Me & Columbus Baby!!
2008-09-24, 8:15 p.m.

Day 1492

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Day 1493 Bonus addition!

Plus

Day 1494 Yet another Bonus Add-on

(This is getting to be like some TV ad, no?)

1492
Survived the Assembly. Good lord, the World Service Delegate likes to hear himself talk! At least this was an election assembly and his office (actually all of them) was up for election. One of the other deals with the outgoing delegate is that he�s had to report to 3 groups in the last 6 months and he�s given the same report all 3 times. Some folks, like our district rep, the chairperson, the alternate delegate, the secretary and the treasurer have heard the same overly detailed report 3 times now. Can you imagine their pain? Sitting there listening to it myself just the one time, I�m sure his 60 minutes of blathering could be knocked down to 15 without losing any content.

Remember that bit by Father Guido Sarducci? It was something like a 5 minute course that taught you everything you needed to remember from your college days. Our outgoing delegate needs to go to Father Guido�s school.

1493
Worked Sunday. That was weird. We�re in such a crunch for new (operating) circuit boards that my boss offered to pay my golf tournament fees if I stayed & worked. Think I mentioned that (and my reaction). Because they�re soooooo hurting for circuit boards, I came in Sunday and got a bunch programmed and tested out. Know where they�re sitting? On my desk, still. Those boards they were so desperate to get into testing are still with me. So glad I shot the hell out of my Sunday morning so I could be staring at the same damn boards 48 hours later.

Also had a physical yesterday. It�s that magical one in honor of turning half a century old. Not that I�m there yet. There was a conspiracy of events that just made it simpler to get it out of the way a few months early. My periodontist is concerned that a couple of pockets in my gingiva are being very resistant to treatment. She suggested (heh � requested is more like it.) After all, when M.A. Lester (get it, M.A. Lester = molester?) wants you to do something, well, it�s best to keep in mind that she really knows how to hurt you.

Oh yeah � so Dr. Lester (I do like her a whole lot. She really is a sweet person) suggested that I get a GTT done. She�s concerned that even though I dropped a whole lotta pounds, it may have been too late. She thinks it�s possible I have pre-diabetes, which might explain the whole gingival issue � lack of proper healing due to compromised blood flow.

1494
Yes, this is the THIRD day I�ve added crap to this. I just can�t maintain any flow. What with this whole needing to eat and pay the mortgage and stuff � gotta keep those paychecks coming in, so if I GOTTA work, well . . .

Anyhow. Some of the lighter moments from the last several days.

Golf tournament Friday. This was a 4 person scramble. For those not familiar with this format, what you do is this: Everybody hits their drive. You figure out which shot you like the best, then everybody hits their second shot from there. You figure out which of THOSE you like the best and everybody takes their third shot from there. So everybody gets to hit all the shots, but always from the best position the group attained on the previous shot.

On the very first hole, our groups second shot was out of a sand trap. That�s how well the day went. Had a couple bright moments. There were two holes (Q � just for you, that came out �hoes� the first time. I know you like hearing about me playing with the hoes!!) where all the shots we used were mine. Ended up birdying a 500yd par 5 and a 170 yd par 3. Both with 10 foot putts too. Those were the only 6 good shots I made all day. (Not really, but it makes for a good story)

The funny part? We get settled in at the dinner after. The head honcho is reading off the list of awards. He gets down to the long drive contests. I know I didn�t win. I popped one out there about 260, but the winner cranked one 320, dead center of the fairway. So I�m not really listening as Keith is yakking about names on the cards. Except somehow, my name came up as second place ON THE LADIES long drive card. And I know precisely what happened. On that hole, I managed to hit a high fade and my ball drifted off to the right rough, approximately even with the ball marker. Unbeknownst to me, my playing partners, my best work buddies, conspired to add my name to the list while I was looking for my errant shot. I had no clue till dinner. Feckers.

So now I need your help. I have a year to plot my revenge. But I need some ideas to work with. How on earth an I get back at these guys (2 in particular) in a way that�s good humored but devilishly devious? You all get back to me with your ideas and we can hatch some evil plot to exact my revenge at the next tournament. (We�ve played as the same foursome for 10+ years. It ain�t changing now. Unless we a get laid off.)

Other funny stuff? Nah, not so much. Went and did my GTT yesterday. There�s a collection lab about 2 miles from where I work � very convenient. I showed up at 7:30-ish, donate 3 tubes of blood and get this bottle of goop. Tasted like orange pop. (We say pop up here. I think everyone else calls it soda. What can I say? Y�all are weird.)
Except it was slightly syrupy. The phlebotomist tells me to drink it down reasonably fast � like 5 minutes, then note the time. I needed to have another tube of juice drawn in 2 hours +/- 10 minutes. So I drank. Took my time. Made 10 ounces disappear in under 2 minutes. Phlebotomist was shocked. Heck. She�s lucky I didn�t just make it go away in like 5 seconds. She obviously needs to update her idea of what �quickly� is.

Anyhow. Made the return trip. Got to jump to the front of the line, leap-frogging 6 or 8 folks from the octogenarian set. They could have (might have) gotten up to protest, but I think I was done before they reached the desk.

Now I sit here waiting to see what the results of this test are. I know Dr. B will mail the results as soon as she gets them. Along with a host of other results that I�m curious about. I think my motivation to get serious about working out again might be in the mail.

One not funny moment?

Didn�t go to my Al Anon meeting last night. True to form, it being a Tuesday, Cindy started with the drinking as soon as she got home. I had previously told Cindy that I�d be getting re-imbursed for my convention expenses at my next meeting. So now since I missed that meeting, I (obviously) didn�t get reimbursed. Now she�s all hot to trot about me getting reimbursed. That was �our� money I spent for the convention. All of $150 - big whoop. Her last words to me last night? �So NOW when am I supposed to get back OUR money that you spent on this convention?� (SHE is supposed to get back OUR money?) So in a VERY un-Al Anon response I blurted �So when am I supposed to get reimbursed for all the money you spend on booze?� (Eric was home and heard that too. I still don�t think I�m sorry about it.)

Heh. Haven�t talked since. Gee, I wonder why? (No, not really) I could really use a meeting tonight.

Instead, we have a meeting at The Bob�s new Club Med for the Septuagenarian Set (CMSS?). It was initially in response to Bob wanting to leave after only 3 days in residence. His claim at the time was that he �didn�t want al these people�s problems� � referring to the folks using walkers and oxygen tanks, or those confined to wheel chairs. That he told Cindy when she visited him last Thursday. Saturday Cindy�s brother was out there and he told Wayne that CMSS was the best thing since the sliced bread. Every bit as nice as the Legacy (where he was before).

Who knows?

I found out last night (before the reimbursement debacle) that we�re not just having a meeting with the staff, we�re also eating dinner there. I really dislike eating in thse kinds of places. The food is bland, the servings are miniscule and the atmosphere � well, it leaves a bit to be desired. Anyone care to join my party for dinner tonight?

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