June 2003 Archives

Last Saturday when I composed my last entry, it didn't even occur to me what the actual date was. It might have had something to do with the fever or even the fact that I hadn't really worn a watch in almost a week or if I did, I wasn't looking at the date, only the second hand and how slow medication was taking to work.

At any rate, last Saturday marked the 8th Anniversary of my website. It's come a long way since the days when I had just become a full time employee at UC Davis, and Robert told me how easy it was to do and gave me my very first corner of the web to start with. I know the first year or so was touch and go with a couple major meltdowns, but somehow, the site survived. I had big hopes on May 13 that I would be able to redesign the entire site, but alas that hasn't materialized. I'd say give me until the 10th to get everything done. Of course, by then I'll want to do something else.

Whatever your reason for coming here, thanks for taking the time.

It's the second most common ailment in the US behind the common cold. That's what the doctors said I have. Basically, its an intestinal flu, but not related to influenza. This bug is easy to catch, and I guess mine was made worse by getting dehydrated.

So I arrive at the ER around 1pm on Friday at Foothill Presbyterian, and thankfully am escorted into the room without much hullabaloo. After a bit of a wait, the Doctor's Assistant and I play 20 questions and she gives me a look-over. She then prescribes something I had been dreading - An I-V. I remember getting an I-V for my wisdom teeth and that they needed to give me laughing gas before it'd go in. She also wanted to get some bloodwork going, but since I was having an I-V, they could do it all through the same gizmo in my arm. Honestly, it was nice only to have to deal with the one prick, but man oh man, as I laid there on the bed, I just kept thinking, "there is this really gross thing sitting in my arm!!!" Needless to say I had that gizmo in the arm for about 3 hours. I can't fathom those people who have to have one in for weeks. I think I'd die.

So in the little gizmo they took out a few vials of blood and gave in return: A liter of saline solution to re-hydrate me that felt like the Sparkletts container was being emptied right in my arm, some Phenergan and 2 hits of Toradol. The Toradol was my favorite. When they gave me the second shot of it, I felt like a million bucks. Now if I thought getting the I-V put into me was the worse, taking it out was infinitely worse. See, the nurse was taking out the tape as well as the gizmo so my hairs were being ripped out at the same time. It felt like she was pulling everything out with pliers.

After all that, they decided to give me some 800mg Motrin and Vicodin for my incessant headache which won't go away. A day later, I can say the Motrin isn't doing much, and the Vicodin takes almost all the pain away and lets me relax - oh yeah and every now and then get some really weird dreams.

I'm staying with my Dad until at least tomorrow. When I get home I'll need to disinfect the entire house and stock up on some soft foods. But I do feel better already.

It's been a long time since I have been this sick this long (Europe 1998 comes to mind). This morning I was treated to 5 trips to the porcelain god. I finally decided it was high time to call in the family. My step-mom is coming to get me and then take me to the doctor. I'm going to have her take me up by her house, that way if I need to, I can crash up there at a relative's place. I really don't know what I have other than the flu. I'm hoping for a better diagnosis from the doctor.

The worst part is that I'm always thirsty so I have been drinking water and Gatorade to keep hydrated. I also have had a headache for 5 days that resists everything from Advil to Tylenol PM and Ny- and Day- Quil. You know you have problems when Nyquil doesn't make you sleep.

Oh yes, I intend to write a letter to the City Fathers seeking a leaf blower ban. Some nut has been outside my window for THREE DAYS for THREE HOURS at a time. I want to kill him.

Wait, I just thought of something worse - I've discovered I have a LOT of grey facial hair. I was shocked when I looked in the mirror. It looks like I have crumbs in my 3 day wiskers, but alas, they are grey. **sigh**

In my quest to spread knowledge in the world, I present the following origins of phrases:

From the Hindu - India's National Newspaper:

There are many people who hate to travel. Even those who like visiting places may not always be good travelers. Some may get ``airsick'', some ``carsick'' and others ``seasick''. The expression ``under the weather'', which has been part of the English language for several hundred years, comes from the world of sailing. People who go on a cruise often find that the constant rocking motion of the ship makes them violently sick � they keep vomiting all the time. When the weather gets really rough, the ship rocks and sways so violently that people throw up even more. Passengers who are unable to cope with the swaying motion are often sent below deck. There are two reasons for this. The first of course is that they will be away from the inclement weather, but perhaps much more important is that the swaying motion of the ship is felt far less below. I understand that on a ship the swaying motion is felt most on the deck; while little or no swaying is felt near the keel, which is near the bottom of the ship. This is one of the explanations given as to the origin of the idiom 'under the weather'.

Sick as a dog:
There are several expressions of the form sick as a ..., that date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sick as a dog is actually the oldest of them, recorded from 1705; it is probably no more than an attempt to give force to a strongly worded statement of physical unhappiness. It was attached to a dog, I would guess, because dogs often seem to have been linked to things considered unpleasant or undesirable; down the years they have had an incredibly bad press, linguistically speaking (think of dog tired, dog in the manger, dog's breakfast, go to the dogs, dog Latin - big dictionaries have long entries about all the ways that dog has been used in a negative sense). Also may have to do with the fact that dogs eat anything until the point they get sick and usually vomit.

Now why did I post these today? You guessed it, I'm sick as a dog.

My first and last grad night of the year is in the book. Quite a bit different experience of working the Matterhorn instead of the routes. Definitely busier, though easier as a cast member. Most people listened to what they were told and we only had to kick a few people out of line for smoking or trying to be cool and put their feet up in the sleds. It's all mostly a blur - like I forgot to go home after a long shift and the next thing I know it's 7am.

I really don't know what to say about this link, other than I think it's fun for the whole family. You decide.

I purchased Charo's "Bailando con Charo" album off of eBay to complete my Charo record collection. Still need to get some of the singles, and of course now I need to get a record player so I can transfer the files to MP3 and make CD's out of them. I also can creat nice 30 second sound clips for the Charo section.

Brad Edwards and I go way back to January 14, 1995. It was a dark and stormy night in Davis. I had just moved back there after a brief stint at Cal State Chico in graduate school. My grandfather had died just a month earlier. For the first time in awhile I was alone and without a job. A group of us set out that night filling out applications for the Park Service - specifically to work as park rangers in Denali National Park. Our friend Steven had done it before and extolled how much fun it was to sit in a little kiosk selling park admission passes every now and then and enjoying all the scenery.

So there we were that night filling out the applications and watching "The Weather Channel". Brad was on that night doing another outstanding job. Then IT happened. We all looked at each other in amazement. We called The Weather Channel. Years went by, and we never knew if we really saw what we did. We still laugh about it.

Flash forward to 2003. On a random thought, I decided to look up and see if I could find Brad. Turns out, he is the chief meteorologist at a station in Des Moines, Iowa.

The following is the e-mail I sent him and below you will find his reply:

"Hi Brad,

You California fans,
Josh, Susie, Wendy, and Matt"

Here was his response:
Hi Josh, Susie, Wendy and Matt!

Brad Edwards
The Clumsy One!"

To Brad, with Love. You will always have a special place in our hearts.

So after the second person e-mailed me and told me I had to join, I finally went and registered with Friendster. Apparently I am now connected to over 5,000 people all over the world. One thing I have noticed is that the service is a bit slow, then again they do advertise the fact that it is still a beta. Me wonders when they finally go release if they won't start charging people. It looks interesting and It will provide me even more time wasting fodder on the net.

Been kind of lazy about posting on the site. I wish I was working on web design but I haven't. I have been working every day since last Tuesday and I have two more days to go until I'm off. I have worked four eight hour shifts in a row, with tonight being a nice 5 hour jobbie at the Matterhorn to relax. Tomorrow night, I work my first grad night in over a year. It is an 11:30pm to 7am shift. Me thinks I am gonna be a bit loopy on Friday.

A couple of interesting tidbits: Went to Buca de Beppos for Tara and Melissa's birthdays on Saturday. The highlight of the evening was when Leslie pinned a "Cake Waster" sign on Daniel's back and he had to be paraded around the restaurant. I also had a chance to check out some vintage Corvettes at Downtown Disney. Tidbit #2: Monday night, I fell asleep at 7pm and didn't wake up until the next morning. Boy did it feel good. Another reminder of the olden days back in Davis.

Monday night was movie night here at Club Josh. Daniel selected "The Hot Chick" and I selected a little known Japanese comedy "Happiness of the Katakuris". Both comedies had their high and low points, but I'd tilt the scale towards "Happiness..." as the one I liked better. One thing that I thought was hilarious was that the box for "The Hot Chick" sounded like the trailer for the new Rob Schneider movie on South Park when the gang goes over to see Chef's Mama to exorcise Kenny from Cartman: "He's been a gigolo, and he's been an animal - now Rob Schneider is the Hot Chick!"

Tuesday, Granny and Jerri came down to South Coast to do some shopping. After a bit of Nordstrom's we decided to make a b-line to Disneyland to check out the new Aladdin show at DCA and The Many Adventures at DL. Both won rave reviews from them. It was kind of a consolidation prize since the whole gang wasn't there, but hopefully, I'll get a chance to take Amanda and Dianne to the park on our own so we can hit the coasters.

I really need to start doing laundry more often. Today, I did six loads, effectively using the entire laundry facility in my section of the apartment complex. I've also decided I'm one set of sheets short. I remember hearing that you need 3 sets - One in the laundry, one on the bed, and the other clean and ready to go. I think it would have been nice to have that other set ready to go instead of washing two at the same time.

The last week has been full of June gloom. Every now and then we get a bit of sunshine, but for the most part it has been overcast and drizzly. I have never lived near the beach so this is going to take some getting used to. It reminds me of the winters up in Davis when I'd go weeks without seeing the sun. It is nice at work tho because people are much nicer and more willing to follow the rules when its not hot. Over the weekend at Matterhorn, I had never seen so many people try and get out of the bobsleds at the wrong point. Ah yes, and let's not forget the lady with the party of 8 wheelchairs who all wanted to ride at the same time.

In the midst of the gloom, there is some percolations of good news brewing at The Many Adventures. Good things will be happening there soon - stay tuned!

My attempt to recreate last years Disney trip with Granny, Jerri, Dianne, and Amanda has fizzled. Not sure how it all fell apart, but I think part of the reason is that last weekend Granny moved all her boxes o' cookbooks from storage to the shop (ok, Ryan and Timothy did most of the labor). Instead, I think Jerri and Granny are coming down tomorrow for a South Coast outing.

My deadline is two weeks from this Saturday. Jinkies, I have a lot of work to do!

A quick trip up to the Bay Area last weekend for Alex's wedding (pics here!) provided just what I needed. It was good to see everyone again - even Alex's parents whom I haven't seen in almost 10 years. The ceremony was nice and the setting was spectacular. The reception room overlooked San Francisco Bay with a panorama that only can be appreciated this time of year before the summer fog rolls into the Bay. Susie and I carpooled up from LA and Santa Barbara and had a great time. We didn't set any land speed records, but it seemed like we made excellent time - even showing up early. We took advantage of this and headed over to the Marin Headlands for some photos. We were shocked by Mark's mustache, but sadly neglected to get any good photos for posterity since he shaved it the very next day.

After the wedding, Susie and I headed over to my aunt and uncle's place in San Rafael for a quick visit which featured the Vibra 4000 Massager (ok, I don't know if that is what it is really called but it should be) which turned me to Jello after a few minutes on setting 5. We then had a nice pizza party and root beer taste test upon our return to Wendy and Mice's condo. It was sort of weird since they live in a condo not too far from one of the places I used to live. They were familiar with some of the stomping grounds, but from an entirely different perspective.

Sunday, after a much needed sleep in, Susie and I headed off to the USGS for a quick two hours. We wish we could have been their sooner, but our bodies wouldn't allow it. I was feeling kinda worn out from the combo of allergies, the late nights, and the drugs to remedy the allergies (Claritin is non-drowsy only after being in your system a few days - one thing I don't miss about Nor Cal is the allergies). By the time we headed back to parts south I was already pooped and managed to guzzle a few Cokes to keep me going. The only bad thing is that we had to increase the number of pee stops.

It was a fun weekend and with Monday off, I was ready to head back to work on Tuesday. I did find out that I made trainer at the Matterhorn, and that there even is a chance for more in the near future. Other than that not much excitement except for Lisa Kudrow on the Pooh ride today. That reminds me I did see Kathy Ireland on the Pooh ride a few weeks back. The celebrities are finally making their way to the ride.