My piece of crap cousin Ken Ford Hudson has struck again. After serving most of a five year sentence in a state prison, he was released on parole late last fall. In August of last year, he wrote me a note about how he had “found the Lord” in prison. Apparently in prison the Lord taught Ken to resume his drug habits and jump right back into a life of crime, which is exactly what he did.

One of my relatives pulled some strings and got Ken a job at a local heat and air repair shop. My mom, who felt sorry for Ken and wanted to help him out, hired Ken to install an A/C unit into her rent house (where my sister lives). To repay them both back, Ken loaded up a work truck full of air conditioners and tools and ran off. Tuesday, he broke into my sister’s house and stole basically everything, including her computer, printer, monitor, digital camera, television, DVD player, VCR, etc. A judge might find the evidence circumstancial, but it’s pretty obvious, as the last thing stolen was the AIR CONDITIONER UNIT he installed the month before. Yes, he stole the big A/C unit that sits outside her house. Combine that with the fact that he broke into someone else’s house the same day who positively ID’ed him, a house that’s in the same neighborhood as my sister’s, and I’d say a pretty strong finger points to this guy.

The most disheartening part of the experience has been working with the police. Right off the bat, we were told that without serial numbers, retreival of the property would be impossible. Ok, that parts not their fault. But then, when we suggested that they might try to get some fingerprints, we were told that that would be pretty impossible too — DESPITE the fact that “whoever this mysterious thief was” left the hacksaw he used to cut off the a/c lines. I looked up Ken’s parole officer, who checked the computer system and said there weren’t even any charges filed against him. So quick summary, my cousin broke into my sister’s house, we told the police who did it and where he’s staying, and they won’t go pick him up. Ugh.

Thoughts of vigilante’ism cross one’s mind, but what can you do? You can’t shoot him, you can’t confront him, and hell, the parole officer told me that he’s not even wanted, so even if he ran smack dab into a police officer, they couldn’t arrest him. Extremely frustrating, all the way around.

Linda (my sister) and I have agreed to visit him once he’s in prison again and laugh at him.

Ran across this during a spat of boredom. Escher Models Built Out Of Legos. Interesting stuff. Susan had class last night, Mason and I watched a CD full of commercials from the early 80’s that I bought off the internet. Then we ate fruit cocktail out of the same bowl and fell asleep in the floor. Go us!

Mason loves his sunglasses. He puts them on and takes them off all by himself.

Sometimes he tries to put them on daddy and pokes me in the eye.

Well, happy Monday and happy Snowy Day to everyone. Due to project “garage organization”, the garage is so messed up now that I can’t even get one car in it now. It snowed yesday and then froze last night. Since the metal on my Tracker is thinner than most grades of paper, the door lock froze shut, causing me to have to climb in through the passenger door. It was still frozen by the time I got to work. I’m hoping it thaws sometime today. Slept in yesterday after staying up late watching all 49 seconds of the Mike Tyson fight Saturday night, and took lots of naps and worked in the garage a little too. Then we watched the emmies. Why am I typing all this in? I have no idea. My weekend, like this post, was boring.

Wow, this week is flying by FAST. How was your 3 day weekend? Saturday I did a lot of running around town and picked up about ten DVDs while I was out (to stack on top of the 20 or so I haven’t seen yet!). Then we spent parts of Saturday and Sunday helping Susan’s sister move, who coincidently just bought a house just around the corner from us! Got to eat at Wing Stop finally this weekend — if you like wings, then this is the place for you, because they don’t serve anything else (other than rolls and french fries). I thought charging .50 extra cents for some Ranch dressing was a bit petty, but I got over it pretty quick, and the wings were great. Next time, I’ll bring my own Ranch. Monday I did break some ground on operation garage cleaning or whatever I named it. Got one set of 6’x4’x2′ shelves put up in the garage. You wouldn’t believe what a difference it already makes! I bought three sets, so once all three of them are up I think it’ll be awesome!

Tuesday I came home from work and took a nap, woke up, ate dinner, and took another nap. Woke up from nap number two and caught the majority of the Lakers/Rockets game. Fell asleep during overtime. At least I feel rested today, maybe I’ll try assembling shelf unit number two this evening.

Almost quitting time here at work. My eyes are burning from staring at a monitor all day, my back is sore from this government issue chair, and my butt is sweaty. Ok, too much information.

I think this weekend’s plan involves Project Organized Garage, or POG for short (every good project needs an acronym, learned that at work). I need shelves, I need cleaning, I need organization … I need help. There are boxes in the garage that literally haven’t been opened since we lived in the trailer (4 moves/8 years ago). I will be vigilant in my cleaning efforts this weekend.

All of Susan’s crap must go!

… over spilled milk, right?

Only, that ain’t milk. It’s paint. A gallon of it, which somehow fell off the kitchen counter while we were at work yesterday.

As with all our fiascos, I’m open for suggestions.

Mason’s doing 110% better. He’s still getting his nebulizer treatments, but it’s no big deal, we do them at home, and he’s so used to them now that he usually either watches TV or just falls asleep. They only take five minutes to do. Right now we’re still doing them four times a day, then it goes to three, then two, and then we’re done.

Went to the flea market last weekend and picked up a bunch of DVDs, mostly of movies I’ve been wanting to see but haven’t got around to renting yet. Curse of the Jade Scorpion, the Mothman Prophecies, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), Blair Witch 2, and a couple of others found their way into the pile. Hey, at $8 per DVD, I’m a sucker.

Unfortunately due to Mason’s flu/pneumonia encounter, our trip to Chicago is being cancelled this weekend, which is a big bummer. It seems like I’m always looking forward to the next three day weekend, and now here’s one and I have nothing planned. The high temperatures for Friday thru Monday are 56, 47, 45, and 47, with 100% chance of rain for Friday. That pretty much rules out any motorcycle-based entertainment this weekend.

I’ll bet it’s cold in Chicago anyway (grumble).

We got home late Tuesday night from the hospital. Wednesday went pretty smooth, but Thursday came and Mason started feeling worse again. He quit drinking fluids and started “quivering”. We called the Doctor and she said she was quote “very concerned” about his state. Fortunately, he broke through it and seems to be on the upswing now.

Not a lot of plans for the weekend, Mason won’t feel like doing much so Susan and I will be around the house taking turns watching him (to give each other some breaks). I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (great) and Austin Power’s Goldmember (dumb) this week. Due to bad timing on my part, I just sent all my Netflix rentals back, leaving me with nothing to watch over the weekend. Hopefully, cable will fill that particular void in my life this weekend — plus, this Sunday night is the NBA All Star Game.

We’re home! (More on that at the bottom.)

The Respitory Specialist Mason was seeing is the same one that I have an appointment with in a couple of weeks, so on top of no sleep and a sick kid, the doctor’s office did us a favor by moving my appointment to this afternoon, so I could just walk over have a meeting with the doctor about my allergies.

I guess in theory it made sense, but none of us have had any sleep, we’re all cranky, and it probably could and should have waited until another day. Regardless, I went over for the meeting. After having me fill out an 8 page questionaire and answering a million questions about my sinus drainage (what color is the drainage? How much comes out?), they did an Allergy test. For those that have never had one, it’s a blast! You should just volunteer for one for kicks next time you’re in. The first thing they do is get this contraption that sticks your skin 8 times. Each one has just a trace of everything you might be allergic to. The high tech idea here is that whatever you’re allergic to will swell up. Genius! So, after 43 pinpricks to the back, the entire test comes up negative. So, they go to the “more sensitive” test — 14 shots to the arm. 8 to one, 6 to the other, pumping more allergy causing chemicals under the skin. Nothing. So, after 43 pricks to the back and 14 shots to the arm, they tell me I’m not allergic to anything. So, on top of being sleepless, hungry, and irritable, tack on 57 more holes in my body than I had this morning. From the same people who invented the lobotomy …

Mason, on the other hand, is feeling quite well. His oxygen level was at 99, which was the final thing they were testing. We’re dreading the home breathing treatments we’ll be required to give him, but any treatment at home is better than any treatment at the hospital.