heatray5d | dem things tho (Reply)

Things happen. They're important or significant, but you're busy so you forget to write them down. Considering my profession, it's unfortunate that I'm not finding the time to write things down. I'd like to be able to say I'm going to correct that, but the incredible pace and energy demands of my professional life combined with my inherent laziness would swiftly prove me a liar.

So, herewith in the form of a bullet list are a few things I should probably elaborate on at some point.

I tore a small hole in the tendon that runs across the top of my left middle finger, which has partially paralyzed that finger. It could take as long as a year to heal, and in the meantime I'm wearing a splint at all times except when I'm doing my OT exercises or otherwise need unobstructed use of an essentially useless finger. Considering the majority of my recreational activities these days are sports of an Extreme nature, the way I hurt my finger is moderately silly, though it did involve backflips. Frustratingly, the injury could take as long as a year to heal.

I've been working for several months on a big Secret Project at work. Last week, my colleague Natalie and I presented an update on the project to our CEO, after which we got high fives from a couple senior VPs. So it went well. Then Natalie and I went and got burritos.

A couple of weeks ago I fired someone for the first time. It sucked in the same way that breaking up with someone sucks. The guy wasn't terrible. He just couldn't do the job so I had to let him go. I actually wrote myself a script for the conversation based on what a bunch of websites told me I was supposed to say, and it went okay, but I still feel shitty about it.

Speaking of feeling shitty, today I have to poop a lot and it's uncomfortable.

From now on, whenever I refer to someone as a douchebag, this is what I mean.

It turns out that my camping kit is sufficient for a single rainy day followed by warm, dry weather; or a couple days spent in freezing temperatures. But it is NOT sufficient for a day and night of constant rain followed by freezing temperatures and snow. Pleasant company goes a long way in such situations, but not as long a way as dry clothing. At least the beer I brought didn't freeze and explode, and my 3-season tent held up admirably under what was arguably a light dusting of the fourth season.

The only truly unenjoyable part of that camping trip was, of course, learning that Heady Topper, an IPA that scores a perfect 100 on Beer Advocate, is widely considered the best IPA in the world, and is brewed in very small amounts by The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vermont, was sold out at the local liquor store.

Months ago, I ran two laps on a Tough Mudder, which I was going to write a race report about, but it kept wanting to turn into gymbragging, which was not my intent. I did my first lap in 3 hours flat, which is a great time. My second lap took significantly longer. It was a fairly challenging 20 miles interrupted regularly by arbitrary walls and sticky mud. It was supposed to be training and a gear test for the Spartan Ultra I was going to run in September. I ended up skipping the Ultra because of my finger injury, which makes me feel super weak because when I did the Beast last year there was a guy in a wheelchair.

I originally wrote that skipping the Ultra made me feel "lame," but then realized that was a tasteless pun on the wheelchair guy.

My compatriot and I saw King Diamond at the Palladium last Thursday. I'll get into how much I love the Palladium, but for now I want to talk about vocalists. King is 58, and his heart exploded a couple years ago. He's only alive because Satan and maybe one or two surgeons replaced his heart with the pulsating head of a creepy doll so that he could go on defying the laws of physiology with his vocal cords for a few more years. He is amazing, to say the least.

Speaking of vocalists, you know Ray Gillen? No you do not. Because he was the guy who sang for Black Sabbath who is neither Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio. He's an astoundingly good singer, and I always feel sort of bad for him because how the fuck do you compete with Ozzy and Dio? Poor Ray Gillen. You and Gary Cherone should be drinking buddies.