Let's Amputate!

Sorry for the short absence. I had the boys this week, and work has been an absolute bitch (or was it Doug at work being the bitch... I did feel like slapping him).

We are approaching a release of our software and of course that brings on a rush of changes at the last minute. All I have to do is build it and send it to manufacturing, but some of the things that I automated need to be done manually now. Release time is always stressful. Some things have not been done in anticipation of this release and Doug (the tool) was trying to blame me. "Didn't you say you were going to handle that?".

I have heard that same comment about 3 different things this week. He has taken over as the Release Manager because the previous guy, Brad, took a new job on a different project. Brad was awesome, and always showed his appreciation for my hard work. For some reason I get the feeling that Doug doesn't think I do enough. He is probably projecting this since his responsibilities have doubled recently (so has his bad attitude).

Kevin, my 13 year old, was complaining about his arm hurting on Wednesday. Typically this can be attributed to growing pains or maybe he hurt it. I asked him if he had hurt it somehow. He said no. I told him to think really hard if maybe he hit it on something or was lifting anything heavy. He just shook his head. Then on Thursday he calls me from the school office saying that his arm won't stop hurting. I asked him to go back to class and keep it propped up. Hopefully resting it would help.

I was out to lunch with a couple guys from the office when he called back. I didn't drive, so he was going to have to wait. I told Kev to contact the rest of his teachers and get the homework assignments for the night. My friend Dan said it sounded like he might have a hyper-extension. I got back to my desk, sent out a message to the whole project that I had to leave to get my son from school and that I would be working from home. I took my laptop and headed out the door.

I tried to call the doctors office to see if they could fit him in. They were out to lunch, so I had to call back later. I got Kevin from the nurses office. While I was signing him out I noticed a very pretty lady picking up her incredibly cute daughter. Kevin caught me looking. He told me that she is in his math class, and they were the ones he pointed out to me when we were out to dineer earlier in the week. I'm thinking Kevin likes this girl. She is going to be dangerous in just a few years. I am going to need help... Yikes!

We got home and I took a closer look at Kevin's arm. It was definitely muscular. I asked him again if he could remember doing anything to it. He said the only thing different was that in his science class the other day they had to life an 8 pound dumbbell because they were studying muscles and how they work. Kevin is a strong kid. Eight pounds is nothing to him. I didn't think that could have done it, but it was good info to pass on to the doc.

I connected up to work since it wasn't time for the doc's office to be back from lunch. This is when I was reminded that I had a meeting scheduled. I sent a note to those involved to make sure they knew where I was. Stewart asked if I could call in. They needed me in a discussion about some database changes. UGH! I was getting scatter brained. I told him I was trying to get Kevin into the doctors office. He decided we could put off the meeting until the morning. Wow, a rational manager, thank you.

I got ahold of Kevin's doctor's office. They could get us in right away. I found a sling we had from when Kevin broke his arm and strapped him in.

We got to the office and saw a few people ahead of us. We sat down for just a minute before they called us in. I was expecting to have another long wait in the exam room. Just 2 minutes later a nurse practitioner come in. Nice guy, but he needs a hair cut. Maybe it's just me, but I like for professional people that I have to pay a shit load of money to be well groomed. Anyway, we started talking about the problem while he was checking out Kevin's range of motion. He asked Kevin what he might have done to hurt it...

Now why is it that my own son can not tell me the full story, but a perfect stranger he can give all the necessary details. Kevin went into how in his science class they were learning about muscles. He described the weight that they were lifting. The he descided that maybe it was important to provide the crucial fact that he and his friends then had a competition to see how many times in one minute they could curl that dumbbell.

I just put my hand over my mouth rolled my eyes to the back of my head and held back the laughter. The NP (or is it CNP?) and I finally both broke out in laughter when Kevin said he was able to do it 54 times in a minute. Kevin then got some extra credit information from this guy about lactic acid in the muscles.

I was totally embarrassed to have had to go in for that, but I laughed about it all the way home.

Oooh and guess what? I ordered and received an HD Satellite receiver. Woohoo!

I've been busy all day mucking out a closet, cleaning, and doing laundry in preparation for my family coming in for Christmas. I need a massage and a vacation.