January 2005 Archives

I finally broke down and made an appointment with an orthodontist for a night guard. Do you know what that is? It's a chomper stopper. I've been grinding my teeth at night for probably as long as I've had teeth. And now, as my front teeth reach the thinness of rice paper, and my back teeth rubble down like so many coarsely filed nodules, I have been strongly 'encouraged' by my dentist to get this done. It's a new year, the insurance deductible is cycled back to you-pay-100%, but the medical spending account is busting with ready cash too. So there you are. Soon I'll have a nice slimy peace of plastic sitting in my mouth all night. Every night. As I turn to Amanda, "Hehhh babuh givh uth uh kithhh...uhh...weht uh thecund" ::clackity clickity glorp clunk:: "Sorry babe, I forgot about that thing...::wiping of spit::...now where was I?"

Ick.

Harrison walked up while I was nailing some trim on the side of the house. He was handing me nails and said "You're doing a real good job Dad!" I love these kids. Must be all that processed sugar in their diet, makes them so sweet.

I went to Safeway yesterday for some lunch fixins. I was standing there waiting for the cashier to start scanning my clump of groceries, when I noticed the lady behind me dump her backpack on the conveyor belt. She then proceeded to remove various items from the pack, lay them on the conveyor, and work on rearranging them back into the pack. Among the items dropped onto the belt was a pair of scabby old tennis shoes. K'thunk! Just like that. Shoes on the conveyor. With my produce. I'm not saying I don't wash the fruits & veggies before consuming them, because besides pesticides, goodness knows what the clerks do on the conveyor belts after-hours. I know we all have different boundaries for what's inconsiderate and what's not, but the shoes on the grocery conveyor belt is a new one for me. Maybe I should run a test and see what people in general are willing to put up with. Maybe one time, I could undo my shirt, hop up on the conveyor and do a Shamu-on-land belly pose. Then another time, bring in my own reeking backpack, start rearranging, and flop a pair of damp, dirty socks on the belt for a few seconds. Yech.

So we got 30" of snow over the past few days. Awesome!

Mostly.

My favorite part is getting halfway done shoveling the driveway, feeling pretty good about it, then finding that the bottom third is loaded with a thick, hidden layer of plow spray. Hard & heavy as rocks. Oh, and I also like the part where I try to toss an igloo-block size chunk over to the side only to have the wind blow half of it back in my face--and then waste a few seconds running through the Chris Farley "Stupid! ... Stupid!" routine while the sound of falling trees echo in the distance.

The drive to work is a cinch. As long as a train doesn't derail while I'm waiting at the crossing, everything else is cake.

Except for the part where teeny little tree branches have fallen all over the parking lot and walkway at work. I never spent much time looking up to see how many 500 pound branches I walk under every day. Makes ya light on your feet.

And here you see the large, corniced pine looming outside the office window.

I moved the garbage can out of the way so Rob and I could both make a simultaneous leap for the door if any ominous cracking noises rang out.

I like it.