The Countdown Begins
Surgery is in the morning. They had me scheduled for 7:30 but I got a call this morning and it's been bumped to 10am. Can't say I'm disappointed because I have to be there an hour and a half before surgery and the thought of getting there at 6am was not pleasant. Now I don't have to be there until 8:30.
I took today off to make final preparations for being down a limb for a bit. I know I'll be in a sling for a few days and then off and on as needed. Funny, when I was a kid, I always wanted to wear a sling. Didn't want the broken arm that went with it but I thought slings were cool. Something tells me I'm not going to have the same excitement now.
For my final preparations I'm cutting and making things. I cut up three chicken breasts into pieces, some London Broil, and some andouille sausage (I love me some red beans and rice), and put them all into individual storage bags. This morning I cut up some onion, made potato salad, fruit salad, and scones. I happened to mention to a friend that I was going to have issues with those pop-top cat food cans and he suggested I open several and put them into plastic bowls. Sounded like a very good plan so that's done as well. At the recommendation of another friend I also bought and re-labeled one of those press-a-tab pill boxes for all my meds, which is wonderful given how hard opening a child resistant cap is even with two hands.
This surgery also inspired me to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now - buy a new TV. This caused more of a headache than I imagined. The original plan was that the new one would go into the computer room but I bought this TV spontaneously - I've been meaning to buy it and I had $$ in gift cards to put towards it but I never got my butt to the store to buy it. I had to run into a Bed, Bath, and Beyond and it was next to a Best Buy so there's the spontaneity. I asked the manager of Magnolia what TV he would buy, he pointed to a 46" Samsung, I liked the picture and the price so that's the one I bought. I failed, however, to take measurements or look at connections (the headache). On the plus side the delivery was free and I had all those gift cards so I got the TV for a very nice price. And can I say that I can't believe how cheap flat panel TVs are now? My other 46" Samsung cost something like 4x what this one cost. Unbelievable. Delivery was set for this Saturday so that gave me plenty of time to get the current TV in the computer room to my bedroom and call my sister about taking the old one in my bedroom.
Because I didn't take measurements and because I forgot that a 46" screen doesn't mean the TV is 46" wide (I knew this, I really did), I had it in my head that this new TV was going to be bigger than my living room TV so I thought I'd have them put the new one in the living room and move the old one to the computer room. Again, I forgot to measure. I blame the stress of the pending surgery for being a doofus. Anyway, old TV is huge - and much sleeker (black frame around the screen and a nice black stand) and kind of overpowered the room. The new TV, while really nice, was made to be mounted on the wall. I don't have wall space for that so I need the stand. The stand is not at all attractive. So on Sunday I called a friend and asked him if he'd help me move the two around. With the new TV in the computer room (and a much better fit), I then hit my next headache. The HDMI connection on the DVR doesn't work so I have to use a component cable. Well, net TV has something like 6 HDMI connections but only 1 component connection. Yeah, I know, first world problems. But the DVD player and the receiver I had connected to the old TV are component so this presented a problem. The receiver (and surround sound) was solved by a new LG sound bar that I got for my 25th anniversary at my company. It fits the room much better than the bulky 5.1 system and without the speakers I really don't need the receiver so I pulled all that out and am giving it to a friend's daughter. For the DVD player I decided to finally buy a Blu-ray. Glad I waited because those are also so much cheaper than they were a few years ago. Everything is now hooked up and working but let this be a lesson to you all: don't be spontaneous when buying electronics and take measurements!
About this new TV. It's an LED and while the picture is amazing, it kind of freaked me out at first. It's like watching live TV. Can't wait to watch Pixar movies on it.
I started this post earlier this afternoon but I was inspired to clean my house top to bottom and I swear my house has never been cleaner. It's now after midnight so all food and water are cut off. I'll see you all on the other side - after the anesthesia wears off.
I took today off to make final preparations for being down a limb for a bit. I know I'll be in a sling for a few days and then off and on as needed. Funny, when I was a kid, I always wanted to wear a sling. Didn't want the broken arm that went with it but I thought slings were cool. Something tells me I'm not going to have the same excitement now.
For my final preparations I'm cutting and making things. I cut up three chicken breasts into pieces, some London Broil, and some andouille sausage (I love me some red beans and rice), and put them all into individual storage bags. This morning I cut up some onion, made potato salad, fruit salad, and scones. I happened to mention to a friend that I was going to have issues with those pop-top cat food cans and he suggested I open several and put them into plastic bowls. Sounded like a very good plan so that's done as well. At the recommendation of another friend I also bought and re-labeled one of those press-a-tab pill boxes for all my meds, which is wonderful given how hard opening a child resistant cap is even with two hands.
This surgery also inspired me to do something I've been meaning to do for a while now - buy a new TV. This caused more of a headache than I imagined. The original plan was that the new one would go into the computer room but I bought this TV spontaneously - I've been meaning to buy it and I had $$ in gift cards to put towards it but I never got my butt to the store to buy it. I had to run into a Bed, Bath, and Beyond and it was next to a Best Buy so there's the spontaneity. I asked the manager of Magnolia what TV he would buy, he pointed to a 46" Samsung, I liked the picture and the price so that's the one I bought. I failed, however, to take measurements or look at connections (the headache). On the plus side the delivery was free and I had all those gift cards so I got the TV for a very nice price. And can I say that I can't believe how cheap flat panel TVs are now? My other 46" Samsung cost something like 4x what this one cost. Unbelievable. Delivery was set for this Saturday so that gave me plenty of time to get the current TV in the computer room to my bedroom and call my sister about taking the old one in my bedroom.
Because I didn't take measurements and because I forgot that a 46" screen doesn't mean the TV is 46" wide (I knew this, I really did), I had it in my head that this new TV was going to be bigger than my living room TV so I thought I'd have them put the new one in the living room and move the old one to the computer room. Again, I forgot to measure. I blame the stress of the pending surgery for being a doofus. Anyway, old TV is huge - and much sleeker (black frame around the screen and a nice black stand) and kind of overpowered the room. The new TV, while really nice, was made to be mounted on the wall. I don't have wall space for that so I need the stand. The stand is not at all attractive. So on Sunday I called a friend and asked him if he'd help me move the two around. With the new TV in the computer room (and a much better fit), I then hit my next headache. The HDMI connection on the DVR doesn't work so I have to use a component cable. Well, net TV has something like 6 HDMI connections but only 1 component connection. Yeah, I know, first world problems. But the DVD player and the receiver I had connected to the old TV are component so this presented a problem. The receiver (and surround sound) was solved by a new LG sound bar that I got for my 25th anniversary at my company. It fits the room much better than the bulky 5.1 system and without the speakers I really don't need the receiver so I pulled all that out and am giving it to a friend's daughter. For the DVD player I decided to finally buy a Blu-ray. Glad I waited because those are also so much cheaper than they were a few years ago. Everything is now hooked up and working but let this be a lesson to you all: don't be spontaneous when buying electronics and take measurements!
About this new TV. It's an LED and while the picture is amazing, it kind of freaked me out at first. It's like watching live TV. Can't wait to watch Pixar movies on it.
I started this post earlier this afternoon but I was inspired to clean my house top to bottom and I swear my house has never been cleaner. It's now after midnight so all food and water are cut off. I'll see you all on the other side - after the anesthesia wears off.