The ultimate word on swine flu.

Poll for you guys:

Last week I made plans with a few friends from work to go out for a couple beers after work on Friday (tomorrow) to celebrate finishing classes and getting through my paper, presentation, and exam.

I have not told anyone at work about the current situation and frankly, I have no desire to explain it anymore to anyone who doesn't already know.

Options:

Option #1: Go out for drinks, celebrate what I did actually accomplish, because that is totally worthy even though it doesn't feel like it now.

Option #2: Call out sick and stay home on my couch in my pjs eating ice cream and watching Newsradio and Arrested Development.

I don't wanna lie or dissemble while out with co-workers, but I don't know if I want to sit around feeling sorry for myself either and maybe it might be good to do some celebrating. I am just not in a very celebratory place right now.

Option #1 I'd say.

Option #2 will make you feel worse, I'm pretty sure.

I know. It totally will.

I am just sort of still in the wallowing stage. It's awful, but a day of super-wallow seems so appealing! Though not helpful, as my more evolved brain is totally pointing out.

It's fucking caveman v. astronaut up here in my brain.

Go astronaut! Totally option #1, babe.

I am just sort of still in the wallowing stage.

That's why it's good to have an event to un-wallow. Seriously, depression starts building its own groove in your brain if you let it. Go out and celebrate all your good work with your classmates. There's a lot to celebrate still.

Option 1 is more ideal, but if you wake up tomorrow morning and really don't want to go in, I don't think you need to force yourself.

It took a lot of scrolling to find out how that espresso dohickey works. Nice design. I think I like my $10 screw-together espresso maker better though - it boils the water AND makes the espresso in the same machine.

Working equally well with fresh coffee grounds or ESE coffee pods (with optional adaptor) the mypressi TWIST uses small standardized gas cartridges--commonly used for whipped cream or soda water--and hot water to create its signature shot. A single cartridge produces approximately four double shots of espresso for just cents per shot, making the TWIST as cost effective as it is convenient.

To operate the mypressi TWIST, simply insert a cartridge into the pressure chamber, fill the basket with fresh ground coffee or a coffee pod, and fill the upper compartment with hot water. With a simple pull of the trigger the TWIST produces one or two shots of espresso perfection ready to be enjoyed alone, or as the base for any coffee beverage. The TWIST has an easy-to-clean design that is also dishwasher safe, ensuring even after months of use that there are no left over oils to oxidize or spoil subsequent shots.

The CDC, bathhouses, and AIDs is a tangle of local politics and Reagan-era gaybashing. The primary resistance to closing the bathhouses came from inside the gay community. They felt that it was just an excuse to stomp on their new-found delight in wild good times, and they were not going to give in to The Man telling them what to do. Local officials really had to work getting the facts out there to turn the opposition into support. And Reagan was a terrible, horrible President who made it all worse. ::loathes Reagan::

Oh I know it was partly the gay community not wanting to listen, and Reagan ignoring the problem, and problems with local politics, and also with the business concerns of the blood industry. The point is that none of them really took the CDC seriously when they were trying to contain the outbreak. I can see how at this point the CDC tends to play things like this very conservatively. Sometimes it takes being extreme to get people to even pay attention. Problem is the media then goes crazy and runs with it tries to stir up a panic.

Happy birthday GC!