Weekend

We got up around 7:00 AM on Saturday. It was cold and wet. I took Buddy for his morning walk, brought him home, and fed him. Then we got dressed to go out for breakfast and buy our monthly groceries.

Breakfast was at The Breakfast Club on Pine Street. Bob had an omelet and I had a scrambled egg skillet. After this we went out into the rain and drove to BJ's Warehouse.

Here we gathered two cases of bottled sparkling water, four cases of Coke Zero, HP inkjet refill cartridges, hamburger, pork chops, Cheerios, case of diced tomatoes, case of sliced mushrooms, a bag of pitted dates, a bag of dried blueberries, a pack of red cocktail napkins, a case of canned sliced carrots, some asparagus, a case of yogurt cups, sliced Munster and sliced cheedar cheese for sandwiches, a jar of shredded Parmesan cheese, a five-pack of Steamfresh veggies, and probably a few things I am forgetting right now.

We packed the groceries into two boxes and slid another half box of the top to serve as lids. These groceries would have to sit in the bed of the truck in the rain while we shopped in Super Target.

At Super Target we completed our grocery shopped and then drove home with everything. We carried as many of the bags up as we could, and then I brought the folding cart down to the garage and we wheeled the rest of the food in over three more trips.

We put all of the groceries away, then I got my roll of plastic wrap out and divided the hamburger into three pound-sized packages for re-freezing. I broke up the 18 pack of pork chops into three 6-chop packs and packed this into the freezer.

Once we had the groceries put away, we ate lunch. I had leftover chili and Bob had left over pizza.

Now it was about 1:30 PM. We got Bob's math books out and began working on his home work. The math is pre-algebra and they are covering positive and negative numbers, addition and subtraction of positive and negative fractions, multiplication and division of fractions, exponents, and work problems. Order-Of-Operations is a big thing too. We worked on the problems for two hours and then layed down for a nap.

At 5:00 PM we got up. I took Buddy for his walk while Bob got showered and ready to go to Matthew Tang's house warming party. On the way back to the house we stopped in the lobby to check the mail. The TV was tuned to CNN and we saw a tsunami warning for Hawaii and that there had been an earthquake in Chile.

I really was not sure or excited about going to the party, but I figured I'd better go. I mean, what if he invited so many people and hardly anyone showed up? This would support one of our dealers and Craig would be grateful for me doing it.

It was past 5:30 when we finally left. We had a hard time finding the place - his neighborhood is so new it does not appear on Mapquest.com or on the GPS in the car. We drove to the wrong gated community and ran the gate to get inside, but once inside we still could not find his house!

I called Craig's cellphone a couple of times. Finally he answered and after talking to him and Matthew, we found out that I was in the wrong neighborhood, but we were within two miles of where we were supposed to be. It was probably around 7:00 PM when we found the party.

Matthew has a huge, new-construction mansion in a little neighborhood called Emerson Pointe. Every house in this neighborhood went into foreclosesure and Matthew and Wendy were able to get this $1.4 Million house for $800k.

Inside we found Matthew and Wendy, Craig and Sally Hodges, Matthew's older sister - Lilly, Lilly's son, Matthew and Wendy's nephew - Chester from Berlin, Germany; and two guys who were neighbors of Matthew's in his old neighborhood for 15 years.

They had beer, liquor, a big kitchen island full of Chinese food, little cheesecake pieces, nuts, all kinds of nice foods. We were given a tour of the big house (and believe me - it's BIG), and we chatted with Sally Hodges in the kitchen until they left around 9:00 PM.

We hung around until 10:30 PM and then we made our way back home and went directly to bed.

Something was not right in the beers or the food we ate last night. Both of us have had loose runny stool today and noisy, gurgling guts. Ugghh.

This morning I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob prepared scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon, and coffee for breakfast. I started the laundry and we surfed the Internet for awhile. Bob worked on homework some more - more practice problems.

It was a glorious bright blue day outside and temperatures got up into the 60's. We had intended to go to the Farmer's Market, but somehow we never got around to it.

Later we took a nap. After napping I took Buddy for his evening walk, brought him home and fed him. I ordered Papa John's pizza for our dinner and worked with Bob on some more practice problems. We found the Pre-Algebra DeMystified book that we bought sometime last year and started working the practice problems from that book too.

Bob does not care for this math. It has too many rules to follow and you really have to follow the procedure or you end up off track with a wrong answer. I don't know what to say about that - that's just the way the math is. Since he's weak with this, I think it is best for him to practice alot.

I really do not feel like going back to work tomorrow. I am still tired.

Orlando, FL

My guts have been kinda sore for the past two days. I made several quick trots to the bathroom yesterday with my bowels in an uproar. I think the Chik-Fil-A mini biscuits got me.

It was another busy day today. Lots of issues with problem orders, requests for returns, damaged shipments, and a new job for me - Darden contracted with a third-party to persue rebates and grants for using Energy Star appliances. So now I have to forward the Delfield invoices to this company for this purpose. As if I didn't have enough to do already.

Craig phoned around 11:00 and asked me to come to the warehouse to help him. He was having a hard time keeping the Versa Drawer on the rental truck liftgate. He held the refrigerator while I operated the gate and we got it into the truck. The hotel operator who we allowed to "borrow" and "test" this item really abused it. It is going to take a couple of days of cleaning to get it back as it should be.

Bob got three phone calls from the nursing home yesterday concerning the false accusations his brother and his sister-in-law have been making toward the nursing staff. Also, how Louise has become unstable and belligerant since they have been taking her out so much. Bob wrote and faxed a letter to the nursing home saying that nobody is to know Louise's medical condition except him, and that nobody is to remove Louise from the home without his permission. We expect some fallout from that one.

Orlando finished the week with $329k. We do not know how Hollywood did - Barbara did not get the report out before we left.

Bob made a nice pan of chili for our dinner. I took Buddy for his walk while Bob made dinner.

After dinner I sat down to Navy Federal Credit Union Dot Com to write a check to Bob for the March rent and saw that my checking balance was much higher than I expected. I clicked on "Deposits" and saw that the IRS Deposited my tax refund on 2-18-10. The next surprise was the amount. I figured on a refund of $350, but they deposited over $750!! Must be some "stimulus" or something.

Tomorrow we are going to go grocery shopping.

In the evening we are considering going out to Isleworth to visit Matthew and Wendy Tang and attend their house warming party.

The picture on today's post is something I saw on the Internet yesterday. It's a double-walled ceramic vessel that is impossible to cast with traditional methods, but this was built with a 3-dimensional printer using extruded soft clay. The finished shape was fired in a kiln. I think desk top manufacturing is a potentially disruptive technology.

Orlando, FL

Today was a long day. I did not feel good today and found myself running to the toilet several times during the day. I think something was wrong with those little chicken breakfast biscuits from Chik-Fil-A.

Today is a long day for Bob too. He came home from work briefly, but now he is at his Thursday evening Math class.

The Kolpak Florida "Parachute Drop" finished up today. Craig took Larry Scallion from Kolpak and Joan Salah to Carl Beigel's office in Kissimmee today. Craig said that Carl was in rare form and raising hell about Kolpak. "I don't want to use you, but I HAVE to use Kolpak - I get 2% back! But my God! I call up to the factory and can't get anyone to answer the phones. If I have to talk to voicemail, then I don't need to do business with you. And one more damned thing. When I send you Specifications for a walk-in job, they are SPECIFICATIONS NOT SUGGESTIONS!! I can't get your people to quote these jobs per the specs!"

Hahaha! I guess Commander Larry got to go out in a blaze of glory! Craig said that you could tell Joan was stressed from it too - she was rubbing the back of her neck from the muscle tension. Oh well, someone has to tell these people at the factories besides us.

After this Fay went to pick Mike Zupo up at Darden and they went to lunch at Olive Garden on Conroy Road. After lunch they swung by the office so that Mike could see where we work and take a look at our Test Kitchen. Then Craig took him back to work.

I ordered a pizza for dinner and ate a couple of slices of it after reading the Orlando Weekly. Now I am writing my blog, checking my email, and I feel like going to bed early and reading.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday!

Orlando, FL

I shaved off the bottom part of my goatee this morning.

All of the hairs on my chin are coming in white and I don't have anymore Just For Men color for them. Since we were having visitors in the office today, I shaved it off and wore a nice pressed shirt.

Fay said that she would be in before 8:00 AM to put the tablecloth on the Test Kitchen table and put out a spring centerpiece for the table. I warned her, "If you come in early, I promise you, there will be Edward Don sales people here before 8:00." I was correct.

When I wheeled the truck around the corner of the building, sure enough, there was an unfamiliar car parked down by Fay's car - an Edward Don salesman. Fay said he got there at 7:30!

I told Fay, the last time we hosted this group they were loud, rude, were slow to leave, and when they finally left, they left a mess behind in the kitchen and piss on the bathroom floor. Today's group was much smaller than the last group - only 7 men, and the meeting went fairly well, except Craig poured hot coffee on one guy's hand burning him!

Craig brought in breakfast for this group from Chik-Fil-A. It consisted of a tray of teensy-tiny chicken biscuits. I believe I have more meat on my thumb than those biscuits each held. There was some fruit cocktail and a platter of teensy-tiny cinnamon rolls too.

The rest of the day was fairly busy with quote requests and service issues.

Today was very overcast and cooler. It is supposed to get cold tonight.

Bob has his study group tonight until 8:30 PM. They are meeting over at Barnes & Noble Books on East Colonial. I am glad it's not too far because the weather tonight is probably not the best to be out in.

Orlando, FL

I am tired. This was another busy day!

It began at 5:30 AM for me. I poured Buddy a bowl of food, counted out Bob's pills, and started to fry the ground turkey I left in the sink thawing last night.

Because we are out of eggs, I had to find a creative way to serve the turkey. I found some low-carb flour tortillas in the fridge along with some shredded Parmesan cheese and sour cream. We had turkey breakfast burritos!

We only saw Craig for a few minutes today. He was busily running around with a Kolpak factory man visiting dealers today.

Weather today was nice and warm and sunny. It was really a very pleasant day. I wish it would stay this way, but the forecast is calling for rain tomorrow, and dropping temps on Thursday.

When I got home at 5:30, I startled Buddy and woke Bob up. Bob said he sat down on the sofa and just closed his eyes "for a minute" and I woke him with a start half an hour later!

The first thing we did was take Buddy for his evening walk. When we came home we checked out mail and then made tuna fish salad sandwiches for our dinner.

Tomorrow will be hectic because our Test Kitchen is going to be used to host a large group of Edward Don salesmen. Kolpak will make a presentation, and then the salesmen will hold their monthly meeting. We will be lucky to see them all off by noon.

The one bright spot in this is that Craig is bringing in breakfast from Chik-Fil-A!

Orlando, FL

A very long day. A classic "Monday".

The alarm went off at 5:00 AM, but we layed in bed until about 5:30. Then I got up, poured the dog a bowl of food, counted Bob's pills out and put them in his pillbox, made a tuna fish sandwich and packed Bob's lunchbox, and then made a breakfast of scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon for us.

This would be a long day for Bob too - after working all day he has his Business Strategy class in the evening.

Weather today was beautiful. It was partly cloudy and warm. Infact, it go so warm we had to turn the AC on in the office and I had to run my fan. First time for that since before December!

Lunch today was a sandwich from Subway.

We were very busy in the office today. We took a lot of phone calls, and I was continuously busy with quotes and processing orders. I sent over $240k in new orders to the factories today! It looks like another great week already!

This will be a very busy week for FER because Kolpak is sending people from the factory down to visit dealers. We have a group meeting from Edward Don coming to meet in our Test Kitchen on Wednesday.

When I left for home at the end of the day it was sprinkling and very cloudy and dark. I drove home and took Buddy for his evening walk. We were lucky and did not get rained on during the walk.

For dinner I baked Jamaican-flavored chicken wings. Then I unloaded clean dishes from the dish washer and loaded the dirty dishes from the sink into the dish washer tub. Later I heard it raining and looked outside to see a full-on thunderstorm in progress!

This evening I worked on my Basic Stamp project some more. I added routines to get the GPS data displayed on my 4-line LCD. I will try to post a picture of this tomorrow.

Going forward with the Stamp, I think I want to decode more of the GPS data such as altitude, speed, and heading, and maybe build a scrolling feature into the display.

I am thinking about calling Roger and Vicky to see if they are free this weekend and going to visit them in Citrus County, but Matthew Tang has also invited me (and Fay, and Craig, and likely many other people) to his new house in Isleworth on Saturday evening. I will have to see how Bob feels about that idea.

Weekend

FER-Orlando finished the week with $349k in new orders. Hollywood surprised us with a report of $550 (over $400k was from a Letter-Of-Intent from one dealer).

Bob was late coming back on Friday evening because he went to Bushnell to have Tom's ashes interred in a veterans' cemetery plot. One day we will pick up Louise and take her up to visit the site.

For dinner I fried pork chops in the cast iron skillet and then baked them. I think I baked them too long because they ended up kinda dry.

We got to bed early - like around 7:30 PM.

On Saturday we had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, leftover pork chop, coffee cake, cottage cheese, fruit salad, and coffee. We did our laundry. In the afternoon we went out to my storage unit. Before we drove out we installed new headlight on Bob's Xterra.

This headlight almost kicked our asses. The bulb screws into the back of the reflector - that's simple enough - but getting the bulb out of its base was tougher. There is a clip you have to depress with a screwdriver to release the bulb.

Later I sat down and continued to work on my Basic Stamp GPS project. After a couple of hours work, I finally got it to work!! The main problem we were having seems to be that we were looking in the wrong places for the time, latitude, longitude, and date string. The code I was using as my guide was written for a Garmin GPS, but mine of course, is a different brand and outputs just a little bit differently.

Pictured here is a screen shot of the output from the device. If you put the longitude and latitude coordinates into Google Maps, it points to a spot just across the street from us!

I made a tuna casserole for dinner. We used crushed up potato chips for the crust on top of it.

We were in bed kinda late - after 10:30 PM. I read more of my book and then we got some good sleep.

Today we walked Buddy, ate scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon for breakfast, and then drove to Daytona Beach to check on the house and visit Louise.

At the house I continued working on my shop furnace project. Today I ran the fire bricks over the tile saw repeatedly, cutting one-half-inch-deep grooves in the faces to hold the electric heating element.

After we stopped at Steve's Famous Restaurant for a lunch of fish-n-chips, we went to Oaktree to visit with Louise. All Louise wanted was 1. her cigarettes, and 2. to know when she would be allowed to leave the nursing home.

It was after 5:00 PM when we left to return to Orlando. We listened to the August 2009 issue of Trends Magazine on CD during our drive back home.

We walked Buddy, ate a dinner of left over tuna casserole, ran the vacuum, cleaned the tables, and cleaned the kitchen floor. Now we have another week of work ahead.

Orlando, FL

The news in this morning's Orlando Sentinel was about how Mayor Buddy Dyer is going to get the Lake Eola Fountain running again. The fountain has been broken since last August when a lighting strike fried all of the electric parts in it.

The city has a $1 Million insurance policy on the fountain, but this policy comes with a $500k deductable. Buddy said the fountain is going to look like "A Million Dollars (or more!)" when they are finished with it. Rumor has it Disney is ponying up some cash to help.

Because I knew Fay would be out today, I went to the office early to get some of the email and order entry out of the way before things started to heat up and get busy.

Overall, the day was not harder or busier than I could stand. I got a lot of quoting done and logged orders up to $287k by day end. If pending orders on my desk can get entered, we will have another awesome week!

Craig was in the office for a couple of hours. Evelyn came by and worked with him on putting his weekly meeting sheet for Darden into spreadsheet format. She is scheduled to come back next Friday too.

Bob is away at his math class tonight. After walking Buddy I braised some stew beef and opened a jar of stew base to make vegetable stew. That is simmering right now.

Just one more day and we get a free weekend! I feel like I've earned it too!

Orlando, FL

Today sure made up for the quiet of the past few days. We were very busy at work today. I logged a high number of phone calls and we stayed continuously busy.

Weather today was clear, sunny, and beautiful (even if it was a bit cold). I did not go out today - I brought my lunch of chili in a plastic bowl and another small bowl of sour cream to put on top of it.

Bob has a study group meeting this evening for his Business Strategy/Business Behavior class. Today was a long day for Bob, and I am afraid tomorrow will be long as well - his math class starts tomorrow evening.

This evening I walked Buddy, checked the mail, unloaded clean dishes from the dish washer, then loaded the dirty dishes into the dish washer. After that I made a bowl of tuna salad. I ate my tuna salad sandwich while reading this week's edition of the Orlando Weekly.

I am kinda whipped, so I am probably going to go lay down and read more of my book.

Tomorrow will be quite busy for me - Fay is taking the day off to go to Holy Land Experience with her family, so I am sure I will be going crazy.

Orlando, FL

I think this poor dog knows that he's being used as a prop for something very nerdy. Our dog has been thinking that he's as good as us lately. We keep finding him curled up on our bed sleeping!

We might have to put his crate together and start him back at Square One to make him understand where he's supposed to sleep.

Today was cooler than yesterday, but bright with cloudless blue skies - really beautiful.

My work today was very easy. We were not busy at all. Infact I had some time today to read news on the Internet and even research topics that interest me, such as: GPS and BASIC STAMP PROGRAMMING, DIY HOME FOUNDRY, BASIC STAMP and THERMOCOUPLE, etc.

Bob got home a little while before me. We thawed hamburger out this morning and Bob made chili with it for our dinner. I took the dog for his evening walk while Bob got the dinner ready.

Presidents Day

It was cool again this morning. I think it was 49° F when I took the dog for his walk. Remembering how cool it was in the office last week, I wore a flannel shirt to work. As luck would have it, I became kinda warm as temperatures zoomed up to 70° F today.

Today was a happy and good day for me. Work was not too hard or stressful, we had a little bit of fun, and I got almost every light green on the way home!

Bob was already away at his Monday night class, so I walked the dog, and then came home to make a tuna casserole for dinner. The casserole is still in the oven right now.

Buddy is chewing on his rawhide bone now. We got him interested in the rawhide again. There was a bone on the shelf that was about two years old, and I had a container of chicken broth in the fridge about to go bad. I combined the two and brought to a boil. The dog is very interested in that bland old rawhide bone now!

I am going to work on the Basic Stamp - GPS project for a little while, eat some dinner, and then go read more of my book A Genius For Deception.

Valentines Day

Our Valentine's Day in Orlando was chilly. We stayed in bed most of the day.

For lunch I broke out of the bedroom and made grilled cheese sandwiches in the waffle iron with salads. Then we went back to the bedroom and either napped or read.

During the afternoon I worked with my new GPS module; trying to get it to send NMEA sentences to the Basic Stamp and display them in the debug terminal. I was eventually successful at getting the sentence to show up on the screen, but was not able to correctly parse the latitude and longitude out of it. I will keep working at it.

In the evening, after Buddy got his walk, we decided to go out to eat. I knew this would be tricky because restaurants are busy on Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.

We went to the Logan's Roadhouse at Sand Lake Road and John Young Parkway. Here Bob had salmon with rice, and I had ribs with sweet potato and slaw. This steakhouse was very busy and we had to be seated at a high top at the bar.

My legs were numb when I climbed down from that hard, high, stool to leave.

We came home to run the vacuum, Swiffer™ the kitchen floor, and clean the glass tables. It was already 9:30 PM when we finished and another weekend was already over!

Pan-Seared Rib Eye

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 5 min
Skill Level: Easy
Serves: 1 to 2 servings

Ingredients:
1 boneless rib eye steak, 1 1/2-inch thick
Canola oil to coat
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Directions:
Place 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven and heat oven to 500 degrees. Bring steak(s) to room temperature.

When oven reaches temperature, remove pan and place on range over high heat. Coat steak lightly with oil and season both sides with a generous pinch of salt. Grind on black pepper to taste.

Immediately place steak in the middle of hot, dry pan. Cook 30 seconds without moving. Turn with tongs and cook another 30 seconds, then put the pan straight into the oven for 2 minutes.

Flip steak and cook for another 2 minutes. (This time is for medium rare steaks. If you prefer medium, add a minute to both of the oven turns.)

Remove steak from pan, cover loosely with foil, and rest for 2 minutes. Serve whole or slice thin and fan onto plate.

Orlando, FL

The house was nice and chilly again this morning, but it was warmer than yesterday. It was 48° F when I took Buddy outside for his morning exercise.

I made scrambled eggs and Canadian sausage and packed Bob's lunch with leftover salmon from yesterday's dinner.

Before I went to work I wired my my new GPS module to the Basic Stamp BS2p and I am going to write a simple GPS program for it this evening that reads latitude and longitude into the DEBUG terminal.

It rained today. It rained almost all day long and it was cold. The office was chilly and my fingers felt stiff as I typed.

Here is a picture of I-4 this afternoon at Exit 78 (Conroy Road) looking northeast. This is near the office and I look across this stretch of highway from my office window.

When the FedEx truck drove up today I got a pleasant surprise - somebody (I think it was Bob) sent me a red glass vase and a dozen red roses for Valentine's Day!

FER-Orlando finished the week with $295k in new orders and Hollywood brought in $150k (although they are guilty of time-travelling too - some of the orders were dated from January!). All things considered it was a good week for the company.

This evening, after walking the dog, checking the mail, and ordering pizza for dinner, I read the surprising new story of a North Carolina woman who sold her 1980's Nintendo Entertainment System on eBay for over $13,000! According to the story, one of the games that she bundled with the console was extremely rare and that drove the bidding sky high!

Our house is chilly again tonight. I am wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. Bob has not changed out of his work clothes yet. The rain is supposed to stop around midnight. Then the weekend will be clear and pretty, but still cold and windy.

Orlando, FL

Temperatures really dropped last night. We turned out small space heater on to keep the bedroom warm. In the morning there was a big difference between the air in the bedroom and the temperature of the air in the rest of the house!

The dog walk was fairly frigid - 39°F and breezy. I put on flannel pajama bottoms and my lined raincoat. We just had cereal for breakfast and I packed leftover pork chops and rice in Bob's lunch box.

My drive to work was sunny and clear. It looked like it was going to be a glorious clear day - the sun was bright and the sky was beautiful blue, but as the day wore on, it clouded up and got darker. It is supposed to be cold tonight and there is a good chance of rain.

The letter carrier delivered my new PMB-648 SiRF GPS receiver today from Parallax (pictured here). I am going to experiment with this on the Basic Stamp. First I will learn to decode the NMEA "sentences" it outputs and show the coordinates on the debug screen. Later I will work on displaying them on my small LCD screen. Later, I would like to make a data logger to record the coordinates to a USB thumb drive.

Bob had a study group meeting this evening in Maitland, and he was gone when I got home. I made salmon in the oven with cranberry-mustard sauce for our dinner.

Now it's getting chilly in the house again. I am already warming the bedroom up and we might have to go lay down in there and read.

The Long Leash

From: Vince @ FER
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 8:48 AM
To: 'Fay @ FER Orlando'
Subject: FW: County Jail

Fixed it.

---

From: Debbie Owings
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 8:26 AM
To: Vince @ FER
Subject: Re: County Jail

Thanks. Gonna try to get by some time today after my hot rock massage and I'll pick it up then.

Debbie Owings
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

---

On Feb 10, 2010, at 8:00 AM, Vince @ FER wrote:

Yes. Cleveland Range video CRV-7.0 is on your office chair.

---

From: Debbie Owings
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 6:51 PM
To: Vince Thigpen
Subject: Fwd: County Jail

Vince, do we have a use & care DVD on this I can leave behind?

Debbie

Orlando, FL

Our week at FER has gotten off to a swift start - I processed $148k in new orders yesterday.

When I got home, Bobby was at his Monday evening class. I walked the dog, and then I came home to make a bowl of tuna salad. I used the chives and dill leftover from the cole slaw to make this tuna salad.

I was in bed reading A Genius For Deception when Bob came home from school.

Today was another busy day at work. It clouded up and rained almost all day. The weather forecast says that temps will plunge into the 20's and 30's tonight.

My high temperature hook-up wire from Budget Casting Supply was delivered today. I need to keep moving ahead on my shop furnace project. We are going to go to Daytona and use my tile saw to cut grooves in the side of the firebricks to hold the Kanthal electric heating element.

This evening it rained while we walked the dog. It was not a very long walk. When we came home I toasted bread and made tuna fish sandwiches with cheese. The only thing that would have made those sandwiches better would have been bacon.

Tomorrow will be another busy and disruptive day - Evelyn is coming in during the morning to work on the computers, and Bob Chuhak from Darden is coming in during the afternoon for his weekly meeting with Craig.

Right now we are trying to plan our vacation for mid-to-late August. Once I get my tax refund, I will buy plane tickets and lock us in on the dates.

B-52 Park

Temperatures dropped on Saturday. I made French toast for breakfast on our little $9.00 Chinese-made griddle, and we did four loads of laundry.

We went to Ace Hardware to get some Frontline for the dog, then we went to AutoZone to dispose of the used motor oil in my oil change can, then we went to Harbor Freight Tools - the cheap Chinese tool store where I got some steel shaft keys, some brass screws for wood jigs, a hand press for inserting eyelets into shoes, etc; an impact-type screw driver, corner chisels, and a cheap Made-In-India spoke shave.

After this we went to Mobil to get a tank of gas in the Xterra, then we went to SuperTarget so that Bob could shop for storage cubes for work. We had lunch at Jimmy John's sandwich shop - our first time. JJ's was okay, but I don't think we'll be going back.

We went back home where Bob dropped me off so I could start my oil change while he went to the barber shop to get his hair cut.

In the afternoon we folded our clothes up. Bob took a short nap, and then for Buddy's evening walk, we drove down to the airport to B-52 Park to see B-52D 60687 parked there. It was in the 50's, but the wind was really blowing hard and that made it cold for us.

The space shuttle was supposed to launch at 4:30 AM, but we slept right through that hour. Good thing too - the launch was cancelled due to clouds. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Today we went to Daytona to check on the house. We had to run the lawnmower in the backyard to get some of the highest weeds grass chopped down. Also, Bob left his phone number with Emmaline, the neighbor across the street, asking her to call if she saw anyone parked at the house.

While he was visiting Emmaline, I set up the bench grinder and ground the bevel on the sides of my firebricks back to the 30° pencilled lines I drew. Doing this helps ensure that the bricks will fit together in a nice, regular hexagon. I will fill the gaps with fireplace caulking. Next I have to mark the grooves that will be cut, and start cutting the spiral groove with the tile saw.

John called and found out we were bringing the cremains to the house. John did not like that idea and said we should keep them at his house incase somebody breaks in. Incredible. We opened the box up and the cremains are inside a hard black plastic box, and inside a plastic bag inside the box. We put the box up in the kitchen cabinet and told John that the remains are being kept in a safe deposit box.

Nobody is going to take that if they break in and find it. The box is clearly labeled with what it contains.

After we were happy with everything at the house we closed it up and went to Woody's Barbecue for lunch.

We stopped at Wal*Mart to get cigarettes for Louise and then we had a tense visit with Louise, John, and Cheryl. John and Cheryl are trying to pressure Bob into having Louise released from the nursing home so that they can take care of her, and, presumably, collect the huge fortune in widow's benefits that she gets. Bob had to explain Louise's expenses to John in a moment they had alone.

Also, since they do not know about the Last Will and Testament of Thomas R Mihaley, they think Louise inherited the house. They will be in for a surprise when that comes out.

The nursing home staff does not recognize John and Cheryl as having anything to do with Louise (because they never speak to the staff), so they have a good idea of what is going on with this.

Dad tried to call me three times today, so I called him back, but he needed to buy more minutes and couldn't talk long. I talked to Mom for the rest of the time I was walking the dog.

The Superbowl is being played tonight. I think it's being played in Miami. We will not be watching it.

Now we had to get our weekly housekeeping routine finished up - vacuuming, cleaning glass tables, and cleaning kitchen/bath floors. Another exciting week of work is waiting!

Orlando, FL

It clouded up today and after lunch it began to rain. Then it began to pour. We had a tornado watch until 8:00 PM.

Sales were very good this week. FER-Orlando brought in $341k and Hollywood brought in $310k. A very good week (for a change).

Craig was in Tampa today in a meeting with Gabe, Greg, and Joan Salah, our Area Vice-President. We've had a lot of controversy the past two weeks and the partners are trying to get it all ironed out. I have a suspicion that the controversy isn't over, and someone's little wagon is going to be dented before this settles.

This evening we took Buddy for a short, 7 block walk. Then Bob and I went to Steak and Salad for dinner. After dinner we browsed the Borders bookstore, but miraculously, we did not buy any books!

Tomorrow I want to change the oil in the truck, and maybe shop the cheap Chinese tool store.

Orlando, FL

At 5:30 AM I got up and made breakfast of eggs and ham steaks and then packed a lunch for Bob.

When we took Buddy outside at 6:30 the temps were warmer.

I got my shower and shave and left for work about 10 minutes early.

Work was busy busy all day. Orders are up to $278k so far, I had several service issues to handle for Red Lobster restaurants -- everything has to be fixed or delivered by Valentines Day, and I spent a couple of hours in the Test Kitchen collating and sorting a big pile of email messages.

The letter carrier left a small box for me today. It was the book I ordered from Amazon.com - A Genius for Deception - How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars.

During lunch I went to Zaxby's to get a Blue Salad with Blackened Chicken and Blue Cheese dressing. The bitch in front of me driving the Chrysler Pacifica pulled out a LEGAL PAD and began reading a huge list of orders off to the drive-thru speaker, "Oh, and I have a coupon for free fried pickles from the Valpak." Then the cashier had to read the big order back to her. At the window they had to call the manager to ring up the coupon. She took forever.

This evening we took Buddy for his walk. Temps were warm and neither one of us wore a jacket.

When we got back to the building Bobbys stopped at the front desk because he had a phone message letting him know that a package was left for him. This package weighed about 14 pounds and on the side of it was a sticker that said, "Cremated remains of Thomas Robert Mihaley". We haven't opened the box up yet.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday.

Orlando, FL

Yawn. I am tired. I've been tired all day.

After walking Buddy this morning I packed Bob's lunch box and then made oatmeal for our breakfast. Since today is Wednesday, Bob had to go early to go to Toastmasters.

Work for me was not hard today. It was fairly steady, and I spent a lot of time at the Test Kitchen table sorting the huge pile of email messages into chronological order.

The day was beautiful outside. Sunny, bright, blue sky.

When I got home around 6:00 temps started falling. We took Buddy for his evening walk, but I think temps might fall into the 40's tonight. We had baked ham steaks, cole slaw, and apple sauce for dinner.

Now I just want to sleep.

Six More Weeks!!

At 5:30 AM I pulled myself out of bed, harnessed the dog, poured a scoop of food into his bowl and took him for his walk. The temps outside were surprisingly mild and we walked about 11 blocks.

When I got back I made breakfast of scrambled eggs for Bob and me. Bob also had yogurt and toast with home made papaya-pineapple jam.

It rained most of today. It was very gray and the rain came down hard at times. It started to clear around lunch time.

Puxatawney Phil, the iconic groundhog in Pennsylvania issued his prediction today that there would be six more weeks of winter weather. That's not surprising - look how cold it's been so far this winter.

My face hurts. My sinuses are congested. My neck hurts. My lower back hurts too. Ugghh...

This evening we made Fennel-Red Cabbage Slaw from a recipe we found in the Food Network magazine. We got my Waring food slicer down to slice the cabbage up into 1/8-inch-thick slices.

While we were cleaning up, I bleached the dish rag and cutting board, and then as I was wiping the cabbage debris off of the slicer, I noticed the rag turning light blue. I called Bob over to look at it and asked him why it was turning blue when the cabbage was purple. He did not know. I got the jug of vinegar out and poured some into the rag, and soon the rag started to turn light pink!

Some fruit and vegetable skins can be used as acid-base indicators. Purple cabbage is one. Blueberry skins are another. That was today's Science Lesson™.

Right now I am reading a free e-book issued by NASA about the X-15 program. Unfortunately, it would take 300 sheets of paper to print it out, so I am reading a chapter each night at my computer terminal.

Orlando, FL

Today was a rainy day. It was very gray and rained off and on all day.

I took my Dremel to work to cut the toilet bowl mounting bolts and snap the bolt caps on. I had that done before Fay or anyone else came in.

Craig drove up at 8:00 AM to start the Darden-Kolpak conference call. Fay came in a few minutes later and she went to her extension to pick up the phone and listen. I do not know why, but Joan Salah HATES her and tries to blame everything on Fay!

"Well, we want the lines of communication changed so that the factory gets all of the service calls. It seems that since FER took over the line in July, we've had all of these problems." said Joan.

Bob Chuhak quickly put her in her place by replying, "Hold it right there. I want everyone to know that Kolpak had these problems for years before FER took over, but the last rep group just papered over all of the problems. I want FER to get the calls so that they can put a sense of urgency on getting them resolved."

The week is only just getting started! I am sure it will be interesting. So, now we are having a Darden-Kolpak phone conference every Monday afternoon, a Kolpak Service conference every Tuesday, and we now have to submit weekly Manitowoc Reports. Such a waste.

I processed over $100k in new orders today. Hopefully this won't be a repeat of last week's meager sales.

When I got home at 5:55 PM, we took Buddy out for an 8-block walk in the rain, then we checked our mail, and came back upstairs. I baked some Jerk-Style Chicken Wings for dinner.

Will the Groundhog see his shadow tomorrow?