Archives 2013

So Ali is back in town meaning my bed is no longer shared with a snoring, face licking, black and furry companion.  For the past two weeks I have had the dogs in the house more often than not.  They really enjoy the freedom the house offers them.  I have been leaving one of the lanai doors cracked so they could also venture into the yard and back as they see fit.

It’s always a bittersweet moment when I drop the dogs off after an extended stay.

Last night I got home later than normal.  I had to hurry because I wanted to get one last attempt in at the normal mode of this month’s BB challenge before daylight ran out.  I jumped right into it with little warm up.

I was disappointed I only shaved a few seconds off my time earlier in the month.  My pull up bar felt slimy/slippery on my hands because of the damp grass I was doing the push up sets on.  When my grip on the bar does not feel solid my reps suffer.

If you want to see the sets (10 sets of 5 pull ups and 5 push ups), click here.

Although my energy level feels pretty close to normal I am still subject to coughing fits and excessive nose blowing from whatever illness I came down with after Troy’s visit.  The one nostril actually was so raw it was bloody.

I don’t have much else floating through my brain at the moment.

So I walked into the gym yesterday and assumed my position on a cardio machine for a 5 minute warm up.  Within 20 seconds my attention was diverted to the music that was being blared through out the gym.  Not only was it stupidly loud, it was just awful stuff, some hip hop shit.  It was so loud it totally obliterated my focus on exercise and instead placed it on how loud the music was blaring.

When I got done with my warm up I walked over to the weight machine area where one of my buddies was stationed, almost directly under one of the speakers.  I yelled to him (had to yell so he could hear me) “Why the fck is this shit SO LOUD?!!”  He shrugged but agreed the decibel level was approaching concert level.

As I looked around the gym I could tell some of the old people were also annoyed by the music.  Well I did what made sense to me, asked the staff at the counter to turn down the music.  I told them it sounded like a concert back there.  They seemed surprised it was too loud.  Perhaps that is because there are no speakers positioned over the front desk.

Anyway the turn of the dial returned the music back to the background noise that it should be instead of a front and center stick that is jabbing your ear drums.  As I walked back into the workout area I could tell several others approved of the lower music level.  I just wondered why nobody else would have said something.

Last night I decided to take the clippers to my head for the 6th time on tape.  I had not buzzed my own hair in quite awhile since I had Sport Clips cut my hair professionally two times.  I do enjoy the Sport Clips experience and I plan to use them in the future.  I just like to keep my appearance in the air with different varieties/lengths of hair on both my face and head.

I had my head shaved down in 3 minutes, a new speed record.

Big shout out for Jason Collins for admitting he is gay.  That took a lot of courage.  I expect it to lead to a number of other athletes stepping out as well.

So on Friday I was walking back out to the van from the grocery store.  I reach in my pocket for my keys and come up empty, feeling only my wallet.  I then dive into the other pocket and only feel the Iphone.  This can’t be the case, especially after losing a $50 bill on Tuesday.  I feel again in my jean pockets, knowing that my huge clump of keys are far too big to miss.  Logic would say they are also too big to not notice the noise they would make if they fell out.

So I start looking through the grocery bags, wondering if placed the keys in a bag and simply forgot? Nope, the bags were keyless.  Now my mind was starting to race, retracing my steps in the grocery store, trying to remember if I pulled them out at anytime.  Then I thought about what a HUGE pain in the ass it was going to be if I did truly lose them.

So the only thing I could think of is I pulled the keys out at the register to get my wallet out.  Surely I just left them there.  I marched back in the store quickly, leaving my cart by the side of the van.  I saw no keys and asked the cashier if she saw them, nope….. SHIT.  I was considering retracing my steps through the grocery store but I knew I had not dug anything out of my pockets while shopping.  I went to the customer service counter, hoping a kind Samaritan found the keys and turned them in, nope.

So I walked backed to the van, dejected, not quite sure what I was going to do.  As I was standing there running through my dwindling options I spot something on the ground about 30 feet away.  It looked like the red swipe card for my gym.  I walked towards it, thinking I couldn’t be so lucky.  I was, there my huge key chain laid.  I was amazed it could hit the parking lot without my noticing.  It had to happen when I was pushing the cart back out, that is the only noise that could have hidden the sound of impact.  I felt very fortunate to be hitting .500 in finding lost items for the week.

Since I got a lot of the chores done while I was sick (still am blowing nose and coughing), I had more free time on Saturday than normal.  Yes I suppose it would have been nice to use that time to allow myself to relax and recover from the annoying cold symptoms.  But that wasn’t happening, instead I decided it was time to get out the pressure washer.

However prior to firing up the washer I constructed a barrier around the pool utilizing chairs, cushions and pool tools.  The purpose of the barrier was to allow me to let the Roombas sweep the pool deck.

Since buying the Neato almost a year ago my Roombas have been collecting dust.  The Neato just does a much better job and requires nearly zero maintenance compared to the Irobot machines which require fastidious cleaning and maintenance to continue running.

I let the Dirt Dog, a robot specifically designed for outdoor/workshop cleaning and a conventional Roomba designed for indoor cleaning loose on the deck.  I wasn’t really concerned about using the indoor Roomba outdoors.  If it breaks, it breaks.

  I was not very happy when I saw I had a small hole in my pool barrier which the Dirt Dog unfortunately sniffed out.  I found it laying dead on the bottom of the pool.  Roombas do have edge detection sensors, designed to keep them from driving over edges.  However the smooth pool deck does not always allow enough stopping power, allowing the wheels to skid to the point where the bot tips over.

I know this because I have had it happen before, three or four times before actually.  That is the reason that I started creating physical barriers instead of relying on electronics to stop the robot.  My prior experience also assured me that just because the robot is underwater, that doesn’t mean it is necessarily dead for good.  Of the other pool mishaps, only once was I unable to get the robot up and running again.  The rehabilitation plan has been simply letting it bake in the sun to totally dry out and manually turn the various motors to get them un-siezed and working.

I set the bot on the table and hoped once again it would survive the drowning.

The main focus of the pressure washing were the storage sheds, both of them were suffering from the algae and black mildew that come with Florida climates, especially the back of the sheds that get no direct sunlight.

Before starting the pressure washing I finally got around to removing the two solar floodlights that were on the large shed for at least 5 or 6 years but only worked for the first year or so.  I’m not sure why I never got around to pulling them down before Saturday.  I did keep their solar panels, hoping for an Uncle Randy type of inspiration to hit me where I could use them to power something else.

The new pressure washer is really nice, the extra 600 to 800 PSI (3000 psi washer) really helps blast off crud.  I even took the extra step of climbing up on the roof of the big shed and blasting it as well, something that hasn’t been done in over a year.  The before and after shots show the dramatic difference some water pressure can make.

So once I was done with the small shed I still had gas in the tank.  As is often the case, pressure washing breeds more pressure washing.  After all I figure if I have it dragged out and hooked up I might as well pressure wash other stuff too.

I wound up blasting the patio stones in front of the water equipment, a few of the fence posts, the castle wall around Nicki’s palm trees and the dog deck.  In total I was probably out there for at least 3 hours.  I should have worn sunblock, I got a little fried in the face.

Saturday night I went to a monster truck show a mile away at the county fairgrounds.   I was quite surprised just how full it was, all 7 or 8 grandstands were stuffed with people.  The show was entertaining.  In addition to the monster trucks and their ear bleeding, car smashing fun, I got to see see impressive motocross stunts and quad runner racing.

I thought it was quite funny that end of the first quad race there was a fake, wrestling style on mic interview where the winner of the heat called out another racer he referred to as “fat boy”.  He challenged the guy to a solo race.  As expected, “fat boy” squeaked out a win in the last turn.

Over the weekend I noticed a distinct set of tires tracks that swerved off the road, across the driveway and back.   This more than likely drunk moron was at least 40 feet into my yard.  He only missed the parked vehicles by less than 10 feet.  I guess the good news is he didn’t smack the mailbox at least.  Although if he did, he would have had two very large rocks waiting to destroy his suspension. There a bunch of idiots that live in my area unfortunately.

During the day Sunday I got around to playing with my huge and heavy tires.  There are many ways they can be utilized in work outs.  My big challenge yesterday was flipping it about 125 feet out and back.  Flipping the 300 pound tire got tough very quickly.  My eventual goal is to be able to flip it to the fence line and back.  After that the goal is to do it again, faster.

On Sunday night I attended another Tarpons game.  Once again the game was woefully attended and had a woefully lopsided outcome.  The Tarpons won 62-0.  The game did include probably one of the most exciting plays I have seen in indoor football.

The Sarasota Thunder were close to actually scoring, on something like 5 yard line.  One of their players fumbled the ball which bounced into a Tarpon players arms in the end zone.  For a second you could tell the player was thinking about just kneeling down.  Instead he changes his mind and starts weaving his way through the crowd of bodies.  He used some dazzling moves and a well timed lateral to another player to return the ball all the way back for another Tarpons touchdown.  It was something to see.

There are a lot of very out of shape players in arena football.  However the Thunder had one that had the deadly combo of being  very short yet very fat.  I mean the kid couldn’t have been over 5’6″ but he had to be pushing 300 pounds.  He only lasted half the game, in the second half a slightly taller, slightly less heavy guy was wearing the same jersey.

The game got so bad that the Tarpons did an impromptu Harlem Shake routine in the middle of the game, drawing a 10 yard delay of game penalty.

If I had any doubt about the long term viability of the team, it was answered last night.  I am sure the Tarpons are done after this year.  The owner, whom I talked to on the phone and via email before, was in front of us talking to some other fans.  I asked him how his wireless internet company we talked about was doing.  He told me it was dead, he had to bail on it because he was putting any money he had into keeping the Tarpons afloat.  He told me how he has sold a bunch of stuff, including his Hummer in order to pump money into the team.  I kind of felt bad for him as I looked around at the seats that were 85% empty.

Hell I’ll be surprised if the team/league doesn’t fold before the year is over.  You can’t get away from the feeling that everything is being held together with shoestring and bubblegum.  Part of the problem is the dartboard schedule that has been changed a half dozen times since the 2013 line up was announced.  Part of it is the lack of quality games.  Ridiculous blow outs like this game just aren’t fun to watch, even if you are on the winning side of things.  There might be one or two teams outside the Tarpons that don’t totally suck.

It’s a shame, arena football can be a lot of fun and for the money is a good entertainment value.  It’s too bad that it just can’t seem to grab substantial fan base in my area.

So I drug myself to work today.  I figured I should be past the contagious stage at this point.  My energy level is better but my nose feels like it is going to fall off my face from blowing it so much and my abs feel torn up from coughing all day yesterday.  I am loaded up on cold medicine to keep the symptoms under control at the office.

Did I mention I HATE being sick?  It makes me feel worthless.  I haven’t worked out since Saturday.  I have my gym clothes packed for today.  I need to get in there, even if it is only for a token effort.

Last night I watched the new Total Recall.  I was a big fan of the original film starring Arnold and Mars.  I had heard ahead of time this reboot of the franchise was a disappointment but I was willing to take a chance.  After all, a film that includes Kate Beckensale and Jessica Biel can’t be all bad.  It wasn’t.

Sure the film was very predictable but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it overall. It gets a solid Netflix rental B rating.

I tried to be somewhat productive while home yesterday, getting a few things done that are normally reserved for weekends. That being said, the primary objective this weekend is to eliminate the illness while getting caught up on whatever work remains.  Ali is going out of town again for a couple days so I will have the girls hanging out which always adds a few coins to the smile bank.

So my day at home yesterday was uneventful (still home today).  I putzed around the house feeling tired and weak.  I did venture out to get coffee and have my oil changed in the SSR.   Yes you read that right, I paid someone to change my oil.  No, it isn’t because I suddenly developed a lazy streak.

With the extended warranty I purchased through the credit union for the truck the oil changes have to be documented.  I called awhile ago and asked them if simply presenting the receipt for my purchase of oil and a filter were enough to fulfill the documentation requirements.  They said they were “not sure”, believe it or not.  So to avoid any conflict I am paying to have it done and making sure they include my VIN on the paperwork. I cringed when I forked over $80 for a 6 quart Mobil 1 oil change, knowing full well I could do it myself for less than half of that.

So last night for dinner I had one of my Trader Joe meals for one, bean and rice burritos.  I felt like cracking a Diet Coke to go with the meal.  I normally reserve Diet Coke for Friday pizza night but when I am feeling shitty I will find myself reaching for one as well.  Yes, I know Diet Coke is a terrible thing to ingest and is probably the next item on my list to get eliminated permanently from my diet.

So anyway, I took the last can from the fridge and wanted to put more in there to get cold.  I had a big case of it on top of the fridge that was in a cardboard tray covered with shrink wrap.  Instead of pulling the case down first and then removing the plastic wrap for some reason I decided I would cut the wrap while it was still on top of the fridge.

I pulled out a scissors and started to cut.  All of a sudden I hear a noise and a high powered jet of diet soda starts spraying across the kitchen.  The stream reached clear across the kitchen island and even doused the recliner in the great room which was at least 10-12 feet away.

For a few moments I was dumbstruck, wondering if this really just happened.  I went and grabbed a paper towel but by that time the damage was done, I had sticky soda all over the place.  I was angry at myself for not just pulling the case down first.  The price for the stupidity was an extensive clean up with wet towels.  I f there was anything fortunate about the incident it was the vast majority of the soda wound up on hard surfaces, namely the granite counter top and the tile floor.

Once I did pull down the case I saw there was a bunch of soda trapped inside as well so I had to pull every can out and wash them as well.  When I pulled out the can that blew I saw the tiny pin hole I accidentally created with the scissors.  Lesson learned, never open a shrink wrapped pack of soda from the side with sharp objects.

Today my illness has mutated into a hacking cough and a lot more nose blowing.

So on Facebook on Friday I saw one of my FB friends had posted he had two oversized tires by the curb that were up for grabs.  He does a lot of unconventional outdoor work outs like I do.  I contacted him and he told me his address so I could pick them up.  He said one was about 300 pounds and the other was 200.

So I stopped on the way home to load up the Tacoma with 500 pounds of rubber.  I got the 300 pounder leaned up against the tailgate but was having a hard time getting a grip and body position strong enough to hoist the very heavy tire up.  Luckily just as the sweat was starting to build on my back a young guy was riding by on his bike and helped me out.

We stacked the tires in the bed and I used my strap ratchet to make sure they didn’t wind up rolling down a road somewhere.  I thanked him for his help, I would have been struggling mightily to accomplish the same task solo.

When I got home I dumped the tires in the back by my bar park.  I have various ideas of how I can incorporate the tires into workouts including flipping,  jumping, sledge hammering, and pushing them, among other things.

For fun I stacked the 200 pound tire on top of the 300 pounder to see if I could box jump on top of them.  Together they were about as high as my waist.  I managed to clear the jump, barely.

I went to my second Tarpons game of the season Friday night.  Despite my enjoyment of the games I am having a hard time imagining the team is going to be around much longer if attendance doesn’t pick up.  I am not sure if there were even 500 people there.

It doesn’t help that the team/league seems to change game times/opponents at a whim.  I think games have been shifted at least 4 or 5 times this season.  It makes it hard to regularly attend games when they are a moving target.

So during the day Saturday I worked on getting everything done around the house in anticipation of Troy’s arrival.  His plane didn’t touch down until a little after 5.  It was the first time I saw Troy since I flew up to his place to watch a Ravens game a couple years ago.  He was sporting a thick and heavy beard, a benefit of being able to work from home full time I suppose.

I told him I wanted to head to Zookie’s for dinner after unloading his stuff at the house.  On the way there we drove through some very heavy rain.  My neighbor later told me his rain gauge showed that an incredible 6 inches of rain fell in 90 minutes out at the house, unheard of in April around these parts.

Anyway, I figured Troy would enjoy the Zookie’s atmosphere.  We drank and ate our fill and even played a couple games of pool in the back of the bar.  I found myself distracted by the live lobster tank “game” they had.  I felt terrible for the lobsters and genuinely wished I had a realistic way to set them free.

Sunday morning I asked Troy if he was interested in walking the swamp with the dogs.  He said it sounded good.  The temps were nice at the start of the walk but got pretty steamy towards the end, both dogs had enough by the end of the 2.5 mile trek.

We didn’t see a ton of wildlife although Troy did get a good look at a decent sized gator, maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 feet long.

When we got back to the house, while Troy and I were playing some Borderlands 2 on the 360, Nicki was laying out on the lanai.  I noticed she was laying right in front of the dog door but didn’t think much of it.

A little later I hear her wimpering.  I went out to her to see what was wrong.  She looked at me pathetically and tried to get up.  Her rear legs were slipping on the newly painted deck and she didn’t have the strength to compensate.  She basically was stuck.

I felt terrible and grabbed around the middle to get her back on her feet.  One she was up she hobbled back to the bedroom, looking like a geriatric dog.  Poor thing, the swamp walk might be a little too much for her unless somehow we can get her doing it more often.

So as I mentioned, Troy and I were playing Borderlands 2 for quite awhile, a game Tim included when I bought the Xbox from him.  I never played the game before but had heard it was very good.  It is a good game, Troy and I had a lot of fun working in tandem to take down scores of bad guys.  It also can be very frustrating.

I found the way you do things like manage your weapons very klutzy and annoying.  I also found the questing to be a pain in the ass.  More than once Troy and I found ourselves stalled out trying to complete a quest objective that was not clear at all.  I could not find a way to simply drop a quest that was being a thorn in my side.  Certain things in the game just are not intuitive enough IMO.

Sunday night we went to Silverspot to watch Oblivion.  Troy was impressed by the upscale theater with assigned seating with a generous selection of food and alcohol.  We actually had dinner before the movie at Chipotle, the first time I ever stepped foot inside the popular chain. It was good stuff.

The movie was pretty good, not quite as compelling as I hoped with a cast including Morgan Freeman and Tom Cruise.  Morgan actually had a surprisingly small role, less than I expected from the previews.  I found myself yawning a lot but to be fair I think that was more to do with a lack of sleep than the movie.  I’d give it a B+

So Monday rolled around, already the last full day of Troy’s brief visit.  We pegged it as the day we would go to the casino.  Troy and I have had a few gambling adventures in our time.  The last time Troy was in the Immokalee casino it was still basically a warehouse with slot machines in it.  Since then a lot of money has been spent expanding and renovating the casino, it’s pretty nice. I was a bit taken back when we pulled into the parking lot and saw so many cars on a Monday afternoon, holy shit.

The one thing they evidently were not able to upgrade was the ventilation system.  Walking in the door immediately filled my lungs with disgusting second hand smoke.  In today’s world and it’s increasingly stringent rules about smoking, I rarely find myself in a smoky environment.  Perhaps that is why when I do find myself in one it seems worse.  It felt like almost instantly my eyes, nose and throat started to feel irritated.

Troy and I did a big loop around the casino to get a lay of the land.  We had to laugh out loud at both the clientele, almost exclusively 60 and older and the games they were playing.  The slot machines at the casino are more video games than anything else anymore, meant to divert your attention from the steady flow of money that is being sucked out of your wallet with big video screens and fancy graphics.

The theme for these games made both of us laugh.  I saw Family Guy, Michael Jackson and even Judge Judy slots.  These machines were all well populated with old people that somehow found enjoyment pulling a lever or pushing a button time and time again, hoping against hope that the next pull will be that elusive jackpot.

Much like strip clubs, spending much time in a casino quickly lowers my opinion of the human race.  I couldn’t help wondering how many social security dollars were getting funneled into the machines.

So anyway, my initial plan was to play some blackjack.  I gave myself a $100 stop loss number.  However the cheapest table they have at this casino is the $10 variety, I much prefer a $5 table minimum.  Plus the two $10 tables were full.  Well not really but one old decrepit gambler in a Navy hat was playing two spots himself as well as funding his wife’s spot.  My desire to play blackjack was not strong enough to make me want to wedge myself next to this guy.

Troy went off and played a little video poker while I did some more circling.  I stumbled across something new at the casino, roulette!  I always thought games like roulette and craps were not allowed in Florida casinos however this roulette game was different, it involved no casino personnel.

It was an automated roulette system.  In a large bubble in the middle was the robotic roulette wheel.  Around the outside were 7 or 8 seats where customers can sit down and control their bets with a large touch screen.  It was pretty damn slick.  Once I found it I told Troy about it, he came over to join me to play a bit.

I was quite surprised that more people weren’t playing at the game, there were always a couple seats open.  I theorized that the electronic interface may have confused or scared many of the old farts so they shy away.  Whatever the reason I found the experience quite fun.

Each cycle of the game takes around a minute.  You have your betting period ($5 minimum) where you can wager anywhere from 50 cents to $1500.  After the bets are placed the ball is shot out and the fun ensues.  I used a pretty conservative strategy most of the time, betting $5 on red or black with a smaller bet on a couple individual numbers hoping to get lucky.

Overall I did ok, losing maybe 40 bucks in 45 minutes.  Troy didn’t fare quite as well.  I cashed out and found Troy who had returned to the video poker machine.  I was amazed when he showed me his $140 voucher, he had just hit a royal flush, nice.

We both agreed we had enough casino time.  I felt fortunate to leave well above my stop loss figure and Troy’s poker hit actually meant he was leaving the building ahead.

I suggested that on the way home we stop at Ave Maria and have a few drinks at the on campus bar.  Troy made the term “sin it up” famous a few years back when we stopped at the Ave Maria Publix on the way to a Dolphins game and Troy walked out with a lottery ticket and pack of cigarettes.

We were both disappointed to see that we picked the one day a week the bar is closed.  We still hung there for awhile, grabbing some stuff in the next door coffee shop.  We were dumbfounded when we walked out and saw no less than a half dozen police cars with their lights on, blocking a side street.  We weren’t 100% sure but it looked like they were called to the jewelery store.  Theft in Ave Maria??  Wow Troy and I were both struck by the irony.

The rest of Troy’s final night at my place was laid back.  We played more Borderlands 2, grabbed a pizza, (saved a turtle in the process) watched Stern shows on YouTube and drank a LOT of beer.  I am not quite sure how many BLP’s I drank in total but I am sure it was a record for one sitting.

Troy is a fellow Stern fan as I am.  We laughed our asses off watching shows involving Sourshoes, Medicated Pete and finally the Artie Roast.  I am not sure the last time I had compressed so much laughing out loud into a small time period.  Troy is one of the few people that can bring that part of me out.  I did not hit the pillow until a ridiculous 1 AM.  My bedtime was slightly extended because I insisted on jumping in the shower first to wash the remaining casino stench off me.

When I woke up Tuesday morning I was not feeling well, the sore throat and general malaise was all attributed to the casino,  late night and large amounts of alcohol consumed.  I do not typically drink much at all. To have two heavy sessions in three days just never happens.  I tried to shake it off the best I could as I had a long day ahead of me.

Troy’s daughter, girlfriend and her son were coming down to visit Disney for 5 days.  I told Troy I would drive him up to Orlando to meet them instead of him having to rent a car.  We piled his luggage and the dogs into the party van and pulled out.  I have to admit I was a bit nervous doing so with Nicki after the disastrous diarrhea incident when I tried taking her north in January.  Luckily there was no repeat of that incident this time.

I stopped and loaded up on gas and coffee for the 3 plus hour drive north.  The drive went well, Troy and I are able to roll in and out of conversation easily, another rarity in my circle of friends.  Sadie even gave Troy’s lap a brief test run on the road.

We arrived in Orlando right about one o’clock.  I dropped off Troy and wished him good luck, he was going to need it to survive 5 days in Disney.  It felt like a very brief but fun visit.  I am hoping I get a chance to visit him up north sometime in the not so distant future.

I stopped for gas on the Disney grounds.  I remembered from before that for whatever reason, the cheapest gas you will find is at Disney which makes little sense since everything else is so overpriced.  Once again the premise proved true as I paid 3.30 a gallon, almost 20 cents less than I saw it out on the public roads.

I had an aggravating moment as I was pumping gas.  Troy had given me 50 bucks to help offset the gas I was using to get him to Orlando.  I had just shoved the $50 bill in the pocket of my Adidas gym shorts instead of taking the extra 5 seconds to place it safely inside my wallet.  Well as I pulled out my wallet to grab my credit card I felt for the bill, it wasn’t there….

So I check both pockets again and then once again, even turning them inside out.  I then surveyed the ground and the inside of the van, nothing.  Son of a bitch.  As I retraced my steps I am pretty sure the money was lost at the rest stop when I removed the keys from my pockets.  Somebody more than likely got an unexpected $50 smile maker.  Oh well.

The drive home felt long.  Instead of feeling better as the day went on, which is normal for a hangover, I was feeling worse.  My throat was getting more sore and a dry hacking cough was starting to show up.  I was also feeling very tired.  I stopped for another cup of coffee in Sarasota but it felt like it hardly made a dent in my alertness level.  I pulled back into the driveway at 5pm.

As the night went on I was still progressing upward on the “feeling shitty” meter.  My voice started to sound like a 2 pack a day smoker and I was just exhausted.  By the time Ali showed up to pick up the dogs I had no doubt I was in full blown sick mode, so much so that I called off from work today.

Speaking of Ali, her trip to Costa Rica sounded amazing.  She had such an awesome time.  I was happy for her.

Time to go lay down. Here are the pictures I took from Troy’s visit.

Many of you remember Todd and Margot, Chevy Chase’s annoying yuppy neighbors from one of my favorite movies of all time, Christmas Vacation.

The young couple were very concerned with only themselves and seemed to have a very “plastic” existence.

There is a couple that I see at the gym that always bring Todd and Margot to mind, only a 20-25 year older version of them.

The man always has perfectly styled hair, combed to the side, never looking out of place. He is in good shape.  The woman whom I assume is his wife, whom is also in very good shape despite her age, wears glasses and always has her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail.

They always do their workouts together, methodically moving from one station to the other.  The man always has a look on his face like he just smelled a fart.  The woman remains mostly expressionless the entire time.  I have never spoken a word to either of them.  I am also pretty sure I have never seen either of them smile.

They go through their routine pretty much silently day in and day out.  Perhaps they are happy.  Perhaps they view me as Cousin Eddie.

Last night we had a hellishly long board meeting for the running club.  It went almost two and a half hours.  For whatever reason there seemed to be a number of topics that involved a lot of talking, some of it a little more than needed.  By the time I got out of there I was mentally numb.

When I got home I was pleased to find that Nicki was able to hold it for the 4 hours I was gone.  I had a number of things to do, despite the hour getting late.  I didn’t get to bed until after 11, yawn.

So my buddy Troy comes to town this weekend.  I haven’t seen him for quite awhile, I believe the last time was 2 years ago (or was it 3) when I went to a Ravens game with him?  I have known him for over 20 years.  In some ways Troy has a personality similar to my dad, very sarcastic with a good dose of smart ass.  We have had some pretty memorable adventures over the years.  I am hoping to create some more memories over the 3-4 days he is here.

So the news is filled with the live pursuit of the Boston bombing suspects.  Supposedly one was already shot and killed and it sounds like they are hot on the trail of suspect number two.   The description of events sounds like something out of movie, high speed chase, robbery, bombs and tragically law enforcement killed/injured.

I found some of the information about the pursuit odd.  For instance, if you just planted bombs at the Boston Marathon, logic would dictate that you are going to lay as low as possible for as long as possible.  But these guys supposedly went out and robbed a 7-11, leading to the chase??   That is a real head scratcher.

This morning someone sent me a link that I found very interesting/disturbing.  The article refers to a private military operative group named “The Craft” that evidently had a substantial presence at the finish line.  As you read through the article you will find many things that seem very, very strange.  Including the fact that almost all of them were wearing large black backpacks.  More smoke billows out when you read that info about The Craft being there and pictures of their group essentially being erased from media coverage of the bombing.

There is one particularly interesting picture where one of the group clearly has a backpack on and then later is shown running without one.

What exactly does this all mean?  I can’t really tell you.  I can tell you that I have never heard of a marathon hiring a private military group to man the finish line and that it is highly unlikely they would do so.    Read the article and draw your own conclusions.

Last night on the way home I stopped to grab the dogs.  They will be with me for a few days while Ali is out of town.  Even though we got home as daylight was starting to fade both of them hung outside for a good half hour.  Lately I have been propping open the lanai screen door so they can come in and out as they please.

Taking the dogs to daycare is a weird thing.  Nicki acts like she no longer likes going there.  When I park the vehicle she will just stay planted, acting like the last thing she feels like doing is going in there with all of the noise and activity.  Lately I have had to take Sadie in first and then come back out and physically lift Nicki out.  Supposedly once Nicki is at the dog daycare she acts fine during the day.  Of course I wouldn’t expect them to tell me she hates it either.

I really would like to be able to just let the dogs stay at the house by themselves like they did for years.  The only reason daycare started was because of Nicki’s issue with holding it for a full day anymore.  At the house they can relax indoors or out.  After 10 years I have become pretty in tune with Nicki’s body language.  It clearly tells me “Dad I’d really rather just stay home”

So yesterday I get this form letter from Comcast stating that they are making “adjustments” to customers that only have internet service, such as I have for the last couple years or so.  The rate starts at $40 a month for gimped service and scales up to $115 (before taxes) for their top tier level.

I currently have the Blast package which according to the letter would pull more than $75 a month  out of my pocket JUST FOR INTERNET SERVICE.  Now, I just negotiated the promo package for tv and Blast internet for $49.99 for 6 months last week, so this SHOULD not apply to me.  However I would not be surprised at all if Comcast somehow f’s up and starts billing me at the higher rate which will initiate a very swift and vocal response from me.

I forgot to mention that I do indeed have Comcast tv service piped into the bedroom now.  As I suggested from the get go, removing the filter from my line fixed the problem.  Of course the convertor box they gave me doesn’t even have a HDMI output, meaning the picture quality is non-hd.  I really don’t know when I will have occasion to use the service except trying to catch a MNF game on ESPN, and maybe using the On Demand rarely.  Otherwise I just don’t need it.

So I read yesterday the Senate voted down the bi-partisan gun bill.  Obviously the very deep pockets of the NRA lobbyists once again were successful in overruling what to me, is basic common sense.

I have never owned or even fired an actual gun, my $35 air rifle is the closest thing I have to a firearm in the house.  However my disinterest in guns doesn’t mean I think individuals should not be able to own a weapon, after all it is a constitutional right.  However as is the case with my position on many things, I like to apply logic to situations.

I do think there is something wrong with owning assault weapons.  I can not see a legitimate reason for an individual to carry a weapon intended to kill people by the dozens, in seconds.

As far as limiting the size of an ammo clip, 30 rounds isn’t enough?  Is it because you like to have longer bursts of Rambo moments or just because your arm starts to hurt after slapping in clip after clip?

However the biggest thing that annoys me is the NRA being so resistant to the universal registration of gun ownership.  You can not convince me there is a downside to this.  Own 100 guns if you want to, to me, asking you to simply register their ownership is a very small price to pay in my book.

You will hear gun nuts say that registering their weapons is a conduit for the government to come and take their guns down the road.  Please, if things would someday get to the point where the government would try to take away registered guns from individuals we would have much larger problems to deal with.

Others will cry “big brother” or it is an invasion of privacy.  Again, I would ask these people to step into the reality of 2013 and the Patriot Act.  You have no real privacy, if you think you do you are living in the Matrix.  Asking gun owners to register their weapons is a blip on the screen in terms of what the government already knows about you.

So anyway, I find it very disappointing but not surprising that once again doing the right thing, taking a small step towards curbing gun violence, was scuttled thanks to the cancerous tumor in our legislative system, aka. lobbyists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ROrpKx3aIjA

The fertilizer plant explosion is just incredible.

So when I had my physical the other week there was something that they wanted checked out.  Checking IT out meant a follow up appointment yesterday to have an ultrasound done, on my family jewels.  If receiving a DRE wasn’t humiliating enough, I now had to have someone hold a wand on an area that does not welcome visitors.

So I go to the imaging office and get subjected first to the financial shake down that is common in today’s medical profession.  It really pisses me off.  Before the appointment they called me to get my insurance information.  They then look up my account and try to determine ahead of time how far I am into my deductible for the year.  The purpose of this is stupid.

They want to know exactly what your potential out of pocket costs will be and collect it up front instead of submitting the claim to my insurance company and THEN seeing what my responsibility will be.  I think it is total bullshit.  I am there getting a medical test, not buying a BMW.  I hate the way health care is handled in our country.

So anyway, after paying my calculated $102 fiscal responsibility up front the door to the exam area opens and an attractive 40 something year old woman pops her head out and calls my name.  Great, the awkwardness dial now will be cranked up another few notches…

So we get back to the ultrasound room and she describes what she needs me to do.  I can feel the blood rushing to my face as she describes it.  I needed to strip from the waist down.  She then points to a rolled up small towel on the table.  She says I need to lay my junk on top of that.  She then points to another towel and says I should use that to cover and hold my other part up and out of the way. Geezus cripes…  I literally said to her, “Wow, this isn’t awkward at all, is it?”  She laughed and said she would be back in a couple minutes.

So I did my best to follow direction and covered myself with a sheet.  The woman knocked and came in.  She sat by the machine, pulled back the sheet to check my homework and got busy.  First she applied some warm conductive gel and then brought out the wand.

Luckily for me, the woman was cool.  I tried to talk about stuff, anything to distract myself from what was actually going on.  I discovered the woman actually just started running, completing the 10K race I timed a couple weeks back.  This spun off into a good conversation which eased my anxiety.

The scan took longer than I thought it would.  I bet I was lying there exposed for close to 15 minutes.  After it was finished I was given some more towels to “clean up”.  I was quite happy to have the test behind me although it wasn’t painful at all and the woman was very nice.  I just HATE being examined beyond someone putting a hand to my forehead and saying “You feel warm”.

So both Ali and I have been waiting for the tax refund to hit my bank account.  I had already long ago spent a good chunk of my portion on the pool deck work.  I have been counting on the money to help refill my coffers a bit.  Ali has been asking me regularly about it as well.  The refund was taking a very long time compared to years past.  So long in fact that I emailed my accountant yesterday and asked him how long I should wait before I start getting concerned?

My accountant looked into it and told me two disturbing things. According to the IRS, the refund was processed on April 10th and should be sitting safely in my account.  However now 7 days later, it still has not shown up.  Second, the refund is $1200 less than what my accountant calculated it to be.  Supposedly there is some notice that will be mailed to me explaining the negative adjustment.

My accountant was baffled by both revelations which didn’t make me feel any better.  So now I have to find out where the f the money went and why 10% was knocked off the top.  I can hardly wait to try to navigate this mess.  Up until this point I have been lucky enough to not have to try to get anything fixed with the IRS. There is a suck storm coming…