13 January 1999: Watch and Wallet

Wednesday, 13 January 1999:

Watch and Wallet

So yesterday I woke up and thought, "Hey, the cats were in here bothering me at around a quarter to seven. That was a while ago; it must be, like, 7:28, and my alarm's just about to go off." So I roll over and look at the clock.

My next thought is, "Please tell me that the clock doesn't say nine twenty-nine."

Yes, I managed to set my clock for 7:30 p.m., and thereby overslept by two hours. I don't think I've ever done that before. I'm pretty punctual.

So I called my boss to let him know I'd be late, and he said, "I think Epic has an advanced training class for setting alarm clocks." He wasn't mad, just rather amused, I think. It was pretty funny - but hopefully won't happen again anytime soon.

After work I ran out and bought myself a new watch and wallet. My old wallet was really old and decrepit. I had plastic sleeves to hold my credit cards and things, but the sleeves had gradually gotten harder, which made their edges sharper, and eventually they sliced through some of the fabric in the wallet. So the thing was literally falling apart.

New men's wallet: 25 bucks. It's a nice one, but I keep a lot of crap in my wallet, so it will need time to stretch out.

My old watch, on the other hand, has been plugging away quite nicely. It's also uncannily precise, losing only a few seconds per year. The problem is that the metal casing has been gradually decaying, and although still basically intact, the buttons had lost their coating and become abrasive, and had therefore been cutting a swath through the left arm collar of my long-sleeved shirts. Annoying, although not fatal. But the corrosion on the back of the watch would also do weird things like leave green marks on my wrist underneath. So I decided it was time to get a new one.

The watch was just an old, low-tech digital watch from Sears, so I went back to Sears to get a new one. There were watches which were current models of the watch I just bought, but I eventually decided on a Timex Expedition. Although it was about 60% more expensive than the Sears brand, it looks cooler, and - more importantly - I like the band better. My old watch originally had a metal band, and I don't care for metal bands; but I'd replaced it with leather bands annually for many years. The Timex has a sturdy-looking leather band which is very comfortable. I think it will work well.

It is strange when the hour rolls around to hear "beep" from my old watch in the living room,and a half-second later "beep beep" from the watch on my wrist. Which should tell you that I didn't quite synchronize them perfectly.

I might see if anyone at work wants a free watch.

Then last night I felt myself coming down with a cold, even as I was on the phone to Jim. When I woke up this morning I felt terrible, and quickly called in sick. I slept three more hours, and then spent most of the day either reading or watching TV. I felt truly terrible in the morning and early afternoon, then started feeling a little better, with the usual compensation that I also felt very tired. As of tonight, I am still feeling pretty crummy and am planning to take at least a half-day out sick tomorrow. Gah.

The worst part of this illness is the runny nose; I hate runny noses, more than perhaps anything except throwing up.

Well, I've been exposed to germs in three different parts of the country in the last two weeks, so I guess it was inevitable that I'd get ill.

Hey, I got another exciting piece of hate mail the other day! It's amazing who they'll let on the net these days...

Michael Rawdon (Contact)