real time, baby

My husband is right now talking to someone from craigslist trying to help the guy figure out what kind of car he has for sale. I'm betting it's hard to sell a generic 4-door car with instructions to 'cakk' for information.

But onward to what I learned recently:

• A serious wind storm can still mess me up, but it mostly just makes me tired.
• I forgot which kind of submarine (it starts with a 't') takes 40 minutes to turn around, but in 70 degree water, 40 minutes is long enough to develop a serious case of hypothermia, so they take their man-overboard drills pretty seriously.
• From what I'm hearing on the phone, the guy selling the generic car wants something like ten times what it is worth.

things to see

Today I learned that I forgot to check my blog email long enough that my account got deactivated. It's back under control now, and I guess even if you mostly get spam, it's at least good to look at.

Speaking of things to look at, here is a short video on how to launch an anvil 100 feet into the air.

pretty tired

Today I cleaned a new-to-us washing machine motor with hydrogen peroxide and a Q-tip. Yesterday I soaked new-to-a-friend seat belts in dilute vinegar, and the water turned all yellowish-brown. I am ready to not need to do these things.

Also I learned that I tolerate the paint that used to be Glidden 2000, but I can't remember the new name now. It's something like Duralast Somethingmaster 9300 -- something that sounds like a battery-powered exercycle.

voodoo

Today I learned that the placebo effect is getting stronger. Also, something invisible and odorless on the used washing machine motor we put in our older washing machine gives me major heart palpitations. That would have been a great example of the nocebo effect, except that no one told me to expect that a barely-used, eight-year-old washing machine motor would kill me. Also, I didn't eat it.

generalizations and exceptions

I'm used to dire-looking circumstances turning into months or years of horror, so I'm pleased to report that today I learned that some EIs can, with a little help, pull themselves out of some fairly dire-looking circumstances in just a matter of days. This time it took a reasonably experienced EI and people with a very similar injury to provide support, but the situation turned around nicely, and we made a friend. And I will add that despite the fact that my very best friends in the world right now are almost exactly the same age as my parents, it's nice to have some friends your own age.

Here's a gross generalization, as long as I'm thinking about it: almost all of the EIs I know who are my age got in trouble with mold, and most of them are men. I know a lot more people who are older than I, and of that mostly-female crowd, only one or two of them got sick from mold. They seem to be a pesticide/building materials/other stuff group.

chronic fatigue and car crap

Several days ago I learned that people with chronic fatigue tend test positive for a virus that researchers expect causes the illness, a finding which, even if the virus is a side-effect instead of the cause, makes the people who thought chronic fatigue was a mental problem look like a bunch of jerks.

In other news, you can power wash car seat cushions. All you have to do is remove the seats and carpet from the car and then spray the crap out of them. You have to make sure that the pressure washer is clean enough to use first, which can be a challenge if you bought one new. We had to run a bottle of dish soap through the soap container first, and if that voids the warranty, this is still a mostly anonymous blog, and I didn't buy it anyway.

perfume penetration of common building materials

Today I learned that spilled perfume can soak through wallboard and still be easily detectable on the far side more than five years later. I know this because it was time to make the master bedroom closet usable, and we tried painting over the previous occupant's mishap (six coats of various sealers and paint), and it didn't work. Taking out the shelf didn't work. Cutting out the perfumy section of the board supporting the shelf didn't work. Chiseling away a layer of wallboard didn't work. All that, plus cutting a square foot hole in the wall worked.

In other news, five+ years offgased perfume didn't give me heart palpitations or anything, but I didn't exactly spend a lot of time snorting it or wearing it on my clothes.