Moving

I've decided to move over to WordPress to be able to password-protect posts. There are a lot of things I have to say that I don't want the Internet at large to read. Plus I'd like to be able to post pictures of myself. So come find me at http://joiedekitty.wordpress.com/ and don't be shy about asking for the passwords of any of the posts you'd like to read. (And don't worry, there will be plenty of public posts as well.)

Sticking it to the man

I am not normally a "stick it to the man" sort of person. But my insurance company is ticking me off at the moment... they're dragging their feet on reimbursing me for 3100 francs' worth of MRI/CAT scans. Usually they reimburse within a month, but it's been two months now and I'm still waiting.

So I got smart and quit paying up front. Over the past two weeks, I've managed to have the radiology center, the hospital and the pharmacy send about 10,000 francs' worth of bills straight to insurance. (A franc is worth about 98 cents at the moment, so yes, this is a lot of money!) I still have 450 francs' worth of bills that have to be paid up front, but that's a lot better than 10,000!

Maybe now the insurance company will start picking up their feet...

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?

Today I read about full-penetration butt welds. (In the context of subsea wellhead drilling equipment.) This is a perfectly standard, acceptable piece of terminology. And it just about had me in the floor.

I swear, y'all, I can't make this stuff up!

They're never going to believe me now! ;)

Everybody asks me where I get my hair dyed. They love the color. Well, the answer is, I don't dye my hair! It takes people a long time to get it through their heads that my hair is all natural.

So. One of the side effects of my not-chemo is that it can turn your hair white. And sure enough, I have super light-blonde/white roots growing in. I don't think anybody will ever believe me again when I say my hair isn't dyed!

(Mom called me a skunk when she saw my hair over the webcam this morning. Thanks, Mom!)

(The girls in my dorm prefer to think of it as my wisdom showing... I kinda like that explanation.) ;)

My Tanakh got here today!

And I'm over the moon with excitement. Which probably makes me weird. But that's alright -- being weird can be a good thing. And hey -- there are worse things to get excited about. ;)

Woo-Hoo!

Today is Day One of my "poison pill" break! Here's to hoping that my body will have more energy and start to heal some over the next two weeks. I really want to be able to taste food again...

Portrait of my teddy bear

The teddy bear my friends gave me in the hospital, plunked down on the bed by my mom:



I thought he looked pretty cute like that. :)