Chicagoistas!

I will be in town from Wed. the 31st through Labor Day attending a mystery convention. Shall we do dinner or something?

Quick request for surgery ~ma for Mom. She's having surgery on her eye, which she wouldn't need if the original surgeons 18 yrs ago had been competent.

She had a detached retina which they "fixed" (very badly, her current surgeon was quite appalled at the work) by using a buckle. Now the buckle is coming a part and they have to remove all the tiny pieces and replace it with a new one. Everything should be fine, but a little extra ~ma is always a good thing.

Going dark until (I'd guess) Monday as I'm in Maine this weekend until Sunday, and doubt I'll catch up until after.

Mom called me a bit ago. Her surgery went fine, she was awake through the whole thing (which was weird she says). They weren't able to get all of the bits out, but the doctor thinks she'll be okay, but if she starts having problems again they'll go in and get the rest out.

all the ~ma is released back into the wild.

I have a job!!

Okay, so it's selling textbooks at the university bookstore, but it's my first official "real" job ever. The month-long stint as a receptionist at my aunt's dental office doesn't count, since the pay was totally under the table. This one is temporary for about three weeks, but I'm free to go permanent if I want. Job security!

More importantly, however, I have what looks to be a phone interview, even though he never used those words, with the hiring manager for a medical writing position in Kansas City. It's at 3:30 EST. I could use all the spare job-ma there is, in addition to some slow-down-goddammit-ma. Maybe some don't-say-something-stupid-ma. If it goes well, I get to fly down there and fuck up a real interview.

Thanks again to dcp for making it all happen.

Requesting a little cardiac-ma for my mother who is waiting for a stress test this afternoon to determine if she needs an angiogram tomorrow.

Had a little pressure in her chest yesterday, so my folks spent the evening in the ER. Mom's a little more scared than she'd like to let on, because she lost her twin sister two years ago to cardiac complications.

Okay, I'm a little more scared than I'd like to let on, too...

I'm going to be completely dark for the next week, perhaps two, as I'm visiting family that doesn't even have a touch-tone phone, much less broadband.

Any spare organising-ma would be appreciated this week. Issues with funding and banks and colleges does not a calm Jars make. Thanks dudes.

It only took us 14 hours to get from New Orleans to Houston, we made it safely with all our critters healthy and complaining. I expect to be glued to the Weather Channel for a while...