Appraisal of Position

Pauline told me she wanted to speak to me in her office this morning. “Oh shit!” I thought thinking the worse.  I thought she was going to tell me she didn’t need me anymore or that I was doing a terrible job. I can be so sensitive and sanguine – a mole hill can become a mountain quickly. 

“It has been a pleasure working with you!” she told me happily.

I blushed and smiled as I sat in her office. I hoped it wasn’t followed with, “but we need to part ways.”

“I wish I could offer you a paying position, but I don’t think you would be able to take it,” she said referring to my disability.

I had to remind her that I love my volunteer position and that it was actually very easy to perform. I am not tooting my own horn, but it did feel so good to hear that. That will keep my morale up for quite a long time.

Let’s Not Break a Little Dog’s Heart

I wasn’t going to walk this morning opting to sleep in an extra hour. Maggie got on the bed and basically begged me to go. I quickly got dressed and got Maggie ready with her harness and we were out the door. We once again walked down to the Circle K on Gilmer Avenue.  Maggie got a Slim Jim and I got what I call a “chocolate milk” which is a coffee loaded to the hilt with sugar and cream.

Learned the name of the third shift clerk this morning.  His name is Marty. We’ve kind of developed a report he sees me so much.

“Howdy Marty,” I said as I shook his hand over the counter. “My name is Andrew!”

Let’s Go Get A Pickled Sausage!

That’s what mom just said a moment ago over the phone after I answered it.

“Can you pick me up under the portico?” mom asked. “I am in my pajamas.”

“I will be there in ten minutes at the most,” I told her and I headed to my car with my key in hand.

“Bye Mags!” I said as I opened the front door and shut it behind me.

This is a little treat mom and I like to share often.  The urge for pickled sausages will strike either of us out of the blue. It just takes one call from either of us and things are put into motion.

Mom was fretting on the ride -- something she does so very well and often.

“I ordered $70 in books from the bookstore while we were there,” my mother told me. “I spent way too much money.”

I guffawed and told her she was entitled to some treats sometime. She will certainly read them all and get great enjoyment out of them. Mom’s garage looks like a library.  There are wall to wall books down there on huge white shelves.

“Your daddy paid me back for your computer,” mom then told me.

I was hoping he would do that. That made me feel better.  Mom’s so softhearted that she can sometimes bite off more than she can chew.

Mom and I then sat in the car with the air conditioning on as we drank our orange fountain drinks and ate our pickled sausages. I also got a king sized Reese’s peanut butter cups and mom ate half.

Andrew’s Got the Blues

I, of all people, shouldn’t have the blues, but I do. I’ve had so many good things happen to me lately. I just haven’t felt well mentally today. Unfortunately, I don’t get to pick the days the mental doldrums start. I feel out of sorts as the old saying goes.

I moped around my volunteering position today. I couldn’t wait to get home. I even woke up and moped around as I made a very lackluster breakfast of scrambled eggs and biscuits. Maggie zeros in on my moods and knew something was wrong. She was being doting as usual in such occasions. We didn’t go for our walk today, either. I went back to bed for two hours and Maggie followed me.

Mom just called me – the phone ringing waking me out of a zombie state.

“Remember we’re eating Mexican tonight,” she said cheerily when I answered.

I had been asleep for a moment. I looked at the clock and it was 1pm. Mom was early today.

“Do you want to get the number 26 dinner like last week?” she asked.

I told her I did. I like the shredded chicken burritos. They always put on lots of sour cream and guacamole which makes it delicious. The chicken is also always spicily seasoned which I enjoy as well. Just another reason not to have the doldrums.

Nefarious Dealings

This aggravates me to no end. Windows 8 started to give me pop up warnings a moment ago that I installed it on new hardware with an old product key. It is no longer used on my old computer as that computer is kaput.

“You need to purchase a new key to use it on two machines,” it told me with another little pop up.

Well, I just went online and got one of those nefarious “Windows 8 activators” to stop that crap.  I would’ve been a lengthy call on the phone to Microsoft to fix that matter and my phone phobias were getting the better of me today. The crack took one minute to download instead of hours of aggravation on the phone. Microsoft wonders why people pirate their software when some people honestly buy it like me and still have to use cracks to enable it. Of course, this makes me a criminal in Microsoft’s eyes even though I own the software.

Yeehaw!

I feel like The Homeless Guy when he got a new laptop years ago to basically play Second Life as he thought he could garner a income from it. Have I told you how nice it is to have a desktop computer again?  I probably extolled its virtues yesterday or Monday. I still have to hook up some fans to my motherboard and put the side panel on my case to screw it down, but pretty much things are all tidied up and running fine.  The main thing I love about it most is that it is practically whisper silent. My old computer sounded like a turbine.

My iPad is nice and has its purpose, but blogging was a terrible pain. My Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad came today and I will have to try it out some and see if that makes a difference. At least, I will be ready if my main computer goes down again. I am assuming it will be akin to being a little notebook computer.

Back to Normal

Things are getting back to normal around here.  Maggie and I took our very early morning walk despite some extreme grogginess I was experiencing. Maggie can be very, very insistent. We walked down to the Circle K convenience store and I fixed a cup of coffee that basically tasted like chocolate milk it was so full of crème and sugar. I came home and fixed scrambled eggs and biscuits. I usually cook 4 eggs every morning, but cooked 6 today which was a windfall for the Mags.  I then took an hour nap before going in to volunteer. I am still experiencing a lot of sleepiness and drowsiness from my psychiatric medications. I am hoping beyond hope that this eventually wears off. It has lessened to a great degree lately.

The Darling Parent’s Evening Doings

Dad called a moment ago telling me not to forget him tonight.

“I am going to be late tonight,” he said. “Don’t go to bed like you did the other night.”

“What are y’all having for supper?” I asked extremely intrigued as they usually cook something very interesting.

“I am cooking boiled eggs and toasting some bread,” my father told me.

I thought that was kind of odd.

“How long do you boil eggs?” I then asked dad.

He said twenty minutes. The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like an interesting and good meal.

Taming the Tiger

The tiger being the hunger I was experiencing on the drive to Auburn.

Mom was a regular chatterbox on the way to Auburn.  She was full of gossip about most things and most people in our lives. I tend to zone out when she does this – it just doesn't interest me. One cousin was in jail and one had run off and joined the Marines I remember her saying.

“Where do you want to go eat?” my mother finally asked me.

“Let’s eat at the Dairy Dee and sit on one of their picnic tables outside,” I replied wanting to enjoy this gorgeous sunshiny day.

It didn’t seem like it took mom a long time at Connie’s. I was half asleep listening to the radio when she got back to the still cranked car. I was remarking to myself at the time how terrible modern pop music is.  Country music was just pop music to a lessor degree and with a steel guitar. I guess I am finally getting old to think such a thing. Not one song interested me. 

“Let’s go eat,” she said as she sat down in her Civics' passenger seat. “I am starving.”

That was music to my ears. I ordered us two foot long chilidogs with mustard and two small Cokes and we both enjoyed our meal sitting on one of the picnic tables outside the Dairy Dee. I was telling my mother how I could eat two of those chilidogs and she insisted that I order another one to-go for later.

Mom bought quite a few books at the bookstore. I bought some magazines and then I bought a new hard drive for my computer at Best Buy – a hard drive that is going to be solely devoted to my extensive mp3 collection. I couldn’t wait to get home and install it.

“I couldn’t do this without you,” my mother told me as I drove. “I would never get through all this traffic without having a wreck.”

I replied to her that is what sons are for. I also told her she rewarded me handsomely with my new computer.

Come On In… The Water’s Warm…

Computer builders will know this feeling well – that feeling after you do a system build that took hours and you go to press the power button after double checking connections and things.  You cross your fingers as you push the power button, the computer springs to life for the first time, and you sigh a great sigh of relief as you exhale.  It is almost if you are gambling with $1200 dollars. Well, the gamble paid off today and I am computing on quite a high performing and some would say excessive machine tonight. I feel like I went from a Yugo to a Porsche after using my iPad for so many weeks. Everything on this computer is instantaneous. I also have my beloved Windows Live! Writer back as well. Let’s commence with the blogging shall we?

“I got the computer up and running!” I excitedly told my father tonight over the phone this evening.

He thanked me for calling him. He was very worried about it.

“That’s a lot of money,” he told me of my mother’s expenditure.

My father doesn’t have much faith in me being a computer builder and repair guru. His computer isn’t working and he wants a “professional” to fix it i.e. Duncan Services. He’s got a nasty virus (from looking at porn I believe) and all he has to do is use his system restore disc.

“Look up those nude photos of Jodi Arias,” my father curiously told me earlier in the day when he was over here.. “You can find anything on the web.”

My father can be the instigator of some shenanigans in his life as well.

I handed him my iPad with a fully unclad Jodi Arias laying on Travis’s bed. She was and is a very pretty woman. It is just a low down dirty shame that two lives had to end that way. I would tell you what my father says about it, but it may offend quite a few folks – something he’s told me quite a few times in my life about sex starting in high school. Since most of my readership is female, it would probably go over like a lead balloon.

Tomorrow, I have to take my mother to see her soft tissue therapist down in Auburn after I volunteer. I want to get a foot long chilidog at the Dairy Dee if I can convince my mother to go. Which shouldn't be hard seeing she loves a good hotdog as well. Those chilidogs are like crack to a crack addict to me. The hail Mary pass would be a trip to Red Lobster, but mom is trying to economize our journeys I think.  Mom wants to go to the bookstore and I have to make my customary trip to Best Buy as well to see what is on sale this week..

Listening to Jeff Beal “Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion”.

Set in Stone

Well, it is official. Dad and I are going to see Star Trek Into Darkness this weekend and then go eat at Jim Bob's chicken fingers. This intrigues me greatly that my father wants to see a Star Trek film. He is in for a neat surprise and a real treat. The last movie he saw in the theaters was Lincoln with my brother in San Diego. He said a lot of people in the South wouldn't be very happy with the film.

Mom is out buying my groceries so I am keeping an ear out for her. I am going to cook hamburgers and French fries tonight for supper. I love those Orida crinkle cut French fries. Mom said she was coming over to eat with me tonight when I was talking about supper. I told her the more the merrier. Supper tonight will just drive Maggie crazy until I give her some. I also love the way cooking makes the house smell.

Thunder On the Chattahoochee

It is stormy here today. Very stormy. I could've swore lightning hit the house a moment ago. The thunder was instantaneous after the flash. Maggie normally pays no attention to the weather, but that last strike got her off the couch and away from the window. My father will call in a moment as if on cue to talk weather. Now it is hailing heavily as I write this – dime sized hail. I will be seriously perturbed if hail damages my cars.

I was over at my parent's house at 5am to get my sodas. I can barely see to walk up their back steps at night. One of these days I am going to bust my butt in the utmost manner. Maggie and I also had warmed cream cheese and strawberry pastries for breakfast. Maggie wanted more, but that was the last two in the package. I keep reminding myself that tommorow is grocery day.

Supper is going to be potluck and fastfood tonight. Dad and Charlie are out right now getting us all something to eat. More storms are on their way so I hope they hurry. The storms are barreling through the county north of us.

The Lost Guy

My family freaked out when they couldn't find me for hours last night. I was out of town and I thought I had told my mother I was going to the movies. Dad was just glad I was okay when I pulled into my driveway. He was sitting on my front steps vigorously talking on his cellphone.

"You are always at home," my father told me very worriedly. "My stomach went into knots when I couldn't find you. I've called everywhere looking for you. I even called the local jails. I thought you had a psychotic break."

I exasperatingly had to remind my father that I am 41 years old. They try their best to coddle me, though.

Maggie was also tuned into what was wrong. She was very overly happy to see me and dismayed at all the commotion. She had to thoroughly sniff me to see where I had been.

"Don't leave me alone for so long," Maggie seemed to be saying.

The new Star Trek movie was great by the way – bordering on awesome. JJ Abrams, the director, has pulled a rabbit out of his hat rebooting the Star Trek franchise. The newer Trek movies are so action packed and engaging. Dad heard an interview by the cast of the movie on NPR. Dad wants to see the first Star Trek film and then go see the new one. I promised him I would go back to see the second film as well.

"Did you know the actor who plays Spock is gay?" my father asked in a gossipy tone.

After the dust had settled, we went about our usual routines. Maggie got fresh food and water and dad wanted to see me take my medications.

Time for a Trek

I'm still anxiously waiting on my computer parts to get here. I know I sound like a broken record as well. I think it will probably be Monday when the parts arrive, but I am hoping beyond hope that they will arrive today. Tracking says my parts are in Atlanta about an hour away. The next stop will be the distribution center in LaGrange and then to me.

Tonight I am driving to Auburn to see the new Star Trek movie and to eat at Jim Bob's chicken fingers. I am very excited to see it being a closet Trekkie for years. I haven't been to the cinema in years as well. I might even get some overpriced popcorn and a bladder buster Coke.

Maggie was very insistently going bonkers at 4am this morning wanting me to wake up. I coundn't fgure out what was wrong with Maggie. I wearily got up and started to fix breakfast as Maggie lay on the floor near me. What does Maggie then do? She goes back to bed after a delicious breakfast. Who owns who? She played me like a harp this morning.

Living Life Dangerously On The River

Dad and I were just over at his river front house. Dad told me plainly that the house doesn't flood.

"It is not on the flood plain," he told me.

"We are ten feet from the river!" I exclaimed as we stood on the back deck.

I don't know why he insists on saying that. I pointed to the river excitably as I walked beside him.

"You still need to get flood insurance," I also told my father rather worriedly of the river which was pretty full of water already.

We've had a lot of rain lately.

Dad drove me home in the X5. He says he is hooked on National Public Radio. We listened to it as he drove. I don't care for all the politics NPR espouses. I had brought a DVD with me to see how the X5 plays them. As I stuck the DVD in, a little screen rose up from the center console and the movie started to play.

"That is just awesome," I told my father grinning feverishly – loving all things electronic. "The sound is in Dolby Digital as well!"

"That's for the grand kids," Dad replied with a big smug grin.

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My computer parts are languishing in a warehouse in New Jersey according to tracking this afternoon. I knew I should have gotten two day shipping instead of the free super saver 5 to 7 day shipping. I have read every bit of information I can find on the web of my parts. I am still worried the my RAM is incompatible with my motherboard.

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My injection for my mental illness is in the morning. I have felt far less and less drowsy as time has gone by this week. I am going to give it one more shot tomorrow and we will see how things go. Dad is working at the pharmacy tommorow so I will see him early in the morning.

Like A Proud Father

I am so proud of my yard. I'm not real big on yard work, but I do love the results. Late this afternoon, I will probably do a few more things then call it quits. I am trying to get my shrubbery in decent shape. The good doctor across the street is mowing his lawn as we speak. We have kind of a goodhearted yard rivalry going on at the moment. He chopped all his shrubbery way back for some reason which I thought was drastic. My father says yard work is good for the soul.

"Creamy not crumbly is the best way to cook cornbread," I argued with my father last night. "It also has to have a crispy crust."

I tried not to offend my father, but my mother makes the best cornbread. Better than even Helen's by far. Charlie's wife is a close second. Alas, mom hasn't been allowed to cook for years. Dad says she will leave the stove on and burn down the house.

I just gave Maggie a Poptart and she is currently burying it in the backyard. Sigh! She will come in with a muddy nose in a minute. The possums and raccoons will get a nice dessert tonight. Birds gotta fly and fish gotta swim as the old saying goes.