Friday!!!

Well, I am glad THAT week is over!

Today was not so bad. It would have been a breeze if I didn't spend so much time in the Test Kitchen helping Fay with wings, etc. At lunch today she invited this woman who works in an office at the end of the building up for lunch. She doesn't know this woman, she gives her rides home when she doesn't feel like riding the bus. Well, the lady brought a friend too.

The black lady is from St Thomas, USVI and her friend is from Puerto Rico. They both work in accounting at US Lawns. I don't mind them coming for lunch, but Fay doesn't even know these women. Just, I dunno. I don't think it was good judgement.

I think total time preparing and eating lunch was around two hours. Then I got the trash out and started to get busy getting orders and other issues caught up again.

By the end of the day we had processed $813k in new orders this week. Hollywood handled over $400k. This was a very good week. One of the best for sales.

We got our payrolls stubs today. Regular salary and a $500 bonus check.

This evening while walking Buddy I saw big Virgin Airways 747 fly out to the west. Four big red engines and a white fuselage. I wonder where it was going? Has to be another country - foreign airlines are not allowed to fly to domestic destinations.

Now I have laundry running. I need to vacuum too. I just want to relax this weekend or maybe do some wood work in the garage.

Friday!!!

horribilis

Fuck. I am exhausted.

The first few minutes of the day seemed calm and relaxing enough. Shoot, there weren't even any orders on the fax when I arrived! Around 8:30 am all of that changed.

The rest of the day felt like a race.

Anyway, on the bright side of things... We have sent $461k in orders to the factories this week! Another very strong week.

There were a few scattered showers today. I saw two more rainbows this evening.

Tomorrow is the last day of the week, it is the last business day of the month, and it is the last day of FY07 for alot of companies. I expect a few more orders tomorrow. Especially since half of our factories will be having price increases on Monday.

Today's graphic illustrates how food costs have risen faster than everything else (except food and energy which core-CPI does not consider). The inplication is that rising grain prices (corn for ethanol) has made most of the other foods more expensive as well.

Fay wants to make wings tomorrow and just toss them in a hot buffalo sauce. I picked up some bluecheese dressing and some celery since I think we will be eating wings for lunch.

Orlando, FL

I took Buddy out one more time last night before turning in. I noticed that it was a bright full moon. When we came in I read more of my book, and then decided to cut my hair.

In the shower I used the clippers to trim my hair down close and then showered all the hairs off. Then I was ready for bed.

Around 12:19 am my phone began ringing non-stop.

After listening to it ring through 4 calls I got up to listen to the voice message. It was Fay. The burglar alarm went off at the office. I called Fay back and told her I was taking Buddy and going to the office.

When we got there Fay was already there and the cops were inside the office with their guns drawn. Fay was holding one of their tasers! We went inside and Buddy was excited... he was jumping up on the cops and sniffing them! "DON'T SHOOT MY DOG!!!"

Well, it was a false alarm. So we went back home.

I think I only slept one more hour last night. Could not get back to sleep.

Today was another busy day for orders. We are now past $330k with two more days to go!

We made another batch of chicken wings in the oven. I think we have decided that we are going to make them fresh the day of the shower.

Speaking of showers... it was warm today with scattered showers. In the afternoon there was a beautiful solid rainbow arching across the sky.

Mister Hodges is flying to Canada tomorrow for two days of rep meetings at the Garland facility near Toronto. We won't see him until Monday.

This evening's picture is timer that has a magnetic base. It can be popped onto the refrigerator or any other steel appliance.

I had fried apples for dinner. I will be in bed again soon. Hey, the weekend is just around the corner!

Orlando, FL

Today was not as long as yesterday, but I stayed steadily busy all day long.

We processed another $70k in orders. We are up to $225k and this is only Tuesday!

In the afternoon it briefly rained twice. Just quick, light showers.

During our walk this evening a bus went by and it's air brakes were released as it passed. Buddy dropped his butt to the sidewalk when that happened!! That made me laugh!

Autumn

This was a nice long three-day weekend for me.

On Friday I watered the plants, vacuumed, and did laundry. Around 11:00 I took off for the Chinese Mongolian Buffet to meet friends from online for lunch. After I returned from the lunch I took my Intent To Renew Lease down to the leasing office and returned with a new furnace filter.

I checked my email from work during the day and was dismayed at the number of messages filling the box up. I figured I would go in on Sunday or real early on Monday to take care of all of the issues.

Dawn called in the evening to ask what size Corfams I needed. I was going to post that info here Thursday, but never got around to it. I thought it was funny that she called for that.

Was tempted to go out Friday evening, especially since I did not have to work, but found myself too tired to go!

On Saturday I took Buddy to the Fleet Peoples Dog Park to run and play at Lake Baldwin. I actually made a few little movies of him running and playing. I will have to post those soon. He had a great time as usual. I had to spread the Army blanket on the truck seat from the trip home because his paws hold so much sand!

See the video of Buddy playing at the lake below.



When we got home I tossed the blanket, his harness and leash, and his bedding into the washing machine. Then I took his collar off. That is when he knew the bath was coming. He hates the bath.

In the evening I broke down and got a pizza and we hung around the house. I started reading my new book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster.

On Sunday I mostly read news and views all day at the computer. It rained most of the day - at times very heavy. In the afternoon I listened to the "Trends" audio magazine on CD that Craig loaned me.

Mom called in the evening to recite the highlights of her day to me. She is bored. Pat is bored.

Today was a long day.

It started at 5 am with a walk for Buddy. When I got home I immediately showered and got ready for work. I left for work around 5:45 and was in the office at 6:00 am. While I was making coffee I heard the "cricket" chirp from someone opening the front door. I said to myself, "I know damned well I locked that door!" It was Craig. He went right back out to call on a customer.

First thing I had to do was get the order report ready for last week's orders. We did $642k in new orders last week!! Almost 10 times what Hollywood did!

There were so many orders and faxes on my desk. Fay only processed the Darden orders and left everything else for me. How do you like that? I had to work like a dog to get the new orders processed and handle all of the email inquiries.

One person who was driving me nuts was Betsy. Each order that she placed for her Capital project back in January and February is now being reviewed. She is asking why the PO totals are more than what was bid. She is insisting on credits and refunds from the factories if the extra discount promised for her capital project wasn't given. She is pushing her luck.

Craig returned to the office around 10 am. Fay stepped down the hall and told Craig that an executing search agency run by one of Craig's personal friends contacted her last week to offer her a position as Regional Sales Manager for a table top wares company! Evidently they contacted Debbie too.

Craig said that during his Merrychef visit in Louisville, two other rep groups - Mirkovich in Chicago and The Wallin Group of MS, TN, AR asked Craig if there was any chance I would go to work for them. Uh huh. I think it's more likely Craig approached them and asked them to take me off of his hands. Anyway, I don't think Mirkovich can pay enough to make Chicagoland worthwhile and who wants to live in the Memphis area with Wallin Group?

Fay brought in more chicken wings and asked for my help in the test kitchen operating the Combi oven. Fortunately I had the orders caught up by 11:00.

Evelyn arrived at the office around 11:30 to do computer work. She mostly had to work on Fay's computer, but she left a proposal for Craig to review for installing a file server in the office too. I think we really do need it. It will help us work with less paper and it will make automatic back-ups easier.

Because of the work with the wings I did not get a chance to go home and walk Buddy at lunch. It should be okay because he had me home all day all weekend.

The wings turned out okay. Fay made fresh ones and some frozen ones. We had to increase the cooking time for the frozen wings. That isn't really a surprise. Craig went to BJ's and picked up two big packs of chicken wings for $1.69 a pound so that we can keep working and experimenting. Fay let me bring the leftover wings home. I can't eat them all. I am going to have to freeze some myself!

How do I tell her the Jamaican Jerk seasoning gives me indigestion?

Today was a long day. I am tired.

Hump Day

I think I woke up around 11:30 pm and saw it raining hard outside. It continued to rain all morning. Buddy got a short walk.

One of the first things I saw this morning was this video excerpt from The View talk show:



It infuriates me when people show ignorance of even the most basic established facts. The fact that the earth is round explains almost everything that we see best of all. I don't know how these women qualify for a position on this show, but they need some standards.

Around 11:45 I began warming up the ConvoTherm oven. Fay prepared jerk seasoned chicken wings and we wanted to test them in the oven with the "Crisp-N-Tasty" feature. It took us a few minutes to figure out the controller (last time I used it, I used the thermometer probe), but then we got a batch started.

They turned out great. Crisp on the outside and done all the way down to the bone. We made about 40 wings. I brought bones home and cut off the ends for Buddy to enjoy.

Because we spent about two hours working with the oven, I fell behind in my work and it was a mad dash all afternoon to get service calls placed, orders checked and placed, and quotes started. I am tired again.

Orlando, FL

Thanks to some nice northeasterly winds it was cooler in Orlando today and almost chilly inside the office. I am glad the heat is starting to lower.

The morning seemed to go by very quickly for me. The first thing we did was get some bagels and head over to Nass Parts & Service to drop off the Impinger CTI oven. I did not know where Nass was. It was fun to go in there and meet those folks.

At lunch I had ravioli at Stallone's Italian Restaurant, and them came home to walk Buddy. The pressure wash crew is still at it cleaning out apartment buildings off with bleach.

The afternoon was more difficult. We had to put a specification book together for a culinary school in Pinellas County and I had to wait for Fay to finish the specs so that I could match them with the cutsheets and start making copies. I had a hard time getting the copier to cooperate. Eleven copies of the book had to be made and ten of the copies had to be sent UPS today for delivery tomorrow. I am glad that is done.

I think it is funny that Greenspan said that the Iraq War is all about oil. That is what today's picture is about.

Now I am tired. I had some peas for dinner. I think I might go to bed early and read more of my book. I noticed that my Bate's Corfam shoes are starting to wear out -- the soles are getting thin. I wonder if Dawn or George would get me another pair at the NEX? I would pay for them.

Orlando, FL

This weekend was very relaxing. On Saturday I got the laundry folded and put away. Then I stripped the bed and washed the sheets too. After I made the bed I vacuumed and I dusted.

I don't think I did much else on Saturday except read my book about the Luftwaffe's plans to bomb North America in my book. It really is amazing to read how they struggled to achieve intercontinental range in their bombers and we take transoceanic flight for granted today.

On Sunday morning I put a roast, carrots, and onions into the crock pot and let that slowly cook all day long. Around 11:30 am I took Buddy and went down to the office to finish printing spec sheets for the culinary school project we are working on for Greg. Craig was in the office when we arrived but he left a short time later. We were there for about two hours. Buddy really seemed to like it up under Craig's desk!

I called and talked to Dawn for awhile. I asked her why she was trying to get rid of the dog. She assured me that she wasn't. Even though she is the one who has to take care of the dog, it just adores her and follows her around the house.

It really looked like we were going to get a storm Sunday evening, but it never got here. I heard that it really stormed in Lake Buena Vista though!

Today was an average Monday at work. Average until around lunch. Craig was at the Enodis Technology Center in New Port Richey trying to get an Impinger conveyor oven to loan to Darden Restaurants. Craig asked me to drive my truck to the exit just west of US Highway 27 to meet Neil and him and return with the oven for testing by Red Lobster Express (an airport concept). I drove out there, but they were not ready and Craig asked me to go even further west - to US Highway 98 and the Lakeland Square Mall. I did that and he asked me to go farther! All the way to Countyline Road and I-4 -- clear to Hillsborough County! I estimate that it was about 120 miles round-trip.

Neil and Craig showed up with the oven around 3:45 and we transferred it to my truck. Then I returned to the office with it. I got back to the office around 4:40 pm. Tomorrow morning we are going to take it to Nass to have it checked out and then Nass will take it to Red Lobster Culinary Center. Bob Chuhak, Darden Kitchen Equipment Manager, will be astonished that we were able to get the oven so quickly!

Now I am tired. That was a long hot afternoon.

El Fin De Semana

Wow. What a day! I am just glad it is all over. Reflecting on it only makes me more tired.

It rained after work. There was a giant rainbow all the way across the sky in three big arcs. Buddy managed to get his walk without getting wet. Now the plants have been watered, the dish machine and the laundry are running. I need to vacuum too.

Sad headline: "Non-profit reports $100 laptop costs $188." That's how things go in this world.

I started reading Luftwaffe Over America: The Secret Plans To Bomb The United States During World War II lastnight. Nice book. Has cool pictures too!

Orlando, FL

Another hectic day at the office, but it was manageable.

This afternoon I actually had a short time to read some news. Lots of strange stuff in the conspiracy blogosphere lately too -- rumors of war with Iran, the B52 that flew from Minot to Barksdale last week with nuclear armed cruise missiles (rumor is it took off with 6 but landed with 5), and something devastating to happen by 9-21-07 to cause the stock market to drop in value by half! Too much stuff to keep up with.

Right now it is raining very heavily. The sky was was black as night briefly. Now it is passing over and the rains are coming. The middle of the parking lot is flowing like a river.

In the birthday card we sent Denise Maeder, at Delfield, I was going to write "Happy 51st 39th Birthday!" Because no woman is older than 39. Well, it turns out Denise is actually 52! She says that she can't even believe it!

Orlando, FL

Fay was a little late getting in this morning - she said she was up until after midnight washing baby clothes for her new grandchild.

We were both very busy all day long. Too damned busy. It is just ridiculous to me that Craig wants to expand the services I would have to provide to each customer when I can barely do everything expected now. I told him straight up too when he told Evelyn he wanted us to follow up every order with shipping information. I said, "Yeah, well, you'd better get someone else in here to help if you're gonna do that!" I am sure the factories would be pissed if we were calling everyday for that.

Interesting stuff in the news today - Tropical Storm Humberto is raining on Texas and Louisiana, Russians test "Daddy Of All Bombs" a massive conventional explosive equal to about 8 tons of TNT, lots of traffic accidents this morning and again this evening as thundershowers rolled in during rush hour.

Orlando, FL

It was overcast this morning when I took Buddy for his walk. He never got around to taking his dump -- he was too busy looking for kitty kats and lizards. His time outside is like play time for him.

Work was steadily busy all day long today. The jobs Fay was working on were driving her crazy and she asked me if she could take the first lunch. I certainly don't care -- the phones are quieter from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. She knows this too.

Craig will be in Fort Wayne, IN with folks from Red Lobster working on a secret project. He comes back on Friday.

We did not leave the office until almost 6 pm. I am pretty tired. Go, go, go all day long all urgent needs and nervous energy makes you tired!

Orlando, FL

This weekend seemed to go fast, but it was restful for me.

On Saturday morning I made coffee and then cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner and folded laundry. At 10:30 I had a breakfast appointment at the "Gay IHOP" with some folks from gay.com chatroom. That was fun and informative. Pretty much relaxed for the rest of the day. Started reading a book about apocalyptic events supposedly forecast for the year 2012. Whatever happens, it sounds like it will be a remarkable year. Y2K anyone?

On Sunday I made coffee and chilled out. Around noon Buddy and I went to the office with my vacuum cleaner and we swept the carpet there. When we came home I cleaned the glass in my truck and vacuumed it out with my ancient Dirt Devil.

In the afternoon I made a big batch of ratatouille and spot cleaned the carpet with my Bissell Spot Bot. Each tank of solution lifts about six spots and I refilled the tank about six times.

During Buddy's afternoon walk I called Mom. Her big news is that Grandma Pat is coming to live with her. Guess that cancels any trip to Wilmington I might have planned. Anyway, they should come see ME. They have not been down to see me since I moved here. Look at the bright side - Pat can't live forever. Besides, after Becky the only kid she has left that will have anything to do with her is Danny.

Today was a little busy. We processed $64k in new orders and I have $110k in orders waiting for issues to be resolved. Looks like a good week so far!

It rained this afternoon. Infact it was so overcast that it became cold in the office during the afternoon! That was nice for a change. It is very very humid outside now. I bet we have a good rainstorm tomorrow too.

The guy in today's picture had a heart valve transplant and took this picture of himself shortly after the operation. The caption is humorous!

TGIF !!!

This morning I dressed in my white FER button-down shirt with a tight spandex t-shirt under to hold my fat belly in and black slacks. I was very uncomfortable.

There were a few orders this morning. William Trabazo and Nancy Baranet came through the office before going to the show. I ate my lunch at the office and then I drove over. Because the truck is un-air conditioned, my 20 minute drive to the Convention Center was a sneak preview of Hell.

After I paid $10 to park, I had a very long walk. I stopped in one of the restrooms to tuck my shirts back in really good and try to cool/dry off before heading into the exhibition hall.

At the entrance I had to call Craig on my cellphone to bring a ticket to me so that I could get inside. I wandered through the hall looking at the various booths for about 45 minutes before I finally found ours. Today the booth was manned by Gabe Puerto, Craig Hodges, Tom Dickie, Nancy Baranet, Dan Wood, William Trabazo, Dick Fleming from Frymaster, and Mike Hovey from Lincoln.

They told me that I just missed Betsy Hummel - today is her 51st 39th birthday. I saw April Card of Universal Studios, and I saw Bob Chuhak of Darden Restaurants.

I stayed for about two hours and then I quietly wandered off and out the door. I got back to the office to get quotes done, trash out, and the weekly PO report done. We processed $222k in orders - not bad for a short week!

Barbara Hacker and Martha Lozano are going to Frying Masters training in Shreveport on Sunday. I am sure they will have a good time, but Fay and I will get stuck with their quoting.

I am doing laundry now and running the dishwasher. Tomorrow I will clean the floors and then... I don't know. I should go to SuperTarget and get a few things... maybe work in the garage... possibly go to FRA Show another day... also got invited to a gay.com breakfast at the "Gay IHOP" downtown. Ahhh.... so many choices!

Orlando, FL

Short week has been pretty busy and hectic for us so far. We are on track to have just as many orders as a regular week.

On Wednesday afternoon one of the guys from South Florida wrote to tell me to have a copy of each catalog in a box waiting for them and 50 copies of various flyers and brochures so that they can just drop by out office and take them to the FRA Show. Even Fay was a little surprised with that. I wrote a prompt (and not well-thought out) response to this person. Ouch.

Craig was not pleased at all. He instructed me by email to apologize and when he came in he began to lecture me. He also said a few things that further inspection revealed to be false. I guess he was trying to scare or intimidate me. I don't know.

I pressed two shirts lastnight so that I would have something to wear to the show (much as I do not want to go). Tonight I need to use the clippers and trim my scalp down close. Fay has so much work to do that I think she is going to ask Craig if she can skip the show too.

This morning before I went to work I put a corned beef brisket in the crockery kettle to cook all day long. It turned out great! I put two big pieces in, but five smaller pieces came out!

Today's picture is an illustration of how some countries make lots of high value products and how other countries do not. It attempts to explain why some countries are rich and some are poor. I do not think it completely succeeds.

I have five more pages to go in Al Gore's book The Assault On Reason. Then I can start another book.

Orlando, FL

First day of a short week.

Another surprise this morning - Fay was already there when I drove up. She said everything went fine during her GI on Saturday - they didn't even find polyps! I know that is a weight off of her chest.

We processed $102k in new orders before noon today. Then there were quote requests and various service issues I had to spend the afternoon dealing with. Steadily busy all day long.

I didn't have much time to read news today. I saw that Felix briefly became a Category 5 storm before going ashore. Very interesting - the first two hurricanes of the season both became Category 5 storms.

Today at lunch I came home and cut up three apples to make an apple-walnut salad. Instead of raisins I used dried cranberries. It turned out very yummy! I got two meals out of that bowl today and will probably finish it tomorrow.

Temperatures were a little lower today. A low pressure area in the Atlantic has cooler drier air coming down out of the north. It is supposed to move out later this week and our chances of afternoon showers return to normal.

When I came home there was a note stuck in my front door. Good news! It is time to sign a new lease and my rent will not be increasing! Yay!!

Labor Day

This was a nice leisurely three-day weekend. I was able to do a little bit of stuff each day.

On Friday night I began the laundry, watered the plants and ran the vacuum cleaner. On Saturday morning I did not feel like going to the grocery, especially since it was threatening to rain. So I stayed home and cycled the dish washer and cleaned floors. I got to the groceries on Sunday morning. I spent $176 at Walmart; then went to Petco and spent $42 on food, doggie bags, and a squeak toy (which Buddy proved to be afraid of); at BJ's I spent $154 for six cases of bottled water, a case of canned mushrooms, a case of canned sliced black olives, 3-pack of Lysol, Swiss cheese, pepper jack cheese, and a few other things. I think I am pretty well-stocked for the next few weeks now.

In BJ's I looked at the toaster ovens (I need a new one - I burned up the old one, remember?), but they were all too big for my counter space. I didn't make it over to Target to get a new one. Well, we will see how long I can get by without it.

I got a box of Arm & Hammer carpet deodorizer at Walmart. It has "pet hair release agent" in it. Whatever. Well, yesterday afternoon I sprinkled the whole box on the carpet and let it sift in all day. In the evening I vacuumed up and it really works! The black rug here under the computer is usually very hard to get all the hair off of, but it came right up! Mom warned me that it isn't good for the vacuum cleaner though. She said one of her neighbors' vacuum bag exploded from all of the fine powder. I guess I will have to clean the filters again.

Also noticed that the Little Green Machine has been re-designed and looks just like the Bissell Spot Bot -- with a price point $30 lower! That was interesting. It is being marketed toward pet owners.

This morning I took Buddy over to Winter Park to Fleet People's Park to run and play with the other dogs and swim in Lake Baldwin. We stayed for about an hour. I think he had a good time. When we got home I put his bedding, harness, leash, and the army blanket into the laundry and I put him in the bathtub. He is nice and clean now -- fresh like baby shampoo!

After all of that I took a nap for a couple of hours. Then I went to Chamberlins' Natural Foods in Dr Phillips to get dried cranberries, unsweetened coconut, and walnuts. I want to make the apple walnut salad this week.

Next stop was Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Sand Lake Road. I picked up three new hardback books here. I am just a couple of days away from finishing The Assault on Reason and will need something else to read.

When temps outside come down I will go back to the Woodcraft store in Casselberry and get more lumber to work. I saw on Craig's list that a local man chopped down a maple tree and was selling 4/4 inch lumber for $2.00 per board foot (usually about $8 per board foot at the store), but it isn't completely dry and it needs to be planed and milled. Probably too much work even for that good price.

Mom said they got back from their trip yesterday afternoon. It was a tiring trip up. She said Linda's condition is really declining. She was just bursting full of gossip from all of the relatives up there too.

Well, this will be a short work week for us at FER. Starts on Tuesday and Friday will be a short day because of the FRA Show. Fay and I will have to go over there for a couple of hours. I don't look forward to that because it makes the rest of the day at the office very very rushed to get everything done.

Miss Teen USA - Miss SC

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She answered the question before she even opened her mouth.

I think she would have performed better if her answer had been "Because American's place too much importance on sports and vapid beauty contests such as this and not enough emphasis on education."

Yup, I think this country is in trouble.