foran_object

Prairie dogs, my relationship with coffee, the fridge, the car wheel, and a really, really painful visit to the bookstore

The pain came on suddenly and was excruciating. It happened just after I walked into the bookstore and located the sci-fi section. It wasn’t really that I wanted to buy a book; I was there more just to pass time at the airport. I’m not sure what triggered it, but my right thumb instantly started pulsing and throbbing. I brought it up close to my eyes to have a look. Sure enough, there was a small pimple-like bump. There was clearly infection. Retched painful infection. Also, as I turned to exit, I noticed the cashier was curiously watching my strange behavior. Odd to have a pimple on the thickly padded skin over my thumb, I thought. At first I couldn’t bear to touch the area, the pain was too great, but, knowing what I had to do, I vacated the bookstore and found a more private location to burst the pimple, and purge the vile infection from myself. I mustered up the courage to squeeze, and sure enough, a tiny explosion of pus and blood burst from under. But, I still did not feel any relief. I could hardy stand the pain, but squeezed again. This time amongst the blood and fluid, a small black spec appeared. Again, I squeezed, tears threatening to stream down my face, I squeezed harder, and a tiny black splinter revealed itself. A few moments of thought, and I knew what it was. A small bit of one of the thousand drywall screws I drove into the floor of my building, while working in the cold darkness last night. Even though the fundamental problem of my pain was now revealed, however, I still could not resolve it. As I squeezed, the sliver would come up above my skin, like a prairie dog poking its head out of barren landscape. I tried to pinch it between my nails, but in doing so, I had to release the squeeze. Frustrating, but eventually I did pull the damn thing, and boy did it feel better.

On another note, life was rather crazy this week. While in Syracuse, Jen informed me that she had a flat tire, and that the fridge had stopped working. Plus, I was hell-bent on making some progress on the workshop during my short stopover back home before going to Germany for two weeks. Let me tells you, Sears is not a pleasant bunch. Anyway, to make a long story short, I hate Sears. They suck bad. I highly recommend using anti-seize compound on wheel hubs before putting wheels on the car. I have no idea why we are getting so many flat tires, and I bought a reciprocating saw which really helped to make me feel better.

For some reason I drank a coffee today. It’s the 4rth one I’ve had in my life. I didn’t like it very much.

Here are a few pics of the workshop as of Saturday Nov 4:

posted by foran  # 12:56 PM