It looks like you're stuck with me for a little longer

Thankfully it was an uneventful trip to the cardiologist yesterday. He found nothing to be concerned about and it looks like my heart will continue to beat for a bit longer.

It was a nice drive down to Knoxville, the sun was shining and the red buds were in full bloom, which is a change from what we usually have to drive through, sheets of rain and driving wind. Since my appointment was later in the afternoon I didn't have to sit in the waiting room and listen to the coven of receptionists who wear scrubs even though they are not nurses be rude to everyone, especially the older patients who are hard of hearing.

I got to see Dr. Hoadley finally about 40 minutes after they took me back and after a pair of nurses asked me all the usual questions and they gave me the usual EKG. My doctor and I had our usual conversation when he came in:

Doctor H: Hi. Are you smoking again?

Me: No. I haven't smoked a cigarette since the night of my heart attack.

Doctor H: Good. Now you need to lose some weight you fat bastard.

Me: Okay. (He starts to unbutton my shirt.) Umm, Doc, I usually make a guy buy me something to eat before I let him take off my clothes.

Doctor H: Haha, very funny. Are you sure you're not smoking?

Me: Of course I'm sure.

Doctor H: (As he uses his stethoscope on my bare chest.) Okay then. Oh yeah, this weight losing thing, get on it Mr. Fatty McButter Belly. And stay off those cigarettes.

Me: (As I button up my shirt.) Will do.

Doctor H: I'll see you in a year and make sure you pay us before you drop dead or something.

Fin.

Actually, I kid, my cardiologist is a nice guy. We get along well and I trust him with my life, after all he did save my life the first night I met him. And since I don't have to see him as much as I used to, I don't mind going to his office in Knoxville as much as I used to. Oh, I still despise the coven of receptionists who wear scrubs even though they aren't nurses but they're a small price to have to pay to see a top notch cardiology guy.

After I finished with my appointment Sparky and I went and had a super duper late lunch/early supper at one of our favorite restaurants in Knoxville, The Sunspot on the strip near the University of Tennessee. After not eating much all day long I was ready to chow down and I had a chicken breast sandwich that was almost as big as my head, some salty as hell fries, and several glasses of sweet tea. I'm not sure what Sparky ate because I was too busy strapping on my own feed bag.

After our meal we went to two of my favorite places in Knoxville, Disc Exchange and Book Eddy.

Disc Exchange sells new and used CD's, DVD's and other entertainment related shit and we picked up three used CD's while there. We got a Replacements CD, an EP on CD by Southern Culture on the Skids, and we scored a used She and Him CD. If you're not familiar with She and Him, they are a musical group that consists of the actress Zooey Deschanel and some guy who plays guitar. Her singing sounds like a cross between Julie London and Patsy Cline, with a dash of natural sweetness thrown in, it very lovely and highly addictive. I now see why Samurai Frog has been on their band wagon for so long now.

To say Book Eddy is a used book store is to say that a used Rolls Royce is just a used car. Book Eddy sells used books yes, but the used books it sells are a cut above, although there are great deals to be found when you go through their stacks. They are also respectful of books at Book Eddy, they don't stick sticky gooey price tags all over the front of their books, they write the price, in pencil, on the first page of the book as as not to devalue the book by defacing the cover. They also carry, in addition to thousands of cool old books, some vintage magazines, record albums, and shelf after shelf of pulp sci fi, mystery, and suspense paperbacks from the 1940's on up through the '70's. I could spend days in that place just looking at all the great pulp covers. I was lucky enough this trip to find some books in the bargain bin such as these two:

I found a few more and I paid a little over three bucks for all of them, woo hoo! Sparky bought some books as well so all in all it was a good excursion. We got new to us music and kick ass used books, could geeks like us ask for more? I don't think so.

It's a good thing I only have to see my cardiologist once a year now because if I went much more than that I'd end up spending far too much time and money in the Disc Exchange and Book Eddy.