Tiny's Tantalizing Text

WOW, I'm writing this on Wednesday. Had a Dr. appointment this morning...was supposed to be at 10:45, but I didn't get called into the exam room until 11:20, then the Dr. didn't come in there until 11:35. I was out by 11:45 though, then to the drug dealer to fill my script (antibiotic), the grease factory (McDonald's) for lunch, then back to work.

Considering my Dr. appointment was about an infection from a sore I have on my leg, I did something really stupid once I got back here. I started to pick the dead skin and scab off of the wound, and wouldn't you know it, it started to bleed. Nice little trickle of a combination of blood and fluid from the leg that proceeded to turn the inside of my shoe red. I've got a limited First Aid kit here at work, once I found it, I put a non-adhesive pad on the wound with some tape, and got it to stop bleeding. Would have been just as happy with a shop towel and some duct tape, but I figured this was a little more sanitary. I also called Dad at home to have him bring one of our big band aids and some Neosporin type stuff along back to work.

Don't know if I've lost any more weight yet...think I'll try to break the grain scale at the co-op again tomorrow evening some time. I'll be overjoyed if I'm down 90-110 from May of '05. I was somewhere from 40-70 down 4 weeks ago.

Not too much else happening. Tried to go fishing Sunday afternoon, but didn't catch anything. Got some groceries last night, but nothing exciting. I swear I'm going to have to get me a woman so I can start talking about sex, or even just outings that aren't only attended by me, myself, and I.

Have a nice day everybody.

Now that I have your attention, yesterday my local Fire Department did a live fire drill at the local Elementary/Middle School, partially for training, and partially for showing off in front of the kids.

We met at the firs station at 12:30 so everybody could get their gear on and sort of go over a plan of attack so nobody would get hurt. At 12:58, the Chief had the Comm. Center page us out for the drill, and we took off, lights flashing and sirens blaring. The kids were on the playground, corralled by their teachers, just as they were supposed to be.

We sent one truck into the alley on the North side of the building, another around to the South Doors, with our newest truck being positioned by the West (front) doors, along with our EMS unit. From there, since it was only a drill/demonstration, we ran the booster reel hoses into the building. After a few minutes, we were informed (all part of the drill) that the custodian was unaccounted for, so a couple of guys got into the air packs, and took the "stokes" basket in, located him, and drug him out. Also, since we had simulated smoke (dry ice going to room temperature) we ran ventilation fans.

To my knowledge, the only thing we did wrong (in fact, didn't do at all) was our new County Wide Firefighter Accountability System. Everybody has a set of 4 plastic tags affixed to the bottom rim of their helmet with velcro. On the way to the scene, each firefighter is supposed to get 2 of their tags affixed to boards in the front of the truck, once at the scene, one board stays in the truck, the other is handed to either the Incident Commander or the Safety Officer on scene. Tag number 3 is put on another board in the case of an interior attack or search mission. The fourth tag stays with the helmet as an identifier. In a perfect world, we really wouldn't need to do this, but you know as well as I do, that we don't live in a perfect world. Some day, our lack of attention to detail could bite us in the butt.

Guess who forgot to make his weekly post again yesterday. Well, maybe not forgot...I remembered several times, just not when I had time to do anything about it.

Anyway, here's the week's recap. I'm not sure if I mentioned anything about it, but we had our Annual Fire Prevention Week Fundraising Cookout at our Fire Department on Monday night. I was in charge of getting the food and beverages lined up for this event, and after a little trouble getting buns (couldn't get any, then had too many lined up), everything fell into place. I pretty much stayed out by the grill all night (not grilling, just sitting there bsing with the grillers), and at 8:00 when we were done serving, I drove around front, got the garbage out of my truck into the dumpster and went home since I was very cold and tired. Other years, we've eaten a bunch of the burgers and hot dogs out there, but I was pretty good this year, although I still had too much (2 dogs, 2 hamburgers, and 1 pork burger...no buns though). I was pretty well behaved on the beer consumption as well, other years I have one after another, while Monday I only had one.

Wednesday night was the annual Chicken supper at my grandmother's church. She always buys us a ticket, and we usually go to sit and eat with her. This time, however, my aunt and uncle were going to get their meals to go, and since I hate folding chairs, I decided to do the same. Dad and his girlfriend did go in and sit with her for this meal. I did go in and talk to Grandma before getting my meal though, so I'm not all the way in the dog house with her...just on a chain outside of it, but able to go in the main house when I want to.

Today is also my Dad's birthday. I didn't mention it right away when I came upstairs this morning, but I did say Happy Birthday when I got to work. He still accused me of forgetting since it took that long, but I disagree because I said it with no prodding from him, and hadn't talked to anybody before I got in the door at work.

Our Annual NAPA Marketing Conference is next month at a Riverboat Casino and adjoining hotel. The DC (Distribution Center for those of you not familiar with retail chains) blocked a bunch of rooms at the host hotel and another nearby hotel. We called yesterday for rooms (6 days before the block expires) at the "Special" rate of $95, and got the last 2 rooms. Granted, they're Smoking with 2 Queens, but I'll take that just for being in the host hotel and not having to drive or take a shuttle to the other hotel after the Cocktail party. Besides, I've stayed in this hotel before, and I'm pretty sure I can still get some room service after the party if they don't serve enough stuff that I like there. I didn't see anything about Room Service on the other hotel's website.

Well, thanks for reading...and for putting up with the sporadic posting.

Thankfully you're sitting down...you might have blacked out and fallen down if you weren't...I'm posting this on a Wednesday!!!!

Let's see, what all happened. I guess I'll start with Saturday morning. My cat Sherman, who is my bestest buddy in the whole world, scared the crap outta me. When I got up, he was laying on the floor at the foot of my bed, and I really didn't think much of it. A little while later, I noticed he hadn't come upstairs to see what's going on, so I whistled for him (sometimes I think he thinks he's a dog), but he wouldn't answer. I went back downstairs, he meowed at me like he was kind of hurting, so I picked him up and he seemed a little lighter than normal. I bring him upstairs and call Dad to see what we should do, then the vet's, but the vet didn't answer at the shop or at home. So I call Dad again and tell him I'm coming to work so he can come home and look at Sherman. He reports to me that he thinks it's just a tummy ache or constipation.

Well, I worry about him for the next 3 hours at work until I can close and go back home and be with him. Sherm laid by my feet all afternoon until about 5:00, when he went back to the basement to lay down. I decided to let him be, checked on him at about 6:15 before going uptown for supper, then again at around 8:00 when I got back home. About 10:00 or so, he made me a little happier by coming back upstairs, but he still didn't seem right. However, I knew at 2:00 AM Sunday that he was close to back to normal, he came downstairs, jumped on my bed, and since I was just sitting there upon returning from a walk across the room, I picked him up and heard the most joyous sound I could ever hear at that time...he was purring.

This whole incident made me feel really stupid because I was so convinced he was going to die that I posted it on a message board I visit, along with multiple updates. I even broke down and cried once (everybody does it, especially after holding in so much bullshit that you almost have to explode).

He is now back to normal and I couldn't be happier.

Another amazing thing happened on Sunday. I was in the middle of watching the Nextel cup race while Dad was outside preparing campaign signs to be put up all over the County. About 2:30-3:00 I decided that since he was probably going to his girlfriend's house shortly, I'd take my water pills. One of them routes the excess fluid out of the body, while the other one routes it through the liver. Why, I don't know, I'm just supposed to take both for a week then switch to the one that does the liver thing. Anyway, about an hour later, just when the pill that removes the water via the bladder is supposed to kick in, Dad says let's go put some signs up. Since I had to finish dressing anyway, I popped the cork on my bladder, then on a prayer, get into the pickup to go delivering signs. We spend about 3 hours driving around the County putting signs here and there, I even had a 20 ounce bottle of pop, but didn't feel the need to offload any water throughout this trip. I guess by the time we got home, I was starting to feel it, but I've had to go much worse in the past. It was unbelieveable that I could hold off for 3 hours, the effects of a pill that usually makes me tinkle every 20 or so minutes for 3 hours.

Well, that about does it for the highlights of my life over the last week. Thanks for reading.