I had a really good time yesterday taking my friend out for her birthday. The day started with us having a good lunch, then we were off to Beverly Hills to see the Drunk History diorama exhibit at the Paley Center. The exhibit was a wee bit disappointing, as it was so small, but we had fun nevertheless. After that we went to Trejos and had REALLY shitty chips, salsa, corn, cheesy bean dip, margarita and a diet coke. Seriously, how can you make any of those not taste good? They managed it! With EVERY item! At least I can cross them off the list of places to try... After that, it was back to my place for presents. She got me loads of neat stuff (as well as Gotham) and seemed to like the gifts I got her, which is nice as I never seem to get people the right thing.

After that, we watched MST3K for a bit and she went home. It probably sounds like a boring day to most folks out there, but once you get to my age, having lunch, giving someone a copy of Adrian Edmondon’s “How to be a Complete Bastard”, snacks, cocktails, a good chat and a funny TV program is a really nice day!

I woke-up early this morning, walked to Trader Joe’s and am now sitting outside in a plaza on a beautiful Sunday morning killing a few minutes until the specialty pet food store opens, so I can get Gotham his weirdo food. As long as none of my TJ’s food spoils, I can tell it’s going to be a really good day.

I guess I should probably do chores when I get home. BAH! So much for taking full advantage of the beautiful day!!

This week is taking forever to end! I'm excited about going with a friend of mine to the Paley this Saturday. I've got a lot of friends with birthdays in December and January, so I'm taking one out for lunch (local to my house), then over to the Paley. Should be a lot of fun!!! I'm hoping that it won't be raining, driving over to the West Side in the rain is a dangerous proposition!

Really looking forward to lunch. We're going to a bar in the area that's fairly historic that serves the best prime rib beef dip sandwiches! And free cookies. 😆 Mmmmmmm, free cookies!!

One more day of work to get through first though! I still need to wrap the presents and stuff... I'm terrible at getting gifts for people, luckily I've known this friend for almost 30 years, so they already know and expectations are sure to be low!

Most folks know that I cut the cable/dish cord about 8 years ago (give or take). I really do dig not having a HUGE bill every month. When I first got rid of cable, I used to have to hook my laptop up to my TV and then watch Amazon or Netflix. Then I discovered Roku and got one for each TV. This opened the door to Sling, Pluto and others. The best was when I got a few antennas and the joy of over-the-air programming opened-up to me. channels with just 70's/80's sitcoms and Canadian lifestyle shows!!!

It may not be cool to admit to it, but I LOVE watching infomercials and shopping channels. I can't help it! The shows are really good! As Seen on TV products are so awesome!

The sad bit of news is that I think the weather is affecting my antennas because I'm not getting ANY of the informercial channels or the home shopping channels. WTF??? Luckily, QVC has an app on Roku, so I'm getting the entertainment, but it's just not the same.

I want to see Ronco! Power XL! NuWave!

Simple pleasures......

(Sigh)

I'll get over it. I guess.

Happy 2019 everyone!

The holidays were really good. Spent a very cold, yet snow-free Christmas with my parents. It really is very pretty where they live. I wouldn't want to live there, but it's nice to visit for a bit over Christmas.

I came home to a cat that, apparently, comfort ate the ENTIRE time I was gone. I think he ate about 2 or 3 weeks worth of food over the course of the 7 days I was gone. I always leave WAY too much food out as I'm afraid something will happen to me and it will take a while for someone to realize they need to get him and feed him. Honestly, him being fat is much better than when he first got sick and got so skinny. I'll take it! I just wish he'd stop yelling at me to feed him all the time as though he's starving when he's got a full dish of food.

New Years' was nice and quiet. End of the year is always a stressful time at work, so it's always nice to have that behind me.

2018 was a good year for me, but I'm hopeful 2019 will be just as good, if not better! I have a lot to be grateful for. Friends and family being top of the list. My only resolution is I need to make more of an effort to make time for more people and let them know how much I appreciate them (and maybe go through and shred my junk mail).

I think that's about it for now. I may post again later.

Take care of each other!!

With the weather getting a bit colder, I decided to research the fake fireplace I have. Turns out, it's a gel fuel unit. That means, instead of wood or logs, you burn cans filled with an alcohol gel. Kind of like sterno cans for chaffing dishes. They burn for about 2-3 hours, have pretty long flames and crackle like a fire. Plus, no extra ventilation needed as they burn clean with no real fumes (also, I can move the unit to just about any area I want to). of course, the fuel is kind of expensive. It makes the living room seem cozy though! Fortunately, it doesn't give off a ton of heat. Unfortunately, my cat is a bit scared of it. He's never seen fire before, so he's not sure what to make of it.

I'll try to attach a photo or two, one with the fire screen, one without:

I did some volunteering at a women's shelter down on Skid Row this weekend. Wow, what an absolutely humbling experience.

I worked the breakfast shift, so we arrived a little before 6am. To be honest, it's not an area you want to be during daylight hours, let alone before sunrise. A co-worker and I met at the office and he drove us over, so at least I wasn't on my own. We saw someone open the security gate to the parking lot and moved quickly to get inside before it closed.

Once inside, we introduced ourselves and said "put us to work!". Being the first to show-up, we had our pick of stuff to do. I got to slice up an entire crate of cantaloupes into 1 1/2 inch wedges. The guy in charge liked me, so I got the "good" knife (or so he said). My co-worker was working the grill. He had 130 eggs to fry! After fruit, it was putting shredded cheese and salsa into new containers. Folks from our office started to show up, so things were really gearing-up.

I worked the sink for a bit, then was directed to take the HUGE pans of hash browns out of the ovens and put them in to chafing type dishes (without the sterno candles), then wash the pans. Next, I got all the counters cleaned and started rolling 200 forks into napkins. It was getting close to serving time, so we had to get everything ready.

The way it worked was, we were in a line with one person in charge of each item that goes onto the plate. The first item goes on and gets handed to the next person to put their item on it, and so on, until it got to me where I handed it to the next lady in line.

I felt it was really important to engage as many women that I could. I looked at everyone in the eye (most looked back, but not all), said "Good morning, how are you?". If they answered I would respond, if not I would hand them their plate and say "enjoy your breakfast and have a good day.". I'd say 99% of the ladies were so friendly and said "Thank you" or "Thank you so much for coming down, we appreciate it". little did they know how much I appreciated them!

These women broke my heart and I am so glad there are places like where we spent our Saturday morning. I believe most were residents of the center, but not all. Some had chores to do after the meal (dishes, floors, etc). and the rest either went to other areas or outside. Before we arrived, we'd gotten almost 500 toiletry packs made-up with items we all went out and purchased to donate and some were passed-out, from what I understand, the women were so grateful. Imagine, a bag with soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lip balm, sunscreen, a washcloth, a brush or comb and a few other things like that was enough to make these women's day. Things we take for granted. Think about that.

Most of us volunteers also brought in items on our own to donate. I brought a huge handled bag with as many articles of new clothes (with tags) or gently used clothes. They have a real need for career wear (New or gently used) and undergarments (new, of course). I was able to find or buy a lot. Plus, I had new shoes I'd gotten online that didn't fit (5 pairs), plus casual wear clothes. I hope it makes a difference. This place works to get women back on their feet and into jobs, they need anything they can get to help.

To all the jerks who say these people are taking advantage of the system, fuck you. You do not live on or go to Skid Row to take advantage of the system. Some of these ladies don't know any other life, some were hit by disastrous events and are trying to claw their way back to a normal life and some were so horribly damaged by life that I want to cry when I think about where they would be without places like this.

Seeing the smiles our simple breakfast and just being there caused made my day. I was also really proud when our head kitchen guy told us that he would love for us to come back, because "A lot of folks come here and don't want to work. They want to play around and take pictures, you guys work hard and I would love to have you back any time". High praise! He actually ran out of stuff for us to do, so we did some of the work the lunch team was supposed to do. 😀

I'm really glad we went when we did and that it wasn't over Thanksgiving. They need help during the times there aren't celebrated holidays. They need help every day.

I told the gal that hooked us up with this program to let me know whenever they plan the next volunteer day, because I'm looking forward to going back.

Any one of us could end-up in the same situation as these ladies, don't take your life/situation for granted and, if you can, find a reputable program and see if you can help out. You won't regret it.

Time to work on a gratitude list....

Black Friday was such a cool day. I went in to the office my normal time (most of you are still in dreamland when I get to work, LOL!). Worked a little bit, then helped fix breakfast for everyone, did some more work and then got out of there st 10:10am. Awesome!!

Cruised up to the dealership where I got my tire replaced last week to see if they had my prescription black Ray Ban sunglasses (I called multiple times and never heard back from the service dept.). Alas, they didn't have them. I know I left them there, so I hope whoever picked them up has my prescription and that they really needed them. Sigh, they were expensive. Plus, I don't know if I can get them configured like that again (long story). Anyway, only good thoughts to the person who has them.

After that, I came home and puttered/relaxed. There was no way I was going to a store and dealing with crowds, so I hung out listening to podcasts and reading. I made sure to take all my laundry out to my car, so I wouldn't have to do it this morning in the dark.

I went to a new laundromat this morning and it was so cool. Because I'm me, I got there a little before they opened so that I could be sure to get however many machines I needed, plus have a little instruction time. This place does not take cash, you have to get a free card and then load it with money. Now they're pricey for a laundromat, but it's clean, well-lit, has good parking (if you get there early) and they always have staff there.

They also have HUGE machines!!! I should have used the largest washers, but ended-up using three four-load machines and two two- two-load machines. Yes, I had that much to wash! I was down to three clean sets of sheets for the bed, so that means I had EIGHT sets to wash (don't judge, I have a thing for sheets), plus one comforter and a bunch of clothes to wash. All that cost $30 to wash. It would have been a bit cheaper, but since it was my first time there, I didn't want to risk overloading the machines. The best thing is, everything was done washing in 27 minutes!! Each machine finished within a minute of each other, making it perfect to unload one into a cart, move to the next one, etc.

When it came to drying, after taking out a few things that needed to hang dry, I was able to fit all my stuff in two MASSIVE machines. They cost .75 every 10 mins and I think I ran one for 30 mins and one for 40 mins. May have run one machine another time, I'm not sure.

So, with folding everything, packing it up and walking back to my car, I was out of there around 8am. I did the equivalent of probably (conservatively) 10 loads of laundry from start to finish, in under two hours. I'm definitely going to go back! Hopefully, it won't be with so many sets of sheets, they're a pain to fold by myself out in public.

I'm also still working on my clothes gathering project. We're volunteering soon and the place we're going is also taking clothing donations. I've been going through and getting a lot of things ready to take. Nice thing, I've found shoes that I purchased online that I never wore as they didn't fit, along with clothes that still have tags. I'm hoping this will help people! We've gotten together about 500 toiletry packs as well. You know, bags with shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, sunscreen, deodorant, shower caps, etc.

I'll let you know how it all goes after we're done.

My new project for this weekend is that I'm going through and getting all my Christmas stuff together. I'm not going to put anything out until December, but I want to get it ready. Plus, I'm not sure where I'm going to put my tree this year. I'm keeping my front door open more than I did last year, so I'm not sure if the place I put it then is practical.

I also brought work home.... we'll see if I get to it!

My house is a mess, lol!!