Today

It’s Sunday. What’s going on?

Recently I gave up on my idea of learning how to make sugar free ice cream at home. Somehow, my beloved bride Jennifer responded to me getting off the homemade ice cream wagon by jumping on the homemade ice cream wagon, which has pulled me back into the fray.

Earlier today we went to a grocery store to do some research. How much does stuff cost and how long does it last before it goes bad. We also found a few different brands of sugar free ice cream to try. You know, for ideas and stuff. We don’t have an ice cream maker at the moment, but we’re watching the web for sales. Come on, amazon (you effin’ psychos), let’s put that ice cream maker with the built in compressor on sale!

A few minutes from now I am going to head to my father’s place. He has an issue that requires frequently changing a bandage. My brother and sister and I are taking turns. It’s my turn today. He has stuff to do this afternoon so I am planning on popping in, changing the bandage, and popping out. I am taking a camera with me. There’s a spot near his place that I might stop at for a minute or two if I have the time. Fingers crossed.

After that I will come home and have dinner with the love of my life. After that? Band practice. After that? Come home and hang out with my Jen and then sleep. After that? Work in the office. Oh shit. Today’s Sunday. Crap.

Things We Need to Do

We’re leaving for Florida a day and a half from now. What do we need to do before we leave?

Tonight we’re packing. I did all of the laundry in the house over the last couple of days. We need to sort, fold, and put away what isn’t going with us, and pack what is.

We need to pack toiletries. Everything that is coming along that isn’t going to be needed tonight or tomorrow needs to be packed.

On Friday morning before work I need to go to the grocery store and pick up some stuff. Bottles of water, maybe some Gatorade, and ice for the cooler… assuming we’re taking the cooler. Maybe we shouldn’t. It’s going to eat up a lot of room. I might be changing my mind on that one. I also need to pack up a ton of protein bars and sugar free snacks. I also, also need to figure out how to keep that stuff from melting in the car. Maybe the cooler is coming after all. I have an insulated lunch bag that I can throw an ice pack into that should work on a day to day basis, but we’re talking about a multiple day drive. I will also need to bring a stash of stomach safe foods to the parks each day, and I will need to have some for the drive home. That’s a lot of protein bars. I don’t know. I need to think about this.

What else? Chargers for our iPhones, Apple Watches, Air Pods, and laptops. All that needs to be packed. I also need to figure out exactly what my camera needs will be. One digital (my Nikon Z5) and one film (my Nikon FG-20, I think). Do I bring two lenses for the Z5? How much film should I bring for the FG-20? I also need a back pack to hold all of this stuff while I journey through the parks each day. I think I know what to do about all of this. I just have to pack it up.

Should we get an audio book for the long drive there and back? We’ve done that before. What book though? Do you think Jen will be down to listen to Isaac Azimov’s Foundation? Am I down to listen to that? Probably not. There’s a new Stephen King short story collection coming. Is that out yet? Maybe just go with the old standard and listen to a Harry Potter novel? I would be fine with any of them, but 3, 4, and 7 are my favs.

This seems like a lot of things to take care of before we go, but it’s really not. We’ll have everything set long before we load up the car and head out on Friday. The only real question I have is, will this place be open when we drive by?

To Do List for Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a half day of work. Here is what I hope to accomplish…

Wake up early.
Exercise.
Eat breakfast.
Play some guitar.
Go to my doctors appointment for my two year post-surgery follow up.
(Maybe) hit the sugar free bakery on the way home.
Play a little more guitar.
Punch into work and work a half day.
Go to a wake.
Cook dinner and eat it with the love of my life.
Go to sleep.

That sounds like a full day.

Cheer Me Up, Cat

I’m in the office today and I am struggling a little. It’s my stomach again, but this time I don’t think it has anything to do with gastric bypass. Not directly. When things went bad last week I changed my diet out of fear of a relapse. That has lead to a lingering issue that I would explain further, but we’re already deep, deep into TMI territory so I will shut up.

Suffice to say, am I feeling things because of these lingering issues, or because I need to eat something soon, or is there some other reason I haven’t considered yet? The analysis nerd that lives in my head is fascinated by all of this. The rest of me just feels uncomfortable. I really am weird, aren’t I?

Anyhoo, as is usually the case when I work from the office I managed to snag a quick photo for today’s photo a day challenge entry before I left the house. This one is a classic. Robin was on the living room bay window. The curtains were closed, but I saw her jump up there and I pulled the curtain open just enough to slip my iPhone inside and snap one.

250/365
250/365

Look at that mug, would ya? Just look at it! Think she noticed me? Good kitty was totally busted. HA!

Changing the subject, tomorrow is my birthday and I took a vacation day because hells yes I did. I need to go back to Lens Crafters to see if they can adjust my new glasses. They are really tight along the side of my head and they hurt. I like them tight, just not that tight. I also plan to play my guitar at an absurd volume. It’s a celebration day after all, or something like that. I’m going to turn 53. That’s too old to still be celebrating birthdays, but I need an excuse to crank my amp and this is as good as any. I’m hoping the questions my non-human digestive system are asking will be answered by then. If they are… then I could be visiting that sugar free bakery again.

Those are questions for tomorrow though. For today we just need to decide if we want to do a normal lunch or a meal replacement/protein bar work around. I’m leaning toward a real lunch, but that back fired on me four days ago. I’m sure I’ll let you know, what with me being the King of TMI Posts and all.

Plans for Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We have one plan for the day but I have a few additional things I want to get to.

  1. Wake up and do my daily exercise
  2. Eat breakfast
  3. Grab my laptop, a microphone, a USB audio interface, and a pair of headphones and jump into the car, drive someplace quiet, and record vocals for my two songs for this month’s Record Every Month Challenge
  4. Come home and take a shower and shave
  5. Put lead guitars onto the same two songs
  6. Make lunch for me and my beloved wife
  7. Mix one of those two songs
  8. Go to my father’s for Easter Dinner. Maybe watch a couple of innings of the Red Sox game
  9. Go home, spend some quality time hanging out with my beloved wife
  10. Mix the other song
  11. Sleep

I think I can manage that.

Until then, I am worried about one of the cats. Lilly. About half an hour ago she made a ton of noise. She was running around like crazy, crashing into things and skidding all over the tiled floor. She somehow got wrapped up in a plastic bag and was absolutely freaking out trying to get untangled. She ran into the bed room where I was sitting up in bed and watching something on my laptop. She then dashed out again and went into hiding. I can’t find her anywhere. I’m worried that she might have hurt herself in her struggles. I’m worried that she might have wrapped the plastic bag around her neck. She hid herself so well though that I can’t seem to find her anywhere. I’m sure she’s okay, but I would like to find her to know for sure.

Poor kitty.

Schedule Shuffle

I woke up this morning with every intention of working in the office. Now it’s 9:07am though and I am sitting at my desk at home.

I woke up a touch later than I wanted to, and that was the first issue. By the time I finished my morning exercise (jogging [pronounced yogging] in place for 45 minutes) I just couldn’t bring myself to drive into the office. Instead of packing up my stuff I just ate breakfast and finished the episode of The X-Files that I was watching (the one where the baseball player in the ’40’s is an alien in disguise… not the best episode).

I am still planning on making tomorrow (Saturday) a major musical day. Jen is going to be at a conference all day so I am on my own. The to-do list includes getting a haircut (which I desperately need) and an oil change for one of the cars. Other than that, it’s music. The Record Every Month Challenge and Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven… and maybe a start on Volume Eight too.

I promise you, owe internets, that there will be guitar playing, song writing, and recording done on Saturday. Unless I change my mind and just sleep and watch TV all day, of course.

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day challenge masterpiece.

204/365
204/365

Tomorrow

So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.

We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.

When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.

After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.

Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.

What a Day

This morning has been the toughest month in years.

Tomorrow is going to be worse. A lot worse. Wednesday will be tough, though mostly after work. Same with Thursday. Friday and Saturday? Nuckin’ Futs!

I need a nap. I need to go to bed early tonight but we all know that won’t happen. I will get up ridiculously early tomorrow too. Same with the next day and the next day and the next day.

As crazy as it has been, and as crazy as it will continue to be in the near future, I am good with it. I am ready for all of it. It’s going to be rough, but it’s also going to be worth it.

Bring it on, babie! Bring it on!

Okay, Robert. Back to work with your bad self. You have stuff to do before the day ends!

Long Day Alert

Wow… Wednesday… am I right or am I right?

It’s a work-in-the-office day. I woke up nice and early, though about half an hour later than I was hoping. I had a lot of meetings on my work calendar today, the first of them being very early in the day. I wanted to make sure I could get through my whole morning routine, including 45 minutes of jogging (pronounced yogging) in place and making lunch and packing emergency protein snacks and all of that stuff while still leaving enough time for me to get to work a little early.

Unfortunately when I got out of bed I saw that we got a dusting of snow overnight. Not a lot, but enough to cover everything and guarantee a terrible morning commute. I was hoping to get out onto the road by 7:15. I made it by 7:20, but I had to cut my exercise in half to pull off that feat. That means I am going to have to yog tonight when I get home and I really do not want to do that. I wasn’t late to work, but it did take me an hour and a half to drive the 40 miles. 

Now that it’s about 2:30 in the afternoon, I have survived two big meetings and I have a third coming up in half an hour. I’m stressing out, big time, but once I get through today I will not have to worry about this sort of thing for a while and I am happy about that idea.

Tomorrow and Friday I will be working from home. I am optimistic that I will be able to get a lot of music done before work both days. Fingers crossed for some guitar playing and car vocals and fun stuff like that. I’m also thinking it would be nice to mix a song or two over the weekend. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

For now though, I am really tired and can’t wait to get through my next meeting so that I can relax a little. Maybe if I can get my exercise finished right after dinner tonight I might be able to go to bed early and enjoy not having to stress over a work project for the first time in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, right?

To Do List Recap

I posted a to do list for this evening earlier. How did I do?

  • Approximately 90 more minutes of work – DONE
  • Top off the cat’s food bowl – DONE
  • Cook dinner – DONE
  • Eat dinner while hanging out with my wife in front of the tube – DONE
  • Shovel the 4-5 inches of snow we got today off of the drive way so that I can drive to the office tomorrow – DONE
  • Bring the trash barrel out to the street once there is a path shoveled to get it there – DONE
  • Finish today’s exercise and close the last ring in the Apple Watch’s activity app – DONE
  • Pack up my work laptop along with a bunch of things to put onto my new desk, which officially becomes my desk tomorrow – DONE
  • Keel over from exhaustion and sleep – IN PROGRESS

Well what do you know? I had a pretty productive night. The only thing left to do is sleep. I need to finish an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine first (season seven episode 22, I’m almost done with the full rewatch!) while I wait for my Apple Watch to charge and then it’s lights out, babie.

Nice work, Robert.