argue, king, sick, true

I had an argument with my room-mate last evening.  It' s an old argument and not very interesting and though I usually get along with him pretty well - tempers flared last evening.  I ended up kicking the wall in anger - but strangely and instinctively carefully since I was wearing flip flops - and stormed off.  

I went to burger king to get some overdue dinner and calm down.   The service was slow - despite me being the only one in the restaurant  - but I got my food and headed home.   I read a book, ate my dinner, and tried to relax.    

Filled up, I sat on the couch and got ready to watch "True Blood" season 1 - vampires, naturally.  All of the sudden and from totally out of the blue, I felt like I was going to throw up.  I hurried to the bathroom, made it in time, and proceeded to violently and thoroughly hork up my meal.   

It was... substantial and went on for a while.    When I finally stopped, exhausted, my head was hurting from the tension in the muscles in my face.  My throat hurt and there were flecks of blood when I spit.

But it was over.   Like a thunderstorm - violent and sudden - then just as quickly stopped.

My room-mate felt bad - blaming himself for the argument and making me upset enough to hork.   I think it was a combination of things, but if he wants to take the blame - fine by me.

I fixed myself some green tea and watched the first episode of the series.   I'd read the books and enjoyed them - and the series opener was pretty good. 

I'm tired today and working on a headache.   I'd rather be home - or at least somewhere other than here.

Sign this entry - cranky, but enduring.   Eh, at least it's a swimming day - maybe I'll feel better after that.

later...

baseball

Some friends invited me to the Akron Aeros game last night.  It had been threatening rain all day and the forecast wasn't good, but when it looked like the game would at least start, I headed out to the ballpark.

The Aeros field is a pretty good one - not a bad seat in the house - but the team pretty much sucked last night.  So, we focused on the other events in the ballpark.

1. #17 on the Aeros broke his bat.   He later went on to get hurt diving for a ball, but was back on his feet in a couple of innings.

2. Instead of an animated race on the scoreboard, three people dressed up as cream sticks raced around the field.  I have never seen such violent doughnuts before.  They were knocking each other down and tripping each other.   Finally, around the home stretch, vanilla emerged as the clear winner.

3. Later, three contestants were brought out to play a fun game of "fish or no fish".   They looked up at the scoreboard, saw a word, and had to decide if they thought it was a fish or not a fish.

The word was Dentex and they all decided it was not a fish.   They were all wrong and they all lost the round.   And there was only one round, so, you know, fun.

4. At 8:54 PM, someone from the upper deck dumped beer on us.  At least, we hope it was beer.   They didn't show their face the rest of the game.

5. There was also a guessing game for the first guy in a section to hold up a box of popcorn.   He picked the wrong pizza box and won a roll of toilet paper.

6. The first person to hold up their national city bank card got to go change out the third base.

7.  And while the previously mentioned #17 was limping off the field, a clip of Animal House was played to keep us entertained.  It didn't work.

8. There was a guy in front of us, with a mullet, wearing a shirt that boldly proclaimed "Sex is like Air".    It was apparent that he was suffocating.

The rain, which had been threatening all evening, finally began in earnest.  We were amazed by how many people actually stayed the entire time.    The Aeros lost 5-0.

Still, it was fun to get out for the evening and hang out with some friends.   I'm hoping to catch a few more games this summer.

Three meetings today - time to get back to it.  later...

gps, yellow, drive1, dune, lunch, drive2

I started off my trip last weekend early on Friday morning as I headed out to my sister's.    I had a borrowed GPS and a google map and figured I was good to go.      Unfortunately, the outlet in my car didn't work and the battery on the GPS was dying.    I managed to get to the correct highway and shut it down - thinking I would rely on the google map.    That worked until I got close to her house, and then it turned into a steaming pile of crap and I was lost.   I fired up the GPS, nursing the battery until it died when I turned onto her street.  I was actually early, but shaken a bit.  I really don't like being lost.

While waiting for my brother-in-law to get home from work, my sister and I took a little road trip to see her new office (she has a door, a fridge, and a window with a view - it rocks) and to go to Yellow Springs, Ohio.   Kind of a weird, fun little town.  The sign poles - for example, were covered in knitted cozies.   No idea why.   We checked out a couple of weird little shops and headed back in time to get the car packed and get some dinner before heading out.  

The drive took forever, as usual, and we got in fairly late.    There was a minor dispute involving the sleeping arrangements for me at Grandma's house (she's staying with my uncle and aunt).  Apparently, I could sleep on the floor - which was the only place for me as far as I could tell - provided I left enough room for my parent's dog to get past if she needed to go out in the middle of the night.   Not the first time the dog has outranked me and I knew that my folks were tired from the week of cleaning out grandma's place - but it still rankled me a bit.

Saturday, out to my uncle's for the day to visit grandma.   We got to ride in dune buggy - quite a ride - and had some sandwiches for lunch.     When my parents left to head back to Illinois, grandma had some troubling mood swings which I guess are symptoms of the stroke she is still recovering from.  

On Sunday we went out to lunch and grandma and I did battle over the check.  She's fast, but I was more clever and determined - and I won.   I think she was a little ticked at me - but if Dad was there, he would have fought her over the check as well.

Sunday evening was a trip to my cousin's place for dinner on the grill.  I think grandma had a good time, but asked my uncle to drive her back early so she could go to bed.   We stayed there late playing trivial pursuit - then crashed back at grandma's place.

We stopped by my uncle's place to say our goodbyes before getting on the road again.   

I did a lot of folding on the trip back, then dozed a bit.   From my sister's, I then headed back to akron.    Traffic, in general, was pretty tame - especially considering it was memorial day weekend.   I'm still really tired this morning and not looking forward to the day.

Overall, I'm both pleased and dismayed at the progress grandma has made since her stroke in April.    Mentally, she's better that I thought she would be.   She has good spells and not so good ones, but still had her sense of humor.    Her mood is mercurial and she has some memory issues.   Her vision is still bad in one eye and that has damaged her confidence in getting around.  She is unsteady on her feet and somewhat frail.  

I guess the plan is for her to stay with my aunt and uncle through the summer - then if she's much improved, she'll continue on there.  Otherwise, she'll move to a nursing home.  Meanwhile, her house is being cleared out and cleaned up so that my cousin and her fiance can move in and rent it.     The time table seems fast to me - but it's very much out of my hands/opinions.  

I'm worried about her and I wish I was closer so that I could do more.

(sigh)  Well, at least it's a short work week.   Maybe I need a little more sunshine.

that's it for now - back to work...

time, mario

Just got a call from the payroll office - I'm about to exceed my accrued vacation time.   Beyond that, and I start to lose the time.

Do they not know that I'm the master of Space and Time?  I mean, seriously, me?  Lose time?

Yeah, it sucks.   

I dunno why I've got so much time accrued.  I guess part of it is that I don't like to travel.  If I'm not working, well, then I'd be at home.   Why not work then?

Plus, the idea of having a lot of vacation time was appealing.   Sort of as a back up in case I really needed to take time off - injury/illness or some other serious event.    Although I've also got a pile of sick time as well.   

The notion that I've earned this and now it will just go away if I don't use it - well, it doesn't seem fair.

So, I've got to take some time off.   I'm already starting to plan for a few days in July, but I may need to start taking a few here and there as well.  Maybe some long weekends.

I'm also a little torqued that I didn't get any heads up before hand.   At this moment, I'm already over my limit.  A little earlier warning "before" I hit the limit would be nice.    And trying to find out that limit?   Took me 20 minutes of searching through our site before I found a PDF on the General Counsel's website.  

It doesn't help that I'm cranky and have been all day.   Mild headache, non-awesome lunch, and annoying stuff here at work.     The irony that the best remedy for this kind of mood is to take some time off is not lost on me.

It's almost time to go  home for the day.  I'm looking forward to some sunshine and maybe a good book.

Oh, almost forgot.  I finally earned enough money to get past that section of the game in Super Paper Mario.  

(Actually, I earned more than enough and lost the extra when I couldn't use it.  Hmmmm....)

Anyway, I got stuck and had to go to the Internet to find the solution.  I'm making progress again and enjoying the game - I may play some more this evening when the sun goes down.

later...

visit, soccer, wheeling, party, gerbil

My room-mate's sister visited last week - she was there for a few days and helped him plant some flowers while he was off work.   I think they had a nice visit.  She was also around and was able to help when the new floor was put in.   Apparently, it was a much bigger, louder, and dirtier project than anticipated.   The appliances and the island in the kitchen needed to be moved - as well as the toilet in the bathroom and the contents of the hall closet.   Fortunately for me - I was at work and missed the entire event - including the smoke detector going off for half and hour.     Yea me!

Saturday morning I took my FMR's mom to a soccer game for her grandson.   It looked like rain and I was prepared with an umbrella.   When it first started, I held the umbrella over her and that was okay for a while.    When the rain really picked up, that was enough for her.   I took her home and went on my way. 

That afternoon, we took my room-mate's sister back to Wheeling.   I helped them clear out some stuff from their dad's basement in preparation for the house sale.   I think we could have done more, but she was done.   I also insisted that we stop for dinner at Long John Silver's  - figuring that I had helped with a clean-up/move I was entitled to some food.  :)

On Sunday, went to a graduation party for a friend.   It was cool to catch up a bit and see some friends.   I had a nice time, but it was a little chilly in the shade.

I also did a bit of reading and video game playing over the weekend - and at times, I did both at once.   One of the new games I got  - Super Paper Mario - has little Mario accidentally breaking a vase and having to pay for it.  Unfortunately, its in a currency he doesn't have and will have to earn the money to leave the area.  

1 million rubees.   

The best way to earn this is to have mario run in a treadmill and generate electricity.   Like a gerbil - in fact, the other characters refer to him as such.    I held down the run button for a while, then checked the earnings.   Tried holding it down for a while to determine the rate and realized that there's a 10 minute cap of 18,000 rubees.   He can run longer, but doesn't earn any more.   So, hold down the button for 10 minutes, collect reward, repeat.   Fortunately, you can put the money in the bank and save the game.      I've been playing this same really boring area for a while and still about 485,000 to go.    I've also read two books - one-handed - during that time and I really wish I could just get back to the game.   I checked online and the only hints they have involve taping the controller button down. 

That's it for now - back to work.    I'm getting close to my 600th post on this blog.   Not that it means much, but it's interesting.   Didn't realize I had that much to say.

later...

lost, carabas, floor, mood

The season finale for Lost was this past week - as expected, extreeeeem cliffhanger.   It was pretty good and I enjoyed it, but I'm hoping they don't negate the entire season via time-travel.

Went out to Carabas last night for dinner with my room-mate and his sister (she's in town for an extended weekend).   The food was okay, a little under-whelming.   Overcooked veggies, bland bread - though the fish was pretty good.   The server was... pushy.   She reacted in horror when I declined the salad (which  you can't get plain) and the soups (none of which I liked).   She ended up pushing the salad onto my room-mate's sister and was at a loss when my room-mate declined the options as well.  Not really sure why she was pushing the free items on us like that.  I think next time around I'll just get the pepperoni pizza and play it safe.

There's a crew scheduled to be at the apartment today to replace the kitchen floor.  The tile was coming up and we finally convinced the landlords it was a trip hazard - as in, I have already tripped and you'd better get it fixed before I fall also.  So, last night we move all the furniture out of the way and while it would be awesome if it was done before I got home, I sort of doubt that.   It's a big and weirdly shaped area.

I've been in sort of dark mood recently.  Some random work stress and some stuff at home.  And it doesn't help that the pool has been closed all week.  It'll be good to get back in the water and get back to a better mode.

I'm thinking about trading some games in for the wii - I got a couple of duds that are just collecting dust - may be something fun to do this afternoon.  

Sort of a quiet day here at work.   Probably just as well that I don't have a window - I'd be getting even less done.

I guess this is it for now... later...

flu-box

For the past week, there has been a giant cardboard in the kitchen/breakroom here in the building with a garbage bag as a liner.   There are no labels or signs anywhere near the box to indicate i's purpose and rumors abound.    Today, I contacted the building coordinator and he gave me the facts.

The cardboard boxes are for the swine flu.   

Okay, stay with me on this, it gets better.

The idea is that restroom users will be able to open the door to the restroom as they leave while shielding themselves from the handle with a paper towel.   That potenially swine-flu laden towel can then be disposed of in the cardboard box.    

All fine in theory, except:

1. How would we know to follow that practice?

2. The restrooms exit out into the kitchen.  Not a good storage area for biohazzard materials.

3. The garbage cans are right inside the restroom doors - allowing a user to open the door while holding a paper towel, then throw it away and exit before the door closes.

4. There's already a garbage can in the kitchen - so now we have two and less floorspace.

5. Seriously - this is supposed to protect us from swine flu?

I'm more worried about the "black dust" that blows out of the vents and settles on our desks and tables - and, I'm guessing in our lungs.  And the hazerdous chemical waste storeage facility behind our building next to the loading dock.

Swine flu?  Please, if I can survive this building, I'm not worried about the flu.

later...

muppet, wine

When I'm helping build a webform, there's always a testing period.   For at least the first test, I put in real information so that if it ends up not going were expected, it will be easier to track down.  I always use a made up name - the more ridiculous the better - and the word Test if there's a comment area.  

Well, apparently the test data didn't get cleared out of the database.   I got a call on the answering machine at home yesterday asking for confirmation of attendance at a luncheon.    The message was directed toward....  Link Hogthrob.

For those of you that don't know - and apparently the person making the call is one of those - Link Hogthrob is the pig captain of the SS SwineTrek along with First Mate Piggy and Dr. Julius Strangepork.    On the Muppet show.

My room-mate suggested I tell them he can't come because of the swine flu - but if they didn't get the Muppet pig reference - the won't get this joke either.

So, I have to make a call today that I'm dreading.   Do I play it cool and actually pretend to be Link and cancel?  Or do I try to explain and not embarrass them? 

In other news... I went to a wine tasting event last night that my room-mate's rotary club puts on every year.   The only reason I go to these is to make sure he gets home okay and to bid on the silent auction items for a Mother's day gift.      The pickings were slim at the auction table, though I did get something that will work - I think.      Fortunately, I brought plenty of paper and just stood quietly off to the side.    Kind of a strange and boring evening for the designated driver, but I knew what to expect and got through it.

That's it for now... later

essay

Yesterday morning, I had a dream I was back in college and had missed an English class.  The assignment was to write an essay on the topic "If you knew you were dying, who would you tell and why?"

So, still in the dream, I began to write the essay.  It was still going around in my head when I woke up and I kept thinking about it as I drove into work.   As soon as I got to my computer, I transcribed it - as closely as I could from my notes in the dream.    I finished the one and a half page essay and saved it.    So, my homework is done.

But, how in the world am I going to turn it in?

later...

flop

I was heading up the stairs from the basement this afternoon when the "incident" occured.   My flip-flops - which, since they have the UA logo on them are really zip-flops - betrayed me and I stumbled.  This instantly turned my zip-flops into trip-flops and I went down hard.   My left big toe got cut and the nail was painfully torn.   I made it to the top of the stairs and stood there for a moment - then verifed that yes, I was bleeding.   

I got myself doctored up and was back up to speed in no time.   And then I headed back downstairs to see if I'd at least managed to damage the steps.     I didn't.

The weekend has been pretty quiet otherwise.  Lots of reading and video games.  Not looking forward to work tomorrow, but it's finals week and it should be a little quiet for us.

later...

membership

With the natitorium pool closing next week, I decided to get a membership at the rec center pool.  Both are on campus and within easy walking distance of my work building - the nat has a nice pool, but the rec center is a nicer facility over all.    The biggest difference for me, though, is the price.   As a staff member, I can use the nat for free - the rec center membership for the summer costs $100.  Seeing as how I really want to keep swimming this summer, I don't have much of a choice.

So, I headed over to the rec center yesterday to get a membership - and it took about 10 minutes for them to find someone that could process the membership.    I had to fill out a form - which was dumb since it only asked for info already on file in my employee records - and when she asked how long I wanted the membership I explained:

"Just for the summer - I usually swim in the nat..."

Her reply:  "You know the nat pool is closed for the summer,"

Me:  "That's why I'm here,"

She did give me a bit of a bonus by starting my membership a week early I won't have to miss out my swim before the summer "officially" starts.

Today I headed to the rec center for my swim and got in 27 laps.   There's a current that I alternately benefited from and fought - I think it made for a better workout overall.

later...