Bachelor LIfe

It’s been two full weeks with Nick as a house guest and all’s well! We’ve gotten a fairly regular pattern going and I have to admit I’ll miss having him around once he leaves. That being said, I do have to add the latest of my observations that gives me a glimpse into his bachelor lifestyle.

Saturday morning, I was working on chores while Nick was doing his thing. At one point I went into the bathroom after he’d taken a shower. The floor was sopping wet. Nothing damaging, just wet and slippery. The first time I noticed it, I let it pass, thinking he might have forgotten and didn’t see the bath mat. The second time he wasn’t around and I forgot to mention it, etc. So this time was perfect, I come out of the bathroom and casually mention that it looks like he forgot to use the bath mat. He was very good and apologized saying that he’d totally use it next time. Where was it again? I reminded him it was just below his towel on the rack - same navy blue color. And then… then, he followed up after a slight pause, and asked, What’s the bathmat for?

You gotta love it! And I’ll attest to the fact that we grew up using bathmats, so it’s not a new concept, it just disappeared for a bit.

Friday Leftovers

Friday Night Leftovers
(combined from several Fridays)

 

Older

• I pulled some late nights working on a project for my dad’s 75th. The beginning of the week was rough during the days and I look at the situation and sigh. When I say “late night” it was nothing past 1 am. That used to be nothing, I’m really starting to feel my age.
• Side note, I can stay up to 1 am socially and have no problem. Add the stress of meeting a deadline and I’m drained. No more grad schools for me.
• I just booked my last free weekend of the summer. I’m touring New England this month - northern Mass, Maine, Connecticut and Vermont. I couldn’t squeeze in New Hampshire and am worried I might have missed blueberry season in Maine. And I just used up the last of my frozen blueberries from last year’s picking.
• My car’s check engine light came on and I brought it in last week. While I was there they fixed the other light that’s been on forever - low tire pressure. The light was on not because of the tires but because the sensors on the tires - the batteries were dead. Driving my car with no lights on the dashboard is a breath of fresh air. It’s like it’s a new and improved car!
• I’ve started setting small goals at work that will improve my state of mind. First up was email management. I hunkered down in my free time and cleared out the 800+ emails in the inbox that accumulated. I’m down to 50 and my goal is to keep it at that number. I feel like a weight has been lifted. No more remembering in the middle of the night that I didn’t respond to someone. Baby steps.

 

Newer

• Finally paid my first mortgage payment. It’s starting to feel real, that I really own my place now. It was so long in the making it’s still not fully sunk in.
• Note to self, new place + pinterest = danger. I’ve been perusing the site for ideas - decorating, remodeling, painting. Many hours have been spent.
• While in Vermont I got some blueberry picking in. Not as big a haul since the berries got baked on the bushes after the recent heat waves. Still, I feel better knowing that I’ve got berries in the freezer again.
• Besides bringing back berries, I brought back my brother who has been staying with me. Total of three weeks. Wednesday this week marked the half way point and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised how it’s gone. We usually get along great but then again, we haven’t spent more than a week together in a long time. To keep it real, Nick “tortures” me by not always cleaning up, and I “torture” him by watching Big Brother. It took him awhile to realize the show is on three times a week! We’ve found ways to coexist - I clean up and he goes reads a book when the show is on.
• Nick and I made special buttons/pins to acknowledge my cousin in his third Oliver production, down in CT. And his first professional production. I’m pretty sure I’m maxed out on Oliver now. My pin read “Tyler Glorious Tyler”, Nick’s was “Consider Yourself… Tylered” and we realized that the pin we made Tyler’s mom was inadequate, it should have read “Oliver’s Mom!” She was very proud.
• My car light came back on - tire pressure issues again. That lasted all of a week or two.
• Current inbox email count - 19! I’m doing good. It’s taken a lot of diligence, but the peace of mind is worth the extra work. I missed a day this week and was over 200, but buckled down.
• Due to having a house guest, I’ve been a bit better with chores and cooking and cranking on the to-do lists. I’ve got an ambitious list of tasks for Saturday before heading over to visit my god-son and his sister.
• Big task accomplished this week - financials are almost all in order. I rolled over my old 401Ks, paid off some loans, including my student loan (yay!), and adjusted the budget for the new expenses associated with going from renting to owning. It feels good, especially since I had been holding off on all this stuff until the house stuff cleared.

Crazy Travel

Normally I don’t like to write about my travel until afterwards. You know, in case the burglars are checking out my blog and making plans to break into my place while I’m away. But I feel compelled to share what’s ahead of me the next several weeks.

Week 1: DC

Week 2: Princeton, NYC

Week 3: DC, NJ

Week 4: week off from traveling

Week 5: NJ

Week 6: DC

Week 7: NY

Some of the trips are just popping down for the day, others are back to back. There’s trains and planes and rental cars. By the end, I’ll have a new appreciation for home sweet home!

Subway upgrades

This week there are new signs on the subway stations that now tell you how many minutes until the next train arrives.

Also this week the amount of people on the subway platforms quadrupled.

Conclusion - I'd rather not know when the next train arrives and instead have less people to fight against to get on the subway. Already gave up boarding the first train that arrived. Crazy crowds - wish they put the money to running more trains. And summer's not over yet - after labor day the crowds will be back.