Some people are so freaking snotty.  I had to go to my doctor today, and since I was up in that neighborhood I figured I’d hit up the place that I used to get pedicures from.  I always liked it there, it’s in the middle of a ritzy neighborhood so it was always good people watching.  I went in, selected my polish color, and was settling down into the chair when I apparently leaned on my keys wrong - because I set off my car alarm.  It took me a second to realize it was mine, and while my brain was working on registering this, the two women across from me heaved loud sighs, rolled their eyes, and one turned to the other and said “Well, that’s SO relaxing.”  The second one nodded, and said “People have no respect with their car alarms.  I’m tired of how they just let them go on and on.  It’s so rude.”

By this point I had retrieved my keys, and held up the key fob to deactivate the alarm.  Because I’m working on a fantastic headache and am in a shitty mood anyway, I looked over at them (because they realized it was me) and said “You know what else is rude?  Not having a clue what’s really going on and jumping to conclusions.  I’m so sorry my accidentally setting off my car alarm bothers you soooooooo much.”

One of the women that worked at the salon (that was facing away from the two women) started smiling.  One of the women said to me “Was that comment necessary?”  I said “About as necessary as yours.”

Bitch.  Thankfully, the snots left shortly after that, and my woman gave me an extra long foot massage.

I’m going to take some Advil now.

Do you think things like this are the reason that she’s been howling and being a loudmouth in the middle of the night?  Revenge?

I mentioned a couple of months ago that my dad has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  It was caught in the very early stages, all are optimistic, my parents went for appointments to discuss options on how to best treat him a month or so ago, and they settled on a new radiation technology called the CyberKnife.   Their website says that it’s “the world’s only robotic radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors anywhere in the body non-invasively with sub-millimeter accuracy.”  What this meant, in the short version, was that rather than the typical radiation treatment of 9 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 9 weeks, my dad would undergo a 45 minute session for 5 days.  That’s it.  The CyberKnife is also less damaging to other tissues and organs around the area to receive radiation.

My mom is a nurse, and the hospital she works at recently acquired a CyberKnife and spent a boatload of money adding on to their already reputable cancer treatment center.  My dad went in for all his pre-radiation testing and scans, and they set his appointment for treatment at the end of September.

Then the insurance company denied his treatment.  They called it “Unnecessary and experimental”.  For my mother, this meant war.

She has a fabulous reputation at her hospital, so the next day she was on the phone with three different VP’s.  All were outraged.  Come to find out, every single hospital worker - administrators, doctors, nurses, techs, admins, custodial - anyone who has the insurance offered by the hospital - we’ll just call it “X” - would be denied the CyberKnife treatment.  So that’s great, right?  The hospital invests a ton to get this equipment, but oops!  About 80% of their staff, and the dependants/spouses also covered under “X” insurance will get denied this treatment.  What’s even more (not) funny is that X is a fairly large provider in the part of the state my parents live in - and a lot of big name companies also offer it to their employees.  Which means all those employees at other companies will be denied this treatment.

Oops.

At a hospital wide staff meeting a few days later, my mom’s friend sat in the audience as the Chief Medical Officer gave his spiel about the CyberKnife.  She waited until he was done, and then asked if he was aware that the spouse of a hospital employee had just been denied the treatment.  She said his jaw just dropped.

Insurance companies are frustrating little beasts anyway, but it really brings up a huge question to mind - who are the people that are making the decisions?  I would like to believe that they employ staffs of medical professionals to evaluate cases and make the best decisions for each patient, but hahaha…I’m sure we all know that’s not the case.  I can’t imagine that the people that made the decision to send women home within 48 hours of a double mastectomy a few years ago were caring medical professionals. Right now my parents are appealing the decision (with some pretty heavy support from the hospital administration) - but what about the people that don’t have a nurse for a wife?  Or the people that might have that in with the medical community?  Yes, the CyberKnife  is new, and I understand that, and it’s expensive, and I understand that too…but when do people and what’s best for them start factoring back into the equation?

Since I left home (knocking on wood right now) I’ve not been sick.  I haven’t been hurt.  I haven’t had any major medical issues (knocking on wood again for good measure).  I’m honestly really petrified to go through the medical system on my own without my mother - not because I still need my mommy to hold my hand, but because my mother is a ferocious bulldog in that respect.

It’s frightening.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the appeal goes through.

There aren’t enough songs about Monday, I’ve decided.

Since it’s Monday, and I’m hot and heavy into writing and I feel discombobulated, then I feel this post will be allowed to be discombobulated too.

Hot and heavy into writing sounds sexy, doesn’t it?  Does it sound even sexier if I say I’m writing about political ads, and right now I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon writing about John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads?  If that doesn’t scream sexy, I don’t know what does.

Wait…yes I do.

I had a most excellent weekend.  After a Twitter debate on Friday over what was better: pie day or homemade ice cream (duh, pie day!), the tempt of homemade ice cream was brought forth in an invitation to enjoy some of the goodness, so after catching “What Happens in Vegas” at the dollar theater (which, while funny, is about the only place that you should watch this movie), my boy and I headed up to Justin and RaDonna’s for some homemade ice cream.  It was most delicious.  However, as much as I love (LOVE) ice cream, I have to hold a special place for pie day in my heart, because pie day was my boy’s and my first date.   I’ll take ice cream every other day of the week, but on Friday?  Pie day wins.

Sunday we had a lazy, lazy day, which was totally fine.  I did wash the sheets and comforter, and we both cleaned up the spare room, as we have a friend coming in from Atlanta to spend the weekend with us this coming weekend.  This is actually someone I went to high school with. We weren’t friends then, but a couple of years ago we randomly ran in to each other in Publix in Atlanta.  Turns out we lived about a mile apart, and our friendship blossomed.  Among other things, I plan to have him absolutely school me and my boy in some golf this weekend.  Apparently I need some humbling.

Today I’ve managed to shake this non-motivated feeling I’ve been struggling with, and I started to work on one of my book chapters.  It feels good to be writing again, and even though I’m cursing the lack of scholarly research and my complete ineptitude with figuring out how to cite some of this stuff (an M3U - what the hell is that???), I’m enjoying being back in the groove.

Which means I’m about to get all geeky again.

My boy did tell me today after I said something that I was really just a nerd.  I can’t remember what I said now.  It was something nerdy though.

I make up for the nerdiness with a dirty, dirty, dirty sense of humor.

And now I’m going to go watch the new episode of The Closer - new season started tonight!

This meme is getting stolen from Angie at The Furry Tripod. I’m actually writing it on Friday night, but pre-dating it for Saturday, because I’m sneaky like that sometimes!

1. What is the most random object around you? My pet rock, courtesy of Justin and Radonna (who, by the way, bought one for me and my boy when they were out on a date and happened upon an Abba tribute band. A ha!  More Abba!!!)
2. When is your birthday? September 19
3. What were you doing at 8:00 this morning? In the shower
4. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Shopping at Wal-Mart, because I had the mistaken idea that going on a Friday night would be better than going at any point this weekend.
5. Last place you took a train to? New York City (but I did it from CT, not Alabama)
6. Do you like your life as of now? Yes!
7. Last thing you purchased? Print cartridges, cat food and cat litter.
8. How’s your mood lately? Uncharacteristically, I feel very unmotivated lately.
9. Where did your last hug take place? At pie day.
10. What are your plans for the weekend? Some sleeping, some cleaning, some vegging, some reading…
11. Ever kissed someone who smokes? Yes
12. Did you have a good birthday this year? I haven’t had my birthday yet this year!
13. Are you tired right now? Yes, and I can’t figure out why. It’s not like I did anything all week that was particularly taxing.
14. Do you chew on your straws? No. But I chew on my ice.
15. What’s your favorite room in your house? Ummm…I’m not sure I have one I’d call my favorite. I’m hoping that once I get it painted, the library will be.
16. How many children do you plan on having? I have no idea. Some days I say none. Some I say one. I have a strong feeling if I do, I’ll be part of the “One and Done” club.
17. Is your hair curly? No. When it’s wet, I can get a good wave going, but it never dries that way.
18. Who was at your house last? My friend Cynthia
19. Where is your first love? Somewhere out there!
20. Are you able to climb a chain link fence? Yes. With flourish, too.
21. Who’s car were you in last? Mine
22. What did you do last Thursday night? Ummm…I think I pretended to do some schoolwork, then gave up and watched old Cheers re-runs.
23. What color shirt are you wearing? Black.
24. How long is your hair? It’s slightly longer than shoulder length right now.
25. Where did you sleep last night? In my bed.
26. Who was the last person to tell you they love you? My boy
27. Are you ashamed of your past? No. I’m ashamed of a thing or two I did in my past, but not my whole past.
    
28. Where is your phone? Regular landline? There’s one in the office, one in the bedroom, and one in the living room. My cell is right next to me on the desk right now.
29. Are you going on vacation in the summer? I’m going to Chicago in August for a conference, but have built in some play time.
30. Do looks matter? Usually. Sadly.
31. Texting right now? Nope.
32. Do you trust people? Not very easily, and not very many.

I would just like to say that I told my boy last night that all the cool people that read my blog liked Abba too, and while I can’t replicate the face he made at me, suffice to say that he apparently deems all of that enjoy the Abba uncool.

Hmph. Just for that, I might continue to sing Abba songs after the movie comes out. He actually talked me in to doing a podcast with him debating the bad/good of Abba, and after I stopped laughing like a jerk for about 20 minutes, I pretty much made no sense except to say that Abba is just fun.

Not that I ever considered a career in radio, but that made it pretty obvious that I probably did a good thing never trying to be a DJ of any kind. I’m too shy. Which is a huge contradiction, given that I’m getting a Ph.D. in Communication, I teach, and I’ve taught public speaking despite my intense hatred for it…how can I be so shy? I’m debating on if I should post the podcast - mostly because I’m worried no one else will find it as humerous as we do.

I did my best to teach the whole concept of Fair Use yesterday, and I don’t think I did the worst job ever. I’m not a media law scholar, which I think you need to be to teach that effectively. I kind of glossed over that and moved on to a couple of different cases - one dealing with protecting confidential sources in news stories, and the other talking about hidden cameras in investigative journalism. I think the kids are starting to loosen up a little bit (and maybe take that 50% participation part of their grade seriously?), and talk more - which is good. I’ve spent the past couple of days doing more lecturing than I’ve wanted, but that’s going to change today. Today I get to bring in the new media component, which of course, is my huge interest. Today I’m going to break them in to groups and give them case studies and make them work through them - including one about blogging. And no, I’m not giving them this blog to read.

But hooray! Today is Friday! One week of classes down, 3 more to go! I will say that I’ve enjoyed this ‘only teaching one and taking none’ thing. However, in my grand plan, I planned to be doing more of my own work. However, life has gotten in the way, and have not. That will have to change soon enough - I’ve got 2 book chapters due at the beginning of August that I kind of haven’t started.

Teehee.

A couple of years ago I gave up regular radio and asked for Sirius for Christmas. I was living in Birmingham (before I move back to Atlanta - again - for a job promotion that I walked out on, and my foray into teaching), and Birmingham radio? Well…it sucks. Really bad. Even in the past few years it has gotten worse. So I asked for the satellite radio subscription, and it’s been one of the best gifts I’ve received.

Recently, Sirius has embarked on a promotion for the upcoming Mama Mia movie - they’ve dedicated one of their channels for a limited time as Abba Radio - all Abba, all the time. Who’s the geek that is totally loving this? That’s right. It’s me. I think my boy is going to be thrilled when this movie finally comes out - not because he’s dying to go see it (quite the contrary, actually), but because it will mean I might finally shut up and stop singing Abba songs.

I’ve never pretended to have great musical taste - I like a very wide range of things. On Sirius, the channels that get the most use range from 50’s to 90’s, E Street Radio (Bruce Springsteen!), first wave, classic rewind, 90’s alternative, the singer/songwriter coffee house, hair nation (come on…Warrant? Motley Crue? Guns n Roses?), classical and Broadway hits, and of course, Howard Stern. See? All over the board. However, I’ll admit that I love the 80’s. I own a Nelson CD. Music-wise, I’m a little bit of a dork. And I’m fine with that.

Yesterday as I was driving home from school, I was singing along to Abba, complete with microphone hair brush. I’m sure the other drivers were loving that.

Do I care? Nope. Not even a little bit.

It was way more fun that trying to figure out how to teach the legal issues of ethics. One concept I’ll cover is Fair Use, which basically allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders. This comes in to play in journalism quite frequently - maybe the most obvious and easy example is the ability for a reviewer to quote from a book or movie when writing a review. The official definition I’m using says, “a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose such as to comment upon, criticize or parody a copyrighted work.” Ok. So what does ‘transformative’ mean in this instance? Haha. “So what is a “transformative” use? If this definition seems ambiguous or vague, be aware that millions of dollars in legal fees have been spent attempting to define what qualifies as a fair use. There are no hard-and-fast rules, only general rules and varying court decisions.”

So basically, here’s a concept, but oops, we can’t define it, because apparently it’s undefinable, because the judges and lawmakers that created Fair Use want it to be wide open to interpretation. How the hell do you teach something like that? Maybe I’ll just make a big game board, and we can play a take off of ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey”…except I’ll call mine “Pin a guess at a definition on the legal term”.

Ok, so maybe it won’t be a big hit with the kids, but I bet it would go over great at law school parties!

The Exploding Watermelon!

See the video here (because WordPress sucks and won’t let me embed anything right now).

(Thanks to my boy for the shooting, editing, and commentary!)

That’s right, today was my first ethics class that shouldn’t be about ethics. :-I

The only thing interesting to report was that of the 12 I have enrolled, only 8 showed up.  I understand that the first day of class is usually nothing to write home about, but considering it’s when the professor goes over the syllabus - why the heck wouldn’t you show up?  Especially in one of these abbreviated summer classes.  I don’t get it.

I did get to share (somewhat gleefully) that 50% of the student’s grades will be based on participation.  As I said to them, “If you plan on just showing up and not saying anything, then you should plan on getting an ‘F’”.  This is so fabulous.  It’s a senior level ‘capstone’ class, which means I can run it more seminar style - which means less lecturing from me, more discussion from them - and the discussion does not in any way, shape, or form include a persuasive or a demonstrative speech.  I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this.

It’s really fun for me to read the things I’m having them read and think up prompting questions.  I’m excited about case studies we’ll go over - this week I’m going to have to do a review of ethics, ethical principles, and law things (you know, copyrights and other things that you can get sued for), and then I get to move right into a discussion about news in the online world - you know, what the other person thinks the entire class should be about?  Except I’m going to spend 2 days talking about how the world of news is constantly a’changing, and from there, I can interweave that back into whatever ethical topic we’re talking about.  Hmm?  See how I did that?  I can talk about new things and still make it a class about ethics!

Genius.

I finally got paid today, and that was a fun adventure that still isn’t over.  I went after class to get my check (you know, the one that is now a week late because some people can’t do their jobs?), and was told “Oh, the machine we use to print the checks is broken.  We won’t have them until after 3.”  Haha.  Are you kidding?  And then they actually wondered why I was pissed?  So I got the check, ran it to the bank to try to make a wire transfer to my main bank and beat the hold, and was told all wire transfers had to be done by noon.  Which means I’ll never beat the hold, because my class goes to 11:45 in Tuscalooser, and the closest credit union branch to me is about 40 minutes from there.

But - I have the money, it’s being transferred, and if I get desperate, I guess I can share the cat’s food. 

I don’t understand, in the age of electronics, why this is so hard.  Computers and technology are supposed to make things simple, aren’t they?

And can anyone with a WordPress blog tell me why WordPress is sucking so bad and not letting me embed video from anywhere?  I’ve been able to do it before, but I’m having no luck now.