Another busy 9-hour day.  Not helped by Charles randomly texting me at 3:08 a.m (neighbor's were fighting/being arrested).  But he showed up around 11:30.  Another $35 of paint.  But it's "done."  Save trim and doors.  DONE!  Some sort of horrible material was used on the trim before; the paint doesn't want to stick to it.  It's as if they used acrylic paint on the door frames!  Not that that would surprise me, mind you.  That's what inspired me to think that Florida should change it's motto from "Sunshine State" to "Florida:  If You Want Something Done Right, You Gotta do it Yourself."  I also think I'm starting to really enjoy Home Depot; it's good to see productivity, especially in a down economy.

Two other random thoughts:  If "Jesse's Girl" was sampled or redone by a Hip-Hop artist, would it be called "Jesse's Bitch?"

Also, why is it you "discover" new bands you LIKE, but never ones you dislike?  I've never heard anyone ever come up to me and say, "Wow, Bill, I heard this group on the radio today, Gellin' Nick's and the Chainz, and my God do they suck."

I was put on masking duty in the morning and caulking/scraping duty in the afternoon.  Went out and bought $65 worth of more paint.  The job the previous contractor(s) did is pathetic.  I'm an amateur and can tell it was a shitty job.  Caulk smeared all over.  Dirt & bugs stuck in/under the caulk.  Ridic.  Charles showed up ~11:00 and did the rolling while Uncle Richard was cutting, so we got a LOT done.  Hallway, dining room, kitchen, AND living room.  AND the second coat on the hallway & dining room.  So tomorrow is to finish the second coat, then it's "the annoying stuff":  doors & trim.  Lots and lots of trim.  But I'm happy that I've learned how to properly caulk things; no more making messes! 

So tired.  Got to the house ~8:30 and didn't leave (except to get paint) until 5:52.  Blarg.

It's the craziest and yet most-sane thing I've ever done (or about to do)...just sent a text to Pang. 

At Tropical Smoothie, of all places. Professional. And with no title agent. Fantastic.

God I hate the real estate/mortgage industry. I thought I'd become more conservative as I got older, but this experience has pushed me the other way--regulate away! Someone needs to save them (again) from their own incompetence.  Stop bailing these losers out.

Good thing I have on my favorite t-shirt. :)

But I'm not going.  It's not like the movie can be ruined--having read the book, there's not exactly going to be any surprises.  Plus, Daniel Radcliffe's acting is.......subpar.  Emma Watson's acting isn't bad.  Ron Weasely's actor isn't anything to write home about either.  Not to mention with that many young kids, it's bound to be noisy.  People in that generation are freakin' RUDE (thank God there are plenty of exceptions...).

Felt lousy after waking up from a quick power nap.  Got some pictures, got chased away by mosquitoes, killed a few of said mosquitoes.  Also had a close encounter with something mid-sized and fast out in the preserve.  Probably a rabbit, but they usually don't run away for 40+ feet.  Too small to be a bobcat.

These two 400+ bag projects at work are killing me.  40+ gallons of waste in the last 3 days...over 30 of DCM/DMF alone.  Received 10 5-gal drums of DCM on Friday...5 are already empty.  Clean Harbors is coming tomorrow to get rid of this sh*t.

Wow...I've written 635 entries so far on this bad boy.  And I've really been slacking of late.  Didn't do squat today and it felt good.  Finances are looking better every (other) week.  Hopefully prices continue to go down as my savings go up.  I am starting to get nervous about the purchase.

Been in a bad mood lately.  There are 2-3 people at work I really care to hang out with at the moment.  And 2-3 former students I'm dying to see again...but probably won't.  That isn't helping my mood at all.

Well, I've decided that I want one of the "Courtyard" style homes in Lake Charles.  Three to choose from currently....but none want to come down even though their houses aren't worth nearly the $260k they're asking.  But I have time, and things are only going to get worse.  Just in the last month, the value of my #1 choice has dropped $7,000, according to Zillow.com.  :)

Alia elbowed me in the heart on the car ride to Publix. Clean Harbors botched the pickup and the followup. Chelsea and I organized the soon-to-be analytical/tank storage room. Travis & I worked on the grove box. Planning a party for tomorrow. Vine & Barley tomorrow too. Getting along well with Stacey. Rehearse this presentation, then bed. zzzz

Nearly forgot to add to the blood drive entry:



Non-fasting glucose level:  98 mg/dl.     50-139 is acceptable, the mid point is 95... so just about perfect!  No diabetes.
Pulse:  64.     Damn good, since the average is 60-80, according to the American Heart Association.
Blood pressure:  124/82.     Normal is 120/80.

Got a few pics today but the highlight was on my second trip. I'm biking down the sidewalk when I see a squirrel in the street. The silly thing starts trying to get away from me by racing down the street, right in the middle. So I'm cruising next to this thing for probably close to 50 feet before it starts to veer to the left and finally run up a tree. Genius.

Oh, and I made scones this morning--pretty good. Of course, anything with raspberry jam and whip cream more-or-less has to taste good.

32 minutes + 15 minutes of tkd in the morning at the gym followed by 45 minutes of light weights later on. And ~1.5 hours of tae kwon do tonight. I'm tired.

So my door swung open this morning. I lay there for a minute praying that the A/C had managed to push it open. Ah, yes. zzzz....YUCK! Cold cat nose on my face! Grumbling, I look over--not quite 8:00. Immediately Alice starts digging at the underside of my left shoulder, in that "C'mon, up and at 'em" motion. Of course, with Alice, it's probably more of a "Get the hell up and feed me already!" but I digress. Mercifully, I covered up and a few seconds later Alice heard someone else stirring and sped off my bed.

Ran my first safety meeting--it went well. Wasn't pleased with Tina telling Krystle that I was able to get things done "because people like [me]" and that it was Missy's attempt to do the same things that got her fired. I think that had more to do with her botching nearly every project she got, not showing up, taking forever to do/botch said projects, and whining about the safety requirements. But hey, what do I know?

Also got some brownie points for telling Marc & Chris we'd go over it later (post-grant writing). That's a plus.

Then took the afternoon off to look at houses. Saw several that were just fantastic. Unfortunately, they're all much more expensive. Larger, too. And with pools. Very nice. But they'll definitely need a woman's touch; I realize how unartistic (with the exception of photography, maybe...) I am when I see how these people have decorated.

Speaking of photography, I think I need to lay off of it for a few days: craziest dream last night. I don't recall exactly what was going on, but I had a scrub jay land on my right shoulder, chirp away, move over to my left and befriend me. Ah, to start your day laughing at your own dream...

So Travis needed to neutralize some HF in the water traps. "Let's go get some Tums...that'll neutralize it."--Me "You sure?"--Travis "Oh yeah."--Me

So we wind up with Peppermint generic antacids. Spill on the ground? Pour some Tums on it. Acid burns all over your body? Sit still; we gotta pour some Tums on it. Mmmmm---you smell that peppermint? That's how you know it's WORKIN'!

Dreamed that I was at grandma & grandpa Hiltabidle's house. Taking pictures of scrub jays when....a leopard (?) showed up. Tried getting pictures, got mom (and Alice, poor thing!) in the house and then it came up to the door and tried scratching to get in like a housecat. With me standing right there. Maybe this dream was some combination of Alice growling at something outside the lanai last night + my planning a trip to the zoo?

Officially under 170 pounds now! Yay!

Biked my regular ~11.5 miles this morning; was a killer after a few days off. Good day at work. Travis grabbed a delicious-smelling grouper sammich from Hurricane's and then we ate over at Tradition Square. Should have brought my camera; beautiful great egret on the rocks right by us.

Meeting with Daniel went well. Joked about my "ceiling fan." Didn't leave in time to make it to TKD so I'm going tomorrow. Got home, passed out, and that's when things got bad. Woke up at 5:15 by my phone ringing; Catherine Griffin from PSL Medical Walk-in Clinic. They came in and shut down the whole clinic she worked at--with no warning. We just had lunch with this woman--twice!--and met with the CEO's of Lawnwood and PSL Medical Center with her in the last two weeks. And they can her--and everyone around her--with no warning. That's crap.

But I ended with a positive note; talked to Matt for a good half-hour while walking the entire Arbors. With ankle weights on. So a combined 15 miles walking/biking today. Not bad.

Last few days have been kind of lousy. Feel like I'm fighting off a bit of flu. Tired. Achy. No energy. Think I'm going to hit the hay around 9:00 tonight. But I'll probably end up chatting away the evening. Oh well. The heat pad and sinus rinse have been invaluable the last few days. Going to try to do TKD tomorrow--forms!

And looks like Angela's the new Jason/Troy; Tina/Jason are dumping all their work on her. Have to talk to her about that.

Travis' phone mysteriously texted me at midnight last night. Then it called me on our ride back from the Bagel Shop; I had a 2+ minute message of his rapping and our talking.

They painted my office; stunk to high heaven all day. So I got very little done. Left at 3:30. Managed to get in a full workout for the first time in ages. Jogged/walked 2 miles in the a.m., then three sets of 15 in the afternoon. Tired.

Met Gwyn George; she's given me free passage to Lake 1 behind her house. Got some nice shots of a great egret & Great Blue Heron.

So tired...

Missy's response to my suggesting some Rush lyrics for a note & flower for her guy friend (he was leaving it for someone). *sigh* That explains a lot...

Anyway...meeting with Karen went well. Got my air-monitoring approved. Still working on the RPP. "I want one dollar more than whatever [purchasing] approval limit Travis has, just to infuriate him." ;)

Did a lame workout this morning. Went for a walk. Up to 176.5 pounds...time to drop more weight and up the reps. Which thinking about it...that's what I was doing before. I think I was doing 2-3 sets of 15...and very low weight.

I think the 2-3 workouts a day for the last 2-3 weeks has finally caught up to me. Or there's a cold floating around work. Maybe both. Regardless, I'm exhausted despite a good night's sleep yesterday. Conference today at work re: in vivo testing. Pretty interesting, even if 95% of the technical details were over my head.