My 14th February 14th with my buzzcutted partner, Patrick the Pink Princess

[CorpGovActivist]

He was supposed to be gone all this week, for some kind of super-duper-secret, I-could-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-hynotize-the-memory-out-of-you IT training, about an hour west of here.

Ah, but the big buzzcutted lummox is truly The Pink Princess in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_and_the_Pea">The Princess and the Pea.

Sleep? Me? Just about anywhere, anytime, on just about any surface. Or sitting up. That's good, too. I'm asleep with that lovely white noise of a plane before we even push back and taxi to the runway.

Sleep? Him?

:eyes:

If there is a pea to be found in his sleeping arrangements, trust me, he'll find it. As Irony would have it, he had never even heard the fairy tale before we met - a fact that made me collapse in laughter the first morning we spent away together somewhere for a special weekend.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Awful."

*puzzled look*

"Why?"

And a litany of "reasons" burst forth.

"Damn. You're the real life princess and the pea."

"Huh?"

"The Princess and the Pea. You know, the story? The fairy tale?"

"Never heard of it."

At which point, I think I collapsed in laughter for about five minutes solid. Honest, I wasn't laughing at him. I was laughing at Irony.

Anyhoo, imagine my surprise when I got home very, very early yesterday morning from my Potomac Primary-related activities to discover the TV going, a nearly full pot of coffee wafting, and the shower running. I know for a fact that I did not leave these things going.

When he came out to the living room with towel wrapped around waist, and coffee mug in hand for refill, it clicked. The sleeping arrangements his employer paid for must've not been to his liking. Oh, yes: to sleep in his own bed, with no peas, the Princess *will* do a one-hour-each-way commute before and after the training, boys and girls.

Or, maybe he just wants to spend Valentine's Day with me after all.

:loveya:

- Dave

[SacredCow]

1. How nice for you....

:hi:

[CorpGovActivist]

2. Hey you!!!

I am on my fourth cup of coffee, and the pistons are just now acting like they might make the full turn - if I can muster the energy to run down the street for the good stuff.

How are you?

C'mere you!!!

:hug:

- Dave

P.S. Slight edits to the OP.

[SacredCow]

3. Just had lunch here...

and still fighting the aftermath of a power outage yesterday... Some of my workaday playthings just don't like being deprived of electricity for even a moment...

But otherwise doing good!

:hug:

[CorpGovActivist]

4. Ruh-roh. Were the workaday playthings connected to UPS devices...

... with periodically-tested smooth shutdown software?

Or is that ounce of prevention a short-sighted pennypinch your employer made?

:eyes:

And - for the record - I'm a pretty forgiving and understanding "user community of one," but so help me GOD if the "IT department of one" in our house makes one more unannounced system change without asking the user community first, there are going to be scratch marks this Valentine's Day.

I'm just sayin'.

; )

- Dave

[SacredCow]

5. It'd have to be one HELL of a UPS....

The biggest offender in question is a scanning electron microscope (which includes 3 rotary vacuum pumps, 2 diffusion vacuum pumps, 1 ion pump, and one recirculating chiller that run 24-7). When the power goes out, you have to go through a day-long startup procedure and hope that the sudden vacuum release didn't burp any one of several components out of position. Otherwise, you have to shut everything down again, tear it all apart and put it back together. Which I just did.

Good thing I'm being fueled by http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7470767&mesg_id=7470767">Necco Sweethearts!

[CorpGovActivist]

6. Solar panel farm? Like the ones by the Pentagon...

... that would be my suggested solution.

1. New avatar. I'm confused. Please explain.

2. Your job. I'm intrigued. Please explain.

3. NECCO. Banned from our house. I'll explain. (If you want.)

:hug:

Sure have missed you! Hope today's exercise was the good kind, not the frustrating kind.

- Dave

[SacredCow]

7. Doubtful on the solar farm...

My company is by far not of the penny-pinching variety, but.... realistically- it ain't gonna happen, and there's really no need. So long as they understand that I'm down for about 24 hours after a power outage, and so far they seem to grasp that limitation...

1. That's Bloo from "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends."
2. My Job? I think I sent you a PM re just that- if you don't have it, I'll resend.
3. Necco ban? No need to explain- they're disgusting, but somehow addictive. Go figure.

Not too frustrating today- it's actually all working properly now, so I can begin to catch up on my productive work!

[CorpGovActivist]

8. Glad to hear they're taking it in stride.

1. OK. I need to familiarize myself. Bloo looks cool, and his home sounds cool. Maybe I should ask some of my imaginary friends if they've been holding out on me? *grin*

2. I guess that means I have to go look at my Inbox now. Seriously. I'm sitting here with the last half cup of warm coffee available in-house on my left, a half-guzzled can of Mountain Dew on my right, XM playing the most upbeat tunes I can find, and I still don't have the energy yet to go get the naughty Valentine's Day card from Lambda Rising in DC for Patrick. Bastard. He wasn't supposed to be here today. I was supposed to have more time to recuperate from the Potomac Primary, before he got back for a belated Valentine's.

3. I choked on a NECCO and almost died when I was 3. No NECCO products were allowed in our house after that. When I got to Cambridge for college, I was getting my bearings the first week, and stumbled across the old NECCO headquarters building/factory, between Harvard and MIT, on Mass. Ave. Just had to call my mom from the nearest pay phone, to let her know: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necco">NECCO stands for New England Confectionery Company, and 2. I walked past the building without choking and turning blue, although I did cross to the other side of the street when I saw the logo.

Come go http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4588668&mesg_id=4588668">whitewatering with Patrick and me next month.

- Dave

[SacredCow]

9. Whitewatering in March?

Wouldn't that be awfully cold?

Foster's is pretty damn funny. The concept is basically questioning what happens to imaginary friends when kids no longer need them. As it turns out, they end up in a foster home until they can be adopted again. Who knew? Bloo (Blooregard Q. Kazoo) is kind of a Plucky Duck sort of character.

On edit: Here's most of an episode- the theme song is catchy, too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZ8Z_P-nvE&feature=related

As for the Necco's- you haven't missed anything. They certainly haven't made any improvements. I eat them once a year, just to be sure.

[CorpGovActivist]

11. I promise: my counter-turtling technique is tried, true, and deep.

Besides, they give you a wet suit for it.

"Foster's is pretty damn funny. The concept is basically questioning what happens to imaginary friends when kids no longer need them. As it turns out, they end up in a foster home until they can be adopted again. Who knew? Bloo (Blooregard Q. Kazoo) is kind of a Plucky Duck sort of character."

That makes me sad and happy all at once. Patrick still doesn't know what to do with my teddy bear if I go first. I'm glad somebody else has wondered what happens to them, though. That sounds like a good purgatory while they're waiting for their next life!

The NECCO incident happened when I was about three-and-a-half, and is one of my earliest memories, before they became continuous around age five. Three was the same year that I:

1. Sprained my ankle and had to have four stitches where the sun don't shine, after landing assfirst on the Fisher Price farm house from the top bunk. The bunny blanket superhero cape prototype #1 needed some tweaks to the design. Tammy D. ratted me out, and Mom didn't buy, "Ketchup" as the answer for what I had dripping out of the leg of my underpants.

2. Spent two weeks in an oxygen tent on death's doorstep, unable to be touched: pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma rolled into one. My VERY first memory is of my dad and his sister opening the heavy marigold curtains in that hospital room to let the sun in one morning, my mom asleep, exhausted in the corner. All seen through the warped view of the plastic that could only be unzipped from the other side. Nobody could touch me, except thru the plastic. The nurses let my parents bring in one new toy, which they sterilized, and put in with me to keep me company. My teddy bear. When he didn't play like he was supposed to, I tossed him against the hard side of the tent (not an angry toss, just a bored one). And he started playing. (And I picked him right back up, and started talking back to him; we still haven't run out of things to say, and he's the best listener. Still, today.)

3. Broke my arm, when I wouldn't yield the slicky slide (I was climbing up, and my older cousin Michael wanted to come down).

Both my parents said that my 4th birthday was one they weren't sure was going to happen.

Bloo is COOL!!!

[SacredCow]

16. I have a wetsuit packed away somewhere....

let's just say I did a LOT of water skiing year-round....

Sounds like that was a bad year for you- My "incidents" were more spread out over the years.

[CorpGovActivist]

17. Have read, and will soon respond to, your PM...

... and so glad you sent it.

So, was that a "maybe" on the whitewatering?

- Dave

[SacredCow]

18. It's a kind of doubtful maybe...

given everything that I have going on right now. But what are the dates, etc? Stranger things have happened, and I might need some time away...

:hi:

[CorpGovActivist]

19. Well, March is just the best time, because of the extra flow.

If you can't make this one, we can keep it in mind for a future time when you need an inexpensive getaway (my mom loves when I bring people home, and all it costs is the price of groceries, which she alchemizes into unbelievable fare).

The dates aren't solid yet, but I'm definitely doing this this year. Too many Marches with too little whitewatering.

- Dave

[Missy Vixen]

10. This is HILARIOUS

I thought I was bad! I can't sleep well anywhere but our bed, either. :scared: I have to go to a conference in San Francisco in July, which means I'm finally breaking down and asking our doctor for something to help me sleep. (Not sleeping for five days is not an option.)

Happy Valentine's Day to you and the Pink Princess. Even if he drives you crazy sometimes, you love him. Isn't that what makes the world go around?
Julie

[CorpGovActivist]

12. He could help rattle off all the thing that help. Half his packing...

... it seems, to me, entails the sleep aids.

I'm sorry, but if I pack a blindfold for a getaway, it ain't for sleeping.

But if you want the pointers for all the things that "work," The Pink Princess is your go-to guy.

- Dave

[soleft]

13. AKA Once Upon A Mattress

Staged managed it HS, and saw it on b'way with Sarah Jessica Parker. Actually, I auditioned for the show - there's a reason people don't do karoeke with me. Hence, the stage management.

Happy Valentines Day!

[CorpGovActivist]

14. So mine isn't the only one?

Thank God! Is there a support group for their partners?

I could sleep in a goat herder's yurt, and wake refreshed. He'd have all the goats named by the next morning, and would have a particular grudge against one of them.

[CorpGovActivist]

15. Mmm. Hmm.

SJP, on a mattress. You were first in line for those tickets, weren't you? Armed with that, "You really wanna throw down with me to cut line?" look, right?

:rofl:

Yeah, once a Thespian, always a Thespian. And if 'tis not in your stars to tread the boards, at least you can make sure they're all nailed down right, right?

:loveya:

HVD!!!

- Dave