August 2005 Archives

I spent what may have been the most boring morning of my life wandering around Wal-Mart today while I waited for two new tires to be installed on my car. The Wal-Mart employees were all very pleasant and my new tires seem to be perfectly acceptable tires, but man did it take a long time for those tires to be installed. Why does everything in Wal-Mart have to play music, flash lights or make some other sort of noise? And then there’s the constant announcements on the store PA. That store comes close to Toys R Us for sheer ability to put me on edge.

Then I went to work and worked. My, what a dashing and delightful existence I lead.

I came home intending to answer some emails and cruise around my blogroll, scattering my morsels of wisdom in the form of insightful and humorous comments. But instead I found myself lying on the couch, unable to break the spell cast by a repeat of Law & Order. It was a crossover episode to the regular Law &Order from the early days of SVU when Benson still had long hair. Fascinating! That meant that John and I didn’t even eat dinner until 9:30, and then I had to go walk Seamus in the rain. Now I’m afraid the Internet is going to have wait just a little bit longer – breathlessly, I’m sure – for whatever brilliance my mind has to offer, because I am going to bed.

Yesterday John noticed that one of the tires on our car was looking a little low, and mentioned that I might want to put some air in it before I went to work. Well, I got up this morning and the tire was beyond low, and verging on flat. So I went to the Wawa down the street and filled it up with air. Well, first I sat there wondering why the air pump wasn’t doing anything, and then I realized that not only do you have to push the start button, you also have to hold this little lever thing in to make the air come out of the hose. Anyway the tire filled right back up, and looked like it was staying inflated, so I headed off to work.

The tire looked fine when I got to work too, but I was a little worried I would come out to find it flat at the end of the day, and sure enough, I did. Now, my boss had walked out to the garage with me because she was even less optimistic about what the state of the tire would be (and rightly so as it turned out) so at least I wasn’t alone. And then my pal Doreen showed up as I was trying to wrench the stupid jack out of the trunk. And then Amy flagged down one of the guys who works for my company, Mike (a VP no less!), and yet another co-worker, Heath stopped to help too. I work with some very nice people. Not so nice? The two guys who were walking by right as Amy and I got out to the car who immediately pretended they couldn’t see us or the flat tire and practically ran away from us in case we were thinking of asking them for help. But they don’t work for my company.

Now, left to my own devices, I would have eventually gotten the tire changed. I’ve never done it on the car I have now, but one of the many problems my piece of crap Jetta had was frequent flat tires. But then I flashed back to the last time I changed a tire, which went something like this: The stupid jack wouldn’t open up. After I finally got the jack to perform the one task that was its whole reason for existing, the car fell off the jack. I blame the complicated VW instructions (all very German “for maximum efficiency, you must do x!”) about where you could and could not put the jack safely, which just confused the hell out of me. I tried again and was eventually successful. I had to jump up and down on the tire iron to get the lug nuts to move. Then the tire wouldn’t come off, and I was convinced the car was going to fall and crush me and I was going to die one of those stupid deaths you hear about. It ended up taking me an hour and a half and involved lots of swearing and getting very dirty. So…this time I let the Mike change the tire for me, while Amy, Heath and I stood around cracking jokes and trying to make helpful comments. The whole process went very smoothly for him, and only took about 15-20 minutes. Obviously I owe him some sort of thank-you gift, although I’m not sure what he would like.

The only problem is, I feel like a big girly cliché.

Leave work at the height of rush hour after having a stressful day. Decide to take the country road home instead of the highway, as the country road will be all pretty and pastoral and whatnot.

Discover that the country road is a little more crowded at rush hour than on the weekend. But then it clears out, and you start to cruise, enjoying the horsies on the side of the road, until…massive piece of farm equipment going 10 miles per hour! Curse the country road for being so damn authentic. Wonder if you’ll have to stop for cows to cross the road next.

Finally get to pass the tractor/thresher thingy. And then bam! They are repaving the road, so it is all ridged and noisy and bumpy. After a couple of miles, start to wonder how much longer this is going to continue. Answer: Seven miles. Seven long miles of bumpy, noisy road where they’ve taken out all of the passing zones and you are stuck behind a nervous driver in a blue Chevy. Eventually cross the Frederick County line and the pavement goes back to blissful smoothness.

Pass more farm equipment. Get chance to pass the annoying Chevy driver at last! Return to happy cruising, smiling at the sign that says “baleage” which is probably very proper farm-speak, but always makes you think of stoners or skaters baling up the hay for sale. And then encounter the last obstacle of the day – getting stuck behind old crone in Cadillac, going under the speed limit (naturally) for the last few miles. Triumphantly zip around her at a stoplight, turn left and head for home.

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind running in the street with the cars and other assorted traffic when there is a perfectly good sidewalk a foot and a half away? Lots of runners do it, so there must be a reason, but I don’t get it.

Of course, I never run anywhere if I can help it, so I may not have the proper mindset.

The people who live in one of the houses we pass by on our walks have put a sculpture on their lawn. It is a hideously cheesy piece of a little girl lying on her side with a doll, staring off into the distance like she is daydreaming. And even worse, it just doesn’t look like it was properly finished. It just looks messy. Messy and corny.

And Seamus is so suspicious of it! He crouches down and gives it the narrow eye. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started growling at it. The question is, does he think it is some sort of strange animal that is a threat, or is he just showing his good taste as an art critic?

Guess where I'm posting this from...finally!! That's right, my laptop is actually connected to the Internet. Of course, I can't take credit for it. We had my mom, my brother and my brother's girlfriend Erin over for dinner, and I asked him if he could take a look. I had tried and failed so many times. So he tried, and failed, and tried, and called Linksys and then called Linksys again, and after much hard work and frustration, got it to work.

So, yay!! And thanks, Tim, for making my wireless network work, and for helping me feel like less of an idiot. I was starting to wonder if this was one of those generational things, like Mom and Dad not getting that you had to hit play and record to use the VCR.

People of the Internet, you are awesome. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. Your comments and emails of support really help keep me from running and hiding in a cave somewhere.

My doctor sent me for bloodwork today to confirm that I had ovulated, so we just have to wait and see what happens. Well, and there will probably be more bloodwork along the way, because that is what I do now. I'm glad the intensive part is over, though. Perhaps I can get back to some semblance of a normal life. And you know, write posts about my teeth or something.

I'm still feeling a bit on the fragile side, but my doctor did manage to do the IUI this morning. We'll see. It's a fine line to walk, being hopeful and yet not getting your hopes up, but I'm trying.

I was supposed to have an IUI yesterday, but we encountered a problem and couldn’t do it. Which left me on the kitchen floor, sobbing, wondering why the universe doesn’t want me to have a baby, while John tried to convince me it will be ok and Seamus anxiously licked my face. I’m very lucky to have them.

My doctor is confident we’ll be fine if we try again on Monday, so that’s the plan. I’m trying very hard to stay hopeful. This cycle has been rough – I’ve had blood drawn every day, and so my arms are covered in needle marks and bruises. It’s a great look. I’ve spent hours sitting in the waiting room at my doctor’s office, fretting about the fact that I should be at work, and even more hours at work, trying to make up some of the time I’ve missed. I’m behind on everything, and even worse, I get home so late that I’m not getting to spend any time just relaxing and enjoying my time with John and Seamus. Oh – with one exception. I did take Tuesday afternoon off to spend with Jules and Malcolm, which was wonderful, if all too brief. But that just put me even farther behind, of course. It was totally worth it though.

I also attended a bridal shower yesterday. A very nice one, and exactly what I needed to cheer up a bit. I knew a couple of the people who would be there, but I wasn’t sure I would fit in – they are all Lilly Pulitzer and David Yurman, and I am…not. Well, if I had more money, I wouldn’t mind having a David Yurman bracelet, but I’ll never be a Lilly Pulitzer kind of girl. Anyway, it turned out that I quite liked all of the people there, and I’m looking forward to seeing them again at the wedding.

However, the shower was 55 miles away from my house. Not too bad a drive on a weekend, mostly highway driving. I would, however, I like to share a few observations from my 110 mile round trip, if I may.

1) Ohio drivers and I have a very different interpretation of how fast you should go in the left lane.

2) If you are driving a ‘70’s-era conversion van with 4 bikes precariously perched on the back and a lopsided turtle carrier on the top, you most definitely do not belong in the left lane.

3) People driving Buicks will invariably go under the speed limit.

4) People driving Lexuses (Lexae?) will invariably cut you off because they are too important to look to see if there is anyone else in the lane. Or because the driver is on a cell phone.

5) The motto of gas stations in Old Town Alexandria seems to be “screw the consumer out of every cent they’ve got.” 7 gallons of gas cost me $20!

…is put down the crack pipe. Because this statement from my last post “But tomorrow I should get home a decent hour, and I will try again then” was so wrong as to be absurd. I had so much work to do on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that I didn’t get home until after 8 each night. I’d tell you all the stuff I had to do, but it wouldn’t mean anything – you’ll just have to accept my word that I pulled off an amazing amount of work in those three days. And also managed to go to the doctor, get blood drawn, go to another lab, and handle decorations for the work wedding shower we had for my boss. Because I am SuperEmployee. Actually, if I’m going to be a superhero, I’d rather be BatEmployee. You know, with Batman being way cooler than Superman and all.

This weekend was chock full of doctor visits, lab visits, errand running and chores around the house. I think I got to spend about an hour relaxing with John and Seamus each day. I need another weekend, please. I did manage to find a decently priced set of king-sized sheets for the airbed at Ross. Nice thread count too. Never let it be said that I don’t at least try to be a thoughtful hostess.

Of course, I went to inflate the airbed last night (Jules and Malcolm arrive in my neck of the woods today) and the air pump that I bought? Yeah, it’s made to plug into a cigarette lighter. Hopefully they sell some other kind at Target, or some store that it is easy for me to get to before 7:30 tonight. Damn details tripping me up again!

So while I am writing away on my new laptop, it is still not connected to the Internet. Sigh. I was all excited on Sunday because I thought I figured out what the problem was. Well, I did. But as soon as I fixed that, problem #2 arose. And I’d like to say to Mr. Adelphia high speed internet customer service guy – you can tell me you don’t know what your IP address is, but I still think you are a big fat liar.

Anyway there’s been much work over last two days, and I just don’t have the energy to tackle it again tonight. But tomorrow I should get home a decent hour, and I will try again then.

Let’s see, what I have I been up to? Well, I got sick on Friday, and felt lousy pretty much all weekend. Now there’s a good time!

Last night Seamus and I encountered a skunk out on our walk, but luckily, I managed to convince Mr. Seamus that he really, really didn’t want to go meet that funny looking cat. He was so excited he was beside himself, leaping and pulling. Skunks are apparently almost as cool as foxes (his all-time favorite animal to see).

Tonight I figured out how to use the broiler on the oven here at the house. It’s electric, and I wasn’t sure how it worked. But it roasted my red peppers just fine.

And this morning I started my next round of appointments for the fertility treatments. The next week and a half will be a stressful time for me, but I promise, I’ll try not to be too whiny. It’s just that between going to the doctor for monitoring, sitting around waiting to get my blood drawn at the lab, getting up early to try to get to my doctor’s appointments before work, and then staying late to make up the time that I miss from work because my doctor and the lab are always backed up, I know I’m going to be stressed out. Well, and let’s not forget the added fun of all the extra hormones, of giving myself shots, and my anxiety over whether or not it is going to work this time around.

And hopefully along the way I’ll get the damn Internet access sorted out too!