Somewhere in my room is my mom’s checkbook. I found her new checks, I found several of my checkbooks, but I can’t find the one that may or may not be the one that I should be using. Of course I should be able to check all this on the credit union’s web site, but it’s the WORST FUCKING MESS ever. I hardly ever use it so I forget which password I had on it, and I get locked out. I try to answer the security question but it’s a question I’VE NEVER ANSWERED BEFORE. It asks me questions I can’t answer, like the name of my first wife. I’ve never been married, but what does that matter to them? And the joke of a credit union only has phone support during business hours. I hardly ever try to do online banking during business hours. This is why I keep money in a huge and awful national bank.

I was discussing money with kids from the gym today and they never carry cash. How the hell do they score any drugs buy any food at the small mom-and-pop restaurants that only take cash?

Anyway, that’s my small mess for the day.

There’s not all that much horrible going on in my life, but Mondays are Mondays. I had to sit patiently for an hour while an IT dude in the Philippines (I’m guessing) moved my mouse remotely. A known issue with Microsoft Outlook is what I’m guessing because there was a locally written program to fix the problem I had. So after getting my silly computer back (and it rebooted several times today because it does that rather than sleeping) I suppose I got on with my day.

I keep thinking about my fitness level and how I was able to do certain things before that I can’t do now. Not the “when I was younger” kind of things but more the “before I had that cold a few months back I was able to do this a bit faster” sort of thing. I wish I could say I was constantly improving, but it’s more like slowly improving. Then again, when I actually think of my fitness goals it’s just to maintain some level of fitness amongst all the cheeseburgers and the beer I wish I was drinking. I’m too lazy to go out and get any. The cheeseburgers just seem to find me.

Oh, and I did pay bills tonight, the only thing I really had on my short to-do list. It’s not short because I don’t have anything to do, it’s short because I’m disorganized and a little lazy. I mean, come on, I’d actually have to START A LIST to have a list and then I’d have to keep from losing it. Pfft.

My brain’s not running on all cylinders today. I got to Café Allora in the Pearl to watch the World Cup Final game between Spain and the Netherlands and the only reason I was rooting for the Netherlands is because I didn’t want that game-predicting octopus to be right. I wasn’t very vocal about it, because I was in the middle of a lot of Spain supporters. In any case, Spain won, and the octopus was right.

It being Portland, of course, I saw a guy I’ve gone to for Sports Massage, Michael Bilyeu. I was just thinking of calling him last week because I was all knotted up. I’m not sure why he was down in the Pearl to see the game because he lives in NE and works in SE. I did get to ask him if I still had the right number and address for him.

The Pearl, being the Pearl, had a lot of wealthier seeming people around. Across the street from the café was a BMW Alpina. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I bet it cost more than I make in a year. Two years, probably. My buddy Matty suggested I get one, but I reminded him that I am neither a drug dealer nor a record producer and he told me it was never too late for a career change.

What I can afford is to finally get my sorry ass to Violetta to try their sustainable slow-food hamburger. I’ve heard mixed reviews, and I have to say it’s a very good burger but not the best I’ve had. Plus, it’s kind of a fast food/slow food establishment. Tacky interior but expensive prices. The staff was super-nice and even gave me a rare hamburger, but it needed a little more sweetness in the relish. But it was tasty, the meat was tender, and I was full of cheeseburger and crispy truffle oil fries. I’d certainly not dissuade anyone from getting it, but still there was something missing.

I wondered why I wasn’t hungry at dinnertime and I realized that I had my burger at 2:48PM after my first bite. Late lunch. I also forgot to get my free Slurpee today. I kind of figure I can afford to buy a Slurpee, so I’m not out too much, but do I need to get as much as I can from the faceless holding corporation that owns 7-11? These are the kind of philosophical questions I can handle today, nothing much harder though. I think the sun fried my brains.

I am trying to post from my new iPhone 4 now. I was going to see if my old iPhone 3GS can be used as an iPod Touch of sorts and post with that but the battery was completely flat. So now I’m playing with the new hotness yet again.

I heeded the advice of my friends who suggested that I try closing all the heater vents downstairs which did make it much cooler upstairs, but it’s still too hot to sleep. I think my mattress has picked up residual heat and I like it a little on the chilly side when I’m sleeping. Ah well it is supposed to be about twenty degrees cooler tomorrow and be in the low 80’s instead of the high 90’s.

I took my mom to Slabtown Ribs for dinner and I had way too much barbecue tonight. My blood is slowed by the barbecued goodness and I don’t think I have much more to say. Andiamo.

My old boss asked me if I was going to ask EVERYONE to remind me never to walk to Subway (1.25mi) when it’s going to be over 90°F. I wanted to make sure that SOMEONE would remind me next time since I nearly melted on the way back. Fortunately, I was able to watch the end of the World Cup soccer match in the cafeteria from the time that (not going to spoil it for people who haven’t seen it) scored the first goal on (the other team). I’m really getting sucked into some of the games.

I also had a small cramp in my leg during the walk, which was great because it’s now in the other leg. In between cramps I got to see Helen at the gym (two laps around the building, 21 24kb kettlebell swings, 12 kipping pullups, three times). The first lap around the building in the 90+°F heat and I had cottonmouth so bad that I had to stop and get a drink of water. Not only don’t I do well in the heat, but I keep telling myself that I don’t do well in the heat and that probably makes things worse. I think, however, that age probably has something to do with it. That plus the walk to Subway. Plus I couldn’t count and I did 6x med ball cleans with 60#, 80#, 90#, 100#, 90#, and 100#.

Heck, I’m a native Portlander. 50’s and cloudy is the ideal weather for athletics, and the 70’s are hot.

I’ve been ignoring writing anything down, except for some stupid iPhone code that doesn’t really work. Holy hell it’s driving me nuts. I should know better than to try to dive into the middle of something so messy. All while sitting in a room that’s in the upper 80’s while it’s really much cooler outside. I’m not a huge fan of the heat and I’m in one of the hottest rooms in the house. Of course it’s silly, but that’s just where my office is now. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s (F) this week and that’s way too hot for me.

Other than that, today (Tuesday) felt a lot like a Monday. Forgot my badge, brought the wrong DVD with the wrong version of Linux to work, forgot my headphones, and now the electrical room at the end of my row is buzzing quite loudly. They say it’s working fine, but there are a dozen people who aren’t going to be able to work while it’s buzzing like that. Hooray for that.

So, once again, a boring day for a boring guy. A boring guy who should be asleep but isn’t. Boring with no common sense.

That was a fairly successful 4th of July. I kind of got my iPhone app working a little better. It’s still broken, and I’ve still spent a hell of a lot more money than I ever should have writing an app I could have purchased for 99 cents, but whatever. We also invited ourselves to my sister’s house for a barbecue, and I watched my neighbor set off hundreds of dollars of legal fireworks without getting injured.

I also reconfigured my web server in a panic, late at night, which is the way I usually do it. I’m hoping it’s working correctly now. We’ll see.

I went back to Belly because I couldn’t stay away. Plus, it’s 4th of July weekend and I think most people are either out of town or off their regular schedules, so some restaurants are empty while others are overfull. Belly was empty on Friday so I took a chance.

My mom and I were the only two there, and I got a burger. Not as rare as I like, but tasty nevertheless. They must have grilled it over wood, because the meat had a smoky taste. The only downside, again, was a bun that wasn’t perfect. I’m not sure why I’m so picky about the bun, but this one was also a bit gummy. Not chewy, but just a little gummy.

The burger could have used a bit more relish or something.

My mom got the pizza. Not as crisp as I’d like, but tasty.

I went to Belly today because I was working from home and one of the advantages is that I get to go to different places for lunch. (In case you think I didn’t do anything, I did almost destroy a hard disk while trying to get something work-related running.) Also, Belly announced their new lunch menu and it sounded meattastic.

Oddly enough, I didn’t have the burger. I had the Belly dip instead, which was:

crisp roasted pork belly, melted leeks and watercress aioli on toasted hoagie with bacon jus

It was tasty but not executed perfectly. The roll needed more toasting (it was too chewy) and the meat was cut into small chunks that fell out of the roll and made it impossible to dip. I’d still recommend it, but it’s one of those “hard to eat” things.

My mom had tasty asparagus with a poached egg fritter which she said was kind of bland but pretty. Remind you of anyone?

I think I may go back tomorrow for the burger.