Tuesday September 16th, 2014 was a day of tragedy and the first emergency care trip for myself in probably over a decade. I had gotten home from work and was in high spirits after seeing an awesome prize pack my mom had won for me had arrived. Check out this sweet Heineken gear!
Not only had this awesome prize pack arrived, but seasons 1 & 3 of 30 Rock arrived as well. 30 Rock is one of the few shows (maybe only) that I have watched every single episode and it was all out of love for Rachel. I didn't know it was love at the time, but it definitley was. Rachel had told me to watch the funny show back in September of 2011 when we started talking online for excessive hours. I became addicted and loved it and loved having something to talk to her every day about. Ahh, the start of a life lasting friendship.
Anyways back to how I ended up at the Emergency Care office. Rachel was cooking us up a tasty dinner, some chicken quesadillas with rice, and green beans. The green beans were in a can that required opening, and Rachel was having a tough time with it so asked me to open it. No biggie, I am an expert at opening cans, so I went over, opened it up and then went to pop off the lid. Unintelligently I went to use my right thumb to pop the now sharply cut can lid off. It was still slightly attached at one spot and as I applied a little pressure to the can lid, in it went into my thumb. It was not super painful, but blood started to come out. I was mad at myself for not using a spoon, fork, or knife to lift the can lid first. We wrapped my thumb up with some towel since it was bleeding quite a bit.
Now you have to remember that I do not get injured too often "knock on wood" and this was the first time I can remember slicing or cutting myself ever (except that dark period in 7th grade, jokes jokes). I had bashed my head on the cement playing basketball in 1st grade, and had my dad come out and yell at me for not wearing a helmet (he thought we were playing hockey), but besides that, I cannot remember any significant injury.
With that being said, it was a fairly long slice, about an inch long and it was bleeding at what I thought was a steady rate. After almost passing out from tying a rubber band too tight around my thumb, Rachel and I were on the move to find an Emergency Care that was open past 8pm, since it was about 8:20p. We found one online that was about 1/4 of a mile away and headed for it.
Once there, I was admitted to a room and the nurse came in, she started asking me questions and I began to take off my little wrap around my thumb. She started to say Oh no, don't take that off. But it was too late and I had taken it off, and then she saw the little slice in my finger and said, "Oh, you won't need stitches." After that I was basically treated like a 5 year old child and felt slightly embarrassed about the whole situation. She gave me a tetanus show, which was one of the positives of this trip, since I haven't had one since probably high school, but when she was giving it to me, asked if I was okay with shots, and then counted down as it went in. Confirmed, she thinks I am a little girl. When the doctor, some guy in his 30s, came in and put a band-aid on my finger, that was the icing on the cake.
Rachel and I both had a good laugh about the situation the whole time and on the walk home. At least we know where the immediate care is now and I am now free to step on rusty nails for 10 years. Woohoo!
Wednesday September 17th
I do not recall any particular events from this date, so enjoy a couple of videos. One a funny comedy rap song by a guy named lil dicky, and the other a pretty amazing rendition of the waltz, via GoPro.
Thursday the 18th of August and Friday the 19th of August were spent working, and prepping for our big event at work for the upcoming weekend, and preparing for our garage sale at home. Finally getting rid of a lot of stuff we should have awhile back! On Friday night, after work, Beth and I decided to have a bonfire. As we were walking outside, I said jokingly, "are you ready for the last bonfire... ever? Little did I know, these words would actually come true. I meant it since we only had one big log left and it will be too cold out soon, although I always want to have a bonfire out mid snow storm. Anyways, I get the big log going with some kindling, and also a couple pieces of bark from the big log that had fallen off, nothing out of the ordinary. About 5 minutes later, the flames are out of control and I see that the lid of the firepit is starting to melt and the paint is chipping away from the flames. Holy cow, this is getting out of control, so I ran inside, grabbed some water and threw it on the fire to calm it down and then broke apart the bark so it wouldn't burn as strongly.
After a few minutes we were back to normal, the fire was again roaring strongly, but not too strongly. Beth and I were enjoying our time around the fire, making some s'mores with gram crackers that expired in 2011, yuck, then using new gram crackers, and just chatting it up. After about 25 minutes of sitting around the fire, there was a pop, and then the bottom dropped out (song reference anyone). Apparently this bonfire has seen too many great fires produced by yours truly, and it just couldn't take it anymore, and puked all of the hot embers and ash onto our patio. Fantastic. We couldn't believe what happened and it marked an end of times. The last bonfire... ever was over. Check out them pics!
Saturday September 20th was our big event at work, and brought us a boatload of candy, which is great, but also bad because we all know I can't resist candy. In fact, that is all I ate during my 9 hour shift on Monday the 22nd! Ahh brings back memories of childhood & cavities. After the event, I headed home and did some preparing for our garage sale, and also power washed the garage floor. It was quite dirty, and I don't think I have even swept it out in a couple years. I used to clean it at least every summer, but have not of late. After power washing out the garage, Beth and I headed over to Phil's place, Rachel's bro. I didn't want us to show up empty handed so we stopped to pick up some beers and apple-ahhh-ritas. I was carrying it all as we were walking out of the store and Beth says, "Do you need any help with that?" I said nope I got it, and went to switch hands and missed my hand on the transfer. Crack went the bottles of Sam Adams that I had just bought and out spilled the beer onto the floor. Luckily only 3 of them broke, so we still had at least 3 to take home! As I found someone to clean it up, I was then blessed with hearing that I could go grab a new 6 pack fo free. Fo FREE! This was quite the deal, especially after being so clumsy.
At Phil's we had some delicious burgers, potato slices, and homemade beers. Tasty stuff. After Rachel's parents took off, Beth, Rachel, Phil, & I all decided to play cards against humanity. It was a hilariously great time and we headed home around 1 am. A great night!
On Sunday September 21st, Rachel and I did a little shopping for our apartment and then headed back. On our way out, we picked up some McDonalds. Once back we cleaned, hung up pictures, smoke alarms, & towel holders. The place is really starting to look complete and we plan to finish it out this week!
Rachel and I finished up the night by watching 2 episodes of Breaking Bad together, and then I couldn't resist and watched 2 more by myself! The show is getting sooooo good and the story line is getting crazy. Really keeps you on the edge of your seat and wanting more! Only 5 episodes left for the rest of the week! Can't wait to finish!
Monday the 22nd was a standard work day, ended with an episode of Breaking Bad and watching the Bears cruise to another victory over the Jets. Also set up some speakers to the turntable in the basement as I was cleaning and listened to War Elephant by Deer Tick on vinyl. They need to play a show close to Chicago again soon.
I leave you with the top of a dresser that we are getting rid of. You can tell it is old because...
Until next week.
Josh