Friday finished with me showering and putting on my PJs. No calming music as I had canceled the music service from Amazon when they raised the price from a steep $16.99 to $19.99, an 18% increase in one year that can only be described as corporate greed. I will miss playing music on demand, but I can put a CD in a machine for that price! I could buy machines for every room once and still be cheaper. I slept in silence and did not wake until 4ish to prove hydration. I am taking the high blood pressure (HBP) version of cold meds as I have a runny nose and cough. My lungs are clear. I took the night liquid and was able to sleep well.
Before this, I watched more Babylon 5 (B5), season one, and forgot how much I liked this show. It also does not feel dated as the issues sound like today’s problems revised into a SciFi show. Also, the special effects were cutting-edge at the time and have aged well, though I imagine there have been some digital touching-ups, and the broadcast appears to be high-fidelity. I watched two more episodes before heading to bed.
No figure work was done, as coughing and sneezing prevent accurate work with tiny paint brushes, as you can imagine, dear reader. Instead, I sat in my comfy chair with an electric blanket and rested. I could barely stay awake for B5. I staggered when I rose for the chair and found my way to the bedroom, showered, took my meds, and, as I said, was soon asleep.
Before this, with Deborah on the phone to chat, I made a nice dinner for one, though I will likely repeat this for two in a few weeks for Deborah’s visit. I steamed carrots that I sliced and peeled. I made a salad with carrot peels, pickled beats, croutons, and Italian-style dressing. The center of the meal is a 1″ thick pork chop (smaller than the massive ones at BJ’s Brewhouse but big enough). I sprinkle it with Herbs de Provence and ground sea salt. I heated a mix of olive oil and butter (to keep the smoking down) and fried it in a metal pan that could go in the oven. I got two sides showing some brown and then put it all in the oven at 350F for 8 minutes.
The carrots were done, and I had them plain, as I like carrots just as they are (although they are excellent with butter, salt, and citrus if you want to jazz them up). The pork shop’s temperature was just 170F, perfect for well-cooked, and I moved the chop to a plate. After nearly burning myself, I saw that the chop was still hot and discovered that the plate was on a hot burner (stupid of me). I made a pan sauce by heating the still-hot pan with water and cornstarch. I spooned that over the chop. Deborah rang off while I started my fine repast.
I was coughing a lot and headed to Wallgreens, a minute away, to get some HBP meds. I saw a level 2 charger there and thought I could stop at the food charts for a hot drink and let the EV charge. But someone had sprayed purple paint, making it useless; I could not read the screen with directions. The graffiti made the charger useless. I plugged it in, and it connected, but I could not start the process. The spraying likely covered the code to scan to get this one to work. F**k.
A local real estate person, Mark Larson, helped me and asked about my EV experience. I have enjoyed it so far and am not having range anxiety. I showed him how it plugged in and the trick of thrice doing unlock on the fob to unlock the cable. We exchanged cards, and thus, I included his whole name here. He was trying to help as we both tried to clean the screen to no avail. We talked to the Walgreens folks who connected us with their managers, who were unhappy and said they would connect with the corporate anti-graffiti people and the charger company to fix the issue.
I never thought of a “corporate anti-graffiti people,” it made me wonder if they come with a Paris accent, with brushes and cleaners, and say, “We will make it good again,” or instead, some nasty-looking folks dressed in dark, grim outfits and making dark promises, “We will make an end to your graffiti problems.” Wondering and my imagination going sideways, I returned home with cold meds and Mark’s card.
Before this, I was patching a wall. I stopped by Home Depot again and got a saw for drywall patching and other items. I then returned home. I parked Air VW the Gray outside while I worked in the garage, and my neighbor stopped by and was considering buying the motorbike that Corwin had left. Later, Corwin said he would drop off the keys. It is likely only a few hundred bucks, but it is something, at least. I then moved the wheeled toolboxes and got access to the large sheet of plywood I keep at the house. I balanced this on two plastic folding saw horses.
I found an old wallboard (drywall to some) and carefully measured a broken, still-cut garage wall piece. I managed to cut a replacement piece without injury or doing it twice (already a win), but the board was poorly backed. I made a hack of it with tape and joiner compound, but the wall is sealed. I suspect it will take until Christmas before the paste dries, but the wall is sealed for the first time since I moved in 1996. I managed to not make a big mess. This was a practice for the real challenge of fixing the hole where a plumber installed a drain opening for the new LG washer/dryer combination I call The Machine (currently unusable with a repair person coming on Tuesday). That will be Saturday’s adventure.
Before this, still in my PJs and robe, I disassembled the switches and ground-fault-protected (GF) plugs in the master bedroom bath. I wanted to update them (the switches are from the original 1970s) and replace the ground fault I installed twenty years ago. It was still working, but it was almond color and upside down. Unlike newer homes, I knew this one was on the light/plug panel, not on an independent power line for GF. Thus, I had to put one in the baths and the kitchen. At least the frig was on a separate line in the kitchen.
The switches went easy and were simple, one-way versions. The GF was not simple as it passed through to another plug, and I was covered in sweat by the time I correctly connected six wires and ran one off a tie in the socket. Yikes! I found my socket tester and all the sockets passed my test. The GF test also passed. All are now white, newer, and matching. The GF has a little green light, letting you know it is ready to use. Excellent.
After all of that, I took a shower. I decided on sushi locally for lunch. I thought some hot tea, soup (miso), and track sushi would be good. It was only a few minutes away and was already 1ish, meaning the place was not busy. The track was full of delicious options, but I ordered the Smoked Philly Roll, just five pieces, and then a few treats (smoked eel and a squid marinated salad). I was feeling better.
Returning to the day’s start, I rose at 7ish with a cough, and my ears were plugged. I made liberal coffee and had yet-another-pastry from Costco. I think they are too large and too many for a repurchase. I wrote, as usual, the early morning away.
I also updated balances and got more 1099s for taxes during the day. I called US Banks and learned that their website was wrong, and I have 1099s from them. They took my complaints that I should get proper info and the ability to download the 1099. I believe I have complained every year about this. I made some corrections to phone numbers and removed Susie’s name from some shared accounts. There seems to be an endless number of these updates required. I fix’em when I find’em.
And that takes us full circle; thank you for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 