Walking Wounded
2007-02-27, 9:57 a.m.

Day 918

Had a request for an update on my walking wounded. Before I get to that, there�s one other little detail from that night. Busted glasses. Friday evening we were ordering from a local Chinese joint and someone needed her glasses to read the menu. Unfortunately, she had to use one of her back-up sets, because she �sat on� her favorite pair.

If you�ve worn glasses for any amount of time, you know what �sat-on� glasses look like. I�ve worn wire frame specs for nearly 40 years, so I definitely know. Cindy�s glasses weren�t sat on. The only thing wrong was that the right side stem was bent out at a funky angle. The bend originated right where the stem is welded to the front frame piece. Easy to fix.

Curious thing is that the bent frame is on the same side of her head as the mystery �scratch� that showed up Thursday night. The timing is impeccable too � seems that Thursday is when the glasses got bent out of shape. I�m thinking that what ever event put the abrasion on her temple/mandibular joint area is the same event that �sat on� the glasses.

As far as the wound itself goes, the damage inflicted while WUI (Walking Under the Influence � as related to me by Circe) seems to be healing up fine. Very little bruising or swelling, no infection, it�s scabbed over quite nicely and is even starting to shrink some in size. Maybe rumors of my vicious left hook will never get started. ( � I don�t know that I have a vicious left hook. That would require me having some boxing skills, which I assuredly do not have. Plus, I�m right handed.)

Anyhow � looks like no permanent damage done and in another week or so all tangible evidence of the event be gone. She�s still referring to it as a scratch. I�m not going to push the issue any, there�s just too little to gain.

Had a lovely weekend. Got in a super fine workout Saturday morning while Cindy was out taking her Civil Service exam. Been the High School secretary for 3+ years and she�s still taking tests to prove that she�s capable. Heh. She can run the school just fine, it�s her drinking she can�t control. Anyhow. Lovely workout. Made some new fangled chicken enchiladas for dinner � loaded with cumin & cilantro. Very delicious. Had some yellow rice and black beans with them. Made a nice meal. But it points out one thing we�ve noticed ion our house.

Has to do with cooking the starch component of a meal. There seems to be a genetic bias to the amount of carbs cooked. Whether it�s rice, pasta, or potatoes � if the cook possesses a y-chromosome (Zach or I) there will be twice the amount of carbs cooked as necessary for that one meal. Saturday Cindy asked me if I thought she was planning enough rice for dinner. I asked her how much she was doing. She had started with a cup on uncooked rice. I suggested she double it. Dumb ass. Know how much cooked rice that made? Nearly 8 cups. Know how much we ate? About half. Her xx chromosome pairing sets her up to be able to cook the correct amount of carbs, even though she was drunk at the time, and she still listens to me. There�s now a rule in the house. Men are not allowed to portion out the carbs for cooking any more. It just leads to waste or too damn many leftovers. Women, sober or not, just seem to have a better grip on how much that little teeny cup of rice is going to expand. Pasta? Same deal. That expansion thing just does men in every time. Potatoes We�re ok with, because they don�t expand when you cook them, do they? Well, unless you microwave them without poking in vent holes for the steam, then they expand rather violently. Different problem entirely.

So. Where was I? The weekend. Sunday we all headed for the gym for a workout together. All 4 of us at once. A first. Our work out routines are all different. The girls are generally happy with cardio, while Zach & I like cardio & weights. How things worked out wasn�t too bad � the guys did shorter, more intense cardio work, then hit the weights while the girls did longer, less intense cardio workouts. The girls still finished before the guys (not a bad situation, really), and Zach & I did kinda curtail the weight work a little early, but it was all in the name of getting in a Sunday workout when there is usually none.

The rest of Sunday? Bah. Cindy got lost in self medication. I found busy work to do, not actually accomplishing much. Got rescued in the evening. Zach joined a roller hockey league so we (Jill & I) went to watch the game. Cindy stayed home and sucked down more �meds�. The game was pretty good. It was obvious Zach hadn�t played much hockey over the last 5 years, especially in the first period. By the second period he was getting his game sense back and even managed to score a goal on a mean slap shot midway through the third period. Now that the guys on his team have seen his slap shot from the point, I think he�ll be getting more opportunities to tee a few up.

Walked into a wicked little lake squall leaving the game. We were inside for about 90 minutes and we managed to pile up 3 inches of snow. Made for an interesting drive home too.

Skipped Monday morning workout. Sleeping in felt too good.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Things conspired to keep this from getting posted on Monday. But at least I can add notes on Monday�s dinner now. Had a nice pork loin roast � marinated since Saturday in a soy/Worcestershire/oil/spice concoction. Makes for a scrumptious roast. Zach did up some garlic mashed taters and we steamed some green beans and called it a meal.

Hauled my carcass to the gym this morning. Got to yakking it up with a couple guys in the locker room and had to skip the weight portion of the morning program. Settled for a quick 5K run and called it good. Wasn�t the fastest ever, but managed to keep the speed at 7.6mph or above the whole run. Now I just gotta start tacking on some distance. A local running shop is sponsoring a distance training program that I just might get into. There�s a informational get together the 28th. If it�s not too exorbitant price-wise, I may join up. Considering how successful I�ve been at adding distance to my current runs (NOT), this is probably the best way to accomplish that goal.. Wouldn�t mind being able to run some 10K�s or even the local half marathon this summer. It�s do-able, I just need some (loads of) training help. Nicely coincides with the end of bowling season too. Hmmmmm.

Decision to make tonight. I�m supposed to help the Bob get his stereo moved to a more useable location. After moving it 6 times himself and never getting it rewired correctly, he�s finally given up on tackling moving the stereo as a DIY project. I was supposed to get it done last night, but when I showed up at Bob�s apartment, he had already headed down for dinner. Twenty minutes earlier than I thought. Oops. That�s the hazard of making an appointment with a person with Alzheimer�s. I could do it tonight instead. Just get there a little earlier. I don�t care if he goes to dinner while I work. I�d prefer it really. Finish there, get home, grab a quick bite to eat and head out to my usual Tuesday night meeting. If I can wedge it all in. Clincher is I have prescription refills I picked up that Bob needs soon. That kind of forces my hand a wee little bit.

Cindy will no doubt be pissed that I�m going to the meeting. That�s her problem. She�s aware of how much of a problem her drinking is to me. Her drinking is her problem. She can fix that when ever and how ever she chooses, or not. My reaction to her drinking is my problem and I choose to at least try to fix it via Al Anon. At least I�m trying.

Maybe I�ll tenderize her a bit and let her know what I think my schedule will be. Then she can get pissed earlier and have more time to cool down by the time I finally roll in tonight. After all, it is her Dad I�m taking care of. It�s not like I�m going out of my way for myself or anything. Sheesh. Oh. Bob is buying me some gas though. It hit $2.40 a gallon here last night and I�ve been running all over the county for him. Good thing I happen to have one of his credit cards handy. My van is thirsty. So am I. More coffee needed, STAT.

See y�all tomorrow. Provided I survive tonight, that is.

Spinning class tomorrow morning, I promise. No matter if I survive tonight, or not.

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