It has been a decent day, a restfully day, and a day filled with simple pleasures…a little pork barbecue…beans and knockwurst with a pasta side…a bit of nys cheddar for dessert…poor lilly (the cat) is trying to pass a fur ball again, a common occurrence of late…I must take said cat to the vets at my earliest conveyance

The work day actually ran pretty smooth, the only chink in it was the transfer ran way too late for me to do anything about it, and if the Georgia load comes to early tomorrow it could present a problem, I really hate stripping one trailer in order to load another…especially when I have to load from both houses to begin with. But as out of it as I was all day I really never noticed that the day ran smooth until I looked back at it in retrospect.

Did some grocery shopping tonight despite pay day is not until the morrow as I have to work late tomorrow won’t get a chance to cash check until Saturday or maybe Tuesday of next week…and didn’t really check the pantry when I made my list and really needed a few things I’m down on…dang…(mental note: check supply of basic food stuffs before embarking on grocery shopping). On the other hand I did remember cat food so all is well…on the cat front anyways.

So anyways was way off form today…slept lousy last night…the longest I slept at anyone stretch was maybe 2 hours…combination of many reasons…not the least of which was cats who were lonely…got just a tad of freezing rain overnight…just enough to put a glaze on everything and make things extremely slippery…and then had fairly dense fog all morning…fog normally doesn’t bother me, in fact provided I don’t have to drive in it I find it kind of sexy…but fog on a winter day is just flat weird…

I watched a replay of the ‘cuse vs. towson b-ball game tonight…a decent game and a ‘cuse win…but was bored and little on…

Nite all

Work was well work; there is a very good idea why it’s not called fun. Actually if everything had happened at reasonably spaced intervals then the day might have run smooth…who am I trying to kid.

Had a sink full of dishes which I got taken care of, I really should just do up the dishes once a day but…nah…

Made one of absolute fav meals tonight. Bay scallops sautéed in evoo, shallots, onions, garlic, and capers with of course salt and pepper, and then served over angel hair pasta…coffee and some canned pears. And I have a bit left for lunch tomorrow…

Not a bad day work wise, a typical Tuesday after a Monday holiday…and the rest of the week promises to be rather hectic…month end and all…but physically and mentally started the day in a very foggy and weird place…felt better as the day progressed but not top drawer to be sure…just got done watching the ‘cuse beat Towson state…feel good but very tired…nite all

Christmas is a weird time of year. It is time of year when people give gifts to others. Some give those said gifts with great though and some with little thought as to who they are giving them too. Dad, who is 90 and mom who is unfortunately gone…always gives checks…who can bitch about giving money…daughter always gives me clothes or this year food stuffs…specialty foodstuffs…one might even define them as gourmand…very nice…and well appreciated…sis-in-law K…always practical…knows I work in a cold weather environment. And always gives me the odd cold weather socks, the combo fingerless glove/mitts…or the wool scarf…she has a knack for the appropriate and useful gift. Sis on the other hand doesn’t have a clue. Her gift was a mouse pad that depicts a golf ball hanging on the lip of the hole with a sound chip that when depressed has the sound of a club striking a ball, a whoop from the crowd, the ball hitting the bottom of the hole, and a cheer from said crowd…neat and funny I must admit. But I have an optic mouse…and if she would have asked her son or have had any knowledge of the extent of my involvement with computers…ah well…probably will take it to work and my roller ball mouse there but…she tries too hard…

This has been a good day, a stress free day, a day I needed…I did a bit shopping today…got some things I needed and some things I didn’t need but wanted… among some food stuffs (which I wanted, not needed) I got a horseshoe shaped neck pillow…I have been having some back problems recently…if by recently you consider 45 years recent…I developed a curve spine in my early teens and have been prone to back pain since then…well I saw this neat neck pillow…alright it’s not going to cure nothing physically but it has been over a brief period so far some relief… okay so my I’ve convinced myself I feel better…big deal…

I needed the three days off…Christmas was well Christmas…

The family time was nice but frankly the three days off were more important…I’m getting older and more cynical then I ever was ( which is not to say that I have never been a world class cynic…I was born cynically ) but the time off from work means more to me then anything…I’m tired…I’m stressed…and I needed the extra day…heck I needed the extra two days…

It has been a very nice day, but I haven’t felt well all day, am feeling better of late but still not good.

Went to my daughter’s for lunch…she had made a buffet style lunch, was quite nice. She and her hubby gave me some food items, fancy stuff…which she knows I enjoy…came home for a few hours and then off to my sister’s place for a get together with my sibs and their families. She had made a dynamite split pea soup…nice…

I’m tired and I’m thinking about calling it a night…

Best wishes to all and yours during this holiday season…

I am way past any time I usually stay up, but I have no need for an alarm clock tomorrow, I have things to do but no time frame to do them in. it’s a luxury that I’m willing to spend. And revel in…no time frame…no it’s got to be done by x: xx…a luxury… an opportunity I rarely have…I live a life that is totally and completely controlled by what time is it now…how much do I absolutely have to accomplish before x o’clock…rush here…rush there…do this right now…I rarely have time that I can just say…it’s mine…lets waste it

A first for me, I have “known” Sub Wolf for the last couple of years, if you can really say that you known anyone that you’ve met on the Internet. He is one of the players and coders on Blogshares, and I have “talked” with him through the forums or #blogshares many times. Well we were chatting on the irc channel and somehow or other I gave him my telephone # and we had a nice chat on the phone for about an hour. It’s

the first time I have actually ever talked to or actually met anyone I know on line…anyways I’m up way too late…check that I need to be no where early tomorrow…no alarm clock…so maybe it’s not way to late

<>I just got done watching a replay of the big break IV on the golf
Channel. As much as I like survivor`, I like the big break series better. My fav when it comes to “reality TV”. Although I haven’t played much over the last 2 years I have been an avid golfer for 35 years, I love the game so there is an bias towards a reality series on golf or rather concerning the ability to play golf…besides you stay or lave on the basis of hitting the shot you have to hit when you have to hit it…no getting voted off the “island” because you’re a threat…it’s down to can you produce when you have to. Paul vs. Guy…a win/win as far as I was concerned…both had show through the whole series that they had game, that they could produce when the chips were down…and Paul won one up…never trailed but a great match…and as much enjoyment to watch the 2^nd time as it was the first…

Work was well work…and quite typical of the last day before a 3-day weekend… morning went pretty smooth…had a load with 2 drops in Nogales Az. And one in San Diego…I had hoped to ship it all from the satellite warehouse but the transfer hadn’t moved so had to split load between the factory and warehouse but it went smooth none the less. And then as always happens with a 3 day weekend production or customer services decides…”oh my god”…we have to get this order(s) out today…well I did everything that I needed to do to make it happen…and it didn’t…production just didn’t get me the parts needed before UPS showed up…

But the stress and the fact that I worked my tail off this PM (unfortunately to no avail) left me pretty well spent by days end. I had intended to clean up my Christmas shopping tonight…okay…okay…to start and finish said Christmas shopping tonight…but just didn’t have the desire or the energy to even consider the task…so it’s tomorrow or never…although the bulk is putting checks into cards…

I’m going to try to call this an early night; I haven’t slept well the last few nights, and then had to set the alarm early to deal with snow. Well that’s not exactly true, I’ve slept well once I crawled into bed, have just had a problem with losing tract of time and going to bed way to late.

We got another 4” to 6” of snow today, and were pretty hairy just after work, but needed to do the grocery thing tonight because I need to do the Christmas shopping thing tomorrow. Although the list for that had shortened considerably…

I was planning on giving mall gift cards to nieces, nephews, daughter and son-in-law…found out today that the mall is now charging $2.50 per card…you got to be kidding me…so it will be the Christmas card and a check for those on that list…

The day at work ran…well as a day at work usually runs…not bad…not good but normal…at one point I spent the better part of an hour setting up an electric space heater under the boss’s boat because he forgot to get it winterized, and it spends the winter in my unheated warehouse, and then over an hour getting the transfers moved, semi-trailer truck combos get stuck at a drop of a hat when there is any snow or ice within 100 miles of them… speaking of snow and the fact that the city plowing crew love to fill the old trollie’s driveway to the max…they plowed tonight…not bad really…maybe a 20 minute job which I should have taken care of tonight but I am warm tonight, and don’t choose to be cold again until the ‘morrow, so will set the alarm for a few minutes early, and take care of the problem then.

Was too tired to think about cooking tonight so threw a pre-made turkey pot pie in the oven, and a couple of piece of good pumpernickel with butter and a glass of iced tea…then later opened a can of pear halves…I love pears…one of my favorite fruits…but I can’t eat canned pears without a bit of crunchy peanut butter, or fresh pears with out the accompaniment of a morsel of blue cheese…weird but then I accept my fate…

Got a dividend check from an insurance policy I hold and that should settle my fears about affording Christmas this year…haven’t decided whether to stand in line and get mall gift cards or just write checks…my nieces and nephews range in age from like 14 to 22…what do I know at 58 what they would want for a gift…other then cash or a gift card that is…

Nite all

Today started out bad (that is work wise) and got worse, I have a problem equipment wise hanging over my head that will have to be resolved tomorrow and because I left my pager home on the bookshelf (or one of my several bookshelves) today I only know that a problem does indeed exist, don’t know what the actually problem the vendor had was…

Never got out of work until 6PM…this is becoming a trend that I would most certainly avoid if I could…Mondays have become a work until it’s done rather that a work until a normal 4:30 quit time…

I needed to stop at a particular location tonight for a certain reason, and that fact determined that I would pass by the local deep fried seafood place. And considering the fact that I was way past dinnertime, and I had no thought of what I might prepare for dinner. Got a nice piece of deep fried haddock and a couple ½ pounds of potato salad with egg and coleslaw…a decision that cat aggie approved of whole-heartedly. Cat lilly never desires any “people” food except tuna…cat smoky only adds to the tuna a sauce of milk…aggie on the other hand will eat anything that doesn’t eat her first. So aggie and I enjoyed our late dinner…

So I got up with plenty of time to get to church to teach my class, looked out the front window…no new snow overnight, and failed to look out the kitchen window (the one that gives a view of the end of my drive)…well they had decided to scrape the intersection last night and cleared the wing in the end of my drive…no other drive on the street had more then 6” of plowed snow back 2’…and I had 3 feet of hard of hard packed snow back 6”…(trollie contemplates mayhem).

Class went okay other then the fact that I had a very dry throat and a coughing fit. The church choir presented a Christmas cantata today (I haven’t sung with them this fall but plan to rejoin in the winter/spring), and did a really nice job…bass section could use another strong voice but it went fine. And a very interesting piece, not only was the music and rhythms different from the norm of those pieces, but the way in which the Christmas story was presented was a departure from the usual form…really a very interesting, thought provoking, well done piece of music…

This has probably been the best day I’ve had in awhile. I managed to “tweak” my back Monday trying to get the load leveler dock plate to deploy and it’s been bothering me all week. I have a weak back to begin with, a curved spine, and one that will “go out” from time to time, but it has felt fine all day. And despite the fact that it snowed last night, and I had to shovel and had a problem getting out of the driveway, and despite the fact that I had to work a couple of hours …that hasn’t spoiled the day.

On the way home from work I stopped at the dollar store, needed to get some socks (which I’m very hard on), and some underwear (can I talk about underwear on a blog with out having it rated as a porn site and be under FBI scrutiny). Anyhow picked up a few more instant (read meals I can nuke in the microwave) meals. I like to stock up on said entrées during the winter. One never knows when one will be snowed in, or after shoveling just not in the mood to cook. I really enjoy cooking, but there are times when I say to heck with it…I need to eat…and I need to eat now…

Probably will not go to first service tomorrow, choir is doing the Christmas cantata in the 2^nd service and although I have not sung in choir this fall/winter, I usually sing with them in the winter/spring season…and they do a very good job of it (despite the lack of my help (hehe)).

Have just kicked back and watched some tube today…and went out a bit ago to clean want little snow we’ve gotten today off the drive and the sidewalk…I don’t mind the driveway…my drive may be all of 30’ long…but living on a corner lot in the city it’s the 100’+ of sidewalk that drives me nuts…I really didn’t need to do it from a “there is too much snow” stand point, but I needed to get out of the house for a little exercise…

I picked up some thin Korean noodles at Big Lots earlier in the week and decided to cook some for lunch, dressed with soy, and boiled some eggs when the water was boiling…well I’m glad I boiled the eggs because the noodles were disgusting…I love noodles…pasta…et al…but these were tasteless even with the soy, glad I had boiled the eggs, had some standard egg salad and olive sandwiches with a twist, added the resulting product from dicing one medium shallot…and an omelet with toast for dinner…okay so I had 5 eggs today and the cholesterol police will be on my case, but as it’s the only 5 I’ve had for like 8 days…screw ‘um…

We got a couple of hours of sleet last night followed byt4 to 5 inches of snow, made the morning commute a real picnic…warmed up and with the traffic main roads were ok by nightfall. Not a busy day work wise, but a full one.

Have spent a quiet night, need to check in for a couple at work tomorrow, and probably will set the alarm a little early as more snow is predicted…am bone tired…I hate shoveling snow but have not got the chance to get my snow blower fixed…rats…

I didn’t post yesterday, wrote a post but couldn’t get connected to blogger, and was tired so shut the computer down and went to bed. We are in the middle of a severe weather watch, snow, possibly mixed with sleet…maybe a foot or more in the next 24.

Not a bad day, a relaxing evening but I’m tired and will have to set the alarm early to deal with the potential snow…nite all

It was very cold overnight for this early in December, -10*F and maybe even colder tonight. But the day ran pretty good, back was still a bit of a problem but it seems to be on the mend. The typical problems at work, but nothing unexpected or anything that could not be handled, all in all the day went quite well.

Came home and did the house hold chores that went undone last night, wasn’t that hungry so just cut several slices off the brisket from the boiled dinner and had a cold beef on toasted rye, with lettuce, tomato and mayo, and a pot of coffee…

It was my birthday today, and although I really had no plans, I’m glad I didn’t because the day started out bad, and got worse.

First: I forgot to reset the alarm to the correct time and almost was late for work.

Second: got to work and the truck for the west coast load was already there, problem, I haven’t even got the order yet, have no ideas what’s on it, and no time to prep the load…

Third: twisted the old back trying to get the frozen stiff dock plate to deploy.

Fourth: had to spend the next two hours, driving forklift in an unheated, freezing warehouse, which aggravated the back, and got the arthritis going in the knees.

Fifth: totally screwy afternoon just could get any thing done.

Sixth: finally got the second trailer back from repair (a good thing) except…timing was lousy…needed to unload the other one, but had to run day end….so…

Seventh: ended up staying an hour and a half over, which was spent again in the afore mentioned unheated warehouse, on the afore mentioned forklift….with the temperature now approaching 0*F… I ache all over, I’m frozen stiff…and I had several household tasks planned for tonight…

/rant…

So I ended up with take out, a very hot bath, and probably a second one before bed. A nice hot pot of coffee, and I am on the mend. Well attitude wise anyways. Not the best of birthdays but…oh and you better believe that the dang housework has been put off until the 'morrow.

The making up of a bed for sleep should be one of life’s simplest tasks. After years of experience as to what is required as far as pillow arrangement and amount and style of cover, fabric type and arrangement of said blankets, the arrangement and the order of assembly of said covers should be rote, a no brainier. However when the presences of cats are added to the equation all bets are off. I have two cats that think that in actuality my bed is really theirs, and the third cat thinks that it is necessary that since I have no real ability to make the bed without their help, they must assist me. It is a rare occurrence when the simple process of making a bed doesn’t result in a fat, purring, hairy lump in the covers…dang.

I think I may finally kick the watching survivor habit; this result really pissed me off. The best player never actually wins the game; the player who pissed the fewest other players off wins the game. Danni did not play the best game; clearly Steph and or Raph played the best game, although clearly Ralf made a fatal error by convincing Steph to vote off Lydia and not Danni at the 4. The root problem with the game is that the players who were voted off chose the winner, and they tend not to vote for the remaining of the two which played the best game, but rather for the one that did not have a hand in their exist, and they if they had any integrity at all would vote for the one that out witted them…but that simply is against human nature…the best almost never wins…the one with the fewest enemies wins…dang…in reality a very stupid game… if you play to win we probably won’t…if you don’t play to win…but fortune puts you in the final two you probably will…stupid game…why do I watch it when my fav never wins…

I felt lousy this morning and the trend has continued all day, despite the fact that in many ways it was a good day. I slept in taught my adult Christian education class and then went to second service, the kid’s Christmas program. They did a very nice job. One of the numbers was accompanied by a group of teens, piano, violin, and bass guitar. The combo of piano and the bass reminded me that as much as music changes it remains the same. One of the key features of the baroque period was the use of the basso continuo…a keyboard instrument and either a cello or double bass playing the bottom note of the chord…and the combo of the piano with bass playing the bottom note of the chord, while the music may be contemporary…the style is 100’s of years old…

Saw dad at church, tuned out to be a good thing as he handed me a card and a check for my 58^th birthday which is tomorrow, if he had forgotten, I might have forgotten that I was due at my daughter’s and her hubby’s place for a birthday dinner. Had complete forgotten the arrangements until dad’s action. Dang…trollie’s memory is getting badddddddd!!!!!!!!.

A very satisfying lunch, SJ had made an orange glazed duck, some wonderful crab and tofu dumplings (although I hate “tofu” I love bean curd, yeah I know same, same but the difference in semantics is what I hold on to). Some absolutely fine marinated mushrooms, strawberry/rhubarb pie, and an excellent NYS wine.

The rest of the day has been a total blur. I watched the final of survivor. How could two players (Raph and Steph, play an absolutely prefect game, and then when they had control take Danni and not Lydia to the final 3)? Just a stupid mistake, when discussing the game with the other survivor buffs at work, weeks ago I had said that none of the players could beat Danni in the finally 2, that was at 5 or 6 remaining, and they had to vote her off or she would be the winner. Unfortunately for the two who actually controlled the game (that is Raph and Steph, they did not have the advantage of my advice).

Anywho…I am in the middle of one of those moments that have been all too common of late. While the body has long since required that I sleep, the mind is whirling and the subject of bed and sleep is not being considered. I was originally planning to take tomorrow off, I still have a day and a half vacation left, and thought that birthday would be a great vacation day…however I have an emergency load on the ‘morrow, and since I think it might ended up a “clown car” day, I really should attend…I hate it when my dedication to responsibility and “duty” out weighs what I should really do for myself…

Weather wise not a bad early winter day in the northcountry. Not too cold, just a “spit” of snow. I was offered the opportunity to not check in at work this AM, something I greatly desired, but there were things that I really needed to attend to this AM at work so with great reluctance refused the offer. Yes I fully accept the fact that I was a complete and total idiot…offers like that don’t grow on trees…but anyways I was done in and hour and a half.

Have spent a calm day since then, a little tube, a little PC games, a little Internet, a quiet day, a restful day, although I had intended to make a deal of meals today, just had a simple omelet for lunch, and some ham salad in pitas for supper. The steak I had thawed will have to wait until the ‘morrow.

Cat aggie and I watched the movie “firebirds”…actually, frankly a well below average flick, but I was bored…and actually aggie didn’t watch the movie at all but rather wedged herself between the arm of my recliner and my body, hoping that I would pet, scratch her 20 lb body…which of course I dutifully did…much to her pleasure.

Anyways when the flick was done I caught the last hour of “codebreakers” on espn, not a movie I would every watched if not in the throws of boredom, but one of the adverts was for the movie about Roger Bannister and the breaking of the 4 minute mile. A thing I can at least comprehend and be amazed at. I have or at almost 58 (as of this Monday), I had limited athletic skills, apart from endurance and the ability to run…well I could not run short distances competitively, but middle

distance and long distance wasn’t bad. I know what it required of me to run miles under 4:20…I ran several, including a 4:11 relay spit…so I have at least a relative feel for the demands on the body…and more the demands on the spirit and the mental exertion that would be required to go the last 11.1 seconds (and in the modern era more then that) to run the times that R.B. ran, not to mention the mind blowing times that are the current standard…I could not have ever done, frankly totally wrong body time, legs way too short, but I can totally comprehend the effort required, the dedication required. A sprint is by enlarge physical training and GD given ability, middle and long distances, while training and physically ability are prerequisites, the key is a will, a mental focus a internal desire to compete, to achieve. My personal athletic career was marked by few naturally gifts, but a desire to compete that verged on insanity…the only gifts I had were endurance and an absurd, and quite destructive desire to compete. The young man who had possession of this body thought it indestructible…the old man who now has it as the home of his soul and spirit knows assuredly that the young man was mistaken.

The Sundays of advent church wise are a reduction in my responsibilities…normally I have to be there at 8 for sound check and sing with worship team in first and second service, and teach adult Christian Ed in between. But with the fact that the Christmas carols take center stage in the advent season, worship team is on hiatus until the new year. Usually first and second services are mirrors of each other. But this week the kids program is only in second service, and next the choir’s cantata is only in the second service. Normally I go to first service and only stay through second until my commitments are done… but will probably go to second service the next two weeks. I have not sung with the choir this fall, as with the commitments to worship team and northcountry choral…a third musically group would be a stretch on my vocally endurance…although I do intend to sing with the church choir in the spring season…maybe. I am a tenor…and a high tenor at that…and while the normal choir music does not ever “test” the top range of my ability…I still am a tenor. Unfortunately we have several very good church choir tenors in the local church group. So because I can sing bass as well, well I don’t have the range to sing bass II but then most if not all of the bass parts in our church choir are bass I/baritone parts, I am usually asked to sing that part…and frankly I’d rather not… you may assume that it’s an “ego thing”…and it isn’t…it’s just…well…boring…

(At this point trollie’s cats inform him that he is in the process of writing a novella…trollie ignores his cats (well as much as possible because if a cat does not want to be ignored it is a proven fact that a cat can not be ignored if it is in a state where it refuses to be ignored)…

It is late and I should have confined myself to bed and the possibility of sleep and rest for my old bones hours ago and yet I persist in making an absurdly long post to my blog that virtually no one will ever read…unless I re-read my achieves again…

Nite all

I spent way too much time driving forklift in an unheated warehouse today; my arthritis is giving me fits, particularly in the knees. I must be nuts, bossed offered to put numbers in tomorrow as he has to come in for a few hours…so I could take the day off…well the morning anyways…never work more the 3 or 4 hours on Saturday, and I found, reluctantly that I had to refuse. Just too many things I need to do that didn’t get done today. And I don’t want to leave them until Monday.

Dang…I truly hate the internet…I really do…it was my firm intention to go to bed early tonight…heavy day tomorrow…and I look up after a little blogshares (link). A little email, and a little #blogshares and it’s after midnight…dang

Within the last couple of months due to the efforts of one of the members of the old neighborhood, through emails and a get together picnic I have reconnected with a bunch of people in the old neighborhood…I was a tad older then most when we moved in over 39 years ago…most were more my brother’s age then me ( bro is 10 years younger), but none the less I have enjoyed the encounters…

I had intended to make an early night of it, so I went out online and was just kicking around for a while (at 9 PM after survivor was over), and just looked up at the clock at saw 11 PM…rats

I can not figure the tactics of the controlling group on survivor, Dannie will beat any of the remaining alliance if she gets to the two, and yet they let her “hang in there” and vote members of the alliance out…33+ days must do some serious damage to a player's logic…

The day was just a day, the weather just the weather, work was just work and my evening was just an evening. And no clever inventive use of words on my part will make it seem to be anything other then what it was. A ho-hum day in the life…

Physically I’m exhausted, but mentally my mind is in a whirl, it has been a common problem as of late, the body wishes repose, sleep, and rest and the mind refuses to comply. Have been listening to classic FM tonight on a web cast, but the question is why…

It’s WCNY out of the ‘Cuse, with translator WJNY in old Watertown, the question is why am I listening over the web with my poor computer speakers when I could be listening to the over air telecast on my cd/radio thingy which has much better sound …answer…I don’t know where the remote is and I’m to lazy to “tune” it manually…(oh if interested the link to the web cast is over in the right sidebar).

Work went pretty well today, but tomorrow with one outbound and Friday with 2 outbounds, both partial hand loads could get strange. And the driver tomorrow wants to pick up right at 8 AM…sorry…guess again…

I start at 8 and have a “programmed” first 30-45 minutes. Now when I have the second guy in the department, then an at 8 AM load is possible, but when alone as I am right now…forget about it…besides when I’m shipping outbound freight, just who is the vendor and who is the customer…take a chill pill son, I’ll get to it when I get to it…

After my aborted attempt to do the old boiled dinner last night, I decided to up the ante…and add a few things to the pot…and as I would normally do my weekly shopping tomorrow anyways, decided to do it tonight while I was in the store…already had one very nice unsalted beef brisket, turnip, cabbage, garlic, the bay leaves, and of course salt and pepper, to that was added some baby red creamery potatoes, some fresh horseradish root, and got some small boiling onions which subbed in for the basic yellow onions I had…3 and a half hours later, maybe the best boiled dinner yet. But then with working all day 8:30 PM is a little late for dinner. Therefore (dang I wish I could find a reasonable font set that had the 3 little triangular dots for therefore) had a light dinner about 5:45 of clam strips w/iced tea… and then a nice boiled dinner and coffee for a mid evening supper (about 8:30)…and then a bit of ye old brisket on a hard roll about 9:45…also scored a couple of trays of bay scallops, and a nice pound and a half pork roast on manager special. I love scallops, particularly the bay variety…only do them one-way…sauté the afore mentioned scallops with evoo, garlic, shallots, salt and pepper, and just before they’re finished add a couple of tablespoons of butter, and then either eat as is or over pasta…but right before the fork (if with pasta) or chopsticks (if as is) picks up those succulent little rascals…a squeeze of fresh lemon juice…

Still have a few things I need to pick up, but will do that when I do the banking, gassing the car, paying the bills thing tomorrow. Just didn’t feel like driving cross-town tonight to the usual “pickup the staple foodstuffs” place tonight. The grocery I use 95% of the time is north side, as opposed to my south side home, but less then5 minutes from where I work…

Again I’m up way too late, the mind will not let the body sleep, I’m listening to performance today on streaming audio, on classic fm, wcny, you can find the link in the sidebar to the right, why am I listening on the web cast when there is a translator in the area under the call letters wjny, over my cd system that has much better sound I have no idea, maybe an effect from the fact that the mind won’t let the body sleep…I hate it when that happens…particularly when I must be to work in 8.5 hours…the beef is finally thawed and back in the frig…looks like the boiled dinner must wait until the ‘morrow…rats…

I just got done watching the current episode of the Big Break IV on the golf channel, I really don’t watch much reality TV other then survivor and the afore mentioned big break…and as much as I enjoy, am addicted to survivor, I actually prefer the big break…it involves one of my few real passions in life…golf…and one is not voted off…no alliances…no tactics…no last minute deals…you either perform…hit the shot you need when you need it…or you’re gone…pure pressure…pure completion…

Didn’t sleep well last night and awoke feeling pretty punk. But the workday started out rather smooth, but after lunch it got very busy, not order wise, but desk type work, and was pretty well dragged out by days end. I really think that a heavy workload “desk work” style tires me out more then “ grunt work”.

Got home and realized that I had forgotten to take the beef out of the frig to defrost it. Had taken it out of the freezer last night and had intended to take it out of the frig this AM to defrost it and make a boiled dinner tonight, just a beautiful unsalted brisket. Well still too frozen to play with, so got a package of frozen crab cakes out of the freezer, into the oven with some string potatoes, and a side of cream corn and coffee. And although tired I’m feeling good, will have a light dinner tomorrow while the boiled dinner is “working on a simmer”, and then a large late supper.

I should have been in bed hours ago, but the mind refuses to accept that the body is tired…I hate it when that happens…

Despite waking up feeling the effects of a very busy and draining four days, despite getting a national grid bill that’s about 30% higher then the same billing period last year, but one most heat the house this time of year so I will live with it, I feel very good this evening. Most if not all of the natural gas I heat with is produced in state a 1000+ miles from the hurricane damaged gulf coast and yet my gas bill is off the wall, I wish I could understand how that computes…

The only responsibility I had at church this morning was to teach an adult Christian Ed. Class, so I slept in, taught the class and got some rest before the last of the choral concerts, which was this afternoon. Concert went quite well, a packed house, although I struggled a little with a voice that was way under 100%, but considering hammering on it for 4 straight days, I should be expected that it would not be in tip-top condition.

They had a catered party for us after, but I stayed just briefly, was too tired to really get involved, and as I had parked at one of the satellite lots, and was way to tired to hoof 4 blocks wanted to make sure I caught the last shuttle bus, which I did, barely.

As tired as I am and as glad as I am that that grind is over, I will miss it until next year. Or maybe until early winter, we used to do both a spring and a Christmas concert, but have not done the spring one for the last couple of years. But there is some talk about doing a spring concert so lets hope that happens.

I had to work this morning finishing up month end numbers and the month end inventory that I got nowhere near yesterday. But made a deal with myself that regardless where I was at in respect to being done I was leaving at 11AM, as I needed to be at the concert site by 1:30 PM, and I needed to eat lunch and relax a little before hand. As luck would have it I had everything done by just before 11. Got take out, relaxed, and was on time ready to go.

Was a little fearful about today as I awoke this morning as a bass (which would be okay if I sang bass, but I sing tenor). By 11 I could tell from my speaking voice that I was once again a tenor, did I few warm ups and all the notes I needed where there, I just couldn’t tell how many I had (hehe). So took it very easy until concert time. Performance today went much better then last night, that’s not to say that last night didn’t go well, just that today’s went better. Nearly packed house with one more to go tomorrow, and that one is already sold out. We are having an “after-glow” party tomorrow afternoon, and that should be a blast.

(if you have no idea what this is about read a few of the previous entries, trollie sings tenor with the local choral society and we are presenting the Christmas Messiah this year…..)

Work didn’t go to bad today but due to a computer problem mid-afternoon, I really didn’t get a jump on month end inventory. I was hoping that I could be done in a couple of hours tomorrow morning, because I have to be at the concert sight by 2:15, second concert is at 3 tomorrow afternoon.

Tonight’s concert went pretty well, but could have been better, I few little mistakes here and there, nothing major but …

One of the other tenors asked me how I thought it went, and I said not bad but a few mistakes, the said oh you noticed (probably think I had heard a few of their own), to which I replied of course I noticed them, I made them…

I am zonked, a rather frustrating work day, banking bill playing and the final rehearsal before the 3 concerts this weekend, 2 and a half hours worth and I’m all in………