sick day

After a wonderful trip to New Mexico and Arizona, I returned to work and a fairly stressful week, wondering how many people would be working Monday following budget talks and discussion of a government shutdown. Fortunately for a lot of people, everyone was at work yesterday.

Saturday was relaxed and fun, with a birthday lunch for my friend Mae. We enjoyed lunch at the Thai House, had a little fun running around town and talked about how good it is to see signs of snow melting and the onset of breakup.

Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and low-grade fever. Figuring it was sinuses draining, I took some sinus medicine. It didn't help at all. Monday it seemed a little better, but a cough set in. Knowing I have to fly out again soon, I decided to see a doctor to knock it out before getting on the plane. I couldn't get in to see my doctor, so I went to the urgent-care center. I hate going there, for several reasons, but I knew I needed to see someone that day. This place was packed too and I've heard several folks had to leave work today to get sick kids from school. The nurse told me there seems to be a lot of people with similar symptoms all over town.

After two hours, the doctor told me I have a sinus infection. But in addition I have minor infections in the respiratory system (not bronchitis yet, thank heaven) and ear and I have strep throat. A regimen of Predinisone and antibiotics is already working and my throat no longer hurts. The cough, however, is another matter. I can't lie down or even recline a little in my recliner without cough spasms that seem to last forever. My asthma is acting up and I've had to use the nebulizer several times a day. The fever is still here, but not as frequently. I stayed home today, but will return to work tomorrow.

Since I'm upright, either sitting or standing, I tried to be productive. I made a waldorf salad, which I've been craving, and some gravy for the pot roast I made Sunday. I felt too sick to make the gravy then, but now have supper for tonight (hot roast beef sandwich sounds good).

While we were in El Paso, Las Cruces and Phoenix we did some power shopping. I bought a fair amount of new clothes and in Phoenix I found a netbook. I'd been pricing them locally and online, but didn't want to pay the prices they wanted. I got it in Phoenix for several hundred dollars than here or online (can you say "shipping costs?") I didn't do much with it on our trip, other than check e-mail and the Fairbanks paper. So, on my sick day, I downloaded Microsoft Office first. Microsoft has determined that a new purchase of the full version, which I bought last summer when I upgraded my desktop computer, may now be put on both a desktop and one laptop. That saves me the cost of a license fee for multiple computers or the cost of a new full disk. I also set up several other programs and my Favorites on the Internet.

I've been avoiding taking the cough syrup the doctor prescribed because I really don't like taking codeine, but finally gave in and took a half-dose of the noxious-tasting stuff because I'm nearly desperate for some sleep. I got about 3 hours last night and no naps today. If I'm going to work tomorrow I really need to rest.

Hopefully by tomorrow the meds will have done even more magic and I'll be feeling better.

I am glad, however, I was able to get something done today. I'll take the netbook with me on my trip. The hotel has free wi-fi and I can keep up with Fairbanks news.

I hope you all are doing well. More on the Southwest trip next time.

baseball and more

My friend Mae and I have returned from visiting friends Bonnie and Junior in Las Cruces, NM. It was a great trip, if whirlwind.

Bonnie and Junior are doing well and it was wonderful to see them and spend some time with them. It went by far too fast.

We flew into El Paso, Texas and landed to a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze that helped with the 70+ temperatures and hot sun.

On the way to Las Cruces we stopped at an outlet mall where we hit our favorite stores and stocked up on some much-needed clothing items not available in Fairbanks. That night we had oryx (a species of antelope) for dinner along with green bean casserole and more. The oryx was delicious - mild, lean and not gamey at all.

The next day we hit the road early for the six-hour drive to Phoenix. We watched the sun come up over the mountains and light the desert and pulled into Phoenix in time to stop for lunch. From there it was on to the ballparks. We had scheduled six games of Spring Training into three days. We ensured we would see all three new parks in the Phoenix area as well as a couple of our older favorites.

Our first game was Tempe Diablo Stadium where the Los Angeles Angels train. Although this park has been a favorite of mine since 2000, I was disappointed this year. We had good seats for the game, but the park had replaced its seats since our last visit and we felt like we were in the center seat in an airplane's coach cabin. The new configuration really crammed us in. I'm very short and my knees nearly touched the seat in front of me.

That evening we were at Goodyear Ballpark where the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians play. This was one of the new parks, and although we were near the top row of seats and not behind home plate, I still liked the park. The seats were comfortable and we were under a canopy so were shaded from the early evening sun.

We also visited Surprise Stadium, another old favorite, and Camelback Ranch and Salt River Fields, the other two new parks. We noted everything from seats, ballpark configuration and scoreboards to team shops, hot dogs and field views from various areas of the park. We heard a couple of horrendous renditions of the National Anthem. Camelback Ranch featured a fireworks show after the game, but that's for a later post. And we thoroughly enjoyed some major league baseball, complete with home runs, double plays, pick-offs and broken bats.

Although the games involved some serious driving from one side of Phoenix to the other, in one case a distance of some 30 miles in traffic nothing like Fairbanks, we still had time to stop for dinner at a seafood place and a barbecue restaurant. Both had exceptional food and service.

After three days and nights in Phoenix, we hit the road again to return to Las Cruces. After the last game we drove to Tucson to spend the night and give us a little less driving time Sunday morning.

Although we were tired, we all agreed it was a great trip. I could easily spend every March in Phoenix just going from one ballgame to another. I prefer the Spring Training parks to the big city ones. The crowds are much smaller, the tickets and concessions cost less and the ballparks are much more intimate. We can sit closer to the field and even the seats in the top rows are good ones offering views of the playing field without the need for binoculars.

That's all for this post. I'll put up more photos of the trip next time.