Trashcan
08:50am
Good morning journal! Happy Wednesday!!! Only a week away from Christmas! I wouldn't say I'm more excited this year than in years past. I'm typically excited for Christmas each year...hehehe There have been a few Christmases I didn't love. But overall, it is one of my favorite days of the year. So, I'm just as excited this year as most years!!!
This year, it will be different. For the first time in all my life, I will not be in Indiana that day. Even when I lived in Illinois for 4 years, I was still in Indiana with family on Christmas day. I'm not sad about this. I'm actually pretty excited to be doing something new this year!
I'll be going to Disney World! I've heard it is the busiest day of the year for Disney World. I guess I'll see for myself this year...LOL I'm basically setting my expectations to simply enjoy it for what it is. If it is extremely busy, I can't expect it to be anything like I would typically experience when I go to the parks. Of course, I'll be dressing up. So that'll make it fun!
My theme for my outfit is more like the Dapper Dans. I may even try to get a photo with them if I can...hehehe I wonder if I'll get a lot of folks asking me Cast directed questions throughout the day...LOL I kinda hope I do get a lot of that this time. I don't really like getting a lot of attention. I dress up because it helps me be myself. So the attention I get isn't what I'm after. On Christmas, though, I think it would be fun. I'll be Disney Miser..LOL Maybe I should come up with a theme song! LOL j/k
10:05am
I just got back from the post office...hehehe I sent off Cherie and Bambi's Christmas presents. It's estimated to arrive on Christmas Eve. I didn't plan that. But if it works out, that'll be very nice. I rarely send packages these days. When I arrived, the line was very long. But they were going pretty fast with 3 clerks. So, I wasn't there for long.
I remember when I used to ship things for my business before the pandemic. I was at the post office every couple of days. The clerks and I got to know each other. It was one of the highlights of my week. Seems strange to look forward to a visit to the post office. But I take after my mother in this area. She and I can talk to just about anyone we come across. When we come across the same people frequently, it becomes a moment of joy for us...hehehe
Speaking of things that seem strange to me. I was excited to see my parents have a new trashcan in their kitchen...LOL When they built their house in 1985, they bought a trashcan that remained until a few months ago. It came as quite a shock to see a new trashcan this past weekend...LOL
As it turns out, my dad was impressed by mine and my sister's trashcans...hehehe When I first moved to Florida, I had to get all new stuff...including a trashcan. I saw this fancy one at Walmart that has a sensor to open it by waving your hand over the top. I like touchless trash so that I can toss things away as I'm cooking without touching the trash. I also don't like the trash to remain open the entire time...bugs and all...LOL So, I was happy to find this one. In the past, I've had some where you use your foot on a peddle to open the lid. I don't wear shoes in the house. So, that isn't ideal either...hehehe
When my sister got her own place, she liked my trashcan so much that she also got one. Well, on our parents' last visit a few months ago, my dad was eyeing our trashcans...LOL So, he bought one too...LOL When I bought my trashcan nearly 3 years ago, I had no idea that my parents would replace their nearly 40 year old trashcan with the same one I have now...LOL
01:50pm
I had chicken fried rice for lunch. I've been making a lot of fried rice lately. It is sooo good...hehehe Last night, I had shrimp and chicken in the fried rice. Sometimes, I even just do veggie fried rice as a side to the protein...like salmon. Tonight, I plan to make a mixed batch of rice and quinoa. I'll use a quarter of that for some salmon I'm also making tonight.
I had a pleasant walk after lunch. I haven't been walking nearly as much as I had been. But I still try to get out almost every day. There's no particular reason for not getting in my walking. It has been a mix of things like weather, schedule, not being home, sunlight etc. I miss my old routine of 3 walking sessions a day. For quite a while, I found myself doing a 1 mile walk before work, another at lunch, and then a third after dinner. I'm hoping to get back to that sometime next year.
I'm really looking forward to 2025. I can't say I was looking forward to this year a year ago. Not that I wasn't wanting a new year. I just don't recall being excited...LOL Last year was my toughest year ever. So I was a bit exhausted at the end. But this year has gone so well, I have hope for an even better year next year. Of course, I don't really know. And I don't know what to expect in general. Nothing that happened this year was expected...LOL I have ideas for plans. Nothing has really been set yet, though. I just have a few things I'll be sure to keep open in case they do come to fruition.
I hope to do a lot of writing in 2025. I have a few things in the works that might actually get published next year. Not that I plan to make any money at it. But it will be fun to have some projects self-published. A few of the projects are fiction works! I'm very excited about those! I never thought I'd be writing fiction to be published...hehehe And I have the other one that started out as the Vitamin G project. It has evolved a bit and then stalled again...LOL But I'm not ready to give up on it yet...LOL
03:40pm
I just got out of a meeting that felt like I didn't need to be there...LOL I had one thing to say in the beginning of the meeting. But then most of the meeting was just two people talking. It was as if the rest of us were just flies on the wall...LOL So, I sort of just zoned out...LOL
I don't mind a meeting like that from time to time. It gives me the opportunity to disengage my thinker...hehehe Thinking is pretty much what I do for a living. It's a problem solver's kind of job. There is skill involved with software engineering. But it is mostly just seeing a problem, thinking about the dozens of ways it could be solved, trying a few solutions, and then settling in on what I think works best. Sometimes I'm wrong...LOL But it always works out.
Anyway, having a meeting where I don't really need to be involved can help me reset. I'm caught up with all of the hard stuff right now. So, most of what I'm doing this week is busy work. For example, I inherited an application that was transferred from a team who previously inherited from another team. The folks I got it from didn't know anything about how it works. So, I'm learning how the system works all on my own. This week and next will be a great time to poke around with it in our test environment. I'll document some stuff so I can either work with it as needed in the future or the next person won't be feeling around in the dark like I am now...hehehe
10:40pm
Wow! Huge gap in my writing today...LOL
I did end up making the mix of brown rice and quinoa. I had a portion of that all fried up with some veggies as a side with my salmon. It was delicious. I marinated the salmon in ginger lime coco aminos again. I used the same coco aminos for the fried rice/quinoa.
Tomorrow night's dinner will be another portion of the rice/quinoa with cod. I'm not sure yet how I'll cook up the side dish. I think I'll season the fish with garlic rice vinegar...hehehe
On Friday, I plan to have a basil pesto veggie burger with a side of the rice/quinoa. I'll still have a fourth portion I'll need to find a meal to have with. When I make a batch, it usually yields 4 portions...hehehe
I made a trip to the grocery to cover my remaining days this week and the days I'll be home next week. I should be good to go until my next grocery trip a week from Saturday. I remain on track for eating at home when not at Disney or traveling. Yay!!!
I had hoped to do some writing tonight; other than in this journal. I spent a few hours on the Bible study instead. Plus that trip to the grocery took a little over an hour. Now I'm too tired to be creative...LOL
Today was a good day overall. I'm glad I attempted this timestamp entry. Sometimes, when I slow down in this journal, doing a timestamp entry helps me get back to it. Sometimes it takes days of timestamp entries...hehehe We'll see if I keep doing this...LOL