What's Happening In Your Life?

[WalshFan88]

Sorry to hear about everyone's troubles...

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Yesterday was Summer fest, and had a blast melting faces. \m/

Tomorrow I leave for a week on Current River. Then I get a tattoo the day after I get back (my old Gibson SG will be the centerpiece).

Then I go to the ENT to find the results of my sinus CT scan and plan for surgery.

THEN I go to the orthopedic surgeon to find out about hip replacements.

Quite busy...

[L101]

VA - I feel your pain - a TV station here showed JAG for a while last year - I got nothing done while it was on!!

DD - Good luck with your thesis - just keep that deadline in sight and it will all be over and you can listen to Don in peace Hopefully your thyroid will settle down when you get your meds sorted.

Austin - busy weeks ahead so I'll say good luck with all the docs appointments and hope you enjoy Current river - bit of a stupid question but is that an actual river with white water rafting etc or is it a place ??
And don't forget to post a picture of your tattoo when its done !!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Austin, glad Ausfest went well! Def want to see pics of tattoo when you get it, and have fun at the river.

DD, I remember my sister having to work on her thesis. It was complicated by the fact she had part of her research in her car and it was stolen! Just remember to save your work often! When it's done, you can reward yourself with a lovely daydream of meeting Don.

Lacken, I got an email that said I should get it on Friday, so guess what I'll be doing next weekend

[Brooke]

Lacken, I can answer you question about the Current River. It is an actual spring fed river that has some pretty good rapids and make for fun floating experiences. People go canoeing, tubing, floating, camping, etc. Lots of fun if you like the water! I've been once and hope to go again someday.

Austin, I want to see your tattoo too! And best of luck with your upcoming dr. appts!

Same old thing going on at my house. We fried fish Saturday evening with friends and our grandson was over too. Of course it rained right in the middle of it! Just enough to make it wet everywhere. Sick. of. rain.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

So, more than a little bit torqued at the moment... I'm sure quite a few here in the States have heard about the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) data breach for Federal Employees. I'm not a federal employee, so I assumed I was safe. Heck no! Apparently there has been more than one data breach, and one or more of them included contractors. So someone out there has data about me that is incredibly scary. Every address I've had, every job I've held, why I left, and the names of all supervisors and their contact information. Names and addresses of neighbors where I grew up, names and addresses of neighbors where I've lived since. The full names, addresses, etc of all family members, including maiden names, including where they were born. Every arrest/conviction (or lack of). Every incident of illegal drug use (or lack of). How much alcohol I drink (or lack of). My complete credit history. Complete tax history. Every delinquent account, bankruptcy, lien (or lack of). Every civil action I may or may not have been a part of. Every Information Technology infraction committed (or lack of). Every personal contact I've had with any non-citizen. They even may have data on me that I don't even know about myself.

I already have a credit monitoring service, so I'm not as worried about that. It just bothers me that there's such deeply personal information in the hands of people I don't even know. I trusted our government to secure this information. It's not like I really had a choice in giving them the information to begin with.

With having all the data they have, including my social security number, they can pretty much find out any additional information they want about me that they don't already have. What makes me more angry is that OPM still hasn't been open about what was taken and when. I don't think they're trying to keep it from the media so they can 'spin' it. I think they really don't know. Anyway, this has put me in a rather lousy mood.

[Glennsallnighter]

Well I'm home finally and already am snowed under. This has to be my most stressful year yet!

Austin, enjoy your Vacation, I'm delighted Ausfest went well, good luck with your medical meetings. I hope the treatment plans go well.

VA, that data breach sounds very scary. Try not to stress too much over it (easier said than done I know!).

DD, hope you get some of your energy back and that you can put your final push in for August!

Well an update on Mum. She is much better and is in a convalescent home for another 5 weeks or so. Consequently my brother, sister and I are taking turns to stay with Dad as he needs 24 hour supervision. My brother had suggested he stay with us, but while I would take him with a heart and a half he barely recognises his own home as it is. He woukd be totally confused if he came to ours. I woukd also have to get a number of 'safety measures' put in or he could end up falling down the stairs or similar. And we do not have a shower suitable For him either. I woukd never forgive myself if something happened to him in my care. Also his doctor recommended he stay where he is most familiar with. He is totally confused about the present as it us and barely recognised myself and Laura last night.

Coupled with I start exam marking today which is always intensive, and I've to take Laura to Taylor Swift TWICE in the next two weeks!

We were delayed initially by 24 hours coming home earlier this week, then by another 7 leaving Chicago on Tuesday night. However on the plus side we were all upgraded to Business class by AA. It was so funny watching Laura morph from the cool cynical 14 year old moaning as she boarded the plane into a highly impressed young lady. It was the first (and only) time she's ever been able to go business!! We actually got some sleep too.

Oh and finally I'm fighting a vicious chest infection since early last week. My voice is all but gone and I'm coughing like its going out of fashion. I'm on lemon, manuka honey and antibiotics and can only pray test it will be over soon and I can use the phone again!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

GA, I can totally relate to the cough and no voice! A coworker at work has been going through the same thing, and of course, my voice still isn't totally better from last Feb.

I'm glad you made it home OK and weren't like the poor folks who left Chicago the day before you and ended up at some Canadian military base with no heat courtesy of United Airlines.

I'm glad you had a good time, it's a shame about your parents, but it sounds like things are getting better, which is good.

Stay strong!

[L101]

GA - Glad you enjoyed your holiday, it was worth all the planning.

That cough/chest infection is horrible, I'm six weeks and counting with it even after antibiotics and steroids..its back with a force this week. Just keep taking the honey and lemon.

Glad to hear your Mum is getting better and when she comes out, she should feel a lot better, but it must be hard looking after your Dad. Hope he can settle down and feel more secure soon as he's in the best place he can be at the moment.

But at least you have the two Taylor Swift concerts to look forward to

[Brooke]

Ga, glad you are back home safely! Best of luck with your dad and mom's situation and take it easy! Would love to hear and see pics of your vacation and Taylor Swift coming up!

I've been on staycation this week since Tuesday. I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets and also cleaned and polished the outsides on Tuesday. Yesterday I went to visit my Mom and took my dnl and grandson along. We ate out at the colony restaurant and had a good time. Mom was amazed at how big Cutter has gotten. Bethel, where she lives, is a small old German town (colony) with nothing much left except the big old brick buildings. They try to keep the heritage alive but it's fading fast.

Today? Mostly just my basic house cleaning. Such fun! I am going to watch a movie sometime today or tonight! It's hard to work them in with baseball games going on!

ETA: VA, this is awful for you! I hope they get whoever did it!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Brooke, all the govt is saying at the moment is that the "Chinese" did the data breaches. I guess we'll see how this pans out.

The JAG series DVDs were delivered this evening, and once the Pirates finished losing to the Nationals, I started watching. Watched an entire DVD, three episodes, but one was two-hour (originally). Sure is nice to not have commercials that need to be skipped over!