Tony’s in Atlanta, GA for the FBLA national competition. (He made top 10 in his programming event - tomorrow he will find out final placement.) He harasses me mercilessly about my urge to overprotect, which drives him nuts. So on Tuesday, when the WA group went to Six Flags, he text messaged to say he was riding rollercoasters and not holding on. He had a good laugh at my panic.

Today, though, it’s not so funny. A 17-year-old boy from South Carolina was decapitated at the Atlanta Six Flags by the Batman ride, a rollercoaster that had been Tony’s favorite earlier this week.

I’m going to have nightmares tonight.

Some days I still feel too young to have kids this old.

Still here, still alive. I think. It’s the last days of my 8 week term and to be completely honest, I’m exhausted. I have a unit test to do over linear regressions, then a comprehensive final, and I’ll be done with the class by Monday. Then I have 2 months off before I start Physical Geography in September.

In the meantime, I’ve completely forgotten how to blog. This place has lain dormant for the weeks I’ve been focusing on school, and I don’t know if there’s anyone left to read it if I do get it going again. Next week, when my head is above water, I’ll see if I can remember how to write.

Now back to sample correlation coefficients.

Apparently there’s no depth to which they won’t stoop. This button, “If Obama is president … will we still call it the White House,” was for sale at the Texas State Republican Convention. Republicanmarket paid the state party $1500 for the right to have a booth and sell its products at the gathering.

When called on the overt racism, this is what the vender had to say: “It’s just been crazy,” said Jonathan Alcox, who runs republicanmarket.com and had buttons and other items for sale at the GOP gathering. “The point is we made a mistake. I realize that now. And I apologize.”

Now he realizes he made a mistake? From what I can see, the only mistake he’s concerned with is the bad publicity he’s gotten over the matter.

The Texas Republican Party has promised to donate the money to charity. Meanwhile, who knows how many people are walking around the state wearing them.

Via Trail Blazers Blog

This is the greatest commercial I’ve seen in ages.

Lou Pinella was the best thing to ever happen to the Seattle Mariners, and when management let him go, the team raced to the bottom of the division and stayed there. Now the Cubs are lucky to have him, fiery temper and all.

It’s that time of year - have you had your annual glaucoma test?

For those new around here, I have glaucoma. It’s not just an “old person’s” disease - I found out I had it at 45, my brother at 38. But after the initial panic of the diagnosis, I slipped into denial. I did my eye drops, until I ran out. I missed first one ophthalmologist appointment, then a 2nd one. Before I knew it a full year had gone by with no checkups and no medication.

Then I noticed I couldn’t see well enough to read. I called to make an appointment with my optho, but couldn’t get in for 3 months. So I went it to see a optical clinic eye doctor on Wednesday, hoping he could at least give me new glasses.

He did more than that. He showed me images of my optic nerve that I’d never seen before. What I saw frightened me. The nerve was swollen to twice it’s normal size. In the exam I learned that my vision had slipped badly, moving from a 1.25 on my bifocals to a 2.5, probably because of glaucoma damage, vision I’ll never get back again.

So I got my new glasses, and a serious scare. He wrote me a new prescription of eye drops, and I filled it immediately. I can’t get back what I lost but I can get serious about not losing any more eyesight. Hiding from bad news didn’t do me any good - it did me major harm. Playing coy with my disease doesn’t work - it marches on whether I choose to be aware of it or not. Ignoring it just hurt me.

I don’t get to say, “I’m bipolar. That’s my challenge and I don’t have to deal with any others.” I wish that each of us would have just one burden to bear and be exempt from anything else the universe might want to throw at us. But it doesn’t work that way.

So it’s time for me to nag you. Even if you don’t wear glasses, or think you’re seeing fine with the glasses you have. Please, get your eyes checked yearly, including a test for glaucoma. Yes, it’s annoying, and I know it feels like a waste of money when you think everything is fine. But please, do it anyway. An exam is just $60 at most walk-in clinics. I know that much money can be hard to come up with, but your vision is on the line. Don’t wait until it’s too late. I’m paying the price for doing that right now.

Be smarter than me.

I haven’t abandoned the blog. Really. I’ve just been so tied up with Real Life that I haven’t had time to write. If anyone is still reading, here’s a rundown of what’s been happening.

• Happy thing: Julie’s here for a 1 week visit. All my chicks are temporarily back in the nest.
• Happy thing: Tony’s graduation was nice and his party was a big success.
• Not-so-happy thing: Even good things are stressful. Graduation means he’ll be leaving home.
• Happy thing: First day of work for both Meredith and Tony. They’ve got well-paying jobs that will really help with college costs in the fall.
• Not-so-happy thing: 2 jobs in opposite directions and one car means I have to take one to and from work every day. Lots miles @ $4 a gallon.
• Not-so-happy thing: I’m feeling overwhelmed trying to juggle work, school and family. I need 4 more hours in the day.
• Not-so-happy thing: Because of time pressures, stress, and a non-responsive instructor, I did very poorly on last week’s test, barely passing with a 71. I’m discouraged.
• Happy thing: This is week 6 of an 8 week school term. 2/3 of the way through.
• Happy thing: I’ve got a stuffed turkey in the oven for dinner tonight. Smells wonderful.
• Happy thing: the Prozac seems to be controlling the depression and anxiety quite well, and I’m not gaining weight on it. I’ve even lost a couple of pounds. It’s slow, but it’s a start.
• Happy thing: went out for lunch with Julie. Talked a lot, ate too much. It was nice.
• Happy thing: thunderstorms this afternoon. I like them. Really.

Now back to studying while Julie watches a movie.

Play. Enjoy. Laugh.

Seen on the back of minivan in Spokane Valley, WA

Practice Abstinence
No Bush, No Dick

In a valiant effort to be less obsessive, I’m letting a 93% on this week’s homework stand. I missed one question, and when I saw what a simple error I made I was angry at myself. If I’d just read the question better, I would have had a perfect score.

I could retake the assignment, but the whole thing is only worth 10 points, out of 120 possible a week. I lose less than 1 point by not redoing it, or 0.583% of this week’s grade. But leaving it less than perfect has me twitching. It would only take me an hour to do it again ….

An hour I could spend cleaning, reading, or talking to my kids. Or catching up on the paying work that I’ve let slide this week to pour you-don’t-want-to-know-how-many hours into studying. I could even just sit. There’s a lot I haven’t done in the 4 weeks since this class started.

So I’m going to accept that just this once good enough will be good enough.

But it’s not easy.

UPDATE:
It’s a lot easier to accept that 93 now that I got 100 on my test.