Catching Up
2007-04-16, 10:40 a.m.

Day � What ever (Now 967)

I�ll get my day count straight tomorrow. (Ahem. Today) Maybe. Kind of a longish entry. Lots to catch up on.

Finished the bulk of the room swap. New family room is complete. Windows in. Moldings up. Painting done. Furniture moved. Paintings & artwork all back in place. Computer is now up & running in it�s new home on our own network, not pirating some poor neighbors signal.

Before we finished up the little decorating details yesterday, did something a little different than the usual Saturday grind at the gym. Showed up bright & early (7:15 for a Saturday) and pedaled straight through till 10. Did take breaks to refill my water jugs (twice) and went down to the locker room to change my shirt once. Other than those breaks (5 minutes total) - all pedaling. Best part? No cramps later that night. I let on to the one Saturday morning instructor, Cherrie, that I was trying to get geared up for the Tour de Cure Ride in June. Turns out she rode it last year and is VERY familiar with the one hill I�m concerned about. She�ll be a good resource for training tips. She clued me in to yogurt being a good source of potassium � a necessary nutrient for avoiding cramps. This is a big deal for me, because the one really good source of potassium I know about, bananas, I can�t stand. Just the smell of bananas makes me want to hurl. So it�s good to have alternate sources.

Really struggled Saturday keeping my anger/frustration under control. During the entire week Cindy & I were both off work. Last weekend was fairly normal � kids home, things to do, she managed to not drink too terribly bad. Not enough for the kids not to notice, but at least she stayed vertical and maintained some command of the English language.

Monday we took advantage of the boys last day of being home and started the windows. Eric was able to help in the removal of the old unit before he had to head back to school. Zach got home from work early and helped install the new units before he & Jill headed to her parents for the week. While we were working? Cindy drank. She managed to cook dinner Monday night, but planned for 4 or more, not realizing Zach & Jill were headed to Jill�s parents. Can�t figure where she missed that detail. At any rate, that meal (Black Bean Chili with home made sausage) was sent to the freezer for later and we had something else. I had a few beers after finishing up, Cindy mentioned something about liking it when I cut loose & relax a little. In actuality, I think it�s her liking me having a beer or two so she doesn�t feel like the only one drinking. Makes her look not quite as bad in her own eyes. A case of self deception & denial for sure.

You know, I could drone in for weeks about how frustrated/angry/disappointed I was this weekend. I�m sure Cindy picks up on that part, but she either has no clue why, or won�t admit to herself what the real reason is (my vote goes to #2) Doesn�t help that I missed both Al Anon meetings last week. I need to get back on track, call my sponsor and maintain contact there, and actually start working the program. So easy to say.

This just in: Mother Nature has apparently cancelled Spring and Summer for the northeast, upstate New York in particular. Here�s how lovely it looks around here, compliments of the Weather Channel:

The good news is that the temps are hanging just above freezing so the snow isn�t really sticking, it�s just making a nice mess of things. Driving isn�t too bad, except for the timid drivers that insist on doing 50mph in the left lane when everybody else wants to do 60+. The bad news? I get to leave work at lunchtime, head across the city & pick up The Bob, drive back across the city and get us both to dental appointments, then sometime during the afternoon/evening get him back to the other side of the city again to his swinging bachelor pad. Two separate roundtrips across the city in this crap. Lovely. At least I should be able to dodge rush hour traffic.

Steph wanted to see more pics of the room swap. Here�s a few of the newly finished living/family room. First, looking from the dining room towards the spanking new/non-drafty windows:

Next, looking from the right end of that loveseat, back towards where I was standing to take the previous picture.

Last, from in front of the couch, looking back towards the end of the room. That cabinet is our belated Christmas present from The Bob.

The paintings visible in these shots were all done by Cindy�s mom. She was quite an accomplished painter (oils) and sold hundreds of paintings at local shows. We have quite a collection of her work and display it proudly. I know folks like to share horror stories about their mom-in-laws, but mine was a real peach. She�s been gone nearly 4 years now and we all miss her, especially Cindy & Bob. I�m sure her passing has much to do with Cindy�s current attitudes. Much of it was there before, but since then � hoo boy!. All downhill.

In spite of the lovely weather around here, I trudged off to the gym this morning. Missed too many workouts last week during room re-do. Partly due to weather, I got there a tad late, so rather than disrupt the cycling class, I opted to get in a little treadmill work instead. Ugh. Legs must still have been tired from Saturday�s long cycling session. Just had no spring in my step at all. Called it quits after only 20 minutes of running. Then, feeling guilty for cutting the run short, I hopped on one of the upright stationary bikes in the �Cardio Theater� and did another 20 minutes on that. With cool downs it added up to 45 whole minutes of work. Not great, but not bad.

Jill is trying to drag Zach to an intro cycling class tonight, maybe I�ll tag along with them tonight if they need a little inspiration. Of course, I could stay home and get The Bob�s taxes finished (and started) seeing as tomorrow is the deadline. Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions. I�ll jump on the taxes right after the dentist appointments this afternoon and maybe finish up in time to join them. If not, no big loss. My legs could use the rest it seems.

Better check with Cindy and see if she wants her dad to stay for dinner. I kinda doubt it, she seems to have a very low tolerance for dealing with him. That�s why I get so many of the fun jobs.

Bob�s not been able to locate his cell phone for about a week now. Maybe longer. Complained about hearing it beep every now & then, but couldn�t track down it�s location. (He�s been through this once before. I called his phone to get it to ring. Found the phone in his pocket. He hadn�t seen it for days. I DO NOT want to know how long he had those particular pants on.) Zach & I dropped him off at home last night with the intent of finding his camera, which has also turned up missing recently. While searching for the camera, Zach figured what the hell, lets look in the fridge. Well, he didn�t find the camera in there, but he did find the missing cell phone, opened, sitting on the shelf next to a pack of batteries. I pocketed the phone and kept silent about it. We�ve discussed terminating his service because he flat out doesn�t use it. So as long as he thinks it�s lost � fine. I�ll just kill his service and save him $40 a month.

We did find his camera too. Not in the camera bag (of course) but stuffed in a fancy wooden box that was itself stuffed inside a file cabinet. He swore he hadn�t seen the camera for weeks � that someone had �borrowed� it, when in fact Cindy and I saw it Friday night in a drawer of his night stand. Which he had ripped apart while looking for his wallet. I later found his wallet that night under his bed. Always entertaining going over there. Never know what�s going to turn up �missing� next.

It�s fun, sneaking this in between phone calls for work and actually getting stuff done. Glad I had most of it done up last night and just had editing to do today. I�m gonna go finish off some transformer hook up charts before I have to haul ass across the city 17 times in this lovely December weather we�re having. Some local TV weather guy did a little research. Here at least, Easter was colder than Thanksgiving, Christmas and New years. Easter? In the 30�s. All those other �winter� holidays? In the 50�s. That�s not right. I need to retire and move someplace more reasonable. Suggestions?

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