Why is it that no matter how little sleep I get the night before, promptly at 9:30 or 10:30 pm I suddenly get a burst of energy to the point where I do not wish to sleep?

Argh.

Frontline: Iraqi Insurgents

There was an interesting Frontline episode about the insurgency in Iraq and the different groups involved.  Much of the coverage revolved around interviews with insurgents done by the few reporters who venture outside the Green zone and have insurgent contacts.  Those reporters are some brave folks. 

The sad part was how refreshing it is to see the insurgent groups who advocate only blowing up military targets. :(

Sick as %#$@!

Last week I found a bag of chili cheese Fritos available in the workplace vending machine (yummy).  I don’t usually eat out of there but I wanted a snack and I hadn’t had those in a while.  The next day I woke up with a stuffy nose and sore throat.  I can’t say those events are connected but that’s all I can think of.

The week got progressively worse until Friday I was a mess.  Stuffy nose, painful throat, itchy eyes that eventually became blurry eyes.

Saturday all the symptoms were even worse, by then my ears chose to stop working.  The right had with lots of pressure, pain and ringing.  The other with just pressure, neither functioning very well (What?  Hu? Hello?).  I wanted to chop my head off.  I was miserable.

It’s weird how unsettled I was not being able to hear.  I couldn’t hear my feet hitting the floor, the ambient noises that I could hear at home sounded different...  Very uncomfortable.

Sunday was a bit better, left ear worked on and off.   Monday wasn’t much different than Sunday.

Tuesday I decided to go to the MD and I called in sick to work.  With the sinus stuff was slowing down (it was only really bad, not I’m going to die!) I had them check me out.  They decided I had an ear infection and had some sort of bad sinus cold that was obviously slowing down.  They also thought maybe I had a bit of it in my lungs.  Basic antibiotic thing for the ear / maybe lung issue.  I picked up my prescription at Target, I chose the yellow band.

While at the M.D. the doctor who saw me subjected me to a beating by her unborn child.  She apologized ahead of time saying her belly was likely going to bump into me while she checked me and warned me that her spawn was active that afternoon.  I’m fairly sure I heard a racial slur from inside the womb around the time I felt a couple kicks to my forearm…

Also one of those days I bought a little humidifier for my bedroom.  Once in a while my painful sore throat likes to hint that it might come back, but that seemed to keep it at bay last night.  I need to remember to buy and have someone install some sort of integrated humidifier for my furnace.  It gets way too dry in my house.

Today I’m at work, only because I’m an idiot and feel guilty for calling into work sick on Tuesday.  Left ear is 99% functional.  Right ear stuffy and still ringing.  My phone at my desk is on my right side.  When it rings it sounds just like it is ringing several cubes away.

I have been having trouble speaking.  I can’t hear myself, just the echo in my head so it’s hard to know if I’m talking loud enough and such.   Fortunately I look sickly enough on the outside that people understand.

I sometimes think that getting sick like this is God’s way of saying You don’t appreciate being healthy, take this you ungrateful bastard!

My response PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME!

I probably deserve this for plundering the fiancé as often as I do, but I’m weak and I’m in love.

Age of Empires: The Age of Kings (Nintendo DS)

I played a fair amount of Age of Empires: The Age of Kings on my DS this past extended sick weekend.  It’s a good game.  In a lot of ways it feels like what I would expect a real time strategy franchise would play like if turned into a turn based strategy game.

The building towns, buildings, and gathering resources is nicely simplified for a portable game so that you can focus on combat.

The AI is acceptable, but not all that smart.  The game relies on the scenarios to present most of the challenge (much like most RTS games do) and that works alright.

The game’s presentation is ok, with the exception of the fact that the angle of the map sometimes makes identifying units in large groupings difficult.  Fortunately, you get used to it.

Large battles tend to bog down after a while.  Once you have the advantage it can actually take a while before you slog thru enemy territory and deliver the killing blow.

Al in all a good, but not great game.  Certainly not the highly refined strategy of the Advance Wars games, but an acceptable change of pace none the less.

The Nintendo DS r0x0rs the big one!1111.

TV Solution

I’ve found that the Nintendo DS is the perfect solution for solving TV conflicts.  This is how it works.  When my fiancé wants to watch something on TV, she gets to.  Then I just sit next to her and play on the Nintendo DS and everyone is happy.

It’s to the point where she can even manage to fall asleep next to me while I click away at it.

Work: 3rd Shift

I’m working the 3rd shift at work next week.  I kind of look forward to it.  As much as that shift messes with your sleep patterns it is nice to be at work with almost nobody around.  Also I used to work that shift in the past and the guy who works it most of the time is a friend and broke up with his fiancé recently so I figure he could use some new company, and we both like Civ IV.

NES

Gamespot did a little feature about the 20th anniversary of the NES.  The text is alright but the real fun is in the video.  Not gut busting hilarious but a nice mix of reminiscing and funny.  Granted it is 45 min, but I’m surprised they didn’t mention the good old Power Pad.

Kids World

A coworker brought his little girl today to work.  She’s on the other side of the cube isle.  It’s interesting how we all go about our daily work and related things and she sits there, draws, plays and goes about her business.  The worst thing that happens with her is Uh Oh!  Something on the floor! the she picks it up and moves on.

If only work was that way. 

She’s currently explaining to another employee what toys she has can speak and what toys do not speak along with other details.  The employee has sort of a deer in headlights thing going on where he’s not sure how to respond.  I have to admit not having children I probably wouldn’t know what to say either.  It’s not like a whole new language the logic and method of keeping the little girl engaged and happy is not exactly clear to me.

Congrats to CheeseburgerBrown

Congrats to Mr. CheeseburgerBrown.  I mentioned the massive size of the child to my fiancé who restored her usual threat to kill me if I give her a big baby.

Mom Status: Chemotherapy

Elsewhere on the suddenly busy health front Mom’s chemotherapy continues.  She’s not all that far into it, just a handful of sessions.  She gets sick the day after typically.  Otherwise she just tugs along still going into school to teach because sitting at home is way too depressing.

I’ve come to the theory about cancer that unless you’re at the end of it (one way or another) you never seem to actually know what the whole story is, and you’re not sure anyone does.

Mom has also taken up the process of coming up with form letters for updates.   The individual family updates would involve too many phone calls so she just calls her kids, parents, and such these days.

Word is that mom went wig shopping.  In case she needs one for the wedding.  If that is the worst news at the time of the wedding this fall I'll be happy.

Sister keeps going home to visit mom.  I’ll be going home in April with the fiancé to visit mom and complete some wedding things.