(no subject)

[da]

I'm in Ithaca, very comfortable in my friends' guest-bedroom, glad I brought my laptop, because they have wifi. We've finished our movie (March of the Anthropomorphic Climate-Challenged Species; which was as good as I was hoping). And we finished our talking-till-late, and I'm just about ready for sleep.

My host D's fly-fish tying hobby makes much more sense to me now. It's not about catching as many fish as possible, really- it's about the comunity they've built, where they will make these tiny pieces of art, with rare feather-bits and irridescent strands which catch the light precisely the same way a bug would. And then they trade them across the continent to each other.

The ride down in bats22's car was uneventful and he's certainly good company. Discovery the first: Easypass/Fastlane doodads are terrifically convenient. They don't add to the price of the trip, and save minutes (possibly many minutes) at each toll booth, as well as saving you from rooting arond for reasonably-exact change. If I ever move back to the US Northeast, I'm going to want one.


Discovery the second: we were trying to figure out why the gas stations in our town seem to have prices that sometimes fluctuate by 10% on a given day. I mean, that's a big jump, and it's certain that their prices don't jump 10%. What I suddenly realized is that it's only the mom-and-pop shops that flucuate. Big chains don't seem to as much. That suggests that perhaps it's a competitive move to collectively avoid being pegged by the gas-rangers who compulsively post latest prices on the Internet. If the sellers tacitly agree to fluctuate, the randomness works to their advantage- nobody gets a reputation as "always cheapest", plus they can go from very pricey to just slightly more than the big chains, and people will register the drop instead of the fact that on average they're slightly more than the big chains. I don't know, maybe everybody does it, including the chains. But this makes sense, and it's something melted_snowball and I have wondered for a while.



We detoured to the Syracuse airport to pick up his friend Jean (I'm bad with names; I'll ask Bats and fill it in. She's a nurse on contract to a Boston-area prison, running kidney dialysis machines (!) ... fascinaing line of work.) She had some interesting suggestions. Concerning our skunky friend under our house: I should call our animal control people, and they may have suggestions for taking care of it. Also, a reportedly successful method for turning away skunks is to pour some bleach under our porch (which is otherwise dead ground anyway.) Apparently they would take that as a strong hint for them to leave. And mothballs also might work. Though both of these solutions would absolutely need to be dog-friendly. I will google these, this is a note to remind me!

Also, there is a naturopathic equivalent to Claritin (and loratedine) called something like Cuiritin. But I'be not googled that yet either.

Comments

[bats22.livejournal.com]

We detoured to the Syracuse airport to pick up ___?___

That's my friend Jean (or JMD--Jean of Mass Destruction). Her company actually contracts out to hospitals and jails; she only goes to jail maybe once a week or so.

naturopathic equivalent to Claritin</>: I think that's Quercetin.

pour some bleach under our porch</>: It's on the internet!--it has to be true!

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Lazyweb powers activate. Thanks.

It's on the internet!...

My favorite quote from that page is:

Warning - do not use Fabreze on your animals. This product is for taking odours out of fabrics. It says on the bottle it will take out animal smells but does not say it is harmless to animals.

Um. Yeah.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I did not know that Auntee Jean was dialisizing inmates. That's a Fascinating Random Fact!
I like the abbreviation JMD. =)

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Do I know her?

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

she didn't think so..

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with Claritin? That article sounds a bit less than credible (what? naturopathic medicine stuff on the web that's less than credible? say it ain't so...)

[metalana.livejournal.com]

quercetin is supposed to act differently than an antihistamine, which suppresses symptoms. I'm not sure of the details, but a naturopath had me try it for a while. I think it required higher doses or a longer build-up period to have any effect.

Antihistamines have various problems:
- even the new nondrowsy kind makes some people drowsy
- the new ones have had various serious interactions with other meds
- you can become accustomed to an antihistamine, so it stops working for you after a few years
- too much antihist dries you out.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Sure, I can accept that there are general problems with antihistamines. [For me, it's decongestants: I routinely have to take the "do I want to breathe more than I want normal sleep?" choice with Sudafed.

But I don't think D. in particular has any problems with Claritin, and he typically only takes it when we [or, in the present case, he] travels.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

More an intellectual curiosity than practical... I was wondering if it wsould be less expensive than taking claratin every day, for people who had to.