katherine

Random Durham

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:28:25 GMT

This is one of my favorite random things in Durham!
It's an old abandoned shopping center in the process of being torn down!

But what's this?

Randomly enough, there's a successful Indian restaurant going strong as they tear the shopping center down around their ears! (more information can be found here

I went a little picture happy

On the inside it's very nice, you'd never know you were in a shopping center, much less one which is being demolished. Tulio wouldn't sit still to have his photo taken, sorry about the blurriness.

ETA: never mind, the photo was just too horribly blurry. But you can see nice photos on their website.

And on a completely different note, here are some donkeys.

The end.

What's going on

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:20:08 GMT

As usual, nothing much! Mostly I'm wasting time rather than getting my documentation done :)

I was going to go swimming again but the weather has been very odd all day (it's raining and windy and cool -- in the South, in August? very unusual!). I designed a hat (for the Ravelympics) and I need some pattern testers (send me a pm with your email address if interested)
Here's a picture of the hat:

I learned something new about my husband, namely that he is very enthusiastic about the Olympic games. He went to bed last night at 12:30 and was up again at 4:00 to watch the games! OH! We just had our 4th wedding anniversary, go us.

my moonflower continues to rock the house and be difficult to photograph.

I guess I don't have much interesting to write about -- I've been invited to participate in an art and craft fair in September, so I've been crafting in all my free time so that I'll actually have some stock! I'm going to Georgia next weekend to see my mom and sister and dog, and I'm looking forward to that! :) I did take a homeless guy out to lunch today -- he told me he was a vegetarian but then he ordered chicken wings.

gardening

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:11:48 GMT

I don't really have a garden, just a little strip of dirt that runs along my patio. But some of the stuff I've planted is just rocking out so I thought I'd share a couple photos!

Not too many but behind anyway

First off, my moonvine: It is out of control!
It's taking over the fence

It's even growing into Tulio's satellite dish! (I moved it after taking the picture):

Here are some flower photos, if you're into such things:

and a pretty twisty bud

The mint is pretty out of control too. It would have crept into the apartment by now except that it is thwarted by the concrete expanse of the patio:

There was some cilantro growing next to it but you'd never know it by now, it's been almost completely engulfed by the mint. Poor cilantro never stood a chance, sniff sniff.

my columbine is also growing massively. Fortunately the hosta is still pretty puny, otherwise I'd get a big head.

In other news I went swimming in the river with my friend Lisa and now I am very very sleepy but I have to do my timesheet and billing stuff and whatnot. And Spot tried to catch a rabbit today! I chased the rabbit away to thwart her, but I was proud of her ambition.

New project!

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:17:02 GMT

A project I've had in mind for a while is taking photos of many random and silly things that Derm is full of. I am a big fan of strange roadside attractions, i.e. South of the Border, and I think local ones are just as fun, if not as spectacular. And Durham seems to be a particularly good place to find them; for example, I worked in Wake county for about 9 months and the only things I ever wanted to take a picture of were the giant acorn and the canada geese that decided to lay eggs in front of the entrance to the Cary mall. So anyway, to kick it off, here are a couple photos I took today:

I would really like to know more about the history of this! It's just a heap of rocks by the side of the road, with a sign on top (well, I guess you can see that). Why are they so special they get a sign? Are they like the tree that owns itself? Why don't they have a mailbox?

And this one makes me laugh every time I drive by it:

Well OK, then. I guess I will keep out of your dumpster.

Translation FAIL

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:09:29 GMT

tee hee. (It says Pull/"Push") and confused the hell out of me this morning.
I did mention it to the manager of the establishment in question. He said he'd look into it.

Edited to add caption

Heads up

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:51:50 GMT

I've just heard from someone who got it straight from the proverbial horse's mouth that on August 8th and 9th there will be a collaborative effort between all the counties in North Carolina (except Durham) and ICE to make a series of roadblocks across the state to catch people who do not have driver's licenses, arrest, detain, and potentially deport them. Don't think it matters to you because you are a US citizen? ICE has a history of detaining and even deporting US citizens, especially the mentally ill: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/25392.html
please get the word out to any friends or family you think might be affected by this, and be sure to carry your license on those days.
Jeebus.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:18:57 GMT

where the hell is my sister?
she has vanished off the face of the internet!
Elizabeth? are you out there?

what I've been up to

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:49:02 GMT

1. I had a horrible stomach bug and got very dehydrated and had to have a shot of anti-nausea medicine in the butt so that I could get some fluids down and avoid hospitalization.
2. I went to the NCNASW summer clinical institute and got lots of CEUs and learned lots of interesting things and met many nice people. Although I am always surprised when I get together with a lot of social workers and realize that they aren't all, well, socially conscious, some of them just like being therapists and don't really want to have to be around, you know, poor people.
3. Because of 1 and 2 I missed almost 2 weeks of work and am seriously out of the loop!
4. I won Hat Assasin! (My knitting group's version of "hat attack"). I killed 5 people in one day! I wasn't actually the one left standing, but since I killed the most people I was declared co-winner. it was a lot of fun!
5. My moonflower's been growing like crazy and has started blooming! I'll post photos. One of these days.

ba ha ha!

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:59:11 GMT

Backstory: When we moved in we didn't have any dishwashing powder and got in the habit of handwashing dishes -- to the point where we kinda forgot we had a dishwasher. Today i couldn't cope with the heaps and heaps of dirty dishes and went out and bought dishwashing powder and washed all the dishes in the machine.
Now Tulio comes home and wants to know where I hid all the dishes :)
We just had a fun game of "hot and cold". He looked in the fridge before he thought to look in the dishwasher!

Other things which are scary.

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:27:47 GMT

Cane toads.
Someone on Ravelry shared regarding a documentary on cane toads she had seen, and it triggered revulsion and fear in me.
And then someone else posted a page of phobias http://phobialist.com/#A-

I started looking for fear of toads, got overwhelmed, couldn't find it, so I googled "fear of toads" instead.
And I found this wonderful website!
FEAR OF TOADS: Treatment and hope http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/problem_detail.asp?SDI...:1427
I think it alters depending on what fear you type into google, because I can’t imagine my quirk is so widespread and life-affecting….
these are the particularly giggle-worthy aspects for me:
What is Fear Of Toads?
Defined as “a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of toads”, each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress.

Known by a number of names - Bufonophobia and Fear of Toads being the most common - the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. especially if your loved ones or business associates are, in fact, toads

Consider the true cost of living with Fear Of Toads.
If you are living with fear of toads, what is the real cost to your health, your career or school, and to your family life?
actually, my husband threatened to leave me because I used to wake him up at night and go outside to chase the toads out of the outhouse

Like all fears and phobias, fear of toads is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. At some point in your past, there was likely an event linking toads and emotional trauma. like the time a toad the size of a golden retriever got in my house and I jumped up on a chair, whacking my head on a ceiling beam and almost knocked myself out?

OK, I think maybe this is only hilarious to me. But I did get an answer to my question: bufonophobia

Holy Crap!

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:19:22 GMT

Scariest thing EVER just happened! I am at home alone because Tulio is out running an errand and I have been drinking which makes me a little dumber and more easily startled typically. Anyway, all of a sudden the sliding screen door was FLUNG open and I thought "OK, maybe Tulio came back and is messing with me" and I hop up and head over there and my cat runs over to investigate, and then the cat SCREAMS and I think "Holy shit wtf?" (because, again, drinking, limits vocabulary, you know). But anyway, it was just a strange cat trying to break in, which is better than, say a strange heroin dealer* trying to break in. Just the same, I believe I'll go change my pants now.

*Oh yeah, I never blogged about that, did I? It is not a particularly thrilling tale, it is just that one day a bilingual detective came by and informed us that the lady 2 apartments down was harboring a heroin dealer and gave us a picture of the guy and said if we saw him to call the cops. To which I replied, dude, get the fuck out of my apartment. Because, seriously, if there's a heroin dealer next door, I do not want him to see me consorting with cops. Anyway, they arrested him about 4 days later, and we all lived happily ever after, especially Tulio who was unemployed at the time and bored out of his skull and went outside and watched the arrest like he was watching an episode of COPS.

worldwide knit in public day!

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:06:46 GMT

I went out and knitted in public with some of my knitting group friends and some new friends too.
We started off in Duke Gardens.

It was not such a huge turnout, but that's ok, because it was WORLDWIDE

harena! Who can't possible mind me posting a photo of her back! (and your mouth isn't full this time!)

Robin

And Rebecca.
You could print out the 2 above photos and paste them next to each other to admire their conversation more fully.

Then I wandered off and took photos of flowers, because that is something I like to do too.

When it got too hot to knit in the gardens, we headed up to the brand spanking new fiber loft on 9th street! (http://www.myfiberfetish.com/)

Look at the fabulousness!

and some yummy yarn:

I met a new friend Pinkish (I never know people's offline names anymore). While I did not take photos of her adorable baby, he is a yarn celebrity, having appeared on the Yarn Harlot's blog! Pinkish had the most awesome sock yarn I have ever seen.

Fiberloft's nice window and spinning wheel:

Here's me! my top is cute.

Here's O and Marcy (who is going to make us famous! check out http://blogs.newsobserver.com/notions/home ) and Robin (and me).

er... same people, but from a different angle

more or less the same people but Kelly too (who is also married to a Latino who can't dance but thinks he can)

And Rebecca looking cute!

on a cheerier note

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:34:13 GMT

while walking today I couldn't get enough of this song! I think I listened to it about 10 times. Here's a live version.

the album it is on, "Usi", is one of the best.

ranting

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:23:22 GMT

feel free to ignore. You can scroll down to the next post, which contains some pretty pictures and a small contest

you would have thought that walking down by the creek and looking at bunnies would have put me in a calm mood, but instead it made me reflective, and that caused an upwelling of my underlying anti-establishment rage.
I tend to post largely shallow thoughts on LJ, well, mostly because LJ tends to be a breeding ground for trolls. every time I post anything even vaguely topical, I get rather odd anonymous comments. so this is a little daring.
anyhow, here are my thoughts on immigration, a topic which concerns me deeply, and the public discourse of which tends to enrage me.

1. this country's immigration policy is highly biased. I say this as the daughter and wife of immigrants, and the contrast I have viewed in their respective treatments. My mother, a highly educated white woman from an affluent country has had residency and ultimately citizenship virtually thrust on her (fun fact: I voted for Bob Dole in the very first presidential election I was allowed to vote in, which so infuriated my mother she went out and got her citizenship so she could cancel out my vote, if so needed, in the future. What can I say, I like how the guy refers to himself in the 3rd person). Contrast this with the difficulties my husband (brown, less educated, from a 3rd world country) and I have experienced regarding his residency here. Nothing highlights the fact that political can be highly, highly personal like having the INS/USCIS inform you that "insufficient evidence exists" demonstrating that you are really and truly married. We had to send those bastards photos of our fucking closet, showing our clothes hanging out together. We had to get affidavits from family and friends stating that yes, they saw us together, and that we, you know, held hands and kissed and stuff. I fucking wrote them a letter attesting that yes indeedy we have sex and that the only reason we didn't have children yet is because I was in grad school (come to think of it, I have the same conversation with my mother-in-law every so often, but it's different, you know, she's family). I get why immigration policy favors those who are more educated, but, you know, when neo-Nazi's support your policy (I tried to find a video of a Nazi party spokesperson saying "We don't mind immigrants, as long as they're educated, white immigrants", which I know I have seen on a news broadcast, but looking through such videos in search of the correct one was fairly horrifying so I gave up. But that clip does exist somewhere, I promise), it's time for some self-reflection.

2. Which sort of leads us to the next point: state and local governments take it on themselves to try to fix a crappy policy, by developing even crappier ones. And what happens, is that supposedly "anti-illegal immigrant" policy basically winds up turning into anti-Spanish-speaking policy. Which is a large reason why we left the bigoted backwards craphole that is the state of Georgia -- my husband lived there as a legal resident for three fucking years and they never would give him a driver's license, despite the fact he had multiple documents confirming his residency. As if that's not irritating enough, I had a close to impossible time getting the DMV to allow me to change my last name, because I DARED to have a marriage certificate that was in Spanish. And this one time I was at the DMV and they told a Puerto Rican lady who had just moved there that she couldn't get a license unless she showed her passport and green card. But that was just funny. (Oh God. People won't get why that is funny. Puerto Ricans are US citizens, y'all. As are people who hail from New Mexico. And Alaskans.). NC is a progressive haven compared to GA, but my husband has still been pulled over 300% more than I have since we've moved here -- and I was legitimately violating a traffic law when I was pulled over, he's just been guilty of driving while Hispanic.

3. While many politicians (and many Americans in general) seem to make a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, for most actual immigrants that distinction is fairly artificial. My husband is here legally because he married me. Period. Had he not done so, he would not have been able to obtain legal residency in this country. At all. Ever. It's not like people say "Well, I could apply for a visa, but that's just so much work, so I think I'll just pop under the border instead" -- the people who come here illegally are the people who would not be able to come here otherwise. Tulio basically got lucky. And we have a whole lot of family and friends who didn't luck out and marry a gringa and who are here without permission. I think that's what's started this whole thought process -- 2 of our friends were picked up by the migra recently. One of them's the guy who helped us find our apartment when we moved up here. Another was helping Tulio look for jobs. They aren't faceless to us -- they're people we care about. And I don't buy the whole "Well, they must be unethical or immoral, or else they'd respect our laws" argument. If your child was starving, and you could save them by stealing a loaf of bread, would breaking the law and stealing the bread really be the unethical choice in that situation? And if you could lift your family out of generations of poverty and debt and properly nourish your children, and educate them, and build a house for your aged parents with a cement floor instead of a dirt floor and a real tile roof so they wouldn't be exposed to Chagas disease-carrying insects, and shit, help pay for potable water for your community and thereby reduce infant mortality rates there, and you could do all that just by breaking a law, wouldn't you do that? that is literally the choice many immigrants make. Additionally, another friend of ours, who was brought here as a child, is under deportation orders -- now what the hell is a 6 year old child supposed to do if his mother informs him he is going to go illegally to another country -- stop at the border and say "Oh no mom, I couldn't possibly break the law! you go on ahead and I'll stay here and fend for myself." WTF?

4. Current immigration policy breeds crime. The coyotes who smuggle people here are part of a vast international network that include human trafficking, various mafias, drug cartels, etc. A very dear person to me came here recently and was forced to smuggle drugs in as he raced across the border. He is a devout and sincere Christian and does not even drink alcohol, but he was forced to take amphetamines and smuggle drugs as part of his passage. I would estimate that a minimum of 10% of the women I know who have crossed the border illegally have been sexually exploited in some way (and I'm not including my client population here; among them the number is closer to 50%. I'm just talking about friends and acquaintances). They have been pimped out, raped, forced to exchange sexual favors for safe passage. My brother-in-laws wife's sister was robbed and sold into a brothel in Mexico by her coyote. She had money sewn into her clothing, and was consequently able to escape and make her way back home. It sounds like something out of pulp fiction, but it happened, and it happens every day. I know a woman who was raped and impregnated by a border guard. I think she deserves a green card in exchange for that shit, personally.

5. It's such a ridiculous waste of human capital. I know a woman who has a master's in education who works mopping floors in a fast food restaurant. A brilliant, capable, fully bilingual, highly educated woman, and that's the best job she can find here. What a useless waste. And underemployment is not unique to those here illegally -- I know nurses and psychotherapists who legally entered this country and who work here plucking chickens and emptying garbage cans, because they lack professional credentials, and there is no consistent, streamlined process to enable them to obtain licensure or parity here. How stupid is that?

I don't know. I guess I have nothing constructive to add to the debate, but those are my views. And I'm closing the comments because I don't want to deal with trolls.

updating!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:09:10 GMT

it was my first day at my new job today! since they aren't really sure what I'll be doing, I didn't really have to do much. So I left early, thinking I would go lounge in my apartment complex's swimming pool (which they FINALLY filled this weekend), but was thwarted by the apartment manager who informed me they had to put chemicals in the pool first. dang.

so here are some photos I took well over a month ago:

Back in May, my friend Lisa ( http://www.sexysheep.net/knitting/Blog/Blog.html )had a dying workshop at her house! called A Good Day to Dye. The next one (this upcoming weekend, but I won't be going because if I get any more yarn my house will hit critical mass, implode, and turn into a black hole of fiber) will be Dye Another Day. And then Live and Let Dye. And then Dye, Dye Again. Yes, we are hilarious.
I was going somewhere with this.
Oh yeah, the pictures!
Anyway, despite my inability to follow directions, I made some nice yarn and Lisa didn't strangle me.
I didn't get photos of the workshop because I forgot to take my camera, but here are pictures of the finished products (and Spot):

So it turns out that I prefer a very limited color palette:

This is handpainted yarn. It was all different colors when I painted it, but after heating it to set the dye, it somehow all turned purple. I did try though.

This yarn in the middle was tie-dyed! it was fun and I like how it turned out. I can't wait to see how it knits up! But I don't know what to make with it. If you have any suggestions, please comment. And if I use your suggestion, you will win a PRIZE! I mean it! And it will probably be yarn.

The yarn in the middle here is self-striping sock yarn! at least, in theory. Again, that whole not-following-directions thing. It's in my yarn queue to be knit up so I can see if it actually worked.

and this was just dip-dyed:

This was some kind of charcoal-colored roving Miss Hawklet ( http://misshawklet.livejournal.com/ ) sent to me; it was pretty but not really me, so I dropped it in a pot of purple dye, and now it's much more to my taste. obviously. I think maybe I have a problem?

Finally I broke out of my frigging purple/pink rut (have I turned into a 6 year old?) and painted some beautiful mohair locks I got at that sheep day in rainbow colors!
I love them, they are so pretty and shiney and colorful. I think I will just keep them to look at.

and since we're on a fiber theme here, these are my birthday socks. I got the yarn at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=58716 and made this pattern: http://www.marniemaclean.com/patterns/Wyvern/
I am very happy with them, but it is way too hot for wool socks right now! oh well, I will just love them in winter.

finally, my knitting group has adopted a family that is moving into a habitat for humanity house, and we knit them housewarming gifts. I was in charge of the Kitchen supplies and made a whack of dishcloths (and bullied other people into making them too. And Harena made some awesome potholders). Anyway, this was my favorite dishcloth, I made it up as I went along:

And here is my flip-flop. It is pink and sparkly. See above comment about being a 6-year-old.

Also, I finally finished my supertopsecretagentmanintheironmaskofthereddeathofasalesman project I was working on (it's so incredibly secret it made me free associate) and I have cast on for a little summer sweater for myself! I am excited. Tulio's sweater, incidentally, remains unfinished and will remain so until fall, because it's just too hot to work on it.

It's finally dropped below 6,000 C (11,000 F, or 5,780 K), so I think I'll take a walk. But I have more photos to post later!

and, upside of gas prices!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:30:44 GMT

I can't take my 40 minute commute + working out of my car, so I decided to ask to be transferred to my agency's office nearer my home, and I'll be starting there on Monday. The downside is that they don't have a Spanish-language program (although now they have me they might start one up), but the upside is that not only did I shave 30 minutes off my commute, but I'll be getting a raise as well! woo hoo!

and I apologize for not updating more often (if anyone ever reads this anymore) -- life seems to be cutting into my internet time. dammit. consequently, I no longer have any idea of what my sister is up to.

Americans don't riot enough.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:18:26 GMT

Well, they don't.

PS Happy Birthday, Chandra!

a very bad thing has happened!

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:42:37 GMT

I have completely LOST my planner! I've bought a new one, but it had all my phone numbers and addresses in it! :( :( :(
If you think I should have your address and/or phone number (or any dates you want me to remember, for that matter) please comment, I will make the comments so that only I can see them, or you can email me at kllb77 at hotmail dot com
Or if you have psychic powers and know where my planner is, let me know! :)

Also, here is an album of Duke Gardens, if you like looking at flower pictures!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v643/princesakati/duke%20gardens/

Happy Sunday!

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:48:03 GMT

5182008 031
Originally uploaded by katherinebatesruiz

I know, I know... I haven't updated in forever! I promise to do something about that one of these days (probably next weekend, this week is going to be JAMPACKED!), but meanwhile, here's a photo I took in front of my apartment just for your enjoyment.

exciting things I've done lately

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:25:55 GMT

It's so exciting I have to put it behind a cut...

but here's a sneak preview!

I made a knit squirl! http://www.fibertrends.com/viewer/patterns/FT229.htm
At first I had his nose lower down but it made him look mean so I ripped it off (ouch!) and moved it up and now he looks way cuter and more totoro-like. He is self-concious about his ears so I made him a hat. And a scarf. And a messenger bag. But that's it! for now anyway.

My mom came to visit! yay!
We went to Carrboro but we didn't take the camera so it's like it never happened.
We do have proof of going to the state farmer's market, though.

There were some awesome real flowers, but alas, we have no yard. There were some awesome unreal flowers as well, but alas, we have neither yard nor budget. Mom got a few shrubs, as she does in fact have a yard.

Then we ate fish (which I do every now and then....and clearly am very excited to do so)

Tulio just loves to have silly photos taken when he is eating.

Squirl enjoyed some hushpuppies.

We looked at some more flowers and squirl picked out some nice African daisies (Osteospermum hybrid -- lovely, with a blue center!)

Then Tulio was tired so he went home to play with the cats (who were naughty and scratched his sofa and were rewarded for their bad behavior with a brand new scratching post).

Mom and I went to the Scrap Exchange to buy fabulous things like buttons and fabric and suction cups and random small plastic things.

The Squirl befriended a dangerous pinecone (it must have been dangerous, why else would it have been caged?)(his tail was sort of coming off by that point but it has been sewn on again).

He also hung out in some flowers that may or may not have been stolen off of graves

Then mom and I went to Duke Chapel to look at some art (which we were forbidden from photographing but you can look here http://www.hollisart.com/ )

This is Duke Chapel (stupid photobucket will not let me rotate the photo)

Here it is again, with Mr. Duke out front (and my mom photographing me photographing her)

Now, I don't know if these photos adequately capture it, but it is the most ostentatious piece of nouveau riche frou-frou that I have seen recently (outside of, you know, Biltmore manor).

Which makes the fact that it has a statue of Savonarola on the facade particularly humorous. Never mind that pigeons are nesting behind Mr Bonfire-of-the-Vanities head.

Then we were tired so we went to the other example of gross excess, http://www.southernseason.com/, where we saw bakubreath and a nice man gave us chocolate, and we all lived happily ever after, the end.

PS squirl has become something of a mascot of my knitting group, but we can't decide on a name for him!
Earl? Purl? Kromsky? Nutsy? Trogdor the burninator? any ideas?

What I did today

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:59:01 GMT

I got off my sorry self-pitying butt and went to the library (where I have managed to rack up a remarkable amount of overdue fines, AAARRRGH! I better put the new books' return date in my calendar). Anyway, I got this book: http://www.japanesetemari.com/japanese-temari-book.html
because it was all shiney and pretty and I've been feeling unmotivated about knitting for the past week or so (despite having 4 projects in process and about a million more planned for). About 4 hours later, with sore fingers, I have this:

and the other side

its cute little obi

and since 4 hours was a lot of time to spend on a cat toy, it is safely out of reach in the magical artificial lemon tree (where many other random things also reside)

It is fun, but I am not a very precise person, so the end result is a little, shall we say, wabi-sabi.

So now I'm feeling more motivated about knitting, because you at least get a somewhat more practical item for all your work. Like a felted squirrel, hee hee hee hee hee.

my left arm works today!

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:40:16 GMT

I thought you would all like to know

:)

UGH!

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:26:00 GMT

I seriously feel like a truck has run over me. I am so sorry for being whiney but I truly feel awful! I have not felt this bad since I had dengue fever. I feel like such a wuss!

From:

http://www.vaccineinformation.org/tetanus/qandavax.asp

If someone experiences a deep or puncture wound, or a wound contaminated with dirt, an additional booster dose may be given if the last dose was more than five years ago. It is important to keep an up-to-date record of all immunizations so that repeat doses don't become necessary. Although it is vital to be adequately protected against tetanus, receiving more doses than recommended can lead to increased local reactions, such as painful swelling of the arm.

As mentioned above, adults who received more than the recommended doses of Td vaccine can experience increased local reactions, such as painful swelling of the arm. This is due to the high levels of tetanus antibody in their blood.

The most frequently reported side effects following vaccination with Tdap were headache, generalized body aches, and tiredness.

I had my last shot prior to joining Peace Corps, I think I had to have it before getting my medical clearance, so either late 2001 or early 2002. I must just have great tetanus antibodies.
Painful swelling in the arm my ass. I have painful swelling of half my body!

whine whine whine whine whine.

Update!

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:40:18 GMT

Here's the latest on the bruise on my leg:

NOW with more PURPLE!!!!

Taking a picture of the back of your leg is not easy.

Incidentally, I took those photos not out of my own morbid desire to document my own injuries (although that admittedly plays a part), but at my supervisor's request, in case there are any problems with the W.C. claim.

If you are wondering why I am posting in the middle of the day, well, I got my wish to leave work early -- I'm having a very strong reaction to the tetanus shot and all the muscles on the left side of my body (from my jaw to my thigh) are hurting and I'm running a slight fever, so I thought it might be best if I went home instead of gimping around Wake county and making clients take care of me. I feel like such a weenie though! So it's nice to be home, but unfortunately I"m not up for anything fun. So bleah!
However, I did go outside and take cute pictures of my cats:

Ursula is grazing and consequently looks even more bovine than usual:

NOM NOM NOM

Spot is hatching a nefarious plot involving the heat pump. Thank God she does not have opposable thumbs.

VERY exciting day, or maybe much ado about nothing.

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:15:17 GMT

Outside of the normal thrills of working in mental health, I had some additional excitement today!
First, as I was going from one client to another I took what I thought was going to be a shortcut but turned out to be a longcut and blew through a little town and was consequently pulled over by a state trooper.
He walked up to car and said "Ma'am, you were speeding. Is there any particular reason why you were speeding?"
And I said "I'm a mental health social worker and I'm going from client to client and I'm already late for my 11 o clock."
And he said "You're a mental health social worker and you're going from client to client and you're already late for your 11 o' clock?"
And I agreed and he looked at me for a minute and then said "Look, I'm going to run your plates but if everything checks out I'm going to let you go with a warning."
So I said, "Thanks, that's very nice of you."
And he went and ran my plates and came back and gave me a warning and told me to be more careful!

I must have really looked frazzled.

So then I went to 2 more appointments, and when I got to the 3rd appointment (45 minutes late), my client was not home. So I called her to see where she was, and while I talked to her, I paced around her yard, and her dog popped out of NOWHERE and bit my on my calf (The exact same place where I was bit in Honduras -- and the first thing that came into my head was "Well, at least I already have my rabies vaccine!"). My conversation with my client went like this: "Hi M, I'm at your house, did you remember that we had an appoint...GAH!" So she rushed home and put hydrogen peroxide on it, and while I was there one of my coworkers (who also works with this client) pulled up and I stood in the street screaming at her "NO! DON'T GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!" and it was all very farcical. Then I called my boss to ask if, you know, maybe I could take the rest of the day off, and she said yes but that first I had to go to Urgent Care and get it all documented for Worker's Comp., which I hadn't even thought about. 4 hours later I left not-so-Urgent Care with blood taken, pee tested for drugs, a tetanus shot in my arm, and an antibiotic shot in my butt. And I called my coworker so she would sympathize, only to learn she had locked her keys in her car and spent 4 hours in the client's house waiting for a locksmith.

Poor client, having to take care of all her service providers.

And for your edification, here is a photo of my wound:

(incidentally, it turns out the dog had some puppies stashed away and I accidentally got close to them)

Here are the eggs I painted at my friend Rebecca's egg painting party!
Also, while I do not have photographic evidence, I assure you that egg dye makes good yarn dye as well.