This explains why I've felt abysmal all week. I was wondering why it seemed to be taking forever to recover from that lost hour of sleep. The answer is, the lost hour's not the issue here.
I took some Alka-Seltzer a little while ago. That should get some anti-fever, anti-ache, anti-nausea med into my system, along with some fluid. Now I'm going back to sleep. I hope.
Yep. My temp's elevated. It's 99.5, minutes after coming in from the freezing cold. I'll try again in an hour or so. At this time of day, if there's a fever afoot, it'll continue climbing as the evening wears on.
Thank goodness for the purring, orange heating pad who has parked his fuzzy, striped self on me. It helps relieve the chill. :o)
When I was in the U-turn lane on Sourh Broad Street, which allows drivers to pull into northbound traffic and access the entrance to the Park-and-Ride, I got a red light. As I waited, I noticed that the car in the neighboring lane had pulled way too far forward. He stopped with at least the front half of his car hanging out into oncoming traffic. Bad idea, to put it mildly; the cars heading north on Broad Street tend to drive like they're trying out for the Indy 500. After a few near-misses, he gets the hint and backs up a little. Not enough to suit *me*, had that been *my* car, but hey. He's the one who'd have some 'splaining to do to the insurance agent, so it's his decision as to what constitutes an acceptable risk. Apparently, for this guy, having the front 1/3 of his car stationed in oncoming traffic is OK.
Eventually, we get the green light, and Mr. Risk-Taker cuts in front of me as we pull into the Park-and-Ride lot. I wasn't surprised, after seeing his impatience at the red light, but I didn't care much. After all, giving the attendant $1 and getting a parking receipt takes what? Five seconds? Who cares about waiting an extra five seconds?
Or in this case, ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. A minute.
Finally, I looked more closely to see what in HECK was going on up there. Through the rear window, I could see the silhouette of Mr. Risk-Taker rummaging like crazy for something. "Oh, don't tell me he hasn't GOT a dollar!" I thought. "Thanks for cutting me off and then making me sit here and get old waiting for you. I could have parked a dozen cars by now."
After another minute of rummaging, he finally pulled forward. Not a moment too soon, either, as cars were lining up behind mine and now we were ALL waiting for him to finish. But instead of heading into the parking lot, I noticed that Mr Risk-Taker had pulled over, near the attendant's booth but away from incoming traffic, and resumed his search.
I parked. I walked to the subway entrance. I looked back and saw Mr. Risk-Taker was still stopped near the attendant's booth. For all I know, he's STILL there. And so, for risking his neck in his haste to park, inconveniencing other commuters, and for having to wait longer than anyone because he wasn't prepared once he got done hastening to the Park-and-Ride, I hereby dub thee, Mr. Risk-Taker, "Pinhead of the Day".
Unless I run into an even bigger Einstein between now and the time I get home. It's unlikely, but the day is young and anything's possible.
It came about because for the past few days, my knee has been killing me In particular, it seems to want to ache like murder if I've been sitting for any length of time, as well as right when I get up in the morning. If I walk around a bit, the pain begins to subside.
Then I remembered a word I learned during my stint at the rheumatology clinic. "Gelling". It's pain and stiffness of the arthritic joint(s) first thing in the morning or after a period of inactivity. It's a symptom associated with osteoarthritis.
Oh, shoot! Have I graduated from merely having arthritic symptoms at times, to having flat-out OA? I'm not sure.
So now I'm going to monitor this for a few days, to see if it clears up once the incoming rainy weather is done. If it does, yay. If not, well, I have a doctor's appointment coming up in a few weeks, anyway. I'll mention it then.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking of posting signs around the neighborhood. "LOST: One Hour of Sleep. If found, email it to gabey8 at aol dot com." Sheesh, I hate when the clocks spring forward. As if I'm not tired enough most of the time as it is.
Then again, today I don't think the weariness is solely due to the shift to Daylight Saving Time. I ache all over and I'm freezing, and have pretty much felt that way all day. I have an unhappy suspicion that I'm battling some sort of cold or other germ, because the ache-all-over thing is something I normally only experience when I'm running a fever.
When I get home, I'm going to nap the SECOND I get in the door.
We also disembarked from our bus just in time to see the Phantoms' team bus heading for the player entrance on the other side of the building. Well, at least we know they got here and the game's on. :o)
Stephen Wood, a Phantoms alumnus who now plays for Bridgeport, came out from the tunnel and waved hello to a fan who is wearing his Phantoms game-worn jersey. We sat with him and his g/f at the Phan Club banquet last year. What nice people they both are.
We have great seats, not far from the Phantoms bench. It should be easy to take good photos from here.
Boy, did we ever pass a collision on the other side of I-95! The whole southbound side appeared closed for abrief time; not one car was coming down the highway. Meanwile, traffic on the northbound side was baked up a long way, as newsy people slowed down to see the accident scene. (Rubberneckers drive me crazy! Grrrr!)
Luckily, traffic is back to normal now.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the sight of an Eagles *baseball* jersey left me with a feeling of cognitive dissonance. Well, that's not the only clothing-induced "what's wrong with this picture?" moment that I've experienced. Have you seen little preschool girls in shades-of-pink, camouflage-pattern parkas? I have. I'm still trying to decipher that particular fashion statement.
I've noticed that the trees are starting to go into "yawn and stretch" mode. The tiny little leaf buds that have sat on the branches all winter, barely noticeable, have noticeably increased in size. It shouldn't be long before we start to see them open up into leaves. Hallelujah, I'm looking forward to it. Spring can't get here soon enough, especially after the nasty cold snap we've had over most of the past few weeks.
I've seen several red-tailed hawks over the past few weeks. To my surprise, one of them was perched on a streetlight at 16th and Oregon in South Philly. If you haven't seen that intersection, trust me: it's about as citified as you can get. (Karla: remember that spot where, every time I had to make a right-hand turn from Oregon Avenue onto 16th Street, it seemed like some knucklehead or other was double-parked in the right-hand lane and I had to go around him? THAT intersection.) I couldn't have been more surprised at thee sight of a hawk landing on that streetlight. But I think it's a good thing if they're starting to increase their range and populate more of the city. That should help keep the numbers of other birds, including pigeons, in check.
It's much less surprising when I spot a red-tailed hawk out where I work. The landscape is so much more wide-open and it just LOOKS like a more natural habitat for a hawk. But while I was waiting for the train a couple of evenings ago, I saw something I've never witnessed before: there was a hawk actually hunting, right over the train station. The first thing I saw was the hawk fly overhead. He went out of my line of sight when he flew right above the train station, and I figured he'd just keep going in whatever direction he was headed. Smaller birds were upset at the sight of the hawk, and started heading in the opposite direction as quickly as their wings could carry them.
Suddenly, I saw three little sparrows flying in a bunch, full-speed ahead. To my surprise, a few yards behind them was the hawk, who apparently had circled back toward the train station. I wasn't sure if the hawk was actually trailing the three little guys until they started to take evasive action. Everywhere they turned, the hawk followed. Some of this drama took place above the train station, so I couldn't watch them constantly, but I wondered if I was going to actually witness a hawk catching its dinner.
I didn't. After a couple of minutes' worth of chasing, the hawk apparently gave up and flew away, in the direction of the various office buildings in the area. Maybe a minute later, I saw the three little sparrows flying together, heading nowhere near the direction that the hawk had gone. I thought, "If birds have nine lives, those little guys are all down to eight lives apiece."
In other news, we finally had to take my car to the mechanic, because the "refusal to start on the first try" and the "stalling at inopportune moments" became a major issue. I'm lucky that there's minimal traffic early in the morning on Broad Street, because on Friday, the car stalled as soon as I made the turn onto Broad Street. Had that happened during rush hour, I'd have been lucky to avoid being hit by another vehicle. So Mark retrieved the car from the Spectrum parking lot and drove it to the mechanic on Friday evening. The problem turned out to be twofold. First, it desperately needed a tune-up, which it got. Second, the spark plug wires and the distributor cap were all original equipment. Uh, yeah, I'd say that 18 years of faithful service from those particular car parts is more than plenty. The wires and cap were replaced, and now All Is Well. That's a relief.
OK, lunchtime's nearly over. Time to hit "send" on this post.
But THIS bike was out-of-the-ordinary because of one particular accessory that it bore. Dangling from its rear reflector, which was just under the back of the bike seat, was a green pine-tree shaped car deodorizer.
Anyone who knows how punchy I am in the morning, before the caffeine really starts to kick in, will appreciate how quickly my mind started going off on various tangents. For example, "Why would someone need to install an air freshener right behind their bike seat? Does he eat beans prior to riding?"
Upon mulling this over, however, I realized that there could be some practical applications of this idea. "Boost your bike's speed: use compressed air!" Or "Jet propulsion: coming soon to a bicycle near you!"
Hey, what if THAT was Lance Armstrong's secret weapon all along? There's no need for doping or other illegal, dangerous methods of boosting performance; just consume broccoli, beans, and a glass of milk with every meal. Perfectly safe, legal, ethical, and healthy to boot.
Then again, it'd take an awful lot of those air fresheners to conceal that particular method of performance enhancement from the rest of the competition, particularly when they're all trailing the rider in question. So I presume that he made no attempt to skew the odds in his favor by harnessing the power of wind.
See what I mean about being punchy and going off on tangents first thing in the morning? This is all my fellow commuter's fault. Him and his air freshener! Blame all this rambling on him. ;o)
On Thursday, I got a call from Sr. K., who coordinates the interpreted Masses for the Archdiocese. She asked if I was willing to cover the Masses on the fourth Sunday of the month for a while, at the church where I already work on the second Sundays. The interpreter who normally takes care of the fourth Sundays has requested a brief break, tentatively until the end of the summer.
I agreed to fill in on the fourth Sundays. I don't mind. I like interpreting Masses. Plus, this temp assignment in Fort Washington is likely to continue only through the end of March. This could be God's way of sending a little extra work my way, to help pick up the slack if I don't get another lengthy temp assignment right away.
Which reminds me. I need to update my resume to reflect my current assignment. I'd rather have that taken care of before this assignment's over, so I can start presenting an up-to-date resume immediately.
A Philadelphia police spokesperson says a 25-year-old man tried to jump onto a moving train but fell underneath. He was pronounced dead at the scene, at 2:40pm.
Septa officials say they were using shuttle buses to provide service between Erie and Fern Rock stations. Septa spokesman Gary Fairfax says the shuttle buses would be marked "Broad Street" or "Shuttle."
The shuttle buses were stopping at every stop along the Broad Street line.
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That's sad. It would have been bad enough if the poor person had intended to take his life. But it seems, according to this report, that it was an accident. Poor guy and his poor family. :o(
I'm not getting off the train at Fern Rock tonight. If I stay on for a few more stations, and get off at a station in Center City, I can connect with the Subway at a point where the service is running normally. It'll be slower than my usual commute, but it's sure to be faster than dealing with shuttle buses. Been there, done that (though never for a terrible reason like this).
But the vast majority of that "wet" street and pavement is actually glazed with ice.
Cars are no better. I thought my windows were covered with droplets of condensation, which often happens. But when I switched on the windshield wipers, the blades rasped across the "droplets" to no avail. Aah, phooey. I had to apply the ice scraper to the collection of looks-like-water.
By the time I exit the subway (where there's no cellular signal) and post this, the sun should be up and melting the black ice. But be careful out there anyway.
