Oh, the stabby knife holder now comes in pink! That would be perfect for my kitchen!

[link]

One of the folksy, “gosh durnit, that president sure is a funny feller” anecdotes in Robert Draper’s new book about George W. Bush, Dead Certain, is that Dubya is a big fan of Austin Powers and in particular, the character of Dr. Evil, imitating him often along the corridors of the White House.

Does this mean Bush will get a hairless cat?

[link]

Or that Robert Wagner will get a job as his new chief advisor?

can you call your GP before going to the ER, so that he/she can communicate directly with the ER staff and tell them to NOT fuck around with you?

My GP isn't the guy who created the protocol, so there's this whole loop of he's got to find the specialist who talks to the ER. Last night they finally tracked my specialist down to Milwaukee, because my GP wasn't up on the protocol himself.

Can you call your specialist, then, before you go to the ER, so that your specialist can communicate directly with the ER staff?

I just feel like, whatever doctor it was who developed your treatment protocol, they need to talk directly to the ER staff whenever you go, rather than the ER staff looking through your files for a protocol that may or may not be in there, which, even if it IS in there, they still might not follow.

I mentioned to propo-drug you recommended to my specialist (did I already tell you this? my memory is shot) and he said there was only one guy at that hospital who would administer it--it requires an anaesthetist and is a high-impact drug. So it's on the last-resort list.

I don't mean this question in a snarky way, please understand that: how much worse are things going to have to get before you consider last-resort treatments? Because I would have considered your migraines to be at last-resort level when you started needing to go to the ER for treatment.

Dude. I so want that scale. I need a kitchen scale anyway. Surely I should upgrade from the 2 dollar plastic version to that one. Right? Right.

I'd ask for it for my birthday, except Northern Exposure!

ION, I have a question for business/tax/law types. I think I already know the answer, but google is giving me no confirmation, probably because this is a weird-ass situation:

My employer tends to play fast and loose with their accounting, and, in fact, get audited by the IRS at least every other year as a result of that.

We have a huge book project that, given our regular workload and meagre staff, could not get done during regular business hours. Instead, Big!Boss asked a couple of us if we could edit/proofread/layout the book "on a freelance basis."

A person can't freelance for a company they're already a salaried employee of, correct?

This "freelance" work is compensated by turning in a form with hours worked, which is then paid out at an amount equal to what our hourly rate would be if we were hourly, with NO taxes, SS, etc., withheld.

So, if one of these salaried employees performs some of this "freelance" work, would they (and I mean *me*) report the income as a bonus, come April 15? Because I can't think of any other way to report it that would be remotely legal.

I know I have to report it, and pay taxes on it (ouch), which I intend to do, because I'm all honest and shit, but I'm just trying to figure out HOW to categorize the income when I file my taxes.

So, report it as a bonus? Or is there a more appropriate category?

And yes, my employer does shifty financial stuff like this All. The. Time.

flourishing as perhaps the only brain-damaged detective going.

Pfft. The writer is clearly unaware of the whole Defective Detective genre.

Happy Birthday, Trudy!

Happy Birthday, Kara!

It's not that it's too high impact for me to undergo- it's finding someone to do it. Trigger point injections, for instance, are relatively simple and can be performed by a pain specialist or an internist. Problem is, those people don't traditionally staff ERs (though CCDH sometimes has an internist in theirs). So we have a simple, incredibly effective and low side effect treatment I don't get in emergency situations.

So something involving only one of the available anaesthiologists at the biggest hospital in the area? Not gonna happen. I'd take it, but it would have to be scheduled somehow.

And, fuck, when they scheduled my admission to Neuro they still had me lying around waiting because I'm only high priority to me-they had trauma and stroke etc victims pouring in.

That scale is awesome.

And I have the voodoo toothpick holder AIFG!

t eta Ha! That's a fun site - bacon wallet!

Steph, how does your employer categorize the income? Do they include it on your W-2? Give you a 1099?