I bumped my head

I fell and bumped my head.

Now, there are several people who know me that would say such a thing must have happened a long time ago. And maybe it did. But whether it did or not happen in the past, it happened a couple of weeks ago for sure.

My mother had to go to Florida for a thing. She was going to stay at my sister's for a few days while she did her thing, so, I drove her down there. After supper, I was ready to leave -- had my weapon, wallet, phone, jacket, everything -- when I though it best to hit the little boys room so I wouldn't have to stop on the way back. I hoped to get home by 10.

So, I stepped into their guest bathroom to, well, take care of business, and I managed to catch my foot on the trash can that was, well, not where I was expecting it to be.

Along the way, I lost my balance and fell forward into the tub. Now, it was across the tub the short way, meaning the other wall was not all that far away. I reached out my arms to try to catch myself, but only managed to push the shower curtain, and I felt and heard my head hit the far wall.

A lot of stuff went though my mind in that little bit of time.

"Huh, that kinda hurt. Wait. I just hit my head falling in the bathroom. People die doing that. Is this how I'm gonna die. I don't like that idea. Is this blood? That's blood. That's a lot of blood. Oh, that's really a lot of blood. Did I crack my head open? Let me feel it. Well, it's wet, that's for sure. And there's still a lot of blood. Maybe I ought to get someone's attention."

"Hey, I need some help!"

"Yeah, that's a lot of blood. I wonder if I'll pass out from blood loss. I better call again."

"Hey! I need some help!"

"Should I try to stand up? Probably not. If I do pass out from blood loss, I'm already, well, let me see ... I'm on my knees leaning over into the tub somewhat. If I pass out, I won't have far to go. If I stand up, I could pass out and fall, and injure myself again. I don't even know how bad this one is, but I don't want to make it worse."

"Hey! Can somebody come help me?"

"Okay, I'm upright a little more. Let me close the toilet lid. I'd hate to pass out and drown."

"You okay?" came the call.

"No, I need some help!"

"Okay, they're fiddling around with the door. I locked the door on my way in, didn't I? I'm gonna have to unlock the door. Well, here goes."

I unlocked the door and they got me to my feet, and thought it might be a good idea to consider taking me to a hospital or something. I was agreeable to that.

Well, a couple of hours and 12 staples in the head later, I left the emergency room and decided to spend the night at my sister's house.

I've been to Florida several times in the past couple-three years. The trips to Disney World were great. This trip to my sister's wasn't quite as much fun.

Hair

When I was much younger, I had long hair. How long? Well, maybe not quite as long as the folks in the musical play or movie...


[The YouTube]

But, yeah, I had hair.

A little bit after high school, I decided to get it cut and look more like a useful member of society. And, it's stayed a reasonable length since then. It did get shorter when I went into the Army, but it hasn't really gotten long since then. However, with the recent closure of barber shops and hair salons, combined with me being overdue for a haircut anyway, it was longer than it had been in a while.

Recently, I decided to do something about that. So, while wandering the aisles of the Walmart store, I picked up some cheap (less than $20) clippers that said they'd cut hair. And I cut my hair.

It was not a great experience. And the bathroom looked like a tribble had exploded.

The tribble that formerly lived on my head.

My hair is now shorter than it's been since I left the Army. But next haircut, I'm going to sit on the front porch and give the neighbors a treat. I'm still sweeping up hair from the bathroom.

Internet Church Sunday

Spending time with the family, with COVID-19, pretty much means immediate family. You'd likely need FaceTime, Skype, Hangouts, or some such method to "visit" with other family.

Church is problematic, too. You've got the danger of being infected by others. In Georgia, most of the areas with large outbreaks came from gatherings such as church and funerals.

We're suggesting that you attend church services online. My local church offers online services on YouTube, and I fire up the Roku when it's time for services. Other churches use another service for streaming. Others stream solely from their Website.

Whatever the case, search for services in your area and see what's available, if your church doesn't offer online services. For example, if you were in Savannah, GA, you could go to Google and search for "church services online Savannah GA"[new tab] and see what results you get. Do that for your area, and see what's available.

Don't let the virus keep you from experiencing your local church, or at least as close to your local church as you can. And be safe.

Isolation

Me, probably.

So, sitting alone at home. Not afraid to go out, just not having to.

The good news is, I haven’t bought gas in … heck, I don’t remember when I last bought gas. Because workplace is all scared of the virus thing and has me working remote, I don’t need to go outside for anything. Well, to get the mail.

I do get the mail, because even though it’s mostly junk that goes straight to the trash, if my car is under the carport, and the mail starts building up, the postal worker might tell someone to go check on me, so I clean out the USPS trash can and put everything in my trash can. So, I have a purpose in life, it seems.

Shower. Shave. (Yes, still shaving.) Eat. Work. Sleep. Watch some movies. Occasional run to the grocery store.

Is this what it’s like being retired? If so, I will only need something to fill the time that I’m currently spending on work and I’m set.

I could spend that time watching the news, I suppose. Well, no I can’t since I dropped cable ten years ago. Which I still don’t miss. And don’t want to go back to. Ever.

Well, I still got some time to figure all that out. Unless during one of my trips to the grocery store, some virus-infected person shares with me and none of this really matters. We’ll cross that bridge if the road goes that way.

I don’t know what may come down the road, but for now, I really need a haircut.

Smoke Alarm

It was late Sunday night -- a little after 10 PM -- when I heard the "BEEP!"

I sat there for a moment, not sure if I actually heard something. After several seconds, I decided I hadn't heard anything. Then I heard it again.

"BEEP!"

"Okay, that's the smoke alarm telling me the battery is low," I said to myself. Why did I say that to myself? I was the only one listening, that's why.

So, I walked to the hallway and looked over the guest bedroom door, where the smoke detector was.

"BEEP!"

It didn't really sound like it was coming from ahead and above me. Must be odd acoustics, huh? Oh, well. I need to take it down and change the battery. So, I walked over to it, twisted it slightly, and it came off. I then turned it over to locate the battery cover, expecting something about the size of a 9-volt battery. Nothing looked that size. There was something that looked like a battery cover, but it didn't look the right shape.

"BEEP!"

That sure didn't seem like it came from my hand. But, yes, I had the smoke alarm in my hand. Walking into the kitchen, where I keep the batteries in the drawer full of everything, I removed the cover and saw a couple of strange-shaped batteries. CR123A. Well, that's unexpected. I'll need to run to the store and get a couple. For now, I'll just remove them. So I did, setting the smoke alarm, batteries, and battery cover on the kitchen table.

"BEEP!"

Okay, that's unexpected. I had not expected the smoke alarm to continue to beep at me after the batteries were removed. Had I removed the wrong smoke detector? Did I have another I forgot about? So, I looked into the guest bedroom to see what I could find.

"BEEP!"

Okay, that was behind me. I looked up along the hallway, wondering if there was another. So, I stepped into my bedroom, looking up around the bedroom.

"BEEP!"

That was behind me. So, in the hallway? Or was it something else? The motion sensor perhaps? I walked to the middle of the hallway and stood staring at the motion sensor, waiting for ...

"BEEP!"

Okay, that was to my left. What's to my left? The thermostat. The bedroom. The hall closet. And, in the dining room, just off the hallway, the alarm system. Well then, I'll just stand in the opening between the hall and the dining room and see if the sound is from the alarm system to the right or the hallway to the left.

"BEEP!"

Definitely hallway. So... the hall closest? Is there a smoke alarm in there? I opened the hall closet to see. There, on the shelf, was the old smoke alarm that I had replaced many many months ago with a smoke alarm that tied into my security system. I picked it up off the shelf and turned it over. There was a 9-volt battery attached.

"BEEP!"

I unplugged the battery, and set it down on the kitchen table. I put he CR123A batteries back in the system smoke alarm and put it back on the wall. Or started to. I must have hit something because my alarm system went off. I walked over and punched in the code and it stopped.

Back to the hallway, and I successfully put the smoke alarm back up. I walked back to the home alarm system and set the alarm for the night. Rather than head to bed, I decided I was thirsty and got some cold water from the fridge. Sitting down in the recliner, I decided to finish the water before heading to bed.

A few minutes later, I heard a large vehicle pull up out front. Did I care enough to go see what it was? No. In a little bit, something caught the corner of my eye. There was a blue light I could just about see through the space between the window and the blinds. Now I cared enough.

Heading to the door, I peered between the blinds. Was that a fire truck? And a police car? And four persons standing across the street in the neighbor's yard?

No evidence of a fire. Perhaps someone had called 911 for a medical emergency? I grabbed my pistol -- you never know what might be going on at 10:30 at night -- and disabled the alarm. I walked to the front door, opened it, and there was a man walking up the steps. I flipped the porch light on, and I could see he was a firefighter.

"We got a report of a fire alarm at this address."

I paused. "Nope. No fire here."

He was joined by two other firefighters and a police officer.

"Your alarm company said they couldn't reach you so they called us."

"I'm sorry about that. My phone hasn't rung," I said. And it hadn't. "Everything's okay here. I am sorry for the trouble though."

"It's not a problem." He turned to leave, then stopped. "You might want to your alarm company and correct your address." He explained that they gave him an address 1 number off, which would be on the other side of the street. That house, though, faces a different road, meaning the address they were given doesn't exist.

"I'll contact them right now. Sorry for the trouble."

"You have a good night, sir."

"You too."

Well, the alarm company does have my address correct in the Web interface, so I'm not sure why they'd give the wrong address. And while my phone didn't ring, I did have a voice mail from them.

It's good to know that my alarm system works, even if it doesn't work just right.

What a stupid driver

I don't like stupid drivers. You don't either. You're there in traffic and somebody is doing something stupid -- or not doing anything when they should be doing something -- and you're thinking "What a stupid driver." Well, I ran into that the other day. And, it wasn't quite like anything I had ever encountered before.

I was in traffic. Not heavy traffic, but traffic nonetheless. There was a line of cars, and we were stopped at a red light. To my left was a lane of traffic going the same way.

I looked over to my left and noticed the driver was looking down towards her steering wheel. No, not to the steering wheel, but a little below the steering wheel. Not to her lap though. Bottom of the steering wheel. I couldn't see the phone in her hand, but you could tell. You could tell.

About that time, the brake lights on the car ahead of her went off, and the car ahead of her started to move. I watched her and she was still looking down. After a second or two, enough time for the car ahead of her to have moved a couple of car lengths, she glanced up and realized she was just sitting still in traffic with no one ahead of her. Only then did she move her car forward.

"What a stupid driver," I thought. I watched her for a second and just shook my head. I turned my head toward my passenger and was about to share my thoughts, when I saw I was receiving the most curious look. That's when I noticed traffic ahead out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look forward to confirm what I was seeing.

That's when I discovered that the car in front of my had moved several car lengths by now and I was now the one sitting still, holding up traffic.

That look from my passenger? It was quietly saying "What a stupid driver."

Now whatever will I do with my time?

Here's a little peek behind the scenes at both the Website and at me.

You may not realize this, but most of the posts here are written ahead of time and scheduled to appear at a certain time. I don't log in, write up a little gem of wisdom (or whatever) and sit, watching the second hand on the clock approach the 12, waiting to press Publish. And, there's no limit to how far ahead I can write and schedule a post. That can sometimes cause little oddities or necessitate edits. Such as...

Well, here's where we get to the peek at me on a personal level. I binge-watch TV. Or, to sound like I'm not addicted, I hold TV marathons, sometimes lasting days. Or weeks.

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. Maybe. You see, I've been posting my watching of the classic Doctor Who episodes on Sundays. One week per season. And, here's the thing: I'm done. Finished. Watched 'em all. All 26 seasons. That means the last season's wrap up is written and scheduled for 22 June. It also means I had to edit an entry after one of the recurring characters died recently, since she was also known outside the Doctor Who universe. Kate O'Mara played The Rani, as well as many other roles over the years.

Now, with that behind us, that brings me up to my question.

Whatever will I do with my time?

I sat down last night, turned on the TV, and had nothing to watch. An empty Hulu queue. Nothing unwatched in iTunes. Nothing in my Amazon library. No unwatched DVDs.

I'm not saying I need to watch TV. I'd read a book, but Amazon says Frank's new book (which I've pre-ordered) won't deliver until November. I don't know what to do. For the first time in months, there's not a bunch of Doctor Who episodes awaiting me watching them

What should I do with all this free time?

Habit forming shampoo

The other day, I realize I was running low on shampoo. That, of course, meant that I needed to pick up some more at the store some time. Before I was completely out.

Used to be that you'd simply pick up shampoo. There was a brand, and that brand had one shampoo. Maybe two. But today, each brand has more types of shampoo than you can manage. Or more than I can manage.

Some time back, I received a Dove Care Men Plus or something named sorta like that, as a gift. It had soap, body wash, and shampoo. And, I liked it. So, when I needed more soap, body wash, or shampoo, I'd get the Dove Plus Care Men stuff.

So, as I said, I needed shampoo. So, I saw the Dove Plus Men Care stuff on a shelf in the store. Only, I wasn't sure which one. The one with one shade of sorta green. The one with a different shade of sorta green. Or maybe this other shade of sorta green.

Anyway, I grabbed one that was maybe the same as the one I had been using and liked.

Wrong one. Of course, I didn't find this out until days later when my shampoo ran out and I opened the new bottle and used it.

I knew right away it was different. My head felt odd. I stopped, rinsed my face off so I could see without getting shampoo in my eyes, and looked to see what that was I had put on my head.




Sure enough, it was shampoo. But, then I read the label and didn't look at the pretty colors. And the label said, "With Caffeine And Menthol."

Great. I'm now putting the equivalent of Maxwell House and a pack of Kools on my head.

Now I have to decide if I want to finish off the bottle of shampoo, or go back to the store and try to find the right stuff. I do have the original flavor body wash and soap, so I could actually write down what it is I want. Or take a picture. And, I will do that when I pick up another bottle of shampoo.

Only, by then, will my head be addicted to the caffeine and menthol? Will I be up to three shampoos a day?

I may have to go on the patch.

Near-miss

I was almost first one at the wreck the other day. We were in southeast Georgia, for a couple of events. The Little Princess had a wedding shower near Jesup last Saturday. The Wife went. I didn't. (That's another story all by itself.) And Saturday night, they had Grandma's 96th birthday party in Jesup. The Wife and I went. Some others didn't. (That's another story all by itself.) Between the two events, though, we nearly had another event. We had left Grandma's and were on the way back to the hotel. We got to a major intersection, and I decided to turn left, rather than go straight. Years ago, it wouldn't have mattered which way I went, since one city street was pretty much like another. But, over the years, they widened a couple of streets, re-routing some thru-traffic, and I decided to take that street. That meant turning left. So, I moved into the turn lane, and the truck behind me went straight through the intersection. Only, they didn't make it all the way through. Seems that an SUV ran a red light. The truck behind us (which had the green) hit it, causing both vehicles to flip around 180°. No one was hurt, it appears. Which was fortunate. The SUV driver had a small child (looked about four years old) in the front seat (and, yes, I think that's illegal in Georgia). Thankfully, though, the child seemed okay, just a little scared. Jesup Police got to the scene quickly. They actually beat the wrecker there -- which doesn't always happen. (That's another story all by itself.) Right after it happened, we realized that if we hadn't moved to the left-turn lane, we would have been in the intersection when the SUV ran the red light. And that would have made for a bad day for me. The Wife's day would have been worse, since the SUV would have hit on her side. But, it was in the cards for us to live long enough to celebrate Grandma's 96th birthday. But who knows what might happen tomorrow?