At first, I listened to the initial news and media reaction about toilet paper. A few weeks have passed since then. Now I see more in-depth reports.
There are two kinds of toilet papers, ones we use at home and ones we use in public locations such as work. Since people are staying home, there is much more demand for residential toilet paper.
This report (below link) makes sense. I stand corrected about toilet paper.
Here’s the bad news. The main water line inside my house broke Saturday evening. I suffered significant water damage in 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, laundry room, and the hallway. My house is carpeted. Although it was Saturday evening, both plumber and water damage people came to my house within an hour. I called my insurance company (Wawanesa). I hope insurance will come through for me.
I am tired and emotionally drained. I hope the shock will wear out so I can deal with the situation rationally. I thought coronavirus was too much to deal with. This is heavy.
I am sure I will laugh about this 1 year from now. In fact, I will write a blog 1 year from now to talk about the outcome. But, for now, this is difficult.
Anyway, please take care and be extra careful. I will handle my situation and get better. All I’m asking from you is to think about me. I must go.. I have a lot of things to do. Insurance adjuster is on his way.
God bless everyone.
Closet room full of water – some dry spots (but there is water underneath).
“I heard you bring a coffee mug warmer to meetings,” a female colleague of mine said with a goofy smile.
But how? How does she know about my coffee mug warmer? and why is that even a topic? How did that topic come about? Is there a group of people at work making fun of me all the time?
My team likes to make fun of people. As a king of nick-names, I came up with classic nick-names such as Mr. Failure, Shirley Temple, dirty hands, penguin, Allergic to Money,… Karma was finally catching up on me, I thought.
I go to daily stand-up (meeting) every morning to report my work progress and to hear from other departments on their progress and forecasts. There are over ten people in the meeting. Some of us bring coffee, tea, and water. I bring coffee, but I also bring a coffee mug warmer. It’s a beautiful vintage cast iron coffee mug warmer, that I paid one Dollar at a garage sale. The meeting is 30 minutes long. To me, it only makes sense to keep my coffee hot. It would be stupid not to bring a coffee mug warmer to a meeting. You are with me on this, yes?… yes??…
Well, I will not drink lukewarm coffee like a savage.
Conference room – meeting in session.
Anyway, nobody said anything about my coffee mug warmer at the meeting. They didn’t seem to care. Then a female colleague who doesn’t belong to the daily stand-up, pointed out that I bring a coffee mug warmer to meetings. How crazy is that?
“Who told you?” I freaked out. “R told me right after he came back from the meeting,” she explained. “Was he making fun of me?” I asked. “No, he thought it was cool,” she replied. “Mm… OK,” I rolled my eyes.
I don’t care what people say about me. I am my own person. I know I am a little different and it entertains people around me. I enjoy being that person. It’s just… I thought it was fascinating to be reminded that people watch me and they talk about me. Also, there is no topic too small. After seeing my coffee mug warmer, R couldn’t wait to tell his office mate. My coffee mug warmer made an impression on him. Who knew?
I don’t know why, but a few days later, I still think about that boring episode. So much so that I had to write about it. Hence, here’s another boring story. Hahaha.
If you didn’t know – Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7. So, Windows 7 is finished and not safe.
If you still use Windows 7, Microsoft is currently providing a free upgrade to Windows 10. Visit this link at Microsoft and follow the instruction. If you need further information, search articles online.
I just upgraded my computer last night, the entire process went smoothly. I made complete hard drive backup before AND after the upgrade as a routine procedure.
The free upgrade is going on right now. I don’t know when they will stop providing free upgrades. I have one more computer to upgrade.
One of my new year’s resolutions is NOT to buy more than 3 pairs of Italian shoes. Today I received 2 pairs of Italian shoes in the mail – one pair of Oxford with full brogue and the other pair of suede sneakers. (FYI: The tag says Lactae Hevea. It’s a French company that makes natural rubber soles.)
But I ordered these shoes in December 2019. So, these shoes don’t count on my new Year resolution. I still have 3 pairs of Italian shoes to buy this year.
Anyway, why don’t Americans make shoes like these? I have two pairs of Allen Edmonds, but…mm~~ They don’t sing my name.
Happy New Year. I have a big Costco shopping coming up tomorrow after work. I am excited about my first Costco shopping in 2020. Roaring 20s is here. I am more excited about the ’20s compared to Y2K we had 20 years ago. It’s good to be alive and healthy.
I may cancel my executive membership this year. I think I spend less money at Costco now. I am running out of things to buy. Shopping doesn’t excite me as much as it did 10 years ago.
I still feel awkward talking about my improved financial situation. That’s why I didn’t blog about my car shopping trip to San Francisco. It’s awkward to talk about things that used to make me feel jealous in envy (sometimes painful). Anyway… now I have two cars; a Prius for commute, and a convertible for weekend pleasure. Driving my convertible has been indescribably satisfying. I shall continue enjoying weekend driving this year.
For next Christmas (2020), I would like to learn how to play at least one classical Christmas tune with my guitar.
I would like to get a California real estate agent license this year. I don’t plan to work in real estate, but… we’ll see…
I would like to travel some more. I would like to visit different cities and experience normal everyday life. I like American cities, but I have no problem flying anywhere in the world.
I wish to lose 1 inch around my waist and hips. I have about 80 pairs of pants in 30 Inch waist. I would like to fit in them comfortably.
Oh, and I will try not to buy over 3 pairs of Italian shoes this year.
My Thanksgiving Turkey was a disaster due to my faulty kitchen thermometers. I had three digital meat thermometers and all three of them were trash. I tested those thermometers on both ice water and boiling water. All three of them failed miserably.
It was my fault for not testing the thermometers. Now that I look back, I was naive to trust cheap kitchen thermometers without testing them on my own.
Thermometers that I threw out, two Mavericks and one Taylor I’m not sure if I will ever buy another Taylor or Maverick.
I trashed all my thermometers and bought 3 new ones. I also bought 2 extra probes. They all passed my test. Moving forward, I will use two thermometers with probes at the same time to double-check my progress. When I’m done with cooking, I will use the third thermometer to confirm my work.
And I shall test my thermometers every year, at least 1 month before Thanksgiving Day, rather than 1 day before Thanksgiving, so I will have time to buy a new thermometer if I have to.
To test the kitchen thermometers, I shall…
Take the temperature of ice water – Temperature should read almost 32 F (0 C).
Take the temperature of boiling water. – It should read 212 F (100 C), or very close to it.
To redeem myself from the Thanksgiving turkey disaster, I baked a Christmas turkey with my new thermometers. Finally, my turkey came out super-fantastic.
