Coping with Coping

Em set up site meter on here for me. Very good. I got my first google search hit. I feel so cool. No really, I feel way cooler than I should for showing up on Google. If you google me (by my actual name), you get a bit of Student Government stuff from my undergrad, some sorority stuff, and some grad school stuff. Nothing cool.

Today's malady: obesity.

Now, I know Michigan has a whole lot of overweight* people, but generally this is not hugely (as it were)noticeable. But today, I saw a whole lot of people who had a whole lot of extra weight. I'm not sure how one woman made it through the door of her house to get to the hospital. I'm not even kidding with that.

I also saw a woman without a hand. At Sears the other day, I saw yet one more person with a big gauze bandage on his face. It must be a spring thing.

*when did overweight become a noun? You can be overweight or obese, you can have obesity or overweight. It just doesn't sound right to me.

I managed to spill bleach water on my pants today even though I was wearing my lab coat. I dosed my thigh in water (minus the bleach) and sopped it up, but to no avail. I watched helplessly as the green turned to beige. These are the same pants I spilled my lunch on last week. They were freshly clean for me this morning.

I kind of got in trouble with my boss this morning for not following the timetable of my cells. She's totally right, too. I should have taken better care of them and I know it. Now I have an unrelated contamination problem. I don't think I make a very good scientist.

I do, however, make a kick ass wife. A little bit of sex, a little bit of housework, and a homemade meal. Then I came back to work, only to discover I have no usable cells.

Have I mentioned that another friend is pregnant? At least she was trying. I'm going to know five kids born in the space of two months, assuming no one miscarries. The odds of that are actually pretty good (or bad, I guess).

I want to go home and have some birthday cake. Don't we all...

I wrote a post which has disappeared. I am irritated. I do not feel like re-writing it. I feel like going home.

But, alas, I am here at work. If Em would only answer the phone, then I could tell her to get me, so I could leave for two hours. But then I need to come back. Phooey.

Enough bitching. I'll repost what I said before later.

Yesterday while eating lunch, I managed to spill brown, sticky, vinegary juice in my lap. It looked like an explosion. I slunk into the bathroom and mopped myself up as best I could. This involved a trip to the stall to sponge off my thighs since my pants were thin. So, instead of looking like I had explosive shit, I just looked like I peed myself. An improvement to be sure. Thank God for lab coats. I wore mine for the rest of the day and had dried off enough to catch the bus in only my street clothes.

It rained yesterday, so through the hospital I went. No obvious plagues, but I did see an Amish couple waiting in the visitor lounge in the children's hospital. Em and T. and I got into a debate over root beer floats (aka brown cows) over whether they were actually Mennonite. I saw them, so I say that I have the right to declare them Amish. I don't think they (Em and T, the Amish couple presumably have no idea we were discussing them) care though. I also saw a (male) nurse with the worst haircut ever. Not as exciting as injuries or pestilence, but I've got an allergy shot tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Today is a long lab day. It's also a radioactive day. My arms are sore from doing all my work around the Plexiglas shield. It's only S35, so it's not absolutely necessary, but I want to have kids someday, so I'll take the extra precaution. It's also really hot. Whenever the weather changes the temperature in here gets all funky. I've been in lab coat and gloves all day. I may need to shower again when I get home. Or maybe I'll just go hang out in the cold room.

I said that (the thing about cells and timetables) to Frog in an email, and she said I should include it as a tagline in my blog. But I'm not so sure that it accurately describes my life always. Just sometimes. Lately it has, and everything has to be done right now.

We helped BIL and SIL move this weekend, and then we were watching the baby, so not much relaxing was had. And now it's Monday. Well, by now Monday is almost over, but it feels like it's been a month long.

MOVING ADVENTURES

1) The box spring had to go in through the second floor balconey because the stairs were so narrow, and neither Em nor SIL noticed.
2) I found a tube of strawberry flavored "Anal-Eaze" in the baby's room. Had it not been for the flavor, I would have assumed it was a baby product. Alas, I was forced to become aware of certain sexual acts and forced to ponder why it was in the baby's room. At least FIL didn't find it.
3) BIL and SIL have the nasty lack-of-cleaning habits ever. Really, truly repulsive. Months old cat puke on the window ledge nasty. If I were a better person I would have offered to stay behind at the apartment to clean. Instead I went to the house, watched the power-lifters move stuff, checked out the sun/shade situation in the yard, and drank beer.
4) Someone left a screenless window open at the apartment while we all went to the house. Two of the three cats escaped. Luckily Em found them both hiding in the bushes, looking terrified.
5)I learned how accurate the term "Bridezilla" can be.

I got my seedsaver's exchange yearbook in the mail. Someone needs to restrain me.

I'm looking forward to softball this year. I think it's time to start the draft frog campaign before G. gets her. We already suck, but three of our best players will be either a)in France b)in LA or c)pregnant. I have two goals for the season: to be present at a winning game and to actually make it home. Or yeah, and to stop catching line drives with my knee.

Woohoo! I have comments! I think. Talk to me and let me know.

Okay, by popular request (or not, since I don't have comments) I have decided to add a) recounting of the maladies I see on my walk through the hospital. I should say that I don't actually walk by any patient rooms or offices, I just walk to my building on the main thoroughfare, and not everyday, just when the weather is bad or I have an immunotherapy injection (aka allergy shot).

To recap this week so far:
Monday: People with missing limbs. (A kid without half a leg, a man without an arm).
Tuesday: People with gauze bandages on the tips of their noses.
Wednesday: People with gimpy feet (Two adults with broken feet, one man with a club foot)
Today I drove and came in late, so instead of observing the maimed, I got lost in a parking structure.

I’ve been incredibly tired lately. Yesterday was the worst. I started to do the morning yoga tape, but instead I curled up on the futon and watched Em “cultivate serenity” as the yoga instructor keeps telling us. I bought a coffee on my way to work because the one I had at home hadn’t kicked in. Sometime around 10:30 the caffeine kicked in and I was really edgy. As I was reaching across the bench, I bumped the vortex mixer with my forearm and nearly jumped out of my skin.

My bit of advice: if you ever need to order from Affinity Labeling Technologies, make sure you have a lot of patience and long distance access. They don’t have an 800 number (weird), the pricing and sizes on their website are wrong (annoying) and they didn’t know that they needed my clearance code for radioactive material (incredible).

Aside to G from Daddyzine: You need to meet my neighbor. I am just very sure you two would get along fabulously. I don’t know if he’s into softball. I’ll need to recruit him.

No, I haven't fallen into a bottomless pit. This working thing is just brutal. Plus the computer has been buried under a mountain of bills and unopened mail, and I just haven't had the energy to clean it off. Tonight, though, I grabbed the bull by the horns and transfered the pile to the table. So I'm back.

I've been encountering people in the most unexpected places. I casual friend from high school is now the cell culture rep for the building I work in. I haven't seen her in six and a half years. I heard the dad of one of my sorority sisters on the radio the other morning. Strange stuff that makes me feel like my world is a little more contiguous than I thought.

I've also been seeing a rash of people with face bandages. It's like they had a special on facial mole removal. At first it was just at the hospital when I would walk through on my way to work, but now I'm seeing them at the co-op and on the street. I feel like I missed a memo.

I'm so sick of my friends getting pregnant-not-exactly-on-purpose. I admit it's mostly jealousy. I'm going to know 4 kids born between middle Sept and late Nov. I don't have time to get enough baby blankets made. Geez. Slow down on the procreation, people!

I've also gained weight. I have never had trouble with my weight, but stress has caused me to call a pint of Ben and Jerry's dinner more than once in the past 2 months, so what did I expect. But soon there will be fresh veggies and life will be good again.

In other Spring related news: a robin and a red winged blackbird have been spotted, crocuses are blooming, and worms are eating the compost.