Spitting Venom

So... I've had a bit of dental drama going on in my life. Last week I developed a tooth abscess, thanks to going nearly two years without seeing a dentist. Over the week when my brother got married I noticed I had a dull toothache but didn't do anything about it. Well, last week the tooth started poisoning itself.

I woke up one morning last week with swollen gums. At first I didn't think too much of it, as my gums have always been sensitive to brushing/flossing too hard or when I switch toothpastes (and I did just switch to using Baking Soda to brush my teeth). In addition, there was really no pain with the swelling.

Well, as the week went on the swelling got worse and became more painful. Come Monday it hurt to talk/eat and the left side of my face looked like John McCain's. I gave in and called my dentist and he diagnosed me with an abscess. There are two options: get a root canal or get the tooth pulled. I'd much rather save the tooth and get a root canal, but I don't have dental insurance and it's expensive as hell. Oh well, in any case I have time to think about it because they can't do anything to my tooth until the infection is gone (I'm on antibiotics for ten days).

Luckily, Tuesday night the abscess ruptured and I woke up at 3 am and for two hours I was spitting out the most disgusting smelling pus you could ever imagine. I couldn't go back to sleep because the pus is poison and could make me very sick if I swallowed it. But I didn't mind! Once the abscess ruptured it was like heaven because all the discomfort/pain I was in the past several days instantly and completely went away.

The antibiotics started to kick in yesterday so I'm on round two of pus spitting out, although this time it's a lot less prolific and smelly. I feel like a rattlesnake with all this poison coming out of me. No making out for me until this stops! But that's completely different drama all together.

My Ridiculous Tuesday

So... Several friends I've told this story to think it's hilarious. I thought I would share it on here (although it's probably not as funny as if I told it).

Last Monday I was going to bed pretty early and I decided not to set my alarm for the next day. I figured I would wake up at my normal time, no problem. Well... Tuesday morning I end up waking up at 10:30. I felt so groggy and blah from sleeping so long and couldn't believe I slept in so late on a weekday. I was moving pretty slowly around my apartment, getting ready and all and by the time I was ready it was noon. I decided that I might as well just stay in and work from home, since it would be so late by the time I got to work.

I took my laptop and set it up on the desk, plugged it into the Ethernet (so I could have faster connection than wireless), made myself some tea, put on some tunes, and opened up my unix window. I opened up the program I was working on and wrote one line of code before delving into an intensive internet surfing session. After an hour or so of looking up ridiculous stuff I deemed it time to eat lunch.

So I fixed a sandwich and took a journal article into the living room. I thought that maybe I could get some reading done while eating lunch, then I wouldn't feel so bad for slacking off the past hour. Of course, I thought that my reading would be enhanced if I turned the television on (great logic, huh). I flipped though a little bit until one show caught my eye. I've never seen this show but heard about it. I watched the first episode and was drawn to it, so drawn that I had to watch the second episode.

Yes, my friends... It's true... I ended up watching an eight (yes EIGHT) hour marathon of:

THE BACHELORETTE!!!!

I'm not proud to admit this; but I was TOO emotionally involved in the show to turn it off! It was so ridiculous... I got no work done at all. At one point, around 5 or 6 I deemed that I wouldn't get anything done that day and thought I could escape and go for a hike; do something somewhat productive. But I felt guilty for leaving my apartment where my journal article was. AND, I had to see who Trista picked!

So sad. I never watch reality tv crap and I know why now; I would become addicted!

Skiing In June

Typically, every ski season I'm done by April; then my focus turns into hiking and backpacking and getting down to southern Utah. That was the same situation this year, by early/mid April all my ski gear was stowed away in the reckless fashion it usually is. Even though I'm done by April, skiing in Utah goes on much longer; thanks to the greatest snow on earth. Snowbird usually stays open as long as they can, which is typically into June (sometimes even July); but both years I've been here they closed in May (one year due to low snow year, the other due to a very HOT Spring).

This year is ideal for late skiing. We've had a bitchin snow pack (Alta got over 700" this season) and it's been an atypically cool Spring. Thursday at work Clint and Betsy were talking about going up to Snowbird since they received 8" of new snow the previous day. Even though I said I was done with skiing for the year, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to say I've been skiing in June! Fuck, I've never even been skiing in May.

This morning I checked online and saw that Snowbird was only one of two ski resorts in the U.S. still open, the other being A-basin in Colorado (although Snowbird's 104" base depth looked quite impressive compared to A-basin's 33" base). Pulling up to Snowbird I was amazed by all the snow still there in June.

It was a great morning but felt very surreal to be skiing in June! We took the tram up to 11,000 ft Hidden Peak and had our choice of either skiing in Little Cloud Bowl or Mineral Basin Bowl (the only two lifts operating... but my favorite two lifts in the resort). The snow was very different than the waist deep Utah powder I'm used to skiing, but it was soft and really fun to ski in; although south facing Mineral Bowl became a bit sticky as the day wore on.

At the end of the day we had the option of riding the tram back down to 7,000 ft (which is what Snowbird recommends), or skiing to the base ourselves (considered "backcountry" conditions by the resort). We skied down the Gad Valley and it was so surreal as we were the only people in that section of the mountain. In some sections it looked as if they drove a truck through the snow, but there was definitely still plenty of snow for us to get down to the car.

Shit... It looks like this year I'll be able to say that I've been skiing in July, if this keeps up!