Well, there are no other words to describe my blog page. I have recently been shamed into posting some info & updates once again. To those folks who visited here & found nothing these past few months…well, my apologies. I can only offer up some lame excuses.
First, the C-19 scare & attendant pandemic problems brought my travels to a halt. The risks of “catching the virus” seemed to outweigh any possible income sources I could or would have had. So I simply basically stayed home. Then there were some “accidents,” which made work actually impossible anyway.
I managed to nearly severe the middle finger on my left hand while aloft on a local client’s tower. I wrapped it in a couple paper towels & some Scotch 33 & kept working, but the client finally insisted I climb down when the blood dripping on the tower base exceeded his threshold of common sense. I drove home & went to the ER. There, the young ER Doc assured me I had made the right decision. I admit, it looked serious–there were little white cords visible (which moved around a lot when I wiggled my finger), along with the bone down in there. He put in three layers of six stitches each. And insisted I go see a hand specialist three weeks later. Those folks were more-or-less agog at my flexibility. They wanted to know what special exercises I was doing, but were not too pleased when I told them I simply got up every morning, put my pants on & went off to work. But I realize the ER Doctor did a great job sewing the wound closed, guaranteeing the full range of motion, et cetera.
I thought it prudent to use the at-home time to file for unemployment. That turned out to be somewhat of an issue, as going to the NC office simply caused their computer system to crash as soon as you tried to download any forms. This continued for many weeks. I finally was able to download the needed forms one morning at 4AM. Then, of course, my claim was denied, NC apparently not liking or allowing the 1040 IRS form enough to prove I was truly self-employed.
At this point, nearly a year had passed & I allowed my ophthalmologist to convince me it was finally a good time to proceed with our long-discussed cataract surgery. In the middle of March, I had my right eye done. I woke up from the anesthesia, sat up, & could see more-or-less perfectly. I was pleased, to say the least. Of course, part of the pre-operation prep work requires you not to wear contacts, so I was stumbling around with my monocular vision, making most everything (reading, TV, certainly no driving) not only troublesome, but tiring and endlessly boring. Finally, on to the left eye. I woke up from that anesthesia, sat up, & couldn’t see for shit out of my left eye–basically only colors & shapes. I was not pleased, to say the least. The operation had been “sold to me” as capable of providing 120% improvement to my vision. I’m a fan of hyperbole (as much as anyone), but it seemed we were a bit off the mark at this point. Finally, I was able to gain an appointment with my ophthalmologist to discuss things, & he did his best to shame me into admitting I should have known this would happen because of the astigmatism in my left eye. No one wanted to address the hyperbole issue, except to say my new contacts would solve everything. For that, of course, I would be dealing with the department’s new optometrist hire. Here’s where things really got interesting. The new lenses arrived within the “7-10 days” window. But instead of having an appointment, & actually learning something, they simply handed me a small box & basically said “Have a nice day.” Having spent nearly $4000 at this point, I thought this was shabby service at best. After two months of not wearing contacts, these new ones felt like a pair of hubcaps on my eyes. And the left one would not stay seated for some reason. After losing it nine times one day, I called & probably yelled too loudly on the phone but got a follow up appointment with the optometrist again. At that visit, she examined my eyes with a microscope, gleefully telling me that my right lens was “crooked,” & would need fixing. I was honest when I told her I’d heard carpenters use that word a lot, but never really expected eye doctors were find it applicable. Anyway, the upshot was another new pair of lenses, the “7-10 days” refrain again. And this time, I directed them I did not wish to simply be handed a little box. An optometrist appointment was secured. Fortunately, this visit proved to be worthwhile. Not only did the new lenses fit correctly, but my vision was once again where it was (or is) supposed to be.
Of course, having gotten through these trials ‘n tribulations, I was pleased to believe I’d be returning to work. But the cyberattack on the pipeline has created nothing less than another pandemic here in the Carolinas–amazingly similar to the run on bread, milk, & toilet paper which happens anytime there’s snow mentioned in the weather forecast. In short, we have no gas at the moment, at least at 70% of local stations. So, I’ll be at home for a couple more days yet anyhow.
Then I hope to return to something akin to normalcy, in terms of antenna & tower work.
Which, if we are all lucky, you can once read about on this page, because I promise to try & keep somewhat up to date–better than these past few months, anyhow.]
stay tuned…
