Day 119: Thursday

I woke just before my alarm, and I woke a few times. I was not ready for it to be 6:30. I sat up in bed until the alarm went off, put on my slippers, and found my way to the office. I logged into Nike and my Apple computer. I read the emails and Slack messages and looked at the news. Trump, again, entertained the press.

I padded to the kitchen and made liberal coffee in my French press and a NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce). I made breakfast after emptying the dishwasher of a few dishes (I ran a small load last night) and then loaded the few dishes into the machine. I quickly washed a pan and sharp knife, which I dried and put away. I have been removing the mess in the house here and there, and I now have counter space again in the kitchen. It looks empty and strange, but I will happily get used to it.

I eat the bagel and get half a cup of coffee. It is an extra-large coffee cup that Mariah gave me to celebrate the Deathstar. She thinks I am a dark defender, which is likely more true than I would like to admit.

Soon, before the coffee is done, I am out of time. I clean up and dress. I collect my Nike laptop, two phones, and other items. My pants are now falling off all the time. I am still 252 pounds, but my shape seems to have changed, so my pants fall off. I would be much more pleased to reduce my weight below 245, which means I am going up to increase my steps; I am just getting 3,000 a day. Maybe this weekend.

I spoke to many friends from Nike who are here to work on the next go-live, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA in Nike speak) go-live. They are from the office in Holland or the Laakdal warehouse. I have just a few meetings, all Zoom.

I had lunch at the cafe, and I had the red curry chicken on rice from the pop-up chef. It was excellent. I read alone at lunch, I was grumbling after a meeting, and I was bad company. A few friends did wave.

I returned to the office to learn I had a huge box delivered to the house. Nothing I expected. I then got a call from my sister, who said she heard about my birthday present from her family and Mom Wild. Rain was coming, so off to the house for the rest of the day.

It is a heated massage chair for my 60th birthday. I’m also getting surgery, so it might be an excellent recovery item. Finally, Linda is taking over the bedroom when she is here, and the chair might work for Corwin, too, when he sleeps in the living room. It’s all good. Thanks!

While I waited for Corwin to help put the chair in the house, I ran my few laundry items in the new LG machine. It worked flawlessly, and the items were ready early in the dry cycle. I logged into my accounts, printed out the beneficiaries, and put that in my “I’m Dead Now What” book. It is best to be ready. I also transferred the money for the stock purchase program that I sold. This will cover the new appliances and my trip to Michigan. I did the last meetings while I was cooking dinner. I defrosted some ground beef and then browned it in a pan. I heated sauce from a jar while I did that. I made the little ear pasta, orecchiette, from a box, which is my favorite. I added the hot sauce to the cooked beef and let it heat up with the meat. I drained the pasta and retained 2/3 cup of the hot water that I added to the sauce as I poured over the drained pasta. I made a salad from a bag and added cheese, croutons, and unsalted roasted sunflower seeds (not the shells).

I ate this after the last meeting was completed. I must admit I might have had more than one bowl. It was a bit plain. Corwin had some; after it cooled, I locked what was left into a glass container (thanks, Glenda) with a tight lid. I suspect it will be better reheated. I then did the dishes again, unloading the ones I did this morning and adding new dirty items. I then ran that.

I put out all the containers. I am unsure if it is yard waste or recycling this week; both are full. I put them all out. I carried out more recycling later. It was just starting to mist, and later, it became rain. The sunny days ended today. The cold, clear desert nights and cloudless cold days will begin again on my birthday, Tuesday, sixty years.

At 7, I had another Zoom meeting, this Theology Pub meeting, and a church meeting. I had suggested the topic of God’s Will. We talked about the Catholic Church’s recent declaration that gender fluidity is against God’s will. We talked about AI and whether that, too, is an affront to God’s will. We were very unclear on how humankind can define what is and what is not God’s will and were uncomfortable with the statements that such and such could be an affront to God. We thought that declaring something an affront was man defining God’s role and not the other way around. It was so pointed out that gender is not declared in the bible as a gift from God but seems to be part of being human. Thus, how could gender fluidity be an affront as it is just a part of creation? Nobody in the discussion could defend, even when playing Devil’s advocate, the position that God’s Will could be defined by humankind, let alone determine that something is an affront to God. We all enjoyed the conversation.

As is the tradition, some of us had some adult beverages. I found Susie’s port collection–I used to buy her all different ports. She liked the sweaters and the cheaper ones. So, drinking some slightly past-it port, I talked theology with church friends.

I got my scissors today (I needed good cutters) and will start cutting up the t-shirts for Susie’s quilt soon. There is a service to turn t-shirts into a quilt. I held back Susie’s T-shirts from being donated. The instructions are to cut the fronts and back off of the t-shirts you want to use. You need 14 inches of material. I tried one and made a mess of it. It was one of mine I did not need anymore–so no loss. I need to go slow with more light on a flat surface. I will try to get this done this weekend. It is one of the many things left to do.

I am still updating Quicken with all my transactions. I am preparing for a business meeting with Dondrea in the next few weeks. Only five weeks are left until the surgery begins to become real. I managed to create a Google Doc and share it with Dondea. If that works, we will put updates there and share the link to the document so folks can track my progress by just reading the updates. Cool, yes?

I got an email from the Volvo Mothership, and they would like to see Air Volvo for the 5-year maintenance. I will likely do that in August. That corresponds to Nike’s bonus month. The car usually wants the money.

Thanks for reading.