Flu manchu

i made it to the Minute Clinic first thing this morning, checked in at 8:15, opened at 8:30. After covering the timeline of my symptoms, she said it sounded like the flu. She then said she wanted to rule out strep throat just to be sure since my throat was irritated. So she swabbed my throat, not holding back on the elbow grease. It came back negative. She concluded that it was most likely the flu or possibly another virus. She said she wouldn't make me do the flu test since either way the treatment would be the same and it is rougher than the strep test.
After agreeing with her, i hesitantly asked if we could do the test anyway if it was covered by the insurance. i got my flu shot and while i'm well aware it doesn't cover every flu strain, i just needed confirmation of her assessment. Satisfying my curiosity involved a rather uncomfortable swab in the nose. It wasn't just a swab near the end of the nose, it was an exploratory swab that may have actually scraped my eyeball. In the end, even with my watering eyes, the sneezing, runny nose, and overall sense of nasal violation, it was worth it. Not only for the super clean feeling in my nose, but the test confirmed it was the flu. No hard feelings to my flu shot giver, i still love her.
At the moment, the sore throat is the worst of it, just hope the fever/chills don't return by morning again.

2012 - aches and pains

i don't typically mind being sick. i enjoy going through what countless patients complain about every night in the hope that i'll develop some shred of empathy. For some reason, my instinct is to just tough it out until it goes away. i rarely think, i should go to the doctor. However, this morning after i walked out of the pharmacy after being achy and having chills all night, the cold air made me start shaking, more than just a shiver. When i got into my car, it was like i was having a seizure. It was the most unnatural response to a minor stimuli that i've ever experienced, but i had no control to stop it until the car heated up. i still didn't think to go the Urgent Care across the parking lot. Instead, i came home, threw on a sweatshirt over my work shirt and took my temperature. The thermometer gave a shout out to Q101 (formerly 101.1 on your Chicagoland radio dial) . Fortunately, i found coverage for work the next night. i decided to go to bed right away and ended up burning alive, so i stripped down to normal sleepwear and then woke up in a pool of sweat many hours later but feeling much better. After feeling bad for having someone work when i felt better, i stayed up for awhile and for the first time in my life watched part of a Nascar race. Proof i was sick? Some claimed "delirious." i attempted to sleep but couldn't. The whole night, the achy feelings crept back and my throat began hurting worse and worse. So, i guess i'll go to the Minute Clinic when they open, since it's free with our insurance anyway. Other reasons influencing my decision include:
1. We are going to be on a plane soon and i don't want to a) get every one on there sick b) i don't want my head to explode on the plane c) i don't want to be sick on vacation.
2. i regret not going to the doctor immediately to get my self-diagnosed sprained ankle checked out, since it is still tender and i have to try snowboarding soon.
3. It's good to see what the whole doctor trip thing is all about.
4. If it can be avoided, i'd rather not bring more germs to my pharmacy and patients.

ow.

Since returning to soccer this winter, after every game i have had some sort of injury or ailment. i don't know why i can't stay on my feet, but the turf just tears up my knees every time they meet. Most recently, i sprained my ankle pretty badly with some pretty good swelling and throbbing a day later. i'm pretty sure i heard a pop as i stepped wrong. If our games were recorded, it would have been one of those gross replays where the player's foot lands awkwardly and you just grimace knowing it results in an injury. Unfortunately it seemed like a good idea to go through with our plans to go to a few stores today. The longer we were out and about the more i realized how much my ankle hurt. It beats a broken leg, but this sucks. i should have just stuck with Fifa for the Xbox.

Ten years of Butler Basketball

The shots just didn't go in. i was so confident that Butler was not going to lose and we would have won on just a decent shooting night. Matt Howard and the other seniors deserved to end with a national championship. That's what hurts the most. One of the 5 principles of the Butler Way derived from the "Non-Negotiables" according to Dick Bennett "Thankfulness: Graceful gratitude for every experience, each high win, low loss and hard practice. The pleasure of realizing that each occurrence is a teaching opportunity, a lesson that can be applied to a future challenge." On first thought, the experience gained would be applied to the game of basketball, but for this group of seniors, that was it. Somehow the tragic shooting night from hell will have to be translated into a life lesson off the court. The Butler seniors all took blame.  

But maybe it was my fault. While i wore the same unwashed shirt/jeans as the previous games. i wore a brand new pair of socks, didn't make everyone sit in the same seat as the night before on the couch, relocated the Butler basketball bone the day of the game, and maybe i should have went with the Bulldog boxers. i even denied friends from coming over to watch the game as not to introduce any type of jinx. One reason i decided not to go to Houston was simply because i have seen Butler lose in person to finish their post-season NIT and NCAA tournaments every year since 2002. i figured if i wasn't there, it could not end in a loss. But as the dude at midmajority.com says, "It always ends with a loss."


In the past ten years i've driven over 6698 miles for Butler basketball, not counting regular season games or Horizon League tournaments. We've participated in two NIT tournaments and made six NCAA appearances resulting in two Sweet Sixteens and finished as the National Runner-Up two years in a row. Not bad for a mid-major. i am definitely thankful to be a fan of a team that has seen as much success as we have and can't wait to see where the next 10 years will take us.
  
The past 10 years - who we lost to  (miles i traveled per tournament):
2002 - Syracuse (NIT) 66-65 OT (649 miles...not counting additional miles for a stop at Niagara Falls)
2003 - Oklahoma (Sweet 16) 65-54  (486+810 = 1296 miles)
2004-2005 - no post season tourney
2006- Florida State (NIT) 67-63 (845 miles)
2007- Florida (Sweet 16) 65-57 (526+277 = 803miles
2008 - Tennessee (Round of 32)76-71 OT (490 miles)
2009 - LSU (First round) 75-71 (93 miles)
2010 - Duke (Championship game) 61-59 (568 miles)
2011 - UConn (Championship game) 53-41 (405+704 = 1109 miles)

Coupons continue.

Good news is that we survived the half marathon. i felt surprisingly good the whole race and even had enough for a kick with the finish line in sight. i was hesitant to speed up any sooner based on past results.
After the race, we rested for a bit then went out on the town for sushi (restaurant.com coupon), went to the Charlotte Symphony (Groupon) and ate Cold Stone (Groupon) for dessert. We did stop at Dick's Sporting Goods so Megan could get a new winter coat and even used two coupons there. So far, a good month saving by spending.

In other relatively good news, i only have a 5 night work week this week.

Dreading.

Have you ever just really dreaded something that is coming up, but you can't really get out of it? This weekend is the mini-marathon we signed up for in Charlotte. To recap, the last time i attempted to run a half marathon such as this back in Indianapolis in like May 2007, i remember reaching the 12 mile mark of the 13.1 mile race and attempting to speed up to finish faster. Eye witness accounts confirmed that after i went down the first time, i attempted to get up and run again before finally blacking out completely. The next thing i remember was waking up in an ice bath followed by an ambulance ride to the hospital. Legend has it that my temperature was somewhere near 105 degrees or so. The worst part about the whole thing, aside from not finishing the race and the stupid medical bills that followed was the fact that they put my iPod in the ice bath with me.
i wish i had thought about this sooner, but i should've made this shirt just in case for this year's race.

On the back, i'll just have my name and insurance information.

 

Coupons in November

We eat out more than we probably should, but it's just one of the things we enjoy doing. We love trying out new places and searching for new favorites. In an effort to potentially save money, rather than lying and saying we are not going to eat out at all, we will only eat out at places where we have a coupon.
The month is young, but so far we've enjoyed two meals out with a successful two coupons used. Order waters to drink and it's practically just as cheap as making dinner at home...ish.

So far...
Taxco Mexican restaurant in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. From the expiring 2010 Entertainment book.
Sake Express in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. Printed from the Entertainment.com Web site.

Thresholds.

i'm not sure if i've ever talked publicly about thresholds, but inside the deceptively small space in my head, i have set thresholds for many items that determine if i will make a purchase or not. For quality beer (outside the realm of Bud, Coors, Miller, etc), if you can get it for less than $1 per bottle, it is under threshold and i have a duty to purchase. Even better if it is a beer i know i have enjoyed in the past. Along comes the Abita Party Pack that i found at World Market. The sign said $9.99 or so and i thought, "Score that is under threshold!" then when i got rung up, it was only $7.88!! So i bought two. Then today, i went back and bought four more! A few will expire in December, but i have a feeling i can finish those (especially with guest coming to town in October). Another bonus is that it is a variety pack with 6 different taste per box so i shouldn't get sick of any of them. Almost all are enjoyable to me aside from a weak wheat beer in the bunch, but so be it.

When i'm out, less than $3 per decent beer is acceptable, or $2 for domestic. Either way, i typically find it hard to shell out money while i'm out for a beer, proving once again i value money more than alcoholism. 

I heart NYC

After two strongly dissatisfying trips through New York City in the past, Megan and i will give it a go this September. i figure if we're not in a car we can't be forced to pay a toll to go across a bridge that we had to cross due to construction, only to have to turn around and cross the same damn bridge. i haphazardly started looking at flights yesterday and they seemed pretty reasonable (cheaper than flying to Indiana), so that 3 day weekend in September is now booked. 

For the first time ever, i have decided to actually use some Hilton points to pay for a room. i'm not sure what i've been waiting for, i guess i've been holding out for my 7-night stay in Hawaii.

Any suggestions for NYC?

Home again.

After traveling the past few weekends, we are finally back home in Charlotte with no major travel plans in the foreseeable future.

Boston
Very enjoyable city. Megan claimed it may be her new favorite city to visit. Utilizing real public transportation systems always leaves me wondering why every city does not have a convenient rail system. Yes, the answer to my wondering is probably money.
Ironically, we got to hang out with multiple friends from Indy who happened to be in Boston at the time and not even for the wedding we were there for.

Purdue
In an equal opportunity trip, we went to a Purdue football game to try to offset the higher number of Butler games attended. We couldn't have picked a better game. For the first time ever, i saw the end of the game as Purdue defeated The Ohio State.
Highlights include: Purdue win, going to Jakes twice on Friday then getting denied entrance on Saturday morning and having Megan's ID taken away and having to chase down this Royal Douche Bag to get it back.

Sick house
Now we are home and both cats are on liquid amoxicillin and one gets an eye ointment twice a day. Luckily our neighbor is a vet...although i do have him to blame for having more than one cat these days.

Life

White Wussian 1 vs. White Wussian 2
Aristocrat vodka and Kamora vs. Absolut and Kahlua.
First taste was not too convincing one way or the other per Megan or fellow neighborhood Lebowski fan Jason. However, both leaned toward the mix with the higher quality ingredients. Of note, the cheaper concoction did have a half shot extra of vodka which may have altered the taste. My conclusion: after one round, it would not matter.

2nd Cat
Somehow it appears we have a 2nd cat (Millie). i suppose it was to give Ralphie (cat 1) someone to play with. At first, Ralphie didn't seem to mind but now since the little one is only 6 weeks old and apparently the runt of the litter, Ralphie chases him around like she is a rodent. i suppose they are just playing.

Volleyball Championship
Just wanted to announce that our team (Bumpinators) ended up winning our volleyball championship again. Thanks to our first-time playing volleyball phenom Megan. Can't wait to sport our championship t-shirts.

Traveling
During the next month, we are going to Boston for a wedding, Indiana for breakfast club (i suppose a Purdue football game as well), having visitors and then i may tag along when Megan has to work in Asheville. Who needs a house?