The Minnesota Legislature has been in special session for a couple weeks now, with no sign yet of a budget compromise. If budget bills for things like human services and education aren’t passed by June 30, state government (including my agency) will partially shut down. I’m not terribly worried about getting laid off or anything like that. The Legislature will come to some sort of agreement, most likely just before midnight on July 1. But I can’t quite see what a final agreement will look like. The Republicans will not agree to anything that looks like a tax hike (the Governor’s proposed cigarette…fee…tax….whatever…notwithstanding). The Democrats will not go along with any deep cuts in public health care programs like MinnesotaCare. I’m not sure how you bring together opposing sides that are staring each other down from across a $1 billion chasm. The marginal numerical advantages that each party holds in the House and Senate means that any agreement must be bipartisan, which gives me some hope for a final resolution.
The NY Daily News is extolling the virtues of geeks as boyfriends. :Slipping into my Barry White voice: C’mon, baby, let’s turn down the lights real low and and I’ll whisper hot Klingon love in your ear. qamuSHa‘ , baby. qamuSHa’.

I’ve been amusing myself tonight by checking out some of the videos on the iTunes Music Store, including Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.” What a lovely song. She does some mixing tricks with the multi-layering of her voice, but it doesn’t come across as saccharine (unlike some other artists who use this technique). Ms. Heap is also the front singer for Frou Frou, whose stuff I quite like as well. I guess this song was also featured on The O.C Now this is when I could get all snooty and say that I never watch that crap, except that I have my sister’s borrowed copy of Season 1 sitting in my pile of DVDs and I’m slowly getting caught up in it. That Summer’s kind of a bitch, isn’t she?
One of my nurses is suggesting I take astragalus as a way of preventing future colds. Astragalus is an herb that apparently has some immune-boosting properties. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? I’m normally skeptical of alternative medicine and of the starry-eyed claims some of its proponents make, but this last infection kicked my ass and I don’t desire to go through that again anytime soon.

The 19th Floor, along with some other disability-themed blogs, was mentioned in Dawn Eden’s Sunday column in the NY Daily News. Cool.
Hopefully, I’ll be up to writing longer entries soon. It’s difficult to blog when you’re dozing off at your desk.

Is there a law somewhere that requires me to catch every virus that’s looking for a good time? Seriously, this is getting old. Don’t make me encase myself in a plastic bubble. Because I’ll do it, I swear.

Toyota is planning on marketing service robots as soon as 2010. The company sees these robots assisting with tasks such as nursing care. So, when do I get my own robotic nurse? Not that I would ever willingly give up my flesh-and-blood nurses, but a robotic personal assistant has intriguing possibilities. Would a robot accompany me on an all-night bacchanal through the streets of Vegas. Would it pour single-malt Scotch down my g-tube until I couldn’t remember my own name? Would it dutifully repeat and amplify my drunken pick-up lines to the cute girls sitting at the bar? Or would it get all sanctimonious and drag me back to the hotel while droning some nonsense about protecting my well-being?