The gypsy cab

I had to take two buses to get to school as a teenager, and have a few interesting stories about those times. There was this guy--'They call me Geo!'--that drove a white geo gypsy cab. He would go around the bus terminal singing:
'Take a gypsy cab! It's cheaper than the bus.
The other drivers hate me, cuz my rates are cheaper than theirs!
I'll take you anywhere you want to go!'

Everybody knew this guy. I never took his cab, but I think my mum still has the business card somewhere.

Silly wabbit!

My not-officially-adopted family lives around the block from me, and were kind enough to watch Voltaire for me while I was in Montauk. After I picked her up, it seemed like she was acting weird and I figured it was since I just brought her back home. I asked my friend if she had any trouble with the bun, and received a report of a well behaved rabbit.

I didn't think much of it until I went back to check on Voltaire, and found a spider by her cage. After I got rid of the thing, I checked her for bites. She was fine, and then suddenly back to normal. I had no idea rabbits could have a dislike for spiders.

Then again, we are talking about the bun that throws hay and newspaper on her head.

Seals, shoes, and cream cheese

So, my friend (who is an awesome guy!) and I recently went out to Montauk. My family has been going out there for several generations and has managed to find a reasonable route without much traffic. We did the trip on only a couple hundred bucks. Can't argue with that price tag.

Since Awesome Guy was doing the driving, I felt like he was pretty much in control of when we set off. I did my best to warn him about which times and routes were ideal, and then just kinda waited for us to leave. We ended up heading out quite late in the afternoon, and arriving in Montauk rather late that night.

What's a poor insomniac to do just before midnight with a whole fishing village to themselves? Why, wander down the beach of course! So, I set off on my solo wobble down the shore expecting to find horseshoe crab carcasses like when I was a kid. The moonlight was washing out my vision, so I was going up to all the round dark things that I thought could be crustaceans.

I didn't find any. Just big rocks. That is, until I stepped on a rock and it made a funny sound. Kinda like a whimper. I had never encountered a whimpering rock before, so I poked it again. More whimpering. I was stumped and figured I had stepped on something that was under the sand, when I was startled by movement directly in front of me.

I looked up, and directly at a seal. I didn't want to stick around since I had no idea if the thing was sick or injured, so I tore outta there as fast as a blind-wobbling- insomniac can across wet sand. I texted Awesome Guy the highly descriptive message, 'Dude! There's a seal!' Just in case my corpse was found mauled on the beach.

When I got back to the hotel room, I described what happened and that I was gonna go call the wildlife folks. After a few attempts at finding a 24hr hotline manned by a live human, I explained my find. I'd never seen a seal in Montauk before, but figured that if the thing wasn't off course the wildlife agencies probably still tracked their migration. The thing didn't seem obviously hurt, but it wasn't moving much either and they can bite.

I went back around dawn and the seal was still there. He (she?) didn't really move, but was lifting its head. I stood and watched it a little, not really wanting to bother the poor thing. But how often are you just walking along and then suddenly inches away from a 3ft long fuzzy torpedoe with puppy dog eyes?

I waited a bit, then popped off to Naturally Good for some breakfast. It's a neat little health food joint that's open early with a me friendly menu. I got the bagel deluxe with almond cream cheese, and was blown away. I was halfway through before realizing that it was in the 'not date food' category and that I had sprouts up my nose and avocado all over my face. Satisfied and smelling of onions, I went back to the hotel to wear the rest of my breakfast in relative privacy.

Awesome Guy wasn't quite awake yet, so we chilled a bit before I went out to Jhon's for waffle fries. I have no idea if they're officially on the menu or not, but I've been ordering them since I was a kid.
After indulging in fries, we headed out to the beach.

The seal was still there and I spoke with some people that said it had been there since at least the whole day before. Since people were walking right past the thing, I went over to take a picture.
After the photo op, I went back to Naturally Good on a cream cheese quest.

I managed to find two tubs of the magical stuff. It's made by Kite Hill and is the best cream cheese alternative I've ever come across. While waiting for some lunch, I ordered an iced latte with almond milk and very much regret not bringing back a gallon of it. That coffee was ace.

After lunch on the beach, I decided to head to the huge three floor super store that sells the most amazing assortment of things. My best bug net and first book of mad libs came from there. I picked up a weird tradition of setting off snakes on the beach as a child, but the store didn't have any. I got some of the snaps that look like cigarette butts instead. They also had shoes for $7.00. Two pairs came back with me. At some point, the seal either got picked up by the tide or the authorities; he was gone by the time we set out for our next wander.

Couldn't resist...

I live for bad puns and dad jokes. I am especially proud to have come up with this gem...

A buddy of mine was going back and forth during a fantasy football draft trading good natured and creative insults. He started to crack up and replied with, 'No thank you! Females only!'
I looked him in the face and very seriously asked, 'Does that mean Iron Man is ok?'

Hungry blog?

It seems as though some of my posts have been eaten...or something. I dunno what's up with that, but if I start talking about the adventures of Big Yellow and Two Sticks and black bottomed dwarfs and you're confused, rest assured your faculties are still in tact

Kangaroos

I dunno what brought this to mind, but I thought it was worth sharing. When I was very small (about two or so) and visiting my grandparents, I was particularly awake one night. This wasn't really helpful for my mum's sleep schedule. I had kept her up for quite a while, so she was in tired parent mode and wasn't paying attention to what I was babbling about. I do actually remember this, and I recall being very adamant about a kangaroo being in the house.

My mum pretty much just let me ramble on about it, until about a foot in front of her there was suddenly eye shine. Turns out that two year old me thought that kangaroos and raccoons were pretty much the same thing

Jaw stuff

So today I had a consult with Dr.Goode-Slice. He did my previous jaw surgeries--yes, that's plural. I decided to go back to see him first instead of being shuffled around a bunch,  since he has my history on file and I was happy with the previous procedures he had done.  I didn't have any scarring or complications and there can be a lot of that with the issues that I have. The previous surgeries didn't take because of structural issues,  not due to his technique.

Seems  as though there's a long road ahead regardless of whether I decide to go with what he suggests versus a quick fix until I can have open joint  surgery. It does seem as though open joint surgery is in my future.

Dr.Goode-Slice  thanks it's possible that the migraines are coming from the TMJ issues. I'll talk more about that in a different post. So that's all for now!

Rant about paying brioche

Brace yourself for stupidity. This is the crap I've had to deal with, and will likely continue to deal with until there's a barcode on my id or I croak. After 'Brioche pharmacy' finally got their heads out of their butts and I bugged the hell out of my neurologist's office about it, I was told I'd have to pay a copayment of a whopping $3.70. I'm sure there's about that much in pennies laying around, so it didn't seem like a big deal.

When I went for the injections in February, nobody at Dr.New-Neuro's office said anything about the copayment. When I asked about it the following month, they said I had to pay the pharmacy. That would have been nice to know before. If I had known about that, I might not have done the Botox. Not because I have a copayment, but because of actually paying it. That part isn't so easy.

Let's look at the process here: In order to get the Botox administered, I have to get to the neurologist. I most likely have to take a cab since I don't have any way to get anywhere. That's already over budget for me for the month. If I just had to pay the neurologist's office that'd be way easier. I could just hand them a pile of change in between paying for some cab driver's kid's college fund.
So since I can't do that, I have to find a way to pay Brioche directly. I have no form of electronic payment, which means I have to get a money order. Ugh... I talked about this in another post, but I can't purchase a money order because of my id. That means that I have to stand around and ask strangers to do it for me.

What do I have to contend with after I manage to get a money order? I have to mail it. Someone has to at least read all the info to me, if not fill it out for me. Then I have to either ambush the mailman or  wait till I have an appointment near a mailbox. I tried leaving a bright ass post it note asking the mailman to mail the stupid thing, but I guess he's colour blind or something. The thing sat in the mailbox for days. I'm pretty sure that picking up mail is in their job description.

 Thank God I didn't have to get stamps

Brioche pharmacy

Ok, so it's not 'brioche' but it might as well be. I swear those folks are more dense than bread. Anywho, there's a bunch to rant about but here's the exchange from this morning:

My phone: 'Call from brioche pharmacy'.
Me: 'Hello?'
Lady: 'Hi! I'm calling from brioche pharmacy, to let you know that we called your neurologist.'
Me: 'Ok. What did you have to call them about and what information do you need from me?'
Lady: 'Oh, we had to ask them to put through the authorization for the Botox. We're just letting you know that we let them know, and now that you know, they'll let you know when we know.'
Me: 'Ah. Well if the delay for anything being dispensed is because of the copayment, I did just send it.'
Lady: 'The what?'
Me: 'The copayment. I wasn't able to get or mail it until now and it wasn't clear to whom or how I was supposed to pay.'
Lady: 'Oh copayment! I thought you said "copayment"!'

That is exactly how it went, with the exception of the pharmacy name change. I was struck by the sudden need for communication on their part, considering all the shuffling around since last fall for them to dispense anything. And also the fact that they didn't seem to care about getting their $3.70

Best spinach and taters ever!

I have a friend who will take a bite of something and lean back for a second before saying, 'That is exactly what I needed!' That's how I feel about this recipe. Seriously, you need to try it or your life won't be complete.

Best spinach and taters:

1 can spinach
1 can whole or diced potatoes
1 can plain stewed tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
Spices: cumin, coriander, allspice, ginger

Combine all ingredients into a pot and add spices to taste.
Go heavy on the cumin though, and add the coconut milk last incase you don't want
it really wet. It should be the consistency of stew or chowder. Cook until taters are soft