this is apparently the cigar box from the day i was born, at least that’s what i was told. what is up with the sad clown face over the owl? a bit odd, yet oddly appropriate.
i had some other not-quite-artifacts (an official artifact is 50 years old…i’m not there yet) that i was scanning and saving when my hard drive crashed. maybe someday i’ll work on scanning them again so that i can share.
I was pretty sick the other night. I’ll spare you the gory details, but I’ll say this much, the thing about being sick is that it sure makes you appreciate being healthy. It’s almost a wake-up call of sorts. Just in case I was taking for granted my good health, here’s a reminder of how lucky I really am.
I am also thankful that it was food that made me sick and not chemo. Okay, it is a bit discouraging that something healthy (unclean brussel sprouts, we think) made me so sick, but at least it’s not life threatening. At least I wasn’t battling cancer or whatnot. I was thinking about that the other day as I was standing in the checkout line at the store. I’m not a very patient person. I don’t like waiting. But then I thought about all the people in the world who were right at that same moment waiting to hear back on some horrible test results…at least I wasn’t waiting for that. Better to be waiting to buy some discounted clothes than waiting to hear how long I have left to live.
And just for the record, I was also quite thankful for having my own private bathroom versus living in a dorm or government housing and having to share one, but we won’t go into detail there.
So, see, there is something good in everything. Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining. Just sometimes you have to search pretty darn hard to find it!
November 12- the stormy season has begun. or should i say the windy season? either way, i know it’s the beginning because we lost power today for about 7 hours. what a pain. so we went shopping instead, though i wasn’t really in the mood for shopping. i’m not a big shopper. rob likes to wander up and down the aisles of Costco whereas i just like to get in and get out. not a good match. the only thing that saved me from utter impatience was discovering that Costco carries the magazine Digital Photographer. Oh My Gosh, i couldn’t believe it. The only other place i have ever seen this magazine is in the Juneau library, and even they stopped carrying it. probably got too expensive. $12.99. Yep. even after Costco’s 30% discount it’s $9.09. problem is, the magazine comes from England. and no, sadly, i could not bring myself to buy it. but i certainly did enjoy flipping through it!
What else? My external hard drive crashed yesterday. What a pain in the you know what! That was worse than the power going out! dang thing. Western Digital My Book Premium 500 GB. You won’t find me buying one of those again. I’ve had it for maybe 2 months, used it maybe 5 times, next thing i know it’s telling me it’s not formatted. Excuse my language, but bullsh*t. It most certainly was formatted. It most certainly did have files on it. Grrrrrr.
and people wonder why i’m so irritable. i have been a bit irritable since i returned from back east. which is contrary to what you’d expect, considering how happy i was to be back. but whatever.
China. That’s not a good subject, is it? We’ve got bad dog food, lead in toys, drugs in toys. Maybe this is a wake up call, to think twice about outsourcing, to encourage us to buy American.
that’s all for now. i’m on an anti-internet kick. plus, of course, the aforementioned irritable. (=
FedEx is desperate and so I am, so we decided to join forces and work together. Okay, that’s not necessarily true. FedEx is probably desperate but I’m not. In fact, I’m most likely the fool for wanting to work there, since it would involve a commute on my part. And who the heck wants to commute with these gas prices? Me, apparently. Nah, I’m not big on the commute, but I do think it will be an interesting experience AND a step up from being a driver-helper.
So I went to Skagit Valley Occupational Medicine today to get a DOT physical and drug test. To heck with kindness and compassion, those were 2 of the most humorless nurses I’ve ever met. Joking with the drug test nurse evidently ranks right up there with joking with airport security. In other words, not a good idea. Mind you, I wasn’t joking about drugs or anything of the sort. Rather, I was just trying to insert some levity into her day. Not a good idea and I quickly learned just to shut up. Thankfully I’m pretty good at that. I’ve got a lot of practice.
I thought the nurse in purple scrubs would be a bit less irritable. After all, she didn’t have to contend with strict drug testing regulations and more importantly, she was wearing purple! My favorite color! No one can be cantankerous in purple, right? Wrong! She had the overworked and unpaid, revolving door mentality. Get those patients in and out as fast as possible. What was I but another eye to read the chart, an ear to whisper at, a hear to beat. Another cog on the wheel, another leaf on the tree. A bit disheartening and at the same time, reassuring. Why reassuring? You go to the doctors office and you can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed in those little paper gowns. She has shown me that you know what? They really don’t care about what is under those gowns. There really is no need to be modest because they have seen it all, and you are just another warm body wanting to be dissected. Pleasant.
I was actually spared the indignity of the paper gown. I fear my eyes are failing me though. I was struggling to read the eye chart. Of course, I kept trying to read the smallest letters. She kept telling me to read the next size larger. Discouraging. In the end, my left eye was 20/13, my right was 20/20 (clearly I tested my right eye second, after it was all foggy from being shut), both eyes together were 20/15. For the hearing test we stood on opposite sides of the room, me facing the wall. She whispered for me to raise my right hand. I raised my left. Whoops. I was never very good with directionals. Then she took my blood pressure (102/70) and thankfully left. Yay!
Enter thy doctor like a breath of fresh air. Yay again! What a nice guy! The difference probably being that he is not overworked or underpaid…in fact, he only works twice a week. As you might have guess, he was a chatty fellow, he’s gotta mow the lawn this weekend. Big lawn, as he bought the lot next to him, ensuring that he would always have an ocean view. Anyway, big compliment time—he asked me if I ran! Or otherwise worked out! He said he doesn’t see many people who have the appropriate body weight for their height. That was nice! So, I passed. Thank goodness for that.
Cranium is an awesome board game that makes you think (imagine that). They also have a blog from which I stole these questions. If you want to answer these questions for all the world to see and for a chance of winning a prize, visit their page in its entirety here.
what an incredibly boring flight American has to offer. Mom prefers this airline because they offer more leg room but that’s about all they seem to offer. Okay, you get a couple of beverages too. Big deal. You have to pay additional money to eat anything substantial and there is absolutely no option of in-flight entertainment. Unless you consider their free American Way magazine entertainment. I don’t. Even perusing the SkyMall catalog didn’t hold my interest. I need something more to distract me from this lousy mood. Freebie magazines and 2 glasses of orange juice just don’t cut it. This 4 hour 30 minute flight seems impossibly long. Get me back on the ground in Washington State already! I want to be home! I want to be back with Rob and the dogs. Thank goodness for the unconditional love of puppies!
