Really?...

Just walked by a conference room with about 7 people in it, lots of talking, heard one woman say, "It's not like I'm commando or anything, jeez!" Followed by much laughter. I'm just not sure how to take that... am wondering very much exactly what they were talking about!

Saw a dude on a bicycle the other day. He looked like a skinny Jesus (lots of facial hair, long hair not in a ponytail), he was wearing a ballcap and a red & black nice looking backpack. Steering his bike with his right hand, and holding a microfiche reader with his left arm. Yes. A microfiche reader machine.

For some reason, at home the other day, someone, Sammy, I think, said something about wanting or should have bought a 6-pack... Kev lifted up his t-shirt and rubbed his belly and said, "I've got your 6-pack right here." Sammy said, "We said six-pack, Dad, not keg." Ha! Funny because Kev is not keg-like. Wouldn't have been so funny if he were...

What is it - my hospital room version

I've mentioned that the room I'm in here at the Covenant hospital is quite nice. It's very large, because it's intended for 2 beds. Kevin told me today that he had heard the previous occupant needed some kind of machine with her, and it was so large that they had to put her into this room and move the other bed out so the machine could also fit into the room. A regular private room was too small.

Also, I think the bed I have is different than the usual hospital room beds. For one thing, after I adjust the head up or down and the feet up or down, the bed will then make additional adjustments all by itself. The first time that happened, it freaked me out. But then I realized this bed is pretty darn smart, coz the adjustments it makes are more comfortable. It was still strange to feel my butt sinking a little when I didn't ask for that to happen. This bed makes a lot of noises also, strange noises. One set sounds like a cicada, and another sounds like a large engine getting ready for take-off. Just now, it's not making any noise at all.

The TV's in these rooms are very small and attached to the floor, and the TV swings out on an arm. The arm doesn't allow the TV to swing out in front of this bed, and since I cannot turn my head to the right or left, I can't watch TV. I'm not missing it much. I think I'll ask Kev to bring me a couple of DVD's tomorrow, so I can watch those on my laptop. Joycie and Mike brought my laptop in for me when they visited me yesterday, along with my camera.

So I've got my laptop and my camera, a nice, big hospital room, and not much to do... a perfect time for another round of "What is it?"... my hospital room version...

What is it - the Christmas shopping version

I've been having a lot of trouble with my neck lately, and so the past several days I find I've been going to bed very early most evenings... very early. 7:00pm. Ugh. I'm still waking up at 4:00am, but have no trouble going back to sleep. When my alarm goes off, I still don't want to get out of bed. I lay there and make an attempt at judging how bad my headache is. Then I think of everything I have to do, which really helps the headache. You should try that sometime. Seriously.

But this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep easily after 4am. When I did, I had the strangest dream. I had borrowed my friend, Sandy's, car and was driving it on an expressway. It was a cream colored VW bug with a black rag top (which is odd, because that's the car another friend has, or recently had, because I think she's driving something else now, and I just can't see Sandy ever buying a VW bug!). I decided to get off the expressway. For some reason, Sandy had my car. I found this really neat road and I followed it to the end... homes and buildings along the road ended, then it went into this beautiful wheat field and the road just curved gently to a smaller and smaller point and it ended in the middle of the field. Well, like this...



It was beautiful, so I got out of Sandy's VW bug and looked around. I got back in the VW and backed it up and parked it underneath a lone tree that was at the edge of the field; it was an apple tree. I got out again and called Sandy on my cell, and I told her how to get to the road and asked her to follow it because I wanted her to see this beautiful field. At the far end of the field, I could see this huge building, and it looked like I was looking into the windows of a cafeteria. I thought it was some kind of factory or something, and I thought it was a strange place for a business. I took a walk, waiting for Sandy. I found a beautiful meadow filled with flowers. I began to hear some commotion, but paid no attention. I called Sandy again, and she told me she was on her way. When she called me back, she was confused. There was no beautiful wheat field, it was mowed down and there was some kind of demolition derby or car race going on, and it was loud and dusty and ugly. So I ran back over to where I had parked her car, and there was a big banner that read, "Race Day." The field of wheat was all mowed, and they even cut down the apple tree. I couldn't find Sandy's VW bug. I finally discovered that some woman who was setting up the area for the race had had it towed away. I was arguing with her that she couldn't do that, because she hadn't even posted a "no parking" sign. There were a couple of woman that were working with her (it was in an office, like a county services office), and they were talking at her, agreeing with me. The woman kept being nasty to me, and I finally yelled at her, "YOU'RE A MEAN BITCH!"

And I woke up both myself and Kevin by actually yelling that out loud. Very loud. It was the strangest damn dream. If anyone wants to analyze it, feel free, just don't tell me about your analysis. K. Thx.

So... that brings me to "What is it? The Christmas shopping version!" Yay! Because you see, no way could I go back to sleep after that, I was so pissed off at that mean bitch, y'know... So I got up and made myself a pot of coffee and sat down at my computer. I made screen shots of the web site home pages of some common stores (common to my neck of the woods, anyway)... see if you can identify the store by the little bit I've given you... have fun! And don't be mean today, K. Thx.

What is it - the Downtown version

I left work early this afternoon to run a couple of errands, including picking up a prescription, which didn't pan out. I have been coughing so much during the night that I'm not getting any sleep, and it's weird because the coughing actually stopped for a couple of days and now it's picked back up again Big Time. But I can't take codiene... last time I had it was back in 1982 or so when I had surgery on my ankles, and though it certainly helped the pain (it wasn't as good as the morphine, though), it had an eerie side-effect of making me feel paralyzed. I was fully awake but couldn't get any of my muscles to move, couldn't even move my mouth. It was so long ago, I don't remember all the details now... for example, I don't know how long it lasted, but once it was over, I was fine. I do remember being terrified and unable to speak, all I could do was move my eyes. I could see my hand laying on the bed near the thing that had the button on it to push for a nurse... just laying there. When I was in the MRI machine, I thought about that codiene moment. That was the one and only time I've had codiene, and even though the docs have said it may not happen again, I won't try it. Even if it does help to make a killer cough med.

So I had some time before I had to pick up Sammy (a little early) from school, and I decided to take some photos of our Main Street area. This area has changed so much from the time when I was a kid. Some things are the same because they've been there for decades, but a lot has been done to beautify the downtown area and increase the business, draw in the people to spend some moola downtown. The result is the What is it - the Downtown version, from one end of Main Street to the other: