Tuesday Update 9/4/07

The Three H’s – Hot, Humid, and Hazy
That describes last Tuesday’s weather perfectly. The humidity was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. So what do S and I do? We meet at a state park for a picnic supper and hiking. It was much cooler by 6:30pm but the humidity was still quite high. By the time we got done hiking a “hard” trail (as indicated by the difficulty sign), both of us were dripping with sweat, our clothes were quite damp (romantic, eh?), and our glasses were getting fogged up! On my 45 minute drive home, I could see heat lightning storms in the distance.

Heat lightning is flashes too far away for its thunder not to be heard. During hot, humid weather, short lived thunderstorms may occur in regions driven by heat and humidity. Some storms bring relief with cooling rain and brief wind. Other pass over noted only by cumulonimbus clouds and flashes of lightning, which is what I saw last night. I’d never seen a heat storm before, so I found it noteworthy.


In The News
Last week marked the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death. Her sons planned a 10th anniversary memorial of her death which was televised in the UK. I find it a bit odd to celebrate a death.

President Bush has declared my county a federal disaster area due to the Sept 7th flood we received. Homeowners who had devastating losses now may be eligible for funding from FEMA.


Weekend Fun
Last weekend was On The Waterfront Festival. It's held every year over the Labor Day weekend. The company I worked for sponsored a corporate party which included passes for the 3-day event, a covered tent with tables along the waterfront and within seeing distance of the Miller Lite Great Lawn Stage, and catered food/drinks. The Friday night band was Black Crowes. I'd never heard of them prior to the concert. Not really my type of music, but S enjoyed them a lot. The music was REALLY loud and I think we left there with less hearing than we started with. LOL Since the corporate tent was along the Rock River, we had an excellent view of the fireworks display.

On Saturday evening, S and I had a picnic with his mom/stepfather along another part of the Rock River in another city. The river was really high and we could see where it had flooded (at least 20 feet from the banks) from the rains in August. We were practically devoured by mosquitoes!


Freecycle
Peturbed doesn't begin to describe emotions associated with a recent Freecycle transaction. I put out an ad for Maternity Plants that I am giving away (I need to thin out my plant). LOTS of people asked for cuttings. I told each one that I'd put some cuttings on the window sill of my front porch WITH THEIR NAME ON IT. On Friday, I put three sets of cuttings out. One lady took the cuttings with another lady's name on it. How do I know who it is? Because two plants were picked up, and the one lady said she stopped to pick up and there wasn't one with her name on it so she didn't take any of them. So with deductive reasoning, I figured out who took what. I emailed the culprit who "collects plants" and asked if she picked up her plants.... No answer. My guess is that she took the one she thought looked the best. If she'd been smart, she would've switched names! I'd heard from other freecyclers that people take items that aren't marked for them, but until now it'd never happened to me. Shame on them! On a good note, my plant is really thinned down now. It lives up to it's name of Maternity Plant, as it reproduces like rabbits!

I also put an ad out for a display cabinet that I did not want to move to the new house. I had about a dozen people ask for it. Four people later, someone finally said they could come pick it up. I really like Freecycle and think it's a good thing, but I despise the "No Shows" -- people who say they want stuff, set up a time, and then never show up. Back to my story... I was waiting on an answer as to what time this person could come pick up. I decided to take down the curtains from the windows above the cabinet. Can you see where this is going?? I climb up on top of the cabinet (Yes, it's strong enough.). I hear a noise. As I look down... in slow motion... I see one of the sliding doors fall OUT of the cabinet and crash to the floor. Broken glass EVERYWHERE! Luckily, the doors can be re-made at the local glass place for less than $10.

I relisted it on Freecycle telling that the door was broken... blah, blah, blah. Finally had someone drive 45 minutes to pick it up. In a MINIVAN!! In the ad, I specifically said a truck would be needed to haul the cabinet. My jaw dropped and I said, "Uh... I don't think it's gonna fit in there." Of course being a man... "Oh yes. I measured and it'll fit." Uh huh. Thirty minutes later him and his wife had to take it 2/3 apart to get it in the van door. Meanwhile their 5yr old apparently was being a monkey and swinging from the bars above the van doors and HAD to go in out of every door of the van at least 3 times, including the one they were trying to get the cabinet into. Want some pop (Mt Dew)? Sure honey, go ahead an have some. Like the kid needed anymore adrenaline rushes?? When all said and done, they got the cabinet in the van. I wished them good luck in getting it back together. LOL At least it's out of my way and I can stack boxes in the corner it was taking residence at.


Health
Another trip to the ENT doc brought me some good news... and some bad news. The good news: The sinus infection I had cleared up. The bad news: I WILL have to have my tonsils taken out. They are abnormally large and as the doc put it: "They're little birdhouses for bacteria and infection." Well, duh... I've had problems with them since I was 18. With that said, I don't run to the doctor everytime they bother me or I am sick. I tough it out. Since they've started to obstruct my airways when I sleep (especially when I am sick), it causes me not to get a good night's rest so I am tired all the time. The doc did say something I found interesting. He said that when bacteria collects in the pocket, "chunks" of white stuff form back there. Earlier this year when my tonsils were hurting, I felt something back there and when I swiped it with my finger I had little white chunks of stuff that I had no idea what it was. Well now I do! It's really weird how *just* my tonsils will hurt and not my throat. For 3 days this week, the one on the left hurt when I swallow. I guess surgery will take care of that problem, too.

I want the surgery to be done the first week in November. Reasoning: It's the month after by busy time at work, and it's two weeks before Thanksgiving. I will need at least two weeks to recover. Fun. Not.


Labor Day
Holiday? What holiday?? Monday holidays always suck for me because it means that Tuesday is horrendous. Monday and Tuesday's work needs to be done by the close of business on Tuesday. I've gotten a few of my clients in the habit of getting me the data early which makes it easier on me. I ended up working 5½ hours on "the holiday". I'm hoping I can take that amount of time off on Friday.


Update on Dad
Kicking up his heels and dancing, he is! LOL, OK... Maybe not quite like that, but if you knew my Dad the picture in my head is quite funny. So what am I trying say? Dad is apparently healed up because he's been back to work for 2 weeks now. I haven't had a chance to ask him if the pain he's had in his legs for years has been reduced or eliminated.


Stitchy Stuff
I changed the white windows in "No Place Like Home" #2 to 677, a pale yellow. I think it looks much better.


I did have a mishap, though. I started frogging a window in NPLH #1 because they both were in the same ziploc bag and I grabbed the wrong one. Ooops. So, I have to re-stitch that window. I've started NPLH #3 and am about 1/3 of the way done. It's a pretty quick stitch!