Storms and Movie Screens

 There's a storm coming in the wind blew all day but it was actually kind of warm but I still were long sleeves and I was glad that I did because I know if I had worn short sleeves I would have felt chilly all day especially at the movies. You heard me right, I went to another movie today. But before that.

I actually got decent sleep last night, felt pretty good this morning when I got up, I was to meet Janet again at the coffee shop for our usual 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning coffee where we get together have some coffee and gossip about the goings-ons at the building this last week. Lost to talk about specially with the support person, Rochelle, leaving property as well as the company itself. Gave us a lot of father to talk about besides the usual items of bizarre behaviors of the other residents here at the complex. I got back to the apartment and actually then gathered my undersized hood that I ordered and actually took it across the street over to the place where they all mail back here item to the Amazon Prime place and you get credit for returning the item and in my case they're going to send me the next size larger and hoodies. It was quite a process but with the help of people I was able to get it done today and the new hood should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday next week that's kind of exciting. I briefly returned to the apartment then decided to roll up to the movie theaters and catch the movie I've been thinking about. I'm kind of getting used to driving my chair all the way up to 5400 South which is like four or five blocks from my apartment. It certainly puts the miles on my chair I don't know how wise that is but I can't get to a bus stop that'll take me South until they finish the construction work. I mean I can get on the bus and go south to Redwood Road or 5400 South by going north to the college then catching the bus the other way to get to the movies that just seems like a lot of extra work as well as time so now I just dropped my chair up alongside the construction work where there working on the road. On the weekend there's no work going on so I'm relatively safe rolling in the road where it's taped off that during the day they are actually working on sidewalks and the streets.

I had a little problem with the doofuses at the movie house and trying to get the tickets that I wanted for the movie that worked with my program that lets me watch as many movies as I want during the month for 20 bucks. They put me in the wrong movie at first and then by the time that they got all the problems squared away from it the new the movie that I wanted to go to was already in show mode I probably missed 5 to 10 minutes of the movie. That's okay maybe I can watch the movie again in the next day or so. Today however I went to a thing called dumb money which was actually pretty good. All about the major speculation Rush that took over the country back in the 90s but everybody was trying to get rich quick by playing the market or whatever. I may have to watch this movie again to make sure I understood it correctly but I remember the time and I remember how close people seem to be getting as far as expanding themselves trying to make money off of the the credit or whatever the Itchy away is. Looks pretty good movie. I thought it was well done. Following the movie that did a little shopping at Harmons got some hard rolls for the weekend then came home. The clouds have moved in by that time but the wind still blew the temperature is probably still up in the upper 70s if not eighties. The rain supposed to start tonight around midnight and maybe going tomorrow during the breakfast time we'll see but we're committed to the breakfast as usual tomorrow at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. but it was a good Saturday. I even bought another hoodie at Ross's Dress for Less. It was 10 bucks so I figured it's worth the crap shoot that's why I'm going to have a lot of hoodies if this one fits and then I've got the big one coming in the mail pretty exciting. You got all kinds of jackets there I might even go back and see if I can get a vest I saw some but I didn't dare know if they'd fit me or not. There's another store in that area like Ross's but I can't remember the name of the other store but they sell clothes for Less probably cheap third world country knockoffs but they're pretty cheap and they look okay I'll have to just be careful and now I'm going to have to start getting rid of old clothes in my closet time to do some di runs Maybe perhaps something that's Melissa can help me with…

Friday at the Movies

In order for me to justify the movie watching program I have with Regal movie theaters I have to go to at least two movies a month to break even with what I pay a month for that privilege. I pay you about $20 a month so I can go to any movie, as many times, as I want to. It's a great program I think but it's amazing how hard I have to work to make it work for me. Today was a good day, actually probably the best day of the weekend, according to the weather people. Temperatures are up in almost to the 80s but that was okay because I was wearing my heavy Hood and a black watch cap. I look like I should have been in the middle of November and Gail force winds but I was certainly warm enough that's for sure. I had a pretty good Friday morning I was done with my business probably around 10:30 when I turned Melissa loose. That's what I decided I would hit the movies today then I at least have the two movies under my belt for the month. I might do another movie tomorrow but it's hard to say right now. November should be easy there's a number of interesting movies I've seen previews for that I might take in Plus I think I might go to some of the same movies over again a couple times. Today I went to a movie called The Creator I'm still not really sure about what it was about. I was running a little late when I got to the movie and then must have been a new guy or something behind the tell he just couldn't seem to figure things out first he got me into the movie but the movie theater that it was being shown and didn't start for an hour and then he had to switch me out of that movie theater into the one that was already going through the previews and the previews by the time I had gotten everything squared away it already ended and the movie was five or six minutes into the movie if not more. I pretty much figured out, sort of, what was going on but I might sit through it again if I can sit through that 3 hour movie about the atom bomb I know I can sit through this science fiction piece again and rather enjoy it regardless of the violence involved.

I was on quite a terror today so after the movie I decided I would take myself to dinner and I went to Panda Express. It's been a long time since I've been to the panda kind of forgot how the thing ran but I got a shrimp Bowl on top of Chow Mein noodles. It was pretty good again it cost more than I anticipated- - everything costs more than what I anticipated anymore I just have to build that into the equation of life. The food was okay I think the next time I should have get fried rice but I need to reaffiliate myself with the panda it really is good eating enjoy it. Other than thwaat that was my big Friday. Totally self-absorbed and enjoying riding the bus, going to the movies some Chinese dinner then home to watch a little Gray's Anatomy. I've started at the very first of the season when gray was still an intern. I don't think I even like the later seasons not as much as I like the first couple of years. It's supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday most of it on Saturday night and Sunday morning so I'm not sure what I'm planning. I think I'll do breakfast for sure with the kids if they're up for it other than that maybe I'll bake something a cake, bread I' may even go buy a roast that would be kind of fun..

Dreams and Ice Cream

Something's going on inside my head I'm not quite sure what it is or I think I don't know what it is but maybe I do. All of the sudden within the last week or so my sleep pattern seem to be changing I'm waking up earlier and earlier in the night and not being able to get back to sleep. For example last night I think I woke up around 3:00 a.m. and never really got back to sleep and I don't know particularly why. As I lay in bed the remainder of the night however I begin to think that this is also coinciding with my work starting as a board member for the Independent Living Center. I don't know why this would cause so much angst or anxiety to bother my sleep but something is I remember when I woke I was in some kind of a meeting with the old Administration of the Independent Living Center. The boss was also a friend of mine fairly close and she was part of the dream but all I remember just seeing her face in the dream. Still however, as I pondered what I remember seeing in the dream I became more and more anxious and not being able to fall back to sleep. Then my mind started creating all kinds of Boogeyman like what if I'm experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome PTSD? Wouldn't that be a hoot? I don't know and it's kind of got me a little bit worried but hopefully not too much. We'll have to see what happens tonight.

My day today was kind of busy. Of course it was coffee Thursday of the coffee social group but it was also the last day of our little social worker person who was moving on to another job after everybody fell deeply in love with her because she does such a great job. I never got really close because I knew she was a short timer. People who are as good as she never lasts long and get plucked by other agencies programs or companies and leave you just missing the person and the space they filled in your life. Same reason I don't like dogs, they always die before you do and you got to deal with the loss. In fact today this person actually hosted her own going away party in our main common area. She was going to provide Pizza and whatever for people who showed up to say goodbye and of course everybody did with the possibility of pizza. She came in with two big pizzas from Costco which are pretty good Plus pumpkin pie and ice cream. For as many people who showed up I cannot believe she got everybody a piece of pizza. I held off until everybody had a piece and they were still two or three pieces left and I couldn't believe that it was almost biblical like feeding the 500 with a couple loaves of bread and a fish or two. It's not like we got a bunch of pizza everyone got a pretty narrow piece of pizza on a paper plate with a scoop of ice cream and a slice of pumpkin pie sometimes that's all you need to say goodbye it certainly work today...

Travel Day

I Would have kind of liked to stay in the apartment today and let my stomach settle down but that was a no-go. Today I had scheduled toenail clippings down south which means I have to jump the bus go all the way down to the end of the line as far as line 217 goes then switch to another bus the 218 and go the rest of the way to where am I podiatrist works. Essentially, it could be a very easy ride but through the transit authorities wisdom they split the Redwood Road Corridor in half and so the 217 runs every 15 minutes whereas the 218 runs once an hour. That means if you really take skill you can figure out which 217 route will give you the least amount of time waiting for the 218 to take off. My problem today however is that on Wednesdays I have Melissa start my wash and throw it in the dryer before she leaves then I go down and collect it and bring it back to the apartment to fold. Well the problem is that I have to wait for the wash to finish the dry cycle and then I find that I'm really cutting it short to catch the bus to get down to the switch station on to the other bus to get to my 2:00 appointment.

I came real close to not making my time. I had forgotten the other problem right now is that it's difficult to find a bus stop that's not under construction. Most of the drivers will not stop at a bus stop that's got the orange containers in front of them, signs of construction. That means I have to find a place where I can catch the bus it's a major frustration I ended up rolling all over the area here going all the way south to the 5400 to where the construction is not started yet and caught the bus there. At the end of the line where the 217 matches up with the 218 I have the option of not waiting for the bus and just powering my chair all the way up to where the podiatrist is at that's what I did. It wasn't an easy ride and I worry about my butt being exposed to that much trauma but I think I'm doing okay. I was able to get a bite to eat and wander around the Smiths Market for a while before getting to my appointment on time. I ended up putting 4.8 Mi on my chair today that's a lot of miles when you're using public transportation. That means you are on the street a long time going from one bus stop to the next and still porting yourself on the bus for even longer distances. My bottom of sore by the time I got back to the apartment but I had fancy cut toes and a battery probably depleted almost half. Actually, I think it's more than that cuz I really go four miles in one day that's a lot of transport.. 

Taking Tuesday

  There was no assist meeting today thank goodness so I figured I would get some change since I had almost ran out of change this month and I was going to need dollar bills more specifically $10 bills before the end of the month the stuff the envelope Swift to send out on the kid letters. So even though I had more time than usual on this Tuesday I was able to finish the remaining letters as well as printing envelopes for the mail out. As soon as I finish breakfast and getting dressed and I went out to the bus stop and caught the 217 into the college then jump to 47 over to my credit union. I wish I could say something unusual happened for the trip but it was pretty benign but that's okay no problems are good problems. Even though I didn't need them I got a couple rolls of quarters just because folks need to wash clothes sometimes. I also got a lot of $10 bills just so I would be sure to have enough for the envelopes. The rest of the cash I'll stick back in my money book for the inevitable rainy day. That was my main trip for the day. Back at the apartment I took some time and read a little bit and then did my arm bike later on in the afternoon so I could listen to Marketplace.

For dinner I had jalapeno Peppers sliced with a couple pieces of bread. I could have made some soup or something but I just fished around inside the refrigerator coming up with cheddar cheese slices and and saltine crackers which is one of my favorites in the world. Not only is it flavorful and quite delicious I live under the belief that the more cheesy can eat the better plugged up you can be and after the weekend I want to make sure I've got myself under control again. I feel great however I have some feelings of pressure sometimes in my abdomen and such which I think is just air more than anything else. I should be okay with Melissa coming tomorrow and they get on Friday it's just that long stretch from Friday to Monday that kind of freaks me out but I've got to have faith in myself and Melissa that if I cannot get myself taken care of I eat the toilet I can always call on Melissa to come and clean me up and get me going again. So now I'm off to bed relatively early but I want to make sure I feel rested and assured but I jump the bus heading south tomorrow for my trip to the podiatrist and my nail cuttings. I have a hunting suspicion that there was something else I was supposed to do this week on the calendar on my computer I have a partial message indicating ribbon cutting. I kind of think it's from the Utah non-profit housing operation with the opening of another one of their low income housing projects but I'm not sure. I doubt that I'll be able to make the ribbon cutting however since my whole afternoon is taken up busting to my podiatrist and Back Again. Now I just have to finish printing the letters and stuff in the envelopes applying the stamps that I'm ready to go.

Monday Moans

 I'm pretty tired, I had a difficult time sleeping I'm not sure exactly the reason possibly the trauma of nearly pooping my pants. Just worried that more and more of these things are going to happen as I age. I try not to think about it but seriously it's not going to get a lot easier. However, I finally got up around 6:00 a.m. as usual did my business got ready for Melissa and the day. It was great getting showered and dressed this morning. My stomach calmed down and I felt myself getting back to normal. Melissa was quite reinforcing by indicating that I was not having these issues sooner than I used to are more frequent than I used to. And maybe I really need to consider having some kind of floater come in that can help me do my bathroom on Saturday or Sunday and not deal with the stress and Trauma of these evenings or days when my bowel does back up and decide to release itself all at one time. I'm just Ponder this more. It could add $100 to my monthly account as far as bow and bathing goes but perhaps that's best it's money well spent as far as I'm concerned. What's crazy is the whole thing that if I could get on and off the toilet by myself I'm pretty sure I'd be right back where I was before the first stenosis when this all started going downhill. I know I could get myself on and off the toilet if it was halfway accessible but the way it is now it's not a doable deal. I must rely on my home health professionals.

My hood came today I haven't opened up the package yet. I may wait until Wednesday when Melissa will be here and we can open it up and see if it'll work or not. I can open up myself but I'd end up destroying the package and after speaking with Diane last night I think that I'm going to have to send this back and see if I can get the larger measurement. I got the second to the largest size but I think Diane's right I should have gotten the larger size after that just so I can be sure that it'll go over my bulky clothes if I have the clothes on and I'm wearing the hood. Silly as it is I'm afraid to open up the package to once again suffer buyer's remorse and not purchasing the right thing the right way. I just hope that the return process is as easy as some people lead me to believe. And again the national news folks over the years have had the number of stories about how easy it is to return items to Amazon or wherever and that's part of the problem is that they they too willingly take back sales items. I think I ordered like a 44 and I should have ordered a 48 or something if they have it. A lot of this predicates on whether or not the organization has these items readily. Seems to me the price on this item was on sale and it was $12 and I'm figuring that's worth the crap shoot even if I just absorb the hood and use it for whatever.

TMI ?

I've been resting all evening after an explosive bowel movement this afternoon. In fact I'm surprised that I made it or that we made it to the restroom without some major incident. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of Melissa who was able to come over fairly quickly and assist me. I have been worried that I had been stuffing myself all weekend hoping that I could make it till Monday morning when I have my usual bow and shower. Even this morning when we had breakfast I was aware that I seem to be getting super full so I only ordered mush, oatmeal and a couple pieces of toast. Now before breakfast as I was going through my morning rising routine of pickled pepper juice, sliced peppers and vegetable juice and ice. I probably had two or three tablespoons sliced pickled peppers. I dressed and by the time it was time for breakfast I was feeling relatively okay. Even after we had finished and I'd gone back to the apartment I was feeling good enough to go out and sit in the Sun for a couple of hours read a little bit but the same time as the morning wrapped up into early afternoon I began to sense that the cramping and gurgling of my stomach was not going to bode well with me trying to wait until tomorrow morning. So finally around 1:00 I texted Melissa who quickly responded to me that I could get assistance if I could wait till 2:45 ish. I could feel I could wait that long however I did feel a squirt or two, just little ones but still images and shades of things to come.

When Melissa did get here I was able to get out of my clothes without incident and get strung up in the sling but that was it. Luckily we had the red bucket nearby which Melissa handily put in place and I delivered. I won't go into any further detail except for it was a lot leaving me week and a bit thirsty. The held off on the shower until tomorrow morning but I did have Melissa wrap my cushion in a Chucks and fit me with an adult diaper for the rest of the day. I wasn't going to anywhere and no one ever comes here except Melissa so nothing to worry about just having my shirt on. I took it easy to remainder of the day leading back in my chair as much as I could and watching whatever I could find entertaining on Netflix or Disney. Melissa did find a couple of yogurts for me and I had some toasted bread which together has made for some kind of a dinner and hopefully the foundation for my gut to start building some better poops. An incident like this used to really get me down but not So Much Anymore even if I'm paying roughly $20 of poop when this happens I'm just glad I have somebody willing to come over at a moment's notice and assist me. It's almost bedtime and I'm hoping that the yogurt and the bread will work its way through the night is that in the morning it will be able to start over again on another week of eating.. 

Cinderfella

Just maybe a short blog tonight I just let the day get it ahead of me. Fairly busy for a Saturday but I enjoyed the day. Probably the most interesting thing for me today was seeing this shoe along the side of the road. It was a fancy shoe it was a dress shoe one that shines up really bright like the kind you would wear if you had a formal attire. The big issue is that it's a men's shoe. It must have cost a bundle these kind of shoes do you know the glass up really nice. I sort of stuck out like a sore thumb trying to get this picture it's not as good as I would have liked but it'll do for a side of the road shoe picture. I was glad that I had the ability to take this image it's been awhile since I've done a shoe image

Since I didn't have to go to coffee this morning with Janet I just slowly gagged around the apartment even Friday a couple eggs for breakfast that was a nice change. I don't get to have breakfast like this one doing the Saturday coffee thing. But I had some toast and likes to put on the toast and I was feeling good enough and I certainly had enough time to head up to the movies and catch a movie I was interested in seeing primarily because dog-faced boy was in it Nick Cage. Fairly cute piece at least I enjoyed it and did not sleep through it as I usually do in movies these days. It was good to get out and good to spend some time at the movies. I even had popcorn but no drink that was a bit of a dry treat. I did get a drink however when I was done with the movie and heading out and stopped in at McDonald's for a hamburger a great cheeseburger and a Sprite. I'm doing a half ass job of trying to keep myself hydrated at least drinking something during the day I'm doing better but I still want to get my urine lightened up a lot it's getting pretty dark lately. Other than that and a fast trip to Walmart or I did $38 worth of shopping which isn't much but it was enough to keep me busy taking the bus back to the apartments. Got the usual for the week lunch meat some potato chips, butter and other Essentials I thought that I would need. It's a good thing I don't have transportation that I could carry a bunch of stuff with boy and have a trunk full of stuff. But as it is I just get the essentials as I see they are. Back at the apartment I figured I'd done pretty good and the place looked still fairly good from the time that Gloria was put in cleaning up the kitchen area so I watched Thor one of the Thor movies. It was relaxing and enjoyable I found a box of Milk Duds I had not used from the last movie trip that I went to a couple months ago so that was good then I realized I needed to dump some garbage as well as take the dead watermelon out of the refrigerator put that in the garbage before Sunday and then I realized I had not yet done my blog. So here it is I'm sure it's not 500 words but it'll have to do for a Saturday night 

Gurgle times

 I have totally squandered yet another day. It wasn't really on purpose though I kind of think I knew what I was doing. The only defense I have was or is that the temperature had fallen significantly, storm clouds are still in place and there was significant chance of more rain happening. It truly feels like a good day to be inside and do Insight stuff. This was a day when I would have my home health person come in for shower and toileteen which she did and a great job as far as that goes. I did kind of really get out and want to do something, I really did but I felt I just need to let the day go and see what happens. After Melissa turn me loose I tried to find something to eat and in the meantime finished watching one of the first Spider-Man movies with Toby Maguire. Netflix had all three of them and that's what I did today was watched the second and third Spider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire. It was okay sitting there in front of the heater trying to toast out a little bit. I also had the displeasure of my silly computer which goes in and out of volume control. I had to watch the first movie with the headphones on because all I could get volume wise or audio was through the headphones eventually I did something and was able to get the regular volume reestablished. At least I was able to watch the news hour without having to Don headphones. It was also during this period of late morning early afternoon my stomach begin to gurgle like I had finished my job on the toilet this morning. I shouldn't complain I've been doing quite well the last couple of weeks but now the gurgles have started which makes me want to stay close to the toilet not that would do me any good since I can't transfer myself it just makes me feel somewhat comfortable no I have a place to go and wait until I can get my home health person here. It may be a long time coming I have to be patient but she eventually does show up what I've got to do a clean up. Melissa did assure me that she would be around this weekend if I needed her.

Sadly I would have liked to have gone out at least across the street to the market to pick up a few items to get me through the weekend. Hopefully, I'll get through the night without an issue and maybe my stomach will stabilize by morning. I may have to go see if there's any yogurt in the refrigerator that I could use to repopulate my gut I really believe in these kind of things. Fortunately, my compadre or Compadres who goes to coffee with me usually on Saturday mornings texted me that she would not be able to make it this week so no problem missing Saturday morning coffee. Perhaps a small blessing or several lining depending on your point of view. I'm a little concerned about having to deal with this kind of issue up until Monday morning if I make it that long just takes a a lot out of my weekend enjoyment. I'll do good either way now that I have my home health people that well put myself back together after such a challenge in event I don't worry about it much at all.

Three Event Thursday

 

Today was the first day which really felt like fall/coming winter and of course it's a day that I had pretty much the whole day booked one way or the other. I of course woke up way early probably around 4:00 a.m. and never really got back to sleep but surprisingly this lack of sleeve did not seem to bother me as much as I much as I thought it would remember only two instances of actually yawning today. Really on of course it's Thursday which means it's Coffee Day. I just show up anymore and that seems to be about enough. Someone puts the tables in order every Wednesday night and Marsha my friend across the hall has taken on the mantle of making the coffee but she does a pretty good job for someone who has never done anything like that before. Today's event was pretty well attended sound like good conversation was being had. Following that of course was my next meeting which was at 12:00 noon.

Today was a t Council or  assistive Technology Council, a watered-down version of the council's previous self when it was a big deal attended by all kinds of folks who either represented people with disabilities or agencies and organizations and companies that provided assistive technology to folks with disabilities. It was pretty much a state agency, and still is actually, but now just a few people show up mainly some folks from Logan where the program is based these days as well as representatives from the Independent Living movement in this area as well as a few other providers like the disability Law Center, Sheldon special Healthcare needs and of course the parent Center. All these entities have interests regarding assistive technology. Traditionally as far back as I can remember and the whole program started about 3 or 4 years after I came to town but they were renowned as providing one of the best hot lunches in government/private nonprofit Industries. They started going downhill a little bit when things started getting really healthy and they stopped serving meat with the meals as opposed to vegetarian selections. I sort of Drew the line at vegetarian spaghetti or ravioli or something like that. The meal smelled great but tasted like vegetables now I don't mind so much. Now it's a free meal. Luckily it was at the buff Myers Center and as I wrote about the other day it's just down the street from where I live 30 some blocks. It was a good meeting. I really felt like I was getting back in contact with some of my old colleagues. We had some good conversations and I felt comfortable representing people with disabilities in this group. I represented folks who worked for private nonprofits let's serve people with disabilities as well as being a person with a disability myself but I was employed with the state. Now I just represent seniors with disabilities and what assistive technology can do for them to keep them in the system. It was a good meeting and when we got out I had about an hour to get home to get to my next meeting which was Utah non-profit housing Corporation unphc. I've been on their Board of Directors for years in fact they own the building where I have my apartment now. I would have liked to have gone to the meeting in person but because of the prior meeting I just had to get home as quickly as possible and tune in over Zoom which I did. I don't make as many comments in this meeting as I think I should and right now I go to the meetings as part of my appreciation for them offered me a place to live when I was desperate for housing. I'll serve on this till they asked me to stop. I was late getting into the meeting because of the rain storm that came up as I was getting ready to go home and then waiting for the buses. Then there was the whole problem of dealing with the construction that's going on around my apartment and the buses won't stop close to my apartment but luckily I got a driver who broke a few rules and stopped relatively close.

The rain had stopped pretty much by the time I'd gotten back to the apartment but it was cold now with the cold front passing through. I realized I didn't have a candy bar for my CNA tomorrow so I thought about going over to the market but between the cold weather and some sprinkling going on and the construction I couldn't face it so I ended up going to the big service station type place with a small quick Market inside and got the candy bars for my person. I figured it was time to settle back turn on the heater and watch a Spider-Man it was a nice way to finish the day. Tomorrow I just want to take it easy…

Double Trouble

 I have two CNAs, I think I've told you all that before. One CNA I had had me on Wednesdays and Fridays and the other had me just on Mondays. They give me an hour of service it's hardly enough to do but needs to be done and I think many times they go over the time limits but not by much. I love them both dearly and they seem to feel strongly about me going above and beyond their Duty sometimes to make sure I'm taking care of okay. Early in the summer the one CNA that had me on Wednesdays and Fridays was caught in a vehicular accident and broke her wrist and was not working at all and the one CNA took over which now I have her at three times a week. The other CNA who had the broken wrist has now recovered and it's anxious to get back to working more hours. And is desperately indicated that she'd like to pick up the other 2 hours that she was doing for me before the accident. The trouble is I've certainly gotten to enjoy the three times a week CNA that I have now who does a pretty good job of showering and dressing me. I wish there was more I could do for the other CNA which I do allow her to come over and clean up my place from time to time- - it's desperately needs it for which I compensate her fairly well. She seems to be holding out hope that I'll take her back for the 2 hours which I doubt that I'm going to do at least right now. I don't know how long the one CNA can survive but she seems to be a real Survivor pulling rabbits out of a hat that always impresses me. Still I hate to be put in this position that's why I'm not a good manager I hate making hard decisions for other people.

It was actually a pretty nice day for the last remaining days of the summer, I should have gotten out and done something but because the morning CNA come so late that when we're done it's like almost mid-morning and I spent the afternoon waiting for the other CNA to come and clean up my kitchen area- - and she does a great job. However I spent most of my day waiting for the CNAs. I don't know what I would have done if I did get out of the apartments. The only thing I could think of would have been going to the market to get some things I needed or think that I need to get through the next cold front which is supposed to pass through tonight bringing much cooler temperatures and rain tomorrow. Tomorrow of course the day of rains I have a meeting up the road a bit. About 30 blocks north of where I live. The bus goes right past the street so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I would like to have gotten provisions for the rainy day but since I have to go out anyway maybe I'll stop and pick something up on the way home. After tomorrow, it's a fast moving storm, things should dry out for a beautiful weekend and the beginning of fall

Close Shave Guarantee

 It's almost 9:00 on a Tuesday evening

the wind's blowing fiercely and I hear thunder and smell rain. I didn't think it was going to rain today not until Thursday but that's okay I'm in the apartment and the relatively warm and it's a nice Tuesday night. I wasn't necessarily busy today but I got out of the apartment I went down town for my Tuesday meeting. I really do enjoy the Tuesday meetings. More than anything I love having a reason to vacate the apartment complex jump on the bus and go somewhere. I wish I could say that I had a mild to Wild adventure today but I did not. The most outrageous thing I did was buy another 10 lb can of sliced jalapeno peppers. I'm about out of the can that I purchased last week. I must be eating them too fast but that's okay I guess I'm worth it- - $10 a week.

Before I left on my journey to the city I actually got online and ordered a bunch of refills for my shaver/ razor. I've been putting this off for some time frightened to spend the amount of money that it's going to cost which is almost $40 but you know what I'm worth it. That's my new mantra. I don't know if I needed cartridges I will use them all eventually and I think this way cartridges will get me through the edge of the year. I try to use just one cartridge a month and actually that works pretty well another thing which quite surprises me. I kind of figured they had some kind of inborn mechanism that shut the whole thing down after X amount of days or weeks just so that they would be assured that I'd be ordering more … which I would but I found the razor lasted very well over the whole month and probably would have gone longer if I wasn't so anxious to pop a new blade in. I guess I could enter my name in for a subscription where they would just automatically mail whatever I asked them to do every month. So if I used just for cartridges a month or 1 a week then every month I would get a new package of cartridges. But I ordered 12 because I gave me a good deal on the side of the page for the Gillette cartridges on the internet page that I purchased it with. What really shocked me was that sometime in the afternoon or late afternoon early evening I noticed there's a blockage of light underneath the door. Of course when I opened the door there was the package from Amazon would you been delivered in the afternoon after I'd gotten home from my work at the private non-profit. So I ordered this morning and it showed up at my door this afternoon is that too crazy or what? The Next Step I have to do probably before winter now is to get myself conditioned to the concept of ordering my groceries by the internet and having my order delivered by that afternoon or evening. A lot of the folks here at the apartment complex do this but I just have a hard time accepting this kind of shopping but I'm sure it's the wave of the future and will certainly be better than going out in the super cold this coming winter if there is any super cold. Perhaps the most rewarding event of the day was turning on my computer/ music player and having the speakers work again. For some reason yesterday I did something and shut off the speakers. Eventually I figured out a way to at least listen to but I was watching with my headphones and just gave up on regular listing but this morning or this afternoon as I tried to watch the news at first I had no volume but then something happened and I got the volume back I felt a miracle that happened and I'll let it go on that and enjoyed the evening full of sound …

Monday matters

Another day of doing almost absolutely nothing in an attempt to keep as much weight off my butt as possible. I was pleased this morning when Melissa indicated that my butt looked pretty good, which we had taped last week before the weekend, and we should let it ride until possibly Wednesday if not Friday and that's a good sign. I just don't want to stress the skin any more than I need to so I spend a good deal of my day reclining in the Sun, in the back of the building, reading my book or whatever book I'm reading at that point in time. I do get around the apartment complex fairly well unless I have a prior commitment or I need something fairly desperate will I go to the market and leave the comfort zone of reclining. I guess things could be worse as far as pressure sores and other problems that I could be experiencing so I'm grateful to be in a place that I have my rent, food, in general needs met.

I would like to have a van or some form of personal transportation but if I did I know I would be broke. It's worth the trade off I just have to be patient I'll get to what I need or where I need to go. With that in mind I'm debating whether or not to attend the funeral of the late great Larry or a person with a disability that I used to work with and I'd like to think a friend and colleague. He passed last week and I can't say I'm really too surprised. You had a stroke a couple years ago and he's been somewhat recovering ever since. He managed to give himself married and they were having a nice little life until the stroke took over. His wife is a paraplegic too and so that was very interesting I thought. Actually, the neighborhood they lived in sort of took a keen interest in the couple and even remodel a home that they could live in easier than where they were at when they got married. It was one of those tearjerker kind of things that local TV news likes to get their hands on. Larry was a good guy, one of those esoteric paraplegic athlete type of folk that was always photogenic and semi-active on the disability stage locally. I was not as close to him as other folks and I hate to see his passing from a selfish standpoint which means someone else has to be next. No I don't think anyone is actually verbalizing it but I think all the other spinal cords in the community are keeping close tabs as to who is looking like they could be next. I try not to but it's certainly something that I can't help but I see my friends for folks with disabilities getting into advanced age and I'm older than they are.

This is going to be a fairly busy week for me. I have a couple of meetings besides my regular assist, ink meeting tomorrow. They are both optional as far as in attendance versus Zoom attendance. Depending on how will the weather looks towards the end of the week when these meetings will be will be how much I opt to use technology to make attendance easier. At least tomorrow I will put some real miles on the chair…

Reflections on Sunday

It's been another quiet day here at the apartment complex. If had not been for an early morning breakfast with the kids I don't think I would have done anything today except Marvel movies. I know that sounds pretty lame but it's kind of true. Well with the exception of spending a couple hours in the sunshine reading my novel that was about it for today. I'm still quite worried about my butt so I don't want to put any more stress on it than I have to and besides it's Sunday and if I went anywhere what happened to negotiate the horrible streets that are torn up right now because of construction so it's easier just to stay home leaned back in my chair and read. I know that sounds terribly pathetic they're probably even geriatric but that's good enough for the day.

I enjoyed my pickle pepper slices mixed with juice of the peppers and vegetable juice and now I'm adding a can of diced tomatoes when I have them. I have to slow the ingestion however I'm just running through these big cans of peppers way too fast. I was a little concerned I still am about the amount of acid that I'm exposing my teeth, esophagus and stomach too but Mark thinks that's not a big deal and so I'll default to his judgment. Once again I think when I'm ingesting these items during the day I often do that instead of a meal and I'm just wondering how many calories I've saved by not eating a regular meal and having a couple of tablespoons of sliced pickled peppers diced vegetables usually tomatoes but I've also chopped up a carrot and put those in the the general body of sliced pickles I've got some pickled beets and thinking of put it in there as well and maybe some cans of French cut green beans- - I've used the green beans before and they're pretty good actually mixed with the pepper juice. Not only are these other vegetables interesting inside this concoction but the additives stretch out the sliced jalapenos. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Macy's carried the big cans of sliced peppers but the only Market I've been able to find that actually have them on the shelves is Smith's almost 0 six blocks north of my Apartments. Then there's the added challenge of dragging these big ass cans home with me as well. I can usually do it if I hang the cans off my hook but makes for an awkward bus trip.

It's the last day of the fair today and by now the whole thing is over I'm sure people are just packing up the things and heading out to the next stop down the road. There's nothing worse than the last day of an event like the fair everybody's done just wants to get gone. Things close early people are pulling out. So I missed the fare for another year probably just as well. There's always the Hope however that maybe next year I'll have a reason and a passion to go to the fair but there wasn't one this year…

Wa

Lonely?

 I don't think that I'm lonely. Maybe I'm not maybe I'm doing all these little things during the day and such to keep me from being lonely. I heard an interesting article today on NPR about loneliness and about how people especially seniors are suffering from loneliness and thus are more susceptible to a host of issues that could be damaging to the individual. All the stuff that's not good for you you know hypertension, mental health issues, just all kinds of stuff that the commentator indicated that is important that people need to be into some socialization ritual during the day or week I guess. Then they give examples of how some folks are creating their own little pockets of socialization- - which never existed before and now they do. Everything from small conversations with the postman to running around to different fast food/ convenience stores on a regular basis in attempt to create contact socially thus avoiding loneliness. All of a sudden, I kind of realized that's what I do. Luckily there's a market right across the street from my apartment complex actually just down the street, and I've gotten to know everybody in there almost like family. I go there at least once a week if not twice and I have social interactions from just about everybody. They're not long or involved conversations regarding the thesis of War and Peace or other pieces of literature but they asked me how I am and I asked how they are and we say hello in goodbye or if I need help they assist me. Tonight I was over at the market and I needed a cardboard box of some size to bring home my purchases. It wasn't a good time for cardboard boxes none could be found that would meet my needs but during the search I did a lot of communication from the guy that ran the produce section who I know quite well to a lot of the other staff that I've gotten to know just on site. There is Vicky who is just lost her husband last year, then there is Sharon who seems to work all the time there and then there's other folks that I don't know the names of right now but I know their faces which have warm smiles and flashing Happy Eyes. I do not spend a lot when I go there just usually what I can afford on cash. Today I got my bottle of juice and one carrot and a small bunch of bananas. There were other things I should have picked up but I only had so much space on my hook that I can hang bags off of for my trip home. I got enough to get me through tomorrow and anything I need for next week I can get on Monday or later. I got what I needed most and that was physical contact with warm happy smiles and a touch here and there just enough to keep me human

Summers last Friday

It was kind of nice not having anything to do this morning or this afternoon. It really felt like a Friday. I probably should have done more with the day but I pretty much just hung around the apartment except for running across the street for a haircut. Nothing's ever simple anymore. The construction is so bad on the sidewalks and on the sides of the street that I can hardly go anywhere without having to go blocks and blocks out of my way. Even though my barber is right across the street I had to go down half a block or more so I can find a way to get across the street when the lights changed. What's so frustrating is that they have these giant crevices carved into the blacktop particularly in front of the crosswalks so I can't even get to the button on the crosswalk to push to get the lights change. I have to go to a cross street and wait for the light to change and then Dash across and hope the traffic respects my movements. I'm surprised I haven't gotten yelled at yet for some of these Crossings I've had to do. Truth be known this construction really has constricted my willingness to go anywhere of any consequences just doing what I really need to do. I guess it's good excuses any to stay home and enjoy the apartment complex and my reading out in the parking lot this last warm days of summer.

It's another year that I did not go to the State Fair as well as the Greek festival. Part of my rationale is what I just wrote about getting into a bus stop I know that will be there and attainable by wheelchair/power chair. Then there's always the recollection that going as I've done in the years past I've always been disappointed when I finished. Everything is just so cheap and squalored at the fair. Diane used to love the farm buildings and animals and 4-H exhibits and stuff like that and that was her enjoyment of the fair dash dash which is good it's probably a lot more healthy than I wanted as far as I'm not sure what I wanted but it certainly wasn't the cattle barns that's for sure. And the Greek festival I've never really gotten into just because it seems so foreign. I should have in the old days when I worked right down the street from the festival before I retired but I never made it. And the only reason I'd go to any of these events is for the food because I've heard the food is so good and that at least at the fair you can get real live corn dogs or they actually dip the dog had a stick right in front of you. I still have a big issue with the Frozen corn dogs that have Honey Dipped cornmeal coatings. I can't believe it's impossible to find corn dogs without this honey cornmeal coating.

I guess it's not much for something that I did today but haircuts a haircut as well as I worked out on my own bike and for sure made by bed…

Coffee Dollars

 I did it! I attended my first board of directors meeting for the Utah Independent Living Center as a member of the board. I was a little confused about the whole thing because I was told that the board meeting was going to be at one time and then it was sort of indicated that it would be that another time. And then I got the feeling that everything was going to be under Zoom. The information that I received via email gave all the information on how to attend via Zoom. I kind of hate this because I really don't trust the whole Zoom concept very much. I'm sure it's me it's just that I've never seems to work right for me. I really wanted to make this event go without any problems and it really didn't I felt awkward but I could tell from many other of the people involved with the zoom but they did as well.

I didn't know if I had the option of actually just showing up and being included to the meeting in person versus coming in over the internet. I was kind of busy so I never got around to really asking that question I wish that I had and I wish that I'd actually taken the time to go in in person. I had two or three different times about what time the board meeting will start everywhere from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. it was all kind of confusing to me then the director of the Independent Living Center was on a road trip and she was coming in with zoom as well and having a difficult time. Finally, at 4:30 p.m. we did get the meeting somewhat launched at least that's what I was able to be led into the meeting. I was using my tablet I don't know if that's part of the problem but it seems like when I have the audio or my microphone turned on then there's feedback all over the system to the other folks online. This has happened before and when I go to mute then everything's okay. I don't know why this is and it kind of annoys me but I'm not going to let this bother me too much it mean after all it's just the Independent Living Center. The meeting was pretty well kicked back or laid back those Kim likely and some other guy who I think is the board chair at the office itself and two or three people online would be my old friend Julie Beckstead. It's good to see her even though online and we didn't get to visit it all. Anyways, I dropped the meeting two or three times trying to open up my copies of the minutes and the agenda and other things that they were sent out by internet. It took a while but I finally got an agenda to follow. I think I'm going to enjoy my time on this board once I get everything squared away and can figure out how to use the zoom function and I may not even use it that much preferring to be a at this meeting in person it just means a lot more to me and I want to spend time with my old friend Kim. I should be okay till next month unless they call me in on a special assignment which I doubt would happen.

The other two events of my day one was the coffee group which was pretty vigorous lot of good conversation going on and I got a bunch of dollar bills. About the same amount that I get every week between 8:00 and $10 which isn't too bad. Also, we had way more cookies and treats than we needed but it's always better to have too many cookies than too few that's a great motto to live by. You never have enough cookies. I did make a Fast Trip over to Smith's and get a giant can of peppers, sliced jalapenos. So it was kind of a busy day but I enjoyed being out and using the transit system. I also got some tamales at the market I had one for a late lunch it's not too bad it's a chicken tamale and I would rather have had beef or I just should have gone with the cheese and green chilies that would have been great as well. I'd go back and get another bag of tamales but it's just too much hassle trying to run all the way through the construction I'm trying to find a bus that'll stop and pick you up or let you off without having to roll all over just to get home again…

Wailing Wednesday

 About 6 months ago canned hamburger, fully cooked, started showing up on the giveaway table. I was a little skeptical when I grabbed the first couple cans that showed up there. I couldn't conceive I've already cooked hamburger, I mean it's a great idea, I just couldn't fathom it. But I took the three cans that showed up they're about a pound a piece and one day I think I even wrote about it I used the the can with a can of sloppy Joe mix and actually didn't turn out quite bad it wasn't like real hamburger or hamburger that I cooked down from raw meat but still in the middle of a blowing snow storm that I couldn't get out to the market or anything this would get me through. Every month now couple can't show up on the table and I've grabbed as many as I can probably use in a year. I must have six cans now and I've been trying to figure out how to use them effectively. I finally decided I think the hamburger would go great with tortillas. I even bought a couple of packages of different size tortillas in an effort to utilize this can protein. Of course I haven't used any of it until today.

I know over the years that I've lived here I've accumulated a number of cans of refried beans or Frijoles. I figured what better use of the hamburger than to mix it with the Frijoles and then wrap the mixture in one of the large tortillas. I toyed with the idea for two or three weeks and then tonight I figured what the heck this is a good night since I've already had the can of hamburger opened up in cooking the fat down to just the meat I would play with my idea of mixing the two and then rolling them up and said tortillas. And of course I don't know how or why but all my cans of refried beans have disappeared and I can't explain that for the life of me. I know I saw cans of beans got my refried beans, in the shelving last week. I even had a can out on the table that I was going to try to do this project last week but never got around to it and now I can't find any of them. Now that I have the hamburger Cooked our warmed up heated up or whatever you want to refer to it as cuz it's already cooked. I just and beside myself I can't find it anywhere and I think that's part of the universal Trickster that's out there who likes to play games on me anyway either that or the moving vortex has moved on my cupboard/ pantry and either removed or effectively hidden all my cans of refried beans. So they went my idea of beans and hamburger mixed up. As luck would have it however when I opened up my cheese drawer in my refrigerator I had a small package of shredded cheese, already opened and ready to go. So I made two cheese and hamburger burritos and they weren't half bad. I wish that I had my new can of pickled peppers opened but I did not and I didn't have the energy to open it up tonight but the cheese was good enough. I actually seen my CNA my home health person just heat up a tortilla with cheese inside and made a little cheese tortilla sandwich I'm sure it's got a technical Hispanic name but I don't know what it is. I'm hoping now that I've eaten my dinner wash the dishes kind of and put the residual hamburger and cheese away that when the cans of refried beans think I'm not looking and show themselves I'll turn on them and put them aside to try for another dinner refried beans hamburger from a can and shredded cheese does it get any better than this?

Tuesday Tuesday

 I'll try not to harp on my wounded butt for the next couple days so however long it takes to get myself healed but I'm sure I'm going to slip up here and there. Remember, we didn't put on the second skin after my shower yesterday as we usually do because of the bleeding which occurred when Melissa took the previous"sskin" off revealing significant skin breakdown to the point of bleeding. Thank goodness not bleeding very much I think I only put like three or four drops from the lift to the toilet. So we didn't replace a tape feeling that that's probably part of the problem is leaving the tape on too long. It just freaks me out whatever this happens on my butt because really if I were to try to heal the proper way that would be to stay off my butt as much as possible like laying down which you're just kill me even if there was dead winter outside.

So let's decided are we decided that we would leave the wound untreated, not put the tape on, this today. Just to see if my body would respond positively. I interjected that  we could use anytime of the day after the tape is placed on. I like to watch a Marvel movie Somewhere during the day after my bathing and also pay attention to this I don't know Apparition I don't know if the ghost or not but it's a little kid that keeps showing up somewhat next to me at times and we visit and promise to get together again sometime. Took me awhile to realize that this apparition was a person deceased desperate for companionship even if they have to reach over to the real world. Yesterday I was too tired to do anything positive about my wounds and today I was just in a hurry to get to my volunteer meeting and to get on with the week. It was a great travel day if I didn't have to feel my butt being torn up all during the day. I just hope that I'll be able to get this thing fixed relatively quickly so I'll be able to enjoy the fall and winter seasons. So tomorrow we'll look at the damaged area again to see if there's been any beginnings of new skin. Hopefully won't have to be up too much tomorrow I do have a meeting at noon but I can attend over the internet via Skype. Hopefully I can recline more tomorrow than I did today and get some fresh skin developing over the wounded area. In contrast I may just have to have Melissa take a couple snapshots of my rear end and send them to my doctor's office and see if I need to be in getting some attention. The best option would be a home health nurse I actually coming out to focus on getting my rear end better. I have two more meetings this week out of the apartment one down tow -ish I wish to irritate my tush as little as possible in hopes of getting better. So bear with me as I try to heal this precocious wound I'll keep you updated as we go along…

Monday movie and stew

 I did not think today was going to be too productive just because I didn't get much sleep waking up around 3:00 in the morning and then just hit it and missing moments of sleep until I finally got up around 6:00 a.m. surprisingly however, I've done pretty good today but I really didn't do anything to speak of. I'm too scared. I'd be elected to go without the butt dressing I usually wear because when my home health person/cna change the bandages there were wounds on my butt probably pressure sores but obviously the Second Skin wasn't doing his job or something. We decided to let it rest for a day or two until Wednesday when my CNA would be here again and we adjudicate what needs to be done. I had her apply the special cream I have supposedly with silver which is always done a good job in the healing process and hopefully that will have some impact positively. So I guess what I'm saying is that I did not really do anything because I didn't want to aggravate the wounds that were there and I wanted to give the wounds that were there a chance to heal so I kind of laid back in my chair a large part of the day out in the sun shine and read my current novel. I would rather lay back in my chair that have to lay back in bed and not be able to get up. This kind of freaks me out to say the least. I will put more goop on my butt tonight before I go to sleep and more in the morning when I get up but tomorrow is Tuesday and that's Assist Incorporated meeting day. I'm taking a bit of a risk but I'll attend the meeting and hope for the best. I have another meeting the next day then two meetings the day after. Luckily the Wednesday meeting is attainable by internet but I will be traveling on Thursday. I sure hope I can get this thing under control. I'd really like to be more active but maybe this is all part of the great lesson who knows?

It's kind of late getting on towards 9:00 p.m. I was halfway through Captain America the First Avenger but I realized I had not blogged yet. So I shut down the Disney Plus and came into do my daily business on my blog. If it makes any difference I will confess to just doing the one Marvel movie today. I like to start something like a movie over dinner and then if it's entertaining enough finish it afterwards. Tonight I actually dug into the pantry got a bag of stew that I picked up off the sharing Shelf. Remember the boxes that a lot of the folks here get from the food banks full of canned goods and other items that poor seniors might need. Well most of the people who get the boxes don't like what's in the boxes and they all goes to the sharing Shelf and over the years I've collected three or four bags of stew. The stews not bad about four cups in each bag and you just cut the top off and pour it into your saucepan or Bowl to Heat up. It's not the best stew in the world it's not like anymore are some of the other more mainstream stews but it gets the person by the handful of crackers and the cold something to drink tonight it was Shasta wild cherry doesn't get better than that. I may have enough time to finish my movie I don't know doesn't matter it'll be there tomorrow and so well my butt. …,

Simply Sunday

 I have still not gotten the definitive answer regarding the Box covert test I received at my door last week sometime. I just do not have that much interaction with folks here at the complex and that's my fault I totally agree. It's just I never remember to ask the question when I'm with folks. Hopefully tomorrow Jennifer the building manager / rent manager should be in and if so I can ask her and that will be the best answer I can get. If I do need to do the nose swab it won't be now until Wednesday because with Melissa tomorrow being here before Jennifer gets here I won't have the information. However, Jennifer does get into the building while Melissa is here and I can send her up to see if Jennifer is in station if she is Melissa could actually ask the question and if we are doing building wide nose swabs then I could get my nose swab tomorrow. There's also scheduled inoculation party next week to where they will be giving the new variant immunizations to covid. I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to this.

The day was quite a beautiful fall day and I basically squandered the day away watching Marvel movies. The morning was actually productive if you call going to breakfast at the local restaurant productive. It was not only Mark Anthony but also the kids Jasmine and Jackson. I think we had some great discussion and Good Times having breakfast. The kids never order a breakfast if they eat anything they just take bites of what might be on our plates like parts of scones or pancakes. However Jasmine usually has for coffee that's good. Afterwards, J&J came over to the apartment and cleaned! Jackson is so great he really sweeps the floors and then grabs the the mop thing- - you know that device has got the pad on the end and you squirt and it squirts soap on the floor as you mop. Can't remember the name of the device the Jackson gave it a great workout this morning and I sure appreciate the kids working on the place. Not only the floors but Jasmine put my table in order which hardly ever is done and worked on my cans in the pantry doesn't get much better than that I'm lucky to have the kids of my life.

I usually have just one meal on Sunday and that's the meal at the restaurant. The rest of the day I spend in some cases try not to have a bowel movement but another situations just piecing on food here and there. Like tonight when I started feeling hungry I grabbed one of the finger steaks that I cooked last night that came out a lot better than the ones that I ate last night which were the burnt ones. I have another steak in the freezer and I'm thinking of trying this operation again but this time just keeping the stove on low fry or whatever it's called and coming out with a lot better product at the end. The seasonings I used on this set of finger steaks was pretty good but I could certainly use more garlic and more salt and pepper. I really do enjoy having this much protein at fingers tips to snack on during the day. I wouldn't mind having something like a cake or cookies or something like that to snack on during other parts of the day on Sunday since I don't have another formal meal. Like chips to munch on or Peppers to snack on and that's what I do I spend some time fishing out peppers from my tomato juice pepper Solutions and that's pretty good enjoy the gazpacho soup type of thing. If I were to use crackers or bread sticks or something I could probably count a cup of that as a real meal just certain degree. Certainly Below in calories. As it is it's been a quiet Sunday and it's nice sitting in the apartment with clean floors and a clean tabletop. ..

Finger Steaks Well Done

8

 The other day I was at the market and I noticed in the dead meat section that there are two packages of sirloin steak at a significant reduction in price so I grabbed them both not knowing for sure what to do with them maybe just freeze them for right now but it'd be nice to have in the freezer in case I never need them. Also the last couple of days I've been thinking about finger steaks and Hawkins take home restaurant which is basically a fast food joint in Boise no longer functioning as I understand it but they used to have these Box Dinners the ever-present fish dinner and finger steak dinners. A steak like sirloin or flank or something cheap in those days cut and finger lengths sizes then breaded and deep fat fried four or five of them to a dinner and they were pretty good after the Saturday night dances when me and Dave would stop in there to to grab a bite to eat after the dance. Anyway I've been craving them and wondered why not make some myself?

Our first one of the packages of the meats the other I left in the refrigerator and the day I forced myself to go ahead and start the process. I used my vegetable chopper to cut the meat into the finger length sections and set them aside. This is when I often put everything in the fridge with the idea that I'll come back and work on it another time but since tomorrow is Sunday and I try not to do any work at all on Sunday if it's possible I knew if I waited till Monday that I would not like the looks of the meat so it had to be done today. I found a recipe online which I tried to follow which is pretty straightforward you know liquid part couple eggs couple cups of milk and then the dry part flower paprika salt pepper I threw in some steak rub and couple other spices in the milk I put in the liquid stuff that sauce I can never say the name right: Worcestershire sauce, some vinegar type stuff Etc couple eggs and I mixed everything together in the liquid stuff as well as the dredge. They have this great flat bottom walk that I thought would be perfect and I filled the bottom of it with vegetable oil, dredge the pieces of meat in the milk eggs substance then the flower and threw them into the frying pan which of course they started cooking immediately I think well I know now that the heat was way too high. It started smoking immediately I didn't pay much attention a lot of stuff I Cooks smokes quite a bit. Anyway long story short I set off the alarms in my apartment which is not really earth-shattering news but then for the first time I made enough smoke that I started filling up the Halls or the apartment complex and the major alarms went off that go directly to the fire department. Immediately I went to the hallway and started telling everybody I was just cooking not to be alarmed( excuse the pun). Sure enough it seemed like half the Taylorsville fire department showed up and they're all congregated by my doorway which is not open and I have the patio open hopefully trying to get some cross vent and the fire guys are all going full bore bringing all the heavy equipment especially the fans to blow the smoke out of the hallways. I made about six pieces of meat maybe 9:00 all together and I thought they were pretty good I ate a couple and put the rest in plastic to use an eat on tomorrow in the first part of the week. I have to admit I'm a little intimidated to do this project again maybe if I just keep the heat down pretty low I'm not worried about a fast fry. Now I have to go and try to clean the flat bottom axesWok I try to get it done before midnight. A 1/4 of the way through Toy Story 3 and I'd like to finish it tonight actually that's not going to happen it's on regular broadcast and will be done by the time I finish washing the Chinese Wok. Now I just hope I don't have serious repercussions from management about almost burning Down the joint.

200 The Hard Way

 I needed some cash just so I'd have some around the apartment if needed. I found that if I can keep a large enough quantity of cash on hand I can pretty much get through the month without having to either use my charge card or my debit account. It seems to work pretty well but I was at the end and just had a couple $20 bills left and I needed a couple rolls of quarters for people in my life who need and assist every once in a while to wash their clothes. So the day was a beautiful day and I didn't have really anything else to do after Melissa was here to help me with my morning routine so I decided I would take off and at least go to the bank / Credit Union to reading my home cash base.

Right now I've made a weird situation once again it seems by UTA bus pass is stopped working. What I mean is that there's electronic chip embedded in the bus pass that when I tap it on the reader on the bus it processes my card. This is a very hit and miss situation I don't know if it's just me or very few drivers ever challenge me for tapping or not tapping just because there's a lot of going on but I get on the bus not only me getting myself up the ramp and around the corner but the driver has to step back and undo the seats put them up so he can tie me down when I get back to the wheelchair tie down section. But anyway just the same if a driver does challenge me and I use my card and hit the reader and it doesn't do anything it looks like I'm trying to get a free ride- - which I am but I'm not at the same time if you know what I mean- - I get my cards free so it's not a big deal I don't think it's enough that makes me uncomfortable so I'm always a little tense but the bus pulls up. But I got on the bus and over to the college where I was able to pick up the westbound 47 that takes me to the credit union. No problems on the bus and no problems at the credit union and I was ready to go.

But the time I was done with my banking business it was almost 12:00 p.m. time for lunch and I was pretty hungry just because all I've had for breakfast was my jalapeno pepper drink. Maybe a few nuts cashews and Brazil nuts. There's not a whole lot a fast food options there by my credit union except there was one down the street hires. It seems like I tried to go there before and was disappointed but I thought I'd check it out again. As I got closer and closer to the facility which is about two blocks away from me I can see that it was pretty weathered then I remembered I had gone this route before and when I got there realized the place had been shuttered. I was disappointed to say the least but I'm looking closer I could see there was movement inside and there seem to be some lights on which kind of surprised me so I decided to check it out and luckily I did. I was correct the place had been closed for about a year and a half it looked pretty bad on the outside but they've just done a number of refurbishes to the inside it looks beautiful and they're hamburgers are great and I had a a meal and I had the smaller of the hamburgers called a junior extra pickles extra lettuce, pretty soggy french fries and a mug of root beer with hardly any ice the price was $17.50 I couldn't believe it. 1750 for a lunch of a hamburger and fries? I paid it anyway because I figured I was worth it but I was pretty shocked. I don't know if I will go there again soon if I do I'm going to stop at the Burger the junior Burger was  $6.95  and I don't know how the rest of it escalated like it did. I wished I'd take it an image..