11/12/10

Friday morning, means breakfast at work! Got up, put in 2 loads of laundry during my morning routine. Had the pups out, fed them breakfast and had a cup of coffee while I tried to blog. Unfortunately, the internet wasn't working. I decided to do a power cycle on the modem and router (in the basement). As I slid the pocket door open to the basement, it rubbed on the door frame. Red lights went off in my head. The only time this happens... is when the basement is flooded. Sure enough, as I turned the corner, I saw 2" of standing water at the base of the stairs.

The culprit was the same as the last time, the damn GFCI outlet the sump is plugged into tripped. I hit the reset button and the sump came back on. That's it! That stupid outlet is getting replaced with a regular outlet. While the pump was now work, there wasn't much I could do until the water was almost out.

I went back upstairs and hung out the laundry on the line. Next we went for our morning walk, we only did the 1mile loop because I was running a little late. When we got back, I swept as much water to the sump pit as possible. By now, I have a pretty good idea where all the low spots are in the basement floor.

I went off to work. We had a staff meeting in the morning that consisted of a review of our health insurance, the 401k program and our regular staff meeting all roiled into one. We had breakfast sandwiches provided, plus Paul T. bought a shit ton of donuts on his way in. After 10 minutes into the health insurance meeting, I wanted out! Health insurance is going up, being where I work, all the blame (and many side conversations that extended the meeting) was on Obama. Man, this it tiring to hear. Let me get this straight, our insurance has been going up annually 11% for the past 3 years, and this year all the blame is on Obamacare? People, start thinking for yourselves and not what Fox News tells you. Do you think the insurance company is in the business of saving lives, or making money? After the 10th comment about how the democrats are doing nothing but taxing us with all these new rules, I got up and left. If you complain about taxes here in NH, try moving somewhere with less taxes. Oh yeah, say hi to Sarah Palin while there because the only state with less taxes than NH... Alaska, dress warm.

Anyway, I got back to my work instead of listening to everyone bitch about Obama. Sorry, but the choices I make in my life have more barring on my life than all the politicians. I rushed through getting work done before lunch time. By this time, I needed a break. I went home and went for a nice 3 mile run to clear my head. This is the last run I will do before sunday's half marathon. I got home and played with the dogs in the backyard while cooling off. It was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to go back to work. Sunny and 62F... perfect. On the way back to work, I got to use my sunroof for the first time it was so nice.

There was a lunch & learn at work, so when I got back, there were 8 pizzas still not touched. I grabbed a couple slices and headed back to my cube. The rest of the day was the same, getting work completed before the weekend. At 4:40pm, I went downstairs and noticed there were still 5 full pizzas sitting in the kitchen. I grabbed a whole pizza when Paul T. came in and said 'you can't do that". I did not realize Paul is now the pizza police too. Let me get this straight, 20 minutes until the office closes, there a 5 pizzas that have been sitting there since lunch... what will happen to them if I don't take 1? It will get thrown out. I wasn't taking them all. By the way, as I left as one of the last, there were still 2 pizzas still sitting there that hadn't claimed.

I got home and started a fire in the wood stove. Took the pups outside while I took the laundry off the line and into the dryer. I came back out and played ball in the dark for 10 minutes. We went in and I fed them dinner while I went into the basement to start round 2 of cleanup. I shop vac'd the floor and got almost all the water out. I then reset the internet a forth time, and finally I had it back. I instant messaged Cheryl for a few minutes, then brought the dogs back out for some more play time.

At 7pm, I took the dogs out for our evening walk (1 mile loop). Nothing too exciting happened. I heated up 3 slices of pizza for dinner and had a beer. I watched the rest of the Netflix movie that I started on wednesday, then a little TV. Finally made it to bed around 10pm. Pardon my ranting today, I had a rough day and needed to vent a bit. Have a great weekend everyone!

11/11/10

Thursday morning, got up a little early, today is suppose to be the first day of sun for the past week and a half! I threw in a load of laundry, got the pups outside and made some coffee. By 6:05 we were out the door to get Reece to daycare. The trip to daycare was as usual, early. We made it to Barrington by 6:30am, I dropped Reece off, then it was man time in the car with me and Chance. Chance is such a lover when Reece isn’t around. We enjoyed the car ride, then when we got home, we went straight for a walk. We did the 1mile loop, stopping multiple times for pets and kisses.

After the walk, I got ready for work and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I put one of the bar stools on the chairs that are on the dining room table, this should keep Chance off. I hung up the laundry outside, hopefully this weekend I will set up something inside for drying laundry. Then it was off to work.

Work was typical today, stayed in the office and did a lot of phone calls and paperwork to keep projects going. I also had my fair share of meeting to go to throughout the day. At lunch I went home to see Chance. He must really not like the dish drying rack, it was in the hallway when I got home. I kinda figured something might go down today, so at least I emptied it before leaving this morning. I put on my running clothes and grabbed Chance and we went for a 2.5 mile run around Portsmouth. I think he like these runs, I know I do because it is a great motivator to get out and run.

Afterwards, I took a shower, made a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and then I was off to work again. Nothing too exciting happened during the afternoon, except Aaron doing his best unibomber costume. At the end of the day, I went home. I took the laundry off the line and into the dryer, Paul stopped by for a few minutes to talk about his plow guy, then Chance and were off to get Reece. I forgot that today was a holiday that people actually had off until I breezed over the general Sullivan bridge without touching my brakes.

More to come on this entry... It's friday morning and my internet doesn't work and I have 2" of water in the basement... I will complete this blog entry when I have some time.

I picked up Reece from daycare, had a chat with Joanne and then headed home. I fed the pups dinner, let them outside for a little play time then back into the house. I left the dogs home while I went out for some shopping. First I went to Pet Quarters and got more dog food, and for the first time in my life, bought poop bags. Up until now, I have been using plastic newspaper bags, we had a carton of these that we got from Kim... well, by next week they will be gone. Next I went into Kohl's to look at some pants (didn't buy anything), went into Dick's to look around (didn't buy anything), went to Old Navy to see what the latest fashions are (didn't buy anything). I went home with my dog food and poop bags.

Got home and took the dogs out for our evening walk. Nothing exciting happened. Got back to the house, made a bowl of cereal for dinner and watched some TV. I fell asleep around 9pm, woke up and went to bed around 10pm.

11/10/10

Wednesday morning, got up and did our typical routine. I let the dogs out, made them breakfast, had some coffee while blogging about yesterday. Afterwards I got ready for the day and we went on our morning walk. Nothing too interesting on the morning walk, the dogs were good, we did the 1.5 mile loop because we got out the door on time. When we got home, I finished getting ready for work, had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and was off.

Work was interesting this morning, I got to go to a site in Lynn, MA. I’ve been there multiple times, and we just started another project there this week. That’s right, we are weeks away from the heating season and we are installing new equipment. We have a 6 week window to install, our original schedule for construction was 2-3 months. The reason I went down is because we took some equipment off a foundation and we planned to re-use the foundation. Unfortunately, it was not in the best of condition.

I went to the site to evaluate the foundation and formulate a plan to move forward. We were on-site for a few hours, we came up with a good plan, but it will push the schedule back a week. It’s the right thing to do though, I don’t want to give the client a product just to make the schedule that will eventually have problems with.

John Foster and I got back up to the office around 1pm. I went home to let the dogs out and make a ham, turkey & cheese sandwich. The dogs got about 20 minutes of play time outside before I had to head back to the office. The rest of the day at work was pretty typical, lots of paperwork and putting out fires.

At 5pm, I went home to the pups. I started a fire and we played outside for a bit in the dark. I am wearing my headlamp in the yard now to find Chances ball after he stops it. Next I brought the pups in for some dinner. After checking some stuff out online, we all went back out for another round of ball. When we came in, we called up Cheryl on video chat and talked for a bit. Cheryl is still having a ball down there in the frozen land, so happy for her. Cheryl got to tell the pups it was time for our walk.

Our walk was pretty typical, only that I found a quarter in the grass. I mean, this is pretty amazing considering I didn’t have any light to see it. Yes, this was probably the highlight of my week. Quarter is going straight into my Roth retirement fund! The dogs were great on the walk, we did another 1.5 mile loop. When we got home, I made some chicken nuggets for dinner and headed up to watch some TV. I watched a few episodes of shows I missed previously in the week online, then switched over to watch my latest Netflix movie. I didn’t make it through the movie, feel asleep on the couch. Woke up around 10:30pm and crawled into bed with the dogs.

11/9/10

The morning routine again. Up with the dogs, some outside time, back in for dog's breakfast while I blog with some coffee. I got cleaned up for work, then we went out on our morning walk. We did the 1.5 mile loop, luckily the rain had stopped but it was still pretty overcast. The dogs were good, and nothing too eventful happened. When we got back to the house, I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, grabbed some more coffee and was off to work.

Work is pretty much the same. At 10am, Carl Hoge and I drove up to Eliot, ME to watch a gas line tap and some construction of a pig launcher. A pig is a devise that get put in a gas main that can clean the inside of the pipe and also inspect welds and other parameters of the interior of the pipe. It was interesting to see the construction plans for the launcher, they were the design of my friend Josh, who left the company I work for about a year ago. Carl and I watched for about an hour and a half. All that was going on was drilling into an existing pipeline. You can't see the drill and it take almost an hour for the drill to finish. I had a clif bar and some fruit snacks for lunch. At around 12:30pm, we headed back to the office.

I didn't have a lot going on for the rest of the day, so I did a bit of internet research. At the end of the day, I went home to the pups. When I got home, I let the dogs outside while I started a fire in the woodstove. Then we played ball for 10 minutes, came in and I fed them dinner. I went through some mail, made sure the fire was going ok, then we went back outside for some more ball. We came in and I tried to clean up the house a bit. I talked to Cheryl for a minute or so, but no video chat. Cheryl helped me find the electric timer switch. I put this on one of the lamps to come on at 4:30pm so the dogs don't have to be in a dark house, plus it gives me some light to come home to.

By the way, Chance has a new perch that he likes to sit on. Apparently the chairs on the dining room table are not enough anymore. He now sits on top of the chairs that are on top of the table... just enough room under the hanging light fixture. I guess I will have to come up with a way to stop this behavior.

Next I put the pups in the car and we were off to Lowes. While I was at Lowes last time, I noticed they had the small generator I was looking at last year. Only problem was, I looked for generators last year when everyone needed a generator, so they never had them in stock. So after consulting Cheryl on the purchase, I picked up the generator. It is small, 2000watts and quiet. Weighs only 45lbs. When we got back to the house, I heated up my leftover Xing Ping from monday's lunch. When I was done, I had the hiccups pretty bad. I hate the hiccups.

The dogs and I went out for our evening walk, this time we did a 1 mile loop. The dogs were extra good and we had a very good walk. We came home, I checked a few things out on the internet and then turned to the couch and watched NCIS. I began watching NCIS LA, but fell asleep in the first 15 minutes. I woke up to see Michael J. Fox guest star on The Good Wife, but headed to bed after 5 minutes of that show.

11/8/10

A great monday morning, got to sleep in, or what seemed like sleeping in because of daylight savings time. I got up and did my typical morning routine with the dogs, outside, fed the dogs breakfast, had some coffee and wrote in my blog. Because of the time change, I was actually early to get out the door for our walk, so today I did the 1.5 mile loop. Nothing too interesting happened on the walk. It was kinda drizzly, and very windy, which really makes it tough to walk.

When we got home, I dried down the pups as much a possible, I don't really like the house smelling like wet dogs. I made myself a bowl of cereal and checked a few things out online. Afterwards, I got ready for work and headed out the door. Work was the same as last week, nothing too exciting. At 10am, Aaron and I sat in on an interview for a new mechanical engineer that one of the owners would like to hire to improve the CAD department. Although I think it is a fantastic idea, I don't see the other owners letting it happen.

The call was made early today to get some Xing Ping for lunch. Kevin offered to head up the order and go pick it up too, so I was totally in. I got my standard honey chicken, fried rice and boneless spare ribs. I ate about half and then went home to be with the pups. I feel so bad, the dogs get so little daylight outside now, I don't want to deprive them of getting out at lunch. After about 15-20 minutes of outside time, I headed back to work.

The rest of the day was the same. It's too bad I can't say, 'today I did something totally amazing', I just don't think that will happen at this job. After work I headed home and played with the pups in the backyard in darkness. I think we need some flood lights out back, just for some night ball toss. I have such a hard time finding Chance's ball sometimes. We came in and the dogs at dinner while if played on the computer a bit. We played a little ball toss inside for 10 minutes, then went out on a semi-early dog walk. We did the full 1.5 mile loop again, but this time went by the construction on Lincoln St. Wow, it really appears that after 2 months they haven't got anything done. They are still on the same block they started on.

When we got home, I get my basketball stuff together, changed and headed up to Eliot for our pickup game. Things were tough right from the start, there were a lot of elbows flying. In the first half, one guy on the other team took a swing at Sam, followed by an elbow to his throat. From there it got uglier. At one point near the end, a guy form the other team just wiped out Nick while he was taking a shot, it was so flagrant, the other guy didn't call a foul. Finally, the guy that runs the league blew the horn and stopped the game to call the foul. It's too bad because it could have been a fun game. Ultimately we won, but it didn't feel good to play a game like that. When we were shaking hands at the end, the guy from the other team that was so heated told Sam he would wait for him outside and kill him. What??? I thought this was a Christian league. Too bad a few meatheads make this such a pain.

The team walked Sam to his truck. I don't think anything would have happened, but who knows. We all went over to the Shipyard for a drink after. I almost didn't go because this was a late game (9pm start). It was way past my bedtime during the game, I think I was asleep during a few plays. But I stopped in for a beer and we all had a good time. Left the bar, headed home and took the dogs out one list time before bed. I have a feeling tomorrow morning will come sooner than I want.

11/7/10

Got up at Beth's place (Middle unit in the picture), took a shower and went down to have some coffee and talk a bit with Beth, Kristen and Alexis. We decided to go out for breakfast at the Hudson diner. I ordered a waffle with a side of bacon. As a freebie, they dropped off four cinnamon sugar donuts at the table that were very good. We chatted a bit at the table, listening to some of the locals with their NY accents, very amusing.

On our way back to the house, we went through West Point again and Beth showed us the housing areas of people who stay on base. It was quite a difference between the low end of the pecking order and the higher-ups. We went through base, then back to the house. We packed up the car with all our overnight gear and departed around 10:15am. It was so good to see Beth in her new setting, I know Cheryl wishes she could have been there too.

I think our trip bask was a little faster than going down, I would guess that's because we were driving in day light this time. We got back to Portsmouth right at half time of the Pats game. I was greeted with so many kisses from the dogs, it was great. We went outside and played some ball in the backyard for a little bit. Then we came in, I tuned off the electric boiler and checked the meter... 100kWhr in a 48 hour time span! Argh, this is going to be tough to make up.

I went upstairs and watched the remaining half of the game, it was a tough game to watch. Afterwards I took the dogs for an early walk. I really wanted to walk them before it got dark out. There were a lot of dogs out, their owners must have thought the same thing. When we got back, I got a message from Cheryl wanting to video chat in a couple hours. Perfect, I have just enough time to go to Lowes, Target and grocery shopping. At Lowes, I bought some more starter loggs and some paper leaf bags. Then I went over to Target, decided to pick up the food staples I needed there.

When I got home, I put away everything and then played with the dogs in the yard. Next I went upstairs and went on the computer to get caught up on the last two days of blogging. As I was starting to get hungry, I set up the computer awaiting Cheryl's call while I made some buffalo chicken fingers for a snack. Cheryl called just as I finished making the nuggets and we chatted a bit.

We chatted about my poor decision to trade in the truck. I don't know, I hate branding every SUV made in the same way as a Hummer. I bought the most fuel efficient 'SUV' available, better mileage than my truck. I still sit up higher than cars (which I really want), it gives the dogs a lower jump in height and more room. If I am to be called a soccer mom for buying this vehicle, so be it. There are functionalities to these vehicles that are very appealing. By the way, I can make the argument all day long that the CR-V is no different than Subaru, Volvo awd, Audi awd vehicles, only the CR-V gets better gas mileage.

Anyway, after talking with Cheryl, I watched the next football game on TV and then watched my latest Netflix movie. I felt like I was going to bed so late, but it was only 9:30pm. I took the pups out in the yard one last time before bed.

11/6/10

Woke up this morning at Beth's house in NY. Today we are going to check out West Point's campus, do some tailgating and watch the Army vs. Air Force football game. We sat in the kitchen to have some coffee and bagels for breakfast.

Next, Beth brought out all the goods for the tailgating. She was so prepared for this, it was amazing. There were two coolers, one for the drinks, one for the food. Then there were multiple bins with snack, utensils, plates, etc. Lastly was the Coleman grille. After loading up the car, we were off to West Point to start the day.

We found a good place to park, then we walked around campus. We checked out a few of the buildings, got to see Beth's office and classroom. Then we checked out some of the other touristy things on campus. Next it was back to the car to start the food and drinks. We had brats, chicken sausages, and some kick-ass cookies and brownies. We looked up in time to see paratroopers jumping out of a helicopter. We started walking over to the stadium after the game started, stopping in the gift shop for a few minutes. When we got to the stadium, we went to the opposite side called 'The Hill' and watched the game from outside. The final score, Air Force 42, Army 22.

Next we walked around a bit more, heading over to the Chapel and then back to the car. We went back to the house to settle in for the rest of the afternoon. We sat in the living room and talked a bit, then played a couple games of Banana Graham, kinda like scrabble. Beth made a frozen pizza while we played, and around 9pm, we all went to bed.