Medifast Status: Day 119, Down ~51.5lbs
I had to get up at five this morning so that I could get ready quickly and get into the office. Because of the storm in New York I am on the early, early shift today – starting at six – so that I can help with any issues that may have arisen over the weekend. This morning is also Dominica’s first day of trying out running in her new “C25K” or Couch to 5K program. So she got up at five as well and while I was showering and getting ready for work she went out jogging around the neighbourhood.
Dominica’s run went okay but she ended up being chased by a pit bull and had to come back home a different way which caused her to be much later than she had meant to be so instead of getting back at five forty so that I could jump in the car and jet off to the office it was actually six when she got back to the house so that I could leave. So I was already late to work. Fortunately it only took me eleven minutes to get to the office as there was no traffic whatsoever.
Like many sites I noticed this morning, SpiceWorks is down. It is days like today, with much of the northeast without power, that we see how many companies rely on single sites to keep their web and email online without power redundancy, regional failover, etc. One datacenter goes down and tons of companies go offline completely. The upside of SpiceWorks being offline is that it is that much easier for me to catch up with everything else now. Normally that sucks up tons of my time.
Things were pretty quiet in the office this morning. I thought that there would be a lot of early morning people but by eight thirty there was still really just the usual ones. No one extra was in today.
We are totally rethinking our European vacation yet again. In our continuous attempt to mitigate the insane cost of the trip and to lower the travel time giving us more time on the ground to actually get around and enjoy Europe rather than spending all of our time moving from one location to another we are considering dropping Austria. Austria is just too far from where we will be and it is so incredibly expensive to do anything there. Vienna has always been a dream to go see but realistically it is adding a pretty large burden to our trip when we could be relaxing in Italy, Germany or France for a fraction of the cost. I would be very sad not to see Austria but this just does not seem like it should be the trip for that. Zurich and Vienna are not, in any way whatsoever, close to each other.
I went home at lunch and decided to just work from home this afternoon. I was in early today and so had put in nearly a full day even before leaving for lunch. I didn’t want to drive back to the office just to be there for an hour.
It was probably a good day to be home for a while today as Luciana was extremely fussy and Dominica was worn out by the time that I got home. Luciana did not really nap all day but was clearly tired. She probably has a tummy ache or something like that.
Mostly we relaxed this evening. Or tried to at least. Both kids were out of control today so relaxing was not actually very relaxing. We watched some Star Trek: Voyager when we could and I caught up on the last two episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place that Dominica had seen but I had not. I had some time to watch them while Dominica was out shopping and I was home alone watching both girls.
Dad emailed me tonight to let me know that his aunt Naomi, his father’s oldest sibling, had passed away at the age of 102. Aunt Naomi is the only member of the Miller branch of the family (other than my father) that I have ever met and that was just a couple of years ago in Ohio during Monica’s graduation party. Here is the obituary entry from the Canton Repository:
“Naomi Yoder age 102 years and 9 months, of Louisville, Ohio died at Aultman Hospital on Aug. 26, 2011 with her family by her side, after a brief illness. She was born Naomi Miller in Grantsville, Maryland on Dec. 7, 1908 to the late Joseph and Lydia (Nissley) Miller, former minister of Beachy Mennonite Church in Hartville, Ohio. She was the oldest of ten children. At age 18 she was married to Jacob J. Yoder. They had three children, Raymond, Wilbur and Norma Jean. They lived in Hartville, then in Canton, Ohio. After her husband passed away, she lived with her son and daughter-in- law, Wilbur and Lydia Yoder of Louisville, OH for 20 years.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jacob in 1991 and her son, Raymond in 2001; five brothers, Alvin Miller, Mahlon Miller, Amos Miller, Claude Miller and Melvin Miller; three sisters, Verna Miller (Schmucker), Orpha Miller (Heilman) and Delema Miller (Beachy). Survivors include her son and daughter-in- law, Wilbur and Lydia (Miller) Yoder of Louisville, Ohio; daughter, Norma Jean Doutlick of Middlebury, Ind.; brother, Corvin Miller of North Canton, Ohio; five grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, three great great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was a dedicated homemaker and had a career as a housekeeper for many people in the Canton area. She retired from housekeeping at the age of 80. She was an avid children’s Sunday School Teacher for over 50 years, combined time between Canton Mennonite and First Church of the Nazarene in Canton, where she received a distinguished service award. She was involved in Women’s Home Bible Studies for 10 years and the Canton Christian Women’s Organization for 25 years. Naomi was also a great cook and was well known for her delicious pies and cookies.
No calling hours are planned. The Family will have a private graveside service. She will be buried beside her husband and son at Sunset Hills Burial Park. The Reed Funeral Home Canton Chapel is entrusted with the arrangements.”
I got to bed nice and early tonight. I was very tired after only getting a few hours last night and having to be in the office so early today. Dominica is planning on bringing the girls down to Irving and joining me for lunch at La Cima tomorrow.