In which I get poked with scalpels
So I've always thought I was pretty tough when it comes to blood and guts and pain, etc. After all, my favorite story to brag about is the one where I cut a parasite out of my foot with a pocket knife in Uganda. So this week, I had to go in and get some skin samples taken and one mole cut off, checking for skin cancer (no results yet, but I'm not worried). Turns out I am kind of a wimp. I really do not enjoy lying on a cot in a sketchy back-closet exam room and listening to a doctor say, "Scalpel, please. 15-blade." And then yesterday I almost lost my lunch and passed out when I tried to change the bandage. So that's been fun.
BUT! On Wednesday, after I had gotten up early to go get poked at by the doctor and then the dentist, and been told that I had a cavity (in the same spot they've messed up on several times), I went to Oak Street in Hood River to hang out for a bit, walk around, and eventually choose a cosy spot to settle down and finish my first chapter of thesis. I settled on Dog River Coffee, which had excellent coffee, free wireless, and lots of cute babies and college-aged indie folk-- just my crowd. I worked away on my thesis and completely lost track of time until I remembered to find track of time and noticed that I was thirty minutes over the time I had paid for on the parking meter.
The point of this story is: I hurried out in the rain to discover the soggy parking ticket on my windshield, paid for another hour on the parking meter, and ripped the ticket while trying to pull it from under the windshield wiper. But before I could surrender fully to the woe-is-me syndrome, the manager of Dog River ran out after me and offered to validate the ticket for me! Apparently they can do like four a month. So that made my day.
The point of the story is this: a) Do nice things for people. You never know when they spent the morning being poked and prodded by mean people with scalpels. And b) I hereby officially endorse Dog River Coffee on Oak Street in Hood River. They're legit.
BUT! On Wednesday, after I had gotten up early to go get poked at by the doctor and then the dentist, and been told that I had a cavity (in the same spot they've messed up on several times), I went to Oak Street in Hood River to hang out for a bit, walk around, and eventually choose a cosy spot to settle down and finish my first chapter of thesis. I settled on Dog River Coffee, which had excellent coffee, free wireless, and lots of cute babies and college-aged indie folk-- just my crowd. I worked away on my thesis and completely lost track of time until I remembered to find track of time and noticed that I was thirty minutes over the time I had paid for on the parking meter.
The point of this story is: I hurried out in the rain to discover the soggy parking ticket on my windshield, paid for another hour on the parking meter, and ripped the ticket while trying to pull it from under the windshield wiper. But before I could surrender fully to the woe-is-me syndrome, the manager of Dog River ran out after me and offered to validate the ticket for me! Apparently they can do like four a month. So that made my day.
The point of the story is this: a) Do nice things for people. You never know when they spent the morning being poked and prodded by mean people with scalpels. And b) I hereby officially endorse Dog River Coffee on Oak Street in Hood River. They're legit.