Red Nose

Joe Can Dig It

Joe sizes up the task.

He starts out with the broom, sweeping the light powdery snow.

He works his way around the back -- it's all in the grip, y'know.

Now to make a clean sweep of the roof rack.

Finally, after moving the truck, clearing out the parking space, and moving the truck back in, the diggening is done.

And so is Joe, apparently.

 

Just A Mood

It seems like nothing has been easy lately.

Work projects that should take minutes have taken hours. There's always a problem, a glitch, a hangup. Applications crash or I forget some detail or a mic battery dies.

My body simply will not cooperate with me. My shoulder aches and aches and aches, so I take a painkiller and then can't wake up properly. I overdo the caffeine one day and a bad dizzy spell overtakes me. My stomach rebelled after lunch today. I can't sleep, yet all I want to do is sleep.

I get some Christmas shopping done online, but it looks like the stuff won't ship until awfully late. Or am I just reading the information wrong? Who knows.

I seem to get sad too often. It overtakes me when I least expect it.

The day began with fog. It blurred the sun and hung over the fields and the warehouses as we drove to the subway. Somehow it was very peaceful and I felt a little better.

The fog burned off as the morning wore on toward noon and I slogged my way through a simple task, a simple task that I somehow had to force myself to finish. The sun came out. As I gazed out the window near my cubicle a jay landed on the bare branches.

I finished the task and another nitpicky project (that took far longer than it should have) and it was time to go home. The train came quickly. It wasn't raining or terribly cold. Joe picked me up and smiled at me and fixed me a steak dinner.

In four days I start my end of the year, two-week vacation. I guess it's just a mood. I'll be fine.

A Hard Day; A Good Night

It's been a tough day, but it hasn't been all bad.

I finished a big project today. I've been working on it for months, and at last it is done. It was fraught with potholes, all of them seeming to come toward the very end. But with a little help from my saint of a coworker, everything worked out.

Then I went to a physical therapy evaluation for my sore as shit shoulder and got a regimen of exercises to do to stretch out the muscle and unkink the joint. That was good, especially the ice and electrical stimulation at the end.

Just as I was leaving the PT office, my cell phone rang.

Mom has had a setback. Her blood oxygen was low; she was weak and lethargic. At lunch she gagged up some dark, tarry stuff. Could I come out? I said I had to get back to work, but would come as soon as I could. My older sister was already there on her regular visit, so Mom was not alone. I got on the subway and headed back to work.

My phone rang again. Mom's blood pressure was dropping; her vital signs were weakening. She had signs of internal bleeding. I really should come.

Well, of course I did. I got off the train at the next stop and caught the next train heading the other way. I called a coworker and had her shut down and lock up my computer. I called my older sister and she picked me up at the metro station.

Well, of course I did. We all did.

And, as she has so many times, Mom felt better. She's still weak, to be sure, and still on oxygen, but her color improved while we were there, she talked a little bit, and she seemed to be breathing easy.

So once again, we gather and once again we scatter. My sister dropped me off at metro and I went to the Caps game. Joe joined me there later, and I was able to forget my tough day and cheer my boys to victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Thanks, guys, I needed that.

Kids At The Museum

What's a perfect place for a school field trip? Why, the museum, of course!

The coral reef aquarium attracted big crowds -- Nemo and Dorie are crowd pleasers, but the other fish (especially the giant clam) were also popular.

Actually, you don't have to be in school to like the coral reef. This little guy and his dad were fascinated.

The giant crystal ball is pretty interesting, too.

But really, you can't beat the T. Rex!

Bread and Other Stuff

It's that time of year again! My stats are going up steadily as people search for pumpkin pie recipes for the upcoming feasts. I continue to believe that mine is the best pumpkin pie in the whole entire world.

I am taking tomorrow off. I checked my leave balance the other day and was very pleasantly surprised to find that I have a healthy dose of vacation days. I thought, "Well hell -- take a day off!"

Actually, I'll use most of the day to do some stuff I've been putting off, most notably calling the county and starting the process to get Mom approved for Medicaid. Ugh. It will be a tedious task.

So I'm coming up from the subway this morning, and I buttonhook around to the right to grab a City Paper, and what do I see atop one of the many many newsstands clustered around the subway entrance?

I hope whoever got the Pet Lovers Companion doesn't want a sandwich later.

Fun On The Metro

Normally my ride into work on our fair city's rapid transit system is uneventful. I get on at the end of the line, sit down, read the freebie version of the Post, do the crossword puzzle, play a little Collapse on my phone. The train fills up as we go along, gets crowded through downtown, then empties out as we head back uptown.

Today? A little different.

It was the same old ride up until Judiciary Square (or maybe it was Union Station? I forget. I was zoned.), when the train operator announced that we would be stopped for a bit -- someone on the train was ill and needed to be taken off the train.

Okay, that's a good idea.

After a couple minutes we were on our way. At Gallery Place, the operator announced that we would delayed a little while because of a maintenance issue.

Okay, also a good idea.

Again we were on our way, heading into the tunnel.

Suddenly, BANG! BUMP! I mean, bang like a gunshot! People jumped and a few gasped and squealed. I looked out into the tunnel and saw smoke, then smelled an acrid, burning smell. I will admit that my heart raced a tad. The train slowed, then continued.

BANG! BANG! More smoke! Burning smell! More squeals; my heart reached cardio workout level. (Given Joe's recent experience, I'm surprised I wasn't more panicky.) A couple people wanted off the train and expressed that wish.

The train stopped. The operator said, "Attention passengers (oh, don't worry, Ms. Train Operator, you have it!) we are going to inch our way to Metro Center and find out what's going on. Please do not panic."

Okay, I guess that's a good idea, seeing as how we're stuck in the tunnel. On the other hand, perhaps that maintenance issue should have gotten a little more attention back there at Gallery Place.

We rolled slowly into Metro Center, where the train was placed out of service. Everyone got off and milled around for awhile. I called work to let my boss know the deal, then thought about my alternatives. Switch lines and then try for a bus? Cab?

Well, it all worked out. Metro started single-tracking so all I had to do was cross over to opposite platform and wait for the next train going in my direction. I wasn't even very late for work. I must admit, though, that I prefer the uneventful ride.

Good Stuff

Wow, October already!

It's been a busy few days, what with visiting Mom, deadlines at work, and emotional stuff, but it hasn't been all bad by any means.

My Caps have started their season off with a bang, winning the opener against the Bruins very decisively (4-1) and winning the home opener against the Maple Leafs slightly less decisively (6-4). This makes me very happy. Before the home opener, our newest banner was dropped from the rafters:

 

As is our wont (and because we wanted to be sure to snag a Mike Green bobblehead), Joe and I arrived downtown extra early. To pass the time, we wandered over to the Museum of American Art. I was quite taken with a wall-sized multimedia sculpture called "Electronic Superhighway" by Nam June Paik. It's a map of the USA in neon, with DVD players inserted in each "state" playing video specific to that state -- for example, Kansas is playing The Wizard of Oz.

 

This photo really doesn't do it justice. What was really cool was that right where DC would be was a camera, which meant that whoever walked by it was shown on the small video screen right beside it. So of course I had to try to capture that -- you can sort of see me in my Caps jersey here.

Today we went to the Redskins game, courtesy of my sister, where we cheered our team to victory -- a sloppy, sloppy victory, but a victory nonetheless. Let me tell you, my sis and her family do tailgating right.

The game was a roller coaster (kind of like my life at the moment), but we managed to overcome a 10-point deficit and hold on for a win.

So it was a good weekend, overall. The art inspires me, the Caps make me happy, and the Skins give me hope.

I'll take it.

Exploring the Sant Ocean Hall

I mentioned in the last post that Joe took me on a private tour of the Sant Ocean Hall, where he's a volunteer docent. It's magnificent! I loved the living coral reef, with Nemo and Dory swimming  around the brilliant coral. Psychedelic!

I even loved the male giant squid, hanging head down in his case. His is a face -- if you can call it a face -- that only his mother could love. He's pretty big, almost 20 feet long all told.

He's not nearly as big as the female giant squid, though. She's laid out horizontally. From the tip of her head to the end of the longest tentacle, she's about 25 feet long now. The liquid that's preserving her caused her to shrink from her original length of 35 feet. You go!

My favorite, though, is the life size model of Phoenix, a right whale currently living in the North Atlantic ocean. The model is precise -- right down to the scars Phoenix has from dragging a fishing net that got caught in her baleen. She's 45 feet long and hangs from the ceiling of the hall. She's so big I had to take three pictures of her and stitch them together.

So next time you come to DC, get in touch. I can hook you up with a great guide who'll be happy to take you on a personal tour.

But he's coming home with me.

Roller Coaster

The emotional roller coaster continues to operate at high speed.

Wednesday was bad. I met with the social worker at the nursing home and signed the DNR orders for Mom. Did you know that there are two main types of Do Not Resusitate orders? The first, DNR-A, specifies maximum effort to prevent cardiac arrest, but no CPR should arrest occur. The second, DNR-B, specifies minimal effort to prevent cardiac arrest, and no CPR should arrest occur.

I chose B. I also specified comfort care, no antibiotics, no intravenous nutrition, no respiratory intervention. I felt like a one-woman death panel.

Thursday was awful, although it actually started Wednesday night when we found out, quite by chance, that our checking account was overdrawn by $2400. Yes, twenty-four hundred dollars. It turns out that a check I had deposited several days ago bounced! So on Thursday I had to deal with that, and I couldn't deal with until after a 90-minute meeting first thing in the morning.

I was, to put it mildly, a little stressed. It evidently showed, because at least four people asked me if I was all right. The last person to ask if I was all right was in the meeting, just as it was getting started. When she asked, I said, "No!" and promptly starting tearing up, so I left the conference room and found my way to a relatively private nook and pulled myself together. I went back in and made it through the rest of the meeting, then called the business that had written the rubber check.

They were shocked -- shocked! -- to find that the check had bounced and promised to take care of it right away. I started feeling a little bit better.

And then my older sister called to tell me that it looked like Mom was fading fast. So I grabbed everything, called Joe, and beat feet out to the nursing home. When we got there Mom was actually awake. She even talked, although it was more like repeating what we said. She ate a few bites of soup. Mostly, though, she slept.

I took Friday off -- I really didn't want to chance a repeat of the Thursday tear-fest. We got out to the nursing home shortly after lunch. Amazingly, Mom seemed more with it. She talked more (though it wasn't really conversation). She smiled. She called me a dumbass and said I didn't know my ass from a hole in the ground. (Gee, thanks Ma!) She had quite a few visitors. She ate a whole bowl of soup and drank some milk.

The bank account situation got resolved too, so that was a huge load off my mind.

In the evening a bunch of us went over to the assisted living home and moved out more of Mom's furniture. Joe and I took the sofa. We ate a late dinner, all together, and talked a lot. It always feels so much better when we all talk. We get each other; we can say what we're really feeling and it's okay. Somehow we always manage to laugh.

Saturday Joe and I went to the Capitals Convention and had a ball. I put all my worries on hold and just had fun. I got some great autographs, went to a couple of interesting panels, and ran into some old pals. In the middle of this, my older sister called to report that Mom was really much better! She had been out of bed, in the wheelchair, talking coherently, and ate some lunch in the dining room. A miracle!

Today we went to the Caps game, a preseason tussle with the Rangers. The game was great -- the Caps won 4-3. Then Joe took me on my own private tour of the new Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. (He's working in the hall as a docent.) Then we checked out the dinosaurs and the gems and minerals (Hello, Hope Diamond!).

Tired but happy, we got on the subway. Halfway home, my younger sister called. Mom may have been great yesterday, but today she took a real turn for the worse. She spiked a fever, she was terribly lethargic, and she didn't eat or drink. Off we went to the nursing home. She was sleeping, but it was a deep, deep sleep. We couldn't wake her. After standing around for awhile, we all agreed to head home.

So we have fun. We keep life going. And we wait.

Dumbassery

I've heard it said that God looks out for drunks and idiots. Perhaps because those folks cannot look out for themselves, God keeps an extra close eye on them, sending an extra guardian angel or two to make sure no one gets hurt.

Well, this morning I definitely fell into the idiot category.

First off, I slept poorly. I went to bed relatively early, after falling asleep during the premiere of Community. This happened because I really wanted to see that show, so therefore I fell asleep about one minute in. It's my own damn fault; I stretched out on the sofa and that, my friends, is the kiss of death to consciousness.

Anyway, I woke again about 2:45 am. Wide awake. And yet, not awake enough to realize that Joe had already gotten up and moved to the guest room. So I stumbled into the guest room, thinking that a different pillow might help me fall back to sleep. I grabbed the pillow and almost pulled Joe out of the bed. After apologizing, I stumbled back into my bedroom, turned off the alarm, grabbed the original pillow, decamped to the sofa, and turned on TCM.

I must say, Hollywood pulled out all the stops to support the troops during World War II. I present as evidence: Hollywood Canteen, a strange mixture of fictional romance mixed with Hollywood Stars and musical numbers.

I drifted off during another Rah Rah World War II picture starring Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge. This movie features an actor name Ish Kabibble. Really. Ish Kabibble.

I woke up 45 minutes later than normal. I jumped (sort of) off the couch, put up the coffee, and dragged my ass into the shower. I got to work almost an hour late.

Since I had to deposit a check, I decided to just go to the bank right then and there, so I wouldn't get wrapped up in work and forget, which I am wont to do. Even though I was already late, I went anyway, because hey, in for a penny, in for a pound, whatever that means.

Now, at Bank of America you no longer have to put deposits in envelopes. You just insert the check into the deposit slot and an unseen force yanks it into the magical scanning ATM, where it reads your check and displays it on the screen.

Alas, the magical scanner did not recognize my check as a check, so it spit it back out to me. I grumbled and tried again. Again with the ptui! Frazzled, I grabbed the check and marched into the bank (imagine actually going into a bank!), filled out a counter slip, and handed the check and deposit slip to the teller.

"Now just swipe your ATM card and enter your PIN," she said.

I reached into my wallet and...

No ATM card. The light dawned -- in my frazzledness, I neglected to cancel the transaction and retrieve my ATM card.

"SHIT!" I exclaimed (I am a delicate ladylike flower), "I left my ATM card in the ATM!" I ran out to get it, but the ATM screen was just the bland, welcoming screen. No ATM card in sight.

I ran back into the bank, weeping and gnashing my teeth (well, more gnashing than weeping), and the wonderful guardian angel teller said, "Hang on, let me see if we have a key."

They did!! She asked me wait, went to the back of the ATM, unlocked it, and rescued my ATM card. She made sure I was me, then handed it to me with only a slight admonishment.

"You're lucky," she said. I wholehearted agreed, thanked her profusely, thought about kissing her feet (but rejected the idea), and left.

The minute I got to work I logged into online banking and made sure no one had helped themselves to our meager bank balance while I was blithely filling out the deposit slip. Nope -- all was as it should be.

Thank you, God. I promise to work on not being a dumbass.