Conflict

So.....

It seems I have become a cranky old man.  Or..... maybe I'm not handling all the stuff going on in my life very well. I went off on one of the new owners of our company's representatives a couple of weeks ago about parking in the disabled parking spots at my work.

We have  only two disabled spots and at least once a week there is some company truck or some jerk with no sticker parking in them. I end up having words with the drivers of these cars and it has gotten me into trouble.

I was called into a meeting with my new manager and told in no uncertain terms if it happened again I would be gone. 

I apologized to some of the people involved in the incident, but I still get "the look" from the guy on whom I vented.

Today, when we stopped for gas, some kid had his music blasting and I said something to him about that. The situation deteriorated from there and he left with his engine and music blasting as he cussed me out. I might have said a few profane things as well. I attempted to explain to him he was being a jerk, but he didn't see it that way. Oh well.

Vicki however was not pleased. She is convinced I will be shot or beat up if I continue to be so grumpy. She may be right. I have promised to do better and  try to chill out.

Only time will tell. I have no patience with bullshit lately and these days it seems to be more and more prevalent. Perhaps I am just getting old and things set me off more easily.

Regardless of the reason, I am committed to being more gentle in my dealings with others. I pray each night that I will avoid confrontations.

In the meantime, I have a month before I to back to my oncologist. I do have to see a specialist next week about an issue coming from side effects of chemo or more correctly a biologic that was given to me during my last round of chemo.

Vicki goes in for surgery the end of the month and we remain hopeful that will go well.

I was delighted tonight to grill some bratwurst and spend time in the backyard with a whiskey and a cigar. Life is pretty good even with its trials and tribulations.

Here's hoping your life is going well.

RT    

3rd and 2

I had the first 3 radiation treatments this last week on the second cancer mass in my lungs. Next week I get two more and I should be done. At least done with radiation anyway. There may be more maintenance drugs needed for a while. I'll have to wait and see how that goes. 

On another bright note, we got our car back on Friday. We've been in a rental car for 2 weeks. A big piece of truck tire took out the front end of my car on the Freeway and it's taken that long to replace the front bumper cover, the tie rod, the radiator and the air conditioning condenser. It also tore up some cover plates under the car as well.

It was a sort of freak event. The car in front of me attempted to miss the thing and hit it with just one tire. The damned thing flipped up into the air and came at me like it was alive. There I was looking at the chunk of truck tire bearing down on me and nowhere to  go. It hit dead in the middle of the bumper and split the lower bumper in half, then slammed into anything it could as it went under the car. 

We're really happy to have our baby back. We spend a lot of time in it together commuting to work and traveling. It has all the creature comforts we like and rides like a dream. The 300 is the last of a breed of big, rear wheel drive, American sedans. It makes me feel good every time I get behind wheel. 

OK, enough about our ride.

Vicki got the word this week that she'll be going in for surgery on one of her kidneys later this month. We're trying to schedule all our medical crap before our birthdays in April. We're hopeful this coming surgery will stop her weight loss and make her feel better. Her doctor says it has a good chance of success. 

I stood on the patio this afternoon watching a couple of steaks cook on the grill while enjoying a whiskey and a cigar. I realized that as tough as things have been, Vicki and I are doing OK. She has a girls outing to the Renaissance festival coming up in a couple of weeks.It's a great day for her to spend with daughters, granddaughters, sisters and nieces.

We've got plans for dinner out next weekend for Valentines day. Our kids gave us gift cards for Christmas and this is the first chance we have to use them.

And of course there's the Super Bowl tomorrow. 

Have a great weekend.

RT