Musings of the Museless

Wow!! I was having such a bad week with health and stress issues (save Tuesday’s night banquet, see below) and then my West Coast friend Divinity (through whom I’ve travelled vicariously quite a bit! :)) sends me these! Not only are the flowers beautiful, but the vase is all stripey and perfect for any type of flower in the future (I may try some bamboo in my office in the near future). I am very appreciative… thanks chick! I’ll remember you (and your address) as I head out on some business trips in the next few months.

Earlier this week was OceanSAR 2006, a radar-for-ocean-technologies workshop for which I was web-master (or is it web-mistress?). Anyhoo, at the workshop banquet at the Fairmont Tuesday night (blackened halibut for main course, chocolate mousse cake for dessert… yummy), the organizing committee recognized the work of myself and a colleague who did FAR more than I in planning for this thing with a basket of flowers. They did leak when I brought them back to the table, but luckily the tablecloth covered up my “mess”.

The health is improving. I visited the Student Health Centre yesterday (and tried to ignore the Norwalk buzz that filled the waiting room), got assurances that my cold will improve if I keep up my vitamins and syrups, got some anti-inflammatories for the stiff neck, and a pat on the head. Stress-wise, work is still chock-full of challenges, but something that wasn’t working yesterday is today, so that’s the start of something good. And tomorrow IS Friday… a slightly long weekend… enjoy it! :)

I have bits of pieces of the flu. One bit is sinus pressure and another is achiness, so I took a few hours off work this afternoon to medicate and nap. I feel bad when I do this, because it’s not like I lost an arm… I could, in theory, still work, though I can’t promise I’d be productive. I hurt but don’t have many extraneous symptomes, so then I wonder if people wonder if I’m faking it to get a few hours off (though, with the vacation time given at work I have no reason to lie). Maybe I should just tell them it’s a “feminine thing” and watch the men squirm. :)

Gonna go take a muscle relaxer and… well, relax.

What is wrong with me? If I let me, I would collapse into a pile of sleepy goodness. I’ve been like that all weekend (I know it’s no longer the weekend). Is it the flu? Is autumn weaving its way into my psyche?

Maybe I’ll sleep on it.

… I just had some pineapple (about 2 cups worth), and now my tongue feels kinda burny and numb. I don’t have any real allergies, but maybe I have one to pineapple?

It’s been a busy sort of week for my little puppy boy. It started off great last weekend – the Beagle Paws reunion was Sunday at Mundy Pond Visitors’ Centre. We obviously all went. April barked quite a lot, but was generally well-behaved (she may be mellowing). Wesley was the social butterfly, sniffing and being sniffed, and had the record (slowest) time for the obstacle course! We left happy.

On the way home, I had to stop at work to pick something up. It was while I ran to my office that Brian noticed blood in the back seat. Further inspection revealed that Wesley was bleeding – more than a little bit. The source of the blood was detected (cut on the pad of his back right paw) and B did his best to make him comfy while we tried to track down a vet, which is no small task here on a Sunday. After calling their emergency line, we drove towards and sat in the lot of the vet clinic until someone happened to be leaving. But the bleeding was stopped by then, things seemed okay, so we were sent home and told to come back during normal business hours.

Which we did, first thing Monday morning. Dr. Laite saw him and his wound (which by now was doing okay) and deemed him okay… which he seemed to be. But the gosh-darn bandage she put on came off Monday afternoon, and the bleeding stated again. And kept going, everytime he managed to get the bandage off or we needed to change it.

Back to the vet. This time, it bled when she unwrapped it. A lot. There was a concern he may have a clotting problem (think hemophila), but tests for that came back normal (thank goodness). The next step was surgery, to determine if maybe something was in his wound.

So yesterday, my little puppy boy went in for surgery to see what was the cause of the blood. Turns out there was nothing in the wound, but whatever made the cut nicked an artery. Ouch. That was taken care of quickly, and at the same time we had a lump removed form the side of his paw.

So now he is recovering. His exercise is limited for the next 10 days (like that matters to him, he’d be sleeping anyway), he’s got some pills to ward off infection, and he’ll be fine. As will the rest of us. :)

Weight Update: Lost another pound this week, meaning I’m down 16.6 lbs since January. Not a lot but better than up!

We are now in Cairns. Got here this morning, on a quite comfy flight that was continuing to Tokyo (nope, not on my itinerary). I say the flight was quite comfy because I slept through most of it, in spite of this nagging little cough/cold I’ve developed.

After arriving at the hostel (I’ll give a better review of the hostel later, but I’ll say it’s not up the same as the other two we’ve stayed in thus far), we went on a mission – a short mission. We dropped into the dive shop we’re taking our dive trip with, got fitted for wet suits (OMG! It’s sooooo much easier to move in a 4mm wetsuit, even putting it on is easier, and we have full boot fins!! So different from the frigid North Atlantic).

Later in the evening we went to Reef Teach, a two hour performance/presentation on the fish and coral you can see, along with tips for leaving things as you found them. Dude (who’s name escapes me… I’ll update the post with his name) was awesome!! I wish he taught ECE courses in the same manner… class attendance would skyrocket!

I’ll digress to yesterday’s wine tour another time. It was good… but I gotta run. I’ll let you know how diving went when we get back!