Just so you know

 

The broken brush

It's been snowing a lot. This weekend it dropped a foot, then rained ice on top of it. I got that cleared off Sunday morning, but it was still bad enough that they cancelled church.

God says stay home.

But then it kept snowing. I got up early this morning to clear off the snow so I could go to the gym. (I NEED MY ENDORPHINS) With my hood up and my tall boots on... my snow brush broke. The brush head snapped right off, leaving me with a looooooong stick. Undaunted, I turned around and raided the van for that snow brush, and cleared them both right off.

Don't worry, I put it back.

My street wasn't plowed, but if it was there would have been a huge mountain of snow at the end of my driveway that I couldn't have simply driven over. So thank you, Town of Salina, for slacking this morning. The streets were covered with hard packed snow, and it took me longer to get there than I care for. Three of us were outside the gym when the lights flickered on. Steve, the guy at the front desk, was applauding us as we walked in.

Of course, he deserves the same. He got there before we did.

It was empty at the gym. There are some people that I see every single time I go there, and one of them wasn't. I was about to send a dog sled team until they got in late. I have seen this person almost every time and we've spoken maybe three times, and it's all been a variant of the phrase "are you using that". I don't even know her name, it's great.

Another blog post titled silver lining

I had tennis elbow. Right arm. I was informed that the only way it would resolve was if I stopped using my right arm for anything. No working out, no typing, not even moving a computer mouse.

Yea that wasn't gonna happen.

Well I broke my wrist and elbow and what do you know - my tennis elbow is gone!

Way ahead of you

Last week, I had my latest appointment with the wrist doctor. I found the splint in the back of my car and brought it inside to warm it up before putting on a show for the doctor. They had me remove it for x-rays, and keep it off to look at my wrist.

Long story short, he said I didn't need it any more. He wanted a CT scan, but I pushed back, pointing out that even he made it sound redundant. His look of resignation was immediate. I have good insurance, but come on, I do not need this.

So, yea. I put the splint back on just for the doctor. I initially thought I would keep it on simply out of caution (its ice season), but once I had it off, the mere thought of putting on another restraint was so distasteful that I didn't bother. Ever. I left it in my car just in case, but 'in case' never happened.

I regret nothing.

Tragic waste

Wanna know how long it's been since I took a weekend away with some friend just for fun? Twenty years ago. Yea, it was January 2005. There were six of us, and we went to Niagara Falls. Most of the group hadn't been, and didn't know if they'd get the chance before life took them other places. 

So off we went.

The following year, I got married, and then every single trip I went on involved my wife. She's gone on a few without me, and the only two times I'd even been on an overnight were for what amounted to business. One was a funeral, and the other was apartment hunting. And the reason for this isn't because I was being held back, it was more of a lack of opportunity. My friends and I just don't do that sort of thing. Well an opportunity came up and some of my friends figured 'why not?'

Why not indeed.

It was agreed that the guy that used to work in hotels should be the guy to book it, and the logic was sound. I knew what to look for, and what to avoid. Friday came and I thought it was indigestion. Took a pill and shrugged it off. We got into town and I was exhausted. I had, and not incorrectly, figured I was tired because I go to bed earlier than everyone else, and was kept up until 10.

It's not wrong, but it also wasn't the reason.

Saturday morning I assumed it was a lack of sleep and continued indigestion. Took another pill and some caffeine and decided to push through it. No, by 2pm I was about done. Thankfully, we were all disappointed with the event and weren't disappointed leaving when we did.

I barely made it home. During the two hour ride home, I felt progressively worse, and it all manifest once I got out of the car. Just trying to move was torture, I had the shakes something fierce. I was glad to be the first one dropped off (benefits to living closest to 90, I suppose), but I barely made it to the door. For the next 48 hours, I slept 30 of them and ate probably 500 calories worth of lightweight carbs.

I then proceeded to miss the next two days of work because I get dizzy when I stand up, and I'm still coughing.

This was *supposed* to be a fun weekend, but nooooooooooooooooooo...

The left over

I do my meal planning on Sundays. Alright, the planning is done, I just do the cooking. In my efforts to maintain a low calorie, high protein diet, I eat a lot of chicken. In fact, every day for lunch I have chicken breast.

It only gets boring if you make it the same way every time, but you can spice it up so many ways.

So on Sundays, after cooking the chicken, I would put the containers on a food scale and measure it out, marking how much was in each so I could properly log it day by day. (Yes, I have to be that careful) And this always made for leftovers. My third born and hungriest son would always hang around hoping for the leftovers, which I would happily dish out. His enthusiasm was not unnoticed by his siblings, and soon they all wanted in on the chicken. But the leftovers were, perhaps, a single serving. 

Now, the weekly grocery shopping has twice as much poultry. And on the weekly menu board, it simply reads "Dads chicken", a meal they all eat with no reservation and no leftovers. They all look forward to it, they all go for seconds. Yes, I am bragging. This is a win and I'm taking it.

Oven feud

I have a toaster oven and I prefer it. Yes I understand that the microwave is faster, but I also understand that the magnetron operates at the natural frequency of the water molecule, and thus it doesn't heat your food evenly.

You heard me. Your food will never heat evenly in a microwave. It only heats water. The water simply transfers the heat to the other parts of the food.

Now for a lot of foods, that isn't necessarily a problem. For other foods, you can have a mixture of warm and crunchy with hot and soggy. No bueno, me no likey. My toaster oven, while using a lot more electricity, heats *everything* at the same time.

And the icing on the warm cake? The toaster oven simply goes ding when it's done. My microwave gives this passive aggressive beep a minute after it's done if I haven't opened it yet. Like excuse me, are you in a hurry? Do you, my microwave, have somewhere to be? You think I forgot about the delectable meal you probably butchered in your limited functionality?

No. Now shut up and watch as I use my toaster oven instead.