Why?

Here's today's rhetorical question about the last hour, wasted.

Why, when we send a list of product requirements to a vendor, do they schedule a meeting with us anyway even though their product does not meet our minimum requirements?

Do they really think that pretty screens (it was attractive) that are completely customizable (nice touch) will make us ignore the fact that it doesn't meet our needs? Do you think I'm that dumb??? If we go to the trouble of writing down our requirements and then sharing that list with potential candidates, the software vendor's representative should go to the trouble of reading the list and answering it honestly. That worthless meeting just makes me all the less likely to work with that company ever, even if I later work somewhere else small enough that their "enterprise" solution would work: I don't trust them now. Shucks, I specifically would not recommend them to anyone else, even if I thought that software might be a good match, because of that customer service failure. Good service is really important.

A Little Math Makes It Better

I was a little discouraged recently when I couldn't find many choices for low-estrogen Pill with less-androgenic progestins. Since

progestins with less androgenic activity tend to have little to no effect on carbohydrate metabolism

(ref), I wanted my less androgenic choice (8 months on Loestrin Fe 1/20 added 16 pounds! 1 pound per week on active pills, then I could actually control my own weight and lose 1 pound the Fe week; the iron pills are a nice touch, and I think they made me feel better that week). As I was falling asleep after that post, I realized I could determine the least androgenic choice with a little math. Yes, better living with math!

First, copy this chart into a spreadsheet (no, I didn't use Excel). So I could sort by these columns later, I added a column for progestin formula (which progestin), making sure to separate out the norethindrones from the norethindrone acetates. Then I added a column for androgenic activity from this reference (the second table, not the first). Add another column for the androgenic potency that is the product of the "Progestin (mg)" column and the newly added androgenic activity column. Since Loestrin Fe 1/20 has a product of 1.6 (1 mg norethindrone acetate * 1.6 androgenic activity), I didn't consider anything with a higher value. And once you control for the few with mestranol instead of ethinyl estradiol (mestranol has 2/3 the estrogen activity), you can sort by either value.

Spreadsheets just make this easy. I could delete the rows with multiphasic drugs since those can increase headaches, and I had a doozie last week. I could delete the rows with more than 30mcg of ethinyl estradiol since Cale and I like breastfeeding. Sort by androgenic potency, and there's a list of candidates.

So that's how a little math, just a small dose of multiplication that my computer did for me, cheered me up. Alternatives exist, and I can try them.

Today's Futile Research

Today, after researching that nausea as a side effect of The Pill is an androgenic effect, I went looking for the perfect pill. It should have low androgenic activity so as not to cause nausea, and also low estrogen to be compatible with breastfeeding. I didn't find one, and I suspect I know why: it's probably not very effective either. This may even be a contributing reason why extended breastfeeding isn't common ... but Cale is enjoying it so much right now! I adore our evening cuddles too, and wish I had more milk for him. He's that sweet.

a little extra for ginger cookies

Yum, I hadn't thought of it before, but I bet ginger cookies would be good if you

add a little Gosling's Black Seal® Rum to the mix.

Might have to try that soon.

Chickweed

After reading about chickweed, I had to wonder if that were the weed growing everywhere, especially in the garden. I sure didn't want to buy weed seeds to find out, though. With a little searching, I found two references, and yes, that's definitely chickweed growing all over everywhere. Pretty invasive ... but now I'm tempted to nibble. Now if only I had some watercress weeds!