Thunder of Wade

Month: February 2010

I just want one slice.

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On February 22, 2010

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So, standing in line to get some lunch, I order my usual: 1 slice of pepperoni pizza and a small rigatoni without sauce. There’s no one else in line, so the two guys there both work on my order. The pizza guy hands me a plate with two slices of pizza on it.

“No,” I say, “Just one slice,”
“These are really small, it counts as one,” he replied.
They looked about the same size as they usually do, so I thanked him and went to collect my rigatoni. The second guy hands it to me, then he and I both go down to the register so I can pay for my food. I also get a bottle of green tea and he rings up the items – including 2 slices of pizza. Not one slice made up of two small pieces – 2 separate pieces at full price each.
There was a moment – a sliver to time too small to even complete a thought – where I began to consider trying to explain. Just as soon as I began to consider it, I realized that there were better things I could be doing with the rest of my life and I just took my lumps – and my second slice of pizza – and headed on my way.
There’s a lesson to be learned in there somewhere – but I don’t really know what it is.

If you need me, I’ll be in the basement.

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On February 22, 2010

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Our team at work is moving offices – I think I may have mentioned it before, I’m getting the smaller cubicle that I’m not at all bitter about? Anyway, it’s finally happening and our move date is Wednesday. I had some time on Saturday morning to get an early start and get most of my stuff moved. I figured I could then help the rest of the crew and leave whenever I wanted to on Wednesday.

Spent a couple hours on that project, then headed home. I meant to get supplies to work on my door/desk, but that got derailed. Surly, I headed to the basement and did some cleaning/organizing. Stopped for a few minutes for lunch, then back to work. Made some good progress and wore myself out – which was pretty much the point.
On Sunday, I played some more Darksiders – pretty sweet game. Finally beat the giant sandworm, now I’m a little stuck on the giant teleporting spider. She’s a trash talker too, so it’ll be nice to finally take her down.
Last week, I finally got my swim fins. I got to try them out on Wednesday and man, I was fast. Almost no effort and I was hydroplaning across the pool. It was pretty cool. I’m hoping to get the motion down on the butterfly kick – we’ll see how that goes.
I didn’t get to use them on Friday – there was a swim meet and the lap swimming lanes were limited. I’ll use them again today.
Looks like this will be a busy week – better get to it.

I was a spider monkey for a while.

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On February 11, 2010

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I got some bad news this afternoon – one of my aunts passed away yesterday. She was the second wife of my dad’s brother – a brother that he hasn’t gotten along with in a long time. As a consequence, I didn’t see her much or interact with her much even when I did see her over the years.

There was one time, though, that I was visiting my grandparents for a summer during college and my aunt and uncle invited me on a rock climbing trip. They were both avid climbers and this was a new thing for me – but I went along and had a lot of fun. I remember approaching one site, getting geared up, and using my long reach and flexibility to climb it like I was going up a ladder. Actually better than a ladder – I was so focused on the hand and foot holds that I didn’t pay much attention to my fear of heights. Though I did freak out a little at the top I still impressed myself. My aunt was a little less enthused, I think. She was quite a bit shorter than me and could not have taken the route as easily as I did – if at all. Her British upbringing kicked in and she shouted up to me, “You’re like a bloody spider monkey!”
I think I did impress her when – too scared to rappel back down – I “down-climbed” off the rock and she laughed when I lay face-down in the dirt in relief.
We had a fun day and afterwards I keep seeing vertical surfaces and instinctively looked for hand and foot holds.
My aunt’s heath began to deteriorate a while after that trip and while she was able to climb a few times, it wasn’t something she could do frequently.
I wish I’d had a chance to get to know her better. I’m glad she’s not in any pain anymore and I wish I’d gotten a chance to climb with her again.

A good deed goes unpunished

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On February 8, 2010

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I took myself for a walk on Saturday. The roads were cleared from the massive snow we got, but the sides were piled with drifts and plowed snow. And that’s where I found myself when the traffic came barreling my way. At one point I was thigh-deep in the snow.

I went to Staples for a keyboard tray, mouse, and laptop case. And I ended up being somewhat encumbered on the trip back. I was pretty well worn out by the time I got home and took a mid-afternoon bath to relax and warm up.
Went out to dinner at CiCi’s pizza and picked up a couple of cheap games for the Wii. I also finished up watching Logan’s Run on DVD. Not a great movie, but the themes are interesting.
On Sunday, I went to the hospital to visit my FRM’s grandmother. She was in for gall bladder surgery and though they had a bit of a scare after the surgery she’s doing much better. I think she really appreciated seeing me, so, that was good.
I finally got around to sending in a donation to the Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption. Been meaning to do this since my parent’s dog had to be put to sleep, but I wasn’t sure what to include in the note. Got that written up last night and in the mail today.
Watched a little of the show “Hoaders” – in a word, whoa. Made me want to clean my basement – just in case.
My room-mate and I are going to go pick up the recliner today. Maybe. A family friend of his passed away over the weekend and the calling hours are this evening. He doesn’t really want to make the drive there tonight – I guess it will depend on if he can get any time off tomorrow for the actual service. If he stays in the area, we’ll pick up the new recliner and maybe a door for me to make into a desk.
Well, got a meeting coming up – better get ready for that.

The great chair debate

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On February 4, 2010

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My room-mate recently got a coupon for 55% off furniture at a local store – with a very short time frame. Setting aside the likelihood that this is a variation on the “high-pressure” sales approach and that the furniture was likely marked up a lot before then being marked down – well, we do need a new recliner.

So, off to the furniture store and the great debate begins. After what felt like forever, we finally narrowed it down. To two recliners. At that point, we finally got greeted by a sales clerk and she went off to get some paperwork while we got things sorted out. Color, fabric, size, brand, construction, the color of the other furniture in the living room – all were fiercely debated. I really liked the hidden mechanism in the pleather chair and it was cheaper, but in the end we went with the more practical and standard recliner.
Debate settled, we headed upstairs with the clerk to the payment area. The one payment clerk was busy, so Jeff (who had decided he would be the one buying the chair) decided to visit the restroom. As soon as he left, another payment clerk came over and since a line was forming, I stepped up and finished the paperwork – and presented my credit card. Not a big deal since we were splitting the cost anyway, but I think he was surprised since we were almost done by the time he got back.
The chair will be available on Monday and we’re going to go pick it up – to save the $50 delivery fee. I’m also going to buy a door to make into a desk – the van we’ll use for the chair should have enough room to make it in one trip.
In other news… I was at the locker room at the gym yesterday, getting changed after my swim. An older guy came in after a run and sat down at the other end of the bench. I normally don’t make much small talk with strangers in the gym, but I noticed that the guy just… stopped moving. Not sure if he was about to keel over, I asked, “Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah,” he replied.
“You just seemed to go on ‘pause’ there for a minute,” I said and he laughed.
“No, I’m fine. I must look really bad after my run. A few weeks ago two people came up to me after I was done and said they knew CPR,”
By this point I was done getting dresses and he wished me a good day as I headed out. I know CPR as well – though it’s been a while since I had a refresher. 🙂
Finally, work has been really intense this week. I’m getting a lot done, but new things keep coming up. This morning has been a little quiet and I’m hoping to get caught up. Our team is getting ready to move to a new office, but the boss has been strangely reluctant to give us a definitive time frame. I already started clearing out the junk from my current cubicle before I move into my new – smaller – cubicle.

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