Weekend

On Friday night I watered the plants, walked Buddy, started laundry, and cleaned all the floors.

Saturday morning I got up and walked Buddy first thing. Then I sat down and wrote a check for rent and started to pay bills. I moved money into my savings account too.

After that was all done I went to the vet and got heartworm medicine and flea and tick treatment for Buddy ($93), then I went to Pet Supermarket and got a retractable leash, 20 pounds of dog food, two cartons of treats, four big rawhide bones, and two packs of doggie duty bags ($107).

Next I drove to Casselberry and stopped at Woodcraft to get a 1/8-inch-thick hardboard 24x30 inches to make box top, box bottom, drawer bottoms, and drawer slides on my box project. Then I stopped at Borders Books in Winter Park, but could not find the book I was looking for. I was going to pass Barnes & Noble on Highway 50 on my way back so I decided to stop in there to look. I found it, I got it.

In the afternoon I took a couple of old socks and some lemon Pledge and dusted my dusty apartment. Horrors! All the dust that rolled up on that sock!

Saturday evening I met my friend Gary at Hanks and drank a couple of beers. Then we drove over to the new bar, Stonewall. As soon as we walked in I sniffed a strong vinyl, new-car smell. The decor is heavily dependent on vinyl and linoleum that resembles stonework. Still, it is a nice bar. I think I got back home around 1:30 am.

This morning I went to Walmart to get groceries. I spent about $270, but I did not get everything. I will go to BJ's later in the week to finish my groceries. After all the groceries were safely put away I took Buddy out to the garage and let him sit on a moving pad while I changed the oil in the truck.

The carrier I have to catch the used oil was almost full and I overflowed it all over the parking lot! Well, I went and got one of those big jars of sawdust that I swept up and spread it all over the oil! That soaked it up pretty quickly! After the oil was changed I logged it and saw that I will rotate tires on the next oil change. Next I got Buddy in the truck, went to AutoZone to drop off the used oil, then we went to The Octopus Car Wash.

After the car wash we went back home and Buddy layed in the garage again while I put wax on the roof and hood of the truck. Then I took him inside. I went back out later to Armor All the vinyl inside and clean all the glass.

Since I was out there I went ahead and cut out the top and bottom for the box and the drawer bottoms. Then I ripped a 29-inch-long by 1/2-inch-wide strip of hard board and cut the individual drawer slides from it.

Buddy has had his final walk of the day and I am tired too. This will be a short month because FER will be on reduced manning that week after Christmas. I just want this month over already. I will be signing a new lease this month and because I chose to renew early, I will only have $300 for rent next month. That is good because I will need the $560 saved to pay car insurance!

Orlando, FL

My noisy neighbors were out again lastnight throwing a beer party right under my balcony, Hank Williams blaring from the pickup truck, and 8 loud mouths. They had a bb gun and they were playing target practice against the side of the building and on street signs. After 10 pm I told them to keep it down, but they persisted, and then three of them climbed the oak tree and tried to jump onto my balcony!! I opened the door and took a picture of them in the tree. Then I got the gun out and loaded it - if they tried to come in they going to find a surprise!

This morning I called Thereasa in the leasing office and filled her in on it. She told me that I will not be having that problem again with them after she was done with them today. I am not sure what that meant, but she was glad that I reported it. She told me that I could call the office after hours and my call would be forwarded to the Florida State Highway Patrol for immediate action.

Today was an okay day. I felt better today than yesterday. Craig passed out of payroll stubs and I opened each envelope. My regular pay was there and the other stub was showing bonus deposit of $3,000! Hey! Hey! Most of that will go to savings account. In January, I will only have $300 to pay for rent because of my early renewal. In February or March I will get my tax refund back.

At lunch today Fay and I went over to BJ's to get bottled water, plastic storage boxes, plastic cutlery, paper towels, toilet paper, snacks, and general supplies. We have to buy that stuff ourselves with "petty cash" that Hollywood sends to us and we have to save receipts for a report to go back.

Tomorrow is Friday already! Yeah! Even though I will have payroll deposited, I am only going to pay rent, bills, and get pet supplies for Buddy - I will buy groceries next weekend. Buddy is due for Heartgard and Frontline. The truck is due for an oil change too. I want to make a little progress on my wood project too.

Orlando, FL

Uggghhh....

Last night was back and bi's. I got to the gym a little earlier than usual and it was still quite crowded. Worked really hard, but forgot to do my crunches. I was whipped when I came home.

This morning at the office my guts let go around 9 am. I spent 20 minutes in the restroom after that! Then I began to sweat and felt hot. I might have picked up a bug at the gym.

Craig brought in the ingredients for quiche. We made 6 pies. Just eggs, heavy cream, chopped cooked bacon, cooked spinach, shredded cheese, and pie shells. They turned out good, but we made notes to improve the next batch. I think more interesting ingredients would have helped too - like onions, mushrooms, pimintos, peppers, etc. We ate one quiche there. Then Fay and I both took one home. We are going to eat one for breakfast, and will probably freeze one.

Buddy was very uncooperative this afternoon on his walk. He wanted to socialize with these two little dogs and he pulled his front legs out of the harness. Then I took the harness off of him, but could not get it on him correctly. Sometimes I want to knock him out!

Orlando, FL

The technician from Firetronics and a Summit Apartments employee are supposed to come around today or tomorrow to test the smoke alarm. I am supposed to keep the dog confined for both days. I hate it that they cannot tell me when they are coming in. Buddy was in the crate all morning. At lunch he went back to the office with me.

When I got back to the office I found out that Evelyn, our computer expert, was coming in too. Evelyn does not like Buddy. I had to put him into Debbie's office and shut the door while she was in. He did not like that. He cried.

I don't like how early it gets dark now. I walked Buddy around the office park so that we could walk in some daylight. The days are going to get shorter by another hour before it is over!

Orlando, FL

I drove the truck past 140k miles on Sunday. I need to pick up a jug of 10W30 at Walmart and change the oil soon.

Do you like my new picture? I took it lastnight after shaving my goatee into handlebar. Looks kinda biker-toughguy! Nobody even commented on it at work today.

Craig encouraged Fay and me again today to find out which factories are giving training at what times and sign up for the ones we wanted to go to. He said FER would pay for it all. I need to get that done. But he keeps forgetting that I have to coordinate the Christmas mailing and other holiday tasks.

Doctors appointment today at 3 pm. Linda was lecturing me about my weight, blood sugar, and other stuff. It's getting to be a drag to go in there. She set up an appointment for me to have ultrasound done next Wednesday, 12-5-07, to ensure I don't have a fatty liver. But I will not have to do follow up with her until sometime in January.

This evening was shoulders, chest, and tris in the gym. I feel weak now! LOL!

Weekend Project

As I said in my last post, I set the drill press up with a sanding drum and sanded down to my curved pencil line to make the curved bottoms of the stretchers and concave outsides of the breadboards. That idea worked like a charm!

I took Buddy over to Fleet People's Park early in the morning, but the gates were locked! So we walked around the "Village Center" at Baldwin Park and watched the sun come up. Later I took Buddy home to rest while I went to Lowe's.

At Lowe's I got a couple more clamps (you can never have too many), some sandpaper, some gum/glue remover, some spray adhesive, and a can of boiled linseed oil.

In the evening I took the copies of the leg cutting pattern into the house and cut them out close to the cut line with my X-acto knife. My plan was to use spray adhesive to stick the paper pattern to the leg blank and sand down to the pattern.

This morning I chopped the 28-inch-long leg blank I had laminated together into 6-1/4 inch long legs. Then I sprayed the adhesive on and put the paper pattern on. I took this to the sanding wheel on the table saw and slowly sanded right down to the pattern. It worked perfectly! I got all four legs done with no problems.

I used a dust mask for this because I knew doing this would create a ton of brown sawdust. It did. The mask worked okay, not perfect. Some of the dust I inhaled was probably just hanging in the air anyway. I stir up a lot of dust with the stop vac too - I like to use it in blower mode to blow dust right out the garage door!

Now I need to cut lots of dados and rabbet joints. Those are pretty basic. I will practice on scrap pieces before each cut to ensure that the work is not messed up. I wonder how many more weekends this box will take?

I have to return to work tomorrow -- uuggghhhh!! A full-length week too. The bright spot is that we get paid next Friday night!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I made a Jenny-O Turkey Roast, Stove Top Stuffing, Ocean Spray Cranberry Jelly, home made bread, sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin pie. I stuffed myself and Buddy was happy with the treats of turkey and gravy that he got.

I pretty much sat at the computer the rest of the day doing "research"! It is nice to have days off and have them all to myself!

This morning I got up around 7:30 and walked Buddy. Then came home and had coffee. I discovered that whipped dairy topping does NOT make good coffee creamer. I watered the plants. Around 10 am I got a shower, and then I ran the vacuum. Around 10:30 I put the vacuum in the bed of the truck and we went to the office.

At the office I vacuumed the carpet. Then I had to sort all of my old orders into dealer name order and file them. We were back out of there in 1 hour 15 minutes.

After putting the vacuum cleaner away and putting Buddy back in the house I went to the garage to work on my jewel box project. I put the sanding disc into the table saw and carefully sanded the handles and drawer pulls down to the pencilled curve. That wood cut as smooth as butter and made really fine dust.

I am starting to think that it won't be necessary to cut out the legs after all - I can just sand down to the curve line!

Next I took all of the pieces with concave curve and did the curve layout on them. I set up the drill with the sanding drum, and then started to clean up. Tomorrow I will start working on those pieces.

I swear today felt like Saturday, but no, I have three more days!! Yippee!!

Orlando, FL

The GCS trucks were already parked infront of the office when I got there. Fortunately Fay came in early and she was sharpening pencils and getting tables ready for the technicians to take their tests. They were done around 11 am.

I took my project plan to the office to make copies of the leg profile. I will have to cut the profile out and affix it to the leg with spray adhesive while cutting along the pattern with the jigjaw or a bandsaw.

During lunch I took my corned beef brisket out of the crockpot. Almost didn't get it out! It wanted to break up into parts! Mmmmm! It turned out great! I picked up a pumpkin pie, whipped cream, and a can of sweet potatoes to finish my Thanksgiving Day feast of turkey roast, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and asparagus.

I was in the office alone all afternoon. Fay left before I returned from lunch! Craig was on the road. Who knows where Debbie was? It got hectic, but I got through. Pay back is a bitch.

Now I am home. Dishwasher is loaded. Dog is walked. This blog is almost done. Need a quick shower and a trip to Bally's. Brian won't be there this evening because he is off on Tuesdays, so he works out in the afternoon when it isn't crowded.

Tomorrow is the last day of the week! Long weekend!

Short Week

This weekend I did the usual household chores.

On Saturday afternoon I started working on my jewelry box project (see my SketchUp model in the picture). I worked for four hours and when I came inside I was covered in dust. I had wooden boogers in my head from inhaling all that sawdust!

On Sunday I continued working and got all of the main pieces cut out into gross size. I worked for three hours. I have a lot of dados to plow and some shaping to do. I have a lot of scrap leftover too, but that is good because if I mess up a part, I have scrap to go back to and make a replacement with.

After cutting most of the excess away I will sand down to my curves. The convex (bulging out) curves I will sand with the sanding disc on the tablesaw. All of the concave (bulging inward) curves will be sanded on a sanding drum mounted on the drill press. With a four-day-weekend coming up I should make alot of progress, but I want to be careful so that I don't mess up.

Today was another one of those days I stayed continuously busy. Fay left when I returned from lunch. I am tired of her working part-time. When you add up the time she was out on vacation (one week), sick with diverticulitis (two weeks), and now maternity leave (atleast a week), she's been away from work for a month. Incredibly they are buying her story about "saving up" her vacation for this grandbaby thing. I hope Mrs. Lewis realizes that I only took one week of vacation last year too... payback is a bitch.

The Chik-Fil-A fairy left coupons and a $20 bill on my chair lastnight! These coupons give you a free Coke if you buy an 8-piece nuggets.

TGIF !!!

I am glad this week is over. I am glad next week is a short week.

There was a $20 bill on my chair this morning with a Post-It Note that said "TGIF! For lunch!" It was from Craig.

Fay took a two-hour lunch today with her son and Debbie. I can't believe it. She was out for a week and a half and then she pulls this shit.

This evening I watered the plants, swept the balcony, vacuumed the carpet, started laundry, and am making chicken soup with the chicken carcass from yesterday. Chicken, rice, fingerling carrots, and celery. It will be good - tomorrow.

Tonite I am very tired. Still sore from gym yesterday too. I think I am going to bed early. I feel like a cold is coming on.

I want to work in the garage tomorrow too. Get my new wood project started.

Orlando, FL

Although Fay was in the office all day it was still almost overwhelming. She likes to pile extra shit on me. She wants to write quotes and she wants me to do everything else. Hell, I'm writing half the quotes these days too!

I was trying to write a difficult quote for Disney (they want a $6,000 range for less than $5000 including taxes), and Fay and Craig come up to me asking me if I know how to program recipes into the Combi.

So I have to stop and go to the Test Kitchen to help Craig pull giblets out of baking hens and get the routine recorded in the oven to bake them. While I am doing that Greg Olsen phones in and wants me to send shit loads of catalogs and price lists to three different guys

I hate being yo-yo-ed from job to job like that. Back to the Test Kitchen where the birds are now safely in the oven and baking. Of course they turned out perfectly. After we ate one we put the hens into ziploc bags and layed them in the VersaDrawer to quick chill them down to 38F. We gave two hens to Evelyn, I took one, Fay took one, and there is one left for Craig.

Poor Buddy didn't get to go out at lunch time. I looked up as I drove by the apartment. I saw him pop up from the floor when he saw my truck. He knows what I drive! Maybe I will take him with me to the gym tonite.

Tonight's picture is titled "Manwich". "A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal!"

Ikea Opens!

The TV news helicopters circled all day. They were shooting pictures of the traffic backed trying to get to the new Ikea store at Millenia Mall. People have been waiting in line since Monday for the Grand Opening! The first 100 shoppers get a free chair! Officials expect over 100,000 people to visit the store in the next 3 days! Extra police will be on hand to manage crowds and traffic.

Fay came to work this morning, but she left right after I came back from lunch. She promises to be in all day tomorrow.

Buddy came back to the office with me after lunch. He spent the afternoon with me in the office. I think he liked it - it was a change of pace for him.

I worked shoulders, chest, and tri's last night. I lifted so hard when I came home I was shaking and could barely lift an envelope. When I got down on the floor to play with Buddy my arms would not support my body and I fell to my elbows! I decided to take a break from the gym tonite.

Orlando, FL

Today I was looking forward to having the office to myself, but Fay had to come in and do a quote for one of our crybaby dealers. Having Martha in Hollywood do it was not good enough for him.

She left around 11:30. I took lunch around 12:20 and went to Woodcraft in Casselberry to get my curly maple. The cashier would only take cash for the work. I had to go to an ATM, get cash, and come back. That kinda miffed me.

Then a mad dash back to the office. Fortunately traffic was moving and the roundtrip only took 70 minutes.

Fay is going to come in again tomorrow morning and probably leave after lunch.

With the wenge and maple at hand now I will start working on my next project this weekend. Layout the pieces and plane them flat and cut to net size. Then I will have to plow dados, cut arcs, sand, glue up, etc etc. It will take a couple of months.

Veterans Day

This weekend I did the usual - laundry and housework.

I started into my new book, Plutonium, this weekend.

On Saturday I checked my email from home. I laughed my ass off when I read the message from Craig Hodges. He said that his son, CJ, has decided to drop out of UF and join the US Marine Corps as a non-combatant linguistics specialist! Huge shock to Craig, Sally and Cathrine.

Nancy immediately replied, all red, white, and blue and patriotic. Going on about how her sons all joined the Marines, etc etc.

On Sunday I took Buddy with me up to Casselberry to pick up the lumber that I had planed. When we got to Woodcraft we found that it was not done yet! They called the shop worker and assured me it would be done on Monday.

When we got home we went out to the garage and I sharpened chisels on my waterstone. I honed them down to a beautiful mirror finish, took the wire edge off, and then tested them by shaving the hair off of the back of my hand.

I also tuned my bench plane. I took the blade out and honed it to a nice sharp edge. Then I put it back in and adjusted it so that the blade stuck above the sole of the plane by a hair. Then I proceeded to plane a piece of pine scrap! Curls of thin wood came up off of the surface!! The planed surface left behind was soo smooth and flat!

I started fasting Sunday evening around 5 pm in preparation for bloodwork Monday morning.

Mom said that Linda's funeral was last Sunday and they left Ohio on Tuesday morning. Well, I was hoping they would see the flowers I sent to let me know how they turned out.

Up at 5:30 to walk Buddy. Then I showered and went over to Quest Diagnostics at 6:30 am and waited with other people for it to open. One said, "I sure hope they are open today! What with yesterday being Veteran's Day an all!" They opened at 7 am and I was done by 7:20. I was hungry too.

I got two Coke Zeroes and a breakfast burrito and headed to the office. I found Fay's car there when I came tooling up!!

Fay said that she would work today until lunch time and then she would go to help Francella again. I am getting tired of this now.

Craig was in the office this morning. I started talking about CJ and the military. You could tell that Craig wanted to talk about this. His family has been shocked by this decision and I think it helped that he could talk to someone outside of the military with military experience.

Craig also had another cancer doctor appointment today. So he went to the barber in the morning and returned with a crewcut! They needed a biopsy from his scalp again.

Fortunately this biopsy turned out benign.

Craig will be flying to Fort Wayne, IN tomorrow afternoon to meet Bob Chuhak and Red Lobster Culinary Team at the Lincoln factory. He returns on Thursday.

On Thursday he said we are going to make six chickens in the ConvoTherm oven. He said he wants to get more experience using the combi and we will use the oven to make a new food each week.

Woodcraft called at 5:30 pm to report that my curly maple is done. I will go get it tomorrow after work. The man said he only used half an hour, so the charge will only be $25.

Now I have Buddy walked, I have this blog caught up, and I need to shower real quick and go to the gym. Back and bi's tonite.

TGIF !!!

Well, alot has happened since I last wrote!

On Wednesday night I got back to the gym. I only ran 5 minutes, then I worked on back and biceps. Walked 5 more minutes and DONE!

When I got home I went to bed. I left the balcony doors open to let the cool air in the house. Around midnight I woke up hearing someone yelling from the balcony upstairs, a car revving its engine, headlights shining into my bedroom, and loud rap music. I went out to the balcony and watched the car.

It spun its wheels and took off. It went past the corner out of the building and out of my sight, and then I heard it hit something. I could not know this, but the driver ran his buddy, Nick, over! Then it continued on, up over the curb, through bushes, and CLANG!! Into the chained locked back gate. He hit the gate three times!

Then he got the car turned around and sped back down the parking lot... again out of my sight I heard a loud dull thud - he ran into a parked car! Then he turned around again and followed the lot around the building and out of the apartments. I heard that he also ran into the fountain as he was leaving.

I waited in the house with Buddy for awhile to be sure he was gone. Then I went down to investigate the damage. Yeah, the gate was leaning over and bent. I knew for sure John and Amy heard it - their bedroom window is right next to the gate! But no, they were out taking someone to the ER and missed it.

Thursday was a busy day for me alone in the office. Debbie was in for 90 minutes to help. Craig was in Atlanta for NACS Show.

During lunch I called into Thereasa, the leasing manager, that the guy who rammed the gate was a guest of the tenants in 1021. She was very grateful for that tip.

I went to the gym again last night. Ran 5 minutes and then did shoulders, chest and triceps. Started to get sore from the first night. When I got home I saw Dan, my next door neighbor and talked to him about the stuff that happened the night before. Evidently Dan and roomies saw alot more of it than I did! They have a corner unit, so they would see more.

Today I was very sore from working out. My middle and my arms are very sore.

Debbie was in the office for about 5 hours today helping with the phones. I was about to go out for lunch and was surprised to see Craig coming in the front door back from Atlanta already!

The book I ordered from Borders.com arrived today - Plutonium. Debbie was fascinated because it was delivered in a plain brown paper envelope. I had to open it in front of her just to show her it was nothing to get excited about.

I went to lunch at 1 pm and met John, Brett and Brett's boyfriend (can't remember his name) at Cracker Barrel for lunch. I had meatloaf and green beans.

This evening I walked Buddy and started the dishwasher and laundry. I watered my plants, and I am just going to hang out at home. I think my funds are getting depleted!

Galloping Gertie

On this day in history... Tacoma Narrows Bridge, aka "Galloping Gertie", fell into Puget Sound in a 40 nt wind.

The phones were not really busy in the morning at the office, but all of the people need everything "Now!" or "ASAP!" and that makes it hard to prioritize jobs. I called Fay and she was at Francella's house. The mother and baby came home from the hospital yesterday.

During lunch I went to Walmart and got $167 in groceries. I picked up a few things I did not need, but incredibly, I forgot a few items! I brought the food home, put the fresh/frozen stuff into the fridge and then hurried back to the office.

When I got back at 1:45 pm, Evelyn was already there working with Craig.

I was by myself in the office from 2 pm until the end of the day. Tomorrow and Friday Craig will be in Atlanta for the NACS Show (National Association of Convenience Stores). Debbie should be in to help me, but I suspect she won't be.

One of the things I got today that I did not need Fergie's CD - The Dutchess album. It was at Walmart for $11.88. The album has atleast 4 top ten tracks on it.

Going to take a quick shower now and then head to the gym for a short run, back and bi's.

Orlando, FL

My neighbors, on both sides, were noisy last night. I think I only got about 5 hours of sleep.

This morning was nice and cool, in the 50's when we went out for our walk. The weatherman said that we will see 40's this week! Nice! Cool and dry.

By myself during the morning at work. Debbie showed up at 10 am, and Craig got there a few minutes later. Debbie had some quotes to work on. But, by the time I was ready for lunch they were both gone again!

I went to Chick-Fil-A drive-thru and got a Southwest Salad with spice dressing and a 4-piece chicken strips for Buddy. Rushed home and ate, walked Buddy real quick, and then left again. I stopped at the Orla Vista Post Office to buy Christmas postal stamps.

When I returned to the office Debbie was there. She has to spend time in the office because the partners are carefully watching her.

Good News! HP15 black ink cartridge can substitute for HP48 black. We had five leftover cartridges from Craig's old printer. It is good that I can use them and they won't go to waste!

I got a few quotes written today and I got all the file folders I made over the past couple days filed. We have already processed $160k and it's only Tuesday!

The lillies I sent should have been delivered today. I know that Proflowers.com sent a nice bunch of flowers for me. They haven't let me down yet!

Eastern Standard Time

This whole weekend was dry and cooler. I liked it!

I cleaned the kitchen and bath floors first, then I stripped the bed and washed the sheets after folding laundry from the night before. I took the truck to a car wash and had it vacuumed out and washed - it needed it!

In the afternoon Saturday I shopped at Barnes & Noble. I got two books - Bill Of Wrongs by Lou Dubose and Molly Ivins (post-humous) and Down To The Sea, a World War 2 naval story by Bruce Henderson.

It was my intention to go to BJ's Warehouse on Saturday, but I never got around to it. For dinner I had beer and pizza.

On Sunday I made coffee in the morning and read the news. I had to go around and move all of the clocks back an hour because Daylight Savings Time ended. At 9 am I went to BJ's Warehouse and stocked up on bottled water, canned veggies, a big jug of white vinegar, clear liquid handsoap refill, and greeting cards. The greeting cards are half price at BJ's! So I got a big selection to fill my greeting card box at work with.

I had to stop at Petco and get a 10 pound bag of dog food, a pack of doggie duty bags, and I looked for heartworm medicine, but they did not have it. Is okay, he has a dose left for December so I can get to the vet and buy it before it runs out. Winter time is the lowest risk for heartworm anyway - few mosquitoes.

After that stuff was put away I got Buddy into the truck and we drove to Casselberry to shop at the Woodcraft store. I got 10.8 board feet of curly maple. I paid for the boards, but I left them there to have them planed down to 9/16-inch thick. They will call me when they are done and ready to be picked up. The boards were kinda rough, but I think with a sharp thicknesser and some care they are going to have some beautiful figure.

On the way back home we stopped at Arby's. I got a couple of roast beef sandwiches and pinched pieces off for Buddy.

Next we stopped at the Border's bookstore in Winter Park. I walked out of there with two more books - The Curve Of Binding Energy, a physics classic by John McPhee; and The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.

Another book that I looked for was out-of-stock and had to be ordered - Plutonium, a book a first learned about from Internet surfing. I wasn't going to get it, but the sales lady said that shipping was free and that clinched it for me. The book will be delivered in 7 to 10 days.

Buddy got a bath when we got home. He did not care for that, but he smells alot better now.

In the evening at home I went to www.ProFlowers.com and ordered some nice white calla lillies to be delivered to Roger for Linda's funeral.

Next I printed out the mailing labels for my Christmas cards. I need to make a trip to the post office to buy special holiday stamps. 42 cents each this year... ugghh.

Emailed a copy of my current resume and references to human resources at Space Exploration Technologies (Space X) for the position of Buyer. I would really be surprised if they called me. But, hey, you never know! A lady called me on my cellphone this afternoon asking to interview me for a Technical Writer job in Tampa!

I talked to my friend Rick about his planned house addition and his recent trip to Europe. Agreed that I would research trips and fares to South America and maybe we would take vacation this spring and see the Inca ruins in Peru. THAT would be pretty cool to do!

I did not get Microtrends finished as I had hoped this weekend. I am 40 pages from the end. It will be done soon. I sure have my reading cut out for myself!

This morning I checked my email here at the house before I left for work. I found a message from Fay saying that her daughter, Francella, gave birth yesterday afternoon (a couple weeks early) and that she was going to need to take some time off of work. When I got to the office she was already there!

Because the high today was only 79 F, I left the balcony door open and Buddy was able to go outside at will all day today.

Fay left to go back to the hospital after lunch. She was gone for the rest of the day and I suspect she will be out for the rest of the week.

This Daylight Savings Time shift is weird. Had to drive home in the dark. Now Buddy has to walk in the dark in the morning and in the evening.

Orlando, FL

To pass away: to disappear; to die; to vanish. ``The heavens shall pass away.'' --2 Pet. iii. 10. "I thought to pass away before, but yet alive I am.'' --Tennyson.

I heard the bagger at Publix use that term this morning as he casually referred to someone who had died. I thought about Linda being near death and what that expression meant. Mom phoned me at work this afternoon to let me know that Linda died at 1:15 pm. That was about the time I was returning to the office from lunch. Mom remarked that Betty died three years ago tomorrow - strange coincidence.

She really went down quickly. It was only this week that Roger had to call for hospice. Sometimes it's like that with cancer patients.

Right now I am doing laundry, putting away dishes, paying bills on web bill pay, and I am going to vacuum the floors. Tomorrow morning I will clean the kitchen and bath floors and go to BJ's for supplies. I don't feel like going to the grocery store this weekend.

Spent some time in the garage using the router on my tablesaw router table. I want to get that table completed this weekend and I want to finish reading the book I am in. Winds are still coming out of the north and a cold front is on the way to bring more cool, dry air.

Perhaps I will call Roger this weekend and re-offer to help roof that second house in Dunedin sometime this spring after all of the holiday noise and excitement is over.

All Saints Day

It was partly sunny today, but it rained several times. Weatherman says it's from Tropical Storm Hurricane Noel. I guess the beaches are really taking a pounding.

Looks like a fairly good week for the Orlando office. We have passed $400k in orders so far.

My supplies arrived today from Stamps.com. I made a few practice envelopes and imported my Outlook address book into the Stamps program. I don't think it will be too hard to use.

I wrote the rent check and put it into the drop box this evening when I walked Buddy. I need to log into Navy Federal Credit Union and use the web bill pay to take care of the rest of the bills.

Mom phoned lastnight to report that she had 15 trick-or-treaters. Then she said that Roger had to call hospice in to help with Linda. He has to carry her to the bathroom now. It is sad, and I hate to say it, but it probably won't be much longer for her.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday. Even though I got paid, I don't think I am going to over-do it with groceries etc this weekend. Just get my laundry done, rest, and catch up on my reading.