Ouch and Hello
2007-01-25, 10:57 a.m.

Day 886

Evening did not turn out like I expected last night. Called the Bob before I left work. He was in fine spirits and seemed pretty up to speed. Asked him how his stereo was running. It was fine. Not a problem. What ever was wrong the other day cleared itself up. Only thing that worries me is that he says he�s now getting sound out of the center unit. Um, that�s the tuner/amp/cd drawer. There�s no speaker, it�s just the brains of the operation. But � he�s happy with how it�s working, so I�m just plumb tickled.

Asked him about his DVD player, mostly, did he find it? Answer � yup � it�s right here on the counter. He has no clue how to run it, needs some help with that, but at least he knows where it is. Or knew where it was, as of yesterday. I did not ask where he eventually found it (after losing it 4 hours after he bought it), because it doesn�t really matter, and I doubt he could remember where he found it, or that he�d even lost it in the first place.

So. No trip across town to rescue the Bob. But, just as I�m getting ready to leave work (and stop reading those freakin PCI bus specs) I get a phone call from Cindy. Her car died on the way home from work, could I please come get her? Well, sure, I was just leaving anyhow. Found out where she was (about 4 miles from home, 5 miles from work). Asked her what the symptoms were. She said the car was putting along fine, then just stopped running. Well, guess we�d get it towed to our mechanic and make adjustments from there. Told her to try calling Zach, he was home and could get to her faster than I could. It was only 20 or so yesterday, and sitting in a dead car, in the cold, for the � hour it would take for me to get there could be nasty.

Get a call while I�m in the parking lot brushing off the van. Cindy got hold of Zach. He�s going to head out to her with a can of gas. Gas?

�You ran out of gas?� I asked her.

C � well, maybe.
Me � Where is the gas needle?
C � down near �E� � but the little gas light thing just came on today!
Me � What side of �E� was the needle on?
C � Closer to the �E� (this would be bad the way her gauges are laid out)
Me � Oh. Oops. Well, as long as Zach is headed out, I�ll head home and work on dinner. He can get to you quicker anyhow.
C � ok � se ya later.

Called Zach. Apparently this running out of gas thing has happened before, I just wasn�t aware of it. This will mark the third time she�s done it. Zach was headed to the grocery store to get some things he needed to make dinner, so we swap info and I get to go shopping while he makes a rescue run.

I get home, start working on dinner. (Like I said OKC � just meatloaf. Nothing daring or new or exotic) Cindy pulls in a bit later and drags her gear into the house. She was maintaining a pretty good attitude about things, even laughing about it. I wasn�t rolling on the floor laughing (woulda been rude), but I had no trouble finding the humor in the situation. Gave her some good natured shit about being a repeat offender, and offered that maybe she ought to consider gassing up at about a quarter tank instead of playing games with the �E�. The kicker? She hasn't stopped at the gas station yet, she's living on the 2 gallons that Zach put in last night.

Course, I then fessed up about my own adventures Monday. My van has a 20 gallon gas tank. Due to meeting obligations, work out urges and crap weather, I played roulette with my own gas tank. Rather than be smart and fill up when I was out & about Saturday, I decided could make it to the gym, then get to work and still make it back to a gas station after work to fuel up. Made it. Barely. That 20 gallon tank? Took 19.838 gallons. At my vans current rate of consumption, and allowing for the beautiful snowy weather we�ve been having, I had a range of maybe 4 miles left. Not enough gas to get home, for sure. Just like somebody else I know!

Maybe I should get to the title now, eh? The ouch refers to me left elbow area. Still tender. Skipped any weight work the last two days to see if that helped. Didn�t make a difference. The hurt isn�t specifically in the elbow, it�s above or below, depending on what move I�m trying to make. I�ll give it another week, then go see Dr. B and get her opinion.

The hello? The Phantom visitor from Iowa piped up! Hereafter referred to as Ms. Iowa, she dropped a very thoughtful comment on a previous entry. Ms. Iowa? I really, really tried to respond last night by leaving an additional comment, but either Haloscan was being difficult, or my dsl was having a snit (more likely) and it would not let me post a response. I�ll try again, so you may want to go check. The readers digest version? I�m tickled pink that you commented. Way cool name too by the way. The point you made about �not borrowing trouble� is certainly a valid one. It�s something I do need to work on. I appreciate your opinion. I love having you folks out there with your insights into situations. Y�all are so good at catching things I just gloss over.

Not to put the pressure on you either, but since I�m an apostate heathen (pagan or Wiccan maybe?), that whole higher power (as I�ve come to understand it)? I�ve mentioned I consider it to be the group conscience of my Al Anon community, but I could include all of you in it too. Now, you�re not responsible for keeping a 40 something, mostly full grown, mostly adult male on the straight & narrow (that�d be MY job), but you are allowed and encouraged to call �bullshit� when you smell it. If you are also blogging, journaling, what ever, I hope to be able to do the same for you.

Bowling tonight. Glad it�s my left elbow hurting. I�ll be a fool and predict tonight�s score. 625 total for the night. (Now that I�ve put the hex on it, I�ll probably throw a 480!) Had a fantasy of bowling a 300 while in the shower at the gym this morning. Hah! Put the hex on that now too, didn�t I?

�Nuff of that. Gotta get back to the zoo. Need to prepare for the �Lunch Question of the Day� too. Don�t ask. But it stands to be fun. Or funny. Either works.

Take care peoples. Keep yourself well gassed, ok?