Atomictumor

It’s another.  So far this year, my kids have had severe lice infestations, poison ivy so bad they had to be on steroids twice, and now this.
Pinworms.
We’re really not gross, disgusting people, honest.  Just damn unlucky, I think.
I’m not going to go into the gory details.  If you don’t know what a pinworm is, just google it.  But for the love of all that is good and holy, please don’t look at google images.  I don’t have enough brain bleach for all of you.
The good news is that I didn’t have to take the kids (or samples) to the doctor.  They just took my word for it and called in prescriptions, which consisted of one chewable pill today, and another in 10 days.   For the next month or so, I’ll be constantly washing dishes and clothes, scrubbing surfaces and hands.  So if you want to come over, we’ll all be squeaky clean.
Or maybe you wouldn’t want to come over, seeing as it’s highly contagious.
Apparently adults aren’t as susceptible to pinworms, but there’s always that possibility.  What a better way to introduce myself to my new doctor?  I know that the human body carries hundreds of parasites normally, and that many of them are necessary to aid digestion, yadda yadda yadda, but I really don’t like to think about squirmy little bugglies in my intestines.

Man, even the right leaning Supreme Court is crying foul on the .gov’s military trial stuff for them terrists. Makes me happy, because seems like one branch is getting a little too big for its britches.

The Oak Ridger reports that Nashville has given its warm fuzzy blessing to Oak Ridge (and other, lesser cities) enacting licensing for rental properties in town, with a $20 fee to top it all off. The licensing would provide for annual inspections of properties, and would require landlords to take care of any nuisance or criminal claims. Woot.

Man, we don’t have a problem with this now, but a few months ago there was a troublemaker renting a house on our fair street, and the house was owned by some jerk that lived out of town. We’d call his ass, leaving messages like “Do you know what kind of people you rent to?” and “You’re making Jesus cry!”, but nothing would come of it. Meanwhile, the house quickly became a blight, garbage in the front yard, unmown grass, and paint peeling. Finally, they moved out, but I hate to think of what that kind of crap does to my home value.

Before that, we rented a nice place from a responsible landlord in the W’s, and it was a nice neighborhood. However, as time went on, and as the older folks out there died off and their properties ended up in the hands of renters, the neighborhood went from good to bad to worse. Driving through there now, it looks like a ghetto. The problems here develop entirely because people who don’t give two craps for the town rent the houses to people who should be living in cages somewhere, and as a result everybody suffers.

Anyway, I’ve lost the point. This is a good thing. Sure, landlords will bitch, but they’ll tack that $20/yr cost to the rent, raising it a whopping $1.67/month. Hell, they can even raise it to 2 a month, and make a 33 cent profit. Thats thinking smart.

In the meantime, those of us who have actually invested in this town won’t have to worry about that investment being ruined by a jackass making money at any cost.