White Lightning Axiom: Redux: Virus Season

Thursday, October 05, 2006

 

Virus Season

Warning: Potentially long post.

It was a rather busy night for me. The swimming (were Jake got the actually name of his Lifeguard Ladyfriend -- Steph), the karate, and then there was the appointment at the pediatrician's for Jacob's nagging cough. The Mrs hauled Jake off the mat and took care of that for me while I stayed on with Alexis. Jovial Jake has not been as happy as he could be for the last couple day ... his lung-rattling cough has been keeping him up at night. To make a short story long, he has no virus or bacterial infection. He has allergies. Crap. This is actually a good thing though. It is fairly easy to treat and it also points to a potential genetic boon. You see, I have NO allergies at all. The Mrs does. Her immune system is wacky like that, mine is wacky like MS. My hopes, my dreams, my greatest wish is that Jake is the recipient of the Hearty Mrs's immune system and not mine. No MS for Jake. While they are at it, the Mrs inquires about influenza inoculations. As last year, they only give out the first round of shots to high risk patients. Young, elderly, immuno-depressed. I really think they need to add to that classification: "Parents of young children who are walking petri dishes". Regular Typhoid Mary and The 4th Horseman in my Manor. Given that, I've been feeling a bit under the weather over the last few days and I cannot blame it on stress or not getting enough exercise. Yep, Patient 0 got me again. Little blighters.

Karate practice was fun. Alexis is very attentive and since I did not have to hammer away at Jake the whole time, she got a heap of my attention and was eating it up. She is on the cusp of mastering the first form and just needs to do 3 things: keep her shoulders straight, complete the 270 degree turn fluidly and gain a little self confidence. She suffers from her daddy's disease of self-doubt and second guessing. If I ask her to do it at home, she just slides right through all 22 steps. With an audience, not so good. After form practice, we did some kicks and Master Smiths Son, Kindly Kenny, found out that the 25 lb difference in weight between us was all in my legs. The only punch/kick that I threw that did not knock him into next week was the round-house. Smacking the bag with the top of my foot is not something I'm comfortable with yet. Heels and fists ... no problem. I gave him some hope and told him that I outweighed him by at least 50lb ... I don't. I checked and found that I was under 200. At the beginning of this summer I was tipping the scales at 230. With all the swimming and calisthenics, I may hit that 185 before Fat Season rolls in again. Mmmm, good eats. I'll see if I can black-mail Amish-Dad into making another Date Roll. I'll even help him decant his wine.

It rained last night. This is the official introduction, the impetus that marks the start of Fall Weather in Pennsyltucky. Miserable, bone chilling drizzle for days on end. The grass grows an inch a day and never dries out to aid in mowing. Mold, mildew a mushrooms rule the landscape as every step is an invitation to an abrupt introduction of your rump to the asphalt since slick, wet leaves blanket every horizontal surface. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the fall, just not this part of it. I want the dry russle of leaf piles. The crisp yet pungent smell of apple cider ... the whiff of early season wood fires. All that gets trumped by a few moments of rainfall that never seems to evaporate. My olfactory triggers for fond memories insist, nay ... require, that the moisture level be something akin to that of a desiccant chamber. Perhaps that would help me dry out my sinuses as they are currently suffering from a Great Flood. I'm imagining a little ark with a bacterial Noah desperately searching for a dry patch of mucus membrane. Sending forth a viral dove in search of a branch of bacilli. Damn, I'm weird.

There was actually traffic this morning. Various incidents cost me 5 minutes. There was an accident at the 2nd most congested intersection of 263 and County Line Rd. A car was following a bus too closely and in an attempt to slide through a red light, had failed to understand that bus drivers don't care about red lights but DO care about bus stops. End result; car embedded into rear of bus. This did not DIRECTLY block me in any way, but the rubbernecking made sure that only a limited number of vehicles could get through each green light. It looks as though I managed to avoid the worst of it since the incident occurred shortly before my arrival. Second incident was the standard Driver with CellPhone Ear Attachment Syndrome. Since she had one hand occupied with holding the phone and the ear in question was the right, she was also unable to signal. This also prevented her from looking to the right before making a left hand turn. I was behind her at the most dangerous intersection on my route and knew that this was a superior game of chicken between her and death. So, there is a millisecond break in traffic where she and three other cars behind her can pull into south-bound traffic ... she pulls out and stops cold. This is so she can twist her body and check the Southbound traffic. Yes, it is approaching at 60mph and it's not stopping for you. Go ... GO ... GO YOU DITHERING TWIT! Eventually, she feels that she is half way though the swamp and the North-bound traffic is starting to pick up as well. She pulls in and I'm right behind her with one foot ready to stamp on the brake knowing full well she is not in command of all the mental resources available. Indeed, we approach the next light where I need to make a right turn and I signal as I start to move into the turn lane. Then, she starts to move into the turn lane ... in the space I am occupying. Next, I break suddenly knowing that her next step is to signal and THEN look after already moving into the lane. And indeed, she does just that. And then slams on her breaks as she realizes that I was there, much too late for that to have helped her. All the while, she is jabbering away on the cell phone. About a mile down the road and another right turn she pulls into the into Wawa-SuperStation where Gas prices now at $2.25/gal USD. Still yakking it up on her phone, no signal, turning against traffic. I am certain that this cracker-jack automotive pilot followed me here from the Turnpike.[+/-] show/hide this section

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