Monday, September 10, 2007

More Good News and Bad News

The bad news:

I was like Typhoid Evie in the lab today, spreading death and destruction to all my beloved analyzers. I've had these days before, where every instrument I touch breaks apart like a cartoon watch, and I'm always sort of amazed and appalled at my mightiness.

First, I crashed the probe on the blood bank analyzer just as tons of type and screen orders began popping up on my screen. Okay...I dealt with that one. Rebooted, fixed the probe and moved on...to crash the hematology analyzer! Go Evie!

This one was a little trickier and required a call to tech support. However, during the various startups and shutdowns, I bonded with my tech support guy, Don. Don lives in New Mexico and is also a Bears fan, primarily because Brian Urlacher is a New Mexico native. We also agree that the Dallas Cowboys are repellent, and he made me laugh by telling me his local minor league team is the Albuquerque Isotopes.

I'm totally jealous. OUR local minor league team is the Southern Illinois Miners, which is not nearly as cool as the Isotopes. Somewhere in there, between the secondary switch, the latron, and the football prognostications, we got that bastard up and running...all before I had to explain it to my boss. Hallelujah!

See Diane? I TOLD you there was a God. Heathen nonbeliever!

So that's the bad news. The GOOD news is that I get the day off tomorrow to reflect on the state of the world and mow my pasture. It used to be a yard, but somehow in the last few rainy days it's turned into the amber waves. But that's cool; I love to mow. It LOOKS like work, but really, all you do is drive around and drink beer, and after a couple of hours, the yard looks nice! Talk about maximum bang for minimum buck!

Oh...and I finally started reading Son of a Witch, which, of course, I love. So pray for rain; then the mowing day will turn into a reading day with a side of chili and cornbread.

Yay for not going to work! Yay for lawn tractors, chili, books and cornbread! Yay for crappy eBay pickup trucks, cats in your yard, chainsaws, and beer...all at once.

In the words of the immortal philosopher: Farm livin' is the life for me.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been up since three caked in Icy Hot extruding all that good you speak of post mowing the field. And, it's a lot easier if you don't run the lawn tractor on 5 ;)And, as long as the good out weighs the evil, I can find room for a rain prayer or two. Now would a non do that for you ? Dr. Unwin's humor reminds me of you. He is 95% certain. Calculated 67% certainty. And, with me being 100% certain I sleep well most nights knowing you fall in there somewhere. lol I'm off to greeet the sunrise and, renewed appreciation of God and fresh cut grass. :Diane

Ev said...

My grass is beautiful, my truck's running like the wind, and all is well in my universe.

I'm jealous of your good sleeping, though. I'm more like the Princess and the Pea than Sleeping Beauty.

You know Diane, of all the people I've virtually met lately, you're one of the ones I'd be most interested in actually meeting.

I'll bet you're a ton of fun. :-)

Anonymous said...

Give a weed an inch and, it will take a yard. We have our shit together :) I would like to meet you too Ev. And, work on getting that day job so you can rest with all the other non nocturnals. The hours you keep are not normal. :Diane

Kwach said...

Diane, the hours she keeps are so much more normal than they used to be! She's been a night-shifter for most of her life. I love her being on second shift. We see each other awake almost every day, and we both get a chance for some alone time (if I don't selfishly intrude on hers by staying up half the night).

Second shift is awesome!