Thoughts Whilest I Await Conan's 11:30 Debut

My balls are burning right now. It is because I have officially become old, yet do not have the experience of being old to know how to cope with it right now. I twisted my knee thursday night playing hockey. I was tough, played the rest of the game (and with a busted toe to boot). So after a weekend of rest and icing, it feels much better, but occasionally I will make a a quick turn or stop and it gets weak. So, I went out and got a Ben-Gay sleeve. Slid it on to my knee and let the alternating cooling and burning take effect. Course, then I read the instructions and realized I had it on backwards. So I fiddled with it, and got it on correctly. Then I went to adjust my balls, and hence, now they burn. I am sure I will get it figured out soon enough. Still though, my balls dont hurt as much as the first time my girlfriend spent the weekend at my place.

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Speaking of the woman, since she left she has told me a couple times that I have been acting oddly. I, for one, think that I am acting the same as I usually do. So this is not an explaination for me acting odd, but something I realized today.

There are oodles of ways for my girlfriend and I to interact with each other while she is in Chicago and I am in DC. Let us count the ways:

1. Phone. This is pretty standard. I am sure it needs little explaination.
2. Text messaging. Because of her, I have spent too much money on excess text messages. Once I bought my Blackberry, I went with unlimited texts. It was a good idea.
3. Twitter. She recently signed up for twitter, so I was forced into it (yes it was a choice, but come on, I had to). I guess the point of twitter is for text messages we don't mind sharing with the public. Of course, I get text message updates when she twits (thats the term right?), so it is essentially a public text message. Granted, I have 1 follower that is not her or some random person, so its not that public (because I have a lot to hide).
4. Blogging. She has a blog. I have a blog. I would not say we use our blogs as a roundabout way of making a point to the other, but I do. Her, not so much. To be fair though, I only do it when it is funny. Or I can make a cool list.
5. G-Chat. Again self explanatory. Of course, this comes with the added advantage of video chat, so I can see her beautiful smile and gorgeous eyes from 1,000 miles away.
6. AIM. I have not downloaded AIM onto my computer, but through the magic of Google, I can log into AIM as though it is gchat. My woman has AIM on her phone, so this is essentially another method of text messaging, but with the added bonus of me being able to type faster.
7. E-Mail. Yup, this is down so low because I almost forgot it. We will call this regular, personal email, where she can talk to me about about her friends foibles with butt-sex (not that she would, but she could)
8. Work E-Mail. I do not get phone service where I work, so during the day we often e-mail each other back and forth. At least until I realize that I have sent fifteen e-mails in the last ten minutes and take a break so the IT folks think that I am actually doing work.
9. Google Reader. We both use the reader supplied by our overlord Google. On there, you can share stories and comment. We use that sparingly, mostly because we rarely read what the other person shared. I am working on it babe, promise! (I dont really understand what google wave is, but I am sure we will use that too when it launches.)
10. Facebook. I log into facebook about once a month, but when I do, I am sure to leave a comment on her wall.
11. Letters (in theory). She has sent me letters. I have yet to do the same. I am working on it, but hey, my handwriting sucks.

I think that is it. We are not to the point yet where we have ESP. Once she gets a Wii at her place in Chicago we might have Smash Bros. brawls online. Still, I get the feeling I am missing something.

But still, look at that list. Ten years ago, when she was 12, the only communique I had was through phone and post (note: this was 1999, when most you probably had AOL. I did not. I did not have internet access until I went to college in the fall. And even then, I think I was in the only dorm room that did not have a computer). Things have certainly evolved since then. And I am very much apprecaitive of the fact that I could go at least a day without contacting her through one of these mediums and she would not go nuts. I love you babe.

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They say bad things come in threes, but come on. In the last two weeks, one of the senior managers where I work suffered a major stroke and passed away. Shortly thereafter, one of my colleagues wife had a mild stroke (he received the call during a teleconference I was invovled in (in that I was there listening), and took off as he should, the odd part was, the rest of us were in his office). Then, my smoking buddy's mother was admitted to the hospital with what may be a mild stroke. Seriously, enough already.

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To end this on an upbeat note, I spent $212 at the grocery store tonight. I suppose that is what happens when you go five months without grocery shopping.