The Terrible Catsafterme

October 2007 seemed like it would be a good month to mostly relax. After the hustle and bustle of Summer - and really the whole year - it seemed like a good time to spend weekends on the couch, watching DVD’s, enjoying the football games (as the Bengals clinch a losing season), eating junk food, packing on a few winter pounds, and just relishing the turning of the leaves as the cold bite entered the Dayton atmosphere. Consequently, there was little this month to report. Jackie and I spent the bulk of the time just hanging out (and she shampood my living room rug one Sunday afternoon - THAT is significant). But in order to capture the flavor of this time period (the flavor of the month, if you will), I decided to do a miscellany posting highlighting a few of the shenanigans of October, the first of ’the big three’ holiday months… 

October always begins on a high note. Fresh back from my vacation in Florida, I celebrated my 36th birthday on October 2, 2007. Mom had already taken me out to eat at Bubba Gump’s (and paid for Ashleigh’s meal as well), Dad sent me a check for $30, Denise gave me an awesome Muppet Show t-shirt, and Asheigh got me a picture frame for my new picture of Adam as well as a spectacular Superman t-shirt. For my actual birthday, Jackie took me out to Olive Garden for a nice dinner and presented me a homemade cake and season six of Smallville. I’m not sure which was nicer - to get to finally watch the beginning of the much-anticipated season of one of my favorite TV series or having a zesty Alfredo pizza in the company of a beautiful woman…

 Thrilled with my cake and new t-shirt

 Jackie shows off her handiwork

Olive Garden-bound

Fall came to Ohio on October 10. The temperatures dropped from the 90’s to the 50’s seemingly in a matter of hours. But the winter of my discontent came on October 12. Yes, it was difficult to believe but on that fateful Friday around lunchtime, I began to feel the pangs of yet another kidney stone - this time on my right side. It took me only about 15 minutes to decide to quickly exit my office and head to Mom’s place. I called her up and asked her to meet me there and take me directly to the hospital. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted them to do, but I knew that I wasn’t going to wait five days to find out my condition and then another two-and-a-half weeks to get rid of the blasted thing.

She took me to Sycamore hospital, the same place where I had had my cystoscopy to remove my other kidney stone. They quickly got me into a room and then into a CAT-scan. The doctor delivered the shattering news that I was the proud owner of a 4mm kidney stone (whereas the one that had been surgically removed was only 3mm). He told me that most stones that were less than 5mm generally passed without a problem. But he ordered me to receive morphine and hydration through my IV. This, added to the ibuprofin that I had already taken, helped ease the pain - although it never left completely.

I was released early in the evening and Mom drove me home. While talking to my friend Bob on the phone, I felt a pain rear up in my kidneys. I thought that this was indicating that the medicine had worn off. Then I felt a sharpness in my bladder which didn’t really hurt, but felt mildly uncomfortable. I didn’t say anything at the time, but when I got home, my suspicions were confirmed: I immediately passed the stone. I kept it - so if you’d like to see it, simply pay me one dollar. As was everyone, I was greatly relieved that this ordeal lasted only several hours rather than nearly a month.

The next event was a meeting with my friend Matt Bohlander on October 15. It had been a few months since my last ‘reunion’ so it was good to hook up with another old pal. This event did in fact merit its own posting which can be found here.

Trick or Treat came on Tuesday, October 30, the day before Halloween. Ashleigh and I had been celebrating for the past week. She and Derek carved pumpkins, put candles in them and placed them on our doorstep. They also attended a costume affair, where Derek wore a moustache and looked ridiculous. Jackie and I had watched some standard Halloween fare such as It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the classic slasher flick Halloween. Grace came sporting a mini-pumpkin from her daycare Harvest Party, but she was more excited to dress up as a princess the next day for Trick or Treat.

 Ashleigh, Derek, and their carved pumpkins. Of the four, Derek is the one with the moustache.

Ready for Halloween frights on the couch…via the TV

Jackie and I took her around my neighborhood where there were tons of folks outside ready to give out candy. I started Grace out with Reese cup in her little orange bag, and when she went to the first house, she promptly deposited her candy into the neighbor’s bowl. After a house or two, she finally got the hang of it and would generally mumble ‘trick or treat’ and ‘thank you’ when prompted. There were so many people outside that we didn’t bother with many houses unless they were outside. After about 45 minutes, we had all had enough and headed back to my house to actually hand out some candy.

 The whole neighborhood seemed to enjoy Grace as the princess

 Jackie and Grace

 Taking candy from strangers

Tiny and Grace inventory the loot

Despite the relaxed atmosphere at home, work was exceptionally busy this month. We opened two new Kroger stores, one in Blue Ash and a Marketplace in Englewood, all amidst the rollout of Blackhawk gift cards. I don’t talk shop much here on my site, but the last week of October brought about some chaos which spilled over into home life a bit. The threat of a Cincinnati - and then Dayton - worker strike loomed like a skeletal Halloween monster ready to pounce. I spent some long hours at work preparing for a possible work stoppage on the holiday itself and the next day. Fortunately, as I hoped (and thought) it would, the strike was averted as the new contract was signed in the 11th hour on November 1.

Tiny and Baby enjoy the Fall dusk

So that was October in a nutshell. November promises at least two big family gatherings: Mom’s upcoming Game Night 3…and of course, Thanksgiving, which takes second place as the world’s best holiday.

So we will press on with updates as they happen…

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 am and is filed under 2000's - Late. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.