One week until my birthday. My present has been ordered and will be here in the next couple of days. I got more stuff on my list done yesterday. I am down to three things. Two of which would be nice to get done but it won't be the end of the world if I don't. I was up early yesterday in order to get one thing on my list done. Recycling. While they have attempted to make it both financially worthwhile and convenient around here, there are still some issues. First, most places don't open their machines until 7am. By that time there's usually some homeless person already waiting with a full cart of stuff. Or, at the ones with large outdoor machines, there's just crazy homeless people hanging around and it's not a clean or fun place to go. I have found ONE that opens at 5 and keeps their homeless in check. The drawback is if you don't get there at 5, it's packed. They only have one machine of each type (glass, plastic, can) and you can wait forever. I got there at 5:05 yesterday and some guy was already ahead of me. Luckily he was just doing bottles and finished while I was doing cans. But him being there proves my point that you have to be totally on top of it. Regardless, I got it done, made $15 and spent it on groceries for dinner. Peppers.
Got back home and worked around the house on some other stuff. Adjusted my desk to make some more room. It's easier to work now. I went to a tattoo shop yesterday and made an appointment for the 16th. Getting some new ink. I have given up on the whole tattoos must have meaning thing. If I like it, fuck it. I am getting it. So in two weeks I am getting the 12th doctor's sonic screwdriver complete with UV ink so it will glow under blacklight. Why the fuck not?
We went somewhere else and I am blanking on where right now. Oh, the pot shop for B. She was out and need a new cartridge. I knew we went somewhere else. We also made a reservation for a trip to Salem. We are going next week to check out the area. Get away from all the tech in this area. Go somewhere different. Just two days, one night. Enough to get out of town but not enough to hurt us financially. I have to pay bills today and I am already stressing.
She made dinner, we watched some tv, I worked on one of my other list items (fixing my music library), and went to bed around 11. This morning btw I woke up without an alarm. I let my body get as much sleep as needed.
Now to pay bills. Whee.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Y9 D34
I got so much accomplished yesterday. But I also found myself with a ton of excess energy. Without an outlet to pour it into, I was a bit much for B yesterday. I was go go go all day. I ended up draining her quite a bit. For me it was nice to be able to funnel my attention into multiple things and feel a real sense of accomplishment for my work. I donated stuff to Goodwill, rearranged the outside storage, rearranged a unit we have for B's craft stuff, got her name finally changed on all the bank accounts, picked up a prescription for her, went to the grocery store, almost finished cleaning my entire music library, picked up and made steaks, worked on problems for three different clients, and like five or six other things I can't remember. Most self-productive day I have had in a long time. But, I was a ball of energy and as some of you know, that can be draining to be around all day. And yes, I am up before 4am because I have more things on my list I want to get done, one of which I want to do at 5am. I will try to contain my energy today to be less annoying, but no promises.
Not much else going on. It's 8 days until my birthday. Going to order my gift today to make sure it's here before Friday. I am worried about the weekend/holiday. This holiday is one of those weird Tuesday ones this year and I don't know who is working on Monday and who isn't. I want to make sure it gets shipped out by Friday at the latest. Given the weird week it should be here Wednesday at the latest. That's my hope.
Okay have to shower now because I cannot miss this 5am timeline.
Not much else going on. It's 8 days until my birthday. Going to order my gift today to make sure it's here before Friday. I am worried about the weekend/holiday. This holiday is one of those weird Tuesday ones this year and I don't know who is working on Monday and who isn't. I want to make sure it gets shipped out by Friday at the latest. Given the weird week it should be here Wednesday at the latest. That's my hope.
Okay have to shower now because I cannot miss this 5am timeline.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Y9 D33
I am officially done teaching until July 10th. I can finally rest my damn voice. I have needed this break like crazy. So excited to be doing nothing. Well, not true. I have a list of about 20 things I want to accomplish while I am "on vacation". More on that in a minute.
Got up at 4:40, taught my class. Class went okay. We had some server issues before lunch. I managed to get through them okay, but it was a little rough. Then there were a couple of small demo issues. I haven't taught this class in months and totally screwed up one demo. I couldn't find where the option I was looking for was hidden. I knew it was somewhere but man I couldn't find it for the life of me. I felt like such a dunderhead. But we got through it. Finished around 2:40 and called it a day.
After class the urge to nap was strong but I resisted. B was having an earache and had lain down around 1:30. I instead started tackling things on my list. I have about 20 items on there ranging from simple stuff like "Rehang B shelf" to "Clean up music library". I managed to get about six of them done after class. "Clean out under the bed" was one of them. B has an issue with the cats going under the bed because her anxiety causes her to freak out in the case of an emergency. We had clothes bins under the bed and her issue was if something was going on, she wouldn't be able to fish them out fast enough. So she constantly keeps the bedroom door closed and goes nutty when the cats go in there. We reached a compromise. I like the bedroom door open to allow it to air out in there but it was only going to happen if I found a new home for the bins. I cleaned out some stuff in our patio storage closet, moved the bins, and voila. Everyone happy, especially the cats. Then I rehung aforementioned shelf. Took down the recycling. Couple more small things. Today I am hoping to knock off about 4 or 5 things on the list.
B went to group and I just kind of hung around until she got home. When she did, we headed off to the store. I got a new toolbox to clean up all of my tools floating all over the place (one of my list items). Now today I am going to swap where the tools were with one of her craft bins. While at the store it was dead and I could actually hear the music playing. Bad Company Run with the Pack. This naturally got Bad Company stuck in my head. Had to come home and update my library. Man that's good music. Some of it at least. Anything past Rough Diamonds with the exception of Rock N Roll Fantasy is meh. They're still touring. Original lineup and all. Would love to see that show. I miss having all my old concert t-shirts. So many shows seen.
Went to bed around 11:30 because I am on vacation dammit. In a little while heading out to knock list items off. I am going to do some work today, but on my schedule and at my pace. This will be nice.
Got up at 4:40, taught my class. Class went okay. We had some server issues before lunch. I managed to get through them okay, but it was a little rough. Then there were a couple of small demo issues. I haven't taught this class in months and totally screwed up one demo. I couldn't find where the option I was looking for was hidden. I knew it was somewhere but man I couldn't find it for the life of me. I felt like such a dunderhead. But we got through it. Finished around 2:40 and called it a day.
After class the urge to nap was strong but I resisted. B was having an earache and had lain down around 1:30. I instead started tackling things on my list. I have about 20 items on there ranging from simple stuff like "Rehang B shelf" to "Clean up music library". I managed to get about six of them done after class. "Clean out under the bed" was one of them. B has an issue with the cats going under the bed because her anxiety causes her to freak out in the case of an emergency. We had clothes bins under the bed and her issue was if something was going on, she wouldn't be able to fish them out fast enough. So she constantly keeps the bedroom door closed and goes nutty when the cats go in there. We reached a compromise. I like the bedroom door open to allow it to air out in there but it was only going to happen if I found a new home for the bins. I cleaned out some stuff in our patio storage closet, moved the bins, and voila. Everyone happy, especially the cats. Then I rehung aforementioned shelf. Took down the recycling. Couple more small things. Today I am hoping to knock off about 4 or 5 things on the list.
B went to group and I just kind of hung around until she got home. When she did, we headed off to the store. I got a new toolbox to clean up all of my tools floating all over the place (one of my list items). Now today I am going to swap where the tools were with one of her craft bins. While at the store it was dead and I could actually hear the music playing. Bad Company Run with the Pack. This naturally got Bad Company stuck in my head. Had to come home and update my library. Man that's good music. Some of it at least. Anything past Rough Diamonds with the exception of Rock N Roll Fantasy is meh. They're still touring. Original lineup and all. Would love to see that show. I miss having all my old concert t-shirts. So many shows seen.
Went to bed around 11:30 because I am on vacation dammit. In a little while heading out to knock list items off. I am going to do some work today, but on my schedule and at my pace. This will be nice.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Y9 D32
I tossed and turned a lot last night. Not sure why. I woke up at one point with no blankets on me. B did one of her tuck and roll jobs and took everything. But I don't think that was the issue. I was just all over the place in my head. Weird snippets of dreams. Nothing that makes sense. Being in an airplane that was driving through a terminal. Weird shit like that.
Taught my class. 14 students. 2 were late. Of course. No real issues. Most of them seem to know what they are doing. We finished up around 2:20. A little early but whatever. One more day of them and I will be done with classes. I have some work to do on Wednesday but I can do it at my own leisure.
After class I stayed out of B's way as she decided the kitchen needed a full cleaning. Made chicken for dinner. Of course I kept the kitchen clean. Not that dumb. We watched some tv and relaxed. Went to bed around 10.
All around unexciting day. Don't foresee today being much different.
Taught my class. 14 students. 2 were late. Of course. No real issues. Most of them seem to know what they are doing. We finished up around 2:20. A little early but whatever. One more day of them and I will be done with classes. I have some work to do on Wednesday but I can do it at my own leisure.
After class I stayed out of B's way as she decided the kitchen needed a full cleaning. Made chicken for dinner. Of course I kept the kitchen clean. Not that dumb. We watched some tv and relaxed. Went to bed around 10.
All around unexciting day. Don't foresee today being much different.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Y9 D31
I shall start today's missive in pure old man fashion; it was too fucking hot yesterday. Today is to be 20 degrees cooler, but given how hot yesterday, it will still be awful. At one point it registered 103 here. Fuck. That. Noise. The worst part is we had to be out of the house. We went to a social thing yesterday. We went to a garden party. Yep. It was hosted by the two gentlemen who run B's group at their house. It was quite nice but unfortunately it was way too hot and everyone (10-15 people I would estimate) stayed inside. We all at some point in our arrival, toured the garden but then came right back in.
In the morning we prepped food to bring. I made cucumber dill sandwiches, chicken curry sandwiches, and the madeleines I made on Saturday. B made her banana bread. Everything went over wonderfully. People loved all the food and I'd say we had the best food there. But of course I am biased. We were there from about 1 until 4:30. Weird going to a party that doesn't involve drinking or last until midnight.
When we got home B was drained and ended up falling asleep from 5 until about 7. I watched some tv and played some games. We picked at leftovers for dinner and I went to bed around 9:30.
I have 2 more classes to teach and then I am on vacation. I agreed to start the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday since they are already under my account, but otherwise, I will be free until the 9th of July. Boo-ya. I have 14 students the next two days and will probably lose my cool with them at some point, but whatever. I will make it through.
I decided on a birthday gift for myself. B and I discussed it and we figured out how to fit it into the budget without killing us. I am going to get a Fiio X5. Look it up. Now I just need to figure out what we are doing for birthday dinner.
In the morning we prepped food to bring. I made cucumber dill sandwiches, chicken curry sandwiches, and the madeleines I made on Saturday. B made her banana bread. Everything went over wonderfully. People loved all the food and I'd say we had the best food there. But of course I am biased. We were there from about 1 until 4:30. Weird going to a party that doesn't involve drinking or last until midnight.
When we got home B was drained and ended up falling asleep from 5 until about 7. I watched some tv and played some games. We picked at leftovers for dinner and I went to bed around 9:30.
I have 2 more classes to teach and then I am on vacation. I agreed to start the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday since they are already under my account, but otherwise, I will be free until the 9th of July. Boo-ya. I have 14 students the next two days and will probably lose my cool with them at some point, but whatever. I will make it through.
I decided on a birthday gift for myself. B and I discussed it and we figured out how to fit it into the budget without killing us. I am going to get a Fiio X5. Look it up. Now I just need to figure out what we are doing for birthday dinner.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Y9 D30
I have a headache this morning. It's a sinus pressure headache. It's 6:30 and it's already hot in here. I managed to stay inside all day yesterday with the exception of one time where I went and took the garbage out. That was it. Mail checking, garbage. Otherwise we stayed inside all day. I made madeleines in prep for the garden party we are attending this morning. I am not sure what to wear today and may go look at a shirt this morning. I know it's dumb to leave the house, but I really don't have anything to wear.
We worked on the fish tank yesterday. It's been a month and we have running with the filter off to cure a case of ick. As a result we had to a 25% drain yesterday. I got us a good suction pump vac for the tank. It worked really well. Less than an hour after we started it was all back together, cleaned up, and done. I was rather impressed with us.
We watched some tv, read a little, played some video games. Inside day. I did a pork shoulder in the slow cooker for dinner. Came out really nice. That was about it. Went to bed around 11.
Garden party today, have to go make cucumber sandwiches and chicken curry.
We worked on the fish tank yesterday. It's been a month and we have running with the filter off to cure a case of ick. As a result we had to a 25% drain yesterday. I got us a good suction pump vac for the tank. It worked really well. Less than an hour after we started it was all back together, cleaned up, and done. I was rather impressed with us.
We watched some tv, read a little, played some video games. Inside day. I did a pork shoulder in the slow cooker for dinner. Came out really nice. That was about it. Went to bed around 11.
Garden party today, have to go make cucumber sandwiches and chicken curry.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Y9 D29
I started 36 file conversions before I went to bed last night. I woke up this morning and it was 70% done on the last file. Nice. It just finished. Timing. And yes, I just woke up a little after 6. Man it was nice sleeping in without an alarm going off. It's been a while.
Like yesterday for example. Up at a little before 4am, out the door at 5:20, on site at 5:45. We only did a sort of half day yesterday. We finished up around 12:30, but then I did some follow up work with on my former students from the same client. I got out of there around 1, was home about 1:40. 25 minutes of that was on the damn surface streets because of fucking Nike. Their campus is way too large for the area it's built around. It causes way too much traffic, backs things up immensely, and the people they hire has distorted the landscape of this area. Not only has it destroyed the housing market, caused additional crap houses and apartments to be built, but it's also made store anywhere near them to be extremely over-crowded with a certain type of person. I fucking hate it.
Got home, changed my clothes, and relaxed. It was getting hotter yesterday. Not as bad as this weekend is supposed to be, but hot nonetheless. It's supposed to get up to 100 either today or tomorrow. Of course it's nothing like AZ at 119 where even fucking planes can't fly. SMH.
Made chicken for dinner, well technically B did. After dinner I was filled with nervous energy and ended up cleaning. I cleaned the kitchen, the office, and vacuumed the house. It mostly helped. At 9 we decided it had cooled down enough to go grocery shopping. While the store was a little more crowded than I would have liked, we got out of there pretty quick and now I don't have to go anywhere this morning. Grateful for that much for sure.
Got back, put away groceries, putzed a bit, went to bed around 11.
Today we are going to prep stuff for a garden party tomorrow. We are bringing cucumber and dill sandwiches, chicken curry, banana bread, and honey madeleines. Speaking of tea and garden parties, I am still on the fence about what to do for my birthday. I looked up some tea places downtown, then thought about a spa day, but I feel bad spending any money. I would rather have something tangible if I am going to spend money. Does that make sense? I know experiences are wonderful, but a spa day will be like $300 and even a proper tea will end up being close to a $100. I don't know. I am not very excited about my birthday this year. It's two weeks from yesterday and the normal excitement just isn't there. Oh well.
Like yesterday for example. Up at a little before 4am, out the door at 5:20, on site at 5:45. We only did a sort of half day yesterday. We finished up around 12:30, but then I did some follow up work with on my former students from the same client. I got out of there around 1, was home about 1:40. 25 minutes of that was on the damn surface streets because of fucking Nike. Their campus is way too large for the area it's built around. It causes way too much traffic, backs things up immensely, and the people they hire has distorted the landscape of this area. Not only has it destroyed the housing market, caused additional crap houses and apartments to be built, but it's also made store anywhere near them to be extremely over-crowded with a certain type of person. I fucking hate it.
Got home, changed my clothes, and relaxed. It was getting hotter yesterday. Not as bad as this weekend is supposed to be, but hot nonetheless. It's supposed to get up to 100 either today or tomorrow. Of course it's nothing like AZ at 119 where even fucking planes can't fly. SMH.
Made chicken for dinner, well technically B did. After dinner I was filled with nervous energy and ended up cleaning. I cleaned the kitchen, the office, and vacuumed the house. It mostly helped. At 9 we decided it had cooled down enough to go grocery shopping. While the store was a little more crowded than I would have liked, we got out of there pretty quick and now I don't have to go anywhere this morning. Grateful for that much for sure.
Got back, put away groceries, putzed a bit, went to bed around 11.
Today we are going to prep stuff for a garden party tomorrow. We are bringing cucumber and dill sandwiches, chicken curry, banana bread, and honey madeleines. Speaking of tea and garden parties, I am still on the fence about what to do for my birthday. I looked up some tea places downtown, then thought about a spa day, but I feel bad spending any money. I would rather have something tangible if I am going to spend money. Does that make sense? I know experiences are wonderful, but a spa day will be like $300 and even a proper tea will end up being close to a $100. I don't know. I am not very excited about my birthday this year. It's two weeks from yesterday and the normal excitement just isn't there. Oh well.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Y9 D28
I have started to write three different things and deleted them all. Too tired to put words together this morning. Nothing is making sense in my head. Cloudy. Maybe with a chance of meatballs.
Decent group. Started late but managed to get through things. Way too many work emails from stupid people while trying to teach.
Left here at 5:10 yesterday. Arrived on site at 5:35. Getting there was no big deal. Same trip home? An hour. Fuck traffic.
Ran errands after dinner. Got tired and cranky.
Watched the finale of Fargo. DAMN!
Bed. Three more classes and I am done. I can make it.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Y9 D27
Woke up six minutes before my alarm. Mad skillz baby. Have to be onsite the next two days. Out in a weird location but not horrible. I just want to miss all the traffic so I am leaving here at 5:30. That should get me around most, if not all, of it.
Did my day two, finished at about 2:30. Went through ALL of the material. Usually I am running much closer to the time mark and have to cut some stuff out. But not this time. Did all the demos for once. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that this group was quiet. Not dumb in anyway, just quiet. I was worried about their skill level coming into the class, but they all managed to make it through.
When I was done with class I dehydrated some fruit. Made apple slices. B had a thing at some crochet place with one of her friends from group so she ended up eating early. She was gone from about 5-8:30. I ate salmon later. Watched some tv, relaxed. Took a long hot bath to soak my back. While I have slept great since getting home I sometimes worry my bed is a little too firm because I will have the random back spasms. B is dealing with that too right now. I had to use the vibrating thing with heat turned on for her back yesterday.
Got some awesome news from the kid. She had an in-person interview yesterday and has another one on Monday. She is doing okay. She may actually have a job in her field before the end of the year. That would be great. One is a part time and the other is technically a paid internship, but it will be real world experience and she will get the monies. Hopefully something will come of one or the other over the next couple of weeks.
Booked our Vegas trip. Got final confirmation yesterday. Going to be there for a full week in October. Staying at the Flamingo, flying on Alaska, and seeing Britney Spears. Plus I am going as an attendee and will actually get to learn things. I am excited about this. Now to book my October concert hotel and flight. I can't believe I have October locked down already. I remember when X1 used to drive me nuts about not having plans solidified for exactly this reason. Sometimes I would be planning months in advance like this and she wouldn't even know her afternoon. Ah, fun times.
Two days on site this week, then two classes at home and I am done for 12 days. Gotta make it through.
Did my day two, finished at about 2:30. Went through ALL of the material. Usually I am running much closer to the time mark and have to cut some stuff out. But not this time. Did all the demos for once. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that this group was quiet. Not dumb in anyway, just quiet. I was worried about their skill level coming into the class, but they all managed to make it through.
When I was done with class I dehydrated some fruit. Made apple slices. B had a thing at some crochet place with one of her friends from group so she ended up eating early. She was gone from about 5-8:30. I ate salmon later. Watched some tv, relaxed. Took a long hot bath to soak my back. While I have slept great since getting home I sometimes worry my bed is a little too firm because I will have the random back spasms. B is dealing with that too right now. I had to use the vibrating thing with heat turned on for her back yesterday.
Got some awesome news from the kid. She had an in-person interview yesterday and has another one on Monday. She is doing okay. She may actually have a job in her field before the end of the year. That would be great. One is a part time and the other is technically a paid internship, but it will be real world experience and she will get the monies. Hopefully something will come of one or the other over the next couple of weeks.
Booked our Vegas trip. Got final confirmation yesterday. Going to be there for a full week in October. Staying at the Flamingo, flying on Alaska, and seeing Britney Spears. Plus I am going as an attendee and will actually get to learn things. I am excited about this. Now to book my October concert hotel and flight. I can't believe I have October locked down already. I remember when X1 used to drive me nuts about not having plans solidified for exactly this reason. Sometimes I would be planning months in advance like this and she wouldn't even know her afternoon. Ah, fun times.
Two days on site this week, then two classes at home and I am done for 12 days. Gotta make it through.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Y9 D26
Got my server finally yesterday. I had to call his house at 6am. Sorry, that's the breaks. Taught my class. They were alright. Kind of a dead group. Not dumb, just dead. I haven't taught this particular class since last year and forgot the personality type of someone who takes it. They aren't excited people. They are dull people a lot of the time. Oh well. We finished day 1 early at least. Probably finish today early too. I did get some good news about my classes next week. I only have to do Monday and Tuesday and then I am on vacation. Yippee! I am done until July 10th. Almost two full weeks where I don't have to use an alarm or worry about filling hours. Just guilt free time off. It will be nice.
I did have one frustrating moment while I was teaching. It got super hot in my office and I flipped on the AC. For some reason it was making things hotter! I forgot I had closed the window in the morning because of noise. The hot air return from the AC was bouncing off the closed window and coming right back into the room. Idiot.
Made chicken for dinner, B went to group. I worked on my app for a while. She got home around 9:40, we both went to bed shortly thereafter.
Day two, ironing for tomorrow and Friday, and that's about it for my big plans for the day.
I did have one frustrating moment while I was teaching. It got super hot in my office and I flipped on the AC. For some reason it was making things hotter! I forgot I had closed the window in the morning because of noise. The hot air return from the AC was bouncing off the closed window and coming right back into the room. Idiot.
Made chicken for dinner, B went to group. I worked on my app for a while. She got home around 9:40, we both went to bed shortly thereafter.
Day two, ironing for tomorrow and Friday, and that's about it for my big plans for the day.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Y9 D25
Back on my usual wakeup and teach time for the next two days. It feels so late. After so many days of either being in a different time zone or doing early classes, it honestly feels late.
It was so hot here yesterday. Had the AC units blaring like crazy. Even during class I had one on because I was dying. It's supposed to be cooler today thank goodness. Lots of good things happened yesterday. Including verification I will be going to Las Vegas in October for the Tableau Conference. And not just as a booth worker. I get to actually go to the classes and presentations. We are going to go one day early and stay one day late as B is coming with me. As an early anniversary present, I bought her tickets to a show. We are going to see Britney Spears! B wanted to do it last time we were in Vegas but the timing didn't work out. This time the tickets are already purchased and done. I think it will be fun.
Speaking of B, I was proud of her yesterday. She managed to drive to DMV all alone, get her OR ID taken care of, and make it back. She needs a picture ID to finish her passport process. Yes, we are still working on that. Hopefully this will be the end of it though. With this ID she will be able to submit the documents, get a passport, then use that to get a license. Why not just get a license up front? Because she doesn't want to turn hers in until she has a passport. Her MI is an enhanced license that allows entry into Canada. Without that, she can't leave the country. So, passport, then license.
We also got her a secured credit card. We had all that trouble with her credit in the past and to try and rebuild it we opened her a secured card in just her name. This way she holds it for a year, builds her credit back up, we switch it to a non-secured card.
So much done and done.
Me? I taught class. 6-2. Passed out from 2:30 - 4. Worked on my little programming project. I have it returning data but not submitting the form the way I want. I am getting close though. I am enjoying working on it. It's dumb, but fun.
Went to bed around 10. I am already stressing because I have no server this morning. Sigh. Haven't had to deal with this in a while. Maybe I will get lucky and class will get canceled. Nah, I never get that lucky.
Monday, June 19, 2017
Y9 D24
It's going to be hot today, I can feel it already. That dead air feel. No wind, no movement. I fucked up already this morning by stepping on the poor cat. She was laying in front of my office door and I didn't see her. I think she's okay, but I still feel bad.
I did for the most part accomplish my goal of doing very little yesterday. I went out in the morning to the grocery store, came back, and worked on a project. On one of my machines I installed MAMP with MySQL, PHP, and a web server. I think proceeded to build a DB for our finances and learned enough PHP to get it to read the DB and display info. I want to make it easy for B to see what's currently due, how much we owe, etc. Plus I keep track of daily spending right now in a little list field on my monitor and want an easy way to see it and add new items. I know this all sound stupid, but it was a fun project for me. I managed to get the connection working and process the sql to display data. Now I just have to figure out the form and structure for the rest. Again, to me it's fun. Not complaining.
We went to the fish store and added a couple of buddies to the tank. We now have two blood parrot cichlids, a convict cichlid, an electric blue cichlid, two mystery snails (that's what they are called, I didn't name them), and a sucker fish, which I named Hoover. The tank is looking good. Everyone has enough room to grow, everyone seems to be getting along, and they look good in the tank. I am happy.
I also got all the laundry done. That was big as I need clothes on Thursday and Friday for my onsite.
I hated not having a whole weekend to myself, but I do feel I got quite a bit accomplished. Both from a resting and relaxing standpoint as well as around the house things.
The kid wished me a Happy Father's day which was nice. She was in the Bay Area for her belated graduation party. According to her it was okay. When she told me the guest list I could see why. It was basically old people. Oh well. Got to suffer sometimes kid.
Today I do a 6-2 private. 12 students. This is going to be a long day.
I did for the most part accomplish my goal of doing very little yesterday. I went out in the morning to the grocery store, came back, and worked on a project. On one of my machines I installed MAMP with MySQL, PHP, and a web server. I think proceeded to build a DB for our finances and learned enough PHP to get it to read the DB and display info. I want to make it easy for B to see what's currently due, how much we owe, etc. Plus I keep track of daily spending right now in a little list field on my monitor and want an easy way to see it and add new items. I know this all sound stupid, but it was a fun project for me. I managed to get the connection working and process the sql to display data. Now I just have to figure out the form and structure for the rest. Again, to me it's fun. Not complaining.
We went to the fish store and added a couple of buddies to the tank. We now have two blood parrot cichlids, a convict cichlid, an electric blue cichlid, two mystery snails (that's what they are called, I didn't name them), and a sucker fish, which I named Hoover. The tank is looking good. Everyone has enough room to grow, everyone seems to be getting along, and they look good in the tank. I am happy.
I also got all the laundry done. That was big as I need clothes on Thursday and Friday for my onsite.
I hated not having a whole weekend to myself, but I do feel I got quite a bit accomplished. Both from a resting and relaxing standpoint as well as around the house things.
The kid wished me a Happy Father's day which was nice. She was in the Bay Area for her belated graduation party. According to her it was okay. When she told me the guest list I could see why. It was basically old people. Oh well. Got to suffer sometimes kid.
Today I do a 6-2 private. 12 students. This is going to be a long day.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Y9 D23
Home, home again. I like to be here when I can.
I just slept for 8 hours. The longest, most solid sleep I have had in over a week. So happy. God how sad I am that sleeping until 5:30 makes me happy.
Other than being a long day, I didn't have any issues at least yesterday. Got through security at 3:30, boarded my flights on time. I sat around for three hours in Dallas, but no delays or cancelations for once. I even got my upgrade at the very last second. Just a long day of travel, not a problematic one. I am good with this.
B picked me up at the airport. I landed around 2:40, we were home by about 3:30. Unpacked, started doing things like timesheet and expense report. I wanted to finish everything yesterday to give me more time today since I am fully booked tomorrow. One of the big things I did was bills. I haven't sat down and seen where we are in almost a week and a half. I have been stressing about a couple of things, but all is good.
We also made the decision to cancel our Canada trip. We both agreed I am going to be too tired and worn out to do much of anything. We are trying to come up with an alternate location that is closer but still lets us get out of the house for a couple of days. We didn't finalize anything but I will be thinking about it this weekend. Oh wait, I don't get a full weekend. Just today. I am still angry about that, but there's not a whole hell of a lot I can do.
For the most part, B and I just talked and enjoyed each other's company. She grilled chicken and veggies for dinner while I did all my stuff.
Today I would like to do as little as possible. I may head over to the grocery store in a little while, but otherwise, not a whole lot on my plate. Tomorrow I have a 6am class and want to just enjoy today.
I just slept for 8 hours. The longest, most solid sleep I have had in over a week. So happy. God how sad I am that sleeping until 5:30 makes me happy.
Other than being a long day, I didn't have any issues at least yesterday. Got through security at 3:30, boarded my flights on time. I sat around for three hours in Dallas, but no delays or cancelations for once. I even got my upgrade at the very last second. Just a long day of travel, not a problematic one. I am good with this.
B picked me up at the airport. I landed around 2:40, we were home by about 3:30. Unpacked, started doing things like timesheet and expense report. I wanted to finish everything yesterday to give me more time today since I am fully booked tomorrow. One of the big things I did was bills. I haven't sat down and seen where we are in almost a week and a half. I have been stressing about a couple of things, but all is good.
We also made the decision to cancel our Canada trip. We both agreed I am going to be too tired and worn out to do much of anything. We are trying to come up with an alternate location that is closer but still lets us get out of the house for a couple of days. We didn't finalize anything but I will be thinking about it this weekend. Oh wait, I don't get a full weekend. Just today. I am still angry about that, but there's not a whole hell of a lot I can do.
For the most part, B and I just talked and enjoyed each other's company. She grilled chicken and veggies for dinner while I did all my stuff.
Today I would like to do as little as possible. I may head over to the grocery store in a little while, but otherwise, not a whole lot on my plate. Tomorrow I have a 6am class and want to just enjoy today.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Y9 D22
I have been up for almost 3 hours. Once more I had to wait to post so it didn't show up as Friday's post. I have been at the airport for an hour already. Another hour to go until I can get through security. There is a 6:40 Alaska flight I am going to try and get on instead of my 6:20 American. Why? I won't have to go through DFW and it gets me home almost 3 hours earlier. If the flight change cost isn't too bad, I may just do it.
Taught day two of my group yesterday. We went until about 12:40. It was scheduled for a 1/2 day and we were right on the money. Really good group. They were happy and we discussed a possible second session in the UK later this year. I can handle that. I could use the miles. I will be at Gold by the end of this trip but that would give me a big boost towards another year of platinum.
Got back to the hotel around 1 and found out they don't do lunch. Fuck. I had to wait until 5pm to eat anything. And the hotel was insane. I was one block from Princeton and what I didn't realize is this is a graduation weekend. There was about 1,000 Indian people checking in. I am not exaggerating. I just got asked at the airport by an Indian guy how to GET TO Princeton. They're still coming in.
I ate at 5, slept from 6:30 - 9:30, then again from 10-12. Decent for me. Lucky I had the suite and could close the bedroom door off to minimize the noise. Out in the main part of my room the people next door were noisy as hell. Down in the lobby about 25 of the Indian folks were having a pizza party. Literally in the fucking lobby. When I went down this morning there were pizza boxes all over. You can tell when people have come from a caste system. They expect the "lowly" people to take care of their shit. They're too good to clean up after themselves apparently.
Fuck I can't wait to get home. I have a full week next week but man, to be home for at least a day with nothing to do will be nice. I did send my boss a message this morning telling him he pushed me too hard this month. i explained the problem, how it was affecting me, and offered a potential solution for the future. I didn't swear or get angry. I hope he takes the time to read it and acknowledge the issue.
That's about it for now. Home in 15 hours depending on if I switch flights or not. Fun stuff.
Taught day two of my group yesterday. We went until about 12:40. It was scheduled for a 1/2 day and we were right on the money. Really good group. They were happy and we discussed a possible second session in the UK later this year. I can handle that. I could use the miles. I will be at Gold by the end of this trip but that would give me a big boost towards another year of platinum.
Got back to the hotel around 1 and found out they don't do lunch. Fuck. I had to wait until 5pm to eat anything. And the hotel was insane. I was one block from Princeton and what I didn't realize is this is a graduation weekend. There was about 1,000 Indian people checking in. I am not exaggerating. I just got asked at the airport by an Indian guy how to GET TO Princeton. They're still coming in.
I ate at 5, slept from 6:30 - 9:30, then again from 10-12. Decent for me. Lucky I had the suite and could close the bedroom door off to minimize the noise. Out in the main part of my room the people next door were noisy as hell. Down in the lobby about 25 of the Indian folks were having a pizza party. Literally in the fucking lobby. When I went down this morning there were pizza boxes all over. You can tell when people have come from a caste system. They expect the "lowly" people to take care of their shit. They're too good to clean up after themselves apparently.
Fuck I can't wait to get home. I have a full week next week but man, to be home for at least a day with nothing to do will be nice. I did send my boss a message this morning telling him he pushed me too hard this month. i explained the problem, how it was affecting me, and offered a potential solution for the future. I didn't swear or get angry. I hope he takes the time to read it and acknowledge the issue.
That's about it for now. Home in 15 hours depending on if I switch flights or not. Fun stuff.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Y9 D21
I had one night to actually sleep and I did it. Mostly. I slept from 9:30 to 12:45, then from 1 to 4:15. I will take it. Best sleep in five days. And of course the only one night because I have to leave at 2am tomorrow. Whee.
Got onsite WAY too early yesterday. Was in the room at the hotel at 4:15am. I went back and checked all my notes and found that we had never settled on a start time. Stress much? I was there and ready regardless of when they showed up. Which they started doing around 7:15. At least two of them. Many of them were staying at the hotel where we were doing the training. It was weird doing a training in a hotel but also very convenient. Everything I could need was provided. We ended up starting around 8:45 and went until 4:40. A very active, focused group. I received many compliments from the students and the host. They even gave me one of their swag items, a pen and stylus set. 16 people total and I learned they were coming from all over which is why this particular hotel was chosen.
After class I headed back to the hotel and got stuck in really bad NJ traffic. Took me 25 minutes to just make a left hand turn. 5 miles took me forty minutes. I was not happy when I checked in. Luckily I have a very nice suite. Of course I am not here long enough to appreciate it. It's right next door to Princeton University and the place is packed with parents, prospectives, an asian tour group, etc. But my room is at the end of a hall and when I closed the bedroom door I heard nothing. It was nice. Had dinner in my room, some french onion soup and a salmon salad. May have the same tonight.
That was about it. Ate, relaxed, went to bed. Today we are doing a half day, then I have 2pm conference call, then sleep so I can leave at 2am for the airport. I get home around 3:30pm tomorrow afternoon. Then I need to book a trip to SC. Sigh.
Got onsite WAY too early yesterday. Was in the room at the hotel at 4:15am. I went back and checked all my notes and found that we had never settled on a start time. Stress much? I was there and ready regardless of when they showed up. Which they started doing around 7:15. At least two of them. Many of them were staying at the hotel where we were doing the training. It was weird doing a training in a hotel but also very convenient. Everything I could need was provided. We ended up starting around 8:45 and went until 4:40. A very active, focused group. I received many compliments from the students and the host. They even gave me one of their swag items, a pen and stylus set. 16 people total and I learned they were coming from all over which is why this particular hotel was chosen.
After class I headed back to the hotel and got stuck in really bad NJ traffic. Took me 25 minutes to just make a left hand turn. 5 miles took me forty minutes. I was not happy when I checked in. Luckily I have a very nice suite. Of course I am not here long enough to appreciate it. It's right next door to Princeton University and the place is packed with parents, prospectives, an asian tour group, etc. But my room is at the end of a hall and when I closed the bedroom door I heard nothing. It was nice. Had dinner in my room, some french onion soup and a salmon salad. May have the same tonight.
That was about it. Ate, relaxed, went to bed. Today we are doing a half day, then I have 2pm conference call, then sleep so I can leave at 2am for the airport. I get home around 3:30pm tomorrow afternoon. Then I need to book a trip to SC. Sigh.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Y9 D20
I have actually been up for over 3 hours. I didn't want to post earlier because it would have technically still been Wednesday (I think?). I am very confused this week. My third destination in four days. Sigh. I am currently sitting in an empty hotel conference room 4 hours earlier than I need to be here. But I didn't know where I was going this morning or how long it would take me to get here and fuck it, I left at 2:30. Ended up getting here a little before 4.
Taught my group yesterday. Packed house; 15 students total. Good group. Only a few late folks but not so late it was a problem. We finished up around 4:45pm. No issues. I got back to the hotel about 5:30 by the time I packed everything up and cleaned the room.
Had dinner in the room because I ended up going to bed at 7:45pm. I finally got some decent sleep but of course I had to be up early. Plus it took as usual until day three to get decent sleep. Whatever.
Got some emails from my sister. As I anticipated my dad is doing fine as of right now. Prostate cancer is scary to hear but not to treat or deal with. I know she was stressing out about a lot of stuff at once, but hopefully this will take one thing off her plate. She also said something to me that made me feel good. That just because he is sick, I don't have to reconcile. Most people immediately go into pity mode when someone is sick and forgive them their trespasses. Not me. Because sick or not, it doesn't change who he is. He is still the same racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, bible thumping butthole he's always been. He probably thinks "god" saved him. You know not the doctors or scientists that created the medicine. Good ol' "god". Yep. Anyway, she made me feel better by validating my feelings about the situation. She also has lost a shit ton of weight and while I am jealous, I am impressed and proud of her. Kicking ass and taking names.
B is still in love with her fish. Best gift I ever gave her. She watches them and it makes her happy. All that matters.
I wonder where breakfast is around this place...
Taught my group yesterday. Packed house; 15 students total. Good group. Only a few late folks but not so late it was a problem. We finished up around 4:45pm. No issues. I got back to the hotel about 5:30 by the time I packed everything up and cleaned the room.
Had dinner in the room because I ended up going to bed at 7:45pm. I finally got some decent sleep but of course I had to be up early. Plus it took as usual until day three to get decent sleep. Whatever.
Got some emails from my sister. As I anticipated my dad is doing fine as of right now. Prostate cancer is scary to hear but not to treat or deal with. I know she was stressing out about a lot of stuff at once, but hopefully this will take one thing off her plate. She also said something to me that made me feel good. That just because he is sick, I don't have to reconcile. Most people immediately go into pity mode when someone is sick and forgive them their trespasses. Not me. Because sick or not, it doesn't change who he is. He is still the same racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, bible thumping butthole he's always been. He probably thinks "god" saved him. You know not the doctors or scientists that created the medicine. Good ol' "god". Yep. Anyway, she made me feel better by validating my feelings about the situation. She also has lost a shit ton of weight and while I am jealous, I am impressed and proud of her. Kicking ass and taking names.
B is still in love with her fish. Best gift I ever gave her. She watches them and it makes her happy. All that matters.
I wonder where breakfast is around this place...
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Y9 D19
So much happened yesterday that I don't want to miss writing down all of it. I am going to go in chronological order again to make sure I capture the whole day which went from 4:50am until 9:30pm. That's the time I left the hotel and the time I got back. Yes, I had a very long day yesterday.
I got up around 4 and immediately started getting anxious and paranoid about everything. I had no idea where I was going, how long it would take me to get there, etc. As a result, I left the hotel at 4:50 and walked across the street to the train station. I bought a round trip ticket from Penn to Penn. Their idea of a round trip ticket is two one way tickets. Remember that. I found the train track and managed to get right on a 5:01am train. The train ride over wasn't too bad. It was two stops (Secaucus followed by NY Penn) and I was in NY at about 5:30. Penn station if you've never been there is HUGE. Like level after level. Hundreds of people pushing and shoving all of whom apparently know what they are doing. Especially on a Tuesday during commute times. I was the odd fish out for sure. I figured out how to get out and to the street. The station is roughly at 31st street and 8th ave. I needed to be at 18th street and 5th ave. When I hit the street I could tell it was going to be a rough, hot day. I decided to take a cab because I didn't want to try and walk in that and die.
The cabbie got me where I needed to be around 6am. So yeah, I left too early. I then sat until 7:40 when the local contact arrived. Whatever. I watched TV in the lobby and relaxed. Now, the problem with these presentations is they weren't official training. They were free 'workshops'. Which means they were being led by two salespeople (one on our side, one on Tableau's) and they were being very loose about start times and agenda. This gives me serious anxiety. I like to start on time and get through material. But the sales guy kept pushing the start time to allow stragglers, of which there was plenty. Finally started the first session a little after 9. 22 people. Got through all the material, had barely 30 minutes to relax when the second group of 30 people started arriving. We started that session around 1:30. Finished up a little after 5. Talk about an exhausting time. Over 50 people total in one day. Whew.
I did end up forgetting my mouse and while I was able to borrow one yesterday, I needed one for the rest of the week. I was planning on meeting a friend for dinner around 6:30pm and had plenty of time to kill. We were meeting at a place on 23rd and 9th. Not horribly far away, about a mile, and I had time to kill, so I walked, stopping at a best buy along the way to kill time. I nearly died walking just the four blocks to best buy. It was 100 degree with 1200%n humidity in the shade. I meandered around Best Buy for a while and then headed to the restaurant. Dear god this city smells like piss and shit. They don't believe in dumpsters in this city and there's just bags of garbage on the street. It's disgusting. And the smell in the heat was unbearable. I made the walk and thought I was going to die. For real. The place we were supposed to meet didn't have a bar and I ended up next door at this 'contemporary indian' place. I had a watermelon whiskey drink that was really good.
Speaking of drinking, I think I have finally reached a healthy relationship with alcohol. I was at the restaurant from 5:45pm until 8:15pm and I had two drinks. Mostly I had water. Kind of proud about that. My friend showed up at 6:40 and we had a wonderful time catching up. The food was excellent and then I had to head back to NJ. As I was heading back my sister messaged me and I called her as I was walking to the train.
Turns out my dad's cancer has returned. I didn't know he ever had it in the first place, but given our relationship that's not surprising. It's prostate cancer. While I know my sister was stressing, having gone through prostate issues, I know that this can be caught and removed. The big catch is if it spreads. That's always the concern. He goes in for a biopsy today and they will know more by end of week.
While on one hand it would be nice of me to visit or call, I am having a hard time reconciling that. I am sure my sister would like to see us make up, being sick doesn't change him from being a racist, homophobic, transphobic, bible thumping, Trump supporter. All those things I can't support. Just because you're sick, it doesn't make you a decent human being. I am sorry but I don't need that type of person in my life. If something does happen to him, I will be there for my sister but not him.
She is also going through some shit with some old medical debt which sucks. I wish I could help her out but the numbers are too large for me to help in a significant way. But adding my dad's health issues on top of it sucks big time.
At the same time all this was going down, I was trying to find the station while not dying of heat stroke. I did manage to find the station but stressed out about finding the right train. Not as clearly marked as London's tube for sure. I managed to get on a train and thanks to sheer luck it was going the right way. My buddy sent me a message during the train ride to let me know a former work colleague died. Unfortunately I couldn't remember him (hey it was 20 years ago people) so while sad, not anything major.
Finally got to NJ Penn and came out the wrong side. I had to walk through the homeless gauntlet to get to my hotel. Collapsed in bed at 10.
Wow. What a day. And now for another long crazy day. Whee!
I got up around 4 and immediately started getting anxious and paranoid about everything. I had no idea where I was going, how long it would take me to get there, etc. As a result, I left the hotel at 4:50 and walked across the street to the train station. I bought a round trip ticket from Penn to Penn. Their idea of a round trip ticket is two one way tickets. Remember that. I found the train track and managed to get right on a 5:01am train. The train ride over wasn't too bad. It was two stops (Secaucus followed by NY Penn) and I was in NY at about 5:30. Penn station if you've never been there is HUGE. Like level after level. Hundreds of people pushing and shoving all of whom apparently know what they are doing. Especially on a Tuesday during commute times. I was the odd fish out for sure. I figured out how to get out and to the street. The station is roughly at 31st street and 8th ave. I needed to be at 18th street and 5th ave. When I hit the street I could tell it was going to be a rough, hot day. I decided to take a cab because I didn't want to try and walk in that and die.
The cabbie got me where I needed to be around 6am. So yeah, I left too early. I then sat until 7:40 when the local contact arrived. Whatever. I watched TV in the lobby and relaxed. Now, the problem with these presentations is they weren't official training. They were free 'workshops'. Which means they were being led by two salespeople (one on our side, one on Tableau's) and they were being very loose about start times and agenda. This gives me serious anxiety. I like to start on time and get through material. But the sales guy kept pushing the start time to allow stragglers, of which there was plenty. Finally started the first session a little after 9. 22 people. Got through all the material, had barely 30 minutes to relax when the second group of 30 people started arriving. We started that session around 1:30. Finished up a little after 5. Talk about an exhausting time. Over 50 people total in one day. Whew.
I did end up forgetting my mouse and while I was able to borrow one yesterday, I needed one for the rest of the week. I was planning on meeting a friend for dinner around 6:30pm and had plenty of time to kill. We were meeting at a place on 23rd and 9th. Not horribly far away, about a mile, and I had time to kill, so I walked, stopping at a best buy along the way to kill time. I nearly died walking just the four blocks to best buy. It was 100 degree with 1200%n humidity in the shade. I meandered around Best Buy for a while and then headed to the restaurant. Dear god this city smells like piss and shit. They don't believe in dumpsters in this city and there's just bags of garbage on the street. It's disgusting. And the smell in the heat was unbearable. I made the walk and thought I was going to die. For real. The place we were supposed to meet didn't have a bar and I ended up next door at this 'contemporary indian' place. I had a watermelon whiskey drink that was really good.
Speaking of drinking, I think I have finally reached a healthy relationship with alcohol. I was at the restaurant from 5:45pm until 8:15pm and I had two drinks. Mostly I had water. Kind of proud about that. My friend showed up at 6:40 and we had a wonderful time catching up. The food was excellent and then I had to head back to NJ. As I was heading back my sister messaged me and I called her as I was walking to the train.
Turns out my dad's cancer has returned. I didn't know he ever had it in the first place, but given our relationship that's not surprising. It's prostate cancer. While I know my sister was stressing, having gone through prostate issues, I know that this can be caught and removed. The big catch is if it spreads. That's always the concern. He goes in for a biopsy today and they will know more by end of week.
While on one hand it would be nice of me to visit or call, I am having a hard time reconciling that. I am sure my sister would like to see us make up, being sick doesn't change him from being a racist, homophobic, transphobic, bible thumping, Trump supporter. All those things I can't support. Just because you're sick, it doesn't make you a decent human being. I am sorry but I don't need that type of person in my life. If something does happen to him, I will be there for my sister but not him.
She is also going through some shit with some old medical debt which sucks. I wish I could help her out but the numbers are too large for me to help in a significant way. But adding my dad's health issues on top of it sucks big time.
At the same time all this was going down, I was trying to find the station while not dying of heat stroke. I did manage to find the station but stressed out about finding the right train. Not as clearly marked as London's tube for sure. I managed to get on a train and thanks to sheer luck it was going the right way. My buddy sent me a message during the train ride to let me know a former work colleague died. Unfortunately I couldn't remember him (hey it was 20 years ago people) so while sad, not anything major.
Finally got to NJ Penn and came out the wrong side. I had to walk through the homeless gauntlet to get to my hotel. Collapsed in bed at 10.
Wow. What a day. And now for another long crazy day. Whee!
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Y9 D18
Another long ass day of travel filled with delays and time changes. I left the house at 3am and didn't get into my hotel until 7pm. Fun stuff.
My first flight of the day was pretty uneventful. I tend to have very few if any problems at PDX. They know what they're doing there. But when I got to PHX? Fuck me. First off, there were 32 people total on the upgrade list. I ended up being 27th on the list. What the hell? American boards in groups:
G1 - First Class
G2 - Exec Platinum
G3 - Platinum
G4 - G9 Everyone else
Now normally there will be 16-20 people in group 1 depending on how many seats. Then when they call G2 at most airports there will be 1 maybe 2 or 3 people. There were over 50 people in G2. WTF? The guy next to me who was also G3 was staring too. Neither of us had ever seen that many Exec Platinum people on a flight. It was crazy. When it came time for us, same thing - a good 50-75 of us were group 3. Insane. It was basically 3/4s American Advantage Elite on the flight. We managed to board almost on time, start to pull away from the gate and the pilot comes on. Apparently a light came on that shouldn't have. We had to go back to the gate and sit for an hour at the gate while maintenance came. Motherfucker.
Landed at 5:40, an hour late, and then I had to navigate to the car rental facility. Again, there's usually only a few Avis Preferred people waiting. Nope. 22 people in line in front of me. Why a line? They were out of cars. I kid you not. I waited a good 20 minutes for a car. I did get a nice Flex with GPS for my wait, but still. Then it took me 15 minutes to get out of the parking lot, another 20 minutes to go 5.2 miles.
Finally settled in my room and order room service. It was too late and I was too exhausted to do anything more than that. Y'all can just deal. This morning I have to take a train to Manhattan. Nervous as shit about this but I will figure it out. God help me.
My first flight of the day was pretty uneventful. I tend to have very few if any problems at PDX. They know what they're doing there. But when I got to PHX? Fuck me. First off, there were 32 people total on the upgrade list. I ended up being 27th on the list. What the hell? American boards in groups:
G1 - First Class
G2 - Exec Platinum
G3 - Platinum
G4 - G9 Everyone else
Now normally there will be 16-20 people in group 1 depending on how many seats. Then when they call G2 at most airports there will be 1 maybe 2 or 3 people. There were over 50 people in G2. WTF? The guy next to me who was also G3 was staring too. Neither of us had ever seen that many Exec Platinum people on a flight. It was crazy. When it came time for us, same thing - a good 50-75 of us were group 3. Insane. It was basically 3/4s American Advantage Elite on the flight. We managed to board almost on time, start to pull away from the gate and the pilot comes on. Apparently a light came on that shouldn't have. We had to go back to the gate and sit for an hour at the gate while maintenance came. Motherfucker.
Landed at 5:40, an hour late, and then I had to navigate to the car rental facility. Again, there's usually only a few Avis Preferred people waiting. Nope. 22 people in line in front of me. Why a line? They were out of cars. I kid you not. I waited a good 20 minutes for a car. I did get a nice Flex with GPS for my wait, but still. Then it took me 15 minutes to get out of the parking lot, another 20 minutes to go 5.2 miles.
Finally settled in my room and order room service. It was too late and I was too exhausted to do anything more than that. Y'all can just deal. This morning I have to take a train to Manhattan. Nervous as shit about this but I will figure it out. God help me.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Y9 D17
I'm up. Don't want to be, but I am. I got about 4 hours sleep. And so starts another week of no sleep, weird time zones, 14 hour travel days. This week I am going to three different clients, will teach almost 70 people, have to take public transportation, and will overall hate life. Whee.
Our day yesterday was all about setting up a fish tank. I went and purchased the tank and stand around 9 before B got up, then around 11 we headed back to the store for decorations and rocks. By the time we had it all set up and ready it was 2. It looks really good. If you follow me on snapchat, you'd have seen it by now. We are both really happy with it. No fish until today at the earliest. Need to condition the water and let the tank sit for 24 hours. B was kind of sad about that as she wanted to get fish together but we have to follow the rules. She wants blood parrot's and the water and conditions need to be just right.
Had a chicken and fruit for dinner. She talked to her mom after dinner. Some conflicting information about her great-grandma going on right now. One set of doctors are saying this is it, the other set is saying we need to adjust meds. Her mom is stressing out big time and is looking to get power of attorney to make life easier. She wants B to come home earlier but at the same time knows that it would be a hassle. Odds are, she will extend her trip but arrive as planned unless something dramatic happens.
Went to bed at 8:30, tossed until 9. Now off to the airport. Upgrade confirmed on first flight to PHX, but not on second to EWR which sucks because that's the longer flight. 5.5 hours. In coach. Kill me now.
Next stop, Jersey.
Our day yesterday was all about setting up a fish tank. I went and purchased the tank and stand around 9 before B got up, then around 11 we headed back to the store for decorations and rocks. By the time we had it all set up and ready it was 2. It looks really good. If you follow me on snapchat, you'd have seen it by now. We are both really happy with it. No fish until today at the earliest. Need to condition the water and let the tank sit for 24 hours. B was kind of sad about that as she wanted to get fish together but we have to follow the rules. She wants blood parrot's and the water and conditions need to be just right.
Had a chicken and fruit for dinner. She talked to her mom after dinner. Some conflicting information about her great-grandma going on right now. One set of doctors are saying this is it, the other set is saying we need to adjust meds. Her mom is stressing out big time and is looking to get power of attorney to make life easier. She wants B to come home earlier but at the same time knows that it would be a hassle. Odds are, she will extend her trip but arrive as planned unless something dramatic happens.
Went to bed at 8:30, tossed until 9. Now off to the airport. Upgrade confirmed on first flight to PHX, but not on second to EWR which sucks because that's the longer flight. 5.5 hours. In coach. Kill me now.
Next stop, Jersey.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Y9 D16
I forgot to set an alarm this morning to wake up to check in for my flight, but here I am anyway. I first woke up at 3:30, realized I needed to be up at 5, thought about setting an alarm but didn't. I somehow managed to wake up again at 4:30. Yay me and my stupid internal clock.
We did mostly nothing yesterday. I went out in the morning to the grocery store and picked her up some stuff for the week. But that was about it. We stayed inside not doing a whole lot of anything. B isn't feeling well and so it was a slow day. We decided to go out for fish last night and we both got hit with a massive attack of stomach problems. Not from last night's dinner but the prior night. We both needed to be back home immediately. Both of us spent the majority of the night running to the restroom.
We did make one stop yesterday at Petsmart. B has decided she wants a fish tank and we went to look at options. We are looking at a 39 gallon with bowed front and stand. Did you know a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds? I didn't. So a tank that size is almost 320 pounds! We thought we were going to put it on a stand we already have but it will only take like 100 pounds. No decisions were made last night as it was while looking at tanks the restroom incident started. Depending on how we're feeling today we may go back and look at some more places. There will be no fish purchased for at least a week but if we can setup the tank and let the water do it's thing this week, fine.
That would be the biggest thing we did yesterday. Some more laundry, timesheet, expense reports, and prep for the upcoming week were also accomplished. Ah my exciting life.
We did mostly nothing yesterday. I went out in the morning to the grocery store and picked her up some stuff for the week. But that was about it. We stayed inside not doing a whole lot of anything. B isn't feeling well and so it was a slow day. We decided to go out for fish last night and we both got hit with a massive attack of stomach problems. Not from last night's dinner but the prior night. We both needed to be back home immediately. Both of us spent the majority of the night running to the restroom.
We did make one stop yesterday at Petsmart. B has decided she wants a fish tank and we went to look at options. We are looking at a 39 gallon with bowed front and stand. Did you know a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds? I didn't. So a tank that size is almost 320 pounds! We thought we were going to put it on a stand we already have but it will only take like 100 pounds. No decisions were made last night as it was while looking at tanks the restroom incident started. Depending on how we're feeling today we may go back and look at some more places. There will be no fish purchased for at least a week but if we can setup the tank and let the water do it's thing this week, fine.
That would be the biggest thing we did yesterday. Some more laundry, timesheet, expense reports, and prep for the upcoming week were also accomplished. Ah my exciting life.
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Y9 D15
What a day yesterday turned out to be. I was up for 23 hours with only a 1 hour nap in there. Took me forever to get home. Here's the adventure and timeline (all times in PST for simplicity sake):
11pm - got up, got ready, packed everything up
12am - got bored and drove over to the airport. Dropped off the car and was in the terminal by 12:30am.
2am - Security finally opens about 6 minutes late. This causes me to stress but only a little as ICT has like 9 gates and I had 24 minutes to go about 500 feet from security to my gate. The pre line was more crowded than the regular it felt though.
2:30am - board my first flight. Don't get my upgrade as it's a tiny plane and there's only 9 seats. There's like 10 of us on the list and I started at 4th but ended up at 7th. No big deal. It's an hour flight. I can manage. Barely. It's an RJ plane and the seats are more compact than a normal flight.
4am - We arrive early but have to wait a little while until there's anyone to take us to the gate because we're 10 minutes early. As we were coming in, I noticed a whole lot of lightning. I was worried we were going to get struck as we went through the cloud layer but more importantly I knew it was about to fuck up my day. My flight out was scheduled for for 7am. Yeah right. Changed terminals, got cozy in the Admirals Club, and then the notifications started coming.
10am - Three hours after we were supposed to leave my flight finally boards. I have been stressing the whole time because at noon, the tickets for the concert go on sale. Originally I was supposed to land at 11am and I was going to sit and wait to buy the tickets at PDX then come on home. Now it looks like I am going to have to buy them mid-flight. Which also meant I can't sleep until I have taken care of the purchase. Had breakfast, which kind of pissed me off because I figured they would have switched to lunch but whatever. At noon I purchased in flight internet and ended up having BETTER internet than at the hotel. Got my tickets. 2 VIP Weekend Passes. We are going to Aftershock 2017!! WOO HOO! I am excited about this.
2pm - Land at home. I think the worst is behind me. I go to get on the train, let B know I will be home in about 90 minutes. Four stops in they tell us all to get off the train. Stations ahead are closed. WTF? Turns out someone left a backpack on one of the trains and they shut down the station where it was discovered and the ones before and after the closed station. We end up getting shuffled on to a shuttle bus like sardines. I can't breathe or move. I have no idea where I am supposed to go.
3:00pm - They drop us all at Lloyd Center (like not as far from where we started as you might imagine) in the rain and tell us to go back on the train. We have to run two blocks to the train station. We are shoved in worse than on the bus because all the delays caused mass backup all over with people. B is so frustrated she tells me to get off a certain station just because. She will pick me up.'
4:30pm - I get to the station where she plans on meeting me and just barely manage to get out of the train due to the number of people jammed in there. We decide to eat dinner as there's an outback there and fuck it, I'm hungry.
6pm - Finally home. Unpack, start laundry, realize I need to go to Best Buy. I wanted to buy a NIC adaptor just in case something like what happened in Kansas with wireless happens again. B also needs a couple of things at Target.
7:30pm - Home again. Start to do timesheet, bills, expenses. Don't finish any of them, but set myself up to be ready this morning. Finish laundry. Repack to leave again Monday. By the time I get everything done it's almost 11. Going to bed.
11pm - Collapse in bed finally.
What a day, eh? I want to do a whole lot of nothing today. I have to go to the store this morning but otherwise, I am going to relax dammit. Need to do timesheet and expense report. I will get those done shortly. I did manage to sleep for a good 7 hours which was nice. No same luxury tomorrow unfortunately. Oh well.
11pm - got up, got ready, packed everything up
12am - got bored and drove over to the airport. Dropped off the car and was in the terminal by 12:30am.
2am - Security finally opens about 6 minutes late. This causes me to stress but only a little as ICT has like 9 gates and I had 24 minutes to go about 500 feet from security to my gate. The pre line was more crowded than the regular it felt though.
2:30am - board my first flight. Don't get my upgrade as it's a tiny plane and there's only 9 seats. There's like 10 of us on the list and I started at 4th but ended up at 7th. No big deal. It's an hour flight. I can manage. Barely. It's an RJ plane and the seats are more compact than a normal flight.
4am - We arrive early but have to wait a little while until there's anyone to take us to the gate because we're 10 minutes early. As we were coming in, I noticed a whole lot of lightning. I was worried we were going to get struck as we went through the cloud layer but more importantly I knew it was about to fuck up my day. My flight out was scheduled for for 7am. Yeah right. Changed terminals, got cozy in the Admirals Club, and then the notifications started coming.
10am - Three hours after we were supposed to leave my flight finally boards. I have been stressing the whole time because at noon, the tickets for the concert go on sale. Originally I was supposed to land at 11am and I was going to sit and wait to buy the tickets at PDX then come on home. Now it looks like I am going to have to buy them mid-flight. Which also meant I can't sleep until I have taken care of the purchase. Had breakfast, which kind of pissed me off because I figured they would have switched to lunch but whatever. At noon I purchased in flight internet and ended up having BETTER internet than at the hotel. Got my tickets. 2 VIP Weekend Passes. We are going to Aftershock 2017!! WOO HOO! I am excited about this.
2pm - Land at home. I think the worst is behind me. I go to get on the train, let B know I will be home in about 90 minutes. Four stops in they tell us all to get off the train. Stations ahead are closed. WTF? Turns out someone left a backpack on one of the trains and they shut down the station where it was discovered and the ones before and after the closed station. We end up getting shuffled on to a shuttle bus like sardines. I can't breathe or move. I have no idea where I am supposed to go.
3:00pm - They drop us all at Lloyd Center (like not as far from where we started as you might imagine) in the rain and tell us to go back on the train. We have to run two blocks to the train station. We are shoved in worse than on the bus because all the delays caused mass backup all over with people. B is so frustrated she tells me to get off a certain station just because. She will pick me up.'
4:30pm - I get to the station where she plans on meeting me and just barely manage to get out of the train due to the number of people jammed in there. We decide to eat dinner as there's an outback there and fuck it, I'm hungry.
6pm - Finally home. Unpack, start laundry, realize I need to go to Best Buy. I wanted to buy a NIC adaptor just in case something like what happened in Kansas with wireless happens again. B also needs a couple of things at Target.
7:30pm - Home again. Start to do timesheet, bills, expenses. Don't finish any of them, but set myself up to be ready this morning. Finish laundry. Repack to leave again Monday. By the time I get everything done it's almost 11. Going to bed.
11pm - Collapse in bed finally.
What a day, eh? I want to do a whole lot of nothing today. I have to go to the store this morning but otherwise, I am going to relax dammit. Need to do timesheet and expense report. I will get those done shortly. I did manage to sleep for a good 7 hours which was nice. No same luxury tomorrow unfortunately. Oh well.
Friday, June 9, 2017
Y9 D14
Let me tell you all about my experience in Kansas. Let me tell you how I spent a good portion of my afternoon/night helping the hotel troubleshoot their internet problem. I figured out it was a router on my floor needing a reboot or reset. I know this because I was the one helping the AT&T guy troubleshoot it on the phone for like an hour. Why me? Because I was the most technical person in the building between both the staff and the guests. The average person here is anti-technology to say the least. I heard at least two conversations at breakfast yesterday about this dang technology. They might as well have said "we had rocks and we were happy!". The average guest age here is like 60. And while you can argue that I am closing in on it, it's a different mentality. They're thinking about their grandkids and the lake cabin. I am thinking about a new tattoo. It's different. They want to golf. I want to go see Marilyn Manson and NIN. They don't need no fancy food stuff. I want foie. Different. Anyway, I did get the issue resolved and now my internet is going great.
But let me tell you about my drive in to work each day. Through streets where the buildings are 80% closed and rundown. Where jobs are gone. Where commodity pricing is the big news because it's the only thing they have left.
Let me tell you about the assholes I almost got into an argument with who were saying how kids don't want to work for things these days, and how we should have just beat them when they were growing up.
I don't understand these people. They are living neanderthals. How they function is beyond me. How they have such closed off minds boggles me. But it also shows why the cheeto is in office. These are his people. People who think jobs and hard work are coming back! They're not. Take the simple fact that the majority of my students were 45+. Learn a new skill bitches. Rock and stick are not the only tools. You need to advance. In more ways than one.
I fucking hate this part of the country. With a passion.
Slept from 8-1. Off to the airport. Get home 11am pdt. Need to buy my aftershock tickets at noon. Wish me luck on that.
But let me tell you about my drive in to work each day. Through streets where the buildings are 80% closed and rundown. Where jobs are gone. Where commodity pricing is the big news because it's the only thing they have left.
Let me tell you about the assholes I almost got into an argument with who were saying how kids don't want to work for things these days, and how we should have just beat them when they were growing up.
I don't understand these people. They are living neanderthals. How they function is beyond me. How they have such closed off minds boggles me. But it also shows why the cheeto is in office. These are his people. People who think jobs and hard work are coming back! They're not. Take the simple fact that the majority of my students were 45+. Learn a new skill bitches. Rock and stick are not the only tools. You need to advance. In more ways than one.
I fucking hate this part of the country. With a passion.
Slept from 8-1. Off to the airport. Get home 11am pdt. Need to buy my aftershock tickets at noon. Wish me luck on that.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Y9 D13
Yesterday was a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Some cool stuff happened, some shitty things happened. It was all over the map emotionally and mentally.
The day started with a nice surprise. My state refund finally came through. It's always nice to check your bank balance and discover extra money. Not a huge amount of course, but enough to go hey that's nice. Enough that if you wanted to pay some extra towards bills, you could. Which is what I plan on doing. I was originally going to use part of the money for a new toy, but the more I thought it through, the more I realized I would rather pay down some bills. Look at me being all responsible. I have a plan which should allow me to pay off in full one more credit card by August at the latest. I have been chipping away slowly and it is showing finally in my credit score. I have added some good points to it this year and want to keep that momentum going.
Went off to the client where I spent the majority of the day sitting in the back of the room answering the occasional random question. In total, I would say I spent maybe 3 hours helping and 5 hours sitting doing nothing. I even fell asleep at one point. I couldn't help it. It was around my typical daytime nap time and just closed my eyes. Oops.
I was looking at the news yesterday while doing nothing and saw they announced the line-up for Aftershock 2017. That's the same concert the kid and I went to in 2015. Here's the line-up of the bands I care about that will be there:
- NIN
- Manson
- Ozzy
- Perfect Circle
- Suicidal Tendencies
- Five Finger Death Punch
- Eagles of Death Metal
What a set of bands, right? Well I decided, fuck it, let's look up tickets. After talking with B and the kid, I am going. I have to buy tickets on Friday, but if I get them, I will be going VIP both days. The kid has a $300 Alaska credit she gave me which I should be able to use for my flight, I can use points for the hotel, and I have enough PTO saved up. I then looked up Eagles of Death Metal and found they will be playing a local club in July. I am hoping my buddy will go with me to that. Tickets are $25. I haven't heard confirmation from him yet but hope to hear that today. So all good stuff.
Then while talking with B, she got some info from her mom. It's not looking good for her great-grandmother. The doctors don't want to release her from the hospital. In addition to the possible cancer on the spine, her kidneys are starting to malfunction. Here I was excited about concerts forgetting about the immediate pain B was going through. Stupid idiot I am. We will see if she needs to go back to MI earlier. She is worried it will interfere with my birthday trip and it's like no, this is more important. I will figure a way to get back what we are spending on Canada. Do not worry about it.
Get back to the hotel, which is packed, and I changed my clothes. I then went to Texas Roadhouse for a steak and shrimp. That was okay. It was too noisy and crowded for me, but the food was decent and not ridiculously priced. Got back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night fighting the internet. It would only connect if I was in the hall. I then did a speed test walking up and down the hallway. Outside my door it was 250-300kb getting up to a whopping 500k by the elevators. Come on people, that's dial up speed. It finally connected in my room with a great speed of 440k. I bitched and moaned and managed to get them to add some points to my account because there was basically nothing else they could do. Now this morning? 4mb connection in my room. It's just a poor infrastructure. Hotels need to remember that the average guest is going to require two - three connections these days. Phones, computers, tablets, it adds up. And it sucks down the bandwidth. Around 8:30 it wouldn't let me connect at all. I gave up and watched some local files and went to bed at 9:30. I was just done. Mediocre sleep for the most part but not horrible.
I can't wait to see what grand adventures today brings. Supposed to do 1/2 day at the client but we will see how many questions they ask today.
The day started with a nice surprise. My state refund finally came through. It's always nice to check your bank balance and discover extra money. Not a huge amount of course, but enough to go hey that's nice. Enough that if you wanted to pay some extra towards bills, you could. Which is what I plan on doing. I was originally going to use part of the money for a new toy, but the more I thought it through, the more I realized I would rather pay down some bills. Look at me being all responsible. I have a plan which should allow me to pay off in full one more credit card by August at the latest. I have been chipping away slowly and it is showing finally in my credit score. I have added some good points to it this year and want to keep that momentum going.
Went off to the client where I spent the majority of the day sitting in the back of the room answering the occasional random question. In total, I would say I spent maybe 3 hours helping and 5 hours sitting doing nothing. I even fell asleep at one point. I couldn't help it. It was around my typical daytime nap time and just closed my eyes. Oops.
I was looking at the news yesterday while doing nothing and saw they announced the line-up for Aftershock 2017. That's the same concert the kid and I went to in 2015. Here's the line-up of the bands I care about that will be there:
- NIN
- Manson
- Ozzy
- Perfect Circle
- Suicidal Tendencies
- Five Finger Death Punch
- Eagles of Death Metal
What a set of bands, right? Well I decided, fuck it, let's look up tickets. After talking with B and the kid, I am going. I have to buy tickets on Friday, but if I get them, I will be going VIP both days. The kid has a $300 Alaska credit she gave me which I should be able to use for my flight, I can use points for the hotel, and I have enough PTO saved up. I then looked up Eagles of Death Metal and found they will be playing a local club in July. I am hoping my buddy will go with me to that. Tickets are $25. I haven't heard confirmation from him yet but hope to hear that today. So all good stuff.
Then while talking with B, she got some info from her mom. It's not looking good for her great-grandmother. The doctors don't want to release her from the hospital. In addition to the possible cancer on the spine, her kidneys are starting to malfunction. Here I was excited about concerts forgetting about the immediate pain B was going through. Stupid idiot I am. We will see if she needs to go back to MI earlier. She is worried it will interfere with my birthday trip and it's like no, this is more important. I will figure a way to get back what we are spending on Canada. Do not worry about it.
Get back to the hotel, which is packed, and I changed my clothes. I then went to Texas Roadhouse for a steak and shrimp. That was okay. It was too noisy and crowded for me, but the food was decent and not ridiculously priced. Got back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night fighting the internet. It would only connect if I was in the hall. I then did a speed test walking up and down the hallway. Outside my door it was 250-300kb getting up to a whopping 500k by the elevators. Come on people, that's dial up speed. It finally connected in my room with a great speed of 440k. I bitched and moaned and managed to get them to add some points to my account because there was basically nothing else they could do. Now this morning? 4mb connection in my room. It's just a poor infrastructure. Hotels need to remember that the average guest is going to require two - three connections these days. Phones, computers, tablets, it adds up. And it sucks down the bandwidth. Around 8:30 it wouldn't let me connect at all. I gave up and watched some local files and went to bed at 9:30. I was just done. Mediocre sleep for the most part but not horrible.
I can't wait to see what grand adventures today brings. Supposed to do 1/2 day at the client but we will see how many questions they ask today.
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Y9 D12
Finally got a decent night's sleep. Only took three days. And of course I leave in two days. Story of my life. But I will not complain, I will enjoy that I slept and that's that.
Did day two yesterday. This is a much better group than last time and the initial feedback is agreeing with me. This group has more motivation to being there and wanting to get something done. Makes all the difference in the world. I also went at a slightly slower pace. I unfortunately didn't finish all the material but we have today and tomorrow too. I am going to do one last section this morning before we switch gears into the more freeform mentoring stuff. No need to rush if I don't have to.
After class they did a 'social' thing which this time I decided to attend. It was extremely boring as I don't really know any of them and I didn't drink. Drinking just doesn't interest me any more. I was watching one person get hammered though which was amusing. She managed to toss back three bourbon drinks in the short time I was there. I stayed for about an hour, made my goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. On the way back I stopped and got everyone pie. Because I am a nice guy. Plus they really earned it. This group made me feel better about the trip and for that, they get pie.
Got back to the hotel around 7:45, relaxed, watched some tv, went to bed at 9:30.
Was looking at the new iMac Pro they just announced. 18 core, up to 128gb, 5k display. Fuck that's a nice machine. It will be available in December. Maybe the Christmas faerie will bring me one. Yeah, right.
Today we start mentoring, half day tomorrow, home, then back out the door monday.
Did day two yesterday. This is a much better group than last time and the initial feedback is agreeing with me. This group has more motivation to being there and wanting to get something done. Makes all the difference in the world. I also went at a slightly slower pace. I unfortunately didn't finish all the material but we have today and tomorrow too. I am going to do one last section this morning before we switch gears into the more freeform mentoring stuff. No need to rush if I don't have to.
After class they did a 'social' thing which this time I decided to attend. It was extremely boring as I don't really know any of them and I didn't drink. Drinking just doesn't interest me any more. I was watching one person get hammered though which was amusing. She managed to toss back three bourbon drinks in the short time I was there. I stayed for about an hour, made my goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. On the way back I stopped and got everyone pie. Because I am a nice guy. Plus they really earned it. This group made me feel better about the trip and for that, they get pie.
Got back to the hotel around 7:45, relaxed, watched some tv, went to bed at 9:30.
Was looking at the new iMac Pro they just announced. 18 core, up to 128gb, 5k display. Fuck that's a nice machine. It will be available in December. Maybe the Christmas faerie will bring me one. Yeah, right.
Today we start mentoring, half day tomorrow, home, then back out the door monday.
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Y9 D11
Another night of poor sleep. Uncomfortable bed, A/C unit drying me the fuck out, and noise from the airport. A lovely combination. I have a splitting headache this morning and it's not even 5am. Plus I still have three more nights of this shit. Then I get to go to the east coast and do it for another week. Whee. My joy knows no bounds.
Class went okay. Better group this time. A group that actually wants to be here. It's still a mixed message kind of group though. Do you want me to engage you or what? I don't know what you people want. I get very mixed reviews from these people. One student says "I learned more from you in an hour than I did from the last two instructors combined", and at the same time another student says "I have no idea why they sent me here". Yeah that's an easy group to teach. We finished around 5 and with traffic it was almost six by the time I got back to the hotel.
B is in a bit of a bad place right now. Her great-grandmother has been back in the hospital. They found lesions on her spine and they are worried it's cancer. But at 97 even if it is, what are they going to do? They aren't going to do a biopsy because why? Now she is worried about having to get back there, should she go sooner instead of later, what about my birthday trip, etc. I plan on calling Hilton today and asking what they need to refund me if we can't make it for my birthday. If they can't do a refund for some reason then I may go to Canada by myself. I am not wasting this trip. I will probably not go back for a funeral. If I do, I will leave earlier than B. It all depends on what happens and when. If she can hold out until July then B can go on her scheduled ticket and we won't have to pay anything more things. We will see.
I watched some tv last night. Man, American Gods just blew me away. The performances last night were outstanding. Corbin Bernsen as Vulcan was just incredible. The whole cast has been great so far (except Robbie, because fuck Robbie) but last night was just totally on the money. I'm almost done watching Twin Peaks so I can start season 3. I have about 11 episodes to go. It's helping me by rewatching just to remember some of the small details. I also need to watch FWWM as there as supposedly references to that in the new season too. I figure by next week I will be ready to start the new season.
Went to bed around 9:30 but didn't sleep until almost 11. So tired. FML.
Class went okay. Better group this time. A group that actually wants to be here. It's still a mixed message kind of group though. Do you want me to engage you or what? I don't know what you people want. I get very mixed reviews from these people. One student says "I learned more from you in an hour than I did from the last two instructors combined", and at the same time another student says "I have no idea why they sent me here". Yeah that's an easy group to teach. We finished around 5 and with traffic it was almost six by the time I got back to the hotel.
B is in a bit of a bad place right now. Her great-grandmother has been back in the hospital. They found lesions on her spine and they are worried it's cancer. But at 97 even if it is, what are they going to do? They aren't going to do a biopsy because why? Now she is worried about having to get back there, should she go sooner instead of later, what about my birthday trip, etc. I plan on calling Hilton today and asking what they need to refund me if we can't make it for my birthday. If they can't do a refund for some reason then I may go to Canada by myself. I am not wasting this trip. I will probably not go back for a funeral. If I do, I will leave earlier than B. It all depends on what happens and when. If she can hold out until July then B can go on her scheduled ticket and we won't have to pay anything more things. We will see.
I watched some tv last night. Man, American Gods just blew me away. The performances last night were outstanding. Corbin Bernsen as Vulcan was just incredible. The whole cast has been great so far (except Robbie, because fuck Robbie) but last night was just totally on the money. I'm almost done watching Twin Peaks so I can start season 3. I have about 11 episodes to go. It's helping me by rewatching just to remember some of the small details. I also need to watch FWWM as there as supposedly references to that in the new season too. I figure by next week I will be ready to start the new season.
Went to bed around 9:30 but didn't sleep until almost 11. So tired. FML.
Monday, June 5, 2017
Y9 D10
I slept like shit last night. I went to bed at a decent time but time changes, temperature issues, weird sleep schedules, and a myriad of other little things led to me tossing and turning until 2 and then sleeping until 4:18. So yeah, I am functioning on a whole 2 hours and change right now. This will make for a fun day.
Travel was pretty good. I had my normal driver, got both my upgrades confirmed, and the airport was pretty quiet in the morning. DFW as usual was a pain in the ass. My flight in to KS was delayed about 45 minutes due to 'maintenance'. Apparently the door was making a horrible noise due to damage from pressure. Lovely. I was sitting in 2A so yes, please fix the door. I got here a little before 5, got my rental car (mediocre Ford escape this time, not a good one like last time), and headed to the hotel. Checked in, unpacked, and went to the store. Both B and I are trying to eat better to get some of this weight off and instead of eating out every night I picked up some groceries. Got a chicken, some canned veggies, and some fruit. It's better than processed food I would get eating out every night. I may allow myself one dinner out on Thursday but otherwise going to try and eat in the room every night. One down, three to go.
Watched some tv and relaxed. To be honest, I can't even remember what it is I am teaching this week. I will know when I see the manuals in a little while. I am a bit nervous this morning as there are road closures I need to avoid. I have to go a different route than last time and need to circumvent things. I am planning on leaving early to give myself enough time.
Not much else going on right now. I have to still get info for next week. Need to book a car, reserve a hotel room, and figure out how to get from NJ to NY. You know, nothing major.
Travel was pretty good. I had my normal driver, got both my upgrades confirmed, and the airport was pretty quiet in the morning. DFW as usual was a pain in the ass. My flight in to KS was delayed about 45 minutes due to 'maintenance'. Apparently the door was making a horrible noise due to damage from pressure. Lovely. I was sitting in 2A so yes, please fix the door. I got here a little before 5, got my rental car (mediocre Ford escape this time, not a good one like last time), and headed to the hotel. Checked in, unpacked, and went to the store. Both B and I are trying to eat better to get some of this weight off and instead of eating out every night I picked up some groceries. Got a chicken, some canned veggies, and some fruit. It's better than processed food I would get eating out every night. I may allow myself one dinner out on Thursday but otherwise going to try and eat in the room every night. One down, three to go.
Watched some tv and relaxed. To be honest, I can't even remember what it is I am teaching this week. I will know when I see the manuals in a little while. I am a bit nervous this morning as there are road closures I need to avoid. I have to go a different route than last time and need to circumvent things. I am planning on leaving early to give myself enough time.
Not much else going on right now. I have to still get info for next week. Need to book a car, reserve a hotel room, and figure out how to get from NJ to NY. You know, nothing major.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Y9 D9
Ah nothing like being up at 2am on a Sunday. I have 90 minutes until I have to leave. Both upgrades secure so I will get breakfast and I will board first. Just need to see if I get to Kansas this time without any problems. If you recall last time I dealt with multiple delayed and canceled flights and didn't arrive until almost 10pm. I do not wish a repeat. I am also not looking forward to this week. As I feared, I was chewed out about my last visit. I was too much for the group. A room full of introverts and me. Yep. Not a great mix. I have to be on my best behavior this time around. "Tone it down" as it were. I shall try.
Groceries and errands took up the bulk of our day. We had an extravagant seafood and steak dinner. Protein lovers delight; lobster tails, crab, shrimp, and a NY steak. It was the journey for the steaks that led us to a discovery. We found not only a great butcher shop, we found an area that we both loved for housing. Can't afford it, but we love it. Goals. Just need about 30k down. Not a problem, right? Sigh. But who knows. I can dream.
Watched a movie (MiB 2) and went to bed around 8:30. Was too hot though and didn't fall asleep until 10. Running on 4 hours of sleep. Will get about 3 more on airplanes today if I am lucky.
Time to shower and travel to Kansas. Whee. Have a new show to watch based on a friend's recommendation. Will let you know how it is.
Groceries and errands took up the bulk of our day. We had an extravagant seafood and steak dinner. Protein lovers delight; lobster tails, crab, shrimp, and a NY steak. It was the journey for the steaks that led us to a discovery. We found not only a great butcher shop, we found an area that we both loved for housing. Can't afford it, but we love it. Goals. Just need about 30k down. Not a problem, right? Sigh. But who knows. I can dream.
Watched a movie (MiB 2) and went to bed around 8:30. Was too hot though and didn't fall asleep until 10. Running on 4 hours of sleep. Will get about 3 more on airplanes today if I am lucky.
Time to shower and travel to Kansas. Whee. Have a new show to watch based on a friend's recommendation. Will let you know how it is.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Y9 D8
I got really low last night. We had just returned from Lowes where B got a plant to hang outside. I don't know what it was that set me off but I was very unhappy all of a sudden. I think it was just coming back into this apartment and the noise form the street and not being able to do what I want and the temperature was making me cranky. I was just very unhappy. I am still kind of blah as a result. And I get today at home before I leave. Lovely.
Taught day two of my class. I was so done by 1pm it's not even funny. We still had 2 hours to go and used a good 90 minutes of that. I was also dealing with my boss forgetting once more to not take care of manuals for next week. He is so casual about everything. Just swing by the store and pick them up. The store that closes at 6? After my flight lands at 4? And I have to get my car, get out, and deal with a festival happening? Yeah, no problem.
Whatever. Time to check in for things. Go to the store. Hide from the world.
Taught day two of my class. I was so done by 1pm it's not even funny. We still had 2 hours to go and used a good 90 minutes of that. I was also dealing with my boss forgetting once more to not take care of manuals for next week. He is so casual about everything. Just swing by the store and pick them up. The store that closes at 6? After my flight lands at 4? And I have to get my car, get out, and deal with a festival happening? Yeah, no problem.
Whatever. Time to check in for things. Go to the store. Hide from the world.
Friday, June 2, 2017
Y9 D7
I woke up in the middle of a sleep cycle and am groggy as a result. Funny too since I woke up at 2:30 and figured I would wake up at 4 at the end of the cycle. Had a long one I guess. Either way, I am awake and trying to clear the fog. Was having a weird dream about strange things in the wall trying to get us. Can't remember more than that.
Taught day of my class yesterday. One person was a little late but we got going. No other issues. After work B wanted to go to the store to look for some summer clothes. She found 3 tops for like $30 so we're both happy. Got back, made taco salads for dinner. Yes, it similar to what we had the other night, but this time we used ground beef instead of carne asada. Watched a little TV and went to bed around 10.
Tonight we're going to an art show! I know, we're leaving the house! One of her fellow group members is having an art opening and we are attending. Might be fun. We shall see.
Taught day of my class yesterday. One person was a little late but we got going. No other issues. After work B wanted to go to the store to look for some summer clothes. She found 3 tops for like $30 so we're both happy. Got back, made taco salads for dinner. Yes, it similar to what we had the other night, but this time we used ground beef instead of carne asada. Watched a little TV and went to bed around 10.
Tonight we're going to an art show! I know, we're leaving the house! One of her fellow group members is having an art opening and we are attending. Might be fun. We shall see.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Y9 D6
Yesterday was just annoying. To give you an idea of the annoyance level, I just woke up to 9 work emails sent between 10:30 and 2am. Not a single one had anything to do with me. That kind of annoying. It included stupid salespeople, stupid clients, and just overall bothers. The one thing I did get accomplished was recording four more demos for our website. That went better than planned. The worst part of the day was my meeting with the sales vp who will be in NY with me and is leading the logistics of the workshop I will be hosting. He is telling me two sessions of 20 people each. FML. But the worst part is he can't get his own team synched up on what version to use. 50 back and forth messages yesterday. Go the fuck away.
Made carnitas for dinner last night. Came out really good. I will say we are getting our money's worth on this BBQ, that's for sure. We watched some tv and around 9:30 I gave up. Just done with the day. Went to bed and slept pretty well actually.
Today and tomorrow are a 3 person class. It was supposed to be two but at 7:30pm I got an add-on student, which of course is bullshit as now I have to see if they have a server, if they need one, etc. We really need to start locking these classes down 24 hours in advance. But there's that annoyance level again. That's the kind of day it was. Maybe today will be better.
Oh wait, I almost forgot one more - turns out next week while I am in KS there will be WICHITAFEST! Nine days of rootin' tootin' fun! Which will close down roads I need to take every day, add more crowds to the area, and basically be a pain in my fucking ass. I got an email from the client saying boy howdy y'all can wear jeans next week and we'll give you a button so you can enjoy WichitaFest! How about no? On all counts. I will be wearing real clothes, you will not give me a button, and I will not be participating in your tomfoolery. Okay bye. Annoying.
Sigh. Can I go to Canada yet?
Made carnitas for dinner last night. Came out really good. I will say we are getting our money's worth on this BBQ, that's for sure. We watched some tv and around 9:30 I gave up. Just done with the day. Went to bed and slept pretty well actually.
Today and tomorrow are a 3 person class. It was supposed to be two but at 7:30pm I got an add-on student, which of course is bullshit as now I have to see if they have a server, if they need one, etc. We really need to start locking these classes down 24 hours in advance. But there's that annoyance level again. That's the kind of day it was. Maybe today will be better.
Oh wait, I almost forgot one more - turns out next week while I am in KS there will be WICHITAFEST! Nine days of rootin' tootin' fun! Which will close down roads I need to take every day, add more crowds to the area, and basically be a pain in my fucking ass. I got an email from the client saying boy howdy y'all can wear jeans next week and we'll give you a button so you can enjoy WichitaFest! How about no? On all counts. I will be wearing real clothes, you will not give me a button, and I will not be participating in your tomfoolery. Okay bye. Annoying.
Sigh. Can I go to Canada yet?
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