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Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Damien just posted this picture of my boat on TSBB. I love getting pics of the boat in the water. It took me a while to figure out what Janice was doing. She was taking a picture of Damien. Pic was taken at the BEER cruise. Tuesday, July 27, 2004
My new sail arrived yesterday.
No. This will not be of interest to everyone, but I just got a new mainsail. I'm pickled tink. New sailcloth barely feels like cloth at all. it's almost like a sheet of plastic. Very firm, and noisy to handle. Many years from now, when the resin wears out, it will feel like cloth. My old sail may very well have been original to the boat, which is 30 years old. It no longer holds a decent shape, and it spills too much wind. I'm hoping for a big jump in performance with the new one. If the weather is good, we'll give it a field trial this weekend. Sunday, July 25, 2004
My step father has West Nile Virus.
Mom can't make it through any six-month period without a major trauma in her life. She was just getting over her chemotherapy, and resuming a normal life when her new husband collapsed in the doctor's office. He was at the doctor for his sudden symptoms of nausea and fever. For a week he was told that they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, and finally, we got the word yesterday that he has been confirmed to have West Nile. I spoke with him today, and he's in good spirits. Apparently West Nile isn't life threatening if you are in good health, which he is. Also, Jimmy is a very upbeat person, and I believe strongly in the healing power of a positive attitude, which he has plenty of. He expects to be back at work in a couple of weeks, but he's still feeling like shit, and has accepted that he just has to wait for it to run its course. Best of luck, Jimmy and Mom
I saw two alligators today.
I'm arguably middle aged, and I've lived in South Louisiana all my life, but have hardly seen an alligator outside of tourist attractions all these years. Yet, in the last month I've seen three, including the two today. I've been trying to get on the water in my kayak at least once a week, and today was my kayak day for this week. As I paddled down Bayou Teche, I could see something ahead of me, that dipped under the surface as I approached. My first thought was that it was a turtle, but turtles are usually completely submerged except for the head. I wasn't sure what it was, until I saw it come up again. Definitely a gator, and not far from me, maybe 25 feet away. I continued to paddle, and soon saw another one. This one was a pretty good size. It looked like the head could have been a foot long, so it wasn't little. My bayou kayak trips are wonderful opportunities to get away and enjoy a little solitude in nature. If I ever decide to bring my digital camera with me, I'll post a few shots of the bayou scenery. My kayak was a good investment. Friday, July 23, 2004
Last week I started the lengthy process of having a new artificial leg made. This is something amputees must endure once every few years. Usually, this means trading in an old uncomfortable leg for a new uncomfortable one. This time, I have hopes for something better. They're using materials I've never seen before, including a socket insert that's made of a gel, kinda like the Dr. Scholls inserts.
Here's the kicker. This thing will cost about $32,000! My last one was about $12K, but not as high tech. There are even more expensive models out there, including one with an onboard computer that controls the quality of your gait, or something like that. I think it goes for $50K - $60K. It may even come with OnStar as an available option. I personally don't want that one. I want to go sailing and kayaking without risking tens of thousands of dollars worth of electronics if I go overboard. While we were there, I told my prosthetist about my online amputee shop, and this may be a coincidence, but when I got home, I had an email telling me that my shop had sold two shirts today! Not bad. Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Most of my funny job-related stories fall under a veil of strict confidentiality, but this one didn’t involve anyone in my caseload, so it’s fair game.
I was making my usual rounds today, in the high-crime high-drug part of town. These are my regular stomping grounds from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After leaving one client’s home, I see a woman walking down the street. She kind of looked like one of the mothers who was in my caseload about a year ago, and that woman was from this same neighborhood, so I didn’t think it was funny that she waved me over. I thought I was about to get an update on how her kids were doing, and have to breathe her beer-drenched breath for a few minutes. Well, as I reached her, I saw that it wasn’t the person I thought. “Can you give me a ride?” she asked, as I stopped. Now, Janice will tell you. I’m a real sucker. I’ll give anyone a ride, or a few bucks, and she’s given me many lectures on the subject. Well, I said I’d drop her off down the street a ways. She got in the car, and smiled at me with her golden smile (actually, only one tooth was gold). “So what you doing around here?” She asked. Oh Christ! I picked up a hooker! Damn. I know my share of hookers and crackheads, but when you meet one you don’t know, you have to worry. I knew exactly what she was getting at. I replied “I’m a social worker, and I’m making my rounds”. I said this bluntly, so she’d know she didn’t have a customer here. She knew I didn’t belong in the neighborhood, and had her own ideas about why I was there (I can say “didn’t belong”, because I’ve been stopped by cops in the same neighborhood, and told I didn’t belong there). “Can you give me a few dollars?” she asked nicely. Janice can tell you, I’d have given a few bucks to just about anybody, but there’s no way I’m taking my wallet out of my pocket while a hooker’s in my truck. I politely declined. She started telling me she was going through hard times, and she’d give me her name and address and pay me back, and could I spare a few dollars. Again, I told her I couldn’t. I drove her a few blocks, until I had to stop for a train on the tracks. “Okay, I gave you a ride” I said. Not good enough. “I see some people I want to avoid, can you go around the block?” I keep driving, and telling her that she needs to get out and I’m not giving her any money. She said she wasn’t getting out of the truck until I gave her money (the amount varied from “some change” to ten dollars). The truck was stopped again, by this time, so I reached over and opened the door on her side and told her to get out of my f###ing truck. She slammed it shut and told me she wasn’t going anywhere till she got some money. “I’ll find a cop!” I said. This was a bit of an idle threat. The local police force was shut down about a week ago, and I wasn’t sure how to find a cop. The Sheriff’s office now polices our town. “You’ll get in more trouble than I would” she said. For a lot of guys that might be true, but the Sheriffs’s dept. knows what kind of situations Child Protection workers get into, so I think I’d have been okay. To shorten the story a bit... I told her I had been on my way back to my office, and that’s where I was going. I explained that it was a very long walk back from there, so she might want to get out now, and save herself a lot of trouble. She refused. We argued with each other for the entire drive across town to my office. As we pulled into the parking lot, she decided she wanted a ride to the other side of the bayou. Too late. She wasn’t getting anything out of me. She swore she wouldn’t ask for money again, if I’d just drop her off there. I gathered up whatever valuables I had on the seat of the truck, and left her in the parking lot. Inside, I saw another male worker, who would really appreciate this story. “Hey, Lynel, I’ve got a hooker in my truck”, I said. He came out the front door with me, and the truck was empty. We could see the girl a half block down the street. It was a long walk back. I hope somebody gave her a ride Archives11/01/2001 - 12/01/2001 12/01/2001 - 01/01/2002 01/01/2002 - 02/01/2002 02/01/2002 - 03/01/2002 03/01/2002 - 04/01/2002 09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 |