#171 - Train Cancellations and Jerk Chicken

I decided to skip The Patrician Grill in order to get half an hour’s extra sleep. And it was worth it. I stopped at Rabba Fine Foods on the walk to work and picked up cheese, crackers and grapes plate that made for a lovely and affordable breakfast.

I started the day by reviewing the painter’s work and sending back revision notes. Then I painted my own work until it was time to prep work so our art director could weigh in.

That meeting produced more revisions which I did myself and then re-uploaded the files. I worked through lunch so I could get the revisions done.

Around quitting time, I heard that there was a fatality on or near the Go Train tracks. Anytime this happens it means a complete shutdown of the train services for at least three hours. I decided to have dinner at Roywood’s Caribbean inside Union Station. They have a great jerk chicken sandwich that I get every time I have the time to stop there.

The trains were running to a point, but then you had to get of, get on a bus and be driven to the next station, where you would reboard a train. So, I grabbed dinner and waited to see if the tracks would be released by the police investigators.

Eventually, they opened a single track but warned us that the travel would be slower as the train has to go slow as it passed the accident site. I managed to get a seat on that train, which left twenty minutes late and was scheduled to make all the stops.

After leaving the studio at five thirty, I made it home by eight thirty.

I had wanted to stop at Home Depot on the way to home to get some tile glue and grout. I thought I might be able to get the tiles cut and placed for the backsplash before the new oven arrived.

But that became a pipe dream after all the delays.

This also meant I didn’t get any writing done on the way in or on the way home. A real shame and waste of time. Although, I did need the rest on the way to the studio.

Nor have I watched any of the new videos for the new classes. Commuting to work sucks up about nine hours of my free time every week and makes the time I have left less productive. And we are forced to do this because of a mandate from single CEO. Downright frustrating some days.

And that also means I haven’t done any readying today as well. Man, this is turning into a real pity party of a day. They can’t all be frolics through a field of daisies.

To relax tonight we watched the Daily Show and then the finale of the “Cross” tv series. It’s not a bad series, but I think I like the books better.

I’m getting behind again on my word quota. I think I am around two days of quota in arrears. Nothing I can’t recover from, but if things keep going this way I just keep digging a hole for myself. I am definitely going to have to do some serious writing this weekend to just catch up on things.

And to top things off, my stomach is bothering me. It’s prpobably from drinking studio coffee. I can only really drink espresso without getting bloated. Drip coffee is not a good idea and French press is liquid death to me.

The studio has an “espresso-like machine, but I think the brew is more like drip coffee than using a pressurized system. The only data I have for this is how my stomach reacts to the different types of brews and it’s saying the studio machine is a fancy drip system.

When I pulled into the driveway tonight, I stopped to check on the chicken wire enclosure I made for the tulips. I was looking for signs of an animal trying to dig under it or even attempting to chew through it. I didn’t see any evidence of animals and the fence has held up well considering the snow and high winds we have been experiencing.

It might be too cold this week for the animals to be out foraging in my flowerbeds for food. The ground has frozen over again after that short burst of warm weather we had the previous week. I almost want to aim one of those motion-activated security cameras on the flower bed to see what animals are digging things up. I am pretty sure it’s skunks, rabbits and squirrels. Three animals we seem to have in abundance around here.

I purchased a Sarah J. Mass audiobook the other day because she had become quite popular and I like to see I can spot why. I told my friend at work and she told me I probably picked the wrong series to start with as it was more of a romance.

She pointed me in the direction of one of Mass’ fantasy series. I had five unused Audible credits, so I purchased the first book in the series called, “The Throne of Glass.”

I am still listening to and enjoying James Islington’s, “The Will of the Many.” I was able to listen to a couple of hours of the audiobook while at work today. I still have about nine and a half hours to go before it’s finished. It’s got some good world building and an interesting main character. The world has a system where people’s will can be harnessed and collected. A class system determines who gives the will and how much will can be harnessed. Criminals are automatically put into devices that sap all their will over periods of time, giving the higher class individuals more power to wield.

It’s an interesting set up and the main character has an attribute that makes him a little special in this world of will sapping. There a currently two audiobooks in the series and I assume there will be more coming sooner or later from the author.

It’s been a long day and my will is sapped. My energy too. It’s the broken record I constantly play here in this blog. I think I will skip reading tionight and opt for the extra shut eye. It’s Survivor Pizza Hot Tub tomorrow, so I need to get my beauty sleep.

May your slumbers be filled with dreams as if fueled by an aged cheddar.