days_unfolding

I woke up from my nap at 5 AM. I want breakfast, although it will make me less hungry for Dim Sum. It occurred to me that I could go to the Pinecrest, which is open 24 hours. I could have a breakfast sandwich, which won't fill me up too much.

I did go to the Pinecrest. On the way, there was a guy collapsed on the ground--I saw him nodding off early--and I was wondering if he was okay. But he was sitting up when I came back.

Okay, my stuff is packed, and I've checked in for my flights. Now I have time to kill. Tried lying down, but I can't sleep. I hope that means that I will sleep on the flight tonight. Texted with Erik about meeting him later.

I checked out of the hotel at 11. Erik came by at 12. He has an electric car, so we got in a discussion of the pros and cons. (He loves it.) He also almost sold me on an iPhone. He's one of the people whom I really listen to. We had a great time catching up and pigged out on Dim Sum. We ordered too much :) Afterward, we walked around in Aquatic Park, where I had been planning to go. He dropped me back at the hotel. I've been reading books on my Kindle. I'm reading an interesting book on the importance of having a quest, The Happiness of Pursuit. I can't think of any quests that I'm on except posting to LJ and DW every day.

I'm charging my phone in the "Business Center" at the hotel. I'd like to be able to use it for my boarding pass, although I did print off the boarding passes here.

Hmm, now I'm looking at electric cars, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid looks appealing.

Finally, it got to the time for the driver to pick me up. Someone called, but didn't answer when I picked up. Someone called several more times, so I ignored it. He then texted me, and I texted him the name of the hotel and address. He asked me if he should pick me up at 8:05 or 8:30, and I said 8:30. At 8:15 he calls and says that he's at the Westin. Huh? I told him where I was again, and he said, Oh no. Eventually he got to my hotel, but it took him several tries to pull in, which didn't give me the warm fuzzies about his driving. I did NOT give him a tip.

I've been pondering why I always get frazzled in airports. I think that it has to do with pulling everything out in security. OTOH, I passed a guy who was strolling along slowly like, I always take my luggage for a walk! I see people who are knocking their luggage over, etc., and I think "You are my people" :)

I got here way early for a midnight departure, hence the 8:30 pickup. My gate was the farthest one, of course. And they changed the gate twice. I found an electrical outlet and am charging my phone.

I really want to go to sleep. I hope that bodes well for sleeping on the flight. It did. I slept the way to O'Hare and found out how to get to the other terminal. The gate was the farthest gate again. (Is the Universe trying to tell me that I need more exercise?) I dozed at the gate, and I dozed on the flight. The shuttle guy called right after I got off the plane.

Now I'm back. Zara is all excited that I'm back. I haven't seen Mimi yet. I'm making lunch. Lunch was good. Hunger is the best sauce.

Now I think that I'll take a nap, then shower, and then do laundry.

Zara is telling me that she hasn't been fed. Liar :) And Mimi is telling me her tale of woe.

Had a nice nap. I could have slept longer, but I want to be able to sleep tonight. Had a nice shower, but my razor is refusing to shut off. Do I need to replace it every four months? I'm not thrilled. Mimi is upset that I shut her out of the bathroom.

Got laundry going. Sorted the mail, except for the Daily Look and Stitch Fix boxes; I want to get it out in the recycling. Fed the girls and mollified them. Got the garbage and recycling out.

The Southfield Park District has golf and tennis lessons, both of which I'd like to learn, but I think that I should concentrate on relearning to ride my bike. Speaking of which, it's ready at the bike shop, but I'd like for them to put the turn signals that I ordered on eBay. Plus I need to get a bike rack from Amazon. The Park District also has a gentle yoga class that I'd like to try.

Had dinner. Got the clothes in the dryer. I want clean, dry pajamas before I go to sleep.

I was thinking that I really don't enjoy flying any more, but given that I want to go to Hawaii and Europe, flying it is. Train travel is more civilized though. I just IMed my Italian teacher to see if he's back in Italy. I think that my "quest" is to work really hard on Italian for my trip next year.

I didn't set an alarm, so I woke up at the time that I need to get up for work. Bah. And Zara, who usually doesn't sleep in the bedroom because Mimi's in there, was on my shoulder! Good to have her snuggling with me. I went back to sleep.

It just occurred to me that I need a kitchen scale to measure out portions.

It's nice when it's the weekend, and I can linger over breakfast. But Zara wants to be fed RIGHT NOW!

Nap time. Zara decided that she wanted to snuggle with me during my nap, but Mimi was already on the bed. Rude kitty noises were exchanged. Mimi went away (in the bathroom?)

Hmm. I found a salon in the Champaign-Urbana area that's supposed to be great. Maybe I should go there when I get my new hairstyle, although it's more expensive.

I didn't cancel Freshly in time, so I got meals today. But they're a ridiculous amount of carbs, so I won't be getting them again. I might look into Factor. No, Factor has even more carbs. Yikes. Need to look into low-carb food that I can prep on the weekends. I bought a Keto slow cooker cookbook. That will help.

Hmm. My ex-husband and his wife are considering retirement. I'm happy for them.

I'm trying to convince myself to throw myself together and go to the store. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and I'd rather drive in rain than snow. No, the rain is coming down hard, so I'll wait until tomorrow. Or I could do a pickup on Monday. It'll be dry then. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Economy of motion. And I still have carb food to finish.

I was looking at ketosis test strips, but how do you know that they're accurate? I see reviews saying, "Oh, they're so accurate." Based on what?

I bought the cheesecake pan on Amazon. I'm supposed to get it on Monday, and like it better than Walmart's set of pans because I need only one pan, thank you. And a kitchen scale that measures in both grams and ounces.

Entered and submitted my grocery list and paid some bills. The rain is still coming down in buckets. It sounds kind of cozy.

Zara wasn't on my lap when I was on the computer, which is unusual. I found her in my, er, their bed. Zara and Mimi have reached an uneasy bed detente.

Talked to Mom. She sounded good. My aunt's hip surgery will be at the beginning of March, so Mom will have to go to Chicago the week before then. Mom is looking into getting the COVID shot, but having to go to Chicago for three weeks or so is making scheduling difficult.

Studied Italian. I need to get up earlier than normal on a weekend for the Italian class tomorrow, but I'll nap afterward.

The "pretty big" Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area was 30 years ago today.

I was at work. I was walking down the hall to the printer room, when the whole building started shaking violently. I thought that it was going to come down. I turned around and tried to walk back to my office, bouncing off the walls and getting hit by ceiling tiles. It could have been much worse, but it was scary enough. After what seemed like an eternity, the shaking stopped.

The phone rang. Someone else answered it and said, "It's for you." It was Erik (my ex-husband), checking that I was okay.

Erik called back a little while later. He was at work in Sunnyvale (? Or Santa Clara?), so he was going to stay there a while and let the traffic clear out. We agreed that I'd see him when I see him.

I took the bus to and from work. I wasn't sure that the buses would be running, so a colleague drove me home, which was very nice. The traffic lights were out, but drivers were being uncharacteristically polite.

I was a little scared at what I'd find at home. When I opened the door, I found a bottle of soda by the door. I didn't see the cats at first (they were hiding), but then they went, "Mom's home! Everything is okay!" I was like, "Oh ye of misplaced faith."

Amazingly, the bookshelves stayed up. (They weren't bolted to the wall.) Some stuff fell off of a bookshelf and broke, which I cleaned up. Erik's picture-hanging prowess was put to the test, and none of the pictures came down, although they had turned. The worst damage was a closet door that had come off its track.

The cable was out. The only radio station that I could get was in Santa Cruz, which had quite a bit of damage, so I assumed that there was a lot of damage in San Jose. (There wasn't.) I lay down on the bed with three cats draped over me, listening to the news.

Then the national news came on. I was still in shock, and it hadn't occurred to me that the earthquake would be national news. The news made it sound like the Bay Area was in ruins, so I went "Oh crap" and tried to call my parents. Everyone was doing the same thing, so all circuits were busy.

Erik finally got home, and we gave each other a big hug.

The next day, they told people to stay off of the roads, so we stayed home. My nerves were fried, and during one of the many aftershocks I said, "Stop it! Stop it already!"

I finally got in touch with my parents two days later. Mom came to visit a couple of weeks later, and she said that she wanted to feel an earthquake, and I snapped at her. (There actually were two aftershocks while she was there, but she missed them.) It took me weeks before I was able to go down the hall where I was when the earthquake hit.

I can't believe that it's been 30 years. Back to the current time....

I had lots of snuggle time with Zara. It's my late day, so I had a leisurely breakfast.

Urgh. The Bluehost guy told me to access the email to confirm the domain. I can't access the email, so that's the problem! I hope that we can get this resolved.

I was sitting on a chair with Zara on my lap. She jumped over my shoulder and onto the floor in one leap. I told her that she gets a perfect 10 in the Kitty Olympics. She amazes me.

I'm chatting with my dad via e-mail about IRAs. Scintillating conversation :) But I'm learning some things. It didn't occur to me to roll over my TIAA-CREF account (the higher-education version of a 401K) into a better IRA, but I should consider it.

Mimi was stalking Zara when I got home, and I told her to cut it out. She did, grudgingly, and occasionally she would start to wiggle her butt, and I'd tell her to cut it out again. Etc. Le sigh.