I didn't plan to be up at this time but someone else's alarm woke me up. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. It's all I could hear. Permeated into my dreams. Thanks whoever you are for waking us both up. Lucky me.
Yesterday was a weird day. B has started these craft projects to make handmade gifts for people this year and basically she spent all day not moving from one spot. Annoyed me to no end since I ended up running all the errands and sitting in traffic and basically being annoyed. I am still annoyed thanks to that alarm.
I worked on my doc. I firmed up plans for next week. I also learned that I may have MORE travel between now and years end. So next week I go to Hayward. That's followed by Sacramento. Then it's St Louis. Then Pasadena. Now add in there Pennsylvania. Then it's back to St Louis. Then Michigan. 7 trips before the end of the year. 7 trips in less than 12 weeks. The shitty part is it will get my so close to platinum but not enough to go over. If I get within 1000 miles I am going to call American and gripe. All that travel and nothing comes of it? Screw that.
I also paid bills yesterday which annoyed me even further. Sigh. Life. It sucks.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
Y7 D136
Another boring day. Good. Worked on docs. Bought B 11 skeins of yarn. She has decided that everyone on her list is getting handmade Christmas gifts this year. She actually did pretty good at making sure she had all the coupons in the world and got all the yarn and everything else she needed for less than $40. Not bad if it produces five or six gifts for people. I am not arguing.
Did laundry. So much laundry. Arranged a car for Sunday. Went over bills. Today I have to make a decision - to renew my Disney annual pass or not. They upped the price by $150 this year. It's their way of keeping crowds down by making the annual pass people less frequent. But man it prices people like me out too. I spent a lot of money at the parks over the last five years and this hurts. BUT I am going in 4 weeks and the savings on gifts and park fees. I will need to go at least three more times for it to justify itself. See my problem? Do I do it for one more year or let it lapse? I haven't decided yet. Other bills get paid today first.
Watched a bunch of TV as Thursday is the big day. Made chicken for dinner. Went to bed around 11.
Last weekday at home. Nothing planned for today.
Did laundry. So much laundry. Arranged a car for Sunday. Went over bills. Today I have to make a decision - to renew my Disney annual pass or not. They upped the price by $150 this year. It's their way of keeping crowds down by making the annual pass people less frequent. But man it prices people like me out too. I spent a lot of money at the parks over the last five years and this hurts. BUT I am going in 4 weeks and the savings on gifts and park fees. I will need to go at least three more times for it to justify itself. See my problem? Do I do it for one more year or let it lapse? I haven't decided yet. Other bills get paid today first.
Watched a bunch of TV as Thursday is the big day. Made chicken for dinner. Went to bed around 11.
Last weekday at home. Nothing planned for today.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Y7 D135
Nothing exciting yesterday. Didn't even leave the house. Worked on my doc, had a couple of conference calls about the content of the new docs, and really that's about it. I did do an upgrade on one of my machines to Office 365/Office 2016 for Mac. That took a while to do. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I got the 5 license version which means I could install it on all my machines, but I want to test it for a week on my main one to see how it goes. If everything looks good I might do it on this machine too. It also looks like it leaves Office 2011 behind which is weird. But if that's the case then I can free up a couple of gig next week if it all looks good.
Made pork chops for dinner. B worked on a project for her sisters for Christmas. She made a story book with a poem about sisters. I guess sometimes I don't understand what it's like to have siblings you grew up with and have this bond kind of thing. No offense to my sister, but I didn't grow up with any of my siblings so I just don't get it sometimes. Her sisters are 5 and 10 and I just don't see how they will appreciate this kind of a gift. Maybe I am just cynical. To be honest though, I think it means more to B right now and will mean more to the girls in five years when they are older.
Either way, it's one Christmas gift out of the way. We watched some TV after dinner and relaxed. Not much else going on here.
Today is about the same. We do need to do laundry so I can pack and get ready to leave on Sunday. I haven't decided if I will get car service yet or not. Going to make that decision this morning. I might just because if I don't I will have to take public trans at 5 in the morning. Not too excited about that. I also don't want to ask any of my friends to drive me at that time of the morning. I need to look it up today.
Made pork chops for dinner. B worked on a project for her sisters for Christmas. She made a story book with a poem about sisters. I guess sometimes I don't understand what it's like to have siblings you grew up with and have this bond kind of thing. No offense to my sister, but I didn't grow up with any of my siblings so I just don't get it sometimes. Her sisters are 5 and 10 and I just don't see how they will appreciate this kind of a gift. Maybe I am just cynical. To be honest though, I think it means more to B right now and will mean more to the girls in five years when they are older.
Either way, it's one Christmas gift out of the way. We watched some TV after dinner and relaxed. Not much else going on here.
Today is about the same. We do need to do laundry so I can pack and get ready to leave on Sunday. I haven't decided if I will get car service yet or not. Going to make that decision this morning. I might just because if I don't I will have to take public trans at 5 in the morning. Not too excited about that. I also don't want to ask any of my friends to drive me at that time of the morning. I need to look it up today.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Y7 D134
IT'S FINALLY RAINING AGAIN! YAY! I swear everyone who warned us about moving up here kept telling us how bad the rain was going to be but for the last few weeks every single day has been in the high 70s to low 80s. Not as bad as the hell of 100+ we were living in but not the cold damp arctic weather everyone kept telling us we would deal with constantly. So bring it. Rain away.
The majority of my day yesterday was spent doing one major task - insurance for 2016. It all has to be done and in by next Friday but I will be on the road which means I needed to make all my decisions this week. I have been stressing about when I would get all the info I needed and luckily it all came yesterday morning. I bugged everyone all day asking a million questions, but I had to get it done as quickly as possible. For three hours B and I went over every option - me on this insurance, here on this one, with dental, without dental, private insurance options, private dental only, etc. In the end, I am going with a plan from UHC from my work and we are enrolling her 11/1 with Kaiser. Unfortunately my company can't offer me a plan with Kaiser because they are licensed in CA only and since I am the only OR employee they don't have that as an option. If two more employees happen to move to OR though next year, then I might be able to have them in 2017. Whee. Insurance to me is one of the biggest scams and problems in this country.
If I could go back in time it isn't Hitler or Oswald or any of these other infamous people I would stop. No, it's the people who allowed things like corporations, and pharma companies, and health care to spiral into the mess they are today. That's the larger threat to society. Stop the CEOs and the boards of directors from being able to wield as much power as they do. Fix those problems and you'd fix society. I am going to pay almost $700 a month for us to both be fully insured. That's crazy. That's nearly $8500 a year. Before deductibles and max out of pocket too. If I completely maxed out my payments, I would be looking at almost $25,000 for the two of is in case of a real issue. Ridiculous. While it took me all day, I am at least almost done. I have to sign a few forms and send them back to people today but the number crunching part is done.
We did go out for a brief period. B wants a new tablet for Christmas and has been looking at options. We found online a Samsung Tab S 8.4 at a reasonable price that she liked. She wanted to see how the size felt in person before we bought it so we went off to Best Buy. Turns out that model was actually a limited release and they switched over to the Tab S2 8.0. It's a slightly different form factor and the .4 makes a difference. They just happened to have an open stock of the S which they heavily discounted to get rid of it. The original price of the tablet is $349 - $399 depending on color. The open stock? $250. SNAG. BUT unfortunately when we got it home and charged, we discovered the screen had really bad burn in and was unusable. We ended up having to go back and returning it. They did find one more at another store for the same price. It is on its way to us and should be here Friday. At that price I told her she could have an early Christmas present. Hopefully the new one that arrives won't have any problems.
I also took care of my end of month concert trip with the kid. $200 out of pocket for flight and hotel. But I am cool with it. It's going to be a stressful weekend to some degree, but the concert should make it worth my time.
Lastly I arranged a spa day for us for the end of the month for our anniversary. I did so much admin type stuff yesterday. Now to relax, work on docs, and enjoy this rain.
The majority of my day yesterday was spent doing one major task - insurance for 2016. It all has to be done and in by next Friday but I will be on the road which means I needed to make all my decisions this week. I have been stressing about when I would get all the info I needed and luckily it all came yesterday morning. I bugged everyone all day asking a million questions, but I had to get it done as quickly as possible. For three hours B and I went over every option - me on this insurance, here on this one, with dental, without dental, private insurance options, private dental only, etc. In the end, I am going with a plan from UHC from my work and we are enrolling her 11/1 with Kaiser. Unfortunately my company can't offer me a plan with Kaiser because they are licensed in CA only and since I am the only OR employee they don't have that as an option. If two more employees happen to move to OR though next year, then I might be able to have them in 2017. Whee. Insurance to me is one of the biggest scams and problems in this country.
If I could go back in time it isn't Hitler or Oswald or any of these other infamous people I would stop. No, it's the people who allowed things like corporations, and pharma companies, and health care to spiral into the mess they are today. That's the larger threat to society. Stop the CEOs and the boards of directors from being able to wield as much power as they do. Fix those problems and you'd fix society. I am going to pay almost $700 a month for us to both be fully insured. That's crazy. That's nearly $8500 a year. Before deductibles and max out of pocket too. If I completely maxed out my payments, I would be looking at almost $25,000 for the two of is in case of a real issue. Ridiculous. While it took me all day, I am at least almost done. I have to sign a few forms and send them back to people today but the number crunching part is done.
We did go out for a brief period. B wants a new tablet for Christmas and has been looking at options. We found online a Samsung Tab S 8.4 at a reasonable price that she liked. She wanted to see how the size felt in person before we bought it so we went off to Best Buy. Turns out that model was actually a limited release and they switched over to the Tab S2 8.0. It's a slightly different form factor and the .4 makes a difference. They just happened to have an open stock of the S which they heavily discounted to get rid of it. The original price of the tablet is $349 - $399 depending on color. The open stock? $250. SNAG. BUT unfortunately when we got it home and charged, we discovered the screen had really bad burn in and was unusable. We ended up having to go back and returning it. They did find one more at another store for the same price. It is on its way to us and should be here Friday. At that price I told her she could have an early Christmas present. Hopefully the new one that arrives won't have any problems.
I also took care of my end of month concert trip with the kid. $200 out of pocket for flight and hotel. But I am cool with it. It's going to be a stressful weekend to some degree, but the concert should make it worth my time.
Lastly I arranged a spa day for us for the end of the month for our anniversary. I did so much admin type stuff yesterday. Now to relax, work on docs, and enjoy this rain.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Y7 D133
Another successful day of sleeping. I did wake up at 4:06 but managed to fall back to sleep until 5:40. Good job body.
Every day I feel more and more like moving up here was one of the best decisions I ever made. Part of me wishes I did it five or six years ago but if I had, then I wouldn't be sharing it with B. We should have done it prior to this last move but as she pointed out last night when I brought this up, we wouldn't appreciate it as much which is true. Having spent those 13 months in a place which was really depressing, it makes being up here even better.
I just feel like my like is on track. Not a perfect track; there's still bumps and grooves, but just that things are okay. And that's a big change for me. Why the feelings? Yesterday was just a good darn day. It started with me working on docs. From about 6 until 11 I worked on the outline for a new class. I submitted it to my boss for initial review around 11:30 and the feedback was positive and immediate. He shared it with some other folks to get their input and with just a few small additions everyone was on board and shared praise for the work. That felt good. It gave me some good confidence I was headed in the right direction.
Around that time B and I went out to the game store I found on Sunday. I wanted her to see it and to get a new game we could both play. We ended up getting a new card game called "This hasn't been play tested" which is okay. It says it works for two players, but it really needs at least four. We also got some new dice and a stack of Yahtzee pads. Now that turned out to be great. We got some lunch while out. When we got back we looked up hotels and stuff for an end of year trip to MI. After looking over prices she called her family. While she was on the phone I went back out. I have been looking for something specific for her for our anniversary in a few weeks. The first anniversary is paper. I found an artist who did this one comic she fell in love with a while back and managed to contact them in Germany where they did a new copy and signed it for her. It's currently on the way from Germany. As a secondary gift, I found an antique Smith-Corona manual typewriter. Something she has wanted for a while. I found it in a shop here in town at the exact price I expected to pay, in perfect working condition, with the hard shell with keys, and a new ribbon. I think she is really going to like these things.I got back and she was still on the phone. She ended up talking to both her mom and dad, her sister, and two sets of grandparents. It's the most she has talked on the phone in a month. She was on the phone for almost 2 hours. The upside is her grandparents had planned on us staying with them and lending us their truck. That's a couple thousand dollars saved now. We will be there for the last two weeks of the year. I am waiting to book flights as it is going to be a crazy trip for me. I have to go to St Louis first, then to MI. But it will be worth it if it makes her happy.
After she got off the phone we played the new games. That was fun. Sitting at the table playing yahtzee was a good time. We made a little Mexican for dinner including taquitos and quesadillas. Partially to get rid of some food in the fridge. Cleaned the kitchen up and watched some TV. She is working on some things to give as gifts this year and has already made a small baby blanket, pot holders, and now ear warmers. It makes her happy so it is what it is. Went to bed around 11 feeling pretty good about the day.
Today I have a phone call with the insurance guy finally and one with the insurance people who run the theater where I hurt my leg. I don't know what to expect from that call. We shall see what happens. Otherwise, I am going to start fleshing out the new class and upgrade one of my machines to Office 2016. Busy day planned.
Every day I feel more and more like moving up here was one of the best decisions I ever made. Part of me wishes I did it five or six years ago but if I had, then I wouldn't be sharing it with B. We should have done it prior to this last move but as she pointed out last night when I brought this up, we wouldn't appreciate it as much which is true. Having spent those 13 months in a place which was really depressing, it makes being up here even better.
I just feel like my like is on track. Not a perfect track; there's still bumps and grooves, but just that things are okay. And that's a big change for me. Why the feelings? Yesterday was just a good darn day. It started with me working on docs. From about 6 until 11 I worked on the outline for a new class. I submitted it to my boss for initial review around 11:30 and the feedback was positive and immediate. He shared it with some other folks to get their input and with just a few small additions everyone was on board and shared praise for the work. That felt good. It gave me some good confidence I was headed in the right direction.
Around that time B and I went out to the game store I found on Sunday. I wanted her to see it and to get a new game we could both play. We ended up getting a new card game called "This hasn't been play tested" which is okay. It says it works for two players, but it really needs at least four. We also got some new dice and a stack of Yahtzee pads. Now that turned out to be great. We got some lunch while out. When we got back we looked up hotels and stuff for an end of year trip to MI. After looking over prices she called her family. While she was on the phone I went back out. I have been looking for something specific for her for our anniversary in a few weeks. The first anniversary is paper. I found an artist who did this one comic she fell in love with a while back and managed to contact them in Germany where they did a new copy and signed it for her. It's currently on the way from Germany. As a secondary gift, I found an antique Smith-Corona manual typewriter. Something she has wanted for a while. I found it in a shop here in town at the exact price I expected to pay, in perfect working condition, with the hard shell with keys, and a new ribbon. I think she is really going to like these things.I got back and she was still on the phone. She ended up talking to both her mom and dad, her sister, and two sets of grandparents. It's the most she has talked on the phone in a month. She was on the phone for almost 2 hours. The upside is her grandparents had planned on us staying with them and lending us their truck. That's a couple thousand dollars saved now. We will be there for the last two weeks of the year. I am waiting to book flights as it is going to be a crazy trip for me. I have to go to St Louis first, then to MI. But it will be worth it if it makes her happy.
After she got off the phone we played the new games. That was fun. Sitting at the table playing yahtzee was a good time. We made a little Mexican for dinner including taquitos and quesadillas. Partially to get rid of some food in the fridge. Cleaned the kitchen up and watched some TV. She is working on some things to give as gifts this year and has already made a small baby blanket, pot holders, and now ear warmers. It makes her happy so it is what it is. Went to bed around 11 feeling pretty good about the day.
Today I have a phone call with the insurance guy finally and one with the insurance people who run the theater where I hurt my leg. I don't know what to expect from that call. We shall see what happens. Otherwise, I am going to start fleshing out the new class and upgrade one of my machines to Office 2016. Busy day planned.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Y7 D132
I finally have my sleep schedule synched back to west coast. Took forever. I normally wake up between 5 and 6am left to my own devices. Lately I have been waking up between 4 and 5 for both classes and because I have been out of whack from travel. I just woke up at 6:15. Took a while but I am back in the groove. Plus this is the perfect week for this as I have nothing but documentation writing this week. A full week of creating a new class and not having to talk or worry about anything. Much needed downtime.
Yesterday was not as exciting as Saturday that's for sure. We did go out at 9:30 and not get home until 2. We ran every errand in the book including taking B to lunch at one of her faves. We went to Benihana for lunch. We sat in the sushi lounge instead of the teppan room which made a difference. I dislike the whole 'show' of that place but sitting in the other area wasn't as bad and the food was acceptable.
We also went to the goodwill where she found a shirt for $7, the mall where I got some new Lush products, and Jo-anns where she got some new yarn and house decorations. When we got back she needed a nap and I went to search for a car wash. Found a really good one by the house for only $10 including free vacs. While I was out I stopped at a game store I have been wanting to see. I picked up two dot to dot books. Yes, dot to dot. I did a few last night. What a relaxing thing. The game store was awesome and I could have easily spent hundreds of dollars there. We miss having our game nights with friends. One of these nights we need to see if the people we know up here enjoy playing board and/or card games and have them over. We owe them dinner as it is and it would be fun to turn it into a game night.
We made homemade pork meatballs and pasta for dinner. Watched some Sunday night TV and then B worked on her projects while I played a little video games. Speaking of video games, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 came out last week. I wanted to buy it but before I did I checked the reviews. Apparently there are some bad glitches that force you to do a 7gb download before you can even play. That's on top of the 4gb game. I watched a 2 hour live play session on IGN and saw what they meant. If the game were cheaper (like $30) then the glitches would be forgivable but they want a full $60 for it. No thanks. I will wait until they have either fixed the glitches or reduced the price. I want to play it for sure. I have been waiting for a good old fashioned THPS forever. 3 and 4 were the best. I almost bought an original Xbox at a thrift store just to be able to track down and play THPS 3. Loved that game.
That's about it for Sunday. Now to enjoy my week.
Yesterday was not as exciting as Saturday that's for sure. We did go out at 9:30 and not get home until 2. We ran every errand in the book including taking B to lunch at one of her faves. We went to Benihana for lunch. We sat in the sushi lounge instead of the teppan room which made a difference. I dislike the whole 'show' of that place but sitting in the other area wasn't as bad and the food was acceptable.
We also went to the goodwill where she found a shirt for $7, the mall where I got some new Lush products, and Jo-anns where she got some new yarn and house decorations. When we got back she needed a nap and I went to search for a car wash. Found a really good one by the house for only $10 including free vacs. While I was out I stopped at a game store I have been wanting to see. I picked up two dot to dot books. Yes, dot to dot. I did a few last night. What a relaxing thing. The game store was awesome and I could have easily spent hundreds of dollars there. We miss having our game nights with friends. One of these nights we need to see if the people we know up here enjoy playing board and/or card games and have them over. We owe them dinner as it is and it would be fun to turn it into a game night.
We made homemade pork meatballs and pasta for dinner. Watched some Sunday night TV and then B worked on her projects while I played a little video games. Speaking of video games, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 came out last week. I wanted to buy it but before I did I checked the reviews. Apparently there are some bad glitches that force you to do a 7gb download before you can even play. That's on top of the 4gb game. I watched a 2 hour live play session on IGN and saw what they meant. If the game were cheaper (like $30) then the glitches would be forgivable but they want a full $60 for it. No thanks. I will wait until they have either fixed the glitches or reduced the price. I want to play it for sure. I have been waiting for a good old fashioned THPS forever. 3 and 4 were the best. I almost bought an original Xbox at a thrift store just to be able to track down and play THPS 3. Loved that game.
That's about it for Sunday. Now to enjoy my week.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Y7 D131
Yesterday was a ridiculously good day. According to B it was one of the best days ever. I don't know if I would go that far, but it was pretty darn good.
Woke up too early as usual (but not today! I managed to sleep until almost 6 today!) and went to the bank and the gas station before 6am. Got back and let B sleep as long as I could. I woke her up around 8 and we got ready to go. We left around 8:45 and drove the two hours to an honest to goodness cider mill and farm. Now last year we tried to do the whole fall pumpkin patch hay ride thing and while it was fun we were both a little disappointed at how much was there. Not this year. This was the shit. This was what B wanted. She even went as far as to say it was better than any of the fall festivals she had been to in MI. The drive was really enjoyable and we sang and had a good goofy time. We arrived around 11 and my sister and her husband arrived shortly thereafter. The four of us spent the day wandering around feeding animals, picking out pumpkins, having horrible food (which was great), buying apple cider and apple fritters and apples themselves, and just having a really good time being outside. The weather was perfect, a little chilly but not so bad you needed a jacket. My sister left a little earlier than we did but it was fun spending time with them. I guess on some level I miss having a 'family' and got a lot out of being around her yesterday. Made me feel more like a normal person.
We head home around 2 and the ride back was just as fun. Took a little under two hours to get home. When we got home I called the guy about my motorcycle and he arrived about an hour later. My baby is home and in the garage. It was a challenge getting it off his truck but we did it. She started right up and I parked her away safe and sound.
While waiting for the bike I had a great conversation with an old friend. We discussed a post she made and how she has to live in area where the people are very myopic and closed minded. She doesn't belong there. I could easily see her family living up here around more liberal folks.
After the bike, we took another trip to the Walmart to return something we bought. It ended up being a pleasant trip and on the way back we stopped for dinner. We went to Shari's and while the food was good, the service could have used a little help. Shari's is a good place but I have never had top notch service there. It's always a little lacking. But not enough to ruin our day.
Got back home around 7 and we settled in to watch a movie. We tried watching Limitless, the movie of which the TV show is based. Turns out I like the show better than the movie. Part of it is I already knew how things would turn out thanks to the show and part of it was the pace. The show moves faster due to less time and with the movie I found myself drifting.
Went to bed around 11 and B followed shortly after at 11:30. We both were startled awake by some idiots on the street around 12:30. Apparently there was some testosterone flaring up from the bar nearby and it almost turned into a street brawl. In the end it was a bunch of drunk yelling and everyone went on their merry way.
I also think I figured out the logistics for the concert at the end of the month. I am going to stay at one particular friend's house and try to get a flight back in the early evening on Monday. This means only one hotel night, one night in their guest bedroom, and I am gone. It's going to be a lot of action in a short time, but I get to spend the weekend with the kid and that will be fun.
Nothing on the agenda for today. Let's see what happens!
Woke up too early as usual (but not today! I managed to sleep until almost 6 today!) and went to the bank and the gas station before 6am. Got back and let B sleep as long as I could. I woke her up around 8 and we got ready to go. We left around 8:45 and drove the two hours to an honest to goodness cider mill and farm. Now last year we tried to do the whole fall pumpkin patch hay ride thing and while it was fun we were both a little disappointed at how much was there. Not this year. This was the shit. This was what B wanted. She even went as far as to say it was better than any of the fall festivals she had been to in MI. The drive was really enjoyable and we sang and had a good goofy time. We arrived around 11 and my sister and her husband arrived shortly thereafter. The four of us spent the day wandering around feeding animals, picking out pumpkins, having horrible food (which was great), buying apple cider and apple fritters and apples themselves, and just having a really good time being outside. The weather was perfect, a little chilly but not so bad you needed a jacket. My sister left a little earlier than we did but it was fun spending time with them. I guess on some level I miss having a 'family' and got a lot out of being around her yesterday. Made me feel more like a normal person.
We head home around 2 and the ride back was just as fun. Took a little under two hours to get home. When we got home I called the guy about my motorcycle and he arrived about an hour later. My baby is home and in the garage. It was a challenge getting it off his truck but we did it. She started right up and I parked her away safe and sound.
While waiting for the bike I had a great conversation with an old friend. We discussed a post she made and how she has to live in area where the people are very myopic and closed minded. She doesn't belong there. I could easily see her family living up here around more liberal folks.
After the bike, we took another trip to the Walmart to return something we bought. It ended up being a pleasant trip and on the way back we stopped for dinner. We went to Shari's and while the food was good, the service could have used a little help. Shari's is a good place but I have never had top notch service there. It's always a little lacking. But not enough to ruin our day.
Got back home around 7 and we settled in to watch a movie. We tried watching Limitless, the movie of which the TV show is based. Turns out I like the show better than the movie. Part of it is I already knew how things would turn out thanks to the show and part of it was the pace. The show moves faster due to less time and with the movie I found myself drifting.
Went to bed around 11 and B followed shortly after at 11:30. We both were startled awake by some idiots on the street around 12:30. Apparently there was some testosterone flaring up from the bar nearby and it almost turned into a street brawl. In the end it was a bunch of drunk yelling and everyone went on their merry way.
I also think I figured out the logistics for the concert at the end of the month. I am going to stay at one particular friend's house and try to get a flight back in the early evening on Monday. This means only one hotel night, one night in their guest bedroom, and I am gone. It's going to be a lot of action in a short time, but I get to spend the weekend with the kid and that will be fun.
Nothing on the agenda for today. Let's see what happens!
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Y7 D130
It's Applefest day! Time to go to the cider mill! Is that enough excitement? Am I showing enough enthusiasm? Did you buy it? Good. Now to keep that up for the next 8-10 hours.
Yesterday was a day. I taught my one student and finished up close to 2. She was so pleased with how class went she sent my boss an email saying I was the best instructor she ever had in any training class. That bought me some good will for a while. After class I napped until about 4 and then we went out to run errands. Our list was varied enough that we bit the bullet and went to the closest CrapMart. It was one of those times where that one store would have everything we need in one shot. Surprisingly the store was pretty empty for the time of day and that it was a Friday. We stopped at Red Robin after for dinner which was a bit of a let down. My burger was burnt but luckily I got them to comp it for me. Got back home watched Project Runway, read a little, and basically did nothing. Went to bed around 11.
I did get a phone call on my motorcycle. It will be in town today. If we get back early enough he is going to drop off tonight, otherwise we will wait until tomorrow. Finally have my bike back and didn't have to ride it all the way up here. That's a positive.
Found out I will have two more trips added to my schedule before the end of the year unfortunately. I will have to make two trips to St Louis because SLU loves me so much I am the only person they will accept to teach two groups. Sigh. Thank you? It's a positive on one hand because it definitely books my time through the end of the year, but man, two more flights on top of everything else is going to be stressful. I am going to come so close to platinum too that it's frustrating. I will be right there and maybe get it. Maybe.
Also heard back about the email I sent. I got a very direct reply from my boss that he feels the same way I do. In the last management meeting he called the other two bosses out on their bullshit. I learned that the increase in company contribution isn't because they are being nice it's because the law says they have to. They are paying the bare minimum they legally have to pay. His wife went back to work so they could afford for her to have insurance and they will probably both switch to hers because ours is so shitty. That says a lot to me. I am going to look into private insurance over the next couple of weeks and see if I can get something better on my own. I doubt it, but it's worth looking into.
Okay, off to shower, go to the bank for cash for today, and then wake up B. Woo! Apples! Ugh...
Yesterday was a day. I taught my one student and finished up close to 2. She was so pleased with how class went she sent my boss an email saying I was the best instructor she ever had in any training class. That bought me some good will for a while. After class I napped until about 4 and then we went out to run errands. Our list was varied enough that we bit the bullet and went to the closest CrapMart. It was one of those times where that one store would have everything we need in one shot. Surprisingly the store was pretty empty for the time of day and that it was a Friday. We stopped at Red Robin after for dinner which was a bit of a let down. My burger was burnt but luckily I got them to comp it for me. Got back home watched Project Runway, read a little, and basically did nothing. Went to bed around 11.
I did get a phone call on my motorcycle. It will be in town today. If we get back early enough he is going to drop off tonight, otherwise we will wait until tomorrow. Finally have my bike back and didn't have to ride it all the way up here. That's a positive.
Found out I will have two more trips added to my schedule before the end of the year unfortunately. I will have to make two trips to St Louis because SLU loves me so much I am the only person they will accept to teach two groups. Sigh. Thank you? It's a positive on one hand because it definitely books my time through the end of the year, but man, two more flights on top of everything else is going to be stressful. I am going to come so close to platinum too that it's frustrating. I will be right there and maybe get it. Maybe.
Also heard back about the email I sent. I got a very direct reply from my boss that he feels the same way I do. In the last management meeting he called the other two bosses out on their bullshit. I learned that the increase in company contribution isn't because they are being nice it's because the law says they have to. They are paying the bare minimum they legally have to pay. His wife went back to work so they could afford for her to have insurance and they will probably both switch to hers because ours is so shitty. That says a lot to me. I am going to look into private insurance over the next couple of weeks and see if I can get something better on my own. I doubt it, but it's worth looking into.
Okay, off to shower, go to the bank for cash for today, and then wake up B. Woo! Apples! Ugh...
Friday, October 2, 2015
Y7 D129
Yesterday was not as exciting as Wednesday. Sorry to disappoint. The only excitement was getting an email from our 'HR' person about new benefits packages. Mostly that we will have a whopping two choices - Shitty or Even Shittier - and that we will have about 10 days to make a life altering decision. Oh and that I will once again be on the road when it happens. I may have sent a scathing email to all of the bosses of the company about that too. Oops. Let's see the repercussions of that action today. I am sure I will get a phone call telling me to be grateful I have health insurance at all, blah blah blah.
Insurance is one of the biggest scams. Forget about going back in time and killing Hitler. There are so many other people who need to be stopped. Find the persons who first privatized healthcare and made it into the mess it is today. Those are the people we need to stop. Stop the corporations. Let the Hitlers of the world live and stop the greedy selfish bastards who created the shitstorm we live in now. Why am I so cranky about it? Because based on the email last night, I will get to choose from one of two options neither of which I like and I will have to probably come up with $500+ a month for us to both have insurance. It's a fucked up situation that I don't like.
I know the company does the best it can and this is one of the drawbacks to working for a small company but this is something so important it's not even funny. The problems I have had this last year because I didn't have decent insurance are ridiculous. Between my leg and B not being able to see a doctor when she needed to are just two examples of the horrid state of healthcare. If I left the company it wouldn't be for salary, it would be for better benefits.
It's all about money ain't a damn thing funny got to have a con in this land of milk and honey.
Taught my wonderful one person class. She enjoyed the one on one attention. I was bored out of my skull. Another day of the same on the horizon. Lucky me.
In the evening we ate dinner and watched TV. It's funny how some things never change. I remember being younger and Thursday being 'must see TV night'. Here we are 20 years later and Thursday is still the night to watch shows. Scandal, Murder, Runway, Player, Grey's, Blacklist, and Bones, all air on Thursday night. Amazing.
I made chicken masala for dinner and it turned out wonderful. We didn't feel like cooking rice and instead I went to the greek place next door and bought theirs. Best decision ever. Saved me so much effort, totally worth it.
Went to bed around 10:30. One more day under my belt. One more day closer to death.
Insurance is one of the biggest scams. Forget about going back in time and killing Hitler. There are so many other people who need to be stopped. Find the persons who first privatized healthcare and made it into the mess it is today. Those are the people we need to stop. Stop the corporations. Let the Hitlers of the world live and stop the greedy selfish bastards who created the shitstorm we live in now. Why am I so cranky about it? Because based on the email last night, I will get to choose from one of two options neither of which I like and I will have to probably come up with $500+ a month for us to both have insurance. It's a fucked up situation that I don't like.
I know the company does the best it can and this is one of the drawbacks to working for a small company but this is something so important it's not even funny. The problems I have had this last year because I didn't have decent insurance are ridiculous. Between my leg and B not being able to see a doctor when she needed to are just two examples of the horrid state of healthcare. If I left the company it wouldn't be for salary, it would be for better benefits.
It's all about money ain't a damn thing funny got to have a con in this land of milk and honey.
Taught my wonderful one person class. She enjoyed the one on one attention. I was bored out of my skull. Another day of the same on the horizon. Lucky me.
In the evening we ate dinner and watched TV. It's funny how some things never change. I remember being younger and Thursday being 'must see TV night'. Here we are 20 years later and Thursday is still the night to watch shows. Scandal, Murder, Runway, Player, Grey's, Blacklist, and Bones, all air on Thursday night. Amazing.
I made chicken masala for dinner and it turned out wonderful. We didn't feel like cooking rice and instead I went to the greek place next door and bought theirs. Best decision ever. Saved me so much effort, totally worth it.
Went to bed around 10:30. One more day under my belt. One more day closer to death.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Y7 D128
Happy Halloween 1st! I finally had an exciting enough day to write more than two sentences. Lucky you!
Let's start with two things that may seem unrelated at first. At midnight last night OR became the 3rd state in the country to allow recreational sales of pot. Persons 21 and over can now purchase flowers for personal private consumption. No edibles or other forms yet, but it's legal to be high in OR.
Second piece of information: I slept through all my alarms this morning except the very last one. Luckily.
Now on the surface those seem unrelated. But they're not. Because I would have had a better nights sleep had people not been out buying and consuming state allowed pot. At 1:30 this morning a group of dumbasses higher than kites decided right outside my bedroom window was a great place to talk and hang out. Given their volume level and inane conversation, I am going to go out on a limb and say they were celebrating our new law. Woke me right up. I had gone to bed at 10:30 and was sleeping wonderfully until that moment too. I yelled out the window once at them to lower their voices. Ten minutes later when they forgot they needed to be quiet, I yelled at them to move or I would call the police. Then the beauty of irony kicked in - they started to disperse right as a sheriff pulled up. Boom. I didn't even have to call them. They magically appeared and had a little talk with my gang of hooligans. This would have been a wonderful thing had the cops not decided to have a damn conversation with them AND three other sheriffs showing up. So here's the original bunch of buttheads, three sheriffs and their cars, all talking outside my bedroom window. Motherfucker. I didn't fall back to sleep until after 2 thanks to all this.
The day was much more pleasurable. I taught until about 2:30 and class was fine. No issues or troubles there. After class we decided to go to the library! Yes, the library. I figured out the last time I was in a library for my own purposes George Bush Sr was president. Okay, so it's been a while. We both got library cards and found books to check out. There's a stats book I have been wanting to buy but I just couldn't justify spending the $40 on something I am going to read once and never look at again. They magically had one there. Two copies even. B found three paperbacks she wanted to read. We have the books for 21 days and can renew online if needed. There were a ton of people at the library. Most were using the public computers or watching movies which to me is just weird, but if that's where they need to go, so be it.
After the library we hit a goodwill near us. B loves the place. We have been to one in town but wanted to check out this other one. She found a flannel hoodie for $7. I found six Franciscan plates for $6. They also had an original Xbox which I may go back and get. It was $10 plus about $7 more for a controller and cable. Why? Because I really want to play THPS 4. That was my favorite game on the Xbox and I would love to play it again. Stupid I know, but what the heck. It would be fun to have a collection of all the game consoles that have come out over the years. I have the PS4, a PS2, Sega Dreamcast, N64, Wii, and a Sega Genesis. If I could add a PS3, Xbox, SNES, Atari 2600, Gamecube, etc. It would be awesome. Put them in a display cabinet of some kind.
We also got six donuts at a shop next to the goodwill. Brought everything home and then went for a walk to the Greek place near us. Had wonderful greek food for dinner. Reasonably priced and very tasty. Got back and started getting the night's shows. We watched Criminal Minds together. It took me a while to get everything because right before we left for dinner, I did a massive three machine upgrade. Upgraded all of my machines to the latest Mac OS, El Capitan. I prefer cat names better myself, but whatever. The upgrades all went fine, just a bit slow on the media server.
The last piece of news from yesterday is thumpy and company are 100% gone. They have been coming back and forth the last couple of nights getting small miscellaneous stuff, but they are done and done. No more interruptions from his horrible music. Just crazy pot heads at 1:30am.
What a day! Let's see if today is anywhere near as exciting.
Let's start with two things that may seem unrelated at first. At midnight last night OR became the 3rd state in the country to allow recreational sales of pot. Persons 21 and over can now purchase flowers for personal private consumption. No edibles or other forms yet, but it's legal to be high in OR.
Second piece of information: I slept through all my alarms this morning except the very last one. Luckily.
Now on the surface those seem unrelated. But they're not. Because I would have had a better nights sleep had people not been out buying and consuming state allowed pot. At 1:30 this morning a group of dumbasses higher than kites decided right outside my bedroom window was a great place to talk and hang out. Given their volume level and inane conversation, I am going to go out on a limb and say they were celebrating our new law. Woke me right up. I had gone to bed at 10:30 and was sleeping wonderfully until that moment too. I yelled out the window once at them to lower their voices. Ten minutes later when they forgot they needed to be quiet, I yelled at them to move or I would call the police. Then the beauty of irony kicked in - they started to disperse right as a sheriff pulled up. Boom. I didn't even have to call them. They magically appeared and had a little talk with my gang of hooligans. This would have been a wonderful thing had the cops not decided to have a damn conversation with them AND three other sheriffs showing up. So here's the original bunch of buttheads, three sheriffs and their cars, all talking outside my bedroom window. Motherfucker. I didn't fall back to sleep until after 2 thanks to all this.
The day was much more pleasurable. I taught until about 2:30 and class was fine. No issues or troubles there. After class we decided to go to the library! Yes, the library. I figured out the last time I was in a library for my own purposes George Bush Sr was president. Okay, so it's been a while. We both got library cards and found books to check out. There's a stats book I have been wanting to buy but I just couldn't justify spending the $40 on something I am going to read once and never look at again. They magically had one there. Two copies even. B found three paperbacks she wanted to read. We have the books for 21 days and can renew online if needed. There were a ton of people at the library. Most were using the public computers or watching movies which to me is just weird, but if that's where they need to go, so be it.
After the library we hit a goodwill near us. B loves the place. We have been to one in town but wanted to check out this other one. She found a flannel hoodie for $7. I found six Franciscan plates for $6. They also had an original Xbox which I may go back and get. It was $10 plus about $7 more for a controller and cable. Why? Because I really want to play THPS 4. That was my favorite game on the Xbox and I would love to play it again. Stupid I know, but what the heck. It would be fun to have a collection of all the game consoles that have come out over the years. I have the PS4, a PS2, Sega Dreamcast, N64, Wii, and a Sega Genesis. If I could add a PS3, Xbox, SNES, Atari 2600, Gamecube, etc. It would be awesome. Put them in a display cabinet of some kind.
We also got six donuts at a shop next to the goodwill. Brought everything home and then went for a walk to the Greek place near us. Had wonderful greek food for dinner. Reasonably priced and very tasty. Got back and started getting the night's shows. We watched Criminal Minds together. It took me a while to get everything because right before we left for dinner, I did a massive three machine upgrade. Upgraded all of my machines to the latest Mac OS, El Capitan. I prefer cat names better myself, but whatever. The upgrades all went fine, just a bit slow on the media server.
The last piece of news from yesterday is thumpy and company are 100% gone. They have been coming back and forth the last couple of nights getting small miscellaneous stuff, but they are done and done. No more interruptions from his horrible music. Just crazy pot heads at 1:30am.
What a day! Let's see if today is anywhere near as exciting.
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