mosker

Loud crackle, bright light. I think that's a bad thing.

I decided to clean the siding on the back of the house last night. I was pretty impressed by how much better it looked as I rinsed the cleaner off, and then there was a loud crackle and flash of light from the general area of the electric meter. I'm sure it was all the more impressive because it was starting to get dark, but I'm fairly certain that's not supposed to happen. It didn't seem to affect anything inside the house--the clocks were still set correctly and none of circuits tripped, but it was disconcerting.

There are a lot of home improvement projects I'm prepared to tackle, but poking around the power coming off the pole is not one of them. I talked to an electrician this morning who suggested I call the power company, who is sending a technician out on Tuesday. No one is sending up any alarms, so I am attempting to keep it in perspective. This was probably a problem long before I discovered it, but I will feel so much better when it's resolved. I'm afraid to wonder what it'll cost me if the power company decided it isn't their responsibility, so for now I'll cling to the possibility that everything will be just fine and that I am not facing crushing debt.

That's just rude

My office--well, my cubicle--has a window to the outside world. If I turn around, I have a unobstructed view of the entrance to the loading dock, meaning I can see if it has started snowing/raining/hailing/clearing, I can see the various delivery trucks come and go, and I can see about a half-dozen parking spots. Exciting stuff, I know.

Yesterday I was waiting for an install to finish on one of the computers on the workbench behind me, when I glanced out the window and saw someone attempting to parallel park. I am not a big fan of parallel parking myself and will walk blocks out of my way to avoid it, so I am not one to criticize anyone else's parking skills. This guy started out well enough. He pulled past the space, cranked the wheel and backed into the spot until he was a few inches away from the already parked car behind him, which was fine, of course. Until he tried to go just a little bit farther and ran into the other car's bumper--Laura Gayle's car, to be precise.

The look of shock on the driver's face was visible even from two stories away, and after a moment's pause, he quickly pulled out and drove away. My officemate thought I was just joking around until I read out the license plate number and reached for the phone to call Laura. She went out to look for damage while I headed outside to look for the car.

There doesn't appear to be any damage to her car, but I gave Laura the identifying information just in case. Including the parking permit number which I got because the guy didn't bother to go any farther than the neighboring lot. How hard would it have been to get out and look? Or maybe call the campus police to report the incident? That's just rude.

Stimulus package...for the drug companies

I had an appointment with my allergy/asthma doctor yesterday. He's one of those brilliant people who think out loud and assume you actually understand what he's talking. I rarely do, but I listen attentively for the rare snippet of information I can grasp and use as a starting point. I will admit that the first few times I saw him I was frustrated almost to the point of tears, but eventually I figured out that he is totally fine with questions like "so are you saying...?" or "does that mean I should...?" and the doctor-patient relationship has been great since then. And, unlike what one of his partners told a friend of mine, he has never suggested I get rid of the cats. He admitted that kind of statement just makes patients get rid of their doctor instead.

One of the issues he wanted to address was my report that I'm suffering from allergy symptoms that have caused me to lose my voice a number of times recently. While I may have a few coworkers who think that's a good thing, it's darned uncomfortable. The doctor did his typical thinking-out-loud routine as debated what might work the best for me and finally settled on a med he'd like me to try. Here's a sample, here's a script, and here's a rebate coupon. Try it for a week and get back to me if it doesn't take care of the problem.

That was all well and good until I looked at the rebate coupon: up to $40 off after you've paid at least $25 out-of-pocket. This is not a good thing. Unfortunately when I tried to look up what I'm supposed to pay for this particular med on my insurance company's website, they didn't have a listing for it, meaning it is new...and expensive. I think I will be calling to ask about something a bit more affordable, because while I'm all for stimulating the economy, I don't want to attempt it single-handedly.

Battle

Companionable

Before Eli hit overload and had to find somewhere less crowded.