I guess I should chime in! I used to be javachik here (as I have been javachik since 1993 on teh interwebs) but got tired of getting mixed up with java cat. So, nanita it is, but it kind of weirds me out. I don't want to come up with another fake name though.

I still read the natter and spike's threads but hardly ever post because I am usually reading on iPhone or iPad and I cannot deal with how terrible the interface is for posting. I have started to respond SO many times but end up just deleting because it's too hard.

I moved to Oakland, CA in 2009 and rented a house for a couple of years that I was lucky enough to buy in 2011. Since then my time has been spent with non-stop renovations that are finally DONE. And now I never want to move. For those of you who've been to my little cottage in my cute little neighborhood, you understand why. I'm surrounded by friendly neighbors who are diverse, funny, helpful, supportive and pretty awesome all-around. Whenever Sarameg talks about how much she loves B'more and her hood, it's like we're living parallel lives on separate coasts.

I've been working at a mid-sized biotech since 2012 that I basically HATED from summer of 2015 to May of this year. Since then there have been a lot of changes, and I am happier. I have a team of 6 people that will soon be 8, across US and EU, and they're entirely fabulous (they're the main reason I did not quit when I was so unhappy). My team has taken on the responsibility of day-to-day global operations and now I am taking on the company-wide project of RIM and IDMP (Google it if you're curious, but it has to do with aligning disparate systems and reporting aggregation).

I still travel but thankfully not as much - I feel myself more and more wanting to just be an Oakland hermit but I fight the urge because the outcome will be isolation and I don't want that.

On the pet front, the Wigglebutts Chile Pepper (14.5) and Cayenne (8!) continue to entertain me, and Romeo the Porch Cat whom I inherited with the house, continues to be chill and bitey (when he's happy). And those who are on Facebook with me know the story of kitten Paint who jumped into my car a couple of weeks ago and now lives happily with my dear friend (and ex-housemate) Charlie in his Alameda bungalow.

Single after breaking up with a long-term boyfriend a few years ago - have had a few dalliances but nothing has stuck so far.

I am so glad for this place and all of you. I have made some exceptional friends here, and am grateful. Tomorrow I am taking the train to Boston and having lunch with SJ (and TCG and LTC!) and VWBug (and Stitch and L!) and Jesse! I am so looking forward to this! And then I am taking my rental car and driving around New England to see pretty leaves and also knock two more states off of my 50 States list! After seeing Maine and Vermont, I only have Alaska left.

In November, Nora is coming to visit (and with bonus meara one night!) and Joanna and Sean are coming to stay with me again for Thanksgiving (Jo isn't a Buffista, but she's adjacent). And in December I am back in Philly where I will set aside time to see hippo again because I missssss her desperately and my Philly trips of late have left us with no time to see each other.

but hardly ever post because I am usually reading on iPhone or iPad and I cannot deal with how terrible the interface is for posting.

This...I feel like it didn't used to be so bad but somehow iOS10 screwed it up for me and now it's terrible to type in, and it sucks. Because mostly I'm on my phone or iPad. (But at the moment, on my laptop!) Looking forward to seeing Nanita AND bonus Nora! :)

Susan, I had the old-fashioned hyst, and apparently my uterus was as cranky as I am -- my doc cheerfully told me she kind if had to wrestle with it a bit, because, like the Doctor, it didn't want to go.

I had 18 staples, and for the first 24 hours post-op, all I wanted was morphine and sleep.

I was working at the teen shelter at the time, and I got 6 weeks of disability, and thought I'd be going back after 2, because I'm a good little healer with a high pain threshold. I was wrong.

I stayed with my parents for a week after I was released, then went home. The pain was quite manageable with Vicodin, but I still had to get friends, one of whom was an upstairs neighbor, to get litter and help me change it.

I got tired really quickly with little effort the first 4 weeks. I took the whole 6 weeks, and it was a good desicion because my job was a pretry physically active one.

Btw, if you get staples, they come out really easily --I mean, when is time to get them taken out! It's not like they were piping out spontaneously when I laughed or anything.

Also, if you get a script for pain pills, take them! The first week was pill, nap, tiny walk, nap. I'd go for comfort reads or watches, because I I read couple of new books that I didn't really remember reading!

All in all, it was fine. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Susan, I also had the old-fashioned version and did not go back to work for a good four weeks. Not so much because of pain but because of being tired. When I did go back, I started at half time for a week and then built up. Mind you, I was working from home to prepare for an important inspection from when I could sit up, and I think that didn't help. If I had really rested for the full four weeks, I might not have been so tired going back.

But, as I understand it, a lot of it really depends on whether they can do the surgery through a tiny laparoscopic hole or whether they have to really cut you open.

Echoing the experiences of the Old-Fashioned way. Took me seven weeks to get back to it, primarily because I was also so severely anemic by the time they actually did the surgery, I simply had no energy at all.

The plan at this point is to go laparoscopic. My doctor thinks that with my general good health and desk job, I should be able to go back to work in two weeks, but I'm planning on almost three just in case--my surgery is booked for a Thursday, and I'm planning to take the next two full weeks off and probably go back the Wednesday of the following week to give me a short week to start back. Hopefully that'll be enough, because that's as much as I can do without using leave without pay. :-/

I think this is no longer the delurking thread - it's the deuterus thread. ;)

I think this is no longer the delurking thread - it's the deuterus thread. ;)

Heh.

But it's good to share these experiences.

Of course.

Fay! Is it odd that I am exited at the prospect of you going to Chine? Well, I am. I' not sure if I said, but I have been thrilled to follow your travels always, and I have been thinking about you lately what with the transition of monarchy in Thailand. Sad, but also not, about The Cat Daniel. The passage of time, I cannot get a grip on it.

I do realize that children's stories - as well as children's pictures - are mostly interesting maybe to a few family members of those children, and sometimes not even to them, so I won't go into all those little details who build the everyday pictures of their lives, and therefore of such a large part of mine.

Obviously, I don't speak for anyone but myself, but I would love so love to read whatever paragraphs you could throw at the screen about those little details, Nilly! Or about your pedagogical opinions or, you know, whatever you got.

I know I have failed to recognize each and every one of you delurkers as you should be recognized, but rest assure, only in words here on the board. My heart has leapt with joy to see each of you. My brain just can't compose posts to keep up.

Wow, Sparky! I feel like i say this or something similar to every one of your posts, but that is a lot of wow.

Eat, that surgical glue business is fucked up! But no migraines is terrific news. As I blend my responses to your posts with complete disregard to how you experience your own life. Sorry about that!

Hi bennett! I thought you were somewhere else. I don't know why. Always good to hear from you. I think of you as Shakespearean in some way, is that totally off?

Stephanie! Your life sounds so good to me. Keep it up. That whole buying a house with your parents thing, that's terrific. And much else, but that is what I am jealous of, I guess.

Nanita! We need to make a Point Isabel dog park date. Your schedule is more the determining factor than mine, let me know if you see a good opening on your schedule.

I still have all mo reproductive parts, for all the good they've done me. I 'm mildly jealous of anyone who has had them removed and got any improved quality of life from that!

I have been eating Jamaican food and then chocolate and drinking wine all night, I might be a wee bit sentimental, but all y'all, so good to see you!