29 november 2012 (th)

written on 30 november

got up a little late

breakfast

cereal
kambucha
oj
iced tea

had to rush to catch the train. decided to ride in to union station. not a great idea. red line is too crowded.

nice walk from dupont

lunch

beef kebabs
rice
carrots
dr. pepper

dinner

pizza (3)
iced tea

pizza took over an hour to arrive.

we watched red with b.willis in the evening. enjoyed it.                                                                                                              

28 november 2012 (w)

written on 30 november

i'm getting behind on my blog postings!

it's only friday and i barely remember anything specific about wednesday.

i had the usual breakfast. got to the train on time.

lunch

sierra chicken wrap
salad
iced tea

dinner

lentil soup
rolls
iced tea

27 november 2012 (tu)

1114 / 43 deg f / light rain / at cq press

felt rotten when i woke up in the morning. thought about going back to bed. decided to push through and see how i do. felt a little better after a shower.

breakfast

oj
kambucha
cereal
banana
iced tea

caught the train at 6:40. raining.

arrived at work at a little before 8:30.

snack

bagel w/ cream cheese
coffee

26 november 2012 (m)

written on 27 november

really didn't want to get up when the alarm went off. four days in a row with no alarm makes it harder to arise on demand!

breakfast

cereal
oj
banana
coffee
iced tea

got to the train 10 minutes ahead. started listening to the first stephanie plum story today.

stopped at trader joe's on the way to work.

snack

yogurt
oj

lunch

californian sandwich
salad
iced tea

at the cafeteria. really good sandwich.

left the office at 4:30. easier to walk today. leg feels better. caught the 5:11 train.

met e. at broad run.

dinner

lentil soup
rolls
iced tea

very good.

dessert

slice of bread
iced tea

we watched charade in the evening.

25 november 2012 (su)

written on 26 november

slept in until 8:30.

breakfast

scrambled eggs
blueberry bread
coffee
oj

got groceries at wegmans and h-t. wegmans very crowded. also recycled a phone at staples.

chores and football at home in the afternoon.

lunch

turkey sandwich
stuffing
iced tea

dinner

quiche
salad

dessert

pumpkin pie
cool whip

24 november 2012 (sa)

written on 26 november

spent a lot of the day running errors and doing chores.

had lunch at the black bear bistro in warrenton. i had a club sub. very good. elizabeth had  a burger. ok.

we went to the library, the tea store, the bread store and the post office.

we got to re-store after it closed. went to the jeweler to get a watch band and staples. ended up at bed bath and beyond at dinner time.

dinner at bertucci's. very good!

23 november 2012 (f)

1610 / 64 deg f / partly cloudy home

woke up around 7:00. read a bit of the crystal cave before going downstairs. went down at about 7:40.

breakfast

cereal
kambucha
iced tea
coffee

snack

egg sandwich on rye

did some raking and other chores in the morning and early afternoon.

working on the checking account as well.

called mommy with t-day greetings today. couldn't get her yesterday. she knows about rachel so no worries about that now.

22 november 2012 (th)

written on 23 november

thanksgiving day

woke up around 7:30.

breakfast

eggs (3)
toast (2)
kambucha
oj
iced tea
coffee

watched tv for a little after breakfast

went to safeway at about 11:00 to pick up the food.

did dishes and cleaned the kitchen floor when i got home.

lunch

sandwich
iced tea

we had dinner at around 6:30

turkey
mashed taters
stuffing
cranberry sauce
asparagus
iced tea

mostly good

watched some football. sleepy early. went to bed around 9:30.

21 november 2012 (w)

written on 23 november

vre was about 2/3 full in the morning. metro was quite crowded.

office was not very busy. jerry, colton, tracy, jan, and i were about the only folks i saw.

left at 3:00. took the blue line to king street because i was running a bit behind.

vre was packed. stood in the vestibule with three other people until burke center. got to broad run at 5:00. home by about 5:30.

20 november 2012 (tu)

written on 23 november

tuesday of thanksgiving week.

don't remember much about the day!

19 november 2012 (m)

written on 20 november

tough day. ran for the train in the morning and aggravated my aching leg. sore all day.

18 november 2012 (su)

written on 20 november

don't remember much about sunday.

went to the grocery store. did some raking. did some chores.

17 november 2012 (sa)

2153 / 34 deg f / fair / home

slept in until about 8:00 in the morning.

breakfast

egg sandwich
oj
banana
iced tea
coffee

took it easy in the am and watched this old house hour. started raking after that.

raking in the front yard for about two hours. started out in front of the fence. changed over to the front yard. yard is so wet my feet were freezing after half an hour.

took a shower and started on chores at about 2:30.

bank
dry cleaners
pharmacy
ordered thanksgiving meal at safeway

snack

cappu
brownie

the brownie was a mistake

groceries at harris teeter

dinner

fried chicken (2 pieces)
potato salad
iced tea
cinnamon loaf

watched st:tng and doc martin in the evening.

16 november 2012 (f)

1405 / 53 deg f / clear / at cq press

fasting doctor's appointment in the morning so i slept in a little. up at 6:30. out of the house at 7:30.

traffic was not bad this am. i arrived at the doctor's office at 8:15.

i don't even want to talk about the weight. jeez. also louise.

bp still remains good. doctor could feel the clicking in my shoulder this time. suggests trying an anti-inflammatory and if that doesn't help possibly a specialist. we'll see how it goes.

breakfast

cowboy burrito
hash browns
bacon
iced tea

from anita's. got my old waitress again. i think she's lost weight. good for her.

got to vienna at around 10:00 and got to the office around 10:45. forgot to take my phone with me today. crazy.

lunch

fish
cole slaw
fries
dr. pepper

written on 17 november

left the office at about 5:40. took the metro to vienna. pretty full train. got to vienna at 6:40. got home at 7:30.

dinner

tuna wraps (2)
fruit salad
iced tea

very good.

to bed early.

15 november 2012 (th)

written on 16 november

woke up with a terribly sore shoulder. couldn't put any weight on it when i first woke up. could not lift my right arm. very painful for two or three hours. woke up with the alarm and decided to go back to bed and see if it felt better.

woke up at 7:00 with a little more motion but still a lot of pain. called in a message to jerry at about 8:00.

took it pretty easy for most of the day.

breakfast

cereal
banana
oj
iced tea
coffee

watched dodgeball on dvd. don't know why. listened to a lot of the hunger games.

did dishes, laundry, balanced check book.

lunch

turkey and cheddar sandwich
iced tea
chips

snacked on chips and peanuts in the afternoon.

dinner

pizza (2 slices)
cinnamon sticks (2)
iced tea

watched a bit of sherlock holmes. did dishes. went to bed.

14 november 2012 (w)

1335 / 48 deg f / fair / at cq press

woke up with the alarm at 4:50. got up pretty soon after.

breakfast

cereal
banana
kambucha
oj
iced tea
coffee

got to the train on time for once!

2nd breakfast

omelette
biscuit and gravy
sausage
iced tea

at cosmo cafe

working on blitz vi today.

lunch

stuffed chicken
green beans
potato cakes
dr. pepper

snack

coffee
hershey bar

written on 16 november

left at around 5:00. caught the 5:36 train home. got home around 7:30.

dinner

spaghetti and meatballs
salad
iced tea

dessert

klondike bar

we watched an episode of foyle's war on dvd. then bed.

13 november 2012 (tu)

written on 13 november

slept for about 8 hours on tuesday night. it is rare for me to get 8 hours. felt pretty well in the morning.

breakfast

cereal
banana
oj
kambucha
iced tea

running a little late in the morning. had to run to catch the 6:40 train.

rainy and cold on the way in to work.

snack

coffee

got to work around 8:30.

lunch

tuna wrap
small salad
dr. pepper

left the office around 5:00. i thought i was going to miss the 5:36 but just got there in time.

stopped at h-t on the way home.

dinner

turkey reuben
tostitos
left over gyro
iced tea

we watched a murdoch mystery on dvd in the eventide. dishes after that. watched the daily show and then to bed.

12 november 2012 (m)

written on 13 november

veteran's day observed in the united states.

i got up at 5:00. i was hoping to leave at my normal time but had to spend a good deal of time on cat chores.

breakfast

cereal
banana
oj
kambucha
iced tea

actually left the house around 6:30. had to take metro today because the vre is not running.

arrived at the platform at vienna around 7:30. i saw a train leaving as i arrived. still standing on the platform at 8:00. metro says it is because of single tracking but they could run trains more frequently if they chose to.

finally get to east falls church on a packed train and wait for a bus. i must have caught the 10th or 12th bus that arrived at the station. bus made stops at ballston and va. square. and then had an accident (no injuries). we had to get off and wait for another bus (about 10 minutes). finally got to clarendon station. didn't recognize the place. packed train again but it took very little time to get to foggy bottom.

snack

egg and bacon on a bagel
oj
japanese iced tea

finally got to the office just before 10:00. unbelievable!

worked steadily all day. warned e. about the metro and checked into cab fares to vienna. looks manageable.

lunch

chipotle chicken
green beans
sweet tater dish
dr. pepper

not very good. very messy.

left the office around 4:30. sore calf again. really slow walking to the metro.

orange train arrived pretty quickly. got off at clarendon. they had a shuttle running directly to vienna! i have no idea how we got there but it was pretty quick. parking was free. drove over to nutley to meet elizabeth.

dinner

gyro
salad
fries
iced tea

way too much food.


got home at about 9:00. went upstairs to take off my shoes. fell asleep. woke up at midnight. back to sleep almost immediately. slept until the alarm went off.

11 november 2012 (su)

written on 12 november

veteran's day. armistice day. what ever you want to call it.

slept in again today.

breakfast

egg sandwich
donut
coffee
oj

at wegmans. nothing in the house this morning so i got breakfast out.

groceries at wegmans and harris teeter

snack

jalapeno cheddar bagel
japanese tea

brought in the groceries. regrouped. went back out to do the recycling. the new baltimore recycling was full in some of the bins so i ended up going over to the county dump to do the rest of the recycling.

lunch

patty melt
hash browns
cole slaw
iced tea

at the frost diner. i meant to get the tuna melt but must have said patty melt. it was good. cole slaw was  not good.

did laundry and dishes when i got home. watched some football. still dragging. no energy.

watched a lot of the dallas / philly game. went to bed around 10:30.

10 november 2012 (sa)

written on 12 november

slept in in in the morning.

breakfast

eggs (2)
little smokies
toast
iced tea

worked on chores in the morning. very sore shoulder again. really limited what i could do.

lunch

burrito
iced tea

at chipotle in warrenton. really bad. worst i've ever had at chipotle.

went to the library in the afternoon.

snack

caramel macchiato
pound cake

from the starbucks in w'ton. very slow. barrista was too busy chatting with an off duty starbucks employee to make the drinks. finally got bumped off the line by the manager.

finished reading people of the book from the hard copy version.

dinner

hot dogs
       

9 november 2012 (f)

written on 10 november

woke up at my regular time. did not sleep well. felt exhausted.

feed the cats. cleaned the boxes.

breakfast

cereal
iced tea

not much in the house.

caught the 7:20.

2nd breakfast

scrambled eggs
hash browns
biscuit w/ gravy
iced tea

at the cosmo cafe in l'enfant. went in partly to go to the bath room. stuck beside a giant lady on the vre and couldn't get to the bath room on the train.

got to work at 9:20 or so.

nothing went well today. frustrating. did finally get some work done though.

walked to dupont at noon to give elizabeth some stuff she forgot. she had to rush back so i went to lunch at panera at dupont.

lunch

chicken sandwich
chips
iced tea
chocolate chip cookie

found out that it is fairly easy to get to dupont simply by walking up n street to 19th.

left the office at around 5:00. caught the 5:36. listened to the hunger games on the way home.

dinner

korean beef
brown rice
spring rolls (2)
coke

at the pei wei in gainesville. not very good. can't remember what i used to get at pei wei. they had orange coke and raspberry coke in the machine. orange was pleasant. raspberry was terrible!

got home around 8:30. fed the cats.

fell asleep on the coach. woke up at about 11:00. did some stuff on the computer. went to bed around 1:30.

8 november 2012 (th)

1537 / 56 deg f / partly cloudy / at cq press

hit snooze a few times in the morning.

breakfast

cereal
banana
coffee
iced tea
kambucha

elizabeth is staying in dc for the next few days for the conference so we drove in together today. just missed the 7:20 but caught the 7:50.

snack

bacon, egg, and cheese bagel
oj
japanese tea

got to the office around 9:30.

one on one with jerry at 10:00. sk meeting at 11:00.

lunch

orange chicken
rice
broc
dr. pepper

not bad. not great.

pay day today. it looks like something may now be right on my pay check. i'll have to check when the stub arrives.

written on 10 november

left the office a little after 5:00. just missed the 5:36 train. came home on the 6:16.

dinner

chicken sandwich
fries
iced tea
milk shake

at chick fil a in bristow. i rarely eat at cfa anymore but felt like chicken today.

got home after 8:00. fed the cats. did some chores. didn't get to bed until about midnight.

7 november 2012 (w)

1247 / 44 deg f / cloudy / at cq press

hit snooze a few times this morning.

breakfast

cereal
banana (half)
kambucha
iced tea
coffee

realized i was a bit late for the 6:40 so watched the news for a while. caught the 7:20. got to work at 9:00.

snack

donut
coffee

blitz v today.

lunch

bacon cheese burger
fries
iced tea

just in the mood for a burger!

written on 8 november

left the office a little after 5:00. missed the 5:36.

snack

coffee
pound cake

at starbucks.

caught the 6:16. quite cold waiting for the train.

got home at about 8:30.

dinner

veg burger
iced tea

went to bed fairly early.

6 november 2012 (tu)

1703 / 45 deg f / cloudy / cq press

slept in a little in the morning. voting today so i can go to work a little later than usual.

got up at about 5:15. moving slowly. feeling quite tired.

breakfast

cereal
banana
kambucha
oj
coffee
iced tea

left to vote at around 7:15. got to the poll and realized that they opened at 6:00. i thought they were opening at 7:00. if i'd realized the correct starting time i could have gone to work by the vre as usual. oh well.

didn't take long to vote.

drove to vienna. traffic was ok. got to the office around 9:30.

meeting about temis in the am. lots of california and london folks in the office today.

snack

chips
coke

monthly all dc meeting before lunch. some interesting presentations.

lunch

salad
chicken
rice
fish
roll & butter
water

provided by the company. pretty tasty.

got some work done in the afternoon. leaving around 5:00. hope i remember to go to vienna instead of broad run.

written on 7 november

dark for the first time when i walked from the office to the metro. i guess it will be four or five months before the days start to be noticeably longer.

the ride from foggy to vienna goes very fast but then it takes forever to go from vienna to home.

snack

chicken sandwich
iced tea

at the wendy's in fairfax city. i used to eat at this wendy's about once a week. store is a bit cleaner and brighter than it used to be.

got home around 8:00.

dinner

veg. burger
iced tea

snack

coffee

we ended up watching the election results. looked like romney night at first but then started to shift. about 10:30 or so i thought it would be midnight at the earliest before the race could be called. then suddenly cnn predicted obama and then nbc and then fox. and when fox did it i figured it must be a fait accompli.

very pleased. now if they can work together.

5 november 2012 (m)

1833 / 44 deg f / cloudy / home

i had the day off today in order to wait for the insurance adjuster.

i got up at 6:30 so i could shower and get breakfast ahead of time in case the work crew arrived.

breakfast

cereal
kambucha
oj
coffee
banana
iced tea

watched the simpsons in the morning. e. didn't get going until 7:30 so she had to catch the metro.

adjuster came a little late: at 9:50. very pretty. took a lot of pictures. she'll get back to us. she noticed the damaged siding before i mentioned it and took pictures.

i asked if she had any ideas about generators. she suggested that the least pricey option is to put a battery backup on the pump and then get a portable generator. this gives you a few hours of buffer in case you aren't home.

she said whole house systems range from about 3,500 and up.

called service masters after the travelers lady left. the dispatcher said a team was on the way but their truck broke down.

went out at that time to handle some chores.

dropped jeans at the cleaner to be altered. flu shot at safeway while waiting for the tailor to return to the cleaner.

snack

coffee
sausage, egg and cheese

from caribou. ok coffee. good biscuit.

went to verizon to check on plans. lowest smart phone option is about $100 a month for phone and data plan. seems a bit much to me.

lunch

one eyed cheese burger
steak fries
iced tea

at red robin

really good. i was starving for a burger.

thought about getting my hair cut. nobody available at smart clips.

checked plans at at&t just in case. roughly the same as verizon.

still no work crew when i got home. shit.

laundry and bills in the afternoon.

supposed to drop to 29 tonight. COLD.

written on 6 november

dinner

cassoulet (1.5 bowls)
toast w/ butter
iced tea

very good. elizabeth made it on sunday.

watched a mix of shows on tv until 9:00. then foyle's war. dishes and then bed.

4 november 2012 (su)

written on 5 november

again, no crew to work on the basement.

got up at 8:30 but had not reset the clocks. spent some time resetting clocks.

breakfast

cereal
coffee
oj
banana
kambucha
iced tea

did some chores again. went to wegmans at around 11:30. very crowded.

snack

bagel
donut
iced tea

h-t after wegmans

lunch

chicken
cole slaw
iced tea

watched some football. cleaned under the stove.

dinner

quiche
salad
iced tea

watched star trek: the wrath of khan and then:

bed early

really good quiche.

3 november 2012 (sa)

written on 5 november

we were told that the crew might come on saturday to work on the basement so i got up around 7:00. did dishes, etc.

when they didn't show in the early morning i assumed that they would not show.

breakfast

egg sandwich
banana
coffee
oj
iced tea

feeling tired all day. did some chores.

elizabeth had a ticked to see pres. obama at jiffy lube live. i tried to get a ticket but got wait listed.

we went out to run errands around 11:00.

library
bank to get our homeowners policy
lunch at pot belly

lunch

italian sub
chocolate malt
iced tea

quite good.

i had been told that potbelly belonged to starbucks but i just looked it up. it is not true. it's an independent company.

we went to dsw and petsmart. e. went in. i sat in the car and listened to the book.

we went to h-t after that

dinner

fried chicken (2 pc)
potato salad
iced tea

from h-t. for once it was exactly what i felt like.

we watched st:tng on cable in the evening and an episode of as time goes by. some how managed to miss the  atgb episode with daisy. darn.

2 november 2012 (f)

written on 3 november

got up with a struggle on friday morning. feel terribly tired the last few days. mildew smell from the basement doesn't help. oy.

breakfast

cereal
oj
banana
iced tea
coffee

got to work at the normal time. pretty chilly in the morning. thinking about heavier gloves.

mid-morning snack

bagel w/ cc
oj
iced tea

jan sick today. had the office to myself. listened to news round up on d. rehm.

lunch

fish
slaw
hush puppies
clam chowder
dr. pepper

seemed to get a lot done today. very sore calf in the afternoon. felt a twinge in the am but it got worse as the day went on. feels like the beginning of a cramp but doesn't become a cramp.

i was sure i was going to miss the 5:10. rode with lorna on the train. she was going to the folger.

i actually caught the train with about 2 minutes to spare. got a seat to myself!

dinner

salad
baja chicken quesadillas
iced tea

at ruby tuesday.

we couldn't face the empty fridge!

nutty waiter. she seemed totally out of it. just as we were leaving she said she'd been there for almost 9 hours and was not feeling well and couldn't wait to go home.

the remake of the karate kid was on cable. we ended up watching about the last half of that. fairly good movie. beautiful scenery.

bed after that.

1 november 2012 (th)

written on 2 november

got the clock problem worked out on wednesday. got up at 4:50.

breakfast

cereal
banana
oj
coffee
iced tea

got caught behind a big old truck on vint hill. he drove all the way down the road at 40. many thanks! really had to run to catch the train.

mid-morning bite

bacon (2)
eggs (2)
coffee

lunch

oriental beef wrap
chips
ginger ale

pretty tasty

headed for home about 4:30. met jerry half way there. walked the rest of the way together. kind of chilly.

met e. at broad run. we got home around 6:30. didn't look like the clean up crew had come.

dinner

ham, egg, and cheese on toast
iced tea

sherlock holmes episode then dishes then ice cream then bed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

31 october 2012 (w)

written on 1 november

when i woke up in the morning i thought i had mis-set the alarm. thought i was running an hour late. turned out i had mis-set the clock and i was an hour early.

rushed through the shower, got dressed, ran downstairs. decided to eat out since my only choice was dry toast. realized as i went to the car that it was 5:00 am not 6:00 am.

decided to catch the 5:45 any way.

the 5:45 is a much older train. the conductor's seem a lot friendlier but the cars are not comfortable.

found a cafe at l'enfant station. they have a hot food bar.

breakfast

hard boiled eggs (2)
bacon
hash browns
biscuit with gravy
iced tea

all fairly tasty but NOT HOT. would have been quite good hot.

the cafe does have a bath room, though, which is nice to know.

got to work at about 7:30.

mid-morning snack

bacon egg cheese bagel from the uptowner
oj
japanese tea

groggy all day. felt rotten

lunch

almond crusted chicken
rice pilaf
green beans
ginger ale

pretty good.

left the office at about 4:00 and caught the 4:25. train was late and crowded.

clean up guys arrived around 4:00.

stopped at h-t to get replacements for the stuff ruined in the fridge.

dinner

pizza (3 slices)
iced tea

dessert

ice cream

bed early

30 october 2012 (tu)

written on 1 november

the power went off at about 11:00 on monday night. when we woke up tuesday the basement was flooded.

oh boy. about 8 inches of water. no power when we got up and no forecast of when power might be available.

we decided to go to wegmans to get something to eat and use the wifi network.

breakfast

bagel (salt)
donut
japanese tea
coffee

finished at swim two birds at wegmans. we stayed there for about two hours. then we went to tractor supply company to get boots so we could explore the basement.

we stayed in warrenton for a while.

lunch

salad
steak and cheese sub
iced tea

at the ledo's in warrenton.

ok. there were lots of families there so we felt like we were intruding in someone's dining room. not much fun.

came home and checked the basement. not so good. about 8 inches evenly. stair well was about twice as deep. furnace, water heater, ok.

we stayed at home until it started to get uncomfortably cold. finally went to panera for dinner at around six.

dinner

turkey and cranberry sandwich
chips
iced tea
coffee
bear claw (half)

stayed until about 8:00. lights were on when we got home.

turned off the alarm on the cistern. checked to make sure the pump was working in the basement.

went to bed around 10:00.

29 october 2012 (mo)

written on 1 november

heard on sunday night that the government would be closed on monday so both e. and i would have the day off. nice.

slept in a little but actually out of bed and up around seven.

did a few  chores in the morning.

breakfast

oatmeal
oj
coffee
iced tea

took advantage of the surprise day off. did a few chores. watched tv. watched the weather reports. watched some movies. napped. read. very nice.

lunch

sandwich
iced tea

went out briefly in the afternoon to get cat food. very windy. rain heavy off and on. got gas.

got a coffee at caribou. picked up a few things at safeway.

dinner

hot dogs and french fries

getting ready to go to bed at about eleven. wind dying down. rain slowing. power went out. crap.

just before that happened we heard that the government is closed again on tuesday