Oklahoma? OK.

I'm off for the holiday. To Oklahoma City, no less.
My brother and my sister-in-law recently moved there so that he could take a professorship at the law school there. So, since they have been in-transit enough this year, my parents are flying there from Massachusetts, and I'm flying there from Chicago.

Should prove to be interesting.
If nothing else, the temp should be 68 degrees for the duration of my stay so that'll be nice.

Off we go!

Have a wonderful and safe holiday everyone.
Enjoy the tryptophan and the subsequent food comas!

The Broadcasting Slaughter Rule

So, I'm sitting on my couch, drinkin' a beer, working on a blanket I'm making for my brother and his wife, watching the Patriots destroy the Packers. Basically, a perfect Sunday afternoon.

The braintrust at CBS switched the game over to the one going on in New Orleans.

Granted, it was the 4th quarter and my Pats were up 28-zip, and the New Orleans game was only a 7 point differenct, but it made me a little peevish.

So, being stuck in my region, I've now switched over to Fox to watch the Bears vs. the Jets. Thankfully, the Jets are losing, something I needed to see after their win last week over the Pats. Asshats.

Anyway, back to the couch. Just needed to interject.
Go Pats!

Stupid Brain

So, lately I've been a little more symptomatic than usual, making me a little pissy and not want to post a lot.
It basically feels like my body has been taken over by pins and needles, for the most part, mostly in my legs. From the knee down, in both legs, it shifts from being completely numb to tingly, back to numb.
As a result, I'm more clumsy than usual, finding more bruises that I can't explain since I don't feel them happen initially.
Similar feelings (or lack thereof) in my arms, from the elbow down, making it difficult to type oftentimes. Since I'm very blind, I can't rely on what I see to confirm accurate typing, but I can't feel the home keys (the braille dots on the f and j keys) to make sure I'm starting out in the right place. It's all a little frustrating.

The most noticeable, and somewhat scary effect I observed the other day, while driving. I can't often feel my feet or the pedals in my car and discovered that my driving has been very jerky, I stop abruptly now, as well as accelerate, not intentionally, of course, it's just that I can't feel as well how hard I'm pushing the pedals.
This, combined with my complete inability to drive in the dark, has made me more hesitant to drive at all than ever before, understandably so, I think.

Finally, and this will be my final kvetch of the day, I'm now having a lot of pain mixed in with the numbness. It seems that during times when I switch from numb to tingly, the tingly is now translated by my brain as really, quite excrutiatingly painful sensations. I'll be sitting still and not realize that I'm grimacing. People will come up to me and ask what's wrong. Of course I say nothing, or that I'm tired, or have a headache or something. It's easier than explaining that my body's failing on me because my immune system is attacking my brain. At least, in most social settings it's easier. My close friends know what's going on, so I can kvetch to them, but don't really like to. I'd rather whine here and pretend I'm fine otherwise. It's no fun being a downer, right?

Ok, enough of that.

So, wtf is going on with my Patriots? Very disappointed.
Don't really need to expand on that.
More later, if/when my fingers wake up.

My work here is done

For this year, anyway.
How else can I give myself the right to complain about anything politics-related for the next year?



Get out there and vote, kiddikins!

Is next Tuesday over yet?

Let me preface this by saying that I have voted in every election held since I was old enough to vote.
I will vote again this Tuesday, but goddamn, if ever there were a reason not to, it's the spiteful feelings generated by all the political attack ads currently airing on television.

Maybe I'm wrong but, for the most part, unless there's some specific issue of contention, lots of people vote the party line and aren't ultimately swayed by attack ads paid for by the other party.

I don't know how it's going in other states, but right now in Chicago there are so many ads airing against varying candidates for varying offices that a full 2/3 of all commercial time (and I'm just guessing, of course) is being used for negative campaigning. I'm so stinking sick of it.

I'll admit to having been apathetic at times in the past, but right now I'm just getting downright spiteful. I don't want to vote for anyone locally, and I don't want anyone else to either, but I will, of course.

Jeez, ok, just had to gripe.