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POOF!!
2007-03-12, 5:02 p.m.

Day 932

Saw a very cool thing on the way home from The Bob�s last night. Had just gotten back on the expressway (I490) on the eastern edge of Rochester headed west for home. While still on the on ramp, I looked up (cuz I like to see where I�m going) and I see this green fireball streak across the sky, roughly running north to south. It seemed to be trailing orangey/red embers as it zoomed across the sky. Probably stayed lit for between 1 and 2 seconds. Thought it might have been someone launching bottle rockets, but there are several reasons against it:
1 � the path it took was extremely straight. No parabolic arc to it at all, which a bottle rocket trajectory would exhibit (gravity and relatively low velocity, etc . . .)
2 � The path it appeared to take went right over a 6 lane expressway. No one is dumb enough to aim a bottle rocket that way, are they? (Don�t answer that.)
3 � What�s to celebrate this time of year that you�d need a bottle rocket for? Although it was green and St. Patricks day IS Saturday . . .
4 � We are in the tail end of meteor shower period (the Lycrids?) so there is a possibility it really did come from some old comet debris trail.

Haven�t heard of anyone else noticing this event, but I haven�t gone around asking about it much. Don�t want to appear to be too nuts. I did do a wee bit of research and found this place that tracks fireball, bolide & meteor sightings. Sent that guy an email, described what I saw, where I was and the direction I was facing, pretty much tried to fill in all the blanks he might be looking for. Haven�t heard back from him, and what I saw hasn�t been updated to his site yet (most recent was March 8), but one just never knows.

Speaking of The Bob � (I was, up there) Had him over for dinner last night (hence the ride back home). Called to let him know I was going over to pick him up at a specific time. Just so he�d be ready. Well, when I got there, his apartment was locked. Thought maybe he was dallying after lunch. Headed downstairs to the dining hall � empty, dark & locked. Kept trudging down the hallway to check out some voices I hear. There in a little alcove off the main hall, I find Bob sitting there shooting the breeze with some guy (John it turns out) like he�s known him all his life. Except Bob can�t remember his name.

John asked Bob if I was here to fix his CD player. I though I did well in restricting my reaction to just raising my eyebrows. Flippin Stereo AGAIN!! Anyhow � we say our see ya�s to John and head up to Bob�s apartment. If that had been one of my kids rooms, someone would have gone without food until there was some sign of actual progress made in cleaning up. Wow, what a mess. Huge pile of clothes on the floor between the bedroom & living room. 4 or 5 pairs of pants folded and in the kitchen sink. Pictures & paperwork scattered all over his counters & work tables. Computer hutch nearly emptied out again, stereo wires pulled (ripped) out & broken, again.

Very frustrating. Bob says he was re-organizing his clothes. Picks up a shirt, says this one here is from Florida. I say, ok � but it�s still wearable here, right? It�s a nice shirt, in good shape, so what if it says Lee County (somethingorother)? Clothes weren�t the problem though. He moves them around from closet to dresser to suitcase & back constantly. Just churns them around. Keeps him occupied. What concerns me are a few other things. Short version is that he can�t find a bunch of techie hardware. Stuff that eh is challenged by anyhow. He can�t really manage to even send an email anymore, and he wants me to teach him how to get photo�s from his camera into his computer. But he keeps losing the DC adapters to both. I�m of a mind to let them be lost forever and let the camera and laptop fade from his memory.

I did find his camera. Bob was surprised I found it where I did, 5 or 6 times. It was like a Laurel & Hardy routine � Bob constantly saying he couldn�t find his camera, me constantly reminding him that we found it under his bed and put it away in the correct place. Surprised him every time I told him about it. 5 times in side of 60 minutes. Finally give up looking for the other things for now and herd Bob off to my house for a nice ham dinner.

Survived that. Cindy came along with me to take Bob back to his swinging bachelor pad. There, she starts to get some sense of what I was going through earlier. She also gets to hear the camera story 3 times herself, because Bob is still not registering that we found his camera UNDER THE FUCKING BED ALREADY, and have put it in the computer hutch where he wanted it to be stored to begin with. No, I didn�t yell at Bob. Out loud at least. No point to it. Poor guy just doesn�t hold on to things.

Cindy tackled the �sorting of the clothes� issue. She just grabbed her dad, dove in and forced him to make decisions on each article of clothing he had piled on the floor. She�s good like that. In the end, we had a very, very tightly packed 30+ inch Pullman style suitcase filled to bursting with clothes to be either tossed or sent to good will. Also have a 32 quart Rubbermaid tote filled with bed linens that he no longer needs. Do not have a laptop charger, camera charger or watch. Still. Cindy & I took turns keeping Bob occupied while the other one ransacked the room he wasn�t in at the moment. Nothing. But I did find 4 copies of his wife�s death certificate, copies of income tax info that I need (I haven�t gotten in address changes yet, they�re still sent to him � my bad), a packet of information from the estate lawyer we hired that I�d really like to read before Bob loses it or throws it out and a cool Hawaiian print shirt that I�m going to wear for casual Fridays. Really.

I�m still concerned that he couldn�t figure out how to send emails, or how to get pictures from his camera into his computer and just chucked all the power converters out of frustration. I can get him more DC adapters, no big deal there. But how many am I going to get? Should I get 2 sets initially, so the next time he loses one, I�ll have a spare handy & ready to go? Should I get 3 of each, then when those are gone call it quits and stop wasting money on them? It�s not like he can�t afford them, but why keep fueling the aggravation? Tell Bob the stuff is irreparably busted and call it quits. He will eventually forget that he once knew how to do any of that stuff.

Ahhhhh. What else, was there this weekend. Skipped Saturday mornings work out. Went grocery shopping instead. Somehow, I don�t think there was quite the same amount of calorie burning going on, but it�s at least buying me some good will. And food.

Oh! Good news � Cindy announced her intentions to quit smoking as of Sunday (yesterday). Don�t know how it�s going. I do know she had a partial pack on Saturday and was going to try and finish it. We talked briefly about various coping mechanisms (I ate the entire Finger Lakes region grape harvest for the 2004 season, and also consumed every bag of Members Mark Trail mix I could carry out of S@ms Club that year. But it worked) and changing other habits to help NOT remind her of smoking (avoiding triggers mostly). She didn�t smell like an ashtray yesterday at all, which I�ll take as a good sign. We�ll see how the first day of work goes.

Also � unless she�s getting better at hiding it, I don�t think she drank much this weekend, outside of a few glasses of wine when company was over. None of the usual tell tale signs were there. Circe thinks she could be deviously hiding her drinking, finding ways to get in just enough to beat off the demons, but not be obvious about it. Could be the case. I am trying sooooo hard to not go snooping through all the usual hiding spots. Trying to trust, but don�t want to get burned. I think I will trust until I am burned. Even then, I think all I can do is maybe voice a little disappointment. There�s no point in yelling & screaming about it. I already know that doesn�t work. Need to be calm and Zen like. Somehow.

Did get in a workout Sunday. Found out one very important thing. It�s really, really hard to do one of Patty�s speed burner hour long cycling sessions, then go do a legs weight workout, then try to throw in a quickie 5K run just to see how it goes. My legs officially gave out after only 1.25 miles. Coulda gone more, but there�s absolutely no point in killing myself. Yet.

This morning � another cycling workout, followed by upper body weights. Funny enough, my legs still feel a little woozy. They�ll have to get better by tomorrow though. Taking the day off to run my mom to the doc again, maybe her final check up on that busted ankle. Provided I can get Cindy�s car up & running tonight (wouldn�t start this morning. Gonna have fun tonight), I�ll have tomorrow morning to get in a nice leisurely workout. May go for a long, somewhat slow run. See about getting in a 10K.

See, I�ve sorta made a decision. There�s this Tour de Cure � a bike ride to raise money for Diabetes research. There are 5 different length rides to take, from 7 miles (family fun ride) to 100 miles (serious wacko�s only) I�m thinking of doing either the 40 mile ride or possible the 62.5 (100km) miler. I have maps of the 40, 62.5 and 100 mile routes. I�ve driven on all the roads involved � they�re all well south of the city, out in our own hill country. There are a few hills that will be challenges, but I think with a little smart early season training, the 62.5 miler is within reach. The Tour date is June 10. Just need to tell Cindy and get her to buy into the training regimen. Piece of cake. I just gotta hurry and get my butt on the road. Now. While there�s still snow. Wanna see our snow?

Lookee here �

That�s where our smokers have to go to light up. Those are your standard sized picnic tables, buried in snow. Until this morning, I didn�t think the tables were even there. Thought maybe Maintenance had pulled them inside for safe keeping. Oops.

Those aren�t even the big piles. Actually, those aren�t even piles, that stuff just drifted there. Still not much grass in evidence around here. Temps? Hi 30�s, low 40�s over the weekend, so snow melt will really get cranking now. Then the flooding begins. It�s just non-stop fun around here.

I better go finish work for the day, eh?


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