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Okay, so I’ve been lazy, sick, busy, and just plain antisocial lately by thoroughly avoiding my posting responsibilities. Here’s the rundown of the fairly eventful last 10ish days of my life:

At work I’ve donned yet another hat – that of “Statistical Analyst.” As of late I’ve been working in the lab doing product releases…this sounds important but in reality consists of weighing and measuring individual tablets and capsules, looking for defects, and making sure a number of percentages fall within the desired government-approved ranges.

Pool training began for my rescue diving class; having fun with that. It feels good to be back in/under the water, and I’m doing very well so far. Passed the written exam with a 48/50 and will be up in Hoodsport, Washington, the first weekend in March to complete my education.

Finally got my outdoor Christmas lights down – I’ve been teased plenty about this, but my procrastination lies in the rainy weather and illness that plagued most of January and early February.

Valentine’s Day was fairly uneventful; Eric and I were both mildly sick and didn’t feel like doing much. I think we watched a movie and exchanged gifts. We still have dinner plans for Da Vinci’s Italian restaurant in Salem, and with any luck we’ll get there in the next week or so.

We took the first beach trip of the new year last weekend. A gorgeous spring day with breathtaking views of endless blue ocean and puffy white clouds. It was one of those trips that refreshes the senses and renews the spirit.

We’ve also been enjoying the Olympics, especially the aerials, snowboarding, luge, speed skating, and freestyle competitions. Pardon the beauty pageant optimism here, but its just wonderful to see the world set aside its differences and enjoy amazing performances, and equally wonderful to see athletes performing for fun and pride despite falls or mistakes preventing them from medaling.

Well, I can’t say I haven’t covered the bulk of my life: home, work, travel, sports, and entertainment. Video games have been set on the back burner for Magic: The Gathering (a strategy-based collectible card game), the Olympics, reading, socializing, and diving class, but I’m still playing CSI in my “spare” time.

Miss you all; Happy Birthdays to Brian and LeeAnn! Love and *hugs* – I hope all is well!

My advice of the month: DON’T get the flu. Its terrible this year. It landed Eric in bed for 3 days with a fever, chills, aches & pains, a stuffy nose, a nasty cough, and the inability to hold food down. I didn’t get it quite as badly; on day 2 I’m rid of the fever, chills, and most of the aches & pains, but my cough is much thicker. Friday was the worst of it – I got progressively worse throughout the workday and made it home with enough time to take out my contacts and flop into bed before the black plague of the flu took over. Luckily I never got the nausea Eric did…I’ve eaten 2 vanilla milkshakes, toast, and bean & bacon soup and as much water as I can muster the energy to drink. I’ve also been able to enjoy the Olympics a little today, and a hot shower helped clear my nasal passages. I’m hoping by tomorrow I can do some laundry & ironing and eat a little bit more regularly on the road to recovery.

What nastiness, though. The aches and pains were ferocious, and the fever/headache were awful too. A miserable occassion, for sure, and one I do not wish on anyone.

A mere week after our waterbed sprung a sizeable leak, our washing machine also decided to jump suit and empty its contents on the floor. Luckily that one is linoleum, but nasty, linty, soapy, dirty water is one of the LAST things I’m interested in wading into.

Four hours of wet/dry vaccuuming the floor, cutting the shit outta my hands with waterproof tape, and generally messing with the leaky drain pipe connections on both ends later, we again have a properly functioning washing machine. Both the connection from the washer and to the wall had worked loose and soaked the better part of our laundry room floor.

Needless to say, I’m sick of water inside my house. Outdoor plumbing is sounding mighty enticing.

Standing in the checkout line at Target the other night, it dawned on me that my wallet was in the car. *smacks forehead* Dammit! I had returned a phone battery and received $14.99 and I had a pocket of misc. change, but with the correct (and less expensive) phone battery, 3 2-packs of class B light bulbs, and a pack of Orbitz gum, I was still about $2.50 shy.

Here’s where it gets weird for Salem: the lady behind me, who also had only one or two items, covered the rest of my bill. The checker appeared to have trouble comprehending the exchange because she took an exorbitant amount of time to finish the transaction.

Needless to say, I very humbly and profusely thanked the woman who paid my bill and wished her a good evening.