I did arrive home on Thursday as scheduled, having had a wonderful time at my nerd convention.

A lot has happened.

Michael Jackson, RIP. Farrah ditto. (A lot of people are kind of struggling with the MJ thing. I've seen too many instances of false accusations to assume that he was guilty of anything other than extreme eccentricity.)

And then two interesting SC cases have wound up. The girl who was strip-searched b/c another girl reported that she had A SINGLE IBUPROFEN TABLET (OH THE HUMANITY) in her underwear was vindicated. And the city of New Haven had it expressed to them that when you have a procedure you can't abandon it when you discover that only white people will benefit, esp. when no one can find any evidence that the procedure actually discriminated against anyone.

I'm kind of tired of the word "privilege" because it assumes a fairytale existence whenever somebody comes out on top. Sometimes they had an unfair advantage and the word is apt; and sometimes they didn't. It's the assumption that I object to.

Ricci is a New Haven firefighter stationed seven blocks from where Sotomayor went to law school (Yale). Raised in blue-collar Wallingford, Conn., Ricci struggled as a C and D student in public schools ill-prepared to address his serious learning disabilities. Nonetheless he persevered, becoming a junior firefighter and Connecticut's youngest certified EMT.

After studying fire science at a community college, he became a New Haven "truckie," the guy who puts up ladders and breaks holes in burning buildings. When his department announced exams for promotions, he spent $1,000 on books, quit his second job so he could study eight to 13 hours a day, and, because of his dyslexia, hired someone to read him the material.

He placed sixth on the lieutenant's exam, which qualified him for promotion. Except that the exams were thrown out by the city, and all promotions denied, because no blacks had scored high enough to be promoted.

Article here.

Yes, I've seen the outcome of this case referred to as another example of white privilege. I suppose it's a privilege to have the guts to confront your disadvantage head-on and plow past it, but that is not a privilege confined to white folks, as we have repeatedly seen.

I wonder how many of the black folks who didn't do so well on this exam would have done better if they had not made the correct assumption that it didn't matter b/c the city would not let those jobs go to white folks. If they'd known from the outset that they really would have to compete, would they have shown the drive and determination that Ricci did? We will never know.

I did go back to Curves yesterday, and had a brainstorm when I got home - I iced my shoulder. It is not bothering me today. On Thursday it had some very stern things to say to me, but not today. So that appears to be the ticket. When I get back from Norfolk next week I believe I'll join.

Working out is good for stress, as I discovered yesterday concurrently with rediscovering what an idiot I am. I gave my office key to my tech in case he needs to get into my office for anything next week. After he left, and I finished up and changed clothes, I picked up my stuff and left my office, locking the door behind me; locked the building, which was quite a procedure b/c the lock sticks and I had to go put all my stuff in the car so I could use both hands; got into my car; and realized that I still had on my safety glasses, with the side shields. I actually went through the process of unlocking that stiff door before I remembered that my tech has my office key. So I locked it again, saying some very bad words that I'm glad no one overheard, and berated myself all the way to the Curves place.

Jumping around and using my muscles did make me feel better, srsly. I calmed right down.

Today the production manager is going to meet me at the plant and let me into my office so I don't have to wear my nerd glasses to Norfolk all week.

****************

Just saw this:

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday from an elite all-women's club after Republicans questioned her participation in it. Sotomayor said she resigned from the Belizean Grove to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction in her confirmation hearings.

In a letter to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the federal appeals court judge said she is convinced that the club does not practice "invidious discrimination" and that her membership in it did not violate judicial ethics.

But she said she didn't want questions about it to "distract anyone from my qualifications and record."

Federal judges are bound by a code that says they shouldn't join any organization that discriminates by race, sex, religion or nationality.

Did Obama ever give up his membership in the Congressional Black Caucus? The group that wouldn't admit Steve Cohen b/c he's white?

Checked out a Curves today.

(I was careful about my shoulder, which does seem to be responding nicely to ultrasound treatment.)

I had a 30-min workout and I'll have another on Friday and then I'll decide if I want to join. Probably will. It's not so much for weight loss but rather for muscle tone - we middle-aged women have to watch it or we lose muscle mass, and bone mass too. It was actually kind of a fun workout, and the location is right on my way home.

Next week I'll be in Norfolk from Sunday through Thursday.

Hm, what else ... F's on night shift by herself now, which is kind of quick IMO. She's not supposed to be, but the other person on that shift hasn't been showing up. There are a lot of other employees there at night and apparently they're being kind to her - she feels that she is being too slow and not getting enough done, but they know she's new. She's doing lab work and also taking samples out in the plant. When she gets around to updating her resume I think she'll be shocked at all the stuff she can now put on there.

Had a nice weekend.

Yesterday the girls and I went to the mall. L needed some job interview clothes and we had a wonderful time shopping. She picked up some nice stuff, on sale of course. (I suspect a lot of the "on sale" and "clearance" stuff was always meant to sell at the reduced price. So you have to make sure you really are getting a deal.) F got some wonderfully nerdy t-shirts at Hot Topic, including a yellow one with a Star Trek emblem, which she wore today. Shoes, etc. We ate at the food court and had a nice girls' day out.

Today it rained and rained. We made chocolate chip cookies and ate them, I made stir fry for supper (beef, celery, bell pepper, carrot, onion, mushroom, snap peas, soy sauce; angel-hair pasta; orange Creme Saver yogurt for dessert) and then we watched "2001 A Space Odyssey".

Tomorrow, back to WORK.

...My shoulder is kicking up again, for some reason. Range of motion is still OK but it is aching a lot, hurting suddenly when I reach for things like light switches, and that is a horrifyingly familiar feeling. I don't want to go back through all of that. I mention it b/c I need to keep track of this, I guess, so I'll add that I started the daily ultrasound treatment back up day before yesterday. Well, we'll hope for the best.

I'm still around. Got a lot of stuff going on, none of which I particularly want to talk about on the innernets. F's job is going OK, I reckon. L, her roommate/our houseguest, had an interview today, of sorts - they called her and scheduled it but weren't prepared, somehow. My job is, um. Hm. R's OK, and so are the cats.

I made chicken soup last weekend. F ate the veggies out of hers, L ate the chicken, then they switched bowls. They saw the Wolverine movie yesterday. I myself favor action/adventure movies whose protagonist is a regular person who steps up to the plate - like the police chief in "Jaws" who is afraid of the water, but goes after the shark anyway.