Yes, I've been a terrible LJ slacker. It's been over a month since I last posted. But I do come by and read everyone on my list every day. I've been posting a lot more things of the 140-character nature; I guess I'm hooked on Facebook and Twitter. Those handsome bastards.

Medically, things are looking up. The dermatoligist looked at the rash and skin biopsies and said, "I don't know what's wrong with you." The rheumatologist looked at the rash and joints and blood tests and said, "I don't know what's wrong with you. Come back every month." (I'm not going back to that guy.)

The gastroenterologist said, "Definitely active disease, but it's hard to say if it's Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis." But now there's a shiny new blood test that can indicate whether it's one or the other. So we did it, and it's Crohn's Disease. Which is what I thought it was. Although looking at my old Seattle medical records, he vacillated between the two diagnoses on a monthly basis. Oy.

So I was put on the old reliable immunosuppressive drugs that I took years ago. They socked me into near-remission -- I haven't had a joint flare since we went to Seattle over a month ago, and the rash was much, MUCH milder. And now I'm starting up a brand new immunosuppressive drug, which will take the place of the old one. It's administered not with pills, but with self-injections into my belly fat. Fun! But after the first treatment, the rash went from mild down to barely-there. And now I'm just getting the tiniest bit of rash on some days, and NO rash on others. Which is great. For a while I'll be on the two different immune-suppressing drugs (hello, Purell and OCD handwashing) and in a couple of months, once the new stuff is in full swing, we'll drop the old drugs.

That's about the most exciting stuff going on with me right now. I'm still tired a lot (that's always been in my top 3 Crohn's issues, and right now it's #1) but I can deal with it.

In other news: Florida is hot. Summer is here, so it'll be intolerable outside for three months or so. It's supposed to hit 100° today, before the violent afternoon thunderstorms roll in.

Scott had a weekend full of good news items, none of which I'm cleared to talk about just yet. Overall, his comic strip is doing well and growing slowly but steadily.

Oh, and since starting Atkins again in November, I'm down 22 pounds. Also slow and steady. There's still a good 20 pounds to go, but I feel much healthier already.

We're currently sitting at gate 83 at the Orlando airport, getting ready to head to Seattle.

We'll be there starting around Noon today, and will be leaving on Saturday.

We'll be making appearances at the Comedy Underground on Thursday, and Jet City Improv on Friday. I'll also be guest improvising with JCI on Friday at 10:30.

The airport has free WiFi, and my tiny netbook is making me happy.

You guys, it's 7:41pm on the east coast, and I'm just now starting to watch the performance show.

I don't know. I've kind of lost the love this year. Why is it such a grind to watch? Is it the fourth judge? Is it just that the show's getting old and tired?

( EDIT: Results start at 9 tonight! I got these in on time! )

Yes, it's a 2-fer! Last week's results, and this week's performances. What can I say, I've had a busy time of it lately. Once again, the results didn't get spoiled for me -- I asked my mom to tell me who got eliminated. Good times.

In a way, I'm kind of sad that I'm not still stoned from this morning's anesthesia. That might make this all a bit more painless.

( Last week's results! )

( This week's performances! )

It's almost 6:30pm on results night. I say curse you, Idol! Why did you have to change your days? This is totally screwing up my usual TV schedule. This will be a very fast viewing, and I'm planning on fast-forwarding past the judges' comments.

( I made it through the entire show in just over 35 minutes. )

I didn't watch AI last night -- we tackled LOST instead.

I'll get to watching good ol' Motown night after some doctor's appointments this morning. But if you all would like to throw down your picks now, go to!

I'm a huge slacker. I haven't gotten around to watching the results show until now. But what's even more shocking is that the results weren't spoiled for me. Well, until I asked Mary at work to go ahead and tell me who got eliminated.

( Once again, I'm all about fast-forwarding through as fast as I can. )

There's yet another $5 shirt sale going on at Threadless. And this time, it looks like they actually have a variety of choices in a variety of sizes, instead of everything only being available in girly XS.

Ah, top 11. What exciting theme will you be singing this week?

( We start off with Seacrest menacingly stalking behind the contestants. )

Let's see how fast I can blast through the results show. First off, finding out the new fancy twist.

( I'm not sure I can explain this right. )

OMG! It's time for the finals, guys! Top 13 ahoy!

( West coast be warned: the full show runs until 10:04pm. My TiVo stopped at 10:00. )

Well gang, it's wildcard time. So now I know how the wildcard round is going to work. And there's nothing for us to do -- it's all up to the judges. BE WARNED, WEST COAST -- the results go 5 minutes into Hell's Kitchen. TiVo did NOT get it all.

( I'll still comment on the singing, though. Just not as thoroughly. )

Dudes! The new season of America's Next Top Model is on at the same time as this results show. I'm like a happy little piggy, rolling around in reality TV slop.

Of the six of us who made guesses this week, five of us picked the same trio. Only current points leader Broken Alice deviated from our selections. She's picked 100% so far; will she keep the streak alive?

( Recaps, group sings, and other things are utterly fast-forwardable. )

Warning -- the wild cards are named tonight, and I've listed them under the cut.

Week 3! Final group of 12! There's very little preamble to comment on, so ...( off we go! )

Things start off awkward again, with Seacrest asking, "What have you DONE?" The question is meant to be asked of the audience, but he points it right at Nick. Our sentiments exactly, Seacrest.

( Seacrest chats strangely with the judges... )

It's time for Idol! My joints are swollen so I'm typing very slow, and I'm on something called Hydroxyzine (sp?) which is designed to make me non-itchy, or drowsy, or not-anxious. So this should be awesome.

( Even though it hurts to type, I just can't keep it short! )

All right, it's time for our first results show. It starts with the usual batch of BS between Seacrest and the judges, where Kara actually names names of people who disappointed her (ballsy!) and everyone grumps about Simon.

( A full hour show for, essentially, three sentences of important material. Awesome. )

Aw yeah! It's live competition time! Which means it's time to judge kids harshly. Tonight we'll have 12 contestants sing, 6 of each gender, and apparently we'll pick a top three. Does that mean there'll be a judges' wildcard selection from the bunch?

( Let the games begin! )

Please get your three guesses in by 8pm Eastern tonight, before the results show airs here on the east coast. The people who get the most guesses correct each week will earn one point for the week. We'll keep a running tally each week.

My attention was directed today to Your Fonts, a site that will generate your own handwriting as a font for FREE.

I've made several handwriting fonts in the past, but it's been a labor-intensive process of drawing/editing each character, then compiling them in a font creation program.

This was much quicker and easier. They give you a template to print out. You fill in each letter and character. Scan it back in, upload it, and in a trice, you have a font of your handwriting! It took maybe 15 minutes total to do the whole thing, and the most time-consuming part was writing in all of the letters.

Here's my new font:

My LiveJournal turned 6 yesterday.

2,569 journal entries (this one will be 2,570).

Good gravy!