geminigirl, posts by tag: lj brain trust - LiveJournal (original) (raw)

geminigirl, posts by tag: lj brain trust - LiveJournal By the time you read this the world will have changed

		Funny How this Changes I've taken to using this as a spot for just dumping things...I save them up and then make posts that are a collection of all the various things that have been going on.Things like the weird dreams I've been having-most of them are about places that I used to have to go, like junior high school, where I had to talk about the people I had crushes on back then, or high school where I forgot my locker combination. And then there was the airplane dream. No one needs to tell me that the airplane dream was a birth dream....I dreamed about airplanes, on the ground, rolling through tunnels and into hangars that were smaller than their wingspans. Yeah, that was a birth dream. There was the strange experience this morning. I got up and got out of bed and heard noise. Before I went to the bathroom or brushed my teeth, I went to investigate what it was, thinking that Cayne had left the TV on or something when he was getting ready for work, only to discover Cayne sitting on the couch watching TV-about an hour later than he usually leaves for work. I asked him what he was doing, and he responded "Sitting on the couch." I asked if he was taking the day off from work and he said "No, it's Saturday." I reminded him it was Friday and he looked shocked. He scurried off, got dressed very quickly and sheepishly headed in to work. We got the second trimester screening results back-this looked at the risk of Down's Syndrome-1/3000, Trisomy 18 (Edward's Synrome)-1/10,000 and Spina Bifida-1/1600. That of course still means that there are plenty of other thing that could go wrong, but at least that's somewhat reassuring.We bought a chair last weekend...it arrived the other day and is in a box in the living room, on it's side. It will probably stay there until we figure out what to do with the two chairs it's replacing (one spot is getting a chair, the other is getting a new filing cabinet, but I need to decide if I'm going to Freecycle or Craig's List or what with the old chairs.) But the box is right where a coffee table would go if/when we buy one for the living room. And it's become a hot spot for cats to nap in lately. I wonder if the same thing would happen with a coffee table. The craving for salty foods is going to drive me crazy. I really wish I could cut back on them, but I can't get enough pickles. I'm going to go open another jar when I'm done with this post.I hope the writer's strike doesn't mean that the new shoes I like on TV disappear. Not much in the way of new shows that we're watching, just Big Bang Theory and Chuck, I think. And on the subject of TV...NBC Universal has been going on and on this week about all sorts of environmental stuff. They also sent correspondents to the Equator, the Arctic Circle and Antarctica. And my first thought when I heard about this was "I wonder if they accounted for the environmental impact of moving crew and equipment there, and what they did to balance it." We've both been reading Scott Westerfield's books-in particular the Uglies series. I finished the first one about a year ago, on one of our winter trips, picked up the second one months later and caught the third one on a remainder table at Borders recently. They're adolescent fiction, so they're quick reads, but they're pretty good. Someone at Border's suggested them to me last year. I gave Cayne the fist one when we were traveling recently and he liked it, devoured the second and third within a matter of days, and insisted on having the fourth one, which had just come out in hardcover, and between a coupon and a sale, it was reasonable. The third one felt unevenly written, but the fourth one, the writing has gone back to what we expected, but the concept is really interesting. I'm enjoying the concept of a reputation economy, though I'm wondering how different some of that is from the way adolescents currently live today. And the links, since I collect them. This one talks about post partum sex...someone fears that her vagina will be too loose after giving birth. And also on the subject of vaginae, slinkr pointed me at The New York Times on the word Va-jay-jay. This one (text follows behind the cut) is about a woman who was asked to cover up or leave Universal Studios because she was breastfeeding. (The end result, by the way, is that Universal apologized to her, because Florida law allows her to breastfeed in public.) ( The Cut Collapse )There's also Abstinence Doesn't Curb Teen Sex( Read about how abstinence fails Collapse )Has anyone looked into Sony's Digital Book Reader? Despite his hatred of Sony, zedrikcayne has suggested that if I want one, I should get it. I haven't really investigated it much yet, but the idea of being able to read while nursing late at night in the dark if I'm awake, for example, is kind of appealing. It's bigger than a Palm, which is also appealing, as I've always found reading on my Palm screen rather irritating. Does anyone know more about it than I do?We're also starting to shop for cameras-it's amazing what's become lumped in with "baby expenses" even though they really have very little to do with the baby. The two things that first come to mind are more life insurance and the camera. We're looking for a point and shoot, throw into the diaper bag kind of camera. I bought Mom a Canon of some variety last year, and the camera that I'm replacing (nothing wrong with it but the LCD screen is shot, and frankly, the cost of the LCD replacement isn't worth it) is also a Canon. In case you haven't read about it already, comment editing is in place for paid users. Can't edit a comment that's already been replied to, but it was nice when it helped me correct some bad HTML today. Okay, that's enough. It's time for pickles.Tags: baby, cats, cayne, everyday life, links, lj, lj brain trust, pop culture, pregnancy, television

		Blue I'm feeling very blue today. I'm not sure if it's the weather (grey and rainy, alternating with bright, sunny and hot) or hormones (off the pill about two weeks) or something else.Maybe it's the fact that it's almost October, and I want to be drinking hot tea, and pulling out my favorite sweaters and watching the leaves change colors, not drinking sweet tea, being cranky because none of the stores carry shorts down here at this time of year and it's silly to carry wool sweaters when there's not much need unless one is travelling, and thinking that it might finally get to be cool enough to enjoy our back yard. I'm feeling like a bad poly-partner lately, or a bad social worker, or both. I'm not sure which. And I might write a filtered post about that later. It involves relationships, neither of which are/were mine...although the result of one did have quite an impact on my life, it wasn't anything that I did, and that lesson took a long time to realize.Our new kitchen table arrived last weekend. It's not the table I wanted, but it will do. It's nice enough. My in laws are coming at the end of October. I don't complain much about them, because generally we're all fine together, but they're irritating me with this trip. We invited them for our housewarming (which is October 28, in case anyone wants to come) and they said they were coming. Only now they want to come on the 25th and leave on the 28th, so somehow, in the middle of prepping for our first big party, they're going to be here, and while they're content to just sort of hang around and relax, it also means figuring out things like taking them to the airport on the morning of the party, when we really need to be here getting ready for things. I need to start sorting out the menu-if I need to try out any new recipies, I have time to do it. And then there's my Mom. Who just took in five ferral kittens, bringing the current total in the house up to eighteen. I think she'll give at least two of them away, possibly three depending on how much she can socialize one who has been giving her trouble. But that's not what's weighing on my mind. Mom, as much as she wants grandchildren has been pushing me to wait. She's doing it because she's worried about my health, which is fine and reasonable and all that, but, at the same time, I saw the doctor at the beginning of September, I'm not doing anything I'm not supposed to be, and no matter how firmly I say to her, "thank you for your concern, I'll take it under advisement, but the doctor seems to think it's fine" she won't be convinced, and the more firm I am about it, the more I stand up to her, the harder she pushes, and the more she tries to start a disagreement. She has a hard time respecting the boundaries I set about my life, and that's uncomfortable for me. I'll keep setting limits as best I can, and if it results in fighting with my mother, so be it. We'll fight, I'll get upset, and rant about it, I'll cool off for a few days, she'll cool off for a few days, and we'll apologize. It's not the cycle I'd like to be in, but conflict resolution in a calm and rational manner is not the way my mother deals with me, no matter how much I try. It's not what I'd deem unhealthy for me right now, but it's not the way I'd like to conduct things. I think she's gotten better since I got married, though. I've been on the metformin for a couple of weeks now and have been discovering the foods that it makes it hard to eat (white bread and potatoes, so far, though there are others that I've been afraid to try and eat because I'm not sure I want to deal with the insane sleepiness coupled with the yucky low blood sugar feeling that sometimes comes with making mistakes.) I'm not willing to give up entirely white bread or potatoes, but I'll have to be extra careful about when I choose to eat them. Despite some minor food issues, I feel incredible. I feel better than I have in a couple of years. Money of course stresses me out. We're getting new cell phones shortly, which means figuring out what to spend and what I need/want in a phone. Cayne will choose the phone most like his current Nokia brick that he can put his own ringtones on. I'm not sure what I want, whether I want a Treo or something similar, or something simpler. (We'll get the phones from Verizon Wireless, because they have a plan that's reasonable for calling to, and in Canada, so if you want to make phone suggestions for either of us, go for it.) And, we're getting to the point where purchasing a car is becoming iminent. We're hoping to hold out at least til tax time, and see what we can put together for a downpayment then. It's quite complicated to figure out what we can afford, what we want, what makes sense. What we want is something larger than what we drive now in a TBD affordable price range (monthly payment plus insurance) that will fit car seats easily, and is comfortable for both of us to drive. What I'd like is something smaller than the Impala wagons that my Mom drove until I was in college, but that still has station wagon or minivan type cargo space. Maybe Cayne will do the taco dance when he gets home, and cheer me up.Tags: body/health, cats, cayne, celebrations, everyday life, family, lj brain trust, poly Peace of mind?: Blue Burning down the house: "When the Stars go Blue" The Coors w/Bono

		Travel Question... I realize we've got a while before we book tickets, but with the cost of moving hanging over us, and knowing that September means three paychecks, I'm trying to pre-plan our two known winter trips, to my Mom and Dad for Thanksgiving in November (and since Orlando to New York is a popular flight, I'm not too concerned about that...I can comparison shop for tickets on airlines we like) and to Canada in December. Last year, we flew all the way through-Air Canada from O-town to Toronto, and then Air Canada Jazz from Toronto to Sudbury. Thing is...the Toronto-Sudbury flight cost as much as the Orlando-Toronto tickets. We were thinking that instead of flying striaght through, it might be less expensive for us to rent a car in Toronto and drive up. (The cheapest way to do it would be to fly into Buffalo, but that would add two to three hours onto the drive, and in potentially bad weather, at a holiday, and dealing with a border crossing, I'm not sure that's the best plan, so we've sort of decided that in the time/money equation, the couple of hours we save crossing the border is better for us than the fiscal difference.) Anyway, onto the question. I've rented cars before, but only in the US, and it's always been when someone else is paying for it, or at the last second with Enterprise, who had a deal with the place I used to get my car repaired in Virginia. I think I know what the requirements are to rent a car in Canada, but I'm not sure what travel sites people like to find the best rental car deals. Favorite sites for rental car deals when you travel?(If you're in the Toronto-ish area, we're planning at the moment to spend a night on either end of our trip in Toronto, and might be up for socializing, though we might plan an extra day or two, since I've never seen Niagra Falls and would really like to. And while it might make more sense to do it in the warmer weather, I think our plan is to go via Ottawa in the summer, and see friends there. The drive from Toronto to Sudbury is apparently a better choice in the winter than Ottawa.)Tags: canada, lj brain trust, questions, travel

		Party Questions Some of the questions that follow are largely oriented towards parents, but I'd be interested in feedback from party-goers in general about things. And I'd really appreciate if people would link this in other places-the more feedback the better.With the new house, we're likely to plan a housewarming. And most of the parties we attend are family events, not adults only. I'd like to continue that trend, as someone who would like to have children one day, and because I know it means that some of our friends are far more likely to attend when they can bring their kids along. Some parents are better than others at watching their children or making sure that there's an adult responsible for their children, at making sure their children are entertained and not getting into things that might not be safe, and that someone who doesn't have children might not have remembered to put away or thought to put away. (And the fact that one couple we know is not the most attentive to their two and a half year old when we're at parties is a big part of the reason that this is on my mind, after watching what that child got into at someone's house last weekend.) So, what I was thinking about is setting up a sort of kid-space at our house during the party. Pull out the card table (which has a very nice vinyl top so it's easy to clean) with kid friendly toys and activities. I'd put it in a space that allowed parents to both watch their children, and enjoy the rest of the party. I might include things like paper and crayons, play dough, lego/duplo, and I'm not sure what else. Maybe also, set up a space to put movies on for the kids. Most of the kids are probably between two and a half and about six, with a few older ones, in the elementary school range who require less supervision. The one high schooler I know tends to not be at parties with his Mom and Dad. Onto the questions:If you're a parent, how would you feel if someone set up kid-space at a party? Would you feel good and try to take advantage of it, or would you feel like you were being relegated to the kids table? If you're not a parent, how would you feel about kid-space at parties that are family-friendly?Do you have any suggestions as to what might have kid-appeal and be reasonably safe for children ages 2 and a half to about 9. I'm thinking lego/duplo, some non-messy-ish art supplies, some balls and stuff to play with outdoors, maybe checking to see what Oriental Trading has to offer. Depending on the timing, I'm thinking this might also be halloween themed, and I might also set up pumpkin carving/decorating, as well. (We used to throw a party for this when I was a kid, and it was a blast, so I'd like to revive this tradition.)Any thoughts? Please share far and wide. The more feedback on this the better.Tags: everyday life, house, lj brain trust, moving, questions

		Words are meaningless and forgettable I'm still stumped on a Vox username.My default name is 1. sort of taken and 2. might be kinda emo for me now, in my 30s, though when I adopted the moniker at 18. I know I'm kind of stuck with it; when you've been using the same name for this long, it kind of sticks, just like there are probably people who still associate me with the chicken .sig (which I won't link to because it includes my real name.) I don't care for my username here on LJ; I chose it because my default online name was already taken on LJ...as were some of the other names that I thought of. I had no idea when I chose it that I'd still be using my LJ nearly five years later, or that I'd value and enjoy it the way I do. I don't want my realname on Vox or LJ. I'm not the person I was when I adopted a particular .net name, and I hadn't thought much about outgrowing it when I did take it on, because in 1993, when I did, I just liked it, and it worked. And now, while it's sticking, I'm not sure it's where I want to go. And perhaps I'm overthinking this name thing. But, growing up as EGG, you think a lot about names.And maybe that's the name I should go with. Egg. Beginning, round, fragile. Fresh.Tags: everyday life, lj brain trust, vox

		Curious (Please do feel free to link to this post by the way)If you're filling out this poll, please assume that it's purchases for personal or household use, not for business. Poll #789963 Spending Money Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 36 Which is more important to you, when doing a regular shopping chore such as buying groceries or gasoline? View Answers Buying from a retailer whose corporate values and business practices are compatible with, or support your own 21(60.0%) Buying from a retailer whose prices are lowest (assuming equal quality) but whose business practices and corporate values may not match with yours 14(40.0%) Which is more important when buying a single, large purchase item, such as an appliance or automobile? View Answers Buying from a retailer whose corporate values and business practices are compatible with, or support your own 16(48.5%) Buying from a retailer whose prices are lowest (assuming equal quality) but whose business practices and corporate values may not match with yours 17(51.5%) Which is more important to you? View Answers Supporting local business or small businesses 26(74.3%) Buying at the retailer whose prices are best,, whether it's a small business or big box store 9(25.7%) If you share the purchasing decisions with housemates or partners, how do you decide which way to go when you disagree on which value is more important?Tags: lj brain trust, polls

		Alton Brown Pico Review, and some LJ Brain Trust Help Requests Picoreview of Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt-good summer filler. It's interesting. I do wish they'd captioned the bits where he's talking and on the bike at the same time...I'm having a hard time hearing and understanding him. Brain Trust Reqest #1:I'm looking for help with a UPS or two. We seem to have more frequent power outages at the new house, and I'm looking for one UPS that I can plug the desktop computer/modem/router into, which will live in the office, and a second that will probably live in the family room, and which the laptops will get plugged into. I know effectively nothing about them, so I need help.Brain Trust Request #2 (which I'm sure entirelysonja will have some answers for)I'm looking for information about fish-keeping. We're thinking about a fish tank. Freshwater, 20-30 gallons. I'm looking for information about building a healthy, relatively low maintenance system for hearty tropical fish-variety still TBD. Brain Trust Request #3 If anyone has a better fix for the firefox bug that causes the apostrophe key to bring up the search box than the one I'm using now (which involves opening a tab, going to about:config, and changing the value for accessibility.typeandfind.flashbar) please let me know.Brain Trust Request #4 is about toasters. I love my toaster oven, but in the interest of preserving limited counter space, I'm thinking about replacing it with an under the cabinet model in the new house. I know there have been issues in the past with fire, but does anyone know anything about current models?Tags: entertainment, geek, lj brain trust, pop culture, television

		I'm a busy bee I've been finally moving photos off of the memory card for the cameras...there are photos from last autumn, where the kittens were still babies, and from when Diane and I were in Disney World just before Thanksgiving, and so on. So, there will probably be some photo heavy posts in the next few days. ( To start, a photo of the new house.Collapse )You can see more of them, here. I had been thinking of painting the kitchen yellow, but I didn't care for the way it looked next to the grey counters. But the blue color I tried out looked really nice with the grey counters, and the weird colored floor, and the green color I'd picked for the sitting room, which doesn't have any division from the kitchen. So, brain trust, do you think blue is a good kitchen color, or just too weird?Tags: everyday life, house, lj brain trust

		Calling the very sexy LJ-Brain Trust So, I'm writing an HIV 101-ish FAQ...and you're probably looking at me and saying "But you can teach HIV 101 in your sleep, why do you need our help?"Well, that's just it. I'm not sure how technical it needs to be. Broken down, here are the basic topics:What is HIV?What's the difference between HIV and AIDS?Who gets HIV? Is it easy to get?How do people get HIV?Can HIV be cured? What about treated?What are my options for protecting myself?What if I think I've been exposed to HIV?Did I miss anything? Should I include other information?Tags: lj brain trust

		LJ Brain Trust I'm not thrilled with my answer in bisexual to this post, regarding the inclusion of "t" in LGBT. I know cyan_blue also responded, but if anyone else on my f'list wants to take a look at it, and try and write a good answer, I'd appreciate it.Be aware before you read it that the OP's language could be a little inflammatory, or distressing, it's very much a "they're not like me" attitude, but I think that's more a lack of awareness causing poor word choices rather than a deliberate attempt to inflame or upset. If you do respond, just drop me a comment here, please? I'm going to follow the thread but I may see your comment here before I see it there.Thanks much.Tags: links, lj brain trust




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			"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow grow, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." -George Washington ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself." - Anais Nin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"If sex and creativity are often seen by dictators as subversive activities, it’s because they lead to the knowledge that you own your own body (and with it your own voice), and that’s the most revolutionary insight of all."-Erica Jong~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"There’s only one thing that I know how to do wellAnd I’ve often been told that you only can doWhat you know how to do wellAnd that’s be you,Be what you’re like,Be like yourself..."-They Might Be Giants~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"We are Buck's Rock. We have, each of us, contributed to it, and once we give a part of ourselves to something we believe in, it becomes a part of us."-Ernst Bulova~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"A lot of people, when they talk about gay culture they have this idea that we all live in this sort of a big pink house, and that we share the same political and social and sexual views which is clearly not the case. I've sat at dinner tables with right wing homosexuals, and to me that's like being a vegeterian butcher."-Boy George





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