Being a virologist, I found the Washington Post's article on West Nile Virus on the mark in coveying the serious threat that this virus poses on the widlife of the US. For all the attention the media has focused on its threat to people, they have failed to report the implications of this virus on the wildlife and livestock that become infected. The fact that this virus shows no host species specificity and is permissive to horizontal transfer (person to person, animal to animal) is quite frightening. Additionally where most pathogens are carried by one kind or a limited number of mosquitos, this virus hasn't met a mosquito it didn't like. This is not a nice bug, I'm afraid. Until some immunity develops within the populations, this virus will continue to make headlines.
Thankfully my cold did dissapate and I was not sick for the holidays. *g*
Christmas was nice. We went to Mass on Christmas Eve to avoid the rain and snow the following day. It began to snow at 10 pm as I left home to visit Sarah for a bit. By the time I left her place at 12, there was a coating of snow on my car and on the ground. And the streets were becoming glazed. It looked so pretty. A rare sight in South Jersey, with it's last White Christmas with any accumulation in 1969, several years before I was born.
By Christmas morning, it had changed to heavy rain washing away all the snow. We leasurely opened the gifts by mid-morning. And had an otherwise lazy day. :)
By later in the afternoon the snow began again, and we received a dusting that turned everything white again. It was simply lovely.
I did make it into work today, but I suspect I was running a fever in the morning as I kept having hot flashes. And tonight I'm very congested and coughing a wee bit. *sigh*
Nothing like getting sick for the holidays.
But the important thing is I did accomplish getting this project done at work before the end of the year!
Now I just need to get my Christmas cards all sent out. LOL. I know. I'm bad. Or perhaps pathetic. ;)
Home sick today. I feel like someone beat me up. And the worst part is I have stuff to do at work tomorrow that can't be rescheduled so I'll be dragging my sorry ass in no matter if I feel better or not. :(
I did get more gifts wrapped. Now I need to get my cards written. Anyone have any spare energy I can use?
Though lately I feel like the uber-bitch at work, I've managed be more generous outside of work with Christmas approaching. Holding the door for a woman carrying packages that I saw coming from some distance, opening a jar for a young girl/neighbor that I've never met that showed up at my door looking for a helping hand, tipping more than 20% for good service, etc. Where did this thought come from? A Word Goddess post from a journal I read from time to time.
I've decided to post my own 12 days of Christmas thoughts.....
12. Twelve People you are grateful for in your life.
1. My Mom, who is my best friend, who has always been there to support me even when she doesn't always agree with my choices. I've been blessed with one of the best Moms in the world! :)
2. My Dad, my fix-it specialist and hero, who is always there to help those in need (even when sometimes he shouldn't) and turn my tears to a smile and a laugh when I'm sad.
3. My brother Brian, who shares the rent and is my day-to-day companion. Even though he tends to sit on his ass too much, he's a good guy that's easy-going and pleasant to live with. Oh yeah, and he keeps my computer in proper working order, deleting stuff out of my start menu and the like. LOL.
4. My brother Joe. Despite all his mis-steps of late, he does have the best of intentions.
5. My cousin John, since he is like another brother to me, and he has hands of gold that work out all the knots I get from the stress in my life.
6. Karen, who is one of the 'sisters' I never had. My pool playing buddy. And the one with whom I discuss the trials and tribulations of dating (or lack thereof). I'm thankful for her support and friendship.
7. Sue, another 'sister', one I've known since college, with whom I can share sibling stories, work stresses and the like. And who I can throw stuff at when I get pissed off and she still talks to me. ;)
8. Tiffany, another college 'sister', who I can play pinochle with online from time to time. This summer I was fortunate enough to get to visit her and her husband at their cabin. The miles erased within seconds and it was as if we'd seen each other only yesterday. I'm quite thankful that she was not outside the WTC last year when 9/11 went down, having instead walked by the towers to change trains less that an hour prior.
9. Urvi, a friend I met at work, whom I watched fall in love, get married, and move to be with husband in just over a year. I'm thankful to have known someone with such a warm heart and inner grace. I never thought I'd ever return to Houston, Texas, but I guess I'll have to someday soon so I can visit! :)
10. Sarah, a friend from high school, with whom I reconnected with after a 2 year lapse in communication. She's my sole connection to that part of my life. Hopefully I'll get to see her over Christmas!
11. Tabitha, my Maine Coon kitty that I brought back from Texas over 7 years ago. (yes, kitties are people too! ;) ) She's was my sole companion when I lived alone, and gave me comfort when I was lonely or sad.
12. Gee, my 'new' cat. It's been almost a year, and a rough one at that, but I can't imagine my life without him now.
Only 12...gosh....there are definitely many more. :)
11 Things in a Bottle. What would I put into a Time Capsule
1. Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Toward Ecstasy album (an extra copy)
2. Pictures of my family, friends, and cats. (LOL...I just realized I answered this the same.)
3. My. JD Robb books, Anne of Green Gable Books, Little House Books....my, what a combo!
4. My La Femme Nikita tapes
5. VH1's Pop-Up videos
6. The keys to my first car
7. $10 clunky black boots
8. The family tree my grandfather drew up
9. My first paycheck
10. Highschool yearbooks
11. My penny collection
10 Things the past year has taught me.
1. Friends are people who accept you as you are, love and support you, and tell you what they really think. Those that talk badly about you behind your back, only include you when other friends aren't around, and just plain treat you bad, are not your friends.
2. Dads never want to see their daughters as grown up. As much as he says he wants you to accomplish more than he did, he doesn't actually want to see it with his own eyes.
3. 401k's can go down more than they go up.
4. George Bush is a threat to our civil liberties and to peace on earth (oh, yeah, I knew that before this year, it only became more clear).
5. London is a dirty city where you end up with gray snot coming out of your nose each evening when you blow your nose, LOL!
6. The best gossip on the Royals can be heard from a tour guide.
7. Men don't know what they want except for sex.
8. Racism is still prevalent and perpetuated by previous generations.
9. White box trucks are very prevalent in the DC area.
10. Experts that appear on the news aren't always right. And the ones that profiled the sniper case were mostly wrong.
9 Things I could have done without this year
1. The sniper shootings in the DC area.
2. Gee getting sick, peeing all over the place, and costing me $$$$.
3. Someone intentionally scratching my car.
4. The stress of the last few months.
5. Losing a former co-worker to cancer, and having two coworkers diagnosed with cancer, one whose end may be near.
6. Dealing with pettiness and ugliness.
7. Turning 30.
8. Having allergies worse than ever.
9. Having the stomach flu early in the year.
8 of the Best Books and Movies this year
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Signs
3. Ocean's Eleven
4. Gosford Park
5. Reunion in Death, JD Robb
6. MIB II
7. Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring
8. Star Wars Episode II (begrudgingly)
9. ....run out of answers.....
7 Things I've Done to Make the World Happy
1. Smiling, even when I'm not happy.
2. Holding the door.
3. Helping others when the situations present themselves.
4. Decorating my place for Christmas.
5. Giving directions to those that are lost.
6. Adopted a cat. (Gee)
7. Blogged ;)
6 Things I'd Like the New Year to Bring
1. No War with Iraq
2. Love
3. Good Health for those I love
4. Finding a house to buy
5. Visiting Friends
6. The Eagles winning the Super Bowl.
5 Gifts I'd Like to Give
1. Money to those who need it.
2. My Love
3. My talents
4. Myself, LOL
5. A clue to those who don't have one
4 Non-tangible Gifts I'd Like to Receive
1. Love
2. Respect
3. Peace
4. Harmony
3 Tangible Gifts I'd Like
1. A new gym bag
2. Jewelry
3. Money
2 Favorite Holiday Memories
1. Receiving my first bike, a Huffy Goldenrod bike with a banana seat in 1978. It was next to the tree with a bow attached. Everyone came outside to see me ride it for the first time.
2. Last Christmas, my nephew Alex got the greatest thrill out of running and pushing an empty box around the house. Having a child in the house after so long brings back the simple joys of Christmas.
1 Thing That Surprised Me The Most About This Year
That this fall could be more stressful than last fall. Instead of one horrible day, we dealt with 3 weeks of constant fear. Thankfully they caught the bastards.
Turns out there were just 2 helicopters. At least according to some one else who heard them. One that kept going north and one that circled several times. The circling helicopter had a search light, so more than likely it was a police helicopter. Still was an unusual occurance. And the circling helicopter was the one I kept hearing flying overhead.
Three military helicopters went overhead just now...is Cheney in the neighborhood?....sheesh. Here's one more. What the hell is going on? I'm tired of having my chandalier shake. There's number 5....Holy cow! Doesn't make me feel too comfortable. Granted I live near DC, but I've never heard that many at one time before. *shudder*
Bush scolded Trent Lott...scolded? He'd better do a lot more than that for the crap Lott said. He is after all the majority leader, not joe schmoe. Additionally Bush is cutting out funding for heating oil subsidies for the needy in what could be a harsh winter. Looking out for his oil interests, ya think? Does this guy ever quit? Hopefully he'll alienate every interest group out there that he'll have no chance in hell in being re-elected. And it doesn't matter who's controlling Congress since he keeps finding ways to circumvent it, including using an executive order to institute using faith-based groups to give to the needy, cutting those dollars out of his budget.
Pass me some more Advil. Daily doses of Dubya give me migraines.
I eventually did go to work yesterday, as the temperature rose above 32 degrees. I can't say there was anything spectacular about this birthday, but I guess it didn't suck too bad either, LOL. Having a December birthday, it comes with the territory. Everyone is consumed with the stress of the holidays. I do understand that. But it never was easy for a young girl to understand why few family or friends would actually show up for her birthday. As I told my co-worker whose wife is ready to give birth any day, having a December birthday really sucks, especially as a kid.
Probably one of the better things that I was given were well wishes from some online friends, telling me about their 30th birthdays and how their 30s were happier times in their lives, feeling more secure in themselves, their jobs and in love. I hope that proves true for me, too. My fortune from the fortune cookie I got last night read, "Don't give up. The best is yet to come."
I'd love for that to be true. :)
*drum roll please*
Today is my 30th birthday. And I'm home from work because we're having an ice storm here today. Since I saw how well Montgomery County dealt with the snow, I don't dare go out on icy roads. Hopefully it will not get so bad that we lose power. No heat would really suck right about now.
It's been a strange week. I received a large birthday gift prior to my actual birthday from two women who I had considered close friends at one point in time. These are two women I work with that I've found myself rejected by on many other an occasion. By rejected I mean not included, shunned, stabbed in the back, and on some occasions manipulated by these two. I had written off the friendships because of this sort of behavior. But I remained on friendly terms because I do have to work with them everyday.
When I was given notice of the gift (it's coming in the mail), I was totally blown away. Grateful on one hand (it is an expensive gift, afterall), but uncertain and on guard on the other. On guard, because of the strange way I was presented with the gift. (Outside of our office area because they did not want to make the other coworkers feel awkward since they did not ask for their contributions toward the gift.) And because of past actions. Thus far I thanked them for the gift and accepted it. But I'm not completely comfortable with that decision. I almost feel like by accepting their gift I am accepting their poor treatment of me. Am I right to feel that way? Should I go so far as to return the gift to them? I just dunno.
Snow! We have lots of it here. And as someone suggested at work, if Charles Moose were in charge of the plowing in Montgomery county, we might have had clear roads in a reasonable amount of time! LOL!
I finally left for work this morning at 10:30 am, when it was clear the snow was nearing an end and work had still not closed. The primary and secondary roads were pathetic at that time. I barely made it up the hill by my apartment. Great Seneca Highway had one of 2 lanes kinda clear, but it still required speeds of under 30 MPH. And I ended up behind someone who would only go 25 MPH at most and wouldn't maintain any particular speed. Then when I turned onto the flattest road that went toward my workplace, I found it was unplowed. ( My normal route was too steep to consider even trying. ) Following a set of tiremarks in the middle of the road, I crawled at about 20 MPH. Twice I had to pull to the side a bit as cars came in the opposite direction. Then in the curvy section I ended up in deeper snow and nearly got stuck. Stearing into the slide was not having the desired result because it wasn't ice that I was driving on. Fortunately I made it out of the deeper snow and soon after I made it to work safely.
But those had to be some of the worst road conditions I've ever encountered. Most of my snow driving experience was from Rochester, NY where they KNOW how to treat and clear the roads. Also, the ground is flat and the roads straight, so you don't encounter steep hills often. The only one big hill I recall was the one by Racquet Club Apts off Scottsville Road...or was it River Road? Geez...I've been away from there too long. LOL.
Even the guys that braved their way from Myersville/Middletown area complained that the roads weren't too bad until they reached Montgonery County. Perhaps it did snow a bit more in this area, but it would have been nice if they pre-salted the roads and had more plow crews out. If my work had closed today I wouldn't have minded so much. But because I work for a company that refuses to close despite the fact that 75% of its staff stayed home anyway...well, you get the picture. LOL.
I have to admit the snow makes me feel more in a Christmas frame of mind. And it reminds me that my 30th birthday is less than a week away. *Gulp*
Peeking my head up after the holiday...almost a full week later. And I see in my last entry I typed blong instead of blog, LOL! It might have been due to having the *long*est three day week one could expect. Mostly due to work issues. And I came back to work this morning with a refreshed attitude only to have it that attitude disintegrated within the first hour. Oy!
I just need to get through the next three weeks...three weeks. That's my new mantra. Then I get 2 whole weeks off!
The other pisser today was when I realized this morning that my gloves were missing from my coat pockets. And today wasn't one of those days you want to go without gloves. Quite frigid with or without the wind chill. I've had these gloves nearly 10 years. They were a pair I had managed not to lose for that long! I'm hoping I locate them, but as of now I haven't figured out where I lost them. :(
My one positive note from the weekend is I'm practically finished my Christmas shopping. Though I do need to get my parents big gift, but that just requires me to set up getting two cell phones. And I think I've decided which wireless carrier I'm going to get for them. That's an accomplishment right there! LOL.
And actually, a second more important positive note was I spent a very pleasant Thansgiving weekend with my family. I am truly thankful for that. Good food and good company are always a blessing. :)