All posts by Duf

We went back to the orthodontist for the next stage of our treatment. We had to have little rectangular pads bonded to certain teeth to give the aligners better leverage to move the teeth. It wasn’t much fun. They put this nasty tasting stuff on the teeth to make them take the bond better. Then they stick this device in your mouth that pulls your lips apart so you sort of look like the Joker. It is very uncomfortable. After they stick the pads on your teeth, they had to hit them with a drill to smooth them out. That sound of the drill and the smell of burning tooth goes through me. To make it worse, the doctor kept getting pulled away to deal with a young boy that would not cooperate a few chairs away. So while he is away my throat is filling with saliva, bonding crap and drilled off pad scraps. Nasty. After they were done we snapped the aligners on. Holy shit! They were tight and trying to remove them is now a monumental task. Another issue is one of the teeth that got a pad is on a tooth that leans way in, so when I eat, I bite down on the pad. As a result I have to be very careful when eating, else I risk breaking that pad off. Ali had a worse time of it than me. Not fun but I just keep telling myself how it will be all worth it in the end.

I realized today that I am already over the Eagles loss. In a way that is good. I think that now my expectations for the season have been lowered drastically so each successive loss will be less of a shock to me. I EXPECT them to lose the next game.

That hurricane that initially gave us a scare here may instead wind up cutting right through PA. They have been drenched up there already. I can only imagine the flooding if they get hit by Isabel. The weather up there dating back to late last year has been horrid. I can only imagine my state of mind if I was there still.

Had a dumb dream the other night where I was in college at my current age with a buddy of mine I used to play baseball with growing up. We were in the lunchroom eating but it was right on the beach overlooking the ocean. It kind of looked like a northern CA coast with rocks and stuff. That is pretty much all I remember of it and I have no idea what would trigger such a thing. I hated college during my extremely brief stint there and have no desire to return.

The weekend went quickly. The water on our property had receded enough that we were actually able to mow everything, a rarity in the summer. We also decided to rip down the compost pile that Ali was so excited to have built last year. As in many cases, reality didn’t live up to the expectations. Ali is a big conservationist and a compost pile is a great way to recycle yard waste, kitchen scraps etc. However it is also a nice place for things like snakes and bugs to hide in. One close encounter with a snake was enough to stop Ali from wanting to maintain the pile so it has basically sat being an eyesore. So, I ripped it down and framed out an 8′ x 8′ box out of landscape timbers so we can use that area as a little garden instead. We have many similar situations where Ali gets inspired for us to do something that seems idealistically correct but realistically a pain in the ass.

I am a fan of the Fox pregame NFL show. I prefer it over the CBS show. Being a big fan, I was bummed out to see Jimmy Kimmel leave the show this year. His bits were some of the funniest part of the show. They replaced him with some guy from Mad TV whom I never heard of. I had little hope he would be able to fill Jimmy’s shoes. Well I was wrong, this guy on his own isn’t very funny, but he does impersonations of people that are piss in your pants funny. Yesterday he did a George W routine that had Ali and I laughing like crazy. Good stuff.

Speaking of football, the Eagles followed up a bad opening game performance with an even more dreadful performance against the Patriots. They sucked in almost every aspect of the game. Last year after the NFC championship I said that I thought the Eagles had crested and they would go down from there. I have to admit, the first 2 preseason games of the year had changed my thoughts, they looked sharp. However, since then they have looked terrible, climaxing in yesterday’s game. McNabb is a great athlete, he is not a great QB. All the wind sprints, boxing, blindfolded drills and agility exercises apparently do not translate into making him a more accurate QB. Highest paid player in the league, what a joke. A bye week and then they play the Bills. 0-3 looks to be a lock.

Today I had one of those awkward gym moments. I was just about ready to leave but I saw this big moose of a guy with 405 on the bench. He was giving the look around like he could use a spot. I wasn’t going to say anything because sometimes big bears like that get offended if you ask if they want a spot but I thought he definitely had the look that he wanted one. Well I guess I guessed wrong. I asked him if he wanted a spot and he said maybe in a bit he was resting. Hmmm ok well now I am commited because I offered, yet I am on my way out the door. My lifting gloves are off so I just stand there, drinking my water waiting for him to be ready. He walks around and keeps looking around the gym. Hmm, maybe he doesn’t want me to spot him. I try to make conversation asking him what his max is. (in retrospect a dumb question) He’s terse. So after more awkward silence I ask him again if he wants me to spot or not. He says, “Yea I guess if you want” Well I certainly didn’t care if I spotted him or not but I felt commited. So I ask him if he wants a lift off. “No” He grinds out 2 reps without my help, racks the bar and I say “Good Job” He says nothing and I grab my shit and leave. One of those stupid awkward moments that I just suck at getting out of. Dumb.

The bug bit me again. I bought a keyless entry kit for my mom’s RAV4 and decided to install it last night. My mom was nervous about me ripping into it, especially after the fiery fate my Buick met. I reassured her that it would be fine, and it was for the most part. The car has(had) an aftermarket alarm in it that was disconnected because it used to go off inadvertently all the time. As a result there was a big mess behind the dash already from the installation of the alarm. Even so I was able to disassemble and figure out a game plan rather quickly. I had to pull the car into the garage because it was getting dark. When I went to put in in DRIVE the shifter was locked in park. Odd I thought, I hit the interlock bypass and figured I just knocked something loose, no big deal, I’m sure I can fix that easily. I was able to make the connections and had the locks working in about an hour. GREAT. Now all I have to do is figure out that shift interlock problem. I check all the connections, no dice, I double check them, I push them all in, I triple verify everything is in, no dice. I’m getting frustrated at this point. I am sweaty, the mosquitos are attacking me since I have the garage open and the light is attracting them like bees to honey and I’m tired. I decide that all the old alarm wiring has to go. I rip it all out. I had to cut a wire or two to remove it but they didn’t look like they did anything. 🙂 After it’s all gone I try the interlock, nothin. Still doesn’t work! Damn it!!!!! Dejected, I put the stuff back together and pull out the RAV4 and park it. I look on the internet for interlock information, I think about how I am going to have to take it to an electrical shop to have them figure it out. For some reason I go back out, wondering if the brake lights work. I step on them, no light. Hmmmmmmm. I check the fuse box, the fuse is popped to the brake lights! I borrow one from my truck, and POW it works, evidently a popped brake light fuse also disables the brake interlock! I’m not going mad! But wait, why do all of the door locks work except the driver door one??? NO!!!!!! I am so close to completion I have to figure out what happened, it’s 11pm. So I am out in the driveway with a flashlight looking at the wires. The one wire I cut looks suspicious. I touch it to what looks like a logical connection, the lock works! I splice it in and it all works!! Time of completion, approximately 11:45 pm. Another bug up the ass successfully removed.

This morning I saw Johnny Cash died, not very surprising, he was in bad shape. I never really followed his music much but I did see that recent song and video he did, HURT. Man that stuff goes through me. Getting old scares the hell out of me. Then I read that John Ritter DIED. That is really shocking. I was a Three’s Company junkie and to see him drop dead is really sad. As Rich mentioned to me, it’s really disturbing to have people dying that were our age 20 years ago. I guess in some ways it’s better to go as John Ritter did. No prolonged suffering, loss of memory, motor skills or bladder control, just boom you check out. Still shakes me up.

It’s been 2 years already? Wow. …. I can remember that day very clearly. I remember someone telling me to flip on the tv, the world trade center was burning. I flipped it on and remembered thinking, damn a plane hit it. What a terrible accident. I thought it was a small plane. Then as I am watching, another plane hit and I was shocked. It clicked that this wasn’t an accident. Then a half hour later the news of explosions in Washington. What chaos. When the towers fell, women in the office were crying, everyone else was in shock. I remember wondering if things would ever be the same again. How could things ever be back to normal after such an unthinkable tragedy. Things weren’t the same for a long time. Everyone was somber, respectful, considerate and thoughtful. It didn’t last forever however and things swung back into gear quicker than I would have imagined. (Except for the family and friends that had a direct loss in the tragedy) It certainly changed my outlook on the world forever. No matter how much we try to bury it from view and/or not think about it, the world is a dangerous place filled with evil in every corner. So much strife in the world is in the name of religion, very ironic since most associate religion with peace, love and caring. The world is f’d up, it is unlikely to ever be fixed and in the end we will more than likely be the cause of our own destruction. Have a nice day. 🙁

All the build up, all the anticipation, all the feelings of revenge, all for nothing. The Eagles opened up their beautiful new stadium with a PATHETIC effort. It was almost an instant replay of the NFC championship game, only a little worse. I can’t imagine a less desirable way to open a season, all my optimism for the season is a burning pile of trash now. Donovan looked terrible, despite all of the glowing reports of his newfound accuracy. He is still inaccurate, still gets skittish when his first option is unavailable and still throws mostly passes under 5 yards. If they don’t show a major reversal in playing level asap there is going to be a mob mentality up in Philly. The best part of the game was the MNF intro with Stallone, it was cool. Looks like Sly is back in shape again, good for him.

In my industry, a popular term is “paper” MCSE. What this represents is a person who has passed Microsoft’s certification exams but has no real world experience in the computer industry. These people typically fail miserably when placed in an actual job because all they know is how to pass the tests and little more. Yesterday I thought how there is a lot of paper patriotism. I saw a truck with flag seat covers, the cars with the flag stickers, the infamous tattered flags that attach to the window, flag hats, flag pencils, the list is endless. I got my window flag after 911. I still have a patriotic sign in my window at home. Does that make me a patriot? Nope, not at all. It’s the lemming mentality. Look at me I have a flag, I’m a patriot. Actions always mean more than words and the vast majority of us in reality do nothing that is truly patriotic. It isn’t a major inconvenience and requires little work for people to adorn themselves with something patriotic so they do it. It’s easy. The soldiers that defend our country are patriotic. Most of the rest of us are hypocrites.

You know you are a person that is addicted to coffee when you order a super size Dunkin Donuts coffee that is half decaf, half regular with 5 creams, everyday.

My moms car is in our driveway. After work last night, I quickly gave it a much needed bath. I think the prior owners NEVER washed it. It looks much better after a little elbow grease.

Our home phone is basically unuseable right now. Any attempted phone conversations are filled with clicks to a non-existant incoming call, disconnects and line noise. I called Sprint yesterday AGAIN complaining bitterly. While on the call I got clicked over 10 times at least. The representative on the other side had an attitude with me so of course I asked for the supervisor. She was nicer but basically gave me the same song and dance. The local repair manager will call me (never happens) a technician will come out again to check the problem (never finds anything wrong) and she apologizes for the inconvenience. I’m at my wit’s end with them. I have passed the torch to Alison, to see if she has any better luck. I am just sick of it. SPRINT BLOWS!

Being the sentimental type that I am, I wrapped up Fishy in a wet paper towel, put him in my empty cookie snack bag and took him home to give him proper burial. However, due to tropical storm Henri, the entrance to the shed where my shovels are was blocked by standing water. So I wound up putting him in the freezer until I could give him proper burial. Silly huh?

The weekend was fine, we did a lot of house stuff, went to the mall and most importantly, we found a replacement vehicle for my mom. It’s a 96 Toyota RAV 4 with 53,000 miles. A nice little vehicle that should work out real well for my mom’s needs.

I watched a lot of football. My cliff notes:

Florida had one of the worst chokes/collapses I have ever seen against Miami, they had no excuse for losing that game.

Kurt Warner still looked like crap. 4 fumbles? Come on! He looked like an amateur out there not protecting the football. How the mighty have fallen.

The Dolphins lose to the Texans AT HOME????? How the hell does that happen? The Fins have won their last 11 season openers and lose to the TEXANS? Unreal.

A good opening weekend but it’s all warm up for the Eagles Bucs tonight. It’s going to be a late night, I hope the Birds have revenge on their mind. I still sting from the championship game.

I had some interesting thoughts that I remember thinking “Got to blog it…” Sadly, my early alzheimers has prevented me from remembering what the hell they were exactly… I’ll try to recall them later.

Yesterday I was actually investigating humane ways to euthanize a fish. Fishy, one of my 2 beta’s had not eaten in over 3 weeks and basically just sat at the bottom looking miserable. Yesterday afternoon I set up his original bowl and put him into it hoping for 1 last attempt at reviving him. I came in this morning and he was dead. It makes me sad to see him go but it was time, he had no enjoyment in being immobile. He was a good fish.

My 200th entry, how exciting.

Sprint blows. I have had a horrible time dealing with them sice moving to SW Florida. They are the one and only local phone carrier in this area and have demonstrated time and again how terrible of a customer service company they are. They pissed me off so much that I registered the domain name sprintblows.com and made up a quick site. My latest issue with them is with my home phone service. For 3 months we have had intermittent problems with the phone being noisy and disconnecting at random. Our neighbors have the same problem so it isn’t just us. I’ve called at least a dozen times with no resolution. Today a tech was there while my mom was home. He said he found some issues and corrected them, should be fine. My mom calls me to tell me he was done. 15 seconds into the call, CLICK! Disconnected. 3 more attempts, same thing. It’s worse than before! Idiots. Can’t stand them.