Frozen Assets

Airport security mystery solved!

Remember back when we had problems getting on a plane?  Well, we traveled again this past weekend, and again, we had to get special help to print out our boarding passes.  They weren't so abrupt about whisking our IDs away, but they didn't offer any information on our way out.

On the way back, however, the friendly airline lady told us what was going on.  Apparently, it's not ME who is on the no-fly list, but my husband!  Somebody is running around using his name (which is ridiculously common), and the government doesn't want him on any planes.   It's annoying, because it means when we fly on Southwest we'll always get crappy seats because we can't check in online the night before our flight.  Grr.

Ignoring the womb right now.  Is it Tuesday yet?

Katrina, Ovaries, Hair, and Stress

M in MS is A-OK

I talked to my doctor friend in MS Sunday night and she is safe and sound, though obviously pretty shaken up with what's going on around her.  She and her husband lost very minimal property.  Their house survived reasonably unscathed, though the chimney did fall off.  All of their belongings are safely stored in California still.  Her office flooded, so she lost most of her books.  Her husband is more or less unemployed since the work he did was mostly with the casinos.  The hospital she was in (on a military base) will have to be partially bulldozed and rebuilt.  She suspects they may close the whole base and reassign her.  As long as she heads west, I'm OK with that.  Many of her friends didn't fare nearly as well.  Their houses are lost, belongings demolished.  The military has been treating their own quite well; no immediate job losses, two hot meals a day, easy access to insurance companies and other assistance.  She's a little upset that she has twelve-hour shifts where she does nothing but pick up debris from the base.  She'd rather be helping at an aid station off-base.  I was so relieved to hear from her, and now I can give her updates on my reproductive activities!

Me and my ovary

My ovary isn't ripe enough to ovulate yet. (My husband suggested we put it in a paper bag for a few days.)  I've had three ultrasounds, and need one more to verify that it's time.  Based on my RE's prediction, we'll transfer next Thursday.  My next appointment is tomorrow morning.

Me and my hair

I had my hair chopped off on Friday.  Nine inches.  I feel very liberated.  I had told myself back in March that once I got pregnant, I would chop off my hair.  I felt like it would be a reward.   (Makes no sense, I know.)  So I finally had it - I deserve a haircut regardless of what is or isn't baking in my oven.   I love my new haircut.   With weight loss they always tell you to start living your thin life even if you're not as thin as you want to be.  Don't tell yourself you'll buy nice clothes when you're a size 2, do it now.   I think to some extent, this haircut served the same purpose for me.  Obviously I am not going to go out and buy a crib or anything, but I shouldn't stop taking care of myself just because I'm in a state of reproductive limbo.

Me and my stress

I'm opting not to do acupuncture this time.  I liked it, but it got expensive, which was stressful, and I always had to leave work early to go there, which was stressful, and the day of the transfer, the acupuncturist was late, which was stressful. I figure I may have some lingering effects from it still, and that will just have to do.  Instead, I got a massage last week, and will get another this week.  The relaxation is important to me, as is releasing bad stuff out of my muscles.   I also feel that I need a clean house in order to be relaxed.  On Saturday I did a major cleaning of the living room. It looks lovely.  I think I'll hang out there for my whole two week wait.  The truth is, no matter what I do, I'll never be completely relaxed, so I'll just try to get as close as possible.  No point in stressing out about how relaxed I am!

That funny feeling in my nose.

You know that funny feeling in your nose you get just as your eyes start to get teary?   Maybe that doesn't happen to everybody, but I have felt it quite a bit lately.  Every time I watch the news and see people desperately trying to find water and food, or hear a story on the radio about somebody having to leave their sister's body floating in the street.  (I know the media has a tendency towards sensationalizing these events, but you can't deny the magnitude of dead bodies floating in the streets.) Or when I read the update on my friend M's hospital - it's still without power, and they've just received their first hot meal since Sunday.   I feel it when I see pictures of people digging through a pile of junk which was once their house.   It's so massive, this devastation; my heart hurts for the south.   I'm sad for my friends - the house that they were about to move into is most likely gone.  They've been living in temporary housing for many months now by choice, waiting for their house to be finished.  Now they're even more homeless.  (I really REALLY hope to get a call from them saying their new house is hurricane-proof and they'll be moving in shortly.) 

I've certainly felt this funny nose feeling as I read about another woman in the IF community who loses a pregnancy, or can't seem to achieve the allusive double-line at all.   That is a hurt I'm familiar with, and know how to overcome.   Total loss of everything is something that is practically incomprehensible to me.   I think of what it would be like if it happened to us, and I still don't see it as a possibility.   If our house burned down right now, I'd be very sad.  I'd lose some beautiful furniture I inherited from my grandmother,  and plenty of lovely things we received as wedding gifts.  Pictures, computers holding pictures, stuff, stuff, and more stuff.  It would be obnoxious, but we have insurance.  We have very few irreplaceable items.   We have lots of incredibly supportive family that would take us in in a heartbeat.   OK, so if the entire area collapsed in an earthquake, we'd probably have to look further away for a place to stay.  I wouldn't be out of a job, because I work for a software company.  We could easily start back up in an alternate location.  My husband is a teacher and they're in high demand all sorts of places.   We have plenty of money hiding in various locations that would get us through for many months.  (This is money I'm not willing to tap into for IVF yet, though.)   Obviously if we were seriously injured or if one of us were killed it would be an added obstacle.   But really, we have it really good.  It's a luxury, in a way, that our biggest worry right now is how to get pregnant.   It could be so much worse. 

I think about that when I remind myself that we're struggling to get pregnant because my husband survived something that was more than likely to kill him in the first place.

I want to help so badly.  I'm crawling out of my skin wanting to find out how my friends are.  I have very little cash to give, but I want to encourage others to help out, so I've added links on the left side of this site.

I need to think about myself a little - just enough to remember to check for ovulation starting tomorrow morning and to go to our ultrasound on Saturday.  It kills me that I can't call M to update her on the results.

Something else to worry about.

I have another pal, M.  She's also been referred to as My Doctor Friend.   I believe I mentioned she recently moved to Mississippi.  Biloxi, to be more precise.  I sent her an email on Sunday letting her know I was thinking about her and asking how she was holding up with the impending doom of Hurricane Katrina.   As a doctor, she was on-call in the hospital, which was also a temporary shelter.  Despite the hundreds of people lining the halls with their sleeping bags, she assured me that she was living in luxury: A room of her own, complete with TV/DVD, a mini-fridge (hooked up to the emergency power supply), her own shower, and windows that could withstand 150mph winds.   She had two cases of water, a twelve-pack of Coke, lots of nutrition bars and about three days worth of other meals.  She expressed her concerns for the people in New Orleans, and had heard that a hospital there ordered 100,000 body bags.   Her husband and dog had left town, and were well out of the path.

So then the hurricane shifted ever so slightly and hit Biloxi head-on.   When I tried to call her husband for an update, I got a recorded message "Because of the hurricane in the area you're trying to reach, your call cannot be completed."  I dug up his email address and asked him for a quick update.  I got a short response; he's fine, and M is OK, but miserable.  The first floor of the hospital is flooded, and the generators flooded within hours of the hurricane hitting.   I'm not sure what's happened since then, but I do know that in her area they're not letting people go home until at least Thursday.   I'm glad she's there helping people who need help, but I know she misses her family.   Although I know she's safe, I'm still concerned for her and all the people in the area.  The effects of this are going to last a very long time.

At Christmastime, M told me that she and her husband like to make a charitable donation as a sort of gift to society.  This past Christmas, they gave to the Red Cross for tsunami relief.  This hurricane was really, really bad.  Not quite a tsunami - but then, again, we're not a third world country, and our citizens had the opportunity to get out of the way.    Please, anybody who is reading this, send good thoughts to everybody affected.  Or better yet, contact the Red Cross and donate some money!

My Pal, M

My pal, M, (aka MPM) is great fun.  She's great at distracting me from the goings-on of my reproductive system, and is great at dragging my lazy butt to go work out or to go to Weight Watchers.  Today, she got some bad news, and was pissed off, and the following Instant Message conversation took place.  I felt it was blog-worthy:

MPM: i told a friend of mine that i was going to go into prostitution and drugs and he said he's going to  pimp me out
ME: I was actually going to make the same offer
MPM: so we're fighting over what cut he gets
ME: but I'd have to be a madam, not a pimp
ME: meth is really popular these days, you could make a meth lab in your garage and sell it!
MPM: if anyone was tracing the IM conversations i'm having right now i'd be in jail by tonight
ME: probably
ME: the government is allowed to - you know, patriot act and what not
MPM: yada yada yada
ME: you pretty much look like a terrorist, so I'm surprised they haven't hauled you in
ME: what with your long affiliation with Al Qaeda and the Taliban
MPM: me and my dark irish skin
ME: I know you have weapons of mass destruction hidden under your bed
MPM: totally
ME: and, um... you travel to North Korea all the time
MPM: allllllll the time
MPM: and cuba
ME: and your SHOES!  that's where you hide the explosives
MPM: well thank you for the much needed laugh
ME: and you and the venezuelan presidente are like this: ||
MPM: that doesn't come across as well over AIM
ME: I was trying to figure out how to do it
MPM: 'cuz it looks like we're either the same height or we're sleeping together
MPM: unless of course that's what you were implying
ME: well, you are, aren't you?
ME: :)
MPM: lol
ME: MPM = commie drug lordess
MPM: i prefer godess
ME: I started to say that, but they're drug LORDS, not drug GODS
ME: and drug lady just didn't sound right
MPM: sounds too proper
ME: or too improper like "that drug lady" or "the crazy cat lady"
ME: I may paste this conversation into my blog
MPM: you're wicked goofy today
ME: protecting the names of the innocent, of course
ME: it's after hours, I'm entitled
ME: and you're drinking so I have to step it up
MPM: true

Thanks, M, for being goofy with me this afternoon.

How to fix a microwave.

(Warning, this is an utterly boring post.)

I am posting this for two reasons.  1.  I am very proud of myself.  2. If anybody else is searching for a way to fix a broken button on a Sharp R1506 microwave perhaps this will be helpful.

We rent, and our evil landlady is a cheapskate.   When the start button on our microwave oven broke off and fell inside the case, I sent her a note asking if she could have it fixed, and she replied saying she could drop off an old microwave she had, but wouldn't fix the current one because "that costs money."   Well, yes, it does, and that's why we pay you so much money to stay in your house.

So anyway, we refused her offer, and said we'd just use an old microwave we brought from our last apartment.   I really didn't want to use up any more counter space (the existing microwave is mounted above the stove), so I put off bringing the other microwave in from the garage.  We actually did quite well without using a microwave until I decided I wanted to reheat some food.   I called various repair places to get an estimate for the repair.  I figured if I at least did the legwork, maybe the cheapskate would cover the costs.   Unfortunately, the only place I found that was open and responded to me said it would cost $70 just to come look at it.

At that point, I was incredibly frustrated and opted to bust out a screwdriver and open the damn thing up myself.  Sure, I ignored all the warning stickers I came across that said only a qualified repair person should service the oven.   Once I had it open (with the supervision of my husband, ready to call 911 if I electrocuted myself) I found the broken button.  It's an incredibly stupid design - the button is attached with two flimsy pieces of plastic,  which in their old age got brittle and broke.   It was easy to prop the button back in it's spot, but we needed a way to hold it there.  It needed to spring back, but stay in place vertically.  I decided the best way to do this would be to stick a piece of foam in there.  I looked around for some foam, figuring I had to have something that would work somewhere, but stopped when my husband suggested using a piece of a sponge!   He cut a little chunk off of a kitchen sponge, and I shoved it into the space behind the button.  Voila!  We put everything back together and took it for a test drive.  It works better than ever.

I think I'll send the landlady a bill for $70.

You've been upgraded! To the No-Fly list.

Gotta love the Patriot Act.  Normally I would say that with enthusiastic sarcasm, but I saw it put to use last week, and for that particular situation, I was basically OK with one of dubya's evil-doings.

Last Wednesday, my husband and I got to the airport shortly before 5am, and waited patiently for our airline's self-service kiosks to boot up.  Once they did, and we moved to the front of the line, I figured that within minutes I'd have a boarding pass in one hand and a piping hot Peet's latte in the other.

Instead, what ensued made me annoyed, panicked, angry, and relieved.   Our first attempt at self-check-in resulted in a screen saying (more or less) "You suck.  Go get a human to help you."  So we did, and the human said (more or less) "You idiot, you can't work this simple machine?  Gimme your credit card and I'll do it for you."  We got the same screen when the human "helped" us.    She passed us off to the line that is reserved for first-class passengers who are too stupid to work a simple computer.   

The human helping at this desk started out friendly enough.  "The machine not working for you?  I can help!"  He grabbed our itinerary, and asked us for our IDs.  We set them up on the counter-top, side by side so that he could easily glance at them and then up at our smiling faces.    I'm not sure he even looked at the IDs before he said curtly "This is a security problem.  I have to take your IDs." And just as swiftly as we had set our IDs before him, he swept them up off the counter, and told the people in line behind us, "I have a transaction that may take 15 minutes, you may want to go to another line."   

Nice. 

I smiled and explained to him that my wallet had been stolen, identity theft, yada yada, and I'm sure that was the problem.  He ignored me and left the podium, walking past all the other ticket counters, and going through one of those strange, unmarked airplane doors.

We waited, and speculated, and waited some more.  I half expect that he was in a room with the TSA watching us on a video screen seeing if we tried to run.   Since we didn't run, he returned and said "this should be all clear now!"  We breathed a sigh of relief while we watched him print up our luggage tags and boarding passes.   We noticed the tags said LGW (London Gatwick) instead of Norfolk.   Whoops,  right name, wrong people.   He then proceeded to try to check us in, but the security alert popped up again.  So, again, he swept up our IDs, and went to the secret room.     He came back quicker this time, and finally started printing our real tags.   I asked him what the problem was, and he looked up at me, paused, and said "Security." 

I got the distinct impression that I wasn't supposed to ask any more questions, so I didn't.   Our speculation led us to the conclusion that somehow the DMV, Police, and credit people all let the feds know that there was somebody else running around with my ID, and that they should make sure that was the non-stolen ID, etc.   So, good job Patriot Act.  But just this once....

In other wallet news, my friend the thief (or more likely his/her cohorts) have been trying to get into my online bank and brokerage accounts.    Thumbs up for Etrade for thwarting their efforts.  Bad job Washington Mutual for making it easy for the bad guys to get into my account using nothing but my SSN and ATM card.   Luckily I caught it in time and no money was missing, but I may need to shut down the account anyway.   Grrrr.

Stay tuned for fun stories about Colonial Williamsburg!

Apologies.

To my faithful readers, and I know there's at least one, I apologize for my lack of posts lately.  Truth is, I'm busy, I'm angry, and I'm not getting skinny.

I'm busy at work, and busy getting ready for a vacation. 

I'm very angry about all this identity-theft stuff.  I've been to a notary public and the police station in the last couple days getting more things to help my case.    I am nauseated by the whole situation - I don't know how long I'll have to deal with it, but I hate thinking about it.  I started this whole experience relatively calm.  But every day I get something in the mail related to it.  Sometimes it's a bill from a card I didn't apply for, more recently it's been letters from creditors explaining that they have denied me credit and here's what I can do about it.  I'm angry.  I feel spent.  And it all makes me a bit sad about the state of things in the world.

You may have noticed the lack of posts regarding weight loss lately.  After my kettle-corn induced weight-loss, I had a 2 lb gain on the scale the following week.  Followed by a .2 lb gain the next.  So, if I do the math properly, I'm back to exactly where I started.  Last week I was, anyway.

In an effort to remedy this last situation, I switched from the "Flex" plan to the "Core" plan at Weight Watchers.  The core plan is the no-counting plan.    It's a novel concept - you eat only healthy things, and stop when you're satisfied.   If you want non-healthy things, you can have a limited amount of them, and you must count those points.   I actually have really enjoyed it.  The trick is to not have many non-core foods available.    My scale at home this morning said something very nice, but I suspect it might be broken.   We'll see what the official scale says tonight.

So, I'm sorry I haven't been updating as I should.   I just haven't been in the mood, sadly.

Sad news.

My godmother passed away in January, and I just found out about it last night.   We knew she had been sick with cancer, but the last I heard she was on a new treatment plan.  I suppose we naively assumed that since we hadn't heard anything more, that she was on the mend.

I didn't know her well, but she was great friends with my dad in college, and I was actually named after her.   I didn't see her after my baptism until 21 years later at my senior recital.   She was a professional musician, and I was a music major.  We had things in common, for sure.   After that, we stayed in touch only sporadically until she got our wedding invitation.  She couldn't come to the wedding, but came for a visit a week or so before the wedding.  She met my husband, something I will always be grateful for, and we had a wonderful time chatting.   She joked about how she totally blew it as a godmother - she was supposed to make sure I turned out to be a good Catholic.  (Yeah, whoops.)  It wasn't until later that we knew she was sick.

I'm sad she's gone, and I'm mad at myself for not making more of an effort to get to know her while I had the opportunity.  Like most of us, I figured there was lots of time to do that.   

This is yet another lesson I've learned this week (after the wallet incident).   Keep in touch with the people who are important to you, you never know when you won't be able to anymore.

And sometimes, I'm just plain NOT lazy.

I just realized that I've spent easily at least 30 hours over the last week working on some volunteer-activity-related activities.

I maintain a team website for my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training run team.   We just started the new season, and I already have over 100 people looking at the things I manage, update, debug, etc.  I feel good.   People are happy, the site looks great.  I've been wildly productive.  I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the season.

Oh, and the house is clean!  Hubby and I each spent hours this weekend in our respective offices cleaning, sorting, throwing away...  Truly miraculous.  (Raucous applause from the crowd, please.)

And I made a delicious cherry ice cream base last night, and will put it in the ice cream maker tonight.   Yeah, I know, not exactly Weight Watchers friendly, but I know EXACTLY what went into it, and will eat it a little at a time.  I spent a few hours making it - I'm not going to eat it all at once!

For Memorial Day, my husband and I visited my grandparents (and great-grandparents) in the cemetery.  It was such a beautiful day, and we spent a long time both reflecting at their graves, as well as wandering around the rest of the cemetery reading old and new headstones.  It broke my heart to walk through the area where the infants are buried.  There are way too many of them.

Also had a great visit with some of our pregnant friends.   Poor girl has gestational diabetes, but that didn't stop her from eating a few pancakes at brunch.  Can't wait to meet their little monster in July.

So, despite recovering from a cold, I'm feeling good about my recent productivity!  Yay for me!