The Aerie
Okay, this one got away from me a bit.
Monday and Tuesday I felt I had a pretty good grip on the week. But
today felt like somebody greased the reins or the brass pole or
whatever metaphoric object I had a grip on as regards the passage of
time. Hopefully tomorrow will go better, but it's not promising: the
day starts with a 7:00 a.m. blood donation.
I made the earliest possible appointment because the donation process
has become bogged down in more bureaucracy than a Chinese travel visa.
From a 15-minute formalty, somebody decided you have to verbally
answer all the questions on the form, as put to you by a nurse. As a
result my last three attempts to voluntarily hand over my precious
bodily fluids (uh, by that I mean blood, wiseguy) have ended in
failure. Just ran out of time waiting for the staff.
So tomorrow I show up at 7:00 and hopefully the queue won't have had a
chance to back up.
Last night and this evening I got to have fun learning to w4Rdia1.
I've munged the text there because I don't need every search engine in
the world directing h4(kers my way because I happened to mention the
word. Come to think of it, I should probably alter h4(kers, too.
There.
Anyway, it's been fun finally learning to do something I've been
suspected of doing for twenty (count 'em, twenty) solid years. It's
all perfectly legit, we've got a client who wanted the service.
Also got an odd call tonight. A 49-year-old adoptee in Michigan was
notified by his confidential intermediary that she had located his
birthmother. A CI is an agent assigned by the state to search for
adoptee's birthparents for a fee, and then manage the reunion
communications. This subject of CI's is one of those "Don't get me
started" issues that can really set my blood boiling. A 49 year old
man and his 60-something year old birthmother have to have their
communications managed by the State... *blam* oh, dang, blew another
gasket.
Anyway, he's faced with having to write a letter to his birthmother to
convice her that he's not a mad stalker or whatever the hell the State
thinks is likely to presume he is guilty of until proven innocent. And
in searching the 'Net he found my excerpt of my letter to my
birthmother, and liked it enough to seek out my phone number (in
itself a bit of an accomplishment) and ask to see the whole thing.
Well, so here I was, the wife was away, I was managing three kids
dinners and chores, running a w4rD!a1, talking on my cell phone (on my
own dime no less!) and running up and down the stairs from the
basement to the attic trying to first find my original letter to my
birthmother, and then scan it and e-mail it to him.
No wonder I'm so tired.
So anyway I'll be interested to see how this goes. Hopefully all will
work out well for everyone involved.
Inevitable exercise update: 5K in 20:03, without looking. Yep, just
rowed at a steady pace and kept the meter tipped so I couldn't read
it. I'm very happy with those numbers. Now if I could just get my
weight down I'd be tickled pink.
Anyway, I get a blood pressure check tomorrow, so I'll be interested
to see if my rowing has made a difference in my borderline high blood
pressure. Usually it's 135/78 or somesuch (you think I'm doing this
rowing for fun??), so hopefully tomorrow it will be lower.
Unless somebody mentions confidential intermediaries right before I go
in for the checkup...
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Posted by Albatross at January 29, 2003 12:00 AM