I don’t like being a dick.
Ok, I’m sure there are some people who may read the above statement and say to themselves “then maybe you shouldn’t be one,” but those people suck and probably don’t read my blog anyway.
I digress.
I’m going to start this post with a quick, one line statement for those of you who may have caught wind of some of the events of the last few days through my various other social networking tools.
Alex is fine and he is coming home from the hospital today.
For those of you who aren’t in the loop as of yet, that should give you a pretty good indicator of how my week was.
Last weekend I completed moved our intranet at work from an old, seriously outdated server to a shiny new one with updated and/or different versions of all of the major software used to support it. The machine the intranet was on was a Windows 2000 box with ColdFusion 5, MySQL 3, and Visnetic Website as the web server software. The new machine is a Windows 2003 box with ColdFusion 8, MySQL 5, and Internet Information Service 6 as the web server software. The move itself went fairly well (despite the fact that I originally moved the wrong database files over…but I corrected that on Sunday night).
Monday, however, the shit hit the fan.
As I referenced in my post earlier this week – there simply is no way to test for every eventuality when doing a move of this kind. I spent the majority of my time working this week correcting errors that simply did not exist on the old server. On top of that, one of the biggest changes that happened in this changeover involved moving away from using employee Social Security Numbers as a UUID field and going to a generic 10 digit code. Many employees did not get crossed over properly and I had to go back and run conversion routines two additional times to get everyone in line (and I still have one more block of them I need to straighten out).
So work pretty much sucked. The only bright spot in the whole week was that I finally found out what my annual increase was. It was on my paycheck that I received on Friday, along with all the retroactive pay I was due dating back to the first of the year.
It was a very nice check.
On the homefront, however, it was significantly worse. Alex got a stomach virus on Monday night, and it kicked his ass. I have never, ever seen him get this sick. He didn’t eat for several days and spent most of the time in bed. So much so that, on Wednesday, I gave in to his tearful begging of me not to check his blood sugar or give him a shot. This turned out to be a very stupid thing to do. Wednesday night Krys, Jareth and I came down with the bug and I spent most of the day on Thursday sleeping. Alex, feeling better that day but seriously dehydrated, got into the gatorade that I had purchased and drank the majority of a 32 ounce bottle.
No insulin + Sickness throwing off his body chemistry + 32 ounces of sugar water = Very bad things for a diabetic.
I went in to check on him at 3:15 on Thursday and he was breathing heavy and seriously incoherent. He couldn’t move without it hurting and he was barely able to stay conscious. I checked his blood sugar, and the meter came back as “HI.” This means over 500. I gave him a shot with extra insulin and checked his blood sugar again at 3:40. Still HI. Gave him another 10 units of insulin and checked it again at 4:30. Still HI. Waited until 5:00 and checked again. Still HI. Gave him another shot and called his Mother. At this point panic was starting to set in, as I had to be at the theater by 7 for the evening performance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and it was looking like he was going to need to go to the hospital. I left him in the reluctant care of Krystalle (who, due to not being related to him, cannot authorize medical care in case of an emergency…a situation that I need to have remedied post-haste). Jody finally got Alex to go to the bathroom and test to see if he had any ketones in his blood, and it came back that there was a moderate level of them. She called his doctor, and while he was not panicked he did say that Alex needed to go to the hospital. We were going to wait and do it when I got home that night, but Alex could not even stand up to take a shower on his own. When I called Jody to tell her that (I was at the theater at this point) she made up her mind to take him then and there and rushed him down to All Children’s Hospital.
Long story short, Alex had entered a state of ketoacidosis. This is a potentially fatal condition that can happen to diabetics who don’t get insulin. In Alex’s case it was bad, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. I got to the hospital around 11:00 and stayed there with him overnight. Finally went home around 4 yesterday afternoon after his Mother got back and his blood sugars were back to normal levels (he had to be put on an Insulin IV to get his body back in line). He called me at 8:30 this morning to tell me he was coming home.
Krystalle and I finally feel like we can eat again today, and I got a decent night sleep last night (the first I’ve had since Tuesday). I ate some soup this morning that Paul gave me last night and am drinking coffee again (the caffeine withdrawal symptoms weren’t helping things either). All in all, this is has been one of the crappiest weeks I’ve had in a long time. I’m going to be chewing on the guilt of what happened with Alex for a long time. I should have insisted that he check his blood sugar on Wednesday and he should have had a shot. Everything is ok now, but I’m seriously shaken over the situation. I can tell you this much – he’s going to get seriously annoyed with how anal I’m going to be about this stuff going forward.
So yeah, that was my week. Sorry if I’ve been out of the loop for the last few days. If I missed anything important out there let me know.
So I’m supposed to be off book for Gorey Stories on Saturday. I knew this, somewhere in the back of my mind, but the reality of it didn’t set in with me until our stage manager said something about it last night at the end of rehearsal.
Begin panic mode…
See, here’s the thing…When I do a show I learn my lines largely by repetition. I can sit down and memorize a script if I have to, but I get a much more solid grasp of the script if I hear both my part and the parts of my fellow actors in my head over and over again. Due to the nature of this show, much of our rehearsal time has been eaten by musical rehearsals and there are some sections we simply have run that often yet. As such, I can’t “hear” them in my head…and it’s making things REALLY difficult for me. I just went over my script a few times during lunch, and it almost feels like some parts of the show are completely foreign to me.
Meh. It will come. I just hope I don’t spend 90% of my stage time calling for lines on Saturday.
In other show news, I have what is probably the most challenging song I’ve ever had to perform in this one. It’s pretty high in my range, and I’m having a really difficult time getting enough air in my lungs to hit those notes (there just isn’t much room in it for breathing). When I do? Sounds great? When I don’t? Sounds like I’m dying (at least to me). Talked with our (most excellent) music director about getting a rehearsal track for that one, and she’s going to be spending more time with those of us who have solos in the next few rehearsals.
Wednesday and Thursday have become my hell days. I have to be in the office, so I end up going straight to the theater after work. If we get out of rehearsal on time I get home a little after 10:30 PM. Wednesday is supposed to be one of my workout days, but last night I didn’t have a full hour in me. I’m proud of the fact that I managed to knock out 30 minutes, but the primary motivation behind that was the fact that I figured out my POINTS for the day and I was 2 over (with no Flex POINTS left to spend). I’m really, really trying to keep the show from derailing my workout routine. The last time I didn’t get back into the groove until months and months later. With as good as I’ve been doing recently on that front that’s just not acceptable. It’s bad enough that I’ve basically started smoking again. Note to self : Taking a weekend “off” to smoke while on vacation is a bad idea, especially when you’re coming back to a very stressful work environment and a show. I’m not back to a pack a day habit, but I can already feel that heaviness returning to my chest when I wake up in the morning (probably contributing to my breath issues in Gorey Stories as well).
Alex is still having emotional issues at school, and he’s been very clingy in my off time as a result. He’s constantly talking about getting in “Us time” or having a “Father/Son Day,” which is a wonderful thing but I have very little time for me and to get the things done that I need to get done. Things like my laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills, general house cleaning/maintenance. Then there’s that whole “memorizing lines” thing. Not that I want to sound like I’m bitching about my son wanting to spend time with me – I’m not. This recent level of wanting me to take him places and do things with him is unprecedented, though, and came at a really bad time. Some day, I know, I’ll be wishing he called more often and that he had time to spend with me. The Cat is in the Cradle and all that Jazz. I get it. There are only so many hours in the day, though.
Sigh.
All in all, though, I think the show is coming together really well. I’m really looking forward to the end product on this one. It’s just going to be an exhausting process to get there. I REALLY can’t wait until I get some pictures taken in full makeup and costume. If I come out looking half as cool as the others did in our promo shots I’m going to have some new user icons.
This whole post came off a lot more bitchy and emo than I intended, really. I’m just wiped out today. Part of my agenda for the afternoon is plotting out the rest of my vacation time this year. I’ve got 2 more personal days coming to me, an I have almost 50 hours of vacation piled up. Can you say “lots of three day weekends”? I knew ya could.
My son just called to tell me that he received 8 different awards upon his graduation from elementary school today, ranging from academic to behavioral achievements. He was also on the Principals list AGAIN for the final grading term.
Damn, I’m proud of that boy.
So I was originally going to sit down and write a five-year anniversary post. I even started to do so. I realized, however, that I hadn’t written anything about my day yesterday…and it was an awesome day. So much so, that I think putting down a chronicle of that day is much more important. To me, anyway. Your mileage, as the saying goes, may vary.
When I got back from Dragon*Con last week, I promised my son that we’d spend a day together over the weekend. We got to go to Dragon*Con. J. got to go to his grandmother’s house for a weekend (where he got a PSP and assorted other loot). It seemed only fair I devote a day to Alex. I made no plans in Warcraft or around the house. Sunday was going to be his day.
Woke up relatively early, and made breakfast for the family. Omelete’s all around! It started with just one for Alex, but as everyone started to smell my wonderful cooking I ended up making three more. Not that I minded, really. I actually enjoy cooking, when it’s appreciated, and my breakfasts are almost always appreciated. I got dinner in the crock pot (pot roast…mmm), grabbed a quick shower, and then Alex and I were off.
Our first stop was at a place called Congo River Golf in Clearwater. It’s a nifty little mini-golf course that an interesting little bonus feature – you can feed baby alligators there. They have a partnership with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and a small habitat near the entrance. What’s most amusing about it is that the three dollar “gator food” is a cut up hot dog. Anyway, a rousing game of mini-golf took place, with the score a dead heat going into the final two holes. A poor calculation on Alex’s part on the last hole that dropped him into a rock trap put the game to me by a margin of only 2 strokes! Of course, we were both so far over par it wasn’t funny. Yeah, not so much of a future in the professional golf tournament thing for either of us.
After we left there, we stopped by the Barnes and Noble on Sunset Point for some books and a snack. Picked up a copy of Marvel Zombies, Ultimate Spider-Man TPB #3, and the new Dragonlance novel. Got a Halo book for Alex as well, despite his fears that it was too thick for him to handle. I was a little taken back by that statement. I mean, the kid reads at a 10th grade level! He shouldn’t be intimidated by a 314 page novel about a video game. I guess it’s just the level of books that he’s reading as part of his fifth grade curriculum. That bothers me to an extent, but he didn’t test well enough to make it into the gifted program so what can I do? Anyway, I talked him into letting me buy him the book and he actually had the first chapter read before we got home.
Ah yes, I’ll be inflicting The Hobbit on him soon…muwahahahah.
Split one of those mondo cookies with him while he had a glass of milk and I sipped on a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I’m such a whore for Pumpkin Spice. Really.
Next stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond where I wanted to look for some metal tins to store my spices in. I was sick of looking at my boring spice rack, and rapidly running out of cupboard space for the ones that didn’t fit in it. Alton Brown has this system where he uses metal tins and velcro to put them inside of his cabinet doors. I figured I could ape that pretty easily.
I was wrong.
At Bed, Bath and Beyond the only tins they had were magnetized ones that cost $2.00 each. I figured if I was going to be putting velcro on them it was silly to spend extra on the magnets, so I passed. Alton had said you could get the tins at a Hardware store, so Home Depot was scheduled on to our afternoon agenda. I did, however, get a wooden cutting board (something I desperately needed).
For lunch we went to eat at a place called Sunset Subs. I used to eat there quite often when I worked at the Staples in the Sunset Point Shopping Center.
It’s not nearly as good as I remember it being.
At the Home Depot I was again thwarted in my efforts to get the metal tins and velcro. Realizing that Alex was being dragged to all kinds of Not Fun places, we decided we’d swing by the movie theater to see about going to a movie. Unfortunately, there was literally nothing that we wanted to see. A quick stop by Target also failed to produce the tins I was looking for. The closest I came was finding a candle making kit at Michaels that had four tins in it, but I wasn’t convinced that the seal on those was going to be strong enough to stay closed when hanging on a door.
Lowe’s – Nothing. Finally we ended up at Linen’s and Things, where I purchased 15 of the exact same kind of tins that I passed on at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
As a side note to that – It’s not exactly what Alton promoted, but I think I’m happier with what I ended up getting. I actually found a place online that I could purchase the tins from today, and they are much less expensive. However, when you add in shipping and the cost of the Velcro and China Markers needed to emulate his system exactly I’m only saving about 20 cents per tin. Not only that, but the tins don’t have a shake or pour option. I realize that by having a clear top and not being stored in the cupboard my spices won’t be preserved as well, but I don’t buy expensive spices like he does anyway. Not at this point in my life. I really like the way the spices look on the fridge in their jars, too. So I think, for now, I’m sticking with the magnetized ones. In fact, I’m heading over to a Linen’s and Things here in Brandon to buy more today.
After we left Lowe’s I let Alex pick our next destination, so we were off to Game Stop. Of course, he asked me to buy him a game. It was a used copy with no book, so I plopped down the 17 bucks and got it for him. I figured it was about what I would have spent taking him to the movies anyway.
When we got home J. was watching The Two Towers so Alex couldn’t get on his new game. Instead we played a few hands of Chez Geek. At that point, dinner was done so I got that out of the crock pot and we had delicious pot roast. Alex got in a game or two after that, and then it was time for him to shower and go to bed.
Once he was down, I got my lunch together for today and set up the coffee pot to automatically brew in the morning. Grabbed one of my new graphic novels and went back in the bedroom to hang out with K. while she studied. We watched a little TV while reading, talked a bit, and flirted so much that despite her still being somewhat sick nookie became a necessary way to end the evening.
Not that I’m ever…EVER…going to complain when THAT happens.
So yesterday was, in a word, incredible. I spent some awesome quality time with my boy. We talked. We laughed. I shared some things from my past with him, and he shared a place he enjoys with me. I got to cuddle (and other stuff) with K. Even got to hang with J. for a bit (he played Chez Geek with Alex and I…he’s in that “I’m listening to my iPod and playing on my PSP while watching television so who are you and why are you interrupting me” phase so getting quality time with him is kind of hard). Didn’t play much Warcraft at all, and that’s not such a bad thing. As John (Banick) said to me in an email, we all probably needed a little time unplugged.
I got some pictures of Alex and I goofing around at the golf course yesterday. If I get them uploaded tonight I’ll share. I may still write about the attacks later, but I wanted THIS memory to be first. When, in ten years, I start scrolling back through my September posts to remember what I was thinking I want these thoughts to be the ones to rush back to me. These feelings.
Because yesterday I can truly say that life was just about perfect.
You don’t get that often.
During our game of Apples to Apples, last night one of the words that came up was “Mischevious.” My son played “Spike Lee,” and when the judge ruled out his card he tried very hard to defend his case with –
“But he CREATED Malcolm X!!”