frostbite and toenails, or, a disgusting p.s.

I lost a toenail today.  Or, well, most of a toenail.  It was kind of weird how it decided to flake off, and it required some assistance from a pair of scissors before all was said and done.  The only potential explanation I have for this strange phenomenon is that the mild frostbite that I suffered during my commute home during the blizzard somehow killed some of the tissues in the nail bed, and, well, it fell off.  I do remember the toenail looking as strange as the offending toe during the whole unfortunate event.

I guess that I’m lucky it’s just a toenail that I lost.  Also, I’m lucky that the toenail (and the toe itself) didn’t turn too many offensive colors, just a strange waxy white.  I’m really glad that I read up on cold-weather injuries and their appropriate first-aid procedures after the partner got hypothermia back over Thanksgiving.

Still.  It scares me a little that I lost a body part (no matter how insignificant) due to a snowy commute home, especially one where I didn’t really make any really bad decisions that worsened the matter, as far as I can tell.  Thanks, March.  You better be done snowing after that debacle.

[A P.S. to a P.S.: you're supposed to use mild moist heat to treat frostbite -- dry heat can cause burns, since you typically can't feel anything in the body part you're trying to warm up -- and under no circumstances should you rub whatever you're warming, since that typically causes further injury.  I removed my wet shoes and socks once I was "indoors" (on a bus), and just kept my hands wrapped around my toes until they started to regain feeling and color.  Took an hour, hour and a half for this particular toe.  Oh, and you're not supposed to thaw any body part that has a chance of re-freezing, since that will also cause further damage.  This wasn't serious frostbite, so I wasn't too worried.]

the battle of the spurge

Meet my mortal enemy.

It's meaner than it looks.

I decided yesterday that I’d rather play in the dirt than work problems on p-n junctions, so I went to work in the front yard, where I’m planning to put an elaborate garden this summer.  Previously, the beds I want to use were infested with leafy spurge, a noxious weed native to Australia that is a serious problem here in Colorado.  The folks upstairs invested some major effort in removing it last year, so I thought it’d be a matter of turning over the soil, removing the flower bulbs that are coming up, and pulling a few stray spurge roots.  I was deluding myself.

Turns out leafy spurge is a bitch to remove.  This beast spreads by seed and by creeping horizontal roots, and it can have taproots up to thirty feet deep.  I spent 3 hours working in one bed (about five by three paces), and I removed an entire trash can full of roots.  I don’t think I’m done.  Seriously, this plant has a root system that a friggin’ oak tree would envy.

The best part?  The entire plant leaks an irritating latex-like sap (think milkweed), and if you get it on your skin, it causes rashes and such.  Mmm, fun.  I did wear gloves, but it really sucks to be cursing and sweating and up to your ankles in dirt and tangled root masses and remember that you have to be careful, too.  Caution and frustration do not exactly go hand in hand.  I got lucky, I suppose, since I’m rash-free.  My prepubescent helpers (the kids upstairs got in on the job once they saw…uh…how much fun I was having, I guess) were not so lucky, but apparently the rashes are already fading.

Anyhow, I am hoping that if I leave the bed alone for a few days, most of the roots that I missed will dry out from being somewhat exposed, and that I can invest maybe only another hour or so in pulling out the stragglers.  I’m hoping.  Then, of course, I get to repeat the process with the other two beds, which are both slightly larger (three by six paces).  That extra three square paces could add up to an hour of extra time, realistically.

I curse whoever first brought spurge to Colorado, and I hope they die a violent death by rhizome strangulation or something similarly karmic.

subsidy FAIL

The unfortunate answer to my earlier question (not the one about the zombie apocalypse, but the one mentioned later in that entry: will I qualify for insurance subsidies?) is a resounding NO.  Maybe not resounding, since I had to dig into the nitty gritty details of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” to figure that out, but nonetheless.  Since my “employer” (CU) offers shite insurance, and said shite insurance requires <9.5% of my salary (7%) to pay the premiums, I don’t qualify for subsidies, even though my income meets the 133%-400% of the federal poverty level standard.

Damn.

io9 answers the question we’ve all been asking…

…will healthcare reform help prevent the zombie apocalypse?  Don’t tell me you haven’t been wondering.

Anyway, this is a quick post, since LeechBlock will cut me off soon.  But, I did want to share this lovely little gem I ran across on io9.com last night: “Five Dystopias Healthcare Reform Could Prevent (and One it Could Cause).”  They’re of the opinion that the reform bill could stave off the mutant plague (zombie apocalypse), vanishing middle class (i.e., the sci-fi staple of the future society with only ruling overlords and downtrodden sewer-dwellers), corporate serfdom, our entire economy being devoted to healthcare costs, and the fast food apocalypse (think Famine’s actions in Good Omens, for instance, or soylent green…sort of).  Alas, they also suggest we’re no longer completely safe from the socialist totalitarian state, so it’s not all good news.

While the article is (obviously) intended to have comedic value, it’s actually a pretty good article, with links to some excellent information; in particular, there’s a link to this nicely-done breakdown of the differences between the house and senate bills that are currently being reconciled.  Overall, I’m kind of impressed that the website that usually gives me articles on my favorite sci-fi and other silly things has bothered to tackle healthcare reform at all.  I suppose it’s a big enough deal that we’re all interested.

I mostly just want to know if I’ll qualify for decent subsidies, since my tenure with Evil Insurance, Inc., comes to an end this year (although actually I saw one provision tossed around that would enable me to spend a year further with Evil Insurance, Inc. on my dad’s company’s dime…yay?  It’s a mixed blessing, for sure).  Also it’d be nice to see Evil Insurance, Inc. have someone more threatening than little ol’ me dressing them down for once.  Although, I can be pretty scary when I’m arguing about reimbursement checks that add up to probably a tenth of my salary, I’m told.

the karma gods are merciful

Earlier today, I was cursing the fact that I had recently gone to a bit of trouble to return a stranger’s phone that I found in the park, and yet my phone, which was lost in a fairly obvious location, on a bus that is part of a system with an overorganized lost and found, did not turn up.

But there is hope!  I have just been informed that someone finally answered one of the periodic calls Eric had been making to the phone, and that it will be at the Boulder transit center’s lost and found facility tomorrow.  Hooray!  The karma gods have decided to take mercy on me after all!

Also, there is nothing better than sleeping in until noon on a Wednesday knowing that not a single person on the planet will blame you for not going to work.  The lab ended up being closed, anyway, though the sun was shining by early afternoon.  Mmmm.  Sunny, lazy snow day.  Win!  It wasn’t worth going through last night’s hell, but I’ll take what compensation I can get.