Happy Birthday, Becky!

Mom, click this link for a special birthday message!

Everyone else, click here for your special message.

Bob went to work for about five hours today. He had to help get the move to their new offices finished up. I went to the office for a couple of hours too. I had to get a big fryer quote written and put stuff into the filing cabinets.

This afternoon we took a nap, then we got up and took the Christmas tree and decorations down. Tomorrow we will take the decorations to the storage unit before we go grocery shopping.

On Saturday I am going to steam clean the carpets in the house, and maybe give the dog a bath.

It's been really nice having to work just one day a week for the past two weeks. I hope I can face returning to work everyday!

We are going to try to stay up until midnight to celebrate the new year. I put a bottle of champagne in the fridge to chill.

Pepsi-Loving Raccoons

Orlando, FL

I had to go to work today. Because I've been out all week, and Debbie and Fay don't seem to get all of the orders processed, I knew I would have to go in early to get caught up.

There were plenty of orders on my desk when I arrived. Only a few of the easier ones had been sent on to the factories. Trying to get the orders caught up was like wading into a fast moving river and trying to swim across. It was steadily busy with the orders all day.

By the end of the day I had processed $465k in new orders, and I still have an order for $184k in my "Pending" box waiting for a revision.

Craig mentioned that Fay and him were swamped with phone calls on Monday, and then he said that Debbie "stayed all day long and was fairly continuously busy all day yesterday". Well, at that point I'd heard enough, and I leaned back in my chair and spounted out, "Craig, I've been here all day long, every effin' day for five years now. I've been here when I'm sick, I've been here when I am well. Hell, if Missy gets a runny nose, she goes home sick! You can't have one standard for Debbie and another standard for everyone else!!"

Craig hates confrontation, and he very quickly retreated and explained why Debbie was hired and how the situation with her deteriorated. He said that she learned to play the partners off against each other too. He said that she's played her game for a long time, but she knows it's coming to an end now. He had to leave after that.

Despite getting all of the orders processed, and sending 60+ email messages, I did not get the High-Efficiency Fryer Proposal written for Disney. I have a big stack of orders and acknowledgements to file away too. I am thinking that I might have to go into the office tomorrow for a couple of hours.

The Pesca sushi restaurant downtown closed very recently. Even the furniture has been moved out of there! I don't know how they stay open as long as they did. Craig and a salesman were in there a few weeks ago, and the owner told them he wanted to stay open through New Years to see how business was New Years Eve and New Years Day. I guess they just couldn't make it.

Orlando, FL

We plugged in the little portable electric heater and closed the bedroom door knowing that it was going to be chilly during the night. That little heater takes awhile (especially in a room with two floor-to-ceiling glass walls), but it eventually makes the bedroom very warm!

It was probably in the 40's when I took Buddy down to the street for his walk.

After we returned from the walk I started work in the bathrooms. In the guest bath I mounted a towel shelf over the toilet tank and put a bath sheet, two bath towels, and a wash rag on that. Next I recycled the towel bar from that room by mounting it on the wall across from the toilet. I hang the towels that Grandma Pat got me last year on that bar.

Once this was done, I wiped down the floor with Pine Sol and put the floor rug, toilet brush holder, and trash can back inside. Done.

I stopped for a sandwich after this, then went to the master bath to change light and fan

switches. This switch box was easier to work with than the guest bath. This box has three switches in it, and it just seems to have more room. I swapped the first and third switches in this box so that they go (from left-to-right): vanity light, toilet/tub lamps, fan timer.

Now I folded up the tarps, and took all of the tools and items returning to storage unit down to the truck. I put the harness on Buddy and took him with me. We put these things away and then came back home.

Once I had dinner started, I filled a bucket with Murphy's Oil Soap and hot water and wiped down the outside of the kitchen cabinets and drawers. I was surprised how much dirt came off of them, but they look alot better now.

Bob was late coming home this evening because his office is moving and he had to stay to help get as much of it done as possible. I took Buddy out for his evening walk before Bob got home because it gets dark early and then it gets cold!

Bob made it home around 5:45 PM and we sat down to our dinner of "breakfast lasagna" made from fried ground sausage, tomato paste, onions, canned mushrooms, scrambled eggs, and Parmesan cheese.

I still have the wall-mounted shelf system to put up in the bedroom, but I am sure I will get to it - hey, it only took us a year to get the guest bathroom painted and remodeled!

Tomorrow I have to work. I am going to go in early to get as much as possible caught up. I am leaving the dog home because he is too much distraction and worry. Tomorrow will be the last day I have to work this year! Then I get paid Thursday night.

Orlando, FL

On Sunday we went to Daytona Beach to check on Tom and Louise's house, and then go to visit them in the nursing home. We brought a couple of small gifts for them too.


We stopped at Wal*Mart to get cigarettes for Louise and a new wax seal for the toilet project.


Louise was perfectly happy with her gift of White Diamonds perfume. We wrote her name on the cap and put her initials on the bottom of the bottle with the Sharpie marker in hopes that it won't be lifted as quickly as last year's bottle was.


Tom on the other hand... he was indifferent to the long-sleeved University Of Florida t-shirt Bob picked out for him. He mumbled, "Take it home", but Bob went to the closet to hang the shirt up. That is when Tom really started to yell and get upset! I told him that if he didn't settle down I was going to go get the nurse. Well, I had to go get the nurse. She came right down the hall, and flipped the lights on (he hates having the lights on) and asked him why he was making all of this fuss. She told him that his son came to visit him, and brought him a present. She said he needed to take his visit, or she was going to get him up out of the bed, dress him, and put him into the wheelchair.


As she was leaving the room he said, "I won't forget this!" Man, he sure is a big man trying to pick a fight with the nurse!


After all of that he still had the nerve to ask us to get him some ice cream.


Louise said, "Can we go now?" We laughed and took her outside to smoke her cigarette. After this we took her to the dining room to attend church services and we left to return to Orlando.


In the evening we ran the vacuum cleaner, did some laundry, and cleaned the tabletops off. Bobby cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors with the Swiffer mop.


This morning we got up at 5:30. Bob went to the shower to get ready for work, and I went to the kitchen to feed the dog and put Bob's lunch together.


After Bob left I got Buddy harnessed and we went to my storage unit to get some plywood and my halogen work lamp. We put the colored glaze, sponges, and leftover Christmas gift boxes inside the storage unit. On the way back home we stopped at Home Depot to get toilet mounting bolt covers (the snap-on kind).


Now I took the tank off of the toilet base to make everything easier to move around since I was doing this by myself today.


First I put the plywood under the toilet bowl base and traced around with a pencil. I took this outside to the balcony and cut it out with the Roto-Zip tool I got for my birthday.

I put the wax seal onto the bottom of the toilet bowl drain. Then I packed the slots that receive the mounting bolts with old wax to hold the screws up. I slid the screws into position in the flange, and then put more wax in behind them.


The screws were standing straight up and they weren't moving at all. I carefully lowered the toilet bowl down over them and pushed the bowl down onto the flange to seat the seal. Then I sat on the seat and twisted the bowl from side-to-side to spread the wax. With the cutout plywood piece under the front of the bowl base, it was very steady and did not rock at all. I put the washers over the screws, threaded the nuts on, and carefully tightened them down while counting the number of turns on each side so that the left and right side would be tightened evenly.


Just as I got the right side tightened down firmly it went "click" and the whole thing was loose again! The left side was still securely fastened, but the toilet would tilt up from the right toward the left. So, I had to pull the nuts and washers off again, pull the bowl up, and examine everything again.


I began to wiggle the bolt on the right side of the bowl to make sure it was down in the flange as it was supposed to be. As I wiggled and pulled the bolt to the side I noticed that a small crack opened up on the flange!! This is why the bolt kept pulling out!


Flange repair kits are made for this situation. I went to Ace Hardware and explained to the salesman what I needed. He tried to sell me a metal flange repair section, Tapcon screws to fix it to the concrete floor, a masonry drill bit, and a hammer drill!


I was asking myself, "Why is this man trying to sell me all of this stuff and make this job harder than it should be?" I continued to describe to him how the existing flange was not bolted down, and only part of it was cracked, and finally he called his coworker over who was more knowledgeable about these products.


His coworker, Clyde, understood what my installation was like after I described it to him. He speculated that the existing flange is glued into the PVC drain pipe. He found a closet flange repair kit that consisted of a stainless steel ring fastened with two screws. You take one screw out, and open the ring up, fit it under the broken installed flange, pull it closed around the drain pipe, and reinstall the screw. Easy peasy!


I took this flange repair kit and an additional wax ring home and started again.


To get the screws under the existing flange, I had to cut away an inch-wide section in the front and in the back. Then I slid the repair flange in under the old flange, closed it up, and put the screw in to hold it closed. After this I put the mounting bolts down into the broken flange and then down under the repair ring. I put the (third) wax ring onto the bottom of the bowl outlet, turned the bowl over, picked it up, and set it down on the flange. This time it worked like a charm!!


The bolts held as I tightened the nuts down secure. The bowl did not rock at all, and it sits level.

Once this was done I put the tank back on the back, reconnected the water line, and proceeded with a series of test flushes. No leaks!


Even the simplest jobs in this house have unexpected obstacles. It's never easy.

After this I made a sandwich for lunch and took a break. After my lunch I cleaned up the tarps in the tub and hung the big one out on the balcony to dry. Then I opened the circuit breaker for the second bathroom, ran an extension cord from the living room and plugged in my halogen work lamp.

Working on one switch at a time (so I don't become confused and lose track of the wires), I upgraded the light switch and fan switch in the bathroom. I put in a timer switch for the fan that has 1 minute, 5 minute, 10 minute, 20 minute, 30 minute, and 60 minute times. Then I put in a designer rocker switch for the lamp. Over this I put a chrome and white cover plate that matches the wall receptacle cover.

I have additional switches and timer to do the master bathroom switch panel too, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

After this I got the new shower curtain out, and hung it up, but when I stepped down from the tub I discovered that the curtain is a couple of inches too short. We will have to take this one back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and get one a couple of inches longer.

Next I got the caulking gun, caulk smoothing tool, and a tube of white latex caulk to seal all the way around the bottom of the toilet base and floor. Working from back-to-front, I squeezed a (thick) bead of caulking under the toilet and between the porcelain and the floor. I came back and smoothed the caulking with the little tool with the rubber edge. It looks very nice!

Tomorrow I am going to hang a towel shelf over the toilet tank and a towel bar across from the toilet. These two should be simple. After that I will clean up all of the mess and wipe out the floor with Pine Sol.

It's almost like Bob got a new bathroom for Christmas!

For dinner I braised some stew beef, boiled some macaroni shells, and heated up some of our canned vegetable soup. This was a tasty meal.

We took Buddy for his evening walk and I went out in shorts and t-shirt, but as we were walking the temps dropped. It's supposed to fall to the 30's tonight and tomorrow night.

Orlando, FL

Pictured here is something that I think we'd like to do next year - make little tiny gingerbread houses and put them on mugs. We could probably give them away with cocoa mix.

Today I finished up painting the bathroom by sealing the glazed finish. It looks pretty good. I ran out of sealer before I finished and we had to go to Lowe's to get another quart can.

I cleaned up the bottom of the toilet and the drain flange really good. I noticed that the flange stands about 1/4 inch higher than the rest of the bathroom floor. I layed the toilet back in the tub and put the wax seal on the bottom around the drain, put the mounting screws into the flange, and with Bobby helping me get the screws through the toilet base, set the toilet down on the floor and then sat down on it to compress the seal.

As I was tightening the screws up they would pull up and out of the flange before I could get them completely tightened down. The toilet continued to rock from side-to-side even as the bolts were tightened.

Finally I was disgusted with it. We are going to have to get a new wax ring anyway since this one is all chewed up from our attempts to seat the toilet. I walked away from the job and called Bill to ask him about this. He said that he had a toilet that was high like this one and it wanted to rock. He had to get a piece of 1/4 inch thick plywood and cut it to fit the bottom of the toilet. He said that will stabilize the toilet.

I have a piece of 1/4 inch plywood, but I will have to go to my storage unit to get it.

He also said that the mounting bolts are fairly standard items. The only thing different is some come with nuts, some come with wingnuts. He advised me to drag the heads through the old wax before inserting into the flange. Then pull them up against the underside of the groove in the flange. The wax on them will hold them in place as the toilet is moved into position.

While we were out we stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and got a new shower curtain for that bathroom too. I guess I will finish the bathroom project on Monday.

It is getting cool outside again. The weather forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow. We have to go to Daytona Beach tomorrow with our little gifts for Tom and Louise.

Christmas 2009

Although we were up until midnight on Christmas Eve, I got up at 6:30 AM and put the ham into the oven. After this I convinced Bob to get up so that we could open presents.

We took about an hour to open gifts. Where there were no presents under the tree for Buddy, his stocking was stuffed full!

Buddy got a rawhide chew bone (which he promptly devoured), a rubber ball that makes sound effects as it is knocked and bounced around, a ball that giggles and rolls around randomly by itself (this one freaks him out), a stuffed doll that looks like a lamp and when he bites its head it squeaks, and a hard tennis ball with a face on it and nylon rope coming out of the top of it as hairs. He also got a bunch of treats, bath wipes, and shampoo that the Dog & Friends store gave us as samples.

Bobby got a treasure trove of gifts. I think his favorite gift is the Livescribe Smart Pen that I gave him. This pen stores and records everything you write in the special Livescribe notebooks and it can record upto 200 hours of audio. I hope this pen helps him with his college classes.

He also got (from the makers of the Chia Pet) a Chia Gourmet Herb Garden, a Drill Doctor drill bit sharpener, a Tobi handheld clothes steamer, a set of wood turning chisels, a couple of books about turning bowls on the wood lathe, a big hardback book about America's national parks, an Every Man Jack aftershave and shaving cream set, a Windshield Wonder glass cleaner, and a three-tier wall-mounted shelf system to hold the AV components under the wall-mounted TV in the bedroom.

For me there was a new Basic Stamp SX Tech Tool Kit, several books - Steve Chastain's Sand Casting Manual Vol 1 and Vol 2, Ammen's The Complete Handbook of Sand Casting, a hardback copy of Miracle In The Andes, a year's subscription to Fine Woodworking Magazine, a paperback copy of Rooted In Kent: 101 Tales From The Tree City, a Zircon Stud Sensor, a retractable pencil pull, a Rotozip circle cutter, and a couple of adult toys and videos. Becky and Bill sent me a card with a check enclosed, Dad sent me the Kent book with Applebees and Office Max gift cards enclosed.

For our Christmas dinner, we had a spiral sliced, brown-sugar-coated ham, French green bean casserole, whole berry cranberry sauce, sliced carrots, stuffing and gravy, fruitcake, fudge, and apple pie. We have plenty of leftovers.

Buddy had to wait until almost 11 AM for his walk. There were a surprising number of people in the park. Lots of homeless make their way to the park, but there were church groups in the park giving out socks, bookbags, sandwiches, drinks, etc. I guess that's the true spirit of Christmas, and it doesn't cost much. I would just be afraid that if I gave stuff out that everytime one of the homeless recognized me while I was walking the dog that I would be bombarded with requests.

It rained most of the afternoon... "soooo, the weather outside is frightful, but inside, it's so delightful...". We took a nap in the afternoon.

Bobby spent some time working with his new Smart pen - downloading the software, working through the demos and tutorials, he is sure this will be a help in class, and maybe at work too. I thumbed through Chastain's books, and then was surprised to find that he is an Orlando native and teaches materials science over at UCF!

Later in the evening I started to investigate the SX Tech Tool Kit and reading the books that came with it. I started to get a sinking feeling when it began to look like I would have to learn Assembly Code to get it work. I was relieved, after browsing some books online in PDF format that showed me that the programming editor could be set up to accept BASIC which would be compiled to assembly for me. Before I went to bed at 11:30 PM, I had the SX controller simply flashing an LED on and off - the microcontroller equivalent to "Hello World!"

Today I took the dog out for his walk. It is chilly out - the wind is coming out of the north. When we came home Bob had oatmeal ready for breakfast. This afternoon I am going to seal the bathroom walls, and clean up the toilet base to prepare it for installation. I hope to have the bathroom finished on Monday, and then I can put the TV shelves up in the bedroom on Tuesday while Bob is at work.

Orlando, FL

Last night we put the small electric heater in the bedroom and we closed the bedroom door after we went to bed. That little heater kept the room from getting too chilly.

Actually it got kinda warm and I got up to shut it off around 3:30 AM.

When the alarm went off, we all got up. I had to go to work today.

Because Bob left his lunch box at work, I did not have to pack a lunch for him. I fed Buddy, and then took him for his walk. After Bob left I got my shower and shave, and then dressed for work.

I decided that since I would be the only person in the office today, it would be okay for Buddy to come to work too. So, I got his bed loaded into the truck, and I took the box of liver treats, and the sample bag of chicken and rice dog food, and we all went to work.

Because I knew there would be a lot of stuff to catch up, I went in early. I got there at 7:15 AM, and an hour later I was still trying to get all of the orders logged, new orders printed out, serial numbers logged, order confirmations sent, etc etc. It took me until 11:30 to get to where I would usually be by 9:15.

There was a gift bag of nuts and a nutcracker on my desk from Fay when I arrived!

Craig came in and made scrambled eggs, chicken, and rice for himself. Buddy was extremely curious about Craig's food. He said that Fay would be coming in too - they were asked to appear at Darden headquarters because Craig responded to an email and hit Reply All and it turns out a Darden vice-president was copied! They got a lecture.

When Fay arrived, Buddy would not settle down - you know how excited he gets! Well, I reached over, grabbed a big fold of loose skin on his back, and pulled him up and back. He yelped. I dropped him down on his back and held him down on his back with his legs up. I think he started to get the idea that I was getting tired of his shit because he calmed down after that.

The phones were not too bad today. There were eight (8) calls total, and four (4) of those were from Greg Olsen.

In the afternoon it became impossible to reach anybody. I think everyone just decided to go ahead and start their vacation. FER-Orlando finished the week with $130k in orders. I do not know how Hollywood did.

This evening we took Buddy for his evening walk, then we picked up a copy of the Orlando Weekly, checked our mail, and came up stairs for a dinner of ham and cheese sandwiches. There were cards from Nick Baranet, Barbara Hacker, and Becky and Bill. Becky and Bill sent a check too!

My email says that the Candy Cane Lillies ordered from Proflowers.com were delivered to Becky and Bill at 10:00 AM. I hope they like them!

Tomorrow I am going to get the spiral sliced ham out of the freezer and start thawing it out. It's almost Christmas!!

Tossing Pizza Dough

Orlando, FL

It was very chilly last night. We went to bed in sweat pants, t-shirts, and socks. At least we aren't paying OUC to keep the house cool!


After Bob got up, I got up too. I made his lunch box, filled his pill box, and poured a bowl of food for the dog. Then I made a bowl of Cheerios for both of us.

I harnessed Buddy up and we rode the elevator down with Bob. Bob got off on the fourth floor and we rode down to the street. It was very cold and I wore my old Navy rain coat with fur liner.


When we got back to the house I started to work in the bathroom again. I had to sponge buff colored glaze onto the walls today. The buff color softens the spots where the burnt sienna was too strong and heavy, and it adds depth to he paint effect.


I worked for a couple of hours, and then stopped to take lunch. I made a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. I read some more of Malcolm Gladwell's book and finished it! Then I went back into the bathroom to get the painting finished.


There were two more walls to sponge. I went around with a small sponge and cut in the corners, then patted more of the buff glaze onto the bigger areas with a bigger sponge. Finally, at 12:30 PM, it was done. It has to

dry and cure for a week before I can roll the sealer on.

After this I cleaned up the sponges, washed my hands, and asked Buddy if he wanted to go for a ride. He jumped up from his nap, tail wagging, and came to get his harness on.


We drove out to the storage unit to get the small electric heater that I've had since I lived in New York. The heater will help dry out the floor under the toilet, warm the room so the paint dries faster, and keep the master bedroom warm tonight.



Pictures of my progress in the bathroom are posted here. How do you

think it looks?

On the way home we stopped at Foreign Accents to see what kinds of

interesting decorating things they have in there. This is the first time I have driven by there and found it open. They have some nice and interesting things, but they are very expensive too.


After putting the dog back in the house I went over to Publix to get a Stouffer's lasagna for dinner. I got a package of tangerines, and a few other things for our Christmas dinner.


In the afternoon made an apple pie that we will have with our Christmas dinner too. As soon as the pie came out of the oven, the lasanga went in.


I managed to clean the sticky gum/glue off of the front of the new flat panel TV using Windex to water down the citrus gum remover. It took a minute, but the glue started to ball up and roll up and I was able to peel and rub it all over. No apparent damage to the black plastic cabinet that I can see.


At 4:00 PM I layed down in the bedroom on the floor next to Buddy and began reading Imperial Cruise. I read until Bob came home at 4:30. Then we sat down to eat lasagna.


After dinner we took Buddy for his evening walk, checked our mail, and then read some more.


Tomorrow is my day to work in the office. I know it will be a little hectic, and I can see from checking my email here at home that I should go in a little early to get some of the routine requests caught up and get the orders logged.

First Day Of Winter

We closed the balcony door last night because it was getting very chilly in the house. We only left the guest bedroom window cracked open an inch, but the house was a chilly 60°F when we got up this morning.

It was 45°F outside when I took Buddy for his morning walk.

For breakfast we had the third ham steak with some yogurt and pb&j on toast.

After Bob left I started getting the bathroom ready for my painting project. I pulled the rusted nuts off of the toilet and found that they were not even tightened down!

I got Buddy harnessed up and we went down to the truck with me. We drove out to the storage unit to get a plastic tarp out. Then we drove to Home Depot to get some painters tape and a small roller and small roller pan. Then we headed home.

The water was disconnected from the toilet tank, and then I lift the toilet up and set it on the tarp in the bathtub. There was no wax seal in the drain, but it could be stuck to the bottom of the toilet (I haven't checked for it yet). I stuffed a rag into the floor drain and used a scraper to clean up the cement-like material that was installed around the base of the toilet.

Next I began to lay strips of masking tape around the woodwork, around the vanity, around the mirror, around the top of the tub/shower tile, around the door frames, and around the ceiling.

Finally, it was time to begin sponging the burnt sienna glaze on to the walls. I started with the wall above the tile in the tub/shower. Sponging glaze is a tedious and time-consuming activity. I taped a small piece of sponge to a pencil to poke it into the corners, and just kept dabbing glaze onto the wall while turning the sponge between pats.

I poured the glaze into a paper plate, then dipped the sponge into the glaze, and blotted it on some newspaper before taking the sponge to the wall and patting the color onto the wall.

Around 12:30 I stopped to get the zucchini meatloaf for dinner started. Then I made a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch.

I continued patting the glaze onto the walls until I finished around 4:00 PM. I rinsed out the sponges, tossed out the used newspapers and the paper plate, and washed my hands. Then I put a bag of frozen veggies into the microwave, and went to sit down and read more of my book until Bobby got home at 4:30 PM.

Bob was pleased with how the bathroom is turning out.

After we had our dinner, we got Buddy harnessed up for his walk. We had to hurry up with the walk because today is the shortest day of the year, and it would be dark soon!

Next I logged into my Gmail to see what kinds of messages came in today at work. Debbie did a pretty good job, but I can see that Fay has her work cut out for her tomorrow too.

The weatherman said that it will go down to 40°F tonight! There is a good chance of frost too. We are going to leave all of the doors and windows shut tight tonight.

Tomorrow I am going to go to my storage unit to get my electric heater. I want to put that into the bathroom to dry out the floor where the toilet gets installed - there is alot of water under the asphalt tiles. Then I am going to continue sponging. Tomorrow I will be applying buff colored glaze to the top.

Weekend

On Saturday morning we found much cooler temperatures. I think it got down into the 40's. After walking the dog we decided to go get breakfast at IHOP. Instead of eating at the little tiny one on Summerlin with the open kitchen, I suggested we eat at the big one on Kirkman Road that used to be a Shoney's. The little one up here on Colonial makes your clothes smell like grease because the kitchen is open to the dining room.

After breakfast we took some work pants back to Wal*Mart and then bought a few more Christmas gifts and stuff.

We forgot to eat lunch. For dinner we braised some stew meat in a sauce pan and then opened up a quart jar of vegetable soup and poured it in. We ate this with bread and butter.

In the afternoon I started to pull hardware out of the guest bathroom and spackle the holes in the wall in preparation for sponging it. On Monday and Tuesday I will sponge the walls. On Christmas eve I will roll sealer onto it, and on Christmas Day or the day after that, I will re-install all of the hardware.

I talked to Mom for 105 minutes. She said that she got the Pura Vida Loca book on Thursday and that she's read it already.

Later on we watched the 2005 box office bomb, Stealth. After the movie we went right to bed.

This morning we took Buddy for his walk. It was chilly again - down in the 40's.

After it warmed up into the 50's, we went to the Lake Eola Farmers Market and bought some broccoli to steam for dinner, a zucchini to make meatloaf with, two red peppers and two green peppers. We bought some giro sandwiches for our lunch.

We stopped in at the Dog & Friends store and browsed. The sales lady loaded us up with so many samples that I felt compelled to purchase something. We bought an $18 bag of tooth-cleaning dog treats, but left with big bulging bag of dog food samples, dog treat samples, doggy bath and shampoo samples.

While browsing the market we noticed that the promise of ice skating at Lake Eola was kept. On the bridge they have an "ice skating rink" composed to teflon panels snapped together and they were renting skates for $8.00 per adult. Amazing!

I have about 76 more pages to go in What The Dog Saw, then I will start Imperial Cruise.

We took a two hour long nap this afternoon.

When we got up I started steaming the broccoli and frying ham steaks for dinner. Bob took Buddy out for his evening walk. Bob reported that Buddy pooped twice on this walk!

After dinner I cleaned the glass top tables and then ran the vacuum cleaner. I vacuumed off the balcony too.

I am glad I do not have to go to work until Wednesday. I will get a lot done here at home in that time. The bathroom project is my main thing. I guess I should take some "before and after" pictures too.

Orlando, FL

Today was an overcast and rainy day. The rain was pouring down at times. I think the sun peeked out twice today, and not every long then.

I left for work at 7:31 and when I was about 10 blocks away from the house I realized that I left the little gift bags with quart jars of soup for Debbie, Fay, and Craig on the counter! I had to go back and get them because I suspected that we would have reduced manning next week.

My first two hours were kinda hectic. Then things started to calm down a little bit.

Craig approved the reduced manning and asked Nancy and Nick to help us. I told him, "Please no. Nancy makes more work that I would have if I were alone. She can't do anything, except maybe pick up the phone, but even then she passes all the calls to me because she doesn't know how to handle them."

Debbie is working Monday, 12/21, Fay on Tuesday, 12/22, Vince on Wednesday, 12/23. On the following week, it will be Fay on Monday, Debbie on Tuesday, and Vince and Wednesday.

FER-Orlando finished this week with $282k in new orders. Hollywood brought in $103k. Everything considered, I guess it was a good week.

Bob had a short day today and was home by 2:30 PM. I guess he was busy because I noticed five more wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree! He was frying hamburger when I walked in. He made Bacon Cheeseburger Rice for dinner.

I am glad that I do not have to go back to work until next Wednesday. I think we are going to pull the toilet out of the guest bathroom, paint the bath, and then replace the wax seal and put the toilet back in. You need time off to do things like that.

Orlando, FL

Today was a mostly cloudy day today.

At work I opened my email messages and read a message forwarded to everyone in FER by Carolina in Hollywood. The message was from Kevin Kelly at Garland who was announcing that Amber and Eric Halleran both resigned yesterday! I said out loud, "Oh my God!"

Amber and Eric were both offered jobs at Blodgett Oven Company in Vermont. I am glad they found new jobs, but the coming months are going to be difficult as Garland experiences significant changes.

All of a sudden I became very busy! First Angie Brunson at Darden called me and her request was very wordy. Then, all of a sudden, she puts me On Hold! Meanwhile, the phone ran again, and Fay put a Post-It on my desk to let me know that my Dad was on Line 2.

Dad phoned to let me know that he got a pre-paid cellphone. He said that he was refinishing the wood work in Grandma's old house. I let him know that Dawndee finally got into her new house. He did not know this and said that she's been avoiding him for some reason. I told him to go check out her Facebook page.

While I was on the phone with him, Debbie drove up in her zebra-striped Smart car. She came in with a big rustling sound. She passed out her Christmas gifts - small jars of apple butter! She dressed them up nice with a square of holiday fabric cut out with pinking shears pulled over the lid and the ring screwed down on top of it.

Next Nancy and Nick Baronet drove up. Craig decided that he did not want to deal with those two and he very promptly disappeared! I reached into my desk drawer and got out the bumper stickers I picked up at Flea World for Nancy. One says, "Don't Leave Home Without It - Your Gun, That Is", the other one says, "It's Better To Have It And Not Need It, Than To Need It And Not Have It". She was delighted with those stickers and declared that she was going to put both of them on her car!

When Craig came back he picked up Fay and then went to lunch at LongHorn Steakhouse with Mike Zupo, Bob Chuhak, and Tony Wilcox of Scotsman.

It got darker while they were gone and then started to rain.

In the afternoon I hear a loud "THUD" outside on the highway. I stood up and looked out to see that two trucks ran into each other on the rain slicked I-4. Traffic really began to back up after that.

This evening we took Buddy for his walk, and then we baked buffalo wings for dinner.

If Craig approves it (and we expect him to), each of us will only work one day next week and one day the following week. I am going to be working Wednesday, 12/23, and Wednesday, 12/30.

Orlando, FL

We got up at 5:30 AM. Bob started his shower because today was Wednesday, and it was Toastmasters day. He had a cake baked for today's meeting.

After I got his lunch box packed, I put the harness on Buddy and took him out for his morning walk.

It was time for me to shower after Bob left. As I was getting my towel from the master bathroom I heard the emergency generator start up - they test it every Wednesday morning.

Work today was fairly busy, but not overwhelming. Craig was in Colorado today, but he still kept up with everything going on by being copied in email. He phoned us several times today.

In the news I read that Jesus called Oral Roberts home - he was 91. Today Roy Disney (Walt's nephew) succombed to cancer - he was 79. Get this - they both died in Newport Beach, CA! Interestingly, Roy Disney died 43 years and one day after Walt Disney.

During my lunch I drove to my storage unit and put two big plastic storage bins inside. Bob salvaged these bins from work where they were discarding them.

Weather today gradually grew more cloudy and cooler. It is forecast to rain tonight and tomorrow.

Orlando, FL

It was very foggy this morning, and it got even foggier as it got closer to time to leave for work. I had to drive carefully because you could not see as far down the road!

By 11:00 AM the fog had mostly burned off or lifted.

Fay said that Hollywood will be working with reduced manning next week, and that if they do, she doesn't think it's fair for us to have to work each day. She is going to ask Craig if we are doing it.

Craig flew to Denver today to inspect walk-in refrigerators at Olive Garden in Pueblo, CO. I told him to take a coat - it was 24°F in Denver this morning!

Debbie came in to the office briefly. She was wearing zebra stripes. Fay asked her which days she wanted to work and she said, "You WOULD have to ask me that NOW! I don't have my calendar with me!" She also said something about making plans to go to Dallas, TX during the last week of the year because she just assumed that we would be taking the week off. I told Fay, "Fine, just assign a day to her - don't give her any more choice in it."

My afternoon was filled with checking our PO log sales by dealer against the report that we got from Manitowoc. It's amazing - the errors are almost never in our favor! It looks like the factories have shorted us commission on more than $2 Million this calendar year!

On my drive home I was stopped at the intersection of OBT and 29th Street. A nasty-looking old crone with dirty hair and a wild look in her eyes walked up to my truck in her socks, and said through her rotten tooth-stubs, "Hey Bub, will ya give me a ride down the road?"

"Uh, No. I don't give rides."

"Well, why don't you give me a dollar so I can get some new shoes?"

I just shook my head. Then she said, "Are you a cop?" I replied, "Why? Do you want to get arrested?" Her taller and uglier black friend was wandering up to the truck now too. Just then the light turned green and I was out of there!

Bob baked hamburger patties and we had those with cheese on them and some microwaved mixed veggies for dinner.

In this evening's mail we found a Christmas card from Mike and Pam Foreman, and a Jury Summons for Jan. 21, 2010. This is the first time I have ever been summoned for jury duty!

I wonder if it's for the Casey Anthony trial?

Orlando, FL

Bob had to get up at 4:45 AM to get ready for a 5:30 AM staff meeting that he learned had been moved back to 6:30 AM. I got up at around the same time to get his lunch packed, his pills sorted, the dog fed, and then out for a walk with Buddy.

It got foggier as it got closer to time for me to go.

When I got to the office I weighed the packages of books - they came to 10.2 or 10.3 ounces each. Then I made postage stamps for them on Stamps.com and put them into the blue mail drop box. I think everyone will get their book on Friday or next Monday.

There were only three new orders to handle, and the phones were kinda quiet today. Craig was in the office much of the day too - he's getting all of his stuff caught up because he flies to Denver tomorrow.

During lunch I went to BJ's and got a spiral sliced ham for $15 (Publix wanted over $40 for one!), I got some more pitted dates for Bob, and I got two more packs of sliced cheese.

This evening I got home around 6 PM. I put a frozen chicken and rice casserole into the microwave and took Buddy down to the street for his walk.

There was a Christmas card in the mail this evening from Aunt Kim and Uncle Joe.

When we got home I ate my meal, then I went to the master bath and began stripped the old stained moldy caulking off of the tub/tile. This took over an hour to do it right. After cleaning everything off really good I got a new tube of caulk out, cut the tip, put it into the caulking gun, and ran a bead around the top of the tub. I followed up with the little rubber smoother tool and then cleaned everything it. It needs to cure for 24 to 48 hours.

After I got this finished up I got out the wrapping paper and wrapped up the last Christmas present for Bob. Now it is under the tree.

Buddy is in the living room shredding and disassembling his rawhide bone. I am sorta glad he's taken an interest in the rawhide again - hopefully they will help him keep his teeth clean.

Bob has his class this evening and they are taking their final exam. He will probably get home around 10 PM. Long day for him!

Weekend

On Saturday we simply stayed around the house all day. At 11:00 AM I went to the downtown post office, but found that only the lobby was open. So, I will have to mail copies of Pura Vida Loca tomorrow from work.

I brought up a few more small Christmas presents and wrapped them up. Now Bobby has 10 gifts under the tree. Bob brought out some hanging stockings that he found in the dollar store. Two of them are red with white furry border and one is green felt with paw prints on it. He also got a package of colored glue-glitter mix, and with that I wrote our names on the top border of each. Using suction cups, we hung these from the balcony door.

During Buddy's evening walk, we stopped at Publix and I got some corn chips, spinach dip, bread, milk, a Clanson fruit cake and a small foil-wrapped package of Amish Country Limburgher Cheese. I was curious about the cheese, and some of the other "fragrant" cheeses I've tried were no where near as bad as their reputation.

Do yourself a favor, save your money, and if you see this stuff, LEAVE IT ON THE SHELF! As soon as we peeled the foil open, Bob asked, "What do they make this stuff out of? Old socks?" I tried to eat a slice of it with some pepperoni and gagged. I had to spit it out. Even Buddy spit out the piece we gave to him - but he later ate the piece up completely.

We had to throw the whole thing away, and even then it made the trash so odorous, that we had to bag it up and toss it early.

We enjoyed the fruit cake pretty much. Then we settled down on the sofa with our pillows to watch a movie Bob downloaded to DVD - Inglourious Basterds. After this we went to bed, read for a little while, and then slept.

This morning we got up shortly after 7:00 AM, got our work clothes out, harnessed Buddy, and we all got into the XTerra to go to Daytona Beach.

We found the grass at Tom & Louise's house not much taller that it was last time we visited and decided that it did not need to be cut yet. We let Buddy run and play in the backyard hunting for lizards, and then we brought him into the enclosed patio to eat his can of dog food and get a drink. Bobby cleaned the living room ceiling fan and then I ran the vacuum cleaner over all of the carpet.

Around 11:00 we left the house and went to Wal*Mart to get cigarettes for Louise and well as a few things for ourselves.

We ate lunch at Dustin's Barbecue. I had the All-You-Can-Eat Salad Bar and Bob had a cat fish sandwich. Buddy stayed in the car, but we left the engine running and the AC on for him.

After lunch we drove to Oaktree to visit Tom and Louise. We left Buddy in the car with the AC running.

We found Louise asleep in her bed. We kept shaking her and she growled at us, "Go the fuck away!" So we did. Tom was asleep too. We told the nurse about Louise, and she went right in there, woke her up, and told her to go visit her son!

Louise smoked four cigarettes with us outside on the patio. Then we visited with Tom for a little while. He wanted ice cream, so I was sent to the kitchen to get a cup of ice cream for him.

After two hours we left Daytona Beach to return to Orlando. Bob had to study for his final exam tomorrow, and I started loads of laundry. Later I scrubbed the shower and tub out good.

I layed down and read more of What The Dog Saw. I am on page 276 out of 408 pages. Bobby fell asleep and napped for about an hour.

Buddy got an extra long walk this evening. Then we had pastrami and cheese sandwiches for dinner. I ran the vacuum cleaner and cleaned the glass tables. We are almost ready for another week of work.

Orlando, FL

I didn't have time to make a blog entry last night. After our pork chop dinner and dog walk, I banished Bob to the office while I went to the bedroom to wrap Christmas presents. I was in there with Buddy for over two hours wrapping!

It was a very blustery and rainy day. A cold front came through and temperatures dropped during the night. When I got up this morning the temps were in the 50's, but there was a chilly breeze blowing too. I pulled on a sweatshirt to walk the dog.

Today was Fay Lewis' (61st ?) birthday, and she took a day of vacation. I was in the office by myself almost all day. It was peaceful, even if it did get hectic a couple of times.

FedEx delivered my Blurb.com book order today. I will be putting copies of Pura Vida Loca into the mail tomorrow.

After work I stopped at my storage unit to put some stuff inside, then I came home in the light, but cold drizzle to a dinner of canned chicken chow mein and noodles. After this we walked the dog and checked the mail.

There was a Christmas card from the Hodges family and a Holiday Letter from Nancy Baranet in the mail this evening.

For some reason, Buddy has taken an interest in chewing his rawhide bone again. He ignored the bone for about two years, but this evening he's been chewing and shredding the bone for a couple of hours. I am glad because the rawhide helps keep his teeth clean.

Orlando, FL

We accidentally overslept this morning. It was 5:44 when I opened my eyes, read the clock, and called out the time to Bob. We both jumped up and got started.

Bob has Toastmasters on Wednesdays, so he had to leave early for that. I got his lunch packed first, then his pills, then I filled bowls of Shredded Wheat for both of us. Next: a walk for Buddy.

Weather was pleasant this morning. It was in the 70's with a light breeze. Clouds were scudding across the sky, and it seemed like it might rain.

Work today was hectic. Punctuated by asshole dealers screaming about mistakes that their own dealership made and outraged at how little the factory is willing to do to help them get the "problem" fixed for their customers. Ughhh...

Joan and Patty arrived at 11:45 and we all sat down in the Test Kitchen to talk. I phoned the cafe and told them to bring the lunch anytime it was ready. We had roll-up wrap sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad, pickles, and a plate of cookies. It was nice. Debbie showed up for the lunch too, and she monopolized all of Joan's time.

Joan said, "I know this is awefully late notice, Vince, but you are welcome to join us for dinner if you want." They are going to The Capital Grille. I replied, "Well, I appreciate that, and if I had known before this morning I could have made arrangements to join you. If I went along now, I am afraid I would find a mess on the carpet when I get home!" Everyone understood what I meant.

Fay left with Joan and Patty at 3:00 PM - even though the appointment at Darden wasn't until 4:00 PM. I was left to fend for myself for the rest of the day, but it was okay.

I got home about half an hour before Bob - he works late on Wednesdays to make up for the Toastmasters time, and I took the dog outside for his walk. When we got back Bob was home.

We noticed that the cracked glass over the front door had been replaced, there is water in the fountain in front again, and the property manager had art deco-style metal plates installed on the wood veneered panel corners - an attempt to make the edges more durable, I guess.

Bob is making a small saucepan of spaghetti right now. I am not hungry.

Orlando, FL

My right foot ached most of the night. I can't really remember when I did it, but I think I jumped down from somewhere while we were walking the dog, and it feels like something might be broken in my foot. If that is the case, there really isn't anything a doctor could do for it anyway.

Work today was busy, but not overwhelming. There was a message this morning in my email from Mike Foreman! I guess he got his Christmas card and wants me to call him.

There have been some changes to the plans for Patty Mitchell's visit tomorrow. Joan is going to pick her up at the airport and bring her to our office. We've ordered lunch consisting of wrap sandwiches to be delivered.

I will have to shave, brush teeth, and wear a nice pressed shirt tomorrow and and Thursday.

This evening we had baked hot wings and microwave-steamed veggies for dinner.

While Bob was making dinner he noticed Buddy heaving and dragged him into the kitchen. The dog vomitted on the kitchen floor. At least it's easier to clean up on the tile floor.

Orlando, FL

It was hard to get up at 5:30 AM and take Buddy down to the street. I wanted to sleep for two more hours!

After Buddy's walk I packed a lunch for Bob and let him get whatever he wanted for breakfast. I did not feel like making anything and I wasn't really hungry.

Fay had a doctor's appointment this morning, so we did not see her until about 9:00 AM. She got in just in time to phone into the Garland telephone conference.

We found out that convection ovens, deck ovens, and pizza ovens are being transferred to Cleveland Range for manufacturing because these items are similar to steamers (basically big boxes with doors), and all of the other Freeland, PA items will be moved to Canada for manufacture.

Sales got off to a slow start, but for some reason I got a big stack of Cleveland Range and Delfield acknowledgements and invoices to enter and process.

Another "amazing" thing happened this morning. Debbie Owings has been appointed to drive Patty Mitchell around this week during her visit. I can only imagine that this is Greg Olsen's doing since Debbie, Greg, and Joan were all together last week in Tampa. Uggh.

I left the office about 30 minutes early with hopes of going to my storage unit, taking Bob's presents and the wrapping paper out, and bringing them home and wrapping them up. As I tried to get into the storage compound, the gate would not let me in and the "Call Manager" light was flashing.

This irked me. I parked the truck and went into the office to discuss the problem. The manager notified me that I owed them $152. I said, "When did you raise my rent?" He said that they didn't, that I owed a $19 late fee. I told him that it was not possible for me to have a late fee because I made a double payment in March and I have been keeping one month ahead ever since.

He looked back into his records and saw that the August 2009 payment was never received. Since I still had money in the account for a month, they covered August with that money.

So, I drove home with an empty truck.

When I got here I saw Bob's car still parked in the garage. Bob was a nervous wreck because he found a mistake in his homework and was frantically trying to get the paper to print out again. I was able to get it printed for him and we then went to his class.

It's a good thing I didn't just march up in here with his Christmas presents!

Next I called Navy Federal Credit Union to discuss the missing August 2009 payment. I looked up the payment history in Web Bill Pay too. One thing I noticed was that each month had a phrase like "Check #xxxxxxxxxx was mailed on 7-6-09 to Public Storage", but the message for August 2009 simply said, "Check # was mailed..." Nadine at NFCU was not really able to help me, and she had to refer me to Web Bill Pay Customer Service.

I spoke with Tara at Web Bill Pay Customer Service. After a few minutes of reviewing my account history, she saw that the check from August was sent out, but it was never cashed. After 90 days the check is considered "dead" and it is cancelled. The money was refunded to my checking account on Nov. 3, 2009. She said she would call Public Storage tomorrow and ask that the late payment be waived because this was not my fault.

After this I took Buddy for a walk, braised some stew beef and added one of our jars of canned vegetable soup. I thought that adding macaroni to the soup would be a good idea too.

Now I just want to read for a little while and then sleep.

Weekend

After Buddy's morning walk we had homemade breakfast burritos made from three leftover flour tortillas, scrambled eggs with diced peppers and cheese, and microwaved turkey bacon. Yum!

Once we had ourselves fueled up, it was time to head out to BJ's Warehouse and Super Target for our monthly grocery trip.

It was a cold and raining morning, so we took Bob's big Xterra to be sure our stuff would stay dry.

We really didn't need as much stuff this month as in past months because we seem to have a lot left over from November. It must be the Thanksgiving feast and all of the leftovers from that I guess. Nevertheless, we spent over $300 in BJ's, and another $145 at Super Target.

Everything was carried home and we carried as much up from the garage as I could. Then we came back down with our little folding cart to bring the rest up. It took three trips to get it all upstairs!

After we had sandwiches for lunch, I told Bob that I was going back out, by myself, to start Christmas shopping. I went to four different stores and got a few things on the Christmas Wish List. While I was in Lowe's I saw that they had the Delta Machinery Model TP-305 Thickness Planer on clearance and it was marked down to $204. There were no more boxed units left.

I had to search for someone to help me. It's not like Ace Hardware where someone is running up to you asking if they can help you. Finally, I found the guy in charge of "Tool World", his name was Michael, and I asked him how much more they would knock off of that price if I bought the display. He said I would have to ask Dirk, the store manager.

Dirk was at the key making counter, and I asked him about the planer. He asked me to show him which one, and he said, "Well, I can take 10% off of that price." I said, "Is everything there with it?" He said he did not know and told Michael to go get the box for it.

Michael was not able to find the box. He said that when the store opened two years ago, they were just pitching the boxes out the door. I said, "Well, the damned thing doesn't have cutting blades in it! They took the blades out of it so shoppers wouldn't cut their fingers on it!" Michael looked inside and couldn't see them, so he agreed with me.

I took a pair of replacement blades off of the shelf and showed him that they cost $30 a pair. He went to Dirk and told him that there were no blades in it, and Dirk agreed to take another $30 off of the price. So, I got the Delta TP-305 thickness planer for $150 when there are stores still charging $280 for it!!

Until I get all of the packages wrapped up, I drove them to my storage unit for hiding. I set the planer out and pulled off the rear guard and turned the cutter head around by hand and looking carefully, I noticed that the blades were infact installed!! The only things missing were the safety key on the power switch (the key from my 10"Delta tablesaw fits into it), the hex wrench that came with it was gone, and the knife transfer tool was missing. I was able to download the instruction manual from the Delta/Porter Cable website!

Hey, hey! Merry Christmas to me!

For dinner we had a rotisserie chicken from Publix with cottage cheese and fruit salad. After dinner I pulled the head of cabbage out of the refrigerator, chopped it up and dropped it into the 20-quart aluminum pot we got at Target, then I added two packs of frozen mixed veggies, three quarts of tomato juice, two cans of kidney beans, and a package of lentils. I set this cooking on low heat all night long.

Because temperatures dropped down into the 40's we left the balcony door tipped in last night and shut the AC off. It got very chilly in the house!

This morning we had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. After we had the morning dishes out of the way, I got the canning kit out and started a big pot of water boiling so that we could sanitize the quart jars. With the jars clean, I put the lids into a sauce pan and heated them up, and waited for the big hot water bath to come to a boil again.

Using the jar funnel and a ladle, I filled six of the quart jars with soup mix, leaving 1/4 of headspace. I put the lids and rings on them and when the bath came to a rolling boil, moved them to the rack. I processed six quarts at a time. They had to sit in the boiling water bath for 45 minutes.


Before the first batch was done I started filling the second set of jars. I had to pick up the pot and pour the last of the soup into the last jar! Then I heated the lids and put them on. When the lid came off of the hot water bath, I started pulling jars out, tipping the water off of the lids, and setting them on a towel to cool. Then we loaded the rack up again, lowered it into the pot, put the lid on, and set the kitchen timer on the microwave again.

As we got our lunch of chicken sandwiches ready, we would hear the lids go "ping" at random time intervals. As the jars of soup cool off they draw a vacuum and suck the lids down with a noise.

Now we have twelve quarts of soup in jars. Tomorrow afternoon, when they have cooled 24 hours, we will put them up on the shelf. I wrote "12-09" on all of the lids with a Sharpie marker so we know the age of the soup.

After this I took a shower and went out by myself to finish my Christmas shopping. I stopped at 7-Eleven to air my truck tires and then went to three more stores. I have all of my loot safely stored now, and I am broke (overdrawn, even).

Buddy got a walk around the lake this evening. Temps were in the 60's and nice. The forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow.

Now I have run the vacuum cleaner and dusted and it is time to start another week of work.

Red = I've lived there

Blue = I've visited there

Green = I want to visit

Orlando, FL

It was cloudy and cool when I took Buddy downstairs for his walk this morning. It began to sprinkle during our walk. We walked two blocks down Pine Street, went one block north on Osceola, and then came back home on Central.

We had Cheerios for breakfast and I packed a tuna fish sandwich for Bob's lunch and my lunch. I also packed two small bowls for leftover chili for our lunches.

When I sat down to read the news I found this picture of emeratis in their traditional costume carrying air mattresses on posts with pictures of their beloved sheik on them. You can see the Burj Dubai tower in the background. So bizarre. Everything there has to be bigger-than-life, and Las Vegas like.

Work today was a little easier than yesterday.

It rained almost all day long. There were big delays on the highway because the traffic kept backing up. Cool and wet. We really need the rain, so I will not complain. During a break in the rain I got the office trash out to the dumpster.

FedEx delivered two big boxes that contained styrofoam coolers inside. Inside the coolers were 100 small packages surrounded by foam peanuts. These are the truffles FER is giving away this year for Christmas instead of maple syrup.

Sales this week were good. FER-Orlando finished the week with $334k and Hollywood brought in $133k.

When I got home Bobby was preparing lamb chops and veggies for our dinner. I took Buddy down to the street and we took a walk. It was raining and I used an umbrella. Buddy hates the rain, but he's afraid of the umbrella!

After our dinner I sat down to read the news and found this picture of Aretha Franklin singing at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting last night. So bizarre. It looks like it's made out of 17 miles of mink. It makes her look like the Mama Bear after she ate Goldilocks, Papa Bear, Baby bear, all the bowls of porridge, all the chairs, and all the beds!

They say she was roaring into the night like she was trying to break all of the windows in heaven!

Such interesting and bizarre times we live in!

Tomorrow we are going to BJ's Warehouse and Target to get our monthly groceries. Then we are going to brush Buddy's teeth. Maybe after that Bob will let me go out by myself to do some Christmas shopping.

Orlando, FL

Today was a rough day at work and it couldn't end soon enough.

Nancy Baranet harassing us repeatedly for the FER syrup - which was, last time I saw it, in the warehouse. We did not have keys, and Craig said that he threw it away anyhow.

A sixty-something Jew with heart problems and a big brain tumor lecturing me about how I am going to cost him a job because Delfield can't get his quote right. Gee, Mr. K, if the drawings you sent over last week weren't total shit, we would have been past this on Tuesday!

Urgent quote requests. Special drama involving Fay, Kolpak, and our Manitowoc AVP.

I am glad it's over.

When I got home at 6:10 PM, Bobby had a dinner of chili done. We left it to simmer while we took Buddy for his walk.

We stopped at Publix to get a loaf of bread, some crackers for Bob's lunch, and a case of Coke Zero.

I noticed that Publix carries Imperial - the official beer of Costa Rica!

On the second floor lobby we were confronted with a big table, platters of food, and people exhorting us to adopt greyhounds. WTF?

I got our mail from the box and got out of there!

The dinner was nice.

Dawndee Daniels added Bob Mihaley as a "Friend" on her SpaceBook or MyFace page.

Now I just want to go to sleep.

Orlando, FL

Bob left for work earlier than usual this morning because he had Toastmasters today. Toastmasters makes him come home in the evenings later than usual.

I was running a little late when I left for work. Because the gas needle was dipping down past "E", I decided that I needed to stop and get fuel before I went to work. Since Fay said that we were going to BJ's Warehouse today, I knew I wouldn't have a chance to get gas during lunch.

My side trip to Exxon made me about 15 minutes late. Not as late as Fay was yesterday, but still. She said she checked the answering machine for a message from me, and was thinking about calling my cell phone.

On the radio this morning I heard that the weatherman is predicting rough, wet weather tonight. A big front is coming through and we will have rain and wind gusts up to 40 MPH!

Sure enough, at lunch we went to Bank Of America to cash the petty cash check, and then we went to BJ's to get canned soft drinks, bottled water, fruit, cheese, assorted snacks, and paper towels. On the way back to the office we went through the Wendy's drive-thru to get Go Wraps and Small Chilis for lunch.

During the afternoon several large orders came in. We started the day with $38k for the week, and when I left this evening we were at $311k.

I think Buddy has canine flu. He is tired and sleeping alot. He had a lot of snot in his eyes. He coughs and sneezes. He's had some very loose stools lately too. Hopefully he can just sleep, drink as much water as he needs, and get over it.

Dinner this evening was a big salad from a bag with grated carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. Got to eat better!

Orlando, FL

Temperatures were over 80°F last night in the house, so I closed up the house and turned the AC back on.


This morning when Buddy and I stepped out into the hallway we smelled smoke - either from a brush fire or someone burning their fireplace.

Fay was 20 minutes late to work this morning. Her excuse was because she phoned Millenia Cafe to order a breakfast burrito, but they did not answer the phones and she left the order on the answering machine. When she arrived the food was not cooked and she had to wait while they cooked it.

Debbie phoned in to complain that she gave blood this morning and the nurse left a big black bruise on her arm from the needle. This was her "Emergency du Jour". Then she said that she was mailing Christmas cards, but did not mail mine because she did not have my "new" address. Such a ditz.

Craig (celebrated?) had his 52nd birthday today. Fay wanted to get him a card, but I told her that he doesn't want a big deal made out of it. Then she said we should get him a small cake, and I reminded her that he is on a diet and just got down under 200 pounds for the first time in six years.

This evening we had baked pork chops with sliced carrots. It was very tasty. Now I am blogging, updating my address book, getting cards ready to mail to FER coworkers, and balancing my checkbook.

There was a $500 bonus in the payroll this morning. Not as much as I would have liked, but it definitely helps! I am going to order Christmas gifts and try to stay in my budget.