Morning!
We had a good night!
Now I’m waiting for Nat to wake up, and for a guy to get here to fix a rusted pipe. My life is full of excitement. 
Oh, I’m also re-reading The Time Traveler’s Wife, and while I like it, I kind of want to kick the main characters a bit.
Wish I could say the same, li-li. For some reason I just could not drop into a really good sleep. Must talk to the doc about this as well as what appears to now be a chronic stiff neck. Here’s my new abbreaviation for old: FTFA
Falling the F**k Apart
Taxes all done long ago at the Anachi ranch. There will be a refund which will be used to pay various and sundry bills.
captain, good vibes going out to your dad.
Tupug
I less-than-three (<3) OWL. You don’t need a printed citation guide if you have that link.
The way I handled a quote-within-quote was just to quote the within quote and mention it in the parenthetical cite: “Blah blah blah” (Fred Smith qtd. in Frank Jones 232). That’s how MLA handles it; APA and Chicago et cetera I don’t know.
Mama Tigs don’t worry. Complicated Roommate and I are about to make a mad dash to the accountant in about ten-twenty minutes for tax purposes. Thank the internet for electronic filing!
Hugs to everyone!
I still don’t know what blurfy is but I think I’m it.
Heck, according to that definition, any induced abortion is therapeutic. “Induced by someone with medical training” doesn’t mean the same as “therapeutic” in my book, but then, English isn’t even my language.
Agreed that the quoted definition is written broadly for the lay person. Under the heading “purpose” below the definition it is described less broadly. The e-med definition (second link) is more precise, including both the more narrow definition and the more broad interpretation that is also often used:
“Therapeutic abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy before fetal viability in order to preserve maternal health. In its broadest definition, therapeutic abortion can be performed to (1) save the life of the mother, (2) preserve the health of the mother, (3) terminate a pregnancy that would result in the birth of a child with defects incompatible with life or associated with significant morbidity, (4) terminate a nonviable pregnancy, or (5) selectively reduce a multifetal pregnancy.”
I was a candidate for a therapeutic abortion due to potential problems with my second pregnancy. Happily, genetic testing ruled out all but the most improbable problems and she was born healthy. “Therapeutic abortion” was the term used when we discussed that option.
Most horrible 4 weeks (waiting for amnio results) of my life.
Happy Hump Day - two more days until FIRDAY! Woo and hoo. 
I watched some of GWTW last night on TCM - and doesn’t that just fit in quite nicely with this week’s MMP theme? As dated as it is (and as racist as it is in parts), it’s still one of my all time favorite movies. And I’ve gotten to see Ben Hur twice in the past month. Another all time favorite movie. Now I gotta catch The Way we Were for the favorite movie trifecta. 
I so love TCM, although they do have a tendancy to repeat movies too frequently. I’ve been catching quite a few Jack Lemmon movies - my was he a good actor, btw. And The Misfits, which turned out to be the last movie for both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, is really quite good. Lemmon movie recommends: Some Like it Hot and The Apartment.
Enjoy your Wednesday all.
ETA: I meant that my use of GWTW and TCM was what fit with this week’s MMP theme. LOL I’m losing it. Not the movies.
From what I remember, the term we used in my Bioethics classes was “therapeutic abortion”, indicating that the abortion was done for medical reasons (health of the mother and/or fetus). There are several countries that allow this specific form of abortion, even if they do not allow abortions for non-medical reasons.
I’ve seen the term “eugenic abortion” throw around before, too, but usually in connection to cases the diagnosis doesn’t involve a life-threatening condition - things like Down’s syndrome and spina bifida, for example, where the decision to terminate is usually made because the parents may not be able to cope with a disabled child for financial, emotional or physical reasons. I dislike it, though, because I think it’s a very loaded term and I don’t think it’s right to distinguish between fatal vs. non-fatal diagnosis.
It’s been about 10 years since I graduated, mind you, but medical vocabulary tends to be pretty static. I vote for “therapeutic”.
/lecture
In other news, the document I spent the better part of a week reviewing has been rejected and sent back to the vendor for a re-write. Joy, bliss… I get to do it all over again.
Moonie, that’s AWFUL fanfic. I giggled. I think someone ought to buy the guy a thesaurus so he can find new ways to say “fast”, besides “really fast” and “very fast” and “really really fast”.
LiLi, please thank Mr Lissar for the loan of Knife of Dreams. I’m currently reading it and trying not to throw it out a window in frustration… actually, if it was my own copy, I probably would have done so already. Why do I punish myself so? (on the bright side, a cute guy chatted me up in the bus yesterday because he’d just finished reading it… I know I’m hitched and all, but I still like it when cute boys find an excuse to chat me up)
{{Carrot and CarrotDad}}
Evenin’ all. Packing the bags and preparing the child for our absence.
One abbreviation I forgot, that I used to used when reviewing other lawyers’ stupid comments or pointless proposed changes to my documents - FRO:
F*ck Right Off!
MamaTigs, you just reminded me of one more reason I love living here - no tax!
I gotta brag about something from Monday. I took a big ol’ load to the dump, and while I was there, spotted a familiar looking case that was set aside. After I filled the appropriate bins with crap of many flavors, I asked the attendant what the deal was with the case.
“It’s an old Singer sewing machine.” I knew that, because VWife has one in a nearly identical case already.
“Is it spoken for?”
“No. But I hated to see it go into the dumpster, and I set it aside.”
“I’ll take it then, if you don’t mind.”
“Go right ahead. I doubt if it’s worth very much.”
I got it home, and told VWife that I brought her another orphan. She gave me a puzzled look with sprinkles of suspicion, and I handed her the case. Her eyes went to the size of a pair of paper plates, then she opened the case up and saw the contents. She orgasmed on the spot.
It apparently is almost completely intact, with the accessory doodads in the original Singer boxes. Something related to the bobbin may be missing, but she hasn’t gone through everything yet. Despite that, a verbal description to her parents, the antique dealers, placed the value at roughly $700 Ammurkin, even if it doesn’t work. A check on the serial numbers showed that it was made somewhere between 1948 and 1950.
She said I did good, and she’ll keep me around a little bit longer.
Howdy, all. Another grey, gloomy, rainy day here. I should be working, but as I feared, I got not nearly enough sleep last night, so my morning meds are kinda kicking me in the ass. As in making me want to just go back to sleep. I strongly suspect a nap is in my near future.
Spaz, not just thank the internet for online filing – all federal online filing is now free, mandated by the gummint, so I only had to pay for state filing. Works for me.
Just shut up about the no income tax thing, Dotty. Pbbtht! Although I spent many years living in the great state of Texas, which is one of several that has no state income tax, which is pretty nice. Of course, they hit you elsewhere, mostly through sales taxes. It’s always something. Not everybody can live [del]high on the hog[/del]comfortably on oil income, you know!
Anyway, have a great time in Cairo. And please spare us the details unless they involve sightseeing.
Excellent find, Bobbio! Ya done good!
Okay, I should try to get some work done. Since I have a mountain of it, that is rapidly turning from a small mountain into a very big mountain indeed. 
Did you watch the sequels?
I missed class this morning. I mentioned classes were cancelled yesterday due to a power cut; well, turns out that losing power caused my alarm clock’s alarm times to reset. They didn’t go off this morning and I overslept. sigh
Today is Study-Day. Fortunately I actually feel semi-awake right now!
Ugh student evals. I just back one set from last semester. I teach a class of 10-12, so one disgruntled student will have a huge effect on my numbers. Apparently I didn’t like her b/c she wasn’t as smart as the other students. No…snowflake, I was frustrated with you because every week you came totally unprepared for class and lab and made huge mistakes. The students weren’t smarter than you, just prepared!
You’re thanking him for loaning you that dreck? I could punch him for you, instead.
On a less cheerful note, my Dad probably has the early stages of Parkinson’s. We’d been talking about his symptoms for a few weeks, but the doctor confirmed it and wants him to go to a specialist. I’m just starting to process that my Dad will be in a wheelchair in a couple years, and not able to rake leaves as soon as they fall on the ground. He’s always been the most active guy.
My dad had Parkinson’s, Lissla, and was almost never in a wheelchair; everyone made sure he kept up his mobility. It’s possible. And my sister has it now, and is actually quite stable. They’ve got just amazing medications now that work wonders, as well as all kinds of movement therapies that help people do much better than expected for far, far longer than could have been predicted. And there are a number of surgeries that can reduce or almost eliminate all the tremors; my dad had one, and it was just amazing how much better his motor control was afterwards. And he’d had Parkinson’s for upwards of 12-14 years by that point.
My sister has had it for about five years now, and like I said is quite stable. In fact, she’s seeing a movement specialist and because of the therapy she has her doing, she’s on NO Parkinson’s medication right now – and has almost no visible tremors. Her fine motor control is still iffy, and she can’t work because she needs a LOT of extra sleep, but she’s driving just fine and functioning remarkably well.
So don’t assume your dad will go downhill quickly. It varies with every person, but almost nobody is as bad off as we all think they will be when they’re first diagnosed. More and more innovative techniques are being developed every day – everything from medication to physical therapy to surgery to electrical stimulation implants to boxing training (!! but apparently it really works) to therapy dogs that are trained to touch the person’s foot with their paw when it gets “stuck” and won’t move. And they’re doing a lot of basic research; I’m really hopeful now that they can come up with an actual CURE for it soon enough to help my sister.
So encourage your dad to rake leaves, as long as there’s someone nearby if he does start having balance issues (a common problem)! Encourage him to walk as much as he can as often as he can! Encourage him to stay active, both physically and in the community; the people who do the worst are the ones who give up and hide away at home and just wait to die, don’t fight back against the disease. Don’t let him give up! You’ll be amazed at how well he can do.
{{{Lissla}}}
I’m so sorry. That’s sounds like a hard future to imagine.
MamaTigs: What a positive story! I didn’t know therapies have progressed so far!
So sorry about your dad, LiLi. They’ve made a tremendous amount of progress with Parkinson’s in the past few years, though, which means that he may not be destined for a wheelchair in the immediate future.
As far as specialists go… you wants I should ask the MIL for some recommendations? She’s been in nursing practically her whole life, so she’s a veritable genius when it comes to working the medical system and cutting through red tape.
Oh, and you may punch Mr Lissar if you like, but I suspect it wouldn’t make much of a dent. Plus he might enjoy it. Also, I’m mostly thankful for the cute flirty boy… which more or less makes up for the overall dreck I’ve had to wade through so far.
Vundy, you done REAL good. I’m now seething with jealousy… I have an old Singer, but it’s most definitely broken and not particularly valuable as it’s one of the low-end models from the early 60s. I keep it for sentimental reasons, since it was originally my grandmother’s.
Speaking of taxes… I filed mine on the weekend, but just realised I goofed on one deduction. Phooey. Must call Revenue Canada to fix that.
Thanks, everyone. Part of my distress is that he’ll be 78 in August, and has gotten really frail in the last couple of years. I’m hopeful about the therapies, but realistically I don’t forsee him living much past eighty-five, if that.
And sure, Muppet, advice would be great. We’ve also got Quasi-Daughter as a free extra source of advice- she’s seen a bunch of patients with Parkinson’s. And Mum did a seminar on caring for people with it a few years back, as part of her involvement with the Sisters of St. John the Divine.
We’re just starting to think about things like them needing to move- their house has steep stairs, and the hell on earth that will be clearing out my Dad’s three workrooms. (Paging Attacks Husband the silversmith, Dishwashing Husband the carpenter, and Lazy Husband the machinist for assistance in sorting 234248935856lbs of mechanical junk!)
If they can give him anything to relieve the related depression and exhaustion he’ll get moving more. It’s just… two years ago snowflakes weren’t allowed to settle before they were shoveled. Last year he dug out ‘elderly people’s’ driveways for them. This year he can’t muster the energy to wash dishes.
They uncovered the pool at our townhouse complex! It must be spring! (I’m ignoring the fact that the pool is filled with a giant chuck of very dirty, icky ice.) Two ducks were already scoping it out from the top of the adjacent office building.
I was stuck at work until 8:30 last night, but that didn’t seem so bad when I got in this morning and found out that my manager had been here until midnight! :eek: And she was leaving for vacation this morning so still had to go home and pack after that. Blurgh on her behalf. I feel bad but at the same time I am so glad that wasn’t me!
{{LiLi}} My grandmother (step grandmother, really) had Parkinson’s, but she wasn’t active before its onset, and I don’t think she was good about doing the therapy so she did go downhill quickly. Make sure your dad does whatever therapy’s recommended!
Sorry you had one so-so evaluation, soapy. Does the school at all distinguish between good students’ evals and not-so-good students’ evals?
Bleh. Work’s getting busy again. Which is good 'cause otherwise it gets boring, but bad 'cause I can’t hang out on the Dope!
I took the day off because my accountant lives in BFE and I was planning on getting my car worked on today. Unfortunately the good guy is booked up until tomorrow, but by the time I found this out it was one hour before I usually knock off for tea, so I didn’t see any point in going in. I’ll work a long day on Firday to make up for it.
I just walked the dog and I’s tahred. It’s been a while since we’ve gone walkies. I think I’ll make some stir-fry to ease my aching head.
{LiLi}