Day 72

Well, you may have noticed I disappeared for 10 days. I wasn't doing anything exciting. I just didn't really have anything to say.

I've been planning my trip to Israel. There's still a lot to plan and it's a little overwhelming.

Eric's friend's friend may do some tour guiding for us, for money of course.

Thanksgiving is coming up ridiculously fast.

Day 62

Happy Halloween!!

Well, it rained tonight. The little kids came through, then it poured for about 45 minutes and then some more kids came through. During the rain I went next door and hung out with my neighbor for a little bit. They do a neat walk through in their back yard. It was nice to chat with them.

I bought way to much candy. I had enough for about 25% more kids than last year. Instead we only got 50% as many kids as last year, about 100. I'll ask Robin tomorrow what her final count was. I left a bucket with candy outside when I came in. Hopefully it will all be gone tomorrow. I have so much candy. I have enough candy to do Halloween all over again without going candy shopping.

I had planned to watch Hocus Pocus and Casper tonight, but instead I sat out on the porch greeting kids. While it was still pretty slow Robin's daughter and I chatted for a long time about her recent trip to NYC. I'm going next weekend. This was her first trip to the city. She also said it was her first adult vacation and that she had never been on an airplane. She's planning to go to California next summer so that will be her first flight.

After she went to go sit with Robin in the back Robin's son and I talked for a long time about World of Warcraft.

I called it a night a little after 9 since we had only had 3 kids in the last 30 minutes. Then I came inside and watched a movie on the couch. Now I'm going to bed.

Day 61

We carved some pumpkins at work today. It was fun.

Tomorrow is Halloween. I need to finish decorating the house. It seems a little depressing to decorate plan and then everything is over in one night. I'm glad Hanukkah lasts 8 nights.

Day 60

I can not believe it has been 60 days. I am going to be in Israel in 32 days.

I had lunch with Rebecca today. It was good to see her and good to do something social.

I wanted to get a bunch of tiny pumpkins for us to carve at work tomorrow but I could only find small pumpkins, so I got those anyway. I'm going to bring them to work and we'll see how it goes.

I also roasted pumpkin seeds today. I hope they came out ok because I am going to bring them to work. I don't really know what they are supposed to taste like. Morgan is usually in charge of it.

I realized how much of the things we do I really count on her for input on (excuse the bad grammar).

I'm excited for Halloween but not as excited as I would be if I had someone to celebrate with. It's not that much fun to celebrate holidays by yourself.

Day 59

Today 2 people from work came over and we carved my pumpkins. We carved 10 and we thought it was all of them, but then I found one more was behind something so I have one more to carve.

It was fun and I was really glad to have the help. Those 2 little pumpkins on the left are the ones I got from Julian and Eloise's party.

We took some pictures of us carving the pictures, but the flash wasn't on so they are blurry. It doesn't help that I was taking them left handed and I couldn't see the screen.

I put up some lights at the house, but they don't look very good. Morgan was always the brains of our Halloween.

Day 58

I had the easiest time getting up today as I've had in a really long time. It was still hard to get up but it wasn't as terrible.

I cleaned the kitchen a little today and pulled our Halloween decorations out from the basement. I put the skulls and pumpkins in the window. Tomorrow I will do lights and bats and carve pumpkins.

Day 57

I had a really hard time getting up this morning. I was having a really realistic dream that wasn't actually realistic at all. I was on a ship trying to escape someone/something.

Work was very boring today. We had an hour long meeting about absolutely nothing that was a giant waste of time.

After work I met with my new pet sitter. We spent over an hour going over everything about the house and the pets. He seems good and has good references. He lives very close to here which means that if it snows a lot he'll still be able to come and check in on the babies. He is going to do morning visits while I'm in Israel and I've asked someone from work to do evening visits. I'm also going to set up a radio on a timer so they don't feel so alone. I am considering buying Dippy an motion activated toy that is basically a string that goes around and encourages her to play. I'm not sure if that would be going overboard. Is there such a thing as doing too much for Dippy? I don't think so.

I need to start using my humidifier again soon. It is getting very dry here. I am waking up with a dry throat every day. Dippy is starting to get dry skin.

I thought I had misplaced my daylight lamp, but I found it! I suppose it's a sign that I need to clean my room that I saw a plug that looked like the one that went with it plugged in to my power strip. I unplugged it and pulled on the cord, only to see the light part come out from underneath my bed! It was more than an arms length under there. I'm glad I found it. The lamp wasn't cheap and I do really like to have a bright room when I get home from work. It's starting to get dark so early. When we change the clocks it'll be even worse.

Day 56

I am exhausted. I woke up and chatted a bit with Morgan on Skype, ate some left over pizza and went to iParty to get some balloons and a punch bowl. It took a long time to get the balloons blown up because there seemed to be a ton of people getting balloons.

I drove to Providence for Julian and Eloise's 2nd first birthday party. I helped set up and cook the appetizers. There were quite a few people there. Lots of adults and lots of kids. Julian and Eloise were adorable as always.

Now I'm tired and going to bed before the week starts again.

Day 55 (and 53 and 54)

Dear Blog,

I am sorry I completely forgot about you for 2 days. I am not sure if forgetting was a good sign because I am leading a more normal life or a bad thing because I can't remember to do something I've been doing every day for almost 2 months. I will try not to forget you again.

Yesterday at work we all went out for lunch at Bertucci's. It ended up being a longer lunch than I had planned. Almost everyone left early on Friday and I'm not sure why. I stayed until 5:45because I didn't have anything better to do at home.

Today I cleaned the family room and ran Roomba. He hadn't run in a long time and I had to clean his brushes twice. That is about normal for our room. Dippy has a lot of hair.

I also went out and got pumpkins today. It was raining but not too hard. There were people filtering in and out the whole time I was there. I got 6 pumpkins. Now I just have to figure out when I am going to carve them.

Day 52

The heat was working at work today. It was nice but it does mean that that I don't get to wear my sweatshirt all day every day anymore.

Yesterday the pan I ordered at the Big E came. It comes with a lid that fits the pan we already have. I'm excited but now I have to season it. I also need to clean the kitchen.

Nothing really exciting happened today. I got super aggravated at work because I'm still in the process of implementing a change that cost over $10,000 and on a whim HG decided not to bother with it. I hate wasting months of time. I also hate that we wasted all that money in a year when no one is getting raises.

I've been thinking more and more about wanting to live in a different area. But I do not want to actually move. I hate moving. I'd love to live someplace a little warmer and brighter.

I am going to schedule a meet and greet with a pet sitter. I need one for Thanksgiving/Israel.

Day 51

Today I was in bed. I had taken a shower but I was having some trouble getting out of the house. Adrian called me to let me know she saw in her email that the director was taking a sick day today. She turned around to get her vacuum and flowbee for my haircut. I brought my brush and a towel. This afternoon we cut my hair. Here is the result:

Visit flickr to see the whole story.

Morgan was up late studying so I got to talk to her on skype after I got home from work. It was very nice.

Day 50

Happy First Birthday Julian and Eloise! I can't wait to see what next year brings! (I know that Matt and Rachel diligently read my blog aloud to you each day and I am confident you will get my birthday wishes.)

I'm going to back up a day. Yesterday (which was Sunday) I had a bit of a breakdown. I was starting laundry so I walked downstairs with my laundry basket which was very full and heavy. I missed the last step and fell and scraped my foot. I was sort of trapped in an uncomfortable position at the bottom of the stairs pinned under my laundry basket leaning against the stack of pet cages at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't reach anything to help me get up so I tried to push the laundry basket off of me. In the process I knocked over the pile of pet cages just enough that the 2nd to top thing (an aquarium) cracked on a pipe running along the wall of the basement and everything else had fallen over but were still stacked leaning against a box that was on the floor and I spilled my clothes in the laundry basket all over the floor. I had a really hard time righting the pet cages because if I moved any one thing all the others would fall further and I couldn't catch them all and my foot hurt. It took me a few minutes but I was able to move everything so it wasn't leaning on the pipe. The whole incident was kind of scary. What if I had actually hurt myself? My cell phone and house phone were on my bed on the 2nd floor. I may or may not have completely freaked out while talking to Morgan on skype. Here are 2 pictures of my foot. It's really not that bad, but it does hurt in my shoe because it's a little swollen.

Today I was really cranky in the morning. Not only was it 52 degrees in the office in the morning but at 9 am (when I was still tired and cold) in a 2 minute period, 3 different people asked me if I was getting a piece of information. I was, at the time, on the phone with someone trying to get that information. I was really annoyed. Then Morgan called and I couldn't talk to her and that made me feel even worse!

I did get a postcard from Morgan in the mail today. It was dated October 1. I was glad to get it. It's nice to get real mail.

I also saw our neighbor Robin today. She was putting up her Halloween decorations. I hadn't seen her since before Morgan left. She invited me over for a beer sometime. It was nice to see her. It reminded me that I need to start pulling my Halloween decorations out from the basement. Shoot - that reminds me. I still have laundry in the dryer.

It's a good TV night. House was pushed late because of a baseball game so I'll have to watch that tomorrow.

Dippy was sitting on Morgan's pillow (she sits there a lot) and she was sitting by my cell phone (it also sits on Morgan's pillow a lot). Dippy started licking her tail and then her tail was on my phone and she started licking my phone. It was super cute. Then I offered her my finger and she licked that.

Day 49

I got to talk to Morgan a lot today. It was nice.

I went to the grocery store and bought myself a lot of things that are delicious but are not necessarily good for me.

I am lounging around the bed and watching a movie.

I was was planning to pick up some pumpkins today for Halloween but it rained all day. It was too cold and wet to be tromping around picking up pumpkins. I will try to go out and get some this week. I am planning to do the carving next Friday or Saturday.

I did not get very much cleaning done today, but I did get the laundry done.

Day 48

I woke up and talked to Morgan.

Today I went to Providence for Julian and Eloise's birthday party. It was fun. I saw Rachel's sister for the first time since their wedding. Rachel and Liz got them a tunnel and we took turns crawling through it once the kids went to bed.

I am going to go back next weekend for the kid birthday party.

Rachel and Liz invited me to their house for a housewarming party in November.

Day 47

Friday!

Work was fine today. Slow and cold but fine.

I watched the new Bones. I really don't understand the part about the egg in the meatloaf. Do people put a hard boiled egg in the meatloaf? Why would you think it was an eyeball?

I'm off to Providence tomorrow. That should be nice.

I decided to buy a domain name today. I own onedressandapony.com! There's nothing there, but I decided to get it for now so no one else can steal my awesome name.

I hope it warms up soon.

Day 46

We had a 3 hour meeting about the PJ website today. It was fine but not great.

After work a few of us went to Chili's to celebrate Kim's getting married. It was actually pretty fun. I wasn't sure it would be good to hang out with work people outside of work. I had the fajitas.

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

Day 45

I don't really feel like I have much to say about today.

I put the trash out tonight.

Tomorrow I am going out for drinks at Chili's with some people from work. Maybe we'll get some food too. I like Chili's but I don't like to go there alone so this will be nice.

There are a lot of things I like to do that I don't like to do alone. I've had the urge to go down to Foxwoods lately, but I definitely don't want to go alone.

Day 44

This is the rainbow I saw driving home today.















Work was OK today. Adrian at work got a haircut last night. It got us talking about haircuts and I said I almost got a haircut last night too. I didn't really want to pay for a haircut. I can't remember the last time I paid for a haircut, but I think it was many years ago. Maybe 8? Unless I've forgotten about a time, I suppose that's possible. Then Adrian said she'd cut my hair, so that's the plan for lunch on Friday. We might also play Apples to Apples Jewish Edition.

I came home and relaxed and watched TV like normal.
The big news of the day: Morgan bought plane tickets to Flordia. We are going to Disney World in March! I'm very excited.

Day 43

Work was fine today, not great but not terrible. It was really cold in the office today. About 60 degrees for most of the day.

After work I went to the mall. I bought 2 shirts and 2 sweaters.

I also bought $50 worth of Halloween candy. While I was at Target I was looking for a new cassette adapter for my car/iPhone. The one I have keeps thinking it's at the end of the side of the tape and trying to change sides. It's annoying. It wouldn't be so bad if I was just listening to music, but I'm listening to the Pimsluer Hebrew lessons. When it cuts out for about 5 seconds every 15 seconds it's really hard to hear what I'm supposed to say. While I was there I saw a Kodak Essentials Kit. It was on sale for $6.24 down from $24.99. It came with a camera case and an extra battery that fits my camera and a cloth and a SD card holder. I bought it because it had a battery for my camera.

Day 42

Sunday. I have the Sunday night blues. Not as badly as I sometimes do, but I still have them. It's getting cold here. There was a few minutes today while I thought there was a nice chill in the air, but after about 1 minute I am done with a chill in the air. I hate winter. It really makes me think that Massachusetts is not for me.

I got to talk to Morgan today again. I love that I can video chat with her on the weekends. There is something nice about being able to see the face of the person you are talking to, even if sometimes it freezes.

I ordered Chinese food for dinner tonight. I had planned to get chicken enchiladas from El Guanaco but they weren't open. Instead I ordered Chinese food, walked to the grocery store, did some shopping and walked back to pick up my food. It was very busy when I went to pick up the food. At the grocery store I got some shelf stable lunch foods and some breakfast things to keep at work. Instant oatmeal, cereal and I bought some frozen dinners. If all goes well I should have enough food for breakfast lunch and dinner for the whole week. All for $40.

I am thinking of going to a movie during the week this week. I really do like going to the movies. I don't go very much because I think it's more expensive than it's worth, but this week I'm on a movie kick.

Day 41

Well, I wasted most of today. I woke up this morning and talked with Morgan. Then I took a shower and talked with Morgan a little more. Saturday is my favorite day because I can talk to her from home with video without any distraction. We play games and just get to chat. I like it a lot, especially since during the week I can only talk to her while I'm at work and I am usually distracted.

I stayed in my bed until about 4 (not counting the time in the shower and making lunch) and went to Northampton. It was nice to get out of the house. I had a pretty bad headache by then. I went to Bueno y Sano. It's weird, while I was talking to Morgan she told me she had a burrito for dinner. We were talking about how good it was and she said I should go to Bueno y Sano. So I did. But I'm not sure if I went because she said to or if it was because we were talking about burritos or if it was just convenient. I didn't even get a burrito. I got 2 chicken tacos. I've actually been craving Chipotle lately. I close my eyes and I picture going to the Chipotle next to Dierbergs in St. Louis. There aren't any around me. The closest one is 42 miles away. That's too far to go.

Sometimes when I think about going to Target I picture the Target in Flagstaff Arizona. I'm not sure why that is my brains default Target, but it's kind of weird.

I walked around a bit and then took Morgan's calculator to Taco Bell to give to Candice. I had to just drop it off and run because I was going to see a movie. I saw Couples Retreat. There were a ton of people there and it was pretty funny. It did make me miss Morgan and vacation. Not because I want to do "couples team building" but because of the really pretty scenery. On the way home I stopped at 7-11 to buy a slurpee and I got a scratch ticket. I didn't win $100,000 a year for life or the $5,000,000 prize. I would have settled for either, but instead I won nothing. It was OK, scratched it while watching the 10th anniversary episode of Good Eats: Good Eats turns 10. It was... disappointing. It was a live show in front of a live audience that was supposed to be like a variety show. I think I just don't like those kinds of shows. The whole thing felt overdone and fake. I think some people are made for live shows and some are made for scripted, practiced, several takes TV and some people, like me, are not made for TV at all.

Day 40

I was so glad it was Friday when I woke up this morning. I've been having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning because it's been so dark in the mornings.

I woke up this morning with Dippy laying pressed up against my back. It was really cute.

A bunch of us at work went out to lunch at Bertucci's. I had the salad, some rolls and the cheese ravioli. Lunch was good.

I got home and I had a small package in the mail. I finished my last term of fake school with 100% passing rate. As a gift I got a 2 gb USB flash drive with WGU's logo on it. It was pretty great. It also motivated me to work on my persuasive essay about what pet I will get next and persuading a friend or family member to get one too. I'm not actually going to get a pet any time soon, but so far I am writing about getting a rabbit. I was going to go with a dog, but then I changed my mind. We'll see how this goes. There were 2 other topic choices, but they were just as ridiculous. The next class I have to do is writing a research paper. I need to learn how to research a topic and write formally and site properly.

I'm watching Numbers and then I'm going to go to bed.

Day 39

The days just keep going by.

We gave the ok for the mailing to announce the program in the Upper West Side to go out today. Everyone was very excited. I'm more stressed about fixing the rest of the process.

After work I went to Temple. There was a "light bite" and a talk. They did not really serve dinner, though it was all I had for dinner. It was a regular salad and a pasta salad. The regular salad was very good except that it had something like parsley, no, not parsley, some herb in it and in one bite I bit into a giant stem of the herb. The pasta salad was spirals and roasted vegetables in a pesto. It was served warm. For dessert there was an apple crisp.

The conversation was about can you doubt G-d's existence and still be a good Jew? It was interesting but not Earth shattering. They are doing these talks about once a month for some of the winter.

Speaking of winter, it's getting cold! A high of 60 degrees tomorrow and rainy. I hate winter.

Day 38

Well, using my sleeptracker watch didn't work that great last night. I think it was because I didn't sleep well. I had a really hard time getting to sleep and I tossed and turned all night, on average there were 28 minutes and 53 seconds between my most awake moments. I don't know if that is above or below average. But I woke up tired.

I had a follow up call with my mentor. He told me his voice was nasally because he was a little premature when he was born. It was sort of weird, I didn't know what to say to that.

I was planning to go to bed early tonight in hopes I would sleep better, but somehow it's 11 pm already.

I didn't get to talk to Morgan very much today. I was busy at work and then in a meeting when she was going to bed. It didn't help that I was in a meeting with someone I really do not like.

Day 37

This has been a really long week so far. It's only Tuesday. I'm exhausted.

Work was regular. Someone told me that their biggest fear for PJ would be me getting hit by a beer truck. Then we proceeded to joke about who else it would be terrible for work if got hit by a beer truck and decided that we should not walk in front of any beer trucks at the same time. Mostly I think it's funny that he picked a beer truck. I usually use the expression getting hit by a bus. There's someone else at work who, when I say I want her to be able to do things in case I get hit by a bus doesn't like to talk about that. So instead we say in case I win the lottery and move to Hawaii. That is a much nicer image, but I could give notice if I win the lottery and quit. You can't really give notice if you get hit by a bus/beer truck.

I had stopped wearing my sleeptracker watch because at the time Morgan was getting up before me. Now, that is obviously not an issue. I've decided to give it another shot. I'll have to let you know how it works. I remember it working very well.

Day 36

I did not feel like going to work today. I went anyway of course. I was pretty cranky for a while.

Then at 11:45 I got a phone call that Harold decided the entire PJ team should have lunch from 12 - 1 with some candidates and a new hire. Turns out the new hire is a guy that no one in the office likes. He comes off creepy and conceded and condescending. Of course, he only acts that way if he thinks you aren't important. He's going to have a tough adjustment once he needs the help of everyone he treated poorly. No one is going to be nice to him.

I came home and folded laundry and watched TV. There was a new How I Met Your Mother, House and Big Bang Theory. House was really interesting. And the side story was good too.

Great TV night. It makes up for it being Monday.

I folded laundry but now I have more laundry to fold. Yesterday I changed the sheets on my bed. I also put the mattress pad back on my bed. I took it off to wash it before Morgan left. But then it was still wet when I put sheets back on the bed. I kept meaning to put it back on but it was in the other room so I kept forgetting. I'm glad I finally did.

I think I might be coming down with a cold.

Day 35

I had a really weird dream last night. It was me, 2 people I knew in high school, Matt, Julian, Eloise, Rachel, Dad and Grandma. We were preparing for a battle of some kind.. There were people with magic powers and we had to fight them to protect Julian and Eloise. Julian and Eloise had powers but were too young to know how to use them. Grandma was the most powerful of us. I had no powers and everyone else in our family was somewhere in the middle except for the 2 people I knew from high school. They thought we were just going out for the day, that had no idea this would be a fight. Everyone was getting ready and it was just me and those 2 people in the kitchen. I was making chicken sandwiches on dollar rolls with mustard and a sandwich of chocolate sauce on a dollar roll. I warned the 2 people from high school that they might not want to come. At this point I wasn't sure anyone had any powers. Dad came back in the middle of me saying this and was annoyed that I suggested they not come. He wanted to have more numbers. We were going to try to get to my apartment from wherever we were. I only had one job. Once we got to my bedroom with Julian and Eloise I had to run downstairs and unlock the front door. Then fight whoever was at the door if there was someone there. Otherwise I should run back to my bedroom and wait with Julian and Eloise until the rest of the family beat all the bad guys. I was really worried that I would freeze in the sight of danger. I also thought it was a bad plan to leave Julian and Eloise alone in my bedroom while I was unlocking the door. Anyway, it was weird. I have no idea what it means.

Today was the last day of The Big E. I talked to Morgan a little this morning then I went to The Big E. I wandered around there for about 6 hours. I'm exhausted now. I am sort of sad it's over. There is always next year. I ordered a new 5 quart sauce pan from the same company e bought a 12 inch frying pan from last year. The great thing about the sauce pan is that it comes with a lid that also fits the frying pan. If I was starting my kitchen over I would buy a full set of these pans. They are non-stick, not Teflon. They are broiler safe, oven safe up to 800 degrees and stove top safe. All of the handles have rubber covers that you can use on the stove top to keep it safe to touch, but take off for the oven or broiler.

There were a bunch of other things that were neat, but I would never really need or use in real life. But, in fake life I would definitely want one.

A pressure cooker that has a magic design so it can't explode. I wish I remembered what brand it was.

I Vita-mix blender. I watched a guy make ice cream by mixing coffee mate, 1/2 a packet of vanilla pudding and ice, oh, and cabbage and carrots for health (not taste). Yeah, in the blender in 5 minutes. He turned the blender upside down and the stuff was solid! How cool.

A spiral with fake crystals inside that spin and it looked like the crystals will fall out the bottom, but they don't.

Funny plaques and signs that say things like "Diplomacy: telling someone to go to hell and having them look forward to the trip." and other things like that.

A sauna

A walk in spa shower.

I'm not sure I'm ready for the week.

Day 34

I had a pretty boring day today. I Skyped with Morgan this morning. We played Backgammon and battleship.

Then I had lunch and talked to Morgan some more.

I went to dinner with Rachel tonight at Bertucci's. It was nice to get out of the house. Afterwards I went to Stop and Shop to buy some food. I bought a variety of frozen dinners.

Tonight I bought the big bundle. It is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. You spend 30 dollars and you get a bunch of things in return. 32 things. Including a free copy of Bejeweled 2 and Diner Dash. Coral 7, a pdf maker, a 3 month subscription to zagat.com, a free $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com etc.

I'm going to play Diner Dash now.

Day 33

I am so ready for the weekend. I was in a really bad mood most of the day. I am going through a period where I really hate work. I'm sure it will pass and I will find my place of apathy again. I always do.

We went out to lunch with some USPS employees. We were making nice with them.

Rachel is going to call me tomorrow to hang out. It should be nice. If the weather is nice we are going to go to the Big E. I am definitely going to go on Sunday because it is the last day and sometimes there are extra good bargains on the last day.

I was so tired today. I wanted to put my head down on my desk and take a nap!

So, in that vein, it's only 8pm and I'm already in bed. I'm going to watch TV and fall asleep.

Day 32

I was very stressed at work today. My day was kind of annoying so I'm not going tell you much about it. Except to say that we had a little party for Kim because it's her last day in the office before her wedding. I had like 3 bagels throughout the day.

They I went to The Big E again. I had a chicken pita for dinner and a piece of pizza. Then I was walking around and I saw a stand that sold Hawaii Shaved Ice. I was really excited because I thought it might be like the Shave Ice you can get in Hawaii. Of course I wasn't sure because they called it shaved instead of shave but I decided to try. It was just a regular snow cone. How disappointing.

I'm feeling a little stuffy. I hope I'm not getting sick.

Day 31

I had a pretty boring day today. The big excitement at work was passing around a card to sign (woo hoo) for the gathering we are having at 8:30 am tomorrow because it is Kim's last day in the office before her wedding. I have to get to work early tomorrow to help set up.

I came home and watched a movie and worked on my practice persuasive essay for fake school. Then I went downstairs and cleaned Toby's cage and Dippy's litter box. I gathered all the trash and recycling and put it outside. My car is in front of the trashcans, but I'll be able to move it before they come to pick up the trash. They usually don't come until after I've gone to work. It took less time than I thought it would to get everything ready. I really hate trash night because I'm always so overwhelmed by how much there is to do. It's true that it doesn't really take that long, but that's not really the point, it feels like a lot.

I was brushing my teeth while brushing Dippy's teeth (feeding her greenies) and I slipped and jabbed myself in the tooth and gum with my toothbrush head. It hurt and my gum was bleeding.

I'm ready for another weekend.

Day 30

I had a fairly regular day at work today. After work I went to The Big E. I had a slice of pizza and then I had a chicken taco salad. I had seen people walking around with the taco salads and I really wanted one. I've been thinking about them for over a week. Then I had one, it was kind of disappointing. I walked around a bit and then I had a soft serve hot fudge sundae.

I came home and watched the new How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, and House. All were pretty good.

Now I'm watching reruns of NCIS. My new netflix movie came today. I'll watch it tomorrow.

Day 29

Today was the Day of Atonement. I went to temple for the 10 am service. It finished up at 12:2o and I went home. I laid in bed and talked to Morgan for about an hour. Then I put casual clothes in my car so that I could change in the car to go to The Big E for the break fast. I got back to temple about 25 minutes early for the afternoon service. Services ended at around 6:20. I didn't stay for the small break fast they were doing. We had finished the service with a Havdalah service. Everyone was swaying with their arms around each other. The people sitting next to me had left early so I was basically sitting in a row by myself. I just couldn't handle standing by myself fighting for a place at the plate of veggies and hummus.

I got in my car and ate the granola bar I brought with me. Then I drove toward The Big E. There was a lot of traffic. I could tell that it would have taken me about an hour to make it all the way there, find a place to park and get inside. It was already 7 pm at that point I didn't want to wait an hour to eat. So I drove to Taco Bell/Pizza Hut and got a steak taco and an order of breadsticks.

Then I came home and here I am. I had a very thought-filled day.

I realized that I'm not fulfilled by my job. Ok, I didn't realize it, I've known that for a long time. I decided that I care that my job doesn't fulfill me. Now I have to figure out what does make me feel like I'm doing something worth doing.

Day 28

I am tired. I'm not sure why I'm so tired. I woke up this morning to chat with Morgan for a little bit. Then I just laid in bed for a long time. I had lunch and then fell asleep on the couch. I have no idea how long I slept. It may only have been 30 minutes, but it could have been an hour and a half. I woke up when Morgan called again and I went upstairs to talk to her. After we hung up I fell asleep for another 2 hours. By the time I woke up again it was 5 pm. I had a headache all day.

I went to temple for Yom Kippur tonight. It was a very weird experience. I hate going to services alone. I don't really talk to anyone at temple so it's a lonely experience. It's still important to me through. I was sitting in services listening and praying and thinking to myself. I was thinking that I had some really profound things to write here. Of course, now I'm home I can't remember any of it now.

Tomorrow there are services from 10 - 12:30, then a musical trio until 1:30, then a conversation about what it means to be a caregiver for people who are caregivers until 2:30, then services start again at 3. I think I might go home between 12:30 and 3. Maybe I'll take a nap.

I'm thinking I'll go to The Big E to break the fast. I figure I should have something delicious and festive.

Day 27

I am exhausted. I had a really nice day at The Big E. We met there around 10:45 ish. I bought Lily maple cotton candy in Maine. I ate a mini donuts, iced coffee, baked potato with cheese and broccoli, Chinese food, boneless buffalo wings and popcorn. And I rode an elephant!

I bought Heather and Lynn Christmas gifts! 2 gifts down. I got them steaming mops. I could have gotten one for me too, but I didn't think I'd use it.

I am so tired. It took me almost an hour to get home because of all the traffic driving the first 3 miles. After that it was smooth sailing. It basically took 30 minutes to drive those 3 miles.

I was getting ready to leave the house this morning and I couldn't find my keys. Where did I leave them? In my front door. I can't believe it! I've heard of people leaving their keys in the door, but I always thought I could never do that. But I guess I can do that. There was a box in front of the door and I had the mail and I really had to go to the bathroom.

Day 26

It's finally Friday! I'm very ready for this week to be over.

Today Rachel drove me to The Big E and I went inside to pick up baked potatoes for Kim, Rachel and me. I also got a corn on the cob. Work otherwise was pretty boring.

I came home and a package arrived. I bought the Polaroid Instant Mobile Printer to go with my new-ish camera. The printer is Bluetooth capable, but it's not compatible with the iPhone. How awesome is that? I can print little 2 inch by 3 inch printers pictures that I can stick to things.

I bought this stuff to put on your nails to strengthen them. It's like clear nail polish except it's supposed to do something to actually help keep them strong. The problem is that I kind of hate nail polish. It makes my nails feel heavy like they are about to fall off my finger and kind of sweaty for the first few hours.

I'm going to The Big E tomorrow. We're planning to meet there around 10 am. I'm going to try get up early to talk to Morgan on Skype.

Day 25

I got a lot accomplished at work today. I got to work with 142 emails flagged for follow up and there were under 100 when I left! 60 of them are the monthly lists that are working their way through our workflow so I don't have to worry about them until Tuesday. I also started working on processing the checks I've been forgetting about in my safe. I need to create a deposit for HGF tomorrow. I got so distracted trying to get Salesforce launched that I let some other things slide. Now it's time to get caught up.

I came home and decided to watch a movie downstairs instead of upstairs in bed. Toby snuggled with me for about an hour. My clothes are completely covered in hair now. He sheds more than Dippy and I combined! It's almost time to clip his nails again. I hate clipping his nails. He hates it too. Morgan always took care of it. I'm not sure what I should do. I can either do it myself or make an appointment at the vet. I think they'll do it for free. But I don't think they'll be as careful as I would be. Also it'll be more stressful for Toby. But if I do it it will be very stressful for me.

I talked to Morgan's parents tonight. I helped figure out how to reset an iPod. I didn't just know, I had to look it up online.

Day 24

Long day at work. I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed today. I stayed up late last night because I couldn't sleep. I did end up getting to watch the season premier of NCIS. I'm not sure what it is, but I really like that show.

I had a phone meeting with my fake school mentor. I told him that I thought the class on learning to write an essay was boring because I already know how to write an essay. He asked if I created a learning journal yet. Seriously, a learning journal to keep notes about how to identify the topic sentence of a paragraph. I told him I had a mental learning journal. I didn't want to lie, but I can't even imagine what notes to write about that.

I almost went to The Big E tonight, but I was tired. Maybe tomorrow night. I'm going on Saturday with Morgan's family.

We also got invited to Disney in March. Awesome room and I really want to go. Can you believe I hadn't been to Disney World since 4th grade and now I'll be going for the 3rd time in 2 years-ish. I do love Disney World. If we go in March I want to go to the Hoop-De-Doo Review again because I was sick last time and didn't get to fully enjoy it.

Day 23

This week feels like it's really getting away from me even though it's only Tuesday.

I talked to Lucy about possibly pet sitting while I'm in Israel. She seemed somewhat interested, but she won't be around for Thanksgiving. She lives about a 2 minute drive from me so that is good. Ideally I'd like someone to stay here so Toby and Dippy don't get lonely, but I'll take what I can get.

If any of you readers want to house sit for 2 weeks, you let me know. I have cable, internet, a washer and a dryer. You know you want to...

I am getting to bed really early tonight, I've been really tired.

Day 22

I bought a plane ticket to Israel!

Boring day at work, but it went by fast. I suppose it was a little bit stressful, but not too bad.

I went to Dave's after work to buy more food for Toby. Then I went to the grocery store to buy dinners for this week and lunches. I bought a $5 scratch ticket and won $5. I just need to turn it in and it'll be as if I didn't even play the lottery.

I was/am pretty excited for TV tonight. The season premier of House, How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory are all tonight. I've watched How I Met Your Mother. But I'm upstairs and the other 2 shows are recording downstairs. I have to wait until they finish recording before I can transfer them up here. Both are over at 10pm. I think I'll watch Big Bang Theory tonight and House tomorrow. House is 2 hours long so I can't watch it tonight. I am excited for it.

I'm going to Israel after Thanksgiving. Now all I need to do is find someone to watch Dippy and Toby. I can't wait!

Day 21

3 weeks.

I am writing this a little early in the night than usual, but I am really tired and I keep thinking I'm just going to fall asleep.

I had a late start today too. I woke up around 10:30 and laid in bed for a few hours and talked to Morgan at around noon. Then we both went to have food (lunch for me, dinner for her). I also took a shower. We talked some more and then Morgan went to bed. Something must have been contagious, because after Morgan went to sleep, I felt really tired.

I made some popcorn and watched a movie and then I fell asleep. I think I slept for about an hour. I woke up really really confused. I was thinking that my roommate would be home soon.

I went downstairs and fed dinner to Dippy. Then Toby and I went in the other room to watch TV. I realized that I had the season premier of Bones on TiVo. It was good, but not as dramatic as I expected considering how last season ended. Tomorrow is the premier of House.

I didn't leave the house today. I meant to go to Daves to buy more food for Toby.

I do have laundry in the washer and dryer. I'm not sure I'll be awake long enough to finish another round of the dryer. I'll just have to remember to go get it tomorrow.

Day 20

I got a late start today. I just couldn't get myself out of bed this morning. I talked to Morgan, I watched TV, I talked to Morgan, then I got up and took a shower, then I laid in bed some more and then I finally got up.

I went to The Big E. It was nice. Not as nice as it is when you go with someone, but I had a good time. I ate a baked potato with chili, corn on the cob and a steak sandwich. I was there for lunch and dinner. I always find parking for The Big E very stressful, but after circling the block I picked a place and pulled in. They made fun of how I backed my car in, but in the end it was fine.

After The Big E I went to the mall. I bought shoes for the 8 year old mystery boy. Nice ones, nicer than shoes I buy for myself. I asked the person at the store what was popular this year with 8 year old boys.

I got home and watched a movie from netflix. It's one I've seen before but I really like: Imagine Me and You. Now I'm back in bed. Tomorrow I must do laundry.

Day 19

L'shanah Tovah!

I got dressed for work today in my temple clothes. All day I had to be dressed up. My undershirt kept riding up. It was really annoying. Work was pretty regular and boring. We ordered food from On the Border for lunch. After work I went to Rachel's house. We watched the Office. It was the first one of this season.

Then we went to her parents house. Dinner wasn't ready, but that was ok. I met a ton of her family. Dinner was good. Salad, soup, turkey, tzimmies, challah etc.

Dinner was running a little late, so even before everyone had finished I looked at my phone for the time and I realized that services started in 3 minutes! I excused myself (everyone understood Ari wasn't even there yet because he was at services) and thanked them for inviting me. Rachel's Mom gave me a brownie for the road and I rushed to services. I got there and went in. I was surprised to see a few other people going in because I was about 10 minutes late. I was also surprised that some people I saw in the hall made casual small talk. I was unahppy that I was late.

After services I picked up a shoe picture to tell me what size and gender shoe to buy to bring back for Yom Kippur.

Now I'm home. Something I bought for Morgan came in the mail today. I just mailed Morgan two boxes last week. Looks like I'm going to be sending another.

Day 18

I had a pretty regular day. I did the 2nd training for Salesforce between 9:30 and noon. Then we went to TJ Maxx. They didn't have a dock for my iPhone with a remote for $30. They had one for $70 but I didn't really feel like paying $70.

I went to the mall after work to return some shoes Morgan bought before she left for Israel but decided not to take because they didn't fit right. I had forgotten I was supposed to return them. If I had waited 3 more days it would have been too late for a refund and I would have had to get store credit. I don't really want store credit at DSW because I just don't buy that many pairs of shoes. They wanted me to put it back on the same card that bought them. I told them that that credit card was in Israel so they let me put it on a different card by the same company.

I finished putting the Pimsleur lessons onto my computer and then I transfered them to my iPhone. There are also 30 reading lessons and a pamphlet.

I was upstairs just haning out and then I realized that I am going straight from work to Rachel's house for dinner and then temple for services. I went downstairs and then I couldn't find my ticket to services. Luckily I found it. Then I came back upstairs and picked out my clothes for tomorrow. Long day tomorrow.

Here is a video, enjoy.

Day 17

Today at work I lead a training session for Salesforce for 3.5 hours. I'm tired. There are another 2 hours of training tomorrow morning.

When I got home I had a package. I ordered the Pimsleur language Hebrew I cds. They have been on my amazon wish list for 2 years and since I'm planning to go to Israel in a few months I should just suck it up and buy it myself. I didn't buy it through amazon prime though. I bought it new through the amazon market place for $200 less.

I had bought the first 10 lessons of this series for Morgan over a year ago. I knew that if we liked it we could buy the whole series of 30 lessons, but it would involve re-buying the first 10 lessons. I was ok with it, especially when I wasn't sure if I would like it and since it was really expensive.

Now I'm putting the lessons on my computer so I can put them on my iPhone. Tomorrow after my presentation some people from work and I might go over to TJ Maxx. They apparently have an iPod speaker docking system with remote for only $30. I've been looking for a cheap system to keep at work.

Speaking of having to rebuy something to get the rest, I pre-orderd the last season of Fraggle Rock today. A few years ago Morgan and I started re-watching/watching Fraggle Rock. We bought the first season. Once we finished watching that we bought the 2nd season. And then we wanted the 3rd season. Well, the 3rd season wasn't out at the time. It looked like they had been releasing one season per year. So we waited until the 3rd season came out and then we bought that. Then we saw that the release date for the 4th season. A few months later we found out that they decided on to release the 4th season. Instead they were going to release a box set of the full series. We were really annoyed because we didn't want to rebuy seasons 1-3 in order to get the last season. When I saw the last season for sale I had to get it.

I might have to bring it with me to Israel to watch with Morgan. I think she'll be mad if I watch it without her, but it's 24 episodes. That's 12 hours of tv watching which seems like a lot when I'll be visiting Israel. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do, but I'll figure something out.

Day 16

I ordered hay online. I wasn't really sure what to expect from buying hay through the mail. I ordered the 29-36lbs of bulk hay. Well - I got a box in the mail at work today. It's a box, lined with a giant bag, filled with hay.

I mailed a box to Morgan today. The woman and the post office asked me if I knew how long it would take to get there. I looked at her funny because I wasn't sure that the USPS employee was asking me how long it took to deliver the mail. I'll have to go back and let them know how long it took for Morgan to get the package once I know.

I've been watching the 2nd season of Weeds. It's acutally making me very anxious at the moment. I'm about to watch the season finale and I don't think it's going to make me any less anxious. I do hope they wrap everything up very neatly.

Day 15

I had a pretty boring day at work today. Nothing to say really.

I came home and watched TV. I've been watching episodes of Weeds through Netflix.

I watched some other TV and finished packing up a box for Morgan.

I am starting to see previews for the new seasons of shows. I'm getting pretty excited about new TV.

Day 14

2 weeks. I'm 2 weeks into this adventure.

I had a very lazy day. I hung around in bed watching tv and playing my DS until around 11. Then I took a shower and laid in bed some more. Then I talked to Morgan and then I watched TV a little more, talked to Mike and left the house. I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Then I stopped by 7-11 and bought a Slurpee and sunflower seeds. Then I laid on the couch and watched a movie. I didn't get laundry done like I had planned.

I guess I had a boring day today. There's not much more to say.

Day 13

I woke up relatively early this morning, around 7:30 am. It is especially early considering it was Saturday and that I had trouble falling asleep last night and didn't get to sleep until 1:30. I went online and talked on Skype with Morgan. We talked for over 2 hours. Skype has extras so Morgan and I played backgammon. It was a really lovely morning. I also finalized what day I would be going to the Big E. I'm really exited for the Big E. It starts on Friday.

Eventually I had to get out of bed so Morgan went to have dinner and I took a shower and fed Dippy and Toby. I got dressed and left the house around noon. I went to the mall. I bought a new pair of pants. I used to have 3 pairs of basically the same pair of pants from Old Navy. 2 in size 34 waist and one in size 36. When I was going through my 36 inch waist phase I could only wear the 36's (obviously) so they got pretty worn: holes in the back by the pockets and a whole in the crotch. They eventually had to be retired. My 2 pairs of 34's are left. One of them (before my 36 phase) got white out spilled on them while I was at work. White out leaves a mark that I could not get out. It's basically like bleach (or I don't know how to do laundry). That pair moved from work pants to regular pants) . I have been wearing my one remaining pair (not every day, I own 2 pairs of black/grey pants that I put in my rotation). I am starting to see wholes in this pair. I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't have any of those pants. Ironically, I'm not really sure what color they are. Brownish/khaki maybe.

I bought a pair of brown pants. I still need to try them on but they are from Old Navy and they are 34's so I assume they will fit. If not I'll have to take them back.

I was also walking past FYE and they had a table in the front of sale stuff. One of the things was the game Wii Play. Wii Play has a whole bunch of little games: where's Mii, Tanks, pool, shooting stuff (think Duck Hunt) etc. But, it comes with a Wii remote. So this game was on sale for $20. I figured since I could always use another Wii remote I should buy it. A Wii remote by itself costs more than $20. I played the game a little this afternoon. It seems OK, not great but good.

I also stopped by the candy store and bought some Jelly Beans to add to Morgan's box. I did have to put the one bag into 3 smaller bags so I could fit them in the spaces between the things. I have been trying to fill up every space since it's a flat rate box.

Then I came home and talked to Morgan some more and played some more backgammon. After that I played my new game and just hung out for the rest of the afternoon.

I have started playing Proffesor Layton and the Curious Villiage again. Sometimes I'm sad that I remember things so well. I will be doing one of the puzzles and have absolutely no idea what the answer is based on the information provided, but I just know that the answer is "M" or "3" and it is. It's very different to figure out what the answer is when you are trying to think rather than trying to remember why you already know the answer. There are some puzzles though that I don't remember at all! Even after seeing all 3 clues I give up.

Matt and I talked through plans for Thanksgiving a little. There are still some details to be worked out: what day are they coming back, what day am I coming back, how are we getting to and from the airport etc.

I was thinking about going straight from St. Louis to Israel and then back to Hartford, but then I realized that that probably isn't a good idea. If I fly out of Providence my car would be in Providence so I would have to fly back from Israel to Providence and then drive an hour and 45 minutes home instead of the 45 minutes from Hartford. Also it would probably be more expensive to a multidestination flight and it would make packing a little more difficult.

I'm still not sure what we'll do, but I did talk to Morgan about how long I could/should/would like to stay and what we can and can't do. Still lots of planning to do.

Day 12

It's finally Friday. I had a long week. Matt should be arriving soon. I stopped by Target on my home tonight. I bought a new Brita system for my faucet. It is great! The old one had been leaking and popping off the faucet from time to time. The new one is great! It doesn't leak and the little lever to move it between filtered and unfiltered water is so easy to move!

I also made a few impulse buys. I bought Dippy a tunnel. She seems to really like it. It would attach to other pop tents and things if I bought them too. Maybe another day. I also bought more Easy Mac to send to Morgan.

When I got home I repacked her boxes. I also added some rice sides. I added about 2 pounds to the flat rate box (I want to get my money worth) and a few ounces to the other box. It'll still be cheaper than the flat rate box. Now I'm just waiting for the word that it's OK to send the boxes. Morgan is waiting to hear about which of the 2 possible addresses I should use.

I let Toby run around on the kitchen floor for an hour or so today. He really seemed to enjoy it. Then he sat on my lap while I played my Nintendo DS for about an hour.

Dippy and I played with her new tunnel and a toy for a little while. She kept running and pouncing on the inside of the tunnel. It was hilarious.

Somehow I cut the inside of my mouth. It's sort of uncomfortable because my teeth keep rubbing on it. My reflex is to clench my teeth so I can't hurt the inside of my mouth, but then my head hurts from clenching my teeth. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.

Day 11

Busy day at work today. We had the Salesforce kickoff meeting. It went pretty well.

Matt is coming to stay with me tomorrow.

I came home and found a box at the back door. I don't get very many surprise packages. It was a book, a gift from Morgan's Mom. It's a book called Homer's Odyssey. It's about a blind cat named Homer. It looks interesting.

I love that she just sends gifts sometimes. My family just doesn't really do that. It's OK, it's not that I expect random gifts or that I even send them, but it sure is nice. It can really brighten up your whole day.

I made and omelet for dinner tonight. I usually don't eat very many eggs, but I bought for some reason so I need to make sure to eat them. I think I bought them because I wasn't getting enough protein. I gave up keeping track of everything I ate. It's a lot of work!

Today I opened the fridge to find that a jar of maraschino cherries had fallen over and leaked. I spent a little while cleaning the refrigerator.

Day 10

I had a very busy day at work. I spent 9 hours looking at spreadsheets and importing data into Salesforce for work. I was so brain dead at the end of the day that I came home without even thinking. I was supposed to go to Heather's house to help fix her printer. Now I'm going to try to go on Sunday.

I realized last night that I jammed my middle finger. Just one joint. It feels weird and pressury all the time. It's annoying because I also spent a lot of the day typing so I kept using the finger. It's actually really hard to try to type quickly and not use one finger.

I re-boxed Morgan's stuff with a few extra things she asked for. I think I'm going to send 2 boxes. One with the heavy stuff in a flat rate box and one with the light stuff in a regular box.

If I had a lot of small heavy stuff I was thinking it would be neat to fill the box with helium to keep the weight down so the box would cost less to mail. Obviously I would never do it. I don't think you are allowed to mail helium balloons anyway.

Day 9

Back to work after a 3 day weekend. The day flew by. So fast that I forgot to eat lunch! I did get to go to the bank to deposit Mike's checks and pick up a Priority mail flat rate box to send some stuff to Morgan. After work I went to the mall to pick up a few things to send to Morgan.

I got home around 7 and I put everything in the flat rate box only to discover that it would be cheaper not to use a flat rate box! So now I have to get a regular Priority mail box or just a plain box and repack everything. I don't really mind. I will even be able to use a slightly larger box and get more in, still for less than the flat rate box. Let me just go on record that the "Large" priority mail flat rate box is not very large at all. It's quite small actually.

As I was sitting on the floor putting stuff together for Morgan I kept hearing a buzzing sound. Turns out it was a mosquito that would not die. Or at least I couldn't get it. No matter what I did I could not get the stupid mosquito from buzzing by my ear. Now I feel itchy everywhere.

Day 8

Labor Day. I enjoy 3 day weekends. This weekend was a little boring. I didn't leave the house very much. I did give platelets today. It went ok. Not great, but fine. I didn't feel that well starting at about 25 minutes left. On my way out the door I thought I might be sick, but I was able to just sit in the car for a few minutes and relax. I knew I had to eat soon and I didn't really think I should drive all the way home. Especially since there wasn't some one at home waiting for me with a snack like there sometimes is. Instead I went to McDonald's which was just a mile or 2 down the road. I went through the drive through and then sat in the parking lot and ate.

I had originally planned to go see a movie this afternoon, but I still wasn't feeling great after lunch so I came home and watched TV in bed for basically the rest of the day. I was only going to lay down for an hour or so, but I just couldn't get myself out of bed. My arms hurt. It looks like I might have a bruise on at least one of the needle sites. The person doing my needles seemed a little unsure of herself about the whole process. They also hurt a little more going in than usual.

I talked to Morgan today about my coming to visit her. It sounds like she does not have the whole week of Sukkot off, maybe just one day. We couldn't tell from the schedule they had sent. She should find out for sure tomorrow. I was thinking of going to visit her for Sukkot, but I forgot that Sukkot is at the very beginning of October this year. October 3rd. It seems a little crazy to go visit her when she's only been there for a month if that means I won't get to see her again for another 4 months. For some reason I thought Sukkot was at the end of October. It still would have been less than half way through, but it would have been a little closer to the middle. Now I'm thinking more seriously about going during their mid-term break in November. I just have to figure out how to do Thanksgiving in St. Louis and 10-ish days in Israel and making sure all goes well at work.

November was going to be stressful anyway because we were only going to have something like 4 business days to take care of our lists. I think this time my life has to be more important than work.

Day 7

Day 7. It has been one full week since Morgan left for Israel. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The week went by very slowly. I miss her a lot. I talked to Morgan for an hour today.

I watched 3 movies today. I really like that I can watch Netflix movies through my TiVo. I forgot to pop popcorn. I meant to have popcorn and watch movies. I'm thinking about going to the movie theater tomorrow. I suppose it depends how I feel after giving platelets. I also don't really like going to the movies alone.

I just realized I forgot to have dinner tonight. I had lunch around 3. Now it's 10:30 and I think it's too late to eat and I already brushed my teeth.

Dippy has started sleeping with me again. She did last night and tonight. I'm glad. She had been sleeping in the office.

I feel like I had a whole bunch of really great ideas today. But I can't remember what any of them are. It's too bad really.

I bought a season pass to the Big E yesterday. I'm excited for the Big E, but also nervous it will be disappointing without Morgan. Maybe she'll fly home to go to the Big E with me.

Day 6

Well, it's Saturday. I got to talk to Morgan a few times today. We tried Skype but the internet connection isn't really working there so our calls kept getting dropped. It's supposed to be fixed on Monday. I stayed in bed most of the day. I managed to do 2 loads of laundry. I only left the house to go pick up some Chinese food for dinner.

I can't wait to go visit Morgan. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Monday I'm off work but I'm giving platelets at 10am. Then I'll probably just come home and crash. Tuesday starts another week, then we do this all over again.

Day 5

Well - it was a long day.

I had an OK day at work. I got to sit and do some thinking about the database and possible steps for a new project. It was sort of nice to be able to just sit and think. The IT guy was installing something on my computer so I couldn't use it.

I talked to Morgan for a little bit. She went to the Kotel for Shabbat. I can't wait to go visit.

After work I went straight to Heather's house. She made a good dinner and then I started helping set up her new computer. I set up her wireless network and changed the name and password. I set up the wireless printer and set up anti-virus etc. I got there at 6 and walked out the door at 11. On my way out Heather stuck money in my pocket. I would have done it for nothing!

Now I'm tired. Morgan is probably getting up now for services.

Day 4

I had a pretty decent day today. I got to chat with Morgan for a long time, even though I was at work. It was the first time since she's been gone that I really felt I got to talk to her like she was with me. It was nice, but it made me realize what I'm missing. I came home and starting looking at times to go to Israel to visit. I need to wait until Morgan gets a finalized schedule of days she doesn't have classes, then I can figure out when to visit.

It looks like her main term break will be over Thanksgiving! That's terrible because I had sort of assumed that I would go for her break but I never miss a Thanksgiving. Also I signed up to be the adult to help Matt and Rachel outnumber their children on the flight to and from St. Louis.

If she doesn't have any other time off I'll just plan to fly out right after Thanksgiving. I'll miss the first few days of her break, but I can stay in Jerusalem after and hang out with Morgan in the evenings after she is done with classes. I can also try to see Eric and Marc and family.

I went to Israel once when I was 17. I don't really remember "connecting" to Israel very much during that trip. I think now that I'm a little older and wiser perhaps I can really appreciate it. I am also looking into 2-3 day volunteer/study opportunities to do with Morgan while I'm there. If I go as part of a program I might qualify for a grant and it would be neat experience something like that. The great thing about my other trip to Israel was that I didn't have to plan anything or worry about anything, it was all taken care of.

I got my produce basket from Valley Green Feast on Tuesday and I split it with RJB. Then I gave the bunch of basil that was in my half to Judi because I don't really like basil that much. Judi made pesto and gave me half of it. I had it on my pasta for dinner tonight. It was pretty good.

Tomorrow night I am going to Heather's (Morgan's sister) house for dinner and I'm going to help her set up her wireless network. Morgan's mom, Maria (other sister) and Val will be there too. Heather called today to invite me up. I need to remember to bring my gps with me to work tomorrow. I can get to Heather's house from my house, but not necessarily from work without going the very long way.

I'm very tired from work this week so I'm glad it's almost the weekend, but, I'm a little nervous about the weekend. I have no idea what to do by myself.

Day 3

I got to talk to Morgan for about 45 minutes today. She is finally moved into her apartment.

My new digital camera came in the mail. I like it a lot. I'll try to take pictures of something worthwile and share them. Mostly I think I'll take pictures of Dippy and Toby to keep Morgan company.

I am starting new classes this term for school. I am taking 3 English classes and one class on computers. They are basically eighth grade English classes. It's amazing how much you forget. I can do the "pick the right sentence" questions. The questions about types of sentences are harder than I remember.

It is sort of rediculous, but hopefully it will mean that this term is very easy.

My mentor from school agreed to switch from weekly check in calls to bi-weekly check in calls about 5 months ago. Then about 1 month he started calling every week again. It was fine, since I don't really need any mentoring we only spoke for about 10 minutes a week. I found myself disapointed when he didn't call tonight, which is weird since I usually do not look forward to the calls. I don't dread them or anything, it's just that they aren't the highlight of my Wednesdays. It looks like we are back to bi-weekly calls.

Tonight was trash night. I cleaned Toby's cage, changed Dippy's litter and went through the fridge. It left me with sort of a dilema: what should I do with the stuff I won't eat/drink left in the fridge? I feel strange throwing out a perfectly good half container of sour cream, but I don't like sour cream, and who would want half a container of sour cream. We also have 3 beers in the fridge. I don't drink beer. Should I save them until February? That seems crazy. But it also seems crazy to open them and dump them down the sink. I wasn't prepared for all these ramifications of Morgan leaving.

Day 2

I got to work early today, around 7:40 am. I was able to talk to Morgan on her break in the morning around 8:05 (3:05 pm in Israel). My new calling card was pretty great actually. It was only 8.3 cents per minute. We were able to talk for about $3 worth during the day today.

I last talked to her just before she went to bed.

I went to the grocery store after work today. Probably not a great plan since I was hungry, but I didn't have any food for dinner or lunch tomorrow. I spent $110. I got toilet paper and cat food, but still. I also bought 20 lbs of rice. I wanted rice, but I was only planning to buy 2 lbs of rice, but the 20 lb bag was less expensive because it was on sale. I was really torn. How long would it take 1 person to eat 20 lbs of rice. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten rice at all. I certaintly couldn't bring myself to pay more money for less rice. So, I bought the rice. Now I'll have to think about how many different things I can do with rice.

I'm thinking of writing a cookbook. I find that I'm drawn to cookbooks and I'm never satisfied with them. I've started writing down what I make myself so I can put it together later in my cookbook, organized by weeks of food.

I snuggled with Toby a little tonight and now I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow I have to get ready for trash night.

Day 1

My first day without Morgan. I just got home from work. I can tell that my routine is going to change a lot because I fed Dippy, but I have no idea what to do for dinner. I need to go grocery shopping. I think I have pirogies in the freezer, but Morgan usually makes them. That's her job.

Instead I came upstairs (we never go upstairs before dinner) and now I'm checking my email, etc. I saw something cute that I'd usually show to Morgan, so here you go: a cute squirrel picture from cuteoverload.com.

I stayed at work for about an hour extra today. Maybe Morgan being gone will be great for HGF.

Morgan made it to Israel safetly. She got her cell phone and we talked for probably almost an hour.

I just saw Lynn, Maria and Val. They came to pick up Morgan's car. If they hadn't come back from NYC until later they may have spent the night, but they didn't.

I bought a calling card so I can talk to Morgan a little cheaper. I am going to try to call her at 8 am tomorrow, if all goes to schedule she should be on break. She is going to text me if that won't be a good time.

Gone

Morgan is boarding her flight to Philadelphia as we speak.

Day 4

It's finally Friday! Work was really very annoying in the morning, but it got a little better in the afternoon. RJB and I got Indian food take out and are thinking it would be nice to go to Pintu's for lunch and have the buffet next Friday or some other day next week.

We might try to go to a movie or something this weekend.

On my way home I stopped at a drive through for dinner and ate dinner in bed and watched about 5 episodes at NCIS. I also folded laundry and ironed some clothes and cleaned my room a little. I have more laundry and ironing to do, but perhaps I'll have to do that tomorrow. I didn't do P90X today, but I'll do one tomorrow or maybe 2 to catch up if I do one in the morning and one at night.

Nothing else really exciting happened today. I spent all day at work and then the rest of the day watching TV in bed.

Did you have a nice day? Day 3

Well, another day. I got to work on time, but I was very tired this morning. I forgot to scoop Dippy last night, but she survived. I remembered to feed her this morning and Toby too.

At work I was super annoyed because I got a really annoying email first thing in the morning. I never understand why people insist on bringing up really aggravating things first thing in the morning when everyone is tired and cranky about being at work.

At lunch I went to the gas station and vacuumed some of my car and put air in my tires. There is a gas station down the road that has free vacuums and air. Then I got lunch at Arby's.

Someone from work did a walk through with an inspector for a house. She is going to buy it. How exciting for her. She's buying her first home. If I knew that I was going to stay in this area for the next few years I'd be looking at homes too. She locked in an interest rate of under 5%.

I finally finished the online renewals. Tomorrow morning we should be able to run the lists. I have a few little things to do like remove the report that is causing an error in our live system but we're using it for testing in our Play system.

I got home and did some dishes and I put in laundry. I also did day 2 of P90X. Then I took a shower and now I'm in bed watching TV. I think I'm about to have some popcorn.

I got to talk to Morgan for about 4 and a half minutes. She seems to have had a nice day. I'm tired and hungry. Popcorn then bed.

How was your day? Day 2

I was worried about getting out of the house on time this morning. Usually Morgan handles the morning pet routine: feed dippy, weigh and feed Toby and give him new hay. Not a lot, but it adds a few minutes. I also couldn't get to sleep last night even though I was really tired.

But, I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, fed and weighed the babies and got out of the house on time. Then, on the way to work there was a truck blocking the whole road. It was trying to back up, but it didn't really have enough room. I sat there in a line of cars (I was 3rd) for a good 2 minutes, watching and helping by saying things out loud like, "oooh, you're not going to make it" and "watch out for the curb, watch out for the tree!" I hit a moment where I thought he was never going to make it and I should go back and go around. Then 30 seconds later I saw that he was going to make it and was slowly backing up, but would be out of the way in about another 30 seconds. At that moment 2 cars, one in front of me and one in back of me chose to turn around and go another way. I was surprised because it was clear that we were about to move.
By the time the car in front of me had finished the U-turn in the middle of the road we were driving. It was strange. Even all that, I got to work 5 minutes early.

It was a quite day at work because HG, Marcie and Ed were all out of the office.
There was a little ruckus in the morning because AB had sent RJB a meeting request for 8:00am for a conference call, but AB did not show up until 8:45. Turns out the meeting was at 2:30 pm and AB forgot to change the meeting request from the default time.

I did learn that they are building a new Olive Garden in West Springfield. When it opens we are going to go there for lunch. It's supposed to open late November.

I did not finish the online renewals today like wanted, but I did get a lot of other things done. We also had a pretty good hour long conference call with the Salesforce implementer.

I got home around 6 and fed Dippy. I had a big bowl of corn and a giant slice of ice cream cake for dinner. Then I did a P90X work out. A word to the wise: don't do P90X after eating ice cream cake for dinner.

I got to talk to Morgan tonight! Except, half way through the conversation she stopped being able to hear me. I heard here saying, "hello? hello?" Then, all of a sudden she said, "oh, I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number." Yeah, google voice cut out in the middle of our call and connected her to someone else. Weird.

Anyway, now I'm off to bed. I can't wait until the weekend.

It's started...

Morgan has gone to California for a week. I'll be spending a lot more time at home when "my Mom's in the shower."

I do miss talking about my day, but she's not gone for long. The good news is, you get to hear it.

Got to work at 7:00am. It wasn't worth it to drive 30 minutes home, spend 30 minutes at home and drive 30 minutes back to work.
At around 7:30 I went to McDonald's to get a coffee and 2 hash browns. Then I went back to work and there was still no one else there.

I was really tired so I ended up looking around at some of the Jewish links for Western Mass. It's relatively related to work. I noticed that there was a link to a Kosher Bed and Breakfast in Springfield! Shocking because, apparently it's the only Kosher hotel/motel etc in Massachusetts outside of the Boston metro area. Who knew it would be a tiny B&B across from Forest Park. Of course this is really only mildly interesting as I have no real need for a B&B 30 minutes from my house.

We walked to Celery Stalk for lunch and I got an egg salad sandwich. It was hot, but not as humid as yesterday.

I got my produce box delivery. I'd forgotten to write a check so I paid cash this month. I got: red leaf lettuce, corn, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, beets and a giant cucumber. I was excited. Now I have to figure out what to do with all that food.

I skipped the 3pm stretch break because it was supposed to be 90 degrees. Instead we moved the coffee into my office at work. The coffee used to be in the conference room, but we are loosing the conference room and they will be putting in two old cubicles from across the street. I cleaned out one of my drawers in the filing cabinet. It only had book samples, so it wasn't hard.

We also moved the checks from my office to the new bookkeepers desk. This means I don't have to lock my door every day, so now I won't miss the trash pick up in the morning.

I left at 4:30 because I was really having trouble focusing. Somehow 200 people filled out the online renewal form in the last 2 weeks. Usually only about 50 people per week fill it out. It might have something to do with there being no reply envelopes in the first batch of letters inviting people to renew.

I watched my movie from Netflix. I'm going to send it back tomorrow in hopes to get another one soon. I gave platelets a week or so ago and I started to watch "Yes Man" but I finished with something like 30 minutes left. It's been driving me crazy that I don't know how it ends so that's next from Netflix.

Tomorrow I hope to finish online renewals and finalize everything so we can run US lists. What fun.

Careers again

Well, last year I took some career tests to see what I was best suited for. You can see the results here.

As I've been struggling lately with what I want to do with my life and how I am basically miserable at work I took another free online test.

Here are the results:
1. Construction and Maintenance 100%
2. Manufacturing 89%
3. Administrative & Clerical 34%
4. Transportation 32%
5. Natural Sciences 22%
6. Engineering & Architecture 20%
7. Agriculture & Forestry 9%
8. Finance & Management 8%
9. Health Care 8%
10. Technology 5%
11. Law & Criminal Justice


The best part is the suggested jobs under Construction and Maintenance:

* Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
* Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
* Pest Control Workers
* Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
* Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation


Basically I'm not well suited for the work force.