Slice of Life

Much of what I do I consider to be self-indulgent. You don't have to tally the score too carefully to come to that conclusion. That's not a brag, for God's sake. It's more an admission of ability or capacity. With that said....

Today, I'd like to report on some of the happenings of my day. This isn't meant for you voyeurs, although I hope that you do enjoy. It's more because I thought I had a peculiar day today.

I rolled out of bed late this morning after interesting dreams about bugs, dread and volcanoes. Many I love were in the dream so it was must-see TV for me. Plus, volcanoes, lava and peril! What's not to love? Whipped myself into the shower, conditioned my hair, took off too much skin from my face. Wolfed down the blueberries I prepared the night before with some yogurt and I was out the door.

Annoyed, my car has flipped a computer chip. It wants to rev in short sharp cycles between 1000 and 2000 rpm. It does that for two minutes, then decides that it has overheated. I blast the heater on full and the sensors sense that all is in balance. A minute later, I'm at work. Car's in the shop tomorrow.

Today, a team huddle in our VP's office, neither routine. An announcement about someone up the food chain who apparently was given the boot this a.m. "Not about going private. Nothing to do with a blood-letting now that we've gone private." A good thing to say but just a couple hours later, another quick huddle about another person who was let go. A guy right near me. Not his choice either.

I'll miss him. Once a day, he'd pick up a guitar and play some Stevie Ray Vaughan. He's been working on "Cold Shot" especially hard. Too bad. Really too bad.

After, I was doing my normal routine, ordering stuff, tending to small fires and I looked up and it was time for lunch. YES! I love lunch, for those of you who never know what to get me. I plotted the range of my differently-abled car and went home for lunch. Too much football impeded my ability to find exciting lunch food on Sunday. So I vacuumed the fridge and ate what I collected.

During lunch, I read about the dominance of the Patriots, those sneaky Blackwater folks, and about the new CD releases I wasn't going to buy. The point is that the newspaper is still the best thing to read at lunch. Period. It's all smudgy.

A few triumphs after lunch. At one point, I threw my arms up into the air to celebrate something that I did correctly, with knowing how to do it. Two or three people were looking at me funny so I told them that I had just done something spectacular. They mercifully didn't ask for details.

As I worked late in the day, the internet kept me current with the Indian's game. The internet coverage was a fine parallel to watching a real game. Not much happened really, and bloggers were yakking about stuff while they waited for stuff to happen. Just like a real broadcast.

I worked 'til a bit before six and went home to watch the game. In a fit of madness, I ordered delivery pizza and talked with Mom. She wasn't watching the game because her watching is a well-known jinx factor. I ditched her when the pizza arrived and I was very excited! My first Medford delivery pizza! It was just as fabulous or craptastic as any but I kept loading slab A into slot B, happy as a clam who eats pizza.

At sometime during the 8th inning, as the Indian's pitcher faced the Sox's best, I stupidly let my guard down and began to believe that the Tribe could win this thing. What is wrong with me? I din't buy Ohio State backing into the top BCS spot this week. Why wasn't I strong enough to keep the Indians at bay too? O stupid Northeastern Ohio sporting fan! Every season, every year, every decade, the same: "Bernie will save us! Tim will save us! Brady will save us!" Rinse and repeat for each Cleveland major league team. 1) Insert hopes into crushing device. 2) Crush.

Now I'm sitting here typing this, full of pizza, full of stupid hope and thinking about lava. I don't want the lava to get my friends, my teams or my fine collection of rocks. I really am hoping that the lava doesn't start flowing near me. I'm wearing cheap red ikea slippers which, in spite of their redness, would be no match for lava. Honestly, I'm am too loaded down with pizza for me to care about eluding hot flowing magma and besides, I've got a two games to one ALCS lead. Why should I worry about a little lava?