Liver Issues

Yesterday about an hour and a half before my Dr. appointment, I got a call saying he had an emergency and had to leave.  They wanted to know if I would like to reschedule or see the NP (nurse who thinks she is a doctor).  I said I would see the NP, even though I hate her. 

I get over and get checked in, was surprised to see my weight on the scale.  I have gained a couple pounds.  Then I got all of the usual workup and finally the NP comes in.  I told her that I thought I still had a sinus infection and she didn’t understand why.  She tried to get me to play a game where I am bounced to an ENT.  I told her that wasn’t going to happen, we have had this conversation before and it really pisses me off.  I need an antibiotic not lip from some nurse who thinks she is a doctor.  Then she didn’t understand why I didn’t want the usual antibiotic, I said I don’t think it’s doing the job.  I’d like to switch to something more potent but that I am not allergic to.  So she put me on what I consider to be a baby antibiotic, she assured me it would take care of this.  I don’t think it will but I am taking it and only time will tell. 

Then she told me that the doctor said my liver enzymes were elevated and she made it sound like I was in the process of dying and that my liver was failing.  I told her it’s from the cholesterol meds, which she already knew.  Then she told me I was on a statin cholesterol drug.  Well they don’t play well with my liver, I say that based on past experience.  However, she said that it was important to get it checked.  I said that is why I made the appointment in the first place was to get an order for blood work.  She said, oh you haven’t been fasting today.  I said nope.  Write me an order and I will get the blood work done over the weekend.  Then she told me that she was going to have me tested for Hepatitis because that is always a concern when you have liver issues.  She wrote down a few other things, just to give me a sky high bill because I haven’t been over to see them in a while. 

She sent in her nurse with the lab order and told me that I also needed an ultrasound of my belly.  Funny thing is we didn’t have a discussion about this so it was a complete surprise to me.  I said why, I am not pregnant.  She said no it’s because your liver is failing.  I said hello, you just gave me an order to get blood work done.  Oh, have you had that done yet?  Uh no you just gave it to me, remember.  I said lets see what the blood work shows and then if there is a major issue we can work on getting the ultrasound.  I was finally able to leave and I was not the least bit happy.  I understand being cautious but there is no need to run up a bill for something that isn’t needed and that is what I feel and think she was doing.  It’s bad enough that she is having my blood tested for things that I don’t need and will return ‘normal’ but to order additional tests, come on.  The buck has to stop somewhere.  

My saving grace was that I passed a Friday’s on the way over.  So on the way back, I stopped in had a bowl of soup which was horrible and a delicious burger.  I did some searching on my phone about liver issues, even though right now I don’t believe I have anything to worry about.  When I got home much later in the afternoon, I checked the healthcare portal and saw a note that there was a slight elevation in my liver enzymes and we need to keep an eye on it, that was last April.  Then in August everything came back normal.  Now all of a sudden the Dr. is concerned about my liver enzymes.  Hello if there was a a fucking problem you should have been calling me and not waiting for me to come back.  What if I never, ever came back?  I am still not a happy camper but I will have the blood work done and we can go from there.  I really think this is all much to do about nothing.  I mean I am not yellow/jaundice and feel pretty well, except for my nose and this sinus infection.  I think she was being a little bit overly dramatically and concerned.  It’s like telling me the sky is falling when it’s just a thunderstorm. 

My research told me ways to fix liver issues were to have medications adjusted and/or changed, cut back on eating processed food and make stuff fresh so that you cut back on the amount of salt, take a fish oil pill, take coq10 and that’s about it.  Since I don’t have time or the energy to whip up a meal at night, cutting back on processed food isn’t an option for me.  If it weren’t for frozen food I would be very hungry.  The fish oil might be an option because I have a huge supply of it.  I got it for the cats to try and they aren’t fans of it.  It’s supposed to help their coat.  The thing is with humans if you take Fish Oil it acts as a blood thinner and if you cut yourself you bleed a lot more, plus you need to tell your doctor/dentist that your on it so before any type of surgery or procedure done, you can stop taking it a few days in advance so your blood returns to normal. 

In the end I and I alone am in charge of my health.  No matter what I do or don’t do, I am still going to die - - we all are.  My action or inaction can either aid in speeding or slowing my demise.  However, no matter what just like taxes, it’s a guarantee that you won’t escape it.

Oh yeah that is the other thing.  She told me that the sinus cavity is meant to be sterile so instead of using a netti pot it’s better to use the saline that comes in a can, it shoots a jet stream of sterile saline into your sinus’.  Sounds like a blast.  I stopped using a netti pot years ago because I found that it did more harm than good for me.  She said that she feels netti pots actually promotes sinus infections.  Yeah, well I have a hard time using nose spray on a daily basis between that and my finger, that is all that is physically going to be put in my nose.  I’m not flushing them out with saline 2 x a day.  I may however try it once, but that requires me to actually buy the saline and it’s not exactly a high priority for me right now.  Another fine example of her trying to spend my money.   

The remainder of my day was pretty well stress free.  I got the car washed, went to my therapy appointment and then back home to deal with the children and the joy of prepping for today.

My mom called on Sunday telling me that they have to put a drain in her eye.  She made it more complicated than that but when you cut to the chase that is all it is, a drain.  It is a surgical procedure so she has to go to the hospital and of course she was looking for a ride.  I told her I was all out of time because I had recently called in.  That is a lie but I need to save my time for when I need it and I can’t play taxi cab driver to her.  I realize she is my mom but I’ve done my fair share with her and then some.  It’s time for my brother to step up to the plate or for her to find another resource.

I had a pretty good evening, even if time did get away from me.  I managed to get all of the de-gaying process undone so all of my photos and calendars are back up – it feels more like home.  Not to mention that got me all hot and bothered, it was fun though.  I printed out some new photos on my late partners Xerox and wow the color just doesn’t seem to be what it used to be.  I printed the same thing on my ink jet and got much better results.  Obviously, something is wrong with it and I didn’t want to fiddle with it.  I am thinking a factory reset should probably take care of it.  I know he was a stickler for color and he made a lot of adjustments to the printer to get things working just right for him.  This again isn’t at the top of my list but I will probably get to it over the weekend.

Saturday is my date with Vampira – I have to give blood plus they are doing two urine tests, so I am sure they will want a fair amount, if not two samples.  Wow, guess I better drink up the water before I head out the door.  I just can’t wait until they are done because then I am headed out for breakfast!  That and the usual chores that I do over the weekend are all that I have lined up for Saturday thus far  I hope to keep the day pretty well open, so that I can relax and ramp up for next week, which will probably be a ball of stress.  Maybe I am wound up about nothing but I always get this way before I go on-call.

As for Uverse I wonder why I didn’t make the switch sooner.  Love the DVR and the fact that neither box has to be turned on in order for it to record.  Plus on the mobile app I can see all of my recordings and schedule or make changes, no matter where I am.  There are certain cable stations that you can watch live anywhere.  When I returned the cable boxes yesterday I found a neighbor in line to do the same thing.  Glad I did it because they eliminated their Saturday hours for the local offices.  They are happy to keep me with the internet but raised the price by $10 so now I am paying $60 for 100mpbs. The funny part or should I say odd part was there was no fight, no attempt to keep me as a customer and they didn’t ask why I was disconnecting.  I suppose they know that AT&T has moved in and people are flushing them because of the bad taste and poor customer service.  With competition it’s better because you can switch from year to year from provider to provider to get the best deal and maybe even get a rebate.  It’s a game of sorts but I haven’t ripped out any of the cable in my house, just in case.  I can’t foresee me ever switching back, but then again you never know. 

Not too bad for a Monday that is actually a Tuesday.  That is going to mess with me all week long but I think I will get it together by Friday, or so I hope.  Here’s to yet another week in 2015.  I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.  I will talk with you peeps later. 

Time Poor Weekend

Friday night was spent cleaning up the house and making it some what presentable.  I was really low on energy and didn’t put a whole lot of effort into it. 

Saturday I woke up super early.  I went out for breakfast at IHOP.  I went to spy on a guy that I like, who just got a new house in town.  He’s married so no chance anything is going to come of it.   I got cat litter/treats at Target, then on to the Cat Food Store and picked up canned and dry food.  Then I went home, switched vehicles and went to have the truck Emissions tested.  Then back home, put away the cat food.  Then went on litter box patrol.  By then we were looking at 12 noon.  I got the children their lunch and decided to rest.  I caught up on Social Media and sat and waited for the AT&T installer to show up.  I was given a window of 1-3 and I was really hoping he would show up at 1p but that wasn’t the case.  I settled in for a nap and when I woke up it was 2 pm.  I was starting to have second thoughts and decided to call to cancel.  That was the best move I could make.  They made me a better offer and I wound up getting an extra $100 rebate card.  So I went ahead with the install and after about 2 1/2 hours we were done.  Problem, the phone didn’t work.  So he had to make an adjustment, then the phone came to life.  I tested the alarm and it worked.  I noticed on our corded phones both lines (1 &2) lit up.  Back when my partner was alive, we each had a phone line, so I got us two line phones, so that each of us would have access to our lines in different places in the house and we didn’t have to go scurrying off for the phone.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  We went over the TV stuff and he was on his way.  Then I realized, we have a problem.  My line started to flash, which means it is in use.  After a couple minutes I figured out, there is a short on the line.  Well I didn’t have time to deal with it, but I tried to troubleshoot it quickly and failed.  I had to leave for dinner plans I had made with friends.  I had to drive like 80 to 90 mph and do some weaving, all on a very empty tank.  I made it spot on time.  I went to look for my friends and couldn’t find them.  Normally I make reservations but they couldn’t take us, so I said lets chance it.  I now know that if they can’t take us, don’t bother showing up in person.  The wait was 1 hour and 45 minutes for a table.  The place was packed from stem to stern.  So I called to find out where they were and told them about the SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up … just in case you wondered what it stood for).  They said they were close by but it took them like 10 minutes to finally show.  We decided to switch and visit P.F. Chang’s.  None of us had been there and all of us had wanted to go.  So we walked over and the wait was 45 minutes.  We said okay.  It was more like an hour but eventually we got our table.  There was a good sampling of man candy.  I found a server/busser that was the apple of my eye, he was perfect in every way.  Blond Hair, Blue Eyes, killer twink body.  I just couldn’t get enough of him.  I digress.  The food was really good.  I got Combo Fried Rice and we did Crab Wontons for an app.  I surprised my friends and picked up the tab, which was horribly expensive to feed 3 people and of course they had drinks so that didn’t help.  It’s not a good time for them right now, considering the stress of job loss looming so I figured I would hopefully give them a boost.  We headed out and it was close to 10p.  By the time I stopped for gas and made it home it was 10:45.  I should have relaxed and went to bed.  Nope back in telephone mode to figure out the issue.  Turns out that the phone in my office was punched down twice so that was the issue.  I had to remove everything and add it back, instead of going slow and testing as I went, I just went gang busters.  Then I had to rip it all out and do it over the right way.  By now we are looking at 1:30a.  Then I wanted to arrange the new Uverse equipment and get rid of the cable boxes, so they were all ready for me to take back.  It took a lot of time.  I had to figure out how I was going to keep my VCR & DVD working.  Thankfully COAX was the answer and both still work fine.  Now it’s time to get ready for bed.  It was 2a.  I knew that it would be 3 or later before I was asleep and I wouldn’t be worth a shit on Sunday.  I had to play with Uverse a little bit to try to figure things out, pretty straight forward and simple.  It’s just a matter of learning a new remote. 

Sunday the children were all over me at 630a.  I fended them off.  Then they came back around 8 and I said one more hour.  9 am came and they just didn’t give up.  So I got up and started moving.  I fed them and got dressed.  Off to breakfast where I ate way too much.  Then to the grocery store.  Then home.  I put away the groceries and then left to get a hair cut.  I had a coupon and well long hair drives me nuts.  I waited a little bit.  This hot looking twink walked in and I was sure to get his name as he gave it to the receptionist to check in.  Damn, he looks gay, acts gay but couldn’t tell a thing by his Facebook page.  I thought about asking him out and even offering to pick up his haircut but decided it wasn’t worth it.  Still I got to stare for a while and that was fun.  Then back home where I did what I never wanted to do in the first place.  Climb up on the roof.  I did it twice.  My late partner was into Amateur Radio and we have this monstrosity of an antenna on the house.  You have to put up guy wires, to help keep it in balance.  The one that goes towards the front of the house broke like 3 years ago.  We tried to fix it when he was alive but failed.  We always said when the weather got warmer we would tackle it.  After he passed that was the last thing on my mind.  So as you can imagine the thing was leaning and while it wouldn’t break or fall off the house, it could damage the damn thing.  I hate it because it is an eye sore, I have wished it to break many times.  Well I figured I should finally get off my ass and fix it.  So I did.  It was scary as hell and while the view was nice from the roof top, I quickly figured out that if I ever really wanted to take my own life, jumping from a high rise wouldn’t be an option.  I thought for sure I would have to call the Fire Department to get down but I managed on my own.  Still I had my phone and wireless panic button with me, just in case.  When I was a child I was on the roof of our carport and it took my brother plus my grandfather to get me off the roof, that is when I knew heights were not for me.  After the repair I drank a pitcher of ice cold water and relaxed in front of the TV as I prepared to tell the Uverse system what shows to record for me.  I made a list from TIVO but I knew a few of them so I just did those.  I still have plenty to add.  Then I PTFO (Passed The Fuck Out).  I woke up and was sore and had very little energy. The children pestered me once again so I got up.  I fed them lunch, it was 4p and they wanted lunch.  I finished cleaning the house and started laundry.  Then after a couple hours I made myself a pizza.  It was really good.  A Freschetta Brick Oven brand pizza, 4 meat.  I added a shredded cheese blend, because I love cheese.  Then topped that with fresh ground pepper and finished off with a sprinkle of the left over Parmesan cheese that I had.  In to the oven and after 18 minutes, into my belly.  Spicy, I went a little too heavy on the pepper.  However, that caused me to eat less which all things considered is very good.  I have left over's for breakfast or lunch, whatever the case maybe.  I am working on finishing up laundry so that I can get a shower, because I really need it. 

About the Uverse experience, the installer was a guy who was chunky but professional.  He said that he had been doing the job for quite sometime but a couple of his moves and I thought it was his first day on the job.  I did manage to get a free HDMI cable and an extra remote out of him, for no charge.  AT&T doesn’t give much away so I was thankful.  He kept asking me after he was done, if there was anything else he could do for me.  The first time I figured he was being professional the second and third time I started to think he is hitting on me.  I wanted to ask is there anything else that you want to do for me.  I have a tendency to read guys wrong and think they are flirting with me when they are just doing their jobs.  I know that desperate times call for desperate measures but he didn’t do anything for me from a physical perspective but he was very professional and I really liked that. 

I am thankful now that I no longer have to forward my home phone to my cell phone. I use the Find Me Feature so you call my house and it rings at home, plus up to 5 other numbers.  I just put in my cell phone and that seems to work out fine.  I added the office but figured out in testing, someone could wind up in my voice mail at work and I DONT want that, so I removed the number.  If there is ever a day that I am expecting a call I can always logon and add the office number.  Most everything with this system is controlled via an online portal.  You can make changes to your account easily on-line.  Plus control all of the features of the phone.  On the TV you have a menu as well that you can do a wide variety of things with.  I have the 450 package, which is everything under the sun in the way of networks and movie channels.  They have the Here Channel (gay TV) which I can add for $7 per month.  I have plans to stop by an AT&T store tomorrow to see if I can reduce the cost by removing the sports channels, they have an extra sports package and I have it but won’t ever watch it.  When I was being sold this by the door to door person, I was told that I could remove sports and save $7 per month – so that would actually allow me to add Here if I so chose.  I really wanted to downgrade to the next lowest package but you loose HD and that is $10 extra, add in the cost of the movie channels that I want and it’s a little more expensive than taking the package that I have.  While it’s still very early in the game I am really happy and think this was a smart move especially given that I can record 4 shows at once and no more worrying about will the DVR get the channel right.  I am used to my skip button on my TIVO which allowed me to easily skip commercials when watching a recorded show.  I have the ability with Uverse to fast forward but still you have to get it just right or else you are in to your show or still watching the last commercial.  I will get used to that and the remote eventually.  My biggest concern was the alarm system and down time.  The installer told me that unless the power goes out or the modem fails that the system will be up and live.  They don’t have down time and weather doesn’t affect service, just like cable.  The only difference is I am getting a little bit better deal, which is what makes this all worth it.  I am paying like $5 more per month for TV but given the fact that I have so much to choose from and the DVR, I think it’s worth it.  Plus now no charge for the wireless box, which works from a Cisco WAP (Wireless Access Point).  Basically you are outfitted with a modem and it’s separated in 3 areas.  1 for TV, 1 for Voice and 1 for Internet.  TV and Voice both come over the internet but that access is restricted so if you elect to do all 3, you get special access to the Internet and they have a business class firewall built in, so they thought of safety as well.  The cable modem is the basement and the Uverse modem is in the Living Room, so I would need to do some wiring changes but it’s pretty simple to flip the switch and move on over.  I have unlimited calling local and long distance and call even call Canada free.  I don’t have an international long distance (which costs more) but I wouldn’t use it if I did have it because all of the people I know and call are either in the US or Canada. 

Monday, thankfully I have an extra day off due to the Martin Luther King holiday.  I have an 11a doctors appointment and a 2p therapy appointment.  I plan on eating out for supper and then wrapping up loose ends here at home, getting the trash out and preparing to go back to work on Tuesday.  I am not excited about it because well it’s work, but more so because this is my last full week and weekend of peace and quiet.  Next Monday I will be on-call for a week.  Then a week of rest and back at it again the following week, which is when we change up to 1 person on call for the entire company.  That will be a jumping time I am sure, but the on-call hours won’t start until 11pm, most of the calls during the week are over with by 10p.  However, we do get calls at 1 and 2 in the morning, that will be the challenging part.  Then after that I am done until the end of May, when the next part of the schedule comes out.  My boss has it figured out that everyone will be on call 1 week every 13 weeks, do the math and that is 4 weeks per year.  Not bad at all.  However, if someone leaves that will shorten up the time, get a mass exodus and it could be a real pain.  They take good care of us, so I don’t foresee that happening.  The two things that I would love to get rid of in my job are phone time and on-call.  I have done my time in the trenches and deserve a break but this is what I signed up for.  If there is a next job I will be sure to make sure there is no phone time or on-call time.  The phone part should be easy to eliminate but the on-call part not so much.  That is pretty much a given in the IT field. 

Okay so I have rambled far too much.  I hope that all is well in your world and that you have had nice weather like we have had.  It’s time for me to follow my fortune cookies advice and “Relax & Enjoy yourself.”  Take care and I will talk with you peeps later. BTW there is a new podcast episode up, if your interested!

Chaos on a Friday

Here I am early as usual, which is so not a bad thing.  An email came out saying that we have a lot of people off today, so were all supposed to be on the phone all day long.  Oh, joy my favorite thing.  NOT.  However, the good news is that it’s Friday and volume tends to be lighter.  Plus Monday is a holiday for us so there will be a lot of people out today trying to make it a 4 day weekend.  I was going to be out today but since I got ill I figured there was no point in asking for time off, that would be pouring salt in an open wound. 

I am excited for tomorrow and am still hoping & praying that everything with the install goes smooth.  I am kind of in shock that I did it but it was something that I would have been forced into eventually.  I was thinking about the contract/commitment and then I thought well your sort of in a contract with the house in that you entered into a 30 year agreement to pay for the house.  So this is not that major and certainly not nearly as long.  I am sure it will all be fine.  Considering what I have been through with my past employer, you can’t blame me for being gun shy and worrying about job loss.  I know that can be a real thing and I am probably hyper paranoid about it. 

My friend will most likely call tonight and try to setup plans for tomorrow.  The install can take up to 4 hours, I suspect this will probably take 2 hours tops, if that.  I only have a couple TV’s and that should be simple.  So hopefully I am not held hostage all day long and can hopefully enjoy a nice meal with friends.

Tonight I have to de-gay the house.  I’ve got naked photos of guys up and of course my all male calendars.  While it is my home and I am not ashamed of my sexuality, I see no reason to flaunt it or rub it in someone’s nose.  They are there to do a job and deserve a neutral environment.  One thing I won’t take down is our Civil Union License that to me would be hiding.  It’s displayed prominently in the living room.  If you have a problem with it, oh well.  The children will be on edge and hide tomorrow.  I am sad to say that I wont be able to clean the entire house and put it in the shape I would be proud of, then again with so many cats my house could look a whole lot worse.  At least when I left it didn’t smell like I was in a cat jungle.  I mean I try but there is only so much one can do. 

Here is hoping for a quiet but fast moving day and all easy calls.  Wow, if that happens I will be sure to stop and get a lottery ticket on the way home.  The jackpot is really up there.  I don’t think that I am destine to win the lottery but wow that would get me out of debt and if I put the money to work smartly then I could easily sit back and relax, not having to go to work every day.  You would find me in California and Florida then on vacation.  Lord knows I could use a good vacation, it has been far too long. 

Well my time is coming up so I am going to get ready for phone time.  I hope that your Friday and weekend are fabulous.  Talk with you peeps later.

Did it!

Well tonight’s mail brought me a plethora of junk mail most of which was related to AT&T Uverse.  They are offering to give me up to $400 so I thought why not check it out.  I’ve been on the fence long enough.  So I bit the bullet and signed up for TV & Home Phone.  It will be much cheaper each month.  If things go well and I am happy when they expand their Internet I may consider switching.  For now I’m happy with my cable internet and that is the only thing I will have with the cable company.  I know the price will be going up but that is expected.  At least with the TV I only have to pay for 1 receiver and that’s $9.00 for a wireless receiver.  They give you the first receiver for free, already there is a cost savings because I have 3 boxes and they are charging me for 2 of them, the 3rd box is free for the moment. 

So no more whining on about should I or shouldn’t I.  I just hope I am not sorry.  The big day for installation is Saturday, I hope it’s quick & painless.  We shall find out over the weekend.  Fingers crossed that this is a good solid move and that everything works like it’s supposed to, including the alarm. 

Bills are paid and now it’s time to try to unwind and prepare for Friday. 

Fast Thursday

I’ve been busy since the time I walked in the door.  That makes for a fast moving day.  Before you know it I will be headed home and ready to pay bills.  Yeah, it’s payday I just hate giving my money away but I do like the things I get in return like food, water, shelter.  It’s just expensive. 

I watched an emotional Coming Out video by the Rhodes Brothers, never heard of them until this video and then they just blew up all over Facebook.  Link below will take you to the video.

http://youtu.be/L3K0CJ8usPU

Things are finally at a calming point, or so I think.  I’ve got lunch in a bit and then an afternoon meeting to attend, then it’s back to the phones and then on to home.  I believe I shared a while back that I had an issue with Petsmart over charging me for some litter.  They are going to mail me a gift card that covers the refund plus something for my trouble.  Wow, the steps one has to go through to get help.  Normal tech type people would just take to Twitter and post about it.  Not me, I have no Twitter it just seems like overkill but I have thought about getting one. 

I have been going back and forth in my mind about UVERSE and spoke with a co-worker who had no complaints about TV or Phone but they said the internet sucks.  Well I wouldn’t give up my cable internet now because they are way faster.  However, if UVERSE ever catches up then I would consider a switch.  My email would change and well that would create more stress.  I may switch TV & Phone, it will save me $13 per month and the price would be locked in for a year, so that is the upside.  The downside is there is a contract and once I get past that and the time is right I will pull the trigger.  I just hope I am not sorry!

Comedy Wednesday did provide me with a couple laughs.  I also had some Peanut Butter Pie Ice Cream.  LB loved it as well.  He got to lick the container when it was empty.  He begged for it and when I gave it to him I guess I surprised him, he looked at it and then at me as if to say, really I can have it.  I said go ahead.  He started licking and loved every little bit that he got.  Of course that will affect him in a negative way as cats are lactose intolerant.  At least he had some fun, it helps bring us even closer. 

As for everyone else they are doing ok.  The Raccoons' were sure at it last night playing.  I went down to take a peek at them and one of them was staring me in the face through the window.  I went closer to the window and it disappeared, as if I was going to hurt it.  I realize that it doesn’t know me anymore than I know it.  They quieted down after that, which was good. Before you knew it, bed time was here. 

I had a very strange dream, kind of disturbing but thankfully it was only a dream.  I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Today is supposed to be a much warmer day.  I am all for that.  This coldness needs to go.  However, another couple months and we will be done for a while.  I would like to manage to get a couple snow days in from work but from the way the weather looks now, that won’t happen anytime soon. 

Hopefully all is well in your world.  I will talk with you peeps later. 

Made it to another Comedy Wednesday

Very happy that tonight I will get to see all of my regular favorites.  Hopefully there will be many laughs.  Things have been a little rocky this week, so a laugh or two will help out. 

Yesterday I was working on my home machine when all of a sudden it locked up.  So I issued a reboot command and it just took its sweet time.  I was doing all of this remote, so it’s not like I could help it along.  When it came back up I lost access to my encrypted drive that has passwords and other important docs on it.  Think of it as a safe deposit box  The only way in is a password and it wasn’t taking what I was giving it.  Then I noticed I lost an external hard drive where I save some of my porn to, I wasn’t too happy about it.  However, being away from home there was very little I could do, until I got home.  The problem was fixed easily.  Someone had apparently knocked the external hard drive off of the stand it was on.  I picked it up, plugged it back in and powered on the machine.  Everything came up like it was supposed to, but it had me sweating the whole time.  Porn not such a big deal but the legal docs and passwords, that would have really crippled me.  I was able to guess and get the master password changed so I have access to all of my stuff.  Technology is a wonderful thing but only when it works.  I say that all the time and it is VERY true.

I also got a letter in the mail from AT&T and found out that apparently they think I stopped subscribing to something so my home phone is going up $17 per month.  Uh, don’t think so.  I called and had to talk with 3 people but I got things back to where they should be  Then I found out in 2 years copper landline phone service will be no more in my area.  Everyone will be forced on to VOIP.  I am not exactly jumping up and down about that.  They tried to get me to convert to UVERSE and I will admit now I am thinking of it more and more.  It sounds really nice.  I asked about up time and they tell me it’s a 99.9% up time baring any cable cuts which are beyond their control.  Perfectly understandable.  They have a feature on the phone that if service is interrupted it will fail over to a number that you pre-determine.  Plus you can have the phone ring at home and at I think 2 or 3 other destinations – all at the same time.  So no need for Call Forwarding but they still have that.  I checked pretty much all of my areas of concern and they were all addressed.  Now the only thing left is to bite the bullet and go for it.  They will give me 30 days to try it and if I don’t like they will switch back to the way things were before.  Wonderful but if copper is going away I really am stuck.  Right now you have to bundle phone with either internet or tv in order to get it.  When we get closer to the 2 year mark, they will offer phone as a stand alone service.  It is a money saver but for me it would only be $13 per month.  If I moved Internet the savings would be greater more like $33 but I would lose speed.  I will bring this up in a few months when my present promo offer expires with the cable company.  If they can’t match or beat the offer then I will switch.  For now still leaving everything the same.  Hopefully, it all continues to work as it was designed.  I will admit changing to a new whole house DVR would be nice and being able to record 4 shows at the same time and watch them where I wanted would be kind of cool.  Right now I’ve got my old fashioned TIVO, which does 1 show at a time and more often than not, it doesn’t change to the proper channel so you miss the program.  I understand that the person I spoke with is in it for a commission so she will tell me what I want to hear in order to win my business.  I almost went for it today but figured wait, the push to get people to switch is on and will be on for sometime, I might get a better deal by holding out.  Plus I am getting close to being on-call and I have to have something that works otherwise I get to live in the office, which wouldn’t be fun. 

I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday evening just when I was ready to do some self pleasuring.  Damn no peace.  Anyway he told me that he just got the worst review in his career.  We worked together before and he is 100% company and he works some damn long hours.  He just doesn’t know the meaning of the word relax or quitting time.  So for his boss to give him such a review totally caught him by surprise and honestly me too.  However, from the way things have been going the writing has been on the wall that his boss wants him gone.  She is now taking steps to make that happen.  He will have to go on a Performance Plan and if expectations aren’t met within 6 months then they will walk him out.  He plans on beating them to the punch and finding a new job.  However, the big problem that he has is that he is an older gentleman, and not many employers will be attracted to him once they figure out how old he is.  Even though your not suppose to discriminate based on age, employers still do but they do it in such a way that it skirts the law, so if you complain you won’t have a leg to stand on.  I feel bad for him and know what it’s like to work in a toxic environment.  This is all because of events that occurred that were outside of his control with vendors and 3rd parties.  He preformed at his very best, which is nothing unusual.  It just sucks when you are doing something you like and are comfortable but your boss hates you.  Work turns into a chore and soon you find yourself not motivated to go in and when your there your mind is focused more on what your boss is doing or where the next land mine is going to blow up and you can’t do your job.  Plus his employer is very short handed right now, so he is doing the work of 4 or 5 people – which he should be praised for.  There are two sides to every story and I am only hearing his, not that I doubt what he is saying for one second.  But it would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.  I also told him to ask for examples of the behavior that his boss is referencing.  He actually already did that and the boss can’t recall any incidents.  That right there tells me that she just wants him gone.  A good boss would have examples ready to go, figuring that the employee is savvy enough to ask.  I told him put all of that in writing, send it to his boss and give a copy to HR and demand that it be put in his personnel file.  That will help give him an edge.  Plus I told him he might want to talk with an attorney to see if there are other steps that he should take.  He doesn’t want to mess with it and figures it’s easier to move on.  I’ve been down this road before and unless you have specific documentation you are pretty well screwed.  I wish he would take my advice but he won’t and there isn’t anything I can do about that.  I hope it works out for the best.  Were supposed to get together over the weekend to grab a bite to eat, so that should be interesting. 

After that phone call that seemed like it would never end I was talked out and tired.  I took care of getting ready for today, medicating the cats, etc. while I was talking.  I even brushed my teeth.  Multitasking is just a given for me, when it has to be done.  After we hung up, I watched a little TV and then went to bed.  Sound asleep and 2am the UPS hiccupped and that caused my sound machine to change from Ocean sounds to Rain.  I woke up instantly figuring that the power went out but no, just a burp.  I had to get up to change it.  I needed to use the bathroom, but opted to go back to bed because Marv would be upset.  I was right he just talked and talk about it.  Then I couldn’t fight it any longer and had to get up.  He yelled at me again and finally we were off to sleep.  Thankfully he didn’t wake his brother otherwise it would have been double trouble.  They know how to work together and how to work against each other as well. 

Here we are at Wednesday.  Just wrapped up from a Team Meeting and of course change is the recurring theme.  Now we have to answer the phone a specific way, people are going to think I am a recording and they may hang up on me, but I will follow the rules.  There are many other changes but they are minor in nature.  Next meeting in 2 weeks and major changes will be talked about then.  Change can be good or it can be bad.  The nice thing is that on-call is changing next month so we don’t start until 11pm and are on until 7am.  So it should be mostly quiet.  Except for weekends those are still 24 hour days and your on until 7am Monday morning.  Again should be mostly quiet but you never know when something major will go wrong and you will be flooded with calls.  Just the joy of being on-call. 

So now it’s back to work and I am counting down the hours until I have to go back out in the cold and drive amongst the many slow people who are mostly in a slow hurry to get home.  I hope that tonight will be very enjoyable.  Then we are on the downhill slide of the week and a 3 days weekend is approaching – so I am super pumped about that.  Even though my Monday is already planned out for me, I won’t be here and that is a good thing in my book.

I hope that your all staying warm and doing okay.  Talk with you again soon. 

Crisis Averted?

Yesterday I read a very interesting article about passwords.  You can find the article by clicking the link  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/magazine/the-secret-life-of-passwords.html?_r=0

My first thought is why would you share your password with a complete stranger, even if they didn’t know what it was to or what your user name was.  If your in such a giving mood why not pass out keys to your house and twenty dollar bills.  My second thought confirmed something I have thought all along.  That is I wonder what other people use for passwords and how they remember them.  Apparently we all use something that is special to us, which is great but can make for a weak password.  As an example my late partner used a letter combination from a poem, shortly after he passed I found myself using the same letter combination for some of my passwords. 

Security and passwords are something we are constantly educated about at work.  Plus if you follow any type of IT publication, webcast, etc. they will often talk about security and passwords.  I find that the use of a password manager such as Lastpass works best, you remember your password to get into Lastpass and then let it generate all of your passwords.  They recently introduced a password change feature which is supposed to make it easier to change your passwords within the program.  I have yet to try this out.  However, I will tell you for any type of financial access I let this program choose my passwords for me.  I make them long and they use all sorts of special characters and numbers, which is great for a secure password. 

We would all like to think that we are using a secure password but so many of us, are not if this article is correct.  I mean get a small window into a persons life learn their spouses name, children’s names, pet’s names and maybe their favorite sport or a favorite past time and viola you have their password.  For me personally, I don’t use any of these because they are insecure and easily obtainable.  You never know who might turn out to be a rogue hacker. 

I figure this topic comes with perfect timing in that it’s a new year and probably a good time to either change your password or convert to a ore secure password management system.  Passwords of course pretty well rule access to your on-line world.  So this presents a new dilemma if you drop off the face of the earth, such as with the 9-11 Disaster.  I never thought about it until last year when went to make a supposed free will on-line and used a service called Rocket Lawyer.  They think of these things and ask you to spell out what your password is for e-mail, Facebook and other sites or at least for you to specify where a list of your passwords can be obtained, so that your digital life can be closed out.  I was fortunate in that when my partner passed away we were close enough that I already knew most of his passwords and those that I didn’t well I found a list and also used a program that was on his pc at the time to obtain the remainder of the list.  He registered for many sites that I wasn’t aware of, so this list helped me communicate the fact that his life had concluded and inform others that he passed away.  While it wasn’t an easy task, I was happy to be able to pass the word on as I know he would have wanted me to.  If I didn’t have his passwords, well my life would be a little bit more complicated. Because he was in Bankruptcy I didn’t have to worry about logging into credit card sites or informing creditors that he passed.  Those wonderful people are getting paid because I have kept the case a live so that I can retain ownership of the house. 

So you might think of leaving a list of passwords behind or writing down your master password and leaving it in a safe place, so that when you pass away someone can get access to close out your digital life.  Of course you have to keep in mind that if anyone today finds it while you are alive it could easily ruin your life.  So for that reason I say leave it in a safe deposit box or some place in your home that is not all too common and a place where a burglar wouldn’t look for anything much less a password. 

If I happen to kick off, right now well my digital life can’t be closed out because I have yet to take the precaution.  I loved the form that Rocket Lawyer used they really did cover all the bases and you can create the document for free.  However, you can’t have access to the document unless you pay and well that to me is deceptive, so I didn’t use them.  Preparing a new will is on my list of things to do but I just haven’t gotten there yet.  Primarily because it requires two witnesses and a notary in order to be valid in my state.  You also can’t use anyone that is mentioned in the will so that really limits my choices and I will most likely have to have this done at work.

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Now on to the daily post and news of my life.  Whoop Whoop!

Yesterday sitting at work I began to itch, and I thought of course of the worst case scenario.  That was that I was allergic to the antibiotic that I decided to start taking.  What sealed it for me is when I saw a couple of red welt like marks on my penis.  That just spelled trouble – I mean hives I can deal with but when you invade the genital area you are really crossing the line and that is the part I have the most trouble with.  So I popped a Benadryl, one of the last ones I had.  I headed to the pharmacy to pick up some more.  By the time I got home I was ready to drop from the medicine.  I am such a lightweight when it comes to medicine – 2 Tylenol and 30 minutes you will find me curled up sleeping away.  Rather than take sleeping medicine I decided to pop another Benadryl to try to get the jump on the hives.  Thus far no breakout.  I stopped the medication.  Now that I think about it maybe I brought the allergic reaction on myself by thinking about it so much.  If I was truly allergic I would certainly have a breakout – the issue didn’t start in the genital region, it started across my upper body and then spread like wildfire.  I don’t know that I dodged a bullet but I do feel a little safer.  I just hope that whatever is hanging on in my body with an infection gives it up and it goes away.  I can say that I do feel better and well I was tempted to start the medication back up but I think I am better safe than sorry.  I mean you never know when an allergic reaction will result in the inability to breathe and if that happened while I was driving it could easily be curtains for me.  My children still need me and I need them. 

Last night Marvin slept with me and I was up and down because my body didn’t have the drugs it was used to.  Anyway, he was really affectionate and held my hand or wrapped his paws around my hand so that it couldn’t slip away.  He is such a good boy and a great sleeping buddy.  He usually waits until I am sleep before he abandons me, but last night he stayed a little closer than normal. 

Bear is back to coughing more so I have upped his meds in the hopes that we can clear things up.  I hate it when he coughs because his whole body shakes and it just looks uncomfortable to me, I can only imagine what he feels like.  He is really hungry and the medicine will only help to further that little side effect along.  He gobbles up a can and is ready for a 2nd one.  Between him and LB it’s like a never ending food party.  I believe they could both pack away three cans and still ask for more.  Bear would gain weight.  LB not a chance, he is as thin as a stick and stays that way despite him living the typical indoor cat lifestyle which is made up of mostly sleep and relaxation.  I would love to have LB’s metabolism and maybe then I could get rid of some of my extra pounds. 

In the realm of on-line dating well apparently I am really attractive to men in the Philippines  I think they want to latch on to me so they can come to America and then clean out what little money I have.  Maybe I am freaking out a little too much about this but you ready stories from time to time where someone is cat fished out of their money.  I have very little and don’t want to part with it unless it’s absolutely necessary.  I tend to avoid those people and not reply.  Most of them want to start an e-mail chat.  I can’t see building a relationship with someone that is that far away from me.  I want someone close.  I mean it’s find to have a friend 1/2 way around the world but it’s another thing to try to make a LD relationship work.  Some people can do that but I am not one of them.  No phone call from the guy at the pet food store and I don’t expect him to call.  I do expect him to string me along if he sees me in person but outside of that no real contact.  It would be far better for both of us if he would say that he isn’t interested.  I mean he didn’t have the time before and now that his schedule has changed and he graduated well it can’t be that he doesn’t have time, so it has to be that he is not interested.  Otherwise he would find a way to take 5 to 10 minutes out of his day to talk and setup a date.  Ah well, eventually he being Mr. Right, My Romeo and Knight in Shiny Armor will come along.  Until then I just have to keep up the search. 

So Monday is behind us and here we are in a Frozen Tuesday.  It’s really cold out here and thus far a quiet morning.  I hope the day picks up a little bit and that the day passes by a little quicker.  I am ready for Friday but I will settle right now for comedy Wednesday.  Nothing really on TV that I am interested in, so I turned to QAF and saw another 2 episodes last night.  Funny how I remember things going down and how they actually happen on the show.  The memory fades with time, even the best of them. 

That is all I have at the moment.  Stay warm and I will talk with you peeps later. 

SSA – not gay

I saw the show My Husband is NOT gay last night on TLC.  Wow, if I believed them then I have this SSA (Same Sex Attraction) thing going on but I am not gay.  My opinion and personal feeling is that these guys are living a lie.  While they can be content in their straight relationship/marriages they are hiding.  I say they are all gay!  Go get some dick guys and then tell me you have SSA and aren’t gay.  If you still think that afterwards then well maybe your just content to live a lie. 

I understand not wanting to be labeled as GAY or being afraid of being classed as such but it’s a label and it only defines your sexuality and NOT who you are as a person.  It doesn’t mean anything but that you like men and well speaking as a gay man, there isn’t anything wrong with that. 

I saw Looking and wow Jonathan Groff was amazing as usual.  I am kind of disappointed that he took drugs but I think this will be an interesting season and a short one at that. 

Before both of those shows, I managed to catch a live webcast of Lewis Blank (www.therantisdue.com).  He posts on Facebook just before he goes live and well I was lucky enough to catch the post and part of the show.  He always makes me laugh.  I kind of wish I could bring him to work with me for a week just to see his reaction at some of the stuff I deal with.  It would certainly be 8 hours of entertainment for an entire week, plus I’d probably make some new friends. 

My illness is all sinus related.  Last time it started with my stomach because I ate Gluten Free Oatmeal.  I took something to clear up the stomach issues and that always makes me sick.  It’s better just to let the stomach thing run it’s course if it’s mild enough.  My body is very picky and I know what works and what doesn’t.  I am having a psychosomatic allergic reaction in that I itch after taking the 2nd antibiotics but I have yet to break out.  I think it’s all in my head or it’s jus a winter itch – either way thus far no allergic reaction and I hope it stays that way. 

Sitting at the table this morning I noticed no movement outside, I thought that I had the day off because it was too icy and everything was closed.  Nope, our temps stayed warm enough that it didn’t turn to ice.  Well that is except for my subdivision and the poorly treated roads in my local area.  Once I made it to the Freeway aka Interstate everything was smooth sailing.  Made it to work 1/2 hour early which is totally a good thing!

I was kind of a klutz this morning and managed to continually spill my soda from the time I left the house until I got on the road.  So I was thinking maybe that is an omen for a sticky Monday?  Thus far all appears good, hopefully it stays that way.  I am looking forward to some nice hot soup and crackers for supper, along with a slice of cold pizza left over from yesterday.  Of course I have to take the trash out tonight, let’s hope the driveway is not a sheet of ice by then as our temps are supposed to be on the decline all day long and we will be into the freezing area by lunchtime.  I was also thinking they may let us go early but I have kind of put that out of my mind. 

Yesterday I lifted up the couch in the basement and saw where BLU had hidden all of the toys.  He was always playing with something.  I put everything out in the open and Momma has been playing up a storm.  I was bowling last night on the WII and she wanted me to play with her and her ball.  So I tried my best to do two things at once.  I was pretty good at playing with her but sucked at bowling.  I can never seem to get the ball to do what I want it to do.  It always manages to curve off to the right when I am pointing the controller to the left  I have a perfect move where I can throw a strike but I can’t seem to repeat it that often  I still have the high score and always will, until someone comes over an wants to play.  That I expect will be way down the road.

I managed to clean up some files and consolidate my office supplies.  I’ve got enough post it notes to last a lifetime.  The same is true with pens.  I love colors and office supplies so it makes sense that I would have a ton of that stuff.  I also found a rubber stamp which was very similar to what I just had made.  Ah well, they say the memory is the first to go and I forget what goes next.  If I would have known that I had that I wouldn’t have had something similar made.  Two I guess is better than one. 

Speaking of which did you hear about the guy who has two penis?  He wrote a book and I saw a photo of his anatomy on-line.  Wow I’d be interested in reading the book just to find out if he gets to have double orgasms and if he has to pee twice as much.  There are many questions I would like to ask him.  I don’t plan on buying the book but if it happens to get converted to an Audio Book I have 1 credit left on Audible and may use it for that. 

I am finishing up watching for the umpteenth time Queer As Folk and have made it to the final series.  That show holds so many memories for me.  We (me and my late partner) used to watch it faithfully every Sunday when it was on from 9-10 the best hour of TV.  We would gather in the basement.  The sex scenes used to get me all revved up but it was the entire show that I enjoyed from seeing how different gay characters functioned in everyday life. 

So that is the recap thus far of yesterday and part of today.  I will talk with you peeps later.  Stay warm and safe!

Slippery Sunday

I was fortunate enough to wake up at a decent hour and make it out to breakfast and the grocery store before the rain started.  Our temps are a little warmer than the weather people thought they would be but we still are going to have an ice storm, as evening approaches by morning we should be slip sliding along.  In talking with some co-workers they think the office will close, but until I hear that we are closed I will proceed in.

I am feeling worse like the medication is wearing off.  I found an antibiotic for my late partner and decided to start taking it.  I think I might be allergic to it, but time will tell.  I looked it up and it looks like it’s related to a family of a drug that I am allergic to.  I think I remember taking it before and I was okay.  I suppose only time will tell.  I just don’t want to deal with the doctor unless it’s absolutely necessary.  I’ve been ill since October and it gets better then I get it again.  In looking at my mail order pharmacy I saw the retail pharmacy scripts that I got filled and notice the pattern.  Kind of sucks, but hopefully this will be the end of it. 

I had a nose hair that was bothering me and I finally got it trimmed and it feels like there is a small rock in my nose.  I think that there is a pimple forming and that is so uncomfortable.  Since I am telling you my woes I think that I pulled a muscle in my groin when I moved the printer and file cabinet.  My groin has been bothering me off and on.  I remember that I did this once before and it was horrifically painful.  I am not in that much pain but it’s uncomfortable. 

Got in and out of both the pet food and grocery store for minimal cost – only picked up what I needed.  Of course since I didn’t take a list I forgot a couple things but better luck next week.  I will be able to live. 

Have you ever heard of Martha Wash?  She is an awesome singer!  I was looking on YouTube last night and apparently she released a new album last year.  It’s all positive music, it really speaks to me.  If your looking for something good to listen to, check it out. 

I am really wanting a nap but I am holding out so that I will sleep tonight.  Plus there is so much good TV on tonight.  I am so looking forward to it, but really don’t want to deal with Monday. 

All in all, it’s been an okay weekend.  I got the title for my car wouldn’t you know it, they spelled my name wrong.  The bank new this back in 2009 but never bothered to get it fixed, so now it’s my problem.  I am sure it will cost me money to fix but I am going to look into it shortly. 

With the cold weather here, I decided to feed the Raccoon Family last night.  I put out two cans of cat food on the deck on a paper plate.  The whole damn thing was gone in 5 minutes of me putting it out.  I think they ate the plate.  Hungry?  Yeah I’d say so.  I am sure it’s difficult to be outside even if you do have a fur coat.  There are temps that are just too chilly for anyone or anything.  I’d love to invite them in but since they are wild that won’t happen.  I wouldn’t want them trying to swallow one of my cats. 

Visited Olive Garden yesterday.  Man that was a total mistake.  The soup was barley warm and there was something crunchy in it.  The pasta well it was okay but the tomatoes started to talk back to me.  I actually went for the soup, it was what I was thinking about.  Should have taken my first thought and went to Cracker Barrel and had something much more enjoyable with Corn Bread Muffins.  Ah, yeah that sounds good.  If I wasn’t in my sweat pants and it wasn’t so messy I would venture out.

Sorry for all of the depression and negativity in this post.  I am tired and don’t feel the best.  I hope that the weekend treated you well.  Talk with you all again soon.  

The Podcast

So after seeing that my Podcast needs to build an audience, I am going to list it here.  There are only 2 episodes up, but I plan on making more.  Go give it a listen, post a comment and subscribe.  Just click on the image below and you will be redirected.  Enjoy!

 

Oh what a night

I took my sleeping pills a little earlier than normal and they kicked in and I got an amazing night of sleep.  I had a wild dream but outside of that when the alarm went off I didn’t want to get up at all.  I wish I had more of those wonderful nights of sleep.  I will certainly try to recreate last night again tonight, not sure if I will have much success though. 

I was working on my computer after dinner and the door bell rang.  I thought that was a rather odd time of night for a visitor and wondered who it could be.  It was a sales person who once again thought the No Solicitors sign didn’t apply to him.  He was from AT&T trying to get me to switch all of my services over to Uverse.  They offer a top speed of 40mpbs and my cable company is giving me 100mpbs, now AT&T is cheaper but they are also slower.  Why on earth would anyone want to go from 100 down to 40 – makes no sense to me.  I did find out more about the installation.  I wasted as much of his time as possible and he gave me some information and I left him with the impression I would think about it.  The information went into the trash.  I did think about it and they could save me some serous money every month but it requires that you enter into a 1 year contract but the prices are good for 2 years.  If you lose your job or something unforseen happens you can place your service on vacation hold for up to 9 months.  You can also turn off a service w/o a penalty just so long as you maintain some service with them you won’t get penalized.  If you move to some place where they don’t offer uverse then the contract is null and void and they won’t try to enforce it.  After the contract expires, your rates go up but he said all you do is call in and we will put together a new package in order to retain your business.  So basically it works the same way as the cable company but the initial savings is greater and for 2 years instead of one, plus you are entering into a contract.  I have thought of switching the cable but right now I am happy with what I have.  It will give me bargaining power when my present offer expires with the cable company and it may in fact be the point at which I switch.  I will NOT switch internet for a slower speed, that would be stupid.   I did ask how they do the installation and was told they use the phone lines that are already in your house.  Sounds attractive but also sounds like it could cause problems.  I also found out that they provide you with a 6 hour battery backup for the phone, which is nice to maintain my alarm system and being able to call out in an emergency.  However, if something happens after that 6th hour your screwed – no way to call for help and no alarm system to report intruders or fire. 

In other news my password here at work is about to expire.  It’s always a challenge to think up a new password, mostly because of our security policy.  It has to be 8 characters long minimum and contain 3 out of the 4 – upper case, lower case, number, symbol/special character.  So all of my previously used passwords don’t work because they aren’t complex enough.  I am often mistyping my password and have come very close to locking myself out.  Plus there is the fact that I want everything to be the same so I have to change it on multiple applications – it’s just kind of a huge pain.  They last for 90 days and then it’s time to change it.  The same is true with the password needed to access your mobile device they are good for 90 days and then it forces you to pick a new password and you don’t get access to your phone until you do.  You also can’t reuse the past 25 passwords so they make sure that you pick something unique.  Security is very important and there is lots of valuable information that would be at ones finger tips if you hacked your way in.  So while I understand why the policy is in place I also see the flip side and it’s a huge pain in the ass. 

Being home for a couple days ill, hardly makes today seem like a Friday but thankfully it is.  So I can have a couple days of rest.  We are expected to have a nice ice storm Sunday night and into Monday morning.  Who knows maybe I will get lucky and have Monday off, but I think that is wishful thinking.  I am really over this bitter cold weather.  With such awful temps you would think we would have snow and lots of it, but nope it’s just cold.  I say bring on the snow like a foot or more so we can all have a nice holiday and be snowed in together. 

There is nothing really going on this weekend in the way of preplanned things.  There is the usual activity of laundry, cleaning house, wrangling the trash, cat food and people food.  Outside of that I will be bored out of my mind.  Yeah right.  There is always something to do but it doesn’t mean I have the gumption to do it.  The mandatory things will get done for sure.  In fact I think I will start with dishes tonight that is a nice way to jump start the weekend.  I had thoughts of visiting Sam’s before heading home – get some soda and a nice large pizza then some gas for the car and call it a day.  I may or may not do that, really mostly depends upon how I feel after I get the mail and maybe what the mail contains. 

I feel more of the after effects of the illness with a slight cough now.  My neck ache is gone thanks to last nights awesome night of sleep.  I still kind of feel worn out but I think some of that comes from boredom.  Speaking of which I saw one of my co-workers yesterday he was so bored he fell asleep at his desk.  He looked like he had a stroke but was just leaning to one side and fell asleep.  He caught himself and went to get a Mountain Dew to wake up.  Hell all he really needed to do is step outside for a second.  That nice cold air will wake you up and keep you that way.  I’m glad to see that I am not the only one bored to tears.  He surfs the internet and does it publically on his work machine and leaves pages up on his screen so it’s obvious that you know what he has been up to, not that it matters to me.  I’ve got my laptop because big brother doesn’t need to know what I am up to, all though it would be easy enough for them to trace down if they wanted to.

Well it’s almost time to go setup for a meeting and then I will be back here for a bit stuck to the phone and then I can finally change my password and deal with whatever else happens to come up.  I’ve got a piece of hardware that I am trying to track down, which is always not fun.  But the thrill of the hunt is nice. 

Happy Friday to you and I hope that you enjoy your weekend.  Talk with you peeps again soon.  Stay Warm!!

Did you miss me?

In case you didn’t notice I have been gone for a few days.  I left work Monday afternoon sick.  I went to the ‘Doc In The Box’.  Wow that is going to be an expensive visit.  When I saw the doctor and was describing what was going on, he said “your very pessimistic” to which I retorted “when you have had sinus infections all of your life, I think you earn the right to be pessimistic”.  Knowing that I had frequent flyer miles in seeing doctors, he said what does your doctor usually do.  I told him and he said sounds like a great course of action, then he told me the antibiotic he was gong to put me on.  I told him while I am not allergic to it, the pill does nothing for me I am immune.  I told him what worked and he gave me a script for that and said follow up with your doctor and left the room.  He was supposed to give me steroids but I was happy that I got the antibiotic.  Then I began the task of calling pharmacies to figure out who had it.  Found it again at the grocery store pharmacy. 

I stopped by the Post Office, went to the grocery store pharmacy and then finally home around 2pm.  I fed the children, took out the trash and then was finally able to relax a little bit.  I started the medicine right away.

I stayed home for 2 days and today is my first day back.  After sitting through morning traffic I questioned myself if I made the right call.  Then I got here and everything just started to hit me – I was pulled in several different directions so I had that to deal with in addition to playing catch up.  Wow, finally I got my lunch and thought all would be well.  Nope I’ve already been interrupted once. 

The good news is that the Title Company finally came through with the documents so I signed them last night and they are on their way back via Federal Express.  There were spots to have them notarized, but they said to just sign them and send them back.  Oh okay.  I sure hope they know what they are doing.  I know a notary can sign after the fact but they usually don’t like doing that, I mean what proof do you that is actually my signature?  I will spend part of the weekend telling the different agencies I got involved that the matter has been resolved. I just hope I am not doing this prematurely.

I used the Xerox printer for the documents so the print quality is superb.  I have scanned the originals in so that I have a copy and I have signed up for updates on the package, so I should know when it’s delivered.  All of the bases on my end are covered. 

The children (cats) have been of great comfort to me over the past couple days. They love begging for food and LB decided to use Bears Pee Pad.  I hope that doesn’t become a habit.  I have yet to spy on them but will be doing that shortly.  I really miss them.  I am looking forward to the weekend and hopefully next week will be a better week.

The weather here is very cold we have had temps at 0 and in the single digits.  So it’s really cold.  Lots of dead batteries and road side assistance calls.  Apparently the cold weather affects your tire pressure and anything that is rubber on your vehicle.  So fan belts, radiator hoses, etc.  I am religious with maintenance on my car so I don’t expect any problems, still it’s nice to know that I have AAA just in case.  The garage at work is just secure covered parking.  There is no heating and cooling like at my last job.  At home I have insulation on the garage door so it helps to keep the garage at a much warmer temp.  Its a nice feature but does add a bit of weight to your garage door.  It’s an easy process – we (me and my late partner) put this in years ago and it’s been a life saver.  Now his truck is out in the driveway and he always had problems in colder weather.  I wanted to start it up but opted not to.  Perhaps over the weekend I will use it. 

I did venture out yesterday to get the mail and pickup a prescription.  I always seemed to run out of Sudafed and here in the states it’s a controlled substance since you can use it to make meth.  So in order to get a decent amount you have to have a prescription.  My doctor went hog wild and called in a 90 day supply which cost me $100.  I wasn’t prepared for that but I paid it and came home.  Wow I have enough Sudafed to last me for 3 months which will be nice – not having to run to the pharmacy every few weeks.  I’ve got refills so I will have to remember the cost before I fill it. 

I got a cable to hook up one of my late partners old professional microphones to my pc.  I had some issues at first but got them sorted out quickly.  It works like a charm and the cable was less than $20.  Pretty good deal if you ask me.  The microphone is not cheap.  I’d like to find a better stand for it but what I have right now works pretty well. 

In the world of on-line dating – the 5th has come and gone, no phone call from the pet food store guy.  I kind of figured that would be the case.  He I guess has good intentions but just doesn’t know how to tell someone he isn’t interested or he was afraid to hurt my feelings.  Frankly I would rather you be open and honest and if there is no interest, tell me rather than stringing me a long and having me waiting and hoping that your going to call.  Now if he phones, great but I don’t believe he will nor did he ever have intentions of doing so.  I think he was just trying to make me feel good.  Another guy reached out to me on a new app.  Apparently they limit the # of IM’s you can send through the app.  He was quick to want my phone number and well now we have used our # of IM’s up and they want one of us to pay to be able to talk with the other.  Sorry, he’s not worth that.  He lives far away from me and said that he may relocate for the right guy.  I just don’t think it sounds promising.  So I am not paying to join a site, been there done that and there really aren’t many benefits.  It’s like throwing your money away.  Much better to make a donation to a charity if that is what you want to do. 

An hour sure flies by fast.  It’s already time to go back to work.  I guess I should do that.  There is plenty here to do.  I have used up most of my time off, but thankfully we have floating holidays so I still have a decent amount of time.  Prior to this little incident I was going to have a 4 days weekend and take the Friday off before Martin Luther King Day. 

Oh, Shameless and Looking both premier on Sunday.  Shamless is first up and then Looking.  I am so excited and probably won’t want to go to work on Monday but it’s all about getting back in the routine, which I always struggle with this time of year.  Part of it is the fact that I am alone and the other part is that I am very lazy.  I hope that I get rid of whatever it is I have and that nothing else causes me to have to take time off for quiet sometime.  I don’t want to put my job in jeopardy.  I would have stayed home today but that would have required another trip to the doctor and me to get a doctors note to come back to work, plus I think there would have been additional paperwork to complete because I would have been on short term disability.  Doctors & Paperwork don’t mix well, so better for everyone that I am back. 

I am anxiously waiting for spring.  Hope all if well in your world and that 2015 is off to a great start.  Talk with you peeps later.   

Welcome to Monday

Welcome to the 1st Monday of 2015.  Now can we go back to bed?  I woke up feeling fine and moving around okay.  It was cold in the house so I had to throw another log on the fire (aka move the thermostat up a degree).  That took the chill off the house and had everyone nice and warm.  I went about my morning routine and even had time to change pee pads.  I left the house at my usual time and managed to make it to work a 1/2 hour early, which was totally unexpected.  While most of the volume is back I don’t think everyone is quite back yet.  However, the parking garage was full this morning and I had a little bit of a walk to the door.

All of a sudden in the last 45 minutes my nose has decided to take off.  It’s running a marathon and driving me nuts.  I am hoping it’s just allergies – i.e. the cold weather.  I took a Claritin and hope that it kicks in soon.  I am sick of blowing.  I feel a little funny – I get this strange feeling when I get sick.  This could be the start of something big coming on, in which case I will know as the day progresses or when I get out of bed tomorrow.  I really don’t want to be sick and was thinking how great I felt this morning.  I wish I had some nose spray here at work, that would really help out a ton.  You can believe that I will be bringing some with me on my next trip in the office.  Just for grins I checked my PTO and I am 5 hours short of having a full week.  It’s nice to know that I have it but I really don’t want to use it right now if at all possible for sick time.  I’d rather save it and take it as vacation.

I watched a really good gay movie last night on Amazon.  It’s called Burning Blue.  It’s about 2 Navy Fighter Pilots that “have an inappropriate relationship”.  The sad part is that it’s a true story back when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was in the works.  Prior to that you could have an isolated incident – meaning 1 hookup with another guy and as long as you signed paperwork to certify that, then there were no real consequences.  There were some damn good looking men in this film, I was HOT when I watched it.  There were many sad parts and some death in the movie, just to properly forewarn you in case you decide to see it.  I paid $4.99 for 24 hours of HD Rental for it and it was money well spent.  A great nights entertainment. 

Next week I will be tuning into Shameless on Showtime.  I can’t wait to see the gang, in particular Ian who is one of the gay characters on the show.  Plus it will be nice to have a show that I look forward to seeing  Speaking of look – Looking will be back on HBO shortly as well.  Love me some Jonathan Groff – woof he’s a hottie and I would love to spend a lot of time with him.  So I will eventually be at the point where there are 2 shows on I think they will air at different times, if memory serves.  If not then I will TIVO one and watch the other one.

Well it’s been a little bit since I started this post and I am unfortunately feeling that I am in fact sick or in the process of getting there.  My nose is still running a bit.  I have started to sneeze and I feel hot.  All of which are NOT good signs.  I am ready to pack up and go home.  I will tough it out as long as I can.  I have steroids at home which I can start on, not thrilled about that but it will get me back in the game quicker.  I will probably need an antibiotic to clear up the infection.  As convenient as Doctor on Demand is, I think that actually being seen by a live human physician will probably yield better chances of actually getting an antibiotic.  If it comes to that I will visit an urgent care clinic. 

I had already planned on soup for supper most nights.  Tonight I am excited for Chicken Noodle, but I may be having it for lunch if I go home.  My nose feels raw and I am sure that sooner rather than later I will look like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  Curling up and taking a nap sound appealing as well.  If the world could just stop for a couple of days while I recover from whatever this is, that would be awesome. 

I am semi thankful that this didn’t hit me straight out of bed, because I think it would look really bad to call in on the first day back from a holiday.  However, if I leave sick that isn’t so bad, plus god for bid that I feel crappy tomorrow it will help justify my staying home.  I am just totally paranoid about calling in or staying home because too much of that will cause problems and could lead to job loss – both of which I don’t want to happen.  My boss is understanding but I think that understanding is to a point. 

Well things are only getting worse, so I am waiting for a malware scan to complete on someone’s machine and then I am going to leave and head for the doc in the box.  Ugh I hope this doesn’t last too long, I am ready to get back into the swing of things.