Click, click

I have no laptop.   At present.  It's a little disconcerting because I am using Jay's desktop and the only time I use this particular computer is when I am doing his bookkeeping.  I also keep trying to place my finger on the pad to highlight words or move the curser instead of reaching for his mouse.  It also seems his keyboard clatters.  Click, click, clat, click, clat.  With every letter I type I feel like I might wake the world.  It is making me very self-conscious.
But I took my laptop in for repair.  I am waiting for their call to tell me to pay the $25.00 diagnostic fee and buy a new laptop or pay $xxx amount and they can fix mine.  I will have to see how that goes and in the meantime I will have to buck up and listen to the click, click, clatter of this keyboard or do without.  I will probably do diminishing amounts of both.  And the repair shop told me they would call within 24 hours.  We will see.  They are open today from 11-6 even though it's Sunday so I might know how to proceed today.  And if not, well, we will see.
Needless to say, I found this as an excuse for not starting a new story.  I could say I had good reason.
I have no laptop.
TT 

Another place

Somehow, I know this isn't going to work.  I am still trying to work out this keyboard on top of a keyboard on top of my laptop situation.
Since I have taken the day off from work I lazed around and slept in.  I finally got myself up and made coffee.  I figured I'd take my laptop and plug it in downstairs where I would be closer to the keyboard I needed to borrow from the desktop.  I've been sitting here for about 15 minutes and it's uncomfortable.  It isn't my upstairs office.  I don't have my window to look out of and I don't have...the most important thing I don't have is a laptop that is functioning the way a laptop is supposed to function.  I don't think plugging a keyboard and setting it on top of the keyboard on a laptop was the way anyone thought it was supposed to work and they would be correct.  It works but it isn't working.
The only reason I am going on about it is because I don't want to have to think about going out to buy another laptop.  It isn't the money.  I just don't want to have to make a decision and pick another to buy.  Could I really be that zapped of energy?  Yes. I wanted nothing more than to spend a free day bouncing story ideas around and hammering out a few words in the direction of about 7500 words.
Ah, the heck with it.  I can still do it.  I'm not going to let this stop me.  So what if I'm going outside the normal to do what I want.  So what. A mild inconvenience to do what I want on a day I want to do it?  I'll buy a laptop tomorrow.  Today, well today...I'll have to find another place to sit.
TT

Just wrong

Can you see this picture?!?!?   Like I really needed this (like anyone needs these little irritating things that happen).  I am having a problem with my laptop, or rather the keyboard on my laptop.
I woke up this morning and went about my usual routine except when I got around to booting up my laptop I had a little problem.  There was no response from certain keys...like 5 and 6, and almost the entire row of letters starting with A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, : " Enter.  I have to say the g and h worked but not all the rest of the row.  I immediately did what everyone at a help desk tells you to do.  I re-booted the laptop.  I tried to type in some words and realized the keys just weren't working.  I tried to enter things through Chrome.  I tried through Internet Explorer.  I tried a word document.  I tried, I tried, and I tried and guess what?  My keyboard isn't working!  I was able to figure it out after trying really hard.  Or was I trying to avoid figuring it out?
I am working it right now by what you see in the picture.  I have hooked up the USB keyboard that belongs to the desktop Jay uses downstairs.  I borrowed it.  To test my laptop, of course, and it's working although I will need to put it back and it isn't exactly a great way to use a laptop.  I mean, I guess I could get used to it, but a keyboard is sitting on top of, well, a keyboard sitting on top of a laptop.  It's working but doesn't quite seem right.  And, of course, it isn't right.
This is wrong.
TT

Hand me the aspirin

If I'm supposed to be running I missed it.  This week isn't going to be the monumental, motivational, push for the end of the month like I started out this month, that's for sure.  Everything seems to be winding down instead of revving up.  I think I'm trying to find that very slim area that is called balance and not being very successful.
It doesn't help that I woke up yesterday morning with a slight pinch in my lower right back.  How is that possible?  Go to bed, wake up with a pinched muscle?  What's that all about?  Age.  What else could it be?  How else do you do nothing all night and wake up with things wrong with you?  So I'm pretending it isn't really there, that I don't really notice it.  It must be some imaginary bit of suffering I have added to my 'feel bad for no reason' list since I haven't felt bad about anything.  Could it be a symptom of, everything is good so something bad must be lurking?
Well, I'll tell you what.  If the only thing I have to suffer through is a slightly pinched muscle, hand me the bottle of aspirin and let's get on our way.
TT

Is this a recap?

If today flies by as quickly as yesterday I will be through this week before I blink.  I'm not sure if it was the work, the visitors, the work, but it was time to leave before I ate lunch and that was regular quitting time.  How did the afternoon roll around so quickly?  I'm not complaining, just amazed.
I will need to get myself out early tomorrow morning for a 3 miler before work.  I've skipped out yesterday and today.  It gets really rushed for me to cool down in the mornings but I have to fit more runs in somewhere.  I took myself out this past Saturday morning to a small section of Greenway and managed a longer run of somewhere between 7 and 8 miles.  It's funny how my magical gadgets didn't agree.  One said 7.48 and the other said 8.11 miles.  Either way, it was probably upping the miles too soon.  I went out in the neighborhood Sunday morning and stretched out another 4 miles.  I also decided to hold off on any official races again.  I had a four-race series in mind but if I know me, I don't need the added pressure of trying to stack up.  I can do the distances on my own for now.  Nobody has to know.
My other thoughts have been around the fact that I need to sketch out another short story.  This time I will try very hard to rein it in to the max of 7500 words that a short story is supposed to be.  The Crossed Wires story has been completed on the site since 6/18/13 and I don't know why but I have a total of 680 downloads now.  My feelings about the whole standings is not bad.  I wish my rating was higher but I'm average and the little story has hung in there even staying on the 20 top completed story downloads (#5 today) for a week.  So la-te-da.  Need to work on something new.
I just need to get to work on it all.  And I am looking forward to a day off on Friday!
TT

All new

Another fine weekend for the books.  Another work-week to get started but I was smart enough to schedule   Friday off so I have a four day work-week.
Hopefully, after today, I will have all my brand new kitchen appliances installed.  After some confusion and having to pick a new range, we managed to have the refrigerator and dishwasher delivered on Saturday.  Yes, two new stainless steel appliances were placed in my kitchen.  The only problem was my old, copper wiring.  That's a no-no these days and it had probably been installed as long ago as when the house was built.  That means too long.  So, that means I spent the remainder of Saturday waiting for the plumber.  He managed to come and give me an estimate, had to go get parts, and finally finished around 8:00 pm.  That's when we found out that they didn't leave the power cord when they delivered the dishwasher.
But, they are scheduled to come back today, between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00, to deliver my new stainless-steel range.  I will be calling them this morning to say, hey, my dishwasher power cord?  You'll have that when you bring the range, right?  Then, hopefully, by end of day today, I will have a new kitchen full of new appliances.  Fridge, dishwasher and range.
Just another upgrade to this old house we decided was our best option to stay and have paid in full.  It seemed best, instead of getting a new house with a lifetime of payments ahead of us.   And with all these new, fancy upgrades and new fancy do-dads, it's almost as good as new.
TT

Skipped

I skipped a run this morning.  I woke up, made coffee, started to pull on my shorts and thought, "I'm not up for it."  It had such a feeling of I'm tired and I need to listen to what my body is telling me for once and skip the short 3 miles I was planning.  It won't stop the world and it might be good for me.  It isn't going to kill anything, it isn't going to ruin anything, and it will probably be a good thing.  I'm thinking in this case it might be the right decision.
TT

Don't sit

I should be downstairs washing the dirty dishes that have accumulated in my sink and on the counter tops.  Isn't it always the case with me that whenever I venture to one spot that I always start thinking I should be somewhere else doing something different from whatever I am doing?  I'm not sure why I have such a hard time being okay with doing whatever I'm doing at the moment instead of trying to pull myself away every time I sit for more than a few minutes.
It's not like I'm ever really just sitting.  I've spent the entire day sitting but you can't tell me I wasn't doing an awful lot.  I've been doing so much lately...well, all that doesn't really matter.  They pay me for that.  I've done it a long time and I can't complain about the arrangement.
But sure enough, I've sat here for a few minutes the way I wish I could when I have to take myself to work and the first thing that comes to my mind is that I have to go and wash dishes. Why is it that I can't begin anything I would rather be doing until I get all the other to-do things done first?  First, go to work, first clean the kitchen, first...Oh...put the clothes into the dryer and then fold them.
So what am I going on about?  Little chores.  Reasons or excuses.  To sit or not to sit.
I guess for the moment, it's not to sit.  Damn dishes are calling me.
TT

That story - finished

So here's the thing.  I finally finished that story.  I did.  I hung in there and got it all complete.  It starts, there some stuff in the middle and then it ends.  All done.  I'm feeling good about doing it.  It isn't anything more than a story but it was something I knew I had to do.  It was something for me to try and now that I've finished it I am thinking I want to do that again.
I'll try to make it a little better.  Or I just try to write an entire story with a start, some stuff in the middle and then an end again.  I might even try to make it a little interesting.  I mean, I might try to make it interesting for somebody other than me.  Not that the story is interesting to me but the process of writing the story is interesting to me.  That's probably not the best approach to take but it's the one that is interesting to me at the moment.
I could start another story or I could even go back and take another look at the one I just wrote.  I know I have grammar that should be fixed.  I'm sure I'm guilty of using passive voice, split infinitives, tense confusion,  sentence structure.  What can I say.  I love literature but I'm not very good at all the technical stuff.  But it's something I really need to work on.
But I think I'll just leave the story for now and see what else I can do.  I'll read some more articles from Writers Digest and read more fiction novels and I'll try writing a little more.  I think I like that idea.
I finished that story I was writing.
TT

Dads Day 2013

We made our way to Sonny and Selma's house to celebrate Fathers Day this year.  Sonny and Jay decided on the menu a week ago and since I was off work this past Friday we were able to shop for all the ingredients in advance.
Sonny outdid himself.

Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

Pulled Pork Sliders with homemade BBQ Sauce and Coleslaw

Dry Rubbed Grilled Beef

Sauteed Asparagus

Twice Baked Potatoes

Fruit topped Sponge Cake

I really need to get myself another camera.  But the food was beyond perfection although nobody seems to think anything is perfect anymore.  But things can be perfect in the instance they happen.  Not always but it is possible.  This was one of those times!

TT

Break time

It's just after 9:00 a.m on Saturday and I haven't gone out for a run yet.  I just finished the completed draft of my last chapter to my story!  I finished up what I had going from last night and was able to write it all the way through.  I will still need to go back in a bit and do my 'cleaning up'.  I will need to put a little time in between rereading it and then doing some editing before I can say, well enough, that's it.  But, I've done the hard part and got it all down!  I'm glad I've gotten it all done and a run would be good about now since it will clear the cobwebs from my brain.
The chapters that I have posted to my Crossed Wires story at the finestories.com site has been going fairly well.  At least, for me, it seems to be doing alright.  I'm not competing with the other stories there but just looking at my own and I'm kinda happy about it.  I've managed over 450 total download with people obviously reading through all the chapters that are posted so far.  I'm guessing the readers aren't all getting bored or think it is so bad that they stop after a chapter or two but reading all that I have.  That must be a good sign.  I have also accumulated 30 votes and my rating has gone from an initial 2.69 at the start (20 vote minimum) to a 2.88 rating (out of 5).  I will take that type of steady increase in ratings as a good thing!  Like I've said, this is a simple, frivolous story...not anything to, to...(I don't want to say write home about) but home - I'm writing!
Now, it's time for a break, a run, a few leisurely minutes and then clean up the last of the story.  Feeling good!
TT

Day off

This morning, today, I'm off from work.  I've taken a vacation day and I seem to be stumbling around not sure of my routine.  Classic.  I finally get the time off that I want and can't seem to piece together the minutes in a formula that seems to make the best use of them.  I mean, how much time can I waste?  I've already been up a hour and I have nothing to show for it.
I guess the best thing for me to do now is to go run.  That is first on my list of things I need to do.  It's what I want to do.  The second will be to write.  That has to happen.  It has to happen today.  I've got this story hanging out in the breeze, so close to being finished, and I can't seem to get it done.  I was supposed to work on it last night and I didn't touch it except to open the document and stare at it.  I read a piece of the draft and thought, 'I need to work on this', and then allowed myself to get distracted away from it.  But not today.  No more excuses for it.  Whatever I need to work out, whatever I seem to be afraid of by writing it, whatever, whatever.  No whatever's.  I will put all the words down, give it a read, change the words around and then have it done.  This isn't some big, fancy, important piece of work.  It's a simple, simplistic, not complicated point A to point B story.  It's a 1-2-3 done and I'm dragging around like it's more important than it really is.  So there.
I will run and then get to the business of writing the last bits of a simple story so I can go on to the next idea.
It's a vacation day and I'm going to enjoy it!
TT

Skip the tricks

I've been running most mornings before work.  I was able to get five miles this morning and that was a feat since Jay won't let me out of the house before light.  That means I get to start around six a.m. or so.  That doesn't give me time to cool down, shower, dress and get to work by 7:30.  Today it was 8:00 but I had extra time chalked up from previous days so it was no matter.
I thought I was going to be tired, being it was a Thursday an all, so I set my run for 3 miles thinking I would do 4 and I ended up doing 5.  It's all a mind trick to tell myself I'll only do a small amount when I'm thinking I want to do more.  I allow myself to think I won't push it too hard by setting a smaller number.  Then by taking it easy I feel like I want to do more.  Not always.  But it worked this morning.  I think if I had set out thinking I needed to do 5 miles I would have balked and not done more than 3.  Maybe.  I'm not sure.  It's still a mind game.  And anyway, I'm not running right now.  Not until tomorrow.
I won't have to worry about time and cooling down to get ready for work because I took tomorrow off.  I can start whenever, run what I want, and take my time afterward since I don't have to rush off.  I've got nothing planned except a hair trim at 11:00 a.m.
So I can skip the 'guess the distance' for tomorrow.  No mind tricks.  Just pure running to run.
TT

E-mail chat

Jay was off yesterday and he was expecting a plumber to come to the house and replace all the fixtures in our downstairs bathroom.  Jay hadn't charged his phone and when he realized it he e-mailed me at work.  The entries you see below is the exchange between us...not on chat, not speaking out loud, but one at a time e-mails back and forth.

Jay:  Please call Richard the plumber and tell him my phone is down and that I will be here. Get some info if you can. Do you know where my charger is??

TT: I’m in a meeting until 10.  I’ll call him after.  Didn’t you get a new charger with the new phone?  I guess you checked the area where the fruit bowl is…there is a mess in that area.

Jay:  No need to call. The new charger is at work the old one is here somewhere, I think I took it when we went out of town.

TT:  So you called the plumber from the car?  We took the new charger out of town but we brought it back…did you find it?

Jay:  No maybe both at work, tengo  hambre

TT:  Well…eat some huevos and wieeneee

--15 minutes later--

Jay:  that was good

TT:  What did you end up eating?

Jay:  sausage egg onion tomato chile tortillas, the floor is a mess

TT:  You’re not supposed to eat it off the floor.

Jay:  oh

TT:  Sounds like you can spend the time waiting on the plumber by cleaning the kitchen.  And there is a box of recycling on the deck by the grill and the recycled trash next to it is full too.

Jay:  I knew it

T:  Knew it?  Oh…and there are few items on the bathroom floor that I wasn’t sure about putting back under the sink.  You might want to clear those out.

That might keep you busy until he gets there…  ; )

--20 minutes go by--

Jay:  otra vez la Burra al maiz

TT:  Oh…you still there?  Thought you had gone off to take a nap.

Jay:  anything from the grocery store?

TT:  Kashi

Meat for sandwiches

Get another bread from the bakery…dark pumpernickel or the multi-grain.

maybe berries—if they are worth it or another pineapple

Fage yogurt - if they have something in-between the single serve and the gigantic-if not don’t get it

Can’t think of anything else…you said you needed dog food

Jay:   Plumber is done 110.00. anything else from the store?

TT:  How does it look? 

I can’t think of anything else

Jay:  New, now need to give the tube a good cleaning

TT:  WOW!  Making your own chores, now?

Wait,  what tube?

Jay:  TUB TUB, this is all a misunderstanding.

TT:  Don’t I know it.

Amazing...

TT

In order

The house is mostly put back in order.  The dishes are washed, trash taken out, recycling stowed away and things are back in their proper places.  For ending the evening at approximately midnight, I was up early and got all the clutter put away.

Jay had some of his friends from the Magic Shop over last night.  It was a fun get-together and it had been a long time since we had so many people over to the house. I've got too much food in the fridge!

Needless to say, today will be low-key.  I'll get some writing done.  I'll read a while if time permits and then maybe it will rain and I can watch.

Things are all back in order.

TT 

3 ounces

Okay.  Maybe I charged ahead into my weekend with a little too much gusto last night.  It had been a hard week at work and I was certainly looking forward to heading into my free time.  Unfortunately, in my curious head, that meant I needed to drink just one extra Cosmopolitan that I really didn't need to drink.  It tasted so good and I was doing the mixing at home and, ah come on, it was a Friday night and well it went down so...

You get the picture.  So I oooh'd and aaahhh'd and drank myself three of the pinkish cocktails.  You wouldn't think that would have such an effect since we are only talking 3 ounces of vodka total.  And I know it was only 3 ounces since the mixing was done at home.  But boy, oh.  I'm not exactly out of kilter, but then I'm not exactly on top of my game this morning, either.  And I have plans to run this morning and I have plans to write and I have plans to cook and I have...

It seems it's time to straighten myself out and pour myself another 3 ounces.  But this time it will be some hot, black, coffee.  Wait, what?  3 ounces?  No way...fill that mug up!  Again.  Now.

Good.  Better.  

Now.  Get started on those plans.

TT

Lose control

Oh, Weekend, Glorious Weekend!  I live all week to LIVE all weekend.  I'm not sure how that has come to be but it has.  Maybe I've always been that way or I've been that way as long as I have had a regular full-time job.  Wait, if you think about it that way, it means it has been that way for many, many, many, many, many years.  So that means I have been doing it for quite a while.
It wasn't always like that.  I think I remember times that I didn't actually feel like I needed to get through the work-week in order to LIVE.  At least I think I remember times such as those.  Maybe I don't really remember those times and it's just a fabrication I've made up in my subconscious mind to make it seem less true about the weekend living thing and all.  It's amazing the sort of things I can fabricate.  Maybe I've gone through my entire life (is it over) and have always felt like I've been speeding ahead to the weekend.  That could explain why I'm so old now.  All that speeding through the week to have a weekend has pushed me ahead faster than I should have been pushed.  Don't listen.  That's just another fabrication.  I have no such control over speeding weeks, weekends, or time.  I don't.
But, I will begin my lack of control now since it is officially my weekend.  My Oh So Glorious Weekend!    Time to LIVE!
TT

No rest

It's a little late in the evening for me to be up here at my laptop.  I'm actually waiting on a load of towels to finish washing so I can put them in the dryer before heading back downstairs.  Yes - I know.  The washer and dryer are upstairs in this house.  But that's okay.  It is giving me an excuse to sit here at my desk at a time I would normally be downstairs and doing something else.
I should be spending more evening time here upstairs.  It's something I keep thinking I should be doing but haven't actually gotten myself to do just yet.
It's time like now that I could be using to finish up my story.  I wrote up the draft of the next chapter (which may be the end).  That part is done.  But I know it isn't where I want it to be.  I know I am going to have to go back and doctor it up.  But for some reason I haven't touched it since May 27 and today is June 6.  That's too much time leaving it rest.  It's beginning to think it's in a coma and it really isn't.  It's there.  It's waiting.  It's ready to be revived.
Maybe it's me that is in a coma when it comes to this poor story.  And I am so close to finishing and I keep finding other things to do except get to it!  But I will do it and hopefully this weekend I will spend some goodly amounts of time warming up my keyboard.  I'll have it up and running in no time.
Oh...the washer is finished.  Time to move the towels to the dryer and head downstairs.
TT

Isn't it?

It would be easy to decide to stay inside and use this extra time at my desk than get up and run a few skinny miles before work.  That isn't going to happen.  If I could manage a run yesterday and still get to work without a lot of rushing around there isn't any way I need to put it off and not get the short run done today.  It's going to happen.  I just needed to present the thought of not doing it so I could dash it away.  Reject it quickly and move on.  
And moving is what I'm doing.  Another quick trip up the street so when I am finally driving to work I won't be jealous and pounding my palm on the steering wheel, cursing myself for not getting it done.  That is what usually happens if I don't run and I see others running their skinny miles before work.  But I won't be doing that today.  I'll be the one thinking as I pass the runners on my way to work, isn't it great?
TT

2 minutes

I'm feeling a little frustrated at the moment.  I'm going to allow the frustration for 2 minutes and then let it go.  The rain was a wonderful thing to wake up to this morning and the extra time it gave me this morning to relax and have some coffee worked out really nice.  My problem after that was that the terrible, cramped muscle between my neck and the back of my left shoulder was acting up.  You know the spot (or maybe you don't).  If you reach your left hand up and grab your left shoulder it will be the spot your fingers hit on your back.  Right there.  You want to flex your neck one way or the other to stretch it out except the flexing doesn't help mine and the cramping gets severe.  It's because of the way I tense it when I am working on my computer at work, when I have a lot of work, which I have.
I took one of the prescription strength Advil's the doctor gave me a month ago (which, back then, I took along with a muscle relaxer at night for a week).  It had all helped a month ago but since in the past two days it seemed to be cramping up on me again, I thought the Advil would help.
Well, not so much.  I should know better than to take anything prescription like that.  It just doesn't agree with me.  I've gotten allergic to drugs.  I can't seem to take anything.
Instead of relieving the shoulder muscle tension, the pill managed to upset my stomach and make me feel light-headed and fuzzy all day.  I couldn't get anything done.  I was out-of-sorts and feeling crappy all day.  So I haven't been able to get anything done.  And so I'm feeling frustrated.
And I think my 2 minutes is up.
That means I have to let it go, now.  (Sigh)
TT

Ease up

The overcast skies and drizzling rain is keeping me indoors this morning.  The lightning flashes and thunder rumblings don't make it easier to want to make an attempt to escape.  I'll have to wait to it out.  It's a good thing.  We certainly can use the rain that is forcing itself upon us.  We have become used to being without it for so many years.  It's an odd occurrence any more but what should be normal seems like an overabundance of the wet coming down.  It makes it seem as if it's more than we should have when it is only catching up to what it always should have been.
But it's keeping me indoors this morning, so far.  It's giving me a chance to have another cup of coffee and get to doing a few things that had to be put aside yesterday. An hour with Mr. L turned into an afternoon and  then it was evening before I had a chance to think about anything else.  But then there is today and the rain is making me ease up on how I will  use the time now and later.  One thing at a time and time for it all.
Time to grab another cup of coffee and watch the rain.
TT

Decisions

I'm taking too long to decide whether to have another cup of coffee or to just go out and enjoy the outdoors.  It's plenty light enough to pull on my running shoes and start up this weekend the way it should be started.  I already know I'm going to run.
I thought I would go out and find another place to run instead of my neighborhood.  It would be nice to find some new scenery but I think it's more about me wanting to avoid these inclines I have to tackle around my house.  And then as if I didn't know how steep some of them are, my gadget gave me a message about tackling the most elevation this past month.  Yeah.  I know.
A more consistent flat surface would be nice.  A change in scenery, too, but even though I have inclines and it might be a road I've beaten down many a time, it's never the same.  Every time I go out a little bit has changed.  It is a little bit different.  It all keeps moving ahead, subtly fading and blending into new, like me with each step forward.
Ah, come on...what's to decide?  Time for a run.
TT