Back at work

[annathepiper]

So since I'm running low on leeway for time I can not be at work, I promised to come back in this week and start acting like I have a job again! Here I am, therefore, at my keyboard and slogging through two weeks' worth of backlogged email, trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do to be productive today. Especially since the one major project that's on the board for attention seems to have slipped. It is very strange being back in now--there's a temp that they've brought in to help cover for me, so now I need to work with him. And I'm all "oh right, I WORK here". And I'm trying very hard to not faceplant in the keyboard, especially since I've already managed to spill a soda this morning all over the keyboard on the Mac. Fortunately, we had a spare keyboard.

I can at least start getting back into posting about more normal things, though! For example, I have to just giggle and giggle that I am a big enough web testin' geek that I sent in a bug report to the greatbigsea.com tech people to inform them that they had a layout issue on the OKP in all browsers except IE. I even sent them a screenshot. I got a kindly note back from one of their folks pledging to send the report on to their tech people, so yay. Definitely the geekiest thing I've done all month, though. ;)

I have of course heard about Pluto's demotion from planet to dwarf planet, which is still making me kind of boggle. I'm vaguely disappointed--I think it would have been way cooler to bump Ceres, Charon, and 2003 UB313 to planet status. It'll be fun to see if the ruling gets reversed; I've been seeing references to pissed-off astronomers all over the world bitching about the vote being hijacked.

I have also heard we've finally gotten the first hurricane of the season, and about the jet crash in Lexington. Yowtch. One of my Lexington friends says his company lost three people on that plane.

solarbird-wise, we're waiting on the word as to when we can move her from the hospital to PT. She really, really wants to do something outpatient, but from what the social worker was telling me this morning that isn't really going to be an option, since they're recommending inpatient PT. Which means she can't come home quite yet, but what can ya do. Dara flat refuses to do inpatient in Tacoma, anyway, so I also told the social worker that we need to push for the Everett facility. And even though we'd all prefer to get Dara home, this'll be better not only for her but also because my boss just went on vacation, so I can't really make her authorize letting me work from home (and therefore be available to take Dara to and from PT).

Dara is at least online this morning and has been IM'ing me every few minutes with "goooooooo hooooooooome home home". Though as of the last little bit, she said a PT person had shown up, so hopefully we'll have some new news soon.

ETA 10:47am: Dara reports now that she has in fact been cleared for water and normal food! Hurray! She also says she passed a cognitive eval as "high end normal (har)". Translation, Dara is still Smart!

Still no word from Bantam, not even my postcards. I hope they've actually opened the manuscripts. I'm starting to get paranoid about whether they actually got them, and whether I didn't somehow forget to include postage on the postcards and envelopes.

And here, have a miles to Rauros Falls update!

Miles back on the 16th: 2.3
Sunday miles: 0.4
Monday morning miles: 1.4
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1301.5
Miles out of Rivendell: 843.5
Miles out of Lothlórien: 381.5
Miles to Rauros Falls: 7.5

Comments

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

It must feel a bit weird to be back at work at your new job after such a long time out. I hope that it all goes well.

Any word yet on how Dara's accident happened?

[annathepiper]

It is a bit weird and disorienting, yeah. Fortunately I just don't have much to do today, so it's okay if I'm a space case!

Dara says she doesn't remember the accident, and she isn't yet ready to commit to our "your gears went wonky" theory; she wants to see the bike.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Still no word from Bantam

I read this as "Batman", and wondered why you were expecting to hear from him - did you kidnap Robin? That always works!

Yay for solarbird's continuing recovery!

[annathepiper]

LOL! Okay, I'm punchy, it's official. I want to laugh hysterically and I'm just too damned TIRED. ;)

Latest word--rumors of her being allowed to come HOME this afternoon! Waiting for final word on that!

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Excellent news about Dara!
--
I actually like the decision to demote Pluto. It's clearly only one of several similar objects in the outer solar system, at least one of which (Xena) is larger. Any definition that includes them would end up adding far too many planets. Also, the definition that kept Pluto a planet seemed arbitrary.

On the other hand, the official definition relies upon a rule that is based on obvious physical differences between planets, that is whether they have "cleared the orbit." That means any object that is at least two orders of magnitude bigger than the other mass in its orbit. All of the 8 planets are a thousand times more massive than the other mass within each planet's orbit, while Pluto and similar objects are all less than ten times massive than the mass that shares their orbits. That's a huge difference. It's unlikely any other planets will ever be found in our solar system under this definition. This classification also works for all known extra-solar planetary systems known to date. Any definition that retroactively fits all known data and can be used to clearly define the status of other objects is a good definition. Pluto was the only anomaly.

The final status of the planets is also nicely symmetrical: four small rocky planets close to the sun, surrounded by a band of asteroids including at least one dwarf planet, and four big gaseous planets farther out, surrounded by a region of planetoids including at least two dwarf planets.

I do think they should call all trans-Neptunian objects "plutonians."

[annathepiper]

Current word: there are rumors that Dara may be allowed to come HOME this afternoon. Waiting for final word on that! I'm on standby for spousal extraction, and will fly home to fetch the car and then scamper back to Harborview if I get the word!

Yeah, I'm only vaguely disappointed by the demotion, as I mentioned, partly for the various reasons you mention. There's also that Pluto's orbit gets all wacky and overlaps Neptune's, and its weird almost double-planet relationship with Charon. I hadn't thought of the symmetry of our redefined system, but you're right, that is pretty cool. :)

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

Yay for Dara! Insofar as Pluto, I'm of the notion that it's easier to dismiss a body whose status as a planet didn't fit very neatly with the others than to admit all those tiny hooligans to the show.

[annathepiper]

Heh, yeah, it does make general sense to me that they decided that way. llachglin had other remarks elsewhere on this post that I agree with, too. I'm just vaguely disappointed on Pluto's behalf! I mean, decades as a planet, and then you get bumped down through a rules change! Hrmph! ;)

I think if I were the bumper sticker type, I'd probably get one of those "Honk If Pluto Is Still A Planet" bumper stickers I hear tell are being sold. :)

[awritersweekend.livejournal.com]

I'd be available for transporting Dara to/from therapy. my email is writersweekend@hotmail.com

[annathepiper]

Thank you very much! I still need to nail down where the appropriate place will be and schedule details; I need to make the calls for Dara since she's not quite feeling up to it yet. Once we get more data, I'll doublecheck with you and see if that works for you. :)

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

In re. Pluto: Don't think of it as a demotion; think of it as an opportunity. ;-)

My biggest gripe is the lack of knowledge of both fields outside their own narrow specializations (They didn't know "pluton" was already taken?!) and the history of astronomy on the part of the people who won out. Why not just designate Pluto as the first-discovered of a new class of objects, Tombaughs or Tombaugh Objects? (Named after Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto.)

As for the plane crash, I came back to my room from breakfast Sunday to gather my stuff before heading out to the con and turned on the news while I puttered. And there was Governor Fletcher, being interviewed over a cell phone for a news conference at the crash site. (He's in Germany for a meeting of some sort.) I needed a while to learn that this was the airport I was flying back into Monday.

[annathepiper]

I dunno, given a choice between "dwarf planet" and "Tombaugh object", I'd definitely prefer "dwarf planet", which tells me a lot more than "Tombaugh object" would. I daresay the same would apply to the general public at large.

I can imagine knowing you were going to fly back to that specific airport would be tricky, yeah. I myself have flown in and out of that airport many times. Glad to know YOU made it home safe, anyway!