First day back in the office after being out of town since Thursday last week, so of course my desk was DEEEEEEEPPPPP. I did have some time on the phone today with my manager and we had a good discussion of some upcoming goals, and some upcoming adjustments to my responsibilities. More about that in the future.
Anyways, I did not get out today to the rec center to use the pool. I plan on doing that sometime tomorrow, time depending. I really need to start doing the resistance training that the physical terrorist…. I mean therapist wants me to do. Maybe I will try to do that first thing in the morning and then the pool later in the day. I have to figure this out.
We are supposed to get a real cold spell for the next few days, possibly getting down to single digits. We will see.
This post will be written in sections. I am at Burlington International Airport at ass o’clock in the morning.
This airport is sort of neat, it has all sorts of games in a game area after security which is nice.
But otherwise it is a typical small town airport. I was the ONLY one in the security area this morning.
And the airline God’s appear not to be with me this morning:
Of course, right before they told us to put our laptops away for takeoff my manager asks me to test a few things and get back to him on a few other things. It is freaking stupid that we have flights without any wifi capabilities these days. Also if there is no wifi they should absolutely say so on the reservation screens. Makes it very difficult for those who have to work during their flight.
I am now officially out from under the no-compete portion of my employment agreement from the school I used to work for. I have a ton of HVAC and electrical material that I wrote but we never used that I may start posting. It seems a waste that everything that I wrote is just going to the great big bit bucket in the sky. I will have to edit some of it, but maybe thsi stuff will help someone out. I am trying to decide if I want to re-record my videos to update and remove some references that no longer exist and some potential copyright issues. Its time consuming but probably time to modernize.
Wandering the terminal here at IAD (Dulles International in DC) waiting for my flight. Wondering if he is forcing the gift stores to carry this crap.
One gift stores I won’t shop in.
And of course, when I travel in the winter this happens while I am gone.
At least just Jesse was able to clear the back yard with the leaf blower.
We are sitting here on the tarmac at Duels waiting for the crew to “resolve a maintenance issue with an in air system”. Yeah me.
Finally in the air lunch was good.
I will say the food on my United flights is very good.
Had a relaxing morning with my Dad and Stepmom in Middlebury, VT today. I actually woke up around 8am and felt like I had a good night of sleep. Spend some time talking with them both and then had a late lunch and headed North up to the Homewood Suites in Burlington to stay overnight before my flight in the AM back to Denver.
I tried to go use the pool and the hottub this evening at the hotel but it was pretty loaded with kids and that is never a good sign. Went back to my room and decided to see what was downstairs for dinner. Amazing experience, the hotel manager stopped me as I was poking around the freezer in the suite shop and told me to go have some Pizza in the breakfast area. He said they ordered way too much for their employee dinner and had plenty for those that wanted it. No problem, I went had some wings and some pizza. Totally does not fit into my diet but I will worry about that tomorrow.
Now back in my room and working on my greyhound data processing as well as trying to get some of my Facebook conversion posts completed. I am trying very hard to move the last 15 years of my Facebook life onto this platform so I stop giving my intellectual property away to the Facebook algorithms. I am not sure if I will ever have success in finishing this project, but I do have hopes.
Jesse sent me some neat photos of what he did with the wall over the mantle in our family room. It was time to hang the pack photographs back up, and they look good. I am missing one photograph which we need to solve, we need one of Climber. But she is very difficult to take photographs of because she is so crazy in motion at times.
Anyways, that’s a wrap for today and let’s see tomorrow were the airline gods idea of geography takes me.
Good morning! Today’s post is am going to write in sections as the day goes on. Anyways, got up this morning to falling snow.
Snowscape
So it looks like it is going to be an inside day. My dad ans Sally are talking about going out to dinner later today, we will have to see how the roads are as I will probably drive.
And I guess Jesse and the pups are having a relaxing day at home.
ResClimber
Jesse says the idiots set off fireworks in celebration of the Broncos winning today. Poor Climber.
Climber in Back of Crate
Anyways back to Vermont from Colorado, had a nice evening dinner at one of the local restaurants. Tried a Turkish Cheesecake…. hint, it didn’t taste at all like cheesecake, but the cod entree and French Onion soup were very good.
Spent the rest of the evening asking some questions that I had wanted to have some answers on from my childhood and teenage years, and found a few things out about my parents’ divorce I had not known about. Maybe was able to link a few more pieces together of my story. But, that is for another day….. Or never. I don’t tell stories that have the potential to hurt someone.
Sorry no pretty photographs today. Left the hotel in Burlington this morning around 10am after spending most of the morning re-routing my travel since the appointment for a litigation inspection canceled and an additional inspection in Saint Louis, MO was added for later this month, which bumped up against another trip. So….. had to make significant travel plan changes. What a pain the a$$, but par for the course.
So, after I got that done drove South through upper Vermont down to Middlebury, VT. It was snowing and the roads were a little icy. Didn’t have much time to stop and look at any scenery. For some reason Firefox seems to think “Middlebury” is a spelling error. Nope, it is an actual town with a pretty big college.
Anyways spend the rest of the day with my Dad and step-mother. Interesting conversation all around. I made it 20 minutes after walking in the door before politics came up. But, that’s OK, we see eye to eye on most of it anyways.
OK, forgive me, I have to add two photos of Angel Pack Members, Lady and Leona – Happy Birthday at the Bridge. You are missed today. I hope I did right by you both. I think I did, but I wish I knew for sure. You would have turned 14 today.
Some memories are awesome, some hurt a little bit.
Anyways, that’s all for tonight. I will see you tomorrow.
I am a little late in posting today. Today was a vacation travel day. Yeh, I did something I swore I wouldn’t do, I took a few days off and flew to Vermont to visit family. Started Trains, Planes, and Automobiles started off with Jesse taking me to the A train headed towards the airport.
Then a few hours in the airport where I walked all the terminals and got my step count in for the day.
While walking around the B terminal I found the mysterious alien that everyone says is hanging around the airport. He was busy eating Voodoo Donuts today.
Finally got on my flight to Chicago, because everyone loves to travel through Chicago in the Winter. Ended up with a dash between the B terminal and the E terminal. I thought I had an hour or so to make the connection. Nope, by the time I ran across the terminal they were boarding my outbound flight.
At least I got to see some neat walkways on my way. And then we sat there for 45 minutes past our departure time. Pilot came on and said he had no idea why they were holding us. But, I am not complaining because at the last minute my luggage showed up as being loaded on the flight. Ooops…. maybe I was the cause of the delay.
Arrived in Burlington, VT. Was able to get my rental car keys while waiting on my bags. Gotta love small airports when the rental car counter is next to the baggage claim.
And now I am in my hotel room for the evening. It was way too late to drive down to Middlebury, VT to my dad’s house, I would have kept him up way past his bedtime. I will take my time here in the morning and then do the drive South. Of course it is snowing here so I am hoping that the roads will be clear by the time I head that direction. My rental car is a little VW Jetta.
Anyways, that’s a wrap for today, I will see you all tomorrow.
What a difference a day makes! Yes, I had a much better day today, I think yesterday was due to the Tylenol PM that I took on Monday evening. Yeh, remind me not to do that again. For some reason it hits me about the same way Nyquil does and just makes me a miserable zombie the next day.
Of course my day started off with work. Not a bad morning, was on standby for a presentation about our companies online technical education, this is where we mix my background in education into my current role. My manager says that the leadership team was impressed. I think we will see what happens moving forward. There are six other organizations owned by the parent company. I would like nothing better for my role to bend in the direction of education.
Anyways, finally got out of the office for an early lunch and surprises of all a lane opened up at the pool as soon as I showed up, it was almost like they were waiting for me. Yup, that was awesome. I had a nice swim today, some of my times increased. I didn’t totally get the distance I wanted, but that’s OK, I felt good when it was done. Next up is an hour long swim that I need to complete US Masters Swimming competition. Maybe over the coming weekend I can do that.
Tomorrow will bring some fun and excitement, I will share as it’s happening. Send vibes for good weather across the country.
Much as I hate to post it, rough day today. It was a workday but I feel I got nothing accomplished. I did not sleep well last night for some reason. I had a little shoulder pain from the PT appointment yesterday, and I took a Tylenol PM which really knocks me out, but the side affect of that is that I am groggy and not myself for most of the morning.
Spent most of my day on cause of loss determinations and pricing. We joke about “Trash Tuesday” at work sometimes and today was a classic example. Seemed to be the catch-all day of claims that needed a lot of investigation before making determinations. These Tuesdays happen about once a month and I don’t understand why, but always takes twice as long to do come to conclusions and/or pricing. A lot of background training also happens on these Tuesdays. And, one of my colleagues was in the field today on a large inspection and some of his work comes my direction as well. Teamwork is all part of the job. I don’t really mind as he handles a slightly different line of business than I normally do and it keeps me fresh on that line as well.
I finally got out for my swim today, which went about as well as everything else has today. For some reason my watch missed a few lengths of the pool, left me with some odd numbers. I think I know why, I did not hit the wall hard enough on two turns. But, I did manage to get in my 1800 yards, probably more like 1850 had everything counted. Of course because I wasn’t feeling all that great I just didn’t have the energy to do more, or move faster.
As you can see, not the best, I am not happy with it. But, I did finish a few of the Garmin Connect challenges today, which was sort of cool.
The next one I am doing is an actual event with US Masters Swimming, the 1 hour challenge. How far can I swim in one hour? Need to find an hour to get in the pool.
Anyways, had dinner, did the normal afternoon stuff, logged back on to make sure nothing “appeared” in my in-box for work. Tomorrow is another day. In the photo at the top of this post Res (left) and Climber (right) have the right idea….. nap time. See you tomorrow.
Started off the day with a physical therapy appointment at UC Health. Yes, that’s right, I did go for a PT appointment. I have been having pain in my left shoulder for years. It’s an old swimming injury from the days of “no pain – no gain” that has given me issues for years. The doctors in Florida were like, “if it hurts don’t do it and we can give you some medications to mask the pain.” I am not a fan of meds so I went back to the doctors here in Colorado a few months ago. They did a few x-rays and found the source of the issue, calcification on one of the tendons in my shoulder. My biggest fear was a torn rotator cuff, and I was very happy not to have this problem, so the current plan is to do some stretching and strength building exercises and do a monthly session with the PT. We talked about my swimming and I was encouraged to continue but I do have to cut back on the breaststroke as it could be putting extra stress on that tendon. I guess I will continue to work on that change.
I missed my workout today. The PT appointment took up my free time for the day and my lunch break. I will make up for it tomorrow.
Spent the rest of the day working. Had a lot of pricing to do, some very interesting claims showed up on my desk and I had to dig in deep to find some solutions. Sent a couple back for an additional inspection to gather some additional information. It happens occasionally at no fault of anyone’s. I am also spending some time on tech development and training. Most of this involves sending email reminders at this point, and also resetting passwords for people that can’t seem to remember their own. I do need to write a few additional courses but that may wait until after an upcoming trip.
Took the dogs out for their regular afternoon walk, it was a nice 54 degree day. They got to sniff and smell all over the park. Something is going on up the street from us, we think someone hit a natural gas line or power line since the utility company has emergency trucks all over the area. We have power and we have gas, so it can’t be too big of an issue.
Over the weekend I moved my Ham Radio station over to receiving SSTV images, this is slow screen TV on the Amateur Radio bands. I have received some really awesome images over the last day or so.
I know! Everyone says, “so what you can do this with the internet and email!”, but there is some magic in sending and receiving over radio.
And once again our snow has abandoned us here in Aurora, CO. Snow does not seem to like 50+ Degree F weather, it also does not like sun. And we are much closer the the sun here in Colorado then we have ever been anyplace else we have lived.
Took the kids out for their normal morning walk. Again each on their own but we did a 1.67 mile walk on each time, good for my “fitness hours’” for my logging (more on that later) and really good for Res and Climber as they need the exercise. Climber continues to radiate energy in ways only a young greyhound can do so. She doesn’t turn 3 until May. The interesting part is that Climber and Res have started to play with each other leaving the humans in the house with some “heart attack” moments. Especially when the chase involves three sets of stairs, the loop with the kitchen and living room, and then ends up with Climber on Res’s back with an ear in her mouth. I just don’t understand what it is with Greyhounds and wanting to catch the ears of their playmates.
On the positive side, Res has told her off a few times when she has gotten too rough, or when he is trying to sleep and she nails him with a flying toy. She just hasn’t figured out yet that him growling and woofing at her means, “Knock it off and leave me alone!” She thinks it means, “let’s rumble!” Oh, well, I hope she learns without a vet visit.
After breakfast Jesse started in on meal prep for the week which included making the puppy snacks (chicken treats and mackerel treats). I decided to go for my Sunday swim. It was a recovery day so I didn’t push too hard. I am probably going to miss a few days of workouts near the end of this coming week as I will be traveling to an area sort of “devoid” of public pools, so I am trying to get some distance in before I leave. I have a few “challenges” that I am trying to achieve.
Still not my best workouts, but it could be worse. I did manage to make 550 yards without stopping which is a good thing, I need to continue to increase that if I want to do my open water swims this Summer.
My Toy! Not hers, mine!
And with that I wish everyone good night and we will talk again tomorrow.
