Birthday Happies, P-C!

Headline o' the day:

Possible AIDS cure linked to glow-in-the-dark cats

The technique is called gamete-targeted lentiviral transgenesis -- essentially, inserting genes into feline oocytes (eggs) before sperm fertilization. Succeeding with it for the first time in a carnivore, the team inserted a gene for a rhesus macaque restriction factor known to block cell infection by FIV, as well as a jellyfish gene for tracking purposes. The latter makes the offspring cats glow green.

I saw that! It's ultra-cool science, even aside from the fact that you could use kitteh as a night light.

One more car insurance question - Geico is less than half the price of Progressive. (Those are the only two I've checked so far because they have really easy to use online quote systems.) Is this because Geico is really shitty or because Progressive is really expensive? Anyone have an insurance company they love?

Epic, much ma going to your kitty.

Happy Birthday P-C!!

I think Geico is pretty good. Only had one minor accident with them--they handled it OK.

Not sure why car insurance prices vary so much. I think companies just use different criteria, with different weights.

If you can bundle your car insurance with homeowners or whatever else you might have that can usually save you some. I've had really good experiences with State Farm in CA, but not in LA so I'm hesitant to make recommendations across state lines as state regulations can make for huge differences. Warren Buffett likes Geico, fwtw.

Oh that's a good idea. We have USAA for our homeowners insurance, and they're really good.

Oh yes Jess, use them. I often get a check back from them on car because their pool is so safe. Me, nsm, so being in that pool helps.

When I go in for pain treatment, I'm supposed to get 4mg dilaudid, 50 mg benadryl, compazine, and toradol IV all at once. That's very important that it's all like that, undilute, together.

Last time I went in "state protocol" mandated that I get the benadryl diluted in a bag and that they don't order the dilaudid until they have a look see. Delaying the benadryl means delaying the compazine, because I can't have the latter before the former.

I asked to see the attending, knowing no one likes to be escalated over, but fuck, this is my pain. The attending walked in, took one look at me, and said "They didn't order your dilaudid, did they?" and ordered it right away. It was too late to give everything all together, but they did manage to get it almost all in a row. I do hope that next time they don't put the benadryl in a bag, but it's always nice when escalation actually works.

When I went in to get the cath I was having a migraine, so they said they'd give me my cocktail. I told them how much dilaudid I got, and they said there's no way they can give that much. I have no idea how personal opinions on how much a facility can dispense of a medication can vary so.