Did I already post this picture of my eager squirrel friend-ie?



If so, then oh well. Here it is again.

I have to set up a computer at the clinic to download the pictures from my camera, since my computer at home doesn't have a USB port...then I can begin to post new photos of good new stuff.


I feel all chatty and update-ish, yet have little new to say. Things are going pretty well. (In fact, some things are going really well!)

Places I soon may or will be or am thinking about going:

Hawaii: I'm trying to get the details of my trip for the APA conference ironed out. One good thing to do would be to actually have my data analyzed so that I have a presentation to give! Another good thing would be to have the plane tickets bought. (Or done-boughtened.) In fact, it would have been good to buy them a long time ago. However, I was trying to figure out what accommodations I would have, which would determine how long I could stay, and therefore when I would ARR and DEP. Also, it is dang hard to spend that much money on one of anything. I wonder how hard it is going to be to apply for funding to go? And how much I can get if I do apply?

Missouri, to see Martha's graduation. She must be some kind of genius, because she's getting two really difficult degrees at once. I wish Missouri wasn't so far away.

Traverse City, for my last and final class, PSY 542. It will be a week-long dealie, with class in the mornings and reading/discussion/beach time in the afternoon. Must remember to bring SPF 500 sunblock.

In other news, I went to a skin care specialist last week to see if they could do something about my consarned flushy blotches (AKA "flotches") officially being rosacea. By "skin care specialist," I don't mean a dermatologist. No, I'm trying the smaller guns first, because I think I know everything.

After extensive research on the internet, I believe that this Intense Pulsed Light treatment is the best, and least collaterally damaging, treatment. One problem is that it is new, so a lot of places are still paying off their lasers and don't want to spring for yet another mechanism. Also, a big drawback with this method is that its effectiveness is extremely dependent on whether the person wielding the light-emitting-hose-object knows what settings to use. There are three or four different aspects that require different settings for the light targeting different skin structures and problems.

I found one place (basically a salon) in Ann Arbor that does it. I have rather impulsively signed on to try it. If it doesn't work (i.e. if the technician is used to working on people who care more about wrinkles than redness) then I will go on to try the dermatologist. I understand it often takes three treatments to see a noticeable difference. I have been taking "before" pictures, just in case I think it works, so I can disabuse myself of that notion later.

I guess I am just really unhappy with the idea of *&%$#@ antibiotics. Especially maintenance antibiotics. And the last thing I need is for someone to tell me to avoid freakin' stress and eat fewer processed carbs. (The old "stop telling me to do what I'm already doing as best I can!" frustration.) Also, I don't like the sound of the side effects of the lasers treatments (which are technically different because they produce only one wavelength.) I don't want the subcutaneous bruising, and I don't want the shiny white zombie-skin, either.

The skin care lady told me I look a lot younger than my age. While I think this is actually true because it runs in my family, I also felt like she was trying to find something to flatter me about. I guess I don't flatter easily, especially when someone is trying to sell me something.

(However, it doesn't actually stop me from buying something I've determined I want.)