The Mono

By the way: my PDA died (it's not sure it wants to turn the screen on when it wakes up anymore). I'm in the market for a used one that runs PalmOS 3.5 or later, preferably for less than $100. Anyone looking to upgrade?

I lost a filling. Now is not the best time for it -- I have most of the afternoons of Monday and Friday free, and about an hour on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, but I'm spending all the rest of my time up north. School doesn't have any way to plead for time off for a dentist appointment.

It's particularly inconvenient because I need time to find a new dentist. I guess I can call up my old one, but I haven't been in for several years... the main reason for that is that he and I just don't work well together. I don't want anesthetic, which makes him palpably anxious, and that's a bad quality to have in a dentist.

Does anyone know of a better-than-average dentist somewhere around central Contra Costa? I'll hit Berkeley if I have to, but I'd rather have one close to home. My requirements are a non-new office with non-toxic cleaning supplies (or at least enough flexibility to be willing to change what they use), and a dentist with steady nerves who can handle a patient who requests fillings with no anesthetic. Mine is just too empathetic (and I suspect he has a low pain tolerance himself). Skill is always good, too, though I'm not especially difficult.

I'm not a fan of holistic dentistry as a class; it's rather like chiropractic, in that there's a much greater percentage of quackery. If you have someone where you can swear that they're not going to try to use kinesiology to determine what filling materials are safe for me, I'm willing to give them a shot. At least they tend to clean their offices with safe substances.


I suppose I could ask around in Davis, as well, but I have no leads on where to start looking.

If the predicted frequency of gluten-intolerant individuals (given current data) is 1 in every 250 people... How is it that I know so many of them?

I swear, I know at least eight diagnosed celiacs off the top of my head, which means I missed a few (there's a massive number of undiagnosed ones out there). There's at least one and often more of the confirmed celiacs at most events I attend, and that's not even counting the wheat-sensitive people like me. What gives?

Anyone want to pitch in on an order to King Arthur Flour? All I need is cheese powder, and it's kind of silly to order just that. Especially when they keep offering free shipping or gifts for orders over $60 or so. They have really good pans and equipment, but I have everything they carry that I need... and I either can't use their mixes or have no need to. It's good stuff, though.

It isn't urgent, but I should get more cheese powder before the end of the year, if I keep indulging my cravings for mac&cheese as much as I have been. And holiday baking is upon us...

Edit: The yeast measure (2.25 tsp) for $4; the crumpet rings for $8; perhaps the rolling pin rings for $8; liquid measure for $5?

Edit: Gah! the orange cheese powder is no longer listed... I have to write them to ask whether they've discontinued it. (That would suck.)

LensCrafters wants $104 to fit me with contact lenses. I used to wear them all the time, and all I want is a fresh prescription for contacts (which means an exam). I don't need a technician to figure out the diameter I need (I have an old box that has that measurement on the label), or tell me how to care for them, or how to put them in. I could do all that in my sleep.

Anyone know where else I could go to get an exam and prescription for contacts, without going through the newbie dance? Is there some way I can get it for less than $100?

I don't think my current health insurance covers vision, even though I'd rather have that than dental. I'd probably have the place run my card and find out.



I hate the fact that I can't just go out and buy contacts off the shelf according to my current eyesight -- why can't they carry a notice saying that they should be used according to a doctor's direction and leave it at that? *sigh*

I'm looking for a tasteful parrot pin that isn't particularly expensive or antique (I want to put it on my bookbag). Preferably colored and somewhat durable, maybe enamel. Seen any for sale lately?

Does anyone know a way -- or ways -- that I might begin tracking down the name, if not current location, of a man who rented the house next door to ours around 1981? He lived there with another adult male, and moved out a year or two later. I don't know his name, or the name of the person who owned the house. The best ideas I have are vague and involve combing county records, starting with the address.

Please do pass this post around to anyone you know who might be able to help; I know that about half the people on my Friends list don't read me regularly, so even if they're listed as a friend on my account, they may not see this.

Yes, it is important to me. No, I'm not going to say why I need to know. But it is not trivial.

I just got charged $134 for last month's cell phone bill.

Most of that was 15-second phone tag calls -- incoming, outgoing, the occasional call to check my own voicemail. Each 15 second tag cost me a minute of service time. It added up to about 350 minutes on my 100-minute plan.

I've been feeling the slack in the Nextel lines since the merger, and toying with the idea of at least switching to Sprint (they'd let me do it for free, just sign another contract and *sigh* buy a different phone) but now I really think it's time to start looking. Maybe every company does the rounding-up thing... but not every plan will charge me this much for it, nor am I yet convinced that every company will try to screw me. Nextel used to be the "nice" one, the maverick. Sigh.

I am officially looking for recommendations for a) carriers and b) plans. I'm not getting a Treo, nor do I need internet access/cameraphone/mp3 capability. Funds are reasonably tight. I don't spend all day on the phone, despite what this bill looks like, so I don't need the dee-lux we'll-shine-your-shoes-too plans. Just something that won't make me cough up $100 because my friends and I can't make connections.

I suppose this means I'll have to get a flippy-phone. I hate flippy phones. With the way I treat my phone, it'll be dead within a couple months.

Sigh.