it's only a little bit after nine but i think i'm going to "wimp out" and go to bed, in my 57 years i think i've been asleep at 12 midnight on new years eve more then i've been up to "usher" in the new year........in mind mind it's no big deal....a totally arbitrary date........

went into work for an hour everything went fine, stopped and got breakfast on the way home, and just relaxed all day, but for some reason, maybe because of the lousy weather ( rainy, windy, just plain nasty) was in a real foul mood around supper, went to the frig to see what to make, and realized i was almost out of milk......now you must understand i rarely drink milk.....my cat smokey does, and there is no power on earth that can save me from her wrath if i run out, so went out to the store to get milk and just looked around for something for dinner, got some pierogies, and they had a package of black angus beef tenderloin steaks on markdown, about an inch thick, just perfect for the broiler, that and some ice tea, and i'm feeling fine.....

dang, last week it was a hot load to the west coast and i had to work christmas eve, this week it's a dang vendor, who just switched a delivery date with out asking and i need to go in tomorrow, maybe only an hour but it's just......well dang.........nothing planned but that's exactly what i wanted to do, nothing.........went in at 7 special to load a truck and the guy didn't get there until after 9 (grrrrrrrrrrrrr).......day was wild........just nuts.......
cashed my check and ran some errands, needed to buy my daughter a birthday gift, she's 27 today.......really could have waited as i won't see her to sunday but called and wished her a happy one.......
i dead on my feet and thing i'll call it an early nite......

if you can figure this mess out, i'll buy you a coke if we ever meet

tomorrow does not promise to be an easy day, with what didn't happen today, i have 3 truckloads, a hot LTL shipment, and being end of the month i'm sure that they'll try to dig up another bunch of things that have to be done, and i'm alone tomorrow, my clerck is taking his last vacation day.......rats.........
also the first load is scheduled at 7 AM, (not my choice) so i have to drag myself out of bed early
the good news is i think i've avoided the cold.......i feel a little off today....but not bad

today was one of those days at work where, much of what i had to do today slid into tomorrow, so today was easy but tomorrow could prove to be a real bear.......
felt good after work, stopped and picked up few groceries, really didn't need much, had dinner, relaxed a bit and went to rehearsal, which went okay, but towards the end started to get a little stuffed up, and have been sneezing tonight and feel like i'm coming done with a beaut of a cold, so i'm off to bed.....nite all

it had snowed overnight, not very much really, maybe another 3" or so but enough that they plowed, and although a average car could get thru what was in the end of the drive way, mine is not......very low slung and very prone to getting hung up on the least bit of hard pack......i like the car but......
when i went down to do to work i managed to fall down the stairs, well just one stair really, was more shocked then hurt but i should have taken it as an omen and just cancelled the rest of the day.....absolutely nothing went right for the first 6 hours of work today, netween broken equipment, a hassel trying to arrange repair, counts that were off, misunderstandings and things i needed to know but wasn't told.......man.........want a mess........
needed to stop and get a few things at big lots, nothing i needed immediately, but you must buy it while they have it because they are not likely to have it again......they sell mostly over runs so you never know from one week to the next what they might have (in the way of food)....but if they have it, it's a a great price.......

the day has gone reasonably well, didn't sleep real well last night so slept in a little and went to sunday school and 2nd service, spent the afternoon with family at brothers place, good meal and nice time but i left earlier then everyone else, it's about a 15 mile drive over back roads and my night vision isn't real good, so i wanted to make the trip before it was full dark, i have no problem driving at night in town, but country roads, and those which i seldom drive are not a great idea for me at night.....
have a 4 day work week, and then another 3 day weekend, hopefully i actually get a 3 day weekend this time.......i have nothing planned......and will probably try to avoid having anything planned for me.......

i have had a very quiet, very enjoyable, very relaxing day, just me and the cats.....and it's exactly what i needed, i know that in most people's minds christmas is about family, but what i needed was solitude and rest and the is exactly what this day has been so far......i feel as good as i've felt in a very long time......both physically and mentally......this year has been a difficult one for me......actually the last two or three have been.......
made a large seafood cocktail for lunch, i had gotten some of the lobster flavored whitefish a week or so ago and just tossed a bunch of it with some good cocktail sauce and lettuce with a hard roll and iced tea......a garlic pizza for supper.......and just some tv and computer games since my snow shoveling of the morning.......also have played a little blogshares today.......i think i'll make an early night of it...have to do the family thing for christmas tomorrow afternoon......i usually attend the early service at church, but i think i'll not set the alarm, if i make early service i do, and if not i'll go to second service.......

(trollie comes in singing " we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas and a kick in the rear".....well we didn't expect a trollie carol to be totally non-violent did we ??????)

well we got maybe 6" of snow overnight, and i got up late, almost 9 AM, but i feel much better then last night, i think my problem last night was that i was just over tired, i actually made breakfast this morning, i rarely do and watched some of the american chopper marathon, went out to shovel about noon, need to get the snowblower repaired and time and the lack of green has precluded that, so got the shovel out, only took about 20 minutes, snow was light, and the exercise felt good, played a little e stronghold crusader, and now i'm thinking about lunch......

it started to snow just about dusk, and although we haven't gotten more then a few inches it is extremely slippery driving......candlelight service was very nice and i went to daughters for a late supper, but didn't stay long as i was feeling poorly.....i don't know if it was a combination of something i ate or just the stress of the week that finally caught up with me but i feel poorly and came home......am feeling better now but am quite tired.....have nothing planned for tomorrow and will fight to the death anyone that tries to give me something to do.........really......i don't look at tomorrow as anything more then a day off and a chance to kick back, de-stress and relax.......just me and the cats.........however i think i'll open a can of tuna for their christmas dinner......best gift one could give to a cat...........

so i get jarred out of a sound sleep at 6:15 AM by the alarm clock, and so were the cats that went scattering in about 9 directions ( which is pretty cool because i only have 3 cats)......but in order to be ready to load the inbound at 8 i need to go in and finish the paper work, which i couldn't complete yesterday because production hadn't finish the goods yet......so i should come as no shock that i was in a pretty foul mood.......i had been looking forward to the day off......sleeping in....and then needed to get up even earlier then usual.......
so i get dressed and get in the car and start it up.......and the instrumental interlude between part 1 and 2 of handel's messiah is just starting.....it and the first part of part2 is my favorite section of the work....
(aside 1: trollie's car radio is basically glued to 90.9 FM which is the local translator for classic FM out of syracuse......really one of the best classical music stations i've ever heard......and you can to because they have a live webcast.......if you scroll down the right hand column, under trollie's listening favs you'll find a link to the webcast......if you like to listen to classical while you surf....check it out)
(aside 2: that instrumental interlude i mentioned also has a keyboard arrangement......and despite my limited keyboard skills, which arthritis hasn't improved, i can still play the original music....a bit slow......and i few clunkers....but i enjoy it greatly.....)
well hearing that changed my whole mood from sour to almost upbeat......load went fine......took a bit longer then i had hoped but got out of work about 10 AM........so wasn't too bad.....
stopped and picked up a few things i needed, and finally made a decision on what to get for day....made him a christmas treats basket.......a few bags of dried fruit he likes, a can of cashews, a couple of beef sausages, and found a neat little basket he can use to toss stuff in.........
have got all my gifts wrapped, of course the bulk of them are gift cards so there is limited wrapping involved......have a pot of soup on.......and i intend to just take it easy until time for the candlelight service at church.......then a late supper at my daughters.......i'm a little worried......the sensai at her dojo gave her a sword for christmas so if i'm never heard from again.....don't be surprised..........

(trollie looks up......realizes he's just written a nouvelle.......and runs off snickering)

the weather this time of year is really changeable. it was -17*f tuesday, and +50*f today, all the snow is gone, but it is supposed to turn cold tonight and snow again.....
driving home from work tonight was really weird, it was just at sunset, and the sky was completely overcast except for a small sliver right where the sun was setting, and it cast a very eerie reddish glow on everything......
did most of my christmas shopping tonight, which is early for me, i usually wait to christmas eve, but i have to go into work tomorrow, and since i'm loading a truck, and since there is no guarantee that he will show up when he's supposed to, i have no idea how long i'll be there...........fun.......the day before christmas and the only mouse stirring at old CWM is trollie.........
i'm at an impasse, i have no idea what to get dad for christmas, what do you get an 89 year old man that does nothing except watch TV and take naps, not that he doesn't deserve to do just that but it makes buying gifts for him impossible...............

HAIL THE RETURN OF THE ORANGE

there are several weeks in the late fall ( at least in this area) when oranges are either:
a- impossible to find
b- of terrible quality
c- so expensive you would have to trade your first born for a half dozen

the last is not an option, first her husband would probably object, and second my first(and only born if truth be told) has a brown belt in akido and i'd probably get the crap kicked out of me....

where was i

oh yah......hail the orange......

oranges are without a doubt my favorite fruit, and even though what i got was a bag of navel oranges, not my favorite, still to a person deprived of oranges for several week they tasted great.....(or is it depraved......nah i've been depraved way longer then several weeks,,,,i think deprived is probably correct)

but i digress

although as a sometimes poet i hate the word orange......no rhyme.....but that not withstanding....

HAIL THE RETURN OF THE ORANGE

i guess i leave my cats alone to long during the day, at least from their point of view, aggie was very vocal and clingy tonight......and i just had to put smokey off my lap because she was licking my hand as i tried to type this post.....
i'm tired.......exhausted really.....but as often is the case my mind is racing and i think an attempt at sleep would fail miserably........

3rd wild day in a row, at least the morning was, calmed down this afternoon, but by that time i had run out of gas and was toast, also got some great news (not), we have a production run that won't be done until late thursday, early friday and so we need to ship out a load on friday, now in theory friday is a holiday.......they did offer to get some one else to do it, but it's a three stop load and multiple parts, and it isn't arrogance but paranoia that makes me decide to load the load, as complicated as it is i just don't trust anyone else to do it.........i had the day planned but as long as i can get the load in early enough it shouldn't mess up the day to bad.......

nuts....what i really needed to get done today was to do some prep on an order that is leaving tomorrow and i just never got the chance, things just kept getting in the way and to boot an inbound that i had hoped would get here in the PM never did arrive so that will get kicked into tomorrow and really put a wrench in the works so to speak.......
had some good sales at the store tonight and spent more then i had planned but was able to stock up on a few items that will last me a while, they did not have the brand of fake crab meat that i usually get, i only use it in salads, but love to break a little into a toss salad, but had a great deal on a new brand and also got so fake lobster, it really is pretty close to the right taste and in a salad with dressing and other fixings it's hard to tell it from the original.....just had a big salad and a hard roll for dinner, very nice........
am tired and off to bed......nite all

i was just too tired last night to even think about posting, the cantata went well but it was a long day and i went to bed early
was cold this morning, -17*f with a -31*f wind chill and is still below zero, i gets colder here but for early winter, actually still late fall by a few days it is abnormally cold......
work was a blur today, too much to do and not enough time to do it, clerk is off this week and i had one of those days when it was 2 steps forward and 3 steps back......off to surf

so i set the alarm for 6:15, figured i needed to get to work by 7 so i could be sure to get to rehearsal by 9, awoke at 6:05, turned the alarm off and didn't get out of bed, and re-awoke at 6:35....made it to work at 7 but barely
also need to get up early tomorrow as we are doing the cantata in both services........and am playing in a pick up group for carols in the evening.......
next week looks like it will be a wild one at work, usually the week before christmas is pretty dull but we are busy, unusually so and my clerk has the week off so it could prove to be wild........

weird day at work, much that was scheduled for today, got delayed to next week, and next week's schedule got changed alot, caught a serious problem late in the day and caught it just in time to patch it up so we should be ok, did not have time to fix it completely, but well enough that the immediate problem is solved and i will have time next week to fix the rest......
went out to dinner with dad tonight, he took me out for my birthday, a bit late but he was away last weekend visiting his brother in the hospital in buffalo.......he wanted to tell me everything that was going on, of course my sister had already told me, but ah fathers...went to a nice little family restaurant......they do basic italian very well, but also have a really nice fish fry which i had....nice evening, but i have a crazy morning tomorrow and in order to pull it off with any degree of success should go into work and hour early.....so despite the early hour i'm thinking of turning in............

weird day, work was ok, a little messed up but i needed the afternoon off as i had to get an oil change, stopped to get the work done and walk down to get lunch, when i got back they had checked my coolant and found that it was only good down to -10*F, now in some areas, most for that matter, -10*f would be fine, but in this area we can get well below that in the winter so i had them flush the system and put new coolant in, more time then i had wanted to spend not to mention more money then i had planned......well needed to be done........
have just hung out tonight.....nothing much happening......i'm tired and think i'll call it a night.....

work actually went very well today until 4 PM, a half hour before i leave, when a delivery due tomorrow morning came in early, i could have played hardball with the guy and made him wait over night, because i did have an appointment set for tomorrow for the unload, but i decided to stay and unload it tonight, well didn't get done to 6 o'clock, came home and decided i'd better do the dishes so popped dinner in the oven, a white pizza, did the dishes , made a salad and had supper, sat down to watch a little tv and realized it was 7:15 and i needed to be to choir at 7:30......

got a little fresh snow over night, and just one of those days when i just didn't want to get out of bed, but work went okay despite the fact that my knees got tight late in the day, the early winter when the weather is so changeable is probably the hardest time of the year physically for me, it's when the arthritis seems to be at it worst......anyways stopped on the way home did my grocery shopping, really didn't need a whole lot this week except for fresh meat and veggies......had leftovers for supper and really feel good tonight, had intended to call it an early night but then realized that the finals for big break II were on so decided to watch that, really was a intense match.....
i get a charge out of search engine hits. i got one today for somebody looking for a used manure spreader.........i had to think twice before i remembered when i had every used those words.....

only worked a half day, really didn't feel very good, and still have a few odd days of vacation to take before the end of the year, and stopped and got milk ( for my cat smokey) and a 25 Lbs. bag of cat food for all three......i've decided that aggie is actually more dog then cat, first of all she's a large body cat and goes about 18 Lbs. so she's the size of a dog, second she'll eat practically anything.....a list that includes potato chips, french fries, pretzels and anything that even resembles meat or fish, and lastly she will come running if i call her name, never had a cat that answered to her name, had one the would come to a snap of your fingers but never name recognition........anyways we (that is the cat and i watched monster garage tonight.....well she really didn't watch, she just sat on my lap and i petted her while we watched........have got a bit of fresh snow and i really should set the alarm a little earlier tomorrow as we may get a lot more over night, it's supposed to go north of us, but all it takes is for the wind to shift a little and we could get 6-10"

(happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear trollie......happy birthday to me)
today is my 57th birthday, so of course i slept lousy last night, awoke about 3 AM with a splitting headache and felt like crap this morning.......typical......
needed to stop in at work this morning and that went smooth, and stopped at mickey d's for breakfast before sunday school, i had intended to leave after i taught but felt better and it was the kid's christmas program so i stayed, had dinner at my daughter's very good oriental style meal, and the have basically crashed the rest of the day......
sister called......she and my dad went to see my uncle in buffalo (see below post).....he's doing a little better but things really don't look promising.......he's 84 and there is a strong possibility that along with a kidney problem that he may have cancer.....so your prayer would be appreciated....
just got done watching the survivor final..........i must admit i had been pulling for elisa......but the result was predictable......anyhow i really did get into this one like i did have in the past.......really an unsatisfactory result from my point of view..........
am bushed and headed for bed........

it's only a little after 7 pm and i'm dead tired, i got to bed late last night, got a call during the evening that my uncle ( who is in his mid 80's ) was sick and in the hospital in buffalo........needed to call and tell my brother but he and his wife were out so i told their daughter that i'd be up to 11 if they got home to call me, well i had intended to go to bed early and when i did get to bed just couldn't nod off......
i had wanted to make beef soup for lunch today, really haven't done any "real" cooking for a week or so but with getting hung up at work ( see below entry)....never got it started until 11:30 AM......so lunch became supper and supper lunch, had the seafood left from last night.......
i have no responsibility at church tomorrow other then teaching class, and had thought about just vegging tomorrow but:
A- i have to work at least an hour tomorrow morning sometime
B- it's my birthday and i'm going to my daughter's for lunch
C- things seldom work out the way i would like them (/pathetic outburst)

my weird dreams have returned.......as usual don't remember much detail.....just the weirdness........

(see trollie skip into work for an hour to put daily numbers in.......see trollie open an intra-office Email (don't do it trollie)......see trollie do floor count to verify numbers for next weeks load(as per Email).......see trollie open big can of worms....( BIG CAN OF WORMS)......see trollie run around like headless chicken for an hour and a half trying to find problem.......see trollie find simple recording error......see trollie stomp up and down......blue steam rising from trollie's ears)

on one hand it really isn't snowing hard, as in number of flakes per minute, but since the flakes are the size of silver dollars it's snowing pretty hard, and coming from an odd direction, almost dead out of the east, normally snow here comes from the west south west.....relatively easy day at work, got caught up with the end of month ordering.....yah i know i'm a week late but i needed to talk to the gm/pres who was out of town until yesterday before i placed orders.......stopped and got take out seafood on the way home.......

what should have been a fairly easy day at work turned into an absolute freak show, the computer system was done briefly but the real problem was the phone system was messed up all day........apparently we had a problem with the lines into the plant, but also with our internal system.......and had two verizon techies running around all day........now i rarely have to use an outside line but had two vendor calls i had to make today, fortunately i got thru late in the day to both vendors, but as usual the one is turning into phone tag.......the company that does our reprocess for us, seems like it usually takes a couple of days for me to catch the person i need to speak to at her desk, and when she calls back, i'm not there.......so let the tag game begin...........

i do wish that some people would realize that the person on the right does not have the right of way if you are in a traffic circle and the person on the right is trying to enter the circle.......except for good brakes my beloved car would be in the body shop..........rats.........but i can't avoid the circle without going way out of my way........
easy day at work, i needed one.......back was fine today..........but it was a warm 45 and not nearly as damp as yesterday......

well i ended up with just a salad and some nice whole wheat rolls i got for supper, wasn't really hungry and didn't have the energy to do anything else, feel much better, almost lifelike but am exhausted and despite the early hour, i'm off to bed (trollie can be seen turning the lights off under the bridge and waving goodnight)

(the beautiful tones of faure's requiem floats thru the room, which the way i feel tonight, a mass for the dead is quite appropriate)

i awoke this morning and knew it was going to be a long day, it had warmed over night to the low 40's F and was raining abit (rained on and off all day), and was damp and bitter, and my back was tight as a drum......and i had two outbounds......got to work to find that the computers were finally fixed, and caught up on the things that i needed to.....first of the two loads arrived about 10:30 and by 2:30 had both loaded but managed to get pretty well soaked in the process......never went to lunch until 20 to 3 so even though it's past time for supper have yet to eat, just not hungry.......but i jump ahead in the narrative......by the end of the day i was toast......but as it was tuesday, went and did my grocery shopping, came home. brewed a pot of coffee and drew a hot bath.......and i'm feeling much better now.......it's tuesday and i don't have a rehearsal to go to, which feels funny but worship team is on hiatus for a couple of weeks as there are some seasonal events planned, i have not sung with church choir this fall because of the commitment to worship team and northcountry choral, a 3rd group was just too much, but had a chat with the choir director over the week end to see when choir would start up after christmas as i intended to sing then, well one thing lead to another and he asked if i would sing in the christmas cantata, they need a bass, well i'm no bass but then the bass part in most of the music we do for church choir really isn't a true bass part, more of a baritone part, and though at the bottom end of my range, is still in my range so i said why not, the music (which i now have a copy of ) is not to difficult so i should be able to learn it in the 3 rehearsals i have left, one tomorrow.........plus i will be playing in a pickup group for a carol sing in a couple of weeks......i just can't turn down a chance to sing/play.........i just have too much fun doing it.......(singing and playing that is, get your mind out of the gutter.......i hate being crowded)

we got a little fresh snow during the day, really nothing much but i noticed on the commute home that the headlights weren't really very bright, ooops, it seems like i forget this every year but the one thing i dislike about my car is the design of the clear cover over the headlights, it seems to allow snow to collect and build up, and it takes at least one or two storms for me to remember to even in light snow check and clean the covers........come home over the new pearl street bridge tonight, they must have opened it sometime today because i came over the temporary bridge this morning, they did a nice job on the new one, has kind of a retro look to it......
woke this AM feeling pretty good dispite the rigors of the weekend, but ran out of energy about 2 PM and finished the day on will alone.....
frustrating day, trying to get month end finished and some new month jobs taken care of and the computer system at work was on the fritz again.......it's a pain normally but if it happens around month end it's a major pain.......
also spent a good chunk of this morning trying to figure out the best way to load 2 loads for portugal.....if i loaded them the obvious way one container would have weighted 42000, and the other 48000+.......(loud buzzer sounds) -wrong answer-, i needed to get the two weights reasonablely the same around 45000, but also needed to do it without having to do any major re-palletizing....after much trial and error came up with a way to have the two loads, both easy to load and within 150 Lbs, of each other......
need to do a few household chores and get dinner.....although i do not at this moment have the inclination to do either

when i awoke this morning my voice was basically trash, but it loosened up as the day wore on, and with the help of half a lemon was probably as good by concert time as its been all week, not 100% to be sure but good enough......concert went well.......and its now wait until next september.....we used to do a spring concert as well but that has kind of fallen by the wayside....i miss the spring because we did more of the master works in the spring then you do for christmas but some thing is better then nothing.....i will enjoy having my sunday afternoons free but i will miss the music..... and the people involved........

the concert this afternoon went tons better then last night, made only a couple of minor miscues section wide, and i felt a bit better today, voice was a bit clearer and i think the cold is pretty well done, but i did resort to eating some lemon slices before the concert, that helps clear the throat, even if it does gross out the rest of the choir.......but i have been called a sour puss before.......

on a scale of 1 to 10 i'd give the concert tonight a 7.5, no real monster blowups but not near as good as we could have done, but most of the mistakes probably went un-noticed by the audience, had a good crowd and 2 concerts to go.......

as bad as last nights rehearsal was, tonight's ran pretty smooth......long....but smooth....except for the fact that i lost concentration at one point and made an absolute mess of a passage i never have trouble with.........am tired and ready for bed.........as i have concerts the next 3 days i won't be surprised if i didn't post until sunday....but then again........

i had one of those days at work where i was busy all day, but at days end had really accomplished very little.......every job i did, took forever to get done, but spent some of the time revising one of my spread sheets which will save me time and effort later.......
have been home less then an hour, had a 2 and one half hour rehearsal tonight and another , maybe longer tomorrow, and then concerts friday saturday and sunday....tonight actually went quite well.......and tomorrow we will be work=king with the composer of the commission piece which we will be giving the world premier of on friday........have never had the chance to be part of that before.....so it is exciting.....but i'm zonked tonight

well i have no idea what happened, yet that is but the pager never went off last night ( see below post)..........will be interested to know just what happened to the truck.......

it's near ten PM and i'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop, or put another way for my pager to go off, i have or at least i'm supposed to have an inbound load that tonight which i have to go back to work to take care of but it hasn't arrived yet.......and i'm starting to get irritated.........but it was that kind of a day at work.......

it's near ten PM and i'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop, or put another way for my pager to go off, i have or at least i'm supposed to have an inbound load that tonight which i have to go back to work to take care of but it hasn't arrived yet.......and i'm starting to get irritated.........but it was that kind of a day at work.......

a frustrating day, had to go back in because a delivery which i need to handle personally came in at about 6:30 pm........only for a half hour but none the less.......
i have a bit of a cold which is really bad timing considering the vocal schedule for this week, if i get thru the week and have any voice left at all twill be a miracle

weird weather day, when i left for church this morning i didn't realize how strong the wind was blowing, it was coming out of the east( which is rare here) and so where my car is parked is sheltered, when i got to church i opened the door and the wind caught it and almost blew it over.....by the time i left the wind and died a bit, now out of the west and raining cats and dogs.......coming home this evening after choral practice and evening service it hailed briefly......watertown weather my be bad, but it's never boring.....
practice was very stressful today, i was tired and the voice was just a bit off......plus with the size of the choir, and the fact that i'm all the way in the back it was hard to hear explanations and direction........busy week, i have 3 rehearsals this week ( 2 different groups) and then performance, friday, saturday and sunday........by sunday evening at this time i'll probably be 1/2 dead.......

just took it easy, slept late, never got dressed, just stayed in all day and relaxed, well did do a few chores but nothing tough....watched some tube, played some computer games....really did surf much.. was a bum.........
my one cat smoky when she uses the litter pan (which i should note has a top and is enclosed except for an entry in one end.....perches in the entry with only her hindermost part in the pan....well i heard something funny....look over and the whole thing had tipped and was sitting opening side down, i figured she must have jumped off and tipped it over, well i got a surprise when i went to right it because she had managed to trap herself in it..........shessshhhhh!!!!!....always has been a bit of a klutz, but that takes the cake

not a bad day, slept late, ran my errands, went into big lots, i usually shop there once a week, for stable and odd ball food stuffs, boy was it packed to the walls, not a place i would do christmas shopping, not for anyone i really cared about, but different strokes as they say.....
spent the evening at my sister's, my nephew nate is home from school, kid is scary smarts, started taking courses at the local junior college at 13, enrolled fulltime at 14, and now at the advanced age of 17 is a transfer junior at RPI, in computer science....but the smarts isn't just in computers, really the only one of my family other then my daughter that i can really relate to (no pun intended)

i just was over on blogrank and i'm actually in the top ten, how the hey did that happen....link is over on the right if you want to vote for the blog.....any how have just taken it easy all day, and really except for sunday i plan to take it easy all weekend. need to run some errands tomorrow, bank was closed by the time i got out of work yesterday and i need to pick up a few odds and ends, but i will tell you for sure i'm not going to the mall........day after thanksgiving the last place i'd go is the mall.......
actually ate breakfast this morning, in fact i made breakfast, that happens about once in a coon's age....had a traditional thanksgiving dinner ( homemade turkey soup, ice tea and a crusty roll oh yeah and an american chopper rerun)....i mean how more traditional can you get (hehe) .....we got just a dusting of snow today....just enough to give the evergreens a powder coating........

Video recreation of JFK assassination marks a new low good grief, how can this be justified at all.....i was in the tenth grade when JFK was shot.and remeber where i was and the shock and grief that occured over that event, i even the cynical trollie is shocked at the ultra-low level that this sinks too

easy day at work, took the afternoon off, and did grocery shopping and made some turkey soup, played stronghold crusader most of the afternoon and then went to rehearsal tonight......went really well, we are about to lose our alto harmony singer and had a new girl singing with us tonight who i think will work out fine, totally different style then the current one but easy to fit the high and the low lines with so should be any easy transition......
have decided to stay home and just chill on thanksgiving, i'm really not in the mood to do the gathering thing....

i slept well last night, in fact slept right thru to the alarm, which i hardly ever do, the problem was i didn't sleep long enough (pause while i pet a cat that won't be denied).........lilly is now well petted, although an adult, she is very small bodied, probably only weighs 5 Lbs. or so, got her at the local aspca when she was about a year and a half old and only weighed 28 oz......but a very affectionate cat.......anyways where was i......oh yah........just was so wound up from the day that i never got into bed until well after midnight and 6:50 comes to early......
frustrating day at work, nothing seemed to work the way it should, had two outbounds, the first went okay but the second.......i made a mistake on it, somehow i dropped a pallet short and had any empty hole in the load and didn't catch it until the very end fortunately it was close to the tail but i still can figure out how i did it.......probably will drive me nuts........well okay it's not a long drive to drive me nuts, heck you don't even have to get in the car, nuts is just across the street....ended up back in for an hour tonight.......
but i actually feel pretty good tonight...........but am wound up again....and really need to get some rest but only have 2 more days this week.......so have 4 off to get rested up........
i've got 2 invites for thanksgiving but i really think i'm going to pass and just spend the day alone....i need the down time and really don't what the hassle of a "family" gathering......i think i'll pick up some turkey legs and some giblets and make so soup.......

the choral rehearsal lasted 3 hours today, and i went in with a voice that was some what less the 100%, so i'm pretty tired and the voice is pretty raw. this was the first practice in the loft, with the organ and instruments so as usually it was a train wreak, first time with that situation always is.....plus the choir is so big that we really are jammed in the loft, with very little room, and sang sitting down most of the time so my legs really tightened up, so i off to take a hot bath and try to get them loose.......
was a good day all in all i'm tired but really had a great day.......

spent a quiet day, spent longer at work then i intended but transfer failed to run and i need to grab some supplies from the whse for production.......
went to the store that sells the good nys cheddar and got 1/2 a pound of the super sharp, really excellent, unfortunately they no longer carry the amish blue which was so good, will have to look for another outlet.......
my cats were and still are quite ticked at me.....i made shrimp salad today, and that is a no-no in their book, the only salad must be tuna, and i must share........ all came running with happy faces when the can opener ran, and then left in a funk......all three are now on my bed and everytime i go by they look pitiful and/or give me the evil eye

oh. i forgot to mention before that i had a very,very strange dream last night, more often then not my dreams are inhabited by "average" people.......no body i really know just your average man,woman,child.....from time to time people i know pop up but last night was a pip, it was inhabited by the tuttles......the dudes from american chopper, and right before i woke up my mom, appearing as i remember her from childhood appeared and said "when are you going to de-louse" at which point i awoke needing to go to the bathroom........if anyone knows what that means please don't tell me, i don't want to know....i mean i really don't want to know

i sometimes think that the canadian goose has got to be the loudest creature on earth, at least in large groups. i live astride one of the major flyways on the east coast and this time of year the sounds of geese in flight are very common. add to that that there are a couple of places in the area with breeding populations of the honkers......one is at a local cemetery.......there is a large reflection pool that they had domestic white geese and swans in....and the canadian geese kind of adopted the place.....obviously there has been some....well.....socializing between the domestic geese and the canadian geese because many of the younger birds are of shall we say mixed ethnic origins.....
busy day and work and a first......the driver who picked up the load going to nogalas was stone cold deaf......made communication a bit tough....he read lips but unfortunately i have a rather large, droopy mustache which interfered with the process, but i found if i over pronounced the words he got them fine.......but it reminded me of a conversation i had with my daughter the music teacher, we both agreed that as much as we enjoy reading if we had to give up either our eyesight or our hearing we would choose to hear rather then see.........as much as i would miss sight.....not being able to hear music would be for me a "soul less" existence........
stopped and got seafood on the way home....calamari and fried scallops.......enjoyed them greatly as did my cat aggie......

was busy all day, i have two loads tomorrow and 2 on monday and spent today getting the 4 loads either staged or at least identified so i know where everything is.....from experience loads scheduled for friday are notoriously late, i got stuck last friday until 6 o'clock, so if they are all staged i can get thru them quicker
just got done watching survivor.......never have i seen a survivor where the majority of the people don't have a clue as to how to play the game, there is a large part that don't like eliza and want her off, really stupid move.....in all probability she loses to everybody in the final two, you keep people you can beat, not vote them off.......they just don't have a clue

nice late fall day weatherwise, but weird day at work, one of those where your busy all day but accomplish little, had several inventory problems that need to be taken care of and that pretty well shot the whole day......
have just chilled out tonight, nothing happening , nothing to report

well don't ask me how, but i managed to misplace my pager, i don't think it's in the house, because i paged myself when i couldn't find it and i don't hear it's annoying beep....of course i might have turned it off (something i almost never do) but in any case i can't find it.....not that on one hand it brings any tears to my eyes........i've had fantasies of smashing it, running over it with a forklift, or assorted other ways of removing it from existence, however it bugs me now where i might have left it, i could have put it on the table in the warehouse that the phone is on....the last place i remember being paged or.........well i really don't know...........probably left it at work but ........with any luck i'll never find it..........but on the other hand they will probably just replace it.....

work feeling punk this morning but had an easy day so took the afternoon off, did grocery shopping and then rested, rehearsal tonight went fine.....and i feel pretty good now, but i have to be half dead to miss a rehearsal, i really enjoy the making of music, it is when i feel the the most free, like a bird in flight........

a nothing day, work went fine, actually remembered to take the alternate route to work as they had the pearl street bridge closed again......have just done a few chores around the house and hung out tonight........nothing exciting...........just a normal, average day

it was a beautiful day today, cool but really nice day for late fall/early winter....i know that in theory winter doesn't start for another month or so on the calendar, but northcountry weather obviously can't read or understand a calendar.......
practice was fun today, kids choir was there again, but long and hard......seemed like every section we really pounded was one where the T1 part was high enough to give me nosebleeds....normal the high parts don't give me much problems but i had a bit of a sore throat today so i ran out of really good "A's" very quickly....hit the notes and on pitch but the quality was not there....
i now have two invites for thanksgiving......sister and my daughter's in-laws.....but have toyed with the idea of just getting a couple of turkey legs and some hard rolls....making turkey soap and staying home.......this will be the first major holiday alone and i think i might want to spend it alone......not out of depression or embarrassment....simply a desire to be by myself.......weird on what is probably the most family oriented of the US holidays but true none the less.......will probably cave in and go one or the other but..........
this week should prove interesting at work, the IA show was this week end and it is the biggest industrial show in our line of work, so there should be a ton of literature and sample requests coming out of it.....so small package shipping could be busy this week, but if they are true to form they'll sit around on some one's desk until friday and all of a sudden we will be flooded with them......
am tired and need rest....think i'll call it a night........
(odd note to self: i really wish spell check would understand that i never use CAPS....well almost never)

dang, one of the things i needed to do in the yard today was bring the hose in, i got about everything else done but still haven't brought the hose in.....i think i'm losing my mind, or what little of it that i had to begin with........need to get a shear pin for the blower but still have time....
worked briefly this morning, stopped and got a sweet roll and some coffee, had a nice chat and then went to big lots....i need to stay away from that place....i went in to buy one thing and ended up with 1/2 a cart of stuff like i usually do........i usually a good boy that way but i can't pass up a deal......

not a stressful day just dang frustrating......i had 2 outbound and one in bound, they were all late, in fact the load scheduled for about 9 AM, showed up at 5 after 4 PM, not exactly my definition of about.......needless to say i got out of there late....like 6 o'clock late......was too tired to go out for dinner so stopped and got take out seafood on the way home......i love calamara but i think my cat aggie loves them more then i do......the little scamp eat like 5 or 6 of them......breading and all....need to go in for an hour or so tomorrow and catch up on a few things......
you know watching a short armed woman in a huge SUV trying to get the box in and out of the slot in the drive thru at the bank could have been funny if i wasn't in a hurry.....man did she make a meal out of that.......have yard work to finish up tomorrow and also need to run some errands i had planned for tonight but with the late out at work just didn't have the time, energy or desire to do.......off to surf

it's headed for the mid teens F tonight, i have the heat on ( no duh) and all three cats are 6 feet or less from a register, and i will probably end up sharing my bed with all three before the night is out.
survivor continues to amaze me as this one being the dumbest group yet in figuring a reasonable tactic, as usually the power group made the mistake of taking the out of powers out first in a reward challenge, and yet the out of powers did not banded together, if they had they would have had numbers and revolt.......smart people but not....i repeat not game players......

the older i get the more i hate knowing how to drive a forklift, and to think that along time ago i couldn't wait to learn.....i spent 4+ hours to day on the lift and i'm sitting here now feeling every minute in my bones......and the last load today it was raining and the dock seal leaks........well at least i can skip my shower tonight (hehehe)
strange day, it was warm but over cast this morning, that cooled off and rained, then cooled off somemore and snowed, that stopped and warmed up a little and now it's clear and the temperature is dropping like a lead balloon.......
i get annoyed when my routine is broken, today was pay day but also veterans day so the banks were closed, so now i have to do thursday things on friday.......i'm so confused.....(hehe)

my cats have a very simple rule, if i run the can opener it has to be tuna, and if it's not tuna i still have to present the can for their inspection and on finding no tuna my name is mud.....well while making pizza tonight i opened not one but two cans which did not contain tuna......and i think i will be voted out of the house at the next tribal council........
was cold most of the day but it is predicted to warm up a little the next few days....that is if you consider 40*F warm.......i still have a bit of yard work i need to do before winter, and i need to get and replace a shear pin in the snowblower........just too old and too lazy to shovel anything but the bare minimum of snow........

did not get good night's sleep and have felt a little off all day......work went ok and i stop and did grocery shopping tonight, what with this being one of those week when i had run out of everything and the fact that they'd had some things om special that i stock up on when on sale i spent like twice what i normal do.....have somethings now on hand that i will have for months.....need to think about stocking up on some extra can goods.......winter is coming and we can get "snowed in" from time to time and it is helpful to have a few extra cans of food round the house for such cases
beautiful clear night which means it could get quite cold, predicting about 15*F, rehearsal went great......off to surf

my office is in part of the buillding without windows, so i go out to my car, and have so clear snow off it, okay so it was only a trace, but it's only the 8th of november, aaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!
the register in the bed room when the blower is on ( it's only mid 20s F tonight, blows right on the foot of the bed, i have a little furry ball of cat (2 in number) curled up enjoying the heat, it probably won't last long and it will turn into a war, but as long as the blower is on i think we're all safe........have a pot of stew on which i must check.....

today was the first sunday that we've had two services, one at 8:30 and the other at 11 with sunday school the middle, no one was sure how the numbers would shake out, but we had about 115 in the first service, which amounts to maybe 40% of the normal total when we had one, but we've just run out of room....and conventional wisdom says once you hit between 75=85% of your capacity you quit growing......i decided to attend the first service and although i have to stay thru the worship team in the second it gets me home about an hour early and takes the rush out of getting to choral practice.......
rehearsal went pretty good today, it's the first time we've practiced with the children's choir that is doing 3 numbers with us......I'm a firm believe in getting the kids involved......it's a good experience for them, and several have joined the main choir when they are too old for the kids choir, or their voices change or in a couple of cases they what the greater challenge......
am tired tonight but feel pretty good other then my voice is worn out........sundays i tend to abuse it........

got to work and found out that because of a misunderstanding numbers had already been put in, but the transfer hadn't run so i spent sometime running a shuttle with a pickup between the whse and the plant.....also ran resin.......and then stopped on the way home to pick up some fixings for some stew.....ran in to S and had a chat for awhile......
the main job for this afternoon was yard work, if you've never tried to rake leaves in a 25mph wind with gusts to 45mph don't......got the bulk down but really couldn't get it finished because the piles were blowing all over, now if they end up in somebody else's yard ....them is the breaks....but they were just blowing around in my yard.....i need to train my leaves better.......hope the weather holds off until saturday, because with the time change it's almost dark by the time i get home from work, and still have a few things to finish......

felt alot better this morning but still not real good, but had a great night's sleep last night and by the end of the day felt great, went out to dinner chinese, and had planned to do some shopping but started to get really tired so didn't bother.......need to go in for a couple of hours tomorrow and the have some yard work to do, leaves and mucking out the dead annuals from he beds, cutting back and protecting the perennials, but shouldn't take more then a couple of hours......I just rack the leaves and mound them around the base of the perennials, works good, and next spring will just turn them into the soil for some organic mix.......

boy did i feel lousy when i awoke this morning, but went into work hoping that as i woke up a little and was active i'd feel better, but that didn't happen, and i left after a half day, still got a bit of vacation left to burn, cashed my check, paid a few bills and got lunch....wasn't in the mood to make anything so got take out....and have spent the rest of the day quiet and in......feel some better but not great......
looks like survivor has turned into a battle of the sexes, if it holds, it could be the last 6 left are woman, but it seems like those never do, but should be fun to watch......

i had one of those days today about which a fellow i knew many years ago would have said. i swung the axe hard today but i couldn't get any chips to fly......i was busy all day but really accomplished nothing, the whole day seemed like damage control, and that gets to you, by days end i had a headache that i thought was going to rip the top of my head off........no fun.......
a good friend passed on here within the last few days, i've know him for many years and the family as well....played ball with his son.......he was a WWII vet and one of the gentlest, nicest men i've every know.....you will be missed....R.I.P .....
had my usual pizza for wednesday night supper, not the the pizza is usual but i usually make it on wednesday night, i use a boboli crust......spread on olive oil, garlic,anchovy paste, crushed red pepper, a bit of oregano....then shredded mozzarella, bacon, salami, grated cheese and top with black olives......not for the faint of heart

by 10:30 i thought i had the day covered, all that was left to do was the transfer, and run inventory for problems, i told my clerk i was headed to the warehouse to do the transfer, well 1 vendor rep, and a phone call and then fax from the
foundation, and taking of inventory and i got to the warehouse at a little after 2:30.....(oh yeah i stuck lunch in there somewhere)
they, that is the foundation were doing a quote for an order and wanted me to figure out approximately how much space it would take up, now i have a cheat sheet (otherwise know as a spreadsheet) set up with what they usually ship, so all i have to do is plug in the numbers and i have the answer in a flash, but no, can't be that easy ever, 3/4's of the items where new to them and i had to go dig up all the items and the boxes to figure out pieces cube and weights, and then construct a new spread sheet for the new system.......and the fun is only beginning....the order (if they get it) will fill two complete 40' ocean containers......and although all the products that go are common things that we stock, the amounts are huge, now only two things can happen.....i'll never hear another word about it, or RDC will come over and inform me that they have the order, have already scheduled the shipping date and i have 2 weeks or less to get it out, now i know that in one case my supplier and in the other we deal direct with the company that makes the parts are not going to have the amount i need in stock so it will probably take any where from 3 weeks until next christmas ( and i don't mean the one coming) to get the things in house....but i don't dare order them until the order is firm, in some cases it would amount to a lifetime supply......rats......
i should be thinking about supper, but practice is a half hour late tonight, and i'm just not in the mood to think about cooking........double rats
(question after running above thru spell check, why do i always leave the first c out of practice???)

not a bad day, not a bad day at all, work went okay, it wasn't too bad a day for fall, and although i'm still pretty stiff and sore i will survive......
played a little blogshares tonight, and a whole lot of stronghold crusader........just wasn't in the mood for the tube tonight, the american chopper was a rerun......
but am very tired right now, and althought i have a bunch of things i'd like to say....just don't have the mental clarity right now to put them into any meaningful order

today was a cold, wet, windy day and my arthritis has been really giving me a rough going over, with church and choral practice this afternoon i sat in some very uncomfortable chairs for way to long, and i'm very stiff and sore right now, will take a hot bath after abit and that should help......
except for the physical problems today wasn't a half bad day, i really enjoy singing and eventhough practicing can be tedious at times it still is fun, and there is nothing like the experience of being in the middle of the music being made......

it was a warm, sunny, nice morning so of course i was working, by the time i decided to go for a drive this afternoon i was on the road for maybe 5 minutes and it started to rain and turned nasty....
work went very well this morning considering that it took at least 15 minutes for my knee to loosen up and stop making me see stars everytime i put my foot down, have no idea what i did this time to get it going but am well aware of what i have done through the years to it, so while it was a mild surprise i certainly wasn't shocked.....but i digress........actually got everything....inventory entry, monthly inventory finished up, resin report run and all my req's done in 2 hours......normally takes a half day.....but i made sure that i ran a hard copy on my req's......they looked ok but i think i'll recheck 'um monday......maybe i'll be more with it
stopped and got some fresh veggies to make a sour salad, one of my favorite things....tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, a fresh red pepper, garlic, salt,pepper,a bit of basil, a bit of oregano, a dash of olive oil and a large slug of balsamic vinegar, shake well in a covered bowl and pop in the frig for 5 or 6 hours......

lord i've just felt off all day, not sick, just a bit off, like i'm 2 seconds out of synch with the rest of the world, but at least i haven't had a repeat of the klutz attack from last night....work went ok but really didn't get all i need to get done, done, and the a delivery was late so i left a bit after normal time....need to go in tomorrow as production is back on 6 days, numbers need to be entered and month end inventory needs to be finished,
i've been going out to dinner most friday nights and had thought earlier in the day i might give dad a call and take him out, but by 4:30 i was glad i didn't, just ran some errands and picked up a sub on the way home. i don't do the sub thing very often, only when i'm too tired to go out, and have no interest in trying to cook for myself....
i actually don't mind the cooking part, it's the eating alone part that gets to me......
had a talk with rick today and as the time of the election draws near, and with rick the hardcore dem, and kerry supporter the conversation ended up political.......i am still hoping that they let me take a coin in the booth with me.......not that my vote will make much difference, with the electoral college system, popular vote is meaningless, and since ny is heavily dem regardless of how i vote kerry will get the electoral votes for this state.....but it is important to me......i wish just once in a vote for president i can make a positive vote, but in all the elections i've voted in (starting in 72)....and yes that's 1972 and not 1872.........my vote has always seemed to be against a candidate rather then for one...........kerry is just a little too far left for me to feel comfortable with, and bush.....(and i did vote for him the first time around)........i just haven't liked the way he has handled things........if there was a viable 3rd party candidate, a centralist i'd vote that way but there just isn't..........(trollie shakes head and mutters)

(trollie comes in......he is wearing a party hat....he is carrying a birthday cake with two candles......troll54 where are you is two years old today............he sets the cake on one of the supports for the bridge........he arranges the party favors for his guests..........the gift that keeps on giving......hand grenades.......the pot is already boiling...........he does hope that the first guest is tender..........)

it was quite cold over night, i knew because i woke up with a cat plastered to both sides and one on my chest, i open my eyes and the first thing i see is this fuzzy little face about 6 inches from my face , with that look in her eyes that said, good your finally awake, play with the cat......
got out to the car and it was completely frosted over.....and i was running a little behind as it was....i hate the hassle that cold weather makes of the morning commute
work when alright except i had a load which was loaded on a refrigerated trailer, that had an extra unit on the side wall in back which i had to work around....
i've really been a klutz tonight, i've spilled, dumped, dropped, tripped over and general messed up everything i've tried to do.....i'm just a little shaky tonight....old age is not fun!!!!!!!!!!!

not a bad day, had a hand load late that took way longer then it should have, been all things considered everything went ok.......
have just hung out tonight, really should have put the stew pot on tonight but just didn't have the will to do it....will probably take care of it tomorrow, or maybe wait until the week end.......

not a bad day at work, not a good day, just a day....did my weekly grocery shopping........
had a really good rehearsal tonight, but the drive home was a bit hairy....the fog was pretty think, and i must confess to having some night vision problems which are aggravated by the fog...
note to self:.....you really should get a newspaper and read it......my morning commute was extended because they had the pearl street bridge closed....again.......nuts.....but don't give you any warning until your right on top of it ........

first day back to work and everything was pretty well in hand, well except for the resin schedule and that took several hours to get back into shape, i did December's orders while i was at it, would have had to have then placed by next week anyways and while i was juggling delivery dates i figured i might as well get the ordering in too..........
feel really good tonight, not tired really, and very low stress level.......but need to try to get to bed early.......got in the habit of sleeping late on vacation and 7:00 was a shock this morning.........

i am sitting here tonight which a whole boat load of mixed emotions over several different topics and don't know which to deal with first, but there has been a development in the on going problem that i never mention directly in this place, and it maybe positive but i can see where it could blow up into something very nasty....well out of my control so will just have to wait and see
i'm bummed and frustrated with the direction that worship team is taking, i have invested a lot of time and effort in it, and it has really been taking off of late, and a recent change might as we used to say throw a monkey wrench in the works.......
and my vacation is over.....must go to work tomorrow........sorrow....many tears
but i feel good, am rested, stress level is low, had a blast at choral practice today, we spent the entire practice working on the commission piece, i have never had the chance to be part of a world premier and this is it........a link to the composer's bio
i'm going to hang out in #blogshares for a while and then call it a night

dang, i've been in a cloud all day, my mind feels like it's fog bound, just have veggied most of the day, went out to get a few things got home, and remembered that i had forgotten the one thing i went out for to begin with.......mercy........
beautiful day and i spent it in doors...........good grief i am sometimes pathetic........(/pity party)
actually looking forward to going back to work, i'm rested, and my stress level is at a manageable level, and i'm ready to get back at it.........

it was actually a nice day today, mid 50'sF, and very little wind, and i felt physically well below par so just hung out today and played some stronghold crusader.....in a way a waste of a nice day when my vacation is almost over and nice days are at a premium this time of years with winter right around the corner......but i feel very relaxed tonight and mentally feel quite good....
took day out to dinner tonight, went to a local chinese buffet...and really had a great time...have watched a little tube and i think i'll surf for a while and hang out at #blogshares

i've been a fan of survivor since the second set of shows, the outback, and of all of the different groups this is the one where the voting patterns make no sense to me at all. the point after all is to get to the merge with numbers, and although you need to be watchful for the strong individual you need to carry at least a few to the merge to insure winning immunity and numbers in the merge.....and yet by enlarge all those types players are already gone....single events seem to determine who goes at virtually every tribal council without any really foresight.......but it does prove entertaining because unlike all the rest this one seems to be impossible to predict, there is no clear "favorite"....truly anyone still there coulkd concievebly win.......

a dreary depressing day weather wise and my mood has fit the day, never rolled out of bed until after 9 and really didn't want to then.......eventually went and got my check and did my banking....got lunch out but really didn't;t have the energy or the inclination to do a dang thing today so just didn't.....

well i awoke this morning without a cold.......which really surprised me greatly.....on the downside i am really stiff and sore...the arthritis is flaring a bit this morning so i did pick up some negatives from the chill i took yesterday....i need to run a few errands so will be heading out for a bit but i think i will stay in most of the day.......
cats have been very strange this morning....very clingy.....but it's cold and a bit damp so it;s probably a matter of warmth.......fall.....That's late fall as it slides into winter is definitely with us.....
i had thought about taking another ride today to scout for leaves but i fear that the ride would only take the stiff and sore condition i find myself in and make it worse......i enjoy riding.....looking at the colors and finding old buildings.....interesting views......but the downside is i don't ride well....i get stiff and sore way to easily.......it's better if i ride as opposed to drive......but i can't afford a driver........so...........i declare this day a day of rest.......

normally i'd be on my way to rehearsal tonight, but it was canceled, the lead is sick and there really is no point in trying to rehearse if he isn't there....bought some frozen chicken kiev this week.....i'm not much for frozen specialties but thought i'd try them and their not bad....had a nice dinner with some yellow beans (just about my favorite veggie, a nice buttered hard roll and iced tea......have finally started to warm up but i think i'll take some cold medicine tonight as a preventitive.......i got quite chilled and feel like i could be coming down with a cold.......

it was a cool but sunny day in town so decided that i'd play golf....still wanted to play at least one more time and this time of year you take what chances you get..........
however:
mistake 1: didn't factor in to the play equation that i was going up near the river, and fairly open terrain.......about low 40's and about 15-20 MPH winds......
mistake 2: decided to play anyways
mistake 3: decided to play a second 9
result: 1 frozen trollie
i really didn't realize how cold i had gotten until the ride home, and when i had the heater on in the car, my ears were tingling the way they do when they've gotten really cold and then they warm up a bit too quickly.......
had leftovers for lunch...a late one and am sitting here with a nice warm pot of ceylon tea and am warm now.........but am thinking of taking a hot bath.....
i never really have tolerated cold very well, and as i get older i tolerate it even less....which begs the question of why i live in an area that gets down to at least -20*F virtually every winter....the only answer i can give is that i'm dumb as a box of rocks

was actually a nice sunny day today, which was a real change from yesterday, but cool and windy....had thought about playing golf this afternoon if it warmed up a little but it didn't so just ran some errands and did my grocery shopping...had lunch at the Apollo......which is kind of a cross between a restaurant and a diner......but serves greek specialties.......and has gyros down.....had an open face gyro sandwich, fries and coffee...really hit the spot.....ran into a driver i haven't seen for a while and discovered that he's semi-retired.....know the guy for probably 25 years, had a nice chat.......
made some beef barbecues for supper and then cheese and tropical fruit for desert, a little mango, a little prickily pear, and both cheddar and blue cheese....cheese and fruit is a combination that i really love for dessert, not a sweet dessert to be sure...but i don't really have a sweet tooth....
have just watched a little tube tonight.......no plans..... a perfect vacation............controlled by my to favorite things.....whim and impulse......

a miserable fall day. rainy.cold and windy. just an absolute bone chiller. and as usual for a sunday very hectic, my voice is raw. it seems that i started the day with a bit of a sore throat and every piece we went over in rehearsal was a high screamer......i feel decent physically tonight except for the voice but i'm just bone tired......
newsgroups/forums are weird.......it seems sometime times that the simplest post, one that you never would even consider that some one could take offense to can turn into a war..... well i'm not playing that game......reread the post and there was nothing there that any rational person could have taken offense to, started an apology and then thought i ain't going to do it.....if the original caused a problem the apology would solve nothing...+ i did nothing wrong to begin with. i don't mind apologizing for a mistake.........but i just can tolerate apologizing when i've done nothing wrong........goes against the grain........

just a quiet, lazy day. went out for a bit this morning and ran a few errands but stayed in the rest of the day, had in the back of my mind that i would go out to dinner, seeing as how i hadn't last night ( if i eat out it's usually on friday) but just almost on autopilot made dinner before i remembered i was thinking of going out.........i just didn't have the desire to get out of the house......
cats have been weird all day.....several fights and they all seem to want to cuddle....which is no problem one at a time.....problem is 2 or more (maximum of 3) want to cuddle at the same time....hence the fights..........
i feel pretty good tonight other then the fact that my bad is a bit tender....probably the almost 3 hours in the car yesterday when i went looking for fall leaves.......i am not one who travels well....i get stiff and sore from extended trips....it's better when i ride as opposed to driving but even then i need to take a break every 2 hours or so and even then at times it's still a problem.....

had a very nice drive this morning, went up route 3 into starlake....which is in the western edge of the adironacks........really pretty fall colors but a strange mix.....much of the reforestation that was done years ago was with pine trees......so you have a mix of brilliant fall colors against a back drop as it where of the green of the fir trees.......had half played with the idea of playing golf at the little nine hole course in starlake....but it was closed for the season...and at the point i was feeling a little sick.......cut back accrossed 58 to 11 so as to not just drive out and back and no sooner hit 11 then it started to rain.....got a sandwich which i ate on the way back........really nice ride though......just let the mind float and watch the sea of colors stream by the windows......been a dreary afternoon and i decided not to go out to dinner.....just stayed home and had some stew.......did not sleep well last night......really the first bad nights sleep i've had all week.....i'm tired but feel okay......glad that i decided to take the second weeks vacation.......i'm recovering from the state i was in but not as quickly as i had hoped or even thought i would......but i believe age effects us in that way too........pardon the stream of un-related thought.......but that is the way they are flooding tonight.......many pieces to a puzzle but i fear that it's many pieces to many puzzles and none are making much sense to night...........but not in a frustrating way....i'm rather amused by the whole thing

it's only 9:30 and i'm trying to fall asleep on my keyboard....lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.........(trollie wakes back up........)
i can't figure it out, i had a nice full day but really can't imagine why i should be this tired this early......old age might have something to do with it (nah that can't be it)........well i ain't going to fight it...i'm too tired (hehe)......night all

it has been an interesting day so far......actually at the time of this writing and interesting 8+ hours...so i thought i'd take the time to write now....rather then later while everything is fresh in my mind....nothing earth shaking to be sure just nutty, strange maybe, and mundane.....but interesting to me
phone woke me at a little after 8 AM ( give me a break people i'm on vacation here)...it was work and they had a problem...which i didn't seem to be able to solve over the phone and since i needed to go over to pick up my check i spent a half an hour getting everyone on the same page....and then cashed my check and got gas.....at a record for me $2.14+ per gallon.....
decided to play golf and headed out to chaumont bay to play bay breeze, a course i've never played and when i got there, there was no one around....and not having ever played there before didn't feel like just playing first and trying to find some one to pay later....decided to head for clayton by away of lafargville....hoping to try LA golf (again i've never played there but heard it wasn't bad and was near lafargville......which is just a bit bigger then a blink and plum town....you do know what a blink and plum town is.....you blink and you're plum out of town (rim shot)).....figuring if i couldn't find LA golf i'd play one of the courses in clayton or alex bay.....so i drive through lafargville on 180...no sign, no golf course so i decided not to look further but just stay on 180 until i got to route 3 and decided which way from there, and then about 4 or 5 miles out of town guess what i find LA golf....
really had not expectations of what it would be like, course is only 10 years old and i understand the ownership changed a few years back....but was pleasantly surprised...greens were in real good shape considering it's fall in the northcountry...they had a deal going so i rode......nice course.....but when i went to the trunk realized i had my "short course" set and no 3 wood....well i survived( full account of round can be found here, yah...yah i know you don't care...but i don't care that you don't care)
took the long way home, colors are in the trees....not prime yet but very nice..we've had a couple of years of pretty sad fall colors and this one looks to be a real good one
stopped and got take out for lunch....watched a little tube and the phone rings.....work again.....simple problem...simply solved....
about 2:30PM decided to go out to the mall and just do a little window shopping....but as i was getting into the car up come two mormon missionaries.....now i have had a few well i guess you could say unfriendly encounters with MM's before but this duet was female of all things.....now that isn't something you didn't see until just recently......had a very interesting conversation which after they left i discovered was about one hour.......i didn't change their minds and of course they had no chance of changing mine but it was very enlightening....
so just a few observations from the mall:
1) i couldn't help but notice how ethnic watertown has become.....i for one love diversity and thing it's great but when we moved here 30+ years ago it was virtually all white bread ( ok so they was a large loaf of italian bread there too).......
2) three 20 something guys walking together, all on cellphones but only one is talking....the other two can't seem to make a connection.....(trollie wonders if all three are trying to call the same girl)
3) to the young man in the video game store...it is really not necessary for you to play with your girl friend's butt in public......yes i agree it is a beautiful example of a female hind quarters, and yes i can see why you can't leave your hands off it.....but in the middle of the mall.........oh please
..................
oh and one other thing........the NY state law on right on red is you stop and then make the turn if safe......and it isn't safe when trollie has a green arrow for a left hand turn in front of you.....i've got to get that grenade launcher mounted on my car.......

(this is a test, i had a probleming publishing earlier and want to see if it's corrected)

just a down day today, didn't do much, just rested, did go out a bit to do some window shopping and ended up with a new pair of casual shoes...nice suede tops with a sneaker type bottom....but just hung out today.....

Will Politics From the Pulpit Affect the Vote? if i may quote from the above article "Mincing words is necessary because Parsley's church is a tax-exempt organization, and Internal Revenue Service rules prohibit religious leaders from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. " i guess the constitution and the bill of rights has no bearing on the rules of the IRS.....

another great nights sleep and even though i feel a little "off" tonight, i am as rested as i have been in a long time...made a call to work to let them know i've decided to take next week off as well....
played golf this morning and just kicked around the rest of the day....cider i bought saturday is gone and i got a new gallon....
played around again with the trollie stew i made today and added lentils to this batch...interesting addition....probably won't do that all the time but a nice change of pace

had a great night's sleep and just kicked around this morning....a little laundry....a little surfing the web and a little watching of a monster garage marathon on discovery.....had the last of the stew for lunch and decided to go out a get something else to throw in the pop.....well 3 stores later the plans for dinner where changed....there is a store that sell good new york state chedder the old way....there's a piece of bulk cheese under a glass cover and you buy it the size you want and they hand cut it from the block.....got about a half pound of sharp ( and to be honest all of it didn't get home...never does....can never resist the temptation to sample abit on the way home )......decided to do the weekly grocery thing and the store i shop at had just taken the italian bread out of the oven...it was still warm....all that did it....and supper became open faced broiled cheese sandwiches and fresh made onion soup......lovely......the making of the stew can wait until tomorrow......
got home and discovered a message from work on the machine.....no big deal.....one phone call and it was handled.....i don't think i've ever had a vacation without at least one call from work.....but on the first day seems to be a bad omen.......

a very typical sunday, hectic and i'm tired the good news is i've got this week off, the bad news is i saw the head of the foundation over the week end, the company i work for handles the foundation's shipments.......and he's got a big shipment he wants out this week.......(trollie leaves to unplug his telephone).......
i have nothing planned really for the week and i will fight anyone who tries to change my plans........nothing is what it really need to do for the week......i'm tired and need rest....
i got the worst nights sleep last night i have had in ages and everytime i work up a certain cat was misbehaving.......usually she's pretty calm and night but last night.......

i am sitting here with a cup of ceylon tea and listening to faure's requiem ( probably my single favorite mass ) and barely keeping my eyes open, i've been up for less then 12 hours, have done in essence nothing all day and am dead tired.....this has happened to me on many other occasions.....i keep going and going and when i finally take an extended rest....i crash out for a couple of days...i won't be surprised if i end up with a cold as well, that's the typical pattern for me when i crash......busy day as usual tomorrow.....i was joking with dad tonight that maybe the jewish way of looking at things is correct and saturday is the day of rest not sunday.....at least from my point of view

i hate it when my plans get changed, particularly when i had no plans to begin with (hehe)....the only plans i have for my vacation is to have no plan at all.....and to rest and listen only to whim and impulse....but sis called this afternoon....they had to leave dad alone for supper (he's 89 and lives with my sister's family) and wondered if i could take him to dinner, which i of course did..i've been thinking of asking him but something always seems to get in the way....usually work.....but we had fun and a decent meal....i like to tease him ( it's the family's favorite sport) about you know you're really old when your son takes you to dinner and you both get the senior discount.......

never got out of bed this morning until a very decadent 9:30, but it felt good, i feel as rested as i have in a long time....kicked around online and made a late breakfast and a pot of coffee about a quarter to eleven.....coffee and i are have a funny relationship....i never make coffee or order it out between the end of may and the end of september, i will occasionally drink a cup at work but other then that nada......but from october to the end of may i drink it by the gallons.....being the cold weather months......hot tea i drink year round, but for some reason i associate coffee with the cold weather......
got out about noon and decided to head down to a fruit and veggie stand between adams and adams center, was really looking for some cider but ended up with brussel sprouts and a turnip....no cider......so cut across 177 out of adams center over the edge of tughill and into burrville the back way.......not a road i'd choose in the winter.....snow fall up on tughill is heavy...
anyways was headed to the
cider mill in burrvile.....there has been a mill there since 1801.....but it was packed and i really didn't want to park on the road and walk in, so decided to stop at another fruit and veggie stand on the east of the city, which usually has pretty good cider...
i really in enjoy the early cider the best....usually made with macs and cortlands.....the later cider made with the late apples is okay but i like the early the best. also the kind i get has no preservatives in it so it will "turn" abit if left for awhile.......i love natural "carbonation".......

so i go in early today at 6:30 to make sure everything is ready for my 7:00 load, driver has to make a gate in port elizabeth by 4:00PM.....and what time does he get there.....(drum roll).......you guessed it a little after 11:00........(trollie mumbles something under his breath)....no chance of making the gate so the load will miss the boat....literally........and that's basically the way the entire day went........but........the good news is i was out of there at 3:30PM and am on vacation for at least a week and maybe tw0.........haven't decided yet......
was very warm for october today....almost 80*F........so was pretty stinky by the time i got off so came home...showered and ran a few errands and went out for dinner......i've been trying to do that lately on friday......puts a period to the end of the work week.......
will watch american casino in a bit and then i think i'll go to bed early.....am really beat down into my socks tonight......

nuts, the load i was should have loaded today got delayed until tomorrow and because it has a 4:00 gate at the pier and since we're 6+ hours from said pier i have to go in early and load at 7 AM. actually i think anyone who expects me to be awake enough to drive forklift at 7 AM is out of their minds but........
not a bad day.....one more day and i'm on vacation.....at least a week and maybe two....haven't decided yet but i think i might......i need the rest....mostly i need to get out of the "pressure cooker".......i'm more stressed out i think then worn out.......
did my banking after work and ran a few errands......i'm looking forward to going out to dinner tomorrow.....i actually enjoy cooking...i like the challenge..but i also like the idea of eating out.....actually don't do that very often but it's like a period at the end of the week........

nuts, the load i was should have loaded today got delayed until tomorrow and because it has a 4:00 gate at the pier and since we're 6+ hours from said pier i have to go in early and load at 7 AM. actually i think anyone who expects me to be awake enough to drive forklift at 7 AM is out of their minds but........
not a bad day.....one more day and i'm on vacation.....at least a week and maybe two....haven't decided yet but i think i might......i need the rest....mostly i need to get out of the "pressure cooker".......i'm more stressed out i think then worn out.......
did my banking after work and ran a few errands......i'm looking forward to going out to dinner tomorrow.....i actually enjoy cooking...i like the challenge..but i also like the idea of eating out.....actually don't do that very often but it's like a period at the end of the week........

i have spent the entire day in a fog, thank goodness it was a relatively unchallenging day, because my powers of logic and concentration were about nil (i hope this is an industrial strength spell checker that blogger has installed because if not with the way i'm jumbled today it will probably blow a fuse when i use it)
just two more days and i'm on vacation, was informed today that i have been given a small raise and retro to my anniversary date so i will have a little extra cash for vacation...nice timing.....however i am sure that some unexpected bill will pop out of the woodwork and steal it away.....i know always the optimist

i really don't know whether this will post or not, i've been trying to publish a change for a 1/2 hour and the process just keeps grinding away with no result.....i want to add a babelfish translator to the site....so with one click a visitor could translate the blog into a different language....i have noticed recently a few hits from non-english search engines and thought that it might be a neat feature....but can't get the dang page to publish.......
did the trip through inventory with the auditor today and the only exception we found really wasn't, apparently when preparing the sheets that the auditor uses, there was a clerical error made and a line was added to the count......i went nuts trying to find something that wasn't there....had i done that particular area i would have tumbled to the problem a lot quicker but as it was i had only checked the disagreements between the independent counts on those products and so wasn't aware of the obvious........of course i've been accused of missing the obvious before even when i should have know.......
rehearsal went well to night, am tired and need to sleep

yesterday was a long, hectic day and by the time that it was over was pretty well all in, particularly because i was already very tired from the inventory i had done the end of the week, i was too tired and lacked the mental clarity to even try to post last night.....
went in today with only one job to do, that was post all the changes to the computer inventory....so naturally i got in and the system was down......so by the time they got it up and running i had lost about an hour or so......but things went pretty well and i was basically done by 3 pm, but only had a few loose ends to tie up and got out on time.......need to spend tomorrow with the auditors and then that mess is done for another year......i still need to do monthlies but they are a snap compared with the year end......

i was exhausted last night, and had the best night sleep i've had in ages, got up a little after 8 and decided to go out to breakfast and then do a little shopping, discovered that the place i usually go to for breakfast isn't open early, but is having a saturday brunch at 10.....well that shot that deal....got some things for the weekly stew and ran into friend rick.....guy from work....he's going to miss sometime here in a bit, has a problem with an eye and needs to get that taken care of......in all that happened i plum forgot to get a couple of things and decided to go out to dinner instead.....well got home kicked around had a light lunch and started the stew....but the beef i had bought was a little thicker that what i normally get so ut took long er then what i had planned...by the time it was done, it was almost 4:30, i was hungry, the weather was foul so i just made some garlic bread i had in the freezer and pigged out on the stew.....
i feel physically ok today but mentally i'm still toast, inventory is not a physical drain as much as a mental one.......

well i worked from 6am to 6:30pm today but got all the raw counts for inventory done and checked everything so that really is the stressful part of inventory done.....still need to get the changes done into the computer but that doesn't need to be done until monday and then i will spend tuesday with the auditors.....
was going to go out for dinner tonight but was just to wasted and just had a large salad for supper...my plan is to go to breakfast and run some errands tomorrow morning, if i wake up in time, if not that errands and stop for lunch.......

got up at 5AM this morning, planning to be at work from 6 to 6 to set up for inventory but went alot better the i had hoped and was put by 4:30PM.....need to be back at 6AM tomorrow morning to do the counts, and hopefully will be done by early evening...had thought that we we're going to do the adjustments on monday but looks like i may have to work saturday as well.....nothing much else shaking for the next couple of days....basically work,eat sleep.......need to get to bed early tonight......am tired , as i didn't sleep well last night......

wow, it seems like tuesdays have become the nutty day of the week, last one was a nightmare and today wasn't much better....back was some better today but is still quite tender.....but i really sleep well last night so other then the back felt pretty good today......a shame to waste it on a day where nothing went right...
went grocery shopping after work....made dinner but unlike last week remembered about the rehearsal which went great........
have a rough few days coming up the end of the week and next as we go through the year end inventory and all that that entails....but a plan to take a couple of weeks off in october and unwind.......

i didn't sleep very well last night but awoke this morning feeling pretty good.......got up got going feed the cats and went down to get in the car and when i sat down my back tightened up....lovely....not surprising as i had sat way too much yesterday in CSOs at choral rehearsal.....i think i have made reference to CSOs before.....that stands for chair shaped object....it looks like a chair but once you sit down you realize that it has been poorly designed for that purpose.....but in the chair's defense i have to admit from habit when i sing i never rest my back on the back of the chair....i tend to sit only on the front half of the seat...still....the folding chairs they have and 1st Pres. should be.that is folded up and throw in a dumpster.....
work went ok but i was moving a little gingerly as the back never really felt right until well into the afternoon.....must take a hot bath tonight....that should do the trick....
have spent the night watching a little tv (american chopper reruns) and there is a new one on at ten, and also cooking the weekly pot of stew, but to be accurate this one is more of a soup then a stew....thick soup but soup none the less....have been getting to creative i think and just putting too many things in recently so went a bit minimalistic tonight.....beef(about1-1/2 pounds of center cut shank),salt pork(1/4 of a pound), cabbage(1 small head), onions(2 medium cut in 8ths),garlic (about 8 cloves), a few slices of ginger root, a few slices of horseradish root and salt and pepper...a nice slow boil for 2-1/2 hours....meat comes out and is cut into chucks then back into the pot with some egg noodles added...another half hour and heaven.....

well i slept to the alarm this morning, i sometimes don't set it on a sunday....eventhough i need to be out of the house by 9 because normally i am awake long before 8 o'clock....but this morning the alarm got me.......sending cats flying through the house, the alarm drives them nuts (me too if truth be told) but they hear it only on rare occasions......and i was still dreaming......true to form i forgot what i had dreamed almost immediately......
choral rehearsal this afternoon was a lot of fun and really went well....i think i got the hang of the one piece that i got lost in last week......we have about 160 voices this year in the main choir.....but only about 12 or 13 tenors.......most of which are woman who have the range of a tenor.......and i like the bunch of them but they just don't sound like tenors......not their fault of course but right now with the exception of 2 new kids that are singing with us (who i can never here) i'm the lone male tenor 1........so i basically have to sing my brains out......the fullness is fine but if i sang right out the quality is ok too......hopefully it's early and a couple more of the old hands will be back and we'll be fine......

yup....i'm going to bed early.....right......still up and although body is tired mind is still racing.......i usually roll around for an hour once i get to bed before i fall asleep.......i must dream..everybody does i'm told but i almost never remember the dreams.....even if i awoke right after a dream cycle and know what i dreamed at the time...by morning it is usually gone......i do have re-occurring dreams......not as many now as when i was younger......and certainly plots that re-occur with different window dressings.......very few nightmares.....most of my "bad" dreams aren't scary .........merely frustrating........
the one re-occuring plot line is that i always have plenty of time to accomplish someting or be somewhere on time....but silly things always happen and things never get done or i'm late to whatever it was i was going to........

it's still relatively early but i'm all in.....and think i'll do the nightly shower thing and call it a night......sleep in this morning until after nine which is really rare for me and although i was only out briefly today was busy most of the day around the house, some cleaning....laundry.......etc......and am just beat tonight.....
have been having trouble with the vacuum and finally took it apart today to see what was wrong......discovered that the tube that runs from the brushes up toward the bag was plugged......and no i have no intention of telling you what i sucked up in the vacuum.....it's just to dang ridiculous to be believed......