Can You Smell Me Now?

The person who cleaned the office refrigerator had allergies and had nasal surgery, didn't smell a thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/13/foul.refrigerator/

Weird Al Yankovic's Like A Surgeon came to mind when I asked Sherlock Steve about it. He related the story of how he had to clean the refrigerator at work, putting on protective clothing and gloves.

Just leaving food in there piling up is pretty much asking for it.

Upcoming 2010 Census

Reading Sherlock Steve's Use Caution with 2010 Census Workers!, I had the feeling this was going to happen sooner or later. They're brazenly going from email to doing it in broad daylight, especially in this age when some people have security cams on their front porch, guard dogs, weapons, etc. But some are still going to do it in email and in fake websites.

He's right when he says never invite them into the house. Perfect opportunity for a home invasion, burglary, and murder to happen. Ask yourself *WHY* these people need your financial and SSN info when all they're doing is counting people.

Here's a little more info from the Census site;

Are You In A Survey?

In the Household Surveys tab, there's "Is This Person a Census Bureau emploee?" and "Is this a legitimate phone call?" Important info there.

The Beltway Sniper Execution

Back in 2002, it was a time of fear, with people reducing their activities or making themselves less of a target for the sniper. As time went by, I noticed he was hitting one target per county. Malvo and Muhammad's biggest mistake was stopping at a rest area to sleep, and it took an alert trucker and some other people to box them in and call the police. This, fortunately, stopped the shootings.

CNN had a story on Muhammad's execution.

Had the police not ignored the reports of a Chevy Caprice and focused on the white box trucks at first, the spree could have ended sooner. It was noticeable with people making fast tracks to their car or the store as well as sitting in their cars while pumping gas. There was even a gas station owner who found the largest tarp he could find and hung it from the roof above the pumps thus shielding his customers from being the next target.

When the sniper hit the FBI analyst, I had the feeling the FBI would take it personally. Seems they did. I was elsewhere 5 miles away finishing up on a bowling game and preparing to head home. Fortunately, I was stuck in the the beginning part of the backups, but it got much worse not long afterwards. I've been to the area where that shot was made. Law enforcement bottlenecked the traffic on the highway I was on, throttling it down from about 3-4 lanes to one. They did this to other major roadways. Many agents had automatic weapons other than their usual service weapons. Just about every highway exit had at least one law enforcement vehicle and agent standing there.

Out at the Newseum, they had a replica of the car used for the shootings, but this one didn't have the hole in the trunk the original car had. This hole allowed them to place their deadly shots. They also had the Unabomber's cabin on display as well. They may still be there today.

Personally, I'm glad they've removed both suspects from society...

Looking back on 2009

It's been an interesting year for me. Going through two surgeries (well, one in December 2008 and another in November 2009), being in a rehab facility, and a few months worth in physical therapy will pretty much tire out people. But I needed these two surgeries. I'm already feeling a whole lot better than I was in the last 2-3 years leading up to the surgeries. The left knee's bone on bone condition didn't just hurt there, but caused me to be in pain all over.

I spent a lot of time in recovery, just trying to get back to how I was before the surgeries. That may take awhile, but I'm getting there. I still have at least some exercises to do, mostly getting the right knee to bend more. I'll still need to keep up the exercises here and there. Swimming does a great job, and it helped out in my not needing to go to a rehab facility, just head home with home health services. The physical therapist I worked with at the hospital watched me go from walking just outside my hospital room the day after surgery to the other end of the hall the day I was to head home.

The surgeries helped out in more ways than one. But of course, you're going to be a captive in your home, with people helping you out with some things. I was a growly and grumpy guy before the first one due to all the pain both knees were in. Now, if any pain, it's quite manageable. I'd like to walk to the grocery store up the road and back home. Getting back to classes is another. This one may take awhile, maybe a couple years - bowling. At least some of us have had that painful experience of having the ball swipe our knee on the downstroke just before release. Let's hope I don't crack the ball when that happens with me. While there may be some things I may never do again, like running or some sports like basketball, I can still do other things.

Sherlock and I want to lose some weight. I've got a weight set here at home that took me several days to assemble alone just before my second surgery. I've not been able to use it since I can't get down to where it is since those steps don't have handrails.

I still got my volunteer job. They know I've been out for the surgeries, returning from the first one a few months afterward. Someone will carry a computer to my workspace for me when I'm unable to do so. Computer distributions are tougher. I can't carry the computers or monitors from downstairs to upstairs as there's only steps. I help out in other ways, though.

2010 leading into 2011 should be good years for me in terms of doing what I couldn't do before the surgeries.

Drive safely out there. Use a sober designated driver or a taxi if you've been drinking. Drunk driving demolishes more lives than one.