Mt. Tallac Hike

There is nothing quite like an unexpected gift.

I woke up a little late today, but in no real rush. Wednesdays I usually go to work from 1pm to 5pm, so waking up at 10am instead of an hour earlier really didn't change much for me today. I was contemplating hiking up Mt. Tallac, but didn't have enough time before work. I thought about hopping on WoW for a minute, but I knew that minute would quickly turn into two hours, and I'd be on my way to work--grumbling about a wasted morning.

I decided to head to the Mt. Tallac trail head, with the intent of hiking a few miles in to either Crystal or Cathedral lakes. I hiked about a mile in and decided to take a quick breather, and check my phone to see how much time I had before work. I was hoping I could make it to the lakes and back, but it was going to be close.

I grabbed my phone out of my backpack and turned it on. I wasn't really thinking about getting service, I was just interested in checking the time--but the phone came alive with 4 out of 5 bars, and quickly chimed that I had a voicemail message. I checked my voicemail, and it turned out to have two messages. I was expecting a call from Kristen about her and Conor's plans to come up this weekend, but I wasn't sure who the other call was.

It was Flo, from work. No doctors were coming in today, so if I didn't want to work, I didn't have to... Hallelujah! I got this big grin on my face, because I knew I could now take it slow, and also make it to the peak! The other call was from Kristen, and it turns out her, Conor, Barb and Roxie will all be carpooling up on Saturday--so that was more good news!

The first few miles to the lake were nice and shaded, and not too steep. There were a couple areas that had burned along the trail, apparently from ash falling in the Angora Fire at the beginning of July. A couple was swimming in Cathedral Lake when I arrived, so I decided to save my swim for the way back. The trail got a lot rougher past the lakes. There was hardly any shade (I didn't bring sun screen, just a big, floppy hat), and it was a steep, gravel-filled trail.

I zoomed past a few people hiking their way up (from the Bay area--not acclimatized to the 6-9k elevation of the hike), then I found a group of about six 12-15 year old girls, along with their two chaperones. Apparently they were waiting for one of the couples I passed, who were also chapperones. I passed the group, and then about two minutes later I hear voices behind me. Two of the girls were busting it up the trail behind me, and eventually passed me about ten minutes later.

I could hardly believe it. I mean, I'm not in shape or anything, but I am an athletic, 25-year-old male, with a very long stride. These two girls passed me like I was an 80-year-old man with a cane! Nothing like getting passed by girls half your age to make you feel old!

Back to the trail itself... if I hadn't already read up on it, and known that the first little peak you come to isn't the actual peak--I would have been very miffed. You climb this really tough section and make it to the top of what you can see from the bottom--only to find that you are on a wind-ripped plateau, with another two miles of trail ahead of you. The plateau had some amazing wild flowers though, so I wasn't too bummed--along with an amazing view. A hike up to there would be plenty good enough for me usually, but I needed to get a good pre-John Muir hike in, and I wanted to see what all the hype about "best view in Tahoe" was about.

I passed a "Mt. Tallac this way" marker, and started to get giddy. The two girls were probably already up at the peak, but the rest of the gaggle were well behind me, so at least I wasn't completely shamed on this trip.

Made it to the peak at right around 1:30pm, which made for a 2.5 hour hike up the mountain. Granted, I didn't stop too often, or lolly-gag, but that is a pretty good time for a 3200ft elevation gain, 5-mile hike. The view from the top was simply amazing. Towards Lake Tahoe, you could see nearly the entire lake, easily the best view I've seen of the lake. I did a 360 video from the tippy-top of the peak, and I could literally see a dozen different tiny lakes in the mountain range, which I had no idea existed. It was a very cool spot to be on a Wednesday afternoon :)

Two other ladies were up at the peak, and they had quite a chipmunk audience. There was one fat chipmunk, who was the most aggressive, and he would chase away the skinny chipmunks. The two ladies kept trying to get the skinny ones food, but the bully would get the morsel every time. Damn bullies.

It probably only took an hour and a half of hiking to get back down, but I stopped for 30 minutes at Cathedral Lake for a swim and to give my water-filter a test run before the John Muir hike.

I got back into town and went directly to the cheap Mexican place and ordered a burrito. I had water on the trip, but no food--so I was huuungry!

The hike was great--water filter worked like a charm, and my boots were near-perfect. The only gripe I have is that the laces kept getting caught in the opposite boot, which had me face-planting every hour or so. I'll have to find out a better way to get those damn things out of the way! My feet are a bit sore, but that is to be expected after my first 10-mile hike in years. Hopefully this hike will build up a bit of toughness in my feet, so the soreness doesn't come around for the big hike next week!

Pictures: (pretty much in order from what I described above)

Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe


Burn-victim shrubs


Cathedral Lake


A higher shot of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe


Roughest Section


Purple? pretty wild flowers


Getting Close!


Made it!


On Top of the World!

Torn Ligament Blues

Dr. Bannar was nice enough to see me yesterday afternoon, when I came in for my afternoon shift. He took a look at my sprained ankle, poked a few places that felt fine and a few places that made me grimace with pain. Dr. Bannar then shot me back to Marty to take a few x-rays (free of charge, thank goodness!), which came out negative. No fracture, but he's pretty sure I tore the lower ligament in my ankle. Apparently there are three main ligaments that hold ankles in place, so the two that are alright are the ones that I use for walking--which hasn't been interrupted too bad--but the third is vital for running, which I can't do.

Bummer, because I shelled out $90 to play in the Hats, Hops, and Hucks tournament this weekend in Santa Cruz. Fortunately, I was able to get a little refund, even though I still plan on going, I just don't plan on playing. Also, it turns out Anne, from my old Daoc-days, lives in Santa Cruz now--so I might hang out with her a bit this weekend. Should be a fun weekend, even though I am a bit bummed about not getting to play in a really fun hat tournament.

My WoW addiction has begun again. Must...still... get outside! Although, I must admit--when you're holed up at home with a torn up ankle, WoW is a nice escape.

Fears

A lady I work with at Tahoe Fracture nearly had a heart attack today. Because she is deathly... DEATHLY!!! afraid... of...

rodents.



Apparently, Michelle, another lady who works in medical records (who just found out she's preggers), opened the drawer beneath her desk this morning and a little chipmunk popped out!

How cute, right?

WRONG!!!

Laurie went CRAAAZY and ran out of the room like a gunman had just stormed in. A chipmunk. Laurie wouldn't set foot in the room until everyone promised to their God, swore on the mother's and father's lives, and just about every other promise--that there were no rodents in the room. She was white as a ghost.

After about an hour of her standing around where I work, freaked out, she rubber-banded the bottom of her pant legs (so the chipmunks wouldn't run up her pants, obviously), and tip-toed back into the back office.

Now, I'm not really trying to poke fun, I'm more interested in how the hell some fear like that can develop. What are the odds that she's actually experienced chipmunks up her pant-legs, to logically fear that happening? Pretty close to zero, I'd think. I fail to see anything that a chipmunk could possibly do to me, to make me fear it. Poisonous snakes--death--OK, I fear you. Chipmunk who wants preggers Michelle's Snicker's bar? Awww cute.

Now, I guess the weirdest thing I can't stand is Styrofoam. I wouldn't say I fear it, but if someone was assembling new computers behind me, scratching Styrofoam all day long, I might just have to leave. Something about the screeching sound just completely makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The lady who is deathly afraid of chipmunks can probably juggle Styrofoam balls all day long, though.

I just don't understand it.

And I'm glad I didn't tell her how a chipmunk climbed up my leg while I was eating outside Tahoe Fracture Monday for lunch ><. It dropped down from its hiding spot underneath the picnic table and into my lap. Freaked me out a bit, but this lady would probably have to look both down AND up if I told her that story!

Live Earth and Softball!

Metallica kicks fucking ass!

I know, I know, I said I would update the Pirates vs. Ninjas thing yesterday or today, but I stayed at work from 8am to 8pm today. I could have tried to update from work, but what I've already written out is here on my laptop, not on the internet.

So, I guess there was a pretty big concert on 7/7/07 that I didn't read much about called Live Earth. Youtube has quite a few videos of the shows in London, Tokyo, and New York (those are the only three places I know of). London had some stellar, blockbuster names play, including Metallica, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Beastie Boys to name a few. I think Black Eyed Peas, John Mayer, Alicia Keys and U2 played in New York. The premise of the concert I think was just being smart about the Earth we live on, recycling and using less fuel and whatnot--great cause and great music.

Balls, checked just now and it looks like the videos have already been removed. Awwwwwwwwww, Peaches!

So yeah, I worked from 8am to 6:30pm today with a half-hour break for lunch. Then I stayed until 8pm watching the Home Run Derby on ESPN. I got invited to go play softball with Gina's softball team, which also included Marty, Michelle, and Tara from Tahoe Fracture. I could have left work at 6:30pm and chilled at home for an hour or so, but I had to be at the softball field at 8:30pm, and it was just a mile from work, so I stuck around late. The derby pumped me up for softball, anyways!

Softball was a blast, and it was the first time I've played since Junior or Senior year of college intramurals. I think softball was the only championship I ever won in intramurals, playing on literally dozens of different basketball teams (we must have finished 2nd ten times in basketball). I even lost the ultimate frisbee championship game (because we couldn't field a team for the final game--we would have schooled them).

I was a bit rusty, and we had 12 people, so Coach Gina and I sat out the first two innings while we were out in the field. Sitting out, and the Tecate beer Gina gave me as a consolation for sitting out, helped ease my nerves a bit. Gina put me batting 2nd in the order to compensate for my sitting out, which I was a bit nervous about.

Back when I played baseball, I was a pretty good fielder, but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door. Our team was in the field first, and Marty was pitching. I could tell from his attire that he plays a bit of softball away from work. He had the baseball bag with bats and softballs. He was wearing baseball pants with a batting glove hanging out of the butt-pocket. And I'm pretty sure he had stirrups on. To make a long story short, he walked in four runs in the top-half of the 1st inning, then yanked himself as pitcher. Mark came in to relieve Marty, and I felt like there should be music blaring (like they do at all the Major League games when the relief pitcher trots in from the outfield). On Mark's first pitch, the guy lines it right back to him, and he tosses the dude out at first to end the inning--nice!

We're down a quick 0-4, and Allyson, a very big newbie to the game of softball, is leading off. She whiffs a few times, then trickles a grounder back to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. I'm up next, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the same thing Allyson did, or hit a little dink pop-fly to the infield. I take the first few pitches and then swing at an eye-high pitch--my wheel-house! I zip a grounder right up the middle, for a pretty nice base-hit. It was far enough away from the pitcher that he couldn't take a stab at it, but it was hit hard enough that the shortstop, who was shading towards 3rd base, couldn't even make a play on it.

I couldn't believe it, I got a hit! Gina was up next, and grounded it to 2nd base, who threw it to the short-stop for the force-out on me--while Gina prevented the double-play by making it to 1st just in the nick of time. Marty launched one as the next batter, and Gina scored all the way from first base to get us on the board!

Not much eventful happened until the top of the third inning, when I got to go in on defense. I chose left-left field (we had four out-fielders). That inning, two balls were hit to me, and I ended up catching both of them! The third out was a line-drive to Tara at 2nd base, and she made a leaping grab to end the inning. It was a great inning, because the two fly-outs to me I completely mis-read, but I was close enough to stretch waaaay above my head and to the right to make the catch both times. I looked like a complete doofus, but I got the outs! The fact that Tara had to make a big stretch for hers made the inning complete :)

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, we made a little run, and I got up to bat with men on 2nd and 3rd, and only one out. I waited for my pitch, and on the fourth or fifth pitch of the at-bat, I grooved a shot into shallow-right field and made it to 2nd base for the stand-up double--driving in two runs! 2-for-2 with 2 RBI's??? If you had told me that before the game, I would have laughed you out of sight. We were still down 7-4, but the game was within reach.

With two outs and nobody on in the top of the 4th, a big guy on their team hit a sort of soft line drive right down the line towards me, and I raced to grab it in the air--I got to the ball in time, but it bounced off my glove and onto the ground. Instead of kicking myself over the error, I picked it up quick and fired it into 2nd base, where Tara grabbed it out of the air, spun around, and tagged the guy out trying to stretch my error into a double! No more error for me!! Woot!

My next at-bat came in the bottom of the 5th, and again I had two people on, but this time on first and second, with two outs--a much more difficult situation. I had found gaps my last two times up, while waiting for a good pitch... but this time the first pitch looked extra-juicy, so I wailed at it. I crushed the ball pretty good--easily my longest, prettiest hit of the night, but it went straight at their left-fielder, who caught the ball and our little rally died out. The score was still 7-4 bad guys.

The game was pretty uneventful from there on. I got a few grounders that made it through the infield, but no heroic plays or anymore at-bats. I ended the game with 3 put-outs, and I went 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Not too shabby! Hopefully, I'll get to play a few more games with them. They were a really fun team to play with, and there was talk of a hot-tub party at Tara's place after the game. She's actually house-sitting for Dr. Bannar this week--so that would have been freaking awesome, but ah well--hopefully he's out of town for two weeks! :)

I promise the Pirates vs. Ninja update tomorrow by early afternoon. Schaubs, Willy, Tyler and Marc have all responded, so everything is a go!

Fun With Psalms

A travelling Bible saleswoman just came through the office, and tried to unload a whole stack of Bibles on me at the front desk. I shot her down, but she did toss a "New Testament: Psalms Proverbs" book at me, and I grudgingly took it.

I was bored at work, so I started flipping through it. Then I came across this gem:

Luke 20:29
"Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children."

Awesome. What is the moral of this story, exactly? LOL. Also, if the Bible can start sentences with And, then I can too!

And now I'm going to search for more funny psalms.

Pirates v. Ninjas, Weekend and Forest Fire Updates

Well, lets start with the most recent and work backwards... haven't done that in a while, why not mix it up?

I just finished writing the intro to my new blog idea at: MHG-RPG

I decided to go with Tyler's idea of Pirates v. Ninjas, because it sounds fun. Both to write and for others to participate in. So if you've ever wanted to be a ninja or a pirate, you'd be doing yourself a dis-service by not checking out my new creative outlet and playing along! If you've never thought of being a ninja or a pirate, QUIT LYING!! If you didn't see my post a week or two ago about it, it is pretty much going to be a story that I write in the next two months, involving pirates and ninjas. You can have a character in the story, and influence what happens by commenting on the blog after every weekly installment.

Because this is my first shot at it, and I want a definite ending, this first game is going to have plenty of violence. The FINAL CHAPTER will be around the middle of August, and it will end with one character left alive, will that character be yours? Will it be a ninja? A pirate? Or will it be the not-so-innocent vixen bartender who spends most of her time "below deck?" Ho Ho! Come play!

You've got a week or two before the story starts up, so head on over there and post a comment. If you're like me, and get excited about things, then forget about them a few weeks later--no worries! I'll just kill your character sooner than later! :D

In journaling news, today was a very memorable day. The sky has been covered in smoke all day. It is almost like a dense fog has covered the entire Tahoe basin area. The fire is still under 10% controlled, and all the smoke has grounded any aerial assault on the blaze. The winds were picking up when I left work, which is never good when it comes to forest fires.





Allison wasn't at work today. Her house burned down. In a weird and twisted way, it is actually a very good thing for her. She's the one going through the messy divorce, and her husband has been trying to take her name off the title, and sell it out from under her. Now she gets half (or more?) of the insurance money. Her husband will probably be a handful to deal with, but at least she'll finally get the money she deserves. Her kids lost everything they owned, because they were still living with their dad for the most part, but all of her stuff is in the new place she is living.

My boss Chris, and one of the doctor's stayed the night at the Fracture clinic Sunday night, because they had been evacuated from their homes. Apparently they had a little bbq and sat by the fireplace. Not a bad place to be cooped up... but if their homes get caught in the blaze too, I feel very sorry for them. Getting through it as a single mom with two teenagers is tough enough for Allison, but taking a little kid away from his home and living out of a hotel or a friend's house for who knows how long, would be incredibly difficult on both Chris and the doctor's families.

Amidst all of the craziness today at work, we also had Chris's cat and the Dr.'s animals with us in the clinic, which was one of the few uplifting moments of the day. The work day was one I'll not forget anytime soon. More than half of the patients canceled, which is to be expected on a day where a fire is raging out of control just miles from the clinic. I never really put much thought into not going to work today though. And I think working at a medical clinic had a lot to do with that. If I had my insurance Admin. Assistant job in Portland and there was a fire downtown, I'd be sleeping in! But knowing that me being there helped patients get seen quicker, influenced me heavily in trying to get to work in time today.

I had to detour around a road block and take a few back roads, but I made it, and was surprised at how many people made it in to work. Allison was being a mom to her two kids, and stayed at a friend's house. Cory was busy spraying his home and neighboring homes with water all day, so he wasn't in. Trish wasn't aloud to travel into the city from where she lives in the boonies, so she wasn't in. Debbie was on fire watch, so she couldn't make it. We had a skeleton crew, but I'm still impressed with how many of us showed up for work. I feel a bit bad about leaving for Seattle tomorrow, knowing what Allison will be going through, but I hear she is coming to work tomorrow, and hopefully she'll be able to press through the day.

Yesterday night, after coming home from taking pictures of the fire, Cody arrived home and said, "Chris, I've got a present for you." Knowing Cody, I thought he meant Ichi had left another corpse out front, and I best be cleaning it up soon. Then I remembered Gina saying Cody was going to go get a puppy. A German-Sheppard puppy. Just like in those Bounty commercials, this dog is freaking cute:





Her name is Bella, and right now she is barking like a squeak-toy at Cody, who is in the shower. We played a bit, and Ichi swatted at her for getting a little too close. Ichi isn't pleased with the addition to the house, but he was even less pleased when I got home today and found Matt's pit bull licking me in the crotch. If Ichi and puppies don't mix, Ichi and overly-aggressive dogs definitely don't mix!

Before the fire was a lot of fun. Only two of us jumped into the lake, because it was freezing up there with those 35mph winds. But we hiked out to a rock on the far side of the lake, and the eight of us had a good time soaking up some rays, drinking PBR, and laughing a lot. We stopped beforehand for breakfast at The Red Hut, and I'll definitely be going back there before I leave Tahoe. Cheap and yummy.



I rode up to Tahoe from Davis yesterday morning, and was having a hard time staying alert and focused on the road, so I stopped in Placerville for a quick break. I stopped at a little bagel place, to find a very attractive girl behind the counter who gave me a healthy portion of whipped cream on my hot chocolate. We talked a bit, and it turned out that I wasn't the only one in the bagel shop hungover!

The night before was a good time. We ended at Conor and Kristen's house, with Kristen whooping us at Mario Party. It was pretty close, but she won, the computer got second, I got third, and Conor finished dead last. The cpu stole one of my stars on a battle-game on the 2nd to last turn, *@#$!

Before that, we hit the pool party, and had a fun time playing bouncy-ball volleyball in the pool, followed by a 10-person flippy-cup race. Flippy-cup did me in, but it wasn't the primary doer-inner. The primary doer-inner would have to be beer-frisbee, which I played a few points of while the semi-finals were going on at the frisbee tournament. You touch the disc, you drink. Your team drops the disc, social! You D the disc, but spill your beer? No D, and you drink! Needless to say, we got hammered pretty quickly. We then played fantasy-ultimate from the sidelines during the Finals game, which made it 100x more fun.

I had no idea Conor's team won 13-4, because we were having so much fun picking players each point and rooting for them to make a D (1point), throw a score (1point), catch a score (1point), or for other people to make a turnover (-1point). We created a pretty nice ruckus, from what I can remember. Kristen ended up winning, and ran out onto the field a few times to give her players hi-fives or kisses (Conor) for getting her fantasy points. Silly Kristen.

Before the Finals game, but after beer-frisbee, I swapped massages with my teammate Jen. That hit the spot. We exchanged numbers, and she might be joining a few of us in Grass Valley for the Ani concert and rafting. She's also a rock-climber, and might be heading up to tahoe to teach me a thing or two about climbing. She also started her first day of her Teaching Credential program today--eerie similarities!

The actual frisbee play was a lot of fun, we lost our first two games by 1 point and 2 points, respectively; then won our third game by 2 points. I don't think either team was up by more than 3 points in any of the games we played. Fun times. We threw a crazy defense against Jack's team in the first game, one I sort of invented on the fly.

They only had two handlers: Jack and Kendra, but the two of them could tear up our zone. So we played a zone with one chase. 3 people in the cup, 2 wings, 1 deep, and 1 person to just play man-to-man defense on Jack. It worked tremendously well, and we ran off 4 points in a row to take the lead in the second half, before eventually losing 11-10 on "universe point" where Ed made an amazing juke cut, but unfortunately I was the one he juked, and I was the one throwing the disc to him--doh!

Conor and I had a bet going--he was playing with Kristina, and I was playing on Kristen's team--so we bet which couple would make more assists together. Assists as in Kristen throwing it to me for a score, or vice versa. Hammer or other upside-down throws counted as 2 points. Kristen and I ended up connecting twice on the day, but one was a hammer from yours truly, so we ended up winning the bet. What did we bet? Conor had to be my beer bitch for the rest of the night! Unfortunately, I forgot to take advantage of it at least five times, but finally got a good opportunity during our game of flippy-cup.

The night before the frisbee tourney, I rode down to Davis after getting off a bit early from work. I did a bit of lane-splitting once I got into Sacramento, and zoomed through the parking-lot of cars. I love my motorcycle! We chatted it up a bit--Conor and Kristen had just gotten back from Vegas in the morning--then we went out for pizza at Woodstock's. They didn't have pitchers of beer, but they did have litres! Holy Jesus those things are fun to drink! We had a half-pepperoni and sausage, half Kristen-pizza. Her pizza is sun-dried tomatoes, feta, and pineapple on pesto-sauce. It was amazing. So was the meat side, mmm, best of both worlds, mmm. We finished up at the pizza joint with $2 worth of Family Guy Pinball. Kristen whooped us, and it turns out Conor is a pretty big pinball fan, and knew of "Theater Magic" the game Stacey and I pumped a lot of money into at Ground Kontrol, up in Portland.

After Woodstock's, we played a little 5-man poker tourney over at Conor and Kristen's friends Jon and Liz's house. I started off hot, winning the first few hands and showing my big bluffs, but my supreme strategy of portraying loose-maniac then hitting them with my monsters didn't work. I got riverred twice, and next thing I knew I was playing Mario Golf against Conor for pushups. I lost, and did my 25 pushups like they were nothing *flex*.

We headed back to Conor and Kristen's place, and Kristen was ready for bed, so Conor and I played a 20-round game of Mario-Party for 10-situps every mini-game. I'm pretty sure I came out ahead. Of course, we were drinking too, and that drinking/situp combo is devastating... devastating I tell you.

We also had a big bet going on winning the game, but we both ended up getting beat by the computer. If one of us had one, the other would have had to streak at the pool party the next night. Thank god for the computer.

Could Have Been Much Worse

Slept through my alarm clock this morning. Woke up with a 20 minute drive and 10 minutes to get there. Not good. Hadn't showered, hadn't brushed my teeth, and mysteriously awoke with a massive hangover.

(checks last two posts, "oooooh, right")

I dusted off the Explorer key and stepped outside to a beautiful light rain. I enjoy all the sun in California/Nevada, but I sure do miss the rain. The raindrops felt refreshing on my buzzed hair--a feeling which I hadn't experienced yet.

I drove very slowly to work, and started braking a couple hundred feet before the stop lights, to avoid any sudden herky-jerky movement. I was moving slow, sitting low, and smiling at the rain.

Made it to work ten minutes late, and had some trouble staying alert. Leann called my name about five times, and I didn't realize it until she started laughing. Pam called in at 8:45am and said she wasn't coming in today. Not cool. At first, I thought I might be able to stay and pick up some hours, then Flo and Alison thought I should say something to Dr. Proctor (real name) about Pam's taking advantage of my willing to work. I don't really mind most of the time, especially because I consider it future weight to use against her.

"Oh, you can't cover my shift? Remember the 10 days I covered for you?"

Not that mean, but you get the idea. Also, by making a hub-bub about Pam, it would just lead to awkwardness at the office, and I'm not too keen on that. But, I did end up talking to Proctor and just letting him know that I had previous plans, and wouldn't be able to stay. Partially true.

I had planned on observing today at the middle school, but with my hangover I wasn't sure if it was such a hot idea. I guilt-tripped myself into observing for an hour on my way home, so the big, bad karma beast wouldn't smite me for ditching work, and hours I should probably be snatching up. Stopped by the DMV for more self-punishment, which didn't turn out to be so bad. I'm just supposed to bring the title by when I get it in the mail in 3-4 weeks.

Made it home around 11:30am, finally had some breakfast, then crashed. It is hard to imagine that I'd still be at work right now if I had stayed. I would be beyond dead if I stayed. Fortunately for me, I won $50 in 50 minutes of $2/$4 HORSE at Full Tilt, so that makes me a little less bummed about missing out on work $$$.

Putting the Eeee! in Weekend

Yesterday, Pam didn't show up for work. No phone call, just didn't show up. So when I went in at my normal 1pm on Wednesday, I was told there might be a possibility Pam wouldn't show up for her shift on Thursday. Tuesday/Thursdays I only work from 8am-11am normally, but today I stuck around until 5pm. I didn't mind though, and today Pam actually called in and asked--so I was able to weasel a free 3-pack of Haagen Daas Chocolate/Dark Chocolate out of her for covering her shift (GOOOOAL!).

I had some crazy dreams last night. One involved me being 12 or 13 years old, running back from an afternoon at Andrew's house. I pass by this other jogger and I do a little wave, but he just looks at me and keeps jogging past. I keep going, then look over my shoulder about 500ft later and he's turned around and running after me. I'm about a block from my house, and he's gaining on me. I make it to my front lawn and shout, "DAD!!!"

And then I wake up from my dream and immediately cover my mouth. Did I really just shout? I'm pretty sure I did, but I'll never know.

Another dream I had was leaving at my normal time from work, and spraining my ankle at basketball. Then not being able to play frisbee this weekend over in Grass Valley. So when Pam wanted her shift covered, I quickly agreed (after proposing the Haagen Daas payment). No sprained ankle for me! Take that, nightmare world!

So I was zooming through the day at work, excited for the weekend, when I decided to check my cell phone voice mail just in case the middle school had called me back about observation. I'm not having much luck getting through all of the red tape these damn schools put up to keep weirdos out. On Tuesday I went and talked to the front office at South Tahoe Middle School, who sent me to the District Office down the street. The District Office then sent me back to the Middle School to get approval from the principal. So, I walked back to the school, and of course the principal was not around. I left a message with the secretary, but I'm still waiting for some sort of response.

No voicemail from the school, but a shocking two other messages. The only voicemail I get is from Dirk, who hasn't found out that I use email instead of my phone for my primary mode of communication. And neither message was from Dirk!

First message was from Kristina, trying to figure out when I'd be heading over to Nevada City on Friday. Second message was very unexpected and amazing--from Kristen, a Sacramento frisbee'er, wanting to know if I, or possibly both Kristina and I, would like to play with her team at a one-day tournament in Marin (near the Bay Area) on Memorial Day!

I got off work and rode to Kahle and immediately called Kristina about the revelations. I guess our signals were a bit crossed about the Grass Valley tournament--because I thought she was for sure playing on Saturday and Sunday--and I would be sort of tagging along with her on the team. In fact, she wasn't planning on playing at all! Oops! So, I'm not sure if I'll be playing in that tourney, but Kristina sounded very psyched about the Marin tourney on Memorial Day, and said she's in.

After chatting with Kristina for a bit, I called up Kristen with the good news. Kristen is part of the team I would definitely be playing with if I lived closer to Sacramento. Some of the most amazing people from the area decided to make a team when they weren't happy with the leadership of the only team in the area. They are some of my best friends in Sac, and I can't wait to play with them on Monday! Also, Kristen said that their turn-out has been smaller than expected, and that they would most likely have spots for future tournaments, if I wanted to play--and since they are short on people, the practices that I wouldn't be able to make (because of distance) wouldn't be an issue! Niiiice!

Really looking forward to the bike ride over to Nevada City tomorrow afternoon. I should be getting off work around noon, and I'll try to beat the Memorial Day traffic (although most of it will be heading in the opposite direction). It'll be fun to play with Raffle a bit before Kristina gets home. Something tells me Paige and Jackson will be huge--even though it has only been three months since I saw them last (Kristina's sister's kids who live next door). Also--Northridge pizza tomorrow night! Mmmm~

In motorcycle news, I changed the oil for the first time today--the oil pan I got was just big enough to hold all of the oil--got lucky there. I took out the oil filter too, but it looked brand new still, so I just put it back in. I had to add more oil three times, to make sure enough oil is in for the Nevada City trip. I took a test-drive down to Safeway and it was running amazingly smooth. Not an incredible difference, but it definitely felt smooth.

You know what else is smooth? Guinness. And I bought six of those and a bag of doritos, which I brought back home to enjoy. Polished off three Guinness's and half of the doritos. Nacho Cheese is my Achilles Heel.

I might have screwed up my laptop tonight :( I was eating dinner, and I had to move my laptop off my lap to go put away my plate, and I grabbed it form the bottom. I heard a sound like a fan sputtering to a stop from where I grabbed it on the bottom. Not good. It seems to run OK normally, but the battery died super fast tonight while I had it in the other room, and when I tried to play FIFA tonight, I was only getting about 2 frames per second. The computer scored on me and I didn't even know I had lost the ball! Hopefully sleep does the computer good. Ichi and I are heading off to sleep land right about... now. zzz

Freaky Friday Monster Post

Lots of ups and downs today, ending in a sort of blah feeling (but after writing this, a good feeling--go figure!).

I got up early, showered, and was excited to ride my bike into work this morning--but I couldn't start the damn thing! It is still chilly in the morning here, around 45 degrees, even though the afternoons are a perfect 70 degrees. I've done quite a bit of research this evening on starting techniques, because I really want to be able to ride to work. Also, if I can't start the bike in sub-50 degree weather, it'll pretty much be useless in Seattle.

Ended up giving up and drove the Exploder to work, bitching and moaning along the way. Made it to work to see a super-easy schedule, with the last patient showing up at 1pm. I wasn't scheduled to stay late, so it looked like an early departure for me. Then Chris (bossman) asked me if I wanted to go work down in Carson City today, because they had two people call in sick. I didn't hesitate and said, "sure! why not?" It meant working longer, but I could use a few more hours, and it would also give me a chance to swing by the house and try to start the motorcycle again.

I swung by the house and tried again, with no luck. Jen came home from running an early-morning errand (coffee?) and tried to help me jump the motorcycle, which turned out to be quite the trial. We were pretty clueless, staring at my instruction manual for minutes at a time, but we finally hooked everything up correctly and the motor turned over--then died. BAH! I get lots of wheezing, but no start in the morning. In the afternoon it starts up just fine. Maybe it needs a heater blanket??

I grumpily drove the Exploder the 25 miles to Carson City. I was hoping to have a big smile on my face from riding the ninja down, but things didn't go according to plan. Then, there turned out to be construction on Highway 50, which would have sucked for me riding the ninja. Big pot holes, big bumps--so in a way I'm glad I didn't ride the bike down to Carson. Like I said, lots of ups and downs this morning!

When I got to the Carson Clinic, I wasn't really sure what to expect. That clinic is the busiest of the five, and I didn't know how similar their check-in duties would be to SLT's. It turned out to be pretty similar, and I recognized a few familiar faces that work in SLT on certain days of the week. To me, the big difference between the two offices is first and foremost the staff. Pretty much a no-brainer that the staffs would have different feels to them, but I didn't know what to expect.

I worked check-in, while Donna worked check-out right next to me. She was a lot of fun and was cracking jokes all day long. I think she is in her late 30's, and talked constantly, including a bit about her kid with ADHD (wonder where he got THAT from?). She was bouncing off the walls most of the day, but it was a fun change. I don't think I'd like working there every day, but it is a fun little twist.

Another difference was the setup. They have a glass sliding window between check-in and the office, that for some reason the office staff liked to keep shut. It felt pretty awkward to me, but if the office wanted to joke around, it made sense to have the window shut. But to me, having the window shut just made for an unfriendly atmosphere to the patients. I tried to keep it open as much as possible.

The workload was a bit tougher, but for Carson it was a light day. The heavier workload was able to be handled by A) Not paying much attention to any of the information, and B) A much better filing system. At Carson, the medical records staff got most of the charts ready, then the front office just had to add profiles to the non-updated charts. Much easier than at South Lake. Part A troubled me a bit, because a lot of the things that have been impressed upon me as VERY IMPORTANT, Donna would just say, "Meh, we don't do it, and it hasn't been a problem."

I envied her attitude, but I'm pretty sure it is only acceptable because she's been there so long. Something tells me that a lot of people have to do a lot of work to cover her ass.

Teresa, the smoking-hot physician's assistant, made the day fun too, I won't lie! She seemed about my age, and looked like a cross between a Russian Bond Girl and my ex-Sara. Teresa talked a bit about her upcoming day-hike tomorrow to June Lake, which of course just made her more attractive. I pegged her to be around my age, but I'm pretty sure when Donna and Michelle were trying to figure out if they could actually be Teresa's mother, I heard her say she was only 18 or 19. A little too young :)

The funniest moment of the day had to be Teresa in our office, trying to have a professional discussion with a patient on the other side of the open sliding glass window. Donna kept messing with her, from behind, where the patient couldn't see. I had the side view, and Donna's combination of tugs down on Teresa's scrubs, butt pokes, and back of the knee pokes--and Teresa somehow keeping a straight face and trying to keep the conversation going unmolested was a sight to see. She'd twitch and flinch with each poke, try to keep her scrub bottoms above her waist, and swat behind at Donna, all while smiling at the patient and answering the patient's questions. Eventually the butt-poking became too much, and Teresa swung around and yelled at Donna to stop, but with a big smile on her face.

I stayed until about 4:30pm, and everyone was very appreciative of me coming down to help out. It was a fun change of pace, and I was on my best behavior for the new crowd. My attitude swung a lot today, but whenever my attitude swings I always seem to come back to the fact that I enjoy being a nice, happy person. I have my lazy times, and I have my mean times, but even though being nice usually requires more effort, I prefer it.

The big question that keeps popping up for me is 'what motivates me to be nice?' Today, I think the incentive was the introduction to the Carson office. I knew if I made a bad impression, it would get back to the South Tahoe office. In all honesty, I don't really care what the Tahoe office thinks about me, because I know they are desperate for help, and the chances of me being fired are slim to none. I like my job because of the free time it provides, but a full time job probably wouldn't be extremely hard to find. The incentive to be in the Tahoe clinic's good graces is for a few reasons. I don't want a sucky work environment, and I'd like some good recommendations when I move back to Seattle and start looking for a job. If that means taking over shifts, working longer than expected, working down in Carson--so be it. Time isn't a huge issue right now for me, and I have plenty of free time lying around (hence all the blogging!).

Onto the juicier side of incentive--to be nice in the presence of women I find attractive. Now, I have no clue if Teresa is already in a relationship. I can't help but assume she is, because she's smart, attractive and funny. Not knowing has its ups and downs. The mind can run wild... but usually I prefer to know as much as possible (in life in general). If she was closer to my age, and for sure single, I'd be a bit more excited~

Being single, when I meet a woman that I deem attractive, and think I have a shot with, my mind is like a fireworks show. I'm almost always happy, and my thoughts are filled with ways to show her what kind of guy I am and ways to make her smile and laugh. When I met Sara for the first time, it was playing ultimate frisbee at Jefferson Park during the first few weeks of summer vacation, the summer before my senior year at UPS. I knew that she went to UPS, and she was nice, funny and attractive--and played frisbee... can't get much better than that! The bummer came when I talked to Mike about her, and he also had the hots for her, and had already made his move.

I backed off for the next few frisbee sessions, until Sara called me on it. That twinkle in my eye had been missing, and she could tell. I hinted at not wanting to step on Mike's toes, then she said she wasn't interested in Mike, she was more interested in me. Of course, that gave me the biggest, shit-eating grin I've ever had in my entire life, because no one had ever told me anything close to that! The fact that I felt the same way about her was doubly amazing to me at the time.

(As an interesting aside, Stacey and I had a similar conversation ((albeit, online)) a few weeks after we started talking more regularly. She was chatting with lots of different people at the time, and understandably not paying that much attention to me. I fired up a game of Yahoo Pool and paid less attention to her. She noticed the slack of attention on my part and asked what was up. I told her that I would only put as much effort into our friendship as she would. I didn't really mean for it to sound harsh or spiteful, I was just being honest. Six months later, when we were a few months into our relationship, she confessed that this particular chat, and the fact that I called her out, gave her a lot more respect for me. I hadn't really related the two moments, but I'd say they were both very important parts to the beginnings of those two relationships.)

I didn't feel bad about stepping on Mike's toes since I knew he had no chance with Sara. In hindsight, it didn't look really good to swoop in, but I can't really see me doing anything else differently. Mike and I weren't great friends, and if I had to choose between the possibilities with Sara, or a friendship with Mike, it would have been Sara. And I think he'd probably think along the same lines if our roles were reversed. I hoped that I could be with Sara and still be friend with Mike, but that was harder on Mike than I anticipated. I think they only had one date, which was enough for both of them to draw their polar-opposite conclusions.

On a side-note, Mike also felt the need to point out that I am not religious--which is something that he found extremely attractive about Sara (that she was religious). Religion ended up being our one and only fight, which led to her suggesting we "take a break." I made up my mind that night that we wouldn't work. My actions were pretty harsh, but what she wanted, I could not provide (to put it bluntly: a three-way with God). Mike knew this from the start, and I shrugged it off. Part due to thinking he was jealous, and part due to me not believing religion would be a big issue (hah!).

As an epilogue (why not?!), Mike and I are still long-distance friends. He's never going to be a Tyler, Marc or Andrew to me--we're just too different. We play online games occasionally and joke around quite a bit. As for Sara, last summer when I was in Seattle having a hot tub with my Dad, he said that he still talks with Sara on a regular basis. They had gone on a few hikes, and she'd been over for dinner a few times. At first, this obviously weirded me out to no end. But after thinking about it more, it made sense. Sara was close with pretty much all of her ex's and their parents, and my dad really liked her. The BIG shocker of course was my Dad mentioning that, "Oh, and Sara let slip that the thing that caused you two to break up... whatever that was... is no longer an issue. I'm not really sure what she was referring to, but..."

Thanks Dad. You know I've been seeing Stacey for over two years, and I'm still seeing her, (at the time) right? I thought about it for a while, and it didn't really make any sense. My Dad said that she had seen a few different guys since me, but none of them seemed serious (his subtle hints were very subtle, wink wink). The only thing that made sense would be if she ends up marrying some guy who isn't religious, and doesn't want me to think she was lying to me at the time? I'm quite certain that she wasn't lying at the time of our breakup, and for her sake, I would hope that she doesn't sacrifice her beliefs and her wants for a relationship.

Exhale.

Well, it felt good to write all that out, but I hope way back up there that I explained well enough the amazing sparks I emit when the possible beginnings of a relationship start up. I'm not searching for a relationship right now, because I don't want anything to keep me from moving back to Seattle in September. If a situation comes up where a girl I like is able to travel, then I might go for it--but that is a long-shot right now. Also, I've been enjoying, and I'm looking forward to enjoying, a summer by myself. As much as I want to be up in Seattle for the summer with old friends and new, I know this summer in Tahoe will be an experience like no other (which is a big influence to blog as much as I have recently). And, there will always be more summers in Seattle :)

I wasn't really sure what to do tonight, so I hopped on the bike and grabbed a bite to eat, then headed towards Carson City to get some food-shopping done at Trader Joe's--but saw a side road I hadn't been on yet near Cave Rock. I did a U-turn and climbed the side-road to a few nice vantage points, snapped a few pictures, then headed home and began writing this.

Tomorrow is wide open for me. I called Dirk about going for a hike, but haven't heard back. Sacramento is calling me. I want to make a spontaneous ninja ride to go play frisbee there tomorrow morning, which I still might do, but we'll see if I can start the ninja with my newly learned ninja-tactics. If I don't hike tomorrow, I will Sunday--expect some pics :)

Speaking of pics, here are three from today:
1)Window-painting at a coffee shop near where I ate dinner
2)Crooked Bench (which looked a lot like a chairlift chair?)
3)Lake View #6

Beer Pong Pics!!

I got suckered into a game of beer pong last night with the house mates. I only had to work two hours today, no biggie! Highlight of the night was sinking not two, but THREE final-cup shots in a row, after the first two were rebutted (they sunk a ball in one of our cups). Sinking three shots in a row really isn't saying all that much when you look at the size of our table, but I also hit a rainbow shot, and a shot from the stairs, so all-in-all it was a productive shot night. The pong was lots of fun as usual, but this time after stretching the win streak to 7 games, I lost all my other games last night. Losing at beer pong sure has you drinking a lot more beer than winning, or so it went last night. I was in control until losing 1v1 against Gina. 1v1 beer pong is tough stuff.

Everyone plays beer pong differently. Some whackos even use paddles (Emily Young, Kristen--any other damn Whitman Missionaries??). The girls tend to come up with new rules every time I play, but I added the "no shooting until you've finished your drink" rule. No babying your drinks in my house!

In hindsight, I'm the biggest babier in the group, so I was only hurting myself. Add to that the one on one game, and I had a hard time keeping the room from spinning when I put my head down last night. I finished off a cup of water before bed, but that didn't do much to counteract the six or so beers I'd had in the previous 90 minutes.

I woke up very slowly this morning. It was a nice day to ride my bike to work for the first time, but I was in no shape--so I drove. When I made it to work, I was reminded of our luncheon. Double-edged sword! Happy for the free french dip, but in a world of pain because my two hours at work just turned into five. I volunteered to go grab the food, and I hit Ace hardware to pick up a few necessities for the bike. I'm proud to say that the ninja now has shelter! In the form of a blue tarp! I also grabbed two bungee cords for tying things down across the back of the bike (sleeping bag, tent?), some WD-40 and some motor oil. That ninja is going to be spoiled rotten.

I also spent $3 at Raley's on a very time-honored college tradition that I thought my house mates needed to experience.

That's right, Wiffle Ball. Our summer is going to be rocking!

In other exciting motorcycle news (I'm sure you haven't had enough yet, right???), I'm taking the bike on its first real test next weekend over to Nevada City for a weekend-long ultimate frisbee tournament. It'll be fun seeing Kristina for the first time since I moved out two months ago. I'm looking forward to catching up and getting lots of ultimate in. I'll be playing with the Nevada City / Grass Valley pickup group--that I never actually got a chance to play with while I lived there. I did get to meet a few through social gatherings and hikes while I was there though, so the team won't be totally foreign--and there's always Kristina, she rocks the hizzouse at Ulti!

The little bike trip I took today had me exploring Kingsbury Grade. I didn't bring the camera along, but I did somehow manage to find the trail head for the Lake Tahoe Rim trail. That is the hike that goes 70 miles around the lake from Kingsbury Grade to Tahoe City. There are also plenty of spots to access the trail, so you can just do a few miles on a day-hike and still get the amazing views of the lake. Hopefully I can bike to a hopping on spot, take the camera and a lunch on a couple mile hike, then head back to the bike for a nice afternoon trek sometime in the near future. Dirk has expressed interest in getting some hiking in on the weekends, so I'll give him a buzz tomorrow and see what he's got going on this Saturday or Sunday. Jen also said something about going on a hike Sunday, but something tells me that will involve not much hiking and much more beer than I had in mind.

OK, OK, I've probably bored you long enough, here are the beer pong pictures, as advertised:

1) (from left to right) ???, Jen being sassy, and Cory wishing he was the one drinking the beer (with George and Cody in the background)
2) ??? happy about being up five cups to one (they ended up losing) and proof that Kristara spills more than she drinks (see pants)
3) Comical picture of Kristara. Not sure what to make of this one!
4) Loft-view BOOB SHOT!









I never said living with 20 year olds isn't fun! But some weeknights I do feel like Slurms McKenzie might drop by to keep the all-night party going strong.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

I'm going to try and swing by the middle school on the way to work tomorrow morning. That means waking up eeaaaarly. I called the school on my lunch break today and was told to either call or swing by tomorrow morning at 7:30am to talk with the principal and the math teacher about observing her class. Hopefully all goes well tomorrow and I can start getting some observation in before the school year ends.

In other news, the IT guy finally came today at work, so now my computer works like normal after spending a week at slug-speed. After working on the crappy computer for a week, this afternoon felt like a breeze! I got off early and drove home with the window down for the first time all year. Sunny and 70--loving it.

It is only a matter of time before I jump in the lake...

Much better

Today pretty much sucked work-wise, but I feel great now. I just realized I needed some Radiohead and a beer. And cookies. I was only supposed to work part-time today, 8am-11am, then go play basketball for the first time in a week. But, the person who was supposed to work the rest of the day called in at about 10am and said her daughter was sick.

I hit a lot of different moods today. I felt both really good about myself and really bad about myself at times. The first thought that went through my head when I heard Pam wouldn't be coming in was, "are you serious?" I felt bad for the other two ladies up front, because they'd have to do a shit-ton of work in the afternoon. I volunteered to work until noon to help out, but still be able to play basketball. That's when Flo laughed and said, "Oh, you're not leaving today, sonny!"

What the Fuck? Was I scheduled to work today? No? OK, that's what I thought. I tried to think up an elaborate plan to weasel my way out of working in the afternoon, so I could play basketball:

Oh, a friend of mine is in town and we're going hiking this afternoon.

Can't work this afternoon, just remembered I have to observe a classroom for that teaching degree I was talking to you about earlier...

... yeah, I couldn't think up anything good, and in the process of trying to come up with a lie to get out of working, I started feeling guilty. I didn't have shit to do all afternoon besides basketball, and I could use the money. I also thought about Pam and her situation--she was at the mercy of her child. When I have a child, I'm sure there will be unexpected interruptions to my set plans all the time. When that happens, I hope others will understand my situation.

I ended up resigned to the fact that I'd work the rest of the day, but I wasn't too happy about it. I went to lunch and drove to the basketball courts and played for 45 minutes, then got a slice of pizza and headed back to the clinic for a nice, 90-minute lunch. They weren't too happy, but what could they do? Looking back, I'm a little ashamed of my selfishness, but at the time, if I hadn't gone and played basketball and relaxed a bit, I would have been absolutely no fun to be around in the afternoon.

On one hand, I'm glad I decided to be nice and work the rest of the day to cover Pam's ass, but on the other hand, I wish I could have just said, "sure, I'm not doing anything, I can work for her," instead of putting up a fuss. I don't aim to be the person who constantly gets taken advantage of, but I'd like to be a bit more helpful when it comes to things like covering for others, especially when I don't have any other important engagements. I guess the thing that put me on tilt to start, was the fact that she never asked if anyone could cover, she just said, "Oh, my daughter is sick, I won't be coming in today."

By the end of the workday, I was feeling much better, because everyone was in a good mood. If I had just ditched out, I doubt they would fire me, but there would be a lot of resentment in the air. About 5 years ago, I probably would have just left, and told them to be mad at Pam, not me. I'm glad I've grown up a bit. Also, at the end of the day Pam called, and wanted to know if I would like tomorrow off. I know she was searching for more hours, but it also seemed like a nice gesture, which I took. No work tomorrow! Yay! There are also supposed to be T-storms tomorrow, so I might set up camp in the Exploder somewhere, and take some photos :)

In other news, I'll be heading to VEGAS June 7th-10th this year! Woo! Half to meet some poker bloggers at the WPBT Summer Classic, half to hang with Brandon in his mansion and sweat his WSOP run. This will be the first bloggers get-together I've attended, and I know I'll have a good time. I'll likely start playing the nightly blogger games again leading up to the event, to sharpen my skills and see who else will be showing up in Vegas.

Just signed up for the "WWdN: HORSE Funtimes" tourney and see a few familiar faces already registered. Hoyazo and Wil Wheaton are the two out of the seven I recognize from my old playing days. I hope Wil makes it out to Vegas for the blogger classic, from everything I've heard and read, he's a hilarious guy (and has a small cameo in the keno incident youtube video linked below). HORSE is my game! On the basketball court, on the green felt of the poker table, even playing Tony Hawk... bring it!

I hope I don't squander too much money in Vegas on that extended weekend, any idea of a stop-loss limit I should set? $400? $500? Of course, I fully expect to win at craps, blackjack, pai-gow, poker, roulette, three card poker, spanish 21, baccarat, horse races, sports betting, flipping coins, and the many, many prop bets--but just in case things don't go according to plan, I don't want to resort to eating keno crayons (did I forget keno in that list?) to get back to even! Man, that is a classic.

Viva la poker bloggers!

Also, thanks to Brandon for finally paying up on our Push-up bet from last Thanksgiving. The money will eventually go to some good people in the blogging community, through my moronic play on the virtual felt. When I get back in Seattle, we'll have to work on a bet with more incentive for you (or just go play in a basketball league to get in shape).

Time for some HORSE!

What a waste

What a waste of a beautiful day. Today was sunny, it hit 70 degrees, and I worked 10 hours. Blarg.

Way back when I was in elementary school at Bryant, my principal enacted a "no shorts unless 70 degrees rule." I've pretty much stuck to that rule my entire life (except when playing sports), and I don't think I'll ever forget waking up and rushing to the TV to see if I could wear shorts to school that day. If it was supposed to be 69 degrees that day, I didn't think I could wear shorts. Looking back, I'm sure my parents teased me mercilessly about this, but I was always too grumpy to notice.

On the 70 degree or higher days I would proudly put on my shorts, slap on a T-shirt, and start to beam with that happiness only a kid can express. I'd take that first step down the front stairs and I'd feel the bearable temperature on my exposed arms. It wasn't 70 degrees at 8:50am, but it was bearable in a shirt. And if it was bearable in a shirt, I knew it would be 70 degrees that day.

Flash forward to this morning, and the walk out to the car I've become accustomed to--the "oh my god it is so cold I can't wait to drive two miles so the heater will come on and I will be warm again"--was replaced by the, "hey, what am I doing with this sweatshirt on?"

I get to work and we just get slammed right out of the gate. We don't get slammed, we get body-slammed... no, we get suplexed... no... no, we get Zangief 360 piledrivered (piledrived? piledriven?)! I don't know who's brilliant idea it was to TRIPLE BOOK on a fucking MONDAY MORNING, but I wasn't happy. My sweatshirt usually comes off at lunch, when I can grab the appropriately colored scrubs shirt from my car to match the color of the day for all the other employees (you try being colorblind, forgetful, and having to choose from teal, blue, light something, and purple at 8am in the morning). I had to run to my car at 9am this morning, because the heat, combined with the piledriver, had me nearly in a sweat.

It sure felt good outside though. I knew it was going to hit 70, even though the weather report only said 67 degrees for the high today.

I get back into the office and see the mass of people waiting to see Dr. Orr. They aren't happy. One lady ended up having to wait 90 minutes to just get called back from the lobby to the waiting room. That's not very good. The reason? A bit my fault, but also a bit THE COMPUTERS WERE SCREWY because of a system upgrade.

I'm all for system upgrades, progress--usually a good thing. Not today, apparently. I couldn't log on, my computer ran at about 1/4 speed, my computer crashed five times, and I couldn't print. All combined, that makes it very difficult to check people into the system. Hearing what a beautiful day it was every 5 minutes didn't make my life any more cheery.

I got lunch, I took it, I enjoyed it; but I knew I'd be working at least 9 hours today with all the system slow-downs. It ended up being 10 hours, because a lady who was supposed to get us charts at noon had to be reminded by yours truly at a quarter to three.

As a third party, I probably would have laughed when she wheeled around in her chair and said, "Oh... the charts, I totally forgot about those. Where are they?" And her co-worker pointed to them on the floor, in the middle of the room. Those charts didn't get to us until 5pm.

I ended up just thinking "beer. beer. beer. beer. beer. beer." from about 4pm on, so on my way home I picked up a six pack of Newcastle and I'm enjoying my second right now. This is officially a two-Newcastle post. I have no desire to make it a 3-Newcastle post, but I do like the idea of measuring posts by alcohol consumed while writing.

Fortunately, the day is close to being salvaged. I realize that although I was cooped up in a clinic all day, at least I did something. If I had been unemployed and played on my computer out on the porch all day, I'd be more depressed than I am right now. Newcastle, an outlet, and watching the sun go down tend to bring me out of a funk pretty quickly. Unfortunately, it is starting to get cold out on the porch, and me thinks it is time to pack up and move inside.

Teets!



So apparently Hannah Teeter had knee surgery between the above gold medal run and now, because she crutched herself into the fracture clinic today. She's pretty much always got a smile on her face, which is an interesting way to live life. I guess if I was in her shoes I'd be smiling all the time too! I didn't realize she won the gold medal in Torino, but I did recognize her from her various X-games medals.

I thought she either had a thing for me, or kept staring at my funny-looking hair cut. Then I did some you-tubing and found out that she's just got a very intense stare and is always smiling at people--oh well! A bit on the young side for me anyways...

Got to talk to Brandon for a bit today on gchat, I guess that anus is getting a free-ride for almost all of the holdem events at this year's WSOP. And I *think* I secured a room in his rented out mansion for a few nights if I come down to visit. Is there a blogger tourney during the WSOP???