Thursday Paperwork Day

Thursday just disappeared in a mess of paperwork and processes that made me feel like I was back at work. I slept until 8ish and rose and made coffee. I had failed to assemble the coffee the night before, but I had cleaned up the kitchen. I was out of bananas, but I had a pound cake I had made the day before. Two slices went perfectly with the Zabar’s roast I bought in NYC. The bitterness reminded me again that Justice with Compassion is not free nor in place here in the USA, but someday we liberals will get there.

The locals enjoy it when I leave them apples on the ground from the old apple tree.

I received information on the refresh work at the church, and it took most of my morning and early afternoon. I decided to help finish the job, but the price is much higher than expected. I called my Wealth Management Team at US Bank and then later talked to Ken, our pastor. I created a report, a revised memo, and a motion to the church council to finish the job. This took all of the morning and early afternoon.

I also wrote the blog, paid bills, and carefully checked my investments. My holding at US Bank had a surprising increase and reached another numeric milestone that I had not expected (at least not this soon). And while I am grateful to have more money in my IRA, given the Bernie Madoff scandal, I like to verify the logic behind changes. Dinner was reheated Indian-style food I had made earlier in the week.

I headed to Market of Choice and paid too much for many excellent items. All high quality, and I will have to mix up my purchases with Safeway for the usual items and get the special items from there. I did talk to their cheese expert, Amanda, and we selected a blue cheese, locally made: Point Reyes Bay Blue from California. I passed on European versions and went with West Coast items. Amanda approved. For harder cheeses, we agreed on a Dutch Gouda, a three-year-aged cheese, Artikaas. The wine expert, whose name I missed, whom I spoke with before, agreed with me that the $12 screwcap Malbec from Domaine Bousquet was adequate for a glass or two, but with most, unlike W.C. Fields, going in the French dish I plan for next week.

The day seemed to disappear as I said, I opened a few cans and made early chili after frying some grass-fed beef, ground, in the bottom of a Dutch oven. I spooned off the extra fat and then fried the meat until it got more brown. I failed to wash a can of beans I had opened to add to the chili; this seemed to introduce a grainy texture to the chili. Next time.

I let the mix cook until hot for thirty minutes and had too many bowls. I missed corn and green pepper in my chili, but, besides the graininess, it was excellent. I put the remaining in a storage bag and will have it again later this week.

Next, with time seemingly spinning my clocks extra fast, I headed to Wildwood Taphouse to write with my Apple laptop approaching 8. Friday nights are loud and friendly, and I soon was yelling my order in for strange beers to celebrate summer. I am not ready for the dark beers of fall, “Dark as my soul,” as the bartender said to me, my usual line, pointing out the excellent and high alcohol darks. He was surprised I was going bright with sour beers. Later, I had a small dark beer, which got a smile from him.

They have a pay-it-forward option where you can help cover the cost of someone else’s drink, and I saw on the board, ‘Colon Cancer Survivor.’ I used $5 of the total, leaving some for someone else, for my drinks. In the past, I would find my name with an amount next to it. It is always a pleasant surprise.

I edit my SciFi/Fantasy novel and discover that Grammarly is no longer working with Scrivener, ugh! It did restart after I rebooted the Apple on Friday morning. I met a few folks as I wrote, and they were amazed I could write in the chaos of Friday Night.

I managed, even without Grammarly, to do some editing and write a few hundred new words for the next chapter. I managed to update the name of a character that became more important (thus needing a name) in the story. I stopped after 10 and headed out.

I finished the dishes from the chili creation process and assembled my coffee for tomorrow. All day, I had a headache, and I wondered if I had missed my blood pressure medication (although a missed dose is not serious, and my blood pressure does not rise, I do get a headache sometimes). I started logging my day again and medication use. This is less a memory issue than the effect of having less structured days since I retired. No really.

With the writing, beers, social butterflying, and church stuff, it was past 11 before I was ready for it to be. I found my PJs, tried to read a technical article on noise handling in process control, and instead turned off the light and fell asleep.

My dreams, all forgotten, seemed to involve traveling again, but without me getting lost and trying to find my way back. I was just a tourist in my dreams, like a dream train of visions.

Thanks for reading.