daverea.com

Most of me is back in Rochester. A little bit of me is still enjoying the 70° temps and foggy mornings of Eastern Florida, but I’m sure they’ll fed-ex that guy back up here eventually.

I returned from the trip to find my car stuck and covered with ten inches of wet snow, and my apartment stinking of natural gas. The car was freed through extensive (and at times alternating) digging, revving and pushing. No kitty litter was harmed in the liberation of my car. The fire department found a gas leak in my basement, evidently small enough that I never noticed it until the place sat sealed up for 11 days. RG&E (that stands for Rochester Gas and Extortion) fixed the leak.

That 8PM service call better not show up on my bill.

I spent the middle of the week fixing problems and combating ineptitude at work. Let me just say this: Just because something should be able to do something, doesn’t mean it can – and disregarding mutliple engineers’ assertions of this principle does not convey a sense of trust or confidence. And I’ll leave it at that.

I spent today being repeatedly accosted, strangled, tackled and straddle-attacked. I paid a hundred and fifty dollars for this privelige, and enjoyed every minute of it. And every one of those minutes was worth the thirty-five cents they each cost me!

Of course, the fact that I learned to mitigate each and every one of those attacks with one (or more) of these little companions was the key to my enjoyment of the day. Well, “training” versions at least – no live blades! Except for that part where we collectively hacked the crap out of a five-pound duct-taped rump roast with an assortment of tactical knives. After seeing the tattered results, I would strongly suggest that you avoid attacking anyone who carries one and knows (even remotely) how to use it! A knife, that is, not a rump roast.

So at this point, I’m tired, I’m (a teeny bit) beat up, a chunk of me is running from a UPS guy a thousand miles away, and the rest of me is on a tactical gear shopping spree. As if I hadn’t shelled out enough money already today! The part down in Florida must be the finance guy…