Make yourself comfortable, maybe get a drink, this will be a long one

It isn't that they lost, it's how they lost.

I expected the Bruins to lose Thursday night. Sorry for the pessimism, but the way they've been playing, and the opponent being Buffalo (again), it's a reasonable expectation. When the top of the league plays the bottom of the league, guess who usually wins? I told more than one person that I was sure they'd lose, and they did.

But the Bruins still suckered me, because they outplayed Buffalo, right from the beginning, until with less than 10 minutes left, they imploded. They were ahead 4-1, and lost in the shootout (stupid shootout; a team sport shouldn't be decided that way). They got me. Again. I am one sad hockey fan. Even if I didn't have other plans tonight, I think it would have been a night to watch something else and just check the score every once in a while. Yeesh. I'm not asking for them to win the Stanley Cup, but could they suck a little less thoroughly, please?

Actually, the relative merits of the two teams were only part of why I predicted the loss. I was having such a bad day, I didn't see how any other outcome was possible. But I would have loved to be proven wrong.

Because actually, it wasn't a great week. Remember the reference I made Monday about hearing Gary Larson's angels? That was my Monday.

Gary Larson, of course, is the guy who did the Far Side cartoons. In The Prehistory of the Far Side, he told a story about how he was working in a record store when angels came down from on high and in glorious lilting voices they sang, "You hate your job, you hate your job", and he knew that it was true 'because angels don't lie'. Ever since I read that, I've referred to a really bad day at work as hearing Gary Larson's angels. Monday was the closest to that kind of day that I've had at the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, and it wasn't that it was a bad day so much as an annoying one. We lost power, there were printer problems, it was just one niggling little thing after another.

I didn't realize that the week was just getting going.

On Wednesday, the weather was so nice, we ate lunch outside. There were a number of bees around, and conversation was repeatedly interrupted by shrieks and waving hands. After I finished eating, I moved to another table, in the sun, and was talking to someone else when one of my coworkers alerted me to the fact that there was a bee on my hand. I moved my hands, and it stung me.

Well. How long has it been since I was stung by a bee? Thirty years, maybe? I was shocked at how much it hurt! It was painful right away, and then for the rest of the day, I got repeated stabs of red-hot agony in my finger. It was so bad that I was crying from the pain by bedtime. Thursday it was more aching, and swollen, and Friday yet more swollen, and my hand so itchy, it used up all my willpower to not scratch the top layer of skin off. Fortunately, I already had a doctor's appointment Friday afternoon, so I could take him this problem, too. (He said either an infection or an allergic reaction would cause this, and he didn't think it was an infection because it wasn't that red. He gave me a prescription that 'might help', and when I asked about a topical product, said that Benadryl cream works for some people. One or the other seems to be helping the itch, though the swelling hasn't gone down a bit, and I still can't bend my finger all the way. Lordy.)

Also on Wednesday, I had some car trouble, which wouldn't be such a big deal except this car was new in April, and I have higher hopes for its longevity. Plus, I hate the service department at the dealership. Hate them, hate them, hate them! They talk the talk about how important my satisfaction is to them, but I don't believe it. I haven't had one good experience there yet, and why should I keep trying? This is 128 Mazda/Ford in Wakefield, by the way: avoid them! I don't have any reason to doubt the quality of the work they do, but their service is awful. It took them two hours Thursday morning, not to fix the problem, not even to diagnose the problem, just to get me into a loaner to get to work. Two Hours! I'll put "find a garage/mechanic" on my to-do after I move list. Anyone around here have a recommendation?

So what with all this, and having to change my close date again (just by a day this time, but still), I thought that perhaps yesterday would be a good time to start drinking. I've seen commercials for a new Bailey's with caramel, and I am fond of caramel in most all forms, so I stopped in a liquor store to see. Fortunately, they had it in the tiny bottles, because I tried it and don't like it. The boozy bite! I'm just not a drinker. The flavor wasn't bad, but I don't like the kick. I'm so glad I didn't buy a full-size bottle, since it would have been a waste of money. And not a small amount of money! I've saved a ton over the years, not drinking.

Now, I must get going, since I have a lot to do today, and with less than two hands (though more than one, really; one-and-a-half, maybe). At least the sun's out. And just to be Pollyanna for a minute, there is a way this week could easily have been much worse. I didn't have a headache. That really would have been the last straw.