Waking my wife

Mary and I got married and went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon. Both the wedding and the honeymoon were wonderful. I don't have pictures yet, that's not my department and not the story I want to tell right now.
I have been doing so good lately at avoiding the type of random incidents that make good stories. You know, not doing stupid stuff which tands to result in fewer injuries to tell about. But, on the honeymoon, Mary caught a glimpse of me; well, I imagine she caught lots a glimpses of me, but this one imparticular was indicative of my clumsy nature.
We were sound asleep one night when all of a sudden I lost my footing. Right, I was in a bed, horizontal, and I missed a step. You know the feeling you have when you think there is ground under your foot, you put it down, and it just keeps going beyond where the ground is - so you have to step quickly to avoid falling - that's what was happening. Well, I jerked quite fiercly as I kicked at the covers to quickly find more solid footing and woke my wife. After being so rudely awaken, she of course asked what had happened. I had no idea how to explain to her that I am so clumsy that I stumble even in my dreams, so I just told her 'nothing's wrong, just fell in a hole.' That of course was a terrible explanation which just brought more questions and I had to explain further, but a more detailed explanation was almost embarrassing at the moment.
And you thought this would be about how I got smacked in the face as I tried to wake up my sleeping wife in the morning. Well, luckily I have managed to miss all the flying objects when that happens - which is easy to do when the number of flying objects is zero.

Can good come from misunderstandings?

I have always thought of misunderstandings as events that led to misfortune or fights. You learn something incorrectly in school and though you write the answer correctly as you understand it, the teacher does not give you any bonus for unique thought. In a previous note I talked about the effects of aging. One of those symptoms, loss of hearing, often leads to misunderstandings, arguements, frustrations, and/or lasting jokes at your expense (ask my dad about the difference between homing pigeons and Cummins engines).
However, when you have your ducks in a row and God's in your corner, sometimes misunderstandings can lead to some benefit. I've had this happen a couple times in my life, and these events I feel are worth noting (as they are rare). The most recent happened just about a week ago. I have been playing a game on Facebook called 'Mafia Wars'. In this game you have friends (mafia members) who can help you to progress through the game. They can help in many ways: assist in fights/wars, help to complete jobs, send gifts to complete collections,... To get the help of your mafia members, you need to request it. This request is posted on your facebook profile for all to see and thus provide assistance. One of the more recent additions to the game is the ability to request help to build a 'chop shop'. Once built/upgraded, this 'chop shop' will alloy you to build cars that can be used in the game. To build this shop, you can request that your mafia members assist you by supplying you with the materials: power tools, jacks, cement blocks, ... So I am building my shop and request cement blocks, the post is put on my profile page that I am in need of cement blocks for my 'chop shop'. So far, basic everyday events. About the next day, I get a call from my fiance's father asking if I am ready for my cement blocks. I natually have no idea what he is talking as my mind is racing to put details together so that I can actually have an intelligent conversation (this can be a trick for me at times) instead of saying 'ummm..., well.... ah....'. Turns out, his brother (my soon to be uncle-in-law [is there such a thing?]) had quite a few cement blocks around his property that he was looking to get rid of, saw my post that I was in need of blocks, and was on the phone ready to give them to me if I wanted to get them out of his way. So I hooked on to my trailer and with the assistance of the women in my life, took off down the road to get blocks. We got them home without a problem, although both pick-ups and my trailers were probably overloaded, the tires on the trailer are nearly bald and I forgot the spare (which is a tire I took off already because it was out of balance and cords were showing), and the lights are the trailer are slightly suspect.
My neighbor stopped by not long after the block retrieval to ask what the blocks were for, so I told him, 'I was thinking of building a maze in my backyard.' I could be like one of those test mice. Put food at the end and see if I can sniff my way to dinner. But really, now that I have the blocks, I can put my family to work when they come for my wedding. ;)

Getting older

I have always heard that as you age, your body doesn't work like it did as a youth. Basically the standard things, more aches and pains, injuries occur more frequently (and are more impactful in everyday life), longer recovery time from injuries, can't hear, can't see, not as flexible, memory begins to fail, ...
I am not that old (just 28 by the calendar, 22 in my mind, but my body says ???), but my approach to sports leads to many mornings that I am too stiff to want to get out of bed. But if sore muscles were the worst of this getting older stuff, I would have no issue with it. I would trade some years of wisdom for a little soreness. But all I get is the soreness, without the increased wisdom. Bummer.
Also, I sit and look at a computer every day. I know this is going to have an effect on my eyes after a while. I went to see an eye doctor when I was younger, and he told me I was color-blind. What did he know, I can see all colors! I just get them confused from time to time. People tell me that I should probably go have my eyes checked as a preventive measure. But, if I don't go to the eye doctor, he is not going to be able to tell me I can't see. Now this approach seems to me to be the best preventive measure.
And hearing, I think other people have more to be concerned about than whether or not I hear what they are saying. After all, I can smile and nod with the best.
But the real reason for this topic today. I am beginning to wonder if my memory is failing. Last week my foot was hurting a little when I went to bed, but I didn't think anything of it, until the next morning when I woke up and my toe is red, swollen, and stiff. Jammed? Smashed? Broke? So I think back on the events of the previous day to determine how serious my newest injury may be. I have been thinking about it for days now, still can't remember kicking anything, dropping something on my toe, or doing anything really stupid that would have caused my toe to grow. After several days of trying to remember the incident to determine severity of the injury, I have decided the toe is broken. Not because I remembered what I did (because that memory has yet to be discovered in the depths of my mind), but because it still hurts, is still swollen, and is now even more colorful. Springtime is supposed to be the time for flowers to bloom, I guess my toe got confused and thought it was a flower. It happens!

Short stories

It has been a little while since my last post and I would hate to lose my readers due to lack of stories. Although I haven't done any one big thing recently that has produced an interesting story, I do have a couple little tales to tell.
Last week I was sitting in a meeting and, to be honest, I was not what you would call attentive (probably more in the realm of spacing out, not sleeping though). Anyway, I was playing with my pen as my mind wandered through the empty vastness of space. Then all of a sudden I was brought back to reality as I nearly jumped out of my seat. I had stabbed my hand with my pen! How does that happen? I must have really been out of it. My reaction to the incident was noticed by a majority of the people in the meeting, everyone except the guy talking. He found out though, since at the end of the meeting there were a couple comments made across the table about what I must think of the meeting since I apparently had to cause myself pain to stay awake. I mean, I had to pinch myself regularly when I was in college to stay awake in some classes, but I don't get up that early anymore to be that tired.
Next story. Out to dinner with my 'soon to be' enlaws and the food is being brought to the table. The guy bringing the food looks at me and says something. I don't really hear what he says so I smile, nod, and giggle a little. Seems to satisfy him, so I guess I agreement was the right thing to say/do. Any story worth telling does not end with a smile and nod after a deaf moment. Don't worry though, the family filled me in on what he had said. He had told me that my food had been dropped on the ground, but they would dust it off and get it out to me in a couple minutes. He was messing with me to get a reaction, guess I showed him. I don't even know this guy, who messes with a total stranger? I apparently look like a guy that can be messed with though, because it happens on a regular basis that strangers will mess with me.
I guess that's the two recent highlights. The stories about me falling as I run are likely to be upcoming as softball season is beginning and I apparently still have difficulty with the whole 'one foot in front of the other' concept.

Presentations

Every time that I am preparing to give a presentation or seminar, I can't help but think back to the presentation I gave at the conclusion of my Masters program. During grad school I raced a mini-sprint on Sunday nights. It seemed that every time my Masters advisor came to watch, I had trouble (wreck, part failure, ...) and was essentially out of the race early. So as he introduced me for my presentation, he made a comment about my racing saying something to the effect that when he made it to the track to watch me, I would have problems and when he didn't I ran the whole race (although was never really likely to win). Because of this he said he considered not staying for the presentation, but was afraid that I would go on and on. So he said he would stay and ensure that the presentation would be over in good time. Well, he was right. He stayed and about halfway through the presentation, I hit the button to advance to the next slide and it stuck - the last half of my presenation was over in about a second. I watched the images flash on the screen out of the corner of my eye as I was beginning to talk about the slide I intended to have on the screen. I wasn't watching him during the presentation because I was consentrating and then in shock about what was happening. You think he regretted mentioning my inability to finish a race without problems while he was watching - and then staying for the presention and watching as I had problems?
You don't have to think this is funny, but I do.

Trust Issues

I guess I have a few issues with trusting others. Although I have been aware of this in the past it was brought to light once again this week. I took my pickup to a mechanic to have some work done. The problem: a few teeth had broken off of the starter ring of the flywheel. This requires pulling the transmission and clutch to basically replace the flywheel. Had I been near Mullen I would not have had a second thought about tearing into it myself, but with a lack of the proper tools and my father's assistance, I felt the job was too big for me. It took just over a day for the repairs to be made. The whole time I am wishing I could be there watching/helping/advising (even though the mechanic knows more than I do). When I got my pickup back I had to take it for a drive to reassure myself that everything worked correctly. I am still monitoring all noises and shakes very closely (if I had done it myself I would likely have forgotten to tighten something and it would fall apart after a few miles.) I haven't gotten under it to make a visual inspection of the work, though it was a challenge for me not to do that first thing.
I hope that this trust issue will not carry over into my marriage, but how likely is it for such a problem to be limited to someone else working on my pickup?
(Mary, this is your warning in case you haven't noticed this yet.)

Slip and Slide

I am from Nebraska, I know how to drive in the snow. And I did pretty good during the storm this weekend. The snow is pretty much melted off the roads now, making driving easier for all those who are challenged by the slick roads.
After leaving Mary's tonight I zipped home with no problem. As I am headed down the driveway at my house I realize that the rain we had gotten during the day had frozen on my drive. There is a curve at the bottom of my drive that leads around to the garage. However, being unaware of the ice on the drive and having other things on my mind, around the curve was not where my pickup wanted to go. There is a level spot for about 10 feet off the curve, then a steep slope for 15 feet, leading to a more level area with scattered trees. Don't worry, didn't hit any trees. Actually, I didn't even slide off the driveway, but was a little shocked at the ice on the driveway.
Hope you are having a good day.