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...