Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Y9 D5

Woke up to a message from the kid. Apparently someone stole her license plates while she was downtown. The cops came to the door to drop them off for her. According to them, tweakers steal and sell them. WTF? What kind of crazy town is she living in that people steal license plates? Who the fuck BUYS stolen license plates? This bothers me. I need to look up locking license plate screws for her now. Send her some from amazon. Some crazy shit.

Taught a three person class yesterday. It went okay. One of them was 30 minutes late, one was not even close to being qualified for the class, one was a dullard. The sucky part is the unqualified one is in my classes tomorrow and friday and will be WAY out of their league. Lovely. We finished around 2:40 and I took a nap.

Grilled chicken for dinner. Had it with peppers and onions. B had her group last night. Went to bed around 11.

Today I have to work on some stuff for a client, do some recordings, and respond to like 5 emails. Plus I have to go to the grocery store. Luckily it is not hot. It rained even yesterday. That makes me happy. It is supposed to stay this way for a few days. At least until I leave on Sunday for Kansas. Is good.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Y9 D4

Back up early. Have a three person class today. Two of whom should be no problem, but one might be. He's already started sending emails (3:30 my time). We shall see how it goes.

I spent about 5 hours working on a single project yesterday. I cleaned out the plastic storage roller carts in my office. I did such a good job I even freed a bin up. I ended up throwing it away as it was bent and had always been a problem for us. I found some stuff I thought was missing, and I made room in my office closet. Worth the five hours of work.

Dinner was a bust. We tried to BBQ skewers, but the marinade we used on the chicken was no good and the shrimp over cooked. Oh well.

Good boring holiday I think.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Y9 D3

A completely uneventful day as desired. We left the house to go to the grocery store but other than that, we stayed in all day. B made peppers for dinner, we watched a movie, and I went to bed at 10:30. Not bad for a Sunday.

Since the day was uneventful, let's talk about something else. I never realized how much people rely on that stupid Facebook until I was off of it. I feel like people have really forgotten me since I am not posting on any social media. I don't know whose birthday it is, what people are up to, etc. Now, for my part, I do try and reach out to people on other platforms. It's just a lot harder. But still, I refuse to go back. Their privacy policies are getting worse, not better. I guess it just makes me a bit sad is all. Oh well. Human contact is overrated anyway.

Today is a holiday. If any of these dildos I work with send emails, I am going to scream. Enjoy your day people.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Y9 D2

I got quite a bit accomplished yesterday, especially in the morning. I went out around 6:45am and went to the car wash, home depot, and the grocery store. I then came back and got laundry done, folded, and put away, including sheets. By 8am, I was situated. I watched some Twin Peaks while I waited for B to get up. I am rewatching the old series to cement everyone's name and character in my head before I watch the new series. Little things I have forgotten over the years. I am almost through season 1. Then I will watch Fire Walk With Me as David Lynch has said there is important stuff in the movie that will translate into the new show.

When B got up, I rewired a lamp for her. We had to go back to home depot though as I got the wrong piece initially. Man, the difference between that store at 7:15am and 10:30am was incredible. Not just the amount of people, but the type of person too. In the morning it was guys by themselves picking out stuff compared to couples and families buying plants and paint. Give me the 7am crowd any day.

I am really pleased with how her lamp turned out. I had to fully replace the socket and the touch control. It works like a champ now.

We then didn't do much of anything. We had an issue with the neighbors and their garbage. Once again they left garbage in front of their garage door for two days but this time the birds got into it and there was trash all over the place. We took pictures and turned them into the office. Sorry, but I don't need your dirty diapers all over the damn place.

For dinner I grilled up some steaks with some corn on the cob, and watermelon on the side. B said it was the best steak she had in years. They were really nice rib-eyes. I was less happy with mine because I cooked it longer for her. It was a little more done than I would have care for normally. But whatever. She was happy.

We then decided to have a movie night. We are still trying to watch all the Bourne movies and watched the second one. Then we settled in for Logan. Let me tell you, that is the Wolverine movie I have been waiting my whole life to see. R rated, pissed off, killing machine Logan. I won't spoil anything, but I thought they did a hell of job with that movie.

By the time we were done it was midnight and we headed to bed. It was still a bit warm in here. We avoided using the AC as much as we could just for the cost and while it was 'warm', it wasn't 'hot'. Luckily it goes down today and tomorrow.

Oh! We also booked my birthday trip. Heading back to Canada. We both really loved Victoria on Vancouver Island so we are heading back. 7/3 - 7/7. This time we're leaving the car on the US side and just going to walk or cab everywhere. It is also supposed to be 65-70 while we are there. Perfect for us.

Today, no big plans. Maybe some more movie watching.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Y9 D1

I am having to watch my accounts and credit score very carefully right now. I have been seeing weird activity on some of my email accounts. I have been changing passwords all over the place. My Microsoft account specifically had unauthorized attempts from China, Algiers, and India in the last few weeks. Then yesterday I got a 'confirm your email' message from Bethesda where I do not have any accounts. I had to go change passwords across the board. Why are people dicks like this? What the fuck is wrong with people? Scum of the earth. I miss the old days when thieves were thieves and would just steal your wallet.

It started to get hot here yesterday and today is supposed to be even worse. 89 predicted for today. A good day to stay inside and do nothing. Luckily next week it starts to go back down into the mid-70s. I am okay with that. No AC running all day.

Got through my class yesterday. Once more I went almost all the way to 3pm. We finished around 2:45. I think everyone including the students had just about had it by the time 2:30 rolled around. Out of 10 students, 7 of them were east coast and they just wanted out. I tried to hurry a little at the end to get them moving. My co-worker was being annoying during class too asking a bunch of questions about her classes next week. Our boss is once again out of the office and she didn't know where to turn. I have 5 students next week for my two classes and I can handle that much better.

After class we headed to the mall. We were meeting up with B's family for dinner. Her uncle is in town with his wife and last night was our last chance to see them. Since I didn't want to drive in traffic at 5pm, we headed out early. I ended up finding a new pair of work pants and three pairs of shorts. That was a successful haul. I needed all of the above. Especially the shorts.

Dinner was okay. Nothing exciting. Her uncle is a nice guy. We had a decent dinner (lamb burger for me, paella for B) and headed home. It was hot in the house and B went into the bedroom because it was cooler. She ended up falling asleep around 9:30 and I followed right behind at 10.

Now to go to home depot early for a project I am working on and spend the rest of the weekend hidden away.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Y8 D365

Here it is, the end of another year! 8 years of writing this. 8 years since that fateful day in May. Holy cannoli. How life has changed. From the beach to the woods. From drinking, drugs, self-destruction to a goal, a sense of somewhat contentment, and at least happiness with a partner. I have issues still obviously. I am not where I should be. I should have paid of some of the debt years ago. Shoulda coulda woulda. Here I am. Alive. So fuck yeah on that one.

Class was a bit rough. The doubled size made for some challenges. I was afraid we weren't going to get where I needed us but I pushed the class and although we finished at 3:01, I got us where we needed to be. I had two servers not working perfectly during the class and had to do some troubleshooting. The class appreciated it, but it cost us 20 minutes.

After class we went to Costco because I sure as hell am not going this weekend. The people in front of us in line but $365 worth of BBQ supplies - chickens, ribs, watermelon, berries, plates, etc. That's the kind of shit going down this weekend. People going to lakes and trips. What are we doing? Staying in the fucking house and turning on the AC and watching movies and playing games and having sex. Fuck the outside world.

On the way back we hit the regular grocery store. Got back, made mahi for dinner, relaxed, caught up a bit on tv, played some games, and I went to bed around 9:45. I was so exhausted not only from the day, but the week as a whole. I am doing a little better today.

Tonight after class we are having dinner with B's cousin and her family. This time her dad and step-mom are in town. We are meeting them about halfway but since traffic will suck, we're leaving early and going to wander around the mall. I need a pair of black pants for work as mine got messed up on the last trip.

Time to make it through this class. Here we go.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Y8 D364

Fuck me. I woke this morning to find my class today and tomorrow has doubled in size. I went from a nice manageable 5 students to 10. From a finance standpoint it's great, but having already taught a large class I was hoping for a more relaxed two days. Not going to happen.

Ended up being awake for 22 hours yesterday. I left the hotel at 2am CDT, got to the airport around 2:30. I did have one small adventure. B says she is proud of me, I say I was just doing the right thing. When I walked up to the kiosk to get my boarding passes, this little old toothless lady needed help. She wanted to know if she needed to do anything or if she could go to the gate or if she had to wait or. You get the point. She had never flown before. Well, I checked her papers, got her to the right spot to wait for 90 minutes until security opened, and made sure she was okay. When we got to DFW, I waited until she got off, got her on the Skylink and made sure she knew her connecting gate. It was the right thing to do. Hopefully she made it to Tucson safe. She was in the hands of the airport gods. As for me, I had upgrades on both flights and didn't have any issues. Had a two hour layover in Dallas and sat in the lounge. Landed at PDX at 11, got on the train, B picked me up at 12:30.

The hard part was my day wasn't over. Because of the two days of training I still have to do, I had to answer other emails, do my expense report, and have a 3pm conference call. I was stressed out. Got through all of that as well as unpacked.

We needed to hit the store and on the way back we got Mexican food. That was tasty. Came back, relaxed. Didn't watch any tv last night. Just wasn't in the mood. Went to bed around 9:15 because I was exhausted.

Just make it through these next two days and I get a 3 day weekend. I can do it.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Y8 D363

This is an early post. I have to wait another 35 minutes to hit publish or it will go up as yesterday. Time changes are fun. Up at 1am CDT to head out to the airport. I want to be in the car in the next 44 minutes. I board at 4:30 and need to be in that security line at 4. 30 minute airport drive, drop off rental car, print boarding passes. I need to hustle. Already showered and packed. Just need to finalize things.

Taught day two. I was starting to lose it by mid-afternoon. My mind was wandering, I wasn't caring any more. Too many days straight of travel and teaching. I don't even get a break the rest of the week. I have two more days of classes Thursday and Friday with 5 students. But then it's three days off. A week at home follows that. Then two more weeks on the road.

Got back to the hotel around 5, packed, grabbed food from local fast food place, slept on the couch in my room from 8 until 1. That was my day. Now it's time to leave here.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Y8 D362

It was 92 at home yesterday. Had a thunderstorm and pouring rain here for part of the day. It's supposed to be back down to 60 when I get home tomorrow. I so far this year haven't had to deal with a day over 80. This is not a complaint mind you. This is me being grateful to the weather gods. At some point I am going to melt and die, but not yet thank you very much.

Straight forward day yesterday. Taught a large group of 12 people. 10 of whom I have taught before. We went from 9 until about 4:45. I tried stopping at Target to look for a pair of pants but struck out. Grabbed Jimmy John's on the way back and had dinner in my room. Watched some TV. I watched this week's American Gods and wasn't happy with this week's episode. It was Laura and Shadow's backstory which is not in the book and felt forced. It didn't have the same flow as the first episodes have had. It didn't add anything to the story either. Overall in the book while Laura is an important catalyst, she's not an important character as I read it. Having an entire episode dedicated to her was filler. Not a fan. I also watched some Doctor because why not.

Went to bed around 9:45. I slept better last night. Finally got the room temperature where I wanted it and was able to get comfy. Now of course, tonight I sleep on the couch and get up at 1am for a 5am flight. Sigh. But then I am in my own bed tomorrow.

Other than bed early tonight, I am doing day two of the material for this group. Don't expect any issues. Wish me luck.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Y8 D361

Before I talk about how my day was yesterday I want to share an article with all of you. It's about one person's struggle with Chris Cornell's death and why it hit them so hard. I empathize 100% with the author. They managed to put into words many of the things I was feeling the other day. It's worth the read:

https://thefirsttenwords.wordpress.com/2017/05/20/its-not-what-you-think/

Now back to your regular scheduled crap.

I was angry most of yesterday. I don't know if it was because my driver arrived 15 minutes early and I wasn't ready for him or that the airport was packed with nothing but old people and idiots, or that these same people were on both of my flights. Seriously, they average age on my DFW flight was 80. Multiple wheelchairs and walkers. Kids screaming for those few people who weren't grandparents. It was not a pleasant travel day. I got exactly zero upgrades and was stuck in coach seats for both of my flights. Both of my flights were on time and not delayed to try and find the silver lining somewhere. I was actually 15 minutes early in to Tulsa. Go figure.

Once I hit Tulsa things got a little better. I got a very nice car upgrade. My hotel room is one of the few larger suites they have here. Traffic wasn't bad at all. I had Raising Cane's for dinner which I enjoy when I am here. I just had to suffer through the 8 hours of travel.

Went to bed around 9:30 since I was tired but I ended up sleeping like shit because of the time change. My body thought I was taking a nap not going to bed and I was awake at 11 until 2. Plus I have an ear infection in my left ear (yep, that time of year again) and that may have a lot to do with why I was so cranky yesterday. I could feel it coming on and knew it was going to suck today. I hate when I am right sometimes.

Now this morning I need to figure out where the new training location is as it has moved since my last visit a year ago. Plus I am hungry and have an hour until breakfast. Am I home yet?

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Y8 D360

Went on a bit of an adventure yesterday. Took a ride to the nearest Fry's. I was looking for some parts to fix a lamp B found at the thrift store. No, I didn't think to go to home depot. I don't know why. This is the question posed to me by the employee at Fry's when I couldn't find what I wanted. I don't know, I was thinking electrical/electronics/parts and thought more Fry's than HD. We did find plenty of other stuff to spend money on though. Man, that store has too much stuff. It's like a real world Amazon. Funny enough, I did take pictures of three things and looked them up on Amazon when I got home to see how much cheaper they were.

We had a late lunch while were out and got home around 3. B napped, I gamed, and around 7 we had a late dinner of leftovers. She needed to go to Target and we headed over there. Got back and she talked with her friend in Australia while I got ready for bed. Went to bed around 9:45 so I could be up at 3. Fun stuff.

I get to Tulsa around 4 today. 12 hour travel day. Loads of fun. Back home Wednesday.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Y8 D359

Today was my one and only day to sleep in for a week and I managed to do it. Somewhat. Granted I didn't go to bed until almost midnight making my total hours of sleep not all that great. But at least I can feel like I wasn't up when it was dark.

Yesterday was better than I had anticipated it being. I was downtown at PSU and due to construction on the light rail system I decided to drive in rather than take a chance at being later than I wanted. This meant I knew I would deal with some traffic if I didn't leave early enough. I ended up leaving too early. I didn't realize where I was going was such a straight shot off the freeway. I left here around 5:30 and was in a parking garage by 5:50. Oh well. Live and learn.

The group was good. For once, the group was the appropriate target audience across the board for the material. Rare that it happens that all students are qualified and good to go. Especially when there are 12 like this class. I had one student show up late due to an emergency but I ended up working with her during lunch and she caught right up. Surprising but nice.

I finished up around 4, about 30 minutes early. Didn't get home though until 5. While it was pretty easy getting back on the freeway, there were some pockets of traffic. Most of it on the surface streets.

When I got home we went for Indian food for dinner. I wanted something that would result in leftovers for tonight so B can have the food in the house for next week while I am gone. Mission accomplished. After dinner we went to the grocery store to get her a couple of things to make sure she is good.

Dyed my hair, did laundry, packed for the week. It's starting to get warmer and I pulled out the AC units for her for next week too. May not need them until Monday or Tuesday, but now they are out and ready to go. Around 9 we settled in to watch Lego Batman. Excellent movie. Really enjoyed it. They have done a great job with these movies.

Today I have to check in for my flight shortly but that's about it. Neither of us wants to leave the house. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Y8 D358

Busy day yesterday. Sort of. I got up early and around 7 went down to the garage. I needed to see if the bike would start. I have been disconnecting the battery after use and it has helped. I connected the battery and it started right up. I took the bike yesterday morning because B had her doctor appointment at 11 and there was no guarantee I would be back from my errand in time. I was heading out to Powell's to get in line for a ticket to a limited book signing later in the night. S.E. Hinton was speaking and singing last night and she is a very important author to B. I had to be up early this morning and didn't want to one, not get a ticket (limited to 250), and two, be there all night. So I headed out super early, arrived there at 7:30 and was first in line. Number two arrived at 8:30. I could have moved a little slower. Oh well. By 9:30 there were about 100 people in line. At 10 the doors opened, I got my ticket (#1 thank you very much) and headed home.

I made it home just as B needed to leave. So I could have taken the car, but whatever. I enjoyed being on the bike anyway. I then did some email catch up, ironed clothes for today, and then around 1 brief nap.

I did have a bit of a breakdown in there as well. I was talking with the kid about the passing of Chris Cornell. I then watched some videos I took of Soundgarden when I saw them last and it really hit me. 52 years old. No one sings like you any more...

At 4:30 we headed back out to the bookstore. The event was until 7, but we wanted good seats and we needed to eat. We grabbed Popeye's on the way, arrived back at Powell's at 5:30. Chairs were already out. We got third row seats and sat until 7. By 6:40 it was standing room only. She opened the floor to Q&A for about 20 minutes. I recorded the whole thing for B. We were first to have our books signed (a 1972 printing of Tex and Hawkes Harbor) and we were out of there by 7:30. Boom.

Got home, did some file transfers, went to bed at 9:30.

Today I am speaking/training at PSU. It's WAY downtown and I am heading out at 5:30 or so to miss all the traffic. Let's see how that goes. The drive home is going to suck balls.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Y8 D357

We had some serious drama here last night. Well, not here directly. The actually drama was taking place back in MI but it impacted us. B's dad was missing. It was all resolved by around 6 just to not leave you on edge. He was found safe and in the hospital. Here's the whole story:

Her dad was acting weird recently and liked texted her mom saying "Tell the girls I love them" and being all in what would be considered a down cycle of a BPD episode. He cleared his Facebook page, he changed his email account password, he deleted some other stuff. All bad signs. Then starting around 1pm our time no one could reach him. That's when he should have been done with work. Wasn't answering his phone, didn't come home, etc. Of course this sent everyone into a spiral. I even managed to find a site that let me ping his cell phone. I managed to get him within the range of a cell tower, but that still meant a five mile circle. Better than nothing. It gave everyone a starting point at least. Much stress was to be had while the search went on. Phone numbers were looked up. People were called. Around 5pm our time things were resolved somewhat. He managed to text someone from the hospital. He knew something was wrong with him and instead of making the bad decision, he made the good one and voluntarily checked into the hospital. Turns out he was having a bad drug reaction. His doctors had recently switched his meds on him but they didn't realize he was taking some other stuff and he didn't realize it was a switch and not an addition. He had six different prescribed drugs in his system causing it to be severely out of control. He is on a five day hold in the hospital to allow them to flush some stuff out of his body, get him on the ONE right medication, and take it from there. Talk about a crazy night. B was holding it up pretty well during the search part, but once he was found, she lost it. Which I totally get. She wore herself out so bad she fell asleep at 8:30pm. I know she woke up later, but still.

During all of this, I taught a class. Finished up right as all of this was starting to go down. We also had a couple of errands to run. One of which was going to Powell's to get some info on a book signing tonight. I have to go wait in line from 8-10 this morning to get a reserved spot for a 7pm signing. Fun. I also had to pickup my shoe from the cobbler. Excellent service on that front. My shoe is doing great. Then we hit the store for something for dinner.

I too was exhausted after the day and went to bed around 9:40. Man, what a Wednesday. Today I stand in line, iron, and wait. Tomorrow I speak at PSU.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Y8 D356

Apparently I was mean to Ajit Pai (the chairman of the FCC). So mean that he read a tweet I directed at him on Mean Tweets. Look at me, I am famous. Whee. Frankly all this did was reinforce my low opinion of him. He is an idiot. That's not accurate. A shill maybe. A corporate stooge. A scumbag. Those words are definitely more descriptive than idiot.

Taught a private class from 6-2 yesterday. Went until almost exactly 2. Long, tiring day. I avoided napping even though I really wanted to just lay down after class. I knew if I did it would screw up my sleep schedule. No sleep til Hammersmith. The class itself went okay. We are a little behind where I would like us, but not much. I could have kept going and finished at 2:05 but it wasn't worth it.

Made a quiche for dinner, watched some tv, B went to her group. I went to bed at 9:30. That's about it. Day 2 today, then some relaxation tomorrow with an onsite on Friday. I did have to change some travel plans yesterday. Remember how I was bitching about my NJ being only one day of teaching? Then we managed to add a day on the front in NY? Now we managed to add two on the end. I will be in NJ for the entire week and going to three different people. Pain in the ass. Whatever. I get a 3 day weekend the week after all this.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Y8 D355

I'm up. I don't want to be up, but here I am. Early all the rest of the week. This sucks. I love when you see people on tv with their alarms set for 6 or 7am. Like what fucking time do you get to work? Do you not have traffic? Fuck off. Granted I don't have traffic (I will on Friday) but my class starts at 6 today. Of course, I will be done at 2 where as most of the above mentioned people stay at the office until 6 or 7 at night. I'd definitely rather have it my way.

Finished my six page review document yesterday morning. My boss called me at one point and my only comment to him was "did you read my document?". Because every question he asked me had a response of "it's in the document". Suck it. I also managed to figure out the issue the client was having. She sent it to me last week and it looked like it would be easy but I couldn't wrap my head around it being on the road. Once I sat down and focused it became clear. She was happy.

I did some other odds and ends type work. Including activating a new corporate card that finally arrived. We hadn't had mail in like four days and it was worrying me but the card was in there yesterday. Thank goodness. I needed it come while I was at home. My old one was set to expire while I would be on the road.

Had noodles for dinner. Watched some tv. B talked with her friend in Australia as well as her grandmother. Her grandmother has all the good gossip. 

Went to bed around 9:30. Slept okay for the most part. Two day private class, day of rest, onsite lecture. I can do this.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Y8 D354

Back to being up early. The weekend came and went too fast. Something I don't normally complain about but in this case, I could use a couple extra hours of sleep. I didn't go to bed until after 11 and am paying for it right now. I went to bed late because I started working on something I need to get done today. It was starting to weigh heavy on my mind. I am writing up a review and recommendations document from everything I did last week. As of right now it's already 1200 words. It will probably be a couple thousand before I am done. Hence why I started in on it last night. Get a head start. I also have to work on something for one of my customers today. The sooner I get her out of my life the better. She is slightly taking advantage of me, but it also gives me something to work on. I teach tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday (onsite for the last one) and have today and Thursday to fill.

We didn't do much of anything yesterday. Bought B a card from the cats because why not. We hung around mostly. I honestly can't remember what we did. I watched some tv, read a bit. Barbecued chicken for dinner with corn and potato rounds. I am trying to make sure we get our money's worth out of this BBQ dammit.

And that's about it.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Y8 D353

I have been up a while but have been dealing with a security breach. Someone from China tried logging into my Microsoft Live account. It looks like that's the only place they tried to breach. No unusual activity anywhere else. Checked and changed some passwords though. Don't these fucking asshats have anything better to do? Fucking annoying is what it is. Get a life asshole.

Yesterday turned into a very busy day. In the morning I had to go to three different stores, but I managed to get everything off our shopping list. I went to WinCo, Freddies, and Target to do it. Took me 90 minutes but all was done. Then I went to the shoe place and dropped off one shoe for stretching. It will be ready on Wednesday. $12 but that's easier and cheaper than trying to do it myself. After that I hit the post office and mailed a package for B. Came back and did some searching in the garage for her for some stuff. Turns out we don't have what she wanted. We gave it back to the kid when we moved up here. No biggie. But I should have checked with the kid before tearing apart and putting back together the entire garage. That was not fun.

While I waited for B to get up, as I was done with all of that by like 9am, I did my timesheet and expense report. I spent about $1300 total on this last trip and while it was 'internal', all it will take is one class with 2-3 students and we will recoup that. Plus a profit. I think this class will make us 20k-30k by end of year so $1300 is not too bad.

When B got up we went back to the store because she wanted to make the cheese dip we like. While we were out we stopped at home depot. She got a lilac bush for the patio and I got a quart of paint. When we came back she worked on her plant and I painted the drawers on my dresser. Looks so much better. I did two coats over the course of the day and it looks good. I am happy with it.

Grilled carne asada for dinner and made some fantastic tacos. Citrus marinade on the meat. Turned out really well. We decided after dinner while we wanted a treat we also wanted to walk it off at the same time. We ended up at the mall where we got little Blizzards from DQ and then proceeded to walk them away. Got back home around 9. I finished up the dresser, she watched some videos online. Ended up going to bed around 11.

Nothing planned for today, but that's what I said yesterday too, isn't?

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Y8 D352

I am home! For a whole week too! The last day of class devolved. It devolved into one of those kind of mentoring days I tend to have. I blame myself in part as I started to not take over but overshadow the other two students. One didn't speak english fluently and was more quiet to begin with, while the other one was a nice guy but he was focused on doing the demos. I had made it through the material by 9 and was mostly twiddling. I ended up leaving at 11. I would suspect the rest of the class wasn't that far behind me.

Traffic was a bear in a few places, but for the most part it was ok. I asked B to meet me at Avis so we could drop off the car yesterday instead of waiting for today. One less thing I have to do this weekend. We met around 2, took care of the car and we were home by 3. She had grabbed us some food on the way over which I appreciated. Went home, ate, unpacked, started laundry, and settled in. She ended up taking a nap from like 4:30 - 6:30. I worked in the office. I ordered a new monitor while I was gone and needed to rearrange the desk and get it setup. It is. I am happy.

Finished laundry, had some dinner around 8, watched Eurovision part 2. Tonight is the big finale. We see who is champion for 2017. Went to bed around 10. Slept well and long.

Today I have a few things to do - bills, shoe cobbler, groceries, post office. If I do it right, I should be done by 10 and have no obligations the rest of the weekend. Here goes nothing.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Y8 D351

Two weeks until a new year. Amazing.

Not much to write about today. I did have a good session in class. Really got into the meat of things and the small group size allowed us to go off on to some tangents which helped everyone's understanding of things quite a bit. Definitely the best day of the four so far. Really feel like I learned a lot. Plus it's stuff I currently get asked and I can translate it well for our customers. Lunch was also the best so far. Flatbread pizzas with salami, fig, and blue cheese. Was really happy with everything yesterday.

Finished up around 3:30 and came back to the hotel. Ended up taking a brief unintended nap. Woke up at five and ate my leftover food. I managed to get through the whole week with one pizza and one dinner out. Not too shabby.

Watched tv and went to bed around 10. Heading home today after class. May leave at noon depending on how far we get into the material. I am still ahead of the class as far as the demos are concerned so I should be able to finish the material by lunch with no problem. I want to be present for one topic of discussion for sure, but don't think I will miss anything important in the afternoon. The instructor kind of confirmed this yesterday too. He doesn't think it will be a problem. This way I can miss some of the traffic at least. Maybe all of it. The goal is to be home by 5. Here's hoping.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Y8 D350

Slept solid last night. Only woke up once around 1am. Otherwise I actually woke up to my alarm which is surprising for me. If my alarm hadn't gone off I probably could have slept for 2 more hours. I can't wait until this weekend where I can sleep until at least 6. Almost there. Just a couple more days.

Started part 2 of the class yesterday. This is the more in depth technical part of the curriculum and the number of paid students immensely dwindled. For the first two days there were 9 paid, 2 internal. For this section there's only 3 of us who are paid and the 2 internal. Makes it nice because we were able to go at a much faster pace but I feel for the instructor. I know what it's like to teach a small group. Plus it also means one can't hide. I was more interactive yesterday than I had been the first two days. I still managed to stay ahead of the group by like two modules in the book though. I am thinking of leaving at noon tomorrow to avoid the traffic on the way home but only if I am through the material. I need to stay a little ahead so I can shave off some time. I am about 2 hours ahead of the group right now. I need to get 2 more hours ahead.

We did finish early yesterday because of the small class size which was nice. I was back at the hotel by 4. I walked over to the mall to pick up something for B. There's a ThinkGeek store in this mall. One of only two around. She needed a salt and pepper shaker for her friend for their birthday. They luckily had it in store which saves us the shipping time (and cost). Plus the item I bought was on sale in store and not online.

Came back to the hotel and had my leftover salad for dinner. Watched some TV and went off to bed around 9:30. Boring night but that's okay. Two more days and I am back home.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Y8 D349

I am moving slow this morning. I woke up at 3:25 and decided to go back to sleep for an hour. Mistake. Now I am more groggy than when I first woke up. Was the hour worth it? I don't know. I have to get my butt in gear though. Let's go. Come on brain. Stupid brain.

Day 2 of 2 for the first set of classes I am taking yesterday. I stayed ahead of the group and was done at 2. Left around 4 when it was appropriate. Headed back to the hotel. Went for a walk and found a Target. I needed to get band-aids and some thinner socks. I was also looking for a portable humidifier. My friend sent me an amazon link to a good one that I will probably order when I get home, but if they had it in store it would have saved me the trouble. Alas, they didn't. Had a nice salad for dinner and came back to the room. Watched Tuesday night tv and went to bed around 10.

Before I went to bed I had to call American. I had one of my two upcoming trips still stuck as pending. Any time I make more than one trip at a time the bank has a heart attack and tries to flag everything as fraud. So the trip was sitting waiting for bank approval. Fucking pain in the ass. I managed to get it cleared up and this morning had my confirmation email. No more multiple bookings on the same day. But that was the only stress I had yesterday and I can handle it. Three more days and I get to be home for a week. Then it's off to Tulsa.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Y8 D348

Have a bit of a headache this morning. Hotel room ac units once more. I wish hotels still had windows that opened. Get fresh air inside of here instead of forced air that dries me out. I need one of those travel humidifiers you shove a water bottle into. Maybe look for one this weekend. Something that will fit in my bag. Good luck with that. Travel size my ass.

Yesterday was alright. I left the hotel super early to miss traffic and try and find parking. I am glad I got there as early as I did. Parking is very limited and filled up on the street quickly. It's like when I have to teach locally and there's only street parking. Pain in the ass. I managed to get inside around 7:30 and waited for the instructor to arrive. That was head scratcher number 2. The instructor is from NY, sounds like Ray Romano, and was wearing a t-shirt, hoodie, and jeans. I was very thrown off by this. He looked very unprofessional. I thought he was one of the students. I realized as the day went on that's how everyone there dresses. I can't imagine representing my company looking like that. You don't have to be in a suit but a collared shirt would have been nice.

Then when he found out I was a partner and not a real client his attitude towards me shifted a little bit. Not greatly mind you, but enough. He was less concerned about what I was doing then some of the other students. Granted he has one of those 'trouble' students that really doesn't belong in the class. Nobody wants that pain in the ass but yet, there she was. There were server issues at the start of class too. I really felt bad for him. My server didn't come up until after lunch but luckily I still ended up being done before the rest of class. I left around 4:30.

Took me forever to get back to my hotel. Small narrow streets filled with way too many cars. I am also not happy about the location of this facility. It's in a lousy place that's hard to access. Very inconvenient.

When I finally did get back to the hotel I walked over to the mall. I picked up some shoe tree inserts for my new shoes. They worked okay yesterday. Still stretching out a bit. I have a blister on my right foot from them. I also got a plain black t-shirt. I forgot to pack one. Normally I wear one on the plane as part of my flying outfit. Because I drove, I had on a completely random t-shirt and when I went to get dressed I realized I forgot a black one. It's okay, it was $8 at old navy. I remember a time when I would have had to find the fanciest store for a t-shirt. Now I find the cheapest option.

Had leftover pizza for dinner. Plugged my laptop into the tv and played some video games. Went to bed around 10. Today is day 2 of 2 for the first part of training. Only 4 more days to go. Then I get a week at home. Have three days of classes next week including an onsite at PSU, but at least I will be at home for a while.

Monday, May 8, 2017

Y8 D347

You ever listen to an album you haven't heard in a while and it rushes back to you with a flood of emotion and feelings you forgot you ever had? I spent four hours driving yesterday and listened to quite a bit of music but specifically Don Henley's Actual Miles was the one that had me tripping down memory lane. It was amazing to me how much of the different points in my past are associated to not just the times of the songs but the themes. So much of who I used to be. All the anger, the sadness, the confusion, the acceptance, it hit on all of them. Not always in a bad way mind you. But it was just interesting to really see how much I have grown and changed in these last few years. I put it all behind me in many ways. Some things will always sting and bring up the past but that's part of being a human, isn't it? The ability to remember. It's how we remember. Do we look back and learn or do we continue to make mistakes? I'd like to think I am finally learning. Only took 8.5 years.

Got up and headed out around 11:30 to pick up my rental car. I got a 2017 Ford Explorer fully loaded. They wanted to put me into a Chevy Malibu and I was like no thanks. I will even pay a little extra to get a nice car. Smart decision as the traffic in a couple of places was really bad. I didn't roll into my hotel until a little after 4. Long ass drive and I am really happy I pushed for the more comfortable vehicle.

Ordered a pizza and watched tv. That was the extent of my day. Went to bed around 9:30 mostly because I was bored and didn't want to do much of anything else. Managed to get a decent amount of sleep because of that choice.

This week is going to be interesting. I get to be the student for once and not the teacher. I can sit back and relax. I don't have to take out any of my jewelry or wear dress pants. I could get away with wearing just a t-shirt all week, but I opted for nice shirts. This way if there are any potential or former clients in the meeting I don't look like a total bum. Regardless, it will be a nice change of pace.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Y8 D346

Holy Moley did I sleep well last night. From 10-5. I am still a little groggy, but I feel like I got some good solid sleep. Some deep sleep. Feeling good about that.

As promised we did pretty much nothing yesterday and it felt good. We spent the day inside with each other. We read, we talked, we did some light cleaning. B made a meatloaf. After dinner we ventured out for one thing. A new BBQ. B has been wanting one forever. I haven't had an operational grill in years. I didn't want to spend a lot of money though. I found one at Home Depot for about $130 and $40 for a new propane tank. It's a two burner with a side burner and it makes her happy so it was worth it. She can BBQ to her heart's content now. The best part for me is it came pre-assembled. I didn't have to do diddly. Just load it in the back and carry it upstairs. Hook up tank and go. Instant BBQ. Propane and propane accessories I tell you what.

A good Saturday was had. Now today around noon, we drive to the rental car place, I get a car, and then I drive to Seattle. 5 days of being the student instead of the teacher. This is going to be fun I hope. I will miss being at home, but I won't have to be on stage. I can sit back and absorb. Plus they're giving me lunch every day. Can't argue with free lunch. Should take me about 4 hours to get there. Let's see how I do.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Y8 D345

Super long, super busy, but super fulfilling day yesterday. I was up at 1:20am CDT so 11:20 PDT. I went to bed around 10pm last night. Almost 24 hours on the go. But boy did I get a lot done.

I left for the airport around 3. I didn't know how easy or hard it would be with security there or dropping off the car and I wanted to be there early. Car drop off was straight forward and I was at the terminal by 3:20. Security opens at 3:45 and they open their pre line at the same time as regular which is nice. My flight boarded at 4:30 and I cleared my upgrade for the flight. I had already cleared my DFW upgrade which was nice. If I hadn't managed to clear this one it wouldn't have been a big deal. It was an RJ plane and the only real difference was having no one next to me and getting a free snack. The flight to DFW was 90 minutes. I got to Dallas and parked it in the Admiral''s club until 8 for my next flight. Took off on time, had breakfast, slept for 2 hours. Got to PDX at 11am.

Here's the only bump of the day. They are currently doing upgrade work on the MAX line which meant if I wanted to take the train home it would require shuttle switching. I called B and she volunteered to come pick me up. I was really proud of her for driving to an airport at noon on a Friday. The time it took her to get here was less than if I had taken the shuttle and I had no complaints. I bought us donuts while I waited.

When we got home I went to start laundry but she needed to go to Costco first. Okay. Do it before I take off all my clothes. We went to Costco, got the couple of things we needed and we were back home by 2:30. She took a nap while I did laundry. I also booked my next two trips; a return to KS in June, and NJ in June. I will be doing two things in NJ this time. First off one day for the client that is the reason for going out there, but then I will also be doing a special workshop at Tableau's offices in NY on 5th ave. That will be kind of cool. I will have to take the train from NJ to NY and it will be a bit of an adventure. Got all that booked, got my expense report done, and finished my time sheet. I then did bills and took care of all that kind of stuff.

When B woke up we went out for dinner. Had a nice sushi dinner I decided we should get everything else done too as to allow us to have today free. We went to Ulta to return some stuff, BBB to replace what we returned (Ulta didn't have the replacement), then we did grocery shopping, and finally we went to the mall for me to buy new shoes. We knocked everything out and back home around 9. It was a lot and she was feeling a bit drained (as was I) but now we have no obligations at all today. That feels pretty good.

Maybe go to the movies today and see GOTG2. We shall see.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Y8 D344

I'm awake. 1:18am here. I will be up for 12 hours before I even get home today. FML.

I am not sad to be leaving this place. I went to dinner last night and seriously thought I had stumbled into a KKK meeting. There was so much white going around I was waiting for someone to complain the air was spicy. And there they were talking about how that N****** Obama finally got his due because they had a new health plan. Like using that language out loud without any care. Wait until you try to get healthcare next year people. That wheelchair you're in? Good luck. Had a pregnancy? Good luck. Got the diabetes? Yeah, you're screwed. I have never seen a group of spoiled children as this congress. Overgrown brats is what they are. Going to kill us all.

I need to shower and pack. Have to get the hell out of these cornfields.

Did a half day yesterday. Had my free lunch. Came back to the hotel and napped. That of course fucked me up for later and I have been tossing and turning since 8pm. Whatever. I will sleep the hour and 20 minutes of this first flight. Just get me home. That's all I care about right now. Then when I get home I can do bills, timesheet, and all that fun stuff.

Just so I can leave again on Sunday.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Y8 D343

Woke up to a ton of messages on my phone this morning. B was freaking out because the power went out again. She was hearing this god awful noise coming from the office. It was my battery backup kicking in and beeping like crazy. Luckily it was only in the last hour so it's not like it was going on all night, but still. Power is supposed to be out until 4:40am. Another 2 hours for her. She just took a sleeping pill and will hopefully sleep through the worst of it. The big issue is that it was finally warm there yesterday. Up into the 80s. Which means she needs a fan or something on right now but can't. So she's going to have to open windows. Which means street noise. Which means hard to sleep.

It's supposed to be in the lower 80s today with a chance of thunderstorms. They had better get that power back on soon before it gets any warmer. Here it is supposed to be similar weather but a little cooler. Mid 70s. Of course when I get home it drops back into the 60s and I will have that in Seattle all next week. Fun.

Did my 'mentoring' yesterday. We spent the day with everyone working on their own thing and me floating around answering random questions as they came up. I headed out around 4. The consensus was we don't really need today, but we are going to meet anyway from 9-12. This way any last minute things can get answered and really it's so these people can have time away from their desks to focus on stuff without being bothered. I can understand that last part. Once they get back to their desks, all the other work will come piling down on them and this stuff will get pushed to the back burner. I am okay with doing a half day and just chilling.

After class I headed back to the hotel. Waited a little while and went for dinner at Carlos O'Kelly's. Yeah, I know. Stupid name. The food wasn't half bad. I had shrimp enchiladas. They were pretty good surprisingly. I was expecting to be disappointed but it was better than most chain restaurant mexican food. After dinner, headed back, watched some tv, and went to bed around 9:30.

Got to check in for my flight soon. Still waiting on one upgrade. Don't know if it will come though. It's the small one which is odd. I already cleared for my long flight upgrade. Even already ordered my meal. If I don't clear for this first flight it's okay. It's an hour and not that much of a problem. I just want out of Kansas Toto.

And happy May the 4th day to all of you.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Y8 D342

I haven't seen the sun in so long, I am forgetting what it looked like. Currently the skies are ripped wide open here with thunder and lightning. Thunder so close and loud the room just shook. The rain is pelting against the window with such intensity it's crazy. Another day in paradise for me.

I think I pissed off a couple of people in my class yesterday. The lighting in the room is atrocious and by midday I was starting to get a pounding headache from a combination of poor lighting and a bad instructor monitor. I kept fiddling with it trying to get the brightness and contrast to a decent level and it was getting me pissed off. I overheard some say I was grumpy. Yeah, I was. Because the facility was lacking. The bigger issue is that I have not taught this particular topic in a while and forgot how thick headed some of the people taking it can be. We are doing the same things over and over and yet you somehow forget where to click every five minutes. It doesn't help that you've been in the same job for 35 years and these darn new fangled computer thingies give you trouble. Regardless, I am supposed to come back out here in June but based on yesterday we will see if that happens or not. All it takes is one bad complaint and I am done. I should hear something in the next day or so if I fucked up or not.

Even after me bringing them pie. Bastards.

After class I was invited to join them for a social hour but I opted out. If they are already unhappy with me then I don't want to encroach on their space after hours. Let them have their place to bitch about me freely. Plus, I had to go to the airport and exchange my car. I noticed a small chip in the windshield the other day and when I went out yesterday morning it had grown. I am really glad I exchanged it now with this crazy weather. They swapped me out to a really nice fully loaded Ford escape. I am much happier with the new car.

Once I finished at the airport I went to a BBQ place for dinner. It just sounded good, ya know? I had chicken and ribs and it was wonderful. Had my dinner, watched some TV, went to bed around 10.

Today is non-formal work. Which I hate. Mentoring. Yuck. But it's also the time to see if we need tomorrow or not. If we get through all their questions today, then we won't need a session tomorrow. That means a free day in Kansas. Whee? I will go stand naked in the rain and pray to be hit by lightning.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Y8 D341

Having one of those "what day is it?" kind of weeks so far. Traveling on a Sunday added with how long I spent at DFW is throwing me off. I did find out that two of my students were on the same delayed flight as me and actually passed me when they boarded. Oops, sorry you're heading back to coach while I am up here comfy.

Had a good day. I am in the basement of a building once again, but it wasn't horrible. 12 students, 11 of whom know what they're doing, There is always one isn't there? She's okay, just moving a little slower than the rest of the group. No real issues just not quite going as fast as I would like. Taught from 9 until 5. Pretty much went all they way. I think we finished at 4:50 which is perfect. I don't feel like we're going to need Thursday which will be nice. I won't be able to change my flights probably, but I will be able to have a quiet day sitting in the hotel. We shall see. In the end, I can see them asking me to come in for a half day which is fine with me as I need to leave early on Friday morning. As long as I can get some sleep I will be happy.

Ate at a restaurant they all suggested. It's like a Shari's down to the pie and everything. It wasn't bad. Had a chicken pot pie that was pretty tasty. I got a couple of pies to bring to my class today. There better be some appreciation going on for that I tell you what.

Finished watching season 1 of Beyond. It was okay. A little too campy and corny for me, but it was worth watching. If there ends up being a season 2 I will watch it. That was about it for the night. Had dinner, stopped at Target for eye drops, watched three episodes of tv. Went to bed around 10. Slept okay. A little too dry here for me.

Pretty much a repeat in store for me today.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Y8 D340

Horrible travel day yesterday. I fucking hate Dallas. I bet if you word scraped this blog for "hate" and "DFW" you'd get a million hits. Once again the gods of Texas screwed with me. My morning started out okay. I left the house around 4:30, got to the airport at 5, and boarded my first flight with no problems. I had confirmed upgrades on both of my flights which reduced some of my stress. I landed in Dallas around 1 and had to skedaddle over from C to B terminals to make my 2:30 connection. As I was getting over there, I got a bloop on my phone that my flight was cancelled. Not even delayed, just straight up gone.

Got to the Admiral's Club and there was a 4:25 or a 6:40. I could have standby on the 4:25 or confirmed 1st on the later. I took the later. Smart move it turned out as the 4:25 got cancelled too. I had a confirmed seat at least on the 6:40. Yeah, except that one kept getting delayed. We didn't get out of DFW until 8:45. Luckily it was a short flight, but I didn't hit the ground until almost 10. Then I had to get my rental car and try and find the hotel. I am at an airport hotel so that at least was a minor issue. I rolled into the hotel a little after 10.

But I still had to iron, unpack, etc. And since the connecting flight was so short, they didn't feed us. Just brought around the snack basket. No real food at all. Nor did I have time to go anywhere and get something to drink for this morning. I am starting the day off Rockstar free and it's killing me. I finally got into bed after 11pm. Now it's 4:15 and I need more sleep.

I am going to leave early this morning because I don't know where I am, need to find a rockstar, and don't want to scramble in traffic.

What a lovely trip so far.