Spanish Computer

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English , nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.' 'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?' Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

Shooting Ryan

I took Ryan out yesterday afternoon to get some shots of him.  It's been raining here for a few days (we had a tornado on Monday night) and it had barely stopped raining when we went out.

This is my favorite shot of him.

I'm hoping to enlarge it and frame it for a Christmas present for his birthmother and my parents. Here are some others I took. He's hard to photograph. Tends to be very stiff and posed.

Pulmonary Rehab Start-Up

I thought I would grab a minute while my pumpkin is cooking down in the oven.  It's hard to find time to get on here lately and I've been wanting to blog for a week.

This morning I started my Pulmonary Rehab.  It's in a really nice building downtown Chattanooga, about 25 minutes drive from our home.  I had a great Pulmonary Therapist helping me today.  She's around my age and today she mostly asked me questions, gathered information, showed me some breathing techniques and gave me a breathing apparatus to try.  She took my on a walking test to check my O2 sats.

One of the breathing techniques she showed me was Purse Breathing.  They had showed me that at Johns Hopkins but somehow I forgot about it. Maybe because I didn't need it quite so much then.

Today I practiced my Purse Breathing and was able to watch my sats rise from 94 to 98, which was pretty exciting!  My FEV1 was still at 39%, but that gives us something to work with.  I'm excited about starting the actual Rehab on Monday and seeing how I can improve that number.  Also, I'm hoping to lose 10 lbs. by the end of my 3 mos. of Rehab.  I need to lose a lot more than that, but losing 10 lbs. would be a great start.

I'll be going Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  With overseeing Ryan's schooling in the morning and a dentist, hair appt. groceries, allergy shots and basic housework filling the rest of the week, I'm already seeing my calendar full.  But it's temporary and it's a good "cause!"

(I took the picture at the top at my neighbors last week.  I thought the colors were beautiful.  I love the color of the fall sky!)

Pulmonary Rehab

I've been waiting to hear from our local Pulmonary Rehab for the last week and decided this morning to call THEM up.

I had the phone book out to call when the phone rang it was Rehab.

So now I'm starting Pulmonary Rehab next Thursday.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Maybe they can help me enough so that I don't get so short of breath doing simple tasks around the house.

My son is sitting here annoying me, so I will quit and leave the room...

Asthma

My asthma has been terrible the last few days. I'm not sure what's up. Some people mostly wheeze with their asthma, but I cough. And cough. And cough! I wheeze, too, but my first indication of a problem is my cough "attacks".


I started using nebulized albuterol today. I've been using Advair 1/2xday and then Combivent 3/4xday but the clinic thought maybe nebulized might help so I'm giving it a whirl. Each time I'm coughing it's hard to get my breath back and the room is swimming.


Between holding my fractured rib and closing my eyes until the "swimming" stops, I'm going to look rather silly at Sunday School and church tomorrow if I cough!

Oversized

I saw several flatbed trucks hauling these HUGE tires when I was traveling to Nashville on Wednesday. Aren't they HUGE?

My appointment went well and quick. My FEV1 remains at 39%. She said my lungs still sound pretty crackly and we discussed what to do about that. They are also setting up Pulmonary Rehab for me, since I've been feeling so exhausted and limited in my exercise.

Gross, Yuck, Disgusting

Check out my brother's boo-boo.



A couple of weeks ago he slid while pressure-washing his roof and caught his leg on a nail. This is right below his knee. He had 3 stitches put in and was on antibiotics, but didn't limit his activities at all. Rode his bike, climbed up on the roof again, was in the ocean.

He is a missionary in the Marshall Islands and things don't heal well there, mostly because of the hot, humid climate. They also don't have medical options. There is a clinic but it isn't always staffed. A lot of times the meds are past date. They have a "hospital", but no staff so you have to have someone stay with you and there are RATS THERE.

Anyway, I digress.

He sent this picture to his dr. in the States yesterday and the dr. had a fit. He said if Dave was in SC right now he would most likely hospitalize him. He's afraid the infection will go or has gone into the bone. He had Dave remove the sutures yesterday and is mailing him antibiotics, along with instructions to keep his leg up and to keep it dry.

We are rather worried about him and wishing he would fly to Hawaii for treatment until it heals.

Please pray for Dave.

Quiet & bras

I'm enjoying the quiet of my home. It's wonderful. Occasionally the phone rings, but other than that I have few interruptions to my solitude.

I've been using the treadmill more since I'm alone and have the time.

By the way, the reason that Weight Loss gadget at the top of my blog hasn't changed is because I need to splurge on a new reliable scale. Once I've done that I can start weighing in each week.

Today I went for my annual GYN appt. How fun! After that I went bra shopping...more fun!

I usually really hate bra shopping and seldom go. I hear about people who have 5-6 bras and I wonder who can afford so many!!!!??? The prices are ridiculous! I had 2, but the bone broke in one so shopping I went.

Mostly I hate trying to find a bra that fits. One's too pointy, one the straps are too near the tips of my shoulders and want to slide down, one doesn't support the side, one doesn't support ANYTHING...but today I had pretty good luck and it didn't take nearly as long. Got some PRETTY ones, which is good since they cost so much!

Aren't I exciting, today, talking about bras and shopping for them?

No theme here, just jabbering.

I have pumpkin cooking down in the oven and I need to go make some Caramel Corn now. I go to the CF Clinic tomorrow in Nashville and wanted to take the staff some Caramel Corn since I won't see them again before Christmas and I know how they love my Caramel Corn. I have to stay on their good side, ya know?

Watch your step!

I haven't been doing much house cleaning yesterday and today. *Sigh!*

You are pitying me, right?

Jim decided that while Ryan is away with my mom (Did I tell you that he went with her to FL to help with a dog show?) he would shampoo Ryan's bedroom carpet. It was FILTHY. It's the only room with carpet, thankfully.

Jim moved everything out into the living room and hallway.

See, even the dogs are having to step carefully in order to get around.

Oh, well, I will have to find something else to do on this beautiful fall day.