I am scared

Scared of the unknown

 

Day 25

Today is Monday and it was an uneventful day. I got up and got ready. Went downstairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake. I did have to run to the gas station because we did not have any milk. I swallowed my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. I left and as usual caught the bus. I could not listen to my Zune because it had no power. I read up on some news, which I should mention so I can time stamp, some history around the world. Today a helicopter and plane crashed killing everyone and it sunk into the Hudson River in New York. There was also a mudslide, which looks like it buried over 400 people somewhere in the world. When I got to work, I did so knowing the Ricky would not be in because his daughter was not feeling well. I spent most of my days reading Cisco related material and at one point spoke with a person who is attempting to sell connectivity to Oats Reporting, used by some of our traders. For lunch, I had left over Mexican rice and chicken with some smashed beans. I drank my IDS creatine lemonade juice. At about 3:00 I took a walk around the block just to spread out my legs and ended up purchasing a protein shake at the protein bar with 39 grams of protein. I took the shake back and had a few Oreo cookies with it. At 3:30, I picked up the office dumbbells and finished off some sets. After leaving the train station, we drove down to Lowes so I could find the right bit for the hammer drill I borrowed from Franky. I looked around but I could not find the bit that I needed so I called my father. He told me that if I had to purchased the bit that this would be required because he had a drill with the bit that we needed. I then walked over to the hardware isle and looked at the screws that I would need for the concrete. I did not really see much there but I think that the ones I need are 1.90 and I will need lots of these so will see how much it will cost. I need to remember to take pictures throughout the day so I can include them in these journals. After I was done with the store, I went to the chiropractor’s office. I did my routine and I had a new person give me a back massage. She was interesting and at the same time very pregnant. However, her touch was sensitive and soothing. She also massages my arms, which was different and lubed her hands with sensual oils more than once. The only complaint I had was that she was not rough enough for me and I did not want to ask her to go harder because she was seven months pregnant and her breathing was a little heavy. After I was done with the back routines, the chiropractor said he wanted to see me two more times and I scheduled another appointment on Tuesday at 5:30. When I got home, I changed to my gym clothes and drank an IDS BetaNOX pre-workout citrus drink. I drove down to the gym and after throwing my stuff in a locker and began my workout session. My routine was as normal and I worked up a nice sweat. I am feeling more aggressive with my routines and my breathing patterns are controlled. I do feel that my joints are in pain and I do not know if that has anything to do with the IDS Mass Tabs that, I have been taking. I will have to do some reading on this online. It could also be the yard work I am currently working on which has my hands all busted up. At some point, I looked at the clock and saw that it was after 8:30 so I wrapped it up and drove home. When I arrived at home, I took a shower, prayed for Andrew and watched a movie called Skeleton Crew with Jazmin and Yolanda. Jazmin has been lovingly pestering me to watch this movie so I watched it up to a point. I got tired so I turned it off and went to sleep.

Day 24

I got up this morning in good spirits. It is Sunday morning and I want to go to church and get me some spiritual education. Everyone got up and everyone was energized and just as excited as I was. Yolanda asked if I wanted to go downstairs and have a cup of coffee and I told her that I would join her but I would have my shake. I prepared my IDS protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. After my family was ready we got into our car and began our drive. When we got to church we arrived a little early and so we waited a few seconds and took our seats. The worship music was good and the message was enlightening. After we were done we were all a little hungry so we drove down to Al’s Beef. The other day I was watching Man Vs Food and the host was in Chicago and he interviewed the owner of Al’s Beef and did a behind the scenes how the beef is prepared. It caused me to become curious so I go on the internet and found that there was a franchise in Oaklawn on 95th street. I drove down there and ordered a 6 inch Italian beef, with sweet peppers, mozzarella cheese, and had it dipped. I also ordered cheddar fries and a small coke. We ate our food and it was good but I did feel that for the amount of money that I was paying for the sandwich that it should have been larger especially since I did order it with extra meat. I don’t really know if I will be going back. I also thought that Al’s beef becoming a franchise has diluted the true meaning of it original intention and the décor is in tune with every other wannabe trendy establishment. After we were done we came home and I was going to work in the backyard but decided against it. I had a nice long conversation with my son Andrew and we were able to go over sensitive issues that we are both working on in our relationship. I think it was promising and I am hoping and praying that it has resolved some conflicts. Instead of working I decided to go for a run since I had not ran the neighborhood track in over a week. After drinking my IDS BetaNox drink for added energy I flew out of the house running. It was scorching hot above 90 degrees and I knew this but it wasn’t going to stop me. I started my run and at first it I started ok and felt like I was in the zone. A few minutes into it I started to sweat and my body began to cool itself off. The air was dead and I felt like I was sucking in heat. About 3/4th of the way into my run I was feely really hot and my head started to hurt and I felt the heat waves penetrating my head and wearing a black hat didn’t help the situation. I walked the rest of the way and when I got home I was drenched in sweat. I took a shower and got relaxed. I noticed my brothers tried to reach me and I called Julio back and told him to come over so I could update him on the dog that he was taking to his home. He also was coming over with the rest of my other brothers to play some softball. When he came over we had a little meeting and I explained Bugsy’s habits and way of life. We decided to give them our dog because my brother has three little kids, Julian, Jacob and Emily that they are in love with him. They have never owned a dog but Bugsy is so playful and Emily is attached. We already have Rocko so it only made sense to give it to a family member. After everyone showed up including my father we went to the baseball park and had a very nice family softball game. Once we were done we came back home and sat around the table having left over Mexican food and playing Uno cards. Pablo had to leave to drop off his sister in law but on his way back he picked up some pastries and Yolanda made some coffee. At about 9:00 everyone who was still at my house gathered their belonging and called it a night. This was a good day.

Day 23

It is Saturday and I woke up this morning early since I wanted to start the backyard project as soon as possible. I got up at about 7:00 and got ready to go to Lowes since I had to purchase a manual post digger to help remove the access dirt that would be 42 inches under the ground. When I went into the bathroom to get ready I noticed it was raining and that really bothered me. I was upset because I was hoping that it wouldn’t be raining since I was going to spend the day in the backyard under the sky with a rented hydraulic auger that had to be back by 4:00 and the weather was reporting scattered showers. Yolanda and I got ready and we drove to Lowes. When we got there I went directly to the gardening supply isle and picked up my post digger for 35 dollars. After we left the store I thought about buying a fold out 10x10 size tent to use as a rain umbrella so that if I had to work in the rain I would at least not get wet. The weather was currently raining somewhat badly so I after I drove away from Lowes we drove down to Home Depot. I asked an attendant if they had any tents and he pointed to a 200 dollar model. I thought at the time it was two expensive so I drove back to Lowes to see what they had. On the way there we stopped at Star Bucks and Yolanda ordered a medium coffee and a bagel. When we got to Lowes they had only one left and it was more than 200 dollars so we left and as I was leaving we stopped through Dunkin Donuts and I purchased a toasted raisin bagel with strawberry crème cheese. At this point Yolanda looked up the Wall-Mart web site and she saw some tents for a cheaper price. We got to Wall-Mart and I purchased a 10x10 size tent for 150 dollars. I loaded it in the car and we drove home. As soon as I got home the rain stopped and it didn’t rain for the rest of the day. I woke up Andrew and asked if he could get ready to help me. I opened up the garage door and pulled out and pulled the hydraulic auger to the back yard. I started immediately drilling the post holes and ran into obstacles while doing so. Some of the holes had old underground wires that need to be snipped and other had rocks while yet others had roots. At some point my Father and my brother Pablo showed up and helped me finish excavating the holes. We were finished at about 1:00 and we hitch the auger to my father’s truck and took it back to the rental place. On the way back we stopped at Menards were I was ready to spend some good money on 14 2x6 by 16 feet long wooden decking planks with the 8 post hole cylinders and brackets but because someone there didn’t do inventory control and restock the one of the brackets I needed we terminated the purchased and went to Home Depot. When we got there I was able to pick out the wood planks with my brother and everything we needed was there. My father pointed out some fasteners that I could purchased that would allow the decking boards to be mounted without nails and it would give it a better finished look. When we checked out and pulled the cart to my father truck we placed all of the planks from the back of his truck window and it rested right next to the front dash board. I was frightened that the planks would be so heavy that the back door of the truck wouldn’t be able to sustain the weight. I drove back home very slowly with the hazard light on and we were able to make it with no incident. I called Yolanda on the way back and asked if she could order a pizza. The pizza arrived after we unloaded and we ate a good meal with Coca Cola. My father left and Pablo stayed to finish finalizing one of the holes. After my brother pablo left I stayed in the backyard cleaning it up and I took to two piles of dirt that we mounted up from the holes we dug and I spread it out evenly across the surface and then used the flattener to flatten it down. Once I was done I showered up laid down and worked on my laptop. I also had my IDS protein shake, Mass Tab pill and additional supplements. I also had a cup of honey nut cheerios. Yes, I didn’t take my shake and pills in the morning but in honesty I completely forgot since I was running around and started working immediately after getting back from the store. There was talk about another family softball game and my father was invited. I also attempted to watch a movie called skeleton crew with Yolanda and Jazmin but I fell asleep on it.

Day 22

Hey everyone today is Friday again and it seems that I was just riding about last Friday yesterday. It is amazing how fast the days go by. Today was somewhat of an interesting day. I got up at my regular time and the day started well. I took a shower got ready and I walked downstairs into the kitchen. I prepared my IDS Protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab with additional supplement pills. I didn’t take any lunch with me before leaving the house. I walked over to the bus stop and sat on the bench waiting for the bus. It was only a few minutes of waiting but as usual the bus arrived and I got on it. I listened to my Microsoft Zune and about 15 minutes later I switched over to the train. When I got on the train I turned on my laptop and started typing yesterday’s journal. I wasn’t able to do it the night before because I was simply too tired. I knew that today was going to be a slow day and was looking forward to it because I need to modify my drawings based on additional recommendations my father and I pointed out. Before going home I asked my wife if she could find a place where I could rent and hydraulic auger and just before I was going to leave she called a site called A&H Rental on 105 S. Harlem. They had the auger for 6 dollars cheaper and it was also closer to home. They were going to close at 5:00 so I knew I had to leave earlier to get to the store on time. While at work I worked on the drawing and spend some time perfecting it to the best of my ability. I did have my coffee early in the morning but later about brunch I was invited by Gio to go to Dunkin Donuts and purchased a medium coffee with a raisin bagel and strawberry cream cheese. This is the first time that I have strawberry cream cheese and I got it on a recommendation from Gio. I have to say that this was the best bagel I have had in a very long time and that’s that I am not much of a bagel guy. After 2:00 I gathered my things and left to go home. I called my father and had him come over at 3:15 so we could go to the rental place. I had him come with me because his truck has a hitch and I needed that to pull the auger home. When I got home Yolanda was preparing the kitchen for her guest. Every other Friday she had her friends from Church come over for a ladies bible study and today one of them was also having a birthday so they decorated the table. I waited till about near 4:00 before heading out with my dad and we were able to go to the rental store and pick up the auger. When I got home we pulled the auger into the back yard and adjusted the strings we ran the day before. It was a nasty and ugly day with rain coming down but it didn’t stop us since time is everything on this project. We were able to mark our post holes and then remove the strings. We started drilling and we go so far into the first hole before we were stopped by an object. We skipped that one and went on to the next. We took it as far as possible. It is a dirty job and since it was raining it added weight to the dirt so it was hard pulling up the drill from the hole. After 6:00 we stopped and stared cleaning up. My father was able to eat some dinner my wife had made and I followed after him when I was done picking and cleaning up. I was going to finish the night by resting since I know tomorrow morning is going to be such a busy day but I felt awkward since I had not gone to the gym since Monday. After Yolanda’s friends showed up I dressed in gym clothes and took off to the gym. I will have to say that I didn’t take any IDS pre-workout stuff and my workout was very different. I am in a little of pain and I feel my joint are not acting normal. I couldn’t really push as much weight so I kept it light and added more reps and sets. I did have an awesome workout regardless if it wasn’t aggressive in the sense of massive weights. I left the gym at 9:00 and when I got home I took a shower then poured some coca cola in a glass and had a piece of birthday cake. The read of my night was watching Man VS. Food.

Day 21

I woke up this morning and got ready for work. I went down stairs to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein shake and my IDS Mass Tab with my additional supplement. I am heavily minded with this deck project and sometimes I feel that I have gone over my head with this one. It seems like there are so many details involved even before one piece of material is even purchased. I am taking the challenge and I will see this all the way to the end. If there is something about me that is that I don’t quit. I tend to do things under my terms but through the struggles of any process I do get to see the other side. I went to work today and worked on the usual projects. I did have a small cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts and a Chocolate frosted cake. For brunch I had left over rice, beans and steak in sauce. After 12:00 I went with Wilson in his car to his son’s workplace. Michael is a police officer and when we got to his station he was able to give me a tour inside the station. I got to see some cells and the gym. Wilson and Michael had lunch at and they went to a sushi restaurant. I ordered the lunch special which included a mini egg roll, soup, and some noodle with some sauce, shredded peanuts and chicken. After we were done with lunch Michael went back to work and Wilson and I drove back in Michael’s car since Wilson swapped his car so Michael could take it to the mechanic shop. When I got back to work I wrapped up the day and left at 3:45. During the day I did call Lowes to make sure someone was going to work on my material list. I spoke with Tim and he did call me later that day and told me that he finished my quote. On the way home I called my father to find out if I need wood to create the framing for the strings that need to run across the job site in order to determine the accurate dimensions for the post markers. My father told me that he did not have any wood and that I needed to buy it. When I got to Lowes I picked up my material quote and purchased 6 2x1 8 foot long wood boards. I came home and changed to get ready to work in the backyard. My father showed up with his tools and we began cutting down the wood board and made several wooden stakes. We laid them out and using a sledge hammer pushed them into the earth and in position. We then used the construction strings and squared everything out. After we finished this we went over the drawing and the design again and we both recognized several errors in the diagram again. Geez, this part of it is frustrating. We realized that the post will need to move over slightly to the right or left so that when they are dug and set that they are between the joists which will be 16 inches from center. We also noticed that the post position at the east edge of the deck need to be set back about 1 ½ inches. After we were done, Yolanda served us 2 tamales with sour cream, green sauce and cheese with a cup of coca cola. At about 8:00 we stopped the project and I wrapped up the night on my laptop, watching TV, having a cup of ice cream cookies and cream mixed with milk. Finally, I fell asleep.

Day 20

Today I woke up on time got ready went to the kitchen and prepared a delicious IDS protein shake with my IDS Mass Tabs and additional supplement pills. I am writing today at 8:00 and I didn’t work out tonight like I said I was going to. I will explain that in a minute. I went to work today and started my day with a medium cup of coffee from ROM. When I came back to work I had it with two thin slices of pound cake. Work was OK and nothing new to report. I called my father and asked him a few questions about the backyard project and also to find out if he had a hitch for his truck. I told him I rented a hydraulic auger for the hole digging. This will make the job much easier. For brunch I had a homemade sandwich and an IDS creatine lemonade drink. At about 12:45 I took a walk over to Sears and purchased some construction line, a line level and some carpenter’s pencils with a sharpener. On the way back I was a little hungry so I decided to stop into McDonalds which is very rare for me to do. I came back to work and finished my day as normal. I ordered a double cheeseburger, small fries and a large coke. The rest of the day went uneventful.

On the way home I was thinking about the gym and my body was sore from the night before so I was more inclined to jog and ride my bike today. I received a text from Yolanda who asked me if I wanted to walk and ride the bike instead. She also was thinking the same thing. I had Yolanda bring my deck folder that contains my drawing and when I got picked up we went directly to Lowes. I was able to speak with Alonzo who helped me put design the backyard deck on his computer with my size specification. Unfortunately, my design is customized and the computer program does not allow alterations. What this means is that the final output with 3D drawings will show what it thinks should be the structural design of the deck. This doesn’t work for me since I have been approved the building permit based on my submitted design. The cost of this package at Lowes is 2,000 which is 300 dollars more than Menards but it also is based on better wood material and my choices of wood design is also better.

After I came home Yolanda had already started cooking. She was making rice, beans, and broiled steak in meat sauce. I went to my room changed to some shorts and a t-shirt than I lay down and napped for about 20 minutes. I got called to come down to eat and was still determined to workout at home but after I finished my meal I became sluggish and my body was exhausted so I instead went upstairs and rested on my bed. I turned on my laptop and watched a few stupid internet videos and got up a few times to go over to Jazmin’s room. Yolanda purchased some primer and paint at Lowes and is currently painting Jazmin’s bedroom set and will then paint her room. They color theme is a blue and brown color. I finished the night watching the vote off from America’s Got Talent.

I wonder as I write this how many people are actually reading my journals.

Day 19

Today I got up a little late. It was 6:30 when I finally rolled out of bed. I was tired from the night before since I was up until after 12:00 finishing up my required deck diagram for the City of Burbank. After I got ready I went downstairs and prepared an IDS protein shake and I swallowed my IDS Mass Tab pill with the additional supplement pills that I am taking. While in the kitchen I made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread. I rolled it up in a paper towel and stuffed it into my work bag. This morning wasn’t a good day for my daughter. At one point I was in my bedroom getting ready and she came in crying and point towards her bedroom. I was a little confused and asked her what was wrong but she kept pointing. I thought the worse and ask if the dog was dead since she tends to have our shitzu “Bugsy” sleep with her. She said that wasn’t it and then said to look at the ironing board. I walk up to it and saw that her brand new pair of glasses she just got the day before was completely destroyed. Apparently at some point of the night she let Bugsy sleep with her on the bed and he got a hold of them and chewed them ripping off the legs and scratching the lens beyond repair. I was upset since this would be her second pair because the dog had gotten a hold of her original pair of glasses. I had just paid 150.00 for these. Bugsy had also destroyed her mini ipod a few weeks before. I told her she should go to the eye doctors “Americas Best” and see what they could do about this unfortunate mishap. Later during the day she did go and they were very understanding and ordered a new pair of glasses free of charge. Moving forward I drove into work with Yolanda and got to work at about 8:00. I started my day productively and continued to work on my pending projects. One of these projects dealt with allowing a third party developer to access a few IP addresses via TCP ports. They originally were having issues connecting but it really turned out to be confusion on their side. For lunch I met with Yolanda and I invited Wilson to come with us. We went to our daily favorite restaurant and I ordered a chicken pita with cheese, fries and a coke. We talked about the deck project and family issues I also handed Yolanda the new updated drawings so she could submit them to the City of Burbank. When I got back to work towards the end of the day I had a IDS creatine lemonade drink and did a few reps on my office dumbbells. I am currently on the train riding back home typing out this log and will continue it later tonight when I get back from my chiropractor appointment and the gym. I have to go to the gym since I didn’t make in last night. On my way home I got a call from Yolanda that the City of Burbank approved my drawing and gave me a permit to build my deck. YEA!!!!. I am so happy. The only thing they said I forgot was the rodent mesh I need to install under the deck. I called my father who also that it was great and we will be getting together on Thursday to line up the markings for the 8 holes I need to dig. I will be renting a hydrolic Auger for this job. I got home and spoke to my brother Julio. I told him that we were OK with giving Bugsy to his family if he wanted him. Oh yea, while he was over on Sunday there was talk about the being interested in taking Bugsy and adopting him into their family. Being that his kids are attached to the dog I think it would be a great match. After speaking with him I went to the chiropractor and took my drawing plans for my deck. He looked over the plans and recommended how to lay the decking planks and also suggesting renting a hydraulic auger because it will dig the holes faster and protect my back. After I got my treatment I went back home and got ready to go to the gym. I prepared a IDS BetaNOX drink and took a water bottle. When I got to the gym I was a little disappointed because since I don’t go to the gym on Tuesday I realized that on Tuesday it is very packed with people and I literally had to pay attention to machines to become available. During my exercise I was very quick with my sets so I didn’t rest in between and this was intentional. I wanted to sweat and have my heart rate up for most of my routine. My workout was about hour and a half. When I was done I walked over to Yolanda who was on the treadmill and told her I was ready to go. We got in the car and drove over to the mall to pick up Jazmin, Greis and Leanna who were at the movies watching transformer. When we picked them up Greis had left over food and I was able to eat a Taco Bell Burrito with a cup of milk. After eating I went upstairs and started watching Americas Got Talent and finished typing this journal.

Day 18

I woke up this morning with the sound of an instant message notification coming from Yolanda’s I-Phone. I nudge her and verbally alerted her about it. She reached over and grabbed it and the message came from Greis who was letting her know that she had walked to work. This would be the first time Greis walks to work which is about 20 minutes away. The only concern we have is that it is really early in the morning since she starts at 5:00. During the night I had a dream that I actually remember which is rare. I also remember that within my dream I shared my experiences of what I did in the dream within the dream to someone else in my dream as if I actually was doing what I was doing inside my dream. As to what the dream was about is really not important so I won’t waste time going into it. After getting up and getting ready I casually walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I prepared an IDS protein shake and swallowed my IDS Mass Tab and the additional supplement pills. I kiss my wife and proceeded to work. When I came in I got the announcement that there was a network issues going on. How much I hate to have network issues on a Monday morning. Here is the deal with what happened. We have a Cogent point to point 1 gig connection from 318 W. Adams and 350 E. Cermak. Over the weekend Cogent had performed maintenance on their network equipment which caused a broadcast storm. This broadcast storm caused the interface on Cogent’s interface to go into error disable and trigger the interface to shutdown. After doing some troubleshooting we noticed that there were several logs generated on our switch located at 350 E. Cermak which referenced spanning-tree. In the past we have experienced these messages and we are aware that they indicate a broadcast storm. We had the Cogent technician look at their interface and they confirmed this to be a fact. After they reset their interface everything came back up. I personally believe that this issue should have been discovered by the provider since they provide us a service and they were the ones that did the maintenance which resulted in our loss of connectivity. Being that this line is a secondary backup line we never received any logs indicating any change state on the interface. The manager of networking department held the position that we should have seen this before Cogent and that we should have called them on it. His view of the matter is that Ricky who comes to work early enough to look over the system and verify that everything is well should have checked the line status. I agree but only if he has been told to do so in the past and if he wasn’t occupied with other morning routines that are not in the norm which would have prevented him to check the interfaces. I also disagree with the manager but only on his harsh delivery approach regarding his concerns. For lunch I had some leftover food from the night before. I packed up and ate 1 cheeseburger, 2 bratwursts, and 1 pork chop. I had mixed up and 1 IDS creatine lemonade drink. I flushed down my food and proceeded to work. I think I am 90 percent complete with drawing the schematics needed for the City of Burbank. After work I will stop by and have my father look over them before I submit them for approval. I will include my design in this log to let anyone who is seeing or reading them gets a chance to view by creation. I think that it came out nice for it being my first time. At the end of the day I did drive over to my father’s house and showed him the drawings. We instantly saw some errors and he recommended for some adjustments to be made. I stood at his house for a little while and enjoyed a cup of coffee with some deep fried pork chunks. I know this is really bad and I don’t know if God is tempting me by putting all of this food in front of me but I do fall short and give in. I am just glad it doesn’t happen every day or that I don’t crave it so bad that I pull money out of my pocket for it. At the end of my visit I decided that since I had to continue drawing on Microsoft Visio my diagrams that I would go home and spend the evening in front of my computer doing just that. For the evening I had an orange juice and cranberry mixed drink and stayed focused until 12:00 in the morning. I then went to bed. I plan to double up my gym time for Tuesday and Wednesday so I can get back on schedule.

Day 17

Good morning and its Monday the time now is 7:15 and I am on the train getting ready to right about how Sunday was lived. On Sunday morning I woke up a little tired since I didn’t get enough sleep because of my late night at my father’s block party. I got up and got ready for church. As I have said in the past, when it comes to Sunday the beginning of the week I feel that it is personally important for me to attend a church service with my family and find it to be spiritually empowering and enlightening. After getting ready I found myself in the kitchen and prepared a banana IDS protein shake and I took down my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. We all jumped into the car and drove to church. We visited Morriane Valley Church and I think I am going to continue to do so for the rest of August. It was a very nice service and the message was very good. I really enjoyed when a military personal came on stage and explained what his duties were and that he was going back to Iraq to carry out only mission. We prayed for him and his family and it was a moving moment. The worship music was good and I really focused on my unique personal relationship with our God. After we were finished we walked around the church building in order to get better acquainted with the facility. Since our first visit we go directly to the stadium seating and back to the car when it’s over. After we drove away I went to Menards and cancelled my order. I had just ordered all that material the day before but while going over what I had purchased based on a design from a Menard’s computer it was realized and pointed out by my father that it wouldn’t work. As it turns out the height of the deck proposed by the software was too high for my specifications. While at the store I purchased a hand held shovel and some gloves for my sidewalk project and we made two extra keys for Andrew and Greis. On the way home I mentioned to Yolanda that I was hungry and questioned her about the Bob Evans breakfast patties that we had in the fridge. I love me some Bob Evans. When we got home she started to cook breakfast and I was told to relax so that I could eat before going out to the yard to work. I took the advice and when downstairs to the family room. Lying down on the couch I grabbed the remote control which has a missing battery cover that needs to be found and turned on the TV. When the food was ready I was called up and sat on my favorite side of the table and feasted on one pancake with fresh strawberry and whip cream smothered with syrup, 3 Bob Evans sausage patties, 2 crispy bacons, warm scrambled eggs, homemade potatoes skillet , a cup of coffee and a small glass of orange juice. After eating my delicious and scrumptious breakfast I got dressed with my yard work clothing and as soon as I was almost ready the door bell rang. I answered the door and my father was paying a visit so we could go over our schematic and finalize the design we would need for the deck. I now know what that is and will be working on creating the necessary documentation that will be required for the building permit. After my father was ready to go I walked him to the car and received a call from my brother Julio. Julio informed me that all my brothers and sister wanted to get together and hang out. They wanted to play some softball and possibly have a cookout with some cheeseburgers and hotdogs. This of course would place a pause on my backyard productivity but I am never one to bypass family time since we are never promised another one. My sister Annette was at the grocery store with our mother at the time so she purchased all the goods and we all agreed that everyone would show up at 4:00. When everyone arrived we all gathered are stuff and headed over to the neighborhood baseball park. We divided the team up separating all the players which consisted of all of my brothers and sister-in-law with all of our nephews and nieces. It was a really good time and this event was way overdue since we had not come together in over a year and a half. After the game was done we all went back to my house and I turned on the grill, setup the corn hole game, turned on some music, unfolded the chairs, pulled out the meat and began the family backyard festivities. My wife Yolanda took the first turn cooking as I was setting up and I finished the last batch of meat cooking. For dinner I had 1 cheeseburger with no toppings, 1 bratwurst, 1 pork chop and something to drink. My brothers and family played with the bean or corn bags and were tossing them back and forth while some of nieces and nephews played badminton. A few of the ladies were in the kitchen including our mother talking and everyone was just having a great Sunday afternoon. The only missing was my Brother Pablo’s wife and my Son Andrew who was working until 10:00 that evening. At about 9:30 everyone either was gone or leaving and after they left I took a shower and got ready for bed. Before falling asleep my son came home and I had a discussion with him regarding his premature notification of employment termination at Dunkin Donuts. I advised him what day should be his last day and was very stern with my decision. I hope he comes back to me and tells me that everything is going to work according to what was planned. Good night.

Day 16

It is Sunday night and I am writing my journal for Saturday. It was a very busy day on Saturday so I didn’t get a chance to write my daily log since I got home at 12:30 in the morning. I paused for a few seconds to turn on the ceiling fan. Nice refreshing air. Ok, so I got up early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I turned on the TV and waited around for my chiropractor appointment at 8:00. I got up about 20 minutes before the appointment and after getting ready I went down to the kitchen and prepared my IDS protein and had my IDS Mass Tab and supplement pills. I told my wife I would be back and I go into my fuel efficient Nissan Versa and drove about 4 blocks to the chiropractor’s office. You are probably thinking why I took the car when I could have just walked. I did so because the office opens at 8:00 and I didn’t know if it would be opened when I go there or if the doctor was running late so I thought ahead of time and said to myself that I at least listen to the radio and relax in the car until he showed up. It was only a few minutes into my waiting time when Dr. Martin drove up. I said my greetings and he put me through my treatments. I got into conversation and mentioned that I was building a deck and we spoke about how he built decks when he was younger. He gave me some valuable tips and I was very grateful. I will have to mention that I think Dr. Martin is a good person and I am glad he is performing my back treatments. After I was done with my treatments and the new exercise routines to strengthen my back I went home. When I entered the house Yolanda wanted to know if I wanted breakfast and I declined and said that I wanted to go to Menards Building Center and work on customizing a deck on the computer so I can get a print out of all the materials I would need and some design schematics to go over with my father. I asked her to come with me and after I was done with the design and going over it with the Menard employee the bill for all the material was going to cost me $1800. I did not freak out and knew based on the fact that my deck size would be 24x14 that this would be a reasonable price. I would have wished it was Cedar wood but that was double the money. Instead, I designed it with pressure treated wood and that after it would dry I would paint it with solid decking paint. I called my father while at the store and told him about the cost and that I was going to place the order and have it shipped by this Friday so we could start building it on Saturday. I applied for a Menards credit card and after being approved I placed the order and left the store.

On the way home I got a hungry so we randomly decided to go to a Mexican restaurant next to the IHOP on 79th and Harlem across the street from Kmart. I will have to say that if anyone ever reads this that they do not ever consider going there. The service was crappy and the food was 10 times worse. It is overpriced for the quality they offer which isn’t quality at all. When I got home I got ready to work in the yard. I figured I could at least start moving my 2x2 slabs over to the side of the house and start dropping down the slabs and build out my sidewalk from the front of the house to the backyard. This project is tough and challenging. It is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Working with rocks and moving them around, using a level and a pry bar to lift the slabs so I can level it to its adjacent slab isn’t easy. It is heavy and tiring. The day wasn’t as nice and it was partially drizzling so that didn’t make it any fun. After a while I noticed the time was getting late and that I needed to take a shower and get ready for my father’s annual block party. We got ready and Yolanda made a Robert Redford pie desert with a broccoli salad. I took my corn hole game and we drove down to my father house. After everyone arrived we had a good time and we played softball, a little soccer and some football catching. I ate skirt steak, pork chop, rice, broccoli salad, a slice of Robert Reford pie and I had 2 Pepsi cans. I did not drink any beer even though the option was there. I pulled out my corn hole game and it was an instant hit. Everyone took turns playing the game. The night coasted along smoothly and at 12:30 I wrapped it up and said good night and went home tired. I crashed instantly.