Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 2016 version

If you’re in the great Pacific NorthWET (especially since it’s raining right now), 2016 has about 6 hours left (as of when this post is being written). It’s been a strange trip this past year, but aren’t all the years strange trips of late?

In no particular order or signifincance (these are just popping in my head as I write them)…

• Mom went to the Great Beyond. This was probably the most significant event this year, and I’m still adjusting.
• I only bought 2 pairs of shoes this year.
• Rialto Jewelers at the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila are really good at resizing watches (yes, I was\still am friends with them previously, but still they know their stuff.
• In all my years as a diabetic, my blood sugar has gotten low on a couple of occaision. Usually, I have some sugar nearby, and it’s taken care of right away. There have been a couple of occaisons where I’ve almost become incoherent. Then there was the time on Christmas eve where I passed out…
• I finally named a beneficiary to the my life insurance policy that I have through work: my brother. I also added an accidental death policy. Along with the admonition to make it look like an accident…
• My TV died, so I got a replacement. And 1 week later, promptly got another replacement (let’s just say that it’s hard to go from a 55” to a 32” set…)
• I got another printer. Parents couldn’t figure out how to put ink in Mom’s printer, so she bought another one, and gave me her printer. Less than an hour later, I had ink ordered. And I spent more on ink than she did on the original printer (and this is a wi-fi capable multi-function printer).
• The power went out. Twice. Not bad.
• Bought a bunch of useless crap, mainly from Amazon.
• I still have the same phone.
• And the same computer, though the video card gave up the ghost.

I’m not setting any resolutions this year. That’s just setting oneself up for failure. If I see an opportunity to improve, I’ll take it. You don’t need a special holiday to turn over a new leaf…

So now, 2016 now has 5 1/2 hours left. I’m home for the night, the shoes are off, and I wish you a Happy New Year. And if you drink, don’t drive…

An end to the vacation

My vacatio ends today. Tomorrow, I return to work. Basically, all I did during my vacation was absolutely nothing. Sure, I did my Christmas shopping on Friday, and celebrated Christmas Saturday and Sunday (as I previously posted about). But the rest of the week, I did nothing. Just vegged out and ate Christmas leftovers. I watched college football. I was going out to visit some friends, but I decided that this week will be recovery time.

Btw, I did work on my computer. Started wiping the drive Friday, and I finished reinstalling everything this morning.

Holiday wishes were sent (and recieved). But the time has come to think about going back to work….

Merry Christmas, blah, blah, blah….

Another Christmas is upon us, and has almost passed. Again, there were two family reunions for me to go to. The first one, I missed for all intents and purposes. I was in my Grandma’s living room, having just watched the Seahawks game. It was probably about 5 o’clock or so. The next thing I remember is like a dream. I was dreaming that my father and my brother were trying to get me to check my blood sugar. What had really happened was that I had a hypoglycemic episode and had passed out on the couch, and they were trying to bring me aroud. The m&m’s my father provided were what brought me around. So, I made it to the first Bryant Family reunion, and after my second cup of apple juice, I was coherent enough to chech my blood sugar, which was still low. I think what happened was the change in venue. Grandma’s house is too small for the family reunion, so they rented a Grange Hall. And that was where all the food was. Basically, I was a combination of too high of an insulin dose at breakfast, too long without eating, and not having a source of candy nearby. Lesson learned: I will always have candy within arms’ reach.

But I made it to the Grange Hall. And I felt fine after the third glass of apple juice. I missed the church service and dinner, but made it for the gift exchange. We drew lots this year, and I was the very last lot. This being done in white elephant style, you could either choose a present, or you could steal another relative’s present, and make them choose another. Since I had the very last lot, I could either steal any other cousin’s gift, or open the last one under the tree. Upon consultation with my brother (who is the cook in the apartment), I stole the crockpot that another cousin got. And having been on the recieving end of one too many ‘gag’ presents in years past, I decided this year to give one: a USB pet rock. I also threw in a gift card to a national retail chain, too.

So, fast forward to today. This was the family Christmas celebration. I made sure that I wasn’t going to pass out at this one. There was food. Lots of it. And it was good. And I brough leftovers home. When it came to the gift exchange, some nephews/nieces got gift cards to Target, some to Worst Buy. And my brother, I got him a talking plush Dalek. And the DVD set of I, Claudius (we had both taken the same humanities class in high school, where Mr. Tarry had shown it). I gave Grandma a couple of gift cards, one to Subway and one to Jack in the Box. My Father got a gift card to The Home Depot. And also there’s the present I gave to the owners of the Mrs. Fields I used to work at: I’m taking February 13th and 14th off to work at Mrs. Fields so they can go enjoy Valentine’s Day as a couple.

Some of the stull I got today:

• Know what, I’m not going to list it this year. It is better to give than to recieve….

Merry, Christmas, Happy Hannukuh, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, Happy Solstice, Hapy New Year, or Happy Whatever Day You Choose to Celebrate…

On a little road trip.

It's Christmas Eve. Which means I'm on the bus, headed out to Grandma's. This year, I have a full week off (I'm actually on day 2). And I'm heading up way too early, so I can service a laptop and hopefully get that up and running as a favor to my father.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanakkuh, Happy Festivus, or Happy Solstice. Or failing that, the 'Hawks are playing at the CLink this afternoon, and reminding everyone why you shouldn't wear a mitre on the football field...

Gosh darn it!

Went to turn on the computer this morning and my usb 3.0 hub had gone on to The Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory last night. No Problem. I just went to Spamazon, and ordered a new one. Yes, there were cheaper ones available, but I’ve also found that on Amazon, you generally get what you pay for, and if you get cheap merchandise now, you’ll end up replacing it. Soon. And to be honest, I’ve never had an issue with the Amazon house brand. And I’ve never really had an issue with house brands in general. The Home Depot has Husky, Worst Buy has Insignia, and Spamazon has Amazon Basics. All really good. And not expensive….

Blown out yesterday….

The Seahawks were blown out yesterday. 38-10. But they’re still atop the NFC West. And in fact they’re the only team with a winning record right now. But the Sounders FC won it all Saturday night (on the road even), so I don’t mind this loss that much…

Anyway, my weekend has come to an end, and so I must retire for the night.

They won it all last night

The Sounders FC won the MLS Cup last night. In every year that they've played in the MLS, they've at least gotten into the post-season. They've won The Supporters' Shield (which in European Leagues is how the Champion is determined) in the past and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on numerous occasions. It's time they won it all...

All this for a spell-checker…

Wiped the tower this past weekend (which is why there no posts Sunday or Monday). I had overcome all my previous issues with Windows 8.1, and in fact I was looking forward to using as my daily driver. Got all my drivers installed. Then it came time to do the in place upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro. No go. So, I go to Windows Update, and it would download or install updates. After al whole day of this, I wipe the tower again and start over. This time I can upgrade to Pro, and then I start updating. And eventually I end up with it not being able to update. Again. So, Monday night, I said screw this, and I pulled out my Windows 10 thumb drive. I didn’t even have to enter my Windows 8.1 pro key to upgrade this time (the secret, I’ve found out, is to let all the marketplace apps, including the store app to update themselves, then it’ll upgrade you to Pro).

I guess Windows 10 is what I’m meant to run now. Not that it’s a bad system. In fact, it’s a really good system. Oh well. At least I still have a computer….

Made an exception to the rule today…

Normally, I call out for weather only when it’s cold. Like in the teens or lower. I tried to make arrangements previously to come in an hour later, and avoid most of the walking, but it was still recorded as a tardy occurrence, so I’m either on time, or not at all. Anyway, I said I had made an occurrence to my rule last night. I saw that the forecast was in the lower 20s last night. So I went ahead and called out. I had been saving my last eight hours of sick time for instances like this, and I felt that this was the time to use it.

Yes, there is a difference between getting up at 8 in the morning vs. getting up at 1:30…

The only drawback is that the next cold snap I’m going to have to tough it out and walk it in…