that I had "ant traps" as a calendar item so I would not forget to buy them. Teeny tiny things all over the place. I put 6 traps out, and I will do more if I have to.

I got stuff for tomorrow's work picnic lunch. I didn't get any work done today at all because first they made us go to class for 4 hours, and then the computer was down for quite awhile this afternoon. Bah! I managed to get a few things done, but not half enough.

Well, the new phones are working and I even managed to take a picture with mine. That was fun.

But after all my travails, I'm now icky and sticky and ready to go stand underwater and then read a book.

Sounds like a Plan.

Well, it really did take all day. When I got to the doctor, he took out a small book filled with kinds of animals, the diseases they carry, and the antibiotics that are used for each kind of problem. He thumbed and thumbed, and finally said "There is nothing about hamsters."

"That is ok -- I looked up hamster bites on the Web before I came here. Hamster bites are generally pretty safe. The only two possibilities are tetanus, which is rare, and tularemia, which is much rarer -- confined to about 5 cases in Colorado."

He flipped pages again and I said "You'll find tularemia under rabbits -- it is one of the things they are famous for. Am I telling you stuff you already know?"

"No."

"OK, then." So I ended up with a tetanus shot and 10 days of augmentin, which likely works on tularemia. I'll start drugs with dinner tonight -- they are take-with-food.

My doctor entertains me greatly.

I have a call in to the doctor for antibiotics, and I already called work that I wold be late, if not absent. The bite is infected, and I need drugs. I'd go back to sleep but i don't want to miss the doctor call. I may even have to go in, though I think that is excessive. Anyway, it's hot and ouchy and I can get out fluids that don't belong there -- it's not as if my diagnosis isn't accurate!

and I am still too awake. I just made a small drink of Captain Morgan's and the last of a bottle of Lost Trail Cream Soda. Good stuff. No High Fructose Corn Syrup in Lost Trail -- just sugar. I have hopes that a small drink will be enough to tip me over into sleep.

When we had the party at work I got ice from the machine to put in the cooler to keep cheese, sour cream and tomatoes cold. When I got the cooler home, i still had lots of lovely ice, and I rescued a bag or two to put in the freezer. Makes it much better for putting drinks together.

Meanwhile, happy 101st birthday to Robert Heinlein. I have debated about the things I think about posting to the NitroForum. Point out that The Heinlein Society has not put out a newsletter in a year? That they are worse than useless at promoting the Heinlein legacy? Mmmm -- maybe not this week.

:)

that hamster bites are not generally harmful. The Evil Coco bit me really deeply yesterday -- I bled all over the place and had to wrap my thumb with pretty hard pressure to get it to stop. Today it still hurts a whole bunch and it seeped with a bit of pressure. So I dumped more peroxide on it, and washed it with hand sanitizer, and then put some antiseptic bag balm on it (since I can't find any of my antibacterial tubes of gunk at the moment).

It's not happy, but I think it needs to be out in the air instead of under a bandage. Meanwhile, I have to resist poking at it. If it gets bad enough I'll go to the doctor and get antibiotics. Yes, my doctor has *walk-in* every day from 7 AM to 10 AM -- can you imagine?

I considered going in to work today, but since I woke up with a certain computer screen before my eyes, I think it might be a good thing to stay home and not go see that screen live and in person. It is so odd to be in a job that haunts my sleep. It's not particularly *bad*. Forms aren't chasing me, I'm not waking up in a fret because I did something wrong -- but it's not going away between times, either.

I'm not eating too much as I stay home, either. I sort of got a few things that are not heavy foods, and so I am living on salads with cottage cheese and bagels. Not the worst thing. I also got some Kosher dogs, and just started on them yesterday. Sometimes I have them on buns, and sometimes as cut up substitutes for Lil' Smokies.

Last but not least, the night before last I dreamed I had lost three packs of cigarettes. Yep, smoking dreams again. I really, really miss them, and there is no way I can pick up even one cigarette in real life. My breathing is overall too bad to risk it.

go out and view the War Zone tonight -- my neighborhood can explode enough fireworks to pay for a year at Harvard.

And Happy Birthday to mckitterick today and adammaker tomorrow.

Now Arabella is acting like something is wrong with her. Can hamsters have strokes? It's like she has hit old age overnight, walking haltingly and sort of ignoring food.

Whew!! OK, she just came out and snatched the piece of cantaloupe I put in her dish. For a bit I thought she was going to ignore it, and no hamster in good shape would do that.

Meanwhile I am running the dishwasher for the third time because the first two times things caught the sprayer arm and held it still. Grrr. It has sort of been One of Those Days.

and rather loudly. Some good size stones are hitting the balcony. I think I will go down and look.

:)

* * * * * *

Yep. From peanut m&ms to golf balls. Biggest I've seen in person. I can see a chunk out the window that is bigger than a golf ball, and the stream in the street is creek sized. Ah well. Summer in Kansas.

since it's 10:30 and I'm not at all sleepy, I might as well try spiced rum and cream soda. I wish I had ice cubes, but so far it's pretty good even without them. I have a nice bottle of Captain Morgan's that is almost full, and some Long Trail cream soda in bottles.

Now if only I'll become even a bit sleepy, that would be good. Tomorrow is a food day at work -- taco salads and whatever else people think of. I got some extra muffins for the breakfast part, and the cheese for the lunch part. There will be taco shell bowls and everything we need. It's a welcome for the new boss, who is pretty quiet so far. We used to get 5 or more e-mails a day from our last boss, and I'm not sure the new one has sent out more than one in two weeks.

Today I had almost nothing but strange paperwork come through my hands. Ah well, I survived.

Of course July 4 is at the end of the week, so all the pyros in my neighborhood are already blowing things up.

Today someone at work was telling me about her problems with the gas co in MO, and it really ticked me off. She was only 78 dollars behind, and the sadists had her scheduled for service cutoff. Can you imagine? With the huge number of people who owe hundreds or thousands,they were picking on her for 78.00, and she had been making payments. The person on the phone was evil, and enjoying her petty tyranny a whole bunch.

She went down at lunch because the only thing she could do to get off the cutoff list was pay it all, and the next payday is next week. The person in the office was also surprised that the phone person was so evil -- making payments should have kept her safe, but once a person is into the cutoff queue, only full payment will get them out. The older woman at the company apologized.

But really -- utility companies should be forbidden to harass people making payments.

I went to work today to see if I could get in some overtime. The other people who were there were talking so much that it was difficult to focus, so I left after a couple of hours. I can only hope that they decide to stay home sometimes. I may have to try the night shift.

Today I got a personal visit from the head of computer services where I work. He wanted to meet the person who sent him detailed and intelligent trouble reports. He thought he would personally check to see what my machine was up to. I showed him, and then remarked that his mid-day memo about a data base load was probably the reason this particular utility was failing. He lit up and said "You're right, and I didn't think of that. So now I'll go tell the other person who reported the problem why it's happening. Thank you! You can write directly to me -- so far your mail has been helpful and not like some of the stuff I get."

Understanding the systems really does keep me a step ahead. And now I never have to worry about the trouble ticket system ... I have a nice line to the top guy.

The trees are twisting. High winds, and soon, thunder, lightning and a short downpour. This line of storms is pretty thin, so it may be over pretty fast.

The mouse sized, photogenic Samantha has passed on to Happy Hamster Land. She was the most suspicious of the four, but very pretty.

I took my car in on May 20 to get some problems fixed. 500 worth of problems. On 5/24 it broke down a block from the Airport Hilton, so I had it towed to the shop again. Another 150.00 just as the stimulus check arrived to bail me out.

Today I turned the key and it made a hideous noise, so I had it towed again. The added treat was having to walk a good 3 blocks to get the tow truck into the garage. I think the driver was impressed -- the garage is about the size of 14 football fields stacked and lined up. I know the guards were amazed that I actually knew where I was parked.

It is a hard thing for me to climb into a tow truck -- it took about 5 tries to get up that high. Once I was in, I stayed there until we were at my house. The driver took the keys to the mechanic. Bet he was not happy to see the same car back, especially since he was the last one to put that serpentine belt back on.

We have downpour, high winds and hail with our thunder and lightning this evening. Since I went downstairs to get my laundry, I took a peek outside, and now the front of me is distinctly damp.

I came home early yesterday because the result of the dentist visit was quite distracting once the novocaine wore off. Lots of pills and a night of sleep improved the situation greatly. I'm supposed to take one antibiotic every six hours -- which means getting up at 2 am for a pill. I suppose I'll live.

Over my work lifetime, every other boss has been a nightmare. My current one is Good.

He's leaving next month.

Waaah!! What chance of breaking the curse and having a second good one in a row? All of you light candles, walk widdershins, whatever you have to do to make the next one at least livable instead of horrible. The last one was like 7 years of bad luck. I don't want that so soon, really!

at the things I use for yardsticks. Friday night I was the committee person to do the meet & greet party for authors and artists. Instead of choosing a few canapes provided by the hotel, I figured that a theme of "Fanimal House" needed a toga party with beer and pizza and trashcan punch. So we did that. And how do I measure success? At the end of two hours there were still 5 whole pizzas left for later snacking. A two hour buffet, and we did not run out of food, and it was around 500.00. Beats 1,000 to 1,500, depending on whether the hotel follows directions or not.

Tonight I was sort of supposed to make pizza crust -- and I may yet do that because I am starting to want some. Instead I ate a Healthy Choice turkey and veggie TV dinner and made a loaf of banana bread with all the bananas that have darkened from neglect. They have been resurrected into edible food once more.

The car is still in the shop. It lost its water pump a block from the hotel Saturday, instantly wiping out any and all plans I had made for the weekend. So there are a dozen thing I did not get to do.

I have been really wiped out since the convention, but at least I managed to put through a dozen cases today, even though I was almost brain dead. I guess I better make that crust soon, or I will fall asleep instead.

3.79 at the QT on SW Blvd

3.73 at the QT on Barry Rd up north.

Grrrr.

personal items are in their suitcase. Tomorrow I make The List, acquire last con items, and pack con suite items in the car, because tomorrow night is the pre-con party (eek! already!). I think I will take the togas to the party and distribute them so I don't have to ride herd on them Friday. They are a real rainbow! For me, I'm just going to use my sari. Hey, seven yards of cloth is seven yards. Got to pack a shirt to go with it, or use a T-shirt.

Oh well, that is why I packed today -- so I won't have to do it Thursday night.

I go to the dentist at 7 AM. At least one tooth has come to the front as bugging me the most, so that is the one that will get the work -- or more likely get removed. Wisdom tooth that has developed a large hole -- and the gum is hugely irritated. Bet it has to go. I have two more appointments in June, and then most of the broken ones will be taken care of.

I broke 4 teeth in February and March of this year, so there was quite a lot to do. Ah well, from my 20's I knew it was coming. All my teeth have lots of vertical fractures.

Today I found out that they actually grade our time sheets as part of the review process. That was strange, to say the least.

in the Midtown and Overland Park areas, with 3.69 being the high. When you consider it was 3.45 last Thursday, you have to wonder just what these people are up to.

In other news, I ended up shopping for toga material, since there is not enough donated stuff to put everyone I needed to provide for into one.

Next Thursday I order the pizzas for pickup on Friday the 23rd. The convention is coming really fast. I can see it will be "here it comes--there it goes" with no intervening time.