Monday, December 6, 2010

In which I trouble shoot a printer in my pajamas

I was all ready for bed when I got a knock on my door. Dylan needed my printer, since his and the family's aren't working. Sadly, mine is out of ink. Since his mythology project is due tomorrow, I went in to his room to trouble shoot his printer. The internet was slow, so we spent most of the past 1.5 hours waiting for drivers to download.

ACTUAL CONVERSATION

Me: That's my foot.

Dylan: What?

Me: You're standing on my foot.

Dylan (moves): You're foot shouldn't have been there.

Me: Do you really want to me to leave? Because I would rather be in bed.

Dylan: No.... want some gum?

I turned down the gum, installed drivers for two printers, tried to print some pages, failed, and am now going to bed while Dylan emails everything to himself to print at school.

Good night.

Monday, October 18, 2010

FLASHBACK: Watch your step

Sidebar: I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. Stuff has happened, like finishing grad school and moving home until I find employment. Sorry.

The last Sunday I was in Saint Louis I had errands to run. I needed face lotion, Mom wanted me to pick up a wedding present and some spices, Crystal and Amanda wanted some stuff from Trader Joe's, and the usual groceries needed to be purchased. I set the alarm, locked the front door, and was putting my glasses in my bag when I tripped, falling down the last four concrete steps on to the sidewalk.

Like any self-respecting person, I immediately looked around to determine if anyone saw me. Nope, I was all alone. I picked myself up, noting that my ankle hurt, and limped back to the house. By the time I turned off the alarm, I knew that not only had I hurt the one ankle, but also the other ankle and had scraped up both knees. After limping upstairs to the my first aid supplies, I put pressure on the bleeding and called a friend to discuss what an idiot I was.

Once the bleeding had stopped, the ice pack had been thrown in the freezer, and one ankle wrapped and braced (because who has two ankle braces? Answer: Now me), I left the house to run all the errands, adding a trip to Target for first aid supplies.

I spent the rest of the week limping around during the day, sitting with my feet up at night. I went to the Balloon Glow with some friends, and someone asked if I played roller derby, because he'd treated someone built like I am with similar injuries. I wish, I told him.

Note: It's been over a month, and while better, I'm still healing. The ankles were doing well, but something popped last week when I was cleaning out my closet in one ankle, so the brace is back on. Also, I have some very lovely scars on my knees.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Random bathroom encounters

I walked in to the (women's) bathroom this afternoon and heard someone talking in the last stall.

"Who is it?" the person in the stall asked. And before I could answer, she asked further, "Is it a man or woman."

"It is a woman," I said, thinking I just referred to myself as an 'it'.

The person then continued to talk to herself. While I was washing my hands, she exited the last stall.

"Are you a student here?" she asked.

No, I explained, I worked at FOCUS, a non-profit in the building. She seemed satisfied, no more questions, and I left. Random.

Footloose

Last week at the MUNY the show was Footloose. Overall, I enjoyed the show, minus the number of the song "Footloose", but that was a problem with the book, not the performance. I like the song, a good thing since I listened to the song at least once per shift during my time at Cold Stone, and the song is broken up with dialog, making it feel jerky to me.

At the MUNY, the back ten or so rows are free, the only drawback being that us cheapskates wait about 90 minutes in our seats before the show starts. I bring a book and tend to finish whatever I'm reading that week. Last week, the people in the rows behind me got into a conversation about who was in the original movie. I was close enough to hear, but far enough to be out of the conversation. The lady behind me said, "Jennifer Grey."

Oh no, I thought, she's confusing it with Dirty Dancing.

Then the man behind her said, "Oh yeah, they made that sequel, Havana Nights."

And the confusion spread.

I spent the next few minutes texting Amanda and holding back laughter. See, Amanda confused Footloose and Dirty Dancing roughly once per semester at BV. I'd be going to the library, or we'd be sitting around, and she would say that she was in the mood to watch Footloose. We'd go check it out, get back to our room, start the movie, and she would realize that she actually wanted to watch Dirty Dancing. This happened all the time. A future birthday present may be a two-pack so she can have a double feature whenever she wants.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Some points from today

Note: The past three weeks, I have had my laptop repaired, moved back to STL, and started my practice experience. Life is busy, and the MPH is almost done.

1. There is now a St. Louis Bread Company in the Galleria, Because if there is one thing that STL needs, it's another Bread Company.

2. I got honked at three times on the way to work. Twice by the same person at the same red light. I'm sorry, huge SUV, but while you may be able to see over the Kingshighway bridge, I can't in my little Saturn. I didn't have the right of way, so I waited. Honking will not make me not wait.

3. I pre-ordered a book at Borders and went to pick it up today. The cashier couldn't find it and then went on a search throughout the store to find me another copy of the book. When I told her I had already paid for it, she went, "Oh" and found my book right away. Then we talked about comics and Scott Pilgrim. Good times.

4. I decided I didn't want to deal with other drivers tonight, so I went and saw Inception instead of going to the concert downtown. I really enjoyed it. I figured out the twists before the end, but the plot was structured in such a way that I had some doubts and didn't feel cheated when I turned out to be right.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

On the plus side, 2010 is just about half over

I called Walmart yesterday to have a prescription refilled and found I was out of refills on that number, so I called the pharmacist. She looked it up for me, and asked if it was okay that this one was a higher dose.

Um, yes, that would be good.

Using my deductive skills, I think the prescription was either called in incorrectly back in April or put in to Walmart's system incorrectly. This wrong prescription was then refilled for the past few months. I'm not sure who is responsible for the error, but considering the clinic has failed to inform me of or call in a prescription earlier this year, I'm inclined to think the problem is there.

I called the clinic, so there's a note in my file (oh how that file has grown this year), and today was the first time in the past week or so that I haven't woken up a little wheezy. Plus, no more Flovent and losing my voice almost every day.

Good thing I'm moving in two weeks and was going to transfer my prescriptions to Walgreens anyway, right?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Customer service has been contacted

The face lotion I bought last weekend specifically because it has sunscreen in it also has a sunburn warning on the back.

"This product contains an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that may increase your skin's sensitivity to the sun and particularly the possibility of sunburn. Limit sun exposure while using this product and use a sunscreen for a week after use." - Neutrogena Healthy Skin face lotion SPF15

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Buses and buffets

After spending the afternoon shopping in Sioux City, Amanda, Eric, and I were ready for a very early dinner - 4:15 early. Amanda and I were planning on going to 5 Guys, but Eric didn't want burgers so we ended up at Golden Corral, a buffet. We got there, paid, and were directed to one side of the restaurant because a party of 500 was going to be coming.

Well, super.

We got our food and then the buses started arriving. Six buses of senior citizens on some sort of bus trip came, and I picked very poorly for our table location. We were definitely full when we left (well, Amanda and I were - Eric is Eric).

As we were finishing up a large group from WIT came as well as two more buses that I don't think they knew about. I am so glad we missed further craziness.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I'm thankful that...

... this time I ripped the butt out of my pants while I was at home, unlike last time when I was at Cold Stone and had to duct tape them back together for a seven hour shift.

Monday, May 10, 2010

A Mother's Day Tale

The thing about being the oldest child and only one with a driver's license is that no matter how much I would like to be on top of the whole present thing, I still end up somewhat responsible for my brother's present procurement as well.

Usually, Eric becomes my financial backer. I'll find something, tell him what his contribution will be, and then pick it up. This Mother's Day, however, he ended up on his own. I still told him what Mom wanted (Bell's Are Ringing on DVD), so off he went to Barnes & Noble. Apparently, someone bought the last copy minutes before he got there, so he ended up buying a DVD pack instead and getting Dylan to chip in. I'm sure a bewildered clerk check him out on Friday (What is this movie and how did two people come in for it within 30 minutes?!?)

While I had the present taken care of, I put off buying a card because I knew I would be giving someone a ride to Walgreens on Saturday. However, Dylan failed to inform me that Dad took him to get a card earlier, so it was put off longer than necessary resulting in a more limited card selection. Eventually a card was found, and Mom liked the gift.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A case of mistaken identity

Last weekend I visited some friends in Storm Lake, and when we were out on Friday night a lady came up to talk to us. Becky, who I had never met before, was very certain she knew not just me, but also my family. She thought she had met my sister last weekend and sold my mom a car recently. Neither of these women were redheads, so that wasn't the connecting factor. It took some doing to convince her that she didn't know my family.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

In which I return to the internet

Long, long, long story short (which may defeat the purpose of a blog), I'm finally healthy (or at least much healthier) after being ridiculously sick. The final diagnosis was out of control asthma that took only eight clinic visits, two blood draws, and more than ten prescriptions to arrive at.

Also, I took my oral exams for my masters program, which I passed. Fun times.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

January hasn't been my month

After spraining my wrist and catching the flu from my brother, I got a sinus infection and bronchitis. Apparently I can't do anything halfway. Since I still have a fever over 99 F (that's in the 101 F range for all you people with normal body temps), I went back to the doctor today.

The PA decided she wanted blood work and a chest x-ray. I hadn't had my blood drawn since I was ten. It's not that I have a problem with blood or anything, but they simply can't find my veins. I tried giving blood multiple times only to be sent away with pity cookies and "maybe you should enjoy other people to give". With the help of an infant heel hot pack, the nice tech stuck my once, only positioned twice, and got barely enough blood. She was so flustered that she forgot that about the x-ray.

Armed with new antibiotics and a Hunchback of Notre Dame bandage (Mom, that movie came out in 1996 - maybe time to clean out the first aid box), I know sit and surf the web waiting for new Psych. I can only pray that I have the mental capacity to do homework tomorrow, because today's two questions isn't going to cut it.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Wrist Braces and Towing Notices

Well, I'm tired of snow. This week we had I think the fourth weekly blizzard since I came back to SD. Tuesday, Eric and I ran to Sioux City to beat the storm and pick up a few things. Eric was going to play DS and somehow dropped his stylus after hitting himself in the face with it (we're a very talented family). He couldn't find it while to car was moving, so while he was picking up some stuff from his dorm, I reached under the passenger seat to try and find it. I think I went wrong by doing this while seated in the driver seat, because my hand got stuck - my right hand. There was a moment when I thought my hand was going to brake, but I pulled my hand out, scrapping the wrist, bruising the back of my hand, and (as I now know) spraining my wrist.

Then the storm hit, effectively trapping us at home again. By Thursday morning I realized I needed a brace, but the entire town was shut down.

Friday I finally got a brace, but when I got home, there was a nice orange sticker on my car. My car was flagged as potentially abandoned and had to be moved by Sunday night or it would be towed. My dad's first thought was that the people who live across from where I park reported it because they don't like me parking there - a real possibility, despite it being a public street (seriously, people, you don't need the entire width of the cul-da-sac in order to back out of your drive, and if you do, you need to practice backing up). I called the police department to determine what was going on and found out there is an emergency decree that all cars must be moved every 24 hours so that the streets can be cleared. I don't know when they expected cars to be moved, considering school was still called off Friday. I think a lot of cars were flagged yesterday.

The current temp is -17F. The car has been moved, the brace is on, and now I'm on my second mug of tea, still trying to get warm.