It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Thursday, September 15
Ol’ Sparrow had another solid workout at the hotel gym today…Weights were really strong and cardio felt great, too…Some ox came in to workout while we were on the treadmill and he got on the one next to me and after walking at speed 2.8 for 20 whole minutes (with no incline) he went to the weight area, moved the bench, and then flopped on the floor doing stretches or maybe he was having seizures, it was hard to tell…There weren’t any distress sounds coming from his general area, so we left him alone.
The big news is we microwaved our ground beef patty today…Recall Tuesday morning we strongly suspect we were pretty close to setting off the smoke detectors while frying it up in our suite’s kitchenette, so we searched for a microwave recipe and we found one which called for nuking it in a covered dish at half-power for five minutes…Well, we weren’t allowed to adjust the power, but there was a covered dish available, so we did it for three minutes and it turned out not too bad…Not great, but you’re looking for nutrition here and not something to serve at a fancy-pants joint.
Veterans service officer (VSO) training was all right…There were some technical difficulties early on that called for the schedule to be rearranged, but it all worked out…The ladies from the state’s veteran’s homes were there, calling their annual state VSO training conference appearance as the highlight of their year, which we were kind of skeptical about, but their enthusiasm for their work – taking care of elderly veterans – is plain.
And like yesterday’s asbestos presentation did (recall ol’ Sparrow served on an old diesel submarine that might as well been called the USS Asbestos) this one got me thinking, too…Now, one of the reasons we take our supplements and work out when we can is to put the day we need to be placed in a home off as long as possible…That day, tho, may very well come, and it’s good to have this information at hand…Every veteran with an honorable or general discharge is eligible, as are their spouses and while they are not free, the VA pays a third, and Medicare or Medicaid will pay the rest, depending on how broke we’ll be in our old age.
Jerry and I went to lunch…I asked where he was going because he had the good sense not to buy the lunch plan and he said some sort of Mexican place that really serves Mexican-ish ingredients in a tortilla or a bowl and is about as Mexican as knockwurst…It was good, tho…We had a bowl because we’re avoiding processed flour, tho Jerry had a burrito the size of a brick
Getting there was fun…We took his car and he turned too early for the parking lot and the options were to turn around or go over some curbs and Jerry, driving his county vehicle – they give him a car, too, in addition to a cell phone and laptop – saw no reason not to drive over the curbs…Then heading out he followed this big truck that we both swore was also heading to a street tho, hilariously, it was heading into an In-N-Out drive-thru, with utter despair and tragedy averted only because he was able to back out…We did have a pretty funny line when we asked why he didn’t just run over the fire hydrant it would’ve been quicker, but Jerry stuck to paved roads and otherwise obeyed most of our state’s laws regarding the conduct of a motor vehicle on public roads.
An afternoon training session was devoted to the PACT Act…Marshall hosted, which is good because he is one hell of a VSO…He works in this county, which is so big he has a staff of assistant VSOs working under him…The terms of the act, recall, presumes that anyone who served in Southwest Asia was exposed to burn pits, which means the veteran doesn’t have to bother with proving it, and the VA will now presume that about two dozen diseases will be presumed to have been caused by this exposure…There are also some more presumptive diseases (called contentions in the trade) for Vietnam vets, too…One VSO told a story about a client who was in ‘Nam who was laying some razor wire with someone and this someone lost control and the razor wire recoiled and cut the guy up pretty bad, including a nice slice on his schlong, where he later developed a cancer that required removal of said schlong which the VA declined to fork over for.
Dinner was at a buffet I happened to stumble across only because we searched for it…It was a pain in the arse to get to and we will never see why people live in big cities but we were determined…It wasn’t too bad, in fact, it was pretty good…Not as good as the gourmet buffets in Sin City, but worth a pain in the arse drive and it is comforting to know that ol’ Sparrow can still hold his own on the stuffing you face with deep-fried shrimp and crab Rangoon front.
We get to go home tomorrow and thank goodness…Both our fingernails and beard need trimming, we’re behind on both reading and project work, and we miss the cat…We’ve slept pretty well here, tho, and we’ve had two workouts and should be able to get a third in tomorrow and, of course, there was the fabulous dinner at the steakhouse, so we can’t complain too much…We’re going to get off easy with the weather, too…You’re never surprised to see snow here anytime between Labor and Memorial days, but it’s going to be good weather and good roads the whole way.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 1730 Wednesday until 0330 Thursday…9.0 hours for the nite and 31.0 hours for the week…Despite the struggles of being away from The Shire and our regular, irregular-hours routine, we are not letting it hinder sack time.
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The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
It was inspired by the 19th-century British novel of the same name.
Coming soon! Gaylon’s books in actual book form!
