Wednesday & Thursday

Greetings everyone,

I hope that your doing reasonably well and life is treating you okay. I really wanted to go grab a pizza on Wednesday but found out that I was wrong about the Pizza place (despite how far it is away) not falling under the same COVID restrictions that are in place for my local area. It’s all out door dining and I am not a fan of that unless it’s cool [low 70’s] and there are no bugs, otherwise all bets are off. Since my plans were dashed, I opted instead to grab the mail, go for a short drive and then hit up Target.

The only good thing about getting the mail is that all of the bills were already paid, that’s really the only time I like to see a bill but that isn’t always the way it works. My birthday was okay. I had some Spaghetti and Cheesecake. My sugar dropped close to supper time so it took a bit to get back to level ground but the food was good.

I knew that work was spiraling out of control for my co-worker and he was getting hit pretty hard. In the evening I opted to check on things and called him up. Turns out it was a good thing I opted to work. He made a HUGE mistake that would have riled up our Network Team and I caught it. It took me more than a few minutes to sort out what happened but once I did, I was able to fix it. That took hours! No one but the two of us is the wiser and that is the way I like to keep it. I also helped out by pushing through some work that he was struggling with and today he was able to catch up. I’m no dummy since I worked it counts as work so that is less vacation time I have to take and gives me more time to burn before the year is done. I am ready to plan my next week off.

That was all of Wednesday. Thursday, I got to see the doctor. Glad I changed masks to get away from the N-95 mask because those aren’t allowed in my doc’s office any longer. It’s easier to breathe with a regular mask but it feels very odd on my face. We had a nice chat about COVID and it sounds like there is going to be a vaccine ready by the end of the year, most likely sometime in December is what I was told. Time will of course tell. It sounds like if everyone or at least the majority of people get the vaccine that should quell things and life as we knew it will probably open up within the first quarter of next year. Again, this is all supposition but hopefully it’s close to accurate.

We spoke about my weight gain and I totally forgot about a couple talking points I wanted to mention. However, he asked me to try a new drug called Rybelsus it has the same ingredients as Ozempic but it’s in a pill form whereas Ozempic is an injectable. I got a month of samples. He said that some weight loss places put people who don’t have diabetes on the drug simply to lose weight. Once I got to read up on the drug I see why because the two most common side effects are nausea and diarrhea. You start off on a low dose for a month so your body has a chance to get used to the drug and then ramp up to a higher dose. Most people loose 5 to 10 pounds although it’s been reported that some people loose more than that, the average is 5 to 10 pounds. The next big thing is cost. It’s a new drug and brand name only. It’s not covered by my insurance, which was of no surprise to me. The manufacturer will give you 6 months of the drug for $10 each month. After that you get different compensation and in the long run, I would wind up paying some money out of pocket. Average cost for 30 days is $730 – while it’s not the end of the world it’s insanity, that is more than my car payment. Sadly, I am not going to even bother to start this because even if it does work, I can’t afford it. I will check back in a month. When I go back in 3 months, I will return the sample so someone else can take advantage of it. The shelf life is 2 years and the pills are in blister packs. You take a pill when you wake up with no more than 4 ounces of water then wait 30 minutes before you can eat or drink anything else. That’s another drawback. They offer reminder alarms for your phone to help you get used to this new way of life. It’s just not something I can afford nor wish to sign up for.

I am on 3 different medications that finally have gotten my A1C under control. The problem is 2 of them cause weight gain and once you gain, they inhibit you from losing weight. COVID and being home bound with less daily movement has contributed to my weight gain. I am not happy about it but if I could just motivate myself to jump on the treadmill or to step outside and go for a walk that would help. So, would modifying my diet but I don’t foresee that happening.

I was caught off guard because the doc elected to have blood work done in his office and this was a time when I should have gone to the hospital. I didn’t bother to correct him because I just wanted to get it over with. I wasn’t wild about visiting the local hospital given COVID is in the air. It took a couple pricks but they finally got my blood. They sent in this black lady who straight up called me a baby. She asked me why I was like that and I just responded sorry I was born that way. She said try to think of something else like your hot wife. The other nurse went to whisper in her ear, he’s gay but didn’t quite get the opportunity. I told her I wasn’t married, she said think about sports. I said I don’t like sports. Not even football? I said nope, no sports but I do love looking at the players in their uniforms. She said your okay, I like you. Can we talk about, drops in hot sports players name? I said we can talk about him all you want but I have no clue who he is nor what he looks like. She told me I was missing out. Okay, so I might be. There is no shortage of hot men in the world, regardless if they are athletes or not.

My trip to the doc was the farthest I have traveled in 3 months. It takes an hour to get there and an hour back home. On my way back I just wanted to keep on going and not come home right away. It felt good to have the sun shining on me and to be behind the wheel driving more than 30 miles per hour. I know my vehicle was happy about it as well. The battery got a very good charge, which it was desperately in need of.

I popped in a pizza for supper, burnt it a bit but it was still good. Nothing close to what I would get in a restaurant but nice for frozen pizza although it was no Tombstone. I love their pizza.

I was surprised this morning when the UPS person knocked on the door, my memory upgrade came a day early. I got it installed with minimal effort. I haven’t really spent a lot of personal time with my new machine and am really driving it tonight, thus far it’s quite fun.

I have plenty of cleaning to do around here so hopefully I feel motivated to do that tomorrow. I still need to purchase rock for the front of the house and to clean out the gutters but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

That’s all I know at the moment. I still have a few days left before Tuesday gets here and it’s back to work. I am waiting to hear from my Thanksgiving friends about getting together on Labor Day. While I welcome the change of pace, I am a bit nervous about it. I plan on wearing my mask unless I am eating. They might think I am silly or being overly dramatic but I have to look out for myself. Here’s to what vacation time I have left and hopefully I can make some memories with the cats, get in some serous sleep and enjoy myself while getting this place in order. Take care and we will talk with you peeps again soon!