Month: July 2005

Work on Friday was too busy for me to make an entry in teh blog, so, better late than never.

Over the course of the vacation week we:

1. Fought with the rain – getting things set up on the beach and retreating when the clouds took over.

2. Walked on the pier and the beach – and bravely laughed at talk of sharks from the safety of dry land.

3. Went out to eat several times – including a trip to the Hot Fish Club where I, ironically, got some fish that was mostly raw (kinda like sushi)

4. Did some touristy shopping and a very small degree of site-seeing.

And then we said our good-byes to the beach and ocean and headed back. We left very early on Saturday morning – and dealt with the overheating again, though it wasn’t as bad since the position of the sun made it less intense.

Then finally home to unpack and relax before going back to work.

The massive sunburn put a damper on the trip and the weather could have been better – but as I said all along, “No email, no phone, no voicemail, no work – still a good vacation”

I learned several valuable lessons and had quite a bit fo fun anyway – so, it all balances out to a good vacation.

Next time… back to the usual entries of funky dreams and random rants.

Later.

So, Tuesday night – instead of going out with my friend for his birthday – I went to the Doctor’s Care office in Surfside. I folded paper like a madman to keep from scratching and made a couple of complex models while waiting to be called. I gave them away to a kid in the waiting room. The first nurse got my weight and other vitals, then the doctor came and was somewhat amazed at the degree of sunburn. He wrote a prescritption for a painkiller (though it was itching more than hurting), and sent in nurse #2 to slather on about a pound of heavy silver-something cream. I kept folding and the cream helped – though she felt bad when she had to add more to a sensitive area of my back ’cause I would gasp. She got some origami when she was done too. Heck, I gotta give the stuff away or I’d be buried in it.

They put a hospital gown on me – backwards, so it was like a vest – then sent me on my way. We got the perscriptions filled – then headed back to the condo for cake. I took off the “vest” and kept threatening to hug everyone.

The next couple of days were a bit of a blur – and though I kept seeping with the blisters, I was getting steadly better. Spent a little time on the beach – fulled dressed under an umbrella – and in the pool, which really seemed to help. Though, I felt a little bad about “shedding” flakes of skin into the pool. It was a little gross, but I did try to stay away from everyone else in the pool.

Next time: wrapping up the week and heading home.

Now, back to work…

Sunday had some great weather – lots of sun and blue skies. I was on the beach building sandcastles or swimming in the ocean for most of the day. I was starting to get warm and knew I was sunburned, but didn’t realize how sunburned until later.

We went out for dinner that evening and I got the shivers – which I thought was just a reaction to the really cold resturant. I only ate about half my dinner and took the rest back to the condo. That night, in an increasing amount of pain from the sunburn and ensuing blisters – I lost my dinner in a fairly spectacular fashion. And I had a sore throat the rest of the week as a result.

Monday was spent indoors, fully dressed, and watching TV. Still cold, but feeling ever so slightly better to be out of the harsh sun.

Tuesday – and the blisters are taking on a life of their own. But only on my back. My front is a bit sunburned as well, but not as bad. So, I put on some aloe on my chest to help forestall any problems. Turns out – big problem. I had a terrible reaction to the aloe and started itching like crazy. And when I say crazy – I mean full-blown-put-me-in-the-psych-ward kinda crazy.

Part of me wanted to scratch. Part of me knew better. My compromise was to rub the affected area – which still wasn’t good, but was better than humping a tree.

Got the aloe washed off and tried a couple more anti-histmine flavored sprays – and it kept getting worse. I was in full freak-out mode. So, armed with a stack of paper to keep my hands occupied I was taken to the stat care down the street.

Next time: Lots of cream and a spiffy new vest.

It’s been a bit since I’ve blogged – I’ve been out of town on vacation. I’m back to work now and trying to get caught up, so I’m going to break down my vacation report into several days.

We headed out the Friday before last – driving south toward Myrtle Beach. The car was having some overheating issues, so for a good part of the trip we drove with windows down and heat turned on. I don’t really mind the heat so I wasn’t too bothered by it, but the hot air did tend to dry my contacts out.

Over the course of the drive we passed though:

Virginia’s Technology Corridor – which appeared to be mostly trees.

Bland, NC – where we stopped to have to some white rice, plain backed potatoes, dry toast and water without ice. Just kidding – we didn’t stop there.

Polymer Alliance Zone (WV). Not sure what that means, but I felt good about it since I work in Akron – Aka Polymer City.

We arrived at our waypoint for the trip a few hours later and stopped for the night. We were awakened at 12:30 that night with a loud pounding on the door, but when we finally answered it, no one was there. We’re still puzzled about that one.

It was raining when we got to the condo the next day and it would rain on and off for much of the week. Saturday was for grocery shopping and settling in.

Sunday, the weather broke and we headed for the beach. I dutifully put on sun block, but apparently the ocean washed it off much sooner than I anticipated. The results of this situation were soon to become painfully obvious.

Next time – the beginning of the blisters.

Back to work…