Day One-hundred-and-fifty-one: More memories

I'm staying in a hotel in Reno that Marilyn and I once stayed at.  I had forgotten how bad it was but at least it is reasonable, and has free WiFi.  I walked over to the Peppermill casino to have dinner but their only likely source of vegan food was a Chinese restaurant that will open the middle of December.  So, I gambled before I walked back to hotel to eat out of my traveling stash.  (I'm limiting myself to $100 per casino unless I'm using their money.)  However, I decided not to reinvest $30 in winnings and the original $20, which means that I only lost $50.

At this rate, my Den of Inequities tour will be very short.  Cigarette smoke and losing take the luster off of it.  I can tolerate the cigarette smoke much better if I'm winning but to have to pay for the punishment...

This trip so far is a series of memories of Marilyn.  Auburn and the Grass Valley turn off all the way to Grae Eagle.  Auburn itself.  Truckee.  She loved to poke around in Truckee's stores.  We were there more than once.  One time we even went skiing at the downtown Truckee ski slope.  She said it reminded her a lot of Mansfield.

Even Reno has several memories, our first or second Thanksgiving on the road was a trip to Reno to stay at the Flamingo Hilton.  As we were walking up to check-in, my son, who was no older than five, was jaw dropping amazed at the machines that gave real money.  Someone had just hit a minor jackpot and the machine was paying out.  Now they are all paper.  It definitely takes the fun out of it and makes it easier to go through money.  There's no slowing to look for double dated, 1976, quarters or pulling out state quarters.

Life keeps changing.  I guess that's what makes it Life after Layoff.

It is a longer drive to Reno from Pacifica than Fremont anyway and the stop, stop, and go around I-680 didn't help.  I think I will try and stop while it is still daylight tomorrow, which means that I need to get to bed early enough to get up and get out early.  So, its off to the shower and then to bed.

Day Ninety-two: Sleeping my life away

I've gotten into a bad cycle, staying up late, getting up relatively early, and, at least today, taking a nap in the afternoon. Realizing I was in a late cycle, I decided to make the Almost No Knead whole wheat olive bread today. In previous bread making, I had always let it raise through the night for at least ten hours. Today I got it mixed up around 9:00 AM and started the second raising around 6:00 PM. Not only is this a shorter raising time than my normal minimum overnight time, it commits me to baking until after 9:00 PM. (Which also means that I will be eating some bread late but hopefully before or no later than 10:00 PM.) Yes, it is that good, which is also why my vegan diet has stopped losing weight.

Today, in addition to my continued outplacement education, I prepared my Life after Layoff budget. Due to my housing expenses, around $25,000/year, I need more than an ideal amount annually for early retirement, particularly with the current stock market volatility although today the volatility was at least the right direction.

All of this is means that I need to get more disciplined about my days, including a chore list. This sounds like a good application for a spreadsheet application. I could even write it on a Windows platform using Visual Basic Application but have yet to learn Apple Script. I am done with procrastination--after today, well, at least after this week, unless I just have to get out and have some fun.

Speaking of fun, it would be fun to travel to Nevada and do some gambling. However, my favorite form of gambling, the craps table, has been somewhat ruined because it appears to be McCain's favorite form of gambling. Does that similarity make me sound older? At least I'm not as compulsive about it as he appears to be. Nor am I as rich, not that I would have ever thought to ask for a table to be set up in my room. It would be a lot easier to go to bed more quickly and would be a non-smoking environment...