11/5/10

This morning I woke up with the pups and did our regular routine. After our morning walk, I made a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Next, it was off to work. Not a whole lot of intersting things happeneing at work. I left work early in the day because I was going on a road trip to see a friend at West Point this weekend.

So, I had been keeping a secret from Cheryl for about a week now. I traded in my truck for a Honda CR-V. It is a Certified 2007 used vehicle. I think I am done with trucks for a bit. I don't think I'll need a pickup for awhile, plus this vehicle gives the dogs so much more room in the back. Also, Reece has been having trouble jumping onto the truck lately and this vehicle has a nice low step-in height.


I got home a little after 1pm, and had some time to go over and register my new vehicle. Next I came home, had a ham & cheese sandwich while playing ball with the dogs in the backyard. I turned on the electric boiler so that the dogsitter will not freeze. Next I spent some time cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen. I put clean sheets on the bed, folded some laundry and packed for my trip. Next I went out for a 3 mile run, it was so beautiful out, sunny and hovering right at 60F.



I got home, took a shower and got dressed. Next I took the dogs out for a walk, came back and fed them dinner. Kristen and Alexis came by at around 5:45pm, I loaded my stuff into their car and we were off by 6pm. We traveled for the next 4-1/2 hours and arrived at Beth's house around 10:30pm. We stayed up a bit and talked with Beth before heading to bed.

11/4/10

Thursday morning. Got up a few snooze buttons early. Quickly made coffee, let the dogs out and got dressed. We jumped in the truck at 5 past 6am to get Reece to daycare. The ride to Barrington was good, Chance is still trying to perfect his hook move for belly rubs. When we got to daycare, all the lights were off. I stayed for 5 minutes or so, no one showed. So, the dogs and I made our trip back to Portsmouth. Poor Reece, she could see daycare, but couldn't go in.

Back at the house we went out for our walk, I'm running about 15 minutes behind schedule because of going to Barrington. It was nice to get the dogs out for a 1 mile loop before the rain starts. When we got back, I had a bowl of cereal, got cleaned up and went off to work. Work is much of the same, it is good to be busy and I'm happy to help out whenever I can. Because of how busy I have been, today was the first day I got a chance to talk to Dennis to see how he is doing.

At lunch I went home and played a bit with the dogs in the yard as the rain started to come down. I had two packets of gummy snacks to tide me over until my lunch & learn this afternoon. After play time with the dogs, I went back to work. At 2pm, Aaron and I went to a lunch & learn, we ordered some chinese food. No Xing Ping this time. Xing Ping's claim to fame is quantity and a low price. We ordered from Kim Lai (by bowl-a-rama) who's claim is quality. I have to admit that the sweet & sour chicken was good, same with the fried rice... but I hate their egg roll. I wish I could substitute the boneless spare ribs for the eggroll.

After work I headed home and played with the pups in the backyard a bit, then fed them dinner. The rain really sucks, its cold and falling sideways. This is a day to remember for when Cheryl gets back. On a day like today, I'm sending Cheryl out alone with the dogs to enjoy. I tried a Chai Tea mix I bought at the grocery store the other day as an impulse buy. It was pretty good and tasty.

Next the dogs and I went out for our evening walk, a little early, but Cheryl was going to video chat a little late today. The walk was OK, the rain slowed, but the wind really picked up. There were a few deep puddles that I didn't notice until my foot was already in them. The good thing, no other dog owners out walking their dogs in this weather. When we got back, I took 5 minutes to give the pups a drying, then back into the house.

I set up the computer upstairs to prepare for Cheryl's video chat. I also took 5 minutes to write yesterday's blog. Since I didn't have much time, I kept it pretty brief. At 7:50pm, Cheryl called! We chatted for a bit... holy crap did she have a funny story, you won't believe this. So, I think I already mentioned that they messed up and overbooked the station (holds 1100 people max, booked 1250). Well, they finally got a plane in with the additional beds needed on station. They held back scientists equipment and other essential items in order to rush these beds to Antarctica. As some people were unloading the boxes, they noticed the boxes read "Beds for today's youth. Max weight 150lbs". That may not be the exact wording, but I think you get what I'm getting at. They ordered children's beds, they are only 6' long!!!!!! Cheryl started laughing, as did I, but Cheryl shouldn't laugh, she meets the criteria to get one of those crap beds.

I almost had tears in my eyes laughing so hard. If it was the same person that overbooked, then ordered children's beds, they need to be fired. Anyway, after our chat I watched some TV on the internet that I had missed on monday. Finished up around 9:30pm, went to bed.

11/3/10

This will be a quick posting, I ran out of time to blog. I woke up and did the typical morning routine and got ready for work. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, dogs had a fun walk, nothing exciting happened.

More meetings for the Nashville project for a good portion of the day. I did have my 6-month review first thing, so I made sure I was on time to work. I won't go into details, but I am hoping what I had to say would help the company progress... only time will tell. At lunch I came home and made a ham & cheese sandwich and played with the pups in the yard.

In the afternoon, more meetings. After work I went home and played with the pups some more. Then we went out for a ride, stopped off at a couple stores to window shop. Actually, I went in, but didn't buy anything. No video chat with Cheryl tonight. We all got home around 8pm and went for our evening walk. I made a bowl of cereal for dinner, followed by chocolate pudding and whipped cream. The dogs and I watched a little TV, but wednesday TV kinda sucks. We went to bed around 9:30pm.

11/2/10

Election Day! Two good things happen on election day, you get to voice your opinion where it counts, and finally those TV ads will stop... but then again 2012 is right around the corner.

Got up this morning and went about my typical morning routine. The temp outside was 37F, though I thought it would be colder. Had the pups out, then back in for breakfast while I blogged sipping my cup of coffee. Next I took a shower and got ready for our walk. This morning we did a 1.5 mile loop, actually get out of the house on time. Nothing exciting happened on the walk that was notable. When we got back, I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and hung out 2 loads of laundry to dry. Brushed my teeth and off to work.

Work went well this morning. I jumped into the fray of the Nashville project to help out Aaron. The Nashville project is unlike any other we have have done. It breaks the mold as to how a project should be run. I could be critical of how things are going, but it is also the nature of the beast. This project is going through litigation from a previous contractor, so it makes everything more complex and difficult. Anyway, most of my day was consumed with helping out on this project.

I took a late lunch in order to miss the lunch time crowds at the polling station. I walked in, only 2 other people voting at the same time as me. I went over and registered in the City of Portsmouth (which took all of 5 minutes), then cast my ballot. I do enjoy the process of voting in New Hampshire, but I really wish they would re-consider the voting locations. All across NH, the polling stations are typically and one of the town's schools. The problem is, they hold school that day. Which means, no parking. By far, the biggest hassle with voting is parking. I know people who do not vote specifically because of parking issues. I think that's a bogus excuse, but it should be easier. I propose that schools should not be open on election days. Because today is election day, I have the right to voice my opinion, I'll get off my soap box now.

Afterwards I went home and made a PB&J sandwich for lunch and played in the backyard with the dogs for 15 minutes. Then headed back to work. The remainder of the day consisted of more work on the Nashville project as well as sprinkles of other projects. At 5pm, I left for home. I took the pups outside in the backyard, took the laundry off the line and into the dryer, and started a fire in the wood stove. I played with the dogs in the backyard, then brought them in for dinner. We mulled around the house for 45 minutes or so then headed to Target in search of some Halloween bargains.

The best they had was 30% off candy, so I did my grocery shopping there instead. I was shocked to see the Halloween section was already being over-run by Christmas decorations. We have 2 full months! Anyway, no candy for Cheryl. Headed back to the house and put the food away. I wanted to try the new Morningstar Buffalo Chicken tenders for dinner. If anyone read my blog last year, you would have heard me raving about the Ian's Buffalo Chicken Nuggets that I got from the Co-op. Unfortunately, I cannot find those anymore, so I am trying out the Morningstar to compare.

When we got home, I took the dogs out for our evening walk, just the 1 mile loop. It was actually pretty cold out (37F) for this hour. Not much happened on the walk, pretty boring. I tried to set up the video chat on my TV, but something wasn't working with the cord from the computer to the TV, so I just got to chat with Cheryl on my laptop instead. We chatted while I ate my chicken tenders. They were ok, but not as good as the Ian's. Anyway, so Cheryl and I chatted for 10 minutes or so. We are running out of things to talk about because our lives are so dull.

After we stopped chatting, I watched some TV. There was a re-run of NCIS and lots of coverage of the election results. I have to admit, I was really surprised that with the exception of Lynch winning the governor's race, NH want all republican, even all the open state house seat. And I'm talking 60-40, most were not even close. I could sense what was going to happen as a nation, so I just decided to go to bed instead of watching results come in.

11/1/10

Early morning with the pups, at least it feels early because of the 3 days getting up in the central time zone at 7 or 8 and not having to take care of the dogs right away. Well, back to the routine today, dogs outside first thing, then fed them breakfast and checked the meter. Had a cup of coffee while blogging. I got the electric bill in the mail over the weekend, another month in the negative (only 22 kWh though).

Next the pups and I went for a morning 1 mile loop. I think the dogs get poop shy when I have sitters. I know they don't go on walks and they don't like to go in their yard, but this mornings walk, both dogs pooped 3 times! Maybe they held it in since I left. Since I got out the door early, we all got back early too. So once the washer was done, I put the clothes out on the line for the day. It is only suppose to be 50F, but lots of sun. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, then got ready for work.

I was picking up where I left off last week for workload. I actually had a hard time focusing because I didn't have any large tasks to complete, but a lot of small tasks and plenty of distractions. My area was quiet again, most of the engineers around me were out of the office. At lunch I went home, made a PB&J sandwich for myself and played with the dogs int he backyard. It was a great day, full of sun and the temp wasn't too bad either. After 20 minutes of ball, we came in and I cleaned up the house a bit, really just putting things in their place. Then back to work.

The afternoon just flew by, I got pulled into a meeting to cover Aaron while he was on-site for another project. The meeting ended up being 2 hours long, hopefully productive. I left work an hour early because my basketball league game was at 6pm this week. I wanted to spend some time with the dogs in the yard before going. I got home and started a fire, it had dipped to 58F in the house. Then the dogs and I played in the backyard for 20 minutes, then I fed them while taking down the clothes off the line. Next we went out for a walk, talked to Pat our neighbor for 10 minutes. Pat just finished the steps to his raised patio this past weekend, looks great. All that is left is a railing at all the other raised areas. We completed our 1 mile loop just in time to get going to basketball.

I changed and then loaded the pups in the truck to take with. We were playing a team that had a guy that played Division 1 basketball at UNH. He must have been 6'-8" or 6'-9". Since I am considered a big guy for our team, there were a few plays that I 'tried' to play defense on him. We led at halftime by 5, but they came back and beat us by 7. It is always tough to lose, but at least these guys were nice players. This is what sportsmanship is all about, everyone played tough basketball without the whining and hacking that was typical of the first two games.

After the game, the team went to The Shipyard for some drinks and food. I had a few of the Pumpkin Ales and some chicken tenders for dinner. I'm starting to feel old, there was a lot of reminiscing of 'glory days' of basketball at high school. If you are wondering, don't worry, I only had the pups in the truck for an hour at a time. Each time I came out to take the pups for a quick walk. The temp in the truck stayed pretty constant at around 60F. We got back to the house around 8:45pm and went out for one last 'outside'. I stoked up the fire again to keep it going, adding some firewood. We sat down and watched the latest Netflix movie which finished up around 10:45pm. Then off to bed.

10/31/10

Last morning with Vic and Tim. Unfortunately there was no coffee in the apartment, but Vic had some tea that claims to have as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. It was a bold claim, but the tea was very good either way. After a chat over tea, we all got ready for the day and headed out for some brunch. The neighborhood we were in apparently doesn't get up very early.

It was 10 am on a sunday and we were looking around for a place for food, most places open at 11am. We went to Nookies Too, same place but different location from the breakfast the other day. I ordered the same items, but almost got denied. I was told they can't do a short stack of pecan pumpkin pancakes with eggs and sausage. This is troubling to me, they had a hard time doing it because of their computer system, not because they couldn't put pancake, scrabbled eggs and sausage on the same plate. Crisis was averted when they called the other Nookies and asked how they bypassed the computer and all is well in breakfast land.

It was amazing that as we left at 11am, the place was suddenly packed, the neighborhood really doesn't wake up until 11am on sundays. Next we were off to Jim and Cece's. Jim was going through the pictures of last nights party as well as the videos of the karaoke singing. I had a few treats that were left over from last night, just because they were there... I was full from brunch, but managed to make a little more room. Vic and Tim left to go back to the apartment, I said good bye and thanked them for letting me stay at their place.

Next Jim and I went over to drop off the recycling from the party, lots of bottles and cans. Must have been a lot of parties in the neighborhood because the recycling dumpster was full. We managed to get the few boxes we had stuffed in. Back at the house we watched some of the Packers-Cowboys football game. Jamie, Boosaba and Dana were over as well, so I got to spend a little more time talking with them before heading out. Just as the Pats game came on, I had to leave for the airport. Cece and Dana drove me over, dropped me off right in front. It was so good to be in Chicago again, everyone is great and I really feel like it is a second home.

I made it through security in under 5 minutes. I tried out the new United boarding pass thing on the smartphone. No need to print anything out, the pass is on the phone and you scan it at security and while boarding. I walked around the airport a bit because of how little time it took to get through security. I sat down and wrote the other day's blog while watching the Pats game on a TV. Our flight was delayed 15 minutes because the plane was late coming in, I was sure I wouldn't make the 9:10pm bus out of Logan now.

The plane ride was ok, just an absolutely annoying man next to me though. I wonder what goes on in people's heads some time. While taxiing, he was scarfing down a salad. The flight attendant told him twice to put up his tray table... I mean, you got 2 hours in the air to eat that damn salad, why during taxiing? He also tried to switch seats with someone while taxiing. I'm sure that the whole 'no electronics during take-off' is a scam, but if the flight attendant says 3 times to you to turn off your Ipad, and cell phone, just do it man! Honestly, this guy must think he is the hottest shit on the planet to blatantly disregard people like this. Once in the air, he switched with the person he was trying to earlier. The rest of the flight was fine, quiet and relaxing.

Well, we 'made up time' during the flight and actually landed 3 minutes early. I grabbed my stuff and made it to the curb with 10 minutes to spare. The bud ride to Portsmouth was uneventful and relaxing as well. I got to the bus station at 10:30pm, and into the house at 10:40pm. I was greeted with many kisses and hugs from the pups. I had to share some of my kisses as they were coming from Cheryl. One last time outside before bed, then crashed at 11pm with an inside temperature of 60F, it will be cold tomorrow morning.

10/30/10

Woke up this morning at Vicki and Tim’s place. We sat around and talked for a bit, then went out to check out the Farmer’s Market. It was pretty cool to see one in downtown Chicago. The farmer’s definitely travel pretty far to bring their products to the City. I got a cup of hot apple cider while walking around. I saw two black & white border collies, too cute. Vicki shared a fantastic scone with Tim and I. When we got back to the apartment, Vicki and Tim made breakfast. We had a spinach and cheese scramble, pumpkin pancakes, and Tim made some really great breakfast sausages.

For a little while afterwards, Vicki and Tim got their costumes ready for the party tonight. I put on the ‘Buccaneer Bones’ costume that Tim wore last year (apparently so did Jamie). On our way over to Cece and Jim’s, we stopped by and picked up Irene. It took quite awhile to get to the house, but we were one of the first there anyway. Cece had the house looking amazing, it will be a great party.

People were arriving to the party from 2pm through 8pm. At around 3pm, Cheryl called on the video chat and got to see almost everyone. We chatted almost a full hour, until Cheryl left to get some food. It was too bad because Cece had so much good food within eye sight of Cheryl, but she couldn’t get any. There was too much action to describe, I think everyone had a fantastic time and the party seems to be bigger than the Christmas party. The night concluded with a chorus of singing during Karaoke time. I didn’t participate in the singing this party, which I guess people were waiting to see my singing technique reminiscent of last year’s Christmas party. I’m sure if you search YouTube, there will be plenty of blackmail material on there.

I got to taste small samples of Cece’s Shepard’s Pie, Cheeseburger pasta, and a chicken crusted casserole that was great. Topped off by plenty of chocolate chip cookies and a marshmallows at the fire in their fire pit.

Around 10pm, we headed back to the apartment, dropping Irene off on the way. By 11pm, in bed and asleep.