Go Mason (again...)

A whole article in the Washington Post today about George Mason University's "different set of all-stars: its economics department."

Go Mason!

As some of you might know, the new school that I attend part time here in DC is George Mason, who is currently kicking some serious butt in the NCAA men's basketball tourniment. I've taken a whole 1.5 classes there so far, so I feel very involved with their success.

Well, my sisters came and went. We did a million things (see pictures). Pandas at the zoo. Lincoln Memorial. Watched March of the Penguins while having a fire (in the fireplace this time) at my house. White House. Old Post Office Tower. Capitol. Library of Congress. Supreme Court. National Cathedral. Jefferson Memorial. Tidal Basin/Cherry Blossoms. Arlington National Cemetery. All in 2.5 days. I am a damn good tour guide.

One of the cases I worked on has finally been through the federal court of appeals. I'm very proud to say that we won. Although the judges called our reasoning "perhaps less than robust" (see p. 14 of the decision). But, they said, "we are not persuaded that its distinction between extraction and reinjection is so deficient as to warrant our intervention." So, I'm not *that* deficient. In our defense, we were trying to make sense out of some rather scrambled existing case law. So we did the best we could. Sometimes that doesn't allow you to be robust, apparently. I've never really considered myself a robust person anyway.

Fire!

The good news: the smoke detectors I installed late last year work like a charm!

The bad news: I know this cuz I just had a fire. Not kidding. Nothing was really damaged, except one of my Revereware pans and my contact case...

Yes, I'm a dumbass. Was sterilizing my contact case, which I do every now and then. Put the case in a pan, filled the pan with water, covered it up and put it on the stove. Usually it works very well. Except today I got distracted making the guest room bed for my sisters who are coming to visit tomorrow. Before I knew it, something smelled weird and the smoke detector was going off. The best part is that I couldn't even remember that I had put this on the stove! I was seriously like, "What the fuck could be burning?" I think I have ADD or something lately, I swear.

X-Ray Vision

Went to my physician assistant yesterday. She gave me some pills with a "broader spectrum" than those first antibiotics. They're what I like to call "more bad-ass" than the first pills. I don't want to jinx myself, but I've been on them for 24 hours, and I think I might feel noticeably better already. Is that possible?

After my appointment with the PA, I quietly slipped into radiology and requested my X-rays. They didn't even ask who I was! The only thing I can think of is that maybe they recognized me from when I had them taken. Or maybe they just give out x-rays to anyone. Anyway, the films were enormous, so I had to scan them in sections on my scanner. You can tell a little when you look at the image.

OK, here's what you've been waiting for...

Anthrax or TB

Hi kids,

OK, I still have a cough. In case you're keeping track, we're going on day 67. That's right... This is no longer like a normal illness. In duration it is much more similar to a hostage crisis. I just finished one course of antibiotics. I seemed better (much better) the first few days after I started, then it got worse. I'm going back to dr tomorrow though. They took a chest xray last time... Check back here, cuz if I can get a copy of that thing, I'm totally posting it on my blog (props to Janna for that idea).

Anyway, I don't know much about medical stuff, but here's a list of all of the cough-related illnesses I can think of. Please tell me others in the comments if you know any...

Cold
Bronchitis
Pneumonia
Asthma
TB
Anthrax

That's all I got. Anyway, I think after 67 days we are sure it isn't a cold, right? They said the xrays were fine, and I think (if I'm not mistaken) they would have spotted pneumonia or bronchitis from the xrays. Asthma, based on what I've been reading, doesn't really sound like a productive cough kind of thing. Mine (if you must know) is productive... more like an infection of some kind than a chronic lung thing. So I just seem to feel like it ain't asthma. So it is clear. I either have TB or anthrax. I'll be sure to tell my dr tomorrow that I've narrowed it down to those possibilities. Yes, I may be on my way to a sanatorium. Sanitarium? I don't fricking know... whatever that place they put TB people in.

I was home sick today. V boring. Daytime TV sucks in DC.

Found out my dad and step-mother bought an apartment in Glenview recently. They're fixing it up. That's about all I know, except that it's going to hopefully be rented in April.

I'm moving out of my cushy house June 1. Might move to Alexandria, VA. Might move to downtown Silver Spring, MD. Not really sure. I can't really even look yet, cuz no apartments are listed for June yet. It's going to be a pain, as I have finals just before I have to move. I'm not looking forward to living in a place with no washer/dryer in the unit. It'll be hard to go back. And having a driveway and carport and all is pretty nice. I'm in for a shock.

OK, that's plenty...