Geoff is 29

It is my son's 29th birthday. It feels super weird that fact. It doesn't so much bother me that Jess is going to be 34, I feel like okay - that's to be expected. Jess has always felt like my adult human. I love them, and love spending time with them.

But Geoff. 29? how is that possible. Geoff is still a middle school kid, working towards his Eagle. But no. Dude is on the cusp of 30. Unreal.

I am not home to celebrate with him. I did call him first thing this morning and I let him know how much I love him. He's been interviewing for jobs (and not getting anywhere). Last night he applied to an associates degree program at a different Virginia location for community college. He had started down the path of trying to see if he could transfer into a CC in Maryland, and Doug was absolutely adamant that he not do that because from what he read, Maryland would want him to start over, from scratch, where he already has a ton of credits and a certificate. 

Do not transfer to a Maryland CC. Over and over this was messaged to him. 

Turns out, the CC he wanted to transfer to lost their accreditation for this program for this year and they're working to get it back, but they will not have it in place by Fall 2026. And 2027 doesn't look good.

Well then.

The universe made up its mind and prepared the path for him. 

He told me this morning that he applied to the Virginia program for transfer, requested his transcripts, and he's going to be assigned an academic advisor next. 

Here we go. Getting back on track for the degree. Finally. I'm relieved about this because last year he missed the application deadline. And I think he was okay with that because he had a job, a good job, he was happy even though it was part time and he could have been doing more. He was content. 

So many people are not content. 

But then we bought a house, he had to quit his job, he hasn't been able to find a new job, it's been a struggle. And I swear he is the most stubborn person (well, I think he gets it from my mom!) so to have the universe close that door and have him put right into the track we were hoping he'd go on... thankful.

Please, if you are reading this, send him good vibes. Let him get a job now, and be able to work right up to when school starts. 

He needs this win. 

For his birthday. 

Anyway. Had a good day today. It was stupid and raining so I took mom's car to get an inspection and then went to Walmart because I realized yesterday I'd forgotten to pack deodorant. And I was starting to get a little smelly. 

I walked inside the Walmart instead of going over to the gym. Glad I did and I would have walked more but had to get back to shower and get ready for a meeting. After my last meeting I went and did a real good walk around the neighborhood. Couldn't bring myself to drive all the way over to the gym, and the rain had let up totally. Got them steps in. Even though I paid for Black Card at Planet Fitness, the neighborhood is giving me the routes and the pathways to get shit done.

Mom thinks I'm crazy. But .... I'm not sitting on my ass eating nutter butter wafers and smoking packs of cigarettes and playing computer games all day. Get up and get it! That's my philosophy. 

Tonight I had dinner with my cousin Bill. I invited mom but she didn't want to go. She doesn't like this restaurant (hilarious) and so we had a cousin's suppah. We talked about his brother, our moms, nursing homes, getting old, weight loss, exercise, his son who literally just joined the army a couple months ago. We talked about this administration, the things happening, he is retired military himself so he has thoughts and opinions. It was a good chat. Good time. 

And I'm glad mom didn't come, so we could have this time together. 

Tomorrow, mom will go to lunch without me. I have a noon to 1, a 1 to 2, a 2 to 3.... busy afternoon of meetings. Maybe I'll have her bring me back something. 

This picture of Geoff and me is from two years ago. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. two walks; one in Walmart (I measured and timed it and walked intentionally) 16 min/.77 mi. More serious outdoor walk, 25 min/1.36 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 112 
4:45pm: 111
10pm: 90

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
10:30am: protein shake
1:30pm: turkey and gouda on low carb bread; met+glip
6:30pm: scallops, rice, sweet potatoes; 2 glasses of wine
8pm: met+glip; the rest of the honey roasted nut mix; another glass or three of wine

Temporary Rock Star Status

Last night I kind of slept okay, I had the windows open and the new air purifier running. It pumps out cool air, which is nice. But mom's house is so hot - and the furnace is pumping. I just looked down the hall to her in bed, in fleecey jammies covered in blankies and completely wrapped up, and I am in a t-shirt and shorts sweating balls. Absolutely Sweating Balls. 

sigh. 

Today was a pretty good day overall. I got to call the company that handles her life insurance and talk to them about how the auto-pay my sister set up didn't work, and asked for them to refund the late fees because ... not our mistake, not our fault. The girl made it sound like we were pulling food out of a starving baby's mouth. Oh what a hardship it is to give us back thirty dollars when your CEO makes 17.4 MILLION DOLLARS a year. Oh thank you for your kindness! Oh thank you so much. 

Fuck all y'all. 

Anyway. I got that taken care of. Mom's neighbor came to visit because she knew I was here and we had a nice catch up. Always fun to see her. She's a hot ticket. 

We went to mom's favorite foodrinkery for lunch. She's been miffed since the establishment was sold, and now they are using hamburger buns that are TOO HARD! and so she's been eating tuna boats. One of her friends suggested the kids burger on toasted white bread. 

Well. 

Game changer. Toasted white bread for the win. Felt like a victory. 

A man I didn't know (and she wasn't sure who he was) bought our drinks (soda, during the workday for me, thank you) and he came over and gave her a hug and a peck. 

Another guy named Charlie came in, and I've never met him. But he gushed on my mom and gave her big hugs, and then turned his affections to me. Like. It made me a little uncomfortable. Dude, we do NOT know each other do not kiss me on the top of my head? But mom and her lady friend Sue both knew him well and he was tickled to see her today, and meet me. 

Sometimes it is just weird, how ... loving? kind? etc? everyone is to mom. She gets to be kind of a rock star that she never was many years ago. People like Shirley. Go figure. 

And by extension, they like me?

The waitresses and bartenders at the foodrinkery all came over to hug on her, and when they saw me there, they were thrilled to see me too. Joanie, Casey, and "Shorty..." Got more than my fair share of greetings and hey how are ya? So good to see ya! etc. 

"It is so nice of you to come in! Didn't know you were coming to visit! Mom didn't say anything!" says Shorty. Kiss Kiss Hug Hug. 

She commented that I looked like I've lost a lot of weight. Well, since I was last here, no? but over the last five years, yes. A lot. 

My mother said "Yeah but she still has this," and poked me in the belly.

Tell me how I didn't just fucking punch her in the face right then. But. Yeah. I still have a fat belly. 

Shorty said "that's always the last to leave us ladies." She's so kind. "but Wow I can totally see it in your face!" Mom's friend Sue chimed in that she noticed over the last year that I indeed had lost weight and was looking good. 

I told them about the Fitbit, the daily 10k, how I'm doing it the best I can. Sue goes to the Y every day at 5am to walk with her best friend, and her friend goes swimming after they do several laps around the track, and she keeps going. Shorty runs 5 miles every morning before her kid even is up to go to school. We all talked about where we are doing our best, and how we are ... going to keep going. 

Sue is on day 200 something of 5 miles of walking (far more than my 10k steps) and said she's staying on track for 365 days.  I told her I love that for her. 

Everyone made me feel better about things, and I did not punch my mother in the face for poking my fat belly. 

Only moms can make you feel shitty like that when you are doing your absolute fucking most best, right? 

When I'm here at her house, I don't walk around as much inside like I do at home. after lunch I realized I was way behind on steps for the day. I took myself for a quick neighborhood walk. I was disappointed to not see any dogs out and about. There are usually a lot of little doggies around. It is a 1.3-ish mile loop, and you can add on little alcoves and little dead ends if you want, to lengthen the walk. Mom lives on a circle, and you can always go extra around and arounds for that thing. 

At 7:50 I took myself for another walk, should have gone around the circle a second full time to push up over the mile. But in the end, got everything I needed. 

My new wireless bluetooth earbuds are working out nicely. I'm kind of excited about them. But they don't fit in my ears right. I find the left one fits better in my right ear, and vice versey, kind of bizarre. 

Still. 

Tomorrow, my morning is incredibly free, so I may just flex some time and take mom's car for the inspection sticker. My cousin Bill and I may meet for dinner. Mom doesn't think she wants to come but I might just make her. 

And I'll try to do a solid 30 min of walking somewhere along the line in the day to not have to do multiple trips round the park here. Although, what I used to think was a hill is a nothing burger now. Your girl, she's killing it. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two Walks, 25 min walk outside, 1.31 miles. After Dark with the head lamp! 18 min/.95 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 85 (checked 3x. seemed very low compared to previous checks)
4:45pm: 131
10:45pm: 90 

food & meds:
7:45am: phentermine+jardiance
8:30am: premier protein shake (trying to drink these for mom and get them out of her fridge)
through the morning - several lil'handfuls of honey roasted cashew mix while walking through the kitchen...
1:30pm: buffalo tenders over small side salad w/bleu cheese dressing
3pm: met+glip (forgot to take right after lunch...) 
7pm: turkey and gouda on low-carb bread w/mayo. 
more honey roasted cashew mix through the evening.
white wine+ no sugar cranberry juice
8:30pm: met+glip

Happy I Am Here

Today was a pretty good day. Meeting light but meeting meaningful. I got to the gym but only spent 15 minutes there because I had afternoon meetings, and I didn't time my departure right. 

I made up for the shortfall and did a walk in the evening while talking to Linda on the phone about mom stuff. 

I'm happy I am here because she got two pieces of mail today that upset her apple cart. One was an easy peasy call to confirm, the other a bit more thorny. But if she had to do either of these on her own she'd bust a blood vessel. 

I went over to the shopping center to take care of something for her, and got wine, some snacks, some food from Target (salad fix'ns, turkey and cheese, that kind of thing). 

Linda and I pledged to one another that whosoever is here last will make sure they leave wine for the next person's visit. Amen and so be it.

Another thing I've been wanting to get in my life is bluetooth headphones, so I can walk or do the treadmill and not run the risk of hitting my earbud cord and sending my earbuds or phone flying. 

Target had a good selection and I bought some cuties that work great with my android phone, as evidenced in a test I did with Linda. I haven't tried them out on the mac yet for work, but.... I'm anticipating they'll be great there too. I may still use the earbuds for work because I'm not sure how the mute part of things work with these, and on the mac, I can mute on the keyboard. I don't need to think I muted and have someone hear me groaning about the contents of a meeting or telling my mother that I'll so a thing for her later.

My mom turns the internet off before she goes to bed. Which is hilarious to me. 

Tomorrow, I have to see what she does but I think the router/modem/whatever and her computer are on the same power strip. So she turns the entire power strip off, instead of just shutting down her computer and leaving everything else on. 

And I think by doing this, she may be epically fucking up her computer? Windows needs to be shut down properly and not just the entire computer powered off. 

Last night, she wanted to turn the internet off at like 8pm. I asked her to not. So I could .... do shit on my computer like read about our work OKRs and goals and objectives for a meeting today. Thankfully she turns it on first thing in the morning when she wakes up at sparrow fart, so if I'm up early, I can ... access the internet! 

And also thankfully, my data plan is absolutely unlimited. So I can use my phone if I need to do anything internetty. 

It's not quite 9pm right now, but I know she wants to go to bed, so, I will see if I can access blogger on my phone before bed to record the last blood sugar reading. If not, I'll edit this post in the morning. 

To be very honest, I dread being old. I dread not knowing what to do with things, or technology or people trying to always trick me. I asked Jess on our trip north to please make sure I do not turn into my mother.

 Jess has assured me that is impossible. I'm too smart for that. What a kind thing to say to me. But honestly, if you knew my mom in her 50s you would not believe how good she was at all this computer and tech stuff. I may still yet become that person and need someone to be the me that I am for her. Jess says they will take very good care of me, and guide me. And I promised I'll never answer the phone, or open mail that seems like a scam. 

God help us all. This is a sad and crazy world on so many levels, and oldsters get fucked over all the time. I do not want to be a fucked over oldster. 

Digits! below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, 15 min/.78 mi (Had to get back for a meeting). Evening walk with Linda on the phone, 16 min/.77 mi. 10k+ by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8am: 122
5pm: 101
10:30pm: 113 (update on phone a success!)

food & meds:
8:30am: phentermine+jardiance
10:45am: protein shake
1:30pm: pb and low sugar j on low carb bread; met+glip
5pm: chopped salad w/cherry tomatoes, buffalo chicken bites, bleu cheese dressing; white wine
7:30: honey roasted cashew snack mix - a couple handfuls 
8:45pm: met+glip

Giving Yourself Grace

Jess and I left at about 8:45am. We stopped often, Sheetz for gas, Wawa for snacks, and then when you get close to the Cuomo bridge, if you don't find a place to stop beforehand, you've got a challenge. Jess had to pee so bad we stopped at some plaza with a bowling alley and smash burger just so they didn't die. 

I got chicken tenders. We traded drivers at the second rest area in Connecticut because no one would let us get to the right to exit at Noroton at the first service area. 

Traffic wasn't horrible but we joked about how horrible it is when you get to New London and there are still so many miles to the state line for RI. Then, from there, 44 miles? to Providence??? What the hell why isn't it 10 miles? Oh my GOD then another HOUR to grandma's? 

Anyway. 

We made it at 6pm, so with our stops, a little over 9 hours and all. I took Dijon for an almost 1 mile walk because I needed the steps and she needed to expend some energy. Jess and Dijon spent time here until 7:30, after they left I asked my mother for her car keys. I was hungry, I wanted a beer or something. And there was football to watch. 

The 99 was a welcome spot. I had to help them find the Steelers game, and I was very happy. 

I came home at halftime after two big beers, a huge salad and buffalo fingers. I was 3k short of 10k, and said what the hell. Go. 

Jess had told me I could pass on today after spending all the time in the car, extend myself the grace to let today slide. But hell, no. No wind, and I'm not going to drive to the gym. Go out and do it. 

And I did. A great end to a long day. I need to finish using the internet tonight so my mom can turn it off (she shuts her computer and the internet down at night. Because of course she does.) So more tomorrow. Here's me and Dijon in my driveway this morning. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 9/12 hours. Missed 3 hours in the car. Two walks. One with Dijon for 20 min/.99 mi. Later solo in the neighborhood, 24 min/1.29 mil. 11k by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 125
n/a pm: x
10:30pm: 132

food & meds:
7am: phentermine+jardiance
2pm: smashburger chicken fingers, metformin but no glip (missing from my wallet)
8pm: buffalo fingers, small garden salad, 2 beers
10pm: met+glip

Pivot

9am, Saturday
"It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday. Regular crowd shuffles in..."

Only it is Saturday morning. But, I couldn't resist. And gave myself an ear worm.

Last night I pretty much completely packed but realized I needed to break out Warm Things. I'm going to the land of Real Winter during Real Winter. 

So the journey of what on paper should be about 7 and a half hours and will probably be closer to 10 begins with coffee. We always start with coffee. Then, watering the plants that need watered. There are a couple things I've left undone here that I've been meaning to get to for weeks and they're just not going to get done. Like crushing the empty boxes that are piling up in the basement, moving the things around in the room where the treadmill is going (it should arrive Monday) and I know Doug is not going to move things around in an orderly fashion. 

I woke up at 6am, and thought about getting up and doing the things or running to the Gym to keep my streak going, but sleep was just too good and I had to get back to it. Thankfully I had my daily alarm set for 8, and got up to get things ready. 

The monstera got watered, the red bag was transferred to the blue bag, boots were found and put into their own bag and stowed. Columbia shell found, gloves packed. Winter leggings that I use for walks (they are quite warm) also included. The only thing I couldn't find was warm socks so I'll hit LL Bean tomorrow. As a treat. 

as of 9am, everyone else is still sleeping. Jess went back to bed with Dijon, Toffee is snoring next to me. She's going to miss her friend. She's going to miss me. 

Noon, Saturday to 10:30pm
Yeah. We .... stayed here an extra day. 

It was late when everyone was finally up, and I looked at the mapping situation and it would have been 9 hours to mom's, then Jess has a 2-3 hour ride home depending on traffic. That's nutty. Let's not do it. 

As a trade off, Jess asked for brekkie sammitch action, and I did made to order breakfasts for all of us. 

We loafed around a bit, and I made a marinade for steak tips that Jess brought down in November. There is still one more package in the freezer. I figured, we're staying home, let's have a great dinner! 

Doug got snoozy, and I grabbed Jess to go to Savers to look for an office chair. I was hopeful but we struck out. Plenty of commodes to put over toilets though. If anyone needs one of those. There was a cool octopus piece of art that caught Jess' eye and I got a big flower pot for the spring planting extravaganza that will happen. Victory of sorts, even without an office chair. 

We went to the neighborhood where we passed on buying the first house. There's a cute little grocery/deli there and I saw on Facebook they were having a deal on crab cakes. 

I figured crab cakes are nice to go with the steak tips. I didn't count on 6 crab cakes costing 77 bucks, or the stuffed mushrooms I picked up going for 30 bucks. Jebus. 

But. I should have asked the price first before getting the treats boxed up and labeled. Lesson learned. Don't do that again unless it is a special moment in life. 

We then went up to a brewery that Jess had not been to yet. We had a nice time, I got the John situation updated for them. Time to go home and make dinner! But first, I took a quick walk so I didn't fail in the steps today. Shorter than going to the treadmill but sufficient. Check that box.

Dinner was great, and I should have taken a picture of it. Oh well. But trust me, it was all spectacular. On a recent trip to my mom's I bought a headlamp for walking at night, or early morning, but it has come in very handy for grilling! Best purchase I've made recently!

Oh, and I ate the last slice of carrot cake. 

Our plan for tomorrow is to get up and go early. I'm fully packed - everything is all set. Just gotta get the ten toes on the floor, the bodies into seats, and go. 

More tomorrow. Here's Geoff cuddling Dijon while in semi-snooze mode during the Tampa/Carolina football game. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Quick walk, 19 min/1.17 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 148
5pm: 119
10:30pm: 94

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
11am: brekkie sandwich - english muffin, egg, 2 slices of swiss, 4 pieces of bacon
1pm: met+glip
3pm: 2 beers at the brewery
6:30pm: big steak tip, 2 stuffed mushrooms, one big crab cake
7:30pm: carrot cake slice
8:30pm: met+glip
wine + diet cranberry ginger ale

Year over Year again

Last year, I posted a year over year digits list for the fitbit steps. I'm posting this to add the 2025 digits. 

2025: 9895 daily steps per day average. 3,611,667
the previous digits below:

2024: 7080 daily steps per day average. 2,591,372 steps total
2023: 5972 daily steps per day average. 2,179,854 steps total
2022: 2488 daily steps per day average. 908, 161 steps total 
2021: 2645 daily steps per day average. 965,338 steps total
2020: 2771 daily steps per day average. 1,014,011 steps total (thanks, pandemic)
2019: 5390 daily steps per day average. 1,967,352 steps total
2018: 4636 daily steps per day average. 1,692,262 steps total
2017: 3295 daily steps per day average. 1,202,556 steps total
2016: 3781 daily steps per day average. 1,383,990 steps total

So I've made improvements, and 2025 maybe I'll break 3 million steps! 

I highlighted the comment from the 2025 post saying "maybe I'll break 3 million steps" there. Because I did. Not only did I break it, I killed it. 

The month over month steps were pretty good too. I had wanted a daily average of over 10k per day for the whole year. The January, February months were soft and then in June/July/August set me back a bit. If you recall, your humble narrator took a spill down a flight of stairs at the end of June. I think I broke 2 toes on my right foot because they just were not right for a long long time, and doing steps was hard. Eventually things healed up, and then in September we bought the house and steps got ramped up again. So those 5 months messed up the digits. In the last month or so I poured it on in hopes we'd get there but we fell just short. Still, 9895 for a daily average is pretty sweet. 

Here's the month by month for 2025, for the curious.

December 11,091
November 10,800
October 10,782
September 10,610
August 9198
July 8358
June 9385
May 10,432
April 11,130
March 10,319
February 8870
January 7743 

No predictions for this time next year but 4 million? attainable? every day average 10k? As long as I don't break some more toes, we can stay on track for such things. Maybe. 

Today was a pretty great day. I thought we might go somewhere and do something since Jess and I are leaving in the morning, but, instead people took naps, I went to the gym instead of napping. I pushed my time on the treadmill to 40 min and got 2.26 miles, and now I know the sweet spot for 2 miles is to do 37 to 38 minutes. I also signed up for the Black Card membership at Planet Fitness, just so I can use the treadmill while up by mom, since it is like 19 degrees out there. Definitely not a "hey it is 28 degrees and no wind! I can do an outside walk!" no. Nope. Gonna work it right and keep up the treadmilling.

When I got back, Doug and Jess took the dogs to the dog park and I took a shower. 

We thought about going out to dinner but we weren't sure leaving the dogs out and unkenneled was a good plan. Maybe Geoff could babysit but I thought that wasn't fair to Geoff. 

Pizza was ordered. 

We watched Wake Up Dead Man, and I thought it was pretty good. Here's a great write up on WBUR.org about it, with really good questions to Rian and Nathan Johnson about their faith, Christianity, and the characters in the movie. I recommend it.

Well. Off to pack and organize some things. I am realizing I need more cold weather wear. I can only find one of my winter hiking shoes, so mayhaps I'm visiting LL Bean while up there! Gotta make sure I've got the gear! 

Digits below the cuddly doggies who were post-dog park wiped out. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Gym treadmill, 40 min/2.26 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 143
4pm: 90
10pm: 154

food & meds:
9am: phentermine+jardiance
mimosas with Jess
1:30pm: met+glip
4pm: protein shake (realized I did not eat all day after I got back from the gym... oops)
7pm: 3 large slices of buffalo chicken pizza; wine; slice of carrot cake
8pm: met+glip

The Super Good Things in 2025

2025 was a blur, to be honest. Guster's drummer shared a story about their Kennedy Center show and I actually forgot it was this year. For some reason, I thought it was longer ago. Read it here. How was this only in March and not a thousand years ago. 

Long time readers (all four of you) know I don't make new years resolutions. And I think people who do, and then "fail" at them use that as an excuse to just continue doing whatever the thing is that they were trying to stop because it is what they want. They didn't really want to change the thing. They just want to keep doing the thing, and the "fail" is the "Ope! oh well, better luck next year" kind of thing. 

And some who do fail, who truly tried, I'd like to encourage to let that interruption of success pass, and you try again. And try again. Try even again if you have to. 

Instead, I think it is a good idea to try and do some things better than stop doing something at all. I started the beginning of this year congratulating myself if I got to 5k steps a day and now I'm killing 10k daily (80+ day streak, I think) and that's a good thing. I didn't say on X day I am going to do X thing and get mad at myself if I didn't stick with it. I turned it on hard when I wanted to. When I felt I had time and space to do it. 

Knowing what a shit show 2025 was for just about everyone (I seriously know zero people who had the greatest year ever) I wanted to make a list of the Super Good Things that happened for me. Guaranteed I'm going to miss something, but I feel like looking at 2025 with the perspective of "we didn't die" is a good thing to do. 

Number One is Guster. Naturally. Number 2 is a super very close second. If not a tie.

• I got to see the two amazing Kennedy Center shows, and they surprised us all with their beautiful and subtle protest. I had hoped they'd come out in drag as a big fat Fuck You to the administration, but they went a different route. It was tremendously beautiful and moving. I'll never forget it. 
• They did a Tiny Desk concert, at my job, which I don't talk about too much because AI scrapes this blog, and weirdos may find this blog and give me absolute shit for where I work and I'm just not going to tolerate that. But. Guster did a tiny desk, I got to be there and bring friends with me, Spicy, my sister, SSH, Myke, and had I known I could bring more people at that time, I would have. As is,
  it was the right amount of humans to enjoy this with. Wish it could happen again and again.
  
  
  
  
• Went to see them with Barenaked Ladies this summer, what a great time. Even though their set was super short it was fantastic. The girl in front of me kept trying to Shazam the songs they were playing so I tapped her on the shoulder and told her what they were playing. I also told her to go to Setlist.fm the next day to see what they played. That site is a great resource for bands you don't know, or songs you can't remember. They were there to see BNL, but I think Guster won her over especially with CDASH.  BNL was great to see too. It's been a long time since I've seen one of their shows. I was glad I was there.
• On the Ocean was amazing. Always is. Looking forward to 2026 with the Portland Symphony, and the Thompsons Point festivus. I know I'm missing things Guster related, my mind blends years together sometimes I was thinking of Bearsville Theater but that was 2024. Which seems like this summer in some ways. 

Then, my family

• Doug has been a wonderful partner, companion, everything this year. Forever thankful for that. The amazing and patient things he did for his aunt, and his mom. How awesome he was with the move. Little things like I asked him to bring me coffee while I was on a video call/meeting, and he topped it with peppermint mocha whipped cream. He planned our trip to Colorado this year, an epic journey that we both fully enjoyed. Even with a little altitude sickness. 
• The kids are alright. Geoff has been a bit of a pain in the ass because he wants to move his academics to the local community college here in Maryland, and won't listen to us that he needs to go to a Virginia community college so all of his credits transfer. How did I get such a stubborn kid? He is like my mom in so many ways. Jess is good, just gotta find a new place for them to live once their lease runs out, but the fact they are willing to travel here to see us and visit, it really makes me happy. Can't wait to all be together for a couple days. 
• Toffee is the freaking BEST dog ever. 
• Linda. So glad I had so much time with Linda this year, between concerts and visits to Mom, and going to see John in RVA, I'm thankful that I have a sibling that I love very much, get along with, see eye to eye with, and can't imagine my life without.
• Speaking of mom, thankful she's still going. Sometimes I'm shocked, to be honest. I feel like she's defying odds, but here she goes. Keeping on keeping on.

Oh, and there is the miracle of this little house

• After swearing for so many years he would never let a bank take another penny of our money in interest, Doug had a change of heart and we bought a house. It's a sweet little house. We love it. There are improvements to make that hopefully next December I'll have listed out here, but. For right now, this is a joyful place to come home to whenever I'm away from it for any longer than an overnight. 
• Having a fully fenced back yard where I can just open the door and let the beast out. A first floor laundry. Giant kitchen. A place to host friends for a cookie decorating party. I'm looking forward to gardening, to using the fire pit, the back porch, the front porch. All of it. 
• My neighborhood is great. I have walks that I can do that are measured, so if I need a mile, I get a mile. If I need more, there's that extra block. There is a dog park not far away. There is a trail connecting the big park to the little park. We picked a really good spot in the universe to land in. 

My Job

• Tremendously thankful for my job, for having a job, when so many people do not have jobs. I know so many people, many friends, who lost their jobs in 2024 and 2025, who have been looking and looking for something new. A friend of mine was unemployed for 10 months and finally was offered a job after hundreds of interviews, and it pays about 60% of what she was making. She was so close to losing her house. If it wasn't for her parents... 
• My job is fun. I get to work with some amazing people that I love very much. I get along with pretty much everyone, I like my boss very much. We have the occasional disagreement but I feel like compared to so many other managers I can say to him "I disagree, and here's why" and he'll hear me.
• Our business is directly impacted by the current administration and a lot of factors, and I'm watching a lot of struggle, a lot of heartbreak, but also a lot of strength and resilience. I truly have some of the best coworkers and clients. I've never worked somewhere for this long, and I feel like my knowledge and value are deeply recognized and honored. 
• And I got that Tiny Desk. 

So for this year upcoming, I'm going to have a lot of really big work to do. I'm surrounded by team members who are so wonderful. I know this is going to be hard. But it will come out fine. And we will not die. 

I love Nathan Pyle's comics, and this one always cracks me up for new years. We didn't die in 2025. Hopefully this time next year we can rejoice in the same.

Count the things you love and cherish, even if you can only fit them on a couple fingers of one hand. Hold those dear and close. Let's crush 2026 together, friends. All four of you. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 9am because I was chatting with Jess. Gym treadmill, 35 min/1.92 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 117
4:45pm: 85
10:15pm: 174

food & meds:
9am: phentermine+jardiance
11am: egg mcmuffin at home
1pm: met+glip
5pm: some peanut brittle
6:30pm: pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, sauerkraut. Two servings (too much!) Champagne, wine, ginger ale
8:30pm: met+glip

The Last Night and The First Day

Work was deathly quiet. My manager and I had a 3pm check in scheduled that I asked if we could move to 1pm. Who wants to be working at 3pm on New Years Eve? 

He happily obliged. 

We talked a lot about upcoming work, and I said I think my job duties are going to change a lot in the coming months with the new product launch. He agreed, and said that I shine when I'm project focused, and this is going to go great. 

His lips to God's Ears. 

I kid of stopped working at 3pm so Doug and I could go to the market. We got a taller bird feeder stick (it looks like a big shepherd's hook!) and cheesecake and pie. Then we got all the dinner things for tonight and tomorrow. 

Jess got here a bit after 4:30pm. Toffee and Dijon were happy to be reunited. 

We had french bread pizzas for dinner, we bought a lot of snacky snack food but didn't dig in too hard on it. We will feast on that tomorrow. 

Jess opened the fridge and said "was this shrimp ring in here the whole time?" 

Sorry. Yes. It was. It still is. But tomorrow, it will not be!

I had started a whole big entry about the end of the year and what to look forward to next year, but got distracted by work. And honestly ... I just wanted to post something as everyone has gone to bed. I'm back dating this for the last post of 2025, and will save that bigger post for tomorrow. 

Whatever you went through in 2025, may it not be a burden to you in 2026. If you have nothing to show for it, no new hobby, no successes - you survived. And that's what matters. 

All that, and the dogs send their love.

Talk to you tomorrow. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Fitbit measured my walk inside the grocery store, 17 min/.45 mi. I'll take it! 12k+ steps before midnight. Finishing the year strong!

blood glucose:

9am: 117
4:45pm: 135
11pm: 140

food & meds:
9am: phentermine+jardiance
2pm: turkey & colby jack cheese on 647 bread; met+glip
6pm: One piece of french bread pizza
8pm: met+glip
some drinks - Wine+diet cranberry/diet ginger ale. A punch Doug makes that has ginger beer, pineapple juice, gingerale, vodka in it, a lot of peanut brittle, some potato chips+french onion dip

Making Ready

So, Doug had a cold and then it went away very quickly. And now it — or something like — it is back. He's a sneezing wheezing coughing mess. I am hoping he does not give this to me. I feel pretty great, but I do not want to bring a cold up to my mom. That would suck for her. 

He took tomorrow off, I did not. I actually got a lot done today. We had a team meeting and I learned a lot about one of my colleague's workflow and doings. It's complicated. I'm glad I do not support his products. But it was a good time learning and we all had some good laughs and great insight. 

I slipped out after that meeting and hit the gym. Then, a 2:30pm meeting with my work son. We had some things to go over and he had some hot goss for me. I like when we can mix work and not work with incredible ease. 

Geoff made dinner in the slow cooker, and he started it at 11am, it finished around 6 and was actually pretty excellent. It was funny, he kept coming up and checking on it, stirring it, and I told him he really didn't have to do that. This recipe basically is "set and forget" like you'd go to your office for the whole day and when you get home - magic. Dinner is ready. He said it made him anxious, like what if it reduced too far and started to burn. I told him that wasn't possible, since he kind of doubled the gravy part of things (and I'm glad he did) on accident. 

I have a lot to do tomorrow. Get the guest room sheets done, finish vacuuming, and Doug needs to go to the market. Geoff went to two stores and could not find what Doug wanted for us for New Years Day dinner, so he's going to go out adventuring. I hope he can and isn't too too sick. The super nice grocery store closes at 4 tomorrow. 

And Jess and Dijon are on the way tomorrow. It looks like nasty possible weather tomorrow in NEPA, so I hope everything goes alright for them on their journey. 

I know now how my mom feels when she knows we are on the road. "Call me when you get there..." 

No picture today, but probably some tomorrow. 

Digits down below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Gym treadmill, 33 min/1.80mi (good phish song for a nice pace at the 29 minute mark kept me going) 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 129
4:45pm: 138
10:30pm: 130

food & meds:
8:30am: phentermine+jardiance
1:45pm: bowl of french onion soup mix w/ham (turned into real soup because Geoff didn't follow his recipe directions)
2pm: met+glip
3pm and 5pm: sugar free hot cocoa w/some peppermint mocha cold foam (with sugar)
6:30pm: a slow cooker pork chop/onion/gravy/mushroom recipe by Geoff, served over egg noodles but we should have had some mashed potatoes... it was excellent. One bowl (self control)
7pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
8:30pm: met+glip

Of the wind and the rain

I am looking forward to that treadmill arriving, especially on a day like today. Today we have 50-60 mph winds, intermittent rain. Miserable out there. I'm sitting here quietly in the living room listening to the wind chimes dance. 

My only meeting today was a check in with a colleague, and she canceled because there wasn't anything on her agenda. She is all business, we don't chit chat very much. I don't know much about her personally except little mentions or suggestions she gives off. So if there isn't anything business to talk about, we don't just meet and kee kee (as another colleague says we do when we have nothing work-wise to chat about). 

Unlike my work wife and work son, who I can talk to all day. My work wife is off all week this week (and was last week!) and I am pining for her just to shoot the shit. My work son and I have a meeting set for tomorrow afternoon, I booked an hour, some real work and some blah blah blah to book end it all. 

So I checked out of work for a while around 2, and went to the gym. It was very quiet there. I parked myself in front of the TVs showing Friends and Castle side by side. No politics and news for me! Because it was middle of the workday, I just took the half hour and didn't push it further even though I wanted to, and we weren't going to get to walk the dog today. 

Didn't talk to John today but got email that my packages are en route to him. the HP sauce will arrive tomorrow, Malt Vinegar Wednesday. I know we could have asked one of his college friends to stop and pick some up but HP is often not in the regular supermarkets, and I figured it was just better and faster if I ordered it for him. 

Oh - and Doug got our gas fireplace to work. He's been futzing with this for a week or so. I need him to do other things like caulk the bathtub but .... he wanted this to work before when we were in our super cold snap. At least, now she's running. And maybe tomorrow I can bring up the caulk. 

Jess arrives in about 48 hours, so there is stuff to do to get ready. Geoff did some of the grocery shopping but Doug will finish up what needs bought for the Traditional New Years Day feast. Doug took Wednesday and Friday off, I took off Friday. Ready for our little family visit and getting back together.

Digits below our fancy ass fireplace! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Gym treadmill 30 min/1.72 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8am: 118
4:45pm: 92
10pm: 128

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
9:45am: 2 christmas cookies
11:45am: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
1:30pm: met+glip
3:15pm: Atkins protein shake, some mixed nuts
5:30pm: ham & swiss noddle casserole (a la a Geoff recipe) with peppers and onions (realllllly good!) 
8:30pm: met+glip