Monday - Thus Far....

Good afternoon - today has been a good day.  I took the day off as my traveling housemate and some of the mission team members were scheduled to return.  It worked out that I had to make the trek to the airport to pick up my housemate, as the friend of ours who was supposed to do it, had something come up so that she would be unable to break away and go.  


I drove out to the airport - got out there earlier than necessary because I wanted to allow time in case there were traffic issues on this artery (an accident can and usually does tie up traffic for lengthy periods of time).  Well, as I was walking from the parking lot to the arriving flights terminal, I glanced at my watch and noted the time and realized that their flight from Memphis to Jackson should be taking off about that time.  The length of the flight was scheduled for about an hour while the drive time is more like 3 hours.  


When I walked into the terminal, I found the ticket counter for the airline they were flying in on and approached an agent and asked her to check that flight for me and confirm whether it was on time or what the status was.  I handed her a piece of paper with the flight number on it.  She checked and verified that it had indeed pushed back from the gate in Memphis and departed and was on time for its arrival in Jackson and told me what gate the flight would be arriving at.  Then she pointed me to where to go to meet the arriving flight.  


I walked down the concourse and found a waiting area for those meeting arriving flights.  The flight actually arrived about 15-20 minutes before its scheduled time; once the plane was on the ground and they were getting it in position to pull up to the gate and park, I got a call from one of the team members informing me that they had landed and were waiting for the okay to deplane.  I had already heard an announcement over the airport's p.a. system that that flight number had arrived, so I responded that I was at the waiting area outside security waiting for them.  


I had to wait about 10 minutes before they deplaned and made their way out of the secure area.  There were 4 - how many I was expecting to be in the traveling party.  Of course I was only picking up my housemate.  I accompanied them to baggage claim - which didn't take long - and then we made our way out to the parking lot, loaded the baggage in my car and headed for home. 


En route we stopped and made a trip through a drive thru to pick up lunch.  We were home before noon.  My housemate is resting now (may be asleep, I'm trying to be quiet so as not to disturb) - I laid down and took a short snooze myself.  

The Weekend - Saturday & Sunday....

Saturday (3/20) was an interesting day.  A friend picked me up and we attended the St. Paddy's Parade in Downtown Jackson. We both had our cameras and took pictures.  I took way more than she did.  We had a good spot for viewing the parade on South State Street near the Old Capitol Museum.  


Later in the afternoon, when I got home, I decided I would upload my pictures - to my flash drive so that I could put them on a CD at another time.  I discovered that I had taken 176 pictures at the parade!  Whoa!!  I got them uploaded after trying twice - the first time the batteries in my camera died so I had to start over.  


Here's a picture of Kermit the Frog - the Grand Marshal....

And here are a couple of photos from Star Wars: Darth Vader and one of the Troopers....                                                               

 

We had a great time at the parade.  It was estimated that a crowd of 60-70,000 attended and that there was an economic benefit of $6.8 million to the City.  The weather was cooperative - not too hot and not too cold - plus the rain held off.  I purchased a tee shirt for $5 to raise money for the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital.

Sunday (3/21) I attended church this morning, then had lunch with some friends.  After lunch a friend and I ran a couple of errands - including to Wal*Mart to print some of her pictures from St. Paddy's Parade yesterday.  I got some of hers and also put some of the photo files on a CD.

This is all for now....

    

Wednesday ~ Friday

Wednesday (3/17) was St. Patrick's Day, of course. Not much happened other than a flurry of phone calls once I got home from work.  


Thursday (3/18) was my "short day" at work.  I came home and took a nap - a much needed one - then went on to do some things around the house and on the computer.  Didn't sleep all that great - I suppose because of the lengthy nap.  


Friday (3/19) woke up finally to get up at 8:00 AM and Rusty was upset with me that I was so late getting him his breakfast!  It was my day off, so I was going about things rather leisurely.  I did go out and do some shopping. 


Later in the day a friend came over and we went and had a late lunch/early supper at a local restaurant.  Then we came back to the house and I proofed some pages she had typed for a project she's working on and made corrections in spelling and grammar.  


She and I made a quick trip for a couple of office supply items and I got my new briefcase finally!  She dropped me off and headed back towards her house.


I'm now 2/3 of the way through the Josephus homework reading assignment - I still have Book Four of The War of the Jews remaining to read and make notes in answer to the questions we were given at the last study class.  I have over a week remaining before the next class meeting.


Goodnight!

An Update - Since Thursday 3/11.....

Thursday (3/11) ~ 

I attended my Sunday School social - we had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and good attendance.  

Friday (3/12) ~ 

I took my housemate to the airport and dropped her off.  On the way back home, I stopped for gas and at the post office for the mail.  Then around lunchtime a friend picked me up and we went and had lunch, then made a stop at Wal*Mart (where else?!) before she brought me home.

Later in the evening I went to a Bible study fellowship at church and the guest speaker was Brad McMullan from a local TV station.  I took some pictures of some of the attendees with Brad.

Saturday (3/13) ~ 

A friend and I went to the Jackson Zoo.  I got lots of pictures there - but the exhibit I wanted to see - the new tiger exhibit - was closed due to weather issues.

That evening another friend picked me up and a group of us got together for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  We stopped on the way back to drop me off to deliver a meal to friend who is homebound.

Sunday (3/14) ~ 

I attended church in the morning but time got away from me in the evening and I didn't go back.  I was otherwise occupied and it was too late to make it on time.

Monday (3/15) ~

I went to the Women's Luncheon at church and enjoyed the speaker.  She had an interesting topic - on happiness.

Tuesday (3/16) ~ 

I left work early and made a couple of stops on the way home to pick up some office supply items I needed and also some grocery items.  

Wednesday (3/17) ~

Today has been a pretty decent day - and quiet at work!

Monday through Thursday....

Here's a recap....

Monday (3/8) the rain held off so that I was able to stop by the post office for the mail and get home.  My housemate and I played with Rusty some, then went on to bed. 


Tuesday (3/9) during the early hours of the morning - around 4:00 AM she said - the storms came in and she had to go and get Rusty and bring him inside as he wouldn't calm down.  I didn't hear any of the commotion, amazingly enough.


It was wet and sloppy during the work day and I stayed indoors as a result.  I had to deal with rain on the drive in to work and home from work.


Wednesday (3/10) we had more rain in the morning - however it moved out as the day edged towards lunchtime and then the afternoon.  A friend stopped by to see me and drop off some tickets for The Wonder of Easter that she had picked up for me.  


I had a dry drive home, but the weather forecast was for more storms to move in.  My housemate and I ordered pizza for supper; after eating, we both went towards bed.  A little later, I heard a crash.  I discovered that something had startled or frightened Sukiey and she got her collar entangled in the holder for her food and water.  She wears a breakaway collar, so it snapped apart and released her; I found a mess in the bathroom - her food and water bowls were turned over and spilled. I cleaned the mess up and gave her fresh food and water, but have no idea what scared or frightened her.


Thursday (3/11) Around 1:30 AM the storms moved back in.  I had taken the day off from work to be around to help my housemate get ready for an out of town trip.  I learned that she had to go and get Rusty and bring him in during the night.  She said that he howled for a good portion of the night even though he was shut up in her bathroom and kept her awake.  


The storms woke me up and I found that Sukiey had gotten underneath my bed. I went back to bed and fell back asleep then by the time I woke up this morning - around 7:15 AM - I found that the stormy weather had moved out and we had a beautiful weather day on tap. 


My housemate had to work about 1/2 a day from home; I went to run some errands - including making a stop at PetSmart, where I got Sukiey new food and water bowls, a new breakaway collar - the old one was more or less shot - and some litter.  We had decided that the amount of food in Rusty's container wouldn't be enough to last until my housemate returned from her trip.  So, she gave me some money and I bought Rusty a big bag of dog food - the largest size bag PetSmart had of the brand he eats.  It was 37.5 pounds.  I had a $2.00 off coupon to use against it.  


When I left PetSmart, I made a stop at the post office as I had to go to the window because I had a package to mail - plus I picked up my incoming mail.  Then I stopped at Radio Shack to see if they had an a/c adaptor for an emergency radio that my housemate has.  They didn't. 


I returned home and unloaded everything; I set Sukiey's new food and water bowls up and got her food moved to the new one and a fresh bowl of water.  The bag of dog food is sitting in the laundry area - the container it goes in doesn't have room for the entire thing just yet.  I also changed Sukiey's litter box. 


Well, this is about all I have for now - I have a Sunday School social to attend in a little while.  I'll post again later....

Saturday, Sunday and Monday....

Saturday (3/6) ~

We had a good breakfast with our circle of friends.  There weren't very many present, but the ones that were we had a good time with.  Afterwards, I dropped my housemate off at home and went to get my haircut.  Then I stopped at Kroger and picked up milk and a pair of disposable cameras - as a gift for her to take on her trip this coming week.

I went over to one of our friend's house and delivered some newspapers and worked on getting her laptop set up with McAfee antivirus.  I succeeded in doing this quickly and made it home before my housemate made it home from working out.

We had a good evening - BBQ chicken for supper, then played with Rusty for a while before we both went to our bedrooms.  

Sunday (3/7) ~

We went to church separately, since she had to stay afterwards for a mission team meeting.  I took my camera along and got some pictures of the mission team during their commissioning in the Sanctuary and at their team meeting.  Then I left and headed to meet some of our circle for lunch.

After eating, I headed home and was surprised to find that my housemate hadn't arrived yet.  She was only a few minutes behind me, though.  I watched NASCAR and took a good nap. 

We headed back to church for our PM activities, then after they were done, headed home.  She took Rusty for a walk while I took care of doing my Sunday School class newsletter via e-mail and got it printed - I have to send some via "snail mail".

Later, it was off to bed, since the work week was approaching again....

Monday (3/8) ~

Work has been good - I did get to attend One Great Lunch Break today with several friends.  We were able to walk over because of the beautiful weather outside. 

Rain is moving in, though.  Hopefully there won't be any issues driving home tonight.

Later....

Thursday, Friday and Saturday ~ So Far....

Thursday (3/4) was a good day for me.  I made it through the work day, solo since my co-worker didn't come in - again!  I left work at 1:00 PM, made a stop at the post office for mail, then to the grocery store to do some shopping, including picking up a sack of dog food and a box of dog biscuits for Rusty; I also got some cat food and cat litter for Sukiey.  


After making it home and unloading the car and putting everything away, I called my housemate and let her know I was home and planned to be for the rest of the day, so she called the pest control service and the tech came on over and sprayed thoroughly.  


I started a load of laundry and was working on the computer when a friend called and said she was over at another friend's house (in our "circle of friends") and she wanted to know if I could come over and see if I could get this other friend connected to the Internet - she had received her equipment from her ISP and needed help getting it set up.  


I stopped the laundry in the rinse cycle (cold water prevents clothes from wrinkling) and headed over there.  I got the cables connected and started loading the software to set it up, but something wasn't going quite right, so we called the ISP and once we got to a tech, the phone was handed to me and I followed the instructions she gave me and after about 30-45 minutes, our friend was online!  


By that time it was supper-time and so the 3 of us headed out to a local restaurant and had a good meal together.  When we got back to our friend's house, we attempted to download and install McAfee on the computer, but couldn't get it to work right.  Finally, around 8:45 PM, my friend said she wanted to wait and work on that again later - as we would probably need to call her ISP back and get help for it.  


Both of us left our friend's house and headed to our homes.  When I got back home, I found a message on the "white board" that my housemate had fed Rusty and she had gone to bed.  I wasn't up much later myself!


Friday (3/5) turned into a busy day for me.  I kicked off the day around 7:30 AM, then around 10:00 AM I headed out and to the business office at work to pick up a flexible spending reimbursement check and from there went to cash the check.  My next stop was at the post office for the mail, then I headed to a favorite shoe store and bought a new pair of Clark's shoes - "Patty Fiji".  


From there I stopped to pick up lunch - since it was around that time, then headed home and ate, did another load of laundry, then laid down and took a 30-45 minute nap.  


When I woke up, I decided to make a trip to do some additional shopping.  I went to a local camera shop and purchased a new camera bag - for my digital camera and to hold the batteries.  I got one that was a little larger than I really needed, as the extra room will allow me to put my wallet and keys in there if I don't have pockets in my clothes to accommodate them.  Then I went to a sporting goods store in the same shopping center and purchased a pair of LSU cargo shorts, an LSU baseball tee and some socks, before returning home.


Soon after I got back, my housemate arrived home from work.  We were go over to the same friend's house (the one that I had gone to on Thursday) for a "prayer meeting".  My housemate is going on a mission trip soon and this friend wanted to have a "prayer meeting" about the trip.  A couple of other friends in our circle were invited also.


We headed over there and the group of us had pizza - our host had ordered a couple of them - along with salad - pasta and fruit - and dessert.  Then we had our prayer time. 


I brought my camera (in the new gear bag) along and a couple of times we did some picture taking.  The evening broke up around 9:00 PM and we returned home.  After spending a few minutes with Rusty, we retired to our bedrooms.  I stayed up and uploaded the photos taken at our friend's house, plus some recent photos I had taken of Sukiey and Rusty (separately) and a photo I had taken of the moon on Sunday evening (2/28) after we returned from church.  I have them in file folders on my flash drive and will burn them to a CD at the next opportunity I have.  Once that was done, I went to bed!


Saturday (3/6) - so far I've gotten up, taken my AM medications (ate a slice of toast to coat my stomach) and I took a shower and got dressed and ready to go out.  We'll be leaving in a few minutes to go meet some of our circle of friends for breakfast.  Afterwards, I have an appointment for a haircut.  Past that, I'm not sure what's on my agenda for today.  


Later....

Good evening.....

Last night I put Rusty through his tricks routine and then gave him a couple of dog biscuits as a reward.  He has learned - and he went through the routine without my even having to give him the commands!  

I have had a good day for the most part - once the commotion of the beginning of the morning at work settled down.  This afternoon I went down the street to use the ATM and en route there, saw a strange sight.  A fire hydrant was open - the lines were being bled - and a guy was doing his laundry in the water coming out of the hydrant!  

Not much else to share....

March 1 & 2 - Monday & Tuesday

Hello - it's midday on Tuesday.  Thought I would add an entry while I have a few minutes....

Monday I attended the One Great Lunch Break - a/k/a the Women's Lunch - with a number of friends and co-workers.  We drove over because of the inclement weather.  I brought along my notebook and took some notes.

Then, at home in the evening, I was able to get Rusty to do some of his tricks - that he learned in obedience school and also a new one that we taught him.  I gave him a couple of dog biscuits as a reward.  

I also had a couple of phone calls with friends, but really didn't do a whole lot.  Sukiey did fuss at me - she wanted my attention and she finally got it.  

It was a quiet evening for me, which was fine.....

Today (Tuesday) has been fairly uneventful thus far.  We're still experiencing cloudy and cold weather, but it's winter, so what else should I expect?!  

Later.....