Brain Fog, and Other Excuses

I haven't been around the blog much during the last few months. There has been other stuff going on. LOTS of other stuff. Here is my list of excuses:

1) Work - busy days, long hours. Frankly, I don't want to look at a computer once I get home some days. Been there, done that all day, too tired to care.

2) Summer is peak gardening season. This year I declared all out war on the monkey grass that we inherited when we bought this place. It might have seemed like a good idea in 1965, but monkey grass spreads all over the place, including our "lawn" which is mostly a collection of stuff that is NOT grass of any sort. So around Memorial Day weekend, I started ripping out huge beds of monkey grass and replacing it with nice plants that mostly stay where you put them. This coincided with the onslaught of perpetual heat waves, so I had to get up early to do this and it was still pure hell. I also upset a bunch of yellow jackets who had an underground nest in one of the monkey grass beds and got stung. They got blasted with Raid. I win.

3) Lots of doctor visits and tests. I've had some hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear since last October, and ignored it until April, when I started getting vertigo. That was scary and demanded immediate attention. The good news is that I don't have a brain tumor (they did an MRI to check). The bad news is that I have something called Meniere's Disease. They don't know what causes it and there is no cure. Awesome. Anyway, the primary method of managing symptoms is a low sodium diet (<2000mg, which is less than one teaspoon of table salt). Which brings me to #4...

4) Learning how to cook all over again. Almost everything in our standard repertoire of meals has too much sodium for me to eat. So we had to start nearly from scratch. Adapting some recipes (with mixed success) and making new stuff from some new low sodium cookbooks takes more time than we used to spend on meal prep. This diet also greatly limits where we can go out to eat, so we are obligated to do more cooking at home, and much more work is involved. Nearly everything we eat now is fresh, frozen, or dried. NOT canned, cured or processed. If we want sausage, we have to make it ourselves. Ditto for pizza - we have to make that from the dough up. Have to use dried beans, not canned (there goes spontaneity). It is really amazing how much sodium there is in EVERYTHING. I have become quite the label reader. Even cheese is a problem! Bacon, sausage, pickles, olives, cheese, salty snacks, canned goods, soups (unless homemade), fast foods (including my beloved chick-fil-A), breads, condiments, soy sauce, and most common snack foods - all on the bad list.

5) Not feeling well - vertigo takes it out of you. Ditto for stress and migraine headaches. Some days I come home and go straight to bed. Most of my symptoms have improved with the low sodium diet (the hearing loss seems permanent), and I am losing weight and feel better overall. But I still need to crash about once a week due to whatever.

6) Other interests - been doing some photography stuff (finally getting my last vacation shots - like the one with this post - processed and posted on Flickr), reading (not as much as I would like), catching up on our backlog of DVR stuff, vacation planning (happening soon, and we are not ready yet), and I've already mentioned the garden projects.

7) Hanging out other places on the internet - I started a separate blog about the new low sodium lifestyle, and also joined Google+ (both as my very own non-anonymous self). So those are dividing my attention. If any of you are on Google+ (other than the two of you I already know about and have in my circles) let me know in comments or email me - I am fermicat at both gmail and yahoo.

8) This is not really an excuse for not blogging, and maybe it is a result of the valium I have to take to "suppress my central nervous system" in an attempt to calm down the vertigo, but I am turning into a complete airhead. Absent minded doesn't even begin to describe some of the stuff I do now. It is almost comical. But also kind of sad. I used to be fairly sharp. Now... not so much. And kind of clutzy as well. Running into walls, falling UP stairs, etc. Not fun, and a bit embarrassing (and bruise-inducing).

So... in a nutshell: work, monkey grass, medical tests, learning to cook from scratch, feeling crappy, doing other stuff, being myself on the internet for a change, and brain fog are my excuses for not doing much blogging. How about you?

Photo info: A flock of seagulls crosses the rising sun at the beach. Amelia Island, Florida. Aperture f/8, 1/400 sec exposure, 55mm focal length. January 3, 2011

They Say It's Your Birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah.

Really. And I am spending it just like the last six days - eight to twelve hours of heavy studying for the oral boards. But since it is my birthday, and Friday and all that...



This has been the view from my lap most of the week (with notes, book, tea, nice view, and of course Zima the cat). It may look like she's sitting on a stereo receiver, but it is really an electronic cat warming device that happens to play music.

OK, back to my cave. I fly to Louisville tomorrow afternoon. The test is Sunday. See you in June.

It works, bitches.

Like my new t-shirt?

The back has a graph of the background microwave radiation of the universe, showing data from the COBE mission plotted over the theoretical curve (equation included at no extra charge). The perfect match is a beautiful thing. Science works!

The cats gave it to me for my birthday. Those kids really know how to shop.

Fermiology

I ripped this off from LL, who stole it from Sunshine. No tagging, just a meme with some random questions. (It was either this, or I was going to rant about how irritating "self check" is at the grocery store.) Feel free to use it on your own blogs! Copy the list, edit the answers, and call it your name with "ology" on the end.


MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. My homemade herb vinaigrette.

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. The only fast food I eat is Chick-fil-A.

Q. What is your favorite sit down restaurant?
A. Bombay Grill

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. >20%

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A. Pit barbecued pork ribs, PDM's jalapeño cornbread, southern style vegetables and Brunswick stew.

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. Sausage, onion and jalapeño

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
A. Butter and honey

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. An aurora at home, and a Hubble photo of a nebula at work.

Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. One. That's all we need.

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. Right.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. Teeth, tonsils, and lots of splinters.

Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
A. About 25 years ago when I was a teenager.

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A. An "electron cone" at work.

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. No.

BULLCRAPOLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. Hell, no!

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A. I can't think of anything I'd like any better than my real name.

Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. Burgundy.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. Gum, little bits of candy wrapper... stuff like that.

Q. Have you ever saved someone’s life?
A. No.

Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. No.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. Why not?

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. No freaking way.

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. OK.

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A. Nah.

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
A. I would try to.

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. Not for any price.

DUMBOLOGY

Q. What is in your left pocket?
A. No pockets right now, so nothing.

Q. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A. Never saw it.

Q. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A. Beautiful hardwoods.

Q. Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A. Stand.

Q. Would you live with roommates?
A. Only the feline variety.

Q. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A. Not sure, probably around 3-4.

Q. Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A. December 2005, speeding.

Q. Who is number 1 on your Top 8?
A. Huh?


LASTOLOGY

Q: Last Friend you talked to?
A: PDM. Sure, we're married, but he is also my best friend.

Q: Last person who called you?
A: Barbara

Q: Last person you hugged?
A: PDM

Q: Last person to stick their foot in your face?
A: Zima. She gets really restless in the early morning.

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number?
A: 2

Q: Season?
A: Summer

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Missing someone?
A: Dad.

Q: Mood?
A: Quiet, winding down.

Q: Listening to?
A: A water fountain.

Q: Watching?
A: The cats and my computer screen.

Q: Worrying about?
A: It is after 11 and I am not sleepy yet.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning?
A: Grocery store (but it was long past morning when I ventured out).

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Finish that damn bathroom project!!

Q: What's the last movie you saw in theater?
A: I think it was Stardust, but it has been so long I am not entirely certain.

Q: Do you smile often?
A: Yes.

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: Yes, but I'm reserved until I get to know you.

Seven

I've been tagged by Jeni to list seven things about me. Err, thanks, I think.

1. I procrastinate. A lot. In fact, half of the stuff I listed last December is still not done. I knocked out one of them just today (local cell phone number, a mere 3.5 years after moving). Another one (the window treatments for the not-so-new house) was completed just a few weeks ago. That is the way it works. Nothing happens for months (or years), and then all of a sudden I decide to "just do it" and have a spurt of productivity.

2. Back in 1984, during my first quarter in college, the only "A" I got was in Marching Band. Lets just say high school was way too easy for me and I had NO IDEA how to study, and not much inclination to do so because I was busy having fun. It got better as time went on.

3. When I went back to Tech in 2004 to work on a second MS degree, I didn't get any final grades less than an "A". Older + wiser + genuinely interested + good work ethic = CURVEBUSTER!

4. I lived in Massachusetts for over twelve years, but never went to a Red Sox game. Meant to. Procrastinated... At least I got to see a Celtics game in the old Boston Garden.

5. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Things didn't quite work out that way, but space travel isn't exactly the way I had imagined it either. The food and sanitary facilities are far superior in my current occupation.

6. I've been debt free (except mortgage) since 2003. Love it! My best advice is to not get into debt in the first place. It was hard to get out of. But doable. If you don't know how to do it, this book will show you the way.

7. I've been growing my hair out so that I can donate it to Locks of Love. I started well over a year ago, and my hair is about as long as it has ever been in my adult life. It will take another six months to a year before I have the minimum 10" ponytail that they ask for and still have enough hair left for me to not freak out.

feeling fragmented

Dave pointed out in the comments on my last post that I am overdue for another post. I have a few ideas tumbling around in my brain, but have not had time to sort them out to my satisfaction. Call it writer's block, or whatever. I haven't been feeling all that well and it has been busy at work. Napping after work has been more of a priority than blog stuff. And we are having yet another heat wave. It reached 100F again today. Damn. Hardly the perfect weather to clear your mind or make you feel energetic.

When the time is right, I will be back with a new post. Hopefully it won't be long! Until then, enjoy this abstract "self portrait" from my vacation. If you like my photos, there are many more here at my Flickr photostream.

Everyone Else Is Doing It

Yes, it's another meme. But why not? They're fun. This is borrowed from kat, and beth, and trinamick.


IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


Opening Credits: Piece of the Rock (Mother's Finest)

Waking Up: Bell Bottom Blues (Eric Clapton)

First Day at School: I Have The Touch (Peter Gabriel)

Falling in Love: D'Yer Mak'er (Led Zeppelin)

Fight Song: Choctaw Hayride (Alison Krauss & Union Station)

Breaking Up: Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)

Prom: Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac)

Mental Breakdown: Blue Sky (Allman Bros.)

Driving: Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith)

Flashback: Send Me On My Way (Rusted Root)

Getting Back Together: Cold Shot (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)

Wedding: If I Fall You're Going Down With Me (Dixie Chicks)

Birth of Child: Come On In My Kitchen (Robert Johnson)

Final Battle: Two Trains (Little Feat)

Death Scene: Red Rain (Peter Gabriel)

Funeral Song: Eight Piece Box (Southern Culture on the Skids)

End Credits: What It Is (Mark Knopfler)

I'm shocked that iTunes did not try to slip in some Nickel Creek.

I'm no doubt supposed to tag some of you. If you like this meme and it sounds like a fun thing to do, consider yourself tagged.

Eight Random Things

I've been tagged by Beth for another meme. I'm supposed to list eight facts about myself, and then tag eight more lucky bloggers. I put it off for the holiday weekend, but that's over now, so here goes:

1. I have an unusual educational background. Oh, my education was normal enough through high school, and even part of college, but at some point it skittered off the tracks a bit. I'm a dropout. A PhD dropout, that is. After four years of graduate school, all the required classes, passing the comprehensive exam, and doing some research, I got tired of how damn long everything was taking and quit. I had a MS Physics degree so I went out and found a job. More than a decade later at age thirty eight, I went back to school full time and got a second MS - this one is in Medical Physics. I think I'm probably done with school, but you never know... one day I might get a hankerin' to finish that PhD.

2. I'm on my second career. This is somewhat related to #1 above. I spent 12+ years living in Massachusetts working as an optical design engineer. It was OK, but when I decided to move back to Atlanta, I knew I would have trouble finding work doing the kind of engineering I had the most experience with. That is when I decided to go back to school. I chose Medical Physics because I was looking for something I could do using my physics background. Georgia Tech had a brand new masters program in MP, so I signed up with the first group of grad students. I've been working as a medical physicist for about two years now, and I like it better than engineering. It will take me at least another two years of working and test taking to attain board certification in this field.

3. You probably already know that I read a lot of science fiction. You may not know that I have a goal to read all of the Hugo and Nebula Award winning novels. (Stand-alone novels, anyway. I'm skipping the ones that are part of a series, unless it is the first one or I have read the other books in the series.) I've read 33 Hugos and 20 Nebulas. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm discovering a lot of good books and authors this way, especially some of the older sci fi from the 50s and 60s.

4. I was a band geek. I played oboe in concert band (one of the geekiest of all the instruments). I was also in marching band, and you can't march with an oboe. After playing cymbals for the first football season (boring for those of us used to playing melodies), I joined the flag corps for the remaining high school football seasons. It was partly because it was fun and partly because of the uniforms; not as slutty as the drill team uniforms, but WAY cuter than a band uniform. Perfect! In college, I played oboe in concert band and orchestra, and piccolo in marching band (not very well, I might add, but back then at Tech they didn't care - if you were conscious on game day and could march while holding an instrument, you were in). I spent my last year in the GT marching band as the 'ADADM' (Assistant Dumb-Ass Drum Major).

5. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, I loved it beyond the point of obsession. I must have been too young to get a fan crush on Star Wars when it came out, but Empire really struck a chord with me. I saw it countless times, read everything I could get my hands on, joined the fan club, bought a metric crapload of trading cards and books, and basically wished I could live a long time ago in that galaxy far away so I could ride around in space ships and fight in space battles.

6. I inhaled. I don't any more. 'Nuff said.

7. I'm divorced. That's right. I was married to someone before I was married to PDM. I made a very bad choice and it turned out to be a horrible mistake. It took years to dig out of the hole I ended up in afterwards, but now things are much better. PDM and I are best friends and we're well-suited for each other. We like a lot of the same stuff, but not so much that it gets boring. I don't forsee any more divorces in my future. If you are single, my advice is to take your time finding the right person and don't get married if you don't - even if you think it is 'time' or you want babies, or a big wedding, or whatever it is that seems so important. Also don't ignore that shy person who doesn't seem like your type (I met PDM many years ago and did just that) - if you dig a little deeper, you might find that they are exactly your type.

8. Today is my birthday. I took a vacation day and Mom is coming over to help me celebrate. I like my job, but I like not working even more.

I tag thewritegirl, wa11z, jim, dave, kat, bc, taylor, and ctheokas to do the meme if you want to. If not, that's cool too. If anyone else wants to do the meme and didn't get tagged, consider yourself tagged now (make it a baker's eight).

At least I'm not a 'junkie bug' or a 'love monkey'

I 'borrowed' this from kat, who stole it from trinamick, who lifted it from Wordnerd.

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