Disappointments abound.

Well, I guess not everything is a disappointment. I was expecting the antibiotic I’m taking to upset my digestive system and it’s doing that quite nicely. At least antibiotics come in horse-pill sizes so you feel like you’re getting something for the money you pay.

My biggest disappointment of the day was going to they Dairy Queen near work for lunch. They used to have the old-school menu (Queen burgers, King burgers, and a giant “Hillsburger”) but now they have a much more corporate-looking menu. The hamburgers were awesome in the past, like they’d used fresh meat, and they were served on real, though chipped, plates. Now it’s all fast-foodish paper and the burgers have that cafeteria taste. I described it as the same taste as the burgers in my high school. I thought the meat was actually fake until I showed up too early once and smelled them grilling. Somehow they pre-grill, let them sit, and then reheated them before they served them and that made them taste funny. My co-worker described it as the “rest stop Roy Rogers drive-through taste.” Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Another disappointment was getting the external hard drive for my DirecTV DVR. Sure it’s bigger and will hold more shows, but it completely replaces the internal hard drive and it’s like resetting the whole thing. Nothing is set to record and all the settings were deleted. I was all set to re-enter all the shows to record but the DirecTV web site was down. Ugh. Time to put that all off. Besides, I have a bunch of “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” recorded and I don’t want to lose those.

And yet more proof I’m old.

I just realized that I have nothing to talk about except how poorly I’m feeling. And I bet if I actually read my past postings, I’d find that’s all I ever talk about any more. And I’m feeling like I’m going to just continue this nonsense with another report on just how poorly I feel today.

I’ve been sort of sick all week. No sore throat, because to me a sore throat means I can’t swallow at all, not that I can feel there’s some irritation. But I still went to the doctor. My ears are plugged, I feel lightheaded at times, and last but not least, MY G*DD*MN co-worker told me he has strep throat and has had strep throat for a week. I called my doctor with my symptoms and he wanted me to come right in. I had to see “the new guy” and I liked his diagnosis. “It’s probably viral, but your throat is looking pretty grody back there. Those white plaques are most likely bacterial. With your pre-existing condition, I’m going to prescribe antibiotics.” Whoop-de-effing-do.

I should feel better soon (whether or not the antibiotics work) but the antibiotics will certainly make me feel worse for a few days. I am not looking forward to not drinking beer on Labor Day weekend, nor am I looking forward to the digestive problems that antibiotics bring forth. Ah well, I hope it makes me feel better in general.

Oh, and my neighbors don’t seem to like me questioning their M.D. ways. I told them I thought the rapid strep test had significant false positives (it doesn’t in the study I found) and significant false negatives (it does). I also told them I thought there were cases of influenza reported already (couldn’t find an Oregon report, but I did find a confirmed case in Washington). Good thing I know how to use the intarweb and how to search for primary sources.

Microblogs r us.

I can understand that twitter seems narcissistic to some, but then I just realized that I should be twittering because of the same reason I’m not blogging that much any more. It’s not that I don’t like hearing myself talk, it’s because I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT I DID TODAY. If I just twittered all the time (or tweeted or whatever) I would know EXACTLY how boring my life is and I could either
take steps to make my life more interesting or just continue cataloging the boredom and pretend that it’s enough.

But, actually, I can remember what I did today, which is almost NOTHING. I’ve been kind of sick all week, which is kind of lame because I’ve had no big symptoms. I took Monday off because of a sinus headache and I’ve had stomachaches since then. The past few days I’ve felt like absolute crap in the evenings. This morning I got up and I felt lightheaded but went to the gym anyway. It came and went but I got home and took a few naps and so sleeping was pretty much I did today. I did watch some football and vacuum under my bed, so I don’t call the day a total loss. I do want to know why the house is so freaking dusty, though.

My Mac is back (again).

It took the Apple Store long enough to replace my RAM, but I figure they’re probably backed up with all sorts of work. When I got there, they made me wait and wait and then tried to give me someone’s old white MacBook instead of my shiny and fairly new MacBook Pro.

So that’s pretty much it for now. I’m about to pass out. I haven’t been feeling all that well in the evenings so I’m guessing my cold really was real.

Sick day for me, then for my Mac.

It felt like Monday today because I took a sick day yesterday. I woke up with a stomachache and a sinus headache. I thought I was being a bit of a wuss, but I slept most of the morning, got up for lunch, and then slept most of the afternoon. The only way I can sleep that much is if I’m sick. Someone accused me of being hung over, but I can’t sleep at all if I’ve been drinking too much.

The comedy of errors with my new, ailing laptop continued today. I took it in to have the overheating battery replaced, and it took a bit of time to drop it off. I finally got my paperwork back and I was almost to the parking garage when they called me back in. They said it shouldn’t take that long to replace a battery. When I got there, I reminded them that they needed to run the thermal test again and I waited. And waited. When the Apple Genius came out and first offered to validate my parking, I knew something had gone wrong. The thermal test had passed, but when they rebooted they got three beeps which signifies bad RAM. The first time I took it in I told them I was getting kernel panics and the three beeps and they replaced the motherboard BUT NOT THE RAM. Then they found overheating issues with the battery. And now they have to replace the RAM. What a fiasco.

So I’m without my laptop again. I just got my $700 copy of Photoshop today and I should probably try it out but it’s hard to do with no laptop. Ah well. Time to read a book.

How to get a headache.

I’ve had a bit of a headache the past couple of days and it’s partially self-inflicted. At the very least, yesterday it was my own fault due mostly to dehydration. It’s easy to accomplish. First, leave the gym and get on Tri-Met (the local bus) without properly rehydrating. Then go to the Beer and Slider event on the first day of the year it hits 90°F in a parking lot with no shade. Eat a bunch of sliders and drink a bunch of beer tasters. Then head home but wait for the bus in a shelter with no shade, with a seat that’s so hot you can’t use it, in the direct sunlight. Oh, and I suppose I started it all out by not being able to sleep much the night before, so I ended the afternoon with a short 2 1/2 hour nap.

Today was much less personal sabotage. I had a two hour phone call helping a friend remotely upgrade her computer software, only to find that my own laptop was acting up again. I took it to the Apple Store and the diagnostics showed that the battery failed a thermal test. So that means three trips to the Apple Store to fix it: one to diagnose and order parts, one to drop off the laptop once the parts are in, and one to pick up the laptop. And they still refuse to validate parking if you haven’t spent $50, at least not without a bit of drama. Sheesh.

A little better.

I really wonder what it is about the human body where food isn’t processed into something that makes more sense than just gas. Of course, if it’s lighter-than-air gas, maybe it’ll make me more floaty and able to crank out more pullups. Most likely, though, it’ll just limit the amount of human contact I get in a day.

I did figure out some of the annoyances of yesterday. Well, at least the top three. I got some money off of my DirecTV bill, figured out why Bank of America was charging me for my account (their mistake), and successfully used the LivingSocial coupon that was about to expire. And, found out just how tasty the food at Limo Peruvian Restaurant was. They had run out of empanadas so that’s all I wanted to eat, but they talked me into ceviche and other things I can’t recall the names of. I did eat a lot of potatoes, though. I suppose there were other things I needed to do, but work’s actually gotten busy.

Now that I think of it, the only other thing that was on my short list was to get my hair cut. I think they overdid it this time.

Well, at least it’s the weekend.

It’s all attitude, isn’t it?

It just feels like I’m on a downhill slide lately. Sure, my computer was repaired with little trouble, but why did it have to break in the first place? Why is Bank of America starting to charge me $25/month on my account? Why will DirecTV give my buddy a $20 discount but not me? Why does my arm hurt so much lately? Why are they filming so late next door? Why do I keep buying Groupons if I’m not going to use them? Why would they let me order a Prius in February if they don’t intend on ever getting me the car? Why am I driving so poorly lately?

I know the answer to most of these questions and they really don’t mean all that much but it kind of adds up. I think I need a vacation, but from what? And will anything change when I come back?

So I did recognize one actor on the shoot next door, Jaime Ray Newman, or Tess Fontana from Eureka. I tried to point this out to some of my fellow gawkers, but I was the only one geeky enough to watch SyFy shows. She looked tall and willowy on my TV, but it turns out she’s tiny. IMDB says she’s 5’4″ but I bet she’s shorter than that. I thought it looked like her but had to confirm with the Location Manager because she looked like she was in her early 20’s and not her early 30’s like I thought she was. She also had something that looked like an iPhone 3. Weird.

Most of the people on set were constantly texting. TV/Film crews appear to be a weird bunch. My sister, who has worked in the office for a movie (and even had a line in Come See the Paradise agrees with my observation. One of my goals in life is to get a speaking credit in a movie so I can see how many degrees of Kevin Bacon I am from my sister. Probably not something I’ll ever cross off my bucket list, but they always say I should have goals.

Some day I have to get to sleep on time.

Not sure how I’ll pull that off. I stayed up way too late yesterday watching them film Grimm in the neighborhood. Interior scenes next door and exterior scenes four houses down. The trucks and the crew were making enough noise that I knew I would be able to sleep through it so I just stood around watching them from 8PM to about 12:30AM. So today I should get some sleep to make up for it but I just got my computer back and I’m catching up on stupid, stupid things like all the RSS news feeds I shouldn’t be reading. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Or paying my bills. My MacBook Pro was only in the shop from Friday to Tuesday but it was crashing quite regularly for weeks before that. I’m behind on my geekery.

Stuff to do.

I actually had a few things I blew off today, besides the things on my much-ignored to do list. What I did try to do was get a brush cutter working so I could cut some of the weeds growing out of the curb across the street. I’ve never had any luck getting my co-worker’s Craftsman started so I thought I’d try the Stihl I have. The Stihl started with no problem but has bad rubber seals in the fuel line which means gasoline was pouring out of the bottom. I called around trying to get parts, but it’s probably 25 years old.

Anyway, I blew off a friend’s kid’s first birthday, but late in the day I was invited to a party by a guy I’ve known on the internet for a while but never met in person. It turns out that not only was I crashing the party, but he was as well. It was nice meeting him, though, and everyone was pretty friendly. I didn’t overstay my welcome, possibly because I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I really haven’t seen that many mosquitoes this year because of the cold weather.

I suppose most of my accomplishments for the day are the ones I’d figure would be better in the wintertime: I took a couple of naps, finished a book, and watched some football. Not too bad.

More mistakes

I took my MacBook Pro in for repair and took the Portland Streetcar because it’s free this weekend. I should have just spent the money and took the bus or drove. The streetcar was crowded, slow, and a bug tried to fly up my nose. I even had to shove my way off the streetcar when I got downtown. What a mess.

I got to my appointed genius time early and had to wait, but they recognized all the symptoms, looked at the crash logs, and sent my laptop into the repair depot. We’ll see how long it takes to repair it.

After that it was time to take my sister to Slabtown Ribs for her birthday dinner. Funny thing is, I haven’t had ribs there in months. All of us had beef brisket and I had smoked sausage as well. I just wish they were open more often.