I drove 3/4 of the way to the office this morning and realized I didn’t have my badge. No big problem, I just go to the front desk and get a temporary badge. But then I realized that the reason I didn’t have my badge was that it was with my laptop. At home.
Because I do a reverse commute that meant I had to reverse direction and take a full hour to drive back to the house, where I took my first two calls of the day before getting back in the car (with badge and laptop) and getting to work by 11:00.
The VA just redid their medical benefits website and now when you log in, you have to get a text message with a code number and then retype it back into the log in screen *after *you’ve entered your user id and password.
I had to put a new battery in my glucose meter today. Normally a fairly easy job, except WHY IN THE BLUE HELL DO THEY SEAL THE BATTERIES IN PLASTIC SO TIGHTLY IT TAKES YOU FIVE MINUTES AND A PAIR OF SCISSORS TO CUT YOUR WAY THROUGH THE PLASTIC AND AROUND THE BATTERY TO GET THE DAMNED THING OUT OF THE PACKAGE?
And to add more fun to the bun, I put the battery in the meter and tried to turn it on. Nothing. I open the meter and discover that there was a piece of paper on the negative side of the battery. I peel the paper off, and success! Well, that was on me. But I blame that on my becoming frazzled from getting the battery out of its packaging.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood where people were shot last night.
My oldest was born in Strasbourg. We went to the Christmas market with her as a tiny baby. We laughed and ate and talked and drank gluhwein and other people were doing the same damn thing and are dead now.
My daughter is 4. She will be 5 in March. She is wonderful and so so smart and I love her so much and I fear I’m a terrible mother.
She’s had difficulties. She didn’t talk very well for a long time. She’s gotten a lot better but she’s still behind children her age. When I brought up my concerns, everyone said it was normal and I listened. She doesn’t draw really, and won’t scribble for very long. Everyone said that’s she just too busy to focus on it, and I listened. We would work on it together later. She’s not potty trained still. Everyone gave me advice for what to do and I swear we have tried it all. Still no success. At her 4 year old appointment, her doctor said to give her a little more time to “get it” but she still hasn’t gotten it.
So, today, I finally got the instructions from her doctor to call this specific behavioral and developmental clinic at the university hospital. I did and guess what, there is a 2 year long waiting list.
So why did I wait until she was 4 when all these problems were happening? I feel like I’ve shot my kid in the foot when it comes to catching up with her peers. She’s supposed to start kindergarten next year. I’m the worst.
No, do not beat yourself up over what’s obvious in hindsight. Hell, if I would have played the correct numbers in last week’s lottery, I would be rich now. But, I didn’t know then what they would be, and you didn’t know last year what your doctor was going to say now. You did the correct thing and talked to your doctor about it. If anything was missed, that’s on the doctor, not you. The doctor is the one trained on what to look for.
As for now, does your local school district have any resources? Our district will test kids at 3 and they have programs starting at 4 to help kids catch up. Also, if there is a two year waiting list, call the doctor back and ask about other programs. The things you regret not doing before - do them now.
It’s hard when everyone else is telling you it’s fine. My daughter was behind in talking but now she’s ok (10 years old) so its not hopeless. If you’re still in Michigan like your profile says, did you check outthis site? It looks like it might have some more resources for you.
My heart really aches for you, and I know you’ll beat yourself up no matter what someone says, so I won’t tell you not to, but please don’t do it for long. It’s so hard to tell what’s normal and what’s not unless there’s a very noticeable issue. The spectrum of “usual” for kids is so wide and varied that if your kid is functional and generally doing well or even pretty ok, they’re dismissed as totally fine even if you have an inkling they’re not fine.
Just remember, even if you don’t have a long-term plan in place, you’re still moving forward any which way you can, and that’s all you can do. The special ed coordinator should be able to provide some additional recommendations for evaluation as well, and if they can’t, many counties have funding for such evaluations, so consider your state or county health & human services. Just take care of yourself, too, and be compassionate with yourself. You’re a good parent.
So this morning, I got a phone call saying that a law office had been trying to contact me to serve me with legal documents, but they had come when I wasn’t home, and would I be available today? I said yes, I would, but what is this all about? She said that I should have received a letter from the law firm explaining everything by now, but if I hadn’t gotten it, then I could call them and she would give me a phone number and a case number to refer to.
Now, I was really suspicious about it being a scam, so I said that no, I wasn’t going to call them, and I would be here all day if they wanted to deliver documents to me.
They never showed up, of course.
I’ve been looking online and this is a scam where they want you to call them and give them your social security number and banking information.
My cat has teeth problems. Morty is about eleven years old; I’ve had him for about ten years. He’s always been healthy, for the most part, but the last time he saw a veterinarian was when he was neutered. Lately, he’s been eating less and I could have sworn he’s been losing weight, so I finally got him an appointment. He’s got bad teeth. Not horrible, but he’s got what the vet described as “kissing lesions” on his gums. I kind of freaked out, silently, when the first thing he said when looking into Mort’s mouth is, “I see a growth here.” You see, I was discussing the problem with a friend at work and he went on about how he had a cat once who died of mouth cancer. Nothing worse that standing in a vet’s exam room trying to fight back tears and a panic attack.
On the plus side, like I said, it seems it’s his teeth, not a tumor. There are symmetrical lesions - the vet said if it was just on one side he’s be more concerned about cancer, but he’s pretty sure it’s just irritated gums due to some level of dental disease.
Treatment ranges from - do nothing and just feed him wet food, to dental surgery that may result in all of his teeth being pulled. We settled on a dose of antibiotics and monitoring the situation. We may go with a steroid treatment if the inflammation doesn’t go down in a week or so with the antibiotics. Listen, I just don’t have a ton of money to throw at this problem, so I’m doubley feeling like an asshole if it turns out the only thing I can do for him is half-assed treatments and a half-a-liquid diet for the rest of his life.
I’ve never been much of a cat person, but Morty is the best cat I’ve ever known and I’ve grown pretty attached to him.
Be calm. Less than one person in seventy is well below the threshold for polling error. Two of those people would swear blind they voted for the last option, not the first, and the computer must have mis-recorded their vote. One person voted in favour of the rebels in the American Revolution (that’s the proper name for the civil war, right?) and the fourth voted that Michael Jordan was the most talented member of the Jackson Five.
#1: You are driving on a three-lane highway. You are in the right lane and want to cross the center lane, so that you reach your destination on the left lane. Do you:
(a) Check behind you, signal your intent to change lanes, and move to the center lane. Then pause and repeat the procedure before moving to the left lane.
(b) Just swerve from one side of the highway to the other in a single bound, skipping as many lanes as you please. #2: You are in the right lane, approaching your desired exit on the right. A car is in front of you, and has signaled its intent to also exit to the right. Do you:
(a) Reduce speed, signal right, and wait to arrive at your exit.
(b) Increase speed, swerve left, pass the other car, then swerve back across the right lane to meet your exit at the last possible moment.
I sent my sister and her new husband a gift for Christmas and some lowlife fuckstain stole the package from their front door. It’s not even anything that would have any value to anyone but them, so I’m sure it was immediately tossed in the trash. I can’t even buy another one.
On #1, depends where I am. Coming from the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway, the merge onto the Dulles Toll Road puts you in the far right lane, but then the exit for the airport is in the far left lane and you have about 1000 feet to manage it. It’s horribly designed and if you change lanes all properly, you’re going to miss it. And there’s no other access point, AND you’ll get charged a toll (the airport lane is toll-free, the rest of the road is not). So if there’s light traffic, you cross as many lanes at once as you can, and if there’s heavy traffic, you basically have to force your way through. It’s very unpleasant.
Still use a turn signal, though. And most of the other drivers using that part of the road are familiar with the problem and know that the cars entering from the right may be frantically crossing 3 lanes in an unsafe manner.
