Another mix, Shock
I had a hectic day at work Friday, trying to keep several balls in the air at the same time. Some of it was related to the migration work we had to do on Saturday. Unlike the week prior this branch was larger, more than double the amount of staff. Luckily we also had more hands on deck to help so things went smoothly. There was an extra chapter of work on this branch as once the migration was done I rewired the network rack which had a cabling nightmare going on. I cleaned it up the best I could but the layout of components at this branch doesn’t allow me to organize things as much as I would prefer. I got home right around lunch time.
Cindy did a number of the chores I would normally do on Saturday morning so I had less to attend to when I got home. I still had a number of things to keep me occupied during most of the afternoon. Somewhere around four I decided to take a quick ride over to the school to zip around on my One Wheel Pint, a device that has seen very little attention over the last year. The lack of focus isn’t because I don’t like the Pint, I love it. The issue has been for a combination of reasons I just have not been setting aside as much riding time as I once did. With 10 PEVs in my collection that translates into a lot of them sitting unused for long periods of time, like the Pint.
One of my goals was to try a skill someone suggested to me, a slide stop. Before I got a chance to practice the skill I found myself face down in the dirt. It happened when I transitioned from asphalt to grass, going down a small decline. I wasn’t paying close attention to the height of the nose of the board and it dug into the ground, sending me flying. Luckily the impact wasn’t horrible, my biggest injury was a brush burn on my right knee as the knee pad had slipped down. The skill came relatively easy to me and is something I would like to use more often as it is a quick, cool, and easy way to dismount the board without doing an awkward, stationary heel lift.
I couldn’t stay that long because we were meeting Deb for dinner. We again ate at Brooks Burger, Cindy just loves the burgers there. I could definitely tell that season is shifting as the crowd was not as big as the last time we visited a few weeks back. After dinner Deb followed us to the house where we enjoyed a desert she baked. We started watching Synchronic on Netflix. The girls weren’t that into it but I found it interesting. We stopped watching it after maybe 45 minutes but I finished it myself later (give it a B) Deb headed out, it was a nice way to spend our Saturday evening.
Sunday was more conventional in it’s pacing meaning I did the chickens, did my weekly bill paying session and then Cindy and I did an errand run including DD, the post office, and Home Depot. The afternoon was pretty laid back with minimal housework. Last night Cindy and I did another round of virtual mini-golf and then I hung out in VR making a quick VR Chat pit stop which was ridiculous as always. I opted into Big Screen where two clearly older men were having a lengthy conversation in the theater lobby before I went into a “drive in” where I watched 30 minutes of Hobbit 3D with a dozen other people.
Late Friday I got a text from Todd with some pretty shocking news. He told me my ex-girlfriend from high school had died Thursday night. Evidently she got her first vaccine shot Thursday morning. I am not sure of which brand. She had a normal day but evidently died in her sleep that night. I was stunned. I haven’t had contact with her for years and we never were on good terms after the split but this still hit me hard. She has had decades of health problems so she definitely would have been in the high risk category but this still is not an outcome anyone would suspect. The news instantly made me feel my mortality, front and center. You just never know when your clock will be punched, better enjoy the moments you have.
It’s a crushing loss for her family and I wish them my sincerest condolences.