How I Spent My Monday

My brother Karl and his girlfriend Monika are in town, so we went out today and played some miniature golf. I didn't do very well. I had a lot of shots that hit the lip of the cup and caromed off. Monika had her ups and downs, but she did hit a pair of hole-in-ones on some rather freaky bounces. Bro' Karl had an ace, too. I was happy to just make par on the infrequent holes where I shot decently.

I was going to post some pictures from today's festivities, but Blogger is not cooperating right now. Karl and Monika borrowed the same straw hats that my mom and I used during her visit in November. I'm glad to see them getting some use.

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2006 is a joyous and prosperous year for all of you.

I'd have blogged more in the past week, but I was too busy playing Civilization IV. It's like crack cocaine for gamers...

Time for another hit. :-)

Merry Christmas!

No "Happy Holidays" here at Recycled Sip, oh no, no, no. Here, we're wishing people the real McCoy: "Merry Christmas!" And I hope that all of the people who read this blog have a great day.

For me, Christmas actually came a little early. My brother Karl sent me a new computer game that I'd asked for: Civilization IV. It came on Wednesday afternoon, after I went to bed. I found the Amazon.com box outside my door when I got ready to leave for work. I opened the box on Thursday morning. The game itself wasn't wrapped, of course. And nobody would know if it got opened just a couple of days early and installed on my computer. Nope, nobody at all. So needless to say, I've been noodling around with the game for a couple of days. I even managed to finish and win one game, although that was at a fairly low difficulty level.

I also got some chocolates from my mom, sent by Harry & David, on the same day. They came with an impressive set of ice packs to keep them cool. When I took them out of the box, I had to laugh: While the message on the outside of the box said "Merry Christmas, Love, Mom" the chocolates had a blue bow on them that said "Get Well." And I didn't even know I was ill! Don't you hate it when it sneaks up on you like that?

I also got a couple of Amazon gift certificates, one from my other brother Kurt and one from my mom, so that I can order another computer game that I want, which isn't coming out for another three months or so. Originally, it was supposed to be in November, but evidently there were some glitches. I'd far rather get the game a little later and have it work right.

Later this morning, I'm going over to my dad's place and do the family thing. I got him that book he wanted (a Baptist hymnal, so he could "sing my songs," as he put it) and I'm also going to take him over to Fort Lauderdale to the Treasures of King Tutankhamen exhibition next month. Everyone else got honeybells. I like that; it makes it easy to buy for people.

Let the Weekend Begin!

My work week is finally over. The bad news is that my perfect streak of going through the entire month of December without having to work overtime came to an end today. Now I know how a major league pitcher feels when he loses a perfect game in the bottom of the ninth inning. They nailed everyone today. I wasn't too happy when the supervisor came around and proclaimed, "The list is getting four hours, the non-list is getting two hours and the PTFs are getting 3-1/2 hours."

"You're fucking with my goddamned weekend," I growled at him as he left.

And so my streak came to an end on the last work day before my three-day holiday weekend. I had to stay until 9:30 a.m. I was not amused, and it would probably be accurate to say that I was not as well-motivated as I normally am. I waited until 7:31, when I was on overtime, to visit the restroom. I figured I'd do my business on their time and they could pay me time-and-a-half while I did it. I felt better afterward.

All was not doom and gloom, however. I had the distinct pleasure of yelling at one of the Haitian casuals who came over and tried to steal one of my Labelle racks. The trays in the rack all had dispatch labels in them, and the racks clearly say all over them (in English) "Do Not Take!" "BCS #14 Setup" "Do Not Steal!" Obviously I need to write it in Haitian, too. Anyway, I saw this guy trying to abscond with my rack and I bellowed at him, "HEY!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!! THAT'S MY RACK!! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!! NO FUCKING WAY!!" I think they probably heard me halfway across the building. Then I politely explained to him that we do NOT take labeled racks or GPCs off of people's machines, or they will be righteously pissed off. I then found a rack that wasn't being used and had him take that one instead.

It actually was therapeutic to yell at the guy. He was catching it for all of the times when weasels on other tours have stolen my racks. I'd have yelled at all of them, too, if I'd known who they were. This time, I caught the guy in the act. Very satisfying.

This and That

We have a holiday snack table at work, where people can bring in food to share. Last week, someone brought in a little green reindeer as a decoration; it looked like it was covered in artificial turf or faux chia. The next day, someone else brought in a gyrating Santa figurine, dressed in a cowboy outfit. You can guess how long it took Santa and the green reindeer to make an intimate acquaintance. Alas, the green reindeer was gone when I went in to work last night. Apparently someone has no sense of humor. A sign appeared on the cowboy Santa last night: "Brokeback Santa misses Rudolf." Heh.

I made the mistake of going out on US 41 on Saturday to buy a Christmas present at a specialty bookstore. The traffic and parking situation was just insane. I finally made it to the store, looked around and found what I was looking for. I got up to the cash register with the book and cash. The cashier asked for my telephone number. "You don't need it," I told her, handing her the book and the money. I think she was a little nonplussed by the response, but hey, I don't need to be in any more databases than I probably already am. If I'd wanted them to have my phone number, I'd have paid by check. Chalk it up as a victory for privacy rights. Well, if we actually have any of them left, which is doubtful.

Less than a week until Christmas. My string of overtime-free December days is still intact. Let's keep our fingers crossed...

I'm Not Complaining (Too Much)

Well, no, not too much. There are lots of people who have more to complain about than I do. The folks in the Mid-Atlantic who have gotten nailed with the latest ice storm, for instance. It's a truism that all politics is local, and the same goes for weather. We've had a bit of what passes for a cold snap the last few days here in Florida, but only comparatively so. I talked with a friend in North Carolina this morning, and she was pretty much marooned by the ice storm. She described her car as being "entombed" by the ice, and was hoping that the accumulation of ice wouldn't bring down the power lines. I seconded that. I remember how unpleasant it is to be without electricity.

I don't miss winter, no, not at all.

Others with more to complain about than me: The people at work who are lower on the totem pole and are being slammed with ridiculous amounts of overtime just about every day. Meanwhile, I do my eight and hit the gate. I am fully prepared to work overtime if I have to, but of course, but I've made it halfway through December without having to work any overtime at all. I'm hoping that my luck continues to hold.

I don't miss working overtime, no, not at all.

All is not sweetness and light, however. Last night, I got back my incidental leave request for a week off in March, which was denied because the maximum percentage had already been approved for those dates. It wasn't a big deal, however. I hope to be able to get a week off sometime in April when the percentage of people who can be on leave at one time goes up from 3% to 15%. The March week was a pipe dream, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I just don't want to have to wait until July for my next vacation.

Bad Stuff

Over the weekend, I was channel-surfing and caught the end of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" movie, featuring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees in the Beatles' roles. It was so bad that I couldn't look away. I only saw the last twenty minutes or so (alas, I missed Steve Martin's version of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"), but it was enough to get a renewed feel for the zeitgeist of 1978. The long hair. The horrible clothes. The music: Barry Gibb's falsetto version of "A Day in the Life," followed by Billy Preston dressed up in a gold suit singing "Get Back," with the final reprise of the title tune to close the movie, featuring a group cameo by everyone who was hot stuff in Hollywood that year: George Burns, Carol Channing, Helen Reddy, Keith Carradine, Tina Turner, Leif Garrett... It was surreal. Certainly nothing I would have paid to see in the theater, even in that long-lost year.

Tookie: Are you in the "Save Tookie!" or the "Die, Tookie! Die!" camp? Me, I'm down with capital punishment for gangsta quadruple-murderers. I don't care how many children's books they write in prison. I was listening to Matt Drudge's radio show on the way to work last night and he mentioned that some people thought that the death of comedian Richard Pryor might generate a groundswell of support for Tookie. As if people were going to say, "There! You've got one dead black man, you don't need any more!" All I can say is, "Ahnold, be the Terminator you were elected to be."

"All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi..."

Odd story of the day, especially if you think that cops have gotten "Taser-happy." Bonus points if you recognize the source of today's blog title:

Cop Said to Taser Partner Over Soft Drink

HAMTRAMCK, Mich., Dec. 8, 2005

---

(AP) A police officer has been charged with using a Taser on his partner during an argument over whether they should stop for a soft drink.

Ronald Dupuis, 32, was charged Wednesday with assault and could face up to three months in jail if convicted. The six-year veteran was fired after the Nov. 3 incident.

Dupuis and partner Prema Graham began arguing after Dupuis demanded she stop their car at a store so he could buy a soft drink, according to a police report.

The two then struggled over the steering wheel, and Dupuis hit her leg with his department-issued Taser, the report said. She was not seriously hurt.

Classic! But not Coke Classic!

Instant Karma

My sympathy meter is stuck on 'zero':

Suspect in Salvation Army kettle robberies found dead

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- Tampa Police say the man suspected of robbing several Salvation Army bell ringers has been found dead.

Spokesman Joe Durkin says the body of Lee George was found in his car at the bottom of a creek near the Hillsborough River. The former auto-repair shop owner was pulled from the submerged car and identified through fingerprints. Police say he matches the description of the robber provided by witnesses.

...

The spokesman says police divers also found near the car a bottle of liquor and two pill bottles with small amounts of marijuana inside. Police say the crash may have been alcohol related.

Someone who'd steal money from a charity is lower than... Well, lower than a dead stiff at the bottom of a creek near the Hillsborough River. Call it what you like: Instant karma coming around, poetic justice or just God showing a warped sense of humor. Any way you slice it, this fellow's criminal career has come to a precipitous conclusion.

Bowled Over

Last night at work, I was looking at the sports section of the local newspaper during my break. One thing I noticed was a schedule of upcoming college football bowl games. I was amazed at how many of them there are these days. When I was a kid, there were only four college bowl games worthy of the name: The Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. Do you know how many there are now? Take a guess. Go ahead, I'll wait...

The answer: Twenty-seven. No, I'm not kidding. Starting on December 20th and running through January 4th, there are a total of twenty-seven bowl games, and that isn't including the college all-star games that take place later in January. There is at least one college bowl game every single day during that two-week period, except for the Sundays, of course, when the pros are playing.

The only problem is that with so many bowl games, not every game is going to feature a matchup of great teams. Indeed, there are several bowl games involving teams with 6-5 records. Quality or quantity, take your pick; you can't have both.

However, that Texas-USC matchup in the Rose Bowl looks like it might live up to the hype. "Hook 'em, 'Horns!"

Blinded By the Light(s)

The neighbors across the street from me really, REALLY love Christmas. They have really gone all out this year in the Christmas lighting department. Indeed, perhaps they've even gone a little overboard. Let me describe it to you: The house, the windows, the front door and the garage door are all outlined with colored lights. The two big trees in the front yard are festooned with strings of lights. There are two lighted artificial trees. There is a lighted inflatable Grinchy Claus (with the dog) that's about eight feet tall, as well as a lighted inflatable Santa and a lighted inflatable snowman of about the same size. They also have a large lighted inflatable snow globe that's about five feet in diameter. All of the inflatables have a tendency to deflate as the air turns colder, so each morning they are lying flat on the ground. There is a row of several lighted candy canes lining the driveway. There are a couple of lighted toy soldiers flanking the garage door, as well as a small lighted Santa, a lighted snowman and another lighted Santa with a pack, all in front of the house. There's an evergreen wreath on the front door. And there's a huge "Merry Christmas" in lights on the roof that has to be about fifteen feet wide .

They love Christmas. And Florida Power & Light loves them.

"You Say 'Torino' and I Say 'Turin'..."

I saw an article in yesterday's newspaper about the lighting of the torch for the upcoming Winter Olympic games in Turin, Italy. One fun factoid: The latest incarnation of the torch was designed by engineers from Fiat and Ferrari. And it shows; it looks so aerodynamic that the runner carrying it would gain a little speed. A picture showed the Greek Olympian who is the first torchbearer, and his uniform had the logo for "Torino 2006."

That got me to thinking: There are a lot of cities in Italy that call themselves something other than what we English-speakers call them. Torino, for instance, is our Turin. Similarly, such cities as Roma, Venezia, Milano, Napoli and Firenze are known to us as Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples and Florence, respectively. Doesn't that seem a little strange? Now, there are certain other foreign cities whose names are different in the English-speaking world, such as Moscow and Munich and Athens, but it's not a wholesale thing like it seems to be in Italy.

Then remember how the Chinese changed their transliteration system several years back and all of a sudden, Peking became Beijing and most other Chinese names became unrecognizable. I think they did it just to cause confusion in the West. You cannot get "Beijing duck" or find a "Beijingese" dog, however. Anyway, the point of all this is that the Chinese said, "We want you to spell our language like THIS," and by golly, we did! Apparently the Italians don't have that much pull with us, which isn't really fair considering all the of the great contributions they've made to American cuisine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your turkey be moist and your weather be dry. Or your martinis, whichever is applicable.

I kinda-sorta promised some pictures the other day. Some of you may have already seen these. If not, enjoy!

Buddha Boy?

One of the quirkiest stories I've read lately, via the London Telegraph:

Pilgrims flock to see 'Buddha boy' said to have fasted six months

Thousands of pilgrims are pouring into the dense jungle of southern Nepal to worship a 15-year-old boy who has been hailed as a new Buddha.

Devotees claim that Ram Bomjon, who is silently meditating beneath a tree, has not eaten or drunk anything since he sat down at his chosen spot six months ago.

...

Witnesses say they have seen light emanating from the teenager's forehead.

...

The popularity of the phenomenon is partly because it resembles an episode in the life of the historical Buddha, who was born 160 miles away around 543 BC. The Buddha achieved enlightenment when he meditated beneath a sacred pipal tree for 49 days.

Ram Bomjon is also sitting beneath a pipal tree, in the same posture as the Buddha is depicted, but his vigil has already taken longer.

Ram's mother, who is called Maya Devi, like the Buddha's mother, admits to anxiety, particularly at meal times. But she tells herself: "God took him to the forest and I have faith that God will feed him."

...

The fervour increased last week when a snake is said to have bitten Ram, and a curtain was drawn around him.

After five days it was opened and he spoke. "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy. I am at the level of rinpoche [lesser divinity].

"A snake bit me but I do not need treatment. I need six years of deep meditation."

I like the part about how his mother's name is the same as the Buddha's mother's was. How conveeeeeeenient!

My guess is that somebody is sneaking him food and drink at night.

I imagine the start of all of this was something like, "Well, I'm not into this whole 'school' thing and none of the Bhindaputra sisters will go out with me, so I guess I'll try this 'enlightenment' thing and see if I can start my own religion. It worked for guys like Buddha and Mohammed, although not so well for that Jesus guy."

Somewhere in America, Mary Christ is telling her son Jesus (named after her uncle Jesus Sanchez) that it's time to stop hanging out with those loser friends of his and get a real job...

Busy Week

My mom visited me down in Florida this week. We got a chance to spend a lot of time together on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as yesterday. We were outdoors quite a bit and saw some really interesting things. I may post some small pictures later on.

On Friday morning, we went out to Sanibel Island. First we tried to visit the Ding Darling wildlife refuge, but they were closed because it was a federal holiday. I think they may also normally be closed on Fridays anyway, so it was poor planning on my part. However, it turned out pretty well because the Indigo Trail (for hiking/biking) was open. It is a two-mile long trail and it doesn't loop around, so you have to walk two miles out and two miles back. We were well-prepared to be outdoors, with plenty of sunscreen and broad-brimmed straw hats.

About a quarter-mile down the trail, there was a sudden flurry of feathers exploding across the path right in front of us, and a red-shouldered hawk flew past in a blur and lighted atop a nearby palm tree, no more than ten feet away from me. He was a very fierce-looking bird. I snapped several pictures of him with my digital camera, one of which came out so well that I'm currently using it for my desktop wallpaper. At about the half-mile mark, we spotted our first alligator. He was about twenty feet off the path, basking in the sun along the water's edge. He was perhaps five feet long. A couple walking behind us with a baby stroller took one look at Mr. Gator and decided that they weren't going any further. We, however, continued on.

We had been impressed with the small alligator until we saw the larger one at about the one-mile mark. He was perhaps seven or eight feet long, and was sitting at the water's edge facing the path, again about twenty feet or so away. His mouth was gaping wide open, and he showed off an evil-looking set of jagged teeth. My digital camera was very busy as I shot several pictures of him from various angles, including one with full digital zoom in which he took up the full picture frame from elbow to elbow. I sent that pic out to many of my friends, along with one of the red-shouldered hawk.

Further down the path, we saw many bees buzzing around a tree. We figured that their hive was probably within it, and that the tree was probably filled with honey. We decided not to try to find out for sure, though. At the two-mile mark of the trail, there is a small dike road that takes off at a right angle and links up with the road that drivers use to drive through the preserve. There was a wooden pavilion along the water, and we went under its welcome shade and looked around the area. After we'd been there for perhaps ten minutes, all of a sudden a mother raccoon came walking along the water's edge, with four or five baby raccoons trailing along behind her. I snapped several pictures of them, although they moved so quickly that I didn't have the opportunity to zoom in on them.

After we made our way back along the trail, we went out to lunch at the Mucky Duck on Captiva, then went back down to Sanibel to Bowman's Beach for some shelling and a little beach time.

Saturday, we went to Fort Myers Beach to the Sand Sculpting competition. It was really interesting to watch the professional sand sculptors at work. Not only does it require artistic talent, but also an ability to figure out what the sand's qualities are and what they will allow you to do with the sand. We had some lunch, then watched the sand sculptors in action for awhile longer, then made our way back to Fort Myers. We had passed a fruit stand on the trolley ride back from the beach, and watermelon sounded good, so we got a quarter-melon at Winn-Dixie and had some of that when we got back. Then, we went out and played miniature golf. I was extremely rusty, and Mom beat me the first game. I shot something like a 56 on a par 42 course. Bad. Very bad. Not to make excuses, but I made the mistake of dragging my digital camera a long, so I had to juggle a camera, cell phone, putter, ball, scorecard and pencil. I was somewhat distracted and I didn't play well. After the first game, I put the camera back in the car, then we had a rematch. I played much better the second game, shooting a two-over-par 44 the second time around, including THREE holes-in-one. After that, we went to Smoky Bones Barbecue (a sports bar on US 41) for some barbecue. I had the pulled pork while Mom went for some ribs.

Sunday, we went out to Six Mile Cypress Slough and walked the boardwalk through there. We saw some wildlife, including an otter, turtles, some anhingas (long-necked birds whose feathers aren't water resistant, so they stand with their wings extended to dry them out), a little blue heron, more hawks (at a distance), and some strange bird up in a tree that Mom thought was a night heron. I got some nice pictures of the Slough. My favorite was of the light shining through the trees directly onto a strap fern growing on a fallen tree. The light shifted almost as soon as I took the picture, but I managed to capture it at just the right time. After the Slough, my mom was in the mood for seafood. We tried a couple of the local seafood restaurants, but found that they didn't open until 4 p.m. We ended up having lunch at Hops instead.

Mom visited friends up in North Port on Monday and Tuesday, then we got back together yesterday. We had lunch with my ex, who always was on good terms with Mom, and then Mom and I drove down to Naples to visit a couple of her friends from her condo in Michigan. We had a nice visit with them, then I drove Mom to the airport for her flight home.

It was really nice to have Mom down here to visit me.

Story of the Week: When Lesbian Cheerleaders Attack!

Here's a story with a little bit of everything: Sex! Violence! Cheerleaders! What more could you want? From Tampa Bay's Channel 10 Sports (pictures on link):

Police: Cheerleaders arrested at Tampa bar

Tampa, Florida – Two Carolina Panther cheerleaders spent the night in jail after a rough night in Channelside. The Panthers were in town to play the Bucs Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses say Angela Keathley and Renee Thomas were engaged in some type of sexual activity inside a bathroom stall at Banana Joe's around 2:20 am Sunday. Another woman waiting to use the bathroom got into an argument with the pair. Police say Thomas punched the woman in the face. When Thomas was arrested, she gave police the name of another Panthers cheerleader.

Thomas could face additional charges for lying to police, once they confirm her identity.

Keathley was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing or opposing an officer, while Thomas was charged with one count of battery.

The two women were taken to Hillsborough County jail, where they both bonded out later Sunday morning.

They are, of course, former cheerleaders now, as the team has kicked them off the squad for conduct detrimental to the team. The whole thing sounds like the plot to a bad late-night weekend Cinemax movie, doesn't it?

New and (Not) Improved

Change is not always good. When I came back from vacation this week, I was told by my regular partner that "they" had changed the computer operating system for all of our machines, and now they didn't run as well. I'm not sure how much of it was due to software problems and how much was due to a bad sensor in the reader, but the machine was jamming every whipstitch for about two days, until they fixed the sensor yesterday. It's still running rough, though, and there's a bearing squealing in protest that's ready to go at any time.

Another change: They got rid of all of our CRT monitors and replaced them with flat-panel LCD monitors. Now, a flat panel monitor is a thing of beauty, as long as you're right in front of it. However, if you try to view it at an angle, you quickly lose the ability to see it. With the old CRTs, we could turn the monitor at an angle so both the person feeding the machine and the person sweeping it could both see the monitor, which was convenient. Not any more. New, not improved.

It's been a generally trying week so far at work. I've felt like a fish swimming upstream the entire time. Some weeks are like that.

Electricity Back!!

Hooray! The power is back as of 6:00 p.m. Television! Computer! Air conditioning! Refrigeration! Water from my well for a shower! Beer waiting for the fridge to chill it down!

Life is good. Or better than it was, anyway.

I finally got to read my e-mail for the last 5-1/2 days. Thank you to all of my friends who e-mailed me with their kind words of concern. I do appreciate it, even if I couldn't read it at the time you sent it.

Saturday at the Library

Still no power. This morning's paper says that FPL promises that everyone in Lee County east of I-75 will have their power back no later than November 10th. I suspect that mine will be back a lot sooner than that, but every day this becomes more frustrating. I'm not really having any problems meeting my basic needs, but I'm really, really bored. No television. No computer. Nothing but my books. And you can only read for so long before you want to do something else. I don't feel like doing anything particularly active, because I don't want to get sweaty or dirty.

Yesterday, I scrounged some water from the neighbors across the street to fill my toilet tanks. I spent most of the day sitting out in front of my house in the shade, reading Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, which I got at the library the other day. I'm into the second book. Lots of time to read, while it's light out. I also have my flashlight, a fancy deluxe model with both incandescent and fluorescent lights as well as red and yellow flashers. The fluorescent light is perfect for reading in the dark, and there's lots of dark this time of year, even at this latitude.

Nights are currently about 12 hours and 40 minutes long. You can't really sleep that long. I've been going to sleep at dusk and waking up around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and then trying to get back to sleep amid the roar of the generators. Tonight is "fall-back" night, so tomorrow, the sun will rise around 6:40 a.m. and set around 6:00 p.m. And tomorrow night, I'll have to go back to work, with however much rest I manage to get. Hopefully the power comes back today or tomorrow, or things are really going to suck even worse.

I haven't really had much appetite lately. Yesterday I had an Angus burger with bacon and cheese from Burger King, and a brownie in the late afternoon. This morning, I dined on S'Mores Pop Tarts. I've been drinking lots of water, although it hasn't yet become hot enough to worry about dehydration.

That could change by the middle of next week, with temperatures predicted to climb into the mid-80s. It's supposed to get up to 82 today. You worry a lot more about the temperatures when you don't have electricity, because there's no way to cool or heat the house. The ambient temperature is what you get. I battled the possible oncoming heat by opening the windows and getting the house as cool as possible overnight. It was down into the low 60s overnight, so I figured that the cooler it was in the house this morning, the more pleasant it will be in the middle of the afternoon.

One silver lining to the dark cloud: No mosquitos, at least so far. I've been able to leave my windows open, even the ones whose screens were destroyed by Knucksie the cat, without being attacked by the little bloodsuckers. Also, as soon as I arrived home with my new cell phone, I found that my landline phone was working again. I'll be able to go online as soon as my power comes back.

I keep telling myself that this is only a series of temporary inconveniences, that no matter how unpleasant it may seem now, there are other people who are worse off. It's true, of course, but it doesn't really make me feel any better. I want my power back!

This Sucks

Still no power as of this morning. No phone either; it was back on Wednesday afternoon, when I got home, but then went out and never came back. I decided that I would have to get a cell phone. I'd never really needed one before, but now I do.

I started this morning by going to my workplace and taking a shower in the locker room. After that, I went to the Mall to get a cell phone. Now that I've accomplished that, I just have to get it up to a full charge. I'm using the 12v adapter in my car to charge it up. Then I can start calling roofers about trying to get my shingles fixed.

After leaving the Mall, I stopped off at my insurance agent to give them my new cell phone number. Hopefully I'll hear from the claims adjuster soon. I'm not going to wait on looking for shingle repairs, though. I suspect I may be in for a long wait, courtesy of my non-working landline phone. The good news is that the rainy season appears to be over, and I didn't take any water damage even after losing all of those shingles. The bad news is that the federal tarp program doesn't apply to Lee County, so I am on my own.

Please, please, dear God, let my electricity come back on soon! It's gotten progressively warmer each day. The first two days were nice and cool, yesterday was warm. In a couple more days, I'm going to really start missing my air conditioning if it isn't back by then.