Frog and Goat

I’ve been in Knoxville this week. I haven’t explored much more than the Market Square area because I have been in class all day for the last three days.

I’m here learning about statistical process control. Today I officially gave up on understanding the math and it was a much better day. I’m not going to have to do the heavy lifting this technique allows and when I get back to my desk, I will make Excel do the calculations. Why have a spreadsheet tool and not make it bend to your will?

I’m in town with a coworker and he describes himself as weird so saying this isn’t news. I’m positive if I weren’t with him he would have never left the hotel. He paid to check a bag of food. He is a bit obsessed with statistical process control and has spent most of his free time studying. We have also eaten dinner at 4:30ish all this week so that he wastes little time between class and study time.

Me? Hung out for a couple of glasses of wine in the hotel bar, walked around and found some tasty tacos, watched The Avengers while drinking an Arrogant Bastard (so good). It’s funny because I don’t normally push myself out there with the alone in public thing, but it has been fun this week. OK, the movie watching was in my room on the iPad, but I had to go get the beer.

I’m really looking forward to the trip home. I will be alone (the coworker processes all the time out loud) and I have a small layover in Charlotte. I’ll have something to eat at the airport for dinner and then people watch.

View of the sunset from my room:

Last night we ate off our plates for the first time in weeks. It was delicious.

As the better-half pointed out, this is one of the few week nights we’ve had sausage fresh from the butcher shop we like so much. Because before last night it was a pain in the butt to get over there and then get home.

Late yesterday we retrieved the cats from the boarder. They reported that Lucy was rude. I think her feral background came out. Like sometimes my Jersey comes out. Not that I’m from Jersey, but being related helps with the attitude. She was pretty rude to me when I was trying to get her out of the cage (hissing and spitting). The better-half thinks it was because the employee was in the room getting Simon out of his jail cell. Once the employee left and I paid attention to our old man, Lucy sweetened up and let the better-half put her in the crate.

She was my glue last evening and Simon managed to come out from under the bed and has started his pacing. His pacing is a good thing since he seems to be mapping the new house and the boy loves to pace. I think I’ve mentioned that before. He was probably a border collie in a previous life.

The weather has been an absolute dream this week. We’ve been sleeping with the windows open and one night was chilly enough that I wish I hadn’t packed away all of the blankets.

Yes it’s gotten so bad that I am writing about the weather and packing. The good news is the moving truck comes tomorrow and so I’ll have to move on to unpacking conversations next week.

I can’t decide if I like the new IOS7 yet. I am digging the options for the camera. A quick shot of a plant on work’s rooftop deck:

We woke up before the sun was up and headed home from the beach. The traffic wasn’t too bad but it helps that it was o’dark thirty. We got home and then got busy. The better-half replaced the water filter and the two HVAC filters. The last time the HVAC maintenance people were here we had the wrong filters and so now the correct ones are installed, marked with the date, and the buyers of our house don’t have to whine about it. I cut every last piece of grass from the roadside to the orchard grass to the front, back and side yards. That is the last time I will do all of it unless it becomes a condition of our sale. The orchard grass is only supposed to be cut every couple of months but I’ve done it a lot this summer and I’m sick of it. So. Done.

We also went to Lowe’s and bought a replacement for the dishwasher. Same brand, same color, newer. It was on sale (Hallelujah) and we saved money on the install costs. Of course we have to wait until Friday for the install because there needs to be some actual work attended to this week. Not happy that we had to buy a new one, but I am glad that there is an end in sight for hand-washing every dish, pot, and glass. I’m a big baby and am not afraid to say it.