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Yesterday, while on my way back to work from lunch, I was crossing a busy street. The lights are set to stop all traffic and let pedestrians cross all ways – including diagonally. Complicating matters was a truck parked in the road and a worker at a manhole with cones and a gate set up. This meant visibility wasn’t 100% and even with a walk signal, I was still careful as I stepped out into the road.

It was good that I did.

A woman in a car went right on through the light and realized what she had done when she already 1/2 through the intersection. I stopped to let her go and we made eye contact as raised her hand to her mouth, eyes wide in shock – then mouthed “I’m sorry” as she then went on past me. I then continued across the street.

Apparently, though, sorry didn’t quite cut it. Not only had she not noticed the red light, she also didn’t notice the police car that was parked at the truck near the road work. He noticed her, though, and quickly put on his siren and pulled out to go after her.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this. If I had been faster or paying less attention, I might have gotten hit. But, the police car was where it was to protect the worker – who was then left “unguarded”. So, kinda odd all the way around.
Today, I went to BK for lunch and while I was in line deciding what to eat, a guy came into the seating area. He didn’t approach the counter, instead, he yelled at a picture on the wall and smacked it with his glove before sitting down. I ordered my food, paid for it, and waited at the counter. The guy talked to himself for a moment before he went quiet. I got my food and went to leave when he called out to me. I acknowledged him and he asked me a question – but mumbled as he did so. I asked him to repeat it as I got closer and he repeated it more quietly and less clearly. I shook my head and asked again and he was even less clear. I finally figured that he was asking/demanding that I buy him some lunch.

While I like to help people, I also have a rule. It’s, in fact, my primary rule. “Don’t f*@# with crazy people” I’m not trained for it and I’m not good at it. And it sort of over-rode my general good nature.

I declined, politely, and headed on my way. Not really proud of my actions, but that’s the way it went. I should have set my impulse to bolt aside and given him $5 for lunch. I will try to do better next time.

From there I headed to my neighbor’s house to let out his dogs. The snow plows has been through and my low-to-the-ground car got stuck as I tried to pull into the driveway. I took my lunch in, let the dogs out, and ate while I tried to figure out what to do. I texted my boss to let him know what was up, then let dogs back in and bundled back up. I tried everything I knew of – which is not, admittedly, much. I’ve never been stuck before. I was able to rock it a bit just by pushing on the front of the car while it was in neutral, but just didn’t have enough mass behind me to back it up. I tried forward and reverse and just ended up packing more snow under the car. I grabbed my ice scraper and worked at digging out from under the car when a guy in a truck stopped and offered to help. We worked at for a bit and he tried to push it while I had it in reverse. Another guy in a truck pulled up and said he had a tow rope. We got that hooked up and in moments, my car was free. I thanked them both as they headed out to where ever they had been off to when the stopped to help me.

Back to work only a few minutes late and grateful to the strangers that helped.

So, nearly hit by a car, weirded out at Burger King, and had my stuck car rescued.

Last Sunday, while I was at a birthday party, I got the most awesome text message. The University was going to be closed for the next two days and I wouldn’t have to go into work. I was so excited that I went around showing everyone the text.

I ended up doing a little work anyway from home just to try and get ahead – but it was so nice to go at my own pace and not feel so rushed.

We paid for those days off by having a crazy busy rest of the week. Exhausting. My weekend was pretty busy too – I helped one of my friends get ready for some home improvement projects. My part was essentially helping move furniture around, but it was still a lot of work.

And then back to work this week for another crazy busy time. Yesterday, before we left, the rumor going around was that we would be closed today. I was really looking forward to a break – even though I would most likely have worked from home a bit anyway.

Last evening, went out to dinner with some friends. The cuisine was Indian and though I felt pretty safe with my meal – they tricked me. The wrap description didn’t list all the ingredient and though I avoid the tomatoes, I still got stuck with some peppers. At least, I think they were peppers. They kinda looked like imitation crab sticks – and they DID NOT taste like crab. I had a few accidental bites and burped pepper (i think)  most of the evening, but the company was fun and the server was… interesting. Interesting in that she was waaaay too excited about the hummus.

I woke up this morning and powered up my phone – and waited for the text. And… Awesome! I had a text from work. Except… we were open. Morning classes were canceled, but employees were directed to report to work at their regular times. I grumbled, got dressed, almost fell in the driveway and drove my car to work – sliding all the way.

Not a nice way to start the day.

I was swamped all day and in a bad mood. It got to the point where I found myself growling out loud. I stopped what I was doing and went outside without my coat to literally cool down. It didn’t help – I got bored before I really cooled down.

The day finally ended and I hit the pool.

And that eventually did the trick. Nothing like powering through the water with only the number of laps in my head. I got home, chilled out with the cat for a few, and played a video game – right up until the power went out. It was only out long enough to piss off my computer and make me reset all my clocks, but enough to get me to the kitchen for dinner.

I did a little reading and I’m really just trying to settle down.

If I dream about work, I’m writing it down on my time sheet.

So, I was in Walmart recently and had found a couple of things I wanted to buy. Not “needed to buy”, but “wanted” – an important distinction.

I went up to the checkout and stood in line. And waited. And waited. And, for a change of pace, waited some more. The cashier was going through a box and explaining to the person in line that the price for the whole box of items was equal to the amount of items in the box times the individual price of the item. Well, something less coherent than that. The person in line wasn’t getting it and none of us were going anywhere.

I jumped lines – something I don’t normally do since the odds are about the same when you look at the speed of the lines. It didn’t help, the next lane was just as bad. I tried one more, then stopped, set down my items in a cart of returns, and walked out.

It was the misery of the place that got to me. Nobody enjoyed being there – not the clerks, not the customers, and certainly not me. Convenient? Maybe. But at what cost? I’m debating on just being done with walmart – the world is miserable enough without me going there and adding to it.

In the annoyance catagory – rap music mixed in with pop and done for the sake of getting people who like rap music to listen to pop. Not in this group are B.O.B (with anyone), Chiddy Bang (with Olly Murs) and Will.I.Am (with Black Eyed Peas – also, he gets points for a super cool name). In this group, Lady Gaga and the idiots who ruined track five on ArtPop. Now, before you get all up in my grill, Lady Gaga is creative and weird and I respect that. For some reason, she decided to add a couple of guys to rap on one of her songs and it, frankly, ruins the middle of the CD. FYI to Lady Gaga: Do what you do and do it well – you are not a rapper and we don’t need you to be. Fortunately, I’m pretty fast with the “skip” on the CD player.

I listened to the album a few time last night while working on a project. I made some magic wands. Because… well… I saw a cool technique on the internet and wanted to try it out. And… well… I’m also creative and weird. Still got a ways to go, but they already look fun. And they’ll be a good addition to my armory.

And yes, I have an armory.

Finally, on the drive home from work, I was listening to one of the more upbeat Fiona Apple songs. Yes, she has few of them. I was stopped at a light and saw one of those “dancing” fan-powered tube figures in front of a building. For just a moment, they synced up and the figure was dancing to Fiona Apple. Brought a smile to my face.

I recently had a birthday and turned 41. It didn’t phase me much – I’m a firm believer that a chronological age is the least interesting part of a person… and the least relevant. Still, 41 is nothing to shake a stick at and it was nice for my family to come for a visit. We went out to dinner, painted some pottery, and played games.

My nieces were pretty cool and they enjoyed my #1 Thunder(cat). Though, the younger kept referring to him as “puppy”. My brother-in-law and I got scratched, but we deserved it and there were no hard feelings.

This past week, one of my nieces turned 4. There was cake and presents and a very happy birthday girl dressed as Strawberry Shortcake. It was a nice visit, but then there was a drive home.

It’s usually about 3 hours from my sister’s house – but this time it was nearly 5 hours. There was massive snow, terrible road conditions, and some of the very worst driver’s the state of Ohio has produced. Home safe and sound, but I was wiped out and my hand hurt from clenching the wheel.

In other news, I’m signed up for the polar bear jump again this year and I’m guessing the water temp will be somewhere around -100 degrees. That’s the downside of having done this before – I know what to expect. Still, looking forward to it – should be quite an adventure. And I might have recruited one of my friends to go along and jump too.

It feels like it’s been 3 months since I first got this cold and it’s taken a turn for the annoying. Now I’ve got a sore throat and some almost golden mucus. So, I’ve got that going for me. I think I need to finally go to the doctor – maybe sometime this week.

I finished mile 215 in the pool before the break. This past week I finally got back in the water and did some laps. I didn’t break any records, but my form was excellent and I’m glad I got started again.

So, that’s the numbers for now.

This morning, I headed back to the dentist to get one of my wisdom teeth removed. I was pretty apprehensive about the whole thing and the consent form I had to sign – full of… well.. DOOOOM! – didn’t help matters. I tried to stay calm and folded some paper while I waiting.

The dentist came in shortly thereafter and used a needle the size of… well, I don’t really know, I had my eyes closed. It hurt like crazy.

When he was done with the shots he asked if I was nervous. I told him I was and he said, “Me too”

I guess that was supposed to make me feel better.

Once I was numb, he came back in and pulled the tooth. Took maybe a minute or so and then it was done.  A little anti-climactic They packed the area with gauze and sent me on my way.

I got home okay and took some ibuprofen – I’m still bleeding a bit and it hurts, but not like I thought it would.

I played some video games for a bit and now I’m thinking about taking a nap. Which is odd in and of itself – not much of a napper.

So, I’m officially 50% less wise than I was this morning. Later today I’m going to run with scissors, pick a fight with my cat, and email my passwords to everyone I know.

We starting hearing rumors at work yesterday around 1 that we were going to be closing early and before too long got the confirmation that 2:00 was the official closing time.

I headed out at 2 in my front wheel drive car through the unplowed streets, while jamming to the best of Marilyn Manson. Because Akron!

This morning, as usual, my phone was one of the last things I grab on my way out the door. I had powered it up, put on my coat, and was outside and locking the door when it chimed.

The university was closed.

For a moment, I stood there, confused. Closed? Really? Two days in a row? It didn’t even seem that bad out. And for a moment, I considered going in anyway. I was already dressed and out the door – ready to start the day.

Instead, because I’m not an idiot, I unlocked the door and went back inside. I fixed some tea and tried to explain why I was still there to a very confused Thunder(cat) – but he didn’t get it. Or, I’m guessing, care.

So, another day of computer games and hot tea. I’ll log in and check my email at some point, but it should be a quiet day.

I’ve had quite a bit of time off for the winter break and have been very unproductive. I had vague plans of doing work around the house and some somewhat concrete plans to work on my website. I did a little on the site – mostly learning some new code – but even that didn’t really take off.

Spent some time on the road visiting my family for Christmas. It was good to see everyone – and my nieces are growing like crazy. I got some cool gifts and – more importantly – gave some pretty cool gifts too. This year, I made ornaments, wreaths, and earrings. Lots of work, but I think everyone enjoyed them. I also made some Buddhist prayer beads – 108 of them – out of wood beads covered in polymer clay. Huge project, but I think it turned out well.

I spent new year’s with friends, but had to cut thing short. The cold that has been hanging on for basically forever really got me down last night. Haven’t really done much this break except play video games and drink tea – which is not a terrible way to spend time off.

It hasn’t been all fun, though. I’ve been keeping up with the email sent into the general webmaster account for UA. Even though the campus is closed, it’s still important to make some kind of contact with people – though I usually can’t do much other than route the message.

Finally, I’m starting off 2014 by getting a tooth pulled. A recent trip to the dentist shows that one of my wisdom teeth has a cavity and needs to be removed. So, that’s happening this Saturday morning. I was told to eat beforehand since I won’t be able to eat for a while after that. They were a little… brusque about it – kind of a big deal for me since it’s the first tooth I’ve had pulled. No real idea what to expect.

So, one more day of relaxing and then it’s back to work tomorrow.

Happy New Year

I did the bulk of my Christmas shopping online, but there were a few things I wanted to get that I went to the stores for. Armed with a list, I braved the shopping plaza – and I shopped. It occurred to me, as I battled the crowds and lines, WWKD?

What Would Ke$ha Do?

Well, if her songs are any indication, she would steel a bottle of wine, drink most and spill the rest in the toy aisle, and would grope anyone and everyone – including the clerk – in the checkout. And then rip the pages out of a magazine and throw up in a shopping cart.

As fun as that sounds, I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I stuck to my list and escaped with only light emotional scarring. I think I’m pretty much done unless I’m out and something catches my eye.

I’m at work today – feeling sick and deeply tired. I’d rather be at home playing video games with my cat. (he cheats) But, there’s too much to be done and big projects that need my attention. I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of folks on the biggest project, but I’ve enough to keep me busy in the meantime.

I’m also going through Halls like they are going out of style to try and keep the cough at bay. I suspect that the entire world now tastes of strawberry menthol. And, yes, it’s as bad as you would expect.

Finally, the steam heat is still out on one part of campus. This is affecting the pool area – the hallway and locker room are like a sauna and the pool deck is chilly. And the pool is bitterly cold. Not as cold as a frozen over lake, but pretty cold when you’ve got a bunch of laps to do. I think it makes me faster, but it also wears me out. I’m not letting my cold (or the cold)  get in the way of my swimming, but I think I’m going to have to set myself on fire at some point to finally feel warm.  And winter is still just getting started.

Thanksgiving last week included a trip to a historic mill where they current owners decorate the mill and area around it. They had a miniature Christmas village set up with animations and lights. A few workers were moving among the small buildings and I thought they should have been dressed as Godzilla.

They also had a Santa Claus museum set up – and I gotta tell you, it creeped me out. The displays were in bad shape for the most part and the animated Santas were disturbing. Worst was a rubber Santa mask – being worn by another Santa. Serial killer much?

The main attraction was the outdoor light show. The crowd was noisy, the flashbulbs from selfies blinding, and strollers wielded as bulky weapons.

But, then the show started with a collective gasp and everyone was still as the lights and music began. There was another gasp as the show ended and the 3.7 million lights came on.

It only lasted a moment and then it was back to “humans in a crowd” aka “jerks”, but for that moment…

In other news…I’ve been doing a lot of folding this past week on a number of origami projects. One of these involves some very tiny modules and a very precise count. And one was missing. I may have miscounted – or a chops-licking Thunder(cat) may have been involved.

Finally… I’m on day three of a headache. It’s not a migraine, but it’s annoying enough to notice pretty much all the time. I’ve taken some Advil which banishes it for a while, but I think I’m just tired and need a break. I did a lot driving for Thanksgiving and didn’t get a lot of rest.

So, last Saturday was a trip to IKEA, but before we could get there, we had to pay some tolls. It cost $7.75 to get across the various toll roads from here to IKEA – and $5.25 was apparently just to get in the state. Really, Pennsylvania? Is that how you want to roll? Also, your roads are not that great. Really was expecting a car wash and maybe a hot chocolate chip cookie for all that, but we got nothing.

IKEA, though, was worth the trip. Really fun and interesting store with a neat design and cool vibe. And some of the happiest food service workers I’ve ever seen in the cafeteria – where, of course, I got some Swedish meatballs for lunch. They were excellent, but they also “repeated” on me later in the day. Best part? I managed to resist the impulse buys and got out of there having spent only $30.00 Which is kind of amazing.

Sunday was a birthday party and the birthday girl got an easy bake oven. Which is really not well named – there were 5 adults working on that with her (including me) and we still struggled. The small portions of the finished product were delicious – but amazingly messy. I helped with the wrap up of the project and narrowly avoided several chocolate disasters.

Her little brother is a minecraft fanatic and since I’m the only one around that speaks minecraft fluently, he drew some pictures for me. The coolest ones I scanned and uploaded – all of them are now on my fridge. Pretty impressive – especially since he’s only in kindergarten.

This week has been more swimming in a very crowded pool. On Tuesday, I got to the pool and found only one lane that only had one person in it – the rest were full. I tried to get the guy’s attention – he was doing the backstroke – but he wouldn’t acknowledge me. It finally looked like he saw me and moved over to one side so I got in.

Mistake. He hadn’t seen me, refused to see me, and was all over the lane. I dodged him for three laps – then got out, disgusted. By that point, another lane on the other side of the pool opened up so I went there. After swimming a bit, the lifeguard asked me to move back since they were short on people. I did and luckily got a lane next to Captain Un-Observant. I always pay attention – especially so when the pool is busy – and I always make it a point to share. It wasn’t a great swim, but I got the laps done and that’s all that matters.

Tonight has been a pretty productive evening. Took out the trash, cleaned out the recycle bin and litter box, worked on a christmas project, replaced the liscense plates on my car, had some dinner, and… well… updated my blog. Got a little more to do around the house, then an early bedtime for me.

Wait… where’s my cat?

THUNDER(cat), HOOOOOOO!

It always works…  🙂