Weather

Going to the clinic today, the weather was very strange for Silicon Valley. Total cloud cover, but the clouds were high, maybe 9,000 feet. A lighter shade of gray. Chilly, about 55°. Steady brisk wind, 15 mph. It reminded me of one of those mornings going to school in Seattle, when the weather report was for a 30% chance of rain.**

Kind of nostalgic.

---

**The joke being that this meant it would rain for 30% of the day.

News for the Kneedy

I saw a PA for the knee X-ray analysis & ortho check-up. She pointed out four places where arthritis has produced small stalagmites/stalactites on the bones around my knee, but none of them would account for the kind of pain I'm experiencing. She also pointed out the my right knee compresses more than my left in a standing position, but again, that's just weight, not loss of cartilage. She didn't want to send me for a cortisone shot because it would spike my blood sugar levels, which are already high, but also because it would be a shot in the dark - the X-rays don't show soft tissue, which is what the shot is for. So, a week from Friday I have an MRI just before 10 pm. Too much fun.

Not much going on at work, more research into some programming I want to try. Had the MLB web site up in the background and from time to time checked the Giants, Nationals and Orioles games.  A's didn't start till later. Baseball bores me, especially pitchers' duels. I don't buy most of the commentators' comments on strategy. I was in Little League, I know the whole point is to hit home runs, which is what I did pretty much every time I got up to bat. I had to quit when I got too fat to run the bases.

After work I went to Costco, because there were two items on my list and a few in the back of my mind. The list was:
Dolmathes (one of the orchestra members brought some to the Green Room one night and I loved them, even though they were meatless)
Oreos (they sell boxes of 10 10-packs for about what Safeway charges for a box of 20).

Any time I go to Costco, the unwritten list has:
Kraft singles 96-count (4 packages of 24 which are very freezable)
Pistachios (3-lb bag for ~ $5.50/lb)
Bagels
Croissants
Bananas

This time I skipped the croissants (not enough room in the freezer) because they had a good price on an 8-pack of chicken pot pies. I also picked up a box of dark chocolate liqueur-filled treats, just because.

It was raining lightly from the time I got there till I got home, and maybe still is.

At home I put everything away, which meant some reorganizing the freezer, but not as much as I expected. Turned on the Orioles-Yankees game, but it was only 1-1, so I made one of the pot pies. One of the things which the move unearthed was a stack of 4 bamboo plate holders, and I figured that would be perfect to put the pot pie on in the microwave. 6.5 minutes on high, the package said. Don't remove it from the package because the package has pseudo-foil heating elements in it. At about 5 minutes I smelled smoke, but didn't see any, so I let it run to the end. And set for 5 minutes per the package. The bamboo holder was thoroughly toasted in the center, and the pie was burned across about 1/4 of the bottom. Still mostly edible. I'll use a real plate next time.

After dinner I moved a lot of boxes and shifted the cat's feeding station so I could put the end table next to the recliner where it belonged, further back from the TV. One reason I chose this place was the long livingroom layout. Also put the pegs and shelves back into the CD rack with the removable shelves, and staged the boxes of CDs so they are in the right order for putting everything back. My CDs are arranged in sections, within the pop and showtunes sections they are in alphabetical order. The classical is more grouped by how much I like the artist. My foreign language section is a jumble, but CDs from the same artist are together. I'll unload those tomorrow.

Got the boxes off of the couch, and straightened its leopard pattern throw. Unrolled the three rugs and put them where they belonged.

While looking for the A's game on TV (it wasn't there) was thoroughly disgusted to find all 5 main channels carrying the utterly useless VP candidate debate. Biden has had zero influence on the administration, and Romney has made it clear his agenda is not Ryan's agenda. I had to hunt to find the NFL game. It was a good game, much more exciting than any debate.

Put new luggage tags on the netbook and ultrabook cases.

Need to go online and order more soda siphon cartridges, and maybe also a new siphon. And more cat treats.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Starbucks
Unpacking