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.