Y9 D66

And so begins the hot week. It's already warm in here. Especially since I have had to move all the furniture and AC units for the carpet cleaning today. It's not the worst of the days thank goodness. No, Wednesday is supposed to be 105 and Thursday 109. I kid you not. Wait. I stand corrected. It's been downgraded to 108 on Thursday:

What the fuck people? Oh no, climate change isn't real. Do you know the hottest year on record was last year? The 2nd hottest? The year before that. The 3rd? The year before that. I could keep going. Point is, we are fucking things up and paying for it. I always laugh at Waterworld because I worry more about things becoming a desert not an ocean.

Spent a good deal of yesterday moving furniture. I have a little more to move this morning but otherwise the front room area is completely empty. I did what I could in the bedrooms but there's still some stuff in here. The biggest problem is going to be the couch. If I can do it I am going to put it on the patio but I don't want it out there too long. This is going to be tricky. I plan on hiding in the bathroom with the cats while this is going down. That should be fun.

Otherwise, not a lot done yesterday. I don't think I left the house at all. Talked with B for a while. Her great grandmother has had a couple of bad days and she is now feeling guilty about coming home tomorrow but she knows she can't stay forever. I plan on checking her in for her flight in 30 minutes regardless. If she wants to change it she can. There's only so much one person can do ya know? She needs to let the guilt go. She got to spend time with her and she needs to be grateful for that.

Made myself a steak for dinner. I tried to minimize the amount of mess I made seeing as I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom yesterday. I did more in the last three days to clean this house than has been done in a month. Yeah, I am awesome.

Went to bed around 10. Had a hard time falling asleep because of the heat. It's only going to get worse.

Y9 D65

I woke up this morning from a funny yet weird dream this morning. I was supposed to be in Florida going somewhere with people. We were driving but then the roads got too muddy and we had to leave our cars and walk. Except the road is full of alligators. Yep. You walk down the freeway full of mud avoiding alligators. That's what my mind pictures parts of Florida like. And the whole time we're walking I am yelling 'why the fuck do people live here? what the fuck is wrong with you people? nope nope nope.'.  My hosts that I was with were just like nope this is normal. No, this is fucking wrong people. This whole state is wrong. I have a low opinion of FL, don't I?

Got up early yesterday and went to the grocery store. I do love the store at 6am. I could count on one hand the number of customer in there with me. I was out and back home by 6:30. Put the groceries away, did some more cleaning, and waited for the vape shop to open. They don't open until 10 and like around 9 I was getting sleepy and feeling like a nap. Instead I went to Kmart of all places. I was reading over the recipe for dinner and decided I didn't have a pan big enough or proper enough. Kmart is having like a huge 'summer blowout' sale. I saw the banner for it the other day as I passed by. 10-50% off. I think that's code for that store going out of business, but hey, we will see. They are on the way to the vape shop and figured it would kill time. I found a 12.5 ceramic farberware skillet for $25. Okay, that works. It did kill the perfect amount of time too. Got what I needed and was back home by 10:15. Then I decided to nap. Slept until noon.

When I got up, it was starting to get warm so I closed all the windows and switched to AC. I have been trying to minimize my AC use as I know next week will be super hot and there'll be no avoiding it. Today is supposed to be 90, but by Wednesday 107!! Fuck you. This isn't AZ people. 107. That's just wrong. No leaving the house on Wednesday. Wait, Thursday is 109!!!!! WTF?? Ugh.

Watched some TV, relaxed, and then around 4 started my dinner. It took me a while to make, but my rabbit turned out fucking awesome! I am so proud of how it turned out and tasted. I was done around 6 with making it and settled in for some good food. Watched the pilot of a new show called Midnight Texas based on the books by Charlaine Harris. You know what? It wasn't half bad. Two thumbs up. Next episode is tomorrow night. I will be watching.

After dinner I talked with B a while. She had a decent time at her dad's party. She got to see the other side of her mother's story which goes to show there's always two sides. She hasn't stopped being mad at her dad for some of the shit he has pulled lately, but she also sees her mother from his perspective now. She hates being in the middle of all this. Once her sisters are older it will go away, but that's not for another 10 years. 10 more years of the bickering and back and forth bullshit. Sigh.

I went to bed around 10. Slept okay. Was very hot but managed to finally cool off enough to sleep. Today I have to clean the kitchen, empty the litter, all the trash, and then around 7pm, start moving furniture. I can't really do it any sooner because then it will just be in my way. I can't move some of it until tomorrow morning, but I am going to do what I can. Otherwise, I am going to hide in this house and try not to melt.

Y9 D64

I had a nice night out last night. Although "night" out is a bit of an exaggeration. I had a nice few hours is more realistic. I was home by 6:30pm so yeah.

Taught my class, day 3 of 3. All done. They were alright students. They were one of the smarter groups, but that in turn usually produces less interactive students. Trade off. But we got through everything and we were done by around 2:15pm. At that point, I headed to the train station. I made it downtown around 3, walked around for a while since it was early, then go to the cheese shop at about 3:30.

I had the best time at the cheese place. It's taken me two years to get in there and it was worth the wait. I ate 13 different cheeses over a 5 course omikase style meal. It was wonderful. I talked with the head chef and his partner about food and cheese and just hung out. Most people came in, had a couple of cheeses and left. I spent 2.5 hours there. I have a list of all the cheeses I ate with detailed notes plus I took home 2oz of what is now one of my favorite cheeses. It's called Idiazabal from Spain and it's glorious. All the right things a cheese should be. Thanked the cheesemongers and headed back home.

Surprisingly there were less commuters on the train than I expected. I think I just missed them all. No complaints about that. Got back home and realized 'huh, now what?'. I have a list of things to do before B gets home Tuesday and unfortunately most of them can't be done until Sunday or Monday as they involve moving things for carpet cleaning on Monday. I did do some of the things on the list but not as many as I would have liked. I ended up going to bed around 10pm.

I did take care of my hotel and parking for the October concert at least. Today I need to handle making the flight arrangements. That will at least get that squared away. Other than that, I am headed to the grocery store in a little while, cleaning the fridge out, then starting my rabbit at 3pm. Big day for me. Oh yeah, such excite.

Y9 D63

I remembered something last night as I was getting into bed. I remembered when I was a kid I used to be freaked out by all the noises of the night. I didn't know what they were and they would scare the shit out of me. I thought things were coming to get me. I would put pillows or my arm or whatever over my ears to block out the sounds of the night. I had a scarred childhood. Maybe this is what created my need to be in control and know what every thing is even if it doesn't pertain to me. Now I sleep with a noise machine and blackout curtains. Interesting.

I also remembered it was X2's birthday. Whatever. She probably is spending it in "the keys". Hey, at least I don't have a teenager in the house. Small victories.

The big news from yesterday is B and her mental breakdown. I knew that over time something would happen - she would drift further from the people in that area until they were something she couldn't be around any more. It happened yesterday. Staying at her mother's house is not a wise idea. 2 adults, 2 children in a 3 bedroom place about the same size as our 2 bedroom apartment and then add B into the mix. Her mother's no teeth typical white midwestern blue collar male is staying there right now as he is out of work and home all day. But just because he's home all day, don't think he can watch the girls. Nope, that's not happening. Noise. Dirty environment. No space. She had panic attack after panic attack. She had no car. No place to decompress. Finally she got a hold of her grandmother and borrowed their truck and is spending at least last night there. She tried calling me around 8pm last night to talk and I had dozed off on the couch because of the heat. That was a bad idea apparently. She lost her shit. She 'knew' I was dead and sent messages on all social media to figure out where I was, called me, called me, called me. 18 minutes. That's all I was out of touch. But because I don't keep my phone attached to my hand like her, she freaked out. We ended up talking for an hour and she calmed down, but let me tell, that was some rough shit. No more going to MI without a hotel room and a rental car. No arguments.

As for me, I taught my class yesterday, finished around 2:45, went to the butcher where I got a rabbit and a steak, and that was about it. It's been hot here but yesterday it cooled down a bit that I left all the windows open versus air. That's why I dozed off on the couch. It was warm and quiet and bye bye. I was out maybe 30 minutes or as I now call it, long enough to drive your wife nuts.

Day three of class. Then I am probably going downtown for dinner. By myself. Joy.

Y9 D62

I woke up mid REM cycle this morning and it's making me groggy. Okay, here we go.

Not much happened yesterday. There. Boy glad that's over.

Taught my class. Okay group. Smart but quiet. Only 4 of them so we finished about 40 minutes early. I even opened the floor for any questions that might have on anything. Oh well.

Went to the store after class to get some things for dinner. I have been asked why do I go to the store so often for things for dinner. It's usually for fresh things - produce and the like. I have found if we buy certain things in advance in this house they go to waste. Especially produce. I would rather take the 10 minutes and go to the store to get what I need for the night than have it sitting here and go to waste. I only spend $5 or $10 when I go, it's not like it's a big deal ya know?

Speaking of dinner, mine was fine (fish taco salad), B's was not. Her mother pulled one of her usual bullshit moves. They were supposed to go to dinner with friends and her mother fucked it all up by letting her no-teeth boyfriend back out of watching the girls (B's sisters). So they had to go to dinner with them which was against the whole point of going out. Plus B was feeling trapped without a vehicle. I almost rented her a car but she managed to get her grandfather's truck. I think that will help for sure. No one likes feeling trapped. I know when I don't have a car on the road it bothers me a little. So yeah, I feel.

I forgot about something. I renewed our lease yesterday. Did a 36 month. I really appreciate that they allow multi-year leases in OR. Nobody in CA does more than like 15 months. Here I can do 3 years. My old place my rent went up $700 in 5 years. Here it will have gone up $50 in the same time period. Plus I get free carpet cleaning. They are coming Monday. So Sunday I have to clean the house, then move as much furniture as possible. Gave myself a busy weekend for sure.

Watched tv, finished painting my desk, went to bed around 10. Day two of my class today and then I am going to the butcher after class. Yes, I said butcher. I am getting a rabbit to make on Saturday. Look at me go!

Y9 D61

Ah back to my normal schedule. A nice normal 3 day class. Only four students, but that's okay. It should be a good few days. At least I am back to being on a schedule I like. Unlike the last two days. I dealt with those morons again yesterday. I gave my boss some feedback on the group and the word we agreed on was 'disengaged'. He had trouble with them just trying to get things scheduled and it was already a red flag in his mind. We both agree that this group is no longer allowed to do remote classes. Onsite only. They just need more technical assistance and focus than can be provided remotely. I started the class at noon, only 3 of 8 showed up, by 1 I had 6 of 8. Two didn't even show up for the class at all. There was no sense of urgency or importance given. They just didn't care. I don't need that.

After class I had to do some work on the fish tank. We lost a fish yesterday. The electric blue cichlid died. He had ick bad and even though we treated him, no luck. That's the second of that varietal that has gone. I think they may be a little two delicate for the tank. But I had to do a water change and treatment. When I was done, the rest of the fish seemed more active and happy. The other fish have all grown and are looking fine so there's that.

When I finished up with that I made dinner. Same as the night before. Trying to go through everything in the house. Made salmon and a salad. Tonight is tilapia. Eating all the fish in the freezer. I have the rest of the week planned out, just will take some store shopping probably today or tomorrow. Nothing fancy, but some staple stuff like lettuce.

After dinner I started a new project; I painted my desk. Yeah yeah, I know. Look back historically through this blog and you'll find when I am bored I paint. Painted it white. I got two coats done last night. A third coat tonight should do the trick. I also started a new show. Finished Glitch yesterday which was pretty good. I am interested in season 2 when it comes. I watched the first episode in one called Travelers. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I did try to go to the store to get some ice cream bars and nearly lost my shit. They're doing some night paving and I use the word "night" loosely. They started around 8pm shutting down lanes of a pretty heavily used road. Normally it takes me 5-7 minutes to get to the store. This time? 23. I was losing it by the time I got there. Got my ice cream and came home.

Went to bed around 11. B is doing well. They went to bingo last night. She spent the day with her sisters. Not a very exciting trip but so far no drama either. Always a good sign. need to make her a car reservation tonight. I can't pick her up from the airport and I don't want her taking the train. Man, we need to make some friends.

Y9 D60

I did end up falling back to sleep for about 90 minutes. I was up at 2 something. We left here at 3:20 and I got her to the airport at 3:50. I was back home at 4:25am. But I was too awake and moving to go back to sleep. I ended up working on my new class until it was time to start the other class.

What a fucking fiasco that was. And I have a second day of these idiots. These people do not have the skills needed to be in this class. They barely know how to use computers. Seriously. First off, they didn't think they would need laptops. They thought that they would just be sitting and not doing anything. Then they are not taking this seriously and a few of them are popping in and out. You know how much that pisses me off. Out of 8 people there are 2, possibly 3, that should be in this class and that can follow along with what we're doing. Oh, did I mention we didn't start until 1:20 (versus 1) because they were late? Today I am making them start at noon so I can actually be ready to go by 12:30 and get them out of there by 5.

Once I finished with moron central, I made myself some dinner. I also cleaned the oven yesterday. Which is probably why I have a headache this morning. Too any fumes. Started watching some Australian show called Glitch. Interesting. I am halfway through it as there is only six episodes.

Went to bed around 10 as I was very tired. Took me a while to fall asleep though. Over tired I think.

Y9 D59

Why am I up already? Well let me tell you...

Not supposed to be up for another 2 hours to take B to the airport at 3:30. But she got a text at 10:30 saying her flight to PHX had been cancelled. Fucksticks. And I paid for her to have an upgrade as well as a better seat. Double fucksticks. We then proceeded to spend an hour on hold with AA to figure out what was going on. While on hold she got a text saying she has been rebooked for 45 minutes later on a DFW flight instead. They also pushed her to First on the DFW to DTW flight and let me put her in an exit on the first flight. Okay. Not optimal, but okay. So now, the eternal question - do I go back to sleep for 2.5 hours or just fucking stay awake? I may try to sleep just because but there's no guarantee. I have to teach from roughly 1-5 today and tomorrow so I will have time when I get back from the airport at least. I am too wound up right now though. It's going to be a screwy week.

Didn't do much yesterday. Cleaned a bit. Made chicken taco salads for dinner. I think I need to buy a scale. I feel like I have lost some more weight but don't really know. My clothes are looser, that's a positive thing. We went out only once yesterday as it was balls hot. This whole week is supposed to be hot. Lovely.

Watched some tv and went to bed at 8. So wow. I have had 2.5 hours of sleep. No wonder I am rambling. Sigh.

Fucksticks. I like that word.

Y9 D58

It is so fucking hot in here right now. God I hate heat. The air is so stale and flat. No movement, nothing. And it's not that horrible outside, it's the air flow in here. Nothing is moving. I need to leave fans on at night when I go to bed. Keep the air moving. It's not going to get any better this week. 90s a couple of days. Fuck this time of year. Skinny people have it easier in weather like this. Fuck them.

As I figured, we didn't do much of anything yesterday. I moved my wine fridge, did laundry, wrapped a box for the cats to have a playhouse, read, finished watching the 3% - hold up, let's discuss that for a minute. That show pissed me off. As with most dystopian future shows, movies, or books, there's always one question that typically doesn't get answered and it drives me nuts - WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD?? At least that one series had the decency to answer that by explaining that this city was an experiment (Divergent). 3% is a Brazilian show taking place in that area. The whole premise is your either good enough to live on this magical island or you live in poverty in the mainland with the other 97% of the people. Except... you know how big Brazil is right? Comparatively speaking, it's pretty tiny. WHY DON"T THE INLAND PEOPLE JUST LEAVE? GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. If you don't explain to me why that isn't an option, then my brain is just going to fixate on that. Hunger Games is another where you have to ask WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD again. The 100. Uglies. All of these things fail to address that. Drives me nuts.

Anyway, once B woke up we worked on getting her squared away for tomorrow's trip. For dinner we went to Roxy's Hawaiian. We allowed ourselves rice and macaroni salad and damn it was so good. Got back, watched some tv in bed together and I went to sleep around 11. Now to check her in for her flight in 10 minutes. Final prep today and then we head to the airport in 23 hours.

Y9 D57

I'm up early today even though I really don't have to be. I do have to be up early tomorrow and REALLY early on Monday, so I figure if I just keep myself in that mindset it will be easier. I have classes all next week and Weds-Thurs I have to be up early too so fuck it. I will not set an alarm next Saturday. Until then? Up by 4:30.

Worked on my new class yesterday. I am making good progress on it. I think I can have it done sometime in August with no problem. I could have had it done sooner but yesterday my boss called me and asked me to shift priorities. I have some time free next week as a couple of my classes are only half day. He has a client asking for a class I was prepping a year ago that's been basically sitting on the shelf. It is about 80% ready but he wants me to add a couple of new sections, update it a bit, etc. Okay. Not a problem as I have been wanting to teach it soon. I will switch gears and work on that next week.

Worked on stuff until about 3. B got a bad headache and had to go lie down from 3:30 until 5:30. Made grilled chicken for dinner. After dinner we went to the grocery store to get some final things for her trip as well as some other stuff we needed immediately like cat food. Saved me from having to go out this morning. No complaints. When we got back we took care of my hair. I cut it and we re-dyed it. Whenever I cut it down we have to do a root touch-up because it basically is just root. While that was going on I roasted some cashews for her to take on her trip. Recently I accidentally bought raw cashews (bulk) instead of already roasted. I ended up roasting and salting them myself. Since then, that's the only way she wants them. Home roasted and salted. It's kind of fun and I am not complaining about doing it. It only takes about 30 minutes.

Read for a while and went to bed around 11:30. Today we don't have much on the agenda since we got things done last night. I really don't think we have any plans to be honest. We shall see.

Y9 D56

My tattoo is in full blown healing mode and itching like a son of a bitch. Of course I can't scratch it. Just have to suffer through until I can shower and apply more Aquaphor. 6 days later it's still looking great. I am very happy with this artists work and would go back to him in a heartbeat. I have at least three more planned in my head. Just need to figure out where I want them. May have to start moving down to the leg area next. Oh well.

Taught my class yesterday. I hate hate hate these late classes. I felt off all morning. Was sitting here until 8:30 and didn't finish until after 4pm. Just made my day feel too long. When you go from starting at 6am one day to 8:30 two days later it's ugh. I had 5 students and 4 of them were on the ball and really sharp. The fifth? Not so much. Even though I can't see these people, I can tell when they are doing other stuff. They think they're being slick, but I know. I can tell from the kind of question, when they ask the question, etc. This one student was, every now and then, not following. He was driving me nuts. But we got through it and the day was over. So I thought. Within 30 minutes at least two of them had sent me emails with follow up questions. Bleh. Let my day be done people.

I went to the store after class and got some ground pork so B could make meatballs. They came out really good. We watched some tv and I did laundry so she could finish packing. The reality of her trip is starting to take hold. She is getting antsy and needing to distract herself from the anxiety. Getting everything packed helped. It isn't helping that her dad keeps bugging her asking if anything is wrong (there is) and gosh how sad he is she won't be there for his birthday (she will, it's a surprise). So all of this with her grandmother issues, her mother issues, and the thought of going through a new airport (she is connecting through PHX this trip) is starting to ramp up the whole anxiety meter.  Only a few more days though. She'll make it. I have to drive her to the airport on Monday which will be a pleasure. Luckily we will leave here at like 3:30 so I should be back by 4. I teach Monday and Tuesday from 1-5pm which means I should be able to take a nap when I get back.

Read some before bed, went to bed around 10:30. Trying to plan out my week next week with her gone. I do have a full week of classes which will keep me. But I will have 7 or 8 hours each night plus a weekend. Cleaning anyone? I figure I will clean on Sunday. I am planning to go downtown next Friday to have cheese finally. Let's see if I actually do it.

Y9 D55

Yesterday was annoying. One student. Two classes. And I find out the guy was on the east coast and would have preferred to start earlier but my boss assumed he was west coast because the company is on the west. So this poor guy was working until 6pm when we could have been done at like 3 or 4. The guy himself was okay. He was smart enough and sharp enough that I was able to get through two classes in one day. I appreciated that.

After class B and I took a ride to the bookstore. They had a sale recently buy 2 used books get one free and they happened to have all three books in a trilogy I have wanted to read. Instead of shipping them I chose in store pickup to save the money. We went out at around 4. I should have paid for shipping. I really fucking hate Nike. Just plain and simple. I hate their employees. I hate their location in town. Fuck them.

Got back around 5 something and I made dinner. We watched some tv. I got B's suitcase out of the garage so she can start packing. 4 more days and she is off to MI. She is not fully looking forward to it. In part it's a trip to say goodbye to the sick relative and if it weren't for that, I don't think she would be going. She is stressing about this trip as usual. You watch, within another year or two the thought of going back will be a 'meh' to her.

Went to bed around 10. Today I have another private training for 5 people. Then a break tomorrow. Whee.

Y9 D54

16 students yesterday, 4 who would respond to questions. I fucking hate that. But for once, the actual sponsor of the group was on the meeting and she got to hear first hand what I have been complaining about to her for a year. Went from 6:30 - 10:30 then worked on my docs until 2.

I was giving B some stress yesterday afternoon. Mostly because I was restless. She didn't go to her group meeting because of another person who was scheduled to show up. Which meant I was not used to her being home on a Tuesday and it made me antsy. Plus I think I just need to get out of the house. I was just a big bundle of energy last night with no way to get rid of it. I paced a lot, stared out of the window a bunch, etc. I didn't know what to do with myself. I tried playing games, didn't help. Reading, tv. None of it. I just wanted to go do something. In the end, I just went to bed around 10 and that was that.

Made pork tenderloin for dinner. It was okay. We tried a new brand that we don't normally eat and it was just okay. When B is gone next week, I plan on making rabbit. I am excited about that. 4 more days until she leaves for MI. Wait, 5? Monday. She leaves on Monday. So however many days. Yeah, 5.

Today I am doing two classes crammed into one day for one student. Fucking lame. It's two classes I am not fond of on top of the whole one person thing. Whatever. It's billable hours. He wanted to start at 10. Um, no. I am starting the meeting at like 7 and the minute he joins, we're starting. I do not want to be doing this all night long.

Y9 D53

I love being up early. I beat the alarm by 6 minutes this morning. My class starts at 6:30 but I was thinking 6 so I got up a little earlier than needed. Oh well. Tomorrow is 8, then Thursday is 8:30. Weird week. Next week is even worse. Mon and Tues are 1-5pm then three days of normal times. The week after I am doing two days of Australian classes. 2pm - 10pm. Nasty. But at least I have some full schedules the next couple of weeks. All that matters.

Worked on my docs yesterday and got into a serious groove. I think it's because around 8:30 the stupid fucking neighbors across the street started blasting Tom Petty and I couldn't focus at all. I ended up putting on headphones which helped immensely. Allowed me to really zone in. Got a lot done and around 2, took a break.

B made peppers for dinner then I stayed out of her way while she talked with her friend in Australia. I played games and talked with the kid for a while. She starts her new job on the 31st. She also paid off a big chunk of her school loans. She is down to 16k. Not too shabby.

Went to bed around 10.

Not a whole lot else going on. Don't think I have forgotten anything. Which means I probably have.

Y9 D52

I am SO happy with my new tattoo! I LOVE IT! I also love the artist and the shop. The shop less than the artist. Let me just say that tattoo shops have changed quite a bit over the years. Now most of them are piercing places as well which changes the demographic and typical customer. But eve the tattoo portion has changed. My appointment was at 12:30 and we got there right at noon. During that 1/2 window while we waited more middle aged suburban white moms came in with their kids and mothers than I have ever seen. And guess what? It was their moms wanting the tattoos! Then there was the 60+ year old woman who wanted a finger tattoo, the asian couple getting who knows what, the white/indian couple with their baby getting pierced, etc. It was the weirdest mix of people I have seen in 30 minutes in my life. Just odd. And the things they wanted - "I want a heart on my wrist with my granddaughter's initials!" - cute but so trite. Then there was the overzealous chest piece girl. She was just annoying. I got into the chair about 1, out at 2:30. It was nice having B there as the conversation kept me distracted.

Before the tattoo shop, I ran a couple of errands. Grocery store at 7am. Then right before, we brought the chromecast back to best buy. Sorry google. That one doesn't work for me.

Got home around 3 and B laid down for a while. I watched some tv (finally finished 13 seasons of King of the Hill. Did you know Boomhauer was a Texas ranger??) and then around 5 started making dinner. Grilled some steaks with shrimp scampi, veggies, and fruit. Was happy with that too.

Went to bed around 10. I need to get up early a couple of days this week and I just want to get myself into that mode if you will. I am teaching tomorrow, weds, and thurs, and they're all over the map start time. Figured it's easier to get up early than scramble. Today though I am writing docs. As I went to bed we tested the UV ink in my new tattoo. I GLOW! So cool!

Oh you want a picture? Fine:

Y9 D51

We did a bunch of shopping for B yesterday. She wanted some new clothes to wear to MI in a few days. Thanks to this new diet we are both on, we have both lost weight. She needed some new tops to reflect this. Nothing fancy mind you, but some new stuff for her trip. We ended up going to a few different stores yesterday. In the end she got some great tops for a reasonable price. In addition she is making a new purse and that meant two trips to Joann's. That's how she spent the majority of the afternoon and evening. We also planned out our meals for the next nine days and had to do some grocery shopping. We got everything done and back home around 4.

We had beef taco salad for dinner last night. Tonight is steak and shrimp. We have all week planned out and ready to go. Eating differently has helped both of us to be honest. I am down a good 10-15 pounds since we started this. Not going to complain about that.

On the technology front, the chromecast is out. So far we like the google home better than Alexa in terms of it being able to answer questions, respond more accurately, better sound, and better distinction of our voices. But the chromecast didn't cut it. We didn't like that there's no actual interface. We didn't like that you had to do everything on either your phone or tablet. It limits what you can and can't do. Plus it makes volume control and the like difficult. I will be returning that today. The home is sticking around though for now. We have some time before I have to return it and will be putting it through the paces.

Went to bed around 10:30. There's a skunk outside and it really stinks. Ew. Today is new tattoo day! I have about 7 hours until the appointment. Need to go to the bank this morning and get some cash for the tip. Excited!

Y9 D50

Holy crap! I slept until 8am!! I must have been seriously tired. I went to bed around midnight but still, that's a lot of sleep for me. I didn't do anything to exerting yesterday to make me that tired, but wow.

In the morning I worked on work stuff. Got my timesheet done, expense report, answered a bunch of emails, and then started working on a new class. I had to take a break around 11:30 as B had a doctor appointment. She's had more cysts appear and we needed to discuss them with a doctor to see what can be done. She ended up getting a new prescription for birth control with a different estrogen level to see if that will help keep them under control. The downside is the new pill is stronger and may have other side effects. Lovely. While out we went to Target to fill her prescription and got stuff on our list. Got back around 1:30 by the time we were fully done.

Worked on my new docs for a while, then around 5 we went for some dinner. Had Indian food. It was as always, pretty damn good. After dinner we walked around the kitchen store and bought a mortar and pestle. We have been needing a new one and they had some nice inexpensive small ones.

Around 8 we decided to go to best buy. Why? Well...

Alexa has been pissing us off. She doesn't respond well to things, she listens when she isn't supposed to, she drops network. Just frustrating us. We decided to try an experiment. For the next 29 days we are trying a google home with chromecast ultra. We want to see how it behaves compared to Alexa. While out we also went into Old Navy as B's friend gave her a tie dye kit. She needs some white clothing to try and mess up, I mean make pretty. Didn't find anything so we are going to the big Walmart today. Fun times.

Got home around 9 and proceeded to set things up. So far so good. The chromecast plugged right in. We both setup our phones and tablets to control it. Now any device in this house can immediately play things on the tv. I don't know how I like it so far as I am used to an OSD versus doing it on my tablet, but we shall see. We have 30 days to return and I am willing to try it out. After getting the chromecast setup, I setup the Home. I do like the look of the home better. Also the sound quality is a lot better than the dot. I am sure the echo has comparable sound quality but dot versus home is no contest. I was able to get it connected to the light control, the tv, and our devices pretty quick. Now to test it in action over the weekend. We shall see which device reigns in probably a week or so. May the best home assistant win.

Y9 D49

As with the trip there, I had one of the smoothest trips home yesterday. There were a couple of small moments where I was stressing but they were pre-airport. I put gas in when I left the at 3 right by the hotel because I figured it would be fine. The airport was under 20 miles from the hotel. But as I got close I felt like the needle wasn't close enough to F and didn't feel like getting charged. So I had to quickly find a gas station near the airport. Turned out I could only add 1/2 gallon to the tank and it was just the needle that was the issue. The bigger pain was that the gas station required a u-turn and some finagling to get into. Once I left the gas station I ended up looping the airport trying to find car return. That was it. My big stress of the day. I went through security about 4:30, went to the admiral's club and got comfy until flight time. The club was right next to my gate so I left at like 6:55. I boarded at 7. I had my upgrade so boarded first, settled in, and waited to get home. I had already pre-ordered my meal which took another level of stress off. With a direct flight, I sat back after breakfast and managed to sleep 3 of the 5.5 hours. I woke up about 20 minutes before we landed. Read and next thing you know I am on the ground. Hopped on the train and was home by 11:30. Not too shabby.

Once home I unpacked, checked emails, got things done. B needed some help with some stuff she was working on. Took care of that. Had chicken for dinner. After dinner we took a ride out to some car lots. We are coming up on 2 years on our lease in September. Because of the obscenely low mileage on our car, there's a good chance they will let me turn it in early like before. We are looking at different options available to us. We intentionally went to the car lots after they closed because we didn't want anyone bugging us. We were looking at size and overall look of vehicles only. Nothing else. But the best part is it got us out of the house at night and we did some walking.

Got back, watched some TV, went to bed around 11.

My friend's birthday was yesterday and while I wanted to wish her happy birthday early, because of the time difference it was TOO early. I ended up not messaging her until after noon and I felt bad. I did remember, I just was in the wrong time zone earlier. But at the end of the day, I remembered and that's what's important.

Today I have timesheets, expense reports, and bills to deal with. Oh boy!

Y9 D48

I had the weirdest dreams during my sleep blocks last night. The one that stuck with me the most was the aliens taking over the town. We had this house and we were sharing it with some friends of ours from the old area. The guy who has a degree in audio engineering was working as a sous chef and B was a waitress at his restaurant. Plus we apparently rented out the kitchen to a guy who made bread for the aliens. Hey I told you it was weird.

Got through day two of training. Finished on time as expected. I really pushed my voice this week for some reason. The room I was training in was cavernous and way too big for the amount of people in it. I think I was working my voice too hard to fill the room. Luckily I don't teach again until Tuesday. Next week is in a weird state of flux. There's three private trainings we're trying to figure out. One on Tuesday from 6-10 and one on Thurs from 8:30-4:30 are confirmed, but then there's this Australian group trying to squeeze in two days that works with their time of day. I may end up doing a 12 hour day on Tuesday and then part two on Wednesday. We will see what happens.

Got back to the hotel around 2 as I stayed late to help a former student who happened to be in the same facility as this group. I had bought a salad in the morning to eat but she showed up and I ended up eating it for dinner around 6. Slept in chunks from 8pm to 1:15am. Enough but not enough. I will sleep on the way home after they feed me.

Nothing else really going on. Land today around 10, be home by 11:30 assuming no issues downtown.

Y9 D47

Decent day one of training. Large group and we are slightly behind as a result of some technical issues on their side but I should be able to make up the difference today and get us back on track. They had like 3 out of 15 students who actually had the right software installed on their machines when I arrived. Oh well. It's all good. I was supposed to have dinner with another client last night but he ended up getting sick and had to call off. Double oh well.

One of my students made a dinner recommendation that turned out to be a real big nope, not for me. I was scheduled to go to a place called the Fish Market but this guy was like no, go to this place it's much better. Okay fine. I go into the place he recommended, and when I walked in I was like okay this place is not for me. Blaring TVs everywhere, chrome chrome and more chrome, sports everywhere, and just noise. I look at the menu and it's beer, things in beer, things covered in beer, things dipped in beer, and beer on the side. Nope. I walked before a server even got to my table. I ended up going to the fish place. Dark, old school, quiet. Ah, much better. The food was okay, but I was more happy with the ambience difference to be honest. A little pricier than I would have liked, but worth it to me in the end to be honest.

Got back to the room around 6:30, watched some tv, read, and went to bed around 10.

I got my upgrade confirmed for tomorrow's flight home. One flight, 5.5 hours. It will be nice to not have to change flights or worry about two upgrades. B got the poster the kid gave me for my birthday framed. It looks awesome. I can't wait to get home and hang it up. Next week is a bit in flux now due to one client wanting rescheduling, one class being cancelled, and a third class being moved. As of right now I have three days confirmed with 2 open. Okay, whatever. It finally gives me a chance to work on a new class I have been wanting to do for months.

That's about it for yesterday. Heading out shortly for day two. I am only scheduled until about 2 today which is fine by me as I can sleep and get out of here by 4 tomorrow.

Y9 D46

Overall it was not a bad travel day. Oh sure, I was up way too early, but that was about the only issue from yesterday. I didn't get either of my upgrades, but I slept the entire PDX to DFW flight and from DFW to Charlotte I had an empty seat next to me. That's almost as good as an upgrade. I was a bit squished on the first flight but again, I slept through the whole thing so whatever. No delays, had an hour between flights which gave me long enough to get some soup at least at the club. I got in to Charlotte about 4:45, found my car at 5, and was at my hotel about 5:40. I got a bright yellow camaro on this trip. Man talk about standing out like a sore thumb. Not a big fan of the car though. It's too low to the ground and I felt like I couldn't see anything. I unpacked and based on the advice of the front desk, went to an Irish pub nearby for dinner. Had pork chops which while a little tough were okay. Headed back to the hotel and ironed. Around 8:30 I decided to find a grocery store to pick up some stuff for the week. I did get randomly complimented on the car which was amusing. Got back to the hotel, watched some tv, and went to bed around 10. Nothing exciting.

Now to do two days if teaching and head right back home on Thursday. A quick 5000 miles and 3 hotel nights. A good way to slip back into the routine. Next week I have four days as well then a full five days of classes. Back in the saddle again.

I used my new player on the trip. Worked out well. Great sound, a few little weird things about screen options, but I think it's more me just getting used to it.

Y9 D45

Ah 2am, hello again my old friend. My car will be here in about an hour and then I am off to SC. No upgrades yet. 3rd on the list for my first flight, no list yet for second flight. Whatever, all good. i didn't sleep much last night so I will just use the time to sleep. Works for me. I just have to remember to eat. That's always the tricky part.

Didn't do anything yesterday. Went to the grocery store in the morning for some toilet paper and chicken breasts. Other than that, didn't leave the house. B has been working on a blanket to take with her to MI and that was her main focus of the day. We did some cleaning and organizing, but that was about the extent of things. Did laundry, dishes, changed the sheets - that sort of thing.

That's really about all I got this morning. Nothing else. Just too early and too tired to wrap my head around anything else. Maybe tomorrow I will have more.

Y9 D44

Oh boy, back up early again! And tomorrow I will be up at 2am to leave for the airport at 3! The ride is over kids, please take all your belongings and exit the vehicle. Meh, it's okay. I had a really good week and am ready to start working again.

We did a lot of grocery and random shopping yesterday. B needed stuff for the week plus stuff for her trip. She has 2 weeks until she leaves. Some toiletries and a couple of new tops were her main things. It's hotter there than here and she needed to have the right kind of clothes to survive.

We also had to replace one of our fish yesterday. He had dropsy, bloat, and ick and had to leave the tank immediately. Bye bye sick fish, hello identical replacement.

I got my birthday present from the kid in the mail yesterday. She did good. An original signed poster she did for the city, a hei hei tsum tsum, and this adorable derpy chicken statue.  Good job kiddo.

Had pork roast for dinner, watched some tv, helped B with a blanket she has been working on, and went to bed around 10:30pm. Nothing immediate on the calendar this morning except for laundry. No other big plans. Want to enjoy my last day of peace and quiet as much as possible.

Y9 D43

Had a pretty darn good birthday. Heard from like 5 people not counting B and the kid. Twas appreciated. Started the day off by going to the grocery store. Then I spent like two hours setting up the new router. Boy was that fun. Said no one ever. Yes, this is a very advanced router but man it was a pain to configure in some parts. Getting the SSIDs right, getting everything to connect, etc. My big issue was I have static internal IPs on a couple of my machines but they were 10.s and this subnet uses 192.s. Took me a little while to figure out what was going wrong. But in the end I got it all working and then had the fun of resetting every device that was connected to the old network. Also I discovered which of my devices still use a 2.4 bandwidth and which ones can go 5g. Of course I missed Alexa and had to do her last night while sitting in the dark because she wouldn't turn on the lights.

Didn't do much the rest of the day. B needed to go to Target and I went with her. I did see some clothes I wanted but didn't get them. I may go back this morning. We'll see. When we got back I opened my present. Fiio X5. I like a product that includes everything in the box. Not only did it come with all the cables needed included a balanced line out to RCA, but two cases, one clear plastic, one red leather. The dock also works beautifully and has a dedicated line out. Took until midnight to get it fully loaded. I have about 210gb of music and audiobooks on it. Just under 17,000 files. Why so 'little'? Because a lot are FLAC which, while lossless, are larger than your standard 96-320k mp3. They sound a hell of a lot better, but you pay with disk space. If I used just mp3 I could have fit double that on there. But I am happy. I have what I want.

I also did take a break for a while for dinner. We went to this local tavern. Really nice place. I had an elk burger with truffle fries and a whiskey marionberry upside down cake for dessert. After dinner we drove around for a while exploring and made B's night. Turns out we live 5 miles from some celebrity. The show Big World Little People (Little People Big World? I don't know) was filmed right up here and we found the farm. They even do a big Fall festival on the property. I had no idea what she was going on about but she was happy.

Came back, relaxed, and finished up my music stuff. Overall, a good birthday.

Y9 D42

I had a rough time falling asleep last night. Didn't help that I stayed up until 12:30am. Part of it was that I wanted it to be my birthday and the other part was I was working on my app. I managed to get it almost done. I have one last chunk of code to work on and it will be good. It shows current available balance, purchases made in this period, what's due this month, allows you to look up any payee to see history, and then the last part will be to edit a payee to show a bill paid. Not bad, huh? All done in PHP. I started doing some investigation last night into maybe hosting it somewhere so we could have it available outside the network.

Speaking of networks, bought the X6 yesterday. Haven't turned it on yet though. I wanted to wall mount it but to do that I had to move some other stuff around. Plus it will take the network down while setup the SSID and everything else. So I am going to do all that this morning while B sleeps. I have it mounted, I have the plugs ready, just need to drop service. I was also looking last night, Comcast finally offers 1gb service in this area. It's about $60 more a month, but for 10x the speed? Why not. The only issue will be my modem now. It only supports up to 384mb transfer rates. Either I have to get a modem from them or buy one. I may go over there this morning and see what modem they use. Who knows, maybe by the end of the today I will have 1gb speed with a super router all hooked up here.

I should back up a little bit. We got up around 7 at the hotel, had breakfast, and headed home around 9. Took about an hour to get home. Overall, the trip was a bit of a bust, but it was educational. So that was useful I guess. When we got home we unpacked, fed animals, then went to best buy.

We went to the movies at around 3. I thought WW was okay. I know I am not the target audience but it was just kind of meh to me. Needed editing. It could have done with about 20 minutes less overall. The thing that really turned me off was the constant use of bullet time in the fight scenes. Okay, it was cool in 99 when the matrix did it, enough. Then again, that was 18 years ago and there's a lot of today's teens and young adults who've never seen the matrix. Amazing, I know. Overall it was okay, but not spectacular. I also thought the color scheme was too muted and just off.

Got home around 6 and made dinner. Watched some tv, worked on my app. B's mom got some good news. She got approved for $150k for a mortgage. I was envious at first that she is able to buy something but then I thought about what she can buy in that price range and it's not an awful lot, is it? I could come up with 3500 and be approved for the same amount. So yeah, perspective. No one wants to live in MI, well I don't at least. But it does frustrate me that I can't turn to my family (specifically my father in case my sister thinks I mean her, I don't) for help. I don't need $50k or even $25. But it would be nice to say hey dad, I need 10k so I can buy a house. Alas, that ain't happening.

Going to the grocery store this morning, opening my presents, then dinner at a place with live music and food. Rock Creek. Looking forward to it. So far this morning, two birthday greetings not counting B.

Y9 D41

You know the best part of this last week? Not waking up to an alarm. I have still managed to wake up at a decent time; a couple of 4am mornings, but mostly 6am. My body is catching up on much needed sleep. I have been liking that part of this vacation. Know what I don't like? Salem. Not for us. I feel like there's at least one of you who could have warned me in advance, but you had to let me find out for myself, didn't you? We did however as an indirect result of this trip find an area that MIGHT be okay for us. Two even. Let's discuss the whole day...

Got up around 6, just like today, and got ready to go. B got up around 9 and we were in the car at 10. The drive was pleasant. About 45 minutes. We located the hotel first and right away we were disappointed in the area. The hotel is like the nicest house on a shitty block. We have a "cabaret" club right next door (that's code for fancy strip club up here if you didn't know). Hmm. Okay, let's find a mall and see if it's any better. We found the closest one and ate at red robin for lunch (I had a free burger coming). We looked around and felt like we were in the middle of Kansas it was so white trash cracker in there. Not good. The mall wasn't any better. We left and found the second mall downtown. The issue there is Salem is the capitol and it's very grey building and not so nice. The mall followed suit. Feeling very frustrated we drove around one last area, West Salem. Okay, this is more like it. This is an area we can handle. But man, would we want to live in a city where one small slice is nice and the rest is awful? We headed to the hotel and when we checked in they wished me a happy birthday. The person at the counter asked what brought us to Salem and we told her and when we did her face was priceless. "Um, no, Salem probably isn't for you. There's um, no. You should check out Silverton.". Intrigued we decided what the hell. We got upstairs to our room and LOOK! - Balloons, cupcakes, and a birthday note. Nice. We took a nap then when we got up, we headed out towards Silverton. It's about 15 miles east of Salem.

On the way there we passed a western wear store. I stopped in and got a new hat. Talking to the guy at the counter, I told him what we were doing and he suggested Mt Angel, about 4 miles north of Silverton. Mt Angel is an old German town that does all sorts of things during the year. We finally got excited on this trip. Bottom line? Mt Angel is precious but too small to live, Silverton is REALLY nice, but almost the same price as where we are. It would have to be a real deal for us to move. We did have a nice dinner in Mt Angel and headed back to the hotel after a bit of exploring. Watched some tv from the computer in bed (our room is actually really nice and big) then fell asleep around 10:30.

We were going to go the movies while we were out here, but we just didn't like the mall or the theater. So today at 3:30, Wonder Woman. Excited about that. 17.5 hours until my birthday.

Y9 D40

We had a bad night here last night. B spent most of it in the closet. No, seriously. She set herself up a nest in the closet with her tablet and laptop. I was able to block most of it out when I went to bed at 11, but god only knows what time she fell asleep. Why don't the cops do something about this? These are ILLEGAL fireworks being set off in residential areas. Do your damn job. Ugh.

Day started with me having a nice conversation with the kid. She was at the park with her boy. He was running in some race (no bears, I checked. Don't know why he was running then, but whatever) and then she had to work. When B got up we decided to get out of the house and go to the mall. It was a lot less crowded than I had expected. Maybe because it was technically a Tuesday? Or maybe because people were out of town? I don't know, but I wasn't complaining. I enjoyed being able to walk around and not be stressed.

We had all the leftovers last night for dinner. Since we are going out of town today, we wanted to make sure the fridge was as empty as possible. I still need to throw some stuff out this morning. Also take out the garbage and make sure the cat's have food. We're not planning on leaving until 10 so plenty of time.

We did do some research into new routers yesterday. Earlier in the day B was trying to get a signal in the bedroom and was struggling. We started walking around doing speed tests and discovered we have a dead zone in the bedroom. We go from 120mb in the office to 14mb in the bedroom download speed. WTF? Antenna issues? Location? We also realized our router is almost 4 years old. Then we started counting. Just how many items are we connecting these days? More than you might think. 4 desktops, 3 laptops, Apple TV, Alexa, TV, printer, 2 phones, 2 tablets, light controller, and PS4. 17 devices. Which these days is not uncommon. Splitting that bandwidth thin. So I did some research. I think I am going to buy the Netgear Nighthawk X6. Was considering the X10 but way more than I need. I know, I can run Plex directly on the X10, but whatever. Both the X6 and X10 can have the firmware yanked and OpenWRT can be put on there. The X8 is an option but not really. It seems to be this weird model no one talks about. The X6 is $225 but should last us a while. Going to probably pick it up Friday.

Around 7 the insanity started and by 8 B was in the bedroom. Not much else to tell about the night. It sucked, people are stupid, not going to deal with it next year if I can help it.

41 hours until my birthday.

Y9 D39

The idiots have already started their pop pop pop. I heard the first ones at 8:30am yesterday. Who the hell lights things off at 8:30 in the morning? On a workday? Red neck idiots who don't work, that's who. But no, the real issue was last night starting around 8:30pm. Kept hearing them until 11 when I finally blocked it out and fell asleep.

Didn't do a whole lot yesterday. Did some laundry to prep for our trip tomorrow. Straightened the house up a bit. Helped B with a project by getting some bins out for her. She made herself a sunglass holder. Crafty.

Made pulled pork for dinner. Answered a few emails. Watched some tv. Tomorrow we are headed to Salem. Looking forward to it.

Y9 D38

Less than 100 hours until my birthday.

I had the weirdest dreams last night. I remember most of them. In the first one, B had found a box toys from when she was a kid and one of them was this doll. It was Angela from the Rugrats and it was the creepiest thing ever. It kept staring at me. That's what I remember from that dream. In the other one, I was trying to get lunch but I had to have some paperwork signed and had to chase down this guy to get it. But I didn't get back in time so I was cranky and I made my co-worker call his mom at pge to make sure my bill wasn't late and then I had to make 200 frogs for the prom out of these plastic things. In the other dream I remember trying to get ice cream with a client but I wasn't supposed to talk to this one person on the client's team and I did anyway. Weird shit man.

Started my morning yesterday by having all the feels. Watched the final two episodes of the current season of the Doctor. Sigh. Goodbye 12. I don't want to talk about it.

Quiet day yesterday. I don't think we left the house. No wait, we did in the morning. We went to the bookstore because B wanted this book by a woman who worked in mortuaries for years and wrote a memoir. I have never seen her finish a book in one day. Must have been good. Luckily we found a used copy and it didn't stress me out. I will probably take it with me on my trip.

During the afternoon I worked on one of my vacation tasks. I finished cleaning up every artist in my music library. That's part 2 of 4. Part one was cleaning the physical directories. 2 was the artists in plex. Three is now going artist by artist and making sure the albums are all correct. 4 is the individual tracks. I cleaned over 2700 artists in the last few days. God knows how many albums I have to clean up.

Made chicken for dinner. Watched some tv. B read, I played video games. Went to bed around 10:30. I love how my body kicked back in to weekday mode and woke me up at 4:30. Still on vacation this week brain. Nope. Sorry. You have to be awake. Okay. Nothing planned for today but I am awake anyway. I might go to the grocery store this morning.

Y9 D37

Six in the morning and I just heard a firework go off. What the fuck is wrong with these people? The redneck white trash across the street already started in last night. And to be clear, not against fireworks. Against idiots who shoot off bottle rockets and other ILLEGAL fireworks at the wrong times in residential neighborhoods where shit will catch on fire. We don't need your fucking m80s and bottle rockets at 6am. Knock it off fucktards.

Didn't do much during the day. But we did go out in the afternoon. I got a $25 birthday credit from Landry's so we went for a nice drive down to Claim Jumper's for dinner. B likes that place and the credit basically pays for one entree. We decided to go down a little early and walk around the mall that is nearby. B found a new wallet at Charming Charlie's. She needed it because in the mail yesterday she got her first credit card. Yes, after three years of getting her credit cleaned up, we applied recently for her to get a secured Discover card. After one year if there are no problems (and there better not be), they will convert it into a regular Discover card and she will have turned her credit around. Mine is getting back up there too. By the end of the year I feel it will be back at a decent place.

Got back home around 8 and watched some tv. I went off to bed around 10. Nothing planned for today. I am going to sit down in a little while and watch the last two episodes of the 12th doctor. Not happy about this. But it is what it is. I expect to be sad. Other than that, there are no plans for today. Good.

My birthday presents arrived yesterday. Made B wrap them up to give to me on Friday. I am excited about that. Got five days to wait though.

Y9 D36

Three days into my vacation and I have 20 out of 22 things on my list complete. The remaining two will not be done in time. Maybe. I might be able to knock one more off my list today. We shall see.

The boom boom boom has started already. With the holiday on a Tuesday this year I am hoping it keeps some of these idiots in check. Probably not, but I can hope.

Only went out once yesterday. Joann's for B, the grocery store, and then back home. It was warmer yesterday and neither of us felt like being in it.

Grilled carne asada for dinner and made steak salads. Watched some tv.

Went to bed around 11.