Woke up this morning on the 33rd floor at Vicki and Tim’s apartment. It is nice to have a Friday off, it was a nice and lazy morning without any dog walks. Tim went into work, Vic and I went out for a walk to the thrift store by her place. When we got there, it was closed so we headed in the opposite direction to get some breakfast at a place called Nookies. I had a short stack of cinnamon pecan pancakes, scrabbled eggs and bacon. The pancakes were fantastic, definitely enough food for the entire day.
Next we headed through the Lincoln Park Zoo. What a great place to have access too. I mean, a free zoo in the middle of Chicago? We took a quick walk in the farm section, then headed to the primates. I think we went through 3 or 4 houses and then headed to the greenhouse to check out the plants. It is truly amazing how nice all this is, it’s free and open to the public all the time.
After the zoo, Vic and I headed back up to the thrift shop now that it was open. We didn’t spend long there because the prices were not very thrift store appropriate. Some of the clothes I could buy new for the same price. We walked back to the apartment and got ready to head over to Cece and Jim’s. On our way over we stopped off at another thrift store to make a last ditch effort for me to get a Halloween costume.
Next stop, to the Parker house. Cece apparently planned a hot dog lunch. So I got to have two Vienna beef dogs, then checked out the man-cave. They added carpet in the garage, put in a ping-pong table, dart board, couches, TV, etc. With the garage door open, you can watch some TV while playing fetch with the dogs. I played a few games of NASCAR on the playstation then went back into the house. Hung out with Cece and Dawn a bit, then watched a movie with Jim in the front room.
Later in the evening, Cece made a fantastic spread of food. My all-time favorite, sweet potato casserole! I also had some chicken pot pie and plenty of maple sugar cookies. Cece showed me how they get September to 'sit pretty' just like the dogs. It was pretty funny and I was amazed, I will post a picture later. We all sat down to watch Charlie Brown and the Pumpkin Patch. At around 9pm, Vicki, Tim and I left to get back to the apartment for the night. Back at the apartment, we sat down to watch some TV and talked a bit before heading to bed.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
10/28/10
This morning I woke up with Reece, and we did our morning routine of outside, breakfast and coffee while blogging. I began to clean the house a bit more, doing a load of laundry because today is going to be in the 70’s and sunny. We went on our morning walk and did our 1.5 mile loop. As usual, not very exciting and nothing out of the normal happened. We got home, I put the laundry out on the line, had a bowl of cereal and got ready for work.
I was like a mad man at work this morning, I had lots of dead lines to meet and was taking off at noon. I was able to get everything that needed to be done before I left, it felt pretty good. I then went over to the dentist for my bi-annual cleaning that I had been putting off for 2 months now. I think the dentist was a little pre-mature with setting their clocks back an hour, because the whole time I was watching the clock thinking I had more time than I really did.
I made it home and let the dogs play in the backyard while I cleaned the house. It took almost an hour just to sweep the floors and vacuum the couches clean. Next was putting new sheets on the bed and then cleaning the bathrooms. At this time I realized I was running really late. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a shower after cleaning the house, and now I am off to catch the C&J for Logan.
Made the C&J with 2 minutes to spare. Made it to Logan 2 hours before my flight, only took 5 minutes to get through security. I tried to book it to my gate because there was an earlier flight leaving for Chicago that I didn’t expect to be so close to making. That plane left just as I got to the gate. Hung around for another hour before boarding. While boarding, it was interesting to note that there were three people that had tickets for row 27, but there were only 26 rows on the plane. Luckily there were some extra seats. I say luckily because one of the guys was clearly starting to make a scene, it had the potential to escalate into a security problem.
The flight was fine, I was able to take a nap because I had a window seat. We got in a few minutes early, went straight for the Blue Line train to meet Cece at the stop. It was great to see Cece again, and far too nice of her to drive me to Vicki’s place. With the big party Cece is putting on this weekend, the last thing she needed to do was drive me around.
When I got up to Vick’s place, I got the tour of the apartment. Checked out the balcony, though 33 floors up, I didn’t get too far out from the patio door. We chatted for a bit, then off to bed. Vicki had been talking about their couch is a great bed for a while now, so can’t wait to try it out.
I was like a mad man at work this morning, I had lots of dead lines to meet and was taking off at noon. I was able to get everything that needed to be done before I left, it felt pretty good. I then went over to the dentist for my bi-annual cleaning that I had been putting off for 2 months now. I think the dentist was a little pre-mature with setting their clocks back an hour, because the whole time I was watching the clock thinking I had more time than I really did.
I made it home and let the dogs play in the backyard while I cleaned the house. It took almost an hour just to sweep the floors and vacuum the couches clean. Next was putting new sheets on the bed and then cleaning the bathrooms. At this time I realized I was running really late. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a shower after cleaning the house, and now I am off to catch the C&J for Logan.
Made the C&J with 2 minutes to spare. Made it to Logan 2 hours before my flight, only took 5 minutes to get through security. I tried to book it to my gate because there was an earlier flight leaving for Chicago that I didn’t expect to be so close to making. That plane left just as I got to the gate. Hung around for another hour before boarding. While boarding, it was interesting to note that there were three people that had tickets for row 27, but there were only 26 rows on the plane. Luckily there were some extra seats. I say luckily because one of the guys was clearly starting to make a scene, it had the potential to escalate into a security problem.
The flight was fine, I was able to take a nap because I had a window seat. We got in a few minutes early, went straight for the Blue Line train to meet Cece at the stop. It was great to see Cece again, and far too nice of her to drive me to Vicki’s place. With the big party Cece is putting on this weekend, the last thing she needed to do was drive me around.
When I got up to Vick’s place, I got the tour of the apartment. Checked out the balcony, though 33 floors up, I didn’t get too far out from the patio door. We chatted for a bit, then off to bed. Vicki had been talking about their couch is a great bed for a while now, so can’t wait to try it out.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
10/27/10
This was a unique wednesday morning because I was taking Reece to daycare on a wednesday instead of a thursday. So I got up, took the pups outside, gave them breakfast, took a quick shower and then off to Barrington. The ride to Barrington was fun, always is. Reece sleeps in the front seat, Chance stands in the center and continuously tries to hook your right hand to give him a belly rub. With a standard, this is difficult, so I usually wait unto I'm on the highway before giving into his 'hook'. By the way, the term 'hook' was given by Cheryl when she got to experience this for the first time this summer, it was a new thing for Chance over the past year.
I dropped off Reece at daycare to a person I hadn't met before, very nice woman. She asked 'And who is this?", so I told her it was Reece and gave her a few tips about keeping Reece separated from other dogs until Joanne or Holly arrived. I know Reece looks all cute and lovable, but she can turn pretty quick. Anyway, headed home with Chance, just the boys going for a ride in the truck. I gave Chance plenty of belly rub time. As soon as we got home, we went on a 1.5 mile walk. The sky was overcast, but lit up. You could tell where the sun was at, it looked p
retty cool. Plus with all the leaves turning, I had to get a picture of Chance, so cute. On the walk he saw some leaves that were suspended in mid air, caught on a spiders web just 3 feet above the ground. He saw the leaves and just inhaled them, it was too cute.
After our walk, we ran into Meg our neighbor and talked to her for 15 minutes or so before getting to work. Meg and Pat live across the street, they are really cool people that are so incredibly active its amazing. They seem to always be going hiking, skiing, kayaking, biking, all the time. When Cheryl gets back next year, we will do those things together and it will be the best summer ever! We got into the house, I had a bowl of cereal then off to work.
Work is the same, nothing too interesting going on. I am keeping busy, which is always good. At lunch I went home, got dressed and took Chance for a 2.3mile run. The rain had stopped and the sun came out just long enough to get our run in. Chance seemed to poop out around mile 2, which is understandable because we usually don't run together. Then I was back to work, where I had a Clif bar for lunch. The rest of the day at work was pretty relaxing, luckily not too much stress today. At 5pm I left for home.
I stopped by the house and played with Chance a bit, then loaded him into the truck and headed to Barrington. Traffic was a bit of a nightmare, rain must scare people. Got to daycare and talked with Joanne a bit, Reece was ok, with a few little tiffs with a Golden. I'm upset about this because Reece never picks on Goldens, Reece needs an attitude adjustment. On our way home, we took the slow route, just for fun.
Got home and turned on my computer and had about 10 minutes of video chat time with Cheryl. She is doing well and keeping up good spirits. I know I talk about her like she is one of those trapped Chilean miners, but there are some similarities. Though I here the miners had better food. Anyway, afterwards we went out on our evening walk which was cut short because of the rain (.6 miles). We came in, I made the rest of my chicken sausages for dinner and popped in a Netflix movie. Midway through the movie, I called back Cece who left me a voicemail yesterday. Cece is great, because she will leave a voicemail starting out "I know leaving voicemails are no longer to thing, but I'm going to leave on anyway". When I go in to see her this weekend, I'm going to try to get her to start texting. It was a great phone call, always great to talk to Cece, she is gearing up for the big Halloween party this weekend. She thinks I should go dressed as Saint Rok. Since I am bringing my running gear, I may just bring one of my old race bibs and go as a marathoner instead.
After the phone call, I finished watching the movie with a bowl of chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Them off to bed at 10:30pm.
I dropped off Reece at daycare to a person I hadn't met before, very nice woman. She asked 'And who is this?", so I told her it was Reece and gave her a few tips about keeping Reece separated from other dogs until Joanne or Holly arrived. I know Reece looks all cute and lovable, but she can turn pretty quick. Anyway, headed home with Chance, just the boys going for a ride in the truck. I gave Chance plenty of belly rub time. As soon as we got home, we went on a 1.5 mile walk. The sky was overcast, but lit up. You could tell where the sun was at, it looked p
retty cool. Plus with all the leaves turning, I had to get a picture of Chance, so cute. On the walk he saw some leaves that were suspended in mid air, caught on a spiders web just 3 feet above the ground. He saw the leaves and just inhaled them, it was too cute.After our walk, we ran into Meg our neighbor and talked to her for 15 minutes or so before getting to work. Meg and Pat live across the street, they are really cool people that are so incredibly active its amazing. They seem to always be going hiking, skiing, kayaking, biking, all the time. When Cheryl gets back next year, we will do those things together and it will be the best summer ever! We got into the house, I had a bowl of cereal then off to work.
Work is the same, nothing too interesting going on. I am keeping busy, which is always good. At lunch I went home, got dressed and took Chance for a 2.3mile run. The rain had stopped and the sun came out just long enough to get our run in. Chance seemed to poop out around mile 2, which is understandable because we usually don't run together. Then I was back to work, where I had a Clif bar for lunch. The rest of the day at work was pretty relaxing, luckily not too much stress today. At 5pm I left for home.
I stopped by the house and played with Chance a bit, then loaded him into the truck and headed to Barrington. Traffic was a bit of a nightmare, rain must scare people. Got to daycare and talked with Joanne a bit, Reece was ok, with a few little tiffs with a Golden. I'm upset about this because Reece never picks on Goldens, Reece needs an attitude adjustment. On our way home, we took the slow route, just for fun.
Got home and turned on my computer and had about 10 minutes of video chat time with Cheryl. She is doing well and keeping up good spirits. I know I talk about her like she is one of those trapped Chilean miners, but there are some similarities. Though I here the miners had better food. Anyway, afterwards we went out on our evening walk which was cut short because of the rain (.6 miles). We came in, I made the rest of my chicken sausages for dinner and popped in a Netflix movie. Midway through the movie, I called back Cece who left me a voicemail yesterday. Cece is great, because she will leave a voicemail starting out "I know leaving voicemails are no longer to thing, but I'm going to leave on anyway". When I go in to see her this weekend, I'm going to try to get her to start texting. It was a great phone call, always great to talk to Cece, she is gearing up for the big Halloween party this weekend. She thinks I should go dressed as Saint Rok. Since I am bringing my running gear, I may just bring one of my old race bibs and go as a marathoner instead.
After the phone call, I finished watching the movie with a bowl of chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Them off to bed at 10:30pm.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
10/26/10
I hope you all know the significance of today... On this day 25 years ago, Marty McFly took a trip back in time in a shiny Delorean. I plan on paying tribute by getting the new Blu-ray of the trilogy... well, until I see the cost of it. $80!!! umm, I'll wait.
Anyway, had a good morning with the dogs, outside, feeding, coffee and a blog. Then our typical 1.5 mile loop. We got home and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then off to work.
Work was the same as usual, the bid package I wanted to get out this week took a hit with some new changes to the layout and design. I still think I can get it out, but it may be tight. At lunch I went home with the pups, such a warm day (60's) we played in the backyard for quite a bit. I made a PB&J sandwich and went back out for some more ball time.
The afternoon seemed to go by pretty quick. It looked so nice out through my window, I didn't want to work. At 5pm, went home and played with the pups. Back inside for dinner and then back out for more play time. While paying in the yard, I made some chicken sausages on the grill for dinner. After I ate, I loaded the pups into the truck and took them shopping with me. Went to check out a few things at Best Buy, but walked out without buying anything (always good).
We got home and I took the dogs for the evening walk, then sat down to watch some TV. After NCIS - LA, I streamed the monday night shows I missed online. Got to bed around 11pm, I need to get to sleep earlier, tomorrow will be tough to get up.
Anyway, had a good morning with the dogs, outside, feeding, coffee and a blog. Then our typical 1.5 mile loop. We got home and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then off to work.
Work was the same as usual, the bid package I wanted to get out this week took a hit with some new changes to the layout and design. I still think I can get it out, but it may be tight. At lunch I went home with the pups, such a warm day (60's) we played in the backyard for quite a bit. I made a PB&J sandwich and went back out for some more ball time.
The afternoon seemed to go by pretty quick. It looked so nice out through my window, I didn't want to work. At 5pm, went home and played with the pups. Back inside for dinner and then back out for more play time. While paying in the yard, I made some chicken sausages on the grill for dinner. After I ate, I loaded the pups into the truck and took them shopping with me. Went to check out a few things at Best Buy, but walked out without buying anything (always good).
We got home and I took the dogs for the evening walk, then sat down to watch some TV. After NCIS - LA, I streamed the monday night shows I missed online. Got to bed around 11pm, I need to get to sleep earlier, tomorrow will be tough to get up.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
10/25/10
A monday morning is always a good morning, right? Well, I guess it is as good as any other, especially since I woke up, beats the alternative. The best thing about the morning, the 10 minutes of snuggle / belly rub time I get with Reece and Chance. I think Cheryl needs to get involved in this when she gets back, the dogs are so much more lovable when they snuggle up first thing in the morning.
Ok, enough of that, we all got up and went on with the morning routine. Outside for a few, back in for food, coffee and blogging. I even had enough time to wash dishes and pick up a few things around the house. At 6:45am, out the door for the morning walk. We did the 1.5 mile loop. It was relatively warm this morning, which I like because I don't need gloves on the walk. Nothing too exciting happened, but we got back to the house and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
At work I continued making some progress on my South Jersey project. This project got pushed on the side burner, but I still need to get drawings and a bid package out before I leave on thursday afternoon. We had a quick 10 minute 'all engineers' meeting to discuss workloads and what management's expectations are. In a nut shell, we are expected to work more hours. I understand where the managers are coming from, we have not been hit by the recession, we are over-booked with work. Unfortunately for me, it is mostly mechanical and electrical work. I will help out the best I can to support the team, put there isn't time to train (or educate) me to do the work. Maybe during the slow part of the year.
At lunch, Aaron and I went over to The Pizza Factory, grabbed some subs and went over to the house to eat and let the dogs out. Interesting fact about the Pizza Factory... all the prices on the board above the counter are incorrect. My sub rang up 60 cents more, I asked and the lady said all the prices have been updated, but not on their sign. Later I asked Aaron (he goes here more often than me), he said the prices have been incorrect for at least 6 months. Hmmm, sounds like a scam to me. With the added costs to the subs, they should have updated their signs. By the way, the whole place was renovated 6 months ago, the sign is brand new.
Anyway, we talked a bit wile the dogs were outside. Reece initially gave Aaron a growl, but later tried to get him to throw the ball for her. At 12:50pm, we left to get back to work. The rest of the afternoon was much of the same, plugging away at my drawings. By 3pm, I had my drawings to a point to send out to the project team for review! It was a good point for me to get my eyes off them for a bit, though I am sure there are many mark-ups that will need to be done.
At 5pm, I left work, went home and played in the yard with the dogs. I talked with Michael from next door for a few minutes and he gave me a container of chili for dinner. They are so nice next door, it's great to have neighbors like that. I need to be more thoughtful to them as well. Tonight is basketball league night, 8pm game. As Dennis pointed out, that's only 30 minutes before my bed time. Just wait, there is one or two 9pm games coming up. Next I brought the dogs in for some food, then straightened up the house a tad. Back out with the dogs before we lost daylight. Back in, got my stuff ready for bball. Then we went on our evening walk. The pups were good, we did the 1 mile loop. We ran into the German Shepard right past the Naber Market. What it must be like to have a good dog. Both Chance and Reece got right up into his face, and he just stood there so calm yet not submissive. Chance started barking, so I pulled them to continue on the walk.
We got home, I had a yogurt for a snack, and headed to Eliot. The game was pretty good. We played a team that enjoyed the game more than the last team. It was good to play against a team like this. We won 53-43 and I had 6 points! Most of my shots were about as ugly as can be, but I did have a few key rebounds that I'm proud of. After the game Sam, Chris and I went out for a couple drinks at The Shipyard. Afterwards, I headed home to be with the pups. We went out in the yard one last time, then I watched about 15 minutes of TV and off to bed around 10:30pm.
Ok, enough of that, we all got up and went on with the morning routine. Outside for a few, back in for food, coffee and blogging. I even had enough time to wash dishes and pick up a few things around the house. At 6:45am, out the door for the morning walk. We did the 1.5 mile loop. It was relatively warm this morning, which I like because I don't need gloves on the walk. Nothing too exciting happened, but we got back to the house and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
At work I continued making some progress on my South Jersey project. This project got pushed on the side burner, but I still need to get drawings and a bid package out before I leave on thursday afternoon. We had a quick 10 minute 'all engineers' meeting to discuss workloads and what management's expectations are. In a nut shell, we are expected to work more hours. I understand where the managers are coming from, we have not been hit by the recession, we are over-booked with work. Unfortunately for me, it is mostly mechanical and electrical work. I will help out the best I can to support the team, put there isn't time to train (or educate) me to do the work. Maybe during the slow part of the year.
At lunch, Aaron and I went over to The Pizza Factory, grabbed some subs and went over to the house to eat and let the dogs out. Interesting fact about the Pizza Factory... all the prices on the board above the counter are incorrect. My sub rang up 60 cents more, I asked and the lady said all the prices have been updated, but not on their sign. Later I asked Aaron (he goes here more often than me), he said the prices have been incorrect for at least 6 months. Hmmm, sounds like a scam to me. With the added costs to the subs, they should have updated their signs. By the way, the whole place was renovated 6 months ago, the sign is brand new.
Anyway, we talked a bit wile the dogs were outside. Reece initially gave Aaron a growl, but later tried to get him to throw the ball for her. At 12:50pm, we left to get back to work. The rest of the afternoon was much of the same, plugging away at my drawings. By 3pm, I had my drawings to a point to send out to the project team for review! It was a good point for me to get my eyes off them for a bit, though I am sure there are many mark-ups that will need to be done.
At 5pm, I left work, went home and played in the yard with the dogs. I talked with Michael from next door for a few minutes and he gave me a container of chili for dinner. They are so nice next door, it's great to have neighbors like that. I need to be more thoughtful to them as well. Tonight is basketball league night, 8pm game. As Dennis pointed out, that's only 30 minutes before my bed time. Just wait, there is one or two 9pm games coming up. Next I brought the dogs in for some food, then straightened up the house a tad. Back out with the dogs before we lost daylight. Back in, got my stuff ready for bball. Then we went on our evening walk. The pups were good, we did the 1 mile loop. We ran into the German Shepard right past the Naber Market. What it must be like to have a good dog. Both Chance and Reece got right up into his face, and he just stood there so calm yet not submissive. Chance started barking, so I pulled them to continue on the walk.
We got home, I had a yogurt for a snack, and headed to Eliot. The game was pretty good. We played a team that enjoyed the game more than the last team. It was good to play against a team like this. We won 53-43 and I had 6 points! Most of my shots were about as ugly as can be, but I did have a few key rebounds that I'm proud of. After the game Sam, Chris and I went out for a couple drinks at The Shipyard. Afterwards, I headed home to be with the pups. We went out in the yard one last time, then I watched about 15 minutes of TV and off to bed around 10:30pm.
Monday, October 25, 2010
10/24/10
Woke up this morning and took the dogs out in the backyard, then fed them breakfast. This is sure to be a busy day if I actually do everything I plan on. I sat with some coffee, had a bowl of cereal and blogged for about 30 minutes. Next I took the pups out on a 1.5 mile walk. Nothing really interesting happened, it was peaceful and I think all three of us enjoyed it.
When we got home, I got dressed for some basketball. I wasn't sure if we were still playing because it was only 37F out. I went to the court at 9am and waited for about 5-10 minutes, I didn't see anyone else so I went back home. Even if I played, it would have only been for 30-45 minutes. When I got home I took a shower and got dressed for the Cailan's baptism. This is two weekends in a row that I am at church. The baptism went well, they stuffed all the families up front, which makes the mass difficult because surely babies cry. I tried to find comical things going on in the church to keep my attention. For instance, the two alter boys that picked their noses throughout the entire mass. Or the girl who holds the book for the priest to read, could barely keep awake (the whole head nod thing going on). This is my form of entertainment.
Afterwards, I headed home. I needed a nap in order to prep for my long run today. I got home, started a fire in the wood stove and made a nice cozy place on the couch to fall asleep. Reece joined in the nap as well. As I got up, Cheryl called to video chat. I set up the video system and we got to chat for about 30 minutes while I had a grilled cheese sandwich. Cheryl was just starting her monday morning, so I actually got to see some of her co-workers. After we chatted, I took the pups outside for some ball time, then came in and got dressed for my run. This was sheer will power, it was 44F and drizzling rain out, yuck.
I was able to do the New Castle loop (7.34miles) in a very good time (sub 7min pace!). Though I was pretty cold when finishing, I hurried in tot take a warm shower. I took the dogs out in the yard to play some more, then settled down on the couch to watch the Pats game. At halftime, I fed the dogs their dinner and made an Amy's microwavable dinner for me. We watched the end of the game, which turned into a nail-biter, but glad to see the Pats had a little luck and won it. After the game, the pups and I went out for our evening walk.
The walk went well, it felt like the air temperature actually increased, which made it pleasant. We made it back in time for The Simpson's, but it was a repeat. So I streamed a few Monday TV shows that I had missed because of basketball. Finally, around 10pm, I got into bed with Reece following and went to sleep.
When we got home, I got dressed for some basketball. I wasn't sure if we were still playing because it was only 37F out. I went to the court at 9am and waited for about 5-10 minutes, I didn't see anyone else so I went back home. Even if I played, it would have only been for 30-45 minutes. When I got home I took a shower and got dressed for the Cailan's baptism. This is two weekends in a row that I am at church. The baptism went well, they stuffed all the families up front, which makes the mass difficult because surely babies cry. I tried to find comical things going on in the church to keep my attention. For instance, the two alter boys that picked their noses throughout the entire mass. Or the girl who holds the book for the priest to read, could barely keep awake (the whole head nod thing going on). This is my form of entertainment.
Afterwards, I headed home. I needed a nap in order to prep for my long run today. I got home, started a fire in the wood stove and made a nice cozy place on the couch to fall asleep. Reece joined in the nap as well. As I got up, Cheryl called to video chat. I set up the video system and we got to chat for about 30 minutes while I had a grilled cheese sandwich. Cheryl was just starting her monday morning, so I actually got to see some of her co-workers. After we chatted, I took the pups outside for some ball time, then came in and got dressed for my run. This was sheer will power, it was 44F and drizzling rain out, yuck.
I was able to do the New Castle loop (7.34miles) in a very good time (sub 7min pace!). Though I was pretty cold when finishing, I hurried in tot take a warm shower. I took the dogs out in the yard to play some more, then settled down on the couch to watch the Pats game. At halftime, I fed the dogs their dinner and made an Amy's microwavable dinner for me. We watched the end of the game, which turned into a nail-biter, but glad to see the Pats had a little luck and won it. After the game, the pups and I went out for our evening walk.
The walk went well, it felt like the air temperature actually increased, which made it pleasant. We made it back in time for The Simpson's, but it was a repeat. So I streamed a few Monday TV shows that I had missed because of basketball. Finally, around 10pm, I got into bed with Reece following and went to sleep.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
10/23/10
It was light out before the pups woke me up for the new day, so nice of them to let me sleep until 6:30am on a saturday. We got up, went outside and then I fed them breakfast. I started a fire in the wood stove, it dipped to 57F in the house, time for some heat. I checked the meter and then sat in front of the computer to blog and futz around on the internet. Nothing too exciting going on in the world apparently.
At 7:30am, the dogs and I went for a 1.5 mile walk. The morning temperature outside was 35F, which is starting to bother me on the walks. Chance and Reece were great on the walk, we went past the Lincoln St. construction, not much has changed since the last time we walked through. It was a beautiful clear day, should be a great day. So I added McMurdo Station, Antarctica to my Weather Channel app on my phone so that I can see what kind of temperatures Cheryl is getting daily. Well yesterday was 5F... I think Cheryl is picking the coldest days and writing about them on her blog, but really, it's pretty nice out there.
At 9:30am, I loaded the pups in the truck and we made a trip to the transfer station. I only had one plastic container of wood to recycle, but I wanted to get it off the back deck before too long. As always, the transfer station is a pleasure to go to. After the transfer station, we went to Target for some shopping. I was in 'Code Red', need for toilet paper. I really shouldn't wait until it is all gone before buying more. Anyway, picked up some cleaning supplies and more cereal. I also bought a new tupperware contained for Jeff and Shannon because Mister Chance knocked over the drying rack full of clean dishes, then proceeded to chew on Jeff and Shannon's tupperware container.
I got back to the house around 11:30am. I put some laundry out on the clothes line, then played with the dogs for 20 minutes in the backyard. As the house temperature got up, I thought it was a good time to take a nap by the fire. Obviously, the dogs joined in in this activity. I got up just before 1pm, my dad was coming over to hang out for a bit. At 1pm, he stopped by. We sat by the fire for an hour or so just chatting, then we headed to downtown to get something to eat. First we stopped in at the Brewery. 2:30pm in the afternoon on a saturday and there was a 30 minute wait for 2 people??? I am having trouble staying loyal the the Brewery. After they slashed their menu, getting in is such a pain... I'm glad as a business they are doing well, but for people that go there regularly, it's tough.
I was told that when the show 'Cheers' came out on TV, the Boston bar got so packed that the bar gave green tokens out to their regulars. The regulars showed the tokens, and they moved to the front of the lines. Maybe something the Brewery should think about.
Anyway, we headed over to the Dolphin Striker. No waits, sat right down. I ordered the Striker Club sandwich, which was fantastic. While dining, I was helping my dad with his new smartphone that the University gave him. It is a touch screen HTC Droid. It has so many bells and whistles that my dad will never use. He just wants a phone with number buttons to call. I set him up with a Google account and started downloading Apps for him. We had a good late lunch and headed back to the house.
We played in the backyard a bit with the pups. I loaded another load of firewood in to the carrier and brought it in. After about 30 minutes, my dad took off for KTP to look at winter hats. I jumped on the computer and played on the internet for a bit. Next I fed the pups their dinner while watching this past weeks full episodes of the Daily Show. I thought it was funny on the show where Colbert announced he didn't get a permit for his rally and asked Stewart to be part of his rally.
At 7:30pm, I took the dogs out for their 1mile evening walk. Not much excitement here, the dogs were good and nothing really happened to take up time on the blog. When we got home, I made my way up to the couch and watched some TV. I stayed awake long enough to see the Giants beat Philly to get into the World Series, then it was off to bed.
At 7:30am, the dogs and I went for a 1.5 mile walk. The morning temperature outside was 35F, which is starting to bother me on the walks. Chance and Reece were great on the walk, we went past the Lincoln St. construction, not much has changed since the last time we walked through. It was a beautiful clear day, should be a great day. So I added McMurdo Station, Antarctica to my Weather Channel app on my phone so that I can see what kind of temperatures Cheryl is getting daily. Well yesterday was 5F... I think Cheryl is picking the coldest days and writing about them on her blog, but really, it's pretty nice out there.
At 9:30am, I loaded the pups in the truck and we made a trip to the transfer station. I only had one plastic container of wood to recycle, but I wanted to get it off the back deck before too long. As always, the transfer station is a pleasure to go to. After the transfer station, we went to Target for some shopping. I was in 'Code Red', need for toilet paper. I really shouldn't wait until it is all gone before buying more. Anyway, picked up some cleaning supplies and more cereal. I also bought a new tupperware contained for Jeff and Shannon because Mister Chance knocked over the drying rack full of clean dishes, then proceeded to chew on Jeff and Shannon's tupperware container.
I got back to the house around 11:30am. I put some laundry out on the clothes line, then played with the dogs for 20 minutes in the backyard. As the house temperature got up, I thought it was a good time to take a nap by the fire. Obviously, the dogs joined in in this activity. I got up just before 1pm, my dad was coming over to hang out for a bit. At 1pm, he stopped by. We sat by the fire for an hour or so just chatting, then we headed to downtown to get something to eat. First we stopped in at the Brewery. 2:30pm in the afternoon on a saturday and there was a 30 minute wait for 2 people??? I am having trouble staying loyal the the Brewery. After they slashed their menu, getting in is such a pain... I'm glad as a business they are doing well, but for people that go there regularly, it's tough.
I was told that when the show 'Cheers' came out on TV, the Boston bar got so packed that the bar gave green tokens out to their regulars. The regulars showed the tokens, and they moved to the front of the lines. Maybe something the Brewery should think about.
Anyway, we headed over to the Dolphin Striker. No waits, sat right down. I ordered the Striker Club sandwich, which was fantastic. While dining, I was helping my dad with his new smartphone that the University gave him. It is a touch screen HTC Droid. It has so many bells and whistles that my dad will never use. He just wants a phone with number buttons to call. I set him up with a Google account and started downloading Apps for him. We had a good late lunch and headed back to the house.
We played in the backyard a bit with the pups. I loaded another load of firewood in to the carrier and brought it in. After about 30 minutes, my dad took off for KTP to look at winter hats. I jumped on the computer and played on the internet for a bit. Next I fed the pups their dinner while watching this past weeks full episodes of the Daily Show. I thought it was funny on the show where Colbert announced he didn't get a permit for his rally and asked Stewart to be part of his rally.
At 7:30pm, I took the dogs out for their 1mile evening walk. Not much excitement here, the dogs were good and nothing really happened to take up time on the blog. When we got home, I made my way up to the couch and watched some TV. I stayed awake long enough to see the Giants beat Philly to get into the World Series, then it was off to bed.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
10/22/10
Pastry day. Got up this morning and continued with my routine. Had the dogs out, fed and coffee ready in no time. Spent a little time on my blog, also noticed Cheryl hasn't had anything new on her blog in a few days. The pups and I went out for a 1.5 mile loop this morning. Since I wasn't planning on eating breakfast at home, and new the pastries would be quite heavy in the stomach, the extra distance was needed.
I made it in to work and continued working on my projects. I think things progressed well this week, a little slower than I anticipated, but forward progress was made. At lunch I went home and played with the dogs for 20 minutes. Came in, washed some dishes and cleaned the kitchen a bit. I sat on the couch with both pups for a few minutes as well. I grabbed the leftover chicken pot pie from the fridge and headed back to work. I heated the pot pie up and finished it off at my desk while trying to get more work done.
The afternoon was much of the same, slowly plugging away at 3 'emergency' tasks that needed to be done. It is tough when a single person gives you 3 'emergency' tasks, then comes by at regular intervals asking why each one isn't done. "Ahh, remember the other 2 items that 'have' to be done today as well, well I'm working on those too." Overall the afternoon was pretty tough to stay focused. Because one of our co-workers was back in the office for two days, he has been working in Nashville on-site for months, we decided to go out for a few drinks after work.
At 5pm, we headed to Margarita's for a few drinks and appetizers. Dennis, Aaron, Jim, Eric and I. We had a good time, Jim always has great stories of what really goes on in the field. I had a quesidilla. I am a food snob. Sorry, but a quesidilla should not be made with american cheese. It really was a mess. Cheryl makes the best quesidillas. Afterwards, I went home and video chatted with Cheryl for about 20 minutes. We didn't have a lot to talk about, but at least she got to see the pups.
Next we went out for our evening walk. We did the 1 mile loop we normally walk. At least the temperature was in the upper 40's, my fingers get a bit cold on these walks now. Both the dogs were great on the walk, I will be happy when the squirrels are gone for the winter though. When we got back, I settled in and watched the rest of the Netflix movie I started the other night. I also played around a little on the internet to see what was going on in the world.
The pups and I went to bed around 10pm
I made it in to work and continued working on my projects. I think things progressed well this week, a little slower than I anticipated, but forward progress was made. At lunch I went home and played with the dogs for 20 minutes. Came in, washed some dishes and cleaned the kitchen a bit. I sat on the couch with both pups for a few minutes as well. I grabbed the leftover chicken pot pie from the fridge and headed back to work. I heated the pot pie up and finished it off at my desk while trying to get more work done.
The afternoon was much of the same, slowly plugging away at 3 'emergency' tasks that needed to be done. It is tough when a single person gives you 3 'emergency' tasks, then comes by at regular intervals asking why each one isn't done. "Ahh, remember the other 2 items that 'have' to be done today as well, well I'm working on those too." Overall the afternoon was pretty tough to stay focused. Because one of our co-workers was back in the office for two days, he has been working in Nashville on-site for months, we decided to go out for a few drinks after work.
At 5pm, we headed to Margarita's for a few drinks and appetizers. Dennis, Aaron, Jim, Eric and I. We had a good time, Jim always has great stories of what really goes on in the field. I had a quesidilla. I am a food snob. Sorry, but a quesidilla should not be made with american cheese. It really was a mess. Cheryl makes the best quesidillas. Afterwards, I went home and video chatted with Cheryl for about 20 minutes. We didn't have a lot to talk about, but at least she got to see the pups.
Next we went out for our evening walk. We did the 1 mile loop we normally walk. At least the temperature was in the upper 40's, my fingers get a bit cold on these walks now. Both the dogs were great on the walk, I will be happy when the squirrels are gone for the winter though. When we got back, I settled in and watched the rest of the Netflix movie I started the other night. I also played around a little on the internet to see what was going on in the world.
The pups and I went to bed around 10pm
Friday, October 22, 2010
10/21/10
Happy Birthday mom and dad! Another fantastic morning with the pups. I had them out and back in for breakfast a little late this morning. But I made up some time with a quick blog, so we were out the door at 6:45am for our morning walk. This morning it was 37F out, I am really not looking forward to the 10F or less morning walks that are right around the corner. The walk was pretty good, nothing new to report. I noticed the old 'Naber Market' got a new hours signs that states it is open every night until 9pm, weird, I've never seen it open past 6pm.
Anyway, we got back to the house and I made a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I played on the internets for a few minutes, then got ready for work. Today at work I actually started to make forward progress on many fronts. It felt like this week was going to be a wash, every time I made progress, something new came up. Before lunch, Mike in the shop called me to double check the dimensions I gave him for bolt hole layouts. It was a good thing too, because the drawings were off by a 1/8". Sure am glad Mike asked to verify the locations one last time. I also heard a rumor that our safety officer, Ted had given his 2 weeks notice. Somethings up, people are leaving in force now (4 people in 5 weeks).
For lunch, I went in half's on a Pizza Hut pizza with Dennis. Actually, that isn't true because I had no cash, I ate half the pizza but owe him the money for it. It was a bacon and peperoni pizza. At 12:30pm, I ran home to play with the dogs in the backyard. Just as we got out, it started to rain. After 15 - 20 minutes, back into the house and I was off to work again.
I continued to make progress in the afternoon. Then I had a project team meeting for the N.C. job. We have this meeting weekly and it is good to get a status of what is going on for the project. Just before the meeting, I checked my mailbox and noticed I have received the actual stamp for my Connecticut PE!
After work, I went home and started a fire in the wood stove. Went out with the pups in the backyard for some play time, then inside for dinner. I got all dressed up, did my stretches and headed out for a 3mile run. I was quite surprised at my time (19:07), I think it was my PR for my 3mile loop. Who knew my fuel of choice is Pizza Hut pizza. We went outside for another 15 minutes while I cooled down to play some more ball. Then I came in, put the chicken pot pie in the toaster oven to heat up while I took a shower. Next I called my dad to wish him a happy 60th birthday. He seemed to be in good spirits. I told him that 60 is the new 40, but I don't think he believed me.
Notice in the pictures the broken glass that Chance gave me as a present the other night.
I set up the video chat, sat down with my chicken pot pie and talked to Cheryl from 7-7:30pm. Cheryl is still doing well and is also in good spirits. She is enjoying her expired food and is missing the sunsets as it is almost entirely light there. After our chat, I took the dogs for their evening walk, a 1mile loop past the funeral home. Again, nothing too exciting on this walk, the dogs were actually pretty good. I always worry about the last block of our walk because there is an older guy (80's ?) that has a dog that is way stronger than him. A few times he has been out in his yard with the dog and it sees me and my dogs ans starts tugging hard. I can just see this dog taking the old man out. At least the one time it seemed the dog tugged too hard, the guy let the leash go. So the dog came up to see Reece and Chance, better than taking the guy down. That was a previous walk, this evenings walk did not involve the old guy, just thought I would tell and old story to spice things up a bit.
We got back, just in time to watch some TV. I fell asleep on the couch around 9pm, woke up to the noise of bickering adults. Turns out this is what 'The Apprentice' is all about. Who loves to watch grown people thrown into a dorm style living situation bicker? I mean this isn't Big Brother, these are highly educated people. Anyway, quickly turned off the TV and headed to bed. Reece had already established her spot on the bed hours ago... I stole her spot because she got it all nice and warm already, does that make me a bad person?
Anyway, we got back to the house and I made a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I played on the internets for a few minutes, then got ready for work. Today at work I actually started to make forward progress on many fronts. It felt like this week was going to be a wash, every time I made progress, something new came up. Before lunch, Mike in the shop called me to double check the dimensions I gave him for bolt hole layouts. It was a good thing too, because the drawings were off by a 1/8". Sure am glad Mike asked to verify the locations one last time. I also heard a rumor that our safety officer, Ted had given his 2 weeks notice. Somethings up, people are leaving in force now (4 people in 5 weeks).
For lunch, I went in half's on a Pizza Hut pizza with Dennis. Actually, that isn't true because I had no cash, I ate half the pizza but owe him the money for it. It was a bacon and peperoni pizza. At 12:30pm, I ran home to play with the dogs in the backyard. Just as we got out, it started to rain. After 15 - 20 minutes, back into the house and I was off to work again.
I continued to make progress in the afternoon. Then I had a project team meeting for the N.C. job. We have this meeting weekly and it is good to get a status of what is going on for the project. Just before the meeting, I checked my mailbox and noticed I have received the actual stamp for my Connecticut PE!
After work, I went home and started a fire in the wood stove. Went out with the pups in the backyard for some play time, then inside for dinner. I got all dressed up, did my stretches and headed out for a 3mile run. I was quite surprised at my time (19:07), I think it was my PR for my 3mile loop. Who knew my fuel of choice is Pizza Hut pizza. We went outside for another 15 minutes while I cooled down to play some more ball. Then I came in, put the chicken pot pie in the toaster oven to heat up while I took a shower. Next I called my dad to wish him a happy 60th birthday. He seemed to be in good spirits. I told him that 60 is the new 40, but I don't think he believed me.
Notice in the pictures the broken glass that Chance gave me as a present the other night.
I set up the video chat, sat down with my chicken pot pie and talked to Cheryl from 7-7:30pm. Cheryl is still doing well and is also in good spirits. She is enjoying her expired food and is missing the sunsets as it is almost entirely light there. After our chat, I took the dogs for their evening walk, a 1mile loop past the funeral home. Again, nothing too exciting on this walk, the dogs were actually pretty good. I always worry about the last block of our walk because there is an older guy (80's ?) that has a dog that is way stronger than him. A few times he has been out in his yard with the dog and it sees me and my dogs ans starts tugging hard. I can just see this dog taking the old man out. At least the one time it seemed the dog tugged too hard, the guy let the leash go. So the dog came up to see Reece and Chance, better than taking the guy down. That was a previous walk, this evenings walk did not involve the old guy, just thought I would tell and old story to spice things up a bit.
We got back, just in time to watch some TV. I fell asleep on the couch around 9pm, woke up to the noise of bickering adults. Turns out this is what 'The Apprentice' is all about. Who loves to watch grown people thrown into a dorm style living situation bicker? I mean this isn't Big Brother, these are highly educated people. Anyway, quickly turned off the TV and headed to bed. Reece had already established her spot on the bed hours ago... I stole her spot because she got it all nice and warm already, does that make me a bad person?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
10/20/10
Woke up this morning and took the dogs out while coffee was brewing. Reece is now without her booty and running around like nothing happened. It was a chilly 33F this morning, so in we came. I fed the pups, checked the electric meter and then wrote in the blog. It was a fairly efficient blog post, because I was done pretty quick. Had enough time to put a load of laundry in the machine and then take the pups for their 1mile morning walk.
For breakfast I made myself a cheese omelet with a little bit of ketchup on top. I looked at a few things online while eating, then washed the dishes and I was off to work. I had on my list 2 major things to get done by the end of the day. By noon I had finally finished detailing all the structural drawings for steel stands I needed for the job, I thought I was doing great. I saw the steel truck leave the parking lot after delivering the material, only to find out they had forgotten about the two most important shapes I needed. Called the company up, they forgot to load it on the truck, we will get it tomorrow.
At lunch I came home and made a PB&J sandwich and played kickball with the dogs in the yard for 25 minutes. Though I threw the ball for Reece, only 3 or 4 times. I still think her paw is a little tender. I came in and sat with the pups for a few, for some loving, so sweet. Then off to work.
In the afternoon I was sidelined by another emergency job. We were suppose to do this project for the client back in May, they couldn't get their air discharge permits, so we put the project on hold. The original project schedule was 4 months of construction... now that they got their permit a couple weeks ago, they want the work done before thanksgiving. I hope we can get this one done. Talking to members of the project team ate up most of my afternoon and I didn't get the other major task completed.
I got home around 5:30, took the laundry off the line, started a fire in the wood stove and played with the pups. When we came in for diner, there was lots of smoke in the house. I fed the dogs, then checked on the fire. In order to create a draft for the smoke to go through the chimney, you have to put a bunch of paper in the back of the stove to get the air hot. Otherwise it kinda smolders and the stove fills with smoke until the pressure lifts up the top and it goes into the house. So I opened all the windows to air out the house and fixed the problem.
Next I did my stretches and went for a 3mile run. It was pretty peaceful and was well worth it after work. I got back just in time to get a message from Cheryl, video chat in five minutes! We haven't video chatted in a few days. We chatted for 40 minutes or so. It ended when Chance dumped over my glass of water, breaking one of my favorite pint glasses. It was my 2009 Disney Marathon glass :( After, I took a shower and we went out for a late walk. It was a short walk because it had gotten so late.
When we got home, I made a chicken pot pie. Since it was already 8:30pm, I was too hungry to wait the 45 minutes for baking. So I had some zucchini bread for dinner while watching a movie. When the pot pie was done, i let it cool down, then put it in the fridge for tomorrow. I fell asleep half water through the movie, finally waking up around 10:30pm. I turned the TV off and headed for bed with Reece.
For breakfast I made myself a cheese omelet with a little bit of ketchup on top. I looked at a few things online while eating, then washed the dishes and I was off to work. I had on my list 2 major things to get done by the end of the day. By noon I had finally finished detailing all the structural drawings for steel stands I needed for the job, I thought I was doing great. I saw the steel truck leave the parking lot after delivering the material, only to find out they had forgotten about the two most important shapes I needed. Called the company up, they forgot to load it on the truck, we will get it tomorrow.
At lunch I came home and made a PB&J sandwich and played kickball with the dogs in the yard for 25 minutes. Though I threw the ball for Reece, only 3 or 4 times. I still think her paw is a little tender. I came in and sat with the pups for a few, for some loving, so sweet. Then off to work.
In the afternoon I was sidelined by another emergency job. We were suppose to do this project for the client back in May, they couldn't get their air discharge permits, so we put the project on hold. The original project schedule was 4 months of construction... now that they got their permit a couple weeks ago, they want the work done before thanksgiving. I hope we can get this one done. Talking to members of the project team ate up most of my afternoon and I didn't get the other major task completed.
I got home around 5:30, took the laundry off the line, started a fire in the wood stove and played with the pups. When we came in for diner, there was lots of smoke in the house. I fed the dogs, then checked on the fire. In order to create a draft for the smoke to go through the chimney, you have to put a bunch of paper in the back of the stove to get the air hot. Otherwise it kinda smolders and the stove fills with smoke until the pressure lifts up the top and it goes into the house. So I opened all the windows to air out the house and fixed the problem.
Next I did my stretches and went for a 3mile run. It was pretty peaceful and was well worth it after work. I got back just in time to get a message from Cheryl, video chat in five minutes! We haven't video chatted in a few days. We chatted for 40 minutes or so. It ended when Chance dumped over my glass of water, breaking one of my favorite pint glasses. It was my 2009 Disney Marathon glass :( After, I took a shower and we went out for a late walk. It was a short walk because it had gotten so late.
When we got home, I made a chicken pot pie. Since it was already 8:30pm, I was too hungry to wait the 45 minutes for baking. So I had some zucchini bread for dinner while watching a movie. When the pot pie was done, i let it cool down, then put it in the fridge for tomorrow. I fell asleep half water through the movie, finally waking up around 10:30pm. I turned the TV off and headed for bed with Reece.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
10/19/10
Tuesday morning with the dogs, so sweet. At least I got up on time and able to do my morning routine and out the door for the walk on time. During the walk, I noticed that the two detour signs from yesterday's post were corrected. It seems to be hit or miss. The other thing I noticed was that the arrows are added pieces of wood with a single screw in the middle so that the arrow can rotate. Probably OK on a rural road, but in an area full of kids...
After our walk we came in the house and I had breakfast and some more coffee. I got ready, and headed to work a bit early. I knew I was heading down to southern Connecticut (near NY) today, but didn't know when. Got into work and tried to complete some tasks prior to my day in the field. I was able to get some drawings done for the shop so they could start fabrication of a metal stand I was designing. John told me to be on-site at 2pm to meet him and the client. John had another job to go to that was south, so I was driving separately. I left work at 10:30am, and went home. I loaded the truck with all their stuff. I decided to take the pups with me on this road trip. 3-1/2 hours each way, I figured I wouldn't get back until 8pm tonight.
It was actually a pleasant drive down. The pups were great, sleeping a lot of the drive, then up and watching as we went through a few cities. I stopped a few times to let them stretch and give them some water. I stopped to get a chocolate chip muffin for lunch. When I arrived on-site, I parked outside of the facility in a nice shady area. Since day time temps are in the high 50s, I thought the dogs would be fine. I grabbed all my tools and headed in to meet John. I conducted a little survey to determining elevations around a proposed underground vault we were designing. And since I heard back last week that I am now a Connecticut registered PE, I will get to stamp the drawings.
We were on-site for about 2 hours. I also got a quick tour of their compressor building. This client really builds their facilities right, everything looked great. The buildings were also constructed to 'look' like barns vs. some natural gas facility. I'd post a picture of the facility to show you what I do, but I better not without client approval. These facilities are governed by Federal regulations and now fall under Homeland Security, so better dafe than sorry. At 4pm, I was back on the road with the dogs, I waited to get past Hartford for our first rest stop. I took the dogs out, fed them dinner, got them some water, and walked around in the woods for 15 minutes. I also took the time to let Cheryl know where I was and that we wouldn't be video chatting tonight. We stopped one more time in Mass. to let the dogs out, fill up with gas and off to home.
I pulled in the driveway at 7:30pm. Immediately I took the dogs on a walk around the block. Came in and made a bowl of cereal for dinner and hit the couch to watch NCIS and NCIS LA. I had a few of Mackenzie's cookies for a desert, then it was off to bed. I really wanted to get a fire going today as the temperature has dropped in the house (60F). It will have to wait until tomorrow.
After our walk we came in the house and I had breakfast and some more coffee. I got ready, and headed to work a bit early. I knew I was heading down to southern Connecticut (near NY) today, but didn't know when. Got into work and tried to complete some tasks prior to my day in the field. I was able to get some drawings done for the shop so they could start fabrication of a metal stand I was designing. John told me to be on-site at 2pm to meet him and the client. John had another job to go to that was south, so I was driving separately. I left work at 10:30am, and went home. I loaded the truck with all their stuff. I decided to take the pups with me on this road trip. 3-1/2 hours each way, I figured I wouldn't get back until 8pm tonight.
It was actually a pleasant drive down. The pups were great, sleeping a lot of the drive, then up and watching as we went through a few cities. I stopped a few times to let them stretch and give them some water. I stopped to get a chocolate chip muffin for lunch. When I arrived on-site, I parked outside of the facility in a nice shady area. Since day time temps are in the high 50s, I thought the dogs would be fine. I grabbed all my tools and headed in to meet John. I conducted a little survey to determining elevations around a proposed underground vault we were designing. And since I heard back last week that I am now a Connecticut registered PE, I will get to stamp the drawings.
We were on-site for about 2 hours. I also got a quick tour of their compressor building. This client really builds their facilities right, everything looked great. The buildings were also constructed to 'look' like barns vs. some natural gas facility. I'd post a picture of the facility to show you what I do, but I better not without client approval. These facilities are governed by Federal regulations and now fall under Homeland Security, so better dafe than sorry. At 4pm, I was back on the road with the dogs, I waited to get past Hartford for our first rest stop. I took the dogs out, fed them dinner, got them some water, and walked around in the woods for 15 minutes. I also took the time to let Cheryl know where I was and that we wouldn't be video chatting tonight. We stopped one more time in Mass. to let the dogs out, fill up with gas and off to home.
I pulled in the driveway at 7:30pm. Immediately I took the dogs on a walk around the block. Came in and made a bowl of cereal for dinner and hit the couch to watch NCIS and NCIS LA. I had a few of Mackenzie's cookies for a desert, then it was off to bed. I really wanted to get a fire going today as the temperature has dropped in the house (60F). It will have to wait until tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
10/18/10
Somewhat of a late morning, I hit snooze a few times too many. Today is day one of babying Reece because of her paw, let the insanity begin. We got up and I tried to put a booty on her paw, it barely fit with the boxing glove of wrap that was on it. Then we went out for the morning bathroom break, inside for puppy breakfast, check the meter and sit down with coffee in hand to write in the blog. I also get caught up with other's blogs as well. Unfortunately I had a hard time focusing and next thing I know I'm 15 minutes late for getting out the door for the dog walk.
On our walk we did the 1mile loop which takes us close to the Lincoln St. construction. I had to take a picture of th
e fantastic signage setup for the detour on Lincoln St. I know people can probably figure this out after a few seconds of looking at the signs, but really? Two arrows pointed at each other. The whole idea behind a detour is to make it as easy as possible to go around and avoid confusion. This isn't the work construction sign layout I've ever seen, but at least it gave me a good morning laugh. I also showed this to Aaron to get his reaction as well. Like I said, it is probably fine, doesn't break any law or code, but it shows you whether the person putting these out takes pride in their job. On the other hand, if I was getting paid $8/hr, I probably wouldn't care either.
e fantastic signage setup for the detour on Lincoln St. I know people can probably figure this out after a few seconds of looking at the signs, but really? Two arrows pointed at each other. The whole idea behind a detour is to make it as easy as possible to go around and avoid confusion. This isn't the work construction sign layout I've ever seen, but at least it gave me a good morning laugh. I also showed this to Aaron to get his reaction as well. Like I said, it is probably fine, doesn't break any law or code, but it shows you whether the person putting these out takes pride in their job. On the other hand, if I was getting paid $8/hr, I probably wouldn't care either.When I got home, I had a bowl of cereal and another cup of coffee to go. I got to work on time and began working on my projects. I may be heading down to Connecticut tomorrow for some surveying int he afternoon. Work was just like every other day, nothing too exciting happened. At lunch I went home with the pups and tried to play a little ball with Chance and let Reece tag along. It doesn't go very well because Reece will eventually get mad and take Chance's ball to be more interactive. We came in and I made a chick-which for lunch with some cookies Mackenzie made. I then put Reece on the couch and took off her boxing glove. I re-wrapped her paw a little and put on one of our booties. Then it was back to the office.
The rest of the day was pretty much the same, trying to wrap up some loose ends that keep coming back. After work I went straight home and played with the dogs, then inside for some dinner. We then went for an early walk because tonight is the first basketball game for the fall/winter league I joined. First game is at 7pm! The dogs and I went for a 1mile walk, then I got ready for the game. As I was about to leave, I decided to bring the dogs with. Since it is in the mid 50s, and there is plenty of room in the truck, why not. So I packed the pups in and off to Eliot, MA. Got to the gym 15 minutes early and started stretching. The first game on our court went into overtime, so we waited a bit longer.
I started the game out on the bench. This was good for me because I could watch the game. It has been awhile since playing in a game format. We were off to a good start, but then I could see how the game was changing. The league is a 'defense calls fouls' league. This is new to me, I've always played 'offense calls fouls'. If you were playing with pricks, they why would they call a foul on themselves? So, as the game progressed, it became more physical and less fouls called. This is not my style of basketball. This is the type of basketball that has turned the game into a gangster, punk game. Just look at the professionals that go into the fans and start fights, nothing but gangsters. I enjoy the sunday morning games because you play with people that are there to have fun and have a good time.
T0 make a long story short, we were up by 3 or 4 with 50 seconds left. However, we lost by 1. I think I played like crap. I could have played better, but I am not in a position to get hammered by some lunk-head and break something. I missed two free throws in the second half. I can remember coach Ford saying 'you don't win games with free throw, you lose games'. Afterwards, we made nice with the other team. It was unfortunate that we were able to call our own fouls, but the other team wanted to beat us physically and not with basketball skills. I'm glad we took the higher road, it was easier to take the lose. Also, beers after makes it easier too.
We stopped off for some beers and chicken wings at the Shipyard right on 236. I never knew the place was there, but what a perfect sports bar. I stayed for a little over an hour, then headed home with the dogs. It was good to converse with the guys outside of a basketball game. I have to admit, it was really great of Seth to introduce me to this group of guys. As Cheryl would say, 'now I have friends'.
When we got home, we went for a short last walk around the block. Reece seems to be doing well with her paw. She doesn't appear to be feeling much pain, so I'll hold off from giving her the pain medication. When we got back, it was straight to bed. It was an action packed day, and I was still in bed at 10pm!
Monday, October 18, 2010
10/17/10
Even better today, the dogs let me sleep in until 7:15! This actually made for a rush this morning because of what I had to do today. Out with the dogs in the backyard while having a load of laundry running. Then back in, feed the pups and have some coffee. I spent a few minutes on the computer trying out Google Docs. It seems like a good idea, I will report more once I have more time using it. Next it was time to bring the dogs out for a walk. We went for a 1.5 mile loop past all the construction on Lincoln St. The pups stopped off at all their favorite spots.
When we got home, I made myself a ham and cheese omelet and washed a few dishes. I went upstairs and got ready for church. That's right, you didn't mis-read that. Today I am being confirmed as a catholic. I needed to be at the church my 10am, so I had to hurry. I got there a little early, sat in the lot drinking coffee for a bit. When I saw Mackenzie pull in, I went over to walk in with the family. By the way, no cell phones allowed in the church, there were only a dozen signs. So, I was lucky enough to be seated first in the row, that meant I was the first to do everything... I was nervous. When they announced us to come up, I went right up to the priest, when I looked back, all my co-confirmation group stayed back in front of the alter. No one said I wasn't suppose to go up so far, embarrassing.
The confirmation only took a few minutes, but I mis-pronounced my Saint name... St. Roch is apparently not pronounced 'roach', it is more like 'rok'. Then it was over. Communion was another fun aspect of church that made me nervous. Do I hold my hands out, if so, what hand? do I let the person place it in my mouth? The community wine cup, I was definitely staying away from that, this is cold season mind you. Being the first one up there for communion didn't help either.
Afterwards I drove
home and played with the pups, then changed into some more relaxing attire. Then it was off to Hampton for lunch at the Old Salt. All of us (Mackenzie, Susan and I) plus our significant others and our sponsors sat down for some brunch. The spread was pretty good and Emerson even got a chance to taste the chocolate bar. After lunch, I headed over to Mackenzie and Dan's to help out with splitting some firewood. Dan's friend had a splitter so we gave it a try. After a couple hours, I was done. I want to take it easy on my back. We had almost half the pile done, then we went in where Mackenzie had made me some chocolate chip cookies to take home.
home and played with the pups, then changed into some more relaxing attire. Then it was off to Hampton for lunch at the Old Salt. All of us (Mackenzie, Susan and I) plus our significant others and our sponsors sat down for some brunch. The spread was pretty good and Emerson even got a chance to taste the chocolate bar. After lunch, I headed over to Mackenzie and Dan's to help out with splitting some firewood. Dan's friend had a splitter so we gave it a try. After a couple hours, I was done. I want to take it easy on my back. We had almost half the pile done, then we went in where Mackenzie had made me some chocolate chip cookies to take home.When I got home, I played with the pups in the yard for a few minutes, then feed them. I took them back out while I took the clothes off the line and into the dryer. While playing fetch a few times, I noticed Reece limping back (again). Then I noticed lots of blood coming from here paw... another broken nail. It seems like it was about this time last year that she did this exact same thing. And if I remember right, it was a $230 vet bill. I loaded her into the truck and took her to the Portsmouth vet. They had her all cleaned up and ready to go in under 45 minutes. Poor girl has a $110 wrapped paw.
Back home I took Ch
ance out on his own walk around the block. Then a second walk with Chance and Reece. Reece can still walk on the paw, but I put a booty over the wrap. Sometime tomorrow I will remove the wrap. For dinner, I had a bowl of cereal and cookies for desert. I watched part of the sunday night football game and went to bed around 10pm.
ance out on his own walk around the block. Then a second walk with Chance and Reece. Reece can still walk on the paw, but I put a booty over the wrap. Sometime tomorrow I will remove the wrap. For dinner, I had a bowl of cereal and cookies for desert. I watched part of the sunday night football game and went to bed around 10pm.Sunday, October 17, 2010
10/16/10
Saturday morning, the pups let me sleep in until 6:15am! Then it was up and outside. The morning temp was a bit cold, 37F, and it was 59F inside. Looks like the right day to burn in the woodstove. The dogs and I played outside for a bit, then came in for breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal, the pups had their typical dog food. I checked the electric meter and then started a fire in the woodstove.
The dogs and I went on a long walk at 7:45am. We went downtown to check out what was going on at Market Square. Then over to the Farmer's Market, which looked pretty bleak, and then back to the house (about 2.3 mile loop). When we got home, I took down the caution tape on the driveway and parked the truck on it for the first time. Then the dogs and I went out in the backyard to play a bit. I stopped playing to clean up the yard. I put away all the misc. pieces of lumber lying around, cleaned off the back porch, and took up the rest of the garden out front.
Liz stopped by for a few minutes to pick up the money I owed her for watching the dogs. She is training for the Seacoast Half Marathon too, she just finished her 9 mile run. After Liz left for work, I played on the computer for a bit.
I'm not really sure of what I did between noon and 2pm... but around 2 I started to get motivated to do my 9mile training run. I did my stretch routine and out the door I went. I was quite surprised by my time, 9 miles in under 1hr 3min, less than a 7:00 pace! My goal for the half marathon is under 1:30, but I don't think that is very realistic. My personal best is 1:38:01 (first half of the 2009 Disney Marathon) and 1:39:05 (2009 Chicago Half-Marathon).
When I got home, I rested on the couch while video chatting with Cheryl. We talked for about 30 minutes, but I was pretty tired to keep a real conversation going. After we stopped chatting, I popped in a movie and took a nap with Reece on the couch. At 5:30pm, I got up and fed the dogs. I quickly ran out to the grocery store to get a few supplies. I usually go on Sunday's which I thought were bad, but apparently Saturday is worse. Every checkout was open with a line 5 deep.
Got back to the house and played with the pups in the yard a bit even though it was already dark. We came in a watched a little TV on the couch until 7:30pm. We went out for our evening walk. The pups enjoyed it, I was still tired from my run. When we got back, I put a frozen pizza in the toaster oven for dinner. I ate it while flipping between the Nascar race and the Nation League baseball game. Nether were exciting enough to keep me awake, so I went to bed at 9pm.
The dogs and I went on a long walk at 7:45am. We went downtown to check out what was going on at Market Square. Then over to the Farmer's Market, which looked pretty bleak, and then back to the house (about 2.3 mile loop). When we got home, I took down the caution tape on the driveway and parked the truck on it for the first time. Then the dogs and I went out in the backyard to play a bit. I stopped playing to clean up the yard. I put away all the misc. pieces of lumber lying around, cleaned off the back porch, and took up the rest of the garden out front.
Liz stopped by for a few minutes to pick up the money I owed her for watching the dogs. She is training for the Seacoast Half Marathon too, she just finished her 9 mile run. After Liz left for work, I played on the computer for a bit.
I'm not really sure of what I did between noon and 2pm... but around 2 I started to get motivated to do my 9mile training run. I did my stretch routine and out the door I went. I was quite surprised by my time, 9 miles in under 1hr 3min, less than a 7:00 pace! My goal for the half marathon is under 1:30, but I don't think that is very realistic. My personal best is 1:38:01 (first half of the 2009 Disney Marathon) and 1:39:05 (2009 Chicago Half-Marathon).
When I got home, I rested on the couch while video chatting with Cheryl. We talked for about 30 minutes, but I was pretty tired to keep a real conversation going. After we stopped chatting, I popped in a movie and took a nap with Reece on the couch. At 5:30pm, I got up and fed the dogs. I quickly ran out to the grocery store to get a few supplies. I usually go on Sunday's which I thought were bad, but apparently Saturday is worse. Every checkout was open with a line 5 deep.
Got back to the house and played with the pups in the yard a bit even though it was already dark. We came in a watched a little TV on the couch until 7:30pm. We went out for our evening walk. The pups enjoyed it, I was still tired from my run. When we got back, I put a frozen pizza in the toaster oven for dinner. I ate it while flipping between the Nascar race and the Nation League baseball game. Nether were exciting enough to keep me awake, so I went to bed at 9pm.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
10/15/10
Pastry day at work! Got up this morning after a good night's sleep. The pups and I took some extra belly-rub time in bed before actually getting up. It is a bit cold in the house, only 62F. I'm dreading the morning walk because of the cold rain. Got up and let the pups in the backyard for a few minutes, then fed them. I made some coffee, checked the meter and started writing in my blog. I got caught up on some of the news from around the world, then got ready for the walk. I put on my DOT issued rain jacket and headed out. My street was a lake. It had been raining hard all night. Most of the sidewalks had 1/2" of standing water and where there wasn't s standing pond in Middle St., it was a river flowing. Within the first block my pants were soaked. We made it to Union St. and completed a loop (0.8miles). The intersection of Union St. and Middle St. had a 6" deep pond.
When we got back, I tried to get the dogs to 'shake off' out on the covered porch before getting into the mudroom. This command will need a little work. Sure enough, as soon as we got into the mudroom, they shook. I wiped them down with towels and tried to dry myself off too. Time for a new pair of pants. Luckily I had plenty of time because I don't eat breakfast's at home, there will be a pastry waiting for me at work.
I got to work about 10 minutes early, talked with Dennis a bit to see how his night was. Then made my way over to the kitchen and had a apple pastry. It is very important to get your fruit consumption in, I prefer the form of a pastry or smoothie. I got pulled into the Nashville meeting because Aaron was on vacation today. It was unexpected, but it was also good to get caught up as to how that project is progressing. After the meeting I got working on my other projects, I really wanted to get to a good closing point by the end of the day. I left work a bit early for lunch, I was meeting a friend at the Brewery, so I took an hour of personal time.
At the Brewery, I had the pastrami on rye sandwich with their mashed potatoes. I only ate half, then saved the other half for dinner tonight. I had some good conversations with my friend, but eventually had to get back to work. On the way back I stopped off at the house and played with the dogs in the backyard. The rain had stopped, but the temperature dipped to the 40's. I stayed at the house for 10 minutes or so, then headed back to work. Stopped off at the gas station to fill the tank, and arrived at work at 1:30pm.
The rest of the day was fairly productive. Again, almost everyone around me was out of the office today. There are 13 cubicles on the second floor, and there were only 5 people in them today. By the end of the day, I didn't get things to the point I wanted them. I headed home and played with the pups outside for a bit then fed them. The temperature in the house has now dipped to 60F, I thought about starting a fire, but it seemed like a lot of work. Currently I have no kindling, I planned on chopping some up this weekend. So instead, I just put on another layer of clothes.
Since Cheryl has today off, we got to talk earlier on the video chat. Unfortunately, we have hit a point at which we have nothing to talk about. We cover everything in the blogs and via email throughout the day. Speaking of which... October 19th on Spike TV there will be a 25 year anniversary special on Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox even re-shot the original trailer for the movie and it is all over the web. On October 26th they will release the 25 year anniversary blu-ray for BttF. If you don't know, October 26th is a significant date in the movie.
Anyway, after the video chat with Cheryl (in which the dogs are getting a little more confused about) it was time to go out for the walk. This time I put on my DOT issued jacket and pants, I looked like a fruit-cake. Here is the thing to know about having a house with a metal roof... from the inside, the rain hitting the roof sounds like it is pouring out. Well not always. As I stepped out, I realized it was a light rain. Oh well, I don't care what I look like, I'm going with it. So we went on a 1.0 mile loop walk in a light rain. All the ponds has subsided. The walk was somewhat enjoyable except for my fingers were loosing feeling from the cold. The last block we trotted so that I could get my hands dry and warm.
Afterwards, I warmed up the leftover sandwich from lunch and brought a loaf of Cheryl's zucchini bread and a tub of butter upstairs to watch some TV. Friday night TV sucks, nothing was on. So at 9pm, I got into bed and snuggled with the dogs.
When we got back, I tried to get the dogs to 'shake off' out on the covered porch before getting into the mudroom. This command will need a little work. Sure enough, as soon as we got into the mudroom, they shook. I wiped them down with towels and tried to dry myself off too. Time for a new pair of pants. Luckily I had plenty of time because I don't eat breakfast's at home, there will be a pastry waiting for me at work.
I got to work about 10 minutes early, talked with Dennis a bit to see how his night was. Then made my way over to the kitchen and had a apple pastry. It is very important to get your fruit consumption in, I prefer the form of a pastry or smoothie. I got pulled into the Nashville meeting because Aaron was on vacation today. It was unexpected, but it was also good to get caught up as to how that project is progressing. After the meeting I got working on my other projects, I really wanted to get to a good closing point by the end of the day. I left work a bit early for lunch, I was meeting a friend at the Brewery, so I took an hour of personal time.
At the Brewery, I had the pastrami on rye sandwich with their mashed potatoes. I only ate half, then saved the other half for dinner tonight. I had some good conversations with my friend, but eventually had to get back to work. On the way back I stopped off at the house and played with the dogs in the backyard. The rain had stopped, but the temperature dipped to the 40's. I stayed at the house for 10 minutes or so, then headed back to work. Stopped off at the gas station to fill the tank, and arrived at work at 1:30pm.
The rest of the day was fairly productive. Again, almost everyone around me was out of the office today. There are 13 cubicles on the second floor, and there were only 5 people in them today. By the end of the day, I didn't get things to the point I wanted them. I headed home and played with the pups outside for a bit then fed them. The temperature in the house has now dipped to 60F, I thought about starting a fire, but it seemed like a lot of work. Currently I have no kindling, I planned on chopping some up this weekend. So instead, I just put on another layer of clothes.
Since Cheryl has today off, we got to talk earlier on the video chat. Unfortunately, we have hit a point at which we have nothing to talk about. We cover everything in the blogs and via email throughout the day. Speaking of which... October 19th on Spike TV there will be a 25 year anniversary special on Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox even re-shot the original trailer for the movie and it is all over the web. On October 26th they will release the 25 year anniversary blu-ray for BttF. If you don't know, October 26th is a significant date in the movie.
Anyway, after the video chat with Cheryl (in which the dogs are getting a little more confused about) it was time to go out for the walk. This time I put on my DOT issued jacket and pants, I looked like a fruit-cake. Here is the thing to know about having a house with a metal roof... from the inside, the rain hitting the roof sounds like it is pouring out. Well not always. As I stepped out, I realized it was a light rain. Oh well, I don't care what I look like, I'm going with it. So we went on a 1.0 mile loop walk in a light rain. All the ponds has subsided. The walk was somewhat enjoyable except for my fingers were loosing feeling from the cold. The last block we trotted so that I could get my hands dry and warm.
Afterwards, I warmed up the leftover sandwich from lunch and brought a loaf of Cheryl's zucchini bread and a tub of butter upstairs to watch some TV. Friday night TV sucks, nothing was on. So at 9pm, I got into bed and snuggled with the dogs.
Friday, October 15, 2010
10/14/10
Good morning. Woke up this morning still a bit tired, but today was Reece's first day back at daycare after missing two weeks. So I was up, had the pups outside and fed before the coffee was made. Once I had the coffee, it was everyone into the truck and off to Barrington. It was a pleasant ride to daycare, with Chance hooking my arm every chance he could. Chance likes to hook my right arm (he stands between the two front seats) so that I can give him chest scratches. Typically this is fine on the highways, but treacherous on the side streets because my truck is a standard and I need that arm. So we made it to daycare, I dropped off Reece and paid Jenny for house/dog sitting last friday night. On the way home, it's all about Chance. He is a different dog when Reece isn't around.
When we got back, we immediately headed out for a walk, we did a 1.5 mile loop. He was so excited to be walking with me alone, what a great boy. We got back to the house, I put out the trash and recycling and ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I made Chance a few Kong treats and headed off to work. Work was pretty quiet around my cubicle. The 5 cubicles around mine were empty, either because no one worked in the cube, or they were out of the office. Got the chance to put out a few fires early, there is nothing like a frantic call from the field at 8:05am to start your day. The contractor in NC had doors delivered to the site with the incorrect swing that we specified. Since this was going to hold up progress on the building, it became a hot issue. Unfortunately, there was no way to rearrange the doors to work. Two will have to be replaced with new doors. That was my first 30 minutes of work.
At lunch I went home and grabbed Chance and we went for a long walk to downtown. Chance got to check out all the scary jack-o-lantern men attached to street lights for Halloween. We did some window shopping and admired the tasty treats at Popovers. It is great to see other people smile at your dog, it's amazing to me how the dogs can change peoples expressions so quickly. When we were done with our walk, I made a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it on the way back to work. When I got back, Dennis had said he went to Xing Ping for lunch. My heart sank, I could have really used some Xing Ping. But, I've been Xing Ping sober for over 4 weeks now (blame that last one on Cheryl for getting it for lunch one day before she left).
The rest of the day at work went pretty well. I have a lot to keep me busy. I'm not sure if I already said it, but I was notified that I was approved for my PE license in Connecticut. So today I officially ordered my stamp, looking to get it by monday or tuesday next week. At 5pm, I headed home to pick up Chance, we then made for Barrington. It was another 'enjoyable' ride with all the traffic. The General Sullivan bridge was backed up to the Pease ramps, then the Lee Circle was backed up to the Route 155 exit. I had to pull a U-turn on Rt. 4 for that. We took the back roads and arrived at daycare before closing. Reece did what she always does, barley jumps into the truck and curls on the front seat half asleep for the ride home.
When we got home I fed the pups and took them out for a few minutes. I warmed up my pasta and sausage sauce for dinner and turned on the computer to video chat with Cheryl. We chatted for 20 minutes or so. It can be tough to have things to talk to her about because she reads my blog daily and already knows what is going on. The good news for her is that she got to stay in her dorm room, they didn't make her move.
After having dinner with Cheryl 'like a family', the dogs and I went out for a walk. Reece was dragging a bit, she always does after daycare. We got home, I grabbed the mail and settled in to watch some tv. At around 9:15pm, off to bed to get some rest.
When we got back, we immediately headed out for a walk, we did a 1.5 mile loop. He was so excited to be walking with me alone, what a great boy. We got back to the house, I put out the trash and recycling and ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I made Chance a few Kong treats and headed off to work. Work was pretty quiet around my cubicle. The 5 cubicles around mine were empty, either because no one worked in the cube, or they were out of the office. Got the chance to put out a few fires early, there is nothing like a frantic call from the field at 8:05am to start your day. The contractor in NC had doors delivered to the site with the incorrect swing that we specified. Since this was going to hold up progress on the building, it became a hot issue. Unfortunately, there was no way to rearrange the doors to work. Two will have to be replaced with new doors. That was my first 30 minutes of work.
At lunch I went home and grabbed Chance and we went for a long walk to downtown. Chance got to check out all the scary jack-o-lantern men attached to street lights for Halloween. We did some window shopping and admired the tasty treats at Popovers. It is great to see other people smile at your dog, it's amazing to me how the dogs can change peoples expressions so quickly. When we were done with our walk, I made a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it on the way back to work. When I got back, Dennis had said he went to Xing Ping for lunch. My heart sank, I could have really used some Xing Ping. But, I've been Xing Ping sober for over 4 weeks now (blame that last one on Cheryl for getting it for lunch one day before she left).
The rest of the day at work went pretty well. I have a lot to keep me busy. I'm not sure if I already said it, but I was notified that I was approved for my PE license in Connecticut. So today I officially ordered my stamp, looking to get it by monday or tuesday next week. At 5pm, I headed home to pick up Chance, we then made for Barrington. It was another 'enjoyable' ride with all the traffic. The General Sullivan bridge was backed up to the Pease ramps, then the Lee Circle was backed up to the Route 155 exit. I had to pull a U-turn on Rt. 4 for that. We took the back roads and arrived at daycare before closing. Reece did what she always does, barley jumps into the truck and curls on the front seat half asleep for the ride home.
When we got home I fed the pups and took them out for a few minutes. I warmed up my pasta and sausage sauce for dinner and turned on the computer to video chat with Cheryl. We chatted for 20 minutes or so. It can be tough to have things to talk to her about because she reads my blog daily and already knows what is going on. The good news for her is that she got to stay in her dorm room, they didn't make her move.
After having dinner with Cheryl 'like a family', the dogs and I went out for a walk. Reece was dragging a bit, she always does after daycare. We got home, I grabbed the mail and settled in to watch some tv. At around 9:15pm, off to bed to get some rest.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
10/13/10
Wednesday morning, much like all the other mornings. Out with the dogs, feed the dogs, check meter, dog walk, eat breakfast (cereal). As I was heading out to work, the driveway crew was back, so I talked to them for a bit. I got confirmation that paving will be in the afternoon.
I loaded my bicycle into my truck and headed to Toyota for some service. Getting an oil change, tire rotation, and the infamous brake pedal - floor mat recall fix. I left the truck and rode my bike to work. Nothing new going on at work, continuing with the multiple projects I have been working
on all week.
on all week. At lunch I rode my bike home, made a ham and cheese sandwich and played with the pups in the backyard. The driveway crew was gone, everything was prepped and ready for asphalt. I headed back to Toyota and picked up my truck. I had a coupon worth 10% off my service plus a $10 gift card to Dunkin Donuts. I got back to work and continued on my projects. I left work a few minutes early to head home and play with the dogs because I planned on going out tonight.
When I got home, the driveway was done! It looks pretty good having a separated driveway. Looks like I will be working this weekend on dressing up the area between the driveway and the property line. I
spoke to my neighbor Pat for a few minutes, then headed to the backyard with the dogs. At 5:30pm I brought the dogs in, fed them dinner and headed to Red Hook to meet up with a few people from work.
spoke to my neighbor Pat for a few minutes, then headed to the backyard with the dogs. At 5:30pm I brought the dogs in, fed them dinner and headed to Red Hook to meet up with a few people from work.I met up with Aaron, Carl and Emily for some drinks and dinner. It was sad to hear that Emily is leaving CHI for Nevada (today was her last day). So, for the record... I got all our new 'young' employees together every 3 weeks to hang out after work. We originally had 8 people, each of our first 3 night's out, one has announced they were leaving the company. So, my attempt to keep young enjoyable people at the company may be backfiring.
I had the chicken tenders for dinner. Carl was the first to leave around 8pm, then Emily. Aaron and I tried out the new Foosball table in the pub until last call at 10:30pm. When I got home, I took the dogs for a 1 mile walk and then headed to bed.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
10/12/10
This morning I await the start of construction on the new driveway. I'm not sure when they crew will be here, but I continued with my normal morning routine anyway. Got up a little late, took the dogs out, fed them, checked the meter and sat down with some coffee to write the blog. Today the dogs 
and I went for a 1.5 mile loop, I was sure to bring gloves as the morning temp was 42F. We actually took a slightly different route than normal because I want to by-pass the construction on Lincoln St. We got back to the house at 7:30am, I ate some cereal for breakfast and as I was getting ready for work, the crew arrived to work on the driveway. I stayed a bit, mostly because the excavator blocked my in the driveway.
When I arrived home, there was a flurry of activity. There were more trucks and people working than the morning, plus the paver was already on-site. They had Paul's entire driveway base placed and
were compacting it. They had my driveway bas rough graded. But the small excavator they had was still working on removing some of the concrete curbing. Originally Paul wanted to take that out himself, but I warned him that the curb was close to 3' deep with a mushroomed footing. It took all day for the excavator to take it out, I can't imagine how long it would have taken with a 8lb sledge hammer. I spent a few minutes talking with the crew and then with Paul. Apparently they left the site about an hour after I went to work because they had no trucks, that is why so little got done before lunch. So, finish grading and compacting tomorrow morning, then paving around 10am!
and I went for a 1.5 mile loop, I was sure to bring gloves as the morning temp was 42F. We actually took a slightly different route than normal because I want to by-pass the construction on Lincoln St. We got back to the house at 7:30am, I ate some cereal for breakfast and as I was getting ready for work, the crew arrived to work on the driveway. I stayed a bit, mostly because the excavator blocked my in the driveway.I walked through the layout and my expectations with the foreman, then I was on my way. I planned on taking the afternoon off after I heard they were going to get everything done today. When I got to work I continued to work on my projects, checking off tasks one-by-one. Nothing too exciting going on, Aaron and I did give Dennis a hard time about not being able to go out for drinks wednesday night, but all in good fun.
At lunch I headed back to the house expecting a near complete site in preparation for asphalt this afternoon... not really the case. I was surprised with how little was done. So I went in the backyard and played with the dogs for 20 minutes while eating a ham and cheese sandwich, then came in and washed the dishes. I got back to work at 1pm thinking there is no way they were going to get done today. At work I continued to make progress on a few projects. I was at a pretty good stopping point at 4:30, so I let my boss know I was leaving a bit early to check out progress at home.
When I arrived home, there was a flurry of activity. There were more trucks and people working than the morning, plus the paver was already on-site. They had Paul's entire driveway base placed and
were compacting it. They had my driveway bas rough graded. But the small excavator they had was still working on removing some of the concrete curbing. Originally Paul wanted to take that out himself, but I warned him that the curb was close to 3' deep with a mushroomed footing. It took all day for the excavator to take it out, I can't imagine how long it would have taken with a 8lb sledge hammer. I spent a few minutes talking with the crew and then with Paul. Apparently they left the site about an hour after I went to work because they had no trucks, that is why so little got done before lunch. So, finish grading and compacting tomorrow morning, then paving around 10am!At 5pm I fed the dogs then we played in the yard a bit more. At 5:45pm, I went out for a 3mile run. When I got back I 
played with the dogs again in the backyard while making phone calls. I took a shower, then talked with Cheryl on google video chat for 20 minutes or so. Cheryl is going from lab to lab, office to office as they fill up. Not sure how much longer we will be able to video chat. After talking to Cheryl, I took the pups out for another 1.5 mile walk, this time I went past the construction on Lincoln St. just to see how it is progressing. When we got back, I made some pasta with cut up chicken sausage in sauce. It was pretty good, but that grated cheese I have is crap. The processed cheese tastes very chemically.
played with the dogs again in the backyard while making phone calls. I took a shower, then talked with Cheryl on google video chat for 20 minutes or so. Cheryl is going from lab to lab, office to office as they fill up. Not sure how much longer we will be able to video chat. After talking to Cheryl, I took the pups out for another 1.5 mile walk, this time I went past the construction on Lincoln St. just to see how it is progressing. When we got back, I made some pasta with cut up chicken sausage in sauce. It was pretty good, but that grated cheese I have is crap. The processed cheese tastes very chemically.I sat down on the couch with the dogs to watch NCIS, had a bowl of chocolate pudding, then watched NCIS - LA. Went to bed at 10pm.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
10/11/10
Another monday morning, this marks 3 weeks without Cheryl, only 19 more to go! This morning I am a little behind schedule. I did two more loads of laundry as well as my typical routine. But I reset my alarm clock and for some reason I set it for a different time 5:50am instead of 5:40am, so I lost 10 minutes there. Anyway, went on with my typical morning of taking the dogs out, making coffee, checking the electric meter, writing in my blog and getting ready for work.
During our morning dog walk, nothing too exciting happened. I am noticing the 40F air in the morning is getting to be a bit cold. By the time we were at the end of the walk, I was breathing heavily into my hands to keep them warm... tomorrow will include gloves. Got back to the house and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then it was off to work.
Nothing different going on at work, spent 30 minutes making out my time sheet and expense report from last week. I am still trying to organize a night out with people from work for wedsnesday night, we will see how many want to join this week. At lunch, Aaron and I went over to try out Mojo's BBQ on Brewery Lane. I ordered a Mojo Reuben, which was a reuben with turkey instead. The food was pretty good, but took awhile to come out. We ended up being pressed for time to get back to work. On the way back, we stopped off at my house for 5 minutes while I let the dogs out in the yard. The gas guy from Unitil was at the house marking out the underground gas line in preparation for my new driveway.
We made it back to work and I continued on my multitude of projects. One in particular is starting to get increasingly complex and I will be looking for other options. Essentially I have to raise up some electrical equipment in a building with surrounding platforms a total of 14". Some feel that making everything out of angle iron is good, but it will require a huge amount of welding and detail work. Time to brainstorm.
After work I headed home to the pups. We played outside, I took down the laundry from the line, fed the dogs, then played outside some more. When we came in, I re-laid out the video chatting area by the tv to hide some wires. Then I went to the grocery store for food for the week. I picked up lunch meat, mustard, relish, milk, yogurt and some more pasta. When I got home, I checked to see some times of people I knew running the Chicago Marathon. Two people I graduated high school with ran it, and finished within 2 minutes of each other. I checked my time and Vicki's time, for some reason the chips didn't register, weird. Then Cheryl called me on gmail video chat. We chatted for 20 or 30 minutes. She loves seeing the pups sitting on the couch with me while we talk. After chatting, I took the pups on their evening walk, then in to watch some tv. We went to bed at 9:15pm for a full nights sleep.
During our morning dog walk, nothing too exciting happened. I am noticing the 40F air in the morning is getting to be a bit cold. By the time we were at the end of the walk, I was breathing heavily into my hands to keep them warm... tomorrow will include gloves. Got back to the house and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then it was off to work.
Nothing different going on at work, spent 30 minutes making out my time sheet and expense report from last week. I am still trying to organize a night out with people from work for wedsnesday night, we will see how many want to join this week. At lunch, Aaron and I went over to try out Mojo's BBQ on Brewery Lane. I ordered a Mojo Reuben, which was a reuben with turkey instead. The food was pretty good, but took awhile to come out. We ended up being pressed for time to get back to work. On the way back, we stopped off at my house for 5 minutes while I let the dogs out in the yard. The gas guy from Unitil was at the house marking out the underground gas line in preparation for my new driveway.
We made it back to work and I continued on my multitude of projects. One in particular is starting to get increasingly complex and I will be looking for other options. Essentially I have to raise up some electrical equipment in a building with surrounding platforms a total of 14". Some feel that making everything out of angle iron is good, but it will require a huge amount of welding and detail work. Time to brainstorm.
After work I headed home to the pups. We played outside, I took down the laundry from the line, fed the dogs, then played outside some more. When we came in, I re-laid out the video chatting area by the tv to hide some wires. Then I went to the grocery store for food for the week. I picked up lunch meat, mustard, relish, milk, yogurt and some more pasta. When I got home, I checked to see some times of people I knew running the Chicago Marathon. Two people I graduated high school with ran it, and finished within 2 minutes of each other. I checked my time and Vicki's time, for some reason the chips didn't register, weird. Then Cheryl called me on gmail video chat. We chatted for 20 or 30 minutes. She loves seeing the pups sitting on the couch with me while we talk. After chatting, I took the pups on their evening walk, then in to watch some tv. We went to bed at 9:15pm for a full nights sleep.
Monday, October 11, 2010
10/10/10
A good feeling waking up in my own bed this morning. Though, I should have been getting up early and running the Chicago Marathon. Next year, I promise next year I will run it. The good news is that my leg is feeling much better and I am training for a half marathon in November. Anyway, I have a lot to do today since I lost a weekend day to being in airports.
I got up and took the pups outside to play for a few minutes, then in for some coffee and read the electric meter. I was somewhat shocked by the amount of electricity used while I was away. I know I can contribute some to turning on the hot water heater, but I typically use 6kWh per weekday and around 8kWh per weekend day. While I was gone, energy use was almost 19kWh per day. Oh well, we backed a bunch up during summer and I knew that vacations (or business trips) would cut into that.
I did two loads of laundry in the morning. This is huge because before I left for work, there was like 7 straight days of rain, so I couldn't hang the clothes to dry. I had been holding off doing the laundry until a sunny day, and today is a beaut. I played with the dogs a bit more, then took them for a short walk. I took a shower and got dressed and headed off to Kristen's to meet up for breakfast. On the way I stopped off at the back to pick up some cash, because I never carry cash.
At Kristen's, I met up with Ralph and Beth (who was in from West Point!). I got the tour of the kitchen work that Kristen, Alexis and Ralph have been up to the last few weekends. I wish I brought my camera to take pictures to send to Cheryl, the kitchen looks fantastic. They have it all drywalled and mudded, they installed brackets behind the drywall for floating shelves, it is all painted and looks great. Ralph had a new toy, it is a nailer, but the nails have no heads so they are almost impossible to see afterwords.
We all jumped into the Saab and headed over to Fresh Local for some eats. There was talk about kayaking over, but those talks turned to whispers because of the cool temps and slightly high winds. Anyway, I had a cinnamon roll and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. We talked quite a bit about Cheryl and about Beth's civilian experiences at West Point. I am glad to see Beth is doing well and Alex will be back from Bahrain soon enough.
So what was I doing at 10:10am on 10/10/10? Having a great conversation with some really great people, what were you doing?
When we got back to Kristen and Alexis', Alexis showed us his horseshoe crab collection of hollowed out carcases on the dock. The suggestion was made to make some kind of 'armored' outfit with their bodies, it would be awesome. We talked about the next two West Point football games coming up and getting everyone down to tailgate and check it out, maybe 10/30 or 11/7.
After helping Beth with putting her kayaks on her car... when I say help, it was mostly moral support, I'm not sure if I actually lifted anything, nor did I pull any rope or straps tight. I headed back to the house to do a little work around the house. I decided it would be a great day to start a fire in the wood stove for the first time this year. Not that I needed the heat, but I wanted to get one burn in on the w
eekend while I was home to monitor. I let the dogs play in the back yard while I installed the plastic liner for the brick walkway out the front which I will construct next year. I had to get one side of the liner in because that is what will be paved up to on Tuesday. Midway through the little project, Mackenzie, Dan, Emerson and Cailan came by for a visit. They brought a fantastic orange lamp over form the 70's that had been in the attic since, well the 70's. They also brought me some cereal and apples freshly picked. We sat and talked by the wood stove for a bit, and then they left to go home and do some things around their house. I went back outside and finished the liner in less than half an hour.
I played with the dogs some more in the yard, then came in to post the blog from yesterday. Meanwhile, I decided to check the news on the Chicago Marathon, and watched a few clips on the finishes for the men and women. It inspired me enough to go for my long run, mind you, I haven't run in over a week. I geared up and did the New Castle loop, 7.34 miles. What a perfect day for it, sunny, a little breezy and around 65F. I got back, took another shower and played with the dogs some more. At 6:30pm, I set up the video chat on my tv upstairs and the pups and I got to talk to Cheryl for half an hour. I have a few tweeks to make to have the setup perfect, but it worked pretty good. Afterwards we went on a 1mile walk, then I made chicken sausages for dinner (by the way, I forgot to eat lunch). I ate two, had a beer and watched the Simpsons. I feel asleep and missed Family Guy, woke up at 10, put away all the dishes and headed for bed.
I got up and took the pups outside to play for a few minutes, then in for some coffee and read the electric meter. I was somewhat shocked by the amount of electricity used while I was away. I know I can contribute some to turning on the hot water heater, but I typically use 6kWh per weekday and around 8kWh per weekend day. While I was gone, energy use was almost 19kWh per day. Oh well, we backed a bunch up during summer and I knew that vacations (or business trips) would cut into that.
I did two loads of laundry in the morning. This is huge because before I left for work, there was like 7 straight days of rain, so I couldn't hang the clothes to dry. I had been holding off doing the laundry until a sunny day, and today is a beaut. I played with the dogs a bit more, then took them for a short walk. I took a shower and got dressed and headed off to Kristen's to meet up for breakfast. On the way I stopped off at the back to pick up some cash, because I never carry cash.
At Kristen's, I met up with Ralph and Beth (who was in from West Point!). I got the tour of the kitchen work that Kristen, Alexis and Ralph have been up to the last few weekends. I wish I brought my camera to take pictures to send to Cheryl, the kitchen looks fantastic. They have it all drywalled and mudded, they installed brackets behind the drywall for floating shelves, it is all painted and looks great. Ralph had a new toy, it is a nailer, but the nails have no heads so they are almost impossible to see afterwords.
We all jumped into the Saab and headed over to Fresh Local for some eats. There was talk about kayaking over, but those talks turned to whispers because of the cool temps and slightly high winds. Anyway, I had a cinnamon roll and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. We talked quite a bit about Cheryl and about Beth's civilian experiences at West Point. I am glad to see Beth is doing well and Alex will be back from Bahrain soon enough.
So what was I doing at 10:10am on 10/10/10? Having a great conversation with some really great people, what were you doing?
When we got back to Kristen and Alexis', Alexis showed us his horseshoe crab collection of hollowed out carcases on the dock. The suggestion was made to make some kind of 'armored' outfit with their bodies, it would be awesome. We talked about the next two West Point football games coming up and getting everyone down to tailgate and check it out, maybe 10/30 or 11/7.
After helping Beth with putting her kayaks on her car... when I say help, it was mostly moral support, I'm not sure if I actually lifted anything, nor did I pull any rope or straps tight. I headed back to the house to do a little work around the house. I decided it would be a great day to start a fire in the wood stove for the first time this year. Not that I needed the heat, but I wanted to get one burn in on the w
eekend while I was home to monitor. I let the dogs play in the back yard while I installed the plastic liner for the brick walkway out the front which I will construct next year. I had to get one side of the liner in because that is what will be paved up to on Tuesday. Midway through the little project, Mackenzie, Dan, Emerson and Cailan came by for a visit. They brought a fantastic orange lamp over form the 70's that had been in the attic since, well the 70's. They also brought me some cereal and apples freshly picked. We sat and talked by the wood stove for a bit, and then they left to go home and do some things around their house. I went back outside and finished the liner in less than half an hour.I played with the dogs some more in the yard, then came in to post the blog from yesterday. Meanwhile, I decided to check the news on the Chicago Marathon, and watched a few clips on the finishes for the men and women. It inspired me enough to go for my long run, mind you, I haven't run in over a week. I geared up and did the New Castle loop, 7.34 miles. What a perfect day for it, sunny, a little breezy and around 65F. I got back, took another shower and played with the dogs some more. At 6:30pm, I set up the video chat on my tv upstairs and the pups and I got to talk to Cheryl for half an hour. I have a few tweeks to make to have the setup perfect, but it worked pretty good. Afterwards we went on a 1mile walk, then I made chicken sausages for dinner (by the way, I forgot to eat lunch). I ate two, had a beer and watched the Simpsons. I feel asleep and missed Family Guy, woke up at 10, put away all the dishes and headed for bed.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
10/9/10
Last morning in NC, fingers crossed. Not that I don't like North Carolina, but I miss my dogs so much. Plus it was a bit of a headache arranging a house sitter for the night. All the people I have as possible sitters were great, but I have to say I was definitely worried that I might not have had coverage. Plus I still haven't programmed my neighbor's phone numbers in my cell phone as a possible emergency option.
Anyway, left the house at 5am and got to the airport at 5:45am. There was one security line open when I got there and it wasn't moving. They kept letting flight crew and employees cut the line. I understand why they do that, but it was causing a strife between many passengers that stood in the same place for 30 minutes without moving. Finally they opened more security lanes and all was well again.
Reluctantly, I got a coffee and muffin at Starbucks. I say reluctantly because I prefer my coffee light, not burnt and strong. I waited at the terminal for a bit and then boarded right on time in first class! It was only going to be a 1hr 15 min flight to Philly, but it sure was nice to have the extra room. I was able to sleep most of the way. When we got to Philly we had to wait at the gate 10 minutes because they didn't have anyone qualified to drive the jet-way to the door. At first I thought this was no big deal, but keep reading. We finally got off the plan at 9:05am and I went right to a monitor to check my next flight (11:30am) and noticed a flight to Manchester at 9:30 at a gate a full mile away... I made a mad dash to the gate to see if I could get on it. When I got there, they had just closed the door. The guy said if I was 5 minutes earlier, I could have gotten on... wish I had those 10 minutes back.
No bid deal, went over to my gate for the 11:30 flight, watched some tv on the computer and did some internet surfing. I love it when airports have free wifi. As we started to board, the guy at the gate announced that they overbooked this flight and looking for volunteers for the 2pm flight. I jumped on it... another voucher was imminent. They did the same thing though, held on to my ticket until all had boarded. But this time he said my seat wasn't needed and told me to take my seat on the plane. I was a bit upset because it might mean I would have to checking my carry on. I got to my seat 15C, only one problem, someone already there. After a 5 minute conversation with the flight crew, they did confirm there were no more seats. So I headed back to the gate to get my voucher and next plane ticket.
Not only did I get money for another flight, but I got a meal voucher too. So I made my way over to my new gate (in terminal F). The only way to get to terminal F??? Shuttle bus. I like to walk, but nope, waited for the shuttle bus. All is well, went to Au Bon Pien for a sandwich and yogurt for lunch. Got to my gate at a little past 12:30 and worked on the computer. Hopped on the plane at 2, arrived in Manchester at 3:15. A quick drive to Portsmouth and I was home with the pups right at 4pm. We played in the yard until 5, then it was in for dinner. We hung out upstairs for a bit while I tried to hook up the computer and webcam to the TV, I think it will work great if I get a wireless keyboard and mouse so that I can sit on the couch and video chat with Cheryl.
No phone call from Cheryl today, she is out giving tours. At 6pm we went for a short walk around the block, then back to the house. I made a bowl of cereal for dinner and fell asleep watching an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (netflix). I really didn't like the humor, will return with only watching one episode. At 10pm, one last trip outside with the dogs, then to bed.
So, for arriving 22 hours later than planned, I have $725 worth of vouchers for future flights. If I keep this up, my flight to meet Cheryl in New Zealand will be free.
Anyway, left the house at 5am and got to the airport at 5:45am. There was one security line open when I got there and it wasn't moving. They kept letting flight crew and employees cut the line. I understand why they do that, but it was causing a strife between many passengers that stood in the same place for 30 minutes without moving. Finally they opened more security lanes and all was well again.
Reluctantly, I got a coffee and muffin at Starbucks. I say reluctantly because I prefer my coffee light, not burnt and strong. I waited at the terminal for a bit and then boarded right on time in first class! It was only going to be a 1hr 15 min flight to Philly, but it sure was nice to have the extra room. I was able to sleep most of the way. When we got to Philly we had to wait at the gate 10 minutes because they didn't have anyone qualified to drive the jet-way to the door. At first I thought this was no big deal, but keep reading. We finally got off the plan at 9:05am and I went right to a monitor to check my next flight (11:30am) and noticed a flight to Manchester at 9:30 at a gate a full mile away... I made a mad dash to the gate to see if I could get on it. When I got there, they had just closed the door. The guy said if I was 5 minutes earlier, I could have gotten on... wish I had those 10 minutes back.
No bid deal, went over to my gate for the 11:30 flight, watched some tv on the computer and did some internet surfing. I love it when airports have free wifi. As we started to board, the guy at the gate announced that they overbooked this flight and looking for volunteers for the 2pm flight. I jumped on it... another voucher was imminent. They did the same thing though, held on to my ticket until all had boarded. But this time he said my seat wasn't needed and told me to take my seat on the plane. I was a bit upset because it might mean I would have to checking my carry on. I got to my seat 15C, only one problem, someone already there. After a 5 minute conversation with the flight crew, they did confirm there were no more seats. So I headed back to the gate to get my voucher and next plane ticket.
Not only did I get money for another flight, but I got a meal voucher too. So I made my way over to my new gate (in terminal F). The only way to get to terminal F??? Shuttle bus. I like to walk, but nope, waited for the shuttle bus. All is well, went to Au Bon Pien for a sandwich and yogurt for lunch. Got to my gate at a little past 12:30 and worked on the computer. Hopped on the plane at 2, arrived in Manchester at 3:15. A quick drive to Portsmouth and I was home with the pups right at 4pm. We played in the yard until 5, then it was in for dinner. We hung out upstairs for a bit while I tried to hook up the computer and webcam to the TV, I think it will work great if I get a wireless keyboard and mouse so that I can sit on the couch and video chat with Cheryl.
No phone call from Cheryl today, she is out giving tours. At 6pm we went for a short walk around the block, then back to the house. I made a bowl of cereal for dinner and fell asleep watching an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm (netflix). I really didn't like the humor, will return with only watching one episode. At 10pm, one last trip outside with the dogs, then to bed.
So, for arriving 22 hours later than planned, I have $725 worth of vouchers for future flights. If I keep this up, my flight to meet Cheryl in New Zealand will be free.
10/8/10
Another morning in North Carolina. This morning I got up extra early so that I could pack all my things and get to the jobsite early. Since I only had half a day on-site today, I wanted to make the most of it. On the way to the site I stopped off at Dunkin Donuts for coffee, but I also picked up breakfast sandwiches for Harry and Tom and got donuts and muffins for the plant guys.
I was able to get all the work I needed done by 10am! So I called in to a conference call for the project team meeting for another project. I was able to be as productive as possible and get a head start on some work I need to complete on monday. At noon, I headed off site to catch my plane home. It was good to hang with Harry and Tom, and I hope I left them in better shape than when I arrived. Although, our three 100,000lb heaters were sitting at the TN/NC border still because they didn't have permits.
Off to the airport I went, turned in my rental car and headed for the gate. I stopped by for a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch first. When I got to the gate, they had a notice "overbooked". Looks like I got bumped. The lady at the counter was super nice, offering my vouchers and an upgrade to first class on the 10pm flight. Figuring I would turn in my ticket and get a new one right away, I agreed. The downer was that she didn't attempt to get me on the next flight until the entire plane boarded (almost an hour later). So when I walked up, she came clean and told me she didn't book me an hour ago and the flight at 10pm filled up, no first class.
Again, the lady was super nice, and I wasn't about to get upset. So she offered me a night over and more vouchers for the 7:30am flight connecting through Philly, plus a free upgrade to first class. So, I turned down the hotel because I was going to go back to Harry's instead. Went down, rented another car and headed back to the site.
When I arrived on-site, the crane we brought to the site yesterday for the heaters was being packed up and taken off site. Looks like the heaters didn't get permits, and with monday being a holiday, tuesday afternoon would be the earliest we would need the crane. Another bummer.
So after everyone left for the day, Harry and I met up with Tom at Safari Miles for dinner. I had a Grecian pizza and calamari that was fantastic. We hung out at the bar for a bit, enough time to witness the Dolly's 102nd birthday party. Dolly made quite an entrance. Afterwords, we went back to the rental house and I crashed upstairs. I tried to watch a few tv shows streaming, but the connection wasn't so good on the 3rd floor. Went to bed around 9pm, alarm set for 4am for round 2 of flying out of Charlotte.
I was able to get all the work I needed done by 10am! So I called in to a conference call for the project team meeting for another project. I was able to be as productive as possible and get a head start on some work I need to complete on monday. At noon, I headed off site to catch my plane home. It was good to hang with Harry and Tom, and I hope I left them in better shape than when I arrived. Although, our three 100,000lb heaters were sitting at the TN/NC border still because they didn't have permits.
Off to the airport I went, turned in my rental car and headed for the gate. I stopped by for a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch first. When I got to the gate, they had a notice "overbooked". Looks like I got bumped. The lady at the counter was super nice, offering my vouchers and an upgrade to first class on the 10pm flight. Figuring I would turn in my ticket and get a new one right away, I agreed. The downer was that she didn't attempt to get me on the next flight until the entire plane boarded (almost an hour later). So when I walked up, she came clean and told me she didn't book me an hour ago and the flight at 10pm filled up, no first class.
Again, the lady was super nice, and I wasn't about to get upset. So she offered me a night over and more vouchers for the 7:30am flight connecting through Philly, plus a free upgrade to first class. So, I turned down the hotel because I was going to go back to Harry's instead. Went down, rented another car and headed back to the site.
When I arrived on-site, the crane we brought to the site yesterday for the heaters was being packed up and taken off site. Looks like the heaters didn't get permits, and with monday being a holiday, tuesday afternoon would be the earliest we would need the crane. Another bummer.
So after everyone left for the day, Harry and I met up with Tom at Safari Miles for dinner. I had a Grecian pizza and calamari that was fantastic. We hung out at the bar for a bit, enough time to witness the Dolly's 102nd birthday party. Dolly made quite an entrance. Afterwords, we went back to the rental house and I crashed upstairs. I tried to watch a few tv shows streaming, but the connection wasn't so good on the 3rd floor. Went to bed around 9pm, alarm set for 4am for round 2 of flying out of Charlotte.
Friday, October 8, 2010
10/7/10
Woke up in North Carolina. I am some what surprised, walked outside the house and it was pretty chilly, in the low 50's. I also realized I forgot to pack shirts, looks like two days wearing the same shirt. Next time I will leave more time for packing, apparently 5 minutes opens the door to forgetting things.
Headed to the site to see progress. Stopped of at Dunkin Donuts for a breakfast sandwich and arrived on-site at 7:1
5am. Things are moving along, but behind schedule. There are many reasons for being behind, but it still doesn't sit well with me. I have put a few pictures up to show everyone what I do. Unfortunately, I don't design most of this work because I don't have a N.C. Professional Engineer's stamp.
5am. Things are moving along, but behind schedule. There are many reasons for being behind, but it still doesn't sit well with me. I have put a few pictures up to show everyone what I do. Unfortunately, I don't design most of this work because I don't have a N.C. Professional Engineer's stamp. At lunch time I went out to Firehouse for subs for Tom and Harry. I love going to this place when I'm down here. They make sandwiches unlike anything available up north. I had a 'Hook and Ladder', which I can't quite remember what is on it, but it is fantastic. The other treat down here is the sweet tea that is on tap everywhere. New England has no idea on how to make good sweet tea, it really is a treat.
One reason I wanted to get down these two days are because the heaters were going to be delivered, each weighing 100,000lbs. I wanted to see how they were going to fit through the overhead roll-up doors in the building. The heat
ers were traveling from Wisconsin, and were held up at the TN / NC border because they hadn't received their highway overload permits yet. Looks like best case scenario, the heaters get here late friday or monday. Too bad I won't be able to see them installed.
ers were traveling from Wisconsin, and were held up at the TN / NC border because they hadn't received their highway overload permits yet. Looks like best case scenario, the heaters get here late friday or monday. Too bad I won't be able to see them installed.I left work around 6:15pm and headed back to the house. I talked with Cheryl for about 20 minutes, so good to hear her voice. Because I was traveling yesterday, I didn't get a chance to talk to her. Got to the house, put away all my work stuff and sat down and talked with Harry while he made meatloaf for dinner.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
10/6/10
Wednesday morning, got up and took the dogs out while the coffee was brewing. Came in, fed the pups, checked the electric meter and sat down in front of the computer to write in the blog. It was a record, I was able to get the post up in 8 minutes. Next it was on to cleaning the house in preparation for the dog sitter. I washed the dishes, did some quick cleanups in the bathroom and kitchen, folded and hung laundry, changed the sheets and pillow cases on the bed, then took a shower.
We went out for a 1 mile loop walk in the drizzling rain. I know there has been a lot of complaints about the rain lately (feels like 7 straight days), but the summer was pretty good. As one person said to me 'Best summer ever'. I will make one complaint though... my solar panels need more sun. The walk went well with no real issues. When we got back, I had some cereal and took off for work.
Work was pretty much like every other day. I was trying to button up a few loose ends before leaving for N.C. I was able to get everything done that affected someone else work, which is a goal of mine, I don't like to hold up other peoples work. At noon I went home to be with the pups for lunch and to keep cleaning the house.
I didn't realize how long it takes to sweep the house, let alone do a thorough cleaning. It has been 5 months since I personally cleaned the house. I miss having Cheryl around. Not because I want her to clean, don't get the wrong impression, but we had a system that one of us would clean while the other played (distracted) the dogs for an hour or so. Sweeping, vacuuming and all around cleaning is made more difficult with two insane dogs barking and biting at the cleaning tools. I was able to get everything cleaned in time to leave for the airport.
I brought a ham and cheese sandwich with me on the road to the airport. It was actually pretty funny, as I pulled into the parking garage at Manchester, Steve (a co-worker) was pulling out and I took his spot. I then proceeded to join in on a conference call for work while going through security, then waited for my flight. Nothing to exciting here, as many of you who have traveled through Manchester airport. Looked around and everyone looked like drones staring into space, what have we become?
The flight was enjoyable and quick. I was on a smaller plane that only sat 4 wide. I got in to Charlotte about 15 minutes early. I got my rental car and headed to the rental house. On the way I stopped off at Arby's and had 2 jr. roast beef's and a jr. jamocha shake. I love Arby's, any chance I get I will have their roast beef and jamocha shake, don't ask me why.
Made it to the rental house around 9pm, talked with Harry for an hour or so. He showed me a video on Youtube of his buddy's vintage propeller plane doing aerial tricks, pretty cool stuff. Went to bed at 10pm.
We went out for a 1 mile loop walk in the drizzling rain. I know there has been a lot of complaints about the rain lately (feels like 7 straight days), but the summer was pretty good. As one person said to me 'Best summer ever'. I will make one complaint though... my solar panels need more sun. The walk went well with no real issues. When we got back, I had some cereal and took off for work.
Work was pretty much like every other day. I was trying to button up a few loose ends before leaving for N.C. I was able to get everything done that affected someone else work, which is a goal of mine, I don't like to hold up other peoples work. At noon I went home to be with the pups for lunch and to keep cleaning the house.
I didn't realize how long it takes to sweep the house, let alone do a thorough cleaning. It has been 5 months since I personally cleaned the house. I miss having Cheryl around. Not because I want her to clean, don't get the wrong impression, but we had a system that one of us would clean while the other played (distracted) the dogs for an hour or so. Sweeping, vacuuming and all around cleaning is made more difficult with two insane dogs barking and biting at the cleaning tools. I was able to get everything cleaned in time to leave for the airport.
I brought a ham and cheese sandwich with me on the road to the airport. It was actually pretty funny, as I pulled into the parking garage at Manchester, Steve (a co-worker) was pulling out and I took his spot. I then proceeded to join in on a conference call for work while going through security, then waited for my flight. Nothing to exciting here, as many of you who have traveled through Manchester airport. Looked around and everyone looked like drones staring into space, what have we become?
The flight was enjoyable and quick. I was on a smaller plane that only sat 4 wide. I got in to Charlotte about 15 minutes early. I got my rental car and headed to the rental house. On the way I stopped off at Arby's and had 2 jr. roast beef's and a jr. jamocha shake. I love Arby's, any chance I get I will have their roast beef and jamocha shake, don't ask me why.
Made it to the rental house around 9pm, talked with Harry for an hour or so. He showed me a video on Youtube of his buddy's vintage propeller plane doing aerial tricks, pretty cool stuff. Went to bed at 10pm.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
10/5/10
I promise it will be a quick blog today, I have so much to get done before going to North Carolina. Tuesday morning I got up, took the dogs out in the backyard, fed them, blogged while having coffee, then went on our morning walk. Today it was the 1.5 mile loop which I'm not sure if I'm going to do much longer. The construction on Lincoln St. is picking up and Chance is going wild over the big equipment. After the walk I got ready for work and ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
At work I went down to Dorchester, MA to conduct a survey for some pipe support modifications. It was cold, rainy and windy. Not idea conditions for a survey. Though it was nice to get out of the office for a day. I brought a ham and cheese sandwich with me for lunch. We got back at 4:30, enough time to put everything away and leave by 5pm.
On the way home I stopped off and got a hair cut, then home to the pups. We went out and played ball 3 times before 6:30pm. At 6:30pm I hooked up my new webcam and headset and video chatted with Cheryl for the first time. She could see Reece and Chance, it was quite exciting. Cheryl was in a room that was painted all white, made it look like she was at the space station, I was waiting for her to start floating around. It was really cool to see her live, the pups didn't know what to think.
Afterward, we went for a 1mile walk, back in time to make a chick-wich for dinner followed by half a loaf of Cheryl's zucchini bread. Watched NCIS, but fell asleep during NCIS-LA. Hope you all had a great day, see you on the blog tomorrow.
At work I went down to Dorchester, MA to conduct a survey for some pipe support modifications. It was cold, rainy and windy. Not idea conditions for a survey. Though it was nice to get out of the office for a day. I brought a ham and cheese sandwich with me for lunch. We got back at 4:30, enough time to put everything away and leave by 5pm.
On the way home I stopped off and got a hair cut, then home to the pups. We went out and played ball 3 times before 6:30pm. At 6:30pm I hooked up my new webcam and headset and video chatted with Cheryl for the first time. She could see Reece and Chance, it was quite exciting. Cheryl was in a room that was painted all white, made it look like she was at the space station, I was waiting for her to start floating around. It was really cool to see her live, the pups didn't know what to think.
Afterward, we went for a 1mile walk, back in time to make a chick-wich for dinner followed by half a loaf of Cheryl's zucchini bread. Watched NCIS, but fell asleep during NCIS-LA. Hope you all had a great day, see you on the blog tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
10/4/10
Monday's blog should be pretty short, not much in terms of excitement happened today. As usual I got up, took the dogs out, fed them, read the power meter, made coffee and wrote in my blog. Afterwards the dogs and I went on a longer 1 mile walk without a booty on Reece's paw. She seemed perfectly fine with no limping. Luckily the miserable cold, rainy and windiness was gone so the walk was fairly enjoyable, though a 42 degree morning temp was tough to take.
After the walk, I did some morning stretches. My legs are still tight from the weekends work, I don't think a run is in the forecast today. I had a bowl of cereal and got ready for work. Decided it was time to start growing a goatie, lets see how long that will last.
At work, I found out today that a heater for my North Carolina project may get scrapped. When I say heater, at these facilities, they are in the range of $500,000 each. It is brand new too, only 2 years old. The old contractor that got booted from this project oversized it and didn't design it correctly. The reason this affects me is not only did the contractor install the wrong size heater, by code they also installed it 5'-6" too close to another piece of equipment. I am planning on going down to NC thursday and friday to survey that area so that I could build a new foundation for it 6' from its current location. Not sure yet if my plans will be canceled with this new information.
At lunch I went home and played with the dogs in the yard, Reece's paw is still looking good. I talked to Knate and Michael a bit as well. They are doing major cleaning all day. Michael just got back from Italy, I got to see some of his pictures on Facebook. I made a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and ate it while playing ball with the dogs. We came in and I washed all the dirty dishes and did a little cleaning. Major cleaning is on the schedule for wednesday before I leave for NC.
The afternoon was a little more exciting for me at work. I am designing a metal enclosure for a project in Mass. I have been struggling with the column design for a few days, today I calibrated with Aaron for about half an hour and we got some really good ideas on the table. It encouraged me enough to keep working late to get the drawings completed by the end of the day. Then Aaron asked when we were going bowling. Turns out Aaron bowls 10-pin as well. The closest place to play is up near his place in Portland, ME.
After work, I came home and played with the dogs in the yard, then fed them dinner. We played some more, this is getting Chance back to normal. I felt so bad cutting back his ball time outside because of lame Reece. He is loving the exercise now. I went around and installed the remaining recessed light trim and new bulbs upstairs. Then I climbed up to the 3rd floor loft to check out the Kill-A-Watt on the Venmar. Looks like the ERV used 26.3kWh over 17 days (1.66kWh per day). Seems high to me. Then Cheryl called on gmail and we talked a bit. Cheryl is handling the cold weather fine and her spirits are high... but this is just week 3 for her. Lets create a chart showing her spirit on a weekly basis for the rest of her time there.
After talking to Cheryl, we went for our first 1.5 mile walk in over a week and a half. It was exciting. People are getting their Halloween decorations out, which is spooking little Chance a bit. Reece almost bit one of those inflatable lighted pumpkins, could have been bad. We got back and I made dinner for me. I took down the last 3 meatballs that Shannon's mom made. And when I say meatballs, these things are the size of a big orange. I cut them up a bit, put on a roll with some provolone cheese and heated. At 8pm, I watched some tv and had a bowl of chocolate pudding. I hope you are catching that this year I have substituted chocolate pudding for Xing Ping. 9pm and off to bed, totally forgot that the Pats were playing monday night football. I know I said this posting was going to be short, but apparently more happened to me today than I originally thought.
After the walk, I did some morning stretches. My legs are still tight from the weekends work, I don't think a run is in the forecast today. I had a bowl of cereal and got ready for work. Decided it was time to start growing a goatie, lets see how long that will last.
At work, I found out today that a heater for my North Carolina project may get scrapped. When I say heater, at these facilities, they are in the range of $500,000 each. It is brand new too, only 2 years old. The old contractor that got booted from this project oversized it and didn't design it correctly. The reason this affects me is not only did the contractor install the wrong size heater, by code they also installed it 5'-6" too close to another piece of equipment. I am planning on going down to NC thursday and friday to survey that area so that I could build a new foundation for it 6' from its current location. Not sure yet if my plans will be canceled with this new information.
At lunch I went home and played with the dogs in the yard, Reece's paw is still looking good. I talked to Knate and Michael a bit as well. They are doing major cleaning all day. Michael just got back from Italy, I got to see some of his pictures on Facebook. I made a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and ate it while playing ball with the dogs. We came in and I washed all the dirty dishes and did a little cleaning. Major cleaning is on the schedule for wednesday before I leave for NC.
The afternoon was a little more exciting for me at work. I am designing a metal enclosure for a project in Mass. I have been struggling with the column design for a few days, today I calibrated with Aaron for about half an hour and we got some really good ideas on the table. It encouraged me enough to keep working late to get the drawings completed by the end of the day. Then Aaron asked when we were going bowling. Turns out Aaron bowls 10-pin as well. The closest place to play is up near his place in Portland, ME.
After work, I came home and played with the dogs in the yard, then fed them dinner. We played some more, this is getting Chance back to normal. I felt so bad cutting back his ball time outside because of lame Reece. He is loving the exercise now. I went around and installed the remaining recessed light trim and new bulbs upstairs. Then I climbed up to the 3rd floor loft to check out the Kill-A-Watt on the Venmar. Looks like the ERV used 26.3kWh over 17 days (1.66kWh per day). Seems high to me. Then Cheryl called on gmail and we talked a bit. Cheryl is handling the cold weather fine and her spirits are high... but this is just week 3 for her. Lets create a chart showing her spirit on a weekly basis for the rest of her time there.
After talking to Cheryl, we went for our first 1.5 mile walk in over a week and a half. It was exciting. People are getting their Halloween decorations out, which is spooking little Chance a bit. Reece almost bit one of those inflatable lighted pumpkins, could have been bad. We got back and I made dinner for me. I took down the last 3 meatballs that Shannon's mom made. And when I say meatballs, these things are the size of a big orange. I cut them up a bit, put on a roll with some provolone cheese and heated. At 8pm, I watched some tv and had a bowl of chocolate pudding. I hope you are catching that this year I have substituted chocolate pudding for Xing Ping. 9pm and off to bed, totally forgot that the Pats were playing monday night football. I know I said this posting was going to be short, but apparently more happened to me today than I originally thought.
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