Archive for September, 2007
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13
Sep
2007
The Past Is Always Gold
I’m not sure what today got me into this journey down memory lane.
But it began with hunting down this old commercial…
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qayjR8Qbyfc[/YOUTUBE]
And the memories came rushing back.. I moved from commercial to commercial and the odd cartoon of those days such as
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3n22GQMgcU[/YOUTUBE]
But in the end I came to a skittering halt here…
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNgtdALywyc[/YOUTUBE]
The first thought out of my head was maudlin… It worries me that people so often believe their childhoods, their past, was the best, that the future is darker… Does anyone talk to their elders and notice the pattern, that so often we look back with rose colored glasses and see it as a simpler and happier time.
I remember the past fondly, but the thing that bothers me about getting older isn’t the changing world, it’s that I have less time left to enjoy it…
11
Sep
2007
Next Stop?
Well, I’ve been debating this one for quite awhile.
I kept waffling. I discovered that I had built up a pile of points with my American Express card over the past few years. It helps that up until this month, I could charge work travel to my own card.
Once I figured out I could book through Amex and use my points for a big chunk of the ticket, I was thinking strongly of Egypt.
But I waffled and waffled. Maybe I’d wait again. You see, last year, I was in this same place, and I decided instead to take advantage of some cheap flights and go to Scotland again. And I don’t regret that at all, I had an outstanding time there, even if I partially re-traced my steps. The Highlands more than compensated for that, and I will be seeing more of those lovely Scottish Isles again one day.
So, last year, the prices went up literally a couple hundred dollars between when I first looked and two days later and they have stayed there for a solid year. I don’t know what sale was going on then, but it’s obviously not coming again. In fact, right now is the cheapest I’ve seen in quite awhile.
Over the weekend, I started thinking about Turkey for my nearly annual New Years trip. Or maybe Greece. Neither are in optimal weather, but if I followed those concerns then I would never have gone to Scotland the first time nor the second. I looked at Turkey… and tour company after tour company shut down October through March… hmmm… looked up the weather… Cold and wet season… hmm… maybe somewhere warmer…
This morning, I pulled up the tour I’ve had my eye on for over a year now… 1 seat left for the trip I wanted… one seat… okay, obviously, it was time to decide.
Checked out the airlines… The best price would have had me paying about $500 after cashing in my points… The catch? A 13 hour layover in Amsterdam airport. Not the worst airport for a layover from everything I’ve read, but considering I was going on to a non-euro country, I wasn’t sure I could go through immigration twice and make it worth getting in for sightseeing… There was that and that I was arriving in Cairo at 2am on the same day my tour starts… groan… I wrestled with that… I could tack on nearly $300 and have less of a layover, but… I’m sorry, I am a cheap, cheap man… I know I am… $300 for a good night’s sleep is what that translated into…
So, I continued to waffle… This evening, I finally called my boss to make sure that a little over two weeks off was no problem. While she knows about my trips, I didn’t work for her the last time I took such a lengthy time off. No problem.. In fact, she’s going to Egypt in November. 
I sat back down and booked the tour first. Because it would absolutely have sucked to book the flights and for the tour to vanish first…
After that… I logged on and some new flight options appeared! I paid $600 for this version that gets me into Cairo at 7pm the night before my tour! There’s still a 5 hour layover in Paris… And less than two hours in Franfkurt on the way back which worries me a little but… it was meant to be…
So, yep, I’m flying out of Atlanta on December 28th, arrive in Cairo on the 29th. Tour is from the 30th through the 13th. The 13th is a do your own thing day in Cairo, and my own thing is flying back to the states.
So, two weeks in those ancient lands seeing places I’ve only dreamed of….
11
Sep
2007
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Kroger
Almost two weeks ago, I was having my pre-op for the surgery. The hospital is down the street in Duluth, but the opposite direction I usually go to shop and all. That morning, I stopped by the Kroger coming from that direction instead. It’s a slightly older and less remodeled Kroger than the mammoth one nearer to me. The interesting thing was as I came in, they had big band music playing out over the store. I thought it was unusual but figured maybe they had music timed to the customers they expected during the work day, i.e. retired. As I wandered the store digging those classics, I stumbled past the deli and saw a pile of gray hairs filling the area and stopped to see they were all playing bingo. Apparently I’d stumbled onto some local club type deal. Not sure exactly, but it was interesting. I so seldom see any signs of community here in the bland burbs.
The two weeks since has whirled past and I’ve been pretty silent of late.
The surgery was exhausting, but it was nice having my Mom up here and my Aunt & Uncle came over and spent some time as well. I’ve lived so long without that immediacy to family contact that I’ve forgotten what that’s like. I spent labor day weekend with my parents and have been back here since. I’m two days from having the stitches out and I feel fairly good minus the itching. I look forward to being really on my feet again.
I’ve had several restless nights, waking up in the wee hours. This is uncommon, but it’s also rare for me to just spend day after day sitting around. Last night was a migraine or sinus headache in the wee hours… Wow… I’ll take just not being able to sleep over that any day. I had a friend who suggested it was a weather front passing. Not sure.
But I decided today at lunch to get out of the house for a bit. I decided to go to the same Kroger because they have a Moe’s next door where I could get lunch. Two birds (shopping) and lunch with one drive. As I hobbled through Kroger, I noticed no big band music, but I was nearly out the door before I realized they were playing 80’s music. While not my favorite music, it was the soundtrack of part of my younger years nonetheless and I was totally able to ignore it for 10 minutes? Not sure what that says…
Counting the days to these stitches coming out…
2
Sep
2007
DragonCon X
Spidey Disco
In honor of what would have been my 10th consecutive DragonCon.
I’m not heart broken at having missed it. If I had wanted to go bad enough, I would have delayed surgery on my foot. I wasn’t excited about going this year and had yet to even purchase tickets when the surgery was planned two weeks ago.
The bone chip in a joint in my foot turned out to be a bone spur. I’m still not entirely sure how the fall a month ago precipitated all this. The bone spur had been forming there a long, long time, and apparently was a big impediment to the proper functioning of my foot. I look forward to seeing the difference once the foot is unbandaged and the stitches are out…
I actually took this over a week ago, playing with my camera and my uber poseable Spidey figure.
1
Sep
2007
I Will Survive
Surgery yesterday was both earlier than expected and longer than expected.
I had gone home to pick up my Mom the day before and the phone rang at their house and I saw it was the hospital. I answered expecting they wanted to speak to me, but they asked for Mom. I gather they hadn’t gotten me at my house, as they talked to my Mom to let her know the surgery time was moved up an hour and a half. When they found out I was there, they spoke to me and told me the same.
I tried, as told, to eat a lot of protein up until midnight the night before. And I woke up STARVING at 5:30am. I mean, more hungry than I have ever been. I never wake up that hungry. There are some days on weekends I sleep late enough I just wait for lunch. This was so totally psychological. My mind decided to make me regret not eating.
By the time surgery was on the horizon, my mind had other things on its… er… mind…
I wasn’t so nervous that I was super anxious, but my blood pressure was a little elevated (though still in the norm but above my personal norm). I’m lucky to have good blood pressure. Yet I come from a family laced with problems in that area.
I had a local anesthetic and was told that on the loopy knock out stuff in the intravenous, I could have as much or as little as I wanted. I kept telling them not so much until things started and I personally recall requesting more twice.
I did hear people speaking and such off and on, but I think I slept through the bulk of it.
They went in expecting a chip resting in a joint based on the x-rays. In reality, they found a bone spur. Based on the doctor’s best guess, it’s the result of an injury some twenty years old. He said I should have had very limited range of motion in my foot as a result. Why it only started hurting after this recent accident is a mystery. I should have had problems already, but I guess if the range of motion has been restricted a long time, it’s little wonder I couldn’t tell that.
Apparently he literally had to chisel out the spur. I must have been pretty loopy as I don’t remember that. I do remember them waking me and telling me it had been more than expected, but the details I didn’t get until meeting back with my Mom in recovery where I ravenously ate some crackers and a coke.
It was 5:30pm when we got home. We stopped for take away for dinner and I have prescription pain killers and antibiotics to take for awhile.
Dead exhausted but feeling fine and I so appreciate all the well wishes beforehand and the good thoughts you all kept for me. Thanks!
