Monthly Archives: December 2005

I finished all my donations and I noticed some of the charities send all way too many requests ever year. Oregon Public Broadcasting sent more than 5, the ACLU sent more than 4, and so did Doctors Without Borders. Well, I was going to use the number of envelopes as a negative indicator, but I ended up just looking at www.charitywatch.org. I also deposited the checks for the ham radio club but decided not to go downtown to the shoe store because it was POURING down rain outside. Oh, and I got my new toy today: I spent a lot of time trying to get some PC software to work … Continue reading →

So today I had two things I wanted to do: Renew my Concealed Handgun permit. Find out what size Blundstones I really wear. Of course I only barely completed the first task. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office is only open for Concealed Handgun permit renewals on Thursdays from 7:30AM to 10AM and 2:30PM until 4PM. I thought it said 10:30AM and I squeaked in there at 10AM. I suppose this leads to another question: why do I even have a concealed handgun permit? Well, sometimes I borrow trucks from rednecks (you ever try hauling anything large in a two-seat convertible?) and those trucks can have handguns in the glove box … Continue reading →

Turns out the guy I went to see today wasn’t a chiropractor/acupunturist, but just an acupuncturist. Fortunately, it’s worked for me so far. I still have aches in my back, but I don’t have shooting pains that keep me from bending, etc. There were some weird things I noticed. They use disposable needles now to avoid contamination. His office was in an “old” hotel that wasn’t so old. The offices have card-lock doors, newer carpet, and non-operating bathtubs. The sink for the bathroom is outside in the main room. And it’s hard to get in unless you go to the “lobby.” Plus, he may not have been wearing gloves when … Continue reading →

Since I’m supposed to be on vacation this week, I’ve been entirely lazy about doing much of anything. That, plus my back still hurts. Well, the least lazy thing I’ve done (besides stuffing my fat face) is to get an appointment with an acupuncturist/chiropractor so maybe I’ll have one less excuse. Of course, I don’t think I need an excuse to be lazy. Just a bunch of repeated James Bond movies on cable is enough.

It’s the time of year to post the exact same picture I post every year: Other than that, I have almost nothing. My back still hurts and it wakes me up at night. Mariko called and she’s coughing now, so I’m guessing she’s not sleeping much either. I’m just watching whatever is on TV and you know there’s going to be a lot of James Bond and, “A Christmas Story.” I watched the communist tract, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and I’m waiting for, “Scrooge,” with Alastair Sims. Happy Holidays.

So I’ve been working late all week because we’re not supposed to work next week. According to my boss at Megacorp, whether we work next week or not, we’ll be working a lot next year. For that reason he wanted us all to take next week off. I was also going to take Friday off since I’m supposed to be watching my sister’s dog while she and my brother-in-law go back to California for Xmas. My sister developed a sinus infection that makes her head feel like it’s going to explode and that’s not exactly how you want to feel when you’re flying. My brother-in-law is flying down by himself … Continue reading →

Since my back still hurts, I’m still not going to the gym. Figured I’d spend some extra time at work since I’m not supposed to be going in next week. Let me tell you, I’m pretty tired of work. Plus, my megacorp-issued laptop has slowed to a crawl today. Somehow I’ve also filled up the 40GB hard drive with SOMETHING. I’m not sure what, though. Anyway, staying at work late watching an hourglass icon on a computer isn’t my idea of fun. It may, however, be megacorp’s idea of fun. I’m doing my best not to limp around because of my back, but I’m afraid I’m walking around like I … Continue reading →

The window guy came by today and found nothing wrong with the installation. I called the company and they’re willing to keep working with me on trying to fix the problem. They have some odd ideas regarding the weather stripping, etc, but the seem quite willing to work with me on trying to figure out what is wrong with the window. Unfortunately, that also means I may be losing some more sleep if it’s windy in the middle of the night. I also bought a program for my Mac that’s supposed to start recording when the sound gets loud enough. I set it up in case the window started to … Continue reading →

OK, first the promised picture from yesterday: Today it mostly melted and while I was hoping that it would mean that my jury duty was cancelled, we were supposed to show up 2 hours late instead. In Multnomah County we currently serve one day every couple of years. You sit in a huge jury room with a giant TV and a lot of strange looking people until you randomly get selected for a jury. Previously, jury duty had been much longer and I’ve spent a whole week in that jury room before. I finally was called up to a courtroom for a DUII case and they asked us questions for … Continue reading →

Actually, every day is computer frustration day. One of the most frustrating things is that I tried to record my window noises today and I know that someone out there has written a program for the computer that only records when it hears something rather than recording hours and hours of silence. Which, apparently, is what I did today. The problem with my window noise is that it’s so erratic that I can’t count on recording it while I’m waiting. I’m sure it’ll start up tomorrow morning at 5 or 6AM and I actually got up and put some batteries in my voice recorder, but I never did record anything. … Continue reading →

I was at a birthday party and I was close to the last one out again. Instead of getting thrown to the curb at 11:30PM, I left at around 1:30AM. I was a little too tired today because I stayed up too late and also because MY WORTHLESS PELLA WINDOW WAS BUZZING IN THE WIND AGAIN. They’re supposed to come fix it on Tuesday morning. We’ll see if it does any good. They say they’ve never seen the problem so I hope it’s just something loose. To tell you how tired I was today: I went to Peet’s coffee and bought a pound of coffee beans. Afterwards I went to … Continue reading →

Going to the gym late is kind of boring. My night was thrown off after I was allowed to work late. (Hah. I’m always allowed to work late, I just thought it sounded funnier than I was stuck working late and I’m still behind.) It’s Jeni’s last day working the front desk at the gym. She’s moving to Colorado to attend some sort of university there. She’s always cheerful and chats when she’s not busy. The only other problem tonight was that everything I’ve eaten recently is helping me create a fog of noxious gas and holding it in while lifting weights was kind of counterproductive. I was, however, semi-successful … Continue reading →