Stream of Consciousness

As with nearly everyone else in the country, it's been way too cold here as of late. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, not because my hands are sore though. It's just been going on for so long. It was 14 below when I went in to work yesterday. Had three trucks to load and got two of them started. They didn't want to start, but after much belching and groaning and smoking, (the trucks, not me) they finally got running. One straight truck refused to run at all. So the boss is gonna come in on Sunday when it's supposed to be warmer and see what he can do. The straight truck only gets one tub on it anyway so it's an easy load.

Today is supposed to be better. It's 3 degrees right now but we're supposed to get up to 22. Yeehaa! But the wind is blowing which is putting the wind chill down around 25 below.

I went to the doctor last week, due to regular, frequent, screaming, make you cry and then throw up headaches. She diagnosed Cluster Headaches. I get a series of them once or twice a year that lasts about 5 or 6 weeks and then I'm fine. But when they come, well, I'd do anything to make them stop. The good thing is that the headache itself only lasts about 30 minutes before it's gone. And she was not happy to hear that the best way for me to get rid of them is to sit on the porch and smoke a cigarette. But she understood why that works. It's a result of the constrictive actions of smoking. It constricts your blood vessels and that seems to clear the headache out. She gave me some stuff to take for the next cycle, since it appears I am out of this last one, plus she suggested a change in my regular meds to discuss with the family doc. She also told me that smoking is the biggest aggravater for cluster headaches and told me that I have to quit, even though it seems to help them go away, it actually makes them worse when they get there. Went to the family doc on Thursday and made that med change. All is well so far.

Went down to Columbus yesterday and picked Ben up to bring him home from college for the long weekend. He is really enjoying it at OSU. On the way home he was telling me all kinds of stuff about his school, how big it is, how diverse it is, what kind of food they have, how far he's walking. Sounds like this is a great thing for him. But I sure did miss him while he was gone. His girlfriend and a bunch of his friends were over last night so it was pizza night and Sheila and I sat and watched "Bangkok Dangerous" with Nicholas Cage, (meaning he was in the movie, not sitting there with us watching it), while all the kids watched other stuff elsewhere and played on the computer. It was a good night. It was also a good movie, even though, as usual, I had to rewind the last 20 minutes because I fell asleep before it was over. Don't take that as an indication of the quality of said movie. I fall asleep in all movies. Doesn't matter where or when. At home or in the theater. That's why I don't go to the theater. Why pay $7 for a nap. I can get one at home for free. Although I did make it all the way through "7 pounds" when Sheila and I went to see it a couple weeks ago. That was a good movie.

I was supposed to start announcing this morning for Upwards basketball, but they cancelled the games due to the bitterly cold wind chill factors that we were expecting.

So that's pretty much it. There's not a whole lot else going on. I still have a job, thank you God, and I still have my wife, thank you God, and I still have all my kids, can I get some help here, God? Actually, I am very thankful for my life. It's not perfect. I would love to be in Texas right now. But apparently, I am where I am supposed to be right now.

So...until further notice, I'll keep doing what I'm doing, and going where I go, and all should be well.
But I am not cleaning out that litter box anymore!