My sister called from Seguin Texas this afternoon. Seems they got a sprinkling of snow & her son was managing to scoop up enough to throw golfball-sized snowballs at her, hitting the window she'd just closed. Where I sit, snow's an imposibility, although our mountains certainly look pretty during the winter months (very little there right now, although Mauna Kea had snow on Halloween!)

I've been sitting here, bummed for the most part, watching Christmas movies today (I had the original "Miracle on 34th Street" running all night on AMC) & playing a game on my computer over & over again, trying to make Superstar ranking. I got close once. I've only had Superstar rank on MSN gaming zone on the jigsaw puzzle, but once you clear the cookies, your achievements are gone forever. I haven't gotten it back yet. The game I've been playing today is Jewel Quest. I haven't tried the trial full version yet. When I download them, I play them for days until I have to reboot the computer. The trial versions are limited to an hour supposedly, but if you don't close the program, you can play them until your computer's graphics begin to mess up or other issues arise. Running Windows XP Pro, I can run the computer continuously for days before needing to reboot.

I'm also bummed because just as I went outside to feed the dogs (my son's chore, but since he's in Colorado, it falls to me to do it) & drive up to the longhouse to check my mail, a friend I haven't chatted with in a couple weeks IM'd me with a "Merry Christmas." My timing sux! She sits on invisible, so I never know if she's on unless she IM's me. Lately, I've been sitting on invisible, forgetting to change it when I set it to invisible when I go to sleep. Yeah, I'lve been leaving my computer online most of the time. DSL connections don't get all the crap attacks that dial up does.

I've been invited to go to Volcano House's Christmas buffet with a couple lady friends from my DAV chapter. They're also without partners. One offered to pay half of the dinner price of $35. I thought that was high (it's for a prime rib steak & all the trimmings!) but after talking to my sister, that's cheap. She said that her backwater town & vacinity's been offering dinners starting at $50. Some even as much as $200/plate! I guess if you can afford that, more power to you. Those probably were benefit dinners, so most of the price would be tax-deductible.

I've never eaten at the Volcano House. Mind you, it's been in business a long time & although I'd been up there with my folks, dinner was too pricey for my dad to treat the family. He did dine with out-of-town visitors (Mainland guests).

The picture to the left is one I took at Volcano House on January 2nd of this year... the last time I stopped in. It's a root sculpture of Maddam Pele. I don't remember what sort of wood it is, nor the name of the artist. But I do know by the style that the artist isn't Cecil C Carstensen, who my dad shipped Hawaiian woods to & made several carvings of Pele out of roots. I wish I had one. I do have one of his pieces. My dad even shipped Carstenson part of the Monkeypod tree from Kailua-Kona planted by Mark Twain that was uprooted by a freak tornado (those don't happen here normally!). He carved several Pele heads out of that tree's roots.

Here's a brief history of the Volcano House lodge/hotel, as posted on their website: 

Colorful History

The history of Volcano House can be traced back to 1824 when Chiefess Kapiolani and her entourage built a grass shack on the crater rim. Throughout history, Ancient Hawaiians came to Kilauea crater to worship the Volcano goddess Pele with offering and prayers. In an ironic twist, the first structure (a grass shack) was built on the crater rim by Chiefess Kapiolani (a Christian convert) and her entourage not to worship but rather to denounce Pele.

As in years past, people continued to be drawn to the Volcano and in 1846 Benjamin Pitman, Sr. built a grass house at the crater edge and coined the name Volcano House which has remained the name throughout the many manifest of this rustic inn. In 1866, a more substantial Volcano House was constructed made of grass and ohia poles. Mark Twain, who stayed in the hotel this same year described it as “ neat, roomy, well furnished and a well kept hotel. The surprise of finding a good hotel at such as outlandish spot startled me, considerably more than the volcano did.”

As the years progressed, Volcano House has continued to evolve and in 1877 the first wooden Volcano House was built, featuring a large parlor with a fireplace, a dining room and six bedrooms. This fireplace which is symbolic of Volcano House warm hospitality and aloha has been burned continuously for over 125 years.

In 1895, Greece-born George Lycurgus (known as Uncle George to locals) bought the hotel and his name became synonymous with Volcano House for most of the next 65 years until his death at the age of 101. In 1940 the main building of the hotel was destroyed by fire, caused by an oil burner, not Pele. Items rescued included embers of the everlasting fire from its large fireplace, the Koa piano, which is presently in our lobby, and a few art pieces.

In 1941 Uncle George rebuilt Volcano House. It was constructed of wood and stone, consisting of 30 rooms resting at the edge of the magnificent Kilauea Crater. For decades Volcano House became a popular gathering place for local residents as well as visitors. Queen Liliuokalani, Mark Twain  and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Here's the link to their page about their dining facilities:  http://www.volcanohousehotel.com/Dining.htm

Browse their site. It contains some interesting tidbits, like the fact that Mark Twain stayed there & that it's the oldest hotel in the Hawaiian Islands!

I am definitely not looking forward to the next couple of weeks, along with the holiday season. I'm going to be alone for the first time in 17 years! My son is flying to Colorado for the holidays, to spend time with the girlfriend he met online. She's undergoing exploratory knee surgery on the 28th & since my son has already been through massive surgery on his knee, he wants to be there to help her (even though I have gone through 4 surgeries & he was little, if any, help to me, especially when I asked... he wouldn't even make a sandwich for me after my first breast surgery!).

A couple friends/DAV chapter members have already told me they don't want me to be alone... to come spend time with them. But they have their own families/problems that arise that I don't think much will happen. I'm not holding my breath.

I had an appointment with the psychiatric nurse practitioner on Monday I've been seeing since my psychiatrist 'medically retired.' I spend almost an hour with her... alot of it crying. I won't be seeing her the next time, since the VA has finally hired a replacement for the one who quit (it was stress, due to the people who work in the clinic & the system itself, not the patients... I guess he followed the advice he gave me in December of 1999!). A female! And one who actually spent time counselling patients in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War!

The nurse was very concerned about my emotional state. She's suggesting that I see the MSW with the clinic, who incidentally runs the clinic (in name only... she's a scatterbrain who's controlled by one RN who's been there for many years... who, by the way, seems to like me, much to my surprise!). She also gave me the phone number to the Crisis Hotline for the State, telling me to call them if I have the need for someone to talk to during the holidays. I'm one who always feels stupid calling them. It's not like they can really do anything to effect a positive change.

You see, I threw out a bad comment to my son in the middle of our argument about him going to Colorado. I told him that maybe it'd be better if I just wasn't around anymore, so he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. I know that biting remark was wrong of me & dumped something on my son he doesn't deserve. But it alludes to how I've been feeling alot of the time since I was first told I had cancer & an unrealistic way to cope with the disaster I see around me of our home. I'm tired of fighting... of just being alive with all that I have to deal with day-to-day. I can't see what good I am anymore... what I contribute that's worthy of note. It's as I've mentioned here in the past... others go out of their way to make accommodations for some, but I'm always left out or pushed aside or added only as an 'after-thought.' I'm never another's first thought or priority.

Don't get me wrong... I know I've raised a wonderful son. He's just not much of a help for me. We're also having arguments about college. I had hoped that in our discussions I'd convince him about how important some things are when becoming an adult, avoiding the prospect of him having to learn things the hard way. It isn't working. For example, when something comes up in his attempts to gain a start in higher education, he allows that little road block to stop him. He's old enough that I shouldn't have to be 'leading him by the hand,' but he's not taking the incentive. Like the fact that he could have been working for the last nearly 2 years, but refuses to even try to get a job that entails working with food & other decent jobs won't hire minors (like Wal-Mart & the new Home Depot in Hilo). He turns 18 next month, so missed getting into Home Depot when the new store opened just yesterday to the public.

Why do guys always have the mentality that "the grass is always greener on the other side," then learn the truth after much heartache & devastation? Why can't they listen to those who've 'been there, done that?'

Anyway, I also had another appointment on Tuesday with the VA rheumatologist. Recently, I tore a ligament or whatever on the outside of my left hip. It was so bad that for about a week, any movement felt as though I was reinjuring it. I couldn't even raise that arm without a sharp burning pain on my hip! I ended up taking my leftover oxycodone from my last surgery just so I could move (one per day). All I did to injure the hip was step off to turn while walking inside of my house.

While I was talking to the rheumatologist, I mentioned something I had read on MayoClinic.com about ankylosing spondylitis. I was browsing their site about different types of arthritis & this one struck a chord with me, because one of the symptoms is the lower spine fusing itself (grows together on its own).

After getting out of the Navy, I remained in Norfolk, VA, for a few months, because I could hardly move. I had sciatica so bad I could hardly stand or walk. I was treated in the Navy for this as though it were a 'hysterical' pain... in other words, bullshit. I went to the VA outpatient clinic in Hampton Roads, VA, for more pain medicine, because I had run out. I had been taking 800mg ibuprofen 4 x daily, which barely touched my pain. The doc I saw looked at the same X-ray that my ship's doc (an osteopath) had looked at (telling me nothing was wrong with my spine) & told me that my L-5 was fused to my sacrum! It's the classic symptom of ankylosing spondylitis! And no doctor has made the connection! I DID!

When I mentioned this suspicion to the VA rheumatologist, I could see a light bulb going off in her face! She said it could explain the pains & swelling in my hands & feet. It's also leading her in another direction as far as treatment for my arthritis. Another thing she mentioned... she served her internship at Rochester, MN's Mayo Clinic! I told her that's one of my primary online medical reference resources (I also used WebMD.com). She's talking now about putting me on a sulfa drug, sulfasalazine, along with an opiate as a painkiller (the ibuprofen screws up my acid reflux/heartburn, barely touches my pain when it peaks & loses its effectiveness quickly). Obviously, if I still had an opiate (oxycodone) left after major surgery (my hysterectomy/oophorectomy in 2002), I'm not one to be concerned about abusing narcotics. I have no desire to be hooked on any meds! I don't even like the fact that I'm taking an anti-depressant (which, by the way, doesn't work for me; I only take it because it repells mosquitos!) & will likely have to in some form for the rest of my life.

She still wants me to retry the hydroxycloroquine, which I believe caused my hands & feet to break out in a rash/hives. So, after the holidays, I'll try it again & if the rash starts, I'll go to the clinic to show the nurse who works under the rheumatologist, not the one who claimed it was contact dermatitis. I did tell the rheumatologist about the herbal cox-2 inhibitor I had taken, but also stopped at the time the rash developed. And told her her I had started taking MSM, which is sulfer. She had noted that my swelling was less & told me to keep doing whatever I was doing, because it seems to be working. I thought perhaps my herbal tea had something to do with that as well, since I had made a gallon of it last week. I haven't made more, so haven't had any recently. I forgot about having added willow bark (the basis for asprin) which doesn't have the 'side'-effects of OTC asprin, which is synthetic. Willow bark is analgesic, meaning it reduces swelling & the ensuing pain from swelling. It was used by Native Americans hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

She also wants me to have a new lower spine X-ray (she couldn't find the Hampton Roads one's report). I'm waiting for the nurse, who was busy at the time with a telemed conference, to write the referral. Ordinarily, I'd have gotten that paper right away & gone straight over to the radiologist. Now, it'll mean another trip sometime this month into Hilo, to the clinic to pick up that paper & back down the hill to radiology & another long wait until someone decides to call me with the results or wait until I see the rheumatologist again in 2-4 months. *SIGH*

Please don't miss my previous blog for today. Once you read it, you'll see why.

Heads up people! There's an email going around that is a devastating hoax! It's getting so bad that our local CBS news channel had the gall to include it in last night's 6:00 PM news as fact!

Not only did I email the newscasters that their story was a hoax, I called them & did get to speak with the reporter, Jade Moon, who spread the story. To me, this story was extremely devastating & just as bad... NO, WORSE!... than what Dan Rather did that caused him to submit an early retirement from CBS national broadcasting!

Here's the email I sent to KGMB Honolulu, in its entirety:

Aloha-

 

I briefly caught your news story about the holiday email virus. Please note that the origins of that scare is a hoax! I am including the body of the email that has been spread for approximately 4 years & the source of the site that lists it as a hoax, as well as what I replied to a friend who forwarded me the virus warning email.

 

*******************************************************************

 

Subject: Virus to look out for

WORST VIRUS EVER ---CNN ANNOUNCED ~


PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!!!

A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft
as the most destructive ever

This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has
yet been developed. This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard
disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored.

This virus acts in the following manner:


It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title

"A Card for You".

As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer
freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+delkeys or the
reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently
destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused
panic in New York, according to news broadcast by CNN. This alert was
received by an employee of Microsoft itself.

So don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You."
As soon as you get the mail, delete it!!! Even if you know the sender !!!

Please pass this mail to all of your friends.

Forward this to everyone in your address book. I'm sure most people, like
myself,
would rather receive this notice 25 times than not at all.

     I hope you all have a healthy and peaceful holiday season. Don.

 

******************************************************

 

Online myth-busters site (highly reliable):  www.snopes.com.

Page with the information about this hoax:  http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/card.htm

 

Origins:   The "Virtual Card for You" hoax (now often circulated simply as a "A Card for You") has been making the rounds since at least 2000, with occasional changes along the way. No such (incurable) virus ever existed, was identified by McAfee, was reported on by CNN, or "caused panic in New York."

Additional information:  

	Virtual Card for You (Symantec Security Response)
	A Virtual Card For You Hoax (McAfee Virus Information Library)

Last updated:   19 March 2002

 

*******************************************************************

 

My reply to the friend:

 

Thanks for the warning, but this is unjustified. I was a bit suspicious, so first checked the McAfee site for current threats. It wasn't listed, nor did a search for a "sector zero virus" turn up anything. I first became suspicious because no name for the virus was given. Next step was to do a search on www.snopes.com for this same description. Voila! http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/card.htm

 

This is a holiday destructive hoax! It causes people to discard emails from their loved ones meant solely to spread good will during some people's bleak holiday times. This is a horrible email in my opinion!

 

It's amazing how stuff like this ever gets started.... the maliciousness involved is as bad as an actual computer virus. And that it continues to be distributed over & over again?!

 

If you'd like to learn more about Internet & email hoaxes, I suggest you spend time, as I have, going through Snopes.com's site & learn about the other hoaxes this couple who run the site have already confronted. There are some hilarious ones too. 

 

********************************************************************

 

For a news agency to not check into the truth behind a story... I'm ashamed of you guys! You have done basically the same thing as Dan Rather, presenting a story without verification. Please, like I have informed my friends when they've forwarded on email hoaxes, check the facts first! I have checked the anti-virus sites. None such virus exists!

 

Mahalo--

--Myrene

I often look to Snopes.com for answers & tidbits. Getting forwarded emails that promote myths is extremely annoying, like the latest one I got from my DAV chapter's commander. This one told people not to open "A Virtual Card for You," even from people you know, because it could contain an extremely harmful virus, which would destroy Sector Zero of one's hard drive. Not only is this email a blatant lie, but it is just as destructive as an actual virus because it dashes the hopes of people who look forward to a bit of good cheer from distant friends & relatives. I found the myth clearly defined on Snopes.com:  http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/card.htm

I emailed my commander back, giving him the link & politely (I hope) telling him to be sure to check the facts before forwarding on stuff of this nature. I told him what about the email brought about my suspicions (the lack of a name for the virus) & my steps of discovery (I went to the AV site, McAfee, that the email said was the source of the information of the virus, then to Snopes.com). I haven't heard back from him. I only hope he emailed everyone he forwarded the email to about the error.

As always, when I find a myth on Snopes.com through this manner, I end up browsing their site for other tidbits. This time, I set off into their holidays link, going through the myths, legends & truths surrounding the Christmas holiday. This true one was too funny not to share:  http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/pants.asp

Claim:  For twenty-five years, two brothers-in-law traded the same pair of gift pants back and forth between them, each time finding more inventive ways to wrap them.

Status:   True.

Origins:  The one present Roy Collette wasn't looking forward to getting for Christmas 1988 was those damned pants. Yet he knew he was in trouble as soon as the flatbed truck bearing a concrete-filled tank off a truck used to deliver ready-mix rolled up. Sure as God made little green apples, those pants had to be in there. And he was going to have to fish them out, else declare his brother-in-law the winner of a rivalry that had spanned 20 years.

Being the sport he is, brother-in-law Larry Kunkel thoughtfully supplied the services of a crane to hoist the concrete-filled tank off the flatbed.

What's this game, you ask? What was the significance of these pants, and why were two grown men going to such efforts year after year to retrieve them, only to send them off again?

It all began in 1964 when Larry Kunkel's mom gave him a pair of moleskin pants. After wearing them a few times, he found they froze stiff in Minnesota winters and thus wouldn't do. That next Christmas, he wrapped the garment in pretty paper and presented it to his brother-in-law.

Brother-in-law Roy Collette discovered he didn't want them either. He bided his time until the Christmas after, then packaged them up and gave them back to Kunkel. This yearly exchange proceeded amicably until one year Collette twisted the pants tightly and stuffed them into a 3-foot-long, 1-inch wide pipe.

And so the game began. Year after year, as the pants were shuffled back and forth, the brothers strove to make unwrapping them more difficult, perhaps in the hope of ending the tradition. In retaliation for the pipe, Kunkel compressed the pants into a 7-inch square, wrapped them with wire and gave the "bale" to Collette. Not to be outdone, Collette put the pants into a 2-foot-square crate filled with stones, nailed it shut, banded it with steel and gave the trusty trousers back to Kunkel.

The brothers agreed to end the caper if the trousers were damaged. But they were as careful as they were clever. As the game evolved, so did the rules. Only "legal and moral" methods of wrapping were permitted. Wrapping expenses were kept to a minimum with only junk parts used.

Kunkel next had the pants mounted inside an insulated window that had a 20-year guarantee and shipped them off to Collette.

Collette broke the glass, recovered the trousers, stuffed them into a 5-inch coffee can, which he soldered shut. The can was put in a 5-gallon container filled with concrete and reinforcing rods and given to Kunkel the following Christmas.

Kunkel installed the pants in a 225-pound homemade steel ashtray made from 8-inch steel casings and etched Collette's name on the side. Collette had trouble retrieving the treasured trousers, but succeeded without burning them with a cutting torch.

Collette found a 600-pound safe and hauled it to Viracon Inc. in Owatonna, where the shipping department decorated it with red and green stripes, put the pants inside and welded the safe shut. The safe was then shipped to Kunkel, who was the plant manager for Viracon's outlet in Bensenville.

The pants next turned up in a drab green, 3-foot cube that once was a 1974 Gremlin. A note attached to the 2,000-pound scrunched car advised Collette that the pants were inside the glove compartment.

In 1982 Kunkel faced the problem of retrieving the pants from a tire 8 feet high and 2 feet wide and filled with 6,000 pounds of concrete. On the outside Collette had written, "Have a Goodyear."

In 1983 the pants came back to Collette in a 17.5-foot red rocket ship filled with concrete and weighing 6 tons. Five feet in diameter, with pipes 6 inches in diameter outside running the length of the ship and a launching pad attached to its bottom, the rocket sported a picture of the pants fluttering atop it. Inside the rocket were 15 concrete-filled canisters, one of which housed the pants.

Collette's revenge for the rocket ship was delivered to Kunkel in the form of a 4-ton Rubik's Cube in 1985. The cube was made of concrete that had been baked in a kiln and covered with 2,000 board feet of lumber.

Kunkel "solved the cube," and for 1986 gift-giving repackaged the pants into a station wagon filled with 170 steel generators all welded together. Because the pants have to be retrieved undamaged, Collette was faced with carefully taking apart each component.

What happened to the pants in 1987 is a mystery, and their 1988 packaging (concrete-filled tank) was mentioned at the beginning of this page. Sadly, 1989's packaging scheme brought the demise of the much-abused garment.

Collette was inspired to encase the pantaloons in 10,000 pounds of jagged glass that he would then deposit in Kunkel's front yard. "It would have been a great one - really messy," Kunkel ruefully admitted. The pants were shipped to a friend in Tennessee who managed a glass manufacturing company. While molten glass was being poured over the insulated container that held them, an oversized chunk fractured, transforming the pants into a pile of ashes.

The ashes were deposited into a brass urn and delivered to Kunkel along with this epitaph:

Sorry, Old Man Here lies the Pants. . . An attempt to cast the pants in glass brought about the demise of the pants at last.

The urn now graces the fireplace mantel in Kunkel's home.

I was wrong this time.

We had enough in the door prizes to go around once to everyone there. Not as many showed up as we thought were going to. The Commander decided to give a whole bag full of football Beanie Baby bears to a young boy instead of giving each out (it would have taken a long time, since there were about 20 or more in the bag). Last year we also had some of these. I got a John Elway Beanie then.

I had to take my son to Keaau High School early morning to take the ACT test for college (although he's talking about taking a year off before starting college... more on that later).  The testing finished about 11:30 so when he called, I excused myself from the meeting to go get him & bring him. He was pissed, thinking I'd just drop him off in town to skateboard. I made him come to the party, since I had already paid for his lunch. I don't get many chances to show him off, & always have to make him come. So we both got tickets for the door prizes.

Out of the 2 tickets, we ended up with 3 prizes, including $50 cash (this was the main thing I was hoping for, since we have had a very tight summer with my son running up excessive phone bills, both on the cell phone & the house phone through text messaging & long-distance calls to his girlfriend in Colorado when her cell phone got taken away by her mom for the same problem (ran over the shared plan minutes & too many text messages). They think 10¢ each, but don't realize just how many they use. Cell phone companies make a killing off kids! My son took the cash. More on that later.

The Adjutant's son was also there, with his girlfriend. From my earlier talk with the Adjutant, her son's girlfriend mirrors my son's girlfriend in Colorado. Both are Mormons. Both have definite goals for after graduation from high school. Penny's son also has his goals/priorities set for college, unlike my son's wishy-washy ones.

I've fought with my son about the importance of a college education. He seems to think that he can take a year off after high school, maybe working & doing his skateboarding. He's done searches on the Internet about housing, asking me if $650/mo was a good price for an apartment. What he doesn't get is that those prices don't include utilities & how much that would take of any income he might get from a job, since it's very difficult to get a decent-paying job with no experience & only a high school diploma. At that price, earning minimum wage (which hasn't been increased in over 10 years!), he'd have virtually nothing left to eat on, much less to buy his equipment. By the time he pays for rent, electricity, gas (heating), phone (including his cell phone), cable, Internet access & transportation, he'll have spent around $1,000. At minimum wage, even at fulltime, that would put him in the hole about $100 & he hasn't bought any food yet! And a good part of his income will be taken away in taxes & co-pay for insurance! Minimum wage only garners about $910/month.

I've tried to get him to help with a video production at his high school that's still looking for help. He just doesn't get how this will help him build a name for himself, He only sees that it would require time away from his yakking on the phone or skateboarding or playing games. I've even learned that one of my DAV chapter's members is directly involved with this production & has a video studio right here in Pahoa! I'm positive if he sees what my son already has put together with his friends (they made a skateboarding video, which he's actually recorded to DVD!), Del would be very impressed with his videography talents & help nurture his skills.

I've been harping at him for nearly 3 years about getting a job. He refuses to work with food, so the only other things out there are jobs who don't hire minors. Wal-Mart here doesn't hire under 18. Nor does the new Home Depot, scheduled to open this month. He turns 18 next month, so he missed the initial hiring. He sneers whenever I mention anything like McDonald's, local grocers, Pizza Hut, or anything like them. He just doesn't get that as a male, with good work ethic, these places advance them quickly, to positions that earn double minimum wage. Incidentally, Hawaii has their own minimum wage... $1 more than Federal.. These places also work around kids' schedules with school & extracurricular activities.

My son has also had the opportunity to get into a program called "Running Start" for college. He can be taking core required classes right now! We had him all set up to go for this Fall semester, then he tells me he can't because his GPA is too low & he hasn't taken the SATs or ACTs. Shoot... some of his friends have been doing this for 2 years (Junior & Senior)! I've also talked to him about Federal PELL Grants. He would need to apply right away when the applications become available (next month) just to be able to attend next Fall. They run out of money fast! Also, from what I learned when I went to college, the best thing to do is to start college in the summer. It gives a head's up on the semester hours required to retain the grant & also gives a person an easy introduction into college life. Even though the classes meet more frequently & the schedule is more intense, there are 2 summer semesters with which a person can take up to 6 semester hours each, which count toward the minimum of 12 hours for each of the normal semesters as a fulltime student. It's extremely difficult to manage 12 SHs, work & have any kind of life while maintaining decent grades. Although I didn't work fulltime (I had a newspaper motor route at one point & worked for the campus newspaper at another), I did have a kid to raise while I finished my 4-year degree. If I had read everything I was supposed to, I'd have been doing almost nothing else outside of class & writing term papers (I'm a slow reader)! My course load during the long semesters was only 9 hours, because I started in the summer, taking classes during both sessions & continued for each summer instead of 'taking a break.' That break is a waste of time, as far as I was concerned.

As for my kid snatching the $50 prize I won... He decided that it was his ticket that won it. Not only that, for this month's bills, I used $50 he still owed me because of some online expenses that got charged to his debit account, which would have caused my payment to the phone company on money he still owed to cause his account to overdraw. I transferred money from mine to cover it. These were things he subscribed to that were set up to automatically debit when they expired & he's done very little to get them to stop. I hate stuff set up like this! McAfee AV program was one of these! I had an issue with one similar to this with BuzMe.com, for my dialup voicemail service. They ignored my initial email asking how to discontinue the service when my subscription ran out & debited my checking account. I flew a nasty email back to them that the charge was not authorized & unless they credited my account back, I was going to pursue their actions. They had no means of canceling on their site, nor did they have a toll-free phone number to contact. Also, their phone number listed with the phone company was the one for people to use to set up the Internet answering machine, not to cancel it. The other services my son got hit with auto debiting were IGN.com & GameSpy.com.

I don't know if it's intentional, but he can't seem to remember our conversation regarding this $50 correctly. He whined about not having spending money for his trip to Colorado over the Winter break, so I told him I'd either transfer $50 back into his account to cover him buying the gift for his girlfriend, or pay for the gift, but that meant he was back to owing me $50. He seems to think now that I was forgiving his debt to me. Uh uh! No way! He's got to get it into his head now that he needs to learn how to manage his money, including not getting into situations where he gets scammed, which is what I consider Internet services who auto-debit. I also don't set up any of my bills to automatically pay out of my checking account. That gets very dangerous financially! I told him that his taking that $50 & also paying for the game for his girlfriend & him not paying me back means the gift isn't coming from him, but me! He thinks he only owes me the original $50. There went my prize!

He has to repay his girlfriend's mom half of his airline ticket to Colorado ($400). He has told her he'll pay $200 next month & $100 each for the next 2 months. This leaves little to pay for his cell phone, his 'normal' spending habits, or to repay me. Kids nowadays! I never had it as good as he does, even though we've lived in poverty nearly his entire life! I wish he'd learn how to be frugal, instead of having to buy branded (skateboarding) clothes, etc. It isn't that I haven't been teaching him, but he just doesn't get how much of a senseless waste it is. If a person can actually afford the pricey stuff, more power to them! We just can't. A nice home is more important to me & is something we don't have yet. Here's a link to what I'd like to build, once I can afford it: http://multi-facettedhomes.com/2-story.htm

Someday...

I was in a rotten mood last blog entry. I didn't say anything about it then, but another of our kitties got hit by a car that night. I'm saying something now because that kitty's brother just got killed, in almost the same spot.

I'm tired of listening to cars fly down the road in front of my house. As I've mentioned before, their eyes are very visible for the 3 roads from the top of the next hill to my house. Yet, these cars are pouring on the gas as they reach my home, downhill, going between 45-60 mph by the time they reach the area in front of my house. It is obvious to me that they are intentionally trying to hit my cats!

The one on Monday was an SUV with mud tires. The one tonight was probably something like a Honda. I have good ears, even with the noise of tinnitus that's always there. My son doesn't hear the impacts, but I always do & charge out of the house just as fast as I can, hoping to see the vehicle that has taken one of my family. Most of the time, they're going so fast that they're out of sight by the time I get to the road.

The cat hit on Monday had no name. I had left that to my son, since she slept with him. She has to be the first cat we've had in many years who's preferred dogging my son than me. He never named her. She was a pretty long-haired grey cream with a sweet disposition. Her brother, the one hit tonight, was another matter. He was long-haired as well, but orange in color with pretty copper eyes. He was a scamp, lately either attacking the other boys or being attacked by my fixed boys. He & his sister would play together almost constantly, until he got his hormones running.

On Monday, my son was on the phone when his kitty got hit. I kept waiting for him to hang up, so I could ask the PD what can be done about these speeding vehicles. I didn't call them then, but I did tonight. The dispatcher was pleasant with me, saying she was sorry about what happened & said she'd send a patrol unit out to check the area. I really think these assholes are druggies, who come into the area to buy drugs from a house below me that many know about. I hope they shut them down quickly! Two kitties killed by speeding cars in less than a week is outrageous! Both hit so hard their backs were completely severed. We've lost 5 this year.

It's that time of the year for me... nothing goes right. Tomorrow's my DAV chapter's Christmas party. With the way our Adjutant insisted the door prize giveaway to go, I'll probably end up with nothing, since everyone attending will be getting a ticket. I've gotten very little in the past ($5 gift certificate at a local cafe one year, when I've gone for 3) when others had gotten much more. Bah, humbug! I really don't feel like going now.

WTF?!!! Are they nuts?  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/03/60minutes/main658994.shtml

Rick Howell also thought a mistake had been made when he received his notification last August. He’s 47 and disabled from an accident he suffered in the military.

"I can’t run anymore. If somebody was shooting at me and chasing me I couldn’t run away from them. I can’t, you know, if I lift anything more than 30 or 40 pounds, I literally, the rod in my arm tingles," says Howell.

He joined the Army in 1981, and became a helicopter pilot. He flew along the DMZ in Korea. Finally, in 1997, after almost 16 years of active service, he retired.

"My goal was to move back and get that life that I never had because for 16 years the Army," says Howell. "I mean, I gave the Army my life. Of course, you know, I wanted a family, you know. I wanted to marry someone and to settle down and to have a home."

And so he did. His son was born two months ago. Going back into the Army would be a major inconvenience, to say the least.

But Howell says he’s willing to do it if he can serve in the United States, which he put in the form of a prayer on Thanksgiving this year.

This past week, the Army rejected Howell’s offer and sent him a letter saying his exemption has been disapproved, and he has to report for duty early next year. But Howell intends to keep fighting.

What is he going to do if he has to go to Iraq?

"I don’t have a choice. They’re going to have to come and get me. I mean literally," says Howell. "They’re going to have to come get me. And at that point in time, if they come get me, I don’t have a choice. They’ll have to drag me away and make me go."

Isn't it bad enough that the 'powers that be' have been extending enlistments of soldiers just months from legitimate retirement? Now they're calling up former soldiers in their 50s & Disabled Veterans to boot? Have they lost their collective minds?

Here's a thought... reinstate George W Bush to Active Duty. That asswipe never fulfilled his obligation to begin with! Now he wants elderly to serve who haven't been keeping up with training? These people served their time & didn't stay in the Active Reserves!

What I think may be partially behind this is that the 'powers that be' are thinking these elderly & disabled veterans would be 'cannon fodder.' This way, the families would get paid the one-time death benefit, rather than the months & years of retirement &/or disability pensions these soldiers may be getting should they live out a normal lifespan.

At this rate, I could even receive notice. Can you see me going back into the Navy, with all of my disabilities that the VA is refusing to acknowledge? One in this story was seriously obese! Good thing I was Navy, not Army... They seem to only be calling up grunts.