MY LIFE - DECEMBER

Monday, December 18, 2000

So today wasn't another stellar day. Today was not the kind of day that you want to tell all your friends about. Today was the kind of day where you wish you could just roll over and stay in your bed until you feel like moving again.

But, I had to work so that plan was fucked.

It wasn't that bad of a day though aside from the head cold I suddenly started to endure. I hate waking up with headaches and I really hate it when I wake up with a headache and a runny nose. A stuffy nose I can deal with. That's from my allergies. A runny nose, I don't like. That means something completely different. I tried not to think about it and went to work.

I didn't say much at work tonight though mostly because I didn't have much to say to anyone. I wasn't mad at anyone, I just didn't feel like talking and my pounding head didn't want to listen to anyone either. I was caught in between wanting to help people and telling them to just shut up, especially when they weren't listening. I had one lady continue to haggle me over the price of a prescription through her insurance. She didn't even listen to me when I showed her that the copay was right because that's what the card even said.

Oh, but it got even better. I got to ring drive-thru much of the night. It was 20° with a good wind blowing out of the northwest. Our drive-thru faces north, so that wind was coming right into me. I'm surprised I didn't lose one of my fingers from that experience. I have a sudden appreciation for those people who work in fast-food with drive-thrus. You don't know until you're experiencing.

And of course, everyone has to be so cute about it to. I got to the point where I said if anyone else wants to make a joke about me having to thaw out, I was going to stab them with my near frozen finger.

They laughed for some reason. Heartless bastards.

Anyway, I'm in a lighter mood right now despite having to drive home in another snow storm. I think we had one snowstorm all last winter and we've had about four or five so far and it's only December 18. Can we say that winter's returned to Ohio this year? It certainly appears that way and the forecast is calling for a chance of snow everyday for at least the next five days.

I'm almost ready to take back all those nice things I said about snow a few weeks back. Not yet though. Despite it being hazardous and all that good stuff, I had fun driving in the snow. A piece of advice though. Don't drive anywhere near 60mph on a snow-covered highway. I had no clue I was even going that fast until I glanced down and went "oh shit" and slowed back down to a reasonable rate.

Then I got home and realized I had some games to return to Blockbuster and swore at myself for what have been the 20th time of the day. I swore because I had rented these games from the Blockbuster all the way in Strongsville, which in good weather is a half-hour drive. This is at 11:30. I left at midnight and got home just after 1:30am. It was an adventurous drive that saw the snow suddenly sound much harder than it should have.

Then my windshield started to freeze over (I had turned the heat down a bit) and I realized that freezing rain was falling. I cranked up the heat and tried to keep control of my car on the freeway while looking through an opening about 5 inches wide. It wasn't all that fun and more than once I nearly lost control and went off the side of the road.

Finally the ice melted and I was able to see again and I made it home without anymore problems. Right now, I feel very fortunate that my car handles the snow pretty well because I didn't know what to expect from it when it faced snow for the first time. I've been more than pleased with it and have been grateful. My old car, it just didn't stand a chance.

I still like the snow despite the headaches it's caused over the last few weeks. I still think it's very pretty to look at and kind of fun to drive in. I'm sure the people involved in all the accidents yesterday want to throttle me, but hey, I like the stuff.

I'm glad that winter is back to normal around here. That reminds me too. Velvet at work told me an interesting story that I already knew, but was more than happy to listen to again. She talked about how an increase in the number of lady bugs around was a bad omen and that this year there were hordes of them out. It was ladybug hell for those who had to contend with them

She told me that when the number of ladybugs is up, you can expect a pretty cold winter. I only saw a few, including one in my car. The one that I found in my car's the one that worries me. It's bad luck to kill a ladybug and this ladybug was dead. So does that mean I'm going to die this winter?

I hope not. That would be kind of inconvenient to my future and stuff. It probably wouldn't help me that much to die because of this ladybug. Does it count though? I only found it dead. I mean, it could've died from being trapped in my car. I did use air-conditioning a bit this summer. Is that the same as killing it?

Or am I just wasting time with something silly? I don't know whether to be worried about the ladybug or how stupid I sound right now.

Oh well. Shit happens. I'll just have to try and make sure I have a pooper scooper with me.

---

This next part is a response to the Plain Dealer's "Monday Moaning" section that lists the complaints people have about certain things. Basically, I put what people say in here and then respond to them. This is either going to be brilliant or the stupidest thing I've ever done.

"One of my biggest pet peeves is people who say never - 'I will never do this, I will never do that.' You never know what you're going to to do in a given situation. Never say never."

I'm not even sure if this one warrants a response since it took me fifteen minutes to finally figure out what this person was saying. Cut me some slack, I had just woke up. I'm not so sure I agree with this because there are certain things people will NEVER do in their lives even if it means life or death. I for one will never eat at Taco Bell again because my stomach almost imploded on itself the last time.

But that's just me. Next...

"Sitting in a cold, dark house with candles for light about 24 hours after we lost power during the windstorm makes me think our electric company should spend more on repair crews and less on advertising."

Okay, a valid point, but there are only so many crews you can have and only so many people you can hire to fill out those crews. Basically, to make everyone happy, you'd need to have at least one crew per block and that's not very likely to happen. Even if they do have more crews, nature has a nice way of making things very difficult to get things back to normal. Mother nature's kind of bitchy. She likes to make things and then knock them down.

Hmm. Sounds like my cousins. Next up...

"There should be a sign on every public restroom exit door, 'Do not touch this door if you have not washed your hands.'"

Speak the truth brother!

Quite simple. You don't want to wash your hands, then please, don't use the bathroom. I don't even like to think that something I just touched was touched by someone with poopy (yes, this is amateur night in Dave's World - I don't care either) hands.

I'd like to think that brown spot was coffee anyway. Next...

"My beef is watching coach Chris Palmer on the sidelines during games with his arms crossed over his chest; no reaction. Doesn't he converse with his coaches regarding plays? No wonder the Browns are so bad."

No, it has nothing to do with a lack of healthy players on a team that has no depth that's in its second year of existence getting beat up by the team that lost last year's Super Bowl. No, it's all in him crossing his arms after one of his players makes another stupid mistake. What do you expect him to do? Draw a bunch of smiley faces on his clipboard and tell his coaches that they're doing a peachy job?? Besides, it's gotta be easier to look pissy than try and figure out just what happened on the field.

Give the guy a break. He doesn't have much to work with aside from a few flashes of hope. What's next...

"People, when confronted with the fact that you've been recently diagnosed with cancer and must go through chemo, sincerely ask you if there's anything they can do for you and then they fail to follow through on anything. Please don't. It's a long, hard road, and if you don't mean it, don't say it."

This pretty much explains itself. This is probably the best one I've read in a while and has some truth to it. If you don't actually mean to follow through on what you promise, just don't say anything.

Next...

"I'd really like to smack that Martha Stewart. She's getting rich doing what we housewives have been doing for nothing."

Just one thing, can I watch? I think many of us feel the same way, aside from those who want to emulate Martha Stewart. For those of you like that, I have one thing to ask. Please, check yourself into rehab and get your life together. It's not worth it to do what she does. She's the scariest thing this side of the Atlantic not named Barney.

What do we have next then...

"If there is such an electricity shortage in the United States, then turn off the lights in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, not the Christmas lights."

Duh, we can't do that. Where do you think all our light's coming from? Besides, some people just should not be trying to decorate with lights. It ends up looking like Las Vegas after an earthquake. Some lights on, some off, and none of them where they're supposed to be.

"I wish that people who bathe in perfume would tone it down because there's a lot of us that have allergies. And in close quarters, in churches and theaters, it's really difficult to breathe."

I apologize for that. I swear, I thought you all liked that scent.

Seriously, I'm one of those who has an allergy to certain fragrances. If I can smell you at our drive-thru and I'm walking in the front of the store, you may have it on a little thick. So, for the sake of our nation's sanity, just use normal soap. It won't kill you, I promise.

"It is time for our TV weather department to stop bragging about who has the biggest Doppler. In order to justify their expense, they're now covering up one-fourth of the TV screen with area maps, interrupting programs with needless updates and trying to alarm the public."

Is this person even allowed to say Doppler like that?

I take issue with this one for all the obvious reasons. Number one, they've been doing this for years now. We just didn't notice because we were all smoking too much weed or something. Secondly, if there's a potential problem, I want to know about it. I get more pissed when I miss the weather bulletins because I'd like to know where the problem areas are. The people who complain about this are almost all guys who can't see the breasts on Baywatch or the action in the sports game.

The weather departments aren't trying to alarm the public. They aren't trying to waste your time. They're trying to make everyone aware of a potential problem. Yes, this doppler radar thing has gotten way out of hand, but that's the industry for you. Bigger is better in most cases and the stronger your radar, the better you feel you can serve the public.

That's just a petty complaint from someone who probably missed seeing Pamela Anderson's cleavage. I don't know what they're so upset over anyway. Everyone and their unborn children has seen Pamela Anderson's cleavage enough to make them want it to go away.

All in all, pretty petty complaints this week. I guess I shouldn't expect too much though. People like to bitch about stupid things. It's human nature.

Who can argue with that? Don't answer that.