Shock

Like most Americans last night I was shocked and stunned to hear of RBG’s passing.  She was truly an amazing woman and accomplished so much while she was here on earth.  Our country is better off because of her and to say she will be missed is quite the understatement.  Rest in peace RBG and thanks for all you did for America!

Whoever is holding the voodoo doll or asking if 2020 can get worse, please STOP already.  Just when you think we hit rock bottom, another shoe falls and then another and another.  I don’t know about you but I am about out of shoes.  A person can only take so much bad news.  This year will go down as one of the worst in history, I can only hope that next year is better.  We will get a glimpse of that in a few months when election day arrives and the votes are counted. 

If your not registered to vote, please register and vote.  I do hope that this election will go down as one that had the most voters in years.  I think that lots of people will vote but I don’t think everyone will, and just in case that’s you I beg of you to reconsider.  I’m not a political person but given the fact that there isn’t much else to concentrate on I have become slightly political and I know that I am not alone. 

America needs change for the positive and we need a sane & capable leader who can turn what can only be described as a shit show into a rose garden.  Look in my book all politicians are corrupt and were voting for the lesser of two evils.  I think the person in charge has proven to be less than desirable and if we get 4 more years of that, well either shoot me or help me pack so I can move to a different country, Canada sounds nice.  If we get the change, most certainly all eyes will be on our new leader and he will have quite the task to clean things up. 

 

In other news, I did sleep in today but the cats had me up early to get their breakfast.  Whiny little beasts whos shrill meow could wake someone from a coma or so I think.  Give them food and their still not happy, they want attention.  I have no attention to pass out on Saturday morning, I just want to go back to bed and be left alone.  I even managed to get in an hour nap in the afternoon.  Watched TV for a good portion of the day, all of which was New Girl except for the small bit of porn I watched. 

3p was my go time and I hopped in the shower.  I got dressed afterwards and headed to grab the mail and cat food.  Then home, drop off the mail and cat food.  Took myself to the pizza place like I have been wanting to.  It was a nice drive to and from.  Listening to music and just enjoying driving.  I arrived and a young attractive gentlemen greeted me and took care of my dining needs.  I so wanted his phone number, his body was fine!  I got $10 off my bill because I had reward points and I always enjoy saving money.  I got double pepperoni and single Italian sausage.  It was very good!  I always go for a large because that is where I’m told you get the most bang for your buck.  Besides that it will be breakfast tomorrow and lunch on Monday and one more meal after that.  I also got to charge my vehicles battery while that fine young man charged my battery just by looking at him.  I don’t figure he was gay and even if he was now just isn’t the time to hit on someone.  The restaurant smelled like bleach and pizza not terribly appetizing but I wasn’t gagging either. 

I will be going back probably when I am on vacation late next month.  They have other things besides pizza but that is the main draw and what most people come for.  I like the pizza and they have had a couple of cute waiters.  So you might say I go for pizza and eye candy. 

Tomorrow is my last day of sanity for a while.  I will be on-call on Monday and who knows what will happen but I am ready.  I took something last night because it was a big wig that reached out to me directly.  Not to brag but that is what happens when your good at your job, you get a reputation and it spreads.  I’d rather have people saying good things about me rather than bad, especially at the executive level.  I’m proud of myself if nothing else and it feels good but everyone needs down time.  I wasn’t terribly pleased but I did the job and didn’t complain. 

Finally I am sure your all probably wondering about the ear buds.  They are my new best friend.  They were simple to setup, sound quality is great for music and phone calls.  I don’t like the way I sound, I don’t think I am as clear as when I am on my headset.  I do think right now these are keepers.  I don’t know why but it hit me last night that I should have looked at Bose, they are pricy but known for high quality.  I gave them a look at they have something comparable to what I have that is on sale for $50 off.  I’m guessing they would please not only me but those that I talk to as well.  I am honestly out of energy on product returns.  I hate to return anything and this ear bud adventure has put me through the mill.  I want to be happy and at the moment that is where I am at, so tempted as I might be, I don’t think I will switch to Bose at the moment although never say never. 

I’m headed up to be with the cats, do some clean up, get the dishes washed and take in some more TV.  I hope you had a great day.  Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll talk with you peeps again soon!

Silly Habit

  Recently I have noticed a silly habit that I can’t seem to break.  When I am in my office every once and a while I look to the right as if someone is coming around the corner.  I expect to see a person or a cat but there isn’t ever anyone there.  My late spouse would trek down here once and a great while but as his mobility issues became greater I think it was easy two to three years prior to his death that he last came down here.  Momma [my late cat] would follow me down or if she didn’t do that after enough time lapsed and she had enough, she would come looking for me and either check in or demand that I come upstairs.  Her kids were all born here in the basement so they would all wonder in from time to time.  As they grew up the only one that would be in the basement regularly was Ruth.  She usually would hiss at me as I walked by to get to my office.  I would casually say hello back to her.  She just didn’t like anyone touching her, unless of course it was on her terms and those terms were severely limited. 

You would think since my spouse has been gone for 6 years and Momma has been gone for 6 months that I would have gotten used to it and stop the silly habit but it still persists.  I don’t know that it will ever go away.

The other day I was starting my day and Gator decided to come looking for me.  I heard a faint meow and walked around the corner, there she was.  I was also on the phone and my co-worker found it rather amusing.  She was having a rough day and even though I am only in the basement she felt that I should be next to her.  Her and her brother get separation anxiety and bellow out from time to time.  I check on them each time I go up.  I like the times where they are sleeping and don’t even know I am there, but those times are rare.  They hear my footsteps and perk up long before I am there. 

I’m sure there are other silly habits that I have but this was the one that came to mind.  Am I alone or do you have silly habits? 

Hot Tip– Google Chrome Security

If you use Google Chrome and would like some additional security protection, read on. 

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, most of us know about security threats and the dangers of the web.  Chrome has a lot of built in security protection, but I discovered some additional protection that you can enable for free. 

It all starts with the 3 dots, click this icon in Chrome

Now click on Settings from the menu

 

Then Click on Privacy and Security 

 

You should notice the selected radio button is on Standard, this is the default when Chrome is installed. 

You want to change it to Enhanced protection

As indicated when you choose Enhanced Protection, this will give you Faster, proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions.  It will also warn you about password breaches.  The only caveat is that you have to allow your browsing data to be sent to Google.  This is so they can analyze where your going, to figure out if it’s safe or not. 

Let’s not kid ourselves they are also going to be using it for analytics as well.  I figure there probably spying on me already why not take advantage of some advanced free protection. 

That’s the Tech Tip du jour.  Hope you enjoyed this and that it will help keep you even safer on-line.  Happy surfing!

** UPDATE **

If you feel wary about this, you can always download BRAVE (www.brave.com), which is a better browser (their marketing claim).  It’s based on the Chrome browser but takes out the tracking. 

Also Microsoft’s new Edge browser is also based on Chrome I have heard good things about it as well. 

 

 

Meh

Feeling so-so today, a bit better than yesterday. I still have some sinus issues present but at least my teeth aren’t hurting, which is a good thing! My gum is still irritated by the tooth that was worked on but I hope that with a little bit of time it will get better. The mouth seems to heal it’s self rather fast but it’s also quite vascular. I feel a bit warm but just noticed that it’s getting a bit hot in here.

Gator started crying last night and spending time in my bathroom. I don’t know what was going on. I woke up at 5:30a from a confusing dream and she started. I also see evidence this morning that she was in the basement at some point over night. She ate like a starved little girl this morning, so maybe she was just hungry but it seems rather odd. Marv didn’t want to eat at all this morning, par for the course but by dinner time he should be chowing down. Turkey seems to have fallen out of favor here, no matter when I serve it or what else is flavored with it, neither of them like Turkey anything. Got to love picky appetites, it keeps you guessing and frustrated.

Last night I was playing with my ear buds trying to get the audio pause out of them. When I am on a call just when someone is about to say something important or funny the audio drops out for a short bit, enough to where you miss what they said and can’t put the pieces together. I looked online for fixes and tried everything that I could find but it seems that perhaps I just got a defective pair. Considering the price point I have opted to return them, sad to say. I am upgrading though to a pair that costs even more. The new pair will be here on Friday, they have an app so you can install firmware updates, check the battery and do more. It’s more visual control. They also have Alexa & The Google Assistant built in (but I could careless). I am getting them to be able to listen to music and talk on the phone. The game plan is to maybe start walking on the treadmill and what better way to pass time than listening to music, an audio book, podcast, etc. The talk on the phone part is where work would come in. What I am returning are the JBL Tune 120 TWS and what I am getting as a replacement is the JBL Live 300 TWS. The music experience on the 120 TWS is great and I’d keep them if it wasn’t for the audio issue. Both come in different colors and I of course chose Blue. Something to look forward to on Friday! If the new pair gives me any trouble at all I am done and will opt out of the ear bud game entirely.

On the work front I got word yesterday that my two weeks of vacation have been approved. I have something to look forward to in the middle of October and then again at the early part of December. What will I do with that time off? That’s a very good question and right now I have no idea and no plans, other than my follow up doctors visit in December. Would be nice to sail away from reality for a while though.

This week seems rather light at work and I’m thinking that’s because next week is when I am next on-call and usually that is when all of the preverbal shit hits the fan. I hope I am wrong and next week is just as easy breezy as this week has been thus far. I also realize that there are two more days left in this week and that at any moment things could go south. I just hope that doesn’t happen as everyone can use a break. I’ve got a video meeting in a bit that will drone on for about an hour and then the rest of my day is wide open. Put the phone on DND and take a nap, that sounds nice. Then throw in some TV and lunch, wow what a nice afternoon. Let’s just see if that comes to pass.

I found a freeware program called Winaero Tweaker. It lets you modify a lot of things in windows from large to small. One of the many tweaks I made was I put seconds on my desktop clock. By default, seconds aren’t shown just the present time. Now I can see seconds and it’s really neat. Give it a google if your interested. There are some settings in there where you can wreak havoc on your system but you can always click the undo button to remove all tweaks. I did make a couple minor tweaks but the clock one by far I think is the coolest.

Keeping with Technology News, Apple apparently pissed off a bunch of people by saying that it’s releasing IOS14 today along with other OS updates. Normally the Apple products roll out and then everyone else gets the OS updates after the fact, this year has been nothing but different for everyone and I guess Apple thought why not be different. I’m looking forward to it but also kind of don’t want to upgrade just yet in case there are bugs. With Apple you can’t easily if at all rollback to the old version if you don’t like something or if something goes awry.

Well that’s all I know at the moment. Hope your doing well and staying afloat in this crazy world. Hard to believe it’s the middle of September! Each day closer to the election – at least the political ads will stop after that monumental event is done, regardless of who wins. I really dislike political ads in general. Take care and I’ll talk with you peeps again soon!

Several Pricks

  This was part of what happened to me today, not fun at all.  After I was done brushing my teeth last night I took a closer look at my tooth and it does appear that part of the filling broke off.  That’s probably why I got so sick after the burger because I swallowed what broke off.  It’s just coincidental that I also have a sinus issue going on as well. 

I phoned the dentist this morning and got an emergency appointment for this afternoon.  As luck would have it I got a dentist fresh out of college and not the dentist that I wanted.  There is no abscess, which is a very good thing.  I had to get shot in my mouth 4 times to get numb enough for her to drill out a filling and make a larger opening.  My tongue was supposed to be numb as well but that never happened.  She just somehow managed to get the side of my mouth to numb up and I honestly sat through some minor pain because I didn’t want another shot.  This was the 2nd most awful dental experience in my life, the first one was when the dentist hit the nerve in the side of my cheek as she was numbing me up, that made me fly out of the chair.  They call it a zing but I call it pain. 

They don’t use Novocain anymore or so I am told.  There are other cains that they use and she told me what she was going to use but I didn’t care less.  I just knew a needle was coming in contact with my body and that is never something I like, small prick – yeah not a fan of those.  I like my pricks larger but that’s a whole different subject.

I felt pretty bad this morning and got my morning task done with my co-worker and then called it a day.  It’s not like I can’t use a day to waste.  I spent some time back in bed.  Marv told me it was lunch time.  I got up and fed them and myself.  Then grabbed a shower and put on some clothes.  Waited a bit and it was time to run out the door. 

This will set me back some money once the dust settles but I don’t expect it to be much more than $60 or around that.  Kind of depends on how deep she went, as they charge by surface level. I’ve got a return appointment scheduled for a cleaning which shouldn’t involve any pain or needles. 

I feel okay at the moment and doubt that this feeling will be around tomorrow morning but I am sure hoping for it.  If the sinus issue persists then I will be hitting the doctor back up.  Just glad to know that this wasn’t connected but the timing sure is super odd. 

Time to go find out what I am fixing for supper and then spending a relaxing evening with the cats before I try this work things again tomorrow.  The double good news is that I have time to use and I am working from home.  Unless things are seriously bad I will probably just force myself through it. 

Here’s hoping your day didn’t involve a needle or a trip to the dentist.  Talk with you peeps again soon. 

Sex Sells

Browsing for content of something decent to watch last night and I found this on Amazon.  It’s free if you subscribe to Here TV otherwise it’s $2.99.  I paid to watch it and learned all about a male strip club in Ft. Lauderdale.  It was very interesting and they have some good looking men.  I learned that strippers should wear their hat backwards because it blocks access to their eyes and supposedly their eyes are their money makers.  I think other parts of the body are the money makers but what do I know?  I’ve never been in an all male strip club and would probably be like a kid in a candy store, I would leave much poorer than when I walked in.  The whole idea that it’s a fantasy is what would keep me away because if you can’t have what you want, why tempt yourself.  I mean looking at other guys in public is temptation enough, at least for me.  It was decent to watch, but make no mistake this isn’t a porno film.  I mean if your really young and excited easily then you would probably disagree with me.  There is a lot that it takes to be a stripper.  Not only do you have to keep your body in shape but you work strange hours and it just sounds like a huge mess.  However, if your young and want to make a lot of money legally this seems to be a fast ticket.  At least that was probably true prior to COVID 19 and once there is a cure then I am sure this will be just as lucrative of a money maker it once was. 

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.  I went to bed at a decent hour but Gator woke me up and then I had to use the restroom.  I tried to go back to bed but that was futile.  I got up and started watching TV.  I actually felt pretty good and thought that if I felt this same way in the morning when I got up that it wouldn’t be a bad day. 

I finally got out of bed closer to 9:30a and had my breakfast.  Still feeling pretty good but a bit run down.  By the time I went grocery shopping, came home and put everything away, I was exhausted and started feeling pretty bad.  That was my body telling me I over did it and I knew that already but it’s not like I could put the task off.  I got my Chicken Noodle Soup, managed to remember Ranch Dressing and even found Medium Taco Sauce.  Tea & Soda were also scored on this run.  I wanted cake and wish I would have got one but I steered myself away from the sweets.  I did pick up some juice bars, I got Pineapple and Raspberry.  I’ve had one of each already and the Pineapple by far are my favorites.  I love Pineapple when I am under the weather, it was given to me as a kid and it’s a go to just like Chicken Soup. 

Needless to say I managed to get back into bed and take a nap.  I am currently watching New Girl the Fox TV Series.  My reason for watching it is Max Greenfield.  I really think he’s hot, despite the fact he is straight.  He’s also funny and entertaining, not to mention wealthy.  Now if he was just gay and available I’d have most everything I wanted in a man.  wink – wink!

I got my abbreviated version of house cleaning done, that too took something out of me.  I am tapering down on the steroids so it makes sense that I will be feeling worse as long as whatever bug this is, is alive and present in me.  I can always go back up on steroids but that will require a script from the doc.  I’ll take it one day at a time and see how I feel and react accordingly.  It would just be nice to rid my body of this because it sucks to be at home for starters then to be sick on top of it.  I had bigger plans for the weekend and sadly they didn’t come to light, nothing terribly exciting for the average person but for me it would have been a nice change of pace.

My calendar tells me that today is Grandparents Day.  I wish my grandparents could see me now and how far I have come.  They would both be equally proud and somewhat surprised at how my life has turned out.  I hope they are both at peace.  If your a grandparent, Happy Grandparents Day!

Here’s hoping I will feel better come tomorrow morning and that the week ahead will be easier than I anticipate now.  I need to go take care of my work weekend task and then get upstairs and figure out supper for all 3 of us.  Then it will be medicine time, watching TV and eventually back to bed.  I think if I can truly get a restful nights sleep of 8 or more hours that tomorrow will be better than I think it is going to be. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your doing well and had a great weekend.  Take care of yourself.  I will talk with you peeps again soon!

Yuk–sinus hell

On the home front, I am still sick. I called my physicians office yesterday and they said to call back in the afternoon if nothing was called into my pharmacy. As I expected nothing was called in. I called back and they told me since my physician had the day off there was going to be a delay in getting me medicine but they were working on it. There were a couple of urgent messages sent to the doctor. I don’t know what urgent means in their world but in mine it means an hour or less. I gave them the rest of the day. When I woke up this morning at 11a I saw that nothing had been called in and I reached out to the answering service. They got me in touch with a nurse who called me back in about 15 minutes. The nurse I spoke with said that she wanted to get me a steroid at a minimum but didn’t think an antibiotic would work. Lucky for me she was able to reach my physician and he said he was all too familiar with this. He called in an antibiotic but said that if I didn’t feel better by Monday/Tuesday to reach back out and they would consider a steroid. I’m glad that I had some steroids left from the last bout I had with this a couple years ago. I started taking them yesterday and while I do feel a slight bit better, I am still generally uncomfortable with sinus pressure/pain. My teeth hurt in cycles when the pressure builds. It also has given me a bit of ahead ache and is messing with my vision. Plus, there is the horrible taste of what I refer to as sinus soup. I know the name is kind of gross but it fits.

As per usual I did spend the day mostly in bed and resting. However, one can’t blame me for the way I feel. The cats had enough of this at 3p when they decided it was time for me to get moving. My neck was killing me but I listened to them because I knew that they needed some food, since we missed lunch and they had a late breakfast.

I fed them, grabbed a quick bite and then hopped in the shower. It required a great amount of force to accomplish these simple tasks. I can tell I am very much off my game. I got dressed and then got an order sent into Cracker Barrel. Then I began my errand journey. First stop cat food store. Second stop pharmacy. Third stop post office. Fourth stop Cracker Barrel. Fifth and final stop – home. Wouldn’t you know it those bastards at Cracker Barrel shorted me my mashed potatoes that I paid for. Last time it was Blueberry Syrup. I don’t know that I will be too eager to go back, even if they do have a delicious breakfast offering. I’m tired of getting fucked (I wouldn’t object if it was in a good way).

I found some new flavors that Friskies came out with and thought I would give them a whirl. Marv liked the first can and Gator swooped in to eat the left overs, so I think I got a win out of this. There pallets are so picky.

A correction from yesterdays post. The movie I referenced as The Baby Sitter is actually The Sitter. I managed to find a couple of other winners last night but don’t remember their names. It was a very long night and I didn’t go to bed until 2a or shortly there after. That is what taking steroids does to me. I am talking about Prednisone. If I get a Medrol Dose Pak, I don’t have that problem and the Medrol actually seems to work better. However, this is a desperate time and it called for a desperate measure. It’s not like I needed to be in bed by a certain time. I am also having some wild dreams.

On the work front. As I expected nothing major happening. They were going to relax the pay cut but then we fell off budget in a very bad way last month so that is something they will look at potentially doing next month. We were told that it’s not anticipated we are returning to the office until sometime next year at the earliest. That is based on current information that is available and is of course subject to change. However, I don’t think that we will all be back to normal operations until sometime mid to late next year. I am in no hurry about it. Working from home has it’s good and bad. The good is no commute, plenty of time with the cats. The bad is pretty much the same thing. The 4 walls do begin to close in but I have gotten used to this pretty well. I never in my wildest dreams thought this would be more than a couple months and now it could easily be a year or slightly longer based on the most recent update from Dr. Faucci.

In other news we are apparently launching some mental health awareness program. This lady I know really well introduced the program to everyone and she shocked me when she started out by telling everyone she had a substance abuse issue. Holy shit, she is a sweet older lady that I would have never thought that of. She has been sober for a very long time, but once an addict always an addict, so they say. Were supposed to get more information about the program via email in the next few days and there will be people identified by there area of experience. It’s not meant to be legal or mental help but to give you a point of contact you can talk to and they can point you in the right direction for help. Apparently, I work for a caring employer (not a surprise) and they want to help folks, especially now in the trying times we have. I can certainly see where depression, substance abuse, etc. could be more prevalent since people have a lot of alone time and time in general on their hands. Everyone is dealing with something; you may not know it. It’s important to be kind for that reason alone. I mean I don’t think anyone would suspect me dealing with depression nor having a late spouse. I’m a private person but my boss and a co-worker know. I can’t imagine being on illegal drugs or having a drinking problem and still able to function in my job. Then again, I can’t imagine being depressed and functioning in my job but I have done it.

I just put in a request for 2 more weeks of vacation. Time in October and then again in late November into early December. I think no matter what I do, unless I manage to get seriously ill that I will wind up losing some form of time. I am trying to minimize that to a couple days and hours versus weeks. Plus, I will be rolling over 2 weeks and then on Jan 1 I will get more time. I have always been time poor and am not used to losing time or having an excess but I think it’s a good problem to have, if you have to have a problem.

Given my sinus issues I didn’t expect to make it in front of the computer but remembered that I have my weekend task at work, which is what propelled me here. Marv & Gator both are worried about me. Gator more so than Marv, I think. She is a bit more vocal and attentive. She also has formed a huge dislike to me taking a shower because I am not visible to her. I invite her in the shower with me but once she sees the water that tends to make her run in the other direction.

I’ve got a little bit of personal work to do here on the PC and then it will be upstairs to be with the kids for the evening. Hopefully it will be a short evening because I very much would like to get up early and get the grocery shopping over with. I am going to buy some Chicken Noodle soup and Tea. The problem with being on steroids is that all I want to do is eat. I honestly right now don’t have much of an appetite but am forcing myself because I know that if I don’t eat, I will decline further and that isn’t something I can afford nor do I want.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope that your doing well. I will talk with you peeps again soon.

Death Warmed Over

I am feeling pretty bad these days. My simple tooth ache has spread to the point where I want to pull out all of my teeth. It sounds and feels very much like I have a Maxillary Sinus infection. I have had a few of them in my lifetime and they aren’t easy for my body to kick. Since I have done nothing, nothing has changed and things have in fact gotten worse. I rinsed out my sinuses last night and it burned but was refreshing for a short time. I have taken Benadryl to ensure a sound nights sleep and when I wake up, I really don’t want to get out of bed but I push myself.

Yesterday I did what I had to do in the morning and spend the rest of the day upstairs for the most part and took a nap. I wasn’t bothered but with a few emails here and there, so I actually got in an hours nap, which was good. I’ve been pushing the fluids because I know that is important and I eat despite not really wanting to.

This morning I called my doctors office and have already gotten a call back from a nurse. I am waiting now for either someone to call me back or a script to be called in to my local pharmacy. I really need Steroids because they provide the greatest relief, but they are bad for my blood sugar and will throw all of my numbers off but conversely it will be another 3 months before my blood is drawn so there is sufficient time for things to normalize. I know there are also other side effects and in general steroids provide good and bad, you just have to weigh the risks against the benefit and make an informed decision.

When I was younger it was as simple as getting me on an antibiotic as this would likely be a simple sinus infection and would not be at the level it is today. However, because my family doctor as a child treated everything with Penicillin, I am allergic to it and a whole bunch of other antibiotics. There are still a couple of pills that actually work for my body but I know that time is probably limited.

What I anticipate is to be placed on an antibiotic at a minimum and if that doesn’t do the trick then they will likely introduce steroids. It’s a lengthy process to kick this but if I get what I ask for then that tends to shorten things. It’s dangerous for me to wait to treat this because it goes from this to Bronchitis and if that isn’t treated then were at Pneumonia. I had a bad case of Bronchitis a couple years ago and I could really have used someone to be by myside but was all alone and it was scary stuff, but like all of the other trials and tribulations I survived.

I am sure I will make it through this but it won’t be any fun. This infection is like no other I have had in the past and it was difficult to figure out what exactly was going on with my body. Now that I know for sure I am reacting accordingly and hopefully my body will respond to the treatment and this can soon be a thing of the past.

In other news my JBL ear buds arrived yesterday. I had problems right out of the gate where the left ear bud wasn’t working at all. I noticed when the right one was in the case a light would emit from it but not on the left ear. I eventually gave up and just placed them in the charging case and decided to wait. That did the trick. I tested them for music and phone calls, they are perfect. The only bad thing is that you can’t use them both independently. Your limited to the right ear for phone calls and music, if you try to work with just the left ear then you won’t hear anything. I kind of wish I would have paid the extra $10 and waited to get the upgraded model so I could use either ear bud. However, I have what I have and it works. There is some audio clipping with calls which is minorly irritating but I am told that I sound great. Music is just like having headphones on and while your supposed to hear ambient sound my ears at the moment block everything out. That could be related to the sinus issues so I will have to reevaluate that after this sinus crap is gone.

We have an all staff meeting in a bit and I don’t anticipate good or bad news, just a hey were all still alive kind of check point. I mean anything can happen but I don’t look for anything major. Boss man is out on vacation for a couple days and that means we can all relax for a couple days as well.

My plans are to attend the meeting and after that coast for the rest of the day by trying to nap and rest upstairs. I will work if called upon but otherwise it’s coast city.

Saw a good movie last night called The Babysitter with Jonah Hill in it. It’s on demand via HBO. I didn’t think I would like it but it turned out to be really terrific. I like a pleasant surprise like that, if only I could continue to stumble on winner shows and movies like that!

Of course, today is Patriot Day as we in the US remember the fallen from the WTC. I remember being at home and woken up by my late spouse asking me if I was paging him. We had 2-way text pagers back then and he thought the WTC news headline that came across his pager was me playing a joke. He had just gotten home from surgery a couple days before. I of course had no idea what he was talking about. I looked at my pager and quickly determined something was majorly wrong in America. I had the day off because he was due at his surgeons for a follow up visit. I remember going to lay in bed with him and we turned on the TV and that is when we learned of what was going on. Lots of rumors started about potential other attacks but they were quickly discredited. Neither one of us wanted to leave the house that day but he did make it to see his surgeon and as you might have guessed the events of the day were mentioned in his visit. It was a horrifying scene and something that thankfully doesn’t happen often. We can get political and place blame but at the end of the day it won’t bring anyone back to life and it does no good to play the blame game. America has recovered, we are all changed by the events of that day and once a year we get a reminder as we remember that fateful day.

We also will be looking back in years to come on the COVID pandemic and remembering the fallen from this tragedy as well. Although the two events are radically different. One was a terrorist attack and the other a pandemic.

Take care of yourselves, be well and I will do my very best to kick this sinus bug that I seem to have contracted. It’s kind of odd that I have this because I am really not around anyone. The nurse that I spoke with told me that they have had an influx of Sinus calls in the past few days, so I am not alone. I will talk with you all again soon.

Relaxing Labor Day Weekend

I made it to my friend’s house for Labor Day.  I walked in with my mask on and once I took it off for eating and it never went back on.  We were all more than socially distant.  The food was good, at first.  However, something about Onion Burgers just didn’t sit terribly well with my system.  I tasted more salt than anything and like a dummy after I finished one, I went back for another.  By the time I got home (which was later than I wanted it to be) I was ill.  I had missed my evening pills and my sinuses were going nuts.  I got some medication and prepared for a Monday on a Tuesday and then got to brushing my teeth, that’s when the fun begins. 

I have had a tooth that I haven’t been able to floss in for a couple weeks.  No matter what I try the floss just doesn’t go all the way down to the gum.  I got some small wire brushes aka Gum Butler and tried that.  I managed to slightly irritate the gum but was at least assured that there weren’t any food particles there.  Despite that still not able to floss in the area. However, after this onion burger adventure I am now able to floss and felt something leave the area. It was a feeling of relief at first. I don’t know what it was but now I feel like I want to rip my teeth out with a pair of pliers.  It started to just be the one area but quickly has spread to both upper and lower on the left side.  My nose has been going nuts as well and then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I feel this way when I get a maxillary sinus infection. I also had a moment when I couldn’t taste anything and it’s all making sense to me now or so I think.

However, normally with a maxillary sinus infection I feel horrible in general but right now it’s just my mouth that is a constant issue. The sinus issues come into play on occasion, evening seems to be worse. I thought this was a mouth issue for sure but the more I think about it I don’t think so. Regardless of what this is, I wish it would leave me alone. I’ve had enough fun already this year. Hopefully in a couple days things will improve. Until then I am sticking with the salt water gargle because it can’t hurt anything and giving my mouth some extra attention in between meals (which I normally don’t do).

I was just at the doctor and am surprised that I could be sick but anything is possible. I could have picked up something in the air there. I don’t mind visiting the doctor but the whole germ factor makes me want to run the other way. I’ve been pretty fortunate this year as illness goes and the longer, I can go without getting sick the better.

Being back at work makes me want to go on vacation again. I still have yet to announce my tentative plans for the 2 weeks I have to burn.

Outside of that, all is well. I hope that this tooth/sinus issue resolves. I am going to take a couple Benadryl tonight and see what tomorrow brings.

My latest acquisition was a pair of Bluetooth ear buds, I had a former boss raving about an inexpensive pair he bought on Amazon and they work great. I didn’t go with his selection instead went with something slightly more expensive. I was all excited when they arrived and was quickly deflated. They work great for listening to music but suck for phone calls. I tried both in, one in just the left ear and then one in just the right ear. I was leaving a message on my own voice mail and when it came time to play it back I could barely understand what I was saying. Needless to say, I am returning them. I don’t know why I feel the need to have them but I opted instead now to buy a much more expensive pair that is brand name. JBL to be exact. They retail for $100 and will be delivered on Friday. Plus, I was able to order them in blue, which is my favorite color. It’s a dark Blue but it’s still Blue. I’m more of a bright Blue guy myself. Anyway, they had a newer model for $10 more but I would have had to wait a couple week for them to arrive. Something about Amazon and 2-day delivery just makes me want everything NOW. They are marked down so I am not paying $100 but it’s still a small sum to me. I hope they work well and I can use them as a backup to the headset I already have. There are some days when I get stuck on long calls and the charge in that thing dies. I am not a fan of speakerphone but if it’s a choice between holding the phone to my ear or using the speaker, the speaker choice wins most every time. Now all I have to do is make it out of the house to the UPS store across the street to drop off the return so I get credit for the original pair. I will let you know how this turns out.

On a different note I did tell my friends about climbing a ladder to clean the gutters again and they encouraged me to hire it done, part with the money it’s well worth it rather than taking a risk. Well, sorry folks but I am climbing a ladder. It’s not like I am going all around the house it’s one small gutter over the front porch and then a couple large ones that cover the deck in back. The front yard is hard to access and where all of the risk is. Oddly enough the back is easy access and low to no risk of falling off the ladder. It also depends on what kind of ladder you use. “A” frame ladders have a higher fall risk but that is probably what I will use. I have a taller straight ladder but it really requires two people to get it down. It took two of us to put it in place for storage, I could probably get it down by myself but would rather not unless it’s an absolute. If I was circling the house that would be an absolute.

I saw a couple of good movies on Labor Day. The one that I enjoyed the most is called Taxi it is an old movie. I found it on Starz it has Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah in it. It was very funny and had some great lines! Plus this was Jimmy Fallon much younger and before I even knew who he was.

There you have it a quick update on the low and highlights of my life. Now up to get some Benadryl and relax with the kids, until tomorrow calls and I have to go back to work. I hope you all had a great Labor Day holiday, enjoyed the extended weekend and had a safe but good time. Take care and thanks for dropping by. I will talk with you peeps again soon.

My Brother Jordan

I’ve mentioned a few times that I have been looking for things to watch and have often referred to YouTube.  I used it originally to watch an old talk show, then found an old tv show and some stand up comedians.  Then of course TED talks.  There is an overwhelming amount of content and you never know what your going to stumble on. 

As an example, last night I saw this documentary My Brother Jordan.  It’s an hour long but once you start and emerge yourself into the story, that hour goes by way too fast.  Initially I thought this would be something gay related but it is not.  Jordan was a cute guy and his brothers aren’t bad looking, but spoiler alert they are all straight.  This will likely make a lot of people cry, it’s a great tribute to this young man’s life and his brother did an outstanding job of producing it.  Grab a tissue and give it a watch.  It may give you a new appreciation for your own life. 

Thanks to the YouTube algorithm for causing me to stumble on this.

 

My Brother Jordan

Hunk O Man Calendar Time

As this year continues to tick by, we get closer to time to order new calendars. I look forward to this as I decorate my home with nothing other than photos of men. I purchase two porn calendars each year, one goes in my bedroom and the other in my office. I purchase a shirtless man calendar with no nudity to display in my living room. There are occasions when service people have to visit my home and to avoid any awkwardness, I make sure the calendars are removed. My late spouse used to refer to it as de-fagging the house. My office also has photos of porn stars on the walls, much like a teenage girl puts up pinups of her favorite teenage idols. I’m the one who occupies this space and pays the bills, might as well have something I want to look at. Again, those photos come down if anyone other than me is going to be in the office area. I’m not looking to make a service person uncomfortable although I am sure they have seen it before. I’m considerate but the day I have to call the Fire Department to rescue me because my blood sugar has fallen dangerously low or if I manage to get hurt, well there in for quite the shock. I am who I am and make no qualms about it, but I don’t flaunt it in peoples face. Additionally, I don’t want to get charged extra because of my sexuality, I put nothing past the world at large especially when it comes to making money.

I do envision that most gay people don’t decorate their homes like I chose to decorate mine. It’s comfortable for me and at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

The problem I face each year is making a decision on which 2 porn calendars to buy. This years choices are …

I am loyal to Falcon Studios because that was the first studio, I discovered made gay porn, it’s also the first place I ever purchased a porn film from. The delivery of that movie almost went horribly wrong for me. Suffice to say my mom was around when the delivery was made and she wanted me to tell her what was in the package but of course I wouldn’t say a word. I was able to somehow retreat to my room, lock the door, open the package and then hide the contents and then return to normal every day life until it was time for bed. Yes sir, that was a fun evening that could have gone horribly wrong but thankfully it didn’t.

I figure if straight guys can put up posters and calendars of hot women, why can gay guys do the same thing? My mom dated a guy who decorated his entire house and I do mean entire house in playboy centerfolds. It’s kind of a double standard when you think of it. Although a straight man won’t hide the calendars or posters when you come over, they are proud of them. I do retain some morals and decency, even though I could probably get away with leaving them in plain sight and think nothing of it, it would make me uncomfortable. The sad part is that I have to take a couple photos down at least 1 time per week since my boss mandated weekly on camera viewings in our Zoom call, so the team can see each other. I understand once and a while but every damn week, seriously come on man. No one wants to look at my face that often. Although when we were all in the office, we have camera phones and we would see each other on a direct call but when we gathered for meetings, except for when we had a new guy that didn’t happen on a regular basis. It’s just a way that he thinks we can stay connected. Hey send me an email, that’s as connected as I really want to be outside of a quick phone call. The boss is never someone anyone really wants to talk to much, especially since COVID struck. He is trapped at home with his wife, two kids and you can sense the tension in the air with every call. While I don’t like being alone, I know that if someone was here with me, we would be grating on each other’s nerves eventually. Familiarity breeds contempt, even with the best of friends or relatives. Everyone needs a break from everyone else.

On a different note, I got a strange call today from my lawn guy. He was upset from a recent payment that I sent him. He thought I was trying to stiff him at least that is the way it was setup. I think he was trying to get some extra money from me or he is just clueless and doesn’t know how to keep proper customer records. He bills me at the end of each month. I thought I would do him a favor since we ended the month on an odd cycle, I would pay him for the service he just preformed. When I got that idea, I had a bad feeling but didn’t listen to my little voice. I had to explain to him that his bill in fact was paid in full and what he just got was an extra payment so that we can start the next month fresh with a 0 balance as we normally do. You would also think that you would remember when someone sends you money, especially when it’s by check and 2 weeks apart. It’s all straighten out now and he asked me not to send him money unless he sends me a bill. Okay fine by me. One month he forgot to send a bill but I still sent him money and I didn’t hear any complaint then. As long as he shows up to cut the grass and remembers to send me a bill, we will be fine. I’ve never not paid his bill or short changed him and he is paranoid that I am somehow going to start now. Why? I get that I could not pay him and there isn’t much he can do about it, but then I would have to get someone else to cut my grass and eventually if you do that to enough people word spreads and no one will want to do business with you, unless they are paid in advance or at the time of service. It just boggled my mind that he called all upset, if he would have just kept better records, he would have seen what I was doing. The extra or added problem is that I use bill pay through the bank so they send the check to him at no charge to me, whereas if I wrote him a check I would be on the hook for postage and it would actually cost me more. The bank doesn’t move at warp speed to get payment to him, meaning it’s not same day service but it’s sent with in a day or two and then you allow a few days for the mail to do its thing and presto it shows up. The moral of the story here is I tried to do something good and it bit me in the ass and my lawn guy doesn’t keep good records of payments. I requested a copy of the check and plan to show him that I paid his bill so he isn’t left wondering if I tried to pull the wool over his eyes, most people wouldn’t go that extra mile but that is the difference of doing business with me. You do right by me and I’ll do right by you – were both satisfied.

I did have large plans for today but they didn’t come to fruition like I wanted. I spent the bulk of the day in bed because I could. I got the cats food, grabbed the mail and got some take out food for me. While I didn’t accomplish everything on my list, there is always a tomorrow and I am pretty good about starting the day early on Sunday because I hate grocery shopping with a passion. I hope to make up lost time tomorrow. Plus, I am still waiting to hear from my thanksgiving friend on an invite for Monday. Part of me kind of hopes it falls through so I don’t take an unnecessary risk but the other part of me is really looking forward to getting out of this house and having a meal with other humans as well as some interactive conversations.

I do hope all is well on your end. Take good care of yourselves and thanks for stopping by. I’ll talk with you peeps again soon.

TGIF again

The week has flown by and here we are at another Friday. Normally this would have me ecstatic with anticipation of time off and a long weekend. However, since I have been on vacation since Tuesday it’s just another day closer to having to go back. I am thankful that I am off and that there is an extended weekend, who knows I might get something accomplished!

Last night when I was getting ready for bed, I made a huge mistake and took my Friday evening pills. I had already taken my Thursday evening pills earlier in the evening. After I swallowed them, I realized the mistake I made and thought what to do. My initial reaction was who cares but then the more I thought about it I could see the potential for my sugar dropping overnight, so that was the perfect excuse to load up on Oreos & Milk. Obviously, nothing bad happened because I’m here typing this out. My initial intension was to take my normal Friday morning pills around noon but that didn’t happen. I’ve had a Claritin all day and that’s it. My allergies are driving me nuts and I will resume my normal medication routine tomorrow morning.

My lab work came back today and some how I managed to get my A1C 1% lower than it was 3 months ago. It’s still very much well controlled and that is good news for me but also surprising considering how much sugar I put into my body. Just think if I didn’t do that my sugar would probably plummet and my numbers would be even better. I skimmed the rest of the results and nothing appears out of the ordinary, which is terrific.

I wasted today and made it my lazy Saturday even though I know it’s Friday. It was perfect gutter cleaning weather today but I was in no mood. Tomorrow I hope to get the rock purchased as well as my usual cat food run and I will check the mail. If I am in the mood, I may pursue cleaning the gutters. I know I could easily hire a handyman to take care of it for me but this is clearly something I can do myself. It’s not something I enjoy doing and most everyone else I have ever spoken with about the subject feels the same way. Once I get them clean, I have the plastic mesh chicken wire to insert in the hopes that it will be a very long time before I have to repeat the job again. I hate going to the home improvement store as much as I hate cleaning the gutters.

The extended weekend will be a tell-tale sign of how serious folks are taking the advice of the health and science professionals regarding COVID. I am fairly certain there will be more large gatherings, parties and people not wearing masks or social distancing. Provided that is the case that will certainly cause a spread of the virus. I really hope that that large majority of people do the right thing. The sooner we get the infection rates down, get a vaccine that is effective and get everyone immunized is the sooner we can all break free of this quarantine. Although one thing that has come out of this is that it’s possible kids won’t ever have a snow day again because of technology being used now to home school them, they can easily break that out on a snow day. That kind of sucks because I remember how much I used to love snow days. Even when it came to work but now with the advent of technology a snow day for me just means I am working from home. That is probably the same for a good portion of office workers.

A co-worker of mine suggested I check out a new show on Netflix called The Circle. It’s reality tv where a bunch of strangers all move into their own apartments and while they are next to each other they never see each other except on line. The goal because it’s a game is to become most popular and then you win a bunch of money. You can be yourself or anyone you want. It was appealing at first but after about 30 minutes I gave up on it. Not for me. However, I mention it in case it sounds like it might be of interest to you.

I need to go login at work and put in my vacation time and figure out how much more time I have to burn before the end of the year. I’ll look at my Tuesday and if things are light then I will leave it at that but if Tuesday is hectic then I will certainly do some work tonight. I mean would be less time I have to take since I would be working. I don’t want to stress myself out just because I decided to take time away from work but I think that is inevitable, there is a price to pay for taking time off as if you did something wrong when in fact you didn’t. Coming back and the chaos that goes with it are the two things I don’t like about time away.

I hope that you all have a great weekend and enjoy the Labor Day holiday. Rest up, have fun and enjoy yourselves. This is the last major holiday that we all get in the US until Thanksgiving which is 83 days away, I know it seems like it’s a long time from now but it will be here quicker than you think. Be well and I’ll talk with you peeps again soon!

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!