just a few random snippets

I've already crashed from my manic high. No surprise there. I think the longest [euphoric] manic episode I've experienced was a couple of weeks. Mostly I'm lucky if the happy-happy, joy-joy feelings last for a day or two. I was sailing for about 36 hours this time.

I'm trying to do some research on medications so I can be prepared for my pdoc appointment on the 18th of December. I already know I don't want to go back on Lithium because Lithium is primarily an anti-manic and doesn't have significant antidepressant qualities. Lamictal, on the other hand, has significant antidepressant qualities but is a really, REALLY fickle medication. It carries a significant risk of a potentially fatal rash called Stevens-Johnson syndrome and titration takes a month or longer. Plus the side effects are questionable. The two I'm most worried about are, primarily, body aches and headaches. Since I stopped working I've had very few headaches. In the past seven months I think I've had three migraines. This is a phenomenal change! The thought of being on a med that causes headaches scares the crap out of me. Then there's good ol' Dopamax (Topamax). Another slow titration drug that causes my mood to get even WACKIER before it actually stabilizes. (It also takes about a month to get to my theraputic dose of 150mg.) Topamax does have some perks (mainly the weight loss "side effect") but it has a LOT of wacky side effects. Tingling in the hands, feet, and face. Aphasia. General dopey-headedness (though I never got this side effect too badly). And, the wackiest of them all - making carbonated drinks taste like CRAP. No more diet soda for me. :-/ The worst side effect of Topamax is the hair loss. My hair started coming out in clumps, unfortunately. Not to mention, the hair itself thinned out dramatically. I'm really not sure, at this point, what I'm going to ask for. The only two meds I know for certain are a no go are Lithium and Depakote.

Our trip to Dothan was actually pretty nice. We stopped at Personnel Resources (a temp agency setup) first and got The Monkey registered there. They immediately said something about a collector's position (in Dothan) but they had to consult with the company before they could say whether or not he'd be a good candidate. We were hoping for a call back that afternoon but it never came. So, we called the next day and they said the company declined to interview because they didn't feel The Monkey had sufficient sales drive. [eyeroll] However, we did stop by Farmer's Furniture that afternoon as well and spoke to the manager of the store. (FYI - The Monkey was working for Farmer's as the Credit Manager in Enterprise in 2003 when we met. He can't get back on at Farmer's in Enterprise, though, because my mom works there. Conflict of interest. Meh.) At any rate, he put in his app with Farmer's in Dothan. After the brief, but fairly productive, job hunt, we stopped at Barnes & Noble for Starbucks and I picked up a couple of books.

Last night we got a call from the Dothan Farmer's Furniture manager asking The Monkey to come in for an interview this afternoon. [snoopy dance] It looks really promising. He'll be starting off as a collector and the hours are kind of jacked up but at least it's a job. The manager, thankfully, remembers Tony from his Credit Manager days in Enterprise and, apparently, the current Credit Manager in Dothan isn't working out so well and there's a very good chance she'll be out of there in the next 30-60 days. If The Monkey gets hired as the collector, he can step up to the Credit Manager position if/when the current one gets booted. (According to the store manager, she's just too nice for collections; not assertive enough with the customers to get them to come in and pay on time.) If that happens, The Monkey will get a nice pay increase. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

All in all the week has been decent. I finished reading one of my books and I'm half way through the second one I bought. I need to get cracking on my homework, though. I have a website to setup on the topic "Blogging: A fad or here to stay?" on top of having a midterm in my other class. I got my lab for Web Development finished yesterday but I still have to take this week's quiz. Drat.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I'm craving turkey and sweet potatoes like nobody's business. My mom just needs to get the grocery list together so we can go shopping! We're really bad with waiting until the last minute. :-P