Monday Moanin’

It was overcast and cool again on Monday. I had the furnace on all weekend, so I didn’t notice until I got to work.

Sidebar: A friend has strict rules on heating and cooling. He won’t turn on his air until after June 1 or his heat on before December 1. I don’t believe in that. It may save a little money, but if it’s hot, I turn on the A/C, no matter what the date. The same if it is cold. And it was cold over the weekend.

At work and after 9:00 a.m. I called my lawn service. I noticed when picking up branches yesterday that the back lawn didn’t seem to have been cut last week. I wasn’t calling to ask for a refund, I was just nervous that a new crew was doing my lawn and they thought the gate was chained.

Sidebar: It’s not, it just looks that was to keep the bad guys out.

But, I only got voicemail. So, I left my message and called it good.

At lunch, I went to a Mexican restaurant on Wayne Road (whose name I can never remember) and got beef enchiladas, with Mexican rice and beans. Don’t ask me why. It was just a hankering…

Sidebar: They are nowhere as good as the Old Mexico restaurant on Five-Mile between Middle Belt and Inkster, but it’s okay, closer and a lot less packed. Then I took a ride through Hines Park and went back to work. It was sprinkling as I pulled into the parking lot.

I was there about 10 minutes before 1:00 p.m. I just got on my computer when the power went out! WTF? It was just me and Fred, sitting in the dark. But, outside, people from all our building were wandering out and pointing down the street. Turned out a transformer near Plymouth Road had blown up. Not good…

The generator at the main data center at Building 28 came on line and saved the servers. But the one at the back-up data center at Building 7 did not (which was weird as we had just tested it last Friday and it worked fine). Meanwhile, at all the individual building, the UPS started failing. So, our network team began racing around shutting servers and switches off.

The power came on, but only about at half speed. I knew that because the lights came back on, but my little personal fan was turning, but not enough to move any air. And Fred and my desktops would not turn on. We put up with it for about an hour.  We used a CradlePoint so people with laptops “might” connect if there was a network. My boss finally told me and Fred to go home.

So, we did.

Sidebar: I only hope that this didn’t blow up my power supply. This computer and I have been friends for a long time…

I stopped at the corner gas station and flirted with my little friend. Sure, she’s 40+ years too young for me, but she has a cute smile and seems to like me.

Back at home, I changed clothes and then started to finish cleaning the house. First I totally cleaned the main bath and washed the floor. Then I vacuumed and swept the rest of the house.

I went out back (to let the main bath floor dry) and cleaned out the gutters over Jake’s patio. Then I got the line trimmer and cut all the weeds growing on both patios. Finally, I got out the leaf blower and blew both patios off.

I was back inside, filling up a bucket with Pine-Sol, when I heard the lawn service guys cutting the lawn.

I made sure they got into the back lawn and then ignored them.

I washed the downstairs bathroom floor, the downstairs and then replaced the water. Next I did the kitchen. Now, I was trapped in the bedroom, main bath and the office. I watched the rest of the evening news.

I checked at 7:30 p.m. and the kitchen floor seemed to be dry. So, I went out and made my dinner.

Sidebar: I have a lot of leftovers, and two huge pork chops, but I didn’t feel like any of them. So, I made a can of Campbell’s tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I kicked it up a notch by adding cut chives to the American cheese before I grilled the sandwich.

I put the soup in the cup (of course!) and the cut sandwich on a paper plate and went in to watch some TV before bedtime. The sandwich turned out great, BTW.