Nifty Things

Well, I haven't posted in a while. Partly because this is a personal blog, and I've not really been having a personal life, and partly because I haven't had any good stuff to write about.

It's all been work, work, work. Chronic, dark, suicidal depression-- and work. ; )

But I've collected some stuff from here and there that I'd like to comment on:

1) I love my SAD light. I have found that, in addition to it's expected function, it works to cure most of my headaches (in midsummer, regardless of the weather)-- 'dunno why. But sometimes, when I wake up all headachy and sore, an hour or so in front of the SAD light and the pain is gone. Hmmm, does a seratonin imbalance cause pain and inflammation? What else does the SAD light do (except maybe make it brighter so my eyes don't strain as much?) that could cure a headache?

2) My favorite video game of 2007 (played, however, in 2008 because of the damned book), Portal, is going to have a second version (aptly named Portal 2 at this point), coming out next year. Woo hoo! I loved, loved, loved that game. Awesome one liners, serious mind-bending antics, great graphics, physics, challenges, logic, characters, all of it. It was seriously too short though. And, just for the record, I have always hated that damn companion cube-- but was kind of freaked when Glados told me to euthanize it. Wtf?! LOL. Great game. Theme song is also incredibly perfect. The voice of Glados (and most of the other devices) was the absolute, hands-down, most perfect bit of casting ever. Genius. Pure genius.

3) I am considering getting an iPhone.

Yes it's true. For those of you who know me, I have been railing against complicated, PDA phones for years, and specifically against the iPhone. So to those people, this sounds like I've gone crazy.

But here's the deal. I have been watching my boyfriend use his iPhone for a year or so. He can do all kinds of stuff with it, and with each update it just gets better.

In the meantime, my motorola phone was dying. It couldn't stay charged, the volume was slowly going mute, and kept losing calls midsentence. It was just old.

But as luck would have it, I won a BlackJack II smart phone at a Microsoft Launch event earlier in the year-- so I simply started using the new phone. It was a timely replacement for the dying motorola.

Now the blackjack II, unlike my motorola, is a PDA kinda phone. Capable of internet access, storing all kinds of data, and generally being more useful.

After watching my boyfriend use his phone, and coveting some of the features, I was all ready to start using the blackjack the way it should be used--- but...

...But the menus sucked. I couldnt' find anything, use anything without sixteen clicks to get there. Navigation sucked. It was too restrictive, I couldn't change settings I wanted to, I could change settings that were meaningless.

It was slow. Battery power sucked, and it powered off without warning, leaving me unaware people were calling me. There were delays in SMS messages up to a day. Some texts sent early in the day actually arrived long after later texts were sent-- causing considerable confusion for all parties involved.

However, I did get a taste of how nice it would be to have a decent, pda-like phone.

There are some draw backs to the iphone:

a) the camera is prehistoric. No camcorder feature, despite the huge storage capacity. Little in the way of controls, which sucks, because even the blackjack has a good camera.
b) no buttons for feedback when you hit them.
c) low volume speakers. I can't hear the iphone ring when it's in my pocket in a quiet room.
d) no voice dialing. A big deal when I'm driving.
e) 3G iphones suck for battery power. However, so did the blackjack.
f) the worst drawback, in my opinion-- requires iTunes.
g) the 3G version of the phone will not have a dock, just a cable. so it'll be another thing lying on my desk to accidentally unplug while syncing.
h) AT&T, almost 'nuf said. It ruins the idea of the second gen. iphone because they are "subsidizing" the phone and starting to rape customers. Seriously. This time around the contract is two years, it is more expensive for less, and you can't activate at home over iTunes, you must wait in line, then wait about 30 minutes to activate at the freakin' store.
i) because it's AT&T SMS messaging cost a mint.

But there are some good features:

a) video voicemail. Now I can skip voicemails in the list, see who called at a glance, and ignore and delete voicemails without listening (well, maybe that's not a good thing...).
b) big, big buttons for dialing or typing. Yeah, they don't "give" when I hit them, but they are easier to get to than tiny keys...)
c) lots, and lots, and lots of nifty apps that I could use on the phone.
d) built in GPS (makes a lot of the apps work)
e) it works, as a phone, which I can't say the blackjack did. It lost calls, simply ignored calls, lost signal anywhere, anytime, broke up during calls for no reason, the list of flaws as a phone is endless. I have watched my BF with his iphone, and it simply works.
f) the handsfree headset comes with the phone.
g) it doubles as a video ipod. You can watch podcasts, tv shows and movies, as well as scroll through your music visually.
h) it has nice touch controls, especially scrolling, and the ability to pinch objects to zoom.
i) while being both an ipod and a cell phone, it can switch between calls and entertainment pretty easily. The BF never appeared to lose a video, song, text, or email after being interrupted by a call.
j) because the AT&T plan requires unlimited data, you do have unlimited data to do internet stuff. There are a lot of free and paid for apps that use that feature (like internet radio, searches, and more). Browsing is real, not requiring "mobile only" pages. It likes mobile pages because of the size of the screen. But because it can zoom, you can read any page. Also, you can IM people instead of SMS, so it can save money on texting.
k) Hard drive space. The blackjack has almost nothing (a few MBs) built in, you have to buy SD cards. The iphone has gigs of space, and I have to admit, it does synchronize with iTunes pretty well-- if you have it configured properly.

And that's why I am considering getting an iPhone. I need a new phone, despite the relative newness of the blackjack-- it was embarrassing having such a disfunctional phone while I was in Florida this summer. It made me look like an incompetent ass.

4) For those of you who might not know, my skin is aging really pretty badly. It appears that spending years writing books in the direct light of the sunny dining room (instead of the windowless cubicles and classrooms I was destined for) has damaged my skin pretty badly.

To compensate, I've been trying out sunscreens and other skin healing stuff. Here's what I've learned-- I am allergic to avobenzone, and sensitive to most all chemical sunscreens. Period. There isn't one that doesn't simply burn my skin anyway, regardless of sun exposure.

So, for a while, I was screwed. Then I found out about the mineral alternatives-- zinc oxide and titanium oxide-- which is in most mineral makeups.

Desperate, and besides I have to do more and more photoshoots and recorded presentations so it'd be nice to have some control over how my skin looks day to day, I started dabbling in the mineral makeup, as a sunscreen in the very least.

And found out that I am really allergic to most of them too. It's primarily the bismuth oxychloride that is the culprit, but I am also sensitive (or allergic, who can tell?) to lavender and coconut-- which is "natural" and in a lot of those mineral makeup offerings. (I also appear to be sensitive to Shea Butter, which has a kind of latex in it-- who knew?)

So, how in the hell was I going to be able to protect my skin from the continuing damage of sunlight exposure without actually hurting myself further? It took months but I found a few products that actually work and don't damage my skin:

- Vanicream sunblock 30 and 60 (but not 35 sport, which is enhanced with a chemical sunscreen). This stuff is super, super oily, and highlights every single pore and wrinkle. *Not* good for flattering your skin. The 60 really, really feels good in the sun though. It's like you're under an umbrella-- absolutely no heat while standing in direct sunlight. It works by coating your skin in minerals that reflect sunlight off your skin (and it's that reflective quality that highlights every, single, imperfection...).

- Sterling Minerals foundations ( my skin grew sensitive to the Everyday Minerals I tried earlier). Although they (Sterling Minerals) are reluctant to state the SPF of their stuff, it is super hypoallergenic and specifically for sensitive skin. I can really tell the difference when I have this stuff on because I, again, don't quite feel the sting and heat of mid-day sun (tested in June, in Orlando Florida). It is a powder, so it does, initially, look like I covered my skin in, well, powder. It does sort of melt into your skin eventually (especially in FL, lol), but you can also wet it down to get it to look less like you are trying to dessicate yourself. Unlike the vanicream though, the powder is not oily, shiny, or unflattering (once it stops being so dry). It works, lasts all day (it is almost waterproof, seriously), and actually helps hide all the broken capillaries under my fragile skin. Sterling Minerals is the only powder I have found that really makes my skin feel better after using it, and is completely comfortable from the moment it's on. However, it is a powder, so when it's dry out, it's not a great choice.

- Jane Iredale stuff. Of course I had to go through months of pain, trying out dozens of mineral makeups that have an SPF, only to find that the first one ever to go to market makes the best stuff...

I was first driven to try out the Jane Iredale stuff because I had to have some headshots done for a conference I was working. The requirement was unexpected, and I was not ready. I had had a disasterous experience with a moisturizer I'd gotten from a spa and still had blisters from being burned by it. And the broken capillaries under my skin, oy, my face looked like a road map with my freckles acting as location markers. Definitely not flattering. Even my boyfriend, who doesn't notice things like that, was concerned.

That drove me to find a healing, all natural, non-drying cover up for my face, in a color that might reasonably match my bizarre skin.

If only I could get mineral makeup, without the bismuth oxychloride, corn, wheat, etc., in a liquid form...

...and I could. Thus I tried out the Jane Iredale Liquid Minerals. Taa daa! Worked pretty well, didn't dry my face out (well, not for hours, then it was like a mask until I sprayed it again), the color was okay, and although it's sheer, it masked the capillaries and redness pretty well.

Then I found that the Jane Iredale line had changed their powdered formulas so that they did not use Bismuth Oxychloride either (hooray). *And* the powders, all of them, are rated at SPF 20! Yay, a sunscreen that is rated *and* is a powder.

So, now my skin is comfy, defended from the sun, and looks okay from a distance (or in the right light). ; )

So that's my update about the nifty things I've been thinking about over the last several months.

If I have time, I'll keep you updated on what happens next concerning the iphone, my continued adventures with being photographed and videoed, and more.

So, so many things

Wow, so much has happened since February. Here's the brief catch-up:

Finished the book by the end of December (my editor bailed from the publishing company around that time-- and no one bothered to tell me), it published in January.

In December (before the book came out), I got an email from a brokerage wanting me to revise the Microsoft Official Curriculum 5060A. They were obviously unaware that I was sorely mistreated by Microsoft Learning in 2006 when technical editing the original 5060 course. The course was a travesty of technical inaccuracy. It was obvious the writer had never used WSS and was copy and pasting from beta material written by internal staff on beta versions of the software. MS documentation, particularly in the early stages, is notorious for lack of clarity and inaccuracy. Then the writer compounds it by completely misunderstanding what the documenters wrote (very likely due to the fact that the documenters were californian citizens, and the curriculum author was in india and spoke English as a second language). When I found that they were also simply disregarding all of my edits, fixes, and suggestions, I bailed on the gig. These were the people who had the cajones to say "what made you think you were qualified for this project?" "Uh, maybe because I could actually correct the author. If I didn't know what I was doing, I would simply nod my head dumbly at anything they handed in..."

• I turned down the offer, was pursued after they saw my resume online, and finally, after refusing it a second time, was flatly told that MSL would accept no other SME (Subject Matter Expert) to do the project.
• What a load of bull.
• I asked for a fee far above what they, the indians-- because of course this version of the courseware would be outsourced-- wanted to pay me. I then got started planning, revising, and rewriting. The brokers swore they would protect me from non-payment, from schedule problems, and all the other bumps and bruises working with the outsourcers inevitably cause.
• Again, bullshit. The brokers were not only useless during the project, but they were almost useless when it came to getting money.
• Bottom line is, I worked through christmas, new year's, and valentines day. I worked on my vacation (more on that in a moment). Meanwhile, the indians took as much of my work as they needed to create the new revised plan-- then suddenly went radio silent on me, secretly replaced me with someone less qualified, but cheaper and more pliable (and probably internal), turned in my draft material as finished, and never intended to pay me--- All while the brokers did nothing. Nothing. When I brought up the fact that there was a problem, they seemed shocked that things weren't going right. And they took two months to finally get me some money. Of course, I was supposed to be paid $3500 for turning in an outline-- which I did, and $3500 for design specifications. What I am being paid now is a measley $2450. And the broker thinks that's great. And she wrote the original contract with all the numbers listed.
• So that sucked. Meanwhile, the book cost me a year in income and now I've wasted three months revising courseware that I will never get to finish, will be written by someone with dubious provenance, and I will never get credit for any of my work. Oh, and the pay is insulting.
• And, all the while, Microsoft acted like they didn't approve everything the outsourcers did to me, acting as if they had no idea. Which is, patently, untrue.
• Lesson? Do no further work with Microsoft Learning. Never work with an indian outsourcing company. And never use brokers or agents. If you need them to get a gig, you don't need the gig. Trust me, it's not worth it.

I went to Barbados in February (no, I didn't get anything to eat on the trip in, or out for that matter-- yes, planning could have been better...). It was beautiful. I turned out to be terribly allergic to the native mosquitos (bad enough to warrant a call to the resort doctor and a visit to the hospital Medical Center), as well as allergic to the bug spray for the mosquitos (blistering skin on my face and a swollen lip to my nose-- couldn't drink without a straw because I couldn't entirely close my mouth because of the swelling), and allergic to my expensive, hypoallergenic, 60 SPF sunscreen (blisters and a rash on my neck, chest, and face-- where the bugspray was not irritating me).

• NOTE: I did, but not quite quick enough, learn how to overcome the mosquito issue-- better mosquito netting and a great, all natural bug spray-- and the sunscreen problem-- baby face, infant sunscreen.
• Barbados weather was gorgeous, very humid, 80's to 90's the whole time. Plenty of beaches and fresh air (so, so nice and healing, salty and warm). Went swimming in my girls4sports surfing duds-- spf rated of course at the lovely, west side beaches. I ate at great restaurants (and some bad resort bars and buffets). I saw beautiful sunsets, and ironically, several lovely sunrises (since, strangely, I couldn't sleep after five am-- meaning I was pretty exhausted throughout the trip). I got to sight see a little, take some photos, hike around. Overall, after the initial problems with my health, it was pretty cool.
• The downside, of course, was that it was ridiculously expensive. Really, really expensive, and not worth it when I spent three of the five days there feverish, in pain, swollen and delirious.

When I got back from Barbados I got back in touch with the people who do the conference I love so much in Toronto. This year it was called "IT360" in previous years it was called "NetworkWorld Expo". The old crew was managing it this year (the previous year, which I didn't work because of the book, was managed by different people). They were willing to have me speak (which was nice since I'd not worked the previous year), so I signed up to do four sessions.
I spent my free time between recovering from Barbados and the first week of April, preparing for the conference. Meanwhile, my boyfriend cleared his calendar, paid for airfare, and prepared to join me for a romantic revisit to the lovely, frigid, city of Toronto in April. It was going to be great...

• ...The day before we left, I started getting a tight, sore feeling in my chest. I thought it was just allergies and didn't worry about it. The following day, after getting up really early, sitting in a dry, dusty airport, dry plane, dry airport (and customs) in Toronto, overheated, dry taxi, and then getting to the really dry, overheated hotel, I was truly sick. That night I had a fever of 101.2. The following day it was worse-- I was having a hard time breathing, my throat was raw and I was having trouble speaking. Not to mention the symptoms of the fever itself. And the dry cold air on the walk to the conference building from the hotel was really bad (I didn't realize that really dry cold air is very bad on inflamed lungs)..
• I went to the conference before my sessions, and tried to mention to the management that I might have to bail because I was sick. I obviously was ill. However, they were in the middle of a catastrophy because a guy from Florida just didn't show up for his sessions because he was sick. The management and staff only found out he wasn't there when the attendees waited an *hour* (bless those polite canadians) before complaining that the presenter blew them off. Then they couldn't find him at first because he wouldn't respond to their calls to his room. Finally he informed them that he was sick, that he'd emailed them, and that he wasn't doing his sessions.
  
  Emailed?! Like the staff at the conference had time to read their emails during the event?? Who was this guy?!
  
• So, anyway, the management had had to refund all the attendees money for his sessions. And because of that, there was no way they would be okay with me mentioning that, ahem, I was sick too and was wondering if I could just go home...
  
  ...so I ended up teaching with a worsening fever and lung infection for two days, about four to five hours a day. On my feet, talking as loud as I could, in a very, very dry convention center. On the last day, about twenty minutes into my last session, I felt my fever break while I stode there talking. It sucked.
  
• But the canadians were really, really nice. Seriously, they are angels that make it all (minus the illness) worth it. They were totally nice about my being sick-- even though the fever made me rambly in places and my pacing was wretched. They stayed with me til the end.
  

Then, I went home, which is where I am now. I slept the entire day after I got back. It didn't help. So I went to a medi-help clinic (because, by that time, it was the weekend and my doctor was out). It turns out that I did have a slight case of pneumonia. If I had waited any longer it would have gotten bad.

I was given some antibiotics, an albuterol inhaler (because the breath test showed I had seriously diminished lung function), and an appointment to come back the next week.

I took the antibiotics (Biaxin-- an okay antibiotic-- side effects were mild except for the constant, overwhelming, bad taste in my mouth) for a week. They did not entirely get rid of the pneumonia, but the doctor (a different guy this time-- that's medi-help for ya) said it might take several additional weeks to get over it. So now I have to go back at the end of the week to, again, do a breath test to see if my lung capacity is back to normal (the second appointment showed my lungs had improved to only 74% function by the end of the antibiotics).

So I had the early stages of pneumonia while working the conference in Toronto. Great. And it is why, even now, I am still struggling to recover. I still can't breathe properly, am easily exhausted, and have no appetite (a serious problem for someone who is hypoglycemic).

--- and on to more girly stuff now.

Before the conference I was having real problems with my skin. Real problems. I was wrinkling like an old lady, the skin on my face was so dry it was cracking and bleeding, it was papery and really uncomfortable. So it was obvious that my nice, cheap, and easy oil of olay was no longer cutting it. Also, I was having increasing problems with sunlight hypersensitivity. So I needed to really invest in, and regularly use, sunscreen.

I did a lot of research and decided on getting an exfoliant to get rid of the peeling skin and expose new skin, find an alpha-hydroxy, retinol moisturizer (possibly one for night and one for day) to help heal and soften my skin, and to find a healthy sunscreen (despite my Barbados experience with the best sunscreens on the market).

To that end I got some Roc night time moisturizer (alpha-hydroxy and retinol), a neutrogena scrubby thing to essentially do a micropeel, and, because of my problems with chemical sunscreens, some bare minerals powder with titanium and zinc oxide.

Well, Roc worked, but the bare minerals were bad. There is an ingredient they are not obligated to put on their label-- bismuth oxychloride-- that my skin hates. I turned red as a lobster, got red, bumpy hives all over my cheeks, under my eyes, and on my chin. My eyes got styes, and my lips swelled. It was bad.

The Roc stuff worked great though. But with the alpha-hydroxy making my skin even more light sensitive, the imperative for a sunscreen increased.

So I did yet more research and came up with "Everyday Minerals." A mineral makeup company that literally exist to offer makeup that does not have bismuth oxychloride in it. I ordered some samples but got them the day before I left for Toronto. I used them in toronto, and they were okay. Although, by the last, long, performance day, I was looking a little wrinkly, dry, and worn out, I am sure.

Now that I am home, the testing has continued. I am definitely allergic to Avobenzone. It is the culprit. I now have two moisturizers with UVA/UVB protection that don't seem (so far) to be causing any serious reactions. One is Olay completel all day moisture lotion SPF 15, and the other is Neutrogena's Intensified day moisture SPF 15 cream. Both are fragrance free, which is cool.

So now I have a night moisturizer to actually get rid of the wrinkles and dryness, and a day moisturizer to use as a sunscreen. I wish I could use makeup in the meantime, but hey, at least my face no long feels like it's going to fall off...

So that's my story. You are caught up.

In the future, expect to hear stories about the fact that I have been accepted to work part time for both weeks of TechEd in Florida (yes, teched is two weeks this year: separated into a Developer's week and an IT Pro week). That will be fourteen days away from my boyfriend, the longest stretch away from him since we meet fifteen years ago.

There are also other adventures on the horizon, so don't be surprised if more adventure filled posts crop up soon.

Even as I...

Even as I prepare to finish the book I am already thinking about other things I want to do. And one of those things I am desperate for is to update my personal music library.

Some male singers I am really into that I need to make sure I have enough of their stuff is:
Richard Thompson
Leonard Cohen
David Sylvian

love these guys, must have more.

I'd forgotten about about Kate Bush, Lori Anderson, and Jane Siberry. I'll probably remember more, but I need to get back in touch with music with words in...

More from this week

I finally, really, got over the cold on Wednesday. It definitely slowed me down.

It's friday and I finally finished the last chapter's edits.... or, more honestly, I finally just gave up on chapter 12's edits and sent it in.

You see, the book may be finishing, but my heart's not currently in it.

I am alone, the weather's beautiful, the book is almost finished, and my boyfriend is adventuring in Portland OR without me. He was packing last night and this morning... then I drove him to the airport and drove home alone.

I cam home alone, to the silence, and the continued work. I was up until 3am this morning, then got up around 9am and kept going. The work didn't let up while my boyfriend was preparing to leave, nor when I had to take him to the airport (terrible traffic at first- it was so tempting to accidentally drive off in the wrong direction and just keep going....), and now I sit trying to keep going. I did manage to turn the chapter in, but now I just can't keep going.

I don't care anymore. I've been working desperately on these edits with the goal of; the moment I was done, I'd get to be with my boyfriend. As soon as I was done, I'd go upstairs where he'd be watching videos or playing games on his computer, and I'd say "Hey, I'm done. Let's go out and see a movie." And then life would start again. We'd do stuff, have fun. I'd get to appreciate his company without the constant pressure of finishing the book.

And now that he's not here, I don't care to finish. Screw it. Why bother? When I'm done, there'll be no one to go upstairs to.

argh-- summer cold

So, I'm trying to edit about 200 pages by Weds. I was doing well, other than the occasionally distracting flies, and that's why, for the last two days I've been suffering from a summer cold. Really painfully runny nose, watery eyes, burning in the lungs and overall fatigue (no coughing yet). I can't sleep because laying down is too much like drowning.

Argh.

Things that have helped:

• Exiling myself to the computer room in my house. This gray, dim, utilitarian room contains my servers and has to have an aircondition running at all times (even for most of the winter) in order for the room not to become dangerously hot and ruin the equipment. Because of this, the computer room has had completely filtered air for many months.

• Drinking *a lot* of water. Avoiding tea because the caffeine stresses my heart.

• Taking large quantities of vitamins. Doing an organic multivitamin, then augmenting it with copious amounts of C, zinc and iron. I toss in some extra potassium and magnesium too, again for my heart. It seems to work.

• Trying to sleep, sitting up, as often as I can-- screw the book (I cringe when I say that but I just can't handle having pneumonia twice in one year).

• When the burning and pain becomes too much, I spray saline (especially for nasal passages people, not the canned stuff for your eyes) up in there and then blow it out. It really, really helps. I recommend it, even though it's kinda weird feeling. Always rinse the nozzle thing under super hot water before putting it away.

• When the stuffiness and aching in the sinuses begins to feel like an infection, I have been boiling water, pouring it in a cup with a drop of tea tree oil, and breathing in the steam. Be careful about the oil-- it really works but it hurts like hell if you use too much, ahh the burning, the burning....

• Using neosporin on the outside of the nostrils. Man, my stupid skin is so, so sensitive, that having a runny nose for maybe a few hours causes major redness and pain. It's surprising. Neosporin helps.

Things to be careful about-- geting cold in any way, especially my face. Beware of the direct cold air from the aircondition. Last time I was sick and sat too close to the AC output I got an ear infection (and that *really* sucked). I really can't sleep laying down so I am trying to sleep sitting up. Whenever I've had sinus problems of any sort and laid down to sleep I've gotten bronchitis or pneumonia. I have a really small torso so I wonder if it's simply easier for the infection to travel to my lungs than it is for other people?

And let's not forget, I have to keep typing through all this. OMG, why does this have to happen now?! Not this weekend, please not now.....

I hate flies, hate hate hate

So I've got this new umbrella on my back deck.

It's red.

I don't really like red, but hey, I needed something to help keep the heat down back there. I often work in the dining room, which opens, through a sliding glass door, to the deck. And in the afternoon sun beats in and really makes it hot there. An umbrella helps. Not only to cool the deck, but to keep the dining room cool too.

However, I have found that because it's red, for some reason, it's easier to see my macbook pro's screen under it, even in broad, sunny daylight.

So here I am, happily typing on my deck, under my red umbrella. I am working away, tea on my left, bottle of water and a snacky bag of almonds on my right...

Typey, typey, tappity, tap. SMACK.

It has gotten warm back here after a cold night and cool morning. And the frickin' flies are out.

And to make matters worse, there are horseflies among them.

So now they are buzzing around me like fighter pilots, occasionally trying to hurt me. I swear they are intentionally torturing me.

Argh.

Well. I knew it was too nice to last. Back inside.

Speaking of inside, I really hate it when flies follow me inside. I can't stand the sound, I can't stand that they lick the world with their feet, and they keep trying to smack my head as they fly by. But it pleases me to see them, after a while, hanging out on the back and front doors, like dogs trying to get outside. There's nothing for them to eat in my house, those bastards...

Wow, so much has happened I can't believe it

So, I last wrote about going to the Grand Cypress to stay while I was presenting at a conference.

The presentations went well, I got practically the best scores of the conference.

But, I had a horrible time with the Hyatt Grand Cypress Hotel. To make a brutal story short, the room had bedbugs, I am allergic to bedbugs (I've never seen one so i had no way of knowing), the hotel did nothing about it, and wouldn't move me even when I said it made me sick. I had to go to the conference staff and make a stink in order to fix it-- and by then it was too late. the whole time, I suspect, the cleaning staff knew that it was bedbugs, but didn't do anything about it (bedbugs have a distinctive smell, one I complained about but didn't recognize because I thought bedbugs were a myth). I never realized that my swollen eyes, throat and bloody nose, not to mention the "hives"I had all over my legs and on my arm were from bugs. I couldn't imagine that they were bites.

By the time I got home my legs were covered in bites that swelled up the size of carbuncles and burned and itched so bad I couldn't stand it. It is so much worse than poison ivy, and absolutely nothing soothes it. Nothing. In addition, I had a fever that lasted almost two weeks. All of my glands were swollen, including those weird ones right on the back of your head. They were all tender to the touch. I was afraid my legs would scar, and it did take months for them to completely go away.

Meanwhile, I had to keep writing my book, so I, of course, got a secondary infection that overwhelmed my respiratory system. Within three weeks of getting attacked by the bedbugs, I had pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinusitis. It took a month to recover from it (and most of that time was spent dealing with the side effects of Levaquin, the antibiotic I was on).

During all that I got an email from the Chair of the conference saying that because of my issues with the hotel that they didn't want me at the next conference. I tried to tell them that it was an unusual circumstance, that I now know what a bedbug is and how to look for them in other rooms to avoid a repeat of the problem, but apparently criticizing the hotel is such a bad thing that I have been removed from the conference website, and my classes have been removed from the schedule.

Needless to say, I didn't go to the spa while at the hyatt grand cypress in florida. And although I had a good conference, I am probably no longer working for them because of that hotel.

On to other news-- the book is still not done. You know, the eight hundred page technical monstrosity I was suckered into writing. Yeah, that thing. I'm still working on it.

Currently I am editing it, finally, because I pushed to have production stop so I could do something about it. It is a real struggle (some of which I can't tell you about right now but I promise I will) and I struggle to keep working despite the despair that plagues me.

Oh, and I am definitely allergic (or intolerant?) to wheat. For a year I have been avoiding wheat, corn, and soy. And over that time I have gotten more and more healthy. Then I accidentally was exposed to wheat through some veggies I thought were grilled (let that be a lesson to ya), they were fried in grease that had had wheat in it.

I was dizzy, clumsy, and felt poisoned. The following day, I woke up with the pain that used to plague me-- stiffness and soreness in my back, shoulders and neck. The exact MS symptoms I used to have. It lasted for days and nothing would help. Finally, after four days of no wheat/corn/soy the pain suddenly cleared up. Midday, sitting here typing, I felt a warmth sort of flow from the top of my head, down the back of my neck, shoulder and back. It tingled for a minute and then...the pain was gone. The stiffness went away a little more slowly, but it was gone by that night. I haven't had any pain since, and I have avoided eating at the restaurant that poisoned me earlier.

I have also learned some important things-- most blue cheese, and some feta have wheat in them. So not all cheeses are automatically wheat free. Brie (which breaks my heart) can also have wheat in it. Anything that is fried can be wheat contaminated, either because the oil (for some reason no one seems able to explain) is based on wheat, or because breaded or crumbed stuff is cooked in it.

I have also found that, instead of growing more tolerant as my immune system calms down, I am growing more intolerant. I now get dizzy almost immediately if anything I eat has a little wheat in it. And, that sucks.

I no longer can do the soy pancakes, even they make me sick. Although I have been told to try spelt, so when I have time, that will be my next test.

Anyway, that's my story, or at least most of it. Stay tuned for more some other time.