Jerzei Collie's journal

I had my mail held for the vacation weekend. One of the three items delivered to me last night was my new driver's license. A box was waiting for me on the front porch when I got home; it contained the director's chair I had forgotten to pick up during last year's Rocky Mountain Fur Con.

I'll tag this part for Christmas gift ideas: medium-sized pot, portable cell phone charger, new digital camera, Squatty Potty, shredder.

I've confirmed that I will be working over the Christmas weekend. I will let my dad know about this later today since I usually spend Christmas with the family. Speaking of work, the "end-of-year donation" announcements are abbreviated "EOY," which I secretly pronounce as "eee-yoy." The roads to work today were about 30% clear, 60% snow-packed and 10% icy. I left home earlier and drove a bit slower, so I didn't slide at all. The snow/ice should at least partially melt on Monday afternoon.

I felt a bit stuffy after getting home yesterday. I was able to knock it out quickly before it could develop into a cold.

I had a follow-up appointment with my physician today. I've been on the increased dose of generic Prozac for a few weeks now, and it's helped me be less anxious. After the appointment, I picked up a jug of purified water for my APAP machine. I'm glad I don't have any other appointments or errands until Friday since it snowed last night and this morning. The roads were mostly snow-free, but the high temperature won't get back above freezing until Friday. There's only a 10% chance of snow showers in Denver on Saturday night, when FoxTrot will take place. It'll be clear again on Sunday for the KRCC Christmas party.

So far, my Christmas list has three items: a floor lamp, a Tupperware bowl set and a pair of Heat Holders socks. I wanted to add a shredder, but most of the shredder models I saw were at least $100; the ones specifically labeled as cardboard shredders were over $2,000.

"The best way to prepare butternut squash? Cube it..."
"Riiight! What's a cubit? Vooka-vooka-vooka!"

I bought a package of potstickers to bring to the improv theater's pre-Thanksgiving party. At work, I wrote down a few things to put on my Christmas list. As with last year, I'll put them on an Amazon.com wish list to share with my dad and my brother's family. Christmas is on a Sunday this year. I don't know if I'll be able to work that day, though I'd like to.

I'm glad the weather this weekend will be decent. It snowed last weekend and again on Tuesday. The roads were icy on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning. The snowplows and sand/salt trucks had begun making their rounds by 9 AM when my Sunday shift ended.

KRCC's annual Christmas party was on Sunday night at Adams Mountain Cafe. I arrived early, so I decided to get some groceries at Safeway and some edibles from Emerald Fields (across the street from the cafe) before the party. The party this year didn't have as many people. I stayed just over two hours for dinner and drinks, then went home to listen to Sarek's music stream and Doggy Radio.

The rest of this week will be a bit warmer, meaning I won't have to deal with icy streets.  I'll be going to a Drinking Liberally meeting Thursday night. This month's FoxTrot fur meet will be Saturday night in Denver at its new location, Hamburger Mary's.

The family Christmas dinner ended up not happening this year.  My brother and his family were too tired after breakfast, so they went home.  I had also made alternate dinner plans since Dad hadn't confirmed if dinner would happen.  Dad had made the traditional Christmas raviolis, so I had some tonight when I visited him.

Speaking of better late than never, I've been looking over past LJ posts at previous years' New Year's resolutions.  Some of the resolutions I couldn't keep then may be within reach in 2015!  I've regained some of the weight I lost in the past two years, weighing 286 lbs. tonight.  I'd like to get back below 265 pounds, my weight at the start of 2013.  I'd also like to give at least one Toastmasters speech this year.  I hope having less stress in my life will help with both of these goals.

I'm back to using my old laptop again.  A few days after I got my new laptop back from Geek Squad, it began crashing and restarting if I tried to run multiple programs at once (or sometimes just one program on Firefox.)  A representative at Dell's repair center said there's likely a problem with the motherboard.  I got a shipping box delivered to me today, and the laptop will be mailed off Saturday.

Dad let me know my brother's family would make breakfast and asked me to come over around 11:30 tomorrow.  I don't know if they'll stay to make dinner, but I made backup plans just in case they don't.

My car's gear shifter has had problems recently.  Occasonally the shifter won't move out of Park.  Sometimes puttng the emergency brake back on and off again or stopping and restarting the engine will get the shifter to work.  One night when neither method worked, I checked the manual and saw how to un-stick the shifter.

I picked up my laptop from Best Buy last night.  The viruses are gone, but now the Flash player won't work in Firefox.  Reinstalling the player didn't fix the problem.  At least I don't have to dodge tons of coupon pop-ups. EDIT: Flash is working again after I reset Firefox!

My dad asked for my Christmas list this week.  I asked for a new hair dryer, towels/washcloths and a George Foreman grill (or something similar.)

My replacement credit card hasn't arrived yet.  I called the company yesterday to inquire about it.  A new card should be delivered in the next few days.

I got my Christmas tree out this week, mainly because one half of my living room gets very dark even with the other lights on.

Speaking of lights, I will be getting a couple of LED bulbs to replace the burned-out ones by my front door and the hallway by the bedroom.

I just got word that Friday's Toastmasters meeting was canceled due to the snow. When I went to check the mail, the roads in my community were snow and slush-packed, but not icy.

I drove by a gas station Saturday that had regular unleaded for $2.96 per gallon. It's the first time in quite a while that gas has been less than $3 in my area of town. Most other stations I saw were still in the $3.04-3.12 range.

On my way to the KRCC Christmas party tonight, I saw three dramatically different prices at stations within a few blocks: $3.11, $3.24 and $2.89. My tank was almost empty on the drive home, so I stopped at the $2.89 station (Rudy's, south of U.S. 24 on 31st St.)

The Christmas party was at Adams Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs this year. During a previous membership drive, Adams provided veggie burgers for the phone staff which really tasted good; they have a sweet and nutty taste. Tonight's party included the burgers, lasagna, talapia, rice and vegetable curry. Takeaway boxes were provided at the end of the party to bring the leftover food home, so I put four of the burgers in my box. The staff members were given awards this year; my award was for "neatest handwriting."

My new medications seem to be working well. I felt a few anxiety attacks over the past few days, but I recovered and quickly relaxed again.