Miscellaneous Grumblings

 I apologize.... I am not feeling overly "cheerful" this morning.  So.... it is going to be just a bunch of grumblings:

• Last evening, my wife had to undergo a "Sleep Study".  This necessitated her driving to a nearby town, and staying there overnight with wires attached all over her body (especially her head and face).  Medical folks are suspicious because of her BMI, her Type 2 Diabetes, her neuropathy, and her snoring that she may have sleep apnea.  As a physiologist..... I think there is a 98+% chance she has sleep apnea, and I have suggested this to her for the better part of a decade.  
• While I am supportive of her finally being assessed.... it was lonely and boring last evening.
• I tried to make the best of it....... I unfroze and heated up a container of our "Tofu Curry" and had it with rice...... and a big bowl of mixed vegetables (roughly a pound's worth (~1/2 kg)).... and a salad bigger than my head.  
• I also had a huge bowl (~ 12 inches across by 8 inches deep) of popcorn (air popped).  I also decided... because I was a "bachelor" for the evening to drink a beer.  In the refrigerator, I found we had several bottles of an IPA we had purchased around the Halloween and Thanksgiving time periods... so we would have some beer on hand for guests through the various October, November, December, and January holidays.  
• While the IPA tasted quite wonderful.... it was an unwise choice.... its flavor and the gentle relaxation of the spirits of it hearkened back an array of memories of spending time with my father-in-law..... AND stirred up quite robust feelings and desires to have one, two, three.... or more pipes.  I had to actually struggle quite significantly with myself to resist the urge to go to my den and grab a pipe and one of the pouches of pipe tobacco. 
• I watched an episode of my 1960s television favorite, Mannix .  As always, the detective drama was fun and interesting.  And, I greatly enjoyed seeing in pristine shape all the beautiful vehicles of that era.  And, there was quite a fair amount of folks smoking in the episode.... including one fellow with a pipe.  
• Instead of struggling to keep from smoking my pipes, I simply went to bed early.  I read a bit more in the Harry Bosch novel I am currently working through.  The link I provided is about the character, but ignore the photograph of the fellow there who is the actor who played Harry Bosch in the television series.... he is no Harry Bosch.  The television series is an underwhelming imitation of the character in the book.  Harry Bosch has the "traditional" police-man style mustache as well, which that actor chose to not adopt in his attempt to portray the iconic Harry Bosch.
• Because I was so damn lazy yesterday and slept too long so that I could not get hardly any miles in... I made damn sure I got up early this morning.  I had three alarms set (wind up clock, electric alarm clock, and my phone alarm.  And, I made sure two of the three would force me to get up out of bed and purposely need walk a fair distance....to turn the damn things off.  
• To atone for my sloth-like limited running yesterday, I forced my tired, old body to run 15 miles (~24 km) this morning.  I was up early enough that I had to wear my spotlight for the first hour as well to try to avoid sidewalk and path hazards.  
• When I got to work, I had to argue with the folks in the U Bookstore and also write a few very pointed e-mails because I have been dealing with a horrendous issue with them regarding my students.  The damn bookstore did not order enough copies of one of the textbooks for my course that students need.... and the damn U Bookstore is the sole source for this book.  With the accelerated Spring/Summer semester, students who were unable to get this book are already falling behind.   In a rather "detailed" fashion, I told the bookstore that they needed to immediately call the book publisher and PAY the extra fees to have the publisher ship around a dozen copies of the book OVERNIGHT to them so the students would not be further disadvantaged.  We shall see how that goes this afternoon.  I may have to forward the correspondence to others in the U community to get a response.... not sure yet.  
• The part that riles me up about the bookstore is that I have told them IN ADVANCE.... many months in advance, and repeated several times in the last several weeks about how this book is essential and they needed the maximum number of these books because the class would fill completely.  But of course, the damn bookstore DID NOT do this.
• PCS = not sure I should even report this anymore.  
• I want to smoke a pipe.  I am very tired of NOT smoking a pipe.

PipeTobacco