Frustrating Tuesday

I’m posting this six months after the fact. I don’t remember much of what happened back here but enjoy the photos. Not sure what was frustrating but the food looks great.

Duff Day

I’m posting this six months after the fact. I don’t remember much of what happened back here but enjoy the photos.

Halloween 2021

I’m posting this six months after the fact. I don’t remember much of what happened back here but enjoy the photos.

Pitiful Work

I won’t go into much detail on Saturday. I woke up late, skipped breakfast completely and opted rather to get cleaned up for the day and then dive into MSF with both feet. I then watched YouTube and then listened to my audiobook and some podcasts when I moved to my computer to take down my MSC challenges. It was nearly noon by the time I came to and decided to start my day. I warmed up some of last night’s dinner for my first meal of the day. It was a lot less appetizing looking the day after. I gnarled that away and then with a bowed head and crushed soul went to go work for several hours.

I ended up working from around half noon until about six. At that point I was getting hungry and having a hard time staying motivated on task. I can’t say what the task was, just that it was a bit grueling. I was low on energy and gumption so I just nuked a couple of those paninis you’ve heard me talk about a million times over the last year and a half. That and a lot of water was all I had for my dinner. It was pretty weak. I know I went below and wasted the remainder of the evening. I can’t recall if I watched Netflix or Jack Ryan, either way. It was ten when I climbed up two flights of stairs to my bed and shut out the world, ready to try again tomorrow.

Feast Night

I was up senselessly early today. Late night and early mornings are going to be my undoing at some point. Being tight for time I tried to make a faster breakfast. I took the very last two sausage rounds and combined them with sliced cheese and some sriracha ranch dipping sauce between some English muffins. It was quick, easy and dirtied only two plates. That’s ideal for when you’re running late.

The sky was maginicent again this morning. I was later getting to it as I said but it was still painted with beautiful hues. I didn’t both with upstairs today but went right to the porch to take my photo. I missed some of the pink and got more of an orange focus. I didn’t just snap this picture either. I stayed out there and stared at it for a few minutes until my bare feet got too cold. I probably looked like a weirdo but I wanted to appreciate it while I could.

I got my work day started shortly after, taking time to prepare my files for the discussions upcoming. It was again going to be a lot soybean discussion in the morning. I was able to squeeze in some lunch as the soybean meeting ended and my corn meeting began. Today was the transition day between the crops for me. I’d be spending some of my weekend working to finish up what I needed to for soybean and then going harder into corn the following week. Managing two crops gets to be a very hectic process at this time of year. Especially this year when corn feels more unpredictable. My late lunch consisted of soup. Pretty simple and quick. Two quick meals today, I guess I’m pretty busy when I have to reduce the amount of time eating I spend. The corn meeting was fast and furious, I’m really glad I joined it, now at least one of the Canadian team has a clue as to what they’re planning for the upcoming corn meetings. That experience wrapped up around half five and it was on to the Family Feast. I didn’t have time to do all the prep work the others may have snuck in and I was behind from the start on this meal. Chicken Parmesan Caprese was the meal and we all had our own spin on this recipe it seemed.

The Tugboat’s version. Forgot the balsamic glaze for the photo.

STL Sister didn’t forget her glaze. Her toppings got cooked more.

Mother learned to photography landscape. Paired with asparagus.

Sudbury Sister teamed her efforts with kale.

The didn’t end there. It had just begun. I almost had to bail early on the Family Feast to get over to D&D. I did manage to hang in long enough to select the next meal which is going to be further out to accomodate schedules. Now that everyone is getting back to living, we have to check on such things. Speaking of re-scheduling, we had a raucus match of D&D. We’re coming into a new area that our GM put a lot of effort into. He got a new computer that enables him to do cooler stuff. In the image below you can see a giant tentacle monster thing that moved and writhed disturbingly the whole time it was on screen. It was pretty awesome. My character got surrounded and was wailed on most of the time while I was restrained. It was gratifying to break free and smash. We had a good time of it, a lot of laughs. We were pretty high energy from the start of that one and we ended up playing longer than initially planned as we were all having a lot of fun. There would be hangovers to follow.

Turdsday

Thursday was the scheduled second half of the soybean discussions. I was up before the sun and got to witness it’s first peak into the world, it was beautiful. I took a photo from upstairs but the window and screen ruined it. I finished my morning routine and hustled to the front door to get another shot of it. It was further along but no less spectacular. If you can’t take some time to appreciate the little things in life then what are you even doing?

I had a fast breakfast of a yogurt and a lot of water. I knew that I wouldn’t be getting up much today so I’d want to be good and hydrated early on. The meeting started promptly at eight with a short musical interlude to get the team’s energy up right away. We moved through things well but it was going to be another long day of discussing soybean varieties. There was only a short break for lunch so I nuked a couple of Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini Meatball and Mozzerella paninis and hustled back into the fray. The afternoon was just more meeting. When dinner rolled around I was well hungry and decided to go with a full bag of tots in lieu of a more complicated dinner that was planned. I dumped some shredded cheese on them and doused them in sriracha ranch dipping sauce. It was very tasty but it was also pretty heavy, some would argue that it was too heavy but remember that I had a light breakfast and a normal lunch so wanted to have enough fuel replenishment and reserves to go the distance.

When the dust settled though, the meeting didn’t go that much longer than planned. I did though. I worked a ways into the night to keep caught up on daily items that inevitably fall to the sidelines when you are in an all day meeting. When I finally powered down it was after eight. I anticipate this is the beginning for such behaviour unfortunately. I used the remainder of the evening to listen to my book, MSF and eventually some YouTube videos before bed. I was trying to learn about video editing software but didn’t get very far before I passed out.

Shifted Hump

Let me start by explaining the title, as there were a number of shifts that happened on this day. First thing that shifted was me having to get groceries today. With the way things are shaping up with work I needed to use today to get them or face the evening hordes. Today’s soybean session was bumped a day to accomodate America and D&D night was shifted until Friday due to schedule conflicts in the party. So a number of things got flipped around, leading to the title above. Look at what I bought, see anything unique?

I had a McBreakfast and scooted through the grocery store as fast as I could because I had a meeting on the books with a colleague for nine. I promised him I’d be fifteen minutes late for it and I was exactly right. That was fine we blew through the meeting ending by more than the fifteen minutes so he got his money’s worth of my expertise. There were a couple more meetings in the morning, one stood out. My small team has been neglected by the new guy in charge of NA corn advancements this fall. He is brand new in the role and is trying to figure it all out. He’d never been involved previously, unlike his two predecessors who had worked their way up in that team. We scheduled thirty minutes with him in the only timeslot he hadn’t blocked with something. We wanted to align on expectations for the following week on how we’d be handled and where we fit into his new process. It was a crazy meeting, apparently he’d just had a bunch of coffee and it was incredibly rapid fire. I was able to keep up on notes though. Next the soybean guy called and we chatted while I prepared my meager lunch. I nuked some nearly rancid ground beef and the last of the Gutfill. It wasn’t pretty but it was filling.

The afternoon wasn’t as jam packed, which was good because I had to suddenly prepare some slides for a meeting that Canada was forgotten for. I got my slides done and learned them enough to present them. I had made a friendly wager with my boss and colleague that I could do it under five minutes. I got asked to split by maturity for my talk so I tried to keep it under eight overall and I did that. I wanted to do a good job still or I’d have just gone for the five minute mark. I’m not sure the audience really cared about what I was talking about but if a few of the corn breeders saw it then it was worth the effort. Anyways, I don’t want to get into the weeds. My day ended at six and I moved to the kitchen right away to get after dinner. I added some extra cheese and Cholula to my cardboard pizza. This one was Great Value brand Hawaiian thin crust. If you haven’t seen the trend yet, I have cardboard pizza on Wednesday, generally before D&D. Not this week though, shifted!

I spent the evening doing as little of consequence as possible and managed that successfully. I did some reading, cleared podcasts and MSF. It was as a quiet night. I didn’t get to sleep as early as I should have and I hope that I can kick this late night trend. It doesn’t jive with my early morning desires. Eventually though I was able to find the end of consciousness and get some rest.

Stressful Tuesday

Sleep lingered on later than expected today and I was in a fix for breakfast. The big meeting started at eight and I needed to get a bit more prepared before that. So as a result I found myself having a pretty unorthodox breakfast. I knocked back a trio of Mother’s homemade zucchini muffins and a small dish of Tugboat’s Gutfill Gumbo. That was a strange flavour combination. I didn’t hate it though, especially cause I ate them in succession, so less of a mixing I guess.

I was in the meeting early with all appropriate files open and I was ready to participate in any and every way I could to the discussion. As it was we talked about dozens and dozens of soybean varieties, reviewing their performance and attributes, trying to figure out which products would bring a performance improvement to Canada’s growers. We broke for a short lunch break that made me glad that I had some Gutfill Gumbo on hand for a quick and easy meal. It was a very long day that ended at half six for me. The end of the day was consumed by preparation for a day of other meetings tomorrow. Dinner was more Gutfill Gumbo. It was too handy and I didn’t feel like making the chicken chimichangas that were on the board. I was planning to make a burrito filling and put it in the spring rolls or something along those lines. After the day I had, and the tension that was building around this time of year I just didn’t have it in me. So if you’re tracking it, that’s essentially four straight meals of Gutfill Gumbo. I’ve never strung them together like that before. I wonder what this will do to my insides? I guess we’ll find out, and I’ll be sure to share.

Manic Monday

The storm will make landfall this week. It officially begins with soybean data reviews. And how do I prepare for the onslaught? With a day full to the brim of meetings. One after the other, after the other, after the other. I would have seven meetings in total, some a half hour, most an hour or more. There isn’t a lot to say and I suspect the next weeks will be the same, limited detail about what goes on as I’ll be in meetings or working on the side as a result of said meetings. I’ll try to keep you in tune with what I consumed though, since that is where this run of daily food updates started from back on April 17, 2020. Go and check, I haven’t missed one. Sometimes I’m late in posting them, mostly lately where I’ve had month long delays. You won’t know that though, coming in years later to uncover this mundane retelling of my life. Anyways, breakfast was the usual and then for lunch I felt like I needed to hit the easy button and I only have limited time to stop to eat. I warmed up a couple packages of Great Value branded pad thai. They changed the packaging a few times in the last year, I assume for either upgrades or possibly to cover off supply shortages. Now they’ve messed with the noodles. This change is much more drastic and for me it did not improve the experience. I could understand the packaging and was pretty neutral on that front. This is a step too far, messing the integrity of the dish itself. Not a fan of the alteration.

The afternoon was all meetings, varying from my familiar team to some meet and greet type calls with new people in the US who will cross over with me. Apparently I’ve got the third most experience on our team all of a sudden, for their actual team (US only members) the third most experience is from a guy hired in this calendar year. Let that sink it. The amount of institutional knowledge this company has allowed to walk out the door is astounding. We’re going to have to learn almost everything from the ground up in some areas. I think that is the hope, some kind of rebirth or birth from fire. I don’t know. The afternoon zipped by and I finally said goodbye to the last person close to half five. For dinner I elected to set myself up for lunch for a chunk of the week by whipping up a batch of Tugboat’s Gutfill Gumbo. It has nothing to do with gumbo outside of being spicy. It does fill the guts up though. I made this batch in the traditional way which you can see in the original Tugboat in the Kitchen video. I happened to rewatch that video just now and it’s not good. I should probably re-do it now that I have some better equipment. I guess it wasn’t exactly in the traditional way. I had some leftover shiitake mushrooms from the Family Feast so I opted to fry them up in some oil then chop them a bit and include them. It did add something to the meal, unless you hate mushrooms. Either way, lots of leftovers from this, even after I filled my guts.

The evening was a bit of a blur. Mostly MSF and YouTube. There was some light groaning and discomfort which is what happens when you fill your guts too fast. I’d love to know if you’ve tried this recipe on your side and what you thought. Did you make any “improvements”, what were they and why did you think you could improve on perfection? Let me know in the comments, or to my face if we see each other. Or don’t, whatever works.

Elbow Grease Sunday

Slept in to nearly eight then two screened MSF at the kitchen table. I made breakfast for myself and some extra for my house guests to snack on before their brunch. The rest went in the fridge. They departed ahead of ten and I went about a task Mother had inspired me to do.

I was going to clean the oven for the first time in a couple years. Cleaning the oven and scrubbing the fridge are two tasks I never think to do but they make the most sense to stay on top of since your food goes in both directly and sometimes exposed. Below is the before picture. Most of what you see has fallen off my cardboard pizzas over the last few years. That is the primary use of the oven here. I used several paper towels to scrape the loose bits out. Then I used some wet ones to clean what I could get with a gentle scrub. I applied the Easy-Off I bought years ago when I last tackled this chore. I followed the instructions precisely and let it foam for two hour and a half hours to breakdown the grime. Could have done the over night method. After several hours, spent Musing and pushing the MSF War I returned to clean things up.

I used a damp scour pad and some warm rinse water to clean it in and went to town. I scrubbed until I could barely stand. I’ll feel this tomorrow. But I got the vast majority of gunk out of the inside of the oven. I tried scraping the racks but I was pretty played out. I got one halfway clean, the other I just wiped off. I circulated the photos, mostly to inspire the next person in this oven cleaning chain Mother may have started.

I used paper towel to wipe off all the surfaces and elements and replaced the racks. Then I started the Auto Clean function on the stove. It started poorly. I sat and watched things for forty five minutes with my vent hood on full blast. I suspect it just burned some residue off the elements. Was a bit alarming though.

While the oven smoked away for hours I worked away on Musings. My two regular readers know I’ve been behind in developing my daily drafts into actual posts. I decided today was the day I turned it around. Some along the way had been fully developed but had to wait until all others preceding it were shared. So I’m some cases I’d do a few and then hit some completed ones. For many hours I toiled. I skipped lunch and kept going. With an hour left for the oven I grabbed a can of Coke to fire me up and forced ahead. I developed over twenty and posted nearly all of them. I’ve almost caught up. One more push this week and I’ll have it. Around six I’d had enough and needed food. I went and checked the oven. It had finally finished after half a day. There was a white film in spots that didn’t go away. When wiped with a damp cloth it came back when dried. This is troubling. I should have dried the whole thing maybe? I washed it again with soap and water, producing the effect in the photo. I’d say it’s cleaner for sure.

For my dinner I microwaved the bowl of breakfast potatoes I’d put in reserve. I put shredded cheese in various layers and nuked it again. Then I added salsa. Irish nacho rip-off. I scarfed it down while checking MSF. We lost our war today, decisively. That’s two losses in a row. I’ll have to help more on defense. I cleaned up the dishes and wiped the oven racks off before putting it all back together.

After dinner I didn’t have it in me to go back to the computer so I used my phone to keep developing drafts. I got a few more done so that now I got a quick sprint to the finish. I look forward to getting these and MSC challenges all caught up, first time since August. I played some MSF but mostly Mused. Bedtime showed up at ten and I followed it into the dark, like Death Cab for Cutie would have.

Unintrusive Saturday

I was up earlier than I should have been but I wanted to make sure my guests were fed and watered before they set out into the world. I did take some time to do some French lessons and MSF after I showered and dressed. I quietly made my way to the kitchen and then with some effort to stay quiet I started breakfast. A couple of chorizo sausages had their casings removed and got dumped in the pan. When they were cooked I dumped in four scrambled eggs and later some shredded cheese. Unlike last Sunday I did pull the Pilsbury Crescents out and used my filling to create twelve bundles of joy. While they were cooking in the oven I rolled up the remaining filling with some shredded cheese and a spurt of Great Value brand chipotle mayo spread. I cut one wrap in half for my guests who were by this time awake and having coffee or water, and I kept the other intact for myself. They claimed to have enjoyed the food. Then I busted out the tray of Poor Man Kolaches. They claimed to have enjoyed those also. They had to get moving around that point, literally having a train to catch. Their plan was to train into the Big Smoke and attend Fan Expo for the day, visit with her cousins and then return, likely around ten in the evening. So from half eight in the morning until half ten at night I was left to my own devices. That’s pretty easy hosting duties. After they left I played MSF and watched YouTube on the living room TV until noon. It was a spectacular waste of time. I made my way upstairs eventually and started working on generating a Christmas list. Mother had been harassing me for one for weeks now and I finally sat and did it. The two items I kept off that list are a vacuum and editing software. I spent a long time researching both of those things. I had my heart set on a Dyson but it feels cost prohibitive to me, mostly that I struggle to justify the spend. The editing software is just a new realm and I need to learn, ask questions and reflect before I can make a move there. After several hours of this I figured it was time to dine. I warmed up a plate of Poor Man Kolaches in the air fryer and returned to the computer.

I started reading about another item I’m leaving off the list. That is a security camera or security system. It is early days in that project but I’m told I’d get a sizeable discount on my insurance if I do this and I’ve been considered it for the peace of mind. When I’m away from the house for a week at a time several times a year I start to think about all the valuables and treasures I have in my house. My GI Joes, some autographs, my mixed CDs, two bookcases of books, my comfortable bed. I don’t want someone making off with my prized goods. After too much time spent on the list I shared it out to my Mother and siblings. Big T leaves most of the gift purchasing to Mother anyways so I didn’t include him. With that little task completed I did a few MSC challenges and then descended to my lair. I had a snack on the way past the kitchen but soon settled in to watch a big jag of Jack Ryan. I turned it off at ten and returned topside. Theodore Complete and his wife returned a short time later. She went to shower off the day and we had a few beers. I think we had four, he just kept getting up and grabbing more. Who was I to refuse?! It was nearly high noon when it was decided everyone should go to bed. The two of them looked like they were getting tired, they’d had a long day of adventures. There was some quick MSF updates before falling asleep seconds before midnight.

Housekeeping

I started early, fast and furious. I was up before six and knocked out most of MSF daily challenges. I showered and then washed the shower out again. I’d done it during the day yesterday initially. I was going to have to clean intermittently during work today to prepare for my incoming guests. Theodore Complete and his wife were coming to stay parts of the weekend. I expected them at seven in the evening. That gave limited time to clean properly. My goals were to have all the floors cleaned and the toilets while balancing with work. I started with the toilets, got both upstairs ones done before having a yogurt and some juice for breakfast. Far less than I’m used to. Next I dusted some blinds upstairs and dusted a few of the rooms and spaces. I had to start work after that. Around half nine I got on the horn with a colleague to help him resolve some issues. Two hours later I was able to get back to the grid. Lunch followed and was a box of Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini Ham and Cheese paninis. Another somewhat meager meal. I fielded a call whilst eating them and when I’d finished most of the grid I went and got the vacuum. It is louder than before. I could barely hear by the time I’d finished the main floor. It was louder upstairs, it’s insane how loud this thing is. I swept all the floors and later I washed them. I got the main floor toilet and then the basement toilet. I dusted the main floor. I was feeling like I was in a good spot for a final cleaning push when Cheese called. It was around five and I’d finished the grid for now. He was stopping by to drop of my copy of the Never War that bed borrowed in the summer. While he was driving over, I washed the counters in the kitchen and the dining room table. That was gonna be it. Good visit with Cheese, he stayed for a bit. He left and I played MSF and had a granola bar. Dinner would wait for my guests. They arrived shortly after seven and after a quick tour of the Harbour and them dropping their stuff off, we went to Boston Pizza. I forced us to start with cactus cuts and then I went with the server’s suggestion of the new club. She was right, the bread was amazing. They covered the cheque as a thank you for me hosting them. It was unnecessary, I’d have done it for free.

We headed back and sat at the table like adults and had a good chat. Theodore Complete’s wife bowed out early and we had some beers, but I cut that off around ten. We both had things to do the next day. He reluctantly agreed and we shut it down after a few waters, probably half ten.

Sudbury Sister Birthday

The day started like many recent days. Up early, time dominated by imagined obligations to Marvel Strike Force. It’s safe to say that it has a hold on me. But at least I’ve fallen backwards into quelling any chance of in-app purchases. Somehow I’ve got both accounts working while signed into my work ID which flows to my work card. I’m not crazy enough to try that. But anyways, late to start, needed a quick breakfast to make up some time. I put all the remaining cheese bagels in the game with fried eggs, avocado, cheese slices and sriracha ranch dipping sauce. A winning combination to be certain.

It is my younger sister’s birthday today. I already sent her gift and wished her a happy birthday like a good brother but I was wildly outdone by the Irish Gal. She stayed up late making some beautiful art on their chalkboard. It was posted on Facebook but someone shared it with and I figured I’d share it here. It’s very impressive!

The work day crawled by. I spent most of it working on my grids. I had nothing scheduled so I rocked tunes and get after it. I paused for lunch, it was late and meager. The afternoon was more of the same for me. Just rocking the grids. I had run out of audiobook and cleared my podcast queue in the morning so I was rocking old mixed CDs. I got a few calls throughout the day, people looking for answers to very specific questions. It was over before I knew it and I could get on to my evening plans. I was finally going to see the Chef. It has been months now. I decided I’d give him my Meeting gift box from last week for his birthday. Among other items to be named later. I left early as I was done work and didn’t see the point of waiting at home when I could wait in the parking lot of the restaurant. I started a new audiobook and departed. As I drove the sky got angrier and angrier, eventually opening up into a torrential downpour. With my fabulous window treatment, I barely noticed. It was then I remembered I was supposed to bring that for the Chef to borrow. Next time.

We met at a Kelsey’s and had a nice time. We complained about work. I did a bad job of just listening to his issues, butting in with my own related issues. I don’t like that and realized after a time and cleaned it up. We had a long chat and good meal. His treat which was good of him, even if it wasn’t actually his money, it was a gift card he’d got at some point. At the end of it all I gave him the gift which surprised him. I think he’ll enjoy the wine. He’s the most knowledgeable about wine of anyone I know. We parted ways with promises to do it again sooner than several months and I drove back, enjoying my audiobook. I got home close to nine and shut it down. MSF and YouTube until the lights went out after ten.

Split Hump

I’ll keep it brief, we all have things to do. I was up and done my MSF by half six. I was rolling before seven bells. I got fuel and my McBreakfast and started south, straight south to see a sandy corn site. I’d invited my boss and Brack to join me. I took notes on one set and we walked another. Most of our time was spent discussing broader issues. It had been over a full year since we three had last been together in person. Allegedly it was the first time my boss had used his truck for business all year. That’s wild. Brack had an appointment and my boss and I had to rush home to be on a call at one. He had a longer drive so we left early for me. I have one more corn spot I should see next week then I’m done in the field. I might be after that site the way things usually go. I had time for some. Campbell’s Chunky Chicken and Sausage Gumbo soup and a box of Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini Chicken Parmesan paninis. I cleaned it up then cleaned myself up, with a collared shirt and brushed hair before the meeting. It was very interesting with unexpected reactions. I had another one I’d called later in the day. It went more awkwardly. I got my answers but I didn’t feel great about how it went. Anyways, I worked on my grid files for the last of the day and then slipped down to the kitchen to make dinner. I didn’t have the right lighting for a proper photo but I made a cardboard pizza. I added some shredded mozzarella and finished it with Cholula hot sauce. It was the four meat kind from the Great Value brand. I was pleasantly surprised, it was very tasty.

I was done with the dishes well in advance of when I needed to be and I had time to do some computing. I wanted to order a few birthday gifts and things for me. The gifts got done and mine didn’t. For over a year you’ve been hearing about me making my usual breakfast samidge. A key element of that dish are the sausage patties. I’ve been getting them from Sysco through a program called Sysco at Home. They did this for the pandemic because they wanted to stay in business while restaurants and schools were shuttered. Now that things are improving they’re taking it away from me. I need those patties! The only other source is Walmart and they never have them in stock. I guess I’m going back to hope and prayer. Luncheon meat is the alternative, blah!

So with a heavy heart, I got prepared for D&D. It was the first game after a week hiatus due to travel of the GM. All our preparations were made and it was time to enter the big danger zone. It gave him a week with his new laptop to prepare it all for us too. He’s very exciting which probably means we’re in big trouble. We didn’t get very far into it before the two hours was up, this will take weeks to traverse. It’s going to be a free flowing crawl. I’ve never done one so this should be interesting.

As usual, I wasn’t in the market to sleep immediately after. I had visions dancing in my head and had to let the adrenaline leak out of my blood. It was shortly after eleven when I finally found my rest phase.

Productive Tuesday

I would say that today was a medium start. Not early and not late, just medium. I cleared both MSF accounts really fast today, the tricks I learned from Theodore Complete are really loosening the hold that app has over my spare time. I decided to make a somewhat elaborate breakfast. I’d picked up a couple of luxury items in the last shop and I put them to good use. I had an inkling of an idea but it quickly spun out of control. I decided I’d use a cheese bagel and then was into the avocado. I fried two eggs and used the same amount of sliced cheese and sausage I would in my usual breakfast. So before you get too cross, the bagel and the avocado are the main differences. The sauce was the same. I guess you have to ask if two English muffins equate a cheese bagel. I’m told them are less. Either way, look at this thing, it was a damn delight. Difficult to eat due to the size and slipperiness (sp?) but I was there for it.

I made it to the office by half eight, the preparation and subsequent cleanup of the big breakfast was more than I budgeted for. Things were fairly slow to start but I was consistently knocking things off the list. I had a really productive meeting at eleven and then dumped some beef soup in me for lunch, thanks Campbell’s Chunky. I did some MSF over the noon hour. After lunch I had a request for some information, I knocked it out quick before getting started on my big grid file update. It is a long process but it serves as the background of my puzzle that I do each fall. I was making great progress until I got a couple of phone calls in quick succession. Other than those I just plugged away at that project all afternoon deciding I’d had enough at half five. I hustled to the kitchen right away, not wanting to burn much more daylight. I found two sweet Italian sausages in the fridge and stripped off their casings and browned them up. I cooked some rice in the microwave and mixed those two ingredients together with some salsa. It was a quick and easy meal. It was really flavourful and delicious too. Clean up was fast as I had a big plan for after dinner.

I took my full belly outside and trimmed around the house and then cut the lawn very quickly as it was getting dark. To recover I finished catching up on MSC challenges. Then after writing some Musings and doing more MSF I put fresh bedding down in the guest room. That took me up to half nine and I started preparing for bed. It was ten when I finished my French lessons and nearly eleven by the time I fell off.

Photo was taken the next day as it was dark when I finished the cutting.

Monday Funday

It was a late start to the day and then I exacerbated that with some morning MSF. It is hard to break that weekend habit. I got showered and dressed to tackle the day. There wasn’t any time for breakfast so I just grabbed two zucchini muffins and some juice and got to work by eight. I had to be early to set up the notes files for the weekly corn and soybean meeting. My boss had reached out on Friday and asked if I could switch weeks with him as he had a conflict pop up. I chaired the call and if I do say so myself I think it seemed to go pretty well. I even got everyone to engage in some meaningful discussion. After the call I had an hour to finish and post the notes, collect myself and be ready for the next meeting. It was followed quickly by lunch which was comprised of a bowl of soup with crackers and some Viva Puffs as a crescendo to the meal. Speaking of meals, in Monday fashion, here is the board from last week. I ended up running 60% but Friday was a special case in my opinion. Tuesday was the worst outcome.

We had a team meeting to start the afternoon and it turned into a long drawn out discussion with Brack and then a few others. Pulling in the others really extended things and ate the rest of my free time that I had to do my stuff. The next two hours were taken up by a training put on by the legal department. Mostly on how to create ads or something? It was a lot of detail. It ended and I got some business done and powered down at half five. Dinner was weak, just a box of Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini paninis, essentially the other half of my lunch. I used YouTube to bridge the gap until the Leaf game started. I found that I was able to follow the game and also write Musings. I took the first step towards closing the massive gap in posting timings. That was exciting. The game was less exciting. The two teams played to a draw in a hard fought match and then the Leafs blew it in overtime. I was pretty disappointed. I am still raw from last season’s collapse and then the wound was re-opened yesterday watching that show. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the show, I just wish the last episode could have been much different. It was a painful last hour or so. [Edit: I learned that chunks of that show were removed due to some player requests. Hyman was almost cut out completely and Nylander had stuff removed also.] I powered down everything, straighten the couch up and then proceeded to raise my gravitational potential energy as I made my way to the screw room where I found the cloud and disappeared into my own mind.

Super Chill Sunday

I didn’t rush out of bed today. I didn’t have to. My fridge was stocked, my laundry was complete. I didn’t need to go anywhere or see anyone. I could take time for myself and do the things I wanted to do. To be honest that isn’t a lot different than most days lately but I was going to enjoy it today. I played my two accounts of MSF until I’d exhausted what I could do. While I was doing that, I watched a bunch of YouTube. These things bring me joy, or at least I’m pretty sure they do. Eventually I got up and cleaned myself up, ready to start the day. Dressed in only the most comfy clothes I made my way down to the kitchen. I tossed a couple chorizo sausages into a pan and then scrambled four eggs with some milk, salt and pepper. I added the egg mixture to the browned sausage and when the eggs had partially set I sprinkled in some shredded cheese. Normally I’d reach for the Pilsbury Crescents but this time I decided to kick it old school and wrap this mixture up. You can learn more about the process here, minus the bacon of course.

I did what I normally do and used a plate to evenly press the wrap into the hot pan. It goes better when it’s ripping hot, you don’t get as much orange, straight to brown. I put less in each this time and it made three breakfast burritos. Since it was mid-morning and I had a fierce hunger going I figured I’d take it all down, sticking to my two meals a day on weekend regime. And that’s just what I did, washed down with some pink lemonade.

I wasn’t feeling ready to run a half marathon with that pile of chow in my guts so instead I decided it was time to take a run at clearing some of the lingering MSC challenges from September. It took longer than I expected but I finally closed out September. I’m closing in on two years of perfect months. I like these little challenges, they keep my mind limber and give me something to track the days if nothing else.

I started to work on Musings again but instead I decided that YouTube and MSF held more appeal. I was going hard on an audiobook also. Later in the afternoon I decided that I’d clean up the leftovers from the Feast for my second meal. I fried some onions and wilted some spinach in the pan before cooking the egg. It was nearly as good the second time around. I added a bit of sriracha this time though, feeling that it was on the bland side. I didn’t have the right gochujang sauce so maybe I was missing the heat. This was a reliable substitute heat source. It was spicy. The carrots were definitely not as good the next day but the rest of it was pretty okay. After a more extensive cleanup than most leftover meals warrant I returned to the computer.

My plan was to do Musings but instead I order Sudbury Sister’s birthday gift and signed up for Amazon Prime in the process. The gift was set to be delivered the next day, in a city hundreds of kilometers away. I was pretty shocked at the difference between Prime and not Prime. I also ordered a Christmas gift for Mother and it was set to arrive in a few days. I guess I don’t have to wait weeks anymore for my Amazon stuff. The reason I signed up wasn’t for the expedited delivery times though, it was for the streaming service. I was planning to wait until Wheel of Time was available but this Leaf show, All or Nothing was getting my attention and I wanted to consume it. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing exactly that. I chugged it all in one sitting. Then I flipped over and started watching Jack Ryan, which Rek highly recommended to me. I took down the better part of the first season before I realized I wasn’t going to be able to get it all like I did with Hardy Boys and Queen’s Gambit on prevous Sunday binges. I tapped out and headed to bed around ten.

Postponed Feast

My plan was to wake up good and early and be ready to rock to go get groceries before things got busy. But plans often fail. The fool next door was watching his very bass heavy garbage again and I got to wake up good and early, much too soon. I eventually got back to sleep and then proceeded to languish in bed for hours. I did doze off a few times but mostly I was listening to podcasts and hoping to fall asleep. It was brutal. I got up at ten and started my day. It was almost half eleven by the time I’d gotten myself ready enough to take on the task of getting groceries. This was a tight $120 outing. Remember back when I was dropping $400 a shot. Times have certainly changed. I was frustrated when I left the store. I ranted a bit to the boys and they implied that I’d spill that over into here. I told them I wouldn’t. I was right!

The rest of the day was mostly wasted with lots of MSF, some MSC challenges, some YouTube and very light cleaning around the house. Being up early and my outing did very little to motivate me to get after it. I was supposed to generate a list of Christmas gift ideas but didn’t quite get to that. It was on my mind but no ideas got shared. I watched some pretty long form YouTube videos, some were two hours long from this channel I subscribe to called Lost Lakes. A dude that canoes around Northern Ontario in forgotten lakes and rivers while fishing. He has little to no issue catching fish in those spots. The last of those wrapped up and I was listening to my audiobook when my phone went off, it was time for the Feast Feast. Tonights edition was Beef Bibimbap from the One and Done cookbook. It was unlike anything I’d taken on before. I’d never even heard of riced carrots, what madness was this. It called for the dreaded gochujang sauce that I didn’t have and couldn’t find previously. Mother was supposed to give me a bit from her supply that STL Sister had smuggled into Canada but both of us forgot to make sure that happened. I used an alternative. There was some debate over the sprouts also, apparently some places refuse to sell them fresh due to the bacterial risk. We toiled away at various speeds but eventually all got the dish prepared in various forms.

No food processor, no problem. Found this brand new in the box replacement for the one the Meat Man destroyed in our apartment ten years ago in my cupboard and opted to use it rather than chop my heart out. It worked amazingly to rice my carrots.

This the version that my Sudbury Sister prepared. It was the most visually similar to the book. She nailed the egg.

My version had most of the elements but I couldn’t find any fresh sprouts on short notice. I also flubbed my egg.

The version my parents made. They were the only ones with the full compliment of ingredients but Big T chickened out on the egg and flipped it. (pun intended)

The version my STL Sister and BIL created lacked an egg and mushrooms due to some local dislike. They had the sprouts though.

After crushing only one bowl of this interesting culinary concoction I moved on the next phase of the evening. I had the Leaf game on and counted down the minutes until the sporadically scheduled group chat with boys. Meat Man, GRP, Booj, and Cheese joined me and we had a good chat. It felt pretty chill from my side, I was essentially laying down on the loveseat slugging copious amounts of water. I chose not to imbibe booze to allow my body, which is a temple, full power and focus to crush this fledgling cold. The boys had other ideas and were having what I thought were a few casuals and watching the game. I didn’t really notice when they got louder and rammier later in the game. Come to find out that two of them threw up later. Hi yo! The call wound down some time after eleven and I didn’t fall asleep until moment after high noon. Not what I envisioned for my evening but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Forgotten Feast

Friday started late again. There was MSF involved and long shower to try and shake the chill from my bones. The nights are getting chilly and in classic fashion, because I’m inherently cheap I’ve refused to turn on the heat. I usually set the target at December first and then cave at some point in November but this year it is feeling like it is going to be even sooner. When I got the kitchen time was tight. I decided to call an audible and just nuke four slabs of sausage and ram them between a lightly nuked set of English muffins and some Kraft singles, or Black Diamond singles, I’m not sure that has the same ring, cheese slices….ugh. This provided a very quick meal and a short cleanup, needing only to wash two plates and bread knife.

I was at work for eight and the time before the first call disappeared alarmingly fast. The next thing I knew I was into it. I had my regular weekly Friday morning call with my US team, one that I generally sit on mute with my camera off and listen. It was good, lots of exciting news and general excitement around a pair of personnel announcements from the day before. A couple of veterans returning to the team. Next up I had a one on one with my US boss, the leader of the previous call. I was pretty chatty on that and we had a very productive call for thirty minutes. Immediately after that I had an hour with my boss to talk about development. This was a subject that I think had been avoided previously but I called it out in one of our team meetings and now I was getting my come upp’ins. It’s fine, it’s a conversation that should happen a couple times a year to let you know how you’re tracking and areas you can improve in. It’s been a couple years since I got such feedback and haven’t really known how I was doing. Apparently I’m doing a good job. About halfway through this call I started to feel a burn in the back of my throat, a bit more than a tickle, there was something there. I tried to drown it with water but it wasn’t relenting. I didn’t have anything on the docket for afterwards and started to notice a steady decline in my well being. I was starting to feel achy and run down. It felt like the humble beginnings of a cold. I recalled that Booj and I had stayed well apart outside when I saw him but he’d had similar symptoms. A cold isn’t a big deal, a man cold is survivable mostly, but a cold in the COVID pandemic is bound to bring it’s own set of problems. I was planning to slip out at half four to go get some last minute groceries to be prepared for the scheduled Family Feast that I’d forgotten about for most of the week (hence the last minute grocery dilemma) but I was feeling like I wouldn’t have the gumption to do that. My condition declined more until I told my family I would be able to participate that night. They graciously moved things a day for me to allow me to recover some. This was a big relief, I didn’t realize that I was stressing over this. I don’t like to let my family down. With that stress I didn’t know I was carrying gone I settled in for the last few minutes of work. I was filing some emails when I came across a video training from back in August call Tomato Tuesday. It had been presented the week I was off for my birthday. The girl on the thumbnail looked pretty familiar and it being about our vegetable business, I started to wonder. There was a girl in grad school that I used to hang around with who went ot work for us in California in the vegetable business. The boys eventually dubbed her the XPFG. We’ve been in touch a few times over the years but hadn’t spoken in a long time, over five years I guess. I put on the replay of the video and sure enough it was her doing a high profile training session on different crops we breed for our vegetable business. I sent her a note with a link to the article and we emailed back and forth for a bit. I told a few others from our friend group about it. I watched the hour long video and that took me up until five. At that point, I pulled together a very meager dinner and descended to the basement. I brought two warm blankets with me and cuddled up on the couch with a big crock of water. I put on Black Widow via Apple rental and watched that film. It was fun and entertaining. To follow that up I put on something that was much more raw and hard. I’m forgetting the title at the time of writing but it will come to me. During this film I got a call from my old buddy Duffman. We’d texted a bit on me seeing the XPFG video and he got tired of the thumb workout and dialled me. We chatted for eighty minutes. I finished up the film and went to bed. With some light MSF leading up to sleep.

Meeting Day

Consciousness returned shortly after six but fully engaged a score of minutes later. I tackled one and then the other MSF accounts over the next couple hours while getting the day started. A powerful bowel movement followed by a hot shower culminated in a quick, tasty breakfast. I made a meal of the last two egg muffins from the freezer. I was done MSF and cleaned up ahead of eight.

My next move was to tackle my bed. Not literally. I ripped it apart and got the process started. It takes three loads and usually four dryer cycles to clean it all. Then it takes almost a half hour to make alone. I’ll grumble about that later. Work started and I had two hours to prepare for a day long meeting. The meeting got going and was slight different than what I was expecting, not in the least becuase I wasn’t using the most recent agenda. We had some updates on strategy and then some other parts of the business. Then it was my turn to present. I’d pulled together some general slides and shared a more detailed look at my next ninety days with the team. The guy that covers canola went before and I have to say that my section was more detailed and finalized, made me feel good. The corn and soybean people have to look for small wins since everyone in the West is so focused on the wrong yellow crop, in my opinion. There was one more speaker and then it was coffee break time. At least it was for the people in the Mountain time zone. Having the head office in Calgary makes meetings interesting for the East. I had eleven minutes to come up with a lunch and make it. When I got to the fridge I saw the two, now ancient, remaining Stampede hot dogs from the mustard tasting I did. I grabbed them, two cheese slices, French;s yellow mustard and some shredded mozzarella. I had intended to make two wraps but instead used two for one. The extra layer avoided spillage and provided a more satisifying bite. I snagged two zucchini muffins to serve as dessert and ripped back upstairs. I should mention that I nuked the dogs for a couple minutes, they weren’t cold. It was quite a meal and I inhaled it, finishing just as the meeting started. I felt like it was two Cuban cigars in a custom cigar holder that I was eating. Oddly that didn’t deter me at all, just made me laugh.

The meeting got underway and things went fine. I was the scribe for this one so I was very busy. I just took the notes I normally would but made sure to really focus. At one point the doorbell rang…..a lot. I thought it must be critical so I transferred the meeting to my phone and ran down. There was a box from Calgary with no other detail. I opened the cardboard to find a gift box within. I wasn’t sure what was happening so ignored it for now. I got myself transferred back to the computer and kept on typing up a storm, having not really missed much. When the afternoon break rolled around, lunch for the West and a respite for the East I looked into this mystery further.

I sent the above photo to my boss and co-worker and asked what this was. My boss had the same box and had asked our admin if she knew and apparently it’s just an appreciation box timed with this meeting. The meeting was going to end with a virtual happy hour so they wanted to make sure we had something to drink and some other goodies to go along with it. It would be an afternoon snack for the Westerners. I cracked the box and discovered it was fancy people food. I ate the Lindors without pausing to think, it’s a natural reaction. Don’t show them to me if you don’t want me to eat them!

I left the box for now and focused on the meeting as it got going again. We had some productive brainstorm sessions and then I had to jump to another call with my US team. There were some major announcements and I wanted to hear them as they happened. It was mostly good news. There was a new manager coming in to manage an aspect of the group. There was one of those for corn and one for soybean. The individuals were formerly on the team so it was awesome to get that experience coming back rather than going out the door for once. Though after the good news came the bad, another one of the team had received a great offer to work outside the company. His last day would be in two weeks. That team has nearly completely turned over in a year. I don’t know what is happening. I joined the squad in early 2019 and now I’m the third most senior on the corn side. That’s pretty fast. I took my good feeling into the virtual happy hour that had started without me. I grabbed two tall-boys from the fridge, the last two from July purchases, and joined the fun. I got a serious buzz on from those two beers and excused myself at six. I ate the crackers from the box and then went to figure out some dinner. I ended up eating some paninis from the freezer. That didn’t slow down my buzz though. I drank piles of water to do that. That little happy hour really messed up my evening. I had plans to actually get stuff done and instead I found myself looking for something to watch on Netflix. I didn’t really find anything, just an episode of SuperStore? I talked to the Chef for most of that time anyways. I went to bed early, beyond the previous buzz I was feeling tired by the end of the meeting and wanted to shoot for a full sleep. That wouldn’t happen though, the neighbour must have had the night off and decided to go full cinema. I had to switch beds in the night. It was not a good sleep, not even close.