Juggling Work

Juggling work and mom isn't as fun as it could be. I would like more workers who are available at the drop of a hat and willing to work whenever. Sadly, that isn't the case. Oh well. I will survive. (Maybe it will be easier during the summer...)

My current plan is to have my staff members run the light board and I will run the followspot. There are like 5 cues in both shows for the followspot. I can pop in five minutes before the show and leave right after. Not that I am ducking responsibilities - I am delegating and allowing myself the freedom to take care of my mom. Yay.

Spent a constructive hour at the Smith - hung the mirror ball and focused four lights - two in the pit and two on the mirror ball. Yay. Also looked through the gobos and picked out a few stars. I will get staff to put them in some instruments between 3 and 3:30. 4 o'clock the students start rehearsing. Yippee. It is time for the staff to start programing the light board. Huzzuh!

It is great having people who can do what I ask of them! Yippee! Got a good start before the kiddies started arriving. Gobos in, mirror ball cord tied up, spotlight set up, headset for the spotlight, etc. Then I taught (or reminded) them how to build cues. A quick couple of putters, a little bit of questioning and off I went to feed mom! 

I got to feed mom in a relaxed fashion. This is much better than the times when I have to run home, throw some food at mom and run back out the door. When I was younger, rushing was ok - now I like to do things, generally, in a more sedate sort of way. 

After dinner, back to the Smith where I let my people go and did a little Smithing of my own. After the Toeprints people headed out, I played with my new electronic toys. It took a little troubleshooting - because it didn't work at first - to get it going, but I persevered. Huzzuh! We can now use a laptop on stage or in the sound and light area at the center of the theatre to run the projector in the projection booth. How exciting is that? Very!!

Came home, puttered some more, played a bit and went to sleep. Oh, and somewhere in here, I finished Order of the Phoenix and started Half-Blood Prince. Yippee!!

And one more time

Looks like I will be doing more laundry again today. Sigh. I hope this is just a phase and that it too will pass.

Yup, I did laundry. And it was a zippy, pleasant experience, all things considered. I washed a second pillow. I guess I will be adding at least one pillow to each laundry experience. Who knew that you could wash pillows to give them a second, puffier life? Probably lots of people, just not me.

Did a little bit of Smith work today. That is a good thing. Wrote a bit of the "So you want to be the technical director at the Smith" manual. And a few other puttery sorts of things.

Mostly, I just didn't do anything - well, made lunch, made dinner, did laundry, played xBox (and did decently), listened to a good bit of Harry Potter, cleaned the kitchen, napped, played on my phone, went to the Smith and filled out my time card and did a little data entry.

Mom can be really cute at times. She always has been able to do that when necessary. Now it just happens on its own occasionally. Recently, she took a book from the Theatre Bookshelf outside of her bedroom. For the next day or two she asked me who Woody Allen was. I answered in the obligatory 637 different ways, mostly with elements of truth in each answer. Then, when I was heading back to my room, she pointed at the book and told me in all seriousness that I should read the book - I would learn a lot. It was the biography of Woody Allen, of course. I don't think I will probably read it.

There are so many books in this house that I have never read. Or have never been read by anyone living in this house. Ever. I wonder just how many. Hmm. I know that at one time there were 15,000 books in the house, at least. But of those, how many have never been read by anyone who has ever lived here. First, the house isn't that old. Maybe the 40s. My father came to the house in the late forties. And he certainly didn't read all the books that existed in the house in his time. And he most definitely did not read any of the books that have come to the house since his demise. My mom, also quite a reader, did not read many of the books here when she was avidly reading them. Me? hahahahahaha. Karl? Juliet? Ernst? Well, maybe Ernst and Juliet have read most of the books that were in the house in their times here - but since their time?

Haven't gone back to sleep...

So, instead of sleeping, I came up with a thought about why the problem we were having with ticket sales was occurring. I went online and fixed it. Yay me. Then I started working on a draft document that Kelly has created. I might be doing more than just editing it, though...I will do what I am doing and give it back to her. Maybe she will credit me with co-authorship if she likes the changes I am making. Maybe not.

Mom is being a real pain in the butt today. Yay.

I am exhausted again. Up at 3 and then up at 6 and then up at 8 all to help mom - then from 8 until 9 almost incessant calls from mom - where am I? Where can I go? What can you do for me? Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me. For an hour. And now it has started again. Sigh.

I got a bit of a nap. Yay. I also did some good work on the Kelly doc. And I even went out to run some errands. Spent longer than I thought I was going to at the Smith, talking with Kelly and getting a few little things accomplished. Then a brief stop at the Public Library (I love libraries - I wonder how they will evolve in the future...) to pick up two Audio books that were being held for me. One of them I had completely forgotten I had requested. The other is the next book in the Harry Potter series - book 5 The Order of the Phoenix. Yippee! Last, a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some corn on the cob, some of mom's pills and a few other things. Now I am back home again. And could use another nap.

I am almost finished with The Goblet of Fire. Yippee! 

I tried to watch The Boxtrolls with mom, but she was having none of it and slept through most it. It wasn't all that engaging on the small screen. It might have been better on the big screen. Or on my computer with headphones or better sound. All in all, it seemed ok, not great. Glad I rented it, though. 

My Birthday Day

First thing, mom wanted water. Which was beside her bed. And she was in a chair. Three feet away. And was mostly asleep. Just thirsty. Instead of listening to her bleat (yes, I sometimes think of her as bleating) for hours and hours, I decided to get up, put on some clothes (TMI?) and hand her her water cup. Then, back to sleep (since it was 7 am and I need my beauty rest. I need a lot of beauty rest!!). Until 8 when mom complained she didn't have any water, which was on her tray, out of sight (not really) behind a box of tissues and a roll of toilet paper. Up, dressed and water pointed out, I was going to go back to sleep but decided to check my computer and do a smidgen of work. I forgot to post the Smith Mail Blast yesterday. Sigh. Life is that way sometimes. I also launched Facebook to reply to the 15 or so people who had taken the time to wish me a happy birthday. (Thank you everyone.) And to receive a diatribe from a woman I don't know who friended me for some reason. Maybe so she could write diatribes to me. Who knows? Anyway, I wrote "money isn't real" and she told me it most assuredly was. I feel edified. (Ok, not really - glad she womansplained it to me.)

What is next on my agenda for the day of the anniversary of my birth? No idea - maybe play on my phone a bit. We shall see. I do have a massage scheduled for later this afternoon. And we are definitely pigging out on pizza and wings tonight for dinner for me. What I am feeling mom is still unclear at this point, but I will figure that out at Cams when I am there.

Oh, watched Interstellar last night and enjoyed it. I don't care about the science (which I thought was ok). I just like Mathew Mc(however you spell his last name)y who did (as my friend Jeff might say) chew the scenery just a tad. Just fun stuff. Yay Science Fiction. :)

Rain it a raineth. Good thing my parade wears rain clothing. And carries an umbrella. It could be snow, so...

Getting dragged into Smith things. Sigh.

At least the next Harry Potter book is waiting for me at the Library. I was getting towards the end of this, the third and was worried. A little. Not a lot. Really.

Time to catch up on my day a little. Where was I? Oh, yes, dragged into Smith stuff. A few times today. No day off for me. Grrr and sigh.

After lunch, I went to my massage. (Thank you Rosanne!) Pleasant but not great. I will keep searching for the masterful (mistressful?) masseuse next time. It was raining pretty heavily as I got into my car, so I decided to postpone any Birthday shopping until another time - maybe next week sometime. And I didn't get myself a cake (which is a good thing as I will explicate a little further along). I just headed home, played for a few minutes (I restarted playing Tomb Raider as I had forgotten how much of it worked), then put Karl on the phone for mom. She barely reached her hand out at all, one of her more infuriating behaviors. At around 5:15 I headed downtown to get pizza and stuff for dinner. Yay Cam's! A quick beer at Lake Drum while waiting for the food to be prepared. Back home, ate too much food (mom ate a lot too, yay) and now it is time for a shower. Huzzuh!

All in all a very pleasant day. Showered, clean sheets, mom is in bed and I am headed there too. Soon.

Harry Potter is making me fat

Because I am enjoying listening to the Harry Potter books on Audio, I am finding excuses to stay in the kitchen. Late night, my excuse lately has been bread products that get toasted and then covered with butter. Then I add cream cheese to one and honey to the other. Yum city, but I can't see my shoes anymore. Sigh. I think I am wearing shoes...

The day has been passable. I did, finally, get my act together and start sorting papers. I did not see one of the 1099s papers that Karl thought I needed. My guess is because all of my debts were under $10k that they didn't bother to report them. Who knows? I am going to roll the dice and submit my taxes and see what happens. The worst that will happen is that I will have to file some other forms and not get my refund (if I am getting a refund)(which I should - I think anyone who makes less than $50k a year ought to get all of their taxes back - all, not just a bit - every penny) for a while. 

Actively Avoiding

That pile of papers in the orange room is mocking me. Every time I walk past there, it looks at me with a glint in its eyes. It knows I need to buckle down and go through what could very easily be a wild goose chase - since I probably threw away anything from creditors after the bankruptcy - but you never know. My hoarding, must save just in case mind set might have led me to save the pieces of paper. And it all could be moot - the creditors could have sent their paperwork to the Fed and actually checked the "bankruptcy" box. Anything is possible. We shall see if I can get my act together and tackle that project at some point soon. 

The library wrote and told me that my next Harry Potter book came in! Huzzuh! So, I went down and got it and did a little bit of Smith stuff. Made lunch and did more Smith work. And I get to head in to the Smith for a meeting this afternoon. All in all a pretty easy day - despite the amount of work. It is such a lovely day outside, that I think I will ride my bike downtown. Yippee!!

I did, I did, I did ride my bike downtown. Hooray!!

Tonight's movie was the Stephen Hawking Biopic The Theory of Everything. I enjoyed it. It is interesting how thoughts he was just thinking at one point longish ago are taken for seemingly granted nowadays. 

After watching the movie, I watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then was about to go to sleep when I remembered that I had to set up a mail blast to go out Friday morning at 10:00 am. Glarp. I had most of it down, just needed to add/change some graphics, tweak verbiage and such, create links and look them up and bob's my uncle - not really. I don't have an uncle bob. More's the pity...

A conglomeration (Is that the group word for some sort of critter?)

Is my Blu-ray player remembering where each and every disc was stopped? I think it does! How cool is that?! I love technology most of the time. I was disappointed to discover that one of the web cameras I bought was not plug and play like the other cameras I bought. I am not looking forward to returning it. I hope it is easy. I really need to get on that. I don't know how long I have. Eeek! So little to do, so much time to do it and all I want to do is nothing! Yay!

Turns out I had until March 22 - and it was pretty easy - they charged me some shipping, but I am ok with that. Getting it out of my hands was the important thing to me. I will make due with two cameras for the time being.

For some reason I have been thinking about the Dragon Riders of Pern series. I think the technology is there to make the movie now. And it might be a great franchise movie. I might just have to read all 111 of them again at some point. (Ok, so there are only 22 or 24 or 25 or something) (And it turns out that movies and such have been attempted for years - but a new one was started in 2014 - at least the writing bit was...)

We have had a weird weather day. Nice in the morning, blizzard in the afternoon turning to a snowfall of snocone consistency precipitation and it is getting warmer throughout the night - to a high of 37. Since the sun isn't shining and the wind is blowing pretty heavily, I don't think much melting, sadly, will go on. Poo. Yay weather!

Finished Live From New York. It was compiled back in 2002 or so - so it is a bit out of date. I was amazed at the people who have gone through that show. A lot of talent. I am glad that I read it. Big book! 500+ pages. Eeek. I still have another book I got from the library, but what I really want to read are the aforementioned Pern books. Ok, there are a few other books that I would like to read, mostly parts of series. There is one series that I was reading a while ago - I wonder if another book came out in that series. It is supposed to be the last, but I don't think it can be with the rate that the story has been progressing. What do I know. Brandon whatshisname managed to tie up The Wheel of Time series in three books when it looked like there ought to be another six.

Lazy Sunday

Thanks to the visit of my friend yesterday, mom went to sleep at a reasonable hour and only woke me up twice! Yay! I got to sleep until 10 am for the most part. Woo hoo even!!

What else happened today? I read a lot - trying to get through (not in a bad way) - the book about Saturday Night Live. I do recommend the book, but not for everyone. It is written as a lot of quotes from people associated with Saturday Night Live. And some comments by the person (or persons) who compiled the book. It is amazing how many people were on the show over the years. And how many of them became household names. So it is a cool book. But since it is all people reminiscing, it can get a little wishy washy.

I went to the grocery store, which is always exciting. One of the checkers actually said it was nice to see me. Made my day.

I played a little - I am really enjoying Dishonored over all. It has some issues of course, but generally it is fun! Yay fun!

No napping today! Huzzuh!

Dinner was left over chicken with peanut sauce, mashed potatoes (with feta and garlic and sour cream), steamed beans and baked (roasted) Brussels Sprouts. Mm, mm, good!

Work, play and cleaning

It is one of those multi-function days.

I got up relatively early and headed to The Smith to test a few things. The HDMI splitter started working again, which is good and confusing. We shall see if it works for the projectionist on Thursday, as she has a DVD film to show. I also tested the DVD, added a trailer to the playlists, called the electrician about when he would be coming to start work on some lighting work that we requested a month ago (sigh) and blew out the rusty boiler water. Phew! I also went to the bank and checked in with the people who do the kiosk for us.

After that, a quick trip to the grocery store, where I got some huge beets!! Yay. I had my beet, apple, carrot and lime juice this morning. Yum. I also did my yoga. Sadly, the only thing that I have actually accomplished every day so far this year is writing my blog. So far, so good. Oh, and I have been doing my Daily Challenge response every day. Baby steps.

When I got back from my tough morning, I played for a little bit. I am playing Dishonored which has been enjoyable so far. A cross between an FPS (first person shooter) and an RPG (Role Playing Game). Fun stuff. I have gotten stuck a couple of times, but many people have gone before, so there is help aplenty on the internet.

Next up, room cleaning. My room hasn't been cleaned in at least a year. I was going to take a "before" picture, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of cleaning my room. I might take an after picture, just so that I can look and see what my room looks like when it is neat (ish). I don't mind a messy room, or a chaotic space, generally. Weird, right?

Wow, it really wasn't all that dirty - just cluttered. The status of my existence just now. Maybe one day I will be down to the minimum amount of belongings and stuff, but that day will be a long way in my future, I fear...next step - dusting - and then vacuuming. Yippee!

Augustus, vacuum cleaner repairman! So, I started to vacuum my room and noticed that the bag wasn't inflating. Oh no, Mr. Bill! (I am reading a book about Saturday Night Live) I took the thing apart and got out the clog (the entire tube was filled - I think we kept the last bag in too long...). It was not as easy as it could have been - but it is done now - and my room is as clean as it is ever going to get. Huzzuh! Time to cook dinner and chillax!

Patient Puzzlers

Editing can be a long process. So it might be decades before you see a finished puzzle video. Or I could do it down and dirty. Hmm. We shall see. Time...

It is another quiet day today - nothing pressing (or weighing me down) about the Smith today. Yay. I take that back, I do get to create the weekly email blast. I don't know how long it takes to do in one fell swoop - I like to do it piecemeal - a little here, a little there - seems less onerous somehow. I just hope to have it ready and out by 4:00 pm today. Doable, for sure.

Other than that, not a lot of plans for the day. Maybe some work on the puzzle video - I had a few ideas - Adding titles might be the first bit I try. I will wait to try adding voiceovers until later. I would like to read some. Maybe take a trip to the composter. Maybe shovel my driveway a teeny bit. I think dinner will see the end of the Chinese Food.

Well, I have the video under four minutes. I think I will be able to get the whole thing under three. Yippee! Just need some judicious editing. Huzzuh!

Got some reading done - the first book is Live From New York about Saturday Night Live. Interesting stuff - not earth shaking, just interesting. I remember watching the show that first year - and missing the Muppets when they left.

Made lunch for mom, ate a little something myself and had to take a nap. It is hot and stuffy up here - and the food contributed to my feeling of exhaustion. Almost done with my Smith stuff for the day. I do need to go to the grocery store, but I might not do it, just to be a rebel!

Yup, looks like I will be staying inside all day! Huzzuh! I needed a day off, day off. True, I did do some work for the Smith, but not too much. Tomorrow, though, I will have to go in. Tonight? Who knows?! I need to make dinner in a little while, then after that...

Books actual Books

(Sung to the tune of Food Glorious Food) Books Actual Books - Big pages of Writing...

Yes, I got two books from the library. Now all I have to do is actually read them. I would much rather listen to them. Reading seems like so much work. (I am 68 pages into the first.)

I have been up for a couple of hours and just don't feel like doing anything. True, I did do one Smith thing - might do more if the mood strikes - ended up doing a few Smith things. Huzzuh.

Sleepy now, so I am going to pack it in for this very short post. Hopefully more tomorrow, though one never knows, does one?

Nice package!

My package from Amazon came. I ordered it only a few days ago and it came yesterday. Huzzuh! Full of three items that will improve my quality of life. Ok, maybe not, but I am glad to have them.

My items

What do we have here? First, we have a tub hair catcher. Maybe this will make it so that I don't have to use more of that caustic hair clog removal liquid. That would be nifty. I loved the instructions on the back.

Sometimes instructions are so, er, helpful

Next we have a book about the Feldenkrais method of exercise. It is tough reading. Maybe I will get a video. (There are some on the interwebs! Huzzuh!) I hoped that this would give me some ideas on how to get mom to exercise without her realizing I was getting her to exercise. Maybe not.

Lastly, we have a cool piece of technology. It is a wifi extender - train it and then place it at the edge of your routers range and it will create a second range. How cool is that? I had purchased a web camera to help me keep an eye on mom and her bedroom was a little out of range of the router in the house. This device has made it possible for me to set the camera up and check in on mom's bedroom when I am not there with her. Even from the Smith. I am guessing that anyone can check in on her at any time. And by anyone, I mean anyone who knows the camera name and password. And I just ordered two more cameras so that I can keep track of her in other parts of the house. Huzzuh! They have come down in price tremendously! Now if only I could find one for the Smith that was reasonably priced. I need one that can look from the Smith to the Kiosk so I and others can look at it to see if things look right.

I have this odd desire to help random people and other odds and ends...

What the heck is that about? I have an FB friend who is in need of help - not that I could really help her, but I want to. What is up with that? Another person I met could really use a friend, so I want to do that for her. Really? I see a homeless person, and I would love to be able to help them find what they need to make different choices. I see a puppy or a seal or a dolphin on FB and I want to help heal the world. Sigh.

I know in my heart of hearts that the best help I can be to all and sundry is to be the best me that I can be.

Recently, mom saw one of those "feed the children for pennies a day" and "cure the hairlips of these kids" infomercials. It saddens me that the wealthy in this world sit on their money and don't fix what can be fixed. Greed and selfishness. There IS enough to go around. Really.

Mom has taken another step down the ladder. Now she has gotten to the stage where she really doesn't like to use utensils. Which means I need to give her food that can be easily and neatly (for my sanity) be eaten with her hands. Sigh. New menus need to be planned...

I will be starting my relationship blog next month - day after tomorrow. I don't plan on sharing posts with Facebook or twitter, so if you want to read it, you will have to actively look for it (or put an RSS feed from it somewhere...) I might also post in my political blog, though that seems more scary in some ways than posting in my relationship (or lack thereof) blog. We shall see. Anyway, the relationship blog - I will definitely write one post a day. Maybe more. For a month. And see what happens. Maybe it will get me to revisit my relationship book. Hey, anyone know any freelance graphic artists who might want to collaborate on a book project? Not the relationship book, but a self-help book...

Sunday Post

I think I have arthritis. Eeeek! I am only 52! And a bit of a hypochondriac. Though despite my constantly thinking I have some sort of disease, I rarely go to the doctor. Maybe if the Affordable Care Act actually starts up, I might afford to have health insurance and might actually be able to go to a doctor. Anything is possible. I still think that the rich people ought to pay for health care for all of us not so rich people. We are, after all, just here to serve them, like servants or slaves even. And if they want a continuation of that then they need us to be healthy. Just sayin'! Anyway, my right toes seem to be sending pain signals when I am walking. It might be my shoes, but they are wide toed Birkenstocks so I think that is doubtful.

Tracking the audio books with my perpetual calendar continues to challenge my creativity. The current book has about 11 sections per cd. I often stop part way through a section. So I use the month as the minute marker and forget about the seconds. A running start is often good in any case to get me back in sync with the story. This particular book is about the 60s and corruption. Not my typical sort of book, but it has been enjoyable so far.

I did head into the Smith yesterday to give someone a refresher on using the digital projector and sound system. He only needed a quick lesson. We then had a good chat and wander through the space talking about what there was, what could be better and what will never improve. Good stuff.

Opera is finished

Mixed feelings abound regarding the end of the opera. I am glad that mom and I will be able to get back to a more regular schedule. I am sad that I won't have the opera to work on and the people associated with it to see and hang out with. Sigh.

I felt like my life, such as it is, was on hold while I was working/focused on the opera. I do knw that some stuff got neglected. Like my blog. And the mail/bills. I hope to get to them today - at least that is my plan.

Ok, so where were we? Oh, yes. The opera is over. Sunday was a long day. So was Monday, come to think of it. Each will be examined minutely (or not) in due time or course or whatever saying is most apt. Let's start with Sunday.

Sunday was the second and last performance of Don Pasquale. Matinees are odd - like going to a movie in the afternoon. It comes as a little bit of a shock when the performance is over and one walks out into the daylight! The show went smoothly - I think Robert and I finally got the curtains to go at the perfect-ish time. After the show, we had to do strike - remove all evidence of the opera having ever been there. It went pretty well and quickly. Everyone helped, even though they weren't required to. And the piano got moved back - honestly, I had forgotten about the piano. Moving an $80k Steinway is heavy and nerve-wracking (nerve-racking even...) work. Though, truth be told, this is the second (or third?) time for me, so it wasn't nearly as scary. We finally got everything that we were planning on getting done done. By 6:00 pm. Yay!

The "Cast" party started at 6:30 - I didn't get there till seven. I went home, fed mom badly (McDonald's fish sandwich), tried to get her situated with something to watch on television and changed my clothes. The party was at The Cobblestone - a tradtion apparently. We had a much smaller group than in years past, so only took over the top floor. Quite a spread! Lobster, sushi grade tuna, roast beef, lasagna, all sorts of other things - yummy desserts, decent selections at the bar. I stayed for a while after dinner and listened to the performing, but, since Al had decided he wanted to be up and out early - sigh - I wanted to make an early night of it, leaving around 9:30 pm.

Once I got home, I spent some time with mom, checking in. I do feel that I have neglected her a good bit over the past couple of weeks. Poo. But she has probably forgotten already. Yay! And then I stayed up too late playing.

That is part of the reason that Monday was a long day. I went to bed late, slept fitfully (yes, a combination of lots of rich foods does tend to make my sleep a smidge uncomfortable) and woke early. I did get a little done before heading off to the Smith to stuff Al's van full of props, costumes, backdrops and furniture. We had help toting things, which was great. I think it took all of half an hour to load his vehicle and see him off.

Back home, I thought to nap, but somehow never managed to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. A new person is working for the aide service and she wanted to come and see if mom's service plan (like a car?) needed an overhaul. It didn't. Then Jenny came and helped mom out a bit by dusting her corner of her bedroom. I made lunch and headed to the Smith for a staff meeting. After which, back to the house for more attempted napping. Again, mostly unsuccessful! Eventually I headed to the grocery store to get victuals for dinner - left over chicken (from the fridge, not from the store), corn on the cob (yummy), artichokes (not good - too woody) and green beans (which I managed to cook just about perfectly). Huzzuh!

Somewhere in here, I had an epiphany-let: there probably exists a book cataloging app for my iPhone. Sure enough, there was. I bought it. $1.99 which is a bargain. It can scan an ISBN number and put all the data it can find from the web into the local database. Sure, it's a few issues, but it is way better than having to enter every book by hand. I keep telling people that there are 15k books in the house. I think that was the number I entered into a database back in 1999-2000 when I last cataloged the books. We shall see. I have already entered 15 or so. One book at a time until a room is done. Then another room and another...we shall see. Anyone want to guess?

Smith Day, mostly

When David asked me to work the Geneva High School graduation, I thought it would be a couple hours of work. Little did I know that I would have to be getting up really early and working really late. Luckily, there was time in the middle for me to get some stuff accomplished and to take a nap. Yay, naps!

I set two alarms on my phone - one for 7:05 and one for 7:35. I love that I can set an alarm on my phone - and it has so far worked to have me awake at the proper time. I rarely wake up to the alarm, though. My body wakes me up before the alarm goes off. Sometimes, sadly, much earlier than the alarm. Like yesterday. I woke up at 6:15. In the morning! Eeeek! Being a lad of the night, I really prefer the late night hours to the early day hours. Oh well. This time I got the early hours. My body knew what it was doing (sometimes we just have to give it a little listen). I woke up, worked on my blog, took a shower and finished my blog - all in time to get me to the church, er theatre, on time.

Upon arrival, I was greeted with organized chaos with no one seemingly in charge. Sigh. But everything got done - we got the video tested and helped with setting up for the graduation. I knew some of the kids from working on the musical earlier in the year. Some of them actually seemed to remember me, while others seemed to not see me at all. Whatever. Big class!

After the morning stint of work, it was back to the house for some lunch. Mom was still asleep, so I don't think she missed me too much. She was having a bad day, though. Repeating the same question about a zillion times. A very nice person purchased both of my books and I spent a few minutes getting a couple signed, personalized, packaged and mailed. Mom spent the whole time asking me who was buying the books, how did they find out about them, and saying that I was a productive person and she was impressed because she had never written a book, had she? I tried to answer all the questions as often as she asked them, and to try to bolster her self-esteem - a never ending task that doesn't seem to be successful - by telling her about all the papers she had written and the people's books she had edited. Fun stuff, here at Chez Schoen-René. After I got it together, I took it on the road and walked the three minutes to the Hobart Post Office. The postal worker added a yard of packing tape to the package. I think I should have sent it first class. Not because there was any personal correspondence in there, but because the last time I sent my books by media mail, they never got to their intended recipient. Hopefully that won't be the case this time.

Post lunch nap was great!

Eventually, I fed mom some dinner - all leftovers - continuing my efforts to remove perishables from the fridge before we leave for a week - she got salmon, broccoli and corn on the cob. As I was leaving, I pointed again at the big poster I created to help her figure out what channel she should turn to for what. Unfortunately, she paid it no heed and just sat and watched whatever PBS threw at her. Sigh. That is one of the problems I have with leaving so early (right at dinner time) is that mom is technically incapable of figuring things out on her own. She sometimes manages to change the channel on the tv. And she has been pretty good at figuring out how to turn the TV off. But I fear the time is coming where she won't even be able to manage those things on her own. Eeep. Tonight, I have movie offerings for her that might appeal. Not that I will be out and about tonight - I have to pack for us both for the trip to Maine.

The Graduation started with a hiccough. (What? When did it stop being spelled that way?) Well, before it started, I was amazed to see the mass of humanity waiting to get into the Smith. I managed to find parking and to squeeze myself through the throngs and into the theatre. I checked to make sure that everything was where I had left it and waited to start the slideshow. That is where the hiccup, if I must, happened. The video had no sound and froze half way through. Sigh. I tried everything I could to get sound back - David tried, Greg tried. Finally we just popped the disc, started it again, fast forwarded (very slowly) up to the point it froze, and it worked fine after that. Sigh. I hate windows machines (laptops and desktops, both, equally). I really, really do.

The rest of the graduation seemed to go smoothly. As did the striking of the sound equipment. The whole process, though, lasted a long time. I think we got out of there at 11:30 pm. I got home and was ready for sleep, though I did watch an episode of Warehouse 13 before resting my weary head. Love that show!

Glutton for punishment

What a great phrase! I think it was something that my mom used to say. I don't know where she got it. Anyway, I think I do enjoy torturing myself, just a little. Not in a hair shirt, cat-o-nine tails sort of way. But in a - must-watch-every-episode-of-Doctor-Who sort of way. I was hoping that there would be a complete collected Doctor Who set out there somewhere. If there is, I can't find it. Anyone? The next best thing would have been to find them all on Netflix. Nope. But what they did have was 18 episodes (average of 4 shows per episode) with a bunch of the first set of doctors. No rhyme or reason that I could tell on how they chose what to put up, but I will admit to having watched them all. Finally. It took me a while. And I also must admit, that I enjoyed them! Yay!

A year ago, mom and I were on a major trip across the country. We had just landed in Boise, Idaho. I am, again, trying to catch up with my brewpub blog, but it is hard work: finding the pictures and dredging from my brain any recollections I might have about the different places. Sigh. Beer and memory, not always a great combination!

My friends Ellen and David are nearby for a wedding. Hopefully we will get together later today. I offered to drive them to the airport.

Finally finished Water for Elephants! Took me a long while as I was listening to it only in the car. Then I broke down, found yet another cd player in the house and put it in the kitchen so I could listen while I cooked and cleaned. Yay! So glad that the book was recommended to me. I did mostly enjoy the movie - but the book was, not surprisingly, even better. Makes me sad once again that I didn't try to join Ringling Brothers for a year or two long ago. Sigh.

Mom is bloodthirsty! Last night while watching Monkey Business, we were visited by a moth. Mom wanted to kill it. Rather she wanted me to kill it. I refused. Eventually, it came to rest on mom's ice cream container (she had brought it out to finish it) so I took it out and let the moth go free. Monkey Business was entertaining, but not great. A B&W from the 1952 starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers with a supporting role played by Marilyn Monroe. Who knew that Cary Grant could do a cartwheel?!

Last Day of Grace's Visit

Great visit from Grace! Yay! I am so happy that she took me up on my offer to visit. I think mom enjoyed her visit, for the most part, as well! Yippee, even! Our final day was in many respects similar to the other days of Grace's visit: filled with rain! One day out of four was sunny for her. Sigh. Fairly representative of the weather here in beautiful Geneva, NY. Grace went out early, as is her wont, and did exercise-y things while I puttered on my computer writing blogs. The she came back and puttered around the house while I, er, continued to putter on my computer. Writing blogs. Eventually I looked at my phone and found a message saying that the aide was coming early, so I zipped out to the grocery store - which was surprisingly crowded for so close to noon - and bought salami (for mom's sandwiches) and fiber bars (for mom's, um, fiber...). And I went to the bank. Oh, and the post office. Saw several people that I knew out and about. I discovered that one of the bank tellers sews custom wedding dresses as part of her life. Another person is performing in A Chorus Line in Pittsford, NY.

Home again, welcomed Jenny the aide, who arrived just as I returned from the store and made lunch. Grace did such an awesome job on the kitchen, that I think Jenny was a little at a loss as to what to clean! Yay! Once she and mom got squared away, Grace and I headed to Syracuse to find something to do before her early evening flight. Our choice, the Erie Canal Museum.

I have always thought the Erie Canal, and canals in general, were pretty cool pieces of engineering and history. I would love to travel along one - either by its side on a bike or down it on a boat. Maybe one day. The museum was small, filled with interesting things including a packet boat! Grace played dress up and was surprised that the clothes were so small (yet many fit her...). Not a bad way to spend an hour or so.

After that, Grace was feeling a bit peckish, so we headed out in search of a place to nosh. We found Ryan's right down the street. If I lived in Syracuse, I would visit there frequently. 60+ taps of pretty good looking beer. Decent food - we shared a buffalo chicken salad. Nice staff, a pool table - not sure about wifi - but I think that if I were a regular they might give me the access code. This just might be the go-to place for me in Syracuse. I did discover that I have indeed done both of the brew pubs in Syracuse already. I wonder if I have written and posted about both of them. Hmm...

Off to the airport. Grace chose to be dropped (not literally) off so we got in our goodbye hugs and I waved as she headed into the airport. Little did we know that she would have such a long day of travel. I think she finally arrived back at home in her abode after 1 in the morning! Eeeek!

My drive back to Geneva was pleasant - listening to Water for Elephants still. Got back and headed out to get Ling Ling Chinese Buffet Food for dinner. Easy and quick and mom seems to enjoy it. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. Yay!

You all may have noticed that when something slightly adventurous happens around us here, I tend to be focused on that. When nothing much is happening except routine, I tend to be more reflective. Well, I have noticed it...Yay for variety?!

Falling for the falls again!

In order to get to the church on time, er, airport on time, I had to, ick, set an alarm to wake up, just in case my inner alarm didn't work. The inner one usually does a decent job, but since someone else was relying on my existence, I didn't want to take the chance. I am lucky that I normally don't have to use an alarm and can sleep and wake naturally, as my body dictates. Yay! How lucky am I?! This works best when I actually do sleep, which, fortunately, is most nights.
Got up, got out and got on the road in a timely fashion. And on the road, I got to listen to more of the book, Water for Elephants. Yay! I think I am about half way through and I am enjoying it thoroughly. The drive isn't as long as I thought from here, Geneva, to there, Buffalo. The GPS (yay GPS) took me straight to my destination. I despaired a little because parking was going to be costly. Not super costly, but still, I am uber parsimonious. I really, really, really dislike paying for parking. Really. I wouldn't lie to you all. So I drove around the airport trying to think of ways around paying for parking, when the holy grail appeared - free parking if one parked for less than 2 hours! Yippee skippy! (Wow, I would have hated to have been named Skippy!)

As I was walking into the airport proper, I was reminded of just how much I love to travel. When I worked for Macromedia as a Sales Engineer and was on the road 80% of the time, sure, it was exhausting, but it was also exciting and, yes, I might say even exhilarating! I got an energy boost just walking in to the airport.

I didn't have to wait long for Grace's arrival, but as I did, I noticed that TSA has gotten new uniforms since last I was in an airport. And it still amazes me that we have such high security and restrictive/invasive practices for airports (like the full body scanners), yet as a country can't chose to get guns off the streets or feed our poor. (Oops, slipping up onto that soapbox a bit - maybe I need to actually get a political blog or two written. One more thought, though - why is anything related to a social issue thought to be a political issue? Or is that just me?)

From the airport we drove to Niagara Falls - about 20 minutes away. On our walk from the parking lot to the Maid of the Mist entry point, we saw a couple from India (I think that's what they said) taking pictures of each other - so, I offered to take a picture of both of them. They agreed quickly (I think they were hoping someone would offer). We found out that they were on their second anniversary vacation. Nice pair!

The Maid of the Mist was fun again! For those who don't know, this is a boat ride that gets close to the falls. Not as wet as last time when I came with mom - I think it depends on which way the wind is blowing or something. Next we headed to The Cave of the Winds where the cave is no longer available to the public. Still, a fun place - I think if I were to go again, I would have to go in my bathing suit. And I would have to wait for a hotter day. The power of the little bit of the waterfall that one feels at the top of the platform is amazing! One of the attendants told us that they take the platforms down each winter and rebuild them each spring! And we ran into the couple again and took more pictures of each other. Grace gave them her email address. I will be surprised if we hear from them, but pleasantly. I think their names were Shrikan and Shrilamsi. It was kinda difficult to hear over the rush of water...

Although Niagara Falls can be a bit on the expensive side, it is a pretty pleasant place to visit. It would have been even nicer if it hadn't been drizzling most of the time. Still, I think Grace had fun. I know I did!

Next stop beer and food. I am posting a beer blog later (after Grace leaves maybe?) - when I get the pictures off my camera - about the experience. Suffice it to say here that it was decent, not awesome.

The drive back to Geneva passed very quickly. Amazing how good conversation will make that happen. I had originally thought we would drive straight back to the house, but somewhere along the way I agreed to go into the Smith for a little bit to tidy up some ropes that were causing Kelly (the leader of the organization) some safety concerns. At least Grace got a self guided tour of the Smith. Maybe when I show the movie on Sunday, she will let me show her around a bit.

At home, I had no idea what to do to feed mom. She had survived the day on two yogurts, some chicken salad (at least two helpings) and heaven alone knows what else. I really don't like to leave her alone in the house for that long - almost 12 hours - but I did call to check in a couple of times and she did seem to manage ok. Grace and I had the same idea at the same time - that mom could feast on our leftovers from the pub! Yay! Problem solved. Neither Grace nor I were particularly hungry - she had some nuts and I later had some potato chips to tide me over till the morning. She was more exhausted than I, so went to bed at 8. I stayed up till midnight or so, playing and starting work on blogs. Hey, these things don't always write themselves, you know!

So, was that a good day? I think so! And today is another day. Huzzuh!

Boxes galore!

My next goal is to empty the living room of NC clutter. This is totally doable. I mostly need to get the books repacked. Some of the boxes that were packed in NC are just way too huge to lift by a lightweight like myself. Well, I can lift and move them, but I would rather not. My ideal book box is a liquor box. So I went to the liquor store and got some boxes. Baby steps. Oh and I filled two already. Yay!

Yesterday was also laundry day. Huzzuh! Four baskets full. I really need to do laundry more frequently - more smaller loads might be more efficient. It is sad not to have a washer/dryer here in the house. We used to have them, I think we still have a dryer - but the basement is scary, so I haven't spent much time rooting around down there. While laundering, I ran a few errands - like my walk through Staples. Not really an errand, but I like office supplies. Spoke with a nice young woman who works there.

Speaking of speaking with nice young women, it might appear to someone looking in from the outside that I like younger women. Well, that may be the case, but generally, age isn't the first thing that attracts me to someone. Generally, I like someone for other reasons and that person's age often happens to be less than mine. Then again, at 52, many people are younger than I am...

Also went to Tops to buy a couple of things so that I could get a coupon for 10% off wine at Pedulla's Liquor store. Where I went next to buy white wine for tomorrow night's dinner. Tomorrow is mom's birthday - 83 - and I am planning on cooking mussels, salmon, corn on the cob and sweet potato for her. I am going to have something similar, but swapping in a sausage for the salmon. And maybe some artichokes for good measure. We shall see. Today I might go to the dollar store and get some more stuff for her for her birthday. Tomorrow - when I go to the grocery store to get mussels and whatever I am missing for dinner, I will get her some flowers. It is too bad for mom that her birthday is always so close to Mother's Day (sometimes it is Mother's Day).

Oh, Carmella wanted pictures of the completed porch - ask and you get - or something like that.

First View

Second View

So, does this entice anyone to come visit? Please?!