from each according to his ability

You probably know by now that I live my life according to what I call the "aggravation factor." There is a threshold of aggravation above which I will not proceed, though that threshold is calculated using a wide variety of factors.

In late April our fridge went on the fritz. Sears told us it would take two weeks to for someone to come to fix it, that they weren't required to lend us a temporary one, nor were they liable for any losses. After several phone calls they finally agreed to move it up a week. We spent about $70 on dry ice during that time. It turned out to be the circulating fan. The bottom freezer was working fine, but cold air wasn't being pumped into the fridge. Known problem (wtf!?), simple fix.

Yesterday I heard the thing buzzing, as if it couldn't get water to the ice maker. Then I noticed the temperature in both the fridge and freezer was rising. Once again, Sears informed me that they could be here no sooner than July 12th. This raised the aggravation level here at the labs significantly. hobbitt is leaving the country a week from today, and was aggravated that he'd be leaving me to deal with the problem alone. I decided I'd stop by the local appliance shop and purchase a little back-up fridge. They're going out of business and having a major sale. A major enough sale that there was a single fridge left in the place, with a placard that read "Runs OK." For $100. I wasn't sure "OK" was good enough, and decided to get some dry ice instead.

Martinis at 30 degrees F suck, by the way. As does drinking one's Skinny Cow ice cream out of the cone.

The Pandammys stopped by today to ask us to dinner for tomorrow. I related the tale. Mr. Pandammy allowed as to how I should threaten a lawsuit. Perhaps, but doing so would put me far above any acceptable aggravation factor. Mrs. Pandammy told me she'd take care of it.

She called a few minutes ago to tell me they'd be here on Monday to fix the fridge, and in the meantime I can purchase a small one for $75, all of which will be credited back to whatever card I use. One more service call and this will be considered a lemon, and it will be replaced. I don't know how she did it. But I'll be grateful for all eternity.

rain

Yes, I live in the Pacific Northwest, but the odd thing is that we are within the rain shadow of the Olympics. Our little town gets only about 20 inches of rain a year, which is half of the precipitation that New York City gets. And though our weather is often cloudy and drizzly, it's not a lot of water coming down. And from July to mid-September, there probably won't be any rain at all. There will be elevated fire danger all summer.

But right now I'm enjoying a beautiful steady rain. Fifteen minutes of downpour and now this. Maybe there will be enough rain to perk up that native rhodie under the Douglas-firs. The earth there is pretty parched right now, in spite of several recent rainstorms.

hobbitt mowed the lawn earlier today. His timing is impeccable. We're going to nurse this lawn through the summer to get it established. Not having to water today is another blessing.

I only have two minor regrets about today's rain. Well, maybe three. The first is the inevitable increase in the mosquito population. I'm prime blood-meal material. Second, we're going out tonight to dine with friends at their house. The road up there is 1.5 miles of muddy silt, which will festoon the sides and rear of my Bjornbuggy until I wash it off. Again. And third? The pups won't get a beach walk today. Poor them.

But all those things are minor. The rain sounds like heaven. It smells like heaven. There's no doubt in my mind, as I look around this lush landscape, that this is indeed heaven.

jbgeezus!

IBM

Urgent Message From IBM. Please Open Immediately.

Dear BlueHeronDruid,

We are writing because of an incident that has resulted in the loss of information relationg to our IBM employment, and we wanted to inform you about what happened and epxlain steps IBM is taking to help protect you.

Recently, data tapes were lost while being transported by a vendor. Those tapes contained primarily archival IBM employment-related information, including Social Security numbers. Blah, blah blah blah blah.

As a result, we have arranged to provide you with the ID TheftSmart™ Enhanced Identity Theft Restoration and Continuous Credit Monitoring program from Kroll Inc. Blah blah blah blah blah blah.

One year of credit coverage. Whatever. I left IBM (actually Advantis Corporation, a joint IBM/Sears venture, though my paycheck came from IBM) in 1996. I lasted exactly 51 weeks. For the first twelve weeks, the most advanced piece of equipment on my desk was the telephone. Seriously. I didn't have my own PC for three freaking months. Prior to this job I had only MVS experience, and this was a UNIX platform (AIX). I had no mentor, my coworkers were a bunch of geeks who had no social skills, and I had to learn everything on my own. It was my last job in the tech industry and the cliques and ennui convinced me to that I didn't need to be there.

I'm not worried about identity theft from the loss of this data tape. I'll take the year's worth of protection. (And, yes, IBM provided several means of verifying that this offer is legitimate. I have to provide my Social Security number, after all. And yes, I was initially suspicious.)

Not a happy memory, and not a happy way to be remembering. Oh well.

whoa

Okay, so I've been on the moodmeds for what, six, seven weeks?

Holy crap.

I feel awake and alive, for the most part. The darkness has lifted, and I'm very optimistic, but I'm not yet up to speed on making the most of my day. Then again, I'm not depressed about it.

The jitters are back. I think it's not about the drug, though, but about what's been going on in my life. We went here on Saturday and watched Henner Schröder pour a new glass work - it was electrifying and terrifying. hobbitt and I were so jazzed when we got home that we couldn't sit still for hours.

The next day we brought dinner over there and shared it with our new friends and their three young assistants. This included a 2-gallon cooler of our magic margaritas. The conversations were lively and occasionally outrageous. We all told stories on ourselves that I'd never print here, and the laughter didn't stop until Melanie kicked us all out at 10 p.m. (She was seeing patients first thing this morning.) The margaritas stayed behind.

Today I got a call from a neighbor who remembered that I might be interested in buying her house should she ever move. (I met her at a baby shower a year and a half ago, and didn't keep in touch right away, and when I did, she was in Hawaii where she has a second home, so that friendship never got started.) The price is out of our comfort zone, and we have grown used to the open space and tremendous amount of light here, so that's unlikely. But I went over to take a look at a couple of La-Z-Boy recliners she wants to get rid of, and we ended up chatting for three hours. It's incredible how much we have in common, including other local friends such as Melanie and Henner. It seems I am being woven into a circle of people I've been hoping to find for a long time.

hobbitt and I are visiting with them on Friday night. The guys have never met, so we'll have a look-see at the house and probably a few glasses of wine. Too bad this is happening as they plan a move to San Diego, but better late than never, I guess.

Life is happening for me, and it's opening up to new healthy possibilities. I'm optimistic and positive and I cannot remember the last time I truly felt that way.

Thanks for hanging in there with me in the darker days.

one day

Time spent in bed last night: 8.5 hours
Tims spent sleeping last night: less than 2 hours
Time out of bed: 8:44 a.m.
WTF: To help friends move
Nap: 15 minutes
Next assignment: babysitting 16-month-old boy
Duration: 3 hours

May some god, somewhere, have mercy on my sore, aching, exhausted, sleep-deprived and hallucinating soul.

seventeen

Thank you, my love, for all these years of heaven.