jimsjournal
A sunny weekend -- 04/09/05


I've just finished another one of those crazy weeks, filled with too much to do...

Hmmm, come to think of it, most weeks lately have been like that...

Lots of work to do at work... plus lots of work for both courses I'm taking (but only three or four weeks left)... plus lots of other things to do...

I think I visited A Quick Tire & Auto Service Center just about every day this week. I brought my car in on Monday to get new front tires and an oil change and a state inspection (the first two items had been planned, the inspection request came about when I happened to look at the inspection sticker on my windshield and realized it had expired a few days, uh, weeks ago, uh, well, would you believe October... oops) and then I got in some exercise by walking home (at a brisk pace, two and a half miles, using the bike path).

On Wednesday I had an eleven a.m. appointment there for a wheel alignment (there hadn't been time to fit that in on Monday). I was also due to be in a telephone conference call meeting at eleven, following a 9:30 to 11:00 telephone meeting. Oh, and I had an 11:30 appointment for a blood donation. Think of it as an exercise in multitasking. (Fortunately the first meeting ended about 10:45 so I had a time window to drive into town.) I dialed into my conference call on my cell phone while dropping off my car, then walked from Wakefield over to the Red Cross blood center in Narragansett (somewhere between a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half), taking part in the meeting as I walked and also standing around in front of the blood center. I said goodbye to the meeting when I reached the blood center receptionist. Gave blood -- my veins tend to be slippery and roll a lot so that sometimes the nurses have a difficult time getting the needle in just right, but everything went just perfectly this time. Had my juice and cookies. Walked back to the auto shop. They were backed up with work and hadn't started my car yet... I had to get home and get back to work so I re-scheduled for Thursday morning.

Thursday morning I was working (I tend to start work very early, usually between six and six-thirty, although I take time out to wake Nancy and feed her and get her on her way) and got very involved in something and didn't get into town until past 8:30. My intent had been to leave the car and run home and then pick it up at one o'clock when Jill would be dropping off her car... the trouble was, I had missed my eight a.m. start time (which would have resulted in my car being first in line and it would have been ready in an hour or so) and my car could be done but they couldn't guarantee that it would be ready by one... so I rescheduled for Friday morning since I needed to be able to drive Jill to work at three while her car was in the shop. So Friday morning at eight I drove my car to the shop and came home in Jill's car... and then later in the day Jill drove me down to pick up my car.

Early Friday evening we had a photo appointment -- they're taking pictures at Nancy's church for their church directory (I guess this is becoming fairly common because this morning Bonnie posted a picture of her and her husband taken for their church directory) and by the time we got out of there it was seven o'clock and I was tired so we stopped at Main Street Fish Market & Restaurant and ordered fish and chips to go... and whilst we were waiting, we wandered into the neighboring package store (that's what they call a liquor store in New England) and found a sales promotion going on to promote the products of Gritty McDuff's Brewing Co. (a brewery and brew pub up in Maine), giving free tastes of various Gritty beverages -- we both liked their Vacationland Summer Ale, so I bought a six pack and it did, indeed, go nicely with our fish & chips. [In case you are wondering why I called it Nancy's church -- well, just because it is hers, she's a member and I just accompany her sometimes.. although we had belonged to and were quite active in a Presbyterian church before moving to Rhode Island, she has joined an Episcopal church -- to her, raised as a Catholic, it is a nice relaxed informal atmosphere, but to me, raised as a Congregationalist, it is much too "high church" for me to feel comfortable.]

Today has been a nice quiet Saturday -- did some laundry, did a small amount of studying, hit two supermarkets for grocery shopping -- and got in a six mile run. Okay, so my pace was really beginning to drag around four or five miles along, but I did it, and right on schedule for my Six Week Tweak personal challenge.

Nancy has had a bad cold all week long, complete with head congestion and a sinus infection with a headache... she finally got some antibiotics prescribed yesterday and I think they are helping... she spent much of the afternoon asleep (a combination of exhaustion and the side-effects of the decongestant). I fixed pork chops for dinner -- boneless porkchops slit open and stuffed with slices of Granny Smith apples, sauteed in marsalla wine with fennel seeds, craisins, and raisins. Also sauteed some string beans and slices of red pepper in just a little olive oil. Made mashed potatoes. After the pork chops were cooked I quickly added a little more marsalla wine, a teaspoon or so of flour, and a quarter cup of milk to the frying pan and cranked the heat up to quickly make some gravy to pour over the mashed potatoes and the chops. Oh, and Pillsbury crescent roles in the oven (c'mon, you know I cook, but I don't really bake, so when I do bake something it tends to be out of a box in one way or another).

I should be working on a big assignment due Monday night for my instructional design course, but I'm too tired... I think I'll post these random babblings, finish cleaning the kitchen, and go read in bed.



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