Sigh, there is anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow predicted to fall by tomorrow morning. We've been getting teased by spring for a few weeks now, and this is just the latest setback. I finally got in a 100+ mile week last week on the bikes, but now I'll be driving again for the next couple of days. This is particularly aggravating because the kids have no school this week and biking to work is much easier when there isn't as much running around in the afternoons.
The end is in sight for a couple of other things. I can't say much about this, but it looks like the lawsuit against me and FedEx is finally starting to move along. I met with a new lawyer last week. The old lawyer representing me has retired; I think he had had enough with the foot-dragging by the other side. I will be deposed by the plaintiff's lawyers on May 8th apparently. I'll go back in and talk to my new lawyer the day before. He has been very reassuring. On the whole, this has been rather difficult for me because I'm being asked to relive the accident moment by moment. It's part of the reason I haven't felt like posting here much lately.
It looks like there's one more end coming into focus. Tentatively by July I will no longer be working here at Test Equipment World Domination Headquarters. Simply put, there is not enough work for me to do here. Jon has been kind enough to keep me on full time until a transition can be made, and as TOYH eases her way into full time nursing, I'll be able to work myself out of a job here. Jon has some self-interest in keeping me here for the time being. If I leave, he loses his health insurance, and given his current health status, he's not wanting to lose his coverage. I'll probably be training in Jon's son Douglas to do my job starting in June. That way Douglas can earn money, Jon only has to pay for a part time employee, and the insurance can remain the same. It looks like a win, win, win.
I have had a few preliminary talks with Jamie at Sunrise Cyclery. He hasn't just offered me a position at the shop, but an investment opportunity. This is a small business I can get excited about. Believe me there is a whole lot more money in used test equipment, but I'm really, really, not interested in it. Bikes on the other hand...... Whether this will pay the bills is another question. Mark, Daniel, are there any job openings working at the Convention Center?
The snow is really coming down hard now.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Two Days In A Row
I finally broke the grip of the unholy troika - aching body, schedules and weather - that was conspiring against my riding the winter pig bike to work. By weather I mean snow and/or ice. On the way home last night I was fighting against 20mph winds from the south, so I just thumbed my nose at Mother Nature and pressed on. Today there are west winds at about 15mph. Damn you Mother Nature.
Easter was good. TOYH decided to skip church and perfom a mission of mercy by preparing an Easter meal for the EG and DM. We spent the afternoon over at their place. The EG is making good progress getting around with her new hip. There's still some pain, but she's able to get up and down the short flight of stairs in their house.
Since TOYH and the girls didn't make it to Calvary for Easter service, I suggested we go to my church in the evening. It was very nice. Easter is great and all, but sometimes the attempted spectacle and production values of an Easter church service get to be a bit tiresome. At Mercy Seat Lutheran Kae preached a wonderful sermon and there were four baptisms. If I remember my church history correctly, the ancient church baptized folks on Easter after their instruction in the Catechism. Other than the baptisms, the only thing that was really different in the Easter service was a candle that was brought to the altar during the processional. (The processsional consisted of the two pastors and a 10 year old girl carrying the candle, not a lot of spectacle at my church.) It was the same candle that was taken from the altar at the end of the Good Friday Tennebrae service. I'll let you figure out the symbolism.
At church, TOYH and I proudly sported the hand stamps we received at First Avenue the night before at the Mike Doughty concert. Nothing like spending Holy Saturday in a bar. Doughty actually kind brought that up. He asked "If Jesus died on the cross yesterday and tomorrow he's resurrected, where is he today?" His bass player Scrap said, "He's here at First Avenue." I can live with that answer. But in 1st Peter it says that after the cross, Jesus was preaching to the spirits in prison, or hell I guess. If Scrap and 1st Peter are correct, hell has some pretty fine music.
Easter was good. TOYH decided to skip church and perfom a mission of mercy by preparing an Easter meal for the EG and DM. We spent the afternoon over at their place. The EG is making good progress getting around with her new hip. There's still some pain, but she's able to get up and down the short flight of stairs in their house.
Since TOYH and the girls didn't make it to Calvary for Easter service, I suggested we go to my church in the evening. It was very nice. Easter is great and all, but sometimes the attempted spectacle and production values of an Easter church service get to be a bit tiresome. At Mercy Seat Lutheran Kae preached a wonderful sermon and there were four baptisms. If I remember my church history correctly, the ancient church baptized folks on Easter after their instruction in the Catechism. Other than the baptisms, the only thing that was really different in the Easter service was a candle that was brought to the altar during the processional. (The processsional consisted of the two pastors and a 10 year old girl carrying the candle, not a lot of spectacle at my church.) It was the same candle that was taken from the altar at the end of the Good Friday Tennebrae service. I'll let you figure out the symbolism.
At church, TOYH and I proudly sported the hand stamps we received at First Avenue the night before at the Mike Doughty concert. Nothing like spending Holy Saturday in a bar. Doughty actually kind brought that up. He asked "If Jesus died on the cross yesterday and tomorrow he's resurrected, where is he today?" His bass player Scrap said, "He's here at First Avenue." I can live with that answer. But in 1st Peter it says that after the cross, Jesus was preaching to the spirits in prison, or hell I guess. If Scrap and 1st Peter are correct, hell has some pretty fine music.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Moving Day
TOYH and I spent the morning moving stuff out of the Massage Parlour. Some of it came home with us, and a good portion is going to stay on with Jess and her new business. For the better part of 5 years this has been TOYH's home away from home. She has met some really great people because of the business, a few I'm sure we'll maintain contact with. As good as the Massage Parlour has been for her, it was time to move on. Therapeutic massage is hard work. For a while now, TOYH's wrists and shoulders have been giving her trouble. She won't be giving up massage completely, but as of right now, she hasn't scheduled anything beyond next week. Jess is kind enough to let TOYH rent the space back on an hourly basis as needed. This may or may not happen. The only times that she will be able to pick up hours would be on Wednesday and Friday evenings. But I think she'd like to be done with evenings. Between school and massage, she's been gone a lot of evenings in the last 6 years. She's also going to be picking up more hours at her new job, so it's just impractical for her to be working that much every week.
Tonight TOYH and I are treating ourselves to a concert. Mike Doughty and his band are in town promoting his new disc at First Avenue. It's been a loooong time since I've been at a concert that hasn't involved my children, and even longer since I've been to First Avenue. I'll say hi to Prince if I see him there. First Ave calls itself, "Your downtown danceteria since 1970." That's 38 years ago. Last time I was there was probably 1985. If it had been 38 years old in 1985, that would mean it's tagline would have been, "Your downtown danceteria since 1947." That makes me feel old.
Happy Easter
Tonight TOYH and I are treating ourselves to a concert. Mike Doughty and his band are in town promoting his new disc at First Avenue. It's been a loooong time since I've been at a concert that hasn't involved my children, and even longer since I've been to First Avenue. I'll say hi to Prince if I see him there. First Ave calls itself, "Your downtown danceteria since 1970." That's 38 years ago. Last time I was there was probably 1985. If it had been 38 years old in 1985, that would mean it's tagline would have been, "Your downtown danceteria since 1947." That makes me feel old.
Happy Easter
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I Apologize For This
I normally try and steer clear of politics on this blog, but I can't help myself. I was sitting at work today reading TPM when it dawned on me that Barack Obama was giving his "race" speech. I was able read a copy of the speech shortly after it was delivered. I thought it was beautiful. Please, please, please read the whole speech or watch it in its entirety on a U Tube link. Don't trust the snippets you get from the teevee, paper or radio. I created a new blog so that you, dear reader, can read the text without getting bogged down in the partisan comments that come with the the text as posted on other political blogs. I really think this speech will be remembered as a great and timely piece of American political rhetoric. It is important because he is dealing directly with the problem of race and its perception in differing communities. He understands that there is racial resentment on all sides and that this resentment has its basis in lived in experience. But he also hopes for the possibility of us being able to transcend racial divisions to tackle problems that are not limited to race - poverty, education, health care. I am also impressed that he is also not completely disassociating himself from his pastor who made the inflammatory remarks - he rejects the remarks yes, but not the person - which is an incredibly brave thing to do given our current level of political discourse. Finally, Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic has reported that Obama wrote the speech himself. No speechwriters, no focus groups, no message testing. Apparently he worked on it for a few days and showed it to some aids shortly before giving it. If this is true, it is all the more impressive. Can you imagine the Current Occupant of the White House coming up with anything 1/100th as eloquent as this speech without help?
Here's the link to the text of his speech.
This link may turn out to be my outlet for politics. This way I can talk about politics and you dear reader can choose to link to it or not link to it. It will be your choice to read my crappy opinions (mostly borrowed from people smarter than me) on politics. Who knows, maybe I'll even give interested parties posting privileges and we can have a free for all.
Here's the link to the text of his speech.
This link may turn out to be my outlet for politics. This way I can talk about politics and you dear reader can choose to link to it or not link to it. It will be your choice to read my crappy opinions (mostly borrowed from people smarter than me) on politics. Who knows, maybe I'll even give interested parties posting privileges and we can have a free for all.
How Do You Get To Orchestra Hall? Practice. Practice Practice.
I think that old saw is only true for Carnegie Hall. Last night the Madster made her debut at Orchestra Hall without much practice at all. For the past few weeks she's been participating in Viva City, a program in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Last night it was Viva City's dance and choral music night, held at the best music venue in the state. Madster was invited along with 5 or 6 other Emerson middle schoolers to sing in a choir. The choirs are directed by an "artist in residence" who the district hires to work with kids in different schools. Madster's choir director was a visiting scholar at Macalester College in St. Paul, originally from Ghana. He arranged three songs for the kids to sing, and I thought they were the best performers of the whole night. The songs had lovely African sounding melodies, the kids stayed together and to my ear at least, they were in tune. By way of comparison, the high school choir, directed by a professor from Luther College, sang more traditional choral arrangements. They sounded fine, but for the most part choral music just doesn't do it for me. All in all it was a nice evening that included the requsite cuteness of 2nd graders doing a kind of swing dance. The only downside was when the emcee, during a lengthy shuffling of choir members on and off the stage, broke into George Benson/Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All." Stupid dreck. Of course children are the future, us old people will be dead in the future. Loving your self is the greatest love of all? Well that just gives me the creeps.
Madster and her friend Charlie were complaining on the way to Orchestra Hall (yes, we took the bus) about how they didn't have enough time to rehearse and that they didn't know some of the words to the songs and chants they were singing. Oh well. They sounded great to me. So yes, you can get to Orchestra Hall without enough practice. Madster is fortunate to have TOYH's most excellent musical abilities. Madster has always had a sweet singing voice. If she was relying on my genes, she never would have been invited to participate.
I wasn't able to bike today. I had my hopes up. Last night when we were coming home from the concert, the streets were clear and the snow had pretty much let up. I watched the weather news and stupid Belinda said that any snow falling overnight would melt and the roads would be clear. Wrong. We ended up with about 3 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground. On the roads they plowed overnight, the city pushed all the slush into the bike lanes and the unplowed streets were rutted, packed snow and slush. Yuck. The nice thing about this storm is that we should have a Denver type recovery. It should be warm enough that most of the snow should be gone by the end of the week.
Madster and her friend Charlie were complaining on the way to Orchestra Hall (yes, we took the bus) about how they didn't have enough time to rehearse and that they didn't know some of the words to the songs and chants they were singing. Oh well. They sounded great to me. So yes, you can get to Orchestra Hall without enough practice. Madster is fortunate to have TOYH's most excellent musical abilities. Madster has always had a sweet singing voice. If she was relying on my genes, she never would have been invited to participate.
I wasn't able to bike today. I had my hopes up. Last night when we were coming home from the concert, the streets were clear and the snow had pretty much let up. I watched the weather news and stupid Belinda said that any snow falling overnight would melt and the roads would be clear. Wrong. We ended up with about 3 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground. On the roads they plowed overnight, the city pushed all the slush into the bike lanes and the unplowed streets were rutted, packed snow and slush. Yuck. The nice thing about this storm is that we should have a Denver type recovery. It should be warm enough that most of the snow should be gone by the end of the week.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Awwwwww Crap
NWS says we could get up to 5 inches of snow by Tuesday. Just when I started to get some miles on the bikes. I've heard predicting snow is the most difficult job in all of weatherdom. The weather dorks have been off all this winter when it comes to snow accumulation predictions for the cities. Here's hoping they're wrong one last time.
In other crappy news, the wipers on Crapmobile are broken again, after spending $190 to get them fixed the first time. They are not stuck in the hillbilly "up" position in the middle of the windshield this time. Remember in the good old days when you turned on your wipers and they would both sweep up going to the left and back down down to the right? GM thought it would be cool if they had the wipers on this piece of garbage work in opposite directions. Driver's side sweeps up to the left, passenger side sweeps up to the right. But what may look cool to GM engineers is not be easy to execute, at least for those morons. TOYH used the wipers the other day and they got caught on each other. This threw them out of synch and the nut holding the driver's side loosened up and the wiper stopped working completely. Simple fix I thought, tighten the nut and we're good to go. Not so easy. As I was trying to get them to work in tandem, they kept getting caught on each other. Finally the passenger side wiper, caught on the driver's side wiper, bent the blade so that the top tip of the blade was touching the windshield, and the top third of the blade was bent in an upside down "U" shape while the bottom two thirds was touching the windshield. This gave me an idea. Why not take the blade and bend it back the other way? Voila. Now we just have a wiper that resembles Dilbert's necktie. And please dear reader, if you happen to meet or know an engineer from GM, please slap them. Hard. Multiple times.
In non-crappy news, last night we dumped the kids off on the Dreadful Man (well that's not entirely true he wants the company as long as Evil Grandmother is rehabbing) and we went to an actual dinner party. The party was thrown by 4 of TOYH's clients in celebration of her getting a new job. Kristi and Jodi hosted the party and Mark and Valerie, who live across the street from K & J provided the food. Well, Mark provided the food. It was delicious. The company was fabulous. It's been a while since I've laughed that hard.
Oh, and the final tally of miles not driven in the car this week.....117.
In other crappy news, the wipers on Crapmobile are broken again, after spending $190 to get them fixed the first time. They are not stuck in the hillbilly "up" position in the middle of the windshield this time. Remember in the good old days when you turned on your wipers and they would both sweep up going to the left and back down down to the right? GM thought it would be cool if they had the wipers on this piece of garbage work in opposite directions. Driver's side sweeps up to the left, passenger side sweeps up to the right. But what may look cool to GM engineers is not be easy to execute, at least for those morons. TOYH used the wipers the other day and they got caught on each other. This threw them out of synch and the nut holding the driver's side loosened up and the wiper stopped working completely. Simple fix I thought, tighten the nut and we're good to go. Not so easy. As I was trying to get them to work in tandem, they kept getting caught on each other. Finally the passenger side wiper, caught on the driver's side wiper, bent the blade so that the top tip of the blade was touching the windshield, and the top third of the blade was bent in an upside down "U" shape while the bottom two thirds was touching the windshield. This gave me an idea. Why not take the blade and bend it back the other way? Voila. Now we just have a wiper that resembles Dilbert's necktie. And please dear reader, if you happen to meet or know an engineer from GM, please slap them. Hard. Multiple times.
In non-crappy news, last night we dumped the kids off on the Dreadful Man (well that's not entirely true he wants the company as long as Evil Grandmother is rehabbing) and we went to an actual dinner party. The party was thrown by 4 of TOYH's clients in celebration of her getting a new job. Kristi and Jodi hosted the party and Mark and Valerie, who live across the street from K & J provided the food. Well, Mark provided the food. It was delicious. The company was fabulous. It's been a while since I've laughed that hard.
Oh, and the final tally of miles not driven in the car this week.....117.
Friday, March 14, 2008
I Love The Smell Of Self-Righteousness In The Evening
Yup. Between me and the kids, my bike and public transportation, we didn't drive 94 miles this week..... so far.
I also have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for another reason. This week we crossed over to the darkside computer wise. TOYH's new job has a system of computer/online charting. The system requires Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 or later. Microsoft quit updating IE for Macs sometime in 2003 or so. TOYH learned her lesson about having up to date charts on hand a few weeks ago at work when she covered for a nurse who was sick. She only had the paper charts to work with and her client wanted to go over the med list. That was fine, but the paper med charts were not up to date. Long story short, TOYH spent a loooong time trying to figure out what was going on with the meds. She realized then and there she needed to have a computer to do her online charting to keep things current. People Inc will eventually get a computer to her, but it's pretty clear she needs one now. It just so happens that Jon was looking at laptops on eBay and found a local guy who was sells used laptops. For $400 I picked up a used Dell laptop. I brought it home all excited to get it on our network at home. It took a while, but I figured it out. With our other Macs, it has been plug and play to get on our Mac network. I bought my first Mac in 1986, a MacIntosh 512k Enhanced. No hard drive. All the programs were on the 3 1/4 floppies you had to carry around with you. Every Mac I've purchased since then has been pretty simple to work with. I've never had any reason to get a PC. Well it finally happened and I got it to work in our hostile Mac environment.
In other news, EG is out of the hospital in a nursing home for a short stay. Probably just a couple of days. She basically fell behind in her rehab because of the low hemoglobin.
I also have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for another reason. This week we crossed over to the darkside computer wise. TOYH's new job has a system of computer/online charting. The system requires Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 or later. Microsoft quit updating IE for Macs sometime in 2003 or so. TOYH learned her lesson about having up to date charts on hand a few weeks ago at work when she covered for a nurse who was sick. She only had the paper charts to work with and her client wanted to go over the med list. That was fine, but the paper med charts were not up to date. Long story short, TOYH spent a loooong time trying to figure out what was going on with the meds. She realized then and there she needed to have a computer to do her online charting to keep things current. People Inc will eventually get a computer to her, but it's pretty clear she needs one now. It just so happens that Jon was looking at laptops on eBay and found a local guy who was sells used laptops. For $400 I picked up a used Dell laptop. I brought it home all excited to get it on our network at home. It took a while, but I figured it out. With our other Macs, it has been plug and play to get on our Mac network. I bought my first Mac in 1986, a MacIntosh 512k Enhanced. No hard drive. All the programs were on the 3 1/4 floppies you had to carry around with you. Every Mac I've purchased since then has been pretty simple to work with. I've never had any reason to get a PC. Well it finally happened and I got it to work in our hostile Mac environment.
In other news, EG is out of the hospital in a nursing home for a short stay. Probably just a couple of days. She basically fell behind in her rehab because of the low hemoglobin.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Updates
From the Dreadful Man last evening:
"It was a good night that allowed Phyllis to catch up on her much needed sleep. She has yet to put weight on her new hip, and she says it is slow going, although she is told that things are about normal. The big issue will probably be the stairs; however, today the big issue was her energy level. She had very low hemoglobin and had to have two pints of blood this afternoon. She was getting dizzy when she tried to stand, and because of the energy level, she didn’t gain as much ground as she would have liked. But we all know that she will overcome eventually. We asked about having blood before the surgery and were told that little bleeding occurred and what did was “filtered and recirculated”. Why she needed two units of blood is a mystery. I trust that there are no vampires about."
DM called last night to tell me this, and I was alarmed. 2 units of blood? That seems like a lot. Anyway, TOYH called just a few minutes ago and said that the EG was feeling like a new woman today, full of piss and vinegar or new blood at least.
In other news, KyKy has decided that track and field is not the sport for her. Last night she said to me gravely, "Dad, I need to tell you something."
"Yes?" I say with a bit of apprehension.
"I'm quitting track."
Whew. Not moving in with a newfound boyfriend. Not becoming a Republican. Not wanting me to buy her the complete Brittany Spears on iTunes. I can live with this. I told her that I'd be lying if I said I was disappointed about her quitting. The practices seemed to be a bit too long, ending about sixish. She's got enough to do with homework and viola and Wednesday night church to involve herself in a sport she's only half-way interested in. I've written before about the coolness of being on a team and the camaraderie that comes along with it, but if the rest of your life is misery because you don't have any time on your hands, the team isn't worth it.
"It was a good night that allowed Phyllis to catch up on her much needed sleep. She has yet to put weight on her new hip, and she says it is slow going, although she is told that things are about normal. The big issue will probably be the stairs; however, today the big issue was her energy level. She had very low hemoglobin and had to have two pints of blood this afternoon. She was getting dizzy when she tried to stand, and because of the energy level, she didn’t gain as much ground as she would have liked. But we all know that she will overcome eventually. We asked about having blood before the surgery and were told that little bleeding occurred and what did was “filtered and recirculated”. Why she needed two units of blood is a mystery. I trust that there are no vampires about."
DM called last night to tell me this, and I was alarmed. 2 units of blood? That seems like a lot. Anyway, TOYH called just a few minutes ago and said that the EG was feeling like a new woman today, full of piss and vinegar or new blood at least.
In other news, KyKy has decided that track and field is not the sport for her. Last night she said to me gravely, "Dad, I need to tell you something."
"Yes?" I say with a bit of apprehension.
"I'm quitting track."
Whew. Not moving in with a newfound boyfriend. Not becoming a Republican. Not wanting me to buy her the complete Brittany Spears on iTunes. I can live with this. I told her that I'd be lying if I said I was disappointed about her quitting. The practices seemed to be a bit too long, ending about sixish. She's got enough to do with homework and viola and Wednesday night church to involve herself in a sport she's only half-way interested in. I've written before about the coolness of being on a team and the camaraderie that comes along with it, but if the rest of your life is misery because you don't have any time on your hands, the team isn't worth it.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
This Just In ... Sort Of
From an email I received yesterday and now to be found on the "Yeah, I Started Posting Again" Journal of Medicine:
I know what you are thinking. You are confused by the unfamiliar handwriting. “This is not Phyllis” you say, and you are correct. It is, rather, her husband, Doug if you don’t know me, and if you do, you will just have to learn to live with it. I have been assigned the task of writing the “Hip Chronicles”, and this is the first installment.
Between 0732 and 1009 on the morning of 10 February, 2008, Phyllis was the prominent feature in a skilled medical procedure that had a portion of defective skeletal structure replaced with shiny, exotic and expensive metal: in a word – new hip. Our eldest daughter, Tacy and I anxiously whiled away the hours waiting for the doctor’s report by enjoying a sumptuous (if hospital cafeterias can provide sumptuous) breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage and coffee, followed later by juice and more coffee and congenial repartee. Finally, at 1130 the doctor came in to announce that The Phyllis came through with flying colors. He did say that she had one of the most arthritic hips that he had ever seen! The surgery took some time longer because he had to remove some considerable bone growth from around the hip socket. But all was accomplished, and we were visiting with a lucid and happy wife/mother. She had a spinal block plus some damitall to keep her numb and woozy so she did not have to have general anesthesia which would have taken much longer to revive. By 1300 hours, she had been awake a whole day’s worth of hard work, and we left her to rest. She has this afternoon filled with such tasks as dinner, (her first meal since last afternoon) and she must sit up, that is, bend her new hip 90 degrees. Tomorrow the real exercise begins, and I am planning on taking some polka music (45s, naturally) on my visit.
I will keep you all posted anon.
Doug
In other news, I rode my bike in to work today for the first time since February 25th. This despite the fact that my knee is not 100%. That's the difference between me and the EG. She has hip pain and gets a new hip. I have knee pain and ride my bike.
I know what you are thinking. You are confused by the unfamiliar handwriting. “This is not Phyllis” you say, and you are correct. It is, rather, her husband, Doug if you don’t know me, and if you do, you will just have to learn to live with it. I have been assigned the task of writing the “Hip Chronicles”, and this is the first installment.
Between 0732 and 1009 on the morning of 10 February, 2008, Phyllis was the prominent feature in a skilled medical procedure that had a portion of defective skeletal structure replaced with shiny, exotic and expensive metal: in a word – new hip. Our eldest daughter, Tacy and I anxiously whiled away the hours waiting for the doctor’s report by enjoying a sumptuous (if hospital cafeterias can provide sumptuous) breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage and coffee, followed later by juice and more coffee and congenial repartee. Finally, at 1130 the doctor came in to announce that The Phyllis came through with flying colors. He did say that she had one of the most arthritic hips that he had ever seen! The surgery took some time longer because he had to remove some considerable bone growth from around the hip socket. But all was accomplished, and we were visiting with a lucid and happy wife/mother. She had a spinal block plus some damitall to keep her numb and woozy so she did not have to have general anesthesia which would have taken much longer to revive. By 1300 hours, she had been awake a whole day’s worth of hard work, and we left her to rest. She has this afternoon filled with such tasks as dinner, (her first meal since last afternoon) and she must sit up, that is, bend her new hip 90 degrees. Tomorrow the real exercise begins, and I am planning on taking some polka music (45s, naturally) on my visit.
I will keep you all posted anon.
Doug
In other news, I rode my bike in to work today for the first time since February 25th. This despite the fact that my knee is not 100%. That's the difference between me and the EG. She has hip pain and gets a new hip. I have knee pain and ride my bike.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Busy, Busy, Busy
We had a few things going on this weekend.
Saturday was the first time in a long, long time that TOYH didn't spend the first day of a weekend morning at work or school. "So does she stay home and enjoy it?" I ask this knowing that you, dear reader, are already aware of the answer. Of course not. She ran off to an aerobics/workout class that she and some of her church friends had organized. Apparently she felt the burn because she was complaining a bit about being sore yesterday.
Therefore it fell to me to get the younger two to karate for their workouts. Saturday is sparring day, and I have to say that both of them have got that "eye of the tiger" thing going. 'Nika was beating up on sweet little Carla Guillen, and Madster opened up a can of whup ass on some roly-poly teenage boy. I kinda felt sorry for the kid even though he poked Madster in the face (they wear helmets). He did this despite the fact that the kids were told to take no head shots in this session. Madster got her revenge though. When they resumed sparring she got in a couple of kicks to his chest and thus out scored him in their little match. When you're a teenage boy and a girl who is younger and doesn't wear as advanced a belt as you do beats you, it's got to be a tad humiliating. That's why I felt kinda sorry for him.
Later on Saturday afternoon we all piled into Crapmobile and headed up to my ancestral home. It was the weekend to celebrate Oma and Opa's birthdays, since they fall on March 3 and March 4. We had the little wing-ding at Mark and Terri's house and a good time was had by all. Tracy and Jeff weren't able to make it since Caleb had a basketball tournament over the weekend. Click on the links to the left to read about final results. If they haven't posted about it, pester them until they do. Caleb's siblings, Maren and Chase, were there though and they kept everyone entertained.
Sunday saw more extended family activites with us heading up to TOYH's parents place for a late lunch. While I'm writing this, the Evil Grandmother is under the knife for a hip replacement, so she wanted to see us while she was still mobile. I think she also wanted the diversion of company because she was not looking forward to the surgery. The Dreadful Man, while not excited about having his wife laid up in the hospital for a few days, is looking forward to being able to eat as many types of beans he can find and then entertaining himself with the resulting flatulence. This is how he got the name Dreadful Man from his wife.
After we left EG and DM's, I was able to catch up with some of my old FedEx pals Sunday evening. It was really good to see them again.
Today KyKy starts track practice after school. Practice supposedly runs (hehe) until 6:00 or 6:15, which seems a bit excessive to me. More chauffeuring for us I guess, although now it is light enough now that she could take the bus home with no problem. KyKy has also started her behind the wheel instruction for driver's training. Every time we get in the car 'Nika is always asking if KyKy can drive. Not yet, but soon.
It's supposed to warm up nicely this week and it's about damn time. I haven't been on my bike for a while since my knee is still bothering me and the weather has not been cooperating lately. This could be an ugly spring as far as bike commuting goes, too many after school activities and no TOYH to share the burden of driving around since she's got a day job now. Gotta talk to Jon about cutting back hours.
Saturday was the first time in a long, long time that TOYH didn't spend the first day of a weekend morning at work or school. "So does she stay home and enjoy it?" I ask this knowing that you, dear reader, are already aware of the answer. Of course not. She ran off to an aerobics/workout class that she and some of her church friends had organized. Apparently she felt the burn because she was complaining a bit about being sore yesterday.
Therefore it fell to me to get the younger two to karate for their workouts. Saturday is sparring day, and I have to say that both of them have got that "eye of the tiger" thing going. 'Nika was beating up on sweet little Carla Guillen, and Madster opened up a can of whup ass on some roly-poly teenage boy. I kinda felt sorry for the kid even though he poked Madster in the face (they wear helmets). He did this despite the fact that the kids were told to take no head shots in this session. Madster got her revenge though. When they resumed sparring she got in a couple of kicks to his chest and thus out scored him in their little match. When you're a teenage boy and a girl who is younger and doesn't wear as advanced a belt as you do beats you, it's got to be a tad humiliating. That's why I felt kinda sorry for him.
Later on Saturday afternoon we all piled into Crapmobile and headed up to my ancestral home. It was the weekend to celebrate Oma and Opa's birthdays, since they fall on March 3 and March 4. We had the little wing-ding at Mark and Terri's house and a good time was had by all. Tracy and Jeff weren't able to make it since Caleb had a basketball tournament over the weekend. Click on the links to the left to read about final results. If they haven't posted about it, pester them until they do. Caleb's siblings, Maren and Chase, were there though and they kept everyone entertained.
Sunday saw more extended family activites with us heading up to TOYH's parents place for a late lunch. While I'm writing this, the Evil Grandmother is under the knife for a hip replacement, so she wanted to see us while she was still mobile. I think she also wanted the diversion of company because she was not looking forward to the surgery. The Dreadful Man, while not excited about having his wife laid up in the hospital for a few days, is looking forward to being able to eat as many types of beans he can find and then entertaining himself with the resulting flatulence. This is how he got the name Dreadful Man from his wife.
After we left EG and DM's, I was able to catch up with some of my old FedEx pals Sunday evening. It was really good to see them again.
Today KyKy starts track practice after school. Practice supposedly runs (hehe) until 6:00 or 6:15, which seems a bit excessive to me. More chauffeuring for us I guess, although now it is light enough now that she could take the bus home with no problem. KyKy has also started her behind the wheel instruction for driver's training. Every time we get in the car 'Nika is always asking if KyKy can drive. Not yet, but soon.
It's supposed to warm up nicely this week and it's about damn time. I haven't been on my bike for a while since my knee is still bothering me and the weather has not been cooperating lately. This could be an ugly spring as far as bike commuting goes, too many after school activities and no TOYH to share the burden of driving around since she's got a day job now. Gotta talk to Jon about cutting back hours.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
As Atrios Would Say, I Got Nuthin'
As evidenced by my lack of entries. So just click on the links on the left. Oh and Francis, thx for the music. I've got a lot of listening to do.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
I Went To Red Wing And All I Got Was This Lousy Sprained Knee
Ok, that's not entirely true, as you will find out. KyKy, 'Nika and I made it to Red Wing on Amtrak without incident. If you want to spend a whole day in RW, and I mean the whole day, the train is the way to go. We met up with TOYH and The Madster at breakfast, and when we were finished eating, we commenced with our wanderings. Highlights of the day included a stop at the Goodhue County Public Library, Lilly's Coffeehouse, assorted antique and specialty stores, dinner at the pub at the St. James Hotel, coffee at a Caribou where there was an "acoustic" singer/guitar player with his amp turned up to 11 (why they called it acoustic when the guy who was performing was playing too loud for us to be able to hold a conversation is beyond me) and lots of walking. RW does have a taxi service that is pretty cheap, so if you take the train down there and want to get to Pottery Place, it can be done easily. And yes, I did sprain my knee. On the way to said Caribou, lugging all our bags and looking like a slightly well dressed homeless family, I slipped on the ice and fell on me bum, giving my left knee a pretty good twist in the process. My butt was ok but I've been hobbling around a bit, especially on the stairs.
Perhaps the most charming part of the trip was waiting for the train to get us back home. Since the Caribou was too loud, we decided to wait it out at the restored RW train depot. As we approached, we started to hear music coming from the inside. (RW apparently doesn't like silence. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, we went there was either live music, a radio playing, or some kind of pop music, mostly from the 70's and 80's, assaulting us.) The music from the Depot was great though. It was three retirees, one on a tuba, one on a trumpet and one who had tenor, alto and soprano saxes plus a clarinet. They were playing dixieland tunes and old timey popular music - and doing it quite well. They do it just for fun apparently, because they wouldn't fess up to playing paid gigs. The Depot is unlocked at that hour and since no one is there, they use it for rehearsal space.
In one of the antique stores we were in, I found a box with some old road maps. I love to look at maps. I started to rifle through the box and found an old Standard Oil map of the Twin Cities from the early 60's. What I love about that map is that those awful gashes that cut through the cities, also known as Interstate Highways, are pretty much absent. 35W ends at 58th Street in South Minneapolis, the 494/694 loop consists of about a mile and a half of road in South St Paul and 94 only exists in some evil engineer's imagination. When I brought it up to the counter to buy it, the guy in the store asked me if I had seen a particular book he had found hiding in a piece of furniture they had for sale. I hadn't, so he showed it to me. It was a 1902 Hudson's Dictionary of Minneapolis. It had a fold out map of the city as it existed in 1902. I have no idea if the book was worth anything, but I had to have it, so I bought it for what I'm sure is far too much money. The map is not in great shape, it has lots of creases and a big tear, but it would look really cool framed. Among the points of interest on the map is "Lake Mendoza, formerly Lake Calhoun" (and now currently known as Lake Calhoun). In the book, two of the longest entries are for the street car system and, drum roll please, BICYCLING. In 1902, Minneapolis had 50 miles of bicycle paths plus some "good hard" roads that were amenable for bicycling. The entry also contained a list of bicycle routes for out of towners to the city to use, and a map of the paths and roads good for cycling. Also of note, there were no entries for automobiles in the 1902 Dictionary of Minneapolis. It's just so hard imagine the impact car culture has had on our country in the last hundred years. From the enormous amount of wealth created by the automobile and associated industries, to the fractured, ailing central cities which not only have gigantic ditches isolating neighborhoods, but also lost a valuable public good with the demise of mass transit (well at least in Minneapolis).
So in the spirit of non-auto transportation, I spent quite a bit of time on the bus yesterday. I rode the 11, 18, 21, 11 (again) 46, 5, 11 (again), 16, 2, and 5 (again) bus routes. All this to get the girls to two different karate sessions and for me to get to the Boys State Swim Meet. The whole state meet thing was a huge trip down Nostalgia Lane for me. I saw people I hadn't seen in 25 years, and the whole atmosphere of the meet brought back pleasant memories of my high school years. It was really a fun time. On my bus ride to campus, I got a call from Nerdy Bike Neil who was just leaving the Gopher basketball game with his son Owen. We literally crossed paths by the Radisson on Washington Ave. Naturally, Neil told me that my knee would get better if I rode my bike more. I think he's probably right. When I got to the meet the first person I saw was an old college teammate of mine. He's now the Edina girls coach, and we had a nice little chat. Next, I saw a group of Cambridge swimmers, I introduced myself, and told them how pleased I was that the relay record was broken. Unfortunately, none of them in that group were on the relay (those guys were in the water warming up, duh). They pointed me in the direction of the Cambridge fan contingent. By some twist of fate the assigned seats for the Cambridge parents and team members were the best seats in the whole facility. Really. Front row, right in line with the starting blocks. I had a standing room only ticket so I couldn't walk down there and plop on the bench. I caught a glimpse of one of my old H.S. teammates, Jim Berry, whose son Jake is on the relay. Jim and I finally hooked up, and after catching up with each other, Jim proceeded to introduce me not only to the members of the relay, but to parents of the other swimmers, one of whom, Rusty Jacobson was a classmate of mine although an non-swimmer himself. It was nice to be able to congratulate the kids on breaking that musty old record, and as a added bonus, the kids were really nice. Jim couldn't say enough good things about them. Rusty and his wife Char (another classmate of mine) left after the Cambridge boys were done, so Jim and I went and took their places and enjoyed the meet from the best vantage point in the house. We continued to talk old times and watch some pretty incredible swims. I also saw and chatted with Jeff and Deb Edblad, who I haven't seen since H.S. days. All in all, a very pleasant evening.
Perhaps the most charming part of the trip was waiting for the train to get us back home. Since the Caribou was too loud, we decided to wait it out at the restored RW train depot. As we approached, we started to hear music coming from the inside. (RW apparently doesn't like silence. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, we went there was either live music, a radio playing, or some kind of pop music, mostly from the 70's and 80's, assaulting us.) The music from the Depot was great though. It was three retirees, one on a tuba, one on a trumpet and one who had tenor, alto and soprano saxes plus a clarinet. They were playing dixieland tunes and old timey popular music - and doing it quite well. They do it just for fun apparently, because they wouldn't fess up to playing paid gigs. The Depot is unlocked at that hour and since no one is there, they use it for rehearsal space.
In one of the antique stores we were in, I found a box with some old road maps. I love to look at maps. I started to rifle through the box and found an old Standard Oil map of the Twin Cities from the early 60's. What I love about that map is that those awful gashes that cut through the cities, also known as Interstate Highways, are pretty much absent. 35W ends at 58th Street in South Minneapolis, the 494/694 loop consists of about a mile and a half of road in South St Paul and 94 only exists in some evil engineer's imagination. When I brought it up to the counter to buy it, the guy in the store asked me if I had seen a particular book he had found hiding in a piece of furniture they had for sale. I hadn't, so he showed it to me. It was a 1902 Hudson's Dictionary of Minneapolis. It had a fold out map of the city as it existed in 1902. I have no idea if the book was worth anything, but I had to have it, so I bought it for what I'm sure is far too much money. The map is not in great shape, it has lots of creases and a big tear, but it would look really cool framed. Among the points of interest on the map is "Lake Mendoza, formerly Lake Calhoun" (and now currently known as Lake Calhoun). In the book, two of the longest entries are for the street car system and, drum roll please, BICYCLING. In 1902, Minneapolis had 50 miles of bicycle paths plus some "good hard" roads that were amenable for bicycling. The entry also contained a list of bicycle routes for out of towners to the city to use, and a map of the paths and roads good for cycling. Also of note, there were no entries for automobiles in the 1902 Dictionary of Minneapolis. It's just so hard imagine the impact car culture has had on our country in the last hundred years. From the enormous amount of wealth created by the automobile and associated industries, to the fractured, ailing central cities which not only have gigantic ditches isolating neighborhoods, but also lost a valuable public good with the demise of mass transit (well at least in Minneapolis).
So in the spirit of non-auto transportation, I spent quite a bit of time on the bus yesterday. I rode the 11, 18, 21, 11 (again) 46, 5, 11 (again), 16, 2, and 5 (again) bus routes. All this to get the girls to two different karate sessions and for me to get to the Boys State Swim Meet. The whole state meet thing was a huge trip down Nostalgia Lane for me. I saw people I hadn't seen in 25 years, and the whole atmosphere of the meet brought back pleasant memories of my high school years. It was really a fun time. On my bus ride to campus, I got a call from Nerdy Bike Neil who was just leaving the Gopher basketball game with his son Owen. We literally crossed paths by the Radisson on Washington Ave. Naturally, Neil told me that my knee would get better if I rode my bike more. I think he's probably right. When I got to the meet the first person I saw was an old college teammate of mine. He's now the Edina girls coach, and we had a nice little chat. Next, I saw a group of Cambridge swimmers, I introduced myself, and told them how pleased I was that the relay record was broken. Unfortunately, none of them in that group were on the relay (those guys were in the water warming up, duh). They pointed me in the direction of the Cambridge fan contingent. By some twist of fate the assigned seats for the Cambridge parents and team members were the best seats in the whole facility. Really. Front row, right in line with the starting blocks. I had a standing room only ticket so I couldn't walk down there and plop on the bench. I caught a glimpse of one of my old H.S. teammates, Jim Berry, whose son Jake is on the relay. Jim and I finally hooked up, and after catching up with each other, Jim proceeded to introduce me not only to the members of the relay, but to parents of the other swimmers, one of whom, Rusty Jacobson was a classmate of mine although an non-swimmer himself. It was nice to be able to congratulate the kids on breaking that musty old record, and as a added bonus, the kids were really nice. Jim couldn't say enough good things about them. Rusty and his wife Char (another classmate of mine) left after the Cambridge boys were done, so Jim and I went and took their places and enjoyed the meet from the best vantage point in the house. We continued to talk old times and watch some pretty incredible swims. I also saw and chatted with Jeff and Deb Edblad, who I haven't seen since H.S. days. All in all, a very pleasant evening.
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