Weird Al "Mission Statement"

Weird Al's new videos have gone straight to my funny bone this time. From proper grammar, to memories of marching band to the newest video of Corporate Gobledegook.

I have listened to so many Vice Presidents and other executives use so many of these phrases that I can't help but crack up while listening.

The artwork of the video is impressive as well.

Video below from Speakeasy in case the embed doesn't work.

Hospital Update

Well I finally got discharged today.

Still have the sore throat, though it is marginally improving.

The pneumonia really isn't bothering me too much, I only have a little shortness of breath, and rare coughing.

I feel like a pincushion they stuck me with so many different needles.

I do not recommend hospitals for rest. They wake you up at the most ungodly hours to change IVs, take blood, shift change etc.

I passed out for like 6 hours as soon as I got home and I'll probably sleep the night through as well.

Posting is likely to continue to be light, as I fully expect to sleep the next couple of days solid.

I hate being sick part 2

Well dear readers, I'm in the hospital after about 8 hours at the er last night.

Might spike my posting, might not. Don't really know yet.

I hate being sick

Man I am such a wuss when it comes to being ill.

I've had an unbelivebly sore throat since Monday night, didn't really sleep. Went to the doc-in-the-box Wednesday morning but got a crappy doctor who didn't believe that over-the-counter pain meds weren't touching it, all he was concerned with was "Is it Strep or not?" (it's not, fucking viruses).  So he sends me back home, I go into work for half a day Wednesday, feel ok-ish until about 1am Thursday morning (yep no sleep again, oh and I hadn't managed to eat anything either, since Monday night) started having bowel issues, and dry heaves, and just generally panting to breathe, and by 4am was a complete emotional and physical wreck.

Woke poor husband up (he'd gone to bed around 1) and had him take me back to the doc-in-the-box at 4 in the flipping morning on Thursday. This time I got a nurse who listened to the no sleep, no food,  feel like complete shit and she sent me to one of the faux-ER docs (as opposed to the first doc who was more of a normal doc-in-the-box type doc). He was fucking brilliant. Listened to what I told him, and that the newest bizarreness that started while I was there was that I was tingly all over. He asked if my lips were tingly too, and when I said yes, he was like, well, your hyperventilating, looked at my chart (the doc-in-the-box is run by my healthcare provider, so they have access too all my history) saw that I have anxiety issues and ordered a saline IV to get fluid in me as well as an anti-nausea med and a Xanex type med to halt the panic attack that was causing the hyperventilation. 

The nurses were lovely, even though I was dehydrated enough that it took her two tries to get the IV in me. The Xanex type med did its job nice and quick, so I stopped hyperventilating, which got rid of the tingling and general numbness of my extremities.

Another nurse realized I was freezing from the cold saline IV and brought me *two* warmed blankets! and tucked me in.

I still hurt really badly, and the lidocaine has been triggering my gag reflex rather than numbing my throat, which sucks massively as it puts me right back where I was with not being able to swallow (without crazy amounts of pain).

So where I'm at right now is not being able to go into work, not being able to  swallow for all practical purposes, and not really being able to talk because pain either.

All you medicine researchers out there, for the love of being able to breathe, swallow and talk, please invent some more anti-virals so that this kind of shit only lasts a few days, rather than an entire fucking week. Please?

#LikeAGirl

I'd been semi-avoiding watching this because I'd heard that it was an ad.

Now I wish I hadn't waited. An ad it may be. But damn! it's inspiring. I teared up.

The Dresden Files

So. I am completely addicted to the Dresden Files. I mean, Urban Fantasy is one of my staple genres, so I'm actually a bit surprised it took me until December of '13 to even discover them. I read the first 14 between December and March.

The 15th book Skin Game came out last Monday, I'd had it on order from Amazon, so I got it right off. Of course, I couldn't read it until today, as I've had family in town for a ridiculous length of time.

I've put one of the funniest conversations below the fold. There are no spoilers, but I know some people like to avoid all information about a book this far in the series.

Word of the Day I

So, in my line of work, I come across old, unused, underused and simply bizzare words in the English language.

Some of this is due to reading documents from as far back as the late 1800's, some of it is translation oddness, and some of it is people trying to prove their vocabulary.

If this is found amusing, I will continue to post more "Words of the Day"

Today's is "Squab"

This is a chair cushion that is usually removable or otherwise non-permanent (in current usage).

According to Etymology Online:

1680s, "very young bird," earlier (1630s) "unformed, lumpish person" and used at various times for any sort of flabby mass, such as sofa cushions; probably from a Scandinavian word (compare dialectal Swedish skvabb "loose or fat flesh," skvabba "fat woman"), from Proto-Germanic *(s)kwab-. Klein lists cognates in Old Prussian gawabo "toad," Old Church Slavonic zaba "frog."

I'm not even surprised anymore that it is derived from a word that means  'fat woman,' or 'fat' more generally.

Oh English, and your hidden ways of insult.

Storm Stormy Storm Storm

Watching a thunderstorm roll in, doesn't look likely to be a bad one, but man has the wind kicked up.

The idiot construction people across the street didn't dampen their city-block square, 3-ish story deep hole before they left, so I'm watching all the dust devils and smut and dust clouds blow into everyone who is walking and biking trying to get home before the storm hits. Jackasses.

The band looks fairly narrow so that's good, and the clouds aren't funky colors like I used to see in Texas.

So I think I'm gonna sit back, watch the lightening show and drink me some green tea.

Fireworks Fail

Man, we've got friends coming over tonight, and I've checked with my apartment like 3 or 4 times to make sure we could watch the fireworks shows from the 12th floor pool balcony.

Checked one last time just now, to verify pool access protocols, only to be told that the pool is closing an hour early, at 8 instead of 9, and that we are SOL, because our city requires even privately owned pools to have a lifeguard present.

We should have one of the best fuckin' views of the cityscape. But no. They couldn't possibly pay the lifegaurd to stick around for one extra hour. Nope.


/end rant

RetroN5 Unboxing

So our black RetroN5 finally showed up from Amazon on Tuesday night.

For those of you who don't follow the retro gaming scene, the RetroN is manufactured by a small company called Hyperkin.


The last year has been one fiasco after another. Pre-orders went live September 12, 2013 with an expected October release date. Which got pushed to December. Which got pushed to January. Which came and went with no information. Which got pushed to March, April, May, and the console finally released on June 9, 2014. Not that they gave hardly any to Amazon preorders, which is why we only just got ours.

So anyway. Here it is, the big reveal.

The packaging was nice and sturdy. It did work out of the box, and we were able to run the updates from our iMac without any issues.

I do not like the controller. It is too thick, bulky, and response for the right arrow key is kinda shit.
The analog stick isn't a true analog, they went with microswitches, so if you pay close attention, you can feel each direction of the d-pad it sits on top of move.

I would have preferred a real d-pad. The faux-analog just isn't accurate enough.

Husband just gave up on it, and is using our original controllers, which we luckily have for every system the Retron supports.

Screenshots of games will be coming later, as we work through our collection and see if we own anything that is not compatible.

Independence Day

Happy 4th folks.

News the last week has been depressing, but the US is still often a pretty great place.

And I really love fireworks.

Facebook and the Hobby Lobby Decsion

So, Monday, I came in and wrote this, while completely pissed off. I've had time since then to both cool down and see what people I know are saying, mostly primarily Facebook, both pro and con. I won't be going into the details of the ruling here. Others much more qualified than me have been addressing the legal issues since the ruling was given.

Rather, I want and hope for this post to be something you can show your roommate, you parents, your boy/girlfriend.

I am going to address the two views I've seen the most that are for this ruling, that is, those who support Hobby Lobby in their decision to not fund certain contraceptives.

The first is, "Why do you (people against the decision) care? It doesn't affect you, you don't work for Hobby Lobby."

The second is, "Good! No company should have to pay for abortions or abortion-causing contraceptives."

I'm addressing these arguments in this order because for me, this is the easiest way to explain. The first leads into the second.

So, why do I care? After all, it's true that I don't work for Hobby Lobby.

The answer to that is twofold. The foremost and primary one is that I do use one of those newly-not-required-to-be-funded birth controls.

Specifically I use Paragard, the copper intra-uterine device (IUD). As for why I use this method of birth control, it's primarily because my husband and I (mostly I) are not currently ready to have any children, as a result of where we are in our lives. Husband and I just started two new careers. We've moved three states in the last year. We have a small apartment. We plan to move states again in about two years. None of which is particularly conducive to wanting a small human running around.

My other reason is medical. Conventional hormonal pill birth control was causing debilitating migraines for me. This was seriously affecting my quality of life and my ability to perform my job.
So my doctor and I, with no needed input from my then-employer decided that the 10 year lifespan and non-hormonal copper IUD was the best choice for me.

So, yes, I care because this option that is needed for women who know they don't want children in the near future, or who cannot take hormonal birth controls just had one of their best, if not one of their only options removed from them.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking. "But what about condoms?"

Well, condoms might be a great choice for some people. But believe it or not, you are making several assumptions. Amoung them that a womans partner is willing and capable of wearing a condom. In this case, willing means a partner who will take the time every time to put a condom on correctly. Willing means a partner who isn't abusive. It also assumes that both people are not allergic or sensitive to latex.

And this is another issue I've dealt with. I have latex sensitivity. I won't break out if I handle it or touch it, but condoms can range from uncomfortable to downright painful for me.

And yes while female and latex-free condoms do exist, they are often considerably more expensive, or in the case of female condoms, more expensive and quite rare. This means they are impractical for frequent use for many people.

Now, on to the second point I've been seeing, that companies with religious leanings should not be required to pay for abortions. This use of abortion includes contraceptives which are generally accepted to function by causing abortions, which include various IUDs and pills like Plan B.

The trouble with this common knowledge is that it simply isn't true. IUDs and Plan B do not cause abortions.

Now, different IUDs function by different methods, and I'm going to deal with the two most common.

1. Paragard -- These are copper wire wrapped around a plastic "T"--They function as a spermicide via the copper. This is no different from the sponges, foams, or jellys that are apparently perfectly OK to use. This IUD is effective up to 10 years.
2. Mirena -- These are a plastic "T" with hormones in them. These function the same as a low-hormone dose pill. It even still uses levonorgestrel, like a many kinds of "the Pill." This IUD is effective for up to 5 years.

Both Paragard and Mirena use some mechanical means as well. By that I mean that the T shape naturally inhibits a sperm from reaching eggs, further preventing chance of pregnancy. It is this mechanical shape-based inhibition that is often referred to as 'abortion.'

Next we have Plan B. Plan B is either a single dose or a two-dose system of levonorgestrel, just like Mirena, and just like many contraceptive pills. The difference is that the dosage is much higher than a daily pill would be. The window in which Plan B is effective is 72 hours. This window exists because all this pill does is trick a womans body into thinking it is already pregnant, which prevents conception by preventing the release of an egg from the ovary. HOWEVER, if you are already pregnant, it will do nothing. It will not harm you, it will not harm the fetus.

Repeating myself for emphasis, Plan B does not and cannot end a pregnancy.

It is a safety back up for when primary birth control "fails."

I have used it twice. Both were when my husband and I were still relying solely on male condoms for our contraception. Twice while I was working a minimum wage job and he was in grad school, we had concern that a condom had broken or otherwise leaked. Rather than risk a pregnancy at that time, I took Plan B to ensure that I would not get pregnant.

So at this point, I've established that Plan B and IUDs are often good choices or the best choice for various women in various circumstances. Circumstances you can't know just by looking at her. And I've shown that none of them are abortion-causing drugs.

Rather, they are simply another contraception option. Some women use them. Some do not. Either way, it is not the business of the business she works for.

I should also point out that this won't just affect the women who work for Hobby Lobby, but also any employees with spouses or daughters who are also covered by the company insurance plan.

Contraceptives, in all their forms are not the same thing as abortions.

And you know what? Even If they were, it still wouldn't be the business of anyone but the woman and her doctor. Not her boss, not your boss, not her Pastor, not your Pastor, not her company, not your company.

Your right to do stuff around me ends at my nose. And my uterus is well behind my nose.

Ni No Kuni

Just finished the PS3 version of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

First half the game, totally worth the $15 I payed for it, third quarter felt off, and frankly the last quarter was unbelivebly anti-climactic.

That said, gameplay and controls are tight, and the Studio Ghibli animation is a joy to watch the whole way through. Husband even watched me play!

If you like Pokemon/Zelda dungeon runners you will probably greatly enjoy this game.

Each familiar (read "monster") you collect has a secondary form and two tertiary forms you must select between. Add fantastic pacing and side-questing, and I completed it in about two weeks, when I am notorious for not finishing games (looks at Bravely Default guiltily).

Part of what made the pacing so grand was side quests have dedicated portions of your quest log, so you know when you have a new one, you know where to look for it and you get some nice gameplay perks for completing them, like a chance for better item drops or more XP awarded at the end of a battle.

The story has many high points, but the side characters are a touch underdeveloped compared to say, Tales of Vesperia. But since Husband just finished Vesperia, that might well be a biased perception.

Overall, good game, good value and definitely a must play if JRPGs are a genre you enjoy even if just on occasion.