ANA Y2 D96

C's sister is driving us crazy. She is working on her master's in social work from University of Tennessee. She is attending remotely but will be graduating next year. She wants to attend the grad ceremony in person. Okay, not an issue. Except she is trying to coordinate and line up bookings NOW for May of 2024. WTF? She is looking at rental cabins in Pigeon Forge for $4000 and have 12 of us stay in two cabins. Nope and Nope. I looked up hotel rooms, $120 a night. Yep. Works for me. She wants everyone to be booked and planned NINE MONTHS in advance. Girl, I don't know where I will be next month let alone nine months from now. I don't know if it will be safe for me to be in TN nine months from now. C being the polite person she is doesn't want to be mean to her sister, but I am not committing to something that far out, and I am certainly not sharing a cabin with dogs, six other people, and driving an hour to the ceremony. Not when I can get a hotel 15 minutes away for $120. It's causing stress but I think we are good. 

I had another design review meeting yesterday. Honestly it went as expected. I have four days to finish this and plan to have it done by end of day tomorrow. I am going to enjoy this holiday weekend without stress dammit. The hardest part is trying to get sales people to stop trying to hype vaporware. Fine it isn't quite vaporware but they want this elaborate detailed thing and there isn't detail there. It's not as deep or "feature rich" as they want it to be. They are making a mountain out of what truly is a molehill.

Moved some more furniture around. I got one of my dressers into my dressing room. Yes, that's what I am calling it out. A year ago I moved all this shit around and had a gaming room but it was done under the auspice of B still living here and me not having private space. That's no longer a factor so yes, stuff I moved from the basement, is now back in the basement. Go figure. It's okay. I'd rather have the closet space. I am once more centralized in one room which I like. We seriously have been discussing knocking the wall down between the two rooms and then it will be a real closet. Fuck resale value.

We went out for a late night walk around 9:30 to stare at the moon. It was big and bright and put all this other shit into perspective. Glad we did that. I hope you all got to see it.

ANA Y2 D95

Up again. Sigh. Here we go. Let's do another day. I have meetings with marketing today. Not looking forward to it. But I will survive it. I will smile and nod. Spent the whole day working on the workshop only to be told at 4:30 that things are changing again. Okay. Whatever. Just keep paying me. Made steaks for dinner. Holiday on Monday. Get a three day weekend to do nothing. It can't come soon enough.

ANA Y2 D94

I struggled to get up this morning. We had a major drop in temp which means a major drop in barometric pressure which means headache and rough sleep for me. Hopefully the pressure will stabilize and I will sleep better tonight. As of right now, I am groggy and foggy. Plus I had to get up at 2 and pee like crazy. It was one of those "how big is my bladder??" kind of pees. 

We now have plans for October. C was watching some videos and she was laughing so I told her to send me one. It was a video of Stavros Halkias. I started laughing my butt off. I decided to look up if he would be near us anytime soon. Lo and behold, October 20th he will be at the Fillmore. Okay. How much tickets? $100 for front row?? Done and done. That's right. Row A seat 15 and 16. It's at the same place I saw Blondie and where we will see Death Grips next month. For Death Grips we are in the mezzanine but that's because the floor is all GA and will be a mosh pit. No thank you. It's funny, B has been going to a lot of concerts this year - Pink, Nickelback (I know, I know), Post Malone - and I say good for them. Honestly, these are people I wouldn't want to see anyway and I am glad they're having the opportunity to go. BUT the difference? They've been going to the big DTE concert venue and out on the grass a million miles away. Like how is that fun?? I don't get it. I don't get being so far back that it's just dots on a stage. I don't get being in a place where you have 10,000 people all standing and pushing. Where you have to fight to get to a bathroom. Just don't enjoy that at all. No thank you. I will take my row one seat thank you very much. It's not even a money thing for them. They LIKE being on the grass and not having to be in a seat. Fuck that, I did enough GA shows in my teens. I think that's the difference. They didn't go to concerts as a teen. I was going weekly in high school. I saw enough shit.

Worked on my workshop yesterday. Should be able to finish it today. That's about it for me. I made shrimp pad thai for dinner. It was okay. Needed more sauce. We watched tv and played video games. C's new meds are messing with her a bit and that means other activities are on pause. It's okay. We still are more active than most. Works for me.

Alright, time to work. Sigh.

ANA Y2 D93

Sometimes the world makes me sad. Bernie Marsden, dead. Bob Barker, dead. Bray Wyatt, dead. Arleen Sorkin, dead. You've got Vivek Ramalamadingdong saying climate change is a hoax and how Elon Musk would be part of his cabinet. You've got the walking cheeto making 7.1 million dollars AFTER being booked. Day in, day out there feels like there's little to be hopeful about in this world. That takes its toll after a while. Makes it hard to get up and care about things when it feels like the world is crashing all around you and no one seems to care. But then you see a story about something that reminds you the news is a small slice of the 8 billion people on this planet. You see a story about Nubs the Chicken. Yes, Nubs. Nubs had a disability and couldn't walk. What do humans do? No, they didn't kill and eat him. They made him shoes. That's right. Nubs has his own little shoes. Now this chicken is living his best life. If Nubs can do it, so can I. Screw all these power seeking money hungry MEN who are trying to destroy everything. Screw all the end of days yelling. Because that's what they want. They want us in fear. Scared people are easier to control. Scared people are easier to manipulate. Buy. Conform. No thank you. Me and Nubs are going to live our best life. For the record, here's Nubs in all his glory:

Anyway. I was busy yesterday. I got up with C and made her food before she left for work. From there I went to the store to get some things for dinner and the house. Came back and attacked the basement. Ever since I discovered the fly issue in the basement it's been a total wreck down there. I spent hours fixing that. I set up the guest room to look decent. I cleaned the floors. I rearranged my pops. I made the basement proper living space. You walk down there now and it is good. That took a big chunk of my day. Then I prepped dinner. Made ribs. I know it's kind of boring with the food I have been making lately. It's hard to come up with something exciting every day. Becomes a challenge. But I do my best because that's what Nubs would want. Cleaned up, watched some TV, played some video games, went to bed.

This is going to be a rough week. I need to finish this workshop. That's it. One goal. One week. Let's see if I can do it.

ANA Y2 D92

This waking up early on weekends shit has got to stop. She needs a damn weekend off. So sayeth me. I'm getting tired of being up before 5 on a sunday. Argh.

I did quite a bit yesterday though. I went to two groceries stores, cleaned the gutters, cleaned the house, made fish tacos for dinner, cleaned my closet and dresser. Cleaned up in the basement. I was a busy beaver. We relaxed in the evening at least. Made us moose tracks milkshakes for dessert. All in all it was a good day.

ANA Y2 D91

I'm up stop kicking! What? Huh? Oy. I don't want to be awake, yet here we are. I have things to do. Groceries. Gutters. House cleaning. C has to work. Yesterday was uneventful. I made little chickens for dinner. We watched TV and played video games. Cleaned up a bit after the storms. More of that today.

ANA Y2 D90

Holy hell the last couple of days have been insane. We finally got power back on around 3pm yesterday and then at 10pm it started storming again! Okay, let's back up. Wednesday. Wednesday I delivered the workshop I have been building to internal folks and it went over super well. That was the good news. At the same time I have been hustling and reaching out to contacts to sell more training and see who would hire me. I have a lead on the latter. I have to put my resume together this weekend and get it into this person's hands by Monday morning. It's at an AI company based in DC but 100% remote work. Perfect for me. I don't know what kind of roles they have, but it's worth checking out. C worked from 2-9. She brought home calzones for us and as we sat eating and watching some TV, BOOM, the sky ripped open. It was insane. A storm like I have never seen. We both started freaking out a bit and shut everything down. Turns out that was a smart move. At 1:15am lightning directly hit the substation that supplies us power. Gone. We then tossed and turned until about 6am because it was so fucking hot we had to keep the windows open but then we got rained on and then the silence was too much - just a rough night all around. 

Got up and tried to find out information. I didn't learn of the substation issue until about 9 or 10. I was watching the outage map and when I first checked it 51,000 were without power. However, as people woke up, that number started growing due to reports. Within a few hours it was up to 59,000. I knew it wasn't coming back on any time soon. Around 9 or 10 I get the call from DTE explaining what happened and return time was "unknown". I let my bosses know and that's when things went wonky. You see, I was supposed to deliver a webinar yesterday. But has no power so how deliver webinar? Well.... Next thing you know we are off to a Regus office space. Turns out we have a membership. It was cheaper ($70) to have me sit in an office from 12-5 instead of rescheduling. Okay. I do what I am told. We drove off and sat in a little rented office space where I delivered my webinar. Had over 150 people which made it very worthwhile and I get why they didn't want to reschedule. 

Finished that up, came home, and yay power is back! We had dinner on the company last night, nothing fancy, just Savvy Sliders. Then we relaxed. At least until 10 when it started all over again. Seriously, the sky ripped open a second night. We shut everything down again and laid in bed listening to the apocalypse outside our window. Luckily no power outage this time but we did get tornado warnings. Joy. 

So far things seem calm this morning. Going to up some windows and doors and let air in. Need to check for damage from last night too. Fun times in the midwest.

ANA Y2 D89

This has to be quick today. Power went out at 1:16am, still not back up. On laptop with hotspot. Lots happened yesterday, will recap later or tomorrow. We're safe, just in the dark and it's going to be 90 here today. Good times.

ANA Y2 D88

As anticipated, we hated the finale of Fringe. So predictable and left too much shit open ended. The worst part was that because of how they did things, so much of the four prior seasons literally didn't matter. They could have never existed and it would have been fine. Ugh. I never finished Breaking Bad so we're on to that next. Yeah, I know. Leave me be. Honestly the longer the strike goes on, the more chance I have of finally watching all the shows I've wanted to watch. Of course I feel for everyone having to be on strike but a few less shows out there isn't a bad thing either.

Something happened yesterday that just reinforced that C is my person. We were sitting working on our respective stuff when she said "Okay, I am bringing in this much per month, 30% of that is X, does that work for you in terms of my contribution to the household right now?". Wait, what? You're voluntarily asking me if you can give me 30% of your pay towards household expenses?? Without an argument or making me feel self conscious for asking? Dear god I love this woman. In the end we settled on a number that was just a little below, closer to 25%, and it's going straight into my new account into savings. Heck, it's money I didn't have anyway so let it build up. It's not a huge amount but it's more than I am saving right now. My plan is to basically match it and get things back where they need to be. I will turn this around. I have no choice.

The other thing that happened is we booked our trip for September for Art Prize. This year we are going for three days, Thurs-Sat, and staying right downtown. This way we can walk everywhere and be more involved. We're going opening weekend and when we looked at the calendar of events, we made the right decision. I was able to pay for the whole thing in points because we changed from three nights down to two. The other thing that we discussed is as we looked over everything happening is GR is probably the most logical place for us to move. There's work there for both of us, but more importantly there's a vibrant downtown with events constantly. If we can find some place relatively close to the downtown area, we would thrive in that kind of setting. We said this a year ago after visiting and this trip will most likely reinforce our feelings. We're thinking of finding a realtor while we're there to discuss things. We both need out of this suburban hellscape. Let's see what comes of it.

In other news, I did quite a bit of work yesterday. Impressed myself actually. I started to finally understand what it is I am working with in this tool. Maybe I will pull this off. Maybe.

Made burgers for dinner. Had a rough sleep night but here we are.

ANA Y2 D87

So you know how we're watching Fringe, right? Well we're down to the last two episodes and let's just say we're not happy with how it's ending. Like many a show, the ending is just a load of shit. I swear to god, in my entire life there's been just a handful of shows, especially sci-fi shows, that have ended in a satisfying way. MASH. Castlevania. The Good Place. The Newhart Show. Now compare that to the list of shows that either got cancelled before they could end right (Firefly) or just went to complete shit (Heroes). Add Fringe to that latter list. Such a shame.

Worked on my presentation yesterday and sold $10,000 in training. I am doing my part people. C worked from 2-9 so we stayed up late eating pizza and watching TV. I played games while she was at work. Nothing exciting. Much of the same today.

ANA Y2 D86

 6:25am and I already give up. I overslept, I dropped an entire rockstar on the floor, shit is going sideways everywhere, it's going to be too fucking hot today. Fuck this. Fuck life. 

ANA Y2 D85

Poor C just had to leave for work. She works 6-1 today. Neither of us should be awake after last night let alone working. We didn't get to bed until 11:30. A fun time was had by all. They were here for 5 hours, we went through 5 bottles of wine. Perfect ratio, right?

The day started with me cooking. I had to start prepping things. I then went off to a hair appointment where S braided my hair to keep it out of my way while cooking. Thank god she did. It made my day so much easier. I got back from my hair appointment and didn't leave the kitchen for hours. I prepped, I chopped, I planned. They came over at 5:30 and I executed. 7 courses plus an amuse. I knocked it out of the park. Very happy with everything. Today? Today I do dishes.

ANA Y2 D84

I have decided to put the news of thursday out of my head until Monday. I am going to enjoy my weekend. Plain and simple. I am going to throw myself into planning and executing a dinner party tonight. Everything else will still be there come monday.

I just dealt with an issue with my insurance. They changed my name and yet somehow fucked up my policy. I had to pay full price for my meds yesterday. Luckily that was only $65 but that's a lot more than the $30 I usually pay. Fucking insurance. Biggest scam ever. Got all my groceries for tonight. Prepped what I can. More prep this morning. Doing 7 courses total with three wine pairings. Yeah, I need a distraction from reality. Go figure. Oh, had sex last night. Whee. Heh. Made meatballs for dinner. Overall it was a decent day.

Time to make soup.

ANA Y2 D83

Well, it's official. After all these years I have to start looking for a new job. The company will be out of money by the end of the year and we will all be moving on. My boss has already started looking for new work and she strongly encouraged me to do the same before it's too late. She is stressed because she's a few years older than me and is not looking forward to the process of being told no any more than I am. Motherfucker. First step is to freshen up my resume this weekend. Then I have a couple of recruiters here in MI I will be sending it off to for review. I hope to line something up for an October 1st start date. My big fear is I will have to move again. It's the last thing I want to do, but I will do what I have to in order to survive. This is not going to be a pretty next few months. Sigh.

That was the big news of yesterday. Beyond that, not much else. That emotionally and mentally drained me beyond the point of caring. I made lamb for dinner, we watched a movie, we went to bed. Not much else can be focused on with that over my head.

God help me, it's 2010 all over again. Maybe this time I will make it through in one piece.

ANA Y2 D82

I completely overslept this morning. Like ridiculously. It's already after 7 and I haven't done shit. I have an 11am and a 2pm today and I am prepped for neither. Ah more stress. Just what I need. 

I taught. I made food. I worked on projects. I am almost done with this project I keep talking about. Once it's done I will show you. Not until. Went to bed.

ANA Y2 D81

As predicted yesterday was a copy of a copy of a copy. Fun.

Today I teach. Making chicken tinga in a slow cooker.

ANA Y2 D80

Today is my 15th anniversary of being an ordained minister. Yep, I am still ordained. Heh. I have reached out to them to see about getting my ordination in a new name. Let's see if I can have the ultimate name change and get a new framed certificate. Before you ask why, the real question is, why not? 

Spent the day playing catch up on work shit. Emails, expense reports, more emails, gave a presentation. Absolutely nothing exciting. Made salmon for dinner. Watched some tv. Been playing Baldur's Gate 3. Spent a few hours playing it last night. Felt like I did a lot but I barely moved the story forward. Oh well. I need a good long game. 

Today will be a copy of yesterday.

ANA Y2 D79

Back to the regular scheduled programming we go. It's monday, I am home, I have a webinar at 3pm. Everything is back to the regular grind. This time last week I was halfway to WI. I'll take this for sure.

Went to the grocery store, made ribs for dinner, didn't really do much. Video games, some little projects, Honestly can't remember much of what I did yesterday as it wasn't exciting. Just normal home stuff. Not complaining mind you. Not one bit. I will take boring any day.

Teach a couple days this week, otherwise just going to play catch up.

ANA Y2 D78

I ran every errand under the sun last night and had a good night. I got up with C yesterday (and today too) and just started doing shit. First off was unpacking and laundry. The bane of every business trip return. All the clothes. Whee. Then off to the grocery store, then the bank where I changed the final bank account to my new name. Speaking of that, new debit and credit cards arrived in the mail yesterday. Today I have to activate everything and clean my wallet out. Next up was the hobby shop where I picked up a new model I am going to start today. Then to pick up my final piece and close my contract out with the old hair place. Thank goodness that's behind me. Done and done. Came home, worked on cleaning the office and moving some stuff around. Took a two hour nap and woke up when C got home. We then went over to our friend's house to help him install some lighting, had pizza, and watched Spiderverse. Got home at 10:30 and went right to bed as C is up again for work. Now that's how you get shit done.

Today will be much slower.

ANA Y2 D77

I am home. Got home around 1am. Got up at 4:45am. Yes, I am stupid. I woke up to a smoked speaker system. As I was driving home major electrical storm was hitting the house. My computer was off, but my speakers, which are not connected to the UPS, were on. Smoked them. Hard. I have to figure that out today.

Yesterday was good. I got onsite around 7:40am, we started at 8 something. We were in a room in a library all day with people coming and going. Lot of things were discussed, plans were made, etc. It is a beautiful campus. I was walking around envious of the students who got to go there. Of all the opportunities I missed when I was younger, the whole college life was one of them. Is what it is. 

Got back to hotel, packed up, and got on the road at 6. Fuck the construction around here. Seriously. I am lucky to be home in one piece. I have errands to run today, currently doing laundry. C is at work which is also why I am up. 

Let's do this shit.

ANA Y2 D76

My client's gave me a t-shirt yesterday. A girl's shirt I might add! That made me feel pretty good. Not going to lie about that. It's just a plain t-shirt with the college name, but it means they liked me, and they saw me as who I was. I have to move quickly today as I am going to the second client, but let's see if they also see me the same way. That was about the only thing exciting yesterday. I taught, I came back, I started packing, I ate, went to bed. Tonight when I get back, I am going to eat and then get on the road. I will be home before C goes to work. That is my only goal.

ANA Y2 D75

Day two complete. Went well. I have missed being in front of people but I feel restrained compared to the past. Oh well. I need to be more comfortable being me. I will get there. Was onsite at around 7, left around 4:30, ate in my room, watched tv, talked with C, went to bed. Nothing exciting. Today is a half day in theory but they have all said they have questions so I expect it to go longer. Then tomorrow is new client all day and then I can finally go home.

ANA Y2 D74

Did not sleep as soundly as the previous night, but still slept okay. Woke up a few times during the night. Went to bed too early again I think caused me to wake up at 1am. Oh well.

I made it through yesterday. My voice slipped a few times. I tried my best. I think everyone is being patient and understanding but it was hard. The group is good, 9 students. I did ask why they wanted it onsite. Turns out they are from different campuses and rarely get to see each other any more. They used it as a team building experience as well as training. Fair enough. I got onsite an hour early, set up, taught, and was back in my room by 5. 

What's of bigger importance is my check engine light is on. I just had the damn thing serviced. Odds are it's something stupid like a clogged air filter, but still. I am going to bang it before I leave for back home, check the gas cap, etc. Worse case I bring it back in on Monday and say fix this shit. I am worried but not terribly worried. It has 25000 miles on it. Anything seriously wrong should be covered by warranty. If it's not, I turn the fucking thing in early. Bye bye.

Heading out in two hours. Need to go get ready. One day down, three to go.

ANA Y2 D73

I slept like a lump last night. I was so tired I went to bed at 8:30 and slept straight through until 3:30. I went back to sleep for a good 1/2 hour. I needed the sleep. I was able to open the window in this hotel room which made all the difference in the world. It's no surprise I was so tired. I was up at 2:30am yesterday and was on the road at 3:42. Took me about 7 hours to get here. That includes a gas stop and a bathroom stop. Not horrible. There's also a time change and it was 9:40 when I reached my first destination, Wells Fargo. The bank is actually about 25 minutes past my hotel. All of this is important as I need to calculate out how much time I will need to get home before C leaves for work on Saturday morning. If I leave by 9pm, even with the added hour, I should get home right as she is leaving. 

As I said, when I first arrived I went to Wells. I have officially changed my name there too. I am down to just some little misc. things. Things I don't really care about changing. I also relayed this information to my HR people which means my insurance and payroll should be changed. Go me. After finishing at the point I went to IHOP for some food and time killing. It's very midwest here making IHOP the best of my options sadly. I went to the Walmart for some supplies for the week. Checked into the hotel and stayed there for the rest of the night.

I am leaving here at 6:30. I am nervous as shit. God help me this week.

ANA Y2 D72

Okay, here goes nothing. I am headed to WI for my first onsite. 7 hour drive. Wish me luck me people.

Didn't do anything yesterday on purpose. Washed and styled my hair for this week. Cleaned the house. Ate leftovers. Made deep fried uncrustables. Those were good. Packed final stuff. 

God I am stressed.

ANA Y2 D71

In 24 hours I will be headed to WI. What a concept. I am nervous as hell, scared I will be mocked and ridiculed, scared my students will hate me. But here goes nothing.

Got up yesterday and got croissants. Real ones. Good ones. Had them for breakfast and had them for dessert. I made a double batch of chili for C while I am gone. We stayed inside and spent the day together. She has to work all day today and then I am gone for a week. This is going to be interesting. Tomorrow's post will most likely be either hella early or late. We shall see which.

ANA Y2 D70

Yesterday was a non-stop flurry of activity. Except for the two hours I sat in the car waiting for things to either open or be ready for me. I got up with C, paid all the bills, and left shortly after her to go get the car serviced. I waited for them to open and they got me in and out in 25 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised. I then had some time to kill before the bank opened and I visited C at work. Talked with her, met some of her co-workers, and got fixings for lunch. Then I waited for the bank to open. I now have my own bank account at BoA in MY name! Next week I will change Wells and begin the process of moving things away from there. Got home around noon, made us lunch, then did some work stuff for next week. We  had noodles for dinner, then went on our full moon hike. The hike was fun but the guide wasn't. She kind of ruined it for us but it was still okay. We treated ourselves to milkshakes at 11pm. By the time we got to bed it was 1am. From 4am to 1am. What a long ass day.

Two more days and I am in person for the first time in three years. Gods help me.

ANA Y2 D69

Slept like shit. Too hot. Too sticky. Hate this weather. Hate summer. Hate winter. Bah.

Have too much to do today. Have to take truck in, finish packing, pay bills, get shit done. Must go go go...

ANA Y2 D68

It's way too early to be up and functional but yet here we are. We did try to go to bed early because C has to be up for work. But alas, we got into bed and well, let's say that this relationship is much different than my last. We don't turn over and go to sleep. Nor does my partner spend two hours scrolling on their phone. No, we start getting cozy and intertwined and well, I didn't get enough sleep but it was worth it. Darn skippy it was worth it.

Worked from 11-7 yesterday, made dinner, and not much time for anything else. I did spend some time in the morning pre-packing for my trip. I got as much done as I could. Tomorrow I have 10,000 errands to run before the trip. Pay bills, oil change, groceries. I will get everything done. I am leaving by 4am Monday and first stop is a bank so I can get my name changed. Get that knocked out and done. This way I can leave like 11 or 12 on Friday and be home by 7am Saturday. Not lose the whole weekend. 

Today I have to play catch up with presentations, emails, and the like. Joy.

ANA Y2 D67

Every day this world just continues to piss me off more and more. The audacity and greed of some people seems to know no limit or bounds. Yes, I am talking about the strikes going on. I am watching these clowns in their ivory castles trying to act like common folks. I know three people who have been laid off in the last week. I know plenty of people who are working two jobs to make ends meet. Things are ridiculous right now. 20 years ago I predicted the demise of the middle class. Here we are. Welcome to the fall of the western empire. Hope your Chinese is good.

I did a half day class yesterday followed by a bunch of marketing shit. Finished around 4. Made fish tacos for dinner. All of this life is also catching up to C. She fell asleep on the couch at 8. I didn't have the heart to wake her. Getting up at 4:30-5 every day is rough on her. She has the day off today and I plan on letting her sleep as long as she wants. I on the other hand will be teaching from 11-7 again. Fun times.

Few more days and I leave for WI. God help us all.

ANA Y2 D66

I am shit this morning. I slept horrible. Didn't get into bed until 11, tossed and turned. Woke up at 3:30. Just shit this morning. C "clopens" today. Close last night, open this morning. That shit should be illegal. She is functioning off 5 hours and has to use industrial equipment. Me, I just have to teach. I can make it through. She might slice a finger off. Fucking bullshit.