A day at the ER

"Bunny",

I woke immediately to the call of my wife's voice.

"I'm having...
sharrrrp...
stabbing pains...
in my Chest on the right....

side".

Thus began our Very Long Night.

"Do you have any shooting pains down your left arm?"

"No", she said, "but my stomach feels like it's on fire and I can't breathe".

We had had spicy food for dinner, but Zelda's iron stomach, challenger of all things spicy, had never had food issues.

That would be my department.

So this had me concerned...

"We'll give you 10 minutes, if it hasn't gotten better, we are going to the ER".

"I'm sorry sweat heart".

"For what? Having chest pains?"

In the back of my mind, the thought floated upwards, "if she collapsed, I'd never be able to get her to the car."

We had no problems, the streets were clear as we drove the five minutes to the hospital.

Expecting a long wait, I grabbed The Green Mile just in case.

"Fill out these forms please".

"Please have a seat".

It was about 15 minutes before we were called.

The technician pretty much decided as he took her stats that she was suffering from indigestion.

He has seen hundreds of cases, but we didn't stop in for a technician's opinion.

We were shown a room and Z was given a bed and we were left alone...

"Ping" "bip!" "Ping"

"Ping, Ping" "bip"

Noisy place.

But there was no "emergency" atmosphere anywhere in the 'Emergency Room'.

It was two hours before a doctor stopped in to check with us.
"I'll be back in a minute".

An hour later I walked back to the nurse's station to ask if anyone was going to attend to us, or we would like to leave.

"We're busy, it's an Emergency Room".

The nurse came back and started Z on a drip and gave her some meds.

"My wife's IV is empty".

"We'll be right back, but first we need to finish planing our Nurse's pot luck dinner."

They later took her back for a sonogram.

Did I mention the floor were dirty?

And while we waited I thought I heard a familar voice.
It was the Older woman I dated a few years back there with her mom.

They left while Zelda was out.

We finally got released about 6:00am.

"No cafine, no spicy foods, no fried foods."

Two all nighters in two weeks.
Needless to say, I stayed home and slept.

Z has not had any problems since.
And although Z told me that, "unless I'm missing an arm or I'm bleeding from all orifices, remind me why we Won't be going to the ER again".

I'm glad we went.
That is the same hospital where my father checked in but never checked out.
We found tums at his office, in his car, in his pockets.
He had a case of Killer Heart burn...
He thought it was only indigestion, and he talked himself into an early grave...

feeding breasts

or, is that breast feeding?

Z and I witnessed a young woman at a restaurant a few months back feeding her baby at the next table over.

I can't say it was something endearing.

I can't say it was something lovely.

It was awkward.


And being a lover of breasts, I find it odd that I wouldn't want see more of them.

Breast feeding is a lovely thing.

As is making love to your amour.


They are not something that I personally want to see in a public place...

At least not until breasts are accepted publicly sans baby.



Who knows, in time maybe my position may change.

It felt like this young woman thrust us, without asking, into a very personal, very private situation in a very public place.

Tweaking my insecurity

This new company tweaks some of my fears.

Meeting people.

Meeting people where I have to go out to them. Where I am not established.

Lots of eye candy at this place.

And the age range...

I'm now the "old guy", although I am not the oldest by far.

Time for bed so I can go on to work tomorrow...

New company

Third day at the new place.

People are nice.

Big place,

big jobs.

I hope I like it.

So far I'm dying to DO something...

What a day...

Our tenant needed/wanted to move in Saturday.
There were a number of items that needed to be finished, some even started before his move in.

We did not want to have to work around furniture and people.

Kind of awkward... (just like the word "awkward" looks)

The only solution, work non stop all night to get the inside ready, complete as much of the garage as possible, and pick up the outside later.

I have not pulled an all nighter since college 15 years ago.

I hung the vent-a-hood.
Installed the hanging rods and shelves for the closets.
Painted the front hall closet.
We installed all the mini blinds.
Placed the last of the attic insulation.
Cleaned most of the rest of the garage.
Ran the dishwasher.
Read through the contract (at 1:00am at the restaurant over milk shakes).
Finished touch up paint at the entry and hall closet.
As I worked at the front door, I noticed the paint profile where mom had installed the old screen door and decades of painting missed. The original green still shows.
The trees were trimmed and the grass cut.

There are still some things to pick up though.
The closet doors in two bed rooms were banged up in the carpet install and will most likely need to be replaced. It's possible a washer and nut might solve it...
The windows on those same two bedrooms will need to be washed.
The garage ceiling needs to be patched.
A bead of caulk in the garage at the wall where the floor slopes towards the living room at the washer hook up.
The new code for the garage door opener.
Hang the garage door wall switch.
Patch the last of the small holes at the attic gable vent.

We had wanted to take photos before the move in, but we forgot the camera.
I have to make a copy of the contract for the tenant's records.

The tenant, we have found out, has had a lot going on in his life.
He lost a child a little over two weeks ago. You could see the pain in his eyes as his mind touched on it.
A love relationship ended and he had to move out of the home where he was staying.
He started a new career at the end of August. He has become a school teacher after retiring from the military.

Each of his children have their own rooms now. (The daughter quickly claimed the largest room while the football player was at practice and ended up with the smallest.)

We will schedule to pick up the last of the items on our list for next Saturday.
Then Zelda and I are going down to mom and dad's for a weekend vacation.

Oh, and I start my new job Monday.

Good News All Round

First piece of good news.

ZELDA'S BACK!!
(And she brought cake from Mom's!)

Second piece of good news.

I start my new job Monday!
(More money each month!)

Third piece of good news.

We have a renter!
(retired military, 3 kids, liked our house, moves in Saturday)

Missing Zelda Bunny

Zelda received a contract to do work with the Military in San Antonio.
She has been down in the River City since Sunday.

I miss her.

But she'll be back on Wednesday.

Water, Water

Water falls from the sky on a pretty regular basis.
And because of this, we get pretty complacent.

The Federal government, in an effort to lessen the impact of 200 million showers, baths, and everyday water use passed a law that limits the amount of water that will flow through a shower head in one minute.

That magic number is 2.5 gallons per minute per shower head.
Two shower heads, twice the amount of water.

Oops.
***
The State of Texas, in an effort to protect the health and welfare of its citizens, is concerned about folks getting burned by water flowing from the shower head.

Water is called for else where in the house,
the water pressure drops,
hot water surges from the head,
and someone gets scalded if the temperature on the water heater is to high.

In an effort to prevent this, the State legislature has passed a law requiring a mixing valve be installed for all new baths and showers.

Our old house had the new shower head, but the old mixing value.

I could control the hot and the cold along with the volume of water (up to 2.5 gals).

Our new house has the new head and the new valve.
***
This is a prime example of the two forms of Government creating problems where they attempted to solve them.
***
The anti scald valve is all open,

or all closed.

There is no subtle control.

What this means is...

2.5 gallons per minute will flow,

period.
***
The old system allowed me to Choose to use only hot water,

and by controlling the volume,

I could control the temperature,

and use a fraction of the water.
***
We controlled scalding by adjusting the temperature on the water heater.
***
The wiser use of Government over sight would be to require water harvesting and recycling at the site of use.

This would save $$$ and infrastructure and lessen the impact on our environment.
***
The average rain fall in my part of Texas is 30" per year.

We received that in July of this year.

Our house foot print would capture enough water to provide water for Zelda and I for one year with only 2" of rain.

Misplaced Priorities...

The SciFi channel is showing the Japanese Animated movie, "Ghost in the Shell".

The main character is a robot that has been given memories, a personality, freedom of thought.

The movie asks the question, "What makes us human?"

Now the creator of the story is a young man. And the main character in the comic book on which the movie is based, takes her clothes off from time to time.

Makes it popular with young men 18 to 24.

Although I have the movie on DVD, I tuned in because, hey, I was once an 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 year old male.

In the first scene, our hero disrobes and free falls 20 stories down the side of a building to get into position to do her job.

Oh, I forgot to mention, along with half naked women, 18-24 year old males also tend to like guns.

So in the first ten minutes we have naked women with guns.

What else could you ask for???

Well, even though it's Cable, they frosted the nudy parts out.

But guess what?

They left the scene in where she blows the bad guy's head

all
over
the
camera.

Just goes to prove....



Tits can kill...


Oh, the (scripted) reason for her taking her clothes off (which since she's an android, there's nothing to 'see') is her skin can cause her to become invisible...

Ah, Texas Politics

From the people who brought you

George Bush, Jr.,

Enron,

out going AG Gonzalez,

and ousted former speaker of the house, Tom Delay,

let me introduce you to the folks who want to take away American Internet Freedoms of speech...

San Antonio based AT&T.

All of them good 'ol Texas Boys...


Check out the latest goings on at the link below
(don't forget to Right click the link and paste it into your browser)


http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/?p=214

G-d it sucks to be from Texas right now...

Sheet Rock and Popcorn

We spent an exhausting 1/2 day at the old house working on the garage, touch up paint, and misc. stuff.

The father with 3 daughters scheduled at 7:00 Saturday was...

a no show....

Both Zelda and I spent the better part of an hour cleaning up ourselves and getting the house ready for someone who didn't respect out time...

I wonder how the guy next door finds his renters...
Though he takes section 8 (housing assistance) and has over 20 properties...

Zelda is getting worried...
***
Afterwards we went out for drinks and a movie.
"Stardust".
I'd watch it again.

I was surprised to learn while we waited for the theater to begin seating, that Z didn't realize that the old house, and all it's baggage, is the reason we were able to kill off so much previous debt.

Had we been paying the going Dallas Area rental/mortgage rates on a place to live, there would have been little if any $$ left over at the end of the month to pay on Motorcycles or cars or credit cards or even vacations. And if we think it's tight at the moment, it would have be a real squeeze with out the homestead and it's low mortgage payments...

Appointment

Zelda answered the latest call on the house.
We have a 7:00 showing Saturday night.

Our previous one was a no show without a, "sorry, we can't make it" notice.

Old man renter at the office tells me that once upon a time, people were polite, and if they couldn't make it, they would let you know.

And that was back when you had to track a land line down and remember the number you wanted to call.

We waste our time getting the house ready and spend our time for someone too inconsiderate to make a phone call on their cell phone...
***
Zelda has an honest to G-d doctor's note to the effect of,

"Zelda may not paint anymore. Dr.s orders".

(All you had to do was say,"I don't want to paint anymore, my wrists hurt".

My Zelda...

she likes to be dramatic!
***
As I was cleaning out the old garage (rental) last night, it occurred to me that Coach could have said, "you made a mistake, but let's work this out", had he really wanted to keep me.
***
The long term employee there (going on 17 years) is ready to jump ship. I was told he was jealous of my leaving. He has heard good things about my new place.

When he has given notice in the past, Coach has offered more money and he has stayed.

(In my opinion, he needs to let go of the nipple and try something (or someone) new.)

I will let the new place know of his desire to change companies. He may contact them if he wishes.

With of course, the promise not to let Coach know my part in any of this.

I don't want to get a baseball bat over the head some night after work...

He is after all, the go-to man at the office.

Ultimately, we don't think he'll jump...

But for his own mental and spiritual well being, he needs to move on...

new job!!

This whole resigning thing has been a comedy of errors.

I broke the cardinal rule of never put in writing what you can say in person.

My letter made it into the secretary's hands, not the coaches.

My fault.

Word spread and everyone knew I was leaving But the Coach.

He found out today.

His comment was if I had come in to him, "we could have worked this out".

My last day is next Friday.

As Zelda pointed out, I did approach him...
Twice...
Two months ago...
***
In the end.

I'm embarrassed,

but hey...

no
one
died.

Delivered

The resignation letter was delivered today.

I expected him to ask me to come talk to him.

Unexpected reactions from all around.

Coach didn't say a thing to me.

Nada.

He seemed very emotional today...
***
Word got around to the other end of the office.
Computer man came down to talk with me.
Shared with me that there are some in the office who are envious of me.

I let him know that any architectural company in town would be interested in the people who designed/drew the Super Shopping Center. Whether they were registered or not.

nbbbfdzx (thanks Isabel, she wanted to add her thoughts)

I understand that fear of," I'm X years old and still not registered."

The employees "vs." the boss man.
When it's "VS"...
no one wins...
***
Part of me wonders if things would have worked out had I done the moonlighting house job for the partner, gotten the rental contracted, come in everyday, busted my tail, earned my raise in the eyes of the boss, and been able to stay as Mr. Fromage...

Anyway, it's done.

Things can work out.
Will work out as they will.
***
Zelda was just tapped by Austin and San Antonio to handle some Military Furniture Emergencies.
Four year contract...
I'm thinking Bunny needs to learn the furniture software Zelda uses so he can help out...
***
We had a no show to see the house today...
***
That's one reason I do not like poaching by companies on other firms...
The winning firm gloats over the new hire while the loser has to scramble to make up for their loss...

Au revior

I wrote my notice letter to the current company.
Would have preferred to not be put in that position, but it's my life and my responsibility.

The new company has about 100 people. 70 plus architects.
They have social get togethers the last Friday of the month. They also bring in material reps and consultants to talk on various items. This helps meet the Extra Learning Credits now required of Architects and other professionals. Will save me $$ and time as the company pays any fees and provides lunch.

I'll miss working with the old gang and the consultants, clients, etc.
But I did ask for a raise after I got my license, not before...
(Psychologically throwing blame back at the coach don'ch ya know...)

Get the old house rented to good people and the financial crisis will clear itself up quite nicely.
***
We are fixing up the old house and someone else is paying for it. Great way to reinvigorate a building, and in turn, a neighborhood...

The nicest things

Zelda told me the sweetest thing the other day as we stood in the old house looking at the new carpet.

Since she moved in two years ago, Z has not liked the old house.
Old, tired, dirty, "let's sell it!", has been her mantra.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but if we had to move out of the new house, I could live in this house".

What a lovely thing to say!!!
***
We have a really nice house in which someone to live!

The old house...

We got the carpet in Thursday.
I installed the electric outlets while Zelda touched up the wall paint.
She hurt her self and fell in the back room.
Had I realized how painful it was for her to paint, I would have sent her home.

She's okay, but we had to clean up some spilled paint.
***
We have had two families see the house, with another scheduled to stop by tomorrow.
So far we have been told the house is really nice and did we do all of it ourselves.
Of course, there are a lot of little things I see that I want to fix/clean up.

Bunny Nephew did not prep the cabinets before he painted.
We are having problems with the paint peeling off of the doors. They needed to have been sanded and primed.
We are going to possibly have problems with them with tenants...
***
Tomorrow I am going to begin cleaning up the garage. It has been neglected while we worked on the inside.
After that I'll head back inside to finish up the closets and some trim that was banged up by the carpet guys.
There is yard clean up. Install the vent-a-hood. Reinstall the closet shelves and hanging rods.
The entry closet still needs to be painted...

Lots to do still.
But it will happen quickly...