Y9 D229

Had fun last night. Went out to dinner with my buddy and it was an enjoyable evening. He's doing well too. If there's anyone I know who has seen some shit and deserves happiness it's him. He's carried the weight of the world a few times and has earned a breather. He looks happy and healthy so good for him. More in a moment.

Got up, taught day 2 of 3 with my group. No issues there. It's a big group and from what I understand they're all finance people so I am having to go a little slower than I would like, but they are managing to do well and keeping it. 10 of them are in a conference room and I can always tell when groups like that are talking amongst themselves which is good. They are excited about what they are seeing and doing and they are discussing how they can implement it. This is a good thing. The remaining students are in the UK and maybe because they are less distracted, they're doing the best. Very much on top of the demos and having no issues. All in all though, I am ready to do one more day with them.

Watched a couple of things before class yesterday. First I finished TEOTFW. While I wasn't happy at all of the liberties they took from the source material, in the end they did a decent job. Specifically because of the end. The end of the comic book is crucial to the storyline and they managed to do it right. Overall I give it a B/B-. Watchable, even more so if you've never read the comic.

I also started watching Blade Runner 2049. Got about an hour into it. I am meh. Visually it's awesome but the story is pretty thin and it drags in some places so far. I will finish it today and know more.

After class I took a brief nap and then at 4 had B drive me to the train station. Got downtown around 5 and met up with my friend around 5:20. Dinner was good. Now, I went in there purposely hungry as I wanted to make sure I got my $60 worth.

Side note - speaking of money, I have been waiting to get a bill for B's new insurance and SURPRISE it's an autopay on the 9th. Hello $323 charge I wasn't expecting.

Back to dinner - it's the kind of place I would go back to on a special occasion or with a group for sure. For a regular dinner, it's a lot of food and a good chunk of change. Everything was tasty but I had an issue with the $3 each cans of diet coke. That threw me. I had a good variety of lamb, beef, and chicken, and plenty from the salad bar, but it was a struggle to feel like I got $60 worth of food you know?

Regardless, the company was good. Had fun talking about things. He is going to do me a favor since he has a brokerage account and buy some stocks for me. He has been doing some good research and I will be investing as well. I may go ahead this weekend and open my own brokerage account; it's something I have been toying with for a while. But in the short term, going to use his and put some money into action. I need to start doing that if I want to have a longer term plan for our savings. Can't just keep getting 2% interest.

Took the train home and got home around 8. B was at group until 9:30 so I got to relax. She then told me all about group and I ended up going to bed at 11.

Day 3 now. Then, a nap.

Y9 D228

Yes, I am actually teaching this week. Go figure. I was ready regardless even if they weren't. At 7:30am the client responds to my boss with a green light that he should have realized from their other emails. So I had to make sure I had a classroom ready, material ready, server ready. I was good to go with a 9am start. The classes are scheduled from 9a-1pm each day. Unfortunately the client wasn't ready at 9am. They all logged into their internal conference app thinking I was an internal person. At 9:15am I was like where are all of you? Oh we're logged into X waiting. Sigh. I sent an email saying LOG INTO THIS and yet you all ignored it. Okay. Thanks.

Got it resolved, got everyone logged in, started class at 9:30. Managed to keep things rolling and finished at 12:58. Not too shabby. Let's see if they can log in okay today.

After class I don't recall what I did to be honest. I got the mail, I know that. Other than that, I don't think I did much. I started watching TEOTFW yesterday. Having read the source material I wasn't sure how they were going to turn it into an 8 episode show, but it's okay. Netflix tries. They have kept the overall theme of the show but made some changes that do take away from the story. I give it a C+.

Made shrimp and 'grits' for dinner. The grits were cauliflower based and came out pretty good. So far all of the recipes we have made in the last two weeks have come out not bad. We would definitely make this again.

After dinner we went to the store as B needed a couple of things. Came back and relaxed. I was pretty tired and stressed from the long day and went to bed just before 10.

Tonight I am going out to dinner with my friend. This should be fun. Actually leave the house. Scary.

Y9 D227

It was a pretty routine and uneventful day, until 8:30pm. That sounds like a good first line for a book. I may keep that and use it in the future. Unfortunately for me right now, it's true. But we'll get to it in a minute.

Didn't do much during the day. It rained on and off. I went to the store in the morning to get B some water. She was running low. We're considering moving to 5g jugs and a dispenser because she goes through about 2g - 3g every four or five days. Not a bad thing mind you. We have plenty of places around here that offer the 5g filling stations. The bottles are only $13 and I can refill them for like a dollar versus $1 a gallon for the smaller ones. It's just the dispenser that's the cost and where do you put it? That's the challenge. But who knows. We'll figure it out.

Had leftovers for dinner as we have a whole lot of them. If you haven't noticed we're trying to eat better and have been making more 'paleo' style meals. More simple ingredient type stuff. But it's resulted in a lot of leftovers.

After dinner we were sitting around watching some tv when I get an email. "Hey are you all set this week for Client?". Um, what the hell are you talking about? Turns out my boss completely forgot to tell me that I was teaching three days this week. As he went back through his stuff he realized why - they never confirmed dates/times. So I *might* be teaching this morning and this week. Don't know. Which is why I have been up and tossing and turning since 3am. I was anxious about being ready to teach a class which may or may not happen. Cool, eh? Odds are, they will want Tues-Thurs which is fine with me, but I needed to be ready this morning just in case. So I might have something to do this week, I might not. We'll find out in a few hours. Fun.

Y9 D226

That headache I had yesterday? Could not shake no matter what I did. It just wouldn't go away. It finally faded at 5pm. So pretty much ruining my entire day. I was in a shit mood, I napped at 3 in the afternoon because I just couldn't take it any more, and I had no appetite for dinner. In other words, my Saturday sucked ass. B had a good day. She got a haircut and it looks great. I shunned sunlight and hid. Sad thing is I feel another one coming on. I don't know what it is I am doing. Nothing different than normal that's for sure. Flicker rate on this monitor maybe? I have noticed it's acting weird lately like it's going to blow. Maybe it's something in the background and it's hitting right in the center of my forehead. Who knows. I am old and dying. Let me be.

I wish I had something exciting to tell all of you but I don't. God, what a boring life I lead. Is that good or bad? May you lead a boring life. I did go down to the garage last night and finally fix the treadmill for B. She can now use it which made her happy. Sliced another one of my fingers open in the process though because I cant seem to do anything without cutting myself.

I made teriyaki meatball 'rice' bowls for dinner. The rice was cauliflower. I didn't eat it because I seriously had no appetite, but B told me they were good.

That's all.

Y9 D225

I used to laugh or snark at old people who could claim they felt changes in the weather. What the fuck did that mean? Yeah, well now I am old and I know exactly what it means. I have a straight up sinus pressure headache this morning which tells me that it's going to be warmer and wetter today. This has been an extremely mild winter. We had like 20 minutes of snow, it didn't stick, and it didn't come back. That worries me about summer. How bad is summer going to be this year? $5 says it's the hottest on record again.

Didn't do shit yesterday. Helped my coworker figure out a new laptop to buy. That was the most exciting thing. Made coconut encrusted chicken fingers for dinner. Those were pretty good. We actually went out last night. Went to the mall. B is wanting a Kindle Paperwhite. She realizes she only uses her tablet for reading books and wants something lighter and easier to hold. The Kindles aren't that expensive but they have so many different models I wanted her to hold one in her hand. So we went to the amazon store so she could see them in person. We stopped at the candy store for some gummi bears too. Wild Friday night. Woo.

On Tuesday I am having dinner with a friend. He suggested a place and at first I was worried because of previous experiences at similar places but after reviewing the menu deeper, I said fuck it, let's do this. So in a few days I will head downtown and go to a Brazilian Steakhouse. I haven't been to one in a long time because as I just said, prior experience wasn't the best. But this one is a well established chain and looks okay. Come back Wednesday and I will let you know how it was.

Today, nothing on the docket. I am not aware of any plans. Doesn't mean we won't have any, I am just not aware of any. I'd really like it if my head would stop trying to expand like a balloon though. That would be nice.

Y9 D224

Yeah, leaving the house didn't work. Last night was not good. Let me elaborate on what happened. We went to dinner with one of her friends from group. That was mistake number one. Number two was the venue. First off B had felt like I inserted myself into something of hers and was on edge because she didn't want me doing anything that would hurt her being able to go to group.  Mind you I didn't find this out until after dinner. After spending the evening with this person I can see how she would have that concern. The kind of people in her group are not the kind of people I can hang out with for an extended period. Discovered that the hard way. We got there and everything seemed okay until it took like 10 minutes for someone to even come over and bring us water. Our server was the worst server ever. He must have been new or just bad at his job. BUT that messed with me. I was getting frustrated and annoyed with the service, the volume level, the crowd, etc. B could detect that annoyance and it was making me a bit snippy which she didn't want her friend thinking was addressed at them. Then her friend is a rambler. Like the bad kind. The kind whose stories have nothing to do with the conversation and you're trying to figure out what the fuck they're talking about. All of this put together meant I was trying to get the fuck out as fast as possible which pissed B off. She was right to be pissed off. At the end of the night we discussed it (this is why I love her) like adults, figured out that while I needed to get out, we picked a bad venue/grouping to do that with, and moved on. I sent a friend of mine an email and I will be trying to go out again next week. Let's see if they respond in the positive. I still need to get out of the house and have social interaction. That was the part B missed. She was so worried about me inserting myself in she misunderstood why I was doing it. It's been 5+ weeks for me since I have had any kind of real social interaction and it's driving me nuts. I haven't taught in over two weeks. I NEED the interface. So we worked through it and all is good but we learned a lesson. Those are her kind of people, not mine for sure and we need not go back to that venue. Ever. Oh and the food was horrible which was also pissing me off. They charge way too much for shitty food. Mind you, they're more of a public house and the focus is on their 900000 beers and booze so you're supposed to be drunk when you eat their food. I guess it would taste better then?

Other than that, B cleaned, I helped. We put away most of Christmas finally. She wants to leave the tree out and I said okay. Not a bad compromise. All of the rest of the stuff is put away and off our counters so that works for me. Worked on some stuff for a client, helped my coworker, and that's my day.

Not much planned for today. Still waiting for feedback on multiple things. Let's see what happens.

Y9 D223

I managed to finish the first revision of my new class. I worked my butt off on it yesterday and got it sent out for review. Almost 300 slides with 30 demos. This is our largest class to date. It will be a 3-day class for us. That means $2k a pop per student. This could make us a good chunk of change this year. See why I was pushing so hard to get it done? But I did it and I am happy. Plus this means it's in other people's hands so until revs starting coming back, I am in a holding pattern. Oh darn.

That was the bulk of my day yesterday. In the evening me and B power watched the new episodes of Bill Nye. I wasn't impressed with the first two episodes but by the third the show found its groove. They only released the first six episodes and the remaining six are to come. I hope they all do well. I have a different take on him after watching the documentary. He's an interesting person for sure.

We also finally watched Psych the Movie. That was cute. Wrapped the show up nicely. I wish more shows could do that; come back for one good long episode that helps close the door on things.

Yep, that was our Wednesday. Binge watching and work. Tonight we are actually going out! We are having dinner with one of B's friends from group. We will be out in public. Scary, I know. But it will be good for us. We need to leave the house. Okay, I need to leave the house. Either way it will be nice to get out.

Y9 D222

It's a bit hard for me to type this morning. I julienned the top of my index finger last night while cooking dinner. Just the very top but it was bleeding like crazy. I think it still might be. I took a good little chunk out. But of course it's one of my main typing and mouse clicking fingers. I was trying to julienne a bell pepper but my stupid finger got in the way. I made really good lettuce chicken wraps in almond butter sauce. Even with a little blood in them.

Worked all day on my new class and got quite a bit done. I plan to try and make the same progress today. I may be able to even send it into beta today which would be great. We want it done by end of month so we can do a 1st quarter delivery as promised. I am very close.

B went to group, I watched some tv, played some games. When she got home we discussed her night and I went to bed around 11.

I am starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. I have been home now for a month. Haven't taught in two weeks. I may need to just get out of the house soon. And I mean more than the grocery store. If I don't, I am going to start rearranging furniture or worse, need a project. Neither is good. Oh man, I just noticed I spilled gelato on my shirt last night. I got new PJs for Xmas and I really like them but now they have a purple gelato spot on them. Sigh. So laundry it is. At least it's something to distract me?

Y9 D221

I'm getting there, leave me be already. Day two and the second day of sleeping in. I let my phone get down to 10% to see how long I could go. 4.5 days. Not too bad. Hey here's a random for you - you know how here in the states we fight over Samsung/Apple/Google phones and that's like it? Ever heard of the Honor? Or OnePlus 5t? OR that the best new phone from last year was actually from Nokia?? Why don't we get access to these international phones? I found the Nokia for sale but it won't support our carrier. Assholes.

Didn't do much yesterday. Enjoyed the holiday. Had all the leftover soup as planned. Watched a little TV, went to bed around 11.

Today I am back in the groove of class design. I need to make some serious headway this week on stuff. Going to crack down here in a little while and meet some goals. Wish me luck.

Y9 D220

I just noticed my copy and paste from yesterday messed up the font. It looked fine while I was writing it. Stupid interface.

Well it's 2018. I will not say 'happy' because it's just a Monday. I will say unlike many people out there, I am starting the day refreshed, well rested, and not hungover. I did manage to stay up until midnight for once. Which is why I am getting up at 7am. I also stayed up because of my stupid redneck white trash asshole neighbors.

STOP WITH THE FIREWORKS ALREADY. DO YOUR DAMN JOB POLICE.

I swear from about 8pm until 1am these fucking people around here were shooting off fireworks. At one point around 9 I think, I hear one go off and no more than 10 minutes later, here comes the fire engine/ambulance siren. That's what you get. Seriously. That's probably my biggest reason for hating on them. I don't want to see one of these neighborhoods go up in flames because Rufus in his drunken state sends a bottle rocket right into a roof. It hasn't been raining or snowing and things are dry right now. One of the few things I miss about being a Californian was the strict laws on this sort of thing. Zero tolerance for this shit. Around here they don't seem to care. Fuckers. Between pets, an anxious wife, and my personal paranoia of fire, it was not fun from midnight until 1am. Ugh.

I also had a bit of a meltdown in the evening around 6 or 7. I have been home too long. I have been not teaching for too long. I was just sitting staring into space freaking B out. All day I felt like I should be doing something but had no idea what to do. I cleaned the kitchen like to the nth degree because I didn't know what to do with myself. I need to get back on the road or at least back to teaching. I don't have any public classes for another week or two which is annoying. I think we will leave the house today because I honestly can't take sitting in here any more. Making me stir crazy.

Made soup yesterday. Have enough leftovers to choke a horse. We need to spend the next two days eating nothing but leftovers. So much soup in here. I need to start cutting recipes in half this year. Make less waste less. I worry about wasting food but it's hard not too. We can't eat everything fast enough. Gonna try though. Have soup 3 times a day until it's all gone.

I think we might go to the mall today. Mostly just to get out of the house. See what the world looks like in 2018. <-- 2018.="" age="" can="" doing="" forever.="" i="" it.="" make="" me.="" nope.="" not="" p="" sorry.="" staying="" t="" the="" this="" turn...="" wtf="" year="" you="">