What would be the best way to spend a sick day?
 

Apparently I get a second chance at my "Paperwork day," except I will not be paid for it, although it opens up new possibilities. I said afterward that I had hoped to apply for grad school, so that is still a good plan for today. I had actually wanted to catch up on paperwork for my home-health job, but I spent more time staring at my notes than actually writing them. I went for a walk, propped open the doors for a while (it was 48°), did push-ups for the first time in months (twenty in a row, yay me), and I even attempted a pull-up, but lack of practice and continued weight gain made that one embarrassing.

I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and went to urgent care as soon as they opened to make sure that I was safe to work with kids with special needs. They said that I had strep. Maybe part of the reason that I struggled to get anything done the previous few days was because I was starting to get sick.

I kept trying to start my notes Saturday and Sunday, but just couldn't focus. I kept trying to get more sleep yesterday, but I couldn't sleep with a sore throat. I definitely need to catch up on notes, I just will not be paid for another two weeks.

Writing notes and applying to grad school could take the whole day, but I cannot see my clients on the reservation, either, which frees up another four hours. Should I go and look at the $2,000 Fit that I never linked? (https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...3605641897173/)

Should I call LKQ, the places advertising Accords for parts on OfferUp, and other junkyards looking for my resonator, and then go and get it?

I would rather order a new one from Honda Parts HQ. As long as I order today I can get it for $74.25 with free shipping. I e-mailed LKQ. They are 175 miles away. If they have another resonator and they still charge $35, gas would be about $26.90. It would absolutely be worth $12.35 to avoid seven hours of driving; I am just not convinced that it is worth $74.25. I have found a few junkyards within an hour of here. I e-mailed them.

Car-part shows five cars with air boxes this side of Phoenix, so hopefully I could find something a little closer.

Should I look at this $1,100 Civic an hour away. Just like mine, it has a cracked header! (It looks worse than mine): https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1575305092

"only $50 At a junk yard!" (I cannot find any that cheap) "4 matching Acura rims and tires!"
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1575305388

What other lies are they telling?!

Then there is whatever this is: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...0066232612992/

I try to catch up on (easy) things, at my own pace, such as laundry, dishes, vacuuming, maybe some electrical work.

I’d go look at the Fit. I drove ours in to work today. 226k miles, runs and drives like a new car. Outside temp was 22F, managed to break 50mpg. Utility is unreal. Great car.

The purpose of a sick day is to get well, or am I missing something?

Who has an entire day to just lounge around?! :)

I had a four-day weekend and hardly got anything done, although I did most of the Thanksgiving cooking. I tried to do things on Saturday, but couldn't figure out why everything took so long. I woke up with a sore throat, went to urgent care, picked up medicine and chicken noodle soup, and then came home. All that I really did on Sunday was rest. I kept trying to sleep, but my sore throat prevented that, so I finally laid down and watched whatever YouTube played automatically.

There is one junkyard in-town, but their Accords are 1992 or older. I had not thought of looking for ones in other towns. I found one just over half an hour away and they have three Accords of my vintage, but I needed to waste over an hour finding out they did not have any resonators, although maybe someday I will need a part they actually have.

I needed a nap after that trip! :)

I have not called any Phoenician junkyards, but I do not know when I will be down there, although I heard back from LKQ. They want $86.47! I could have ordered one from a dealership for $74.25 (although that promotion ended).

I work when I'm sick. If I'm going to be miserable regardless, might as well get paid to be miserable.

I hope the principal would order me to go home if I showed up with strep, even if I wore a mask, and speech therapy is far less effective while wearing a mask.

I guess that I could have gone into urgent care when I first noticed a sore throat. It may have gone away on its own, but as long as the strep test caught it, I could have been quarantined on Sunday, back to work yesterday, and could have spared myself some suffering, although I wonder how often I get sore throats that never get worse.

The fun part was that a friend was in-town and kept hinting that she wanted to see me and then getting passive aggressive. I keep telling her that hints and passive aggressiveness are counterproductive, but she keeps trying harder and harder. Had she asked if I wanted to do something I very well may have responded "I can't! I haven't gotten anything done!"

However, I did look up movie showings, and was willing to give up trying to be productive if she would just be nice. She didn't and that is the story of how my friend kept from getting strep.

I think she is still upset with me, though.

Seriously? She wanted strep?!

Hey, whatever floats your boat :D or hers in this case.

Enjoy your newly stable life. Stay away from the crazies.

Sick again. What do I have?! Am I contagious?! Am I safe to work with kids on Monday?! I don't know!
 

A week after I started taking antibiotics my sore throat came back and I developed a cough. There were times that it was bad enough that I thought I needed to return to urgent care, but by the time that I was able to, I was feeling better.

Until last night.

I kept eating chicken noodle soup and drinking juice. I had Theraflu and Nyquil. I fell asleep without a problem, but I woke up at 03, and simply could not get back to sleep. I was waiting for urgent care to open at 08. I said that I had strep less than two weeks before, I thought it was back, and now I had a cough.

The lady told me to go to the other location because they could not do x-rays, so I did. It seemed like the tiny nurse practitioner brought in a lady much closer to my size for moral support. Several times I told her that she was wasting my time and I got up to leave. I feel just like I did when I went in on the First, except that I now have a cough, but I was negative for strep, so I had a virus--or allergies.

Presumably I could have a different bacterial infection, just not strep.

I am absolutely contagious--or not, but she obsessed over my ankles.

Dad had big legs. All of the kids in my family have big legs. My skinnier sister complained that she couldn't find boots and our sister told her that she did not have ankles, none of us did.

No no no, I needed to go straight to the emergency room and charge up my credit card because she had feelings!

However, my feelings were absolutely unimportant.

I guess that I will just see how I feel on Monday and hope that I do not get anyone sick. I have had doctors tell me that I just had allergies.

I do not even know where to get a second opinion. The E.R.? How much would that cost?!

Snow day?
 

December was complicated for me. I had Strep on the First, missed the last week of school because I was sick [or was in bed with allergies?!], and my granddad passed away on the last day of school.

January was all right, but they increased my caseload, without increasing my hours, and they just changed the system that we use for reporting therapy sessions. We had Martin Luther King Day off and I used those hours to set up everything with the new system.

Hopefully I do not get in trouble for that, but an extra two hours a week would have been more than I put in.

I keep trying to work on my Civic, but my sister got married on Saturday in the valley, so I worked both jobs every day and then drove down for that.

I didn't attend, but I drove down.

One of my clients was horribly sick yesterday, so I tried to work on my car, but was still putting things together. I spent half an hour this morning looking for my wide masking tape, another 30 minutes trying to get my car ready, and then hurried and got ready for work.

There were five cars in the parking lot and three lunch ladies walking to their respective vehicles. One announced "Snow day!"

We live about five miles away: https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1580844430
Almost all of it melted by noon.

My brother was awake, but looked sleepy, so I had him lay on the couch, and said that I would be working on my laptop on my room. It has been crashing and I have not had the time to figure out why. My RAM and hard drive passed tests. World of Warcraft crashes more often than my laptop and often WoW crashes and then my laptop does before I can do anything, although it only seems like it happens on the rare occasions that I can play for an entire hour--and usually right before I finish.

However, the other night I put my computer to sleep, laid down, heard the computer fan, opened my eyes, and saw the blue screen of death.

It died of insomnia?

I am not sure that I will be able to accomplish anything before I need to get ready for my other job. I thought of all of the things that I could accomplish today and all that I did was make a few posts.

We have had a few leaks in the bathroom. I tightened the valve to the toilet and fixed that one, but we keep having a leak under the sink. Trust me, life isn't better down where it's wetter, under the sink!

I tightened some stuff, but I think it is the stopper control arm. I took it apart to clear a clog and apparently I needed to use a new seal. Ace did not have the right size so I reused the original.

Mom also wants them to make our toilet tank stop sweating. For some reason, humid air condenses on cold porcelain. What is a plumber going to do about that?

There are insulative tank liners that are difficult to install and possibly too thin to work. Perhaps running a dehumidifier would work, but I cannot find one up here. They sell insulated toilet tanks. This $116.45 one wouldn't ararive for a week: Saniflo 5 Toilet Insulated Tank with Fill and Flush Valves, White

Toilets sweat. They've done that since the beginning of time, haven't they?

~

Lots of sickness going around here. I came down with something, so I took today off. Laid down last night with a sore throat and body aches, and didn't sleep very much. This morning I was pretty weak. I expect I'll be sick for a week or more but can't reasonable take more than a day off of work.

I started off with a cup of really nice decaf and some oats, fed and took out the animals, then settled in for about half a day of video games - something I probably haven't done in a year or more. Had a few cups of herbal tea, some chips and salsa and a bowl of leftover vegetable soup late morning.

Around noon I decided to be useful. Did all of the dishes, vacuumed the carpeted rooms in the house, and patched a wall closed I had ripped out a few days back to put in new plumbing. I then went out to the garage in my slippers and started carrying my new unassembled cabinets inside. I got two small boxes inside before my body told me that was enough. Took another 30 minute break with a game, then started cooking dinner for my wife - kimchi fried rice, though the kimchi wasn't quite ready yet.

How old do you think I am?! :)

Are you feeling better?

Just agreeing that your mom's expectation is pretty strange.

Not feeling anything better, no, but looks like I'm going back to work anyway.

Spray it with Plastidip. :thumbup:

Given all that turmoil, I'm amazed that you have time to document all of it here.

I am confident that Great Stuff would make a greater difference, especially in the volume and frequency of complaints from Mom.

The two plumbers charged $284 for half an hour of work that I could have done if Mom waited until Thursday or Friday. They replaced the seal between the tank and the bowl, which had nothing to do with the condensation. They replaced the toilet supply valve without explaining why. The one clearly useful thing they did was replace the popup assembly. I had a $10 kit in my hand last night at Walmart, but all of the parts that I saw were plastic. Ace has a chrome kit for $22 (fake chrome is $10).

However, they seemed to replace the assembly because the seal was bad.

The seal that I had tried to find, so I could replace it myself.

I had bought the stopper control arm kit to replace the clevis clip, but allegedly they sold that separately.

$5 wasted! :)

I would accomplish more if I documented faster.

More concisely? :)

I seriously need to cut back on infections!
 

I have had strep, an ear infection, now pinkeye, and other infections. The SLPA that works with my brother [when she isn't busy talking to us] says that she has every student use hand sanitizer and then she sprays her work area with Lysol multiple times a day.

I am going to start some of that, but I had four infections last winter and I was not working at a school. I see two little kids at home that climb on me. I should sanitize them, too.

My plans for Saturday were:

1. Change the oil in my Accord and Mom's car.
2. Remove all of the metal shavings that I can see from the Civic head.
3. Put a drain pan under the Civic and pour the used motor oil on the head.
4. Close the QuickValve.
5. Reinstall the valve cover using the torque wrench.
6. Fill the Civic with oil.
7. Reinstall the battery [that has been charging in the garage].
8. Say a very sincere prayer and crank her up!

Right. Oil change. How could that possibly go wrong?

Do you know who I am?!

1. The Accord oil change was quick and easy. I hardly got my disposable gloves dirty and only a couple of drops of oil fell on the big metal drain pan under the plastic one.
2. The problem was when I poured oil from there into a 5-gallon jug. I made a stack of cinder blocks, but had difficulty removing the drain pan cap--it cracked.
3. I drained the oil into the jug perfectly until I needed to lift the drain pan. Even though the jug was half full, it tipped over, completely missed the metal pan, and spilled all over the garage floor.
4. The jug filled up before the pan was empty, so I had a funnel full of dirty oil that I needed to put back in the pan. A mess ensued, but a contained mess.
5. I used up the rest of my shop towels.
6. It was raining, so I bought an awning to keep water out of my engine. Harbor Freight showed a 10x20 canopy for $100, but they only had a 10x10 one--for the same price.
7. I need long cotton swabs to reach the metal shavings in the oil passages. Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Big Lots, and Safeway only had the normal ones, so I ordered from Amazon, and they arrived yesterday. I took my brother and he bought something from every store.

I wanted to do what I could this morning after making my brother's breakfast and before working both jobs, but:

1. I felt something in my eye and wiped away gunk. The Internet said that I had pink eye.
2. I have an appointment at the VA on Thursday. I called their helpline and a nurse said that since I have not seen my doctor yet, all that I could do was pay out-of-pocket or drive 3.5 hours each way to the Phoenix VA.
3. Banner bought out the local urgent cares and more than doubled the charge, so I honestly looked into driving to Phoenix, but not only did I have a better use of seven hours, I did not feel like risking hitting another elk.
4. "Yup, that is pink eye, here is a prescription [written on a paper towel], good luck!"
5. My supervisor drove up to supervise me, but I am prohibited from working, so she only gets to supervise me tomorrow.
6. I am out about $175 and a long day's work.

I am all caught up on notes, so I get to focus on projects!

It looks like Home Depot has the best price for shop towels. Who price-checks shop towels? :)

My brother is home from his day program with a stye, but I am not taking him anywhere because he is also contagious, but at least I am home to help him.

I only got through #4 on Saturday's to-do list today and I did the first half-step [changing my oil] on Saturday. I probably could have done all seven had I not obsessed over that Tough Shed at Home Depot. I also spent a long time cleaning. I have two plastic and one big metal drain pan. All three dripped dirty oil and, while my funnel fit perfectly in my Accord, it tipped over right before I finished filling up Mom's car. Hopefully I got the oil off of her serpentine belt. I scrubbed it with hot soap and water and then rinsed thoroughly.

Also, the VA called to set up an eye appointment, called back to give me the information, and it took a while to look up my appointment at the VA. It just so happens that my eye appointment is at 8:15 on the way to the VA, I just need to fill out the VA paperwork before my 09 appointment, even though I should be in their system already.

Men have a reputation for saying "I will be fine" and not being fine. As soon as I suspected that I had pink eye I looked into my options, went to urgent care, and waited at the pharmacy until my prescription was ready. Well, Mom said that my brother would be fine, but took him to urgent care today, and when I came in from working on my car at 1930 she asked me to get his medication.

They said they put a rush on it, but it will not be ready until 09 tomorrow.

I called my sister that is a nurse practitioner and had her call in a prescription at Walgreens, which was ready when I got there. I got home and plugged in my phone, but nothing happened. I tried three chargers and then set up Samsung Galaxy S6 #3.

Huh. I just plugged #2 into my desktop to copy the files and it is charging, but says that the device malfunctioned.

Well, as long as it charges, I can take care of it later.

Have a great night!