Dislocation

This post is about my other half as my week since last Monday has revolved around this event.

Last Monday, he dislocated his left shoulder. We spent the better part of the night at the ER getting that all worked on and worked out. He is doing okay now, there is some soreness and tenderness. They put him in a sling. He is taking Ibuprofen as needed and has a prescription for something stronger if he needs it. He saw the orthopedist Friday morning to check it out further and see if there is any interior soft tissue damage (ligaments, tendons, muscle tears, etc.) It seems like that's not the case, but the doc will see him again in a week to check him out.

The story goes...
About 9:30pm he had gotten back from the grocery store. We were walking out to his Jeep and he took his frequent route to the driveway, along the front of the house on the porch/deck/whatever you call our front part of the foundation that juts out pretending to be a porch. Unfortunately, there was a rolled up rug lying in his way and the reason he could not see said rug was that the front light is out and has been for some time (wiring problem with the fixture). He tripped over the rug, which was near the end of the porch, and fell right off the end step onto the ground. He most likely fell ON the arm, dislocating his shoulder. He was in a terrible amount of pain and when I asked how he was, he told me I needed to call an ambulance. They got here pretty quick and got him up and out to the local hospital. The EMT told me to calm down and take a few minutes before following (so that I would not be tempted to run the lights with the rescue unit...) So I went inside and put away the frozen foods and milk that he had just bought, put the puppy in her crate and jumped in the car to head to the ER.

It was not a great experience at the ER, unfortunately. The nurse did not ask him if he would agree to an IV and painkillers (since he had refused in the ambulance) so he was basically yelling in pain for half an hour, maybe more, before I could get someone in there to administer that. He was asked his birthday no less than 6 times, two different nurses came in to take a history, the doctor finally saw him and had an "okay" bedside manner, he was a bit flippant for my tastes, but treated him properly. The nurses were all pretty bitchy and gave him attitude when he wanted to go to the bathroom IN THE BATHROOM rather than in the plastic thing they give you. The one really nice person was the X-ray tech, she was cool and nice and seemed concerned about how he was doing. Once he had the IV and they gave him valium and morphine, he was in much better shape (although he could still feel the shoulder, which gives you an idea of how painful it was.)

Well, after determining by x-ray that, yes, his shoulder WAS dislocated (I saw the x-ray - yeesh!) and nothing was broken, they set him up to go to trauma to get it put back in place. They sedated him and two docs wrapped a sheet around his torso and the other around his left arm and basically provided traction in opposite directions until the shoulder went back in. He was pretty much out for that part, which was good. He was sleeping and then groggy for about an hour after that.

We sat around for a LONG TIME after they took the follow up x-ray and FINALLY got the doc to discharge him. We were there for over 6 hours!!! So, about 4:00 am, we are driving to the 24 hour CVS to get the Rx filled and trying to find a 24 hour McDonalds (the craving was for fries and a burger) I tried my best but we could not find anything open. So we went home and I made some mac & cheese and we went to bed.

As I said, he is doing MUCH better having the shoulder back in place. The pain of it was something that he and I never want to experience ever again. The ER was SLOW SLOW SLOW and no one communicated anything to us and I had to go track down the doc or a nurse more than once. Sure they were busy (not with trauma emergencies, but there were lots of people there) but they were less than attentive and I was really pissed at a few things - one nurse got indignant with me when I was trying to get someone to administer pain meds saying that he refused them in the ambulance; another got uppity after he had gone to the bathroom saying why did he need the portable x-ray since if he could walk to the bathroom, he could walk to x-ray (I had to inform her that he threw up from the pain after walking back from x-ray!) And I literally had to go out and ask for things like 5 times (pain meds, x-ray status, to get him off the backboard, when would they come to reduce the dislocation and then to get him discharged.) But the billing person got in there within about 10 minutes of his arrival, it figures. So the service was less than ideal.

He is doing better and we hope that there is no permanent or further damage. He was home for three days and back at work Friday. Fortunately, his work is accomodating his restrictions as well, so we get to pay the bills! WOO!

On the plus side, a neighbor of mine, undoubtedly after seeing the fire truck, ambulance and/or him in a sling all week, came over and blew all the leaves in my front yard out to the street!! I cannot tell you how incredibly cool that is! We have SO many trees and SO many leaves! It's just too much for me alone. I don't even know which neighbor it was because it was Saturday morning and I was sleeping in!

Also, this weekend I replaced the outside light fixture (kinda proud of myself!) and moved the rug to a less treacherous location. So the causes of this accident have been removed.

The sling sucks and he has to wear it ALL THE TIME, working, home, sleeping. Hopefully he gets it off at the next doc visit.

Maybe my neighbor with the snow blower will have mercy on me this winter and blow out my driveway, since I will be the only one in my house using a shovel (most likely anyway!)

Ah, well. He is better, but I needed to get that story out!

Cross posted to LiveJournal here

HELL YEAH!!!!

Thanks to the voters of Rhode Island, though not the voters of West Warwick, the casino referendum has been KILLED!!!!!!!

The vote was about 63% to REJECT the proposal to amend the RI State Constitution to allow Harrah's and the Narragansett Indians to open a casino in West Warwick!!

Article from the Providence Journal here.

WOO to the motherfucking HOO!!!!! I am still taking it in and not quite believing it yet! I am so happy and relieved.

I am still going to write to the Providence Journal and my Town Council. I don't care what the benefit would be to the town and the state. There is something WRONG with a politician who supports something that would drive hundreds of citizens out of their town!!! I don't care if his constituents in his district supported it. The Town Council are our representatives, not just as a district, but as a town. I hope those fuckers get voted out of office, never to return again.

Relief is finally here!

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE

Time to get serious...

The decision of whether I continue to live in the house I own today is in the hands of the Rhode Island voters.

It's Election Day and I voted. I hope you did too. I have become more politically aware since the election of that dope in power now than I ever was before. Part of it is because I didn't vote for him and I don't like what he is doing. A larger part of it is because of the issues in my very own town. The Narragansett Indians want to build a casino in RI; this is not new. They have wanted to do this for at least 10 years, probably more. However, for the first time, there is a real possibility of this actually happening.

The reason for that is because Harrah's, the largest casino company IN THE WORLD, has joined the Narragansett's side. At first glance, one would think this is a great idea. They have a million casinos, they know how to run one, etc. But it is a terrible idea for many other reasons: Harrah's would own 95% of the casino, the indians only 5%; Harrah's would have exclusive rights in RI to run private casino gaming; the site of the proposed casino abuts a RESIDENTIAL neighborhood of probably 500 or more houses including an elementary school (less than a mile away); there have been no relevant impact studies regarding traffic, water, utilities or fire/police needs. And last, but certainly not least, we would have to AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION in order to have Harrah's run the casino.

This is because the Rhode Island state constitution says that all lotteries may ONLY be run by the state. "Lotteries" covers casino gaming, the way that it is worded. There are two gambling institutions in RI: Lincoln Park - a dog racing track with slot machines, and Newport Grand - the former home of Jai-lai and another large slot maching establishment. These were grandfathered in because they are slots-ONLY, no table games. AND they pay a ridiculously high amount of taxes to the government.
But in order for the Narragansetts to have Harrah's as a business partner, we have to CHANGE the constitution to allow it.

There are promises of property tax relief and money coming into my town from the Casino. They don't talk about the money going out the back door; the funding that we presently get that the state legislature will give to OTHER communities because, hey look, West Warwick has all that money coming in from the casino. The Harrah's PR machine actually DENIES the idea that crime rates will rise, that traffic will be impacted, that local businesses such as restaurants and retail stores will be hurt, that venues such as the Providence Performing Arts Center and other small venues will be hurt by acts coming and booking at the casino rather than at those venues. They were initially spending $38,000 a day in advertising to send out mailers, post billboards and make TV commercials and a website promoting the Casino and the "benefits" to the community and the state. That figure rose to over $70,000 a day and the past few weeks it has been $140,000 a day (yes, A DAY) in advertising to promote a YES vote for the Casino question. Pretty depressing when you are trying to help the 'grass roots' effort to stop it from happening.

However, in the past few weeks, the opposition has been ramping up their campaign as well. Save Our State was founded by the former governor of RI, Lincoln Almond and he and his small staff have done a fantastic job of raising awareness and getting the truth out about Harrah's and the plausibility of taxes actually going down and all the rest.

Well, anyway, if this resolution gets passed, I plan on selling my house and moving elsewhere in the state. I will not sit around waiting for my property value to decrease and for the deal for this town and this state to go south once Harrah's has locked in their right to run this thing.

Here's hoping the voters in RI have not had the wool pulled over their eyes.

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE

For the love of Chuck

My favorite blog in the whole world is Dooce.

It is what some people would term a "mommy-blog", but what I call brilliantly funny writing all the time. I love her writing style, her subject matter, her frankness, her correct use of swear words, her hysterical and unique links (you should check them out!) her family and her dog.

It is her dog that inspires me to post today. Her dog is named Chuck. Chuck is a mutt of unknown origin. He appears to be the perfect dog - about 40 pounds, loves pop tarts, loves to run and frolic outside, but also loves being with the family, loves baking in the sun and will stay stock still to have any matter of object balanced on his head while Dooce takes picture after picture of him.

About a year and a half ago, maybe more, Dooce dubbed Fridays as "Chuck Fridays" and forever after she posts a picture of the Chuck-meister every Friday without fail. The majority of her readers also love Chuck, but there are a few cold hearted scrooges that say Chuck Fridays are played out or boring.

Well, to them I say FAH!!! How can pictures like these be boring!!!

http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/11_01_2006.html
(scroll down the page to see the wondrous Chuck)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dooce/286206424/in/photostream/
(there are 8 pictures of Chuck in various outfits)

Two of my favorite things: Dogs and Star Wars!! How can this be wrong when it feels so right!!!

Heather (Dooce's real life name) even sells a calendar with 12 months of Chuck, whose nickname is "The Former Congressman". I bought it last year and I will be buying this year's installment as well.

I look forward to Chuck Fridays every week and it always brightens my day! I thought I would share that with the rest of you!

*Cross posted to LiveJournal HERE*

One of those questionnaire thingys

From my LJ today...

Boots and being fat

Let me preface this by saying, YES I know I am overweight and I do not blame one single person for getting me to this state except myself. I also know what I have to do in order to NOT be overweight anymore.

That being said, what the fuck is up with fucking FOOTWEAR not being big enough for me?!?!?!?! This is like the fifth time I have gone to Payless to try and get the super cheap boots they have there that are cool looking and appear to be actually comfortable. I actually saw this pair of boots on someone in Pennsylvania recently and went up to them to ask where they got them. I was so excited when I heard Payless because I knew they would be affordable! Their prices are so great!! And every time…EVERY SINGLE TIME…I leave empty handed and defeated. When will I fucking learn that fat people can’t buy boots at regular stores.

Does this make one bit of sense? NO. It’s not like I am morbidly obese, one of those people you pass on the street and say to your friends, “If I ever get that fat, shoot me!” I am not a sloppy fat person, I do not have rolls of fat on every part of my body, I have defined, if fleshy, body parts. I have defined ankles, no sagging fat that hangs off my lower legs down to my ankles. But I am overweight. So the fucking boots DON’T FIT ME!!!!! They fit my feet. Sure. But try to zip them up and they get about a third of the way up and will not go any further because, apparently, my calves are HUGE.

What the fuck is up with this? It’s not like they make fat footwear – I checked! There is one “womens’ sizes” website that I found that carried shoes. And it’s not even clear if the boots have an extra large leg for the fat girls. I mean, BOOTS ARE SERIOUSLY IN STYLE THIS FALL – WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! Everyone skinny gets to be in style and us fat folk have to fucking sit on the sidelines and look fat in ill-fitting, ugly clothes. It’s bad enough that I have to pay an average of 20% more for my clothing because I have to shop at the fat girl stores (although I can’t really complain about Lane Bryant because they have incredible coupons that give you up to $75 off a $150 + purchase and I have had purchases that come out to something like $15-$20 an item.) But I can’t even fucking buy boots because I am too fat.

It just pisses me off. Give me a break and please don’t comment that I should just lose weight and everything will be fine, because that will just piss me off more.

EDIT: P.S. I got similarly pissed off after the big Fall TJ Maxx ad campaign with a photo of a chick wearing a LONG olive green cardigan sweater, it's like a sweater-coat. So I go there to see if they have them, and they do.....in XXS, XS and S (yes, that's extra, extra small - it's like a size ZERO, which does exist.) One rack in the store with the fat girl sizes and everything on it is hideous. This type of thing is where discrimination against obesity becomes clear. Not in people saying shit about fat people. In practical, every day life. Once again, I will say that it's not okay for everyone to be so fat, the world should not change so that I can dress my fat ass in the same fashions as everyone else. But it is still frustrating.

Just call me...

...Rescuer of Dogs!!!

Yesterday, I was coming home from work and about a mile from my house, there was a dog trucking around the intersection I was stopped at. It's a three way intersection, two stop signs at a fork. Not main street busy, but it gets busier in the mornings and evenings when the local folks are going to and coming home from work. There was no owner in sight, so I immediately turned around in the middle of the intersection, waving my apologies to the cars around, and pulled into the nearest driveway after the dog. I jumped out of the car, the dog had no collar and I decided to test if he was friendly. He was SO friendly, I called him over and he came a'wagging. I gently grabbed the scruff of his neck and asked him to jump up into the backseat of my car. He gladly came along. YAY!!! Saved from the possibilty of being hit by a car!

Thus began my search for the pooch's rightful owner (after stopping home to get my big dog leash so I can actually walk the guy.) I tried a few houses right along the intersection with no luck. Got a few suggestions to check the nearby plats, rather than the individual houses along the road. Sounded like a good idea, so I tried street # 1 - East Greenwich before the fork. First house was a bust. I learned the hard way NOT to bring the dog with me door to door in case I come across a non-English speaking old Chinese woman who is clearly terrified of large dogs and might slam the door in my face. Through the door, I loudly asked if she knew who the dog belonged to. She told me to hold on, I told her I would put the dog in the car. When I came back, she seemed to be gone, but then opened the door and handed me her cell phone. It was her son. She did not speak English. Great. I asked HIM if he knew her neighbors who might have a dog that matched the description. He had no idea. I thanked him (and her) and on my way out, she handed me some pamphlets for the local Christian something or other center on enlightenment and improving my life. No speaky English, but here's some Christian literature written in English. Odd.

Anyway, on the search went. Now I went over towards my development, down Greenbush. It is quite a ways to the first turn off the street into the development. Not really feeling confident about this street. So I stop at an open garage and ask the gentleman inside if he knows any neighbors that have a large brown dog. The older man, retired, comes over and we chat. His wife pulls up a moment later and they both meet the dog, who they agree definitely belongs to someone and has not been abandoned. They don't recognize him as a dog they see being walked on their street. They suggest checking out houses closer to the intersection, but they are as concerned as I am. They also suggest calling the local police to see if anyone has reported a missing dog in the area and maybe checking with the nearest vet in the morning to check the same or see if they recognize the dog as a patient. Both great ideas. So off I go to look some more.

Next, I check in the first development on the left side right after the fork. House on the left, I park and leave the interior light on in the car and walk up to the door. No one home. I cross the street and knock on the door. Several small barks, I think, "Can't be this house..." and the lady comes to the door, but checks me out through the window. I yell in to her, I found a dog....and she stops and disappears from the door. She comes back after a minute or so and makes her way out of the door between her small dogs. She asks, "You found him?" and I said, "A large Chocolate Lab?" and she says "YES! It's my neighbor's dog...we have been driving around looking for him!" So we go over to the car, on the way I learn his name is Brewster (I was guessing a chocolate-related name, so I was WAY off...) and he is VERY excited to see his neighbor, who he obviously knows. We get out and head to the neighbor's house and she is SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM!!! He is excited to see her too, and her two small very blonde, very cute sons come to the door, happy to see Brewster is back at home! We chat for a few minutes, they ask how I came to that house, I tell them if it were my dog I would be panicked so I understand.

Can't even remember the owner or neighbor's names. But I remember which house it is. On my way home, I stopped at the older couple's house and let them know the good news. They were very happy for the dog too and we chatted a few minutes (how did I find them, etc.) And then I went home. I was tired, because I am sick this week, I had a turtleneck shirt on and it was oddly humid when I was out looking for the pooch's owner, so I am sweating and tired. But happy!

Before I left the older couple's house, they said I had done my good deed for a while. I felt really good.

Got home and told the other half that my mission had been accomplished and the dog was safely and happily home! He was happy too. And my little pup was happy to see me.

It was a great experience and pushed the point home with me that although I may be a bit of a bleeding heart, it is worth it to have sympathy and concern for others, be they human or animal!

slightly better

I am actually at work today. Had to stay in bed yesterday or I would have been a heap of goo and of no use to anyone. The nice thing was that I had a cute puppy keeping me company and helping keep the bed warm on my frequent pee breaks. Damned sickness is draining my body of all fluids!

Today I am at work, as I said. My head is clearer in terms of the fogginess. But my chest feels like a large log is squarely planted on it. Time to break out the steroid inhaler. ACK! You know you've already made a friend at the new job when someone is calling you "Typhoid Mary." My supervisor is heaping tea on my desk and offering her cold medicine to me (I think she gave me this plague) and another person brought over disinfecting wipes and purell Monday when I was here. Awwww....I feel so loved.

Today, I left the puppy in the bedroom for the day. Since I have begun working, we have been putting her in the hallway outside the bedroom, blocking off the stairs. We put the crate out there in the morning with all her toys and then close the gate when we are leaving. But she has been not really liking this that much. She doesn't mind being alone, but it's the leaving part that gets her all tense and panicky. We have left her in the actual bedroom a few times for a few hours here and there when we have not been home (movie, errands) but we have not done it all day yet. So today is the trial run. She is a chewer - we call her "The Destructor" and my other half has begun referring to her as "The Unmaker" due to her ability to completely destroy any toy that is not made of solid rubber in a matter of hours. But thankfully she chews on things she is SUPPOSED to chew on - like her toys. She has not taken to chewing on things of ours (yet.) She used to grab socks, any socks that she could get her mouth on. But she seems to have stopped that habit. She did seem happier not to be being put somewhere to be alone all day this morning. We shall see how it works out.

Okay, work to do now. Cross posting to LJ.

*cough, cough, sniffle*

I am sick.

Have evil head cold from hell. Includes: chills and feeling feverish, alternating periods of food hatred and extreme craving for soup or egg pastina, head full of phlegm and a sore nose that is like Rudolph's it is so red.

Came to work, gotta get paid. Getting into bed the moment I get home.

So tired and fuzzy headed.

Ugh.

Friiiiii-day!

I was going to post this morning, but I was so tired, I kept forgetting! I now know how spoiled I was being at home for 9 months not having to work. Not that I didn't know I was spoiled, but I am talking specifically about SLEEPING.

I slept how I wanted during that time. I tended towards getting up around 10-ish and going to bed around 2-3 ish. Once we got the puppy though, I would get up around 8 or 9, take her out to do her business, then come back in and try to get back to sleep and I would get out of bed around noon. I would not be sleeping the whole time, not after getting up, walking the dog, eating breakfast and trying to get the pup to settle back down to sleep more. So I would sleep maybe about 1 1/2 hrs more. But I was probably getting 8-10 hours a night on a consistent basis. SPOILED!!! That really is the ideal amount of sleep for me. Not 10 hours EVERY NIGHT, but about 8 solid hours a night and I would be a happy camper.

Well, since I have been working again, getting up earlier every day is hard. That has always been the case for me, I'm not a morning person (never have been, probably never will be.) But since I feel more awake at night, I never get to bed until like 12:00 or 1:00 am. The alarm goes off at 6:50 am (and that will have to be earlier in the winter since parking is ON THE STREET) and so I get maybe 6 1/2 to 7 hours if I am lucky. NOT enough. I end up dragging for half the day. Even worse if I am not able to get breakfast worked in.

Going to bed earlier is the only solution, but it's so hard to actually DO, with checking e-mail and my dog being awake and stuff to do at home at night, and cooking dinner.....I never get to bed until late. *sigh* I just have to DO it. Blah.

Day 2

My eyes are bleary from staring at THREE computer screens all day!

The first belongs to a person here at work who destroyed his machine while illegally downloading music from the internet. Spyware and Adware, gotta love 'em! So I had to totally reformat his machine, install the OS from scratch, delete the partition (thanks Gentle!) and reinstall all his applications, including the Office Suite. Also had to make his desktop all shiny and like it was before, including backing up his My Docs folder and restoring his Outlook archive as well. He will be upset to find out that his music was not able to be saved. I call that Karma (administered by ME, of course!)

The second machine is a laptop that was returned from being repaired. I had to reinstall many of the applications on this one as well, though thankfully no OS install or Office install; the most time-comsuming and cumbersome ones. Also fortunate for me is that I do NOT have to copy his desktop or My Docs folders over to it since this will apparently be a supplemental laptop, rather than the person's primary machine, as I had been told. Yay. Small favors.

The third machine, as you may have guessed, is mine. My work computer humming away with e-mail coming in, getting license keys for software, looking up things on Google (which I think I visit about 5 times a day to look up things for work!) And of course checking my own e-mail and reading my friends journals and blogs during lunch (while eating at my desk, I should say...)

So I thought I would take a moment and update here while I was finishing up at work because I'll be damned if I am going to even LOOK at my computer at home tonight!!

First post-new blog

This is my blog. There are many like it but this one is mine. My blog is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my blog is useless. Without my blog I am useless. I must write my blog true. I must write more interesting content than my fellow blogger, who is trying to get more traffic. I must be clever before he is clever. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my blog and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of the internet, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no blog, but peace. Amen.