What Cheer, Netop?

Perhaps I should give the sandals I bought yesterday another few days before I try to go on another extended walk wearing them again. ow ow ow

Right now I'm trying to decide between having some pie, doing some knitting in front of the television, or going to bed. I will probably opt for plan D, which is mucking around pointlessly on the Internet until it's far too late.

A story or two while I'm thinking of them:

Last month I had my first physical in a long time. As it happens this was also around the time for me to give blood again. Now, I have been giving blood regularly for a few years now, and there is no really rational reason for me to put it off now, but, still, I felt like I might as well put it off until all my tests and stuff came back so that if it turned out there was something horribly wrong with me I would know not to bother going in to the blood center.

So I went in for my physical like a month ago, but what with one thing and another I've been putting off getting my blood work done. Finally, yesterday morning I went in and got it done, so now I'm just waiting for the results.

But for a couple of months now the blood center has been calling me every couple of weeks to try to get me to come in, and each time I've asked them to call me back later as I wasn't sure &c &c, and it's gotten a little annoying. Most recently they called me Sunday afternoon (when I was expecting another call), and when I told them to leave me alone the woman I talked to seemed to be a little annoyed (it may have been my imagination), so I hung up a bit annoyed myself, and I thought to myself, "Jeez, why won't they just leave me alone? They're such bloodsuckers!"

And then I realized what I had just thought and had to laugh at myself a little.

So that's story #1. Story #2 is related but is more Rhode Island-y.

Monday Morning I finally went in to get my blood work done, which involved driving to Cranston through a construction zone. As has been known to happen in this state from time to time, I got into a minor traffic altercation (not an accident); I was turning left into a parking lot, but I think I didn't make it very clear as to whether I was turning into that lot or into the next one, so a woman behind me decided to try to scoot past me on the left and turn into the parking lot herself, and when she realized that I was actually changing lanes she honked at me, resulting in me giving her my patented 'What the hell?' look. (Perhaps I will get someone to take a picture of me giving this look sometime.)

So then I went in to get the blood test and, lo and behold, the woman who had honked at me was the one assigned to draw the blood.

She was quite apologetic about our little run-in and she didn't take it out on me when she was poking me with needles (it was quite painless, whereas I was picturing fifteen minutes of 'Whoops! I missed the vein again! Sorry! Let's try that again, shall we?').

And that's story #2.

Before I forget:

As I was going out to shovel snow for the second time today, I met one of the women who lives in the apartment upstairs, She was clad in full winter regalia (sweater, coat, scarf, gloves, hat, etc.) and was pretty much covered in snow, which was a little odd, because by that point it had largely stopped snowing and wasn't really that cold out.

"Hi Jake! I just learned a new game. It's really fun!"

She described it as follows: Find a long, straight street that doesn't get much traffic and has been plowed so it's safe to ride your bicycle down it. Then, ride your bike down the street really fast. After you've reached maximum speed, start edging over to the side of the road, and, at the key moment, fall over into the snow bank at your side. It's like getting into a horrible accident, except with snow, so it's fun!

I don't have a bike, so I won't be trying this out, but if anyone wants to give it a whirl and report back, feel free! Also, don't sue me, please!

Some people treat driving like a zero-sum game.

(I thought of this yesterday but forgot to post it. This disclaimer is included so that Matt won't think I'm talking about him.)