Thunder of Wade

Saturday morning, I discovered water on my kitchen floor.  My stand-alone freezer had stopped working.  I figured I’d need to be making some calls so I plugged in my phone to charge while I did some clean up.  The little food I had in there was a loss and it took me a bit to get the water cleaned up.  I also started a load of laundry in the washer in the basement.  Went upstairs and noticed that the alarm clock in my room wasn’t working.  Back downstairs and noticed that my phone wasn’t charging.   Did more investigation and found:

1. Most of of the kitchen, including the microwave and fridge were fine.  One of the lights, an outlet, and the freezer were not.

2. The rest of the first floor (including the playstation and internet, thankfully) and the basement were fine, except for the dryer.  (note that I had already stared a load of laundry in the washer).

3. There’s a centipede the size of a gopher next to the washer.

4. The second floor, except for a few outlets here and there, was dark.  My closet light still worked, but not my overhead light or the outlet with my alarm clock.  The bathroom was also dark.

5. No breakers were thrown – though I reset them just in case, including the main.  The problems were on both sides of the panel and didn’t seem to have a pattern.  I also checked the meter outside and it was still spinning.

So, I called the home warranty company and the automated system promised to dispatch a technician – within 24-48 hours.   I took some showers in the dark by flashlight and had my alarm clock in the other room.

This morning, the Total Tech Electric contacted me and set up an appointment.  The technician was very helpful and checked things out  – and found that the problem was not in my house.  Instead he said that it was one of the lines coming into my house and that it feed every other breaker.  So, it only looked like an inside problem without a pattern.

They charged me $55 for the service call and suggested I call the power company.  I used the automated system to report a partial lose of power and they estimated a repair time by 1:30 today.

So, I got off pretty easy on this one.  Hopefully, I should have full power back on when I get home.

Last evening, I attended the 10th Annual Office of Multicultural Diversity Scholarship and Awards dinner.  The office wanted to recognize me for the help I’ve given them over the years and they named me a Campus Partner.  Which was pretty cool.

The evening started with pictures of the recipients, snacks, and a silent auction. The dinner was pretty good and the company at the table was a little… off-beat.  🙂

There were awards for outstanding students, scholarship recipients, community leaders.  Most of the students did not have speeches prepared – though nearly all of the adults were prepared.  I took the middle ground of writing some notes on a small piece of a paper, leaving that paper at the table when I got up to get my plaque, and then winging it.

One funny note.  I’m friends with the event organizer and she is a big fan of my Halloween costumes and considered using them in the powerpoint.  She decided not to at the last minute and didn’t tell the presenter.  He directed everyone’s attention to the screen – and there were no photos to see.  A little awkward – I then mentioned that I had submitted a zombie photo, but thought the dress shirt and tie was a little more appropriate.

So, I got a free dinner and a nice plaque out of it.  Think I may hang that up in my office.

1. So, a big thank you to my Former Co-Worker and his family for the invite.  My friend and I had a great time with them and I think we all got along really well.

2. I got a great tan from the trip and decided to grow a beard.  Pictures of these and a few beefcake (sort of) speedo pics of me will be forthcoming.  I also helped my FCW and his family get some beach photos – looking forward to seeing those.

3. The drive back was really really long, but I had loaded up my flash drives with music and it made things go a little faster.

4. The final dinner out was at Aunt Chileta’s  – a restaurant my friend had been trying to go to for years and always missed out on.  After all the hype, the food was “just okay”.

5. I didn’t buy any HHI merchandise, though I was tempted a few times by a sweet hat.

6. It was great to get away for a week and though we didn’t do much except hang out on the beach, it was so relaxing that I’m not really dreading going back to work.  My friends remarked that I was unusually friendly to strangers on the beach, guess time will tell if that lasts.

So, there’s my beach trip.  I’ll get some photos posted soon once I do a little editing.  Time to get these posted and enjoy the cool Ohio day.  Maybe wash my car, maybe play some video games, maybe do a little cleaning.  In any case, I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet before heading back to work.

My friend and I drove down most of the way on Friday night and stayed in a huge hotel room.  The bathroom alone was bigger than the office I share with 4 other people.  Huge.   And the breakfast the next morning was great.

We drove the rest of the way on Saturday and met up with my Former Co-Worker and his beautiful wife and their little girl.  The condo we stayed at was pretty nice on the surface – plenty of room, nice view, washer/dryer, etc.   But there were a lot of little things that were broken or damaged or didn’t work quite right that made us suspect that it had been a while since a maintenance crew had done a careful inspection.  Not enough to disrupt the trip, but just a little… off.

The walk to the beach was only a few minutes – not bad even when loaded up with all the usual beach gear – though a little long when bleeding from a Kraken attack.

The island itself was… pretentious.  All the business signs were small and tasteful – which made finding anything a chore. Some areas were gated and required a fee to even drive on that part of the island.  Others would fine you for straying off the approved driving paths. It made the island pretty, but felt a little “better than thou”  The worst was the gatepass – a story that ties into the story of the wedding.

See, my friend’s friend was getting married and she rearranged her Hilton Head Island wedding to accommodate when he was going to be there.  So, we got wrapped in the trials and tribulations of the least organized bride ever.   She invited us out to dinner the night before the wedding, but since this was after the rehearsal dinner, we wisely chose to eat beforehand.  My friend and I were pretty much ‘on call’ waiting to hear back from her about dinner and it didn’t happen until 9:00. We split a dessert while the rest of the crew ate and called it a night when the jovial server (who called herself Aunt Pam), finally decided to bring the checks around.

The wedding was supposed to start at 7:00 the next day and we had been asked to arrive at 6:30 – and to dress in white shirts, black pants, and black shoes.  Now, I balked a little at that – who wants to bring dress clothes on vacation? – but we were ready to go in plenty of time and headed out.

And got stopped at the gate.  No guest pass, you see.  We drove around this loop looking for the main gate, getting madder by the moment at the lack of signs and found another gate.  No good, we were turned away and given vague directions.  Finally found the well hidden main gate and security office and asked for a pass.  We had to give the address, confirm that it was rental property, and indicate how long we were going to be there before getting a guest pass for the evening.  I joked to my friend that the way we were dressed suggested that we might be the infamous “bus boy bandits” out for another raid.

Finally got to the wedding site and it wasn’t until 7:30 before things started.  And… it was a very nice ceremony.  The officiator was well spoken and the backyard venue with the lagoon was pretty.  My friend and I  – in our matching outfits  – were apparently the only ones that got the memo.  We were also the only guests, everyone else was in the wedding – including the brother-in-law of the bride in sneakers and a nice bowling shirt.  (Really? Yes, really.)

After the wedding it was out to dinner at the Old Oyster Factory restaurant. We had eaten beforehand and it was a good thing, the food was crazy expensive.  Two appetizers and drinks were over $40.00.    The guy sitting next to me got a meal that I’m sure would have require a second mortgage if I’d ordered it.  It was after 10:30 before we got out of there and made our way back to the condo.  Everyone was really nice and it was an okay – if really long evening.   Oh, and the one kid our table for dinner kept requesting origami and then kept crumpling them or unfolding them.  I was able to salvage a few and I know they don’t last, but sheesh! Enjoy them for a few minutes before you savage them, okay?

Breakfast on the island was usually cereal and lunches were frequently turkey sandwiches, but evenings were for going out to eat. Here are the highlights:

1. Cracker Barrel.  The food was okay, but the clerk in the country store was inhumanly cheery.  I couldn’t stand her, and she kept stalking me.  I suspected she was developed in a vat of “down-home country cheer”, but that did not excuse her behavior.  I was grateful to have escaped and would not be  – as she suggested – “coming back around to see them soon”

2. Pizza from the local pizza place.   Two pizzas = $38.50   They were good, I think.  We were all so hungry that they might have been terrible – but even if they were “good”, they weren’t “$38.50” good.  Dang.

3. Outback.  I got the burger and we all split an order of tuna ahi that was amazing.  I added a little of the wasabi and soy dipping sauce to my burger  – it was really good.

4. At the Harbor Burgers and Brews (I had the chicken), we got attacked by an errant Frisbee.  I did my best “Get off my Lawn!” old man scowl at the kids that came around the shrubs to retrieve the errant disk.  Didn’t get even a half-heated “sorry” when I handed it back to them.  I vowed to de-rezz at least one of the little jerks if they tossed it back at me, but they had better aim for the rest of the meal.  The food was good, but the portions were a little small – think we were all still a little hungry after we ate. Fries were good though.

5. Fudruckers was really pricey, but they had a University of Akron pennant on the wall.

6. Had to go to organic foods store to find any peaches.  Really?  I thought that they just handed those out in the South.

7. Triple chocolate brownie and an orange soda at Starbucks.  Made metalkreallyreallyreallyfastaboutnothingimportantforafewminutes.

8. Old Oyster Factory.  There’s more to this story than the $40 tab for two appetizers, but that is better served for another entry.

9. Reilly’s had really good food and the outdoor patio was great.

Overall, I ate pretty well, complained about the cost quite a bit, and got enough exercise that I didn’t feel bad about the occasional gorging.

Just got back from a week long vacation on Hilton Head Island.  Rather than a day by day run-down of the trip, I thought a topical overview would be more interesting.   So, the Ocean.

I swam 10 miles over the course of the week.  2 miles per day, usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon, though the last 2 days had me going twice in the morning so I would have the afternoons free. The ocean wasn’t very rough and the currents weren’t as strong as I expected.  It was actually a little boring at times.  I know I can do a mile in about 40 minutes in the pool, so I timed my ocean  trips and decided that if I swam 45 minutes, that would be about a mile’s worth of effort.

I did have to take a break in the middle for a day since I was attacked by a Kraken.   And by “Kraken” I mean a shell that I tried to pick up off the floor of the ocean with my feet.  And by “attacked”, I mean that the sharp edge of the shell cut my left big toe.  Enough that I was bleeding by the time I got back up to the beach.  I poured water over it to get most of the sand out and then put on flip flops to hobble back to the condo.  I got it cleaned up, slathered on the neosporin, and slapped a band-aid on it.  It still seeped for a couple days, but the waterproof band-aids I got did their job and I was back in the ocean.

Along with the “mystery shell of death” aka “RELEASE THE KRAKEN!”, I found a lot of sand dollars (living), a bunch of small empty shells, and several broken horseshoe crab shells.  I saw some dolphins in the water on the way across the bridge to the island, a couple jumping fish, was nearly dive-bombed by some pelicans, and  – on the last day – a jelly-fish.  Sharks don’t really worry me much – the odds are against an attack – and I know how to handle rip tides.  But a jelly-fish?  I don’t mess around with those.

Another danger of the deep – well, the shallows – were a couple of asshole surf-casters. Despite the clearly posted signs at the entrance to the beach prohibiting fishing from the shore since it was a swimming beach, there were a couple guys out on different days doing just that.   I yelled at one of them as I swam past that it was dangerous for him to be fishing while there were swimmers in the water.  He yelled back that I was far enough out that it wouldn’t matter.

That, of course, is not the damn point.  I was pretty steamed, but since I couldn’t find a lifeguard and I was done with my swim for the day I didn’t confront him further.  Still.  The shell was pretty bad, but I can’t imagine how much it would suck to get hooked.

The ocean part of my trip ended peacefully though.  Took a couple of late night walks on the beach and enjoyed the sound of the waves, the stars overhead and cool breeze.  Too bad I couldn’t take that with me – though the sunshine during the day did give me an excellent tan that will last a while as I go back to work in my windowless office.

I took the younger (relatively) of the Ladies from New York to dinner last evening.  I had invited both she and her mother, but the elder wasn’t feeling up to it.  We went to Rockne’s and she remarked how long it had been since she’d been there – we figured it must have 1996 or 1997.  I congratulated her that she was “still kicking” and she replied that she had had some close calls.  I reassured her that she was “too stubborn” and she laughed.

This morning as I got into the office, one of my co-workers reported that I had just missed the bio-hazard crew.  Apparently, a custodian had reported “a trashcan full of needles” to the Health and Safety office.  He was mystified and sent them on their way, but I correctly deduced what had happened.

Our student assistant is diabetic and sure enough, he had carefully capped a used needle and disposed of it in the trashcan at his desk.  Hardly “full of needles”, but still apparently enough to freak everyone out.

I called Health and Safety and reported what had  happened – and asked for the correct disposal procedure.  Before we could implement anything, the building coordinator stopped by and told us there was a sharps container in the building already.  I updated our student via email and we should be fine.  Still, bio-hazard?  Must be a Thursday.

I got out into the sunshine at lunchtime and got some really excellent sushi.  I sat out in the sun, wielded my chopsticks like a pro (I know, you aren’t really supposed to eat sushi with chopsticks but it’s fun), and ate a fresh pear on my way to the bank.

The bank tellers are always friendly – must be some kind of gas they pump into the building – and I was on my way in no time.

I’m hoping the rest of the afternoon goes as smoothly.

So, I lost the USB cable for my camera.  I’ve got all kinds of USB cables, but none that this particular “standard”.  I went to Radio Shack to see if they had a replacement one.  The clerk met me at the door and walked me over to the cables section to find one that would fit my camera.  He even opened up the package so we could check it and make sure.  It fit and I was directed over to the counter.

And then the questions began.

1. Do I need any batteries? (for my USB cable?)  I said no.

2. What cell phone provider do I have?  (Again, for my USB cable?)  I told them Verizon – and that I have a contract.

3. What kind of phone do I have?  (Again, USB?) I told them I had a crap phone.

4. They offered to sign me up for a automatic notice – plus a $5 dollar coupon for when my contract expires.  (Sigh. Really?)  I told them no thank you and that I was just there for the USB cable.

5. Do I want a 3 year warranty on the cable?  (Really?  The USB standards are likely to change before the warranty expires and really?  a warranty on a cable?)  I declined.

I swiped my card though the reader and was asked if I wanted to contribute to the Livestrong Foundation.  I declined, again.

6.  I was asked if I needed a bag. (For my one cable in a plastic box.)  I declined.

Finally escaped and it really did feel like an escape.  I don’t think I got this many questions when I was being picked for jury duty.

In better USB news… my new car has a USB port that lets me load up a simple flash drive with MP3 files and just plug it in.  All the controls are through the car and I can go through folders and files and play the music right through the car speakers.  The sound is amazing.  I was really jamming when I was driving around last night.

Dinner tonight with the Ladies from New York after my swim.  Looking forward to getting out of here for the day – it’s been a rough one.

I got 20 laps in the pool yesterday – bringing me up to 99 miles so far for the year.  After work today, I’ll do another mile and be at 100.   Since my goal is 120 miles for the year, I’m feeling pretty good about being able to reach that.  Not Olympic by any means, but not bad for an almost 40 year old geek.

I got to see my former co-worker and his family last night.  They came over so that he could pick up his stored music and we went out to eat with one of my friends .  They got to see my car and we had fun chatting with their 2 year old.

And I had turned on my air-conditioner for the first time.  There was a 2 year old in my house and I want to stay on her good side.  The adults are less likely to get audibly cranky when the house is hot in the summer – the 2  year old is less reserved.

Later that evening I played some Darksiders 2 – sweet game. Lots of clever puzzles and monsters to smack down.

Also got a little free mental analysis from my friend – he made a connection between my love of boxes and containers (I freaking love containers) and my tendency to compartmentalize my thought processes.    Seems pretty obvious in hindsight, but it was something of a revelation to me.    Not sure what to do with this new knowledge – though I’m not giving up on my boxes.   And I’m kinda fond of my mental walls too.  Yeah, it does keep people at a distance, but it also shields me against telepaths.    Good luck trying to get into my head, Sookie Stackhouse.  Or Professor Xavier.  Or Martian Manhunter.    You may scoff, but telepaths are a bigger problem than you think.  And I’m ready for them.

Did I mention how much I love containers?

Anyway, looking forward to my swim this afternoon and a nice quiet weekend.

I woke up this morning with a skull-splitter of a headache.  A full on migraine  – great way to start the day.  I called my boss and left a message for him that I was out, but would try to make it in later in the day.  I took an aspirin, knowing full well it was too late, then put in ear plugs, added a bandanna over my eyes to shut out the little light coming in, and tried to wait it out.

No luck.  Then the nausea hit and it was almost welcome.  In the past, throwing up has helped break the grip of the migraine.  Think it might be a pressure overload that does the trick.  In any case, I couldn’t throw up.  In desperation, I even gagged myself and that took several attempts before I was successful.

When I was done, I was exhausted, had a sore throat, and was thirsty.  I got some water, got back in bed, and finally fell asleep.

I woke up a few hours later around 10 and decided I was well enough to go to work.  The headache had faded to a dull roar and I was on the road by 10:30.   The drive usually takes me about 5-6 minutes and I knew I would have a little more trouble with parking that usual, but I was unprepared for what faced me.

Wall to wall, every space filled.  All of them.  I had to stop in the middle of my search to go refill my gas tank.  After 45 minutes, I ended up at literally the farthest away I could be from my office and still be on campus.  And this was after I had two spaces open up behind me only to watch them get filled in my rear-view mirror.

I had an apple with me and I ate that on my walk into the office.  It helped my mood a bit and I was very nearly a human being by the time I got to my desk.  And then I opened my email…

So, I’m at work and already hoping for the end of the day.  I snacked for lunch and may try to grab a bite to eat this afternoon.  I’ve got my swim gear, but I don’t know if I’ll be hitting the pool after work today.