I broke my toe in karate last night.

I was just doing some warm up kicks over the in the corner before class and I caught the edge of my foot on a mat. I knew right away that something was wrong.

It was my right pinkie toe. I looked down and it was pointing waaay to the right (almost to 3 o'clock). It hurt like a mofo.

I felt pretty stupid. And damn that hurts.

At the very least, I was able to drive myself to the hospital...

There was a 1-year-old girl in front of me in the emergency room who had fallen down the stairs and broken her leg. The poor thing was screaming her head off. I felt like such a wuss seeking medical attention for my little toe.

I was there for about an hour and a half. They took an x-ray and taped me up. If I had known that’s all they were going to do, I would have done it myself and saved the $50 co-pay. But the way the toe was pointed off to the side like that, I wasn’t sure it was going to stay attached on its own. And they let me keep the x-rays.

So far, 2004 has been quite the year for health issues.

Bluh.

Today's tip of the day is:

Don't leave peanut butter crackers in your car (especially if you live in a wooded area).

I've bought two pairs of shoes in the last week.

I feel so metrosexual.

Things I'm into lately:

- writing
- "The Sopranos"
- sleep
- photography
- "Home Movies"
- Moneyball
- NFL draft rumors
- "Six Feet Under"


Things I'm not into:

- mustaches
- rain
- unseasonably cool weather

Planning a wedding... Wow... What a pain in the ass that is.

And there's no use in complaining. Your single friends don't want to hear about it. And your married friends just want to say "I told you so".

Recent pics:

http://members.cox.net/pcanole75/index.htm

Questions? Comments? Feedback?

pcanole75@cox.net

(repost)

A Boy and His Camera

I had picked out my model. I had read all the reviews. I knew what I wanted. It was time for a new camera. But since I'm "saving for a house", I figured I'd wait until after Christmas and try to catch a sale. And then suddenly, like a sign from the gods... IT came in the mail... A 10% off coupon for any one item at Best Buy. Pretty tempting, eh? Well, combine that with an excuse to go to lovely tax-free New Hampshire, and it was just too much to ignore ("I'll just look while we're up there...").

The drive north was a little rough. This was the day after my big gambling weekend. I was functioning on 3 hours of sleep. (see "War is not the answer..." from Monday, December 15, 2003 for the recap). We stopped at Best Buy and went directly to the camera section. I played with the floor model for a little while, adjusted the lens like I knew what I was doing, and took some sample shots.

Thankfully, the annoying sales-teens were pretty much ignoring me. Probably because they could tell what a "cool customer" I was. They knew they weren't going to rattle me with their extended warranty plans this time...

Acting casually, I went up to the counter and said, "I'll take it".

And what the sales-teen said next hit me like a slap in the face.

"I'm sorry, but that item is out of stock right now."

What?! I hadn't even considered that as a possibility.

"Do any of your other stores in the area have them in stock?"

"Nope. Nothing until Tuesday."

Ugh.

My coupon was about to expire that Monday.

I the store left feeling defeated. It was the blackjack table at Foxwoods all over again...

But I wasn't ready to give up that easily. On a whim, we stopped next door at Circuit City.

And they had it.

One left in stock.

I'll take it.

Even without the coupon, I was still saving the sales tax. I had come too far to turn back now...

And then as the guy was ringing me up, a thought occurred to me (this is where my boldness sometimes pays off...):

"Hey, do you accept your competitor's coupons?"

And he responded:

"Yeah, sure, let me take a look at it."

And they accepted it. Score.

I left with my new toy, feeling like I had just got one over on somebody.

Who was the big winner that weekend?

Me, Baby.

Me.

Dear Stop & Shop,

Your meat looked awful this week.

Sincerely,

John Wayne Bobbit

"School of Rock"

Has there ever been anyone like Jack Black? Could anyone else have played this role?

It's also nice to see a movie with kids in it where the kids don't act like annoyingly cute kids.


"The Sopranos"

Nothing on TV gets me revved up quite like the opening credits of the first episode of a new season of "The Sopranos".

I'm not going to go into specifics here (I know some people still haven't seen this week's episode), but even when the characters are going through the most mundane activities, it’s riveting. As always, the writing and acting are terrific.

And I really enjoy the flow of a 13 episode season instead of a 22 episode season. Much tighter.

HBO is definitely worth having.