Election Time
2008-11-04, 7:57 a.m.

Day 1535

Go Vote. It�s your right & privilege. Besides, if you don�t vote, I won�t tolerate you whining about those that got elected. (Like I actually have to listen. Heh.)

Bowling Thursday. We�re running into a theme here. As a team, we bowled better than our average every game. The other guys? Bowled betterer than their averages. Every game was close, but it was all we could do to come away with one point. One stinking point for tying them in the first game. Personally, I scored well but it felt like a struggle all night. Get this. I had 2 open frames � both on splits. (Those are forgivable opens). I also managed to convert (pick, spare) two other splits. Other than that? No opens. Unfortunately, I think I also only had 2 doubles all night, and the opens came in the same damn game. See if you can guess which of these three games had the two misses �> 204, 205, 177. Can you pick the one that�s different?

Got my list o�tasks taken care of as far as the porch project is concerned. The Fishies pump is no longer on an extension cord, the satellite cables are out of the way, the gas pipe is gone, water faucet is moved, all the plants are relocated and the old patio ground lights are dead. Now we just need the porch dudes to show up. Plus, part of the projet cost includes a dumpster and I�m kinda counting on that dumpster for tossing in drywall and scrap wood from the laundry room/den project. I�m sure the trash guys are getting tired of me getting rid of drywall one 30 gallon container at a time.

Also finally got new washer & dryer on order. 12 months same as cash. Pretty sweet. FWIW, we got GE�s. Not the Profile series � good lord, those are pricey! Believe it or not, the final criteria in the selection was based upon what colors were available. We really liked a feature of one brand (vibration reduction), but it didn�t come in a nice steely gray � only white (boooooring) or a really nice grayish/French blue � but that didn�t fit in the color scheme.

Also got a door to replace the entry door into/from the garage. One place (blue & gray) didn�t have the size I wanted in stock. It was going to cost $50 more than what they DID have in stock, plus I�d have to wait two weeks to get it. The other place (orange) not only had one in stock, it was $50 less than what blue & gray was asking for the ones they had in stock that wouldn�t fit my needs. I could look at it as saving $100 and two weeks.

Saturday I got called in to work. Twice. Total of 6 hours. Cindy never noticed because she was over at Zach�s doing a weeks worth of laundry. For 8 hours. I took note of the fact that she managed to smuggle her hooch along with her. As I was headed home from work Eric called and asked what we were planning for dinner. I was a little surprised that Cindy wasn�t home when Eric first called as it was 8+ hours since she left to do laundry. I was starting to worry that Cindy had drunk herself into a stupor, or managed to get in an accident on the 5 mile trip home, or otherwise got waylaid. But � she rolled in while Eric and I were talking on the phone. When I got home a few minutes later, I was surprised to find her waaaaayyyy more sober (less drunk?) than I had anticipated. And pissed. Pissed because I spent the day at work instead of home working, while she fell asleep waiting for laundry to dry.

Aaaaannyhow � she made up for it Sunday. The more sober part that is. After running around all morning getting things, I was making great progress in the afternoon, knocking things off my shit to get to list. While I was banging away in the soon to be laundry room, Cindy was in the kitchen cooking up stuff for a weeks worth of meals. Then dinners would be relatively easy and I could spend my time slaving away these next few weeknights. Which really was fine by me. But when she was done cooking in the early afternoon, she switched over to the �other� kind of cooking.

Took a few hours, but she got pretty loose. Lefty stopped over with his wife to drop off some Longaberger basket Cindy had ordered at a party and to loosely lay down some plans for our trip to South Bend in a few weeks. I am positive that they noticed Cindy�s inability to shut her freakin mouth. Yak yak yak yak yak. Add in all the other little physical tells and it would have been clear to the casual observer that she was into her cups. Lefty & the missus could extract themselves quickly enough. I felt bad for them. Hell, at least I�m used to it and have a coping mechanism. Them? Hah! Welcome to my world. I�m certain they have no idea what�s really going on.

Aaaaannnnnyway.

Just got a weird phone call. It was Cindy. After the usual start of call exchanges, she tells me she�s at St. Mary�s hospital, in the psych ward. Talk about getting ones mind racing! I managed to be very non-committal, half wondering if maybe she hadn�t checked herself in due to suicidal thoughts, or maybe another lame ass attempt at cutting her wrists (in the wrong direction). But she managed to talk me down from my euphoric high (uhhhh, yah, euphoric) and inform me that The Bob went and had another fit of high anxiety, went banging things around and possibly hurt his arm. Looks like another night in the ER/psych ward. Fun!

Late (well early, now that it�s Tuesday morning) update on The Bob. Cindy was able to drag a psychiatrist over to her dad and get him evaluated and cut loose. It�s not that he�s a real candidate for admission, he just has these bouts of panic/anxiety/confusion and the staff has trouble talking him down (�re-directed� is their phrase). The psych doc at the hospital understood, Club Med for the Septuagenarian Set also understood and took him back into their fold. What we really need to do now is re-evaluate his meds and see if there isn�t something along the lines of an instant rhino tranquilizer that can be administered transdermally (subcutaneous would work too � like an epi-pen) when he gets all lathered up. Then at least we�d only get phone calls letting us know they had to tranq him instead of the �oh � we had to take him into the hospital again . . .�. (Actually, they have a prescription for trazadone(?) for him that they administer when he�s �agitated� and we don�t get calls every time they give him that.) They just need something faster acting.

Well � time to get to the polls then head to work for another fun day. You all have a choice � behave or have fun. Pick one. But you MUST go vote. Go. Do it now.

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