feren

I guess I'm having a streak of luck from Friday the 13th, or something. Or at least that's what some would have you believe. Let's see... last night I tagged those traffic barriers with the Expedition, right? And just a moment ago I gave lady_curmudgeon muscle spasms on her bruised rib cage when she bent over the recliner to see a video that was playing on my laptop.

Delayed bad luck? I'm not allowed to touch anything for the rest of the day.

I believe I mentioned that I spent a number of hours yesterday outside, directly in the hot sun.

The hot, afternoon sun.

With no protection on my head. My bald head.

Can you guess the end result? Sure you can! My scalp has sunburned nicely. Damn you, male pattern baldness! I should file a complaint with my employer -- if we were allowed to wear hats in addition to this ridiculous business-casual dress code (which really shouldn't apply to the Engineering staff unless we have a vendor meeting), I wouldn't have gotten scorched. Looks like I'll be spending my day with a cool washcloth on my head. I already look ridiculous with a bright red dome, so putting a washcloth on it will at least afford me some relief from the throbbing of the burn.

Slipping through the shadows

Not sure if it's the microwave move from Monday night (MMFMN?) coming back to haunt me, or if I slept wrong, or if it's a little of both.... but "ow." At present the small of my back feels like there's an axe lodged in it. A large, double-bitted axe, probably something you'd expect to see a dwarf carrying in one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. A few minutes ago I dosed up with naproxen, which will have the pleasant side effect of making my wrists behave a bit better today... but right now I'm mostly waiting for the searing agony I feel with every movement I make to become something more closely resembling a not-searing agony. I'm not greedy, I'd settle for "obnoxious pain." However, until that happens I'll be sitting stiffly here at my desk, looking for all the world like a department store mannequin.

But at least I'm a well-paid mannequin.


. o O o .
Edit 0818 1/22/04: Does anybody remember the Stephen King novel Christine? Does anybody remember how Arnie hurt his back? I'm beginning to wonder if I was out pushing my Expedition around last night and I don't even remember it...

... and lord is that cheek sore. I knew there was a reason I usually put it (my wallet, not my butt) in the little wallet-holder that's built into the Expedition's console when I drive to Minnesota, and today reminded me precisely what that reason was. As the day (and miles) continued I could feel that side of my posterior becoming rather sore, and pretty soon my back was complaining quite fiercely about the kink that uncomfortable lump of leather was causing in my spine. I think I need to be quit of some of the little plastic cards I carry around. When will the promised SmartCard be here to hold all my membership information for Wolf Photo, Dominick's, TGIFridays, CVS, Petco, Jewel-Osco, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and Dave & Busters? When will this insanity end with forcing us to carry individual club cards? My spine demands satisfaction. Hell, my asscheek demands satisfaction -- and my asscheek is not to be trifled with!

Ahem. I'm better now, really.

So today was a good day. First, as my company observes the Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday holiday I didn't have to go into work. I tried to sleep in and found that I couldn't really stay tired past the hour when I'm normally sitting down at my desk, so I popped online and was pleased to see somebody special arrive not long after. Time passed quickly after that and all too soon she was gone again, and all I could do was sit and smile a little to myself. genet returned home around 1pm, made a quick lunch and then we were off to my storage unit. I had a mission and I wasn't about to let it be thwarted. Remember those 24" bolt cutters I wrote about last night? I bought those for a reason, but they ultimately failed at their purpose. Redemption was at hand, however, when I gained access to a set of 36" bolt cutters!

( Behold the vanquished! )

Yep, with the help of the manager at my storage locker I was able to remove a rogue Masterlock that had somehow found its way onto my door. This is what thwarted my trip to retrieve boxes last night, resulting in a couple of hours being wasted for myself, Roho and Genet along with a few gallons of gas and 100+ miles on my Expedition. I was... a tiny bit angry last night to make the discovery that our trip had been in vain, but that was rectified today. Genet and I got up there around 2pm, stopped at the rental office and obtained the bolt cutter. I flexed my poor, undeveloped and underworked muscles and made quick work of hacking the Masterlock to bits. Once the offending visitor was cut off I was able to unlock MY lock, open the door and begin loading. After the truck was packed full I returned the borrowed bolt cutters and had a good laugh with the storage manager about whatever poor schmoe left their unit unlocked and double-locked mine. Then it was back down the road and over to the house, where we unloaded a few pieces of art and a lot of boxes. My kitchen has a microwave and a toaster now, my family room has a DVD player and a PS2, and there's a bunch more boxes in my livingroom for me to sort through! It's starting to look like a bomb went off in there, so I'm guessin' that means I am this much closer to being "moved in."

We left the house at around 6:00 and arrived back at the apartment before 7 o'clock -- a pretty decent travel time. Genet made a tasty chicken-cheese-pepper-onion dish with lots of Tabasco for me, then we sat down and watched two more episodes of Babylon 5. It's great to see the season 4 episodes again, for me this is probably the best of the series. Genet's never seen the show so for her each new episode is like getting to unwrap a present, and it's sort of fun how the discussion gets very lively after we finish a viewing session. When I am finally settled in the house I really am going to miss the stereo system that Roho has... it's a perfect 5.1 surround system, very nice for watching DVDs with. Ah well, maybe I'll have the spare cash for such a foible again in a few months, time will tell.

But I have to get to bed now. It's far later than I had originally thought, my wrists hurt, my back aches from carrying that dinosaur of a microwave and my left eye has decided that focus is entirely optional. That's never a good sign. Tomorrow it's back to work for me, then down to the house to meet up with a crowd for dinner. I'm not sure what our exact plans are, but it should be fun no matter what. There's so much in my new neighborhood to do!

Is it strange I should change, I don't know