Tea:

Also, word is that TPTB will begin phasing out group homes for developmentally disabled adults. The projected strategy is to simply not fill beds that become vacant. I'm sure that will take years to do, but whether it takes five years or fifteen, I still don't really have a plan that I can do anything else. If they go back to large state-run facilities, I'm not sure I could handle that environment

WS, that really sucks both for you and for the people you help. I hope you have enough time to figure out what your next move is going to be.

erika, ~ma for your brother. I'm so sorry.

Hivemind, how should I discuss the layoff in a cover letter? Normally, I'd say something like "My current position is X", but should I just say "My position as X has been eliminated" Also, technically, I'm on administrative leave for the next 4 weeks, so it is still my current position.

The one thing I'd be concerned about is what your (soon-to-be) former employer would say to a potential employer, given that whether a person is/was employed somewhere or not is one of the few questions former employers will answer these days.

For the next month, you are employed there, Vortex, and, as I understand it, your employer is obliged to say that. After that, I don't know that I'd say much if anything about it in the cover letter. I would write something like, "As a [job title], I have coordinated projects that...."

Lameness, Maria.

In Raq's Head news, apparently I am stacking conditions. The sinus infection has been in place since the spring, due to allergies. The severe current headache is a migraine, triggered by skipping my SSRI for three days.

It turns out that I've had migraines since puberty, I just didn't know it. Stupid high pain tolerance coming into play again.

However, when I mentioned to one friend that it wasn't just a sinus infection, she said "It's a ferret?" And when I mentioned to another, he said, "I was going with brain weasels."

I guess I'm an ideal candidate for cephalomustilidae.

The sinus infection has been in place since the spring, due to allergies.

I'm on my last day of the second antibiotic for the sinus infection (total antibiotic time combined = 20 days, woo). I feel 95% better, energy-wise, but my sinuses still hurt somewhat, though I'm not producing green snot any more. I'm just going to continue enthusiastically using the neti pot until things calm down.

I guess I'm an ideal candidate for cephalomustilidae.

I got a marten up my nose once. Had to flush it out.

I think I'm going to be using the neti-pot for life now.

Not supremely happy about this, but so freaking glad to be off the steroid.

However, when I mentioned to one friend that it wasn't just a sinus infection, she said "It's a ferret?"

God, that friend is awesome and hilarious. Also, wise.

ETA - I had some thoughts about the google plus thing today that I wrote down. Then I posted it to googleplus, for recursiveness. So if my gmail addy goes away, profile addy still works. Don't hate me for my title. [link]

Milo isn't a tiny cat, so I'm not *too* worried yet, but he doesn't eat much. Then Pythagoras, the big fat blob, comes and eats the remainders. Milo likes to 'graze' and Py likes to wolf his food down, which isn't really working as a combination. We're currently trying sprinkling cat milk on the food, which is helping a bit.

Don't know if this will help, but we've got a similar situation with Worthington (older cat), who is a very slow eater, and Chesterfield (still-kittenish younger one), who is a wolf-it-downer. We feed them in separate rooms so that Chesterfield, who is on a special diet, can't eat Worthington's food. He protests about being shut in the bedroom for so long, but we've recently been trying to discourage Worthington from taking alllllll day with his food by tossing out whatever he hasn't eaten after half an hour or so, and it seems to be working, more or less.

Also: what is cat milk??

Maria, I'm so sorry the job didn't work out. Fie on them. Raq, Steph, I'm glad you're both getting the right treatment, but sorry it's been dragging on so long.

ION, I am about to kill our landlord. (Current, not about-to-be.) Despite repeated phone calls and text messages, he has not yet told us (1) when the new tenants are moving in; (2) whether or not they will be buying our washer & dryer; (3) how & when we can get our security deposit back from him. Because, you know, it's not like we're moving THIS WEEKEND and might need to know any of that information. (Also, he has never once apologized for being late/flaky/unavailable, for not paying the water bill, for not letting us use the basement for storage as promised when we signed the lease, etc. etc....) I will be SO GLAD to see the last of him once we've moved out.

I guess I'm an ideal candidate for cephalomustilidae.

At night, the ice weasels come.

erika, I hope your brother gets some relief soon.

Raq, I'm really glad there's a diagnosis and treatment plan. I can't imagine dealing with this weather at less than full health.