Food Stuff
My pal, Pink Hobbit, was supposed to come over today for dinner and a bit of catching up, but because I am flaky and a sicky-type, I cancelled at the last minute because I felt crappy. I fully intended to have her over, to the point that I spent time last night making a cider brine and sticking a chicken in it, but today by mid-afternoon I was feeling so crummy I cried uncle and rescheduled. I have not been sleeping well the last few days and have been dragging myself around from one thing to another without much success.

So I bailed and PH and I rescheduled, but the upshot of this initial prep and then cancelling was I still had a raw chicken marinating in an apple cider brine solution in the fridge. (Recipe is here.) So, rather than let it go to waste, I stuck it in the oven this evening (after my two-hour nap!)

OH. MY. GOD. This is the yummiest chicken I think I have ever tasted. In my whole life. It was moist and flavorful and, before I hacked it up in order to eat it, it was just beautiful! Wow. Yummy yummy yummy.

This one is going on my cooking page's side bar as a favorite!

Tomorrow I have appointments with three different doctors. They are all located in the same complex (how's that for planning!) and since gas is so freaking expensive these days I figured I'd do myself a favor and make only one trip over there rather than three:

• Primary Care Physician: This is my 6-week thyroid check. I went in last Friday to have blood drawn for the lab, and at the time I felt ok. I'm curious, though, what the results are going to be. I definitely feel better but I don't think I'm back to "normal," so I'm going to see what she has to say and then ask if we can bump up my dosage slightly.
  
• Neurologist: I don't know what to say about this one. I don't know what I'm going to say to him, I don't know what to tell ya'll about what I'm going to say to him; I'm not even sure what to think or how I feel about it. The good news is that overall, I'm feeling a lot better. My MS appears to be relatively stable and I don't seem to be having any negative repercussions from stopping the Copaxone. The bad news is, my feeling better really has nothing to do with him. Still, I strongly suspect I'm going to get chewed out for stopping the Copaxone, or for stopping it without consulting him first. Both of which are hooey, because it's MY body and my choice, for one, and for two, I did call and leave a voice mail with the Hateful Shrew asking her to pass the information along to the doctor. (If he didn't get the message he can take it up with her.)

  I'm not sure why I dread going to see this doctor so much or why I find him so intimidating, but I've pretty much given up on the idea that his opinion is the end-all, be-all. (Actually, I'm not sure why I ever thought that. But that's a conversation for another day...) After all, his answer to my being depressed while on Copaxone was simply to switch to a different drug; never mind the fact that hypothyroidism is a potential side effect of the one I was already on. For someone who's supposed to be familiar with these particular drugs, you'd think he'd have suggested that as a potential cause of the depression rather than poo-pooing my symptoms and claiming he'd only ever had one other patient with similar side effects. I mean, really. Sheesh.

• Ophthalmologist: I think I need me a new prescription, because I just am not seeing as well as I used to. I'll probably get my eyes dilated, as has been the case with every annual exam I've had since I had Optic Neuritis back in 2002. These exams are usually uneventful but it's first thing in the morning. Ugh.
  

Revolution Money Exchange: Earlier this week I was reading a review of Revolution Money Exchange, a new service similar to PayPal, on one of the money/frugal blogs I follow regularly.

So, why am I telling you this? Because you can get free money! Just click the handy-dandy button below, create an account, and they plunk $25 into your account! That's it. And when you do that, I get an additional $10 bucks just for the referral. Woo! I can't think of a better "win-win" than that.

Any money I "earn" through these RME bonuses will be put towards debt repayment. There's a deadline though: you have to sign up by May 15 to get the $25. No pressure, obviously, but if you feel compelled to "help," I will be oh-so-grateful! (And on May 16 I'll let you know how much I've "earned" towards paying down my debt!)

Pandora.com: While I was in Pittsburgh, my colleagues and several of the folks we were in training with got to talking about Pandora.com. I had heard about it only peripherally so asked for a bit more information. They all raved about it and I've finally had a chance to spend some time fiddling with it.

For those of you who, like me, live under a rock, Pandora.com is essentially customizable internet radio. You go onto the site, create an account and then enter a song or artist you like. Then, the service starts playing music from that artist or similar artists. You can tell the system what you like and don't like and further refine the music you hear. The goal, I think, is to hear a good mix of stuff you know and love, along with "new" music you might not otherwise hear.

I started by trying to create a classical music "radio station" and felt a bit hung up in a couple spots trying to customize it. So far I'm on the fence, but the jury's really still out: I'll report back after I've had a chance to fiddle some more. Is there anyone out there who loves Pandora and has tips they want to share? We're all ears here at Chez Zee...