White Lightning Axiom: Redux

I was a mixed bag this weekend. Only a few exceptional events, but I'll mix them in with the rest of the tripe so you'll have to shake them out. You know, like searching through that box of cereal to find the toy inside or dredging through the peanut-butter to see if there are really 1.5 flies per jar. Nope, those are raisins ... of course. So, Friday the Cubs and I went to the Radio station for an hour and gobbled up pizza after wards. They had a good time storming and occupying the broadcast center, and even more so antagonizing the tour director. Of course, this just got my Twin Tyrants all ramped up for Dodge Ball Friday. Glad they can take out their frustrations on each-other without having them come back to me with complaints of 'he said/she said'. Nope, just unmitigated violence and revenge. Next day: nothing. Just slouched about the Manor but I did manage to fill the SuperSaturn POS with 10 gallons of NJ gasoline. I give the Mrs a set of 5gal canisters and she buys two weeks worth of fuel for me at 10-15 cents off per gallon while she tanks up. In exchange, I top off the fluids in the Family Tank v2.0 and toss in some fuel conditioner to boot. She completes me: I service her vehicle and light her fire; she gives me gas. Speaking of gas and fires .... this may be of interest to some of you (and it was for me since my obsessive compulsive ranting about gas prices). Sunday is the usual: Church, Sunday School, Bring in firewood, Prep meals for the week. The Mrs actually made the PB&J sandwiches for them this time ... and cut off ALL the crusts. Ghengis will not be pleased, he likes the crusts. Odd child. So all of Sunday was just in preperation for the work week. No big shocker there, except that the Tyrants had President's day off on Monday so I'd be sitting it out with them.

And along comes Monday, I cook, I clean, I entertain. Since is it a semi-national holiday, the swim-team practice is called off: School closed = no pool access. Fine. After my domestic duties conclude, we go through the regular 'swim at club/tsd at studio' routine. Everything is domestic bliss till some time after O'Dark-Thirty. Jake saunters into the master bedroom where the Mrs is settling into the mile-wide bed for a little shut-eye. He makes himself comfortable and then proceeds to produce about 200 metric liters of semi-digested, fully masticated vomit. How in the world!? He ate his dinner at 1500 hours and now he has issue? He must have been fermenting that batch of bile and 100 molar hydro-sulfuric acid for quite some time. So, the Mrs and I manage hose down and mop up ... he felt better but we needed some serious air-freshener to detoxify the master suite. The next morning, he was chipper as can be but I was still down a pillow. You know you are getting too soft when you need two pillows to sleep right.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Gas, Illness, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Weekend

Out sick yesterday, got very little done except tending the fire in the wood stove and hosting a den meeting for the cub scouts. This cold really got the best of me. My hope is that I can shake this before Saturday, when we have the TSD tests. Oh, that would suck on so many different levels. Fortunately, this is just a Pre-Test for me. I can hopefully perform to a sufficient level of competence without having to jeopardize my health. After this weekend's experiment in self destruction, I have a six month training period before the 'real-deal' blackbelt test where I get to fight the Master and his perfidiously dangerous minions. Yeah, I'm a tad intimidated.

In other, less boisterously disastrous news, the piano practice the other night went well. The Tyrants are doing so much better. It boggles the mind that they can train their little digits to tickle the ivory they way that they do. My futile attempts at teaching myself from their books has not fared quite as well. I just cannot seem to make my fingers do what I want them to do on command without a great deal of perspiration and focus. I'm a fairly good typist, but that seems to be a detriment when it comes to the c-d-e-f-g scales. Rats. And something else: gas prices. What is going on here!? Oil prices have gone down to $40/bbl but the unleaded regular is creeping up. Let me guess, the refineries are down for annual maintenance. Riiiight. I call bullshit on that!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Piano | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Children, Gas, Illness, Karate, Piano

Been out sick for the last few days ... will post shortly.

Technorati Tags:Illness | Migaine

Labels: Illness, Migraine

I'm cranky today. Yep, status quo, don-cha know. Spent a good chunk of time in the back 50 waiting for CyberHound Thor to do his business. He spent his time snooting about and generally acting as if he was not entirely interested. He was not, since he completed his daily constitutional exploits the evening before. It was lightly raining at the time and I was out there in my slippers and boxers. CHILLY! All for naught. That set me off on the wrong foot for the rest of the day. I made a few appointments with our Family Physician; one for this evening and one for a week from now. The first is to discuss the various ailments I'm trying to beat into submission ... and generally failing. The back ache, muscle spasms bizarre pain in ribs and that OTHER issue. The following appt is just an annual 'kick the tire' exam. Of course, there is the added fringe benefit of a potential PSA and ... umm, a lower intestinal polyp expedition. Family history and general precautions dictate such an extreme measure. Difficult month, statistically speaking, on the health battle front.

Work is work, swimming is nice (yes, it feels nice to soak in a warm pool) and TSD is starting to tweak me since I have not had an opportunity to start on my next 2 forms since I have been unable to attend the adult class (or focus on much else for that matter). The news about how high gasoline prices is having a secondary effect of slower/more cautious driving habits is interesting. And there is this as well. Okay, that's it for today ... I need to recoup my gruff mannerisms and cantankerous reserves.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Multiple Sclerosis | Illness | Injury

Labels: Gas, Illness, Injury, Karate, Multiple Sclerosis, Swimming

Okay, sometime after the TSD test on Saturday and the bout of food poisoning, I was the unwitting recipient of a new malady that I have not had the pleasure of being associated with. HEMORRHOIDS ... wtf! No, really Whiskey-Tango-FoxTrot! What trademarked brand of fresh hell is this! So, being an educated suffer, I took a spin on the amalgam of misinformation called the internet. My previous research expeditions have led me to be a contrite consumer of banal blather, but I was desperate. Things were riotous in the South Lands and being that my job insists that I spend a serious chunk of my active hours planted on this fomenting 'pile' of pain, I needed SOME sort of resolution or treatment. This is certainly not one of those Durned MS things that I can dismiss with a wave of a hand. I did find this:

Self Care:
Most hemorrhoids heal on their own in a week or two. Hemorrhoids have a tendency to return unless something is done to prevent them. The most effective preventive measures are:
* Eat between 25 and 30 grams of fiber a day. [HAH! That's per meal for me]
* Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. [Does coffee count?]
* Increase your amount of daily physical activity. [THAT'S UNPOSSIBLE!]
* Add stool softeners or laxatives to diet. Consult with the doctor regarding the prolonged use of stool softeners and laxatives. [Does 16oz of celery a day count?]
* Lose weight. [BITE ME you foppish twit!]
* Change bowel habits. Respond to the urge to defecate and stay relaxed to avoid straining.[Yeah, failed that with the bout of food poisoning ... should have just slept on the throne...]
* Exercise the buttocks muscles. [Errmmm ... ok, but can I wait till this resolves?]
* Practice good personal hygiene. Keep the anal area clean and avoid using rough toilet paper. [Okay, this is a problem. We have 'Sandy Wipe' at work that is mostly made of steel wool and fiber glass]

They were so kind as to make some recommendations regardin 'comfort measures'. They are not entirely within the realm of the possible for me:

• You may need a day or more of bed rest to take pressure off inflamed, irritated veins. If you are not pregnant, sleeping on your stomach with a pillow under your hips will help decrease swelling of hemorrhoids.


• Try not to sit or stand for a long time when hemorrhoids are irritated. If you must sit for a long time, sit on a pillow. Avoid lifting heavy objects.

Looks like I'll have to stay off the TSD mat for a bit, but I'm certainly going to be spending a bit of time in the pool.

I would like to just complain about gasoline prices ... but thinking of gas right now ... oh, DAMN!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Multiple Sclerosis | Plumbing

Labels: Illness, Multiple Sclerosis

I'm completely spent from the load of disparate chores and events I pursued over the past few days. Friday night's halcyon hours of light supping and TiVo viewing were all too soon replaced with Saturday morning's scurrying and panicked preparation for the dreaded TSD test. The Twins were necessarily kept calm so as to not arouse Attila's Stage Fright nor Ghengis's penchant for light-speed hyperactivity and subsequent flubbing of forms. As things would have it, they did just fine and were rewarded handsomely for their efforts by the Mrs. Transformers (Brawl) for Ghengis and anatomically correct dolls for Attila to promptly strip and waterboard. Now, I also passed my test but I was not feeling all too well. The night before, I had that particularly uncomfortable itch in the back of my throat that was the portend to a cold. Indeed, the following morning my nasal passages had been blockaded by the Snot Revolution and my uvula was a bright red beacon of swollen rage. Yeah, I had a bit of a rough go of it, but I managed to drag through and then we went off to the default pizza party after the last of the 1000 pushups had all but become a distant memory.

The pizza party was fine and we had a relaxed time ... well, in between admonishing the Twins for not eating enough. Right from there, we departed to the Family Friend Seliga's home for a First Communion Party that lasted well into the evening hours. Mostly, it was because of the Flyers game. (WOOT! Great Game!) Just as the last drops of perseverance were being squeezed from my once bottomless reservoir, the mrs got a call from one of her co-workers who ... carries a support beeper. Apparently, one of their servers went down and the first round of beepers did not respond. So, we were stuck for a bit while the Mrs 'dialed in' to survey the battle field. Not too long though, she just commanded her minions to storm the server room and commit an IPL on the offending machine. Like HAL 9000 singing his final rendition, it went down into that long dark night and we were off. Back to the manor to put the Tyrants right to bed. They had been going full tilt all day long and were now in the process of turning the humidity directly into energy via fusion process. I could not keep up since my genetic blueprint did not include such wondrous organs. Durned Retro-virus, all picky about what pluripotent cells it will work with. Sheesh.

Sunday was a mess. I ended up sicker than ever and still had things to do. Now that Sunday School is over, I can assist with other endavours ... such as assisting with the KOC program to collect donations for Mentally Disabled Children. At the 0700 mass. I did the early mass since most of the older crew cannot make it at that hour and get all set up. I also helped out with the beginning of the 0830, which was greatly appreciated. When all you manage is a buck or two from each parishioner, it takes a bit of smooth talking and flattery to fill that bucket! I was their eye candy and I could also open the heavy metal doors! Heh ... and I wonder where my son get's it from. After the third collection, I stopped off at the local grocery store to buy the Mrs some roses and the Tyrants some donuts. I also had to pick up some salves and medical potions for myself. Gha, I'm such a wreck. Arriving home, the Twins were in the guest room in their jammies, watching the TiVo and the Mrs was blissfully snoozing away in the Master Suite. Who am I to buck the system? I shed my Sunday Finest (work day clothing with a nice sweatshirt) and slipped in between the sheets. Nice! Hours later, I was up again, puttering about the Haupertonian Lands and mowing the lawn while the Twins re-enacted the 100 year's war in the sand-pit. Not too bad of a Sunday, but I did not get the cooking done for the week and did laundry instead. Just 6 loads, but still, it had to be tended to. As for the rest of the day, I spent the twilight hours trying to be and erudite consumer of blog postings that I had been neglecting since Friday. Too much though. Monday morning, I got up a bit late and arrived at work at 0635. I'll need to do better next day (not!) but since the ENTIRE DAY was either preparing for meetings or attending 6 hours of meetings, I missed very little.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Illness | Karate | Children | KOC

Labels: Chores, Church, Illness, KOC, Tang So Doo, Weekend

I should have posted this last night when Big Little Brother would have had a chance to see it ... but better late than never: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER OF MINE". Today, he is as old as I am for the next 48 hours. May his joints and other ailing biological mechanisms be as irascible as mine and he be able to enjoy the fruits of drinking too much for the duration of the weekend! One bourbon ... and then a whole bunch more, skip the scotch and beer.

TSD the last few days has been moderately cool. Not too difficult ... I imagine that is due to the test this weekend. The Tyrants are excited and that is causing behavioral problems. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Last night was kinda sucky though. The Mrs had a work emergency so I had to step up a bit and guide the HMS Haupertonia into port manually. So, no last adult training class before the big red-belt test. I have not been sleeping well either of late. So much so that I had a difficult time getting up this rainy and bone grinding morn. It was nearly 0620 before I bumbled out of the Master Suite. I've altered the Hound's schedule a bit to make this a bit easier on me though. I have them poo in the afternoons instead of me standing in the cold and bleak morning opaqueness waiting for them to get to it. It's easier to see in the afternoon as well to bringing the back-hoe and dump truck in to do excavation isn't such a 'shot in the dark'. Friggen winter ... it would not be so bad if we had a bit of snow. Nope, just frozen mud here. Bleh.

Technorati Tags:Birthday | Illness | Karate

Labels: Birthday, Illness, Tang So Doo

Time, time, time ... see what has become of me. I'm showing my age there, eh? In any even, yesterday was a bit interesting. At a little after 0600 this morning, the sounds of emergency vehicles wailing filled the Manor grounds ... shortly followed by an incongruous symphony of howls by the Cybernetic Hounds. It was as if they were calling out to their foundling brethren to form a gathering or quorum. I was oblivious to the flock of circling news vultures helicopters thinking it was the usual strike force training from the local Marines at the air-base. I did not realize the extent of the calamity till I tried to actually get to work. I even drove right over the scene of the incident. Turns out, the main East/West artery of Philly was severed ... shut down at 0620... oblivious.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has reopened following a series of early crashes that closed both directions between the Philadelphia and Willow Grove exits.

Some delays remain, but motorists who were stuck for hours have probably made it through by now.

The highway was blocked by wreckage from three separate accidents involving nine vehicles, according to State Trooper Kevin Rathman.

At about 6:20 a.m. a westbound commercial tractor trailer lost control and crashed through the concrete median into oncoming eastbound traffic, colliding with four vehicles.

One of the vehicles, a pickup truck, burst into flames.

A passenger of one of the vehicles was taken to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The tractor-trailer driver was taken to Abington Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

"No, no, no, there is no fatality," Rathman said, correcting some mistaken reports on radio and TV.

Two additional collisions occurred in the aftermath, he said. No one was hurt in those accidents.

Urk. Good thing I filled up the gas tank the night before.

Other things of note. We went swimming yesterday, but I did not participate in either Karate classes because ... I forgot my uniform. The Tyrant's stuff was packed, but I had neglected to check the supply bags before loading them into the cargo hatch of the SuperSaturn POS. Argh ... I really wanted to practice my next staff form too. The Tyrants acted up in the worst ways since I was not out there hammering them into line. This will continue all week till they get over the 'Grandparent Disease'. It's all fine and dandy that I missed the class though. I've been a bit ill of late ... AGAIN. I picked up something in the last days of vacation, most likely from the Mrs. It happens, I'm a virus magnet.

Technorati Tags:Traffic | Swimming | Karate | Children | Accident | Illness

Labels: Accident, Children, Illness, Tang So Doo, Traffic

Well, crap! This is not good:

ATLANTA — A mutated version of a common cold virus has caused 10 deaths in the last 18 months, U.S. health officials said this week.

Adenoviruses usually cause respiratory infections that aren't considered lethal. But a new variant has caused at least 140 illnesses in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC officials don't consider the mutation to be a cause for alarm for most people, and they're not recommending any new precautions for the general public.

"It's an uncommon infection," said Dr. Larry Anderson, a CDC epidemiologist.
< ... >
Some adenoviruses have also been blamed for gastroenteritis and cystitis.

"Normally, it can cause a common cold, intestinal infection and conjunctivitis and then it goes away," said Rahimian. "But this (strain) causes severe respiratory syndrome and 5 percent of people die from this infection. So this is much more agressive. This is something we need to be concerned about and monitor very closely."

There are no good antiviral medications for adenoviruses. Patients usually are treated with aspirin, liquids and bed rest.

Some people who get infected by the new bug probably would not suffer symptoms, and some may just feel a common cold. Sick people should see a doctor if they suffer a high fever or have trouble breathing, Anderson said.

In the CDC report, the earliest case of the mutated virus was found in an infant girl in New York City, who died last year. The child seemed healthy right after birth, but then became dehydrated and lost appetite. She died 12 days after she was born.

Tests found that she been infected with a form of adenovirus, called Ad14, but with some little differences, Su said.

It's not clear how the changes made it more lethal, said Linda Gooding, an Emory University researcher who specializes in adenoviruses.
< ... >
Rahimian said people can protect themselves from the virus in the following ways:
— Regular hand-washing
— Disinfecting. and using antibacterial gels
— Stay away from people who are sick

Ok, not to heckor any of you folks out there ... but be careful if you have a compromised immune system. You KNOW who I am talking to, right?

In other 'not so alarming' news, I'm taking the night off. The Mrs is going to take the kids to Karate/Dodge Ball tonight and I'm going out to a local bar to try and kill off whatever I've contracted with scotch and vodka. Seeing some former coworkers from centuries gone by. And then, the next morning, with a full-blown hang-over, I'll be driving the Khan Clan (Kubla, Attila, Ghengis and the Mrs) to the FOB where we will spend the week feasting on grandma's tasty vittles. I will try to post, but there are NO guarantees.

Technorati Tags:Multiple Sclerosis | Illness | Karate | Children | TSD | Bar | Thanksgiving | Dodge Ball

Labels: Bar, Dodge Ball, Family, Flu Shot, Illness, Karate, Multiple Sclerosis, Tang So Doo, Thanksgiving

It has taken me more than a bit of effort to get this out. I've not been sleeping all to well of late and that is really putting a crimp in my usual loquacious writing persona. Indeed, my mercurial writing has slowed to a clumpy mass of semi-viscous sludge ... much like how I feel. So as for my absence from commenting on all your blogs, I'm so sorry. I'll get around to it. The plague has laid me low. The up side to all this is that I did not register much discomfort during the TSD test last Saturday. The Tyrants did well, for the most part. Attila had her usual 'stage fright/prima-donna melt down' act for 15 minutes before the test started. Ghengis was as excited as a little boy could possibly get. In the end, they both earned their promotion to Green Belt and spent the next three days bragging about it. It came to a point where I had to expound on the idea that no matter how good you are, there is someone out there better than you who will kick your lilly-white ass up around your ears. Alexis chimed in that that it seemed to her the arse-woopin' job belonged to Daddy. Not this weekend. After getting fully overrun by the nasty bug the Tyrants had infected me, the events really started to drag me down. It was all made better by greasy, cheesy pizza after the test. Ghaa ... talk about heart-burn. I spent the rest of Saturday napping, doing laundry and fixing the airflow fans on the wood-burning stove. Yes, we have yet to turn on the heat and rely primarily on the stove. So what if I have to use an ice auger to drill a hole in the ice formed over the toilet bowl! Since we spent a whopping $100USD on utilities last month, we would hope to continue that revenue retention behavior instead of using a shovel to throw our income into the fire as we gesticulate madly at the Oil Speculators.

Sunday: Yep, day of hypocritical rest. Took the Tyrants to Sunday-school ... got trapped in the bass-ackwards parking lot till nearly every single car but the 4 blocking me in had left. Then, after gnawing on their tires, we sped back to the Manor where I proceeded to pull down the tomato cages and strip off the greenies that were not frozen in the last hard frost. Oddly enough, the carrots all seem to be doing quite nicely still. Resilient buggers. Then, while the Mrs ran off to resupply our larder, I got down to the business of fixing the lawnmower drive belt, putting slices in the karate wood so the Tyrants can break them easier and then fixing the splitting maul that had a muffed-up handle. Trying to split rounds of wood with the handle instead of the head tends to do that. So, I have the handle cut loose, but I need to clear out the eye. Can't just drill it out since there are metal chits in it. So, with a ball-peen hammer, I go to town trying to force the remainder of the handle out. Everything was going quite well until I mistook my fleshy hand for the tempered steel of an axe. It did not give off that signature ring of steel on steel, but rather, the squishy/crunchy sound of bone and sinew being ground together by unforgiving force. The sharp pain soon gave way to an unabated ache ... but no apparent damage. It was the bone between the wrist and first knuckle of the thumb that took on the laws of physics ... and lost. So, I did what any rational man would do ... jump up and down while bleating out profanities and cradling the throbbing appendage to my crotch. You know, because that always helps. The cursing part, that is. And then, I took a nap ... only to wake up hours later when the pain and swelling in my hand were too much to let me remain sleeping. A few ibuprofen and some quality time with the family, all was right with the world. It's now two days later. Managed to get my flu shot on Monday morning, but said nothing of my illness since I know it is not the flu. Just another upper respiratory nuisance. Let me tell ya, my hand still hurts more than the shot, but I'm certain it is not a fracture, just a bone bruise. Next time, I'll just throw the damn axe head in the fireplace and burn it out.

Oh, and gasoline here in Pennsyltucky is nearing 3$/us gallon. And the newly elected politicians are talking about adding a NEW road use tax so they can fix the bridges that they let go to rot when they appropriated the funds allocated to that to ... build more roads and bridges. Dumb-asses.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weekend | Karate | Children | Injury

Labels: Banalities, Children, Church, Flu Shot, Gas, Home Improvements, Illness, Injury, Karate, Sleep, Tang So Doo, Weekend

So, it got cold last night, really cold. I mean it was so cold that my nipples got hard enough to cut concrete! I really should sleep with some sort of clothing on. Now that I've damaged your fragile psyche with that atrocious visual (everyone thinks in pictures, right?), let me tell you why a simple dip into the 40's makes a difference to a molasses blooded northern'r like myself. You see, the Mrs is a Manhattan girl and the Tyrants are half-n-half. A bit of cream and a bit of lutefisk. So, as it turns out, my son looks mostly like me and got a bit of the Mrs's genetics with his eye shape. I'm finding out that he did not get his tolerance of cold from me. Last night, I sacked out fairly early and actually fell asleep. Of course, sometime in the wee hours of the morning (he had to go wee, thus the phrase?) he got up and tunneled into the Mile Wide Bed. He starts out by snuggling with the Mrs and engaging in his most affectionate act so as to get her to let him stay. She is the gate-keeper ... the bouncer. After he has ingratiated himself with her, he will slowly work his way over to my thin slice of acreage and start siphoning off as much heat as possible from my overactive metabolism. Of course, he will stir a bit and reflexively beat the bejeepers out of my internal organs. Must be some sort of hex the Mrs cast on him so that I can share her experience of carrying him (and sis) for 9+ months. So, my hopes of a solid night's sleep was rended asunder. This series of events has had two distinct impacts on me ... one is that I have become more interested in getting the heat distribution fans installed/fixed for the wood burning stove. Priority on now that the ambient temperature in the Manor is now akin to a cryogenic preservation tube. The other epiphany, is that I am sick. The Murphy Factor hit me hard regarding the Flu Shot Fiasco this past Monday. A few days later and I'll be getting my shot ... I have a TSD test this Saturday ... OF COURSE I'll catch some nasty little genetically engineered virus from the Tyrants. Of course, since my body chemistry is out of whack, I'm trying to plow through a class 2 migraine as well. OF COURSE, that calls for brain-chemistry altering medication ... and we all know what that means ... 'DA FOG'. Present in body, but not quite all the way in mind.

Certainly, everything was trucking along fine but that butter-fly wing batting on Monday is now winding up it's Saffir-Simpson Scale 5 hurricane power. In the good-news column (as lengthy as it is) his morning, when I stepped on the scale, I found that I'm holding steady at 185 lb. Not too bad, considering that I threw myself on the candy-bucket to save the kids from the evil sugar monster. Now, all I have to do is survive the holiday season (Grams is an exclellent cookie/peanut brittle source, Gramps is going to possibly make that date roll I eat too much of) and perhaps avoid another round of mutated virus ... tall order, eh?

Technorati Tags:Bed | Sleep |Illness |Flu Shot |Home Improvements | Karate | Children | Migraine | Winter | Weight

Labels: Bed, Children, Flu Shot, Home Improvements, Illness, Karate, Migraine, Sleep, Tang So Doo, TGIF, Weight, Winter

Well, let's see here. What to talk about first. Friday was fairly anti-climatic. Let sleeping dogs lay was the theme for the day. I stuck around the Home Office all day in case I needed to be called on to 'testify' for the TL9000 audit of our division. Silly stuff, so I bounced about and helped out some of my co-workers where I could. Standard end of the week agitprop greasing the slide into 5 O'Clock slackerdom. Friday is an exercise in pushing items off your plate and trying to temporize any requests that may come your way. Any meeting you come away with fewer action items than you went in with is a success. Even better, avoiding meetings where you might get something which would demolish your weekend is even better. But, you know, that's not really the team spirit, is it?

When I was heading back to the Manor after skirting responsibility all day, I was about to load up the POS SuperSaturn with my wheel barrow of work related paraphernalia when I discovered that I had neglected a complete a critical task that morning. You see, the squirrels have been destroying my crocus bulbs in their quest to dig up the emerging 7/21 year cicclids. So, they happen on my bulbs and think: MMMMM, this might be tasty. Argh. Go eat the damn bird seed you tree rats! In any event, I've been trapping them with live traps and relocating them on the other side of the turnpike. No chance that they will find their way back. Now I'm not trying to eradicate the population, I know better. Won't happen. I'm just trying to remove the sub-class that seems to have the gumption to dig up my flower beds in spite of the defensive perimeter claymore mines and the cybernetic hell-hounds leaving their acrid scent everywhere. So, I caught on this past morning and dropped the chattering little bastard into the trunk of the SS, cage and all. And there he sat, all day. Gitmo could have learned something from me. It was a relatively cloudy and cool day so he did not end up roasting to death, and when discovered ... was still filled with piss and vinegar about being trapped. I let him loose and he bounded off towards the near-by military base. Probably to pick up some plastic explosives and assault weaponry to get back at me. He disregarded the contract I had him sign saying that he would denounce his former 'anti crocus' ways. Damn tree rats.

Tyrants behaved as they usually do. All uppity in the pool and such. Don't want to go swimming, want to go to karate till it's time to get out of the pool. Then they want to swim and not go to karate till I remind them that it's dodge-ball Friday. Fickle little turds. Jake is still a bit under the weather and had a mini-meltdown in class. We cut that short! His 'tantrum' is usually him clenching his fists and screwing his face up into a whiny scowl and emitting a high-pitch screech ... like a wind-up to a major explosion or something. Usually I just have to bark out his name and he cuts it short. I've only seen him do it twice, but I let him know that it's not a behavior that I'll let go unchallenged. He is starting to learn that he will not get his way all the time and there are more ... proactive ways of resolving conflicts. This one will not work.

Saturday: do nothing but sleep in with a cruddy migraine and slum around all day. Pick some veggies, clean up the Master Suite a bit. Hang with the kids. Since the lawn is a perfect beige color now, mowing is not required. I'll certainly make sure that the sprinklers are turned on next year, the lawn looks like hell after this summer. The garden isn't much better off, but we do have about a dozen pumpkins that are looking quite spectacular now. A basket of very intense tomatoes too. Very flavorful due to the limited rainfall.

Sunday: more of Saturday's activity. We were planning on going to Sesame Place again, but forecasts of mid-day thunderstorms and a general malaise with the Tyrants but the kibosh on that. Genghis and Attila took turns napping on the Iron Maiden (New non-Hydraulic Master Mile Wide Bed), desperately trying to shake whatever NEW virus they managed to pick up. That, or the old virus mutated in both of them and they gave each-other a new bag-o-crap ... which I'm now coming down with. Nice. Indeed, each had a bit of a fever and the hacking cough prevalent in the Haupertonain TB Ward. The phlegm and snot runneth deep here, mind your step.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Swimming | Karate | Children | Illness | Gardening | Lawn | Summer

Labels: Banalities Work, Bed, Children, Gardening, Illness, Karate, Lawn, Migraine, Summer, Swimming, Water

Well, so far today has been quite ... trying. I got up this morning, in a rush. Got things to do and places to go, don't ya know. So, I rush through the morning prep and start to load up the POS SuperSaturn with the usual supplies only to find out that the front passenger tire is FLAT. ARGH! Not again, and on a day where I need to be everywhere on the eastern seaboard. I need to go out to Exton to set up and IRA for my old 401k at noon. I have plans DAMMIT. Plans that cannot be adjusted. Given the crap that is going on with the stock market, it is imperative that I get this taken care of tut suite! So, I lump it and go to the local gas station to refill the tire in the hopes that this is a sloooow leak and I'll be able to deal with it at a later time ... like tomorrow. Well, tomorrow waits for no man and I learn this as I return to the vehicle. When leaving the administration building of reeducation camp complex, I heard and hissing noise. You know the sound. It's the one you hear at 0200 on a backwood road in Afghanistan among the Taliban infested thickets. Then I saw it, plain as day. A screw head the size of a hub-cap firmly stuck in the tread of the tire. It would not hold out on a 30 mile trip in the afternoon. I would certainly find myself trapped in a flaming wreck of twisted steel if I attempted to make the trip. So, I stopped off at Uber Mechanic Chris garage and plopped down 10$ and my tire. He said if it were more than just the usual bullet hole that he would give me a call. I'll have the Mrs grab tire on the way to picking up the Tyrants tonight since I have an after-work engagement with some coworkers for a send off at a local establishment called Iron Hill Brewery.

I mentioned that I need to convert my old 401k to an IRA, no? And I need to get my but out the the agency that set up the 401k. It's out in Exton ... somewhere near California. Fine ... but when I gazed at the market quotes this morning, I was stunned. My mortgage company was having 'issues' ISSUES!? Look, I have issues with people who don't screw the cap back on catchup bottles correctly. This is a FRIGGEN NIGHTMARE! Not only is this my mortgage company (who I owe a whole heap of dinar to), but this sub-prime market nonsense is really putting the screws to the value of my retirement account. How the hell am I going to retain value if I buy HIGH and sell low!? Fortunately, I can keep the funds I am in with the IRA, but still. ACK! I know, I know ... don't panic. I'm just a bit consternated about this whole thing. The Mrs and I are always a bit perplexed about people who think that living on a revolving line of credit and having to declare bankruptcy when they have a Lexus SUV and a BMW parked in the driveway of their McMansion when the borrowing against their 401k has left them destitute ... well ... you know where I'm going with this. I'm driving a 10 year old car not because I like to. Call me Scrooge. I'm paying for the financial sins of others.

After my IRA inquisition, I have a 1500 meeting at Comcast regarding an announcement about the back-office software release recognition ... or some other 'feel-good' propaganda nonsense. I'm a good corporate stooge so I'll be there with a big toothy grin on and a well greased hand for shaking. Never mind that it's actually SNOT (see previous post) and not elbow grease. Then there is the 1700 drunk-fest. THAT will prove to be a bit more productive provided I can keep my imbibing spirit in check. Given my current health, I'll try to keep my liquid libations to Shirly Temples and Roy Rogers.

Technorati Tags:Car | Illness | Mortgage | 401k | Beer

Labels: 401k, Banalities, Beer, Illness, Mortgage, Turnpike

Last night, I did a snatch-and-run with the twins on my way back to the Manor. No swimming, no karate, no nothing. I even let them watch TV and eat candy till the Mrs got home. I spent my time thrashing and groaning in bed with a raging fever and an commensurate volume of nasal congestion. Even the cries of hunger from the bellicose Tyrants could not make me budge from my quilted coffin. Apparently, this is a summer bug going about. About 36 hours later I should be ok, but since Alexis got it too ... I don't know. She'll probably tweak the virus a bit and chuck it right back at me. She was good about it though. She crawled into bed and slept from 1800 till 0600 and was abnormally perky when she ambled into the Master Suite this morning. Sheesh, now I know how much my room-mates detested me when I would get up at 0500 go go jogging when I was young.

Technorati Tags:Illness | Swimming | Karate | Children | Snot

Labels: Children, Illness

Yes ... again. Jake picked up some highly engineered cross-breed of EBola, West Nile and Bird Flu which he dutifully passed on to me. He picked it up on Friday, by Monday Evening, I was starting to drag. Ugh. Snot Factory of DOOM. He just has a runny nose, I have the whole gamut of undesirable immune reactions. Sore throat, fever, head ache, sloughing off of epidermal layers and expulsion of internal organs. You know, standard stuff for me. I'll get the wet-works boys in the sub-basement 3C to boil me up a replacement vat, but this just sucks. We had the first day back at Karate and Jake was in the worst possible place while I was diving into an unrecoverable tail-spin. Alexis is starting to show signs, but she is so damn resilient that she is more upset about the sunburn on her scalp than she is about the 'nose goblins'. Next week, I'll be heading up a development group (I'll be the scrum master) so I'll be buried again for 3 weeks. Always a challenge, it is, durned work.

In less grumpy news, the Ever Practical and Frugal Mrs and I are reviewing the annual budget for next year. Gha.

Technorati Tags:Illness | Karate | Children

Labels: Children, Illness, Tang So Doo

I just read some news from a blog-friend that a young family has lost their dear child Micah to cancer. This is one of my greatest and most troubling fears. The Davis family could use some support and prayers right now. Please go over and say something nice.

Technorati Tags:Illness | Children | Family

Labels: Children, Family, Illness

Quick notes here. I'm not dead, just absurdly preoccupied. I messed up my back by sneezing of all things. I was bed-ridden over the weekend so nothing got done other than an un-healthy amount of Television Viewing. The doctor told me to ramp up on pain-killers/anti-inflammatory meds and do NOTHING but convalesce. So, the lawn did not get mowed and a long list of tasks got no attention. I hope to be a little more attentive shortly.

Technorati Tags:Ouch

Labels: Banalities, Blogging, Illness

I'm a bit low today. Not sure why ... just feeling somewhat melancholy. The night before, I skipped the adult class and did not go swimming with the kids. They splashed about while I paced like some forlorn shambling drifter along the side of the pool. Last night, we had the Karate Demo at the local Middle school. Really nice place. The demo was for about 2 hours and it completely wore me out. It was not as aggressive as a normal practice session would be though ... it was trying to maintain order amongst the ranks of upstart lilliputians that drained me. The usual stuff went on ... board breaking, forms, defense moves ... nothing that was extraordinary for us. Before anything got started, all the twerps felt compelled to run about the gymnasium (they called it a Cafetorium ... wtf!?) like a heard of frenzied lemmings. We did have a pretty good time afterwards. I took the Tyrants to the Hibachi Bar - Mt Fuji - and we had dinner there instead of me spending all night trying to get them to eat at home. That's always nice ... but the down side is that we still need to trek back to the Manor and subdue the Tyrants so they will capitulate and go to bed. That is always a challenge. Getting up the next morning in a 'spoon deficit' is never easy. Not sure if this is a standard case of the doldrums due to the rather unpleasant weather of if it's some manner of male pms. Maybe it's the unsurpassed difficulty of my current project (I'm so behind the learning curve that Sisyphus's lot certainly looks attractive). But it's Thursday ... which means that Friday is within shouting distance.

Technorati Tags:Swimming | Karate | Children | Depression

Labels: Banalities, Children, Family, Illness, Karate

Ahhh... The sweet, sweet taste of oxygen deep within my avioli. It's nice to have the facilities and ability to take a full gust of air into my chest without lapsing into a clattering hacking fit. With the help of an Albuterol inhaler four times a day and an HFA inhaler twice a day ... and some ampacillin once a day ... and some armed pixies escorting the deionized oxygen molecules past the speutum in my bronchial tubes. Mmmm, the taste of coagulated mucus mixed with albuterol still lingers on my palet like the fading flavors of a fine burgundy vintage. Honestly though, I don't know how anyone with asthma can stand the aftertaste of the stuff ... so acerbic. Now I think I have an idea of what vitriol really feels like in the tongue. On top of that, the steroids keep me much to alert at night. Nasty stuff, don't get hooked. Just say no.

Adult karate has been good to me over the last couple of days. It's nice to get back to the sweat, the pummeling and the evening aches. Honestly though, I need to keep on top of this or my natural state of slackerdom and inaction will take over and the 'plumping' will begin. Since I have a full physical (reccomended by my medical team ... it's been a while) scheduled for April, it would be nice to not hear the sharp inhales as they review my blood pressure, weight and chemical breakdowns of the various samples. Yeah, I'm coming in on 40 and we all know what that means for men. PSA. < shudder >

On the way home the other night, I found that they had closed a road (Maple) at that one particularly dangerous spot. Just at the south end of the Naval Air Base where the Elementary school is and all the accidents happen. The local STS surveyors and a small cadre of 'dirt grunts' were milling about, generally making a hazard of themselves. In the end, if they do put a light it it will be a boon for my commute, but a curse for everyone else. I suppose it's for the best, people do stupid things when they have not had their morning coffee. There have been a series of rather horrific accidents in the area and many of them are of the 'T-Bone' variety ... never a good thing. There is a lot of school bus activity between the bus depot at the elementary school and the High-School on the other side of the base ... people tend to make assumptions about that and the are correct 9 times out of ten. The other 10% is where we have issues. Traffic Light:Good, Personal Responsibility to make Rational Assesments:Bad.

Hmmm, other stuff. The 'snow' we had here last week was followed up by more 'snow' [read: crappy sleet and freezing rain] with more forecasted for later in the week. Bletch. On the upside, the kids are happy to be swimming and are doing ok in karate. Alexis is back-sliding a bit, but Master Smith recognizes this as a typical behavior pattern and is going to 'deal' with it. With burgeoning population of lilliputian TSD students, he is considering a special test to bump them up to Yellow belt. They probably would not survive the normal test. Since he is just recovering from a similar run-in with the virus patrol (he teaches children, thusly, is exposed to the same onslaught of daily viral and bacterial attacks), he is still trying to get his legs under him. This will be interesting to watch. Jake will certainly get pumped about the 'board-break'. The weeks of him trying to break everything in sight afterwards will be challenging. I'll have to head off to the Home Depot Temple and pick up some thin pine slats to give him a harmless outlet.

Had a work related class to attend last Friday. It was not particularly revolutionary in it's concepts. I've been doing similar stuff for Requirements Traceability and Leveling for quite some time. The interesting aspects were the ancillary data. Things like the instructor (Dr BeetleButt) going to the wrong site thinking the class was in NJ instead of Pennsyltucky. That resulted in the class starting 2 hours late. That, and the class was scheduled to be 4 hours but should have been 6 hours. So now, we are running up against my departure time of 1600 hours. Not good. The Prof was one of those standard academic types. In fact, he as an epitome of the stereotype you are probably envisioning in your mind's eye. Leather elbow patches on a tweed jacket, the cumbersomely thick glasses, beard and matching chrome-dome, loafers and dark turtle neck stretched to it's limit over an obtrusive pot belly. If he had a pipe to periodically chomp on while gazing off into the horizon while deeply contemplating the underlying basis for a student's question. So, I completed the class, took the test and got one question wrong. Which one? Dunno. Gotta keep the students from writing all the questions down and distributing them. Sheesh, we are all adults here and this type of Frat-House behavior ... aw, never mind.

Oh, and could you all wish the Ever Beautiful Mrs a happy BD? She is going to be ... ummm, young ... yes, very young again at the end of this month. Happy Birth Day Honey, and here is to you sharing another 100 or so with me.

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Technorati Tags:Old Lady | Illness | Karate | Children | Traffic

Labels: Banalities, Children, Illness, Weather

Yes, I live. Barely. Over the last week I've managed to plumb the depths of illness to it's murkiest abyss. A cold, a head cold, a sinus infections, chest cold, bronchitis and the threat of pneumonia. A quick run down should give a clear picture of what has bogged my down beyond the obvious health issues. There was the snow storm and the cold snap. The first wreaked havoc with the Daycare schedule and local roads, the latter caused a pipe to break at the manor and I had to deal with a multi-liter/second waterfall. The snow was not really snow, but frozen rain with sleet just to add to the fun. Our addle-minded DOT threw a load of salt on it to melt it and the overnight temperatures plummeted so the salty slush froze over into a deadly ice arena of curbed cars and tumbled SUVs. The bulk of the week was my constant battle with support phone calls regarding failed upgrades and peculiar situations that could only have come to pass by fingers being in places they should not be. This, of course, was denied through omission and "you can't prove that" type responses. Heap on top of that the skeleton crew of staff who actually made it though the Mad Max causeways to the office, you have a significantly frazzled individual. From what I was told, it was an all time record for inbound SOS calls.

Late Friday evening, the Parental Units ... GrandParental Units ... arrived and I collapsed into bed for the next 48 hours. Of course, any shift in my body at the time just caused the gallons of sputum to slog about my chest like molasses in a 55 gallon drum and sent me into a riotous hacking fit. I was admonished on multiple occasions by various parties that I should have taken care of this sooner. Egads, the hounding would most likely pursue me to my grave if I did not resolve this as soon as possible. I spent Presidents day in bed watching TiVo with the kids and making appointments with the blood-letters. I do not like going to the family practice. Other than my primary physician, I have never seen the same doctor twice whenever I visit. They change the staff there quicker than I can remember their names. Each one needs a primer course on my history since my medical file contains nearly 12 years of complaints. They need to bring it to the freezer room ... errr, patient room ... on a fork-lift. As a matter of course, my 9am appt turned into a 10am appt and I did not see an actual doctor till about 1030. When someone who could tell the difference between a Buick and a stethoscope did arrive, it was a matter of minutes before I was sent packing with 30 prescriptions clutched in my pestiferous hands. I took it all in stride and was even amused at the bewilderment when I supplied peculiar responses to their questions. Mostly regarding how I was dealing with the illness. You see, one look at me screamed 'Manual Laborer' ... coating of ash on boots, frayed jeans, durable Carhartt coat. Then they learn I'm a software jockey ... heh.

So, here I am sucking at two different inhalers and chowing down on the finest (and most bitter) pills the pharmaceutical industry has to offer. How has your week gone?

Technorati Tags:Snow | Swimming | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Banalities, Illness