So my father has proposed that Beorn and I move in to my grandparent's house for a while to help care for my grandmother. This will most likely be the source of much drama. My grandparents already have a caregiver living with them during the week, but my dad and my uncles are supposed to be caring for them on the weekends. This doesn't work very well because my grandmother forgets to take her medications, which she needs to do four times a day. Also, she's diabetic, so she needs have someone monitor her blood sugar and make sure she eats. She's having mild dementia so she need someone there all the time. My grandfather must have been helping to keep track of her, but now he is in the hospital.
I'm worried about him because he survived the surgery, but doesn't seem to be getting better. His breathing is very labored and his blood pressure is very low. He isn't strong enough to even move around in bed much. I had to help him to call the nurse because he couldn't find the button in the tangle of tubes and monitors. Hopefully he will be going to a rehab facility soon. If he doesn't get better there is a possibility that he would come home for the family to care for as long as he lasts.
For me, the sad situation for my grandparents isn't the biggest issue. I feel strangely able to deal with my sadness and their sadness. It's my father and uncles' inability to deal with their emotions. Any negative emotions on their parts are channeled into anger and yelling. I have trouble dealing with it, which is why I have tried to avoid major entanglements with the extended family until now.
The smart thing to do would be not to get involved, but since Beorn and I are home all the time anyway, if we lived there we could be a big help. Also my grandmother doesn't eat unless she likes what she is given and Beorn and I are both good cooks. I can't help but think of all the times when I was little that my grandmother took care of me, especially when I was sick.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
More Family Drama
Thursday, June 07, 2007
 | Apparently this is my week to let out my inner geek. As seen on the Paper Chase: You scored as Ranger, The forest are home to fierce and cunning creatures, such as the bloodthirsty Owl bears and malicious Displacer Beasts. But more cunning and powerful than these monsters is the ranger, a skilled hunter and stalker. He knows the woods as if they were his home(as indeed they are), and he knows his prey in deadly detail.
Which D&D Class Are You? created with QuizFarm.com |
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
BBC Religious Sitcoms
Lately we have been watching The Vicar of Dibley, a hilarious comedy about a female vicar in small town in England, starring Dawn French. I love Dawn French. (You might remember her as the Fat Lady in Harry Potter.) She's funny, smart, and beautiful. I also love the fact that her weight doesn't seem to be an issue in the show.
Someday I want to have a face off between the Vicar and Father Ted. Father Ted stars three slightly cracked Irish catholic priests, forced to live on Craggy Island because of their un-priestly ways.
American sitcoms can't hold a candle to British ones in my mind. These two shows are so funny, they really cheer me up. Very few American shows have ever done that for me, maybe MASH as a kid. I'm not obsessed with all things British, but British TV is the best.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Fractal Geometry and Boyfriends
Tonight I'm watching The Colours of Infinity and reminiscing about old boyfriends. In the early 90's, I was just starting college. My first college boyfriend was a physics major. He was a senior and had keys for almost anyplace on campus. Why? I'm not sure, but he had a way with the campus staff. This gave me a feeling that he was strong and competent. The fractal sets playing on his computer screen made me feel that he was intelligent and philosophically "deep." I guess I was innocent in my own way. I'm sure that he wasn't the most socially competent person on campus, but he had a geeky allure. My crush had little to do with him, but much to do with the idea of a scientist, the idea of intelligence, and the glamor of the search for knowledge. I was in love with my own idea of what a scientist was and fractal images were a major part of that. (Also, he was building a robot dog as his senior project, I kid you not.)
Cyborg Grandpa
My grandpa made it through his hip replacement surgery! Yay! He's not out of the woods yet, but I'm hopeful. He already had a knee replacement, but now he has another mechanical part.
Grandpa has nothing on Michael Chorost. Chorost has a cochlear implant, which allows him to hear, but produces some interesting side effects such has a magnetic spot on his head and periodic software updates. A friend gave me a copy of Chorost's book, Rebuilt and I'm really looking forward reading it.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
News
I had a interesting time at my conference. Nothing terrible happened during my presentation. Unfortunately, on Friday my grandfather fell down and broke his hip. He's in the hospital, in need of surgery. For years he's been on blood thinners to make sure he didn't have a heart attack or stroke. Now they have to take him off the blood thinners to do the surgery, but that means that there will be a high risk of heart attack or stroke.
The worse part of this is that both my grandparents have terrible hearing loss, so it's difficult to spend quality time with them.
The point is that I may not be blogging much until this all gets sorted out.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Central Park Historical Trivia
A friend (who shall here remain nameless) pointed out to me that there is no such thing as a "tenement farmer," apparently the proper term is "tenant farmer." I googled this, not because I didn't believe her, but because I could swear that I heard it from other people. At least 34 other people have made the same mistake, so I'm not the only one.
I was trying to say that before Central Park was built there were people farming some of that land and they weren't all tenant farmers, some of them were squatting farmers. Saying squatting farmers doesn't sound right though. There must be a better word.
