Mike

09:20 pm: Flying Off The Handle

Tonight I was driving down a multi-lane highway in the left lane.  A light rain was falling, and my driver's-side windshield wiper was making a loud screetching sound.  This has happened to me before.  The wiper blade was coming loose, and I just needed to pull over and readjust the blade.  I resolved to find an exit with a gas station.

With that, my blade fell off of the windshield wiper handle.  I could no longer use the wipers, because the driver's side window would get scratched by the wiper arm.  I merged across three lanes of unforgiving traffic, blaring my horn to force my way to the nearest exit.  Unfortunately, I chose the one exit in Washington D.C. that has absolutely no gas stations, or anything else.  I pulled into a small school and fought with my blade.  I thought I had it fixed just enough to get back home, and pulled back out of the lot.  I knew where I was, but I didn't want to get back on the highway.  I chose to use that no-name two-lane road instead.

Just ten seconds into my return trip, the blade fell off again, and I nearly crashed into a van pulling out of their driveway.  I searched for a blade at a local CVS with no luck, and spent 10 minutes in the rain trying to repair the old wiper again.

I thought that maybe I could go out to dinner, and that the rain would let up.  At least I got to eat, but I still had to get home.  I rolled the driver's window down, and managed to get home without any more incidents.  Still, I need to fix my windshield wiper.

Tags: car repair, travel

03:56 pm: Bad Bounce
I see it's going to be one of those days...

I was sitting at my computer doing some revisions on my dissertation.  The comments from my advisor were on my desk, printed out and held together by a binder clip.  I flipped a page, the binder clip fell off, and fell to the floor.  That's where it bumped the on/off switch on my power strip, turning off my computer.

I have no idea how this was even possible.  My power strip (and the on/off button) is on its side.  So the clip must have bounced off the floor and INTO the power strip with enough force, and at just the right angle, to turn it off.  Really.  What are the chances.

Tags: computer, thesis

12:37 pm: Group 3
In high school gym class, I was placed in "Group 3."  Group 1 was for athletes, and Group 4 was for slackers.  My scores were good enough for a higher group, except for two categories: flexibility and cardiovascular fitness.

Running days for Group 3 required that we run 2 miles in under 20 minutes.  I would race my friends around the track, and we would huff and puff over the finish line around 18:30.  Afterwards, we would collapse on the sidelines as the teacher yelled at us to keep walking.  We would never be track stars.  I accepted that, just as I accepted that I would never be a Yoga instructor.

Two years ago, I tried running on a treadmill again.  I was able to make 2 miles in 20 minutes, just as my former high school self had done.  Several months ago, I tried running 4 miles, and made it in 41 minutes.  I nearly collapsed on the treadmill after I finished.  That was the farthest I'd ever tried to go.

Last month, Jason and mawiwa  asked me if I would sign up for a 5 mile run through the woods.  Both of them have run a half-marathon, and this was simple to them.  I pictured them taking off ahead of me, while I collapsed by myself in the wilderness around Mile 4.  I was curious whether I could accomplish 5 miles, but I turned them down.  Jason and mawiwa  couldn't find more takers, so they opted for an 11-mile hike instead (which they cancelled because of rain and mud).

That run would have been yesterday.  That hike would also have been yesterday.  I could've run 5 miles.  I could have walked 11 miles.  Instead, I was sitting at home doing laundry.  I decided that I'd challenge the treadmill to 5 miles of anguish.

I started out on a 10-minute-mile pace.  Each mile, I increased my pace.  Final time: 46:30 for 5 miles, finishing the last mile in just 8 minutes.  My body hates me today, but it will recover.

I bet noone in high school would have expected a five-mile-run out of this Group 3 guy.

Tags: mawiwa, run

12:05 am: Swimming in the Rain
Right now it's 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside.  We also received some rain tonight.

I picked one heckuva time to go swimming outside.

I decided that after finishing off my last dissertation draft, I needed to burn off some energy.  I figured that the ARC's indoor pool was just what I needed.  With classes over, the club teams wouldn't be dominating the pool, and it would be very easy to swim.

I was right.  There were no club teams in the pool.  In fact, the pool was completely empty...of water.  There was a note telling me to go use the outdoor pool instead.  I walked outside, and the air temperature wasn't horrible.  The water wasn't ice cold either.  I started my swim with the other two idiots that also decided to swim tonight.

As I swam, a few things happened:
1) I learned that the outdoor pool is about twice the length of the indoor pool.  Laps wear you out much faster,
2) The air cooled fast, and
3) Raindrops started falling on my head around Lap #15.

I actually thought to myself, "If I go underwater, the raindrops won't get me, and I'll stay dry."

The rain let up, and I swam until they closed the pool.  After that, I began my mad dash to grab my towel and run in my flip flops for the sauna to warm up.  Maybe it wasn't the best plan tonight, but I definitely burned off some energy.

Tags: swim

10:47 pm: Cooking Time
From the mj_notes  kitchen comes: Foods that don't keep overnight!

For my department picnic, I had to come up with something that wasn't:
- meat
- dessert
- beans, or
- pasta

I checked my favorite recipe book and found a recipe for Glazed Carrots.  It was simple enough.  A bag of baby carrots, brown sugar, butter, and ranch seasoning.  Steam the carrots, strain them, melt together the other ingredients, and then mix everything together.

It was easy.  Too easy.  I put the finished product in my fridge, and by the next morning it had gone bad.  I now had only 2 1/2 hours before my picnic, and I had to make something else.  Cue next recipe:  Corn cake muffins.  This easy recipe involved milk, eggs, water, vegetable oil, and half parts corn muffin mix and yellow cake mix.  I finished just in time for hankdmoose  and njschiffer  to pick me up for the picnic.

For future reference, I highly recommend replacing half of the corn muffin mix in a cornbread recipe with yellow cake mix.  The result is a fluffy, spongy, non-brittle corn muffin.


Tags: cooking, hankdmoose, njschiffer

10:19 pm: Let's Go Jack-Ets *clap clap clapclapclap*
This past Tuesday, I drove to Columbus to attend a hockey game with schneenet .  Several years ago, schneenet  began a quest to see a Boston Bruin's game in every single "away" venue.  The Columbus Blue Jackets were Game #17 on her quest.

You can see her rendition of the story here.

( Here's my own rendition of the story. )

( Or maybe you'd rather just see pictures of the hockey game... )

Tags: car repair, hockey, jegie, schneenet, travel, wulfgyr

11:15 am: Cooking Time with mj_notes
schneenet is a big fan of posting her recipe successes.  I'm a bit...less...successful.  Here's a recipe, cooked mj_notes style.

Last night, I tried to make a Chicken-and-Dumpling soup from a simple recipe.  The idea was this:
- heat 2 cans of cream of chicken soup with 2 2/3 cups of milk until it boils, then let simmer.
- mix 1 2/3 cups of biscuit mix with 2/3 cups of milk to make dumpling mix.
- drop dumpling mix in heaping spoonfuls into soup
- cook for 10 minutes
- cover and let sit for 10 minutes
- eat

Simple, right?  I decided to cook some chicken to add to it too.  So, here's what actually happened:
- pre-heat oven, then put chicken in oven
- heat 2 cans of cream of chicken soup with 2 2/3 cups of milk
- turn my back on the soup to make dumplings
- hear sizzling sound, turn around to see a volcano of boiling soup
- move remaining soup to new burner, put new burner on low
- put dumplings into remaining soup
- attempt to clean spilled soup off of old burner
- decide to turn old burner off first
- notice that soup is on front burner, but I turned on the rear burner.  Soup is cooling instead of cooking.
- turn on front burner
- get chicken out of oven and dice.
- get halfway through chicken to see it is raw inside.
- grumble and throw out chicken.
- catch soup as it's starting to boil over yet again
- put pot of soup in sink, scoop soup into bowl and attempt to eat.
- notice two hours later that rear burner (that I did not need) is still on!  Turn off rear burner.

For everything that went wrong, it didn't turn out half bad.  I just know this is a recipe I have to monitor from now on!

Tags: cooking, schneenet

06:25 pm: Tanks-Giving

Last night, I went skating with my uncle and little cousin, and then we went over to a Taco Bell.  Before we left, I decided to stop in the bathroom.

I didn't do anything to that toilet that hasn't been done before.  It is, after all, a toilet in a Taco Bell.  But, the toilet just would not flush.  Determined to fix this problem, I pulled off the tank cover and found that the chain that connected the flush handle to the plug on the bottom of the tank had detached.  I reached into the tank water and pulled the plug, forcing the toilet to flush.

If I had stopped there, I could have left a winner.  Instead, I went the extra mile...

I saw a way to reattach the chain and fix the toilet.  While the tank was empty, I took my chance to fix it.  But, the tank started to refill...and the hose that normally directed the water into the tank had slipped out and was pointed at my face...

The next thing I knew, the toilet tank became a super-soaker filled with toilet water.  I stood stunned for a second, and then grabbed the hose and directed it back into the tank, as the water dripped off of my face.  I finally put the hose back in place, fixed the chain, and put the top back on the tank.  The toilet was fixed!

Something tells me that "plumber" is not my calling in life...

03:44 pm: Collect Call
Every morning since Thursday, I've received a call from the same number on my cell phone between 8 and 8:30 AM.  I'm typically asleep at this time while my phone is recharging in my living room, or I'm in class, so I never get to my phone in time to answer it.  But because most calls to my cell phone are legit, I force myself to wake up and check the phone for messages.

This morning I heard the phone ring, and decided, "Oh no you don't!  Not THIS time!"  I dashed for my phone and opened it before I could focus on reading the number.  As I said, "Hello," an automated voice asked me to stay on the line.  I did for 2 minutes...and then the line disconnected me.  GRR!!!

Sometimes callback numbers are fake, but I tried calling them back anyway.  I got the same recording and was put on hold again.  Finally, I got a collection agency asking for someone I'd never met.  When I said I didn't know him, they told me they'd remove me from their calling list.

I hope they follow through, and I never hear from them again.  In the meantime, I've registered my cell phone on the "do not call" list, and I've changed the ringtone for the collection agency to a single beep that I can ignore.  I'm not going to lose any more sleep over some random deadbeat!

03:57 pm: Run Around
Some friends of mine (including mawiwa and njschiffer ) were considering bicycling this weekend.  Because I had such great luck with renting a bike last time, I decided to try once more before the winter hit.

My brilliant plan was: take a bus 1 1/2 miles west from my office to the Outdoor Center, rent a bicycle, ride it 3 1/2 miles east to my apartment, and then take the bus from my apartment back to my office.

So, what really happened?

I took the bus as planned to the Outdoor Center, just to find all of the signs taken down, and no evidence of where the center had moved to.  Campus recently opened a new Athletic Recreation Center three blocks away, so I walked over there.  I figured the Outdoor Center must have moved there.

When I walked in the door, the girl that swiped my card looked like a deer in headlights when I asked about the Outdoor Center, so I walked to the front desk.  The guy behind the desk told me that "All outdoor equipment was now being rented out at the athletic center on the east side of campus...a mile away."  I didn't know my buses on that side of town, so I hiked the mile to the east center.

Naturally, when I walked in the door at the east center, they told me, "Oh, to get outdoor equipment you rent it from the new Athletic Recreation Center."  Hmm...somehow I saw that one coming.

I walked a half-mile west to the nearest computer lab I could think of, and found the number for the Outdoor Adventure Center and called them.  They told me, "Oh, we rent that equipment here.  Except, bicycles haven't been moved from the Outdoor Center yet.  The guy that has the key to the Outdoor Center is on a day trip, though.  Would you like his number?"

Sooo...the first building I went to is where the bikes still were, but there's only one person on campus that has a key, and that guy is on travel.  Right.

I finally gave up and hiked one more mile back to my office.  Total stroll around town: over 2 1/2 miles.

Tags: bicycle, mawiwa, njschiffer

03:37 pm: Take two.
Ibuprofen every 4 hours?  No bandage?  No brace?  Not even a lollipop?  What kind of medical service is this?!

I went to the health center on campus to have the doctor look at the big toe on my left foot.  Somehow on Thursday night, I must have strained something when I was playing sand volleyball.  I woke up on Friday with a little pain, but I decided to go to Aikido practice anyway.  Repeat for Saturday and Sunday.  By Monday morning, my toe was throbbing in pain enough for me to seek medical help.

As I waited in the lobby, I pictured myself struggling through the week with crutches, and having to explain this dumb injury.  The doctor saw me after an hour and a half of waiting and sent me to X-Ray just in case I'd broken something.  In the end, she told me I probably just had soft tissue swelling.  I was told to take Ibuprofen to kill the pain and keep the swelling down.

It turned out to be great advice that I neglected to follow.  As I was working in my office last night, my toe swelled up as big as it could, and I hobbled to the gas station to get Advil because I couldn't wait 15 minutes for the bus.  I spent the rest of the night at home icing it down and editing my thesis on my couch.

I sure hope this heals soon.  I have more sand volleyball planned on Thursday...

Tags: aikido, injury, volleyball

05:00 pm: Leading Blindly
I went to the Bluegrass jam session last night, even though it was designed for Intermediate and Advanced players.  I'd only done the beginner's sessions twice, and I didn't know any songs by heart.  But the beginner's sessions really dragged on.  I needed a faster pace, and I hoped that I'd be good enough to pick up the songs they were playing.

The session ended up being: me, a lead fiddler, and a bunch of guitars/banjos/dobros.  Which meant I had one of two lead instruments for the session.

What followed was wild.  The fiddler would play a tune with the rest of the group, and I would imitate it.  Once I had the notes down, she would start improvising her own sound, which left me on lead.  Halfway through, that started to click: I was playing with these experienced bluegrass players, knowing nothing, and I was playing lead.  That blew me away.

As the session moved along, the fiddler and I would trade back and forth on lead voices and harmonies.  It was truly a blast to play.

Then this elderly lady came by for a harmonica lesson from one of the bluegrass players.  This lady named Dorothy.

Tags: bluegrass, fiddling

05:33 pm: Down the Drain
Last Thursday I returned home to a surprise.  Water from the outside had backed into my bathtub, leaving some horrible residue.  I scrubbed out the bathtub and reported the problem to management on Friday.

When I returned to my apartment on Sunday, I had this note on my door from management:
"had a building drain your tub + 3 others where clogged you had a clean out in your apart"

Uh...run that by me again?

01:58 pm: Sink or Swim
Last night I came up with this schedule for myself:
5:50, grab bus home
7:00, Aikido class
9:00, swim some laps
10:30, eat dinner

Since I have the "ring of fire" icon up, you know that's not what happened.

We had a major rainstorm around 5:30.  It let up and I went to wait for my bus.  The bus was 20 minutes late...just long enough for the rain to pick up again.  I boarded the bus, and then sprinted for my apartment, getting completely drenched on the way.

I haven't had the best luck with busses, but I would have been happy if this were the end of my story.  I peeled my clothes off, put on some dry clothes and sandals (to replace my drenched shoes), and set off for my Aikido class around 6:40.

Between myself and downtown Urbana is a viaduct.  I didn't see the rising water until it was too late.  I felt the water gush around my car, and then I watched the engine die.  Apparently, only Dwayne can actually drive through puddles like that.  My car rolled to the edge of the water before it came to a stop.

I cranked the ignition a few times and got nothing.  That's when I noticed the water outside was higher than when I'd stopped.  The flood water was rising fast.  When I opened my car door, the water was JUST below the doorway.  I jumped into the flood water and ran to the back of my car, where the water was about 1-2 feet deep, and started shoving it uphill.

I managed to shove my car most of the way out of the water with brute strength/determination.  Some random passers-by jumped in the water to help me shove it out the rest of the way.  I was then out of harm's way, but I still had a dead car stuck on the side of the road.  Several people offered to give me rides, or help push the car somewhere else.  I have NEVER seen so many people on that road, and everyone wanted to help me.  I felt very lucky...but that didn't fix that I still had a dead car on the side of the road.

I called my insurance's towing plan, where I got connected to a trainee asking me questions and then typing my information in.  Slowly.  My trouble was that I have a pre-pay cell phone plan...and I only had 10 minutes of time left!  He finally said he would contact a tow truck and call me back.  While I waited, I called Verizon to add money to my account.  The trainee called back to tell me their company would not tow during the rain.  He found a 24-hour service that would tow me for $50, or I could wait until the rain let up.  I chose to wait.

At this point, the cops showed up and closed the road.  I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw an SUV stuck at the bottom of the viaduct.  I didn't see the SUV actually enter the water, but I saw people wading towards the opposite side of the viaduct.  I wanted to jump out and help them move their truck but it was far too late.  The water was already up to the headlights, and the water was too dangerously deep to wade into.  I watched as the water level reached the windshield of the SUV.

I stepped out of my car, and the cops asked me if I had called a tow truck.  I explained my towing story, and added, "I'm just going to wait for the rain to let up.  After all, you've closed the road.  It's not like I'm blocking anyone."  The cops said I could just leave the car there if I turned on my hazards, so I let them babysit my car while I went to Quiznos to buy some dinner.

When I got back to my car I tried the ignition again.  Now the car was cranking, but I still wasn't getting the engine to start.  At least that was SOME promise.  Still, an hour had passed, and I was still stranded on the side of the road.

Around 8:15, the water had completely drained from the viaduct, so I wandered back to look at the SUV.  The folks driving it must have abandoned the vehicle through their windows, because the windows were wide open.  The water level had risen past the windows, and the interior of their car was completely soaked.  The inner consoles were filled with water.

At 8:45, a city worker came by and told me he was towing the SUV away.  He wanted to re-open the road, so I had to either get my car running or have it towed.  I cranked my key one last time, and by some miracle the car started running.  I drove it to the road closed sign, moved the hazard cones to let myself out, and escaped the fiasco.

As I drove home, I thought about my intended schedule:
9:00, swim some laps

All I could do was laugh.  I spent the rest of the night at home, in dry warm clothes.

Tags: driving, story

03:36 pm: Leap of Logic
I met an elderly lady named Dorothy on the bus home yesterday.  I was wearing sunglasses and headphones when I sat behind her.  There were plenty of people on the bus that were more approachable, but she chose me.  I took off my sunglasses and headphones as she asked me friendly questions like "When do the students come back to campus?" and "When are summer classes?"  After a minute of chatting (mostly on her side), she asked me what I do.

"Uh...I'm a graduate student in Atmospheric Science.  I work with satellites."

That's all I said about myself before she said, "You should be a teacher."

I bolted back in my chair, completely blindsided by the remark.  I love to teach, and she'd given me (what I feel is) a great compliment.  But up to that point, I'd said nothing to give her that impression.  How would she know that?

As I asked her about her life, I learned that she'd been a school teacher, and she told me about the good and bad teachers she'd seen in the school system.  She said I seemed patient and friendly, and that students would really like me.

That talk completely baffled me:
1) She decided I'd be a good person to talk to, even though I was wearing headphones, and
2) She got a teacher vibe so fast from me.  I really enjoy education, but I never brought it up before that comment.  I didn't say much of anything at all before that, actually.

I don't know what just happened here, but I'm going to remember it for a while.

Tags: teaching

05:02 pm: Rocks and Hard Places
Over the weekend, several of us (including mawiwa) traveled up to Madison, Wisconsin to visit a friend of ours that's going to leave for England in a few months.  We wandered around Madison, took pictures, and ate at our favorite Madison restaurants.  The last time we were up there, hankdmoose was with us too.  Since we visited the same places as when hankdmoose was along, I kept picturing him everywhere, singing alternate lyrics to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and joking around until mawiwa told us to go to sleep.  Ah, good times.  Several times I wished he'd been along to help inspire mayhem.

I did cause enough mayhem on my own.  On Sunday we travelled up to Devil's Lake to hike around.  On the way up, I sat in the very back of the van, and I got bored.  When I get bored, I get into trouble.  At one point, I plugged an air compressor into the rear-seat cigarrette lighter, and it started making a racket (much to the surprise of everyone else in the car).

I wish I had left the mayhem behind when we got to Devil's Lake.  The very beginning of the trail begins with several hip-high boulders.  The actual trail uses a small stone stairway to navigate through the boulders.  But (as you can see from my icon), I love to climb stuff.  I decided that I would scale the boulders and meet the rest of the group at the top of the boulder run.

The next thing I knew, the rest of my group was out of sight, but I was scaling these boulders having a great time.  But when I reached the top, I had a tough choice to make.  The path ahead of me was filled with some kind of ankle-high and knee-high foliage, but I thought the path picked up again on the other side of the foliage.  Behind me were hundreds of feet of boulders that I would have to backtrack through.  I saw leaves of 6, not 3.  Not poison ivy.  I took my chances and forged ahead, disturbing several dozen mosquitoes on my way through.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a path on the other side of the foliage.  Instead, it was just a flat landing with several 6 to 8 foot rocks standing in my way.  I had another choice.  Climb the big boulders or go back through the evil foliage.  Again, I took my chances and forged ahead.

The rocks only got bigger and scarier as I climbed.  At every turn was a new, more menacing rock puzzle.  I was never sure if I'd find a way past the next obstacle, but at this stage I had no choice.  It was too dangerous to climb down the boulders I'd scaled.  Turning around was no longer possible.  Necessity drove me to do some crazy things, like climbing around the edge of a boulder with just my hands (and lousy footholds that would never have held me if I'd slipped). 

Finally, I heard some voices above me and knew I had found the trail again.  I climbed the final 20 feet and rejoiced when I reached the trail.  But I had another problem.  The rest of my group wasn't anywhere to be found.  They could be further up the trail, or down the trail.  Had they stopped to take a break?  Or had they outpaced me?  I took a chance and walked down, and ran into them about 5 minutes later.  I was grateful to find them, and I didn't dare leave the trail again.

Tags: hankdmoose, madison, mawiwa

04:59 pm: Don't play that song...
My internet radio player just started playing a Rascal Flatt's song "Love You Out Loud."  It reminded me of an exchange I heard between a DJ and a listener several months ago.

Listener: I'd like to request a song by Rascal Flatts?
DJ: Which one would you like?
Listener: You know that song, (sings the first line of "Love You Out Loud" perfectly).
DJ: Yeah.
Listener: Ok.  Any song BUT that one.
DJ: (confused)  Ok, we'll find you another one.

It cracked me up that he could sing this song he disliked so well.

06:51 pm: And it's only Monday...
I went into the Union today and noticed they had music playing on the intercom system.  I thought I recognized the tune, so I strained a little to listen.  Sure enough, it was one of my favorite bands.  On top of that, they were playing a track that hasn't even been released to radio yet!  How cool is that.

That's when I noticed the "intercom" was actually the CD player in my coat pocket.

Tags: humor

01:35 pm: Forcing a Plan

It's that time again!  Story time with Mike!

Once upon a time, long long ago (6:30 PM yesterday), I gave myself a multiple-choice question.  I had to choose between four different activities:
A) Go to Aikido class at 8 PM
B) Go Irish Fiddling at 8 PM
C) Go to a Meteorology Meeting
D) Work on my thesis/research

I chose A.  I looked at the busses, and I figured out that I could get to campustown, eat some light food, and then take a bus to downtown Urbana in time to make my class.  It was a perfect plan.

Meanwhile...

The sky had other plans.  It had decided this was the perfect time to rain down on anyone foolish enough to wait for a bus!  If I had checked the radar, I would have seen this:

and I would have been safe from the sky's diabolical plan.  Instead, I walked to the corner, and then cowered under my umbrella as the storm's rain and winds drenched my lower half.

The bus eventually picked me up and drove me two blocks.  Then the driver announced, "If anyone wants to go west from here, you need to grab the bus AHEAD of us!"  She made it seem like our bus was done for the day, so a bunch of us jumped off and ran for the other bus in the rain.  That bus tried to pull away, but we persisted and the driver let us on.

Little did I know, the bus drivers were henchmen for the evil sky.  The bus turned south, AWAY from campustown!  My original bus went northwest towards campustown.  $&#%!!!  I pulled the cord and got off the bus, determined not to let the sky and busses win!

I finally did walk to campustown, and I tried to dry out as I ate.  But, I still had to deal with using the evil henchmen busses to return to downtown Urbana.  I managed to get into the entryway of a packed bus shelter, thankful that the sky couldn't affect me there.  Or so I thought.  A car drove by, hit a puddle, and the wake drenched me even more.  Everyone else in the shelter was fine, but because I was in the entryway, I got the full effect.

Eventually, the bus did arrive and it took me to my class.  But, the damage was done.  My backpack had gotten rained on, and my Gi was wet in spots and dry in others.  I used it anyway, figuring it would dry out while I practiced.  Maybe noone would notice.  Naturally, on this night we practiced Gi grabs and holds.  So much for nobody noticing.

Once class was done, I decided I'd grab the bus home to get my car.  But, the bus wasn't scheduled to arrive for another 22 minutes.  I had another choice to make:
A) Go out to the shelter and wait for the bus, or
B) Stay inside and do a few chores while I waited.

I chose to stay inside, where neither the sky nor the busses could do any more to me, and happily swept the front stairs.  For 23 minutes.  I missed my bus by one minute.

Next thing I knew, I was taking a bus that I'd never used before, just because it was there and labeled "west."  I thought it would at least get me close to my office (which it got within a mile, anyway).  But, the bus driver was frantic because:

"Her 14-month-old granddaughter was running a fever.  She had run a fever two weeks prior because she got a mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine shot, but she had recovered from that fever, so this fever might be a complication from that or something else completely unrelated.  The doctor had said over the phone it probably was a virus going around and could wait until tomorrow to be checked, but the bus driver wanted her granddaughter to be taken to the emergency room right away, because one time 25 years ago, the bus driver had run a fever of 106 because she had a kidney infection, and the doctor misdiagnosed her over the phone and told her to put heat on it, which just spread the infection faster, and she started shivering and shaking really bad even though she was under a pile of blankets so her then-husband drove her to the emergency room where the doctors diagnosed her correctly.  She has never run a fever over 100 since that day, knock on wood, but every time she says that she figures she's pushing her luck."

As you can see, I paid attention.  I tried to be sympathetic, but I was really hitting rock-bottom on my ability to care by that point.

Later that night, I waved a white flag, and the last bus of the night took me home without incident.  The sky and busses won.  This time.

Tags: story

04:16 pm: 100th Milestone

I just noticed that my last post marked my 100th livejournal post!  *throws some confetti and streamers*

I remember a few of you telling me to join livejournal quite a while ago.  Back then, I thought that I would never use it.  After all, what would I write about?  I've never been one to campaign for causes, or complain about things I see wrong with the world.  Heck, I've never even been a writer.  I do not read for fun, and I certainly do not write for fun!  Why would I ever have a blog?

And yet, somehow in less than a year, I've managed to write 100 posts, and even enjoyed writing them.  That baffles me.

Thank you to those of you who convinced me to do this.  Hope you've enjoyed reading my stories, and that you'll hang around for a few more.

- Mike

Tags: milestone