Month: September 2019

Had to be up a little early today. I am taking Emily’s car in for her chipped windshield and we have a desk being delivered as well. And, it’s Bob’s sixtieth today with me as bartender.

And it’s raining. Big rain, first of winter. Weather does not change much of anything except party will move inside. Forecast says no rain in Sacramento but who can believe? Rain and cold here may equal cold there and still all go inside. I shall inquire within.

Called Bob. Turns out party central is cool and overcast. Not a problem. Bob, it turns out, stocked the bar completely for the party. He had asked me to bring a bunch of stuff which now I don’t have to. Glad I called. Of course, some of what I was bringing was pre-mix cocktails which don’t keep. So I am throwing away about a half bottle of liquor. Moron.

I did m, btw, take the car to the glass shop. There are 3 rock chips in the windshield. They, in their grand wisdom, kicked me to the curb. Said go away and come back tomorrow. Said feggedaboutit. They don’t do chips it turns out. Nice ride for naught.

Got home just in time for desk delivery. Emily had the space cleared. I vacuumed. Got it in place and stocked with our desk shit in about 15 minutes. Now there is no office in Marikas closet. An improvement for her. Emily likes it. I don’t care.

Emily went to the grocers for winter veggies. Bob’s gf Renee had requested veggies for 30 people. Ya, no problemo. She likes things arriving for free. And we are willing to help out for big, bad Bobs bday.

I got all ready and am sitting on the couch. Prob go do some laundry or something. Did the dishes. No rest for the weary.

Emily finally returned and she (we) prepared four large dishes of roasted winter veggies and some off season treats. Lots of chopping. Spiced up. Baked. Time consuming but not difficult.

Bob had called earlier and told me he had stocked the bar and set up. So all I would need to do is show up and make drinks. I have nothing to do and I don’t need to show up and work hard setting up. I get a pass.

We left for the party at about 3. One stop, to buy Bob a birthday cocktail glass. It says Happy Birthday on it. Duh.

Got to party early enough to scam a driveway parking space. It’s like being family. In this neighborhood of tight, crowded streets, it’s a win.

My view of the party was from behind the bar. And sober. So I can only see so much. What I noticed, 30 people can drink a tank car of booze. Emptied a 1/2 gallon of bourbon, vodka, rum and tequila. Plus more. One cocktail or shot at a time. I made a lot of drinks for lots of people. And countless bottles of wine and beer. Not to mention 50 lbs of brisket. And pork. And chicken. All food there just to soak up the copious amounts of alcohol that everyone was drinking.

I had been at the bar working for two hours. Time for dinner. I joined Emily and went thru the food line. The brisket, courtesy of Buck, was delish. Everything else, feh. Salad was awesome.

Oh, cheesecake and chocolate birthday cake were very good.

Back out to the bar, in 30 minutes the crowd had destroyed the bar. Opened extra bottles. Spilled all the garnishes. And left me a mess to clean up. Of course, all these people are drunk as hell. And I’m sober. Just like old times.

I poured for another hour plus until most of the party goers had left. Which was around 1130. The birthday boy was completely and utterly drunk. We said our goodbyes and headed home.

Not much from here out. Home and bed. I forgot a few things, bar tools, at the party. Will get them on Monday. Bobs house is only minutes from my office.

I am hoping tonight I manage a good nights sleep.

I woke up to cold. And drizzly. I was expecting warm and sunny. Tomorrow is rain. And Sunday. And Monday. That sounds like Fall. The rain will be followed by at least five days of mid 70’s sun. Warmish. Not summer. Got nine more months to summer. Where the hell is global warming?

Emily drove me down to the mailbox on her way out. No newspaper. Fuckers. I’d like to bring one of the delivery idiots out here and make the shithead walk my driveway a few times for no reason. Might help him catch on. It’s a real pain when there is no newspaper. Fortunately, the garbage man had been here and I grabbed the van in the way back. Not a total loss.

It does ruin my morning. I like to eat my gruel, drink coffee and read the paper. Without the paper, that triangle collapses. I can fill in with phone internet and such but really, I like the paper. Once my generation is gone there won’t be any real paper delivered anymore. I would be disappointed but I will not be here.

No paper means an early start to the day’s post. As you can read, the last few paragraphs are the no news response. Nothing better to do. And my anger at the stupid shits at the SF Chronicle inspires me to write. It’s funny, my family has subscribed to the SF Chron since before I was born. I started reading it in the early 1960’s. And delivery has been a huge problem from my earliest memory. Why? They have to be truly dumb, shortsighted and unable to identify problems and hence unable to solve them. I do hate them at an elemental level.

Ok. Getting off that. Today, I have one scheduled appointment. And he pays cash. One of my oldest customers, by which I mean he has been with me a long time. Not old. He is same age as me. Young. Anyhow, he is coming in at noon. He always brings me a bottle of booze when he has his taxes done. Usually bottle from Mexico, picked up on his annual visit. Good guy. I bought him a bottle this time. It’s been sitting behind my desk for about six months. Will be glad to pass it to him. This does mean drinking in the middle of the day. I can handle it. Meeting will be fun cuz we get to catch up on all the things we have been doing. Like I said, we go way back.

I am driving the race car to work today. No other reason than I want to and I try to take it out once a week. Like the wife. I do always enjoy the drive.

Today was nothing special again. Not one task stood out. I had no calls. Really just boring. My one client was coming at noon and ended up being over an hour late.

He did show before 130. I need to do his trust, limited. Partnership and personal ya returns. It takes awhile. I usually prepare the returns while he sits at my desk. I am usually very quick. As I was today. Most of the appointment, as is normal, was spent talking about the past and our families and what we are doing. And some of the talk of the future and how we are going to pay for retirement. Neither of us saved to well and he has been on disability for several years. Anyway, we talk a lot. Today no drinking.

I did finish all three returns. Processed all three – copies for him and file, payment coupons, etc. And he pays the fee in cash. Always. Guess I’m goin our to dinner tonight. He even said now I can go out to dinner with Emily. He knows the wife as well.

Client took off and I went to the bank. Gotta cover payroll. Came back to the office after. I managed a few more tasks before I headed up the hill.

Fast drive to home but still got to town late, around 630. So I called Emily and told her to meet me downtown for dinner. She took her sweet damn time but finally showed up and helped pick a place to eat.

That’s my whole day. I’m thrilled too. I’m watching murder porn and typing. Very soon I go to bed.

Usual day. Yes, I know I say that a lot but saying it a lot is the usual thing.

Marika and I had a great workout. We also had to get to the gym 45 mins early so Marika could get to her haircut on time. Hard workout but it’s the last one of the week till Monday. So, extra hard workout. And, funny, as tough as the workout was, I am not even a little stiff or sore 12 hours later.

The work day was not as exciting as the gym. I actually got to work early. And, someone even noticed. I feel so proud.

I did stop for coffee on the way in. Drove the convertible which improved my mood tremendously. And I got a bit of a tan.

The days work was boring. Only one thing of note, I finally got a copy of the draft contract my attorney is working on. If I can get the thing finales and signed, I get paid big $$. I would love that. LOVE that.

Left work late. Why? Aforementioned attorney called at 5 to discuss that contract. Yikes. We talked till 6 when I kicked him off the phone.

Had a great drive home. Just a perfect weather day. Warm and sunny even at 6. Took all the way to Auburn before I got Emily on the phone. She had texted and then went radio silent. I had stopped in Newcastle for gas and called. Stopped in Auburn and tried again, after that I ended up bringing home dinner. Overpriced sandwiches from the deli. They were tasty.

That’s the day. That’s all folks. Have been watching quality TV, Last Man Standing. But it’s over and I am bedding down.

I slept very poorly last night. Guess god wanted to even things out a bit from my fabulous nights sleep on Monday. I got the dog and both cats. Which goes to show you it’s the damn animals that ruin it all. Emiky will be home tonight. The animals sleep on her so I’m thinking I can sleep well again.

It’s Wednesday, again, and time for weigh in. 158.6 for those of you keeping track. Down 3 from last week. Always good to lose. The diet does work and I paid a little more attention for a change. Good for me.

The kid and I had a tough workout. My choice again. 3 sets of floor exercises and 3 land mines. I was thinking how much time I spend watching others do floor work. I watch because they do some really freaky ass shit. I watch while I am doing my routine. I don’t just stand and stare even though that’s what I want to do. Not sure where they learn these moves. I am glad i get to see, it makes me feel normal.

I did talk to Marika about it and she noticed the same freak show I did. She even brought it up later with her Mom. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Marika needed some stuff for dinner so we had to go to Safeway. I surprised her and went to the donut shop instead. Hey, good weigh in. I get a reward. Coffee too. Marika had coffee only, she is stronger. The donut was delish.

After our quick snack we went to the grocers. Bought food for dinner, no extras.

Back hone. I got ready for work and headed to Sacramento. Nothing to report, drive was fine.

Work is nothing but taxes, again. Next deadline is 10/15 and the “early” clients are showing up. I managed three done today, not like tax season because there are fewer in October.

I had one client come in who had huge profits. I knew once I called him he would come in and start lying about expenses we did not know about. He has that type of personality, you know, dishonest. Of course, he frames it all the right way so I can believe what he says. His add-ons made a $60K tax bill turn into a $5k refund. Liar. Gonna charge him more.

Not much else to the day. Mostly a snoozer. I did do a return for a client with a foreign wife. By that I mean a non citizen and non resident. He had a lot of foreign reporting. I was able to finish his without any lying either. And he tipped me $230 on top of my fee.

I headed for hone about 6. Traffic sucked all the way to Elkhorn exit which is where I realized there was an accident. Once past, I flew the rest of the way. Back in Auburn Emily called. She was headed to the car wash and I met her there. Helped dry the car.

We went home from there, unloaded her car, and got dinner stuff out of the fridge. Marika has already put dinner together for us. It was steak salad, all we did was put it on the table.

Marika called, she had been sent home early so we decided to wait for her. Only five minutes out, we didn’t wait and started eating. Sorry, honey.

She did get home and we finished dinner together.

Bad TV was on for awhile. We watched a bit and hit the hay.

A beautiful Tuesday. Really nice. I slept through the night. Weird waking up and realizing that. Have not done that in a long time. Could be years. It certainly helped having an empty bed. With Emily gone the dog is gone and the cat is gone. All night. All I gotta do is figure out how to get rid of the animals once Emily is back. Thinking on that.

Morning was nice. I made coffee, ate breakfast and fed the dog. That’s all. No other tasks.

Marika and I went to workout. I picked a short workout, fewer sets obvs. But, it turned out to be a real butt kicker in just six sets. It can be difficult to measure when you look at the sets up front. I should have said it is. But, the satisfaction when done is bigger. I like feeling like there was some accomplishment.

I do have appointments today. Starting at 11. So I need to get my ass in gear. I actually managed to get back hone and get ready and leave on a timely basis. Yes, I am surprised too.

I was out the door by 10. I made such good time I was able to stop for coffee for me and my 11, Raquel.

Appointment ran long. I had to boot her out and take my 12 o’clock. Good thing, they only stole 30 mins of my life. A couple, both engineers, who make too damn much money, and want to not pay any more taxes. Shocking. Now I need to devise a plan to do just that. They seem all in for it. Wait till we meet and discuss it. Who knows.

Next appointment was a no show. So, I phoned Raquel, she had gone to lunch, and told her to head back over to finish up. She has a new Corp and quite a few changes to her taxes. Was three returns. And she paid today. A good reason to finish up today.

I did get all three returns done, printed and processed. E filed all too. Start and end in one day. If I did that every day, I would be rich.

Used the last couple hours of the day for emails and calls. I also started to clean my desk. Yes, shocking. I left at about 6 in time for dinner with the girl.

Quick ride home. Nice. Hoped dinner would be ready. It wasn’t. Marika had a friend over, Jut, who came for lunch and stayed till 10. He may have a thing for the girl. Not sure. Mostly he seems a good kid except he is a Dodger fan. Really. Loser.

So no dinner prepared. I fixed my own, leftover burger from the other night. Burgers so big this one leftover fed two. I ate alone. Marika was not ready to eat. Weird. She ended up eating after her friend left. Hmmmm.

I watched a little decent TV, Archer, and went to bed by 915.

Got Emily out the door this morning for her two day stay in Dixon. All she forgot was her classroom keys and some cash. Which are ever so slightly important.

Marika and I went to workout. Which is somewhat of a daily ritual. I picked a difficult workout because it’s painful and makes both of us feel like we worked hard. Of course, we do work hard. I was breathing hard and sweating and did not even need a trainer pushing me to get there. Self motivated, not bragging.

Back home, I showered and shaved. It is Monday, which is a shave day. Loaded up and headed to work. Did not, for a change, nod off while driving. So I did not get coffee.

I had an appointment at 12. I arrived at 1145, so nice. I do have to take a trip to Dixon for key delivery. But, timing is wrong today so I went to the office to meet the new client.

Nothing too special, I prepared her to return. Mostly her way cuz some people are like that. Took two hours since she was helping. If she had left me alone it would have been twenty minutes. She was a very nice lady with a sense of humor. Not required but nice to have.

I left for Dixon at about 2. Got there at 230. Which is quick. I dropped the keys with Em and forgot to give her cash. Oops. Headed back to Sacramento. Trip took an hour, not quick, just bad traffic timing.

Back to heaven in Sacramento. Worked the rest of the afternoon, made difficult by all the text messages from Marika and Cissie, but still managed too finish work between texts. Or in spite of them.

Usual crap to do, tax returns and the like. Stayed till about 6. Had a few calls from Marika while I was in the office and a few while driving. She is making dinner and needed a few things from the store, asked for over the course of several calls. Always entertaining.

I did manage to get back to Auburn finally. Spent 30 minutes at two different grocers in search of the magic ingredients for tonight’s dinner. Sometimes we go overboard for a good meal. It’s a symptom of too much Food Channel. And I am the enabler making it all possible.

Got home. Marika was in full swing in the kitchen. She is attempting to make a dish that is served in the restaurant she works in. It is really just a hamburger except for the prep on all the ingredients it would be simple. For instance, the roasted fresh jalapeños. I walked into a chemical cloud, an exploded tear gas canister, in the kitchen. Just part of the prep. I was coughing and crying right away.

It took an easy 30 minutes to finish cooking once I had arrived. I don’t know how long prior.

We did enjoy our burgers though they weren’t quite the one from work. It was a pleasant meal. Quiet. I did unpack the recent gift from Cissie so Marika could take a look. There were lots of goodies. The best were the little chocolate hedgehogs. Crunchy chocolate outside and chocolate cream inside. And they look like cute little hedgehogs. We sat at the table quite awhile, took a call from Em. Then watched a little tv and went to bed.

Usually that’s how it works.

Today is a special day. At least I think it is. Today Marika and I are driving to Dixon to pick up her car. New clutch, pressure plate, ring gasket, all the parts. Lovely. And a starter to top it off. We arrived a few minutes late but that’s ok. Dennis, my mechanic, was not there. Next best thing, I paid his wife the big $$$ for the job. Took the car for a quick test drive and pronounced it cured. Or repaired. It’s like new. Makes me want to put a new clutch in my car.

Drive was very quick, both ways. No real traffic so it was zoom zoom.

Home. Emily was gone. She had left to drive to Carneros to join her brother and sister for lunch. They are trying to improve their sibling relationship. They don’t have one. The offshoot of the lunch? She is gone all day.

We did not much exciting. I did laundry and made the bed. Whoa. Marika and I installed the custom armrest cover in her car. So new clutch and new armrest. Wow!! What a day. Marika also ran her car through the car wash twice and even actually vacuumed it. Yes, hard to believe. It really looks like a new car.

Marika went to work at about 230. She is closing.

I stayed behind. I’m closing here. I continued the laundry thing, did some yard work, ran errands to pick up some lubricant, coffee, and Rx for the dog. What a fun set. Took a good thirty minutes to find the correct lubricant. Of course, I was in Home Depot and the idiot I chose to ask had no idea what lithium grease is. She looked it up on the computer and was actually shocked they carried it. Brilliant.

Back home I lubricated all interior doors. They were squeaky and rough. Now, quiet and smooth. Strangely very satisfying. I love jobs like that. I then made some cold brew coffee. It’s smooth and satisfying. The cold coffee brewer Em bought me for my birthday is still a bit of an enigma. I have been trying various brew methods, including theirs, and am not able to make a satisfying brew. And though I also picked up Rx, I can’t tell you how it worked for the dog. He isn’t dead so I think good.

Emily got home about 5. That was nice she is leaving tomorrow for two nights. That will be good for her.

I made us dinner. Steak salad. Which was all fine. That was the point her migraine hit and her evening ended. Not even any packing. Says she is gonna do it in the morning. Right. I better get up early to help out cuz we know she is gonna be bullshit in the morning.

I did watch some bad TV. It’s sunday night so it’s AFV time. Then the usual crap.

Marika just got home. An early night for her. Plenty tips anyway. I like it.

I am going to bed very soon. That’s because the laundry is piled on my bed and I have to fold it. The lady with the migraine can’t help.

It’s Saturday. Usually a day we sleep until we want to get up. Otherwise known as sleeping in. Duh. Is the opposite sleeping out? No.

So, we slept out this morning. Why? Yes, I do know. Em and I are meeting our nephew Clark and his girlfriend Alicia for breakfast in Nevada City. He invited us a few weeks back when we saw him at his brothers engagement party. We so seldom see him we accepted the invite right away. And the cafe is only 20 minutes from our house. A bonus.

We got ready quickly. Mario was supposed to go with us too. But, she got in at 5am from her Friday night out. She is using fatigue as her excuse. Weenie.

Em and I got out pretty quick. Of course, my wife does not leave on time for anything. We were a few minutes late. The cafe is so popular they can give your table away unless your entire party is there. 9am is still a little early and there was no line so they held our table till our arrival at 9:10.

I have never been here before. South Pine Cafe. I am going to make a recommendation. Go here and eat breakfast. The food is fantastically wonderful. The extensive menu of beverages is great. They have fresh squeezed juices with free refills. The juices are served without ice so you get a full 16oz glass as well. I gotta say, you can’t go wrong with anything they serve.

We moved slowly from ordering to eating. Hard to make up our minds. We sat a talked and ate and drank for a long time. We sat until we noticed lots of people milling outside waiting for a table which made Clark feel bad so we quickly got the bill paid and were out the door.

We walked around The city a bit. We said our goodbyes to Clark and Alicia. Then we went home.

Well, I really can’t recall the rest of the day. Must not have been to important.

We did have dinner together. There was a nice salad and bbq’d sirloin. Some broiled asparagus. Very nice. I like that.

I know we went to bed at some point. Must have, I woke up in bed.

What is it I did yesterday, last day of the work week? It’s only 8 hours since Friday ended and I’m drawing a blank.

Yesterday morning Marika and I did go to the gym. Had a great workout. Today’s visit is a makeup for Tuesday’s miss. On Tuesday we took Marika’s car to Dixon to get fixed. New clutch. Be ready Friday.

The balance of my day after the workout was the usual crap. Mostly. I worked all day. Accounting and taxes. Nothing fun happened. I did go to the bank. Not fun.

Emily went to some reflexology place in Sacramento after work. Renee went with her.

She went late so I stayed in the office till 645 at which point we three went out to dinner. I have to say, dinner location was a trip down memory lane. The restaurant was in Country Club Mall. 30 years ago that mall was the bomb. The place to go for fancy shopping. My Aunt used to take me there for shopping trips. Now, the place is a rehabbed mall with 2nd and 3rd tire retailers. Not a destination anymore. Neighborhood has become a little seedy too. Well, we ate at the Flame Grill there. Strangely, the whole meal was excellent. Go figure. I feel strangely happy and a little reminiscent.

Out of Sac at about 9. Emily drives to damn fast. Had to race her up the hill. I got to Auburn and hit 7 red lights in a row. Love it.

Got home and we went to bed. Probably within five minutes of arrival. Getting up early, for Saturday, tomorrow.

Today is clear skies and sun. Got up to 80. A nice day. When I walked Emily to the car at 630am it was freezing. Not always perfect.

I did get in a fine workout. We managed to leave early enough that we got full use of the back room for our workout. The bikers take over on Tuesday and Thursday for spin. All four of them. They spread out like a dog pisses on a tree. I guess they don’t want company. They spend their hour talking and spinning I notice, no sweat and no one out of breath. They are just in the way. Today we got it. Fuck them.

Back to home. I am trying to figure out my new cold brew device. Not having much luck. First batch was lousy. Mostly due to poor instruction. Fixed that and it’s somewhat improved. Tonight I will try again and not put in fridge. I think it works better at room temp. It did when I was using the not so cool jug method. We will see. I will advise on my success.

Marika and I took my R car to service. The tire warning light is staying on. I figured it had to go in shop. They reset it in 30 sec and I was on my way. Like a broken computer, they know where to hit it.

Went back home. Finished screwing with the coffee. I hope for better on next batch. Grabbed my water can and lunch and left for work.

I swear I don’t know how I keep from crashing the car. Everyday going to work I am falling asleep. Every. Day. I have to get or make coffee as soon as I get to the office. Every. Day. Is this a good reason to retire?

As of late yesterday my computer was not working. I did manage to forget. When I arrived at the office I realized I had planned in bringing fresh batteries for the keyboard. Oops. Had to go to the mini mart. The new ones did not help. So, next up I took my non working monitor and hooked it up to another computer. Worked fine. I put another monitor in mine. And it worked. Wtf? Still no working keyboard. Used an old model from the back room and it worked. Then I tried moving the wireless keyboard sensor from the cable it was plugged into to another plug. And it now works. Again, wtf? My IT guy was dumbfounded as well. No matter. It’s working

Not sure what I managed to get done today. I worked a few hours. Must have done something in the way of constructive labor. I need Aracept I think.

I left the office around 6. Emily is getting home later than usual due to a massage appointment so there is no need for me to hurry. So I didn’t. Traffic was light and I drove slow. I was in Rocklin by the time Emily called. We figured we need to create dinner and she left that to me. I thought about it on the drive and decided to just stop somewhere along the way. Which I did. I called Emily from the parking lot and texted her with no answer. By the time I got her she had already passed where I had stopped. Too bad for her.

We had Vietnamese food. And pho to go for the kid at work. Meal was great and cheaper than usual. A win. We got the pho packed to go much more securely than last time when it ended up in the parking lot cuz the containers melted.

After dinner, head home. Home, fee animals and got ready for bed. Earlier than usual. I like that. Been blogging from bed for an hour. Now sleepy time.