Randomly random radomosity
I've noticed an increase in my friends list. Welcome, dear new readers, to my (fill in the blank) Of Mayhem!
Why is it, whenever I see a Panera Bread sign, I think to myself, "Pantera Bread! RAAAAWK!!!!11"? Probably because years ago I did the same thing with Au Bon PAAAAIIIN. Must be something about heavy metal, endorphins and baked goods.
I've discovered a lot of cool stuff at the local Goodwill store. I replaced the old, cheap Pioneer receiver I used to drive the studio nearfield monitors with a 2003-vintage Sony surround receiver. While the surround channels will not be used, as a stereo amp it works wonderfully, driving the speakers at a higher volume level undistorted. The Pioneer was resisting my efforts to clean the switches and pots and will likely be given away to a friend for a shop stereo. The Sony had fully electronic switching and attenuation. Plus the 90w/ch rawks. I also managed to find a Sony 50+1 CD changer to go along with my old faithful Sony DVD player in the home theater rack. The beauty of this is, the DVD player does all the controlling of the changer, with the on-screen display and remote control integrates perfectly. It's hidden away in the rack, and sounds totally boss. Not a bad haul for 55 bucks for the pair. Once cleaned up, they both looked brand new.
Tomorrow I go back to the doc for a far more serious round of shots in my back. I'm not holding much faith in this doing much (if any) good, the last round was completely ineffective. The last several days have been spent in worsening pain and less mobility. Writhing on the living room floor in pain and unable to get up (cue MedicAlert jokes) last night really sucked. Before that a prior 30 minute bout of extreme pain leaving a store with Jeff after work and unable to stop the spasms at the restaurant we went to afterward practically ruined the evening. Our overenthusiastic waiter kept coming to the table, "Are we ready to order yet?" Me: *uuuurrgghh* "No, give us a few more minutes." Repeat this at least 4 times. Eventually things settled down and we enjoyed our meal.
Mimi's Cafe food totally pwns (see above).
Despite the pain, setbacks and slow progress, I try and keep at various things here, mostly time-consuming tasks that I've put off for too long. I've been cleaning and reorganizing the tools in the garage and doing little repairs. As long as I can do the bulk of the work sitting crosslegged on the floor or rolling about on my mechanic's creeper stool, I can keep busy. I can stumble back into the air-conditioned house periodically to take needed breaks, and just drop the garage doors leaving everything there for the next day. The last few days, however, have not seen a lot of activity at all.
Except for one person, none of my local friends here have asked about me or offered to help out in any way. Not a single note or call from anyone at work. I've gone from disappointed to angry about it, now I'm just resigned to going at whatever completely alone, aside from Jeff. He has enough on his plate anyway, bringing lots of work home. I'm used to being a loner, but I thought all the effort I put forth in helping others would give me some sort of karmic payback. No dice. When things get back to normal, however, the same people who begged for help before will find the garage closed, the IT department outsourced, the advice column gone, etc, with nothing but the bird flipped in their place.
Why is it, whenever I see a Panera Bread sign, I think to myself, "Pantera Bread! RAAAAWK!!!!11"? Probably because years ago I did the same thing with Au Bon PAAAAIIIN. Must be something about heavy metal, endorphins and baked goods.
I've discovered a lot of cool stuff at the local Goodwill store. I replaced the old, cheap Pioneer receiver I used to drive the studio nearfield monitors with a 2003-vintage Sony surround receiver. While the surround channels will not be used, as a stereo amp it works wonderfully, driving the speakers at a higher volume level undistorted. The Pioneer was resisting my efforts to clean the switches and pots and will likely be given away to a friend for a shop stereo. The Sony had fully electronic switching and attenuation. Plus the 90w/ch rawks. I also managed to find a Sony 50+1 CD changer to go along with my old faithful Sony DVD player in the home theater rack. The beauty of this is, the DVD player does all the controlling of the changer, with the on-screen display and remote control integrates perfectly. It's hidden away in the rack, and sounds totally boss. Not a bad haul for 55 bucks for the pair. Once cleaned up, they both looked brand new.
Tomorrow I go back to the doc for a far more serious round of shots in my back. I'm not holding much faith in this doing much (if any) good, the last round was completely ineffective. The last several days have been spent in worsening pain and less mobility. Writhing on the living room floor in pain and unable to get up (cue MedicAlert jokes) last night really sucked. Before that a prior 30 minute bout of extreme pain leaving a store with Jeff after work and unable to stop the spasms at the restaurant we went to afterward practically ruined the evening. Our overenthusiastic waiter kept coming to the table, "Are we ready to order yet?" Me: *uuuurrgghh* "No, give us a few more minutes." Repeat this at least 4 times. Eventually things settled down and we enjoyed our meal.
Mimi's Cafe food totally pwns (see above).
Despite the pain, setbacks and slow progress, I try and keep at various things here, mostly time-consuming tasks that I've put off for too long. I've been cleaning and reorganizing the tools in the garage and doing little repairs. As long as I can do the bulk of the work sitting crosslegged on the floor or rolling about on my mechanic's creeper stool, I can keep busy. I can stumble back into the air-conditioned house periodically to take needed breaks, and just drop the garage doors leaving everything there for the next day. The last few days, however, have not seen a lot of activity at all.
Except for one person, none of my local friends here have asked about me or offered to help out in any way. Not a single note or call from anyone at work. I've gone from disappointed to angry about it, now I'm just resigned to going at whatever completely alone, aside from Jeff. He has enough on his plate anyway, bringing lots of work home. I'm used to being a loner, but I thought all the effort I put forth in helping others would give me some sort of karmic payback. No dice. When things get back to normal, however, the same people who begged for help before will find the garage closed, the IT department outsourced, the advice column gone, etc, with nothing but the bird flipped in their place.