So I have done almost nothing over the past week but work and hang out at the hospital. Super-brother-in-law is starting to heal up after 2 surgeries, but he's got a bunch more of those before he's done. Poor guy.
I got in a huge ridiculous fight with his nurse last night when I was the only one there with him and they tried to move him. Said his supplemental insurance only covered him for a ward room instead of the private room he was in. I knew he was covered for it, but man oh man, did I have to fight for him to stay in that room. Its safe to say that his nurse and I aren't going out for dinner anytime soon.
I keep meaning to post something lately, but there isn't time, and I don't think my new boss would appreciate my doing it from work. I've come across a bunch of things that I've been meaning to talk about, but I think I'll do a linkfest soon and save myself some time.
A fellow blogger did one of those random questionnaire things, thought I'd join that party. Here is her link, and here are the questions and my answers. I'm too lazy to tag anyone, but if you're so inclined, take the questions yourself and link back in the comments:
Q1. If you had to name the most terrifying moment of your life so far, what would it be?
Q2. If you could keep only one article of clothing you currently own and the rest were to be thrown out, what would you keep?
Q3. If you had to eat in only one restaurant for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
Q4. If you could physically strike one person from your past (that you didn’t), who would you hit, and where?
My answers:
A1. Immediately after Trinity was born (as in right after the delivery) she was having trouble breathing. Too much fluid in her lungs. Superwife ordered me to go with her to the monitoring room, and the hour that it took to make sure that she was ok were the most terrifying moments of my life.
A2. I would keep my Kingdom Come Superman t shirt. Second one that I've owned because I wore the first one out. I hope to get cremated in it.
A3. A little Italian place in St. Catharines called Cafe Amore. It is housed in what used to be an auto garage, and the food is the best I had ever had, every single time we went there.
A4. Probably my ex-stepmother. She was an abusive, mean, manipulative monster of a woman that was so insecure that she took out her petty jealousies on a little kid (me) for years. If anyone ever needed a punch in the face that I didn't lay one on, it was that woman.
I got in a huge ridiculous fight with his nurse last night when I was the only one there with him and they tried to move him. Said his supplemental insurance only covered him for a ward room instead of the private room he was in. I knew he was covered for it, but man oh man, did I have to fight for him to stay in that room. Its safe to say that his nurse and I aren't going out for dinner anytime soon.
I keep meaning to post something lately, but there isn't time, and I don't think my new boss would appreciate my doing it from work. I've come across a bunch of things that I've been meaning to talk about, but I think I'll do a linkfest soon and save myself some time.
A fellow blogger did one of those random questionnaire things, thought I'd join that party. Here is her link, and here are the questions and my answers. I'm too lazy to tag anyone, but if you're so inclined, take the questions yourself and link back in the comments:
Q1. If you had to name the most terrifying moment of your life so far, what would it be?
Q2. If you could keep only one article of clothing you currently own and the rest were to be thrown out, what would you keep?
Q3. If you had to eat in only one restaurant for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
Q4. If you could physically strike one person from your past (that you didn’t), who would you hit, and where?
My answers:
A1. Immediately after Trinity was born (as in right after the delivery) she was having trouble breathing. Too much fluid in her lungs. Superwife ordered me to go with her to the monitoring room, and the hour that it took to make sure that she was ok were the most terrifying moments of my life.
A2. I would keep my Kingdom Come Superman t shirt. Second one that I've owned because I wore the first one out. I hope to get cremated in it.
A3. A little Italian place in St. Catharines called Cafe Amore. It is housed in what used to be an auto garage, and the food is the best I had ever had, every single time we went there.
A4. Probably my ex-stepmother. She was an abusive, mean, manipulative monster of a woman that was so insecure that she took out her petty jealousies on a little kid (me) for years. If anyone ever needed a punch in the face that I didn't lay one on, it was that woman.
Labels: everything else, family
So last night was Superwife and I's fifth wedding anniversary. But I didn't spend it with Superwife. I spent it at the hospital instead, waiting for her brother to come out of surgery, hoping that he would be able to avoid having his leg amputated.
Let me back up a bit.
Superwife's brother (Superbrother-in-law?) got into a very bad motorcycle accident when a deer jumped out in front of him on the highway two nights ago. He flew over the handlebars of his bike when he braked to avoid the collision and bounced his way into a ditch about 50 yards away.
Deer, as it turns out, have become quite the nuisance around here these days, something to do with a lack of deer hunt tags causing a population explosion. We've seen hundreds ourselves on or right beside the roads since the move but we haven't had any close calls.
Here's the laundry list of the poor guy's hurts: Broken femur, broken pelvis, two broken knees, broken fibula, an uncountable number of bruises and a lot of missing skin.
For reasons that will be excellent grounds for a forthcoming lawsuit, the hospital didn't operate on the femur until 24 hours after the accident, a fact that the surgeon himself indicated increased the potential complications by a very large factor. Turns out that some admitting douchebag put the wrong surgeon's name on the admitting form, one that wasn't on call until the next day, and the surgeon that we actually passed in the hallway had no idea he was even in the hospital.
So now, we all have to wait and see if that wait means an infection might set in and force an amputation of the leg, a fact that the victim himself has not yet been made aware of. No reason to tell him what might happen, I suppose.
Finally, there's a pretty good sized downfall about living away from an urban center: Mediocre medical care. I imagine they pay the same here, but it must be hard to get quality medical staff to stay in the sticks. Either way, the shit is going to get spread all over the fan when the family sits down with the chief of staff of the hospital over this whole mess.
In the meantime, Superbrother-in-law (I have to come up with something better than that) is beginning to mend, but if he gets through everything ok, it will be awhile before he's going to get to use those legs again.
Now missing that anniversary seems like an awfully small and unimportant thing in light of everything else. These things always do wonders for perspective, don't they?
Let me back up a bit.
Superwife's brother (Superbrother-in-law?) got into a very bad motorcycle accident when a deer jumped out in front of him on the highway two nights ago. He flew over the handlebars of his bike when he braked to avoid the collision and bounced his way into a ditch about 50 yards away.
Deer, as it turns out, have become quite the nuisance around here these days, something to do with a lack of deer hunt tags causing a population explosion. We've seen hundreds ourselves on or right beside the roads since the move but we haven't had any close calls.
Here's the laundry list of the poor guy's hurts: Broken femur, broken pelvis, two broken knees, broken fibula, an uncountable number of bruises and a lot of missing skin.
For reasons that will be excellent grounds for a forthcoming lawsuit, the hospital didn't operate on the femur until 24 hours after the accident, a fact that the surgeon himself indicated increased the potential complications by a very large factor. Turns out that some admitting douchebag put the wrong surgeon's name on the admitting form, one that wasn't on call until the next day, and the surgeon that we actually passed in the hallway had no idea he was even in the hospital.
So now, we all have to wait and see if that wait means an infection might set in and force an amputation of the leg, a fact that the victim himself has not yet been made aware of. No reason to tell him what might happen, I suppose.
Finally, there's a pretty good sized downfall about living away from an urban center: Mediocre medical care. I imagine they pay the same here, but it must be hard to get quality medical staff to stay in the sticks. Either way, the shit is going to get spread all over the fan when the family sits down with the chief of staff of the hospital over this whole mess.
In the meantime, Superbrother-in-law (I have to come up with something better than that) is beginning to mend, but if he gets through everything ok, it will be awhile before he's going to get to use those legs again.
Now missing that anniversary seems like an awfully small and unimportant thing in light of everything else. These things always do wonders for perspective, don't they?
Labels: everything else, family
So Superwife is in bed early, prior to getting up early to work for the first time in over two years tomorrow. The poor girl has convinced herself that she should take advantage of opportunities for making money now that she has some and is going to clean cottages at a tourist camp down the road tomorrow.
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. On one hand, I am glad that she will be doing things to bring in a little extra cash, because we could sure use it. But on the other, I feel like I've been the breadwinner for so long, that she is stepping on my toes a little. Yeah, I know, I sound a little like I should be waving my club in the air and whooping my pride over having just discovered fire next. But I'm just saying.
And why the renewed commentary about missing my own space? Because right this second, I am sitting in the kitchen,listening trying desperately not to listen to my sister-in-law and The Soon To Be Ex-Boyfriend making out in the next room. And I have to be in either the kitchen or the room where all the fucking giggling and the not as stealthy as they think smooching is taking place because those are the only two rooms in this house that can connect to the neighbour's wireless connection.
And to ice the cake, they are in there watching a movie on my divx player. On my couch.
I love The-Outlaws; I really do. Well, as much as a person can love people that are only their family until that person's spouse dumps them, but fuckme, I want my own place again. And I still have almost two months to go. I can't imagine how I am going to make it through this.
EDIT - 10 minutes later - Woohoo! Turns out our bedroom on the second floor gets even more of the borrowed, almost-no-signal wireless network than the Caligula Room downstairs. And here I only have to put up with Superwife's snoring. So far, no sounds of heavy petting whatsoever. ;)
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. On one hand, I am glad that she will be doing things to bring in a little extra cash, because we could sure use it. But on the other, I feel like I've been the breadwinner for so long, that she is stepping on my toes a little. Yeah, I know, I sound a little like I should be waving my club in the air and whooping my pride over having just discovered fire next. But I'm just saying.
And why the renewed commentary about missing my own space? Because right this second, I am sitting in the kitchen,
And to ice the cake, they are in there watching a movie on my divx player. On my couch.
I love The-Outlaws; I really do. Well, as much as a person can love people that are only their family until that person's spouse dumps them, but fuckme, I want my own place again. And I still have almost two months to go. I can't imagine how I am going to make it through this.
EDIT - 10 minutes later - Woohoo! Turns out our bedroom on the second floor gets even more of the borrowed, almost-no-signal wireless network than the Caligula Room downstairs. And here I only have to put up with Superwife's snoring. So far, no sounds of heavy petting whatsoever. ;)
Labels: everything else, rants
I just came back from watching The Bourne Ultimatum with 2 of the guys that I'll be working with up here, and I had a great time.
Up until this installment, the similarities between the fantastic Ludlum books and the films began and ended with the bit about Bourne having amnesia. Pretty much the rest of the plot was absent from the rest. Good movies, but still.
This final (?) flick tried to make up for that by finally telling the story of how Bourne went from David Webb to the killer he forgot he was. Still no Carlos the Jackal, but a really great flick nonetheless.
That's all I've got tonight: Just sending a little love for something I will get nothing in return for. Is it paying it forward if you get other people to spend money on a movie?
Up until this installment, the similarities between the fantastic Ludlum books and the films began and ended with the bit about Bourne having amnesia. Pretty much the rest of the plot was absent from the rest. Good movies, but still.
This final (?) flick tried to make up for that by finally telling the story of how Bourne went from David Webb to the killer he forgot he was. Still no Carlos the Jackal, but a really great flick nonetheless.
That's all I've got tonight: Just sending a little love for something I will get nothing in return for. Is it paying it forward if you get other people to spend money on a movie?
Labels: everything else, movies
Dear Trinity,
It's been a big month for our family. We packed up our house, said goodbye to Southern Ontario, and moved the gang back up to where the air is cleaner and the Tim Horton's aren't everywhere just yet.
Our lives are in a particular state or limbo right now. I have yet to start my new position at work, the house we're having built hasn't been started yet, the majority of our belongings are being stored in a family member's ice shacks, and we are living with your Mom's parents. Things have been more stable for us at other points of our lives. But who wants stability anyway, right?
You have been a real trooper throughout the move though. You seemingly couldn't care less about leaving our house behind and moving in with your Grandma and Grandpa. You love living at their place on the lake; so much so in fact that I am more than a little concerned that the next move may not go quite so smoothly. But we'll burn that bridge when we come to it.
You finally received the book I had made for you composed of the first 2 years of these letters I have been writing you. Instead of destroying the thing as I had anticipated, you took one quick glance at it, gave it a 'Meh', and moved right on to something else. I was able to hide my disappointment. But not by much.
We've had a few firsts, your Mom and I. As ridiculous as it is to say this, your Mom and I had our first real date in over two years this past month. One of the really lousy things about living down south is that we had no one close at hand to look after you so your Mom and I could spend some time together. We went to a Police concert while your Grandma stayed at our house with you for the evening. Turns out we still really like each other, so that was fun to find out.
You have been really fun this past month, especially since getting up at your Grandparents' place. You love to swim and play on the beach. You're not a huge fan of wearing the life jacket, but once you've had it on for a few minutes, you get over it. Maybe we're too over protective, but being so near the water with you has put me within only a hair's breadth of having a panic attack at any given moment. The life jacket helps, but only a little.
You have really cultivated a great laugh in the last few weeks. You still have your characteristic chuckle, but now when you find something really funny, you let out this awesome belly laugh. And even if the reason for your laugh wouldn't otherwise be funny to me (say for example, you just dumped a bowl of cheerios on the floor) I can't help but laugh along with you when I hear you go. You particularly found my dressing up as a pirate amusing. Every time I'd give you a 'Yarr!' you'd be in hysterics. I can only hope that I continue to amuse you for a long time to come.
Hmm, what else? We have been trying to take full advantage of this summer's corn crop by getting fresh corn every other night for dinner, and in so doing we have discovered one of your all time favourite foods. You go nuts for the stuff. Its really funny to watch you go to town on it.
Its a weird time for us all Trin; I don't know that I used to care much about feeling disconnected from normalcy before you came along (in fact I have always prided myself on NOT being normal), but now that you're the driving force of our lives, I find I am really looking forward to getting into our new place, being amongst our own things, getting a routine again. Yikes I think I just realized that 32 is a lot older than I thought it was. Well, at least you know what your old man was doing when he really felt his age for the first time.
But old or not, I wouldn't change one single event in my life, good or bad, because the myriad paths my life has taken has led me to moments like this, with you playing peekaboo with me from within your sleeping bag:
I love you,
Daddy
It's been a big month for our family. We packed up our house, said goodbye to Southern Ontario, and moved the gang back up to where the air is cleaner and the Tim Horton's aren't everywhere just yet.
Our lives are in a particular state or limbo right now. I have yet to start my new position at work, the house we're having built hasn't been started yet, the majority of our belongings are being stored in a family member's ice shacks, and we are living with your Mom's parents. Things have been more stable for us at other points of our lives. But who wants stability anyway, right?
You have been a real trooper throughout the move though. You seemingly couldn't care less about leaving our house behind and moving in with your Grandma and Grandpa. You love living at their place on the lake; so much so in fact that I am more than a little concerned that the next move may not go quite so smoothly. But we'll burn that bridge when we come to it.
You finally received the book I had made for you composed of the first 2 years of these letters I have been writing you. Instead of destroying the thing as I had anticipated, you took one quick glance at it, gave it a 'Meh', and moved right on to something else. I was able to hide my disappointment. But not by much.
We've had a few firsts, your Mom and I. As ridiculous as it is to say this, your Mom and I had our first real date in over two years this past month. One of the really lousy things about living down south is that we had no one close at hand to look after you so your Mom and I could spend some time together. We went to a Police concert while your Grandma stayed at our house with you for the evening. Turns out we still really like each other, so that was fun to find out.
You have been really fun this past month, especially since getting up at your Grandparents' place. You love to swim and play on the beach. You're not a huge fan of wearing the life jacket, but once you've had it on for a few minutes, you get over it. Maybe we're too over protective, but being so near the water with you has put me within only a hair's breadth of having a panic attack at any given moment. The life jacket helps, but only a little.
You have really cultivated a great laugh in the last few weeks. You still have your characteristic chuckle, but now when you find something really funny, you let out this awesome belly laugh. And even if the reason for your laugh wouldn't otherwise be funny to me (say for example, you just dumped a bowl of cheerios on the floor) I can't help but laugh along with you when I hear you go. You particularly found my dressing up as a pirate amusing. Every time I'd give you a 'Yarr!' you'd be in hysterics. I can only hope that I continue to amuse you for a long time to come.
Hmm, what else? We have been trying to take full advantage of this summer's corn crop by getting fresh corn every other night for dinner, and in so doing we have discovered one of your all time favourite foods. You go nuts for the stuff. Its really funny to watch you go to town on it.
Its a weird time for us all Trin; I don't know that I used to care much about feeling disconnected from normalcy before you came along (in fact I have always prided myself on NOT being normal), but now that you're the driving force of our lives, I find I am really looking forward to getting into our new place, being amongst our own things, getting a routine again. Yikes I think I just realized that 32 is a lot older than I thought it was. Well, at least you know what your old man was doing when he really felt his age for the first time.
But old or not, I wouldn't change one single event in my life, good or bad, because the myriad paths my life has taken has led me to moments like this, with you playing peekaboo with me from within your sleeping bag:
I love you,
Daddy
Labels: trinity
So we've been living with The Out-Laws for just over a week now, and its gone about as I expected.
We're all getting along pretty well, as Superwife has a really great family, one that has often made me feel a lot more loved and supported than another one I could mention.
But.
I miss having my own space. A lot.
I wonder if the job transfer is going to work out. If I'm not going to regret leaving some potentially lucrative promotion opportunities behind.
My mother-in-law and I have had a few moments, in which she realizes that whatever it is I am doing is contrary to the way she would do it, and I seethe when she tells me so. I have to keep telling myself, 'its her house, its her house.' Its not a major problem, because she's a nice lady and we have completely taken over her domain for two months, but it further reminds me that I miss pretending that I run the show. Superwife is much better at letting me hang onto that particular illusion.
And I really, really miss high speed internet. I mean, I miss it like I would miss air if my face was being held underwater. So I have decided that dialup is for internet incompetents and people who have gotten their fast connections taken away from them. I'm in one of those categories. I'll leave it to you to decide which.
I have gotten to go fishing twice with the father-in-law, and I have realized that it used to be one of my favourite past times. That same father-in-law also ran a short con on me and somehow got me to help him mow a couple acres of lawn when he asked for my help changing the oil in a couple of riding mowers. But even that was ok.
Our house has finally been started. I say finally, even though we only signed the contracts a few weeks ago. It has only been a long time from our point of view because, boy would we like to be in our own house again soon.
But there has been a hole dug that will eventually be home to our basement, so that is pretty encouraging.
One last thing; I owe a huge apology to the family member I posted about a while ago here in which I bemoaned spending a weekend at The-Outlaws with him. Turns out the guy is a superstar. He drove two hours on his Saturday off to help us move and wouldn't take anything but a handshake for his trouble. So even though both my dog and daughter are scared of the guy, I will never say a bad word about him again. Some of the people who I thought might help us move but were mysteriously unavailable, I may comment further on at a later time.
Oh, and in case I forgot to mention it, dialup fucking sucks.
We're all getting along pretty well, as Superwife has a really great family, one that has often made me feel a lot more loved and supported than another one I could mention.
But.
I miss having my own space. A lot.
I wonder if the job transfer is going to work out. If I'm not going to regret leaving some potentially lucrative promotion opportunities behind.
My mother-in-law and I have had a few moments, in which she realizes that whatever it is I am doing is contrary to the way she would do it, and I seethe when she tells me so. I have to keep telling myself, 'its her house, its her house.' Its not a major problem, because she's a nice lady and we have completely taken over her domain for two months, but it further reminds me that I miss pretending that I run the show. Superwife is much better at letting me hang onto that particular illusion.
And I really, really miss high speed internet. I mean, I miss it like I would miss air if my face was being held underwater. So I have decided that dialup is for internet incompetents and people who have gotten their fast connections taken away from them. I'm in one of those categories. I'll leave it to you to decide which.
I have gotten to go fishing twice with the father-in-law, and I have realized that it used to be one of my favourite past times. That same father-in-law also ran a short con on me and somehow got me to help him mow a couple acres of lawn when he asked for my help changing the oil in a couple of riding mowers. But even that was ok.
Our house has finally been started. I say finally, even though we only signed the contracts a few weeks ago. It has only been a long time from our point of view because, boy would we like to be in our own house again soon.
But there has been a hole dug that will eventually be home to our basement, so that is pretty encouraging.
One last thing; I owe a huge apology to the family member I posted about a while ago here in which I bemoaned spending a weekend at The-Outlaws with him. Turns out the guy is a superstar. He drove two hours on his Saturday off to help us move and wouldn't take anything but a handshake for his trouble. So even though both my dog and daughter are scared of the guy, I will never say a bad word about him again. Some of the people who I thought might help us move but were mysteriously unavailable, I may comment further on at a later time.
Oh, and in case I forgot to mention it, dialup fucking sucks.
Labels: everything else
