The snot train continues

I am beyond over this cold. Last night it woke me up at 2 am. I raised the head of the bed and managed to finally fall back asleep for a little bit. This morning I have a cough that worries me. And I honestly believe that one of these times, when I blow my nose, it will just fall right off. Bitch moan bitch moan.

On the up side, I did get back to the pool today and it was wonderful. It just felt so good to stretch out and get and stay wet all over. Gliding through the water is just the best feeling. And, at least I didn't cough while swimming.

Oh and my new suit swam perfectly. This was really excellent news since I tried several new tricks all of which turned out to be winners. I'm now excited for future suits. I have a couple that need retirement.

I just did my morning check of bank accounts and credit cards and was dismayed to see the balance in the account I use to pay bills was lower than I expected. Then I found the money. Some idiot had paid the Amazon store card account twice. Oh well. It wasn't a huge amount and the slack will soon be taken up by my normal Amazon purchases. But, dumb.

I got nothing going on today in particular which is just as well as that is about what I'm up for today. Tomorrow is a Diamond Club baseball game which is doubly good since it's also a game when The Obnoxious ex-Player will be ruining the TV broadcast. AND it looks like it will also be one of the last cool-ish evenings until September. So I'm going to enjoy it three times more than normal.

I was watching the game in Texas yesterday. Since getting my fancy tickets, I'm all focused on the first few rows shown when the camera is on the batter. Are they padded? In a special section? Look like they have seat service? As good a deal as my seat??

I looked up the Texas stadium deal yesterday and it appears that they don't have as many of the fancy seats and the dining room is the next level up. Part of the fun of the Mariners experience is entering in a special door just for Diamond Club seats. And then you are only a few steps away from the dining room/bar which leads right out to your special padded seats. Better than Texas I think.

It's cloudy and cool outside right now. If it is still this way after 10, I might just take a trot up to the Japanese grocery and score a poke bowl for lunch. The walk would be good and so would the poke bowl!

Continued - Answers

pinmedown asked me two great questions in comments to my last Continued post. They were such good questions that I had to give them more thought than usual and thought I'd just answer in a separate entry.


I know you certainly don't dwell on them, but do you have regrets?

I do. I do have regrets. I have big ones and little ones.

The big over arching one is that I wish had been and was now a nicer person. I'm just not. I can be mean but that's really not even the issue, the issue is that I'm just not nice. I'm not kind, I'm considerate but I'm just not nice to people and I wish I were different. It has always seemed like a simple and easy thing to do until I can't and don't. I've never figured out the key and I do regret that.

I do wish I hadn't wasted my time in school. I wish I had taken the whole opportunity more seriously. I am smart and if I had used those smarts productively when I had people right there to teach me, I'd be way smart now. It seems like such a waste that I didn't.

And the rest are just little regrets. Like I regret purchases I made or places I didn't go. Inconsequential stuff. Oh and my not going to the dentist regularly.

And you are right. I do not dwell. I learned long ago that wallowing in regret served zero purpose. It didn't promote corrective behavior and just made me miserable. If possible, find some good in the bad and even if not, just move on. There are more mistakes to make just around the corner!


Who taught you about saving money etc?

I think it was a combo...

When I was first starting out, my Dad sat me down and showed me how and why to think about fixed expenses like rent and electricity as opposed to discretionary expenses like groceries and shoes and why it mattered and a little about how to budget. At the time I did not pay nearly enough attention to what he was saying but I did manage to get something out of it.

Somewhere, I read or heard or somehow learned from somewhere (specific enough there on the source??_ that small savings are worth the effort. It may seem like a ridiculous effort to wait until meat is on sale or go out of your way to the cheaper gas station, but if you make it a habit, it does mount up. Even all the little bits. Now, having said that, I've never been a big coupon clipper so there are limits :)

And then many (like 30) years after my father's lesson, my financial adviser told me to just save something. Put something aside out of every paycheck. Put it somewhere you can't get to it. Even if it's only $20. I thought this was too little, and kind of a silly idea but he was kind of intimidating and I didn't have a good reason not to so I did. And, what I learned was that 1. I did not miss the money I put aside and 2. I loved seeing the pot of $$ grow. And I was hooked on the idea. I gradually started growing the amount and then adding other $ in and pretty soon, I was a real, honest to god saver.

My tweets

• Mon, 10:32: Coming to uwjimaya in the id? Weird but yum!! @ Uwajimaya Seattle https://t.co/YoZlOJ6dlR
• Mon, 10:33: Hey Doug how come you need a special tool? @ Uwajimaya Seattle https://t.co/UbsDROvBH8
• Mon, 10:34: This is a double decker model I have not seen before... New to Sounder fleet? @ International… https://t.co/8zslRTbGOY

Blah

Have I mentioned that I'm tired of this cold? Well, I am. Really. Today it's just sapped me of any energy to do anything. I got a couple of new projects started but then just didn't have the whatever to do more.

I did get out and walked to Uwajimaya. It was perfect, weather wise. The sun came out just as I crossed the street into the back door of my building. So while I feel like I've just fucked the day away, my tracker is happy.

I sent a note to the Baby Bank lady last Thursday telling her I had a batch of bears and asking her when she wanted them delivered. She sometimes takes a day to reply but has never gone this long. Curious.

The building manager is moving out today. Good bye. It's going to be at least a month or more before we get any semblance of building management back but I think it's worth the inconvenience. Sandy, the board president, sounds like she has a good handle on his replacement.

I think I'm going to watch some HGTV and work in my sweater for a while. At least I have the energy for doing that between nose blowings.

Oh and I have a toe that has gout. At least so far it's a mild case and, hopefully, my magic gout pills will scare it away but holy crap.