(no subject)

Went to the urologist yesterday. I was in the waiting room for quite some time- I think an hour, maybe an hour and a half- but I'm not complaining. I have never in my life seen so many unhappy old men in one place. I know how triage works; those guys were there because they were sick, or trying not to be. I was just there for a check-over.

Turns out the initial x-ray found a four-millimeter object of some kind, which the doctor believes is a stone. I have to get a CT scan to confirm this. First available appointment's in late July. Until then I have orders to drink 2.5 liters water per day, stop adding salt to my diet in general, add lemons (and other citrus fruit, but mostly lemons) to my diet in general, and consume no more than two deck-of-cards-size servings of 'anything you have to kill to eat*' per day.

On the one hand, I'm angry because if that thing shows up on the CT scan in a month's time, I almost certainly won't get my FAA certificate. On the other hand, I'm rather glad I got sent to the urologist in the first place, because that's not the kind of thing that shows up in a routine physical. And on the gripping hand, I am going to view this as a sign that I am so hardcore I can walk around with a rock in my abdomen and not even notice. You take your consolations where you can get them. If I am very lucky the citric acid and the water will do their magic and I will get a clear scan and a note saying "stone tendencies are under control, she's clear to fly"... we'll see.


*The doctor's words were 'fish, chicken- anything you have to kill- meat'. I get the feeling some semi-vegetarian tried to say that fish didn't count as meat or something like that. Maybe not for purposes of philosophy or something, but as far as the kidneys go it does.

(no subject)

Email this morning: You've Received A Gift From Groupon

*click*

20 percent off local deals. (Not surprised; the last two times they offered this I bought something reasonably big. Probably attempting to drive revenue up.)

*click local offers button*

Intro to Sailing lesson, huh? Where is this Jeffries Point place?

... that close?

Okay, uh, no guarantees or anything, but those of y'all who're including me in your disaster response/apocalyptic event plans, I'mma see about learning how to control a sailing vessel this summer, so update accordingly....

Had a look at io9's review of Transformers 4.

"....Even the movie's big fist-pumping triumphant sequences feel grudging, like "here you go, whatever. You can pump your fist if you want, I guess. I don't care." The movie manages to make dinobots feel sad and pathetic. DINOBOTS. Why is this film so glum? Because it's actually trying to capture the feeling of spending several weeks trapped in a car (or truck) with your father, watching his midlife crisis curdle into despair. Lars von Trier only wishes he could make a movie as bleak and existentially discomfiting as this one."

....

I'm just gonna leave that right there.

(no subject)

Okay, the weather's nice and my soapmaking supplies and my other UPS delivery arrived, so I'm going to head down to the basement and get out the kayak. If it's still in suitable condition for paddling I"m gonna dink around in the harbor for a bit. If I'm not back by 8:30 to 9 PM Eastern time, I would appreciate someone alerting the Coast Guard.

And back.

Got down to the water with only minimal problems, most of which centered around the yellow jackets who have established a nest under the side awning of this building. Landlord's been alerted. As for the kayak, it was in fine condition and it only took me a little bit to remember the order of things to inflate. I paddled out to the far end of Snake Island and then realized that I was paddling a little before sunset and had to turn around and go back due west to get home. Did not blind myself but I will be more careful about timing my paddling in future.

Species seen today: oystercatchers, at least one other species of brown wading bird, a white wading bird that I think was an egret, a cormorant, one or two species of gull. Also several kinds of small snail, a greenish crab with a body between the size of a nickel and a quarter, and a moon jelly the size of the palm of my hand.