Thunder of Wade

After a mostly unproductive and still cranky afternoon on Friday, I headed to a craft store and then on to get a CD. The CD was in stock, but the craft store didn’t have exactly what I wanted. After my futile search, I got on the highway to go home and suddenly found myself stuck in traffic.

It felt a little like karma – that my pointless anger had traffic based repercussions. In retrospect, I feel a little guilty about things for the rest of the drivers on the road. We were all creeping along when I heard a “pop” and looked over to the side. A guy in a suddenly not-so-nice car was trying to pull off the road with a sluggish success since the traffic was tight. There was smoke coming out of his hood and something leaking from under his car. I didn’t feel karmicly upset about this one – clearly, he’s been having a far worse day than I could be blamed for. He got off the road and a glance showed him to be neither surprised or really upset. I didn’t go try to help him, assuming he had a cell phone.

Of course, had it be a reversed situation – I would have needed some help since I don’t yet have a cell phone. Another reason, I suppose, that I should reconsider getting one. Even well intentioned people will assume that should I break down, I would be okay since I could just call on my non-existent cell phone for help.

Anyway, back to the traffic. We were still creeping along when I came upon an exit – though it was not the one I wanted. There may have been more detailed signs that I didn’t notice before, but all this one said was Exit 122b. I don’t know where it went, only that it was within a few miles of my home, but maybe not the direction I wanted to travel. I tend to find a route and then stick with it until there’s some kind of extreme situation and I wasn’t sure if stuck in traffic warranted getting lost and maybe wasting even more time trying to find an alternative way home.

A car in front of me – really mostly past the road – decided that they would give old 122b a try. They executed a tight, almost U, turn and took the exit. They rounded the curve and disappeared behind the trees. I remained in my car, with the windows rolled down and my heat turned to try and keep my engine cooler. I wondered if they knew where they were going. If they had a plan and a route in mind. Or maybe they just decided moving – in any direction – was better than just sitting there.

The “horrible” accident that had traffic backed up in both directions for miles turned out to be a fender bender that had been pulled off the side of the road and the only thing blocking and slowing traffic was, well, traffic.

In other news… yesterday evening I went to a party with some friends to see the latest addition to an outdoor train set in one of the friends backyard. The train itself was having some issues, but the setup was amazing. It included some new buildings since I was last there – a new house and more cars and an amazingly detailed greenhouse in miniature.

The snacks were good and the conversation lively. I overheard a discussion in the kitchen that seemed to mix religion, politics, and alcohol in equal parts. Curiously, everyone in the conversation seemed to be on the same very loud side. Not an argument, then – but a general complaint session on the sorry state of the world. I stayed out of…

Wait. I need to pause for a moment and un-recommend a snack food. Early this morning, I had some “bold” flavored chex party mix working off the assumption that the chex mix was almost like cereal and counted as a breakfast food. It’s good and has a nice and appropriately bold flavor, but even teeth brushing and mouthwash have failed to remove the taste. While I was typing I burped a little bit and the flavor came right back. It is NOT good the second time around and I feel the need to just go ahead and drink the mouth wash this time. I’ll be back….

(please wait)

Less intense mouthwash? Don’t believe everything you read. Anyway…

I stayed out the discussion and had a really nice conversation with a few other people – one of whom is allergic to alcohol. He had one beer that he really enjoyed – and then spent the rest of the night sneezing and blowing his nose. I both started and stopped my drinking while in college – but I could still sympathize.

Anyway, it was late when my room-mate and I got back – turned out he’d been one of the debaters in the kitchen so I drove his car back.

I’ve been enjoying the quiet Sunday at home – did a little reading outside and now I’m listening to the new Aimee Mann CD while I write this unusually long blog. I guess that’s it for now.

later…

I swam 54 lap today – that’s one and a half miles. I was fast and intense – hardly even slowing down on the turns. I outlasted everyone else in the pool.

I feel pretty good physically afterward – caught my breath in less than a minute and was composed before I hit the locker room. I swam through my lunch hour and just got a couple of healthy snacks instead.

The reason for this personal record-setting swim, however, was not a good thing. I generally try not to talk about work here – and when I do I’m impossibly vague – since that sort of thing tends to get people fired. So, I’m going to vent a little here, but I’m still going to be vague.

I got called into a meeting this morning and got dragged over the coals for things that were not my fault by someone outside our department. I took it personally – which was a mistake, I know. I think I’m good at my job because I care about what I’m doing with the big picture – but that same commitment was attacked today. This guy was belligerent, condescending, arrogant, argumentative, and a whole slew of unpleasant big words. Even worse, my boss got the meeting started and then left for most of it – returning only at the end.

I felt thrown to the wolves. We’ve done extraordinary work in very little time and this guy had only bad things to say about what we’d accomplished. I stayed polite, quiet, and civil – and managed, just barely, to keep my cool. Should have gotten some kind of award for not smacking the shit out of him.

I think the swim made use of “rage-propulsion” and most of that has burned off. I’m back down to my standard “slightly cranky” – and I can live with that. In the grand scheme of things, this guy was just an ass and with that kind of an attitude, life is going to punish him far better than I could. I’d still like to help punish him – I’ve even started a list – but we’ve got too much to do.

So, time to get back to it. I think I may go buy a CD after work or maybe some flower stems for an origami project. I think some good music and a little folding will do me wonders.

later

Earlier this week, my sister and brother in law stopped by for a quick visit on their way back from buying a car. She had sent me an email earlier in the day to let me know they would be in the area – I replied back with a “Yes” for a visit, but they were already on the road. The rain and traffic made them a little later than they expected, but they got to the apartment safely and then my room-mate joined us for a dinner at CiCi’s pizza. After dinner they stayed only for a short while before getting on the road. The weather didn’t look good, but the weather channel said the worst would be over before they got home. Dad called my sister while they were at my place to warn them about the tornado warnings at their home, but he was neither surprised or really that interested that they were in akron. He called me a couple days later to apologize for not talking to me when he called my sister – even though she was in my living room at the time. I told him it was no big deal since I figured he was heading for shelter in the basement anyway and shouldn’t have been on the phone.

I picked up a new game recently – Patapon. I’d heard good things about it, but wasn’t sure if I could get into it. It’s a rhythm game – you tap the appropriate buttons following the beat to play. In this case, you are commanding an army of primitives by pounding the war drums to get them to march or attack. I was a little worried since I don’t have much natural rhythm, but I got the hang of it and I’m inspiring my little warriors onto battle and victory. The missions aren’t too long (there’s no pause feature), but just long enough to really get into the adventure. I don’t play too long in one sitting because the PSP isn’t comfortable to hold – but I’m enjoying it.

Finally, work has been crazy busy – I’m double booked for meetings today and considering a workers comp claim for my copy|paste pinky on my left hand. Been doing a lot of that.

Oh, almost forgot – I called my FRM’s mom last night to see how she was doing. Apparently, my FMR’s wife had a baby girl and his oldest son just moved into an apartment about 6 doors down from where FMR and I used to live. Small world…

Okay, gotta go – later…

I went to a bookstore this weekend in Wheeling, WV called Books-A-Million. Based on the store name alone, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a headache when we got there. I couldn’t find a Horror Fiction section, so I headed over to SciFi and began to peruse the selection. I noticed two things right off:

1. The staff was doing some kind of inventory with those bar-code scanner guns that required them scanning every single book one at a time. The scanner gun beeped every time they did this. I was instantly homicidal, but didn’t act on my impulse.

2. They were completely missing several of my favorite and prolific authors. Irksome.

I tried another section, only to have another staffer begin beeping. My headache getting worse, I finally gave up and headed for the checkout. Before they clerk began checking out the items, she asked if I had a rewards card. I told her no and she began to explain the stickers on the hardback books and how I could get a discount if I signed up. I politely declined and she continued with her pitch. I declined again, still politely, but with a slight increase in tone.

Still, she continued with the great features of the reward card. I interrupted her and told her I was not from the area and that I had never heard of this store before. Undaunted, she asked where I was from and I finally trumped her by saying Akron, Ohio. She tried to come back by staying that they were expanding up north, but really had nothing to go on – if I’m unlikely to come back, why would I “need” a rewards card? I thought it was done, but just before giving me the total, she hauled out a sheet of paper and suggested that I could sign up for a magazine subscription. I declined again, polite in words, but not in look or tone. Transaction complete, I headed for the door and freedom.

As a coda to the story, my room-mate was behind me in line and tried to get her stopped by telling her he was from Akron as well, but she essentially ignored him in favor of her “speech”.

Rude behavior in the name of customer service. Annoying and disturbing.

I’ve got a headache again this afternoon – though I think this is work related and comes from staring at a computer screen too long. I also forgot my swim trunks today and so missed my swim.

Almost time to go home – later…

I haven’t really been in the mood for blogged in a while, but as Gurney Halleck said in the first Dune book: “Not in the mood? Mood’s a thing for cattle and loveplay, not blogging!”

Or something like that. So, back into it…

Went to a Chinese buffet for dinner on Friday and ate a whole honking pile of food. 2 full plates of “dinner items” Sweet and sour chicken, fried shrimp, green beans. 2 small plates of sushi, maybe around 14-16 pieces – mostly spicy crab and tuna. 1 full plate of dessert, various items. And 1 fortune cookie. I was physically uncomfortable. It was awesome.

My room-mate went away hungry. I know, I know. Seems like that would be impossible at a buffet. But, I think he didn’t get the concept.

Work has been very busy, but productive. Sometimes those things really don’t go together, but I’ve gotten a lot accomplished toward our big relaunch goal. There have been a couple of annoying snags, but we’ll get through it.

Yesterday, I went with my room-mate down to his dad’s house to help him clear things our. The goal was to move the washer and dryer to his work, get the curio cabinet for his secretary, and the chest of drawers for himself. The first trip to wheeling and we picked up the washer, dryer and the chest. Back to canton to unload at his work. The old washer and dryer need to be moved out and the new installed – which I’ll rant about in a moment. We left the chest there at his work as well and headed back to Wheeling. In wheeling, we picked up the curio cabinet, a tv, a metal shelf and some odds and ends. Back to canton and his work site to pick up the cabinet again since it had the shelves for the curio cabinet. Then to hartville to deliver the curio cabinet. Then home to unload the rest. He had to go back into work, but I got to take a break and played some video games. He’s head back down to wheeling today to do some more clearing out as they’ve sold the house and need to get it emptied.

Now, on to the rant about appliances… The hoses for the washer were difficult to remove – we had to find pliers to get them started. The faucets were not labeled and we had to “guess” which ones would go where. And finally, the thing that made me want to go and find an engineer so I could smack them…

Wait. The only engineering that I know is my brother-in-law and he doesn’t work with this type of consumer design. So, he’s excluded from the smacking.

Anyway, the cord for the dryer is too short. It’s not even long enough for the plug to reach as high as the top of dryer. And the outlet is at least 6-7 inches higher up than that. So, to make it work, they’re going to need to buy a longer cord and rewire the damn thing or built some kind of platform to elevate the dryer. Stupid, stupid design. We just left it undone since we were short of time, but it irked me not to be able to finish the job.

That’s it for now, I’m going to try and get some sunshine today before heading back to the windowless cube farm at work tomorrow.

later…

My room-mate is a big fan of the news. He gets the sunday paper and through the week will watch the local news, then the national news, then the local news again and occasionally Entertainment tonight. I usually avoid the living room while this is going on but I’ll wander through at some point. It seems to me that the news is getting worse. Local news has always felt very fear based, but the national and even the entertainment feels like the end of the world.

So, I’ll breeze through the room, stay long enough to get depressed, then go back to a computer game or a book.

This is not to say that I’m in the dark – I follow the news a lot on the web. In that case, though, I can take a little more open approach and mix up some of the good and bad and the other.

I understand keeping people informed, but I wonder how much of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy? If the news reports an economy in trouble, will people then behave in ways that make it worse? If a shortage on goods is reported, will that lead to a run on that good across the country? I’m not saying we should keep our head in the sand, but I just don’t get all the bad news.

Instead of the news, I played a new game last night – God of War, Chains of Olympus. Interesting story – someone has kidnapped the sun god Helios and without him, everyone is falling asleep – including the greek gods themselves. And then the god of sleep is taking over. Good story, good controls, not always quite as clear where to go. I can only play it for so long since the PSP is little less comfortable to hold than the Playstation controller.

I’m in training this week for some new software. It’s not too bad, but the timing is a little rough – so much going on.

Better get back to looking like I’m paying attention.

later…

I had a somewhat stressful and – in my eyes – overly long meeting yesterday just before lunch. When asked if I had somewhere I had to be at a certain time since I kept glancing at my watch, I replied, “well, I’m getting hungry”. The crew waited for me and we headed over to Chipotle – I drove since there were 4 of us and I have the 4 door car. I was still stressed from the meeting and cranky at the drivers and at the long line since we were running later than usual.

But, one of my coworkers bought me lunch since I had helped him out with a lighting issue. And I got a Sprite+lemonade+lime wedge drink that was excellent. And the actual burrito was excellent. The parking situation threatened to push me over into a bad mood, but the good stuff and the bad stuff of my lunch excursion neatly balanced out and left me with a sort of null mood.

Had some messed up dreams this morning.

1. Dreamed that I was at a large picnic, waiting for a military helicopter to land to pick me up. I had a large backpack with a lot of paper and books in case I got bored. The helicopter landed, scattering the picnickers and I got on. The huge helicopter took off and one airborne I set down my bag and wandered back to the breakroom, past the kitchen. Yes, it was that big. The soldiers there were asking me about the mission and I told them I had no idea. I explained that I had gotten a letter saying that I was to report to a specific area and get picked up by a helicopter. I told them I figured it might have been a joke until I saw the actual helicopter. They were very surprised that I was a civilian and had no training or special skills. The conversation sort of stopped at that point and we sat quietly and waited.

2. The second dream was a just a fragment – I was in engineering on the starship voyager trying to help the them navigate at high speed through a region of space that was almost filled with solid mathematical representations of their ship and a borg cube. Once we got through that – and it was amazing to watch – I headed to the mess hall and watched while the cast of Angel tried to reason with the teen-aged clones of themselves. Very odd.

later…

I had a dream last night that I was behind a desk in a hotel and the lobby was filled with zombies. I was with a few other people and we were unnoticed until one of the zombies exploded and their “juices” flew everywhere. They hit some of us and a woman in my group screamed – alerting the zombies to our presence. We managed to fight them off, but it was too late – I was already infected. The group forced me to leave before I turned, so I struck out on my own. In a short amount of time, while wandering the streets, I turned into a zombie, but managed to keep my intelligence through an effort of will. I was a zombie, but I could control myself. I didn’t really get much time to figure out what it meant before I woke up.

My tattoo – you know, the one I got back on march 27? – was actually starting to heal. And then last night I flexed my wrist and I felt something tear. It was a scab and I started to bleed. I got it bandaged up and put more neosporin on it, but it’s still annoying.

Yesterday at lunch I put up some foam board instead of the blue transparency. Worked really well. So much so, that my co-worker wanted it set up in his cube as well. We’re both prone to light-induced headaches and I’m hoping this helps. I’m also going to offer this to the rest of the crew – but I’ll need to get more foam-board.

That’s it for now…

I played more of Divine Divinity last evening, here’s how it went. My character managed to get out of the endlessly wearying caves and I sent him over to the Imp Castle in search of the Heart of the Dragon. When we got there, we found that it was a gem being guarded – strangely enough – by a dragon. Every tactic I tried met with failure and death for my character.

Finally, I summoned a “Demon Knight” creature as a distraction and ran for the exit – figuring I’d come back later when the character was stronger. Unfortunately, the nearest teleporter required a scroll from that castle, so I wandered around for a bit and then decided to head back in there to get the scroll and then run away to teleport back to the town.

I tried to avoid the dragon, but he was blocking the path and I figured I’d try to run past him. When I got close, I realized that the decoy Demon Knight was still alive and still fighting. Even better, he’d worn down the dragon so that a couple of hits from me was enough to take him down. I picked up the gem and headed out of the castle, stopping only long enough to pick up the scroll. So, learned a new plan. Get some decoy warriors going and run screaming for an exit like a little girl that just saw a spider.

Not very manly, true – but, come on, it was a freaking dragon! You’d run too.

I ran an errand last night for some project supplies and saw a car haul-ass across the parking lot. Not down the “roads”, but across the parking spaces. They were going way too fast and clearly weren’t paying attention. Kind of a pet peeve of mine. It bothers my room-mate a great deal as well, although he does it to. He justifies to me that he “pays attention” when he does it – which I think is funny in a way that makes me glad I have good insurance when I ride with him in his car.

The supplies I picked up included some transparent blue plastic for some filters over the lights in my cubicle here at work. The lights are always giving me a headache – time to do something about that. We’ll see how it goes…

That’s it for now…

My room-mate asked me to go to Lowe’s to pick up some dirt for some minor lawn repair – the deal being that if I got the dirt, I wouldn’t be obligated to do any actual work. Seemed like a good deal to me.

I headed over to Lowe’s and grabbed a shopping cart, then headed back to the garden area. The instructions were “two large bags of cheap dirt” – which I found in the non-roofed section of the area. One of the bags had broken open and with the recent rains, all the bags were pretty much covered in mud.

I’m not a strong person. I can swim forever, but I’m just not physically strong. So, it required a great deal of effort to get the first bag up onto the cart – and I ended up covered in mud.

A sales clerk came over and offered to get me a flat cart. I said that would be great and he wandered away to find it – then brought it back. And then he – this much taller and obviously stronger guy – watched while I struggled to move the bag from one cart to another, then add a second bag. He took the first cart away and I headed to the front of the store.

I got in a short line at the checkout and waited, I think, .5 forevers as the cashier struggled with the transaction. Eventually, I gave up and moved over a lane. The cashier there was very friendly, but a little daft. She blamed it on the cold medicine when she inadvertently did a split transaction and I had to run my card twice. While the second transaction was processing, she reached down and got a tissue. I thought she was going to offer it to me since my hands – and the rest of me – was covered in dirt. Instead, she blew her nose.

I finally got out to the car and struggled again with the bags to get them in the trunk.

Plenty of opportunities for the crew there to really make my day better – but instead I got the minimum and it ended up being more work than my room-mate had when he dumped the dirt onto the lawn.