3 Kalends April

This was a good week.  On Tuesday I sat through 6 hours of Blue Mountain Regulatory Management software training, and then the next day I learned that Jose, Tom, and I would be putting this training to immediate use - we had to get every piece of equipment in our department relabeled with a BMRAM Asset ID tag by April 7.

I had Room 413 and 414 done in less than one day (there are only 21 pieces of equipment).  Jose has over 200 pieces of equipment in GMP, so I am helping him.

On Monday I was helping Joe with the Twelve Hundred Pharma project.  For some reason the reaction did not go and we spent the rest of the week troubleshooting it.  We left the starting materials in the reactor stirring over the weekend.

Bob went to Chapel Hill three times this week - he had PT on Wednesday, he had an appointment with Dr. Cleveland on Thursday, and he had PT on Friday.  I am glad that he is able to get out of the house and see/do things on his own.

The spring pollen has really gotten started and I am taking allergy medicine twice a day.

We are still unpacking our belongings and hanging pictures in the new house.  I wonder if I will ever get it all done.  After everything has found its home we will probably begin painting.  We ordered a 20-foot extension ladder today to help with painting and staining, it will be delivered April 30.

Earlier this week, Bob asked him if he could ride his trike on Saturday if the weather is nice.

On Thursday Bob's iPhone 6S+ was delivered.  He got it activated last night.  I think he is really going to enjoy his smartphone.

Today we went out for breakfast and then Bob got his hair cut.  After his hair cut I began scouting the drop off and pick up spots on the Greenways where Bob could start his bike ride and I could pick him up at the other end.

Just as we were about to begin, Bob backed out citing that he was afraid that something would happen and he would not be able to finish the bike ride.  I was very disappointed in him.

Tomorrow we have to go out of the house to buy groceries.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow.  I hope the rain washes some of this pollen down.

Weekend Projects

Bob adjusting the shade.

This weekend was busy with some projects.  On Saturday morning after breakfast I began to install the roller shades we ordered from The Shade Store for our master bathroom, master bedroom, and kitchen.

It took me about 90 minutes to install the shades in these four windows.  The shades with valance are actually easier to install and they look nicer too.  Bob has decided that the next four shades (living room, bedroom 1 and bedroom 2) will also have a valance.

Now we have the privacy that we need in our bedroom and bathroom, and Bob can dim the bedroom for afternoon naps, if necessary.

After this I opened up the Ikea kitchen countertop that we ordered and I began laying out screw locations for the 28-inch-long hairpin legs that we bought at Woodcraft to make a 6-foot-long computer table.  The countertop is a laminate surface that resembles ground concrete.

Bedroom roller shades.

In the larger bedroom, I pre-drilled the screw holes and then attached the legs to the bottom of the countertop to make a table.   Once the table was done we moved it to the office and transferred everything over to it.  It turned out really nice.  I think we are going to add floating shelves on the wall above it.

At 3:20 PM Woody's Furniture arrived with the sideboard and hutch floor display unit that we bought.  This was carried in and set up in our dining room.  After the workers left I spent an hour cleaning the glass and dusting the whole carcass with Scott's Liquid Gold.  As I was cleaning the body I noticed a big crack on the left side of the server.  It is inside the unit between the door compartment and the drawers.  I think the crack can be filled in with some melted black wax.

Computer table with hairpin legs.

We are going to load the sideboard and hutch up with dishes, silverware, napkins, tablecloths, and other stuff for the table.

Today we got some of the flattened cardboard boxes out of the garage.  We put them into the dumpster at Cary Pines Apartments as we were driving to breakfast.  Later I spent some time putting a few pictures up on the walls.

This evening we went to Food Lion to do our weekly grocery shopping.  Now another week of work begins!

I really need to get the balcony stained and sealed.  After that I need to get the deck furniture and plant stands cleaned up and spray painted a flat black.

New server with hutch.

After I get a work bench built in the garage, the next thing I have to work on will be stiff wooden shelves for the pantries.  I am going to replace all of the wire shelving with wooden shelves that will not sag when a load of cans or jars are stacked on them.

We are going to have some painting to do later this summer and into the fall. 

There is still a lot to do, but we have moved, unpacked, and set up a lot of stuff in the past 60 days.  At least with the things that remain to be done the end can be seen.  It may take another year, but we will really have a show place when all of the work is done!

St Patrick's Day

These weekends fly by so quickly!

On Saturday morning we got up and I loaded more cardboard and trash into the Fiat.  We drove to Cary and dropped this stuff off in the dumpster at our old apartments. 

Next we headed over to The Egg & I for breakfast.  We got a good breakfast and visited with our favorite waitress, Joann.  Joann is moving back home to Iowa in a couple of weeks and we will be sad to see her go.

After breakfast we went to the Cary Post Office so that Bob could mail his billing dispute letter to WakeMed with Delivery Confirmation and Signature Required.

We then drove up to Glenwood Avenue where I popped into Rooms 2 Go to get a couple of bottles of microfiber fabric cleaner.  Then we went to Woodcraft to see if the hairpin legs they carry came in 28-inch lengths.  They do and I bought 5 of them for the computer table project.

Later this week I will unpack the 72-inch Ikea kitchen countertop that we ordered, put it face-down on the floor, measure where each leg will go, mark the holes, and pre-drill the holes.  Then I will put the legs on the bottom and drive the screws into the pre-drilled holes.  After this is done, I will turn the table back up onto its legs and slide it next to the folding table.  We will transfer the computer and printer and everything else over to the bigger table and then fold the folding table up and take it to the basement.

Bob with the server/hutch.

On the way home we stopped at Woody's Furniture which is at the intersection of US-64 and Lake Pine Road.  They have solid wood American-made furniture.  Much of this is made by the Amish.  We found a black server and hutch that we really liked.  This one is even bigger than the unit we had been shopping on Wayfair.com and Hayneedle.com!  It also has lighting inside of the hutch.  As it turns out, the display unit on the floor was marked way down.  After talking about it and checking it out a couple of times, we decided to go ahead and get it.  It will be delivered next Saturday.

Finally we had to get back home because Jill Kuzo was coming over at 2:30 pm to look at our beekeeping equipment.  She arrived just a few minutes late.  She took a tour of the house and I got caught up on all of the goings on at Burt's Bees.  We ended up in the basement where we unpacked all of the equipment and let her see it.  We explained how each item was used.

We stood in the garage "chewing the fat" for quite a while.  I saw that it was getting late so I said, "Make us an offer, Jill!"  She was flabbergasted because the catalog price for everything that we had was over $500.  Bob had to recalculate the price he thought he would take because of the equipment that we thought we had just wasn't there.  We agreed to $250.  She wrote us a check and then we began loading everything into her car. 

All of the boxes and buckets fit into the trunk, backseat, and front seat of her car.  She had to leave the honey extractor behind, but we promised to visit her in Wake Forest and bring the extractor with us.  It was after 9:00 pm when she left!

This really freed up a lot of space in the garage!

Today we drove down to Wilmington and Bob gave Gavin and Gabby Batson their birthday present sweaters.  We also included a couple of (educational) games for them.  We visited for a couple of hours and then headed over to Becky and Bills house to pick up our security deposit refund check from Cary Pines Apartments.

We ate lunch with both of them at Sawmill Restaurant across the highway from their subdivision.  Then we had to return to Raleigh.

Before we came home we popped into Food Lion to get our weekly groceries.  We had a bigger than normal bill this week, but we needed more than the usual amount of food.

We are both still coughing and have nasal congestion.  I think I have almost beaten the cold, but the pollen is starting to blow and I am suffering from allergies.  Ugghhh!

Now we are both showered, I changed the sheets and pillowcases on the bed, and we are ready for another exciting week of work.

Apex, NC

This nasty cold just lingers on... Bob is still coughing too.

Yesterday evening I cleared all of the flattened boxes out of the basement and stacked them in the garage.  The amount of stuff we still have to unpack is less and less. 

I recently sent a chat message to Jill Kuzo on Facebook.  I used to work with Jill at Burt's Bees.  Jill was attending a beekeeping workshop hosted by the Wake County Beekeeping Association and she won a 3-pound package of bees!  Well, she is going to need a structure to house them in and other tools to care for them.  We invited her over to see our new house on Saturday and to see if we can reach a deal on all of our unneeded beekeeping equipment.

We are very close to being finished with the Immune Design GLA project.  I have to get all of the equipment cleaned and get the room turned around for a new project called "1200" coming next week.

Yesterday we had our performance reviews.  I did okay.  I got a 3.33 out of a 4.00, and I also received a 2% pay increase - about 50¢ per hour.  I guess I can feel that I am doing well at work.

Also, Tom Lovelace was promoted to Production Manager.  The hourly production technicians report to Tom now, and Tom reports to Jeff.

We are thinking about traveling down to Wilmington on Sunday to get our deposit refund check and take the sweaters that Bob knitted for Gavin and Gabby down to them.

Mobile Post Mar 11, 2019 at 16:20

Both of us are sick with the cold, but that did not stop us from having a productive weekend.

We added a wire shelf to our bedroom walk-in closet.  This increased the shelf space by 50%.

I brought all of my boxed book upstairs and sorted the books out.  I put the books I want to keep and display in bookcases.  I have 5 cases of books I am going to part with and 3 cases of books I will attempt to sell.

After taking the books out of the garage, the boxed stuff remaining fits under the stairs!

We ordered roller shades for the master bedroom, master bath, and kitchen. Those should arrive in a couple of weeks.

Mom called me today at work to let me know a check was delivered to her house today from PMG payable to Bob or me - the refund of our deposit from Cary Pines Apartments.

This was not a bad day for me at work. I think I have the upper hand on this cold now.

I am currently located at

3501 Tricenter Blvd
Durham NC 27713
United States

I am 16.1 miles from home.

https://maps.apple.com/?q=35.929222,-78.882915&ll=35.929222,-78.882915

Vince Thigpen

Sent from my iPhone

Nones

The Romans did not count days in the month as a simple number, as we do, but backwards from one of three fixed points in the month: the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides. The Kalends are always the first of the month. The Nones fell on the 7th day of the long months (March, May, Quinctilis, October), and the 5th of the others. (Note that this long-short distinction refers to their length in the republican calendar, not the later version.) Likewise, the Ides fell on the 15th if the month was long, and the 13th if the month was short. The day before the Kalends (or Nones or Ides) was called "pridie" (or 2) Kalends, the day before that 3, etc. Therefore, May 3rd would be the 5 Nones of May; March 17 = 16 Kalends of April, or as you would find it abbreviated in a Latin text: a.d. xvi Kal. Apr.; (a.d. = ante diem).

Thus, today is the Nones of March.  Next week we will pass the famous Ides of March on the 15th.

I have come down with another severe cold and Bob seems to have a touch of it as well.  I stayed home from work yesterday to rest and drink fluids, but went in today because the company only gives you so many hours.  Plus, I may have to use some hours to take Bob to an appointment later this year.

We have ordered swatches of roller shade fabric and they should be delivered tomorrow.  From those swatches we should be able to make some decisions about of roller shade order.

Bob cleaned the toilet bowls and bathroom mirrors today.  I vacuumed and ran the Boma mop on the first floor.  Now I am cleaning the shower enclosure.

After I get the shower clean I am going to scrub out the cast iron frying pan that Bob made tonight's meatloaf dinner in.  Then I will down about 1/3 of a bottle of Nyquil and call it a night.  This cold really has me run down.

Tomorrow is Friday and it is payday!

In Like A Lamb

Bob and his cake.

March has come and it appears to have come in like a wet little lamb.  That means that it will probably go out like a lion.

We really had a busy weekend.  On Saturday morning I made breakfast and after I put the dishes into the dish washer, I shelled a dozen hard-boiled eggs and made deviled eggs to take with us to Jeff Adam's party.  Then we waited for our deliveries.  Rooms To Go delivered our power recliner.  Later a truck delivered the glass display cabinet and faux concrete countertop from Ikea.  We are going to build a computer table with the countertop and the display cabinet is going to house liquor.  

I applied a rice paper film to our bathroom window.  This should guarantee some privacy in our bath now.  

In the afternoon I assembled the last for three cubicle bookcases.  This one goes into our office space.  Now we are ready to bring some books into the house.

After this was done I got Bob into the shower and put some medium brown color in to his hair.  

Bob enjoys the recliner.

We dressed and went to Chapel Hill to attend the party at Jeff and Monica's house.  We took drinks in a cooler, the plate of deviled eggs, and a carrot cake that Bob baked on Thursday and I frosted.

Many people from our group were at the party - Rick and Kristi Dennis, Tom and Deana Lovelace, Cliff Sargent, Robert Matthiesen and his girlfriend, Rebecca, and of course, Vince and Bob.  

 

Joe and Kate Moore did not come over because Joe is traveling to Iowa for work this week and he wanted to spend time with his family.  Chad and Stephanie did not show up, but I did not expect them to - they both have a long drive.

We enjoyed a home made pastrami, ribs, chicken wings, pork loin, and sides.  Bob's cake was a big hit.  There was lots of alcohol flowing.

We stayed until after 9 pm and as we were preparing to leave, I could see that Jeff was distressed at the idea of Rick and/or Kristi driving home.  We agreed to take them home and they could come back to retrieve their car the next day.  Dropping them off did not take us too far out of our way - they live right off of Davis Drive.

Plate of deviled eggs.

Today Becky and Bill came up to visit us from Wilmington.  We gave them the tour of the house and then they helped me put the glass display cabinet together.  While we worked in the kitchen on the Ikea cabinet, Bob was upstairs at the computer downloading an update for their GPS unit.

We went to lunch at Big Mike's Barbecue.  I was going to pay for the meal, but Bill to the check and paid for everybody's lunch.  The total came to almost $74!

They left to go home after dropping me and Bob off at our house.  

This evening I went over to Food Lion with a shopping list.  I got the groceries for the week and came home.  Bob did not feel up to walking through the store so he stayed home and baked some chicken drumsticks for our dinner.

Here comes another week of work.

Lithotripsy

Bob had lithotripsy surgery on Wednesday for a 3/4" kidney stone in his right kidney. He has a very large bruise on the right side of his back and he feels sore and achy.  Hopefully this big stone was the cause of his recurring urinary tract infections.

Yesterday three bookcases were delivered to our house from Hayneedle.com.  I put the largest one together last night.  It is over 6-feet tall and is divided into 15 cubicles.  Each shelf can hold 70 pounds.  The other two bookcases are divided into 10 cubicles.

Tomorrow I am expecting a delivery from Ikea.  This will be a steel and glass display cabinet that will be used to house liquor and barware.  Also a kitchen countertop will be delivered that we are going to fashion into a computer table.  A lady from The Shade Store is coming in the morning to measure our windows for shades.  Rooms-To-Go will deliver a power recliner tomorrow as well.

I am currently located at

3501 Tricenter Blvd
Durham NC 27713
United States

I am 16 miles from home.

https://maps.apple.com/?q=35.929229,-78.883412&ll=35.929229,-78.883412

Vince Thigpen

Sent from my iPhone