Odds and Ends

I’ve been sick with a flu or cold or whatever the heck it is for so long, and with the Seriously Quite Majestic Cough I’ve had, I have been staying home from the office and working from home. For some reason, instead of sitting at my computer desk, I’ve been settling myself quite comfortably in the much-loved recliner with my trusty wood desk and my laptop with a 50’ cable attaching to the router (cable is faster than wireless at my house, and yeah, my cable speed wouldn’t blow you away). I find I have been working on and off pretty much morning, noon and night. The downside... after 4 weeks of this, I have discovered this comfortable position supports my neck perhaps too much. I worked in the office all day this past Thursday, and sitting upright with no neck support whatsoever just about did me in. I am still recovering and my neck is hurting. And I’m sitting in the recliner as I type this... Oy!

For some reason, I have been using “Oy!” a lot. Probably too much. But I am trying to clean up my language. 2008 found me cussing much, much more than I usually do, and I was fond of cuss words prior to 2008, so... Oy!

The other evening while I was working on my laptop, sitting in the recliner, and Kev had the TV on watching football stuff... the college boys’ Combine 24-7, then lately all the free agent stuff... It’s all a blur to me. But I did see one guy, a free agent named Albert Hainsworth, talking about his deal with the Redskins for a hundred mil. The money I’ve been hearing has been making me gag. Whatever. And then during Hainsworth’s talk about the deal, Kev said, “Yeah, and let’s not forget he’s the guy that stomped on a guy’s head.” WTF?!! says I. I mean, What the Oy!... So I Googled him. He did stomp on a guy’s head, an opposing team player who did not have his helmet on at the time. Actually, Hainsworth stomped once and missed Cowboy’s Andre Gurode’s head, so he stomped a second time and connected with the man’s face... Andre had to have something like 30 stitches and had blurry vision from the stomp. Lucky that was all. Hainsworth is 6’6” and weighs well over 300 pounds. This happened in 2006, so Hainsworth was maybe 24 years old. I don’t care how much he apologized, how much “anger management” or counseling he got afterwards or how he made amends... If you’re 6’6” and weigh about 320 pounds, you know damn well how powerfully strong you are. In my opinion, Hainsworth should have been kicked out of pro football never to return. I bet Gurode’s family and friends would agree with me. If Andre were my son, for example, I would be angered beyond belief to hear about this one hundred mil deal. Hainsworth should be forced to give half of it to medical research or medical facilities for head injuries.

Speaking of injuries, my Mom had knee replacement surgery this past Wednesday. The surgery went well, and Mom came home from the hospital yesterday. She is so strong. She’s the strongest 72 year old woman I know. Heck, she’s stronger than a lot of people I know who are 20 years younger. I know my Mom has dealt with pain most of her adult life, having had back surgery way back years & years ago. She’s done so much with pain that would put many people down. The way she’s handled this surgery is amazing, and the hip replacement surgery she had last year. My Mom is amazing! I wanna be like my Mom!

Kev is finally my age again. He turned 48 on March 1st. Sammy made him a coconut cake, from scratch, recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. I was sick, and couldn’t really taste how wonderfully yummy the cake was, but Kevin enjoyed it very much. Joycie & Mike drove into town and got wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, so dinner was nice, too... Kev likes those wings. Now Kev and I are the same age for about a month, until I turn 49. I think 49 is like 39; it’s just not real. When you’re 49, eh, you’re 50. Just admit it.

I recently had a conversation at work about payroll and handling some things, and a person said something like, “...especially when we’re dealing with bargained-for employees...”. I hear this kind of comment pretty often working in a payroll setting. For some reason, there are a lot of folks who are anti-Union. For payroll, yes, Union employees are more work. But so are the other end of the spectrum, the special circumstances in a payroll system for the highly compensated employees also cause extra work. So why the negative feelings toward Union employees? I don’t get it. My husband is a Union member, so I am very pro-Union. I know Unions are not perfect. Is there politics? Is there corruption? Is there narcissism? Yes. Where there are humans involved in a group setting, those things exist. Become active in your local Little League board, and you’ll see all that. You can’t pin those negative characteristics on something as unique solely to Unions. Kev worked in a building where the building manager was a total asshole named Mark Wanus. If it hadn’t been for the Union, that jerk would have accomplished his goal of getting Kev fired. Wanus talked to the Union employees like they were trash, with total disrespect. If my boss talked to me the way Wanus talked to the Union employees, men and women, in that building, my boss’ ass would in the ringer with HR. So, yes, I am pro-Union.

It’s staying lighter longer. Lighter longer. Lighter longer. I love saying that. Spring is coming. I can’t wait. I go around humming sing-song “lighter longer” repetitively to myself, and it feels so good.

Reilly got a good brushing from Sammy yesterday, and it looks like he lost weight. The Furminator works so well. It’s funny, that dog adores Kev so much, and when Kev gets home from work, Reilly is beside himself with joy. But then, when Mike arrives, Reilly is overjoyed. Then Reilly follows Mike around like a shadow. He’s next to him or watching him constantly. He always sleeps with Sammy on Sammy’s bed... except when Mike’s here, then he sleeps near Mike. Reilly is totally in love with Mike. Just like Joycie.