Catch up before the dark days

Lots to catch up on before I check out for vaca. I'm definitely going to be unplugged for at least a week and the second week is debateable. It's been a crazy week so here's the high and lowlights:

Tuesday I'm riding home from work and making my way along the bike path down by Hahvid. There's this one intersection which is always packed with runners, bikers, walkers, cars, ducks, small furry animals, hippies, and anything else that strolls through. I'm rolling towards the intersection on the sidewalk/bikepath and there's this older guy running over towards the right of the sidewalk. I headed well to the left of him (again, going really slow) because the light hadn't changed in my favor yet. I get maybe 10 feet before the intersection and this guy suddenly bangs a hard left without looking and is headed right into me. I called out "heads up" and swerved but ended up just bumping shoulders with the guy. I know I said sorry because that would have just been my gut reaction and the guy angrily says "I think you need a bell on that thing!" So now I'm annoyed and I loudly, but calmly just said to him "Don't weave" and proceeded across the street (now had the light). Well he heads across the bridge, now on the other side of the street from me and screams back "Don't pass without warning ASSHOLE!". So now I'm just really amused at how angry he was and called back "Have a nice fourth." That didn't sit well and he kept on screaming something, but I was getting too far away to hear now. The whole thing amused me because 1) I consider myself to be a courteous bike path user, 2) as both a running and biking user of that path, I know what you should and shouldn't do when you're on the path in either mode, and 3) I think it's fair to say that while people have a responsibility to pass safely and give warning, people also have a responsibility to travel in a straight line and not change directions without warning or checking if it's safe. Ah well, I found the whole thing funny so I hope I did ruin the guy's night since he was a dick.

So Wednesday, we head up to bring the boys to a 1 mile fun run so they can get some energy out and have some fun. We get there a little on the late side and were parked far away, so me and the older 2 head over to register while my wife and the 2 year old lag behind. The 3 of us get all the way across this big field at the school and I hear something behind me so I turn to see my wife on the ground holding her rebuilt knee. Crap. We sprint back over there to find out she was walking down this little embankment on the side of the field, her good leg slipped out and all her weight forced her "bad" knee to bend all the way. Now bending your knee completely so you kick yourself in the butt doesn't sound that bad except that she hadn't regained full motion so that was about 15 degrees further than her knee had gone in a year. She heard some crackling and it just didn't feel right. Now the amazing thing is that from the moment it happened and throughout the ordeal, the 2 year old who can't sit still just parked himself next to mommy and played with the grass. It was like he knew that that's what he had to do right then. Anywho... so she's trying to assess how hurt her knee is and she didn't look good so I told her to lay down. She did for a second and then said she was more comfortable if she sat up. She sat up and I was asking her some questions when suddenly she falls back, out cold. Now we're in full freakout mode as the oldest is crying, the middle one was dancing or something, and the baby is sitting there while I've got an unconscious wife with an unknown knee injury... are we having fun yet? Fortunately some guy saw the whole thing and ran to get the ambulance crew from the race. After maybe 30 seconds, she snapped out of it instantly and tries to get up. I told her to stay down and that she passed out and she starts arguing with me that she didn't. She did that for maybe a minute and then goes out again. Yes, the fun meter is pegged now. She came out of it quicker this time and now the EMT's were there. The suited her up with the full neck brace and backboard outfit and loaded her into the "funny truck" (was trying to skip the word ambulance to keep the boys calm). Fortunately, I got my sister-in-law to meet us at the ER and take the boys while she got checked out. In the end, she just ended up with a sprained knee and no damage to anything that was fixed before. The passing out was likely just a reaction to the shock of what happened. Amazing how your brain can just say "F this" and check out for a minute when it goes on overload. I spent the rest of the day telling her never to do that to me again :)

OK... gotta get the ship in shape here before I disappear on everyone. Enjoy the sunshine. Keep the rubber side down. Be kind to Gewillis.