Wine Smoothie Prescription

While Jess is in town, I figured I'd invite them to the office to see a band they like that does the concert series. Today was one of those bands. I've heard of them, but never really listened to them. My manager is friends with the lead singer. Real life friends. So he came in too.

 I made it to the office by 9:30 and settled in. After a little while it turned out there was a surprise party for one of the office support staff, an "EA" which stands for Executive Assistant. Her name is Lori, and she's been here for 20+ years. Retirement. Retirement! Congratulations Lori!

The last time I was here, she told me she was retiring and I was happy for her. She had the date circled on her calendar. She didn't want a party or anything but the EA staff and the C suite people she supports insisted on surprising her with one. 

I'm so happy I went in today because I would have missed it. A couple other EAs who don't work here any longer were there, and it was a joyous time. 

The concert was outstanding. Just simply wonderful. 

Jess and I left my office at about 2:45 because I had a dentist appointment up by home. I'd rescheduled having some fillings replaced that were on the verge of failing. "I think these were put in," my dentist said, "in the ... 70s?" 

Probably. Most of them. Yes. 

He replaced 2 of 3 on the bottom left. I have to go back for the third. I was starting to feel what he was doing, even though he had given me some major league novocaine to numb the hell out of my mouth. Pretty good decision on his part to stop and wait to do the third there. I have some on the upper left that are silver and probably my first fillings, and on the upper right that were done in High School. He'll replace all of them this year. 

When he was finishing up, he said "you are more numbed up than I think you'll realize, so don't eat dinner until much later tonight, You will bite the hell out of your lower lip and not realize it," (it was 5pm at the time). "You can have .... a smoothie. You can have a glass of wine. Hey, you can have a wine smoothie. I'll write you a prescription for it."

"Don't worry about that, I know a guy who can make it."

We laughed. Of course we did. Oh, and he was right. I did eat dinner at about 7:30pm, and I did bite the hell out of my lower lip. 

As of 10pm, my face is still numb. I can feel where I bit my lip though. Ouch. 

I didn't get a wine smoothie, but did get wine. 

The other big news thing is walking today basically doubled what I do most days. I walked to the train from the house, to the office from the train. I walked around the office a bunch. I walked from the office to the train, from the train to the dentist. Then from the dentist to my house. In the pre-pandemic days, this would have probably killed me. There are no benches or rest rooms along the way. But I did a great job. Over 5 miles today kids. Doesn't sound like a lot for people who regularly walk a ton and a half, but for me, hell yeah. I actually wish I knew what the most steps I'd done in a day is, since starting with a fitbit back in like 2014. 

Today was a good day. 

Here's a shot of The Magnetic Fields. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 4pm due to dentist chair. A multi-walk kind of day. Tons of walking. 13,700+ steps by bedtime. 

blood glucose:

7:30am: 160
5:15pm: 143 
10:30pm: 130 

food:
coffee/water
11:45am: metformin; ginger glazed pork w/salad and brussels sprouts
7:30pm: bowl of chili w/fritos, cheese, sour cream; metformin+jardiance; ice cream sandwich
white wine not-smoothie

Weekend Fun

I decided to not blog over the weekend with all that we had going on. Quick and dirty update: Fun stuff happened. 

More detailed update....

Jess got here very late on Friday night. They left around 9am, and traffic just kept getting worse and worse as they headed south. The GPS ended up routing through Scranton PA, down 81, which is way out of the way, but it was that bad. That bad that not going through NJ but going to Harrisburg was a better option. 

Friday of a holiday weekend. Of course. 

After arriving, we had wine and snacks and chatted until 1am. 

Saturday, they headed to DC in the afternoon to connect with the person they're house sitting for. Meet the cat. Easy trip in from here on the Metro. We were going to connect in DC and head over to a brewery but Doug took a nap and it was kind of too late for schlepping into town. We had Jess come back here (they were staying here Saturday night anyway). We ordered a big lamb dinner from the greek restaurant the next town over. 

After dinner, we remained seated at the dining table drinking mead and wine and commenting on them.

We had several "special occasion" bottles and just kept cracking them open.

Because this was a special occasion. Both of our kids, fancy little dainty glasses, and exotic little concoctions.

We found that a spicy pepper mead that we'd picked up in Pennsylvania this summer mixed really well with this ginger wine, so that was the winner of the night.

The worst one was a tomato wine that Doug and I picked up in Canada several years ago when we were there for our anniversary. 

I remember it being really good when we sampled it, but hey.... I guess it just did not age well. Ooooof this was nasty. We felt bad for the tomatoes that gave their lives for this. Sorry, tomatoes. 

On Sunday, Doug and I left to go to the Eastern Shore. We had planned this as a full leave Friday or Saturday kind of thing but with Jess visiting we dropped it to just Sunday night. I had Monday off, he took it off. Let's go.

In theory, this should be an easy zippy trip but it never ever is. Does not matter at what time you leave, something is always a problem. Once you get there it's great. Super happy fun times. But yeah. Such a schlep. 

We stopped in Salisbury to have late lunch at Evolution Brewing. 

The waitress didn't even ask us if we wanted inside or outside, which was weird. Seeing as it was so incredibly beautiful, it would have been nice to be out. But. She planted us inside, and Doug didn't argue or suggest otherwise. At least we got to watch football. Our waiter was super sweet, I really liked talking to him. 

The food wasn't as good as the last time we were there. We both got crab soup and Doug thinks his was off. Mine was fine, but he got a wicked stomach ache and was sick the rest of the trip. Because I didn't get the same impact, I don't think he got food poisoning, but I also don't know what he did get. 

I ordered a salad with steak on it, which came with 3 measly pieces of steak that were cold, overcooked, and rubbery. Way too much salad for one human to eat. 

The beer was good though. 

Off to Assateague, to gawk at horses. 

We got there late in the day and I guess that's not prime horse gawking time. We only saw a few right by where you take the bridge onto the island. 

We drove to the ranger station, paid to get into the Fee Use area, and drove to the end of the regular car road parking lot. 

We sat on the beach for a while - it was crazy windy, and it felt like thousands of little needles. Children were crying. No horses were around. We opted to get back in the car and drive back north, pulling off to the bay side of the island to take little walks and look at para gliders and birds. 

I think I took 100 pictures of these birds that were just hanging out by the boardwalk where we parked. There were ponies but they were super far out there on the islands. 

After some time, we left and headed to our hotel. Doug picked this one because it was right on the beach with a balcony looking out at the ocean. Doug can be notoriously "thrifty" with hotels, as we do know, but I was willing to let this one be a thing for one night. 

The Dunes Suites is at the very north end of the OC Boardwalk, seemingly so far away from everything. For an October date, that's fine and great. 

The hotel itself is a little confusing because there are two hotels - Dunes Suites and Dunes Court. You check in at Dunes Court, and then park in between the buildings. Shotgun shack style - you enter the room on the West side with the stairs and the elevator, and you walk through to the balcony on the East. 

It was nice. Under $100 and not a murder hotel. Well then. Wow. Okay! Doug took a nap and I sat out on the balcony. It was getting a little chilly, but the exhaust from the air conditioning unit was rather nice. I felt like taking a walk, or going over to 7-11 to get a bottle of wine for myself but a friend called me on the phone and we had a good long talk. 

Doug woke up still feeling horrible, and he sat with me for a while. As it got to dark, I said I really would like to have a walk and get the sitting in the car blues out of my body. He agreed, and I'm glad he did. We walked 11 minutes down the boardwalk, enjoying the night and the lack of humans. There were some, but it wasn't shoulder to shoulder packed. This was very nice. We stopped and sat for a while, and Doug encouraged me to get dinner but the only thing open was a pasta and pizza joint. I was tempted but I passed on it. I was still full from Giant Salad, so meh. No. 

I did have a headache though, so we walked back up the boardwalk, and crossed the busy street to get to the 7-11. The nearest CVS was closed. Doug wanted some ginger ale, so we got what we needed, and headed back to the room. We watched football for a little while, and I fell asleep at halftime. 

Aren't we exciting? 

I got up to go to the bathroom around 5:30, Doug also woke up and he looked out at the ocean. He thought sunrise would be any second now... but I looked it up and it was 7:09. He was astonished... but I said well, until the clocks change, and then it'll jump backwards an hour. Then you get a 6 something sunrise. 

He asked me to set an alarm, so I did. I also opened the blinds a little so the light would start to peep through and maybe wake me up some. 

It did just that. Around 6:30, before the alarm would be going off, the sky was changing. I was worried about all the clouds on the horizon, that we wouldn't be able to see the sun coming out, but she did not disappoint. 

We saw the sliver of coral orange out there, and watched her rise up. Great show. And then she went behind the clouds but this wasn't bad. It caused some dramatic light ray effects up into the sky. 

I maybe took 2000 pictures of the sunrise.

We went back to bed, and Doug woke back up around 9. I woke up at 9:30. He made hotel room coffee, and since there was no milk, I didn't have any. I cannot drink black coffee for the life of me. We got ready and by 10:30am we were checked out and on our way back to Pony Gawk. After a stop at Dunkin Donuts for some coffee!

I will say, I'll stay at the Dunes Suites again. For sure. Additionally, there is a Steelers Football Bar a block away from the hotel. Had Doug not felt like shit, we probably would have landed there for a dinner or drinks or something. As was, he needed to rest, drink ginger ale, and not do anything else.

The ponies must really like mornings. They were everywhere. And people were pulled over all over the place to take pictures and check them out. And this one little pull out, there were maybe 6 or 7 horses, they were not shy about walking wherever they wanted. You're not supposed to get close  to them, but they'll get close to you. So you need to back away. 

We went back to the boardwalk where I took the millions of bird photos and horses were literally right there next to the boardwalk with the paparazzi all around them. We sat on a bench and watched from a ways off. Doug thinks they enjoy the attention, they're completely unbothered it seems. I did go up and take a couple more pictures of them, especially this one guy with the hairdo. 

Next, we walked a boardwalk trail called Life of the Forest. It wasn't a very long boardwalk, so Doug enjoyed some distant gazing and I did steps to get 16 minutes of something so it would register on the fitbit as exercise. We drove further south, back to the parking area from the day before and we did the Life of the Dunes trail (the only one we didn't do was Life of the Marsh). 

This was a good challenge. I had on sneakers because I'd left my hiking sandals home on accident. The sand was hard to walk on, but there's a section of this trail that used to be paved road. Back in 1962, a storm wiped out the progress of paving this area, and they abandoned their plans to make this section of the island like Ocean City (thank goodness). But the road is still there. Baltimore Boulevard in several sections is there for walking and climbing on. It made the walk a little easier except for the getting up and down off of it. 

I'm not as young as I once was. 

It is a loop trail, and at the top of the loop (or bottom, since we're walking south) there's a platform but no benches. It was a good place to rest. A trio of women came from the opposite direction, and they asked how far the trail was to go back to the car. We told them they were basically at the halfway point, and showed them on the Pokemon Go map (we didn't have a paper map) where we were. They were from Boston, and we had a nice chat about the park and the ponies. 

They continued counter clockwise and we continued clockwise. This stretch of trail was further west and in, so the trees were bigger and there was some really nice shade. It was still a bit of a challenge for me but your girl did it. 

So yesterday's exercise was notable, not just a walk around the living room. My favorite thing about the fitbit is it tracks my pulse too, so a GOOD walk gets you up out of the moderate to vigorous range. Yesterday's 2 half mile+ jaunts got me from vigorous to peak. 

Walking on sand will do that. 

We were happy to get back to the car, and I was thankful that I packed water. I think that's why I had a headache on Sunday, I didn't have enough water. Several swigs later, we headed back out to the highway and into Berlin. 

Doug wanted to stop at Burley Oak Brewing and get some take home beers. I have a friend who lives close by, so I told her we were headed there for a quick stop, and wanted to see if she was up for a drive by hug. 

I thought we'd just do that drive by hug but Doug encouraged me to have a beer with my friend. He passed on having some because he knew he would be sleepy on the way home if he did, so D and I each had some beer and we got caught up. 

I missed our 40th high school reunion back in August because of On The Ocean (well, did I really miss it? I mean. I keep in touch with people I want to keep in touch with, and I didn't really see the point in spending over 100 bucks to ... go to this). She was one of the coordinators, and to be honest, to support her would have been the only reason for me to go. 

But .... Guster and visiting my mom will win every time. 

Traffic was fantastic until we got within five miles of our house. Happy to be home but would have liked one more October day and night in Ocean City. 

I tracked digits and foods but won't report them from Friday to Monday. Suffice to say, they were all pretty good. Today's are below me and D at the brewery. 

Oh, and I got 2 days of 10k+ steps on Sunday and Monday. Whew!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  didn't get a dedicated walk. 5700+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 168
4:15pm: 141 
10:30pm: 191 

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: Metformin
12:30pm: left over greek salad w/bacon thrown in, mayo
4:15pm: apple w/pb
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
7:15pm: plate of pasta shells w/ meat sauce (heavy on the meat) and slice of garlic bread

Getting ready

Jess arrives tomorrow, so I need to slip out of work mode and into mom mode for a little bit. Strip the bed, wash the sheets in the guest room and get the blanket out. We had two sets of queen sheets but the fitted sheet on one set tore, so right now one - until flannel time. Which will come sooner than later!  It was super cold in here last night! I guess it is mid October, eh? 70s in the day, 40s in the night. I even woke up around 4am and was chilly so I got a blankie off the couch. 

I don't do a big deep clean before they come, just make the bathroom presentable, vacuum which I already did, oh, and clean the top of the stove. Our poor stove. We cook every day at least once a day, something is always getting made in there. So she suffers our messes and it's often too hot to clean her immediately so, we let it go a bit. Geoff is usually on top of that. He cleans the top of the stove all the time. But he's been lax. 

We'll get that done. 

Things look good. It looks like nice responsible adults live in this house, oh except my bedroom still. Haven't gotten there. And we shan't speak of the basement.

I had a slice of banana bread today and boy does that shoot my blood sugar up. I took it a full 2 hours after eating the banana bread and it was still stupid high. Oh, banana bread. I do love you but. I guess ... not frequently. Thankfully a really heavy protein dinner and some time brought it down to something slightly more reasonable. 

Anyway.  No picture tonight either. Watching football, and going to bed very shortly. So thankful for a three day weekend coming up. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 12 min indoor walk while dinner was cooking (stopped because I needed to be at the stove and didn't think recording the pause for 4 min. was worth it). 5600+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 187
4:30pm: 245 
10:30pm: 158 

food:
coffee/water
10:15am: pbj sandwich on 647 italian bread
noon: metformin
2:30pm: slice of banana bread
4pm: a bunch of slices of pepperoni
6:30pm: beef stroganoff w/ a few egg noodles but not a lot

Vet Visit

Today we took the Toffinator to the vet for her shots. She is so loved there. They absolutely lose their minds over how sweet she is. Always a fun time at the vet!

She's got some sort of rash from allergies, and they gave us a cool mousse that we need to squirt on her and massage in, and then take her for a walk so she won't lick it all off. We got some hyper super duper dog benadryl to hopefully knock this rash out. And the usual flea/tick/heartworm meds of course. 

The vet said she needs to lose some weight. She weighs about 67 points, up from 59 when we brought her in for her first visit. So the recommendation is to cut back a half cup of food in the morning and the evening, and bring her back for a weigh in six months from now. And fewer treats. Okay. I think we can do that. 

For her health! 

Anyway. Busy day at work, per usual. No pic today, I tried to get one at the vet but not in the cards. 

Digits, per usual.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. no walk today. 5k by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 211
n/a afternoon reading skipped
9:45pm: 213 (not sure why so incredibly high this evening?) 

food:
coffee/water
10am: protein shake
11:30am: metformin
noon: tuna melt w/bacon on 647 italian bread
6pm: popeye's chicken; 4 pieces + coleslaw, one biscuit
6:15pm: metformin+jardiance

Fury Baking

We have a client who was having some huge problems today, and our third party partner says it is "their fault," but ... as the support person for the client, I'm also a tenacious beast. 

I troubleshot this, I went over EVERYthing. I brought in colleagues on another team to look at it and they said everything looked good to them. I talked to another client who has the exact same set up as this client, and his shit works. So look here, look at this other guy, why's his not working! And the other client said for sure I am in the right, the third party partner has a configuration problem. He gave me a suggestion to jump over a flaming barn (not even a flaming red hoop) that got us to about 90% solution. 

It took all day. All. Day. Tomorrow morning we're going to iron out the last bit. At one point I walked away from a furiously detailed slack discussion, and just went to the kitchen. It was time to bake banana bread and just be "AFK" as they say. Away from keyboard. 

I'd been looking at these three big beautiful very ready bananas since Saturday when I got back from my trip. Doug had picked them up at Aldi while I was away hoping I'd volunteer to bake. Well hell yeah. You bet.

I used to do anxiety baking. Today it was fury baking. After spending so much time pleading my case, not hearing back from anyone, just basically continuing to troubleshoot, and get nowhere. I finally get someone to pay attention and get dismissed, but I wasn't going to stop fighting because I had backup. I had a posse with my other client and my evidence. But I was still very mad. Grrrrrrrr. Baking.

After mixing up the batter and getting it into the oven, I contemplated making oatmeal cookies too. But I just used my most favorite mixing bowl, and I didn't feel like washing it and all that stuff, so it went into the dishwasher and I went back to work. I at least got some banana bread going.

Maybe tomorrow. I also have 3 more bananas and may just have to bake another loaf, if Geoff doesn't want to eat them. Maybe muffins. I can make muffins. 

After the I had two big pieces of the banana bread, I really should not have because it was too close to when I'd be taking my reading for the afternoon. But it was delicious and I wanted it hot out of the oven, not later on at room temperature. Gotta have that melting of the butter on the hot tasty bread.

Toffee has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It'll be one year since she was found on the street in DC, and rescued. This is the time to get the shots renewed, not from when we adopted her in December. Hard to imagine it's been 10 months already that she's been with us. A national treasure she is. 

Digits below this awesome slice. Damn, that was good.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  20 min. inside walk. 7k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 177
4:15pm: 217 (argh, banana bread!) 
9:45pm: 211

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: english muffin w/pb & sugar free jam
noon: metformin
3pm: 2 really really tasty tasty slices of banana bread w/butter
6:30pm: chinese food: some combo fried rice, general tso's chicken, sesame beef, dumplings, spring roll. vodka tonic
7pm: metformin+jardiance
9:45pm: pepperoni snack 

Beach Balls

This morning when I let Toffee out there was this big, huge, giant beach ball just sitting next to my car. I have no idea why, or where it came from. We have a ton of kids in the neighborhood so it could have been from anywhere. Anywhere.

So I took a picture of it. Pondering it.

I thought about bringing it into the yard for safety but I thought Toffee would pop it or something. I left it alone and went to get my coffee and looked outside a few minutes later and it was gone. I looked up and down the street and didn't see it anymore. 

Gone to another house to bless the inhabitants with its whimsy, I guess. I hope they loved it.

So. A weird welcome to the Monday morning. May the beach ball bless your eyes today. 

I got nothin' else. ha. 

Digits below. Look at that big assed happy beach ball, yo.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  18 minute walk inside while dinner was cooking. 6500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 178
4pm: 151  
10:30pm: 185

food:
coffee/water
12:30pm: Metformin. pb&j (low sugar j, 647 italian bread)
4pm: very small apple w/pn
6pm: bowl of pasta w/meat sauce; metformin+jardiance

Out And About

When I was in New Jersey, Saturday morning, my plan was to take a river walk along the Hudson while my friends went out to breakfast with their friend. I didn't want to glom on them, even though waffles at iHop I wanted them to enjoy their time together. Picking this particular hotel gave me the option for a wonderful stroll. 

I had set up late check out, thinking I could sleep in and still get out for a walk. But, I just did not. I didn't. I was tired. The day before was a lot, a lot of travel, a lot of walking, a lot of subway, some me being scared to go up to 177th street to get the uber instead of getting one from say Penn Station or something. I followed Ben's thinking and it all worked out, but I would not have done that if I was alone or with my sister. It helps Ben is a quadrippleton black belt in Kung Fu. If anyone would mess with us, heck. Ben. 

We probably saved 50 bucks, but it was so far to travel that night. And when I did get up, and eat my breakfast, and shower, then I started in on looking at youtube videos on the internet, it ended up at 1pm, and it was time to head to the lobby instead of the river. Time to go. No good walk and no real enjoyment of the Edgewater scene. Next time, New Jersey. I know more about how to work this, to avoid 500 dollar hotels, and not spend a butt ton of money on ubers. 

I slept in incredibly late today. I so very rarely sleep past 11 but conditions were right. Geoff was very quiet and left for work without making a racket. Doug was in the guest room with Toffee, and I think he even slept late. I heard her food hit the dish at some point and had brief awareness of toffee time. It may have been 10 or so. But I rolled over and continued to sleep.

11:15. Wow. 

Anyway, missing the first 2 hours of the daily step count, I figure today was to be just a take it easy day. Around 2pm we left to take the mini to the dealership for some work (it is running like absolute shit and that needs addressed). We drove up and the dealership is around the corner from one of our health care labs so I asked if we could go in, and I could do the blood draw they've been nagging me to do for weeks. 

It is so annoying that I have a lab an hour from my house, but they are only open 7-5. I'm not a morning person so going at 7am is not going to happen. And I work past 5. Unless I do something gracious for myself, and actually stop working and go take care of me (imagine that) I am not going to make it over there in time. 

There were three phlebotomists on duty. Two were playing cards and I joked around with them that I didn't want to interrupt their flow, so the other one could help me. No other patients were there. I was in and out in about 4 minutes. Doug was irritated that I wanted to do this, he told me to just go to the one by our house and make time for it, but I don't just have the walk away and do that flexibility he thinks I do. 

He thought I'd be in there forever, so he irritatedly took the dog for a walk around the building to get some steps in for himself. I walked around the parking lot solo for 8 minutes waiting for him, since I was only in there for 4. My fitbit didn't register as "exercise" at all because I think it doesn't unless your heart rate is over 110 and 10 minutes go by?

He came back and we got ready to leave for our next errand. I got email while I was in the parking lot with the test results. The benefits of going and doing this on a Sunday afternoon! Not only the phlebotomists are bored, but the lab was probably just sitting there waiting for something to do... 

My reading for PT/INR is a little high, so tomorrow I anticipate a call from the anti-coagulation unit to change my dosage for a week and go back and retest next week. Note to self, eat more leafy greens. And my A1C is 7.5, down from 7.7 in March. Barely a nudge. But, a nudge. Better than nothing, right?

We stopped at the auto parts store and he got bulbs for the headlights (turns out he got the wrong ones, so he has to go out again to get the right ones). And new windshield wipers, wiper fluid, a bunch of other things to help get the cars ready for the fall and whatnot. I have a hard time seeing at night anymore so having a headlight out in the better of our two cars is not an option. 

On the way home we thought it would be fun to stop at the brewery near us that we like. Turns out everyone in America thought it would also be fun to do. We couldn't even turn down the street. It's a gorgeous day, so I guess I cannot blame people for getting out and enjoying it. The ten day forecast for this week is also looking so good. I'm rather excited. Will I finally get to sit out on the patio and work! Man, I hope so! 

The other news is Jess is coming to house sit for someone that I work with, who I've never met. I guess one of the folks they house sit for up north recommended them, and so yeah. That's happening. They get here next Friday and will be around for three weeks while my mystery co-worker that I don't know goes on a trip. Maybe her honeymoon? Maybe a work trip? I have no idea! Jess gave me the address and it is so super easy to get to and from on the Metro. I think we'll keep their car here, and then they can metro up and we can metro down and we can see each other and yay. 

Doug and I had planned on going away for the weekend, leaving Friday, since next Monday I have the day off, and he took it off. But with Jess arriving (I thought it was the following weekend, oops) we'll just take off on Sunday and stay one night away. This will be good on Geoff so he can just go to work at noon, kennel the dog, and one of us will be back in time to rescue her. 

That's about it for a lazy Sunday that wasn't 100% devoid of action, but definitely not a thrillah. No picture today, maybe tomorrow from working on the patio!

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours.  Missed 9 and 10am. No exercise/walk that was measurable. 5k by bedtime

blood glucose:

11:15am: 174
4:15pm: 168  
10:30pm: 190 (170 in another finger. I hate monitoring my blood sugar)

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: slice of cheese danish
noon: Metformin
1:30pm: turkey & muenster on 647 toasted italian bread w/mayo
4:30pm: more danish; glass of red wine
6pm: 2 cheeseburgers, no buns, a little potato salad
7:30pm: small slice of pumpkin pie w/ whipped cream. Didn't finish it because it was ... too sweet. Yes. you read that right. I did not like it.

Safety Not Guaranteed

Friday:
Linda had purchased tickets to see the musical "Safety Not Guaranteed" at the BAM Strong theatre in Brooklyn NY. She bought a lot of tickets, thinking they would sell out because Guster announced they'd be doing a little campfire set/dumpster show style thing at the end. 

Well. There were a lot of tickets still for sale, but she had eight. Doug didn't want to go, Ronnie had to have his arm twisted to come, Our friends Angela and Eric had dragged their feet on buying tickets and they didn't want to sit up in the balcony so they were thrilled to join us. And our other friend V took the other one that would have been my pair.

I didn't want to go. I'm not motivated on a school night to go places other than bed. But I rallied. My friends Robin and Ben took her up on 2 of the tickets, and I hitched a ride. They were staying at a friend's place in Fort Lee, so I got a hotel just south of where they were staying (I'm there now, enjoying some alone time while they're out to breakfast with their friend). 

The ride up yesterday was flawless. Perfect. Low traffic, stellar weather. Once we were settled in the spots where we'd be spending the night, I got my blouse ironed and hair curled (I need a haircut soonly!) 

Ben used to live in several towns in the area from Hackensack to Teaneck, to NYC, to Brooklyn so he's kind of good with how to get from one place to another. One of the challenges for me mentally is getting from NJ to NYC or Brooklyn by mass transit. I used to be good at this. 

We opted on the way over to the city to take an Uber because we were short on time to actually grab a bus. And the next bus would take us out of the way further south to go back north and take an extra hour ... we could have made it, but we opted to not. 

Ben and Robin love this little yakitori restaurant near Madison Square Garden, so they really wanted to go there and I was flexible. Linda and Ronnie weren't going to make it into the city until after 6, but had found a german restaurant near the venue and other folks were aiming for going there to meet up. We were having meat on stick. It was a lovely sampler of foods, Ben had a giant bowl of Ramen, they serve their cocktails in a ziplock style bag, which is super cool. 

I love this picture of them, because it looks almost like an ice cream soda shop from the 1950s or something. Only they each have their own cocktails. 

After dinner we took the subway over to Brooklyn. From where we were, it was literally 4 or 5 stops to get to the Barclays Center stop and walk to where Linda had invited folks to come for dinner. Since we'd already eaten, a beer and company with many of our pals was in order and we had about a half hour to spare to catch up and chat. 

It was a short walk to the theater, more friends in the lobby including musician friends we love. Guster fans were out in force for this show. I'm sure if anyone was there who didn't know who they were, they knew by the end. 

The musical itself was lovely. I have chills thinking about some of the scenes. I'd suggest watching the movie (with Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass) if you're interested in learning more about the story. Then, imagine amazing poignant songs mixed in about chocolate milk, time travel, wanting to change the past to save the future. 

One of the super interesting things they did was take One Man Wrecking Machine and change one line, to really fit the story's main subject Kenneth. Video of that song is here in the trailer. 

And another one of Ryan's new original songs called Gaming Laptop is pretty great. 

Throughout the show we all were saying "oh this song is about XYZ situation or person in the play but wow. You can hear it is a Guster song." Ryan's songwriting and style ride through it all so perfectly. Some of this is just sitting on me today, how wonderful the acting and singing was. The stage production was so minimal, but they did so much. So much with the space and the set. Just outstanding. 

I didn't expect to burst into tears, twice. Maybe three times. Thank God Linda was next to me with tissues at the ready.

They use "Do You Love Me" in one of the scenes with Kenneth and the love of his life are singing together in a coffee shop. Soaring harmonies, and perfect musical accompaniment. Kenneth sings "Two Points for Honesty," which just FIT so hard with who he is, and how he feels about himself, and life. And the chocolate milk song sent me. I wish that one was on youtube.

After the show, Ryan came down from the audience (he was sitting 2 rows behind us with Adam) and the crowd went wild for him. These are his people, and hopefully others who didn't know him yet were learning about how great he is with this kind of stuff. He talked about the genesis of the project back when the movie was made and how the musical idea was pitched to him and he ran with it. 

Adam and Brian came down, and they treated us to a couple songs. The cast all came out to sing One Man Wrecking Machine. Everyone in the audience sang the original line that they changed for the musical as it is written (maybe then I'll get in her pants, whatever...")  they all laughed and smiled and Ryan laughed too. It was so cool to hear the audience singing along with them, and singing harmony parts and little interstitial things back at the band. Adam looked authentically entertained by it all. 

I have got to figure the camera out on my new phone. The pictures should not look this crummy from the second row. But I think you get the idea. 

By the way - that's the time machine Kenneth builds, and Kenneth is sitting in it on the left. I thought it would be a riot if Guster sat in it to perform but no.

We went back to the German restaurant because Linda's car was parked right in front. We had a quick sit and chat until the place closed, and people had to start heading home, to Boston, to out East. Or to a hotel in New Jersey. 

Once again, Ben proved fruitful and wise. We weren't sure about getting an Uber from Brooklyn to NJ, it would probably be 100 dollars, so we took the A line on the subway up to 177th street, right by the GWB. We got an Uber from there and that was pretty awesome. 

I think it was well after 2am when I went to sleep. Thinking of time travel, this show, the music. 

I'm glad I didn't refuse to go. I'm glad I went. 

After sleeping in, and getting a breakfast burrito from the lobby restaurant, I fell down a rabbit hole of reading and watching videos about this musical. 

Robin and Ben picked me up at 1. We got to their house around 5 and it took me 90 minutes to get home. Pretty good timing, I must say. 

Whirlwind tour, I would have liked an extra day but I was super happy to come home to the family, and the doggo. Digits below.

Saturday digits

exercise: 9/12 hours.  slept through 9am. 4700+ steps by bedtime. Spent a lot of time in the car.

blood glucose:

10:30am: 174
xpm: no reading in the afternoon
10:30pm: 134  

food:

coffee/water
11am: breakfast burrito from lobby restaurant; metformin
6:30pm: Metformin+jardiance; cheese and pepperoni off of a french bread pizza slice. The bread was really doughy and I didn't like it. 

Friday digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  29 min walking in rest area while my friend dealt with a work disaster. 18 min walk from somewhere to somewhere. 13,200+ steps by midnight (more by bedtime)

blood glucose:

7:30am: 143
3:30pm: 155  
2am Saturday: 202 (pretzels and beer after the show)  

food:
coffee/water
11am: metformin, pepperoni & cheese snack at rest stop
4pm: Yakatori ... lots of beef and chicken, veggies, gyoza, 2 beers
7pm: metformin+jardiance, 1 small beer 
11 something pm: some pretzels, some french fries at the german bar on Fulton St. 

Census

Last night, I didn't sleep really well, kept waking up and tossing and turning. I'd love to sleep past 3am someday. I woke up with a stomach ache. I'm taking tomorrow off of work already, otherwise I might have taken today off. I had a lot to get through before my disappearance for tomorrow. 

Yesterday while my friends were visiting, the census bureau lady came by to do census bureau interviewy things. The last time I had a census bureau person visit in person was when we were still in the brown house. I made him tea. We sat in the back yard. 

I told her it was a bad time, so we scheduled time to chat today on the phone. It was a supplemental quiz about violence. I felt weird but thankful saying "no" to every question. 

It gives me pause to really ponder the fact we don't face violence, fight amongst ourselves, or anything else. 

Geoff made dinner, and it was a lot of pasta. I feel sluggish and tired from it. But it was delicious. 

No photo tonight. Off to bed. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 21 minute indoor walk while steaming broccoli. 6200+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 176
5pm: 140  
10pm: 194  

food:
coffee/water
12:30pm: a lot of roast beef w/mayo on 647 italian bread; metformin
6pm: cheesy pasta with mushrooms and broccoli; metformin+jardiance

Surprise Visitors

Doug got up at some point in the night and went to the guest room. I do the same thing sometimes, too. It's easier to start listening to a podcast without waking up the other person at 3am or so. Sometimes, when you're wide awake, that's just the thing to do. 

I had set my alarm for 7 to make sure he got up to get ready for work, but then reset it for 7:30 because that was stupid early. I heard his alarm go off too. Alright, we don't need my redundancy. I turned off mine, and reset it for when I actually wanted to get myself up, and somehow didn't set set it. Not sure what happened. 

I didn't hear a thing happening. Didn't hear Geoff who is usually so noisy in the morning getting ready to go to the gym, didn't hear Doug hit the shower, and come into the bedroom to get dressed. Didn't hear anyone feed Toffee. 

Next thing I know it is 9am on the nose. Toffee is snoring and snuggled up behind my legs. Everyone else is out of the house. Huh. 

I got up, went to the bathroom, did the blood sugar, the 9am steps, got the cup of coffee, came back to the bedroom and she was still in my bed looking like a tempting little baked potato wanting to warm my buns... but no. 

Go to work. 

Go to work. 

I looked over to where Doug sits on the couch and his work laptop was sitting there. He left without his laptop. Doh. 

He had a meeting scheduled with his boss and ... she's on vacation. Doh. He got a loaner computer at work and was able to put in plenty of time.  

Meanwhile, here at home, I got a message from a friend who would be driving close by my house on the way back to NY. Would it be okay to have a visit? Sure thing! 

It has been YEARS since we last saw each other. Back in 2011 when we drove to Ohio for a funeral. 

Here's the blog entry on that. It put a smile on my face to look back on that trip and read about our adventures. But wow. What a long time ago that was and is.

We had a short but sweet visit, about an hour. I had a 4pm meeting that I couldn't punt. He was traveling with his partner who had work to do down in Virginia. She was sweet and wonderful and lovely, and I wish we had a lot more time together to chat. 

Anyway. Good day overall. Very happy day. 

Here is a picture of the three of us. His CG, and me. The other CG! 

Digits below. Per usual.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  No exercise today, 5500 steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 185
4:30pm: 154  
9:45pm: 184  

food:
coffee/water
10am: English Muffin w/pb
noon: metformin
6pm: chicken fajita meat w/ avocado spread, queso dip, onion, peppers, chipotle corn mix 
7:30pm: metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: entenmann's chocolate donut
red wine+diet ginger ale