In this year, completed and weblished Wish Again (Book One of Bolster, Not Molest Her)
  after writing Chapter 14: "Not Bad"; Chapter 15: "Ritz of Passage"; Chapter 16: "Smile"; and Chapter 17: "Pick Up the Pieces" (the middle two split off from the final one)
  laid the foundation for the first seven chapters of Vicki in Vanderlund (Book Two) and began a draft of Chapter 18: "Split Level"
  did a great deal of geographic/demographic prepwork for the suburban setting and its junior high school
  redesigned the Skeeter Kitefly Website's Index page to feature the six prime book covers
  cataloged all juvenile/YA fiction collected since 2008; continued collecting them, with focus now on junior high/middle school
  wrote five impromptu-ish poems: "Say Goodbye to Tuna Salad"; "Flapperflowers"; "The Showerbath That Is Outer Seattle"; "Twenty-Three Years in Outer Seattle"; and "Have a Tinsel-Toady Christmas," as well as some verse for BNMH
  continued reading the works of Mark Twain, plus Neil Gaiman's entire Sandman series
  and Borders Books went out of business

  In this year, reduced weight by 30 pounds (214½ to 184½) through "budgeting and accountability"
  cutting down to 2000-calorie meals after the annual checkup found triglycerides very high and HDL cholesterol low
  regretfully desisted from eating Reser's Tuna Salad, replacing it with lowcal/lowfat foods
  such as tofu, low-sodium cottage cheese and peanut butter, healthier soups, flavored seltzer, V-8 juice and Tofurky
  guided in diet choices by Eat This, Not That!; relied on suspenders as waistline shrank
  created an albacore-and-lemon-herring-over-brown-rice casserole
  and experimented with Indian food (inspired by work on BNMH Chapter 14: "Not Bad")
  briefly stopped taking saw palmetto, till prostate "woke back up"; began intake of flaxseed oil capsules
  when weight was at its height, did Strength Training Over 50 exercises to ease lower back pain
  also started using a "resistance band" exercise pullcord, and doing warmup exercises with light weights
  got an assortment of sleepmasks, and first used a whitenoise CD player to mask night tinnitus
  got a crown for the "sideless" molar whose filling had been dramatically replaced in 1996
  and began taking "senior" vitamins
 

  In this year, created a food database of all items in fridge and pantry, calculating the nutritional content of typical salads, sandwiches, casseroles, etc.; and used two scales to apportion meals
  closed out the UBS and USBancorp accounts, rolling over their assets plus the Key IRA CD's into a new Key Investment account
  adjusted the consolidated portfolio contents, liquidating two mutual funds and buying two others
  obtained new birth certificate copies from Jackson County MO
  and continued collecting hardcopy high school yearbooks, until discovering the expanded range of digital ones at Ancestry.com
 

  In this year, started using EarthLink DSL rather than dial-up (though keeping two external modems for dial-up attempts) and EarthLink's revamped Web Control Center
  after 6½ years, the Dell Inspiron laptop announced "Preparing to hibernate"—and did so permanently
  replaced it (ostensibly as a stopgap) with a $350 Acer Aspire running on Windows 7
  got Microsoft Office 2010, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9, and an "optical" wireless mouse
  replaced the existing scanner (for which no Windows 7 drive was available) with a new HP Photosmart Plus scanner/printer/copier
  unable to access a decade's worth of Quicken files on the new laptop, so created an Excel Journal instead
  got a new LaCie external hard drive to supplement the one bought in 2007 and the original Maxtor; also began using flash drives
  had occasional trouble with the BlackBerry Curve's trackball
  switched to using CFL "squiggle" light bulbs
  and Google abandoned work on its ultrauseful News Archive
 

  In this year, Grandmother Ada Louise Ludeke Smith died shortly before her 104th birthday; weblished a Tribute Page
  wrote and uploaded Fine Lineage Chapter L-5: "Ick Grows Up and Goes to Miami of Ohio"; Chapter L-6: "Social Worker, Wife and Mother"; and Chapter L-7: "Smitty's Memoirs"
  and new entries to the previous four chapters of Part Five: Ach du Lieber Ludeke, including a segment on "Rachel and the Petersons" (plus an augmented Ludeke tree) for Chapter L-3: "The Ludekes"
  added many new details from newly-accessed original marriage and death certificates to Part Five and also Part Four: There's Lots of Good Smiths in the Sea
  received verification of Grandmother Smith's baptismal info from St. Julie Parish in Hamilton OH
  verified that the entire Wuechner/Ludeke block (or "square") in Hamilton OH was now a Marriott Hotel parking lot
  mother's annuities were placed in a long term care plan
  brother's Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest was published
  and began to discover the story behind Elliott Burns's incarceration: his murder of candy wrapper Emma Combs...
 

  In this year, culled CD and tape cassette collections, donating many items to the local Salvation Army thrift shop (shortly before its closure)
  got a new front room floor fan, moving the old one to the deck; and two new fans (tower and box) for the bedroom
  tossed two old ailing desk lamps and the three abandoned correspondence boxes
  shifted whitenoise CD players around to help drown out neighborly noises (including downstair's dog)
  and got a new Memorex boombox to keep behind the drafting table ( the previous one doing bedroom whitenoise duty)
  started breakfasting at the drafting table (and its DSL-connected laptop) on weekends and holidays
  set up the old backup landline telephone in the bedroom near the bed-head
  found seepage by the bedroom window's far end; stuffed its frame with wadded paper towels by way of insulation
  dealth with an elusive leak under kitchen sink (installing two bathmats and an oversized plastic lid)
  began using an old toothbrush to scrub around the kitchen sink drain
  and the Des Moines Marina and 16th Street bridge both fully reopened following their refurbishments

  In this year, the Saturn's ten-year-old battery quietly expired while parked at Des Moines Marina on the day after Thanksgiving; AAA quickly responded and replaced it
  attempted (unsuccessfully) to bolster the driver's door leaky weatherstripping with rubber tape; added a plastic bag to the towels on the driver's seat
  was issued new license plates (and had a struggle installing them)
  switched to a Husky ORCA card for U-Pass bus service
  first use of RapidRide to SeaTac Airport, flew to KCMO via Frontier (with "stretch seating")
  dined on bony goat at the Waldo district's mis-named Taj Mahal
  and visited Blue Springs MO via rental Mazda, adding plastic tulips to Grandmother Smith's grave
 

  In this year, Master Patient Index (MPI) separated from Release of Information (ROI) and started reporting directly to the Project Manager
  created a "State of the Index" report, with five colorful graphs; and a UPICC database, tracking all cases reviewed by the UWMC Patient Identity Clarification Committee
  a "Strategic Alliance" was made between UW Medicine and Valley Medical Center
  began hanging a "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" bag from the office doorknob
  while having recurrent dreams of being downgraded to temporary employment or laid off altogether (one time, along with the entire department...)

 

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Copyright © 2016 by P. S. Ehrlich