Linda on the Metro

As promised, I went to the office. Please be proud of me. 

I set an alarm for 5:30, but woke up right before the alarm went off. Lately, that's been my superpower. I was up, showered, dressed, and out the door by 6:15. Yeti full of coffee, tank of gas is all set, Waze running, and here we go. 

Sunrise was lovely ("sun's up, mmm hmmm, looks okay. world survives into another day." That's a call back to the post from the other day about songs that take you places). 

Traffic was pretty merciful until I got almost 2/3 of the way to the Shady Grove metro station. Then the GPS brought me into the kiss & ride and not to the actual parking place so I was a little discombobulated. I figured my way out and around and into the actual parking lot. 

Whew. 

I managed to arrive at the office by 8:30am, which is probably record time from this location. Just over 2 hours. Wow. 

Walking from the metro to the office, there were so many dogs. So. Many. Dogs. And I absolutely loved seeing them. I miss that aspect of my office trips.

We had scrum, and there were issues with the roll for the access to the test version of the new product. Tons of tickets were flowing in, my colleagues who do first tier support were short a person so I was willing to step in. 

Except.

My work wife and her new bae were coming to the office. And I didn't want to have my visit with them ruined by, I don't know... work. They arrived a little after 10, and I did slip away for coffee and socialization. Mandatory.

Oh and on top of it all, a part of this product and the product it is replacing relies on iTunes, and well, it was down. Completely. 

Lots of helpdesk tickets continued to flow in, on many fronts. 

But I was so happy that I got to have some time with the New Bae while the work wife went and picked up her new laptop and all. I like them! Work wife texted me tonight to ask what I thought, and I approved, and told her I look forward to our next visit. Which makes her very happy.

At about 4pm, I left the office. Walking back to the metro there were more dogs. I miss all the dogs. I took the long route to the station, just to see more dogs. 

If I wasn't so tired, I would have slipped into my very favorite brewery to have a pint and get some take away but ugh. I just wanted to go home after all the chaos and the tickets and everything. 

On the metro, I had an empty seat beside me and a sharply dressed older woman with a shopping bag and her cane slipped right in and saw it. I gestured to it for her and her smile brightened. 

"I saved this seat for you," I told her.

"So thankful!" she replied, and gently tapped me on the thigh a few times. "I slipped into town just to go to the Phillips today, and of course, I couldn't resist buying something!" 

"Well, you gotta treat yourself sometimes." 

She asked me how far I was going and I told her to the end. She told me she was headed to the Strathmore in Bethesda to see the Baltimore Symphony tonight. She loves to go there and see shows. I told her how I saw Black Violin and Amythyst Kiah there. She was very interested in both, and got her phone out to take notes. I typed out Amythyst's name, and Rhiannon Giddens and "our native daughters" for her and she said she would look into them and keep an eye out for DC dates. 

She told me she was 87, and that she feels like she's in far better cognitive and physical health than our current president. She looked at me and said "oh I hope I'm not offending you by saying that." 

"No, for sure, you are way more spry and on the ball. I believe that!" 

She told me next month she and a friend are going to Venice for a week. She's been there several times over the last 20 years, and she rents this lovely little apartment for them with a balcony and a water view. There's a museum or two they love to slip into and visit, "but we don't overdo it, the tourist thing. I get tired." 

I told her that it sounded lovely, and I bet there's a good cafe close by this apartment for ... tea or coffee.

"Or..." she looked at me through her eyebrows, "wine?" 

"I wasn't going to assume, we just met, but yes. Wine." 

And she laughed heartily. 

Wine indeed. 

I noticed when I was helping her with her phone that her name is Linda. That made me smile. 87 year old Linda, slipping into the city to a museum and a gifty poo for herself, off to the symphony, living her best life and looking forward to her wine in Venice. 

And I'll probably never see her again. And she made me think of my Linda and her wine. And our mom who doesn't leave the house and travel and go anywhere. May we be like Linda on the Metro, and be our adventurous selves in 28 years.

The drive home took longer. There was an accident on the highway heading south, which had traffic backed up for 10 miles by my estimation, and I was exceptionally thankful it wasn't on my side. But, everyone was rubbernecking the 6 cars, the ambulances and fire trucks, so we were at a snail's pace heading north. 

I hope everyone is okay. 

Once I got home, Geoff had dinner basically made, more carbs than I wanted but I didn't have to cook so I was thankful for that. I watered the plants, so Farmer Chris had some time to stretch and walk about and dead head pansies and enjoy the porch for a bit. 

I didn't take any pictures today, dogs or otherwise, work wife and bae. Just very happy that I went in, and made it home. 

My work wife and I talked about being there, in the building, and "do you believe we used to do this every day? Come in here? All the way from our houses?" Well, my old house was so much closer to the office but, I can't imagine going in there even one day a week. I'd have to stay with my friend S the night before on the regular if I had to do it. 

Foof. 

Can't wait to go to bed. Digits. Below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 5pm for being in the car.  Walking around DC, 1.18 miles/22 min total combined. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

5:30am: 151
7pm: 90
11pm: 120

food & meds:

5:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: oatmeal cookie w/raisins that my bestie made
1pm: lunch at the office! wonderful piece of peruvian grilled chicken thigh, arugula salad w/strawberries; met+glip
5:30pm: Protein shake
7:15pm: bowl of dirty rice & grilled chicken. Met+glip
9pm: 2 oatmeal cookies
vodka tonics (3?) 

Cookie Day

I woke up around 4:30am and had to pee, so I did the usual. 

Went downstairs, did my thing, and got in the guest bed. I saw I had email and my friend Matt who asked me to proofread his latest book draft, so I was thrilled and said yes. Emailed him back at 4:30am, like you do. 

He emailed me back about 1/2 hour later. Which I guess is what people in their 50s do. They wake up in the middle of the night and get business done. 

So I have a fresh manuscript to read, fit that in between all the other things. The help documentation, the training, the product release. And I'm happy to do that to be honest because I have to do something different with my brain once in a while. 

Toffee came downstairs and found me around 7. We snuggled for a bit, I like that she isn't all "hey get up, hey get up lady, hey. hey. hey lady..." and is willing to have some half awake snuggling. Of course I did have to pee, so we did get up and we did our things. 

It was gorgeous out this morning, but a little wet from the rain that actually did come through last night. My patio furniture was sopping wet, so I couldn't sit out back, and the benches for the redwood table weren't pushed under the table, so they were wet too. Had to retreat back inside. 

I decided I wanted to make oatmeal cookies. For some reason, we have two giant containers and we don't need two giant containers. I should really make some granola, but, cookies sounded nice.

We had a webinar at 10am, so I put my laptop on top of the coffeemaker, and set to mixing. One of the things I like to so is add some milk in with the oatmeal and leave it soak for about an hour before mixing in the rest of things. So I did that around 9:30, and then during the webinar I finished up the full mixing, and got things in the oven. By the time that happened, I realized it was after 11 and I'd missed my 10am steps. Oops. But that's okay, I knew I'd make it up. Some hours are like that. I got over 600 in the 9am hour, it's all balance.

I paid my mom's taxes for her online, and let her know yesterday I was going to. She called today to make sure I did. Of course. I'm so untrustworthy. C'mon lady. Who are we talking about here!

Then I had two good meetings about the training sessions we're doing tomorrow and the documentation we just published. We have to go back and adjust a few things but overall, things are looking splendid. 

I took a break at 4:45, and went to the treadmill. It was pretty brutally hot out so I was happy to do my walk/run inside. Doug took Toffee for a walk and he was not out there very long. I was surprised he came back so fast, but not really.

And I am indeed going to the office tomorrow. 

If my brain and body do weird things to me like they did this morning, I should be leaving so early it's not funny. I was wide awake around 5, and thought "jeeesh, if this was tomorrow I could get in the shower right now and be gone by 6." Let's see how things go. 

No picture today but I did water all the flowers and everyone is feeling the heat! I'll have Doug take care of things tomorrow in my absence. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours. Missed 10am by a few steps because I was mixing cookie dough. Missed 8pm by 5 steps because i was not paying attention to the time. Treadmill 30 min/2 miles. Initially planned on 15 but the playlist was a bop. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 122
5pm: 116
10:30pm: 192* (one finger stick was 192, another was 130. because they are so wildly different, I'll record the high one here and see what is happening in the morning) 

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
9:45am: 2 cookies from Aldi, protein shake (mixed in the coffee)
12:15pm: last of the fajita chicken salad
1pm: oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, met+glip
5pm: oatmeal cookie w/o chocolate chips (I made an assortment)
6pm: pork loin w/peas and some pierogis. 
7pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Bees

When I was out on the patio a few times this last week some bees started harassing me. I looked everywhere for a nest starting, up in the rafters of the porch, out around the exterior edges. We have a lot of carpenter bees, but mostly they are hanging out around the carport. 

This morning I was out having coffee and enjoying porch life with my new plants and my dog, and I watched a bee go up under the patio table, and into a wee little hole under one of the legs. 

I watched another bee go up under one of the seats, and do the same thing. 

You little jerks. 

Tiny little holes in the bottoms of metal furniture is not a smart place to go building your nests, friends. 

So now, well. I don't think these are honey bees in any way, and they are smaller than yellow jackets, but they gotta go. They're getting evicted. 

I believe we'll have to wage some war. 

It was hot today. I've been comfortable just hanging in the living room with the ceiling fan going but upstairs has gotten untenable. Doug and I need to put the AC in our bedroom window. There is only one very small vent up here, thankfully it is in the area. that our bed is in, so the winter was comfortable. I prefer it cold anyway... and the window AC unit is just to help this overall area, reach over to where Doug's desk is. Having 4 kids up here as the last family did, that window unit was essential. I'm glad they left it behind. 

Doug came downstairs and invoked Cool Zone, closed all the windows, fired up the AC. It was downright chilly downstairs in the afternoon, I must say. 

I had a late meeting with my boss, and then we had a 3pm Team check-in which was good. After that my brain was a little fried. I needed to work on more help articles but did one and opted to regroup tomorrow. 

Toffee had her dinner and Doug was still working a project so I took her on a solo walk. It was hot as balls out there, humid, high 80s. Feh. We did our mile and a skootch more and I brought her back. 

Because I haven't been doing a lot of extra steps per hour, I took myself out for a second walk a couple hours later. The 100 miles in 100 days challenge comes to an end this weekend, and I realized today I'll surpass 500 miles. There are some people who are way up into 1000+ but they are also cycling, so I feel like that shouldn't count. But. Good on them. 

And good on me. 

The neighbor I met who is also doing this is at 775 miles and she thinks she can hit 800. If she runs in the morning and the afternoon. She also realized how it's hot and that sucks. So she isn't sure she'll accomplish it. I told her that I believe in her. Come use my treadmill if you want!

Today's two walks got me to almost 2.5, not quite. If it hadn't started storming on walk number 2 I would have kept going. 

This has been a fun challenge, I've enjoyed it. I also didn't push myself so hard that it was no fun as a result. I'll miss logging the tracker. My fitbit counts the steps for the day, so I usually end up with 4-5 miles a day but this challenge is to measure actual exercise, not the overall steps. So I may have 11k steps which is about 5 miles, but we measure the timed walk/run and not the whole day. That's why I put down the overall steps plus the walks/distance/times. 

Maybe I'll do that on a google sheet for myself or something. 

Like I need another hobby.

We had our first big huge thunderstorm tonight. It started up when I was walking Toffee and looking to the south, it was super stormy. No real lightning but a ton of thunder. Then when I did walk 2, I went up by the ballpark, the field lights looked so cool against the black sky, and the way they lit up the trees was just amazing. Then the lightning came, the low clouds to the north beyond the field were etched and edged with the flashes. I turned to head home to beat it back to the house. 

The back porch was lovely, sitting and watching the lightning, and then there were fireworks at the ballpark. I was thinking to myself I'd get the hell out of there instead of shoot off fireworks! 

Linda and I were chatting and the storm just came barrel assing in. I had to go chase my watering can. 

I hope all the plant babies are okay from the wind! 

We got a decent chunk of rain but not a lot. The lightning and thunder was the main attraction. 

Tomorrow is also going to be super hot, close to 90. I think it'll be a treadmill kind of day. 

Thursday I was planning on going to the office, and we have two trainings to do for the new product. One is a test run and the second one, we're going to record and just have my boss and me running it, no audience, no questions. But I'm super bummed because my work wife and their new love interest are coming to the office (tbh, this is the only reason why I'm going in. To see her and meet the new squeeze).  I'll get a lot of steps in because commuting in is always a big step day. 

Here's a picture from this morning's coffee time. Before the bees found me and I retreated inside. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two outside walks, one with Toffee 23 min/1.15 mi; one solo to talk to Linda (came home instead of continuing due to the thunderstorm) 25 min/1.17mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 132
4pm: 123
10pm: 134 

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance+phentermine
12:15pm: leftover fajita chicken & veg turned into chicken salad. 2 low carb wraps. 
12:30pm: met+glip
4pm: 2 big celery stalks w/pb
6:30pm: a geoff creation - left over ham in a noodle casserole with swiss cheese and peppers. Not bad! 
7pm: met+glip
no alcohol 

Some kind of ecstacy's got a hold on me

Over the weekend, Doug and I were chilling in the morning, and he grabbed the JBL speaker and said "okay ear worm..." and put on some tunes. To purge your brain of an ear worm, it is said .... play that damn song. And sometimes Doug's ear worms are very amusing.  The other day, it was a Bruce Cockburn song, Wondering Where The Lions Are.

I put in the video to the studio album here, 1979's fantastic Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws, here's the link to the full album. 

Kind of amazing but it transported me back to college, hanging out with friends listening to this masterwork. Some of the most beautiful lyrics, some of Cockburn's most religious/spiritual/mystical writings like Hills of Morning, and Creation Dream. The joy of listening to the French language "Badlands Flashback," and everyone singing one word.... de coquille. 

Wondering Where The Lions Are is seminal to my foundational memories. On face, a sweet little up beat ditty, but when you peel back the layers it sure is a song about waiting for the next shoe to drop. Everything looks beautiful, everything looks perfect, but where are the lions that are gonna devour me shortly? Dance and play in the meantime, I guess, while we're thinking about eternity. Let that some kind of ecstasy get ahold on you. Sing harmonies with Chrispy and Kevin, whatever it is we're doing and working on in the lobby of the dorm or somewhere out in the campus. 

Everyone get into Northern Lights and imagined what they may be to look at someday. 

I still haven't seen them but this song, this 40+ year old song. This is my vision.

The sky full of rippling cliffs, and chasms that shine like the sign on the road to heaven.
I've been cut by the beauty of jagged mountains, and cut by the love that flows like a fountain from God.

The man is a genius, and I should listen to his older stuff more often because it is just so beautiful.  

It put me in just such the best mood, and I started my workday today putting my heart into that same state and listened to the whole album. 

I sometimes tell people that my faith was written by the music of Bruce Cockburn and U2. What a time to be a young Christian, to have the first 3 U2 albums and that early Bruce stuff, along with some other things, to write onto your heart and soul what love is, what God means, the absolute joy, the tears and the praise. 

To me, it feels nothing like what I watch on TV of what the young Christians of today have. They are truly missing out, and honestly, I don't get what they're getting sucked into. None of it feels good and pure and magical. I hear none of it in the clanging gongs and screaming singers, nothing. Nothing.

Here are more flowers. And more to come I think. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Outside walk with Toffee, 30 min/1.56 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 112
4:45pm: 94
10pm: 114 

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: one left over chicken satay piece w/peanut sauce, peas & broccoli left over from other dinners
noon: met+glip
4:45pm: ramekin of trail mix
6:30pm: cheeseburger over salad w/french fries and bleu cheese dressing (like a steak salad only, not). 
7pm: met+glip 
no alcohol

The Return of Farmer Chris

 Yesterday was all about messing around the house with chores and stuff. Today. Today was about the plants. 

Doug and I headed to Lowes and we picked up our annuals and got everything we wanted. Hilariously, I still have a couple more pots that I could put flowers into. 

I didn't take any during and after shots. And somehow we ended up with 2 flats of yellow pansies (one is more orange and the really yellow ones are the ones with the tiger faces). 

Tomorrow is picture day. 

I am sore from head to toe, I used muscles today that I haven't used. So sore. Ha.

There are a ton of pansies and we got big pretty arrangements for the two front planters, and a pretty yellow thing that I think is going to pour over or I can trellis up. We'll see how she does. 

It was a busy full day. It was fun. 

I realized that I didn't do my mile today around 7:30pm, so I wanted to get a pokemon stop and turned it into a longer walk which was really good and I felt accomplished. Yay. 

Digits below the one picture I took today.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  all movement, all day. Did a walk very late in the day. 1.3 mi/30 min; 13k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 122
4:45pm: 143
10pm: 188 

food & meds:

8am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: turkey and mayo on an english muffin; met+glip
4:45pm: ramekin mixed nuts
7pm: slice of pizza; 6 buffalo chicken bites; 2 mozz sticks
8pm: met+glip
no alcohol

The Busy Saturday

We had a super busy day today. Lots of work around the house. 

Doug scrubbed up the redwood table last weekend (the one he brought back from his mom's) and today it was tung oil application day. It looks so wonderful. 

He ordered a plastic table cloth/cover for it, and a cushion for the porch swing. 

I swept and rearranged the back porch, until some bees decided they were going to fuck with me. They aren't carpenter bees, but I don't know what kind they are, and they were mean and aggressive while I was sweeping. I looked to see if there was a hive or nest being built up in the porch roof or anything but could not find one. I finished up, and got out of there before I was completely done.. 

All we need now is flowers for all the pots. All. The. Pots. And our veggie garden. We're having a disagreement about raised beds. Doug wants raised beds that are on the ground and I said no - I want raised beds that are table beds, because I don't want the rabbits getting into the garden, I don't want Toffee getting in the garden, and I don't want to be on the ground weeding because even with ground level raised beds you had better believe weeds are gonna find their way in there. 

So. If we end up with Ground Raised, I'm not weeding. Fuck it. He can weed the garden and tend it. I get stuck with this task every year and I fucking HATE it. So. That's the line I'm drawing in the dirt, sand, soil, whatever.

Early in the day, the house down the corner had a yard sale. I went down and the girl running it is the homeowner's niece. Her son and his girlfriend were sitting in lawn chairs being surly. They got dragged there to help and they were being no help. The niece was super friendly, and pointed me to her Aunt so I went over and said hi and introduced myself. I guess they do this often - the niece does not have a yard for yard saleing. So she comes here. The homeowner was nice ish, but a little weird. I met her dog. The dog was also a little weird. 

I had a long chat with one of our next door neighbors. Not the family with the beagles, but the other side. She's a teacher in town, and she saw me out doing back yard work and hollered over that this is great weather we're having. Indeed. So I went over to chat and got her whole life story/download. She told me stories about the kids that used to live here. "They were nice enough..." she said. Ha. 

One of them, the youngest girl, was a screamer. My sister can relate to this because her neighbors behind her house have screamers. The little one would scream like she was being murdered. MURDERED. She would be very patient, because, you know, kids. Just like I'm pretty patient with the beagles (almost). But one day she went out and asked for them to stop the screaming. It had gone on for hours. The dad heard her and came out and didn't apologize to her or say anything but made the kids go inside and said "She don't like your screaming." 

Sir. No? Just come out and talk to the kids, talk to the lady? And then they moved a couple weeks later. I told her I promised we wouldn't scream. She also said how much she loves Toffee because she is so quiet. She's very nice.

I cannot remember her name though. And neither can Doug. 

Doug finished our taxes and paid them. Bless you, 8,000 dollars on your journey to the gubbmints.

We didn't do a Toffee walk, probably should have. She seemed like she wanted a get out and go, but Doug showered and took a nap and I futzed in the kitchen. Geoff did the grilling for dinner and made an excellent marinade for us. 

I thought for sure we'd go somewhere, run errands, do something, but it was late before we knew it. 

Maybe tomorrow?

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill, 20 min/1.41 mi; yardwork walking, 19min/.48mi. pokemon walk, 10min/.39 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 103
4:30pm: 154
10pm: 100 

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
8:30am: 3 girl scout cookies
11:45am: 2 slices of super seeded bread w/pb; met+glip
6:30pm: pork loin and broccoli
7pm: met+glip
8:30pm: popcorn; cheese & crackers
red wine+ginger ale

We made it, Bestie

 My work son is on a very well deserved vacation. I missed him all week. On Fridays, we always message each other with "we made it! WE MADE IT!" 

I said that to Doug this morning and he grumped at me "yeah we still have to make it through today though." 

Wow. Way to take the fun our of a Friday Celebration. Forget I thought of you as my substitute BESTIE!

Can't wait for my boo to come back to work and be on MY wavelength with me. 

I spent the entire day aside from one meeting with a client doing help articles. At the end of the day my manager and I were having a mini-argument over "fake" content vs. "real" content that we have permission to use from one of the clients. 

He thinks I'm going to be silly and write silly fake content, when I know perfectly well how to right serious fake content. Pfffthhhh like I haven't worked here all this time. 

I don't really want to use the client's fake content. 

So my screenshots are in the end perfectly fine and he has no arguments against them. We have one more help article to write and we can't, literally can't, until we have some dev fixes put into place. And then there is this whole new feature that is still to be tested.

By 4:30pm I was basically baked, done, and over it. 

And could then honestly say "We made it, Bestie" to no one but me. 

I chatted with Linda for a bit, did the treadmill, grilled dinner. Talked to my mother for a bit. There's some drama but I'm not going to dredge it. Suffice to say, I thank God for my sister. 

All that said, time to pack it in for the night. I guess it is going to be about 90 on Sunday, tomorrow should be a very nice day but then it's going to turn into the Devil's Bunghole quickly. No spring for us! Just straight into the pit of hot and despair. 

Ugh. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours   Treadmill, 25 min/1.62 mi.; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 112
4:30pm: 102
10pm: 106 

food & meds:

8am: jardiance+phentermine
11:45am: small ramekin of mac & cheese w/hamburger
noon: chicken salad in a bowl; met+glip
6:30pm: 2 chicken fajitas, low carb wraps; white wine
8pm: met+glip

Faxing

Jess asked me if I'd share some of my Bonvoy points and hook them up with a room in Boston in a couple weeks. Jess is taking their bestie M for a "girlie's weekend" as a bachelorette party. And it is going to be just the two of them. 

A couple months ago, they called me to ask if I'd be interested in going with them to Dollywood for the bachelorette party. "It's just margarita talk so far, but if we were to do it, would you be in?" 

There's been a lot of drama around M's wedding, a lot of unfair family drama. M doesn't have a lot of girlie friends, and Jess is doing their best (Jess is the "best mate," which I think is hilarious) to keep their spirits up. 

Dollywood sounded nice, but it felt like it would be hard to do. "Do you think Auntie Lee Lee would want to come?" Probably. But it's the kind of thing we'd need more planning and lead time to nail down. 

So the margarita talk never got fully realized. And I didn't hear much more about it until this week when they asked me to hook up a hotel. 

I'm short on points, I haven't been hoteling it much and I lost my Gold Elite status in December because I didn't stay 21 nights anywhere Marriott related. I have some that I was going to use for me and Doug heading to Massachusetts in May. So I just footed the bill for it. A gift. And I get points, right? 

Getting a hotel and gifting the stay to someone is not fun. I've done this a couple of times before. Because I will not be there, and the online form to reserve does not have a place to indicate anything, I have to call the hotel to make the arrangement. 

First, they make it incredibly hard to talk to a person. The phone system keeps pushing the "Go to the website and do this, stupid," and yes. Yes I know it is easy to make the reservation online for fuck's sake but you need to let me speak to a human. 

I got a human on the phone, and he was sweet and delightful, and very helpful, and in agreement that this process is flawed. He got us all hooked up, and I'll just say "taxes and fees" were approximately 27% of the overall charge, which was just annoying as fuck. 

"There's one more thing we need to do," he said.

"Yes, I know. I need to send a fax with my signature on it," I replied. 

"You did say you've done this a couple of times before," he said.

"We are still doing this by fax in this the year of our lord 2026, are we?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," he answered. "And you have to send it to us within 48 hours." 

"I'm aware," I sighed. 

He emailed me the form, and I've got it printed out, signed, in my purse. Today I have to go get bloodwork done, so I'll go to Staples or something and send the fax on the way home. 

The fact that I even had ink in the printer is a miracle. Geoff has been printing out copies of his resume, so we've been keeping that fresh for him. Half the battle right there, friends. Last time I had to do this there was no ink, so I had to go to Staples, email the form to a secure printing account, print it, get it from the kid behind the counter, sign it, fax it. 

Bananas. 

In this day and age, of all the tech things that are going on and available, hey Marriott - figure out a way for me to do this online when I make a reservation. Thanks. 

So I got the bloodwork done, and there was a FedEx store in the plaza next door. I got the fax sent, called the front desk to confirm it arrived. Done. 

Back home, the AC guys were here fixing the control panel. They were in and done in no time. Geoff made a good dinner but overcooked the shrimp. I didn't complain, because it was shrimp. and I was hungry. I did 20 min on the treadmill because i had to get the mile but I knew it would cause me to fall short of 10k for the day if I didn't get more. 

I asked Doug after dinner if he wanted to walk the dog and he did. We went to the dog park, no other dogs were there, so we did about 1.4 miles round trip with her, and that was plenty. No fear of falling short! 

So thankful the week is just about over. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours   Treadmill run, 20 min/1.46 mi. dog park walk, 1.41 mi round trip in about 38 min. 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 118
4:15pm: 99
10pm: 122 

food & meds:

8am: jardiance+phentermine
9:30am: 2 girl scout cookies
11:15am: big bowl of plain greek yogurt w/some fruit salad and a crushed granola bar
11:45am: met+glip
2:15pm: bowl of chicken salad, home made w/walnuts, grapes
6:30pm: pasta, peas, shrimp dish a la Geoff
7pm: met+glip
No alcohol

Chuffed

Today we all got email that one of our co-workers gave his notice. 

On this current project, it's the first time in my 11 year/his 15 year tenure with the company that we've gotten to work together. 

I asked my boss if he got the email and he said yeah, he'd known for a while. 

[Side note]: back in the day none of us kept secrets when we had hot goss. But my boss and a lot of other people I work with keep it close to the vest and there's now no pspspspspppsspsssss secret! secret! secret! bomb dropping anymore in our org except for me and my work wife or me and my work son. 

I miss the old days in Boston. 

Anyway.

I told my boss I was mighty chuffed over this.

He messaged me back saying, I .... don't think you mean that? He looked it up and no. 

I do not mean that. 

While laughing at me, after I said "oh indeed, thank you English Literature Degree." we agreed that chuffed sounds like a not happy thing to be. 

I said it has "Big Mad British blowing air through your teeth and making a mad face" energy. 

I am not chuffed to lose this colleague. It's a sad day, indeed. 

He's sticking around to see this project all the way through, and after I'd messaged him that I was (not chuffed) sad and surprised, he let me know how much he appreciated me. It's going to suck losing his big super smart organized brain and his masterfully constructed google sheets, his firm defiance when people in other departments attempt to bulldoze us. His overall kind and gentle demeanor is key. 

Crap. Unchuffed right now. To the Extreme.

Another busy day, I had a good call with a client that I brought my manager to because they wanted to talk high-level strategy, rebranding, that kind of thing and I'm pretty much not that person but I have some thoughts and feelings on their behalf. I want to see everyone succeed. And he had some good thoughts and suggestions. 

More documentation work. More talk about training. We had our weekly check-in and after that Geoff started dinner, Doug took Toffee for a walk, and I hit the treadmill. 

If I knew he was skipping the dog park, I would have gone with them. But I thought he was going there and as much as I do enjoy the dog park I wanted some more straight through non-stop walking. Not a half mile, sit and watch dogs, and a slightly longer walk home. But he went around the far end of the park in a big loop and back. That would have been a good trip together. 

Well. I did get over 2 miles on the treadmill, and was done before they got back. 

Tomorrow I have to go get bloodwork done, so that's in the middle of the day before we have office hours and I want to be back for that. Don't want to miss that. Every other week we do them and it is my favorite meeting we do! 

Oh. When I came home on Sunday the house was exceptionally hot. I opened windows and Doug told me he started the AC up after I left on Saturday. But. 

But. 

She wasn't working. So we decided we'd call a heating/AC dude. Life made it easy for us, there was a refrigerator magnet on the furnace in the basement. I called that guy and he and his apprentice came today. The control panel in our AC Unit is shot and needs to be replaced. Of course it does. Gonna cost a chunk of change. But it is worth it, and we joked around "better this week when it is 40 degrees than Next Tuesday when it is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s!" Yes sir. 

We actually have the heat on now because it is 41 but heading straight down to 29 overnight. Glad we didn't put our garden in yet. 

If you're keeping score at home:

1. AC control panel
2. Electrical panel (tripping breakers etc)
3. New Dishwasher 
4. New Microwave
5. New Light Fixture in the bathroom

Unless I'm missing something. That's the running home improvement list thus far.  

In addition to the things that need done, the little things. Like, how Doug replaced the toilet seat, the caulk in the tub, the fact we have to repaint the bathroom because it is a shit paint job. And there are cracks all in our back patio concrete so Doug wants to seal them, paint it, make it so ... no more big ass cracks. 

Okay! off to bed. I'm so beat. digits! below the cheesecake and fruit salad. MMMMMMMM. 

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours  Treadmill. 2.18 mil./31 min. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 111
4pm: 193 and 5:45pm: 112
10:15pm: 149 (thanks, cheesecake and froot salad. but you were so tasty...)

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
12: met+glip
4:15pm: protein shake (before the treadmill)
6pm: chili, no fritos (we didn't have any) ground beef, tomatoes, corn, onions, shredded cheese; last small slice of cheesecake w/fruit salad on top
7pm: Met+glip
no alcohol

Surprise Fruit Salad

Last night I was going to do my blog entry before bed but started looking at the first pass on the training information, the "syllabus" outline as it were, and started a slide deck to plot out the training content. It got to be 11pm before I knew it and my brain hurt. You get a twofer again today.

Doug was on the phone with his mom and it was a long discussion, so I felt okay just headphones on and working. He did ask me "Can A.I. get past those Are You A Robot tests on webpages? what are they even there for?"

The answer is yes, they can. And those Are You A Robot things were designed to stop site-scrapers from accessing things you don't want them to steal. It "captcha"s your active involvement and I guess that proves you are human. I think now they are useless. 

Robots can fucking do anything. We are doomed. And no one seems to care. Anyway. 

So I forgot to do my 100 miles in 100 day tracker entry, and my blog post. Both getting handled today. 

Last night Doug asked me if I ate any of the grapes he bought. Awww shit, you bought grapes? We have a big ass bag of grapes in the fridge that no one is eating. Also, since when do you buy grapes? 

"They looked so big and plump, I couldn't resist!" 

This morning I whipped up a little bit of a fruit salad. I wish we had a melon of some sort, but, we had bananas, kiwi, pineapple, black raspberries, and grapes. Sufficient! Normally I wouldn't be having so much fruit, but I'll probably mix some in with some plain greek yogurt and enjoy later. It looks really nice. 

As long as Doug and Geoff don't eat all of it before I get a chance. 

It was a good day today. I met with my boss for 90 min about the training plan, going over the workflow of the presentation. We found some big bugs in the product and are reporting them to the devs. I hope they can fix them. We start training next Thursday. Or, at least we do a dry run/dress rehearsal for my colleagues on the team so they can watch, catch things, ask questions. 

He's going to work on the outline further and I'm going to do more help articles. I should have done some of those tonight but I was feeling wiped and didn't. Better efforts tomorrow! 

Digits below.

 

Monday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 1.94 mi/30 min (misjudged distance, wanted 2 mi). 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 160
4:15pm: 107
10:15pm: 123

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
12:30pm: large bowl of left over salad, more tomatoes, avocado, bacon w/mayo
1pm: met+glip
6pm: jambalaya rice w/spicy chicken
8pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Tuesday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours treadmill 2.09 mi/30 min; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 148
4:30pm: 142
10pm: 133

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
12:15: pb& low sugar j on 647 multigrain; met+glip
2:15pm: king's hawaiian slider w/turkey and mayo
6:30pm: small bowl of pasta w/sausage sauce and mushrooms
7:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol