Life's short and hard...

Went into work today, and managed to stay for about 2 hours before I had to come home. He had me picking up steel from one of our pits and taking it back to the shop. About 15 mins into it I started throwing up. That wouldn't have been a big deal, I'll work like that. The problem is by 8 I was dizzy and light headed. Even went so far as to fall down once.

Once I got all the steel taken care of I called him and told him I was coming home. While I don't mind working while sick. Being dizzy and tumbley while working around a rock crush and conveyers that can rip your arm off doesn't seem like a good way to keep things normal. I told him I was sick and dizzy, he told me to go home. Guess he doesn't want OSHA around.

Weeks End...

Some how I ended up with a three day weekend. I had called in sick to work on Friday partly because I was sick to my stomach which I knew would pass, but mostly because it would have been Jen's first day away from the percocet. The withdrawal symptoms are harsh and I felt that she might do better with me here. She was up most of the night Thursday suffering from it, it was after Mike left for school that she managed to fall asleep. So most of her Friday was spent sleeping, which is good for her. It's easier to cope with the withdrawal symptoms if your sleeping. I ended up with Saturday off too. I got up to leave for work and by the time I had made it to I-96 my boss had called me to tell me it was too wet, just stay home. I went back to bed for a few hours then got up with Mike. Jen had another late night so she slept in until it was time to take Mike to the grand parents.

Once we dropped Mike off we headed into Howell to take care of some things. Jen wanted to get a new ring for her ear. The stud she has in it keeps falling out. We got over to Eternal Tattoo only to find out someone had broken in the night before and stole all the Ear Rings. We headed over to Walgreens to fill the script that Jen had then decided we would drive into Williamston to see if the Ceramic place on Grand River was open. It wasn't. We had missed it 40 mins. We cruised home for a bit.

We decided that we would drive down to South Carolina to meet up with Craig. But being unable to get a hold of him we didn't end up leaving. After a quick dinner at Mancineos we end up at Meijers then Wal-Mart where we picked up the movie Grease, and the first season of Nip/Tuck which was only 20 bucks. We also got Scary Movie 4, which was a waste of money. At Wal-Mart we picked up a little computer desk for Mike's room. One that would fit in the corner by the bed. It was only 30 bucks and it looked like it would fit. When we got home we found out that it wasn't made right. One of the supports didn't have holes cut for the cam locks. So the desk was a bust.

We got up today and took the desk back and headed out to pick up Mike. It's now a quarter after 7. I'm sure at some point tonight Cam will be over for Magic and Laundry. After that who knows. It's back to work tomorrow, and another week of shit. I'm caught between wanting the crusher and weather to make me not work, and working because we need the money.

Cub Scout

Mike's first meeting went to his first Scouting meeting tonight. It was fun, he seemed to have a good time with it. Maybe it'll help him open up and not be so shy, or help him to be more grounded in reality.

He had two friends from school in it, so that will be good. Maybe he can make more.

Work, Work Work...

Work work work...

I called into work today so I could hang out at home with Jen. She's going through a rough time right now, going to be for a week or so. I decided that I would just stay home with her today. Add to that, it's Mike's first cub scout meeting at 7, and I wanted to go with them. Staying home seems like the best way to be home on time. We are going to have to leave soon. Hopefully it'll all go well. I think the scouts will be good for him, if he likes it.

I'll post something soon to let ya'll know how it went.

Colder then a witches....

When I grabbed my coat this morning on the way out the door I didn't expect it to be cold enough for me to need it. I grabbed it because for the most part it is water proof and I was expecting rain. Somewhere around 1 I needed to put it on for the cold. I think it's the coldest I've been in September for a long time. Other then that work was ok. My back was still sore but it seems to be fine now.

Cold.. Cold.. Cold..

First Day Back

Today was my first day back after a week off for back pain. It started off ok, a little muddy but not to bad. Then the rain set in. It wasn't a heavy overpowering rain, but rather one of those rains thats just slightly less then a drizzle. One you could stand out in for a bit with out getting wet. It did that for about two hours, by the time it ended I was soaked. Now sloshing around in the mud, my clothes 15 pounds heaver from the rain my back started hurting. I think it was around 11. 4 hours down, 7 to go. Once the rain let up it got a little better. They had done some work the week I was gone so there wasn't a lot of shoveling to do. Mostly just standing there, shoveling once in a while. By 1 my back was killing me, making it hard to walk, almost impossible to kneel down and shovel. I took my first darvocet about 1:30. It kicked in about 2:30 and I was ok again, until about 4. By the last two hours I could barely walk. It hurt to step down, or to bend at all.

When 6 came I limped back to the Neon and crawled in the door. It hurt to push the clutch in but I made it. Out on the Ives road, down to M-36. Cut across Meridian Road over to Howell/Mason road and off for home. Set the cruise for 60. Excluding the one stop sign at M-52 it's smooth sailing, no stops all the way to Burkheart Rd. It's here that I hop on the E-way for the last leg of the journey. By the time I make it to Spencer Rd where I exit the E-way the pain from my back has moved down into my right leg. When I make it home it takes me a minute or two to get out of the car. Once I stand I have to hold onto the car for a minute until I can get over the wave of pain and come inside.

Jen made Pork Chops, Alfredo noodles, and mixed veggies. It was delicious. I'm glad that she is home to cook again, her food is always so much better then what I used to make when she worked. After about 6 pork chops and a plate of noodles and veggies it's off to the shower. It's funny to watch the water go down the drain for the first 10 mins of my shower. It looks like I'm pouring coffee down the drain. I'm now on the couch, no more pain killers. I took my one for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, it's supposed to rain until Thursday. Think I'm going to have to dig out my carharts.

The Illusionist

Jen and I cruised out to catch the 9:40 showing of the Illusionist in Brighton. I had my reservations about seeing it. It looked like it could be a good movie from the trailer, but it was a love story. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good love story if it's well done, but they seldom are.

I have to say it was a damn good movie. The over all plot of the move was good. While it was a love story it didn't center on their love. Or rather it didn't center on them falling in love. It was about what they had to do to be together.

I've always been a fan of Edward Norton, I've liked everything I've seen him in. His most famous roll is probably Fight Club, but I loved him in American History X. I believe he did an excellent job in his roll as Eisenheim. His ability to portray someone that is less the normal in a serious manner is astounding. He brings life to a character that would otherwise seem silly, or less the human.

I don't want to spoil this movie for anybody but I would recommend going to see it. While it's not an action packed block buster, it is breath taking in it's special effects, and well done. It will keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense wondering what will happen next.

Dinner

Gotta love home cooked meals.

Jen made chicken cordon-bleu and noodles with bread.

It was yummy!!

About to watch Cabin Fever...

Rock Paper Scissors

Jen just won at rock, paper scissors for the first time in 10 years.

And the sakes opened up.

In his wrath the all mighty summoned I great flood to swallow the infidels of that city of Brighton.

It is raining so hard here that the road as flooded over into out yard. The rain is threatening to come in through the doors. Drainage appears to be an issue in the city of Brighton. The water flows down our sidewalk into the road then back up over the curb into the yard. I feel that we will be swimming by the end of the night.

On the bright side, Jen is making beef stew and it smells yummy. I hope the rain slows up a bit, but not stops. I love thunderstorms.

My back hurts...

Sometime during the day at work Saturday I hurt my back. Nothing big, it was just a little sore. It felt like I just twisted it the wrong way. It was nothing that would stop me from finishing my day at work. By the time I made it home at 6pm Saturday night my back was in pain for real. After I showered and took a nap for a few hours it got worse. By 10 Saturday night when we went out my back really hurt. It was ok if I was standing up, or laying flat on my back. But if I was sitting, or walking, or laying on my side it killed me.

Sunday my back felt a little better. I could move around with little pain for the most part. I could function, I figured by this morning I would be ready to go back to work. We went to be early, about 10ish. I think I was a sleep ten minutes later. About 3am I woke up to a stabbing pain in my back. I had rolled over, and it didn't like it. I was awake for the rest of the morning. Unable to go back to sleep. At 5 when I drug my self out of bed to go to the bathroom I realized there was no way I could go to work like this. This realization hit me when I was standing there using the bathroom and my back gave out, forcing me to grab to counter or hit the floor.

I think it was about 6 when I took one of Jen's percocet. I was out cold with in the half hour. I think it was around noon when I got back up. Jen tried to get me in to see Dr. Mika but they had no openings, and wouldn't touch me with out permission from my work. They where afraid of workmen's comp. Which, as it's only the start of my third week, I can't get anyway. So we ended up at urgent care in Woodland.

On the bright side, we where only there for about an hour. They figure it's a pulled muscle. He gave me muscle relaxers and some pain medication and sent me on my way. I'm off work tomorrow also. If it still feels like this tomorrow I'm just going to go to St. Joe and demand an x-ray. They put me on Relafen and Metaxalone. The Metaxalone doesn't seem that bad according to Web MD. It just causes drowsiness. But the Relafen has nasty side effects.

"This drug may infrequently cause serious (rarely fatal) bleeding from the stomach or intestines. Also, related drugs rarely have caused blood clots to form, resulting in heart attacks and strokes. This medication might also rarely cause similar problems. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the benefits and risks of treatment, as well as other possible medication choices." - WebMD

I'm not too concerned about the side effects. I'm not allergic to anything, nor have I ever had problems from an drug I've ever taken. I just don't want Jen taking one. If it can go wrong it will.

Week in review

Saturday was a wrap up of my second week of the new job. So far it has turned out to be an okay job. I think that it has the potential to be extremely stressful. At least if you let it get to you. It is a construction job, to be more specific it is a mining job. What you have to keep in mind from the start of it is that things can and will break down at work. There is not anything you can do to prevent this. It is the nature of the job. As long as you can keep this in mind at all time it is survivable.

From what I can tell Kenn, the guy that owns the company seems to be a relatively nice guy. While he freaks out when stuff breaks, which is expected as every break costs him money. Add to that the fact that he doesn't make money while we are down for repairs. He also seems to have a better grip on it then the last pit I worked at. When stuff breaks down, or starts to break down he doesn't seem to mind shutting down to fix it. Though he has a low opinion of Oscar the guy that does most the repair, and probably causes the majority of the breaks.

Yesterday I smashed my finger at work towards the end of the day. I got hit by a rock that popped out of the crusher. This was entirely my fault, I was somewhere I shouldn't have been. The finger is fine, it's bruised and a little sore but not broken. Other then that I can say that I have not suffered any serious yet. Though my hands are scrapped and cut a little. But then, I spend a lot of time with a wrench in my hand, and most people that wrench all day can tell you that it's hard to do with out scraping a few knuckles.

Got out of work at 5 yesterday, after I made it home and showered I laid down in bed with Jen and fell asleep. We both slept until about 10:00. When we woke up we where bummed that we missed the movie we wanted to see. But after some checking we found show times for Midnight in AnnArbor. Cam had his nephew Zach for the night so we all piled into the van and headed off for "Little Miss Sunshine". Though the movie was funny, I would wait for DVD before watching it. It wasn't worth the $9.50 a ticket we payed for it. Not to mention that $14.00 we payed for concessions.

After the movie we headed into Howell to get Jen's scripts filled and pick up some school supplies for Mike. Between Wal-mart, Meijers and Kroger we managed to get all of them. Then it was home for bed. Somewhere around 6am we managed to get to sleep.

Today we woke up around 12:00. At 1 we headed out the door to run some errands and pick up lunch and Mike. After we got Mike we went to the store to get some more stuff. We got a hoody for Mike with a new raincoat and a umbrella.

It's now almost 5. My back hurts, I have a headache, my finger is sore and I think I'm going to throw up. All in all it was a good weekend, I'm not looking forward to going back to work.

The hours are long, the work is hard but hey at least the pay sucks!!

I had planned to write a really long and detailed blog. But I changed my mind. Work was ok. Jen's not feeling well, but I'm home and trying to take care of her and Mike. Got my first pay check.

Ahh well.

And then there was three...

Work was shitty today. Really shitty. Oscar the guy that has been training me sense I started got hurt last week in the leg. Today he called in and said that he had a blood clot. So he'll be out for a while. The other guy called in sick also. Which left me and the boss. It being only my 7th day of work everything went wrong. One of the belts stopped twice making me have to dig a lot. Add to that the fact that I was having a bad day with my body. I won't go into details. The day drug by slowly. And I ripped my pants. I'm sore, and tired, and I'll have to go back out later tonight to get gas.

Enough about that, let me leave you with these parting words...

Why doesn't Steve Irwin wear sunscreen?

He likes to catch killer rays...

Shitty Day

Yesterday had to be the worst day at work I've had in a long time. It started out shitty and went down hill from there.

It seemed like it dragged on twice as long as I know it really did, and that it was twice as boring. With out Oscar there I did I did twice the work. Add to it the went nasty dirt and it was like I was shoveling three times as much as normal. Then I hurt my ankle so I was limping a lot during the day. Some where around noon I started over heating and threw up. That cleared up though. I just think with the day as bad as it was it should have moved quicker. But hell is permanent I guess.

New Boots.

This is my toe, after the first day in the new boots. Keep in mind, the new boots didn't do this to my toe. Damn old boots.

Blarg

Today started my second week of work. It's over, I'm home and tired.

Jen made me steak and potatoes for dinner, it was yummy.

Mmmm....

Two Days in...

Today marks the second day of my weekend. Jen is still in bed asleep. I'm not sure when she finely fell asleep last night. I know I was out by five. Got about 10 mins ago, decided I couldn't sleep anymore and didn't want to wake her up. She needs her rest. Not really sure what's on the agenda for today. We wanted to get Mike and go do something fun with him. But I think I recall Jen saying something about another BBQ at her parents. Not sure about that though.

We bought me new socks and new boots last night, hopefully this will help my feet at work. They seem comfortable enough.

Long Weekend

It's Saturday, the first day of my three day weekend. Work went well yesterday. Seemed to pass quickly.

I'm hoping that this will be a good weekend. Once it's over I'll only have one day a week off. It'll suck but that's what we need to do.