Friday Thoughts

I am going to dash out of work today as soon as my shift is over and run over to the hospital to visit with my mother. Yesterday was a banner bad day. Word is that today is a little better. Here’s hoping. I will be going back tomorrow morning and Sunday afternoon. I’m back to reality now so it’s time to pitch in. Gladly. Even though it’s going to be awful, I am ready to help.

That probably means a delay in getting the band back together. That’s tough, but necessary. I have a doctors appointment on June 30th, which means I will be 2/3 of the way to the Guitar Center in Nashua. I’m thinking that might be Stratocaster Trade In Day. What comes next depends on the book value of my Strat. I guarantee it won’t be enough for anything new. What if they have a used Deluxe Reverb in stock? What if they have a used Les Paul Junior in stock? Who knows.

I spent my lunch break exercising. Every day this week so far I have done a full 30 minutes of exercise in one shot. It’s all walking in place, but it’s something. I was most definitely not able to do that at any time over the last few years. It’s only since the surgery and recovery. I think I have actually done a single 30 minute workout for 10 days in a row. I am shocked.

Now, having said that, they are not exactly killer exercises. My heart rate is going up but it’s not going up as much as it should. Wednesday will be the six week mark, which means the restrictions on how much weight I can lift will start relaxing. The first thing I will do is change the cat litter. The second is to start thinking about maybe lifting some small weights? I might wait an extra couple of weeks before anything like that, but the thought is out there. I need to exercise to make up for lost muscle mass, or something like that. I need to do right by my new physical condition.

Television. I still haven’t finished Breaking Bad and I am so close. Something like five or six episodes left. I need to wrap that up. Season Three of The Boys has started. I think there are four episodes out. I’ve watched the first few minutes of episode one (so worth the herpes) and that’s it. Why have I not dug into it yet? I still haven’t watched yesterday’s episode of Strange New Worlds. Why? What the hell, Robert? I haven’t even thought about starting the new seasons of The Orville or Stranger Things. What is wrong with me?

I have a lot of recording I want to get to as well. One song ready to mix. Two ready for vocals and one ready for guitar leads. Come on, man. Get it done!

Okay. Work time.

Step Back

I don’t know what to think right now. My mother seemed to take a step forward yesterday. It was good. There was a bit of optimism. I just heard that last night she took a big step back. I don’t know what to think now. I am just so sad.

We slept a little late this morning and it’s thrown off my mojo a little. Work is weird. I feel like I never left, but I also feel completely out of touch. I mean, it was only four weeks. It’s not like I forgot how to do everything. I said the other day I was feeling like an alien. That’s it. Totally. I feel like an alien posing as me. I blame my new stomach, but only because I have nothing else to blame it on but me.

Harry is at his dad’s this week but he came over to watch part four of Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was awesome. We did not, however, watch the first episode of Ms Marvel. I’m trying to sneak it in before work. I should just make it. That means I am not watching this week’s episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. That will have to wait for later tonight. All in all, I’d rather be seeing my mother moving to a new facility rather than anything Marvel or Star Trek or even Star Wars.

Chicken for breakfast. I’m starting to get a little sick of scrambled eggs. Is that new? I never used to get sick of food. If I ever get sick of chicken I am screwed. Hold on while I start my 30 seconds-between-bites clock.

Day Nine

Hello and welcome to day nine post-op. What’s on the agenda for today?

Yesterday I had three one-teaspoon sized “meals” of pureed food. The goal is to get up to five quarter-cup sized “meals”. Based on yesterday’s success, I think that will be doable eventually, but not right away. Today, I’m thinking of bumping up from a teaspoon to a tablespoon. I think that’s a good enough push for myself for one Friday.

I also need to keep up with the liquids. Dehydration is the one troublesome thing over the last week. If I stay on top of it I’m okay. If I don’t I get a little light headed. It doesn’t sound like hard work, but damn, it seriously is. I’m doing okay, it’s just tough and I struggle with it here and there. I also need to continue to get off my ass for a few minutes each hour and move around and keep the circulation moving. That has not been a problem at all, I just need to stay vigilant. The Apple Watch Activity app’s stand hours goal is a help there. I think I’ve missed one stand hour in the last week. No troubles there.

I am turning into a television binge watching couch potato though. I mean, enjoy it while it lasts, right? I mentioned all the Star Trek yesterday, but I also got it into my pea brain to get back into Breaking Bad (I’m about to finish season two), and there’s a new horror show on Prime Video called From that looks okay. I watched the first episode yesterday. Today is also supposed to be the debut of the new season of The Kids in the Hall, the first in 30 or so years, also on Prime Video. I can’t miss that. Over on Netflix, I plowed through the second season of Russian Doll in world record time. It wasn’t as good as the first season, but it was still excellent. I’m also trying to stay connected to the guitar universe. I’m a little nervous about playing, what with the incisions in my gut to worry about, but there’s still That Pedal Show and Five Watt World and half a dozen other must-see YouTube channels.

Yeah… couch potato.

Before we get to any of that though… time to make myself a protein shake, then a tablespoon of pureed sweet potato. Later today, around lunch time, I’m thinking of maybe cracking open a little package of applesauce. Mmm, delicacy.

Star Trek: Recovery

I didn’t plan on it, but my stuck-at-home recovery is kind of turning into a Star Trek recovery.

The day I came home, the season finale of Picard came out, as well as the series premiere of Strange New Worlds. I also remembered that I had a few episodes of season three of Discovery to watch, and then all of season four.

Picard was okay. Probably not as good as the first season, but still okay. Discovery… again, okay. Season three, I mean. I’m watching s4e1 as I type this, so the jury is still out.

I’m very happy with Strange New Worlds so far. There are only two episodes so far, but they both feel like real Star Trek in a way that Picard and Discovery do not (which was the goal, right?). I think it’s the lack of a season long story arc that does it, but if that’s the way they want to go, each episode needs to be really strong. So far so good.

Strange

The Bruins won. There will be no first round sweep elimination this year.

The Red Sox are losing. I think we are just going to have to get used to that.

I watched the first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and I really enjoyed it. It feels like a return to form. Fingers crossed that feeling holds up.

I’m having a bit of gas pain tonight, but that’s expected. I’m going to walk around for a few minutes and then go to bed. I slept in a recliner last night so this will be my first night in my own bed. Sort of. I took a nap in the bed this afternoon, but you know what I mean.

Sweet dream, gentle readers.

Binge Watch

This post has two meanings. One is literal, the other is a test of some changes I made.

The literal part…

Jen and I have completed our epic binge watch of all nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother. The ending still sucks, even though they telegraphed it over the course of the entire series, and littered the last season with obvious hints. Oh well.

The question now is… what next? Should we binge watch another show, and if so what show should we binge watch? Part of me wants to suggest a Star Trek series, partly because they run long, partly because it’s totally different from a sit com, and partly because the last TV show I watched was an episode of Picard so it’s sort of on my brain.

What do you think? Make suggestions. Comments are open.


The test involves cross posting to Twitter. Specifically, not cross posting to Twitter. I don’t know if the elon muskhole experience is going to drive me away from Twitter or not, but I am setting myself up to go, just in case.

Not a Good Look

I’m watching today’s new episode of Star Trek Picard. I’m only about halfway through, and I won’t spoil anything but…

The musical number will likely rocket this episode to the bottom of most peoples’ rank list.

Not a good look, Star Trek. Bad choice.

Television

I watched the first episode of MoonKnight. No need to worry about spoiling me. I mean, as we all know, the internet is all about me. I’m clear.

I am not clear on Star Trek Picard though. Granted, the episode doesn’t come out for another three hours or so. Usually I’d watch it before work, but like a doofus I started going into the office on Thursdays, which means I can’t watch the episode until after work.

There is so much good TV on right now. So much nerd stuff to nerd out on. Comic book TV shows. Star Trek. It’s getting hard to keep up with everything. I haven’t watched a single episode of this run of The Flash.

Okay. The alarm is going to go off in four hours and 50 minutes. I should probably go to sleep.

In the Office

For the third time this month, I am in the office. I hit a little bit of traffic on route 93 South before I even got out of town, but after that it was mostly smooth sailing. Mostly.

I had said that the kitchen redesign was done as far as outside help was concerned, but we came in under budget and decided to do another small thing or two. We’re still waiting on the pre-fab furniture deliveries and the big stuff isn’t coming until next week. Jen and I will put together whatever we have over the weekend and try to keep our wits about us while waiting for the rest.

So far everything looks great. We are both really thrilled. I keep saying this to anyone who will listen, but when we moved into the house in 2010 I said the first thing we needed to upgrade was the walls in the dining room and the kitchen. The paneling and the wallpaper border had to go. 12 years, a redone bathroom, and a garage turned into a bedroom suite, not to mention new furniture and floor plans in literally every room in the house, and we finally get to the paneling and the wallpaper border. I gotta say, it feels great.

I managed to watch Star Trek Picard last night so you can feel free to discuss it with me in a spoiler-heavy manner. I mean, Picard is Q’s father? Who knew!?