My working from home experience yesterday affirmed that I could do my job remotely the vast majority of the time. I was able to take calls, help users at remote branches, coordinate installations and even manage a WAN outage at four branches all from the comfort of my Titan gaming chair. There isn’t a lot of acceptance for the idea of us working remotely but it’s something I am going to continue to push for on at least a limited basis.
Yesterday I signed up for the full self driving subscription for my car. The short term planned sub is to make my drive to and from Texas more enjoyable. It will also allow me to reevaluate the feature which I had with my original Model 3 to see if it’s improved. Even if it has, I highly doubt I will find it worthy of an extra $200 per month. We will see.
Tonight I need to pack and get as much ready to go as possible. Tomorrow I hope to get out of work as early as I can, make a brief pit stop at home and then get on the road. I am thinking I will take my truck to work tomorrow and have the Tesla charge to 100% capacity during the day at home to maximize the range on the first leg of the journey. Otherwise I would only be starting at 75% charge which is less than ideal for a long haul.
The Eagles had another surprising outcome yesterday, beating the Saints 40-29. With a score like that you would assume Jalen Hurts threw the ball all over the place. Actually he didn’t, instead he ran for three TD’s and the Birds as a team ran very effectively. Ever since the Siriani realized he needed to run the ball more than 30% of the plays the offense has been transformed. Long, run dominant drives also has the side effect of keeping the Eagles suspect defense off the field longer an added bonus. The team now sits at a 5-6 record with a bunch of in division games on their schedule. They control their destiny because the NFC East is once again a weak division.
The last couple days I have been dealing with illness. I have not gotten sick in something like two years so of course the first concern is covid, although I didn’t feel like I had a fever. It just feels like an unpleasant cold. A co-worker came to work sick Friday and I am pretty certain that is the source. I felt increasingly shitty as Sunday wore on. Last night I woke up at 3AM and was unable to fall back asleep. I am can’t call out sick in a conventional way because we are shorthanded so I am manning the ship remotely, which is totally doable for the overwhelming majority of what I do.
Of course my biggest priority is feeling better before I start the long drive to Texas Wednesday evening. The idea of doing that with the way I feel currently has zero appeal.
Maybe my illness was exacerbated by getting caught out in the rain during a quick DD ride yesterday.
Friday evening was the first time I did ride my after work in full daylight savings time conditions, meaning, it was dark. I turned on my bright tail light as well as my helmet mounted light torch. I don’t get to the street light section of the road for about the first half mile of the ride. That is all that it took for me to identify a couple issues.
The angle of the light on my head was not good. Even if I tried to crane my neck up abnormally high, only the 5 or 6 feet in front of me was illuminated. The other issue I quickly experienced was having a bright light on top of your head is a beacon for bugs, inviting them to smash into your face/mouth repeatedly.
Once I got to the street light section visibility was better but still not great, making it very difficult to pick out small debris in the bike lane that I would normally try to avoid in daylight conditions. As I got about a mile away from the turn around point I realized that the street lights do not extend all the way to Everglades Blvd like I thought they did, plunging me back into terrible visibility conditions. I did a lot of relying on cars headlights to help me survey ahead.
Not being able to see reliably of course meant I had to reduce my speed, there was no way to sink myself into the aero bars and just pedal hard, I had to make sure I could see what I was doing, at least a little bit.
One thing that did work well was my new cycling glasses. The clear lenses combined with higher profile kept the top of the frame out of the middle of my field of view. I pulled back into the driveway intact. I wasted little time until I bought an alternative light mount for the bike. I am going to mount it lower, on the handle bars, allowing me to adjust the throw more reliably and give the bugs a lower target to aim for.
Friday night I watched Red Notice with Ryan Reynolds, The Rock, and Wonder Woman. It recently came out on Netflix. I found the movie filled with action, laughs, and not a single glance at a clock. The chemistry between all three main characters was really good. I’d give the movie an A all day long.
Saturday after getting normal chores done and running errands with Elsa in tow I dug into things that needed to get done, in my mind, before my upcoming holiday road trip. Although the grass had hardly grown in some sections I mowed it, partly because I was planning to put up outdoor ornaments afterward, which normally is best done right after mowing.
Putting up the stuff did not have the affect it normally does. Ever since I was young kid I have loved Christmas. When I was a kid a lot of that was immature greed, excitement about what I could potentially get. As I became an adult the holiday has meant a lot more giving than receiving, and I like it that way. Putting up decorations was always fun as it signaled the official start of this month or so where the world seems just a little bit better. Every Christmas except one for the last 36 years I was in a relationship so whomever the person was, I got to share my hard to explain child-like excitement for the season. I knew that trying to muster up the spirit to decorate was going to be difficult and painful this year, I was unsure just how deep it would go.
I went pretty bare bones by my standards on the outside of the house, decorating the first two palm trees and the face of the house with my LED light objects, most of which are 4-5 years old at least. I made a command decision to throw out the collapsing snowman. His cheap metal frame had broken at a bunch the welds which would have made him very flimsy. I also decided to not bother putting up the Santa sleigh inflatable. The reindeer never stay upright for long and I just didn’t feel like messing with it every night to make it look semi-decent.
As I was walking around doing the stuff I couldn’t help think back and contrast the 2021 display with some from the past where I would go all out, hanging every strand of light I had, illuminating all palm trees out front, the sides of the house and even the fence line. I thought about my state of mind then and compared it to now in the process. Back then there was seemingly endless good energy in many aspects of my life. Now it feels like a dark alley with a couple flickering street lights.
I decided I only had the motivation to get the outside stuff done Saturday. Even with the somewhat lame display I was out there for over a couple hours. I would do indoor things Sunday. Saturday night I spent a good portion of the night playing WoW, trying to distance myself from the sadness I was feeling.
Today again after tending to the chickens, paying bills, and doing a short errand run I dug into doing the indoor stuff. Based on how I felt yesterday I was expecting similar difficulties getting through the process. I made the decision early that I was not going to put up two trees, the second being the tree my mom owned when she passed away. The tree will remain safe and sound in the shed but I just did not have the will to go through setting up a second tree. Hell I was struggling to not just say fck putting up the tree altogether.
I cleared the customary spot in the dining room and put the three sections together. I did very little fluffing/straightening of branches, that was always Cindy’s thing. So not only was I hanging ornaments, I was dividing assets at the same time as there were a number of Cindy’s ornaments, many of which she is very fond of. I carefully separated her things and only hung stuff I knew was mine. Anything questionable or just unwanted stayed in the box.
Many people find it hard to believe that I am sentimental based on the stoic almost cylon-like at times outward appearance I carry. I have ornaments dating back to my first wife. I never threw them out because somehow despite the passing of that relationship, the ornaments each are like a miniature time capsule. When I pull them out I instantly replay their back story which is always based around a happy moment in time, not a sad one.
Well doing this with ornaments based on my various adventures with Cindy was really, really tough, starting spontaneous tears more than once, something that has not happened in quite awhile. It made the process of decorating the tree a time of sadness instead of joy, and I hate that. I know the only eventual cure is the passage of time and the first holiday post split is always going to be the worst but still, I really understand now the people that say that the holidays are some of their least favorite time of the year. Hopefully I don’t every mutate into that mindset permanently.
This afternoon I will watch the Eagles game while I start to gather my thoughts and items needed for my road trip that begins Wednesday afternoon/evening. I have a lot of boxes to check off.
This morning I had to do the blood draw and vitals measurement which is a requirement for our insurance. Because of Covid we actually got to skip the testing for one year so this will be my first numbers check in awhile. The BP, height, weight and waist measurements all seemed to be very similar to the last time I was checked a couple years ago, which is good. Of course the blood work is the real indicator that matters to sniff out if there is anything lurking beneath the surface. As always, I can feel my anxiety increasing the second I sit in the chair, although I do my best to hide it. I had a man pulling my blood this time which is something new. He seemed to know his stuff and despite 5 or 6 vials being pulled I came through it ok.
It was a fasted blood test, I had not eaten in 12 hours so the DD coffee and Pop Tarts I brought along were consumed quickly afterward. I have talked before about how the county does their insurance coverage. To me it’s a model for all health care and hell even for numerous other situations in the world. In a nutshell, if you put in the effort you get rewarded. If you don’t you pay a penalty. With our insurance there are three levels of coverage. To qualify for the best coverage with the lowest deductibles you need to have the blood draw done, get a physical, talk to a health advocate if there are any red flags and then take remediation classes to address those flags if any. So in theory you could be a morbidly obese smoker and still get the best coverage if you jump through all of the required hoops.
If you just don’t give a shit and refuse to do any of these steps you get thrown onto the basic coverage with high co-pays and high deductibles. It makes little sense to do this but you get out of it what you put into it, next to nothing. I am curious how many employees actually give such little effort that they choose this route?
This weekend will be the start of six days of me completing the long list of things on my mental checklist that need to be handled prior to leaving for my long Thanksgiving road trip to the Dallas area to visit my sister. I feel like I have a ton of things to keep in the air but that is a pretty normal feeling for me prior to any road trip. This will be my longest journey since I drove up to PA for my brother’s 50th birthday last summer. Although almost all of my road trips over the years have been with a co-pilot, that last trip was solo as this one will be as well. Even by yourself there are tons of memories to be made along the way, they are just more enjoyable when shared with others, in my experience.
As we approach the end of the year it is typically the time that a lot of work projects slow down as the holiday season is generally not a great time for getting stuff done. This year will be an exception however. The new massive government building we are opening is scheduled to open right around the end of the year so instead of slowing down my to do list is going to swell, tremendously. I have been through this rodeo a number of times so it will be ok, this is just the largest facility we have ever been involved in.
Popcorn the chicken is not feeling well, again. For many, many months she has been on a roller coaster of wellness. Astute blog readers may recall she is the chicken I probed with my finger, trying to determine if she was egg bound at one point. I routinely have been trying to clean her vent with a hose as I try to hold her still, it’s a pretty challenging one person job. For awhile I have felt that it is only a matter of time until she passes on. I am pretty sure whatever she is suffering from ties into her affinity for drinking disgusting standing water when it is available. I have been adding Zyfend (natural dewormer) to their water for a couple weeks to try to knock out whatever it is but she is still not doing well. Chicken ownership has definitely not turned out to be what I expected, at all, but how many things actually do. Not many in my experience.
Cindy stopped at the house yesterday to do a couple things. When she went in the garage she was shocked to see what at first looked like a dead baby bunny on the garage floor. When she got closer she saw the rabbit was not dead but it didn’t look good. I told her I had seen a very small rabbit hanging out by the chicken coop recently as well although I did not think it was the same one, at first.
Cindy got one of the small animal carriers and put the poor little thing in there with some food and water. I was afraid I would be burying the animal when I got home. My theory was it went in the garage and then got locked in there, cut off from a food/water source. My hope level was low.
Later when Cindy stopped back again she was surprised to see the animal carrier was empty, the rabbit apparently moved somehow. When she left she left the garage door cracked so the baby could escape if it wanted to. I was still not overly optimistic. I still assumed I was going to find the rabbit dead behind something in the garage.
So when I got home I saw a little ball of fur right outside the garage. As I moved closer I verified it was the baby bunny! When I got within 20 feet he scampered back into the garage, great…..
I carefully started pulling things away from the walls, trying to find him/her. Because of it’s tiny size there were a lot of options for hiding spots. Finally as I pulled one of the storage bins away I spotted the baby. I could tell it was weak/tired but it most definitely was not dead. I was able to get the rabbit back into the animal carrier. I then took it down to the chicken area, putting out some food and water for it. I realized this had to be the same baby bunny I had seen last week.
This morning I walked out in the darkness hoping to see the baby. My hopes were answered, it scampered away once I got close but it seemed clear that food and water was consumed. Hopefully the baby is in the clear for now although it’s tiny size makes it still vulnerable to a number of predators. I will do my best to keep an eye on/protect it the best I can. It’s cute as can be. I felt fortunate to have a happy ending to what looked like a very sad story only a few hours earlier.
Last night I saw the neighbor two houses down already had adorned his exterior with Christmas lights. A number of developments around here already have their holiday displays up as well. Heck I even saw the neighborhood DD had their roof line lit up on the drive home last night. Hey I like holiday light displays, this is the guy that in the past has left his lights up until mid-January once or twice.
I actually am going to be putting my decorations up, at least some of them this upcoming weekend, which would be the earliest I have ever done it. Typically I do it during the extended Thanksgiving weekend but since I will be in Dallas visiting my sister’s family I determined I would rather be early than late.
It’s an odd situation because I have no idea what my Christmas this year is even going to be like. It’s questionable how much effort this holiday season really requires. I was thinking about the only Christmas I had during my one year of mostly singletude back in 2012 and tried to remember how that blueprint worked out. I think Christmas morning was just myself and my mom although I think Ali may have been over at some point, I can’t quite remember. The 2021 version is not going to be what I have become accustomed to, that’s for sure. So the point is, I will be putting up decorations this weekend, I’m just not sure which and how many.
I have moved my alarm clock back an additional 5 minutes this week, now getting up at 5:35 AM instead of 5:40. I have consistently been getting to work 5-10 minutes late since I started doing chicken chores in the morning. The alarm change is an attempt to fix that. Getting up only 5 minutes earlier shaves around 15 minutes off my arrival time at the office. The reason for this is the earlier I get on the road, the less traffic is congesting it. That extra 5 minutes saves me an additional 10 en route. I should have done this earlier, pun intended.
Today would have been my Mom’s 74th birthday, which serves as another sad reminder of her early passing. I wonder how she would feel about how the events of my life have transpired to this point. I definitely see more and more parallels between her path and mine. If I allow myself to dwell on thoughts about my mom much it makes me sad, really sad so I don’t do it. I follow that strategy with a number of things. When you keeping moving at fast pace the things in your rear view mirror remain mostly a blur.
As mentioned in the last entry I did indeed do a live stream Friday night where the original intended goal was to empty the fridge of all of the old alcohol. There were several reasons I was feeling that goal was viable. I did not accomplish that goal, plenty of Miller Lite remains in the fridge but I did finally drink the two disgusting Corona Lights during the session. The stream went on for three hours plus, covering a ton of different topics, probably more non-PEV related. Even with no advance notice I had a decent amount of viewers tune in which was nice.
On Saturday morning I went into the office with Elsa in tow. As soon as I let her in the front door she started sprinting around the lobby. For some reason she finds going to the office very exciting. Watching her sprint up and down the hallway made me smile. The work I needed to get done only took about an hour or so, on the way home I made a pit stop at Walmart to grab the few remaining grocery items I couldn’t score elsewhere.
During the afternoon I put together a new six foot long bench I bought to put over the robot vacuum army. It gives them a sort of “garage” and is visually more appealing. It is unfinished wood, I have to decide if I want to paint/stain it. I then thought if I either attached some fabric or put some sort of blanket on the bench that hangs down it could make their existence very stealth.
On Saturday night I sat down to watch Shang Chi Legend of the 10 Rings. This was the first Marvel movie in a long time that I did not go see in theaters (followed by Venom 2). I figured I could wait until it released on Disney + a couple months later. This movie deserved to be seen in a theater. I thought it was extremely well done. I enjoyed it from start to finish and would probably rate 10 Rings within the top 20% of all Marvel films I have seen. A+
Sunday morning the weather was nice with low temps and humidity. My bill paying session seemed to go on forever, which is often the case on the weeks where I have to reconcile the credit card statement. Since I put whatever I can on the credit card each month to maximize my rewards, (and pay it off monthly) there are a TON of line items to go through. After I finished I went on a errand run with Elsa which included stopping at DD. Man what a cluster f that place is anymore. There was only around 6 cars in line when I got there. I am not exaggerating when I say it took nearly a half hour to get through the line. I was beyond flabbergasted at the snails pace of service.
Of course as is often the case, one of the issues are people that do these huge orders from their car which choke the line. However the staff at this location is a big culprit as well. As I was sitting in line I saw multiple cars be handed food/drink only for it to be handed back because the order was f’d up. With food especially, this takes a while to redo. When I finally got up to the window to get my large coffee I asked the kid if there was some sort of nuclear meltdown going on in there since the service was so slow. He said no, it’s like this every Sunday. He said they are understaffed. He then whispered to me “it’s not good man, it’s not good…” Yea, no kidding. Hey I get it, I understand why they can’t keep staff. Most of them barely are paid double digits per hour and the intensity and stress of that job definitely do not equal the pay they receive. The fact that they burn through employees like matchsticks is not surprising.
We then went to Home Depot. Sometimes Elsa acts like she really wants to come in the store as opposed to sleeping in the truck. She seemed that way this time so I leashed her up and brought her in. I had a shopping cart and was pushing it in front while Elsa was a couple feet behind me on the leash. All of a sudden I hear a man saying “Sir…..SIR”. I turn around and see that Elsa had been busy, dropping a string of turds as she walked behind me. Come on…..
This happened once before. At that time it was attributed to not making sure she did a number two before taking her to HD. Well she did her business first thing in the morning so I thought we were in the clear, evidently we weren’t. Luckily a Home Depot employee was right there and she said she would go grab some paper towels. I stood there, embarrassed, as I saw an old woman meandering my direction. I assumed she would clearly see the landmines as a couple were right in the middle of the aisle. So as I began the process of picking up the 7 or 8 gifts I hear the woman blurt out “Ohhhhh, I stepped in it!” She sure did, she stepped in it and then smeared it all over the floor. I simply handed her one of my paper towels and robotically said, “Yes, you did”. It added up to a lot of poop, which I had to then carry while leading Elsa to a trash can outside. It was a ton of fun. The primary reason I was there was to grab another case of Mexican Coke as Home Depot is the only place to get it in our area now as far as I know. I also grabbed two outdoor floor mats to put at both entrances to the pool area to attempt to knock down the amount of dirt tracked in to tarnish my pressure washing efforts.
On Sunday I did something I have not done since the pandemic shit show started, went to a movie theater. I went to a matinee of The Eternals, the other Marvel movie I had been wanting to see. I went to a new venue called the Cinebistro, it’s located in the local mall. It was built in the space once occupied by Sears. This place was NICE, even eclipsing the Silverspot Cinema in my opinion. The spaces were wide open and very high end and modern. The bar area had a ton of tv’s all showing the various NFL games. It looked like a place that I could go to in the future and just hang out, although it certainly will be at a higher price tag. When you walk into the theater you are greeted by a concierge who walks you to your seat which is luxurious with a swing out table. A menu is waiting there for you, there are no conventional concession stands. It is a full menu but you can still get old fashioned candy/popcorn this way as well. You tell the waiter what you want and he processes your credit card on the spot, delivering your order to you a few minutes later.
It’s quite the set up. Now there were only 10-12 people in the theater. I wondered how tough it would be to maintain this level of one on one service if a theater is near capacity, it would require a TON of staffing. Now as you would expect, this does not come at a bargain rate. Everything on the menu is pricey and every order has an automatic 18% tacked on for gratuity. But still, it is a unique experience and worth the money if you are looking to pamper yourself or someone else.
Eternals is a looong movie, just under 3 hours. I knew very little about them and never read any Eternals comic books which is a boat many viewers would be in. Because of this they had to devote a lot of time in the movie to build the origin story so you knew what the deal is. I think they did a good job of doing so although I would say the first hour or so of the movie was a bit slow IMO as this backstory was being laid out. The pace picked up and overall I thought the movie was good. Not as good as Shang Chi IMO but still a solid A Marvel movie. I am very curious to see the direction things are going from here since they are now delving into characters and stories I know little to nothing about. Don’t forget to stick around for the end credit trailers in both films.
I’ll tell you the NFL is a total crapshoot from week to week. The wild swings in outcomes is insane. This week Eagles/Broncos game was a perfect example. The Eagles just came off their defense getting steamrolled by the Chargers, the Broncos just went into Dallas, who smashed the Eagles, and destroyed the Cowboys last week. I had expectations for the Broncos to put a similar beating on the Birds. Instead the Eagles were the ones with a dominating performance, in Denver no less, winning 30-13. In the first half Jalen Hurts put up some great passing numbers and in the second half the Eagles used an effective running game to burn clock and move the chains, it was nearly textbook. I would probably have equal success predicting games by a coin flip. All across the league there are numerous improbable outcomes week in and week out. The time of league super powers that consistently win the games they should win is ancient history.
I did a ride Sunday afternoon as well.
Without looking at a calendar I can tell another full moon is approaching. I find myself in a gully of just feeling shitty about life in general and the future. I was thinking about the big difference in attitude I had when Ali and I split compared to now. Back then I wasted very little time before I started going out on dates. I looked at it as I still had time to start something new and meaningful with a person. Now to be honest, that plan went very poorly for a long time as I slogged through the online dating world which resulted in a whole lot more negative than positive outcomes. It wasn’t until I stepped away from cyber match making that I met with Cindy via our mutual affiliation with the running club.
There was a long period of time where I thought I had accomplished my mission, but obviously, that ultimately was not the case. Now, finding myself back out in the clouds, nearly 10 years later, my attitude is far different. I no longer have realistic expectations about starting over. In all honesty, the effort required to sufficiently vet a person to get a true sense of who they are seems like a monumental task at this point, one that I yet have been willing to even consider beginning on. I have learned many things over 35 years of mostly long term relationships. That knowledge ironically, is what retards me from eagerly seeking out another, despite my desires to have a loving, trusted partner to grow old with. I can only hope that some clarity emerges from the clouds in the years to come.
What you see before you is the end result of 5 hours of pressure washing. I am happy with the end result and thanks to the wonders of Advil, the body penalty was not that severe. I had to swap between the gas and electric washer a couple times due to odd shut off issues with the gas washer. The script was as it always is, slow and steady. I blasted the inside and outside of the cage AND hit the screens themselves as they had managed to accumulate green scuzz as well. I think hitting the top sections with the bleach solution the week prior actually did have more benefit than I first realized. I will add that to future sessions.
I got the weeding done today, leaving my weekend gloriously open. I mean I have stuff to do of course but now that the pressure washing is done, anything else feels like coasting downhill. Two days in a row I rode an EUC to DD for my afternoon coffee and enjoyed it. I did not bring my video camera with for either ride, a rarity but a situation I should find myself in more often.
I found out from multiple friends that a guy we used to play volleyball against, Krystoff, died suddenly, while playing volleyball. He was only 43. Even though our matches against Krystoff were always teeming with trash talk back and forth it was always good natured and funny, making all parties involved laugh. His strong eastern European accent made his cutdowns a little more biting. I thought about him multiple times since I heard the news. The last time I saw him was at one of the last Pottstown Rumbles I played eons ago. RIP buddy.
I think I am going to live stream tonight, drunk. Because I feel like it.
Last night I opened up my new floor vacuuming robot. If you know me, you know I have had a robotic vacuum for a long, long time, dating back to the original Roomba which was probably around 15 years ago. My current stable of robots included a Neato XV, a Samsung Powerbot, and a Deebot. The Neato XV is my oldest robot and ironically probably still does the best all around job on the floors. However it’s battery is going bad and it’s brush motor started making a noise that I could not easily identify.
I got a Sam’s catalog a couple weeks ago that identified a sweet deal on the base model Roomba, knocking 40% off it’s normal $299 price. It was an online only deal that only was good last weekend. I made a special reminder to buy it, which I did. Since I am a pro at robo-vacuums, set up of the Roomba took only 5-10 minutes. I let it fully charge and then let it loose on the house.
Unlike my other three vacuums which have a “vision” system which allows them to clean in a very methodical manner, the Roomba still utilizes it’s random bounce around behavior. It does not see the room, it just keeps bouncing around in a manner which hopefully covers everything. They did add a proximity sensor at least so if it is about to hit a wall or an object the sensor detects it so the bot just does a soft kiss instead of a harsh collision. I let the Roomba do a full run. It’s dust bin was stuffed afterward, despite me running the other bots a couple times a week. I originally thought I would recycle the Neato but the brush motor noise went away so I guess I will be a four robot home for at least the time being.
I am on the cusp of what will be a full four day weekend. My plan is to get the worst task done first, which is always my preference when given a choice. I will be pressure washing the inside and outside of the pool cage, the deck, and anything else I have energy reserves left over for. The other three days will have smaller, less pain invoking things on the agenda. I do want to see Shang Chi this weekend since it comes out on Disney Plus Friday. The chickens were very happy when I told them they could sleep in the next four days.
Yesterday I signed up for the full self driving subscription for my car. The short term planned sub is to make my drive to and from Texas more enjoyable. It will also allow me to reevaluate the feature which I had with my original Model 3 to see if it’s improved. Even if it has, I highly doubt I will find it worthy of an extra $200 per month. We will see.
