Throbbing Thursday

I was up shortly after six and got myself ready to attack the world. Then I stopped for a quick rest, I had time. I fell back asleep and woke up after seven. Whoops. I was meant to be at the grocery store at that time. I rushed to make my list of items and get out the door. I stopped for a McBreakfast first, my grade 10 intro to business teacher taught us to never shop on an empty stomach, it makes you buy more than you need. I got a bacon and egg mcmuffin and very much enjoyed it. It was nearly perfect in everyway. I once boasted that I’d love to eat their bacon and egg bagel sandwich everyday, but they made drastic changes to it, so now I’ve settled for this one.

I made my way through the very empty store. I decided to go for a bit of a walk and see if they’d opened anything else up yet. I was seeing some activity in the garden center as I ate my breakfast in the truck and wondered what they meant for the inside of the store. I wandered down to the far end of the store to find that everything was still roped off and the aisles plugged with skids. They moved everything from the middle of the wide aisle into the way to keep you from trying to buy other items. You can see this in the below photo. On the left is the housewares department and on the right is the toys department. Behind and to the left is seasonal. No patio sets or BBQ tools allowed I guess, unless you order online. I respect that it levels the playing field with other stores that don’t sell food but the whole thing is pretty damned inconvenient. I made my way around to the only part of the store you could buy from, the food department.

I managed to get a non-food item in my trip around the store. I got four bags of softener salt to replenish my reserves. I didn’t see any furnace filters available for sale. Also the garbage bags I couldn’t get last time were still not restocked. I ordered them on Amazon a week ago, they might arrive this weekend. At the end of my shopping I hustled home to unpack everything. My later start meant that I was cutting into my workday to finish this personal chore. I had a pretty decent haul in the end, and donated money to the hospital at checkout to bring it up to an even $215. Roughly $100 a week of food. I could go longer between, but that would really bite into my reserve stocks. As it was, I got this selection integrated into my food collection and started my workday.

I was snapping pictures at such a pace that I thought maybe I’d have enough fodder to do a day in photos like I did a couple of weeks ago. Once I plopped my bum down in my chair that was the end of that. I fired off a note to my colleague doing the export paperwork looking for confirmation that they received my instructions and could deliver on the request. I had customers expecting the seed to ship this week and I wanted to confirm that this was still able to happen to keep them in the loop and for my own peace of mind. No answer was forthcoming. I then used others to try and get info. Over the hours of the morning I learned that this person had a sore back and had been to the doctor and was going to have to get a MRI. I heard they were back at work so I hoped they were getting the paperwork down. It would probably take an hour or two, barring issues. Then maybe a few calls with carriers to get the instructions right. These are approximations based on previous dealings and the size and complexity of the load I wanted moving. I kept myself busy through the morning with work. At half twelve I realized I had a meeting coming up and better slam some food into me. I heated a can of Campbell’s Chunky Potato and Bacon soup and a Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini Ham and Turkey panini to an edible temperature and then crammed them into my face as fast as I could. I figured I’d have to be done eating, cleaned up and back at my desk for one. Turns out the meeting was at half one. So all that rush for nothing. I chatted with my Quebec confidant until the meeting was about to start. I sent another alarmed email looking for information and followed up with some questions about well-being on Teams. I needed an answer, we needed to get that load on the road. No reply again. I was growing annoyed. I had agreed not to needlessly bring their boss into it, as that apparently slowed things down. My restraint was starting to slip for sure and I was feeling pretty frustrated. I didn’t get any information from that person all day. They didn’t even read my Teams messages, I can see when they’ve been read. By the end of the day I was outright pissed off. I was supposed to use the chicken that was cooked two week ago and had been slowly rotting in the fridge to make some soup but instead I just ate some chips and had a couple cookies and some pop. I know, not a good choice. But I was starting to unravel by the end of the day. I was realizing that my work was likely not going to get done and my seed wasn’t going to ship and my customers were going to be pissed off. There is defintely the chance that this person will come back to me and say they’ve got it done and the load will be delivered tomorrow but my experience with them tells me they are avoiding me because they aren’t going to do their job in this case and don’t want me to tell them otherwise. The evening was mostly spent in the basement playing NHL20. It wasn’t working well, in the end it spit the disc out and failed me too. Surrounded by frustrating outcomes no matter what I did I decided to retire to my bed early with my audiobook and while away the last hour of the day hoping to fall asleep faster. The day was stupid and left me with a sore tummy and a pissed off attitude. Naturally with junk in my guts I didn’t get to sleep right way, it was after eleven by the time I faded to black.

Cinco de Mayo

Amazing start to the day. Strong sleep, in excess of 7.5h, closer to eight. Restful despite several pee breaks, before waking at seven bells. Great times in the bathroom including a phenomenal hot shower. Was feeling really relaxed coming out of the steam. On a whim, in a rare move, I kept the door closed while showering and looking back I wonder if the steam was a factor. I knocked back my usual breakfast and it was like a hug to my insides. I was at my desk at eight with a tremendous start to my day behind me. The morning flew by at great speed. I started work by sending a summary of what was ready to ship and sending it to key players. The ladies that do all of the behind scenes things in the system to put stuff on order and pick loads, etc. had done their bit already for pretty much everything else I have on order. There are just two small items that came from winter that we’re working on, the rest is ready to go. I have a weekly check-in meeting for thirty minutes with that team to align and prioritize. The person who does the export paperwork, the one who we struggled with last week, skipped the meeting. That was a bad sign. The main purpose of this week’s discussion was to confirm we had it all ready and make sure they understood what was required of them. The no-show rattled me. But it didn’t kill my apetite. Lunch was a big one, maybe to try and smother my feelings with food. I took two regular chicken Mr Noodle packages and one spicy chicken Mr Noodle package and boiled them all together, strained and added the seasonings. By strained I mean separated from what water. Not bent near to breaking. It was filling, as most empty calories are, and mostly tasty. It took two glasses of water to get it all into me, a sign that there was some heat to it.

The afternoon was an exercise in restraint. I didn’t have further meetings so was left to wonder if things were getting worked on or not. I found lots to keep me busy of course but I couldn’t help wondering. Last week I tried asking every two hours. I think that has me on an ignore list of sorts. I tried indirect communication this week, getting others to check for me. Eventually it was discovered that the key individual in the process wasn’t working. They weren’t feeling well and had gone to the doctor. Not a good sign. That information kept me at bay. I ended my workday at half five with some apprehension. The dinner board wanted me to make tacos today, to celebrate whatever bastardized version of the Mexican holiday reaches its way up to my part of the world. For me it was just eating Mexican type food. A commercial version of Tex Mex. I elected for the Old El Paso Soft Taco Bake Kit. You have to bring a pound of ground meat, a cup of water and some salsa if you want it to the game and the box provides the rest. The rest being some seasoning for the meat, a thick cheese sauce which is stable at room temperature, and four flour tortillas. I followed the precise instructions for most of the recipe. I like to splash some salsa between the layers when building the taco cake. I rarely have sour cream so mine came out of the oven looking slightly different than the box. I ate all of it, and it was magnificent.

By the time I cleaned up and set my lineup for the rest of the week for fantasy hockey it was time for D&D. Game night! I had to make sure that I adjusted my lineup as we are in the championship week. I’ve been in first place in the league my vet cousin made for most of the season. I had convincing victories in the past two rounds of playoffs and was facing his dad in the final, my former uncle (divorced when I was quite young). It has been a closely fought battle so far. I beat him several times in the regular season but my two top LW were out now so it made it a closer affair. There were some tense moments as I tried to get into the game this week. I could hear everyone save for one player and they couldn’t hear me either. We tried refreshing, restarting, re-organizing, etc. Nothing was working. Eventually we all cleared our browser caches and only the game master could reconnect us. That made it work. We got everything sorted out just in time for the game to start. Because I couldn’t hear the other guy initially I was asking some questions, apparently as he was telling a story. It was a tip-off to the others that something was off as I’m not usually a dick who would just rudely talk over someone else that badly. Sometimes, for sure, I’m bad for interupting people and I know it (and I’m trying to work on it) but this was way beyond acceptable. That lead to questions and eventually the fix. We had a good game, we discovered that we may have missed out on an interesting area with treasure but half of us were blinded at the time and being surrounded by untrustworthy foes. We made the move we felt was best. Now we’re about to enter a very heated fight. Things are definitely interesting at the moment. When we got to the end of the night I wasn’t long before finding my bed and sleep. I’d had a long, grueling day filled with downs and a couple ups. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Star Wars Day

The day started strong for me. I woke up peacefully and naturally just ahead of half six. This gave me lots of time to get showered and prepare a strong breakfast. I was dressed and in the kitchen ahead of seven for the first time in a long while. Breakfast was my usual fare but it had been several days, nearly a week since I’d had the opportunity to make it. I had enough time before I needed to start work that I was able to sweep the floors on the main level, water my plants and folded and stowed the laundry I started on Saturday. I was in my chair by eight and a tarted getting after it at work, looking for big push to get the rest of the stuff out the door ASAP. I lit a few fires, I suspect people are tired of dealing with me and that might be their inspiration. The morning was a mix of clearing tasks off my list while working with the team to get seed ready to move and meetings. I had three across the morning. One of the meetings featured this Dutchie lookalike. It’s similar to her but not exact, even the sweater and furnishings in the background were her style. I found it amusing.

Sorry for the pixelation, this is a cropped copy of a copy.

The first half of the day disappeared quickly. I was able to have a short lunch. It was a can of Campbell’s Chunky Chicken and Rice soup. That was all. I hustled back to work for the next meeting. That was followed by two more. I had a chat with a key US colleague after that and then sent out some information for customers. If you’re not feeling it, one thing just rolled into another all day and before I blinked it was over. It was half five when I walked away from it. Seemed like a good time to power down. The next stop was the kitchen and the meal board wanted me to make cardboard pizza. The base for this one was a Great Value thin crust Hawaiian. I added shredded cheese, spinach and Cholula again. It was delicious again.

After dinner I was at a bit of crossroads until I got a text from the Chef. He was tasking himself to work through all the Star Wars movies, having been inspired by Star Wars day messages in our group chat. In solidarity I decided to watch Rogue One. It had been several years since I’d seen it and I very much enjoy that film. Then and now. It concluded at half eight and I started preparing for bed early. By nine I was ready for it. I decided to put on a podcast from my large queue and let that wind me down into some fantastic Star Wars dreams.

Soggy Slowness

The day started suddenly as I jolted awake at half seven from the clutches of some engaging dream I forgot moments after opening my eyes. Sort of disappointing to me that the best sleep of the night is trying to manifest at the last minute as if my body was procrastinating like a college kid. I awoke but I didn’t rise immediately. I put on a true crime podcast and languished in the sheets for a few minutes, agreeing with myself that we could for-go breakfast today. I had my first shower in a few days and got myself quickly ready for the day, pulling up to the helm a couple minutes after eight. The morning was exciting, three meetings and trying to scramble folks to help move my things forward. When dealing with my US counterparts it is often difficult to get prioritized amongst the much larger aspects of the US business. I’m sometimes surprised we can pull it off. I broke my fast about ten minutes early to account for the missing early meal. I had my usual lunch. A can of Campbell’s Chunky Pepper Steak and Potato soup and a Stouffer’s Bistro Custini, Mozzerella and Meatball panini. I watered the plants again, they seem to be extra thirsty the last week or so. While I was tooling around the living room I snapped a pick of last week’s meal plans and the results.

Obviously I haven’t created the plan for this week but tonight will be leftovers. Might have to try for tacos on Wednesday, for cultural reasons. I was thinking it had been a couple weeks with Cardboard Pizza as the hump day anchor and that I’d built around that. I guess I’ll see what I dream up. We know Friday is already decided. That pontificating will have to happen later, work is first. The afternoon was booked solid with meetings. Several were added as the morning went on. In the midst of that, there was an issue with the shipment from last week that was brought to my attention. Always good to be wrong when you’re late. I think I’ve got it resolved but won’t find out until morning. My last meeting ended at half five and I wrapped up a couple things quickly before powering down. I didn’t have the appetite for more issues. But I did have an appetite for a leftover deuce log. I warmed up the original blown out version then melted some cheese on top. It was incredible. What a brilliant meal. I’ll have to try and replicate this effort.

After a very easy cleanup I watched a handful of recently posted videos from the channels I subscribe to. At seven I made my way to the basement to watch the Leafs. I got caught up on Musings and witnessed the Leafs fall in OT. They had it won but gave up a goal in the last minute and then blew it in OT with less than a minute. They had several breakaways and a two on nothing in OT. All Swedish and no Finnish as they say. Despite the outcome I had an enjoyable evening and I think that dinner was a big part of it. Was in bed ahead of ten bells.

Slow Sprint

Sleep didn’t last as long as I needed it to. And it doesn’t seem to matter anymore, which is not good. Despite the very late night, my brain felt it necessary to be awake ahead of eight. There was no chance I was getting up yet. I grabbed the Mini and ran it dry. I watched some sports and then a plethora of YouTube nonsense. I had a theme for a jag of it but then pivoted into clips from British panel shows. I had several excellent laughs from that. By the time I’d killed the Mini it was noon. I dragged myself out of bed, donned my sweats and trudged to the kitchen, by this time feeling the effects of my lack of water and food. My little fast needed to come to an end for my physical well being. I chugged a couple pints of water and warmed up the last of the wedges with the few spoonfuls of taco meat from earlier in the week. It was topped with some shredded cheese and consumed at a dangerously rapid pace. I was definitely feeling off. I decided that I would start a culinary project, or two. There were two big ticket items on the meal board that didn’t get made this week, cauliflower bites and the infamous deuce log.

I started with the cauliflower bites. These have been missed on the board before, many times actually. They don’t look complicated but could be delicious. The picture above reveals that I made them this time. They are a recipe in the air fryer book my family uses. They are just lighted fried and tossed. Working that pile thru the egg and flour was painstaking. Even with the leftovers I was feeling off. I had to get some more water in me before I came around. While I was making the two baskets of bites I was boiling some cut up potatoes (five reds). I had previously cooked ten slices of bacon (2 rounds) in the air fryer. The bites were great, I took that smaller sample down and put the rest in the fridge for later. I enjoyed the bites with a white claw. The first I’ve ever tried. Not being a fan of sparkling water really limited my enjoyment of the beverage. It had a fairly immediate effect though. Can’t argue that side of it.

The potatoes finished cooking, actually overcooking, and were removed from the heat and drained. I very carefully sliced some garlic cloves (two fresh ones) and warmed them up in oil. I also cooked a can of Great Value low sodium small peas and a can of Great Value low sodium cut green beans. I’d need half of each of those. I crumbled and ripped the bacon into small pieces and preheated the oven to 400F. I mashed the potatoes and added the warm garlic before stirring in the bacon. I got my thawed pizza dough out and split it into three chunks on a whim. I rolled it out flat and thin as I dared, needing extra flour to tame it. After letting the potatoes rest some I more gently folded in the cooked vegetables. Next I made a mound of filling on the dough, used some leftover egg wash on the edges of the dough to help seal it and folded things up. I brushed more egg on the top and put it in the oven for twenty minutes. The first one had a bit of a blowout and was stuck to the pan. I greased a different pan for the second one. I also added some holes in the top to avoid a blowout. After twenty minutes I added some shredded cheese to the top and put it back in. What a tremendous added touch. It looked and tasted beautiful. I tried to get a bit of a cross section for you. There were some short video clips captured over the two hours of time I spent racing around the kitchen trying to cook two meals at once. Maybe I’ll edit them together eventually.

With this treasure inside me I didn’t have worry about feeling good. I turned on the living room TV in a now rare move and got the Netflix humming. Another bout of Superstore transpired. That carried me through the most of the evening. At half nine I scurried up to bed and wasted some time on the YouTube to settle me into sleep, which didn’t come until after eleven. Likely because I’d been up later the last two nights.

Saggy Saturday

If I wasn’t feeling getting up Friday then consider Saturday to be much worse. Plus I didn’t have to get up for any reason. So I didn’t. I stayed in bed and fooled around on my Mini. Hours went by. Eventually the battery ran low and I went to my office. I had some computing to do. I did some banking, as I’d just received my annual bonus. I did some shopping and some research. Then I worked on the website for a bit. It was almost one when I decided I needed to eat. Something came over me that lead me to order some non pizza items from Pizza Pizza. I won’t go into the detail but here is what showed up at my house just after two in the afternoon.

I saved the vast majority of the wedges for later. While I waited I watched YouTube on the larger screen of the computer. After gorging myself on that fried nonsense I cleaned up and waddled down to the basement. I put in my laundry and saddled in for some long absent Netflix action. I decided around the time that I ordered that mess that I was taking a vacation from my life. I think I was feeling like I was bent, not broken, but not right after that frustrating week. I needed a break. That meant escaping into some entertainment. Rather than endlessly scroll I latched onto the first thing of interest, Superstore. I’d started watching it months before but couldn’t decide if I liked it. It is a dumb show. Not particularly well written, acted or produced. But it’s not bad either. It’s just mindless. I equate it to a modern Everybody Loves Raymond. It’s not good or bad, it’s entertaining. I got sucked in and watched until twenty to high noon with only a break to watch part of the Leaf game. They won. I got into my bed and decided to wear my sweatpants rather than my usual bottoms. I didn’t clue in until two in the morning that my body didn’t like that choice. I tossed and turned for hours. My sleep was gonna be messed up after that. Anyways, happy May Day everyone, in case that is actually a thing.

Feckless Friday

The day started off rough. It was a late start and getting out of bed was excruciating. There was no shower and no breakfast. I started work ahead of eight. No update yet. Something unexpected happened to start the day. I got a call from a LDG in the US, we work close at this time of year. She gave me some feedback on how I was handling my colleague who does the customs paperwork. Apparently I was being hard on him. And adding his boss and coworkers only slowed things down. I’ll take that feedback. Generally I assume adding a boss generates action or garners support. Apparently the boss here is new to the role ans doesn’t understand and thus required an hour worth of questions to be answered to get up to speed. A waste of an hour. I didn’t know that, but will consider it for the future. We did come to the consensus that the guy in question is a bad communicator. Feedback I shared. Apparently he’s too nice to speak up so I initiated a candid conversation. For the rest of the morning he gave me regular updates. I was on a call with the customer looking for the seed when I got word we’d booked a truck and would be shipped and arrive Saturday. Everyone was happy. Here is a photo of my mood right after.

Lunch was more of the same. It was weird to break my fast on soup. Maybe it was just the day I was having. My call right after lunch disappeared which cleared the trail for that lunch. I had another short call afterwards to round meetings out for the day. Around four I went to the garage to listen to a podcast and work on the boat for a bit. I checked my phone frequently to be on top of last minute work items. I made some good progress, well over half done that side now. The machete is not working well for the in tight work I’m doing now, may need to find another tool.

I worked at that for an hour and then went back up to close out the week more officially and power down. I powered on my personal computer and started to handle my MSC challenges. As you can see, I made short work of them and finished another month off.

Dinner was two packages of Our Finest pad thai with chicken. Nothing fancy but that was what I had on the meal board. It made for a tasty and hearty little feed. Not much to report after dinner, I sparked up FS19. I matured a crop, harvested it and planted a fresh one. All my assets are paid for and I’m closing in on a million bucks I’m the bank and my bins are full of inventory to play the markets with. Success. It was around eleven when I clocked out of consciousness for the day.

Frustration

I don’t remember all the details of this day, which is fine because I’d like to block out as much of it as possible. The morning started like many before it. Up around seven, showered and dressed, nice breakfast. I was at the helm at eight and ready to rock. I was really looking for that confirmation still and nothing came through. Time started to slip away, precious time. It was still fired up from the previous day’s silence. Nothing and more nothing. I knew that my window would be closed at three in the afternoon. For time zone reasons I held back from losing my mind. I worked on other things to occupy my mind. It was around this time that my computer imploded.

Luckily it was only toast for a short time, maybe ten minutes or so. I suspect it is related to me firing up Skype for the first time in months and trying to use it to contact this person, on the off chance that was their IM platform of choice. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was reaching maximum frustration. Not since the time I got a rock stuck in my combine and missed two days of harvest dealing with it alone have I been this perturbed. I was fit to be tied as my grandpa used to say. I made a move. I sent a note pleading for an update and tagged the supervisor and all teammates onto it. It is a dick move for sure but I needed information. Some whispers from a teammate but nothing helpful. That’s how I went into lunch. It was the same as most days. Soup and a processed panini. I think I had the special steak one, in a bid to cheer myself up. It didn’t work. After some more emails and pleading they reached out. We spent an hour a call. Most of it was just me watching the paperwork get made. Seeing the sausage get made wasn’t that fun but that time, I had all the time in the world for it. By the end of it, all the paperwork was completed for three shipments and he was working on booking a truck. But it was mid afternoon! Luckily, we were able to move the seed to an alternative warehouse to keep it available for pickup, meaning we could ship tomorrow still. That was not in the cards when the day started. All hope was not yet lost. But nothing was confirmed either. I ended the day in limbo. And my colleague was sick, the reason I couldn’t reach them was because they were out getting their second dose of vaccine and wasn’t feeling great. I didn’t have sympathy, simply thought, “must be nice!” I was supposed to make an elaborate dinner but really felt like I just needed to hit the easy button with some comfort food. That is what happened with a bog bowl of air fryer perogies. I topped them with some shredded cheese and Great Value brand sriracha ranch dipping sauce. That put me down a peg.

I didn’t do anything productive. Not that I normally do in the evenings. I grabbed my Mini and disappeared into HomeScapes and then YouTube for a couple hours. At half eight I had a scheduled video chat, one on one, with the Sexy Bitch. It had been close to six months since we’d talked. He’s generally busy with his three kids and various camps and clubs he runs. We had a good chat, meandering over a vast territory. Updating each other on our lives and what was new for us. We talked a lot about the virus and how the pandemic was affecting us. It was nice to catchup and fun to do on video, more like a real conversation. We were both pretty tired by the conclusion of our visit and bed seemed like a logical step. With such a refreshing palette cleanser you’d think I had been unburdened of the day’s stress. This was not the case. I couldn’t get to sleep until much later than appropriate, it was nearly midnight when I finally found the slumber.

Hopeful Hump Day

Up ahead of 7. Downstairs at half past 7 and made a delightful breakfast. Ate with my new bunny friend. That only lasted until the neighbour’s dog got let out and went ripping around. Poor little fella bailed. I like this bunny, focusing on the dandelion leaves rather than nipping my grass off to the soil surface and killing it. I hope the little fella makes it and continues to help with my disgusting weed issues.

Started work by listening into a pair of information only calls. It was a nice mental break to start the day. Email traffic was noticeably down today. I wonder if people are avoiding me because I’m currently under the gun. I had a pair of short calls that both ran over time. I didn’t get any heart crushing news in the second one that is always a concern for me. The success of my week will be contingent on how the afternoon goes. To break up the day I put together a fairly typical lunch. It consisted of a can of Campbell’s Chunky Beef soup from a Leafs can. It is game day after all. The sandwich portion of the meal consisted of some Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini Meatball and Mozzerella paninis. I had a pint of water and capped it off with the last two Viva Puffs. Filling and tasty.

The afternoon started off with me trying to get my part of the extremely complex puzzle done. I had to wrangle the lad responsible for customs paperwork and get him to work on our stuff. He actually responded and said he’d go on it right away. I’m too wise to let myself hope but we haven’t hit a major snag today. It is critical to get this paperwork done so that we can book a carrier as soon as possible. The warehouse is unable to ship after tomorrow so my load needs to be rolling tomorrow. I didn’t have much hope of booking a carrier on the day of pickup so we needed to get a hustle on. I had given him the details before lunch and updated him with some information after lunch. One piece was incorrect and I updated them an hour later, at 1:50pm. I wanted to confirm that the mistake was noted and they were using the correct information. I didn’t get a reply. I also wanted them to understand that all three components of the load should be combined and moved in one truck, rather than trying to ship with three differenct carriers. And I wanted them to understand that FedEx was not an acceptable carrier for this load, they take too long. We need a real truck to pick it up and bring it straight to my customer. I didn’t get a confirmation. I didn’t get any response. I tried with email, Microsoft Teams message and I called. It was becoming clear that this person was ignoring me. I could see they were online and just not answering. I was starting to get frustrated by the end of the day but I was also hopeful that they were working on it. I had earlier helped push to get things back to being automated so I felt like it wouldn’t take all afternoon to get this done. I was sending a request for information every hour or so and getting nothing back. It was around six when I powered down. I kept my phone open on Teams in case there was a reply but nothing came. Disheartened and frustrated I made my way to the kitchen for a meager snack. The meal board dictated that I make cardboard pizza. This one was Great Value brand four meat pizza. I only buy thin crust now, so it had that going for it. I added some Great Value brand nacho blend shredded cheese over the top and let it cook. About halfway through the cook time I added some spinach leaves. I know, I wish they were basil too, relax. I added some Cholula when I pulled it out. It was delicious. This trend of dressing up a lower quality item is working nicely for me. I skip the bulk of the labour to make a great meal but get there anyways.

Despite the fantastic dinner I was still feeling down and defeated. I was holding out a modicum of hope and hiding behind the fact that it was on someone else to deliver but in reality I know that it’s going to come down to me. My name will be on the customer’s lips along with a tirade of cusses. I needed a break, some kind of release. Luckily for me, it was D&D night. I’d done some studying this week and found out some details about my race that should be woven into my backstory. Maybe someday I’ll share that, but likely not until the campaign is over. I talked it over with the game master (GM) and also mentioned that I learned of a fancy sword. He was thinking I’d have had that from the start and apparently was hinting in the first session (the zero session) that I should be asking if I was sure about my sword. I was very green and had no clue what was happening. So we talked about a potential scenario where I could get access to something like that. We had a good session, some things were getting set up for later. There was one memorable moment though. As the party travels the GM will ask someone to roll a die to choose a potential encounter. It’s usually a decent roll so it’s not a big deal. When it came time for my turn to make this roll I rolled a virtual 100 sided die and got a 1. The worst possible outcome. We had to face one of the toughest enemies in the game as a result. And to make things worse, we all kept rolling comically bad checks to see if we got out of it. As a result a lot of the non-player characters (NPCs) of the party died. I guess that’s on me? Whoopsy. It was all in good fun, I’m sure we’ll laugh about it for weeks to come. I was in bed at half ten but didn’t fall asleep until eleven, obviously too wired from our fun.

Tough Tuesday

Not much to add for Tuesday, it was very unremarkable and I didn’t take much for notes and definitely didn’t capture much for imagery. So I started off with a late sleep and a quick breakfast. You can see my short stack below. I was my desk at eight again and started pushing on folks to get get after it. I try to steamline and optimize things for them. An example would be of the hundred plus items in this spreadsheet, here are the twenty two that need your attention. But it’s not seeming to make things go faster yet. I’m thinking that all of a sudden the light will turn to green and it will be a feast or famine type situation. Lunch was fairly unremarkable. Soup and panini again. I’m not even sure what kinds I ate, it was pretty quick. I had a call before lunch and two after. I shared my frustration and sob story with the larger team in the morning. I don’t like doing that but they are asking for an update. I’m trying to keep a positive spin on things but it’s tough to do when things aren’t going well and the future is looking fairly bleak for that process. I probably need to try harder at that. I did make sure that I ended the update on a positive note though, generally that helps.

It was another long day at the helm, power down didn’t come until six again. I wandered to the kitchen and saw what was supposed to be made and I faltered. I couldn’t do it. I found the leftover tots and some of the leftover taco meat. I warmed them both up and then dumped the meat and the last of the Selection Brand Tex Mex shredded cheese over the top. Actually, that’s not true, I layered it as I built it so there would be some of the sauce type layer left in the bottom. It was pretty spectacular. I guess it was sort of like loaded tots. It was just filling enough to fuel me for the remainder of the day. I didn’t do much of anything. I tidied in the garage and cleaned up some of my mess from the weekend before settling into some HomeScapes and then reading my new books. I took some notes and filed a few ideas away from later. I capped my day with some YouTube as a palette cleanser. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Frustrating Monday

Rough Monday, poop is looming close to the fan now. Regular breakfast. Started at 8am. Had to put some urgency and panic into the team working behind the scenes to get seed out. Lots of meetings in the morning. Steady from 9 to quarter after 12. Lunch was pepper steak and potato and BBQ chicken panini. Meeting for half the afternoon. Had to write a couple painful emails out with unfavourable updates. I don’t like the way things have gone this spring. It feels very messy to me. I worked away until nearly six. Apparently had a missed teams call at 5:57pm. I guess people expect me to be absorbed in my computer for ten hours a day now. Sorry, I had to go make tacos. Sorta. I used taco seasoning and water with my browned ground pork. Next I warmed up a package of sliced, white mushrooms with some olive oil. Spinach came next. I included some Selection brand Tex Mex shredded cheese and wrapped that up in a flour tortilla. I made two. I also cooked a package of McCain cheesy tots and consumed about half and put the rest in the fridge. It was a pleasant meal that left my just the right level of full. I wanted to go back and work on the boat but the stress of the day had me seeking my bed. I wasted my whole evening playing HomeScapes. I probably blew $40 on the game and felt terrible doing it. I’m pretty disappointed in my evening and most of the day. I feel asleep around 11, though my brain may have shut off an hour before when my audiobook ended and I concluded another trilogy of Drizz’t books.

Slimy Sunday

Was up with the sun, six in the morning. Some sleep was recaptured but my day began in earnest at quarter past seven. A showered and dressing proper effort was put forth today after none such a day ago. There was lounging after that. HomeScapes until the battery failed me and then some audiobook whilst enjoying the low light of the early day. The weather turned here as it did elsewhere, showing a crueler, colder side to Mother Nature’s embrace. The warm comfort of the covers beckoned but the guts spoke bolder and louder. Soon I found myself plugging in the air fryer for the first time in several days. Maybe the longest absence of use since it’s utility was discovered. I warmed up the remaining Crescents and Grands from yesterday and touted them up to my office. I knocked out the one day of MSC challenges and got yesterday’s Musing posted publically. I cleaned out my personal email, some surveys that lingered and delivery notices that required filing. My Amazon order that I was told yesterday was severely delayed will apparently now be delivered today. I guess that delay was more acute than chronic. The hint of stress lingers, exacerbated by the short night of slumber. I’m not sure what I’ll do to combat it. It’s here with some depression too, also resultant from the low hours of sleep. It is sapping my will to get things done and I while not problematic currently, it’s not good. As a silver lining hunter, I’ll say that I’m glad that I’m now able to pick it out with my renewed mindfulness. If I can identify it, I can attack it. I lament for the many years from 2010 to 2018 where I didn’t have that power and was often at the mercy of mood. I wonder what I could be if I’d learned my harsh lessons sooner.

That was deeper than usual. Anyways, I incorporated my new stuff into the hordes of old stuff that I’ve accumulated. I can remember moving in here and felt like the house was half full and I was running on a minimal level of towels, linens, etc. now I feel like I’m fully outfitted. I’m probably not but I’ve jammed a heck of a lot of crap into the place. Not much of consequence happened for the middle portion of the day. I listened to my audiobook, the third of the trilogy. At one point I ate the most of a bag of chips on the deck. It was windy and unpleasant. I looked like a weirdo, if you didn’t see my headphones you’d think I was just sitting out eating chips in unpleasant weather. I played more HomeScapes and spent more money on in-app purchases like a fool. When the battery got low again I decided I needed to do something constructive. I took my headphones and went to the boat. I need to remove a lot of foam out of the area I want to put all my electrical. I chose to use my old machete for the task, naturally. I’m sure there are better tools but I wasn’t expecting to do much. I got over halfway done this side. Mostly handling the easy part. It is more difficult under the lips. Whoever put this in did a good job sealing the top but didn’t seal between the blocks and there was water and some rot in there. The garage smells funky now. I’ll try to get back to it this week.

I was pretty gassed after my efforts and after spending a few minutes catching my breath I set about dinner. I pounded the easy button by making some perogies. I dumped an appropriate amount in the air fryer and in ten minutes I was knocking back a healthy bowlful. After eating and cleaning up I made my way upstairs and read some of my new books. I found some really helpful info in there. I played a bit more HomeScapes. It’s safe to say I have an issue with it. I finished the day with some YouTube before falling asleep around half ten. No Sunday cinema night so I got to sleep in my own bed this week.

Sultry Saturday

My slumber was ended abruptly by something beyond my comprehension. This was not pleasing to me. I moved to my office without any lounging in bed and started into my MSC challenges and got caught up on posting Musings. My family likes to check to make sure I didn’t say anything strange in my recounting of the Family Feast so I try to get those posted in short order. By the time I’d finished all that up it was nearly mid morning and I was feeling like I should break my fast. I ventured to the kitchen to make a grand feast for my first half of the day. I got a call from Rek and managed to split my attention between chatting with him and preparing the food. I browned off two chorizo sausages and then dumped four scrambled eggs in with them. I lowered the heat and layered on some Selection brand Tex Mex shredded cheese and slowly cooked the filling. Rek had pointed out my stupidity in trying to open the Pilsbury Crescents and Grands incorrectly. So much easier to do it the right way. Didn’t even need a spoon and all my might this time. I used a 1/4 cup of filling for the Grands and a teaspoon for the Crescents, following the instructions to cook the now filled dough. I ate a couple Grands and a couple Crescents for my meal. It was past eleven when I finished.

Next I played some HomeScapes and did my French lesson with Duolingo. As I wrapped that up I got a delivery. Two D&D books that I’d ordered on Sunday arrived. I didn’t have to wonder what I’d do with the rest of the afternoon. I got about twenty pages into one before my face was buried in the pillows and I was in the midst of a full, drooling, restful nap. I feel like I snatched back some missing sleep from the abyss. I woke only minutes before a colleage called me. I figured something was amiss but he was calling to excitedly tell me that both he and his partner had got their first shot of Astra Zeneca vaccine in Quebec. We laughed and joked for a while before he let me know he’d had a conversation with a customer on Friday and they were angry they didn’t have their seed. I had not been informed and have been talking to them regularly the last two weeks with no hint of concern. I was pretty frustrated by that. And the stress returned. I’m glad that the call hadn’t come earlier and I at least got to have a restful nap before the weighty collar of stress was placed back on my shoulders. Luckily I was already to planning to fire out all the seed we have ready on Monday/Tuesday. They made it sounds like they should have had it all last week. We’ve never delivered that early and I think the early spring is shading perceptions. Also everyone has forgotten about delays caused by COVID. The light at the end of the tunnel is becoming visible but we’re not free yet. Anyways, that news pretty much will ruin th remainder of my weekend. I played some more HomeScapes until I got frustrated and then went to warm up some leftovers. I had some sausage from Monday with brussel sprouts and the remainder of the Family Feast. That is what I consumed.

After dinner I watched some YouTube on the living room TV before moving down to the basement to enjoy the Leafs game. They pulled off a big win against the team chasing them in the standings and made a man happy to see it. I muted parts of the game and listened to my audiobook. I continued listening when I returned upstairs and played some more HomeScapes. Just as I was about to lay my head down to sleep, the neighbour fired up his entertainment system. It was only loud for about an hour, from half eleven to half twelve but it was enough to annoy. I was asleep before one for sure, but not certain exactly when.

Fresh Friday

I got some feedback from my two regular (ish) readers saying they liked the photo version so I’ll blend the two methods today. That and I took enough pictures to do that.

I was up shortly after six today. The early to bed, early to rise addage still works. I got myself showered, dressed and ready to rock early. The day was absolutely gorgeous. It was crisp but not cold and the sun was bright and the sky beautiful. I was out of the house before seven to get a McBreakfast ahead of my bi-weekly grocery excursion. I had to get stocked up with the appropriate ingredients for the Family Feast. It was a treat to be out in the world on a morning like this. Although my English oak tree has seen better times. Buds are coming though.

I carefully unloaded all the food and got it stowed. You can see from the photo that I got a lot more fresh material than normal. Some is for the family feast but others are for better meal decisions. We’ll see what I come up with, hopefully those items don’t even up rotten in the bin. After geting my bounty put away I went to work, starting at half eight. I had a couple hours to myself to make things happen before starting a series of calls that would take me well into the afternoon. I told my boss that I was planning to be out at three to take some personal time, planning to get my tax return and look at my yard. He was doing the same and was exicted that I was taking time away from work.

I wasable to slip away for a half hour between calls and I warmed up these prizes from Tuesday. I was shocked how much oranger the one had turned. It makes me think that it was an orange pepper than hadn’t finished ripening yet. Either way, they got the microwave treatment and were a filling and tasty lunch. Normal people might have had one and something else but this is who I am. I made relatively short work of them while clearing my podcast queue.

Right after eating disaster struck. I had a glass watering ball in the plant on the counter. I had filled it in the morning and stuck it back in. I’m not sure what spurred it but it seemed to have had enough of this world and took a headlong dive forward off the counter. In reality the soil shifted, I guess I didn’t jam it in hard or deep enought (that’s what she said) and it tumbled. It scared the crap out of me and wasn’t a fun mess to clean up. There was a considerable amount of water in it and the glass shot in many directions. I had to be very careful. It was strange cause a call had cancelled while I was eating so I was going to have some extra time to myself. Nope, universe wanted that time used to clean up a mess. I went back to work for a few hours and stopped shortly after three as I presecribed. Rather than get my tax return I played HomeScapes for over an hour until it was time to prepare for the Family Feast night. We made Sausage Gnocchi with Garlickly Broccoli Rabe. Except none of us had broccoli rabe, we all just used regular broccoli. More on it below the photos.

STL sister had some strange coloured sausage.

Parents. Big T added a pickle for some reason.

Tugboat’s version

Sudbury sister

This was the easiest of the recipes to make so far. We just boiled the pasta in salted water, then scooped it out and boiled the broccoli until tender. Strain those and keep a cup of the water. In the now empty pot, or dutch oven, brown your sausage (in a tablespoon of olive oil) that you’ve released from it’s casing prison and then add three cloves of sliced garlic. When the garlic smells great you add the broccoli, pasta, water and some red pepper flakes and fresh black pepper (to taste). I let mine marinate for a few minutes so the water would thicken with starch from the gnocchi. It was tremendous. Very simple but rich dinner. The burps I had after were intense, so be warned.

It was finally time to fetch my tax return so during the chat portion of the video call I got myself cleaned up and ready to leave the home. I rudely disconnected and made my way across town again. I picked up my documents and was home in good time. I listened to my audiobook and did some scanning of the internet for availability of Xbox X before falling asleep around ten.

Road Trip!

I have a weird story from the night to mention off the top. I was having a nightmare that I forgot some aspect of a customers order for the year. It was something that I did forget to follow up on. Unbeknowst to me, I emailed myself about the issue. My subconscious to the rescue. I was up at 3am for that, and again at 5am to pee, and again at quarter after six, finally succumbing to wakefulness at twenty to eight. The scramble was on from there. I had a call at half eight so was able to still have breakfass but it was at my desk, while on a call. Had to turn off my camera for a spell. I reviewed my old emails and discovered that my nightmare and email were appropriate but it was in the customer’s camp. I reached out and they had realized the same thing the day before. Weird situation all around. At least they didn’t have a nightmare about it. The rest of the morning was pretty fast paced. We have all our paperwork to get stuff shipped finally. Or a version of what we need. When systems hold up a seemingly simple process I think that is easily the most frustrating part of my world. The seed is all there and ready to go but we’re delayed because we can’t do something in a system. It is such a stupid reason to give for why they can’t have what they need. It drives me bananas. It is also completely out of my control, which I also don’t like since I’m the one who is responsible for the transaction. Some days I’m fit to be tied. I spent the last half hour of the morning cleaning up email and preparing to be away from my desk for a bit. I found it hard to break the connection. Pretty gross actually. I had to get on the road after all, what?!?

I had agreed to go pick up some seed from one location and move it to our warehouse so it could be combined with a customer’s order and they’d only have to arrange one trip and the place I was getting it wouldn’t have to make a special trip to our warehouse. Plus I felt like I was due for an afternoon away from my computer. The day was most overcast and snowed a couple times on and off. Not ideal for a drive but still pretty sweet. I put on my new audiobook. Another Drizz’t story, the first of the Icewind Dale trilogy. I consider it research since the legend himself is involved in the D&D campaign currently. I grabbed a McLunch on the way out of town and filled my fuel to capacity. It was like a mini-holiday for me, time away from constant emails.

As it turned out I was about fifteen minutes early for the time I said I’d be arriving so I drove the extra couple miles to the shore of Lake Erie. It’s fairly rare that I get to see the great lake nowadays so I took the time. There was an older man that pulled up a few minutes later and just sat in his car and didn’t move at all, kinda creepy actually. I got out and would have liked to go sit on the little pier. The wind was much more intense than the photo belies and the waves were licking up but it was still refeshing. I drank in the scenery for about five minutes and then headed back to duty. I picked up a partial skid of soybean and went on my way. I pulled over a couple miles away so they couldn’t see me being hyper safe. The bags were wrapped and it was flapping so I put two of the ratchet straps I’d purchased before Christmas last year over top in the requiste X pattern dictated for such a load and that seemed to get things under control enough that I decided to take the big highway rather than risk the two lane road that could have slow drivers. I made the drop and got back into my own town about an hour ahead of dinner time. Since I was out and about anyways I ripped into the local Wendy’s to get a baconator. After all, the meal board said take out on it.My inspiration being to mentally compare the real deal to the Pringles I’d eaten the previous weekend. They are a poor imitation of this behemoth.

I scuttled up to my desk with a full gullet to answer emails and keep things moving along. At half five I powered it down. It felt weird to be out and doing work away from my computer. I felt almost guilty, that I shouldn’t have been doing that. I found that to be alarming, and had to rationalize with myself that I was doing my job. I don’t like that line of thinking at all, it’s not right. Once I’d come to terms with that I figured I’d better get my taxes going. H&R Block had called me during the day to let me know I needed to file by the end of the month. That’s only partially true, I could file at any point during the year since I’d filed last year. Nice try. But I did want to get that task completed. I gathered my files and all my gear I need to go out in the pandemic and made the voyage to the other end of town to drop off my materials. I got back in the truck around twenty after seven. I got a call roughly an hour later telling me that they were done and I could pick them up. I think when I used to do them in person it was around a half hour so pretty much spot on. My return was going to be the biggest in a long time. This was because I paid more tax than ever in my life and also because I made some other financial moves to cover myself. I watched the Leafs get a much needed win for the rest of the evening and I got to sleep at a good time. I was dozing ahead of ten for once. A good day all around.

A Day in Pictures

I woke up quite early after the more appropriate bedtime. I decided that I needed to use the extra time to get my beard tamed again. Also, today was Administrative Professionals day. I am interjecting that strange fact because I’m trying a different format today. I’ve got a number of photos and I’m going to add a caption to them and that will be what I share of my day.

As mentioned the beard was trimmed. I only do it in the guest bathroom which is likely a bad move. This time I squatted down so my face was closer to the sink and the mess was considerably less to deal with. Mostly the hair that falls on the arm working the trimmer is the dangerous spreader of hair in this configuration. It doesn’t look like a lot when you mash it all together but my face looks considerably different. I flushed that pile of hair, as I’m wont to do.

I got downstairs to eat my usual fare and had this terrible scenery to look at while I ate it. Looks like Mother Nature wasn’t quite down with winter yet after a few weeks of 20C. This kind of nonsense is why I don’t miss doing research in the field. Her little temper tantrums makes a challenging job even more difficult and stressful.

I was sending some snaps back and forth with Theodore Complete and he was relegated to their guest bedroom for the day as his wife got a day off and needed to be functional around the main areas of the house. He has a treadmill in there now and space is limited so he mentioned he’d like to have a murphy bed. I love that idea so I drew a quick little sketch of what I thought that could look like if he did some built-ins around it. I used my imagination to come up with what they could use the shelves for. I did that in about ten minutes while on a call that I didn’t need to actively participate in. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. He’s not going to do it, or so he says…

Lunch was more colourful that usual with these spinach wraps. I warmed up some of the sandwich steak from last week and put a slice of monterrey jack cheese on it before topping with the leftover pepper stuffing. It made for a filling and delicious lunch. It was also an excellent use of leftovers.

This I did in a hurry but was meant as a joke on Mother. I told her I was having a salad as an appetizer for dinner. She was excited that I was making a healthier choice. I sent this photo and revealed that it was a tot salad. I’m hilarious. The tot salad was delicious. It would have been better if I’d done it in the air fryer rather than the microwave but it didn’t last long enough to care.

Dinner was a cardboard pizza as dictated by the meal board. I jazzed it up with some Selection brand Tex Mex shredded cheese and some spinach added towards the end. I should have put more and put it on sooner likely. This was good but really only added an aesthetic flare. I forgot the hot sauce.

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D&D was more role playing than I’ve seen so far. I was quieter than I wanted to be. This is a part of why I joined the game, to be pushed out of my comfort zone and practice getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Tried to stay true to character and participate, not sure it came off right. It was still fun and it was neat to see how the more experienced players handled some of their encounters and got to a good place quite quickly and efficiently. We ended up in a heated confrontation before striking out for another adventure. My character upgraded a lot of his gear and learned several new skills. My aim at making a more well rounded character that is true to the backstory is going pretty well to date. I’m trying a lot of stuff to enrich my own experience and learn more aspects of the game. An example would be that I started doing wood carving. So far I’m trying figurines. I rolled a super high number on one and ended up carving one of the party. It came in handy later. Either way, it was a really fun night with the boys. I was able to wind down slowly and get myself to sleep about half eleven.

Progressive Tuesday

I didn’t get to sleep as early as I would have hoped and as such I didn’t wake up as early as I’d hoped. I still went to the trouble of showering and making a delightful breakfast. The morning schedule was a lot lighter. I was able to check on some things, I’ve pretty much got a list of tasks that need doing and I’m relying on other people to do their parts of the process so I check on them daily now. I’m past caring how it makes them feel. I will not be forgotten or ignored. Our smaller sized business is often marginalized and I’m going to take that, no way, no how. So I powered through that and some of the my requests bore some fruit. Next was a meeting about a large issue that would cripple many processes if it isn’t fixed. Thankfully there was good news on the topic. Things were looking up. I spent some time very closely reviewing customer orders versus what I expected to see, painstaking process but important to get things done correctly. I did this in a couple of spots and in the process made sure that everything and everyone was aligned. Next up was lunch. It wasn’t an elaborate affair. I had some Campbell’s Chunky Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and a Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini BBQ Chicken panini. It filled up my guts real good and was tasty as well. I was bit wary because the last time that flavour of soup gave me a light case of heartburn. Seemed like it was all good though. I had a big meeting in the middle of the afternoon and asked a few pointed questions. Afterwards I went back to my intensive file comparisons. I know I can do it quicker with formatting rules but I was after some piece of mind too. We started working on some notifications to customers and things went very, very poorly. I won’t get into the details but I was in disbelief about what was happening. I worked hard to get everything ready well in advance and we’re falling flat on our stupid faces at the finish line. I’m banking on us having nowhere to go but up for next year. Anyways, I turned in my computer at half five and set about dinner. I decided that those stuffed peppers had to get made. I started browning off a package of extra lean ground beef with an assortment of seasonings. I got instant rice going in the microwave with some red pepper flakes and garlic salt stuff in there. While these were cooking I washed my three peppers, one was not like the others. I opened them up and gutted them while I waited too. That done, I pre-heated the oven to 375F and started mixing it together. I put a taste of medium salsa in there and also a couple handfuls of Selection brand Tex Mex cheese. By the feel of it, it felt worse than the Great Value brand product. Some pepper was added and then I started spooning the mixture into the three awaiting peppers. They spent ten minutes in the oven.

Only interesting things that I learned in the process was that I could do something about the standability of the peppers. Normally I’ve always tried to balance them against each other or on the side of the dish they were cooking in. I found with my new knife I could delicately slice a bit off the bottom to level them up and then they stand strong and true. What a revelation that was. The big red one looked more or less like a giant molar but even with the tippy shape I was able to make it stand sturdy for me. Something I’ll be carrying forward for sure. Although the only way I could think to eat it was to tip it over and take slices off it like a fine ham. The two smaller green ones got carefully fitted into a container and will be my lunch later in the week.

The rest of the night was utterly wasted. It was too cold to do anything productive outside so I just grabbed the Mini and played HomeScapes all evening. I’m ashamed to say that I slipped back into making some in-app purchases and spent a small sum of money on the game. I’m not happy about it. I went to sleep around half ten, finally hitting the target a little closer to a bullseye on that front.

Meeting Monday

Monday started at what is becoming a normal wakeup time, seven in the morning. The unusual part about this morning in particular was that I awoke in the guest room. I shook it off like Taylor Swift demands and found myself heading to the bathroom. I knocked out a fantastic shower, my first in a couple of days. I suppose I’ve been embracing the pandemic more and more. The shower really reset me and put me on the right path to start the day. The breakfast that followed was also very pleasant, despite being my normal selection of items. After cleaning up, I marched to work and arrived only minutes after eight. Seconds later all hell broke loose. Things started to feel very manic for me, it was a non-stop type of day. I was in meetings most of the morning and while listening to people drone on about God knows what I was frantically trying to send emails to entice people to do their portion of things so I could get my customers what they needed. It wasn’t pleasant. Big T called seconds into my thirty minute lunch hiatus and had a strange request. Actually he hung up on me when the answer to “Are you busy today?” was yes, extremely. Just fully hung up. I called him back and tried to work on his request but it fizzled away, likely when I asked Mother for the details he didn’t send me. Lunch had to go on though. I warmed a can of Campbell’s Chunky Potato and Bacon soup and a box of Stouffers Bistro Crustini Meatball and Mozzerella panini. I essentially chugged it and hustled back up for the next round of meetings. I had twenty minutes between calls later in the day and used it productively. I was done the formal portion of the agenda shortly after four and then I got to tackle the ridiculous mountain of email that flowed in while I was occupied. There were no wins in the email pile. I was getting intensely frustrated with the way things were going so in a fit of annoyance I powered down my computer at six. I was supposed to prepare stuffed peppers according to the meal board but I was feeling like I was lacking the drive to do it. Here is how I did last week on the meal board.

I decided to put some sausages in the air fryer. While those cooked I found some tots. I also pulled out a bag of baby spinach and steamed part of that on the stove. The tots took a long time but it was worth the wait. I sprinkled on some sriracha powder and Greek spice to jazz things up a hare. I portioned off half the food into the fridge and was done the meal completely shortly after seven. Next up was catching up on Twitter while trying to avoid politics and reviewing the gaggle of YouTube videos. After a fast paced, frustrating day of smashing my face into a cement wall I wanted a lay up of an evening.

One Year Anniversary

Technically the anniversary was yesterday but I wanted to save it for today to point out. I’ve been posting daily in my Musings for a full year now. I never thought I’d see the day that I accomplished that. Nobody will care naturally because they don’t appreciate the care, the effort, the time, etc. that goes into doing this. I think I mostly do it for myself, something to look back on. I mostly will scroll and check out the photos but sometimes I’ll catch specific things and I enjoy looking back on them. I must have been celebrating that last night without realizing it. I woke up at six and was unable to get back to sleep. I tried, it just didn’t take. Call it three days with a failed nap in a row. I rolled around until around seven before getting up and doing ten minutes of stretching. I generally hold each stretch for six or seven seconds and do it three times. That makes for a long session of stretching. This made my body feel a bit better. My brain was fine after all the water I poured in it but my body was feeling a touch sluggish. Loosened up, I made my way to the kitchen to try and get some grease into me. When I look back on these past few weeks of my life I’ll have to remember them as the perogy period. I went back to the well again. This time it was just some generic Great Value branded potato and cheddar perogies. I did them in the air fryer, this batch needed about twelve minutes at 400F. As soon as they were done I followed up with some McCain’s breakfast potatoes to double down on starch. These are a new option and worth clicking the link on this one and learning what they are about. Bring cooked in the air fryer, these are the closest I’ve come to a restaurant quality breakfast potato. An unexpected treat for me. You’ll have noticed that I jazzed up the perogies with the last of the Great Value Tex Mex shredded cheese, some Cholula hot sauce and some Great Value brand dried parsley. It was a fantastic start to the big day.

Hangover destroyer plate

Next on the agenda was to post a couple Musings drafts that I owed the world. I don’t get them up everyday but I generally put the photo for the day with some quick bullets of the high points. I got those caught up and then did some online shopping. I needed a small box for my painting supplies and I wanted to find another small canvas and stencil like my tiger painting to try. I also ordered a couple of books to keep myself learning. I had an interesting thought while I was doing that and that lead to me working on my backup character build for D&D. I was told it doesn’t hurt to have one ready, just in case you die unexpectedly. If you are ready to go the DM can get you game in there pretty quick if they are cool with that. So I started trying to put the pieces together. I think I have the broad strokes and I’ve started working on the background narrative of my character. I have a couple more decisions to make before everything can lock in. It’s a far different process than I did the first time where I had a back story and used that to make decisions for the character. There were some elements I regretted but that’s the game baby! When I had enough of that research and reading I grabbed my Mini and started playing HomeScapes. I was on a serious role. I’ve finished the garden and I’m working on the huge living room. It is going fast and furious, I couldn’t be stopped. Eventually the battery got low and I was actually stopped. It was after five by this time so I made my way to the kitchen. Without thinking I popped a chicken breast and the leftover potatoes from breakfast into the microwave to warm up. I had half a plate and with those two and needed to figure out a veggie. I was thinking about boiled cabbage last week and decided to go for it. I had no idea what I was doing but I put water in a pot then added cabbage. I likely boiled it too long as it started to disintegrate a bit. When it was “done” I drained it, added a knob of butter and too much salt. I stirred that a bit, not helping the disintegration aspect and plated it. It was too salty and too buttery but otherwise great.

I climbed upstairs to knock down today’s MSC challenge and felt like I had a brick in my stomach. I’m not sure which aspect was causing that. I played some extra games on the MSC before touching up my emails and checking on my fantasy sports. I talked about maybe re-reading the last seventy pages of The Never Army earlier in the week and decided to tackle that while I had the time. It was a very low key evening to top a very low key day. I finished those seventy pages around half nine, just about when the goons next door started up their Sunday night cinema. I got ready for bed then made my way down the hall to the guest room to try and get a quieter sleep than the cloud can afford me tonight.

Slow Saturday

I woke up early and realized that I didn’t have a plan for the day. Nothing at all. I don’t talk politics on here so I didn’t mention the big announcement the previous day about further lockdowns and impingements of freedoms and all that jazz. But I can say that I noticed that most people seemed be feeling a general sense of malaise from it all. Most people just wrote the day off. I was in the same camp. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I’m aware enough to know that I’ve been getting less and less sleep this week and as such I’m feeling a bit low. There was some other things I won’t share that had me feeling this way too. The sum of the equation is that I wasn’t feeling like grabbing the world by the tail on this day. I lounged in bed for a bit before getting up and cleaning myself to face the day. Rather than making a proper breakfast I warmed up the wedges from the previous afternoon and popped the top on my cannister of Pringles Baconator flavoured chips. It was a filling and gross meal. I filled my thermos with water and went to my lair to get to work on the simulated farm. I matured and harvested the crop I planted yesterday. I bought and built new bins to store my growing mountain of feed stocks. This took several hours, it’s not as easy as you’d think. I started planning my next land purchase, I’m a bit torn, might buy the huge fields behind my home and combine them into a mega field. I’ve got all the biggest iron in the game, might as well make it feel small. I was feeling pretty sleepy while playing so I thought I’d try on a nap. Again, it didn’t take. Instead I made my way to the kitchen as it’d been five plus hours since the first meal. I cooked a cardboard pizza, adding some Great Value brand Tex Mex shredded cheese and some Cholula hot sauce to liven it up. I drank several pints of water to go with it.

I climbed to my office and perched in front of my personal computer and cleared up all my lingering MSC challenges from the week, which were about all of them. I enjoyed some podcasts while doing that, clearing the queue again. Next up on the leisure tour was a couple hours of HomeScapes. I went at that until I was low on resources. It wanted me to pay up, instead I hobbled down to the main floor to join a video chat in progress with the boys. There were six of us that made the effort, one that REALLY made the effort and another who ignored us. I was mixing up a cocktail I’ve had a few times over the course of the year. McQ threw a name on it, it seemed very appropriate and was topical for me since I’d been watching clips from the last season of Game of Thrones earlier in the day. I was drinking green Powerade, which turns out is pineapple melon flavour, mixed with a bit of vodka. Initially I was having Absolute vodka but realized I had a better option and swtiched to Bohemian Spirits vodka. I was using my two ounce MSU Spartans shot glass to measure the booze. The glass was my Medieval Times black hurricane cup. Add the booze, add some ice, add some Powerade and then more ice. After urging from the Corn King (formerly known as the Meat Man) I used a metal straw to suck it back. Because of the aggressively bright green colour, McQ said it should be called wildfyre after the substance that played a prominent role in the Game of Thrones story. I loved the idea as much as I enjoyed the drink. I put away four before I realized I was outpacing the group. I reined it in some. Cheese, GRP, and McQ all dropped off after ten leaving Corn King, Booj and myself to laugh it up further. It was a fun time. We wrapped it up ahead of eleven. I was already in my bed with seven drinks in me. It was shortly after eleven that I went to sleep. I’d tucked in almost as many pints of water as cocktails through the night so I was feeling great at that point.