Monday

It means nothing to me today. No work, no work! No Pit! No Feudal Mistress! I got to sleep late and now I'm doing nothing. Absolutely nothing! It's fucking glorious, man.

I'm feeling somewhat better today, so I've decided not to go to the doctor. My main motivation for not going is that I don't want to go anywhere. I have to go out on Wednesday anyway, so I'm gonna hold out 'til then. Wednesday, I'll take the last of my paperwork to "human" resources and I have an appointment with Dr. Sovenyhazy as a prelude to my colonoscopy. Oy vey. Why do I do this?

Oh, and I'm feeling a little guilty. I have the sneaking suspicion that it's very wrong to hope to see one of the Weather Channel's field meteorologists get blown off screen by hurricane Katrina. I remember a couple of years back seeing Mike Sidell get blown away, watching him tumble out of camera range down the street while his partner gawked in disbelief. You can't get comedy like that too very often.

Pit Pics Part Deux

I took more pics on Friday. This is the last of 'em folks! No more pictures from The Pit. From now on, all I'll have are photies of flora, fauna, and the occasional ominous cloud.

( click for photage )

Fare Thee Well, Mr. Birnbaum

Cathy called with the news of Howard's passing. After weeks of struggling to recover, he finally succumbed to the complications of his surgery about an hour ago.

I called clumsycake, green_goblin70, Timothy, and Ellis with the bad news. Now all we can do is wait for the arrangements from Howard's wife, Betty.

Cathy is destroyed by this.

I'm sad. Just incredibly sad and regretful for not getting to see Howard the last time he was down from Indy.

Memories of when things were wonderful at BMG, when Howard was my manager and Timothy was my boss, and we were all a family ~ not just coworkers ~ are running through my mind. And particularly the memories of Howard:

• My initial interview with him, which consisted mainly of my agreeing that I saw the "goddamned white bugs" that were falling from his office ceiling. I never saw a thing, but I was afraid not to agree with him, he was such a formidable character.


• Family Fun Day, when Howard came up and patted Granny on the head, commenting about how short and cute she was. He wasn't much taller.


• Hearing Tim's account of how Howard got up on his knees in his seat on the airplane they were on, and shouted back to Timothy about the lousy service of the airline. Tim tried his best to pretend he didn't know Howard.


• Howard fighting for me after Quality Assurance was dissolved and I took such a cut in pay that I had to get a second job. Howard made sure I got the next available office position with such an incredible raise that I didn't have to keep the second job for very long at all. He always fought for his family.


• Special Products last office party where I was singing "Vogue" on karaoke and Howard came up to me, wrapped a drunken arm around my neck and proceeded to jump up and down, chanting "Vogue! Vogue!"


• Howard's "special times" in the bathroom and the joy he got from tromping through the office, breaking wind with each step.


• Howard dubbing Publix Supermarket "Pubix," the name I call at every opportunity, much to Aunt Tudi's chagrin.


• Howard explaining to some visitors that green_goblin70's making a mess of spindle of CDs right in front of them was actually a "drop test" performed by the Quality Assurance inspectors.


• Tim telling me of the fit Howard pitched at the bowling alley until Betty got in his face and told him to sit down and shut up, which he immediately did.

I'm sure there are more memories, but I'm really too sad to recall anything else right now.

Of all the managers at BMG, Howard was the best. He cared about us all, even if he did come across as being gruff and surly. He made his departments a family and never let any of us down if it was at all within his power. He'll be sorely missed by many of us.

Sovenyhazy

I know I've mentioned this in my journal before, but I can't get over it. Ever since I had my flambodious butt surgery in 2000, I've had a difficult time coming to grips with the last name of my colorectal specialist. He's Hungarian and his name is Gabor Sovenyhazy, the last name pronounced SHOVEin hozzy. I know his last name means something completely different from anything regarding his career, but I still find it a little too coincidental that a proctologist has the word "shove" in his name.

So yeah, I'm preparing for my upcoming colonoscopy during which Dr. Sovenyhazy will do what he does best: shovin'. The only good thing about a colonoscopy is being put to sleep. I love anesthesia, there are just no words. If I ever got my hands on heroin, that'd be the end of me, I just know.

I already have clumsycake lined up to drive me to and from the test. A few years ago, when I had my first colonoscopy, clumsycake was there with Aunt Tudi. Before I was put to sleep, I informed Dr. Sovenyhazy that my Kung Fu partner had brought me to outpatient, as he wanted to make sure I wouldn't be driving. At the time, clumsycake and I were taking Kung Fu classes from sifu_rick. Unfortunately, Dr. Sovenyhazy only heard "my partner" and, to this day, he probably thinks that clumsycake and I are a Lesbian couple. I know that green_goblin70 does as well, but he doesn't have an interesting last name like Sovenyhazy, so he doesn't count.

I'm sure Dr. Sovenyhazy will be glad to see that clumsycake and I are still an item. Hopefully, it'll give him the warm fuzzlies and he'll take special care during his shovin' session.