Wow!

I swear this lamb's ear was not there yesterday when I was out looking around my garden. It couldn't have been this big for me to miss, anyway.

Spring!

Not sure
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Lookie what I found when I came home today!

From my mom

My mom started making some decorative windsocks recently. Here's what she left at home for me today:

And here's what she said about it:

Yellow is for a ray of sunshine that you are, daffodils in the spring, your yellow mums in the Fall, for a smiley face, laughter. It is a color that makes me think of you.

Here's a closeup of the beads:

Thanks, mom. I think you're pretty special, too.

Catching up

Wind farm
Originally uploaded by junogle.

I've been a little remiss in keep up with the year in pictures project, but I have been taking photos. So here's a few I've taken lately.

Jan. 28: The wind farm, above, is located in Lincoln and Ellsworth counties in central Kansas. I was driving home from Salina, where the night before I'd gone to see Second City with a friend.


Jan. 31: Buster tries to avoid detection after making a mess with his favorite toy: the newspaper.


Feb.1: And here, just outside the town where I live, is a whole train of brand-new shiny coal cars headed west.

Keep working it

Whoo-hoo! I finally got around to putting new batteries in the scale, and after two months of not being able to weigh myself, found I am just 1 pound above the weight goal I'd set last fall and had hoped to reach by my birthday at the end of the year! That means I also just squeak by into the healthy BMI range for my weight. That's been the real goal.

But it makes me feel pretty good, and I've even set a new weight-loss goal to put me more firmly in the healthy BMI range. I know I can do it, too.

Really, all I have been doing is making sure I get yoga in at least three times a week (following the Yogamazing podcasts, walking and playing with Buster whenever I can, and maybe getting in some walking at the mall when I'm there working and it's slow. I've also cut down on the junk/fast food and watch my portions. I really think it's the yoga, though, that's made the difference. With the podcasts, I can mix up the routines enough that it's not boring, and I can focus on one body area or get in an all-around workout. It does wonders for the attitude, too.

I would like to get in a bit more cardio, though, so I'm going to make an effort to get on the exercise bike a couple times a week, too.

So, yay, me. 2010's off to a great start.

Warm weather day

Warm weather day
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Temps in the 40s-50s today. Made for a busy car wash.

New 'do

haircut.jpg
Originally uploaded by junogle.

I was overdue for some fresh color and a cut, so took care of that today.

Cold!

weather.JPG
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Looking north from where I work. Dangerous wind chills expected through the night.

Workspace

Workspace
Originally uploaded by junogle.

Having a clean desk is so monumental, I had to take a picture of it.

Cold, what cold?

I'm tired of the cold & snow, but Buster doesn't seem to mind.

2010 in pictures

Some online friends last year did "year in pictures" blogs, and are doing it again this year. I thought it was an interesting idea, and since I got a digital camera for Christmas, something like that might help me learn to use it and see what I can do with it.

I thought I'd just use this blog rather than start a new one, and I'll tag everything "2010pix" for easy searching. I'll try not to make 99 percent of them pictures of Buster. Here's my first one (sorry it's so small — I took it with my camera):



This is my "on-the-go reporter/blogger" gear. Upper left is my new camera, a Canon PowerShot SD1200. Lower left is a memory card holder that has the adapter for my phone's micro card and a 1GB card for the camera (so far). Top center is my Olympus digital voice recorder (with a microphone for recording on the telephone just above it and a stereo microphone to its right), and below that is my USB card reader and flash drive. Bottom right, the green pouch came with a backpack I got years ago, and it's just the right size for the voice recorder and its accessories. Top right is a cool gear bag that originally held the heart rate monitor my brother gave me for Christmas a few years ago (yes, I'm kind of a packrat). I love it for my gear because it's got these little loops that are just perfect for holding the USB cables for everything, and everything else (except the voice recorder) fits into the pocket inside. If it had another pocket or a divider for the recorder, and if it maybe had a pocket on the outside for a pen and reporter's notebook, it'd be perfect (if anyone should know of something like that, leave me a link in the comments!)

Year's end

Here's how exciting my New Year's Eve is so far: I'm sitting here at 8:30 p.m. with the laptop watching "The Replacements" (for Keanu Reeves, of course, not the footbal) while Buster snores on his bed. Dinner was pretzles and a Pepsi and maybe later I'll make cookies. And then, if I can actually stay up to midnight, I might open up that little bottle of champagne I got at Day of Caring.


Wheee! OK, actually I'm not sulking over that or anything. Just in a mood for a quiet evening, really. Today was work at the paper, and tomorrow afternoon is work at the mall, so not a lot exciting going on anyway.

This week, though, I did get to visit with some people I haven't seen for awhile, which was cool. There was my friend who I had lunch with today. We used to work together, and she works for a paper in Indiana now, so it was nice catching up and talking shop (and about her upcoming marriage!). A friend I don't get to see too often and her husband took me out for a birthday dinner Wednesday. Nice to talk to her someplace besides online and get to know her husband a bit better. And while there, we ran into another former co-worker of mine and her husband back for a visit with family. Earlier that day, while stopping at the mall to visit with a friend I don't get to see often since she works days now, I ran into one of my favorite college professors and caught up with her. And earlier in the week, it was lunch with another friend from the mall who's moved to another town.

So a good week, overall. And I'm looking forward to 2010. This year hasn't been the best, but it wasn't the worst. But I think this coming year will be a good one, despite the uncertainties of the economy and what affect it might have on my job and all the other unknowns that are out there, but I'm going to do my best to make it a good one.

Happy New Year, all. You go out and make it a good one, too.

WORK FAIL

I am soooooo tired right now. I should be going to bed but I really do need to keep up with posting here, so excuse me while a depart from the merry holiday attitude and bitch a little.

I have a second, part-time job. I need this job, because I want to get some debts paid off in case the main job goes south. Which, considering I work for a newspaper, is not that far-fetched. So I work at the local mall as a janitor. We actually have more than one mall here, but it is actually called The Mall, and everybody knows what you're talking about when you say The Mall. The other mall you have to call by its name, which is really just the name of a nearby side street off the main drag. It's a small town, what can I say?

Soooo, anyway, Friday I go into work -- after putting in a full day at the main job -- and I'm scheduled for my regular hours, 6 to 11. Normally, I get done around 10 to 10:30, so it's not a big deal, but since I work in a different town than what I work in, it is a real drag to be away from my home for that long. Anyway, Friday was a pain because apparently it was "drop off your tweens and let them run amuck" night. Then, when stores finally started closing at 9 p.m., Penny's kept their doors open. I got most of the doors locked, then went by Penny's, and their doors were still open. I figured maybe they were staying open an extra hour. No big deal. I went to ask. "We're open til midnight." Holy crap. At least I got my Christmas cards done.

Then today, I was scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Well, today is the day the mall started holiday hours -- 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. There are a lot of stores that don't have their own entrances, so employees have to use the mall entrances. Obviously, they can't do that if I'm not there to unlock the doors. So I went in a half hour before I was scheduled, and there were already a bunch of store employees waiting to get in. And they weren't happy. At least none of them took it out on me. But I knew I'd get home kinda late because there are I things I can't do, like dust-mop the hallways and clean the bathrooms, until we close. And it was really too busy to get the trash before we closed, so I had to do all that after 7 p.m. So with coming in a half-hour early and staying late, plus Friday, I've put in an extra almost 3 hours above my schedule, including a nearly 10-hour day today. That's a hell of a lot to ask a part-timer. Expecially one that makes less that $8 an hour.

There's a new motel being built in the little town I live in that's supposed to open in spring, by summer for sure. I think I might just go apply there when the time comes. It'd be nice to actually maybe have some dinner at home and see Buster before heading to a second job anyway, and not have to drive such a distance through crappy weather, too.

OK, bah humbug over. Back to merry. Maybe.

Will they finally be right?

So three times already in the last couple months we've been told THE BIG STORM IS COMING! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR WINTER SAFETY KIT IN THE CAR! RUSH THE GROCERY STORE! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES! IT'S THE STORM OF THE ... oh, you get the idea. And three times we got, at most, a dusting of the white stuff.

Yes, it's always a good idea to be prepared for a big winter storm, and I guess that's especially true for me since I have a 20 mile drive to my work. But I have to wonder if the TV news media doesn't make a bigger deal about it all than is really necessary. I mean, one of the local news stations even started off the 10 p.m. newscast with a story about how they make the same report about "the big storm" year after year after year after year.

So what's the deal? Is it all about ratings? Is everybody trying to be the Weather Channel, with their heroic, daring on-the-scene reporters? Probably. It just seems like everybody's trying to outdo each other on the local weather. I have to laugh when I watch one of the other Wichita stations and their weather guy is literally surrounded by a bank of monitors. None of which seem to actually be showing anything, by the way.

It's been snowing lightly most of the day, and, depending on where you look, we'll get anywhere from a trace to 12+ inches of snow by tomorrow night. Whatever.

Guess I'll go make sure I've got a blanket and stuff in the car. You never know, after all.

You want to rethink that?

I'm in a bit of shock after reading this article that says a government task force is recommending that women in their 40s do not need mammograms and that self-exams do no good.

... the government panel of doctors and scientists concluded that getting screened for breast cancer so early and so often leads to too many false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of survival.

Bullshit.

I was 36 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was not found with a mammogram, but had I known that it was recommended to have a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40, maybe my cancer would have been found earlier. Maybe all I would have needed was a lumpectomy and radiation and not chemo. Maybe I wouldn't have had to deal with bone pain, nausea, hair loss and the fatigue that lasted nearly three years.

And self-exams do no good? I found my lump on my own. True, it was by accident, but I felt the thing. Had I been doing regular self-exams, I probably would have felt it even earlier. And that's why I tell every woman I know, especially those under 40, to do their exams.

This statement really pisses me off:

The task force advice is based on its conclusion that screening 1,300 women in their 50s to save one life is worth it, but that screening 1,900 women in their 40s to save a life is not, Brawley wrote.

Since when is one life, no matter the age, not worth saving?

Starting at age 40 would prevent one additional death but also lead to 470 false alarms for every 1,000 women screened.

So what? Does the risk of a false alarm outweigh the possibility of saving a life? Speaking from first-hand experience: Hell, no. Or, as Dr. Lillie Shockney said:

no doctor can predict ahead of time whether a breast cancer you might get at some future time will spread to other organs and take your life. If a woman is alerted by a mammogram that she has a small (4 millimeters across), invasive tumor that seems to have favorable prognostic factors, then she can probably be cautiously optimistic.

But if that woman never gets a mammogram and instead finds the lump herself later on--after it has ballooned to 2 centimeters (10 times its earlier size)--then we would have no way of knowing whether she is going to survive her diagnosis and treatment. All bets are off.

By the way, 2 centimeters was the size of my lump when I had my first sonogram. And by the way again, younger women tend to get more aggressive cancers. So for me, waiting until 40 ... well would I have even made it?

And when you consider that only a little over two months ago, in his address to Congress, President Obama said this:

"... insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies - because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives."

then the task force's recommendations are ill-advised. Preventive medicine is the best medicine, and our country's medical providers — and our government — should be doing more to encourage it. Getting people to get preventive screenings, eat better and exercise will go much further to reducing the nation's overall medical costs.

After ecstasy, the laundry

That comes from a Zen saying I found long ago, and it's a reminder of life's ups and downs. And it kinda fits how the weekend went.

This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and locally there is a Day of Caring event each year. It's a brunch with a speaker and then a fashion show, with breast cancer survivors as models. There were 14 models this year, and it was the second for me.

Things actually got underway Friday night with the models' get-acquainted party. It was held at a local salon, and one of the owners is a mammogram tech with the local hospital. She donated the use of the salon, the services of her employees, some of the food and a T-shirt for each of us. That was pretty awesome. We had a great dinner made by the daughter of one of the models and had some fun getting to know one another -- including the first-ever male breast cancer survivor model!

Then, when the night was wrapping up, we got our gifts -- three more bags full of stuff!

The loot:

The big, pink sheep was not one of the things I got, but I did win it at Day of Caring three years ago. She's been named Hope and is the mascot of my support group.

A couple closer looks:




The T-shirt:


A hand-knitted scarf:


Everyone was pretty amazed at the amount of stuff we got.

The next day was just a lot of fun, and it was also very moving. The speaker was another local male breast cancer survivor, and it was interesting to hear a different perspective of dealing with the disease, especially since the guy, I was told, was very shy, so it took a lot of courage for him to speak in front of a crowd. Several times, he had to stop and keep his emotions under control to be able to keep going, and it had all us models in tears.

But he joined us in modeling, which was pretty cool, and both he and the other male model gave their roses to their wives after they got out on the runway, which was cool. Everybody, even the first-year models who were nervous, had a great time.

I modeled for the local Harley-Davidson dealer.





I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon scrubbing the black, sticky, smelly stuff from the bottom of the dishwasher, then had dinner with a friend at a Mexican place. Then just took it easy the rest of the night. So all in all, a pretty good day.

Then came today. This afternoon, I started in on cleaning the kitchen, loading up the de-yuckified dishwasher and washing some things by hand. And afterwards, I discovered all the water in the kitchen cabinet under the sink. At first, I was worried the dishwasher had leaked into the cabinet, but there would have been much more water. Then I discovered it was the supply line to the faucet that was leaking. Then, a bit later I discovered there's also a leak in the drain or the garbage disposal. And there might be a pipe connection or two that are also leaking. So basically, the sink is unusable. Hopefully, I can get someone in this week to take a look. In the meantime, I'll have to figure out how to eat without using the kitchen sink.

Sigh. After ecstasy ...

#Beatcancer

I'm helping to raise funds to
#beatcancer, by blogging, tweeting
and posting Facebook status
updates.

Click here to join me!

New glasses

They're finally here!

Another view:

And the side detail:

:

You try to be nice ...

I was out in the back yard, trimming a low branch of the tree, when I saw one of my neighbors' pups had gotten out of his kennel (and was playing with what was left of the injured dove I'd seen in their yard earlier). He's just a pup and probably doesn't know much about cars, and they weren't home, so I thought I'd be a good neighbor and put him back in his kennel. Thought it'd be easy, just pick him up and let him jump in. Ha. Ever try to pick up an unruly, energetic puppy?

So in the process, he knocked my glasses off. I might have stepped on them, or they hit something hard, because the right earpiece thing was all bent out of shape. And when I got back in the house and tried to get them to some shape I could wear them, that popped the lens out. And of course, who has a tiny screwdriver handy for fixing frames? Not me. I ended up using Superglue to get them wearable again. Of course, that got Superglue all over the lens. (Nail polish remover does work, though!)

I've been meaning to get new glasses anyway, so I called the eye doctor I'd last seen, oh about seven years ago, and they actually had an opening this afternoon. So I got my eyes checked -- the prescription has changed just a little, for close-up reading, but otherwise my eyes are OK. The doc did say, though, that probably next time I come in (which should be two years), it might be time to consider bifocals. Sigh.

But I do have some pretty cool new glasses on the way. Should be about two weeks. I'll just try not to be nice to other people's dogs, I guess.

One last time

Yesterday, I was working away at the paper, putting Sunday's paper together when our press foreman walked by. We chatted for a minute and then he said "it's your last Saturday working with us."

Wham.

I hadn't realized it until he said that. The next Saturday I work, there will be no mailroom manager hanging over us wanting to know when the press will run. When I'm done, I'm done. No rumbling of the press rolling late at night.

It really hit me this morning, of all times, as I was on my way into town to work at the mall for the day. I don't know why, but it did, so my day got off to kind of a downer start.

And then the work day ended with some punk-ass-emo-skateboard kids trying to give me a hard time. I guess they think they're pretty important and that I should care what they think. Guess what? They're wrong.

Other than Designstar and Mad Men, that's my day. Exciting stuff, huh?