I thought I’d share a cute video by Steve J Boyle called “I Hit Send, or Modern Meltdown“. It’s a poetry reading about Steven’s first crush, post-coming-out.
Some of the language may not be appropriate for all audiences, but it’s adorably funny.
I figured a little light humor would be good thing after such an unbelievably bad week.
Enjoy!
Dear readers, the following post was intended for publishing on Friday, the seventh of February Unfortunately, as I was recovering from surgery, my close friend Fran passed away. I’m posting it anyway, along with an addendum, because it illustrates the kind of winter I’m having. 🙂
So… I had Lithotripsy a few weeks ago. Was it painful? Not really, but I do feel as if someone kicked me in the back. The forecast for the day of surgery was heavy rain turning into wet snow by noon. Great! My other half was thoughtful enough to reserve a room at the small hotel where he works. So, instead of having to wait in the rain for a bus at 4:30am, we could walk just a few blocks to the hospital.
I’m fortunate to live in Philadelphia, a city that has one of the largest and best healthcare networks in the country. We have Hahnemann, Jefferson, Temple, and the University of Pennsylvania health systems all within the city limits.
I was the first patient Monday morning. Lucky me! The staff was thorough. At every step of the way I was asked to recite my name, date of birth, allergies, and the Magna Carta, then recite it all once more as I lay on the OR table. This was my fifth kidney procedure, so I’ve gotten to know most of the Pennsylvania hospital staff pretty well. One of the pre-administration lab technicians has a wicked sense of humor. I guess you’d have to if you spent your day stabbing patients in the arm in search of a good vein.
So I was laying on this strange operating table with a cutout underneath in which a water filled gel pad that emits sound waves protrudes. The doctor maneuvered me over the gel pad. The technician strapped me in. The anesthesiologist joked with me that I keep coming back for surgery because of their excellent selection of anesthetics. I don’t remember anything after the oxygen mask was placed over my face. I suspect the anesthesiologist slipped me a Mickey.
The next thing I knew, a nurse was hovering over me with a big smile. “How do you feel?” Like I want to go back to sleep. “Fine”, I said. I really did want to go back to sleep, though. I also wanted some more of whatever it was they gave me for pain. The chorus of The Floaters’ classic “Float On” comes to mind.
“Float. Float on…”
After an hour or so of “recovery time”, I was wheeled out to the lobby where the reality of the day’s snow accumulation stared back at me. While waiting for a cab, we saw a bus and took it.
It was good to get home.
I made myself comfortable on the sofa to wait for love to return home from the pharmacy, bearing gifts of antibiotics and pain killers. You know when you think everything is okay, but you feel just a little off? Not anything major, just ever so slightly off center. That’s how I felt. The more I moved around, the less like myself I felt. Maybe I’d be better off laying down in bed.
Oh right… freshly cleaned sheets. YAY!
I turned on the TV, changed into some comfy clothes, and climbed into bed. That was all she wrote. I was out! Gone! I awoke the next morning stiff and achy and determined not to spend the day in bed.
I still feel a bit sore, but I’m doing well and trying not to use the pain killers too often.
Addendum…
A week later, we took advantage of the break in the snow by climbing up and inspecting the roof and gutters. Because I have a longer reach than Love, I laid down on the roof and reached over the edge to attach the Roof & Gutter De-icing Cable. As I reached and stretched, I heard what sounded like a snap, followed by a sharp pain in my rib, which was pressed against the edge of the roof. I’m not gonna lie. I panicked. After a few moments, I took a couple of deep breaths to inflate my lungs. There was pain, but nothing that indicated a broken rib.
So, if you need your walk shoveled or someone to carry your groceries in from the car, please be kind enough to ask someone else. I think I’m gonna lay low for a while. 😮
She’s my God-dog.
Which means
if anything happens to her human,
Mary Ann comes to live with me.
Here, she’s got her eyes locked on a treat I’m bribing her with.
She’s got no interest in picture taking.
…or so she’d have you believe.
She might “pretend” not to like having her picture taken.
But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest
that she secretly knows just how cute she really is.
Though I suspect…
in a previous life,
she might have been a pin-up model.
NOTE: I’ve been with Virgin Mobile for about a decade. I resisted cell phones for a long time. The truth is, I don’t like talking on the phone. I never did. So, for me, a cell phone was a waste of money. It was my boss who suggested I get one. My responsibilities had just increased and well, with increased responsibilities come even more responsibilities. I chose Virgin because they were the cheapest. At the time it was $20 a month Vs $80 for the other major carriers. – You do the math.
The old boy on the left is dwarfed by the new improved, I can’t live without it, model. 
So I just upgraded my phone…
There was nothing wrong with my old one, really. It was only two years old. It’s got a few dings and scratches, but it works just fine.
Perhaps that was the problem. It only worked “just fine”. It was a fine mid-range smartphone for someone like me, who had not yet immersed himself fully into the Android OS.
I blame my e-reader.
A year before buying my smartphone, I bought a nifty little e-reader tablet for a hundred bucks. It was my very first Android device. This puppy had a resistive touch screen, which meant I had to press it to get it to respond. It was the early days of Android tablets. I didn’t know any better.
Within a year I had had enough of the resistive screen. I was tweeting heavily by then, and a resistive screen is just… no. So I saved my pennies and as luck would have it, Tiger Direct and Amazon were competing to see who could offer me the best deal on a new tablet.
Now I had this sweet tablet, with an operating system that I was slowly getting accustomed to, that was supplementing my PC nicely.
If only my cell phone was just as useful.
I had this little “feature phone” which was fine for texting, email, and even twitter, but I couldn’t follow many of the news feeds I was reading on a regular basis. And forget blogging.
Luck smiled upon me again. Radio Shack offered up a “fine mid-range smartphone for someone like me” at reasonable price.
I really did like this small, unassuming phone. I could read my books, magazines, and most of the news feeds I like. It was a little workhorse.
Then, about a year ago, I started running out of space. I moved as many of the apps onto the SD card as I could, but I was still finding I had to chose between Angry Birds and Twitter. “Oh, the humanity!”
The writing was on the wall.
So I had this two year old phone that still worked, but I’d outgrown it. I made the decision last April to shop for something a little better. I even considered leaving Virgin. – That lasted all of two days; the length of time it took me to realize that I really didn’t want to spend more than $50 a month.
I started saving my pennies again. Virgin had just lowered the price of one of their smartphones, but a little voice in my head asked if I really wanted to “settle” for something I’d probably outgrow in a year. So I waited. …and kept saving those pennies.
A month later, Virgin added the Galaxy S3 to their line-up. It was twice what I wanted to spend. Should I wait? If I wait, maybe the price will come down. But by then, something better might come along.
What to do.
The deciding factor was Amazon. They dropped the price by $50 AND… if you apply for an Amazon credit card, you get another fifty bucks off. Woohoo! The Gods had smiled down upon me once again. Where do I sign?
So now I have this great new phone. It’s fast. It’s powerful. It’s pretty. I love it!
Do you think I should upgrade my tablet?
In my warped mind, I imagine Alice, the Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit and Mad Hatter all sitting around drinking, smoking and playing poker until you pick up the book. At which time they hurry to bookmarked page, ready to play out the story.
So… You were mad at love because love was acting like an idiot.
Love tried to make you laugh, but you were not buying it,
because you were mad at love, and mad you were gonna stay!
But you laughed anyway.
Too bad.
Now you’re the idiot, driving around for hours trying to find a place to dump the body.
Thank you Bonnie, for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award nomination. I am very flattered, as I have yet to develop a “voice” for the ADignorantium WordPress page.
…Is it possible to nominate The Bonnie Blog in return? 🙂
First, The Rules as I understand them…
Provide a link to, and thank, the blogger who nominated you. ▪ State 7 things about yourself. ▪ Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award. ▪ Provide links to the nominated blogs. ▪ Inform the recipients they have been nominated. ▪ Include the award logo within your post for copying.(Here’s a link to the award logo)
Seven Things About Me…
1. I’m somewhat shy and private. Though I’ve tried to remain anonymous online, I find myself revealing more and more about my personal life.
2. I’m kind of a news junkie, and am often enraged by what passes for “news” these days. If you give me opinion, don’t try to disguise it as fact.
3. I love to cook (and eat). I’m a foodie, but NOT a food snob.
4. I love movies and television that makes me think. I’ll choose the comedy of errors over slapstick, or the good sitcom over “Reality TV” every time.
5. I believe music is a gift from the gods. I like most every genre of music (Jazz, funk, world cafe, exotica, rock, etc.) as long as it’s good. I am not a Belieber!
6. I don’t follow the crowd. I think for myself. I usually wait until the facts are all in before I form an opinion. I stand by my opinions, but they are not set in stone.
7. I have a dark, dry sense of humor. My mind deals with tragedy through “gallows humor“. I’ve had to learn to keep my mouth shut at times of crisis or risk offending people I care about. Nothing really offends me because I don’t take life that seriously. People are generally ridiculous.
“NOTE: I agree with Bonnie that not everyone will want to participate. Some might think this is nothing more that a chain letter with a twist. I’d like to think of it as a way to give a nod to the bloggers I like and promote my own blog at the same time. So maybe it’s not so bad. {:-]
My 15 nominated blogs: in no particular order…
Thanks again to Bonnie. My job here is done. 😉
Funny or Die asked Prince to write a blog about SXSW.
This was the best thing I’ve read in a while. It made my day. 🙂
“…samsung mobile said 2 me, “hi prince. we r a company. please bring us pleasure.”
“…when I got there, they couldn’t find my credentials. 😦 i said, “hello i am prince” and they said, “we can’t find u in the system.” i cried in2 some roses and then they found my pass. i decided 2 give my pass 2 a swan because i do not need a pass because i am prince.”
ADignorantium 
