The alarm went off at 5:30 AM, and knowing that I had to work today, I got up to take Buddy down to the street for his walk. It was cool this morning. We walked all the way around the lake and came back to the building.
At the front door the RFID card reader was not working when I waved my card, but the concierge saw me and opened the door with his remote. He said the batteries needed to be changed in the reader.
I showered, dressed, and pulled socks and shoes on for work. I left early because I knew there were orders stacked on my desk waiting for me to process. Plus, there would be plenty of email to catch up on!
Craig was in the office when I got there at 7:30. He stayed until almost 8:00 AM, and then he went out.
There was a calla lilly on my desk from Fay, and I could see that the Chik-Fil-A Fairy left coupons and a $20 bill on my chair!
The phones were mercifully quiet. I had many orders to process, I needed to prepare the 2009 PO Log, I had to record serial numbers and send the standard form letter for shipped Darden orders, and make copies of all of the orders. By the time I left at 12:00, I processed $333k in new orders!
On the way home I stopped at my storage unit to pull a few office supplies from storage, to get Bob's computer out, and my computer chair. Then I drove home. Unfortunately a trail of green paper flew up from the bed of my truck as I drove east on SR 408! I stacked the computer boxes on the chair and rolled this stuff upstairs.
After I changed my clothes, Bob and I went out to Chik-Fil-A for lunch. Then we went to the car wash to get my truck cleaned. On the way back we stopped at Office Max and Target to look at computer chairs for Bob. We found the same chair that I use at Target and we got that chair for Bob to use at the new computer table.
When we came home we took Buddy for his walk. We checked the mail when we came back - there was a subscription card from Wired magazine for me in the mail.
Back in the house we started working on putting our new computer table together. We took the 96-7/8" yellow countertop out of its cardboard box and put it face down on the carpet. We measured where we wanted to attach the legs, marked the screw holes, and drilled the pilot holes. Using my cordless screw driver we put the screws in, and then Bob screwed the casters into the bottom of the legs.
We had to rearrange the boxes and stuff in the room so that the table could be turned and pushed up against the window. Next we set up our computers on the table. After this we needed a break. We had some of the pistachio cream cheese cake that Bob made last night with whipped cream and raspberry sauce on it.
Later we put his new chair together and rolled it in to the office.
I called Mom this evening to wish her a Happy (58th) Birthday. We talked on the phone for 61 minutes. She is trying to stay up until midnight to watch 2009 come in. Maybe I will make it til midnight too!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Orlando, FL
After eating our breakfast of cold cereal and taking Buddy for his walk, we got ready to go to Daytona Beach to take Tom and Louise out for lunch for Christmas.
On the way up there we listened to the Trends magazine in the CD player.
The home had Tom and Louise ready to go out when we got there. The hard part is getting Tom in and out of the car because he can hardly walk and can't use his left hand/arm. I was on the ground lifting him up while Bob was pulling him from behind. Bob's mother, Louise, is 82, but she could probably climb a tree if she had to! She climbed up into the car easily.
We took them to The Olive Garden and we were quickly seated at a table with chairs. This is an important point - a booth would have been impossible for us. Tom wanted to know why we didn't come to get them on Sunday for lunch. Bob said that if we had done that, on a holiday weekend, that we would have had to wait in line for two hours to get inside.
Tom and Louise split a serving of ravioli and each had soup. I had a slice of lasagna and Bob had soup and salad. Tom complained alot. He complained that the ravioli were too tough for him to cut with the fork. He yelled out at one point, "Move that goddammed glass to where I can drink it!!" I know other diners looked over when he did that. If he keeps misbehaving and embarrassing us, we won't be taking them out for lunch again.
I walked him back out to the parking lot while Bob brought the car up. He complained every step of the way too. When we got him into the car, I had to lift him up myself, and I pulled a muscle in my back.
We drove around by their house and then took them back to the home. All of use went out to the patio to sit for awhile. Louise has not smoked in the past two weeks. We gave her the Christmas present Bob got for her - a gift pack of White Diamonds perfume. We tried to give a few things to Tom, but he insisted that he did not want them.
Soon we all went back inside. We took Tom to his bed, and he continued to bitch about things. I tried to cover him up with the blanket and he started to yell about it, so I left the blanket on the side.
Bob and I drove over to the house to check it out. We decided to go ahead and replace the toilet flapper valves while we were there. We got the flapper changed in one of the toilets, but then, as we were filling the tank, it started leaking fr
om the tank-to-bowl mounting bolts. The rubber gaskets were not sealing. Another thing that was driving me crazy was the fact that Tom did not have any SAE, "American" or "English" wrenches in his toolbox! We needed a 3/8-inch wrench to tighten these bolts and nuts up.
Since Bob has to come back Saturday to meet the pest control people, we decided to get the needed bolts and gaskets at Lowe's and finish repairing the toilets on Saturday.
We finished the Feb. 2008 Trends CD on the way back to Orlando. I called the office to check on Debbie and was surprised to find that she was still in the office at 4:30 PM! She was having quite a busy and hectic day!
For dinner we made rotini pasta with spaghetti sauce. We added sliced black olives, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It was very tasty.
This morning the alarm went off at 5:00 AM, but I gave the Blackberry to Bob and I kept sleeping. Bob got up and showered because he had to go to work.
Around 7:00 I got up and took Buddy down for his walk. When we came back I had Cheerios and milk. Next, in the living room, I switched the receptacle switch and fan switch so that the receptacle switch is closer to the door - so that the first switch you hit turns the light on.
After this I sat and read in the bedroom for awhile, then I began cleaning. I cleaned the master bathroom floor thoroughly with Pine Sol, I wiped the toilet down well too. Next I took all of the loose items out of the laundry and wiped the floor and wall base down too. Finally I wiped up the stone tile in the foyer.
With the cleaning down I sat back down in my chair in the bedroom and continued to read. Bob returned home at 12:40 PM. He changed clothes and we went out.
We went to Stonewall Bar & Bistro for lunch. We had beer and hamburgers.
After lunch we drove to the Lowe's store on Sand Lake Road to return an unneeded electric receptacle cover plate, and get the toilet tank mounting bolts and rubber gaskets for toilets at Tom's house.
Next we drove to Ikea and got the legs and countertop we resolved to buy to use as a computer table in our new office. I carried six of the legs to the checkout and paid for them. Bob had a paper telling the cashier what he was buying. She rang him up and directed him to the furniture pick up. The countertop came out on a cart, and it was 96 inches long! We rolled this to the truck and slid it into the bed. It was about 24 inches longer than the truck bed!
After taking Buddy for his evening walk, I fried pork chops for dinner. Bob made a pistachio cream cheese cake after dinner, but it is in the freezer right now. We will enjoy the cheese cake tomorrow. Also, we will put the computer table together tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow is my day in the office. I know it is going to be busy. I had to get all of the orders processed. Debbie said that she placed a few of them on my chair because they needed special allowance forms. Hopefully my day will be short - Craig said we would work half a day on New Year's Eve. We will see.
On the way up there we listened to the Trends magazine in the CD player.
The home had Tom and Louise ready to go out when we got there. The hard part is getting Tom in and out of the car because he can hardly walk and can't use his left hand/arm. I was on the ground lifting him up while Bob was pulling him from behind. Bob's mother, Louise, is 82, but she could probably climb a tree if she had to! She climbed up into the car easily.
We took them to The Olive Garden and we were quickly seated at a table with chairs. This is an important point - a booth would have been impossible for us. Tom wanted to know why we didn't come to get them on Sunday for lunch. Bob said that if we had done that, on a holiday weekend, that we would have had to wait in line for two hours to get inside.
Tom and Louise split a serving of ravioli and each had soup. I had a slice of lasagna and Bob had soup and salad. Tom complained alot. He complained that the ravioli were too tough for him to cut with the fork. He yelled out at one point, "Move that goddammed glass to where I can drink it!!" I know other diners looked over when he did that. If he keeps misbehaving and embarrassing us, we won't be taking them out for lunch again.
I walked him back out to the parking lot while Bob brought the car up. He complained every step of the way too. When we got him into the car, I had to lift him up myself, and I pulled a muscle in my back.
We drove around by their house and then took them back to the home. All of use went out to the patio to sit for awhile. Louise has not smoked in the past two weeks. We gave her the Christmas present Bob got for her - a gift pack of White Diamonds perfume. We tried to give a few things to Tom, but he insisted that he did not want them.
Soon we all went back inside. We took Tom to his bed, and he continued to bitch about things. I tried to cover him up with the blanket and he started to yell about it, so I left the blanket on the side.
Bob and I drove over to the house to check it out. We decided to go ahead and replace the toilet flapper valves while we were there. We got the flapper changed in one of the toilets, but then, as we were filling the tank, it started leaking fr
om the tank-to-bowl mounting bolts. The rubber gaskets were not sealing. Another thing that was driving me crazy was the fact that Tom did not have any SAE, "American" or "English" wrenches in his toolbox! We needed a 3/8-inch wrench to tighten these bolts and nuts up.Since Bob has to come back Saturday to meet the pest control people, we decided to get the needed bolts and gaskets at Lowe's and finish repairing the toilets on Saturday.
We finished the Feb. 2008 Trends CD on the way back to Orlando. I called the office to check on Debbie and was surprised to find that she was still in the office at 4:30 PM! She was having quite a busy and hectic day!
For dinner we made rotini pasta with spaghetti sauce. We added sliced black olives, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It was very tasty.
This morning the alarm went off at 5:00 AM, but I gave the Blackberry to Bob and I kept sleeping. Bob got up and showered because he had to go to work.
Around 7:00 I got up and took Buddy down for his walk. When we came back I had Cheerios and milk. Next, in the living room, I switched the receptacle switch and fan switch so that the receptacle switch is closer to the door - so that the first switch you hit turns the light on.
After this I sat and read in the bedroom for awhile, then I began cleaning. I cleaned the master bathroom floor thoroughly with Pine Sol, I wiped the toilet down well too. Next I took all of the loose items out of the laundry and wiped the floor and wall base down too. Finally I wiped up the stone tile in the foyer.
With the cleaning down I sat back down in my chair in the bedroom and continued to read. Bob returned home at 12:40 PM. He changed clothes and we went out.
We went to Stonewall Bar & Bistro for lunch. We had beer and hamburgers.
After lunch we drove to the Lowe's store on Sand Lake Road to return an unneeded electric receptacle cover plate, and get the toilet tank mounting bolts and rubber gaskets for toilets at Tom's house.
Next we drove to Ikea and got the legs and countertop we resolved to buy to use as a computer table in our new office. I carried six of the legs to the checkout and paid for them. Bob had a paper telling the cashier what he was buying. She rang him up and directed him to the furniture pick up. The countertop came out on a cart, and it was 96 inches long! We rolled this to the truck and slid it into the bed. It was about 24 inches longer than the truck bed!
After taking Buddy for his evening walk, I fried pork chops for dinner. Bob made a pistachio cream cheese cake after dinner, but it is in the freezer right now. We will enjoy the cheese cake tomorrow. Also, we will put the computer table together tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow is my day in the office. I know it is going to be busy. I had to get all of the orders processed. Debbie said that she placed a few of them on my chair because they needed special allowance forms. Hopefully my day will be short - Craig said we would work half a day on New Year's Eve. We will see.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Weekend
Yesterday we got up around 7:00 AM to take Buddy down to the street for his walk. When we got back we had leftover raspberry Danish with leftover eggsalad on toast and some coffee for breakfast.
We decided to go to Ocoee to visit Connie at The Book Rack, a used book store that gives store credit for books you turn in. We took Buddy with us, but he would have to stay in the car while we browsed the store. Bob took a big box of books and Connie gave 1/4 of the cover value for them. He ended up with $142 in store credit. It will take us a long time to use all of that up!
I found some nice National Geographic hard cover books that document areas such as the Intracoastal Waterway, The Continental Divide, The Plains, etc. The books have beautiful full-color photography. I thought that Bob and I could read them and then UPS them to Becky and Bill -- maybe they will be inspired to travel out west.
After the bookstore visit we went to Hardee's and got sandwiches for lunch.
We stopped at Lowe's to get self-tapping concrete screws and a carbide masonry drill bit to install track lighting on the bedroom ceiling. Next we stopped at Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market to get onions, beans, bell pepper, celery and other stuff for dinner - Bob wanted to make chili with some hamburger thawing in the sink.
When we got home we went to the bedroom and began drilling 5/32-inch holes in the ceiling to fasten the support posts to. Because the concrete screws were bigger than the holes in the plastic caps, we had to carefully drill those out from 5/32-inch to 7/32-inch. Mounting this Ikea track light system was more difficult than you would suspect. We finished this project up around 5:30 PM and it was time to walk Buddy, but he was going to have to wait a little longer.
Bob started chopping celery and onions up and cooking these with beef in the wok. We added canned green chilis, chili pepper, ground cumin, chopped green pepper, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red kidney beans, and yellow corn. While this was simmering we went out for our evening walk.
During the walk Buddy was eating grass, and sure enough, he vomited on the sidewalk.
When we got home we enjoyed our dinner of chili ladled over crushed corn tortilla chips. It was very good!
We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching TV.
This morning I got up at 7:00 AM and took Buddy for his walk around the lake. When we got back to the house Buddy ran down the hall to find Bob still in bed! Bob got up and we made breakfast. I made blueberry waffles from mix and Bob made a pot of coffee.
Bob was trying to find a long table for us to use in our office in the Ikea catalog. I thought that a kitchen counter top cut to whatever length we wanted with caster legs would fit the bill. Bob found a yellow laminate countertop that is 96-inches long (we have 113 inches of space along the office/guest bedroom windows), and we will put six legs with casters under this. All we need are some custom accessories for the computers, such as a keyboard shelf, wire trays, and drawers and we will have a great work area!
When we get our tax refund money we are going to order a full Murphy sidebed kit for the guest bedroom. If anyone comes to visit we will be able to bed them down here.
During lunch we went out to Metro Espresso Pizza Cafe and ate salads. We browsed the Sunday Farmers' Market in Lake Eola Park and then went to Starbuck's for iced coffees.
Our big project today was to remove the motion-detecting light switch from the laundry room and install a light switch with electric receptacle and GFI. With a receptacle in the laundry, Bob can iron on his mini ironing board on top of the dryer without having to use an extension cord.
It took me over an hour to install this special switch and get it working properly. The directions that come in the box were not very good, and I am not an electrician. At one point we had it installed so that the light switch worked, but the light also came on when something was plugged into the receptacle! I got a pad of paper and drew the circuit out. I realized that on a switch circuit, the hot wire comes into the switch and a hot wire leaves the switch to go to the ceiling light fixture. The goes out - the wire carrying the electricity back, the white wire, was stuffed in the back of the box and the white wires were all twisted together. After I put the "goes out" of the receptacle onto the white wires and twisted together with a wire nut, the whole thing worked properly.
We tried to install the motion detecting switch in the walk-in closet, but this switch box was smaller and stuffed full of wires, and we were not able to get it installed. We put the switch into a ziploc bag for future use.
Next we installed a designer black receptacle in the dining room. We removed the white toggle switches for the kitchen lights and the dining room lights and installed black designer rocker switches for these lights with a sliding dimmer on the dining room lights. These look very clean and nice on the red painted walls of the dining room.
During our evening walk with Buddy we stopped at Publix to get heavy cream, pre-cooked bacon, pie shells, pistachios, pistachio pudding, whipped cream, vanilla wafers, and frozen raspberries. Bob made a quiche for dinner and he is going to make a pistachio cream pie later this week. I also tossed a corned beef brisket into the basket for our New Year's Day meal.
While the pie baked Bob cleaned the kitchen floor and I ran the vacuum cleaner over the carpet. Then I cleaned all of the glass-top tables.
The quiche was very tasty and we are saving some of it for breakfast too. Bob called Oaktree Healthcare to let them know that we are coming to take Tom and Louise out for lunch tomorrow. I guess we can listen to the Trends Magazine on CD during the trip up and back.
We decided to go to Ocoee to visit Connie at The Book Rack, a used book store that gives store credit for books you turn in. We took Buddy with us, but he would have to stay in the car while we browsed the store. Bob took a big box of books and Connie gave 1/4 of the cover value for them. He ended up with $142 in store credit. It will take us a long time to use all of that up!
I found some nice National Geographic hard cover books that document areas such as the Intracoastal Waterway, The Continental Divide, The Plains, etc. The books have beautiful full-color photography. I thought that Bob and I could read them and then UPS them to Becky and Bill -- maybe they will be inspired to travel out west.
After the bookstore visit we went to Hardee's and got sandwiches for lunch.
We stopped at Lowe's to get self-tapping concrete screws and a carbide masonry drill bit to install track lighting on the bedroom ceiling. Next we stopped at Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market to get onions, beans, bell pepper, celery and other stuff for dinner - Bob wanted to make chili with some hamburger thawing in the sink.
When we got home we went to the bedroom and began drilling 5/32-inch holes in the ceiling to fasten the support posts to. Because the concrete screws were bigger than the holes in the plastic caps, we had to carefully drill those out from 5/32-inch to 7/32-inch. Mounting this Ikea track light system was more difficult than you would suspect. We finished this project up around 5:30 PM and it was time to walk Buddy, but he was going to have to wait a little longer.
Bob started chopping celery and onions up and cooking these with beef in the wok. We added canned green chilis, chili pepper, ground cumin, chopped green pepper, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red kidney beans, and yellow corn. While this was simmering we went out for our evening walk.
During the walk Buddy was eating grass, and sure enough, he vomited on the sidewalk.
When we got home we enjoyed our dinner of chili ladled over crushed corn tortilla chips. It was very good!
We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching TV.
This morning I got up at 7:00 AM and took Buddy for his walk around the lake. When we got back to the house Buddy ran down the hall to find Bob still in bed! Bob got up and we made breakfast. I made blueberry waffles from mix and Bob made a pot of coffee.
Bob was trying to find a long table for us to use in our office in the Ikea catalog. I thought that a kitchen counter top cut to whatever length we wanted with caster legs would fit the bill. Bob found a yellow laminate countertop that is 96-inches long (we have 113 inches of space along the office/guest bedroom windows), and we will put six legs with casters under this. All we need are some custom accessories for the computers, such as a keyboard shelf, wire trays, and drawers and we will have a great work area!
When we get our tax refund money we are going to order a full Murphy sidebed kit for the guest bedroom. If anyone comes to visit we will be able to bed them down here.
During lunch we went out to Metro Espresso Pizza Cafe and ate salads. We browsed the Sunday Farmers' Market in Lake Eola Park and then went to Starbuck's for iced coffees.
Our big project today was to remove the motion-detecting light switch from the laundry room and install a light switch with electric receptacle and GFI. With a receptacle in the laundry, Bob can iron on his mini ironing board on top of the dryer without having to use an extension cord.
It took me over an hour to install this special switch and get it working properly. The directions that come in the box were not very good, and I am not an electrician. At one point we had it installed so that the light switch worked, but the light also came on when something was plugged into the receptacle! I got a pad of paper and drew the circuit out. I realized that on a switch circuit, the hot wire comes into the switch and a hot wire leaves the switch to go to the ceiling light fixture. The goes out - the wire carrying the electricity back, the white wire, was stuffed in the back of the box and the white wires were all twisted together. After I put the "goes out" of the receptacle onto the white wires and twisted together with a wire nut, the whole thing worked properly.
We tried to install the motion detecting switch in the walk-in closet, but this switch box was smaller and stuffed full of wires, and we were not able to get it installed. We put the switch into a ziploc bag for future use.
Next we installed a designer black receptacle in the dining room. We removed the white toggle switches for the kitchen lights and the dining room lights and installed black designer rocker switches for these lights with a sliding dimmer on the dining room lights. These look very clean and nice on the red painted walls of the dining room.
During our evening walk with Buddy we stopped at Publix to get heavy cream, pre-cooked bacon, pie shells, pistachios, pistachio pudding, whipped cream, vanilla wafers, and frozen raspberries. Bob made a quiche for dinner and he is going to make a pistachio cream pie later this week. I also tossed a corned beef brisket into the basket for our New Year's Day meal.
While the pie baked Bob cleaned the kitchen floor and I ran the vacuum cleaner over the carpet. Then I cleaned all of the glass-top tables.
The quiche was very tasty and we are saving some of it for breakfast too. Bob called Oaktree Healthcare to let them know that we are coming to take Tom and Louise out for lunch tomorrow. I guess we can listen to the Trends Magazine on CD during the trip up and back.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Orlando, FL
This morning I got up around 7:00 AM to walk Buddy around the lake. It was foggy. On the way back I stopped at Publix and got a 12-pack of Coke Zero, a bag of tangerines, and a raspberry strudel. When we walked in we found Bob up and working on the laptop computer. We had egg salad sandwiches with left over fluff salad and raspberry strudel for breakfast.
After breakfast we gathered the tools we would need to repair the refrigerator/freezer. We've been having trouble with the fridge flooding out so badly that water was running out of the door when we opened it. This seemed to start when I moved in and we put all that extra food into the freezer and fridge.
Kevin told us to take the back panel out of the freezer and remove or melt the ice that is blocking the condensate drain. With the drain blocked, everytime the freezer defrosts the melt backs up and runs into the refrigerator. We took all of the food out of the freezer and put it into a box. Then we got the socket driver out and removed the ice maker. Next we took the bottom panel and back panel out of the freezer compartment. Sure enough, the little aluminum drain pan had ice on it over 1/2-inch thick! I began chipping with a screw driver and a lot of ice came up that way, but eventually we could not remove more ice from the drain.
Bob got his exercise water bottle and filled it with hot water. Using the squirt nozzle on the bottle I squirted the hot water into the tray and at the drain in particular. As the water got cold I soaked it up with a towel and then squirted more hot water in. Kevin warned us that this could take a while... I think we had the drain cleared in about 20 minutes.
Then we put the back panel back in, the bottom panel, and the ice maker. Then we put the food back into the freezer. There was still water in the bottom of the fridge and a towel would not be able to soak it up, so I got the SpotBot out of the closet and sucked all the water up with that!
Hopefully we will not have this problem with the fridge/freezer again.
Next we went back to my old apartment to walk through the apartment with the property manager. It was about 11 AM and we walked into the rental office. The lady asked us if she could help us and I told her that my lease expires on Sunday and that I needed to make a walk-through 48 hours before that time.
She said that I should have scheduled it before today and that they do not do walk-throughs on the weekend and that they did not have anyone available to do it today! I said, "Today is Friday, it's not the weekend, and you shouldn't schedule a lease to expire on a Sunday if all of that is so!" I was starting to get pissed, but Glady's, one of the managers, told her to shut up and go do the walk-through.
We walked back to the apartment and waited for her to join us with her club car. I told her that Gladys said I did not have to shampoo the carpet, but only vacuum clean it because it was over 3 years old. She said, "Well, that's funny, the carpet is supposed to have a 5-year lifespan." We went into the apartment and she was astonished at home clean the house was! She said that the house cleaner they hire wouldn't have been able to clean the apartment as well as we did. She said that I would not have to worry about having my $300 deposit refunded, but it might not be mailed until the end of January due to delays caused by the holidays.
After the walk-through we went over to Public Storage and put some of the cleaning items (vacuum cleaner, brooms, mop, etc) into the storage unit, scatter moth balls inside, and remove my electronic components and tools that I can use with my new BASIC Stamp microcontroller. Then we drove to Lowe's to get a few things.
At Lowe's we got new appliance light bulbs, black designer rocker switches (one with dimmer) and a black coverplate, a black designer electric receptacle and coverplate for the dining room, I got two more boxes of mothballs, and a wire basket to hang in the laundry room. We also priced white flat interior latex paint in 5-gallon buckets and wooden fence gate sections for Bob's parent's house in Daytona Beach.
When we we left Lowe's we went east on Colonial Drive to the new Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market where we got a bag of onions, a green bell pepper, some red kidney beans, a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of Monterey Jack cheese sauce. Bob was making chili for dinner!
It took us two trips down to the car to bring everything upstairs to the house. With the groceries and stuff put away we went to the bedroom and read books. I sat in my armchair in the corner and started the microcontroller book and Bob sat on the bed reading The Last Days of the Incas (still). Soon he was nodding off to sleep. Buddy was laying by the window on his bed of old towels and an old pillow sleeping too.
When Bob got up we started the chili. After we got to the point that the chili was gently simmering we got Buddy harnessed up and we went down to the street to walk around the lake.
The chili was very tasty! Now we are watching a documentary on TV while I write this blog and add Public Storage to my NFCU Web Bill Pay routine.
After breakfast we gathered the tools we would need to repair the refrigerator/freezer. We've been having trouble with the fridge flooding out so badly that water was running out of the door when we opened it. This seemed to start when I moved in and we put all that extra food into the freezer and fridge.
Kevin told us to take the back panel out of the freezer and remove or melt the ice that is blocking the condensate drain. With the drain blocked, everytime the freezer defrosts the melt backs up and runs into the refrigerator. We took all of the food out of the freezer and put it into a box. Then we got the socket driver out and removed the ice maker. Next we took the bottom panel and back panel out of the freezer compartment. Sure enough, the little aluminum drain pan had ice on it over 1/2-inch thick! I began chipping with a screw driver and a lot of ice came up that way, but eventually we could not remove more ice from the drain.
Bob got his exercise water bottle and filled it with hot water. Using the squirt nozzle on the bottle I squirted the hot water into the tray and at the drain in particular. As the water got cold I soaked it up with a towel and then squirted more hot water in. Kevin warned us that this could take a while... I think we had the drain cleared in about 20 minutes.
Then we put the back panel back in, the bottom panel, and the ice maker. Then we put the food back into the freezer. There was still water in the bottom of the fridge and a towel would not be able to soak it up, so I got the SpotBot out of the closet and sucked all the water up with that!
Hopefully we will not have this problem with the fridge/freezer again.
Next we went back to my old apartment to walk through the apartment with the property manager. It was about 11 AM and we walked into the rental office. The lady asked us if she could help us and I told her that my lease expires on Sunday and that I needed to make a walk-through 48 hours before that time.
She said that I should have scheduled it before today and that they do not do walk-throughs on the weekend and that they did not have anyone available to do it today! I said, "Today is Friday, it's not the weekend, and you shouldn't schedule a lease to expire on a Sunday if all of that is so!" I was starting to get pissed, but Glady's, one of the managers, told her to shut up and go do the walk-through.
We walked back to the apartment and waited for her to join us with her club car. I told her that Gladys said I did not have to shampoo the carpet, but only vacuum clean it because it was over 3 years old. She said, "Well, that's funny, the carpet is supposed to have a 5-year lifespan." We went into the apartment and she was astonished at home clean the house was! She said that the house cleaner they hire wouldn't have been able to clean the apartment as well as we did. She said that I would not have to worry about having my $300 deposit refunded, but it might not be mailed until the end of January due to delays caused by the holidays.
After the walk-through we went over to Public Storage and put some of the cleaning items (vacuum cleaner, brooms, mop, etc) into the storage unit, scatter moth balls inside, and remove my electronic components and tools that I can use with my new BASIC Stamp microcontroller. Then we drove to Lowe's to get a few things.
At Lowe's we got new appliance light bulbs, black designer rocker switches (one with dimmer) and a black coverplate, a black designer electric receptacle and coverplate for the dining room, I got two more boxes of mothballs, and a wire basket to hang in the laundry room. We also priced white flat interior latex paint in 5-gallon buckets and wooden fence gate sections for Bob's parent's house in Daytona Beach.
When we we left Lowe's we went east on Colonial Drive to the new Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market where we got a bag of onions, a green bell pepper, some red kidney beans, a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of Monterey Jack cheese sauce. Bob was making chili for dinner!
It took us two trips down to the car to bring everything upstairs to the house. With the groceries and stuff put away we went to the bedroom and read books. I sat in my armchair in the corner and started the microcontroller book and Bob sat on the bed reading The Last Days of the Incas (still). Soon he was nodding off to sleep. Buddy was laying by the window on his bed of old towels and an old pillow sleeping too.
When Bob got up we started the chili. After we got to the point that the chili was gently simmering we got Buddy harnessed up and we went down to the street to walk around the lake.
The chili was very tasty! Now we are watching a documentary on TV while I write this blog and add Public Storage to my NFCU Web Bill Pay routine.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas 2008
We managed to sleep in until 7:00 AM and then we got up and had cereal for breakfast. After clearing the cereal bowls away, we began opening our Christmas presents. I know Buddy was ready to go outside, but his walk was going to be delayed!
Bob got me a Parallax BASIC Stamp microcontroller kit (I am sure many of you will not understand)! He also got me a book about the Stamp controller with projects and a CD in it, a second freezer bowl for my Cuisinart ice cream maker, and a movie on DVD. Becky and Bill sent me a check for $100 in a Christmas card, and Dad sent me a $50 gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond.
I got Bob an in-the-cabinet tray that slides out holding the trash can and recycling can, two wall-mounted wine bottle racks, a new stylish track light for the dining room, The Sanctuary valet and charging station, and a bottle of Acqua di Geo cologne. It only took a few minutes to install the trash can/recycling can slide-out tray in the cabinet.
Once we had the gifts open we harnessed Buddy up and took him down to the street for his morning walk. When we returned we got ready to return to The Summit Apartments to finish cleaning my old apartment. Bob cleaned all of the windows while I scrubbed the shower enclosure and tub and then began cleaning the bathroom and kitchen floors. The last thing we did was vacuum the carpet. We finished in two more hours.
For lunch we stopped at McDonalds. I had a Number 1 meal - Big Mac and fries. Bob had a Number 11 meal - Filet-O-Fish and fries. Because it was Christmas Day there were very few places open to dine out.
We returned home, but we left the cleaning gear in the car in case the apartment management found something that needed to be cleaned. We would have the tools and cleaners with us to do it. After the walk-through we would put them in storage or take them to The Waverly with us.
In the afternoon I was open to the idea of going out in the evening to The Stonewall Bar or out to the movies, but after we got Buddy's walk finished, I changed my mind because I was starting to feel tired. Instead we stayed home and made out Christmas dinner of Jenny-O Turkey Roll, canned sliced carrots, sliced cranberry jelly, Stove Top stuffing, and fluff salad. Later, Bob worked at the computer while I phoned relatives to wish them a Merry Christmas.
We made it to bed around 11:00 PM.
Bob got me a Parallax BASIC Stamp microcontroller kit (I am sure many of you will not understand)! He also got me a book about the Stamp controller with projects and a CD in it, a second freezer bowl for my Cuisinart ice cream maker, and a movie on DVD. Becky and Bill sent me a check for $100 in a Christmas card, and Dad sent me a $50 gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond.
I got Bob an in-the-cabinet tray that slides out holding the trash can and recycling can, two wall-mounted wine bottle racks, a new stylish track light for the dining room, The Sanctuary valet and charging station, and a bottle of Acqua di Geo cologne. It only took a few minutes to install the trash can/recycling can slide-out tray in the cabinet.
Once we had the gifts open we harnessed Buddy up and took him down to the street for his morning walk. When we returned we got ready to return to The Summit Apartments to finish cleaning my old apartment. Bob cleaned all of the windows while I scrubbed the shower enclosure and tub and then began cleaning the bathroom and kitchen floors. The last thing we did was vacuum the carpet. We finished in two more hours.
For lunch we stopped at McDonalds. I had a Number 1 meal - Big Mac and fries. Bob had a Number 11 meal - Filet-O-Fish and fries. Because it was Christmas Day there were very few places open to dine out.
We returned home, but we left the cleaning gear in the car in case the apartment management found something that needed to be cleaned. We would have the tools and cleaners with us to do it. After the walk-through we would put them in storage or take them to The Waverly with us.
In the afternoon I was open to the idea of going out in the evening to The Stonewall Bar or out to the movies, but after we got Buddy's walk finished, I changed my mind because I was starting to feel tired. Instead we stayed home and made out Christmas dinner of Jenny-O Turkey Roll, canned sliced carrots, sliced cranberry jelly, Stove Top stuffing, and fluff salad. Later, Bob worked at the computer while I phoned relatives to wish them a Merry Christmas.
We made it to bed around 11:00 PM.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Eve
Craig let Fay and me leave early yesterday because it was so slow. I left at 2:45 PM and was home very early. Craig dropped $35 Publix gift cards on our desks for Christmas gifts! On the way home I stopped at Publix to get dinner and fresh flowers for the vase in the foyer.
Bob was already home from his short day. I changed clothes, cut the flowers and put them into the vase, and put the chicken and rice casserole into the oven. Then we took Buddy out for his walk.
After dinner we went to Target to get last-minute Christmas gifts. I got "The Twelve Teas Of Christmas" for Debbie and Fay. This consisted of 12 triangular boxes arranged in a hexagonal clear plastic box. Wrapping these unusually shaped boxes was a challenge! Bob got some small gifts for the people he works with too. Because he hates to wrap gifts, I suggested that he get tissue paper and gift bags. His packaging was finished in a few minutes. It took me over an hour to wrap those hex-shaped boxes.
It was kind of quiet in the office this morning. Fay was thrilled with the little gift I got for her. Craig came in and told us to wrap everything up because it was dead. I prepared and sent the order report - Orlando processed $152k in orders and Hollywood had $75k in orders. Not bad for a short week. I was out the door around 11:45 AM.
I drove to my old apartment at The Summit and joined Bob who was already inside cleaning. I decided to concentrate on the kitchen. I thoroughly cleaned the refrigerator and freezer, wiped all the cabinets out, cleaned the microwave, ran the dish washer, and turned the self-cleaning oven on to the CLEAN setting. Then we went to lunch.
We went to Hurricane's for lunch and we had spinach-artichoke dip appetizer and twenty boneless wings. We had the crunchy banana cheesecake dessert. This dessert was the same product served at Cleveland Range! But I think it turned out better coming from the fryer.
After lunch we went back to the cleaning. I wiped all of the ash and soot out of oven, pulled the fridge out and cleaned the floor under it, wiped down the washing machine and dryer and then cleaned the floors under each of those. Bob was cleaning the ceiling fans, sweeping off the balcony, cleaning the glass windows, and working on mirrors and cabinets in the bathroom. The last thing I did was wipe down the countertops and polish the sink.
I think we worked for about six hours in the apartment today, and I think we are about two hours away from being finished.
We came home and took Buddy for his walk. We stopped at Publix to get items for our Christmas dinner tomorrow and started laundry when we got home. We are going back to my apartment to finish the cleaning tomorrow. We will have our Christmas dinner when we come home - we need to plan on cooking since almost nobody (restaurants) will be open tomorrow.
The lighted Christmas tree and lights on the balcony are going to burn all night. We will open gifts in the morning!!
Bob was already home from his short day. I changed clothes, cut the flowers and put them into the vase, and put the chicken and rice casserole into the oven. Then we took Buddy out for his walk.
After dinner we went to Target to get last-minute Christmas gifts. I got "The Twelve Teas Of Christmas" for Debbie and Fay. This consisted of 12 triangular boxes arranged in a hexagonal clear plastic box. Wrapping these unusually shaped boxes was a challenge! Bob got some small gifts for the people he works with too. Because he hates to wrap gifts, I suggested that he get tissue paper and gift bags. His packaging was finished in a few minutes. It took me over an hour to wrap those hex-shaped boxes.
It was kind of quiet in the office this morning. Fay was thrilled with the little gift I got for her. Craig came in and told us to wrap everything up because it was dead. I prepared and sent the order report - Orlando processed $152k in orders and Hollywood had $75k in orders. Not bad for a short week. I was out the door around 11:45 AM.
I drove to my old apartment at The Summit and joined Bob who was already inside cleaning. I decided to concentrate on the kitchen. I thoroughly cleaned the refrigerator and freezer, wiped all the cabinets out, cleaned the microwave, ran the dish washer, and turned the self-cleaning oven on to the CLEAN setting. Then we went to lunch.
We went to Hurricane's for lunch and we had spinach-artichoke dip appetizer and twenty boneless wings. We had the crunchy banana cheesecake dessert. This dessert was the same product served at Cleveland Range! But I think it turned out better coming from the fryer.
After lunch we went back to the cleaning. I wiped all of the ash and soot out of oven, pulled the fridge out and cleaned the floor under it, wiped down the washing machine and dryer and then cleaned the floors under each of those. Bob was cleaning the ceiling fans, sweeping off the balcony, cleaning the glass windows, and working on mirrors and cabinets in the bathroom. The last thing I did was wipe down the countertops and polish the sink.
I think we worked for about six hours in the apartment today, and I think we are about two hours away from being finished.
We came home and took Buddy for his walk. We stopped at Publix to get items for our Christmas dinner tomorrow and started laundry when we got home. We are going back to my apartment to finish the cleaning tomorrow. We will have our Christmas dinner when we come home - we need to plan on cooking since almost nobody (restaurants) will be open tomorrow.
The lighted Christmas tree and lights on the balcony are going to burn all night. We will open gifts in the morning!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Orlando, FL
Last night there were Christmas greeting cards in the mail for me! I got cards from Aunt Rosie, Fay Lewis, and the Wall Family. Doug and Annie always send a picture on their card and I have cards going back to when those boys were 2 and 3 years old! I thought this year's card was especially funny!Monday, December 22, 2008
Orlando, FL
It seems like the morning arrived too quickly. I had some silly dream about FER hiring Stacey Exon from Scotsman Ice to take my job and we were both visiting Darden Restaurants and Stacey asked for (and received) permission from Bob Chuhak to write up Darden employees! Very wierd dream.
At 5:30 AM I took Buddy down for his morning walk. We tried to walk in the park, but a big black park ranger kicked us out, "Uhhm, you got, like, 15 or 20 more minutes before the park opens." I was incredulous, "You've got to be kidding me. I've been doing this for YEARS and nobody has ever asked me to leave the park!" We had to walk the perimeter along the streets. That is a 1.2 mile walk. It was a little chilly in the morning.
I was running a little late for work, but I still managed to beat Fay.
Fay was amused to hear about Debbie's motorcycle riding lessons. Debbie phoned in during the morning and I asked her how her lessons went. She said she fell down three times, but she passed! I told Fay out loud down the hall, and Craig asked me who we were talking about. I told him Miss Owings was taking motorcycle riding lessons and he replied, "No comment."
Nass Parts & Service came and removed the Merrychef 402s oven and Delfield VersaDrawer to Quality Inn on International Drive for testing and demo. I pushed the steel work table under the hood where the VersaDrawer was and I lifted the 1301 conveyor oven up onto it and plugged it in. I made little pizzas and open sandwiches on it for our lunch.
Fay went to lunch first. She was late with her car payment.
When it was time for me to go to lunch I drove to Salvation Army on SR 50 to drop off a suitcase full of old clothes that Bob no longer wanted, then I drove to my storage unit to put my handtruck and furniture pad inside. I took three boxes out to take back to Bob to store some of his stuff in.
The afternoon was kinda quiet. I wrote a quotation and took, I dunno, maybe 10 calls all day long. Debbie came in for a few minutes. She was bruised and scraped up from her lessons!
This evening it was much cooler than at lunch. It is supposed to be cold tonight, but it will be 80F on Christmas Day!
We processed $87k in new orders today. Fay said that Craig may let us go early tomorrow if it is quiet.
After walking Buddy, Bob and I went to Dexter's for dinner. Bob had Eggplant Parmasian and I had a salad. It was getting very cold and there was a cold wind in our faces when we walked back home!
In the mail this evening I had cards from Aunt Rosie, Fay, and Doug and Annie Wall. There was a statement from Navy Federal Credit Union.
Bob had a check from Social Security Administration. He's been trying for two years to have a mistake fixed on his taxes where they taxed him twice because they did not tax his brother for some reason. After months of writing his congressman he finally was promised a check for $1,500, but this evening a check for $15,000 came!
I told him to deposit the check in savings and not spend it. If they do not discover their error within a year, then we could spend it.
I hard boiled the rest of the eggs in the fridge. I have them chilling in the sink right now.
At 5:30 AM I took Buddy down for his morning walk. We tried to walk in the park, but a big black park ranger kicked us out, "Uhhm, you got, like, 15 or 20 more minutes before the park opens." I was incredulous, "You've got to be kidding me. I've been doing this for YEARS and nobody has ever asked me to leave the park!" We had to walk the perimeter along the streets. That is a 1.2 mile walk. It was a little chilly in the morning.
I was running a little late for work, but I still managed to beat Fay.
Fay was amused to hear about Debbie's motorcycle riding lessons. Debbie phoned in during the morning and I asked her how her lessons went. She said she fell down three times, but she passed! I told Fay out loud down the hall, and Craig asked me who we were talking about. I told him Miss Owings was taking motorcycle riding lessons and he replied, "No comment."
Nass Parts & Service came and removed the Merrychef 402s oven and Delfield VersaDrawer to Quality Inn on International Drive for testing and demo. I pushed the steel work table under the hood where the VersaDrawer was and I lifted the 1301 conveyor oven up onto it and plugged it in. I made little pizzas and open sandwiches on it for our lunch.
Fay went to lunch first. She was late with her car payment.
When it was time for me to go to lunch I drove to Salvation Army on SR 50 to drop off a suitcase full of old clothes that Bob no longer wanted, then I drove to my storage unit to put my handtruck and furniture pad inside. I took three boxes out to take back to Bob to store some of his stuff in.
The afternoon was kinda quiet. I wrote a quotation and took, I dunno, maybe 10 calls all day long. Debbie came in for a few minutes. She was bruised and scraped up from her lessons!
This evening it was much cooler than at lunch. It is supposed to be cold tonight, but it will be 80F on Christmas Day!
We processed $87k in new orders today. Fay said that Craig may let us go early tomorrow if it is quiet.
After walking Buddy, Bob and I went to Dexter's for dinner. Bob had Eggplant Parmasian and I had a salad. It was getting very cold and there was a cold wind in our faces when we walked back home!
In the mail this evening I had cards from Aunt Rosie, Fay, and Doug and Annie Wall. There was a statement from Navy Federal Credit Union.
Bob had a check from Social Security Administration. He's been trying for two years to have a mistake fixed on his taxes where they taxed him twice because they did not tax his brother for some reason. After months of writing his congressman he finally was promised a check for $1,500, but this evening a check for $15,000 came!
I told him to deposit the check in savings and not spend it. If they do not discover their error within a year, then we could spend it.
I hard boiled the rest of the eggs in the fridge. I have them chilling in the sink right now.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Orlando, FL
Friday went by quickly. Even though I was alone in the office most of the day, there were other people in and out of the office for the Rosen Group demo. Chef Ryan demonstrated various quick foods in the Merrychef oven.
During lunch I went to U-Haul to rent a 17-foot-long truck to move the rest of my stuff from The Summit Apartments to Public Storage, and to take furniture from Bob's spare bedroom to his parent's house in Daytona Beach. I drove this truck to the apartment and called Bob to drive me back to my truck at U-Haul (Bob had the day off and was running errands).
When Chef Ryan finished the demo he asked if we wanted to eat the foods he had prepared. I ate a few chicken tenders and chicken wings, but the fries were all cold. We tossed a lot of food into the trash.
Debbie hung around until after 4 PM. She was full of questions about motorcycle operations. She is taking a motorcycle riding course this weekend. Great... she can't drive a stick shift because she is uncoordinated, yet she is going to try this!
FER-Orlando finished the week with $230,000. Hollywood brought in $206,000. An "okay" week for us.
At home Bob was preparing ratatouille from the Cooking For Engineers website. After we got all of the ingredients in the dutch oven and simmering, we took Buddy down to the street for his walk.
On Saturday morning we drove to International House Of Pancakes to get fueled up for a busy day of moving my largest items from the apartment and garage to storage. We needed to take mattresses, box springs, double dresser, large boxes, resin chairs/table, computer table, swivel chair out of the house and the work bench, table saw, drill press, planer, compound mitre saw, and other boxed items from the garage. We worked hard for 4 hours packing the truck up. Then we moved trash and extra boxes to the dumpster. We also put the bookshelves near the dumpster too.
We were done loading everything into the storage unit by 2 PM. The sweat was running down my face and into my eyes blinding me. We drove back to The Waverly and I dropped Bob off at the front door. Then I drove the truck to Bob's place of work and parked the truck in the back of the parking lot. Bob phoned the Dispatcher to make sure nobody touched the truck.
I heated the ratatouille up from yesterday. It was better the second day.
Bob said that we had to go to Jack and Wayne's Christmas Party on Saturday evening out in Davenport. After getting Buddy walked we started to get showered and dressed for our party.
Wayne is Bob's supervisor at work. This party was very strange and full of strange people. It began at 7:30 and we stayed until 10:00 PM.
One very funny thing happened right before we left. Wayne had this one-eyed Boston terrier sitting on his lap and I was reaching down and rubbing the dog's belly saying, "Yeah, that feels good, doesn't it? Yeah, you like that, doncha?" Well, this woman came into the dining room from the kitchen - from behind Wayne. She said, "Oh my God!! WTF!!!" Then she came closer and looked over the back of the sofa and said, "Oh!! I didn't see the dog there!" I hope I don't have to describe what she thought she saw me doing!
We went right back home and directly to bed because we knew we needed an early start for moving Bob's stuff this morning.
The alarm went off at 5:00 AM and I got up to take Buddy down to the street for his walk. Next we drove to the parking lot to get the truck and I drove it to the back of The Waverly and parked it on Pine Street at the curb.
We moved everything to the 6th Floor lobby. Bob called the elevators, but Car 4 came first. Bob pushed the button for 20 and sent it up. (Car 3 is the freight elevator). We took everything to the ground floor and then loaded up the truck. We were done loading headboard, footboard, rails, two mirrors, a double dresser, night stand, disassembled computer table, his old coffee table and end table, and a couple of boxes.
Around 7 AM we were on I-4 and headed to Daytona Beach. We had breakfast at McDonald's and then went to Tom and Louise's house. We took the old box springs and mattress to the curb because they were falling apart -- termites were in the box springs and eating them up! We set up the bedroom and put the metal and glass tables in the living room. The old wooden tables we put on the curb and a truck came and carried them away in 10 minutes.
After we closed the house back up we drove to Wal*Mart to get some socks for Louise and then we drove to Oaktree Healthcare to visit Tom and Louise. This was our first visit since Tom quit eating candy bars and since Louise stopped smoking. I think we were there 1o minutes and Louise was begging for a cigarette.
We have to return next week to take them out for dinner. They expect a Christmas outting. It makes Bob sad that they are in poor shape and confined to the home.
The drive back to Orlando took about 45 minutes. I dropped Bob off at the front door of The Waverly and I drove around block and picked him up in the back -- I needed my car keys. Next we drove to The Summit Apartments to get my truck. Bob followed me back to the U-Haul shop where I turned the truck back in.
For dinner we went to Hungry Howie's and got a pizza, wings, and bread. We ate this dinner after walking Buddy. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner and cleaned all of the glass top tables. I was able to vacuum the spare bedroom for the first time in a long time too.
This was a hard weekend and it seemed to pass quickly. We will probably spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day getting my old apartment cleaned so that I can turn it back over.
During lunch I went to U-Haul to rent a 17-foot-long truck to move the rest of my stuff from The Summit Apartments to Public Storage, and to take furniture from Bob's spare bedroom to his parent's house in Daytona Beach. I drove this truck to the apartment and called Bob to drive me back to my truck at U-Haul (Bob had the day off and was running errands).
When Chef Ryan finished the demo he asked if we wanted to eat the foods he had prepared. I ate a few chicken tenders and chicken wings, but the fries were all cold. We tossed a lot of food into the trash.
Debbie hung around until after 4 PM. She was full of questions about motorcycle operations. She is taking a motorcycle riding course this weekend. Great... she can't drive a stick shift because she is uncoordinated, yet she is going to try this!
FER-Orlando finished the week with $230,000. Hollywood brought in $206,000. An "okay" week for us.
At home Bob was preparing ratatouille from the Cooking For Engineers website. After we got all of the ingredients in the dutch oven and simmering, we took Buddy down to the street for his walk.
On Saturday morning we drove to International House Of Pancakes to get fueled up for a busy day of moving my largest items from the apartment and garage to storage. We needed to take mattresses, box springs, double dresser, large boxes, resin chairs/table, computer table, swivel chair out of the house and the work bench, table saw, drill press, planer, compound mitre saw, and other boxed items from the garage. We worked hard for 4 hours packing the truck up. Then we moved trash and extra boxes to the dumpster. We also put the bookshelves near the dumpster too.
We were done loading everything into the storage unit by 2 PM. The sweat was running down my face and into my eyes blinding me. We drove back to The Waverly and I dropped Bob off at the front door. Then I drove the truck to Bob's place of work and parked the truck in the back of the parking lot. Bob phoned the Dispatcher to make sure nobody touched the truck.
I heated the ratatouille up from yesterday. It was better the second day.
Bob said that we had to go to Jack and Wayne's Christmas Party on Saturday evening out in Davenport. After getting Buddy walked we started to get showered and dressed for our party.
Wayne is Bob's supervisor at work. This party was very strange and full of strange people. It began at 7:30 and we stayed until 10:00 PM.
One very funny thing happened right before we left. Wayne had this one-eyed Boston terrier sitting on his lap and I was reaching down and rubbing the dog's belly saying, "Yeah, that feels good, doesn't it? Yeah, you like that, doncha?" Well, this woman came into the dining room from the kitchen - from behind Wayne. She said, "Oh my God!! WTF!!!" Then she came closer and looked over the back of the sofa and said, "Oh!! I didn't see the dog there!" I hope I don't have to describe what she thought she saw me doing!
We went right back home and directly to bed because we knew we needed an early start for moving Bob's stuff this morning.
The alarm went off at 5:00 AM and I got up to take Buddy down to the street for his walk. Next we drove to the parking lot to get the truck and I drove it to the back of The Waverly and parked it on Pine Street at the curb.
We moved everything to the 6th Floor lobby. Bob called the elevators, but Car 4 came first. Bob pushed the button for 20 and sent it up. (Car 3 is the freight elevator). We took everything to the ground floor and then loaded up the truck. We were done loading headboard, footboard, rails, two mirrors, a double dresser, night stand, disassembled computer table, his old coffee table and end table, and a couple of boxes.
Around 7 AM we were on I-4 and headed to Daytona Beach. We had breakfast at McDonald's and then went to Tom and Louise's house. We took the old box springs and mattress to the curb because they were falling apart -- termites were in the box springs and eating them up! We set up the bedroom and put the metal and glass tables in the living room. The old wooden tables we put on the curb and a truck came and carried them away in 10 minutes.
After we closed the house back up we drove to Wal*Mart to get some socks for Louise and then we drove to Oaktree Healthcare to visit Tom and Louise. This was our first visit since Tom quit eating candy bars and since Louise stopped smoking. I think we were there 1o minutes and Louise was begging for a cigarette.
We have to return next week to take them out for dinner. They expect a Christmas outting. It makes Bob sad that they are in poor shape and confined to the home.
The drive back to Orlando took about 45 minutes. I dropped Bob off at the front door of The Waverly and I drove around block and picked him up in the back -- I needed my car keys. Next we drove to The Summit Apartments to get my truck. Bob followed me back to the U-Haul shop where I turned the truck back in.
For dinner we went to Hungry Howie's and got a pizza, wings, and bread. We ate this dinner after walking Buddy. Then I ran the vacuum cleaner and cleaned all of the glass top tables. I was able to vacuum the spare bedroom for the first time in a long time too.
This was a hard weekend and it seemed to pass quickly. We will probably spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day getting my old apartment cleaned so that I can turn it back over.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Orlando, FL
Because I knew we had a demo this morning, and there were packing materials left over from the 1301 oven installation yesterday, I pulled the truck up to the back of the office first thing to load up the boxes, pallet, and some straggling Redco items and take them to the warehouse for storage.
Fay was half an hour late to work. She said that she slept through her alarm and woke up at 6:45 AM. Then her daughter called saying, "Mommy, come help me! My car won't start!" So, she was late.
The owner of the business doing the demo today called in and I took the call. That man was an asshole. I called Neil and warned him of this. Greg could not come over because he had to meet with Hard Rock people in Tampa.
Neil met with the man and his chef. The chef was nice and Fay and I hung out in the kitchen with them. We ended up washing his sheet pans, but he baked flatbread pizzas and sandwiches for us. He had left over dough that was going to be thrown away, but we asked him to save it, so he par-baked it for us and put it into plastic bags for future use. I guess I am having flatbread tomorrow for lunch!
Something else I need to do tomorrow at lunch is go to U-Haul and get a truck to move stuff to storage and move stuff from Bob's spare bedroom to Daytona Beach.
Fay is taking her last vacation day tomorrow, so I will probably be in there alone again.
Fay was half an hour late to work. She said that she slept through her alarm and woke up at 6:45 AM. Then her daughter called saying, "Mommy, come help me! My car won't start!" So, she was late.
The owner of the business doing the demo today called in and I took the call. That man was an asshole. I called Neil and warned him of this. Greg could not come over because he had to meet with Hard Rock people in Tampa.
Neil met with the man and his chef. The chef was nice and Fay and I hung out in the kitchen with them. We ended up washing his sheet pans, but he baked flatbread pizzas and sandwiches for us. He had left over dough that was going to be thrown away, but we asked him to save it, so he par-baked it for us and put it into plastic bags for future use. I guess I am having flatbread tomorrow for lunch!
Something else I need to do tomorrow at lunch is go to U-Haul and get a truck to move stuff to storage and move stuff from Bob's spare bedroom to Daytona Beach.
Fay is taking her last vacation day tomorrow, so I will probably be in there alone again.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Orlando, FL
Monday, Nov. 15, 2008
Back to work. Nancy came in to help with the phones, but like always she kept calling me away to show her how to print, or get to her email, etc. She sure didn't need any help with Solitaire! She also wanted to gossip about Debbie and the Caylee Anthony case.
During lunch I went to The Summit Apartments and loaded more boxes into my truck and drove them to my storage unit. On my way back to the office I stopped at Walgreens and picked up a small gift for Bob's Christmas.
My lunch actually took an hour and fifteen minutes, but Nancy didn't make a single peep about it!
I remained continuously busy with quotes, purchase orders, and answering questions phoned in. Nancy left to drive home around 2:00 PM.
When 5:00 PM came I did not hang around, I was gone!
After walking Buddy we went back out and ate burritos at Tijuana Flats. Then we came home and went to bed. I read my book and Bob worked on some online EMT training courses.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2008
Fay returned to work today. After a couple of hours I believe she was ready for another day off! Ha! We had a very busy day.
Before the end of the day we processed $110k in new orders. Shaping up to be another good week for our office.
During lunch I went to my old apartment and carried another eight boxes out as well as two lamps and drove this stuff to my storage unit. I am stacking everything up on pallets and as high as I can go. I still have three mattresses and a double dresser in the apartment. Out in the garage is there is still a workbench, powertools, and more stuff!
Bob and I both returned home at the same time. When we walked in we found that Buddy had moved the little concrete alligator that Bob had near the front door. Because the dog keeps playing with this, I moved it to the bathroom floor.
Next I heard Bob say, "What's this?!!" Buddy chewed up the Christmas tree skirt! I was angry now, and I drug him in by his harness and pointed his face at what made me mad and I hit him and told him to go lay down. His walk this evening was on a very short leash! I guess he gets bored all day at home by himself.
After our walk I fried up some chicken breast pieces, microwaved some peas, and toasted some bagels. That was our dinner. Bob had a headache and was tired, so we went to bed early.
Back to work. Nancy came in to help with the phones, but like always she kept calling me away to show her how to print, or get to her email, etc. She sure didn't need any help with Solitaire! She also wanted to gossip about Debbie and the Caylee Anthony case.
During lunch I went to The Summit Apartments and loaded more boxes into my truck and drove them to my storage unit. On my way back to the office I stopped at Walgreens and picked up a small gift for Bob's Christmas.
My lunch actually took an hour and fifteen minutes, but Nancy didn't make a single peep about it!
I remained continuously busy with quotes, purchase orders, and answering questions phoned in. Nancy left to drive home around 2:00 PM.
When 5:00 PM came I did not hang around, I was gone!
After walking Buddy we went back out and ate burritos at Tijuana Flats. Then we came home and went to bed. I read my book and Bob worked on some online EMT training courses.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2008
Fay returned to work today. After a couple of hours I believe she was ready for another day off! Ha! We had a very busy day.
Before the end of the day we processed $110k in new orders. Shaping up to be another good week for our office.
During lunch I went to my old apartment and carried another eight boxes out as well as two lamps and drove this stuff to my storage unit. I am stacking everything up on pallets and as high as I can go. I still have three mattresses and a double dresser in the apartment. Out in the garage is there is still a workbench, powertools, and more stuff!
Bob and I both returned home at the same time. When we walked in we found that Buddy had moved the little concrete alligator that Bob had near the front door. Because the dog keeps playing with this, I moved it to the bathroom floor.
Next I heard Bob say, "What's this?!!" Buddy chewed up the Christmas tree skirt! I was angry now, and I drug him in by his harness and pointed his face at what made me mad and I hit him and told him to go lay down. His walk this evening was on a very short leash! I guess he gets bored all day at home by himself.
After our walk I fried up some chicken breast pieces, microwaved some peas, and toasted some bagels. That was our dinner. Bob had a headache and was tired, so we went to bed early.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Weekend
Saturday morning started at 7:00 AM with a walk for Buddy. When we came back I poured a cup of food for him while Bob showered. I noticed that Buddy only had like two more meals in his food bin and decided that we needed to buy more for him.
For breakfast we had cold cereal with milk, yogurt, and our vitamins. We went out around 9:00 and drove to my old apartment and started to load up boxed stuff into my truck to stack in my storage unit. The first truckload was nothing but boxed books and the weight made the rear end of the truck hang down.
We went back for two more loads and then we left for lunch. We went over to McDonalds and I had a chicken sandwich and Bob had a salad. Then we drove to Winter Garden to turn in my BrightHouse Networks cable modem.
After the modem was turned in we drove to Pet Supermarket and get 25 pounds of lamb meal and rice flavor Science Diet, some Biljac Liver Treats, a lamb meal dinner roll, and some packets of dog food gravy. That bill came to $50.
After this we drove back home and carried our stuff into the house. Then all three of us layed down to take a nap at 2:00 PM.
We had to get up at 4:00 PM to walk Buddy. Then I showered, shaved, and got dressed to go out to an awards dinner with Bob. We left at 5:30 PM to go to The Rosen Center on I-Drive for the Florida Emergency Physicians Awards Ceremony. This even was held in a very large ballroom with an open banquet. The acoustics were horrible and I could not even understand what people sitting two seats away were saying! Atleast I got a free meal out of it!
Bob works with strange people. Bob's supervisor, Wayne, invited us to his house for a party next weekend. He wants us to show him how to make Long Island Iced Teas too.
Shortly after 9:00 PM we snook out and drove home. We layed in bed and read books for a little while and then slept soundly.
This morning we got up around the same time. Again, it started with a long walk for Buddy. Bob put a tenderloin into the crockpot We had cold cereal, and yogurt, and we drove to Metrowest to continue moving my household goods into storage. We worked three hours moving stuff out of the apartment and out of the garage to Storage Unit 5116 at Public Storage on Kirkman Road.
We went to lunch at The Greek Corner in Orlando. Bob had Greek Souvlaki and I had Moussaka. We both had Greek salads, a spinach-artichoke dip appetizer, and bakalava for dessert. It was a tasty meal!
Next Bob said that he wanted to go to Ikea to get a 36"x48" poster he saw there of Times Square, NY. This poster was black and white, and only the yellow taxi cabs were in color. I agreed to go back there since we had the truck. We could go ahead and get the Klingsbo coffee table and Klingsbo endtable for the living room. These two tables complete the set - we previously bought the Klingsbo display cabinet to use as a liquor cabinet and Bob got the Klingsbo horizontal display case for the foyer for his birthday.
Unfortunately the Times Square poster was sold out. We picked up a thin door mat to use as a place mat on the floor for Buddy's feed dishes and a green plastic box to use as a toy box for Buddy's toys.
When we came home I put the tables together and we put Bob's old Rooms-2-Go tables into the hallway. We are going to take these tables, the guest bed, double dresser, and night stand to his parents house next weekend for storage.
I like the way these new tables look. They are much cleaner looking than the ones they replace. The Rooms-2-Go tables were very baroque and ornamental. The room even looks larger with these tables (actually, the end table is much smaller than the one it replaces).
Many streets were closed downtown when we took Buddy for his walk -- there is a Christmas parade from 3:00 PM til 11:00 PM. His walk ended up extra long. As we came east down Robinson Street, he kept pulling me very hard and it hurt! After a two block walk I discovered why he was pulling -- he smelled the police horses!
For dinner we had the slow-cooked pork loin with potatoes and carrots. I made strong rum and Coke cocktails for us to have with dinner.
After dinner I ran the vacuum cleaner. I am very sore - my muscles hurt from all of the lifting and carrying today. Bob is sore too.
Tomorrow I have to return to work. Fay will be out and Nancy is helping by coming in to answer phones. It should be an interesting day!
For breakfast we had cold cereal with milk, yogurt, and our vitamins. We went out around 9:00 and drove to my old apartment and started to load up boxed stuff into my truck to stack in my storage unit. The first truckload was nothing but boxed books and the weight made the rear end of the truck hang down.
We went back for two more loads and then we left for lunch. We went over to McDonalds and I had a chicken sandwich and Bob had a salad. Then we drove to Winter Garden to turn in my BrightHouse Networks cable modem.
After the modem was turned in we drove to Pet Supermarket and get 25 pounds of lamb meal and rice flavor Science Diet, some Biljac Liver Treats, a lamb meal dinner roll, and some packets of dog food gravy. That bill came to $50.
After this we drove back home and carried our stuff into the house. Then all three of us layed down to take a nap at 2:00 PM.
We had to get up at 4:00 PM to walk Buddy. Then I showered, shaved, and got dressed to go out to an awards dinner with Bob. We left at 5:30 PM to go to The Rosen Center on I-Drive for the Florida Emergency Physicians Awards Ceremony. This even was held in a very large ballroom with an open banquet. The acoustics were horrible and I could not even understand what people sitting two seats away were saying! Atleast I got a free meal out of it!
Bob works with strange people. Bob's supervisor, Wayne, invited us to his house for a party next weekend. He wants us to show him how to make Long Island Iced Teas too.
Shortly after 9:00 PM we snook out and drove home. We layed in bed and read books for a little while and then slept soundly.
This morning we got up around the same time. Again, it started with a long walk for Buddy. Bob put a tenderloin into the crockpot We had cold cereal, and yogurt, and we drove to Metrowest to continue moving my household goods into storage. We worked three hours moving stuff out of the apartment and out of the garage to Storage Unit 5116 at Public Storage on Kirkman Road.
We went to lunch at The Greek Corner in Orlando. Bob had Greek Souvlaki and I had Moussaka. We both had Greek salads, a spinach-artichoke dip appetizer, and bakalava for dessert. It was a tasty meal!
Next Bob said that he wanted to go to Ikea to get a 36"x48" poster he saw there of Times Square, NY. This poster was black and white, and only the yellow taxi cabs were in color. I agreed to go back there since we had the truck. We could go ahead and get the Klingsbo coffee table and Klingsbo endtable for the living room. These two tables complete the set - we previously bought the Klingsbo display cabinet to use as a liquor cabinet and Bob got the Klingsbo horizontal display case for the foyer for his birthday.
Unfortunately the Times Square poster was sold out. We picked up a thin door mat to use as a place mat on the floor for Buddy's feed dishes and a green plastic box to use as a toy box for Buddy's toys.
When we came home I put the tables together and we put Bob's old Rooms-2-Go tables into the hallway. We are going to take these tables, the guest bed, double dresser, and night stand to his parents house next weekend for storage.
I like the way these new tables look. They are much cleaner looking than the ones they replace. The Rooms-2-Go tables were very baroque and ornamental. The room even looks larger with these tables (actually, the end table is much smaller than the one it replaces).
Many streets were closed downtown when we took Buddy for his walk -- there is a Christmas parade from 3:00 PM til 11:00 PM. His walk ended up extra long. As we came east down Robinson Street, he kept pulling me very hard and it hurt! After a two block walk I discovered why he was pulling -- he smelled the police horses!
For dinner we had the slow-cooked pork loin with potatoes and carrots. I made strong rum and Coke cocktails for us to have with dinner.
After dinner I ran the vacuum cleaner. I am very sore - my muscles hurt from all of the lifting and carrying today. Bob is sore too.
Tomorrow I have to return to work. Fay will be out and Nancy is helping by coming in to answer phones. It should be an interesting day!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Orlando, FL
Yesterday a cold front came through and strong storms came with it. I heard that it snowed in New Orleans from this storm system!
Mike Beachkofsky was in the office making his presentation of Tucker Safety Products. Nancy, Debbie, Greg, Neil, and Craig attended this presentation. Craig had sandwich meats, cheese, pickels, tomato slices, pasta salad, and potato salad made and delivered for lunch.
Because it was also Fay's 61st birthday, I brought in a little birthday cake and sliced it into 6 tiny wedges for everyone.
In the evening Bob finished putting the Christmas tree up and I wrapped a few gifts. Bob had to get a size 6/7 outfit for a 5 year-old boy and a Batman toy for the same boy. This was a gift thing for work. We also had to get a toy for a child to donate when we go to the Florida Hospital awards program Saturday night.
Today was a busy day for me. I was alone in the office because Fay was taking a vacation day and Debbie was doing a demo at KSC Visitor Center.
Mom phoned this afternoon to see if I got my Christmas card. She enclosed a check in the card! She also said that Marrissia and Kevin are thinking about having a baby with Patty being a surrogate mother.
FER-Orlando brought in $310k for the week - a very good week for us!
This evening Bobby made a chili in the skillet and I baked corn muffins and we had beer with out chili dinner. I was very good!
Tomorrow we need to work on getting my apartment cleared out so that I can begin cleaning. Maybe we will take a couple loads of stuff to the storage unit.
Mike Beachkofsky was in the office making his presentation of Tucker Safety Products. Nancy, Debbie, Greg, Neil, and Craig attended this presentation. Craig had sandwich meats, cheese, pickels, tomato slices, pasta salad, and potato salad made and delivered for lunch.
Because it was also Fay's 61st birthday, I brought in a little birthday cake and sliced it into 6 tiny wedges for everyone.
In the evening Bob finished putting the Christmas tree up and I wrapped a few gifts. Bob had to get a size 6/7 outfit for a 5 year-old boy and a Batman toy for the same boy. This was a gift thing for work. We also had to get a toy for a child to donate when we go to the Florida Hospital awards program Saturday night.
Today was a busy day for me. I was alone in the office because Fay was taking a vacation day and Debbie was doing a demo at KSC Visitor Center.
Mom phoned this afternoon to see if I got my Christmas card. She enclosed a check in the card! She also said that Marrissia and Kevin are thinking about having a baby with Patty being a surrogate mother.
FER-Orlando brought in $310k for the week - a very good week for us!
This evening Bobby made a chili in the skillet and I baked corn muffins and we had beer with out chili dinner. I was very good!
Tomorrow we need to work on getting my apartment cleared out so that I can begin cleaning. Maybe we will take a couple loads of stuff to the storage unit.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
NY Subway 14 St to 42 St
Movie of the subway ride in the recently opened subway from 14th Street to Grand Central Depot at 42nd Street in 1905.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Orlando, FL
The alarm went off at 5:00 AM, but I kept sleeping until 5:30. Then I got up, harnessed Buddy for his walk, poured a cup of food into his bowl, hooked his leash up, and took him out for his morning walk.
When I returned I started making breakfast. I fried scrambled eggs, toasted bread, and fried sliced apples in butter, cinnamon, and sweetener. We had yogurt with our breakfast too.
I went to the office early so that I could start getting caught up. I arrived a little after 7:00 AM and Craig was still there. There was an enormous amount of email to sort through! While I was gone they did process the orders, made copies of them all, and logged all of them. However, there was a stack on my desk with a coversheet that read, "Welcome Back! These orders require your attention." Mostly orders that needed some kind of variance or special allowance form.
Fay arrived at 8:15 AM and she wanted to discuss what happened while I was gone. She said that Nancy played computer games on my pc, but she thought of something for her to do - she called her husband and asked him to bring the Cleveland Range aprons she washed along with her iron and ironing board. She made Nancy press aprons!
She had alot to say about what Debbie did and did not do. She started to get fired up!
Because I was able to find orders that were sent directly to the factories we ended the day with over $120k in new orders - not bad for only Tuesday!
We found out that three rep groups have been fired by Manitowoc so far! FER's main competitor in Florida is Finn Marketing Group and we do not know for sure whether we will be fired or if we will have to merge with Finn. Craig said that if we have to merge that we will have to fire a couple of people this spring.
I filled out my rebate form for the $10 back on my new camera battery and typed up an envelope for it. I made a copy of the bar code, the form, and the receipt before enclosing them in the envelope.
As long as it is not too busy tomorrow morning I think I will be able to get everything caught up. There are several problem orders still on my desk, and I need to make folders for new Darden restaurants.
When I returned I started making breakfast. I fried scrambled eggs, toasted bread, and fried sliced apples in butter, cinnamon, and sweetener. We had yogurt with our breakfast too.
I went to the office early so that I could start getting caught up. I arrived a little after 7:00 AM and Craig was still there. There was an enormous amount of email to sort through! While I was gone they did process the orders, made copies of them all, and logged all of them. However, there was a stack on my desk with a coversheet that read, "Welcome Back! These orders require your attention." Mostly orders that needed some kind of variance or special allowance form.
Fay arrived at 8:15 AM and she wanted to discuss what happened while I was gone. She said that Nancy played computer games on my pc, but she thought of something for her to do - she called her husband and asked him to bring the Cleveland Range aprons she washed along with her iron and ironing board. She made Nancy press aprons!
She had alot to say about what Debbie did and did not do. She started to get fired up!
Because I was able to find orders that were sent directly to the factories we ended the day with over $120k in new orders - not bad for only Tuesday!
We found out that three rep groups have been fired by Manitowoc so far! FER's main competitor in Florida is Finn Marketing Group and we do not know for sure whether we will be fired or if we will have to merge with Finn. Craig said that if we have to merge that we will have to fire a couple of people this spring.
I filled out my rebate form for the $10 back on my new camera battery and typed up an envelope for it. I made a copy of the bar code, the form, and the receipt before enclosing them in the envelope.
As long as it is not too busy tomorrow morning I think I will be able to get everything caught up. There are several problem orders still on my desk, and I need to make folders for new Darden restaurants.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Orlando, FL
My travel alarm sounded promptly at 3:30 AM. I woke up a few minutes before it went off and I continued to lay on the sofa for a few minutes after I turned it off. Dad wanted to get up at 3:30 AM to leave by 4:30 AM and arrive at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 5:30 AM.
We left around 4:30 and drove north on State Route 43 to Streetsboro. It was still dark and I could not see much, but it was obvious that Streetsboro has changed alot. We turned left on to Highway 14/303 west and drove to the Ohio Turnpike. We took a ticket and drove west on the turnpike for about 18 miles.
At I-71, we exited the turnpike and paid $1. We continued north on I-71 to Snow Road and into Hopkins Airport. Dad dropped me off at the Continental ticketing. It was freezing cold and dark.
Inside I went to the counter and checked in. A boarding pass was printed for me. I was going to Gate C23 where I would board Flight 1003 (Ten-O-Three), and sit in Seat 9F. First I had to get through Transportation Security Administration Security Theatre. I was having an easy enough time, but my sweatshirt meritted a pat down by TSA.
My flight didn't leave until 7:45, so I got a souvenir t-shirt for Bob and a coffee and candy bar for myself. I also picked up a copy of The Akron Beacon Journal to read while I waited.
There are always plenty of kids going to see Mickey Mouse on Orlando flights and this one was no exception.
We left right on time and I was glad the flight would only last 2 hours and 20 minutes. As it turns out, we were early arriving at Orlando and the flight only took 2 hours!
I called Bob as soon as the plane reached the gate and then I called him again after I claimed my luggage. He showed up in a white Florida Hospital van and I did not recognize it!! Hehehee!!
Bob took me home and then he had to go back to the office to resolve issues. He was determined to leave work at 2:00 PM (like he is supposed to).
At home I started laundry, ran the vacuum, got some flowers to cut and put into the vase, showered myself, shaved, and dressed again. I had the darks put away around the time Bob came in.
We needed to go out to get a few things done. I saw no reason why Buddy couldn't go along too, so we went with us. First we drove to Hiawassee Veterinary Clinic to get more Heartgard for Buddy, next we went to Public Storage on Kirkman Road to rent a storage unit. I got a 10' x 20' unit for $135.00 per month. After that we went to Wachovia Bank to deposit a check for Bob, and then we went to Batteries Plus to get a new battery for my digital camera.
Buddy had to go home after this and then we went back out to get dinner. We had pizza, wings, and breadsticks at Pizza Hut. Now I am getting this blog caught up so that I can get ready for another hectic and demanding day at work tomorrow.
We left around 4:30 and drove north on State Route 43 to Streetsboro. It was still dark and I could not see much, but it was obvious that Streetsboro has changed alot. We turned left on to Highway 14/303 west and drove to the Ohio Turnpike. We took a ticket and drove west on the turnpike for about 18 miles.
At I-71, we exited the turnpike and paid $1. We continued north on I-71 to Snow Road and into Hopkins Airport. Dad dropped me off at the Continental ticketing. It was freezing cold and dark.
Inside I went to the counter and checked in. A boarding pass was printed for me. I was going to Gate C23 where I would board Flight 1003 (Ten-O-Three), and sit in Seat 9F. First I had to get through Transportation Security Administration Security Theatre. I was having an easy enough time, but my sweatshirt meritted a pat down by TSA.
My flight didn't leave until 7:45, so I got a souvenir t-shirt for Bob and a coffee and candy bar for myself. I also picked up a copy of The Akron Beacon Journal to read while I waited.
There are always plenty of kids going to see Mickey Mouse on Orlando flights and this one was no exception.
We left right on time and I was glad the flight would only last 2 hours and 20 minutes. As it turns out, we were early arriving at Orlando and the flight only took 2 hours!
I called Bob as soon as the plane reached the gate and then I called him again after I claimed my luggage. He showed up in a white Florida Hospital van and I did not recognize it!! Hehehee!!
Bob took me home and then he had to go back to the office to resolve issues. He was determined to leave work at 2:00 PM (like he is supposed to).
At home I started laundry, ran the vacuum, got some flowers to cut and put into the vase, showered myself, shaved, and dressed again. I had the darks put away around the time Bob came in.
We needed to go out to get a few things done. I saw no reason why Buddy couldn't go along too, so we went with us. First we drove to Hiawassee Veterinary Clinic to get more Heartgard for Buddy, next we went to Public Storage on Kirkman Road to rent a storage unit. I got a 10' x 20' unit for $135.00 per month. After that we went to Wachovia Bank to deposit a check for Bob, and then we went to Batteries Plus to get a new battery for my digital camera.
Buddy had to go home after this and then we went back out to get dinner. We had pizza, wings, and breadsticks at Pizza Hut. Now I am getting this blog caught up so that I can get ready for another hectic and demanding day at work tomorrow.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Kent, OH
My watch said 7:30 AM when I got up and folded the electric blanket up on the sofa. I looked out the window and saw that sure enough, lots of snow fell during the night. I saw prints in the snow from deer crossing the yard.Dad was up soon and he pointed to another deer crossing the yard!
It was very cold - in the 20's and there was a little bit of wind. I dressed and pulled my coat on and I walked down the road. I called Bob and asked about how they were doing. He said that he took Buddy for his walk and that he was putting the Christmas tree up. The dog was watching him and wondering why he was holding tree branches in his hands.
My walk back up the road was very cold walking into the wind! My hands were frozen from keeping them out holding the phone.
Janice made scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, and biscuits for breakfast. Soon after breakfast Jason came over and brought his boy, Kobe, over. His son is very loud and very energetic. He is very skinny and he is very rude. I guess I was loud and full of energy when I was 6 too and it doesn't help when they keep him hopped up with sugar.
I had a nice quiet afternoon in house. I played with the cat some. I tried to nap but never did. By inserting the SD memory card into the matching slot on Dad's computer I was able to upload around 87 pictures to Flickr. Then I labeled them and put descriptions on them.
In the afternoon, around 3 PM, I went out for another walk. It was still very cold and my hands got cold even through my gloves!
For dinner Janice made stuffed shells with a salad for us. Then I got a shower and we got driving directions to Hopkins Airport on Mapquest. Dad decided that we are going to get up at 3:30 AM, leave at 4:30 AM, and arrive at the airport at 5:30 AM. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, but I will be back in Orlando around 10 AM.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Kent, OH
When I woke up I had a stiff neck from the arm of the sofa. I got up while it was still dark and folded up the blankets from my "bed". Janice got up around 7:30, but she had to go to the shop to work today.
Dad and I drove into Kent and met Jason at The Main Street Tavern. We all had omelets with coffee for breakfast. We must have been in there for two and a half hours because Dad seemed to know everyone and he wanted to introduce me and bullshit with everyone.
After breakfast we stopped at an auto parts store to exchange a thermostat and then drove to 936 West Main Street where we left Dad's car and got into Jason's Monte Carlo. We drove across town toward Ravenna, stopped and bought gas, and drove through a car wash, then got on 261 and drove down to Mogadore Road. Here we turned south and went to B&D Deer Processing where Jason was picking up the deer he shot in southern Ohio.
This place has a small meat processing room where the Dad cuts the meat off of the carcass, the wife grinds meat, and the kids package it all. We stepped into the freezer and found 30 more deer carcasses hanging up in there.
When we finished here we drove down to Howe Road and went east to State Route 43 and continued south to Brimfield. 43 is now four lanes from Kent all the way to the Brimfield town center! I saw that they tore down the old Brimfield Elementary School, but they saved the arch from the old building and incorporated it into a new school building.
We turned east on County Road 18 and drove through Rootstown and Edinburg, then we followed Highway 14 to Deerfield. Dad wanted to go to the campground to make sure all of his stuff is still covered up and closed up. It was still snowing and everything was frozen cold.
On the way back we drove down I-76 and went west. We got off at 18 and stopped to admire the new Wal*Mart SuperCenter. Dad said that Wal*Mart paid his friends $900k for the land!
We followed Mogadore Road back to Kent, went down Stow Street across the river, and up to SR 59 bypass and back to Grandma's house. Here we got into Dad's car and went back to Janice's house.
I noticed that my spare camera battery is missing and I checked the seats and floors of both cars, but did not find it. I checked all of my bags and could not find it. I hate to have to buy a new one because they are about $50 apiece.
We carried firewood into the house and Dad put bird seed into the feeders. Then he got a fire going in the stove.
Janice was home after 5:00 and she made a dinner of chicken and rice with spiced baked apples. I worked on getting this blog caught up while they watched television shows featuring astonishing moments caught on film.
It continued to snow and the weather man warned that temps would drop into the teens tonight and snow would accumulate 2" to 4". It looked like he was going to be right about that!
Dad and I drove into Kent and met Jason at The Main Street Tavern. We all had omelets with coffee for breakfast. We must have been in there for two and a half hours because Dad seemed to know everyone and he wanted to introduce me and bullshit with everyone.
After breakfast we stopped at an auto parts store to exchange a thermostat and then drove to 936 West Main Street where we left Dad's car and got into Jason's Monte Carlo. We drove across town toward Ravenna, stopped and bought gas, and drove through a car wash, then got on 261 and drove down to Mogadore Road. Here we turned south and went to B&D Deer Processing where Jason was picking up the deer he shot in southern Ohio.
This place has a small meat processing room where the Dad cuts the meat off of the carcass, the wife grinds meat, and the kids package it all. We stepped into the freezer and found 30 more deer carcasses hanging up in there.
When we finished here we drove down to Howe Road and went east to State Route 43 and continued south to Brimfield. 43 is now four lanes from Kent all the way to the Brimfield town center! I saw that they tore down the old Brimfield Elementary School, but they saved the arch from the old building and incorporated it into a new school building.
We turned east on County Road 18 and drove through Rootstown and Edinburg, then we followed Highway 14 to Deerfield. Dad wanted to go to the campground to make sure all of his stuff is still covered up and closed up. It was still snowing and everything was frozen cold.
On the way back we drove down I-76 and went west. We got off at 18 and stopped to admire the new Wal*Mart SuperCenter. Dad said that Wal*Mart paid his friends $900k for the land!
We followed Mogadore Road back to Kent, went down Stow Street across the river, and up to SR 59 bypass and back to Grandma's house. Here we got into Dad's car and went back to Janice's house.
I noticed that my spare camera battery is missing and I checked the seats and floors of both cars, but did not find it. I checked all of my bags and could not find it. I hate to have to buy a new one because they are about $50 apiece.
We carried firewood into the house and Dad put bird seed into the feeders. Then he got a fire going in the stove.
Janice was home after 5:00 and she made a dinner of chicken and rice with spiced baked apples. I worked on getting this blog caught up while they watched television shows featuring astonishing moments caught on film.
It continued to snow and the weather man warned that temps would drop into the teens tonight and snow would accumulate 2" to 4". It looked like he was going to be right about that!
Friday, December 05, 2008
Cleveland, OH
Today was our last day at Cleveland Range.
My group had to get up a little early to be taken to the plant early to get breakfast started for the rest. I got up, made sure my suitcase and bag were packed and that I was not forgetting anything. I dressed in my white shirt with brown slacks. I went down to the lobby and checked out and waited for our van ride to the factory.
At the plant we put our luggage into a conference room and got to work with breakfast. I went with Chef Bob and Jim Rennix out to the tilting skillet and made French toast. First I started off by dunking slices and slices of yellow egg bread into the egg, cream, milk, spice mixture and shingling the slices in another hotel pan. Jim started frying the first batch.
When he finished I took over frying the toast while those two chattered about attending Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Frying was not hard, but there definitely was a hot spot in the center of the pan that you had to watch and try to work with. The fry pan was about 22" deep and 48" long - imagine how much French toast I was making at one time!
After the last slices came out we turned the skillet off and carried our food into the kitchen. The toast was served with a spinach-egg souffle and there was powdered sugar and syrup for the toast. I had coffee and a banana with my breakfast.
We had a lecture about banquet systems, blast chillers, and plating systems. Then the chefs prepared a lunch for us of prime rib, shrimp, brown rice with onion gravy, and steamed cauliflower! Right after lunch many attendees had to leave to catch their flights. John had us fill out self-addressed shipping labels and they had boxes ready to mail our training materials and honorary plaques to us. I spent some time with Laurie in Customer Service and we stepped down to Shipping to meet Jenine and Nancy.
As we were walking back John Lanning called out to me, "Vince, your Dad is in the lobby waiting for you!" I went to get my coat, retrieve my suitcase, and found him sitting in the lobby. He said that he found the plant by accident - their Mapquest directions weren't very accurate.
We got into his black Acura and drove down the interstate toward downtown and then got onto I-77 south to Route 8 and drove up to State Route 59. We drove into Stow first and stopped at Janice's shop to say "Hi", then we drove to the Main Street Tavern (the old Fiesta) for a glass of iced tea for me and some lunch for Dad.
After this we drove down to 936 West Main Street to see Grandma's old house. Dad has this house gutted right now and it is an ambitious work in progress. I don't really know how this is going to turn out, but I would have given up on it and sold it if it had been my choice. His drywall guy, Big Jim, was there and they discussed how to fix the leaking roof and ceiling in the kitchen while I poked around in all of the rooms.
Next we drove to his optometrist's office on South Water Street to visit. This office is at the east corner of Hall Street and Water Street. After this we drove back to Janice's house north of town. We settled in here and Dad started a fire in the stove on the back porch.
When Janice came home she made a dinner of sloppy Joes, chips, and macaroni salad for us. They said that because all of their rooms are filled with valuable antiques that I would have to sleep on the sofa.
I was dressed in a sweatshirt, flannel bottoms, and cotton socks, but I was still cold. Janice brought out an electric blanket and put it on the couch and that made it much warmer!
My group had to get up a little early to be taken to the plant early to get breakfast started for the rest. I got up, made sure my suitcase and bag were packed and that I was not forgetting anything. I dressed in my white shirt with brown slacks. I went down to the lobby and checked out and waited for our van ride to the factory.
At the plant we put our luggage into a conference room and got to work with breakfast. I went with Chef Bob and Jim Rennix out to the tilting skillet and made French toast. First I started off by dunking slices and slices of yellow egg bread into the egg, cream, milk, spice mixture and shingling the slices in another hotel pan. Jim started frying the first batch.
When he finished I took over frying the toast while those two chattered about attending Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Frying was not hard, but there definitely was a hot spot in the center of the pan that you had to watch and try to work with. The fry pan was about 22" deep and 48" long - imagine how much French toast I was making at one time!
After the last slices came out we turned the skillet off and carried our food into the kitchen. The toast was served with a spinach-egg souffle and there was powdered sugar and syrup for the toast. I had coffee and a banana with my breakfast.
We had a lecture about banquet systems, blast chillers, and plating systems. Then the chefs prepared a lunch for us of prime rib, shrimp, brown rice with onion gravy, and steamed cauliflower! Right after lunch many attendees had to leave to catch their flights. John had us fill out self-addressed shipping labels and they had boxes ready to mail our training materials and honorary plaques to us. I spent some time with Laurie in Customer Service and we stepped down to Shipping to meet Jenine and Nancy.
As we were walking back John Lanning called out to me, "Vince, your Dad is in the lobby waiting for you!" I went to get my coat, retrieve my suitcase, and found him sitting in the lobby. He said that he found the plant by accident - their Mapquest directions weren't very accurate.
We got into his black Acura and drove down the interstate toward downtown and then got onto I-77 south to Route 8 and drove up to State Route 59. We drove into Stow first and stopped at Janice's shop to say "Hi", then we drove to the Main Street Tavern (the old Fiesta) for a glass of iced tea for me and some lunch for Dad.
After this we drove down to 936 West Main Street to see Grandma's old house. Dad has this house gutted right now and it is an ambitious work in progress. I don't really know how this is going to turn out, but I would have given up on it and sold it if it had been my choice. His drywall guy, Big Jim, was there and they discussed how to fix the leaking roof and ceiling in the kitchen while I poked around in all of the rooms.
Next we drove to his optometrist's office on South Water Street to visit. This office is at the east corner of Hall Street and Water Street. After this we drove back to Janice's house north of town. We settled in here and Dad started a fire in the stove on the back porch.
When Janice came home she made a dinner of sloppy Joes, chips, and macaroni salad for us. They said that because all of their rooms are filled with valuable antiques that I would have to sleep on the sofa.
I was dressed in a sweatshirt, flannel bottoms, and cotton socks, but I was still cold. Janice brought out an electric blanket and put it on the couch and that made it much warmer!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Cleveland, OH
I woke up at 5:00 AM when the alarm went off, but I silenced the alarm and tried to keep sleeping. I think I might have gotten another 30 minutes of sleep.
After my shower and shave I pulled on my green slacks and yellow long sleeve shirt with "FER" embroidered on it. I sat down and continued to read Malcolm Gladwell's book and I finished it!
Shortly before 8:30 I went to the lobby to meet the other attendees and we driven to the factory in the hotel vans. There were about 20 of us so it took two vans to take all of us.
This morning we had a breakfast of egg-filled breakfast burritos, home fried potatoes, and various berry covered cupcakes.
Today we toured the factory and had a lecture from Roland Gehring about Cook-Chill systems. My group, The Raspberries, then worked in the test kitchen on the ConvoTherm ovens with Chef David Ash, Chef Pete Shellenbarger, and Chef Bob.
To demonstrate the "Crisp N Tasty" feature we made the de riguer grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. Then we began working on the entrees for lunch. We made some Spanish rice and put it into one of the combination oven/steamers. Then Ann and I put these pastry things - sorta like burritos, but filled with cheesecake, into baskets to be heated up.
One of the other groups brought in meat that was braised so that it could be sliced up, mixed with peppers and onions and finished in the oven as carne asada. One of the chefs quickly tore lettuce up to make a salad and another guy was heating tortillas.
So we had a nice Mexican-style lunch. I was trying to not eat so much since I was stuffed on the first day. They make so much food and then they end up throwing most of it into the trash!
In the afternoon our group had a lecture from Frank Gorman about ConvoTherm and how it works, how it should be installed, and various service issues it has - mostly due to incorrect installation.
Around 4:30 we were driven back to the hotel to change clothes, shower, make phone calls, whatever, but at 5:30 they had another reception for us downstairs in the Versailles Room with an open bar. As soon as everyone got down there we picked up and drove to The FireHouse, a local bar/restaurant, where we had a private banquet room with open bar and buffet.
More people from the factory joined us this evening and I spent some time talking with Mark Schantz from Customer Service, Ryan from Technical Service, and several other people that I only get to speak to on the phone. Many of the guests drifted out of the room and went to play darts or pool in the bar and I became bored. Mike Aguirre called for the hotel van for me around 9:00 PM and I went outside in my hooded sweatshirt to wait for the van.
It was snowing. Very large flakes were coming down. I waited for about 15 minutes for the bus and had a 15 minute ride back to the hotel. I gave Bob a call when I was back in my room, I turned the heater on, and watched it snow for a little while before going to sleep.
After my shower and shave I pulled on my green slacks and yellow long sleeve shirt with "FER" embroidered on it. I sat down and continued to read Malcolm Gladwell's book and I finished it!
Shortly before 8:30 I went to the lobby to meet the other attendees and we driven to the factory in the hotel vans. There were about 20 of us so it took two vans to take all of us.
This morning we had a breakfast of egg-filled breakfast burritos, home fried potatoes, and various berry covered cupcakes.
Today we toured the factory and had a lecture from Roland Gehring about Cook-Chill systems. My group, The Raspberries, then worked in the test kitchen on the ConvoTherm ovens with Chef David Ash, Chef Pete Shellenbarger, and Chef Bob.
To demonstrate the "Crisp N Tasty" feature we made the de riguer grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. Then we began working on the entrees for lunch. We made some Spanish rice and put it into one of the combination oven/steamers. Then Ann and I put these pastry things - sorta like burritos, but filled with cheesecake, into baskets to be heated up.
One of the other groups brought in meat that was braised so that it could be sliced up, mixed with peppers and onions and finished in the oven as carne asada. One of the chefs quickly tore lettuce up to make a salad and another guy was heating tortillas.
So we had a nice Mexican-style lunch. I was trying to not eat so much since I was stuffed on the first day. They make so much food and then they end up throwing most of it into the trash!
In the afternoon our group had a lecture from Frank Gorman about ConvoTherm and how it works, how it should be installed, and various service issues it has - mostly due to incorrect installation.
Around 4:30 we were driven back to the hotel to change clothes, shower, make phone calls, whatever, but at 5:30 they had another reception for us downstairs in the Versailles Room with an open bar. As soon as everyone got down there we picked up and drove to The FireHouse, a local bar/restaurant, where we had a private banquet room with open bar and buffet.
More people from the factory joined us this evening and I spent some time talking with Mark Schantz from Customer Service, Ryan from Technical Service, and several other people that I only get to speak to on the phone. Many of the guests drifted out of the room and went to play darts or pool in the bar and I became bored. Mike Aguirre called for the hotel van for me around 9:00 PM and I went outside in my hooded sweatshirt to wait for the van.
It was snowing. Very large flakes were coming down. I waited for about 15 minutes for the bus and had a 15 minute ride back to the hotel. I gave Bob a call when I was back in my room, I turned the heater on, and watched it snow for a little while before going to sleep.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Cleveland, OH
I woke up during the night and was too hot. I got up and turned the heater off. I sleep better in a cool room than in a room that is too warm.
Around 5:00 AM my travel alarm clock went off. I read for awhile and then showered and shaved and pulled on my blue chambray shirt with "FER" embroidered on the pocket and my dark blue/black slacks with dark blue socks and dress shoes. I sat down and read a while longer and then I went down to the lobby when my wrist watch said 8:30.
The hotel loaded us into vans and drove us to the factory. We were given safety glasses and taken back through the plant to a training classroom and test kitchen where breakfast was served to us. We had bacon, biscuits and gravy, and hashbrowns with puff pastries and fruit and coffee to drink.
After breakfast we got down to training with Powerpoint slide shows about steam and how some of the equipment operates. After a short break we broke up into our groups. The Raspberries went with John Lanning to learn about steamers. We talked about how they work and the differences between models, and then we cooked in them. We prepared rice, corn on the cob, and a yellow cake.
Believe it or not, steam is a dry gas and you can actually bake in a steamer. We mixed a dry boxed cake mix with water, poured it into a hotel pan, pre-heated the steamer compartment, set the timer for 25 minutes, and put the cake in. The cake rose up, split open, and baked. It was very moist when it was finished!
We carried our finished food into the test kitchen and the other groups brought their foods in too. We had burgers with red jacket potatoes, some kind of multi-colored pasta roll, and salad. Soft drinks were iced and offered to us and there were cheesecakes for dessert.
Their test kitchen is large and they have a 10.10 combi and a 6.20 combi and a baby mini combi up under the hood. They have a Delfield 4-drawer VersaDrawer, a 20-quart Varimixer, a Jackson undercounter dish machine, all spot lighted with track lighting from above, on a red clay tile floor.
In the afternoon our group went with Michael Aguirre to learn about tilting steam-jacketed kettles and tilting braising pans. After the slideshow and questions/answers period we got down to cooking. Chef Pete started 6 gallons of spinach artichoke dip in a small tilting kettle. We took meat from large plastic bins and began making crab cakes. My job was to place them in the braising pan, brown them, turn them, and get them out. While we cooked they chef and the staff pointed out additional pan features that we would need to know for demos and helping with service.
We carried the foods into the kitchen and had sausages with the crab cakes, large shrimp, rice, and warmed tortilla chips with the spinach artichoke dip. It was tasty, but they had us hurry because the bus was early and waiting for us!
The van carried us back to the hotel where we changed into casual clothes and then went to the lobby for our ride to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum downtown. Mike Aguirre referred to this tourist site as "the mistake by the lake" saying that residents were dubious of its chances since it was a bad neighborhood when it was built.
Our tickets were purchased by the factory in advance and we lined up to have the wrist band put on and then we met in an area that was roped off for us. There was a table of appetizers for us and an open bar.
I spent about two hours browsing the exhibits and then I visited the gift shop. I bought two t-shirts and a necktie and my total cost was $89! Because I spent more than $25, I was entitled to a free Sammy Hagar CD and the clerk dropped that into my bag too.
Around 9:10 PM I was back in my hotel room. I gave Dad and Bob phone calls, read more of my book, and then went to sleep. That was a very busy day!
Around 5:00 AM my travel alarm clock went off. I read for awhile and then showered and shaved and pulled on my blue chambray shirt with "FER" embroidered on the pocket and my dark blue/black slacks with dark blue socks and dress shoes. I sat down and read a while longer and then I went down to the lobby when my wrist watch said 8:30.
The hotel loaded us into vans and drove us to the factory. We were given safety glasses and taken back through the plant to a training classroom and test kitchen where breakfast was served to us. We had bacon, biscuits and gravy, and hashbrowns with puff pastries and fruit and coffee to drink.
After breakfast we got down to training with Powerpoint slide shows about steam and how some of the equipment operates. After a short break we broke up into our groups. The Raspberries went with John Lanning to learn about steamers. We talked about how they work and the differences between models, and then we cooked in them. We prepared rice, corn on the cob, and a yellow cake.
Believe it or not, steam is a dry gas and you can actually bake in a steamer. We mixed a dry boxed cake mix with water, poured it into a hotel pan, pre-heated the steamer compartment, set the timer for 25 minutes, and put the cake in. The cake rose up, split open, and baked. It was very moist when it was finished!
We carried our finished food into the test kitchen and the other groups brought their foods in too. We had burgers with red jacket potatoes, some kind of multi-colored pasta roll, and salad. Soft drinks were iced and offered to us and there were cheesecakes for dessert.
Their test kitchen is large and they have a 10.10 combi and a 6.20 combi and a baby mini combi up under the hood. They have a Delfield 4-drawer VersaDrawer, a 20-quart Varimixer, a Jackson undercounter dish machine, all spot lighted with track lighting from above, on a red clay tile floor.
In the afternoon our group went with Michael Aguirre to learn about tilting steam-jacketed kettles and tilting braising pans. After the slideshow and questions/answers period we got down to cooking. Chef Pete started 6 gallons of spinach artichoke dip in a small tilting kettle. We took meat from large plastic bins and began making crab cakes. My job was to place them in the braising pan, brown them, turn them, and get them out. While we cooked they chef and the staff pointed out additional pan features that we would need to know for demos and helping with service.
We carried the foods into the kitchen and had sausages with the crab cakes, large shrimp, rice, and warmed tortilla chips with the spinach artichoke dip. It was tasty, but they had us hurry because the bus was early and waiting for us!
The van carried us back to the hotel where we changed into casual clothes and then went to the lobby for our ride to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum downtown. Mike Aguirre referred to this tourist site as "the mistake by the lake" saying that residents were dubious of its chances since it was a bad neighborhood when it was built.
Our tickets were purchased by the factory in advance and we lined up to have the wrist band put on and then we met in an area that was roped off for us. There was a table of appetizers for us and an open bar.
I spent about two hours browsing the exhibits and then I visited the gift shop. I bought two t-shirts and a necktie and my total cost was $89! Because I spent more than $25, I was entitled to a free Sammy Hagar CD and the clerk dropped that into my bag too.
Around 9:10 PM I was back in my hotel room. I gave Dad and Bob phone calls, read more of my book, and then went to sleep. That was a very busy day!
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Fast Forward
Wilmington, NC
November 28, 2008
Bob and me took Buddy in his car and we drove downtown to the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial and toured the ship museum. Buddy had to stay in the car while we went through the ship (about 2-1/2 hours). There were parts of the ship recently opened up to the public and other parts that were accessible before now closed off.
We drove across the river and drove around the downtown and then we went to Wrightsville Beach to walk the dog. He really liked the beach!
Wilmington, NC
November 29, 2008
Becky and Bill held their annual neighborhood picnic. Bill got up early and barbecued a 100-pound hog. The weather was terrible for this -- cold and raining. They set up tables in the garage for everyone to eat at. Despite the weather, 48 neighbors and guests showed up for the picnic!
Orlando, FL
November 30, 2008
We left Becky and Bill's house at 6:00 AM to return to Florida. We made good time going south until around 9:00 AM. Then it seemed like a lot of traffic started to get onto the highway. Soon it was so busy that I-95 became start-and-stop and you couldn't get up above 40 MPH. It took us 6 hours to cross South Carolina and 12 hours to get back to Orlando! Terrible.
Once we were home we started our laundry, walked the dog, and made dinner. It was good to be home.
Orlando, FL
December 1, 2008
I got up at 5:00 AM to walk Buddy and we got ready for a regular day returning to work. It was busy at FER with lots of phone calls. At the end of the day I set my Out-Of-Office message on my email.
When I returned home the first thing I did was take Buddy down to the street for his walk. Bob came along too because it helps him get some exercise. Then I packed my large suitcase for my trip to Cleveland Range for factory training.
Cleveland, OH
December 2, 2008
We got up at 5:00 AM as usual. I took Buddy down for a quick walk and then we showered and dressed. We left kind of early and I looked like the dog knew something was up when we both left the house at the same time.
Bob drove me to the airport and dropped me off at Terminal A Departures at the Continental Airlines desk.
I walked in dragging my big suitcase behind me and walked up to the desk with no line or waiting. After showing my ID the lady printed out my boarding pass and checked my bag. Then I made my way to the Transportation Security Administration "Security Theatre" spectacle in the middle of the airport.
Once I was through the x-rays and metal detectors I got on the monorail carrying my Puma shoulder bag and my Navy-issue raincoat. I was on my way to Terminal A, Gate 6 for Flight 1051 departing at 8:05 AM, but when I got to the gate there was a flight leaving for Newark, NJ!
I asked the Continental desk person if that was the correct flight and I looked at my boarding pass to see that I was given Flight 1004 departing at 10:57 AM. I asked if there was an earlier flight and expressed my confusion. The man said that he saw that my schedule had been changed on June 22, and I agreed pulling out the emailed notice that was sent to me (this change was to the departure time on my return flight). Then he said that he saw that it was changed again on June 23, but there was no notice or follow-up with me.
At that point I said, "Well, why don't you check Flight 1004 and see if there is any room for me up front?" He said, "Oh yes Sir! Do you want a window seat or an aisle seat?" I replied that I wanted a window seat.
Around 10:20 they began to board Flight 1004 starting with First Class passengers. I was one of the first people on the plane! It was nice. First Class seating is very roomy! I love to sit at the window and watch the landscape go by. In 15 minutes we were passing Jacksonville, FL - it would have taken three hours to drive that far! Soon we were passing Brunswick, GA and we turned more to the north at that point.
The flight attendants were bringing out lunch now. The tray in First Class is hidden in the arm rest of the seat and you have to open the arm rest, pull the tray up, and unfold it. They brought a tray with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, a bowl of pepper-cheese bisque soup, a bowl of fruit salad, a glass of cola, a real cloth napkin and silverware and tiny little salt and pepper shakers!
I read more of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers and chatted with the lady who sat next to me. As we got farther north there was nothing but cloud cover below us. Ick.
We landed at Cleveland Hopkins Airport around 1:13 PM - about 13 minutes early. I walked through the terminal to baggage claim and when I came down the escalator I saw a man holding a "Cleveland Range" sign. I told him that I would be riding with him as soon as I got my bag.
I had to wait for another hour while we waited for other reps and dealers to arrive. One man turned around with his cellphone at his ear and I was surprised to see that it was Tom Dickie from our Hollywood office! Once everyone was there he brought the van up to the arrivals ramp and loaded our luggage into the back and then drove us to the Ramada Inn in East Cleveland.
The desk checked me into Room 665 and I went up, set up the ironing board, heated up the iron, and pressed my shirts. Then I got a shower and dressed comfortably.
At 5:30 PM they had a reception for us in the Versailles Room downstairs. They had a buffet of prime rib, red jacket potatoes, and string beans set up for us and they had an open bar. John Lanning and Bob Norlander met all of us here and then other people from the factory arrived to meet us - Roland Gehring, Karen Richard, Laurie Zak, Pat McPherson, Christina Wahl, and even Cleveland Range President Rick Cutler!
John explained that everyone would be broken up into four groups with names of local bands: O'Jay's, James Gang, Raspberries, and Pretenders. I was assigned to The Raspberries.
Around 9:00 PM I made my way back upstairs to my room for a good night of sleep - it had been a very busy day! I wore my flannel pajama bottoms with a t-shirt and enjoyed the king size bed!
November 28, 2008
Bob and me took Buddy in his car and we drove downtown to the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial and toured the ship museum. Buddy had to stay in the car while we went through the ship (about 2-1/2 hours). There were parts of the ship recently opened up to the public and other parts that were accessible before now closed off.
We drove across the river and drove around the downtown and then we went to Wrightsville Beach to walk the dog. He really liked the beach!
Wilmington, NC
November 29, 2008
Becky and Bill held their annual neighborhood picnic. Bill got up early and barbecued a 100-pound hog. The weather was terrible for this -- cold and raining. They set up tables in the garage for everyone to eat at. Despite the weather, 48 neighbors and guests showed up for the picnic!
Orlando, FL
November 30, 2008
We left Becky and Bill's house at 6:00 AM to return to Florida. We made good time going south until around 9:00 AM. Then it seemed like a lot of traffic started to get onto the highway. Soon it was so busy that I-95 became start-and-stop and you couldn't get up above 40 MPH. It took us 6 hours to cross South Carolina and 12 hours to get back to Orlando! Terrible.
Once we were home we started our laundry, walked the dog, and made dinner. It was good to be home.
Orlando, FL
December 1, 2008
I got up at 5:00 AM to walk Buddy and we got ready for a regular day returning to work. It was busy at FER with lots of phone calls. At the end of the day I set my Out-Of-Office message on my email.
When I returned home the first thing I did was take Buddy down to the street for his walk. Bob came along too because it helps him get some exercise. Then I packed my large suitcase for my trip to Cleveland Range for factory training.
Cleveland, OH
December 2, 2008
We got up at 5:00 AM as usual. I took Buddy down for a quick walk and then we showered and dressed. We left kind of early and I looked like the dog knew something was up when we both left the house at the same time.
Bob drove me to the airport and dropped me off at Terminal A Departures at the Continental Airlines desk.
I walked in dragging my big suitcase behind me and walked up to the desk with no line or waiting. After showing my ID the lady printed out my boarding pass and checked my bag. Then I made my way to the Transportation Security Administration "Security Theatre" spectacle in the middle of the airport.
Once I was through the x-rays and metal detectors I got on the monorail carrying my Puma shoulder bag and my Navy-issue raincoat. I was on my way to Terminal A, Gate 6 for Flight 1051 departing at 8:05 AM, but when I got to the gate there was a flight leaving for Newark, NJ!
I asked the Continental desk person if that was the correct flight and I looked at my boarding pass to see that I was given Flight 1004 departing at 10:57 AM. I asked if there was an earlier flight and expressed my confusion. The man said that he saw that my schedule had been changed on June 22, and I agreed pulling out the emailed notice that was sent to me (this change was to the departure time on my return flight). Then he said that he saw that it was changed again on June 23, but there was no notice or follow-up with me.
At that point I said, "Well, why don't you check Flight 1004 and see if there is any room for me up front?" He said, "Oh yes Sir! Do you want a window seat or an aisle seat?" I replied that I wanted a window seat.
Around 10:20 they began to board Flight 1004 starting with First Class passengers. I was one of the first people on the plane! It was nice. First Class seating is very roomy! I love to sit at the window and watch the landscape go by. In 15 minutes we were passing Jacksonville, FL - it would have taken three hours to drive that far! Soon we were passing Brunswick, GA and we turned more to the north at that point.
The flight attendants were bringing out lunch now. The tray in First Class is hidden in the arm rest of the seat and you have to open the arm rest, pull the tray up, and unfold it. They brought a tray with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, a bowl of pepper-cheese bisque soup, a bowl of fruit salad, a glass of cola, a real cloth napkin and silverware and tiny little salt and pepper shakers!
I read more of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers and chatted with the lady who sat next to me. As we got farther north there was nothing but cloud cover below us. Ick.
We landed at Cleveland Hopkins Airport around 1:13 PM - about 13 minutes early. I walked through the terminal to baggage claim and when I came down the escalator I saw a man holding a "Cleveland Range" sign. I told him that I would be riding with him as soon as I got my bag.
I had to wait for another hour while we waited for other reps and dealers to arrive. One man turned around with his cellphone at his ear and I was surprised to see that it was Tom Dickie from our Hollywood office! Once everyone was there he brought the van up to the arrivals ramp and loaded our luggage into the back and then drove us to the Ramada Inn in East Cleveland.
The desk checked me into Room 665 and I went up, set up the ironing board, heated up the iron, and pressed my shirts. Then I got a shower and dressed comfortably.
At 5:30 PM they had a reception for us in the Versailles Room downstairs. They had a buffet of prime rib, red jacket potatoes, and string beans set up for us and they had an open bar. John Lanning and Bob Norlander met all of us here and then other people from the factory arrived to meet us - Roland Gehring, Karen Richard, Laurie Zak, Pat McPherson, Christina Wahl, and even Cleveland Range President Rick Cutler!
John explained that everyone would be broken up into four groups with names of local bands: O'Jay's, James Gang, Raspberries, and Pretenders. I was assigned to The Raspberries.
Around 9:00 PM I made my way back upstairs to my room for a good night of sleep - it had been a very busy day! I wore my flannel pajama bottoms with a t-shirt and enjoyed the king size bed!