What's more fun than a root canal?

A visit to the proctologist?

A root canal with enough novacaine to numb my eyelid. It wasn't until 3/4 the way through I was almost convinced that I wasn't going to feel it, and if you've had this done you know what I mean by "it", and my body as such a great memory for pain, it's like I've never forgotten any of my painful experiences and spend a great deal of time, more than I should, trying to decide which specific instance was more painful. Recent memory was the drainage of the infected tooth, but proudly I must say, I did not break down into crying like I thought I would; the shots didn't even hurt too much, although the tension and the pushing and shoving has further aggravated my back problem with a pinching feeling just at the base of my neck.

Once the novacaine wore off it's painful just to eat anything. I might have to slurp down mushy bananas for awhile. I wish I could just do ice cream but that will send my body into a worse situation; I already have a sore throat and impending sinus infection from the stress of the anticipation of today's visit.

Adobe punishes for trying beta software

I just got my CS3 Web Premium (and why this doesn't include Homesite is beyond me) disks which include Photoshop. I had run the beta software until the minute it expired (actually longer. it only expired after I quit the application) and missed it sorely, plus now all my defaults were set to open file with CS3, which gave me a crap error when opening after the expiry date. I tried trashing the application but it still didn't help. In fact trashing the application, which is what all good Mac users do when they don't want to use software on their system any longer, was probably the root cause of the problem experienced when installing. Although I had other CS3 trials I'd installed, only Photoshop was presenting a conflict. And what a helpful error message it gave from the install image: There is a conflict installing Photoshop CS3. The conflict is:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3

A software application that conflicts with its own trial version? C'mon, what are these people thinking? Maybe they were too busy taking over Macromedia to pay attention to such details at the time. Probably fired just the wrong people. So I end up having to run a Darwin script that promised to annihilate my computer as well as clean up all the old trial software debris, you know, the registry entries, and the 40,000 library folders and folders and files within folders and folders. After a couple tries it actually DID something and I was able to install the application. (So far I haven't noticed any pieces gone missing, but I haven't looked very hard either.)

To show my appreciation for all that Adobe has done for me, I decided to register Photoshop right after launching it and entering my authorization code. However I decided to not use my real name, no sir, I wanted them to pay attention to how I really felt right then. My first name is now Installing_Adobe_Software_Sucks and my last name is Ass_Big_Time.

I can't wait to get my first email from them.

and MORE pain

I figured out why I'd been feeling rather crappy last week. Dentist discovered an infected tooth. No decay, xray was clean. He found it with an iced q-tip, and we were all thinking it was a different tooth, but there was no reaction. As soon as he hit the molar, I about flew out of the chair. Two injections later I was still not able to tolerate the drill. He managed to drain it a little and vacuum out some of the goo, but I was getting to where I was afraid of the drill, afraid I would feel the pain that kept occurring.

What the heck am I going to do during the root canal? My prior r/c experience was not exactly pleasant.

Reno 911

Who came first: In n Out Burger or In n Out Motel?
Last weekend I went to Reno again to visit my cousin, who plays in symphony there on occasion. The plan was to rest up Friday as I still hadn't quite recovered from the day in the blazing sun followed by the all night commute. I even bought sleeping pills. We stayed at the Silver Legacy, the towering multi-faceted casino/hotel next door to the El Dorado. While my cousin practiced and went out, I tried, and failed, to sleep. The pills made me hazy but not sleepy, not like percoset, vicodin or valium. So I watched the Discovery channel - a doomsday show about a comet hitting the earth, and who is there talking but prof. David Sattler, the expert on the psychological affect of disasters. I helped him to create the Inter'l Tsunami Museum exhibit in Kho Lak, Thailand.

Saturday I met up with my friend Kim. We tried to go to the beer/brew and music fest outside the hotel but it was just too freaking hot. After walking around a bit we went to her mom's house on the other end of town, had lunch at a chain brewery, looked at the new I-phone at the Apple store. I checked my email while there. No one seemed to miss my presence in Washington. Went back to her apartment and then decided to meet up later.

I found my cousin after the show at the edge of the stage drinking wine with a cellist next to the trash cans. Odd how in Reno open containers are not a problem. In WA they force all alcohol consumers into a cage. I don't get it. We had more wine at a place that is coffee by day and wine by night.

Kim and I decided to go to a Latin night club, Coco Boom. I spoke a little Spanish but less than I used to. She found us some boys to dance with, Hondurans. We were the only whites in attendance. She had written an article about the place and had passes. There were two main areas, one with a huge rectangular bar. The first guy I danced with was getting a little too chummy. Kim's partner for the evening immediately found me another friend, and he was cute, but smelled like wine and cigarettes. We left as I was getting tired and it was almost 3am. Again.

Sunday Catherine and I tried to find a way up to Lake Tahoe to escape the heat, and after looking online (over $40ea. round trip), found out the only feasible way was to rent a car. But it was already the afternoon by that time. We had fun playing in the river. I got water-shy Catherine to jump into the river with my bodyboard. It was so much nicer being wet. I wore a long sleeved linen shirt and with that on and wet, I was almost cold in the 103 degree heat. An alternative-music style band started playing by the river. Catherine eventually found me and we listened, although the band never said their name, only that they were having an album release party a the Nugget.

After getting cleaned up we headed out for Basque food. I'd never had it, and I liked the Picon liquor. Two older couples were at our table. The men started flirting with us. It was quite entertaining.

Down on fourth avenue we admired the kitchi-ness of the area and even snuck inside a weekly hotel for a look around. Secure, my ass!













We saw a guy who does bookings for musicians who was playing at a rather hip club in this funky neighborhood. We decided to shell out the $12 cover for the all ages venue. The first band was kind of -eh- but his band, "Who Cares" was an interesting setup. 17 year old rapper, him on sax, another guy on keyboard. Album Leaf headlined but they must all be deaf. During soundcheck each member wanted more on THEIR mic, to the point where when they played, it was unbearable. The floors were vibrating. I'm surprised the old wooden roof didn't collapse.



After that we went to the Roxy where Catherine knew the piano player, Paul. I had a chocolate raspberry martini. Yum. He had funny songs, and did "I blog alone" for me. Do I need to comment on that?

The next morning I went for coffee with Kim at Java Jungle, and who should be working there behind the counter but the lead singer from the first band at the venue from the night before. Only in town three days and I felt like a local.

Random Reno stuff: The Best Drug Store was for lease and empty. I guess saying it twice didn't impact sales. Neither did being next to a wedding chapel.

"When morning comes twice a day..."

Today I learned something about this amazingly northern part of the Americas. It starts to get light around 3:15 am. 3:15! for crikey sakes. How do I know this? I stayed at Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic til the bitter end. At the Gorge Amphitheatre, 240 miles from my domicile. It didn't end until midnight. Didn't know I'm a willie fan? Well I'm not really, but the old guy might kick it any day and even at 73 he has a lovely voice. And his teenage looking son wasn't half bad either. But I was really there for Son Volt. And they were put in AFTER Amos Lee, Drive By Truckers, and Old 97s. Which is cool because last time I saw them play with Drive By Truckers, Son Volt opened. Unfortunately yesterday the crowd was all anxious for the old geezer (just one more band! I overheard some lardball bemoan), but it didn't stop me from hootin' and hollerin' and singing along.

At the end of "move it on over" about the hot dog replacing the cold dog, I decided that I like my music the way I like my men: complex.

I managed to cheat the night a little by sleeping at a rest stop that couldn't come soon enough; there is an additional rest stop southbound near Lynnwood but the highway folks couldn't be as nice to the northbound travelers and I had to go all the way past Marysville. But I want to know why it is my bladder is WAY more sensitive and alert to the slightest amount of fluid in there when a. I'm driving and b. trying to sleep in my car? And it's not like a van with easy horizontal access; it's duck under the flap, find somewhere semi comfortable for my feet that are too long for that back section, avoid whatever light source is peeking in through the cracks. And try to fall asleep before one of the individual body parts does.

The nice thing about WA rest stops is they have snacks for you, just waiting! And coffee! All by donation. I had a lovely slice of poppyseed cake with underwhelming coffee, but hey it was THERE and it was FREE. God bless America.