Month: October 2019

As far as days go this one was the most vanilla.

Workout same. Got coffee after. Shower. Dressed. Finally something new, driving the race car on a Tuesday since #1 car is getting boosted. Always fun to have extra horses under the pedal.

Left for work speedily. That means fast. I am fast because I know what I’m doing. Drive was slow. I daydreamed. Missed my exit. Oh well. Had to go an additional 2 miles and backtrack. I’m fine with it. Get to see parts of Sacramento no one wants to see. Thank god its daylight.

“Late” to the office by 10 minutes. Nothing going on. I like that. I have time to go thru my emails and messages before I jump into work. Today’s tasks were mundane and many. One tax return finished. A couple hits in audit related crap. Two hours in hold with the IRS. I was just saying loudly “fuck this shit” and hanging up and the drone came on the line. Lucky me right? He did not solve my problem in our twenty minutes together, just made it more confusing. Gotta call again tomorrow. Oh goody, more hold time.

My call ended near six. So, after a day of freezing in my fridge of an office, I headed home. Swiftly. Today on the drive, whenever chance allowed, I drove fast and “raced” other cars. They may not have known they were racing, but when they fly by me the shit is on. I had an amusing drive. Got to Auburn, on 49, and I blocked out a Nissan Versa for three miles just so it couldn’t pass me. Now that’s some good times. After he passed way out at the end where the speed limit ticks up, I used my superior top end and acceleration to zip past him. Just for fun. I had to show him what a waste his speeding to get in front was. It’s lovely.

I used Lone Star Rd as a race track once I made the turn off 49. No one out in the rod so I can just GO. And I did. All turns, lifts and 90s as fast as I can go. It’s one of those days.

Emily was already home. And our Taco Tuesday was sitting in the table. She got me a mix of birria and costillas de puerco. A very fine combonacion, no?

I do look forward to my carniceria meal every week. Today it was the high point. Sad. Working out with the girl is everyday as is the race car if I want. But good Mexican food is only on Tuesday’s or if I leave Auburn and go where there are real Mexicans. Like Dixon. Where my homeboys are.

Emily is in the kitchen grinding the glass charms she made yesterday. They are going with her to yoga camp on Thursday. Yes, adults do go to camp. All women so no place to go raid. And no lake for other shenanigans. Not as much fun as I remember.

We are watching bad TV. Some music competition that Emily really enjoys. I like it but like most TV, I can do without it too. Maybe I can go to bed when it’s over. Then I can read a bunch, which, as you know, pleases me.

But, for now, it’s TV. And all the intellectual challenge it brings. All of it.

it’s Columbus Day!! I know some moron decided to call this indigenous peoples day. But, he is a moron. Us Italians still celebrate Italian American heritage day aka Columbus Day. Everyone else can stick it.

As a celebration, Marika and I went to the gym. Today is a big day for me. I have a new trainer. And she has big plans to make me “shake and sweat”. I told her not to hold her breath. She is like 5’1” and 100 lbs. and a competitive body builder. My last trainer was 6’ + and 230 lbs. Quite the difference.

Her workout was different from my usual by about 75%. There were a couple kettlebell exercises and the rest completely new. I had told her I was ready for anything. Which I am. Almost all the exercises were difficult but nothing to challenging. But I admit, I did sweat hard which I never did prior.

I am going to withhold judgment for a few days. Eventually we will see which trainer is best. Pam, her name, is far more enthusiastic.

Emily stayed home from work today. Aforementioned holiday is a day off in her district. She has some things planned but I know not what. No matter. I am going to work, Marika is going hiking in Truckee and Emily something else.

I have the tax deadline tomorrow to worry about. All I will be doing is pushing to get tax returns done. Do I have any work? I had three clients waiting when I got in this morning. 3. Yikes, and none had an appointment. Bunch of losers. I handled them one by one. Took a couple hours. First was fast and easy. Second was my overly needy brother in law. He needs a lot of help. Paperwork is not his forte. Selling equipment is his thing. So I pretty much do everything involving accounting and taxes for him. At least he knows he is no good at it. That does make it easier. For both of us.

The last client left before I was finished with my in law. She called and said she took off cuz she knew “that guy was needy and would take awhile.” Funny. Guess that’s obvious. I told her he was a decent guy just required some attention. She wasn’t mad and wasn’t worried. She dropped off her info for me to do later.

I did quite a few different things after last person left. Many varied and sundry things. Scanned and sent a few edible forms. Need signatures to file. One owes me a very large sum and he is filing 9 tax returns. I receive his refund direct so I interested in his signature.Emily has called a little earlier and was holding diner for me and Marika. She was not yet home. By 730 I was out the door with three returns worth of info to prep after dinner.

Marika was home by the time I got home at quarter past eight. Em had tacos ready to go plus a plate of cookies. We got table ready and went right for dinner. Food was great which is what happens when you leave Wm alone all day. A good outcome.

Immediately after dinner I went to work. Has to finish, and did, the 3 returns I brought home. Actually, one needs plenty info and I can collect in am. Other two are done.

Everyone was in bed by the time I finished. Sad. But I’m in bed now. Tomorrow will suck I’m sure.

Well, I slept in till 9. Which is nice. But it appears Emily got up at 8 which seems kinda mean. If she had stayed in bed, keeping me warm, I might have made it to 10.

Of course, she got up early and walked down the hill for the newspaper. And made steak and eggs for breakfast. I guess I should forgive her for getting up early.

We sat around eating and reading the paper for an hour or so. A good use of our time. Marika finally got home. She went out last night and did not come home. I presume too drunk to drive. She came in for breakfast too.

Emily decided we should go to the movies today. So after we got showered and dressed we headed out to the movies. Strangely we have a 10 screen multiplex here in Auburn. I am surprised too.

We went to the theater and bought tux for the next movie playing. Turns out to be Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Turns out to be a creepy and weird freak show. If I’d known I woulda watched something else.

After the strange movie we drove to Roseville to see some furniture. Then I had the pleasure of going dress shopping with Emily. She needs an outfit for the wedding on Saturday. Our old next door neighbors daughter is getting married. Fun. In Cleveland. Not so fun. And it involves airfare and a hotel. Way no fun. But we don’t get invited to many weddings and we love Ashley so we have to go. And if there is a party, there has to be a new dress.

Strangely, Emily found a dress. In the third store we visited. I, on the other hand, will wear clothes I already own.

Back to auburn. We went to the grocers, mostly for dinner supplies. Not a long visit, just enough.

Back home finally. We made dinner. A curry chicken vegetable soup. Very good. Not much else happening really. I did some tax work, the deadline approaches. Emily watched TV. And fell asleep. I hope we are in bed soon.

Its Saturday and I did not blog Friday. Sorry to those of you who expect every day. Sometimes, no.

We did go out to dinner last night to Club Car. Marika even joined us, a plate full of steamed clams late, having gotten off early. When Em and I got there it was a 35 min wait. Bar was full. So we walked up the street for a cocktail. The bar we went to was quiet and nothing going. We got drinks and about 3 minutes into those the other place called and said table ready. Great. It’s tough work throwing down a double rye old fashion quickly not to mention Emily’s margarita. But we managed.

Back to Club Car. We got our table, sat, and ordered aforementioned steamed clams. I got another drink. I have notice something. I am very good at drinking only one drink. But, I had a double. Once I get that far I note a tendency to continue. From now on, one.

Dinner was great. No complaints. We each had our own car there having come from different directions. So we kinda went home three ways. I went top down since the evening is so nice. Helps to sober up too.

Home. I’m still enjoying the electricity. I took the new generator out of Emily’s car. She picked it up from my Dixon client who sells them. They are a hot commodity right now. Can’t wait to try it out.

Went in the house and went to bed. I’m half drunk and all full.

Em and I slept in Saturday morning. Not much planned. I have to drive to Dixon and give the generator guy some cash. He did me a solid putting me at the top of the list for a new generator so I paid quick.

The morning, once I got up, was the standard crap. Feed animals, make coffee, brekkies, read paper. Shower. Dressed.

After all that, I drove 90 minutes to Dixon. Fun. Saw the man and paid him. His hardware store was jumping. We talked for a few minutes and I took off. Stopped at Starbucks on the way out of town. Their parking lot had 0 spaces open. I had to park somewhere else a ways away. Not sure what’s up with that. But, I got my Nitro Cold Brew to wake me up. I feel better.

Drove to the office. I worked a couple hours. Finished a few tax returns. Grabbed some work and left for home. Can’t stay all day.

Dinner on my mind. I stopped at my favorite meat market in Auburn for a main dish for tonight’s supper. Ended up with a couple choice steaks and some hamburger. Also, fresh teriyaki meat sticks. For the kids. You know.

Got home. Got the steaks prepped. Started the grill. Put the cauliflower tots in the oven and meat on the grill when it was ready. Quite the nice dinner.

After dinner Emily went to bed. I stayed up and finished the work I had brought home. Took two hours. Then I went to bed and finished blogging while the wife snored. End of a fine day.

Today started very early again. Emily got up super early and went to her sisters house to take a shower. Still no juice here. With that no water.

I got up at 730. Did my morning stuff like feed animals and then went to work out. I had skipped yesterday for various reasons. Mostly it’s the missing electricity screwing with my schedule and brain.

Today was also screwed up. Some electric and some other problems. The main problem, my phone did and would not download my formerly downloaded workouts. I mentioned the new phone a couple days ago when I got it. Anyway, I could not download at the gym for some stupid reason. I had to use an old workout I had in my texts.

I managed a weird put together set of exercises. I still don’t feel well worked out. After I was done, I hit the showers here. First shower in two days. It wasn’t refreshing cuz the shower was really not to my liking. The shave after, first in five days, was.

went to see the manager, Kelley, after. Still trying to get my workouts downloaded. Earlier, I had asked the visiting regional manager to help. Also asked another trainer and my new trainer too. Between all I decided to delete the apps and reinstall. Which I did. Did not work. But, the WiFi in the gym was screwy from the power shut down and we thought that was an issue.

So, I left. Went to get my first cup of coffee of the day. About 30 secs out, the WiFi dropped and all the workouts downloaded. It was like magic.

I drove to coffee. The Starbucks was a shambles. Very popular place when the power is out. They had 0 food but I did get coffee. Starting to feel human.

Back home. Took off the sweaty clothes and got dressed. Watered the dog and cats. And headed out to work. The stoplights are still fouled up but a couple more have gone normal. With most businesses back to normal some of the lights have retuned right normal too. It still took 20 minutes to drive hwy 49 to I80.

Got to work in good time. I had a client show up almost immediately and we spent a couple hours getting his return finished. Somewhat complex return with a combination of things – divorce, sale of home, like kind exchange – that make it more intricate and harder to put together.

I did manage to finish. He left with his return. I switched to others. By days end I had completed five more. And made 20 phone calls, sent a bunch of emails and texts. I’m just to busy and popular.

Got a call from Emily. We decided on dinner. Marika flew in from Hawaii and did text me a few times. A friend picked her up from the airport and she went to dinner.

I got a few things done and left for home. Emily called, the lights are on!!! Fucking A! Lights, heat, water!! Life is good. Drive home was fantastic because I knew I had normal life when I got home. The drive through Auburn was horrible. The road work seems to have ballooned. Lots of one lane sections. Orange cones. Lights. Slow cars. In my way. That part, not fun.

house was comfy again. Very nice. Still need freezers to catch up but it’s nice. I get my own shower tomorrow. We are happy. And we hate PG&E.

Marika got home toward 930. Her ride, Jutt, in tow. They were a little keyed up. At least she was. We had a nice convo about Hawaii and what she did. And what everyone else was doing. Sounded like fun. Hawaii is that way.

I next went to bed. Read and blog and sleep. And pet the damn cat.

It’s Wednesday night at 1030. We are still without power here at Chez Vivier. PG&E was kind enough to shut off our power at 1am this morn. Could be out for days. They are worried about fires. The rest of us would like hot water and lights. It’s been a tough day. And I have not had a shower since yesterday. That is not good.

This morning I was up at 530 as usual. Made Emily’s lunch and Jax breakfast and that’s it. No electricity so no coffee or food. Lovely. Emily has to seek her own on the way to school. Power is off all over town so when I left I could not get any coffee. As a matter of fact I had a dr appointment an hour away so had to get moving and never got coffee till 1130. Too late.

After that appointment in Davis, I had two more in Dixon which I managed to get to on time. While I was there I stopped at the hardware store and tried to buy a generator. I thought maybe since we were in a safe zone they might have one. No luck. The owner is going to hold one for me on next order. Does not help now. Will next time. So, it’s one pm and all outside appointments are done. I headed back to the office. I have two more appointments in my day. Then in free.

Trip back to sac was without event. Got to office. Good news, one of my clients paid his bill in cash today. Always welcome. When I got in, Cara handed me a fat envelope full of green. It truly makes my day. I spent what was left of my day with two appointments, both paid, and doing tax returns. It’s a boring existence. I kept on everything until close to seven.

We were supposed to be spending the night tonight with friends in Sacramento. But, Emily went home to rescue the dog from himself and decided to stay home. She called me just before seven and told me. And then said pick up dinner on ur way home. So I guessed that meant I was going to Auburn to be in the dark with her. I thought I was working. Wrong again.

I went to the Annex in the way hone to get takeout. That is where Marika works. I say at the bar, ordered, and had a drink while I waited. Nice cap to the day. They just changed the menu so it’s my first shot at it. Very good. Took 15 mins, got the food, and headed up the hill to my house.

At the house, still no lights. Or heat. Or water. We ate in the dark mostly. Not much fun. Food taste better when you can see it I think. Still a nice meal. We discussed all the problems and what we were doing tomorrow. Looks like my gym is open so I can shower there. Em is going to her sisters to shower. She likes that better.

We went to bed right after dinner. We cleaned up best we could considering there’s no water. And we went to bed.

I spent an hour texting LA Dodger fans and sending anti LA memes as well. The Dodgers just lost the NLDS to the Nationals. I couldn’t be happier. I hate LA. I love when bad things happen to them. And I just love picking on LA fans. This was a fun way to spend an evening. I am going to sleep well.

Good night.

Ahh, Tuesday. So relaxing except for work. I just love it. No. I do like the Mexican food. That’s it.

Normal morning except I did not workout. I thought my workouts did not download to my phone so I decided to skip my workout. I’m nothing without a leader.

My first chore today, go to the Verizon store and say hi, are you people idiots? Ok. I did not say that. Last nights dummy was not there. I had to speak to a different one. I suggested he check the info she typed into my phone. He tried a few other things. Then my idea, which was correct. She jumbled the imei number last night. Took him 3 minutes, once he found what was wrong, to get the phone working. Amazing.

To the office. Worked all day. Surprise. Lots going on. Many small tasks. Nothing stands out. Played with the new phone all day. Takes some getting used to. I did take a step down with this phone, it’s a 2 year old model. Older is better, like me.

I left by 5. I have two errands. We decided I should stop at the new Mexican place we saw from the freeway to get taco Tuesday. If I can find it. Also, must go to PetsMart for Rx dog food. Jax is out.

So, I only know we saw this place from the freeway. So I had to drive home, the whole time checking out the frontage road for it. Guess what? Never saw it. So no tacos. I tried searching Yelp and other sites. Nothing. Oh well.

Next stop, dog food. Well, I passed the correct exit, by four miles before I realized. I just said fuck it. Will try again tomorrow. Maybe my navigation will improve. PG&E is supposed to turn our juice off tomorrow. Maybe I won’t do anything. I will try. Say a prayer please.

once I got to Auburn I decided to go get food in the one place I know will be open and ready. Taco Tree. Food a lot like TacoBell but so what. I went there.

Emily was not unhappy with it. Good. We chowed on nachos and bad burritos for dinner. That’s fine.

Again, the evening was slow. Some TV. And off to bed. Just the two of us. And Jax. And the black cat.

It’s here. Hawaii day. Yay. Marika is heading to the islands. Specifically, Maui.

The best part, I get up at 4am to set all my stuff done and get her to the airport on time for her flight. We planned on leaving the house at 5am. So did Marika get up at 4? No. I did. Because I have to do a few things, like usual, only an hour and a half earlier. You know the drill, feed animals, feed wife, make coffee. Near five I wake up Marika and try to get her moving. That’s right, at 24 she still needs a kick in the ass to get moving. I had to re wake her later. And again. She misses the point that this impacts my schedule too. I really don’t give a shit if she misses her plane. Not my issue. But I have scheduled my day around this early trip to Sac.

She did finally get and get ready. We left at 520, not 5. She slept the whole way to the airport. Surprise.

After I dropped her, back to Auburn. I have time to workout. I realized I had left my gym access key at home. A small 20 round trip from the gym. Lovely. Em and I had a nice conversation on our respective drives. Her coming down and me going up the hill. It’s still dark out. We passed on hwy 80, she saw me I missed her. Kinda weird.

I went on home and got my key and did a U to the gym. Had my awesome workout. Very strange without Marika. She does keep the workouts going and I never have to guess what we are doing. Does help. Got finished in an hour. Did not feel pushed. I would prefer being pushed a little but my trainer moved to Indonesia. New trainer starts next week, and my first session is Monday.

it’s now Tuesday at 10 pm. So I am going to skip the intricacies of my day and just go over the high points. Yes, there was a high point. Skipping the rest is mostly because I don’t take notes and can not remember.

The high point. I was running errands today and dropped my phone on the way to my car. On the concrete. Hit on the edge and destroyed my cover. Phone was fine. I am sure everyone remembers my hatred for my current phone. I did not choose it. But I did pay only half price. Today, at end of day, I went to Verizon, nearest phone place to my office, for a cover. Since mine was obliterated. Their cheapest decent cover, $100. Ok, only $99. But, still, a lot. I want a different phone and now the new models are here I asked how much for the older one I want that they still sell. And, btw, I have this iPhone and a second as well much older one to trade. They gave me $370 for the two. Leaving me to pay $200 for a phone I want. Or buy a cover for $100. New phone.

The gal who helped me was brand new to Verizon from ATT. She struggled. The store closed while I was waiting. I got the new software loaded and backup restored and just had to leave. Set up was not done. No big. I been around the block before. I can do it later. I went home. Dinner calls.

Got home. Home, that’s where I discovered the phone worked, on WiFi, but the phone did not make or receive calls or texts. I just love a good fuck up.

Well, no yelling, I made dinner. I broiled the pork loin chops I put in marinade last night. Also a very nice salad. Emily isn’t moving, back still hurts. Taking tomorrow off even. We had our dinner, pork was fabulous. I did finish setting up the phone. It does work. Just not as a phone. I assumed it was failure by the rookie to code the phone. Whatever.

We watched some TV after dinner. And went to bed early.

Emily comes home today from yoga camp. No more boat races. Or panty raids. No more complaining about the camp food. Late this afternoon, she will get here.

I cooked up canned corn beef hash with fried eggs on top this morning for our breakfast. Marika and I both like canned meat. Canned hash is cheap as hell and surprisingly not so bad for you. I read the nutrition label and low cal, high protein.

That was at 1030. I was up at 830 and went down the hill for the newspaper. And it was there. Surprise. Headed backup the hill for coffee and paper. I changed clothes cuz it’s still early and I want to wear my warm bathrobe while I drink coffee and read. Made coffee. Sat down at the table. And..no glasses. Where are they? 20 minutes later, looking, I dug up an old pair. Now I read the paper.

Marika got up a little later. She could not find them either. I figured I lost them on the walk down the hill. Wrong. I walked around the house again. Looked under the clothes from the dryer. I had dropped them on the bed. Picked up my sweatshirt I had worn down the hill. Glasses dropped out of it. Oh yeah, I had them in when I pulled off the sweatshirt and they came off with it. I have got to start paying attention.

Back to the paper. I like the Sunday paper. Old news, lots of entertainment and it’s Sunday I have all day to read it. It’s a pleasure. I even read the real estate section. How many $12M homes should I buy?

After breakfast what exciting thing do we have planned? Marika went to work. I mopped the entire house. Takes about two hours. And it’s way fun!!! Please come and join in.

You may have noticed I have not yet showered and etc, well that’s now since I have finished all my domestic duties. Besides laundry which has been ongoing since I got up. I put in a wash load before I lost my eyeglasses. And it continued. Not really worth mentioning, though I just did. I digress, I showered and got dressed.

I have nothing more planned for the day. But, I am going to town. Just like yesterday. I need garbage bags toilet cleaner. Stop at pharmacy for meds. Em’s meds.

Dragged all my crap home. Emily will be home in an hour or so. I truly have nothing to do. I finish a little more laundry. Clean some dishes. Neaten. I know, it sounds fun. It really isn’t.

So I moved slowly around the house. Tracked Emily on the internet. Sat around. Folded more laundry. Finally, sat on the front porch and waited. She finally got home.

I helped Emily unload. She had plenty complaints. Mostly her newly discovered sciatica. Diagnosed by her masseuse at camp. I’m not buying it yet. She does have a sore back hindering her movement. It looks painful. Not sure of the diagnosis.

Marika got home. We sat and chatted a bit. Watched TV. Then I sent Marika out to pick up dinner. I had nothing planned or available. So dinner to go was in the cards.

I sat with the injured spouse and watched TV. She has trouble getting up and down so best to stay close.

Marika got back with food from the local burger drive-in. A favorite for sure. I shared a pastrami burger with Marika. Emily got the hot dog which is really great. The hot dog could be better than the burgers. A fine meal.

Marikas friend Jutt showed up. He missed dinner. Moron. We drank wine and sat around. Solved none of the worlds problems.

It’s time for bed. I am going. Have to be up by 4 to take the kid to the airport. Hawaii beckons.

Someday. I slept in till 830 this morning. That’s cool. Tomorrow too I hope. Then up and vacuum and mop the floors. Having plans helps me get out of bed.

Today was the bomb. Had breakfast and coffee. Read the paper. It actually got here. Then, wait for it, I washed cars. But only two. One is at yoga camp, one is in the speed shop, Marika took hers to work and the last one was washed by someone else. And the two were both mine. I win.

Had a long line of errands to run today. No particular order. I took Em’s Civic in for servicing. I waited 2 1/2 hours while they did it. Ugh. They were busy. So I sat there and did the wait for my car thing. Drank free water. Drank free coffee. Read magazines. Played with my phone. Wandered through the lot and checked out all the new cars. Just a bit boring. Ok, way boring. Awful.

When the car was ready I left without picking up my receipt. They can mail it. No money cuz it’s all prepaid. I ran out of there.

First stop was a fireplace store which it turns out had the wrong hours on their website. God I hate that!! So no help there for my fireplace. Next stop was not car wash as originally planned. Because the car shop washed it when I had it serviced. That’s a win. Baby. I went onward to the auto parts store. I need some car detail supplies. I was a lot of cars. I need a lot of supplies. A lot. Two cool brushes and an awesome sponge. I’m excited. I would swear the guy that helped me there had beginning Alzheimer’s or advanced ADD. He was off track, forgot what he was doing, left me before he rang in everything to help someone else. It was a little cray cray. Wait. It was a lot. Next up went to grocers. Only needed steak. For dinner. A really cheap cut which I will marinate and then smoke on the Q. I know it may sound strange but if I’m gonna attach the meat this way I start cheap. You don’t do that to a filet. Only one thing left. Go to the liquor store for sweet and sour. The bartenders friend. Bar mayonnaise. Drink extender. I thought I was almost out but I forgot Em had bought another bottle. So I wasted some time price matching those losers at BevMo over a $5 bottle of sweet and sour. Saved $1.50. Boom.

Back to the homestead. I made a couple salads. Marika says she could be home by 730. Marinated my cheap steaks in a bourbon/soy sauce marinade. Got my asparagus ready for cooking. Cleaned the bbq and got the coals ready. Put everything away and Marika drove up. 728. Well timed. I lit the Q. Ready for steaks in 10. She cooked the veg. We ate salads. A fine evening. Drank some of the wine leftover from I don’t know when. It’s another fine Saturday night.

My plan now? Wash the dishes. Go to bed. Read my book. Life in the fast lane sure is slow.