Anyone want to see Blazing Saddles tomorrow night?

So I decided that I wanted to go see Blazing Saddles in its short-term theatrical re-release (because seeing comedies on a big screen in a theater full of other people also laughing their asses off is almost always better) and, figuring the tickets at $5 would sell out quickly, scooped up 4 of them on Fandango for Saturday night at 7:30 at the AMC Loews Boston Common (the only theater running this, BTW), figuring I wouldn't have any trouble finding people to go with me...

...except it's turning out to be a bit harder than I anticipated. *grumble*damnholidayweekend*grumble*  So, if you'd like to go, please let me know ASAP, OK?

(Note: They're also showing Willy Wonka as well at 5:00 p.m.; both movies are only playing on Saturday and Sunday at that one theater at those times in Boston, so consider yourselves warned and plan accordingly if you want to do the Wilder Double Feature.)

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Birthday Baconpalooza!
Apparently not everyone I know is on FB...that, or getting older is indeed turning my brain into mush, because someone asked me what I was planning to do for my birthday this year, as he recalled it was this week. Oops...

So...without further ado: Baconpalooza Birthday!

When: Wednesday, July 15, 7 p.m.
Where: Olde Magoun's Saloon in Magoun Square
http://magounssaloon.com/news/

(Every month they have a different theme for Wednesday nights, and this month it's bacon.)

Yes, there will be cake, either there if they let me bring it, or at my place afterward. Yes, there are also vegetarian items on the menu for those not up for bacon. Also, I plan to not only wear a tiara, but a sash I picked up at Dollar Tree that says "Birthday Princess", so if you've ever wanted to see a grown woman wearing a tiara and a kiddie birthday sash while chowing down on bacon in a bar, well, here's your chance. ;-) Let me know if you're interested in coming, OK?

Current Mood: scatterbrained, clearly

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Quick and dirty catch-up time
1. So my birthday is next Wednesday the 15th, and I'm trying to decide what to do for it (read: where to go for dinner). I have to admit that Baconpalooza at Olde Magoun's is rather tempting, and they do have some vegetarian options on the menu as well, but would people actually be willing to go there? Has anyone else actually been there and have an opinion on the joint in general? Any other suggestions?

2. I finally got my hearing aids on June 30, and am trying to get used to them, which definitely takes some doing; while it does make voices louder, it also makes everything else louder as well--shuffling papers, walking, pretty much doing anything. They say your brain eventually learns to filter all of the extra noise out, but we shall see. I also wish I were able to spend more time just chatting with people, so I could get a better sense of how the aids will work for things like conversation; while it does seem to help with hearing my extremely-soft-spoken-and-Jamaican-accented boss (the one thing that really drove me to MEEI), my office is usually very quiet, with not nearly enough opportunities to chat with people. Which kind of leads me to this next bit, which I'll probably regret posting:

3. I really need to get out and see people more, because frankly it's been rather lonely since the end of the semester--I realized I was getting a lot of my socialization in with my classmates, and that just hasn't really been an available option this summer. I would have gone over to watch cthulhia pack tonight, but the hot, humid weather today made me sufficiently sick to my stomach that I decided just going home to crash was a much better idea, and I didn't make it to either of the parties a couple of weeks back because I was helping with a move. Anyway, if anyone would like to get together, or has any ideas for things to do, feel free to let me know, OK?

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I really should post something, shouldn't I?
It's been too long since I posted here; it's not that things haven't happened, but that I didn't necessarily want to bore people with the details/didn't have the energy to deal with things between work/school/a nasty case of the flu (apparently the Influenza B is taking 6+ weeks to get over). Not to mention that awful things have been happening to far too many people of my acquaintance, and it really needs to stop NOW, damn it. (Fat chance of that, I know, especially since Mercury is going retrograde tonight until June 11...) Still, I should update people on a couple of things:

1) I somehow survived my first year of grad school at Simmons, and currently have a 3.835 GPA (2 As, 2A-s); 12 credits down, 24 and a bigass project to go! When I've finally screwed my head back on and gotten some energy back, I need to see about doing some kind of LIS-related work/volunteer stuff this summer while I have a little time--suggestions, anyone?

2) I'll be going to visit my family in upstate NH over the Memorial Day weekend; it's been too long since I've seen the folks, and they're certainly not getting any younger. (Yes, I worry about them, a lot; I'm glad my brother's there to keep an eye on them, although overall they're in good shape mentally and physically, but I still worry.) Their 60th anniversary will be June 5, and while I won't be up there to help them celebrate on the day, I intend to make up for it this coming weekend. ;-)

3) I'm trying to acquire a large bookcase for my kitchen (because there needs to be some apartment/bookcase Tetris chez moi in the very near future), and I've been offered one in Arlington; the catch, however, is that it's in a second-floor apartment in Arlington, and to get it I need to find a couple of people with strong backs and a car that'll hold your standard Target-type cheap bookcase, since right now I have neither. (I'm currently getting PT for my wonky back, which apparently is due to both osteoarthritis in my lower spine, and an extremely tight right hip; also, the right knee is still not where I'd like it to be re: doing stairs, although I can manage if I'm careful, and walking isn't a problem.) The person who has it needs it out ASAP--any volunteers, or should I tell him I can't make it work? (I'm also looking for a through-the-wall AC unit at a reasonable price/suggestions on who could install such a thing, as well as trying to find new homes for two very old Macs of mine, FWIW.)

Oh, and Universe? Could you please stop crapping on people for a while? *sigh*

Current Mood: tired

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Help me get my new computer set up, please!
(Note: one of my courses this semester is all about tech, so hopefully by May I'll be much better at doing all this stuff myself; unfortunately, right now I still need help...)

Is there anyone on my FL who would be willing to come over and help me get my new computer set up in the next few days? I'll probably have class Thursday evening (barring a repeat of Snowpocalypse), but otherwise I should be around. All the usual bribes (e.g., something freshly baked, perhaps even a whole meal) apply, of course.

(The situation: I finally have a new-for-me computer, a Macbook Pro from 2011, and I need to get it all set up properly so that I can get online, etc.--I'm on Comcast, and, based on my previous experience, you need to call them up whenever you connect a new machine/disconnect an old one for said machine to actually be able to connect--plus, while I've managed to copy a goodly number of files onto the new machine via flash drive, I still need to try and copy a few programs onto the new machine from my old eMac, as I have materials and bookmarks that I can't afford to lose. Oh, and helping me figure out why the hell my printer suddenly decided not to work after I disconnected it so I could move the computer desk around and clean out all the dust/cat hair/etc. would be great, too; I'll need a new printer soon, but I'd prefer to not have to get one right now, having just paid for the new computer. It's not just me being able to surf the web and job hunt; I need the new setup for schoolwork as well.)

Please let me know if you can help me out, and thanks in advance!

Current Mood: hopeful

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If it isn't one thing, it's another...
The good news: my knee is slowly coming along and healing; I'm getting PT for it now, which also seems to be helping, and while I suspect I may still be using a cane at Arisia (as much as anything to remind people I'm not back to 100% yet), it's a hell of an improvement from a month ago. (Don't ever fall down the stairs on a older Green Line train and sprain your knee, kids--I really don't recommend it!)

On the downside, my cat Romeo developed a couple of balding spots on his back very recently, so he went into the see the vet yesterday to get checked out. The only thing I could think of that had changed recently was that I was trying to switch over to a corn-based litter from a wheat-based one (corn seems to clump & smell better), so as soon as I came home from babysitting on NYE, I dumped what was in the box, scrubbed it out well, refilled it w/wheat litter, and let him have at it; it can't hurt, and it might help, and at least he doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

When we went in yesterday, the vet checked him all out, prescribed a liquid antibiotic as his bald patches are irritated, and suggested that I look into getting his teeth cleaned at some point in the next few months; I agreed to go ahead and do the preliminary blood work for that now, to get it over with and spread out the financial damage (which will be considerable, and which I'm trying to figure out how to pay for it--where's a sugar daddy when I need one?). Well, the vet called me first thing this morning--Romeo's blood work came back, and it looks as if he may have problem kidneys. :( Apparently his BUN and creatine levels are elevated, which is a sign of some degree of kidney failure; she wants to check him again in 3 weeks or so to see if he had a UTI (if he does, the antibiotics I'm attempting to get into him should help), as that could affect the levels, and I need to start him on a special prescription diet, so I'll be picking up a bag on Monday to see if he'll eat it. Kidney failure is one of those things that you can't reverse and can't really stop (although some cats, and some people, do go into unexplainable remissions), but you can slow it down, which I guess is what we'll do. He's rather young for this kind of thing (not quite 7, according to everyone's best guess), but it's not unknown. I asked if his FIV had anything to do with it, and she said it's possible, but it could just happen on its own; we also don't know what he went through while he was living rough on his own, so that may play a role. I'm trying to figure out how I'll pay for the next round of bloodwork, etc. (almost $300) and get his teeth cleaned at some point ($350-500), although I'm going to put the teeth on the back burner for right now. Part of me wishes I hadn't gone ahead to get his pre-teeth cleaning bloodwork done early, but I suppose the sooner you know about something, the sooner you can do whatever can be done, so maybe this is a good thing.

Looks like the "free" cat ("free" as in I didn't have to pay a shelter to get him) is about to get rather expensive, and me not working for a month...*sigh* At least I had my babysitting money; although most of it went right to Porter Sq. Vet, at least I had it to spend. Oh, well, I'll figure something out somehow; he's a little stinker sometimes, but he's my boy, and I love him dearly. I was really hoping to start the New Year out on a slightly better note, but perhaps this isn't as bad as we think...Also, does anyone who's been through this have any suggestions? (Yes, he may need sub-Q fluids eventually, but the vet doesn't think that will be the case for quite some time, fingers crossed.)

Current Mood: worried

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Did I mention I hate the Green Line?...
Since my last temp job ended last Wednesday, and next week is the earliest I'll be working again, I figured I could spend most of this week at Simmons, in the library/tech lab, working on one last assignment and a end-of-semester project w/3 other people. Went down today, met w/a couple of people I don't usually get to see, was having a pretty good day, and decided to stop by the Computer Loft in Allston to talk to them about maybe getting a Mac in the near future, so I had to backtrack from the E line & was going to cross over to the B line at Arlington, since IIRC I wouldn't have to go outdoors to go from the inbound to outbound trains. As I was trying to get off the train and down the steps, dragging my wheeled backpack, I managed to slip, or miss a step, or SOMETHING, and took one hell of a tumble down to the platform.
( And that's when my day went to hell in a handbasket, or something similar.Collapse ) I couldn't stand on my right leg because my knee was messed up, so, long story short, several nice passerby looked after me until the T people got there; they called an ambulance, and off I went to the MGH ER, where I spent nearly 4 hours.

The x-rays say it's not broken or dislocated; apparently it's just one hell of a nasty sprain, so they gave me a leg brace (that doesn't bend, and doesn't really "hold" things in place as well as I'd like) and a pair of crutches, and I'm home now, but not without falling down the stairs while trying to get into my damn apartment. (Hopefully I didn't mess up the leg even worse...) It's worse than any ankle sprain I've ever had, in that it messed w/your whole center of gravity, plus the instability (not to mention the pain when I have to try to put weight on it). Going to Simmons is flat out tomorrow, and I'm not sure when or if I can manage this week; I'm not even sure how I'm going to handle things like taking showers, feeding myself and Romeo (who seems rather spooked by the crutches), getting my laundry done later this week, or, well, ANYTHING until this seems to stabilize enough. :-( Heidi is on her way over w/big ace bandages (which I suspect will do a better job of holding things in place, whether I'm wearing the brace during the day or not) and some food, bless her fuzzy little heart; I'm just all tired and stressed and overemotional right now--I guess it's all finally getting to me. Plus, you never realize just how much you use your knee, or your leg, until you can't. (Some of you know about this all too well, I realize.)

And I was having a pretty good day, too...

Current Mood: distressed

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bedfull_o_books, please pick up the white courtesy phone...
Apparently tasty brown cheese burns really, really well, who knew?

In other news, the latest temp job ended Friday (apparently they found somebody they wanted to hire that they didn't have to pay for), and I'm still waiting to hear back on a job I interviewed for a week ago; the woman I met with (department head) said she'd let me know last Friday, but nothing so far. From what I've been able to muddle out through other faculty members, it's entirely likely that she's up to her eyeballs in something else right now, and based on her previous behavior, I don't think she's the type to not give a rat's ass; I just wish I knew what was going on, though. In the meantime, I'm applying for other jobs, including one in a different department, and am inclined to ask her if she'd be willing to put in a good word for me for that job if she's not going to hire me herself. Combine this w/running around like crazy with classes, spending way too much time in the computer lab, and wondering if I'm going to survive the semester/have made a horrible mistake going back to school, and you've got a totally neurotic, wound-up Robin over here. *sigh* Fingers crossed that things calm down a bit/I get some good news...

Current Mood: exhausted

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Saturday night plans, anyone?
So I'm feeling the need to be somewhat social this weekend...anyone feel like getting together this evening? I don't know that I'm so much out for going out per se as I am just hanging out w/people in a friendly, low-key kind of way; I can go somewhere else, or you can come over here and maybe I'll bake something. Let me know if you're interested, OK?

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Want to see NIN & Soundgarden next week?
(Reposted from FB, because I'm trying to hit as many people as possible)

I have an extra ticket available for the NIN/Soundgarden show at the Xfinity/Comcast Center/Great Woods for next Tuesday, July 29, that I'd like to sell at cost ($80). It's undercover in case of rain (Section 8), and you'd need to come in with me to get it, since I'm the only one who can get the tickets released. (Also, a car with which to get there would be a really good idea, as the other person I know is going (cthulhia) doesn't have room for 2 more people.) Please let me know ASAP if you're interested, so we can make all the appropriate arrangements, and thanks!

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2 announcements:

1. For those who didn't see it on FB or Davis Sq. LJ, Romeo came home last night (finally!), after a month away roaming my neighborhood and mooching food off all and sundry! He's now sacked out on my bed, wearing his brand-new collar w/tag, while I nurse a whole slews of scratches and puncture wounds I've gotten from his overly enthusiastic kneading, due to his claws growing in his absence; seeing as he has 7 toes on each front paw, that's 14 razor-sharp Talons O'Death in action whenever he starts making biscuits on me. (Anyone out there willing to stop by my house and trim his claws? I can't do it, because he HATES having his paws touched and will bite and scratch...)

2. I have a birthday coming up on Tuesday, and would like to get together with people at Punjabi Grill in Davis Square at 7 p.m.; I've put up the event on FB and invited people, but so far only 2 people that I know of are planning to come. If you're interested/thinking of coming, please let me know ASAP, OK? For those who can't make dinner for whatever reason, there will be cake afterward at my place around 9 p.m., address available on request.

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A favor, please?
Would anyone be up for driving me to Home Depot and back to get a 40 lb. bag of wood pellets? The usual bribes (read: baked goods) apply; drop me a line at robin at mindspring dot com or give me a call if you have my number, OK? Thanks!

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FREE: Small foil/cardboard food containers
Thanks to FreeCycle/gb-reuse (not sure which one now), I have 2 fairly big boxes of small food containers, and in the interests of trying to slowly de-cruft, I'm looking for someone to take them. One box has (I'm guessing) equal amounts of small round foil containers (pot pie size, but straight-sided, not slanted like a pie pan), and mini-/individual size loaf pans; the other box has a whole slew of lightweight cardboard "boats", about the size that would hold a small order of fries. (For some odd reason, there's also a whole bunch of gold- and silver-colored elastics tied in bows, which would work if someone wanted to Saran-wrap the containers; otherwise, there are no lids or tops to any of the containers.) They'd probably be great for putting out small amounts of food at, say, Arisia or some similar event, or for baking lots of mini-cakes and loaves; I just don't need them myself, and would really like to get them out of my kitchen ASAP. (I got them back when I was still considering doing catering, but realized that, without lids of some kind, they wouldn't work so well for me. Perhaps they'll work for you?...)

Anyway, if you'd like these, please let me know, OK? I figured I'd start here to see if any of my friends would be interested before going to FreeCycle/gb-reuse, although that will be the next step if they're not claimed here.

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And now for something completely different...
I just saw this article on the BBC this morning, and decided I had to pass it along:
A man in India invents a machine for women to make low-cost sanitary napkins

The whole process wasn't exactly skittles and beer for him; his wife (who inspired the whole project when he learned she had to use rags) left him, as did the rest of his family, and the people in his village were convinced he was some kind of pervert and very nearly exorcised him, but things finally worked out in the end, and he's since reconciled with his wife and family. He could make a lot of money with this if he wanted to, but he feels it's more important to help provide jobs and improve hygiene for poor women, and is now looking at taking this worldwide.

You just don't realize until you read something like this just how significant having clean, easily obtained, and easily disposed-of products to deal with menstruation can be for women--in many cases, I'd say that's done as much to improve women's lives as access to birth control and education, and directly impacts the latter. When you can go to school and not have to worry about bleeding all over the place, but can concentrate on your schoolwork, or can go and fetch water from the well without the rest of the villagers knowing that you're having your period, it makes such a difference in your life and those of your family...

Current Mood: impressed

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When I got up this morning, Jezebel had taken a serious turn for the worse (she'd collapsed in the litterbox and was cold to the touch), so I rushed her in to the vet's office, where they found out that (a) her temperature was so low they couldn't record it; (b) they couldn't raise a vein to put in an IV; and, most significantly, (c) she had a large mass in her abdomen (probably malignant) that wasn't there in November during her last checkup. I wanted to bring her home for one more day so people could stop in and say goodbye if they wanted, but she was sinking fast and in terrible shape, so redcolumbine came down for moral support, and we let her go. :-(

RIP Jezebel--may you be having a wonderful time chasing mice, chittering at birds, lying in the sun, eating whatever you want, tormenting Delenn again, being the world-class diva that you are, and generally having a really good time over at the Rainbow Bridge...


Current Mood: sad

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Purrs for Jezebel, please?
Good thoughts for my kittycat Jezebel, please--we have a 9:45 a.m. appointment that I made this evening in an absolute panic, thinking she was heading downhill fast with no brakes. redcolumbine came by to lend both moral support and a second opinion, and she thinks poor Jess has a nasty upper respiratory infection, is all stuffed up, and isn't eating much because she can't smell her food, w/the too-little food being responsible for her overall weakness. (She certainly seemed to have some fight left in her when we were trying to rub honey on her gums for the energy boost, plus she's still very much alert and interested in what's going on; it's just that she has no energy to speak of.) Yes, she's 17, which is elderly in kitty terms, but I'd like to keep the little booger around for as long as I can and she's happy, OK?

Current Mood: worried

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It's grey hair payback time...
Good news: my mom is doing much, much better ever since she got her pacemaker, and while she's still healing from the surgery and learning what she can and can't do now that she's RoboMom (as my brother calls her), so far things are looking good, so thanks for any and all prayers/good wishes/good vibes!

Not-so-good news: Still out of work, still looking for a new job (permanent would be nice, but I'll take a decent temp job right now, although none of my agencies seem to have anything right now); and still waiting on MA unemployment to finish straightening out whatever glitch is holding up 4 weeks' worth of checks, because this not having any money thing really sucks. Had an interview on Tuesday that I thought went quite well, only to get a thanks-but-no-thanks letter on Wednesday..what, did they put it in the mail as soon as I was out the door? I wonder if this was one of those times where a job was posted because they felt they had to post it, but they already knew who they wanted and were just going through the motions. *sigh*

WTF news: Called my parents this evening; you know it's going to be an interesting call when you ask how things are going, and your mom starts by chuckling and then calls out to your dad "Archie! Come tell your daughter what you did to yourself today!" It seem that, in the midst of climbing on roofs to shovel them off (yes, I know he's been doing this longer than I've been alive, but FFS, he's 82 years old), and, after getting a whole lot of that taken care of around the house, decided that fixing his snowblower to get rid of the snow that he's gotten off the roofs seemed like a good idea, which it was...except for the fact that he was doing it in his greenhouse, with the door closed, and decided to turn on the snowblower for a while to make sure it was working properly. I'm sure you can all see where this is going; when he got up to step outside, his legs nearly went out from under him; fortunately, he got out of the greenhouse and back to the main house, where my mom and brother dragged a chair outside so he could get plenty of fresh air and insisted that he get most of his fume-laded outer layers of jackets, etc. off so he wouldn't keep breathing in more diesel fuel fumes. Yes, folks, my dad damn near gassed himself fixing the goddamn snowblower in the fucking greenhouse. Of course, he wouldn't let them drag his ass to the hospital, although he did speak to his doctor's office (well, the nurse at the office, as the doc was out), and fortunately he seems to be none the worse for the experience...oh, yeah, and the insurance adjuster is coming by to look at the truck, because both of my parents nearly got themselves into an accident w/a logging truck just down the road from the house at the intersection of Rtes. 302 and 10; as it was, there are some good scrapes along the side of the truck, but otherwise everyone is fine (except possibly the logging truck driver's pants, from what my mom said about the expression on his face when he realized he was almost on top of them...).

I have now accused my parents of trying to get back at me for giving them so much gray hair while I was growing up by trying to give me gray hair by scaring the shit out of me on a regular basis...fortunately for all of us, so far God is continuing to look after fools and little children. (You may laugh, but supposedly they've both got new hair coming in dark again, while I'm at least 65% gray by now...) I keep remembering that image on FB of the angel statue w/its head in its hands with the caption about it being the poster's guardian angel, though, because I'm pretty damn sure that's about what Dad's guardian angel is looking like these days. *sigh*

(On a perhaps brighter note: is anyone going to Hot Foods on Saturday afternoon/early Saturday evening who'd be willing to give me a ride there and back? I could stand to get out and be social, but I don't think I can really handle more than a couple of hours without getting peopled out/claustrophobic, and I'm thinking my fuse might be a bit longer when the house is a tad less crowded.)

*fall down go boom*

Current Mood: aggravated

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Update on Mom :-)
Although her pacemaker surgery was originally scheduled for 9 a.m., they didn't actually get her into surgery until nearly 3 p.m. (due to needing equipment/a part/something that didn't get there until the afternoon), but she came through just fine, and the doctor was very pleased with how it all went. She's resting in the ICU right now (which, I gather, is SOP for someone who's just had any kind of heart surgery, plus it means you get your own room!), eating, drinking, and watching TV (well, OK, she's probably sleeping now). My dad's been up there several times today to see her, twice post-surgery, and says that she may even get to come home tomorrow. She still won't be allowed to climb stairs in their house for a while, so she's stuck sleeping in the living room for a while longer, and Dad may sleep down there the first couple of nights Just Because, but he should be able to start sleeping in his own bed again upstairs, which should help him feel a lot better in a hurry. (He was maybe averaging 3-4 hours' sleep a night due to waking up every time she needed to get up and use the bathroom--because he was worried she might black out on the way to the can--or sometimes Just Because; I've been very worried that he was going to totally run himself into the ground through sheer exhaustion and nerves.)

Thanks for all the good wishes/thoughts/prayers/etc., everyone--she may get cranky when she finds out I talked about her online (I also posted about this on FB; if I only had a buck for every time I've heard "You're not writing about stuff on that Facebook thing, are you?", my money problems would be significantly better), but IMNSHO, there's absolutely nothing wrong with having a whole slew of people wishing one well, now is there? :-)

Current Mood: relieved

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Good thoughts for my mom, please?
I just realized I hadn't really posted about this here, but she's had several fainting spells over the past 2-3 months that have landed her in the hospital, and to make a long story considerably shorter, her most recent episode was Friday morning (they're always in the morning, for some unknown reason...); fortunately, she was wearing a shiny new Holter monitor that recorded what was going on with her heart (it stopped for a few seconds) and sent the info off to her doctors. Originally, she was going to have an angiogram in the near future, but the monitor gave them all the info they needed, and the upshot is that she's having a pacemaker put in tomorrow morning. I've spoken to her once and my dad a couple of times; she's doing pretty well right now (the food is decent and they've got nearly 100 cable channels at the hospital, which sure beats what MGH had the last time I was there), and is looking forward to getting it over and taken care of. He's trying to sound calm, but, while we all know it's usually routine surgery, he's still kind of nervous...and, well, so am I.

Any good thoughts/prayers/etc. that you feel like passing along will be very much appreciated, OK?...

Current Mood: nervous

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UPDATED: May I borrow a cup of computer, please?
I knew my computer was getting on in years (it's an eMac), but there's nothing quite like finding out that you can't do your taxes via H&R Block on your current machine, because your Mac OS/version of Safari/version of Firefox are all Too Damn Old. *sigh* (No, we can't update any of it; it was updated as much as humanly possible a couple of years ago when I got it from my Mac guru. Yes, I know I need a new computer, but no, there's no money for one, especially not right now.) Complicating matters is the fact that I need to finish up my FAFSA (financial aid application) by Saturday, and it needs some of the info that I would get from doing my taxes...which I can't do on this computer.

So...is there anyone reasonably close by who would be willing to let me come over for a couple of hours or so and do my taxes within the next few days? I can't do it at work, because the latest temp job ended last Tuesday (the woman I was filling in for came back very unexpectedly, and while they like me better, they kind of have to take her back...), and I'm a bit ambivalent about going to the public library, although I will if there aren't any other options.

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: Turns out that I was mistaken, and I can do my taxes using Firefox; I made the mistake of thinking that if I couldn't use Safari, then Firefox was off the table as well, since the former is often my backup browser when the latter won't cooperate. Unfortunately, it looks as if I owe the IRS $551--anyone have any experience doing the installment payment plan? (And whose bright idea was it to tax unemployment benefits, for crying out loud? Way to kick people when they're down...)

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