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07/22/2004 Entry: "Widget's fine...ish" Widget's health is as good as mine is right now, according to the vets: reacting to extreme stress. While I am a bit peeved (in general, not at the vet) I had to pay $50 to find this out, I am in the end, glad they checked his temp and looked for hemotoma (internal bruising). Widget's just wigged out that Christine is sick, we figure, and the "hot nose" way we were determining he had a high fever was... well, not a fever. The vet office loves our dog. He's like a celebrity. When he was fixed, for example, they all took turns carrying him around and showing him off to other people. We should rent this dog out to parties, except he's not really a people person. Maybe we should donate time at local retirement centers, because Widget's fine if Christine is holding him. I am also not fine, and reacting to stress. I have gotten a little calmed down enough to read through my entries here and analyze the series of events. I am seeing signs of me over-reacting, which is part of the exaggerative nature of depression. But, it's there, so I can refer to it, and hopefully not over-react in future periods in THE HELL THAT IS MY LIFE! [joke] In other news, work is pretty much going in wide circles around the toilet rim, but that's sort of the status quo now. No new news about the possible new job. I had another job lead, but that guy quit, which sucks, because he was also one of my main internal job references. My contact with the new job is thinking of quitting because he's burned out. Not looking good. I did get to leave work early today for continuation of my dental work. They put in a new crown, and it's higher than the other teeth, but I should get used to it. I had this happen to me once before in 1996, and that's the crown that got infected, leading to the emergency pulpectomy at 3am where the girl with the knockout gass didn't show up. And four root canals later, I was struck in the face with a ladder, shattering 4 teeth on my right side (I avoided dentists for almost the next 6 years). My left side is the only side I can chew on, because a bridge to repair my right would set me back $3000, and at this time, I'd eat applesauce rather than spend that kind of money that desperately needs to go elsewhere to other bills. That's the same reason I don't have hearing aids, although it's getting more and more of a "must have" kind of situation (I am tired of saying "what?" all the time). The procdure went a lot faster than expected (normally, they have to shape, fit, remove, reshape, refit, etc. etc.) but I was done in less than 30 minutes because the original mold held. That meant I have enough time to mow my lawn! Yes, I was in pain, but damn, I may not get a window to mow my lawn for another few weeks. My shaggy lawn got mostly mowed today before the rains came. The biggest problem with my lawn is that opportunity windows to mow the lawn require two things: one, that it isn't raining or hasn't rained for a few days, and two, I actually have time to mow the lawn on a day that meets those requirements. It gets worse the longer it takes, because taller grass takes longer to dry. You'd think it would be easy; I can mow my lawn on any day but Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But here's what happens: Monday comes, and I see I need to mow my lawn, but it's raining. I can't mow on Tues or Wed, and then I have a work meeting that runs late on Thursday. Friday night I had something planned, and then it rains, wiping out the weekend for mowing. The next Mon I had to do shopping, then Tues and Wed goes by, Thurs and Fri work runs late, and then I have something planned for that weekend. It rains Sunday, so I can't mow Monday, then Tues and Wed goes by, but it rains on Thursday, and I get sick over the weekend. Finally, on Monday, three weeks later, I get to mow. By now my grass looks like an abandoned field. Today, I only got to mow the lawn halfway before the sky opened up. I kind of knew this would happen, so I mowed the front first (so my house looks better from the street), and got part of the backyard done so the doggies could trot around in foliage not higher than their heads. Hire someone to mow? Local kids are charging $40 per yard, which means I'm out $80 a pop, $160 for the month. It's a competive price, considering Scotts or Chemlawn would charge me $60/lawn, but professional companies also weed and feed, spray for bugs, and are more reliable than the kids. We have had moments where we hired kids who flaked (but didn't get paid, either, so in essence, we lost nothing but time), and then we have the awkward task of calling the parents, who are always apologetic, but are pretty helpless to do anything. So I mowed. And got so exhausted because I am out of shape and my dental work hurt so bad, I couldn't even walk up the stairs, so I slept in the guest room for several hours. In other news, my mower is dying. I am not sure how this happened, because the mower was okay last time I used it (before Vegas). But now apparently somehow structural bolts are now missing (don't ask, I don't know how that's even possible), and so the engine rattles around the frame quite loudly. The blades need sharpened, and I have had so many problems with this mower, I'm ready to get a new one, even though this Scotts mower is only about 4 years old. It has been to the repair shop twice, and they always make fun of it, saying I should buy one of their John Deers instead. They point out just how bad my mower is, and it got to the point it was making me uncomfortable to take it there. I repaired what I could, then promptly burned two of my fingers on the red-hot exhaust manifold (doh!). Oh, what's that sound? Me. Having an "out-of-money" experience. This is getting tiresome.