores on their websites in my search. Unfortunately, when I got to this clinic in person, there were rows and rows of bottles on a table behind the reception desk and gift-bags with name tags on them on a shelf for pickup. Sinking feeling in gut but keeping mind open that there might be good reasons, I continued to the doc's office.

First positive: the office staff and doc were friendly, and the doc was responsive (with chuckle) to the post-it on my patient questionaire (20 pages) that I was not there to discuss acupuncture, "it's in your head" theories, or "learning to live with my limitations". Hearing that gets irksome real fast, as anyone dealing with a not-yet-understood illness can tell you. The doc I saw (several in the practice)

Second positive: review of said questionaire and directed but thorough history and physical.  Had some tests in-office, including urine iodine to check for shortage and a reflex-charting machine (Thyroflex?) to measure the length of time each phase of the reflex as key to thyroid function.

Third positive: the list of labs ordered showed thought into wider-ranging causes of fatigue than my doc had. Not exactly silly-season ideas, just not what had been investigated before, including reverse T3 levels, HHV6 antibodies, chronic Lyme disease test, NK function/# test, and a total of 12 tubes of blood of other stuff. One of the tests had to be done on a not-Friday, so I would find a testing station by this lab in my area the next week. The doc discussed the general fatigue treatment strategy and a few options, and we were to have a phone-followup in ~10 days when he would have the lab results.

Second bigtime negative: before these labs were even drawn, he was prescribing 3 supplements with names like Adrenal support, Energy-Max, and something else. The tests on my adrenal function weren't drawn yet. The rational seemed based on "Some patients feel lots better after taking these" but no detailed response to the following questions (and attempts to clarify these question): what proportion of patients are helped, what's in this, and what is it supposed to do? BTW, "boosting the immune system" and "providing energy" don't count as meaningful answers. I wanted to know what cell, chemical, or functional thing in my body they interacted with, accepting that we might not yet know how they work. Now I accept that many psychosomatic patients must present themselves to fatigue and pain experts, and the first treatment tried with sufficient believability/personality behind it will work for them. That doesn't mean it's good clinical practice.

Third bigtime negative: When I got to the checkout-and-pay station, 2 of those supplements were branded with the medical practice's name on the label. They were all multi-ingredient, one had lots of unfamiliar plants in it (and I have many and severe plant allergies), and came in those gift bags I saw earlier. While she was printing up my paperwork, I was scanning the bottles, which all had stickers to show un/opened lidness and were returnable if unopened within 30 days. The receptionist put some pressure on me when I started showing some... I don't know, balkiness? hesitation?.... and I decided not to cause a scene in the office but talk to my regular doc first and return them by mail if she seconded my not-quite-right-here feeling. If I wasn't really hopeful about the 2nd and 3rd positive points above, I wouldn't have bought them at all, but I was feeling worried that they would refuse the followup appointment or not release my test results to me and my doc without expense and fuss if I even politely caused a scene in front of other patients. Not a good vibe.

Fourth bigtime negative: additional tsotchke sales and bribery. As I left the clinic, there were additional supplements on the counter for sale without the doc's prescribing them, a DVD from the last NIH chronic fatigue/pain conference for $35 (not likely to be patient-directed info... that's a research conference),  and a sign offering account credit in exchange for testimonials. See first negative: testimonials for money. Oh yeah, that's reliable information.

Phone followup review:
Turns out I have exposure to EBV, HHV6, and Mycoplasma, high-end reverse T3 and low-end-normal T3 levels, and low-end cortisol levels, although that was drawn in the afternoon, not in the early morning as it should have been. Why not? because he didn't order it that way.   Also, the iron and DHEA supplements I've been taking under my primary care doc's supervision are doing what they should, always nice to see.

First positive: when I explained that I hadn't taken the supplements because I was concerned about medicine interactions and allergies and because it would be impossible to tell if the just-started medical leave or the supplements caused any improvements (hey, it's PART of the truth!), he accepted that smoothly.

Second positive: he generated a mostly reasonable treatment plan: treat the T3 imbalance, treat the adrenal dysfunction, antivirals vs the EBV and HHV6. He answered my question that we really DON't know if EBV reactivates like some of the other integrative viruses do. Some studies say yes, others say no. We discussed treating primary cause (infection-related history) vs current symptoms (T3 and adrenal, and of course fatigue and brainfog), and he said that he's seen his patients respond better to anti-viral treatments after getting in better shape re: the symptoms. He also prescribed high-dose B12 shots as immunomodulators. There is some thought in the research literature I've read that considers poor host response to viruses as a possible cause for CFS, and I have since found some research on B12's influence on the immune system that doesn't highly support this idea, but it's feasible. Walking the line between skeptic and closed-mindedness can be a tricky thing, sometimes.

First major negative: He was again suggesting the home-brand adrenal supplement, but again could not explain what it did or contained. I told him I wasn't comfortable with that, and he dropped the idea immediately and moved on.   Guess it wan'st that strong a recommendation? Actually, the visit also had a strange pattern of him suggesting stuff, and if I didn't respond positively or if I just sat there, waiting to hear more, he dropped those ideas and moved on. Felt like a softsell pitch, you know? Not what I want from my medical expert advisor.

Second major negative: He wanted me to use a home-brand T3 only medication. I asked if there was a suitable thyroid medication my insurance might cover, and he readily said we could try Armour Thyroid, which is a standard combo T3/T4, but the T4 might defeat the purpose. (In the body, T4 becomes T3, a short-lived active hormone, and reverseT3, an inhibitor of T3 and by-product. This was news to me, but Pubmed research supports this.) Here's the really, really bad part about this: a little dabbling on the FDA website revealed that a T3-only medication has been on the US market since the 1950s. It's called Cytomel, and its labeling was last revised in 2002, and it's made by a pretty standard company. If it was really new, I could accept that he just hadn't heard of it. But this isn't new, and he wanted to sell his homebrand instead.

So in overnight mail, I received my scrip for Armour thyroid (dessicated pig thyroid... yum) and the antiviral that the Stanford study used successfully in a small number of EBV and HHV6 positive patients with similar symtoms, the high-dose B12 shots, and all the lab paperwork. I'm seeing my doc with it this coming week, and I'm really hoping she'll monitor/prescribe appropriate thryroid therapy and monitor the antiviral therapy. I'm interested in what she has to say about the shots (assuredly unreturnable), but I have yet to research B12 injectable commercial availability. Why, when I have syringes already in my fridge? Because a standard commercial prescription product that has been on the market for any length of time has been taken by thousands of people and general risks and drug interactions are known. That has value for me, and my insurance will probably pay for most of it.

I won't 100% universally decry this doc, as some of the test results are leading to reasonable treatment plans that might really help. However, unless you have a knowledge base to sniff out the BS and the confidence to sidestep it, you could get taken for a helluva expensive ride. As it was, including the drive and hotel, this adventure in patienthood cost me over $1k USD, and I don't know how much my insurance will reimburse (or not cover in the case of labs), but I'm guesstimating $200-300 reimbursement. Fellow sick-and-tired people, leave a comment or LJ-message me if you have questions. It might take me a few days to have good-brain-time to respond adequately, but I will.
CF

agh, what a month.

2008-08-01T19:09:51Z

I'm going to save the LA CFS specialist report for after the phone followup next week. Might as well do it all in one piece then. That visit used up the first week of my medical leave in the doing of it and the recovering from all that driving. Since then, my sister-in-law and a college buddy were in town, and then I had a few sleep-days recovering from very good visits.

My PC gave out during a Windows update (Mac users, please don't start. Expensive Windows-version software, tight budget, etc...) and was in the shop for 4 days. Then 3 days of redownloading and rebuilding and finding backups and blech. So I'm just now really back up. I'm not sure when podcasting will resume. I'm a bit sick of the computer screen at this point. I don't know what's happening with the Steampunk Spectacular currently. I hope it's coming back from hiatus soon.

The last week of the all-you-can-sleep and frequent resting has done some good. I'm now waking on my own after 10.5-11.5 hours of sleep instead of 11.5-12 hours. The post-allnighter-yucky feeling has faded except for the first hour of the day and an hour or so of the afternoon. I can concentrate well enough to read a chapter of nonfiction at a time in the afternoon, and I finally read The 5 Fists of Science comic book that has been on my shelf for months. I'm indulging in one Lord Dunsany short story at the end of most evenings, and I'm nearly done with the collection I bought at Wondercon.

Mostly, I've been cleaning and sewing. My oldest cat, Perry the neurotic eternal kitten, who now feels her age occasionally and wants to be held or sleep in laps for comfort at any opportunity, who knows the sound of the starting music of video games as a sign that we will be sitting for at least half an hour, and who still squeaks rather than meows, has been chasing the swaying cords of serger thread as I sew. Good times.

I will be finishing my DragonCon costumery this weekend. We might attend the PEERS picnic dance on Saturday. I'm starting to sew normal summer skirts and tops for myself. Google Burda patterns for free and cheap patterns. I'm starting the muslin of a CSO jacket I planned a year ago this weekend. In the last year, as an admitted hope-filled coping strategy for all the too-tired-can't-think, I had slowly accumulated supplies for so many sewing and beading projects for "when I feel better." Now I'm using some of them, doing some Xmas gift crafting, and generally feeling happier from lack of feeling awful. The crafting and PC recovery and cleaning-activity-ramping-to-exercise goals, combined with sleeping so much, have not permitted any boredom.

I have cleared out one bag of Don't-Really-Needits and reorganized the linen closet to prevent sheetslide. This gave me 2 sets of truly ugly handmedown sheets to use for muslins and linings. 6 canvas bags of recyclables have left the apartment. Living on the third floor, it cannot be said that I am not exercising. I have also started stretching again, and I remember about half the days. Next week I tackle reorganizing the kitchen food and pan cupboards and discarding storage containers and lids that no longer have mates; they're the socks of the kitchen. I continue to tackle my office and have at least 2 more bags of Don't-Really-Needits in here. Today I will replant more pots of basil, dill, green onions, and parsley. Why won't my parsley thrive when everything else does? I'm using all my old beautiful orchid and bonsai pots and deep plastic food containers. Very odd miscellany with a sort of wistful air.

Now on to today's tasks.
CF

First day of med leave

2008-07-16T21:50:08Z

My mechanic has rendered my car good for drive to the CFS specialty clinic in LA tomorrow. Next: packing and car cleaning. There might be another nap in there as well. Soooo need to sleep in. This last week of trying to get everything ready at work has been extra-wearying, requiring naps every evening, up to 2 hours some nights. Everything else has been on hold- podcasting, sewing, etc. Next week the real megaresting section of this leave begins.

Wish me luck! I'll post to the CFS/CFIDS communities about the clinic visit next week sometime.
CF