Orlando, FL

When I took Buddy out for his walk this morning it was warm and a surprisingly clear sky. I saw Venus and Jupiter in the eastern sky. They were both surprisingly bright.

I took Buddy back into the house and got my camera. I went out to the street and snapped three pictures, but because I had the ISO speed set to AUTO, I think the shutter stayed open for over a second. This resulted in all three pictures featuring bright jigzag lines of light from my shaky hand.

I went back into the house and got my tripod. Mounted the camera to the tripod and went back. I set the ISO to AUTO, turned the flash off, and set the self-timer to 3 seconds. I pointed the camera so that I had both planets in the little screen and pushed the shutter button. The picture here is the result. This is the eastern sky looking down Metrowest Boulevard. The brighter planet at the top is Venus and the dimmer one below is Jupiter. They will be making their closest approach to each other on Monday.

I noticed that they cut the median back in the intersection of Metrowest Blvd and Robert Trent Jones Drive. They have poured new curb and gutter and are getting ready to fill in the hole with new asphalt. They are installing traffic signals in this intersection and they had to cut the median back so that they crosswalk can go across uninterrupted.

At work I got an email message from Evelyn, our IT expert. She received my new computer and she will be coming to the office tomorrow morning to transfer my old files, bookmarks, and email rules from the old computer to the new computer. I guess I won't be getting any work done for a couple of hours tomorrow.

When I left for lunch I saw a white blimp trying to fly along I-4. The blimp didn't have any words on it.

During lunch I came home and ate a Lean Cuisine microwaved meal and I took the custard from the fridge and poured it into the ice cream maker. I made another batch of buttered pecan ice cream and spooned it into a Rubbermaid box to firm up in the freezer.

This evening after walking Buddy I went to the garage to work on my wook project. I had the saw set up to cut dados in the drawer front and back. Well, I got into a little bit of a hurry and suffered a small setback -- I had already decided that one side would be the front and one side would be the back because the back had some tearout from the planing process. Well, I accidentally cut the drawer pull dados on the "back" side of these pieces. I think I can plane 1/32 inch off of the drawer face and sand it down to eliminate the tearout. Otherwise they turned out okay - not perfect, just okay.

Payroll will be deposited tonight. I have already written a check for the rent. I need to sit down in the morning, verify the deposit, and use web bill pay to pay the other bills. I am glad the weekend is here.

Orlando, FL

Here is a picture taken by Debbie Owings yesterday at Enodis Technology Center. I am standing in the back next to Craig Hodges. We are watching a chef demonstrate the operation of a piece of equipment.

From left to right: Brian Winney (Disney), Gordon McDonnell (LGM Design), Betsy Hummel (Disney), Ken Bates (Disney), Jim Weaks (Enodis), Me, Craig Hodges.

Everyone agrees that yesterday's presentation at Enodis was a smashing success - a slam dunk for FER. Next Tuesday Craig will be taking Darden Restaurants over for a similar presentation with accelerated cooking technologies.

Coincidentally, while we were at Enodis, Craig had our contract chef, a new guy named Ryan, conducting a Merrychef demo for Seasons 52 and then assisting a chef from Cleveland Range with Combi training at Nass Parts & Service. We really were covering alot yesterday!

This week is sucking for orders. That is fortunate for me because I was able to get the orders quickly caught up. Service issues kept me continuously busy today. Constant interruptions on the phone too. We (I, really) quickly followed up on yesterday's demo by mailing cutsheets and other marketing materials to the persons involved in the show yesterday.

Fay arrived a little late this morning with baby in hand. He was there with us all day long. Around 11:30 Barbara Hacker phoned and asked if Fay was available and I said, "Yeah, for now, but that little man is getting hungry and he's going to get fed soon." Well, Fay got upset saying, "Nobody down South is supposed to know about him!" Well, shit, nobody told me we were keeping it a big secret! Craig explained that Gabe wouldn't be as sympathetic as he is. I guess they just assume that I am going to go along with this. That kid screams loud - they won't keep this secret for long. I promise.

I stayed in the office until around 6 pm getting a shipment of catalogs ready for one of the consultants who attended the Disney Kitchen Of Tomorrow presentation at Enodis. Then I got myself home.

When I arrived I worked in the garage for a few minutes getting the dado blade set up in the tablesaw. I want to cut dadoes for the drawers tomorrow evening. Two or three more days of work and I will be assembling drawers. I need more clamps, but I need smaller ones now!

After taking Buddy for his walk I prepared custard and toasted pecans for another batch of buttered pecan ice cream. I will mix it tomorrow after work and then freeze it so that it firms up. On Friday evening I will take it with me over to Bob's.

Next I ran the vacuum cleaner and started the dishwasher. Here I am getting my blog caught up and I need to call Dad tonight too.

It is nice to know that tomorrow is Thursday already. My computer was giving me so much trouble this morning, but Craig assured me that my new computer will be delivered and set up sometime this week. I really won't be able to work while Evelyn sets up and transfers files.

Bob said that we might drive up to St Augustine this weekend and walk around the town and maybe see the Spanish fort. We will stop in Daytona Beach on the way back so he can visit his parents in the nursing home.

Two more weeks and I will be flying to Michigan for my Delfield training! It was minus 15F there this morning with the windchill! LOL!

Enodis Technology Center

At 5:15 am I got up and took Buddy out for his walk. It was going to be a long, lonely day for Buddy. I had to begin shaving, brushing, showering, etc as soon as I returned to the house. I stopped at Seven-11 to get a sandwich and Coke Zero for breakfast.

On the way to the office, the sky was dawning. I could see Venus plainly up in the eastern sky, and if you looked carefully, just to the 8 o'clock position you could see Jupiter faintly!

Craig rolled up with a cooler, ice, and drinks for the trip. As soon as we got that packed up he broke into a huge panic - he could not find the keys! We searched frantically, then I looked at the key fob and at the ignition switch -- "Hey Craig! I think I found it!" The ignition keyhole was square - like a computer USB port and the key fob had a matching square tab. "I think this is supposed to go in here!" Damned new technologies!

We met Betsy, Debbie, Ken Bates, Greg Moore, and Brian Winney at DC-3. Greg could not go with us due to his work load. Good thing too - the 7-passenger van we rented would not have held all of us.

It took 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the Enodis Technology Center in New Port Richey. Neil met us there with Gordon McDonnell, one of our consultants.

I meant to bring my camera, but I forgot it. I am glad because it would have been one more thing I would have to keep track of.

Coffee, softdrinks, pastry, fruit, and fresh souffle was ready for us in the meeting room. The first two hours consisted of presentations about Merrychef USA ovens and the Frymaster Protector fryer. Allison Cullen-Woodcock, one of the chefs, coordinated all of the presentation and she is very good at "wowing" our audiences. Sandy Tyler flew in from Shreveport to present the Protector and answer questions about it.

Jim Weaks and Bob Nearbonne of Enodis made presentations and Betsy offered to test Enodis equipment and provide feedback.

Around 11 am we were taken to a very, very nice Test Kitchen for a series of presentations with a line-up of Enodis equipment. In today's line-up we had a Cleveland Range ConvoTherm OGS-610 sitting atop a Delfield T-5 blast chiller, a Delfield LiquiTec refrigerated rail salad top with Garland induction unit, Impinger DTF oven and Lincoln Fusion Conveyor Toaster Oven, 4-drawer Delfield Versa Drawer unit with a Merrychef 402S on top, and finally, the Protector fryer.

We were seated to one side and waited on by one of the chefs while various sandwiches, appetizers, and desserts were prepared for us by the other three chefs. The capabilities of the equipment were explained to us and an offer was made to have Enodis personnel visit Disney property to view a few of the food service venues.

The afternoon was spent having an engineer explain new product development and the Kitchen Of Tomorrow idea. We were given a quick tour of a few new products currently under development and then it was time for us to return to Orlando.

We dropped Betsy, Ken, Greg, and Debbie off at DC-3 at 5:05 pm and then Craig took me back to the office. Craig took the van back to the rental place and Debbie brought him back to the office.

I was dismayed to find that Fay did not fax a single order to the factory - instead she just piled them up on my desk. I told Craig when he came in, "When I go to Delfield next month, we are going to have to do better than this." He said, "Well, I think she had her little grandson in here today and that is why nothing got done." I don't think that is a valid excuse.

Payroll stubs were on my desk too. My regular check will be deposited and then there was a modest $250 bonus check too. I guess I need to go ahead and get my clutch fixed and pay my taxes. I will find some extra funds somewhere in February.

At 7:00 pm I returned home. I could not believe it, but Buddy was in his bed and the room was in perfect order. First thing we did was get him out on the street for his walk. Now he is happily shredding his rawhide bone.

Tonite asteroid TU24, a piece of rock about 500 yards across, will pass within 350,000 miles of The Earth. Tomorrow night an asteroid will pass within 16,000 miles of Mars - scientists initially gave it a 1 in 25 chance of striking the Red Planet.

Orlando, FL

On Sunday morning I got up and walked Buddy. I asked Bob what he wanted for breakfast and he asked if I had oatmeal. I made oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins in cream and water. It was very tasty. We had cups of yogurt and coffee with the oatmeal.

It rained during the morning.

Later in the morning we went to Bob's house to work on his dishwasher. We pulled the machine out from the cabinet and turned it over on its back on some rugs to get at the pump and motor on the bottom. After an hour's struggle we freed the pump and the motor from the bottom of the machine. The pump impeller was definitely seized up. We could not make it turn by hand.

We went downstairs to the second floor lounge and ordered a replacement pump and motor assembly. That should arrive this week and then, hopefully, all we have to do is bolt that onto the bottom of the tub, hook up the hoses, waterline, and drain line, reconnect the electricity and run it while checking for leaks.

After that we went back to my apartment and ate leftovers for lunch. That ratatouille is very good. We had cottage cheese and toasted, buttered, French bread with it.

We took Buddy for a very long evening walk. We saw some falcons watching for field mice in a vacant lot during our walk. When we finally got back to the house Buddy went and laid down and we walked over to the new liquor store at Winn-Dixie. We bought a replacement bottle of Disarronno and some Coke Zero. It was starting to get cold outside.

Back home we made a couple of nice smooth Disarronno cocktails and then settled down to watch Amnesia. After the movie it was definitely time to get to bed. I set the alarm so that I would rise at my usual time to walk Buddy and Bob could get home to prepare for work.

Today was a good day at work.

Fay had her grandson in the office during the morning. She told me that my lunch hours have changed now - because Tyree needs to eat at noon, she is going to start taking first lunch and I will be going to lunch at 1:00 pm now. That is fine by me - it makes the afternoon shorter for me.

I wrote to Gabe about needing to adjust my number of dependents so that Paychex witholds enough money to cover my taxes. In the afternoon he had a Form W-4 emailed to me to fill out and return. Too late for this year, but it will help next year.

Craig went with Debbie in the afternoon to pick up the van for our trip tomorrow. I have to meet him at the office around 7:15 am. Then we drive to Disney and get Debbie, Betsy, Greg Moore, Brian Winney, and Ken Bates at DC-3. We drive to New Port Richey and meet Neil Gosselin and Gordon McDonnell at the Enodis Test Kitchen. I will probably spend Wednesday and Thursday playing mad catch-up.

A package came for me today in the US Mail at work. Dawndee had a calendar full of inspirational pictures and captions sent to me from Despair.com. Some really nice gift ideas in there too - I think I will bookmark it!

Saturday

I got up around 7 am to walk Buddy. Told Bob he could either stay in bed, or get up and get his shower. He was still in bed when we returned from our walk. I put coffee on and started making breakfast. I made scrambled eggs with cheese stirred in, Canadian bacon, and cups of yogurt.

It rained in the morning and again in the afternoon. I busied myself in the morning with the dishes and then made a recipe for onion rings that are baked in the oven. The coating is made with saltine crackers and crushed kettle-cooked potatoe chips. The batter is made with flour, egg, spices, and buttermilk. They were alot of work, but they were awesome right out of the oven. Found that recipe on Cooking For Engineers website.

I worked out my taxes using IRS Form 1040EZ. I need to have my witholding reduced to zero (0) -- I owe $271 this year! That was a disappointment. Bob worked out his taxes using his laptop and Turbo Tax. He kept reciting all of things you can deduct if you itemize. If I had mortgage interest I would go long form too.

Also had laundry going. I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and towels in a seperate load. I got a rag and the Behold and dusted bedroom and living room furniture.

After the onion rings were done I started making the recipe for ratatouille that I found on the Cooking For Engineers website. That recipe always turns out great. So dinner was ratatouille, cottage cheese, French bread, and leftover buttered pecan ice cream for dessert.

In the afternoon Buddy was given a bath. Boy, did he need it. You could see the filth rolling off of him in the suds. Now the bathtub needs to be cleaned.

We took a nap for a couple of hours. Then I went to the garage to work on my wook project while Bob worked on a paramedic training video thing on the Internet here in the house.

It was still raining in the evening when we went out to Blockbuster Video. We rented Zodiac - based on the zodiac murders in California in the late 60's, and a movie called Amnesia. We watched Zodiac and went to bed around 11 pm.

Friday!!!

FER-Orlando sent $321k in new orders to the factories this week. Hollywood finally posted some sales too. Overall it was a lucrative week for the company.

I had one run-in with Fay in the morning while I was on the phone with Laurie at Cleveland Range. I yelled back at her down the hall and even Laurie said, "Tell her to stuff it!" I told her she had no idea how much I wanted to. In the afternoon she brought her little grandson in. He shit his diaper so much it overflowed onto his clothes and stunk the office up badly.

Head was aching - felt like the beginning of a sinus headache.

On Friday evening Bob and I went to The Melting Pot in Doctor Phillips. We were directed to the bar to wait. I had a Guiness and Bob had a Corona. Soon they had a table ready for us. We had a cheese fondue with veggies and various types of bread to dip into it. Next we had salads, and finally we had a plate with beef, pork, duck, chicken, pot stickers, and shrimp on it to dip into boiling broth and cook and eat. It was good. It was definitely different. My total came to $91. I will not be doing it again.

We skipped the $16 chocolate fondue dessert and came home. I had prepared custard and buttered pecans for ice cream. I took the frozen ice cream maker bowl out of the freezer and made up a tasty batch of buttered pecan ice cream for our dessert.

Orlando, FL

Today was almost unremarkable. Fay and I arrived at work at about the same time -- 7:55 am. I was nice, clean, shaved, and in a clean white shirt because I knew we were having guests in the Test Kitchen today.

Fay and I had to clean and organize the Test Kitchen this morning - Debbie sure wouldn't come in to do it. We had to put extra equipment out the back door while the guests were there. They were using a conveyor oven to re-therm prepared meals in little plastic bowls. I was afraid the bowls would melt, but they are rated for 450F!

A few more orders arrived putting FER-Orlando at $265k so far this week. I was able to get all of the Red Lobster stuff filed today. I will try to go in early and file all of the Olive Garden stuff. Craig had a devil of a time today getting Enodis to agree on the itinerary for the Kitchen Of Tomorrow presentation next week for Disney at Enodis in New Port Richey.

Everyone in the office was given samples of the shepherd's pie that Dinner To You was practicing with. The test was a success. The group decided to purchase the oven and possibly another one to stack on top of it -- their hood space is limited.

During lunch today I went to Publix to get a fruit bowl to eat immediately, some wine, brown sugar, pecan halves, heavy cream, whole milk, zucchini, squash, and a loaf of French bread.

I am making Buttered Pecan Ice Cream tomorrow evening and I had to get the custard ready tonight. Also, I had to roast and butter the pecans. On Saturday I want to make ratatouille to be eaten with the French bread. I seem to be good at making "comfort food".

I ran the vacuum tonight. I just need to start some laundry and clean the kitchen and bathroom floors. It seemed like it was trying to rain this evening.

Tomorrow is Friday! Yay! This weekend I want to do my taxes, read, and work on my wood project some more. Buddy needs a bath too.

Orlando, FL

After adjusting the timer again, the living room lamp went off by itself at 10:19 pm. It came on shortly after 6 am. I am satisfied to let it cycle off and on automatically.

I heard it raining after midnight. It rained all night - it was still raining when Buddy and I went out at 5:30 am. Most of the day was cloudy, but it was warm and humid.

During work today I stayed continuously busy. I didn't get out of my chair very much all day though! I got all of the hundreds of invoices, sales order acknowledgements, and emails for Red Lobster and Olive Garden seperated by concept and then sorted into restaurant number order. There were several service issues that kept me busy too.

MS Outlook was having trouble sending email messages. Craig said that Evelyn is coming to the office tomorrow and that he has given her permission to purchase my new computer. Hope that fixes the problem, for awhile.

Craig passed out our W-2's today. I will probably sit down and figure out my taxes on the 1040EZ this weekend. I hope I get a refund.

Pictured here is the promised progress picture of my wood project. Little by little it is getting done. I should be ashamed that I have been working 3 months so far!

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger was found naked in bed dead of an apparent overdose or suicide in his Manhatten apartment this morning. The 28-year-old starred with Mel Gibson in The Patriot and co-starred with Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain.

Today was continuously busy, but I got a lot done. I processed $165k in new orders these past two days. I think this will be another great week.

This evening I worked on my wood project some more. I put the sides and the plywood top and bottom panels on the cross-cut sled and trimmed them down flat and square. The cross-cut sled was an ideal choice for this -- there was almost no tearout because the work pieces are supported from below and from the back by the fence the entire time. I am almost ready to start gluing the box together.

I will post some pictures of my progress on the jewelry box soon.

Monday

The alarm went off at 5 am and I gathered up my bag, Buddy's bag, harnessed him, and walked him to the elevator to go down to the garage to my truck. It took about 30 minutes to drive back home. At home I hurriedly put my stuff away and took Buddy for his morning walk.

I made two (2) eggs over easy and three (3) slices of Canadian bacon with a cup of yogurt for breakfast. Then I showered and dressed for work. Back to the routine.

I was in a little early and put coffee on. Today was a good day. The phones were quiet because of the holiday (I think). I got all of the schools and project files 2005 and earlier pulled.

During lunch a big Lincoln Navigator pulled up behind me with loud bass pounding out of it. I thought to myself, "Today is MLK Day, and somehow I just don't think this is what he had in mind for his people." Anyway, I got back to the house, microwaved my frozen stuffed peppers for lunch, and walked Buddy.

I spoke with Johnny the maintenance man on my way out. He said the dishwasher upstairs had a pump dry rot and they are going to replace the entire dish machine this week.

Factoid: Sam is incorrectly perceived to have appeared in many Brady Bunch episodes. While he is frequently mentioned in dialogue and Alice occasionally went out on dates with him when she wasn't needed around the house, Sam actually appears in only eight episodes, although his appearances span all five seasons of the show's run.

Sam The Butcher died this weekend in LA - he was 84.

This evening Bob came over with a roasted chicken from Publix. I made stewed tomatoes with okra and onions and just hung out while I updated this blog.

Sunday

We had a breakfast of Isopure shakes and coffee. Then we took Buddy for his morning walk. There was a lot of litter from the stormy night before!

Using some tubing we bought at Lowe's the night before I siphoned the water out of Bob's dish washer into a bowl. I removed 2.5 gallons from the tank. Bob's dish washer pump has seized up and we are going to replace it. Bob looked up the part number and price on the website of a parts supplier. That will be next week's project.

I saved some newspapers from the office and brought them to Bob's house. We mixed up some glass cleaner and got a step stool out and cleaned the dining room, master bedroom, guest bedroom, and living room windows. The cleaning job was not perfect - there were a few light streaks, but it was better than before.

For lunch we went to Anthony's on Summerlin Ave. Bob had an eggplant sub and I had baked ziti. I ordered an appetizer of fried mozzarella and was disappointed to find five (5) fingers of cheese in the basket! How stingy! And for $5.95! I won't be ordering that again!

We wandered through the Eola Farmer's Market on the way back to the house. We stopped at Panera Bread and got a round loaf of focacia bread and returned to the apartment.

After we got back we took Buddy out for a long walk. The air had cooled down alot since the front went through, but as long as the wind was still the sun felt good. We walked all the way down to Lake Lucerne, around the lake and back through the downtown. I think Buddy was even a little tired after that walk!

We all layed down for a nap after that walk. Bob's bedroom is on the south side of the building so it was nice and warm from the sun.

In the evening we had leftover salad and the focacia bread with olive oil. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner (to get Buddy's hair cleaned up) and we watched Extreme Home Makeover and a Food Network Beef Contest on TV.

I walked Buddy while Bob washed dishes. When we returned I decided that we would spend another night at Bob's. Bob had to set the alarm so we could get up early enough to go home and get ready for work.

Saturday

After sleeping in past 9 am we got up, showered, and went to IHOP for breakfast. I had the Stuffed French Toast breakfast - that meal gives you plenty of food!

Next we went out to my apartment to walk Buddy. While out walking Buddy decided to "play" and started bouncing on his front legs and running at me growling like he was attacking me. I screamed and ran around and played along with him. Well, neither Bob nor I saw the red pickup truck dragging a work trailer until we heard the loud "thud" as it ran right into a concrete light post!

The man jumped out and said, "Damn, look what happened to my truck!" I didn't say anything, we just kept going down the sidewalk. But we giggled about it. Those people were so busy watching the dog playing that they ran into a post. It really messed up the front of his truck bad too!

Back at the apartment I folded my laundry and then went to the garage to work on my wood project. Bob stayed in the house with Buddy and worked through some online training videos and tests.

I cut the dados on the front and back that receive the sides and cleaned them out flat with a sharp chisel. The sides need to be squared up and flattened a bit better before I am ready to glue up the box. Shortening the sides a little bit will require the drawers to be shortened a little too.

About two hours later Bob came out to the garage. I had him back his car up to the garage door so that I could work on his bumper. He wanted to get some scratches off the vinyl parts and remove yellow paint and oxidized paint from the metal part. Well, rubbing compound removed the yellow paint and oxidized paint just fine! I couldn't get the scratches off his vinyl parts, but he was happy with how shiny silicone spray made them!

We went to Lowe's to get pressure washer soap for Bob's pressure washer at work. Then we went to Michael's Arts & Crafts to get felt for my wood project. They did not have dark chocolate brown self-adhesive felt like I wanted, but I got some tobacco colored felt that I can cut to size, put spray adhesive on, and press into the drawers. I will keep that felt inside the house until it is needed.

Next we went to Sports Authority looking for a travel alarm clock - they didn't have one! So we went across the street to Super Target where we found the clock (for my trip to Mt Pleasant), some travel-sized toiletries, and some stuff for dinner.

When we returned to the apartment we packed Buddy's stuff up and took him in Bob's car back to his house. Bob heated up the chicken from the night before, but we added cran-apple juice to sweeten it a little. We went downstairs to walk Buddy but we decided not to go far because the weather was getting bad - the wind was picking up and it looked like rain. Well, before we could return to the apartment it started raining. We sheltered under an awning on the sidewalk for a few minutes and then made a run for it.

That is when the bottom fell out -- the rain came down in a deluge and the wind whipped up. The wind was gusting so hard it was blowing the water out of the fountain! We were all soaked!

Back in the house we had to strip and toss our clothes into the dryer. Then we settled down for dinner of chicken with sun-dried tomato bread and apricot-pomegranite olive oil. Buddy had his usual dinner of Science Diet.

We ended up curled up on the sofa and watched a TV movie called "Stealth".

Friday!!!

Today was a little bit better. Actually, I felt better after sending that response about Fay's behavior in my email to Craig. Here's your eye-opener!

Orlando office sent over $322k in new orders this week. Hollywood sent $77k this week. We are not allowed to tease them about their sorry performance because it pin pricks at one of the partner's ego too much. Oh well, all of the commission goes into one account anyway.

After work I went to the house and put wet clothes from the washer into the dryer, ran the vacuum, walked Buddy, showered, changed clothes, and headed to Bob's for dinner.

I stopped at the new Winn-Dixie Liquor Store for wine. I got a special bottle of Blackstone merlot 2005. The black cashier demanded my id card and then she wanted me to take it out of the holder too! I was talking about the wine and the Ray's Station wine in the grocery next door. Her response was, "I don't drink any guut wine."

We had chicken that Bob made in the slow cooker all day along with the wine and some Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild rice. It was good. We watched American Idol and Gray's Anatomy on TV. I swear I cannot understand why Bob has to expose me to the non-sense of American Idol. Some of those pitiful people have no idea how bad they are!

Ripping Her Up

Here is the actual message I sent to Craig in response to Fay's sanctimonious lecture about my attitude...

Craig,

You said that if I write an email message that I have doubt about sending that I
should just send it to you instead...



Fay,

That was a nice attempt at minimizing my work load and stress from it. If you were
truly as busy as you claim to be I would not see you coming to work late every
morning and leaving the office at 5:01 pm every evening.

You casually add to my workload and then rush past my desk on your way out the door
at 5:01 advising me "Don't work too late! Ha!" That's not very funny to me.

Also, I love how every job in the office that you do not want to do becomes "part of
your job" and gets delegated to me. From my point-of-view all you have to do is
quote and keep the office and Test Kitchen supplied.

Craig would offer me a day or two off during a time of pressure "to think about it",
but I know I cannot do that because my work will pile up while I am out.

When you were out (and I recall plenty of days last year that you were) we took good
care of your quoting and you returned to find very little to catch up. Honestly, I
don't mind you being out - except for the phones being a little hectic.

However, if I take vacation or make a factory visit, you fax the Darden orders, and
stack all of the other dealer's orders on my chair. I really would appreciate more
help with that.

Unfortunately, from where I sit I cannot eavesdrop on your telephone conversations.
All that I do know is that you take plenty of personal calls here at the office. I
fail to see how that cannot affect your work.

You have told me in the past that when I feel frustrated and overwhelmed to just
"go for a walk". You and I have discussed my philosophy on this. Just walking out
during a hectic time is like a team fighting a fire and someone just dropping the
hose and leaving because it got too hot. I cannot do that with the phones still
ringing and people waiting on me for answers.

Another thing you do not know - stress from work is causing me to lose sleep and
have strange dreams and nightmares. Please do not try to minimize my message when I
am telling you my work load is high right now.

So, yeah, maybe my attitude has gone to shit these past couple weeks. I have tried
to maintain a professional tone with all of our dealers and factory personnel. I do
not think there is any doubt that I am dedicated to making FER a success and I am
very serious about my work.

I feel that with a little understanding and empathy for my perspective, we can get
through this difficult time.

Thank you,


Vince

Nothing has been said about it so far. Of course Craig has bigger things on his mind this week than office/personnel issues.

Orlando, FL

Another non-stop, action-packed day for us at FER...

First thing I did was actually write my sarcastic response from last night. I cleaned it up some and held it all day. At the end of the day I sent it to Craig because he told me that if I ever wrote a message that I had doubt about sending that I should send it to him. Boy, he got an earful this evening. I ripped her up.

Craig has been very distracted lately with Darden Restaurants and Delfield. Since Darden acquired RARE Hospitality, they have been re-doing some of the ways they do business and one thing that has changed is that the items Delfield sells has been sent to bid. Well, first round Delfield was priced very high, non-competitive, actually. Next we had to submit a bid proposal and Craig went to his weekly meeting with Bob, the Kitchen Equipment Manager. That meeting did not go well.

Bob threw the proposal down and said that it was completely unsatisfactory. He said that he would give Delfield a second chance to bid as a personal favor to Craig. Delfield was busily preparing what they should have done in the first place today - some vice-president's job is at stake! A vice-president from Enodis is coming to our office at 8:15 am to hand-deliver the new proposal to Bob at 10:30. That poor man is going to get a tongue lashing.

The loss of the Delfield business with Darden Restaurants would hurt FER. We would survive it, but it would be one less line installed in all of those restaurants.

Summit Apartments had to change the locks on my door today because they lost the keys to my apartment. After all of that I have no evidence that the original work order has been completed.

I want to work in the garage a little this evening. I need to get the dado blade set up for some 1/4" x 1/2" dadoes that hold the sides of the box to the front and back. I need to cut mortises for the hinges too.

Horribilis

Last night the light in my walk-in closet blew out. It tripped the circuit breaker when it went too. When I screwed a new bulb in and reset the breaker it still wouldn't light.

This morning I found waste water from the noisy people upstairs dripping onto my kitchen countertop. The dish washer drain pipe is leaking again.

Work continues to be full-throttle (and I am getting very tired)... I received this gem from that fat old woman this morning:

Vince,
At no time in my correspondence either written or verbal, have I said this
must be done immediately.

Yesterday, I suggested that you call TWC or Commercial....when Craig asked
that we call TWC I simply sent that suggestion to you.

We are both overwhelmed in the tasks we have to do. I asked you to make the
call because service calls are part of your job description and because you
already have a good relationship with the Service Agency. Thank you for
making the arrangements this morning.

Vince, you really need to work the "attitude" that comes through to all of
us when you feel you are overwhelmed. I over hear most of your comments (to
yourself) from my office and I usually take them with a "grain of salt", but
it does make the atmosphere here in the office very stressful. Many times
your attitude is carried in your voice when you talk to us (including the
Partners).

You do a GREAT job most of the time, so please keep working on those
strengths, and let these lesser ones diminish. If you need to discuss this
with me further I am willing to listen

Fay Lewis
Food Equipment Representatives - Orlando
(800) 771-7728
(407) 872-7728
(407) 872-7862 - Fax

In response, I just have to wonder how she can be so "overwhelmed" when she comes to work late every morning and leaves at 5:01 pm admonishing me "Don't work too late!"

I also love how every job that she doesn't want to do ends up being my job. She keeps the office and Test Kitchen supplied and writes quotes - and even then I quote quite a bit. A great example is the "Dealer Discount Spreadsheet" that we keep, but one of the partners has forbidden us to create. Whenever it needs to be updated (after price increases and annually) "it's part of your job!" I wonder what Gabe would say about that? Hmmmm?

While we are airing dirty laundry, I have a few more pieces for the line... like how she was out of the office for over six weeks last year - vacation, sickness, maternity leave, etc and she returned to find very very little work to be done. But if I miss a day... well, she faxes the Darden orders, and just stacks the orders from all the other dealers on my chair.

I really can't eavesdrop on her telephone conversations from where I sit. I just know that she takes ALOT of personal calls at work.

So, yeah, my attitude has become a little shitty lately. My plate is overflowing with work, she carelessly adds to it, and I am having dreams and nightmares about work - my departure must be approaching.

Noteworthy is the fact that while Mr Hodges was copied on the above message, he did not reply or comment. I told him last week that I am becoming very tired. He knows how late I was in the office last night.

Orlando, FL

So far it has been another hectic week of non-stop days. I am getting sick of it. The pile of things that still need to be done/fixed/filed/sorted/updated is getting longer and longer.

Betsy has started to place her FY08 Capital Equipment Bid orders and while those orders will probably add up to over $400k, they will make me miserable in the meantime. She requires alot of hand holding during this process. One problem is that her people order equipment other than that specified and quoted.

When I came to the house at lunch I found a Nast-E-Gram on the door addressed to all Pet Owners in Bldg 10. It went rambling on and on about doggy droppings in front of windows and patios and people not picking up after their pets. It said that we should not walk our dogs infront of apartment windows because there have been complaints about Peeping Toms. Holy Christ, what next?

This morning I took a bag of chicken soup out of the freezer and put it in water to slowly thaw on the range. By lunch it was completely thawed out and I poured it into a sauce pan. I heated that up for dinner. Yum!

Weekend

Friday evening Bob came over with a bottle of Ray's Station 2002 merlot and a long skinny loaf of French bread. I had a pork roast and carrots in the crockery kettle since 9 pm the night before. We had a great meal!

After walking Buddy we settled down and watched "Hostage", a Bruce Willis action adventure movie on DVD. Then it was time to sleep.

Saturday morning I think I was able to sleep in until 7:30 am. Then I had to take Buddy for his walk. After Buddy was walked Bob and I went to IHOP for breakfast. On the way home we stopped at Publix to get onions, tomato juice, cottage cheese, and a gallon of milk. Next we stopped at GNC to get some flax seeds for Bob and some more samE for me.

Back home I mixed thawed out ground beef with diced sweet onions, 4 eggs, 2 cups of oats, 2 oz of minced garlic, a can of tomato paste, and a can of diced tomatoes. I spooned this mixture into cleaned green peppers and covered it all with tomato juice. This baked in the oven at 350F for about three hours while I read my book and napped.

Dinner was stuffed peppers with cottage cheese and leftover French bread. They turned out great! We were the ones who ended up stuffed!

Saturday evening we curled up on the chaise and watched "The Recruit", an Al Pacino and Colin Farrell movie. It began raining outside while we watched this movie. It rained so hard I had to get up and make sure that water was not leaking into the house!

On Sunday morning we walked down to Walmart and I got Zantrex for me, a jar of Benefiber for Bob, and waffles for our breakfast. I fried eggs when we got home - scrambled for Bob and over medium for me. Also fried Canadian bacon to go with toasted waffles, eggs and coffee.

We stayed in almost all day. We listened to CD's and smooth jazz on the radio and we read books for awhile.

n the evening we shopped for a few small things at Lowe's. We went to Stonewall for beers and I read about Carson Kresley visiting Orlando and his new series called "Looking Good Naked" where he works with fat women!

Orlando, FL

Another continuously busy day today.

Carolina sent me the e-ticket itinerary for my flight to Michigan next month. The only open question is how FER will rent a car for me since I am not an FER American Express card holder. Perhaps Craig will give me cash for that.

Lunch today was at Ruby Tuesday where I had the endless salad bar and soup. It was okay, but the AC was broken in the dining room and it was quite warm.

This evening I am washing sheets, folding laundry, cleaning kitchen and bath floors, and getting my pork roast ready for the slow cooker. I am more than ready for a relaxing weekend.

Pictured this evening are the five (5) main routes I use when walking Buddy. The push pins mark dumpsters where we can dispose of his contribution to the walk. Each route is about a mile long.

Low Visibility

I watched a man burn to death, heard others screaming in the fog. A massive, 50-car pileup, the result of three or more crashes on I-4, has led to at least 3 fatalities and 82 injuries in central Florida near Orlando. The smoke and fog were so bad that rescue efforts were hindered. Drivers with no visibility did not know whether to stay in their burning cars or risk running out onto the highway for help.

It was almost noon when I finally read about the early morning car pile up on I-4. Shocking. The interstate is closed this evening while the highway patrol and prison laborers work to clear the roadway.

This morning I picked my flights from Orlando to Detroit to Midland-Bay City-Saginaw airport and return. I gave the flight numbers to Carolina and she is booking a window seat for me. She is also handling car rental for me at MBS airport.

Lunch was skipped because I knew I was leaving early to go to the doctors office. At my appointment I found that I am 7 pounds lighter than last visit and my blood pressure was 120 over 82.

Linda said the diagnosis is "Fatty Liver". She is referring me to a specialist. She does not know why it is fatty - my alcohol consumption is moderate and my cholesterol is nearly perfect.

She wants to get follow up labs in two months, conduct a cardiac stress test, and have an echocardiogram done. She said she is required to do the stress test and echo due to my advancing age.

Because of the appointment I was home 30 minutes early!!

Orlando, FL

I tried to call Dad a couple times last night but he was not answering his phone. I tried again this morning and he did not answer. He thinks I had my phone disconnected. Ha! I am starting to think he had his phone disconnected!

Two calls were successful though - one to Dawndee and one to Mom. Dawn wanted to know my workplace mailing address. I think she is sending a package to the office. Could it be the shoes I asked her to buy for me? !!

Today was a continuously busy day all day. I hate being that busy. It is stressful and tiring.

At lunch today I went to Subway and had footlong Italian BMT on Italian Herbs and Cheese bread. Then I stepped down to GNC and got some Nature's Best Isopure™ whey protein isolate. I got it in the box with the variety of flavors. Isopure™ is the best protein supplement! Tastes like pumpkin pie compared to Myoplex and that other shit. Click on the link and see how much nutrition each packet provides.

Craig phoned from Phoenix and told me to go ahead and coordinate with Carolina for my flight to Delfield and my car rental. He said they would take care of whatever Buddy needed too. You can't fly directly to Mount Pleasant, so the choices are Saginaw, Flint, or Lansing. I will have to find some time to pick out the flight.

While walking Buddy this evening I noticed a cat in the bedroom window of a one-bedroom apartment on the other end of my building. Then a guy laying on the bed sat up and looked out. As we walked past we saw a female with a ponytail obviously giving oral sex to this young gentleman! You see the damndest things without even trying!

Tomorrow is my doctor's appointment at Sand Lake Medical Associates. I bet Linda will preach and nag about blood sugar levels, weight, and my mysterious liver enzyme issue. Ick.

Tonight's picture shows the path of asteroid WD5 and its collision course with Mars on January 30. It has a 1 in 20 chance of striking The Red Planet! I hope the skies are clear that night!

Orlando, FL

Breakfast was another smoothie this morning. With peanut butter, bananas, frozen strawberries milk and Splenda sweetener the smoothie tastes just like the PBJ smoothie at Planet Smoothie!

There was a lot of work today and I stayed busy, but it was not overwhelming. In the afternoon the phones quieted down and I got some filing done. Over the next few days I need to weed out items over 2 years old from the dealer files and from the project files.

At lunch I went to Super Target to exchange the large black Champion running shorts for extra large. They only had one pair so the balance was refunded to my credit card.

Fay went out at lunch and returned with her infant grandson. She plans on babysitting him in the office all this spring. I don't think that's such a good idea.

It was getting dark when I took Buddy for his walk. Before we finished it was raining full force on us. I was very wet. I feel tired.

Weekend

Friday, January 4, 2008

After getting Buddy out for his morning walk I dressed for work and drove over to the Qwest Diagnostics office to have blood drawn for lab work. This blood will be tested for liver enzymes, blood lipids, metabolic products, and six or seven other things that I cannot remember. It was very chilly waiting for the door to open at 7 sharp - the others waited in their cars, but I was the first one in (and, I think, the first one out!).

I was very hungry after fasting since lunch yesterday. I stopped at Publix and got a loaf of French bread, some coffee creamer, and a fruit salad. Then I stopped at Chik-Fil-A and got a sausage burrito breakfast meal. I pulled up to the office at 7:30 as Craig was backing out for his trip to Tampa.

There were still quite a few orders on my desk to process, but we were shaping up to have a good week for sales. At lunchI went with Fay to BJ's Warehouse where we got 3 cases of bottled water, a case of Diet Coke, some crackers, a bag of apples, plastic cutlery, and various other sundry supplies. We stopped at Pollo Tropical for our lunch on the way back.

We were gone two hours and there were four missed phone calls on the answering machine. All of them hung up!

The afternoon was busy. I had to gather up all of the trash and get it out. I had to finish processing the orders on my desk. I had to create an order report. We finished this week with$425k in sales. Not bad for a three-day week!

I left the office Friday evening with my "new" Blendtec commercial blender. I could not wait to try it out! Stopped at Winn-Dixie to get a bottle of Ray's Station 2005 Merlot and four pounds of bananas. Then got home and put the big blender on the counter between my sink and raised countertop - it's pretty big! This is the same blender used at Starbucks, Planet Smoothie, Panera, Einsteins, actually most places that serve coffee drinks and smoothies.

Because I was planning dinner with Bob, I hurried with walking the dog, vacuuming the floor, watering the plants, and getting the laundry out of the dryer. Nevertheless it was almost 8 pm when I got down to his apartment. We had the turkey breast with potatoes and carrots. This time his turkey breast was very good - he let it slow cook for 12 hours!

I warned Bob that I needed to buy groceries this weekend.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

After a hearty breakfast at The Breakfast Club we drove to Petco and got 5 lbs of Science Diet, some oven-roasted pigs ears, doggie duty bags, and liver treats for Buddy ($77 total), and then we went to BJ's Warehouse for my bulk supplies. I got bottled water, sliced ham and turkey, a big bag of frozen strawberries (for smoothies), a six-pack of green peppers, and a few other things I cannot remember. Next stop - Super Target to get the balance of my groceries.

We brought home leftovers from our breakfast in a sheet of foil. Buddy loved the omelet leftovers! He ate the potatoes too.

The clutch is getting worse on the truck now. When you depress the pedal all the way to the floor it does not always disengage the clutch - you have to pump the pedal to get the clutch disengaged. Hmmmm...

After taking my loot home and putting it all away, we took Buddy to the dog park. Because there was no room for Buddy in the cab with Bob and me, we took his crate and he rode to the park in the bed of the truck. He had a great time at the dog park, of course. He got into a very loud and scary fight with a rotweiller! After two hours we came home.

As soon as we got home Buddy had to get a bath. He hates to get a bath. After his bath, I had to get a shower.

We gathered up his food bowl, bedding, and toys and went to Bob's apartment. Because Buddy drank so much water at the park he had to go outside a couple of times before bed. After last weeks episode with the swan and the squirrel I was keeping Buddy on a short leash!

I brought chicken steaks, fresh brussels sprouts, and mushrooms over to Bob's. I put the steaks into a gallon Ziploc bag with all of our leftover wine, Splenda sweetener, Good Season's Italian dressing mix, and minced garlic. I let that marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

During the night we heard Buddy heaving. I got up to pee around 6 am and asked Bob to turn on the light. Buddy puked up some potatoes onto his bed. He was sitting on the carpet next to his bed looking at me like he did not know what to do. I rolled the towel up with the vomit in it and put it in the laundry pile and told him to lay down on the remaining towel. I am glad he puked on his bed and not on the carpet!

After our morning coffee we walked to City Diner for breakfast. I had a tasty porkchop and eggs over medium. Then we walked back to the apartment - a total distance of about 10 blocks. On the way back we stopped at The Eola Farmer's Market to get one large yellow onion

The plan for the day was a trip to Daytona Beach so Bob could visit his parents. We decided to leave Buddy in the apartment napping while we went out.

Bob left me at Barnes & Noble while he went to see his parents - they are in a nursing home. I browsed the whole store and got one hardback book - The Zonules of Zinn - A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain. I waited outside and read the first two chapters of it. After an hour and a half I started to worry that maybe Bob forgot about me! Eventually he showed up and we started back to Orlando.

Back in Orlando I walked Buddy first thing.

Next I started to prepare dinner. I sauteed the onion and mushrooms while frying the marinated steaks. With the onions and mushrooms done I began to saute the cleaned Brussels sprouts in butter and garlic. We had a nice evening meal. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner to get Buddy's hair and roasted pig ear fragments off of the carpet.

We were back in our Metrowest apartment around 10:30 pm. I had to put stuff into the laundry and get ready for another week of work.

Chilly

When I took Buddy out this morning my (notoriously inaccurate) thermometer read 25°F! That is very cold! I wore sweatpants, sweatshirt, socks, shoes, knit cap, Navy raincoat, and leather gloves for the short dog walk.

It was a three-dog night, but I am poor and only have one dog!

I took the small micro space heater that I have been storing in the garage down to the office. It helped take the chill off of my space and then I put it in Fay's office. A short time later she is complaining and I step back to find that the heater drew so much current her surge suppressor tripped. That was easy to fix I guess.

Work today was very stressful. Lots and lots of orders and lots of pricing and order discrepancies to resolve. We passed $300k this afternoon, but I have another $100k in unresolved questions and pricing still waiting in my box. This afternoon I was able to start revising Betsy's Capital Equipment Bid.

Fay saw that I was extremely busy and she wanted to know whether we should go to BJ's and buy our supplies (Craig gave us more petty cash today) or whether we should just order some pizza or something. Pizza sounded good, but I told her I needed to get out of there for awhile.

Good thing we put off the BJ's trip - a booklet of coupons came in the mail this evening!

At lunch I went to Planet Smoothie in the Metrowest Village. They have new Blendtec blenders with fancy curvy sound enclosure lids. That reminded me that I wanted to ask Craig if I could have one of the three extra blenders we have leftover from repping them. He said I could have one if I wanted it. That is an $800 value! Good-bye old Hamilton Beach. Hello Blendtec!

My computer was backing up when I finally left the office around 6 pm. Fay forgot again and left her portable hard drive in the truck of her car. She is not very consistent with her back up.

I am fasting tonight because I want to have my blood work taken by Qwest Diagnostics in the morning. I have an appointment at Sand Lake Medical on Jan. 9 at 3 pm.

This evening I made a trip to USAA.com to let the company know how I wanted to take my member distribution (apply it to my insurance premium), and then I went to AmericanCentury.com to update my security settings.

Laundry is in the washing machine and I have the dishwasher running. Tomorrow is Friday and I want to be ready for the weekend!

2008

After our morning coffee we took Buddy down to the street to do his business. We were walking around Lake Eola when we came to an Australian black swan in the middle of the sidewalk. The swan would not move and just kept hissing at us! Well, Buddy lunged at it and bit into its left wing!

I pulled Buddy away and he came back with a mouthful of feathers!

Those swans are protected and we would be in big trouble if that swan was injured.

We continued to walk around the lake. When we got passed the Walt Disney Amphitheatre Buddy ran into the grass and very quickly changed directions - chasing a squirrel! This time he caught it! He was biting the squirrel and it was squealing as he bit it!!! I pulled the leash tight and ordered him "DROP IT!" He dropped it and we pulled him away, but he kept lunging for that squirrel. The squirrel crawled to the tree panting rapidly - in shock.

That was the first squirrel Buddy managed to catch - they usually get up the tree before he can catch them. That one must have been old or sick.

Around noon we went back to my apartment in Metrowest. We ate corned beef and cabbage and then watched U-571 on DVD. After Buddy's evening walk we went to Dairy Queen for dessert!

Navyfcu.org website revealed that my payroll deposit went into checking right on time and a nice bonus check was deposited too!

I slept soundly in my own bed. I let the balcony doors open a hand width to let some of the cold air into the house during the night.

Today was very hectic and busy in the office. There were more new orders and the unfinished orders from last Friday. I processed over $219k in orders today and I still have orders with issues pending.

Craig was back from Europe. He had stories for us about the lack of Enodis foodservice equipment in Europe! He left for lunch with one dealer, a meeting with another dealer, and finally a meeting with Darden at the end of the day.

Fay will be babysitting her grandson in the afternoons at the office. She plans to put his playpen in the hallway!

Betsy is already asking for the second round on the Capital Equipment Bid, so I will have to work on that quote soon. I need to get that done by Friday.

Bob suggested making the marinated turkey breast in the slow cooker again this Friday. Put the breast on in the morning when he goes to work, it will cook all day long, and we will eat it in the evening with some potatoes. That sounds good.

Weekend

Buddy and I spent the rest of the weekend at Bob's house with periodic trips outside.

We took Bob's computer to Best Buy for warranty repairs and then we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes across the street on Saturday. I felt like something light for dinner Saturday night so we walked to Planet Smoothie for dinner. I had the PB&J smoothie. We spent the weekend mostly inside. I got a little bit of reading done.

We have to go out to breakfast almost every morning. I cannot remember where we went on Sunday morning. Actually I do not remember much about Sunday at all.

On Monday we went to Best Buy to get Bob's computer. Bob made dinner reservations for us at Boma in Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. On the way to Lake Buena Vista we stopped at my house so I could put on a corned beef brisket with cabbage in the crock pot for New Years Day. Then I got a shower and dressed up for dinner.

Our reservation was at 9:40 pm and we got the last table. Boma is set up like a buffet and the food was very good! Really a memorable night!

On the way back to Bob's house we stopped at my apartment to check the corned beef and change clothes. Midnight came while we were on the 408 headed east. We saw all kinds of fireworks over downtown celebrating the arrival of 2008.

We were tired when we got home, but we pulled the blinds open in the bedroom so Buddy could see the fireworks going off (floor-to-ceiling windows). Soon the fireworks died down, we closed the blinds, and we all settled down to sleep.