An increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccines: [link] Of course, that means if the child with pertussis breathes on a baby too young for vaccination, that baby can get whooping cough. Whooping cough is often fatal in babies, particularly since it's so rare that doctors don't recognize it. (I recently read The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear, about the antivax movement. It's a book that makes one cry and throw things.)

Woohoo! Well, a qualified woohoo--so, if any of you remember, I was bitching and moaning at the end of the year because they took away six vacation days and one holiday, at my work. And basically everyone emailed and said "WTFF?" and they said they were just "aligning the policies" (mind you, so far we haven't seemed to get any UPsides to this alignment).

So they just sent an email saying on review, they realize that for some people who just joined that's a large change in compensation, so they're giving us a 1.15% raise, effective Jan 1 (which is when the PTO thing became effective). Now, granted, I figure if you take away six vacation days, which is over one working week, I should get increased compensation of 1/52nd of my salary. Which is closer to 2%. But still. Qualified wooho!

Yay, meara!

When I started with this contracting firm last March, I negotiated 4 weeks paid leave (combo sick/annual), because their starter package was something like 10 days vacation/2 days sick leave for year, and that was not going to work for me.

And yet I didn't seem to have too much leave available. I talked to my supervisor last week and she said, "oops!"--turns out I'd only been accruing it at a rate of 3 weeks/year. So I'm getting a lump sum deposit, yay.

Of course, that's still less than I had as a federal employee, sigh. I had like 3 weeks of accrued sick leave when I left the government, and since I won't be re-hired within a year, it's just gone. Damn it.

Amy, my sister in fruitless bra-shopping, I am going to the mall at lunch (I take a late lunch) to look for bras at Dillards or Macys. (The *real* reason for going to the mall is that my Dad had $20 of gift cards to Godiva that expire tomorrow, and he said he wasn't going to use them and gave them to me. Godiva store in the mall = free chocolate for me. And, I suppose, for Tim. MAYBE.)

Anyway, wish me bra luck!

GODIVA!!!

I mean, much bra luck, my sister!

I figure if I don't find any bras, at least I will have chocolate to console myself. FREE chocolate. FREE GODIVA.

I hate you just a little bit right now, you know.

I remember needing to get a tetanus shot before I could graduate high school. Which still seems weird.

I'm accruing the max possible vacation at my company. I have very flexible work hours and can work from home. I could possibly make more money elsewhere, but I doubt I could negotiate similar benefits.

I was going to have to get the MMR (I think) redone when I went to grad school, because the records were so old, they were not accessible. Finally, I talked to someone who took my word for it that the records had been confirmed by my undergrad institution. Which seems fair, but still.

I went to a meeting with a diabetic counselor when I was first diagnosed--gosh, ten years now, I think. She was maybe 21, 22, bored to tears, and she droned through the standard warnings re: nerve degeneration, damage to extremities, blindness, etc. "Of course," she said with a shrug, "you'll probably end up losing a leg or your eyesight anyway, but we want to delay that as long as possible . . ."

this is the other reason why I have not gone to any education sessions. When I was searching online, that was the kind of thing that kept coming up. I am already a worrywart, so the above is completely non-productive for me.

Sophia,

you probably should start testing yourself, but it is expensive. I would go to the doctor and get a test and then see if your insurance will pay for supplies. Mine does. Those test strips are no joke in terms of cost.