THE PLAY THAT WASN'T

 My friend S and I were supposed to watch an online matinee play today.  We were all up and ready.  We both logged on and bunk. The link didn't work.  No play played.  I called the place and no one was answering the box office number during their posted business hours.  I left an email and a voicemail.  We had no matinee. It was very disappointing.  We ended up catching up instead.

I watched a movie instead of the play.  I watched The Hurricane Heist.  It was action packed and kept my attention.  It seems a bit far fetched.

Poor little Lucky has an upset stomach and has not eaten today. She is a miserable little girl. Crying and whining.  I am sure she will be fine.  She gets this once in a while.

Until tomorrow...

TODAY WAS A REMOTE DAY (BUT NOT HOW YOU THINK)

 Yesterday I installed my new Roku in my master bedroom.  I was so excited to have a newer Roku to view TV and movies.  I go to watch TV last night and the cable remote won't work. Every time I push a button, any button, the TV turns to the Roku station.  I tried everything.  I finally figured out that if I turned the TV off and changed the station on the cable remote and then turned the TV back on, it worked but I could not use the cable remote while the TV was on.  I knew this was not going to last long with me.  I hate when things do not work the way they are supposed to and not being able to change channels will drive me crazy.

Today I spent time figuring it out.  First I reprogrammed the remote and that didn't work.  I went to my downstairs junk drawer and found three more remotes for the cable (they give you new remotes all the time) and I got the same result with all three of them.  Then I went to The Google.  Seems that others have had the same problem.  There is a thing that needs to be switched off on Roku to allow other remotes to work.  Once I figured this out, turned the switch off and reprogrammed one of the cable remotes, I was back in business.  All is once again well in the cable/Roku world.  

I also found the missing remote for my TV in my office.  Okay, someone put it in the junk drawer in the downstairs.  It may have been me, it may have been someone else thinking they were funny.  I may have hidden it from my foster kid since he was stealing the remotes thinking it was a laugh a minute.  Who knows?  I am just happy to find it but wish I found it before I bought another remote.  To be honest I looked in that drawer but it was squished in the back under some stuff and it pure luck that I found it at all.

Tonight I went to a virtual fundraiser for Trans Lifeline.  I got to do a fireside chat with Randy Rainbow.  I am sure you have either seen his videos or heard about them.   It was a fun way to spend an early Friday evening.

Until tomorrow...

ROKU INSTALL

 I set up my new Roku in my bedroom. Why do I have a new Roku? Because the a Roku in my exercise area is so old I no longer get some of the channels so I decided it was time to get a new Roku. I put the new Roku in my bedroom and took that older Roku and put it out in my exercise area. That TV is so old that I had to get some gizmo to convert the Roku. It took 1.5 hours to install both Rokus and then log into each channel on the new a Roku.  It was my big chore of the day.

Keeping up with all the upgrades and changes with gadgets can be exhausting and expensive. Remember the old days when you bought something and it lasted forever because you didn’t have to update it and it never became useless because it no longer could update.  Kind of like the old TV in the garage. 

Until tomorrow...

BACK TO WORK

 Today I had a meeting with my client and we agreed that I will begin work again at a reduced schedule.  It is a good result.  It will leave me time to work with other clients when I get them and do the tasks I have been working on.  

I called the vet about Lucky today.  I have been concerned about how much Lucky has been drinking and peeing in the evening.  I have to take her out about every half hour in the evenings and early night.  He agreed with me that I can decrease her predilsone and continue giving it to her in the morning instead of at night.  I will do this on a 3 week trial and see how she is feeling.  I will also wait on giving her the doxycycline again for her stuffy nose until this trial.  Hopefully she tolerates this change well and stops peeing so much.  He said the steroids can also cause a stuffy nose.  

The dog walker cut Lucky's nails today. Well, most of her nails.  She didn't like getting her back feet nails cut.  He said he would try it again on Friday.  He said she didn't try and bite him until the back feet.  She may have had enough for the day.  They look great.  

Yesterday I played with my VR Glasses.  It took me a while to figure it all out and get the right settings.  Once I did, it was amazing.  I was in a mosque with a bunch of hotels.  The decor was amazing.  I "walked" around the whole compound.  I can't wait to see other places and things.  It was a fun investment.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 12 NO WORK

 Today is my last day of my furlough.  Tomorrow I have a work meeting to discuss my work moving forward.  I expect my hours have been cut back dramatically. 

Today was not a productive day. I’m preparing myself for tomorrow’s meeting. 

Remember last week my air purifier showed up? The original air purifier never showed up after more than 20 days. The order was cancelled because it was deemed the order was lost in the system since it was never shipped. I was sent another air purifier and it arrived in three days.  Today the original air purifier showed up (I thought it was something else I ordered that was supposed to come today) out of the blue. Since it was cancelled in the system, it doesn’t exist. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY 11 NO WORK

 I cooked some vegan Potato and Green Bean Curry tonight.  It didn't go as planned.  I am not sure what went wrong. Maybe I missed a direction.  Maybe it was the phone call during the cooking.  Maybe I just messed up.  I don't know.  All I know is that I have more of a Potato and Green Bean Curry soup than an actual curry.  It tastes great.  It just isn't thick.  I need to make the directions clearer.

I did some tasks today.  Ordered dog food, paid bills, made a list of tasks to do and made a list of things to do for fun.

I think I forgot to say that my air purifier arrived last week.  It is working so well.  I run it for hours at night and I am waking up with a clear nose. Also there is less smoke smell downstairs which is a door that gets opened a lot because of the dog.

I also bought (and it arrived today) a female urination device.  I never knew one existed but I hear they are all the rage since many public bathrooms are closed.  I hear fast food restaurants and gas stations do not have their bathrooms open.  With this device, women can pee standing up and don't need a bathroom.  I figure it will come in handy in the future for long drives.

Until tomorrow...

ANNIVERSARY PARTY

 Today was a hard day.  I think it was the hardest day since the lock down. Okay, I am wrong about this.  Losing Happi was the hardest time.  Since losing Happi today was the hardest day.  I am not sure why.  I woke up and I had nothing planned for the first time in seven months.  Nothing on the calendar and nothing mentally planned.  I woke up and it was hard.  I didn't receive my invite for the Sunday friends invite so I thought it was not happening.  1/2 hour after the start I got a text saying the invite didn't go out by accident and it was starting now.  I hopped on the zoom and talked to everyone for a while.  

I spoke to a few friends and family members and then I took a long bath.  That put me in a better place.  I watched an older movie Anniversary Party.  It was an odd movie about a couple at their anniversary party and all the things that went wrong (and right?) at the party.  The party was a mess.  

That was my Sunday.

Until tomorrow...

PUN OFF, PREAKNESS AND HSB

 I had a busy day.  Probably my busiest day in a while.  I took it easy in the morning to get ready for the day.  I made Vegan Jambalaya for this week.  I researched and I freeze some of it if I need/want to.  I had some for lunch and dinner it was so good.  It is a bit like my Vegan Paella but different with different ingredients.  I don't know if there will be any to freeze because it is so good.  It is not spicy and it has beans instead of sausage and seafood.  I just ate it down.

Then I started watching Hardly Strictly Bluegrass which was online this year.  I decided to not wear my T-shirt since no one will see it.  I will wear it tomorrow when my friends will see it.  The concert was not like a real concert online but it had talking and singing and reminiscing and songs sung by multiple people at the same time.  I had it one for hours while I was doing other things. Chrome Cast is wonderful for this.  I popped it up on the TV and did other things rather than having my laptop on my lap.  

Then at the appropriate time I tuned into the Preakness Stakes and watched those few minutes.  My first pick did not finish in the top three but my second and third picks came in second and third.  I picked Thousand Words, Authentic and Jesus' Team.  If I had paid more attention that Swiss Skydiver  (a filly) was racing I would have wanted her to win.  I wanted a filly to win for years. There has not been a filly to win the Preakness since 2009.  The winner was Swiss Skydiver, second Authentic and third Jesus' Team.  It was a good race. 

Then back to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass until the end and much needed break for dinner and feeding the dog.  Then on to a Pun-Off. My friend S wanted to go and I said I would give it a try.  I never saw a pun-off before and it was interesting.  I can't say I was riveted but it was an interesting experience. I wonder how much being on zoom hindered the pun-off?  It was awful slow at times and many of the "puns" I didn't get.  Maybe I don't really get what a pun is.  My foster son asked me what a pun was a few minutes before the pun-off and I could not answer him. I am not sure I still can.  I better come up with something before tomorrow when he asks me.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 10 NO WORK

 As well as other things, today I participated in an art class put on by the library and local nonprofit.  It is getting closer to the Day of the Dead so a lot of Latinx stuff going on.  We made a Mola de Panama.  A mola is a hand-made textile that forms part of the traditional women's clothing of the Kuna people from Panama, Central America.  Molas are hand-made using a reverse appliqué technique. Several layers (usually two to seven) of different-colored cloth (usually cotton) are sewn together; the design is then formed by cutting away parts of each layer. The edges of the layers are then turned under and sewn down. Often, the stitches are nearly invisible. This is achieved by using a thread the same color as the layer being sewn, sewing blind stitches, and sewing tiny stitches. The finest molas have extremely fine stitching, made using tiny needles. 

The teacher of the class had us make a mola with construction paper, scissors, and glue stick.  A little low tech.  It was fun to make another different piece of art that I never heard of before.  Here is my creation:

The teacher's mola had a butterfly but I am not great at drawing butterflies so I went with a flower instead.  I made the suns like she had.  I am pretty happy with what I made.  It still looks like my art is from a 13 year old.  This kind of art is not where I excel. I excel in other types of art.  But as I get older I learned to not care what other people think and go, learn how to do it and do it anyway.  Do it my way.  I had fun and that is all that matters.  I am proud of my attempts at art.

Until tomorrow...

 

DAY 9 NO WORK

 Today was another productive day.  I found a missing screw for my fan. The screw fell out some time ago and it held the stand together. Each time I wanted to move the fan I had to hold the stand with two hands. It was quite annoying. Now the stand it held together.

The smoke is back and it is bad.  Today was a red day.  There was no going outside or opening windows.  I wore a mask when I took Lucky out to pee.  It was hazy and nasty.  It will be this way for a long time.  There are about 5 fires burning in the greater area.  In one place the fire is reburning in areas it burned earlier this year.  The fireman said the fire will find the small spots where it didn't burn and burn them this time.  I never heard of that.  

I put a reminder on my phone for the fruit and veggie box lock box.  I forgot to put the lock box out last night. There was some other stuff going on with my foster kid and I got distracted.  I was lucky the fruit and veggie box was on my steps this morning.  The company called to check on me to find out why I didn't put the lock box on the gate.  I guess if anything happens to me the fruit and veggie people will be the first to know.  Checking up on me!  So sweet! 

I contacted a magazine (yes, a magazine) company about the magazine that I paid for months ago but I never got to figure out what happened.  They replied and we are trying to work it out.

I received my t-shirt for an online blues concert I am going to watch next weekend.  The t-shirt is raising money for the roadies.

I road 4.13 miles on the treadmill.  I am doing Program 1 which has lots of hills.  It will take me a few weeks to get that down.  I can't keep the pace yet.

I cleaned up the kitchen and then made some fast dinner.

Until tomorrow...