Vacation - Have to Get Away

Although I had COVID for a while, it did not prevent me from taking my planned vacation. I had half price SouthWest airline tickets. Little Kat has been staying at Kit Kat's apartment to prevent getting COVID himself. He came home just in time to drive me to the train station. He followed a slow Tahoe on the highway that just stopped on our exit.

I got on the train and had to switch lines to get to the airport. I got off too early, and had to get back on the same train I started from. Then at the next station, I changed lines and had a good ride to the airport. My pants were falling down when I took off my suspenders to get through security. I called an old friend I used to work with. He is busy working on robots in his retirement. He will take a cruise next month to the Panama Canal.

In the airport, I got hungry and decided to try a burger joint. At least they had a kiosk I could order from, and pay there. The sub shop makes you download an app and find a cashier somewhere else in the airport. I ordered a $10 burger that sucked. Luckily I added $4 fries which were delicious dipped in hot sauce. The flight was delayed because too few people worked on loading the luggage.

Some small guy came and sat right next to me early in the boarding. It turned out okay. I undid the becro on my shoes and took them on in flight. I read my entire "She's Gone" novel, and had to just sit around for the remainder of the flight. A shuttle took me to the rental car place. Some guys in front of me rented an Expedition for 2 weeks at $1500.

I chose a black Chevy Malibu, as I knew it would have car play. It smelled of smoke. I tried to find my favorite taco place. But Apple CarPlay did not list it. Instead I chose the closest store to the airport. Momoko's dad wanted soft tacos. They only had crispy shells. I got my queso, and cleaned the fixins bar out of jalapenos.

Certification Setback

I sat for my Oracle Certified Professional exam while I was sick. I wanted to take the exam on the last Friday of the year. There were no testing slots available. I had to sign up to take it on a Thursday night. I had my 2 forms of ID ready.

The test started fine. There was some material I had never seen before. As I was trying to pace myself, I noticed that finishing on time was going to be an issue. So I had to hustle through most of the problems. I felt okay when I was done.

You need a 66% to pass this exam. I got a 52%. This was disappointing as I had studied with a prep book. I took notes and studied them. I did a lot of hands on practice with my Oracle 18 database on my desktop. The only thing I did not do is purchase practice exams. I will try again soon.

COVID Strikes Again

I heard my phone buzzing before I woke up. Thought it might be work related. Instead I got an image from Momoko. It was some type of COVID test. Not sure what that was about. I went back to sleep. Later I got another text from Momoko. I think she wanted to inquire about breakfast. What?

Eventually I woke up and found that Momoko tested positive for COVID. She went to work but came back home real quick. I told her I could pick us up some McDonald's. When I went outside, I saw a lot of branches on the ground. I picked them up and added them to the yard clippings bundles on the curb.

I went to Momoko's McDonald's. They have two parallel lanes which I don't like. There was only one dude in one of the lanes. The employees could not understand that Momoko wanted a Big Breakfast with a English muffin instead of a biscuit. They eventually got it right.

Asian Food Mart Run

Momoko came home from work. She needed somebody to take her to the Asian food mart. We decided to go after dinner. Little Kat cooked dinner 1 hour early. So we had a good start. Due to daylight savings, it was dark when we left.

There was a lot of traffic on the highways. I also hit a pot hole while driving fast. The Asian mart was not crowded. They did not have my favorite cookies for the second week in a row. In the parking lot, Momoko put in a mobile order for Sonic drinks. Once the order was placed, I was free to drive to Sonic.

We had to bring a drink to Kit Kat. Momoko told me to take the back way there because it was faster. I drove through residential neighborhoods with school zones and speed bumps galore. We made it to Kit Kat's place. We had trouble opening her building door lock with out key. I saw Kit Kat's Xmas tree and gerbil, then we came home.

Yard Clippings

We had rain a couple days this week. So I did not collect as many leaves as I normally do. Today was leaf collection day by the county. They had not come to pick up by lunch time. So I went out into the yard to collect some more.

I used small paper grocery bags. I went on the hill. The leaf blower was no use as the leaf were moist. So I raked the leaves into piles on the hill. I used the lawn mower to collect the leaves. I mowed a straight line. I came back and tried to pull the mower up the hill. I fell. Luckily the mower went down the hill.

I am sore from the fall. I did work methodically to fill each small grocery bag and add it to the bags on the curb. The dregs had heavy items. I partially filled the dregs into small bags. Then I distributed those small bags into the different cans I had on the curb.

At the end, I realized I had half of a 30 gallon tall leaf bag in the shed. I did one more pass around a lot of the yard. Then I filled the big sticks in this bag. Topped it off with the last of the leaves I collected. And set everything out on the curb.

Weekend with Kit Kat

Kit Kat lives in her own apartment now. I don't see her often. I was off for a holiday. So I joined her and Momoko to meet up with some friends at a dive bar. Two friend came with their new baby. That was fun. Baby did some chirping but did not cry.

Afterwards, Momoko and Kit Kat stopped by a bakery and I picked them up in front to drive them home. Momoko and I eventually bought Kit Kat some Wing Stop, which we made our dinner. They gave us syrup-less drinks, so Little Kat got a refund from Door Dash.. Momoko had us watch New Amsterdam, which she got hooked up. We watched it during and after dinner.

Kit Kat stayed in our new guest bedroom. She said the bed was fine. In the morning, Momoko bought us Chick Fil a for breakfast. It was tough with all the cars there to even get to curbside delivery. We watched more New Amsterdam during breakfast. Momoko and Kit Kat went to CVS to pick up medicine. Then Kit Kat headed out with Little Kat to play D&D.

Return to Chick-Fil-A

We used to go to Chick Fil A every weekend. Then I got parked one time. Five people behind me in the drive through got served and left. Seemed they forgot about me for a while. Next time they tried to park me, I told them I won't be parked and forgotten about. Had to argue with three employees. At least I got my food.

I decided that was too much smoke. So I started going to other places to eat on the weekend. Momoko did not like this. But why would I go support the place where they just make me wait forever for my food. I figured there could be a compromise. I could order on the app and get it delivered to my car.

Today I downloaded the app. I got what everyone wanted. But I found no place to order sauces. We needed sauces. Momoko downloaded the app too and showed me the trick. When ordering a sandwich or chicken strips, I need to scroll down to a place where I can customize my order.

We went to a closer Chick Fil A that has the double lane drive through that I hate. We parked and had our order pretty quickly. Apparently they track my phone and start getting the meal ready when I am close by. This might work out. They did get the sauces right when I specified them using the trick on the app.