Who Speaks and Holiday Weekend Miscellanea

I have spent a number of days nostril deep in tackling concepts of DNA, and by extension, RNA—influenza’s genes are made up of RNA, as well as a more structured understanding of virology. As with much of what I do or know in my life it’s “enough to get me in trouble” but not really enough to do me much good. Those of you who may have wondered why I wasn’t on the forums that I am known to inhabit with such regularity that is the reason. Enforced “nose to the grindstone”.

Who Speaks?

I write and participate on the flu forums under the pseudonym SophiaZoe, an iteration of my original pseudonym of ZoeSophia from back when IRC had its heyday, “Life’s Wisdom”. Since the inception of this blog two other “Sophia Zoes” have shown up with a web presence. That doesn’t bother me in and of itself, obviously, I was drawn to the name so they may have been as well, or, it might actually be their name unlike my use of it. But I take a certain pride in “being unique” and I would abhor being mistaken for someone else, not to mention that the other SZs might not appreciate being mistaken for me.

Anonymity is an ongoing concern, both in general on the internet, and in the Cyber Flu Community specifically. Some have chosen to drop the comfort and security that anonymity affords and step into the public’s view. Not many, but some. I gave up my anonymity back in the spring and haven’t regretted the decision. What I have regretted is that I have a certain “web presence” under my pseudonym so even though I would like to switch to my real name I feel it is important to maintain SophiaZoe for the sake of continuity.

I will, however, content myself with “introducing” myself to all of you, as the next best thing.

Debi Brandon

48 years of age

Wife, mother, grandmother

The picture was taken with the crappy camera that comes with the Iphone. Honestly, it is so crappy that I don’t understand why they even bothered to include it. Oh, and for the record: While I do have gray hair, which I wear with pride, it’s not as gray as it appears in the photo, strange lighting and crappy Iphone camera. However, I thought it added a certain “air of distinction” and rather liked the effect so this is the picture I chose to share.

As it says in my “About” page on this blog I was a police officer back in my “younger days”, I married a cop, I am the daughter, sister, and mother to others, past and present. I have seen heroic goodness, heart-rending tragedy, and frightful depravity; often the family conversations would curl the toes of most people. I exist in an insular and “unique world”, and unavoidably, sometimes that “uniqueness” shines through.

My formal education was in Computer Science, but that was so long ago that technology has left me in the dust. Now when something goes wrong with one of my computers I turn to the Geek Squad—or buy a new one. Speaking of which: my “work-horse” laptop went to visit The Geek Squad and I am working on my “travel laptop”, a Vista based machine. Vista—what a crappy OS—I spend more time re-booting than I do accomplishing anything.

While I will continue to post under the pseudonym of SophiaZoe, I did what to introduce myself, as I no longer feel that anonymity is necessary or especially helpful to the furtherance of PanFlu information exchange.

Debi (aka: SZ)