In the old days, people like this or this lived at the edge of the village in a dirty little hut, and children threw stones at them.

Now they deliver content over http.

As Bob Trout once said about a similar gathering of people: “I’ll be there all right. I’ll be there with five gallons of fucking gas and some duct tape!”

http://www.theregister.com/content/6/32315.html

unnecessary, pointless bile

Boy, if you have a problem with negativity in print you might want to avoid this thing for a while. I am entering the zone of the Grump that Passeth Understanding.

Tonight was Morons on Wheels in the O.C. Two people in the requisite gigantic SUV’s ran red lights and nearly freakin’ killed me. Then I saw a guy who had somehow driven his car at a good clip right into the center divider, where it was steaming and resting at a crazy angle on some pointy piece of city property as he and his buddy looked glum. In my current mood I just laughed and drove on. I probably should have helped.

Myself, I spent too much time today thinking about whether my new exciting metabolic disaster meant that my blood was eating me up from the inside, and also wondering if I would ever get to really enjoy food again or if I’d just have to treat it as medicine from now on. It’s a huge downer. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. When I think about it I get so angry I want to punch a hole in the wall and/or my head.

At this stage in my existence I have no love life or any reason to expect any, no career advancement likely, another chronic illness already making life somewhat more difficult and limiting and expensive, and no obvious way to change any of those things. I didn’t need this shit. One thing I had was food: I’m a good cook, I know a lot about food, I can prepare food for others and they enjoy it, I can match wine to food. It’s not just a cool hobby, it’s a way of expressing myself. This is probably over with now. What gets taken away next?

Personal inventory:

1. Chronic depression, somewhat treated, since 1986
2. 50 pounds overweight
3. No love life for the last whenever. Not much hope of any
4. Career stalled without any way of moving up
5. Metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance syndrome/diabetes Lite/diabetes/WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY CALL IT THIS WEEK
6. A fine set of well-polished, durable, self-destructive neuroses

I get up every day and live my life as best as I can, fixing little bits of broken crap here and there, and put a good face on it. Only because it’s expected of me by others. And I’m nothing if not obedient.

I had my first experience with diabetes education today, and it wasn’t as bad as I had expected actually. First of all the nurse was smart and well-organized, and presented the science bits well. There was dumbing down (“the fight or flight hormones are stronger than the insulin so it can’t work right”) but not too much of it. The K.I.S.S. rule was followed.

The device for measuring blood sugar is from an apparently clued-in outfit who provide a simple and effective device. They also provide lots of interesting geek tools for managing your body’s performance stats, including a customized Handspring device, a web interface for storing info, and a PC interface cable. For the last of these they’ve released the data format so that you can just buy the cable and roll your own software if you want. I applaud this!

The only real negative from today’s experience was the psychological part of the class, which was so dumb as to be offensive. Lots of office-lady humor, humiliating simplification and patronizing garbage. I bit my tongue a lot, reminding myself that I didn’t have to buy into the dreadful Kewpie-doll mentality as long as I paid attention to the science stuff and the good advice and the useful procedures for avoiding doom.

Plus I tricked myself into buying a new Palm device. ::go to wait by mailbox::

And this somewhat english spam just in:

“The American Resolve” prayer and image is intended to render a tribute to the victims of 9/11 and to exalt the spirit of America.

This September and always, let us display “The American Resolve” at every household, every government precinct, every corporate premise, every learning center and every public and private environment.

Please log on to http://www.theamericanresolve.com to own and treasure this magnificent, commemorative memento and help us help do a lot of good to the children victims and starving children wherever they are. This is the Mission of this Initiative.

Thank you for your Patronage.

I’m imagining a Nigerian version of Krusty the Klown, here.

I was complaining the other day about the current circus-freak obsession with midgets. And then I saw this on stereolabrat’s LJ.

Man, I guess if you have to be exploited this is the way to go. But.. um.. wow. Good morning. I’m inarticulate. Time for more coffee.

sic_blog syndicates my typepad thing, for anyone interested in reading YET MORE CRAP I SPEW OUT.

Not sure yet which splatter of my massive, gusher-like talent will land there. So far I’m just bitching.

If it turns out I need a glucose meter, I can get one that has a “sporty case”.

Please kill me.

In my case, it’s http://sic.typepad.com/

Not too much writing there yet, I’m just messing around with the setup. I like their service though.

I think that Jack should not…