Antibiotic Warfare

A coworker just stopped by my office and informed me that I have what he had. An early fever followed by six weeks of coughing. It turned into pneumonia for him. He had a three-day antibiotic then was later given a five-day one to kick it. He changed doctors over his frustration. Today a PA gave me a five-day, so hopefully I'll kill it outright.

Just one easy breath

I am sick of being sick. This is now day seven of a sore throat and a runny nose. Last week I had a fever too, but that broke in time for the weekend. I expected to start breathing right too, but the cold hangs on.

I probably didn't help myself by spending the weekend at camp with Element. We had our retreat and I loved every coughing, sneezing minute of it. In that setting you get the time to talk and hang out that you just can't find in town or on a Thursday night. On Saturday we played games including Steal the Bacon which involved four teams wrestling black innertubes to their side of the field. Casualties included multiple bruises and one girl with a dislocated shoulder. The final game was a mud filled volleyball court with wet tarps running down to it from a hillside. The objective was to dive down the slide and fly as far out into the mud as possible. The last guys to go benefited from watching the techniques of everyone else and from the mud being smoothed out. Chad flew all the way across the court and off the edge of the far side which was composed of sharp rocks. He may have a big gash in his side, but he won the game. A fair trade.

Hiatus

Well it's been quite a while since I posted. Life has been really crazy. I had to move on a couple of weeks notice. Our landlord gave us one month, but Lance and I were out of town on alternating weekends, so there really was only one week to move. I took a Tuesday off, found a house that day, and we moved that Saturday. That Sunday I spent sitting among unpacked boxes writing a short story for my fiction class. Unfortunately, I didn't finish. Work kept me busy until Wednesday when I flew back to Illinois for my five-year class reunion. Illinois is beautiful this time of year. The air was cool, the grass was a lush green, and the trees were just beginning to change colors. It was my first real vacation since before China, and I was finally able to let down. Nothing is more relaxing than having lunch with my family on the back porch and watching the wind sway the grass and leaves. It was great to spend time with my family. My dad and I hung out at my bother-in-law Tobie's bike shop in DeKalb, North Central Cyclery. I received some education about mountain bikes and purchased a Giant Rainier. My coworker Ali has already scheduled our first expedition for next Saturday, although, as I'm writing this I'm remembering that I have a retreat next weekend. Suck. That night Tobie was riding from the bike shop to my parent's house for dinner and collided with his good friend Luke coming from the opposite direction. That the two of them would run into each other in the countryside was such a bizarre scenario that my sister didn't believe Luke when he called her. The only injury was Tobie's dislocated clavicle, which was not as severe as we feared, but a huge inconvenience as he runs a bike shop and does book binding. The reason for my trip was Wheaton's Homecoming. I got to see some old friends, some newer friends, and make some more friends. I realized that my real family at Wheaton was the Cross Country team, and was thankful that I got to see a few of them, but wish I could've seen more. I went to the football game which I must admit was only third Wheaton game I've been to. We won in triple overtime which made for a good ride, but the best part is that I watched it with Ena who having grown up in Hong Kong and Canada had only seen a football game once before. I never realized how complicated and bizarre it is until seeing it through her eyes. The players constantly stop, they only get a certain number of turns, going out of bounds isn't always a bad thing, some kinds of contact are okay but others aren't, the variety and consequences of penalties are completely bewildering. Homecoming ended with a late night concert with classmate Jake Armerding. He and his father on violin, guitar, and mandolin were brilliant. It was a beautiful way to go out, although I was totally exhausted by the end. The only down side of the last month is that between unpacking and work I felt that I needed to drop my fiction class. I really enjoyed it, but simply didn't have the time. Maybe my life will calm down now. Last night we sent off our Costa Rican employees who have been training here for the last two months. We've been impressed with them (although I did have to fire one--an awful experience the Monday after I moved). My boss is suggesting that I may go down there soon. We'll see if that pans out. I'm sure I'm forgetting a million things, but so much has happened lately. I hope I've captured a sliver of it.