The Captain's Blog

Like anyone, I have certain games that interest me and ones that do not.  Just because they interest me doesn’t often mean I’m very good at them.  There is one game that I am very good at.  I used to play it all the time… Yahoo! Pool.  I used to play it daily.  One would think that this would transfer over to real pool on a table in some form or another.  It does to an extend.  You learn to judge angles and what certain types of spin will do to the ball.  The funny about playing pool in real life is that I can’t sink a straight shot.  Put the balls in odd positions and I can hit the weirdest bank and multiball shots without much thought at all.  There are other popular games that this skill seems to also apply to.  One of the more popular games today is Angry Birds.

I tried Angry Birds when it came out.  I really wasn’t very good at it.  The object… if you haven’t played it… is to shoot the birds across the screen to knock out the pigs who stole there eggs.  I tired quickly of the game as it was basically always the same.  Arc the birds from the left side of the screen to the right and blow obstacles or drop items on the pigs.  Everyone seemed to delight in this game.  The game became altra popular and various versions began to appear.  None of them really caught my appeal.  I wasn’t sure why it didn’t hit home with me.  Everyone else seemed to be bonkers over it.

Fast foward to yesterday.  I have been searching for a new Tablet (the electronic computer kind) for some time.  I finally decided on one and purchased it.  As I downloaded the critical apps that I wanted to use, I saw an ad for the latest iteration of Angry Birds… Star Wars Angry Birds.  Several people I know thought I would be hooked on this game by now.  I have resisted downloading it because the other versions I have tried were boring.  I really didn’t want to see my favorite movie splashed all over a fad game that I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy.  “Oh what the heck?” I mumbled outloud as I tapped the screen to begin the download.  I would give Star Wars Angry Birds a shot.  If nothing else, it was something to kill the time when all else was boring.

I began to play the game.  At first, I thought it wasn’t that different than the regular Angry Birds games.  I cleared level after level.  “Hmmmm.  This is starting to get fun.”  I quipped almost outloud.  The regular game had gone from fairly simple arcs across the screen to riccochetting laser bolts and gravity wells that affect game play.  The next thing I know, I’m looping my birds around planetary bodies and space stations using the gravity to alter my course or drop debris onto Darth Piggy.  Hit that guy over there… He twirls around randomly shooting his blaster and taking out his cohorts… or should I call them ‘Co-Snorts’.  (Pig Joke)

I’ve always had a knack for visualizing shapes and angles.  These to games are silly ways I’ve found to toy with that ability.  I find Star Wars Angry Birds fun, not because I can blow up Evil Pigs, but also because I get to use my brain to figure out how this will affect that.  I guess thats why I have trouble playing these ‘shoot-em-up’ video games that are so popular these days.  This is probably a stupid post but I am fascinated by the stupidly simple things that I have found enjoyable about the game.  I mentioned early that I can’t sink a straight shot in pool.  That applies here too.  The shots that look simple and straight forward I tend to mess up.  There are screens that look like they should be difficult because they have multiple gravity wells or debris blocking the enemy.  I’ve cleared them with a single shot.

I bring this all up tonight because I really wish I had found a way to take advantage of this skill in my work life.  It is challenging but extremely rewarding to be able to complete a complex task,  especially when completing the task ends up being way easier than I had assumed going in.  The job I do now is mostly ‘wrote’… straight forward and seemingly easy.  I often feel … just like straight on pool shots or the simple Angry Bird screens… that I’m going to miss.   Maybe that’s why I like working with Dramas, Musicals and Live Sound?   These things are never the same twice… even when you’re participating in the same show night after night.  Something always throws you a curve.  It may be the cast/band or the crew or even the audience but something always creates a challenge.

I wonder what the next curve will be in life.  I guess I’ll just have to keep getting up every morning to find out.

~Cappy

This has been a fairly productive week and long weekend.  I’ve actually got some things done that I’ve been putting off.  I also haven’t taken as many long naps.  I fell much better than last weekend.

Got the front wheel back tonight for Maggie.  New tire is finally on.  I have the rest of the front end ready to put back on. I’d work on it tonight but 14 degrees is just a little cool for playing out in the shed.  I only have an hour or so of work without any other issues, so it should be an issue to get it done by riding season.

The gas company is finally going to move my me yet outside at their we expense.  I’ve been requesting that for many years. They would do it before but I had pay for it unless the meter failed.  The meter works fine but the readers never show up when they are supposed to.  I’m not wasting my vacation waiting on no shows.

The other fun thing I did this week was to purchase a Google Nexus Tablet.  Now, I don’t have to have my computer on just to check Facebook, Twitter and email.  Its a pretty quick little gadget.  I’m having fun setting it up.

I guess I need to put this thing down and do some laundry.  Wonder if android has an app for that?   Hmmmm…

~Cappy

Since the invention of the Internet and the social networking application, one can now run into old friends from days of ole’ without much effort.  Old friends from High School, work, past affiliations can be found amongst applications like Facebook, Twitter and the like.  I have been able to catch up with many of my school mates through friends and friends of friends.

Tonight, I actually ran into a guy from high school.  We played drums together in band.  I believe he graduated a year or so behind me.  He introduced himself in a couple of my least favorite ways.  First, he called by a nickname that a certain group of folks in school used to call me…  Let’s just say its a name I’m not fond of.  Secondly, once he identified himself and realized he was talking to the right person… He proceeded to slap me across the back with a powerful blow.

I’m not sure why people do this, but it never fails that the impact goes directly to the area just at the bottom of my shoulder blades where I have a very tender bad disk.  I obviously made it clear that it hurt because he began to apologize immediately.  I am extremely glad I had my heavy leather jacket on.  Another guy did that too me when I was wearing just a t-shirt and I spun on him in anger, working hard to keep from swing at him.  It wouldn’t have done any good to take a swing at this guy or even yell at him.  He was quite drunk.

I’m not a violent person but there are times when I have to work to hold back my temper.  I worked a long time to get control of that temper back in high school.  Knowing my luck, the first time I did take a swing at someone, I’d either throw my back out or I’d get the pummelling of my life, end up in jail or worse… all of the above.   I just just shrugged it off tonight and said “Its ok.”

This brings up my other point to this blog.  I was raised that you try to be cordial to everyone you meet… even if its your worst enemy.  The guy I ran into tonight was not one of my favorite people back in school.   After he apologized, he began showing me a picture of his drum set and telling me the band he played in.  We discussed lighting and sound and such things for a few minutes.  He finally went back to the rest of the group that was with him and I gathered my self up to leave.  I suppose I could have told him to buzz off or something.  I didn’t feel like dealing with him, so I just played nice and waited for him to move on.

Other achievements for the day include taking down the Christmas tree and lights.   I have a few more things that I’ll slowly put away.  They are custom things my cousin and his family made for me.  I’ll enjoy them for a while more.  I need to derail the Christmas train yet tonight, but there’s no rush.  I have a few gifts to put away yet.  Tink is curled up on the chair that I moved over where the tree was.  Moving stuff around is such a rough thing for her.  You’d think she moved all the furniture and the tree by herself.

I guess that’s all for the evening unless my dodgy brain comes up with something more interesting.

~Cappy

Christmas w Barry, Renee and Samantha 2012

This is the third Christmas since Mom passed away.  When my grandma (Dad’s mom) passed away, My grandfather said that “Santa Claus had died.”  It was a long time before I realized that it wasn’t just because Grandma did all the Christmas shopping.  Actually, It wasn’t ’til after Mom passed away that I learned what he truly meant.  When you lose someone special in your life, the Holidays just don’t feel the same.

Last year, as Christmas approached, I could have crawled in a hole and never come back out.  I decided I wasn’t going to be that way this year.  I put my tree up early and decided that I would shop early and try to be done before Christmas Eve.    I even had everything wrapped better than a week before Christmas this year so that the tree looked festive but the season still isn’t the same.

One thing I look forward to each Christmas, is getting together with Barry, Renee and Samantha.  They live in North Carolina so we don’t get to see them often.  Each year they make their Christmas trek up to Pennsylvania to visit friends and family.  This year has been a little different in two ways:  First, I’ve been able to keep up with Renee and Samantha on Facebook.  Barry “I don’t have time for Facebook” doesn’t have an account, so I have to keep up with him through Renee/Samantha’s escapades.  Second, Barry and Renee decided to come up a bit early this year.  No big deal for us because we love to see them whenever.

As Renee and I messaged back and forth over Facebook, preparing for their visit, I began to realize that things I had been seeing in the family weren’t just me.  Everybody’s family has their little quirks and ours is no exception.  I know I have certain quirks that probably drive people nuts so don’t think I’m letting myself off this list either.

One of these quirks that seems to stick out more and more as the family ages has to do with working in the kitchen.  I love my Aunts and Uncle (Mom’s side) but there are times… (makes strangling motion with hands).  I learned long ago that there is one place you do NOT want to be during a family get together… The Kitchen.  Apparently, there are certain rules that apply that say things are done certain ways… or maybe there aren’t.  Anyway… When my aunts get in the kitchen the best way to help is to not be in the room.  Renee and I had kind of an inside chuckle over this as we talked about when they would be visiting.  We would definitely let the meal planning to them.  That was not a place either of us wanted to be caught in the middle of.

If you want to add real “fun” to the mix, Let Uncle Bob get involved in carving the roast beast.  He likes to use an electric knife to cut everything.  When all three get in the kitchen, especially Aunt Doris and Uncle Bob’s tiny little kitchen, things become… heated (and I’m not talking about the food).  You hear many first names uttered in a somewhat aggravated tone.  Kind of like when you scold your pet… “DORRRIS!?”  So if you’ve joined us for a family gathering and wonder why most of us are in the living room while they are in the kitchen…  We aren’t being mean and not helping.  We’re trying to stay out of the line of fire.

Another little quirk that shows up around our table at family gatherings is actually gathering around the table.  When “Its on the table.”  sounds from the kitchen, you best make your way to the table.  It doesn’t matter that it really isn’t on the table yet or that there are 5 other people standing in front of you.  Your butt better be in line to sit down.  Usually, Dad and I wait until things settle before moving, which results in “Come on… Its on the table” being issued in a louder tone.  One would think that once all were seated that would be the end of the chaos.  Oh no… The quirk continues to grow.   The food that was “On the table” really is still on the stove so one aunt is handing hot items over your head while folks at the table scramble to find a place for said hot item to reside amongst dishes and glasses and table decorations.  The other aunt is simultaneously asking what people want to drink.  As they age, neither aunt appears to be hearing quite as well so you can use your imagination to picture this endeavor.  Usually about the time both aunts get seated, one of them remembers something else that wasn’t put on the table.

That brings us to the third and final quirk of this post… One that many families may experience…   Food… plates and plates of food.  Its almost never a problem if an extra guest shows up to our family gatherings as we generally have enough food to feed their family as well.  I would have to say this was the first year that we actually didn’t have a refrigerator worth of leftovers.  Most holiday get together menus consist of:  Ham or Turkey, Salad, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Fruit Salad, Bread, Jello Salad and other items.  This time we stuck to Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Salad,  Devil’d Eggs and baked beens.  To get an idea of how much food I am talking about, there is usually at least one extra table and/or TV tray needed to hold the overflow.  This year we got by with only one TV tray and I think all it had on it was salad dressing.

As we moved on to our gift exchange, little puns and sideways glances (usually because another quirk just appeared) where also exchanged.  The room was segregated into the Kids and The Adults.  The Kids ranged in age from 18 to 47 (Sorry if I went a little high on that range).   There were extended explanations about how much snow was on the ground/road and where that snow was located.  I won’t go into detail about why those were humorous but lets just say the answer took the long way around.   It kind of reminded me of a broken GPS… It seemed to recalculate and start over quite often yet still got nowhere near its destination.  We had a lot of laughs throughout the evening.

The out of town folks all stayed at a local hotel so we didn’t have to rush through the evening.  After everyone had left, Renee and I were chatting on Facebook Messenger about the evening continuing our little inside jokes.  It appears that one of the gifts I gave Barry came in handy…  A Craftsman bottle opener.  I was informed that Barry really liked it.  When I asked if he’d found something to test it on Renee told me that “He thought he might need it… so he had come prepared.”

Ahhhhhhhhhh… The fun of spending time with family.  HAHA.

(Add as much sarcasm to that last line as is necessary to emulate your time with your family.)

All kidding and quirks aside… The time we spent together Friday night made my bland Christmas Holiday feel like Christmas.  I know that Christmas morning will be rough for us as we miss Mom handing out packages like a little kid but I know she’s up there watching over us just like the angel/star on the tree.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you!

~Cappy

So here we are going into the last week of November… Thanksgiving leftovers are all but gone and Christmas is right around the bend.  Where has this year gone?

January 2012 was a bit busy as Dad had his knee surgery.  I guess that consumed a couple of weeks as he spent time in the hospital and rehab.  I spent a lot of time helping him those first couple months of the year.  I guess that kept me busy.  I’m glad that his knee turned out well in the end and he still wants to get the other one done.  Its nice to see him getting around again even with the hobble he still has from the other knee.

I’m trying to think of what went on in my life between his knee surgery and his kidney issues.  Its sad to think that the milestones in my life are built around either family or personal illnesses.  I guess I spent a bit of time working at the race track on Saturday’s but I gave that up after it got too uncontrolled.  I made that decision fairly quickly based on events.  It was a good decision.  I have enjoyed my weekends even when they were just sitting at home.

I’ve put miles on the motorcycle this summer riding to and from work as well as taking jaunts on the weekends.  My average pleasure rides were in the neighborhood of 120 – 150 miles but there were a couple longer days.  I also road a couple charity rides this summer.  I really enjoy having the bike.  The only regret I have is that I waited so long to get it. 

Unfortunately, the ATV use has suffered from having the road bike.  I even pondered selling the ATV a couple times this year but decided against it as I do use it to plow snow and such.  Working at the track, the ATV was in use every weekend, but I wouldn’t trade the weekends I’ve had on two wheels for working at the track again.  It wasn’t worth it financially or physically.  My back handles the road bike much better than bouncing around at the track on the ATV. 

Dad had the issue with his kidney’s trying to shut down.  What a fun couple of weeks that was!  I’m glad that everything worked out in the end.  I don’t think Dad realized how sick he was until a while after he got out of the hospital.  It’s taken quite a while for everything to come back to normal.  I’m glad things didn’t go the other way.  He’s been struggling with his sugar since the kidney episode but that is something we can deal with. 

I’ve had gained back some of the weight I had lost which has also raised my sugar somewhat.  My sugar got so low when I was at my lower weight that I let some come back since the doc didn’t seem to want to touch my meds at that point.  Now that Dad has had this kidney episode, the doc doesn’t want to put me on other meds because I have a tendency to get all the problems Dad has.  I decided I lost weight once, I can probably do it again.  It hasn’t been as easy this time as last.  I’m not sure why.  It may be partly because my back is bothering me more so I’m doing less or just that my mental state isn’t what it was then.  I really WANTED the weight off back then.  I joined a new gym that is opening soon in Hermitage.  I am hoping that some support from friends and some knowledgeable exercise trainers will get me back in the groove to lose more weight. 

Thanksgiving ended up being kind of interesting this year.  My aunt invited her 94 year old friend who was born in Scotland to join our family gig.  She had some interesting stories after dinner.  Older people from other lands have such interesting stories.  I wonder stories someone who was born in the 2000’s will have to say when they reached 94.  “Oh… It was amazing… We had these devices that we hooked to our televisions and to the Internet … We could play games for hours even days without stopping…”  Will the children of the time look up and say “Great Grampa… What is a television?”   What legacy will be left to them?

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to where my life is and where it is going of late.  I need to make some changes so that I don’t end up either being a recluse who stays in bed all day or worse.  The only way these changes are going to take place is if I make the decision to get out and do something about it.  I am looking at the gym this way.   My hope is that variety will keep me interested in going.   Its not just for the weight loss and sugar control, although those are plenty good enough reasons on their own.  I want to try to get my muscles loosened up and strengthed to hopefully help my back.  I really don’t like what I’ve been told things might be like if I end up having surgery on it. 

December is almost here.  I have more holiday spirit than I did last year.  I’ve managed to get my tree up and hope to finish decorating tonight.  We’ll see what the holidays bring.  I’m really not interested in gifts this year, either buying or receiving.  I’m sure I’ll end up shopping and spending way more than I want to but I guess that’s what its all about.

Off we go into the new year… I guess we’ll have to see what it holds.

~Cappy

What a lovely start to the week…  A hurricane that wreaked havoc on the east coast and areas around us, but was little more than a strong fall rain storm here.  I haven’t been sleeping well.  I think a good part of that is my internal barometer reacting to the hurricane’s extremely low pressure.  Oh well… My lack of sleep is little more than a distraction.  Folks on the East Coast are dealing with far far worse.

I’ve been watching Dad the last few nice.  He hasn’t been himself since his kidney’s went wonky.  The last couple days he’s been a little more off than usual.   People have asked why I don’t move back in with him.  I think we’d kill each other to be honest.  I love him dearly but there are times his ideas and mine just don’t mix.  Last night was a clear example.  He gets things in his head he wants to do.  The problem is that sometimes he does these things without thinking them the whole way through.  A mess usually follows. 

He wanted to remodel his computer desk to put an addition on it.  He has these extra shelves clamped to it now.  The printer sits on top of this twopiece unit.  The part he wanted to change was the bottom piece.  Instead of unplugging and moving the printer, he unclamped the bottom unit and pulled it out.  The way he had the top piece attached wasn’t solid so the weight of the printer caused it to tip forward.  The printer slid forward and whacked him on the head.  Fortunately, his  head kept the printer from falling clear to the floor.  When I called him to tell him I was on my way home, he sounded flustered.  I’d be flustered too if a printer/scanner/fax machine bounced off my head.

After dinner, I looked at what he was planning to do.  The piece he wants to put in the bottom has a door that swings open to the right.  His plan would not allow the door to open the whole way.  I made a couple suggestions of a setup that would be more appealing to the eye AND more functional for the door.  I know this aggrevated him.  He just couldn’t figure out what the problem would be with the door and why I suggested a different strategy.  The second issue is the weight of what he wants to put in this thing.  I tried to explain that even though the cabinet would support the weight in the back, it would have  5 inches of unsupported weight hanging in the air.  I think we agreed on a solution in the end.  I’ll find out if he got the idea when I see the final product.  His general carpentry projects usually don’t turn out bad but you don’t usually see the number of iterations that led to that final product.  Hopefully, by discussing it, we avoided a few extra saw dust piles.

I feel kind of crappy today.  It started yesterday.  Not sure if its just because my back is bothering me and I’m not sleeping as well as I’d like or if its something else.  I guess time will tell.   I don’t feel sick like I have the flu or something.  It’s more like a general overall fatigue.  When I feel this way, I get grumpy.  During our little discussion last night, I had to fight to keep from being mean.  I have a feeling I’ll face similar challenges today here in the office.  I’ve got my headphones on listing to John Williams Greatest Hits.  Movie themes and orchestral pieces that will hopefully calm my brain a bit. 

I guess that’s all I have for now.  It seems like I’m missing something that I wanted to note but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was.  If I remember, I’ll update the post.  If not… Then I close by wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!!

~Cappy

CCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

This morning started out grand.  I was getting ready to go work much like any other morning when my nose decided to play a prank on me.  I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when out of nowhere … a sneeze came on.  There was no warning.  With a mouth full of bubbling tooth paste , I sneezed.  Even though I had covered my mouth and nose, the bathroom mirror took the brunt of the expulsion.  Needless to say, I had a bit of cleaning up to do after that.  About the only thing worse… at least from my point of view… than sneezing with a mouth full off foaming tooth paste, is sneezing with your full face motorcycle helmet on.  I have done that as well, but fortunately my helmet is modular, allowing me to lift the whole front up and out of the way.

I cleaned up my little incident and finished getting ready for work.  I had hoped to ride the motorcyle this morning.  The temperatures were well within my riding tolerance but the roads were wet.  I checked radar and some green was still plotting up on the map.  I decided I had better take the truck.   The truck is very reliable but I’ve come to enjoy the bike alot.  I have been amazed at the difference in gas cost this past few weeks as the weather has kept me off the bike.  I’m just not crazy enough to ride the bike to work in the rain… especially when its cold.

Reluctantly, I climbed into the truck and headed toward the Interstate.  A mile or two into my drive I can upon a slow moving small car… one of those boxy little ones that have come out in the last couple years.   The car couldn’t go any faster because there was a tractor trailer blocking each lane ahead.  Some doofus came flying up on my bumper flashing his lights to try to get me to move out of the way.  When I didn’t, he shot to the right lane and quickly slammed on his brakes as he came to the back of the first truck.  I detest when people do that.  Where do they think it is going to get them?

The trucks finally moved out of the way and little square bozo began to move.  I can only imagine that the engine in the little cuboid vehicle was screaming at the top of is lungs trying to pass the trucks.  I clicked the cruise back on as the little roller skate moved to the right lane.  As I passed, I noticed the driver was a girl in her early to mid twenties.  She was clutching the steering wheel with a death grip and had an expression of fear on her face.  Her gaze was locked dead ahead.  The expression she wore was that of someone trying to escape from a pack of zombies reaching over from the back seat.  I hope she wasn’t going very far or she would probably need some medication.

The kind of driving this gal was doing concerns me.  My Uncle Don drove like that.  There must have been fingernail marks dug into the back of the steering wheel.  If you’re a person who drives all tensed up like this, I apologize if you are offended.  I was taught to drive relaxed, looking as far ahead as possible.  I don’t know how someone can react to a situation when their hands are so tight from gripping the wheel that they practically have to pull or pry their fingers off.   Maybe part of my bias to this driving style is because part of my early years of driving were done on a standard steering … aka no power steering… Ford pickup truck.  You couldn’t put your thumbs around the inside of the wheel or grip too tightly while driving that truck.  If the tires caught a rut or pothole, it could yank the steering wheel hard enough to break your fingers.  My dad yelled at me over and over about that.

Anyway…  The rest of the day has gone ok.  Just had my flu shot.  According to my one coworker… I shouldn’t get one because I may be patient zero of the zomby appocolypse.  LIVE BRAIINNNNNS LIVE BRAIIINSSSSSSS!!!!!…

Have a good one..

~Cappy

… is an amazing machine.  It is capable of handling stresses that are well beyond the strength of its individual parts.  Its a machine that  can run miles, withstand forces and temperatures beyond its design limits and adapt to conditions that other animals would go extinct from.

What I have never understood was why the maker (pick whichever theory best fits your beliefs) didn’t create a process for complete healing.   I’m two plus years from rolling my ATV and having it land on my chest.  The three ribs I broke bother me more now than they did when I was recovering from the accident.  The problem is that now they ache continuously making it hard to sleep.  The weather seems to have an influence on the amount of pain as well.

I have several areas in my body that react this way:  My lower back, middle back, right leg where the ATV landed on it, and the ribs in at least three places.  I toss and turn almost every night to try and get comfortable. The comfort only lasts 20 minutes…  maybe 45 minutes on a really good night.  Heaven forbid I roll over on to a ball of covers or something that puts pressure on the specific points of pain… OUCH!  These pressure points also make themselves known at other times as well.  The most annoying is when someone pokes or slaps me.  You know the type of thing I’m talking about… Often they are joking around but the joke isn’t so funny when it makes me wince in pain.

I had a director come in one day and slap me on the back with a hearty “How are ya doing today!?”  I almost wished that I could slap him back but the pain shooting through my back told me moving wasn’t a good idea at that moment.  I try not too get grumpy about it because most of the time the person had no idea about the injury or the fact that these types of thing cause pretty substantial pain.  I often have to avoid sitting in positions that put presssure on these points as well.   I know the culprit is arthritis settling into the damaged areas.  I have been told that the tests show my back is full of arthritis from my lower neck to the middle of my back and also in my lower back around my tailbone area.

Wouldn’t it be really nice if injuries healed back to as good as before they were injured.  I know a lot of folks that would love that.  Of course, there would probably be some offsetting condition that would show up to remind us that our bodies are irreplaceble.  It seems that’s kind of the joke of the whole thing … doesn’t it.  A doctor once told me “That’s the way our bodies tell us to slow down.”  I guess that’s the way life goes.  We can’t live forever… and even if we could… I don’t think I’d want to.

Thoughts and comments.

~Cappy

This past week has been something of a nightmare without the sleep.  It started off last week actually.  ‘The powers that be’ at the office decided to move us from the corporate umbrella to the government side.  This actually isn’t such a bad thing because the government business is who we spend 98% of our time supporting.  On the bright side, we got a couple different days off… Columbus Day being one of them.  On the down side,  our team had just gotten over all the chaos created by moving us to the corporate umbrella a year ago.  It shouldn’t really be too big of an adjustment since this is where we started back then.

Monday was Columbus Day… our first new day off.  I didn’t really enjoy the day off much.  Things just aren’t the way I’d like them to be in my life.  I basically just bummed around.  Tuesday, it was back to the office.  Tuesday and Wednesday both seemed a lot like Monday, with all the crazy catch up antics that go on in any business after a weekend.  Wednesday afternoon improved and I headed for home much like any other day.

Dad and I ate dinner together as always.  He has been telling me that his truck has been turning over slowly.  Its only a year old or so and really shouldn’t be having starting issues at this point.  I left his place and went to ‘The Middlesex Mall’ (Dollar General) to buy milk.  I got home just a little before dark.  I came inside giving little notice to the paper stuck in the door.  Being a political season, I have been coming home to find flyers of all sorts promoting this party or that politician.  I opened the fridge to put the milk in… no light.  My ears realized that they were being bombarded by silence…  No ceiling fan running in the kitchen…  No furnance or fridge motors running.  The light that normally would have been on already in the living room wasn’t on.  I turned back to the door to grab the piece of paper wedged in between the trim and the edge of the window.  It was a Disconnect Notice from the electric company.  “SHIT!”  and maybe a couple other choice words were uttered as I dialed the 800 number on the paper.

The typical corporate recording answered the call.  I hate these things.  This one is voice activated.  You have to say one of a few specific phrases.  Being just a little upset, I ended up hanging up and calling back to gather my composer so the stupidly inept machine would understand what I was saying.  I finally got “Discuss My Shutoff Notice” out in a dialect that the computer could interpret.  It was more like “DIS Cuss  MY Shut Off NO Tiss” than the fluid representation the male recording gave as example.  I’m pretty sure smoke came out my ears when the male automaton’s very non-chelantt response was “Your problem requires direct assistance from our office.  Please call back during business hours.”  Great!  I’m not going to have power tonight for sure.

Ok… Fine!  I’m going at least one night without power but I’m loading my guns with information for when I do get through to the office.  I used my smart phone to check my checking account and make sure my last payment had cleared.  I also looked for the last statement I received by mail.  I had signed up for paperless billing so I don’t get much from them.  Having everything I thought I might need together, I decided that I should get my oil lamp and such together for a long night in the dark.  Well, maybe not.  I’ll call Dad.  Maybe I can go up there for the night.  More smoke shot from my head as he gave me a bland… “Well, Its not supposed to be that cold tonight.  You won’t freeze.”  I hung up on him.  I was ready to scream.

I got in the truck and headed to Walmart.  I had to get out of the house for a bit before I did or said something that I would regret.  My mood was just starting to turn around from about two months of feeling like crap.  This one stupid incident had brought that fire back just as intense as before I started fighting it.  I’m sure I probably had a few choice words for several stupid drivers as I made my way uptown.  Inside Walmart wasn’t much better as I dodged wreckless buggy drivers and kids running rampant.  I walked around through the lanterns and flashlights looking for an inexpensive LED lantern that I could read by instead of holding my flash light up to the book.  I wanted a lantern because it would sever more than one purpose even after the power was back.  LEDs would last a long time on batteries so I wouldn’t have to worry about how much reading I did in the dark.  I found what I was looking for and headed for the checkout.  The craziness was just making my mood darker.

I spent the night curled up on the couch with my book and my lantern.  Tink made her way down and came up on the couch with a loud per as if she knew I was in a bad mood.  She continued to do this even after I crawled in bed.  I had got the old sleeping bag out and opened it like a bedspread.  I figured this would be very insulating should the house get overly cold during the night.  I never did use it either of the two long dark nights without power.  I had trouble falling asleep Wednesday night.  Every little sound echoed in the darkness.  We take for granted how much noise goes on in our daily lives in the background… seemingly unnoticed.  I swear I could hear my back aching.  When I get stressed, it seems to ache more and ache it still does as I write this.

I took the day off to try and get the power back on.  I called and got a real person at the power company.  She had a cold and wasn’t very with it.  I don’t know how many times I had to repeat my account number.  I work with numbers and addresses all day so I’m very careful reading off these kinds of things to others.  She finally apologized for being a little out of it.  I tried to get things straightend out but there was nothing she could do.  Apparently, the disconnect department is also disconnected from the billing department and the rest of the company.  She couldn’t figure out why my power was off because she could not retrieve any of my payment history.  Finally… Fed up with the whole situation… I told her “Just tell me how much I have to pay to get the stupid power back on!”  That’s when she read off the options to me.  I selected the pay it and get it over with option.  She informed me that it could take 24 hours to 3 business days from the time the work order was logged to get the power back on.  Great!  That means that I could technically be without power until Wednesday morning!  (More choice words were uttered).  As she hung up, she noted that the work order would probably not be processed until Thursday morning.  I am camping in my own house for another night.  Woo Hoo…

I have a generator but to run it when I’m the only one without power on the block I’m pretty sure the neighbors would be slightly unhappy with me.  Dad had all kinds of uneducated advice of how to ‘plug’ my generator in so I could have lights and such when the meter wasn’t in line or how I could  just plug the furnace into the generator.  I work with heavy electrical planning as part of my job… I know EXACTLY what it will take to run my furnace or power my lights.  I’m not going to go to the work of rewiring my knob and tube house for two nights of power loss.  The day I have the house rewired there will definately be a transfer switch that allows the generator to safely power certain circuits without worrying if the power will come back on and blow up the generator or burn the house down.  Until then,  a two night outage on a fall night doesn’t warrant my spending a fortune.  It was bad enough I had to pay the reconnect and deposit fees the power company wanted.

The lady I talked to at the power company and the cut off notice both said someone “MUST” be at the house to turn the power back on.  The tech would need access to the house to make sure everything came back on safely.  I took a second day off hoping that would not be a waste waiting for someone who wouldn’t show until the following week.  About 10:20 AM, I heard a noise at the front of the house.  I looked out.  There is the technician replacing the meter.  He hadn’t knocked or anything.  Would he come to the door after he was done and ask me to turn things back on… Nope.  He hopped back in his van and drove off.  Had I not heard him out there, I would not have known that the power was back on as they had also instructed me to turn off all the breakes so the powe would not surge any of my electronics.  I left out a sigh, as I went to the basement to power the house back to life.

The best thing out of the whole deal was that it was early enough that I could head in and get a half day of work.  I get a fairly decent amount of time off, but why use it if I didn’t have to.  I have the ability to work from home but this was also the last day of one of our coworkers so we were to take him out for “Get the heck out of here” errrr.. .I mean “Going away” lunch.  I guess I forgot to mention that when Dad came down Thursday morning, his truck finally died.  I had to jump his truck.  He took it straight from here to the shop to have it fixed since its only a year old.  They couldn’t get it in but promised to look at it on Friday (today).  I worked my half day.  Just before 4 PM, I checked my phone.  Dad had called.  His truck was done.  A bad cell in the battery was supposedly the culprit.  He didn’t have a way to get back up to get it.  I told him I’d check with my boss but I didn’t see why I couldn’t leave right then and come get him.  We got his truck with no charge for the repair.   We went to Eat N Park for dinner.  Finally, the week from Hell was over.   At least I hope its over.

Tomorrow, I take my truck up for an oil change and tire rotation.  I have the gear to do the tires myself, but with my back the way it is… I’ll pass.  I’m sitting here listening to the RUSH Time Machine DVD as I type.  Amazingly, tonight has seemed much longer than either of the cool nights I spent in the dark.  I’ll probably head off to bed soon.  Hopefully, I will sleep better than I have this past week.  I’m not counting on that.  I am counting on a better day tomorrow.

~Cappy