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.

Trouble with Directions

I was thinking that I hadn't done anything all that stupid in the past couple weeks, then I allowed my memory to function and, oh ya, there are several.
Twice this week I have failed with directions.
The most recent was on the way to dance lessons. I don't drive in Greensboro much, so before leaving I printed out a map and highlighted what seemed like a reasonable route. It worked well, until I was ready to make a turn, the street was a one-way the wrong direction. Shoot. Well, so much for my planning. Take the next street. For those of you who do not live in this area, streets are not straight and sometimes change names at random intersections. Makes things confusing. Anyway, started down the next street, all is well, then the road has a 45 degree curve and we are no longer headed to our destination. Have to get off the street now, but the next street is again a one-way, and it is not the direction I wish to go. Take a right at the next intersection to hopefully start in the proper direction again and in about two blocks we are at the destination. I guess I got lucky because I was beginning to lose my sense of direction.
The other direction failure was earlier in the week. Mary and I were trying to install a pre-hung door in my basement. I quickly read the directions. Usually I just look at the pictures, but the pictures weren't very good so I actually tried to read. That is, I looked at the big words and filled in the rest based on past experience. I start taking the trim off, Mary says that I shouldn't be doing it that way, that the directions say the door is a split frame and will slide apart in the middle. I have installed doors before, she didn't know what she was talking about. I hate to admit I am wrong, so I usually say "just kidding" and then do it right. So we pull the frame apart and shim the door, nail it into place. As I am putting the frame back together I mention to Mary that there has to be room for the drywall to go behind the trim. It is not until the next day that I realize I am going to have to reinstall the door because I didn't leave room on the first side for the drywall. Maybe I should listen to myself a little more closely OR read all the directions. I guess I learned something from this experience - not sure what it is, but I am supposed to learn from my mistakes, right?

Snowboarding

I have always desired to try my hand at snowboarding, but honestly, was just a little nervous about it. I believe my brother is responsible for planting this fear. During his first few trips he said he spent more time on the ground than going down the slope AND he dislocated his shoulder while boarding. I get injured just walking down the street, increase the risk and my probability of injury skyrockets.
Well, this past weekend I made my first attempt at snowboarding and I walked away in one piece. It wasn't so bad. At first, I did spend a lot of my time not standing, which means I was on my nose or rear. But after a few runs (about an hour) I was feeling confident enough to point the board down the hill and get a little speed. What fun is it to do something at half speed when you can go full boar. Only difference is that the crashes are a little harder if you are going faster. This was no problem as long as nobody was in the way and I concentrated on what I was doing. Most of the falls in the last two hours, which there were a lot, were due to a lack of concentration. The lack of concentration was highly correlated with me singing, which probably didn't sound too good anyway.
The biggest crash was at the bottom of the hill after making a solid run. I caught the back of the board and flipped over backward landing on my head, digging a trench about 6 inches deep and two feet long - good thing I had a helmet. The other crash was a collision with my friend who was learning with me. I fell and was just getting up again, when my feet are suddenly over my head. Didn't really know what had happened until I saw him skidding on down the mountain on his back. He had fallen just behind me and, not being able to stop on the icy snow, slid under me and flipping me. Neither of us was hurt, but I did hear a few oooos and ahhs from the folks just behind us. Guess they got a little entertainment.
But I feel like I can handle a snowboard now. Anybody ready for a trip to the mountains?