[This was written on New Year's Eve...]

Our household has been without internet since September as a way to cut spending. Also at the end of September, we turned off our home phone AND our Cable. Although, we have not totally become TV free in our household, we have made that step to stop the crap that Hollywood can only seem to reproduce time and time again. And if there is anything news worthy, we do have the internet via our mobile phones (My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Palm Pre) and my work. I do now have the Palm Pixi (which I call ‘Pi-11′ to soften the tinkerbell connotations of the phone…. disclaimer: my most recent phone was a pink Katana II, so having a phone that “sounds” girlie is nothing compared to one that “looks” girlie) [uh, where was I], which I can access my email and web and a bunch of other cool stuff that I could only do if: I borrowed My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Pre or be at work.

Now that I am on a forced vacation… December 28 through January 1st, because the University of Tennessee is in its annual “administrative closing” cycle, this meant two things: More Kid Time, Less internet. My BRILLIANT Lovely and Talented Wife suggested that I go to the Library and work “1/2 day” to maintain some normalcy in our household. Both The Elder and The Younger are on their Christmas Holiday Winter Whatever Break and so with everybody home that is just a recipe for Clutter and Chaos. So, a few things had to happen for me to get to the point where I could work 1/2 days. 1) I needed a place to work with Internet Access 2) I needed a place conducive to getting real work done 3) I needed a place that I could work and then when I was done working, I could run. yes, I said RUN. As of me typing this blog entry, I have not run since December 3rd, but there is hope on the way. I need am INTERVENTION from this not running.

The place that satisfied ALL these conditions was the Knox County Public Library… 1) I can get internet access, 60 minutes with a library card, 2) It’s quiet in the library and you can really “buy” anything… but does have some strange personalities that roam through the collections and 3) The Farragut Branch is really close to my house AND adjacent to the Campbell Station Greenway! So, 2 weeks ago, I signed up for my library card… which means that now the The County and The Government is following my every move… wait, don’t they already do that?

Since my “real” work has actually been full of legimate work, thanks American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, I have had little time to do the things that I used to do mainly at work: Blog and Trade (stocks/options). So that is what I have been doing this week… well, when I wasn’t sitting in the waiting room of The Clinic.

Seems that the other day, in one of those simple instances… like putting down a cup of coffee… strange things happen in our world which follows the rules of Physics. Seems that I was able to apply enough Force (F) which was enough to break (coeffiecent of adhesion) the handle of the mug into two (n) pieces which cause one of the pieces to interact with my hand, namely the knuckle of my right hand’s middle finger (FU). Following Newtonic Rules of Motion, it was the ceramic piece which ceased to be in motion once it came into contact with my knuckle. Seems that about an inch (1″) of flesh was enough to stop the ceramic piece’s motion, however, it caused an incision to open in my hand (OWWIE). Noah would have been excited because with the blood, it was like the parting of the Red Sea. (I put the wrong person down, just to check to see if you were reading this… everybody knows that Abraham parted the Red Sea). Being a guy, and previously been certified in Red Cross First Aid, even to the First Responder level, I knew that I needed something… and a beer was not that thing. It was direct Pressure (P), and I applied that in a millisecond (ms) of the cut. At this point, I wasn’t sure of just how big the cut was, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty. My Lovely and Talented Wife was in the next room and hopefully not engrossed too deep in a game of Five or More to hear my body hit the hardwood floor as I bled out.

I made it the Laundry Room, which is also our First Aid Triage Room and our Pharmacy. I was now faced with a dilemma… I couldn’t get the band-aids (please don’t sue me) bandages with one hand incapacitated and the other one engaged in self-preservation. I tried for about 30 seconds, before I called out, “Lovely and Talented Wife, I need your help!”. I was met with an immediate response since I NEVER ask for help, even if getting help is EASIER than the way that I am doing it. So, with the calling for help, she was like a cat hearing the can-opener, except… no tasty treat. Surprisingly we were able to get the bandage on with little problem. There wasn’t much blood, but there was “sinking” of one of the flaps of the skin. I didn’t think that I needed stitches, but still followed (yes, dear) my wife’s request of trying to call the doctor. But given that it was 7:30pm on a Sunday, I had no chance of being seen. That meant, if I wanted stitches, I would need to go to the Emergency Room. Seeing that I 1) I did not have a head injury or 2) a gunshot wound, the chance of being seen in the Emergency Room before Sunrise, was slim to very very very slim. I decided to do my own First Aid handy work and try to survive the night.

Although I was never a Boy Scout but rather watch MacGvyer in the 80s (and had the hair at the time), I was able to fashion a split for my finger using a bandage, prewrap, athletic tape and popsicle sticks. And it worked, just peachy! No duct tape needed (darn!).

The next day, once the kids were up, I had some full frontal reality. In about 10 minutes, they must have hit my finger at least once if not TWICE! (and once was enough). I decided that I would be going to “The Clinic” so that I could get it looked at by a ‘professional’ and see if I really needed stitches. The Clinic didn’t open until 2pm though and I didn’t want to go to my PCP because that place is full of sick people. At least at the clinic, they are doing mainly tests at time of day. After a 2 and 1/2 hour wait at the clinic… I walked out with a metal splint on my finger, which was a nice upgrade to my home-grown splint. All it cost was the price of a co-pay.

### Fast Forward 2 weeks

I guess now I have to play catch up on my blog. The good thing is that I have a smart phone now which makes texting, browsing, etc SOOOO much easier. So, now I still have to figure out my running calendar this year!