Month: August 2011

I got up bright and early and went to the pool on campus.  Got in 40 laps and felt pretty good.  Stopped off at McDonald’s for lunch and didn’t feel a bit guilty.

I also went to Half Priced books and traded in a pile of hardcover novels.   How much did I get back, you ask?  $10.00    I keep going there and I keep being surprised and disappointed.  Still, I did pick up a few good deals and it only ended up costing me $6.00 after the money back.

Let’s see, what else did I do today?

Oh yeah, almost forgot.  I went to a nudist resort.

…

Yep. I did it.  I had called ahead and made arrangements to visit today and made the trip with my trusty google map.   I got buzzed in at the gate and went up to the front office.  The woman behind the counter entered me into their system, gave me a wrist band – and didn’t charge me the visitor’s fee because it was my first time.

I went back to my car to drop off my things.  There was a moment, standing there at my trunk when I hesitated.  Then I look over to the left and saw a guy casually getting undressed at his car.  I mentally shrugged, dropped my pants, and went to go find the pool.  The resort was really nice, lots of camping, a clubhouse, volleyball court, and a really nice pool.  I laid out in the sun for a bit, swam a little, and did a little reading.    After a bit, I decided to check out the hiking trail.  I had a map from the front office, but it wasn’t that clear – took me a bit to even find where the trail started.  I hiked for a bit, almost fell in the creek, and fought off bugs while trying to keep an eye out for “leaves of three”.   (shudder)

I gave up on the trail in short order and headed back the way I came.  I got some more sun, swam a bit, and then decided to call it a day – I didn’t stay for the potluck dinner.

And it was… pleasant.   Everyone was friendly and polite.  And after getting over my few moments of “oh my gosh everyone is naked” – I just enjoyed the day.

It was an interesting cross section of people.  From kids to seniors, from fit to obese – everyone was on equal (bare) footing.  Pretty nice -and I think I’ll try to go back before the weather turns cold.

The only downside?  Sunburn.  I’m hurting now – and burned in places I’ve never been burned before.  And no, not there.   It’s my upper things – not even a cold bath and aloe has helped much.  Not looking forward to long pants on Monday.  I’m burned elsewhere – sholders mostly – but they don’t hurt like my thighs.  Lesson learned.

So, what did you do this weekend?

I really don’t understand rap music.  I mean, I really don’t understand what they are saying.  The other day a car drove past me while I was walking on campus and I swear the refrain of the…. ummm…. song(?) was:

“Drug money… Peace Corps
Drug money…Peace Corps”

That can’t be right, can it?  Although, that would make an for an interesting social commentary.

The drive into work each day has a spot where the road splits.  To the left, you will eventually end up at my office.  To the right, and you will end up someplace else.

It was raining pretty good this morning as I got into the proper lane.  There was a car ahead of me in the right lane with their right turn signal on.  Just slightly past the point where it was too late to make any kind of new decisions, the car suddenly slammed on their brakes AND pulled over into the left lane – directly in front of me.

Did I mention that it was raining?  I think I did.  I don’t believe that I mentioned that the roads were, consequently, somewhat slick.   I slammed on my own brakes, laid on the horn, and barely kept my car under control.  I didn’t hit the car in front of me, but it was a near thing.

As we went forward on the ramp the car in front of me – we shall now refer to them as “The Idiot”  – would alternately speed up and then hit the brakes again.   The conclusion of the ramp is a merge  into traffic and the “hitting the brakes randomly” is not conducive to that.   I finally got past the idiot and made my way safely to work.

Yesterday, I did the “driving Miss Daisy” thing for my FRM’s grandmother.  We went to Marc’s, Longhorn to pick up dinner, then to a tobacco shop for her scratch off lottery ticket.  They could have called ahead for Longhorn while they were shopping at Marc’s – and picked up the scratch off lottery tickets there as well – but I think I can let a little inefficiency slide while doing a good deed.  I know they appreciated it.

Then it was another trip to the increasingly depressing Border’s with their increasingly strident going out of business signs.  I picked up a few books and grabbed some Chipotle on my way home.

Latest woodworking project done – finally finished my headboard.

Back in the day, when I first bought my queen-sized bed, I didn’t buy a headboard.  I figured I could just make one and I did – but I didn’t have a router.  So the edges were rough and stayed rough for a long time.  I got a Dremel Trio as a present and then had to go out and buy a router bit.  I unfastened the headboard from the frame, took it out to the garage and routed the hell out of it.   A few coats of stain later and it was back up to my room and back on the frame.  I’m pleased with the way it turned out – the rest of the photos can be found here on my site.

I took myself for a walk today – bought a tripod for my camera at Walmart, then headed over to Lowe’s for a dowel rod.  While I was in line at Lowe’s I picked up a bottle of tea as well for the walk back.  That was all I had when I stepped up to the counter – a dowel rod (for making vampire stakes, naturally) and bottle of green tea.  The cashier rang up the two items, I gave her the money and she asked for my phone number for returns.

Really?

I told her “No thanks.  This is a wooden stick and I’m pretty sure it’s what I need”

Now, I understand she “has to say that” – as a benefit to the consumer if they need to make a return and have lost their receipt and to the company for their data mining and targeted advertising.

But, a little common sense would have been appropriate here.

I’m not a terribly social person, but yesterday was a banner day.  After work, I headed over to my FRM’s mom’s apartment to take her, her mom, and her niece (who’s visiting to help out) to run some errands.  None of them are driving at the moment and needed a driver.   So, we went to Marc’s, Giant Eagle, Sears, and the drug store.  Pretty much drove all over Cuyahoga Falls.

FRM’s mom is carting around an oxygen tank, much to her chagrin.  We talked for a bit while the other two were in stores and she’s frustrated by not being able to drive.

After I dropped them back off at their apartment, I made a quick stop at Staples for some folding paper and a sweet pen – then over to McDonald’s for nuggets and fries.  Then back to Akron and the office parking lot.   I left my car there and walked down to the Aeros stadium where I was going to be meeting some friends for a game.  They were running a bit late and while I was waiting at the front gate, some guy with a bible and a megaphone took up station on the other side of the street and started shouting at us that we were sinners and that the fires of hell were very real.

There was a captive audience there as people stood in line so I guess it made sense – though I think the worst sin in the area was the prices for food (Zing!  Thank you, I’m here all week!)

It started to get on my nerves after a bit.  I’m a big proponent of freedom of religion and he was fully in within his rights – but… well, it wasn’t welcome.  Just because a person can do a thing doesn’t mean that they always should.    A few people heckled him and I considered quietly and calmly walking over and politely asking him to stop – but then my friends arrived and we left him behind as we went through the gate.

The game itself was a little boring, but the company was great.  I met some new people and we shared some laughs.  I stayed for the whole game – though it really dragged the last couple of innings.   When the game was over and we started to head out, we were blocked by the after game event.

Yep – midget wrestling.

Sigh.

It’s 2011.  Are we really still seeing short people throw each other around as entertainment?  Disappointing.   We managed to find an exit and get out before things kicked off.   I walked back to my car and saw a shirtless guy taking a “shower” in the sprinklers near the parking lot.    I just mentally shrugged and went on my way.

So, a busy day for me.  I’m planning on a pretty quiet weekend – maybe finish up a couple of woodworking projects.  Just gotta get through the day…

On Friday, I got a call at work from my FRM’s mom – she’s still recovering at home from open heart surgery.  Since she can’t drive for a while, she asked if I could stop over and take her mom grocery shopping.  I went over on Saturday morning, checked out the stitches on the worst patient in the world, then took her mom on the errands.

I stopped at the mall for a couple things, got some lunch and headed home.  I hadn’t been home long when my co-worker called me.  He was just getting back in town and invited me to lunch.  Since I had already eaten, I skipped right ahead to dessert and had some flan at the Mexican restaurant.  His wife and baby girl were there and we had some fun with the little one – I even shared a bite of my flan.

When I got home, I tried to get started using my new dremel trio for some routing on a headboard I made years ago but never really finished.  Except that it didn’t come with a router bit.  So, back in the car again (wasn’t I going to avoid that this weekend?) and over to Lowe’s.  The bit – a tiny piece of specialized metal – was $14.00.  Insert head shaking here.  Took a little while to figure out how to set the depth, but once it was going – it went quickly.

I got the area cleaned up and planning on staining it today (though its pretty humid out there now).   I was working on fixing some dinner for myself when my sister called.  My brother-in-law was in a 4 wheeler accident.  He’s okay, but bruised up pretty bad.  She was on her way to pick up some medicine for him and wanted me to look up a symptom he had.  I couldn’t find any connection to the incident and the symptom on line but suggested she keep an eye on it.   We chatted for bit before she had to go.

So, I did a little wood routing this weekend and routed myself around Akron as well.

I’ve done a lot of traveling recently – far more than I usually do.   It started last Thursday when I got the news that my aunt had passed away.  I was pretty much worthless at work and decided to head to my parent’s house early.

3 hours – work to my parent’s house

The next day, Friday, we drove to central Illinois.

7 hours – parent’s house to illinois

We stayed at a hotel and did some driving around that evening visiting family.

On Saturday, we went to the wedding, then the reception that evening.

Rather than wait in Illinois for the visitation and funeral, we headed back to Ohio on

Sunday.

7 hours – Illinois to Parent’s house.

I decided to stay at their place and we did some yard work on Monday – they took the day off as well.

On Tuesday, we headed back to Illinois went right to the visitation – stopping only long enough to change clothes.

7 hours – parent’s house to Illinois

We stayed the night at my mom’s sister’s house, then went to the funeral on Wednesday morning.  From there, back in the car and back to ohio.

7 hours – Illinois to parent’s house.

It was 9:30 at night before we got in and I decided to travel back to Akron the next morning.

I got up at 4:00 am and drove back to Akron and straight to work, then worked a full day.

3 hours – parent’s house to Akron.

I’m pretty well beat and I can’t imagine that my parents are going back again on Saturday for another wedding reception and then to Pennsylvaina on Monday for a week of camping.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 34+ hours in a car in a weeks time for me.  And that doesn’t include the travel around Illinois to visit family.

I think I’ll stay home this weekend.

Last Thursday morning, I got a email at work from my dad.  My aunt had passed away the night before.  It was quiet and peaceful, but that doesn’t make it easier on us.  We were set to travel to Illinois last weekend for her son’s wedding and it looked like we would be visiting for both joyous and sorrowful occasions.

The visitation was rough on her family and they all got tired in the receiving line.  We said our good-byes and waited until it was done.

I had made some origami flowers and gave them to her family before the visitation.  It was a Catholic mass and the church was full of her friends and family.  I broke down a few times and so did my sister and my mom – though my dad was strangely stoic.  I doubt I could have held up so well – and maybe I wouldn’t have wanted to.

After the funeral we joined the procession of nearly 40 cars to go to the cemetery.  My cousins were overwhelmed and I think they just went on auto-pilot.  I saw some relatives I haven’t seen in a while and we all told stories and tried to remember happier times.

I told someone that it was like some of the light had left the world with her passing – but maybe there was some new light in my aunt’s grandchildren and the nieces and nephews running around.

Time keeps on passing and I’m hoping that it helps heal the wounds that my aunt’s family are suffering through.