Of the thermometer anyways. When I woke up it was like 60 and it’s already dropped to 43. It’s kind of exciting because it’s been a while since there was a cold snap. We baked an apple pie (frozen) this morning, it’ll be out of the oven in about 5 minutes and have time to cool for dessert this evening. We partitioned the ground beef we got food shopping yesterday into 6 burgers and 2 meatloaf’s. We had burgers for dinner last night, meat loaf tonight and I froze a meatloaf to vacuum seal for later. Maybe sloppy Joe’s with 3 of the burgers. I like having the options when it’s cold like this.

I finished the last items that I wanted to get done before the freeze. I put a cover on the front faucet. Got the ficus inside, the thing is huge and barely fits in the laundry room now. I even wrapped up the cat house with a moving blanket that was scheduled to be thrown out, I believe it actually stays warm in there now. I think Cali has moved on or has another place because she just hasn’t been around. The other cat with white paws shows up more than she does now, we’re naming him Snowy. Because he has snowy feet. Haven’t seen him at all during the day so not sure what color he is, looks gray under the IR light.

The Cowboys are wrapping up their disappointing season today playing the Commanders at home. They look mediocre at best. The problem is that they always look like that. Year after year it’s the same. The Commanders were bag on your head bad last year and now they’re playoff bound. The Cowboys are playing golf.

Life is good today, I’ve got a smile on my face and feel good about what I’ve got done over the weekend. This week promises to be interesting to say the least.

For some reason I woke up at 4am and didn’t go back to sleep. But damn I got a lot done. It started off with a trip up to top off the Xterra and get 10 gallons of gas. While I was there I exchanged a propane cylinder so I think I have 5 full and 2 half full. I decided to forgo the generator testing. I know it’ll work if needed. And that should wrap up my energy gathering prior to the cold snap moving in tomorrow night.

We also went food gathering this morning. I mean we were at the super Walmart at like 6:30am. The only other people shopping were the employees. We bought a ton, well $180 worth of food. But that’s 5lbs of ground beef, lasagna for 8, 2lbs of lunch meat, and frozen fruit. So we’re all set for the next couple of weeks with just jaunts for small stuff. Hopefully we’ll still be getting deliveries over the cold snap but it it rains at all for the next 10 days and freezes overnight you may as well call it a day. The roads shut down and even tire chains would be questionable. Speaking of which we need to get some of those for the truck.

After that I shuffled off to men’s breakfast at church. It was good to see Adrian and Mike there. I’ve been going to that long enough that I can hold my own in a conversation with most of the folks there.

Then I got home and knocked out the crowning achievement of the day which was to knock out the garage. Now we have the truck parked in the west bay, Sandy’s car in the east bay and the Xterra in front of the truck. I still have enough room and it looks great. Now I can work on getting the truck back to showroom now that it’s hangered.

For a week with a day off in the middle it sure felt like a double week. Not 100% sure why either. In any case it’s over even if it doesn’t feel like a Friday. Work on the old project is wrapping up, not sure what’s up with the new project. That’s life.

I’m going to try to make it to men’s breakfast at church tomorrow. It will be a nice start to the day and I can get the garage knocked out tomorrow. Then I just have to baton down the hatches for the upcoming cold snap. Already put covers over the clean out plug and spigot in the back. Have to do the front one and bring plants in. I’ll try to weather proof the cat house a little better also. Then I’ll finish up the back room when the temperature drops next week.

I’ve started playing in depth with VS code and it’s got a bunch of bells and whistles that I’m just finding out about. Including AI code generation from Amazon Q and Microsoft Co-pilot. The code it writes is really well written, traps errors and everything. It could be a boon for education because progress can be made in short order.

Bacon and eggs for dinner tonight, that’ll be two breakfasts in a row come tomorrow.

Second day of the year and it’s shaping up to be one of those years. It did feel a hell of a lot like a Monday. Some things got off track to begin with but they shaped up after a bit of wrangling. The morning blew by, then I jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes @ 4 MPH. I think the treadmill is harder than the gym, at the gym you can speed up and slow down your pace with the music or at your whim. The treadmill don’t play that. 4 MPH is going to stay there until you change it so it’s more of a challenge to keep up. Probably why I’ve always liked it less but for some reason, the way it’s set up now with the other TV is better and nicer to walk. I keep saying that it’s good to go to the rec center because it’s social. But I’m not social. I know the name of one of the workers. And only one of the other guests. I’m wasting time going to and from when I can just jump on and be done in 30 minutes. Need to start with the weights too. Gotta get rid of the spare tire too.

I made it out to Bronco’s for lunch. Took forever and they got the wrong fries but it was good and I left full. Got some more work in the garage, we’ll have the truck and car in there this weekend. Which is good because we’re getting a blast of winter starting on Sunday and lasting throughout the week with lows down to 19 on Thursday a week from today.

I’m trying to wonder if I can handle living in temps like that for months on end. I think I can, it would be fun if I had property. I need to examine that though. David had decided to downsize. He’s only got 3.5 acres and I’m looking at minimum of 10. He’s 9 years older. I don’t know. I think he may be thinking of being closer to medical care. I guess a triple by-pass will do that to you. I haven’t had one of those but the appendectomy sure got my attention. How quickly could I have gotten to an emergency room had I lived in the middle of no where.

So this is 2025. Not too bad so far but we’re less than a percentage of the way through and I’m not inherently an optimist. So I got a notice yesterday (and today) from FedEx that there is a package on the way. If I’m guessing right this is the laptop from the new client I’ll be working for. It’s supposed to be a 9 month contract but we’ll see how it shakes out. Should be something I can completely shine at but I still need to hone my Linux, python and docker skills and work on my physique.

Also a lot of home repair and upgrade that needs to be done. Sometimes it feels overwhelming but it’s all a labor of love. I didn’t get much done in the garage today. I’d like to rant about the frigging mouse putting the NCAA BCS on ESPN instead of ABC. I mean I’m sure I could have paid for a month of ESPN streaming but it’s the point of it, I really don’t care to support them. You want to put it on the air, I’ll watch it. I’m not paying you to show me commercials or I’m doing that as little as possible.

So tomorrow is Thursday and I have to let part time job we need to wrap up the current project in prep for the next project. I hate this part but I’ll be damned if I’m running any more than one project at a time. Work Life Balance Dammit!!!

Started off the day by taking the better half to the hospital to get the nose looked at. The doctor had us in and out in the matter of 15 minutes it seems. No bad news, everything was good except the patient was a little light headed as we left so I’m glad I did the driving.

Slightly more progress in the garage. Got the pegboard that was moved to make room for the TV on in the east bay moved to the back wall in the west bay where the truck will be hangered. That should be good storage for hanging stuff and some tools that just don’t belong in the rolling kit. (e.g. pipe wrenches, various saw blades/saws, and all types of tape). Won’t be done in time for this year but sets up an easy win early into the next one. I’m imagining that we’ll need all of those we can get.

Sandy and I decided to stay close to the house and opted to walk up to Pulido’s now that it’s reopened. Katelyn was our waitress, we had a devil of a time we here name as we renamed her Lauren as soon as she left to get our waters. There’s my resolution, pay friggin attention when someone tells you their name, have no idea why that’s so stinking hard for me.

With that I’ll sign off on this last post of the old year. While I hold little optimism for the upcoming year (or four), I’m going to make the best of it for me. My world is going to get better, I’m going to get better. I’m going to rededicate myself to my art of computer geekiness and learn new things and collect certifications. I’ve got another 15 or so years of work and I’m going to spend it doing what I enjoy.

Happy New Year’s Everyone!!!

You know I only paid $50 bucks for it but I liked that fridge. I called around and made inquiries but it seems you couldn’t give it away. That’s fine. Mom hooked me up. All I had to do was load it and go pick up mom and head to the dump. In Fort Worth they have these drop stations that are pretty amazing, if it’s household debris then you just back up to a stall and throw it on down into the dumpsters waiting below. They have shredding. They also have big item drop off like refrigerators. Now you’d think that they would have a place for said refrigerators so they can purge the Freon out of it but it really didn’t look like anyone was going to do that. I was able to undo the dolly that I used to get it into the truck and with a big push, dropped it off the back and into the pile. It was good to see it go.

This means we’re that much further to putting the garage project to bed. I also used what turned out to be an almost hot (80 degree) day to good use and reordered the shed so we can get some of the garage overflow out there. Also married up the project I was working with and it seems to be great, we’ll see what the response is after it’s reviewed. Regardless I should be able to tweak it too whatever they need.

So as we’re coming up to a new year there are things that I’d like to get done and habits to start. One of those things is preparing to die. I mean it’s going to happen. There is nothing I can be more certain of than the fact that I will die.
While I’ve always known this fact, it’s getting closer, I’m at the age that there isn’t really a possibility that I’m going to live more years that I’ve already lived. I’m on the short end of the stick…

This fact has been playing on my mind and one of the things that I can do to help myself is to prepare for this inevitable event. Those that have to clean up after I’ve gone deserve ease in saying goodbye. I need to make sure that the things I’ve created and someone would want are right there, not having to be searched for. It’s the last gift I can leave, here is my life’s work, keep what makes you happy, the rest can fade with my memory.

So here’s the start of the list:

• Pictures – All of them, in a directory, on two devices. This is on a hard drive, a pair of them mirrored. Remember, all of them in a central repository.
• Accounts and Passwords – All accounts (bank, social media, local accounts, et al) need to be documented and be in a format they can be accessed.
• Semblance of organization – Keep things that may be wanted together and in place. Keep things that can be disposed of separate. I have a lot of things, tools and computers mostly. Keep those things that had sentimental value together and stuff that can be put at the curb ready to do so and documented.

Enough of that for now.

The day went well, got the garage further along, it was great to watch the Cowboys loose on the big screen in the garage. I’m happy about the transition to having tools based in the toolbox instead of on the wall. It makes sense to do this, the countless trips back and forth to the tool wall creates an interruption of the job at hand. I can have about 90% of the tools in my old rolling Craftsman tool kit.

Tomorrow I’m going to pick up mom and we’re getting rid of the refrigerator. It won’t be long and that piece of the renovation will be done.

The day didn’t get off to a fast start but I got moving around 11 and made good progress throughout the day. Did some time at the gym and then back to working on the garage. We proved that the truck will fit in the garage and we had to get rid of the extra refrigerator. I managed to get it into the back of the truck and we’ll get it over to a disposal center on Monday or Tuesday with moms help. So we’re really close on the garage and that should be done by the end of the year. Hopefully anyways. Then just need to wrap up the back room and we’re on to the next project time permitting. We have to do something with the bathrooms. They’re falling apart at an alarming rate and something has to be done fairly soon. Ah the joys of home ownership. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d flounder if I had to live in an apartment again. I guess it wasn’t that bad but just not my cup of tea.

The other keen thing that happened today is that I got Burning Shores to work for Zero Dawn Forbidden West. It’s been two years since I completed the game and never could get the DLC to launch, finally did some digging and it really helps if you actually install the extra content so it can launch. Lesson learned…

I do like me some Friday’s. Got a project at work knocked out in short order and enjoyed the day. Mom stopped over to visit. Brought us cookies. I went for a 7 mile bike ride to enjoy the weather and when I got back Sandy and I took a walk. I’m trying to give away the garage refrigerator but it doesn’t look like anyone wants one. I actually hate to get rid of it but we have another one. When you look at it, I’ve got 5 refrigerators for 2 people. I mean one is for the RV but still.