Impending Snowmageddon

People get ready, there's a storm a comin'
Don't need no ticket, just stay in your house .... 

In the DC area the weather prognosticators lose their everloving shit if some snow is on the way. Boom or Bust predictions always equal Bust. We could get 5 to 9 inches, or maybe a coating to 1 inch! 

It's always a coating to 1 inch. 

Right now, on Wednesday night, the weather guys and gals are up in the social media platforms yelling "It is too early to say but!!!" and my map shows 17 inches of snow. 

17 mother humping inches. 

First of all, finally. I'm living somewhere that it is supposed to snow. And it hasn't in forever. We get powdered donut amounts of snow where the grass is still visible through the coating. 

But. This one may pan out? Who knows? It is too early to tell! I'll check in Friday night or Saturday morning for an update. 

Second, we need the precipitation. We've been in a steady hard drought over much of this region. So bring it. Snow? Rain? Ice? whatever! If it is wet, let it fall. 

Today was a good day. I got a walk on the treadmill in between meetings and then at like 5pm, Toffee really needed a walk. Really. She's so full of pent up energy and she's been getting a solid walk a lot of days of the week. So I checked the temperature (35 degrees) checked to see if it was windy, and suited up. We had a good time. My friend S called because she had stories to tell me and we haven't talked in a while, so that helped pass the time almost as good as a playlist. 

Digits below the weather map! Please note, my town is .... not covered by the purple blob. So we're gettin' nothin. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Two walks. First on the treadmill, 25 min/1.42 miles; Second with Toffee, 23 min/1.2 miles. 11k+ steps by midnight

blood glucose:

8:45am: 105
4:45pm: 115
10:30pm: 190 (not sure why so high? One slice of pizza for dinner, and 10 buffalo chicken bites. No alcohol. Weird?) 

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance+phentermine
12:15: LGBT salad (Lettuce, Goat Cheese, Bacon, Tomato). Hell yeah. 
1:45pm: met+glip
7pm: one slice of pepperoni & onion pizza; 10 buffalo chicken bites
8:30pm: met+glip
no wine/beer

Where was he going without ever knowing the way

I woke up feeling super gross. I think too many potatoes last night. I did it to myself. Sadness. I do love me some mashed potatoes. Sigh. Maybe next time, a lot less mashed potatoes.

My morning was very quiet work-wise. I didn't have a meeting until noon. My mom's neighbor S Jr.'s husband had knee surgery when I was up there, so I was wondering how he was doing. I don't have his number, so I texted S Jr. 

She said he was doing fine, healing well, PT starts Thursday. But my mom's neighbor E was missing. 

Missing? What? 

She filled me in. Yesterday he was going to visit his wife in the hospital and left around 9:30am. But he never made it to the hospital. 

Not really sure how this news made it back to people at Old Folks Land, but it did.  S Jr. and others sprang into action. They called the police. They called every hospital in Southeast MA.

No sign of him. Anywhere. 

I was going to call my mom, but S Jr. said she was out running her errands to the market and stuff, so I thought I'd wait. She told me that his friend was driving up and down the highways looking to see if there was some obvious sign that his car went off the road and into the woods or something. 

Could you imagine how he felt? Looking everywhere for some sort of obvious marks from tires, broken trees... worrying about your friend. 

After another hour or so I got word that E was okay, he was found. Safe.

In Connecticut. 

He must have driven past the exit he wanted, and kept going through Rhode Island. Confused, something. I don't know more details but I was absolutely surprised this happened. He's a sharp cookie and not one I'd expect to become lost. 

I was exceptionally relieved that he was okay. I guess that his friend who went looking for him was bringing him home. Not sure how the car is coming home. I never did call my mom so I'll do that tomorrow morning. 

After lunch, I felt sick. Tired, bloated, my eyes were burning but I don't have a fever or anything. 

Sometimes you just feel blah. Yeah? 

I managed to take a nap, which I normally don't nap. I haven't been able to nap for some time now. But I did. 

Around 4, I woke up from the snooze, and realized I should do steps to get my mile for the city challenge. I set out to do just the mile but was walking most of it, not jogging, no fast or fancy walking, and I just kept going. 

50 minutes? Can I make it to ... 60? 

Meh. No I cannot.

That was enough. And dinner was ready. And I was hungry. 

No picture today. Just digits. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 50 min/2.57 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 138
4:45pm: 81
10:30pm: 117

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
11am: english muffin w/pb
1:45pm: met+glip
5pm: kitchen sink cookie from aldi
5:30pm: spicy chicken and rice burrito a la geoff
8:45pm: met+glip

Out and About

We had two checks we needed to deposit, so we drove to the next city over to use the ATM. One of the checks just would NOT cooperate, frustratingly so. And the mobile app for depositing checks isn't behaving either. I'm going to have to drive down there again to take care of this in person. 

After the bank fail, Doug had a "drive around and look at stuff" vibe going on so we went way out into the western part of our neighboring county without our GPS on, without Google Maps. We saw signs for Ostertag Vistas, "Historic Ostertag Vistas!" and thought well heck now. Let's go look at that! 

Turns out it is a private and fancy wedding venue location, we were not permitted to drive up into the property without an appointment. I'm not interested in marrying anyone else, I've got my ride or die (35 years, bitches) and we felt ripped off for driving all the way the fuck out there thinking we would see something cool and noteworthy. 

Meh. Thanks for nothing, Ostertag whatevers.

But it was a beautiful day for a drive all through the woods, up and down roads, all over. And eventually we got to a road we knew that would take us home. 

We passed our house. 

We went further down into Hagerstown to the Hub City brewery, which is normally closed Mondays but I saw on Facebook they were open today. Happy to stop in after almost two hours of toodlin' aboot Mountain Maryland for a potty and a brew. 

Hardly anyone was there, so we had the barkeep to ourselves and it was a nice way to unwind before heading home. 

Tonight I made dinner - I've been wanting a meatloaf, so I asked Geoff to cut the potatoes and set them aside. 

Ha.

I should have said "cut 3 potatoes per person" but I didn't and he cut this entire giant ass BAG of potatoes. Huh. Okay. So we'll have left over potatoes. I can make a cottage pie or something this week. Meatloaf always takes about an hour, it was already 6pm by the time we came home, so dinner was on the later side than if Geoff was in charge. He's mister Make Dinner At 5pm. I'm not. 

After dinner, because I was shorted an hour of steps and behind anyway, I hopped on the treadmill for an additional 15 min. I intended to take Toffee out but it was so cold and windy. Neither she nor I wanted any of that nonsense. 

Good day all around!

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 4pm in the car; treadmill in the morning for 30 min/1.78 mi. Again to make up missing steps, 15 min/.83 mi, 11k+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 132 
n/a pm: n/a
11pm: 129

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
2pm: met:glip; atkins protein drink mixed into my coffee
3:30pm: atkins snack bar 
5pm: 2 beers at the brewery
6:15pm: 1 beer at home; "kitchen sink" cookie from Aldi
7:15pm: 2 hefty slabs of meatloaf, carrots, a lot of mashed potatoes (more than I shoulda!)

Do nothing, eat food, watch football

We didn't do much today. 

I wanted to do things like, oh, clean and tidy. But nothing came of the day. I ended up sleeping until just before 10am, and missed the 9am steps by just a couple. But I made up for it. We each took our turn on the treadmill, and it was football time before we knew it. Playoff football weekend excitement! 

I will aim for getting things done tomorrow with my day off. There are some boxes in my bedroom that need unpacked, there are downstairs things, and maybe we'll leave the house and do/go somewhere. Maybe? Doug's birthday is Friday so maybe we'll do something nice and special? 

Somehow I managed to make myself stay on the treadmill for 45 min and that was a touch over 2.5 miles. I keep entertaining the idea that maybe I can do a 5k, which would be 3.1 miles. 

Maybe I can force myself to a full hour and that'll be a 5k? Can my brain let me do that? Stay with this and not scream with boredom? 

An actual 5k would be something that I'd have to finish just to get home, or get to the celebratory beer at the end at the brewery. So there's your motivation to finish, right? As of right now, I'm already home. I can just decide one mile or 2 miles or 5k, if I can bring myself to do that because I'm here.... 

Wish me luck as I attempt to make this happen as a goal. 

I remember when I started doing the 'dedicated 10' because the nutritionist told me to pick something that I hated the least, and do it for 10 min a day. I should send her my fitbit stats. 

Geoff went to the market and I made spinach artichoke dip that actually would be a REALLY good stuffing for chicken breasts. Note to self. Use more cream cheese next time for creamier dip.

So a lot of doing nothing. And that's okay. Right? Right. 

Digits below pictures. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 9am by a few steps. Treadmill, 45 min/2.53 miles, 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 130 
4:30pm: 121
10pm: 164

food & meds:
10am: jardiance+phentermine
3pm: met+glip; atkins protein bar
5pm: an epic ton and a half of homemade spinach and artichoke dip, pita chips+ round butter pretzels
Kaluha sombrero (to get the milk out of the fridge) 
6:30pm: big piece of pork loin in a geoff sauce w/4 pierogi and buttered peas
white wine

The Cheese and the Airplanes

When I was staying at my mom's she came tearing down to the bedroom where I was working (and by "tearing" I mean actually using her cane, and shuffling her feet faster than usual. That's "tearing) and she yelled from the kitchen "DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE AIRPLANES!?" 

I ... sat there for a second thinking holy shit was there some sort of terrorist attack? Did planes suddenly fall from the sky? Millions of people dead everywhere? 

I quickly opened our work slack to see if there was anything in Breaking News while I uttered "uhhhhhhh, no? What about the airplanes?" 

"The water on the airplanes is bad! Don't order coffee! Don't order tea! DON'T WASH YOUR HANDS IN THE SINK!" 

Feeling a touch confused, I think I just stared at her. "People are getting sick! They did a big test. Only Delta scored highest." 

Still confused, still staring "You're flying this weekend. BE CAREFUL!" Oh okay. She's concerned about me. I get it. Very good. I don't drink coffee or tea on airplanes, and I don't usually order anything that needs ice. I carry a small Purell hand sanitizer in my backpack instead of using the bathroom sink because of a lot of reasons. I don't know how good the soap is but now okay, I don't know how good the soap and water are. 

"Thank you for letting me know," I said. 

The woman was in an absolute tizzy and she told everyone at her restaurant about this news report. And I sat there, dumbfounded.

The other night Doug's mom called us and was very concerned, "Did you hear about the cheese?" 

Oh my. Same thing. What. What about the cheese?

"There is a big cheese recall. Didn't you hear?" 

No. We didn't hear. 

"Well, I just bought cheese at Aldi. I think I have to throw it out." I spent time looking things up on the internet from the FDA about the cheese. She didn't have the cheese that's being recalled. We assured her that if she wanted to bring it to Aldi and ask - she could but we thought she was safe enough to eat it and be okay. 

"There's only one way to find out," she joked. 

Saturday of a three day weekend, Geoff woke up before us and made coffee, Doug and Toffee were in the guest room and somehow, miraculously, I slept until 7am and went down to the bathroom, and then back up to bed. I slept until 9:30 and that was bliss. 

Doug went to the farm stand and got a bunch of apples. We all used the treadmill. We ate a good dinner and watched a lot of football. Super exciting.

Digits! Below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. One treadmill trip. 40 min/2.25 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 122 
5pm: 132
10pm: 113

food & meds:
10am: jardiance (phentermine on order)
2pm: met+glip; english muffin w/pb+ spot of peach jam
5pm: plate with apple, cheese, cashews, and some left over steak tip pieces; white wine
6:15pm: cheesy shells and broccoli w/ mushrooms and mixed in bacon (usually I add chicken breast chunks but we didn't have any) 
8:30pm: met+glip

3 Day Weekend

I wrote a whole big entry and am too tired to finish it, so. Just the digits today. Watched an interesting mini-series on Netflix about President Garfield's assassination called Death By Lightning. Michael Shannon - amazing. What a performance. And Nick Offerman, serious and funny all at once. 

A couple days ago we listened to a podcast episode about Garfield's assassin, and how Garfield actually died (sepsis, not from the actual bullet). 

Digits below. zzzzzzz!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill, 36 min/2.02 miles; Treadmill, 18 min/.83 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 120 
4:45pm: 100
11pm: 146

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance (phentermine on order)
10am: english muffin w/pb
12:45pm: tuna salad on 647 sub roll; met+glip
5pm: bowl of cashews
6pm: big piece of chicken parm
9:15pm: met+glip
no wine

Windy Windy Day

No warmer out today, and extra windy. Thankful for the treadmill for my steps. I had a lot of meetings so I got a quick walk in during lunch time, and then late I needed 2500 steps to get to 10k. 

Poor Toffee. No walk for her two days in a row and she didn't even want to go outside today!  

We had a couple minor oopsies today. Geoff put some boxes near our water heater, which has started leaking, and needs to be replaced (we knew that going into the house but figured we would wait until absolutely necessary, and now it is absolutely necessary). Doug lost his mind when he went downstairs and saw the boxes he had moved AWAY from the water heater put back. He doesn't understand how Geoff's mind works sometimes. Like. WHY did you move these back. At all. Who asked for that. No one. 

One of the boxes was my wedding dress - and the box is soaked. I don't want to open it. Well, I should. I think it is in plastic and in the box. Maybe it is okay. But I honestly don't know why I still have it. 

Once, I tried to find an organization that took wedding dresses and converted them to burial dresses for infants. I believe they are called Angel Gowns. The last time I looked into this none of the companies were taking dresses, they had plenty. So yeah, maybe I'll open the box and make sure it is okay and attempt again to donate it. 

All the other boxes were fine. 

Second oopsie was I went to take a shower after the treadmill this afternoon and the shower door came right off the track. I was standing there, holding it by the tiny little nub of a handle and trying very hard to keep it from falling anywhere. I called for help, Doug came down and was able to assist me. It made me think of that time we were in Arizona at the World's Worst Hotel Ever, the Willcox Inn, and the window fell out of the track and I was standing there in my underpants in the middle of the night trying to get it back in place. If you've never read that entry, go ahead. Probably one of my favorites.

Luckily, this was not as dramatic but I still had a good laugh. 

My work son and I had a great client meeting/training. Then we had our regular digital platform office hour and that was great. 

I did a bunch of work after the office hours. Geoff made an amazingly good dinner, and I cleaned up after it. He's messy. I need to have a talk with him about not being as messy as he goes, and cleaning up when he is done. We share a lot of the duty. But. I feel like he can do a better job cleaning up after himself. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 27 min/1.51 mi. 2nd Treadmill, 18 min/1mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 165 
4:30pm: 91
10:30pm: 162* note late met+glip

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance (phentermine on order)
noon: last of Geoff's chicken marsala (3 tiny pieces and a lot of sauce) 
1pm: met+glip (ha. on time today!) 
4:30pm: atkins snack bar; handful of unsalted (eww) cashews
6:30pm: bowl with some tater tots, covered with homemade pulled pork from Geoff
no wine
9:30pm: met+glip ( a little late, meant to take by 8:45 but was on the treadmill)

Rainy Rainy Day

I had a couple humorous oopsies today. The big one was in our training class, my work son asked me to show the attendees how to do a thing.  I could not remember how to do the thing. 

I fuddled my way through it, and said "so right here, B, what would you suggest that I add now" and "Say we wanted a two column lay out... how do I just add a new column once I've selected a one column layout." 

He played along wonderfully but I think he totally knew I was talking out of my butt. And we sounded convincing. 

Today it rained all day, Toffee was not interested in outside and I was not interested in taking her for a walk, because I also did not want to be wet and outside. 

I hit the treadmill, and entertained myself. I got to a mile, then I said well, how about just get to 30 min. And then okay I am at 1.75. Why not stick with it until we get to 2 miles? 

And the music was pumping, and it was working out really well. I made it to 2 miles and then realized we had training in 20 minutes so I had to shower and make ready. 

I also realized at 4pm that I forgot to take my met+glip around 1pm, I had eaten my english muffin at 11:30 and thought that was too early to take it, so I said I'd take it before training. Ha. Remembered after it was all over.

My work son's sister had a baby yesterday. Number two for her. So we wrapped up training so he could go run to see his brand new nephew. 

So she's by proxy my work daughter and that's my work grandson? 

Ha. 

He sent me so many pictures. We're all in love. 

I spent a lot of time tonight fixing a problem with some user pages in the content management system, and there has to be a better faster way to do it, especially because the next person has four people pages with tons of stories assigned to them, and .... well. manually editing all of these will suck. 

Right then. Bedtime. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 35 min/2.03 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 140 
n/apm: x
10:45pm: 132

food & meds:
9am: phentermine+jardiance
11:30: english muffin w/pb and lil'bitty dollop of homemade peach jam
4:15pm: met+glip (completely forgot to take after treadmill time)
5:45pm: cheese tortellini w/spicy sausage and cheezy tomato sauce (a la geoff)
white wine
10pm: met+glip

Training Day and Bloodwork

I woke up early this morning to spend time training a colleague who needed to learn how to use one of our products. He's contracting, and is a firefighter most of the time, so he has been working 6am-9am. Today we met at 8. 

I love teaching people how our products work, and, because he'll be doing testing on the next product I showed him all the fun broken things in our current product. 

It was a great hour long training. 

I dove into work then, got a bunch of things ironed out and had a client meeting which went okay but they've messed up their website in such an epic fashion I don't even know where to start with it. I have to set up a meeting with a colleague and the product owner to ask how they did this thing and undo it. meh? 

We then had client training and it went very well. There is always one person in the training who has 100,000 questions. About 10 minutes before the training ended I had to leave to go get bloodwork done, I was about a week overdue for my PT/INR test. Thankfully traffic was really moving, and I made it there in plenty of time. 

On the way home, not so much. 

I didn't get to do a walk during the work day, and it was too dark by the time I got back to take Toffee out for one so I hit the treadmill for a while. And then again to get another couple hundred steps done after dinner. I need to time things better and make the best use of hours. Tomorrow morning I think I'll have time. 

But I do want to walk Miss Toffee. 

Anyway, good day, overall. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 21 min/1.3 mi; treadmill 10 min/.55; 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 100 
n/apm: x
10pm: 170

food & meds:
7am: phentermine+jardiance
10:30am: zero sugar yogurt w/granola bar crushed up
12:30: met+glip
3pm: mixed nuts
6pm: Geoff's mexican mess. White rice, spicy beef, peppers, cheese jalapeños. 
8pm: met+glip
white wine
10pm: protein shake

Treadmill!

While I was away, the treadmill that Doug ordered for us arrived. 

The original plan was to put it in the basement, but it was too heavy for Doug and Geoff to work with and get down the stairs. It made it into the mud room, and now the mud room is the official treadmill home. 

I was afraid it would shake the house being in the mudroom, because the floor in there doesn't feel like ... I don't know, a real floor. Feels like it is somehow raised up in a way. But it isn't doing anything bad and my fears are for naught. 

This freaking house is kind of solid. 

It has a lot of buttons, and Doug said he still has to run this one wire/cord down the inside of one of the legs but didn't want to do it unless he knew it worked in the first place. I feel like the 3 mile setting on this thing is faster than the ones at The Planet. I haven't played with the seriousness of the incline. 

It has a mount for an iPad or tablet. Doug and I both feel like that's not necessary - neither of us are interested in watching a show while on the treadmill. It has speakers but Doug said they kind of ... suck. So he uses our JBL speaker when he's on the treadmill. 

Anyway, I'm happy it is here for rainy days and I won't have to drive over to the PF gym in the south end of town unless I want to do weights now. Which I might now that I have wireless earbuds! 

When I signed up for the town 100 mile challenge, I signed up Toffee too. She had not yet been with me  for a mile walk but the weather was agreeable today so we went out together. I wish she would just walk next to me and not zig zag all over the place. But we even got a good trot going at points. 

I finally figured out the goal tracker website. It is supposed to automatically interface with my fitbit. It's not 100% accurate, so I just spent some time adding in Fri/Sat which were not picked up by the app, and fixing today because it didn't count my last minute steps today.

The treadmill is nice, but just like at the gym I know that my fitbit is more accurate. The speed of the treadmill is different than the speed of me ON the treadmill. I can run a 13 min. mile but the setting on the treadmill is for 3 miles an hour, 20 min. mile. I set the fitbit up based on my stride in a measured mile years ago when I got it, so I feel.... this is truth. One thing I'd like to do is go to a measured mile track again, and verify this is still accurate. 

Anyway. Enough boring shit. 

Steelers lost tonight and that sucks but hey. Go Patriots. Right?! Yay. 

I took a super blurry picture of Toffee on our walk, it was dark so my camera doesn't do a good job in dim lighting. Proof that I took my dog on my challenge walk today. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks. One with Miss Toffee, 26 min/1.38 mi. Treadmill, 18 min/1.09 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 141 
4:30pm: 121
11pm: 120

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
9:30am: atkins protein shake
1pm: turkey and sharp cheddar on Oatmeal bread; met+glip
6pm: chicken marsala a la geoff
white wine; mixed nuts
8:45pm: met+glip

Home! Home! Home!

Made it home! 

C and I spent a lazy morning at her place and didn't go out to brekkie or do anything else. She set out a cheese and crackers breakfast and that was delightful. Brie! Cheddar! Boursin! yay. 

We stopped at Jess' so I could see them, pat the dog, and drop off some food I didn't finish. Then, off to the airport. Manchester is a super easy in and out delivery or pickup of humans. I gathered my stuff, checked my bag, and started walking the terminal. I wasn't sure what time I'd get home and didn't want to run a risk of no walk and mess up day 3 of our city's 100 mile challenge. 

I went through security, found my gate, headed to the Sam Adams tap room. I wasn't going to eat but my flight got delayed so. Okay. Their fish tacos are fantastic. So it was a great way to spend time, watching the Bills game and it finished up right when we needed to go to the gate. 

Doug picked me up and told me Geoff was making dinner for us. I was disappointed it was mac & cheese but not gonna complain - it ws good, and filled with ham. And I should have recorded Toffee's joyful freak out running bonanza but was too entertained to take the camera out. 

So happy to be home. Laundry done within minutes of walking in because all my stuff stinks from Shirley's. Geoff opened his birthday card and said it smelled like smoke and he laughed. "I see what you mean." 

Anyway. More tomorrow. Off to bed happy with a Patriots win tonight! 

Digits below. Picture of Long Island, Fire Island over to Robert Moses Park, and the dark bit of land there is Heckscher state park. The sunset was gorgeous tonight! 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. 2 measurable walks, first in the MHT airport terminal 26 min/1.3 mi; after deplaning in Baltimore walking to baggage claim, 17 min/.52 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:

8am: 100 
n/apm: x
11:15pm: 181

food & meds:
8am: phentermine+jardiance
10am: cheese and crackers breakfast feast
3pm: met+glip; 2 beers, fish tacos
8:30pm: 2 big bowls of mac & cheese w/ham; white wine
9pm: met+glip

Fare You Well, Fare You Well

Saturday's entry - forgot to hit publish, I guess.

Had a great day today. I was supposed to have lunch with Jess and Catie, but Jess wasn't feeling well and Catie got locked out of her car. So I took a nice walk instead, and came back and had an english muffin sandwich. 

C had a funeral to attend in middle of nowhere almost Vermont, so the dogs and I chilled and had a nice time of fellowship and some farting. Them, not me. 

I thought about a nap. C was on her way back so I stayed up. We went out to early dinner, a "linner" as it were. We talked about movies and what are favorites. Food was great and I'm glad we went early, the wait was forever by the time we left. 

My cousin texted me that Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead and other bands had died. I was stunned. C went to bed and I watched football, wallowed in sadness and crawled social media sharing memories with friends about Bob and his legacy. I thought of all the great times I'd seen him over the years. He was always my favorite Grateful Dead member. This one hurts a little extra.

In 2020, I had the honor of watching Bob's Tiny Desk. Watching him perform a Dylan masterpiece and a song he collaborated on with Josh Ritter. And "Ripple." When I watched him do "Only a River" I imagined Josh Ritter's amazement that there he was, doing it at the desk, of all the songs he could do.

Enjoy the video. 

Home tomorrow, looking forward to being with my boys but also have enjoyed the time with C. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 7pm because we were sitting chatting. 2 walks. One for 30 min/1.69 mi. second short walk with C 14 min/.6 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 126 
4pm: 131
9:45pm: 95

food & meds:
8:30am: phentermine+jardiance
noon: english muffin w/turkey and gouda
1pm: met+glip 
4:30pm: spinach salad with salmon. 2 beers, 6 buffalo wings
7pm: white wine w/ diet ginger ale
8pm: met+glip

Gargoyle in my bed

Just a quick entry. C picked me up / rescued me from mom's today. Right now I'm in bed in her guest room with her dog Ginny, who is a little frenchie but also a little gargoyle but in the most perfect way. She's making all kinds of noise and is mad at me that we are NOT SLEEPING YET. 

Okay Ginny. I'll shut the computer off and we'll go to bed. 

Had a great day. That's all I have to say. Met a cat when we were out walking. Had not met a cat yet out around grandma's neighborhood. Hi Cat. 

Ginny wants me to go to bed so I'm going to do that. 

Digits below cat.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  Missed 1 hour while riding in the car. Nice walk w/C around old folks land. 30 min/1.47 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:15am: 94 
n/apm: x
9:45pm: 171

food & meds:
7:30am: phentermine+jardiance
12pm: met+glip
1pm: fajita sammitch
3pm: mcdonalds fries in the car
5:30pm: 2 pieces of beef egg roll, one crab bao; glass of wine
7pm: wine, snacks, mixed nuts, chocolate covered pretzels (OMG)

Be Careful

I don't want to bitch and bitch and bitch but.
I am relieved I get to leave here tomorrow.
My mom has been driving me nuts. 

Every time I do something she says "Be careful."

Going for a walk around the circle?
"Be careful."
Why.
"It's icy out there."
Ma, it is 48 degrees. There's no ice.
"Well still be careful."

I take her car to get it inspected, "Be careful." 

I go to the Walmart to pick up something, "Be careful." 

I went out to dinner with my cousin last night and she went on and on and on. "Be careful. People drive like crazy around here. They don't signal, they drive too fast..."

Ma.

You know I lived up here for 30 years? You know I live in Maryland now and people there drive like absolute dumb fucks? Telling ME to be careful, like I'm not ever? I'm not cautious? I don't look both ways three times? I am a maniac dumb shit and  I drive over curbs and through people's living rooms?

I told her I was taking her trash out and she told me to be careful.
Seriously, shut the fuck up at this point. The more you tell me to be careful the less I want to be careful. 

So she says it, and I say "No."

At first she laughed. 

And then she got mad. I asked her why she was mad, and she said that I'm not taking her seriously. 

"It isn't that I'm not taking you seriously, but I'm going to be 60 years old. I'm not 12. You can stop telling me to be careful. Instead of saying that, why don't you thank me for doing the things I did? Thank you for getting the car inspected. Thank you for taking the trash down." 

"Well that's how I broke my hip," she says. 

Yes this is true. But. Sigh.

You weigh less than that giant trash barrel, AND you could have just let go of it when it started to roll away. But no - you had to hold onto it like somehow you were going to prevent it from rolling, and it took you out. Technically, you broke your hip. Not the trash barrel. So. You be careful. 

I weigh twice as much as the trash barrel. It cannot kill, hurt, or scare me. 

"It's dark outside." 

I took out my LL Bean headlamp. Put it on, FULL POWER, shined the light in her face and said "It's not dark out anymore." 

Her neighbor has all these wicked cool lights on the side of his trailer that are motion activated. And they are brighter than the sun. 

It is super not dark out anymore. 

I know she cares. But it is borderline insulting, and exceptionally emotionally exhausting to hear this come out of her mouth every couple of minutes. 

And I said I don't want to bitch. I recognize we have our mom, she's mostly in her right mind (except for turning the internet off at night because someone could access her wifi or whatever). I told my cousin last night I didn't mean to gripe considering his mom (my mom's sister) is in a home for memory care patients, and I can have conversations with my mom and they make sense and life is fine. I don't mean to diminish his situation at all, but he totally understood. And .... he laughed. Because of course he did. 

Anyway. 

I'm finishing my mom's laundry. Waiting for the last load to dry and then off to bed. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  two walks, one up and down the street between meetings, 10 min/.61 mi. Bigger walk after work, 25 min/1.31 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 116 
4:30pm: 166
10pm: 108

food & meds:
7:45am: phentermine+jardiance
2pm: met+glip
3pm: scallops, onion rings, coleslaw (all gross. meh)
6:30pm: white wine
8:30pm: turkey and gouda on low carb white; met+glip

Geoff is 29

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

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

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

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

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

Well then.

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

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

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

So many people are not content. 

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

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

He needs this win. 

For his birthday. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

digits

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

blood glucose:

8am: 112 
4:45pm: 111
10pm: 90

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

Temporary Rock Star Status

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

sigh. 

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

Fuck all y'all. 

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

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

Well. 

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

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

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

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

And by extension, they like me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still. 

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

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

Digits below. 

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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

Happy I Am Here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digits! below. 

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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

Giving Yourself Grace

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

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

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

Anyway. 

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

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

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

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

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

Digits below. 

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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

Pivot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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

Year over Year again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pizza was ordered. 

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

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

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

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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

The Super Good Things in 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then, my family

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

Oh, and there is the miracle of this little house

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

My Job

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

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

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

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

Digits below. 

digits

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

blood glucose:

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

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