Sufficient Unto the Day are the Adventures Thereof

[rolanni]

So, Steve dragged me over to Facebook. I haven't had a chance to study on how it works, exactly, but I'll get there. Eventually. In the meantime, and assuming Facebook allows such things, I'm here. If that link doesn't work, they're promising unique usernames, starting Saturday. Watch this space for more info.

The marked-up page proofs for Fledgling are sitting here, enveloped, on the edge of my desk, waiting to be walked down to the campus FedEx box. Alas, my knee is not my friend today, and the prospect of walking -- not down the hill so much, but back up the hill -- is not filling me with joy. Perhaps I'll just be lazy and drive it to the in-town pick-up when I get off work.

Relative to the above, I have been to the doctor. The doctor is going to put me in touch with an orthopedic doctor. And we shall see.

The day-job has been rife with Small Irritations. The Finance Office is trying to invoke changes in internal procedures, which are necessary to bring the college into compliance with various IRS regulations. The professors pick their teeth at the IRS regs and find the concerns of the Finance Office beneath their notice. This is pretty much business at usual, but as the person who is in the middle of the two camps and responsible for seeing that the proper logs are kept, I'll just say that it's getting a little...warm. It would help if the Finance Office actually said what it meant in its memos to faculty, rather than trying to be non-confrontational. They don't seem to realize that they're dealing with people who read for their living and for whom sub-text is a way of life. Simple declarative sentences, Finance Office, for the win. Bullet points -- even better.

Steve and I talked this morning over breakfast about the possibility of serializing a story over the summer. *wonders if posting chapters to an LJ account is a good idea*.

Now that the page proofs are out of the way, I'm clear to start reading and revising Mouse and Dragon. I do believe that the UnderMind found a way out of a timing problem for me while I was thinking about other things. Much love, UnderMind.

This afternoon, after work, I'm going to meet Steve at Fortin's Furniture and we're going to peruse the tent sale. We need a mattress (oh, boy do we need a mattress) -- anybody have advice? We have a platform bed, and are thinking memory foam, but basically I'm uninformed. Also on the wish list is a bookshelf and a bureau-thingy for my office. Must. Have. Drawers.

After Shopping, we're due to be at a meeting of the new independent market opening in town, and after that, we may just drop by the Bread Box and spend the gift card I received for Secretaries Administrative Professionals Day.

And then tomorrow! Is the staff picnic at the day-job.

The fun, it never stops.

Comments

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

We looked at the memory foam mattresses but found them very uncomfortable which seems an oxymoron I admit. We ended up with a queen sized mattress with a pillow top surface which is soft, but not too soft. I've slept on it for a year and am very happy with it. It's a locally manufactured brand, so I don't think it's available up north, but I might be wrong (Murmaid).

As far as the possible serialization, why not post it to the website again? I'm not a writer, but I get a funky vibe from LJ re original content. I have nothing to back it up with, except rumors about TOS which, not being a writer, I haven't explored.

LJ TOS seems to be okay?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/legal/tos.bml Journal Content, Item 3 says (in part)

LiveJournal claims no ownership or control over any Content posted by its users. The author retains all patent, trademark, and copyright to all Content posted within available fields, and is responsible for protecting those rights, but is not entitled to the help of the LiveJournal staff in protecting such Content.

That seems to say that even though you've posted it in LJ, you still own all copyright.

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

If you figure it out, could you clue me in. It "feels" like Twitter for people with somewhat longer attention-spans.

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

Does it help to know that my Maine Coon has his own fan page over on Facebook? Just search for Thunderstar Stormcloud. It is still gathering momentum...

Doc

[drammar.livejournal.com]

Being not a small woman, I've found memory foam to feel imprisoning. My experience is that one tends to sink into it and then have trouble rolling over.

We've had a good pillow-top for several years now, and I find it exceptionally comfortable.

And I still don't "get" Facebook. I feel a bit retarded in that since it seems half the world is over there. I have an account but am never able to find people.

[readinggeek451]

It's much easier to find people on Facebook if they have uncommon names. Profile pictures help, too.

[readinggeek451]

That link didn't work for me; it just took me to my own Facebook page. And there's an awful lot of Sharon Lee's on Facebook.

about find the right sharon lee

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Here's a trick -- go to the Clan Korval group page or the Flaran Ch'menthi group page ... and search members ... Sharon's in there and some am I. Go to the group Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers day ... we're both in that group.

Re: about find the right sharon lee

[readinggeek451]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

With luck, this link might work better?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1645700944

[readinggeek451]

Thanks! That's perfect.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

After years of bad mattresses, I went on a quest (not that difficult, as there are half a dozen mattress stores within a few blocks here)...after being pounced on by starving lions\\\\salespersons at the name brand stores, I went to the low key Chinese mattress store which simply has a huge showroom covered in all kinds of mattresses from low to high end, and a staff that greets you as you enter with "Hi, please check stuff out, have a nap, come see us if you have any questions.

After multiple visits, some equipped with books and loungewear, I ended up with a hybrid foam/spring, semi-pillowtop for $700 (including tax and delivery)...extremely pleased with it...Just Right!

[craig trader (from livejournal.com)]

If you can afford it, get a Select Comfort mattress (http://www.selectcomfort.com/). They are more expensive than a traditional mattress, but they are WORTH EVERY PENNY.

My wife and I have had one for 8 years now, and any time we sleep away from home, we don't sleep as well.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

My husband and I love ours.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Don't have a face book account, and get bad vibes from them. If you serialize there I'll have to give it a miss (sobs quietly in corner)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Good ghod, no. We won't serialize on Facebook.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

If you're likely to flop back or drop yourself onto a memory foam mattress, in my experience it takes a second or two to give. What it felt like to me was flopping back onto a carpeted floor which then proceeded to melt underneath me.

I've got a queen pillowtop Serta, and would give you the name of the mattress but that would involve disturbing a cat.

[nephir.livejournal.com]

We tried the memory foam -- not firm enough, and HOT! to sleep on IMO. It's probably something one could get used to but why should you?

Pillow tops are wonderfully comfortable, but you cannot flip the majority of them over if you do the annual mattress flip.

I really wanted to test one of the 'sleep numbers' beds (I like firm, the spouse prefers a little softer), but could not justify a 4 digit price tag.

[herbmcsidhe.livejournal.com]

Seconding what my lovely spouse wrote above, if you have hip or other joint pain, the memory foam may not be a good choice. I know that the time we spent on it was excruciating for me.

Also - for Facebook - it can be a horrendous time sink, epsecially if you get a lot of "invitations" to participate in the various applications. If you use Firefox, there is a Greasemonkey script which I am told works wonderfully for automatically blocking them: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12393.

You can also block them idividually from the requests/notifications page.

[herbmcsidhe.livejournal.com]

and my apologies for the abundance of typos in the above.

[sraun]

The last I knew, Radisson Hotels was claiming to have Sleep Number mattresses in all their rooms. You could spend a week-end at one.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I won't go near Facebook, and this sort of thing (http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2009/06/09/how-privacy-fails-the-facebook-applications-debacle/) is why. Their record on privacy and security is abyssmal, their attempts to use social engineering to get passwords to users' email lists disgusting.

Sorry, whatever is over there I'll give it a miss...

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

I found you before I read this when Steve filled in the relationship bit on FB and it popped up on the highlights.

I deal with the email list thing by not letting anything see any of my email lists. If I can't find them by manual search, or via other friends, then it's unlikely to be important.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

"Highlights"?

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

The stuff on the right hand side of the homepage when you're logged in, mostly it's little bits of applications friends are using. Even if you've hidden that application sometimes. I normally don't pay much attention to them, but it does sometimes highlight relationship modifications (not that your relationship has changed but you weren't there before for Steve to put in that field)

I'm sure Steve will have told you by now, but just in case, when annoying applications publications flow by (and I try to produce as few as possible) the little 'hide' option that appears when your mouse goes over it is your friend.

[1crowdedhour.livejournal.com]

Last summer my 28-year-old innerspring mattress threw me off for the last time. (I used to use a 2-inch thick memory foam mattress pad, which helped considerably.)

I wanted Tempur-Pedic, but my wallet won't take the strain. Instead, I ordered from Angelbeds.com. For $600, I got an 8-inch thick latex (full) mattress that has improved my life every single night since it arrived. Back in August, they offered free delivery too.

Anyway, if you like memory foam, you may well like their offerings.

Memory mattress

[starrcat.livejournal.com]

I have a platform bed and last year bought a Bragada mattress that I love. And it was quite a bit less than other memory mattresses I was looking at.
http://www.bragada.com/index.php

[(Anonymous)]

a quick caveat emptor: many major brands no longer finish the bed on the "bottom." We like to turn/flip our mattresses so that the Dips and Valleys become less pronounced. No longer possible with DD's (who weighs in at about 105 lbs) new bed which no has a noticable dent in it. Examine all sides of your new purchase if you like to flip/turn your mattresses.

btw .. finished Longeye this morning to great satisfaction. thanks.

KB

[laurahcory1.livejournal.com]

We have a (generic, mid-price range) queen bed with a removable memory foam pad that's about 2"-3" thick -- I'm at work right now, and I don't recall the exact details of the pad, but it seemed a good compromise.

[(Anonymous)]

We bought a new mattress about a year and a half ago. You'll basically need to test everything for yourself, but the most important thing that we learned: women with hips will need something soft and supportive, or you risk tossing and turning more frequently. Basically, you need a mattress that supports the structure of your body. So if it's too soft, it can hurt your back, and if it's too hard, it hurts everything else :)
We dug around through everything, including a memory foam. One thing to think about with those is that they smell horrible, and there is some info out there that seems to indicate that breathing their fumes might be hazardous to your health. Oh, and they weigh a *ton*, so moving the bed is a challenge.

re memory foam - what kind of sleeper are you?

[(Anonymous)]

My husband sleeps on his back or sometimes side and moves very very little during the night.

He loves our very thick memory foam topper.

I sleep on my side or stomach and thrash around like a beached fish. The restless leg does a can-can also.

I hate the memory foam topper.

A person sinks into the memory foam which means to turn over or flop over, one must first climb out of the "ditch".

Recently, I accidentally put the cold plastic remote too close to the gravity well of the my depression. It followed me as I tried to escape its chill.

But my husband loves it. (At night I sometimes hold a mirror to his nose to makes sure he is still brathing.)

[irismoonlight.livejournal.com]

What anonymous said. My sweetie is heavier than me, so I end up rolling into his ditch, or if we snuggle and make one deep ditch, having to crawl out and cling to the FAR edge of the bed until my weight make a new smaller impression for me. And the foam traps heat, which is nice in winter, annoying in summer.

He loves it, which is good, because it's his bed. I much prefer my pillow-top. Basic generic Sealy.

[zola.livejournal.com]

Yanno, we still have all that code I wrote for Fledgling.. I mailed Steve. :)

Oh, with the knee... try Physical Therapy first if it's at all possible--often it can do wonders and beats being stuck in the hospital.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

and don't forget cereal universe, full of snap, crackle, pop -- make that serial universe, where the stories never stop? Right over here http://www.serialuniverse.com/

mattress

[dvdscar.livejournal.com]

Memory foam = HOT! Do not even consider if either one of you is a "toss off the blanket because I'm sweating even though the thermostat is set at 68" sleeper.

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

I'm 6' 1", with a long back and big hips. We went with a competitor of SelectComfort, and we've been very happy with it. It's a high-end adjustable air mattress. We got the queen bed with two cells, so I can have my firm mattress, while my husband sleeps a little softer.

We saved a few hundred dollars by going with ComfortAire (http://www.comfortaire.com) instead of SelectComfort. We saved a little more by getting the controllers that don't store or display settings - they just push and release air as requested.

The adjustable mattress is an awesome idea. We figure it should last at least as long as a traditional mattress, and be just as comfortable at the end of its life as it was at the beginning - no troughs :o)

[paw3pals.livejournal.com]

A few years ago I got the 9" memory foam (over 2 layers of Talalay latex) with split firmness(different firmness for each side of the bed)from
http://www.flobeds.com/index.htm
The removable/cleanable wool stuffed cover eliminates the heat of the memory foam. There are 13 different firmness levels available and they give you 90 days of free (except shipping one way) exchanges of the latex cores. Everything comes UPS quite nicely (including foundations that put together with only 8 wing nuts, if needed).

An alternative for less money (recently helped a friend get a twin mattress from this company) would be the 6" Split Firmness Latex Mattress with a 2" or 3" memory foam topper and Organic Wool Mattress Pad from
http://www.foamorder.com/latex.html
or a Nature's Comfort wool mattress pad from
http://www.woolenmill.com/

My room mate got an air/memory foam bed from FloBeds and it sprang a leak after a couple of years, and they allowed her to apply the warranty to get latex layers instead - she told me that the latex under the memory foam was Extremely Better for her back, hip & knee arthritis. We are both very happy with our beds. (I have fibromyalgia.)

If you end up not liking memory foam (I went to Tempur-pedic store and tried one out before getting the new mattress) I would highly recommend latex. Memory foam cuddles and conforms while latex is more "springy" while still providing pressure point relief and gentle support. Neither memory foam or latex need turning they say, but I do it about every 3 years - just unzip the cover and turn over the layers.

Good Luck in the mattress search - there are So Many options.

Facebook

[apolias.livejournal.com]

When I hit the link, I end up on MY page in Facebook. Was that the intended result?

We also have a platform bed. We have a mattress from European Sleep Works (firmer than medium, but not the firmest) made for a platform bed, which is wonderful. The only drawback is that it is not flippable, only switchable head for foot, not top for bottom. It has some design features simliar to some IKEA's mattresses, but I've never tried them. European Sleep Works may be a local manufacturer.

knee

[(Anonymous)]

Avoid surgery until you have worked diligently at least 6 weeks with a competent physical therapist! If your insurance won't cover it let me know and I'll send you a check. Orthopedic surgeons make their living cutting so they usually jump to that option first. Most knee injuries can have the pain relieved by strengthening the supporting muscles. Consider that physical therapy will be needed after any surgery to reclaim strength and flexibility. If you try the PT BEFORE the surgery you may very well avoid the knife. Many knee injuries that received surgery as routine treatment are no longer being treated with surgery. If you see an old school orthopedist he/she may not be familiar or comfortable with the modern non-invasive course of treatment.

Spousal unit, sister, and I have all taken the pain out of serious ("the MRI indicates we should schedule surgery as soon as possible") knee injuries without the use of scalpels.

We probably only get one time around on the planet. Why not add a few minutes of exercise each day to make life easier?

Re: knee

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, no. I am not fond of being cut. Be sure I'll talk about PT and other surgery-free options beforehand. The GP mentioned injections, which make me unhappy, but is preferrable. Physical Therapy is something I will very much wish to explore.

Re: knee

[zola.livejournal.com]

The injections look a lot worse than they feel, LOL!

Believe me, even though I posted it already, a good physical therapist can do WONDERS.

I have Ehlers Danlos type 3 and was always messing myself up, you see... no knife except for a pinched nerve in my elbow, which could happen to anyone.

You definitely need a good therapist that will work with you, though. My first experience for my knees was awful, they did a terrible job and were constantly pushing me to do things I *knew* would make my knees worse.

At that point, the right knee was so weak that stepping out of the car was enough to pop it out of joint.

They finally said they couldn't help me when I rode the bike for three minutes and did ten stair-steps and had to be iced instead of having therapy for the next three appointments.

As it turned out, I was a poor candidate for surgery due to the fact that they might tighten everything up and it would all get loose again, so my doctor had me try with a different therapist.

It was like night and day! He asked a lot of questions, and he believed me when I said "less reps and more weight is better because the less I crank the joint when it's sore, the better off I am."

He designed my exercises accordingly, we worked together to find the perfect point at which to stop, and we were both astonished at how quickly I got better--even faster than we'd hoped.

When I had to go back for hips (the improved knee strength changed my joint balance and was now causing problems with my hips), he was delighted to watch me climb the long flight of stairs to the exercise rooms with perfect ease rather than having to take the elevator, and now, if I have any signs of weakness, I just start my exercises again, although I've been able to be active enough that it's generally a non-issue.

memory foam

[(Anonymous)]

Memory foam sleeps hot. After waterbed, baffled waterbed, and memory foam debacles finally invested in dual control Select Comfort. 20 years of warrantied sleeping bliss. We are 10 years into the contract and miss our bed almost as much as we miss the cats when we travel.

mattress

[(Anonymous)]

My parents have a Tempur-pedic and I have a Serta memory foam mattress. We love them. I am quite heavy and have Fibromyalgia, this is the best mattress I've had. Mine has some type of channels to remove heat and is only too hot on summer nights that don't cool off. Of course, we do turn the thermostat to 62 at night. See if you can get a free return period from the store.

Cynthia

LJ posting

[timepiece]

Not that it's the same thing, but many fanfiction writers post their stories by the chapter on LiveJournal. There is a maximum length to entries, so depending how long the chapters run, you might have to split them into smaller parts to post here.