Y10 D219

I am typing this from the new machine. It took me two days, but I have it configured and ready to go. I think. I have to try using it for a full day to see what I missed. So far I think I am good though. It will be a little bit of trial and error of course.

Happy NYE to all? It's so odd how we celebrate the arbitrary date passing. Why isn't March 3rd the new year? Why Jan 1? Whatever.

We did a bunch of stuff around the house yesterday. We did make one trip outside when we went to the grocery store where B's grandma works. It is now my favorite grocery store. Can't afford to shop there every day for regular stuff, but when I need 'fancy' things, it will be my go to store. Good produce, excellent butcher/deli, nice bakery, etc. It's the Molly Stone/New Horizons (or whatever your fancy food store is local to you) of MI. Independent, clean, good.

Came back, worked on stuff, made pork roast for dinner. B's sisters came over around 5 and ended up spending the night. They all played Mario party, watched a HP movie, and we all went to bed around 10:30.

It's back to work for me, at least today. But before that happens, I have some errands to run this morning. Need to go to the regular grocery store, home depot, and I promised them bagels. I got this. For work, I have to deliver a PPT presentation by EOD to one of the groups I worked with earlier this month. I also have a few admin type emails to send out.

Back to the grind we go.

Y10 D218

There's one major thing I dislike about living int he midwest that on some level I was aware of but hadn't quite experienced fully until yesterday. Weekends. Allow me to elaborate. Growing up and living where I did in the Bay Area, I was around people who didn't have typical jobs or job hours. Especially true in the 90s with the explosion of tech companies. By this I mean people didn't go to a factory or even a regular office and work from 8-5. Sure, there were those people who did that, but in CA, people's hours varied. Some folks work 5-1, or 7-3, or 10-6 OR, and this is the important part, many people worked from home, or took comp days in the middle of the week. If you went to the mall on a Tuesday afternoon, there were people there. People of all ages, genders, etc. Take this for example - if you had 700 shoppers going to the mall, regardless of day of week, you could expect there to be 80-125 people there. Things were distributed because people had time to do things during the week. Plus people would go do things at night. 7pm grocery shopping? Sure, let's go. Much less 'traditional' hours being kept. Now, compare that to here. People work more blue collar jobs here. People have much more traditional roles and hours. Therefore those same 700 people from before? Go to a store on a weekend and there's 400 people. Why? Because it's the only time they have. They don't have the luxury of going to the store at 3pm on a Tuesday. Or 8am on a Thursday. Nope, they all go on Saturday and Sunday. Typically they all go on Saturday because they want one day to relax, or they have 15 different things to do for their kids, or around the house, and they have ONE day to get it all done. I experienced this slightly in OR where there were less flex hours and tech jobs, but here it's crazy.

What brings all this up? We went to IKEA yesterday. This was our second trip there. The first one was on a Tuesday at 10am. Dead. Like there were 50 people in the whole store. Yesterday? 5000 people. I am not kidding. We walked up to the register with no line on a Tuesday. Yesterday it was stretched back into the warehouse section. Thank goodness we did order online and pickup in store. We didn't have to wait to get our stuff, but damn if parking, and trying to go to the cafe weren't a nightmare. Plus the children. So many children. Keep it in your pants people. Just kids everywhere. The trip there was also more congested and frustrating. But we got what we needed, had lunch, and got out.

We got two bookcases for the basement. The basement is now finely at a point where I am happy. One went in the main area and all our books fit cleanly. The second went into my office and holds all my knickknacks and the like. No more boxes out. No more shit on the floor. I am very happy with my space.

B made breakfast for dinner last night; pancakes, eggs, bagels. Was pretty good. After dinner we played Mario Party together. I am glad I got that instead of Smash Bros because I like when we play stuff together.

Worked more on the new laptop. Still not quite done getting it configured, but getting there. The resolution is both incredibly awesome and frustrating. It's set at 3180x something and my goodness is it a challenge to see some dialog boxes. Most scale, but some don't and I am struggling to read them. I need an eye exam anyway, but looking at this screen just emphasizes the point.

Went to bed around 1am. Need to finish up the laptop today, otherwise no plans. I am definitely not trying to go to where there are humans. Give me the mall at 10am on Tuesday thank you very much.

Y10 D217

So um, the weirdest thing happened sometime between 11 and 7 - it snowed. That may not sound weird to any of you, but yesterday was one of the nicest days I have seen here since moving. Like it was nicer here than it was in OR. It was in the 60s and clear. Sunglasses needed most of the day. So to wake up to snow is odd to say the least. I was actually looking it up and the amount of snow this particular area gets is below what even OR gets. Honestly even what's out there right now is only on the grass and trees. Nothing is sticking to the driveway or the road. Just wasn't expecting it.

Did some more work yesterday. Then we had an adventure - the mirror we bought for the bathroom had a scratch on one of the mirrors. Had to dismount it, exchange it, remount it. Fun times. Also, the garbage disposal got something stuck in it and I had to disassemble it, get the rock out, and reassemble. Lots of fun there.

My new laptop arrived. I fucking hate windows. The machine is fast and cool looking and fast BUT I spent two hours on it last night and all I accomplished was upgrading it to windows pro, doing updates, and uninstalling all the bloatware bullshit that comes with windows. Two hours. I still have a list of real things I need to get done. But I also have to go to IKEA today as we ordered two more bookcases. Something tells me this is going to be a busy damn day. 

We went to Chilis for dinner since I promised B we would go. Oddly enough, there are no chilis in OR. I looked it up once and there used to be but due to something or other they all closed. She has been missing them so we went. It was okay.

Cleaned the house yesterday too. We did the floors, counters, etc.

OH! I also forgot, I replaced the light fixture in the bathroom yesterday. These fucking people who owned this place. They cut the hole for the light in the wrong fucking place and mounted the fixture six inches to the right of the hole, stuck cardboard over the wires and used the light base to hide their mistake. Now I have to drywall patch the hole, drill a new hole for the wires, and make it look good. Fucking DIY people. I know that sounds counterintuitive to what I just said I have to do, but I know my limits. Like I can hang a light fixture, but I can't mount a new light box somewhere. Get the difference? I can hang a medicine cabinet, but I know I am not capable of flush mounting one. Shit like that. Know your limits people. Thank god we hadn't painted that bathroom yet.

So a lot yesterday, more today. I must have been snoring bad because B is in the guest room. Grateful we have one that's for sure. I think it's the weather. But who knows. 

Off to IKEA. Whee.

Y10 D216

I'm tired this morning. My little trick didn't work so well. I stayed up until about 11:30 last night but today I am paying for it. I am just very, very tired.

Worked on some new material for our classes yesterday. Got some cool demos done. I have a few more I want to do, but it was a good start. We took a break midday to go to the equivalent of the garage sale store here. We found a mirror for above the fireplace. It was one thing we had on our list that was missing. Thanks to sales, we got it a lot less than anything else we have looked at so far. Came back, hung it, did some more work.

Had leftovers for dinner then played Super Mario Party together. Christmas present.

Today I am making our first mortgage payment. Only 359 to go. My new laptop is arriving today. Guess what I will be doing over the weekend. Back into the world of windows I go. Ugh. The first priority is to clean the fuck out of this thing and get all the shit I don't want off of it. That will be fun. From there I will set up new stuff.

Okay, time to do things.

Y10 D215

So I think I may have figured out the trick for what works for me for sleep here. Go to bed late. No, seriously. I am still mentally on PST I think is the problem. I may be getting tired around 10, but I stayed up until midnight and was able to sleep until 6. Didn't wake up once. Now I know that won't work all the time, but I can at least experiment this week. Sorry got distracted by something. Left this window open and forgot I was typing.

We made some significant strides in our bathroom yesterday. The one room that's been really bugging me. We used the $150 in gift cards we received and we bought a new medicine cabinet. Tri-fold, 30" wide. It more than holds our stuff allowed us to breathe in there. I don't know why there wasn't one to begin with in the bathroom, but whatever. There is now. We also stopped at the curio/antique store we like and found a small bench for a wall space that needed it. We had the fish tank there but it was a temporary tank. I finally got our big one setup and working downstairs so in the morning I transferred the fish, got rid of the tank, hung a piece of art on that wall, and then we put a small shoe changing bench there. Done and done.

We also had the electrician over yesterday. We had 8 things for him to quote for us. I am still waiting back on the quote. Nothing we are wanting is outrageous or crazy according to the electrician. He agreed with almost all of our 'wtf' things. There's one thing we may not be able to do because it would be right into the drywall, but it's okay. It wasn't a high priority anyway.

Had leftovers for dinner as B went out to bingo with her grandmother. While she was gone, I went to the pet store to pick up an algae eater, the grocery store for hair dye and hangers, and best buy for super mario party. I had a gift card for the last one.

I need lotion. I am feeling very scaly right now. I just checked the weather to see if we're getting any snow. We're not. As a matter of fact, it's only 5 degrees difference between here and OR. And they have rain. We have clear skies at least. Bizarre world.

I have some work to get done today. Going to spend a few hours down in my hole.

Y10 D214

Man I slept like shit last night. I took a nap too late in the day and it threw me off, plus I changed pillows which was not a smart move. I was tired at 10 so I went to bed but then I ended up tossing and turning until 12:30, then woke up multiple times. Fuck it. I am up.

Okay, let's start with Christmas Eve. I really feel like there's a lot to do around here and having to go out at noon to go to a house with people I don't really know and noisy children was not on my agenda. So I went with a chip on my shoulder. To be honest, I have had a chip since I got home. I don't really know why, but it's been there and it's been driving me nuts. Maybe because I was gone for so long and just don't feel at ease here? I really don't know. Anyway, we go over there and there's like 20+ people including aforementioned children. It's that noise that's bothering me the most. It's like the final straw. Plus these people put out food at 2 in the afternoon. Who the fuck is eating at 2pm?? It's ham and green beans casserole. Whee, all the midwest food I find disgusting. Then they do the mass present opening. I don't like getting gifts from strangers. If it was cash I wouldn't mind but no, it's socks and a jacket I will never wear. Honestly, I already gave both to B. Now I have to smile and act like "oh yes, this is nice, thank you ever so much for something I won't use.". I fucking hate it. After all that was over things calmed down a bit and I enjoyed myself just sitting around talking. That part wasn't bad. It was everything else that drove me up a fucking wall. We got out of there around 5 or 6 I think it was. I ate some real food when we got home. There was nothing at the party that I wanted to eat except pickles, olives, some cheese, and a slice of bread. It was the ultimate diet night.

On to Christmas. The morning was fine. We opened presents, got some fun stuff. My real present is coming tomorrow in the form of that new laptop. Everything else under the tree was little things this year. I got like 3 books, a flannel, some sleep stuff, some bath stuff, and a pack of smart switches. Very controlled Christmas this year.

But then once again, we had to leave the damn house. Over to her mother's this time. Christmas Eve was her dad's side, this time the mother's side. Which was worse because it's her mother and BF, her mom's parents, and the girls. The girls bug me. The grandparents bug me. The only one I honestly like is the BF who has shown to be a decent guy. He was a douche when they broke up way back, but since then he's been okay. They weren't planning on eating until 3 which is better, so little food out to eat and I hadn't had a chance to consume anything before we left, which made me hangry from the minute we got there. On top of that, B needed to make three more stops at other people's houses to drop off more of her 344 cookies. So more visiting with random people I don't know or care to know. Good times.

Finally got home at 2 and that's when I took the ill-fated nap. Slept until 4. FINALLY got the chinese food I wanted. Dinner was good. Not exceptional, but good, and I was happy. We had an adventure at the end. While I was up at the counter paying the bill, this old bitch decided she needed to sit and chose our booth. No seriously. She just sat down. I walk back to the table like WTF? B is just too shocked to say anything. We just left before I caused a scene.

Back home I was still angry for no good reason and was snappy. We put out all the garbage for today. Hopefully they will take everything. I went downstairs and cleaned until it passed. Went to bed at 10 and had horrible night.

Today the electrician is coming to give us a quote on stuff. Let's see how that goes.

Y10 D213

MERRY CHRISTMAS BITCHES!

Will tell you more about Christmas Eve later. Wasn't awful. But it's present time. You get a twofer tomorrow.

Y10 D212

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! 17 hours until Christmas!! Wooo!!

Worked in the basement yesterday while B made 344 cookies. She over baked. She was only supposed to make 200. We have a lot of fucking cookies in this house. I hung things. All the things. I organized, I hung, I rearranged. The basement is finally put together. We need two more bookcases which we will go get on Friday. With that all the shit will be put away finally. If it wasn't Christmas week I would go get them today but, no thank you. I have to go get the oil changed on the car already this morning and then spend five hours at B's family. Not looking forward to that part of today. That part is going to piss me off. I already know it.

We didn't leave the house yesterday. Just stayed in and worked. Not much else to report on my end.

Y10 D211

Hey look! It's a Sunday at 7am and I am not on a plane or at an airport! WOO! Fucking miracle on 34th street going on over here. Merry Christmas Eve Eve to all!!

Got a lot done in the basement yesterday. I unpacked ALL of the book boxes and loaded up the bookshelves. I need at least one more large bookcase to fit everything, but at least they're out and unpacked. Next time I mock someone for only reading one author, smack me upside the head. I have 57 Pratchett, 23 Holt, 27 Heinlein, 22 Palahniuk, and 28 Rankin just as an example. Do I read the same dumb ass authors? Yep. I sure do. So who am I to talk?

I did get an update on my 'missing' friend yesterday. Thanks go to my buddy who called me with the news. It turns out he *was* in the hospital and MIA for a little while. He had blood pressure through the roof and got admitted. Like 'how are you still alive?' levels of blood pressure. But he appears to be back amongst the living and doing okay. One mystery solved.

B worked at her grandparents yesterday doing more cleaning while I worked here at the house. We also started hanging some pictures and artwork which makes me happy. I like things on the walls. Makes it feel less empty. I appreciate art for the sake of art and the bare walls have been bugging me. That's why the bookcases were important. They just been sitting there all empty like and it was annoying me.

We got groceries for B to start making cookies today. She is making over 125 cookies for everyone as Christmas gifts. I am not looking forward to having to go to people's houses on Monday and Tuesday but I will go, I will smile, and I will go home. People tell me to get used to it, but I am 50 fucking years old. I am not getting used to anything.

Side note - my other friend did his standup the other night and sent me a video. HE DID AWESOME! I was really excited watching him. It was the most I have ever heard him talk in public in one shot in the 25 years I have known him. But seriously he did an outstanding job and I am proud of him for getting up in front of an audience and putting himself out there like that. Takes a lot of courage and he did great. You rock my friend.

I am going to hang more shit today but otherwise not do anything taxing. I am taking it easy at least until Wednesday. I wish my new laptop was getting here sooner though. Oh well. It will give me something to do next week.

Y10 D210

I am "home". I use it in quotes because I need to settle in. My stuff is here, but I don't know if I am here. Or if I belong here yet. I feel like an outsider in my own house. The house that I pay the mortgage on. It's a weird feeling. I hope it passes sooner rather than later.

It was an uneventful travel day. My first flight from LAX to DFW sucked giant balls. It was on one of their newer planes which have the very skinny seats. My fat ass cannot fit into those seats comfortably. I was squished and twisted for 3 hours. My left shoulder is killing me from being pushed up against the side of the plane for the entire trip. The second flight to DTW was much better since I was in first. I got fed, I had room to sit comfortably, etc. Landed around 6:30 EST after leaving the hotel at 2am PST. A long day. I got car service home and finally got home around 7:40. From there I started doing stuff. In my mind I needed to leave again so I felt like I had to rush to do everything. I started laundry, went through mail, cleaned up, etc. We ended up going to home depot for something at 9pm, grocery shopping at 10, and I didn't get to bed until after 1am. Hence why I am up at 9am.

I don't think we have anything to do today so I can finally relax. I want to unpack some book boxes and hang some artwork. That's my big Saturday plans. Heck, that's my big plans for the whole damn week.

Maybe then I can feel 'at home'.

Y10 D209

Home, I get to go home. La la la. I just need to get the fuck out of this hotel, drive to LAX, drop off the car, get in a shuttle, get through security, find my gate, get on a plane or two, THEN I will be home. Only about 15 hours to go.

Home. Home Home.

Class was tolerable. Worst group of the week. Deadites. No action. Boring. They sat there and didn't respond to shit. Worst group. Made it through. They brought me chocolate like some old god.

Dinner in hotel. Bed at 7:30.

I go now.

Y10 D208

I got my Christmas gift from work last night. Well, technically I got to ORDER my Christmas gift. About 5 days ago I sent the bosses that be my standard it's the end of year, here's what I want for next year list. I didn't expect a response until January at the earliest. Instead I got one yesterday. Amazing! I think it's because of how I framed the requests this year. I asked for $2500 to be paid directly to my note (approved), a new computer with specs specifically for the audio/video work I need to do (approved), and some new software for said work (approved). I couldn't believe it. They asked I write up an official document stating all of these things, they would sign, and I was free to order the new machine and they would get a check cut for the other. Damn. Okie dokie. At 9pm last night everything was done and set. I then went about ordering a new laptop. I had a budget of $3000. I ended up having to make one big (for me) concession; in order to get the specs I wanted at a price we could all be happy with, I had to switch back to a Windows machine. That was their preference anyway as it will be more compatible with the stuff we do for clients. I get it. So what did I order? A 17.3" customized HP Omen 17t. 32gb of RAM, 4k screen, 6-core CPU, 3TB HDD (1TB SSD, 2 TB regular), with an NVIDIA 8GB GTX 1070. Yeah, it's a serious freaking machine especially compared to the macbook I have been using. Price? $2250. Almost $900 below budget which leaves me room to buy the software I need and still come in under the numbers. Merry Christmas to me. I have to get used to using Windows (ew) again, but I am sure I can figure that out in exchange for the power. This thing is going to rip through the video and audio stuff I need to do. That's one of the pieces of software I will be ordering - Camtasia suite for CBT work. I shouldn't have any of the problems I have been having with the Chinese knockoff I've been using.

In other news, taught almost 40 people yesterday. Brings my total for the week to around 90. One last group today of 18. I can do it. Then I get to fucking go home. Thank the heavens. I got through both of my sessions and was done at 4:30.

I also treated myself to Christmas dinner last night. I went to Roy's for one good meal. And it was a good meal. Had the classic 4 plate with salmon, mahi, ahi, and butterfish. I love that plate. I didn't splurge and do dessert or anything. Just kept it cool with the main course. Even that was an $80 bill for dinner with tip. But man it was good.

B spent the day cleaning her grandparent's house who paid her $20 an hour to do it. She only got the upstairs done and needs to go back to do the downstairs.

In other news, I finally connected with my old apartment to pay them the money we owed. I had been playing phone tag all week with them. Our old complex manager really went above and beyond in getting the number down. In the end I owed them just under $1000 and was able to pay the whole thing in one shot without issue. I no longer owe anyone there anything. That makes me happy.

Time to check in and get ready to do one last day on the road. Then homeward bound butt early tomorrow. Here we go!

Y10 D207

Nothing like spending the first 20 minutes of the day in the bathroom alternating between puking and pooping. Good times. This is after waking up at 1am and eating a half a tube of rolaids. Such fun. The pork I had last night for dinner, which at the time tasted wonderful, is deciding that it doesn't want to digest quietly. Fun.

Had 18 students yesterday. Apparently the word of mouth around the office about my class is a-buzz and people are fighting to get into my sessions. Cool I guess? It means that in addition to the 30-35 I will have today, I am looking at 20 now for tomorrow. This will put my week total well over 100 students. Almost 150 people in three weeks. Gee, I wonder why I am so tired and have no interest in doing family Christmas Eve bullshit on Monday. Let's see how I get out of it. I just want a quiet Christmas with my new stuff and Chinese food. Is that too much to ask? I probably won't even get my Chinese food.

I can't believe I still have two more days of this. I am seriously having a "Lemon, it's Wednesday" type of day. I need a break. Big time.

B is having some physical issues of her own right now and asked me to get a ride home from the airport. I actually don't mind. This way she doesn't have to stress out, nor do I, driving home from the airport so close to the holiday weekend. It's definitely not the end of the world for me.

Okay back to the bathroom. This is going to be a long ass day.

Y10 D206

Remember yesterday I was complaining about the bed? Yeah, so I wake up at around 12:30am in agonizing back pain because of the bed. I ended up moving to the couch and got better sleep on the fucking couch than I did in the bed. Thank god there's a couch in my room to allow me to do that. I don't know what it was about last week, but that was some incredible sleep. This week, not so much. I have four more days of this shit too. I'm not going to make it.

Here's some incredible news though; the kid finally got back into her apartment yesterday. The evacuations have all been lifted and she was able to go inside. The end result? NOTHING WAS DAMAGED. Nothing. No smoke, no ash, nothing. Her food was history in her fridge, but that was it. She had all of her windows and doors shut and her place is so well constructed not a single drop of ash or smoke got inside. It's like she was on vacation for a month. It's a fucking Christmas miracle is what it is. She sent me pictures and outside is a hellscape. Inside is just a boring apartment. Thank goodness for small favors. Her rabbit's foot tattoo couldn't be more appropriate. They have electricity but no running water so she can't move back in yet, but she can now protect all of her stuff at least and we don't have to replace things for Christmas. I almost cried in my class yesterday when she sent me the pictures.

Did two groups of 16 yesterday. Overall they were good. I would say three or four people were a bit challenging but the majority did just fine. Next group of 16 today, 32 tomorrow, 16 on Thursday. Jesus that's a lot of people. Lot of humans to be in contact with over the short period. After class I walked back to the hotel and stopped at BJs on the way for dinner. It was acceptable.

On the home front, B tried putting up some shelves her dad cut for us. They didn't fit and she ended up smashing her finger. This is why you hire professionals to do things. Just saying.

Okay, let's do day two. Soon I will be home. Soon.

Y10 D205

I slept like shit last night. It's dryer here than where I was last week and the bed isn't as good. I was up and down all night. Just four more days and I can go home and be done for a while.

Yesterday was a bit nerve wracking. A couple of times I didn't think I was going to make it here which would have not upset me. I left the house at 3:20, arrived at the airport at 4. While we managed to board on time, as we were starting to push back from the gate, we got notice that Chicago was in a holding pattern. No one in or out due to freezing fog and no visibility. We sat there on the tarmac for over an hour. I had 3 hours between flights originally and wasn't too stressed out at that point. It's when I finally got to Chicago that I started stressing out. Had to get to quite a few gates away for my connecting LAX flight. My 3 hour window had turned into 50 minutes. Good times. We managed to leave Chicago only a few minutes late as the weather had finally improved. Thank goodness. Due to time changes, it was 11:30am when I got to LAX. Even though in my head, I had already been going for 12 hours.

Then came the fun of driving from LAX to Pasadena on a Sunday at Christmastime. Took me over an hour after waiting for the shuttle to rental car for 15 minutes. It was almost 2 by the time I got here to the hotel.

Ironed, went to Target for some stuff, had dinner at islands, watched some TV, went to bed.

Four. More. Days.

I figured out yesterday that we have been in our new house for exactly 30 days. I have been in it 14. Less with furniture. Like 6. I have spent longer in hotels. Maybe some day I will feel like it's my home too. Maybe.

Y10 D204

We did a LOT yesterday as I had such a short time at home. From making cookies and sangria, to running to the store, to just odds and ends around the house - I didn't stop until it was time to go to B's family christmas party. The party wasn't horrible. Overwhelming a bit, but not horrible. It's hard sometimes being my age at things like this. Chronologically, I should be hanging out with B's aunts and uncles, but mentally I am with her and the cousins. Why? The aunts and uncles are talking about retirement and grandchildren, the cousins are talking about house buying and remodeling. Which do I have more in common with right now? See what I mean? It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to the 'older' people, I just have nothing in common with them. They are old midwest people who are happy to retire and take care of grand babies. No thank you. We got home around 8, went to bed at 8:30.

Last week on the road, last projects of the year. I get home on the 21st late, and am done until 2019. Rock on.

I sent my salary and compensation requests for 2019 yesterday. Let's see what happens there.

Y10 D203

Home. Took a very long time to get here yesterday too. I landed almost 90 minutes late. No issues out of OC to ORD, but thanks to fog, everything in Chicago was delayed. By the time we got home it was almost 9pm. We did stop at the grocery store on the way home which didn't help. I can't fucking breathe this morning here either. Fucking heater. It's stuffy as hell in here. She keeps the damn heat on too high for me. Thanks to my internal clock being fucked up, I didn't go to bed until 1am and just got up at 5:45am. Fun.

My day consisted of sitting, then sitting in a giant metal tube, then sitting, then more tube sitting. From 6am until 7:30pm. That was my day.

Got laundry done. And expense reports. And timesheets. So there's that. I leave again in 21 hours. One more week of this nonsense.

Y10 D202

Okay, I am ready to go. I board at 6:30am, have an hour drive, and have to get gas. I am leaving in about 30 minutes. That should get me there with plenty of time to lounge around. Good times. At least this weekend I get 33 hours at home and have to go to a Christmas party. Whee.

Managed to get through the day without killing anyone. I honestly don't think I could have handled a full day with these people. My apathy towards them was through the roof. I did my material, thanked them for their time, and gtfo'd. I finally was able to get ice cream though. I went to Farrell's for lunch and had the pig's trough. Aka a double banana split. Damn it was good but I am paying for it now. Fuck getting old. Got back to my room and just hung out until bed time. Been watching FBI. Extremely formulaic, but a decent watch. Easy enough to zone out on. It's noise in the background.

On B's side, she went to her mom's to make ornaments with her sisters. Their fucking cat did it again. He somehow broke his leg. Damaged his hip socket. So now she's looking at like $1500 in repair work. It's similar to what happened to my cat years ago. Cost me $3000 to get it fixed. These people shouldn't have a cat. They are looking around for the cheapest surgeon in town. Um, fix your fucking cat people.

Got a revised bill from my previous apartment. Thanks to some skillful accounting and some kindness on the part of our previous manager, they got it down to under $1000. $998, but still. That's under. I mean the lease break alone was $2400 originally, plus wear and tear, plus final water bill. What should have been 3, is under 1. Not complaining. I can pay it off in one shot and be done with it. One less thing I have to worry about.

Next week is going to suck based on the 100 emails I dealt with yesterday. These fucking people true to form act like they're the only clients I have to deal with and are rude as fuck about things. Six distinct sessions, 96 people in 4 days. I am going to be beat up next weekend. But thank god this is it. Okay, off to the airport.

Y10 D201

I reached critical mass yesterday. I couldn't take this group anymore, their shitty network, none of it. I was just done. Showing up late, constantly getting pulled into other meetings, talking over me. Fuck these people. I'm done with them. Thank god today is only a 1/2 day.

The best part of yesterday was around 4 when I went to stand up and my leg gave out on me. Oodles of fun. I had to limp back to the car and drive back to the hotel in pain. Good times.

Add to that B going through her own depressive bout. She wasn't a ball of excitement to deal with last night. It's not her fault. I can't do this many days straight. It's hell on my mental state, her mental state, my physical state, etc. I have to have at least 1-2 days in between.

The only silver lining is how well I have slept here. I love this bed. I love the temperature of the room. Those have been the best things about this week.

Can I go home yet?

Had CPK for dinner. Wanted the leftovers. Now I have dinner for tonight. Yay me.

Home. I go home.

Y10 D200

200 days in this year gone already. What a 200 days they have been too. Dear lord the things we've done this year people. Australia. Turning 50. Buying a house. Sheesh. I swear I've done more in 2018 than any other year. Crazy times.

Day two was rough with the client. They have really poor time management skills. I am behind in the materials. Because they can't be bothered to actually show up on time. Whatever. 1.5 more days to go. Then another week on the road. Oh boy!

Went to BJs for dinner last night. Waited 15 minutes for a table. Annoying. Food was meh. Watched Venom. Not as bad as the critics said. Got misty eyed when Stan Lee's cameo showed up.

Went to bed.

Rinse, repeat.

Y10 D199

Another night of sleeping like a rock. I only woke up once. That for me is a miracle. I woke up at 3:30. I did go back to sleep for an hour too. I had some trouble falling asleep thanks to my neighbors. It was like living by the beach all over again. Yes, I got to listen to my neighbors being a bit too loud in their carnal expressions. It was fine until the headboard started banging against my wall. Luckily for me, and sorry for her, it was over pretty quick.

As for this week's client, I hate the guy in charge. The students are good. At least the ones who showed up on time. But the coordinator, their manager, is your typical Indian asshole who doesn't believe in training and sees it as a waste of time. He kept pulling people out, didn't care if they showed up on time, etc. Him I don't like. The group was good though and we got through what we needed. Three more days with them.

After work I came back to the hotel and went into the mall next door. There's a red robin in there and I had a burger for dinner. It was nice just walking through the mall. Made the walk seem less intimidating. Tonight I will probably do the same thing but hit the BJs that's in the mall. Heck I could even food court it one night this week. There's also a Farrell's and I might just go have ice cream for dinner, because I can.

That's about it. B had a friend over last night who over stayed her welcome again. She's nice, but she has too much shit going on in her life and she seems to use our place as an escape. That's fine, if we're in the mood for company. If not, then it just is rough. She will learn.

Multiple packages on their way to us this week. Christmas should be done by this weekend. We are two weeks away! Woooo!

I asked my sister to do me a favor while she is in Vegas. I hope she gets a chance to do it. One of our friends has gone radio silent and we're worried he hurt himself. Last known work address was in Vegas and I asked my sister to swing by and see what was up. No word yet, but let's hope all is good.

Y10 D198

I had the best sleep I have had in over a week last night. I don't know if it's because I am back in PST, or the elevation, or the temperature, but I went to bed at 9pm last night and slept hard. Almost a full 8 hours. I only woke up twice which for me in a hotel is wonderful.

Yesterday was boring and issue free which is good. I got to the airport, had my upgrade on my first flight, then didn't on my second. I had a three hour layover which gave me time to eat and relax. No weather issues or delays. When I got to OC, I did have to laugh. In Chicago I looked like everyone else - hat, scarf, sweater, etc. But it was 80 degrees when I landed. Strip strip strip. This is why you layer people. I was able to strip down to t-shirt and jeans and blend right back in.

Took about 30 minutes from airport to hotel. I am at an embassy suites this week. Not my favorite brand, but acceptable. It's 1.4 miles from my client which makes it okay. Not quite walking distance but not so far I am going to be cranky. Plus there's a target on one side and a mall on the other. Got checked in, went for a walk, ironed, watched some tv, and ordered pizza for dinner. I don't know if I am going to get fed this week and I wanted to have lunches. I am going to be hungry with the time difference. Need to make sure there's food.

Four days here. Oh and as of today, I hit my diamond status for another year at hilton and am getting a 40,000 point bonus. I have already recouped everything we used for Australia. If I keep going we should have enough miles to do another trip somewhere next year. We have been thinking Scotland. Who knows. We shall see what comes of it.

Breakfast in 90 minutes.

Y10 D197

It was touch and go for a while if I was going to make it home yesterday. Originally I was scheduled to go from TN to O'Hare to DTW. I had a 11:30 flight out of TN, then a 2pm flight home, landing at 4. After much back and forth, I ended up in Charlotte and made it home an hour earlier. Go figure. This is one of the rare trips where I booked it as First and managed to keep a first class seat all the way home.

So I have had 11 hours from the time I landed until now. Slept for 4.5 of those. In the remaining 6.5 I:

- did laundry, 3 loads
- wrapped all Xmas presents
- Hung B's pin board
- Bills
- Ate
- Signed cards
- a whole lot of other stuff I forgot

Basically I didn't sit and relax at all. I was non-stop from the time we got home until bed and now back at it. I get to SoCal today around noon and am REALLY hoping the hotel has a room for me so I can take a nap. Please let the gods be with me.

Okay, back to an airport.

Y10 D196

Woke up to massive flight changes and shitty internet. Don't know how long I have to type before it drops again. Decent day, decent dinner. Got to run. Driver be here any minute. Ugh. This weekend sucks balls.

Y10 D195

Holy hell, it's a miracle. All three elevators are working again. Finally it doesn't take 15 minutes just to get to my room. Of course they get all of them working when I have one day left here. Good times.

I am not looking forward to next week. My contact is already pissing me off. They wanted to start at 9:30 and I am like um no. It's going to be a full class of fucking annoying people. I can already tell. The contact at least is a pain. She is not responsive, doesn't answer questions completely, and sends emails at 10pm. Fuck you,

My group went well yesterday. I don't have any problems with these people. I really do like them. They're alright folks. We got through everything and finished at 4. We should finish around 3 today if all goes well. Get out of there and get to bed early.

I will only have 4-5 waking hours at home tomorrow. Need to do laundry, wrap presents, go through mail, and whatever things B needs done. It's going to suck. But it is what it is.

That is all.

Y10 D194

I had a panic attack in the elevator yesterday morning and got to be the jerk no one liked. There are three elevators here. Yesterday morning at 7:15am, only one was operational. There were hundreds of people trying to make their way down 18 floors. With one elevator. I got on at 18 and proceeded to stop at every floor along the way. When we hit 6, I was losing it. The people in the elevator all seemed to know each other so every time we stopped it was 'oh hi bill, come on in, we'll fit'. But at 6 when they tried that shit I shouted NO. NO MORE. The dirty looks I got. Of course some douchebag had to whisper to his friend about taking the stairs and exercise. To which I loudly said "if i didn't have leg nerve damage, I would take the stairs'. Silence for the next five floors. FUCK. YOU. DOUCHEBAG. I walked out of that elevator unable to breathe and heart pounding.

So that's how my day started.

The day itself was okay. Got through day 3 of class, no problems there. I did leave one of my cables behind in the classroom I discovered unfortunately. At least I am hoping I did. If I get back to class this morning and it's not there I am going to be pissed.

Had italian for dinner. Was okay. Not my favorite meal this week. I have two more dinners and plenty of options.

When I got back to the hotel, still only one elevator working. Motherfucker. I stayed in my room the whole rest of the night as a result. All I heard all night was that poor one elevator working its little heart out trying to keep up with the demand.

Went to bed around 10. Slept better at least. 3 more days and I am home.

Y10 D193

Had a real rough night last night. Went to bed around 10 but woke up from a nightmare at midnight, then tossed and turned until getting up at 4:30. I woke up every hour in between. I had sushi last night and it's not sitting well. Everyone raved about the place I went last night so I trusted them but damn if it isn't trying to come back up this morning for a repeat visit. Just what I need while on the road, food poisoning. Fun.

Day two of class went fine. No issues. Three more days to go. Not much to report on that front. It's a good group and I have worked with 11 out of the 13 already so there's a relationship there. I can be relaxed with this group while still getting shit done. We finished at around 4:10 against a 4:30 schedule. Works for me.

Nothing else going on. B is still painting and getting things done back at home. I am excited to see how things look when I get home for my whopping 11 hours on Saturday.

I did have to yell at my boss about next week. He hasn't bothered to do introductions or tell me exactly where I am going yet. Good job.

Sigh. Is it Christmas yet?

Y10 D192

One day down, four more to go here.

This hotel is annoying. Not because of the hotel itself, but because of the flood of guests it got last night. There's a BassMasters convention here in town and they have flooded my hotel. More good ol boys than every episode of the Dukes of Hazard combined. I'm on the 18th floor and it seriously took over five minutes last night to get an elevator and get to my room. The elevator was packed and the smell of Old Spice permeated the walls.

I must be starting to adjust to being on the east coast too because everyone was complaining about how cold it is and it couldn't have been lower than 55 or 60. It was 26 when I left on Sunday people. Enjoy your warm weather buttholes.

Class went well. Some technical issues at the start, but nothing we couldn't handle. The biggest problem was the room projector. They just had new rooms setup and configured and the one we were in had a bad projector. 5 months old and the power supply was already shot. We lost about 15 minutes trying to get setup in a new room. I made up the time later though and managed to get everyone out around 4:10. Not horrible.

Had dinner at a mexican place called Chivo. Really good. Street tacos done upscale. I had the duck, the lamb, and the pork belly. Really good. Again, a lot of foo foo restaurants here, but so far they have delivered. Better than what I am going to get next week in Brea that's for sure.

We had a power surge at home last night and had to do some troubleshooting with B. One of my servers decided to restart and was stuck on the login screen. Fun times.

Watched some tv and went to bed around 10.

4 more days here. Then off to week 2.

Y10 D191

I had the weirdest travel day yesterday. First off, my new car service is good. I like the guy who picked me up. He showed up at 3:18 for a 3:30 pickup. According to him, early is on time, on time is late. Damn straight. He is also the owner of the company. I like dealing directly with the boss man when it comes to stuff like this. Makes it easier to establish a relationship with the company over time. Took us about 25 minutes to get to the airport. Security was already opened when I arrived and there were only 5 people in front of me in the pre line. Seemed like things were going to go alright. I was scheduled to board at 5:30 but there was no crew. We didn't board until almost 6. Then we had to get de-iced. We got in the air at 7. An hour late. Luckily I had a decent amount of time between connections. The guy next to me had 23 minutes to go to two terminals for an LA flight. That will be me next week. Good times.

Here's the weird part. I had to go from DTW to ORD. Or, EST to CST. But then I went to TYS. Back to EST. I lost an hour, gained an hour all in the same trip. I almost could have driven and the time would have been the same. Kooky.

Got here around 11:30, they had my room ready around 12:30. Went for a walk to see how long it will take me to get to the client this morning. 4 minutes. Is good. I am also near a real hippie kind of downtown area and all the restaurants are hoity toity type places. It's going to make be frugal this week a challenge. There's not a single fast food or quick to eat place within walking distance. That part kind of sucks. The hotel is good though. 18th floor, corner room. Away from all humans. Real executive lounge with food and beverages. No complaints there.

Ironed, took a nap, went to dinner. Had pork belly and rabbit leg. See? No quick meals here. It was quite tasty though.

Came back, watched tv, went to bed around 10. Now to do a full five days at this client, go home saturday, and leave again on Sunday. I have 15 students this week. It's a full class. Plus I get the commission off this group. They explicitly asked for me on this training. No pressure, right?

Y10 D190

Finally changed my time zone on here. Now I can post at 2:15am EST and it shows as Sunday correctly. For the next three Sundays, expect early posts.

We are down to less than 10 boxes through the whole house minus B's office. She needs to make room, get some bins, etc, before she can be finished. Otherwise, the whole downstairs is good. My closet and office, good. Bedrooms, etc.

Our overnight guest, overstayed her welcome though. I didn't let it get in my way. I had shit to do and I did it. Sorry. I was talking about it with B last night and she is the one who brought up that she overstayed so I didn't feel bad about agreeing with her. I have met four of B's friends since we have been here. The one who stayed last night is on her way to being a good adult, she just needs some guidance. One is a spoiled brat who can kiss my ass. One is a good adult but a woo girl and not the sharpest crayon in the box. One is like one of my past friends where if he would just stop being so damn lazy he could do a lot. He frustrates me the most. Because I see the potential and it's like come on buddy, just a little effort??

We got pizza as is the norm when I travel. No fuss no muss leftovers abound.

Not much else going on. My first time commuting out of DTW. DTW to ORD to TYS. Wish me luck.

Y10 D189

SO close to being done in so many rooms. We worked hard yesterday. Didn't go to bed until almost 1am. Then I tossed and turned because I was overly tired and knew I had to be up to check in for my flight and wake B up. B has to drop a friend off at some thing this morning and she ended up spending the night. Our first overnight guest! Whee!

Our big adventure was to IKEA in the morning. Okay, I have never seen an IKEA that dead in my life. I have to remember, I am in the midwest now. Specifically in an hour where people work blue collar jobs. You don't go out at 10am on a Friday to the store. When we went grocery shopping the other day I saw it too. Old people and women were the predominant customers at 11am at the grocery store. You forget that's how it was for most people. We ended up getting B a work surface for sewing and cutting, plus a cabinet to put all her stuff in. While she worked upstairs, I worked down. I rearranged the basement (again), setup all the bookcases, and focused on my office. I am finally fully packed. Thank god as I leave in less than 24 hours.

Got home and begin assembling her new stuff. Didn't finish until after 5pm. I needed to start dinner as her friend was coming around 6:30.

We both shifted gears after we got dinner simmering and tackled the living room. We have our tree up but no place to put some of our stuff. One shortcoming of our place is no mantel on the fireplace. We have a gorgeous stone fireplace, but it has no shelf. Have to add one. Without it though, or a bar shelf to the kitchen like we've had, we don't have the space to put many of our decorations. We had to bust through those boxes and make room.

Got everything done, B's friend arrived, we had dinner, then they hung out in B's office while she put stuff away and I went down in the hole after cleaning the kitchen. Got a lot done working down there by myself. Am very happy with the progress. I have a massive amount of closet space. No more shoving things in drawers. I have room! Amazing. That makes me happy.

That was the night. Unpacking, chatting, and eating. Guess what? Pretty much the same today except and early bed time as I leave at 3:30 for three weeks of adventure. Here we go...

Y10 D188

Been up for a while. Needed to dye my hair before I leave on Sunday, paid bills, put money back into savings, etc. Busy morning and it's 6:30am. Wonder what the rest of the day will bring.

Huge progress made yesterday. Most importantly, I found some of my clothes. I was able to start packing for next week. Thank goodness. Haven't found everything, but a good start. I also managed to get the basement pretty squared away. See, I needed to get some boxes out of the way in my office but the only place to put them was the basement but first I had to get boxes out of the way in the basement and so on and so on. End result, basement is looking good, my office is on its way. I hope to finish it today. Upstairs B kicked ass and got the kitchen 100% done. The living room is 90% there including decorating for Christmas. That's right people. Even in the midst of all this chaos, we managed to get our tree up and decorated. Suck it. I also got the TV setup and configured, and google home working. Priorities.

We did get one pleasant surprise. B was reading the u-haul site of what to do with your empty boxes and they have an exchange forum. She posted a message and no more than 5 minutes later someone responded! This really nice lady came over around 6 and took 75% of our empties. That's with B loading our car as well and following her to her house. She would have taken everything if it would have fit. She is going to come back on Monday night with her mom's SUV to load the rest including the bubble wrap and wrapping paper. We don't have to figure out or worry about where to dump empties. Score. Also by the time she comes back on Monday, we should have almost all other boxes opened.

We're doing this faster than the average bear mostly because of my schedule. Since I am going to be gone, if she needs help, it needs to be done NOW. No rest for the wicked. The only room we can go slower on is her office. She is going to work on it today, but it can happen at her pace, not mine. We have to hit IKEA to get her a tabletop before she can finish though and THAT has to happen today.

Going to order Xmas gifts today. I have about $300 in gift cards this year but going to reign it in for sure. We bought a damn house for Xmas. We also got B one of her HP posters. That's on its way and is a big enough present for her. Going to buy mostly house stuff that can be for both of us for the remaining presents.

Time to shower.

Y10 D187

Is something wrong?She saidOf course there isYou're still aliveShe saidOh do I deserve to be?Is that the question? And if so, if soWho answers?Who answers?

You know who answers? Me. That's who. I had this playing last night while I was unpacking boxes in my office and it struck me. Yeah, you can knock me down. Again. And again. And again. But motherfucker, I get back up. I always get back up. I'm still alive.

We were unpacking machines yesterday. Given my short time at home this week, we had to be. I am not leaving poor B to do all this on her own. Especially my shit downstairs. I went off on as much as I could. She knocked out the kitchen which is no small feat. We're nowhere near done, but damn if we didn't make a mountain back into a molehill.

I also managed to work yesterday. Laid down some audio tracks for one of our CBTs. OMG recording in my new space was wonderful. One take, no noise. Took longer to transcode the file than to record it. I was so happy about that. I also modified and prepared one of three classes I need to get done for 2019.

Only one thing I didn't get done which has to happen today and that's find my work clothes. I found clothes, but not the ones I need to pack. The problem is I used clothes as packing material in some boxes and I need to open everything to find what I am looking for down there. Is what it is. But damn if I don't find them I am screwed. I will have to go to the store and buy 4 shirts and a pair of pants. That ain't happening.

Made car reservations for TN. I decided I don't want to dick with cabs and the like. Fuck it. Came out cheaper than six days of a rental car and parking.

Time to get my ass back to the salt mines.

Y10 D186

So many boxes. Over 350 tagged items including furniture. Hey remember how I was worried this guy under-estimated the weight of all my stuff and that there might be a problem? Well one of those was right. When we moved to OR, the weight of everything was around 8,000 lbs. This time? The driver told us our stuff was close to 11,000. The guy at the office under scoped are weight big time. Not our issue. This is why I was so adamant about getting a not to exceed quote and why everyone else came in so much higher. They knew we would be somewhere around 10k at least. Not this guy. We were looking over some of his estimate (me and the driver) and he severely under figured a lot of the small boxes. He assumed small box and was like 5 lbs. Problem is at least 20 of our small boxes were book boxes each closer to 20 pounds. So what should have been 400 lbs came in at 100. Hey, it's over, it's done, it's paid, go away.

The movers showed up promptly at 8am, got set up, and were unloading by 8:20. He had a MUCH better crew this time. Two young guys who were eager to get paid and get the job done. They had that truck unloaded by 11:30. They were also very respectful of our doors, walls, and floors. They did an excellent job. Now for us to put it all away. We did manage to get a few things setup. The guest room is good, our room is good, and my desk is good. Not my whole office mind you, but my desk at least. Both upstairs and downstairs. This means I can get some work done without too much trouble. That's important.

We worked straight through until almost 11:30 breaking only for a quick dinner. I have some specific tasks to get done today and then I will be right back on it to help get things done. B's friend is coming over today to help her and they are focusing on kitchen. Good, I want to be able to cook at home. Next we will probably focus on living room, B's office, then finally basement. I have only a few more days at home and then it's nothing from me for a good while.

I am going to be doing some recording this morning. First big test of my new space. Wish me luck.

Y10 D185

TODAY'S THE DAY!! TWO WEEKS AFTER BEING HERE OUR STUFF WILL BE HERE IN TWO HOURS! WHOOOO!!!!

Much excite!

I worked yesterday although it was a pain in the ass doing it the way my stuff is set up right now. Was not very easy or logical. I kept moving a folding chair from point A to point B. Annoying as shit. I did get confirmation on my third december trip. I now go TN, Brea, then Pasadena with only one day at home. I will be insanely busy starting next Sunday. But it will finish off my hotel stay needs, my car rental needs, and put me within spitting distance of my airline needs. I will need one flight in January. I can do that.

We had all the leftovers last night. Then around 6 we lugged 16 bags of leaves out to the curb for garbage day. Ah, the joys of home ownership. Good times. Hopefully we put them out their correctly and they take all 16 bags. Cross your fingers for me.

Watched some 'tv' on the ol' laptop, went to bed around 11. Need to go to the store before the movers come to grab some cash and move the car. Let's go!! I better not look outside and see the white rain.

Y10 D184

More painting was done yesterday. Our bedroom is now 100% complete.  Trim and all. That was an all day project. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms left to do. I believe B is going to start in on the main bathroom today. We haven't picked out colors for the remaining rooms yet, but it will come. Doing this is making it feel more like "ours" instead of someone else's house. I know it's dumb, but true. Plus only one more day and we'll have our stuff in here. Thank goodness. Then it will really be solid. We ate out a lot yesterday because of the painting. Plus I didn't feel much like going to the grocery store or cooking with our meager corningware that we have.

We did take one break yesterday. We went out to this place called Flower Barn Nursery which is more of a giant fish store than a nursery. They have all sorts of fish you won't find at a regular pet store. Live brine, baby lobsters, puffers, sharks. They have an 800 gallon tank with coral for $25,000. This is the serious fish store. I refused to get too excited though. Not until our other tanks get here and I know what kind of space we will have and how they will be setup. We can go back in January and think about other fish.

No, nothing from the kid. Sorry. I will be following up with her today myself.

Y10 D183

I have to stop chastising myself for 'sleeping in'.  I need to remember that I am still adjusting to being in EST. I know we have been here a little while, but in reality I am still waking up between 3:30 and 4am. Just eastern variety. I actually have been waking up around 5:30 each day but not getting up. I guess I am taking advantage of this opportunity to catch up on some sleep. Starting next week I have to do real work and then I am on the road so I won't get the opportunity any more. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Yesterday I was overloaded with family and people. We went in the morning to B's aunt's house to get the furniture they were giving us. A dining room table and a buffet. There I met her cousin, and B's dad was there and her cousin's son, and the aunt. Woof. Many people. Oh but first we had stopped at her grandparent's to get the truck. Like 5 people there at 9 in the morning. B's dad brought his truck with trailer and we were able to fit everything between the two vehicles with no problem. We get everything loaded and brought back to the house. With her dad's help, we got it all in and setup quickly. I thought that would be the end of it.

Nope.

Her dad then said he wanted to clean our yard. Sure, why not. Knock yourself out. He was there for the next 6 hours. Seriously. He replaced and cleaned our gutters, raked all our leaves, blew leaves, trimmed things, he helped me remove a shelving unit from the garage, all sorts of outdoor stuff. For that I was grateful and appreciative. He did more than I would have ever done on my own for sure. The problem came when we had to run to home depot for some stuff. We needed a rake, a sprayer nozzle, and some gutter screws.

We get back and B's uncle is in our house. With his two fucking kids. Okay, not cool. Here's where I kind of drew the line. You don't invite people to MY house and especially let them into my house without me here. We gently talked to her dad about it later and he understood, but it better not happen again. I was so angry that I went off and "took a nap" just to get away.

We made a chicken pot pie for dinner and ate it at our 'new' table. I should mention, the furniture is really nice. It's handmade amish oak furniture and we will use the buffet as a tv stand until we decide where we want to mount the tv.

No updates from the kid. I am hoping she can get in this week. Keep your fingers crossed on that.

Today we are painting the bedroom. Whee!

Y10 D182

Did you all see what CAH did yesterday?? They had a 99% off sale. Every ten minutes they offered something new. Items included:

- 2015 Ford Fiesta with 25k miles - $97.50
- A real Picasso - $60
- A signed picture of Nixon - $6
- Sony 85" TV - $35
- 600 live ants - $.66
- Full size pirate ship bounce house - $18

And there were many more. There was basically one of each and you had to be fast. I tried for a few of them but missed out. It was impressive as hell though. I was reading that there 30,000 - 40,000 people trying for each item every ten minutes. The real item for sale was their new "Absurd Box" with 300 new cards, normally $2000 but today only $20. Yeah, I bought one. I mean come on, I had to.

So that was my excitement yesterday. B braved the outside world with a friend of hers. I chose to stay home. I made the smarter decision. We did go out later in the evening to the pet store and home depot. Nothing major and it was late enough both were relatively dead.

Finished painting the office. I am very happy with the color. We were talking yesterday and for the first time in like a decade, I am going to not have to shove everything under the sun into my office. It will be a desk, shelves, and that's about it. It's going to be a wonderful change for me. No dressers, bookcases, etc. We did discover one issue with the room; there's only two outlets and one is controlled by the switch outside the room. Not cool. I did make an appointment with an electrician to come over and price out some stuff in December and that will get added to the list. There's about 7 or 8 little projects like that I want scoped. We'll see which ones we can afford to do over time.

B had another friend come over in the early evening. She took the tour and hung out for a while. Big difference between her two friends. One was complimentary of the house, sat and talked with us, the other said "you have a lot of storage". Um, yes? People.

I made a car service reservation for next Sunday. I picked a moderate size company so I can establish a relationship. Let's see how they do.

Today we're picking up the buffet and the dining room table from her aunt's place. At least one room of this house will be put together. Other than that, no big plans for the whole weekend. Only four more days until our shit arrives in theory.

Y10 D181

We believe our ceiling mouse is actually a squirrel. Whatever it is, it is too large for the traps we have been setting. We need to get a larger live animal trap to catch this thing. It's not a rat as they are unlikely in this type of area. Plus the poop doesn't support rat. It supports squirrel. Lovely. At least I don't have to worry about her wanting to keep that as a pet.

Spent the day finally painting. Got my office done. Didn't leave the house for once. About damn time. The office looks pretty good. I need to do some touch-up this morning, but I don't think I will need a full second coat. I need to do the white trim now today. One room will be done. Whee.

We had our faux thanksgiving meal in the basement watching episodes of friends. That's us. Nerds until the end.

It's 20 degrees outside. WTF? We're getting snow on Sunday and Monday but luckily nothing forecasted for Tuesday when the movers get here. I can't believe I am looking forward to going to TN where it will be 'warmer'. MI to TN to CA in three weeks. Yeah, I predict a cold coming on.

No new updates on the kid getting into her place. Believe me, she is more annoyed and anxious about it than me. We're just sitting and waiting. All that can be done.

Not much else going on today. Today I avoid all stores and shopping because I'm not an idiot. Especially here. These people really do camp out overnight for $100 televisions. Fucking knuckleheads. No thanks.

Y10 D180

As expected, our stuff did not show up yesterday. I waited until 10am and sent a strongly worded email to both Allied and the local company that handled it. Allied got back to me within an hour. End result? I got a $400 credit to buy things that we need INCLUDING food for tonight (played the sitting on the floor eating fast food on thanksgiving sympathy card hard) and a guarantee my stuff will be here Tuesday at the latest. That part still sucks, but I know where it is now at least. WI to be exact. He has two drops in WI, then IN, then us. Good times.

To add to that clusterfuck, the guy with my motorcycle reached out to me. The keys for my bike were stolen. Luckily the bike was locked in a secure garage, but the keys were in his truck for some stupid fucking reason. Now they're going to have to rip my ignition and replace the keys. What a fucked up situation.

So yeah, that was our day. Fun huh?

On the positive side, B's 'aunt' gave us some furniture and we are getting more from her Saturday. We now have a lazy-boy recliner and a couch in our basement. It's better than sitting on the floor. This weekend we are going over and getting a dining room table and matching buffet.

We found a cool antique store yesterday and got a light fixture for our dining room. I love it. Finally starting to make this our house by doing shit like that.

Still haven't caught the fucking mouse in the ceiling who just ran over my head. Fucker.

At 9pm we went to the store. Spent $200 which I am submitting to Allied. Cookware, a folding table, blankets, pots, pans, knives, and some food for tonight. I kept it reasonable but still got things we need to function. They better not deny any of this or I will go ballistic right now.

Fuck Thanksgiving.

Y10 D179

So much to update you all on this morning, whoo boy. Let's start with some pictures. See this map from the CA Wildfire Service? See that GREEN building? That's the kid's apartment complex. I know. Just, I know.

Now, here's the outside. Notice how charred and burnt and melted some things are? We still don't know the inside condition, but damn. She is honestly going to get a tattoo this weekend of a rabbit's foot. She knows how lucky she is. We all do.



She should be able to get back in on Friday to see the extent of the internal damage. No promises on the inside contents, but man oh man, if the inside is half as good as the out we'll all be happy.

Now on to the stupid cat. She ended up having to have 3 teeth pulled. She did fine during the surgery and is in moderate pain right now. We have pain killers for her. She is doing well thank goodness.

If only I could get my furniture. No, no word on that. I plan on sending a STRONG email to the coordinator today making him feel guilty. It won't do much, but I sure as hell will feel better.

Visited some of B's family yesterday. That was 'fun'. Honestly it wasn't bad I just get all weird around family type settings. It's just me.

We got a heater for the bedroom since it is freezing in there even with the house heat on. I think it's because we are sleeping on the floor and right up against an exterior wall. Either way, we needed external heat.

What else? I think that's about it. That's a pretty full day in my book. Today we are going to visit her aunt who has some furniture for us. We will at least have a dining room table. The one thing I give zero fucks about. Good times.

Y10 D178

Took the ca to the vet yesterday to deal with her tooth issue. She has a bad tooth that dropped. She is going back today to have it removed. Lovely. Fun times.

Didn't really do much else come to think of it. I went to target to get some stuff. We met with our realtor to get our paperwork. Had dinner with one of B's friends. Went to bed around 10:30. I am noticing I am going to bed closer to 11 here and getting up around 6. I am turning into a normal human being. NO IT HURTS!!

Put the garbage cans out last night. Good times.

Today we got to the vet, then the courthouse to turn in our papers, then paint.

Someday we will get furniture. Some day.

Y10 D177

I think it's finally starting to sink in that I live here. HERE. Weird. You know I haven't even been in my own backyard yet? Snow and cold and too many things to do inside has kept me from going outside. I am going to make that a priority today. I started taping off the office so I can paint today.

So what DID I get accomplished yesterday? Well, I installed the Nest as planned. That thing is pretty neat. It should over time save me money. Going to submit the rebate form today. Between the savings as a best buy elite and the rebate, this stupid thing is going to cost me $75. Not too bad.

We also went exploring a little bit. I am learning the streets and the areas. For once I am glad I travel as much as I do. I can remember things faster than the average person when it comes to navigating. I can get to at least 3 or 4 main stores we need to use. Success.

We 'cooked' at home too. Had pulled pork sandwiches with mashed potatoes and veggies. Yes, I made dinner in a microwave, but we sat in bed (on the floor), watched TV, and had a nice time in our home. Still so quiet, I can't get over it.

Today we have to take one cat to the vet. Her tooth situation is getting worse. Need to fix that ASAP. That and painting are our big projects for Monday.

Oh, and just to be clear - FUCK THANKSGIVING.

Y10 D176

As you can see, I slept in this morning. I didn't go to bed until almost midnight though. But regardless, I got a good night sleep. Why did I sleep so well? Because B found us a bed. Since we don't know when our stuff is arriving, we broke down and bought a mattress and box spring. We need one in the guest room anyway and it won't go to waste. Made for a much better night's sleep, that's for sure. It was also only $300 at big lots. Yep. Big Lots. Go figure. That was but one of many things we did yesterday. Day two in our new home went much better than day one.

We also got paint for the master bedroom, the main bathroom, and my office. That will be our project next week. We are dealing with a clogged drain in the bathroom so got a snake to try and work through that.

I was talking to my sister last night and was telling her about things like that around here. I feel like the previous owner either didn't live here much or bought it solely to flip. Things are just not 'done' in places. But I am hesitant to say anything critical in front of B. I don't want her thinking I hate the place. She did a lot in finding and getting it for us and I want her to feel proud. It's just me being bitchy me.

I picked up a nest yesterday too. That's one of my projects for today. Shouldn't be too hard to install. All of four wires. Harder part will be figuring out the fuse box controls. Not well labeled.

No word from the movers. I was hoping they might have any update. Cross your fingers I hear from them on Monday.

Y10 D175

I HAVE REAL INTERNET! And when I say I have internet, whoo boy do I mean it:

So yeah, that's finally done. Only took 9 hours. More on that in a minute.

First off, the kid. She sent me a video yesterday of someone driving down her road the night of the fire. There was a comic book/collectible card store next to her building and it's just blazing away. How her building managed to stay up is a miracle. And I don't use words like that lightly. We won't know the condition of the contents of her place for a while though. Odds are everything is going to be pretty messed up. After seeing the video of what was going on around her, there's no way she isn't going to be dealing with ash and smoke damage. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now that looks like it will be December before they can get back in. She is staying in a room at a co-workers house and will be offering them some money to stay there for the next few weeks. Luckily, her work went WAY ABOVE and beyond. They gave her a check for $1150 to cover what she might need to rent a room for two months AND they gave her a grocery store gift card for $100 to get Thanksgiving groceries. Kindness abounds.

I did get a call yesterday from her mother. I was busy and let it go to VM. She is wanting to know what 'we can do together'. Um, nothing? I got it covered on my end. Thanks. Go live your life and I will live mind. Pain in my ass.

Now, back to the adventure from hell. NEVER AGAIN. A quick recap of the week:

Monday
Movers show up on time (amazing) but unlike the last ones can't seem to get their truck into the spot and end up parking on the street. This adds a delay as they have to take everything an extra 150-200 feet. Doesn't seem much, but when you're carrying a couch, it makes a difference. Plus the fucking moving company told the driver "2 bedroom apartment" even after I told them I had the equivalent of a multi-room home. When the driver showed to look around he immediately was like 'um this is more than I was expecting'. No fucking shit buddy. The problem? The local guys sent him to helpers that were older than me. They were bitching and moaning the whole time and taking like one box at a time. I could have done a faster job. So what should have taken 3 hours took 6.  Lovely. But they got it done. When I asked when he thought he would drop off, he said it might not be until the 26th because of Thanksgiving? Are you serious??? I was told the 20th and now you're pushing it out a fucking WEEK?? Ugh. So pissed off about that. After they left, we organized are stuff to go in the car and got to bed early.

Tuesday
Got up and started loading the car. That was frustrating. Things didn't fit where I wanted them. Had to redo things multiple times to get everything working. Then had to get the fish in and setup their power. Then the cats. Whoo boy, the cats. Within the first twenty minutes one had shat themselves and then thrown up. That put a damper on our start. By the time we really started rolling it was after 4:30am. Fun times when you have 900 miles to go. Day one took us through OR, WA, and MT. MT was pretty and pretty boring. Snow, open road, 80 mile an hour stretches. Got to the hotel really late, got everyone inside, and crashed hard.

Wednesday
Day two was a little better. Day two was MT, ND, and MN. Again more empty open roads. We picked up some dramamine for the cats Tuesday night and that helped A LOT to keep them calm. Some early morning issues, but much better day in general. 850 miles total that day. Got to Eagan earlier than the day before. The hotel there had been open only a week and was perfect. They went above and beyond in terms of service. Even so much as loading us up with water and food when we checked out in the morning and not a single charge. I was very pleased with that.

Thursday
Last day of travel. 700 miles through MN, IL, IN, and MI. IL sucked because we had to go right through Chicago and it was bad. Even at noon when we hit it the traffic was a nightmare. We drugged the cats again which helped. We also hit a snowstorm when we hit IN. I was so worried about everything up above the car. I had computer shit in there that I kept stressing over. Got to the house around 6:30pm EST. What a trip. We didn't have much time to really take everything in. My first priorities were cats, fish, then computers. By the time I got all that in it was 9pm and B setup the air mattress and we collapsed. We had planned on bringing our real bed but it wouldn't fit. We ended up bringing our 22" air mattress which is better than nothing, but not so good we didn't look around yesterday for a real mattress. We need one for the guest room anyway.

How's the house? Acceptable. I am having to learn that basements are not 'finished' to my standards especially in a house this old. By that I mean the electrical is wonky, some of the ceiling tiles don't match (it was finished in stages, you can tell), and there's little construction issues that make me go huh? But I love the upstairs. I just wish it had furniture in it. With nothing in it and hardwood floors, it echoes and is cold. It's still snowing here and that's not helping things. But the space is amazing and more importantly, it's silent. Like dear god is it silent. I couldn't ask for anything better. I can't hear shit outside and I love it. My office is an oasis of darkness and silence. People could use it as an isolation chamber. It's awesome.

Friday
Ah yesterday. AT&T was scheduled to be here at 9 so at 7 we went and did some grocery shopping. We stopped for some breakfast and then came back to wait. B went out to get a rocking chair from her mother and some stuff at petsmart. Her dad left us a 30 gallon tank setup and I got the fish all situated in that. AT&T guy showed at 9 on the dot. Impressive. He then looked around, figured out where to drop the fiber, and went to work. Took him a few hours outside as he had to run a brand new drop from the pole and the main box. He got it in, ran it through the ceiling for me, and was ready to go. Until it didn't work. Long story short, his people fucked up and gave him an ONT (the modem) that was still assigned to another customer and wouldn't recognize us. He had tried swapping out multiple things, resetting, rewiring, etc. Finally he got it resolved around 5:30 after being here all day. I gave him the cash in my pocket (about $15) because I felt so bad. He almost wouldn't take it, but I made him. He was thankful and that made me feel good. We did lose the entire day unfortunately. We then tried to go to Walmart for some more household stuff. Never doing that again. This area is truly a 'people of Walmart' world. I hated every fucking second of it. Got what we needed and got the hell out. We then tried to find a mattress somewhere. No luck on that because we wanted it delivered today and it was too late for most stores. We will try again today to see if we can find one. Wish us luck.

First though, we are taking the cats to the vet. One cat has a tooth problem that needs to be resolved now. It's grown into her bottom lip and needs to come out. She is in pain and cranky from it. B has a friend who works in a vet office about 30 minutes away and we're taking the cat there. That's how I will spend my Saturday.

Oh and through all this? I was working. I answered a ton of emails, booked a flight to TN, handled manuals being ordered, dealt with clients and our CBT guy, etc. I told my boss that he owed me one day of non-PTO for this week and he agreed. Instead of taking 8 days for this, I only have to put down 7. Cool. I can handle that.

Time to shower and see about turning on some heat in this place.

Y10 D174

Well here we are. We are in OUR HOME. I am still getting used to it. After driving for 3 days the enormity of this hasn't quite hit me yet. I will say one thing about it so far - IT'S FUCKING QUIET HERE. I can't hear the outside world at all and I love it. There's a few things I am noticing that need addressing, but hey, I have time.

It's snowing right now. Weird.

AT&T will be here at 9. Then I will have real internet. Hotspotting to get basics done.

I PROMISE more to come.

Y10 D173

850 miles yesterday. In Eagan MN. About to leave. 700 miles today. and then we arrive IN OUR HOME. Thank fucking god.

Y10 D172

905 miles driven yesterday. 850 to go today. Currently in Billings MT. Tonight will arrive in Eagan MN.

Update - the kid's building is still standing! That's ALL we know. We don't know what condition, what things inside look like, how much was lost, etc. We just know the fixture is standing. Hopefully more this week on that.

Let's get rolling...

Y10 D171

And we're off to MT. I will give a much better update tomorrow from a hotel room. No confirmed word on the kid right now. We do believe her building is still standing though.

Y10 D170

Unfortunately we still have no concrete update on the kid's place. The roads are still shut down so no one can get close enough to know the extent of the damage. As of 8pm last night, the fire was 25% contained and moving away from town, however the winds were set to pick back up and who knows what could happen as a result.The kid's coworker offered her a spare room in her house which means she will be able to get to and from work easily. Today she is heading to work then going over there afterwards. She is worried now about money because she is having to buy stuff over again like clothes and toiletries but also has her normal bills coming out. I am really hoping that the management company immediately gives everyone back their deposit and pro-rates their rent. We shall see.

On our front, we busted ass finalizing packing, getting parts needed for the fish, working in the garage, etc. The movers will be here in 5 hours. We got everything out of the office except the stuff that is coming with us. We are going to put the cats in there while the movers are here with a big do not open sign on it. DON'T DEAD OPEN INSIDE? Some of you will get that joke. Others won't. Regardless, we are ready. In 24 hours we will be heading out to MT our first stop. 900 miles of driving with 4 fish, two cats, and a ton of shit. Oh boy.

I just heard someone outside 'howl'. No really. Who the fuck is walking around howling at 3:15 in the morning? Sigh. Humans.

Y10 D169

Still no confirmed information. We don't know what's going on. Roads are still closed. She did manage to get ahold of her boss who once more told her to take as much time as she needs. When you live in a place like this, I think people have a little more empathy to this sort of thing. Of course, having it be a state of emergency helps too.

We busted our asses all day. Took care of draining down one fish tank, taking down a ceiling fan, replacing original light fixtures, packing, packing, and more packing. This is it. The movers will be here in 28 hours. We've got to be ready. Today the tv comes down. That's going to be fun. I have to work in the garage for a little while to get to the TV box. Also whee.

But in 48 hours, we will be on our way to our HOME. Just that thought is motivation enough for me to be up at 4am getting ready to do stuff.  This is going to be an exciting week.

Y10 D168

No update yet. I am avoiding the news because it just breaks my heart to see the ruin. Hopefully they will get a grip on the fire today and the kid may get an update. Yesterday though we both had random acts of kind ness bestowed on us (me and the kid) that gave us a little more faith in humanity.

For me it was someone letting me in to the Amex Lounge as their guest so I didn't have to pay the day pass fee. That was important for me because I ended up spending 9 hours in there.

For the kid it was a clerk at Ulta buying her whole purchase for her of $125 in makeup.

I finally got home at 5pm last night. We went and had Indian. Big day ahead of us today and tomorrow. A lot to do.

Let's go do it.

Y10 D167

It's a bad day here. Everything smells like smoke and ash. But it's a worse day for the kid. She's in it again. Last time she was spared, this time doesn't seem so likely. Yes, she is right in the path of the new Camp Creek fire that spread from 20 acres to 18,000 in less than 12 hours. She was at work when the evacuation order came and wasn't back allowed into her new place. She made it to the boyfriends place but her whole life is probably gone. This morning the reports said her town is 'utterly devastated'. I am beside myself with worry and anxiety.

This of course all happened during class. I don't care if I get bad reviews from these people. It just isn't important to me right now.

I am headed to the airport soon. Hopefully the smoke won't cause any delays.

Fuck this world.

Y10 D166

I am getting a hotel cold. Dry throat, scratchy, stuffed up head. Ugh. It's the last thing I need right now. Very uncool. I have some throat drops in my bag so I will be sucking those down today. There really is very little around here too which makes it hard for me to get medicine or anything else. One more day. I can go home tomorrow. If I was really feeling adventurous I could get in the car tonight after class and drive home. But I already have a paid for flight, paid for car service, and next week I am going to drive for three straight days. So no, not going to drive home. Screw that.

Looks like I will be in SoCal for a week in December. Now just to get the TN gig lined up and I will make all my numbers in December. As of right now without TN, I will miss my American status by 5k miles, and the hotel status by one night. The hotel I can deal with, but not the air. I need those miles.

Got through day two without killing anyone which is a miracle since mr I know everything wouldn't shut up or pay attention all day. Everything I said he needed to challenge to prove his superiority. Whatever dude. Just don't come if you don't want to be here.

After I was too tired to do anything so I came back, dinner in the restaurant, tv, video games, bed.

B was busy getting all of her stuff packed. I left her a ton of boxes but apparently she needed more. Ok, whatever. I also heard back from the leasing office. They denied our claim to reduce the lease break fee. I hope you enjoy $10 a month for the next 234 months then people. Because I can't afford much else at this point. It is what it is.

Not much else to say today. Had a good morning chit chat with the kid. Nothing specific. Just shooting the breeze. She is much happier since moving into her new place. She is enjoying her privacy and not having to drive two hours a day. Proud of her on that for sure.

Time to get ready. Have to remember to check in for my flight at some point.

Y10 D165

I was thinking last night as I was falling asleep at how horrible I am at keeping in touch with people. I was thinking about it because here I am in the bay area and while I could call or email or text people to possibly say hi and hang out, I literally don't want to. Not that I don't want to see the specific people, I just don't want to see anyone. These trips aren't vacation for me. It's not like I have all day and tons of energy at night. I'm tired and don't want to do much of anything after a long day. But that got me thinking about how over the years I just am not very good at maintaining relationships. Why is that? Is it my own walls that I put up? Is it some underlying lack of empathy or compassion? Am I just an asshole? It's not like I don't ever want to see people. I just get wrapped up in my own world of what's going on that I let other things fall to the wayside. Does that make me a bad person? I don't know. Just the late night pondering mind I guess.

I hate this group. One guy in particular is combative, rude, and just an arrogant asshole who doesn't want to be there. He wouldn't shut up. He wouldn't pay attention. He showed up 35 minutes late and blew me off when I asked him to please show up on time the remaining days. Well fuck you too buddy. He's a big fish in a little pond and thinks he can get away with anything. You have met your match. I snapped a couple of times at him yesterday. And yes, he's fucking Indian. What a shocker, eh? It's this attitude and behavior that I have dealt with for the longest time in my career which is where so much of my racism and personal problems with persons of that background stems. They act like they know everything and some outsider isn't going to tell them shit. Fuck you. I wasn't even supposed to be on the road this week and my attitude sucks because of it already. Two more days of these fucking people.

B finally got back last night. Flight delays in Dallas (gee, what a shock) but she finally got in around 5. She is still on east coast time and ended up going to bed at like 8:30. She didn't have a chance to do anything around the apartment. Dinner, unpack, bed basically.

I had dinner in the restaurant because there's not a whole lot of choices around here. I would have to drive and park if I wanted something cheaper. I am in the middle of the marina and that limits things a bit. Could I have come back, changed, and gone back out? Yeah, but we all know that ain't going to happen.

I haven't checked the news yet this morning. Hopefully everyone did their job and went out and voted. Hopefully the cheeto has some pushback this morning. Let me have some hope in the world, please?

Y10 D164

I am awake but not yet functional. I only got up this early so I could be awake when B gets on her plane. She boards in about 10 minutes. She has a long day of travel ahead of her. DTW to DFW to PDX. Luckily I worked out a deal with my car company and got them to knock 30% off their regular price for me and she won't have to worry about getting home. Someone will be there to pick her up and one less thing for her to stress about. But she won't get home for at least another 12 or 13 hours. I know that feeling all too well.

As for me, I went to the airport early because I knew if I didn't I would be antsy just sitting around. So instead I sat around an airport. Whee. I got there at 7 and didn't board until 11. Four hours of sitting in the lounge doing nothing. My biggest accomplishment yesterday was watching all of the first season of Barry.

I got here around 1:30pm, had to spend 20 minutes on a shuttle to the rental car, then an HOUR sitting in traffic to go 20 miles to my hotel. It took less then 30 minutes for me to hate being back in this area. This area in particular is worse than others too. In the last three years if I needed to go somewhere I got on one MAYBE two freeways. Here I had to get on 4 different freeways in a span of twenty miles to get to my destination. All of it in stop and go traffic. Fuck this area. Won't miss this one bit.

My hotel is huge. 5 buildings spread out across the marina. It takes like 10 minutes to walk to the main lobby where breakfast will be served. Sweet mother of holy heck. Luckily the client is less than 2 miles from here, no freeway required.

I got here, unpacked, talked with one of my coworkers and walked to a teppanyaki restaurant down the harbor. It was okay. Overpriced for what it was unfortunately. I will probably get yelled at for spending too much money but whatever. Tonight I am going to try and meet up with said co-worker closer to the client. We'll see how that goes.

Home Friday. Just have to get through the next three days of classes. I can do this.

Y10 D163

So you know how I take surveys to have points for the end of year for Christmas? SOMEONE STOLE ALL MY POINTS. I woke up this morning to an email saying thanks for your redemption. UM WTF?? Almost $300 in points/gift cards gone. I am so pissed right now. I opened a support case, let's see what happens. I changed the password on there. I need to go through and change passwords everywhere. I need a new set. Time to retire some of the old ones. Pain in the ass. All that work for nothing.

Got the bike shipped off yesterday. 10 hours later than it was supposed to go. Also got the BBQ out of here. Gave that to my neighbor's dad.

Leave for the airport soon. Have a day of flying ahead of me.

God I am so pissed I can't see straight. WHY ARE PEOPLE ASSHOLES? Fuck this world. Just fuck it.

Y10 D162

Happy DST end! I know a lot of you are probably already awake because of the time change. If you're like me you woke up an hour ago, freaked out, looked at your phone, and realized fuck, it's that time of year again isn't it? That was me at 2:55am. I did manage to fall back to sleep thank goodness.

Did some stuff yesterday. Biggest accomplishment was picking up some more boxes in case B needs them this week. I leave tomorrow, and she gets home on Tuesday. Stupid cats have about 36 hours alone to kill each other. Good luck with that cats. I was going to pack some stuff yesterday but every time I looked at something I said, no, B will need that while I am gone. So while we have the boxes, there's still a bunch of shit unpacked. Next weekend will be a scramble but okay.

We did make our hotel reservations for the trip. We will be staying in Billings MT night one, then on to Eagan MN for night two. Arrive day three in MI. The first day will be 900 miles and a bit of a push, but it was the closest place that accepted pets.

B spent the day at the house cleaning and go over things. The previous owner left a shit ton of holes in the walls and didn't bother to patch or paint. Lovely. She is going to get a couple of gallons of paint today and her dad will paint while we're gone. That's one good thing at least.

I am still eating through all the food in here. Had the second to last salmon available. Tonight is the last serving. Whew. I really do wish I wasn't going out of town next week, but we need the work, I need the hotel nights, etc. Once I am done with them though, I am done until nearly the end of the month.

Played some video games, watched some tv. Not much else.

This morning I am supposed to get a call about the bike. They should be picking it up today. I have to go downstairs, move the car, and get things ready. That's my big adventure for the day. I will also be packing up the wine and tonight some of the computer equipment.

We're in the home stretch people.