short fat guy online

    First of all, welcome to the new incarnation of my blog. Like most pMachine users, I talked myself into switching to Expression Engine. pMachine was discontinued a month ago, but current users were given a discount to purchase Expression Engine. I didn’t know if it was worthwhile since pMachine was serving adequately, and it didn’t seem like I really needed the advanced capabilities of Expression Engine. But, as always, I am a sucker for the latest and greatest: I broke down and purchased Expression Engine, installing it back on March 14.
    It’s been an interesting learning experience. Interesting in that I was afraid I had wasted my money. I was dismayed to find everything was much harder to accomplish with Expression Engine. Its designers tout how “powerful” the new software is; meanwhile I was missing how simple and easy to use pMachine had been. For instance Expression Engine does not allow font formatting in its titles. I needed to find a hack just to italicize (or to add quotations marks, as I did two entries below)! And the column on the right was very easy to create in pMachine, using a series of what are called “pBlocks”. Those modules have been done away with now. Instead, I had to create a whole separate blog and embed it into this blog. Before, it was as simple as going to the pBlock screen and typing a list; now I have to open up two blogs and edit and republish their entries.
    Still, there are a few things I like and other things which look promising. I like the new look, even though it’s only a slight tweak of a default template. I like being able to assign entries to multiple categories. And I’m looking forward to moblogging — once I get a cellphone with which I can moblog.
    I’ve been blogging here in secret for almost a month. The preceding nine entries will probably appear new to you. I didn’t want to make the changeover, or any public announcement, until everything was settled. Well, it hasn’t, but I’m changing over anyway. The original title of this entry was supposed to be “A Week With EE” or “Two Weeks With EE&#8221, but as usual time got away from me. I needed to transition all nine-hundred-some-odd entries to EE’s way of publishing, but I only got halfway through. It’s less appealing to edit my own blog’s database now that I spend my workdays editing my workplace’s database. All the entries are present and accessible, mind you; but the first half have not been assigned any categories and their category icon ‘bug’ will be a broken link.
    As I said, time got away from me, as usual. But also as usual, I don’t feel like waiting any more. I’m making the change now, out of restlessness, even though the new-and-improved blog isn’t really ready for it. But then again, how many people want to read my thoughts from 2002? (So few want to read my thoughts on 2005 that we’re probably talking negative numbers here.) Anyway…I hope you like the new look.

    It’s been quite a week at work. Last Monday night I got word that Jeremy had broken his ankle in a basketball game. He’ll be out for two weeks. Jeremy has already had a few sports related injuries since I’ve known him. As our coworker Reid puts it:

Baseball bat to eye socket: 1
Puck to eye: 1
Ankle broken playing basketball: 1

Jeremy had to drive himself to the hospital, relying on cruise control. He was able to write us when he got home.

My wife is handling this a lot worse than I am.
I currently have a cast on. It will be there for 4-6 weeks. On the plus side, they didn’t have to insert any screws, plates or metal of any kind. The bone on you[r] ankle that sticks out a bit has ligaments attached to it. Mine does not any more. On either side of the ankle. And just to show off, the ligaments pulled bone chips away when they went.
And just to clarify, this f***ing hurts.
Not bat-to-the-eye hurt, but still…

Explaining how it happened, he wrote:

We jumped up for a rebound. Kind of bumped, no big deal. (and yes, I had the rebound). I landed a little of[f] balance and he came straight down on the outside of my foot to push the ankle inwards. I heard a pop. He heard a pop. I felt a crack. I knew it was bad.

The following day Jeremy’s cast was changed from a fiberglass one to a more comfortable “cam boot”. (There’s been no word yet on whether Tom DeLay will need to call a special session of Congress to supersede the decision.)
    Last night it was Reid’s turn to have an ailment. He reported he was having problems with his eye. It was bloodshot and, reportedly, it hurt him to blink. His friends thought he had pink eye but he wasn’t sure. Since we’re down a man he had to show up today. I guess he almost got into an accident on the way. He took off early to see a doctor, and he provided this report in the evening:

he said there was a large gouge in my eye, but gave me some drops for the pain and it should heal in a couple days
I should probably stop exfoliating my corneas with pebbles
[…]
I seriously think it was caused by a frosted mini-wheat. It happened when I was eating a bowl and I think I bit down on one and a sharp wheat fiber went into my eye. Fucking mini-wheats.

Evidently one of the cabinets in the equipment room must be an Egyptian sarcophagus which we were not allowed to open. Or else one of us came into possession of the Hope Diamond without our knowledge. How else to explain one man becoming a cripple and another being attacked and blinded by his own breakfast cereal, all in the span of one week.
    Then again, maybe it’s all because I switched from pMachine to Expression Engine! That happened a week ago!
    Whatever it is, when I’m the healthiest person in the workplace something is definitely wrong.