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The neighbors had us over for a cook-out this past Saturday.  The food was good and the company was fun.   We played some Bocce and a little badminton – and I helped chase some fireflies with their granddaughter.

On Sunday, I took myself for a couple of walks and covered maybe 5 miles or so.  Had Chipotle for dinner – which was awesome as usual.  Went to see the fireworks show in the area – but we were in a bad spot and only saw the top half of the show.  The trees were in the way.

Pretty quiet weekend – which is good, but I think I need to add a bit more adventure to my weekends.

My room-mate went in for surgery this morning to get a hernia repaired.  His “innie” belly button had turned into an “outie” and he was hurting pretty bad.  The surgery went quickly and the surgeon came out and updated me – the hernia was only 2 mm.  The real problem was lot of fluid build up.    He’s doing better  and resting at home now.

The real fun – for me at least – came when I went to get his prescription filled.   I went to the pharmacy and dropped off the scrip.  They realized that the scrip didn’t have a date on it.  So they called the hospital – and found out they were all gone for lunch.  At the same time.

So, the assistant offered to call when they got back  – I went to lunch myself.  I went back over 15 minutes after the appointed time – and they hadn’t called yet.  The assistant called and then found that the insurance wouldn’t cover it – and/or it had already been filled.  Which it wasn’t.  So, she then had to call the insurance company and about 20 minutes later she finally got it sorted.

Back to work early tomorrow morning – got a busy day of work before the weekend.

On Monday, my co-workers wife stopped by with their baby for lunch.   We ate outside at one of the picnic tables and their little one was having a great day.  She ate some puffs, showed off her 4 teeth with lots of smiles, and rough-housed with her daddy.  We had to go back to work far too soon, but it was a nice visit.

I got a surprise later in the day when my sister called and said they would be in town on their way back from a camping trip.  I left work a little early and they spent a little time at my apartment before they had to get back on the road.  My niece is in full explorer mode and once she got over a little shyness, she was pushing a toy car around and gathering coasters.  She’s got squeekers in her shoes  – it made the running around extra adorable.   Not that I’m biased or anything.  It was good seeing my sister and brother-in-law too and I wished they could have stayed longer or had dinner with my room-mate and I – but they still had a 3 hour drive to go.

So, it was a good day for babies.  I needed it too – work has been a steady stream of disasters since I got back.  I’m hoping our meeting gets canceled today so I can get a little further along in my futile attempt to get caught up.s

Just got back yesterday from a vacation with my room-mate and his family.  We’ve gone for the past few years to the same spot – where we stay at the same place, eat at the same restaurants on the same days of the week and sit in the same spot on the same stretch of beach.  It is not, by any means, exciting.   I didn’t even get to accomplish my primary goal – to stay away from computers – since my room-mate brought his laptop and needed to check his email (and needed tech support).

So, I did a lot of sitting on the beach and swimming in the ocean.  Based on the time I swan and the distance I can travel in the pool in that amount of time, I covered 16.25 miles in the ocean while I was gone.   Not too shabby – though after awhile even swimming got boring.

A couple of notable events:

1. I priced full-sized skateboards at a surf and skate shop – $180.00  – and I did not make a purchase.

2. Only got a minor sunburn and that was on the last day.

3. Did most of the driving – a total of about 20 hours there and back.

4. Didn’t do any night-time streaking, but did spend about an hour of my daytime swim without my trunks.  (I was very far out in the ocean and no one saw me).

5. My room-mate’s nephew – who I normally get along with very well – got carried away in the pool and bit me on the calf.   He apoligized – not very sincerely – and then wrote me a note that I’m considering scanning and uploading for posterity.

So, it was nice to get away from the office for a bit, but I can’t say that I really enjoyed my vacation.   Which is a bummer.    There were some laughs to be sure and some of the food was good – but there was way too much just sitting for my taste.  Should be interesting when I head back to my “standing desk” tomorrow for an 8 hour day of saving the world.   I’ve already starting working through my emails – guess I should work on those a bit more this evening.

A transcript of a conversation at the apartment this afternoon after I walked into the living room and found my room-mate watching The Bridges of Madison County.

Me, incredulous: “No. F*cking. Way.”

My Room-mate, defensive: “It’s a good movie,”

Me: “My grandmother and I watched that in the theatre and even she thought it was boring,”

(It should be noted that my grandmother was a huge Anne Murray Fan.  As is my room-mate.)

Room-mate: “You can read the book in 45 minutes,”

Me: “That’s not a selling point!” (pause) “I’m going for a walk before I go completely insane,”

I was driven from my house by the stench of that movie.  It was still on when I got back – I hid in the office and played video games until the credits rolled.

(shudder)

I went Dick’s Sporting Goods yesterday – my goal was a shorter pair of swim fins (in my size) and a skateboard.   I saw some pics of a friend on Facebook who’s about my age and was riding a skateboard.  It looked like fun and I’ve decided to try it out.   I found the fins, found a board, and headed for the checkout.

There was only one cashier on duty and she immediately asked me if this was credit or debit – implying that she wouldn’t be able to help me if (heaven forbid) I was paying cash.  I told her debit and she asked if I had a scorecard.  I told her I didn’t and she offered to sign me up.  I politely told her no thank you.

She finally looked at what I was purchasing and said that it was going to be a lot and she could go ahead and sign me up for a scorecard – and that it would only take 30 seconds.  I politely declined again and said I already have too many of those things.

She took this to mean that  – somehow – I had magically acquired not just one but multiple scorecards in the picoseconds after my declining for a second time.   “So you have a scorecard?” she asked and I replied, “No, I meant that I have too many reward cards to keep track of.”

She – and swear this is how she acted  – sullenly rang up my purchases and told me the total.  As though I had ruined not just her day but perhaps her entire life by not signing up for a scorecard.  I paid with my debit card and left the store wondering if she was going to be ritually killed for letting a customer pass her by without signing up for their rewards card.

I would not lose sleep if that did indeed happen.

I have yet to ride the skateboard and I’ll try the swim fins tomorrow in the pool.

I’ve decided to finally make the jump and get my own domain.  Welcome to my new blog under   thunderofwade.com

Still got a lot of work to do on the site – it’s due for an overhaul – but it’s nice to have a new space.   I’ll eventually shut down my gozips and blogger accounts, please update your bookmarks.

So, I’m just past the midway point of week 3 of my poison sumac experience. I’m doing much better, but it’s still not quite gone yet. Still doing the long-sleeve shirts and calimine lotion – with a dubious effectiveness. Though there have been a few times where I’ve stopped and thought “hey, it doesn’t itch” – which of course makes it instantly itch again.

The weekend before last, I decided to do a little yardwork. I don’t do much since I rent and the landlord does the mowing – but a storm had knocked down some trees and branches into the yard. And instead of cleaning them up, they just mowed around them.

Yesterday, at the pool, I was doing my laps as usual and noticed that the guy in the lane next to me was a novice swimmer. Well, more novice than I am, as far as that goes. He also didn’t have goggles and the pool is usually super-chlorinated.