Some more cousin time

This morning, Lin warned me the hotel coffee was no more than brown water. She said something to the lady who runs the brekkie, and the lady said she made it the same way she always does and can't explain why it was super gross. 

I volunteered to go to Starbucks. 

One cannot begin the day on little or no caffeine, right? You with me on that? 

Starbucks is doing some weird unicorn drink thing, and everyone in the place was all about pimping out the unicorn drink thing. Note, I went inside because the drive through was 20 cars deep. 

I saw them put this on the counter and I had to get a picture of it just for the message. 

"Oh look," I said, "she is so cute!"

The kids behind the counter turned around and all said some variation of "oh yes! She really IS so cute!"

Heh. She. Using She instead of It is something "the kids" do anymore so it is something I find adorable and have adopted for my own. 

Back to the hotel, I ended up on the treadmill for a while. I have not done any sort of running since that 5k thing, where what I was doing was not running, it was surviving and finishing. It felt good to get going a bit and listen to some music and ignore how many minutes were going by. 

I wanted to get a shower and get ready to head to mom's so I did 20 minutes for an easy peasy trip. 

We had a nice visit. We took her to her favorite foodrinkery. Lin and I knew we were going to be having dinner with our cousin and his wife later on, so we didn't want The Big Lunch. 

Mom ordered chicken fingers, and she usually gets the kids' size portion. I told her to get the full size and I'd eat some. Linda said the same. So between the 3 of us, we polished that off quick. I was the driver so minimal wine, and when I say 2 glasses, you know how restaurants pour wine. Cute little wee carafes and about 1/3 of a glass. 

I pour wine to the full glass because yes. That's the way to do it. 

We headed back to mom's and she was super ready for a nap. We had put laundry in the wash but didn't put it in the dryer, so I moved it over. We headed back and changed to look cute for dinner. 

B&L live in a planned community in Plymouth with single family homes, townhouses, apartments/condos. There is a restaurant and bakery, a big fire pit spot, places for games and fun. They're rly happy there. They sold their house on the cape and moved up when my aunt had to move nursing homeeals. 

Their community is full of neighbors who are all fun and very exuberant. I felt a little weird mixing in for dinner with all their neighbors but everyone was super nice.  I thought of how Doug would either be super into this or recoil a little and be introverted.

We had a great catch up. Never enough time with the cousins, I tell ya. 

Tomorrow my cousin's daughter is hosting a clam bake, and we're invited. Lin and I didn't do anything at mom's today, so we're feeling like we should both stick around and help her out with what she needs. Also, I do not see well at night for driving, and in order to not get stuck in traffic for 9 hours to go 10 miles, we would probably have to stay until after sunset. 

Hmm. 

Jury is still out on our plans. 

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of how Lin spelled "Emergency" on the little white board at mom's... 2 years ago and I just realized it. And please note, we are not correcting this. It is perfect. No notes.

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours;  treadmill, 20 min/1.48 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 122
4pm: 82
9pm: 197 (note how close to met+glip. but I'm tired and wanted to go to bed)

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance, new meds
9am: 2 starbucks bacon gruyere egg white bites
1:15pm: met+glip; 2 chicken fingers; 2 glasses of wine
4pm: new meds
5pm: fish & chips
8pm: met+glip

From Plymouth to Mom

I was bummed to have to leave our hotel. We didn't do pool, indoor or outdoor, I wanted to go down and walk the beach or something, we didn't. 

Someone remind me that ya know, Chris... you don't have to work while you are on vacation. You can take a day off. 

Part of me just felt like I'll get so much done just quietly sitting working. To some extent yes, I did. That was good. But I didn't get as much done as I planned. My boss and I had our 1:1 check in and he talked to me about how we both need to go back through our old tickets and clean house. Trust me, dear sir, that was my plan. 

Maybe during this week. 

I will be working from mom's starting Monday, and I have one meeting set up Monday. I bet I can get down and dirty with old tickets and clean things up. 

Not for nothing but this week I discovered 2 bugs in the new product, and a possible third. So yeah, I did things. 

Lin and I cleared from the hotel around 11:30 and headed to mom's with a stop for coffee along the way. Mom was happy we were there, in fact she called Lin at about 10 to ask where we were. 

Lady, we're coming. 

Part of me felt like we both should just put our bathing suits on, jump in the pool and have fun before driving over but. 

We have a pool in our new hotel. Friends, we'll make use of that. Off to mom's! We got there, settled in, Lin had to work, I had two meetings on Zoom and my last meeting of the day was with my work son/bestie/partner in crime. He traded off on some tickets to me and we talked about his huge family vacation they're going on, four generations and some cabins, fly fishing and him hanging out reading books and watching his nephews. 

I am still technically on vacation and I am jealous of his week ahead. 

Mom was in good spirits and happy to see us. We stayed there until about 5 and headed over to the hotel. Our friend Rosie is also staying here, and she's delightful. I'll miss her when she heads back home tomorrow. 

Speaking of tomorrow, we're meeting with the mason that we met with in May that I never got things buttoned up with. But we'll get that all buttoned up. We will button. I believe we're going to take mom to lunch tomorrow, and we'll see how much cleaning or whatever we will get done. 

Digits below. Cheers.

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours; did a quick run on the treadmill, 10 min/.62 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 136
4:30pm: 104
10pm: 193

food & meds:

9am: jardiance, new meds.
1pm: met+glip
4pm: pbj sammitch; new meds
6pm: met+glip ( i... think?) 
7pm: 2 slices of pizza and some chicken fingers; white wine

Beach Hair Don't Care

Last night we hung out with our friend Rosie until about 11:30,  and got to bed a little after midnight. I was fast asleep in no time. The AC in the room is rather loud, but consistent, no rattle or vibration. So it was a good white noise maker when it was running.

I woke up at 7:50, went to pee, and put myself back in bed. Just wanted some more sleep. I was surprised when Linda was also still asleep, but she got up shortly thereafter, and drove to the quickie mart for coffee. The coffee at the hotel here is just not good, and, they give you the world's tiniest cups. Useless.

I could have used 4 more of those coffees, thank you. But. Not to be. I set to work. 

Got a lot of tickets taken care of quickly and did good steps each hour. A nice big loop around the property. It was utterly tempting to just get in the pool, get in the hot tub, walk down the steps and into the ocean. But I knew I would not get back to work. I'd end up all "Beach Hair Don't Care" and be insufferable to all my colleagues who were not at beach. 

Through the day I nibbled a lot, not a real lunch or anything. I did eat the 2 left over steak tip bits from Linda's dinner. 

Off the coast there was a giant thunderstorm with amazing clouds and pouring rain. It was kind of cool to be sitting here working and just taking a break to gaze out there on the sea and sky while they were doing their dance. My friend D back home will say "the clouds are showing off tonight," or "the moon demands our attention." It was the same 

We always have a dinner date with our friend Alex who lives in Rhode Island, so that was on the agenda tonight. I realized I didn't bring anything nice to wear except for the super nice dress I wore to the symphony. But I did have something passable at the bottom of the bag. 

Rosie came down and we headed out to the restaurant by Uber. The Uber driver was cranking the Dead and we talked about music for the ride. Alex was late getting to us, so we got seated and ordered wine. 

Alex and Rosie had never met but it felt already like old friends spending time. We had a blast and a great meal. And more wine. 

The Uber ride home was hilarious too. What a good night! 

Lin had to do a work call and was tied up with that for a long time so I got some solo time with Rosie. Somehow we meandered through many topics, knee replacement surgery, and the Appalachian Trail. Rosie asked a question about who did the Appalachian Trail first, and I told her I knew about the first woman to do it. We pulled up the internet and I told her all about Grandma Gatewood and her hikes around America.

She seemed genuinely impressed that I know shit like this.

We hung out for a while and R had to go to bed. Linda came back around 11, and we are headed to bed. 

More activity tomorrow as we have to check out, go over to Mom Land. We can't check into next hotel until 3 so we'll hang out over there. I have a 1pm meeting and a 3pm. Then I'm done for the day. 

Still have not gotten in a pool or the ocean. Pool tomorrow, for sure. 

Pictures and digits! A lobster the size of Rosie. And the crew!

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, Fitbit measured two walks for 12 minutes each, approx .3 miles each time. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:15am: 106
4:30pm: 126
10:30pm: 154

food & meds:

9:15am: jardiance, new meds. the last 2 entenmann's chocolate donuts
11am: 2 chunks of steak tips left over from dinner (linda's) 
1:30pm: met+glip; handful of candied nuts
5pm: new meds
7pm: wine, bread dipped in olive oil, meatball, salmon on asparagus w/ some coconut jasmine rice; met+glip

My Job Is Beach

C left on a business trip very early this morning, and I woke up at 8am and missed her already. I may take next Friday off, or at least the second half of the day, to just not be working. Like. Do a vacation day or something. 

Lin and I both worked and worked a lot. Like all the work. I had several meetings, and she had a boulder to push up a hill and it keeps rolling down upon her. 

At 4pm we were meeting our cousin Dave at a pub in the area. He lives about 20 minutes away and told us we shouldn't come to him, because it is the beach. Beach is busy. 

We enjoyed a great fellowship. I love Dave, I think honestly he's my fave of all the cousins. Always has been. Lin and I hit the road around 6, stopped at the NH state liquor store for wine, and headed down to Plymouth. 

I was surprised but the GPS took us down 95 and Rte 1, and we passed all my favorite places like Kowloon and the giant orange dinosaur on the side of the highway. We went over the Tobin, and over the Zakim, and Oh Boston. I miss you. Traffic was easy wonderful (ha) and we got to Plymouth at about 8pm.

Our friend Rosie always tells us to tell her when we are here. She lives in Connecticut, so she came out and booked a room in the hotel where we are staying. Hilariously, she is on the 2nd floor at the exact opposite end of the hotel from us, down the first floor so getting steps was easy tonight. I wish she was right next door. 

We had a sweet catch up and hang out once we got to the hotel, and it was super late when she left to her room and Linda walked her back. 

Tomorrow we both have to work but honestly my plan is pool? walk? a couple meetings? And a ton of Rosie time. We have a dinner date tomorrow, our annual dinner post-OTO with our friend Alex and Rosie will come too. 

I'm looking forward to it. 

Digits below this picture of us and Dave, and note that we are back on track with steps!

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, no measurable walk but almost 11k steps (45 steps shy!) for the day

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 125
n/a: x
11pm: 126

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: met+glip and 2 pbj sandwiches
4:30pm: pear and goat cheese salad w/grilled salmon. 2 beers
6pm: met and glip and new meds
white wine

From Maine to NH

The second day of OTO was great. Linda made bookmarks so after the best shower I've had in years, we went to the brewery next to the venue to have lunch (best cheeseburger I've had in my life) and friends came and sat at the table with us. We had an assembly line of friends building the bookmarks. I was trimming the edges, Rich and Brian were putting tassels together, Heather was hole punching. 

Then we went into the festival.  We got to our spot and I continued making arts and crafts while Linda went around passing them out to people. I chatted with friends who came by. I spilled an entire can of wine into my crotch (great job). My left ankle started to bother me so I iced it and elevated it. 

I think my body is super extra mad at me!

Lin and I took a walkabout, and the sunset was spectacular. We always seem to get at least one day at Thompson's Point when the sky puts on a show. 

I met up with one of my colleagues at one of our clients, and this is the third year we've connected at On the Ocean. Such a fun thing to meet up and enjoy a band both of us love. 

I wore my medal to the show, so did a few others.

Guster's set, after Neal Francis and Watchhouse, was amazing. They were hilarious and so much fun. As part of this fest, they did the whole Ganging up on the Sun album for the 20th anniversary of its release. They had put out an expanded version a few years later, and a song called Emily Ivory is a huge fan favorite. It is actually Hen's favorite song. 

They've never played it live. 

But they did on Sunday. Much to everyone's delight. Hen and I turned to each other and screamed "IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!" 

I don't want to steal anyone's pictures, and I personally didn't take any, but they had cue cards on the side of the stage so Ryan could read along. He always said "there are too many words in this song (yes there are) but also, it's a great little song. So glad they did it. Ryan said they'll do it again in 20 years. 

After the show we got back to the hotel, S&S and Hen came down to hang out. We yapped until about 1am, and then crashed out. I slept like I was dead. No leg cramps. 

Monday morning came, Linda worked because she had to do her payroll. We had to check out by 1, so we started our mad dash and scramble at 12:30. Made it out the door without incident, a little late, and loaded up her car. 

S&S and Hen were staying until Tuesday, and we usually all go out to lunch on Monday together. Lin couldn't join us due to her mad crazy bad work emergency so I went with the team and we had lunch. Hen wanted to have fried lobster, which I'd never heard of, but this place had it. 

Here's henry getting ready to eat a lobster claw bit, fried and wonderful. 

We had a great time at lunch, and headed back to the hotel where they were continuing on with their stay and Lin and I left for C's house. 

We got to C's around 7, I didn't do all my steps for the day and that's alright. I also didn't do them all today either. It got dark earlier than I thought it would. Oh well. I think I made up for it for a total week-wise step count with an 18,000+ day on Sunday. 

I'll try to take a walk tomorrow before we leave here. 

Work was good, I love working from the porch here, and got a ton done. Lots of catching up on tickets, and a meeting with a client which was fun. 

Don't tell anyone but sometimes I miss my job when I'm away sometimes. Don't spread that around. 

After work, I went down to Massachusetts to have some time with one of the kids from back in the day, Catie. She just became an NP, and she's always been a wonderful friend to Jess and to us. I love her, and we haven't seen each other since we moved to Maryland, so it was super nice to go be with her and catch up on all the things. 

Back to C's and hangout on the porch for porch life. C went to bed super early, because she has to go to the airport stupid early. I miss her already. 

A picture of me and Catie. Digits below.  Oh, I didn't record/track the digits for the other days so here we are, back on track recording the numbahs. 

Gotta say numbahs here in New England!

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours,  no walk, no run, no nothing. 6300k+ steps by bedtime. Meh.

blood glucose: 

8am: 97
4pm: 190
11:30pm: 146

food & meds:

8am: jardiance, new meds
12:30pm: buffalo chicken wrap, met+glip
4pm: new meds 
7pm: met+glip
8pm: chips & dips
white wine & regular sugar cranberry juice (a splash, for color)
big sugar cookie split with lin

On The Ocean Fest 2026

Tuesday morning

Another OTO in the books. Tons of friends and family and memories. Not a full wrap up of events but. Here's a bulleted list of the highlights. 

• The Portland Symphony show with the Gusters was probably the GREATEST performance I have ever seen. Hands down. The band was at next-level, the conductor is a Guster fan so he was absolutely into it. Fully packed house. Outstanding energy. Great night and performance. 
• Portland has a crappy after 10pm scene. I'll just say that it sucks when a concert gets out, it is 10:30pm, and you have nowhere to go within reasonable distance to have a late night snacky snack and cocktail. And the one place that we found is open late, that some people rave about, has shitty slow service and costs an arm and a leg. Meh. 
• Lin and I did a service project Saturday morning EARLY. I've always wanted to do this as part of the fest but we never signed up or if we did, we didn't get picked. This year we went to the Preble Street Food Security Hub and helped prep basil for pesto. Their mission and ministry is so bad ass. I want to do this again, and if I find myself in Portland I will give them my time. For sure. 
• Adam from Guster came and helped, so we had kind of a good mini Q&A session with him, Won't share any possible secrets but they're feeling bold and optimistic about future shows with amazing destinations. Let's see what happens. 
• Both Saturday and Sunday shows were spectacular. Cannot complain at all. 
• Sunday I ran a 5k and almost died. More about that later because. You need the saga.
• I feel like I didn't get to see enough people, spend enough time with some individuals, and that is kind of a bummer. Looking at Facebook has been a lovely experience, seeing what people took away from this time, in their perspectives. And it then feels like I got to spend time with them.
• Wrapping up on Monday with a late checkout felt good but I am also exhausted and would have loved to not check out of the hotel and just be a sloth in there all day. But move along, we must. And we did.

We left Portland after 4pm on Monday, Linda had a massive work emergency that she is still fighting with today. We got to C's at about 7 and she had snacks and wine for us. We hung out with her and her cousin. I collapsed into bed at 10. Slept the whole way through the night until C came to wake me up. 

"Come have coffee," she said. "Since I have to leave at 4 in the morning tomorrow for the airport." 

Yes. Yes let's have this time together. 

Bless bless yes indeed.

About the 5k

Alright, so. Let's talk about the 5k.

This was not fun. And not the fault of the 5k itself but so many other factors. Around 4am on Sunday morning,  I woke up with a horrible leg cramp in my right shin. Not my calf, but my shin. Muscles, in the shin, what are you doing? My big toe was pointed basically almost the whole way up, and everything hurt like hell. 

I managed to rub that down, get my toe back next to all its friends. Biofreeze, and water. Tons of water. 

At 6am, my left leg realized it had missed the party and did the same thing. Damn. Wash, rinse, repeat... more water, more rubbing, walking, stretching. 

I was incredibly relieved that Linda and I had our own rooms in the suite, because if we were just in a basic hotel room, it would have been so hard to deal with this. 

Back to sleep, I don't have to get up until 8:15, so, grab a little more rest, Chris. You will need it.

We got to the race site, It was over 90 degrees, dead calm barely any breeze. The two or three times there was a breeze, it was rare and lovely. I almost wish it had rained. 

There was a group photo (this is borrowed from the photographer). 

And then we went to the starting line. They let the very serious runners go first and then everyone else, at your pace. Go. When I expressed a little anxiousness to him, Luke (from the band) told me I had all day to finish, and not to worry. Thank you for the salve for my heart, Luke.

I jogged quite a bit during the first part. It was brutal and hot. I deliberately didn't bring my water bottle with me because it didn't have a handle and I didn't want to deal with holding it the entire time.  

People were running back the other way, including Luke, who gave me a high 5. Obviously they made it to the water station turn around point successfully and quickly. I lost track of the people I had been hanging out with. My friend H, this other girl R, and our friend V. They were all way ahead of me. 

At some point, with the heat and the discomfort, the top of my head and right side of my face felt tingly. 

My thoughts:
Am I having a stroke?

Is this what a stroke feels like?

Body I am so sorry I am doing this to you. But we trained for this, we did. We can do this.

Please to try and kill me. 

Then, the cramp came back in my right leg. You sonofabitch. No. Do not do this. 

I kept looking for the water station at the turn around point. It felt like it was never going to arrive. When it finally did, I took a seat. The guy monitoring the station pressed a cold gallon of water against my shin when I told him about the cramp, and it felt very nice. We had a good chat. My intention was to wait 5 minutes and go.

She did not wait 5 minutes and go. 

A guy walked over to the table and asked "Guster... so that's the band right? I haven't listened to them since college. What are they up to these days?"

Oh, here is my chance to shine and tell you all about the band and extend my rest. He said he had a long drive home that night, and he'd listen to the new albums. I told him to come to the fest next year and have a blast.

I also realized that I wasn't seeing any bibs on runners anymore because all the 5k participants were already heading back the other way. 

Ope. 

"Jim," I said, "I'm officially going to be last now. Gotta go, bye." 

It was brutally hot. Hotter than before. Again, tingly head, dust everywhere. I texted Lin to tell her I was probably about a half mile out. On my way. I'm coming. I'll get there. Jim had come to the finish line to tell them that I was on the way, don't go yet. 

No runner left behind! 

Four friends came out to meet me. My friends V and R, and a couple I don't know. They walked the last quarter mile with me and when I got to the finish line, several people stuck around to welcome me and cheer. 

I finished 1:26+, and if I hadn't sat there yapping with some guy about Guster I probably would have still finished at like 1:10 or so... but. I finished and that's all that counts. 

Right?

If you look at that full squad picture up above, like 10 of those people stuck around to meet me. Linda was there, and the race organizers were there. I could tell they wanted to pack up their shit and go. Linda and Jim made sure they didn't. And I'm thankful for that. 

They went to put my medal on me, but my friend H had to be the one to do it. She took the medal away from the person who was gonna put it on me, she hung it around my neck, and we had big hugs and cheers.

I also think my fitbit needs recalibrated, because it told me I went over 4 miles for the 3.1 mile journey. Hmmmm. So I've been actually shorting myself distance when I think I'm going 5k, I'm actually ... not.

Choosing Joy and Forgetting the Things

Wednesday
I was up early this morning, so I started packing and then I started baking. 

Like you do, of course, the day you're leaving for a trip. Why not?

First though, loading the dishwasher. 

No one unloaded it yesterday, so I personally didn't feel like doing that AND loading it. I said "meh" and just went to bed. But I can't create new mess when mess is already in the way. I unloaded the dishwasher. 

I noticed that there was some gritty fleh stuff on the dishes, what's up with that. A few things had to go back through and I wonder where's this grit coming from? 

Truth be told, I'm bothered over it, but I'm leaving. I'll just tell Geoff to be on the lookout for flecks of stupid shit on the clean dishes and wipe/hand wash anything that needs some attention. I will ask Doug to look at it, and chances are he will not. I'll deal with it when I get back.

Once the dishwasher was loaded and the big skillet from dinner last night and a few bowls that did not fit into the dishwasher for this round were soaking in the sink, I made the pan-banging chocolate chip and the peanut butter cookies. 

Sadly, I could only make one batch of each because we are out of butter. The travesty!

With Geoff working every day, and sometimes working later than I expect, we're not getting all of the groceries we need. And I'm not about to take my ass out into the world and get things. That's what the Boy is for! 

Happy for him having a job and all but it crimps my style. 

I had an 11am meeting get canceled, so I hit the treadmill. Gotta make sure I don't fail at my steps right? I had a good 30 minute run and took a shower. We had a team meeting with our SVP. This happens once a month and I always appreciate her. After that was my check in with my boss. He said "oh your friends are probably going to be there soon to get you so we can cancel this." Nope. They ... were not. 

I made some candied nuts but I don't know what the deal is lately when I make these - they never like, get ... dry. I guess I have to leave them stand a couple days? But usually when I would make them they'd crisp up, get candied and what not. These are moist. And weird. And I do not like. 

Hmmm. 

Geoff got home from work, went to the gym, stopped and bought me wine, and made dinner. S&S&H didn't get to my house until 7, which was frustrating to me but I got over it. I knew we'd have at least a 5 hour trip, and it was going to rain. 

We got just between Harrisburg and Carlisle on 81 and traffic ground to a halt. Both our GPSes pointed to getting off the highway, which normally I'm like hell yes, but at night through corn country and ancient civil war 2 lane roads, this could be a challenge. 

We were cruising along, following an 18 wheeler who was making the same moves we were the whole way until we got to a detour. Car accident. Okay, turn left and recalculate. Super! it's working. 

Then, another accident. Cops and fire trucks and ambulances everywhere. And the big truck pulled into a parking lot to do his own rerouting, and we knew if we could get up to the right (the accident was over on the left in front of a Sheetz, at the other side of the crossroads, we'd be all set. But the guy wave us back the other way. 

Okay. 

GPS? Do your thing? First she wanted to send us back to the intersection where accident 1 was, but we passed that right turn and kept going. Eventually, a right turn with a dude right on our ass. S was getting super nervous but I told her she was doing great. Keep going. I could see on the map, up ahead, Rte 11. That'll work. She'll work. Rte 11 dances next to 81 forever, so I knew we'd be good. 

81 was still a parking lot, so we kept to 11 and eventually saw our opportunity to get back onto the highway. 

Detour added 10 minutes to our trip even though we drove all over hell and half of Georgia to get back on the highway. 

Continuing. Driving. Telling jokes and laughing. At one point S told a story about an opportunity to just choose joy instead of anger, so I told her we were all actively choosing joy with this situation. 

After Lehigh Valley - the rain started. And It was epic. Darkness, pouring rain, the blessing of being behind an 18 wheeler with excellent reflecting tape and no spray back. We held there for a long time. It was a slow down - we'd been doing up over 60-70 mph but had to go 55 for quite some time. Adding more time to the trip. 

Lightning. blinding. (Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me!)

Police lights and construction. blinding. 

We got into NY and were so close. So close. 20 miles to the hotel. I said "If we do this again next year, let's not make a reservation at this hotel even though we've stayed here many times - lets just plan to get off the highway when it is right." And we all agreed. 

S said "or, I can be on time to getting to your house when I said I'd get to your house. 

Mind you - she promised between 3 and 5. 

No harm, no foul - she did the driving, she carried the burden. I'm proud of her. 

She told herself the whole time that she wanted one of my cookies, but would save it as a reward for getting us to the hotel. 

We pulled in the parking lot, and I'm not joking, 2am. Laughing our asses off, choosing joy. And a train whistle blew. 

And scared the shit out of all of us.

"WHAT KIND OF FINAL DESTINATION MOVIE PLOT IS THIS!"  she yelled.  

She got her cookie, and was emotionally just relieved and happy, and said it was the most delicious cookie she had ever eaten in her life. 

I bet it was.

Usually when we get here to the hotel, in years past it is 11pm or Midnight and we have a cocktail and chillax. 

We all just went to bed. Choosing bed and choosing joy. 

Thursday
I woke up at 8:45. Got up, got out the door. I walked over to the stop & shop for a few things. I took my blood sugar and took the regular morning meds. I wanted some yogurt and S needed some prilosec. So it was a fun jaunt. 

I got back and started to organize my stuff for the day, starting with my meds. I realized, sadly, I left my metformin at home. Crap. I'm going to be up here for close to a week and a half, so it isn't like "oh well, can't worry bout that!" 

I emailed my doctor to see if she could send in an order for them at the Walmart by my hotel. I didn't hear back from her. I emailed Doug to ask if he could mail a bottle to C's so they are there by the time I get there Monday. So he did. 

Then at 6pm I got a text from Walmart welcoming me to their pharmacy program. Oh, okay. No email from my actual doctor though. But. I guess she put a script order in. I will go pick those up in the morning. 

Suffice to say, I can see a big difference in the blood sugar by not taking that medication. Eve with all my activity and movement today. That number is dumb and high. 

Back on track tomorrow. 

We hit the road around noon thirty. Linda texted me that she was bored. She was also driving up and I figured she might be near us. 

Little did I know how near. 

She was literally a couple exits behind us. Wow. We stopped at the Charlton rest area on the Mass Pike and Linda came in right behind us. We had a quick snacky snack mealy meal. And then hit the road again. 

Linda needed to go to Staples. She made some crafty things to trade with other crafty folks. I didn't make anything this year, but she went above and beyond. Team S and I got to the hotel around 7 (I had told her it would be close to an 8 hour trip, and I was basically an hour off, but close). We checked in, unloaded the car, and Linda came right shortly after. We headed to the annual meet up at the Highroller Lobster Company. We were super late, so missed a few folks but it was super fun to connect with a bunch of friends and have a meal. I got the chicken sandwich and I forgot that it is usually overcooked. The batter on the fried breast cut up the roof of my mouth. 

I mean, it was delicious but. Ouch. Then I ate trail mix and hurt my mouth more because I am dumb.

We got back to the hotel room, had a comedy of errors for over an hour trying to find my purse. Finally lin told me to go to google and Find My Phone, and it said it was here, in the building. Not on a table at the restaurant. And I KNEW it wasn't because Lin had dropped her room key in the car, S handed it to me and I put it in the purse. And then, got it out of the purse to open the door to the room. So there. Fuck. Where the hell is it.

We unpacked everything. Absolutely tore the fucking room apart, and thanks to the magic of technology, there she was - I hit the ringer and it was deep in my duffel bag. 

Black purse under black pants under black bathing suit. 

God.

So that was an adventure. 

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend who used to be a friend of S&S. But they had a massive falling out over many a big thing. I was somewhat reluctant to do this, but S blessed me in doing it, and in spending time with her. No skin off her nose. 

I still feel weird a bit, but, I am hoping to connect and catch up. She is my friend too. And I'd like to just catch up because we're here and all. 

Some pictures below. 

Wednesday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, treadmill run, 30 min/2.1 mi (seems to be what I'm good at!); 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 124
4:30pm: 108
2am on Thursday: 174

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: 2 slices of sharp cheddar, sliced roast beef, mayo, small potato roll; met+glip
4:30pm: new meds
6:30pm: met+glip. bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon

Thursday digits
exercise: 9/12 hours, walk to and from the market, about 15 min./.6 mi; 10k steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 150
n/a pm: x
11pm: 234 (*) see entry above about meds

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: Oikos 000 peach yogurt w/granola bar
2pm: glip (no met)
4pm: new meds
5pm: 8 chicken mcnuggets
8pm: fried chicken sandwich (and I ate the bun) at the highroller lobster co; glip. One beer
10:30pm: glass of wine w/ice
11pm: trail mix. ouch.

A Little Pre Trip Baking and Breaking

Doug noticed that we had some apples in the crisper drawer from earlier this year, and they were still good. Decent enough. I ate one yesterday for breakfast-ish, and he said "I bet there is a good apple banana recipe out there. Maybe you could make that? 

But of course I can. 

I researched some recipes and picked one and started getting it rolling when I realized it called for Buttermilk. 

Huh. Actual Buttermilk. I don't think I've ever made anything with buttermilk but okay? Can I substitute regular milk? no? hummmmmm. But, I can mix in lemon juice or white vinegar with whole milk, okay I can do that. I have no lemons, rats. I have .... no white vinegar? How is that possible. We had every kind of vinegar on earth. Apple cider, red wine, white wine, rice.... but no white vinegar. 

The internet is such a helpful place when it isn't a cesspool of datamining and AI slop. I found a good website (not an AI summary, I went to an actual website) and found out the right mix for using apple cider vinegar. 

I made my mock-buttermilk, and it made me nervous, but, she worked. Now I have 3/4 of a cup of that concoction in the fridge, and maybe I can make something else but. Do I really want to? 

My apple banana bread came out very nice. I'll make that again, with my mystery fake buttermilk. The only problem is I now have 3/4 of a cup of fake buttermilk and no idea what to do with her. Biscuits is too damn hard! 

Geoff had selected a Jose Andrés recipe from a cookbook the other day, and it had a complicated marinade. I set that up yesterday since he was at work, and the recipe said to let it sit for 24 hours. Right then. 

It was about 5:30 and he wasn't home from work yet (weird!) and I had read the instructions saying that it takes the pork 90 minutes to cook. 

So I jumped up and started it into the oven. 

I'm glad I didn't follow these instructions - if I cooked the pork to 90 minutes instead of the 55 that I set the timer for, it would have been small rubber hockey pucks and ruined.

Geoff came in the door as I was taking the pork out of the oven, and taking the temperature - I always cook to temp. It wasn't even like this was some sort of slow cooker/crock pot thing where you HAVE to cook it forever for the roast to "fall apart" when it is ready, Duly noted for future use! 

The pork had braised in the oven in a cup of water in my enameled cast iron pan. I've never done that before so it was kind of cool. Only I ended up spilling the braising liquid on the inside of the oven (oops) so... I hope to clean that up tomorrow. 

For tonight though, no. Not interested in doing any sort of cleaning work! Instead, I had a yap with my friend S, and her son who is too excited about our trip tomorrow. 

I thought then, well,  I'll work a little extra on some tickets and get them out of the way. At about 10pm I broke someone's calendar completely. Ugh. Worse than spilling braising liquid in the stove. 

Luckily, he's in New Mexico, so he was online when I messaged and he said it's no problem. He'll take a look and if he needs my help, I've got one hour open at noon tomorrow, and can give him a hand then. Put the computer away, Chris. Stop working. 

Pack your stuff and get things organized for baking in the morning. 

Digits below.

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours,  easy gentle treadmill run, 30min/2.1 mi.  11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose: 

7:45am: 122
4:30pm: 150
10:30pm: 154

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
11:15am: everything bagel w/ cream cheese and turkey
12:15pm: met+glip
4:30pm: new meds
4:45pm: slab of apple banana bread
5:30pm: oh, another slab of apple banana bread
6:45pm: 2 slices of pork roast w/roasty little potatoes in a reduction marinade that Geoff picked out. And I cooked
7:30pm: met+glip
white wine + diet gingerale

Giving myself permission

Today I woke up not feeling so awesome. Yesterday I felt great, fantastic, all the good things. But today I was very tired even though I slept about 9 hours. I felt like I could just go back to bed and lie down. 

Eventually I did. I told my team that I was checking out at about 1pm. And I slept for over 2 more hours. I thought about starting up work again but I remembered I'd promised to sous chef a marinade for the boy while he was at work, and that kept me busy, until I was reasonably tired to want to go back to bed.

Somehow, I managed to get all my steps for each hour, which is nice, but fell super far short of 10k for the day. 

And sometimes, friends, that is okay. Sometimes you just gotta say "meh." 

Part of me feels like that'll be the case on Wednesday when I'm in the car for a bunch of hours with my friends driving up to the hotel in NY. Unless I start my day with a run super early, right. LOL right Chris.

I didn't want today and Wednesday being short days but. If it is to be, it is to be, eh? The universe does not hinge upon my steps.

During my11am meeting, I had my camera off and I just walked around the house, glad I did that or maybe I would have only gotten 2k steps! But after dinner, I thought about making the big effort and that would be over 2 miles of big effort. 

Nah. 

It is okay to give yourself a day off. No one is giving me an award for doing this. Give yourself some grace.

All told, by bedtime here, I still feel like ass. So I'm going to schlep off to bed on the early side of things right after I publish this. 

So much to do tomorrow. Laundry, packing, work that I didn't do during work hours today. I was going to bake cookies for the trip as a gift to Hen. 

48 hours from now full blown vacation mode is on, friends. Let's go.

Digits. Below.

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours,  17 minute walk about/.6 mi. 6k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 156
5pm: 105
9:30pm: 128

food & meds:

9am: jardiance, new meds
11am: apple w/pb
2:pm: met+glip
5pm: new meds
7pm: peach 000 yogurt w/ crushed granola bar

Mall Walker

I've been missing my Teva sandals. 

I recently had to ditch them after like 15 years or more of happy wear. I am always reluctant to buy shoes online because I am never sure if I'm a 10, 10.5, 11. So I thought I'd go buy in person. 

Also, shout out to shoe stores that are carrying Ladies' Shoes at sizes 11+ because I see you. I see what you're thinking of client-wise. And you're doing great. Thank you for thinking of those girlies, friends!

Local big shoe store chain allegedly carries said Tevas so I have delayed going actual shopping. I told Doug I was going to go today and asked if he wanted to come. Normally he says no. Not interested. But. Today? He felt like coming. 

Alrighty then. 

We went to the store, and no. They had Tevas but they were like .... fancy? Pretty Tevas? no. Not what I wanted. I wanted something like my hiking sandals. That I've worn forever. That I sadly parted with. 

He suggested we go over to the mall, so. Okay? Mall? Doug? I guess. 

We headed over and parked, and it turns out the mall was .... um. Very Busy. The site of a collectables convention for pokemon cards, sports cards, all kinds of shit. The place was mobbed, and we were parked at the far end of the mall away from the shoe store that we wanted to go to. Lots of walking past table after table of nerds and cards and Magic the Gathering and whatever. 

Where are the shoes. Where are they hiding shoes?

We tried Dick's sporting goods and no luck.

Another store, no. 

We kept walking the mall, past the tables of collectibles and ... the nerds. So many nerds. 

We finally found a shoe store where two staff people told me they'd never heard of the brand "Teva." Really? huh. 

I was ready to quit when Doug found some sandals that were .... passable? 

Not exactly what I wanted but they'll do. They're cute. But.

I am a little worried about just outright ruining them if it pours rain and is mud-fest central. 

You never know what it is going to do weather-wise out there for the fest. 

And, when I got home, I went online and ordered Tevas, not sure they'll be the right ones I want or fit or whatever, or even get here in time for me to leave Wednesday but. Alright. 

After we went shopping, and walked one end of the mall to the other, we drove over to Cushwa Brewing and enjoyed some time, some beer, and some Detroit Pizza at Rad Pies. 

I was happy he wanted to come with me. Honestly, we aren't going to see each other again until late August, so. 

A nice day out together was fun. 

We got home and he took a big nap. I made dinner for Geoff because he was getting hungry, and I knew Doug wasn't going to want dinner, but I was okay with having a little bowl of pasta and meat sauce. 

Walking the mall I got a butt ton of steps. Who needs the treadmill, friends? 

Here are a couple more pictures. My neighbor was throwing some things away and they've been sitting out in front of her house for a couple weeks, so I salvaged a weird flamingo fisherman guy, and another flamingo that lights up when it gets a lot of sunlight, which is not today. So much rain. And our big tall sunflower up front is doing gangbusters out there. Loving all the pollinators that swarm around the flowers, and I absolutely adore having her out there. 

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours, Mall Walkin' 46 min/1.19 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:30am: 166
4:30pm: 165
10pm: 116

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance, new meds
11:30am: English muffin w/pb and nice cherry preserves
1pm: met+glip
3:30pm: detroit style pizza, 3 beers
5pm: new meds
6pm: small bowl of fettuccine w/ meat sauce and one piece of garlic toast
7:30pm: met+glip
red wine w/diet ginger ale