How do you feel today?

[Damelon]

It's been a busy couple of days. As I'd mentioned earlier, I was taking my Mother in for cataract surgery on Thursday. That went well. she was able yesterday to see a container on the table. Unfortunately, that observation was made in the hospital. I'd gotten a call about one in the morning from the assisted living home she lives at. She had fallen and they had called 911 to take her to the hospital. Turns out she had broken her hip. She never complains of pain, but she did in the ER that night. So, the day after having surgery on her eye, she was in to put a nail in her hip. The surgery went well, which is great considering what a tiny bit she is - 92 pounds. So now the key is to get her stable and into what her doctor told me was 3 - 6 weeks of rehab.

[lorin]

Best wishes on your mom's recovery. The doctors have become very good at that type of surgery and people recover pretty quickly these days, depending on her initial condition.

[aliantha]

Yeah, best wishes to your mom, Damelon.

Oh, and congrats to Phantasm.

SD, they were an acceptable temperature when I bought them, but by the time I got to my desk and started my computer, etc., and then finished eating them, they were cold.

Anyway, I've been coming to the conclusion over the past couple of months that I bought the wrong foundation for my mattress. When I tried out the recommended combination in the IKEA showroom, it was like, ahhhhh.... But then I thought, well, I'll get the slatted bed base instead of the boxspring -- they say the bed base feels just like a boxspring and it's $90 cheaper. So I assembled the bed at home and sat down on it and went, oooff. Those slats just don't have the same give as springs do. Well, IKEA gives you 90 days to decide you don't like it. I put up with it for awhile, but finally admitted that I needed to take the foundation back and get the boxspring. Then for another couple of weeks, I put off digging through my pile of paperwork for the receipt. A few days ago, I finally dug it out -- and found out that the last day to return the stuff was yesterday. So! I got off work a couple of hours early and got Magickmaker to help me take the slatted base down to the car and tie it on the top. Then we drove down to IKEA in rush-hour traffic, returned the slatted base, and paid for the boxspring. Then we went to dinner, which was somewhat less than successful.

First I bumped into a teenaged girl in an SUV at a corner (in a nutshell: the way was totally clear at the red light, I was ready to make the turn and she wasn't -- no damage to either car) who had to call her mom to find out what to do. I should've taken a picture of her bumper and mine with my phone, in case she tries to file a claim. Thought about it later, of course.... Anyhow, then we stumbled into a place that claimed to be a Chinese buffet but turned out to be an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink buffet with a couple of Chinese dishes. There was a family at the table kitty-corner from us, Mom, Dad, and two boys. Suddenly the littlest boy started barfing -- not the projectile form, but still. And the parents cleaned him up and kept eating! As we were leaving, the kid had crawled into Dad's lap and was eating off his plate. At that point, we decided to leave before the kid got sick again....

So we went back to IKEA and my boxspring was already out and ready for pickup. We alternated tying it to the top of the car with watching the three women next to us who were trying to pile way too much stuff into a four-door sedan. At one point I walked over and asked them how far they were going with all this stuff, because all we had bought was the boxspring -- the back of my Fit was empty. "Charlottesville," the young woman said -- two hours away. Well, that would have been stretching my chivalrous impulses a little too far, so I expressed my regrets that we couldn't help them out and they thanked us for thinking of them. And then we drove home and wrestled the boxspring up to the apartment. I rebuilt the bed and fell into it, and it was wonderful.

On the one hand, I shouldn't have tried to save $90 when I bought the bed in the first place. On the other hand, if I'd bought the right thing in the first place, I would have missed all the "fun" of last night....

[Fire Daughter]

Wow, the summer went by so fast. Miles and I are heading back to Berkeley tomorrow, and we're taking Heidi over to Stanford. We really don't want to say goodbye to the mountain and home yet. But, life goes on...

[aliantha]

Have a great school year, you guys.

Magickmaker doesn't go back for another week. Her school always seems to start later than everybody else. But after this year, it won't matter to us any more.

[Menolly]

Keeping healing vibes for your mom in my thoughts, High L-rd.

Forza! Phantasm.
Good luck in your pursuits.

Jenn, glad to hear everyone at work is moving forward with as little resentment as possible. I hope Moose feels better soon.

Safe trip back to school to all of you, Brooke!

[ulp!]Beorn starts his senior year of high school [ulp!] on Monday. He is currently learning the lesson of putting off his summer reading assignments until the week before school starts. He still has two more book assignments to read, as well as finishing the first of three writing assignments.

While I doubt any teachers will ask for the assignments on the first day, the assignments specifically say they are to be ready to hand in on the first day of school...

[Avatar]

Broken.

Hit the bouldering gym on thursday night, and was horrified by how weak we've gotten, hands and forearms useless within 30 mins. So, very sore on Friday, the GF insists we climb that afternoon after work. Today I can barely type.

--A

[Cagliostro]

It's funny the muscles that you realize you have when climbing. I always found myself completely unable to open a car door on the days when I destroyed myself with that activity.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Ok, so Thursday I tagged my clipper card to go to work. When I got to Macarthur station it said see agent and apparently I didn't have enough money on the card for the ride I just took. The station agent told me to just go and that they could fix the bad tag when the card was reloaded with funds. I said ok. So I loaded money on it Friday morning and then checked it at the check your balance reader at Montgomery station, still no funds, not surprised, I bought a round trip ticket and moved on. This morning I checked my balance at the balance reader and it uploaded my funds so I tried to go through the gate and the gate screen said "see agent." I remembered I needed them to fix the bad tag and so I went to the agent. I had to say excuse me twice before she even said a word to me. I asked if she could fix my card and dropped it in the slide slot like those ones at banks. Still without looking up or at me, she reached back and pulled my card out and scanned it and said, "You have a bad tag." I told her, "I know, they told me to get it fixed when my funds showed up on my card." She said, "This card has no funds, call customer service." Then dropped the card back in the slot for me to take. I said, "But I just checked it at the clipper reader and it said my $70 dollars was successfully uploaded." She said, "I can't help you call customer service." I bought a ticket and rode to MacArthur. At this point I was cutting time close so I just went to work. On my way home I asked the station agent to please check my card because I had a problem with it earlier. He checked it and said, "Oh, no problem," hit a button on the thing they use to scan cards, came out of the booth, swiped the card and problem solved. I then told him what happened earlier and he was very apologetic and I told him he didn't need to apologize for someone else's bad attitude and thanked him again for his help and for listening with real compassion.

To make up for that I had quite a bit of fun today at work. I was looking for something and came across the dvd of the security tape of me getting knocked down by the blonde gal. I stuck it in my bag to take to work today. I got into work and got ready to rock then walked to Tina's office and handed her the dvd and said, "Here you go, the security feed of me being knocked down by the customer so you know I'm not a clutz." She tried to get it to work with no success so I ended up getting it to work on one of the display pc's in the tech department. I went and got her and she watched it with amazement the first time, then laughter the next seven times. We were in hysterics down the pc aisle and I hear Ed come over the walkie with, "You guys are having WAY too much fun over there, what is going on?" Tina didn't have a headset and asked what had made me laugh harder so I told her what Ed said and she told me to tell him to come over there with us. I did. He was in hysterics too. So basically everyone wanted in on the fun so at some point or other during the day I showed all my coworkers on schedule with me the dvd of my greatest hits at the OD. All day long I would chime in randomly on the walkie with, "I get knocked down, but I get up again, ain't nothing gonna keep me down." Too funny.

[aliantha]

Yesterday I signed up Magickmaker and me to do a scavenger hunt on Saturday. It's being sponsored by Signature Theater here in my little neighborhood, but I suspect we'll have to drive all over the city to get the clues. I expect to fail spectacularly.

[Seareach]

I be low.

[Avatar]

Get high then.

--A

[lorin]

I be low.

just one of those days when that big green monsters got you by the tail, huh?

[Menolly]

lorin, is this one of yours?
I so want to steal it, if so!

[lorin]

Ahhhhhh, if only to be so talented. I took it off google images. Doesn't
Seem to be any copy write or anything like that. I say go for it.

[JazFusion]

I be low.

Get high then.

--A

[danlo]

[Cameraman Jenn]

I had a good day. I was totally motivational to Heatherly. I kicked her ass and made her put down dates for accomplishing things she keeps saying she will get to. She left our hanging out with energy to go and was headed to knock five things off her list. I also made her start taking her power back from her workplace. I also got an unexpected prezzie in the mail. I love prezzies, especially when I am not expecting them.

[lorin]

I also got an unexpected prezzie in the mail. I love prezzies, especially when I am not expecting them.

I love sending surprise gifts to my friends. There is nothing cooler.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I'm thinking of getting a new tattoo. I think I want a few bees tattoed on my back.