Welcome to the first addition of the possible new format for my bloggage. Why a new format? Let me explain…
Vox Habit
Simply put, I am trying to ween myself of my Vox habit. Vox is addicting. Your lives are addicting. And fascinating.
And I got sucked in involved until I was spending 2-3 hours at a time reading and commenting on everyone's posts plus trying to think of something worthwhile to say on mine.
Truthfully, I enjoyed it and have come to respect and care for my neighbors in Vox-land a lot, but have come to the conclusion that I just can't keep it up at that level. My goal and plan is to write on my own blog at least once a week or so because it will be the primary way to keep in touch with my friends and family once I start my doc program next month. I fully expect that posting once a week might be all I can manage. So, to my favorite Vox neighbors, I will do my best to at least check in once in a while to keep up with your lives and adventures, but I don't think I will be as active a participant as I have been.
Polka Dot Patty
The big excitement this week came from a lovely bought of hives that covered me from chin to ankles in polka dots. Woohoo! It appeared after I started taking an herbal supplement. Nothing else in my life had changed so I'm 99% sure it was connected.
At first I thought it was an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients, but antihistamines and Cortisone cream didn't do anything to make it better so now I think it was the supplement working on something internally and trying to push it out through my skin. Lovely. My very intelligent and well-informed health enthusiast brother and mother first clued me in to this idea. Thank you!
But if that's the case, I'm all for it. If it's some nasty toxin and this supplement will get it out of my body, I'll put up with looking like a cheetah for a while. That being said, I'm starting back on it today, just at a lower dosage. My greatest hope is that it might get at the root of whatever weird malaise has made my life sucky for the past several years. This supplement is an all-natural antibiotic, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-everything basically, and has actually been called a miracle-worker by people who have taken it. I am hopeful. Let's leave it at that.
Getting Sad
This week I started really feeling sad about leaving JMU and all the wonderful people there. Till now it's been like an
intellectual exercise / problem to solve / list of to-do's. But a couple times this week I found myself at my desk with tears in my eyes. I don't think it has fully sunk in yet so I'm sure I'll be full-on bawling by the end of the month.
I'm not going to say much about this right now because it will be its own post later on. I need to let it simmer for a while to make sure I can honestly get my feelings on paper. I'm hoping it will be cathartic for me and represent the impact the JMU community has had on my life and development.
New 'Puter
This week I bit the bullet and finally made up my mind about what kind of computer to get for grad school. It was a tough decision since I love technology and all the finalists seemed exciting. In the end I went with a Lenovo ThinkPad R61. It gets great ratings on CNET.com and comes with lots of fun bells and whistles. It also comes with Vista, which I'm not thrilled about, but I figure it's going to become the standard OS for PC's whether I want it to or not. Darn Microsoft. It should have been delivered Friday but I have to be present to sign for it. Which I am equally glad about and frustrated by. Now, I will have to leave work early on Monday to be here to receive it. Next week, between 2:00 and 5:00 be listening for an ear-splitting SQUEEEEEEEEE as I tear open the box.
sbloggityfood 
I understand the addiction myself. It is tough because there are so many really amazing people here! Holy Cow, those hives look so itchy and uncomfortable! Yuck! I hope they get pushed through soon! Good Luck!
All this after you get me addicted… I'm calling foul on this one!
As for the rash, if you remember Trev had a rash that wouldn't go away with creams or balms. Nothing would help. We later found it was the allergy. He was only getting the smallest does of the allergen, not enough to cause a full blown anaphylactic reaction, but a serious symptom just the same.
I know, I'm sorry. I'm trying to be realistic about what grad school will be like and I'm pretty sure eating and breathing will be covered, but not too much more. Ack! But I will read your blog faithfully. I really like it! It's so much fun to see what your crew is up to since we never really see each other in person. You are the only one I have marked as family, so I will check it maybe as often as daily. In fact, I may even add it to my Bloglines account which I do check daily. I also marked a few as friends and I plan to try to read their updates weekly. I figure my brain will need an escape hatch once in a while.
I know, that is exactly the problem… Everyone's just so darn interesting and smart and funny and honest. I really got sucked in like nobody's business. I wish I could stay plugged into everyone, but I just can't. You are on my friends list which I plan to read and stay involved with once a week or so. I started the herbal supplement again last night, so far no hives but if it follows the same pattern as last time it will hit right around lunchtime today. Woohoo!
Oh yeah – I thought it was an allergic reaction at first too, but antihistamines didn't do anything for it so I started thinking it was toxins being expelled instead. What's your medical take? If it was an allergic reaction shouldn't the antihistamines have helped, even a little?
my fingers are crossed, NO HIVES!!! Haha!Thanks! I feel honored! 😉
Good Luck! I hope the rash has cleared…
Good luck on EVERYTHING, stevie. So many changes, internal and external, they always make us sit up straight and reassess our lives in good ways.I hope the hives clear up. I use a naturopath/homeopathic physician all the time. He's never let me down, my life saver, for all kinds of complaints from the physical to the soulful. The rash could be toxic expulsion…I'll be listening for your very loud squeeeeee!! Good things are on the horizon for you!!
All I know is that it required prescription strength antihistamines as well as a prescription cream to clear up his rash, and that took several days. I would ask your doctor before taking more. Do you know what the ingredients were?
Hai hai! I've given up on trying to break my Vox addiction, lol. I guess not having wireless helps in a way. You skin looks most unhappy! Eep! Good luck with everything and yay new laptop%2Pr
Did you hear the squeeeeee? It was Monday afternoon at around 4:30. Broke several windows in my neighbors' houses. Ha ha.No rash, so that's good. A couple other things I think are homeopathic by nature – toxins getting released, stuff like that. Here's hoping no more bad reactions!
I'm doing alright so far. It's only been three days, but hey!, who's counting? Ha ha. Skin is much better. Almost back to normal. Computer is the bomb diggity! Makes me wonder ow I ever survived on a Dell before. This one is SO much better.
I'm having trouble adjusting to my MacBook. 😦 From a Dell Inspiron. All I've ever known is a PC. I think the learning curve is so great I feel limited and almost consider getting my bust-up Dell fixed to use for some things and the Mac for teh internets mostly. I don't need half the tech bits you do, though, for your work.
I've given up on trying to break my Vox addiction, As most of us have… I did post a 3-day challenge last year to my hoodies to voluntarily do without even logging on. Only two peeps took me up on it!
I'm not an addict, I just like to talk to you guys! *wink winkPr
I'm glad you skin is doing better. I've heard really good things about ThinkPads, so I hope you enjoy yours! (Did I miss something? Why are they no longer IBM ThinkPads?%2Pr
Well, I was down to a Macbook or the Thinkpad and chose the safer PC route for exactly that reason. Going Mac just seemed like I would be committing to a whole new life. I wasn't quite ready to go that far, not with grad school imminent. Too much of a mental hurdle.
Well, look, here I am logging in for the third time in five days. DAMMIT!!!!! I really do want to cut back. Grrrrrrr….
I know they jumped to Lenovo at some point but people reference the IBM connection online in forums in a good way, so I guess it's still true to its roots.
Yeah… *crais*
logging in for the third time in five daysIs that ALL??!!!? :-DThat's why I restrict my neighborhood to one page. Someone comes in, someone else has to go. I don't often have to decide that but it's a useful rule and keeps it manageable for me. Besides, I just don't have the time to be wading through tons of pages. Quality is more important than quantity.
lol… I did something similar. I didn't kick anyone out of my neighborhood because I'm a chicken. Do they get notified? I booted one person who only talked about how drunk she always gets (yaaawwwwnnnnn) and that same night I noticed I was no longer in her neighborhood. Since then I've been hesitant.BUT, I tagged only a few people as Friends and those are the blogs I read now. It's much much much better.
They aren't notified when you delete, stevie, so no worries there. Yeah, people do different things with Neighborhood, Friends, Family, etc. Everyone in my hood is a Friend and/or Family. It's just my personal way of keeping only people I have affinity for in my little circle. I don't have anyone who's only a Neighbor and I *never* make public posts–unless I want someone who's not a voxer to see pictures of my bunny! All my posts are closed. I'm more comfortable like that.
Very interesting… Hmmm…. I'll ponder that. I'm planning to use Vox to feed into my Facebook page to keep in touch with everyone once I move. I think if I do neighborhood only or friends/family only it won't feed into Facebook, I already tried. But keeping it a little more private is also appealing… Hmmmm … You've given me much to ponder, grasshopper.
Haha! You're so funny! And I hope this computer lasts you a very long time