Choose Your Own Adventures That Never Quite Made It...

Read the rest (be sure to click on the page numbers at the bottom - there's several pages of Choose Your Own Adventure goodness....)

The Civil War in 4 Minutes

I took a whole course on the Civil War, and being a history buff, it's something I have some passing knowledge about (that is, more than most, but it's not my interest or my specialty). That said, it didn't occur to me how the north had won that battle, strategy-wise, until I saw this visual representation of the war from Lincoln's election until the south surrendered.

For years, they just sort of hammered away at each other's edges until they either got the idea or just finally managed to carve the south in two by working thier way down the Mississippi river. Sherman's march to the sea was all about creating another line, cutting up the south once again, blocking off supplies and reinforcements from one part of the south to another. Once they got that Mississippi line down the middle, the south was screwed.

Great battle strategy stuff.

Christmas in August

My insulin has, technically, expired this week, and as we all know, I don't want to pull what I did a month ago and use expired insulin for 2 months and watch my health deteriorate because I was living on credit cards and too fucking poor to live adequately.

But I wanted to wait just a little bit longer because...

My health insurance card arrived in the mail today.

FUCKING CHRISTMAS.

Here's what I *was* paying out of pocket vs. what I will now be paying out of pocket each month:

Lantus - THEN: 76.70 NOW: $30.00
Novolog - THEN: $83.27 now: $30.00

Testing strips - THEN: $60 NOW: $20

Syringes - THEN: $26.50 NOW: $10

Total per-month cost (this is just drugs that keep me alive, not the bazillion doctor's visits I have a year):

THEN: $160.34

NOW: $70.34

The best part?

THIS INSURANCE IS FREE AND PAID 100% BY THE COMPANY.

Fucking CHRISTMAS I'M TELLING YOU.

Now I need to see how much they'll pay for monitors and pumps... Muwahaha aha haa aaa.

Geeky Passions

In a discussion about the origins of the word "geek," a coworker pointed me to the Wikipedia entry for the word, where, among the uncited definitions, I found this:

A definition common among self-identified geeks is: "one who is primarily motivated by passion," indicating somebody whose reasoning and decision making is always first and foremost based on her passions rather than things like financial reward or social acceptance. Geeks do not see the typical "geeky" interests as interesting, but as objects of passionate devotion. The idea that the pursuit of personal passions should be the fundamental driving force to all decisions could be considered the most basic shared tenet among geeks of all varieties. Geeks consider such pursuits to be their own defining characteristic.

Geeks are people who pursue things passionately?

Definately not a Webster's definition, but I'm fascinated by the idea that there are self-identified geeks who use the word that way. I wonder if it's total hooey or the wiki writer was speaking from personal experience.

I am also interested in the default "she" in that particular definition.

Just Call Me Tina

The IT boys have decided they should just call me Tina...

Tina the Tech Writer: She's the technical writer in Dilbert's engineering department. Tina believes any conversation within hearing distance is intended as an insult to her profession and her gender. She strives to maintain her dignity while surrounded by engineers who don't have a proper respect for her work.

I love everyone.

Though I must say, there's definitely a Dilbert character for everyone...

Seriously, I'm Rocking the House, Here

I'm wondering if this sugar-goodness is just the vicoden? Maybe I should take a couple aspirin regularly, cause this stuff is great for my numbers (for those late to the show, a "normal" person's blood sugar is 80. When I was in a coma in the hospital last year I was something closer to 860).

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