Different Day

Today thus far feels much more like a normal day.  I worked pretty much non-stop yesterday, although I did break for lunch.  The cats were not happy about all of my alone basement time but I had a job to do.  Since I will be gathering the same data on Monday’s looks like they will probably be my busy days of the week and as always I never look forward to a Monday unless I am coming off of on-call. 

Had a Breakfast Burrito and an Apple Fritter for supper washed it all down with a Coke Zero.  I increased the cook time for the Burrito but I suppose since I am putting it on a paper plate and not a paper towel like the directions say to that is why some of it still remains cold.  I’ve got a box full of them and am determined to get at least one fully hot.  They are good and just average size.  Meaning unless you have a seriously small stomach or small appetite you won’t get full on eating just one. 

Enjoyed a peaceful evening with the cats and continuing to watch The Resident.  I am on Season 4 now.  They had a COVID episode and it was touching.  They highlighted the fact that many people had to die alone.  I think back to the ending of Shameless and how Frank died alone.  That really bothered me as I think no one should die alone but sadly that is how I picture things will end for me when my expiration date arrives, that is of course based on current conditions.  It’s possible that I will meet someone and I will have someone by my side.  I guess they call it the future because you have no idea what will actually transpire. 

Saw that the Crumbley’s were sentenced this week to 10 to 15 years in prison.  Not surprising they both have started the appeal process.  It’s tough to over turn a guilty criminal conviction, regardless if your truly innocent or if your guilty, the justice system is prejudice once a guilty verdict comes in and you have an up hill fight that can linger for years.  Justice isn’t always just but once and a while we get it right. 

Watched the latest scene from Corbin Fisher with Jack (aka Adam Awbride) and Barron.  Damn not sure how long it was since Jack had his last big O but he had a very large finish.  That was a great way to end what was a busy and kind of a bad day. 

Rudy told me that he got sick.  I knew he wanted something just didn’t know what it was.  He was all over me making biscuits and it was 9:30p  I got up and followed him, that’s when I discovered the damage.  No worries I told him and I cleaned it up and looks like it never happened.  That seemed to comfort him and then he permitted me to go back to bed.  I am never happy when they get sick.  We just had a brushing session a couple days ago.  Looks like I have to have those more frequently.  It’s just something I don’t enjoy doing but the cats start out loving it, then get over stimulated and it turns into biting and play time where they are all hyper.

Here’s hoping that today remains like it is now and that I am not worked much if at all.  All of my tasks are done for the day and it’s just a matter of sitting around and waiting to see what if anything rolls in.  I am sure I won’t get away with nothing to do all day long but if it happens I won’t complain, especially after the day I had yesterday. 

Feels odd that today is Thursday but I am not complaining about that either.  Got to wrangle the trash and push it out to the curb.  An afternoon task.  It’s colder here and rainy.  Were supposed to be heating up in the 80’s to 90’s over the weekend and the first part of the week.  I do not look forward to those temperatures.  However it waffles like this and then bingo one day your just sitting on hell’s front porch roasting.  We haven’t had much Springtime here for years but perhaps things will be different this year.  For sure by the end of April or start of May it will be time to turn the AC on full time. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. 

Man Candy - Weekly Dose

Big Brother

I woke up to not fun this morning.  Big project at work and I am playing big brother spying on certain people to see if they are coming in or not.  It’s highly complex and confidential.  I do think that this will eventually lead to our remote work privileges being revoked because lots of people are taking advantage of remote work.  I hate this project with a passion.  My boss called me to get my thoughts on the project and I told him without hesitation that it’s complete bullshit and a waste of my time, but considering that I need to earn a living I will do the project.  Much to my surprise he sided with me and was really surprised how I had already taken the bull by the horns and started working on this.  It’s a month long process broken down by week and office, which will keep me rather busy.  Hence why I am making my first post in the afternoon. 

Learned yesterday that my personal data including but not limited to my SSN was exposed in the AT&T Data Breach.  I’ve got identity protection out the ying-yang and alerts are firing off from multiple sources.  My identity was stolen many years ago and my credit reports are already frozen.  There isn’t much I can do at this point.  The data that was leaked was seriously old but considering there are multiple data breaches all the time if your personal information isn’t floating on the dark web, it’s just a matter of time before it gets there, matters not who you are, unless of course you don’t do business with anyone or ever give out personal identifiable information (PII).  I am not happy about this but it’s kind of a modern day norm. 

Had the new Mac & Cheese from Stouffer’s last night, it was super rich.  Tasted good.  Supplemented it with a couple small slices of pizza.  A decent meal. 

Continuing to watch The Resident and enjoying my evening with the cats.  Really wish this work project wouldn’t have come out of the wood work, it just ruins my day.  I know no matter what I provide somehow someone will find fault with it.  That’s just my experience from the past on projects like this, which is why I dislike them so much.  The funny or odd thing is that the class of people that I am running these reports on have always had the ability to work remote, it’s all about meeting their billable hours and matters not if they are in or out of the office so long as they are getting us money and meeting their goals from a billing perspective.  Yet another reason why I think this assignment is pure BS. 

Well, on to find you all some man candy and then I am going back to the not so fun.  Hope all is well in your world.  Take care!

Two for Tuesday

Good Morning … Hope that today is off to a good start.  Thanks for dropping by! 

Back to march in the grind of the week parade, otherwise known as work.  Monday is history and actually wasn’t bad.  I did have to endure a call from the boss and he woke me up from a lunch time nap I was taking.  I wasn’t terribly happy about that.  He made a lot of assumptions on a process I preform and called me to make sure that he didn’t make an ass of himself.  Good thing he called because all of his assumptions were wrong.  Not sure why he didn’t just ask me from the start it would have been easier for both of us.  What am I saying, I’m applying logic and that doesn’t exist in the stupidvisor world.  Silly me. 

Speaking of work it’s about time to complete our “self evaluations” this is an assessment on how you think your preforming in your job.  This goes to your manager to remind them on the things that you have done in the past year to help them write their review and that is how your pay raise is calculated.  It’s a suck ass system that I think is piss poor.  Who in their right mind is going to say that they aren’t cutting the mustard, everyone is going to boast and say how great they are.  Not sure why they bother with the “self-evaluation”  but lots of companies do this.  I already know what is asked on the form it’s the same questions and process year after year.  I change things up a little bit but pretty much copy and paste from year to year.  They want you to set a goal and your boss to set two more goals for you, they have to be measurable but no one really holds your feet to the fire to complete them.  It’s just BS on paper that sound like a big deal.  The whole process plays out over the course of a couple months and you don’t get your pay raise until late June.  Here’s hoping that things fair well for me this year as last years raise was shitty and I stirred up a fuss about it. 

I had another good nights sleep.  I am starting to think turning the mattress is what made the difference.  However, it was cool over night.  I woke up once to use the bathroom.  I was woken up by one of the cats trying to get the door stop out from underneath the door, they were knocking the door against the wall.  I yelled and that put that to an end.  They get the door stop dislodged and then play with it like it’s some fancy toy.  They have even carried it to bed.  It’s not so fun when you step on that in the middle of the night.  Ah the challenges of living with cats.  The rewards pay off more than the challenges present so in the end it’s worth it.  Like on Sunday when I was at Breakfast and thought it would be fun to check to see what the little monsters were up to.  I didn’t see them snuggled in my bed so I looked at the camera in the living room.  Here comes Rudy over to smack the camera.  I moved it around and started talking to him.  Scared him half to death and he ran away from it but kept looking back at it, so confused.  It was funny, shame that I don’t pay for cloud storage or record the internal cameras because moments like that are ones I would love to preserve. 

Managed to tear myself away from Netflix long enough to watch some of my recorded favorite shows as well as a few new YouTube videos that were out.  It was nice but I was quick to dive back into my medical drama.  It’s really that great to me. 

Not sure what yesterday was going on internally with my body but I was just eating away like I was starved.  Most of it was craving sweets.  I’ve got a house full of bakery so that doesn’t help.  1/2 of the large pizza I brought home on Sunday is gone.  Wiped that all out over two meals lunch and supper.  It was really good.  Still have 1/2 to go.  Picked up some Jimmy Dean Breakfast Burritos at the store.  Sausage, Egg and Cheese.  I am thinking of trying one of them for lunch today.  Never had them before but thought I would switch things up a bit.  I do hope that they are good.  Probably won’t be like what I get from the local restaurant that makes a Breakfast Burrito.  Have you ever had Breakfast Pizza?  Sausage Gravy with Eggs on it and if you want to get fancy add some bacon to it?  Yeah it’s pretty good but it’s all about the gravy that is what makes or breaks the pizza in my opinion. 

Something spooky happened yesterday.  I was thinking of my brother yesterday and then hours later I was using my phone to surf social media and up pops a missed call from my brother.  He didn’t leave a message.  I was tempted to call him back but thought if he really wanted to reach me he would call back.  I just left it alone.  I think it was an accidental dial and he hung up before he thought the call went through.  The phone never rang which I thought was odd.  I am oddly interested in how he is doing but not enough to call and find out.  I’m always the one who goes the extra mile to get crapped on in the end and those days are long over.  Yeah it is a recipe for regret when one of us dies and I do sadly think I will out live him despite the fact that I am a year older than he is.  

Went vehicle shopping last night via the Internet.  My New Car Fever I don’t think will ever be fully under control.  I did some basic math and what I came up with looks more than affordable but I’m still driving what I have.  I like being free from car payments.  I do plan to trade either this year or next, at least that is the plan who knows if it will actually happen. 

It’s two meeting Tuesday (aka Two for Tuesday) one in the morning and another one in the afternoon.  Wish it was two dicks instead of two meetings but I suppose that is wishful thinking on my part. 

Talk with you all again soon, be well. 

Back

Good Morning … I’ll admit that I didn’t want my 4 day weekend to end but all good things will eventually come to an end.  After breakfast I got dressed and spent a little bit of time with the cats as normal.  Then begrudgingly I turned on my work email on my phone.  173 messages came flying through the air on to my phone.  Looks like there was some staffing/coverage issues while I was out on both Thursday and Friday.  There was also a lot of the usual BS emails sent that I was able to trash. 

My boss assigned me a task but wants to have a meeting about it.  I’ve already completed the task and sent him the information he wanted.  Thankfully he canceled the meeting.  Got to love a stupidvisor!  Just tell me what you need by email and I can do my job, we don’t need to have a meeting.  This highly aggravates me and I think he is well aware of what he is doing. 

Working away playing catch up that sinking feeling of burn out set in but I suppose it’s related to playing catch up.  I am all caught up and just frustrated.  Looking forward to another 4 day weekend mid-next month. 

I did have some good food not from exactly where I planned.  Some fried chicken which I craved for a day before I gave into that.  Damn it sure was good.  Got pizza last night something new a Taco pizza and the salsa had a slight bite to it.  I only ordered an individual size and when I was done I wanted more.  I got a large pizza to take home but it was something I usually get.  The one hot guy that I have been dying to see hasn’t been working the last few times I have been in.  Rather than waiting for my friends invite I hit up the new restaurant that opened at a non-peak time and they were still busy just because it’s new.  Their grill needs some serious seasoning.  I ordered a chicken dish and damn it tasted odd.  Everything else was good.

Got my oil changed and some Freon added, the supply was a little low.  My friend didn’t budget his time so it took a few hours to complete the work and I just sat and hung out.  Had some fun in the process but would have much rather gotten the show on the road.  It was a little annoying just wasting my day off instead of doing what I wanted to do.

The cats got a couple new toys.  One is a small tower with 3 balls that just spin in a circle.  Mora loves that damn thing and spends hours playing with it.  She knows how to get one of the 3 balls out.  Then she chases that ball all over the house and I have found it a couple times.  Trying to outsmart her I took the ball from a different level and swapped it with the ball that she has been getting loose.  That appears to have solved the problem, thus far.  The other toy is just balls that have a fur exterior with a bell inside.  I am trying to replace one toy that Rudy has that is similar but the ball on that is made of hard plastic and he loves that toy, he carries that all over the place.  I ordered something else from Amazon but it won’t be here until late this week or early next, here’s hoping I can duplicate it before his existing toy falls apart, it’s on it’s way out and I don’t want to scrap it without him having a replacement if possible.  Despite the fact every time I step on it in the middle of the night I cuss. 

I didn’t really get to sleep in but did get some naps.  Yesterday I flipped the bed and took some extra sleeping pills.  Damn I slept really good and didn’t want to get up this morning.  I am already ready to go back to bed.  Get me some Taco pizza and then a nice nap, that would be awesome but I can only get the nap as there is no Taco pizza.  At least I found something new that I enjoy. 

I ordered a power strip and got the TV in the basement back in working order again.  Now I can watch anything I want down here, free from the cats.  I even found an old ROKU device and activated it.  Just like being upstairs just the seating isn’t quite as comfy.  This will be great if there is ever a storm and we need to come to the basement, I can watch TV to see the weather. 

Back to the fun of work and I am on-call this week so it’s like a double punch in the gut but this too shall pass.  Here’s hoping that it’s a fast moving week so I can relax a little bit.

I managed to start watching a new TV series that is no longer in production.  Called The Resident.  All 6 seasons are streaming on Netflix and this show has really sucked me in.  Kind of like a modern day ER with some different players.  I am already half way through, just started Season 3 last night.  Each episode if about 45 minutes and I can sit for hours and watch this.  Best part is there are no commercials or ads.  I love that. 

Here’s hoping all is well in your world and that it’s a great day ahead for all.  Thanks for stopping by!

Man Candy - Enjoy

Friday for me

Good Morning … Welcome in and thanks for stopping by.  Today is my Friday.  I took the rest of the week off.  Tomorrow is a somber sort of day in that it will mark 11 years since my spouse passed.  I try to always take that day off as I never know emotionally how I will be.  I’ve adjusted to the fact that he is gone.  I still miss him very much and would love for him to see how much progress I’ve made in that 11 years.  I am amazed at the fact that I am still going and made it through all of the crap.  Friday well there isn’t any point in going back to work for one day so why not just make it an extra long weekend.  I’ve got car maintenance scheduled, so I’ll get that oil change in much sooner than it’s needed but oil is cheap, engines are expensive.  I’ve always taken good care of whatever vehicle I own with respect to oil changes and regular maintenance.  I’ve found that if you take care of your vehicle it will take care of you.  I have plans for both days to enjoy a nice meal out, here’s hoping that happens. 

Got one meeting to attend today and once that is done unless something comes up my day is done.  I’ve knocked out all of my tasks for the day.  Hope that it is a quiet day. 

I woke up a little after 1:30a not sure what exactly I was dreaming about but just remember it wasn’t pleasant.  I tried to go back to bed and Mora came to give me one of her magic hugs but it just didn’t work my brain said, you need to be awake.  I was up until 3a which was no fun.  I still didn’t want to go back to sleep then but gave it a try and Mora helped, before I knew it I was out.  Rudy was waking me up a half hour early but I managed to lay in bed with him for a bit and then we got up.  It was nice to be able to close my eyes and feel him laying on top of me, just purring away so happy to see me and proud that he was able to wake me up.  It’s the best way to start most any day, it always makes me smile more internally than externally. 

With all of my time up I surfed YouTube and damn there are a lot of missing people all of a sudden.  Like it’s the new trend, people just arbitrarily go missing.  I don’t get how one can just vanish with no trace and no one see anything.  I get that people don’t want to get involved but still once something is reported I kind of feel it’s your duty to come forward if you saw something.  Every missing person deserves to be found so their family/loved ones don’t have to wonder and suffer.  Riley Strain kind of brought a lot of attention to this and I think that other cases are building from the momentum that his case gained.  The more that surfaces in Riley’s case the more I think that he was murdered or there was foul play.  I know I’m not alone there.  I’ve looked a little at the Sebastian Rogers case, that’s one big mystery to me.  My speculation theory is that one of his parents is behind this.  Caleb Harris is also a big mystery.  Why would a happy go lucky 21 year old college student just vanish.  In both of these cases I am sure that there is someone out there that knows something.  I hope that they are both found alive and well soon. 

Not sure that I will be posting for those two days.  Hope that the remainder of the week goes well for you and that you have an amazing weekend.  Take care!

Leather Guys

I came across the photo on a group I am part of on social media.  The photo looks real but with the advent of AI it can be tough for me to discern real from artificial. 

There are some guys in leather that just push all of the right buttons for me.  These guys together, damn yeah they pushed all of my buttons and got all of my juices flowing.  I just love the look of leather.  I’ve never worn leather as my main outfit but have a couple of leather jackets when the weather turns cold.

I’ve wanted to share this photo for a bit and since I am currently looking to occupy sometime I figured what better time than now.  I hope that you enjoy the photo and that perhaps I made your day. 

Take care!

Elhomo Today

Morning … I’m hanging at Elhomo today.  I made the call yesterday when I looked at my schedule and thought of last week when my schedule was nearly the same.  I was so bored and really not in the mood to deal with that today so just opted to stay at home. 

I got out yesterday morning quick enough to mail a letter before the storms came rolling in.  Lots of Thunder, Lighting, Rain and threat for Tornados.  The weather was like that for the bulk of the day and even over night.  I expected to get woken up by the weather radio but that didn’t happen. 

Last night it was 82 degrees in here and I gave up and turned on the AC.  Man it was nice to sleep in comfortable temperatures and not have the fan going.  Got a shower and the cats slept in bed with me, guess the storms scared them.  As a result my back is all jacked up again. 

Now were in for a cool off for a bit before things heat up again.  Right now I’ve got no AC and no Heat on.  Hoping to maintain the present temperature for a while but if it gets uncomfortable I will adjust accordingly. 

Just put in for Thursday and Friday off.  Thursday will mark 11 years since my late spouse passed and I just make it a point not to work on that day.  Thinking of heading to the buffet and I am certain that I will sleep in.  Friday time for some car work just an oil change and checking of the refrigerant level.  That won’t take all day but I’d rather relax and not have to wonder about work.  While I was at it I put in for time off next month for my regular doctors visit. 

Watched YouTube videos for the most part but did catch Bill Engvall’s last stand up special on Amazon Prime.  He’s still funny!  Just like the rest of us getting old. 

Occupying time until my dreaded normal Tuesday meeting.  There is a second meeting this afternoon with a vendor, it’s usually very upbeat and the time flies by.  That is one meeting I actually look forward to just wish it was scheduled for an earlier time. 

I’m a little off of my game this morning, the person who is on-call for my team this week has some health issues and is at ER now, so that means that everyone else has to cover for him during the day.  He’s older and his health is not the best.  I’ve expected him to either pass or retire for a few years now but thankfully neither has happened. 

Had some Fettuccini from Stouffer’s last night.  That was so good.  Also had some German Chocolate Cake and Peaches – not together spaces far apart.  It was a good night for food.  Hoping to do something just as good tonight. 

Take care!

Ketchup from the weekend

Continuing with Friday was mostly a quiet day, which I was thankful for. I had Chicken and Escalloped Noodles by Stouffers for supper. Something that my regular grocery store doesn’t carry. The store I went to pick up the Tombstone pizza from had it and I grabbed it because I thought it would be different. It was really good. Only complaints are that some of the sauce bubbled over from the container in the microwave. Also, for some odd reason parts of the dish were cold. My microwave rotates the food as it’s cooking. Some Stouffers dishes come out this way and others are fine. Not sure why.

Saturday, I managed to get up early, feed the cats, grab a shower and head out for breakfast. Got Blueberry Pancakes and they were just as good as the previous weekend. They have Chocolate Pancakes and I will be back to try those in time. Made it to the grocery store and every nut in the city was there. The place was hopping even though I was still early. Once I was done, I stopped at the gas station and topped off the tank and then headed for home. After putting the groceries away, I rested. Just before I was ready to take a nap, I had a feeling wash over me that I forgot to put the milk away. Sure enough it was sitting out, it had only been 30 minutes so I stuck it in the fridge, no harm done. Wow what’s up with my memory? Sometimes it fires on all cylinders and randomly I do something stupid like that.

After my nap, I mixed up the bug spray for the perimeter of my home and went spraying. What I ordered was way too much for my place. I only made ½ of it and have a bottle left over. Rudy was very interested in trying to help me as I assembled the sprayer, he thought it was a toy. I did all of the mixing of the spray outdoors to keep away from the cats. Call me paranoid but better safe than sorry.

Then I came back in, hung out in the basement doing laundry and playing on the computer. Mora got lap time and I think she dozed off for a bit. After she left, Rudy came in for his turn. He goes down pretty easy as long as he’s not excited.

Finally, the moment I was dreading was approaching. I left and went to grab the mail and got a bite to eat. Then the dreaded stop at the pet food store where I dropped $125. I know it seems like a lot but it’s 2 bags of different types of dry food, plus they had a wider variety of canned food so I took advantage of that. When I got to the register I kind of felt like Fred Sanford from Sanford & Son “Elizabeth, it’s the big one, I’m coming home”. I told the lady running the register that I was in pain with anticipation to see how much damage I did, I knew it was going to hurt. Wow never thought it was going to be quite so high but they should be able to eat for a while, that’s the upside.

I brought home left overs from dinner which was Pasta and plan to reheat it for dinner on Sunday. Spent more time in the basement finishing up laundry and staying cool. It was 80 degrees upstairs but downstairs it was only 72. Hence why I hung around so long. The cats finally had enough when it got close to 8p and they threw a fit so I caved and went back upstairs. Had to make the bed and my back was killing me. Got through that little task. Then called it a night. Passed out cat nip and brushed my teeth. Sat to watch TV.

Sunday, the one day I don’t have to leave the house or wake up super early. I wanted nothing more than to sleep in. However, between my body’s clock and Rudy I was up early. In fact, Rudy was my first wake up call at 4a when he was trying to mount his sister. I pulled him off and went to snuggle with him. He had his claws out and scratched up my chest. I got out of bed and cleaned that up and put on some antibiotic ointment on. Then was wide awake so I watched TV. Went back to sleep for a few hours and then the biscuit maker came to wake me up closer to normal time. I got up and fed him. Then I came back to bed for a little while. Then I got up had my breakfast and watched more TV. As the sugar from breakfast wore off, I got sleepy and wound up taking a nice nap. Was up by noon so not terrible.

I am surprised that my friends didn’t invite me over for Easter. It’s highly unusual that they would skip Easter but I’m not begging. I figure that we will be getting together to hit up the new restaurant that opened soon and they just didn’t want to double up. I don’t know if I am right or not and it matters not.

I am taking care of my work task and it’s easier to do that from home than being at their house having to try to get connected and lugging along my laptop. Plus, I’ve got that left over pasta I am looking forward to. I kind of figured that I would get out at some point today but it’s not happening. Kind of feels a bit depressing being alone on a holiday. My late spouse passed shortly after Easter so I’ve got those memories.

It’s another hot day upstairs in the 80’s and it’s tempting me to turn on the AC but I am just pushing through it. Need to get through tomorrow and then the rest of the week should be cooler. It does make it difficult to sleep but I leave the ceiling fan on and it’s semi-comfortable. The cats are unphased by it. I turned on the room dehumidifier that I have for the bedroom, it’s always noisy when it starts up. Gator used to freak out at it. Now Rudy is the one who freaks out, he was just staring in its general direction. Once it gets warmed up the noise goes away. It is small but it does a decent job.

Got the trash out and took care of the litter boxes. Opted to not vacuum but ran the dust buster a little bit to clean up cat food messes that drive me crazy. It’s a very different Sunday routine for me and different isn’t bad just not what I am or the cats are used to. Not looking forward to getting back into the groove but it’s been a sort of fun 2 days.

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend and Easter. Take care!