Come pick me up, I've landed

Title today comes from a very powerful Ben Folds song called Landed. After his divorce, well, this song speaks a lot. I think of it when I land at an airport. Yeah. Even if it isn't exactly the same

I had a busy day, and Doug got me to the airport in plenty of time. I had some food and got on the plane, and C was there to meet me.

There is nothing better than having your best friend being inside the airport waiting for you. 

Anyway. Long day today and I'm full of joy and happiness. Where did I pack my toothbrush?

Digits below my best friend Ginny, my favorite gargoyle, who is very happy I am ready to sleep with her. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 6pm due to be on the airplane. 91+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 203 (?)
5pm: 171
11:15pm:  217

food:
coffee/water
11:45am: pbj on 647 bread; metformin
4:30pm: 2 beers and buffalo fingers at Firkins at BWI
on the airplane: one beer, a couple pretzel snacks
8pm: chicken asiago over broccoli instead of pasta; white wine
9:30pm: metformin+jardiance
white wine at c's 

Alarms Set

I fly Southwest a lot. As you know, when you fly Southwest you have to check into your flight 24 hours in advance. I've often forgotten to do so, or, forgot my password so I can't get on the App to do it. And I'm fighting with the technology right before it is time to do the thing. 

Once, Doug was driving me to the airport. TO THE AIRPORT and I was traveling for work, and couldn't check into the flight the day before. The fact that I was traveling alone didn't bother me, I was pretty okay with sitting in the last row by the bathroom, just get me on the plane. 

I was trying to check in with some random number on my email confirmation, not my flight confirmation. I ended up calling customer service on the phone, just to make sure I wasn't dropped from the flight for lack of checking in. 

I didn't know there was a Boarding Group D until that day.

I've gotten good at it over the last couple years. I set an alarm a minute before check in time, I try to make sure I log in earlier during the day, so I don't have to remember anything at the time of check-in. I do a print-screen of my boarding pass, in case there's something wrong with the App or trying to get internet coverage at the airport (ie: Denver. Hi I see you). 

This gets me excited and anxious. Ready to go. Ready. Let's Go!!!! LFG!

Noticed that I still had not unpacked from August, I got the suitcase out and threw it on the bed. Oh. There's my yellow blouse I like to wear to client meetings. Ha. I wondered where you were. Not sure if I'll check this bag and bring my backpackI don't need to do laundry but why not do laundry. 

Watching the weather forecast, a big storm is to the south of us and is expected to roll in here tonight and make a mess of tomorrow. I'm a bit worried about it, since leaving Providence RI in August storms resulted in my flight being canceled until the next day. 

Anyway. Super excited to go tomorrow afternoon. Getting through tomorrow's workday though that's the fun part! 

Didn't take a picture today but. Here's the digits. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 18 min. indoor walk. 6600+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 177
5pm: 171
10:30pm:  157

food:
coffee/water
10:30: 2 left over grilled sausages w/a little sauce and cheese
noon: metformin
12:30pm: apple w/pb
6pm: large piece of chicken parm; metformin+jardiance
8pm: last of the candied nuts

Two More Sleeps

Looking forward to heading to NH and MA this week, got a lot done at work, really focused on a slide deck for a presentation we're doing on Wednesday. 

I had a half hour meeting with a client that I love, which turned into an hour because we just talked about great things and ideas about how we wish things were better in certain parts of our jobs. He's so sweet. And I love chatting with him. 

Anyway. 

Doug took Toffee for a walk while I cooked dinner and I walked inside the house. I should have gone with, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving a gas stove on boiling a big ass pot of chili. Still, managed to squeeze in some movement. Not as much as I'd hoped, I should have pushed a few more minutes.

Tomorrow is busy for me, and I have to fold laundry and pack!

Off to bed. Last night I had heartburn and horrible dreams so here's hoping for a better rest! 

No picture. Just digits.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Indoor walk, 16 min. 6k by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 165
5pm: 130
10pm:  188

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: english muffin w/roast beef and whipped cream cheese
noon: metformin
1:30pm: chicken salad left over
5:30pm: big bowl of chili w/ cheddar cheese, sour cream, fritos
6:30pm: jardiance+metformin
red wine+seltzer

Hot Autumn

After yesterday's super long walk I kind of was in the mood for us to do something, but I forgot. It's football season. Doug slept in, and took a nap. And I took a 20 minute walk that my fitbit measured as 19. Guess the first minute wasn't fast enough for it to register. 

I set up a marinade for the salmon he bought the other day, and waited for him to wake up. He took Toffee for a good half hour walk while I futzed about. 

My sister and I started the morning with a patio chat. Nice enough outside and breezy, no real heat just yet. Not until... I went for my walk. We rearranged our hotel plans for next weekend so we'll head down to mom's on Sunday instead of a second day in the Beverly/Salem area. 

Better to go see mom than to hang out in the old home country. I've got a few people to say hello to while we are on the north shore, so I hope to fit folks in on one of the days. Maybe. 

Today was warmer than I wanted it to be, especially on my walk. I came back instead of doing a further loop because it was just a little too warm. But I'm glad I went. 

Seeing signs of fall starting to crop up around here, even though it was 85 degrees. 

Alright. More tomorrow. Off to bed!

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 2pm because I was goofing off on my phone and misjudged the time to get up and walk. 19 minute walk (outside while Doug & Toffee were napping), 6500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 181
4pm: 165
xpm: 168

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: metformin; tuna melt on 647 white bread w/muenster cheese
12:30pm: the rest of the tuna salad
6pm: large piece of grilled salmon and about 6 pierogis 
red wine

The stars that shall be bright when we are dust

I took the title of today's entry from a poem, one line of it has been made famous by Peter Jackson's documentary in the title, They Shall Not Grow Old. The poem itself is called "For the Fallen," and I picked a different line for today.

Doug had wanted to head into DC to see the dedication of the World War I Memorial. Last night was the illumination night, and all weekend there were festivities celebrating this dedication. The memorial has been open since 2021, and before that there was a memorial there and it was called Pershing Park. As Mister History over there follows a lot of things, well, he was game to getting to go and see this.

We headed into the city around 4 which was perfect timing for getting down there. It was hot today, around 85 degrees, not nearly as horrible as it has been all summer, so today was lovely.

They had a wonderful band playing and displays of WWI memorabilia. We met a woman who is involved with a WWI restoration project of a building her grandfather worked on which is now being reassembled at the 29th Division Museum in Virginia. 

The sculpture is impressive. It is titled "A Soldier's Journey" and follows the story of a soldier who leaves home, goes through the horrors of battle, and actually returns to his family. 

When I saw this, I thought for sure that wasn't the father at the end but another soldier handing her his helmet. But reading about it on multiple websites, it turns out that's indeed him, returning home to her. 

I have to admit, thinking about her receiving her dead father's helmet kind of floored me. Reading what the story is here, with a happy ending as it were, well. That.

The anchors of the sculpture for me are the beginning where his daughter hands him his helmet at the far left, and at the end, the far right, he hands it back to her when he returns home. 

And everything in between is amazing. 

If you get to DC, of all the memorials, go see this one. 

There were folks dressed in reenactment garb from soldiers to nurses to dogs. I got a group shot of everyone but the professional photographer's strap was dangling down at the far left. I cropped it but I am not good on my phone with editing things out. 

As we were getting ready to go, I heard a young man with a French accent talking to a much older man in military garb. The younger man said "World War I is so often forgotten and overshadowed. This is a special place." And the older man nodded, he said "I have to admit, I know so little about World War I. Thank you for bringing me here today." 

That was very touching to me. 

They play Taps every night at 5pm there. Today they played Last Post and followed it with Taps. It was very beautiful. 

There are a ton of great websites, this one features an amazing drone flight around the memorial - go watch it! 

We walked around the Sherman statue, thinking that we'd go over and walk over around the White House but the roads are all blocked off, and it looked complicated. 

We were hungry. 

So we walked away and over to Capitol City Brewing. I remembered Linda and I ate there in 2019 in between 2 nights of Guster, and I was laughing thinking about that weekend's adventure with her. 

We crushed it with the walking today and I actually felt pretty awesome even when we got home. We were sitting in the restaurant and I asked Doug if he wanted to walk the 10 blocks to .... 

No. No he did not. 

What a day. Here are some pictures. Enjoy. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 2 good solid walks. First was 22 minutes (Metro station to WWI memorial and all around it). Second was 29 minutes (WWI Memorial walk around, and walk to restaurant). 11k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 187
3:45pm: 150
10:15pm: 165

food:
coffee/water
11:30am: English Muffin w/pb and a touch of cherry preserves; metformin
3pm: handful of pepperoni
6pm: chicken piccata w/couscous, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, 2 beers; metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: ramekin chicken salad; a couple beers

Before she knew what beds are

Last night was rough. I didn't sleep well or much. It is kind of my own fault in some ways. Several days ago I ran out of Zzzzquil, so falling asleep is a challenge. 

Note to self, go to the store and get some. 

Doug also started listening to an interesting podcast called The Constant, which I recommend. His usual pattern is he plays one episode and falls asleep, and the sleep timer is set to turn off the podcast at the end of the episode. Most of the episodes are 10 or so minutes long, which is never enough, so now he sets the timer for an hour. And that sometimes puts us in the middle of an episode, and he's asleep. I get sad when I don't hear the end, and I don't want to play it on his phone lest he not know where things were left off (truth be told, he just replays whatever episode he last remembered hearing before falling asleep). 

I go in the guest room and pick up where it left off. 

I know it is bad form to confess this, but I skip the ads at the beginning of the episode. The volume of the ads is always twice that of the episode itself, which is infuriating. Thanks, Spotify, you jerks. 

Then, I'm awake, skipping ads at the beginning to get to the content. Sometimes there is a longer form episode, but it is too interesting to just fall asleep. So I listen to the whole thing. Sometimes I do fall asleep but wake up WHEN THE ADS START FUCKING SCREAMING AT ME AGAIN. Like that. 

Last night, I also had some wild muscle spasms in my feet. 

And the dog. I have got to figure out how to teach her to sleep at the foot of the bed, instead of up behind my head and shoulders. She also spreads. She melts. She's like caramel instead of toffee. She big. 60 pounds she big. She likes her half in the middle, and actually on my side. I got up to pee at one point and she was just horizontal across the bed, the entire bed. Moving her is a challenge. I imagine this is what it must be like moving a giant sea lion. I get her to sit up, then she won't move, then I'm trying to nudge, lift, cajole, and she is not participating. At all. 

I do love my dog. I love this monster. I will pat her and lay my arm across her like I'm sleeping with my partner or something - because she's that big and that high up in my bed. I listen to her snores, and sometimes the softness of them makes me fall asleep. 

Last night I took this, I have a nightlight in the bedroom and it was on, and just enough light to get a shot of her here. I ponder her nose, and think that the markings she has there are actually scars. 

Part of me wonders what her life was like before she was rescued. Before she found out what beds are. Before she knew what safe felt like. I think this is why she sleeps all up on top of our faces. Not only that but from what I understand that is a Staffie/Pit behavior anyway. 

Did she huddle with other dogs, hiding for comfort from the weather? Was there a bridge where they'd cram themselves into the space, bodies touching to be warm? Did someone feed the strays or was it all just dumpster and trash can surfing? What about the heat? DC is so hot. Where did they find water? Where are the other dogs she may have known? What happened to them? 

I run my fingers over her nose, just touching those marks. Saying little blessings, mantras of peace and love, safety and security. While begging her to move her ass just a little bit over to the other side of the damn bed.

digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. no walk today. 6100+ steps today

blood glucose:

8:15am: 171
5pm: 178
10:30pm: 155

food:
coffee/water
11am: Entenmann's chocolate donut (damn you Geoff)
noon: English muffin w/pb
1pm: Metformin
6:30pm: pot roast a la Geoffrey w/ some chinese white rice thrown in (unavoidable)
7pm: metformin+jardiance
8pm: cheez-its
no wine/etc

Just tappin' into you to kiki

Oh boy did yesterday just get away from me. I realized at 10 I hadn't come in here to update the digits, and realized that I didn't start an entry. 

I usually begin my entries in the morning, get some stuff written down in the form of basic thoughts, finish up by bedtime. Sometimes that is all abandoned by the end of the day if something else strikes me, and I start over around 8pm. 

Yesterday though. Voof what happened. 

Today one of my colleagues messaged me, and I asked her what was up. She said "nothing, just tappin' into you to kiki" which cracked me up. I guess kiki is "hang out and chat" according to the internet. 

I'm hip to all the slang.

We had a good hang out and chat for about a half hour. Doug left to go to a doctor's appointment, and I told her I was going to use the time to vacuum while he was not in my space. She laughed and said since her husband's company ordered everyone back to the office if they were within 50 miles of one of their workspaces (they are) she's never had a cleaner house. 

"And, he gets home around 8, so I have everything clean, dinner is made, I get a nap. It's great. " Not to mention she's in Denver and works East Coast hours, so our 6pm is her 4pm. I do love her. She's sometimes not at work by 8:30 our time but I always cut her some slack, because I know she's working after 4pm her time. There's no time keeping here. But I do wish at 4pm most days, I could just close the laptop and be done. 

By the way, I never did vacuum but I did bring laundry downstairs and clean the dining table. So that's something, right?

Doug got home from the doctor's and I had just finished, gotten back to work. I took a solid half hour to just walk around the house moving things from one room to another, which sometimes is cleaning, other times is just making a mess for me to clean up in another room.  

 Geoff has tomorrow off, and he's been readying up a recipe to make for days. He needs three more things, and he has not gone to the right supermarket to get those things (dude, Go To GIANT and get the last three things! Capers are not a challenge!) 

So Doug, even though he was super tired, went to Aldi to get makings for French Bread Pizza. I had a piece and now feel like I am going to pass out. So many carbs. lol. 

Anyway, here's a picture. I sat outside today and worked. Until my neighbor's landscapers came. Jerks. There's an open chair there for ya, if you wanna come by.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 30min inside walk, started with just bringing laundry downstairs and then progressed... 8k+ steps

blood glucose:

8am: 160
5pm: 183
10:45pm: 177

food:
coffee/water
10:30am: ramekin of mac & cheese w/bacon
11:30am: Metformin
12:30pm: 2 slices of multi grain bread w/pb & a spot of pomegranate preserves
5pm: Protein shake
6:45pm: Metformin+jardiance; slice of french bread pizza w/ pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, peppers, onions. 
8pm: ice cream sandwich
White wine

Forgot to do an entry

Just digits today, friends! and they are below. 

Promising better tomorrow. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 17 minute toffee walk solo while Doug was shopping. 7k by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 155
4:45pm: 141
10:30pm: 160

food:
coffee/water
11am: brekkie burrito. 2 eggs, 3 strips of bacon, mushrooms & spinach sauteed, shredded cheddar, salsa
noon: metformin
2:30pm: apple w/pb
6pm: 2 chicken cluck pucks w/ 2 slices of American cheese, a couple french fries.
7pm: metformin+jardiance
no wine or anything. too tired to create something

You robots are sounding more human every day

This morning, still not feeling 100% well, I thought about sleeping in but it is Trash Truck Rodeo on our street. We have several trucks that all show up around the same time, and because the side streets are very narrow, they spend a lot of time driving up and backing down, and turning around, and pivoting. 

What the city should do is on Trash day - you have to park all the cars on one side of the street so these dudes can do their job. Straight up - no beeping. 

So I messaged the team that I was on a slow roll to the day. My manager also isn't feeling well so he also said he was a bit funked up and laying low. We canceled our team check in, and another meeting I had this afternoon was bumped to tomorrow. Bliss. 

I got stuff done but just didn't interact with anyone. Oh I did have a side chat with a client because they wanted to share some scoop with me, spill that hot tea!

Before lunch, I decided I should revisit this problem logging into Hulu/ESPN/MyDisney/Whatever because I was that pissed off last night that I wanted to rev my own engine up again. 

I don't understand how the website for this particular product set has absolutely no link to a help/support center anywhere. Nothing. Nada. Zip. 

With a less angry mind and eyes, I decided to google that shit without typing "how the fuck do I get tech support for the goddamn disney platform, motherfuckers?" 

Chances are that would have yielded results. But I asked nicely. All the help center links pointed to Disney+ which I do not have a subscription to, but I figured I'd try. Nothing helpful in the help center documentation, so I went to the contact page. I didn't want the virtual assistant because I was virtually positive it would tell me it couldn't help me because I was asking about a different product/service. 

Begin A Chat with a service representative. Okay. I'll try that and it is probably also a Bot but one designed to read questions a little better. I was emailing, but the entire time my brain is doing Jennifer Coolidge in the Discover commercials. 

The question was asked. The problem presented. The agent looked me up, initiated the email for the password reset. I asked them to stay in the chat while I logged in. 

The place where I'd been getting hung up here was the verification code step. "Hi, we need to verify your email." Goddamn. You just sent me the password reset, isn't that verification enough, system?  "We are sending a verification code to your email address." Which you just emailed me at. Okay.

 And then we waited. I told the person this is not good, this is exactly where the wheels came off last night. I apologized for making her wait. Even if she is/was a robot. I'm sorry. 

The email verification code finally arrived after a few minutes when they and I were ready to give up. "You see how this is frustrating to a user, who just wants to watch Monday Night Football, right?" I asked the support agent. They agreed...I entered it, and the website didn't like it "Seems there's something wrong here... Request a new code?"

The person on the other end initiated another reset. We waited. Now I'm uncomfortable because this is taking so long. Oh! Here's the email and this time - the code works. What the hell. 

As Geoff says when I help him with things "Are you a wizard?" No. Sometimes the uncooperative tech cooperates and we win. 

I asked if I was talking to an AI bot or a human. They assured me that they are "super real."

Thank goodness for Super Real Laura N. 

None of this needs to be so complicated, and now I know why people I know, love, value, and trust don't participate in any of this nonsense with technology. But. For now. I know my password, I checked my billing information while on the site so my brand new credit card is on the platform and all set. And now we can watch some damn football. 

Anyway. 

I took it easy all day and then around 4pm a lot of stuff bubbled up. Meg came over to play (with her human) and we had a wonderful time. I came back in and worked and worked after taking it easy all day. 

I feel like I get so much done after 6pm. 

Here's the only decent picture I got of Toffee and Meg. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. no walk today unfortunately; 6k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 165
4:30pm: 151
11:30pm: 140

food:
coffee/water
11am: bowl of left over chinese food, mostly curry chicken & veggies, some beef with broccoli.
11:30am: Metformin. Bowl of chicken salad, no nuts or fruit available
through the afternoon - candied mixed nuts 
6pm: 3 grilled sausages w/sauteed veggies; Metformin+jardiance
White wine w/flavored seltzer
10:45pm: sliced turkey (needed some protein)

Irritation

I spent a good part of today being mad at work things, and people, and finally made some headway with a big problem. I ended up with a pounding headache and a case of I don't give a shit, so I stopped working at 4. I told my team I didn't feel well, and I just walked away from the day a little early. 

Everyone on my team does this, I never do. I power through and keep working, but today I'm already over everything and done with it all. 

One of my big issues in life is passwords, and two factor authentication. 

Every day I have to deal with people who can't log into our systems. I also have to 2fa and log in, and then if I don't work often enough (like, if I'm in a meeting, I get kicked out of the products and have to log back in. 

And at home with our things, it's no fun either. Tonight, Doug was trying to log into watch Monday night football, and the account is on my Hulu and .... ugh, myDisney. ESPN is part of that package. God.

I don't remember my password, so I had to request a password reset. The email never came, I requested it again, it didn't come. and finally came but it was after 15 minutes, which, well. It expired. We ended up just going to bed.

He's mad, I'm mad, and I hate everything. Goddamn we just want to watch football. I shouldn't have to jump through these flaming red hoops just to access this stupid platform. 

So I'm cranky. And that's the entry. 

Digits below

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 21 minutes indoor walk; 6200+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 154
4pm: 187
10:30pm: 187

food:
coffee/water
12:30pm: metformin; 2 slices of multigrain bread w/peanut butter
a lot of candied nuts through the day
6pm: grilled chicken thigh w/mozzarella cheese, some tortellini ; metformin+jardiance
red wine