I have been filling out my Peapod order on my Nexus 7.  Buying lots of salad things and will get my homemaker to help me get them user-ready.  I’ve been getting premade salads, but they can be expensive.  Also getting power bars for breakfast, as I am not up to doing any food prep first thing.  Open box, eat contents is my usual thing.  I’ve even made a full pot of coffee sometimes and kept it in the frig to either have it cold or nuke a mugfull.  The simpler the better works for my screwed-up life.  Fooducated a few things to make sure I wasn’t just buying sugar in disguise, too.

I love, love, love this Nexus 7.  I started with Kindle Fire, but hardly used it.  It is heavy, clunky, and doesn’t even work well all the time.  So happy I went with Google.  I know they really are evil, in spite of their motto, but they do put out some good stuff.  I cannot imagine what the new Amazon Fire phone is like, but I’m not even going to research it.  I love Amazon for shopping, and I love my Kindle Reader, but Fire is a no.

So anyway, I decide to do a little post about it.  Once I figured out how to post from the Nexus, I clicked the ‘new post’ thingy, and it opened the page with a little swirly bloop bloop.  So laughing now.

Republican Rep. David Jolly (Fla.) announces support for gay marriage – The Washington Post.

This is the kind of thing I’d like there to be more of, instead of just item after item about how stupid my species is. Also, the picture!!!!

Tree of 40 Fruit

I mean, seriously, what is the point of killing a bunch of people you don’t know, who are not out to get you, who are just minding their own business. What does this say about you and your so-called ’cause’? I could tell you what it says to me about you, but I don’t want to use that kind of language here. God, sometimes I am just disgusted to be a member of my own species.

Are there any? I have to admit, I have been feeling abandoned. Not by any readers out there, but by just everyone in general. Depression. It lives. Partly because the last Prednisone decrease brought back all the pain and un-mobility, and it is taking some time to overcome it, even though I went back to the previous dose two weeks ago. But also, because generally speaking, I really am somewhat better and not in such a fog and miasma of pain and misery, and that just makes me realize that while I was really, really non-functional, my life disappeared. I have virtually no one left who even cares if I’m dead or alive. Not totally, but mostly, everyone has just forgotten me. Or just written me off as a – lost, too much bother, not worth the effort – used to be. Feeling sorry for myself? No one else does, so who else is there? LOL Life is really, really hard sometimes, when you are sick and live alone and really have no one who sort of HAS to be there for you. You know how they say, “Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in”? I have no home in that respect. At the very worst, when no one even calls to even see if I’m still alive, (One person, does. I do have one person, thank the gods for that, but not family, not friends I’ve had forever), I start to think of ways to just let it stop. Not make it stop. I don’t think I could ever go that far, but maybe just stop doing this or that that keeps me going. You know? Maybe it’s just that I’m dying of loneliness. I kind of manage to repress that most of the time, but every few years, it just hits me in the face that I am well and truly alone. I am generally very good at repressing. I am a fighter. I hate to give in, so I have learned over time to just bury all the feelings. Lately, I keep remembering something someone once said, “Oh, let’s all feel sorry for (me, it was me they were referring to)”. And now it hurts. It hurt then, but now it is in the forefront of my thoughts, for some reason. I have been dropped as a friend for being ‘too needy’, so I avoid reaching out at all costs. Avoid asking for help unless there is just no other alternative. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, I am not pitiful. I am just alone. Virtually all of the time. I have three hours a week of a homemaker, and one friend who comes over now and then. That’s my life. I know, this is just Jean being whiny again. No need to bother. But it does help to write it down, even with a keyboard. Sorry, readers. Go back to whatever else you were doing. It’s all fine.

I just watched what I thought was a helpful video on different virus scanners here:

Free Virus Scanners Accuracy Compared

I was amazed, as I frequently am, at the comments. People complaining that it is a video and _their_ time is waaay too precious to waste watching it, why didn’t the author do an article, etc., etc., etc., and it degenerated into insult slinging and name calling. Geez, the guy sits down to do something helpful for people who may not have this info, and the result is getting reamed out for his delivery method. I see this all the time. If you don’t like videos, google for some other way to get similar info. What is wrong with people? Where is the ‘Thanks. I learned something.’ or ‘This info was helpful.’ or you know, something not mean, nasty and full of vitriol?
I’d think twice about putting out any info in future, and therefore, a source for those of us who _don’t_ already know everything about everything would be gone.
Sometimes, people, I. Just. Don’t. Know.

And he really rocks it. I love his voice.

Rain, but not really:

I know. I’m tired today, and my legs hurt from the stairs, so here I sit reading blogs and such.

You know by now I am against consolidation of companies into fewer and fewer owners. Here’s a thing I found about that. The comments are good, too. Who owns what

Remember back on June 22 I posted about my Roku and its earbuds? A couple of days ago, I got up at 7am after having had two hours sleep. Why? Only the illness gods know why I would be wide awake after two hours sleep. So as I’m sitting there, thinking that since I’m awake I might actually stand up and move, I noticed the Roku box on the shelf under the coffee table. (I slept on the couch. I don’t have a coffee table in the bedroom. Seriously, dumb, not crazy. Well…)

Anyway, it says right on the box that the earbuds plug into the remote. Well, duh! Idiot Jean is an idiot, on more days than you might think. Gave myself a good laugh, anyway.

Forget where I found this article. Sorry about that.

Burger King, hate, logic article

Sometimes it just blows my mind, the arguments supporting the hatred, bigotry and homophobia some people live in. Logic trumps. It’s a good thing. I’ve said this before, yes, but worth saying again: The NEW Testament TRUMPS and CANCELS the OLD Testament. Fundamentalists and religious bigots and fanatics choose to ignore that fact to give themselves permission to shore up their shaky senses of self-worth by hating, denigrating, and persecuting others they perceive as different. If they weren’t so dangerous, we would all be going, ‘Oh, poor babies. Feeling bad about yourselves? What a shame.” Can’t we just make them all go and stand in the corner for several millennia?

Here’s an example of a better way:

The way to do an apology

Here:

Had an excellent day. Went out with my friend Tess. Second time
we’ve gone out in less than a month, and both times, the elevator was
borked. Down and up stairs, not something I can usually manage, but did
both times. Also got to go visit her husband and their dog. They have
the best dog ever. Doesn’t bark, even though she can, doesn’t make
messes, cute. Anyway, last time I did the stairs there were no
unpleasant (for unpleasant, read ‘ow, ow, ow’) after effects, so hoping
for the same this time. I really do seem to be getting better. Doing
all the superstitious things to not jinx myself. Not really, but… As
Gibbs’ boss said on NCIS, when asked by Gibbs if he is superstitious,
“I’m a little stitious.” One of my favorite lines ever.

Just took a quiz I found on Tumblr, from here:

political quiz

My results are below. The interesting thing is, to me anyway, I am
NOT affluent (I’m actually well below the poverty line) or highly
educated (high school, no college, to my regret), nor am I at all
optimistic about the nation’s future. The more we allow religious right
conservative bigoted racist homophobic assholes into office, and let
corporations and the obscenely wealthy determine our policy, home and
abroad, the worse off we are going to be. I am not at all hopeful for the future of my country.

Did I mention that the last time I saw my ‘doctor’, she literally bullied me into accepting a scrip for a statin that I did not want and do not believe I need? The side effects are a lot of things I already have wrong, and I’m going to make them worse on purpose? Seriously, she used up most of my appointment time telling me ‘what a high risk I am for a heart attack, my risk is 30% over the next ten years, I’m the highest risk patient she’s seen this week, etc’. My heart is fine, and if she’d looked at my medical records, she would have known that. I finally gave in, because I wanted to ask her a question about pain meds, but when I began, she checked her watched and told me if I had any questions, I had to make another appointment. Thus ‘doctor’ in quotes. Anyway…

The drug she insisted I take is a statin. I have mildly elevated cholesterol. Yes, I am overweight, but I have never been thin, and I have had a chronic, debilitating illness for seventeen years, with about seven months last year being virtually bed-ridden and/or housebound. Nurse told me my metabolism was so slow as to be nearly non-existent. Inactivity does not really help with being thin, even though I don’t eat a lot. Really, I am not making that up. Also, now that I am doing much better with the extra supplements I’m taking, I am a lot more active than I have been in years, and actually lost five pounds this past two weeks. Yay, me. So today I came across this article:

http://www.badscience.net/2014/06/what-statins-tell-us-about-the-mess-in-evidence-based-medicine/

I am seeing a new doctor in September. Keeping my fingers crossed she’s a real doctor this time.

While googling an image to go with this post, I came across this article:

Signs of a Bad Doctor

OR…next time you stop at Mickey D’s. Found it here:

http://www.weightymatters.ca/

Firefox, you have pushed me right out. Now I have to click a ‘yes/no to updating’ type box everytime I fire it up. Read about Pale Moon in the comments to this article:

‘make use of’ article

You can get a download that imports EVERYthing from Firefox just the way you have it set up. The only extension I use that isn’t Pale Moon ready is All-in-one Sidebar, but I can live without it for now.

Just started using it a bit ago, but everything I’ve done works exactly like on Firefox. It even brought over my themes.

On the illness front, I upped my Prednisone to 2 mg Sunday, after having a week of pain and miserableness on 1 mg. Going to ask druggist if they make 1/2 mg pills, so I can go to 1 and 1/2 mg next decrease. I can probably cut a one in half, but they are so small I’m afraid I’ll end up counting grains.

Finally got hot and sticky to the max, so turned on the a/c Tuesday. Doesn’t work. Seems to be pushing hot air. Called maintenance yesterday, and the plumber was here almost an hour and a half. Turns out the valve was stuck. Who knew there was a valve? They are old units on this building and he has not worked on them before this year. He said pretty soon he will be an expert, since people started calling in April to have theirs looked at. Who needs an a/c in April? It was still cold. Anyway, he had to take the unit apart on the roof, and the valve which changes from hot to cold according to your thermostat setting. The tube was hot. He whacked it. Yes, he whacked it. It got cold. My kind of repair man. I’m all for whacking things. Preferably with a sledge hammer. Whacking unstuck it, and I am now cool and dry. Bring it on, summer. Of course, we are going to get brushed by Alfred or Albert or whatever that hurricane is Arthur, it’s Arthur, on Friday. Fourth events all over Eastern Mass are being rescheduled. Last year they cancelled the Block Party, which happened right in front of my building and all up and down the street, due to bad weather. They decided to change to several different events over the year instead. Makes sense, since climate change means weather is getting more volatile, but I will miss it.

Wordy today. First day I’ve felt really okay again on the upped Pred. It’s a good thing. Unless you don’t like wordy, I guess. Done now.

I hope. When you download FF, do the ‘custom’ download, and uncheck ‘use Firefox Maintenance’. Then when it’s downloaded, make sure in the ‘options’ advanced’ ‘update’ tab, check ‘never check for updates’ and UNcheck ‘use a background service’. I have restarted several times, and it hasn’t tried to download 30. Woo Hoo! Seriously. I could not arrange my icons, change my themes, find half of what I was looking for. Who thought it needed to be messed with? It was fine, thank you. Fix any security issues, great, but leave the rest alone, Firefox. Please.

I finally, finally found something that actually worked for getting back to FF 28. It updated back to 30. Tried again, made sure to check ‘never check for updates’ in the settings. It updated to 30. Seriously, Firefox? What is up with that? I have been fanatical about Firefox for a long time, because EXTENSIONS. But you cannot jerk around with me against my will and expect me to stay loyal. I am checking out alternatives. Chrome now has some of the extensions I use most, and they work as well, so I may just give up and go for it. I do sometimes worry about Google’s ‘let us into every aspect of your online life without really telling you what’s going on’ policy, so I’m pretty sure there’s a google clone out there that avoids that. Like there is Duck Duck Go instead of google search. DDG does not track your every move like google does.

I know, who cares about privacy. If you don’t have anything to hide, why does it matter? Because it’s one of your basic human rights, and once it’s gone, have fun getting it back, people. Just because google (or the NSA) may only be using your info to get even richer (‘keep you safe’), does not mean that someone with poor ethics won’t get hold of your info and use it for nefarious (good word, right?) ends. I think it was Franklin who said, “If you give up your freedom to be safe, you will have neither freedom nor safety.” Same goes for privacy, I think.

Well bah, humbug, Firefox.

No one out there knows about the Firefox thing? Well, darn.

I have decided that I am going to ask my friend for explicit details about the anniversary party. I have issues, you know, so I really want to know what is the plan for getting me there and back, where am I going to stay, who is going to be there (I don’t do well with crowds or lots of people I don’t know. It’s stressful, and then I suffer later.) What should I wear? What is her plan for me? She always has a plan. Organization is her middle name, I swear. She thinks of everything. When she came to my house for a funeral of a loved one, she brought dinner. Dinner that she cooked right there, and she even brought the salt and pepper. Just in case. Wow, I wish I was half that organized, or able to think/plan ahead. Or that thoughtful.

It has been gorgeous, gorgeous weather. It’s been a good year so far, weather-wise. We’ve not been too hot, nor had any severe weather, winter was winter, not some pale imitation. Like snow, you know. I like snow. Winters with little to no snow don’t count, in my book. Some years have been like that. Last year, for example. When I first moved here fourteen years ago, we had big storms, with blowing snow and huge drifts, and it was winter. Then it sort of tapered off. This year was better, but nothing like before. Then, some years, I’ve had to have the a/c on in May. For days at a time. Haven’t needed it yet this year. Makes me happy. I may have mentioned ten or twenty times that I do not like hot and sticky. Not at all.

I got a new Roku. My old one would not connect anymore, no matter what I tried. I like the new one. Nicer, easier, etc. It comes with earbuds. Earbuds for your tv. Great idea. One would think they would plan for you sitting on the couch, though. The earbuds are only long enough to sit maybe three feet from the tv. Useless? I think so. But a nice idea. Anyway, I can watch Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and all those weird stations that Roku provides. I was missing that. I can also find stations and such on my Nexus 7. There’s an app for that. Watching things on a Kindle Fire is doable, but not as relaxing as watching on the tv. Remember it was bigger, bigger, bigger for awhile. 60″ plasma tvs. Oh, yeah. Now it’s smaller, smaller, smaller. Look, this screen fits on my thumbnail. I can watch tv on it. Riiiiight. I do not understand this at all. I really cannot watch regular tv anymore. I am so over commercials. Do you realize that 20 minutes of every hour you spend watching tv is someone trying to sell you something. One third of every hour. One third of every half-hour sitcom. I get we are the consumer nation, but it gets so old having ads everywhere, all the time. Makes me not want to buy anything. Oh, reverse psychology. It’s working on me. Not as they intended, I don’t think, though.

I am tired and achy and going to couch now. I love my Kindle Keyboard. Really, it’s the perfect thing for lazing on the couch. Easy to hold, easy to read things on. I love it. Off to do that lazing thing now.

Gertrude lazing on the couch with me this winter.