Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

I have a cold again. It seems like I don't get sick very often, but this is the second time this year. I shouldn't complain because a lot of people get sick more often, but still... it sucks.

Also, it sucks that I haven't blogged in several days. I have a lot to say but I keep putting it off. Last week, something interesting happened that I'll share now.

I'd been put in touch with a girl from California, and her mother, because the girl was being sent to my little town in Norway as an exchange student where I was an exchange student many years before. We talked a couple months ago on the phone about which school she should go to, and I let her know that she was lucky to be going to Råde because there are a lot of wonderful people there. Then I didn't hear anything about her until last week.

Her mom emailed me, desperate for me to contact her daughter who had been in Norway only a couple weeks. Apparently she decided that she didn't want to be an exchange student anymore, and was doing anything possible to be sent home - well, not anything, but most effectively not going to school. Kind of important for and exchange student.

At first I didn't understand the severity of the situation and thought it was just the initial homesickness that some kids get when they first go abroad. Then I contacted my old host father, and he told me that it had been decided to send her home, regardless of her mother's protests.

I can't even imagine going on my year as an exchange student and giving up before even giving anything a chance. My situation was unique to me, of course... but I wonder if this California girl (who seemed "perfect" and is clearly adored by her mother) decided that it was her mother's desire for her to be an exchange student and not her own. All of the other exchange students I know, including those who ended up going home in the middle of the year, always started their Norwegian adventure off as, well, an adventure.

I had wanted to be an exchange student since Middle School, and an adventure it was for me. It definitely had its challenges and was hard sometimes, but it helped me grow and get to know more about myself.  Plus I got a second family and a few long-term foregin friends out of the deal. Granted, the family environment I had at home was lacking a stable emotional base, plus I had graduated a year early from high school so I could go forward and not look back.  Maybe I would have been miserable toward the end of the year if I had known that I had to go back to high school...

But if you or anyone you know has spent some time in Norway (getting to know people, rather than just being a tourist), I highly recommend the book "How to Understand and Use a Norwegian" by Odd Borretzen.  It's funny,

I'm working from home today and it's taken me an hour to assemble this post as I go back and forth with various work things.  Now it's back to work. 

Posted by Yvette at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates

Wednesday night was my company's second week of pre-season double-header co-ed softball games. Ben is playing on the team, too. We never got together to practice, and consequently got our butts kicked pretty badly last week.

This week wasn't too bad, except Ben gave himself "micro tears" in his right quad muscle while running to first base in the first game.  I asked him how bad it was after helping him to his feet, and he said that if he still felt the same after the second game, then he "might ask to be taken to the emergency room." Yeah... he absolutely refused to go until I had played through the second game (for which we really gave up a fight before also losing).

We spent some good quality time - a little over three hours - in various stages of waiting at the ER. We didn't know what was wrong, except that any time he moved his leg at all, it caused him excruciating pain. A few people were ushered into the ER from the waiting room who had arrived later than us, which initially gave me a fleeting "hey, wait a minute" thought that was quickly replaced by "their problem must be more severe, yikes, I hope they're okay." We finally got in and the nice doctor gave Ben a prescription for 800 mg tabs of ibuprofen and Loritab for bedtime. Ben's not a big pill popper, so we haven't filled either one. He's been taking 800 mg of ibuprofen, just from the regular containter we had in the cupboard. I need to get more of that today, though.

Why 2 gimps? Well, after we got home and I put Ben to bed in the guest room (so that neither I nor the cats would accidentally touch his leg that night--plus it's a lower bed so he'd have an easier time getting in and out) I went to bed myself. I noticed that my right knee was swollen a little and tender. I've injured that knee before, so I just went to sleep and decided to look at it in the morning.

Yesterday morning it was still tender, but okay.  I put out the trash and tried to prevent Ben from doing anything except sitting with ice on his knee while he worked from home, then went to work. By mid-morning, it had swelled up again and was starting to be painful. By the time I got home yesterday evening, it was swollen pretty badly and I laid down to watch some tv with the ice bag on my knee that Ben wasn't using. Gah!

I'm debating spending the copay to go to the regular doctor (no ER for me, thank you). I know that the only solution is RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate) and gentle exercise when it's healed. Ben is concerned because I don't remember doing anything at the game or after to cause this... and it's been a few years since it bothered me. Who knows. I have to hobble over to the shower and get ready before my coworker picks me up. I have to drive Ben's car home tonight (it's parked at my office parking lot, luckily) because it's still another couple days before he can bend his left leg enough to sit in either one of our cars. 

Ben is out for the softball season, though hinted this morning that he might play anyway. Why does man's love of certain sports sometimes supercede his own capability for reason? 

Posted by Yvette at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

Minimum-Wage Hike Celebrated With Name-Brand Ketchup | The Onion - America's Finest News Source Usually articles over at The Onion make me laugh, but this one just made me sad for America. I made $5.15 an hour at Sea World of Ohio in the summer of 1997, right after the last rate increase. I was in college then and I knew the money sucked. I can't even imagine trying to support a family on one or two minimum wage jobs. I'm happy about the mandated increase.... and I hope, for the sake of many people, that increases will continue to occur after it reaches $7.25 in July of 2009. I generally try to stay out of politics. Leave it to the Onion (and the Daily Show) to keep me interested and/or saddened.

Posted by Yvette at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates

Pictures as promised! Phoebe and Loki are already Friends 4ever. She's taken to lying on top of him or snuggled up next to him, which Loki tolerates with his whatever attitude... until he starts licking her head, which makes me think that he enjoys having a little buddy with whom to cuddle.

Phoebe likes to attack Loki's tail, and instead of just walking away when he gets annoyed, he now fights back a little. Keep in mind that she weighs less than 4 pounds and he's about 20 pounds. She has all her claws, he has none... so you think we wouldn't worry too much. Except we've see Loki bite Isis (our other 7-year-old cat) on the head and leave some pretty serious gashes. Yes, he opens his jaws and spans his bite from under her chin to the top of her head.

Phoebe has made some uncomfortable okay-now-I'm-in-pain cries when he has his weighted paws on her and nips at her... but Ben and I are impressed because he seems to know that it's okay to nip at her in play, but not bite her head just yet. I think that this relationship is good for both of them.

Isis, however, is still skeptical of Phoebe. I think it revolves around her jealousy of Phoebe's special kitten food. She's played a little bit with Phoebe recently, though, so friendship may not be too far off. She'll never be as cuddly as Loki, but her aloofness (Catness, really) is part of what makes her who she is.

I never pictured myself as the cat person I've apparently turned into. I always loved animals... had cats and dogs and gerbils and rescued-from-the-yard wild birds and cottontail bunnies... but now, with only cats (and probably also because I have no kids) I find that my love grows stronger every day. Except the days when they wake me up before my alarm clock...

Posted by Yvette at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: My 3 Cats

The Pella guy just left and I have to get going to work, even though today is Friday and I reeeeeeeally don't want to go. Thbbbbt. But you know those kitten photos I said I was going to post? Well, most were lost in the Great Server Failure of 2007. There might be a couple on the camera memory card still, and I'm I'll be snapping more soon. I'm just sad about not having photos from the first couple days of Phoebe's homecoming, when she was scrawny and teeny. She's grown a ton in just a month. Hey, it's been exactly one month today! And also, I can't believe I only blogged once in July. Shame on me.

Posted by Yvette at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: My 3 Cats

I made it to level 8-4! And I have 55 hit points! I leveled-up just in the nick of time, too. So tonight I have a date with Count Bleck. I hope to whoop his ass so that I can get on with my life.

Actually, it's been really nice having a game that I'm into. Yesterday and the day before, I worked in my company's warehouse as we prepared to ship a major order. I'm a Marketing Editor, so I don't normally work in the warehouse... but it was definitely all hands on deck that past couple of days. I worked on the assembly line next to our company president for a little while. Not too often you hear about that, right? And that's with over 100 employees. I wonder if he's feeling as sore as I am in my knees and arms!

A guy from Pella Windows should be here soon to talk to us about replacing our skylights upstairs. He just called to say he'll be here in five minutes.

One other thing... it's possible that all of the photos we've taken since December are lost, plus a lot of other data on our home network Linux server. I don't know what because Ben was too busy cursing at it and trying to find out what happened and if there's any chance of recovery. Hopefully I'll have better news later tonight. Ack.

Posted by Yvette at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Gaming | Geeky | Personal

Adopted a kitten who showed up in front of the office building where I work on July 3. Drove to Colorado Springs and back (well, Ben drove most of the way and I tried to keep us entertained) for a family reunion. Had some fun, but subsequently wished that we had not spent all of our vacation time on a family reunion. The roadside motel where we stayed certainly did not help. Must make time for quiet vacation to de-stress. Read Harry Potter #7. A couple surprises, but ultimately I think that J.K. Rowling fulfilled her moral responsibility to her dedicated readers. People who have read John Gardner or who know Dave Kajganich hopefully know what I'm talking about (MU alums: I would have hated John Gardner if my only exposure to him was with the ickle Steven Bauer who only brought out his arrogance. Dave Kajganich helped me understand that John Gardner had some pretty good writer's philosophies in On Moral Fiction). Back to Harry Potter; I don't believe that J.K. is done with him. Have fretted with other personal and work things and house things. Had my aunt, uncle and their two teenage kids stay here Monday night, so at least we got the house clean and maybe I can get some other stuff done this weekend. Friday morning, we're having another company come out to give us bids on new skylights. At least the roof has been caulked so it won't leak... but more permanent stuff has to be done after we replace the skylights. There's the not-so-quick update, and now I have to go to work. Kitten photos coming soon.

Posted by Yvette at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: My 3 Cats | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books