Yeah, it's been a while, but the week before last was hell:
First, on Wednesday, I decided to bake a loaf of bread using the Bake-A-Round that my parents gave me from the attic. There was a tiny ding in it, but it looked fine to use. Of course, being stupid, I tried to remove it from its metal holder while still hot and a chip came off, so I had to toss that out.
Second, on Friday, I thought that I would broil 2 italian sausages that I had in the fridge, using my toaster oven. After about 20-25 minutes, I heard a noise from the kitchen. Thinking that it was one (or both) of the sausages popping, I rushed out, only to discover the glass door and handle to the toaster oven shattered on the counter. Checking the warranty info in the manual informed me that glass parts are not covered.
Third, again on Friday, I went home. Once I parked in the driveway and turned off the car, I heard a gurgling noise. When I got out of the car, I noticed that there was a good amount of antifreeze on the driveway. This had happened once or twice before, so I didn't pay it much mind, and took the car down to the garage later. On Monday, the garage called and said that it was probably a head gasket, or one of the heads, and that they'd have to take the engine apart. In the end, the gasket looked bad and the head was warped. All in all, the repair bill came to $2345. Luckily for me, my parents are awesome, and are covering half the bill for me.
Finally, my dad got home from a fishing trip in Canada on Friday (after I got home). It seems that on Monday, he banged his shin getting out of the boat, and along with some bug bites (most likely) he not only had a large bruise, but also an extensive infection. Naturally, he went to the hospital on Saturday, where he had to stay until Tuesday or Wednesday. Again, luckily the infection didn't get into his blood, and he should be fine once he's through the antibiotics they gave him.
In other, non crappy, news, I have finished the first trilogy that was written in the Eberron world. It's an interesting universe, and makes a nice change from the Forgotten Realms, although I'm not giving up the realm quite yet, although it may come to that if the planned changes don't work out well.
Monday, June 23, 2008
It's me!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Lessons learned
So, not too much happening since last time, but a few noteworthy events. First, as of Friday, May 9, I am officially done with classes FOREVER. I handed in my particle project and had turned in my last quantum homework earlier. Also, I checked my grades today and apparently I earned an A in Advanced Quantum, despite the fact that I know some of my homeworks used mathematics of a questionable legality. YAY! Moral of the story? You can try, and even if you fail, you might succeed.
Next up, after turning in my project, I headed to the Red Cross Blood Drive that was on campus. I was fairly confident, having given blood a mere 5 years ago at UMBC. However, when I was at the sign in table, a nurse came up and asked if I would like to make a double red donation. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I agreed. I should have known it was going to go poorly when, in order to take my blood pressure, the nurse had to use 3 cuffs. Anywho, after all the preliminary paperwork and testing to make sure I could actually do it, they took me over to the apheresis machine. A different nurse now had to do paperwork for it and whatnot, then looked for a vein in my arm. Right arm? No good. Left arm? "I think we can use this one, let's do it." Definitely fills me with confidence...
So, she eventually sticks the needle in me and starts up the machine. At some point it must have started beeping, though I didn't notice it. Another nurse comes over and looks at things, then moves my arm out, then in, then back to where it originally was, more or less. She then told me that she had to adjust the needle in the vein, and proceeded to do it. I think that was the point when I started getting really hot and lightheaded. It turns out that when she adjusted the needle, she broke the seal of the vein and the needle, so some of the liquids leaked out. I gather that the machine was saying that I wasn't doing so hot after that, and so they finished up what they could and unhooked me. In the end, I donated a unit of whole blood instead of 2 units of red blood cells, and was left with a good sized bruise and some soreness. Moral of the story? I should not donate double red, and probably should not even try apheresis again.
Finally, as I was returning to Philly from Baltimore the other night, I got quite a surprise: the normally 2 hour drive took me 5.5 hours; I left at 6 PM, got to my apartment around 11.30 PM. The first problem was an accident that was "blocking all lanes" on 95, which I didn't believe until I hit the backed up traffic from it. 2 hours later I'm back on 95, and hit some traffic due to construction on the Tydings bridge: 2 of the 3 lanes closed.
Eventually that clears up and I can continue through the toll and get my gas in Elkton: $3.75/gal. By 9.45 I was back on 95 again, and looking forward to getting back around 10.30 or so. But shortly after I got going on 95, all but one lane was closed (yet again) until 495. From there, it was smooth sailing, but I still didn't get back till 11.30 or so. Moral of the story? Belligerent design works.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
First Post W00t
So, I now have a blag. With any luck, I'll be taking better care of it than I did of my LJ...
Anywho, for some reason traffic was crazy in MD today, I don't understand it. Going to and coming back from Mel's parents was just stupid traffic-wise and then coming back to Philly was kinda crazy until I got outta MD. Other than the area where DelDoT is being idiotic, of course. A few miles before the place where 95, 495, and 295 split from each other, they have signs up saying that the 2 left lanes are closed, and that everyone should merge. They even have a large blinky arrow; what they don't have, however, is the 2 left lanes closed, that happens after the split. they do the same thing about a mile later, except with the 2 right lanes, that also happens after the split (on 295 though). So the whole area is filled with confused drivers who don't know where they should be going, and so seem to just go slowly for no other reason than to piss me off.
That seems enough for now, we'll see what else I deem worthy of writing down (so to speak) in the next few weeks, which will probably determine whether I keep this going or not.