TGIF !!!

FER-Orlando sent $288k in new orders in this week. Our sister office didn't manage half of that! Still, a good week.

Craig had his bandages taken off this morning. He came in and the place where they excised did not look all that bad! Just a two-inch-long incision with stitches. Plus, it's right by his hairline so it won't be noticeable.

Fay ran out of the office right at noon. The phones were going crazy so I had to continue taking calls until 12:30. I came home, got Buddy, and brought him back to the office with me. He spent an afternoon in the office with me. Craig played with him when he was in the office. Later, Craig found cat "meow" .wav files on the Internet and played them to get Buddy wound up!

It rained in the afternoon after lunch. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow too. Yuck. I have to schlep groceries home in that crap.

Orlando, FL

Craig was in the office almost all day today. His entire scalp is wrapped up in bandages from the big patch and gouge they cut out of his forehead. I know that's gonna look nasty. He gets the bandage off tomorrow. He has 27 stitches.

Fay works half a day tomorrow. She leaves around lunchtime to start taking her emetics for his GI inspection. They rescheduled her so that she does it at 7 am on Saturday morning. I told her it will be better that way. This way she doesn't dread it all day. Get it right over with.

Mentioned to Craig that I might be interested in the Cleveland Range training in December. I said that if I go, I might stay a couple of extra days after to see my Dad in Kent. He said that wouldn't be a problem if I wanted to do that.

Thursday?

No, today was only Wednesday, but it sure felt like Thursday!

The day was not as bad as yesterday, but I was still hurting from yesterday! My neck, shoulders and back were still tense from the previous day!

Craig went to Tampa to have lunch with Strategic Equipment and Perky's Pizza, but he got a call from his doctor and had to come right back to Orlando. He left Neil to handle the lunch. Craig stopped in the office after his doctor's visit -- his entire scalp was wrapped in a big thick bandage!! It scared me. He came in, gathered up some papers from his desk, and went home to lay down. He was staggering out to the car and Fay ran out after him offerring to drive him home, but he refused. He said we'll see him in the morning.

Mom called lastnight to warn me about surprising them with a visit on this long holiday weekend. She said they are going to Ohio tomorrow to see Linda and Roger. I guess Linda's condition has declined since the anniversary party. All of the relatives up there whisper to each other that they do not expect her to make it to the holidays.

This evening I am making chunky chili for dinner. I will let it simmer while I walk the dog.

Lunar Eclipse

This morning on our walk Buddy and I (mostly I) saw the back end of the total lunar eclipse. The news said it began at 3:30 am. We were on the street at 5:30 am and the moon was almost full and about at the 2 o'clock position up in the sky. It was very rusty red and had a big black spot on it. There will be another lunar eclipse in February.

Today was exhausting at work. Non-stop work. Only handled six new orders. The balance of the day was spent un-fucking people's orders and handling service issues. Nancy Baranet is becomming too much of a burden with her inability to handle her dealers and promising too much discount.

We had the City Of Orlando come and inspect our grease trap in the Test Kitchen today. They left paperwork for me to fill out and fax in. We are supposed to have the trap pumped out every 90 days. I explained that our kitchen is only used a couple of times a year and they told me to write a letter requesting a variance from that maintenance schedule. I love how everything aside from quoting in that office has become my job!

Fay found out that she definitely has diverticulitis and an inflamed stomach. So not only do they want to colonoscopy her, they want to run a probe down her throat on Saturday! Hope those probes don't get tangled up in there!



This video was posted yesterday in response to Senator Craig (R-ID) being arrested in a Minnesota men's room for lewd conduct. What is it with these Republican politicians and restrooms?

Orlando, FL

Today was a very busy day for us. Carolina came back from her week of vacation and started forwarding all of last week's order acknowledgements to me. Because of all of the new-identified, direct-to-the-factory orders, we pulled down over $100k today!

Craig came in to work this afternoon with great big bandaids on his face from having cancerous skin removed. You know that has to suck having that done all the time.

Brian Kaday phoned Friday evening to report that he hasn't seen me in the gym in a while. I called him "Bally Attendance Taker". He's been travelling to Sea World San Diego and San Antonio and has to host workers from those parks here in Orlando soon.

Fay called late Friday night, but I was already in bed and had the phone set on vibrate mode. The night patrolman at The Quorum Center phoned her to report a buzzing noise coming from our back door. It was the Delfield Versa Drawer having a fit.

This weekend I found these funny gay cartoons on YouTube. This is part of a series that shows on the gay TV channel, Logo.



It was cute and I watched all 15 videos posted on YouTube.

We got our paystubs today. Even though we don't get paid until Friday night I know that I am getting my pay plus a $500 bonus check!

Orlando, FL

Hectic and hot... another day like so many others.

Evelyn came in today to watch us working. I think she was very surprised at the complexity of our procedures and how many decision-points we have in each task.

I think we are going to start reducing paper by getting an office file server to store common files on (like quotations, forms, logs) and just let the server do an automatic backup. With a copy of Acrobat, we will be able to mark the quotes just like we mark on paper and then store the file electronically. I think we will basically create a file system analogous to our file cabinet system on the server.

Today is Barbara Eden's birthday. She was born in 1934.

Fay left began drinking dye at 11:30 am and she left for the day at 2:30pm. She was going to get her C-T scan of her guts.

The rest of the afternoon was a little hectic with orders coming in, phones ringing constantly, and everybody wanting everything done NOW. I was glad when 5 pm got here and I could stop answering the phone!

Pictured here is a new product called "Pocket Shots". I found this on the Wired Magazine website. These are small, flexible, unbreakable packets of liquor that you can carry in your pocket! This will be interesting.

Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!!

Orlando, FL

Before I even got down Conroy Road to the office I knew it was a mistake to wear that long-sleeved shirt to work. At the office I rolled the sleeves up and resolved to change shirts at lunch.

Today was another long day with very few breaks. Plus it was hot - like 97 F today.

At lunch I changed my shirt and I boiled spiral pasta. When the pasta was done I stirred in mayo, peas, and canned tuna. Yum! Buddy liked the leftovers too!

Craig's flight back from Boston was cancelled this morning -- something wrong with the plane. He did make it back to Orlando around 3 pm and he was in the office before 5, but he has to get up 5 am to be at the airport for a 7 am flight to Fort Wayne, IN. We won't see him until next Monday!

Hurricane Dean

Hurricane Dean became a category 5 storm and hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula today. This is going to weaken it to category 2 and it will hit mainland Mexico tomorrow.

Space Shuttle Endeavor returned to Kennedy Space Center today. We did not hear the sonic boom because it approached from the south. It started re-entry over the South Pacific, came across Central America, across the Carribean, and north up the Florida peninsula. It came in fine despite the tile damage on its belly.

Today was another typical hot long day. Too many of our dealers require too much hand holding. Craig has them spoiled. I spend alot of time following up on shit that I shouldn't have to.

Craig is in Boston today working on a super-secret project for Red Lobster restaurants. He took a side trip to New Hampshire to see one of our consultants up there too.

Atleast this week will be half way over tomorrow.

Leona Helmsley

The highlight of my weekend was taking Buddy to the Fleet People's Park in Winter Park. This dog park is on the shore of Lake Baldwin. I did not know whether Buddy would go into the water or not - he is always afraid when he is in the bathtub at home. He jumped in the water and went as deep as his shoulders! He loved it!

It was fun to watch him jumping up and down in the water. To go faster he would jump up like he was jumping over a hedge! A real kangaroo!

The posted signs warming of amoeba in the lake were a little worrying. Because the lake water is in the 80's there is a greater danger of germs and microorganisms in the water. There were two alligators in the lake, but the City of Winter Park removed them to another location.

Bad thing about the water is that the sand really sticks in his paws. I had to spread my Army blanket across the seat to catch all of the sand. When we got home it was bath time for Buddy.

On Sunday I pretty much stayed in all day long. In the evening I made some chili. As I was pushing onion skin and celery into the disposal it stopped and jammed!

I called for Maintenance at lunch today. The maintenance man completely replaced the disposal and his handwritten note advised me to be more careful with my canned goods! The offending piece was left on the note -- it was a metal shim from that fax machine I disassembled last week!!

Buddy had to spend the afternoon napping in his crate since Johnny, the maintenance man, would be in the house.

This morning I trimmed my hair really short with the clippers and I shaved my goatee off. I will let the moustache or goatee grow back, but it will have to be colored when it comes in.

Today was very busy at work. I was not able to stop all day long.

The first thing I noticed when I got to the office was a big pine, tile-top dinner table sitting on its side in Craig's office and eight chairs to go with it! Craig asked me if I could use it, but unfortunately I have no place for it. It will probably go to charity.

The next thing I noticed was that the Chik-Fil-A fairy had visited the office during the weekend! There was a $20 bill and coupons for a free Ice Dream Cone with purchase of a sandwich. Somehow I don't think I need ice cream.

This evening I am making hamburgers on the grill. Tasty for me, tasty for Buddy!

TGIF !!!

Today Martha Lozano spent the day with us in the office. She came up to close her clothing store and do some business with her condo up here. I don't think she got a whole lot of work done. It kinda pisses me off how much they fuss and cater when someone comes in.

Darden Restaurants purchased Longhorn Steakhouses for $1.19 billion. Announced yesterday. This could be very interesting for FER and the factories we work with.

Martha was complaining that she was cold (just like Fay) and she came up to show me her goosebumps. Meanwhile I was burning up. Those bitches cut the thermostat up! I had a bad headache all afternoon.

I am glad the weekend is here. Doing laundry now. Going to vacuum. Eating pizza and drinking Bud Light. Watching Hurricane Dean make his way through the Carribean Sea - Category 3 now and still strengthening!

Orlando, FL

Well, the revised Garland order for Hard Rock Park Myrtle Beach came in this morning. It took me two hours to check it. Good thing I did too -- the total was about $5,000 too low!

Fay was in late because of her doctors appointment. Craig was in with Mike Evenson from InSinkErator on their way to the training we gave at Restaurant Equipment World before Fay came in.

Fay will have more doctors appointments I'm afraid. She is going to have C-T scans and a scope visit too. They WILL get to the BOTTOM of this!

Debbie phoned in sick too - she was very nauseous. She called in later and claimed to Fay that she had food poisoning, but we both suspect she's hungover.

I could not believe how quickly the morning flew by! After I got that order taken care of Fay was telling me to go to lunch!

The afternoon went by much slower. There was a rain shower in the afternoon. That helped cool things off.

Pictured here is a shot of the Athletic Attic downtown being torn down to make room for a wider I-4.

Orlando, FL

I thought it was almost done toasting.

I tore a piece of flat bread into small pieces and put them on the rack of the toaster oven to toast. When I took the dog out for his walk the oven only had a few minutes left on the timer so I went.

When I returned half an hour later I smelled some smoke outside and thought that somebody was smoking a cigarette. When I opened the door it was definitely stronger. The flat bread burned in the toaster oven! It burned to a black crisp too.

It really must have burned because the oven is covered in cooked on smoke. Great. Well, thank God for "Made In China". That oven only cost $19 and I can get another one just as cheap.

Another hot day full of issues at work, but nothing worth going over here.

VJ Day - 62

This past weekend it was too damned hot to do anything outside. I washed clothes and folded them. Bought some fruits and vegetables on Saturday. Then I vacuumed the floor.

When I finished vacuuming I decided to clean the vacuum cleaner. As I started cleaning I pulled the filters out of it and put the dirt cup and filter holders into the dish washer. I washed out the filters and gently dried them in the toaster oven. I could not believe how much dust was in that vacuum. I could not believe it was still working! I took the vacuum on the balcony and started shaking dirt out of the vacuum and then noticed dirt and hair falling out of the bottom -- the plenum where the beater bar is was packed full of fine dust and pet hair!

After cleaning everything out of the vacuum and putting it back together I ran it again. It picked up 50% more dirt than the first time! Wow. I've had that vacuum for almost three years. I guess I need to clean it out every couple of months instead of every couple years.

On Sunday morning we were walking and Buddy found a dead oppossum on the sidewalk. It stunk badly and it was covered in swarms of big black flies.

Sunday afternoon I made more of that ratatouille recipe. That is a very forgiving recipe -- it you put too much chicken broth in, too much tomato paste, too little eggplant, it still turns out okay.

During our Sunday evening walk I saw a garter snake on the sidewalk desperately trying to get off the sidewalk and hide from us. It got up on the grass and slithered away. Buddy never saw it.

The phones were very quiet at work yesterday. I think I took 10 calls all day. I took leftovers with me to work and ate there. Buddy was very happy to see me when I finally got home!

I started reading Flatland lastnight. The entire book is only a little over 100 pages. I should have it finished in a couple days.

This morning during our walk I saw a fox running along the Valencia Community College property line. Buddy didn't see it -- he was too low to the ground. We see all kinds of wildlife on our walks!

This evening I called Dad and talked for about 45 minutes. He is 61 this year. Of course I had to get lectured about how long it's been since I last called him. Yeah, yeah.

Friday!!!

Yet another hot and miserable day here in the Sunshine State. I don't feel so good. I think I might have a sinus infection. During the afternoon I feel kinda feverish. This afternoon I didn't come home -- I just layed down under the table in the Test Kitchen for awhile.

FER had another good week - Orlando sent $423k to the factories and Hollywood sent in $265k. All in all, a good week!

This evening, as you can imagine, Buddy was very happy to see me. As soon as I got clothes changed we took our walk. When we came home I started laundry, made a Lean Cuisine dinner, and took a shower.

While he was licking my plastic dinner plate I saw two fat women ride by our balcony on horses! I called Buddy and ran to the sliding door. We went out and Buddy saw the horses. He was growling at them and the hair was standing up on his back! LOL!

Endeavor

It was 80° F when Buddy and I went out for our walk at 6:00 am. I guess that's about as late as Buddy will let me sleep in. He didn't poo this morning. I figured, well, he will certainly go in the evening then!

After the sun came up it became hellishly hot -- 96° F was the high again today. Too hot. Just have to get through this hot month and it should start to cool off.

During lunch today I went to a new restaurant called "On The Grill". This is a small place in the Kirkman Oaks Shopping Plaza. It was nice, clean, had new equipment, run by a hispanic family, but it was a little pricy and the chicken gave me heartburn. I don't think I will be in there again.

Fay made a can of soup for lunch and ate in the Test Kitchen. I need to start doing that too. It is too hot to go to the house everyday. Buddy was fine today. I think he slept most all day.

We had so many ridiculous things happen today at work with our dealers. It was so stupid and ridiculous that all I could do was laugh at it.

By the end of the day it began clouding up and the wind picked up a couple times. I thought it was going to rain like yesterday, but it never did.

At the end of our evening walk, Buddy and I hung out at the drive way on the east side of the apartments - the sidewalk on Robert Trent Jones Drive. We watched the Space Shuttle Endeavor go up. Here is a picture of the launch from my apartment in Orlando.

Orlando, FL

OMG! What a hot day! High was 96F and when I went out at lunch with the fan in the truck blowing it felt like a little blast furnace on wheels! Welcome to the Gates Of Hell! Even with the AC on full-tilt at the office it was warm up front where I sit.

Fay came back today. She said that she is feeling better and better each day. Yeah, until the next episode hits.

As we were leaving the office I asked Fay if she thought it would rain. It looked hazy in the distance like it could storm. As I drove home it began to get darker and darker. I parked the truck in the garage and as I crossed the street to my building it began sprinkling. It poured hard for about an hour.

This evening I made stir-fry with frozen veggies and stew beef. Now that the rain is letting up I have to get Buddy out on the street for his walk. It should be cooler now.

Weekend

Friday night I did the laundry, ran the vacuum, and ran the dish washer. That's about it. I stayed in. I must be getting old.

On Saturday I went to BJ's around 9 am. It was already blazing hot outside. I got 6 cases of bottled water, 3 cans of bathroom cleaner ($2 off coupon), sandwich meats, a case of green beans, a case of dice tomatoes, dog treats, toilet bleach tablets, individually wrapped chicken breasts, and 5 pounds of hamburger. At home I divided the hamburger up into 1.25 pound packs and wrapped it up in saran wrap to freeze. I made a chili in the skillet for dinner. It was too hot, too late, and I was too tired to go for groceries.

In the evening I spent time at the computer and printer printing out a two-sided copy of "What's A Microcontroller?" from the Parallax website. I am becoming interested in the BASIC Stamp microcontroller.

Sunday was a little more productive.

I went to Walmart early and got a bunch of groceries. I packed all of this into the bed of the truck and drove home carefully so that the cans would not be rolling all over the bed. As soon as I parked the truck I reached for my wallet and it wasn't in the truck with me!

When I went around to the back of the truck I found it -- right there on the bumper where I left it! Whew! I guess driving carefully really paid off!

After I took everything upstairs and put away I began cleaning vegetables for a new recipe. I made "ratatouille" with eggplant, zucchini, green pepper, garlic, onions, oil, tomato paste, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, parsley and basil (pictured here on this page). This turned out VERY GOOD! This is a great way to eat zucchini and eggplant! I made about 3 quarts and ate the last of it this morning. Even Buddy seemed to like licking the bowls clean!

I stripped the bed and washed the sheets in the afternoon. After I got the bed made up I laid down and took a nap. I was still kinda tired.

When I got up around 4:30 I took Buddy for a very long walk. We walked about 4 miles and it was still hot outside. He was dragging on the way back - tail hanging down, tongue hanging out of his mouth. In the parking lot I dropped his leash to see what he would do. He just continued to follow me upstairs to the apartment! He knew it would be cool inside.

After he was back in his bed cooling off I changed my shirt and went back out. I went to Office Depot to get some 200-page Docubind combs for the book I printed out, then I went to the Borders book store at West Oaks Mall. I got a magazine, and two books. Flatland - A Multidimensional Romance (on the high school summer reading list), and The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore.

This morning I arrived at the office around 7:40 am. A few minutes after I got inside old Fay comes walking up to the door! I told her, "I think this is the earliest I've seen you at the office!" Her husband was up at 4 am and she stayed up. She dressed and came on it. Turns out she stayed all day too. She said that she was still hurting a little in the morning, but as the day went by and she got busy she found herself not thinking about it as much.

Because my Docubinder can't handle books thicker than 1/2 inch, I took the book to the office and used their binding machine. It easily put my book together. Fay wanted to watch because she'd never seen it used before!

This evening I made marinated chicken steaks on the grill. My poor grill is rusted and now the igniter won't light the gas! Time for a new one.

Buddy hasn't been out to walk yet - we are waiting for the temperature to come back down into the 80's before we go out.

TGIF !!!

Mom called shortly after 9 pm to report that Marrissia lost the baby. It seems to have stopped growing around 7 weeks. Well, sometimes these things just happen.

After two days of heavy rains it has finally stopped and become very hot and very humid again. Here is the worst month of all.

Fay was out all week. She phoned in this afternoon and she said she is going to try to come in on Monday. She might work 9 am to 3 pm. I guess Fay has gone to part-time now.

Today was pretty hectic just trying to keep up with the demanding dealers. "I need this equipment quoted and I need it today!" Everyone wants everything right now. While I was working on quotes, the fax machine went crazy and started spitting out more orders. We finished up with $350k for Orlando. The company had a $1M week.

Now it is the weekend. I am going grocery shopping in the morning. That will take half of the day and it is alot of work. I want to work on the router table extension more this weekend too. As soon as I get that project finished I need to clean all of the dust out of the garage and I have another project I want to start.

Right now I have vacuumed the carpet, watered the plants, and am about to start the laundry and dish washer. We are waiting for the sun to get lower before we take our evening walk.

Orlando, FL

Turns out Fay doesn't have a kidney infection at all. No, she has diverticulitis. She is very upset about it too. Craig had Barbara and Nick call her and talk to her today. I told Amber at Garland to call too. We don't know when she's coming back.

Martha said something about coming up to help out in our office temporarily. I told Craig this. He said Martha is just trying to get out of the Hollywood Office!

The Team is holding it all together okay, but it is busier for us when someone is out. Nancy Baranet comes back from her vacation in Tennessee tomorrow too.

It rained most of the morning and even through lunch today. It was very cloudy and gloomy all day. Still, we need the rain.

I left my computer running this evening with the portable hard drive plugged in to it. It will spend about two hours backing up my system. So, if FER has a catastrophe, that will be fine as long as it doesn't happen on a Thursday night!