(no subject)

C. cleared up one question I'd had on my absentee ballot. There was one judicial race that had three candidates (choose two). I could only find information about the two incumbents, nothing about the third candidate. She was able to tell me that the third candidate wasn't really running. He'd signed up to run at a point when it looked like one of the incumbents wouldn't (due to having prospects for a different job that didn't end up coming to anything).

That had been the only race that I couldn't find much information about. The League of Women Voters website had decent information about the national and state level races, and mlive.com had most of what I needed for the local races. Many of the local races weren't contested. I mainly needed information about a couple of judicial races and about the races for regent/board positions for the various universities and the community college. (I did decide that, in the uncontested races, I wouldn't bother voting for the single candidate unless they'd at least bothered to fill out mlive.com's basic information survey and unless I agreed with what they said there.)

I was curious about the candidates in the 15th District Court race. I'd seen signs up for Easthope, and Gutenberg, the other candidate, came through our neighborhood, going door to door introducing himself. He didn't actually talk to me when he came to our door. He just stated who he was, handed me a flyer and went on to the next house.

I asked around and was leaning toward Easthope before I read the mlive.com surveys. The candidates responses decided me toward Easthope. He said that he considers it important to find a way to fund treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues. He put that as his priority. It may not be achievable, especially in the current economy, but at a local level, it's essential.

(no subject)

Thursday evening, my mother said something that I think has to rate high on the list of Things She Should Have Told Me Sooner-- "Have I told you about the genetic thing I have that means I can't process some medications?"

After some questions back and forth, we concluded that I *don't* have the same problem, but it's something that I needed to know about years ago as, if I did have the problem, some of the medications I've taken in the past would have been at best a waste of money and at worst lethal.

She's missing the genes that code for a particular enzyme. That means that codeine and related narcotics don't metabolize properly for her. They're not dangerous to her (except in terms of causing digestive difficulties as they do for most people), but they don't ease pain, suppress coughs, sedate or do anything useful.

She told me that there are some medications she can't take because they build up in her system and don't get cleaned out. They don't do what they're supposed to and can be toxic to her if she takes them.

I hope she's told my sister and brother about this. I know that codeine has an effect on me, so I know that I actually have the enzyme she's missing. Who knows if my siblings have any idea at all?

(no subject)

Cordelia has quite a candy haul. She went out as Snow White. She also had a light saber. She didn't always carry it because she wanted her hands for her bag, but she liked the idea of Snow White being armed and dangerous. When she wasn't burdened with a bag, she charged imaginary monsters and slashed at fallen leaves and generally had a blast.

I took her downtown for the Main St. trick or treating. That's mostly for little kids as it's during school hours for anybody in school all day. (This year, they extended the hours so that, instead of being 10-2, it was 10-5. Many places ran out of candy by 3.) I expect that this will be our last year doing it. I'm not going to pull Cordelia out of school for it, and I think it's more fun to keep it for the toddlers and pre-schoolers.

We stopped at city hall so that I could drop off my absentee ballot. I'm glad I was planning to hand it in directly rather than using the drop boxes because they were packed. All the instructions said not to bend the ballot. It has to be fed into a reader, and creases in the wrong places might render it unreadable by the machine. There was no way to get another ballot into the box without having it bend.

From city hall, we headed down the two blocks to Main St. If we hadn't gone that route, we'd probably not have notice the balloons outside the county courthouse. The balloons were used by various businesses to signal that they were participating in the trick or treating, so that meant that the courthouse was, too. I was a little startled but figured that it meant that the guards out in front were giving out candy.

When we got inside, the guards told us that there was trick or treating throughout the building. About three quarters of the offices on the first floor were participating as were a few offices on the second and third floors. Cordelia got a grand reception all around.

I think the courthouse got a trickle of traffic compared to the rest of Main St. The balloons weren't visible from very far down the street, and the block of Main before the courthouse has a big bank taking up most of the space. People had to either start near the courthouse or wander hopefully down that way in spite of there not really being businesses there.

I was hurting a lot by the time we finished the rounds. I think we were late enough to miss some of the trick or treating, that or economic woes made some businesses that usually participate not do it this year. I'm more inclined to suspect the former, especially as balloons were disappearing while we were going from store to store.

We took the bus home, and I collapsed on the couch. I wasn't as exhausted as I expected, but I was hurting and in need of rest. I think the Provigil seems to peak in effect in the afternoon. I took it at about 10 yesterday morning and still felt dead on my feet for the next three hours. After that, my brain was working better even as my body was complaining that I was asking too much of it. On Thursday, I took it about 12:30 and felt an immediate effect. Or maybe when and what I've eaten has an impact? I suppose I'll find out. Looking at the last two days, protein heavy meals seem to be less useful in conjunction with the Provigil than they are without the Provigil and carbs/starches are more useful.

We didn't get a lot of trick or treaters. Of course, my 'not a lot' is more than many people on my FL got. I think we got thirty or forty. That's not as many as we get some years but is a respectable number. There were some long gaps with nobody coming to the door, though. I suspect that many parents are choosing alternative activities to outdoor trick or treating. I know that Briarwood, a local, big, indoor mall, had trick or treating last night, and I believe that a couple of big churches had potluck trick or treating with each participating family bringing a big bag of candy.

We turned off our porch light at eight as part of persuading Cordelia that it was time to go to sleep. She fell asleep pretty rapidly. I think all the excitement and all the walking around had worn her out. She even slept until a bit after eight this morning.