I can't get over how expensive it is to heat this house, especially as well as it retains heat. We've been here since the end of August. There was about $250 in the the tank, Next time around was nearly $600 (mostly due to the previous owner not filling it - he was unemployed), The next time, $280, this time $392. Even subtracting $300 of that $600 (of which $300 was probably our usage) and not including the $250 that was already there, that's $750 worth of gas (which is only used for heat and hot water) in 4.5 months. Considering Sept and Oct were warm, there were a few warm weeks somewhere this winter, and we were in MI with the heat off for a week, this just seems insanely expensive.
I love gas heat (had natural gas in the house where I grew up in MI... Heat pumps won't do the job up there), it heats fast. I don't think I'll ever have a propane gas pack again. This is nuts. This house is not *that* big, the heat is off in the basement and upstairs, with the ceiling fan keeping the heat on the first floor and the thermostat set on 68 degrees. I'm beginning to think a kerosene "jet" garage heater might be a cheaper, if more toxic solution.
This diet... it's strange. Some days I feel like I don't want to eat everything on it, other days (like today), I feel like I'm starving. I think the frozen entree I had at lunch just wasn't filling enough. Odd since it was pasta and meatballs.. you'd think it would be the most filling meal yet.
Not smoking - It's going well; or shall I say I haven't smoked? Today has been challenging. I can almost feel myself taking a "drag" off a smoke. I guess that's because it's been a stressful day. I never really noticed myself smoking much when stressed. I'm usually more of a bored smoker.. if there's nothing to do, I smoke. These cravings have caught me a little off-guard.
Work has been busy today.. 2 or 3 things to do simultaneously at the same time I'm on conference calls AND chatting (work chat) with several people.
I called Gene yesterday and invited him to go riding.. It was already going to be cutting it close with the time of day (3:30?) and him having to find the plate, get the bike, make sure it starts, and riding out here. I called about an 1.5 hours after he said he was "going now", and he said he was just leaving the house. I was concerned with it getting dark and the roads being slightly damp that it may get cold enough for some black ice (additionally, he hadn't rode in months), so I told him we'd catch up some other time.
Just as well.. I had one of, if not *the* worst ride (not including crashes) of my life. People cutting me off, pulling in front of me, objects in the road, one of which nearly threw me off the bike, and I got *really* lost. What was supposed to be a nice leisurely 90 mile ride through some twisty roads leading to the mountains ended up being over 200 miles of going through every small town in 6 or 7 counties (or at least it seemed that way).
Ok, I'm done bitching now. On to the good news:
I've got 4 motorcycle trips planned already for this year. Spring Ride, Deal's Gap, Honda Hoot, and Grand Canyon. Early next year, I'm going to get an Adventure Touring bike, most likely one of either a BMW R 1200 GS, Triumph Tiger, Suzuki SV-1000, or Aprilia Caponard. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the BMW or Triumph. I've got enough mainstream bikes, I want something with a little more character. Something that says "I may be a little ugly, but I'm so useful, I can take you anywhere" and to strangers says "you just *know* I've been around the globe, you want to touch me and soak in my worldly knowledge, don't you?".
We've found a suite of utilities that may resolve about 50% of the communication/process issues we've been having with one of our biggest internal customers. I'm working late installing it now. This is going to be awesome if we can modify it the way I think we can.
Traded oncall weeks with another team member. No oncall for me this weekend. Woo-hoo!
(note: this copy was posted on the web page. If another one shows up, it was sent via email)
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