RTT- or Being Sick Sucks

 So Keely at The UnMom has this great meme on her site.  Go. Check it out.

Well, I haven't been posting cause I've been sick.  I started getting a sore throat on Friday after I got back from donating blood (oh, yeah, I need to call the Blood Center) and by Saturday afternoon had a pretty good fever running and thought I had swallowed razors.  Gah.

Of course, I never get sick with something like this during the week.  No, I always wait for the weekend when my choices are hit the emergency room or the urgent clinic or wait until Monday to see the doctor. I had hopes that it was the same crap that hit Hubby and Youngest and they didn't seem to die from it and in fact bounced back pretty quick.  Me, not so much.  So I finally made it the doctor yesterday and he tells me my throat is one of the Top Ten Worst Throats he's ever seen. Thanks, Doc.  Glad you can laugh about it.  And tells me, lets hope its strep.  Which I was thinking it was since my boss was out a day with strep last week and I could then blame him for my misery and work a little guilt.

No such luck.

So, it's some viral thing that could be mono but they only way to know for sure is a bunch of blood work or we could just treat it.  I chose the only real option in that last sentence.  So I went home with antibiotics to make sure nothing else took advantage of the general lack of defense in my upper respiratory system, a steroid pack and hydrocodone.  Because indeed the pain was that bad.  And let me just say this.  I can completely understand how people get hooked on the codeine family of drugs.  That is one sweet buzz and the pain went away.  So, today. I can swallow again and may just be able to eat a real meal by the end of the day.  Yea 'roids!  Damn those things are great, too.

Any way, since either staying awake from lack of sleep or drug induced euphoria has been iffy the last few days, I have been out of pocket, as they say.   So let us catch up, shall we?

First off, those of you in the Austin area.  Don't buy a used car from Pavilion Lincoln Mercury.  Eldest bought her piece o' shit perfectly reasonable Monte Carlo there.  They told the only thing wrong with car was the AC wasn't working and they thought it was the compressor.  Turns out there was a bit more. Her car has a major oil leak and with the usual family luck with cars the engine in her Monte Carlo is the most complicated thing our regular mechanic had ever seen. So complicated he refused to do anything with it.  When she complains to Pavilion they tell her all cars that old have oil leaks, she shouldn't be surprised.  She responded with, but I asked your service manager three times is there was anything else wrong with the car besides the AC and he said no.  There response was to mumble something unintelligible, set down the phone and come back a few moments later with "we found an extra set of keys"  Que?   So I have been officially given permission to go pick up the keys and leave the general manager with a new orifice from which to shyte.  Whee!  So, the moral of this story is: Don't by a used car from Pavilion Lincoln Mercury located at 12126 Hunters Chase Dr in Austin, Texas. To be safe, you probably shouldn't buy anything from them.  After all, Lincoln and Mercurys are just overpriced Fords.

Speaking of automobile manufacturers, the latest news of Washington isn't so spectacular for Detroit, is it?  One CEO gone and two ultimatums given.  And I just turned off this dealer who was being interviewed by MSNBC before I came in here who blames the entire industry's problems on the American consumer.  If we were "real citizens" of America and not just "residents" we'd want to do what was best for our country and buy American.  Let me tell you about the last two American cars I owned.  One was a 1989 AMC Jeep Cherokee bought the year before Chrysler bought out AMC.  That car had the strangest mishmash of parts known to man.  It had repeated starter issues.  And this wasn't your run of the mill starter you could purchase at AutoZone or some such and replace for a $50 or so. No it was a German starter that cost $200.  We once drove from Austin to Omaha for Christmas and had the starter go out on us.  Once we got the car running again somewhere in Oklahoma, we couldn't stop the engine until we got to Omaha.  This included when we stopped for gas, food or potty breaks with an infant in tow.  Yea!  The next was a 1990-ish Ford Escort Wagon.  A great little car for about 2 years.  Then, as Ford's are wont to do, things started to fall apart.  The AC was first.  After repeated efforts to get it fixed with next to no success, we gave up.  The car became known as the EBO or Easy Bake Oven.  Then some idiot put power steering fluid in the brake lines (not me or Hubby) and fried the brakes.  We eventually got rid of that car when we bought a Hyundai.  It barely survived the drive to the dealership.  It had to go from Round Rock to South Austin, about 30 miles, at no more than 40 miles an hour.  I think it basically chugged into the parking lot and expired.  Since then, we have had two Hyundais. Our current Hyundai is a 2002 Santa Fe.  It's been a great car.  We have had no real inclination to buy American since our track record has been less than successful.  When the American automobile industry makes a car that matches the reliability and value of our Hyundai, we'll gladly look at buying it.  Until then, they can sod off.

Enough ranting about cars.  I could go on.  But I won't.  Did you hear that Glenn Beck called himself and his viewers idiots?  Think Progress has a lovely article.  Go read it.  First he says that he believes everything he says while almost in the same breath calling himself an entertainer and anyone who takes what he says as gospel is an idiot.  Good going, Glenn.  Keep up the good work.

Puppy Watch:  4 days ago she weighed 12.6 pounds.  Today she weighs 14.7. Oh. My. God.  If she keeps this up she will be enormous. I'm talking epic. What were we thinking.  Good thing, she's still adorable if in a largish way.

And what about the latest attacks on bloggers?  One is Think Progress' Amanda Terkel who wrote the article I linked above. She and Bill O'Reilly (a larger piece of shyte has not been known to man) have a little feud going on.  He used his usual ambush tactics to try to trip her up on camera after she commented negatively about comments he's made about rape victims.  (It's long and complicated and if haven't heard about it, move on down). Anyway, lots of nasty things have been said by Mr O'Reilly and his minions and Think Progress is fighting back.  And pretty damn effectively.  They've been organizing an email campaign to O'Reilly's sponsor and have succeeded in getting two to pull out.

The other is an anonymous blogger known as AKMuckracker who runs The Mudflats . This blog has been on my blog roll almost from the beginning for me.  I found it looking for information on Sarah Palin and discovered a treasure.  The author is an excellent writer who researches thoroughly.  And AKM has been outed by Alaskan State Representative Mike Doogan.  He used his influence and state funds to discover this blogger's identity and publish it through his state sponsored constituent newsletter.  All because he felt that she had no right to remain anonymous.  Truly a douche-bag of epic proportions.  Catherine over at A Time for Change  has written a thoughtful piece informed by her law degree that really puts to rest the idea that anonymity has no legal protection.  It not only does but has a long standing tradition in our political history.  And we only have to look so far as Amanda Terkel to see why some Bloggers choose to remain anonymous.  If someone in the public eye and with as little regard for ethics or privacy like Bill O can take a public Blogger like Ms Terkel to task, follow her on her vacation so that his minions can pounce and try to provoke a response and continue to use her name and the blog she writes for as examples of what is wrong with "far left zealots" and their evil designs on America then  we should all have good reason to remain anonymous.

And yet that anonymity should not be an excuse for poor manners, obscenities and calls for violence.  I'm sure we've all read comments on various websites and blogs that go far beyond the pale in the personal attacks on the author, other commentors and indeed entire groups.  The Mudflats, however,  is not that kind of blog.  In fact, this blog has generated a tremendous community that acts to help those in need.  This blog and this blogger are examples of the very best that the Internet and blogging has to offer.  For Rep. Doogan to try to silence this blogger because he thinks that anonymity has no place in political discourse or because he took offense at something written about him is morally, ethically and legally reprehensible.  I might send a donation to whomever runs against him in the next Democratic primary. Yep. That is truly the worst part of this entire fiasco.  Rep Doogan is a democrat who attacks the author of a liberal Democratic blog (his words).  It's a sad, sad world in which we live.

Hope this was random enough for you.  I'm pooped and need to eat, take my steroids and hopefully get some more sleep.  See ya!