Get Cup Crazy

Sometimes my job can be pretty cool... Saturday was one of those days.

Stroke of genius

Yesterday at work, Randy and I were pondering how to dress for a co-worker's Halloween "Spooktacular." I'd already dusted off the Barbie costume last weekend for an ill-fated costume contest, and I just can't bring myself to strap on the fake boobies and the long blond wig twice in one year.

I also have a long black wig, part of a witch costume I wore a couple years back. So, we were sitting there, and a light bulb appeared above my head!

Cher!

Several years ago (back when I was in college), I dressed as a witch, and everyone asked me if I was supposed to be Cher. This time, I'm actually trying to look like her. Today, I went to the store, bought some cheap jewelry, dark makeup, and fishnet stockings. I have a pair of bleached and shredded jeans in the wash right now, and a black macrame top stashed away in a closet (I bought it two years ago for $4.00 at a discount store, using the rationale of "I'll probably never wear this, but it's only four bucks," and I never even took the tag off of it). If I end up looking good... or just funny... I'll post pictures sometime soon.

I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't think of dressing as Cher earlier, since the aforementioned costume contest was at a karaoke bar. I guess there's always next year for that.

Breaking Medical News!

Finally, a spectacular use for medical technology:

Test-Tube Baby Koalas (aren't they cute?)

I'm sure that cure for cancer is just around the corner...

Baseball Weather

Sure, I've enjoyed watching the World Series because of two teams I'm particularly fond of (one more than the other, of course). But really, I've enjoyed watching it because of all the freezing-cold fans in the stands.

Not that it hasn't been "cool" here. It's 57 degrees right now, and we're expected to shatter our record low of 54 degrees for this date. I actually wore LONG SLEEVES today!

Life's A Beach

Sometimes my job can be pretty cool. Yesterday, I covered a youth sailing regatta at the beach. Getting to the beach (the big one) is about a 40 minute drive from here, but it's a nice drive this time of year. There aren't too many tourists in town yet, clogging the one main street on the island.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. Sunny, but not too sunny, a high of about 85 degrees, with a nice breeze coming off of the gulf. Not a bad day to spend a few hours on a boat, which is what I did. When I was done, I gave Cory a call and he met me at the beach for lunch. We sat outside, overlooking a little harbor, and talked about the fact that our wedding is exactly six months away!

I got back to work just in time to catch the start of a certain ballgame that I was very interested in watching (still not naming names, in the interest of keeping my team jinx-free). One of the luxuries of working in television is that every single one of us has a tv at our desk. Sometimes on a Saturday evening, when there are a lot of game I want to see going on at once, I'll visit all of the empty desks around me and turn each television to a different game. Then I can just swivel around on my chair and watch them all at once. It's kind of like being at a sports bar on an NFL Sunday (only without the beer and buffalo wings).

Yesterday, I only had to watch a couple of TVs. Of course, I had the big game (the one where the fans looked very cold) on at my desk... and a couple of college football games on assorted desks around me. I stuck around until my game ended, did a happy dance around the newsroom, then headed out to the hockey game.

Believe it or not, the hockey game was the worst part of my day. Crazy, huh? Because I stayed at the station to watch the end of you-know-what, I only caught the third period of the hockey game, and they lost. Thankfully, it was just an exhibition. The regular season doesn't start until next week.

When I got back to the station, it was just in time to see the end of the football game (War Eagle!) and the end of the other game-we-will-not-mention (trying not to jinx Cory's team, either).

So, all in all, a day at the beach, a dramatic win for my team, a big win for Cory's team, and a Gators football loss (which I thoroughly enjoy seeing). And I get paid to do this?

Only in... Iowa?

I'm stunned-- stunned-- that this hasn't yet happened in Florida. Apparently, a pirate is running for political office in the Hawkeye state. Why a pirate wants to be a congressman in a land-locked state, I'll never know.
Oh well, at least we Floridians can be proud of our most recent traffic catastrophe:
A baked-bean spill on I-4.

Obligatory Sports-Related Post

Actually, this is more of an explanation. Yes, I'm thrilled about the my hometown team. Yes, I was elated to see Columbus Northern Little League win the LLWS. But I'm not writing about it.

Why? Because I don't want to jinx anything. So no mention of that sport were men throw balls, hit balls with bats and run around the bases. Not until it's all over.

So that's that.

Dr. Feelgood

It's not often I say this... I actually had a good experience at the doctor's office today.

I was scheduled for a 1p.m. appointment at the plastic surgeon's, to get my stitches removed. At 1:00, I showed up, started to sign my name on the sign-in sheet, and the nurse smiled and said "You're the only one here, just come on back."

So, I opened the door to the main office, and she added, "I have good news for you-- we got it all this time, so you won't have to come back here again."

(Huge sigh of relief)

She led me to an examining room, excused herself to go get a suture kit, and was gone for a total of about thirty seconds. It took her maybe two minutes to remove my stitches, then said "Ok, that's it. We've already forwarded your pathology report to your dermatologist, so just make sure you go back to see him in the next six months or so."

Grand total of time spent at the office? Five minutes. Why can't it always be that easy?

In Stitches, Part II

I know... I promised I'd devote more time to the ol' blog, but I just couldn't write much last week because I was pretty depressed.

Some of you already know this... but a few days after getting my stitches out, my pathology report came back from my first surgery... and there were more dysplastic cells that they needed to remove. So Tuesday, I went back under the knife.

By the way-- I hate calling these procedures "surgery," because it conjures up images of major trauma. It really isn't-- at least not physically. I can eat whatever I want before I go in... I don't have to wear a paper gown... and I can even wear makeup. I go to the doctor's office, he shoots half my face up with novocane, and a few minutes later, he puts a drape over my face and attacks me with an exacto knife (actually, I've never looked at the scalpel he uses... but in my imagination, it looks a lot like an exacto knife.) The whole procedure takes maybe half an hour, including the row of dissolving stitches he puts on the inside of my incision, and the row of eight ugly black stitches on the exterior.

The first time he had to do surgery, it really wasn't that bad. Yeah, the incision was ugly. But I was dealing with it pretty well. The second time, though, I kind of freaked out. After all, I only have so much skin on my face. This time, it's stretched a little tighter, and if I open my mouth really wide to yawn, or if I scrunch my face up to avoid sneezing, I can feel it stretch a little bit around my stitches.

My big fear isn't that the scar will be worse this time (though don't think that thought hasn't crossed my mind several times). My big fear is that after I get my stitches out tomorrow, they'll tell me that they still need to remove more. Another procedure... another week with a big bandage on my face... another week I won't be able to anchor... another week of answering questions from curious acquaintances.

I know. I should be grateful that the cells were only dysplastic and not malignant. I should be grateful that they're getting rid of all of it and (hopefully) this will be the last time I ever have to deal with this. And I should be grateful the my dermatologist sent me to a plastic surgeon to have this done. And I am grateful, believe me. But it doesn't make this any more fun. I never liked my face that much in the first place... now I just want to have it back.