Ian Abel

BIN day BINs sorted, serviced as usual, all done. Today work is slow. Later pre-rehearsal happy hour then a LONG choir rehearsal as we have the regular rehearsal followed by an additional rehearsal for the schola who perform next Wednesday evening Reconciliation service. Could be a long night... 3c at BIN time, cloudy and expected to stay that way all day with a high of 8-9c Onward.

Chewsday Noticed faceache was broken earlier today, though it was my end, so dutifully tried to reset the password. Back working now but I'm unsure if the password reset took or not!! Fluster cuck abounds with these platforms... Nothing of note for yesterday, work and little else on the agenda. Much the same expected today, although it's "Super Tuesday" meaning the presidential primary, identifying who may run as president later this year. Non-binding, in the sense that "anyone" could be a write-in candidate and win the election even if not put forward as a choice from said primary. Generally a poor turnout for primaries here overall, but we'll go even if others are too disinterested and will accept any outcome... Jemma will be here later today, probably early/mid evening, to pick up Whitney. She has a late flight back from Rome. -1c and partly cloudy first thing, 7c the forecast high. Later.

Mornin' Very nice weekend, pleasant walk around the neighborhood Friday afternoon. Saturday Mrs busy making the birthday cheesecake and me helping "tidy up" for the arrival of friends to the birthday party. Enjoyable evening with friends/family, great Indian take-out and the Mrs delightful cheesecake. Sunday, given the weather is becoming "late spring/early summer" we decided to start clearing the porch area to be once again useable rather than an additional storage area for "stuff". Sunday also managed to break another high-for-the-day record, 21c-23c across most of the Twin Cities, pretty much declaring there was/is no winter. Today back working, slow but consistent already. Whitney has been dropped off as Brendan is headed out on a trip and Jemma isn't home until tomorrow evening. 2c and mostly cloudy retrieving the newspaper, headed for a high of only 7c, talk about a large swing in temperatures given yesterday's high!! Carry on.

POETS... that's happening for sure! Yesterday an enjoyable happy hour and then choir rehearsal, although missing a few friends who've chosen this week to seek sunnier climes. Today, will take it easy, Mrs baking a cheese cake for my upcoming cycle around the sun tomorrow - she has a great New York-style cheesecake that she makes for me every birthday, very VERY yummy 😀 Tomorrow - the trip-trip-round-the-sun happy hour/party. Will be missing Jemma as she's on a trip, but a nice small gathering expected - Indian take-away on the menu. Nothing else particular planned for the weekend, but I'm sure we can find something that needs doing. Today, 3c first thing and sunny, heading for a high of 13c today, 16c tomorrow and 21c Sunday, Sunday MAY break another record. Carry on, enjoy the weekend all.

BIN day... BINs dutifully placed at curb-side and already serviced, except for the recycle, they usually show up much later in the day. Super busy with 'work" last two days, still no sign of it letting up! Taking a new report and running it for ALL months last year, showing minor discrepancies all over that have to be addressed. Seems they were juggling accounts/departments last year with much abandon! 😵🤪 Yesterday evening attended the 'soup supper' at church as the post supper music was a local group that are and excellent trio of women singers, always great to hear. Later today off to pre-rehearsal happy hour followed by a suspected LONG rehearsal as we have to start preparing for three separate performances covering the Easter season. Yesterday was cold by MINNESOTA standards, won't bore with the actuals. Today trending towards May temperatures, -7c and sunny first thing high of 8c forecast, BUT, lows next several days 3c - 8c range with highs 12c - 21c, TOTALLY NUTS!!! Carry on.

Chewsday... Yesterday was "amusing" setting goals for the year. First had to explain my background, areas of expertise and the simple fact I'd been at the current client 8+ years! Guy is a marketing type, new company strategy is to have the marketing folks see where staff can be "used" based on their expertise, placement to clients etc. Having explained to him I'm unlikely to be available for the foreseeable future, it was pretty much a "oh, sounds good, just check the boxes on the form..." What a waste of space/time 😀 especially since I doubt he realizes I'm unlikely to do anything more than retired when this gig comes to a close, oh well. Today, working of more report changes, life as usual. Just missed a new record high for the day yesterday, missed it by 0.7c apparently, managed to reach 17c Today, -8c first thing, sunny but expecting to cloud over later and an inch plus of snow/slush overnight. High today only expected to reach 8c. Overnight dropping to a cold -12c and only reaching -6c for the high tomorrow as far as the current forecast shows. Tally ho.

THIS... I can't agree more, our animal family members deserve the utmost respect, care and love we can provide them for a happy life!

Mornin' Weekends sometimes seem to go by and I can't even remember much of what was done/accomplished, past weekend a good example! Only noteworth/memory is getting up o-crack-sparrow on Sunday as we were singing at two services. Choir director insists we appear at 8am for a "final rehearsal" of stuff we've sung regularly for the past 20+ years <yawn> Following that, a brief rest, short walk as it was very nice outside and finally a Zoom with or friends in Arizona. Today, back working and have an afternoon meeting with someone up the food chain from me to discuss my "annual goals"! Not sure the point of this after 50+ years in the business. I've never met this guy before, a new/transplanted bod, and best I can tell I've been it IT several years more than he's been ALIVE. Primary goal will be to NOT fall asleep listening to him 😀 Nothing planned for aprez toil. Weather the week is defined as STUPID. +1c first thing, sunny and a high of 15c expected, likely will break the record high. Tonight down to -8c and -12c tomorrow night, with -6c high Wednesday, THEN highs around 10c to 19c Thursday through next weekend!!! Madness I tell you. Onward.

HUMP day. Yesterday remained "quiet" both for work and otherwise, a pleasant change. Regarding THHGTTG, I personally have always preferred the book, indulging probably 6 or more times, never fails to amuse me. the other media it was presented on are fine for the production capabilities of the time... Today, work is slow, at the moment. Noon on Hump day the Mrs usually visits the Trevor/Meagan abode to let the dogs out, today I will accompany her as Meagan texted me last evening asking if I could "look at the upstairs toiliet that seems to run constantly"! I'm sure it needs either an adjustment, new flapper valve or new flush valve. I'll inspect and report! Nothing else on the schedule. What little snow we had is fast disappearing here, only 0c overnight and sunny all day with a high of 8c expected. Onward - (to the plumbing investigation!!)

Chewsday arrives... Delightful brunch with Trevor yesterday and then a brief stroll around the adjoining neighborhood. Somewhat quieter than usual even though it was a public holiday since most of the businesses close on Mondays! Whitney dropped off for a few hours as Brendan departed, then Jemma returned home and collected her. Evening had us watching what I'd consider a MUST SEE on Netflix (maybe other platforms elsewhere in the world) - The Greatest Night in Pop a documentary on the making of "We are the World". Seeing the effort put in to create it was very impressive, especially from its simple conceptualization to actually pulling together all those music icons into a studio, creating it through an entire single session that lasted from late in the evening until dawn the next day! Very nice to hear the reflections from many of those performers now. Today expected to be quiet, seems that way from a work standpoint at present at least and nothing planned for later. Weather improving, sunny and -1c first thing expecting a high of 6c. Carry on.

Morning... and as stated by @Ozexpatriate today is a "public holiday". Mostly means federal workers and the schools are off. One advantage is that we (the Mrs and me) can schedule a lunch with Trevor. Only weekday opportunity with him is when school is out. Weekend seemed to fly by, busy with one-thing-and-another. Only notable was the happy hour we hosted on Saturday evening, most enjoyable. As stated, we're off to lunch/brunch with Trevor shortly, and Brendan will be dropping Whitney off this afternoon, as he heads out again. Jemma is on her way back from Barcelona, but may get in later than usual an therefore not pick up Whitney until tomorrow. Time will tell whether Whitney is overnight or not. Remained cold over the weekend warming some now. -4c first thing high of 2c forecast with partly cloudy skies. 5c-8c the forecast highs rest of the week and the snow cover is expected to disappear by the weekend., Tally ho.

POETS... Yesterday was very demanding, overload of changes/updates to reports to satisfy the "overlords" much to the consternation of yours truly and the Finance team. Some harsh words mentioned about said overlords, especially questioning their intelligence and expertise or actual lack thereof! That was followed by another mind-numbing hour plus, of attempted "training". On what PLANET does an IT department schedule someone (of THEIR STAFF) to learn what I'm doing AND NOT INSTALL THE REQUIRED SOFTWARE on said IT employees PC?? To add insult to injury, even though the guy is in IT, he has NO ADMIN RIGHTS to his PC so has to raise a ticket with HIS OWN DEPARTMENT to have carp installed - I'm beginning to lose the will to live with this fiasco <yawn> <groan> <moan> Needed to relax and an early night after all that. Today, quiet so far thank goodness. Brendan just stopped by to pick up Whitney, nice although short, chat with him about his travels given he was on his long-haul check rides. Weekend SHOULD be relaxing, and only scheduled event is a happy-hour we're hosting tomorrow. Smaller group than usual as some are out-of-town for various reasons. Following the snow overnight Wednesday we've descended into "real cold". -14c and sunny first thing, only expecting a high of -7c, ditto tomorrow. Enjoy the start of the weekend.

Believe me, there are plenty of folks here (count me in) that have no interest at all, and it's WAY over-hyped IMHO. BIN day... Yesterday busy and crazy as a combination of rapid changes and sudden lack of access to the client servers had everyone in a panic! I finally sorted what they needed AFTER the evening out at about 10:30PM! Started to snow here as we set out for soup supper/Ash Wednesday singing. Continued through the evening and had to clear the car off TWICE, once after the service and once after the evening drinks/snacks at a local watering hole. Was somewhat slippery heading home but slow and sensible rules and we made it back in one piece. We are NOW in a more typically Minnesotan winter landscape; as usual, the plows were already round before I got up, and our driveway and path also cleared by our snow removal guy. By the time the Mrs heads to lunch with friends it'll be no big deal even though we got about 6 inches of snow total. Given the ground is not really frozen due to our unusually warm winter all this white stuff will likely be gone in 3-4 days. BINs already serviced and we only await the recycle truck, usually the last to service the neighborhood, generally not before noon. No rehearsal tonight as we've been given the night off since we sung last evening, that means the Mrs will NOT have an evening free of me this week 😀 -9c and very bright and sunny first thing, high of -2c expected and clouds moving in later this evening. Tally ho.

I'll have to agree to disagree on this, given I owned the following vehicle for around 8 years! '64 Corvette v8 325cu/365hp. I owned one of the very few '64's that had factory side-pipes and therefore no mufflers/silencers! I could downshift around 50mph from 4th to 3rd on the freeway and scare the living beejeezus out of everyone within a 1/4mile radius. Also, the Mrs, could hear me exiting the freeway about 1/2 mile away as I downshifted on the off ramp 🤣🤣 As with all early US "sports" cars, it was amazing in a straight line, but the steering and suspension were terrible until the early '70s versions!! Wonderful totally impractical vehicle, BUT, too "valuable" to not sell with the arrival of kids, funny how that worked <sigh>. HUMP/Valentines/Ash Wednesday... a lot to take in. Yesterday full of panicked report changes, ditto as we head into the day today. 8am Jemma dropped off Whitney as she's off on a New-York-London-Atlanta-Barcelona-New York 5-day trip. Later, off to a soup supper before we sing at the Ash Wednesday service this evening. First thing -1c and sunny, 4c the expected high. We've a winter advisory for later this evening as they're threatening we may get 1-4 inchers of snow! We'll see where in that range the actually snowfall is! Tally ho.

Arrrgghhh... unable to post the weekend report yesterday, full panic mode ensued at the Long Island client as their parent company had decided to "re-arrange" two of the major new reports we were/are working on. Of course, this was needed ASAP!! Contrary to @iL Dottore musing that "we" are aging enough to not consider mayhem, we're amassing a rather increasingly large group of people who would like to, how do I put it, "INCONVENIENCE" the folks making these idiotic requests/demands! Weekend report: little of note fortunately. Many and varied tasks accomplished satisfactorily, and a few decent meals prepared for our personal enjoyment. Yesterday we had our annual Valentines Day dinner at the St. Paul Como Park Conservatory. They always have reservations for the event for a three evening span and we prefer to choose the 14th., but, with Ash Wednesday falling stupidly early AND on Valentines day this year, my first duty is to the choir at the evening service, the Mrs likes the services and there is a "soup supper" in the church basement ahead of time, so it will still be a fun evening I'm sure. Today other than more frenzied activity for work (already have two additional report changes needed urgently!!), the Mrs is off to Jemmas' for a walk and later has her book club in the evening. Leaves me "free", we hope 😀 Cooler somewhat here now, -2c first thing, partly cloudy, +1c the forecast high, no H2O predicted. Carry on.

Apologies, was a typo, should have read 12c POETS, will do, ta. Last evening happy hour and choir rehearsal was normal and pretty enjoyable save for the need to repeat the last offering about 6 times as the choir leader "wasn't happy with our rendition!". This for a short piece that we've done at least ONCE A YEAR for the past 20 years to my memory, bah!!! Today, nothing specific planned, and the weekend much the same, expect with nothing on the cards we'll at least start another jigsaw puzzle. Weather (will try and get it done WITHOUT typos today !!); -3c first thing and light snow (it actually should be EMBARRASSED to be called snow as it's sooo light) with a forecast high of +3c later. Enjoy the start of the weekend.

AWOL yesterday/ late today, oh well... BiN day. Little to report from sunny and unseasonably warm Minnesota! Today the only activity will be happy-hour followed by choir rehearsal. nothing else going on. Broke records for warmest days Tuesday and yesterday, cooling somewhat today, light rain and 4c at BIN time, 12c the expected high with showers off and on - seems more OFF to me... Onward.

Chooseday. Yay!!! Inspection for the rental property went extremely well, and license approved, bingo. Just need a renter now. Later yesterday Jemma came over to spend time cooking goulash (the Mrs grandmothers' recipe, long standing special) and we enjoyed some of it for dinner. Today, working and Mrs off to a lunch with friends, nothing else planned. 2c partly cloudy first thing, 10c the expected high. Carry on.

Whoops sorry @New Haven Neil it was pointed out I'd messed up with my rating, of course I really feel for your ex-colleague and especially the loss of their family member dog, such a sad occurrence, especially as it could/should have been averted due to some selfish !@$!@$!@$

Mornin' Weekend was very enjoyable; Friday pleasant and the Mrs and I decided to start a jigsaw puzzle mid-evening. BAD decision! I and to some extent the Mrs, are challenged to stop once we start and can often take rather longer than one should before repairing for the night. So, we didn't get to bed Friday night, it was Saturday morning at 1am, before we decided to call it quits. Definitely needed that sleep in Saturday morning. 😮 Saturday, when we finally got going, managed to bake another Bundt cake for a family get-together that evening, and continued the puzzle while waiting on the bake. Nice dinner, though missing Brendan as he's still stuck in Atlanta on conversion training to the A330. Sunday more relaxing, some to-do items and finished the puzzle. Evening was a Zoom meeting with our displaced friends down in Arizona (puzzle choice was a coincidence). Today, city inspector coming to check our rental property, Jemma coming over to make goulash with the Mrs., and, of course I'm working :) Weather has been pleasant though totally unseasonal all weekend. +1c and sunny this morning, high of 8c expected. Onward.

POETS, we'll see... Good happy hour and rehearsal last evening, except for the news that one of my buddies was in hospital having emergency surgery for a small intestine issue! Don't communicate with him daily so was very unexpected, as I'd only heard from him Monday and all seemed fine. We, the choir, recorded him a get well chant that will hopefully lift his spirits. Mrs spoke to his wife this morning and sounds like he'll have a couple of weeks of recuperation before we manage our next dinner together. Not much planned for the weekend, always hopefully that means I'll have free time for hobbies, seldom comes to fruition thought <sigh>. At least the weekend weather looks promising, may get some time outside in spring-like weather. 0c first thing, sunny and a high of 6-9c expected all weekend with highs above zero. Tally ho.

BIN Day... BINs all sorted, though it was a challenge having to get them out there after we'd returned from the theatre... Yesterday evening an excellent performance of "Dail M for Murder", great cast and quite well presented set. The English accents were so-so, except for the inspector who had a pretty convincing/repectable "London plod" version! Today, Mrs off to have her fangs checked, later I'm headed for happy hour and then choir rehearsal. 13c was the high yesterday, broke all kinds of records around the state. Today +1c and sunny at BIN time, 7c the forecast high. Later...

HUMP day. Yesterday a nonevent. Today, Mrs off to a memorial service for the hubby of one of her book club ladies. Later we're heading to the theatre, "Dial M for Murder" at the Guthrie Theatre, well respected premiere locale in the Twin Cities. Revues all been good, so will be fun. +1c and sunny first thing, 10-11c the forecast high. We keep on breaking records for warmest and least snow winter, and looks like it's going to continue that way. Tally ho.

Chooseday! Yesterday was quiet, both work and post-work. I did manage a 45-minute tough ride on my NordicTrack bike - 11 miles and 3,500ft climb in Thailand, a little more than I planned on <ouch> 😵 Today much of the same, there's no particular "day" that I dislike, all pretty much of a sameness, especially the work days. Notified yesterday that the new roof for the rental house is now scheduled for Feb. 7th!!! Expecting 10c/50f PLUS days around then so the roof will be way ahead of schedule. The need some 5c-10c days for the asphalt shingles to set properly. Consistent with the above roofing report, today was +1c first thing, mostly cloudy, high of 6c expected. This is way above norms for this time of year. Onward.

Morning. Weekend was quite busy and almost glad to be back "working"! Friday evening - neighborhood happy hour, we provided some appetizers the creation of the Mrs., that were well received. Interesting discussions around the fate of the upcoming elections here and the monetary demise of the US "clown". Also featured discussion(s) of how frail the NFL/male members of the macho kind are in reactions to Taylor Swift "taking over" their NFL spotlight - w**kers. Saturday - some errands followed by dinner with friends. We made a lemon bundt cake, probably somewhat similar to the renowned UK LDC, went down very well. Sunday - I had to spend time installing decent lights in the closets of the main bedroom of the rental property. Blqqdy nuisance doing that, but result, finally. Then some relaxation. Today, as stated, back working, a quiet day expected, we'll see. Weather, definitely NOT "in the bleak midwinter", +1c and sunny first thing, 9c the expected high! Carry on.