Resolutions & some natter

One of the great joys about the new job was being able to sleep in until 6am and then go to work early to catch up on email there. And then I spent a week in meetings where I ended up getting up at 5:30 again to do my email *here* before going up there.

Damned if I didn't get more done; was able to download vids and read racy stuff and even throw in the occasional load of laundry before heading out. Darnit, I really didn't want to start getting back up at 5:30 again, but it's looking like the most logical response, at least while I'm mainlining the Whoniverse.

Speaking of which... when someone puts up a post saying how annoyed they are that some fans are jubilating because video canon has blown away some rather bizarre book canon, not that they could care less what anyone else considers canon... yeah. That's a really convincing argument, there. (And honestly, since when did any fandom mix its canon? At least without distinguishing between "original" and "extended"? Book canon and video canon have always been separate-and-unequal in any other fandom I've been in, with the original media taking precedence. Including this one, lo those many years ago.)

Anyway, on to the monthly resolution list. Going to be a busy weekend, but everything in it counts towards July, so might as well post this now.


JUNE ACCOMPLISHMENT TALLY

TBR books: 116 pleasure / 24 Tudor / 4 review / 3 borrowed
Book(s) released to BookCrossing this month: None
DVDs created: 0
Soundtracks loaded onto iPod: 24 of 42
Classes taken: None
Audios/Books on Tape listened to: was a little monomaniacal this month...
( Big list of Big Finish Doctor Who adventures )

- Doctor Who and the Paradise of Death (BBC)
- Sarah Jane Smith: all Big Finish adventures (WHICH END ON A CLIFFHANGER! AAAAARRRRRGGH!)
- The Maltese Penguin
- The Veiled Leopard
- Project: Who
Learned:
- How to use Clickbook to create booklets
- How to use Videora to download video to ipod (although it freezes occasionally)
- How to burn CDs on this computer
- That I will probably live a much happier life if I have only one big obligation (like Shore Leave, Prepare for Fair, Dickens Tea, etc) per year or less... and that 2007's is already set.
Current Handiwork Project: Dr. Who scarf (which has barely been touched)
Traveled to: Nowhere
RtE Book Reviews published:
- Skeleton Man
- Chamomile Mourning
Money Savers:
- Cancelled Booksfree subscription
- Stopped eating out every night
Other:
- All prep work for Shore Leave, started discussing options with possible successors
- Purchased new computer chair


( Remaining 2006 Resolutions )

PROJECTS (All neatly sitting in baskets until I'm ready to cope with them)
1. Rainbow Braid quilt
2. Pineapple scrap quilt
3. Silk crazy quilt
4. Ravenclaw scarf
5. Dr. Who scarf
6. Alpaca blanket
7. 4 knitted washcloths
8. Feast gear (for woodburning decoration)
9. Stock paperwork (to be organized and filed)
10. Stitch markers (to make)

Question for Chicago folks & ChicagoTARDIS Whovians

How much do y'all love me?

Because I've been thinking all along that I'd fly in Friday night and out on Sunday morning, and do ChicagoTARDIS one day. But *duh,* we get Friday off so I don't have to worry about coming in after working hours, and according to Expedia there's no price difference between flights that arrive in Chicago in Friday morning or evening.

So I'm all for coming in on Friday morning and hanging out with anyone who wants to fetch my fanny from O'Hare and then doing the con on Saturday. (Flying out at a hideous hour of Sunday morning is unfortunately non-negotiable).

So I'm sticking out my virtual thumb to virtually hitchhike and firm up offers for couch crash space. wiliqueen, havocthecat, will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64 in Chicago on Thanksgiving weekend? jennetj, signeh, merclibrarian, momthemerciless, any chance of seeing you?

Gardasil again

Step in the right direction - federal panel unanimously recommends girls aged 11-12 be vaccinated with Gardasil, with side comments that it should also be made available for females aged 9 - 26 at their or their parents (depending on age) permission.

This is one step closer to saving thousands of women from death by cancer. 4,000 preventable deaths per year in America alone.

And this is the reaction to such a pro-life position:

"If that [making the vaccine mandatory] happens, state officials, not parents, would become the primary sexual-health decision makers for America's children. That's the way things are done in dictatorships, not democracies," said Linda Klepacki of Focus on the Family.
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"This is not a communicable disease that would keep kids out of school like mumps or rubella," said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals, whose members include middle school and high school administrators. "To make this a condition to enter school — I think parents would become very upset, and many would see this as a signal to their daughters that they can become sexually active," Tirozzi said. "I think there would be a lot of push-back." It's only a communicable disease that could kill the girls. Slowly, painfully, expensively. That shouldn't bother the parents half as much as the idea of darling daughter ever parting her thighs.
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``You can't catch the virus, you have to go out and get it with sexual behavior,'' said Linda Klepacki of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian nonprofit group that opposes efforts to mandate Gardasil vaccinations. ``We can prevent it by having the best public health method, and that's not having sex before marriage,'' Klepacki said. Best public health method? Care to stack that claim up against any other public health threats? Abstinence going to cure avian flu, lung cancer, heart disease, the common cold? No? How about ending rape, pedophilia, sexual abuse? Not that either? But don't worry, Ms. Klepacki, if any of the latter happen to a girl and she later dies of HPV-related cancer, you can add insult to injury by saying she went "out and get it."

This Klepacki seems to be a mine of mind-twisting quotes. I'd google her, but I have a feeling I'd end up needing a shower and lots of brain bleach.

The Guardian in England lays it out on the line in that refreshingly British way: Which is the greater evil, cervical cancer or sluttish behaviour? ... Because being vaccinated against a potentially deadly disease could make girls slutty. Seriously. ... [R]ead: "Only whores get cancer."

But after all that, a shining light of sanity and reason:
Two national health insurers, Aetna and WellPoint, the parent of Blue Cross of California, said they would follow the committee's recommendations and begin reimbursing for the vaccine immediately. HIP-HIP-HUZZAH FOR THEM!