Virus + X = Ambulance Ride to Cardiac Unit

In the above equation "X" equals "not taking care of oneself" and the theorem was proved Friday morning.

I had been sick since Sunday. I took two days off. I went back to work on Wednesday and struggled through it for the next two days. Friday, around 3AM, everything came crashing down. I woke up with terrible sweats. I could barely hear out of my left ear. My going-on-five-day headache was raging. My back hurt. My neck hurt. My shoulders hurt. And my new symptom? My chest hurt. I was even having trouble breathing.

I willed through it, settled down, and managed to get a few more hours of sleep. I already had a doctor appointment scheduled for 1:45PM and my plan was to take another day off from work and try and get an earlier appointment.

The morning was a bit of a blur. I took out the dogs and fed them. I said goodbye to Kelsey. I fed the cats. I took Will to school. I wished my wife a good day at school. I moved my appointment to 10AM and I tried to get some rest on the couch. But I couldn't. The chest pain was real. And I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I could take deep, long breaths - but I couldn't get the air to go where it needed to go.

I thought about calling 911. I should have, looking back on it.

I struggled to drive to the doctor's office. I wobbled into the building. I was close to blacking out by the point I got to the check-in desk. Things were very weird and I had an overwhelming feeling. Two nurses were suddenly on either side of me and I was being stripped and thrown onto a table. Things got really scary. I kept apologizing for causing a fuss and kept telling them that I was really scared. My favorite nurse, "The Sniper" (she removes the finger of her latex glove when she takes blood), tended to me while things settled down. But she was replaced by the office manager and that scared me all over again. I didn't want to die in a small exam room without a single loved one around (and this reality finally became clear as a possibility to me - which scared me all over again).

An ambulance was called. IVs were inserted. I was rolled into the hospital. Progressive Cardiac Unit. Nitro was administered. Top-scalp headache blasted my cranium. Chest pains diminished. Julie showed up. Parents showed up. Hell, even Eddie showed up :)

That all happened Friday morning. It's Monday morning now. The weekend was filled with a lot of doing nothing and laying around (and House marathons - goddam I love marathon television programming). Doctor Quaye says that the virus was able to inflame the lining around my heart because I didn't rest enough and take it down (before it attempted to take me down). I told people that is probably the best news anyone on this floor is going to get.

So everyone - and future self - please do what the doctor says when you have a virus. Rest. Drink fluids. Take it easy. Don't rush and go back to work. Everyone keeps telling me this: "Your health is more important than anything else." And they are right. Mostly. Tacos are a little more important. And cashews. And maybe Star Wars.

Virus!

You know how much I hate computer viruses? If you've read my blog in the last year you know the answer to that. You know what I hate more than computer viruses? Viruses of the biological variety. And boy oh boy, have I had a nasty one since Sunday. It's been kicking my arse. It feels like the flu and it suuuuuuuuuucks (yep, "ten U's" sucks).

I have had a headache for nearly 4 days. I'm sick of this.

Brett is Back

'nuff said. Vikings are going to the Super Bowl this year!

Fantasy Football Draft Results - L'ville Hotspurs (smorty71)

I had my first LIVE draft last night in my regular Fantasy Football League - smorty71. The 2010-2011 L'ville Hotspurs are...

QB - Eli Manning
RB - Adrian Peterson
RB - Cadillac Williams
WR - Sidney Rice
WR - Pierre Garcon
WR - Mario Manningham
TE - Ben Watson
K - Nate Kaeding
DEF - Minnesota

Bench - David Garrard (QB), Kevin Smith (RB), Brandon Jackson (RB), Mike Williams (WR), Joey Galloway (WR), and the Redskins (DEF). I have to play stingy this year, since we've gone from a 12-team format to an 18-team format and the extra talent is simply not going to be lying around.

I am participating in my boss' league and I will also be taking part of Genscape's FFL. It's going to be a good year. Go 'spurs!

Scott Pilgrim Vs the World

The kids and I saw this on Friday. And wow. I mean...

WOW!!!

I can't put into words how awesome this movie was. I will say these two things...

1. I felt like the movie was made for me. Just me. Tailor made to fit me like a glove.

2. As soon as it was over, I wanted to watch it again.

Go see it. It's so much fun!

Such a small world

The odds of this happening just astound me. So check this out...

My wife's friend and hairdresser, Michelle, was visiting her friend in the Nashville area. She was at her home admiring a piece of artwork on the wall. The style seemed familiar to her and she actually thought it was one of mine. Michelle asked her friend if the artist's name was Eric Brinley. The friend said that she didn't know and wasn't about to be bothered to take it down and check the back. Michelle looked for a name on the piece and quickly found "Brinley" signed at the bottom. She asked her where and when she got the piece and the friend replied that she bid on it at the Julep Ball this past Derby.

Holy crap! That was my "First Saturday" piece I painted for the 2010 Julep Ball!!!

Check it out:

First Saturday

Now, if I only could find that piece that auctioned for Go Red for Women in 2007... :)

Kelsey turned 17

Wow, it seems so odd to me to think that I am raising a 17-year old. Hells bells, sometimes I still *feel* like I'm seventeen (well, okay, not that often). But Kelsey turned 17 yesterday and that little chick-a-dee is growing into a chick. And to think, in 5 or so years she could conceivably be a mama hen! And what will that make me? You guessed it - a grandpappy! Yeesh!!!

Anyway, I wrote her a little poem yesterday and made a card from it. It went along with a little stuffed lion cub that Jooj and I picked up from the zoo. Here it is...

For Kelsey

With each year you are getting older
Growing up and growing bolder
You have a job, you have a car
We all know that you'll go far

You'll always be her little girl
In your mother's eyes and world
As for me, I am so proud
To hear you roar, so sure and loud

You aren't grown up all the way just yet
But a few more years is all we get
Before you're off and on your own
You'll be a big girl and then all grown

So we want to remind you of younger days
When all you wanted was to play
To dress up in your dress-up clothes
And in your hair, an umrbrella bow

A toy is what we bought, to try
And remind you of those days gone by
Not too soft, but not too scruffy
So give it a hug ‘cause...

... IT'S SO FLUFFY

Love you Kels. I hope to celebrate many more birfdays with you - more than I can count :)

And behind door #3...

... A BRAND NEW CAR!!!

We found a car for Kelsey. It is a '97 Toyota Tercel with 130K miles. We are purchasing it for her Monday. I'm excited for her. Finally she will be able to really take ownership of a car and take this driving business serious :)

Good luck out there, gal!

Brinley.com... IT'S MINE!!!

It has been a very strange few days - I will certainly say that.

I wish I could say that I wheeled and dealed and wrangled my domain name back. Or I wish I could say that I underhandedly hacked into servers and cyber-stole my domain name back. Or some other fantastic James Bond-style mission that ends with a domain name in one hand, a martini in the other, and a half-naked and wanton Jooj in the other (yes, three hands... this is my fantasy, back off).

But no. I just made a few phone calls. Someone hit a renew button. And someone else received a $12 charge. Pretty boring really.

I realized that brinley.com was not really a really real site. It was a placeholder site. Had I even an ounce of sense about me I would have checked pinkpanda.com - another site of mine registered at the same time. I would have seen that the same crappy site was being served from it and that it was simply a placeholder site.

In short, Brinley.com is mine again. And, if I have learned anything from this experience, it will be forever and ever!

Broken Pinky Toe

Scratch "Break Pinky Toe" off my lifelong ToDo list. Break Pinky Toe? CHECK!!!

Went to the lake this weekend with Will and two of his friends. Jooj was supposed to go down with us but she was suffering from a bad reaction to some new medication. The boys and I (imagine me and three 14-year old boys... or better yet, imagine *four* 14-year old boys) rolled down to Nolin jamming the new Eminem CD. We got there and Jim and Susu had rented a pontoon. Niece Katie was there were her boyfriend Tony. I slammed three beers and we hit the water.

We drove the boat to a cove and the boys took turns jumping the 40 feet into the water. It was fun to watch. During the shenanigans (I probably had another 4 beers on the lake) I stubbed my toe on the railing of the boat. I knew immediately that I broke it. We continued to party pretty hard. I had to do something to dull the pain.

Jim and I, while taking the boat back, were caught the nastiest rainstorm I've been through in 6 years. Lightning smashing around us. Rain stinging us like whips. The wind pushed us so hard that we were losing ground with the boat in full reverse. It was amazing, scary, and funny all at the same time.

Afterward, we saw the most beautiful rainbow. And it started right there on the lake. It was as if the leprechauns had their gold right there under the surface of the water. It was stunningly awesome and awesomely beautiful. One of those little things in life that go unnoticed by so many these days.

Anyway, fun continued. We drove back the next day. My toe turned colors and swelled. I went to the doctor and an x-ray confirmed what I already knew. Broken. Funny.

It doesn't really hurt. It's more of an annoyance. And I hope it heals quickly. I got stuff to do 'round here, ya'll!

Brinley.com

I have proudly owned the domain name, brinley.com, for 11 years. I've received emails over the years from people requesting it. But I would not in any of those instances relinquish it. Not when that proud father-to-be wanted it for his daughter (he was naming her Brinley). Not for that college chick that wanted it (her name was Brinley). Not for Norm or whatever his name is in Missouri who wanted it for Brinley/Brindley/Brimley genealogy. And not even for Brinley Addington, the up-and-coming country singer who wanted it to promote his band.

(I wish, I wish, I wish I would have followed through with my WHOIS lookup the other night after I got his email. It occurred to me just last week that my domain may expire. I should have done a WHOIS then and looked. And especially after Brinley Addington's email the other night. I was going to do it. I had netsol.com pulled up. But something must've come up and I didn't do the search. I will always, always, always regret that.)

So, unless you totally skipped the previous paragraph, you may be able to guess what happened. I let brinley.com expire. I am an idiot. A moron. An R-tard. GODDAAAAAAAAAAAAMIT. I'm so mad at myself. I woke up to an email from a client asking why my site looked so weird. And I knew. I knew and I didn't even have to click through. But I did and I about threw up. Oh fuck, what did I do?

So J. Eric Brinley, the real estate guy, is the proud owner of brinley.com - I think. Netsol still has me listed... at an ancient email address. I'm sure they attempted to contact me to let me know that my domain was expiring. Ugh. So many lessons to be learned with this story. So many preventable mistakes.

I'm pretty torn up. I sold the Jeep today and that was bittersweet. It's cool that it is going to a good home. And holding 15 $100 bills was fun. But it was sad to see her go. Then we got home and I had a $500 bill from the hospital for those tests a while back. Oh, and I broke my toe over the weekend.

Whaaaaaa!

(one bright spot - after suffering torrential rain and highly dangerous conditions stuck on Nolin Lake with Jim in a horrendous squall Saturday, we witnessed the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen. Maybe I'll blog about that tomorrow if I'm in a better mood)