nibot | Entries tagged with sick

Hurricane Gustav over Cuba

Baton Rouge remains very, very calm. This evening I went to Albertson's to stock up on beans, bottled water, and beer. The store was not at all crowded. They did have a couple extra pallets of water, batteries, and flashlights up front for easy access.

Went on the Critical Mass bike ride today. 175 riders: a rather huge crowd! We ended up at Capitol Grocery and then pretty much dispersed.

Went to the hurricane preparedness meeting at the LSU physics department today. Sounds like the physics building there will be a good place to hang out during the hurricane. It allegedly has ample backup power, so there should be power, air conditioning, and perhaps even internet access there for the duration. Also, I now have claim to some office space which includes a refrigerator and microwave.

Classes are cancelled at LSU on Tuesday.

Unfortunately I seem to have come down with a cold this afternoon. *sneeze*

I updated my couchsurfing profile ("Couch available: Yes!") in case anyone from NOLA needs a place to stay.

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Last night I set out on a guerrilla mission to do my part in the ongoing battle to rid our house of the Icky Green Carpet. Under the stealth of night I ripped up a third of the carpet in the dining room. The grossest third. I call it the Nemesis Carpet. Your eyes itch just looking at it. Under the carpet there is foam padding, and under the padding there is a layber maybe 0.25 mm deep of a fine-grained grey powder, the grime that's filtered down through the carpet over the decades. In many places the foam lifts up effortlessly, but in many other areas, fluid spills have turned it into a grungy cement. The only way to remove it is to rehydrate it, creating a nasty black slime.

Last time I did this I became violently ill for four days afterward. This time I was much more careful to create as little dust as possible, wore a dust mask continuously, and took benedryl preemptively. But it's still hit me, all those Andromeda Strain devils from that decade-old concentrated grime. My face is flush and draining through the nose, my lymph nodes beating.

But we are winning the war. The Icky Green Carpet was exterminated from the front room, and, grime removed, an intricately laid oak floor was revealed. Power tools were applied to remove yet further years of abuse, to draw out the white wood. Then five or six layers of polyeurethene were applied, locking in our hard-won hardwood floor in hard plastic. It is beautiful.

Uuurgh. Flights to the east coast are so hard. The waking up early, the inability to sleep on the airplanes, the rarified atmosphere.. I get sick everytime. And so here I am in some hotel cool enough to offer free DSL with a fever and chills... When I came to Boston the same thing happened.. I powered through it with regular dosages of my Israeli non-Aspirin fever reducers. I suppose I'll inquire with the front desk about their pharmaceutical supplies..

Other than that the trip has been good so far. Left home 06:02 on the BayPorter, got to Oakland 06:45, vegetated in the terminal for two hours. I ended up chatting with this guy who was on my flight for most of the time. He introduced himself as being from Wind River Systems, and he was shocked that I'd heard of the company. By the end of our conversation I felt like I could successfully ask him for a job. After the technical subjects our conversation turned to politics (he's another recovering Deaniac). Turns out he lives with his 'partner' Ted in manchester and he was adamant about wanting to get married, "none of this civil unions nonsense."

It was nice of University of Rochester to have the Syracuse Varsity Cheerleading Squad meet me at the gate in Rochester. (I also like how U of R noted specially that this hotel they're putting us up in has a heated indoor pool) Outside of security I found my uncle Pat and my grandfather waiting for me, and we went out for a big meal at an italian restaurant (fetuccini alfredo, red wine, tirimisu, cappuccino, mmm). By the end I was very eager to collapse in a nice comfy bed at the hotel.

It would be fun to go meet the other prospective grad students (hence 'pros') but I'm not really feeling up to it at the moment. We had good times when NEU put us up in the Collonnade Hotel in Boston.. five-oclock cocktails, bicycling around MIT with Kenny, playing in the Christian Scientists' fountain. Instead I will commence my search for ibuprofin.

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Mitt liv som Tobin

Experiments in Nomadicity

Entries tagged with sick

H - 72 hours

[co-op] floor refinishing

from Rochester, NY

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March 2020

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