Life As I Know It

Or so you would think from the way people are acting. Here’s the deal: Houston and areas closer to the coast have a real and immediate concern. From what I understand, Austin does not.

More >

We made an offer on a condo yesterday. It was all very sudden, but I really felt like fate had lined it all up perfectly.

More >

So as most of you probably gathered from Jess’ posts, we’re back from our 2005 UK extravaganza. It was fun but exhausting as usual. I always need a vacation after my vacations to just sit back, do nothing and recover.

More >

34 years old and I had my very first fillings on Wednesday. First a little back story:
Up until I was somewhere in my teens I had been to the dentist every six months like a good person and had never had a single cavity or filling in my life. At some point, once I became more responsible for myself, I quit going to the dentist. For somewhere in the realm of 10 years or more, I did not go to the dentist for checkups. The only exception during that time was when my wisdom teeth started bothering me so I went to have them checked, and subsequently had them removed.
A few years ago, once I had a job with insurance, I started going again fearing that my many years of neglect might have left a disaster zone in my mouth. Luckily I found out that I had a bunch of very minor cavities but nothing big. I didn’t have the money to get them fixed (even with insurance paying a portion) so I put it off. And put it off.
Cut to several years later, I’m now living in Austin with a good job and insurance again. I figure I should probably bite the bullet, find me a regular dentist in my new home city and perhaps get some of the work done that’s been lingering for years. I send out an email at work asking for recommendations and decide to try the “Austin Dental Spa” I’m pretty sure they’re going to be more expensive than other dentists, but I figure if I have to do something I don’t want to do, I might as well make it as pleasant as possible, even if it costs a little more. I’m glad I did. The offices are really nice with a really pleasant atmosphere and the staff are all very friendly and helpful. They give you a little bottle of water when you come in and have a nice private bathroom and a little alcove with a couple of sinks where you can brush and floss before you appointment with some disposable brushes which produce their own toothpaste when you get them wet and start brushing. They also have a masseuse who comes around and gives you a hand/arm massage while you’re in the chair.
I went and had an examination, and of course my teeth and gums weren’t in great shape after having been once again neglected for several years, but nothing was dire. I came back in for a cleaning, and got some special rinse to help with my poor neglected gums. I had about 8-10 teeth which had some degree of cavities, but much to my surprise, none of them were very bad at all. I was given the option of having them all done at once, or doing two visits with half my mouth being done on each visit. I chose that option thinking that would be better since I wouldn’t end up with my entire face numb and being in the chair for three hours.
They also have cool flat computer monitors over the chair which serve various purposes. When they took my x-rays and digital pictures of my mouth, they were displayed on the monitor so I could see what was going on and they could explain and discuss exactly what was up with my teeth. They also showed me some videos on brushing and flossing and fillings since I’d never had any before.
Last Wednesday I had the left half of my face done. I was a bit nervous (as I always am before any kind of medical or dental procedure) but as has always turned out to be the case for me, the actual event was nothing at all. Before they began they asked if I wanted Nitrous (laughing gas), and being a little nervous and having never tried it, I said “sure!” I can’t say I really noticed any effects from it though. If it did have effects, they were very subtle. So much so, that I wasn’t really sure if I was feeling any effects at all. The only time I remember definitely noticing anything was when they were done and they sat me up and I felt really light headed for about a minute or two.
I had five teeth filled on my left side. At first the dentist said my cavities were so shallow that she didn’t think I needed any anesthetic, but that she would gladly administer it if I wanted. I said that if she didn’t think I needed it we could try without (if I could get away without that annoying numb face factor then I was all for it), and she said that if I felt anything at all, just say so and we would do the whole numbing thing. At one pint I kind of winced, but to be honest, I’m not even sure if it was actual “pain” or just the pressure and coldness from the constant water rinse they spray while drilling. Just to be safe she went ahead and numbed me up, even though I would have been willing to try a little longer since, as I said, I hadn’t really felt anything “hurt” as of yet.
I always hear that the shots are the only part of fillings that may kind of sting for a second, but my dentist rocked. I didn’t feel a thing, even as she was administering the shots.
About an hour and a half later, I had five new fillings and went back to work feeling like I only had half a face since the other half felt like a big slab of fake rubber just attached to my head. I took great joy that it allowed me to do a really great Eddie Money impression.
In hindsight I do wish I had just done them all at once though and just got it all done with. Now I have to go back in a month for the other half which is more of a pain with the travel time, waiting in the lobby, etc. It would have been better to just spend extra time in the chair while I was there. All in all, as usual my dread leading up to the event was far worse than the actual event which was nothing at all.

As most of you probably know, [joe walsh] life’s been good to me so far.[/joe walsh] So I guess for all my luckiness, it’s time to pay a few dues. In the grand scheme of things though, I still really can’t complain as my “dues” are really quite minor, however life is kind of comedic when it decides to throw things at you in rapid-fire bursts as more often happens in movies and television.
Tuesday night I decided to go ahead and do out taxes online. I usually take the band’s income on my taxes and everyone else just pays me their share. This, unfortunately makes doing my taxes much more complicated as I have to fill out extra forms for self-employment and blah, blah, blah (which usually one of the other band guys does for me since I agreed to take it all under my social security number on the condition that I didn’t have to do my now complicated taxes).
As luck would have it, there were various circumstances which meant I didn’t have to do that this year, and thus my taxes would once again be easy. In fact, so easy I could do the 1040EZ form! Ahh, how long it has been since I could use the 1040EZ!
Last year we got a nice big refund back, so I eagerly start my online entering to find out what big refund we’ll be getting this year! Unfortunately, as I get near the end, the program tells me that I can’t do 1040EZ since I started contributing to my 401k in December. One measly month of retirement fund and I have to do the regular 1040 which, judging by the lack of letters after its title, is not all that EZ.
Luckily, it really wasn’t that much more painful so I finish it up and wait for my big refund! More money towards the Prius down payment. The big moment comes and I find my refund will be… -$230. I owe $230. Boo. We suspect that this is because Jess learned the hard way what I had already learned the hard way many years ago: if you follow the directions on your tax form when starting a new job, you will have too many “allowances” and end up owing. The directions clearly say “if (blank) then put one” and then has you total all your “1″s to find your total allowances. What they don’t tell you is that you will end up owing money if you actually take that amount. So while I take 0 or 1 allowances usually, Jess took 3 as the directions indicated, and thus it looks as if Restoration Hardware didn’t take out any Federal Income Tax.
I go to bed a bit depressed. The next morning I get up and we do our usual morning thing which ends with us getting in the truck and going to work. Usually. When the truck starts. Which it is not doing this particular morning. The truck turns over, but won’t start much like it was doing when I had to have my fuel pump replaced just a little over a year ago. My immediate thought is “Well, I guess we’re not going in to work today.” Luckily my wife has a clearer head and more wisely calls or friend who lives nearby to beg for a ride.
Once at work I set about the task of finding a mobile mechanic who will go to my truck and fix it. I find that this plan is scuttled since I have the key with me at work and the truck is at the apartment. I decide that I’m going to try and rent a car, go home at lunch and drop my key off. I call the car rental place right by our house but they can’t pick me up from work because I’m out of their area. I call the one by work and all they have available are SUV’s which cost more to rent than smaller cars. I give up and accept the fact that I’m just not going to get anything done until the next day.
Just for comedic effect, when I went to make my lunch, I turned the little cap on the mustard and it spat a shower of tiny blobs onto my bitchin shirt.
This morning I rented a nice car, and the mechanic is going to try and get to it today depending on his schedule. As I said, in the grand scheme of things I really can’t complain as life is good. I have a kick ass job (I can only think of 2 people that I actually know who give me job envy: Will, the Director of Development for a production company, and my uncle Brown who is a Director of Photography, although with him it’s more tangential since that’s not exactly what I aspire to do). I spent yesterday playing with our new toys: a steering wheel and pedals to control my armored/armed battle vehicle in the game I test. We have a Prius on order. Even though we owe taxes, it’s not much and we’re making decent money with which to pay them.
Even with such a great life, I’m often nagged by a since of something just under the surface though. A sense of dissatisfaction of some sort. A sense of unfulfilled dreams and ambitions. Nothing major, just slight stresses which are normal with life. Stressed about time, health, money, decisions, my extreme laziness and unproductiveness. While it all can be annoying, I also find some of it good in that I think it’s important to have dreams, ambitions, and further goals. I think it would be much more scary if I was just completely content with my current lot in life and resigned myself to the thought that this is the final stage of my journey and that I have crossed the big finish line and will coast out the rest of my (hopefully) many remaining years.
Perhaps a little dissatisfaction is a healthy thing. As life get better, it’s necessary to adjust your sights and recalibrate. Of course I’m sure it’s much easier to do as you move up in life as opposed to readjusting to a move for the worse.