AtomJohnson Blog

Folks around the office have been saying alot of things like, “TGIF” and “Thank God Its Friday” and “Friday….YES!”. Its now 5pm, and there is alot of “Have a Nice Weekend” echoing through the halls.

I myself plan to have an excellent weekend. No real plans as of yet, but it definately starts tonight with shrimp tostada salad, a beatiful Natalie, two floppy-tongued dogs, two overdue movies and a bottle (or two) of delicious white wine. I hope your hangover tomorrow is less intense than mine.

I realize that having a cool hostage showdown a mile from your house is so like ‘5 years ago’, but I guess I’m just behind the times. Yes, as you may have guessed by reading the previous sentence, there was a 20 hour hostage standoff yesterday in sweet, quiet Del Ray, VA. Turns out a father took his own son hostage from a nearby restaurant at gunpoint, brought him back the the neighborhood and had a standoff with police that lasted all night and the following day. It ended very sadly yesterday when he came out with the gun and was gunned down by police. The 9 year old boy was OK. If you have come to this blog expecting the usual lighthearted nonsense, I have let you down. Going forward, I will try to blog less about the neighborhood’s various hostage standoffs.

So, have you ever wondered how much a new ACL costs? I just got the bill from the hospital. It was $13,865 for hospital services and I think the doctor charges somewhere around $4,000. My math isn’t the greatest, but I think that is just shy of $18,000. I don’t think the Six Million Dollar man was all that impressive…he was probably just a clumsy athlete.

My tap water definately smells a bit look “poo”. I noticed it yesterday in the bathroom. I credited it to the toilet rather than the faucet. I then noticed it in the kitchen…glanced around…looked behind the oven…no poo…must be the water. What does it mean to have water that smells like doodie? Now I feel like I have to brush my teeth after brushing my teeth.

I know you are all dying to get an update on the leg. The swelling has gone down considerably. Its still sore and walking is still annoyingly slow. I’ve heard of some very strange herbal remedies. I’m just hoping that the consumption of doodie water provides some benefit to the ACL.

My friend Stacey just sent out an email concerning her sister’s book that comes out on May 3rd. Its a very honest, candid account of her struggle with the drug Ecstasy. I got to read a bit of the manuscript and it is amazing. I’d highly recommened to anyone who has ever had an addiction…even something as innocent as Chipotle (mmmmm, Chipotle).

My first day back at work yesterday proved to be a bit too much. Hallways that were once long now seemed endless. Coffee that was once a part of my daily routine now seems grudingly out of reach. After several cups of coffee, meetings and bathroom breaks, my knee was the size of a grapefruit…and I’m talking about a Florida grapefruit. Icing it all night returned it to its usual post-surgery level of grossly inflated. So, today I returned to the couch. The good news is my knee is much better than it was yesterday. The bad news….hmmmm….no bad news. I hope you are all just as well.

If I have ever told any of you that I’m a vegetarian, the image below of me eating an entire steak at a time will finally reveal the painful truth….i love steak! It feels good to get that out. Thanks for listening.

** Photo by Natalie Condos

Today I took my first steps on my new ACL. It was like a baby’s first step. I am now walking from here to there and back to here. It feels really good. Its amazing that Dr. Hawkins drilled someone else’s ACL into my leg bones a week ago and I’m already walking. What next? A man on the moon? Pay at the pump? A German Pope?

** Photo by Natalie Condos

Nat came home last night and was soaking wet and freezing. The reason…she had stopped in the rain on the way home to take pictures of the flowers in the rain. I normally think of photographing flowers on a bright, sunny day. To her credit, the results were brilliant. Below is one of my favorites.

** Photo by Natalie Condos

I was just reading my horoscope for the month of April and towards the end it says, “Uranus will be in an ideal angle to this eclipse”. Am I immature for laughing at loud and high-fiving myself?

I just had my follow up doctor appointment this morning. Thank you Meredith for waking up early to drive me. The appointment went really well. It turns out I’m pregnant! OK…not really.

My main goal in the visit was to find out just what went on with all the holes in my knee. Apparently they injected a micro-monkey into the largest hole and it was the cute little micro-monkey surgeon that put together my new ACL. I have a follow up next week to remove the micro-monkey. He said that they leave a tiny computer in there as well so the monkey can surf the web if he gets bored. This is why they asked if I had wireless internet in my house in the preOp interview. I guess if you don’t have wireless, the surgery is much more intrusive and the recovery takes twice as long. Who knew?

In case you didn’t notice, its Friday! The weekend promises more hours of couch sitting, only this time without all the fuss of writing an IT assessment. I am in the process of redoing my other website in CSS. The changes will be subtle to the untrained eye, but looking under the hood will astonish and amaze the nerd in all of us.

The photo below is of a friend’s dalmation teething at George’s dog toy. For those who don’t keep up with the news, the toy is in the likeness of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddham Hussein. George is currently in Iraq serving out his tour with the National Guard. I’m thinking that this toy may have come in his orientation pack for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Tonight I finally got off the couch and out of the house. Nat drove me to Best Buy and Barnes & Noble to get a game and a book. I was foolish to think that the game would be in stock, because it is only like the coolest game ever. I settled for a different game.

We are now polishing off the last bites of our Chipotle burritos and watching the American Idol results show. There…I feel better now that I’ve admitted it.

On the way out the door tonight, we saw this cute baby slug fresh chillin’ on top of my flowers. Nat said it made her want to write a children’s book. It made me want to reach for a little baby salt shaker (just kidding Nat).

I saw a feature on CNN about www.freePSPs.com. It is a company that gives out free PSPs, iPods, Mac Minis, and several other great gadgets for participating in their online offers. CNN tried the offer and confirmed that it is legit.

The deal is you participate in 1 online offer and get 5 friends to participate and refer you. I participated in the Blockbuster Online offer. Its much like Netflix…they email you movies from your list. YOU CAN IMMEDIATELY CANCEL YOUR OFFER if you don’t want it.

So, if you all are willing to help me get my free PSP, my referral link is:

http://www.FreePSPs.com/?r=17556043

Thanks for your help!!!