It's a Gas

Was falling asleep at about half past midnight when I thought I smelled gas. Spot was lying on the bed next to me purring away, webcam showed Spook curled up on her favorite cat tree platform, so no canary affect. The smell got stronger over then next 5 minutes so I got up, told Google Home to turn on the kitchen lights, and walked there. Checked all the gas knobs on the stove, and sure enough one of the burner dials was open about 1/4 of the way, the burner was not lit.

Closed it, turned on the exhaust fan, went back to the bedroom and turned the ceiling fan on low. Went back to sleep, with a mild headache.

Still had the headache when I woke up around 8, but there was no more gas smell.

Did not have to be up for anything so I looked up a video on my tablet that had eye-wormed me, watched it, then got up and did my morning routine, plus turned off the exhaust fan.

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Today's adventure was a painfully slow 2-hour drive to Mountain House, CA which is not on many maps because it's unincorporated Tracy, and it's a brand new development still seeing an obscene number of houses being built. My ex-boss moved there two weeks before we all got laid off, and now about 3 years later he is Mr. Network for either a nearby company or for the community. He gave up on the idea of a job back in Silicon Valley when the commuter train fell off the tracks. And started running over people.

It was his daughter's 12t birthday, he had been inviting his work team ever since she was 5, though he missed last year. Come to think of it, this was the first one since she was 8.

His wife is Thai, and it's always a fun time for me because there is a lot of Thai food, and lots of her friends gossiping in Thai. Most of them are married to Americans like my boss who don't speak Thai.

It turns out he only invited three of us this time, my friend AG had a wedding and another birthday party to go to, and the one Russian who did not get laid off didn't show up. I stayed for a couple of hours, and while the drive home wasn't as bad, it was still 2 hours. On my way out, we chatted a bit on the front porch, and he told me that the layoff was purely political, and the executive who orchestrated it ended up not getting the promotion he expected, and left the company.

Home, delivered were a pair of 2.0 reading glasses with my astigmatism correction. Last time I ordered a couple of pairs I got the strength wrong. Uncorrected, my eyesight is 20-20, so readers need to have the same power in both eyes, which for some reason they did not. Also delivered was a letter from the mortgage company with my new FICO score, which has gone down considerably because of all the times it has been accessed (for three attempted refinances and a credit card).

It's still Good Enough.

Left voicemail for recruiter saying I had no idea how the interview went. I did not say that I am not sure I would accept the position if it was offered. Which is true. It may be a frying pan/fire situation. And I have two more months.

In email was a newsletter from my contract company directed at their Google workers. This is the first contact they have had with me for months. It included email to let them know about contracts ending, so I sent a resume.

Also in the mail was a check for about $14 from a settlement from Google which came from a class action suit about us being required to sign something which invaded our privacy, or something like that.

Before I left for the party I set up the 5-port hub and connected the little VPN router from Europe which was not connecting at work. It didn't connect, so I put on my readers and discovered Boss had plugged the ethernet cable into the wrong port. Once that was fixed it connected immediately. Monday I will perform the magic trick for Boss and NP.

Watched the UW-AZ State game. Horrible run defense by UW, unimaginative offense, but they won by a touchdown, mostly thanks to better time management. AZ state's new head coach is a long time NFL coach and should have known better.

Also watched two episodes of My Cat From Hell and it gave me a couple of clues on how to defuse the Spot brattiness. I need to move the tall cat tree so it isn't a launching pad to the shorter one Spook camps out in/under.  It used to be in the guest room. Maybe I will move it back in there, but near the window, which means moving the futon.

Dinner was leftover ground beef & onions on whole wheat plus leftover lamb, with beef gravy. Dessert was grapes & strawberries & a nectarine.


Plans for tomorrow:
Watch football
Maybe go to the park
Read

Ho Hum, minus the ho

Read till about 2 am, I am finding it hard to put down Variable Star because the chapter breaks are few and far between and the section breaks within chapters are non-intuitive. Sometimes they simply continue the same thought, sometimes they are major breaks. It is very easy to see which parts are RAH and which are SR. Heinlein digs deep into the science, Robinson bullshits about the joys of meditation, and the difficulties of maintaining a relationship.

I told Google to set the alarm for 9 instead of the weekdays 7:30, but had a pit stop at 7:30 and was surprised to be woken up at 9.

I washed the sheets last night and for the first time in weeks the bed is made, which annoyed Spot. He also tries to fight with the quilt.

So one of the first jobs this morning was trimming his nails. He doesn't mind it at all, and it goes quickly. I don't try to trim Spook's, she hates it and there can be blood. Mine.

It was looking to be a boring afternoon, so I took my tablet to the local Specialty's, punched in and paid for an order and waited. Half an hour later when there were no more customers in line, it took me 5 minutes to get the attention of someone behind the counter. She said my order never went through, but she gave me what I told her I'd ordered. I also never got the email receipt, so their system messed up. But it annoys me that they don't have someone available to help customers.

Went next door to Grocery Outlet, looking to replace my destroyed omelet pan. They didn't have any the right size, but they had mangoes on sale, and chocolate mochi. And 72% chocolate.

Home, delivered was some of my amazon subscription, not due till the 25th.

Finally got tired of the cat hair coating the rug under the coffee table, so I moved the table and vacuumed under it and also moved the nearby TV stand and vacuumed under it. Moved all back into place.

Thought about the Jackson Galaxy ideas, and switched gears a little. Put a scratching post in the middle of the hallway to break up Spot's run to the living room --> piano room where he attacks Spook. It didn't make a difference. Moved the hanging plants above the kitchen windows to clear the right-hand panes, and moved the tall tree which had been in the guest room and then the piano room into that space. Both cats use it, but Spot was using it as a place from which to threaten Spook when she was on or under the short tree. Spook took ownership of it first, but gave it up. She's good about defending the heights, when she's up there.


Part of that process was vacuuming the floor, lots of fallen dead leaves.

Also moved a cat platform with a flat top and a tube middle from under the livingroom windows to in front of the TV stand. That's the TV stand which used to be in the bedroom but is just taking up space in the livingroom. Spook tried out the tube, but when I went to pet her she ran away, camped under the short tree.

Watched all the local teams lose. Or watched enough to know they would. Left MNF when it was still anyone's game.

Dinner was shrimp egg rolls & that orange sauce. Mochi for dessert.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Show Boss & NP the magic trick
Nails
Safeway - I need onions. Thought I had some which is why I didn't get any at GO