greg3d

lovely party

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Matt's party. The food was good, my bread pudding was a hit and I met some new people. I also got to visit with some spouses of co-workers I don't see very often. I had lots of people to talk to. Got to see my co-workers out of the work environment and just reaffirmed that I like to have them as friends too.

somewhat improved

I've been down with a cold the last few days. Stayed home on Monday. Dragged myself to work on Tuesday but really only made it half a day. I did go to the Alateen meeting in the evening, but then all I had to do was sit there. I made it through work on Wednesday, but really didn't have the energy to go to Band Girl's graduation, which I really do feel badly about. Today was ok, but the scratchy throat is driving me crazy. That just started when I got home.

It's boring writing about maladies, but I sure haven't been up to doing anything interesting.

an ordeal, but worth it

I bought this car today. It's a 2006 Civic Hybrid with just over 1200 miles on it. It was a demo and I got a great deal on it. Mortimer negotiated this for me and it's ending up with him getting a car also. The whole story is rather complicated and it involved him and me spending over four hours at the dealership while everything was worked out.

I absolutely love it. I've wanted a hybrid for some time. This has way more power than I expected. My last regular Civic was rather gutless, but this sure isn't. It's also roomier and more comfortable. It met with Arthur's approval after a pleasant evening excursion.

It rained like hell yesterday. I let Panda off the hook as far as weeding went. We had a Mortimer crisis yesterday, but that seems to be working out ok. He is going through quite a lot. Some of it is of his own making, but most of it is not. Kids from alcoholic homes frequently don't get to be kids. They become saddled with adult responsibilities at way too young an age.

blizzard, Tacoma style

Compared to what is going on in Saskatoon, this is nothing. It's just a peaceful little snowfall that will shut the whoe place down for days. It is quite pretty though.

Dedicated Workers

It was storming like crazy this morning when I got up. I looked out he kitchen window and saw these phone company workers up in their cherry picker fixing the phone lines. I doubt the tent they had over the basket was much protection. Utility workers just don't get enough credit for the job they do.

close calls

It's a pain working in the middle of a construction zone.The treatment plant is being expanded and upgraded and the construction is going on all around us. Our primamry parking area is now a deep pit, so we have to walk a bit to get to the replacement parking lots. This entails walking along a narrow road between the dike along the river and the digester tanks.Visibility can be limited, as the road also curves. I was walking back to my car at the end of the day when I heard a motor coming around the bend. It turned out to be one of the electric carts the maintenance guys run around in. The went past and I stepped out into the road only to ome face to face with a rather large crane. It was coming fairly rapidly and it took up the whole road, which left me with no option but to dive into the bushes. I knew I should have taken the tunnel. There is an underground hallway the pipes run through that starts near the trailer and ends up near the parking lot. I frequently use this when its raining hard, but today I had an umbrella and decided to not bother with it. That will teach me.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has had a good holiday.

Arthur and I saw the Dina Martina Christmas show last night, which was absolutely deranged as usual. Didn't care for the venue that much, but the show was funny enough to make up for it. Watching the very drunk girls with purple and blue hair sitting in front of us was rather entertaining too. We took a long leisurely ride home. (If you get ever get the chance, go to Alki Beach for a spectacular view of downtown Seattle.)

We got up late. I made breakfast and we opened gifts. We then proceeded to completely disturb the peace by getting out the chainsaw. It turned out to be a rather nice day weatherwise, so we took the opportunity to chop up some more of the downed tree. It's going to take us while to get rid of the stupid thing.

Dinner was our traditional Christmas dinner of roast pork and black beans and rice. It's one of my connections with the past. The kitchen still smells of it.  I'm making fruitcake cookies at the moment. This is Arthur's connection with his past. I'm working from a recipe written in longhand by his mother who passed away a few years ago. She always sent us a big can of these cookies every Christmas. The last time we were down before she became ill, she wrote the recipe down and showed me how to make them.

Geez. I just took trays three and four out of the oven and half of tray one is already gone. I can see these aren't going to last long.

just my luck

Probably my only holiday party of the season and I end up with the runs. So much for a potluck at a sewage plant. I spent the whole afternoon running to the bathroom. I'm better now. I stuck it out the rest of the day, then came home and slept a couple of hours. I ate lightly and pretty much feel better. I feel like I'm fighting off a cold or something. I wonder if anyone else got sick off the food.

The insurance company called. They are cutting a check to pay off the car loan. Within a few days they will send another check for the value of the car over the loan amount which sould be enough for a down payment on a new car. I'm not sure it's worth having one. Walking sounds attractive at this point. Except that it's cold and wet. phooey.

Don't mind me. I'm just grouchy.

it was a dark and stormy night...

Yow. What a storm! 700,000 people are without power, but fortunately, not us. Worse, we have no internet. I don't know what Arthur is going to do. He might actually have to talk.

We didn't come through this entirely unscathed. The big hawthorn at the back of the yard fell over during the night. It didn't hit the garage or damage the fence, but it has probably squashed my crabapple. I don't think it got the dogwood, but I'll have to check on that when I get home. It was still pretty dark. I will have to have Mortimer take a picture before he sets the chainsaw to it. (I know that's the first thing he will do. Noise and destruction is his game.)

There is power here at work, of course; it wouldn't do to have the city's main waste treatment plant shut down. Talk about a shitty situation. Leonora hasn't made it in. She lives out in a rural area and chances are good she has no electricity or phone service and enough trees are down to make it very difficult to get here. I hope she doesn't even try. Luckily it's Mushtaque's day off, so he doen't have to trek down from Federal Way. Yelena's carpool seems to be running late also. Mark's bus probably delayed. I know there were outages out where he lives. I may be out here in the trailer by myself for a while.

temporary communication blackout

The wind storm is kicking in and lights are flickering. I'm shutting down the computers for the duration.

Back tomorrow...