Month: May 2019

The place we’re staying

Has certain requirements. Like meeting with what they call Ambassadors weekly or bi-weekly. Our particular Ambassador is in two words fucking useless.

I had this on Ambassador say to my spouse and I maybe I should stop pursuing my I.T. career and get a job in a shoe store, or a burger place etc. I said are you fucking serious? At that point I got the spouse up and said “We have to leave now.”

Then he said it’s a crisis situation to which I replied “My hands around your neck would be a crisis.”

The result – now this Ambassador knows I’m not one to be pushed like that because I push back.
Ut fucking si. Who the fuck does this dude think he is? I’d ID and tag him on here but I know google scrapes this site. I get to meet with him again on the 4th of June. That is going to be a fun one.

The Philosophy Class

It’s funny how an off the cuff comment about how to effect political change sticks. To the point the woman leading the class wants to use it to help end homelessness. To the point where she’s drafting a letter with all our names on it and a group photo that will go the Atlanta City Council.

I had explained how to get the respect of politicians either willingly or begrudgingly. You kind of have to be like white on rice with them. When you think about it they’re people just like us. You’ll see them in the supermarkets, on the street etc. Just introduce yourself and ask how they’re doing. Then launch into a discussion on your topic and why you support the view that you do.

I hadn’t realized that philosophy could launch into action like that but hey glad I could get the ball rolling.

Talking with others exposes why policies changed.

So we’re staying at a place where there are certain rules an regulations. We have to meet with our assigned Ambassador twice a month.

What I found out this evening venting my frustration with the Ambassador we’ve been assigned – I found out those meetings weren’t mandatory by policy until a month before we got here. Apparently the Ambassadors were just walk in and see them. But hardly anyone wanted to see them. So they had to justify their existence somehow. Hence the mandatory part. Ut si!

Oh and the fun of telling my Ambassador that I lost my faith 40+ years ago. That was fun. He asked if I’d had a strong one – and I said for 12 years yes I did. Then this cat says “It couldn’t have been a strong faith.” I told him my strongest faith is in my fellow humans.

Todays Religious Stupidity

So we’re studying Proverbs chapter 16, and this one 16:3

16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

The guy teaching the course says without gawd that plans will fail due to gawd making them fail. So it struck me, based on that statement isn’t gawd as bad as Satan?

And at one point the teacher says arrogance is the sin of Lucifer. I raised my hand and said “Do you know what Lucifer means translated from Latin?” The teacher indicated he did’t so I told him, it means the Light Bringer. Hopefully he’ll get to chew on that one for a week.

This weeks fun medical story

Let us go on a journey together into what I believe is wrong with the medical system he in the United States.

The spouse and I have been suffering symptoms that could easily be either salmonella poisoning or c. Diff. Looking at the symptoms I lean toward the latter.

When I relayed my symptoms to the NPC or Nurse Practitioner she immediately jumped to a Hepatitis A infection. But later she came out an asked me about one element of my narrative I’d told her. You see Hep A takes at least a month before symptoms start showing. Mine started this past Friday. And the transmission vector was a food worker who came out of a stall in the bathroom an skipped the sink, soap and water and headed straight back to the kitchen.

But here’s what annoys me they could have corrected the diagnosis right then and there. But nope – just something to stop what I euphemistically call the Hershey Squirts . So the underlying issue won’t get treated for about another week. Ut si!

And the spouse – I told him you only give a doctor or NP just enough information. In his case anytime he’s in a medical setting his blood pressure goes nuts. So that opens up what I term fishing expeditions, he’s had EKG’s, Echocariograms, etc. They keep thinking it’s congestive heart failure. But he DOES NOT HAVE symptoms of such. It makes me crazy that medicine can be so wrong all the time.

Living in an environment steeped in Christianity

So for the past few months we’ve been in the Altanta, GA area. And I gotta say the Christian thing is starting to grate on my nerves. It’s funny I went to a Bible Study class the other day and they were using the NIV. I brought up the KJV and asked since many translated all this were we to believe it hasn’t undergone the same in the past. That got the leader of the group stuttering. I just love being the little poison pill in things like that. If can cause anyone some doubt I’ve done my job.

The attended a philosophy class. That was fun. We’re dancing around the religion issue but the question asked at the last meet was “What changes would we see if men could get pregnant?” The woman teaching the class thought it was a sort of silly one. I piped up that were that to come true, all the bloviating and opposition to contraceptives and abortion would no longer be an issue.

Today’s Odd Religious Experience

So this morning after breakfast we had to hit the chapel. A woman was asking about things like sin and what is considered sin.

I mentioned sloth. She thanked me for it and expounded on it. But then communion – I couldn’t. Not because I’m no longer a Christian but because she pulls out grape juice. Yeah grape juice. Doesn’t even say the incantation over it.

It rather surprised me how old school I am about this. I mean come on, use wine it won’t kill us. And say some magic words for the transubstantiation to take hold. I mean honestly they expect grape juice and a cracker will do it? I think not.

The Odyssey Continues

So we needed to get test strips for a glucometer. But since cash is short we ended up at Mercy Care. Imagine my shock at seeing their founders were the Sisters of Mercy – I was educated by nuns of that order.

But anyhow they took someones blood pressure and of course off the charts again. Now when I take it, it’s normal. Even had the laptop with me and showed the nurse practitioner. All this to get test strips which of course we did NOT get. Instead yet another blood pressure medication and some lancets. I swear the universe is telling me, go get a god damned medical degree.

He also has some edema in the lower legs – and I mentioned something. I said he has diminished kidney function – so what happens to all the fluid but it pools in the lower extremities. That got their attention. I also mentioned his other symptom the light headed feeling he gets. Perhaps the blood gets so diluted that it causes a slight hypoxic effect.

We’ll see. Pickup the new BP medication on Monday.