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Thursday May 18th, 2006: a day that shall live in infamy

ok, today has been so ridiculous so far that i just have to write about it so i never forget.

Today is the day of my father's long-awaited back surgery. He has spinal stinosis and he should have had it fixed up years ago, but he kept putting it off. So, my parents left the house at around 6:00am to go to the hospital. His surgery wasn't until 9:30 or something, but apparently you need to have a lot of prep time. I was supposed to go with them, but, as usual, i didn't get to sleep until late (around 4am) so they couldn't wake me up and just left. At somewhere around 9:15/9:20 or so, I wake up to my cell phone ringing. It's my dad. He says that the doctors want to his his MRI which, you guessed it, is here at the house. They're in a mad rush to get me here so I get up in a mad rush, tossing on clothes overtop my pjs, grabbing my coat, my hat, and the MRIs I head for the door. (Then i turned around, grabbed my keys off the hook, and headed for the door again.)

On the 'parkway' (Pittsburgh's main road leading downtown) I ran into some traffic about halfway to town (usually takes about 15-20 minutes going 60) and it contiunes for several miles. Finally, right before the Squirrel Hill Tunnels, I realize the hold-up. Rubbernecks. Stupid freakin' bad drivers who insist on slowing down to see an accident on the other side of the parkway to satiate their hidden sadistic urges. I hate rubberneckers..... Once I clear the tunnels it's smooth sailing. I drop off the MRIs and head home.

Once I got home, I immediately took our dogs out to poop, since I was in too much of a rush when I left. They were good dogs. That's besides the point. Anyway, I was coming up from the woods with the dogs and decided that, since my dad'll be out of commission for a while and I was in a motivated mood, that I would do all the yardwork that he typically takes care of when I'm at school or not around. So, I decided to start with cutting the lawn, but also that the dogs should get some fresh air, so I maximized the length of Buddy's leash and attempted to hook it on an old basketball hoop on the back wall of the house. Nice and out of the way of yardwork, Plenty of shade for him... whatever. So, on the third try, the stupid handle on the extendable leash hit the rim, bounnces off and hits me square on the side of the head, breaking my BRAND NEW glasses. Stuuuuupendous. I figured that I'd get that out of the way quickly, so I put the dogs in the house, pick up my hat and coat again and head out the door (this time WITH my keys).

~break~ Lemme just mention that these NEW glasses were less than a week old. The last time I managed to get new glasses was in 2001 and those broke recently from overuse, so I was really excited to get these snazzy new, gunmetal frames with a magnetized shades clip thingy. they're pretty cool methinks... ~break over~

So, as I was saying, I went to the eyeglass place and told them the whole story while they looked for a new frame and we had a good laugh over it. As it turned out, they didn't have any other gunmetal frames, so they hooked me up with a jet black pair untill their order came in, at which time they'd call. Awesome. Stupendous. Terrific. I didn't even have to pay anything, it was sweet.

At this point I'd like to comment on the weather common to Pittsburgh. Overcast. especially around this time of year, it rains all the time. Every once in a while the clouds break, giving one deceptively optimistic hopes about the rest of the day. That, and the fact that most everything in the city closes at 6 or 7 for some reason, is why most people say they don't like Pittsburgh.

So, I go home (I'm wearing my contacts this time) and on the way notice that the weather really cleared up, the sun was out and, besides a few small puddles, everything was dry. On my road I saw a bunch of people mowing their grass and it got me motivated to try to do ours again. As I walked in the house I could hear my sister, a midwife, homeopathic physician, and RN, on the answering machine, so I hurry and answer it before she hangs up. Our general conversation went something like "Ijustdeliveredanotherbaby!Itwasgreat!How'sDaddoing?TellhimIhopehegetsbettersoon.Loveyou.Bye!" Right. apparently she only got 2 hours of sleep and had to run to maximize downtime with naps. Anyway, I took the dogs out again and, since it was sunny and cheerful out, (and I was now wearing contacts) I'd try the 'leash on the basketball hoop' again. I'd done it many times before, so that one face-punch was probably just a fluke. Viola. It worked (too well... I had to climb up the wall to get it back down...) So now I opened up the garage doors, filled up the birdfeeders and rolled out the lawnmower. As soon as I got the thing ready, however, it started to rain again and I had to hurry and put it back inside, close back up the garage and take the dogs in.

No sooner had I ascended the stairs into the kitchen that the phone started to ring. I sghed and picked it up. It was the eyeglass place. Apparently, lines had crossed and the gunmetal frames, which were due to arrive June 1st, came in just after I had left. Big supprise..... *sigh* Soooo, I picked up my hat and coat, went back for my keys off the hook and headed out for the second time today. But, I was about to get into my car when I realized that something was wrong. It took me a second before it hit me... It stopped raining. I silently mumbled a curse to the rain gods of Pittsburgh and got in the car.

On the way there it was hot in my car. The sun was shining and the only clouds in the sky were those puffy little white ones, so I rolled down my window and took in the fresh breeze. I got there, parked and went in, regaling them with more of my story as they switched the lenses out of the black frames and into the gunmetal ones. They finished in a couple minutes and we laughed and said our goodbyes. I went out of their office and down the hall and when I reached the front door I froze. It was raining again, but not just raining this time, pouring! Of course I, in my eternal optimism, had left the window down, thinking how cool it would be to open the door by reaching in and using the inside latch. *sigh* I ran down the hall and told the receptionist who cracked up and advised me to stay home for the rest of the day. I ran back down the hall and out to my car and quickly rolled up the window and drove away. NOT EVEN A MILE AWAY, the sky was totally clear, the ground was dry, and my teeth were being ground into tiny chunks.

And all that happened before 2:00pm. Top that.

......I am soooo gonna save this before anything happens to it.... -_-*

and... as expected, Gaia signed me out while I was writing and I almost lost all of this...... *sigh*