Category: Uncategorized Page 88 of 157

I’m in a car, therefore, I am tired

On March 15, 2010

On Friday morning, I headed into work at my normal time. I dealt with a pile of virtual crap and then at noon, I headed out and headed south. The plan was to meet up with my sister at her house, then head west when my brother-in-law got home. I got to her house 3 hours later and we headed out not long after that. Their new baby did pretty good on the trip and my brother-in-law did all the driving. 6 plus hours later, we arrived at my cousin’s house. She got married not that long ago and her new house is amazing. It’s really well decorated – except for one room where the walls are painted orange and blue. It’s… intense. That was the room I slept in on the futon, but I was too tired to really notice.

I woke up early on Saturday and sat and read until the rest of the house woke up. The girls headed out to a baby shower and the guys were put in charge of decorating the garage for the party that night – and getting tables and chairs. We got everything set up and even did a good job on the streamers and balloons. The girls were impressed later when they got home.

For lunch, we went to Dunkers – a small town bar and grill – and took a short trip afterwards to Walmart.

Back to the home base, I volunteered to help in the kitchen and actually did a pretty good job on the stuffed mushrooms. My cousin was peeling fresh ginger for Ginger Lemonaid – and I wanted to try a piece. She warned me, but let me try some anyway.

It was like a chemical burn – artificial tasting and insanely hot/painful. I had a little trouble breathing and managed to spit most of it out before it got too bad. Lesson learned. And she did warn me, after all.

I also helped with the dishes and managed to cut my thumb on the SlapChop while I was washing it. Of course.

Just enough time to get changed before the guests arrived and the party began – it was the Birth(day)(an)iversary for my aunt and uncle. It was supposed to be a surprise, but they got told beforehand since things were getting rough for my other aunt.

I didn’t know many people there, so I mostly hung out with another cousin and taught some origami while listening to the story of how a kid keep messing with him on the bus until he got fed up and threw a punch. No word yet on if he’ll get kicked out of school. I hope not, he’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve any road-blocks to his future.

A little later in the evening we watched a video of my aunt and uncle and their family – it was pretty cool, though a little sappy.

I talked to my other aunt a bit about her upcoming brain surgery. She was putting on a good front, but I could tell she was scared. She told me that she knew I didn’t pray much, but she was expecting me to do so for her and I told her I would. She said a lot of people were praying for her and that it was cool that she was getting people to do that. I offered that brain surgery was a little extreme to get people to pray and she laughed and said, “well, whatever it takes”

The party wrapped up and I crashed pretty hard in that orange and blue room and the next morning we went to visit grandma in the nursing home.

It was… rough. She recognized my sister and the baby and I think she knew me, but she was so weak and randomly confused. Her room-mate wheeled in and kept insisting that my grandmother turn and look at her and listen when she explained that she hadn’t wet her pants, she had only spilled coffee. Another resident wandered in and picked a fight with the room-mate. It just felt like a place people would go to wait for the end, not a place of healing. The staff were kind and doing what they could but there was just this… emptiness. It was tough to leave grandma there – I’m still upset about it and I more so each time I’m there, but it’s not my decision.

From there we went to lunch and another party for the 2 year old son of my cooking cousin. It was a pretty fun time and the food was good, but it ended up being a much later start than I we would have wanted. Back in the car for 6+ hours to my sister’s house. I checked online when we got there and since I didn’t have any meetings for today I emailed my boss and told him I would be in late. My sister let me crash on a mattress on the floor and I got up early to head back North. I was on the road by 6 am and at work just before 9. Still felt like a full day of work and I expect I’ll sleep well tonight.

So, 18 hours in a car over the slightly longish weekend. Incredible mix of emotions. My baby niece is awesome and so are her mommy and daddy. I’m worried about my aunt, my grandmother, and my cousin. Glad I went on the trip, but so very tired. So, laundry, some warm tea and an early night.

Oh. On the trip back, we heard a song I hadn’t heard for a while and I wrote some of the lyrics on my hand to look them up. “Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth With Money in My Hand” – by the Primative Radio Gods. Enjoy.

I have invented a new title for myself

By admin

On March 11, 2010

In Uncategorized

My co-worker and I were at lunch the other day and he commented on how both his mother and his mother-in-law were bombarding he and his wife with “helpful” advice on their impending new baby. The baby isn’t due until September and the advice is already coming on heavy.

I thought about this for a moment and said, “This is actually like the two main delivery methods for internet content – Push and Pull.

(Push refers to directly targeted communication to people on topics that may or may not interest them. Pull refers to being able to request content on demand).

I went on to conclude, “They are spamming you and what you really need is an RSS feed!’

We both laughed and I realized I had taken a simple problem and turned it into a model for complicated information processing in the age of the internet.

I was… the Nerd Whisperer.

Restless in Ohio

By admin

On March 8, 2010

In Uncategorized

On Thursday, my Dad called and told me that my aunt (his sister) had what appeared to be a stroke while out with her friends for lunch. In the hospital she seemed to be better, but then had a seizure when she tried to get up. On Friday, he told me that it appeared that she had a brain tumor and that “things were grave”. He and my mom were packing to go to Illinois the next day, and planning on taking the week off to be there and visit. He told me he’d keep me updated.

Saturday morning, I went to the last basketball game of the season for my FRM’s son. Before the game, while waiting the other game to end, I got out some paper and started folding. Another fan was standing there and asked what I was making – I replied, “A dodecahedron”. I think he was a little taken aback, which I found amusing. During half-time, just before the minister started to speak (yeah, it was a basketball game, but it was held in a church’s gym) , I located that guy and gave him the finished model. He was impressed and started to hand it back to me and I waved him off and told him to keep it – then I had to head back to my seat before the prayer. The game itself was great and the little dude was on fire. He was quick, confident, and a really good team player.

Saturday afternoon, my room-mate’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew arrived. They were in town for a birthday party and stopped by for a visit. We watched a movie, played some playstation 3 and wii (I did okay in tennis and bowling – and kicked some ass in boxing for a while) . His sister was drinking wine, as she usually does to excess. It seemed like she had less than usual and was pretty okay to be around, but my room-mate thought that she had tremors from not having enough wine. She complained of a stomach problem and didn’t eat much – but my room-mate thought she was bad off. There was some tension that evening, but I think I managed to keep it from getting out of hand.

Sunday morning everyone was up early and my room-mate made rolls for breakfast. They left not long afterwards. I played video games much of the day – Bioshock 2 and Darksiders – and in the evening I called my Dad to get an update on my aunt since I hadn’t heard anything. It was a somewhat weird conversation.

He answered the phone with a “hey son, what’s up?”. Very casual with an undercurrent of “why would you be calling me?” Seemed pretty obvious to me. He didn’t really have much of an update and seemed distracted by the Scrabble game going on. Rather abruptly, he asked if I wanted to talk to my mom. I said okay and he passed the phone off – and mom had pretty much the same greeting for me. She had a little more detail about what was going on, but even with that didn’t have much to say. She mentioned going to visit grandma, but didn’t elaborate. They were getting ready to eat dinner and we ended the call on a strange note.

I talked to my sister later that evening and she had more detail on what was going on from a conversation with one of our cousins – details that I would have expected to get from dad and mom. We both agreed at how weird this has been and the problems with communication.

I guess I’m slightly torqued that this has all been a somewhat dry recitation of the facts. My dad’s sister-in-law passed away recently, his sister is now in the hospital with a brain tumor, and his mom is not getting better in the nursing home. I wanted to say to him, “Walk away from the scrabble game and tell me what’s going on with you and the family”. But how do you do that without sounding like a jerk?

So, I’m restless. Out of sorts. Not sleeping well. Tired, cranky, and wishing there was something I could do. There’s a line from Mr. and Mrs. Smith: “There’s this space between us and it keeps filling up with things we don’t say”.

Seems like I’ve got a lot of those spaces to deal with. And how do you get rid of those spaces without making things worse?

Well, I need to get back to work – big projects today that won’t wait for me to be in a better mood.

A nice day for a white wedding

By admin

On March 1, 2010

In Uncategorized

Last week was pretty rough at work. In fact, the last three weeks were pretty rough – but I’m still employed and that’s more than a lot of people can say. So, I should just shut my mouth and be thankful.

One thing I will say though is that the new office is much noisier. The floorplan is different and the openings to our cubicles face each other. So, over the weekend, I bought some noise canceling headphones. I haven’t fired them up yet since I’m the only one here – I’ll report more later.

On Saturday, I went to a wedding for one of my co-workers. The music was good, the service was short, and the wait between wedding and reception food was minimal. All good things. I did a little folding at the reception, managed to avoid talking about work, and enjoyed the food. Didn’t stay too late – my room-mate was there too and on call – and the Grim Beeper went off. Still, really nice wedding and a good time – despite the crazy amount of snow.

I ran some errands on Sunday, read a couple of books, and then got invited to see Shutter Island.

Ummm… yeah, this sucked. A guy investigates an institution for the criminally insane – what could possibly be the plot twist? Oh, yeah, he’s the crazy one. I figured that out in during the opening credits. Good actors, so much potential, ordinary plot. As the closing credits rolled, I said out-loud – “What was that crap?” I also wanted to try a personal lobotomy to see if that would undo watching the movie, but wasn’t sure which eye to use.

I’m debating a trip to Illinois. My cousins have made special effort to invite me and make sure I have a place to stay, but the drive…. the drive really intimidates me anymore. It’s almost three hours to my parents place or my sister’s – and then 6 + hours to Illinois. Then drive all over the place while there and turn around and come back. I know I should just quit complaining since my parents make the drive and it takes them much longer and my sister has a new baby on the way. And it will be fun seeing everyone, but… it’s that drive. I’m still debating it.

I’m going to try and get out of here a little early today – giving blood this afternoon. So, I’d best best get to work.

I just want one slice.

By admin

On February 22, 2010

In Uncategorized

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.

By admin

On February 22, 2010

In Uncategorized

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.

By admin

On February 11, 2010

In Uncategorized

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

By admin

On February 8, 2010

In Uncategorized

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

By admin

On February 4, 2010

In Uncategorized

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.

My hands are tired, but the project is done.

By admin

On January 29, 2010

In Uncategorized

I’ve been working on an origami project for my co-worker and his girlfriend for their wedding. I had made up a bunch of samples for them, but what they selected turned out to be a massive project. Mette Rings – they will be using these on the wine bottles they are giving away at the reception.

Each Mette ring requires 18 units made from square paper of the same size. And they requested 100 rings. 100 x 18 = 1,800 units. And the wedding is at the end of February. In making my samples I determined that I could fold one unit in about 30 seconds – so, plenty of time for those, but it was harder to factor in getting the paper ready and putting the units together. I broke this down into phases to stay on track.

Phase 0 – Material Acquisition. I pulled from my own paper stockpile, a craft store, and Staples. I also bought extra blades for my paper cutter and 3 bottles of glue.

Phase 1 – Paper Cutting. I wore out two blades for my paper cutter, but got all 1800 units cut in about 4 days.

Phase 2 – Unit Folding. I started carrying around stacks of paper with me and a knapsack to hold the completed units. To the movies, to the birth of my niece. Any downtime was spent folding. I did too many in one day and had to put my hands in the snow to numb them. My parents – who are pretty good folders themselves – helped while we were at the hospital in the waiting room. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

Phase 3 – Ring Construction. I had all the colors sorted out into boxes and bags – then with movies playing on the TV, I sorted out 2 white, 1 red, 2 white, 1 black, etc. until I had 18, then I put together 2 sets and then put those together. I put them in stacks of ten to keep track of them.

Phase 4 – Structural Integrity. To prevent the rings from flying apart when handled, I coated each side with glue. (I’ve tried gluing the units while putting them together and it’s tedious – even for me). Each side had to dry before I do the other – took a lot of time and a lot of space.

I finished up last evening and boxed them up to bring into work. Took me about two and a half weeks for the whole project. My co-worker has promised to get some good photos for me.

In other news… my work phone stopped working yesterday. We’re gearing up to move to a new office in the building and I thought this was a precursor – but no, it’s just broke. I had the office manager make the call to repair yesterday afternoon before I left – we’ll see how it goes. It’s pretty quiet here – but my voicemail (which I can still check via my computer) is filling up.