Y12 D219

 I had, for me, a really bad dream in my final sleep stage. I had another one earlier which was pretty awful too. Let's start with the first one; I was trapped in a building on fire. Yeah. I was also trying to figure out how to get me and my stuff out. The second one involved X2 and some weird shit. I can't wrap my head around all of it, but between both of those, apparently I have some issues. Fuck dreams.

Last day of the year. So? Nothing is going to change tomorrow. There won't magically be 500 million vials of vaccine available. The spoiled baby will still be in charge for 19 days. I will be more excited on Feb 1 when there's a chance things might be looking positive. Until then, fuck NYE. Just another Thursday.

Played video games. Made stew. Went to bed.

Y12 D218

 My tinnitus is so prevalent these days in my left ear that when it's not going, it's weird. Like right now it's silent in my head. Not used to it. It's quiet, too quiet. 

I'm getting used to this nice sleeping in thing. It's already 7am. Not like I have anything to do today mind you, but next week is coming fast and I have to be back up early. Can't get too spoiled this week. I'm off, my coworker is off, and our boss is off this week. I have been checking email once or twice a day, but so far nothing. Of course now that I said that...

I have completed the sous vide trifecta. I did my salmon last night. 30 minutes at 122 degrees. Very tasty. This is how restaurants get so many plates out looking exactly the same. They have a giant version of this where they just throw in the entrée, let it cook and finish in pan. Things like salmon can be cooked in advance then flash warmed in a pan. If more people realized this they would complain less at restaurants because the shit is already cooked. "Oh mine isn't cooked right". Bitch it's cooked exactly the same as the 20 other portions that came out of the kitchen tonight. 

Watched tv, read, played video games. Some day if I ever retire, that's going to be the daily entry at least 4-5 times a week. No complaints.

The year is almost over. So?

Y12 D217

 Been up for a little while. Had to deal with a couple of things. First one of the filters wasn't going and it was due to a tube not being at the right angle. Not enough pressure for it to suck the water up and out. Fixed. Then I had some bills to pay. No stress there because I had already factored them into my calculations on Friday as I knew they'd be coming. Done and done. 

Not much excitement yesterday. To be honest, no excitement at all. Cleaned the kitchen, played some video games, watched some tv, read a little. No drama, no nothing. Made philly cheesesteaks for dinner. We used the air fryer setting on the new toaster oven. Ooh. Ah. Meh. Didn't notice any difference. Sorry, not that excited about the air fryer portion. That was all B's desire. It made fries. Whoop-dee-doo. 

Got my last package from the kid. A book from a London bookstore which is why it took so long to arrive. Neat. It's from an author who has written quite a bit of the Doctor. I think today I might start it.

Same plans for today - in other words, nothing.

Y12 D216

Ah, the week between Christmas and New Year. When you're full of cheese and have no clue what day of the week it is. 

Y'all want to see what a perfectly cooked steak looks like? Well, here you go:

129.2 degrees F for 1 hour. 1 minute sear for finish. I love my Joule. (I spelled it wrong yesterday. Oops.) I'm so happy and excited with this thing. Brings me joy in an uncertain time. B for once was absolutely thrilled with a steak I made her. Depending on the cut, the cook, etc. she sometimes isn't always excited to eat a slab of meat. The best part was the cut and cost. Sous vide can make even a moderate cut of meat come out well. When I told her that these steaks were like $5 each she was amazed. Frankly so was I. They truly did come out good for the cost.

So Nashville, eh? Suicide? Hmm. I think he knew something about what was going on in that AT&T building. That's pretty elaborate for "suicide". Just sayin'. 

In addition to making the world's best steak, I got a lot accomplished yesterday. Was up early to hit the grocery store. For once I only had to go to one store. I managed to get everything I needed. Miracle. I also managed to order my new UPS online and gets same day delivery. It arrived around 3pm yesterday. Happy with it so far. I ended up putting it closer to my desk than the old one. It's more powerful but a bit smaller. I think because it uses dual batteries instead of one big honking one.

Cleaned the bathrooms, did some laundry. Played some video games. We watched some more Goliath. Good show. B decided to continue to power watch it. I will get to it in my own time. Too heavy for me to power through right now. 

A whole week of doing nothing. Going to Home Depot tomorrow I think to buy some paint. I want to paint the laundry room cabinets. Need a big thing of white paint to do it. Lofty goals.

Y12 D215

 First time in a while I have been up to an alarm. Why? The fucking grocery store. How sad is that. It's Sunday, it's 4:30am, and I am up to go to a store because I am afraid of being around crazy people. What a life.

I used my Jules for the first time yesterday and made perfect sous vide eggs. They were wonderful. 194 degrees, 8 minutes. Tonight I am going to do steaks for 1 hour at 131 degrees. Cooking and science! Woo!

Cleaned up all the remnants of Christmas. Much easier this year given the minimal amount of decorations we put out. Took me about 20 minutes. Took me longer to deal with all the cardboard boxes for recycling. But it's done.

We reorganized the kitchen and put all the new pots and pans away too. Setup the new toaster oven. A productive day overall was had.

I have to go to best buy today. After 5 years of dedicated service, my UPS battery has died. I looked into a replacement battery and no one around here has one in stock. It may be easier to just replace the unit for now, then order a new battery later to use it in other parts of the house. Today's project after the grocery store.

That's about it. Oh wait, let's talk about Nashville. WTF is up with that? Think about it for a while. This was some Leverage level shit. B and I think it was a distraction for another heist or to test police response. It definitely wasn't a cheeto supporter because then the RV would have been covered in Obama is from Kenya stickers. No, this was next level. They didn't want anyone hurt, they gave ample warning, the blast was limited. Since no one was hurt, I don't feel bad finding it fascinating. I am curious to see how it plays out.

Okay. Store time. In the snow. On a Sunday. My life.

Y12 D214

 And now it's Saturday. Yesterday was just very surreal. I am sure I'm not the only one experiencing that this year. Well, one of the smart people experiencing that feeling. The idiots still all got together with their families yesterday and spread diseases. 

I got some good gifts. B got me a sous vide stick and cookbook which I have been wanting for a long while. I got some nice clothes, we got our new pots and pans, and I got a bunch of pops. B was happy with all her stuff too. She was super excited when she opened the Barbie. I told you all about that, right? '95 Songbird Barbie? Anyway, she was happy.

Honestly the best part of yesterday was dinner. FINALLY found a GOOD Chinese place. We bought dinner for us and B's grandparents and brought it to them. It was very touching to me that we're the only two people they trust enough to de-mask and spend two hours with right now. This is the grandparents where grandma is on dialysis and has medical issues. They have to be ULTRA careful about germs. You walk in and they have an industrial medical grade air purifier in the living room given to them by their medical folks. This isn't a sharper image piece of junk. Nope, this is something that came from a hospital. Yet, they let us in and spent two hours with us eating and socializing. I needed that badly. Seems like they did too. 

We came home, watched Charlie Brown since we didn't watch it Thursday and called it a day. 

Today we are going to tear apart the kitchen and put the new cookware away. That will be a project for sure.

Y12 D213

 Yay. It's Christmas.

It snowed. A decent amount too.

Notice the lack of excitement. 

Yesterday I was trying to fake it to make it but it really didn't work. Being stuck at home, no decorations, no people, it just didn't feel right. Plus B's having a hard time because we're at the one year anniversary of her cousin's suicide. It's been lingering on her brain all week and just taking away from things for her. 

So yeah. How about, it's Friday?

Y12 D212

Today I am up early. Oh well. Not tired or anything either. I'm just awake and done sleeping. Such is life. 19 hours until Christmas. I know I have been meh up to this point, but we're 19 hours away and yes, there is excitement in my heart to open presents. Leave me be. 

And I just got paid. Score. Now of course that means I get to spend the morning doing bills, but hey, paycheck a day early is nothing to complain about. 

Finished God's Basement last night. Wonderful little game. Very fun, very thought provoking. Definitely worth checking out. That was my big accomplishment. That and some laundry. Didn't really do much of anything else.

We had a lovely charcuterie platter for dinner with meats and cheeses given to us by B's Dad. They may have blown it on the other gifts, but that one was right on. Of course, I have horrible heartburn today. Getting old, it's a trap.

No plans for today either. Finish another video game or two. Just ones where I am so close to the end that an hour or so will knock them out. I have at least three like that. Just get through the main story and move them into the finished folder. 

18 hours, 48 minutes.

Y12 D211

 First off, yes, B and I got over our argument. We both needed to cool down to understand what is was about the interaction that caused us both to go on the defensive so hard. We talked it through and figured it out. Things are better. But you want more juicy bits, so here's something for you all...

People shouldn't buy people gifts without asking them for a fucking list first. B's damn family did it again. Specifically her dad and stepmom. Last year they blew it with me, this year they just blew it. I know that's harsh to say and the ol' it's the thought bullshit, but nope. Their gift is now going to cost me time, annoyance, and aggravation. Why? Because for me they once more, bought fucking stupid slippers that don't fit and I don't like. But the kicker is their "big" gift to us? A fucking set of pots and pans. WTF? First off, do we look like kids who wouldn't be able to get our own? Second, oh gee, we DID buy ourselves a new set of professional grade, specific color, specific weight, size, and temper, 7x the cost of what you spent, pots and pans. They bought us some Walmart (seriously) Pioneer Woman bullshit pots and pans. Hey look, if that's your thing, great. But to buy someone like me who is really fucking picky about things something like without discussion? Fail. So now we have to return them and get the money back. Good times. Next year I am giving them a choice - here's a list or give us cash or don't give us anything. This is not a discussion. Waste my time. Ugh. Humans.

Bought a new heater for my office yesterday. I love the one my client sent me last year, but it also dries me out and gets annoying quick. It's forced air, so it heats the room really nice, but I can't take the air blowing on me. I got a radiator style. Downside is takes longer to heat the room, upside is it heats the room. Versus just blowing air in one spot. Got it on sale at Lowe's last night. Yes, I left the house. Scary AF to be honest. Then we went to B's dad's where we loaded up the dumb gifts (seriously people, if you don't want to buy something from a list, don't buy me anything. We will both be happier). Then we stopped at B's friend's place as he had a gift for "us". Really he had a gift for B, and he acknowledged that it was mostly for her, but I'm okay with it. I know he has limited funds and wanted to do the best he could. See? No complaints there because I would rather it be that way.

Speaking of funds, who's excited for their $600 slap in the face? Woo! I don't expect to get one this time based on the new rules, but just in general what a load of shit. Plus did you see how in the COVID bill is a 10 year prison sentence for pirating? For real. Go read it. Fuck this government. What a bunch of out of touch, old white people who need to die off. Then the orange one has said it will be "a reign of terror" for the next 30 days. Wow. Yet, I am still surrounded by people who support him. What is wrong with all of you? Begone you vile creatures. Not even human. Creatures. 

3 million total dead in 2020. 320,000 from COVID. A reign of terror for 30 days. Ah, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world...

Y12 D210

 B and I had a huge fight yesterday. After being in the house for 10 months it's not surprising. I'm sure we're not the only people who've just had it with each other after all this time. We still haven't resolved our issue. That's mostly my fault because I did what I do best - I shut down. The issue is she swears she told me something about the fish tank and instead of just accepting the possibility that she didn't tell me, she won't let go and accused me of gaslighting her because I kept saying she didn't tell me. I talk to literally ONE person on average each day. She talks to ten. I think I remember what I have been told or not. She can't keep straight who she has had conversations with about things. So yeah, I am very confident she didn't tell me what she thinks she did. I would have let it go if she hadn't started yelling at me about it and again, telling me I was gaslighting her. I'm not fucking gaslighting you, I'm saying that to the best of MY recollection you never told me this piece of information. Plus I am just pissed off at having to basically live my life in the dark. I have no lights down here that I can easily turn on or off. Add to that the simple fact that I spend most of my fucking life in a basement. Good times.

Yeah, I'm still angry.

So today should be a lot of fun.

Y12 D209

 Well now, I had a right sleep in, didn't I? 8am. Oh boy! Granted I didn't go to bed until midnight. Yes, I stayed up late on a Sunday no less. Yay me.

Had another productive day. Went to the grocery store, cleaned the back storage room in the basement, baked cookies, did a little more in my closet (just some final touches), took the dishwasher apart to give it a good clean,  and finished series 8 of BBO. Not a bad sunday. Also managed to get some video gaming in. Overall I am very pleased with how the day went. Had soup and sandwiches for dinner because I was feeling lazy. Hey, I did a lot in the morning!

I found out the air date for my buddy's Jeopardy episode - Feb 10th. We shall all see then how he did. 

Going to do two week's worth of timesheets today to get them out of the way. Other than that, no plans for today. Oh, wait, that's not true. I need to do a water change on the big tank and make some appointments for Jan. Okay, that's all for today. I can handle all that.

Before I wrap up today's post, I do want to say how annoyed and disgusted I am with the government right now. From people who don't deserve it getting the vaccine first, to the orange hairball threatening martial law, to a measly $600 check for some people - these people are disgusting examples of human beings and are a disgrace. I don't know how they sleep at night. I really don't. Any of you who voted for one of these people should feel absolutely ashamed at yourselves. You disgust me as much as they do. A pox upon your house.

Y12 D208

 I know it's cliche to pick on weather people for 'being right 50% of the time and still keeping their jobs', but it's so true, isn't it? I mean seriously, all I heard the last few days was how it was going to snow all day yesterday and be a serious one. Yeah, it "snowed" for like 20 minutes and was more like a very tall person with dandruff shaking their head. Seriously. I think more snow melted yesterday than fell. I am really curious to see how the week shapes up since they have been predicting a white christmas. At this rate the only thing white about christmas will be the stupid people still going to each other's houses. 

I got a lot accomplished yesterday. Almost everything on that list from yesterday, I managed to get done. Very proud of myself. On top of all that, B and I managed to get through ALL of season 2 of Mandalorian. I won't post any spoilers, but I will say I truly enjoyed it. I saw a meme yesterday that I think sums it up:

I think that about says it all, doesn't it? Favreau has done what no one else could. Stayed true to the world and the story while giving us something new and fresh. Well done sir. I strongly encourage you all to watch it if you can.

Made pork chops for dinner. For the first time in a while we had a real dinner. B is working on getting her sleep schedule more back in line with normal people. She is trying to be up by noon and in bed by 2. A noble goal. She's doing it for the reasons I was getting frustrated with her; she wants to be able to make phone calls or go to the store. When you go to bed at 4am and don't get motivated until 3 the next day, makes it hard to get anything handled. I have been letting it go because things are still far from normal and for once, being patient paid off. She recognized the issue on her own and is taking steps that work for her to address it. Kudos.

I have to go to the grocery store this morning but as you can see, I am going to brave it at like 8 or 9am. I know it's crazy but you do what you have to do sometimes. I need just a few things so I should be able to get in and out. Wish me luck. Other than that, no real plans thank goodness.

Y12 D207

 Woohoo! I slept in until 6am! Given that I have been up early all week, I will take a 6am sleep. Find the positive where you can.

I had the pleasure of turning on my out of office yesterday at 1pm. For internal folks, they will be greeted with a lovely limerick:

As this year comes to an end,
we've missed seeing family and friend
but please be smart
wear a mask and stay six feet apart
For your funeral I don't want to attend.

I think that summarizes the year pretty well, don't you?

Class went quite well. I was extremely fortunate to finish the year up with one of the best groups I've had the pleasure of teaching. They were all sharp, focused, on time, and we ended up finishing about 30 minutes early. I love groups like that and to have it be the last one of the year was just the icing on the cake.

Speaking of icing on the cake, we binged four episodes of BBO last night. Only a few more to go and we will be all caught up on the series. Best series ever. Wholesome, kind, and makes me want to bake. I might make some crepes today as a result of watching the show.

After class, I went to the grocery store and the pet store to avoid having to go there today. Smart move. It wasn't too horrible at the store when I went. Advantage of going out on a Friday whilst all the blue collar folk are still working. 

My second to last Christmas packages should arrive today. Just one more on Monday and I will have everything. I have been getting worried some stuff wouldn't arrive in time. The stuff from the kid will be late and she feels horrible about it. B's stuff from her should make it on time, but my stuff is set for January. Oh well. Is what it is. It's not like we don't have enough stuff to open in the absence.

As for me, I have a list of things I want to accomplish while off. I do figure I can get most done this weekend, but some may take a few days. Here's my goal list:

• finish moving clothes
• move dresser
• hang clothes
• caramelize apples
• hang pop shelf
• move games
• dishes
• eyebrows
• nails
• wrap final presents

Not a comprehensive list, but the immediate stuff I need to handle. Like I said, most of it I will finish today or tomorrow. 

161 hours to go.

Y12 D206

 This is it! The final day of the year for me! It's 2:30am but man am I ready to get through this! Finish today and I am done!

Yesterday went well. Good, smart group. Only 8 people so it's the perfect size to handle. 8-10 is optimal for me. Enough where we make money, small enough I can keep tabs on everyone easily. We finished around noon. I didn't get to rest though. Too much to do. Today will be the same. Too much on my plate to rest. Yesterday after class I had to take one of the cats to the vet for a follow up treatment. Then I spent the rest of the day starting to move stuff from old dresser to new. I did have to rearrange furniture first which took a while. Then I had dinner, watched some Facts of Life, and went to bed.

I did get the pleasure of telling our stupid people at work that I wouldn't be attending their bullshit party. That was satisfying. I don't think my coworker attended either. So basically our entire department was unrepresented. Satisfying little boycott thank you very much.

It snowed all day. I think it's still snowing. Finally getting a decent covering out there. Five packages arrived yesterday too which was a pleasant surprise. I only have a few little things still out there and they should arrive this weekend. At that point, Christmas will be done. 165 hours to go and it's present time. Yay!

Okay. Need to shower and get ready for my class. Ten hours from now, I will be done done done. 

Y12 D205

 I am up and 'ready' for the day. That's a lie. I am up. Let's go with that.

Yesterday was better. I was on much more table ground. The class was solid, the material was good. I only had one problem student who was new for the day. There's one company in particular we deal with that I just don't understand how people get hired to work there. My co-worker has the same issue with them. None of their "technical" employees seem to have one ounce of computer skills. Seriously. They can't type, they can't figure out left versus right click, and they never ever show up anywhere on time. It's like how the fuck did you get into this position?? Needless to say, they were my problem student all day long. Without them I would have covered more material for sure. But I got through it and finished a little after 6:15. Shoved some food in my face and went to bed at 7pm. That was my day. Good times.

It snowed. It's sticking. And of course it snowed the day my dresser arrived. The dresser showed up around 3pm and is looking good. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do anything with it until the weekend at the earliest. It is what it is. I have to move some things around first before I can start putting stuff in it. 

Okay, two more days, and I am done. Let's do this!

Y12 D204

 Yesterday turned into a complete shit show. Here's the story:

The classes I am teaching Mon-Weds this week are ones I have inherited from other people. I have been spending the last six months trying to make them something workable. The problem and reason they moved to me is the original persons teaching them are not instructors. They are really sharp technical folks but horrible teachers. Most importantly, they would teach the classes slightly ad-hoc as they weren't the kind of people to use PowerPoint slides or have formal written demos. This is what I have been doing most of the year. Taking their ragtag pieces and making them into proper repeatable courseware. The problem is now we have 5 classes for the topic, but there is a lot of overlap. I was told to make them stand alone classes. Marketing however is still selling them as a three day bundle AND they are using the old description as provided by original deliverer. This means that what the students signed up for and what I was prepared to teach, don't align. I ended up doing an on the fly set of material culled from three different classes. Nice, huh? It made for a really rough day. The best part is I have potentially one more day of that! Oh boy!

Once again I finished hella late and by the time I sat down to eat it was 7pm, watched a little tv, and went off to bed. 

Tonight I will go to bed pretty much right after class since I have to be up at 2:30am tomorrow. Almost there. Stay on target.

Y12 D203

 Well, I was supposed to have a bit of a break on Wednesday but that is no longer happening. Unfortunately my coworker who was teaching then had a death in the family and now I have to take over their class. Not a horrible situation at the end of the day, it just means I will be working from 10-6 on Weds, then having to go right to bed so I can get up at 2:30am and be ready for a 4:30am class on Thursday. Four more days and I get a break. Just four more days.

Yesterday went okay. I had some tough questions thrown at me, but I muddled through. Nothing like googling a question in another window to sound like you know what you're talking about. It was a full class and will be 90% the same group today. A few add-ons but not so many it should be a problem. 

After class I ate and then helped B with some fish tank stuff. Next thing you know it's 9pm and I am done for the day. This is why I don't like 10-6. I don't feel like I get any time to relax. It's just one task after another. 

Still waiting for multiple packages to arrive. Some stuff should arrive today, but I have too many things that are just "unknown" right now and it's pissing me off. Thanks government for fucking up USPS earlier this year. They're still scrambling to get back on track and it shows. Two of the things out there are gifts for B which is really annoying. I have enough shit for me to open, I want her to have more stuff. We shall see what arrives today.

Dresser still scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. Now of course B has to be awake and take care of it because I won't be able to break. Good times.

Not much else going on. Just counting down.

Y12 D202

The main thing from yesterday was I did my hair. I now am a violet grape. When it calms down a little I will post a pic. Two hours total to bleach, three hours to process color. This is why I kept putting it off. It really is an all day thing. I am pretty happy with it. It's a little more purple than I hoped, but it's acceptable. I might order some of their dilution creme which lightens dye a bit. Make it a bit lighter.

Other than that, played games. One of my clients sent me a $25 steam gift card which was really nice. I of course reciprocated so we basically gave each other $25. Silly but fun.

B had a craving for del taco last night so she drove and brought it back. Was acceptable. 

That seems to be the theme of the day - acceptable. I am alright with this.

Just need to make it through this week. 4 days of full classes, one day of marketing bullshit and a webinar and I am done for the year. I can do it.

Y12 D201

 Finally, some sleeping in. Granted to some 6:30 doesn't sound like sleeping in, but seeing as I was up just after 4am yesterday, I'll take it. 

Was at the grocery store at 6am. Was home and done by 7:30. Only three of us in the store this week. Oh, that just reminded me of the dream I was having before I woke up. I was in a school in Cleveland for some reason, driving a school bus and I got freaked out because the person there wasn't wearing a mask and was standing too close to me. Lovely. My anxiety of people has dripped into my dreaming subconscious. How freaking wonderful. That's how much this shit worries me apparently. Last night we had to tell our friend she can't come over for Christmas. The last two years she has stayed the night and celebrated the morning with us. Not this year. You were positive human, you keep your distance. 

After groceries, played some video games, cleaned the house a bit, waited for B to awaken. Made pasta with meat sauce for dinner and then we watched a movie together before going off to bed. Well me at least. I am sure she was up until at least 3am.

I did have a bit of a breakdown yesterday listening to the "new" Chris Cornell album. It's a collection of covers he recorded before his death. Some of them just kind of hit me ya know? Definitely worth listening to if you like Cornell's voice.

Played C2077. Yes, it's too long a name for me to be typing the whole thing. Immediately got hit with the "little tree" glitch. But a quick update to my video driver fixed that. Played for about an hour and finally got to the title screen. Getting my money's worth by doing every quest and objective. Got to make it worthwhile. Probably invest another hour or two into it today. 

Going to finally do my hair today too. First some bleaching, then the color. Wish me luck.

Y12 D200

 Well. I caved. I bought Cyberpunk 2077. Only got as far as downloading and character creation. That part took nearly 30 minutes. I had to be up early this morning to go to the grocery store so I didn't want to try and start any missions or anything until I had a good hour plus to spend. That will be for today.

Got through my class. Finished around 5 something. Had leftover chinese food, watch British Bake Off, played game, went to bed. That's it.

Dreading the first two days of next week. 14 students both days. All Indian programmers. Not my kind of class. It will be either too quiet and disengaged or there will be the one person who asks questions well outside my wheelhouse. Next week is about survival and nothing else.

Okay, time to face the evil and go shopping. Lovely.

Y12 D199

 I slept extremely sound last night. I woke up at 2:27am fully rested and ready to go. Luckily I fell back to sleep until 5, but I almost got up the first time. I think the humidifier for the house is finally kicking in at night making it easier for me to breathe.

Well it's official; my hair is long enough for a tiny ponytail. Like a 90s movie producer ponytail, but one none the less. That's what 9 months of no hair cutting does for a person. Still not going to cut it. Just going to let it grow. Why? Why not? Not like I am going anywhere any time soon.

Day two with my group. They did wonderful. I do like teaching people from this company because they are typically sharp but more important, they're interactive. They do make the day go by quicker. That's what makes it fun.

Had chinese food for dinner last night. We were both craving it. Found an inexpensive place and B went and picked it up. For the price it wasn't bad. Not out of this world, but you got a good amount of food for a reasonable price with reasonable taste and quality. Will take that as a win.

Today is one more private group. Should have 4 or 5 today. Enough to make the day interesting but not so bad that I stress. Then the weekend. Whee. Today is bill day. Need to do that next. Still have some presents floating out in the nether. Should knock a couple out this weekend but there are at least three things I don't think will make it in time. Two weeks from today. Which means they have about 12 days to get here and be considered on time. We shall see.

Class is from 10-6 today so I have a few hours to take care of bills and relax. 

Y12 D198

 I am so confused as to what day of the week it is right now. I keep thinking it's Friday or is it Wednesday? No wait, it's Thursday. I don't know why I am having so much trouble. 

Full day of teaching so not much else went on. 8:30 until 5:00, had leftover lasagne for dinner, played some video games, went to bed. No, I didn't buy Cyberpunk 2077. I am debating whether to get it this weekend or wait a month until they do their first patch. You know one will be forthcoming. It's just a matter of time. Plus if I wait a while, I might get lucky and hit a steam sale. It's not like I am suffering from a lack of games.

Class went okay. 13 students total. 90% of them did okay, couple of strugglers, but overall we got through the day. Same group again today. Had a small fright with USPS yesterday. Saw a package was delivered and I guess the carrier hit the wrong button because it showed "delivered to neighbor as requested". Um, no? Luckily it was on our porch but man, careful with those buttons Eugene. I would not be happy if stuff went to the neighbor.

Okay, that's all. One of the cats has a vet appointment today. Ear issues. Lovely. B is taking them at least. One less thing I have to worry about. Got to take out cat carrier.

Y12 D197

 Is it just me or does it feel later in the month than it really is? It just surprises me it's only the 9th. I think because there's so much going on in the latter half of the month I feel like it's closer than it is. Or I am just losing it. Both are valid answers. Taught my one person class yesterday. Oy, what a pain. What should have taken a couple of hours took nearly the normal amount of time. Why? Because they asked like 900 questions, most unrelated to the topic at hand. Whatever. It's what I'm being paid to do. 

After class we had lasagna for dinner and then ended up watching 4 episodes of British Bake Off together. Stupid wholesome tv show. You can definitely see the differences between the old BBC version and this new Netflix version but overall it's still the same show at its core. 

The kid's final christmas present arrived. I have three items outstanding for B, two for me, not counting my dresser. The dresser will be here in one week and I have a firm date on that at least. The other stuff is floating in the void right now. Here's hoping everything comes by at least the 22nd. That gives me enough time to wrap. I don't want to be scrambling last minute. Plus Xmas is on a Friday which means only four days of mail that week. Don't want to miss anything. 

Today and tomorrow I have 15 persons from all over the world. Advanced material. It's going to be two long days. 

Y12 D196

 One day down, nine more to go. Just counting them down until it's time off time. Then I can ignore all the emails and stupid shit flying around. 

Yesterday wasn't bad. Small group but sharp group. They were a bit quiet but they paid attention and knew what they were doing mostly. We finished around 5pm as there were questions after the main material but I'm okay with that. 

I had something I was going to talk about this morning but I have completely forgotten what it was. Oh well. I mean, let's be honest, it would have been about the state of the world, the state of stupidity, or the whining idiots so we can just blanket cover them in one shot. They all suck. 

I did get myself a Christmas present last night. I ordered a new dresser. Right now mine is in the closet which takes up a lot of room. I have a console table that we got when we first moved in here in my office that I use for some storage and to hold a machine I don't use regularly. If I got rid of that, I wouldn't have to have the dresser in the closet. So I ordered a new dresser roughly the same height and length as the console table. This will give me more room in there for hanging clothes. Plus, my dresser has seen better days. The drawers are broken in a few places, the paint is chipped, and it just feels janky. We got it at a consignment store and it did it's job. Now for something newer and nicer. We have people here we can pass both the console table and dresser on to so they don't go to waste. The new one arrives next Wednesday. Not a bad delivery window. I first looked at IKEA and almost bought the same one I had when I lived in the Bay Area. But for $90 more, I was able to get one through the same place we got our upstairs tv cabinet and couch. Now I don't have to assemble anything, it will have a good warranty, and I know will be of a higher quality. No weird gaps or misaligned drawer slides. Sometimes you have to buy the big kid furniture, you know?

I swear there was something I wanted to tell you all but it's gone from my head. Ah old age. It sucks. Plain and simple. I do have a picture of the dresser:

Not bad, eh?

Today's "group" is a one on one training with a moderately sharp student. Should be able to get through the material pretty quickly. This is the last day of short classes. Tomorrow and Thursday I have 15 people from 9-5 and then on Friday, 5 people from 10-6. Next week Monday and Tuesday are sold out with 16 each from 10-6. Fun times.

B is doing better about Odie the fish. Still a little sad about it, as am I. But we're getting there. Chi has to go to the vet on Thursday for her ears again. Stupid cat and ear infections. Worse than me with that. 

Dammit. I keep thinking of things but none are what I wanted to mention. Oh well. Save it for another day.

Y12 D195

 I know to some of you the fact that we were having feelings yesterday over a fish may seem dumb. But let me tell you, he was a good fish. It hit B hard around 7pm last night. She needed to go through old pics to get the image of him floating out of her head. I had my breakdown while I was burying him in the yard. Yes, I buried him. He deserved it. We nursed and raised that little fish from a tiny 1" little thing into the protector of all the other little fish. He was big and dumb and wonderful. The tank seems empty without him. So much so that we are probably going to get rid of the tank. Without him in it, they don't need as much room. Drop them down to half the size possibly. We shall see what happens after christmas. 

I cleaned like crazy yesterday. I needed to focus my feelings into something. Like scrub the bathtub kind of cleaning. Did three loads of laundry. Just needed to put my mind somewhere else for a while. I did have one moment where I pulled a passive aggressive dig at a client. This pain in the ass one from last week and before, on Friday sent a message saying they wanted us to schedule them for 12/18. Well I shot that down on Friday but yesterday the fucker that has been the real troublemaker sends a message. Now in our reply, our sales guy gave him three dates in Jan that would work. This fucker responds back saying "oh we though three days heads-up would be enough time to schedule something. here's 5 dates that work for us". Not a SINGLE one of his dates matched the three we sent. It was with great pleasure that I got to respond last night at 8pm saying 'sorry, none of those dates align to what we have available. please see X's reply on dates that work. also, at this time of year you need 3-4 weeks notice to get on my schedule. normally it's 2-3 weeks. 3 days will never be enough notice'. Dickhead. I can't wait until we are done with these fuckers.

But it was nice to have something to focus my anger and rage on, even briefly. 

I have a full week this week. 10-6, 10-6, 9-5, 9-5, 10-6. Times suck, but at least I am fully booked. Same thing next week. Then I am done for the fucking year.

Y12 D194

 I am a fish killer. Accidental, but I killed one of ours from the big tank yesterday and it is very sad. Odie the One Eyed Wonder is no more. I was cleaning the tank and he decided to commit suicide by jumping out and he landed BEHIND the tank. I had to move 900lbs of tank to get behind there and it took me too long. He survived for about 15 hours in an isolated bowl and for a while it looked like he would make it through, but alas he did not. If I had moved faster or not left the lid off he would have made it. We had that fish for 4 years. He grew from a little one inch fish that the store was going to get rid of to a 12 inch monster who ruled the tank. It is a sad day. I will be burying him later today in the backyard. He deserves that. He was a good fish.

Went to the grocery store and pet store yesterday. Cleaned the house a bit. Had leftovers. That is all.

Y12 D193

 It's cold in here this morning. On the cusp of being in the 50s in my office. Too cold. No likey. I didn't mean to get up early this morning. I am going to the pet store this morning but they don't open until 9am and I didn't want to be awake and rush, but alas, here I am. I didn't sleep well. Hard time breathing last night. Too dry. I have the house humidity turned up, but apparently not high enough. A little blood on my nose this morning tells me I had a rough time. Plus I had weird ass dreams. Stupid shit like having a black eye, watching a bad commercial on tv about some guy selling a marshmallow dessert item to go with a steak. I don't know. It was weird. It was marshmallows and peas. That's what I remember of it. 

Spent the day recording yesterday. No real issues until about 4:30. Remember the client that tried once before to pull some shit on a Friday at 4pm? Yeah, same people. This time they decided they were going to pick the day of their next session. Oh no, they didn't ask if we were available that day, they just decided this was the day they wanted. I got the fun of shutting them down on that. They wanted 12/18. Oops, I am booked 100% from now until 12/18 and guess what? I am off 12/19 until 1/3. Sorry buttholes. Here's some nice dates in Jan and Feb where I might be available. Have a nice December. I know business has been slower for people, but don't assume especially this time of year what someone's availability might be. If I get any pushback and someone wants me to teach during my off time, it's $1500. Yep. I will teach one day and you will cut me a check for $1500. That's what one day of my time is worth during my off time. Don't like it? Don't schedule. 

Had Mexican for dinner last night and then B and I played ACNH together for like 3 hours. It was nice sitting in the same room talking and having fun. For once we weren't in separate rooms doing stuff. That made me happy. 

One of her Christmas presents ended up getting stuck. Won't be here until the 20th. I mean, that's enough time for a present, but annoying. In total I have about 4 things still floating out in the nether. Wait, let's count - 1 for both of us, 1 for her, 1 for the kid, 2 for me. Okay, 5 things. We shall see which get here in time and which become post-christmas items. 

Watched a movie yesterday. Sometimes you need to remember the good in the world. I watched the original Muppet Movie. One of those movies that takes me back to a time when things felt okay and I still had hope. Need some of that right now.

Y12 D192

Okay I am getting there. Moving not slowly, but just diagonally today. Doing multiple things at once already. 

Having ear issues still. Fucking sucks. Can't hear out of my right ear. I hate this. 

I did like nothing of any value yesterday. Seriously. Worked on stupid ass marketing and sales stuff. Read articles. Tried a couple of things to just play around with shit. I don't like this. I can't take another year like this one. The world needs to get its ass back in line. Quickly.

I did finally get something I have been looking for a long time. Let's see if this reminds you of anything:

You take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have...

Yep. I managed to get all 9 seasons of a show that was major during my childhood. From ages 11-20 that show ran. Small victories. My first real celebrity crush was Nancy McKeon. Of course there was Molly Ringwald in season 1 in her first major production. Plus George Clooney later on. Ah such memories.

Yeah, that's what my life is about right now. That's my excitement. Go me.

Y12 D191

 Got water on my ear. Can't hear shit out of my right ear. Ugh. Step 1 towards an ear infection. This sucks. I truly hate when this happens because there really is nothing I can do. Wait it out. Be in pain for a couple of days, be cranky because I can't hear, and just ride it out. 

Hey guess what? My class for today and tomorrow got cancelled. Surprise, surprise. In this case it turns out the one student I had didn't know they were in the class. They thought they had been rescheduled for one in 2021 and weren't prepared to take a class today. Good job. So now I have to spend the next two days doing marketing bullshit. What fun. It's okay. I have some stuff I can work on anyway. The next two weeks looks better. Next week Mon, Weds, Thurs, and Fri are confirmed classes, plus the week after Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri plus a webinar on Weds. So after this week I will only have two days where it's not confirmed students. I can handle two days of bullshit this week.

Not much else going on. Just trying to make it through to the 18th. Played some more Greedfall. Really enjoyable game. Huge world. A bit linear at times, but enough depth that there's a lot to do and see. The time period aesthetic really makes the game. I would encourage people to check it out. Definitely put it in your wishlist and wait for a sale.

Made honey mustard chicken for dinner. Was pleased with how it came out. No leftovers either which is always a pleasant thing. Nothing sitting in the fridge getting old. 

Still waiting for a couple more gifts to arrive. The issues with USPS are still happening despite everything. The world is still a shitty place with the tin pot dictator trying to stay in power. Trying to pardon everyone in sight including himself, preemptively. You know, if someone is trying to preemptively pardon themselves, doesn't that mean they know they're guilty of something? Hmm. The one that really gets me is how people managed to re-elect Palpatine. He has done nothing but block stimulus and is doing nothing to get Vader out of office. But somehow the people of his state keep electing him back to office. You want to look for fraud, why not look there? Or would that cause too much disturbance to the Empire? Just saying.

Y12 D190

 It's chilly in my office this morning. Not quite to those nasty winter numbers in the 50s yet though. 62 in this room. I need a heater vent. Add it to the list of things we need to improve in this house sometime between now and death. Driveway, flooring in my office, heater vent, redo the electrical; the list goes on. Unless you build a house from scratch, there will always be something, won't there?

Ended up having to cancel my class yesterday because once again no one showed up. Good times. I worked on some random shit to fill the time. I am getting real tired of these internal classes where people say they will be here and then don't bother to show. Rude. 

Made omelets last night for dinner to use up the leftover chili. Came out pretty good in my opinion. I was pretty happy. Watched some tv and played games together.

We did get a bit of good news. B had to go to the dermatologist last week and have something excised. She has stitches on her back right now and we were both worried what the bill was going to be like. Since the doctor put it down as a biopsy, insurance covered all of it. $1200. Her insurance, compared to mine, is actually pretty good and I feel we get our money's worth. Maybe next year I will switch over to hers. We shall see. 

Today is no class but I have a couple of meetings and some docs to prep. Right now I am really just counting down the days until the 18th. Making it through. I wish I was on the road but alas, that's not to be this year. Maybe next year. Maybe.

Y12 D189

 The snow is falling and sticking. There's about an inch outside right now. Not enough for concern or shovels, but enough that the ground is white and things are quiet outside. That's the one part of this that I like. The silence after a fresh snowfall. Less cars on the road, the normal every day sounds muted by the blanket of snow. It's very peaceful. I know it doesn't last, but it's nice for a while. It's supposed to continue through about noon today and then that's it for a week. Enjoy it while it's still enjoyable I guess.

No, I'm not ignoring that today is 12/1. I know normally I would be excited and bouncy but this year isn't the year. Too much shit going on. Not the right year to be indulging. We still haven't even put up a couple of the decorations I brought upstairs. They're still sitting on the dining room table in boxes. Meh. 

Felt nostalgic yesterday. Blame it on the Simpsons. They played a snippet from an old show and it made me want to watch said old show. WKRP. Sorry got distracted. Anyway, going to watch an old show. I do wish I was on the road this week because I would crank through this on airplanes and in hotels for sure. Now it's going to take me a while. I also need to watch Fargo Season 4 as it just finished. Again, another one I would have cranked through sitting on an airplane.

Yesterday's class was awful. I was getting chewed out by the students for things that weren't my fault. Basically the 3rd party company that hosts the solution for these people has absolutely no clue what they're doing and the students were pissed off I was showing them stuff they could never use. I get it, but hey, don't take it out on me. I have a meeting tomorrow with my internal folks to discuss this and how we should proceed with the next session in January.

Got my last classes of the year finalized. I have a private group on 12/17 and 12/18. Good, yes, but they're in London. I will be working 4:30am - 12:30pm. So my day will be over early but ugh. I will have to be up by 2:30 each of those two days. That sucks ass.

B made chili for dinner last night. It was fighting back a little last night but seems okay now.

Today I have an internal training session from 11-6. Let's see if anyone shows up. Sigh.

Y12 D188

 Yesterday was video game Sunday for both of us. Three different games were played - animal crossing for both of us as we were both looking for new villagers which is a long tedious process if you want someone specific, then for me I also played Greedfall and God's Basement. Truly not much else went on around here. We are still doing our fish in cycle on the tank and we lost 4 fish last night. This is not a bad thing. It means things are a-happening in that tank. It sucks for the fish, yes, but it gets us one step closer to a fully cycled tank. Supposed to snow today. Right now it's just wet. Let's see if it turns into the promised snow. Had pork carnitas tacos for dinner. Watched Wasted. Then British Bake-off. In other words, we had an uneventful, quiet Sunday.

This week is in flux right now. I have two confirmed days of teaching, today and tomorrow. But for the rest of the week I only have one student per class so Wed-Fri may get cancelled. BUT we are starting our end of year 50% off training classes sale today which means we might get last minute signups. So who knows. What I do know is that I have to make it three weeks and then I am off for two. So what happens, happens. Normally I would be on the road these next three weeks. Getting my last bumps to new status levels. Can you believe it's been 9 months almost since I have gone anywhere? Is this what a "normal" job is like? Fuck this. I need back on the road. Like now. I cannot take another year of this shit. 

Y12 D187

 Had a busy day yesterday which seems to have exhausted me as I just slept for 9 hours. Woo doggie that was long sleeping. But it's okay as I have nothing on the agenda today and it's my last day off for a while. This was a good block of days off. Got things accomplished while still giving me some good down time. I feel like I used the four days well.

Went to the grocery store at 6am, followed by Home Depot, then one more grocery store to get the items I couldn't get at the first one. There were less than five people in the first store which made me happy and I was the only customer at both HD and the second grocery store. Ah, the joy of avoiding people. With cases hitting 200,000 a day, you damn straight I will be avoiding people as much as possible. Especially when 2,000 of them are dying a day. I keep reading articles of stubborn people keeping restaurants open for in-room dining and then getting pissed when they get fined. Or people who blatantly ignored the warnings and had Thanksgiving together. Stupid fucking people. But on the other hand, you know what the real problem is? Capitalism. Plain and simple. Look, last night I watched a video of police in LA forcing a family out of an empty state owned housing project. I mean come on. This building has sat empty for two fucking years. It's owned by the state and these people weren't hurting anyone. They wanted a roof over their heads, that's all. It's such a sham. We create this false scarcity to drive up the value of what really shouldn't be priced the way it is. This is one of the more disgusting things I have come to realize as I've gotten older. There is not shortage of food, housing, or clothing. There is a shortage of money to pay for those goods though. Money, which in itself is a fake concept. It's all bullshit. There is physically enough land, food, and materials to house people, clothe people, and feed people. But god forbid we give some of it away for free and some millionaire doesn't get his third Ferrari. Is there anything wrong with having enough money to own a Ferrari? No. But there is something wrong with having enough money to own one for each day of the week while the police have 17 year old children hog tied in a parking lot for the "crime" of sleeping indoors. Is there anything wrong with having enough money to have good food or good wine? Nope. There is something wrong with having so much food you throw it away or worse, you throw away perfectly good food because a corporate office won't let you give it away. There is wealth and then there is Greed with a capital G. We have become Greed personified in this country. I think that some of the COVID people are ones stuck in this cycle. They have to keep their businesses open if they want to keep the roof over their heads. This is a failing of the government which is anything BUT by the people, for the people. We have gone astray and there may never be any going back.

I finished my closet project yesterday. I am very happy in how it turned out. We all know I am anything but a DIY person, but I got this one done. It looks good, it's functional, and I am happy with the results. I managed to spend about $125 which if I had gone to a Container Store or Closet Store would have had a zero on the end. So pat on the back here for that. 

I also did some baking yesterday. Made heath covered mini twist pretzels. We're making bags to give to certain folks for Xmas. Speaking of Xmas, four presents showed, wrapped those. Also the kids presents all arrived yesterday. I got her mostly practical gifts; a kitchen knife set, a drawer organizer, some stuff for her cat. But then I also got her some art supplies as I will always support her talents. I am always amazed at watching her create. Much Proud. 

We started a new (to us) show last night. We were looking for some more British comedy and ended up on something called Wasted. Not bad. We liked the first episode and will stick with it. Had pizza and watched TV. 

Did some fish tank work. Fixed the splines on one of the lids. 

I think that's it? It was a long good day and a nice way to feel like the four days off went to good use.

Y12 D186

 It's grocery store day so I am up at 4:30. Get in, get out. Take a nap. My weekends. 

Did nothing yesterday and it was glorious. Wrapped presents as they arrived. Played video games. Watched like 5 episodes of Hunter x Hunter. We finished IT crowd together. Worked on my closet project. Should finish that up today. Friend came over for distanced socializing yesterday. Stayed from about 8 - 11. Not much else going on. Time to hit the store.

Y12 D185

Now begins the worst day of this "holiday" - spend money you don't have on things you don't need day! I am really hoping people and stores are being smart this year. Controlling crowd size, enforcing mask rules, keeping people separated. Please for the sake of all of our lives, can we put greed and spending to the side for one lousy year? I was pleasantly surprised at two of my neighbors specifically yesterday. I expected to see cars outside their houses but thankfully no one all day. At least I know the people immediately around me aren't complete idiots. There were still too many cars driving by all day for my tastes. Where you going? You shouldn't be leaving the house dummy. No place to go. I am scared to see the new numbers starting around the 8th of December. Spikes galore in certain states. You watch.

Me, I played animal crossing for a few hours. Yes, hours. Between getting all the Turkey Day stuff for me, I also had to help B. That really was the most exciting thing I did. I did download a new game from Steam since it was 80% off. I would encourage you all to check it out. It's called God's Basement. Currently on sale for $3 and worth every penny. I won't spoil anything for you, but man I played for 3 hours yesterday and didn't even realize it. Really good little game.

Dinner was good. I made a little chicken with potatoes and peas. B had potatoes and green bean casserole. Yep. That was her whole dinner. Whatever works. We watched a little TV together. 

All in all, a boring day which is fine by me. We did learn her aunt and uncle are moving. These are the ones that lost a daughter about a year ago. They can't stay in the house anymore which is completely understandable. He is a fire chief and got a job in Tennessee outside Chattanooga. From what we know they've bought a good piece of land and will be building a house for themselves. I get it. Sometimes you have to just start fresh. I'm surprised they stayed in that house as long as they did. That's a rough one.

More gifts should be arriving today. Because I ordered online dammit. Look, I don't know if that's any better than crowding into a store. I am not going to be a massive hypocrite and say don't shop while ordering online but I also have to hope and pray that stores doing online sales are being smarter than brick and mortar. I would like to hope they have some protocols in place. Still better than 1000 people slamming into a Walmart for a $100 TV in my opinion. Let me justify things the way I need to dammit.

Nothing on the plate for today. A boring Friday ahead of me.

Y12 D184

 Yeah we all know what day it is, so let's just move on. BUT I swear if I see any houses with a large number of cars in front of it today, I will be angry as fuck. 

I made the mistake of going to the grocery store yesterday around 9am because we needed like two things and that nearly sent me into a panic attack. Why so many people? Then there was the old lady in front of me (at self checkout mind you) who wouldn't stop talking to the cashier/helper person and was going on and on about how they're still having family over today. Enjoy the afterlife bitch. Idiots.

Finished the 20 page demo doc I was working on. Now I can enjoy four days without anyone hassling me. In theory. I have been keeping my email closed on weekends lately but checking it once and only once per day. Let's see if I get anything between now and Monday morning. 

Not much else to report. B and I are working together to get her damn tank cycled. I pulled the trigger on something she has been hesitant to do - a fish-in cycle. I made her go to the store yesterday (I couldn't go back out, it would have killed me) and get 10 tetras and mollies to put in there. Yes, they will probably die, but it will also speed up the cycling process. Fish-in is risky AF if you care about the fish. If you don't, let 'er rip. Cross your fingers this does the trick and we can move forward with cycling. I pushed her to do this because she broke down yesterday crying because she is overwhelmed with trying to get this tank cycled. She has been doing her best, but dammit, it's time. It needs to cycle. 

Got paid early. Now to do bills. Whee!

Y12 D183

 I decided to sleep in this morning. All I have to work on is the remaining demos in the webinar I am doing next month. 4 demos and all day to do them. I think I can manage that. Hopefully. Traditionally this is one of those days where little to nothing gets done at most companies unless you have that asshole boss who decides that EVERYTHING must get done before Monday. People like that suck. Same thing goes in December in my mind. One of the jobs I had will always stick out because we shut the company down the last two weeks of December. I remember how we would all be cleaning on that Friday. That was the rule; once the place was clean, we could all go home. And not just surface clean. Oh no, we're talking take the shelves out of the fridge clean. That would have been early 90s so that's probably where I got into this habit of taking the last two weeks of the year off. That was almost 20 years ago. Jeez. Um. No. Correction. 30 years. WTF? Wait. Yeah. For at least 25 years I have been doing that whenever possible. Wow.

Got some news from a buddy last night. When I tell B we have very different friends, this is why. So my buddy is driving to LA next month TO BE ON JEOPARDY! WOO! He made it past the screening sessions and will be on the show. They tape next month and it will probably air in Jan or Feb. I am really proud of him. Hopefully he will do well. We shall see. Regardless of how he does, it's still very cool. 

Got Xmas shopping done yesterday. B is done. Kid is done. B's sister is done. Those were the ones I was in charge of and everything is complete. Starting today until about the 9th gifts will trickle to be wrapped. Keeping it simple this year. Heck, we're not even putting up the big tree. We have a little 3 foot thing B's grandma gave us last year and that's all. Couple of decorations. Not going crazy this year. Mostly because neither of us has the energy to put anything up and we're both dreading putting everything away. Keep it simple. I order 2 gifts for the sister, 7 for the kid (shipped direct to her), and about 10 for B. That's it. Done and done.

Had weird dreams last night. In one, I was trapped in an underwater mental hospital with Trent Reznor. Yep. Explain that one please.

That's about it. Just need to make it through today.

Y12 D182

 In theory we are one step closer to our national nightmare being over. Two major hurdles crossed yesterday - MI certified and the GSA released funds to the Biden team. Almost 8m was released. The disgusting part? The cheeto taking credit for it. The GSA scumbitch wrote a whiny ass letter about how she had received death threats but in the end she did what was best for the country by following the law. Blah blah blah. Point being, she says she made the decision but no more than 10 minutes later whiny baby is out there tweeting how HE made the decision. Children. Spoiled, inconsiderate, rotten children. That's all any of them are at the end of the day. 

I'm in a bit of pain this morning. Fucked up my knee last night trying to stop B from being crushed by a fish tank. She tried to move something on her own and from the corner of my eye in the office, I saw the tank going, I dove from my chair, knocking everything over on the way, slid on the floor on my knee and grabbed the bottom of the tank stand. My knee is pretty gross right now. Hurts to put weight on it too. But, the tank stayed upright and someone learned their lesson hopefully. Hopefully.

Speaking of disasters, our friend with COVID is at it again. There's luck, bad luck, and this friend. She cannot ever catch a break. She was doing a load of towels last night when her downstairs neighbor called and mentioned his ceiling was leaking. Yeah. The cat had knocked the drain tube out of the sink and the kitchen was flooding. Of course she was literally washing towels when this happened. Poor woman. She needs a break.

As for me, I cancelled my class yesterday due to only one person showing up again. I wasn't about to do a one person class when I had other stuff to work on. I used the time to get the presentation portion of this upcoming webinar done. Much more productive use of my time. I rescheduled it for 12/1. Let's see if we get more than one this time.

Had turkey sloppy joes for dinner. Watched a little tv. Went to bed. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

Y12 D181

 So it 'snowed' all day yesterday. But as I said, it never stuck. There was just a smattering of white all day on everything but it's all gone this morning. No more is forecasted until Tuesday but that too should vanish quickly. Might make it all the way to December before there is anything real out there. Good.

Speaking of reality, I am getting really sick to my stomach with the state of this world. Will someone please shut that man-baby up and get him the fuck out of office? He really is threatening the entire democratic system and his sycophant army is not helping matters. This whole trend of them moving to parler for 'freedom of speech' is disgusting. At the same time, I guess it gives the NSA/FBI a list of people to watch? But seriously, this is becoming ridiculous. I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to get enough lower courts to throw things out so he can whine to the supreme court where he has his bullshit stacked. But come on, this is just wrong and everyone knows it. It needs to end. Arrest him for obstruction of democracy. Show him bullies don't win. Stand up to his stupid ass. Like Thatcher and Reagan before him, there will be a whole lot of people ready to dance on his grave when that time comes.

I managed to get the first phase of my closet redo done. I moved one bar up, one over, and moved the dresser. Now for the rack mounts and shelves. Can't do that part until this weekend coming up because I need to wait until payday. I also need to raise one more bar. I was debating it, but with the dresser in place, I need to free up a little more space on the side and that will do it. 

B's having a rough time with the axies. I haven't checked this morning but hopefully everyone is still alive. Okay just went and checked. Everyone looks to be okay but I can see how the babies don't have the same color as they should. Meds should arrive today to help. Cross your fingers for her.

The closet project really took up most of my day. I did go to the store for a couple of things so I don't have to go out later this week. We're obviously not doing Thanksgiving, but we are still planning on eating food. I got a cornish game hen for me. B is making it mashed potato green bean casserole day and I got the ingredients she needs. Other than that, stayed inside.

Slept decently. Had some strange dreams including one where I bought an octopus named "The Void". Yeah. That was a weird one. Some other bizarre stuff including something with angels and demons who were fighting each other. Oh brain, what is wrong with you?

Internal class today. Have no clue how many or what time they are planning on showing up. Then Tuesday and Wednesday I have to work on this webinar. What fun that will be. Did I tell you all about the "virtual Xmas party" they want to have? I think I did. What a fucking joke. Let's pretend the world is normal! No, let's embrace that it's not and go about fixing. Step one, get the cheeto to acknowledge reality. And we've come full circle.

Y12 D180

It's sort of snowing outside. That rainy snow that doesn't quite stick but sticks enough that you can see some white on the ground but you know it's only going to last for like five minutes. Listen to me, talking like some kind of snow expert. Two years in this shit and I act like I know what I am talking about. It's cold, there's white shit falling from the sky. That's where my expertise ends. 

I also slept in this morning. A full 9 hours of sleep. I needed some good REM sleep. Weird dreams as usual when I sleep deep but that's okay. I feel rested this morning for once. I think it also has to do with how much I got done yesterday.

Remember that list from yesterday? Got all that, minus the closet part, and a few more items all completed by 11am. So I:

- cleaned the big tank
- cleaned the cat room
- moved the computer
- touched up my hair
- gave myself a manicure
- fixed the screen door handle
- caramelized onions for 12 hours in the slow cooker
- marinated two nice steaks for dinner
- went to the vape shop

All of that by 11am. I truly am most happy when I have specific tasks with clear goals. I can feel a sense of accomplishment. Given the state of the world right now, I need that. I need to be able to check some things off a list and see results. Yesterday was good for my psyche. I don't expect other people to understand or feel the same, but it works for me.

Dinner as you might imagine, was some nice steaks, potato stacks, and asparagus. B complimented my steaks as some of the best I have made in a while. The trick was I had all day to prep, cook, and plan versus trying to make something in 20 minutes. A good meal takes time and it does show. 

We spent a couple of hours last night getting all of her characters and stuff moved from the main switch to her switch. With hers gone I was able to do some redesign on my island. Not quite done, but it's looking better. 

Ordered new hair dye yesterday as the touchup used up the last of the pink. This is my next color:

Why? Why not? It will be here in a week or so. Oh and check this - I got an 'invite' for the company virtual Xmas party. No thank you. First off, it's 4:00pm - 5:30pm PST on a Thursday. WTF? Second, video is mandatory, and third they expect people to dress up. Um no? I'm not going to dress up for 90 minutes of people sitting at their desks. So stupid. You know marketing is behind this. So dumb.

B did her friend a favor yesterday. You know, the one whose grandmother died, and now the whole family is infected. She went to the store for her, picked up a prescription and some groceries and left them on front porch. Man she has a big heart. Much bigger than mine will ever be.

I feel like I am forgetting things, but oh well. I may tackle the closet project today. It's a big project. What I am doing is completely gutting and rebuilding the closet in my office. B and I have separate closets because the one in our bedroom is barely big enough for her. But mine isn't well laid out either. I have been studying closet designs on different websites and think I can emulate one for about $100 versus the $3000 most of them want. I am moving one hanging rack up, adding a new hanging rack below, then adding some bracketed shelves to the back wall. It should increase my storage by 100% and the flow will be much more productive. Tasks with clear goals. It's what I need. But to do all this, I have to empty the closet first which will be a nightmare. If I don't get the primary done in one day, I am screwed. So enough talking, let's get to work!

Y12 D179

 Been up for a while, but was touching up my hair. I am completely out of the current color now. I had to cut the bottle open to get to the last little bit. What color next? We shall see. Okay ordered. Purple-ish. Results in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday was better. Not good, but better. My class went long again. Started early too because these people had so many questions. That would have been okay if it weren't for the bullshit marketing department emails I kept getting wanting a fucking webinar. I am busy in Nov and Dec. Same thing every year. Even with shit going on, I am solid booked all of December except for like two days. I have no time for your marketing escapades. Shoo, go away. Got through the day and finished around 5. Didn't feel like cooking so we had eggs for dinner. We had to run to the grocery store unfortunately. 7pm and it was insane. I did get into it with one guy who tried to take his mask off. He backed down real quick when he saw that I was basically going to kill him if he didn't put that shit back on. No time for that right now.

Got back home, put everything away, and B and I played AC together. I also dumped on B while we were out which helped my mood. Just a lot going on in my head. 

In other news, B's friend, the friend's mom, aunt, and cousin, all tested positive yesterday. Good times. It was only a matter of time for them. We all saw this coming. Morons. Not the friend. Just the friend's family. We're talking about people who were still going to the casino, not wearing masks, getting together. The friend has had to work this whole time, retail of course, and we knew it was a matter of time before they got it. Ironically she got it from her family and not the general public. B is going to deliver some groceries to her today. Make sure her ass stays in the house.

It's stuff like that and the work stuff that I unloaded on B last night. But it felt good to get it all off my chest.

I have about six weekend projects to take care:

- hair (in progress)
- replace screen door handle
- vape shop
- manicure
- move a computer
- clean fish tank
- clean closet

This is going to be a busy weekend.

Y12 D178

 I am not in the mood to talk today. A down cycle has started and I just don't care. Everything is just annoying or depressing me right now.

My class is filled with people who don't shut up. They're smart but annoying. We went to lunch 30 minutes late, we finished 12 minutes late. 

Today can't be over soon enough.

Y12 D177

 Tired this morning. Didn't get a lot of sleep. Tossed and turned a lot for some reason. Maybe just stress of the world getting to me. I don't know. What I do know is that I can't wait for this week to be over. It just needs to end. Two more days. Luckily I still have two more days of teaching so at least the days are full. I am also very happy for next week's short week let me tell you. I have a class scheduled on Monday and then just need to make it through Tues and most of Wednesday. I mean come on, who actually gets anything accomplished the Wednesday before thanksgiving? That's like Christmas Eve. It's a throwaway day. 

Class went fine yesterday. Finished around 5, had leftovers for dinner. Watched some TV, went to bed. My leaf guy came and did the gutters and roof. Just in time too. It's supposed to rain/snow starting tomorrow and go for a couple of days. I would expect some real snowfall by the end of the weekend. Definitely see some by thanksgiving. Joy. B's phone arrived yesterday and we spent time last night setting it up. The return kit should arrive today or tomorrow and we can send her old one back. They're only giving us $65 for her old one, but it's better than throwing it in a box somewhere and forgetting about it for five years.

I don't know what's going on in the world. I am trying to reduce down my gloom scrolling. I am sure things are still going to hell. Because why wouldn't they be? Stay in my box and hide from all of you. 

Y12 D176

 I nearly had an aneurysm last night right before bed. I made the mistake of looking at the news. Two motherfuckers in ONE county here in MI are refusing to certify the votes meaning that MI is now back up in the air. TWO people. If I run into either of these whiny bitch ass old white men republicans in person, I will beat the living shit out of them for obstruction. There is no reason why they are doing this other than to be dicks. Will all of you just fuck off and accept you fucking lost. Look, 4 years ago I wasn't happy that this fascist prick won, but I also didn't deny it. I never accepted it internally but it was what it was. Your turn. Get over it and let us do the work that needs to be done. The other big difference four years ago is that people weren't dying in the thousands every fucking day from a pandemic your people can't contain. So knock it off, concede the fucking election, and let us try to move forward.

Taught all day. Finished around 6:30. Made baked potatoes last night with ground beef, broccoli, and cheese sauce. Quite tasty.

Watched some TV with B, helped her with her island, went to bed.

Three more days of the same.

Y12 D175

 It was our two year house-iversary yesterday. 2 years ago we pulled up with 2 cats and cooler full of fish and began the new chapter of our lives here. How the world has changed in just two years. How I've changed in just two years. I'd like to think I am a better human being. More patient with those I care about, less patient with those who are blatantly wrong, and finding out where I belong in this strange world. Like then, the snow is starting to fall. Just flakes right now. But indicative of what's to come over the next few weeks for sure. Soon the ground will be covered once more. My leaf guy should be coming this week. I hope he gets here before everything has turned to mush. We shall see. 

Taught all day. Internal group which is good because this was inherited material that really needs a lot of work still. Needs polishing. But I made it through without too much incident. It's always easier to stumble and fall in front of those who are less likely to judge. I am glad we're doing these internal classes for that very reason. 

Didn't finish until after 6. Same thing today - 10-6 class. Remember when my schedule was consistent? Yeah, me neither. I am just glad to be fully engaged this week. It lets me ignore everything else and makes doing my timesheet so much easier. 

Had fish sticks and mac and cheese for dinner. Comfort food needed. Quick and easy food needed too. It did the trick.

4:25am, B sent me a message. Ambulance across the street. One of the old people must not be doing well. Despite what I just said in the opening paragraph, my money is on COVID. They constantly have people over at that house, I never see any of them in masks, and something tells me they are stubborn old people who won't be told what to do. Sorry not sorry if you got the 'rona. It's a shame if someone over there has died, but when it's a preventable death, it's hard to empathize or feel pity. That's my feeling for a LOT of the people who have died. Not all mind you. Because I am not stupid. I know there are a good number of folks like our friend who no work equals no roof, no life, no nothing. These people don't have a choice. But you know, THE ECONOMY! As long as Senator Palpatine, I mean McConnell, is around, there will be no stimulus or the much needed nationwide shutdown. We as a state are going into a modified shutdown starting Wednesday. Modified because the governor has had their hands tied by republican leadership and they've stripped her of executive powers. She can only do so much while these 'freedumb' loving idiots still roam. So if the person across the street is dead or sick because of COVID, well, maybe you shouldn't have had 20 people over a day? Maybe tell your kids and grandkids to wear a mask when they come visit? Maybe follow the safety protocols and there won't be an ambulance at your door at 4am?

Logic captain. What a concept.

Y12 D174

 Luckily I didn't need to leave the house yesterday. I was able to make due with I had inside. Good thing too because the weather turned extremely frightful. No snow luckily, but it was still pretty nasty out there. Bad enough we had power flickers around 5pm. I was worried we'd be in the dark for a while. But it didn't get bad enough for a full outage thank goodness. I haven't checked the yard yet, but I did see some branches on the front lawn last night before going to bed. We shall see how bad it is once there's light.

Made cookies yesterday. Russian tea house cookies with mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. I am mostly happy with them. They could have been better but they work.

Didn't really do much else. Watched some TV, read, planned out the week. Having classes five days in a row means I have to be ready. Docs in order, servers ready, etc. Honestly, it was a quiet day here. I tried to ignore the outside world as much as possible. Let it burn. 

Did a load of laundry. Woo.

Yeah. I guess that's it. The brain isn't fully engaged yet so that's what you get today.

Y12 D173

 Okay, what is wrong with people? WHY are they fighting so hard to try and keep safe? 180,000 new cases a day. 1,200 deaths A DAY. We lost another one yesterday. B's oldest and closest friend's grandmother died. This is someone B has known her entire life. She grew up with them and they were a surrogate grandmother at times. Is that the problem with people? Unless they actually have someone they know die they pretend it doesn't exist? Or is that they are just so self centered, arrogant, and stupid, that they don't care? I really don't want to know the answer to that question because I fear I already know it. The worst part is when the two worlds of drama right now collide. Yesterday the "MillionMAGAMarch" (which for the record had about 10,000 people) happened in the streets and like 1% of these idiots were wearing masks. Or the parents in Rollo MO who decided to host a secret prom at a steakhouse with 200+ people, including children for god's sake, no masks. 7 confirmed have come out of that already. Who knows how many more will emerge. But wait, then we have the 6 or 7 red state governors who yesterday said if Biden issues a mask mandate they will refuse to follow. WHAT? First off, just because you got elected doesn't mean the entire state supports you. Just like we saw with this election, at least 48% of the public are idiots. So there are a lot of people in your states who might actually have brains and will wear masks BUT will be harassed and intimidated by YOUR people because you refuse to set the proper example. JFC, will you all just die off already please? At the very least, stay the fuck away from me. This is why I am not leaving the house except under extreme cases. Even B is going into self-lockdown. She doesn't trust her dumb friends who have people in and out of their house all the time to do the right thing. No more spending the day in what be a petri dish full of virus. 

I went to the store at 6:02am yesterday for exactly this reason. To minimize my contact with human idiots. I was out of store #1 at 6:48, hit store #2, completed my list, home by 7:30am. Total exposure time in stores, less than 1 hour. 1 hour per week is all that I am emerging from this basement. Because fuck all of you. I am not dying from something preventable. I am not dying because you're a stubborn, selfish, uneducated, science denying, racist, fascist, piece of shit. I seriously feel more and more like Robert Neville. (Go read a book you heathens.) I am not pursued by the undead per se, but by living creatures who view me with resentment and fear because I won't succumb to their new world order. As I said yesterday, I am Legend.

So grocery store, put away groceries, played video games, cleaned the house. Made taco skillet chicken for dinner. Watched some TV. It does become lonely staying in the house. Yes, it sucks. But it's the right goddamn thing to do.

A full week of teaching next week! A full five days. I am excited. I will be exhausted and tired, but it will be worth it. Then the week after is a short week thanks to Thanksgiving (which as we all know is going to basically be Super Spreader weekend because, well, people.) Honestly, in the store yesterday they were playing ads on the speaker for buying thanksgiving supplies. I mean come on. This is a really bad time for retailers, I get it, maybe if we had a government that wasn't filled with douchebags, this wouldn't be so hard for everyone. JUST SHUT DOWN ALREADY. Close non-essential shit. Who decides what's essential? Groceries, gas, hospitals (animal and human). If for just two goddamn weeks we did that, imagine how much we could accomplish. Four weeks and we might see a turning point. But no. I live in the land of the 'free'. Self importance is more the motto. Capitalism is the battle cry. We *need* our McDonald's. We *need* to re-do our kitchens. We gotta move these refrigerators, we gotta move these color TVs. (That ain't working...)

Side comments - listened to the new AC/DC album in full the last couple of days. First off, is this anything new? No. Every song is traditional rock 101:

Intro guitar
Verse 1
Chorus
Verse 2
Chorus
Interlude
Guitar solo
Chorus
Possible verse 3
Chorus
Chorus
Chorus
Fade out guitar outro

I mean seriously, it's textbook rock songs. But you know what? I don't care. They're all pretty fucking good. They do what they need to do. Out of 12 songs, I like about 6. 3 are tolerable, and 3 are meh. That's not bad. Hey, not all album's can be Boston's first. (Seriously, that's like the only album in my life where I have liked every. single. song.). It's listenable, it's got a good beat, it doesn't ask more of me than to enjoy myself for an hour. Right now, I will take that. Thank you Angus for one last hurrah.

Now it's time to go get some aluminum foil so I can bake cookies. 10 minutes outside exposure at worst. Wish me luck and keep a wooden stake nearby. I've got garlic in my pocket.

Y12 D172

 Guess who now has a MI enhanced license? That's right! Was an extremely painless process too. Of course it was made simpler by COVID. Appointment only, only 4 people at a time allowed in. 3 clerks and a supervisor working. That made things MUCH easier. I had a 12:50 appointment, went to the doors at 12:46, was in at 12:48, was out of there at 1:05. $45 and one form later, done. No test. No eye test even. I think it helped that I brought every single form of ID they could have wanted. I had my form pre-filled out. I actually read the website and emails they sent and was prepared. The clerk was overjoyed at how ready I was and called me SOS guest of the day. Yes, it's called SOS here and not DMV. It's very weird. It's just a tiny little office in a strip mall. Looks like a postal annex compared to the DMV you're probably used to like me. Kind of odd for sure. But it's all done and now I am legal. 

I was supposed to be off yesterday to deal with this but somehow spent like 4 hours answering emails all day. One was from my boss. He is upset because our AWS charges are like 8 times higher than normal. Apparently a server was left running September for the entire month and we paid for it. Now he wants me to call Amazon and see if they will reduce the charge. How fucking embarrassing. I will do it, but still. What a cheapskate move. Then I had marketing bugging me with a bunch of shit all day. They screwed something up and expected me to fix it. Dumbasses.

We had pizza for dinner because I was being lazy and because we are low on food. I am going to the grocery store this morning. We will have plenty of food when I get back. Paid bills. Joy. I paid our landscaper for all of Nov-Mar services. A huge hit, but now it's done. I don't have to worry about him for a while and for the next 6 months my driveway will be plowed, my leaves will be gone. One less thing to worry about it. Just in time too because it's getting into the 30s here. Snow is imminent. 

Funko sent me a wrong pop yesterday. Kind of upset. Was waiting for a Deadpool pop and got Wolverine. Not cool man. My new ACDC album arrived yesterday. Gonna wear that disc thin over the next week that's for sure. 12 tracks and so far I like about 5 of them. Not bad. If I can like 1/2 an album I'm happy. Oh, they had Five Nights at Freddie's on sale on steam. Yeah, not liking it. Not a fan of the jump scare. Luckily it was $4.

Groceries and not much else on the agenda for today. Now to go face the unwashed masses and get this over with before they infect me. I am Legend.

Y12 D171

 Another day another sinus pressure headache. Gosh living here is swell. 

Had a half day semi-private class yesterday. One guy was great. One guy not so much. But it was a fundamentals class and it was okay. Just made for a long 4 hours. He wasn't bad, just a little slower than I would have liked. By the end he was doing okay. He even gave me an idea on how to improve a demo with this questions. I liked that. 

B took one of the axies into the vet last night. Yes, she found a vet who handles 'exotic' pets. Had to drive 40 minutes for it, but was worth it. The big chonker needs some antibiotics for fungus. Cheaper than a cat visit.

Bill day today. Whee. Need to go spend thousands of dollars now. Being and adult sucks. Of course now you realize why adults around you were always so damn stressed out about everything. Not much else going on. Today is my DMV appointment. Need to read the book thoroughly in the next 4 hours. Make sure it's all in my noggin before heading out. I have every piece of paper they might want or need for identification. I am hoping this is the easiest DMV visit ever. We shall see.

Y12 D170

 I had this really weird dream last night. In it, I knew the world was "not right". Like I had ended up in a different timeline, but I also knew how to set it back. I could remember when the world was different and could pinpoint little things that were not the way they should be. Talk about some subconscious crazy right there. Gee, are things in the world a little screwed up right now? Do I wish things were different or made more sense? Apparently.

To that end, my coworker lost an uncle last night. He went into a coma on Monday and gone last night at 6pm. They didn't elaborate on the details, but that sucks. Plain and simple. I bet they wish the world was more normal right now.

More paper pushing yesterday. Story of my damn life. 

Honestly, that's it. Nothing else going on that's worth mentioning. Same nightmare dystopian world, different day.

Y12 D169

 Ugh, what day is it? I think it's Wednesday? Weird week so far that's for sure. 

Weird dreams too. In one, we were waiting for our luggage after getting off some cross country train ride and we won tickets to see the circus. Okay? Then in another by computer overheated and the entire motherboard popped out of the case. That one was scary.

B woke me up at 2:30am to help her with something. One of the babies she has been caring for didn't make it. She was having trouble handling it. I had to help her with the body. It was a rescue from another person and so she feels bad that she couldn't get it back to healthy. She tries so hard with these damn axies and it hits her when she loses one. 

I spent the day working on docs. B made pasta for us for dinner. After dinner we went to Best Buy. My first real "felt like normal" outing in a long while. We are looking at fridges. Ours is making some wonky noises and we are weighing our options. We found one we liked but of course it's on backorder. But now at least we know what we want and don't want in our next fridge. While I love my red fridge to death, it's given me 13 years of service. Not a bad length of time. I think we have some time left with it, but we wanted to just see what's out there. Felt odd leaving the house at night. 

More of the same shit today. Friday is my DMV appointment. Been reading the manual. Missed one of the practice test. Need to study more tonight. Want to pass and be done with it. 

Y12 D168

 I was so tired from yesterday I completely forgot to set an alarm and ended up sleeping an extra hour this morning. Oops. Yesterday took a lot out of me. Here's the story:

I did a training for a new client. But it was one of those situations where it was a 3rd party client and they had some awful demands. Come to find out, they were even more awful than I knew. Apparently on Friday night the one particular contact demanded more changes to the curriculum post contract signing. Mind you, he pushed for these changes Friday 4pm for a Monday 8:30am training. Um, no? I learned all that Friday night and thought it was the end. Nope. He called our guy Saturday night and chewed his ass out for not making the changes. Excuse me? Wait, there's more. When he didn't get his way, he escalated to our CEO. Yeah. Now here's where I come in. First off, our classes are set to be for a group of 12 students, 15 max. They sent 17. Strike one. This individual had promised us that all students would have the requisite knowledge for the level of the material. They did not. Strike two. But for me, the best part was when he tried to weasel in during the class the shit he had wanted added. I swiftly shut him down on two counts - first, I couldn't do what he wanted anyway because it was impossible in our environment and two, what he wanted is 100% against best practices. He was wanting me to teach his clients basically a workaround to deal with the shit job his company was doing with the data. He was not happy when I shut him down on this topic. I don't know if I will get any fallout, but I do know it was being moved to a new account manager. We are supposed to have five more sessions with these people and they've already violated by telling us they have arranged for 20 per group. I am under orders to shut down any more than 17. This is going to be fun. Apparently we're also not the only ones who have problems with them. The students complained loudly during class that they can't do any of the things I was showing them because they were "handcuffed" (their word, not mine) by the hosts. This is going to have some interesting fallout.

Because of all that, I didn't finish until almost 6pm, then had to take out all the garbage and recycling as today is trash day. Finally ate around 7 and was just exhausted. Not a good night.

Meanwhile in the real world, we're seeing the most obscure lame duck session ever. Normally at this point a president would be doing minimal shit to ride out the holidays. Not this prick. Fires the Secretary of Defense yesterday. WTF? Who knows what kind of shenanigans he will try to get into over the next two months. At the same time, Biden announced his COVID team and it includes people fired by stupidhead because they disagreed with him about stuff, you know, like drinking bleach. Because remember Aunt Rona? She's still out there infecting 100,000+ a day killing a thousand a day. Priority one is containment people.

Not sure what today is going to bring. I am very curious though.

Y12 D167

 I had to leave the house yesterday. Ugh. What a trial and tribulation that was. I had to do a store pickup at Best Buy for stupid ink. Printers suck. They are such a pain in the ass. I milked the tanks dry though that's for sure. Definitely got my money's worth out of the last set. I needed to print out like 10 pages of shit to bring to the DMV with me on Friday. They want proof I exist, okay, here you go. I got proof. Insurance, bank statements, paystub, passport, mortgage docs. I got it all baby. 

B and I spent like two hours in bed yesterday playing animal crossing. Such nerds. We need to move all of her old character's stuff to her new island. THOUSANDS of items. Many trips were had trying to figure out what she needed and in what priority. The nice part was just sitting in bed and talking to be honest.

Had tacos for dinner. Two days of teaching this week, Friday off. Today I have a trouble class. It's one of those 3rd party deals where the people who bought the training are not the people I am teaching and they're trying to impose all sorts of bullshit like I can't email a student directly. Fuck you. And then on Friday at 4pm they wanted to change the scope of the class. Um, no. Even more no was what they wanted to add isn't even a best practice and I wouldn't teach it anyway. It's going to come up today and there's going to be some tension, I already know it. The 3rd party is going to have their rep on the class to "audit" me and they will be the one who tries some shit. I have already told the salesperson on this that if this person becomes disruptive, I'm kicking them off my class. Plain and simple. I am here to teach, not stroke your ego.

Speaking of stroking egos, can't wait to read the news this morning and see what tantrums the orange one has thrown now. This should be fun.

Almost forgot:

I'll take beloved people for $1000
This iconic figure battled cancer but lost after 80 wonderful years.
Who was Alex Trebek?

An icon who will truly missed. At least he lived long enough to see his adopted country vote out a moron who would have lasted two seconds on Jeopardy.