Monthly Archives: January 2008

Good-Bye, Medical Study

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Brad

Yesterday was my last visit to the medical study doctor. I haven’t been taking the pills for a week and a half. Things are back to normal. I’m sleeping about two more hours per 24-hour period now, and I have an appetite again.

I’ll miss my little visits to the Sheppard Pratt Health Services facility. I enjoyed the attention, the people were really nice, and I got $30 every time I went. After talking with the doctor, I declined having him prescribe anything for me. Tomorrow is February. With March so close, things are looking brighter. Wait… things are brighter. The days are getting longer now, right?

Anyway, I’ll miss the long walks to the office from the parking lot. Here are pictures of what I would see along the way:

Good-bye, long and twisty underground hallway.

It's not really slanty. I had to take this picture quickly so no one would see me.

Good-bye, cool model of the buildings and grounds.

The president's office is just to the left of the model case. She was there yesterday.

Good-bye, stairwell with fancy railings.

My footsteps were very echoey.

Good-bye, waiting room with cool magazines that I never got to read because I never waited.

People Magazine had some Heath Ledger pictures. I looked at his hair.

Posted in Journal | 7 Comments

It’s Been a Long Time

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Brad

First I have to say, “Happy Birthday, Peggy!” Yay!

There was a new episode of “House” on TV last night. Wow. I forgot what it was like to watch a non-rerun. It’s like watching a little movie. A little movie on Tuesday night. I felt dangerous. hehe

Actually, I’ m a little sick to my stomach. There have been only reruns for the last couple months and I still have been watching TV. What’s wrong with me? It worries me a little.

But not enough to stop.

I love you, TV.

Pay no attention to the Christmas decoration on top of the TV.

Posted in Journal | 18 Comments

Heath Hair?

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Brad

So my hair isn’t looking like Alton Brown’s. I am either too chicken to do it, or my hair just won’t do what his does. I’m not sure which. I try to make it all stand straight up when I’m styling it in the morning, but by the time I’m done, it just doesn’t seem to look like Alton.

So I’m looking ahead to the future. I’m pretty sure I’ll buzz cut it again in the summer. But in the meantime, do I keep growing it out? If so, should it be long all over, or just on top? There are some pretty interesting hair styles out there. I could try the Einstein thing, though his hair isn’t quite the same as mine. All the news of Heath Ledger has put pictures of him up all over the place. His hair does look an awful lot like mine in color and texture… could I have Heath hair?

Heath with Heath hair...

...and Brad with Heath Hair.

Posted in Haircuts | 9 Comments

Dinner

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Brad

Saturday, when I went out to get potting mix for my orchid babies, I also needed to stop at the grocery store. My visit was a little surreal. I was kind of sleepy, so that made everything look fuzzy. On top of that, the people were unusually polite, and I was seeing strange products I had never seen before. I mean, just what exactly is sponge pudding anyway? I made an impulse decision to get chocolate chips. I would have chocolate chip cookie dough for dinner.

I didn’t have it with beer like Beth does. I drank milk. Cookie dough sure is filling. Is it the fact that there is a lot of flour in it? …Or is it that the portion I had contained the equivalent of three tablespoons of butter? I may never know. But I’m done with cookie dough for a while now. I guess I’ll make the rest into cookies or something.

The perfect couch potato food?

Posted in Journal | 6 Comments

Vanda Babies

Posted on January 27, 2008 by Brad

Yesterday I worked on a Project at my house. I think it was the first Project since I last worked on the downstairs bathroom floor. That was October 7, for crying out loud! What have I been doing with all my time?

Anyway, what I did yesterday was pot the orchid seedlings Denis brought me from the Philippines. I first had to do a little internet research. I know these orchids are Vanda Kagawara ‘Christie Low’, but I really don’t know a whole lot about orchids, and what I do know is mostly about phalaenopsis orchids, because that’s what’s in my upstairs bathroom.

The best information I got was off THIS site. In fact, they have a little menu button in the left margin that takes you to directions for what to do with orchid flasks. Thank you, Bali Orchid Gardens!

So first I smashed the bottle open. The suggestion was to break off the top. Once I got a hole in it, I didn’t want to do more. There were already lots of slivers of glass all over the place.

Don't cut yourself, don't cut yourself, don't cut yourself...

Next, I washed the growing gel off the seedlings. Bali Orchid Gardens said leaving it on would encourage fungus, and if there is one thing I don’t want to encourage, it’s fungus.

Isn't it just cute as a button?

I counted 65 large and medium-sized seedlings. There were probably about ten tiny seedlings.

A mess o' Vandas.

I put them in my best orchid window: the upstairs bathroom. It’s a sunny window, but it has a white curtain to diffuse the light. I also put heating pads under the pot trays to keep the baby Vandas warm. I’m expecting a pretty high mortality rate, so I planted them five or six per pot. If they all survive, the pots will be crowded and I’ll have to kill some to thin them out.

Check out my super-cool pots and trays from IKEA!

Snug as a bug in a rug... or a Vanda on a heating pad.

Maybe, if everything works out right, I’ll have some flowers in three or four years. Woo hoo!

Posted in Gardening | 7 Comments