Colonoscopy 1 — Getting Ready

How it all began….

 

One day in 2013 I  hit the ripe old age of 50.  I figured the half century mark would not really be that big of a deal… right?   Well several days after my birthday, my health insurance provider sent me a mail message to remind me of my upcoming appointment.  I had not scheduled any “upcoming appointments” so I canceled whatever it was.   My Doctor was none too happy with me and called me personally to let me know that he had scheduled the appointment (who cares if I could actually make it on the scheduled date and time).   When I inquired as to why he felt so led to schedule an appointment for me he told me that I had hit 50 years old and the computer flagged me as being ready for a colonoscopy!   All I could picture was my supervisor from 20 years ago who periodically

had to have the procedure done.  He affectionately referred to it as “Riding the Silver Stallion.”  

Thanks for the imagery Dr. L.     That was back when I was 30 and had no thoughts of having any such procedure done anytime soon.  I was not even thinking about 20 years in the future… My how time flies!!!  So here I am 20 years and 70 thousand dollars in salary increases later… now awaiting the my first colonoscopy procedure.

 

Its not just a one stop shop deal any more.   Now in order to make the test easier the preferred method is to put the patient to sleep.  Then its slam, bam, thank you… Doc (I tired to think of a word to rhyme with Doc but nothing came to mind.  Well you get the picture.)  Now however you have to first go in for a consultation so that they describe to you in very graphic detail (only thing missing was the powerpoint presentation) exactly what they will be doing.   Then you get a packet of information and prescription for a prep kit.  

What’s in the prep kit?  Well it depends.  My fiance got what seemed like the nice preferable and already prepared solution.   I had to mix two powdered substances (one being lemon flavoring… YUM!) with water over a period of time.  Also included was an OTC laxative and antiflatulence (GAS-X) pills.  Prep kit sound nice, generic and mundane.   Truth be told…. they clean you out so that there is nothing to block the scope from seeing your intestinal walls.  (Sounds like a I have a medical degree, huh?).  Here I am the day before.  My “cocktail” has been prepared and is being refrigerated, I have orange Jell-O in the fridge and can only drink clear fluids that do not have any red or blue dye (yes, orange is fine).  My last solid food was my son’s birthday cake last night.  One good thing that will come of this is that I will lose a few pounds in the process.  I’ve been trying to get some weight off but every time I lose it, I find it again.  Well drastic times call for drastic measures!   The trick will be keep it off.

One thing I found out about colonoscopies too, ask anybody about them.  Everybody has an opinion.  Good, bad, wrong, or indifferent.  Why, there’s even a dummies book out on the subject!  Not saying that you are one if you read it… I’m just saying its out there.

So this is my weekend with my kids and I am at the point where now I can’t eat and I have sit around and smell food getting prepared and watch everyone else eat while I sip water, apple juice or other clear liquids.   They say I can have seven up or ginger ale.   Seriously?  I’m already going into a procedure that is going produce gas… why in the word do I want to add to it prematurely?  Go figure.

 

Well I of course am not anxious about this or anything and I am very relaxed and ready to grab the bull by the horns (hmmmm wrong imagery there) and get this job done.  Tomorrow is the big day, but today is the one I need to make it through!  And yes… I will be posting an after action blog report.   Until next time!

There I go Shaving the Yak Again!

It is very likely that you will not fully understand this post unless you have read my December 3, 2010 about Shaving The Yak.  As soon as you read it,  I am sure you will be able to relate all too well.

I had my Saturday pretty well planned out this past weekend.  In fact I even knew what time I was going start each task and end each one; and it was going to happen exactly as I had planned without fail because I had it written down and plotted out, right?

Oh, I see.  You’ve been there before too! 

After what actually happened I had to send a message to my friend who follows my blog quite closely to tell her, “There I go “Shaving the Yak” again.”  So just what does that mean?

You  may not believe it, but here’ show it happened, one bright summer day, a little bug sneezed…   Oh wait same concept, wrong story.  That line is from the first page of the Dr. Seuss Book “Because a Little Bug Went Kerchoo!”  Funny story about the chain reaction created by a little bug’s sneeze… an even more juvenile version of the house that Jack Built, I guess.   Having 7 children I ‘ve only read it a few hundred times.   I digress.  Back to the ranch… Here’s my story…

I had pretty much decided that I had bitten off more than I could chew and decided to put some stuff off (see my post on procrastination) until Monday and tackle one major job that I had been putting off since Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden (careful, now I’m showing my age).    I was going to get my bedroom in order.  The major and most important chore, of course… for those who know me, was to tackle the mess at the computer table!

Seeing the computer reminded me that if I was going to clean it up, this would be a GREAT opportunity to set up the dual monitor display that I have been wanting to do for almost a year now which would help me immensely with developing websites (oh boy!  Here we go!)

Of course,  in order for me to do that I needed to open the computer up to determine what slots I had available so that I could determine the type of graphics card I would need to purchase for the second monitor.  No sweat right?  WRONG!  First I had to go into my workroom and find the computer tools (I have three sets) but the workroom… well that’s another job waiting to be tackled.  Thankfully, I spotted a set of tools so I did not have to clean the whole workroom before I actually could find the tools to start the job in the bedroom that I wanted to completed before actually starting the job that needed to be done!  Praise the Lord!

Back in the bedroom now I got down on the floor and under the computer table and cracked open the CPU and took a look at to see what I would need.  I could see that in the mini case that I had there were two open slots.  I had to then go and get the laptop and bring it in so that I could pull up the specs on the manufacturer’s website see what these slots were.  I was able to quickly determine that I had a  PCI Express 2.0 x 16 and a PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot open.  Yeah, I know most of you understand what I just said as much I understand some guy who looks at my tires and asks me if those are 20’s that I have.  The only 20’s I ever have are in my wallet, and trust me, these days there usually aren’t too many of those either.    So… armed with this new  information  I now went to the Best Buy website to see if I could pre-order what I needed online and have it ready at the store when I got there.   EVERY SINGLE ITEM THAT I CHOSE was not available for immediate store pickup.  THAT I could not believe so I hopped in the car and went up to the store.  I found every single thing that I had looked at sitting on the shelf staring right back at me.  GRRRRRRRRR!

Now, the part I hate about going to these stores. 

In order to get help, I have act like I am helpless and don’t know a thing about computers.  Also helps to see if they’re going to try and rip me off.  They get really challenged when you demonstrate that you have more knowledge about their job than they do.  So I went over to a jolly looking guy with three products in hand only wanting to know  one simple answer.  Since the products were security sealed I could not open them up and I needed a half height card for my mini computer case.  I played my stupid act, showed them to the guy, finally formulated an intelligent sounding question (you should have seen the superior look on his face) and when I asked if these were half height cards, my tip off should have been the glazed look in his eyes, if not the hesitation before he answered while he tried to tap into his brain cells for information that obviously was not in his “database” to begin with.  Finally I got a “yeah, that’s right.  Those are half height.”  I also showed him the external USB adapter I had which cost $5 more but was worth it to me to not have to come back to the store.  He shook his head knowingly (another sign I missed.  Hindsight is 20-20).  So happy as a clam now (although I don’t know where that saying comes from or how to determine if a clam is happy) I paid for my purchase and went out to my car.   That little nagging voice said open the box.  Do NOT start the car until you know!  Do Not pass Go!  Do not collect $200.  You don’t want to get home and have to drive all the way back!  I love it when I actually do listen to myself AND turn out to be right?  The card was a full height card!  GRRRRRRRR!  

I went back inside.  The “security” associate at the front door said, “Back so soon?”  I said, yep, Wrong size.  He put a little pink sticker on my purchase (I was hoping it wasn’t some type of target marker) and I headed back to find Mr. Jolly, only to be intercepted by a member of my church wearing a Best Buy uniform and who actually knew what he was talking about!  How refreshing!   So… Now I got the external adapter and headed up to customer relations to make the exchange.   I hopped into the car and was on the way back home again, but happy (as a clam?) and deciding already that this was going to work.

Once I got back home I now had to  close up the desktop computer and get all of the wiring back together because I won’t need to install anything on the inside as I had planned.  Now I had to rearrange the computer table and move the wireless printer (Looks like I’ll need to get a small table for that now, but that’s not going to be part of this story or the job would have not gotten done until today!).   Then I was able to clean off the computer table. and connect the USB external video card.  Setup was straight forward and  now I have the dual monitor setup using the Windows 7 Extended desktop … which is (as the teens say these days) really way cool!  Now I can drag things from one monitor to the other!  SWEEEEET!  And if you haven’t already figured out, that took so much time and energy that I never even completed the original task which was to get the room cleaned up!  But that I can take care of one day this week, right?   <wink>

Eye Contact

Well its’ Monday so it you know it was bound to be one of those days.  True to form… I slept terribly last night,  wound up being up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, woke up late this morning as a result and my dog picked this morning to decide she needed to be retrained as to what bodily functions must be performed— knowing, of course, that I was short on time.

Rushing around I was quite surprised to find that I did not forget anything!  However, being late to the commuter lot I wound up having park in The Mysterious Beyond (see previous blog post).  This of course had the disadvantage of having to walk much farther before I could get to the bus stop.  That had the net effect of allowing me to miss my bus by a mere 47 seconds (that’s not an estimate).  Could I have caught the bus?  Sure if all of the stars were in alignment, etc. etc… Well OK if I were not suffering from some severe lower back pain, I would have broken into my O.J. Simpson sprint, hurdled the street and the bus and landed right in front of the door before the bus pulled off…. not a drop of sweat on me and my clothes in perfect condition; bowing briefly to the cheers of the onlooking commuters who all wished they could to that too.   But as I said the back is hurting so no laurels this morning.

So I wound up doing something that I have not yet had to do… In the interest of saving time and not having to wait another hour for the next Crystal City bus I got in the slug line on the way INTO work.  I was not sure where the Crystal City slug line for going into work was but, my bus stop was right next to the Pentagon slug-line and I could rid the Metro two stops from there.   My choice was a no-brainer!  I stepped into the slug-line (sounds like a Soul Train dance, doesn’t it) and did not have to wait long before I was able to hop into a vehicle.  <That was all just the intro now for the reason I’m making the post in the first place…>

I got in to a minivan with a lady driver.  Spanish music blaring.  The other Slug rider got in the front seat so the back seat was mine…. or so I thought.  Just to my right sat a little girl with her headphones on.  I was wondering what she was listening to.  Then she said in perfect Spanish (couldn’t have been older than 3 or 4) Mommy, my show.  Having taken Spanish for 7 years I sometimes don’t even realize that I had just made an automatic translation.  Of course if it is toward the end of the day as opposed to early on— forget it.   I guess I qualify to take English as a second language!  Anyway, Mom apologized (also in Spanish) and hit a button on the dash.  Talk about high tech!  A little screen folded down and there I was staring at Dora the Explorer.  I didn’t realize there was going to be “in flight entertainment.”

In the mean time the other person who was riding in the front seat and the driver began having a conversation in Spanish.  At first it started off casual, but then the front passenger decided that he was going to tell a joke… I understood part of it and then laughed when he said the punch line— not because I understood the whole thing, but because it was time to laugh.  They stopped laughing  to look at me.  At which point I stop  laughing because the driver has not slowed down any!  Lo and behold she remembered she was driving.  I think it had something to do with the car starting to swerve to the right– but what do I know.  The driver now starts talking to the passenger and says I think he can understand what we are saying.  Then WHILE STILL DRIVING AT 70 MILES PER HOUR turns to look at him for his reaction! 

SERIOUSLY?  Can the person operating the moving motor vehicle please keep their eyes on the road.  Eye contact is important, but now was not the time!   The passenger just shrugged, so I said, “Si, es muy verdad.” [Tranlastion:  Yes, that’s very true].   She turned to look at me again.  Then she said to me (in English) you understand Spanish?  Thankfully she did not keep looking at me to wait for my answer but turned her attention back to the road.  Well I couln’t resist, so instead of replying in English I said, “No, no hablo Espanol.  Hablo Ingles solamente.” [Translation: No I don’t speak Spanish.  I only speak English.”]  I love using that line.  But (and I know this is bad English) I shouldn’t have oughta done it. SHE TURNED AROUND AGAIN!  This time I think she actually sped up!  Perhaps the fact that I was turning white from fear made her turn back around again.  After all when a black guy turns white, you have figure SOMETHING must be wrong, right?

Well the driver and the front passenger continued to have an entire conversation about the fact that I could speak Spanish and how they are glad that they were not talking about me because it would have been quite embarrassing.  And YES, she kept taking her eyes off of the road to look at him for his response.  Then just to test me, I’m sure, she was talking to him about something that had to to with politics (I couldn’t follow it all) and in the middle of the conversation she threw in “Entiende que alli?” [Translation:  Do you understand that back there?]  Without missing a beat I replied.  “Entiendo que decirlo fuerte y claro” [Translation:  I understand you loud and clear.]  I could have just said, Si comprendo, but not knowing her I decided to reply in the formal since she asked in the formal.  I will not type her one word response/exclamation.  And, by the way, she did not bother to use the Spanish version.

And so it went the rest of the rest of the way except they pretty much ignored me now.  I was amused when the passenger up front asked in Spanish why they don’t just speak English since I could understand anyway.  The driver, TAKING HER EYES OFF THE ROAD AGAIN, said, in Spanish:  Does it matter?  We all giggled.  Then little Jr. (actually I think Jr. was a girl) wanted to open a bag of chips for breakfast.  Mom turned almost all the way around, while driving and took the chips, put them in a bag, pulled out a bag of dry cereal which I recognized to be Luck Charms (we sure needed those!), and handed them back to the child, turning around again, this time swerving as she did.  –I began to have my doubts as to whether or not we would make it to the Pentagon.  Then in an English/English exchange (what a concept) the kid said Mommy I want something to drink.  She actually did NOT turn around and said, “It’s in your cup holder.”  The kid seemed to be having some problems with this and so Mom finally DID have to turn around and this time took much too long trying trying to pry the cup out of the cup holder.  We stopped short of the car in front of us that had also stopped short of the car in front of them— and who knows how long that chain ran?  What a ride.  But hey the kid got her milk!  That was the goal right?

After that little incident we sat in bumper to bumper traffic for about 15 minutes with everyone else in Washington, D.C. who was trying to exit I-95 and make the left turn into the unsecured area of the Pentagon parking lot.  As I diembarked, surprisingly able to walk on what I thought I was going to be very wobbly legged, we had one last giggle to the commemorate the morning.   Without thinking I said in Spanish:  “Muchos gracias por el paseo” [Translation:  Thank you very much for the ride.]  (I was surprised I was remembering that much!)  She replied in perfect English:  “No problem thanks for riding.”  We both realized immediately what we had done and shared a laugh.  My only task now was to make it through the Pentagon Parking lot with my backpack and dressed in my bulky black coat, not to mention being black, and a million prying security eyes on me every step of the way without them thinking I was a security threat.  You know, me, the guy who is always the RANDOM check at the airport security when I fly!   Obviamente, esta vez lo hizo muy bien.   Uhhh, I mean Obviously–this time I made it just fine.

Looks Like We Made It!

SNOW!  Oh NO!!!!!!!!!

I was over helping a friend with their website and had stayed a lot longer than I was planning on (but they fed me lunch, so I can’t complain too much, right?).  We still had a good deal of stuff to cover, but it became increasingly obvious that it was not going to get covered today.  I’ll have to go back in a couple of weeks and do some more, but I’ll have more prep stuff done this time, in advance, before I go to, hopefully, make the learning curve easier.

I was just winding down (and it’s a good thing) when I looked outside and saw what looked like the blizzard of 2012!  Where there was absolutely no snow before, all of a sudden there was whale of a snow storm in full swing outside.   Not a big deal to a lot of people I know, but my only experience with driving in the snow has been very limited and it was with the snow already on the ground.  I thought people drove like maniacs then– WRONG!  Try putting flake or two– or two million– in the air and watch them go C-R-A-Z-Y! Literally!

So here I am, having been driving now for all of six and a half months (long story– take me out to dinner sometime and I’ll tell you all about it), and scared to death.  No not because of the snow– because of the other drivers.  My car seemed to be handling the roads pretty well and the stuff wasn’t freezing so I was doing OK in that respect.   Well there I was, GPS yelling at me to get in the right lane, and trying to avoid the guy who did not seem to be able stay in the left lane.  Honestly I think he was trying to drive in between  the snow flakes.  Good Luck with that!  The sooner I could get by him the better!  That was when I realized that I was  only scared half to  death.  So,  scared half to death (btw what happens if you get scared half to death twice?  Now there’s an imponderable!)  and wondering if I was going to make it home or be a statistic today.  Just then Barry Manilow decided he was going to give me little encouragement and started singing  “Looks Like We Made It.”  I bet you thought that was a song that dealt with recovery from past relationships.  Not today it wasn’t.  It was very timely too.  Not really wanting to take  a hand off the steering wheel (OK, I pried it off!) I reached over and hit the repeat button. Barry was going to encourage me all the way home… or however far I got!

 

 

The Highway was a joke with half of the folks driving way above the speed limit, half the folks driving below the speed limit and half the folks trying to figure out what the other two halves were doing and which one they wanted to belong to.  (Yes, I know that is three halves.  Its Vice Presidential mathematics– you had to be there.).   So anyway,  Barry was blaring away and I was just trying to stay out of people’s way.   I have a thing or two to say to the jerk in the blue 74 Chevy, but being a Christian I would do better to put those thoughts out of my mind.  The closer I got to home the less  I had to worry about.  I was outrunning the storm!  Now I didn’t feel so bad for having left the dog outside.  She wasn’t getting any snow!  But that doesn’t mean she’d be any less indignant.  I was right.

I didn’t realize that my fingers were so tightly glued to the steering wheel until I let go of the wheel to shift into park.  And sure enough, just as I had pulled into the driveway, good ol’ Barry (who had now sung the song about 5 times) was at the refrain and bellowing out:  LOOKS LIKE WE MADE IT!”

Yeah, Barry, you got that right.

I’ll Fix You!

You know its Friday when people just start acting plain weird for absolutely no reason at all!  OK So for some of its its Friday everyday, but for the majority of us… Its not an every day occurrence.  Today, admittedly, I was the weird one!  It all started quite innocently.  I went downstairs to the pantry at work to get Schweppes Ginger Ale and a piece of fruit to go with my lunch (beef, broccoli and garlic shrimp over fried rice).  Most of you don’t care what I had for lunch, but I just stuck that in there for my daughter who follows my blog—I see a comment coming now!. 🙂

Back to the ranch…. Having accomplished the task I came up to the double doors that lead to the lobby.  When you step on the sensor, the door is supposed to unlock automatically from this side.  From the other side you have to swipe your security card for access.  Well I stepped within the area that the sensor wash located and nothing happened.  I stepped back and stepped again.  Nothing happened.  I started tap dancing in the senor area.  Nothing happened but the 3 people behind me were quite amused.  I tugged on the door (still locked) a couple of times and guess what happened!  NOTHING!  Well since the piece of fruit I got to go with my lunch was a banana, I took aim and fired… making the mock gun shot sounds of course.  Blew that bad boy away!  I had that door hanging off ot its hinge.  Yeah, you don’t mess with me!  Especially on a Friday!

OK, truth be told… Everybody was quite entertained by my antics.  Not my intention actually, I was really quite frustrated with the stupid door!  The Chief of building maintenance was there and he got my attention and pointed to the wall.  There a button that lights up that you can push to trigger the lock when the automatic mechnism fails.  I knew that!  Well at least I’d seen it used before, I just never had to use it.  So I holstered my banana, pushed the button and we were all overjoyed to hear the tell-tale click of the lock mechanism opening.  Gently pulling the door I swaggered into the elevator bay with my “Go Ahead, Make My Day” look on my face and my hand close by my side ready to draw my banana if necessary.  When I sawy that there would be no problems I pushed the up button an immediately one of the elevators responded by opening its door.  It probably heard about my last encouter and did not want to face the wrath of my banana!  After all of that do I even need a Friday Funny post?   I’ll think about it.

Upload, Download and Install

Being a bonafide geek, one of my pet peeves is when people use the terms Upload, Download, and Install interchangeably.  THEY ARE NOT THE SAME!  And to make matters even worse, I am often helping people over the telephone (many times relatives) and they will say, in the same breath, that they downloaded a program from the internet and then downloaded the program to their hard drive. 

Can you say CONFUSED?

Let’s just think about this logically for a min(there I go thinking again!)

When they downloaded the program from the internet, exactly where did they download it to?  Because if you follow their conversation, it obviously had not been downloaded to the hard drive yet.  Oh I know!!!!!  These folks have been using cloud computing before it even existed.  Silly me, why didn’t I think of that before….  I better back off there, because  I can see people now (one relative in particular) throwing a computer out of their window in hopes that it will rise and that cloud computing will be accomplished.

Well, Back to the ranch… (a saying that my College English 101 professor was fond of saying because he always got off track…. by always I mean every other sentence)… So now that they have downloaded from the internet, the program— wherever it is— can be invoked some how so that it can be downloaded (again?) to the hard drive.   But wait!  We have to remember the contingent of people who do their installations from portable media like flash drives and CDs/DVDs.  Why those folks are at least smart enough not to be downloading again.  But what drives me crazy is that those folks say that they upload things to their comptuers!  I am commonly obligated to ask a user what is the last thing or last few things that they installed on the computer.  Too many times I am greeted with the question that I absolutely hate hearing:  “What’s that?” or “What do you mean by install?”  And once I answer the question I then get answered with “Oh, the last thing I uploaded” or “the last thing I downloaded” was…  I have to stop and think… Did I even mention upload or download?  NO, I most definitely did not.

I guess the truly sad thing about the whole thing is that many of these folks have learned what, I guess, they perceive as the new catchphrase and they think they are actually sounding more intelligent and computer literate in using the “proper” terminology.  If only they knew how improper their proper terrminology was.  And sometimes you’re in a stiuation where you just don’t have the heart to tell them or it would be politically incorrect to point out the error of they ways… uh words.  It makes my skin crawl almost as much as scratching your nails across a blackboard.   UNGH!  OK, not quite that much.

So in my first installment of Computer terminology 101 we shall define these three terms. 

All definitions can be found at the Merriam Webster website:

SIDE NOTE:  Can someone please tell why Webster has to have 3 definition types?  You can lookup a word and get A) the straight dictionary definitions,     B)  “English Learner’s” definition or  C) you can can go one stop further and get the word defined for kids!  WHY AREN’T THEY THE SAME??????  Is it any wonder why people get so confused about the English language?  Its because it hasn’t yet been fully developed apparently.  A work in progress…. Yet it is the major language in 160 of the 195 countries in existence as of this writing– scary!

UPLOAD:  to transfer (as data or files) from a smaller computer to the memory of another device (as a larger or remote computer

Now I’m not even looking at you and I can see that look on your face that says “Well DUH!  What’s the difference?”

DOWNLOAD: An act or  instance of downloading something. LOL!  Sorry I couldn’t resist.  I saw that definition and just had to include it… But what we really want here is:  to transfer (as data or files) from a usually large computer to the memory of another device (as a smaller computer).

I see that “Well DUH” look again… Just note that the process of Uploading and Downloading is just transferring files and does not include any type of preparation or processing!  And, even still Uploading and Downloading are NOT interchangeable because the usage depends on the size of the computers or networks you are transferring from/to.  So Uploading and Downloading are exact opposites!   Now check out the definition for install.

INSTALL: To MAKE READY TO BE USED (my emphasis) in a certain place.— If you know how windows works (most people don’t) that takes a whole lot more than just copying or transferring files.  In many cases configuration files need be setup and then modified for you individual setup.  In almost all cases information has to added in very specific places within the windows registry so that windows knows what to do with the program when it is running!  No, the Windows registry is not new, it has been in existence since the inception of Windows, its just that back Windows 1.x 2.x and 3.x days the registry never got a lot of press time or exposure. In fact it was just beginning to come out of its shell with Windows 3.1

So I said all of that just to end up exactly where I started…. Upload, Download and Install are three different  terms that have three different meanings.  Now that I got that off of my chest I think I’ll pull up a game and relax.  After all I should be able to play it now that has been dowloaded, right?

Procrastination

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”~Jerome K. Jerome (Three Men in a Boat, 1889).“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” ~Don Marquis “There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back.” ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister “The two rules of procrastination: 1) Do it today. 2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow.” ~Author Unknown “One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.” ~Vincent T. Foss

Procrastination…. I thought about what that word meant— well a couple of months ago—and got the idea to create this blog post.  So last week I sat down to write it out and decided that I first needed to break the work down.  With “pro” obviously being a prefix, I thought I’d look up the word “crastinate.”  I finally got to it a couple of days later and found out that crastinate was not a word ( I had my doubts).  After some searching on the internet I found out that the root word is actually crastinus and it is a Latin word which means:  of tomorrow.  So Pro means FOR and crastinus means OF TOMORROW so if you procrastinate it means that you are for of tomorrow!  Well how simple!  Why didn’t somebody tell me that before… Oh… I bet the person who is planning on telling me is procrastinating.

“Someday is not a day of the week.” ~Author Unknown “Procrastination is opportunity’s natural assassin.” ~Victor Kiam “Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow.” ~Gerald Vaughan “I do my work at the same time each day – the last minute.” ~Author Unknown “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.” ~Spanish Proverb

After finding out this information yesterday I decided that I would sit down and write this blog entry… you got it… didn’t get to it until today.  Even when I sat down to write the blog entry this morning I put it off until I  could gather some clever quotes about procrastination.  And, of course, you have to have a cute picture or two for eye candy, right?  Well either the internet was being extremely slow or Google was procrastinating and taking its sweet time in returning my results.  To think most of  searches are returned between .03 and .06 seconds and I had to wait .21 seconds for my Google search results to display.  I probably grew two or three grey hairs in that time… Well, I’m sure I thought about growing them, but they can certainly wait.   I was almost so disgusted that I contemplated putting off writing this post until tomorrow– AGAIN!

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” ~Mark Twain “How soon “not now” becomes “never”.” ~Martin Luther King Jr. “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” ~Napoleon Hill “Procrastination is suicide on the installment plan.” ~unknown author “If and When were planted, and Nothing grew.” ~Proverb

But now I have spiffy quotes and a couple of snazzy graphics so I guess I should make the post.  Of course they say wine gets better with aging… I wonder if the same goes for blog posts.  So… are vineyard owners natural procrastinators?  Wow, what a job!  Well I’ll think about it and perhaps do an experiment sometime in the future.  No, really!  You don’t believe me?  Well you just wait until tomorrow and I’ll get right on that thought process.

“Even if you’re on the right track-you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~Will Rogers “Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot fun until you get the bill.” ~ Christopher Parker “I’m going to stop putting things off, starting tomorrow!” ~Sam Levenson. “Do or do not do. There is no try.” ~ Master Yoda “If it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done.” ~Author Unknown

There are literally thousands of quotes out there dealing with this topic… I’ll have to create another blog post  dedicated just to the quotes. Next week. But, for now, I think that I’ll get to the work that I should have already started before I took my break.

…some days you’re the bug!

Have you ever had one of those days where things just don’t seem to be going your way?  Well EVERY Monday seems to be like that for me, and even moreso with the way my work responsibilities have multiplied lately– but, as I tell others, “hey!  at least I have a job!”  After days like today it often reminds me of, what has become, one of my favorite and most used sayings…  “Some days you’re the Windshield and some days you’re the bug!”  You can obviously tell which day is a better one for you in that scenario.  So Mondays have just become “bug days” for me. 

In searching the internet I have also found some variatons on this theme.  Some of them are pretty good and others are just good at getting the point across.  I am sure that there are many other scenarios that can be used/applied here but the ones that I have found are:

• Some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue! (another personal fav).
  
• Some days you’re the hammer and some days you’re the nail.
• Some days you’re the dog and some days you’re the hydrant.
• Some days you’re the deer and some days you’re the B-mer.

So how’s your day going  today?  Are you having a Windshield” kinda day or are you having a “Bug ” kinda day?

 

Amen!

My HOT coffee form 6:30 AM is now cold

My cold banana pudding also from 6:30 AM (borught in as a treat by a co-worker) is now warm

My workload is tripled because my boss is out as well as someone assigned to a high profile project….

The project that I declined because I did not want another high profile project just yet…

My debt is going through the roof for reasons I cannot yet mention

My back is killing me and now so is my neck

None of my Christmas presents are even close to getting wrapped

I have a todo list at home longer than Yao Ming is tall

And I can’t seem to get anything done when I do have the time because something else comes up…

But you know what God is still on the throne and he has a plan for me and my life that will outshine all of the things that I look at right now as inconveniences.   Yet and still I gripe.   Why?  It’s his schedule not mine.  I feel he’s about to use me for something big.  So Amen to that.

‘Nuff Said.

I hate crew socks

I positively, absolutely HATE crew socks.  Some people would say, “You know it really doesn’t make a difference.”  Well I would beg– YES!  I’m begging– to differ on that one.

I have always had a preference for the “Over the Calf” sock style.  On me it feels better.  Comfort is a factor right?  There I stood yesterday in the Mens Department at Wal-Mart.  I needed some more blue dress socks.  I could not believe that the entire aisle that I was in was ALL dress socks.  So I locate the socks and to my great dismay, while they had socks in my size  and the color that I wanted and in every style that has ever been introduced in the world, they did NOT have the socks that I wanted in the variety that I was looking for.  No blue over the calf socks.  It was crew or nothing.   So I stood there and did what any respectable man would have done… I stood there and argued with myself for 10 minutes.  Having now worn the socks I can tell you that I definitely lost.

What’s wrong with crew socks?  You’re probably asking yourself.  Well, strange though it may be, I like my socks to feel secure.  These socks feel like they’re going to creep right off my leg.  No respectable over the calf sock would ever make you feel that way. I’m pulling my socks up every 5 minutes– even when I am just sitting here at my desk!!   GRRRRRR!  I knew better but I convinced myself that maybe I have been wrong about crew lo these past 38 years (I’m figuring I was 10 when I developed this preference).  So I convinced myself that crew length would be OK.   I am so glad that the black socks that I bought yesterday are over the calf!  As long as it is within my power, I will never, ever, ever, ever, buy crew length socks again!  They are for the rest of the crew but they are definitely NOT for me!

So… What now?  I make the decision that any respectable man who has made a bad purchase makes…  I go to Amazon.com and find what I need and add it to my cart– BUT WAAIT!!!  Don’t place that order yet.  Yes we men are frugal!  I’ll just let it sit in the cart because I know I’ll be back.  Have capitalize on the free shipping so the next time I come back I may go over $25.00  THAT’S when you place your order!

And then… Anticipation… when will they get here.  O when will I once again feel my sock hug my upper calf and not threaten to fall off or feel like it IS falling off.  Unfortunately, as of this writing I am only at the sock hating stage.  I have not gotten to get online and order stage.  Hmmm can I return them now that I’ve worn them.  I supposed they expect me to wash them first.  Frankly I think I’m out  $5 and change.  Well at least I have gained the experience that nothing has changed.  Over the calf is still the sock for me.