Bachelorhood, revisited - again

One more time now, this 30-something white boy has been left to his own devices while the wife is off globe-trotting. The last time, my grand plans got derailed by injury, sloth, travel, and pointless political grand-standing. This time around, I am actually gainfully employed, so I limited my ambitions on what I would achieve while she was gone. Until yesterday I was also stuck on the night shift, which meant that all of my time off-work was poorly divided among food, sleep, and de-stressing. And dealing with the cat. My exploits are fairly-well documented here, so I won't rehash much now.


The cat has been quite lonely, and we've been having some good bonding time during her not-so-freaky moments. Here's a pic of her catching some zzz's with me - see if you can find "waldo" amongst the camouflage that is "her" blanket:



Rarely, she assumes a pose that never fails to amuse me - I finally managed to capture this to show you "SuperKitty"!



Besides being my lone companion, she has acted as an instigator in pushing me to get one or two things done already. Prior to the wife's departure we finally managed to pick up a bike for me, but outside of the 10-mile ride home from the store, I had yet to touch it. Under her "careful supervision,"



I finally managed to get the bike in ride-able condition while giving her some outside time. In the past she has been pretty content to stretch out on a concrete porch and enjoy nature a bit, and didn't tend to wander off. Now that she has tasted a bit of freedom at this new(ish) apartment on the ground floor, she has started exploring a bit too freely and keeps expecting to get let out now. Not such a good idea for an indoor cat (no front claws) who keeps hissing at the mere appearance of our neighborhood strays and semi-strays.

Yesterday I finally hopped on the bike for my first time for a local trip - to grab some Chinese food as a reward for having finished my stint on "night float." It has confirmed one unfortunate fact: I am really out of shape. Back in the good ol' days of college, I biked all over campus. Now that I'm back in a reasonably-sized town, I plan to resume that habit and use the bike to get to work, the gym, and nearby shopping. The wife is even finally willing to try out the saddle, so we have hopes of this new joint activity helping us to lose some weight and live a bit greener. Now to actually USE the bike to get to these places ... that's a pattern I hope to start in the immediate future.

Some other "accomplishables" while the boss is gone:

• at least one round of laundry and dishes - I'm not quite bad enough to just buy more stuff to tide me over, although the thought does keep recurring to me.
• cleaning up kitty puke - I'm getting tired of sashaying around the three spots in the hall that kitty has chosen to decorate.
• cleaning the litterbox - as kitty's recent habit of peeing outside the box DOES seem to have resolved after the antibiotics (likely a UTI, not solely a misbehavior), I would like to hose it out and change out the litter to reduce her chances of repeat performances.
• cleaning the bathroom - thoroughly. As if our own wear-and-tear in there isn't enough, it happens to be where the litterbox resides. All the dust and litter-litter that escapes the box has been tracked around in there for ... far too long to actually divulge.
• shopping - need to replenish the stock of essential items like peanut butter, jelly, eggs - the stuff even I can't screw up too badly to keep my stomach full.
  
• reading for work - I've been far too sporadic, I need to set up a pattern of daily reading even if it's only a page or two.
• scrap-booking - amongst the crap I've dragged from apartment to apartment are boxes of items to pour through and harvest for memorabilia. I vowed to the wife that I'd address this collection before moving all those extra boxes YET AGAIN, so hopefully I can make a bit of progress to get us on track for a new place in the late fall.

That's probably enough to work on for today, my last definite day off for a while. Especially since I'm already burning several hours by writing this drivel, and cutting into my sleep time prior to starting the day. At least taxes are done (and not too much after the deadline!) - although I'll be happier once the refunds are in my account.

Miscellaneous stuff for today as well:

• Catch-up on some administrative stuff for work (hours, journal club)
• Finish paying bills
• Relax with a netflix movie the wife doesn't wanna catch (in this case, G.I. Joe)

Something tells me that the netflix one is gonna get falsely-elevated to highest priority. To thine own self be true!!

C.R.A.P. Sunday - Bonzo's Ladder

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #4 - surreal images

So I burned up a couple of days of my temporary bachelorhood by heading out to my folks' place, near Rockford, IL. As if that concept - willingly subjecting myself to them without the safety and shelter of my spouse - wasn't surreal enough, I went that extra mile and even brought laundry with. Hey, machines that don't gulp down your coins in order to operate - I'll take 'em!!

The drive out there takes you somewhat nearby a nuclear power facility, assumedly at Byron, IL. My eye is always caught by the quite distinctive cooling towers, all the more dramatically due to the inherently frightening nature of nuclear energy. Apparently Illinois is the state with the most nuclear facilities - and I don't think we're glowing, yet. I'm just fascinated with the steam you can usually see rising from the cooling towers.

On the drive over from Chicago this time, I noticed some particularly prominent contrails, which my wife and I incorrectly refer to as "chemtrails" - we're not conspiracy nuts, we got the name mixed up. Again, a fascinating visual phenomenon, very eye-catching at times.

The surreal aspect was seeing a quite distinctive pair of contrails heading downward from the sky, DIRECTLY AIMED AT the cooling towers. My cell phone was (as usual when traveling, since I never broke down to buy a car charger for this model) on "low battery" mode and refusing to take pictures, otherwise I would have documented this for the sheer amazement of it. Of course, given that I was driving alone, in a moving vehicle going 65 mph, if I HAD managed to snap a photo it would have looked like this:

But below is a mini recreation of what I saw ... now tell me that seeing this combo in real life wouldn't make you triple-take?

Granted, there was no plane at the business-end of the contrails, the cooling towers were still intact, and there was no mushroom cloud in sight - but I still had trouble extracting my jaw from the dashboard.

Once I arrived, I gladly accepted the offer of a drink and promptly forgot to mention the sighting to my folks. Alcohol flows pretty freely when I visit with them - I probably drink more in one night with them than I would normally consume in a typical month on my own. This is not to say that I (or they) require the substance to interact humanely ... it has just become a ritual habit we have not "grown out of" yet. This is only the case when I am participating in an overnight, of course. Although I am guilty of having driven while "buzzed" in my youth, I would never intentionally drive while drunk.

It is quite frustrating, then, to hear all these news stories about celebrities convicted of DUIs. Celebretards aside, it is really frustrating to hear all the incidents of everyday people having accidents attributed to driving under the influence. The fiercely aggravating stories are about all these REPEAT OFFENDERS who have had multiple incidents of being caught driving under the influence. It's one thing to make a stupid mistake once. It's wholly idiotic to be in the position of many of these drivers who continue to drive after drinking - even despite tragic incidents in their past.

Some judges have stepped up the "punishments" for these people, and apparently many participate in an ignition lock system that requires a clean breathalyzer test before they can start their car. Sounds reasonable enough, although easily overcome - think of the scene in the movie 40 Year Old Virgin when the chick asks him to "breathe into this" before she starts her car.

Then there is this idiot, who rented a car to avoid his breath analyzer ignition lock, and then wrapped the rental car around a pole. GIVE ME A BREAK! Rental car companies are supposed to be so cautious - not renting to "kids" under 25 years old, supposedly doing background checks and denying people left and right for *seat belt violations*, let alone DUI. Somebody screwed up in a big way letting this guy have a car.

If nothing else, perhaps rental car companies should also provide vehicles prepared for this unfortunately numerous portion of the population, with breathalyzer ignition locks. Hell, if they are not going to bother with background checks, it should come standard. Or maybe you can get a free "upgrade" to a model WITHOUT one if you have a clean driving record?

Ok, enough for now. Hey - a whole blog without mentioning Burris. Whoo-hoo! I need a drink....

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Anyone get the title reference?
Pictures ripped off as follows: byron.jpg and contrail2.jpg borrowed from wikipedia pages. Others found on google image searches.

C.R.A.P. Sunday - Bachelor edition

Catch-up Rants And Platitudes - #3

It was a SHOWER! I've even used it a second time now, how refreshing. And thanks to kapgar for his suggestion, not only did the mouthwash fix my breath without all that effort of brushing, but it also gave me quite a nice little buzz. Shall we begin?!?

• Burris - I was hoping to be done ranting on the whole Blago / Burris thing. Now Burris has submitted an affidavit that appears to contradict his prior testimony. Briefly, he swore up and down (and under oath) before being sworn in that he was not approached for any sort of money in exchange for the Senate seat, and that he had no contact with Blago's camp. Now he is admitting to being asked to contribute to Blago's campaign fund prior to the appointment, and that he spoke with several members of Blago's camp. He is, of course, still claiming no wrongdoing, saying that no contribution was made, and that omissions were made in his testimony secondary to interruption by follow-up questions. The real story -- I'm guessing this is his last-ditch effort to avoid outright perjury as further evidence is revealed (i.e., recorded conversations between Burris and Blago's brother). Of course, the timing is after Blago's impeachment trial, so Burris's new version of events is too late to hurt him in that arena (not that it would have mattered, of course).
  
  Regardless, it's clearly shady that he was not forthcoming about these details -- and further proof of his questionable moral character. Kinda funny that he announces his "listening tour" of Illinois as this news breaks, reminiscent of his mentor Blago that went on a media tour as his impeachment trial began. So are we gonna see another circus of replacing our junior Senator before the 2010 election? Or just leave him there and laugh heartily if he even attempts to run at that time?!?


• Drew Peterson - the drama never ceases. Now they appear together on the "Today" show. Not only are they living together again and looking forward to marrying as soon as possible (hopefully AFTER he manages to divorce his "missing" wife), but there was absolutely NO MENTION of her prior statement about the engagement being "a stunt." What happened to her fear for her safety and concern about his habit of becoming bored with his wives? What about the ex-boyfriend she had moved back in with during the week or two that she was separated from Drew?!?
  
  My prediction -- he needs to marry her before his trial, so she cannot be called on to testify against him. It's obvious she knows something -- she's been very well coached about not answering questions relating to Stacy. I would not be surprised if her "resumption" of their relationship was in exchange for either 1) some sizable bribe, or 2) to prevent some sort of retaliation. Even a "Jerry Springer Girl" like her would not flip-flop so completely without some external influence. This story is far from over ... unfortunately, the drama will likely continue to play out over the next several years. I'd rather jump to the punchline and deny them further rounds of their 15 minutes. Otherwise my head is gonna explode.


• Just Shoot Me - Chicago is a pretty violent town. Robbery, mugging, rape, stabbings, shootings -- we have more than our fair share. People are frightened, I understand that. But please, please tell me how putting more guns on the street in "law abiding citizens'" hands is supposed to help that. They are trying to pass a concealed carry law, being pushed by a group of college students at DePaul University of all places. More guns will only increase the number of victims, whether we have "innocent bystanders" wounded by trigger-happy nervous people thinking they are being followed in dark parking garages, or by would-be defenders having their own guns used against them, or by angry citizens who reach for a handy weapon in a moment of rage. We need to get guns *OFF* the streets, not "levelize" the playing field by increasing fear that ANYONE might be carrying a gun. If this is really about helping women defend themselves, why not distribute mace as broadly as they hand out condoms? Non-lethal alternatives could be just as effective, and are more likely to be readily used by those uncomfortable with making the choice to fire a gun. Which would hopefully be ALL of us civilians.
  

Ok, back to the job hunt.

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News photos lifted from Chicago Sun-Times. Showerhead and pink gun stolen from Google images. No, I don't think that qualifies for "concealed carry" - even if it took you several minutes before you spotted the gun.

Bachelorhood Journal, Day 4

Things were nice and quiet at first, a pleasant change of pace around the apartment. Then it got oddly noisy, and I realized that my cat was becoming more and more vocal. Traced back the source of her consternation, and realized that her magic food bowl was no longer magic - it was empty! Imagine that.... So I decided to take stock of other changes around here.

#1 - i feel kinda weird. i think i'm developing a sort of oily layer. i may have to break down today and investigate the curtained-off area of the bathroom to figure out what that is for.

#2 - my teeth are growing fur. maybe that bristly-thingy hanging over the bathroom sink could help reverse this process. will have to give it a try at least.

#3 - running out of spoons. and room in the sink. and clean table space. very odd.

#4 - strange odor around apartment. can't quite nail it down - could be coming from litterbox, sink, or table. perhaps the garbage. or maybe secondary to items #1 or #2. that cat still hangs around me, so can't be too offensive. right?

Meanwhile, I think I have finally had my fill of peanut butter. Will have to investigate other edibles around the house. It has been sorta nice to always find things where I leave them, but not enough of a trade-off having to deal with #3 above.

Ok, well back to pretending to be productive. Might have to make that list of projects soon. At least my back isn't getting any worse (for now).

Bachelorhood, Revisted

Oh, I had such high hopes for the next several weeks. While the wife is away, the mouse was fully intending to play. I even made the sacrifice of NOT creating a list of the things I wanted to accomplish in my maelstrom of activity, hoping to fly from project to project as whim drew me. [After about 3 or 4 days I was likely to break down and spend a solid 2-3 days drawing up a list, revising it, prioritizing projects, and shuffling papers on my desk anyway.]

But no ... even before I could get out of the gate I have been derailed in a ridiculous way. Secondary to being hit by a car over 12 years ago, I have a mildly screwed-up back. As long as I am careful with lifting and watch my posture, don't sleep in funky positions, etc. - it's really not a problem. Until that frickin' exercise DVD. I won't go into details here - suffice to say that trying to combine a shoulder press with a deeper-than-I-had-tried-recently deep knee bend was a baaaaad idea.

Now I've thrown out my back before, from staying in an awkward position too long in the operating room, or even from sneezing too forcefully. Usually I walk funny for a day or two, but can get back to normal fairly rapidly and even function pretty well throughout - other than the funny walking. This time, ugh - the back pain has been so persistent that I had been really crooked in my posture. So much so, that a couple of days later a whole 'nother group of muscles went into spasm - I guess from overcompensation. And then I aggravated all that by helping my wife haul the laundry around. Thankfully she refused to let me carry her suitcases around too much.

Got her to the airport yesterday, came back and pretty much crashed out on the couch. Today also crashed out on the couch ... hopefully after a solid night's rest I'll be able to tackle some of the cleaning and sorting and extended sessions tackling e-mail and other posture-intensive activities. I did manage some pseudo-productivity - cleared some movies from our netflix queue that my wife was less than enthusiastic to view with me. For good reason. :-)

In the meantime, I'm back to all the trappings of bachelorhood (messy apartment, grooming activities considered "optional," diet unsupervised, tv on 25 hours / day) without the hoped-for benefits - like normal mobility and a modicum of energy. I'll give it another day or two - then I'll try for some better living through pharmacology. MMMmmmmmm, muscle relaxers. *Drooool*