The ramblings of a madman

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medical update
Finally saw my orthopedic doctor. Explained to him what happened as he was looking at my x rays and MRI. When I pointed to where the pain is, he looked at that picture and noticed the tear in the meniscus I saw in the report mailed to me. He examined my leg on the table and I explained to him for a while my leg would not bend completely but it does now when I basically screamed in pain and jumped up. He touched the part that hurt.

Stating that I have been in pain since September and favoring my left leg caused my problems in my right knee he stated he should operate to clean it up. I am scheduled for July 22.

I just need to make sure the same problems that happened at my last surgery in October 05 (yes, I scheduled it for then to watch White Sox championship baseball) won't repeat causing my wife and I to scream at each other for three weeks. Of course the White Sox not winning a title in July won't make my Cub fan wife more miserable than normal.

championship game and thoughts
Yesterday my niece played in her league championship game which was rescheduled from Saturday.

When I got there just before seven and parking on the street since the lot was full, I heard an awful sound emanating from the speakers: Whitney Houston's long, way overdone version of the National Anthem done before Super Bowl XXV where she sounds like she has a vibrator inside her and is having an orgasm.

Anyway, four minutes later, I closed an open gate in the outfield fence to the thanks of someone there and waddled to where my sister was sitting. I then noticed the sun was shining beyond the left field fence facing the batter which is dangerous. (Note: It is common practice for a baseball field to face towards the east so the afternoon/early evening sun is not in the eye of the batter. This field faced northwest.)

The sun in the batters' eyes, the strong west wind blowing in, and questions about a rule and the strike zone (which made an ump eject a loudmouthed fan from the stands) made the first few innings interesting as a couple of hard hit fly balls by their opponent hung in the wind allowing them to be caught and two other potential hits turned four hits into 5 outs as poor base running created a couple of double plays. In spite of that my niece's team was down 4-2 after four innings since the other team was using their best pitcher and my niece's team made a bunch of errors in the field.

I got into a conversation with someone at the neutral site park about the field set up and found out that the mayor's office in Glendale Heights decided on the direction of play without considering input from coaches. He also stated they would have preferred an instrumental version of the National Anthem but could not find one.

While talking to him, I noticed my niece's team settled down defensively along with the wind and their offense started to hit the other teams second pitcher as rules only allowed four innings pitched per player per game. A hard hit fly ball which would have probably been an out earlier in the game got past the outfielders scoring three putting my niece's team up 7-4.

After a second 1-2-3 inning, my niece led off the bottom of the sixth in her final park district at bat. Just like in her first at bat which I saw years ago, she got hit by a pitch. She scored the teams eighth run and with one more, they were up 9-4.

My niece had the view from center field as her teammate threw another 1-2-3 inning to win the title for the second straight year.

I was concerned about my niece playing softball when I saw how she was in her first game and now I will be seeing her play in high school next year.

Last game of year canceled due to pond in left field. Will find out about playoff game later. They were able to only play 12 of the 16 scheduled games due to the rain.

At parents house. It is in the 80s and there is no air conditioning. When I lived with them 15 years ago, I would be at a golf course right now. Today, I am sticking to my shirt.

Current Mood: hot

Buddy part 2
On Monday, I got a text at work stating my wife let the cat back after hearing it meow at our door. That night, my wife is upstairs and shouts out, "Buddy is dead!" I limp upstairs to discover the cat barely breathing and limp while assuring my crying daughter that the cat is not dead since it was breathing. Since the cat was very wobbly on its legs, I was not sure how long it would last.

We start to call places to take the cat including the police. Nobody wanted it. We could take it to an emergency vet but I was not interested in shelling out hundreds of dollars. Then my wife decided to let the cat back out. I stopped her not wanting the cat to die in the neighborhood outside. Eventually, he was doing better and he stayed the night.

Since my wife had a half day on Tuesday, when she got home, she eventually got the cat to the county shelter after getting lost, calling me, and going the wrong way unable to tell whether or not she was going east or west at 3 PM in the afternoon.

When I got my daughter from school, she did not understand the cat's probable fate and I was not going to explain it to her. My wife did right away when she was asked the question.

On Saturday, we got a phone call from a number in the city. My wife answered it and said it was a recorded message from one of the shelters we called on Monday night. Then I got a call a couple of hours later about the cat we reported earlier today. When I explained to her what we did, she said I condemned the cat to death and it did not matter how sick the cat might have been or how it could have made our cat sick, we should have not taken it to the shelter and that I should have left messages until I got a response. It did not matter that we waited 18 hours after calling the place nor that my wife was considering keeping it.

After asking why I did not get a call earlier I said I noticed two other strays in my townhouse complex and asked if she wanted one of them instead. She hung up on me.

For school my daughter is making a map of the United States with each state colored. When done, she asked me what I thought.

Immediately, I asked why she did not have the Michigan upper peninsula on it. She then added it and I looked over the map again and had to ask. "Why are there two Utahs?"

show issue
Due to an errand I need to run after work today, I am not sure if I will get back in time to cast. (note: new info, I should get back in time)

If home in time, I will cast.

Western Avenue entertainment
At my mom's house we discovered police are waiting for cars and randomly pulling them over. Many are getting warnings or just checks for insurance. The occasional ones are getting tickets.

My parents, sister and brother-in-law are betting dollars on the color of the car being pulled over. Only in Chicago.

Current Mood: amused

Met Carrie to drop off something for her wedding and for her to give my daughter a present for her birthday.

With my gift card from Microcenter, I decided to see about getting my daughter a computer. Thanks to traffic and not taking the best route, we got there later than we wanted. After playing a couple of games and with talking on the phone to someone who knows, I decided to get a refurbished cheap computer. For what a nine year old needs, that seems best. Eventually I will get a better monitor and a wireless adapter so she can go on line.

Got in line and the gift card does not work. Person entered it wrong. Found out it was $50, not $100. Turns out the total prize value, including the other items was $100. Still better than nothing.

Have to work tomorrow. Can definitely use the 13 hours of net pay.

With skids from a new customer filing into the building, I found out I need to be at work early tomorrow and probably on Saturday. I can definitely use the money. Of course this has to happen the weekend after Penguicon where I am in need of sleep. Granted, this could have happened last week.

Once I finish my two hour show tonight @ www.dementiaradio.org, I will be heading to bed.

Opening day
With three games being postponed last week, my daughter's softball season finally started. I was concerned since the team had not been on a field the last 16 days due to rain.

( details )

They won 20-16 in four innings as the game is considered finished at the end of the inning where the 90 minute mark is reached. They are going to try to get in a practice before the next game a week from today. Her coaches are working on a make up date for the games missed. If it affects my cast, I will let people know.

Penguicon day 3
Got up early again and got con suite eggs but still went to McDonalds. Rest of time there was mostly spent packing and saying good bye to everyone. Since I won a Guitar Hero contest on Friday night, I got my prize; a bucket filled with of energy pars and drinks and a gift card from a Micro Center for $100. Eventually 13 of us made it to Bob Evans and had one last lunch together full of interesting conversation before we went on the road.

I was giddy tired and it showed as we stopped the car one time because I was not sure if I packed my dirty clothes for the trip home. After stopping for dinner at a Steak and Shake with a newly condensed menu we got to Carrie's house at 8 and to my place at 8:50 after losing ten minutes because I drove past my turn near the airport.

Penguicon day 2
Woke up earlier than I hoped and headed for con suite breakfast. Waited 20 minutes for one pancake. They ran out of eggs.

Saw some the end of Mystery Spatula Mission to Mars and changed into costume. Walked around for a little while then sat in front for Carrie's great show and then Luke's when I put on the W mask to play the part of "Wil Wheaton" who for the fourth time was unable to make it to Penguicon. Power Salad did his usual awesome show. The room was minimum about half the size they needed.

The rest of the afternoon I was in and out of the music room since my help was occasionally needed at the merch table outside to either watch it or get something for someone. Liked Luke's new song. After a much needed massage, I watched Matt and others do Dr Horrible in the evening and it went well. Got to the Elven toast just in time to see someone I know from the MI con scene (Rivergirl) accept a proposal for marriage.

As usual I had my share of Woodchuck Ale and other things especially the Barfleet issued Vulcan ale and was in a much more positive mood than the night before. Doing the Time Warp at midnight and then the DaDa Slide at the dance was FTW. I joined Luke, Carrie, Josh, Bill and others in the hot tub to sing for a while. Afterward talked for a while after with someone who is familiar with Luke's work and was impressed that I have helped him over the past eight years.

Eventually things wound down and it was time to post before returning to the room.

Penguicon Friday
Woke up early. Typical. Got rental car. Had to explain for ten minutes that I can't afford the additional $100 in insurance. Got phone call from work and was on the phone for 15 minutes because someone could not read the typed sheet I printed and showed him on Thursday what to do. In that time I could have driven there and done it in person.

Got on the road shortly with BMZ after 12:30. Picked up Carrie and Josh, got food and headed to Detroit. Except for one time where for some reason traffic basically stopped for five minutes 40 miles from the con, the drive went as expected and we got there shortly after 8.

Got food there and eventually Woodchuck from the con suite and saw some of Rob Balder's and SPC concerts. I spent some time at the party and karaoke rooms but it seemed different and weird this year. The only time I really felt comfortable was when I had a plastic guitar controller in my hands while playing at the two parties which had that game there. After seeing Carrie and others sing at karaoke, it was really cool that Carrie stopped and watch me play Even Flow on GH. I was told that I had the high score at the party room for the evening.

Eventually I was able to get comfortable (sober) and listened to Rob Balder talk about many things before deciding to post before heading to bed.

Penguicon arrival
Will be on road close to two PM CDT. Expect to get there between 7:30 and 8 EDT.

What the FuMP?
No new song or explanation? Hope everything is ok.

Note: song now up.

Due to rain and wet conditions in the area, my daughter's game was postponed. BreakManZ who is riding with us to Penguicon and I will be casting tonight starting at 7PM.