Round 2

Infection is not responding to the first batch, and swelling has progressed to my face and jaw. I look nice and purrrty. :)

So, corticosteroid injection in left butt cheek ( makes sitting lots of fun! ), and new batch of Augmentin XR, a stronger antibiotic ( 1000 mg amoxycilin @ dose ).

Failing any improvement in the next 24 hours, I'm supposed to report to the nearest ER and start IV antibiotics.

Loading up on Advil and Tylenol to help with the pain, as does drinking hot tea ( decaf, so I don't get too wired ). Doc doesn't want to give me anything stronger, as it could mask anything indicating I need to go to ER.

Hope all of your Thanksgivings fare better than mine is shaping up to be! :)

Icepicks

are what I feel like jabbing in my ear. Somehow it seems I've come down with both an inner and outer ear infection in my right ear. It is some serious pain right now. Yes, I've been to doc, and got amoxycilin pills and cipro ear drops, but those take more than an hour to take effect. Until they start working, the pain is kinda evil.

The thing that really bites, is that this means I can't swim for about 10 days. :( I'm pissed about that, as in some other news, I decided that I really wanted to get serious about doing well in my tris for next season. So a friend of mine who does tris out here recommended me to his coach. Met with his coach, and think that he can definitely help me reach the goals I've set for myself, in terms of 1/2 IM races next year, and full IM race in 2006. My friend Steve, has been with this coach a little over a year now, and is about 1 year ahead of where I am. He raced 1/2 IMs this last year, and is doing a full IM in 2005. Pretty much started training for this last season about where I am now in terms of fitness and experience, so I'm confident.

I had something else to write, but I forgot what it was DUE THE STABBING PAIN IN MY EAR!!!!!

( ok, thanks for reading my ramblings. )

Babies and Pixies

Babies first. This morning at 11:16am, Matthew Lane Parker entered the world at 6lbs,12oz,19 1/2 inches and made me an uncle! No pictures ( yet! ), as my brother is in the hospital down near Ft. Campbell, KY and doesn't have a digital camera.

Yay! It's exciting! I'm so happy for my brother's newest family member! My brother is very happy too, and I'm proud of him!

Now, about them Pixies. I went to the Pixies show in Chicago last night! They sold out 5 nights in a row at the Aragon Ballroom. This was night #4, and it was still just as packed. Met up with my friend Kurt downtown ( who hooked me up with the ticket! ) and headed over to the show. Got in, and worked our way up to the front, about 5 rows back from the front of the stage.

Awesome show, they played most of the songs that I was hoping to hear. Though a few of them they didn't play that I was hoping for, but it was all good. A late night for a weeknight by far, but certainly worth it.

Regarding the lack of recent updates here, work is just exceptionally crazy due to the aquisition, and I've got my hands full planning that, in addition to all my normal work tasks. It's a good kind of busy though!

Happy Monday!

Some good news. As of this morning, the company I did not want to see buying my company withdrew their bid. This left the company that I *did* want to buy us, as the sole remaining bidder, and the winner by default.

So my job looks to be secure, moreso than it has been for a while. As is everyone elses here.

The winning company is USLec. They are one of our largest vendors, and are a CLEC ( telephone company ) based on the East Coast / Southeast. The plan as conveyed to me has been to keep the company operating as a seperate business unit, including all of our current management.

*The sound of a collective sigh of relief*

Blargh

Well, the candidate I voted for last week didn't win. Not looking forward to another 4 years of 'W'. He sent my brother off to Iraq once under what I consider to be false pretenses, and rumblings are that the 101st ( my brothers unit ) will redeploy in the not too distant future. Grrr.

Went on a bike ride today with some other triathlon geeks in the areal. One of the guys on the ride is a tri-coach. Two of the other riders are his clients too. Hmmm... I'm doing at 1/2 Ironman next summer ( 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run ) and thinking that the supervision of a coach might not be a bad idea. This guy being local is certainly a plus.

In other news, I find out tomorrow if I have a job come Tuesday. :) No, I'm not joking. I wish I was. My company has been in Chapter 11 for the last year and bit. This means that it's very easy for a company to come buy us out, since the court has the say, not us. One company that we like, as they intend to keep us running as we are today, made an offer to buy us out of Ch. 11. That deal was put before the court, and due to the way Ch. 11 works, the court has to allow competing bids to be submitted. Well, one of our competitors caught wind of this, and has submitted a bid to buy us. Since they are a competitor, obviously the only thing they want is our customers. Which means they don't want any employees. The court date to decide which of the two companies is the winning bidder is tomorrow. Wheeee. :)

The wide world has not wealth to buy the power in my right hand!

The Poor Voter on Election Day
John Greenleaf Whittier 


The proudest now is but my peer,
The highest not more high;
Today, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
Today, alike the great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-bow my throne!

Who serves today upon the list
Beside the served shall stand;
Alike the brown and wrinkled fist,
The gloved and dainty hand!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong today;
And sleekest broadcloth counts know more
The homespun frock of gray.


Today let pomp and vain pretense
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain  man's common sense
Against the pendant's pride.
Today shall simple manhood try
The strengthen of gold and land;
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!

While there's grief to set redress,
Or balance to adjust,
Where weighs our living manhood less
Than Mammon's vilest dust-
While there's a right to need my vote,
A wrong to sweep away,
Up! clouted knee and ragged coat!
A man's a man today!

VOTE!