Thunder of Wade

A pretty ordinary day – and a fairly plain evening yesterday. I did purchase a paper-shreder, so that was kinda cool to fire up. Well planned and well executed destruction – gotta love it.

Also picked up the new Gorillaz CD – a little disappointing. What was even more disappointing was Target’s music section – I had a list of 5 cds I was looking for and I was lucky to find even one of them. Not very organized.

My playstation 2 is still chugging away. I’m not sure if I should get a new one so that I can play all my games again – or if I should just wait until the PS3 comes out.

Read a new Buffy book – supposedly taking place after the end of the series. I really enjoyed it – right up until the end. If I read it right – they made a sacrifice that was too precious to have made. I may have to re-read the ending again.

Speaking of reading – I saw that the Pope doesn’t like Harry Potter books. I’m thinking that maybe he should be focusing on more important issues, but that’s just me.

Well, I’ve got a few things to work on before lunch and my meeting – so, it’s back to work…

I took a look in the mirror last night and saw the underside of my tongue. It was still raw looking and sore. And it’s still sore this morning. I’m considering trying to get a picture via my webcam, but a few things are making me re-think the notion:

1. Ewww…that’s gonna be a gross picture.

2. What if someone walked into my office? How in the multiverse am I could to explain that one? “So, working hard today, Anthony?” they would ask.

3. The logistics and lighting issues are daunting.

4. What if I got eveything lined up for the shot and it’s no longer a visible wound? How lame is that?

So, I think I may pass on the photo op.

Watched a clip of the Wonka movie – the squirrels are excellent. Very focused, very clever, and easily pissed off. And very decisisve. Just like I would imagine squirrels would be if suddenly gifted with substantital intelligence. Though, for all I know, they could be well along on their path to world conquest.

Hmmm…maybe I should buy some peanuts for the ones in my backyard. Just in case. But none for that one that broke into my apartment and peed on my laptop. No nuts for that one.

And that’s it for now…time to get back to work.

Last night, while playing a fairly intense video game, I made the mistake of eating some pretzels. And I’m not talking about the tamed “Mr. Pretzel with his arms folded” variety. No, I’m talking about the harpoons of salty death. The kind that, if you grab a handful, there’s no way you’ll be able to get them anywhere near your mouth without puncturing your cheek.

With a little maneuvering and not a lot of sense (remember, I was distracted by a video game) I managed to get far too many pretzels in my mouth. And then something terrible happened. Through some quirk of fate, one of the aforementioned harpoons of salty death slid under my tongue and stabbed the underside of it. You know, that part that connects the underside of your tongue to the floor of your mouth? Yeah, that part.

Let’s start with “ouch” and move on from there. My video game character nearly died, but fortunately she’s feisty and runs away pretty well. I managed to retreat until the throbbing in my mouth died down to a dull ache (which is still there today).

And then, because I’m a guy and I had the muchies – I had another handful and got back to my game.

Yeah, I’m an idiot. In my defense, I was more careful – but a thinking and rational person would have thrown out the pretzels and opened up a container of yogurt.

And to add insult to injury (literally) – the game insulted me. See, way back in the day, there was a game called “Sonic the Hedgehog”. And if you let the controller sit idle for too long, Sonic would turn slightly toward you, glare, and tap his foot impatiently.

Well, in Balder’s Game: Dark Alliance 2 – the concept of an impatient character went a little too far. While I was recovering from the self-harpooning, my character on the screen thought I’d waited too long and said:

“If I have to wait here much longer, I’m going to strangle you with that controller cord”

And my response to that was: “Yikes! Okay, okay, give me a second”.

Of course she didn’t respond, but she did stop grumbling at me.

And that was pretty much my evening.

Back to work…

So, last night I discovered a gray hair on my chest. The gray on my head, well, I started getting that when I was a teenager. The gray in my beard, that’s been within the past couple of years. The gray on my chest – that ticked me off. I’m only 32. How is gray chest hair fair? Dang-it.

In other news… I was heading out to a meeting this morning and I headed out the back door of the building, since it lead to a more direct route. This is essentially a one way door and I would need to use my swipe-card to get back in the building via a differnt door. No prob.

As I was getting back to the building, I noticed one of my colleagues step out that one-way door to have a cigerette break, proping the door open behind her. I smiled and waved – then headed in that direction. I figured she could let me in that door and I’d get a short-cut back to my office.

No can do. Apparently, once the building went swipe card access only, a rule was put in place prohibiting anyone from being let in through that door. And if anyone was let in that door, then the “smoking dock” (since it’s the door for the loading dock) would be taken away.

Theoretically, I could have gone around the building and out through that door and joined her for a smoke – if I was a smoker – and then gone back in through that door that was propped open. But I’m not and I just went back to my desk.

Rules are rules. I understand and appreciate that. But, according to the letter of the law – should she have been allowed to prop open the door? Technically, she went outside via that door and then re-entered via that same door.

And what if I hold the door open for another colleage if I’m entering via the card-swipe door and they have their hands full? Should I require them to use their card, even if I know them and sit not more than 5 feet away from them? Would I be in the wrong – or would they?

It’s not a big deal either way and I’m not even sure it’s worth an entry in the blog. But, I thought it was odd and I figured that what this blog is all about anyway – documenting the odd.

I guess that’s the problem with having so many rules. They have to cover every situation and they have to be enforced. Maybe it would work better to change the rule so that you can only let in people that you know work there and are allowed in. Or maybe just put a card swipe on that door too and have people swipe to get back in after a break. The current set up just seems a little weird to me.

In other news…I need a nap. But, instead, it’s back to work…

So, I’m crusing down route 8, minding my own business and trying to get home – when, all of the sudden, everyone in front of me hits their brakes. So, I hit my brakes too – wondering for the billionth time what’s going on up ahead. Accident? Idiot? Cosmic glitch in space/time?

Nope. It’s a cop standing nex to his car, aiming his radar gun into traffic like a papparatzi tracking Jennifer Aniston. He’s hunting speeders, so everyone slams on the brakes so as not to be a speeder. And nearly causes an accident.

Now, I’ve heard about this big push to get rid of the “speeding cushion” to “help save lives”. Well, I’ve got news for you. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going – the real danger is from idiots on the road that don’t pay attention. Maybe they’re talking on cell phones or yelling at their kids or putting on makeup – they’re still under the general catagory of idiots and they’re still a menace on the road.

So, everyone slows down to the speed limit for awhile – then once we’re all past him, everyone speeds back up to about 5-7 miles over the speed limit.

Is this really the best use of this officer’s time? Aren’t there bigger problems out there that he could have helped with – or prevented?

Seemed like a waste to me – but hey, what do I know? I’m just one of the majority of people out there that think they are better than average drivers. 🙂

In other news…been working my posterior off with a file for work. The freaking thing is 9.7 mb and I’m trying to get it down to 2 or 3 mb. I’ve flattened the images, ripped out the fonts, and tried every compression option I can find. The best I’ve been able to do is 9.5 mb. I think I’m going to have to call in the experts – or maybe just delete a few sections. Think anyone would notice if I skipped pages 20-160?

I guess that’s it for now…time to get back to work…

Work on Friday was too busy for me to make an entry in teh blog, so, better late than never.

Over the course of the vacation week we:

1. Fought with the rain – getting things set up on the beach and retreating when the clouds took over.

2. Walked on the pier and the beach – and bravely laughed at talk of sharks from the safety of dry land.

3. Went out to eat several times – including a trip to the Hot Fish Club where I, ironically, got some fish that was mostly raw (kinda like sushi)

4. Did some touristy shopping and a very small degree of site-seeing.

And then we said our good-byes to the beach and ocean and headed back. We left very early on Saturday morning – and dealt with the overheating again, though it wasn’t as bad since the position of the sun made it less intense.

Then finally home to unpack and relax before going back to work.

The massive sunburn put a damper on the trip and the weather could have been better – but as I said all along, “No email, no phone, no voicemail, no work – still a good vacation”

I learned several valuable lessons and had quite a bit fo fun anyway – so, it all balances out to a good vacation.

Next time… back to the usual entries of funky dreams and random rants.

Later.

So, Tuesday night – instead of going out with my friend for his birthday – I went to the Doctor’s Care office in Surfside. I folded paper like a madman to keep from scratching and made a couple of complex models while waiting to be called. I gave them away to a kid in the waiting room. The first nurse got my weight and other vitals, then the doctor came and was somewhat amazed at the degree of sunburn. He wrote a prescritption for a painkiller (though it was itching more than hurting), and sent in nurse #2 to slather on about a pound of heavy silver-something cream. I kept folding and the cream helped – though she felt bad when she had to add more to a sensitive area of my back ’cause I would gasp. She got some origami when she was done too. Heck, I gotta give the stuff away or I’d be buried in it.

They put a hospital gown on me – backwards, so it was like a vest – then sent me on my way. We got the perscriptions filled – then headed back to the condo for cake. I took off the “vest” and kept threatening to hug everyone.

The next couple of days were a bit of a blur – and though I kept seeping with the blisters, I was getting steadly better. Spent a little time on the beach – fulled dressed under an umbrella – and in the pool, which really seemed to help. Though, I felt a little bad about “shedding” flakes of skin into the pool. It was a little gross, but I did try to stay away from everyone else in the pool.

Next time: wrapping up the week and heading home.

Now, back to work…

Sunday had some great weather – lots of sun and blue skies. I was on the beach building sandcastles or swimming in the ocean for most of the day. I was starting to get warm and knew I was sunburned, but didn’t realize how sunburned until later.

We went out for dinner that evening and I got the shivers – which I thought was just a reaction to the really cold resturant. I only ate about half my dinner and took the rest back to the condo. That night, in an increasing amount of pain from the sunburn and ensuing blisters – I lost my dinner in a fairly spectacular fashion. And I had a sore throat the rest of the week as a result.

Monday was spent indoors, fully dressed, and watching TV. Still cold, but feeling ever so slightly better to be out of the harsh sun.

Tuesday – and the blisters are taking on a life of their own. But only on my back. My front is a bit sunburned as well, but not as bad. So, I put on some aloe on my chest to help forestall any problems. Turns out – big problem. I had a terrible reaction to the aloe and started itching like crazy. And when I say crazy – I mean full-blown-put-me-in-the-psych-ward kinda crazy.

Part of me wanted to scratch. Part of me knew better. My compromise was to rub the affected area – which still wasn’t good, but was better than humping a tree.

Got the aloe washed off and tried a couple more anti-histmine flavored sprays – and it kept getting worse. I was in full freak-out mode. So, armed with a stack of paper to keep my hands occupied I was taken to the stat care down the street.

Next time: Lots of cream and a spiffy new vest.

It’s been a bit since I’ve blogged – I’ve been out of town on vacation. I’m back to work now and trying to get caught up, so I’m going to break down my vacation report into several days.

We headed out the Friday before last – driving south toward Myrtle Beach. The car was having some overheating issues, so for a good part of the trip we drove with windows down and heat turned on. I don’t really mind the heat so I wasn’t too bothered by it, but the hot air did tend to dry my contacts out.

Over the course of the drive we passed though:

Virginia’s Technology Corridor – which appeared to be mostly trees.

Bland, NC – where we stopped to have to some white rice, plain backed potatoes, dry toast and water without ice. Just kidding – we didn’t stop there.

Polymer Alliance Zone (WV). Not sure what that means, but I felt good about it since I work in Akron – Aka Polymer City.

We arrived at our waypoint for the trip a few hours later and stopped for the night. We were awakened at 12:30 that night with a loud pounding on the door, but when we finally answered it, no one was there. We’re still puzzled about that one.

It was raining when we got to the condo the next day and it would rain on and off for much of the week. Saturday was for grocery shopping and settling in.

Sunday, the weather broke and we headed for the beach. I dutifully put on sun block, but apparently the ocean washed it off much sooner than I anticipated. The results of this situation were soon to become painfully obvious.

Next time – the beginning of the blisters.

Back to work…

The past couple of nights I’ve had some trouble getting to sleep and this morning when I woke up had a master of space and time moment – one where I attempted to defy the passage of time – then realized it was still early and I didn’t need to worry about getting up.

I’ve been a little cranky and stressed the past few days. Taking a little vacation soon and travel stresses me out. Plus, you would not believe the weird ass phone calls I’ve been getting this week. All I want to do is get my job done and get the heck out of here.

The power just flickered here – not enough to take down my computer, but enough to flicker the lights. Could be a really unplesant day if I get in the middle of something and we lose power entirely.

Well, I guess this post won’t be much except me being cranky and complaining a bit. What? Did you expect a sonet?

Oh, one quick thing – I found out from my favorite DC Flash site that a Flash movie is in pre-production. All three of the legacy flashes are being considered for the focus of the movie and it’s expected to talk about the Speed Force. Those of you out there in blog land who are looking to get smacked around by an angry geek should at this point ask me a question referencing Flash Gordon. Not the same guy, people.

Flash Gordon = Lame ass ex-football player hero wanna-be.

The Flash = Coolest superhero ever. Outruns time and death itself. Saves the entire world in a half-second. Leaves Superman in his dust.

That’s it for now, time to get back to work…