Still Settling In

Memories versus reality is a harsh competition. I remember the last time I was living on my own. I remember how much money I was making, how much my bills were and how much I had left over. I make more now, and on the surface, it seems that I have the same amount of bills. But there doesn’t seem to be more money left over. I think a lot of it has to do with having a state income tax now, as well as higher prices for everything. I am still trying to get the baseline for the budget. I am making all the ends meet, but after I get done with the “have-to’s” I don’t have enough for all of the “want to’s.” Granted, my want-to’s are pretty damn expensive. Plus, I have kids, who occasionally need help. In my mind, that was a have-to. It pisses me off though. I bail the kid out, and I don’t even get a thank you call afterwards. I am becoming very disappointed with my oldest.

Oh, to Bonafide, I found a way to make a geekier post. I will tell you about my weekend. I have not been feeling well for over a week. Fuzzy head, cough, and a weird kind of upset stomach. I have been belching so much I keep peeking out the blinds expecting Al Gore to show up pissed about my methane emissions contributing to Global Warming. Like he isn’t doing enough already to try and make me feel like its all my fault. So, after a week of suffering through work feeling like shit, I decided to do the sick kid at home. I wasn’t going to go anywhere, I wasn’t going to do anything. I was going sit home, watch movies, play video games and read comic books. I even had chicken noodle soup. I kept thinking that Peter Falk would show up to pinch my cheeks and tell me a story about princesses and dread pirates and true love. I was going to have him elaborate on the kissing bits, preferably with Internet clips. So, geek factor calculations: Video Games +1; Comic Books +5; Movies included Anime +10. Now we get to the part where my geek cred skyrockets. There is a Comic Convention in Baltimore next week that I am planning on going to, (+15) so I reviewed the guest list and recognized at least three artists, two of whom I have been following and have their complete comic runs. (+20) I made sure that my comic database was up to date (+10) and generated a list of the ones I missing, mostly the alternate covers. (+10) Then, I did some digging on the computer and found the location where the database software stores the cover scans and copied them to my iPhone so I could compare them at the convention and not buy ones I don’t need. (+ 5,000) Then, just to wrap up the geek weekend, I finished the Lego Star Wars II and Lego Indiana Jones video games. Completed, 100%.

I spent the week thinking about the things that I have posted about before. I knew that even before I left X2B, I had been fairly lonely. That is a sad comment on where our relationship had ended up, that you could be with someone, every day, and feel lonely. But now, in a new area where I really only know one person outside of work, the loneliness takes on a different aspect. Now, there isn’t even anyone to talk to, even though they didn’t really listen in the first place. I think I will find a mannequin and set it up somewhere to talk to, a la Will Smith in I Am Legend. Or I could keep talking back to the TV and yelling at the damn cheating video games.

I set up a FaceBook account. I knew a few people on it, it was free, and what the hell. Maybe I could see who else is in the area and meet a few people to at least hang out with so I dont drink beer alone. FaceBook is very depressing when you first set it up. What a affirmation it is to have a computer look you right in the eye and tell you “You have no friends.” Well, duh. Thats why I am here, stupid website. I added a few friends, I need to take a closer look at the site, because from what I have seen it is pretty damn pointless. I added my son, and entered the high school I graduated from. FaceBook keeps telling me that I might know people that I went to high school with. They are all my sons friends. he has like 150 friends, and FaceBook wants me to talk to them. Mostly the girls. Facebook is creepy. CraigsList would be less creepy, at least there you have a pretty good idea that things arent quite on the up-and-up.

I know that it takes time to settle into a new life, especially in a new area. I suffer from no delusions that there are going to be people knocking on my door wanting to hang out without offering me a new religion. But, I do still feel restless occasionally. But I have also learned a few things in my ever increasing years, and hopefully wont make the same mistakes I did in the past. Hopefully I have gained a bit of wisdom, and wont allow a brief respite from loneliness turn into a long term period of suffering.

Things will look up, they always do.

Into The Wilds of Idaho

Well, the road trip proceeded. We managed to get out the door only 30 minutes late rather than the couple of hours I was expecting. There was a disappointing moment when I found out my road trip buddies wouldnt be coming along, in spite of the fact they had driven 4 hours the day before to be ready. Wonderful. Two days of no one but me and X2B. Hopefully, she would sleep the entire trip. Got down the road about an hour and the coffee finished its rapid route through my system. Luckily, the route I chose had a lot of rest areas along the way. And cool enough, they all have free wi-fi. I could have blogged from any of the Texas rest areas, if I wasn’t so antsy about getting down the road. Paraphrasing Jerry Reed, I had a long ways to go, and a short time to get there. Unfortunately, in my case the song would have continued “West bound and down, look at ol’ X2B go to the bathroom again.” So anyway, X2B is reading the first book of some series she has and asks if we can stop at the next rest area to use the wifi to see if the third book in the series is out. I whip out the Kindle, with an air of smugness, I tell her to look it up. “But there isnt any wifi out here.” She protests. I scoff. “You dont need wifi, this uses the Sprint cellular data network. If there is a cell phone signal, it should be able to browse the internet. It’s slow, but it works.”

I show her how to use the Kindle to surf Amazon and she does an amazing thing. She goes from “Oh my God this is the coolest thing ever!” to “Oh, you stupid piece of shit!” in about 5 miles. The cell signal just happened to keep dropping, and the data rate is slow in the best of circumstances. This would be the point at where I started losing patience with the negative attitude and bitching that would continue the rest of the trip. We get close to Amarillo, and A&W call. They decided to come after all and wanted to know what route I was taking. Hooray! Now some people I like will be along. We keep talking on the phone back and forth and finally meet up in Colorado Springs, where we get a room for the night. Crash hard.

The next morning, get X2B up and get all the shit packed up and in the truck. Go with A&W to IHOP for breakfast where they inform me that they are not going to be continuing on with us. Bummer. X2B had been up pretty much all night, so I knew that she would be sleeping most of the way. Apparantly this was not her plan, finally deciding to “get her days and nights straight.” Riiiight. I was able to invent a new road trip game. It isnt as action packed as road trip Bingo, but it interesting. I call it “What will she drop next?” The back seat of the truck was full of her various “projects” to do on the way. These include: books to read, knitting to do, crocheting to do, needlepoint to do, magazines to read, Playstation Portable to play, Nintendo DS to play… you get the idea. So, we start off with the book. Here is how the game plays out. She reads the book while I listen to music and drive. Then, I hear the deep inhalation of breath that signifies sleep. Now, I have to decide if she will drop the book or not. She does, then picks it up off the floor and starts to read. Lather, rinse, repeat. Now comes phase two of the game. How many times will she be awakened by the falling book before she switches to something else. Usually, four. Then she puts the book away, and gets out the PSP. Now the game gets even more interesting. See, I bought her the PSP for Christmas, and I KNOW she is going to drop it. So, now I have to listen for the breath, but that isnt always the best indicator, so I have to keep an eye out. I have to watch the road and her, waiting to reach over and grab the PSP before it hits the ground. As an added level of difficulty, the PSP cannot be taken away as she is nodding off, as she will deny that she was falling asleep. You can only take it away after catching it on its way to the ground in order for her to admit she had fallen asleep. After the PSP has been caught, the crochet comes out. This one is more fun for me, since I dont try to catch the crochet needles, and they invariably roll under her seat. This is a built in time limit.

So, we continue on and I finally reach the last leg of the trip, getting off the divided interstate and onto a 110 mile stretch of Wyoming road before going over a steep mountain pass. Should be about three hours. Except for one tiny little detail. It started to snow. In May. I call and talk to my Dad when we get about an hour and a half away, and he tells me weather info. We decide that it may be safer to take an alternate route rather than going over the steep mountain pass. It snows the whole way, and I almost hit a deer. Slamming on the brakes didnt wake up X2B, though. Finally get to the folks’ house and unload the crap. My suitcase, my laptop backpack, and the dizzying array of crap that accompanies X2B whenever we travel. Huge duffel bag of clothes, huge bag of toiletries, the “entertainment” collection previously mentioned, and three pillows, one memory foam pillow that weighs as much as I do, one regular pillow, and one body pillow. Finally, we have arrived and I visit with the folks for about an hour and go to bed.

I bought a Lottery Ticket

So this week has been going so well, that I am almost ready to start planning how to spend my lottery winnings. Not just fantasizing, but actually ordering things like boats and politicians. I got a call from the attorney on Monday, telling me that they had finally gotten the answer on the medical settlement from the insurance company, and we got everything we asked for. This is a HUGE step in my future plans. The next miracle was the ready agreement by the spouse to all of my terms for how the money will be handled. Also a huge deal.

Skip forward two days. I check the old bank balance online and my Economic Stimulus Check has been direct deposited. Oh, got me some phat cash straight from the government teat. I was really hoping this would happen before I leave on my trip to see the middle kid graduate High School (how many times can you plan a vacation to see a miracle?) so I could get a laptop. I have been without since I sold my old monster 17″ widescreen to get a MacBook. I never got it, because, by what I am sure is mere coincidence, the spouse all the sudden had needs that took all the money. Anyway, no bitterness, this is supposed to be a more positive post. I really wanted a laptop for the trip, I am fairly obsessive about keeping track of money, and I needed Quicken and my Excel spreadsheet keeping the budget on track for the trip. So I had been looking at laptops at Best Buy, not seriously, because, you know, it’s Best Buy. They had a laptop for 429 that would do what I needed, baasically run Quicken, surf, my mapping software and play World of Warcraft. So, after seeing the money magically deposited into my account, I decided to go pick it up on my lunch hour. Lo and Behold! Marked down to $329!

I bought my lottery ticket this morning. Maybe after I win I will have more time to blog using my new laptop.

Be Brave, Little Author!

A long time ago, while sitting in coffee shops, I wrote a couple of books. The first one I wrote was based on a dream my wife had where our respective families found ourselves living in the land of Everquest. The people it was based on loved it, but with Everquest no longer the king of the MMORPG world, its relevance is waning fast. When that book was done, I found that I had enjoyed the writing process and started writing an original novel.

I had been reading a lot of Esther Friesner, and really enjoyed her combination of fantasy, humor and modern settings. I decided to try to go that route, except have a fantasy setting where the character names and manner of speech reflected modern times. I started typing it out, planning on submitting it eventually. I finally decided to “publish” it on another blog, chapter by chapter in serial form.

Check the links here to see the new page and, hopefully, enjoy the Adventures of Sam, Bob and Tink.

Be kind, denizens of the net.

p.s. I think somebody bookmarked the Unka C’s Story Time post. I dont think it is that great, but it gets all the hits.

The FBI Will Never Find Me Now

So I thought when I started this blog that I would be using it to talk about things that are happening in my life and what I thought or felt about them. I havent done that in a while, so here is an update.

Stupidity is painful. A buddy gave me an old-fashioned safely razor because he found one that he likes better. I have always had a fascination with old timey things, and I have my grandfathers old razor. I will probably clean it up and start using it some day. But I have been using this thing for quite a while and have found that for shaving my face, I dont have to change my shaving habits at all and still get the same quality shave. Provided I use the right blade. Even the best blade I have used so far only costs a fraction what the fancy cartridge blades I have been using cost. The wrong blade causes a lot of nicks and cuts, but the good ones do great. I still use the cartridge blades for shaving my head, but that is due to the flexibility of the blades on my skull. They are less likely to scalp me. I have not yet purchased on of the fancy stands to hold the blade on the bathroom counter, so I have been keeping it in a drawer. (dun dun duuunnnnnn)

My work schedule changes about once a month. I had just gone onto the early shift, which means that I have to get up at about 3:30 am to get ready and travel the hour I need to get to work. I have a punctuality fetish, and always leave early, just in case. This, combined with the razor in the drawer, proved to be a disasterous combination. I was very tired at 3:30 Wednesday morning when I went into the bathroom. I started to prepare my devices for the morning routine, and reached into the drawer for the razor. It was not facing in its usual direction, and I was not paying sufficient attention. I sliced off my right thumbprint. At this point, I became sufficiently awake to pay attention to my surroundings. I accurately noted that the flesh from my thumb was residing comfortably inside the razor head. I noted that there was a lot of blood coming from my thumb. I experimented, and concluded that water running over the wound was ineffective at stopping the bloodflow, and as a side effect, it caused a significant amount of pain. An in depth survey of my surroundings showed that there were no hand towels readily available. A search of the cabinet revealed a clean hand towel, and proved forensics scenes from NCIS to be accurate as to the shape of blood droplets on the floor. I was also able to conclude that the distance from the bathroom to the bedroom where the wife lie in bed doubles in the event of emergency.

The wife attempted to assist, and asked if I wanted to go to the CareNow facility. In violation of all rules of “walk it off” I had been taught, I agreed. Gauze and pressure were applied, as were a shirt and slippers. Since we live with the in-laws, transportation to the CareNow facility was readily available. I got into the conveyence and continued to apply pressure to the wound, as well as keeping it elevated. The drive was when I remembered the proper method of dealing with injuries, and I repeated the phrase “I’m fine” repeatedly whenever I was asked how I was doing. I was also able to learn that CareNow is not a 24 hour facility. Realizing that I would need to actually go to the emergency room, and knowing that it was back the way we had come and further almost caused me to lose focus on the “I’m fine” mantra and get upset. However, there was no real pain in my thumb. The only pain I was feeling was due to my stupidity. That angered me greatly. We got to the emergency room and was quickly checked in. I honestly believe this was the quickest I had actually seen a doctor in an emergency room for any reason. I have been to a few, always taking someone else, and have now concluded that if you have a need to go to an emergency room and you aren’t bleeding, cut yourself in the parking lot before you check in. Maybe the triage nurses have to mop the waiting room or something.

The triage nurse did the usual, blood pressure, temperature, ask the standard questions. Then she wanted to do something unusual. She wanted to see the wound. I tried to explain that if I took the gauze off, there would be mass quantities of blood. I was also aware that removing the gauze would hurt. The wife showed the triage nurse the piece of skin she had thoughtfully removed from the razor and brought along, and I offered an alternate diagnostic method. “That part’s gone,” I explained.

“I still need to see the wound,” she unreasonably asserted. So we peeled back the gauze, and I was proven correct in both of my predictions. There was significant blood flow, and it hurt. Neither of these facts appeared to impact the nurse. The gauze was placed back on the thumb and I was taken to a room. A doctor and nurse came in and asked more questions, then they wanted to see the wound. I felt they could have just asked the triage nurse, but that wasn’t a part of the program. I warned them that they should get one of the funny little pans to catch blood before they removed the gauze, but apparantly they also needed to prove the CSI writers accurate in regards to blood droplet shapes on linoleum flooring. They looked, and verified both mine and the doctors theory that stitches would be impossible, since the skin had been completely removed. Grafting it back on was not feasible, as it would probably just dry up and fall off anyway. The solution was to use a coagulant pad to stop the bleeding, then bandage it and send me on my way after a Tetanus shot.

 So, they leave for a minute and come back with a big silver pouch and opened it. They remove a light brown pad that looks like a piece of cardboard, and start tearing it into pieces. To me, it looked exactly like a piece of asbestos, and I said so. They told me the name of it, bromide or some damn thing, and that it was a coagulant and would stop the bleeding. They get some more gauze pads out and an ace wrap. They remove the old gauze, a process which I may have mentioned was quite painful, placed the coagulant directly on the wound. I dont think that I actually heard the sound, I am pretty sure that it was only in my head, but I swore that I heard the exact sound that bacon makes when you place it in a hot skillet. I was so shocked by the pain, that any thoughts of walking it off were immediately forgotten. I almost forgot the rule about not crying. I was able to keep my vacabulary in check, barely. I know that I was exclaiming, and it was apparantly loud enough for the father-in-law to return to the room to see what was happening. They held the first pad on my thumb for a few minutes, then replaced it with another, which hurt just as bad as the first one. Then they wrapped that one in gauze, then the ace wrap. I was told to keep it elevated and they gave me pills. Yea pills!

They left me alone for about 20 minutes, then came in and removed the wrap and threw it away and peeled the coagulant pad off. It was still bleeding, enough to run down my arm, but they didnt do the pad again. They put a regular old non stick gauze pad on it and wrapped it with tube gauze. They asked if I wanted pain pills and I reluctantly (read vehemently) agreed. They gave me script and sent me home. By now I was hungry, so we went through the drive thru at McDonalds and I got breakfast burritos so I could eat one handed. Went home, ate, and went back to bed for a few hours.

Maybe later I will talk about the fun I had changing the bandage for the first time, but I think this is enough for now.