Big hug

Someone has been wanting to visit where "Sable the coffee table" lives. He came today after spending the day at the lake nearby. One I have many photos of. He wanted to see the bird, explore downstairs and kept opening my refrigerator.

It was a long day. I started out by returning to the dentist. One of my fillings from (probably 40) years ago had cracked and needed re-filled. I did this on Monday. By the time the Novocaine wore off I noticed that one tooth was rough. Covered in something. When you roll your tongue over your teeth usually you feel smooth like that of a glass stone. I do, anyway. I was rolling my tongue over my teeth when I felt smooth, smooth, smooth, sandpaper, smooth, smooth. What the heck? I tried brushing it away.

I called the office the next morning. If it was still there by Thursday, come in at 7:30 before work. I was there at 7:28. The dental hygienist couldn't see anything, but she scraped away. Every time she would stop and say "How's that?" I could still feel sandpaper. Both the outside and inside of the tooth. Not the part where you bite down. The overall surface of the tooth.

She was getting exasperated with me. She called the doctor in. He scraped, he buffed, he polished. Each time was the same. I began to feel very guilty. At least he did say he "heard" something when I scraped my finger against the enamel. Finally he said if he did any more he was worried he would damage the enamel.

I said "As long as it isn't hurting anything, I guess I'll get used to it."

What can I do? It is better than what it was and I will get used to it. It isn't like I am going to tell him to keep scraping away.

Of course I was very tensed up and I twisted my neck again. After that ordeal I went to work and installed a switch in a school wiring closet.

The room is hot. I have come to realize that the humans making the decision to air condition the office where the administration personnel sit, are the same ones who say there will be NO air conditioning for the computer equipment that runs the network. Out of sight, out of mind. Until it stops and then it is too late. The way heat damages electronic equipment is little by little. Getting hot, expanding, overheating, cooling and contracting. Over and over again. Mix in some dust and time and pretty soon the equipment is toast.

Anyway, the technician of the school had to leave and I was left by myself. I have to hold this equipment above my head. Balance it with my left hand while I screw heavy bolts into the rack with my right hand. This did not help my neck.

By the time I got to my office I was overheated, overwrought and in pain. A co-worker from the home office called to say they had an emergency. They had tried to call me. I had forgotten to take my work phone with me.

But, they were more interested in where my office co-worker was. They could not find her. "Tell me about it!" I snapped. "It is a daily occurrence for me!" Ah. So much for me keeping my mouth shut. She overslept. It is not looking good for her. She has been eating pain stick lollipops for about two years. She said she didn't know how she overslept.

I scoffed. Let's see. She comes in late every day to work. The home office is oblivious. She is a smoker and she says she is going out for a cigarette and returns 90 minutes later. Three times a day. Along with the lo!!ipops she wears pain p@tches. The last time she shared information with me (she finally got smarter and stopped bragging about all of her drugs, I mean medication) she was also taking muscle relaxers and X@nax.

How awful. She is driving a vehicle. I am fairly certain all of her medication has been prescribed by a doctor or doctors. She feels as if she is doing nothing illegal. Perhaps so, but would you ride in her car with her driving? Do you want to be on the road when she is driving? She slurs her speech when she talks. Her family has washed their hands of her. She has one guy that hangs around. A partner in crime, I suspect. She mentions that he has given her "pills" when she runs out of medication. (Throw that remark out about all meds being doctor prescribed.) He is a maintenance employee of a hospital. Interesting. He was close to losing his job a few months back, but I am not clearly certain as to why. I know that he was on a medical leave of absence. Something about his knee.

What really amazes me is how some folks who are hooked on pain killers keep having accidents or operations to obtain more of the drug. From what I can see, just shop around until you find a doctor that doesn't care. Sounds like they are a dime a dozen.