The Modern Prometheus
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "The Modern Prometheus" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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05:59 am
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Even happier note
As most of you know, I've spent years going to American Medical Association meetings. Sometimes I wonder why. I just got a reminder. On Tuesday, while I was surviving call, the AMA House of Delegates passed two resolutions promoting equality in marriage rights and condemning the don't-ask-don't-tell policy.
The former report is not available online to the general public because they're prepping it for publication in a public health journal, but the relevant text, now official AMA policy, is:
1. That our American Medical Association (AMA):
a) recognize that exclusion from civil marriage contributes to health care disparities affecting same-sex households;
b) work to reduce health care disparities among members of same-sex households including minor children; and
c) support measures providing same-sex households with the same rights and privileges to health care, health insurance, and survivor benefits, as afforded opposite-sex households.
Even better is the kicker: the original report said "may contribute" to health disparities. The House decided that wasn't strong enough and made it more definite. Furthermore, they did this in Houston, Texas, in the George W. Bush Convention Center. The irony makes this author shiver with delight and glee.
Current Mood:  busy
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06:11 am
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On a happier note...
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth in my friends list over Prop 1 in Maine. Understandable. Note, though, that not everywhere is filled with jerkitude. Washington state appears to have approved Ref 71 (referendum vote to certify our new domestic-partnership law) by about 5 percentage points, with the yet-uncounted votes coming mostly from King County (where Seattle is, i.e. where most of the "yes" votes are living). We also are on track to reject our version of TABOR by about the same margin.
It's quite pretty and really doesn't rain as much as you think. (About as much as Pittsburgh.) And we have tasty fishies. And killer whales. And coffee. Feeling depressed about living with bigots? Come over here!
Current Mood:  tired
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05:58 am
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Fail.
From the AP:
""38 percent of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their kids to be vaccinated at school," citing concerns about side effects or lack of concern about swine flu. "
And 100% of cranky psychiatry interns who post to this LJ think that 38% of parents are morons. But hey, your kid dies of the deadly eeeeevil pig flu, maybe mine can get into the better public school now.
Current Mood: tired
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05:56 pm
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Married!
And, amazingly, still sober.
We had perfect weather and exactly the size of crowd we wanted. There was dancing, drinking, and general merriment. I saw old friends and had a blast with them. We all cried a little. Most importantly: we are finally married and done with dealing with all this planning stuff! (And we'll spend this evening having a suite party with our friends, which rocks.)
It flies by. It's unbelievable. I wanted that party to last for hours more so we could dance and I could enjoy all the beautiful sights and sounds. Even though it was a ton of money and effort for such a short while, it was totally worth it.
Current Mood:  happy
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09:34 pm
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Ready
In a bit over twelve hours, we stand in front of friends and family and make a pretty much permanent commitment to each other. I just finished my last-minute tasks and am ready to crash. Am I nervous? Hell yes, but in the same kind of nervous I'd be on the first day of a new job -- hoping that it'll all look good and we won't miss any cues or have any major crises. Nervous about actually being married? Not in the slightest.
When we did our rehearsal today and just stood there thinking about the vows we're going to say, all I could think about was how good and right it felt. I'm having trouble getting to sleep because I just want to run around and shout "we're getting married!" I love her, I want to be with her for as long as I possibly can, and I am glad we're going to throw the rockingest party we can afford to show it.
It's scary, because it means being Grown Up, and getting the house, and the kids, and maybe a dog and a yard. It's nevertheless something I want, and the only sad thing about it is that we don't get to be all bouncy-mushy like this again. Well, maybe when we renew the vows five or ten years from now.
OK, will attempt to sleep and quit bothering you people with our flagrant wedding drama now.
Current Mood: peaceful
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08:19 am
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I remember most of it...
There was a bachelor party last night. It started with a limo to steak at the Metropolitan Grill (and crab, and sides, and many other things), went next to a burlesque show (where I ended up on YouTube; you can find the video, but you have to mis-spell my first name), and ended up in (of course) a strip club. There were cocktails, scotch, wine, and then champagne. Thankfully, we did not move on to shots.
I woke up this morning in the correct bed and mostly bodily intact. Various internal organs hurt like heck and I'm glad they have 24 hours to recover before the wedding. Major props to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nrb80 for organizing an incredible evening out, and to many others including shmike95, metallian, tepui, sfkotto, wanderinggeek, and rebeccavich for being awesome company throughout it.
The next two days are going to be a ton of fun, and I'm very glad to have you guys by my side for them.
Current Mood:  sore
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08:16 am
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In other news
Lately, we have some cougars that have been wandering around, and I don't mean wealthy women looking for boy-toys. One of them is over in Redmond. The result? It has a Twitter account..
The news article is more funny than the actual tweets themselves.
Current Mood: amused
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08:10 am
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It begins...
nrb80 arrived last night. My father arrives this afternoon, followed by in-laws and a bridesmaid this evening. Tomorrow, we run errands, a cavalcade of bridal party shall descend upon Seattle, and in the evening, there will be booze. Friday we kick our hangovers, rehearse, and make ready; that day is going to be nuts. And then, of course, there's Saturday.
It's all planned out, it's a small wedding, and everything is booked and confirmed. Realistically, while there will be problems, they are going to be minor, and as ottomatic says, we will still be mdrnprometheus and jennifermuppet. Doesn't prevent me from twitching faster than an alcoholic at a frat party, though.
On the bright side, one this is all over with I'll be able to talk about normal-people things again...
Current Mood:  nervous
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07:25 pm
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Panic!
One week until Wedding. My pager is officially off and I am not dealing with anything, as of 4:30 PST today. Crazy people who are not related to me by blood or impending marriage are hereby instructed to go bother someone else until September 30th.
Me? Panicking? Stressful and grumpy? Nonsense! Weddings are fun and happy times! Really!
Current Mood: panic!
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08:18 am
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Kittehs!
In other news, these are pictures of cats in a box.
Current Mood: tired
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01:59 pm
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Other general life updates
- Finally has medical license. Can write prescriptions for random strangers now. Temptation to pay for wedding by writing a few scripts for oxycodone is quite strong.
- Seattle continues to be excellent, minus one annoying heat wave. We've been seeing less of it, because pretty much all our free time is now consumed by stupid wedding planning.
- Cat who escaped and came back has now taken to trying to escape out the front door. First time, gone for night. Second time, gone for a day or two. Unclear where he's going that's so interesting. We finally screened all the windows so he can't go out that route; instead goes to windows every night and meows mournfully. Stupid cat.
- Wedding status:
- Venue: booked. zombies in progress.
- Caterer: Awaiting final haggling with preferred vendor.
- Photographer: Haggling with preferred vendor.
- DJ: inquiries in progress.
- Tuxes: I've got mine figured out. Good enough.
- Flowers: Hell if I know, ask the bride. I think we have vases.
- Officiant: Located.
- Vows: It's On The List.
- Rehearsal Dinner: Booked. As with everything, more expensive than expected.
- Rings: See previous post.
- Cake: Vendor selected, price/options inquiries to occur this weekend hopefully.
It's shaping up. Still gotta get that DJ and cake thing figured out. Flowers are relatively solvable, I hope.
Current Mood: busy
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01:47 pm
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One ring...
Well, two, actually. We're at the point of deciding on the wedding bands, and we're torn, so we are asking teh Internets for opinions.
Candidate #1 is a titanium with wood inlay. The samples we've seen look a lot better than the Web picture, but here's a rough idea:
That's made by a guy in Tennessee, who is as far as we know the only guy in the world who can make such a ring. We like the "greenie" ness of using wood as a material (it's from a burl, which is sort of a tree-cancer, hence not involving going out and harvesting the Amazon). Downside is that it's potentially not very durable and we might need to have the inlay replaced every so often, at a cost of $15. Other downside is cost -- about 150% of the price of candidate 2, and utterly un-negotiable thus far.
Candidate #2 is also titanium, but this time, carved with a pattern of our choice and then anodized so that the letters show up in a color (mine would look like gold; she wants a light green to match the engagement stone). This was the inspiration (in blue):
It's cheaper, and it'd be made by a local artist who we've met in person. It obviously has nerd chic. (You will be surprised to learn that I am not the one who suggested this design. She picked it out. Didn't know what it *was*, but she still picked it out.) I think the thing that's holding me back is that it's sort of commonplace nerd chic -- lots of people have such rings.
Make a decision for me, computer-addicted masses!
Current Mood: busy
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09:02 pm
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We can has adventure!
We had a bit of an adventure this afternoon. I was relaxing on the lawn and sipping a rosemary lemonade and reading comic books while contemplating other recreation. Life was good. And then, we saw the cats poking their heads out the door. Now, I've had a theory for a while that the way to keep the kitties from running away is to condition them to believe that Outside Is Scary. We've had good luck with this with Snicket, the tabby; he won't even let you bring him near a door. Today, I figured I'd try with Jubles. So, I brought him out. When you do this with Snicket, he runs for the door. One time, he ran into the back alley and hid under an electric meter.
Jubles didn't run for the door, he ran for the back alley. OK, no problem, so I moseyed after him... and didn't see him. Cue sinking feeling. I checked around a bit, and that's when I noticed the uncovered ventilation hole leading under the building...
A bit of stake-out (move the chair, keep reading comic books, watch the hole) determines that yes, in fact, he went under the apartment complex, through a hole I can't even fit my head through. An offer of treats is met with the cat's rapid return to his hole. Jennifer, as you can imagine, is Not Pleased. Eventually, we agree that she'll watch the hole, while I go try to see if there's another access to the underspace. Turns out there is -- through a hole in the laundry room, an intrepid person with a flashlight can enter the insulation crawlspace. This is a set of room-sized chambers under the building; you can stand in the first one, crawl in the next two, and are on your belly after that, for about four more chambers till you reach the point where he got lost. As soon as I enter, I see the cat. He's already found his way to the second egress -- until he sees me, at which point he takes off back into the depths. Half an hour of crawling later, I find him -- standing on his toes near an entry vent. I am, of course, on my belly and covered in mud, and no match for a squirrely house cat. After several attempts to encourage him to run back through the vent, he bolts back behind me. It takes another half-hour of searching to find him, cowering behind pipes in an area that's too narrow for me to enter. (I also find an area that smells kind of like puke, several empty beverage containers, some mud seeps, and the collars from two other cats who have been down here in eons past.)
At this point, it's clear that direct search and rescue is mainly going to give me pulmonary asbestosis. On to plan B: put treats and cat carriers near the two entry/exit points to the crawlspace and see if Mr. Scared Kitty will recognize his former home. Go out, wait for next hour, then go back into the mud to check again. Offer further mea culpas to Extremely Not Pleased future spouse. Determine that he's not in the space he was hiding before... and not anywhere else visible, either, after fifteen more minutes of mud-crawling. Not good. A strategic retreat is called, with intent to wait and see if he gets hungry enough to approach a capturable point.
In the meantime, about two to three hours after our incident, I'm covered in mud and sitting at this desk looking up the number for our local Humane Society, and envisioning the explanation of why exactly I need to borrow a humane cat trap for a day or so. Jennifer is in the living room talking to a bridesmaid about precisely how dumb I am. I am disturbed in my searching by excited calls from the living room, informing me that something grey just ran in our open window and into the bedroom. The flashlight is retrieved from its crawlspace staging point, and a look under the bed discovers... one perfectly unharmed, doesn't-even-have-mud-on-his-fur Jubles-the-cat, giving me his best "Don't touch me!" look. The windows are promptly closed.
On the bright side, I now know that if they ever do escape, all we have to do is leave open a window...
Current Mood: tired
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11:04 am
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Generic life update
Between internship and wedding planning, we've unsurprisingly been a bit busy. So far, internship's not too bad. I still get to go home by 5 unless I'm "short call", and even that sends me home around 6. First day of actual call will be Sunday, 8am-6pm shift. Even that's not too bad -- our inpatient unit looks like it'll either be full or have one bed free (maybe two; we have at least three manic patients who are likely to impulsively leave the hospital). So, two admissions plus a bunch of consults is the worst I could be doing over ten hours; I can live with that.
Wedding planning also progressingly, slowly. Site reserved, registry complete, website up, invites in progress, hotel almost figured out, caterer in progress but annoying. DJ, photos, flowers, cake still not considered. tepui and burghbadger, we strongly recommend you consider eloping.
Seattle continues to be excellent. We have had none of the torrential rain or baking heat that is apparently bothering the rest of the nation. It's about 70 degrees, almost always sunny, and there are many tasty plants starting to grow. Our neighborhood also had a lot of fruit, namely the Seattle gay pride festival, which consumed last weekend. Generally enjoyable, although (A) often overpriced and (B) seriously over-commercialized. They moved the parade Downtown a few years back, and I think this is maybe when the cool floats started being overshadowed by lame corporate and politician entries. I don't think we'll bother with the parade next year.
Today is a holiday for me (yay, lazy specialty) so I get to catch up on reading and some data analyses. Evening is for caterer discussions, possible Costco run, hotel investigation, and grilling some of the stuff from the farmshare. Saturday is blissfully unstructured except for a resident BBQ. Life is good!
Current Mood: working
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08:09 pm
[Link] | An hour ago, a parade of lesbians marched past my front door.
Now, we are drinking $4 Red Hook and listening to "Seattle's only transgender 80s cover band".
I love this town.
Current Mood:  drunk
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05:06 pm
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The Internet is for...
The official guide to What To Do In Residency is the "UWMC PRON".
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02:10 pm
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Pop quiz
You are investigating wedding venues. The facility coordinator tells you that she thinks it'd be better if your event finished before the party one floor below begins, because she's worried about that party causing too much noise. When asked what exactly is one floor down, you are told "it's a zombie film festival".
This is:
A. Bad, and should eliminate the venue from consideration.
B. Tolerable if they cut you a discount.
C. Sufficiently negligible to not matter.
D. A reason to pay a higher fee just to be able to have your wedding next door to zombies.
E. Braaaaaaaaaaiiiinnnnnsssss.
Current Mood:  braaiiinnns
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06:48 am
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Weekend update
Very good weekend. We have FINALLY gotten all our boxes unpacked, and freecycle is an excellent method for getting used moving supplies out of one's house. We also:
- Had dinner with my former research advisor and her (adorable) kids.
- Wandered around two potential wedding sites and identified a couple others to call.
- Had some excellent (if expensive) cupcakes.
- Taste-tested yet another potential caterer. They're getting better. Two more to go.
- Climbed up Mount Si, a short but serious hike (4 miles long, 3400 feet of elevation).
- Had cherry pie and coffee at the diner from Twin Peaks.
One week until real work starts. Need to get moving on that "official" blog, plus finish up various small tasks (licensing!) that will be kind of tricky once I start keeping real hours.
Current Mood: accomplished
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10:25 am
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We has an Internet!
Well, it took two weeks, but we finally have DSL and are once again living the high-speed life. Our apartment is about 75-80% unpacked and set up; what we have left are all the boxes of books, pictures, etc., which will hopefully be done by the end of the weekend. The main problem was shelves -- we didn't have any, because we sold them before leaving Pittsburgh. I have now succeeded in hunting down enough bookshelves via craigslist, and as of last night, we've got them all set up and mostly put wherever we want them.
Aside from still being slightly immersed in clutter, life remains pretty awesome. The weather is still sunny, cool, and beautiful. Our neighborhood is filled with interestingly tatooed/pierced people, most of whom do not wander down the street shouting random incomprehensible statements[1]. We've sampled one happy hour and the farmers' market that exists on Sunday three blocks from us, and were very pleased with both.
Wedding planning has, slowly, begun. We're hunting for a venue that's got the right amount of natural beauty and that'll let us bring in our own caterer. Hunt for that caterer is also happening, although second priority. I'd like to say we'll have a venue figured out before I start internship in a week. I don't know that this is a realistic hope.
Other stuff ongoing or eventful in my half of our combined life:
- Am converging to something resembling a research project, or at least, now have some data and a mission to analyze them.
- Had lunch and got reacquainted with fws.
- Dinner plans this Friday with old thesis advisor.
- Finally have a local bank account, no longer dependent on grocery store cash-back.
- Discovering that residency may mean long hours, but also means Benefits. As in, life insurance, retirement savings, untaxed health insurance (until Max Baucus gets his claws into them), and 15% off our now-combined mobile phone bill. Yay, benefits.
- Have already gotten one parking ticket due to failure to comprehend neighborhood parking rules. Also have gotten one anonymous note on windshield saying "Wooo! Pittsburgh yinzers!". Possibly balances out.
- Signed up for farm share, first delivery on Monday. Feel very smug.
- Still do not have drivers' license, WA plates, permanent parking permit, or renters' insurance policy. Work in progress.
The process of settling onself in a new city remains a pain in the rear, but still a zero-regrets thing; absolutely loving it here.
[1] I'm still trying to decide what, as a psychiatrist-in-training, I should do when I encounter an obviously schizophrenic person in the community. It apears that the answer is "nothing, unless he's visibly a danger to himself or others".
Current Mood: working
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09:32 am
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Moved in!
Movers have come, movers have gone, apartment is full of boxes. However, we have a Bed, and it is comfy. And we have two little kitty cats who are not allowed on the bed, and we have a place to keep wine. We still need to get bookcases for all our books, and we still need a desk for the computer. We also need to get rid of all these [bleep]ing boxes.
It nevertheless feels a lot more like home. Next step is to deal with basic utilities. Bank accounts applied for, parking permit temporarily obtained, but we need Internets (currently Bluetoothing it over slow GPRS), WA state drivers' licenses, state plates for the car, and license tags for the kitties.
We also need to figure out the recycling. It is seriously cool recycling. All kinds of plastic, all paper/cardboard/paperboard, glass, but also takes yard/food waste, including food-soiled paper. However, am still confused about which goes in what bin, about certain special cases (is cat litter considered compostable?), and what to do when you have acres of cardboard boxes that don't fit in your curbside bin. Still, I cannot stress enough how sweet it is to just have all of this literally in our back alley, and thus not to have to accumulate piles to be taken out to Construction Junction.
And now, boxes!
Current Mood: happy
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