I was not feeling well yesterday, so I passed on writing the Friday blog on Friday. I was sitting in Susie’s room in the afternoon; on Fridays and Mondays, work-from-home days, I try to work from Susie’s room to keep her company. I was stricken with some of the worst nausea I have felt and nearly threw up in her bathroom. Susie was greatly concerned; I recovered in about thirty minutes without any spillage. I then headed home in Air Volvo, stopping at McDonald’s for some fried and a shake. I added chicken nuggets. The other food helped. I think I had constipation as I had the other end quite active when I returned directly to the Volvo Cave. I rested and slept for a bit. I was back up at 5ish without nausea. Better.
Going backward, I went to bed early after reading a bit. Before that, I sat in the kitchen, after packing the lasagna I made into one serving-sized slices, and watched music videos to relax. I also got everything into the dishwasher while watching mostly old-school rock videos.
Favorites: Candyman and Neutron Dance.
As suggested, I got up and made a lasagna. I used no-boil lasagna pasta. I flow the recipe on the box, except I add chopped fresh parsley and chopped olives to the ricotta cheese and some generic Italian spices. I used Ragu’s chunky pasta sauce from a jar. I make my layers too thick and so have pasta left over. It baked for 30 minutes, and I had a few pieces. I did this while watching Nova’s newest show: Hidden Volvano Abyss. It covered the terrible, the largest explosion ever recorded, Togo volcano blast. It appears to be a steam explosion from seawater pouring into the magma chamber; yikes! The deadly tsunami, twice the size of the one that hit Japan, was likely caused by the collapse of the same chamber. The show ends with the scientists exploring another (!) volcano in the area that now, with closer examination, is quite active.
Moving our narrative to just before lunch, I was working from home on Friday (currently, Nike WHQ Covid work plan is in the office Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday) and made a fateful lunch of two reheated bratwursts and the remains of the potato chips and a pickle slice. I was fine after eating this and watching a few videos on board games.
My street was more of a challenge. The sewer folks were opening the road as my neighbor had sewer backing into her house again. She had paid a pile of money (over $20,000) to have the sewer line replaced, and her yard still looks like a war zone. It took all morning, but the sewer folks replaced the connection at the street, but the new expensive sewer line was improperly installed and would need to be redone. Very sad.
One of the guys working, who was very angry with the contractor, told me that this area was horses and farms when he grew up. He comes from one of the pioneer families who initially farmed in this area. I could see in his eyes that when he looked at the site, he saw two things, what was here, but over it was a hazy image of an idyllic farm long lost to housing and strip malls. I told him we still have the original apple trees from the farm, and that got a smile.
Before all this, I slept into 7ish and then made a bagel, an NYC bagel, for breakfast and liberal coffee. After that, I started with our group’s weekly meeting. After that, I skipped the status meeting and instead read emails, followed along on Slack channels, and read the news to be caught up with the day. I was out on PTO yesterday, so there was a lot to consume today.
A quick check of Quicken appears I have enough money to make Susie’s costs for the year. I must avoid any trips or house repairs this year to make it work. With the nearly 30% increase in restaurants, I have reduced my eating out. I often make a sandwich and then hit a tap house for a beer while writing instead. I have $30,000 in liquid assets I can use for an emergency. I have three times in less liquid assets, which would be a tax headache if I had to use it. Retirement money is somewhat available but is a procedural and tax headache, but it is there too. So I am safe covering all known expenses. My 401K is now 80% in stable value as I cannot afford a sudden loss and can accept the loss of good returns (already at 6% for the year before the rebalancing to remove most event risk).
Well, that is about it. Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 