It's 4:16 AM. Have you been asleep at any point between sunset yesterday and now? If you answered "Yes", then that makes one of us.

What I found puzzling, at first, is that I haven't even been drowsy yet. Not even a little bit. Zero. Nothing.

It finally dawned on me what the problem is. The decongestant I got from the doctor on Wednesday has sudafed in it. That acts like a stimulant in some people, including me.

I'm supposed to take this stuff every 12 hours. Maybe I can take some non-sudafed, OTC decongestant in the evening instead of the prescription med.

Either that, or maybe after a few days of insomnia, I'll be so freaking tired, I'll fall asleep and it won't matter WHAT the freaking decongestant is.

In the meantime, Animal Planet has interesting programs on.

Nora, the piano playing cat

OMG! How adorable is this? :o) A kitty who plays piano!

In other news, Mark and I had our eye doctor appointment today. There wasn't anything significantly wrong, thank goodness, but we both need to have annual checkups because of family history and/or our own medical history. That's OK, I can live with that.

But doggone, those eyedrops used for the exam (and the blurred vision they cause) are a nuisance. File them under "necessary evil".

I think they should hire me at that doctor's office. I had all kinds of suggestions, such as having the doctors' names embroidered on their lab coats in lines of decreasing-size print, so that it looks like an eye chart. I also took the opportunity to study the 3-d model of an eye that was in the exam room. "I'd better look this over now, while I *don't* have a doctor pointing out something that's wrong. Usually, when your doctor SHOWS you models of a body part, it's because you damaged it somehow." And believe me, after the travail I went through following the knee injury, I know whereof I speak. Or write. Aaah, whatever. ;o) But trust me, when you have a doc presenting you with a model of some sort, the next phrase out of his or her mouth will be pointing out where on that body part your particular affliction is situated. So at least I got to review an eye model today, with no pressure or stress of worrying about anything being wrong. :o)

Then when the doc put on headgear that had a lamp on the front, so he could shine light into my eyes and have both hands free, I pointed out that he was mining for symptoms, and I hoped he didn't find any. And, of course, there were the instructions on where to direct my gaze, while he was shining the light in my eyes. "Down to the left... Down to the right..."

"Isn't that a dance step?" I asked, and sang it back in rhythm. "Down to the left! Down to the right! Jump back three steps..." At this point, the doctor had to turn his head, but I could see him laughing anyway. :o)

Hey, spreading silliness is serious business. SOMEbody has to do it. ;o)

On the topic of cars:
Mark brought my car home; they couldn't find any problem with it. *$%@#... Note to self: take no long drives anywhere until this is resolved. Fortunately, I haven't got any pressing reason to drive more than a few miles, nor do I expect to have a reason to drive far in the immediate future.

Also, today is the 10th anniversary of the day Mark bought HIS car.

We're not people who worry about replacing our vehicles every year, can you tell? ;o)

Meanwhile, my visit to the doctor yielded this: my BP is 100/70 (yay! Best reading I've had in months!), I still have a sinus infection, and I still have an ear infection. Result: 5 more days on antibiotics, plus a prescription for a decongestant. I hope to heck THIS works, because I've been battling with these freaking symptoms since we moved to Daylight Saving Time.

There's not a quick fix for the hearing-loss-in-left-ear issue, either. The meds will target the infection, and resolving that is the way to clear up the ear congestion. (Boo! I'd been hoping for an Instant Solution on that front, but no such luck.)

Tomorrow, Mark and I are going to the eye doctor. It's been over two years since our last visit; we're both overdue for this appointment.

That, plus my online job searching, is what's going on here these days. Well, that plus spoiling the cats, that is, but cat spoiling is a 24/7 project around here. ;o)

Aaaand surprise! My car is back in the shop. [insert list of expletives here]

It refused to start yet again, after I took a run with Joe M. to Snyder Plaza. He took SEPTA home and I called AAA.

However, AAA's ETA was possibly going to have me waiting as long as an hour, so every 5-10 minutes, I tried to start the car again. On one of those attempts, it not only started, but continued running. I cancelled the AAA call and drove the car to the mechanic's shop myself.

I mentioned not only that the car stalled once or twice in the past couple of weeks, but that there was a smell of burnt rubber when I drove to NJ a couple of Saturdays ago.

I suppose if I need to have every part of the car replaced, one by one, over time I'll have a brand-new 18-year-old car. Sigh.

I have to submit three 2-minute audio/text files by Friday.

I chose the topics of Louis Braille, Helen Keller, and the article on assistive technology for the deaf-blind that's in my June 2006 blog archives.

Notice a theme? :o)

BTW...

I have an appointment on Wednesday to followup with the doctor regarding the Sinus/Ear Infection from Hell that I've been griping about on here for the past month or so.

In the meantime, I am putting up with a new, annoying symptom. My left ear is so congested that I've actually lost some hearing in it.

I had to interpret yesterday. With my typical Murphy's Law sort of luck, when I interpret at church I stand all the way to the right-hand side of the sanctuary (facing the congregation). This means that everything in the church is on my LEFT side, where the ear isn't working properly. Oh, what fun THAT wasn't.

Oh, and then there was the ride to Hatboro that Mark and I took on Saturday afternoon. His bad ear is the right ear. My left ear is currently MY bad ear. He was driving, so we BOTH were sitting on the "wrong" side to be able to hear one another properly. This made life interesting when we made a slight miscue and took a wrong turn, then had to get back on track by following the Google map printout. And when I say "interesting", I mean "standup comedians make a LIVING from material like this". Aaaagh.

The doc had better have something in his medical arsenal to clear this congestion up. This is driving me bananas.
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Oh, and good news! I did get chosen to be a reader for that online language-instruction site. This could prove to be an interesting method of earning pin money.

I located a member of The Procrastinator's Club this afternoon. As I was walking home via Moyamensing Avenue, I saw a discarded Christmas tree lying at the curbside to be collected. On the pavement next to it was its green plastic stand.

I'm afraid to speculate on what sequence of events would lead to the discarding of a Christmas tree in late April, two weeks after Easter. Let's just say I was surprised to see it, and leave it at that. ;o)

I just got an email that saddens me to no end. Edie's hearing assistance dog, Leni (sounds like "Lenny") has died. :o(

I know he was getting on in years, I know he was starting to have spinal trouble that aging Corgis are prone to developing, and I know the plan was for him to retire and become Edie's parents' pet dog when Edie was assigned a new assistance dog (which she is on the waiting list for).

But DARN. I really loved that sweet little dog. Leni made me a fan of Welsh Corgis forever, and if I ever get one, he'll be the reason why.

Sweetest. Dog. Imaginable. I'm really going to miss that cute little guy. :o(

Poor Edie! I can't imagine what it's like to lose, not just a lovable pet and companion, but a *working* dog that she's been teamed up with for over 10 years. :o( :o( :o( My heart goes out to her.

:o(

So there I was, reviewing craigslist job openings to see what kinds of interesting items are out there.

And I found one that appears to be custom-made for a person like me. Native speakers of English and other languages are to create brief audio files and submit them, along with the matching text, to a particular site. The goal of the site is creating an online tool for teaching languages.

So I submitted an audition file. To hear the audition, once the page loads, click the "play" button (sideways triangle). Creating the file involved reading a minute's worth of text aloud, submitting the audio file with the text, and then running a special program to synchronize the on-screen indicator so that it highlights the word that's being spoken, AS it's being spoken.

It's a pretty freakin' neat process. The geek in me is fascinated by the synchronizing process. I hope I end up in their pool of readers, because it appears to be something that can easily be done during free time. The pay is more likely to be along the lines of "pocket money" than a viable income, but hey -- pocket money is nothing to turn up one's nose at.

So let's see if this actually pans out, or if they're just trying to boost their content with audition files and not actually have to pay anybody. Yeah, that possibility did occur to me, but I figured a few minutes out of my life to create and submit the file was worth the risk.

Argh. The fever I got rid of a couple weeks ago is starting to come back. I guess I'll be back on the phone with the doctor's office tomorrow. Phooey, but this darned bug is persistent!

I guess that this is an opportune time to be between job assignments. At least I can get some doggoned rest, for once. (She writes, while sitting up at 11:53 PM watching a late-night hockey game. Way to get some rest, huh?) ;o)

Now that I've got some free time, I've been looking around online at the various features of myspace. In the process, I've added several acquaintances and friends to my Friends list. I even happened to reconnect with one friend and former AOLer within days of the birth of his second child... how's THAT for good timing? :o)

So if you happen to be on myspace, stop by and send me a "friend" request. The link to my Myspace page is on the left-hand side of this screen.

Interesting little side note: every one of the people/organizations on my Friends list so far has a hockey connection. The one who is The Other Donna is, along with being my longtime friend, a fellow hockey fan. The others are all either people I've met (online or face-to-face) or groups I've joined due to my being a hockey fan. Maybe that will help the onset of the dreaded Hockey Withdrawal Syndrome that always sets in once the Flyers and Phantoms are both finished playing (which they both are).

Oops. I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since my job assignment finished. Well, not until the weekend, when Karla and Joe M mentioned it to me.

So, here we go: quick update time. I'm still fighting this #$@*$%& flu or whatever it was that had me out sick for several days. I don't think I've had a fever since I took the antibiotic a few weeks ago, but the cough, congestion, occasional earaches and fatigue have yet to dissipate. So between resting to get rid of this bug, readying for events like Easter and the Phantoms Phan Club banquet, and wrapping up work on the Phantoms player's scrapbook that I volunteered to do in the fall, I haven't been blogging.

But I turned in the scrapbook last night (and after working on it all this time, I almost hated to part with it), Easter has come and gone, the banquet was a week ago Monday, and I've finally got some actual free time. So, what have I been doing? Sleeping. For the past few weeks, I could tell that I was tired and needed extra rest, but this is ridiculous.

With any luck, I'll actually be able to keep my eyes open in the near future, so there'll be some posts with actual events in them. ;o)