Well…damn, it is so cool how fast this new laptop starts…with the old one, I struggled to get it to start at all and this one starts in about a second…I guess that’s what normal ones do…slept okay last night but I wasn’t good and that is something I don’t feel good about…I do feel good that I don’t have to do anything to keep my Priority Health medicare…just got a mailer from them and that takes a load off…and I still don’t understand why people are so down on medicare advantage plans…after all, mine paid for the entire 77K for my cancer surgery and with normal medicare I would have owed 14K out of pocket when I paid less than a grand in copays for the whole thing…hmmm…I did make the chicken recipe I made up again yesterday and I really like it…very tasty and it will last me almost a week…going to pick up some more chicken thighs this morning so I can make it again next week…but I do need to make the chicken Masala again today since I thawed the chicken for it…not much to do today…going to get on the indoor bike here in a bit but the outdoor bike will wait til it warms up around 10…my hands still feel numb from going out in the cold yesterday so I guess I’ll have to think about warmer clothes soon…more later…

Well…the laptop arrived here around 4:30 and I have been setting it up since…seems pretty cool but it is going to take time to get used to the new keyboard that is a lot different than the old one…it has a full number pad that I don’t think I’ll ever use and the keys take more force than I’m used to but it’s new and I’m sure it will work in…the screen is frickin huge compared to the old one and is so much brighter than the old one.. all in all, it’s a nice one for 279 bucks…I do need to download firefox since I’m not a fan of edge…just used it to get going and I’ll start working on that tomorrow…

Well…still sitting here waiting for the new laptop to show up and it’s only an hour late from when UPS said it would be here…oh, well…it’s been an odd day today with my schedule needing some tweaks as the day went on…started out with the indoor ride before the grocery run and when I got back here it was still too cold to go out for a ride and I should have just done another one inside…but the temp came up to 50 or so around 10 so I suited up and headed out…but the clouds rolled in after about 4 miles and dropped the temp into the glove zone so I froze my hands for the next 8 + miles and they are still pretty numb from that 5 hours later…must have done some damage…so after I had a quick lunch I stained some veneer on the front porch so I could hit it with some urethane after I did the second coat on the stool…got that done and then got the one pot chicken meal going again and now I’m waiting for it to finish so I can have an early dinner sine I didn’t have much for lunch…I’m really hoping that I get an easy day tomorrow…sore and worn out…and the cold really hurt my neck…oh, well…

Well…that was a little better…still was up and down all night but didn’t get out of bed til 5:45 so I consider that a win with how poorly I’ve been sleeping lately…today is the day I get my new laptop and I am getting a little excited…oh, I said that yesterday…so I need to get everything done I need to by around 2pm since that is when it’s scheduled to be here and I need to sign for it…getting out of bed late has me running out of time to get on the indoor bike before the grocery run and then I hope to get two in outdoors before noon…I do need to put a second coat of urethane on the stool I’m working on with the wood soaking it up inconsistently and leaving it looking uneven…and I am working on some veneer on the front porch that had weathered and was coming loose so I glued it down yesterday and will sand, stain, and urethane it today to keep it from getting worse….so, it will be a busy day again today with making at least one chicken dish later for dinner…and I’ll have to configure the new computer so I can access everything I need to…my site is going to be the hard one and I’ll need to download firefox since it is the browser I use daily…and get it to talk to my router and, with never having used windows 11 before, that may be a problem…but, we’ll see…maybe 11 will make that easier…ha,ha…yeah, that made me laugh, too…more later….

Well…I know it’s starting to get old with me saying that I was too busy or busier than heck…etc…but it is a good description of the day today that started out with the first indoor ride at 7:30 am followed up by the second one at 8:30 am…then I started working of the little 3 legged stool I’ve been planning to refinish…got that all sanded and then ran out to depot to get some stain and urethane, stained it and let it dry for a bit, then I mowed the lawn and then decided to get an outdoor ride in…but before that, I put urethane on the legs and handle of the stool so they would be dry when I got back…then I finished up the top of the stool and now I’m just waiting for it to dry so I can tighten the legs up and put it back in the bathroom where I use it…came out pretty damn good and I should have taken before and after photos of it to show the contrast…oh, well…still drinking coffee at almost 3 pm but I need to stop that and start pouring water down since the gout is back in my right big toe…but right now I’m going to watch soccer and read a bit….

Well…crap, have been up since 4:24 and out of bed at 5 since there was no way I was getting back to sleep…so I turned the coffee maker on early but that is too slow so I got the french press out and made a couple of cups and I do agree with Tom…the French press coffee is much better than drip and I’m going to enjoy the lack of bitterness for two cups…big cups…using the big red double sized cup my daughter left me…woke up to a surprise in my e-mail that my new laptop has been shipped and it’s supposed to be here tomorrow…it said temporarily out of stock when I ordered it…so that means I only need to get this old thing to boot up two more times…have never had a new laptop so it’s going to be a little strange with it running Windows 11 and being relatively modern…I know it’s not a high performance machine but it will be better than this one where I always have to fool with it to get it to boot up…it’s pretty cold out here at 37 and it’s not going to warm up enough to ride outdoors until after noon so it will be a two indoor ride day just like yesterday…and then I’ll try to get out for one ride for only 29 miles today…not much to do today…have leftovers for one more day to go with the pasta salad I made yesterday…I do need to get some stain and urethane to refinish a small stool I use in the bathroom and then do the same for some dried out veneer on the front porch just to get it through the winter…and clean out there a bit…but I need to sand the stool today first to see what I’ve got under the old stain and finish…more later…

Well… after doing two rides indoors for 16 miles today, I really thought that was going to be it for the day…but then the sun came out and I decided to try an outdoor ride even though it was only 50 degrees out there…and it was pretty darn cold and my hands still hurt even after being indoors for over an hour…probably should get the electric gloves ordered soon but it is going to be in the 60′s for a week so I guess I can wait a few days…the damn hot water cartridge in the kitchen sink was leaking a small drip after I used it to do dishes today and I tried to fix it but the whole faucet is shot and needs to be replaced…it did stop dripping so I’m not sure what is going on…maybe some dirt in it…I hope…after spending 300 bucks on the laptop yesterday, I just don’t want to spend another 100 bucks right now…okay, need to do the weight work…

Well…finally, we got some rain out here yesterday but I’m sure it’s too little, too late for my lawn…slept okay last night and was only up once at about 4am but I feel so worn out that the bike ride is going to wait until the coffee starts to work at around 8am…it’s only 40 out here right now and the high is going to barely get above 50 today so the outdoor rides will wait until the afternoon…I know I should be ready for the cold since it’s already halfway through October but it gets harder as I get older…man, I feel like crap this morning…haven’t cooked for a few days and need to start planning meals for the rest of the week…think I’ll make some pasta salad today and I need to take some chicken out of the freezer for Masala that I’ll make tomorrow…and I’ll make some more chicken, rice and potatoes to use up the open chicken broth in the fridge…this could be a short ride day with the rain forecast for this afternoon and the cold and I really could use an easy day…not much to do today…just need to dig down deep and get moving but not until I have another cup of coffee…man, I feel old today….but I will get moving and accomplish something today…not sure what that will be but something…more later…

Well…I did get back to the library for bag day today and with the 19 books I got Friday, today’s haul got me to a total of 52 books for 30 bucks…but I threw in an extra 10 as a contribution to the library so I guess I really spent 40 bucks…but that’s still only 76 cents a book and I got a lot of hardcovers…and a lot of books from my favorite authors that I haven’t read so I’ll finish the last one I checked out and then get into my books…I don’t think I’ve ever owned this many books in my life…all the new ones fit on the desk my daughter left and I still have enough room to use it for an ironing board…I think I’m going to look for another book case if I can find a reasonably priced one…or maybe I should make one…I guess I’ll price out a flat pack one just to see…

Well…I am not really used to just buying things so to order the laptop from Dell today after only one day of thinking about it is not normal for me…but, how could I pass it up? It will do everything that I need and more and it has three times more memory than the Acer I was looking at and it’s less money…this one has Intel processors in it too when the Acer has chips I’ve never heard of before…so now I’m a little excited to have a computer that works as it’s supposed to and actually has a battery that will hold a charge…and the screen is two inches larger than this one and HD that this one sure isn’t…only 290 bucks after cash back on my card and it feels good to be at the point in my life that I can afford a new one with no stress…I’m sure that the new one will be cool and a little more modern than this one that I’ve been using for 10 years or so…and it was a couple of years old when I got it…and thinner by a long ways at 3/4ths of an inch vs the 1 1/2 inches of this one…and the best thing is that I won’t have to keep it plugged in all the time like I do this one sine the battery is shot…glad I didn’t bite the bullet and buy a new battery for this one for 50 bucks…and I’ll be able to use my bluetooth earbuds with it and it does come with a headphone jack, too…I just realized that this is the first new laptop I’ve ever bought…for the past 20+ years I’ve been using hand me down computers…and all of the laptops were Dells…weird…