clever peasant pharmacy

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/werneal/sets/72157600002983311/

Live on Mansion Hill in Madison, Wisconsin!  Beautiful two-bedroom apartment on 2nd floor of an attractive building.  Available April 15 (negotiable) - August 15, 2007 (negotiable).  Rent: $990/month including utilities.  Lease allows for one cat. 

Nine-foot high ceilings, hardwood floors in entry and living room, lots of windows, bathtub and shower, closets in bedrooms plus bonus storage in kitchen and bathroom.  Washer ($1) and dryer (75c) in basement.  Bike rack on side of building. 

Two blocks to James Madison Park, three blocks to convenience store, three blocks to State Street, four blocks to Capitol, six blocks to UW-Madison campus.  Dozens of bus lines within one to four blocks. 

Email werhane@hotmail.com

The good news is… Burke and I are buying a house!  Soon, we will realize our dream of living on the fashionable near-east side.  Of course, there are many hoops to jump through before it’s a done deal - but if all goes smoothly, we’ll have our very own model-of-energy-efficiency-to-be by mid-March.

The bad news is… my brother has a cyst of some sort in his brain, and it can’t even be biopsied because it would debilitate him - so we all just have to wait and hope it doesn’t grow.  The other bad news is… one of Burke’s youngest cousins (he’s 22) was just diagnosed with testicular cancer.  So.  Cancer sucks - take care of your body, and listen to it when it tells you something’s wrong.  Then make the damn doctors listen to YOU.

Update: it turns out that an apartment a couple doors down was broken into, and the cat left through a ripped window screen.  Kitty was united with her loving people, and they baked us some yummy cookies in thanks

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* Found: Black cat

* Thanksgiving evening (Thurs. 11/23)

* Meowing on Mansion Hill Inn fire escape, scared to come down

* No collar

* Very friendly and healthy

* Call 658-9114 or 217-8774

Nov. 7 Amendment bans ALL civil unions in Wisconsin

The upcoming proposed amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution isn’t just bad for gay people who want to marry, the amendment would ban all civil unions - including domestic partnerships between one man and one woman.

This sweeping amendment reads: "A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."

I’m voting "NO" for a fair Wisconsin.

Dear friends and family,

You’re cordially invited to a shin-dig for Burke O’Neal’s 35th birthday!  We have a lot to celebrate this year.  We’re also moving out of the co-op, so this is the last party we’ll be sponsoring at Hypatia…

Saturday, July 29th - rain or shine
5:00pm - ?
Hypatia Co-op
102 E. Gorham St.
(entrance on Pinckney St.)

Join us for a cook-out on the patio with drinks, socializing, and music.  There’s lots of space indoors, in case of inclement weather.

Your presence is the best present of all!  Anything else is appreciated (food, drinks, etc.) but definitely not necessary.  Kids are welcome!

Amanda Werhane
Cell: 608-658-9114
Work: 608-262-9455
werhane@hotmail.com

Hmmmm, the Wisconsin Historical Society is calling Frank Zeidler, former mayor of Milwaukee, the "Last American Socialist"?  I know a few dozen living and breathing Socialists right here in Madison (and Chicago, and San Francisco, etc., etc.) who might take issue with that title.

And I suppose a city of 55,000 isn’t quite as "major" as Milwaukee, but Santa Cruz, California, has elected a Socialist (Michael Rotkin) to the post of mayor several times in recent history…

Cozy single room, available August 15th!

$311/month (includes heat/water/electricity)

* Community of 14 mature workers and students
* Rent includes heat, water, electricity, DSL, local telephone
* 24-hour kitchen and several shared vegetarian dinners per week ($100/month)
* Other amenities: copious common areas, fireplace, hardwood floors, storage space, patio, porch, nice yard, on busline
* Cooperatively managed: ~5 hours of chores/week + house meetings every other Sunday evening

Hypatia Housing Co-op
102 East Gorham St. (entrance on Pinckney St.)
608-257-4149

Jamaica was beautiful, the ocean was warm, and we both had a wonderful time.  Now I’m back at work, and the stress has returned.  Wheeeee!

Plus, there’s the next health issue to face: Burke’s heart.  After his first MRI, the doctor told us that he had hardened arteries, which he’d need to take care of, as soon as he was out of the woods with the cancer.  It turns out that Burke has the calcified heart of a fat, 45-year-old couch potato, despite the fact that he’s been on an almost-vegan diet for years and gets lots of exercise.  They want to rule out any known complications before putting him on cholesterol-lowering medication; if meds don’t work, he’ll need bypass surgery within the next 10-15 years.

A certain percentage of life just continues to suck.  Meanwhile, the sun is shining and my adorable cat awaits petting.

Today was the LAST F-ING DAY of Burke’s radiotherapy (as in radiation, not music).  And the end of his cancer treatment, altogether.  I surprised him at the clinic, and got a little tour of the radiation room and the machine to which he’s been bolted down for 10 minutes/day, 5 days/week, for the past 3 1/2 weeks.

3 months of crap.  It beats dying.  Someday, perhaps, you’ll be able to take a couple of "cancer-be-gone" pills, and that will be that.  Until then, there’s surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy (the benevolent side of nuclear energy), etc.  Oh, and he was doing a lot of supplement/diet stuff, at least until everything started to taste like salty metal.

So we’re going to stay at a f-ing beach resort in Jamaica for 5 days.  I just wanted us to get away together, somewhere with a beach and no worries.  Jamaica was the travel agent’s idea.  I didn’t have the energy to plan a trip that aligns more closely with our values.  We’ll try not to be asshole tourists, promise.