I took Kevin (av8rdude) to the Raleigh Endo Center for his procedure, which brought back memories of my procedure including pictures of my colon. It also brought back memories of the dreadful prep day, the day before.
I dropped him off at 9:15, and they gave me an estimated “pick up” time of between 2:00 and 2:30.
I worked from home while waiting, and joined an 11:00 – 12:00 conference call presentation called, “Eclipse for Editors,” which turned out to be one of those, rare, just-in-time, education sessions. It was exactly what I needed, right now.
My phone rang at 1:05. “Mr. Martin, your friend has just been wheeled back to recovery. He’s in Bed #1. What time can you be here?”
I enjoyed watching Kevin coming out of his procedure and being a little groggy without really realizing it. Well, he was realizing it, but forgetting things as fast as he was realizing them.
We had to wait for the doctor to talk to him before he could leave, and when the first guy walked by that looked like a doctor, I asked, “Is that him?”
“No.”
And the next one, “Is that him?”
“No.”
“Was your doctor hot?” I tried in hopes that he’d say yes so that I could eliminate any ugly men that might walk by in the future.
“No,” he said wrinkling his nose a little.
“Oh, why do you say that?” I probed.
“Age.”
Ten minutes later, the doctor came out — my age, maybe even younger. Quite good looking — I thought. Things that make you go, “Hmmm.”
When Kevin was finally released, we went to Finch’s for breakfast. There were two chicken dish specials scratched on lined notebook paper and taped to the front door.
We sat in “Ann’s” section. I didn’t know that was her name, but Kevin did. To me, she’s the “Sugar” and “Honey” lady.
“I’ll have the cheddar cheese and sausage omelet, please,” I said.
“No breakfast, honey; the grill closes down at 1:30 during the week. I’ll be right back while you decide.”
“Okay, we’ve both decided on the Chicken Club sandwich,” I tried again.
“Oh, we’re all out of chicken. How about a Hamburger Club? It’s the exact same thing only with a hamburger on it instead of chicken.”
I thought about that taunting homemade sign on the door, and, “You’re out of chicken? All chicken?”
It took way too long to get our Hamburger Club sandwiches. Long enough for me to start wondering, “Now how exactly is that hamburger being cooked with the grill to cook eggs, sausage, and hash browns closed?” But I digress…
We stopped by Kevin’s house so he could pick up his laptop and some books, and we went to Helios, where I logged back into my work day. I continued editing Joe’s IDI Siebel Adapter book.
We left there at around 6:00, and I dropped off Kevin on the way home.
Later, we met at Flex for karaoke, where there was a surprisingly large number of good singers for the evening — seems like there were a couple of guys and gals who might sing professionally (such as in local plays) there, and they did some great numbers.
Dustin was his usual annoying-as-fuck self. If not more annoying than normal.
At one minute after twelve, I bought Kevin a mixed drink — as he was not allowed to have alcohol “for the rest of the day” and had been drinking Cranberry Juice. The rest of the day was over.