wombat_socho

Well, I saw almost everybody I wanted to see, probably ate more than I should have (daily breakfasts at Dunkin probably didn't help) and spent more than I should have. So I'm pretty much broke until the travel reimbursement for last Monday's lab visit shows up. I did get a surprise deposit from H&R Block on Friday, so I guess I did make bonus after all. Weehu. The only things that went wrong on the trip were booking an extra day at the Strat (they refunded me the resort fee, bless them, because they got it right back with an upgrade yesterday), booking the Red Roof Inn near Fort Meade instead of a Days Inn, which meant I had to dicker with the housekeepers for the refrigerator because the front desk guy was some kind of West African whose English was no muy bueno. Also I forgot my jacket and neck pillow in the Jeep when I dropped it off at Dulles. Also also (this is actually funny) I left my phone and blood sugar meter in the men's room at Safeway before I had dinner with Mark, and when I went back there the phone had been turned in but not the meter. Weird! So I went to Walmart and now I have *three* emergency backup meters. 

The Jeep was a Grand Cherokee, and good God, it was enormous. I felt like I was driving a deuce-and-a-half, though the fuel consumption was better. I think. Considering the alternative was a Tesla or Spark, I think I made out okay. 

On the way back, I didn't have to hang around Dulles all afternoon waiting for my flight; Southwest was kind enough to rebook me on an earlier flight to Denver and a largely empty flight from Denver to Vegas. So I got into Vegas and picked up the Kia from long-term parking, grabbed some burgers and egg rolls at Jack in The Box, and after checking into the Strat I ate dinner, took ibuprofen and crashed for about ten hours. My back felt better in the morning, and cinching up the shoulder straps on the backpack helped a lot. Stopped at the bank downtown to deposit cash, Dunkin on Lake Mead for breakfast, Maverik ditto for fuel & fluids & Bad Things, and finally Sonic on the other end of Lake Mead for more fluids and some non-sugary munchies. Only had to stop at Indian Springs and Goldfield, though I did flip the Frog portal at the Test Site and claimed a couple of portals at the Goldfield rest stop. Made it home in time for baseball but alas, Minnesota was not online and the software reset to tomorrow at 1700. Bah. 

I had ordered a USB-C hub for the Surface, which I picked up after getting the Jeep from Avis, and it helped make the Surface an excellent little blogging machine. I also ordered Dave Butler's Politically Incorrect Guide to SF, which caused me to circumnavigate DC Saturday night via the BW Parkway, 295, 395, US-29, 66 and 495 since it arrived too late on Friday for me to grab it en route to College Park and an extended conversation with Doug over tacos. 

So I managed to put on five pounds down in Las Vegas between CFA and breakfast at Jack In The Box. I am apparently doing okay with the nose hose, so that's good. 

Turned out nothing was wrong with the Optiplex's PSU, and the tech didn't have to struggle too hard to get the new hard drive tucked into the case. He wouldn't accept payment so I dropped a couple twelve packs of beer on him Wednesday morning on my way to the VA. The trouble with the new drive only started after I got home; the new drive is D: of course, but that pushed the external drive to F:. and the Winamp couldn't find my music there. So I had to load all the music onto the new drive, which took a few minutes. I couldn't blog with the Surface Pro since I had stupidly forgotten to load a bookmark for The Other McCain's login page onto it. Well, I'll fix that on Sunday, if not sooner. 

Sent out an email to all of my East Coast friends, actually got answers from a couple of them, and will probably call or text the rest when I get out there. Stacy will be out of town unfortunately, attending graduations for Jefferson and Reagan out in the Midwest, but so it goes. I will be doing lunch with the Wrights on Wednesday after I get in, an early dinner with Trish on Friday, and the rest is up in the air. I suspect I'll be putting my heels up in some hotel room doing some writing or something one of the nights that I'm out there. As it happens, I'll be heading down on Monday so that I can spend Tuesday morning at the VA lab and pharmacy since I guessed wrong on my carvedilol and Novolin R. 

Did a bunch of research with Grok on aspects of colonizing Coaldale: electricity, power, water, & sewage. The EPA person shuffled me off onto NDEP, so now I guess I'm waiting for two calls from them. 

The Senators had a good week. Took two out of three from the Phillies at RFK and then split with the O's in Baltimore. We're out of the cellar, two games ahead of the A's and two behind the Brewers, most of our injured players and pitchers are off the DL, and Pete says we may just squeak into a wild card slot. 

I celebrated finally finishing my pre-season training by sleeping in until after 1300 today, going down to BK for some burgers and O-rings, and then proceeding to the Post Awful to send off the box of Kerlix and related items to Ralts. Much to my annoyance, the postage on the 8-pound box was almost $70, but at least it'll be there in a couple of days because it was too big to go by ground mail. The postman at the window kindly advised me to grab a few of the large priority mail boxes and pack them full of Kerlix instead of sending hueg boxes through the mail for 3x the price. This I then do, which will help clear a couple of boxes out of the bedroom, hallway, and trunk. In the meantime, I have to go back to the post office and get whatever waits for me in the parcel locker, which I was too burdened to pick up today. 

Meanwhile, Amazon sent me a bunch of stuff that wasn't supposed to be here until tonight, but the local USPS folks are efficient and it was all ready for pickup TODAY. This included a copy of The Burning Mountain, which is a horror story disguised as an alt-history war novel, two new/reconditioned headsets from Koss, a pile of lebkuchen, and most importantly a new HP kibo to replace the awkwardly sized Onn kibo that got pressed into service when the previous HP kibo's left-shift key died and it started having other weird problems. New kibo has the home/end, insert/delete, and page up/page down keys arranged weirdly, but I suppose I'll get used to it. 

Went out Tuesday to Raley's and bought a bunch of dairy products as well as salt, baking soda, and some other staples, because I intend to make some Irish cake over the holidays. And some normal bread, too. Since store-bought bread is approaching $3.50/loaf even when it's on sale, it behooves me to save a little money and put the bread robot to work. 

Carlos finally got approved for VA disability, just in tie for Christmas. Still going to send him the biltong on general principles. Also sent gifts to James & the ex as well as Kathy & Patsy, and will soon be sending a few other things out to deserving people. 

I spent most of Monday with Brian, Brenda, and their grandkids, and it was good. We got caught up on stuff, talked more about politics than I might have liked, had a good home-cooked dinner, and I wound up leaving too late to do any work on the blog, so I didn't. 

Tuesday I rose early, packed everything up, and was halfway down the stairs when I realized that I'd left my suitcase in the room. Threw the backpack in the car, went to breakfast at the Waffle House, had breakfast with Brian and his granddaughter Donna, and then went to the front desk to get a spare key so I could retrieve my suitcase. This having been done, I headed off up 270 to US-15, then down Leesburg Pike to 28, refueled the Chevy at the Sheetz just north of Dulles, and went to drop it off. The dropoff guy didn't seem too concerned about the scraped bumper, so I stopped worrying about it; the guy who claimed I did all kinds of damage to his car hadn't replied to my offer to reimburse him, so I'm not worrying about that part of it either.

Once the shuttle dropped me off at Dulles, I checked my suitcase and arranged for pre-boarding, then headed for the gate. Had no problems with TSA (although there was a very cute K-gal TSA officer on my line that I wouldn't have minded being harassed by) and made it to my gate before the preboarders (there were about 30 of them) were done boarding. Napped through most of the flight to Denver, was suitably grateful that the arrival gate wasn't all the way on the other side of the airport, had time to grab a chicken salad sandwich, and actually relax a bit before boarding. I still napped most of the way to Las Vegas anyway. Took a taxi to the Strat, which was a mistake because the driver took the 15 to Charleston (because there was a wreck closing the Sahara exit) and back down Industrial. Decided not to fuss at him over the flat rate, but I didn't tip him, either. I ordered Indian food through Uber Eats and the lamb seekh kabob was almost too hot to eat, even with rice and naan to buffer it. I managed to eat the lamb part of it. 

Slept until 0830 (woke up twice to pee) and hit the alarm for another hour. Managed to get dressed and packed and out well before 11, and was happy to see the Kia sitting right where I left it. Ordered breakfast from the Dunkin' on Lake Mead, and after thinking about it eschewed the nearby Maverik for the familiar one on Tropical, where I topped off the Kia with E85, got the obligatory XXL Fresca, two bottles of Sprite Zero, a muffin, a cinnamon roll, and the obligatory pork bun, which was free. Then it was down the 215 to 95 north, and except for a brief stop at the Test Site portal, I just hauled ass all the way home. Arrived a little after four, dragged my stuff inside, and farted around until 6, when I lost two of three to the Angels, the last one being an agonizing 24-inning 5-3 defeat. I probably would have won if I'd brought Joe Coleman in as a reliever, but nah. There's always a game tomorrow. 

David Drake last weekend and Bill Hoge this weekend. There was also my cousin Carlos "Kojack" Ortega, one of my Aunt Rose's kids, but I didn't know him...anyway, it kinda makes me wonder which of the Vietnam vets I know is going to get called home next. My Uncle Joe and Uncle Dan ae long gone, of course, but there are some fans and authors I know in that age bracket, and it is that time of year. 

That having been said, it hasn't been a completely bad week. I got my order from Uranus Fudge -it's every bit as good as advertised but even the reduced sugar is pretty sugary, even though I'm being careful and only eating half a chunk at a time. So it's going to last a while. I ordered some Crystal Light and some other stuff off Amazon; the Crystal Light is here and the other stuff is at the post office. Also, management says the new thermostat which will talk to the heat pump will be here and installed Tuesday, which will be a nice change from all this space heater and smoking jacket bullshit. 

Fried up a pound of the frozen turkey, simmered it in some alfredo sauce (not homemade) and poured it over a box of rotini. Yum. Also ran the dishwasher, which means I need to get some more dishwasher pods or gel or whatever gets the dishes clean in this machine.  

Thumped the Red Sox in three straight games at Fenway Tuesday night, getting Joe Coleman his first win in the process.  Senators bats were lively, with dingers flying all over the place (but mostly down the lines) and all the games were close, which made it a little nerve-wracking but fun. Next series is against the 10-11 Phillies at Philadelphia, and I am cautiously hopeful. 

T was unhappy with being charged $18 for a couple pounds of fresh cut fruit at Giant, which I agreed was Too Much. I sent her a copy of the Raley's flyer and a pic of the fruit bowls when I went shopping tonight.* troika repaid me the $25 he owed me, so I was able to pick up a couple of things that weren't originally on the shopping list like non-stick bandages for my legs, a bottle of Coke, and some beans for this weekend/Independence  Day dining. I decided to skip hot dogs because for one thing, they're almost as expensive as brats out here, and the brats taste a lot better. I did get some Hormel chili since it was on sale, and a can of Bush's pork and beans ditto. They were out of the store brand tortillas, which I have come to favor in place of hot dog buns, and if they're still out tomorrow I'll just be ghetto and use white bread, which I can also use for French toast. 

Strongly considering swallowing my pride and asking those nice LDS missionary lads if they want to haul a bunch of boxes out of my apartment and maybe set me up with somebody reliable to come in and help with occasional cleaning. 

I am playing Bioshock 2 Remastered, which has an appalling tendency to crash in the heat of combat, so I am hitting the F11 button a lot. I am also making progress with F/GO after pretty much abandoning it during tax season. One Machine God down, a bunch to go, to say nothing of Wodime and the Tree of Emptiness. 

*Thus I advance my cunning plan to get her to move out of the DC suburbs and come out here to rural Nevada. 

...back to Chantilly and then to Greenbelt and Fredneck before coming back to Chantilly, I'm tired as hell. 
So after doing lunch with John C. Wright and his lovely wife at Willard's BBQ, I went back to the hotel room and napped for about three hours before being unpleasantly awakened by the howling of Arthur Brown on some Klaus Schulze track or another, at which point I got up, shut off that noise, and chose more pleasant music. 

I am going to have to go out and retrieve my laundry from the Chantilly Coin Laundry, and I might get some Hate Chikuns instead of going face-first into the wings again, but that's going to be about it. Tomorrow I drop the GMC off at Dulles, from which Mark will pick me up before heading off to Balticon. Paul will not be with us, unfortunately, having suffered a relapse of the coof that put him in the hospital for a week until his lungs got better, and I've been unable to get hold of Toni, who was expressing interest in the con. 

Doug and Dutch were also unresponsive, and I'm not inclined to beat my head against the wall trying to get hold of them. I can take a hint.

Weight continues to decrease, BG is up and down but mostly down, and BP likewise.

Wednesday I managed to get to the post office in time to ship out the box for Carlos and the papers for the Secretary of State. Unfortunately, I then went to the BK where I ordered through the speaker since the app was being soggy & hard to light. As a result I got cheese on my whopper (after being asked if I wanted cheese and answering no, also no ketchup & pickle, the latter two of which were left off) and worse yet, got root beer instead of the Diet Coke I ordered. Unfortunately, I was so thirsty I drank half of it before realizing it wasn't diet Coke, and as a result I went to bed before 2000, with the blogging left undone and no Skills To Win or laundry done either. 

Today I got up at a more or less normal time, had a flax muffin and a bowl of oatmeal with my coffee, and then got dressed to go do Ingress stuff since my man Ryan had driven up from Vegas Wednesday night and trashed a bunch of frog portals en route, including the ones on Mount Montezuma, which was pretty hardcore of him considering how shitty the road is in good weather. Unfortunately I was sound asleep dreaming fevered carb-fired dreams, so everything had to wait until today. I recovered a capsule full of keys he'd left for me, Jarvised the cemetery portal, and then headed back to the property manager's office where I got some good news: the rent is only going up to $750. I signed a bunch of papers (which is what I was there for) and then headed down to the BK where I talked to the manager on duty and had them redo the order. Then it was back to the cemetery to flip it back to blue, and then I did some more stuff before going home and catching up on the undone blogging. 

Spent a little time chatting with Toni & Anna-chan, which is always good. 

I have several more people to do Christmas cards for and I will do those tomorrow. Tonight, since it's 18 degrees out and past 2300, I'm not going to do laundry (alas) but I will run the dishwasher and bag up some garbage. Maybe rearrange the blankets and comforters so things don't slide off in the middle of the night. 

Weight went  down very slightly yesterday and a little more today; BP was normal yesterday but borderline today, and my BG is on the high side of nominal, probably because of this boil (I think) in my groin which I am cleaning with hydrogen peroxide and trying to express the fluid from so it doesn't become worse. If it hasn't improved by Thursday I'll call the VA and have them hook me up with the local urgent care. 

Had to dash downtown yesterday right before 1600 to put money in the NSB account to cover a hole; predictably, the payment from DOE for last week's training in Las Vegas hit this morning. I used most of it to pay down the Savor card, which has a truly heinous interest rate. The other $300 and change is going to stay right where it is. I had taken $300 from the CCCU draft account and moved it into savings, but yesterday I moved $100 of it back and sent it off to Fidelity. Thanks to all those royalty trusts I have in the portfolio and the current administration's insane energy policies, the Cardboard Box Fund has bounced back nicely and is now up to about $5300, which should cover my rent for a few months if things go sideways. 

I dug into my CE last night before blogging and was able to knock off another four hours: two ethics and two Federal tax. I have another three hours to go, it looks like, and finishing the Small Business Certification course should do that, or at least get me close.

I did something I haven't done in a long time, which was to ego-scan the Internets, and in the course of doing so found my forgotten archives at e2. Which brought me up to date on what P has been doing, which was mostly good news, I suppose. One sour note was her characterization of the Xcel stock nonsense, which I was tempted to reply to, but I think I will let it slide. I'm not likely to change her mind, nor am I likely to affect the opinions of other e2 users who may have known both of us, so it's really not worth doing. I will confine myself to providing an update on my life, and people can contact me about it or not as they wish. I talked to Toni about it, and she was pretty dismayed. She herself has evidently had problems with her parents, but hasn't been nearly so public about it, to say the least. She sounds a little better than she was over the weekend, even if she doesn't think so. Hard to tell from out here, though. 

Did a loaf of Irish cake in the robot yesterday; played it straight and used butter instead of oil or margarine, and it turned out well. Otherwise, food yesterday consisted of a protein shake for breakfast (with coffee), grilled cheese with a slice of ham for lunch before I dashed off to NSB, and a can of Progresso wild rice soup for dinner. 

Weight was down, BG and BP were both up. I fixed the mattress last night before bedtime and slept well. 

The news of Martin's death in a hit & run incident in Williamsburg came via Kyle McAbee, and it pissed me off. I had just gotten a book he sent me when I picked up the mail Tuesday and hadn't even had a chance to open it and tell him what I thought. 

Also Toni is in a really dark place right now and I am trying to help her get through it, which is not all that easy from the other side of the continent. I sent her a case of Ensure via Amazon to help her with the anorexia but I suspect that something in the mix of prescriptions she's taking is not working, or the side-effects are vexing her. Almost as infuriating was hearing that some of her well-off "friends" had offered to help her in exchange for sex - not straight up offered, either, just strongly implied. What kind of sick bastard tries to take advantage of a sick & depressed woman like that?

Anyway...I logged into F:NV for a couple of hours, went back out into the Mojave, collected by companions, and am currently trying to collect the parts for the Brotherhood's air conditioning. Got the pulse cleaner by basically killing everyone in Vault 3 (including, unfortunately, the injured Ranger who was holed up and slowly dying, but Motor-Runner got him, not me) and now I'm wandering around the caves in Vault 22 trying to find my way out and find the damn HEPA filters. 

Went out to Tonopah Station to do laundry after stopping at Raley's for tea, Splenda brown sugar mix, split peas, soup (it's Progresso on sale this week) and a half-gallon of half & half. Despite the freezing weather, none of the groceries froze up after being left in the trunk for a couple of hours, so that was good. The special at the Stage Stop was spaghetti with meat sauce, which was okay; I had it with an extra meatball and a bowl of soup along with the salad. It was all good as usual, but I forgot to take my pills immediately after so my late night BG was almost 250. Yuck. 

Came home and did Rule 5 Sunday, this time with IJN Uranami in her hoodie. Cloudflare was being bitchy again, and I suspect it's not working & playing well with Brave, because I got into the website lickety-split while using Edge. I may have to move a few things around if this keeps up.