The crazy lady strikes again

Well, I killed two birds with one stone since my last entry in this blog (less than an hour ago as of this writing). A village official backed up a pickup truck filled with Thanksgiving dinners for a group of families in the neighborhood (us included). I figured that since I had the ear of a village official, I'd bend said ear with my tale of a malfunctioning smoke alarm. They promised to contact building management on my behalf with the problem. These people have leverage. They can tell my... Sign in to see full entry.

I've gone into some detail about my problems with my smoke alarm over the past 24 hours. I'm freezing because I can't have the heater on. Putting the heater on - even using the popcorn popper - sets off the smoke alarm, as does putting a pot of water on to heat up the apartment. Even the simple act of taking a nice, hot shower sets the thing off, yet, for reasons I've detailed in my last entry, I can't disable my smoke alarm (unless I want a very upset landlord and a firestorm of controversy in... Sign in to see full entry.

In the comments section to yesterday's blog entry, someone mentioned that she had to disable her smoke alarm because it would go off at all sorts of inappropriate times - for example, when she would take a long, hot shower, or broil a steak. That's not an option here, for one reason. Our landlord inspects our smoke alarms monthly to make sure they're working. Therefore, he would be the second - after us - to know if it had been disabled for any reason. He would want to know why it had been... Sign in to see full entry.

It seems I can't even keep the apartment warm without setting off the smoke alarm. I can't turn on the heater, and I can't even cook without the thing going off. For that matter, taking a shower is out of the question. If this continues this afternoon, I plan on calling the fire department - not 911, the non-emergency number - to see if I can have a live human being walk me through the process of stopping the alarms from going off at the slightest provocation. Sign in to see full entry.

I got the impression, from some of the comments left on my last post, that people seemed to think I was more in favor of the use of alternative medicine than I really am. I'm not an alternative-medicine True Believer; in fact, I'm quite the opposite. Conventional medicine as we know it now has done some good for people. There is at least the theoretical possibility that holistic-health practitioners are just as much after money as those in conventional medicine. The closest I come to alternative... Sign in to see full entry.

One of the things that stood out for me in some of the Respectful Insolence posts is the alternative-medicine emphasis on individual attention. Here's what I mean. For example, one Respectful Insolence post was about Suzanne Somers' endorsement of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause. "Bioidentical" or "bioequivalent" means that allegedly, the hormones one receives to treat symptoms of menopause are identical to the ones made by your body, to put those hormones at... Sign in to see full entry.

Lately, I've been reading a great deal of a blog called Respectful Insolence (I hope I got the name right). The blogger, a cancer surgeon and scientist, prefers (for reasons of his own) to remain anonymous, but he does a great deal of debunking of whacked-out New Age health care. For that, I give him a lot of credit. I'm not saying that conventional doctors don't get it wrong on occasion - we are all human, meaning that none of us is perfect - but his point is that both sides need someone out... Sign in to see full entry.

No, I'm not going to give you one - I'm just going to complain about one. Normally, this would go in Organ Donor Awareness Week, but my point isn't to increase organ-donation rates (worthwhile as I feel that goal is), but to complain loudly and (I hope) in a long-winded fashion about a public-service announcement running here in Chicagoland. Secretary of State Jesse White is running a public-service announcement encouraging people to donate various solid organs at the appropriate time. The only... Sign in to see full entry.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for a glitch that happened a few hours ago. When Garfield posted to her blog, The Secret Life of Cats, her Field Notes ended up in here by mistake. I promptly corrected the error, but not before people started reading the entry. Rest assured that egg is dripping off my virtual face as I type. Garfield was not a happy camper, and I don't blame her. Again, I apologize for the glitch. Now, I'd like to get back to my regularly-scheduled kvetching. I haven't been a... Sign in to see full entry.

SuccessWarrior made some observations on this topic in his blog Holy Church of Blog. (There should be a link to that blog on the right side of this one.) I thought I'd add my two cents' worth to the mix. Leaders like Haggard, who run churches not affiliated in any way with any Christian denomination (either Catholic, Protestant or Christian Orthodox), recognize no leader higher than the top of their own heads. Therefore, there isn't even a theoretical safeguard protecting the unity of a church... Sign in to see full entry.