membership

With the natitorium pool closing next week, I decided to get a membership at the rec center pool.  Both are on campus and within easy walking distance of my work building – the nat has a nice pool, but the rec center is a nicer facility over all.    The biggest difference for me, though, is the price.   As a staff member, I can use the nat for free – the rec center membership for the summer costs $100.  Seeing as how I really want to keep swimming this summer, I don’t have much of a choice.

So, I headed over to the rec center yesterday to get a membership – and it took about 10 minutes for them to find someone that could process the membership.    I had to fill out a form – which was dumb since it only asked for info already on file in my employee records – and when she asked how long I wanted the membership I explained:
“Just for the summer – I usually swim in the nat…”
Her reply:  “You know the nat pool is closed for the summer,”
Me:  “That’s why I’m here,”
She did give me a bit of a bonus by starting my membership a week early I won’t have to miss out my swim before the summer “officially” starts.
Today I headed to the rec center for my swim and got in 27 laps.   There’s a current that I alternately benefited from and fought – I think it made for a better workout overall.
later…

HDMI

The other day, my room-mate and I tried to watch 1408 on DVD – but the DVD picture wasn’t working.  The sound was okay though.   So, after a bit of testing, I determined it was the HDMI cable that was the problem.   Which ticked me off cause those things are expensive.   In the short term, I swapped the cable with that for the cable box – and we were in business.  

(I went and got a new HDMI cable the next day)
So, with picture restored and surround sound cranked, we fired up the DVD and I settled in to enjoy a pretty good interpretation of a really good Stephen King story.
And less than 10 minutes in, my room-mate fell asleep.    
Now, 1408 is the story of a man vs. a haunted hotel room.   And the room pretty much destroys itself trying to drive him crazy.   Fires, floods, monsters, screaming – pretty much the whole package.    
I tried to wake him a couple of times and finally just gave up and woke him when it was done.  
Not too surprising, really – he fell asleep in the theatre during James Bond.  
later…

grandma, book, neighbor

I talked to my sister late last evening – she gave me an update on my grandmother.   Grandma isn’t really doing better and although the doctors had said at one point that it might take 15 -20 weeks before she shows marked improvement, some decisions are already being made.   There’s been discussion about her moving in with my aunt and uncle and then renting out her house and selling her car.

I’m getting all this 2nd or 3rd hand and I guess there’s some tension building between my dad and his siblings.   I guess we knew and could see a slow decline, but this is… well… sudden.  
My sister and I are talking about taking a couple of days and going to visit – though the question suddenly becomes – “where will we stay?” – since we always stay with Grandma when we visit there.
Strange times.
I had a bit of a headache yesterday and had to lay down a bit  – fortunately, it didn’t turn into a migraine.   I did some reading – a new book called “sharp teeth”.   It’s written in the style of poetry, which had me a little worried when I first opened it up, but it’s an easy read and well put together.   And you really have to work at it to go wrong with werewolves.
The new neighbors were out in the back yard, and they failed the only test I have for neighbors. That being – are they quiet?   I’m pretty much fine with everything else – up to and including ritual sacrifice.   As long as it’s done quietly.     And they weren’t.  
I had a busy morning – but the afternoon is slowing down a bit.  Made some good progress on a big survey project and I’ve got to close down a ballot later today.  Just kind of in a quiet mode.
I guess that’s it for now.  I think I’m going to try and write another twitter haiku. 
later…

eye, sunshine, books, pandemic

Friday afternoon, while still at work, my right eye started to swell shut.   I used to get this when I was a kid and even had allergy tests done that were inconclusive.  The remedy back then was Benedryl and sleep – and I didn’t have much choice on the sleep part after taking the Benedryl.

So, when this happened, I at least knew what to do.  I stopped on my way home and got some Benedryl and took one as soon as I got in the door.
And though I didn’t fall asleep, I was pretty much drugged up the rest of the evening.  I took another before I went to bed.  
On Saturday, I still wasn’t back to normal – so, I took another dose.   Spent much of the day outside and when I was feeling a little better, I ran some errands.   Which was not the best thing to do.  I’m always a careful driving, but I could feel my reaction time was not up to par and took things extra slow.  I felt a little better after a snack and about a gallon iced tea from Wendy’s.
Today, my eye is better  – almost back to normal.  I still don’t know was causes this, but at least it didn’t interfere with any plans.
It’s been really nice outside the past couple of days and I got a little sun for my pale geek flesh.  I’m a ways from tan, but I think shorter doses will be better.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading this weekend, finished one book, read another cover to cover, and started a third.   Lazy weekends are made for sitting outside and reading.
I got a call from Mom this afternoon with some precautionary warnings about the potential pandemic.   I’m not sure if I’m going to be stocking up on food and water yet, but the Ohio case that’s been found is in Lorraine county – which is not that far away.  
Not looking forward to work this week – got a couple more big projects and a huge survey to put together.
I think I’ll play a little bit of a video game and call it an early night.  
later…

soccer, sisters, sick, sleep

I went to a soccer game on with my former room-mate’s mother.   We were there to watch her grandson and although I enjoy her company, the tension between her and her son is starting to get to me.   If pressed, I think I could come up with what she had told me was the cause of their ‘cold war’ – but it seems so trivial.   So, I stood on the side lines near her – and because of that her son never acknowledged me.   I’m not really sure if he would have if she hadn’t been there actually, but I like to think he would.    It’s just… tiresome.  And I seem to be caught in the middle of it.   Not really sure what I can do about it.   And there are a lot of soccer games coming up.

While I was at the field, my cell phone rang.   The number on the caller ID was my sister’s and when I hit the button to take the call, I heard a horrible noise.   It almost sounded like distorted words in with the buzzing sound so I listened for a minute before I figured out that it was the sound of a chainsaw.
This didn’t really surprise me.  My sister and brother-in-law have a wood burning stove and they are always on the hunt for firewood.   Also, my brother-in-law really enjoys his chainsaw.  When the noise didn’t stop, I figured I’d been called by accident and hung up.
After the match, I called my sister back and asked her how the wood cutting had gone.  She said it was fine, but couldn’t figure out how I knew.  I told her that she called me and we got a good laugh out of it – though she’s pretty sure her phone locks when it’s closed  – partly ruling out “butt-dialing”.   So, strange, but funny.
I did a little running around that afternoon with a few errands and got a little sun.  It was good while it lasted.  Sunday was gray and raining.
And Sunday morning started far too early.  I was still in bed a little before 9:30 and while slightly on my way to being awake, I was still enjoying being partly asleep.  And then the phone rings.   After a couple of rings, I realize my room-mate isn’t going to get it.  I glance at the caller ID, grumble, and answer the phone with my most sleepy sounding hello I can muster.  The conversation goes like this:
Me: “Hello?”
My room-mate’s sister: “Hey, are you awake?”
M: “Just barely and not happy about it.  Is this an emergency?”
M R-M S: “No. Bye.”
Me: “I’ll have him call you later.”
(click)
Turns out my room-mate had been awake since 6:30 that morning, but was in the bathroom when she called.   When he called her back later, she made a comment of how it took him 5 hours to call back after I got over being pissed off.   (Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense to me either)
Personally, if I had called someone and awakened them at a time when it would be usual for someone to be asleep – well, I’d be tripping over myself to apologize.    No such response.
For the record, I’m up at 6:30 every morning of the work week and on the weekend – if given half a chance – I’m going to sleep in.  Especially single digits AM.
In other news…I’ve been fighting a cold for the past few days and it got bad enough that I took some alkaseltzer plus cold.   I know people who tell me that it isn’t that bad.   And those people are lying.     I did feel a little better though as the evening went on  – but ended up  having a bit of trouble getting to sleep. 
Which is not a good thing.   I’ve been having trouble getting enough rest for the past week or so.  I’m getting the same number of hours – but they aren’t doing the job as well as they usually do.
Not sure what’s going on with that, but I’m not liking the dark circles under my eyes or the extra-tiredness I’ve got going.
So, it’s going to be a busy week.  I’m going to be in several day long sessions for evaluation of our website as the tech guy for the evaluation software.   And I’m really hoping it doesn’t break.  So, lots to do today to try and get ahead.
later…

news, sleep, story

I got an update on my grandmother today – she’s not recovering from her stroke as quickly as we’d thought she was.  Still some vision problems and some cognitive issues.    It’s got me a little down.

I’ve also not been getting enough sleep recently.  There’s been some work and family stress going on and though I’m getting the same sleep hours I usually do – they aren’t working as well.    I’ve also had a bunch more dreams upon waking and though I can identify some of the elements from my waking world, the combination is disturbing and disconcerting.
In better news… I spent much of the afternoon outside when I got home from work.  Had a snack, did some reading – just relaxed a bit on my quiet back porch.   Wasn’t quite warm enough to how shirtless and get some sun – but it was fine for t-shirt, blue jeans, and flip-flops.  
I’ve also starting kicking around a story in my head – a sort of modern day retelling of the myth of Pandora.   She’s got a thing for containers and I can certainly relate.  I want to work on it in my head for a little while before committing it to pen – maybe I’ll work on it on this beach this summer.
Time for another meeting… gotta run.   
later…

donations

Just a few minutes ago I got the last check from my list of confirmed donors.   Which is pretty cool and means I’ll be sending off a packet tonight with the checks.    There are a couple other possibles, but I don’t want to delay any checkbook balanceing for the rest of the people that donated.

Someone asked me today if I’ll be doing this again next year and I think the answer is yes.   Not sure if I’ll be trying to break any personal records, but it’s for a really good cause and maybe I’ll get even more donations if I get an earlier start.  I think my grand total is just over $513.
I’ve been fighting a headache most of the day today and trying not to let it escalate.   It will be good to get out of here and get home. 
later…

taxes, work, mood

I’m fully in favor of paying taxes.   I think it’s a good idea and helps support a wide variety of programs I’m in favor of – as well as quite a few I don’t care for but wasn’t asked about.

What I despise,  though, are the accursed forms that are required.   I used Turbo Tax online for the state and federal and that wasn’t too wretched – but the city of green has the worst form I have even encountered.   I’m a reasonable smart guy and I struggled with this one.
More than just the complexity – it was the attitude that got to me.   The form implied that the person filling it out was:
1) stupid
2) going to do something wrong
3) was going to be late
There were a lot of running totals to be kept and lots of “add line 1c and add that to the total of line f and 3b”   And at the bottom was the line for the assumed late fee and penalty percentage.   They made note of how you could request an extension, but you should pay the tax on time anyway since you’d get a penalty.   No word on how you’d figure that up if you weren’t actually filing the form.
It wrapped up with a section where I could estimate my taxes in advance and pay that now.   But, due to their own form set up and verified on the online tool, I didn’t need to.  
I don’t know how long it took me to complete, but I ended up being cranky most of the evening.  
Also, some “stuff” happened yesterday where I was sort of called onto the carpet – in the nicest possible way – of some things that I had done “wrong”.    I wasn’t given clear guidance in advance of how to  handle the situation and it all seemed pretty subjective to me.  When pressed, I was finally given the information on how to do it right – but it left me feeling a little out of the loop and cranky.
Seems like the theme from yesterday.   Cranky.     I even tried wearing my silly hats, but I couldn’t get in the mood.   Is my whimsy suddenly broken?  Is a tax form and a slight at work all it takes?   (sigh)
In other news… I kicked some ass with the Legend of Zelda, watched a couple good episodes of Venture Brothers, and did some reading.   It wasn’t a really bad day – all things considered – but I was in a bad mood none-the-less.   
I guess I can blame part of it on the weather – yesterday it was mostly cold and rain.   Today it’s started with sunshine – and rain.    
Well, enough with the complaining  – there are people far worse off than I am.   Time to get back to work and get some shit done.
later…

visit, game, grandma,

I visited my parents, my sister, and brother-in-law this weekend for easter.   We went to the 1/2 priced bookstore and then over to Micheal’s Crafts – I bought some foam hats.  (which I’m planning on wearing here at work since I freqently tell people “I wear a lot of hats”)

We also played UNO, Dominoes, and a new game called Zombie Flux.   It was one of those games that winning wasn’t as important as the constantly changing play of the game.   One hand took almost 2 hours before there was a winner – and the zombies almost won a couple of times.
We had ham for an early dinner, then I got on the road and headed back home.
No real change in Grandma’s progress.  She’s at a nursing home for the next 20 days or so while she tries to recover and my dad and his siblings try and determine the next steps for her.
I’ve just about got all the donations collected for my swim for diabetes – just three people to go.   A few have given me more than they initally planned and my total now is over $500.
Well, I’d better finish my oatmeal and get back to work.   Later…

writing

My co-worker’s brother – who also works on campus – was the designated driver to Chipotle yesterday.   On the way back, I saw some graffiti on the wall of a building near some train tracks.  We went past it too quickly for me to see what all was written there, but I saw enough to want to investigate.

So, after work, I drove over to a parking lot near that wall and located the text.  Here’s what it said:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Orwell you were so right
Well, duh.   I was hoping for something more insightful than that.  If you’re going to go to the trouble of defacing a building with an intellectual quote (instead of, say, “kilroy was here”)  – then you should either leave it as it stands or add to it in the spirit of the original writer.     What is this?  Youtube?
Disappointing.

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