Sucky Smurf Strikes Again!

[neversremedy8]

We were stuck in traffic for two hours. The majority of it was actually along 23rd heading for the college. 2 mph driving. Wee!

I'm not feeling too hot (sore throat, little sleep), and Craig looks like he didn't get any sleep.

Both Gwyn and Ari are sick, and since Gwyn started getting sick first, we took him in. Over $300 later (x-rays, blood tests, abdominal "tap"), they don't have a fucking clue what's wrong with our kitties. They're both lethargic, they both are less able to be affectionate and aren't grooming as much. They both keep gagging as though they're having reflux and digetsion issues. We've switched their food as an experiment to see what might help. Ari also had weepy eye last night. They're both emotionally needy and keep trying to get close, but purring is the worst for them, as they start to urp-gulp every few seconds when they purr. Only recently have seen signs of yellow bile on the carpet. Not much else to go on. Vet is useless.

As if enough people haven't had job losses around me, jodawi is now unemployed. Thanks, Microsoft. That means that more than 3/4 of the people I know are now unemployed that previously weren't. A classmate of mine who always sits and talks with me said she just got laid off as well. But with Jodawi, we have the issue of him being main support for two fabulous women, one of whom is having serious medical issues of deep concern.

Craig is perpetually worried that he'll be next. The last layoff in his department cut his supervisor. I think there are only a few left, and we're not sure how long he has given the higher education budget cuts. At least he's the most productive member of the team, but if they deem his department inessential, being a great worker means very little.

My former supervisor is looking for work as well, and has to go through a six week training coarse to get her insurance license to get the job she's been offered. BTW, government still isn't planning the right solutions to our economic problems. Economists on NPR say that it's not as bad as the Depression, but exactly how much worse does it have to be for them to call it? How many of our citizens need to be out of work and unable to keep their homes and provide food for families to go from "recession" status to "depression" status? We're currently at a 7.6% rate in the U.S. and 7.1% in Washington State (as of December '08; that's higher for WA than the 2001-2004 slump).

It's high time we start banding together more to contribute as a collective to one another. DIY, trade, communal sharing, dependent care trade-offs; these things can help us all locally to make it easier on individual families/households dealing with the rough economic times.

And then, there are fat cats in small boxes.

Thanks to silveringridd for brightening my morning with the following:

Also good: got a 26 out of 25 on my BIO A 477 midterm. You know, that class that everyone warned me would be too hard? 26 out of 25. 'Cause I knew the answer to the bonus question.

Comments

[betsycontent.livejournal.com]

congrats on your anthropology mid-term! i have such a brilliant daughter.

kitty in the bex was fabulous!

sorry about your kitties. i think you should take them to another clinic. get some references.

love you lots

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

Kitties are getting better. Gwyn no longer urping. Ari's eye less red and weepy.

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

It's interesting what they use for comparisons for unemployment. When I read your statistics, I thought to myself, "I know I've seen double-digit unemployment before..." http://www.bls.gov/web/lauhsthl.htm says that in 1982, the unemployment rate was 12.2%. But I'm old.

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

^_^ I thought the numbers would be higher, but the latest stats I could find were from December. Maybe it's hitting certain industries harder and I just happen to know more people in those industries? Or maybe we'll find out we were in the double digits by this month, but we didn't have the figures to look at until later. *sighs*

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

Also, poor kitties! Since it's both of them, could it be either contagious or environmental? Which vet was useless?

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

Cottage Lake Vet was useless. They're close by, but the only thing that they seemed to do right was recommend a good dry food. At present both Ari and Gwyn are showing signs of improvement. I'm not sure if they had a virus and it's passing, or if the change of food is helping. If it's the food, we may need to rethink the formula or look for alternate sources of ground turkey.