I suppose I have a lot to update. Obviously I failed NoJoMo with a resounding thud, once I missed one day I just didn’t bother with it any more. I had a lot going on during November, I was finishing up a set of decal artwork for my partner to send off to be screen printed, I attended a model car show in Atlanta with two of my friends, and we took a vacation to Myrtle Beach. I also had an unfortunate experience, the friend I wrote about who had suffered the stroke suffered a fatal heart attack on Thanksgiving evening. I had just returned from the vacation the day before, I drove to be with his family for the visitation on Saturday evening and the funeral on Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. It came as a huge shock to everyone when he passed away,
We were in Myrtle Beach from the Sunday before Thanksgiving until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had a room with a balcony overlooking the beach, I could open the sliding doors and hear the waves rushing onto the shore. It was 75°F during the day and approximately 60°F at night and there was a full moon reflecting off the ocean in the evenings. I don’t think I could have enjoyed the vacation any more than I did. I drove home on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I had removed the turkey breast from the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw while we were away so I prepared the turkey on Wednesday night, baked a pumpkin and an apple pie, then put the turkey in the oven to bake. I was up until 2:00 am when they turkey came out of the oven, it was cooked to perfection. Stepson had called us that day and postponed our Thanksgiving dinner until Friday so Thursday was a day for sleeping late and relaxing. I woke up Friday morning with a splitting headache so I went back to bed until almost noon. When I got up I took my blood pressure and it was higher than I’ve ever seen it. Something like 160/130, with no stress or food factors to account for it being so high. I made a note to call the doctor on Monday to make another appointment to follow up and try a different medication.
After Thanksgiving I only worked for three and a half days before I had to drive 5 hours to Oak Ridge, TN to perform some testing with a scientist from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was miserably cold for the entire time I was there, I even had to drive through ice and snow that weekend when I ventured north to visit a friend. The company I work for gave me the use of one of the company Yukon XLs they have, it’s a very nice vehicle but the fuel economy was nothing to write home about (18.5 MPG on the highway, give or take .5 MPG depending on conditions) and when I was driving in the ice and snow I was terrified I would scratch it or slide off into a ditch with it since I wasn’t really familiar with driving it. I managed to bring it home as pristine as I had found it but the pucker factor was too high for my taste. While I was at Oak Ridge I alternated between being at their outdoor firing range and being in the office. The days I had to be on the firing range I had to report there at 6:30am and the warmest day was 22°F, the coldest was 11°F. I had purchased two pair of long wool underwear, four pair of thick wool socks, and I had my heavy coat and gloves with me. I was still cold.
The testing ended early on Friday, the 10th of December due to some problems with the equipment so I headed back home for the first time in nine days. I had planned to return home that day anyway, I just got an earlier start than I had planned. Our company’s Christmas party was that night so I drove five hours, went in to work for another two hours, came home, unpacked the truck, showered, then got dressed for the Christmas party. I suppose it was worth it, I won a door prize. A new pistol, a FNP-9 USG.
On the following Sunday we went to see the Harry Potter movie in the theater, I enjoyed it. I thought it was better than the last two in the series and it was almost as good as the first two. When we left the theater it had turned bitterly cold and was raining, that weather defined most of this past week. It finally warmed up a bit yesterday, it had started near freezing but had warmed up to 65°F by sunset. I stopped by the store to pick up some things to cook for the office Christmas feast that was planned for today, I made two batches of yeast rolls and a pot of buffalo-turkey chili for the feast. We’ve all been grazing all day, I’ll definitely pass on dinner tonight!
*Last-minute good news!*
The Engineering Manager just stopped by my cubicle and handed me an envelope with my Christmas bonus inside! I’m definitely doing the Happy Dance, I wasn’t sure if we would receive anything this year due to the economy and business being a little slow this year. I’m very thankful for it.
I'm sure I'll think of something later that I should have written about. I can always write more later. |
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