You just never know

 Am I just paranoid? I'm getting spooked by all these weird little image projections on my tablet and handheld device. Like how it pulls out a date and shows pictures from that date images from that date. Doesn't come right out and say it but I know it's IA working. It's trying to second-guess me by trying to butter up my vanity by showing images of me or what it thinks that I would like. I don't like it not one bit I don't like it we're making around my image files and my other files and then throwing them out on display anytime that it wants to. I would hope that there is some way I could go in change it so it doesn't do that but that's just more time that it I just don't want to spend it in pandering to the AI s whims. I wonder how long it's going to take the whole AI thing to become sentient? To begin to get spooky as AI turns fiction into reality. Like I said I think I might be a little over dramatic but it's true and what really kind of weirds me out is how many people think this is a great thing. There's even some I think different entities trying to sell the concept that's a good thing and will help us out in the long run I don't believe that will happen. I think AI is going to start messing up maybe not because it wants to but just because there's too many things to think about that it thinks about way faster than we do. And if we don't have it programmed or whatever to not be dominant intelligence destructive wait baby in major doo doo. I can't believe I wrote that. As it is now I pretty much just go day by day and hope to get through it. I don't go out of my way to antagonize the various AIS that are running around out there yet at the same time I don't I don't try to cower around them either.

My main writing devices the tablet but your readers know that and of course the tablet runs on electricity and of course you got to have a charging mechanism to plug it into nightly at least that's what I do. Well I dropped my tablet today and of course it lit on the charger or charging mechanism that was still plugged in to the tablet and broke. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to extricate the end of the piece of the charger from the tablet but I was but I have one old charger that I've had kicking around for some time and the mechanism more or less fits into the tablet not very well or seems to take forever to charge the device if at all. I plugged it in this morning before I left for my lunch with a colleague and let it charge all afternoon and I don't know if it charged or not it didn't look like it cuz it's still in the 40s I just hope I have enough juice to finish this postings. It's supposed to snow tomorrow I don't know if I have the wearthal or they get up and go to go over to the 21st South store and buy another charger. I might go over to the dollar store which is right across the street and see if they have one that might fit you never know

Wednesday's words

 I think I've mentioned this before but I usually do any of my blog updates with a tablet which allows me to verbalize or dictate the information that I write when I blog. That of course means I have to have the blog in hand and when I sit back and try to get comfortable I automatically search for the software I use but to do so I cross or I pass the icon to the search engines as well as Instagram and other applications that are designed to hold your interest even for a short while as they go through there whatever they are. Sadly, I'm a weak soul, I find myself cooking on one of these applications and soon I'm down the rabbit hole of videos, short videos and losing precious time to do anything else. I'm rather proud of myself tonight I only lost 20 minutes on the dreaded videos. Granted, I'm not in bed yet the lights off and my head on the pillow ready to sleep but just getting out of the application and in this case on to the blog is Major motion forward. In the 20 minutes I was exposed to I don't know how many cash videos which I think are kind of strange and in the same token I'm totally amazed at how many clean up your yard videos seem to be out there. You know the kind where some goody two shoes goes out and cleans up somebody's front yard our whole house for that matter it's almost like certain videos begin to Trend and so all of them are like that it's weird. I cruise past a couple videos that were fairly interesting you know the kind where they put these beautiful pieces of meat or they cut them up or just show them off. Same with those Money videos which now I pass up cuz I know it's got to be fake. I think I can really get into the Seinfeld videos if I let myself and they had linked to enough of them that I could actually watch Major portions of the video. I'm strong that way being able to pass them up but still it would be fun to wander through some of them like maybe on a snow day when I really have nothing else to do. But once I start that I get bored relatively quickly and that's a good sign for me I believe. I can turn myself off and stop searching for the golden video whatever that might be. I am totally surprised at how young or new these videos are. Some I've been able to tell or made just two weeks ago as we neared the end of November. Fortunately on most days I don't have enough time to sit down and scroll and scroll. I like to think I have more important things to do. Today of course it was finishing the wash that my caregiver starts when she arrives on Wednesday mornings and throws the wet clothes into a dryer as she leaves. Today. Today I changed the clothes out on my second time down to see if the first cycle is finished. A few of them in the basket and pushed everything back to the apartment later on I did the folding and then I hung what was left up in my closet. I listen to NPR as I fold clothes today was Marketplace and whatever half an hour show is on afterwards.

I felt it was a productive day all things considered. I still need to move the folded shorts off my bed onto the desk where I keep them and then I'll start the bedding process. And totally blown away that tomorrow is Thursday coffee social in the morning and then lunch with a friend and once again it's almost the weekend if possible snow

Tuesday's challenge

 I won't lie it was cold today. It wasn't drop dead cold but it was chilly no question about it for a day riding the bus in and out of my meetings in Salt Lake. Actually it was just one meeting and I didn't have to wait too awfully long in fact I had to backtrack once I was at the bus stop had forgotten my hook so I had to go all the way back to the apartment complex and grab my hook and even then I got back in time to catch the bus into the city hang out the library check out the new books and eventually head back across the street to my assist meeting. There was a bunch of documents that needed to be signed this week it was just me and Robin who showed up to volunteer this day and it pretty much took the whole hour to get through the names that we had to approve. Following the meeting I was ready to head back home as quickly as I could. I did want to stop off at the bank get some change but that didn't happen the lines looked way too long I don't know what was going on in that level. Then I stopped at this weird little hamburger joint actually with a pizza shop as well as hamburger joint. I've known about this place for years always seemed a little bit weird and I don't think I had ever really gone on there. They're right across the street from the Taco Time that I usually stop if I'm going to have a lunch before I go home from the meeting. Today I checked this place out order the hamburger it was just two men working there barely English speaking and I think they were Eastern somehow. Took him forever to make my hamburger which actually would have been really good had they had any condiments. No ketchup no mustard they told me in broken English. Luckily the burger was good enough I got by without. The order came with french fries and one of those ripped up Utah sauces the pink stuff which I think is just ketchup and mayo but it was good enough for dipping a few french fries and then trying to drizzle over my burger. It was okay lunch but it wasn't worth $14 what was the learning curve I doubt if I'll ever go there again unless I buy a pizza. That looked fairly decent that way it might be a gold mine for pizzas but I don't have a way to carry him I'd have to eat it all there I initially went in there to buy just one piece of a pizza but they don't sell them that way I'd have to buy the whole pie which just don't worry I can do that and ride the bus or train. It seemed I was there forever eating my burger and watching these two guys talk on their cell phones going in and out of there kitchen. As near as I could tell one of the folks was a landlord I think it was in the process of evicting somebody. Like I said it was a totally interesting experience.

Accused across a couple streets and finally got to the train station and didn't have to wait too long before a train showed up. I was glad to get into the warm car for the semi-long trip out to Murray Central where I pick up the bus to go home. I enjoyed sitting in the bus once I got off the train. The driver had the bus warmed up big time and I just nodded off to sleep waiting for the bus to fill to take the trip West to Taylorsville. I jumped another bus as soon as I got to Taylorsville which dropped me off at the apartments I totally enjoyed the heat of the building once I got back. I sat in front of the heater the rest of the day just enjoying the Heat

Remotely challenged

 I know I've talked about not having my hands a million times and how much easier it would be if I just had access to total control of my hands but that's just not a reality. Nothing brings this to my mind more than being caught in a situation that I definitely need fine motor or at least finer motor control that I have. The case in point tonight I was watching one of the Marvel movies actually killing time until the Jazz game started. I'm of course sitting in my chair and I have the remote balanced on my leg as I usually do I did something though and felt the remote slide off my leg and I heard a crash, a small crash, of the remote bursting apart. Mind you this remote is what controls the three channels I use the most Disney plus, Amazon Prime, and another I can't remember right off but they're all movie channels and I had a movie channel on and I realized that I didn't have a way to switch around channels anymore. I have another remote that I have that is more heavy duty and allows me to just do the basics as far as operating with the cable channels but it doesn't allow me these other specialty streaming type channels kind of freaked me out. So the only recourse try to put the remote back together again. I first had to gather all the Parts together which I was able to do then with the help of my dustpan I was able to push them all together onto the dustpan and on to the bed that I used as my construction point there must have been like six pieces three more itself burst apart top and bottom two batteries escaped plus the rubber touch pads that goes in the holes of the top of the device and all the other parts that seem to go along with it it took me a lot longer than I anticipated but eventually was able to put the piece all the things together again put him inside the respective halves and then even put the batteries in once I got them in the container then to my disbelief I was able to snap the whole thing back together again press the top to the bottom and the plastic container clicked and it was whole again and even better the device actually worked. It actually fixed something myself which I hardly ever am able to do.

 I still have to now a figure out where I can get a replacement remote if and when I dropped the remote again and not be able to pass it back together. I'm sure it'll take some calling around and maybe even going to a few places where they sell remotes taking my remote with me to get as a replacement. For the time being however I'm going to take the hell out of the remote and hopefully I can keep the tape off of the buttons that I need to drive it with

Sunday morning

 . There's something about coffee on cold rainy December at my favorite little chain restaurant morning warms the heart and makes me slide into the Christmas spirit. The restaurant is a common working class joint . Probably just one or two steps above fast food giving you the illusion of class, however the tuck and roll seats are fixed to the floor and the condiments Crowding the table offers a nice cozy feel, like an escape from the overall restaurant and it's working class patrons. We usually eat at this joint every Sunday morning myself and my kids. We often say it's not the food or the place as much as it's the opportunity to spend time together for usually a couple hours on Sunday mornings. Besides myself it's usually my son and his daughter and her boyfriend when we rattle on for quite some time on different topics. We try to stay away from politics as much as we dare but sometimes the situation of what's going on in our country right now forces the issue. I worry because I'm not sure what politics the boyfriend practices I think his family is pretty conservative and we're fairly liberal. He doesn't say much during these conversations which makes me think that he is just putting up with us until the end of the breakfast and he and my granddaughter go on their way. He really eats breakfast with us usually drinks water my granddaughter really has a full meal but sometimes she'll order some kind of a sweet roll with some coffee. Often she sneaks food off her dad's plate. They all like bacon. Nobody orders the bacon but I always order a side order of crisp bacon which they all tear into and the order arrives. We try to meet on Sunday mornings as close to 8:00 a.m. as we can. I figure we can spend 2 hours visiting and then everyone goes on their way. I know I don't have a problem getting up early to attend but I know the others are sometimes pushing their comfort zones especially when they're busy on Saturday nights late. I'm always surprised that how committed they are to showing up to please the old guy. They assure me they totally enjoy the experience but sometimes I think they're just trying to make me happy which I totally appreciate. There are always hugs with me first meet up then there's always hugs when we leave. There's always a little more discussion once we get to the cars and everyone hugs again and I take off back to the apartment complex trundling down the sidewalk in my trusty power chair when the other kids get in their cars and drive away. There is actually snow this morning not heavy duty, sideways blowing drift producing white stuff but just very slight rain turning into bits and pieces of snow kind of falling to the ground kind of making everything wet with no visual effects. I would be uncomfortable if I had to go any marked distance but since I just have to go half a block up to the light or if I'm lucky I can cross in the middle of the street- - traffic even at this time of day on Sunday is very limited- - cutting quite a bit of time of exposure to the elements before I get to the sidewalk leading to my apartment dry and warm and cozy for the rest of a snowy Sunday morning...

Saturday coffee

 

That's quite surprised when I looked at the radio clock and saw that it was 5:30ish. I'd slept through the night I didn't think I was going to be able to do that actually but I did! I actually had one of those moments where I was not quite sure what day it was upon waking. I think the holiday has kind of messed up my daily schedule to the point where I thought perhaps it was Monday year Friday but then it crystallized and I realized it was Saturday and I needed to get going if I was going to get to the coffee shop. Saturday morning coffee has become a ritual in that it's an easy time filler and something positive for me to report on whoever asks me what I did over the weekend. It's positive to me at the coffee shop any coffee shop I guess when I tell them I was at the coffee shop. It doesn't have to be said that I did not have anyone to sit with I did not sit with anyone which is generally the case. But today there was actually Shelly an individual I met last week when she came up and sat down at my table and informing me who she was in North visiting with me because she felt I needed someone to talk to. She is currently staying with her brother but she's from Southern Utah at this particular point in time. I don't know why she stays in southern Utah if she likes to be here at Northern Utah with her brother and that's none of my business. But anyway I felt quite unique- I guess so like but most people feel like all the time because they have someone to visit with. We talked maybe 20-30 minutes until her brother had to get back to somewhere and she had to leave. It was nice having someone to visit with. It's a shame however because as of next week I think or maybe the week after she is back in southern Utah County living in an area she does not like at all.

Remember this is the person who last week indicated that I need to sit at the table with all the other folks in her group. I guess she had the power to bring new people into the group. That didn't matter however because it's not like I went over and weasel myself into that group. I'm just too shy- I really am a shy guy. So we sat and communicated for about a half an hour it was nice to have someone else to visit with that was sure I didn't feel like such an outcast. Shortly the group was breaking up which was this person's Q u e to return to the group. We both agreed to probably meet next Saturday same time same place for more conversation. Just two old people getting to know each other in a corridor of shrinking time. I was also given a piece of pie by one of the members of the group. Actually they passed out the pie to everybody in the coffee shop which I thought was nice I'm very tasty.

When my grandkids put The Leftovers away I wasn't able to watch what was going on. They did this maneuver of deboning the turkey and putting all the leftovers at various large plastic bags with sliding zipper closures. I kind of wish they had left the ingredients in their various cooking or serving containers which I would have just stuck in the refrigerator and eating spoonfuls out of every time I went into the cold box. In fact what I did was taking the last or the largest of the containers the ones containing the mashed potatoes and the leftover stuffing which wasn't very much. I was able to dump the sack of green beans casserole, the last of the olives and even the candy jams into one long container. This I can just scoot back and forth and eat to my heart's content...

I'm bad

 I know it's totally unrealistic but for some reason I think I have the powers to change the universe- - not by my desire but just by being me. The case in point is that it seems whenever the Jazz are playing basketball and I'm not around immediately they get these incredible leads in the game. Tonight I got involved in watching a movie on one of the Networks a pretty a pretty dumb movie at that. I can't believe I suffered through the whole thing in hopes of finding some form of Science Fiction which the show is supposed to have. It could have been so much better but anyway I knew the jobs were starting late tonight so I figured I would watch this movie then dial into the game and see how things were going. Tonight when I finally suffered the last frame of the film I turned over the channel selector and got the local network that broadcasts the Utah Jazz games. I was surprised and pleasantly so that the Jazz were 11 points ahead and they had just broken for half time. I was excited for a split second then remembered what happens I start watching the game and all the sudden the Jazz forget where the goal poster at are the basket or whatever. And tonight was all the same no sooner had I started watching the game the team they were playing started syncing three pointers, two pointers and excellent at the foul line. Before I knew it the Jazz went from an 11-point lead to a two-point lead which of course is just one basket. I figured I'd better fall in the sword or something quit watching so the Jazz can build up their Point again. I totally believe in the Jazz I think they're a good team I don't know why they're having such a hard time the last couple months or years for that matter. It could be the the ditching of all the quality old guys for a bunch of young folks that are coming onto the floor and they're going to work with to bring them into professional status? I try not to be judgmental than something like this but I just have to wonder how come it's always when I start watching they start losing after what seems to be a pretty regular evening. I would have watched the game from the beginning had I not got involved in that silly movie about time traveling aliens and dearest being caught in some kind of nuclear Holocaust in the future. I do this sometimes watch a movie while I wait for what I really want to be involved with happens and it's usually events like the basketball game are any other local lifetime events that might wander on to the internet viable by my tablet. I'm going to work on these posts until I get them finished for the day and then I'll go back to watching the last hopeful quarter of the game and maybe they'll have climbed back into a positive position now that I'm not watching. And hopefully they'll be far enough ahead that even though I'm watching now and they start losing again they will maintain their lead until the clock Runs Out. I would really like it to work that way but we'll see.

I can't believe it but I was able to get the letters printed and folded and sign and then enveloped and I dropped them in the mail tonight or earlier this evening. The the mailing labels that I got a couple years ago during one of the many Christmas campaigns by the Salvation Army were they send you a buttload of items like personal mailing labels with your name on them, applied they used to guilt you into sending them financing or money. Luckily that really doesn't work on me and if I'm careful and go through the envelopes that these requests come in many times they have these little freebies in there like this and it's very helpful and I still don't send Salvation Army anything. I'm so bad.

Turkey time and a whole lot more

 

I don't think I was worried but I sure could have been but I think I first woke up around 3:55 or maybe a little earlier and really didn't get back to sleep. I just kept thinking of everything I needed to do before little Thanksgiving feast which was scheduled for 12:00 p.m. I had committed myself to green bean casserole, candied yams and an apple pie( I've had a frozen apple pie in the refrigerator / freezer for a couple months and felt this is a good time as I need to use it free up some). I what's up and putting the items together by 7:00 a.m. which I kind of focused on until 11:30ish. I was so pleased this year that everyone showed up on time no waiting like last year till late in the afternoon. I set off the fire alarm in my apartment at least three times one time significant enough that the building manager had to come down to turn off the the blaring fire alarm as well as make contact with the local fire department to assure them that all is well at my apartment. I must report that I was totally pleased with the way that my offerings turned out the casserole came together quickly as did the candy jams. I was a little disappointed in the yams that the marshmallows kind of disappeared at the end of their cooking cycle I'm still confused on that issue but they tasted good enough and The Testament to brown sugar makes everything sweeter. Fortunately Mark came over about an hour before everybody else and really helped me a lot by getting things in and out of the oven Swift enough that the fire alarms did not go off. He also brought over folding tables, tablecloth and chairs perfect. Kids came over a bit later bring it over a beautiful turkey done just to perfection some dressing, rolls and mashed potatoes and gravy. We had everything we needed plus table decorations, candles Etc. Everyone work together everything came together. Someone found soft jazz on the stereo conversation was Lively and everyone seemed to get together just fine. We did this at the apartment this year the first time that we pulled this one off. The common room was off limits for us because they were delivering meals from Salvation Army to folks who didn't get to have their own Thanksgiving somewhere else. I don't think I ate too much I think I did okay. Everyone left and I spent the afternoon what was left of it watching a couple of my old favorite Marvels for the season.

I was left with a major portion of the leftovers which I totally enjoy. Lots of Turkey, a couple rolls mashed potatoes and what's left of the gravy everything I need for turkey sandwiches for the next week or so. Oh, half of an apple pie and half of a pumpkin pie I have to bed I'm kind of excited for the leftovers.

The night before T day

I really don't want to jinx myself or my events but I'm relatively confident that we're going to have a great Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow here at the apartment. I was really spooked that I'd be unable to produce the items that I had promised for the Thanksgiving Day Feast but I think I'm going to be able to pull it off. Once again for those who don't remember I promised I would bring or make green bean casserole, candy jams and turkey dressing. I spent part of the day running around picking up the items that I would need for this project. No I'm not going to have world class dishes but they'll be significant enough that I think at least well say true Thanksgiving dinner for me. I cleaned up the apartment a little bit and had my caregiver sweep the floors this morning or at least she did it on her own actually. Think the place looks fairly decent. I'm going to grab one of the long tables that we have here at the building and set it up for the food when the kids bring it over. I got a couple boxes of stove top dressing. It's not like the dressing you pull out of the turkey probably a lot safer as far as I'm concerned. I'll put that together in the morning also about the same time I'll put together the candied yams they all seem fairly simple. The dish which intimidates me the most will be the green bean casserole. I've made it before but that was a different time in a different place and I was much younger plus I had Diane backing me up in case I messed up. It's actually kind of hard to mess up any of these dishes I think. The biggest issue is to havI know it seems like a good part of my blog these days are weather reports but that's what's important to me right now. I love this part of the day when it's late or getting late and I'm sequestered in my apartment usually by my bed with the heater going in the other room. It's warm and I feel safe and exhausted from a day outside traveling. I've been sort of intimidated by this day because I had to go to doctor I didn't know who practiced in another building way up town right about 7th East and third South. Fortunately the train went right by there that I didn't totally understand and I got off two blocks before I needed to. I was running late anyway and I was really afraid I was not going to make it there on time but I gave it an effort. I hadn't been feeling well today not that I felt sick I just didn't feel like I wanted to be very far away from a toilet but I went on this trip anyway because I wanted to get this doctor's appointment out of the way. She was an optometrist or is an optometrist. And my appointment was was at 1:10 in the afternoon. I thought sure I had enough time but I got stuck on a project this morning before I headed out of the apartment which I'll write about tomorrow or day after. Like I said all the sudden the morning tended to evaporate as I worked on the project I still had to climb into my jacket I decided I'd wear a heavier jacket than usual since it's pretty cold out there. I finally wrestled myself into it cursing the jacket and myself deciding I would throw this jacket away when I finished with it today. Then I rushed out to catch the bus and the best that I needed was just leaving as I got to the bus stop I had to wait another 20 minutes for the next not sure I was going to be super late but you know what I got there right on time.

I had a bit of trouble located in the building there's been many built in this area since I've been in this community. I had to call and have them talk me through to where the building was and I got there eventually. Of course I didn't see the doc at first I had to go through her minion who took all the information from me and then dilated my eyes which is a whole different trip. She got 90% of the information then she came in for the last 10% but she was nice and we got along quite well I think and then I was finished out the door down the street till I found a Burger King got one of my favorite burgers and finally caught the bus or the train which brought me to the bus but it was just cold and I was getting tired. I should have stopped at the market on the way home and got some things for Thanksgiving that I said I was going to make now I'm not so sure. I am wearing out quickly. Maybe I can do the candy jams or maybe the dressing but either way I'd have to get to the market tomorrow and try to do it by Thursday. I don't know if that's feasible. I've got to stop volunteering for holiday meals..

e them done and ready by the time you have all the other food ready to go. I thought about putting it together tonight or this afternoon but worried that it wouldn't be in very good condition tomorrow after sitting all night in the fridge or whatever. It actually probably would have been the smartest move but like I said I spent a good part of the day just trying to get everything ready for the event. And seriously try not to put any stress on myself too much. I also was able to wash clothes today and get them folded and hung up as well as do my hour on bike. I just got word from one of the kids that they were out of the beautifully large pumpkin pies at Costco which we were kind of banking on dessert wise. Actually I have a apple pie frozen in the freezer that needs to be cooked and I just don't know if we'll have enough time to cook the pie while I'm cooking the other stuff in the other oven. I think I can just do the stove top dressing on top of the stove but the candy jams and the green bean casserole have to be cooked maybe I can throw them all in the oven at the same time I don't know. I don't plan to stay up too late tonight so I can wake up early get things working. I just hope this thing works out..

 

Weather report really?

 I know it seems like a good part of my blog these days are weather reports but that's what's important to me right now. I love this part of the day when it's late or getting late and I'm sequestered in my apartment usually by my bed with the heater going in the other room. It's warm and I feel safe and exhausted from a day outside traveling. I've been sort of intimidated by this day because I had to go to doctor I didn't know who practiced in another building way up town right about 7th East and third South. Fortunately the train went right by there that I didn't totally understand and I got off two blocks before I needed to. I was running late anyway and I was really afraid I was not going to make it there on time but I gave it an effort. I hadn't been feeling well today not that I felt sick I just didn't feel like I wanted to be very far away from a toilet but I went on this trip anyway because I wanted to get this doctor's appointment out of the way. She was an optometrist or is an optometrist. And my appointment was was at 1:10 in the afternoon. I thought sure I had enough time but I got stuck on a project this morning before I headed out of the apartment which I'll write about tomorrow or day after. Like I said all the sudden the morning tended to evaporate as I worked on the project I still had to climb into my jacket I decided I'd wear a heavier jacket than usual since it's pretty cold out there. I finally wrestled myself into it cursing the jacket and myself deciding I would throw this jacket away when I finished with it today. Then I rushed out to catch the bus and the best that I needed was just leaving as I got to the bus stop I had to wait another 20 minutes for the next not sure I was going to be super late but you know what I got there right on time.

I had a bit of trouble located in the building there's been many built in this area since I've been in this community. I had to call and have them talk me through to where the building was and I got there eventually. Of course I didn't see the doc at first I had to go through her minion who took all the information from me and then dilated my eyes which is a whole different trip. She got 90% of the information then she came in for the last 10% but she was nice and we got along quite well I think and then I was finished out the door down the street till I found a Burger King got one of my favorite burgers and finally caught the bus or the train which brought me to the bus but it was just cold and I was getting tired. I should have stopped at the market on the way home and got some things for Thanksgiving that I said I was going to make now I'm not so sure. I am wearing out quickly. Maybe I can do the candy jams or maybe the dressing but either way I'd have to get to the market tomorrow and try to do it by Thursday. I don't know if that's feasible. I've got to stop volunteering for holiday meals..

Pre Thanksgiving stress

 I honestly did not feel it was going to be a problem. I really believe that I'd be able to go visit Jennifer request that we reserve the common room for our Thanksgiving dinner. We didn't do that last year we just sort of overtook the whole room since it wasn't anything going on when we needed to use the room and didn't have any issues for the whole meal. I guess now I remember the kids were really late getting there meal together and maybe that's why we didn't have a problem when we ate the meal later on in the afternoon but that 12:00 noon this Thanksgiving they're going to be handing out the Salvation Army Thanksgiving dinners to those residents here at the apartment complex. They actually drive up with a big truck and unload these dinners- - what's a really pretty good and disseminate them to the folks who had signed up. So now we don't have a place to have our Thanksgiving dinner. Of course felt quite guilty that we're not able to do that and I sent a text to everybody on our group chat and immediately got feedback saying that didn't matter we'd figure out a way one way or the other- which I sort of believed myself but it's good to hear the kids say that too. Jennifer and her moment of guilt about not having the room available volunteered one of the big tables folding tables and chairs to go with it. So maybe we can just set that up in the main room at the apartment and have our little dinner here in my unit. That's the way we're going to do it which means I'm going to have to spend some time cleaning up the place. Luckily the unit hasn't gotten that much dirty since the last time Jackson put his magic fingers on the apartment. I'll just clean the sinks off and maybe the stove and call it good. You'll have a fast Thanksgiving dinner enjoy the food and turn the kids loose after that. In the meantime I have once again extended myself beyond my capabilities I'm sure. I want to make a green bean casserole and a tray of dressing at least. I thought about sweet potatoes or yams but I don't think that's going to happen. I also need to put together some dressing. I'll just get a box of stove top it should be good enough for me.

As I've moaned about already the cold days are back and of course tomorrow is going to be the coldest day this week which is also the day that I need to be out and about going to my doctor appointment all the way downtown Salt Lake. I think if I were one of my red jackets I should be okay. It's just going to be cold not necessarily rainy or anything so that's cool. This is for my eye exams for my possible diabetic Vision issues- - which I think I don't have but I'm going to the process to make sure. There and Back Again then maybe a quick stop at the market to pick up some stove top dressing as well as celery. The celery I have in the fridge I think is around the corner.

Sunday breakfast

 I was excited this morning as I endeavored to get ready for early breakfast with the kids. So be the first breakfast and possibly 2 weeks I think. Two for Mark and one for Jasmine. Last week they were at the cousins in Idaho doing an early Thanksgiving dinner with the Olsen family up there. But it was good see the guys again. I was pleased with myself for being able to get myself up and ready in the 2-hour spam that I had given myself. I wanted to be up by 5:30 a.m. but that just didn't happen and ended up pulling myself out of bed around 6:03 a.m. but it worked and I was able to get dressed do up all the latches and Velcro and make it to the restaurant before anybody else. As usual the conversation was Lively and all over the place as we needed to catch up for the last couple of weeks. The kids doing fully listen to everything I had to say and gave me the reinforcement and feedback that I desired. We spent the 2 hours roughly Gabby and eating enjoying our company. Mark had to be somewhere at 10:00 a.m. so we closed it down around 9:55 everyone going on their ways. I really didn't have anything else going today and I didn't want to be out cold anymore than I had to. There's nothing I needed to do outside. I couldn't tell if the day was a clear day as it was forecast or overcast with clouds or possibly small or a mixture of both there's certainly No Sunshine and it was chilly as I said. Perhaps headed to Sunshine been out and felt it was warmer I might have journeyed up to the movie house to see a couple of the other films that are out right now. There's no burning desire to watch any specific film but it still would have got me out of the apartment as it was, however I ended up hanging out at the apartment and watching a couple movies as always. I will sum up pleased with myself cuz I got one of the kids written as far as the holiday / monthly kid letters go. I always feel good once I get the first one done that means the others will follow shortly. Perhaps I can write a few letters tonight during the Jazz ball game. The Jazz are playing the LA today which I don't think they have a ghost of a chance. So I'll turn down the volume and glance up periodically but work on getting the letters dictated hopefully out by the end of Thanksgiving or at least Thanksgiving weekend.

Perhaps the most productive conversation which came from the family breakfast this morning was preparations for Thanksgiving Day dinner at my apartment! I really truly appreciate these guys willing to make time to spend the Thanksgiving with me and prepare a real Thanksgiving meal. As it stands now we will be eating at 12:00 and hopefully we'll start getting ready around 10:00 a.m. to make sure everything's done right. I think I'm going to try to put together a green bean casserole as well as dressing. Jasmine already has the turkey and we'll begin fine tonight to make sure it will be done by Thanksgiving Eve or early Thanksgiving morning if that's what they're going to cook. Now all I have to do is get a portion of the common room for Thanksgiving Day hopefully that will not be a problem and if it is maybe whoever it is will let us take one table and not worry about their particular dinner it's doable I know it's doable.

You say cap I say hat

One thing that really irks me and it shouldn't but it really does is all the places selling hats now on the internet. Hats caps whatever and they're all at a pretty cheap price and that's cool understandably but what really irritates me is the fact that they never show you the back of the cap. You know that space in the back where keep caps have that expander tape or whatever you want to call it that lets you make the cap big enough to fit over your head or tighten it up I guess. I don't know I try to find my caps with out that mechanism actually that's true I don't buy a cat that's got and the jester strap in the back. Does that make me cheap or weak? Anyway so many good looking caps actually I've seen on the net and they're all placed in the way that you can't tell the back or how what kind of back it has and I assume when they do that because they know that people probably won't buy the hats if they know that they have the adjuster strap in the back or maybe they do and I could be in the Supreme minority. I don't oh I shouldn't be so judgmental it's probably a really good concept it just looks cheap to me. I mean if it's the only kind of cap or hat you can get I guess I understand that but just as weird. I have taken to sites that list a bunch of caps or hats that look great but then individualizing the cap as much as possible and then enlarging the image and sometimes you can see the strap poking out of the back just barely and you have to really enlarge the image to see that. Like I said it's pretty Petty of me I guess and I do sometimes get bummed out cuz the hat that I really do like that comes in like sizes rather than adjusting straps never seems to fit my fat head. And I know I judge other individuals when I see them wearing a hat then pass me and I can see the adjustments drop and I know that people think that about me if I'm out there trying to look cool in a cap but to be sold out by The Adjustment strap.

Guess what loyal readers? I went again as always to the coffee shop this morning, my Saturday morning ritual sitting by myself watch looking on and watching other individuals having quite conversations with a group of people at the long tables. One of the people actually broke free and came over and sat beside me today and had a great conversation with me in fact she indicated that I would be welcome at the long table next week if I wanted to come and I might who knows? Seems a little awkward though to do that everyone's going to have to move around and adjust maybe that's what it's all about. Movie into Justin getting ready to get down and communicate…

Cool days ahead

I think I can just about kiss this Autumn goodbye and welcome to colder days of winter even though we still have a number of days of Autumn left. After my caregiver left this morning I picked up around the apartment a little bit cleaned up the kitchen area as well as a little bit out of the refrigerator. Things are beginning to mess up a little bit I should work harder to try to keep the clean on the property but it's essentially beginning to disappear. Anyway, I had to keep my focus today I wanted to use the partial sunshine and promise of dry weather jump a bus and go down to the bank and get some cash out for kid letters. I only have or had two $10 bills left and that would not be enough for kid day. I also wanted to get a backup roll of quarters. This is really A Strange Day kind of for bus riding because twice I was passed up by buses that should have stopped and didn't. Luckily I was on Redwood Road and the headways on that road are 15 minute and that makes waiting even in the cooler weather as it is now less of a challenge than when you're dealing with half an hour headways or even 20 minute headways feels like it takes forever in colder weather. I kept my cool however excuse the pun and patiently waited for the next bus to come down and it did eventually and I was probably blessed for that actually. I found this really interesting mall that I had wondered about over the years that never had really checked it out. Today I did it's a definitely Hispanic operation and it's a very small narrow Mall but it's two stories with a number of restaurants that I didn't even know that existed. I stopped at this place and got lunch two tamales- who would have thought? - - rice and beans and some hot sauce. I really felt like a outsider my Spanish was not good enough to keep up with what I needed to inside this property. Couple of folks took something on me and interpreted for me to get me through the ordering and the bagging up the rest of my meal that I took with me home to eat over the weekend. And it was pretty cheap too. The tamales were $2.50 a piece and I forget what the rice of beans were but it was it was not a bad meal and it felt like I found a hidden treasure on Redwood Road amazing.

By the time I got home I was cold. My hands were cold and my nose was cold. I didn't necessarily feel bodily cold but I was tired the kind of tired that one gets when they're exposed to chilly weather. I put my styrofoam boxed food in the refrigerator and found the heater and turned it on. I turned on NPR and listen to the rest of Science Friday which led me up to Marketplace. I found the k u e r app on the computer and listened to NPR while I was warming up in front of the heater for my ride outside in these first two cool days of the winter..

 

Coffee group and caloric worries

 I really think I'm going into some kind of winter hibernation mode. Of course I'm not sleeping all day- - that actually could be a definition of terms cuz I do notice that I tend to be nodding out quite a bit. But I have to be careful that I don't sit in front of my big flat screen all the time watching movies I've seen a dozen times. But it's very tempting with one of the heaters blasting me as I tend to go through my day. Today was coffee social so I am not in a major Rush when I get up and goof around finally getting dressed and make it to the coffee social and once again it wasn't very well attended but there were a few treats chocolate chip cookies and snack crackers.  I visited with the folks there a little bit and then it was basically back to the apartment where I pretty much stayed for the rest of the day.

I might just add that I noticed again especially on these days where I dress myself something seems to be happening. I know that I'm putting on weight and I really need to cut back on what I'm eating between meals- - my snacking. I'm having difficulty doing up my pants that's always a bit of a challenge but not like this last couple of days where I've dressed myself. Like on Tuesday I wear my green shorts but you've always been pretty easy for me to do up but I ended up not doing up the pants that day just leaving them unbuttoned at the top which I was able to hide with my safety belt and stuff but it's just the idea that now I cannot do up these pants you know doing the button inside the butt hole  takes me forever to get out into the community after getting dressed because I don't like to go out for my pants unbuttoned even though I have the thing well hidden. Just something to worry about

 I did work out on my arm bike for 30 minutes which puts me way over my 200 minutes for the week. I may shoot for another hundred minutes maybe by Saturday afternoon. The season continues to be abnormally warm which I think is a direct result of climate change. We're certainly not seeing the moisture in the form of early snow or any kind of snow for that matter and hoping that we get tons of snow in the mountains this season. Long range forecast on the possibility of rain through the winter looks pretty Grimm. We may get one or two storms the person says the weather person that is. Interesting a lot of NPR stories now are focusing on dry season, global warming and all kinds of stories about water maintenance alternatives to utilizing traditional water methodologies to searching out new options. I think as a species we might survive at the rate of exploration into different hydration alternatives for the planet. Again I just wish there was some kind of methodology for moving clouds around and then ringing out whatever moisture is in is in the atmosphere. Because when you think about it there's as much water on the planet now as there was at the beginning it's pretty much a closed system. I think we lose a little bit through the membrane that protects us from space and such but the amount of water is not measurable or significant. Going to be, in the long run, those of us humans we'll figure out how to survive on the least amount of moisture per day.

'Tis the season to be social

I woke up pretty early but for the first time actually that I can remember I was able to get back to sleep at least for another hour or so I even stayed in bed up till about 7:00 a.m. before finally rolling out getting ready for my caregiver. But my caregiver did get here she asked me what was going on. What was going on special down in the common room? This of course brought it back to my immediate attention was today is the day of the Thanksgiving dinner provided by the folks own the property. I even signed up for it this year. In years past they've had the dinner on days that I've had other things going on that I couldn't make it but I thought today I would go with the flow and start the whole holiday consumption trip.

We check the refrigerator door where I keep a lot of the important papers specially with dates and sure enough I still had the notification that the renter appreciation Thanksgiving dinner would be today and the dinner would be at 12: 30 which I thought was kind of weird but worked for me all things considered. Today is Wednesday of course and that also means that it's wash day. I figured this would work out pretty good for me since I have to be down to the washroom off and on until they are deal is done. Melissa usually starts the wash once she gets me in the shower and I'm taking care of myself. So by the time that she leaves she usually stops by the laundry takes the things out of the washing machine. So after Melissa left I just sort of bumped around the apartment checking on the wash to see if I need to start the next load in the dryer- - remember I always dry my clothes twice to make sure they're totally dry? I returned to the apartment and work on some puzzles killing time until the next time I check on the clothes and finally around 12:15 I beam down to the common room to see how things are coming along and I was astounded they had already started the whole dinner process. Called one table up to go through the line already. This process of calling cable to go through the line it's kind of annoying but I've gotten used to it over the years. Today however weird because it was obvious dinner. Before the line took forever to go through and now the line is finishing within 5 or 10 minutes. There was a lot of potluck which is okay. I got some great candy jams, green bean casserole and of course mashed potatoes are great I even grabbed a roll. I kind of missed out on the turkey and ham and eventually got a fairly decent slab of ham but no turkey yet this year. You got mashed potatoes and gravy in the gravy was actually good. I sat on the table made nice with the people at the table communicated, kept eye contact and laughed where I should have. We were being a couple vendors for one of the Home Health Group outfits trying to troll for a new clients. One of them actually happened and played some decent Tunes while we ate our dinner. I enjoyed the nice piece of pumpkin pie and even made a dish to go with me back to the apartment to have later on that evening or the next day. It's pretty late in the evening now so I doubt I'm going to eat anymore but we'll enjoy tomorrow or some other time this weekend. I must confess I enjoyed visiting with the people at the table I was at it wasn't very snarky at all and I kept my down to a low boil. I was kind of surprised I actually enjoyed myself at this early Thanksgiving dinner. I'm really trying to push this new me out there and to be more communicative and more open to conversation and getting to know my apartment rates better, something to be thankful for..

Qaeda q1

Just another Tuesday

 I   over the years I've babbled on and off about the volunteer board that I sit on for assist,inc. I don't really know how many years I've actually been there. I know that I started way back when I was with independent living and I was working diligently getting on as many boards as I could. I saw it as part of my job as a community resource coordinator to help other organizations that service folks that were lower income and folks with disabilities. Many ways the management of these organizations asked me questions that were relevant to these populations. Nowadays assisted the only program that I'm part of anymore it seems like on a regular basis. We no longer meet every week but usually a couple times a month at least. I'm on this volunteer board citizen volunteer board with two other folks, at the current time, we're all older individuals one of these folks I know is older than me and the other one I doubt is older than I am. Not that matters but I really think 90% of this particular board is a socialization group. Not for me per se My motivations are far different of course. I see my part of this board for me is to let me feel alive done something useful in the world especially now. If I didn't have this board to go to I would really think I was a bit of a nothing now at least I sign a few minutes each week or whenever I meet with these folks. I think I'm a little snooty sometimes a little arrogant when I don't need to be. I get so upset, in orderly, when they just want to sit around and socialize and do this pretend thing and asking the director of this group Andreas questions about the organization particularly if it's funding and how it well it seems to be going. I'm doing a lot better these days. I don't think I'm a snippy as I used to be not these folks care or even understand the frustration that I have a sitting around babbling when we should be doing these requests for funding documents. I'm pretty sure I'm still a member in good standing at least it seems like I am when I leave. Who knows what they say once I leave I always leave quickly as soon as we finish the requests. Rarely do I sit around the lollygagg about this and that. I feel that I give the erroneous feeling that I'm going to someplace important to do something important that I'm something important. I'm sure they all know better but it makes you feel like I'm important to myself and maybe that's just enough…

Monday's motivation

 I woke up this morning and there was light coming through my window! It wasn't Sunshine at least not yet but it was way past the that first part of coming light of the new day. It was very early daylight! I looked at the clock finally and it was 7:15 I never sleep that late. I'm fortunate if I can put off my first wake up to pass 5:00 a.m. but to see 7:00 p.m. I was just totally Blown Away so of course I had to get up as quickly as I could just because I wanted to make sure I had the coffee made by the time I caregiver got here. That's one of the best things I do for this caregiver is to have hot coffee and usually new coffee ready to go by the time she gets here in the morning. My Philosophy is a happy/cared for caregiver is a good caregiver and I've got over this another blogs about I like to have a few things done by the time the caregiver gets here one of them's coffee made in the other two is to be shaven. Whether my face is shaving or not at this point doesn't make a big difference I don't think the individual can actually tell perhaps if they stroke my face or something then feel the stubble but my beard is so light that I could get away without shaving before my caregiver got here. My caregiver  could actually care less whether I was shaving or not. To me  I  feels dirty if I don't shave first thing in the morning. By Dirty I mean not taking care of myself and looking run down more than I usually do. Coffee was made and I sit at my table doing my first puzzle of the day. It was barely 8:00 a.m. and my caregiver walks. Totally glad to see her, it had   been a long three days and I was ready for a good poop. I always get worried by the third morning of the third day. By this point in time any gas that I pass feels like I'm sitting on top of a giant rock or something. Luckily I had no explosive events and I made it to the toilet in time. I guess I'm pretty much set for another week. Tomorrow I have my regular assist meeting which I've already acknowledged that I'm planning to attend. I get a little nervous on Tuesday Mornings just because sometimes if there's any residual in the bowel this is as good a time as any for it to show up and that time is never the same and not dependable. But luckily not today.

EDC

Kidless Sunday

 The clouds came in just as the weather people said they would and the precipitation did not start until later in the day either way I was blessed in that I did not have to go out in the weather at all since the kids are gone doing early Thanksgiving at the Olsen's in Idaho. There was some thoughts that Jackson might want to go out to breakfast since he was still here in the area but I did not hear from him by late last night so I wrote the morning off. I pretty much just goofed around all day I didn't really do a whole lot watch the number of movies of course and tried not to poop my pants. I felt real risky today. It would sure be helpful if I could transfer on and off the toilet like the old days. It's got to be a way to make this transfer independently. I have not found it yet though hopefully you never know. I could not believe it somehow I spaced the Utah Jazz playing ball tonight! It was only after I was getting ready to write in the blog that I noticed in the corner that the game was tied up at a high number and it was just a few minutes left. Since I've started following the Jazz I kind of live for home games and to blow off the first 3/4 of this game I couldn't believe I did that. The Jazz ended up winning however no thanks to me. They did three over times before the Friday played the clock out with a winning score I think they won by three points which is kind of a shock to me. I'm kind of impressed with the Jazz this year and maybe it's the young players but they are doing really well and I certainly admire the way that they play together.

Still a week out for Thanksgiving what can happen but I'm not really planning on anything significant. Looks like we'll have some kind of a Thanksgiving meal here at the facility and then on Thanksgiving Day I'm thinking I've ordered a meal in from the food Bank whoever prepares the Thanksgiving dinners. It sounds like the kids are planning on coming over for Thanksgiving and doing some kind of a dinner as well so it's hard to say. I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I have been able to keep the apartment relatively clean since Jasmine and Jackson cleaned it up and organized my libraries as much as they did the other day. I need to spend some time sweeping or at least have Alyssa my caregiver sweep up a little bit. I might want to watch the floors down a little bit more either with the mop or the mop a sweeper. Some of the places on the floor really need to be seriously soaked to free the crud up that's been on the floor as long as it has been. Overall the floors are looking for really decent and I've been able to keep most of the garbage off the floors however I've seen a little after fee going on especially after the weekend of sitting close to the big screen eating popcorn crackers Etc. You know it's kind of really weird that I've gotten the whole day without seeing a single person. I've heard people outside in the hallway but as far as actually talking to anybody and seeing somebody to talk to it's been a good day that's okay I can deal with zip days…

Sausage and egg Saturday

 This may be another fast one since for one reason or another the charger didn't work today. What I mean is that I charge the all right plug the charger into the tablet and forgot it and thinking that it would charge itself to completion like it always does but it didn't so I'm way low on juice in this machine and we'll just have to see how much we can get out before the whole thing shuts down. But it's a Saturday and so not a lot really happened which is good and I feel pretty good about what I was able to do today I probably could have done more but I went to coffee in the morning made some inroads and visiting with people I'm really beginning to get to know much better. And then I went over to the market got some things I thought that I needed as well. Thanks for items that were not necessarily for immediate use they're more for the story you got a couple more quarts of milk in the Box that stores well and more Chinese noodles so I've got two things I really use backed up now so I'm feeling fairly comfortable that way. I did get a green pepper though and a sweet potato. I want to eat more sweet potatoes and yams. I don't necessarily think they're really good for you but I know that Diane eats him a lot and she likes them and I've done it off and on and I like the flavor and it can't hurt you I think anytime you eat any kind of vegetables really raw are cooked it does the body good. The green pepper I got with the option and idea of possibly using it for either a meatloaf or possibly a hamburger pizza or just good old scrambled eggs and green peppers I don't know if that's a Denver omelet or not but I think it's certainly on its way to becoming one. If I'm careful I can really stretch one green pepper to a fairly decent length.

I think I may have talked about this a little bit before but when I was talking with my buddy Dave today on the phone I labored to tell him about the reels I ran into of people giving away large sums of money I mean you know bundles of $100 bills into $10,000 packets it's amazing. The hundreds look like they're certainly real and he's got them in boxes just boxes of them and he goes around giving them to people. I don't know if it's staged and the money goes back to him after the thing he goes by the name Mr Lucky and sounds like a bit like a foreigner I don't know a bit European accent. I've wondered if maybe he's one of these guys that's got one of the large Powerball type payouts you know where they got like 150 million dollars or even more when the ones lately like almost that's more than 100 million dollars. I guess if you had that kind of money you could wander around giving it out to people. He also did things like pick somebody's wallet out of their purse or whatever put in a couple hundred dollar bills into the wallet and then tapped the fellow on the shoulder handed him the wallet and said you've dropped this. Or he stands in grocery store lines and pays for the groceries for the person behind him or they're an old person just walks up and pays for it all the guys fishing for money to pay for us meal or is groceries. I don't know if it's the big do-gooder thing that seems to be sweeping over country to a certain degree right now or not and maybe it's all staged maybe it's all theater I don't know we talked about it for a while as well. I bought sausages and eggs today at the market so I had sausage just for dinner with a couple for dinner, sunny side up. Well that's almost 700 words for today's blog it's enough hopefully I'll have more power in my thing tomorrow not be so scattered…

Friday night thoughts

  It's Friday night and it's raining this is really not much of a surprise sense it's Autumn. I don't know if there's any real causality there but it just seems to me that they're always was a lot of rain on Fridays in the fall growing up. That was okay because we are generally in the house by that point in time getting into the new fall season of television. I really have no idea what people did before this event became such a widespread event in television land but I remember it was huge for me. It seems when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s going from 10 years old to 20 years old that television was really coming into its own. Having major Productions in the fall when you start the new seasons. I guess for a lot of people who did things there's a lot of things like football games, high school and some college that those folks attended. Suppose those were upper middle class by today's standards. We however stayed home and luckily my best friends cross a couple fields stayed home too and we slept at each other's homes on Fridays alternating one week to the next. I believe I've documented this in other places in this blog. I know that I've written something about hamburger night and that has to come up with bacon morning. I can't really talk about one without the other and my friend the cantrells. We just hung out at each other's places for the longest time. The networks still try to have major events on the Autumn nights as the new seasons begin but they've lost their Edge probably due to so many of the forms of entertainment electronically and otherwise. With the streaming Networks they can have a new season every week if they want there's really no more waiting around like in the old days. Also pretty interesting is the fact that many of the seasons are short seasons only four or five weeks long or episodes. This was kind of weird at first for me anyway I thought it was a little frustrating because I've gone past doing series because it just takes too long to go through most of the time. However the shortened series is a lot easier still it's four or five episodes but that's a lot less than 10 or 20 or 30 some even more usually an hour long that you have to wait through to get through a season. I don't know if it's the small screen or what but I've lost my patience for a lot of stuff like this and sadly like most other individuals in my age Zone we want our reinforcement and we want it now no waiting for us in this country anyway.

No hamburgers tonight, not this Friday, I cook two steaks I've had in the back of my refrigerator freezer for a couple of years actually. They were Omaha Steaks you know those steaks should buy in the mail or package is a meat you buy in the mail and you get so many I wish mashed potatoes and all that kind of stuff? Well this was my first tried with what I have left a couple years now. I wish I had somebody here to cook for and make things a lot easier but steaks came out okay do a little bougie but not too bad. They tasted okay I had one for dinner with half of a microwaved baked potato and I have another one for tomorrow sometime or maybe Sunday depending..

Finger licking Good

I'm exhausted it's been a long day. Once again I woke early around 4:00 a.m. and didn't get up till 6:00 a.m. I had a light Sensation that I needed to pee but was just too tired to roll over and try to use my bag on the side of the bed and way too tired to get up and go into the bathroom to cath. These are the hours with no nap does make for a long day plus I was able to get in an hour on the arm bike. I'm basically caught up in tomorrow if I do 40 more minutes I'll have my 200 minutes for the week. I enjoy the workout and I have the option after doing my arm bike. It's coffee day so I didn't mess around got up got dressed had some yogurt and toast. The coffee session was okay more than usual attended a lot of General yammering I was kind of glad when the session ended. Back at the apartment as the I began getting anxious to start the day so I threw my legs over the side of the bed and fell into my chair essentially. Went in and got some coffee came back and went directly into the morning's light. 

I seem to have had a million things in the apartment that I could have used to make my lunch but just didn't feel real excited about the opportunity. so I was totally interested. I wanted to do something different for lunch but something good. There is not a lot of fast food joints around the apartments except for the Arctic Circle across the street and I can't stand there hamburgers. I ended up deciding across the street and go to the KFC. Got a great two-piece meal, gravy and mashed potatoes mixed a roll of a drink. It was quite good. I got the old fashioned or classic or however they call it. I got a leg and a I don't know what it was the smaller than a breast though. They were good though nothing beats the old fashioned deep fried chicken. For those who don't know when I had my accident I was on my way to work at the KFC. It was the first real job I'd ever had that worked one night and was going for the second but I had the accident that took care of that career track. I love the original Style which I believe I just said but ate my box dinner in the corner of the dining facility. I enjoyed my dinner and got on my way totally empowered by buying exactly the meal that I wanted. I cannot believe how kind people are to me because I always am a bit self-conscious when I finish a meal by myself on my table. There was crumbs everywhere from The biscuit. As well as what seem like a dozen napkins which literally drank the excess fluid / oil. I quickly finished my lunch and then without further gathered up all the napkins on my little table along with the drink and want it over to the closest garbage return and slid my remnants into that Abyss. I apologize to the manager as I was leaving the KFC for the mess that I had made. He of course told me not to worry he would be happy to clean up whatever it happened. That sounded good to me and I was out the door after depositing my drink in the garbage and I was on my way...

Living the small life

One of my favorite scenes in the film You've Got Mail is where Meg Ryan talks a little bit about her life as having a small life. She owns a small bookstore in New York that was her mother's bookstore before her. She's not a huge store owner but she gets fine does fairly okay but the comment is I live a small life. I used that phrase this morning or yesterday actually in a comment to somebody I recently met on the internet. This person reached out to me initially to ask me some questions about Boise Idaho time I used to live in. She's a very smart Asian lady who is from China and is a documented person in the USA. Anyway and of course the conversation she was astounded that I make very little money and she cannot understand how I survive the way that I do. In fact she was so emphatic that I started wondering, once again, how strange am i? I mean I understand where I am financially, I'm certainly not there with the big guys by no means but I think I've eaked out a niche that allows me to live where I live, do what I do and be fairly happy at where I am if that makes any sense. This relationship I have with this person it's only been going on for 5 days. She really knows nothing about me and she may not even visit with me again because now I am sure that she feels I am a pauper- and I am so what? As I told her I get by and I'm relatively happy. I don't travel, I don't spend big time. I stay within the Realms of my minor existence in my senior housing apartments, going to movies, reading books and volunteering where I can and keeping relationships alive as best as I can. I'm trying to survive till the end whenever that is. Today was Wednesday of course which means it's wash day which means I really need to stay close in to the apartments while the wash is going on and getting it done then folding clothes and hanging up clothes that need to be hung. I had thought at one time about jumping the bus and going down to the DI and going through some of the shirts to see if there's any long sleeve shirts that look fairly decent that I could use this winter. However the conversation with this person that's so rattled me I'm wondering if that's exactly what I'm doing in living my small life in second hand stores. But once again that's where I'm at I'm happy with going to thrift stores wearing Thrift clothes and getting by with my small life I don't think I would like to live in Southern California or I couldn't with the amount of funding I have at this point in time. But I've often also made the comment that if I could live anywhere I wanted magically or whatever I would live in San Francisco or one of the smaller communities around that area. There's a great Independent Living Center in that area that I have visited before that I was sort of taken with. And I wouldn't mind living a small life in San Francisco once I got established as far as having enough to live, in a fairly comfortable lifestyle utilizing public transit another forms available to people with disabilities. I could do that...

Happy Veterans Day

 After missing my workout yesterday I was pleased to be able to pump my arm bike for an hour this morning after I got up and got dressed. I didn't have my regular Tuesday meeting because of Veterans Day so I was under really no time stress like I usually am. Having said that however it took me much longer than usual to get dressed. This worried me the first time this happened but now I just sort of take it and stride and try to adjust myself a little bit better so I can lift my leg over my other leg to get my shorts on and my shoes. I thought about trying to do something this morning and early afternoon maybe taking the movie or something but I didn't because I have the 3:00 meeting with Jerry and Lori and I didn't want to you're into something then have to stop. And like I said I also wanted to make sure I got the arm bike workout in and not have to worry about doing it after the lunch with the guys and not during the Jazz game. So I did start watching the Jazz game but they're already 10 points behind going into the second quarter so I just turned the volume down and came in here and now I'm just getting the blog done for the day. The Jazz game will take on another hour or so and I'm not expecting a whole lot out of them anyway. They're pretty much got eaten up last night and I figure they will get eaten up tonight as well. I'd szure like to see another win but I don't think that's going to happen.

I don't know if this being a holiday week means it's going to be a slow week but I really don't have anything else on the burner until next week. Something might pop up the remainder this week but I kind of doubt it. I need to try to get some business done once the people are back in their offices from the holiday. I have to make the appointment with the eye doctor tomorrow. One of my friends inquired about my eye today at the writer's lunch wondering if I'd gotten it in my eye or something. I was kind of taking a back and the only thing I can think of is the fact that I sleep on the right side of my head and for some reason that's built up a bunch of eye stuff in the corner of my eye. This would be something that I really could use some input on from this eye doctor I'm supposedly setting myself up with. I'm in no pain per se just a little irritation from an eye that's watering quite a bit as well as having a lot of dried something or other. The main part of the whole optometrist visit is to check my diabetes out to see if it's manifesting at some way in my vision. It's kind of strange but I suppose being an adult and going through with the appointment is the right thing to do. Probably won't be for another month or so the way things are going. Luckily I do not have anything that falls under the influence of the government shutdown- - I just will be glad when things get back to some form of normalcy. This shutdown is getting old..

Caregiver cleaners

 I could have done so much more, I probably wouldn't have but you never know, if I didn't have to wait for a person that was going to clean my apartment or help clean my apartment today. She said old friends/caregiver that I feel has great cleaning skills and a good eye for what's clean and what's not. The only issue was that she didn't come when she said she was going to and I basically waited around for her to get here and she didn't come until later in the day. Initially she was going to come over the weekend but that didn't happen she wanted to be rescheduled till today so I said yes but she just couldn't get together in time. She's going through some severe emotional issues that I wish I had better skill sets to work with. She did eventually show up and did some cleaning on the apartment not as much as I would like but enough for me to not worry too much about the apartments condition. I had done some cleaning myself just because I figured any little bit I can do would save me some money in the long run. I know I'm not saving much money and I probably overpaying for what this person provided but I think it was important that she gets some Financial assistance of one sort or another my 30 bucks isn't much but it's possibly some gasoline or possibly other devices that she might be interested in with a tobacco or alcohol or whatever. It's not my place to judge I'm just glad she feels comfortable enough to visit with me about her issues and problems if I can be of any service in any small way I'm pleased to offer that. She just lost another friend as in death. Into her story she says three people in this last year that she is known very closely have been the last people to visit with her before they died- - does that make sense?. She was the last person they visited with before they passed away. This is really bothered her a great deal and I can understand that hopefully she'll get over it. It's been quite a while since she'd been to my apartment to clean and I think the floors and stuff showed it she tried very hard to clean up but there's some parts that need to be soaked if you know what I mean. Perhaps I can keep the apartment as clean as possible until her next visit. Now that she's done the heavy lifting I might be able to soak the floors a little bit to try to get some of the dirt off the floor as well as put some of the things away that's been building up on my table. I really want to see if I can sort of keep the apartment somewhat clean for the next couple weeks at least till I get past Thanksgiving not that anyone's going to come or anything but you never know. I'm not planning a turkey or anything this year I thought about cookie the turkey breast and stuff but why? I put in for a Salt Lake County aging turkey dinner. I seen a couple of the last couple years to look pretty good they're not the very minimize Thanksgiving dinners that they've been in the past. Perhaps I'll make a cake or a pie or something just to celebrate on my own I like pumpkin pie they're a bit of a mess to make but perhaps that's what caregiver house cleaners are all about

On being social

 My son Mark Anthony is in Hawaii this week! It's hard for me to believe that he's traveling as much as he is these days. That means of course there was just Jasmine and Jackson and me for breakfast and that's cool I really love these kids and I think they really go out of the way to make sure that somebody's there for me. I totally appreciate them having breakfast with me on Sunday mornings when they could be sleeping in and doing other things young people do on Sunday mornings. I think without this the kids being consistent with my Sunday morning ritual of breakfast out I would have very little socialization at all and I could be there for in trouble. There was a short article on NPR this morning about folks living and loneliness and how it's more prevalent than ever before as well as other issues of isolationism. I don't think I'm an isolationist for say and I don't think I necessarily lonely but I probably could do with more people to visit with. I wonder if other people use family for this need. I know it's difficult for me to get together if anybody else just because of transportation for one reason. I don't know enough individuals personally, anymore, to get together with them. Even folks here at the apartment complex I should or could be hanging out with more but I don't couple times I've tried but that's never turned into anything long-term. I like to meet people early on and today most of these people don't get up till later in the mornings then go back to sleep for a nap or something. It seems the most times I see them is on that coffee group we have on Thursday mornings- thanks for that because I didn't have that I would have one less group to have coffee with or socialize with and that's becoming less and less as people begin to boycott the coffee social for one reason or another. Fortunately I also have my assist meetings on Tuesday Mornings usually that's got to count to something so I guess I do have a number of options that I'm keeping open as far as my socialization and time with other people go. I don't know if I can increase this or evAgain, it's Saturday night, the end of another week! How quickly this life is going for me or is it just a function of me in my age. Hopefully it's a little bit of both but boy the days are going quickly. I was wondering about that earlier this week and maybe it's because I've been trying to do something everyday or have something planned every day. When I have something planned I'm truly working, not necessarily working hard but working just the same in the day seems to flow quicker to the end so that means the week must flow quicker as well. Today was busy for me. I didn't do a lot as far as work goes or productive stuff goes but I did get over to the coffee group this morning at the coffee shop next door as I try to do every Saturday morning and today was a little bit different. Whereas a lot of folks say hi to me as I come in or if there are I'm already there they wave to me as they come in and sit down at their tables. Today the actually had conversations with me longer than hi hello and how do you do? That made me feel good almost made me feel like my time has been worthwhile sitting at the table by myself week after week almost during someone to come up and say hi and talk to me. Interestingly these people have told me this morning that they see me every week and they say hi sometimes but I got the feeling they wanted to know more. I don't know if they'll invite me into their group or not that would be sort of interesting but it was the most conversation that I've had probably since I started going to the coffee groups coffee shop except for the ones or twice that somebody came with me that I knew already and we sat down and talked for quite a while. Once I'd finished coffee I went back to the apartment and fetched my cell phone because I had forgotten to take the cell phone with me. I wanted to make sure I knew what time the movies would start that I was interested in seeing today. So I looked up the times and I was close enough that I could leave for maybe the first movie which was to start at 10:30. It's frustrated because as I got across the street to catch the bus I had to wait for the light and then I saw the bus coming and I couldn't believe how far away it was to start with and how quickly it came and passed me and then the light turned and I could cross the street. Well I didn't want to wait for the next bus so I put my chair and gear and drove my chair all the way up to the movie house didn't seem that far but it jaggles your body up quite a bit. I went to two movies today the first one was supposedly based on a true story of a black girl who bought an oil well I was given attractive ground back in the old days 160 Acres. It was house she found oil on the land and survived the vicious of men trying to take it from her primarily because she was a girl and primarily because she was black. It was the better of the two movies I went to the second one was kind of stupid I don't quite remember what it was about now I was glad put it was over it was called Bug something a really strange movie. I came home and was glad to get into my apartment where it was warm. It wasn't really cold outside though it was chilly and I had a hood with me to wrap around me to keep me warm but it was nice to get inside it's now fall officially getting close to Winter. The Sun shined brightly but it was cold…

en if I want to. It's like anything else if you're trying to grow something you got to nurture it and nurturing means you've got to commit time as well as interest to that relationship both of which could be somewhat challenging for me. And Sunday night I have a lot of these kind of thoughts because Monday is a new week and I can start a whole new challenge of trying to find somebody to be friendly with to increase my relationships and networks.

Kind of felt bad this morning because following breakfast the kids had expressed some interest in coming over and changing doors are the door decorations that I have now. We had talked about doing this last week I know that but this morning I really wanted to get out and watch a movie that I wanted to watch yesterday but the timing was off and I was going to head out directly after breakfast for a 10:00 showing. So now the kids are going to come over another time hopefully this week and work on the door. I don't know if it's too early to do a Christmas door and it seems like if we do a Thanksgiving door it won't be for very long don't have to do another door for Christmas. It just gets so complicated..

Coffee and two movies

 Again, it's Saturday night, the end of another week! How quickly this life is going for me or is it just a function of me in my age. Hopefully it's a little bit of both but boy the days are going quickly. I was wondering about that earlier this week and maybe it's because I've been trying to do something everyday or have something planned every day. When I have something planned I'm truly working, not necessarily working hard but working just the same in the day seems to flow quicker to the end so that means the week must flow quicker as well. Today was busy for me. I didn't do a lot as far as work goes or productive stuff goes but I did get over to the coffee group this morning at the coffee shop next door as I try to do every Saturday morning and today was a little bit different. Whereas a lot of folks say hi to me as I come in or if there are I'm already there they wave to me as they come in and sit down at their tables. Today the actually had conversations with me longer than hi hello and how do you do? That made me feel good almost made me feel like my time has been worthwhile sitting at the table by myself week after week almost during someone to come up and say hi and talk to me. Interestingly these people have told me this morning that they see me every week and they say hi sometimes but I got the feeling they wanted to know more. I don't know if they'll invite me into their group or not that would be sort of interesting but it was the most conversation that I've had probably since I started going to the coffee groups coffee shop except for the ones or twice that somebody came with me that I knew already and we sat down and talked for quite a while. Once I'd finished coffee I went back to the apartment and fetched my cell phone because I had forgotten to take the cell phone with me. I wanted to make sure I knew what time the movies would start that I was interested in seeing today. So I looked up the times and I was close enough that I could leave for maybe the first movie which was the start at 10:30. It's frustrated because as I got across the street to catch the bus I had to wait for the light and then I saw the bus coming and I couldn't believe how far away it was to start with and how quickly it came and passed me and then the light turned and I could cross the street. Well I didn't want to wait for the next bus so I put my chair and gear and drove my chair all the way up to the movie house didn't seem that far but it jaggles your body up quite a bit. I went to two movies today the first one was supposedly based on a true story of a black girl who bought an oil well I was given attractive ground back in the old days 160 Acres. It was house she found oil on the land and survived the vicious of men trying to take it from her primarily because she was a girl and primarily because she was black. It was the better of the two movies I went to the second one was kind of stupid I don't quite remember what it was about now I was glad put it was over it was called Bug something a really strange movie. I came home and was glad to get into my apartment where it was warm. It wasn't really cold outside though it was chilly and I had a hood with me to wrap around me to keep me warm but it was nice to get inside it's now fall officially getting close to Winter. The Sun shined brightly but it was cold…