Put down the red pen and step away slowly

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Update--Surgery! Whee!
Okay--barring my finding out something wholly unsavory about this surgeon or the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital--which is unlikely, since all the rating services I can find on the net involve $$$ or subscriptions--here's the details of my surgery:

(1) Scheduled for Thursday, July 23; if no complications, I'll go home the next day.

(2) They'll take out the whole thyroid, plus the lymph nodes on the left side of the neck.

(3) Risk is LOW. I told you. Main risk involves nicking the vocal nerves, causing permanent hoarseness. I could go for a husky Lauren Bacall thing, but I bet it wouldn't work like that, so that's really the only thing to cross your fingers about.

(I tend towards TMI with respect to medical procedures, so as a favor to you all, I'll stop there; further details available upon request. Complete with little diagrams.)

(4) They said to expect to be home for at least a week; or rather, they said not to drive for a week. I imagine that's due to the head-twisting required, which is probably bad after surgery on the neck. Jan's offered to drive me to work if the restriction is only on driving; but I'm not sure what other activities are restricted and for how long.

(5) As I understand, if I do anything billable in that whole time I'll hose up short-term disability kicking in; and this will drive me insane. If I had any sense I'd have put this off until August 25, when House MD Season 5 comes out on DVD.

I'll let you all know if anything changes.

~Amanda

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Vintage Barry Manilow (don't tell)

This was an interesting call
Sort of a long story. Or actually, has some longish prequels.

( Prequel: March-November 2007 )

( Prequel: March-May 2009 )

( Seeing the doctor: June 24, 2009 )

( The test results )

~Amanda

Current Mood: neutral
Current Music: Office-mate's conference call in background

I have a great tit!
His name's Steve.

We went to the bird show today, to get a better cage for our second cockatiel--the one we bought as a companion to our first cockatiel, but who lives in his own cage because they can't stand to be together. And I finally succumbed to temptation and bought myself a little bird of my own.

Although it would undeniably make for better puns if I had a pair of great tits, having one is still very fun. In fact, I was intending to name him Hefner until "Steve" lodged itself fairly strongly in my mind, out of nowhere.

I think he's the Indian variety, because he's not very yellow beneath. He's starting to make charming little cheeps, as he gets used to his new cage and home. He's adorable. I'd post a picture if I knew how.

~Amanda

Current Mood: amused

Randomness Win
Can anyone *cough*Macloudt*cough* possibly make me an icon that says "Ne portez pas pour le sumo luttant"? That is the most wonderfully random thing I've seen in forever.

see more pwn and owned pictures

Current Mood: amused

HELP-->Level of non-G-ratedness of "Wicked" (show)
My cousin is singing Glinda in Wicked, and it's coming to San Antonio, and my husband and I should go see it. My question to you all--what is the age-appropriateness of the content? The book is definitely not G-rated.

Kid ages are 13, 12, and 9. Interest level in the 12 and 9 is iffy anyway, but my daughter may want to come. Good idea, bad idea?

~Amanda

Current Mood: curious

The evil, infamous, contagious one-word meme
I think I did this meme a while back, so this may be a repeat for all of you, and I know you have better things to do anyway. But I need a diversion from my horrible filthy house and stressful work and school spiraling into disaster. Divert me.

- Describe me in one word... just one single word. Positive or negative. [AMANDA EDIT: there's a third option...?]

- Leave your word in a comment before looking at what words others have used.

- Then copy and paste the meme to your journal to find out how people will describe you when limited to one word.

Current Mood: overwhelmed

I kind of like this result.

Your result for The Golden Compass Daemon Test...

The Honest Soul.

You are a talkative, open kind of person. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and you trust people not to break it. In a way, you are as honest and trusting as a child. You are comfortable with who you are and have a strong sense of self, but you are also a little sensitive. Hurtful remarks, especially from people whose opinion you value, have the power to wound you terribly.

You tend to be open about your thoughts and opinions, and you find it difficult to hide your emotions from people. You like to share your thoughts, opinions, and emotions with people, and to hear theirs in return. When someone disagrees with you or offends you, you will take them up on it, whether they are friends or strangers. You don't mind a friendly debate, but become upset when things get hostile. You wish that people wouldn't take everything so personally, but simply think calmly about things.

You have a close knit group of friends and family for whom you would sacrifice almost anything. You don't like big parties full of strangers - you would rather spend your time with the people whom you really care about. You need a private spot where you can retreat when the world gets to be too much, but you want to be able to emerge from your "den" and find your loved ones there to heap love and affection upon you.

Your daemon would represent your loving, open nature, and he or she would probably spend a lot of time encouraging you to be independent and to do the right thing.

Suggested forms: Dog, Otter, Marmoset, Saw-Whet Owl, Songbird, Chinchilla.

Take The Golden Compass Daemon Test at HelloQuizzy

Current Mood: pleased

Why, indeed?

Your Word is "Why"

You see life as complicated and intriguing. The only thing you know for sure is that you haven't figured it all out yet.

You question everything and believe very little. And whatever you believe is likely to change.

You are interested in theories, philosophies, and religions... even if you don't buy into any of them.

You are also fascinated by how things work. You'd like to understand as much in the world as possible.

What's Your Word?

Current Mood: amused

Kids. Teachers. Suggestions?
From: Ms. Adams (Michael's teacher)
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:04 PM
To: Lewanski, Amanda [USA]
Subject: Michael - drawing

Hi Mrs. Lewanski,

I just tried to catch Mr. Lewanski on the phone before he came into town to pick Michael up but I missed him. I was calling to let you know that Michael drew a comic strip to express his aggravation with another student after being told not to. It showed him fighting with/hurting the other student and then declaring that he won. He was warned not to express himself in this way because it could get him in more trouble but he did it anyway. He also told me that he will continue to draw them but make secret envelopes and hide them so no one sees them.

After school I had to walk him to the doors leading outside because he was running. He was arguing with me and saying that he hated the other student (the one he drew the picture of). He also went to the counselor this morning after getting very mad at me for a hole punch that I gave him because he was refusing to do his work (he sat there for an hour doing nothing though myself and another teacher tried to give him ideas and gave him positive reinforcement). He refused to fill out the hole punch note and continued to say that he didn’t deserve it. I tried to reason with him. After visiting with Mrs. Torres he came back to the room and was fine until this afternoon with Mr. Walton. I just wanted to let you know what else went on today.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for your time!

--------------------
Ms. Adams--

Thanks for the note; I was away from my desk today. We'll try to see what's going on, but I have to ask--why is drawing as an outlet for aggression objectionable? I had always believed that was a healthy outlet (as opposed to expressing it verbally or physically). Can you clarify? If we remove all outlets, he'll turn into a little pressure valve.

Maybe we can work it out so that he draws his strips and gives them to you, or goes to the counselor to draw them, or shows nobody and brings them home? You have to understand that Michael is acting on a longstanding precedent, because his brother Tomek's focus for years has been comic strips which reflect current happenings, and we've always encouraged this, as have Tomek's teachers. Michael may see this as the grossest inequality, that Tomek does this and he's being told not to.

Even if he had no precedent, I'm very concerned that we may cause a worse reaction by blocking a largely harmless one.

Thanks,

~Amanda

Current Mood: sheesh

I would agree.
From yesterday's Wall Street Journal: The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace.

I'd agree; in my opinion, Bush's main fault was that he genuinely tried to be bipartisan and reach across the aisle. It made his own party question him, and let his opponents use him. He never achieved the "new tone" he so wanted to. He was a realist in many ways, but an idealist with respect to human nature, and Washington runs on the lowest common denominator of human motivation, not the highest.

I fully believe history will show him a great president who led well in challenging times. Too bad he wouldn't just take his authority and run with it the way he could have.

~Amanda

Current Mood: in agreement

This will be interesting.
Well, you guys got what you asked for. Let's see if it's really what you wanted. And now let's see if the boy can make more than pretty words, when he's confronted with reality.

He always sounded more like a proposal than an execution plan to me, and now it's time to execute. This is what I doubt he has the experience to do. Eh, he may do fine, since I suspect he is the tool of greater masters. Unless he finds out that he is, and reacts badly.

My kids are bummed out, but I'm trying to convey the point that this is still the best country to live in, even if you disagree with the current leadership. And I renewed my Rush 24/7 membership, and my Limbaugh Letter subscription, to help keep my faith up for the next few years.

~Amanda

Current Mood: aggravated

I have loved Orson Scott Card before, and do now again
This is wonderful. Reproduced in its entirety with no LJ-cut, because I agree with every word.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

by Orson Scott Card
October 20, 2008

An open letter to the local daily paper -- almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor -- which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house -- along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Sen. Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" (http://snipurl.com/457to): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is the number two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

And after Fred Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign -- because that campaign had sought his advice -- you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

There are precedents. Even though President Bush and his administration never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension -- so you pounded us with the fact that there was no such link. (Along the way, you created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that there was a connection.)

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie -- that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad -- even bad weather -- on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth -- even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what honesty means. That's how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time -- and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter -- while you ignored the story of John Edwards' own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women (NOW) threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

That's where you are right now.

It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe -- and vote as if -- President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats -- including Barack Obama -- and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans -- then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a daily newspaper in our city.

Current Mood: supported

I refuse to sign this.
Every year, the Floresville school district sends home, in the packet of forms to fill out and send back, a "Compact for Excellence." It has sections for "The School Shall" and "The Parent Shall." Here is what the parent shall, in the Elementary version:

> Make sure the child attends school consistently.
> Make sure that homework is completed.
> Supervise television watching.
> Participate in deciions relating to the education of child, such as school board elections, completing surveys, or other means of communication and involvement.
> Attend a parent-teacher conference as scheduled by the teacher(s) or staff.
> Volunteer in the child's classroom when possible.
> Communicate with the teacher if any problems are observed.
> Make sure extracurricular time and activities are positive.
> Other.

Here is what the parent shall, in the Middle School version:

> Take an active role in my child's education.
> Make sure my child comes to school rested, prepared, and on time.
> Maintain a balance between homework and recreational activities.
> Keep an open line of communication between home and school.
> Model appropriate character that I want my child to develop and demonstrate.

In fourteen years of dealing with the school district, I have never signed this form. I will never sign it. It offends me in two ways. For one, it ventures into areas that I believe are absolutely no business of the school. The school system persistently, quietly, and in the guise of convenience, has consistently tried to put itself, not the home, as central in the child's life. I hated the way the buses came early, forcing me to get my children up at 4:30 so they could get to school in time for "breakfast," undermining my own attempts to have a family breakfast before school. Meals are an intensely social activity, and I resented the way the school--which already owned lunch--was pre-empting another. School keeps reaching its tendrils into my home, trying to replace it as the center of social focus, and I detest that. Peer pressure didn't exist in the form our society bemoans, until we created it by providing artificial age-sorting that allowed the formation of peer groups as we know them. And what do we do? Not remove the cause and encourage mixed-age education; we increase the focus on the problem caused by the school, by adding more programs that are school-based to combat it. Circular, aggregative, putting family and home second. Pah. So for the purposes of this "pledge"? It's none of the school's damn business what I let my children watch on TV, or whether extracurricular activities are positive, or whether I "model appropriate character." Their "character" programs also offend me. Teach my children to read, to do math, to learn science. I will teach them responsibility, trustworthiness, (insert any other of their stupid "Community of Character" program). Stop trying to deliver *my* messages. Get your social agenda out of the school. Shades of Harper Valley PTA.

For another--I am deeply offended by the implication that I needed these basic parental duties pointed out to me. That I would not otherwise be paying attention to homework, communicating, making sure they get enough sleep, etc. I wouldn't sign a pledge not to murder people, or steal cars, or beat people up--of course I won't do these things. And so I won't sign a pledge promising not to neglect my child. The implication is that I must be asked to promise this--otherwise I *would* neglect them. That is offensive to me as a person and as a parent, and they can stuff their form where it might model inappropriate character to say.

My husband is mildly amused by my reaction. He says it's because I'm Texan, and my first reaction to laws/rules is negative--they are limitations (as opposed to Easterners, for instance, who tend to have a positive reaction--laws/rules are protections). But even factoring out my initial negative response to any "you have to" instruction? This is damned offensive.

(throws forms in recycle bin at work, now that I've vented)

~Amanda

Current Mood: irritated

Except for anime, I'm an all-purpose nerd, actually

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Science/Math Nerd
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
Artistic Nerd
Social Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Current Mood: amused

Oh, NO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I have class on Tuesday nights, 7:00-8:30.

HOUSE is on, Tuesday nights, 8:00-9:00.

I don't have the capability to videotape.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(breathe)AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(etc.)

This is, quite honestly, the. Only. Thing. I do for entertainment. My life is working and laundry and remembering kid obligations and working and nothing fun, nothing I demand *ME* time for, not even movies not even at home (because I get up to do various tasks while the movie is going, hating to waste the time)--except this one show. And I can't see it this semester. See "AAAAAAAA..." above.

I hadn't realized; it had been on Mondays last season. And the class would have been Tuesday regardless. But still.

*sob*

Current Mood: devastated

I have finally *arrived* on LJ. I got a troll!!
I seem to have had a visit from a troll in my "Biosketch" entry. It's just shy of incoherent, but I left the entry in case any of you care to go be amused.

~Amandageist, paid member, U.S. Corporate Grammar Enforcers, and offender against the purity of the beautiful British language

Current Mood: amused

My Biosketch
For this semester's course. It's supposed to be ~100 words; I, of course, ran over that by half.

"Amanda Geist is a management consultant in the San Antonio office of a large consulting firm. For the past year, she’s been program coordinator for a large contract—serving as the front line of program management, capturing/formalizing processes, providing training, recognizing opportunities to streamline, and serving as the quality manager. Prior to that, she spent five years building and leading an internal communication support team, whose many roles included QA/editorial review, communication support, proposal development, knowledge management, training, and process development. She earned her BA in English (technical writing), with Honors, from UTSA. Neither her husband Jan, nor any of her three children, have written any books about her yet. When not working, she is often on LiveJournal (amandageist), analyzing Harry Potter, or watching House or Bones. She loves detecting patterns, organizing information, and helping people clarify their own messages, and is enjoying applying the lessons from the MSTCO program to anyone and anything that stands still long enough."

I don't know why I thought any of you would be interested, but it's the only thing I've accomplished today.

In happier news, I got my House Season Four from Amazon yesterday, and immediately re-watched that amazing two-part finale. And even knowing what was coming, still, you know, DAMN.

~A

Current Mood: tired

The news today was *good*
Not personal news; the news news. The price of gas is going down; at the moment, $3.60s are common, and $3.50s have been sighted. Contrary to earlier reports, the corn crop is far from damaged--it may be the second biggest crop ever, so the price of things that require corn and corn derivatives (read: everything) won't be going up. Wheat and oats look good too.

It was nice to see positives on the news for a change.

~Amanda

Current Mood: happy

NEW COMPUTER WORM
Just got this alert at work:

RE: a computer attack/worm (called Koobface) targeting users of the popular social networking sites YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace.

According to various news articles, infected machines are spreading the worm by sending messages via the social networks to friends within the networks. The messages looks like they contain links to video clips—click on the link and you are prompted to download an updated version of a Flash Player. That Flash Player is actually the worm itself, infecting your computer. Logging back into the social media sites then spreads the worm to your friends list.

FYI, y'all.

~Amanda

Current Mood: cautious

Like I need another Harry Potter book
I couldn't resist and pre-ordered Beedle the Bard.

(hangs head)

Current Mood: unrepentant