Month: January 2019

It’s Tuesday evening at 930. Just picked this up to blog. I am full of taco Tuesday and tired. I am taking the day off. This is my blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

Wait, I do one thing fun. I went to the dealership at 530 and a sales guy explained all the controls and tech gadgets and Bluetooth and all. That was a blast.

In case you care, I am still getting used to the race car aspect of the new car. It has a track setting, a sport setting and a comfort setting. Personally, I am more comfortable in track settting. This car drives like a race rocket. 300 horse under 3000 lbs. working dampers. Active rev matching. All things in the car are aimed at racing. Awesome. Be jealous.

Bedtime.

First day back. Again. Vacation needs to be 52 weeks long. It’s not, if you hadn’t noticed.

This morning was no different from any other. Got all ready. Dogs and cats and people fed. All chores done. Got out pretty early. Noticed that my lovely wife had forgotten both her coffee and her lunch this morning. So my first errand of the day is going to Tremont Elementary

Ok, in all the excitement, I forgot to finish this post yesterday when it all happened. So I am skipping ahead to 5 pm when something happens that I remember.

At 5 pm I arrived at the car dealer to attempt the car purchase.

So, are you wondering what I am talking about? Well let me back up a little. 10 years ago I purchased a Honda Fit. The worlds greatest car. I am not kidding. At that point in time we were still in the Great Recession and all was bad. I had sold my nice and expensive care and purchased the Fit which was much less expensive. And I promised myself I would not get a new car till I hit 250,000 miles. Guess what? It’s at 250k. Over the last year I have been looking at various cars to replace the Fit for day to day driving. The Fir is my all time favorite so it can’t be replaced in my heart. I said worlds greatest and meant it. Anyway, over the last several months I looked. At many cars. All over. Settled on the Honda Civic Type R. Which is really a race car. Street legal of course. And reasonably priced. Lesson learned. Problem is they make very few. Very few. My local dealer gets 2 a year.

So, about two monrhs ago, maybe three, I was at said dealer for Fit repair. They had a blue Type R on the showroom floor. The blue is hideous unless you like blue. I don’t. But, I had a nice conversation with the sales manager. Kyle Petersen. So happens, a client of mine. How convenient. He actually tried to sell me the blue R even lowering the dealer pack. The word pack means bullshit $$ added to invoice cause you will pay for scarcity. Did not work. I hate blue. After giving Kyle a ton of crap I got in the fit and went home.

Over the next month or so I stayed in contact. By text, usually giving him crap about failure to sell the blue one. An easy sale and the boss can’t get rid of it.

So at some point Kyle told me a white R was coming next. I said I would be interested. He said “your name is on it.” Which means nothing except if there were a list, I would be on top.

3 weeks ago, Kyle texted. February 8 it comes in. Fine. House will close by then. 2 weeks ago he calls. It’s in Georgia. They build them in Europe. Kyle says 1/28 car arrives. It actually arrived 1/21. Since I’m in the middle of buying a house, I can’t finance. So he has the service guys ass the extras slowly. Very. It was done last Friday. And I made an appointment for Monday, the 28th, today. And strangely my loan was approved today. So, here I go.

I may have forgot to mention in all my self centered excitement, we are also buying a gas miser for Emily to drive from Auburn to Dixon each day. Two cars. We decided on an HR-V.

So all I can say is it’s the usual car buying thing except I know the sales manager and finance manager well. And Kyle priced the HR-V at cost. And the R at 3000 over invoice. Which is wildly inexpensive. I have priced them. The dealer pack at most dealers is 10k and some are at 15k. I got a deal. I need to be nicer to Kyle. He can also get me into Club 33 in Disneyland. A really good guy.

So we left the dealership at 930. All done. I will spare you the details of the contracts and signing and BS.

Then we all drove home. Me in my new caR. Marika drove Emily’s. Emily drove my Fit. I kept it. Worlds greatest, duh.

I followed Marika home. She drove wildly at high speed because, it turns out, she loved Moms new ride. Go figure.

Back home and straight to bed. It’s late. Time to sleep. Marika has to be up at 430 to get Jaxon and Pepto to the Vet. I will be up at 4 to get her out of bed. And I was.

But tonight I am going to bed.

Woke up about 820, if you don’t count the middle of night leg cramp wake up, and that is as good as sleeping in gets. The cramp thing was not fun. Emily has a topical foam to spray on when they hit. Seems to help, cramps left.

Emily and I were the first up. I showered at 830. It is now after 930 and two are still in bed and another in the shower. I have a feeling we will be having lunch before we head out rather than breakfast.

No more Disneyland. Only one day this time. I think it’s enough. I’m tired. Back in the day we would spend a 5 day vacation in the House of the Mouse. Hard to believe. Of course, we were all younger then. And our goals were different. And it is a family friendly place. Maybe it’s just a life change.

I would truly love to go get a meal. This sitting around is killing me. Sitting makes me tired. So does standing for that matter.

I have found a place for breakfast, if we make it early enough to call it breakfast. The Cafe is very close, less than a mile. And it’s cheap. And 4 1/2 stars on Yelp. That’s the trifecta.

The rest of the crew finally dragged themselves out of bed and got ready. We checked out of the hotel since it was late and we were heading out anyway. Off to breakfast.

Restaurant was in the old packing district of Anaheim. It’s in a shared location with a couple other eateries. They seemed fine but I was more interested in the place I read about. We went to the counter when we got there, no table service. Ordered up breakfasts and coffee. Took a seat outside and waited. Beautiful day here in Anaheim. About 75 and sunny blue sky with no wind. A good day to enjoy a meal outside.

Food was excellent. Lives up to its hype. I had ordered the corn beef hash, as had both kids. Emily, no surprise, had biscuits and gravy. All were great and just to make me happy the food was hot, real hot. I just love it when that happens. Eggs were perfectly prepared too. And, guess what, they had hot sauce that was actually hot. That never happens.

We enjoyed a nice meal. Refilled our coffee a few times and enjoyed the day. Just to top it off the place validated parking. Can it get any better?

We left and went to the parking garage where we were greeted by a non working automatic parking machine. I had to press the help button and a live person came out of the machine and talked to me. It was a little strange. The man in the machine told me to press the help button at the exit gate and ask for Chris. And he would open the gate. Weird.

The button press got another voice at exit and the gate magically opened. Of course we are only a mile from the magic of Disneyland.

After that we made one stop at the bank to get $$ for Carly. We said our goodbyes and headed north. Our day was now fully planned out. Go north 500 miles. Make pee pee stops as needed. So we did. 7 1/2 hours later we arrived.

I drove the entire way. It’s my car, I would rather not allow anyone else to drive her. When we got home we unpacked, obvs, and put crap away, fed the animals, started the laundry and made the bed. The usual. Marika left for home without her cat. Emily wanted her to leave Vlad for some unknown reason.

Now we are watching TV. Usual crap. Almost bedtime. It is amazing how tiring a seven hour drive can be. Soon to bed.

530am is not a human hour to get out of bed. Neither is 630 and I do that every day. I’m an idiot. Waking up in a hotel is no fun either. There is no kitchen or microwave so it’s a cold camp. The hotel does have “coffee” in room. I am sure you have experienced the little pot with a couple Skoal Bandits of coffee to brew. Lousy. But hot and darkish. So I made coffee. Wow, awful coffee.

We got moving so quickly we were first in line for the shuttle to Disneyland. Surprising. Driver was really unfriendly. That makes any ride fun.

Getting ahead of myself, we are are lunch. It’s 1145. I’m not due for a meal till 1230. And the food here is really not very good but it is extremely expensive. The kids all got gigantic turkey legs for lunch. Only $11.50 each. Yeah, might be overpriced. A little. Emily wandered off to find a corn dog. That will also be pricey. I brought some food. I will eat that.

Back to earlier, we arrived at the park at 645. Wow are we early. Unfortunately the Calif Adventure does not have early entry which was where we were waiting. Carly swore it did. So we missed early entry by 5 minutes. No big.

For the next 4 1/2 hours we rode rides. There is a new ticket enhancement, $15, that gets you to the front of ride lines much faster. So we chain-rode the rides. The pace was crazy fast. Rode more rides than I ever have in four hours. That’s fun.

That brings us to lunch. Emily is still not back from the corn dog search. We are sitting and kids are eating their giant dead bird legs. I am watching and it’s a little gross. Barbaric even. Just like every other day.

Emily found us. She brought a very pretty corn dog with her. I am not much of a corn dog person. Or turkey leg person. Neither appeal to me. And I don’t like blowing so much on mediocre food. I am already paying $4.25 for a bottle of water. $42.50 so far today.

More rides. Sadly, Michael decided we should go on Splash Mountain. Bad idea. Someone always gets soaked. I think they engineer the ride to deliver the random soaking or two. Maybe if you are wet you feel more satisfied that you got your money’s worth. It gives you a story to tell and stories are priceless. So we went to Splashy Mountain. Good news, hel it’s great news, this go around I was not “the one”. I stayed mostly dry. Marika, on the other hand was soaked head to toe. Too bad, so sad it’s not me. She had to buy a dry shirt. It is still winter time.

After that and a couple more rides, the kids decided it was time for a drink. They also made the very poor decision we should get said drink in California Adventure. There are a couple places. One has cocktails but is a very poor excuse for an actual bar. It feels like a Disney snack bar. Drinks are fine, ambiance is a zero. But, they did not choose that. We went to a “margarita” stand. I sincerely apologize to the original creator of the drink and it’s namesake. The stand serves the single worst margarita I ever tasted. I identified liquor from margarita machines. God are they shit. And only $12 each. Btw, being as experienced as I am, I can identify bad cocktails before they arrive. I did not order one. Besides my first rule of margaritas is no machine drinks. Unfortunately Emily paid for this shit. How are these children to learn a lesson unless they pay for their shitty cocktail judgment. We could have gone to an actual bar in Downtown Disney where I can actually have what I want. And if bad remade for me. By an actual bartender and not some pimply faced loser in a stupid costume. Disney has a long history of not serving booze. So they have no practice. And it really shows here. They need a few more years to get this right. The bar in our hotel last night beat this crap out using very cheap well liquor at the same price. In a comfortable lounge. See, practice. Real bartender. Who knew? Oh, wait, I did. I will need to go to a real bar later. For my own sanity.

Well, not much changing. More rides, more lines. A little quiet conversation, lots of complaining about how other park visitors walk or act in line or dress. People dress like freaks and go out in public. Interesting choices were made by others. Our next stop will be Star Tours. One of many Star Wars themed attractions. Disney buys up franchises and squeezes the hell out of them for every dime. Only a little bit annoying. Or maybe more. Not sure yet. I have only been run into or “strollered” 20 times today. So I am still not over the edge as of yet.

I am trying to figure out the dinner thing tonight. I can’t figure out where to go. I prefer walking to dinner so I don’t have to get the car out. There should be several places close to the park. Problem is they tend to be like the margarita stand. Bad and overpriced. I will dive deeper.

We left the park and walked into downtown Disney looking for nourishment and libation. We did find a bar and restaurant that we stopped at for cocktails and appetizers. Turned out to be not very good in both counts but still far ahead of the margarita stand. We sent back one of our dishes since it was of very low quality. The manager did not argue the refund. I had a couple drinks $38, true, and first of the two was awful. The second one, with a little instruction was very good. It was a $100 throw away.

Back to the park for more rides. And all the while I was searching Yelp for a dinner spot for the kid. I did finally find a spot so after the next ride we took off for the main gate and an Uber ride. The place I found, a Mexican restaurant, was excellent and their Chile verde was to die for. Marika had some too and she was ensnared by it as well. We were stuffed at the end of the meal.

Uber took us back to our hotel after. We are all quite tired and ready for bed. I was nodding off on the ride back. I hope straight to bed. The kids are downstairs in the bar. I am too tired for that shit. It’s bedtime.

We are going to Mickey’s House today!! We want to be on the road by 2pm. It could happen.

In the meantime I stopped at my mechanics,,Dennis, to check noisy belt. He says belt and idler, always more than I think, has to remove motor mount and right front tire. Just turned into money. Have not seen Dennis in quite awhile so we caught up on things. Complained about life. The usual. He is a gruff and grumpy old man. Something I aspire to.

Got a text. Hal is coming to my office this morning. He should have money. Lots. Finally. Every little bit helps when buying a house. He is arriving at least 30 minutes before me. I did not tell him. I don’t want him to run off.

Getting coffee at my new favorite spot. Funny how often I cruise through downtown on my way to work. Or should I say funny how I always stop for coffee when I do.

Drove to work cuz I gots a little work to do. I am supposed to pick up money and write a letter.

Got there around 1030. Hal was there already. No money. I am really tired of his inability to deliver the goods. I have been waiting on him for two months. He is like my brother in law, over promise and under deliver. Supposed to be money next week, from the attorney and not Hal so I may actually get paid. Big money. Hal and I had a long conversation about all the deals going and other things.

My client who needs the letter showed up. I was writing the letter while I was talking to Hal. I printed it and gave it to client Jim. Then I got up and left for home. Leave at 2?

Quick trip home, it’s only mid day.

Got home and no one there. Emily did not leave work till 2. Marika was just leaving work. So I did chores around the house for like forever whike I waited.

Emiky got home around 245. We finished packing the car. And waited. Marika arrived at 4. So we left real late instead of at 2. No surprise here. I was hoping for the best and did not achieve it.

New thing happened. Leaving for LA from Vacaville for the first time and my nav system took me west down 80 to 580. A new approach to going to LA. What was funny was I listen to the navigation and followed. It took five miles before I even noticed. No one else said a word. Funny.

The trip was uneventful. Traffic was light. Only two gas/peepee/food stops. I drove the entire way which is fine. May be the last long trip with my car. I am picking up a new car Monday. The R. It’s a pirate car. Think about it. And, coincidentally, I am in Pirates of the Caribbean as I type. Weird.

Got to hotel, Michael and Carly were already checked in and at the room. We unpacked and then Marika and I headed to the front desk for a roll away bed. She being fifth occupant and in need. We got there and the bar, which Michael said was closed, was open and serving. So the girl and I ordered cocktails. What the hell, it’s vacay. I texted the boy and told him and he joined us.

We hung maybe 15 minutes in the lounge and headed back upstairs. It’s about 1230 and we are getting up at 530. You know, early entry at 7 am. Everybody went to bed at this point. The day tomorrow will be a long one.

No, I am not. I have first appointment at 10 am. Setting that was a mistake. Realizing I have an appointment, early enough to get there, was a real surprise. I do often miss or arrive late for my first appointment because I most often forget to check my schedule. It’s what I do. Today, if I get moving now, I will be fine. Of course, I have a cat in my lap. Knock to the floor. Too bad kitty.

I quick stepped through my morning and got out of the house before 9. Tried to run two errands but both places were closed. I did not stop for coffee. I did stop at a clients shop in Dixon to drop off a package and get pricing on car tires. He sells tires. No luck on pricing. Not sure why it’s so difficult to get a tire price.

Left there around 925 and made it to the office two minutes before my appointment!! It can be done.

The appointment was a conference call with my business consultant. We wanted to review price/service schedule for clients. Did not take too long, maybe 45 minutes. Which might actually be too long. I was working on the house stuff while we talked. Walker was here too, not working on house stuff. But the three of us managed to discuss all and adjust our menu of services to something we like.

After the call it was tequila shots all around. Not kidding, Walker has brought a bottle and glasses and we got everyone in on it. Just the usual Thursday in the office drinking. I only had one.

Back to work doing the usual accounting type crap. Also need to go to the bank and Verizon. Those were the errands I tried to get done earlier today.

Managed to get my errands done. Verizon is screwy. My auto payment failed when the bank closed my account. I put new info in pretty quick but bad timing I guess. Anyhow, the help line said for the next six months I had to pay cash in store only. No other way. And they charged no fee for the missed payment. And took my card online to pay. So, no sense. I went to the store to pay and they took the debit card. The guy even showed me on his screen it said cash only. Still took my card. Till July 9th. Weird.

Back at the office I managed a couple tax returns. And did I put on a third which was for 2018. That one I could not finish because the IRS is closed. Still. The other two were prior years. My government sucks.

I am now sitting here waiting for my 6 o’clock appointment to show up. No sign and it’s 558. Lovely. I hope the asshole gets here. I am staying late. This is not funny.

Asshole was a no show. I left at 605 and drive home. I love inconsiderate dickheads. I tried to make a few calls on the drive. Had no luck getting anyone on the phone. Eventually got a text back an hour later. People just don’t want to talk to me.

Got home and Em already had dinner going. No work for me. I did she’ll an egg and scoop an avocado. She did all else. Very nice. Dinner was fine. When I finished, I opened the inspection report on the new house and read it. Took quite awhile and Emily washed all the dishes while I sat and read the report.

Report had only one item needing repair. The house is in great shape. The report just drives that home. But it did have a few minor items to paint or caulk or whatever as well.

After all that we sat and watched a little TV. And I traded texts with Michael for a long whike about our Disneyland trip tomorrow. Just the usual evening.

I missed my doctor appointment yesterday. I was supposed to get an inoculation, a booster, so I missed that. I may show up today and just get a shot. The rest of the appointment can wait.

For now, watching bad morning TV. Specifically, GMA. What I really hate are the advertisements. I think they are aimed at my age group and I don’t like it. Biggest question, since morning “news” shows are full of ads and placements why in the name of the lord so they need to break for more advertising? I watch and am not fooled by what I see. And I never buy what they advertise. Never.

I gotta say, it’s really difficult to do what I am doing. My black cat, in my lap, ramming her head into me and my hands makes typing a challenge. This cat is unreal. Sadly, she loves me. Just me. If my ass hits a chair, it takes a few seconds and she is there. In my lap. Giving me unnecessary attention. Yes, I would rather she ignored me. She gets out of Emily’s lap just to get on mine. Wakes from a nap to sit in my lap. Yes, I know, first world problems.

I’m going to do a little computer work and clean up. Head for work. I think it’s a work day. Ok. So halfway through the work I realize I have a haircut appointment at 10. It’s 950. And a 20 minute drive. Not dressed. No shower yet. But I don’t give up that easy. Called Becky, told her a tale of woe and she said I have till 1045. Never give up, never surrender. I showered and all.

I drove with alacrity to the appointment. I got there at 1045. Her next one had not shown up. I got my haircut. But Becky was moving fast so no time for chit chat. Too bad, I like that part.

I treated myself to a latte at my new favorite place around the corner. Very nice and overpriced. I’m a poet.

Work was work as is normal. Not much going. I know I was early because walker was still there. He almost always leaves before I arrive.

The day had nothing exciting. Went to the bank for a deposit. That’s the highlight. Otherwise just the usual crap.

I did get a call from Kyle Peterson, my client, sales manager at Honda dealer. We made an appointment for later today to finally see the Type R I am trying to buy. And a 2nd car for Emily to use as a commuter once we move to Auburn.

I did manage to write some IRS letters. Also called the IRS and got them to actually do something positive for a client. I talked them out of imposing a $4200 penalty on my client. I am amazed.

But, as days go, this one did. Maybe I will remember more tomorrow.

I left for the dealership at about 630. Called Wmily, she is coming too for a look at the HRV we are thinking of buying. I got to Honda first. Turns out, the R is in the shop and al I can do is look at it. So no drive test at high speed. Which is crap. So I took some time going over the car, looking at all I could. Many fuses had been pulled so I couldn’t do much but look. Sit in the car and check it out.

I was in the garage at Honda still when Emily arrived. She took a quick look at the R and it was off to her car. That one we checked out extensively and she got to test drive the thing. Seems a good choice. The chassis is same as my current car, with same drive train too. So for me it’s close to home. I am sure it will be fine.

We were unable to write up a contract cuz the place closes at 8 and we don’t care when we do it. Plus, I can’t take delivery of a car that does not run. We made an appointment to come back next Monday late. We will then fake a contract. Yes, fake it. Since we are in the middle of a house purchase we can’t buy cars. Would cause problems with credit and could undermine our house purchase. So Kyle is helping to extend the purchase contracting by at least a week to get the house done. So we will meet and write a preliminary contract and pay whatever and bury the contract so it wont be submitted to the bank for another week or so. Crazy.

Speaking of which, still working on house stuff today as well. Always something.

We stopped at the Chinese place we like in Davis on our way home. It was late so we were not interested in making dinner when we got home. The Chinese place is located in a gas station which always seems weird to me. Of course my favorite chicken place is on a gas station in Dixon. Maybe it’s a thing.

We got our food to go. Got home and wolfed it down quickly. I had pork and broccoli, Emily has Generalw Chicken. The place is excellent. Just great.

After dinner Emily went to bed early. I stayed up for blogging and a little TV. But now it’s bedtime.

Not for me. This is Tuesday. I went to work on the holiday. I understand this is not such a popular holiday as a day off. Some jobs allow 7 or less holidays a year and this one doesn’t often get the vote. Maybe middle of January when it’s cold and all the big holidays just passed don’t lead to need for a day off. I always feel like working in January. I dont feel it in June. At that point I want the balance of the year off. It’s retirement practice.

Today is busy. Rachel appointment at nine, doctor appointment at 2. Need my 2nd Shingles vaccine and I don’t know what else. My doctor runs my appointment schedule and I just follow along. Seems to work. I just need to remember to show up.

So nothing going at doc’s except my wife wants me to ask him questions. I never hide from the doctor, I tell him everything. She is just a worrier. I bet she doesn’t tell her doctor all. Like the fact that she is crazy.

Am at the coffee house now. Rachel was not ready for me when I arrived late. All her fault. The coffee place is relatively new. For Dixon it’s quite radical. They serve truly European style coffee. And charge for it. But anytime I am downtown I stop in and get one. Need to support the effort. Great cup of coffee and the usual Starbucks mediocre. These guys don’t have a huge bank of bottled flavorings to put in your coffee. Just like overseas. You can drink straight coffee when it tastes fantastic. I have ten minutes.

So I notice something, may not be odd, seems such. There are about 15 customers and one employee. All women. I am the only man in here. Starbucks is full of testosterone but not this place. Weird. Oh, they also sell local produce and meat. And pastries. All that crap is organic or whatever. That I hardly care about. It’s all quite pricey too. Coffee as well but man is it good.

It’s been 14 minutes. I am walking back to Rachel’s. She was ready when I got there. Rachie was so quick this time I hardly had a chance to say hello.

I did say goodbye.

Quick trip to work. Again, not much doing. Still have quite a few new house chores. I received the property inspection report and took time to review it. Surprisingly, not many problems. 3 were of semi serious nature and the seller is going to fix them. The other 20 or so items were really of a minor nature. I want to fix them. But I don’t own it yet. Maybe after they hand over the keys.

Also had a few conversations with agent Kary. About the inspection and what to do with it. Discussed where she emailed the disclosures I need to sign and have not yet seen. We found that, finally. She used a combination of two different emails. Fun fact, that actually does not work.

Next up spoke to loan broker Karstin. Same issues, disclosures I did not receive. No one seems capable of sending disclosures via email. At this point, 925pm. I did find one and sent it back. Via email. And she got it.

Spent a couple hours invoicing for year end reports. That was fun. Getting paid for them is truly fun as hell. Actually it is the only fun I get on the job.

I had a Dr appointment at 215. Missed that. I need someone to remind me of all my appointments just before they are scheduled to occur. I just can not keep them in mind. I need to reschedule.

Client Shaun dropped by and gave me 5 lbs of coffee beans. And a friend just sent me 5 lbs of coffee for the hell of it. It’s like a wealth of coffee beans.

For instance, my next appointment. Kyle. He had an appointment with me yesterday at 430 and I left early and missed it. Because I completely forgot it. Well, he came back today at 5pm for another try. And he brought goodies. A fifth of bourbon and a few bottles of hot sauce that he is making for sale to the public. I missed an appointment and was still rewarded with tribute. Awesome.

We had a nice catching up on our lives. Kyle and I used to work together. He was in the office next door, him and his dog Sasha. Sasha weighs about 150 lbs and is sweet as hell. So we had to catch up. He is suing his med insurance provider. They said he had insurance and allowed a surgery and then after denied his coverage and billed him 28k$ He is suing them.

His new company, the hit saice one, has an animated portrait of his dog on the label. Cool.

I managed to do about 70% of his personal and LLC returns before the IRS stopped me. Remember, they have not released all the forms yet and it is impossible to complete a return. The IRS is a bunch of stupid and foolish assholes. Don’t tell them, they think they are cool.

I left work at about 630. Late but I gotta give Kyle his due especially after missing the appointment yesterday. Went to Baldo’s in the way home. It’s my backup place for taco Tuesday. Lupitas, first choice, closes before I will be able to get there. That is a shame. But I still got carnitas and fish tacos and beans. So a feast was had. Also put some of the new hot sauce on my Mexican food. Sauce has great flavor but it’s white boy hot. I want Hispanic hot.

Now for the evening dose must not see TV. I could skip the show but Emily loves the TV. Loves it. So we watch. Now, we go to bed.

Today I slept late. Emily is still at the reunion and now will be till Monday. She wants me to drive two hours today to go wine tasting. I would rather stay home. Fours round trip to see the reunion it’s be damned. Not worth it. Not my side of the family. So I’m going.

But first, the big paper. Not much in it. Feature on Healdsburg, where the winery is near. So I am taking that with me to help inform the others of what is available event-wise for the day.

Other than that, and an article on indoor succulents, the paper qualifies as a doorstop. Had breakfast. He coffee. Did the dog and cat thing.

S, shower, no shave. Ready to go. I’m off on the road to the winery. Like Bob Hope.

The drive was two hours which is 30 mins more than usual. Not sure why. Traffic is slow but there is not much traffic. I always had a car in front of me and most of the drive is two lanes so I guess we will go with that.

Arrived at the winery at about 1220. It was hopping. There is some winter event going on and people go between all the wineries and drink. Duh. They have wristbands. All for free. I have a daughter that works here, all free for me. Winner.

I found the fam in the outdoor tent. Beth and Hank, Dee and Aunt JoAnn. Uncle Kenny left for home this morning for some reason. No one was letting on there. They were drinking. Wow have not seen that before. Well not since the last time I saw the fam at least. Or talked on the phone with them with whoever is drunk. They all have a habit. Just very thirsty I think.

So a wine tasting is really nothing more than an excuse to drink. Some people are quite pretentious about it. Wine. Drink it. Get drunk. Questions?

Personally, I am usually not one to pour it down in great quantity. That way I am sober and able to judge others. That makes me happy. I judge myself superior. Most of the time. I hope others do as well. Makes me feel better.

The sad thing about tasting and not drinking much, here at Marikas winery, is all the wine is free. But, that’s also a reason to ease up because getting hammered becomes that much easier when wine is free. Today they are offering free food in small quantities to the paying guests. We get that too. Not so bad. Some French onion soup, and macaroons. We also had some chorizo and nuts. Not so bad. We had brought some of our own snacks. Turns out they don’t like that. Not sure why when the food is free.

We were sitting around sipping and eating for about 2 1/2 hours. Nothing else to do I guess. If I had not gone to wine tasting I think I would have gone to work which was probably a better idea. There is always something to do there, worthwhile or not.

Everyone else left and went back to Bodega. They are going out to dinner in Bodega Bay tonight. I am going to Petaluma and picking up Marikas cat, Vlad. Marika is going to Hawaii tomorrow. So the grandkitty comes to our house.

It’s about 40 minutes to Petaluma from the winery. Drive was alternately raining and not. Fortunately everyone was driving fast as hell so I got there quick.

I got to Marika’s and walked in and the damn cat just showed up and I put him into the crate by the door. Walked the crate to the car, went back and locked the house and left for home. I’m willing to bet I was not there for even a minute.

About another hour to home, mostly uneventful, or so I thought. By this I mean when I got home I grabbed the crate from the passenger seat and took the stupid cat in the house. Let him out. Back to car to unload, and I notice the newspaper that was under the crate has a wet spot. Oh, joy, the little shit pissed in his crate and it leaked through. I hate him.

Spent the next 30 minutes cleaning my car and the crate and anything else damp or smelly. I hate that cat. I am ready to take him home. Cat pee is not ok.

Spent another hour on the phone with Marika. It turns out after we left, she got a little emotional (not because of us) and when she got to her car she completely lost it and was crying uncontrollably. Emily spoke to her. Then Emily called me and I called Marika. It took an easy 15 minutes to talk her calm. Turns out she was upset because she is leaving her job and finding something with more of a future. And leaving means she won’t see her coworkers anymore and it just got to her. I ended up being on the phone with her for an hour. Finally, she decided to go out for a drink and did not take the phone into the bar. The kid can talk.

Now it’s time for dinner. Been looking forward to it. So, what did I do. Fed all the stupid animals. Then my turn. My buddy Jim has given me some buffalo burgers and steak and few days ago. So tonight is the time for a buffalo burger. That’s right, buffalo. It’s really just a leaner form of beef, not exciting. But I got a freezer full so I have been excited to dig in. And the verdict? Tastes just like beef, like I said. Fun to try something different.

Now that all is done I get America’s Funniest Videos. It’s sunday night. After that, more bad TV. My evenings are electric.

I face timed friend Cissie during AFV and into Last Man Standing. We caught up on things and had a nice chat. Her husband is away for a few days as is my wife. So both alone. Need conversation to remember we are alive. We talked about 30 minutes. Then she took her dog out to poop and I went to do dishes.

Time now for bed. I’m tired. Too much driving.

I am going to work in spite of the MLK Day national holiday. Emily is still in Bodega so not much going on at home. Marika is on the plane going to Hawaii. We have been texting about what she sees and making mean comments. What fun! I will wear my traditional holiday garb today. Shorts and sandals. It is a beautiful day.

This morning I have an appointment with my Dixon real estate agent, Linda. As opposed to my Auburn agent, Kary. I am so wonderful I have two. Actually, each local market needs its own agent. Linda has been my agent for 20 years, and I am moving to Auburn and Linda suggested a new agent. She was correct, it helped to hire local.

But this morning it’s all about the accounting. I am here to go through her accounting in advance of preparing her corporate taxes. Usually takes an hour or so to straighten out her accounts to a point I can use the data in a mostly correct fashion. People who do their own accounting are not very good at it. They do truly screwy things, from a professional accountants point of view. I just try to be nice about it.

We also have time to catch up on things. You know, small town talk about local people. All the stuff I have “missed” since moving out of town. Linda’s assistant, Amanda, was there too. She has two kids, Peyton, the older was in Emily’s class. Amanda’s son is in her class now. Small town, you know. We are buying Girl Scout cookies from Peyton, her first year. Emily always buys far too many boxes from students and ex students. What is one more. One too many, is what. I still have cookies from two years ago in the freezer.

Off to work. Sunny day, clear roads. Nuff said.

Work has still not gotten better over the long weekend. Sad. Everyone was in the office when I got there. Nice when all show up for work on a national holiday. They do this on their own. There is no real schedule so it’s always a surprise to me. Today a pleasant one.

I got to work around noon. I was thinking of working all day. Which, in the end, was a problem.

No specific tasks today. So I used the day from Linda as a test of my just installed 2018 tax software and the Trump TC and JA passed last year. It helps to have live data to work with since it personalizes the result. And since the IRS has not finalized, and will not for weeks, the forms needed for a return, I can practice to my hearts content. Nothing else can be done. Gotta love your government and elected losers I mean leaders.

After practicing on the above return, I had little to do. Then I realized I had another clients complete tax package in hand. So I went through that one, actually two filing separately, and managed to finish them up. To the same point as above returns since, again, the POS IRS is still sitting on their hands. Pussies.

After this I decided to leave early, about 415. Nice cruise home. Charged with Marika in Hawaii. Called Emily. Couple clients even. Went to pet store too to get Jaxons overpriced special can food. Keeps him alive I guess. Keeps me broke for sure. Some day.

Ok, time to reveal. I had an in office appointment at 430 today. So I missed my meeting. Oops. Client, when I got ahold of him, was not to upset. He is a good guy. That’s the kind of client I need. Most are ok with my brain farts.

So, went home. Said hi to the wife. Spent my evening with the usual tasks. I had a really nice evening. I had marinated some sirloin strips this morning and that was dinner, along with a salad and the Chile relleno casserole. Beth has sent home some lemon squares she made. Now we have a complete meal.

The rest of the evening was bad TV and making the bed. The thrills a minute lifestyle is going to kill me one day. Though not today. I have made it to bedtime again.