Volume 14 - Day 59/306, 2022 - Monday

There is no word for "fun" in Russian. I made it back home this afternoon, just about an hour later than anticipated. My friend Dan picked me up at the airport, and we went to the kennel to pick up the girls. They are pretty wiped out, they have been sleeping almost the whole time since they have been home. I am going to join them in just a little while! Getting back today was, from what we have heard, much easier than coming back yesterday. Checking out at the hotel was no real issue, we got to the airport about three hours early. Checking in was easy, going through customs was a breeze, and I am really happy that I got my global Entry card. No problemo. The airport in Nassau is kind of interesting. We changed gates once, and lots of other flights changed gates while we were waiting. We had lunch at Wendy's, I have not had a Wendy's burger in years. I had a Frosty, too. It was really great seeing so many friends from across the country, and I am here to tell you, it was so good to just let loose and laugh. I MEAN LAUGH! Sometimes we got stomach cramps from laughing so hard, but I would not trade that for anything.

Volume 14 - Day 58/307, 2022 - Sunday

In 1908, the Russian Olympic team arrived in London 12 days late because it was still using the Julian calendar. Well, the conference ended yesterday, and several of us stayed an extra day. I took my COVID test this morning, and I can get back into the US tomorrow with no issues. No COVID issues, anyway. Checking out, flight delays and getting through Customs will possibly be another story. It wa a good, calm and relaxing day today. Stayed in bed late, had a nice pizza brunch, took two naps, went and hung out at the beach, then went to dinner with Ben, Tobetha and Nancy at the Poop Deck on the east side of Nassau. Good food, too much food, nice harbor views and good company. The taxi rides here are pretty interesting, you never know how much a ride is going to cost until you get there, and even then it can change. We got back to the hotel, did a little bit of shopping (nothing for me), and then had a drink at the jazz bar. A great day!

Volume 14 - Day 57/308, 2022 - Saturday

Russia has more time zones (11) than any other country, but since 2011 has only used nine. Well, the conference ended at about 9 o'clock this evening. It wasn't exactly a Fox News moment, but I think it was a fair and balanced day of politics and speakers. Kellyanne Conway and Patti Solis Doyle, both advisors to Presidents and hopeful Presidents. Bill Luntz ( a pollster) spoke yesterday, as did Bill Richardson. Mike Pompeo finished the morning session, and then we had a luncheon outside the center. After all that, I went back to my room and took yet another nap, then headed down to the pool for a couple hours. Our closing reception was at 6, and then we visited a series of the dozens of bars in this compound. The jazz bar is the best as far as music is concerned, but it is also the loudest, and it is really difficult to carry on a conversation. 

Volume 14 - Day 56/309, 2022 - Friday

Fort Wayne, Indiana once had a mayor named Harry Baals. Today was a good PC day in The Bahamas. Lots of political trivia and insights, more to come tomorrow. I was on the elevator with Bill Richardson, the former Governor of New Mexico and currently a negotiator for the release of hostages around the world, via the Richardson Foundation. I got to shake his hand and talk with him briefly. We also saw Kelly Anne Conway roaming the halls, she will present tomorrow. She is looking kind of pale these days. After our sessions, we went back into the 'Fish Fry' section for lunch, and then back to the hotel for a good nap. Tonight, we had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel complex, then took a walk along the water for a while. Now, I am ready to call it a night, and tomorrow will be another 7 o'clock call.

Volume 14 - Day 55/310, 2022 - Thursday

The little dot above a lowercase 'i' and 'j' has a name. I could tell you, but just go ahead and ask Mrs. Google. She'll tell you! Today was a most excellent day. We rented a boat this morning and took what was supposed to be a four hour excursion. We got a little extra time, and it was great. Snorkeling, private beach, passed by the island that was used for the opening credits for Gilligan's Island, just overall a really good time. Lots of big turtles, some jelly fish, some sucker fist that look EXACTLY like baby sharks (cue the music). I caught a spotted heiny fish (look it up), a baby barracuda, and another fish that I forgot what kind. We also say a BIG tiger shark, about nine feet long. A good day on the water! We got back to the hotel, hung out at a cabana, then I took a little nap. Then, we had a reception that begins the conference, and tomorrow our day will start at 7AM. The good news is, the conference day ends at 12:30, then we have free afternoons and evenings. 

Volume 14 - Day 54/311, 2022 - Wednesday

Your fingernails grow more quickly on your dominant hand. Today was a really fun and interesting day. I slept late, and did not leave the hotel room until about 11:45. After last night, I was not really that hungry, but a bunch of us went to the 'fish fry,' which is kind of an area close to 'downtown' that has a couple street of restaurants and cafes, and a couple street of street peddlers. We had lunch at a place called 'Goldie's,' and it was excellent. Lots of conch. Conch fritters as appetizers, conch this and conch that. It was delicious, much better than I remember the last three or four times I have visited the Bahamas. And then, I also had a seafood platter...much tempura fried food, totally, absolutely delicious. I could not eat it all, and in my modus operandi of not wasting food, I was able to give what I couldn't eat to my table mates. We did a little shopping with the street vendors, and then we went to a place called The Queen's Staircase. There is some history to the place that is really fascinating, so ask Mrs. Google to tell you all about it.I got back to the hotel and went down for a nap. Tonight, we went to dinner at a lovely place called Gray Cliff. It is the home of the third largest wine cellar in the world. The food was very good and we also got a tour of the wine cellar. All very interesting. Let's see what tomorrow will hold!

Volume 14 - Day 53/312, 2022 - Tuesday

No number from 1 to 999 includes the letter "a" in its word form. Well, if I do say so myself, this has been a fun day. I got up early this morning (I did not walk), and got busy. I left the house at 8 and took the girls to the kennel. When I got home, Dan and Nancy were there, and after orange scones from Panera Bread, Dan schlepped me to the airport. This evening, I find myself in the Bahamas, and we had a great amount of fun this evening, with Ben, Tobetha, Cindi, Carrie and Jonathan. Too. Much. Fun. At the airport this afternoon, I found this guy trying to impersonate me at the airport. I don't know who he is trying to fool, but I am not NEARLY that tall.

Volume 14 - Day 52/313, 2022 - Monday

Reading about yawning makes most people yawn. As Monday's go, this one had some high points and some low points. I don't have to do this often, and I am actually not at all fond of doing it, but I had to go post a Notice Terminating Right of Occupancy against a tenant. It is a long story, but it is just the start of what I expect will be a 4 to 6 week process. Awful, awful, awful! Otherwise, it was not a terrible day. It was 85 degrees this last week of February in central Texas, and tomorrow is expected to be close to the same, maybe a couple degrees warmer. The high temperature on Wednesday (two days from now, pay attention), is expected to be 35 degrees. That's crazy, I don't care who you are. I did make it to Costco again this afternoon, and the pharmacy was open and I picked up my prescription. As is usual, I am checking out Antiques Road Show, and that will do it for this journal entry.

Volume 14 - Day 51/314, 2022 - Sunday

For every person on earth, there are 200 million insects. My day did not go exactly as I had planned, but the timetables for all my outside the house stuff were pretty accurate. Last night, there were eight of us for wine and today at brunch there were six of us. After brunch, I went in to Austin to run an errand, stopped by the office, and then headed off to Costco. My main purpose to go to Costco was to pick up a prescription, but I now know the pharmacy is closed on Sunday. I never would have guessed that. I did make it home at about 2 o'clock, which is pretty close to what I projected yesterday. Our walk was not as chilly as yesterday, and as I left the house there were some nice pink clouds. About ten minutes into the walk, we were greeted by beautiful red skies, and I am sharing one of the pictures of that sky with you in this post. The rest of the day was spent being stressed out and frustrated. My printer worked as intended yesterday, but it would not print a thing today. I did everything I knew to do before I called IT, but we got it working. IT hung up and it quit again. Finally did some this and that, and it worked again. I have not tested it in the last 2 hours, I just hope it will work the next time I need it. Otherwise, I am ready to call it a night, and go sit in the big chair with the girls.

Volume 14 - Day 50/315, 2022 - Saturday

At their nearest point, Russia and America are less than three miles apart. I seldom stopped moving today. I had twelve things on my chore list, and I got seven of them done. Most of the day was spent busily doing laundry. One of the benefits of having several pair of underwear is, I only have to do laundry occasionally, not weekly. Today, I did sheets and mattress pads, all that stuff. Then, I did white clothes, colored clothes, blankets and comforters. I put the plants BACK outside (I will bring them back in on Tuesday morning), went to the drug store, the grocery store, trimmed some suckers off the live oak tree in the back yard, and then this evening, we had wine in Dick and Marge's garage. It was good to see the neighbors again, it has been a week or two. There were eight of us tonight, and that is always fun. Tomorrow, I have a few more chores to get completed, and I hope to have all that stuff done by about 3 o'clock. The low temperature tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40s, as apposed to this morning, when it was 29 degrees. I think I may take a quick nap after my walk in the morning.

Volume 14 - Day49/316, 2022 - Friday

RIP my Sweet Love

Joel William Rudd

April 1, 1920 - February 18, 2020

Volume 14 - Day 48/317, 2022 - Thursday

Bookkeeper and bookkeeping are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters. I took the plants outside this morning, gave them all some water, and brought them all back inside this afternoon. Walking this morning, the temperature was 67 degrees. I think it got up to the low 70s by about noon, and then a cold front came through. It is 44 degrees outside right now, and it is expected to go down to about 29 degrees overnight. For the walk tomorrow morning, the wind chill will be about 24. Did you get all that? I worked from home today, got a good bit of stuff done, a Tesla Ranger got here about 11 (an hour early), got the charge port fixed, did a software update, and all that is good stuff. The new housekeeper showed up right on tile as well. Lots of good stuff done. Did I mention I took the plants out and in in the same day? I will be heading in to the office tomorrow, and I have a couple appointments to go to. Then it is the weekend. I have a couple things planned for Saturday and Sunday, and it should all be calm and comfortable. There was a pretty nice sunset this evening (much better than I could have done), and it is just about time to call it a day.

Volume 14 - Day 47/318, 2022 - Wednesday

Because of the rotation of the Earth, an object can be thrown farther if it is thrown west. I got in to the office pretty early again today, and the traffic was not as bad as yesterday. I was able to get quite a lot of little things accomplished in the office this morning, and at EXACTLY NOON I logged on to register for our DC visits starting May 1st. It was crazy, the site crashed a couple times, it was a very confusing process, but I got the hotel I wanted and made my reservations. Now I need to work on my flights. I had an appointment at one of my listings this afternoon, and I made it home in time to log on to a 2 o'clock zoom. The zoom was scheduled for an hour and a half, but we were done in less that 45 minutes. I love finding time like that. Tomorrow I am working from home, so that will mean a little bit of extra sleep. In my old age, I think all the sleep I can get is a good thing. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, and one of my favorite places to fall asleep is on a plane, as we are taxiing out to take off! Many of you know I am enamored with clouds, and I think these were pretty interesting this evening, although they look a little bit more foreboding than I remember.

Volume 14 - Day 46/319, 2022 - Tuesday

A jiffy is equal to one-hundredth of a second, which is where the saying, "I'll be there in a jiffy!" comes from. So, my challenge to myself to reduce my complaints has gone into a second day, and I have done a pretty good job, iidssm. Jay was feeling kind of poorly this morning, which is not at all typical of Jay, so we did not walk. He is having some sort of stomach challenge, and if I were to guess, I would say he won't be walking for the next few days, at least. Because there was no walk this morning, I left the house earlier than usual, and I had a sad reminder that I should stay home longer because of traffic going in to Austin during the rush hour. I will make a mental note of that. I got home just in time to log on to my zoom education class, a three hour CE course on NAR Ethics. I love the topic, and it was a fun class. Tomorrow will be a pretty full office day, and I need to keep an eye on the time, there are a couple deadlines I need to make sure I don't miss. I may also go visit a couple properties, but all in all, it should be a good day. Some people know exactly what I need to go sit in the corner and shut up!

Volume 14 - Day 45/320, 2022 - Monday

No words in the English language rhyme with month, orange, silver or purple. I would call the day a success as far as my mission not to complain goes. It was a little bit precarious in the beginning, because I did remark about people not picking up their dogs poop on the sidewalks in the neighborhood. I kept everything under control until I went and cast my early ballot this afternoon. I made it in to the office, and even though I was only absent for one day, it seems like I had not been in the office for a week or more. Once I got in, I got some work done, and I had a luncheon for our winter meeting, and then it was back to the office. On the way home, I had to make a few stops, and then my last task was to cast my vote. Today was the first day of early voting, and that is completed now. I think I am going to call it a night early, and enjoy just some peace and quiet. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

 

Volume 14 - Day 44/321, 2022 - Sunday

In a lifetime, the average person in America spends eight years watching television. I say that as I tuned in to watch the last few minutes of the Super Bowl. I did see the half-time show while I was still in Austin this evening, and I made it home with about three minutes left on the clock. And now it is over. There are some really happy people and there are some really sad people. I am happy for the happy ones, and I feel badly for the sad ones. Today was my last full day of conference, and I have a luncheon tomorrow. After that, my schedule will be a little bit more like a normal day. I took this photo from my room in the Hotel this morning. With all its' faults, with all the growing pains that Austin has suffered, I still think this is a beautiful city. I have lived here for 37 years, and there has certainly been a lot of change. and in my opinion, not all of it has been good. You just take what you've got, and you do the best YOU can do with it. I don't really care where you are, we all (maybe) have similar issues. I drive up and down the Interstate almost every day, and you just do it. Don't complain. Same thing with the Post Office. Don't complain. Maybe if we all just quit complaining, the issues might lessen until they were no longer issues. I think I am going to see if I can go a whole day, tomorrow (it's too late for today), to not complain. I will let you know how it goes.

Volume 14 - Day 43/322, 2022 - Saturday

More toilets flush during halftime of the Super Bowl than at any other time of the year. Remember that tomorrow. It was a really long day today. I got up at 4AM, left the house at 5:15AM, and I got home just after 10PM. I have about another day and a half of the Winter Meeting, and then I can take a little bit of a rest. Even though it was a long day, it was a really good day. I reported to help get things ready for the TREPAC Awards Breakfast at 6 this morning, and the breakfast started at 7. There were meetings all through the day, and this evening, we had a TREPAC Major Investors event, that featured Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel. The. Best. Time. Ever. Okay, probably not, but the best time in a couple weeks anyway. But, even though it was a good day, it was still a long day. I don't have to get up particularly early in the morning, and I may even try to get up early enough for my morning walk with Dan and Jay.

Volume 14 - Day 42/323, 2022 - Friday

The Guinness World Records holds the record for the book most often stolen from public libraries. I had a full day of business at our Texas REALTORS® Winter Meeting, but instead of filling you on all the stuff that was accomplished, I shall instead discuss the obsession I had with this black Hyundai with an expired temporary tag that I followed for miles on MoPac while I was on my way home this afternoon. You can't see it from the angle of this photo, but the driver held his hand out the window, clutching his cigarette, so he would not contaminate the interior ambiance provided by his lemon scent paper pine tree hanging from his rear-view mirror. I know the routine. I know this person is ultimately going to drop (pitch) the cigarette onto the road, and I am going to quickly become livid. Before concealed and/or open carry handguns became popular, I would pull up to drivers that obviously received failing grades in secondary school citizenship, and point out to them that they 'dropped' their slurpee cup, cigarette, baby diapers or other waste material from their car. Once I jumped out and retrieved the item for the offender. I quit doing that, it has become too dangerous, so I have instead just decided to seethe and fume in solitary frustration at the poor habits of those that I share the highways and bi-ways of central Texas. Ugh.

Volume 14 - Day 41/324, 2022 - Thursday

One in four Americans has appeared on television.Thursday already, this week really seems to have gone by quickly. It seems like only yesterday it was Monday. I was up early to do my walk, and shortly after I got home, I logged on to a zoom class, from 8:30 until 12:30. Let the girls out, and then it was IN to the office, and a 1:30 meeting. A few more things to get done, and then I was off to the Hyatt, for the start of our Winter Meetings. A full day tomorrow, a REALLY full day on Saturday, a pretty darned full day on Sunday, and about a half day on Monday, and then I am finished. Lots of things to get accomplished, lots of controversial things to try and put to bed, and lots of people to try and recognize through their masks. There will be a lot of mask wearing for the next several days, but it is really just about the least we can do. A friend of mine told me that sometimes her underwear was really uncomfortable, but she wears them anyway. You are welcome to consider that a simile to wearing a mask, even though many of you may have gone commando at some point in your life. Honest. 

Volume 14 - Day 40/325, 2022 - Wednesday

There aren't any clocks in Las Vegas casinos. It was 40 degrees this morning when we headed out for our walk, and it was the coldest 40 degrees I have ever experienced. Really! But, we all made it, and another walk has come and gone. I did get all the outdoor plants back to the outdoors, and I expect I will need to bring them back inside at some point on Saturday. A couple days expected to be below freezing, but it could certainly be worse. I got a new Apple Watch 7 last night, I ordered it a couple days ago. I have another Apple Watch, but this new one has health things that I think will be useful for me. Particularly, if I fall over and can't get up, the watch will determine if I need help or if I'm just taking a nap. Now, all I have to do is remember to wear the watch. The new watch came with a consultation about all the apps available on the watch. The guy (Brian) asked me what I had used the other Apple watch for.  Um, telling time and checking the weather... Okay, so I have a lot of things to learn, but I will do what I can to take advantage of the stuff that caused me to buy the watch in the first place. It will tell me my blood pressure, I can do an ECG, check my blood oxygen level, and tell me how I am sleeping. I am pretty sure it tells the time and temperature, too. 

Volume 14 - Day 39/326, 2022 - Tuesday

In the oldest known version of the Cinderella fairy tale, her slippers were made of gold, not glass. It was another really pretty day in central Texas, but there is another chance of freezing temperatures overnight, so I am not going to take any chances by putting the plants back outside. I will wait until tomorrow. Then, if all goes according to plan, it looks like I will need to bring them all back in on Saturday or Sunday for another couple days. Then...who knows. I don't think anyone does. Walking was good this morning, and I got in to the office about 9:30. The charging port on my car will not stay closed when the car is parked. I have done all I know to fix it...powered down, rebooted, all that stuff...and it still stays open. I have an appointment with them to come out next Thursday to fix it. It is interesting, you no longer take cars in for service, the service comes to you. All was good (relatively speaking) in the office today. You never know what will happen, and today, for the first time in my real estate career, about 27 years now, I have a tenant that is in jail. I am not going to go in to details, but I doubt that he will make bond, and then we will have to go down a long and bumpy road to make the Landlord fiscally whole. Another day in paradise! It is always something new. The Meyer Lemon tree has actually had some buds bloom out, and they smell delicious. I did a little bit of research, and it should survive very nicely in the container, but I still need to figure out if I need another tree for pollination. 

Volume 14 - Day 38/327, 2022 - Monday

More cans of chicken noodle soup are sold in January than any other month. This being the first full month of February, it was a beautiful day in central Texas. When I last checked, the high temperature for the day was 60 degrees. There is the possibility of a light freeze overnight, so I will just wait until tomorrow afternoon to put the plants outside. Or maybe tomorrow morning, it depends on how perky I feel tomorrow morning. Carrie (my work wife) celebrated her birthday last week, but we were all hunkered down, so we did not do any celebrating until today. We had an office lunch, and lots of laughs, good food and some yummy birthday cake. After that, we all went back to the office, and I am preparing for my winter conference that gets started on Thursday, and goes through Monday...or maybe Tuesday, I am not really sure at this point. After that, I am scheduled to go to another conference at the end of the month in the Bahamas. There are a lot of hoops to jump through (COVID testing, etc.), before that trip. I have to have either an Antigen Rapid test or a RT-PCR test not more than three days before the arrival date in the Bahamas. I thought these tests were free, but apparently not; what I have found so far is that they range in fees from $50 to $150. I will do some more checking, but my pharmacy (a small Austin pharmacy) charges $85 for the Antigen Rapid test. We shall see. The walk this morning was good, and I am heading off in a little while to listen to a neighborhood guy that is running for District Court Judge in Williamson County. I don't want to be there all night, either...

Volume 14 - Day 37/328, 2022 - Sunday

There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada. Really a pretty day here in central Texas. It was 27 degrees when I walked with Jay and Dan, this was the first time I walked in about 10 days. I sat out in the yard with the girls a couple times, soaking up the sunshine. It was nice. Met for brunch early this morning, 10AM. On the way home, I got the exterior of the car washed ($13) at the quarter car wash. After that, it was pretty much downhill for productivity. I took a couple naps, blew leaves off the front patio and driveway, and a little bit of this and that, even though I cannot remember what the this and that might have been. I played my first game of Wordle this afternoon, but I did not win. My final word was CLOSE to the word of the day, but not the actual word. I think I can do this on a daily basis in the near term, Deb has filled me in on some strategies, so it is yet to be seen. I have not yet broken in to the mini-cupcakes I was gifted by Jimmie and Linda yesterday, but I am pretty sure they will not last too much longer. Two more nights of below freezing temperatures, and I will put the plants back outside on Tuesday afternoon.

Volume 14 - Day 36/329, 2022 - Saturday

Main was once known as the Earmuff Capital of the World, since earmuffs were invented there. If all goes according to plan, I will be able to put the plants back outside Tuesday afternoon. Three more days of below freezing temperatures, and then we should be in the clear for a while. I sat outside in the yard with the dogs a couple times this afternoon, lots of warming sunshine, it was all very nice. I had a couple bursts of energy during the day; I vacuumed the house (gasp), and I did another load of laundry. There were a couple naps, a couple trips to the mailbox, and just a nice day. I guess all is back on track as of now; I got three days worth of newspapers, and three days worth of mail. There was nothing of any real interest in either the newspapers OR the mail. Most of the mail got shredded, and what wasn't shredded got put in the folder of papers I am collecting for my 2021 income tax filing. I opened a can of soup for dinner tonight, and it seems the soup had a 'best by' date of sometime in 2016. It seems the more I think I have cleared out all the 'expired' stuff, I just find more. I enjoyed the soup, it tasted just fine, but in case of my untimely demise, ask the coroner to check the soup.

Volume 14 - Day 35/330, 2022 - Friday

The brain is more active when you're sleeping than it is when you're watching TV. That validates everything I has said, that I watch television as a mindless distraction. Today is apparently mail carrier appreciation day, and I appreciate the fact that I have not received any mail for the last two days. Yesterday I can understand, not sure about today. Same thing with the newspaper, but I am a little bit more understanding about paper carriers driving around in the dark. I will withhold more critical comment until I see what happens tomorrow. I had three zoom meetings today, and afterward, I went in to Austin. The roads were not too bad, I calculate they were about 96% clear. The only semi-challenges were on the fly-overs...the tall spots, and they were just a little bit slushy. I don't think I saw even one wreck there or back, so that was encouraging. In between zooms, I did a load of laundry, and it is not even Sunday. Not sure what I will do to fill up my time on Sunday, but I expect I will think of something. The weekend is upon us, and I have nothing really planned. I have a few things on my chore list, but nothing that is absolutely needed to get completed. I may just take a long nap, that sounds good.

Volume 14 - Day 34/331, 2022 - Thursday

Dirty snow melts faster than white snow because it reflects less light. When I was attending college, we were warned about the yellow snow, but that is a totally different conversation. We have been in the 20s for most of the day, and we are supposed to get even colder over night. We have had cloud cover all day, so we stayed warmer, the clouds have diminished, so that is making for cooler weather. We should be above freezing at some point on Saturday, if the prognosticators are to be believed. I did a lot of nothing today, it was interesting taking the girls out onto the crunchy grass. They did not really seem to mind it too much, and we have been outside three or four times today. I will take them out once or twice more before we call it a night. I went to check the mail after four o'clock this afternoon, and the boxes were all frozen shut. Maybe tomorrow. I went down to Dan and Nancy's for dinner (supper?) tonight; tacos and burritos. Yummy. I've got pipes dripping, and taking all ordinary care precautions, so (fingers crossed), I am hoping to come out of this relatively unscathed. Another couple days and we should all know for sure.

Volume 14 - Day 33/332, 2022 - Wednesday

Most people button their shirts starting at the bottom. Welcome to Twos-Day. If you get it, you get it. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that. It has been grey and gloomy all day today, and it has rained for most of it as well. I did go in to the office today, the first time in a week. Tosalyn and I visited a couple properties, and I got my desk cleaned off, so it was worth the drive in. The freezing weather is expected to be in the area about midnight tonight, and is should not warm up above freezing until sometime on Friday afternoon or evening. I will be dripping both hot and cold faucets tonight until it gets to be above freezing. All the plants are inside and will survive the cold temperatures. As a property manager, there is just so much we can do...and if we have not made the message clear via thirty or forty e-mails, there is nothing that is going to fix that. I went to the grocery again this afternoon, not that I was in particular need of anything, but it seemed like the right thing to do. I got Twinkies, chocolate milk, eggs (the first store bought eggs in many years), and apparently some other stuff that I cannot remember. $27 worth of stuff, which is cheap in my opinion. I am well fixed to stay home for the next few days. I expect I will go outside and slide around for a little bit tomorrow. Tomorrow is also garbage collection day, so we will wait and see if that happens. There were wrecks EVERYWHERE (probably not) this afternoon, and when I left the HEB there was a chorus of sirens to be heard all around. Wrecks are miserable, period, but in weather like this, I cannot think of a worse time to have a wreck.

Volume 14 - Day 32/333, 2022 - Tuesday

Ketchup originated in China. Happy Lunar New Year to you! This is the Year of the Tiger. I was born in the Year of the Rabbit. For Chinese people, the rabbit is a tame creature representing hope and life for a long time. It is tender and lovely. the moon goddess Chang'e in the Chinese legend has a rabbit as her pet, which stimulates the thought that only this creature is amiable enough to match her noble beauty. Another was of saying is that the Rabbit is the incarnation of the mood goddess per se and it is always a symbol of pureness and auspiciousness. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are gentle and approachable. They have a decent, noble and elegant manner. I think that describes me pretty well. I tried my very best to A) Place a curbside grocery order and, B) Place a grocery delivery order. Neither one worked, there were no appointments available for today, and I have absolutely NO IDEA what I am going to be doing tomorrow, let alone making a date for curbside pick-up or grocery delivery, with a thirty-minute window. SO...I suited up, donned my N95 mask, and went to HEB and spent about $70 for some groceries. I now have milk, bananas, apples and stuff. I can make it through the freezing temperatures due to be experienced starting Thursday, and probably going through Saturday. I expect we will (mostly) all survive. I had two zooms today, I did not go in to Austin, but I won't be able to avoid that tomorrow. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, however, will be a no-brainer.