Beginning Anew

Well, where do I start?

It's been a while since i've posted. I guess that is probably the most obvious statement you've heard all day, seeing as how you can see my last post from here.

Work has been kind of the usual except for the last couple of weeks when the company moved locations. I, being the only IT guy for the company had the distinct pleasure of moving all the servers and about half of everyone else's crap. The day before we moved, I found that someone in the downstairs suite had removed and unwired my network patch panel, so after explaining in no uncertain terms that I would mess up someone's Armani suit for them, I spent 5 hours rewiring the patch panel. This puts me somewhere around 1:30AM.. and I have to be back by 8am to get the phone system moved. As it turns out, we didn't need to get in any hurry because Bellsouth was 4 days late getting our phone lines installed. Fun.

Anyway, I survived that little adventure.

So about a week ago now, my loving wife got sick at church and for reasons unknown would not go to the doc. So we spent Wednesday night in the hospital because she was dehydrated which kicked off contractions. That's a bit of a problem at 18 weeks. So anyway, we get her some fluids, and on Thanksgiving we head on home. We pretty much 86'ed the family stuff, except I slipped over to my Nana's house for some lunch. It was very good as usual.

So this brings us up to yesterday.

Ann's mom came over to visit, and so I decided (in my infinite wisdom) to get in the truck and go over to a nearby field in hopes of spotting a large deer which would be so kind as to get within range of my gun. (Not too much to ask, I think).

Just as I get inside the gate, I hear air escaping my drivers side front tire. Well, this is just a minor setback. I'm just a few hundred feet, maybe 150 yards from my parents house. I'll go up, change my tire, and ol' split toe will soon be in my sights. Except that when I get up to the house, my other front tire is now loosing air as well. Apparently in a moment of brilliance I managed to hit whatever I hit the first time again on my way back. So now I have two flat tires.

Great.

This is more than a setback, this is a day-ender. I won't get to see any deer today unless one crosses my path while i'm changing tires. But all is not lost, I've got plenty of time. The tire store doesn't close for another 3 hours. I'm good. As usual, there is a farm truck nearby to get me back and forth (since I only have one spare, getting my truck there isn't going to happen). Just as I get my tires loaded on the spare truck my phone rings.

It's my wife: "Hey, I started having contractions again and the doc wants me to come back to the hospital."

Remember what I said about having plenty of time? Well that just ended. This farm truck might get me to the hospital, and then again it might not. Great. At least her mom is with her, so off I go, to get my tires repaired. After winning the prize of the slowest tire repair in the history of modern automotives, I finally get back to my parents house and with some assistance I manage to get tires back on the truck and on my way to the hospital.

Fast forward a bit, and it's this morning. I get a call from my father-in-law from the parking lot.

You guessed it.

"Your right rear tire is F-L-A-T"

ugh.

So now, i'm to 3 tires in less than 24 hours.

Through a process I would rather not discuss, I managed to get my jack stuck underneath my truck in a position that rendered it completely useless.

So after acquiring another, more reliable jack, I manage to get my tire changed and my 4th tire checked, just for good measure.

Next I make it to the gas station, and just as I get about $6 in the tank, the station runs totally and completely out of 87 octane gasoline... and 89... and there is no way i'm putting 93 in the truck. But I can get my truck washed, so i'll do that. Except that as the car wash gets into the second cycle (the one where my truck is covered in soap), it stops. Dead. Just a drip drip drip on the windshield. Nothing.

So after getting my truck rinsed off from a good old fashioned, reliable water hose I managed to get back to the hospital. I'm sitting here, using the free hospital wi-fi and listening to my son's heartbeat on a fetal heart monitor. It's kind of nice, you know? This pregnancy is going so much better than the last one.

I just hope that my day tomorrow gets a little better.