Mosh Glass

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.

Hey, no workout Friday. In honor of that I slept in till 730. Which is weird. I never sleep in. And awesome. I never sleep in. By never I mean never. Not seldom.

I did finally get out of bed and do things. Like read the paper and drink coffee. And shower. That stuff is important. Not much else to do in a morning besides get ready for the day. Maybe the day should get ready for me.

This morning I drove the convertible to work. Top down, the morning is beautiful. Locked all my loose shit in the trunk so it doesn’t blow away. And drove like the wind.

Made my morning better.

Work today was as work always is. Boring and obtuse. I did not get the delivery I expected which would be money. My cannabis client was supposed to bring cash. He called to reached that till meeting on 10/9. Al least I get paid. In cash.

The balance of the day was the usual crapola. Nothing exciting.

The biggest excitement was the end of the day having to run around, go to two banks to make deposits, write checks on those deposits and go to a third bank to deposit. What a life. Almost pushed me over the edge. And payroll was due by end of day as well. I did manage to get it done. And no one was there to get the checks. The direct deposits got paid at least.

I had so many small tasks at end of day I thought I would go crazy. I think all got done but I’m not sure.

Once I thought I was done, about 7, I jumped in the car and headed north. Left the top up, it’s cold. Getting to be winter like weather.

The evening drive was fast and clear until I got to hwy 49 in Auburn. There it clogged up a tad. Traffic slowed way down and I had a hard time going fast.

I am planning on meeting Marika at home. She said she would be off by 730. Got hone at 720 and she was there. And a strange car in the driveway. A Toyota. Turns out Marika got off work very early and the Toyota belongs to Bella. Friend of Marikas and Bella also watches our pets and house when we are away. Marika wanted to go out, Bella was tagging along. I guess I was tagging along to. We went out for Italian food in downtown Auburn.

Dinner was great. Marika paid, though that’s not why it was great. Just a nice meal with bad service from an inept waiter. We had wine too which may be a bad idea. Though the bad idea tastes good.

I am home now. Sitting on the couch. We came back. The youngsters decided to head back out into Friday night in the foothills. Not sure what they are doing. I can go out on a limb and say probably drinking. I will inquire within once they return.

Son it’s bedtime. Very soon. Even though I slept well, I’m tired. Very fatigued.

No more for tonight.

Pre Friday has arrived. Finally. It’s a long week. Hell, every work week is too long. I need to find a no work week. One that doesn’t end. Please.

Emily left for yoga camp this morning. Actually, she left for school meetings and from there went to yoga camp. She will be there till Sunday doing the yoga thing. Whatever that really is. Marika and I are in our own. Fortunately, we can handle it.

After Emily left at 640am, I sat and drank coffee for a few minutes then tried to get Marika out of bed to go workout. She needed about five minutes to get up and get going. It’s Thursday which means the bikers will be in the gym at 8. And they use up the space in the back room where we work out. There are only 3 bikers any given Tuesday/Thursday but they are assholes. They spread out around the room to monopolize the space. Their leader is a total dick in action and thought. He wheels his exercise bike out while we are in the floor working out. You know the type, pushes the bike real close to us or anyone else and sets up next to people who got there first. And proceeds to make the room a hostile place for non bikers. These assholes do reserve the room but let’s face it, 3 people do not need all the floor space.

In spite of them we did get most of our floor work done before the bike dicks arrived at 8. Had to do a couple sets with them in the room. I hate them. Once done with floor stud we went to the main gym and did some weights. Topped it off with some aerobic work on stationary machines.

When we finished we headed home. No errands or coffee. Weird. At home I got cleaned up and went to work. Marika has work at 5. After work I am going to Bob’s for dinner, prob steak and etc.

My work day was strangely busy. I had a phone meeting at 2 which rolled into a tax meeting at 3 and another call after that. 3 hours. Gone.

I ran out at about 6 to Bobs. Forgot my phone in my haste. Went over to their house. Nice to be invited over when Em is gone. One more night I don’t have to cook. Bob did procure steaks from the local Costco. Not sure what cut but they were good. I prefer a local butcher for steak and other prime meats. Local guys usually do a better job than big stores.

I was kinda late, bob and Renee and friends Dave and Natasha has already had hors douvres and drinks. I had none but did grab a glass of wine. Or two. They were just throwing meat on the grill when I arrived.

Dave also grilled up a large salmon filet. Yuck. I love fish. I hate salmon. Hate it. I ate the steak. We sat and ate and more wine was opened. Dinner was great and company was fun. I never go out and it was nice just to go out.

After dinner, quite a while after dinner I headed for home. Quick stop at the office because I had forgotten my phone. And up the hill. Very fast trip. No traffic at 945. Surprise. Got home in record time. Marika called when I was a mile out, wondering where I was. I was very close. She was already home, work was slow.

I am now typing. No TV since Emily is gone. She likes TV for the noise. I just hate it and don’t turn it on when I have the choice.

I am heading to bed very soon. I am exhausted, just not sure why.

Today is Wednesday. I need to repeat that to myself over and over again, today. I have continually believed it to be Thursday. All day and out loud. Can’t figure it. It got a little embarrassing. With quite a few people. The cure is midnight when it will be real Thursday. And I will be smarter.

I think my workouts are getting easier. I have not been sore at all this week post workout. I want to be sore so I know I have done something. Even today I, with a difficult workout, did not even sweat. What the hell. I need a trainer again. And, btw, I do have a new trainer to replace mine who went to Indonesia. She is going to be here next week to start. Should be fun. She is a New Yorker and the gym manager said she will be able to handle my easy coast attitude. Why does everyone think I am from the east coast?

Again today I am driving the Type R to work. My cat is getting the speed up at the speed shop right now. I hope it’s done by Friday. My commute was dull. Fine. I would like a little more excitement. The kind that does not involve my car becoming an accordion but entertaining nonetheless. Every day in every way I am hating the drive. Even in my favorite car.

Work today was thrilling. Like every day before today. Just plain electric. I have a lot of work to do so dull it isn’t. Too much is also not the problem. Perhaps too many competing tasks might be it. None of which can be finished. That’s a problem. I also have a very insistently annoying IRS auditor calling several times every day. Adds to my stress level. I did not finish anything today. Tomorrow will be the day.

I did have one errand outside the office. The State of CA, EDD, sent me a couple checks for god knows what. I raced to the bank at the end of the day and cashed the checks before the state asks for them back. It’s enough for a couple weeks worth of coffee. And lunch.

Drove home about 530. I was tired of working and just left. Again, drive was efficient and dull. No traffic excitement or emergencies.

Emily got home about the same time I did. She was still unloading her car as I walked up. The garage is down the hill. She is going to yoga camp tomorrow and only working a half day. And her day is only meetings at the district office. So tonight she is getting food ready for the meeting, her turn, and picking for a four day camp. And she is displaying a little psychotic behavior too. What fun for me. For example, she spent 30 minutes looking for a specific small canvas bag to haul her crap at camp. And she LOOKED. I thought she might cry. I had to help and I have never seen it before. We looked. She finally gave up and sound something else.

I helped her pack food for the meeting at school. And she was a little overboard in how the food went into the bowl and what bowls we used.

In between the fun we had dinner. That was fine. No drama. I got to watchTV but she was too busy with packing to sit.

Emily finally calmed down once she got into bed. Though she is not falling right to sleep. I am typing and will read a little before lights out.

Today is back to the grind. Sadly, nothing left to grind.

Marika and I went to workout just after I got Emily out the door and off to work. I am in a little bit of a hurry today because my last part for the turbo came in a week ago and today is the appointed hour. I drop off the Fit and by Friday, I hope, my Fit will be a real race car. I can hardly wait. It’s been six months waiting on the parts. Damn foreign manufacturers. I dropped off and called Cara to come pick me up. Told Josh I would be back Friday for the car. Or just visit it. Not sure. Fingers crossed.

To the office. No appointments. No nothing. These are tough days to write about. Nothing happened. What can a say?

Well, about noon I noticed a nip in the air. It was cold. Inside. I went to the next office and asked the ladies if it was cold. Resounding yes. They had a heater going. I was not dressed for cold weather inside the office.

If you must know, we have had problems with our HVAC for years. Old building, been remodeled a thousand times, only so many AC units on the roof, blah blah blah. Many excuses from property manager and techs. It’s cold. It’s also very cold in the summer, uncomfortably so. At least the rent is low. It’s the bad food, big serving theory.

I have fingerless gloves to wear. Kept in my desk, for obvious reasons. After Cara left for the day I also took her lap blanket. I said it was cold. I was ready to go when Emily arrived. Had to leave the office for the day to warm up. Strange. But, that’s what I do in the summer too. Maybe someday I can move. Home. Sell out. It’s a dream.

Emily remembered to come pick me up at day’s end. Which is good. Ubering to Auburn would be pricey. Seriously, we were in contact at the end of the day. She had an orthodontist appointment late so came by late. So we missed the bad traffic. It’s a food thing.

Off to home. Marika has made salads for our dinner to which we added last nights soup. And the soup was even better tonight. Love it. Soup was great. Salad was great. Meal was great.

Time for mediocre TV. A couple hours worth. Em is working on glass for her class. The kids. She makes glass pendants which they give to their moms. Moms love them. She spent about two hours in them before she got them into the kiln. May be ready in the am. Nice.

She is cleaning up. I am typing and sorta listening to the boob tube. Ready for bed but Em needs ice cream first. Then I can go read. Which is a good end to my day.

Today not much going. We got up late. Can I get a hallelujah? It was nice. We pretty much moved quite slowly through our morning. A pleasant valley Sunday. Oh oh.

We only have one thing planned for today, a visit to the Auburn Fair Grounds for the Home Show. I am hoping for great things. But not expecting much. There is a giveaway of a tiny home. Retails at $50K plus. Which begs a question, who would pay that much for a really small house? Not me. I was not impressed. Hell, I was not impressed by the $120k tiny homes. I could buy a large condo for that price. And would rather.

The problem with this “show” where vendors just try to sell you crap is they charged admission. What? Target doesn’t charge to go in and buy. Or Nordstrom. So I am wary of the show from the gate.

I swear they hired the homeless to work the gate. And I gotta say, shouldn’t you put your best up front? Toothless, overtakes, jumpy methheads don’t sell tickets. Or shouldn’t. It was interesting.

Inside the show, borrrring. Lousy vendors and the usual crap otherwise – cheap toys, bad food (pricey), junk. The vendors did not impress. Unfortunately, my wife does love a demonstration so we sat FOREVER and watched a cookware show. Worlds most amazing cookware. Not. Stuff is nice but not unique. Made lots of quasi scientific claims, not backed up, cooked some food quickly and told us it was amazing. No, not really. Emily could have bought a set of pots except we have an induction stove and stainless does not work on it. Thank god. She did buy the veg slicer, looks cool but incredibly expensive. I have burned money the same way with less to show for it. No worries.

We left there, not soon enough, and ran around the rest of the show. Found nothing worth a shit. Too bad.

At this point we toured the tiny homes. Not impressive. At all. A bunch of engineless RVs. A bunch of single wides at best. A bunch of comfortable shipping containers. You get the idea.

We left. Went home. Nothing left of the day, it was already 5 o’clock and the fat lady was done.

Chores and such at home. Marika has gone to work. Emily made soup for dinner. We watched 60 Minutes.

Dinner we ate our soup, salad and bread. I skipped the bread since Em toasted it. Ewww. Soup was great. That she did not toast.

Watched some TV after dinner. Too much and went to bed since tomorrow is a workday.

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.