Hey Baby it's the third of july

(forgot to hit submit last night!!!)

Today's title is an homage to Robert Ear Keen's song Fourth of July, but ... it isn't yet. Still, it gets in my head every time this part of the year rolls around. 

This morning I woke up at 7, and was surprised to have gone the whole way through the night without waking up. Toffee didn't follow me downstairs expecting breakfast, so I went back up and got back in bed. 7am on an observed holiday, no. I'm not up for the day. 

Next thing I knew it was well after 10, I figured eh... I'll just rest my eyes for another couple minutes and get up. And then it was 11:30. 

Must have needed it, I guess. 

I came downstairs and Doug was listening to John Philip Sousa songs on Spotify. "Best time of year to listen to Sousa," he says to me. I've always liked Sousa, reminds me of high school marching band. He said a lot of people dislike Sousa because of how the military has used/co-opted his songs for their purposes. I never really thought of it that way, and I can't hold it against him when the Liberty Bell is Monty Python's theme song. To me, that would be the redeeming connection. Screw the military, long live the "IT'S" man at the beginning of each episode as the song starts. 

I checked the helpdesk, looked at the tickets, groaned. I'm not working today. I did get a direct email from a client who said other clients are unable to find and pull his content into their version of the application, but I think they just don't know how to do it. 

One of the big things I need to do is write up instructions on how to do this. It is the exact same process as the old application but I'm surprised to see how many people just do not know how to do the process. Maybe I'll do that at some point this weekend. Lord knows I'm not going outside. 

We had a lazy day. Doug went out to weed a little bit and came back inside after 20 minutes and took a big nap. I hit the treadmill. 

We had discussed going up to the park for the fireworks, but realized... hey. Maybe we can just see them from our yard. Turns out you can. Our entire street was full of families having parties and cook outs, and local fireworks for about an hour before the big show. 

The view was great. No camera photos, because my phone camera sucks. But we enjoyed it greatly. I guess tomorrow night there are fireworks downtown at the baseball field. Maybe we'll go to town if our fave foodrinkery is open? 

Who knows. Maybe we'll just chillax here for another day. 

Digits below a picture of my dog who absolutely is unbothered by explosions. 

digits

exercise: 10/12 hours.  Missed 9 and 10am, slept in. Treadmill, 30 min/1.84 mi. a couple small measurable walks around the house and yard. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

11:30am: 165
5:30pm: 150
11pm: 190

food & meds:

11:30am: jardiance
11am: coffee w/Atkins chocolate shake mixed in
3:15pm: met+glip
3:45pm: roast beef & gouda on 647 white bread
6pm: 2 bratwurst & a bunch of macaroni salad; beer. Last of the M&M cookies
9:30pm: met+glip
a couple more fireworks watchin' beers

non-entry

Just entering the digits after a long and semi-frustrating day but a 2 hour yap with Linz at the end of the day made me happy. 

digits below. more interesting entry tomorrow, maybe. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. treadmill run, 20 min/1.35 mi; end of day 10 min walk/.45 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose:

7:30am: 83
4:45pm: 94
11pm: 185

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance (stopping phentermine, starting new meds soon)
8am: M&M cookie
12:30pm: turkey and swiss on 647 white bread; met+glip
6:15pm: small bowl of left over baked ziti; white wine
7pm: met+glip; another M&M cookie; more white wine

Baked Potato Baked Cookies

10pm and I am finishing for the day. I find that during the morning my brain doesn't kick into high gear until maybe 11am, noon. By 2 pm I am firing on every cylinder and if I don't have to cook dinner, I'm full on with it for hours and hours. Today I took a break and did the treadmill for a bit, and came back to do things. 

I also find in the evenings there are no meetings and no interruptions, so I can actually focus. I have to submit tickets to the devs when I can't fix something, which means I have to log into their system, while i'm in my system, and copy/paste things from me to them to submit them. And it can be confusing and messy. 

So it feels good to get to the end of a day and close the laptop. Unless I have an entry to catch up on. Like tonight. 

I don't just work work work, I do take breaks. You know I need to do steps, and sometimes I do steps while I bake cookies too. I have been threatening to make Pan Banging cookies for Geoff, and today he left super early for school orientation. So I woke up and puttered around and made cookie dough. 

That lil'baked potato in action... Toffee wanted to go out so I went with her and it was so incredibly hot. I thought about watering the garden but opted instead to go back in. 

I've had dogs who have loved to be outside in the absolute freezing cold. Toffee just wants to be outside in the heat. She spreads out like a pancake and just soaks in the sun. She then totally ignores me when I try to call her in. I spend a few minutes working, then go check her, then work, then check. If I'm in a meeting sometimes I walk around the house with my camera off, carrying the computer, and I check her. 

Gets me some extra steps. Eventually she comes in, but it's a little hassle to deal with her hot nonsense. 

I baked the cookies from the dough I made right before Geoff got home so it was a treat for him.

This recipe calls for making dough balls and chilling them, so I can do this all in stages and it works out. Make dough, do work. Make balls to chill, do work. Bake cookies, do work while cookies bake. 

I realized my large ice cream scoop that I use for these big cookies is broken so I ordered a new one, and made as well good as I could with this one and a small spatula.

They are beauties when they come out.

At about 7:30pm, I went out and watered the garden. Doug went to the gas station and got oil for the Mini. Toffee came out with me and watched. She hates to have the hose squirted at her, but you'd think that'd feel nice on a super duper hot day. 

I was roasting hot, so hot. I need to do some weeding, and I'm looking forward to this time next week when the temps will drop into the lower 80s. I'll head out then and get them weeds. 

Digits down below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min/1.24 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 135
4:15pm: 237
11pm: 116

food & meds:

9am: jardiance + phentermine
12:30pm: big bowl of BLT salad
1pm: met+glip
7pm: small bowl of baked ziti w/ricotta, mushrooms, ground beef; met+glip
white wine

I'm not a bot

Worked until late, Geoff made dinner but I do not like when he doesn't make enough protein for 3 people so I ate a leftover chicken breast from the other day. I always tell him "double up on what the recipe calls for meat," but he looks at me like I've lost my mind. 

We have a problem with our volvo, the fan that cools the engine dealie won't turn off after you stop driving, so the battery drains and dies. Doug jump started it off the mini, and tried to figure out a way to disconnect whatever is powering the fan. Too many fuses, and one of the internet suggestions was to remove the negative charge to the battery, but he couldn't get it off. 

He opted to let the battery die instead and we'll deal with it tomorrow. 

Speaking of tomorrow, Geoff has his new student orientation for his Associates. Please put a tiny spot in your heart (the 3 humans who read this and yeah sure, the 2,000 AI bot crawlers that mine my blog for content, you too. Pray for my kid). 

He could use some good mojo. He had a nice job interview today for a lab down near his college, so he'd work Sunday thru Wednesday night shift, and then school Thursday and Friday. 

We will see if he gets that job. And if he does, we move into high gear to get him a place to live. 

That's about it. Another hugely busy day. I got a comment on one of my ticket replies from a client and he said: 

I hope you are a real person rather than an AI bot with that pseudonym, for no other reason than I have never had a satisfactory engagement with an AI bot.. SInce your responses don't return immediately, I suspect you are real and am gratified that such seems the case.

Bro, I am the realest real person that ever realed. And an AI bot couldn't do my job. All the computer data center energy behind it would explode, and we'd all die. So no. Not a bot. Thanks for asking though.

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, need to double check, but, 20 min/ 1.33 mi? I think? 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 143
5pm: 134
11:30pm: 83

food & meds:

9am: jardiance + phentermine
9:15am:pb & low sugar j on multigrain seeded bread
2pm: turkey and cheddar on 647 white bread; met+glip
6:30pm: dirty rice, shrimp, and one of the chicken breasts left over from greek marinade night
7pm: met+glip
vodka tonic w/diet tonic

Warming Up

Everyone I know is getting ready to experience weather. Hot, stupid, sweltering weather. It is kind of funny because I feel like I've been spoiled by the decent temperatures. Even if it has been in the high 80s, by evening it drops down and I'm able to take a nice walk. 

Yesterday I went out around 4pm and it was humid, and I sweated like a giant pig. I tried to run a bit but it was not working. 

And if I thought yesterday was hot, it's gonna get hotter. 

I went for a 9pm walk tonight to finish up the steps and it was warm but like "nice" summer-like warm. I liked it. Too warm to just want to sit outside and chill but okay enough to just do the walk and come home. I only did what I had to. 

It feels like summer now. Just like this and I don't want it any hotter.  But. Ya know. Here it comes. 

I went out between meetings around lunch time and watered the garden. I want to stay on top of everything to make sure nothing burns or bakes. Toffee loves the heat, she loves to go out there and lounge in the sun. My neighbor (without dogs, on the other side) thinks she is a riot. She comes out and talks to her every day. 

We had a nice yap after I watered everything, and we talked about her back surgery and physical therapy. She told me the low-down on some of my neighbors (over here, she's a corrections officer. Those guys are dealing drugs, the signal is when they flash the deck light 3 times to let someone know to come up. Over there? That guy went to jail after several instances of drunk driving and now he doesn't drink anymore, he smokes a lot of pot...) 

If you want to know the low-down, find someone who has lived in the neighborhood 10 plus years!

I found out the fireworks for our city are going to be in the park literally behind our house. Cool, cool cool. If it isn't brutally hot Friday night, we'll maybe walk up and enjoy. We won't have to drive into town to the ballpark, which is where I thought they'd be. 

Sending everyone cool thoughts and cool breezes over the next few days. I didn't have a picture today so you go without!

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill kind of a jog, 15 min/1mile; night walk to finish steps, 18 min/.86 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 106
4:30pm: 155
10:30pm: 140

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance + phentermine
9am: last slice of banana bread
1:30pm: tuna salad no bread (approx 1 cup) met+glip
4:30pm: m&ms mixed with mixed nuts
6:45pm: chicken alfredo pasta a la geoff
7:30pm: met+glip
vodka+diet cran

Misty Mountain Road Trip

This morning I woke up at 8:15, went to pee, and crawled back into bed. Just because. It was nice to sleep in until almost 10, and I woke up in time to get my 9am steps in. 

We were drinking coffee and Doug said he wanted to go to the farm stand and get some things, so I got showered and we got out the door before noon. We went to the local farm stand but they are closed on Sunday. So we went around the corner to another one, got peaches and some black raspberries that were very very ripe and marked down for fast sale. 

Then we headed into downtown because there is a farmers' market only Doug mistook the day it runs. They run Saturdays, not Sundays. So we continued to drive, and went on an adventure. We went through the north part of town where it gets very farmy very fast, up into Pennsylvania and an area called Rouzerville. We drove up mountains and into the clouds. Everything was grey and the layers of green trees and clouds and mountains was very pretty. 

We ended up in Emmitsburg, MD and it was lunch time, so we decided to stop in at a restaurant that promised beer and food and atmosphere. But they're on vacation until July 9th. Doh. Okay, what else is in town, and Chris has to pee. 

Nothing. There was a pizza parlor, closed on Sunday. Another sandwich shop, closed for vacation. 

Thanks Emmitsburg, you're a jerk. 

We got in the car to head down Rte 15 south. We were intrigued enough to stop at The Grotto behind The University at Mount Saint Mary's, but the parking lot was packed and it was crazy busy so we basically turned around and left and went back south on 15. 

Hungry. 

We hit Thurmont where there was a brewery but the internet told us they close at 2pm on Sunday. How's that a thing! So we ended up at a Family Restaurant, with a buffet. So we stopped. The parking lot was packed, but the dining room was pretty empty. I guess there was some giant bowling league awards event so that's what all the cars were. 

The food was not great but I was starving and I ate it. Everything was like cafeteria food. The fried chicken was like what. you'd get in a Swanson's hungry man dinner. Green beans should not disintegrate when poked with a fork. The desserts were basically grocery store pies. But I did have some. 

Doug wanted to figure out the back way home, we headed down towards Frederick, and he headed back into the mountains. He wanted to figure it out himself and I was watching google maps on my phone, giggling. 

Eventually he said 'Waze me home, this is stupid,' and we were a couple miles north of the interstate and headed back easily. Tons of traffic, we could have figured out the mountain route but it was easier to do this. 

Doug took a big nap, I took a big walk. It looked like it would rain at any moment so I wanted to get this done. I may have figured out my 5k route for practice, basically if I add another block around and loop around that neighborhood that's another mile. 

I won't be doing that any time soon, though. It is supposed to get way up into the 90s and even 100s here. I'll be using the treadmill and taking it way easy inside. 

At the restaurant, they had slippers and PJ pants with dogs on them. I thought I got the picture of the slippers, but, I did get a picture of the PJ pants, thankfully. Digits below (things are wonky because I slept in, and then forgot to bring my meds with me for lunch time). 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Solo walk, 40 min/2 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 103
5:45pm: 150
10:30pm: 74

food & meds:

10am: jardiance + phentermine
11:30am: pb&j on multigrain seeded bread
2:30pm: weird buffet - slice of roast beef, some catfish, green beans, piece of fried chicken, mashed potatoes & beef gravy; 2 small pieces of pie products
3:45pm: met+glip
7pm: one cheeseburger over nice salad w/ some fries and bleu cheese dressing; white wine
8pm: bowl of sugar free carb smart vanilla ice cream w/black raspberries
9:30pm: met+glip

What The Dill-ey, Yo

It was supposed to pour down rain today, so we told Geoff not to mow the lawn. It did not pour, drizzle or even... do a thing at all. Dumb. I did look at a radar map, and everywhere around us seems to be raining. So maybe it'll take a turn this direction. Maybe it will dip south. Maybe. 

Geoff could have mowed every lawn in this end of town. 

I woke up around 8, surprised I slept through the night mostly. I did wake up at 4 but willed myself back to sleep without going down to the guest room. I only got up at 8 because I really had to pee. That willing myself back to sleep at 4 had its repercussions. 

It kind of sucks, I have a horrible headache and I'm majorly blah today. Considering it is the weekend and I don't have to work and I can have time not thinking about work. Very disappointing. 

This morning I walked out to the garden beds and investigated the growth. Hello little babies, hello nice tomato growing so nicely. Hello peppers. Hello little lettuces. I noticed the garden bed is actually very busy with ants, and I do not know if that as alright or super bad? Google told me both yes and no, so that was not helpful. 

Doug and I sat together for an incredibly long time. Usually I'm out there by myself but he is warming up to the space. Plus, it was nice and cool, not cold, not windy, not humid. Just right.

I came inside and watered all the inside plants which is a good chore. I usually do that during the big Friday meeting that we had last Friday but I sat on the couch and stared into space instead. I felt like harvesting some of our dill for a marinade, so I whipped up a super basic greek yogurt marinade I learned at the cooking school and set some chicken up to hang out in it.

I started to feel better around 4pm. Doug went out to mow the lawn, Geoff took miss Toffee for a walk. I went to the market because I wanted to make potato salad and grill some chicken. I love the potato salad recipe I make but it is a time investment. I managed to get a lot done at once, only slightly burned the bacon. And I should have used the whole bag of potatoes because it was so good (Geoff .... really liked it!) 

Walkies and steps, I went a route I haven't gone on in a while and it was a good trip. I was tired though. Still kind of meh. I hope I'm not coming down with something.

Anyway. Caught wind that there was an outage on the product we launched. Great. super. So happy. I am not on call and no one tapped me into the coverage. I hope they resolve it because it is still being stupid. And now I'm mad.

But my garden is nice. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Solo walk, 30 min/1.5 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:15am: 111
4:15pm: 119
11pm: 110

food & meds:

8:15am: jardiance + phentermine
12pm: multigrain seeded bread toasted w/pb low sugar j
1pm: met+glip
7pm: big piece of chicken grilled in yogurt marinade, potato salad; white wine
7:30pm: met+glip

More Blood

Toffee somehow injured her paw today and while she is not exhibiting pain or limping or anything, she's leaving spots of blood all over the place and I'm walking around behind her cleaning. The floors look GREAT but I have to spot clean the couch with our cute little dirt devil upholstery cleaner. Now I'm very thankful I didn't get to it last weekend when the boys were away. 

We're keeping an eye on her. I think she just skinned one of the paw pad dealies. Nothing catastrophic, and she's good at letting me hold her paw and compress it with gauze. 

Yes, we'll keep an eye on it, and we're not going to the emergency vet for a boo boo of this nature. This does not boo boo emergency rank.

Work was insane, again. But I'm caught up on new tickets (mostly) and have a ton of tickets that are open waiting for me to reply. 

Around 3pm I realized I needed a break. It was hot out. The rain was not coming. I got the hose and watered the plants. We have peppers! The dill is ready for me to do something with! Tomatoes! green and not ready but, TOMATOES! 

I forgot to take pictures. I just wanted to do the task. 

Back to the grind. It was after 6:30pm and I said fuck it all and Fuck this WEEK. This week has been a year. My work son lost internet today around noon and the internet provider forecast that they'd have it back on by 9pm tomorrow night so he packed up and went to his parents. It is a 2 hour drive or something. He got there and they didn't have internet. 

Bless him. Bless that gift he received. You can't do work if you don't got the internet. Oh whelp. 

So I decided after reading one last bonkers crazy ticket that I'm eating dinner, and I am taking a walk. I was only at about 4k steps and usually by that time I am around 6k. So I went.

I want to plot out an acutal (safe) 5k route so I can practice for August, and I thought I did good and got to 2 miles but. Not quite. Okay. Next walk do the same, and turn left. Go up to the big park. Loop back around, go through that neighborhood, cross the street at the light. Also, I could just run it on the treadmill. I haven't run in a while. Zero running miles this week. Good walking miles, but. No running.

Wish me luck. 

Anyway. 

My people are in Chicago tonight with a certain band having a blast. I'm jealous I'm not there but honestly, I couldn't hang tonight even if I wanted to. My brain just would not be in it. Soon, friends. Soon. 

On that note. Off to bed. It is supposed to pour tomorrow, so I am not sure what we'll do. I will try not to answer helpdesk tickets. maybe. 

Digits! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Big Long After Dinner Walk solo. 32 min/1.77 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 106
4:45pm: 150
11:30pm: 126

food & meds:

9am: jardiance + phentermine
12:30pm: bowl of BLT salad
1:30pm: met+glip
6:30pm: 2 nice pieces of pork loin and about 6 pierogis
gin+tonic
7:30pm: met+glip
8pm: bowl of caramel corn and mixed nuts mixed together

Blood

Today, Doug needed for a piece of medical equipment to be brought back to one of our Doctor Office locations. He had all day meetings, and he was trying to get Geoff to do it, but Geoff was balking over doing it. 

I volunteered to do the errand. Simply Because. I needed a break and I needed to get blood work done anyway. Very overdue. 

Sometimes it is just nice to get in the car and drive somewhere and not do anything thinking wise other than focus on the road, the traffic, staying safe. 

I enjoyed my time away from the computer for a little over two hours. An hour there, 15 minutes getting bloodwork done and dropping off the thing for Doug, and an hour back. 

When I got to the lab I realized I may not be fully hydrated. I had coffee, but I didn't load up on water the way I usually do when I have blood work done. And it was a challenge today. Yup. It wasn't fun. 

Still, it was better than answering tickets. 

I got home and had a team meeting with my colleagues and we all griped about our individual projects. I did a bunch of work, took a walk and chatted with Linda. Geoff grilled dinner and Doug took Toffee to the dog park. I should have gone to the dog park but then I wouldn't have had a yap with Linz. 

Around 8:45 I realized I was still way behind on steps so I went on another walk. It was such a perfect night, I just went a couple blocks further than where I usually would have turned. I realized that I need to think about running more again and get back to doing 2 miles at once, instead of 2 long walks that get me just over 2 miles total. Gotta get ready for that 5k in August, friends!

That's about it. Here's my arm, with two bandages. One was a fail, the other success! But... Ouch.
Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks. With a yap and Linda, 23 min/1.09 mi. Solo with sunset and clouds, 26 min/1.21 mi. 11k+ steps by midnight

blood glucose:

8:30am: 126
4:45pm: 177
11pm: 123

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance + phentermine
11am: slice of banana bread
noon: small bowl of chicken salad
2:30pm: met+glip
3pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
4pm: another big slice of  of banana bread
6:30pm: 2 bratwurst w/some spicy fries
8:45pm: met+glip (forgot to take earlier)
no alcohol (none in the house that I wanted lol)

To Do List

Geoff finally got his class schedule all buttoned up. Thursday and Friday classes. I set up a to-do list for us, just like a dev sprint, and we'll approach things with some daily scrums together, just like work.

Unlike all the other times he took classes and just drove from our old house, we're further away, and we have to figure out housing for him. He technically would want to stay over at least on Thursday night. And to be honest, I'd want to stay a Wednesday and Thursday. 

Doug and I were talking about hotelling, or Furnished Finder. In theory, a hotel 2 nights a week vs. a furnished room in a house for 900 a month, it may be better if we commit to him renting a room. He can decide how often he comes home. 

While we were talking, Doug looked at Toffee, and I said "oh yeah, he can't live without her!" 

So we are making Geoff progress and that's a relief.

This morning, my helpdesk tickets were flooding. And I had a panic attack. I messaged my manager and told him I just can't today. I cannot. I .... can't.... so he said "jump on a call? I have 15 minutes before my first meeting." 

We jumped into a video call, and I'm super proud of myself for not crying as I just said "okay, so I'm t he one who normally cheerleads through things and keeps it together but I'm freaking out about all this, all the tickets, all the broken things, and I cannot today."

Thankfully he said "I hear you, and me too." 

"So how do we handle this, what do we do?" And we talked about how we know that the devs are working on this. The lead guy - I love him - he owned the problems, "this is on us and we are working to make it right." 

JB said, the best we can do is answer the tickets, and help the users. I told him that I am super so good at answering the new tickets that come in, and bad at going back to when they reply to me with an update or further questions. So good at the new tickets, super bad at the follow up. He said he'd be happy to jump into my Open cases and take some and reply. 

After our morning meeting today (where I walked for a solid 15 minutes without stopping!) the devs are making incredible progress at restoration of broken data and everything. We are doing one-off "hey, so, this client is still missing XYZ since the restoration, can you find that." 

And they find it. 

I was answering a ticket and the product crashed. Just absolutely crashed. I screamed "THIS IS FINE!' and walked away and made chicken salad after I messaged JB and my work son to say "okay. alright okay. She's crashed. Someone just let me know when she's back because I need to make chicken salad." 

There was too much traffic to the server with all the users in there, and with the devs attempting another data restoration. They got it back and I made lunch.

Today didn't suck nearly as bad as I thought it might right out of the gate and I'm very glad I don't have any Vodka otherwise I would have started drinking so early. Instead, I worked to a reasonable time, walked the dog, and then came back to go to older tickets from Monday to try and tackle those issues. New tickets can wait. 

Digits below this classic internet meme that is me.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Morning Meeting Pace, 10 min/.43, Toffee walk, 25 min/1.19 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 134
4:45pm: 146
11:30pm: 169

food & meds:

8am: jardiance + phentermine
1:30pm: big bowl of chicken salad
2pm: met+glip
6:30pm: shrimp and pasta dish by geoff
8:30pm: met+glip; 1 beer
10pm: another beer

Walking in Circles

Today was a really anxious day and one where I am absolutely glad I work at home. I am able to attend stressful meetings, turn my camera off, and walk in circles all around my house while hyperventilating. It is awesome.

Tomorrow I have a check in with my manager and I want to tell him how badly I am actually freaking out and panicking. He is a very supportive person, but he won't be able to DO anything, so what's the point. 

We just need for all the broken things with the new platform to be fixed. That's all. 

Geoff cooked dinner after we had a big discussion about more protein, fewer carbs and sometimes he doesn't get it. So that also was stressful. Doug and Toffee took a nap after dinner and I didn't want to work anymore, so I went out for a solo walk. 

I was getting ready to turn towards home when my Rush streaming ended, and it was my friend Amy in Arizona calling with a couple updates. She's relocating to Pennsylvania and she has a moving date around July 20th. I'm excited that she'll be two hours away by car instead of that many by plane. 

We had a great chat, and I kept walking straight and extended the walk so we could yap. I was happy for that, because it got me to almost 10k for the day, and I didn't have to hit the treadmill or go out again later to tack on more steps. 

I picked up the laptop and did more work before bed. Without having a panic attack. 

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I love our team, I love the gang, I just want for things to straighten up and fly right. 

My friend C would understand this. We've shipped the car to Pebble, it still needs work, and we're all rushing around .... trying to make the thing show-ready. And it isn't going perfectly. But. We'll get there? We can only hope?

Again, no picture, digits below. Good digits mostly. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Solo walk, 31 min/1.61; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 123
4:30pm: 175
11pm: 128

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance + phentermine
11am: small bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: english muffin w/pb and zero sugar j
1:30pm: met+glip 
4:30pm: 2 celery stalks w/pb
6;30pm: chicken and dirty rice by Geoff
7:30pm: met+glip
white wine+diet ginger ale

Short Lived

Geoff reported to us  this morning that the temp agency informed him not to come back tonight to the placement they put him at. 

He said there were 3 guys, a giant conveyor belt, and too much stuff. I guess he didn't work fast enough for them (which makes sense, he's ... who he is, and lacks speed) and that he was sluggish. 

He was awake for 20+ hours so I get that. 

But he said no one was helpful, no one instructed him well, they were kind of jerks. And he is mad that he didn't even get a second chance tonight. 

I asked him if he asked for a second chance, to say "I'm sorry, I haven't slept since Saturday night, I'm not used to the night shift but I can get on that schedule today," and if he gave any feedback about how they didn't really give him good instruction. 

He said no. 

So, you didn't plead your case.

No. 

Alright then. That's on you. I'm sure you could have tried to communicate that, and tried harder to work faster if you had a second chance. 

He's just really disappointed, in them, in him, in everything. "I don't know why I bother, why I try. Hospital jobs don't want me, this dumb job doesn't want me." 

I feel like the world sometimes sees him as a Cheese Sandwich, and we know he is so much more than that. 

Anyway. I took two walks today because I didn't get time to run on the treadmill for 2 miles. Work was stupid busy. I'm tired. 

No picture tonight. Just the digits. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  two walks, one with Toffee, 20 min/1mi; one solo, 22 min, 1.3 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 119
4:30pm: 105
11pm: 138

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance + phentermine
11am: everything bagel w/chive & onion cream cheese and roast beef
2pm: met+glip. 2 big celery sticks w/pb
6:30pm: bowl of left over pasta and meat sauce from last night (much better tonight than last night) 2 ramekins of caramel popcorn
8pm: met+glip
gin & tonic

Sour Cream and Ricotta are not the same thing

I love to cook, and it is rare (I think) that I screw something up. But I did tonight. 

I had gone to the market on Friday, got some sour cream and some ricotta. They were both the exact same size, and had red and white labels. 

You see where this is going, dear reader, do you not?

Doug and Geoff got home a little before 4, I was in the shower but I knew they were here because Toffee lost her mind. Good guard dog. 

Geoff had to be to his new job, first day, shiny and bright, at 7pm so I decided to make dinner early so he could eat. He told me they ate at McDonalds (meh) on the way home about an hour before crossing into Maryland. Well. Okay. But eat something before you go because this is a 12 hour shift, friend. 

He tried to take a nap (he's not a napper) and I made the dinner. Usually I make shells and then meat sauce and you can put your sauce on the shells or whatever but I wanted to make baked shells with ricotta, which ... is why I bought it. 

I was making the ricotta mixture (2 eggs, shakey chees, salt/pepper/garlic powder) and it was like .... creamy. Not like lumpy ricotta. I thought that was weird. I mixed it all together, and there's where I made my mistake friends. 

After I mixed it all together, I looked at the container to see it was sour cream. Dang. 

Had I looked first, I could a pitched the sour cream mess and started over. But no. I was going fast. Doug said "It probably won't be that bad."

It wasn't that bad but it was not that great either. And we now have a giant Pyrex pan of it in the fridge. I'm kind of pissed off at myself. And the universe for making red and white creamy food item containers. Jerks. 

Geoff left for work at like 6. It isn't even a half hour drive but the stretch of road he has to go on is notorious for accidents and delays. Plus it is Sunday and it was a beautiful Sunday, so he anticipated traffic. I made sure he had a book. And he made a lunch, or dinner, or ... break meal. He also took some rockstar energy drinks. Basically, he'll be up 20+ hours but he'll get a good night's sleep tonight, and get back on the late night body schedule like he once was back when he worked at the spice factory. 

If you are reading this between now (11pm-ish) and 7am, send him a little mojo in your heart of hearts. 

Before the guys got home, I did all the vacuuming.But not upstairs because I didn't want to schlep the vac up here. That can wait. I did pick up all the stuffed animal fluff that was everywhere up here and in the guest room and living room. 

I also got windex foam spray and cleaned the inside of the glass doors on the shower. I hate these things. I feel like I clean them every week and use the squeegee, but they are always gross. The foam spray kicks ass, and they look almost showroom new. 

Doug was impressed with the everything I'd done. Now, jerks, don't fuck it up in two days, please. 

Around 8:30pm I realized Toffee hadn't had a walk yet. I asked Doug if he wanted to go, and he was wiped out from the visit and the drive (I understand that). I took her myself, and she actually was amazingly good for me. Usually she's kind of a menace, but she walked right by me, slack leash, we didn't see any cats so she didn't lose her mind (thank God) and only one squirrel caught her attention. This time of day, most people have their dogs back in the house instead of the yard (People here put their dogs out all day and I hate it. Poor things) so we were able to walk a mile without getting barked at through fences. 

Toffee is the quietest dog in town. And I love that about her. 

I have no meetings until 4pm tomorrow aside from our usual check-in with the developers. I may flex time myself a longer lunch. Who knows. Maybe I won't. 

I didn't take any pictures today, not even of my dinner fail. Probably a good thing. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Toffee walk, 22 min/1 mile; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 117
4:30pm: 183
10:30pm: 114

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance + phentermine
1:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j; met+glip (was not hungry all day, strangely)...
5pm: pasta shells baked w/meat, sauce and ... sour cream
7pm: met+glip
no alcohol

What Was Done Today

Yesterday I did nothing around the house but play phone games. Oh, actually not true, I did laundry. I did three loads of laundry, so there's that. And I added it to the laundry up on my bed in the bedroom to care about tomorrow. So that's something. 

Today I promised myself doing things. And things was did. 

Now before I write out all of what was did, mind you this - I took a lot of breaks. I started at 11am-ish. I didn't finish until after 8pm. There were plenty of stop and rest breaks. There was talk to Linda on text breaks. There was lunch. There was some outside time because honestly, people, today was gorgeous. 

Here's the rundown. It is very very boring. 

After playing phone games (naturally) and extended Toffee cuddles (again, naturally), and coffee (but of course), I headed to the bathroom. The sink and vanity were atrocious. Doug and Geoff shave their silly boy faces and leave a messy mess. The only thing I do in there is brush my teeth. 

I started at the toilet. I scrubbed behind, the body, the floor around, inside, everywhere. And let me tell you friends, this was difficult! Not because it was dirty or gross, but I'm not the young'un I used to be, and down on my hands and knees reaching around the back of the throne was not easy.

As of late, I'm having a challenge behind my right knee. The internet tells me it is from "over use" so finally Doug is right that "running is bad for your knees. I get it. But my thigh is tight, like where my hammies is. So that heating pad I ordered last night blissfully arrived around noon, and I had some time with it. Not feeling perfect but I'll say a little better? 

Anyway, I didn't do the heating pad until after finishing the bathroom, so this was a semi-painful challenge but we survived. 

After I scrubbed the toilet. I scrubbed the shower. Inside and out.

The rest of the bathroom floor was pretty decent but I wanted to mop everything. 

But first, the sink. 

Wow. I hate the men in my life. I'm going to put the hammer down on them (I haven't given a shit because I've been so work focused but yeah. Not leaving this go...) After scrubbing it all, and Thank GOD for Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, I used Drano to clear the drain because she was stupid slow.  The vanity, the sink, the mirror, everything. Pristine. You could eat off it but I'd call you a weirdo. 

Then I mopped. I haven't mopped anything since we moved out of the last house and I mopped that. But I mopped the hell out of this bathroom. I think the flooring is pergo, and it took forever to dry. In fact, I thought maybe I'd fucked up everything by mopping it with Mop 'n Glo, that maybe it needed its own special bespoke cleaning product. It did dry eventually, much to my relief. And she looks lovely.

Next, the living room. Again, work-distracted brain lately which now is more free to focus on the things of daily life.  As of late, I've been what I'd call clutter blind. I cleaned up all the dog toy stuffing that is all over the place, I put all her dog toys back in her bin, and she pulled some out again, like ya do. The living room table - spotless. Dusted. Perfect. But I'm going to vacuum tomorrow. Everything in the house gets vacuumed tomorrow.

While I was out of town at my mom's Doug rearranged all our knickknacks and doohickeys, put some plants up front that were in the kitchen. He was quite proud of his doings. And I didn't criticize him, but he didn't dust anything when he did that. How do you not dust? I could see the ghosts of where things sat before. No. You dust when you rearrange. Gah. 

It has bothered me for weeks but I didn't have the mental energy to deal with it. So today, I dusted. TV area, the bookshelves, the table where the money tree is, the table where the monstera is, the bookcase at the bottom of the stairs. 

I did the side table by where I sit. I usually let junk mail pile up and things but now I have a sweet little trash basket thanks to the M&D wedding). 

In the treadmill/laundry room there was a bunch of crap that we don't need in there, nor do I think we really need at all (tapes? Old CDs without cases? 900 pillowcases???) So I just moved it all downstairs. Out of the way. Go. Get. Get with ya, Git!

I cleaned the dining table, and weirdly I'm still finding cookie sugar in the cracks of things in the dining room. Even though I've cleaned that room a few times since CCC 2025. 

That must have been some party. 

All of Geoff's shoes all over the house are now collected and placed behind the loveseat where I sit and spend most of my time. Ordered a shoe rack from IKEA, looking forward to that coming. 

And even though I was kind of over it all, I mopped the kitchen at 10pm, so if the floor wants to stay wet for hours, heck. I'll be sleeping.

Rather pleased with all that was done, and the fact it took all day didn't bother me too much. I did it at my pace with little breaks and a lot of happy Toffee time. A very enjoyable day. And that I didn't do it all and have a thing or two to accomplish tomorrow, why that's just fine by me. 

I'll be sitting on my new heating pad, trying to make the back of my knee hurt less. Catch me later, digits below! Well. After these cute pics of Toffee during our cuddle breaks. The fun thing about Toffee is she has to be touching a human at all times, or she'll die. Explode or die, something. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. So much walking in the house today I didn't go near the treadmill. Toffee Walk, 14 min/.7 mi. and it measured my mopping of the kitchen as a walk, 19 min/.37 mi. For the Win! 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 118
4:30pm: 197
11pm: 84

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance + phentermine
9:30am: everything bagel w/garlic & chives cream cheese
2pm: the rest of the curry shrimp & rice; met+glip
6:45pm: english muffin w/roast beef & 2 slices of cheddar
8pm: met+glip
white wine & zero sugar cran

Credit Jobs Apartments Money

I slept in today. Like I haven't slept in for a long time. Toffee was alright sleeping in. We were both very happy. But eventually, it's time to get up to pee. 

I spent a lot of time today thinking on Geoff. He starts school back at his old community college in late August and it should be two semesters until he has his Associates. He's waiting on one class to be scheduled so he knows what days he will have to be out there. 

He had a good interview for a phlebotomy job with a hospital 45 min. west of school. We thought for sure this was all going to click. But the guy is kind of ghosting him. Maybe he's on vacation? I don't know. But Geoff is frustrated. 

It's a chess game. We're herding cats. 

The thing is, I think we'll have to find him a place to live. There is no way he can commute from here. Every Day.

Fun fact, in case you do not know, Northern Virginia is stupid expensive as a place to live or do anything. Absolutely ridiculous. Studio apartments, 1800 a month. And a one bedroom is 2100 or higher. 

Compare to our last house rental in Maryland over the border, 1950 a month. 3 bedrooms, fully fenced yard, great location. 

About a year ago, I told him to sign up for a credit card to start building his credit rating. He didn't. He ignored me. 

He realizes now that he needs a credit rating if he wants to rent an apartment. He did go to a local bank in person to sign up for an IRA (his last job sent him a check and he wanted to roll it into something new, not tied into a work plan, and Doug was mad at him because he could have done an eTrade thing and Doug would have set him up, but, ..... as usual) and while at the bank he applied for a credit card there. 

They rejected him. 

Because he doesn't have a job/income. I think he applied for the wrong kind of card. He needs a baby's first credit card. 

As many know, since we moved he's been looking for work but unable to find any. Well, any that he wants. He has applied to hundreds of jobs at hospitals, health care centers, etc. Medical lab or phlebotomy. They interview him and pass or they interview him and let him know he does not have enough experience (I guess 2 years at a hospital lab isn't enough) and/or he doesn't have an associates degree. 

Even though he's going back to school to get that associates degree. 

He has over 20k in his bank account, nice stash there buddy. But even though he has money and can obviously pay bills until he gets the job, no credit card.

It's all a big catch-22. And it is such an incredibly difficult world for kids to hit the launch pad and go. Albeit, and Doug says this, he's had opportunities. If he had applied for a card while he still had the job, he would have been approved. He could get an apartment. 

Because he has applied for many jobs and go no jobs he finally contacted a temp agency. They hired him immediately for work. He starts Sunday night. 

Doug said to him "why didn't you do that sooner?" And he said he wanted a hospital job. But you could have been working all this time, while you still looked for a hospital job. 

Geoff is sometimes very singular minded. I always point this out to Doug that he literally can't do two things at one time a lot of the time. 

If he doesn't get the hospital job over in northern Virginia he can do this job for a couple months until it is time for school and quit without guilt. 

I just have to admit, I love having him here because he cooks dinner for us just about every night. A few months ago, he went to a concert in Baltimore, and Doug and I didn't have a dinner plan. 

"What are we gonna have for dinner?" I asked him.
"I have no idea," he replied. 

Without Geoff we'll be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or soup stock, if we have it in the freezer and remember to defrost it in time. 

He also mows our lawn, even though he does kind of a crummy job. 

He grocery shops but sometimes has no clue about prices. He buys organic bananas for 1.99 a pound when the "normal" bananas are 80cents. Even though I've taught him how to read the stickers on the shelves at the market to know what the actual price per unit is. Don't buy this tiny bag of dog food, buy the gianormous bag. And also, it isn't like she isn't gonna eat it! 

He walks Toffee just about every day. 

I want him to launch and be successful but ha. I'm also selfish. 

Oh you're making dinner? okay! I'll do the treadmill for 30 minutes! Thanks! 

I've said it before, I'll say it again, we'll get it all figured out. No worries. None at all. 

---

Enough about Geoff. What's up with me! 

Today I thought I had booked myself a massage therapy appointment. I went over to the office and it turns out I booked it for July 19th. Um no. She asked if I wanted to keep that appointment and I confessed that I sometimes am not sure where I am going to be, I could be out of town that day. So no. Let's cancel it. 

I asked if the therapist had any openings today otherwise and she said he was booked, but she had a cancelation for a different therapist, at 6pm. Damn. No. That's late. I'd rather not wait until 6pm. 

Sad.

I drove to the market and got some things. Got the makings for some baked meat sauce and shells for when the boys come back on Sunday. I got chicken breasts, and I will make chicken salad and then have something for myself tomorrow. I also have some cluck pucks and there is a surprising amount of nice things in the freezer. 

Hmmm. I could eat for a week just off of what we've got! 

There's a liquor store next to the market so I grabbed a bottle of wine, and some bubbly for mimosas tomorrow. 

My big goal here is to clean tomorrow. Clean and mop. Clean. Clean. Clean. Today I did nothing because I thought I had a massage therapy appointment in the middle of the day. Damn it. 

After the market, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and had attention span fatigue. I had a podcast playing and it was an hour long, I told myself GO TO THE END OF THE EPISODE! and I made it 20 minutes. I called my mom to tell her that her trash pick up day was changing and she had all kinds of questions about why. I don't know, the email just said next week the day is changing so. That's why I'm calling you.

She told me that she went to put the barrel out yesterday (which she is not allowed to do, damn it). I love when she tells on herself. She is impatient with her neighbors, and on Thursdays sometime in the night/evening the barrel goes down. There are 3 houses of people who grab it for her. When she was taking the barrel down, one of her neighbors pulled into his parking space and told her to stop - he'd take it for her.

She knows she is not supposed to do this. She is going to get hurt.

"No one had taken it down yet," she told me, as her justification for doing it.
"What time was it when you went to take it down?" I asked.
"About 1pm."

Are you fucking kidding me, mom. Everyone is at work. And they take care of it after they get home. From work. After like 5 or 6pm. 

"I do not understand why you get a hair across your ass if the barrel isn't down there early. They don't come to pick up until like 4pm on Friday, so someone can even grab it for you on Friday mornings. The guys never come in the morning. It is...."

I give up. Oh my GOD woman why are you like this?

For dinner, I got a little experimental. We had a bag of shrimp and it needed to be used, so I found the ingredients in the pantry for a curry. It all came together very nicely. I added in a red pepper (also needed to be used) and a ton of parsley (again, needed to be used). I should have used the whole onion, I used about half. Maybe I could have thrown in some spinach since we have a container and I'm the only one who eats it. And I made one cup of minute rice. Geoff buys Minute Rice. I need to go to the market with him and show him there is better rice. But. This wasn't bad.

I ate half of it, when it is supposed to feed four. HA. take that, shrimps! And someone has a lunch for this week if they want. 

I took Toffee for a short walk after dinner. Just about a half mile. She doesn't need a lot but she likes to go. I would have taken her further but my right knee is killing me today. Which is why I wanted the massage. Oh well. 

I didn't take a picture today. So. Digits below! 

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min/. 11k+ steps by bedtime, Walk 12 min/.5 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 105
5pm: 124
10:30pm: 107

food & meds:

10am: jardiance + phentermine
11:30am: bowl of plain greek yogurt w/blueberries (to get them out of the fridge before they go bad); teaspoon of splenda
2pm: met+glip
3pm: 2 big celery sticks w/pb
7:15pm: curried shrimp, w/white rice
white wine w/zero sugar cran

Living Alone

I know it isn't the same as other people who actually live alone, but, I'm living alone for these next couple days. 

I find when I'm by myself I do things like talk out loud to me (or the dog) about stuff. 

Loading the dishwasher, it does not need to run, and well, unless I make something serious like cookies, it may not have to run until the boys get back.  (I ended up running it because ... I wanted the baking sheet for tomorrow).

It was a very rainy morning. The trash truck guys woke me up at 5 and I thought I might be up for the day but I mercifully fell back asleep after I went to pee. Then the thunder woke me up around 8:30. I turned the alarm off. I dozed and faded in and out of sleep until around 9am, waking each time the thunder rolled. 

We have a daily 10 am meeting with the developers, so I knew I'd be online for that. I just was not in a big hurry to be online for anything else. 

I didn't even touch helpdesk tickets until 2pm. I had a bunch of meetings, and some yap sessions with pals, just basically eased into it and then it's the typical thing, around 8-9pm I am still working. My brain does not do mornings. I'm much better after noon. 

Several help tickets came in that were super easy, the person just needed instructions on how to do a thing. I realize we need a help document that we can just say "oh thank you for asking this question, please see this help document for instructions. 

I wrote out detailed step by step instructions for one client and then copied them into a text file and literally sent it out 3 more times. 

A few people submitted tickets that made me shake my head. Son, that's not how any of this works. A few are experiencing incorrect data feeds as a result of this move, whereas it wasn't incorrect before. 

And my office is closed tomorrow for Juneteenth, blessed and most adored Juneteenth. I will be working, A little bit. 

After I ate dinner, I took Toffee for a short walk which made her incredibly happy. With Geoff not here to walk her, she was needy. And she actually was very good instead of being a leash menace.

I spent almost 3 hours talking with Jess tonight, yapping about everything. And laughing about Ryan Gosling and Aerial TRAMWAY on SNL. 

I'm exhausted. Here's my dog. Who is also very tired and wants me to go to bed.

Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill run, 32 min/2.13 mi. walk, 8 min/.35 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 104
4:30pm: 125
10:30pm: 79

food & meds:

9am: jardiance + phentermine
9:30: 5 tiny chocolate donuts (geoff didn't take 'em, so I ate 'em) 
11:45: one slice of super multi-grain toast (the end piece!) w/pb and zero sugar j
2:30pm: oikos 000 yogurt
6:30pm: 2 pieces of left over chicken w/some sort of sauce and peppers/onions
7:30pm: met+glip
vodka tonic; handful of mixed nuts

Off They Went

The plumber came by today and fixed our situation up, and did a cement job on the spigot so she won't wiggle. God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world. 

I had another very busy workday, the product launch she still struggles. But the smart dudes are on it, and I'm answering tickets, and everything progresses. I tried to do a training with a station but all the widget embeds for their site are "empty" because reasons. But. I showed them how to do it. And they are going to try after we give the all clear, and I am very proud of them. Bless Bless. 

Doug and Geoff left around 5:45ish. Allegedly a 3.5 hour ride up to mom's but I guarantee it will take longer. 

Doug (to Geoff): I see that you put beer in the car
Geoff (to Doug): Indeed I did
Doug: Smart idea

If I had not been on a call right then I would have given them a small cooler and some ice packs from the freezer. Lord knows we have them. But. Too late. 

I had enough time to say bye, and ask Doug to reconnect the hose to the spigot for me, so I didn't have to get down on the ground in the carport and try to get back up (Hilarity would ensue, I know it. But no). 

Toffee and I saw them off, and I made dinner. Did more tickets. 

I figured I needed to water the garden and all, since it is hot and no one has been watered in days. So I got that going, happily, and did my Farmer Chris things, with much joy.

I also figured I needed to do the treadmill. So exhausting at like 9:30pm to do that. And I didn't want to take miss Toffee for a walk. Geoff took her this morning, and she is just bad on the leash for me. I prefer when Doug walks her and I can just mosey along playing pokemon. 

Before I got on the treadmill, I could hear someone, a male voice really, outside yelling or screaming... intermittently. Toffee was aware too. It sounded like someone out on the road that runs parallel to ours, or the back of a house in the alley behind our house. Or the other side street. I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from and it made me worried.

It occurs to me that usually not only is Doug here (and Geoff) but the TV is always on. So this could very well be a nightly screaming and yelling event that I've just never heard because silence has not been something that happens here often.  But no, because most nights I sit out on the patio while the dog does dog things, and I have never heard anything like this.

I kind of very much like the silence. I didn't need the TV on. I didn't want to watch anything. I was plodding through helpdesk tickets, even up to super late. I love Doug but I do not need TV on. 

So screaming.... not something I'm used to. 

I did the treadmill for about 20 minutes, and got off. I had to put a bag of trash out in the barrel so I bravely put shoes on and bravely went out. And then bravely stood there listening. 

The screaming seemed to have stopped. 

But I came inside, and locked all the doors and answered more helpdesk tickets and was nervous. 

I'm sure it was .... maybe nothing. 

Toffee and I are going to sleep in the guest room tonight. Doug dumped 11,000 baskets of laundry on the bed and fuck all if I am just not in the mood to fold shit. 

No picture today but the digits are below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 20 min/1 mile (mostly walking) 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 104
4:15pm: 98
10pm: 108

food & meds:

8am: jardiance + phentermine
11:30am: turkey and 2 slices of cheddar on english muffin 
noon: met+glip
4:30pm: tiny little chocolate donut (just one)
7pm: BLT Salad, met+glip; white wine

In Orbit, but Wobbly

Our product launch has not been perfect. But. There is no going back. No rollback on this one!
Nope. We're committed to the bit. Doin' it! DOIN' IT!

It goes without saying, I'm so very thankful for the team that I work with. Honestly, when I look back on some of the project managers, product owners, developers that I've worked with previously.... I'd have run screaming into the night if it was't for this team. 

At our scrum yesterday my work son pointed out this was 18 months in the making. I didn't even get brought into the process until the fall of last year. 

We were bombarded with tickets right out of the gate. We had an outage where the product just failed and fell over sideways before we even told clients they could get into it. Turns out, people saw the icon live on their dashboard and they started jumping in. Oooops. There was a load limitation on the product while it was under construction because we didn't need to be paying a bajillion dollars for the site to be hosted, and that neeed to be adjusted when more and more people started getting on the platform. 

Oops. OOOOOOPS!

Momentary panic but it worked out. 

We have discovered some bugs, which are now "known issues" and are being tracked by my boss so we can tell the clients "we know about the XYZ thing doing the ABC thing" or "Yes, this is missing thank you, we know." so they don't have to submit more and more tickets. 

And we are getting feature requests for things to do differently or display differently.

And there are some issues being reported to us that we have had to jump on immediately. By we, I do mean our wonderful developers. 

My work son and I were talking about this, and how we're so thankful for [just about] everyone on the team. I reminded him of a fight, and actual yelling fight, I had with a developer on another product when he just kept disagreeing with me and saying that something could not be done the way our clients (and I) felt it should be done. My expertise in something should mean something to the devs I'm working with, and my knowing how it should go down, how it should work, should not be met with derision. Respect my experience and authority, please. 

He ended up getting taken off our product and put with some other company, I got a new dev who saw what I meant and I was talking about, and in the end I was 100% right and it worked out great. Thank you. 

Work son totally remembered this. 

And I pointed out to him that the 6 or so guys working on this project are so good. So good at listening, so good at follow up and follow through. They treat me like I know what I'm talking about, because honestly, I do!!!  I've supported this product for 11 years. Call me a subject matter expert. 

So I gave them some severe praise to the person at my company that oversees the product team. They deserve it. I hope she shares it with them.

I got up this morning super early, not at 4am but before 6, and I started working immediately. And at 8pm I was still working. New tickets flowing in, Chris answers them. 

In other news. Because our outdoor spigot isn't working, I cannot use the hose. I hand watered everything except the veggie beds. But those were nice and wet after I watered them the other day. My contractor isn't able to fix it (he winced and said "I'm not really good at plumbing" .... sir thank you for your honesty), so he referred me to a buddy of his that is able to fix it, and he is coming by tomorrow morning. 

Doug and Geoff are going to his mom's on Wednesday. This was a comedy of errors in planning. It was going to be Thursday but he called an audible to go up tomorrow after work, which upset her apple cart and her plans and whatever, so there was just a 40 minute discussion of the plan. 

So help me if he decides NOT to go on Wednesday after work. Ha! 

Also, I was going to go if Geoff opted to stay home, he floundered back and forth and decided he would go after all. Which additionally confused and confounded her.

I'm kind of glad they are going together, because I am just going to put on music, drink mimosas, and CLEAN! With these two guys totally out of my way, it'll be bliss. Oh, and answer helpdesk tickets. That will continue through the next couple days.

Here's a picture of tomato babies! Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill; 120 min/1.37 mi. Walk, 18 minutes, .96 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

6:45am: 165
4:30pm: 125
10:30pm: 117

food & meds:

6:45am: jardiance + phentermine
11am: english muffin w/pb
noon: met+glip
2pm: some sort of pb/chocolate "protein" meal bar
6:45pm: chicken w/white bean sauce (a Geoff recipe)
7:15pm: met+glip
8pm: remainder of the chicken stuff
white wine

It's Like NASA Sometimes

Right now, today, tonight, this moment - this  is the last night of a product I've been the support manager on for .... 11 years. It's crazy! I can't believe we are retiring this. Years in the building and planning, my work son and I have been the best besties. My manager has been an amazing colleague and support. 

Someone said something in passing (and this someone has not been part and parcel to all the work we've done) that he heard a "rumor" that our launch was going to get scrapped. He posted it  in Slack and no one replied. 

I direct messaged him, cause to be honest this was a surprise to me, whatever the rumor was that he heard, and I asked him what was going on.

"I'm not sure! I just heard something in a meeting! So I thought I'd go into the slack channel and ask" was the basic vibe. 

So there I am, at 11am, slightly panicked. We already moved the launch back once from May to June, I cannot disappoint the masses. WE cannot disappoint the masses. 

Thankfully my boss knew exactly what he was talking about. He allayed the fears, and I immediately felt calm again. I felt like NASA folks must feel when everything is so close to coming together and there's a thunderstorm coming. Something you can't control. Something that grinds it all to a stop. Would it be a 24 hour stoppage? We've been in a code freeze all day so the team can prepare migration. 

My boss is sending out an all points communication at 11pm (soon) and I'm wondering if he needs me to proof it. He hasn't messaged me, I'm online. He can see me. So he will tag me in if he needs. 

Once that note goes out it is "Pencils Down" for all the users of the product. And we anticipate the "all clear" to get into the new product will go out by 10am. 

Wish our team luck, would ya?

I didn't sleep much last night. Couldn't fall asleep, couldn't stay asleep. My handyman called me at 7:45am (ugh) to say he'd come by this afternoon and then did not. I didn't reach out and bother him. I worked until after 6, almost 7. Doug took Toffee for a walk and when they got back I realized I should have gone with them. So I took her on another walk. Cut a corner, missed 1 mile. Doh.

Tonight I am hoping for better rest. I took some Zquill, I put the biofreeze on all the sore spots (I ran yesterday and today after a week of NO running so. Ouch). 

If I wake up at some ungodly hour, I'll go downstairs and pick up the laptop. I'll even shower first seeing as I didn't take the time to do that today. 

Let's Go. 

And here's a "What Toffee Thinks of Soccer" picture for ya. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  15 min on the treadmill, 1.06 mi. 24 min walk with Toffee, .96 mi. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 175
4:45pm: 125
10:30pm: 158

food & meds:

8am: jardiance + phentermine
11am: small bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
12:30pm: 2 pieces of multigrain bread toasted with pb & no sugar j; met+glip
6pm: white wine; kielbasa, pierogis
7:30pm: met+glip

Wet Dry Vac Adventures!

(Saturday and Sunday)

Saturday
My friend H has a wonderful house and two guest rooms and two cats and a lot of kindness and hospitality. I stayed there Friday night. We had a lot of chat time, girl time, fun. A great yap. We didn't get a selfie or anything, it was just purely organic hangout time. I did take a picture of her cat David Wallace (yes, he's named after a character on The Office). 

Saturday morning, she ordered doordash breakfast from a bagel shop near her house that I really like (Asiago Cheese bagel, big chef kiss). Her company offers some extra double-time pay when workload gets to be too much, so she woke up at about 6am and started working. I came out around 9, and we sat on the couch, chatted while she worked. I would have brought my laptop and worked too if I knew she was going to take advantage of the extra pay! I have things I could be doing. 

Around 1pm she had a date to go over a friend's house and babysit her 1 year old so the friend could go get a haircut and grocery shop. I hit the road. Traffic going home was much better than getting there. And I am reminded that even though we are "close" to Baltimore, it's still a heck of a trip. 

While I was at her place, my fitbit battery died. I don't know if it has anything to do with the update of the app by Google (they ruined a perfectly good app) but I notice my fitbit vibrates more frequently, unexpectedly, unwantedly. And I had 20% battery when I left the house Friday and it was dead by 11am Saturday. And, of course, I did not have a charger. So I had to live without it, without checking if I did my steps, without seeing how many more steps to 10k. 

Kind of a freeing experience. Recently I told myself maybe I need to stop focusing on getting the steps and beating the 10k and whatever but I rely on it when I run to know how far I go. So I'm not quite at the point of giving it up. 

But I did take a complete break from it, as you'll see in the digits below.

While the fitbit was charging, I took a big nap. I used to be the queen of naps, but in the past couple years daytime sleep eludes me. Not yesterday. Not sure why I was so tired... but it felt good to do a snooze. 

Geoff made a really good dinner, and we thought it would be great with orzo or couscous so he noted that for future opportunities. Sometimes he finds a recipe randomly online and it just really works. 

Sunday
I slept in. The drone of the AC and the lack of a dog hogging up my side of the bed was nice. Doug had gone downstairs sometime after 3am, and she followed him. I woke up organically without an alarm, sometime between 9 and 9:30, and just relaxed until I had to get up to use the bathroom. 

Around 10:30 I went out to water the garden, front and back. It's wild - I went away a couple days and it is like things went into high gear out there.  I sat outside drinking coffee, aware of how hot it was but also not letting it bother me that much. Doug came out to join me, and we chatted about everything. 

Right after we ate lunch Geoff came upstairs and said "we have a leaking pipe in the basement." The room where I keep threatening to set up my office, right where the spigot for the garden hose comes into has a pipe that decided to start leaking. 

Ohhhhh no. That's where All My Treasures are. I have posters, Guster memorabilia, all the photo albums (they're in plastic bins), my future desk, my future office chair, boxes of books. Crap. 

We headed downstairs and Doug turned the valve off that feeds the spigot. Easy stop to the problem. None of my stuff was wet, one box with some books in it had started to absorb water but I emptied it out and chucked the box into recycling. We have a stairway runner carpet remnant that I put flat on the floor when we moved in to help it stop being rolled up and funky, and that was soaked. 

I told Doug that I'd go upstairs and get all the crummy towels. Thank goodness we keep all our crummy towels! 

He said not to. 

"I'll go to Lowes and grab a wet/dry vac as an investment in the estate of our home. And the thing for the inside of the toilet so it'll stop running." 

He did, and I moved anything out of the way of being in danger of getting wet. 

When he got back, I tackled the basement and he fixed the toilet. Within 90 minutes, nothing but victory. 

The wet/dry vac is small. He could have gotten the next size up but he opted for this one. Four trips upstairs to dump out the water, and I think it is a 5 gallon container... Good grief. That's a lot of water when you think about it, but it could be worse.

Thank goodness for Geoff hearing the hissing sound and wondering what it was. When I think that we could have just still been sitting here tonight watching hockey and that would still be happening... 

Water is such a jerk. 

Digits below this picture of my new best friend. May I not need to pull him out for service anytime soon. I will post garden pictures tomorrow!

Saturday digits

exercise: 5/12 hours*. No walk, no effort, big rest day!  2k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 194
xpm: n/a
10pm: 110

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance + phentermine
10:30am: beautiful asiago bagel w/cream cheese; giant iced coffee
11:30am: met+glip
3:15pm: Oikos zero yogurt w/granola bar crushed in
6:30pm: some sort or chicken and peppers in a nice sauce (A Geoff creation); met+glip
8pm: 4 Aldis "monster" cookies

Sunday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 25 min/1.77 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 145
4:30pm: 103
11pm: 77

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance + phentermine
12:30pm: 2 slices of multigrain bread w/pb and zero sugar j; met+glip
6:30pm: spinach & cheese ravioli in Alfredo sauce
7:30pm: met+glip
9pm: mixed nuts; vodka tonic

Home and Gone Again

This entry covers Thursday and Friday and is technically published on Saturday ... early

Thursday night driving home it was a very interesting experience. 

I left the office at 5, about 3 hours later than I wanted. Being on a very full Metro was something I'd forgotten about. I got to the stop near where my car was parked and it was 98 degrees outside. I opted to walk over to the pub for some refreshment, and summon an Uber.

Remember lessons learned. Heed them. Obey them. 

It would be a 15 minute wait, so, I had a second drink and talked to the guy next to me about how cool the music was in the 80s when we were growing up. Whatever music system they had running was playing all our favorite childhood hits from ABBA to ZZ Top. INXS and A-ha. 

It was getting close to Uber time so I settled up the tab, left a giant tip, and hi-fived the dude at the bar who sang along to the Beastie Boys "Paul Revere" with me. 

The Uber and I met right on time (technology can be amazing) and I got in. I told him I felt like an idiot for calling him but he said in a very wonderful accent from wherever he was from "No! Do not feel shame! It is hot out. I've done so many half mile, one mile trips. People who usually walk to the market and back, all their things will be melted by the time they get home. No. It's no shame. Stay hydrated too!" 

Excellent advice, sir. One mile later, I'm putting stuff in my car and getting ready for the ride. It is 6:30pm. ETA to the house, 90 minutes. 

Except the weather had alternate plans for me. As I was driving to the north, to my left the sky was angry and ready to kick ass. To the right, sunshine, lollipops, puffy clouds, angel songs. And I needed to turn left. 

I got right to the rest area (and needed to pee, thanks to the G&Ts) and made it to and from the bathroom right before the sky unleashed the furies. Glad I was not trying to drive through that. I called Doug to let him know where I was (approximately 10 miles from my front door) and that I would be waiting it out for a little. He said it was done at our house, so it probably wouldn't be too long. 

Guster kept me company, and I kept the car running so the AC would keep me comfy and the defroster would keep it from getting too foggy in there. 

Back on the road, home, happy to see the dog, happy to see the fam, happy to watch hockey and sit and eat leftovers on my couch. 

Doug informed me that he and Geoff were going to be going up to see his mom next weekend. Oh, okay. I didn't remind him that I told him I was probably maybe going to go up to my mom's that weekend. Mostly because it has been about 6 months since he went there last, and it would be a very good thing for them to go up. Maybe see if she needs more help at the old house. She does want a new phone, and she said her tablet keeps overheating, so she wanted to maybe get something new. I told him to invest in an actual laptop for her.  

This morning, I didn't set an alarm. No one made noise, and I woke up organically at 9:15am. With my dog. I got up, futzed in the kitchen, futzed with laundry, and picked up the laptop to remind my team I was OOO today. Set my out of office, which I'd forgotten to do. And then I did helpdesk tickets, and a check in with my work son because he was not at the conference and we missed each other. And there was a lot of drama at his end which I wasn't looped in on. 

Glad to have been oblivious for a bit. 

I watered the garden and the indoor plants. Geoff went to the market and took my bank card so I hit the treadmill for a bit to make sure I keep up on steps. I hit the road to head to my friend's house in Baltimore about 2 hours later than I intended but. Made it by 6pm. We immediately headed to where the venue was, ate dinner, connected with S & H. 

I have said it before, and will again and again, Amythyst Kiah is a national treasure. What a fantastic show she gave us tonight. Before the show, I got a call from the venue. I'd asked if it was okay when I bought the tickets if an 11 year old was in attendance because there was no age guidance on the website. I never heard back. But they called to say they wanted to know the name of the 11 year old, so I told the woman that H had met Amythyst previously and told her he "played keys" so they gave her a note to see if she'd shout him out from the stage. And she did. Delightfully. 

The last two songs of the night H and I went to kind of the back and we danced, Empire of Love and Black Myself - anthems for a new age. 

We waited after and he got his CD signed and we took some pictures. And I asked the venue for copies of the poster, and they gave me four. 

There was another kid around H's age there, so I handed him a poster. He was thrilled and had her autograph it. 

When H talked to Amythyst, he specifically asked about her cat, and I think Amythyst was especially entertained by that. His name is Zuko (like from Avatar, the Last Airbender) and because he is Orange and Naughty. 

Gotta love it. 

We went out for more chinese food after the show because that was the only restaurant in the neighborhood still open after. And we had a mini dance party to some Guster songs when Hallie asked them to play something on their spotify or whatever service they had. 

Back at Hallie's very tired, very bedtime. Wondering if her orange cat will come see me. I left the door open for him.

Digits! Below.

Thursday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  three measurable walks around DC, don't feel like digging out the details from the fitbit app. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 141
4:30pm: 153
10pm: 118

food & meds:

7am: jardiance + phentermine
9am: 2 frittatas (goat cheese! asparagus! sausage!) some hash browns
2pm: met+glip; roast beef & cheddar on whole wheat wrap w/ltm
6pm: 2 G&Ts
8:30pm: chicken thighs & some dirty rice; met+glip
1 beer

Friday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  20 min/1.5 mi on the treadmill. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 124
4:15pm: 110
after midnight-ish: 146

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance + phentermine
12pm: small bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1:15pm: met+glip
6:30pm: met+glip, chinese food; a couple beers
at the concert 2 beers
after the concert: more chinese food, 2 more beers