So broke I can't even pay attention
People don't pay attention while driving. This is something that you already knew, but I thought I would share with you the couple things that happened between yesterday and today to reaffirm this fact for me.
Yesterday, my wife and I were took the truck to the Bass Pro store to look around, and maybe get a couple cots for camping next year. On the way there, we were stopped at a red light behind some random car. The light turns green and ... nothing. I give a polite little "beep" to wake them up and they start moving... slowly. On the other side of the intersection, they turned their left turn signal on and began slowing down from their already slow speed. They got to the street where it was obvious they intended to turn left and... nothing. No traffic coming in the opposite direction, no pedestrians in the intersection to worry about, no glass in the street to navigate around and most importantly, no movement from the car in front of us. Okay, so polite little "beep" wasn't enough. This time I laid on the horn.
Today, I was taking my daughter to her doctor appointment. The place where I usually park was blocked off thanks to construction that was going on across the street, so I pulled around to the parking garage. On the way in, I noticed they advertised low clearance ceilings, but the truck fit fine under the huge metal pipe they use to gauge it. There were no spaces on the first level so I headed towards the ramp. As I approached, I was a bit nervous since there really wasn't much space there. I pulled onto the ramp far enough to see the gigantic concrete support in the sunroof. It was far too close for my comfort (knowing that the front of the truck was going to do nothing but rise and the beam was in the middle of the roof), so I backed up and parked on the street a block away. See? Paying attention sometimes does pay off!
On the way home from the appointment, I was making my way on some side streets to one of the bigger streets. I was at a stop sign behind another car and watched a lady with a stroller and a little girl walking with her cross the big street. The street itself is a one-way and is about 4 lanes wide. The car in front of me turned and I moved up. The lady was wanting to cross the street in front of me so I waved at her to let her know I would wait. Across the street, a van was trying to come straight across. They were apparently intently focused on the oncoming traffic and guessed they had enough time to cross if they hit the gas. You already see where this is heading. The lady with the stroller takes a step into the street and sees the van coming, so stops. Her daughter, following her mother's lead to start walking, doesn't see the van and, of course, doesn't stop. The van came screaming across the road full throttle trying to make it between the gap in traffic right as the little girl was in front of me, which is perfect timing for her to get squished. I laid on the horn again and as I did, the van hit the brakes, letting the lucky little girl reach the other side and live to see another day. (Whew!)
Labels: stupidity
20 years already?
October 7th was my 20 year high school reunion in New Jersey. I would love to have gone to it, but as you can read on other blog entries, finances weren't what they should have been to allow me to go. Last night, one of my HS classmates sent out the pictures that were taken there, along with a long e-mail contact list. (Yay!) Thinking back, I didn't know many people from high school, at least not well. I wasn't - and still am not - the best in social situations. I didn't go to my junior prom. I didn't go to my senior prom. I never went to a football game. While I wasn't in the chess club (I would have hated it), I was an honorary member of the German club, and was a member of the computer club. Co-president, if I remember correctly. So yeah, more geek than socialite.
After high school ended, I had a few small jobs, tried moving to Dallas for work, moved back, joined the Army and served 5 years, including when the Berlin Wall came down, and during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. The Army was kind enough to deposit me in Colorado Springs five years later. After a few months on unemployment in 1992, I found a job in Denver and then moved up here. I've been here ever since, working as a computer programmer.
There are pictures of me in here, but I'm in costume in those, so I decided to upload one where I'm not harder to recognize. This one was taken at Christmas when I got the hat and sweatshirt I'm holding up. My hair is quite a bit longer now than in HS and I've probably put on about 45 pounds. What'cha think?
What did you write?
My oldest daughter is 21 now and living with me while she is in college, but when she was younger - between 3 and 5, she and her mother lived with my mother (who is 78 now) while I was in the Army. During that time, I wrote to my daughter to tell her I missed her and tell her about all the stuff that was going on in the Army.
Over the past few years, my mom has been going through her things and sending stuff out to her children and grandchildren. She recently sent my daughter the letters and cards that I sent to her during that time. That gave me a chance to read some of the things I had written during that time, which brings up the reason I am writing.
If I had known that those letters and cards were going to be around 16 years later, I don't think I would have written some of the things I wrote! I'm not saying it is a bad thing. I think it is an honest glimpse into my life way back when. I also think that if you consider how long things that you write hang around while you are writing them, it really alters the way in which you write.
Thinking back to things I read that my father and grandfather wrote, though, I have to say that they didn't write enough. At least, not enough survived of what they wrote to give any sort of indication what they were like. And when they wrote what they did, they were clearly not thinking of these letters surviving over time.
I think I'll stop writing now. This clearly isn't important enough to turn into some kind of permanent record.
Labels: philosophy
Stress
I've been a little stressed out lately, so don't mind me if I get a little serious. My daughter (middle child) has been having problems with her digestive tract lately. No surprise, being my kid, but this is pretty serious stuff. She was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, and is being treated for it. Before the diagnosis was made, though, she lost a lot of blood and became pretty anemic. It was easy to tell by looking at her - she was really, really white.
She had to go in for an endoscope a couple weeks ago. While we were in there waiting for her to be brought back and put on the bed she would be anesthetized on, she looked over at me and told me how old I looked. "Maybe it's just the lighting, dad!" she said. Yeah, I'm sure that's what it was. The endoscopy went well. They pulled samples for biopsy while they were there, and confirmed her diagnosis. Now she has to take a small bundle of pills every day. The number will decline over time to a maintenance dose, but probably not for a few weeks.
The second source of stress, from three directions, is school. I don't have to worry too much about my oldest daughter and school. She is doing pretty well. The other two, though, failed at least one class each, and don't seem to understand that this is pretty important now. Grades from middle school aren't as critical - not many colleges care what you did then. But as a sophomore in high school, it's time to get your head in the game! Furthermore, I started school again myself last Monday. I'm taking a writing class and a class on religion and philosophy. So far it's going okay, but there's always a lot of reading, and I don't always keep up on it. It's not that I'm a slow reader. Well, not that slow, anyway.
Finally, finances are not what they should be. Might as well have some money stress on top of everything else, right? My wife and I finally worked out a budget and have been pretty good about sticking to it. Hopefully that will continue and we can get some of these extraneous payments behind us pretty quickly.
84 more days 'til Christmas...
Labels: kids, medical
