Archive for September, 2009

Several weeks ago, I saw the first sign of fall: Hallowe’en candy in the stores!

Since then, we’ve battled the final few days of triple-digit temperatures (we almost set the record), but finally got some relief from the temperatures and drought. Emil and I both think (wives’ tales, we’re sure) that the wicked summer is a predictor of a harsh winter. After the hard heat, we are ready for some snow/ice!

Other signs we’ve seen in the last few weeks: school supply lists and football.

Today, though, we had to get jackets! Not only is it raining, but there is a crisp chill in the air. So, here we are on the first day of fall and it really feels like fall!

yay fall!

The oncologist didn’t have any good news. The initial and follow-up reports revealed exactly what I expected and feared. Mammary cancer in cats is among the worst. The odds are high that Sosta’s has already spread.

They estimate she has one to four months left without treatment. Even with treatment (weekly vet visits for shots of chemotherapy and blood work), they can only estimate 6-10 months.

You know what the vet thinks is best when you hear the words “quality of life”…

It’s not fair, of course. If any critter deserves a long and healthy life, it’s her. She’s the sweetest—and most intuitive—creature I’ve ever known. I certainly don’t deserve the years I’ve had with her. And, I’m very glad for the time I’ve been home during the day and can spend it with her.

• No one but Neil Patrick Harris could have done THAT! #emmys09 #
• RT @annamunoz The remembrance part of awards shows is always so sad….. #
• Well,105,000+ people in north Texas don’t seem to be affected by a weak economy since they canallafford seats at the largest NFL game ever. #
• @jenwojcik and @bwoj Happy Anniversary! #
• @LaniAR @bennrosales Where are you working today? I never want to go there. Eeeeewwwwwwww #
• LOL! RT @funnyoneliners Kayne, if you’re reading, can you please interrupt this meeting?
  (via @lefauxfrog) #
• @JenWojcik @maczter October is the most popular month for weddings in Texas. June is #2. #
• @JenWojcik Yes, for the weather. October is the nost temperate month in Texas. It’s also why Texas moved “Nat’l” Night Out from Aug to Oct. #
• RT @funnyoneliners I think your problem is low self-esteem. It is very common among losers. #
• Newsflash: Time Warner cable is THE SUK. Cable signal’s fine, but employees aren’t given consistent/helpful info, nor are they even polite! #
• Or cheese fries! RT @funnyoneliner Sometimes you just need a hug, preferably from someone who made an extra martini by mistake. v @InsoOutso #
• too effin’ much! #
• adding to THE SUK list: insurance & credit union. Just DO WHAT YOU SAID & CALL ME BACK when u don’t have what u need? I’m not effin’ psychic #
• @coffeyfiend Yeah, I know. Sometimes sarcasm is lost on Twitter. #
• @maczter I’d love to help your friends with their wedding plans/photography, if they are at that stage of planning. #
• @LaniAR Oh that’s just cruel! Do you want me to catch whatever they have on their hands? At least I already don’t visit Starbucks & Panera. #
• @lruettimann yay for good news! #

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We heard from the vet today. Sosta’s masses were in fact, mammary cancer. They think they got all the visible cells, but the odds of her having microscopic cells that have already travelled to her chest and lungs is pretty high. Dr. Bryant is going to talk with the oncologist more today or tomorrow to get a more detailed interpretation of the results, but, as expected, the news is not good.

The stats on cats with mammary cancer like her’s show survival rate of 12-21 months. We aren’t yet sure if this is with or without chemotherapy. Of course at this time, we also don’t know if Sosta would be a candidate for it or of she would have a better/longer quality of life that would offset the treatment and side effects.

If she can be reasonably treated, the next step will be a chest xray. I have no idea how that can show microscopic cells, but I’m not good at science. When I look at an x-ray, I’m lucky if I know what part of the body it is. And I can never see a baby in a sonogram.

So, hopefully, we got it early enough that she’s on the long end of the estimated survival time. Hopefully, too, those are the stats without chemo.

Hang in there, Little One.

• We ended up at the Little Red Wagon with no tv, but darn good burgers. #
• @ chuy’s round rock texas #
• @BethylEthyl they aren’t fireworks. They are canons on the pirates’ ships! Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrg! #
• RT @funnyoneliners If life is a waste of time and time is a waste of life, then let’s get wasted together and have the time of our lives. #
• @bethylethyl Yesterday was Talk Like a Prate Day. #
• Go’Canes!!! Whoosh whoosh! RT @univmiami Hurricanes ranked 9th in Associated Press poll. http://bit.ly/JHbIy #

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• #
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• #.????????0?R #
• @idodoodle Took me a while 2 develop embouchure strength 2 control tone & volume, & I’d been playing a wind instrument 4 a while. B patient. #
• @cpmatus That’s what I was afraid of. I just don’t get why it has sound if I have that sound turned OFF!. grrrr. #
• @cpmatus LOL! I need them to be a much more functional tool. I hate talking on the phone as it is. This just makes it So. Much. Worse! #
• @quacksbakery Hey, the chocolate stuff we had tonight was yummy! And those fall cookies are GORGEOUS! #
• YAY Washington! Nebraska, What the…? #
• RT @BadAstronomer Boy Scout came 2 door 2 sell stuff. They don’t like homosexuals & atheists, so I politely told him we don’t support BSA. #

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• Goooo ‘Canes!!! Leading GaTech 7-3!!!! #
• I’d buy 1 RT @crewt I like! RT @gpollowitz @crewt “fear the ibis” is pretty good, no? I want a shirt of that. Old sch ibis with a pipe #
• @crewt I’m getting your tweets really delayed, too. #
• @cewt no we are watching ESPN but Tweets seem delayed. #
• RT @crewt This is what I like to see RT @ESPN_ACC Agreed Miami has its swagger back. #
• NCAAFTBL FINAL Yellow Jackets (Georgia Tech) 17, Hurricanes (Miami) 33.(AP) #
• RT @fitchicnyc: Gather up your supplies because it’s HURRICANE season! Feeling some serious CANE pride today! Go Miami! #
• My new phone already has a dead battery after charging all night. I guess 6 hours of pretty heavy use is too much for it. Recharging now. #
• @idodoodle Not many sounds are worse than a kid/beginner on alto sax! I outta know, played it senior yr. Lisa plays jazz-standard tenor sax. #
• Cane #FF @repsychler @InsideTheU @seejanerunshow @ESPN_ACC @caneshooter @HeraldSports @InsideTheU @MiamiHurricanes @td2946 @univmiami #
• @stealingsand Thanks bunches for the #ff mention!! #

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We were due for new phones on the New-in-Two program from Verizon. We did a bunch of research and Emil wasted no time in getting them delivered on our exact contract anniversary.

We both chose the Samsung Rogue. We’ve never had the same phone before, so this should be interesting. It’s a little iPhone-ish with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It’s nice. I really, really, really like the device.

…but…

During my first two phone calls, I kept hearing this awful beeping during the call. From the sound, you’d there it was some kind of super-emergency broadcast warning. But when I look at the screen it’s blank (presumably because I’m on the phone.)

OMG how BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP utterly annoying!! Am BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP I not going BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP to be able to BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP be on a call be- BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-cause of the BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-ing going on?????

Apparently, that’s the sound of a text message coming in. What the BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP??? And why is it so BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-ing loud??? It’s really piercing.

If I’m on the phone, I’m probably not texting, so why does the sound have to be so intrusive? In the past with my (Samsung Alias), a very subtle “blip” would alert me to a new text message. but at least that sound was somewhat “ignorable”.

In the day-and-age of Twitter and all the tools it provides (timers, package tracking, alarms, weather alerts, missing kids, recipes, stories, humor, etc.), text messages and their alerts need to be treated as a normal/usual operation. Severe interruptions to a phone call in favor of the next Tweet are not acceptable.

And, while we’re at it, how can I turn off the pop-up that alerts me to a NEW text message? I can see the icon, #thankyouverymuch. I don’t need a whole other alert for this, either. It just interrupts whatever I’m doing and makes me far less efficient…and it’s annoying.

So, how the BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP do we BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-ing turn off the BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-ing sound? Oh, yeah, you can’t. It’s built into the operating system for the phone or something. And changing phones wouldn’t matter because they all do it, now. Apparently, that’s the new way it’s done.

Mantra: It’s not a “feature” if I can’t turn it off (just like the doors that automatically lock on Emil’s car, making it very easy to lock the key in the car with it running)!

And when, exactly, are they going to put high-traffic users like me in their beta test groups before the new “feature” goes live???

• @LaniAR You’re too kind! @brianboyko I’m enormously flattered to be grouped with Lani!!! #
• @IleenieWeenie not that I know of but I have CS4 & can save it down for you. #
• @IleenieWeenie im all over a Sushi tweetup! @amandastewart nom! #
• Wow! What a story! Go ‘Canes!!! Whoosh whoosh! RT @canechick Great UM story: http://bit.ly/bvr0Z #
• RT @IleenieWeenie Sushi tweetup! Who’s in? @amandastewart @andreaschulle @loriluza @SonnyJohns #
• RT @hurricanesports Kickoff vs. Georgia Tech, Tonight at 6:30pm CDT at Land Shark Stadium. #
• @spam inspiredlife09 #
• @aggiediva you must be following Matt on Twitter! It’s funny what some will insist upon for the portraits. Those poor photogs! #
• VERY cool! RT @paul_steele 10 Bizarre playgrounds from around the world http://bit.ly/UWBcu #
• Rating netflix movies (We’re new members!) and changing the background for @asyouwish #
• @brianboyko Sorry to hear they had to say no. They need to raise their rates, though. $30 per gig is far far far below minimum wage. #
• WANT! I needs this to get from the front door to the car! RT @paul_steele A staircase u could have fun dusting http://bit.ly/3oHhO #
• TONIGHT: University of Miami Hurricanes vs Georgia Tech @ Land Shark Stadium 7:30EDT/6:30Central. Watch ESPN. Go ‘Canes!!! Whoosh whoosh!!!! #
• Uh-oh, @bennrosales, Ima-fraid @LaniAR is gonna “need” another critter. RT @paul_steele Ok its awwwww of the day time http://bit.ly/IkQmZ #
• @jodisatwit hey, if hedging is what it takes to get you back on Twitter, then So. Be. IT. j.k. Where you been, Girlie? Miss YOU! #
• @omarg http://twitpic.com/i30gz – I saw these guys on Tuesday but I was driving and couldn’t get a pic. Though it was for 16 de Septiemb … #
• funny girl @jodisatwit has to “make time for twitter”. Whatev. but, yes, new phones help a GREAT deal. #
• Funny things you’ll find w/a few Google alerts. A ZTA chapter I advised just won first place in a dance “shakedown”. http://bit.ly/sZYFW #
• @Rotary_Austin I’m glad to hear your group is working on progress. There are so many needs for civic/charity organizations! #
• time.com’s content management sucks. I want to go back to the first image in a story, but have to click through them all. #

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• Sosta’s surgery went well and she’ll come home at 3pm today! #
• @brianboyko I’ve been found in company far worse than @LaniAR. no worries. Email sent! #

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