November 9, 2007

6:00am
The cat wakes me up, crying at the front door. Crying and crying and crying and crying.... Finally he stopped. Then I heard the kitty door swinging. Did he go out, or did he stick his head out and change his mind? I hear him jump onto the floor. Then he cries a couple more times. He stops. I decide I should go let him out so he doesn't pee in the bathtub.

In the living room, I call and call... no cat. I open the door and look outside. I call him. No cat. I go back to bed.

10 minutes later, I hear the cat jump onto his perch outside. I hear the kitty door swinging. I hear the cat jump onto the floor. Then he is on my bed, beside my pillow. He did go outside! He finally figured it out!

I lavish him with praise, telling him what a smart kitty he is.


7:15
Phone rings. I answer it. It is VN, calling to say happy birthday. I hang up.


7:30
Clock radio turns on. I listen to music for an hour then get up. Kept IJ home from school today. We spent some time on bible study together. DL joined us later.


11:30
IJ and I go to the mall to check out the craft fair. We smelled something really good. We went looking for it. Our noses lead us towards to grocery store. We went in to see if they had fresh cookies. The aroma was not coming from there. We exit. Slowly, we move through the mall... and find it!

Fresh, candied almonds!

We hit the jackpot! They were still too hot to eat. I bought some. Tasty.


12:45
We locate VN, and all go out to my car. We head home.


12:55
I am stopped on the road, signaling a left turn. Lots of traffic coming towards me. I check my rearview mirror -- a car is stopped a reasonable distance behind me. I look forwards again, but something catches my eye. I look in the mirror again... there is a truck coming up fast behind the car! No time to react... I tense up. I hear a sickening crash... followed by another crunch... tires screeching on the road... and my rear bumper is tapped.

Wow! Did we ever get lucky! All three of us had seatbelts with shoulder straps on. The car behind me saw the truck coming, and planted his foot on the break and set his handbreak. He got the worst of it. Initially, everyone was ok. By the time the police arrived, the driver behind me was feeling dizzy. They got him an ambulance.

My digital camera was in the car, so I took it out and took an overview picture followed by front and rear photos of each vehicle. I'll post some later.

The first thing the cop said was "Let me guess... someone was making a left turn,"

I put up my hand and said "that was me".

"... was hit from behind, and then another vehicle hit from behind."

"Close," I said. "The white car was hit from behind, and was pushed into me."

She started taking names, beginning with me. I gave her my licence, and I watched her write my birthdate in her notebook.

"I knew there was something I had to do today," I exclaimed. "My licence expires today!"

"Don't worry about it," she said.

She finished up with me and I got to go home.

Other stuff happened today... ran errands with DL, had a chiropractor visit, got a prescription from my GP for some skin cream, went to renew my licence... right after they locked the door! Ordered Chinese food, picked JMJ up at the ferry, arrived at the drug store minutes before they closed to fill out my prescription (the pharmacist was so nice... he turned his computers back on and filled it out right away).

I'm ready to sleep now.

What a day!

The Verdict is In....

The damage to my car was inspected... and as expected, the repair estimate is lower than my deductible. The estimate is $460. My deductible: $750.

I'm sure I can fix it for less than that. All I need the body shop to do is reattach the bumper. I can touch up the paint myself. I already have everything I need... I purchased all the supplies months ago.

I've been meaning to get around to touching up some paint chips. I've just been waiting for a warm, dry day to do it. Tomorow could be that day. If not, no big deal. I have a household construction project calling my name....

Bummed Out

Alot of little things are piling up on me right now.

I noticed on Friday that there is damage to the front bumper of my car. When it snowed this past winter, I had a disagreement with a bush and damaged the passenger side of my front bumper. Now the driver side is also damaged. I don't even know when or where it happened. Thursday/Friday I was in alot of different parking lots. I didn't notice the damage until I happened to park with that part of the car in the sun. In the shade, it is almost invisible.

I went to see my insurance agent -- I've never made a claim before, so I had some questions to ask. She told me it would be classified as a hit-and-run, and I would have to pay my collision deductible to have it fixed.

That really sucks.

I have $1000 deductible on collision. I took the high deductible because if I do that little damage to my own car, it will still be in drivable condition. I never considered that I would have to pay for damage that someone else did to my car.

On the upside, It won't cost me $1000. They have another little rule that says I only have to pay up to $750. But chances are, it will cost less than that to fix anyway.

I hope.

I'll find out on Wednesday.

Friday, the kids and I went to Powell River for the weekend. We have never been there before, so it was an adventure.

It took us a while to find our hotel. I located the travel infocenter, and they were closed. But they left town maps out where I could take one. That was very considerate of them.

Once we finally found the hotel, we had a hard time finding our room. We were told room 30. We found rooms 1-29. So we went back to reception.

Back at the reception desk, we were told there is no room 30.

Great.

We had 2 hotel employees running around the hotel looking for someone who knew where our room was.

I sat down in the lobby and looked at old magazines, trying not to stress about it.

The kids were stressed about it.

It took about 5 minutes for someone to find our room.

We weren't impressed with it.

It was in desperate need of rennovation. The hardwood floors needed refinishing. There was no cable TV. The ocean view was blocked by the pulp mill. The beds were small. The ceiling was cracked. The digital clock couldn't keep time. The door locks were difficult to use. There was no phone in the room.

Somewhere along the line, I realized I had not submitted hours to payroll before leaving home. So, I needed a phone.

The Hotel had a courtesy phone, but I was unable to make a collect call from it. I had to go looking for a pay phone.

I found three of them near the Hotel. Two of them did not work. The third one kept insisting that "all circuits are busy now" after I took the time to key in my credit card number.

We went for a drive, looking for a newer payphone. I found one at the mall. It had a slot for my credit card, and allowed me to make all the long distance calls I wanted! So I left some messages, trying to find someone who could go to the office and submit those payroll hours!

It's no big deal if I miss a pay period. I was more concerned with my employees getting paid on time.

I still don't know if they will be or not.

The trip I've been planning to take the kids on this summer is being scaled down. I talked to them about it. I just don't have the money to do what I wanted to. They are ok with it.

We are still going to Jasper and Banff. We won't be going to Edmonton, Calgary or Drumheller. It will be a one-week trip instead of 2-3 weeks.

We will be camping out every night. We will be doing alot of hiking and other free stuff. And for our one indulgence, we are going on a trail ride.

When I got into the office this morning, I checked my email. Another annoyance there.

Head office is moving people around, and closing the office I report to. I'll have a new supervisor in another province. We will be separated by 3 times zones.

I don't like change.

At least I know the new person. He's been with LT for quite some time. I met him last summer at the convention. I told him then that he doesn't make a very good first impression... but I warmed up to him by the end of the event. He's cool. I can work with him.

Then the mall caretaker came in to give me the keys to my new office.

We have to move again.

I've had neighbouring businesses ask me when I'm moving for about a month now.

No one with any authority has said anything to me about moving the office.

When we moved into our present location a year ago, I knew we would be moving again.

I just expected to have some notice.

I hate moving.

I've got it all planned in my head... have had for weeks.

I'll call up all my employees and get them to come help move and set up the new office. My kids will be paid for the day, too. I will order pizza and make a party of it.

It will be fun.

Once the moving part is done.

Hopefully everyone will be able to help. It will go much faster that way.

And leave more time for partying.

Marvelous Morning -- Irritating Afternoon

It's always nice to sleep through the night.

Then, I woke up refreshed, remembering a dream I had about DR. It was a nice dream -- I was visiting him, and met his girlfriend. We had a good visit.

Funny thing about dreams... sometimes they just leave impressions. The impression left by this dream was a positive friendship, with everyone overcoming past difficulties and sharing their triumphs.

I finally had a day off from the office today. I didn't get half the stuff done today that I meant to. That's fairly typical. Other things come up, plans change. Today, tasks took longer than anticipated.

A high priority today was filling my gas tank and washing my car. I like using the coin-op machine at the gas station. After that, I drove to the other side of the gas station parking lot and used the coin-op vacuum to clean out the inside of the car. Later in the day, I spent an hour in my driveway cleaning the hard surfaces of the car's interior -- windows, dash board, doors. It almost looks new now!

Late in the afternoon, I went to the mall to get some budgie seed, and discovered that FdM was still in the office working. So after I got the budgie seed, I went in to talk to him.

This is where my day shifted.

FdM was feeling pretty stressed. After talking to him for a few minutes, I figured he had a low blood sugar. And people with low blood sugar don't like being told what to do.

I started by asking him if he had lunch today. He hadn't. So, I was right about the low blood sugar.

I suggested a coffee break. He said no.

I suggested a 10 minute walk. He declined. I countered with a 5 minute walk and a cup of tea.

Now I'm irritating him.

I explained to him that I'm concerned about him. Skipping lunch affected his concentration and his mood.

He finally decided to leave the office because I wouldn't leave him alone. Not quite what I wanted, but it got him away from one source of irritation... he was quite frustrated with the files he was working on. And he said he would eat when he got home, so that's a good thing.

This is a very difficult situation for me. How do you talk to a hypo-glycemic about eating? I've been trying to figure this out for the last 10 years. I haven't come up with anything that works yet.

First it was JJ. I recognized that his mood was foul when he skipped meals. My oldest son was the next one. I find him intolerable when he doesn't eat. Then my diabetic nephew. I had an awful time convincing him to eat when he sank into a low blood sugar -- and for him it was a medical emergency : eat now, or go into a coma. Next was my sister. It is a challenge to be around her when her sugar goes low.

Today, FdM is irritated with me. And the more irritated he becomes, the more concerned I become.

A loved one is irritated. I want to help. If I say anything, I make it worse. If I do nothing, it gets worse.

It makes me feel so helpless.

I hate that.

That Was a New Experience

I'll start at the beginning.

I was invited to VNs place for dinner tonight. Between three of us, we drank a bottle of wine and a 2 liter bottle of cider. I had to drive home, so I only had one glass of cider. VN and KJ drank the rest of it.

VN wanted to go visit some other friends, so we left her place. KJs truck ran out of fuel before he got out of the driveway. Good thing... he shouldn't have been driving anyway. VN was getting a little impatient because KJ didn't get into my car right away. He was holding a small plastic gas can, and he swung it in her direction, hitting her on the forehead. Having grown up in a violent home, she has no tolerance for that kind of behaviour, so she told me to just go.

Well, when I started to pull away, KJ got even madder and started yelling at VN and hit my car with his gas can, hard. I sure wasn't going to stop and let him in under those circumstances, so I drove all the way up the driveway.

KJ ran up the driveway behind us, yelling and swearing at VN, and ran out onto the road right in front of my car. So, I stopped the car and hit the lock button. Then I hit the window button and got the windows up. I sure like those automatic gizmos now! He yelled and swore at VN some more, then said "just give me a ride home" and tried to open the back door. Just like that... with one breath, abusive speech, with the next breath, asking for a ride. There was no way I was going to let him into my car at that point. I did not trust him.

As we drove away, KJ yelling and swearing, VN phoned a male friend of KJs and asked him to call KJ and go pick him up. Neither of us wanted to see KJ again tonight. I left VN at another friends house, where she is going to spend the night. She doesn't want to be home alone tonight. I don't blame her. I've got my house locked up tight, and I wasn't even yelled at.

I've never been so close to a violent man before.

A number of years ago, I watched a neighbour chase his girlfriend out into the street. She was crying, he was yelling, but I did not witness any violence. I called the police and JJ and I kept an eye on them, in case he did become violent. I did not know either of them.

This time, I was sitting next to the target. My car received most of the physical abuse, and I felt secure locked inside. But this time, I know the violent man. And I know I will see him again. We live in a very small town.

Anatomy of a Roller Coaster Ride

Day 1 He decides he is not happy and moves out.
Day 2 He asks me to go to marriage counselling.
Day 4 He won't return my phone calls.
Day 7 He says he wants to be friends.
Day 9 He gets jealous at the idea that I might remarry some day.
Day 10 He helps me get my sister's car fixed.
Day 12 He tells me he's been drinking alot since moving out.
Day 17 He lends me his car.
Day 18 He reads my email.
Day 22 He chastises me for having a few drinks one night since he moved out.

Yes, it really happened that fast -- no exaggeration. I wish I could say the rollercoaster has stopped, but it hasn't yet. And due to the nature of Roller Coasters, it is impossible to know when the ride is over. Every twist in the track has the potential to take you further from the end... or suddenly arrive at your destination. The ride only has to stop once, but just when it looks as if it is over, it will take a sudden turn, taking you into yet another series of gut-wrenching ups and downs.