Wednesday 2/2/2011

The, uhh, doctor, was a bit out of sorts, I do believe.  She was not necessarily focused - a day after the death of a loved one, perhaps, might do that to a person.  I tried the empathy route: my best friend died a month plus ago.
Yes, that helped ease the situation in the room.  I don't know what her notes said on that computer, but she had totally forgotten that she was going to cut things out of my flesh and that a full body inspection was to be done.

Not cause' I WANTED any such thing, but that she ordered it the first time I went there.  I just went along with wherever she was going with this, but I was giving hints along the way.  She wanted to "freeze" things again on my flesh.  I suggested that when I was here the last time, you were talking about cutting things off.  She said something about the full body exam last time, I mentioned that that hadn't been done and that you were talking about doing such this time.  After a while of this, a light turned on in her head and she remembered all of it.

Well, she says, do you want to do the exam today or just put it off to some other time?  No, thank you, let's get this done today.  I didn't bother to mention that the $50 co-pay isn't exactly appealing and let's get all of this done NOW, don't ask me to come back again for awhile unless there is some serious issue.  She's a nice lady, I cut her huge slack for going to visit family of the deceased and then coming back to work the next day.  Okay, now I am taking off my clothes to the underwear and putting on a gown.

She finds - I don't know, this went on for quite a while - 30 of them?  Basil cell lesions all over my body.  Legs, arms, face, neck and back.  Unbelievable.  I'm thinking what the heck am I living in this damned desert for.  Get OUT of this place.  Go to Minnesota where it's currently 28 below zero or something.  Yeah, THAT sounds wonderful.

She didn't cut out the stuff in my arms that she said that she was going to do last time.  Instead, she got out the Nitrogen thing and started freezing all of it.  Face, arms, legs, back.  "Did you know you have huge lesions on your lower back?".  No, thanks for telling me.  "You have sensitive skin, we're going to have to deal with this redness".  Yes, I hope we do.  Look, it's not that she's a nasty person, or even putting it nasty, it's just that the news is becoming increasingly - depressing  really - as this goes on, and on, and on.

We get to this "thing" on my upper back that I didn't even know was there.  She was particularly concerned about that.  So much so, that she cut a good sized chunk of flesh out.  It doesn't feel particularly good at this point in time, either.

I'm not in a good mood right now.  That visit today, in and of itself would not have put me in a bad mood, it would definitely get me thinking about things, but not a bad mood.  No, but then this kid tenant calls me and tells me I need to write him up a statement for Arizona's "free" health care declaring the amount of rent he is paying me per month.  He didn't ask me, it was a demand.  Like I MUST do it for him.  I got off the phone quickly with him - I am at the line with this guy.  That's the line where you cross and some very negative things will start issuing from my mouth.

Then I found out that tonight, it's going to be even colder than last night.  A low of 27?!!! The HIGH today was 47.  Yeah, I know, the rest of the country is in a blizzard and minus zero temps, I'm sorry and I hope that everyone comes through that okay.  I am just not used to this kind of winter.  I"m sure that some scientist somewhere will try to find a way to attribute all of this to global warming.

However, the agitator for me about the cold tonight are my plants.  Some of it isn't going to survive, even if covered up, if it gets too cold for too long a period of time.  I have my C-7 Christmas lights covering 2/3rd's the side of the east side of my house in plants.  If some plants out front die, I can deal with that, dig them up, throw them out and do something else.  But over THERE, where my ponds are? NO thanks.  Those lights put off some amount of heat, that coupled with being completely covered up with blankets and I am hopeful for a good outcome.

You know, some days you just put behind you and put them out of your system.  This is going to be one of them.  It didn't get any better, with the kid tenant who has no clue in life.  Sympathy and empathy with your common man is non-existent with this person and after he started up with his stuff, I snapped at him and gave  a very clear signal that I didn't want to hear it.  It's amazing this person has made it this long in life without learning basic, elemental respect and common courtesy for your fellow man. I don't know, but he departed for his room after that and I haven't seen him since, which is a very good thing, thank you.

You wanna go on?  I wanted to print something off of my old computer - I don't have this computer connected to the printer, that is going to change.  I tried to bring up the internet and the freaking thing got error messages and took forever to get there.  The usage of the computer is going to be changed from administrative to the "lower" tier, don't remember what it's called.  The lower tier does not allow downloads and restricts lots of sites.  

Then, I had to worry about my dogs in the cold tomorrow morning.  Put the sweaters on them, that's what I will do.  How long will that last?  Not long.  I already spoke with Lynnette, one of the trailer tenants, she will GLADLY come in here with the dogs.  Okay, well, they're going outside until she brings them in, but I won't worry cause' yes, they will have heavy sweaters on and that will be sufficient.  She is going to get up and bring them in.

It's just one of those days.  I haven't even gone into all the crap I've read on the news, or the terrifying situation going on in Australia.

Uhhh, so this entry is done.

Looking for a bit better day tomorrow.
ben

Tuesday 2/1/2011

Tuesday

When you see a news story with a headline that states: "100 million threatened by massive winter storm", you first wonder if that isn't a bit of an exaggeration, then you begin to wonder just WHAT kind of storm could cause that big of a threat?

Umm, just reading about what's coming. It's going to get cold enough here to freeze tonight - meaning dragging out all those sheets and blankets and putting them back over the plants again, plus turning on the heat in the ponds.

Josie's surgery this morning, mine this afternoon. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Okay, back to Egypt. I finally have found some of the reason that these people are unhappy with the current Egyptian regime. Half of that nation's population live under or barely above the "poverty" line at $2 a day. Huh? The World Bank thinks poverty starts at $2 per day? If I were making $20 per day I would still think that poverty. But, I'm a fat, rich American, right?

Then there's the stories of police brutality and police high-handedness - taking advantage of it's citizens and making them do basically whatever they please. I dunno, I don't live there, but I do have a FB acquaintance who has a son living over there. Her son reported that the cops "disappeared" for several days - they were taking off their uniforms and going around looting businesses making it look like the protesters were nothing but a bunch of maraunding hoodlums. Interesting take this kid has on the situation - but he's there, I am not.

Obama's health care plan struck down. I figured that would come along eventually. The administration says some sort of precedent has been set already and that this judge's ruling will be overturned. Bunk. When it gets to the Supreme Court and THAT court makes a ruling, then I'll call it a precedent. That law has hardly been in existence for any length of time, there IS no precedents set. Judges making rulings, sure, but the appeals process hasn't hardly begun yet.

They like to talk in such a way that you'd think they believe we are all a bunch of bumbling idiots. I don't have to be a lawyer to know how the system works, thank you very much. This federal judge's ruling will be appealed like all of them will be whether for or against the bill, ultimately it MUST be decided in the Supreme Court. It will be the showdown of the ages as far as I'm concerned, since Obama has MUCH to lose in credibility and ability to get himself elected in the next presidential race.

Of course, I was never a fan to begin with and after seeing him completely ignore the will of the American people, well, his 4 years will not be up soon enough.

Superbowl rhetoric is heating up. I am an unabashed Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I grew up in Pittsburgh, I have a REASON to be a fan. The accusations fly high and heavy: you are just jumping on the bandwagon. Perhaps I did, when I was in my mother's womb attending my first Steelers game in 3 River's Stadium some 47 years ago. I didn't just get on the Steeler's bandwagon. I have been a fan during the good and the bad years - I am confident of a 7th Vince Lombardi Trophy for that team. I have had people at work, online and in others mouthing off to me about how the Steelers suck and how they already have enough trophies, let someone else have it. Since they got in my face, I got back in theirs: A simple wager of $100. No takers yet. I figure if I can go to a casino and drop $100 on the table, that's the minimum bet I would place on the Steelers as well.

Well, get through this day, get flesh cut off my arms, go home, put up blankets and sheets on as much of my plants as possible and - nothing. No work tomorrow, doctor's orders.

Nothing in the truck routing system today. Oh well, hopefully something will come up, I would rather not have to "invent" things to do to stay busy at work.

Have a great day, this is the Day that the Lord hath made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

ben