When It Rains, It Pours

Labor Day weekend has come and gone. With it, my birthday showed up. Saturday night, we did a family dinner out for my bday at one of our favorites, a place called the Black Bear Diner. My birthday, being Sunday, the Wife and boys went to church, and I went up to the pub to hang out for awhile. An hour or so after being there, I found out some movie company was there shooting some scenes for some mafia boss-type movie. No one well-known was going to be there, but supposedly the movie stars Nicholas Cage and Mila Kunis. I guess the scenes they were shooting that day were more about the bad guy and some bar scene. I watched a couple of them. One guy, I'm guessing the one in charge of extras, heard it was my birthday, and if I stayed long enough, he would get me in a scene "close to the action" as an extra, but it didn't work out. I waited for him to get me, but he never did. On their way out he sort of apologized, saying he hadn't realized til some of the regular guys were there, that I was a bit bigger than they, and would appear more intimidating than they were. Great.

Either way I still had a fun time. The Wife and I went to dinner at Black Angus, a little more expensive steak place for those that don't know of them. Good birthday. Monday, Reverend Mother came by with some cookies, leftover home made potato salad and some 'white girl' salsa Sis had made. And some cassette tapes she had at home she thought I could listen to in my truck, since I griped about the radio last time. Then the AC at the house went out.

Tuesday I got AC repair to the house, supposedly fixed it. Some board had some scorch marks on it but covered under warranty (yea!) but when the Wife got home last night, it still isn't working. She and the boys stayed over at the MIL's, I stayed home as I had to rise early and get to work. No idea when we can get the AC repair back here as they want access to the thermostat inside, but with our schedules, we may have to wait until the weekend.

This morning, already frustrated with some work issues from Monday, the AC not working, a night sleeping in warm house (it is 7am, and only 91 now, but was up 98 last night at like 9pm), I got up early and headed to my truck. There is a nice large puddle of coolant underneath. The garage my shop uses is in East Mesa, in other words, across the valley (about 35 miles one way) so no way am I able to drive it there with this issue. The garage doesn't open until 7:30 (it was about 6:20 at this point). I called my boss, gave him the heads up. He has the number for the owner of the garage, and within a few minutes, both of them calling me, we got a tow set up.

Tow company calls. They are based in East Mesa, and with morning rush hour, it will take them 1-2 hours to get here (which is about right - takes me about 50 minutes to go to the garage prior to morning rush when I take it in for maintenance. Then I am to ride with them to the garage to pick up a company loaner van (we keep a couple there for this situation with out tech fleet). That will be at least another hour. Then I can got to work (about 15 mins from the garage). I might make it in by 10:30, when I started the day planning to be there at 7:30. In the meantime, I get to sit here in this warm house, waiting for the tow, prattling on about how frustrated I am with all the problems happening to me right now.

At least I have cookies .... for breakfast.

Lunch on Thursday morning with Preacher Tom ... unless more bad stuff happens.

Thanks for reading my rant.

PeacE

Breakfast Places

Preacher Tom and I have been meeting up for breakfast for a few years now. Not every day, or even every week, but at least I'd say about once a month. Today is one of those days. He had texted me yesterday about it, and I had to verify if I needed to attend a tech meeting this morning at work (I don't). I responded later int he afternoon that I was free, and to let me know where we were eating. I hate having to choose the place sometimes. We have a handful of places we have eaten at, none really better than the other, in food or prices.Each seems to have some sort of dish one of us likes, that the other places don't. Or we might have a coupon for one sometimes.

So I was sitting here this morning, trying to think of someplace we have not tried yet, that isn't too far out of our way, that we would both be interested in. I haven't come up with anything in particular I can think of. I suppose I would have to invest some time wither talking to friends for suggestions, or looking up online places that do breakfast.

This place picked for this morning is Denny's. Nothing fancy. Though, the one we are going to is not the closest to our homes. For some reason, PT and RM like one that is just a few blocks further away. We seem to have several in a 5-mile radius of my house to choose from. Denny's isn't bad, I think we just sort of get bored with it all the time. Maybe not bored. Maybe more like just feeling like it is the same, as being a chain restaurant, it doesn't change much. I don't know. For breakfast, it is as good as any other place.

Of course, the best breakfasts are the ones that moms make ... maybe RM should take a day off and cook us all breakfast! (Just kidding RM!!)

PeacE

Some Random Stuff

Just got back a bit ago from having breakfast with Preacher Tom this morning. He needed to drop his car off at the shop to have something done, I don't know what, and had asked me to pick him up. PT threw in breakfast, so we went to Denny's as it was fairly close. I am stuffed right now. I had just the Santa Fe skillet, ate it all, and I should have stopped about 2/3 of the way through it. Lunch will be skipped today, and maybe a light snack about 3'ish, before I head out for the pool league tonight. Within the next hour I will be running PT back to the shop, then am headed out to get a haircut.

Still looking for work, and waiting for any of the previous apps I have done to contact me. Nothing as of yet. Last night I got another possible job lead that sounds good, but it won't be available for about a month. I am hoping to get an early start on it, as it is through a company one of my friends work for. Be a fairly nice job, and would leave evenings and Sundays free, and only a few hours on Saturdays.

The Reverend Mother is excited today. Her office is doing a big contest in regards to better health and weight-loss. This is about week 7 or 8, and is 14-weeks long. There is a cash payout for 1st-3rd of those that lose the most per BMI (Body Mass Index) rather than actual just pounds off. It's not my place to share how much she has lost, but PT was telling me this morning, as of last week, she was in 2nd place, which has a few hundred dollars payout if she makes that (or better) at the end. At breakfast she texted she had dropped a bit more after the weigh-in today. PT mentioned he has lost a few, too.

I haven't weighed myself this week as of yet. My weekly bet with my buddy is off this week, as he is out of town on vacation. We will resume next week, so I need to get my butt working out to lose some pounds. Last week I dropped back to the all-time lowest I had held a couple weeks before. Which is close to the goal I had set for last year's end. I feel a bit like I have plateaued, but know it is just a matter of pushing a bit more on the workouts and eating less/eating healthier.

I know I am not sharing everything with you, just the boring stuff. But sometimes, I sit here and sigh, thinking about everything going on that needs to get done. Then I wonder how am I supposed to make it all happen. One thing at a time....

PeacE

I Ain't Part of the Walking Dead

The results so far were pretty good from my doctor appointment yesterday. My weight was down (though not where I wanted it), blood pressure was down, everything else was going good. Did a blood draw to have my HDL, cholesterol, and sugar counts down, but Doc said he expected them to be closer to the better range(s). Will find out probably the first of next week.

I'm drawing a blank. Just a few moments ago, I had plenty to write down today, and now it eludes me.

I watched 'Atlas Shrugged Part 1 yesterday. I am hoping they are working on a part 2 at this time. It seemed to be pretty well put together, and from what I recall from reading the book, followed the story line well. 

Breakfast with Preacher Tom this morning. Not sure where we are going yet, but my stomach keeps telling me it is ready. 

PeacE