"I see sub (SUB) text in 'chasing and killing a black man with a pack of wild dogs'

After 40 years of minstrel shows of Uncle Tom's Cabin, mainly featuring Eliza fleeing over the ice from a pack of dogs, how can there not be a racial subtext?

I'm also spending the day chit chatting with a guy that doesn't like the "recent" (and clearly PC) trend of using actor to refer to women (which butchers the language). I told him he's really adapting to computers really well, considering the word's been gender neutral for at least 99 years now (thank you, erinaceous, for wordnik's one stop shop), and it's a shame he's not as adept at English as he is with technology.

I almost went off to the all IT meeting half an hour early. Yikes. I managed to panic someone that it involved performance, since we need to bring cameras. It was worth actually having that low level paranoia myself.

Good lord, a co worker just offered me a hug. I offered to call HR. Let's be realistic here.

Is it Dusmesh on Ludlow, Steph & flea? That would totally work for me, and sounds great. Shall we say 11:30 or so? I have to drop the dog off at the kennel here in Indy, so that should give me time to get sorted and get over there.

I sometimes wonder if they're posted by some app and not the actual person.

I wonder about that, too. I've seen "Joe Shmoe responded to..." in the sidebar several times lately, but I haven't seen anyone I know posting the cleaning thing. Of course I've got most of the people I went to high school with set for "Important Only" posts so I may just be missing them.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday juliana!

Happy Belated Birthday Zenkitty and Ouise!

So, grams is ready for a live at home nurse or assisted living, keeps hitting the button for the ambulance, an uncle who live 45 minutes away but wants nothing to do with her(unless it's her money), and my dad, who does, and who drives six hours one way when she hits that buttong, which has been three times in the past month. She's 92.

Oh, and I hate her. In an abstract way. We didn't part well the last time I saw her, but she's pretty self-centered enough that I'm sure she'd overlook it to focus more on her own needs. Which, at this point, with the fainting at grocery stores due to dehydration, are plenty.

Still, I'm toying with the idea of telling my dad that if something comes up, that I can drive the two hours from NJ to East Meadow to deal with her and whatnot until they get the assisted living business sorted out.

If I offered this, it would be for my dad, most definitely, who's a jerk but I do actually love him. Gramms couldn't die soon enough. In an abstract way, natch.

But I don't know if I can commit that time to a woman I've cut out of my life for the past decade.

Julie, maybe I'm not understanding, but I don't get why your dad has to drive 6 hours when she hits the button for the ambulance. When you say she "keeps hitting the button", I hear, there's nothing really wrong, she's just freaking like old folks do sometimes. (Is this a LifeAlert thing?) Surely the ambulance gets to her quicker than your dad can! If there's something actually wrong that your dad (or someone) needs to come, wouldn't the hospital call?

What the hell is wrong with people? [link]

I mean, seriously. What the hell?

Yeah, the hospital calls after the ambulance gets her to the hospital. They called my uncle, who replied that my dad dealth with her, and hung up on them. And then my dad would come down and talk to the doctors and get her out of the hospital and was her bedding and other laundry and get groceries. She apparently busted her tailbone and there's nothing the docs can do but give her pain meds, but every time the pain gets too much, she bangs for the ambulance, even if she has a relevant doctors appointment the next day.

She's fainted twice due to dehydration, so not taking care of herself. The washer and dryer are in the basement, and she's not been going down there. The house hasn't been vacuumed or dusted in months. The tell for me is that my dad has no sense of smell and even he claims that the house is stinky.

I don't know all the deets of why my dad has to go down every time, other than her medicare running out if the hospital decides to keep her longer when they have no idea why she's there or have no means to aid her. Even getting her into a rehab for her tailbone will take time.

But, if she pulls something again, where my dad feels that he has to come down to intervene, should I offer myself to go over, where I'd have a 3 hour roundtrip, as opposed to a twelve hour round trip.

Okay, I see. If I were you, I'd offer to go, because filial duty blahblah obligation guiltcakes. As you said, not for her, but for your dad. And encourage him to get her in a safe place asap. Not a good situation. Good ~ma to both of you!