Post 2350 - Friday Pictures

Hey, folks.  Welcome to the weekend.

I am home.  Tomorrow morning or later on this evening I will go to my mother's.  If I go on Saturday morning I will return Sunday morning.  You understand.

I don't have much to write about this evening.  I just thought I would run some pictures this evening.  Due to the magic of bluetooth, I was able to pair my BlackBerry to this here netbook and send files from my BB to this computer.

I hope you like the pictures.  As you can see, there are many pictures of Newbie perched or lying down on the laser printer I keep at my mother's.  For some reason, he really likes that printer.  Maybe he wants to become a writer.  Hard to say.

Another picture was taken at Your Father's Moustache in downtown Hali.  As I walked into the men's room about 18 months ago, there were these pictures of young women situated over the urinals.  I thought it was funny.  Sorry it's taken so long to share it with you.

The CJCH mug is in recognition of that station going away five years ago yesterday.  I still miss it, but I'd be the first to agree that CJ needed several fresh coats of paint.  It had been neglected for too many years.

The chocolate bar is the one my mother won for me at Bingo in April.  She poses with me for a picture in this list as well.

The plate of food was something Patricia prepared at the cottage in 2011.

The little car you see is not my car.  Give me some credit.   It is the car belonging to that woman who decided to park that little piss ant vehicle in downtown Halifax, for free.  She could manoeuvre it between two vehicles on Granville Street, right by the entrance to the Legislature.  Think about it.  These other vehicles were legitimately paying for their parking spaces, and this little bitch was insinuating herself between them, straddling the two parking spaces.  She took a lot of heat in various media websites for her extreme parsimony.  She deserved it.  I am pretty sure she still does it when she can get away with it.  Grr.

I hope you like the pictures.

Bevboy

Post 2349 - Thursday

Well, how is your evening going?

We had a somewhat longer lunch hour today.  A co-worker was retiring today after some 32 years of service with the province.  He is a good guy, and I wish him all the best.

I don't drink much.  I think you know that.  But I couldn't help myself today.  Maybe it was because of the company.  Maybe it was because I was at the shittiest eating establishment in Halifax, The Lion's Head Tavern, and needed some liquid courage to choke down the victuals they would put in front of me.  The Cajun-blackened pan fried haddock was edible, but that is all it was.  I guarantee to you that no Cajuns were harmed during the production of this fish.  I'm not even sure if any fish were harmed.

I got former reader Jane to get the following picture of me holding a beer and a Blog business card.  I hope you like it.  Due to the magic of bluetooth technology on the BlackBerry, and this computer, I was able to transfer the picture to the downloads folder on this machine.  Pretty neat.  Of course, I thought it was neat how I could be at my parents' place and my vcr was dutifully recording some shows for me here in the city.  I'm easily awed.

Oh, I found out about a friend who retired some two years ago.  Ted was a very nice man to work with.  I loved his stories of older-time Halifax, and about the time he and his wife accidentally ended up in the gay pride parade.  It's a classic.  I was told today that he is a regular reader of this blog.  Hello, Ted.  I hope you are enjoying your retirement.  And I would love to be able to sit down with you and discuss some of these Halifax stories.  They would make a very nice addition to the blog interview collection.

Not much else to report.  Bought some cat food after work tonight.  The old catfood was making Cindy sick; Newbie was ambivalent toward it.  We are both hoping that they like what I bought this evening.  Curse them for changing the formula on the old food!

You guys have a good evening.  I love all 4.7 of you.

Bevboy

Post 2348 - Ugh!

Do I get points for irony?  We were watching a few episodes of "Weeds" on Netflix this evening.  In one episode, a daughter is given an overdose of laxative by her mother, with the result being an unfortunate experience at school the next day.

Around that time, my own stomach started churning.  I will spare you the details other than to say that maybe I am coming down with something, and that something will be unpleasant.  If you don't hear from me for a few days, you can come visit me and hold a mirror over my mouth.  If the mirror fogs up, then I am alive.  If not, well, it's been nice knowing you.  I prefer balloons at my funeral rather than flowers.  Just sayin'.

Assuming a good night's sleep makes things better for me, I will be at work tomorrow, and the
couple of folks who are part of my 4.7 can all approach me and ask how I am feeling.  In fact, they can line up and ask me one at a time, throughout the day.  And they can get a chuckle if they see me heading to the men's room, knowing what I will be doing in there.    Don't worry.  I will fix their wagon.

Stomach is starting to churn again.  Ugh!

See you tomorrow, if the crick don't rise.

Bevboy

Post 2347 - Meat! (Part Two)

First of all, I'm sorry I didn't write last evening. I ended up falling asleep in my car while Patricia was shopping. I slept until 8:30. Drove home. And went to bed.

No surf and turf last night.

Tonight was a different story. We got home from work and dug out our cast iron skillet. Patricia put some oil in the skillet and heated it and spread the oil around. I tossed in it the fresh sirloin steak I brought up with me on Sunday. Added some mushrooms. Month spices were added. We wanted to know what the steak would be like unadulterated.

In another skillet I added some scallops that had been dipped in flour beforehand. In a third I added some shredded potatoes.

Everything tasted great. Scallops should only be cooked for 3 or 4 minutes and I didn't forget that. The steak took longer. The steak was moist and tender and is among the best pieces of steak I have ever had. We are confident that it'll be that much better when it is in a maranade or a rub is applied or it is Cajun-blackened or something. Patricia will take some steak with her to the cottage this weekend and bbq a piece. Lucky her.

We had pie for dessert.

Dinner tonight was excellent. It is just a prelude to all the beef we will consume over the next year. That delicious beef is awaiting us in my mother's freezer and I can't wait to eat more of it. Just pretend that I'm $crooge McDuck tossing packages of hamburger in the air and diving through piles of t-bone steak. If you're really nice to me I'll shoot video of me doing it.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2346 - Meat!

I'm back in the city after a day and change at my mother's.

I will continue to call it "my mother's".  Perhaps I should call it my parents' place.  Or maybe "the family dwelling".  Not sure.

Anyway.

My side of beef arrived during the lunch hour today.  Leonard backed up his truck into the driveway and proceeded to unload 3 large cardboard boxes full of beef.

Let me back up.

If you go back through the "year in review" series and re-read the 1983 entry, you will recall I obtained a summer job that year working at the local Burger King.  I was there for about 3 months.  That entire summer, I did not see as much hamburger as I saw today arriving at the house.  One of those boxes had a couple pieces of steak.  The rest of it was hamburger in one pound packages wrapped in butcher's paper.   All fresh, nothing frozen.

There were types of steak I am pretty sure I have never eaten, probably because it's too expensive in a restaurant.  I have a piece of brisket, and a couple pieces of stew meat.  Four or five large roasts.

It took me 45 minutes to unload the 3 boxes and transport them to my mother's freezer.  Leonard says it will take a couple of days for all that meat to freeze and that I should distribute it throughout the freezer so that not all of the steak is in one place.  Of course, since there is so much hamburger, I would need a freezer like you would see on a navy ship that will be out to sea for six months.

On top of all that meat are the remnants of the contents of the freezer from when Mom was living in the house.  I put all that stuff in a series of grocery bags; my sister will be taking that stuff to her own place over the next couple of weeks.

I decided to bring back with me a few pieces of steak as well as a few pounds of hamburger.  Coupled with the scallops I brought back, we have decided to have a surf and turf supper Monday after work.  I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into this beef.  My mouth is watering in a way that makes me think that there is something wrong with this carnivorous yearning of mine.  I hope there isn't.  I don't really care if there is.

The meat in that freezer will last us all year, and maybe even longer.  I hope it is gone by the time my neighbours have their next cow beefing.

I'm reminded at this time of the time when my parents had a garden behind the garage.  The soil was exceptionally fertile even though Dad didn't do anything to make it that way.  I'm guessing some of the things the then-neighbours did leeched into our soil.  We had carrots and cukes and lettuce.

Somehow a few pumpkin seeds got into a packet of other seeds.  We dutifully planted them.  Before we knew it, we had pumpkins coming up all over the garden.   I had never seen so many pumpkins in one place at one time.  This was before people grew huge pumpkin patches and invited the public to look at them.

Not to let things to go waste, Mom cooked as many of the pumpkins as she possibly could.  We had pumpkin pie, pumpkin tarts, pumpkin this,  pumpkin that.  We did not eat any of the seeds because we didn't know that this was something one could do.  This was a while ago, remember.

We were pretty tired of pumpkins after that year.

Anyway, all that hamburger in the freezer this afternoon reminded me of that long-ago time.  I hope that I am not sick of hamburger after all this is consumed.  I not aware of hamburger tarts, but perhaps I should see if there is such a thing.

If you have any neat recipes involving hamburger, please send them my way.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2345 - Saturday

It's past midnight on Sunday morning. I will turn in soon.

I got up in Halifax at 6:45 and drove up here. I barely unloaded the car before I picked up Mom and brought her back to the house for lunch. She also supervised my cleaning out the freezer in anticipation of the meat load that will be filling it on Sunday.

I picked up the iron supplements that my doctor recommended. 30 pills for 23 dollars. I'm to take them with food so I will start taking them in the morning.

Back here in the early evening I took a nap before getting up and watching "Orphan Black" and "Inner Space".

Back to the city Sunday afternoon after I get my meat.

Where's my meat? I want my meat! Meat! Grr! Good! Meat!

Mouth is watering.

Guess I'll turn in and conserve my strength.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2344 - Friday

Wow.  A blog post, two days in a row.  What will they think of next?

It is Friday night.  I was off work today due to a scheduled day off.

I will turn in soon.  I have to get up early tomorrow morning to drive to the Valley for 24 hours or so.  I have ordered a side of beef from a neighbour.  It will be ready either on Saturday or early on Sunday.  In order to prepare for this animal flesh onslaught, I need to scare up some space in my mother's freezer.   My mother will even come over from her nursing home to assist me in this task.

I have been promised many steaks, 3/4" thick, two per package.  Lots of hamburger and roasts and at least one brisket.  I will tell you more about this after I get it and have had a steak.  Very much looking forward to it.

I guess I am craving iron these days.   I have been taking iron supplements.  My mouth waters at the thought of eating beef.  Spinach looks appealing to me.  God help me, but Les Muise's suggestion I try out liver and onions 3x a week may even happen, and I typically don't care for organ meats.

I feel sorry for vegetarians.  I suppose it is a noble, even laudable, goal, but they're missing out on the extreme pleasure associated with consuming seared animal flesh.  I like burgers and steaks and chicken and some  kinds of fish too much to consider giving up those things.  I'd rather have a lump of partially-digested beef in my colon than spend the next 30 years eating wheat germ, brussel sprouts, and bacon-flavoured textured vegetable protein.  I'm sure you agree.

The only other new thing going on in my life is that I finally got around to hooking up the new media player I bought last month and bought a membership to Netflix.  I was hesitant to take the plunge because, as I mentioned here recently, my internet connection here is often poor.  Download speeds are often so cruddy that it might seem more efficient for me to write down a series of 1's and 0's on a piece of paper, crumple it up, and throw it at the media player.  However, Netflix's infrastructure is smart enough to take slower internet connections into account, and takes enough time to cache enough data to make streaming nearly seamless.

I have been watching some shows that I have never seen before.  Heard about them, but never watched them.  I watched the pilot for "Weeds", about a widow who turns to selling marijuana as a means to support her family.  I have 101 episodes to go, and all of them are streamable on Netflix along with dozens of other series that I can watch from beginning to end, given enough time and bandwidth.  I can watch all 202 episodes of The X-Files, although I'd probably quit after about season six, when the show started to suck big time.  I can watch every episode of Xena and ST:TNG and "Murder, She Likes Wrote".  Many, many more series.  And movies.  And documentaries.  All for 8 bucks a month.  And the first month is free.

This is is the Canadian version of Netflix.  It is possible for Canadians to get the American version, which evidently has far more content, by doing things like buying an American ip address.  Officially, I don't know anybody who has done that.  Nope.   Not at all.

Anyway, I was off today.  I treated myself to lunch and a trip to Value Village.  I can't get over how, in the back of the store, they sell used electronics in little plastic bags for prices that would make you think that they're selling crap, but they often aren't.  I recently bought a 2 handset Uniden cordless phone system that works very well, and it cost me only 5 bucks.  It's at my mother's, and the built-in answering machine is a joy to use.  The proprietary batteries work just fine and should last for some time to come.  Did I mention it cost me only 5 bucks?  Today, I saw several more similar sets in these little bags for about the same amount of money.  I didn't buy any. But if I were in the market for a cordless phone system, I'd go there first and take a chance.

It is nearly midnight.  I have to get up relatively early Saturday morning.  You'll excuse me if I call it a night.

It's a... I've done that joke before.  Never mind.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2343 - Remember Me?

Hey, folks.

I am sorry that I haven't written in 3 days.  I was sick on Tuesday and didn't actually get up until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  More about that a bit later.

I returned to work on Wednesday and had my doctor's appointment in the afternoon.  You know, the appointment I had been waiting for, for some time.

In broad strokes, I had some super fun tests conducted.   Nothing dire came from them.  I have no tumours or things of that nature.  However, my iron levels are very low, and they have in turn taxed my ferritin levels, which are about one third of what they should be.  The mystery has been: why?

I recently admitted to my doctor that I am a regular blood donor.  I made this comment in an off hand way.  I could see a little light bulb go off over his head.  (In keeping with environmental concerns, I hasten to add that this was an LED light bulb, expensive, but it will pay for itself in the medium term.)  Of course, when you give blood, it reduces your iron levels.  But I had to go through more of those fun tests first.  Which I did.

I was asked to stop donating blood while I was under a doctor's care.  I could donate plasma if I wanted to.  I called Canadian Blood Services and told them about my situation.  They told me that they didn't want to see me for at least six months. 

Then things got very interesting.

I was informed that CBS scientists recently completed some research that indicated that it takes upwards of 90 days to replenish one's iron supply following a blood donation.  Meanwhile, you're allowed to donate your life juices every 56 days.  You can develop a significant iron deficit, which only increases every 56 days when you do the next bloodletting.  CBS announced this week that they're letting gay men donate blood under certain circumstances.  They are going to make another announcement very soon that blood donors should take iron supplements, going forward. 

Now they tell me!

As I mentioned last week, I believe in donating blood.  I do not believe in it at the expense of my health.  If I have to take iron supplements for the next several months to get my iron and ferritin levels back to healthy numbers, then I must re-think the very notion of donating blood in the first place.

I don't mind admitting that I am more than a little ticked off at Canadian Blood Services.  I can't believe that this research they did was that revelatory to them. How many other people over the years were feeling logy after donating blood and upped their iron intake as a natural consequence?  Nobody told me that extreme loss of energy and a highly compromised iron supply would be the results of these donations. 

At any rate, I am on iron supplements.  I am going to eat iron-rich victuals from now on.  This situation will not resolve itself over night, but rather over the course of a few months.  By the way, how many of you sounded out "victuals" correctly? 

Which brings me to you and this blog.

There are going to be more days like Tuesday when I can't get out of bed no way, no how.  I will have more nights like last night, when I had to hit the hay at 8:30 in order to get enough energy together to return to work this morning.  I feel ok today, but this evening may be another story.  I hope to stay up long enough to set up my netflix account and stream something to my tv, but that may not happen.  I really have to get back to transcribing interviews as soon as I get more strength in my body to allow this.  Just last week, I got a lovely thank you card from Ron Roberts, legendary Halifax radio broadcaster, urging me to call him and arrange an interview time and place.  I want to do that.  The man is 80 and not well and has many stories to tell and no outlet for them.  And let's not mention the tidying up that must take place at my house and my mother's house.

What I'm trying to say is that regaining my health is important to me.  I have things to do that require my attention that aren't getting done because of my low energy levels.  So, if you don't see my blog posts for a day or so, here and there, you can assume that I simply didn't have the gumption, the wherewithal, the intestinal fortitude, to write any.  I'm sorry.  It's my reality for the next few months while I cope with, and recover from, this medical condition.

I'll see you tomorrow.

(I hope.)

Bevboy

Post 2342 - Monday

Hi.  I am back in the city.  It is past 10pm.  I will turn in shortly.  I return to work Tuesday morning.

I drove back late this afternoon.  This was after visiting my mother for a thing they do called Coffee House.  The clients sit around and are served coffee and tea and cookies and are asked trivia questions, which they answer.  Mom got two or three right.  I got one.  My sister Gayle got at least one.  The other clients did very well as well.

I returned to the house.  Even though I had only been up for 2.5 hours, I nonetheless had to take another nap, not getting up until 2pm.  I washed the dishes.  I cleaned things up a bit.  I loaded the car.  I talked to my neighbours about a half side of beef I'm planning to buy this weekend.  I tricked Newbie into his carrier.  And drove back here.

I arrived around 6:45.  I unloaded my car.  Hung around for a while.  Watched the season ender of 5-O.  Had a shower.  I was up here in my bedroom about 9:45 when there was a knock at my door.  I ran downstairs.  It was a couple neighbours reporting that the back driver's door was open and had  been open for several hours.  I thanked them and ran outside, in my bare feet, to my car.  Everything looked ok.  Nothing seemed to be missing.  I just forgot to close the door before I brought my shirts into the house.  In other words, I was a big dummy, a big and neglectful dummy at that.

I used to pride myself on having a good memory, but that seems to be going away.  I don't know if I have too much going on in my life that some simple things are forgotten about, or just what it is.  I will just chalk this one up to forgetfulness and exhaustion.  But if I happen to show up for work with mismatched socks or two different left foot shoes on, or with Patricia's frocks on, then please take me aside and call EAP for me.  K?

You ever forget something that you should not have forgotten no way, no how?  Leave your kid in the car?  Go to the wrong job?  Eat something you're allergic to, just to tempt fate?  Let me know.  I need something to assuage my feelings of dumbness.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2341 - Sunday

Let's see here. I slept in. My mother called to wake me up. She didn't ask if we could go out to lunch in so many words. Just hinted around in such a way as to make her interest clear.

She indicated an interest in going to the Chinese buffet place in Coldbrook. It turned out to be closed, so we drove down the street to a pub we'd never been to. It's called Lew Murphy's. Used to be a Pizza Delight.

Food was very good. Prices were reasonable. Mom didn't finish her lunch, but she seldom does any more, mostly because she gets fed several mini meals a day.

We spent a bit of time in New Minas before I took Mom back to her home. I made my departure and returned here. Of course, I needed a nap.

Got up around 6. Have spent the last few hours watching the tube and washing some clothes. It is now past 10:45 and I will be turning in shortly. Been a long day.

Yeah. I'm sleeping a lot. Sue me.

Back to the city tomorrow afternoon. After I have a nap of course.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2340 - Two Days Later

Hi.

First of all, I'm sorry I didn't write on Friday. By the time I got home, I had to take a nap. I ended up sleeping for nearly 12 hours.

I drove to my mother's this morning. Unloaded the car. Made arrangements to take my mother out for a few hours. And took another nap.

Got to Mom's nursing home. Took her shopping. Returned her to her nursing home. Went into Wolfville and bought some stuff of my own. Returned to the house. Mowed the lawn. Hung out in the garage for a while. Went back into the house. Napped from 7:30 until just before 9.

Now I'm watching the season ender of D. Who on the Space channel. Not a big Who fan, but this one os pretty good. Then it'll be "Orphan Black" and "In the Flesh" and the season ender of SNL.

You'll note that I've slept a lot today. It seems to be my new reality. I think I'll be up for a few more hours but one never knows.

Tomorrow I'll be tackling my laundry and other things, between naps. I'll visit my mother and nap again. I'll get up from my and go to bed. All kinds of fun times.

See you tomorrow.

After my nap.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2339 - Thursday

It is past 9:30.  Killing time before I turn in.

We had a barbecue at work today.  I participated of course.  Most of the folks at my work did.  I was very surprised that one particular person did, though.  He is Scottish, and lives up to the stereotype.  He is cheap.  Parsimonious.  Niggardly.  Stingy.  You catch my drift.

I imagined how he came up with money to pay for the barbecue today.  Did he collect pop bottles in the ditch and cash them in over the last 9 months or so?  "Find" some copper wiring?  Deliver pizzas, using someone else's car and gasoline?  It's hard to say.  

Just before the barbecue I called Canadian Blood Services to cancel today's blood donation.  I told the nurse that upon the advice of my doctor that I should only donate plasma.  The nurse I spoke to told me that they would not want me at all, since I was under a doctor's care.

I learned something at that moment.  CBS did research recently and concluded that blood donors should take iron supplements to generate the iron lost in during their donations.  They also found that it takes upwards of 90 days for a person to replenish his iron/ferritin levels after a donation.  Meanwhile, you're allowed to donate after only 56 days.  Over time, that deficit gets worse and worse, which could certainly account for my exhaustion.

If I had had any idea what cumulative effect my blood donations would have on my body, and my health, I would have reduced their frequency to prevent this situation from taking place.  I believe people have a duty, an obligation, a commitment, to donate blood if they are able to, but not at the expense of their health.  I'm sure you agree.

Anyway, I will share this information with my doc on Wednesday, when we meet to discuss my most recent test results.  He may or may not already know this.  I can't expect him to know everything about everything.  

CBS understands and will not call me for 6 months, until I have sufficiently recovered my iron and ferritin levels.  It may be longer if my doc feels I should not.  Maybe I will never be able to resume my blood donations.  It is all up in the air.

Having this information makes me feel better.  It all makes sense.  I just hope that this is what the problem is so I can take steps to correct it.  I'll keep you abreast.  I know you care, all 4.7 of you.

That's it for tonight.  See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2338 - Wednesday

Well, it's past 10pm.   Newbie is at my feet, staring at the tv while I type these words.

You've been asking me about my internet connection, and I am happy to tell you.   My computer tells me that I have a 96% connection strength, but 96% of a slow connection.  I tried to play some youtube videos a few minutes ago and it was like listening to Johnny Mathis records: Whole syllables and frames got dropped.  Youtube videos should run with little or no problem.

What else is going on?  Well, we had toastmasters this evening.  Two speeches.  One was about a member's home country's passion for soccer and the depths to which some people will go to win.  It's all about witchdoctors, folks.  The other one was about a member's moustache and how it can provoke visceral reactions from some women.  Some like it.  Many don't care one way or the other.  And about 20% hate moustaches to the point where they will walk up to strangers and castigate them for having them.

I can't grow a full beard.  It doesn't fill in.  But I  have had a moustache off and on for several years.  I may re-grow it this year so I can also be castigated by ball-busting women who have little regard for the feelings and ego's they're crushing.  High school all over again.

Newbie is cleaning himself.  I shudder to think of the hair balls that he will cough up over the next couple of days.   I swear, there are times when he looks embarrassed when he pukes or coughs up a hair ball.   He will stand or sit next to what came out of him and look up at me with an I'm sorry look on his face.  Cutest thing.  Gives me something to think about when I'm cleaning up the barf.  I wonder if threw up on the carpet and looked at Newbie with a similar look, if he would clean up my mess?  Worth a try.   I'll report back on that, soon.

Two days until the weekend.  And it's a long weekend.  Cool.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2337 - Tuesday

A long day.  A short post.

After work we didn't feel like coming home and cooking a meal.   Patricia suggested Swiss Chalet, and I nearly drove into the ditch in my excitement.  There is something about the food there that entices me to the point where I become less of a boy, less of a man, and more of a ravenous carnivore bent on eating anything that used to have a face.   Don't judge me.

Actually, Mom and I had been at the Swiss Chalet on May 4th.  I'd noticed the new menu options and selected the butter chicken bowl.  I ate every scrap of victuals placed in front of me, and looked around the bowl to see if an errant piece of rice or a shoot of cauliflower had tried to get away from me.  No such luck.

I mentioned the butter chicken to Patricia this evening.  We both decided to have it.  I think the version of the dish was slightly better in New Minas, although it may come down to "you never forget your first."  A premature feeling of nostalgia, perhaps.

At any rate, Patricia very much enjoyed her dinner, and I did, mine.  I paid up and we left and came home.  The cats probably smelled the chicken on our breaths and demanded their own dinner.  I delegated that task to Patricia and went downstairs for a moment to see if the internet connection was still working.  It's been pretty spotty lately.

It is now 9:45.  I will call my doctor in the morning to make an appointment to discuss the blood test results that will have reached him by Thursday.  I should find out then whether I have a spastic colon, an extreme case of shiftlessness, or the dreaded SCS (Sivilcervant Syndrome.)  I will tell you all about it, of course.  I like to share.

If you want to start an office pool at your place of work and bet on what is wrong with me, please go ahead.  Anything I can do to help morale.  Just throw some of the love my way.  Patricia doesn't know about my 3 ex-wives.

You guys have a good evening.  Newbie and Patricia and Cindy and I send our best.

Bevboy

Post 2336 - I'm Back!

Hi, everyone. 

Did you miss me?

Did you notice I was gone?

Are you getting tired of one-sentence paragraphs?

I am back to work today, which means I can resume the blog.  For reasons I don't care to discuss in great detail, it is in my best interests not to update the blog when I am off work for any medical or family-related reason.  If I am on vacation, yes, I'll blog.  Same with weekends and the like.  But shutting 'er down last week was something I had to do.  If you were in my shoes, you would do the same thing.

There is not a great deal to report on the the events of the past 7 days.  I wasn't feeling well at work last Monday.  I got home around 5:30 and told Patricia I was gonna lay down for a few minutes.  Other than the occasional Pinkelpause and a small snack, I didn't get up again until Tuesday afternoon. 

The rest of the week was pretty much like that.  Sleeping inordinate hours.  Running to the watercloset.  Going back to bed.  Fighting flu-like symptoms.  Pretty exciting, huh? 

Other than work, the only other casualty of my sick days last week was my attendance to the David Myles concert.  You will recall that I purchased tickets last Monday.  Since I was too sick to go to work, I was too sick to go to the concert, even though I was feeling a bit better by Thursday.  I invited Patricia to invite one of her girlfriends, and that is what happened.

Patricia practiced saying to me how crappy the concert was to make me feel better.  But I asked her for the truth, and she said it was effing awesome.  Myles' on stage presence has improved a great deal in the last few years.  He is much more comfortable up there than he used to be.  Patricia reported that Myles was laughing and running around the stage.  The highlights were probably his duet with
Measha Brueggergosman and his performance of "My Inner Ninja" with Classified, who showed up as a surprise guest.   As I reported recently, it is impossible to get that song out of your head once it takes up residence in there.   Which is all right by me, because it's a great tune. 

Although David Myles' new album doesn't officially hit until the 14th, he had advance copies of it for sale at the concert; as a sop to my not being able to go, Patricia bought me a copy of it.  She bought herself a copy of his "Live at the Carlton" cd.  As the story goes, Myles was doing a concert there one day last year.  After the show was over, the engineer who worked there handed him a copy of the tape and said, "Here's your new album."  Turns out that the man had recorded the concert without Myles' knowledge or consent, but since David Myles got the only copy of it, I can't imagine that he was too unhappy.  It is a hard-to-find cd as well, so it must be worth listening to.

Friday passed without serious incident.  The weekend came and I was feeling well enough to visit my mother, staying over night at the family house.  I made Mother's Day lunch for her, bringing her over from her nursing home for a few hours.  Apparently she told everyone within earshot that her son was making her a meal.  Sniff.

I'm back to work today.  I had to take a bit of time off this morning to get some bloodtests done to find out what is causing my lethergy.  I wonder if they're going to test for laziness?  Or Sivilcervant Syndrome?  Or even a spastic colon, whatever that is.  As long as I don't have the dreaded Sivilcervant Syndrome, I will count my blessings.

You guys have a good evening.  I will see you tomorrow.

Bevboy

Post 2335 - Another Hiatus

I'm sorry to report that I'm shutting down the Blog for a few days.

Without too many details, I'm experiencing some flu-like symptoms that have kept me house-bound and bed-ridden since Monday at 5:30. I didn't get up until 1 this afternoon.

I will call my doctor tomorrow if I'm not much better.

Newbie's been with me virtually nonstop. He clearly knows that something is up.

I hope to have the Blog back by the end of the week.

See you soon. I love all 4.7 of you!

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2334 - Oops!

Hi again, my readers.

I'm sorry I didn't write on Sunday.  I had a pretty busy day, and collapsed in bed back in Halifax much earlier than I expected to.  Have I mentioned I have an extreme loss of energy lately?  I am either sick, or very lazy.

Anyway, Sunday morning I finally got the damned lawn tractor started.  It took my neighbour's NAPA portable battery charger, which he pulled behind him on wheels as if it were luggage, and which he had to plug into a garage outlet, in order to get the motor to turn over.  It enabled me to mow the lawn until I had to get off the tractor and move something.  That automatically cuts the engine.  I was unable to restart it, so the neigbhour had to come over and use that battery charger.  He says that the battery contact is crappy, but it's the same contact as last year.  I'm thinking that since he had to use the charger that the battery itself is on its way out.  Which pisses me off, because it is only 2 years old and spent both of the last two Winters stored in my dad's old workshop underneath a heating vent, where it should have been comparitively warm.   I thought I'd bought a good quality battery 2 years ago.  I guess I will have to buy a supremely good battery this time.  I will also invest in a trickle charger in an effort to keep any new lawn tractor battery charged up.

In addition, the roof at my mother's garage must be re-shingled, probably sooner rather than later.  The shingles are curling like the springs on my mattress.  Probably can't ignore it much longer.  That's ok.  I'm rich. 

I cleaned up around the house for a while in the afternoon.  Washed the dishes. Fed Newbie.  Washed him ralph on the kitchen floor. Cleaned up his mess.  Stuffed him into his carrier.  Removed a mirror from my mother's bedroom and put it in the car to take to her nursing home. 

Visited Mom in her nursing home room.  She took one look at me and announced that I looked exhausted.  She offered me her bed to nap on, which was sweet, and probably a scathing indictment on how I must have looked to her. 

After my visit, I fortified myself with coffee from the Just Us! in Wolfville and hit the road.  Newbie was sullen with me, not looking at me or meowing or anything else.  Probably just plotting how to gain control of the car and get me to be in the carrier instead of him. 

I got back to the city.  We ate fish and chips, and I can state that I don't care if I ever eat f&c ever again.  They always taste greasy and disgusting.  F&C is the ham of seafood. 

By 8pm, I was dozing off on the fridge.  I went upstairs and collapsed on the bed and lay there for the rest of the night.  I did remain awake long enough to hear David Myles on Q104 talking about his upcoming tour and album.  I am such a fan of this guy.  His music has become much more versatile since he teamed up with Classified last year for a song that is impossible to get out of your head.  It is starting to take off in Europe and in the United States.  I believe "Inner Ninja" was used on the soundtrack of a recent tv show. 

I have liked David Myles' music for years now.  I have a picture of him and me together somewhere, taking on a shitty BlackBerry camera.  I had no idea, and I'm sure he didn't either, that his biggest hit would be a hip-hop-laced song with a noted hip-hop artist named Classified.  At what point did David Myles think his music would be broadcast on The Bounce in Halifax?  And that I would enjoy this song so much that I would hum it to myself at work and turn up the radio every time I heard it thereon?

For my American readers, all 2.1 of you, go ahead and watch this video and try to get this song out of your head.  Just try!










Anyway, Myles is playing in Halifax this Thursday night.  I have ordered tickets for Patricia and me.  And I can hardly wait to see him again.

You guys have a great day.  I will try to write another post Monday evening.

Bevboy

Post 2333 - Saturday

Hi, folks.

It is about 12:45 Sunday morning. I've had a busy day.

Being Saturday I took my mother shopping. She wanted to go to the drug store and the used clothing store. We had lunch at the Swiss Chalet in New Minas. I had the butter chicken and loved it. Mom had the quarter chicken dinner.

After lunch we went to Sobeys and Giant Tiger. For some reason they've been around for 52 years and are celebrating it. I recognized some staff who had worked at the recently-closed Zellers. Glad they found a gig.

Dropped Mom off at Shannex and came back here. Thought I'd take a short nap and slept for 4 hours. I think I'm regressing to my childhood. How long before I need diapers again? Don't answer that question.

This evening I went downstairs and retrieved the lawn tractor battery and went out to the garage to install it in the lawn tractor. Check. Tried to start the lawn tractor. No dice.

The battery seemed to be running down so I hooked it up to my car battery to give it a boost. Still wouldn't turn over. Crap.

I grabbed the jerry can and drove to the local Irving station and filled it up. Returned to the garage and filled up the gas tank. It already had some gas in it but I filled it up anyway. Did the engine turn over? What do you think?

Not six months ago Mom paid quite a bit of money to get the lawn tractor freshened up. New spark plugs and lots of other things to make it run better. The battery is maybe 2 years old and spends its Winters in the house under a heat vent. It should be in excellent shape and last a few more years.

I'm at a loss. The next door neighbour will be coming over here around 10:30 Sunday morning to help me get the damn thing working again. As he said, and I agreed, it's probably something stupid. I'll kick myself when I find out what it is. Of course, I'll tell you all about it. I have low self esteem and enjoy demonstrating my lack of intelligence.

SNL is on. The stoner from the Hangover movies is the host. Zach dont-ask-me-to-spell-his-last-akis. Will turn in soon. Newbie will join me because that is what he does.

Send your theories about the lawn tractor to me. I need to hear about how much smarter you are than I am. It's that low self esteem thing I mentioned 2 paragraphs above. Rub it in. Be like everybody else.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2332 - Friday

Hey, folks.

Sorry I didn't write on Thursday. I'd every intention to do so, but by the time I got home and tried to wrangle Newbie into his carrier, to no avail, it was getting late.

I'm in the Valley this weekend. I drove up here this morning. I had to attend a family meeting at 10:30. After that was over my mother had errands for me to run. I also had my own. This meant that Newbie was left alone for several hours. I've tried to make up for it this evening by playing with him. You did know he likes to play fetch, don't you? Yes, he IS a cat.

I feel like a big dummy this evening. Q104 is having its annual pay for play request weekend. I meant to bring a powerful FM radio tuner with me and play it but I forgot to bring it. There's no way that any radio here at Mom's could haul in a Halifax station. Moncton comes blaring in but nothing from Hali. Go figure.

No. There's no internet connection here. At least not presently.

Newbie lying on the floor on his back, exposing his tummy. I'm told this means he trusts me. But when I try to rub his tummy he goes crazy like and reacts the same way girls did when I asked them out in high school. Thanks for the reminder, buddy. Much appreciated.

Tomorrow Mom has many plans for me that involve shopping. She told me this evening that she misses shopping for groceries. Got her out of the house for a longer period of time. I have to admit, as much as those shopping trips tuckered me out, I miss those times as well. It's interesting what things you miss when they're no longer around, huh?

Anyway, I have a fairly early and busy day ahead of me. Guess I should turn in.

See you tomorrow.

From Bevboy's BlackBerry to Bevboy's Blog!

Post 2331 - Contest Winner!

Hey, folks!

I kinda spilled the beans on my Facebook on Tuesday.  I was so excited by this final entry that I couldn't help but share it.

I arrived at work on Tuesday morning to find the following picture in my cubicle:

Of course, it is a parody of the Grateful Dead's "Dead Head" emblem:

Ha ha.  Don't sue me.  I didn't create this.

Anyway, I was so delighted by this entry, with its suggested name for what to call my readers, that I closed the contest a few hours early, knowing that this entry could not be topped.  I'm the judge, and my decision is final.  Frig you.

My logo was designed by Michael Gillis and Steven Zinck at my work, during their lunch hours I hasten to add.  The name "Bev Heads" was also suggested by Marcel Pothier when he should have been spending, ahem, quality time with his girlfriend.

As promised, I am taking these winners out to lunch.

Here's how it works.

Marcel pays for Steve's lunch.  Steve pays for Michael's lunch.  Michael pays for Marcel's.  All three of them chip in to pay for mine. 

(Hey, I said I'd take them to lunch.  Never said I'd pay.)

Seriously, guys, thanks very much for your hard work.  It is much appreciated. 

Going forward, the Fans of Bevboy's Blog Facebook page will have the official "Bev Head" logo.  I may even change the name of the fan page to go along with the logo.  I'm so excited!!

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy