As usual, our first day up here in Iowa City was busy. Also, as usual, I didn't get any exercise, unless you count getting into and out of automobiles. It was in the 30s when I awoke, and the view from the window at the on-campus hotel, located in the Student Union building, was beautiful. We borrowed The Daughter's car to drive back up to Cedar Rapids to check in at the Red Cross office to see if they were still offering discounted hotels, but no luck. Apparently that function has been shifted to FEMA, which pretty much guarantees it will be inaccessible. On the way back I stopped to get the oil changed in The Daughter's car, and discovered that the battery was in pretty bad shape. No way was it going to make it through an Iowa winter, so I picked up a replacement at the local Wal-Mart, along with a $2 adjustable wrench and a handy-dandy $4 "battery installation kit" since there was a lot of corrosion on the negative terminal. I had to wrestle with it a bit because I didn't really have the socket wrench that I needed to get the hold-down bolt out. Nonetheless, I eventually got it done without any significant blood loss. Around 5 p.m. we went with the team to a local school and helped them get set up for their Halloween Haunted House, constructing a nifty casket from old refrigerator boxes. Then it was off to the "Hall of Fame" for the gymnastics banquet where they gave out various awards from last year's season. Amazingly, the food consisted of fried chicken and cake. OK, they did have a fruit and veggies, but I mean . . . really! The teammate who was in the hospital yesterday is still not well, but the doctors are quite divided as to the problem. Now they are thinking it is a ruptured ovarian cyst, which I guess is a little better news, but the girl is still on some heavy pain meds.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Up North
As usual, our first day up here in Iowa City was busy. Also, as usual, I didn't get any exercise, unless you count getting into and out of automobiles. It was in the 30s when I awoke, and the view from the window at the on-campus hotel, located in the Student Union building, was beautiful. We borrowed The Daughter's car to drive back up to Cedar Rapids to check in at the Red Cross office to see if they were still offering discounted hotels, but no luck. Apparently that function has been shifted to FEMA, which pretty much guarantees it will be inaccessible. On the way back I stopped to get the oil changed in The Daughter's car, and discovered that the battery was in pretty bad shape. No way was it going to make it through an Iowa winter, so I picked up a replacement at the local Wal-Mart, along with a $2 adjustable wrench and a handy-dandy $4 "battery installation kit" since there was a lot of corrosion on the negative terminal. I had to wrestle with it a bit because I didn't really have the socket wrench that I needed to get the hold-down bolt out. Nonetheless, I eventually got it done without any significant blood loss. Around 5 p.m. we went with the team to a local school and helped them get set up for their Halloween Haunted House, constructing a nifty casket from old refrigerator boxes. Then it was off to the "Hall of Fame" for the gymnastics banquet where they gave out various awards from last year's season. Amazingly, the food consisted of fried chicken and cake. OK, they did have a fruit and veggies, but I mean . . . really! The teammate who was in the hospital yesterday is still not well, but the doctors are quite divided as to the problem. Now they are thinking it is a ruptured ovarian cyst, which I guess is a little better news, but the girl is still on some heavy pain meds.
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