Aug
10th
close call
Despite my previous protestations Leah and I were watching the gymnastics on the tv this evening, with some enjoyment, until suddenly a near-calamity! The commentators handed off to the studio and Bob Costas, and before I even had much of a chance to whine about him the camera panned back and he announced that he was being joined by President George Bush.
I'm not too much of a man to admit that I shrieked and turned off the tv as quick as I could; if I heard Costas and Bush talking to each other I might never have recovered. Two more annoying speakers do not exist, and in conversation their power to drive me to absolute distraction would be increased exponentially; I believe some sort of square law is in effect.
Good thing it was time for bed anyways. We're taping the proceedings so we can watch without commercials tomorrow, if we're so inclined.
Aug
9th
tv is dead to me now
I have discovered that there is a great deal of Olympics sports content available online. It's awesome! Today I watched some of soccer, weight-lifting, judo, cycling, sailing, basketball, dressage, field hockey, and archery—some live, and some in replay. And the best part? No annoying commentary! Although I must confess is it slightly problematic trying to figure out what's going on in, say, a 150-mile cycling road race or a dingy race in fluky winds without the disembodied voices of knowledge talking over things. The judo was tricky too: we couldn't figure out the scoring. But then I looked it up on Wikipedia and it all made sense.
See, who needs tv? The internet can now provide for all of our needs.
Aug
8th
a sucker for sports and pageantry
As much as I hate Bob Costas, I had to open up the tv to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. Which were wicked cool!! My only complaint (beside the inane nattering of Costas et al) is that, since all this is taped long ago, it could have started a little earlier here on the East Coast. Sure, the 8:08 symmetry is nice, but some of us need our beauty sleep. Actually, I have another complaint: the unholy number of commercials. I watched the parade of nations just to see Gabon, and then they came in during a break (along with about half of the world's countries). Never fear, however, because Costas gave us a little review of what we missed, in which he pointed out Bongo's long rule and pronounced the country's name as Gah-bone.
While it's nice to see some tremendous mass dancing and technological wizardry, as well as the fashion choices of the world's Olympic committees, I'm looking forward to some actual sport. Perhaps NBC will deign to offer us a few minutes of coverage over the next couple weeks.
Aug
7th
winter bread
The weather surprisingly took a turn for the autumnal the past few days, perhaps to encourage us in our search for more fall-like employments. It's a little unfortunate considering that I have declared August The Month of Ice Cream and am experimenting vigorously with my new machine, but on the other hand it sure makes the bread-making easier. For the first time in months I was able to knead and shape my wheat bread rather than just smooshing a mass of sticky batter into the pans. I have to say, being able to form proper loaves really improves the final product!
Aug
5th
I hate CVS, New Rochelle, perhaps also bits of my anatomy
As far as business trips go, this one could have gone better. As I was washing up for bed I noticed what the medical professionals so aptly describe as a "burning sensation" while using the rest room. Then I had to go to the bathroom five minutes later... and five minutes after that... and five minutes after that with the addition of HOLY CRAP MY CROTCH IS ON FIRE!!!!! and also, an amount of blood leaving my body that might seem more appropriate in a slasher film. Seriously people, the term "urinary tract infection" seems so asinine... This was the fifth layer of hell.
Calm down Leah, I told myself, This is America. We have ERs everywhere. There they have doctors who prescribe antibiotics! Sure enough, a short cab ride later I arrived at the quaint New Rochelle emergency room. After taking an admitting interview (it went: um, I have a urinary tract infection, give me antibiotics) they took a urine sample to which the nurse seriously said, "Wow! you weren't kidding!"
So here comes the fun part. Obviously I was prescribed antibiotics, and I called a cab to take me from the hospital to the CVS. However, DID YOU KNOW that all 24-hour CVSes everywhere need to BATCH THEIR COMPUTERS at 1:30 in the morning? a process which takes a half an hour??? This means, in case you're wondering, that if you are in need of a prescription that stops all you blood from draining out your urethra, don't show up at 1:45.
So the first CVS pharmacist tells me that he just batched his computer, but that I can drive to Larchmont where there's another 24 hour CVS, which is what I tell the cab to do, but turns out that CVS just batched their computer, because gosh darn it EVERY CVS BATCHES THEIR COMPUTER AT 1:30, WHY DIDN'T THE FIRST DUDE TELL ME THAT???? So we drove back to the first CVS where the cab left me off, and 20 minutes later I called the cab back to pick me up at the hotel. Total hospital-plus-medication-run time, 2 hours 30 minutes.
Lessons: Never travel again without a book, or a bible, or a good piece of embroidery. Also, you friggin suck CVS.