Make it go away

Swine flu news is everywhere. Or rather, 2009 H1N1(A) news.

I like reading the news, although I tend to skip stories about kids dying. I'm a parent, I don't want to imagine the heartache of losing a kid. But this flu, although mostly normal, seems to randomly kill the occasional kid. Healthy kids, too.

I'm not keen on thinking that my kids are in that demographic most likely to get a nasty case of H1N1, even though the odds are quite high that, should they get it, they'll be fine. So what can I do?

D'uh. I can get them vaccinated. Eventually - for now, lineups are brutal and only specific groups should be seeking vaccines. Happily our health department is on Twitter and is updating wait times regularly, so we can wait until it won't be a wait.

In the interim, I can hope that my daughter's current flu-like illness will, like most such illnesses, pass quickly and relatively painlessly.

Vaccinations. One of those things we should be incredibly grateful for, but aren't. I am personally extremely happy my children are highly unlikely to get whooping cough, diptheria, or mumps, let alone polio, and that the eradication of smallpox eliminates the need for that vaccination. Childhood used to be damn risky. Not so much anymore, so we freak out over risks that are miniscule in comparison with what our grandparents dealt with.

Thank you to all the scientists who have and continue to make childhood safer and healthier. You get a lot of flack from wingnuts who blame vaccines for virtually every bad thing that's happened in the last decade or so, all undeserved.

Gobble gobble

I have just eaten an enormous quantity of food, accompanied by wine.

I have also just lost the button on my pants.

You might think they exploded. Assploded? No. This is not the case. They fit OK. A bit large, actually, but I am one of those many not quite a size 8 but a 6 doesn't work after turkey girls.

The button came off as I tried to remove it. This sounds like a classic cake of overturkeyitis, but I'd like to state for the record that it was a classic case of impatience. As in, holy crap, I have drunk too much wine and must pee, why do women's pants have two clasps and a button, oh never mind about the button.

So I must resew the button. And finish the wine. I am in mourning, so it's allowed. My bicycle suffered a traumatic injury. I approached it after work, with the uncharitable thought of gee, hope that isn't mine. It was. A back tire so flat, Arnold's abs are a keg in comparison. I now have 3 flat tires to fix this weekend - one on beater bike, 2 on awesome bike. So I had to trade in $5 for $3 in coins so I could take the crappy bus home, through horrific traffic. I am now paying for a bus pass I don't use, and a bus ride I loathed. Tomorrow is Friday payday long weekend. I suspect I will be a wee mite teed at myself for finishing off the red wine. But for now, I am enjoying it.

Goals for weekend. Fix bikes. Ride like maniac in amazing fall weather, with fabulous leaf colours, just like this morning - which was so beautiful it shouldn't be legal. Watch lunar crash. Realize again the universe is awesome, as is earth, and free of gods. Hug kids.