Today’s Business: 2010-05-01
Today’s Activities
- Shower. DONE.
- Cat duty. DONE.
Log
07:00 AM: I’m up.
07:03 AM: Read more of the Grapes of Wrath book overnight.
07:05 AM: Weight’s up a pound from yesterday. It’s now 174.5 Lbs. Sugary items are still my big downfall when it comes to these diets See here for a summary of the progress on this goal so far in 2010.
07:45 AM: All items for [Emmy] are ready to go. As soon as Debbie gets here, we’ll load them up and head to Pittsburgh. I’ll fill you in on the detail of the trip when we return, later today. Who knows, I may even get a little blogging in at [Emmy's].
08:15 AM: We got on the road for Pittsburgh.
08:45 AM: We visited Lowe’s home improvement center (it’s so nice that they’re open so early on Saturday mornings) to purchase a step ladder for [Emmy]. They just installed several new cabinets at [Emmy's] kitchen, and some of them are too high for her to reach without a ladder. So we found her a three-step Rubbermaid ladder with a high handle that she can hold onto, even when she’s standing on the highest step.
01:00 PM: We set up [Emmy's] new Panasonic microwave oven. Looks to be a nice large-sized unit with lots of power (1250 watts). I tested it out with a cup of water, large mug of water (12 to 14 ounces of liquid) and it heated it to near boiling in under three minutes.
01:30 PM: The guy who takes [Emmy] grocery shopping stopped by to meet us, and to help her place some tactile stickers (bump dots) on the various buttons on the new microwave oven. With these, [Emmy] can work the oven easily, without being able to see the control panel.
02:30 PM: We drove out to Mom’s high school friend’s place (Martha). Then, Martha, Mom, [Emmy], Debbie, and I went to Olive Garden for lunch. Yum!
04:30 PM: Next, we headed back to Martha’s for a little more visiting, where we met her youngest grandson. Cute baby, but he had a cough and wasn’t feeling very well. However, Mom managed to bring a smile to his face by singing several children’s songs to him.
06:30 PM: Then, we drove back to Oakland from Baldwin, and Mom and Debbie waited in the car while [Emmy] and I shopped for groceries for [Emmy]. This time we bought lots of non perishables ( hand soap, dish soap, paper products), and we topped off her supply of milk, yogurt, and raisins. Busy day!
06:45 PM: Then, we said good-bye to [Emmy] and headed for route 376 east, and home.
07:30 PM: Stopped at Sheetz and I bought a bag of Welch’s fruit snacks; the Berries and Cherries flavor. These things are amazingly good, although I’m sure that is just because they’ve managed to get lots of extra sugar into them. 
09:00 PM: The trip continued as the skies in the Laurel mountain range darkened. Then we got into a political discussion; two democrats and one republican in the car. I can definitely see how uncontrolled discussions like these can lead to the destruction of long-time friendships. But still, I’m glad that none of us shied away from debating. Debates do accomplish good things at times, though it may not appear at the time that we’re getting anywhere.
09:50 PM: We’re back home. Wow, we did a little bit of shopping today.
10:30 PM: Talked with [Emmy]. She’s thrilled to be completely restocked with groceries, and she again has WiFi. I hooked up an access point for her. I brought her Westel DSL modem home here to reconfigure as a straight access point. Then in June, I’ll take it back to here and bring the one I left there yesterday back home. Unfortunately, her IRIS WiFi Web Radio did not work with the new access point any better than it did when I first bought the radio. So if there were any firmware updates issued for the IRIS, they don’t appear to have helped very much to address the reliability issues for the WiFi.
10:35 PM: Bed time once more. So I’ll see you right back here tomorrow. Take care, thus, and good night.
Received Mail and Shipments
None today.