Blah. I got Lloyd’s barfing germs. Rough night. Rough day.
Archives for December 2012
Our first event
Warning: Boring post ahead…
So, Lauren didn’t want to post anything today. My first thought was to try to describe what the stomach flu was like, but I’m going to give that a pass for the time being.
Instead, let me tell you about the latest geeky thing in my life. Over the last few months, a group of computer science teachers around here have been putting together our very own Nebraska Chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association*. A little less than a month ago we were approved as a chapter and on Tuesday we held our first Event.
I bet you didn’t know that this was Computer Science Education Week (yes, there’s a website). One of the things they tell us when they can get us to look up from our computers is that people think that all we do is stare at computers. So we rounded up the only 3 guys who work with computers who actually do anything and had them show [and tell] as many high school students [as we could convince to give up an hour of their evening] the cool stuff they were working on.
It was actually some pretty cool stuff. Attaching computers to cranes to track migration, behavior, habitat and so forth. The computers actually sent data back via text messages. One crane sent 25,000+ texts. I hope they got an unlimited plan. Burying computers in a corn field to track moisture content and tell the center pivot how much water to spray in each portion of the field (okay, that last bit is only exciting in Nebraska).
One guy was working on flying robots that could collect water samples or maintain devices that monitor the structural integrity of bridges. He brought one of the flying robots and you can just barely see it in this picture it you know where to look (this photo was taken after the event while he was just showing off).
The third guy was working with simulation of complex real world objects to try to solve problems that are traditionally hard for computers to solve. Things like how traffic light timing should change in response to traffic accidents in order to let traffic flow as smoothly as possible. Or figuring out the optimal number of firefighters for any given part of a forest fire.
We had a pretty good turnout, and the people who came asked some good questions afterwards. I am pronouncing our first event a success. And, as no description of puking was involved, I think we can call this post a success as well. In fact, that might be a good enough description of success in general.
First world problem
GERD + holiday parties = 🙁
We had a Christmas party this evening for members of the staff and CDC board, and it was wonderful. We got off on a lovely tangent about favorite toys we had as kids. (Remember the Chrissy doll? You pushed in her belly button, pulled her ponytail, and her hair grew! Turn a crank on her back, and it went back in her head. I blame those toy makers for confusing me mightily about hair growth.)
The party started at 7, so I didn’t have any of the delicious snacks since I don’t want a burned esophagus tomorrow. Wahhh – poor little me. I did make a ‘to go’ plate, though, so watch out, breakfast!!
What’s a favorite odd breakfast item for you? Hands down, for me it’s lasagna. Mmmmmmm….. starting the day with lasagna……
It was soooooo much barf.
I hope you’ve finished your breakfast already. This is gonna get graphic.
I can’t remember the last time Lloyd has had a stomach sickness. Usually he gets things like sore throats or head colds that go on for years. Barfing is exceptionally rare. Well, he must have passed something other than the peace at church Sunday morning, because Sunday night he was a mess.
At dinner he said his stomach hurt, but I was serving him Mystery Soup, so I was pretty sure it was just a ploy to get out of eating it. He ate a few grapes and conked out on the sofa. Around 9:30 he got up to head to the bathroom and said, “I’m going to throw up”, but he didn’t. I sent him up to bed with a cooking pot with a little water in it. I don’t know what the water is for, but when I was a kid that’s what my mom did when I felt nauseous, so I’m not messing with tradition.
I immediately had to pour the water out, remembering that I live with idiot bathtub-water-drinkers.
Around 10:30 Lloyd was moving restlessly and breathing funny. He got up, went in the bathroom and
PUUUUUKKKKED
and
PUUUUUUKKKKKED
and
PUUUUUUUKKKKKED
and
PUUUUUUUKKKKED
and
Puked.
He doesn’t like comforting when he’s sick, so when I heard the first hurl I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water for him. I stood outside the bathroom door until he was done then quietly said, “I have a glass of water for you.”
“Yeah,” he answered weakly, “and a washcloth please.”
It was soooooooooooo gross. I will refrain from telling you the details, well….. any more details, but trust me – it was gross. All I can say is, good thing he shaved most of that beard off.
He stayed home Monday and slept all day on the couch. I had to devise a system to keep the water-drinkin’, glass-knockin’, straw-stealers away from his H20:
The Skateboard
At lunch on Friday one of the boys was talking about his dad’s skateboards, and I had a flashback to my skateboard. Let’s gather around for storytime, shall we?
When I was a kid (6 or 7?) my brothers each had a skateboard. Now this was waaaaayyy back before there was all this ‘lots of room for your feet’ nonsense. These skateboards were skinny – the only way the entire soles of both your feet would fit is if you were treating it like a tight rope. Here’s an example.
The boys were pretty good on them. The wheels were like rubber roller-skate wheels. Not in-line skates, but wide, wide cylinders of clear rubber. The ‘shocks’, or whatever they were called, were nice and loose, so turning was possible. I would occasionally take timid little tries on their boards, but I was clumsy and they seemed too wobbly.
I decided I wanted my own.
I asked my parents if I could buy one. They said ‘yes’, but that I’d have to pay for it myself. Oh, the agony! Apparently I had a savings account, but I have no idea how money got in there. (I don’t remember getting an allowance, but there’s no telling. I do remember that I was tight with the cash that I had because I liked feeling rich. I would trade coins in for pennies so I could fill up my purple Crown Royal bag with maximum bulk.)
Anyway, we went to Clubb’s Ben Franklin and I plunked down sixteen dollars of my somehow-earned money and bought – not a yellow one like by brothers’ – a pink skateboard. My own! My own! My very own!
I never learned to ride it.
Nope. I was still pretty clumsy on it. I’m pretty sure this was back before elbow pads and helmets had been invented, so I was a goner for sure. It even had rock-hard shocks so there was no wobbling (also no turning), but I decided that I was better off perching my bony butt on it and using the sprinkler key as a paddle, rowing around the neighborhood like a dork.
Good times. Still can’t ride a skateboard.
Semi-productive
I feel good about Saturday. Regular chores were done, and also three extra jobs. I put up a hanging pole in the basement to assist with clothes drying (no photo), sorted through a closet (though much of what was in there is now just in piles that still need to be dealt with), and Lloyd tackled the kitchen cupboards. He sorted and tossed, while I stood around shuffling the boxes and cans back and forth, looking like I was helping but really not.
How was your Saturday?