pseudoephedrine.mut-tacular.ampersand.carpal-tunnel

!!-- WARNING! Due to the Graphic Content of this post, Parental Discretion is Advised. It is also suggested that you not eat within 30 minutes before or after reading this post. Possible symptoms may include: laughter, self-indignation, or eye-rolling. Women who are pregnant or are at risk of becoming pregnant should definitely, well... consider, not reading this post... i guess. Consult your PCP (Primary Care Physician... not the other stuff...) for further recommendations and advisements. --!!

does anyone else find it rather odd that blogger/blogspot is completely non-iphone friendly? i mean... since google took over years ago and google is revolutionizing everything on the web these days, youd think blogger/blogspot would at least be relatively iphone friendly, but no. not even a little. i can even get as far as into the edit screen after signing in with the teeny tiny non-mobile-optimized site, but once there, the text forms are non-responsive to touch sensor technology. it just clicks and clicks and clicks and never lets you actually enter the field.... or maybe im the only one having this issue.... i tend to think that im not the only one having any particular issue at any given time, maybe it makes me feel better, like im not really crazy, the rest of the world has random issues as well, but then again... perhaps i'm wrong. maybe i am the only one having some of the bizarre issues i have....

speaking of google, i started using chrome again. its been roughly two years since i stopped. i was having any number of problems with a buggy beta version back then (one of which being flash compatibility - and speaking of buggy. flash 10.2, right? right? right? wow adobe....) so i gave up on it and found myself enjoying v3.whatever of safari at the time. then safari started to annoy me come v5 and ive been bouncing back and forth between it and firefox for the last year or so, but man, this new chrome. im feelin it! for the time being... i digs.

so anyway... i cant sleep.

ive been trying to get sick for the last few days apparently. it started with my usual allergic reaction to staying at the in-laws this weekend. they have cats, and while i love their cats (zoro y diablo es loco, lol) i some-how or other developed a cat allergy (not the like super severe, omg-im-going-into-anaphylactic-shock kind of allergy, but the itchy-watery-eyes-cant-sleep-oh-my-freaking-god-it-itches-make-it-stop!! kind, you know?) while away at grad school after having lived with a dozen or so of the creatures my entire childhood... rather odd in my humble opinion, but apparently it happens... anyway. thats how it started. then it moved on to becoming this just rather gross nasaly-itchy throat feeling. so i started on the meds, because thats how it always starts for me when i get sick... then yesterday i woke up just feeling like shit. spent the whole day in this state of clammy-sweaty, pale & flushed (yeah, tell me how the hell that happens at the same time), sloshy/sludgey stomach feeling. have you ever had that? where you feel like your abdomen has somehow been pumped full of some-kind of toxic ooze and its just sitting there, sloshing around everytime you move... that back and forth liquid movement feeling... ugh, its almost like getting sea-sick for the first time... anyway, so that was yesterday. so of course ive been taking the regular attack cocktail of aleve, some kind of otc multi-symptom cold thing, and the prescription strength pseudoephedrine on 12 hour intervals (well, the otc multi-symptom on 6 hours) anyway... so i think thats part of why i cant sleep. im in the middle of one of those mildly-dehydrated-over-pseudoephedrin-ated-drug-highs that makes you feel kind of spacey and light-headed, but at the same time the sinus drainage is coming back so the meds must be wearing off, so why do i feel like this, kind of things. youve been there right? this isnt another "just-me" thing is it? meh.... the other excuse for my mild/insomnia is that i went to bed at about 9:30 because i was feeling pretty shitty, and with work and getting up at 5:30 every morning, my body is getting itself into the pattern of only getting roughly 6.5 hours of sleep each night, and so... that would partially account for my being awake between 3:30 and 4, hm?

or... maybe its just day-light savings time throwing me off........ ? ;]

[mut-tacular]

im suprisingly lucid right now given the self-medicated-ly induced, depreciated state of my higher-brain-function, and yes, i can maintatin the some-what linear thought patterns outlined by my title up there [which i almost always invent and refine before the commencing of the actual rambling on... is that odd? i feel like its backwards, like i was taught at some point along the way that the title is supposed to come last. like the writing will inform the title. but if i dont have a title, how am i supposed to know what im writing about? man, maybe i really am odd.....]

so mut-tacular. if you cant relatively guess at the meaning of this strange term, then you need sleep more than i do. context-clues people, context-clues. anyhow, its one of our many many ridiculous little nick-names (why not peter-names? or jo-names? why nick? who the hell was nick to get this extra-naming... naming rights?...) for the silly little dog that follows us around snoring - regardless off his state of consciousness, or the time of day, or his current activity. anyway, i just wanted to briefly talk about him. i dont know how, well... thats not true at all, i totally know how... but hes become ever increasingly ornery to the point of just, wow. this dog is so freaking spoilt. lordy... prime-example. i keep getting up to go to the bathroom or roll-over or get water or something, because i cant sleep, and everytime i come back to bed he just looks at me with his head on his paws, and makes this half-grunt, half-sigh sound as he cocks his little buggy-eyebrows at me. as if to say "would you effing quit it already? im trying to get my beauty rest here..." [did i mention hes a total queen? total...] anyway, if thats not enough, this last time this happened, i stop short of climbing in bed and go around to my wifes feet where hes sleeping to scratch his little head sympathetically, as if to say "sorry buddy, cant help it" at which point he decides that his cue to get up, walk over and on top of his mother, and plop down next to her head and right on my pillow. totally stealing my spot in the bed. can you believe this non-sense?? freaking little... so i walk around to my side of the bed, flabbergasted as i am, and he just cocks his head a little and scootches over closer to moms head so i can get in, all the while looking at me like "what? i didnt do anything..." seriously... this dog has freaking attitude... so then after i get in, he does this little number that hes gotten into the trend of. he splays out flat between us and buries his head between our pillows. lol! i tell you, if he didnt rub me the wrong way all the time with his obvious lack of respect and defiance towards me, id never stop laughing at him... well, actually, i dont. lol! realistically, karen and i are much-more-than-likely completely fabricating this entire personality that we've cooked up for him. but then again... he really is a total queen. its all based on reality, even if it is ever so slightly embellished in our odd little minds... oh mut-tacular.........

[carpal-tunnel]

so the last couple of days, the last two [ring & pink] phalanges on my left hand, as well as the backside... [what do you call that? the karate chopper? ill have to inquire with my sensei...] from the end of the pink up to my wrist, have all been kind of just, numb. not like completely useless dentist lip numb, but like all the sensation has been drained from it and now theres this feeling thats just on the cusp of pins&needles, but not quite there. not painful, just... lacking the usual feeling - if that makes sense. and like all 22nd generationers [its 22now right? i cant keep up...] (i think i meant generation-y here... i was a little goofy on the meds, not entirely sure. forgive me.) of course i simply googled my symptoms to self-diagnose... myself. my first thought was stroke, yeah, gotta be stroke. or something... anyhow, carpal-tunnel was basically the only search result that came up. dozens and dozens of comments and keywords about carpal-tunnel. what-ever. i think this whole carpal-tunnel thing is a joke. we've been hearing about it for a decade, but ive never believed it was real... besides, why my left hand? im a righty. i do all the clicking with the right. clickity clickity click. all freaking day. you ever drawn in cad? thats a lot of effing clicks. but noooo no, if im to believe i have carpal-tunnel, because the all-knowing gods of the inter-google-webs say so of course, then its because of some b.s. poor keyboard posture? heh, what keyboard posture? i never learned to type. i took a typing class, but that home-keys crap. nah. not for me. i make up my own rules. i type just about as fast as the next guy [hell these long-winded posts typically only take me 45minutes to an hour] and a lot of the time im not even looking at the keyboard. especially for the letters l, pl, tr, f, s, m, cp, ro, ma & xref - LOL! [heh, cad humor. love it!]

hah, how about that. my alarm just went off. guess its time to go hop in the shower and start my day, lol. great timing, i was pretty much out of things to say at this point anyhow. well kiddos, until next time....

...stay anticipated.

[timestamp published 5:38, timestamp initiated 4:37]

lone.star.livin'

as i sit here typing, the window next to me depicts the serene images of leisurely life at its utmost. the palms gently swaying in the sea breezes, the small song birds happily chirping and flitting around playing a lively game of tag, the hint of saltwater and sand floating on the air, and of course the rousing chorus of the 3 pugs chasing each other, fighting over the most select toy, and all-the-while attempting to breathe through their genetically deformed air passages... [the latter, perhaps less serene...]

yes thats right y'all, im in texas. and on the texas coast to be more specific. home-again-home-again-jigitty-jig.

its been several months since i last updated the ole' blog, and much has changed. most of you that actually read this are close enough that you're already aware of most of the events of my life, however, supposing there are the rare few out there in the entire world [and beyond...?]that might per-chance stubble upon this and decide its worth a read, follow-along as i briefly wrap up the major events of the recent past and set the scene for future-posts.

[the.job.situation]

when last we spoke [er, wrote?] i was embarking on a little adventure of landscaping with my friend from n'awlins and we had completed a few little jobs with some success. well that lasted about as long as you read.

we never ended up getting another job [i think it was really just the seasons changing] even though we bid on a number of them. after a couple of weeks however, i was desperate for cash-flow again and sought some other income situation.

i still had the itt job at this point and was enjoying my first class [and getting the hang of it a bit more as time went on] however the minuscule salary of a new adjunct teaching one class is not something to sustain one's extravagant lifestyle... ;]

so to shorten the longevity of my verboseness in the instance, i posted an ad on the church website boasting my qualifications, and through a series of serendipitous events, i ended up working for jones the florist [the name in florists in the greater cincinnati area] that ended up being a pretty great experience for a few months. i started out doing candy bouquets[if you dont know what that is, just go to their website...] and as it would turn out was quite the craftsman. i picked this little skill up very quickly and in a few days was pretty much the fastest person on production in the place. so i candied for a couple of months while they got through some big seasonal orders and then when the seasonal time was up i inquired about staying on for a bit longer if theyd have me...

meanwhile - in those months at jones, i had been offered and accepted another classes for the following quarter at itt, took up karate in my "spare" time, and then as i looked into extending my stay at jones, was offered and accepted 2 classes for the upcoming quarter and had a couple of promising interviews.

one of the interviews was with one of the biggest architecture firms in cinicnnati [and while i wont play the dropping names game, they're huge and "worldwide"...] and i was very excited about the prospect. this was the dream job in the cincinnati area and since karen and i had resolved to sticking around there, this was a big deal. in conjunction with that, i started interviewing, via the vast world-wide telecommunications network, for a position in a construction firm in houston. [spoiler alert! if you havent yet read the title of the blog.... um.... dont.]

well jones decided to hire me on as a delivery driver because of my mad-skillz and obvious awesomeness and i enjoyed working for them through december. the interview with the b-i-g arch firm was less than fruitful in the immediate present-tense sense of things - although it was a great feeling knowing they were interested and seriously considering me! - and as it would turn out i was offered and accepted the job in houston. [shocker. i know.]

thus begun a whirlwind of activity revolving this drastically life-altering occurance...

[h-t-x]

so... heres the run-down on h-town.

i interviewed for this position for a bout a span of a month's time and on the friday before karen and i were supposed to leave for our annual christmas voyage to the south to see the family, the construction company emailed me the offer letter.

i thought it over [but not for long - this was an amazing opportunity!] and discussed it with family and friends over the weekend, and then first thing monday morning i accepted and we got the ball rolling.

the next day [tuesday] karen and i flew out to texas for our holiday vacation and i stayed in loose contact with my new boss via email - and while we were in texas anyway and so near our soon-to-be-home, we decided to get started on some of the more menial tasks of setting up bank accounts and starting the apartment hunt...

on the 28th of december we flew back to cinicnnati and at this point it had been decided that my start date would be january 10. for anyone not doing the math, thats about a week and a half that i had to be back in texas and ready to start the job with my truck, and any belongings of mine that i would need in texas, as well as helping karen as much as humanly possibly to pack up our house, get rid of whatever we werent taking and generally begin the moving process...

i needed to embark on the cross-country drive by no later than the 5th to have 2 days for the actual driving part and a couple of days to get settled in and ready to start work on the 10th.

so between dec 28 and jan 5 karen and i worked like crazy people to go through our entire house and get rid of anything and everything we could do-without so that we didnt have to move it cross-country.

we sold off furniture on criagslist, had an extensive garage sale to rid ourselves of smaller items, donated a ton of stuff to the church and local clothes-closets, had contractors come in and do some of the final repairs we just hadnt gotten around to yet on the house and now had no time to do and needed to be done before the move/sale, got the house put on the market and worked with the realtor to figure out the best plan of attack, said goodbye to as many dear friends as i could before i left, and in the end... karen still ended up having to stay in cincinnati another 3 weeks after i left to finish all of the above...

of course that then precludes to the ensuing madness of my driving to texas and staying with josh and cassie for the short-term while i searched for an apartment and a place to move all of our crap, started the new job and got settled in, had miscellaneous issues with the truck that needed to be dealt with [for instance i ended up needing to have all 4 tires replaced after the journey south, or the entire engine maintenance checkup i was 10,000 miles over-due on, etc., etc., etc.... ]...

in the end however. we arrived safely. we got everything moved. we found an apartment. i started my job and have settled pretty well into it. karen has since found a temporary job shes enjoying teaching swimming lessons in houston, while still searching for that perfect career job of her own. and last - but certainly not least - we have had quite the rollercoaster of events surrounding the sale of the cincy-house....

but that my friends... is a story for another time.

and with that - im signing off. hope to post more soon-ish, but with life's many obstacles, who really knows?

god bless texas, and have a good-un y'all. =]