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2007-04-06 - 10:34 a.m.

Reality Bites

So...I slept in yesterday because I was exhausted and not feeling well (sore throat). I'd been hoping to spend the day organizing and cleaning while waiting for all my goodies to arrive. DSL wasn't scheduled to be turned on till 7 pm, UPS probably wouldn't arrive till mid-late afternoon and the regular mail, with my new DSL setup CD, wouldn't come till 4-ish.

To my surprise, my DSL service was hooked up by noon (per a phone call from the installer dude). I did a few things around the apartment, then trudged back to bed, feeling increasingly oogy. DAMMIT.

Couple hours later, I was watching TV, in the middle of knitting a row, when mom called. She was so excited to hear I was knitting and I said I'd call her back in a few. I knew we'd be on the phone awhile, so I decided to bring my new nightstand (in the foyer, almost blocking the door) upstairs in case the UPS guy showed up. On a whim, I opened my door to check for any UPS notices. Just in case.

OH MY GOODNESS! It had arrived and was at the office! I apparently didn't hear the UPS guy, NOR DID THE DOGS, so I slapped the notice on the staircase and carried the nightstand up. I had to go to the office anyway to drop off my rent (not late till the 6th), so it was cool beans.

I called mom back and we talked for quite awhile. I told her all about my new PC and monitor and she was very happy for me. She said "I'll probably never hear from you again, you'll be so caught up!" I told her that if she ever got a computer, she could join SL and follow me around saying things like "WHAT are you wearing, young lady?"

Heh.

Anyhoo, once we got off the phone, I took the dogs out, organized a few more things, then bebopped over to the office. The box was HUGE. One of the guys had to help get it in my car. I stopped off to check my mail, in anticipation of my DSL CD and was utterly dismayed to discover it had NOT ARRIVED. Shit. My first thought was that my (no longer) beloved Theresa from Windstream forgot to send the damn thing. I figured that maybe I could get by with my old setup CD. I was going to test the DSL out on my laptop first anyway.

I managed to tote the computer box to my door using a fold-away dolly I'd bought when I got my last TV, but getting it up the stairs was quite the bitch.

By the time I set it down near my still-in-the-box monitor, I was feeling even more shitty. I realized that even if I got everything ready to go, and if everything WORKED as it should, I probably wouldn't feel up to playing around on SL. How sucky is that?

I forced myself to lay down for awhile. I couldn't fall asleep, but resting helped a bit, so I finally decided to test out my DSL on my laptop. After hours of fucking around with it, I'm still not able to connect. I don't know if it's the software, or the modem or both. I'm pretty sure it's the software though. I put in a call to Theresa, hoping she was working that day, and left a detailed voicemail. She had said she returns calls usually within 10 minutes. When 20 minutes went by, I figured it must be her day off.

I spent another couple hours screwing around with the software and network settings, rebooting, unplugging and replugging cords to no avail. I dialed up to AOL to check Windstream's support pages (perhaps I could download the setup software?) but it was of little to no help. FUCK! I was in no mood mentally or physically to be on the phone with tech support, so I took 2 Tylenol PM, crawled into bed with a hot pack on my neck and called it a day.

Oh -- and this is by no means minor -- in the middle of all my tweaking while I was offline, mom called. I thought she was checking on how my computer stuff was coming along. Instead, she told me that Dad had gone to the doctor to have a small bump on his shoulder/neck area checked out. He thought it was just a pimple, but it was hard, and wouldn't go away (after all his attempts to, um, excise it). The doctor was concerned, removed the head (ICK) and had it biopsied. And guess what? It's MALIGNANT!

Sweet Jesus, what next? He's scheduled to have it taken out in 2 weeks (we're not sure why the doctor is waiting that long), and supposedly they caught it soon and all that. But as far as other tests to see if the cancer spread, I don't know. Mom said he didn't sound all that concerned by the news and didn't give her a lot of other details. So now we're sitting here thinking "What the fuck? What do we DO?" I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Dad has always been a sunbather (sunscreen? hell no!) and I always had a feeling something like this would happen. The skin condition on his arms and back is a walking ad for sun damage. And I know mom and I shouldn't smoke (god knows what damage we've done), but no one goes around telling sunbathers "You know, that will kill you" like they do to smokers.

And yes, I SHOULD quit. And I will. Just not yet. (Feel free to smack me around).

One other big piece of news: Dad has (finally) been forced to retire. His last official day was Friday. But they're allowing him to use his office/resources for another month or so. He's supposedly been given a year's salary (paid in installments, like he's still getting paychecks), and continued health coverage. Not sure if it's COBRA or not. They might be paying it for 6 months, then he switches to COBRA on his dime. Not sure on the details.

Dad's been getting his resume ready (well, the assistants are helping him), as if he's actually going to be able to find another job at his age! He's 71 for chrissakes in SHITTY health. But there's no way we'd be able to talk him out of it, and the prospect of a new job seems to motivate him. However, since the malignancy news, he told mom he's putting the job search on hold for awhile.

He's already put the house in Baton Rouge up for sale (whew! No more talk about mom moving there and selling the house in Houston!), and is getting ready to move back home. Mom is, of course, freaked out by the prospect of living full time with Dad again. As you may have noticed from previous entries, he can be a COMPLETE PAIN IN THE ASS. He will drive my mom BONKERS. But she knew this day was coming eventually, and it'll be a big adjustment for her, but I know she'll be glad to keep a closer eye on Dad. And if he can try to be a more pleasant person to be around, mom might actually begin to like having him there. HA!

Anyhoo, she's been busy getting the house ready and finding a storage space for whatever Dad doesn't sell that won't fit in the Houston house (most of it). Mom and I are so happy that we got two of his spare rooms organized and cleaned. It'll make it the move so much easier.

So that is all the news on the family front at the moment. (I know!)

I'm feeling a bit better this morning. I'm gearing up to call Windstream. I'll try Theresa again first, leave another message and then try tech support. I've also got another package coming from UPS today (2 books, Second Life: The Official Guide, and Tacoma Confidential, and a DVD of "Happy Feet"). Whee! If I can't get on SL today, at least I can read about it and get some good tips. Or console myself with animated penguins. (I also received the first two epsiodes of "Rome" on DVD from Netflix yesterday -- yeeee!)

Wish me luck with my adventures in computing, people. I could certainly use a distraction from reality at the moment. And lots of positive, healing thoughts to my Dad would be greatly appreciated!