Birefly update

[outsdr]

Again, a slow week. Ordered a new laptop to replace the one that was damaged in my recent trip- sad to see it go, but excited for the new one. It's a monster. The shipping weight is 23 pounds! It will get here tuesday.

Also on tuesday is our company holiday party at the newspaper office. I bought a gray ascot to wear with my black crushed-velvet shirt. I also bought a turquoise satin one that I think will look nicer, but it may not get here in time for the party. The gray one arrived today. I even bought a nice stick pin to go with them.

I'm very excited to try them out!

I'll post pictures.

Last weekend, it struck me that there's no one left in the family to talk to that will have talked to everyone else. My mom used to be the distributor of family information, then it was my dad, and now ... well, at one time I told my sister-in-law it would have to be her, but it just doesn't seem right putting that burden on her shoulders yet. So, I hesitantly called my brother. And we talked for half an hour. It was nice, although a little strange. It's going to take me a while to learnt to relate to him as an adult.

I reached my insurance deductible, so I called up my home oxygen people and told them I wanted to purchase my CPAP machine, since now insurance will cover most of it. They said no, it was too late in the year, and the insurance company wouldn't process it.

wat.

Considering the machine costs $1,500, and considering i may lose my insurance early next year, this answer was not sufficiently adequate. So I called my insurance company, and they said as long as it is billed out in December, it does not matter when they process it, because they base their claims on the billing date. So I called back the home oxygen people, told them this, and they AGAIN tried to tell me it wouldn't work- I gave them the name and extension of the person I had talked to, told them that she had said to call her if there were any problems, and said I wanted to buy the machine. Period. The only problem that may arrise is if the rental fee was already billed for this month. But I have not yet received a bill, and the bills I have received were dated late in the month, so I should be safe.

Thursday, while doing an OS reinstallation on my work computer, I shut out the office and listened to Peri and the Piscon Paradox. I'd heard good things about it, and it was recently on sale at Big Finish for $5. I bought it but hadn't listened to it yet.

And it was really, really good! Nicola Bryant knocks it out of the park with this one. I sent her a tweet to let her know what I thought:

@thenicolabryant Piscon Paradox just as good as everyone says, and you did an AWESOME job! Still hope to hear one reuniting you with Yrcanos

I was surprised when she responded!

Nicola Bryant ‏@thenicolabryant

@outsdr01 thank you. It was so exciting to record. :)

She's a class act.

I'll admit- I was inspired to listen to it after watching Flash Gordon the night before and being swept up in the beauty and awe of BRIAN BLESSED, which made me think of Peri, etc. It was my first time watching Flash Gordon start to finish since I saw it in the theatre in 1980 at the age of 10.

It's still a great movie, and I love it just as much now as I did then.