Firguring Out Dinner

Once again, somebody scheduled a lunch meeting. So I ran out this morning to get breakfast from McDonald's. It is almost always a #2. That is a sausage, egg, and chesse McMuffin. I opt for a large coke. As usual, the meeting runs over time. But I am not hungry.

Eventually, I figure I need to get a snack. I am going out to dinner with my college buddy. But I can't make it to dinner without a little more food. The best bet is two McDoubles from McDonald's for $3.99. I really would like to get a double cheeseburger from Roy Rogers. I could pile up pickles on the side at the fixins bar. The burger might be expensive though.

Finally I settle on Burger King. They don't have the best burgers. However I saw a TikTok post about one of their new melts - the Philly Melt. I suspect the creator was hired/sponsored to post about it. She seemed genuine. And she stuck to the facts. Crunchy peppers on top. Two slices of fully melted cheese. A lot of burget in the two patties. Plus a sourdough bun. Cost was around $7 just for the sandwich. It was all right.

The Passing of Chai Latte

 

Kit Kat reported that her gerbil was having trouble breathing last night. She called Little Kat, who went to her house directly after college. Little Kat stayed until midnight. Kit Kat took the day off. Around 10:00 am, Chai died. Kit Kat brought the body over to our house after school and work were over. Kit Kat and Little Kat buried the body in a checkbook box in our back yard.

Momoko called all the PetSmart stores in the area. The local one had 2 female gerbils. And the far away one we usually use had 2 more females. Little Kat and Kit Kat went to the local store and purchased 2 gerbils. Prices have gone up to $21 each. These gerbils seemed excited to come home to a clean cage that Momoko put together. Kit Kat went back home to see her boyfriend.

We added a clean gerbil wheel that the new gerbils were eventually able to figure out. Both gerbils try to run on the wheel at the same time. We also put a spaghetti box in the cage. They loved climbing on top and underneath the box. Later, Little Kat put a paper towel tube in the cage for them to chew on. We are debating what to name these first 2 gerbils. Kit Kat will eventually buy 2 more.

Falling Down the Stairs

Little Kat bought Momoko some pho for mother's day. I let them eat together and watch some shows. I was off eating my own meatball parmesan. Later, I heard that Little Kat fell down the stairs and sprained his ankle. Momoko tried to shop for an ankle brace at CVS. She could not find one.

Little Kat placed an online order for an ankle brace. I signed up to drive him to college. His ankle brace was delivered 30 minutes before we left for college. I found a map of campus online. I copied the relevant roads, buildings, and parking lots for my own knowledge. We got there in time, even though one lane of the road was closed. Little Kat and I had drank Dr. Pepper's on the way over.

Momoko and I returned to the college to pick Little Kat up. His class went the full length, even though this is the last week of class. When Little Kat came out of the computer science building, he did not initially see us. I drove my Taco Bell to purchase Little Kat's first meal of the day.

Kit Kat's Big Birthday

Kit Kat and her boyfriend went out of town for her birthday. They ate at a smorgasbord. They painted plates/mugs. I thought they might see a musical. But some weak one was playing. We were not able to celebrate her birthday timely. When she returned, we exchanged gifts with her.

Because this was a significant birthday, Momoko planned something bigger. We scheduled a session to "blow glass". Momoko invited Kit Kat's friends from work, along with her old friends from school. Momoko bought several types of veggies and dips. We also had a friend buy some more veggies and dips. Momoko also bought cupcakes.

I was delegated the task to drive us to the party. It was in a big city to the north. We had to go through a toll tunnel. When I got on the street of the venue, I needed to turn around to get to it. I ran into 5 intersections where u-turns were illegal. Momoko had mentioned the parking lot was small. There were only 5 or 6 spots.

I produced a glass vase. More factually, some worker there created the vase. I was told to poke or push it from time to time. I was only along for the ride in creating this glass item. It cost a whopping $70. I saw Kit Kat present her recently married friend from middle school with a ribbon flower bouquet. Kit Kat's high school friend seemed like the only one dressed for the intense heat of the glass factory.

Afterwards, we queued up in a gallery building to pay. This was a huge bottleneck. It took a long time to have each of the 17 people pay. Afterwards, Kit Kat and friends from work went to Hot Pot. Momoko and I brought our vegetables home and instead opted for Subway at a new location.

Total Eclipse

Today was solar eclipse day. Momoko's sister and brother-in-law drove down south to make sure they saw a total eclipse of the sun. We were not as lucky. Still. These were exciting times. I checked the web to see the time when the sun would be most covered.

When the time came, I went outside. Momoko had provided me with safe eclipse glasses. I did not see the ISSO marking on them. Hope they were not cheap knock offs. I put the glasses on and looked up. All I saw was blackness. I feared the glasses were too dark.

My next door neighbor's wife was outside. She was also staring up in the sky. I asked her if she had any luck. She pointed and said she saw it. I doubled down and tried again. That is when I saw this sliver of a sun poking through.

The experts said we would have almost 90% blockage at the peak. I thought we were more like 80%. I still saw a lot of sun. I also heard rumors that the temperature would drop 15 to 20 degrees. It did not feel any colder at the peak of the eclipse.

Momoko came home shortly afterward and tried to take a picture of the eclipse. She put glasses over the camera of her phone. I gave her my pair so she could also shield her eyes. The picture did not turn out well. On TV, we saw people being interviewed at Little Kat's college.

Return Home Over the Bridge

My Internet WiFi had gone out the prior afternoon. I had a meeting at 11am the next morning. Momoko proposed we check out of the hotel early in the morning. That way I could be home before my work meeting. We got up around 7am. Were on the road by 8am or so. We had gassed up the night before. I had to drive.

The GPS took us a bit further North than was expected. We kept ended up driving on some back roads by trailer parks. Eventually we made it to a 4 lane highway. I did not want to lead the pack or come up in the rear. Was worried about cops singling me out.

We had to cross a bridge that spanned a couple miles over a bay. A local bridge by our house had just collapsed. So I was extra anxious. Most big trucks stayed in the far right lane. I stuck to the middle lane. Just when I thought we were safe beyond the end of the bridge, we hit bad traffic on a highway heading North.

Eventually we got past the hold up. The rest of the ride home was uneventful. I made my meeting. Then Momoko and I went to get our favorite Chinese food carryout. I worked hard to make up for lost time due to WiFi outage. Only one guy on my team was around to review my code. Some lady had reserved the documentation I needed to update. I did not find that out until she had left for the weekend. Came close to finishing my tasks for this week.

Returning to the Ocean

Momoko and I headed from the theater to another beach location. We traveled on back country roads. Got stuck behind a car carrier driving very slow. 18-wheeler trucks were illegally passing the slow truck across the double yellow line. Mokoko eventually passed it on the right shoulder. We stopped at a welcome center that had a machine that made you part of a comic.

I had to take the wheel after that. We checked into our beach front hotel right on time. I ordered a cheese steak at our favorite ice cream diner. It turned out to be the special of the day. The next morning, I got a lot of work done for my company. So I joined Momoko and her friend from work for lunch. When I got back, I lost WiFi and could not work.

We took advantage of the down time to go shopping. It was raining. Momoko drove us to some beach shop. I found a T-shirt for $4. Momoko could not find a gift spoon to give to Kit Kat. We went to the edge of the board walk. Initially we could not find this souvenir shop we recalled. I charged ahead and found the shop. Momoko bought a spoon. We also went into another shop that closed its boardwalk front. We asked a girl to help us purchase popcorn like Cracker Jack.

On the ride back to the hotel, we scoped out the first floor parking of Momoko's friend's hotel room. I found the perfect parking spot. We went back to our hotel to rest. Then we went back to the friend's hotel for happy hour. I did not get my spot. There was an elevator close to the parking spot I found. The elevator door would not open without a key card.

Eventually we searched for an elevator open to the public. Momoko's friend there was one that took you to the third floor for the bar. We found our friend there pre-gaming. Appetizers were $10. I got shrimp cocktail. Momoko got a beef au jus special that was not on the menu.  Momoko could not get comfortable on the bar stool. So we left after an hour. We had another late night snack at DQ. Their 6 piece chicken strip dinner came with white gravy that Momoko loved. I opted for ranch dressing.