5/19/08

Saturday’s plan went all to hell. Remember how I was waiting for 1700 h to help someone get setup for a Saturday meeting? Well, the people who were going to be there Saturday were not there Friday for orientation and the people who were there wouldn’t be there Saturday. I just threw in the trowel and agreed to show up Saturday morning to make sure they were up and running. I called John to tell him the new plan and headed home. When I checked my e-mail I found a reply from the Sevens folks saying they were meeting at the race track at 1100 h Sunday. John and I didn’t need to go to the track on Saturday, further knee-capping the plan. The final thing that totally hosed the plan happened Saturday morning. I was going to go to the blood work lab and have a sample taken then head for the railroad. They opened at 0800 h but I arrived at 0830 h. I signed in and there were a few folks in line ahead of me. After fifteen minutes of waiting I finally bailed because I needed to be at the office between 0900 h and 1000 h to help the Veep. I crossed my name off the list and headed north. I got to the office around 0915 h or so and found the Veep in the Bored Room. I got him hooked up and we went to the Viewing Gallery so I could show him how to run the promotional video. When he seemed comfortable I bailed out. I called John at about 1015 h and rolled to his house. We discussed what we were going to do. Oh, one more reason why I bailed out on the blood place was they required me to show an insurance card. Mom had mine. John and I rolled to my house and then to the blood place. It was about half an hour before they were supposed to close and the parking lot was empty. I said, “This is a good sign.” John asked why and I told him it is usually full and reflects the general capacity, and therefore the anticipated wait, in the waiting room. He pointed out that it could also mean that the phlebotomists might have given up and left for the day. I told him if that were the case I'd just call mom and have her cancel the doctor’s appointment. I went on to say that once she’s gone I'm probably going to stop refilling the blood pressure and anti-cholesterol prescriptions and I'm damned sure going to quit having annual physicals. Dental appointments are scheduled each time I'm in there so I'll probably keep seeing him, the doctor not so much. I went on to go on to say that I won’t be participating in Christmas or Thanksgiving any more after she’s no longer with us. He said he would have to tell her that so she’ll live forever. We got to the place and they were still open. I signed in and didn’t even get to sit down. She called me back and gave me the poke. I can watch the blood being taken, and even look at the needle sticking out of my arm, but I still can’t watch it going in. Once I'm done bleeding she hands me a cup and sends me in for a pee. I struggle to produce a few ounces and leave it in the cabinet. In the lobby, John is listening to Movie Phone getting times for “Speed Racer” and “Iron Man.” We decide to forego the shop and have “Joey’s and Janice’s Day of Fun!” I'm not sure which of us was Joey and which was Janice. I'm not asking either. We decided to go downtown for the two movies. John had a gift card so he bought the tickets and then we wandered downtown to kill the hour and a half before the first movie. We wound up eating at a little Mexican place and then walking back to the theater. We still had some time so we went to Border’s and looked at magazines, as we are wont to do. We finally went in to the theater for “Speed Racer.” Since it was made by the same people who foisted that abomination “The Matrix Trilogy” on the world, I totally expected it to suck. Here’s what I have to say about it: physics, logic, and racing be damned, I liked the movie. I suppose I can begrudgingly see the appeal now of “The Fake and the Fatuous” franchise. Anyhoo, having grown up with the cartoon, I was pleased at how it held to the cartoon’s lack of logic and concept of physics. At least they had a silly system to protect the drivers in the inevitable crashes. It was pretty funny actually. In the event of a catastrophic incident, the cockpit filled with what appeared to be sticky packing peanuts until the driver was totally encased. That bubble of packing material, with the driver safely encapsulated, would then bounce off down the track leaving said driver totally unharmed while the car disintegrated in a flaming explosion. Oh, and Christina Ricci totally gave me wood as Trixie! Yummo! I'm sure “Speed Racer” will be in my DVD collection as soon as it comes out. After that was over we stepped into the next theater to watch “Iron Man.” Is it one word or two? It doesn’t matter. I enjoyed it. It was pretty good. He did destroy a Cobra kit at least. Two movies in a row probably isn't the best way for me to review first run stuff because I think I was still processing “SR” the whole time I was watching “IM.” Maybe I'll have a review later once I can think about it some more. We’ll see. After the movies we tried to go to the Vespa dealer but they were closed. We drove around looking at potential places to move Dimlight Racing. We found a few spots, called, and left messages. Two have called back. I don’t know, we need to do some more cipherin’ and figgerin’ on the deal. I finally dropped him off at his house and went home. Well, I think I'll save Sunday's tale for tomorrow, as if y'all didn’t know I was going to say that. Toodles.