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Daily things 5️⃣ Five Things Tuesday

1. Just got my email from ICMA telling me they approved my annual report. It's a lot to do, you can't just list what you did for career development you have to explain what you learned.
2. I-95 through the city has been slow for about 10 days now. It is unreal how many folks are traveling through here.
3. Received the draft compensation study and staffing results from our consultants. As hoped, on the whole we're pretty competitive for most positions.
4. Got my electronic paystub for payday on Friday. Lower withholding at both federal and state level so about 30 bucks more in the ole take home pay.
5. Here's wishing a healthy and prosperous 2026 to everyone on Cyburbia.
 
1) Several days this week the highs are approaching 70. Sounds great but the flu and allergies are both in full swing. In looking at the flu outbreak map, it makes me wonder how effective the flu vaccine was this year...
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2) Now that the final episode of Stranger Things has aired, it makes me wonder about the influence of this show on fashion of kids today. I finally watched an episode and realized that is exactly how my kids dress and style their hair. The second kid on the left looks exactly like my middle son.
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3) We realized that we need to get our oldest a car. This HS is not in a location that is walkable or bikeable to much of anything in terms of a job and we will not be taking every day off early to bring him from HS to a job. Having said that, it is slim pickings to accommodate all my wife's desires for safety features and be within our price range. Locally, this is it and I just learned the middle one is no longer available.
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4) Wife and I are talking about where we want to go for our 20th Wedding Anniversary in a little less than two years. Our goal is to travel to a couple places in this region. Does anyone have recommendations?
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5) I am not feeling it today. I pushed it hard yesterday at the gym and my allergies were not fun last night. I took medicine before bed and while my 'sleep' was not horrible, my recovery isn't good. My sleep was very broken, my HRV was low, and my skin temp was high. I have a night meeting tonight but it will be fairly low stress and I anticipate going to bed as soon as I get home.
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1 - tonight is the first full council meeting with the newbies & several items on the agenda are deliberately showing that they are (going to be) in charge
2 - went through 24 pages of legislative bills titles & pulled the land development related ones out to review (4 pages of titles)
3 - every day reinforces the direction & the decisions
4 - Happy Capitol Riot anniversary
5 - BBb.
 
1) Spent my morning dealing with Open Records Requests.

2) Didn't sleep well last night, so the amount of caffeine I've had today is way more than usual.

3) Burgers for dinner.

4) Long day tomorrow - evening plans.

5) I really want a nap.
 
1. Peanut butter M&Ms or Reese's pieces?
2. I'm cooking German food tonight. I need to be ready to feed grandkids tomorrow.
3. I try to keep my home humid enough for mandolins. It's a challenge.
4. I called my oldest friend the day my brother-in-law died. Her response - "really?" It hurt my feelings. I don't plan on calling her again.
5. I'm tired of happy light season.
 
1. Peanut M&Ms
2. What time is dinner? Love me some brats and kraut. I make a mean hot German potato salad.
3. Day off tomorrow for my 55th.
4. Brunch a local eatery,
5. Afternoon at the aquarium.
kms said:
1. Peanut butter M&Ms or Reese's pieces?
2. I'm cooking German food tonight. I need to be ready to feed grandkids tomorrow.
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1 - I only rode 4 miles because it was cold. I kept a speed of around 23 mph, played around with the different settings with the gears and pedal-assist levels
2 - going to be a heavy load week with 2 days of council workshops & other meetings lumped in - short week with no night meetings, but fully loaded otherwise
3 - mom has a printer that is around 14-15 years old & we've had problems with it lately - plus you can't buy ink cartridges in the store anymore (order from company only). mom asked Mrs. P to 'see if you can make it work again' for the 3rd or 4th time. we're going to buy her a new printer this weekend I believe
4 - one of the goalkeepers (& his girlfriend) for our minor league soccer team was killed by a drunk driver this past weekend
5 - yes to peanut butter m&ms.
 
1. I haven't stepped on a scale in months but the waistband says I'm putting on weight again.
2. It was 5 degrees out this morning -14 with windchill
3. even in super cold weather our foolish mutt sometimes expresses reluctance to come back inside when called
4. Foolish mutt
5. Two hours and 45 minutes to go....
 
My new tires are installed. I sent a text to my kids asking for a ride to the shop. No takers. Not happy.

My friends and I had a soup and board games afternoon. It was fun.

I'm enjoying sunshine through my window.

I have a trail board meeting tomorrow and a retreat on Saturday.

I may take a weekend trip if weather cooperates.
 
1) Already making changes to weekend plans because it'll be below freezing and there's strong possibility of wet stuff.

2) Have BOA this week.

3) No clue what I'm cooking for dinner, but the oven will most likely be on.

4) What's the chance of getting out of vacuuming this week?

5) Reese pieces are the way to go.
 
michaelskis said:
4) Wife and I are talking about where we want to go for our 20th Wedding Anniversary in a little less than two years. Our goal is to travel to a couple places in this region. Does anyone have recommendations?
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Click to expand...
The Mrs. and I did the Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking river cruise a few years ago. Very relaxing and no large crowds. Great food and staff. Cologne was the highlight for us. We will be doing Viking's Rome to Athens cruise next year.
 
dandy_warhol said:
I have ideas! What type of trip are you thinking of? Have you been to Europe? If so, where and did you like it?
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1) We have never been to Europe, but have always wanted to go. We love historic cities, new foods, and preferably a low risk of ending up in a foreign prison.

2) One of the former admin people in one of the divisions is angry at me. I did all my own forms and booked my own hotel and flight for NPC. Apparently the department admin should have done that and I should have waited until registration for the conference opened up. I am trying to get more and more of my staff to take responsibility and not be so reliant on administrative assistances for things. Right before I got here, we went from 5 (each division had at least one) to 1 for the whole department. Each division had their admins reclassified as technicians, and it is still a battle that I am fighting today. Oh well, I got great rates on the two biggest worries.

3) People are in full panic mode because of a potential snow storm this weekend. They predict between a half inch to three feet...

4) Bought my youngest basket ball shoes this weekend. We went to one place, we were the only customers in there, and it felt like the sales person was trying hard to not let us buy anything there. It was a store specifically for athletic shoes too!

5) Need to grab something quick for dinner tonight due to a night meeting followed by kids activities.
 
1. After a drought of work travel in 2025, this year is kicking off pretty soundly. Heading to Olympia, WA tomorrow, fly back Thursday, and then off to Los Angeles Friday night (mini weekend away before a conference on Monday).

2. Because of said travel, I needed to get rid of food in my apartment. Having my 2 sons for the last number of days helped in this endeavor.

3. Both my boys want a pet at my apartment (a cat, I wont get a dog without a yard).

4. A boat in our marina caught fire, destroying and sinking 2 other boats. Aside from building department processing forthcoming, this is not a problem for my desk.

5. Council tonight, I have nothing on the agenda... but next Council meeting is already up to 4 items from ComDev.
 
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