And it is another day in the books. I really did not sleep well last night. Typical first night in a hotel. The time zones are messing with me, and I am not sleeping well. I talked with my doctor today and he wants me to cut back on the caffeine I drink during the day, he said “cut out” but I am going to translate that to “Cut Back” as “Cut Out” will make me a very unpopular person with all the people I work with.
I woke up around 5:30am Central Time, which is an inhumane 4:30am Mountain Time and just could not fall asleep. So, I made myself a cup of coffee, oops, which was a challenge because my hotel room has a Kureg machine and all the coffee packets in the room are not Kureg. Go Hilton! You just keep making it harder and harder to maintain brand loyalty.
Anyways, I digress, what else to do with my early morning other than to go spend an hour on the treadmill downstairs in the fitness center. Did pretty well, but something odd happened during the middle of my workout. My heart rate suddenly dropped form about 130 bpm to about 80 bpm, and it was a fast drop while I was still working out. I verified my watch vs the heart rate monitor on the machine and it read the same thing. I got my hour in and a little over 4 miles, it’s not an all time record but it was important for me to get some workout in.
And then after answering a bunch of questions from the processors I left the hotel to go to my first appointment. Nice property with a non-functioning Home Automation System. I just don’t understand people paying large sums of money for a Control 4 home automation when I can do just about the same functionality with my Samsung Smart Things hub and a bunch of z-wave switches. This one systems main components cost over 35K and that does not even include all of the switches and other controlled devices around the house.
We have a Home Automation System at our house as well. Most of our light switches and outlets are controllable. I have a nice mix of Z-Wave, Ziggbee, and Internet of Things devices. All are controlled by my Smart Things controller. I think my total investment is close to $1000.00 overall, plus the time it takes to do the programming. I plan on adding audio in the near future, but still trying to figure out how I want to approach that.
My next appointment was a claim stemming from some flooding, which overwhelmed a sump pump and filled a basement. As the water rose it submerged a well pump, all the wiring under the first floor, the furnace/air conditioning, and still had standing water in the air conditioning coil. The appointment didn’t take long, per normal my two hour round trip drive took longer than my time on-site.
Got back to the hotel, finished the 16 processor requests, and worked on about 4 technician support requests, and by that time it was dinner time. I noticed there was a Galleria mall across the street from the hotel. I figured that they would have to have a food court. I had to wade through snowbanks to get there. For some reason Saint Louis does not move snow out of the streets and off sidewalks, they just push into the left and right lanes and leave it. No sidewalk clearing, crosswalks, and push buttons for the traffic walk lights are all hard to get to. Makes it very impossible for pedestrians.
Had Panda Express and it was pretty good and then I did a walk through the mall and back to the hotel. I did something I have been meaning to do for a while, I started figuring out a resistance band workout. I really need to start building some muscle as everyone says it will help me loose some fat. I do not even think about the being “Mr. Muscle” but I do want to work on building a little bit more lean muscle. I am hoping the resistance band workouts can help me with that. I am able to take the resistance bands with me and it does not require time in the gym. Hotel gyms are a frequent problem. Surprisingly this hotel has a pretty nice one, but most do not.
And I am now sitting here sipping some de-caffinated tea and wiring my journal for the day. Going to read for a while and then hopefully fall asleep.
Talk with you tomorrow.