Let's see what comes out of my fingers tonight

Went to college town to pick up Light for the weekend. I know, we just took her back to school on Sunday. She had an eye exam (passed with flying colors, of course) the week before she went back to school. She ordered new glasses, but they didn't come in until after she left for school. So she's back to get her spectacles.

I was online briefly this morning, but was in a rush to get out of town and did nothing but zip through my email. Didn't answer all the emails I wanted to. When we got home this evening I was eager to check the blogs. But alas, my computer wouldn't connect! Superman to the rescue!! He called tech service for our ISP, something else I think, and finally got tech support for D-Link. That was the magic number. After quite a while on the phone he finally got it working. He says he had to download some new firmware for the router. Thankfully our desktop was online. So I'm online again, thanks to my wonderful Superman!

Which is ironic. Because we had a discussion last night. A discussion about the time I spend sitting here blogging. He thinks I'm spending too much time here at the expense of my responsibilities to home and family. Frankly, he isn't wrong. It was an interesting discussion. We actually laughed a lot. The upshot, though, is that I need to figure out how to manage my time better. Be more responsible. Exercise self discipline. Not easy stuff for me. Stay tuned to see how successful we are at this adventure in self restraint.

I've been watching the Atlanta Braves get their butts beaten by the Washington Nationals. It's embarrassing. I like baseball. I like it even better when my team plays well.

"So," you may be asking, "what's up with Sproing these days?" I'll tell you. He's a stinker. His forehead is still slightly sensitive to the touch, but he's otherwise fine from his bonk on the noggin. He is experiencing some allergy symptoms, though. The nose is snuffly, eyes are watery; you know the drill. He really is uncomfortable, and I sympathize. We've been medicating him as best we can. This morning he woke up with a sore, hoarse throat and a slightly croupy cough. He played it up well, sounding so pathetic. So his dad and I decided to keep him home from school. He barely managed to hide his glee.

Superman went to work, I took the other kids to school, then went to Le Grand Retail store and the gas station. When I got home the poor pathetic child was eating a bowl of cereal and watching TV. I brought a small package of muffins from the store and shared a couple with him. (I got those adorable little mini-muffins.) He took one and popped the whole thing in his mouth, then asked for more through the crumbs on his tongue. Eh. He doesn't look too sick to me. I came back to my room to spend what little time I had left of the morning to be online. He came bounding into my room, nagged at me, then jumped up on my bed and began to bounce. I said "Sproing, go get dressed. I'm taking you to school." Oops. He didn't even fuss too much. I think he got bored here alone, just the 1.5 hours he was here. So I took him to school and I'm proud of myself for doing so.

Once more into the breach

Yep, it's late again. I'm doing well, though, because I have internet! My wireless connection went kaflooie mid-afternoon Tuesday. Superman spent many hours on the phone with tech support Wednesday to no avail. Alas, I am hooked to the router with a wire, and NOT in my nest!

This is my nest

I'm in the living room, where all sorts of people pass by. Only C and S and one of their friends is awake now, and they are talking in their bedroom. I'm alone at last with my computer and the internet!! I think I sha'n't show you a picture of my living room. It looks much worse than the bedroom right now. Oh, dear.

We seem to have acquired another one. Now our strays are taking in strays. C and S have a friend who is having a tough time with his mother right now. So this friend, Gary, is staying over sometimes. He spent almost every night here last week. He was here last night, I know. They told me he would be at his mother's tonight, but the boys are in there talking with someone, and I don't know if it's Gary or not. He's a nice guy, Gary. He has long black hair and a goatee. They told me his Grandma kicked him out of her house because he wouldn't cut his hair. Oy. I suspect there is more to the story than that. Nevertheless, trouble is a brewin' in his life. I haven't had a chance to have a good sit-down-tell-me-all-about-it talk with him yet.

Superman stayed home from work Wednesday. His legs hurt a lot when he woke up, and he had practically no energy. The dear man has a systemic herpes zoster infection and frequently has outbreaks of shingles. There is a herald spot that comes up on his lower back/hip area, and usually within a day he'll start getting very sore. Usually the pain goes up his back and around his torso, usually on one side. This time it has gone down his legs. He was in bed for a while this morning, but he discovered that if he got up and moved around the pain was less intense. So he puttered around the house until he was exhausted, then lay on the bed until the pain was too bad to lie still anymore. He was very tired by the end of the day. He's asleep now.

I'm planning to take another trip next week. Heading north this time. Details are still sketchy. I am looking forward to the drive! The first night out I think I'll be camping. In the mountains! Appalachia here I come! But I am ultimately destined for a large metropolitan area yet to be revealed.

C and S are in the kitchen now. Their friend has left. (It wasn't Gary) This is what they do. They stay up very late (often all night, in S's case). Sometime in the middle of the night they get hungry, go into the kitchen, and cook something. More often than not they leave a mess. So when the rest of the family, by which I mean Superman, get up in the morning the kitchen is a mess. This has been an ongoing source of stress in the household. I just reminded S to clean up after himself. We shall see.

I'm learning a lot by sitting here quietly, listening to the discussion in the kitchen. S just said that Gary was suspended from school today. (He attends the same [prison] school as Twitch) It seems the young man did not have his student ID hanging around his neck like a noose. He apparently has lost it. So they suspended him. S doesn't know the whole scoop. He thinks it's just for Thursday. But still. School is out for the summer in just 2 weeks. How big a deal is it that someone isn't wearing his ID? How big a deal should it be that someone isn't wearing his ID? I hate that school. I wish Twitch didn't have to go there.

Enough of this rambling. I'm going to bed. Soon. Really. I promise.

busy being busy

We got Light all moved out of the dorm by 11:00 this morning. I slept there last night, but didn't get there until 2:30 a.m. I had a Pepsi as I left Greenwood, and I was still pretty awake when I got to the college. I fell asleep without too much trouble, though.

Light woke up before I did, but I was awake by 8:30. The dining hall was closed today so we couldn't get breakfast here. Light says we didn't miss anything. She may think that, but I missed my coffee!

We had a lovely lunch at Panera. I've never been there before. They don't have fancy places like that in Greenwood! It was good. Then we went to Michael's, the craft store. We don't have one of those in Greenwood, either. I kinda went a little crazy. Shhhh! Don't tell Superman!

Light and I are hanging around the student center now. We're going to meet up with one of her friends a little later and go to a concert here in town. They told me what/who/where, but I forget. I'll tell you about it tomorrow if it's memorable and notable enough. Anywho, after the conference we'll go to this friend's house. She and her partner live in town and are both students. They're close to my age, which as we all know is getting up toward old. Since it'll be fairly late when the concert is over we've been invited to spend the night with the friends. I'm looking forward to a bit of fun and socializing. I don't get out much.

Superman is fixing up Light's bedroom. He has rather a lot left to do. I think he's glad we're spending an extra night away from home to give him more time to do what needs to be done.

Light and I have had a very pleasant day together. We don't do this often. I haven't been online at all today until now, so aside from a little bit of bloggirium tremens, I'm having a wonderful day.

There will of course be further reports as opportunity presents.

The BTs

I love this place. I love the readers who visit me here. I love the bloggers I visit. You all occupy space in my brain at other times besides when I'm in front of the screen. Just this morning as I was driving the bus out into the county I was wondering about a few of my buddies. How is he doing with this or that issue in his life, or how are he and his partner/new boyfriend/latest date getting along?

And when will I have a chance to get online and check on everybody?

I had a little bit of time to blog on Monday, but yesterday was filled with other stuff. Tomorrow I drive a field trip and will be gone all day, so no internet during the day. And of course tomorrow being the 14th, there are a few other obligations I should tend to in the evening.

I've written about it before, and have seen comments about it on many other blogs. This blogging addiction has me by the short hairs. And I love it. But when I'm too busy to blog, I experience a longing for my blog buddies, like I need a fix of blog.

I have the BTs: Bloggirium Tremens.

How addicted am I?

I couldn't stand it. I've missed you all a lot. So I'm hooked up to the ship's wifi. I have a very good connection. I'm sitting in the highest bar onboard. It is on the 14th deck. We're overlooking Ocho Rios, Jamaica right now.

I went into town earlier and spent too much money shopping. I got some rum, though, so it isn't a total waste.

Did I tell you that I love me my Superman? He loves me, too. Take a gander at the comment he left on the le voyage post.
Darling -
I miss you so much.
The 25 years we've spent together seem like a pleasant dream, bright and lingering. Your companionship is the weft of my life, your voice the pallet of my mindscape. I'm not me when you aren't here. And you are NOT here. I understand now some of what you went through whenever I'd have an extended business trip.
That being said, I am so glad you got to go on this cruise. You need the rest. More, you DESERVE the rest, the time away to reflect and just do what YOU want to do, not what everyone else in your daily life wants you to do. Please take advantage of it.
Don't worry about us. You know me. I'll survive. This absence will serve as an excellent reminder not to take you for granted.
Have fun, but be careful, and come back, and share yourself with me again. Titanic-style angst is neither needed nor desired. ;-)
You are loved.

I've come this far...

I made it to Orlando. All is well, except that I had forgotten how silly my mother is.
I pulled out of my driveway at 9:01 a.m. I walked in Mama's front door at 8:30 p.m. It wouldn't have taken that long, except I'm a shunpiker. I didn't get on the interstate until I was 1.5 hours away from Orlando. The area around Orlando is so built up for miles and miles. Taking the smaller highways means stop and go, traffic lights every few blocks within 50 or 60 miles of this place.

I drove my beloved truck, Manny. He did fine. I don't like to ask too much speed out of him, so avoiding the interstate usually allows me to go at a somewhat slower pace. I tried to be safe. I stopped when I needed to, walked around a bit, had a snack and a bathroom break regularly. I wore my seat belt, I didn't follow to closely and tried not to be followed too closely. That's a bit trickier, though! I let Mama and Superman know my route; I called Superman every couple of hours just to make him aware of my progress. I paid close attention to the traffic and road conditions around me. I have good mirrors on the truck which improves my vision field, and I use my mirrors extensively. Guys, I'm a professional driver. I know what I'm doing. Granted that doesn't prevent other idiots from doing unto me that which will cause damage, but I'm usually pretty aware of conditions and try to avoid situations that could turn ugly. I am not perfect and sometimes do careless or stupid stuff when I drive, but not intentionally, and I fix my attention when I notice shit like that happening. And I notice a lot. It's a Java thing.

Now that she has gone to bed, I'll tell you about my silly Mama. First of all, I had to teach her how to use Google. The woman has had a computer longer than I have. She's an accountant, self employed. She needs the computer for work, and can do that bookkeeping/accounting stuff like a little demon when she gets going. It's Greek to me. However, the internet befuddles her. She's good at email, and last time I was here I taught her about Shanghai Dynasty. Nasty thing. Don't go there. Don't fall in to the trap. Today I taught her how to use Google. We got into the advance search feature and I helped her look up herself online. She typed in her given name, not the nickname she's used since she was in high school. Over 200,000 results, probably none of them her. Not in the first 100,000 pages anyway. Then I had her type in the name she uses every day. Still a bunch of results. Went to Advanced Search, had her add her profession, and we put her name in the "this exact phrase" field. Down to 197 results. Added a couple of the professional and service organizations of which she is a member, and got 6 results! And the first 3 were actually her. I couldn't tell if she was impressed or not.

And I told her about blogs. I told her a little bit about our section of the blogging community. Told her how many new gay friends I have. She's pretty accepting. Don't think the gay thing bothers her much. However, she rolled her eyes at me. I suspect she thinks I've gone a bit overboard with this. Not that it bothers me, mind you. She's my mother. What she thinks doesn't affect much of what I do. (remind me of this next time I get upset about my kids ignoring me)

Thanks to Lewis, I've met a couple of other bloggers from this area. We may be getting together Friday night. Of course I mentioned this to Mama. The first thing she asked me is "Have you actually MET them before?" uh.. not in person. "Be careful!" she says, in that tone of voice. Mama, it isn't like that! I'm afraid the woman believes every urban legend she's ever heard. She forwards all those emails to me. I think I've introduced her to Snopes.com. Maybe we need another internet lesson tomorrow.

Anyway, I had a wonderful day today driving my truck for hours and hours. And I'm in Mama's condo now, and it is clean! (My house hasn't been clean since 1995) Although my darling Superman is 400+ miles away from me right now :-( , my children are 400+ miles away from me right now! :-) And I'm blogging, which always makes me happy. Things are good.

I'll be back when I can get here. I'll be thinking of you all (at least a little bit) when I'm gone. (It has been suggested by those closest to me that I have a problem spending too much time blogging. I have no problem at all. I can spend too much time blogging quite well, thank you!)

To my fruity friend

Welcome. Glad you made it.

For a very brief tour of the blogosphere look here, here, here, and here. Oh, and this might interest you too. This is a small sampling of wonderful places to visit.

I really need to update my blogroll.

Concerning blogging addiction

Here I am, it's 5:20 a.m. and I'm checking the blogs. I am eager to hear a report on Dirk's date last night, but he didn't post last night, nothing new this morning so far. When I'm not in front of the computer I am thinking about these people I have met through the blogs. Yea, sounds like addictive behavior to me. But I don't mind. :-)

Oooo, Dirk just posted a new one. Gotta go!