8:19pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA, Saturday night, December 24, 2022, Christmas Eve. Found a good walk through the Aliso Viejo neighborhood this morning. The trick is to turn left at the bottom of the hill instead of right. This route winds past the community park toward the middle school. At the end there is a short turn about and a small housing community. We (the dog and I) walked along the street and took the final incline to the parkway. After two left turns it was down hill back to the complex entrance. The whole walk took an hour, which is about the right distance. Afterwards, I did some early morning Christmas shopping, picked up mom for a family gathering in Valencia then came back to Aliso for dinner. Now I am going to go to bed early and rest for the Christmas celebration tomorrow.

Much needed

8:02 pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA, Friday night, December 23, 2022. Made it to Orange County early this afternoon. After dropping mom off at the hotel in Lake Forest, I picked my daughter up to do some Christmas shopping. Now we are watching YouTube and eating pizza. I am happy to be away from work for the next couple of days. Time to relax and enjoy much needed time off.

Lake Forest, California, Saturday afternoon

4:10pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Lake Forest, California, USA, Saturday afternoon, December 17, 2022. Woke up last night in Salt Lake City to a very hot hotel room. Turns out the thermostat in the room was malfunctioning. That meant no matter what the setting said (64 with the air conditioning on) the heater kept running full blast. After two hours of sweltering frustration and nearly at my wits end, I finally realized I could unplug the unit and shut it off completely. But, by then I could not relax and go back to sleep. So I got out of bed, showered, and headed to the lobby to wait for the 5:30am shuttle. After a nice, short flight my mom and I arrived in Orange County just before 9am. We were both a little tired and ready to relax but because everyone is sick we could not go to the apartment. Instead, we reserved hotel rooms in Lake Forest. However, the rooms were not ready until the afternoon so we filled the time with shopping, lunch and running errands. Now we are comfortably settled in and ready for a quiet evening of much needed rest.

Arizona afternoon

4:34pm, mountain standard time, apartment in Chandler, Arizona, USA, Sunday afternoon, November 13, 2022. The usual morning routine; walk, workout, coffee. Later, I went to the store for some items, washed the car and vacuumed the floor mats. This afternoon was sapient packing things for my daughter and getting the house ready for my friend. Now I am watching football and enjoying a nice, fall, Arizona afternoon.

Nice to keep busy

5:40pm, pacific standard time, mall in Mission Viejo, California, USA, Sunday evening, August 14, 2022. Took my daughter and her friend out to run errands and shop for birthday presents. We have been out of the house since one pm today. It is nice to keep busy; helps ward off Sunday afternoon anxiety. We will leave shortly, take the friend home, then head back to the apartment to get ready for the week.

In for the evening

4:39pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Chandler, Arizona, USA, Saturday afternoon, August 6, 2022. Family left at 5am this morning. After they were gone I ran a couple loads of laundry, watched two movies, wrote a little and practiced scales on the guitar. This afternoon went grocery shopping then called my mom. Now I am in for the evening, enjoying the quiet and staying out of the heat.

Last day

4:39pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Chandler, Arizona, USA, Friday afternoon, August 5, 2022. Last day family is here. Went to the mall to shop and eat, now going to the pool before spending the night watching movies. it has been a good family vacation for everyone.

Ready

7:08pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Chandler, Arizona, USA, Monday night, July 18, 2022. Spent time working on the article this morning. I like how it is going. It has brought clarity to many aspects of my life. Now the task will be to make it meaningful for a larger audience. This afternoon I bought some vitamins, then went grocery shopping. I believe I am ready to go back to work. The time off has been nice but, I need more structure, and things to do.

Running errands

5pm, parking lot in chandler, Arizona, Wednesday evening, December 22, 2021, three days until Christmas. My mom wanted to go to the wholesale outlet to buy water, paper towels and a bag of chocolate candy. It wasn’t too crowded but, as we were leaving, my wife texted, suggesting we pick up snacks for Christmas Eve. I am in the car waiting while my mom goes back in.

Saturday

13:35pm, apartment, Saturday afternoon. My mom and I ran errands around town this morning. It is the weekend before thanksgiving so it was busy. She wanted to get me some groceries and paper products, typical staples I need for the house but haven’t gotten in a while. She enjoys shopping and I of course am thankful for the gesture and getting to spend time with her. While we were at the store I remembered an item my daughter requested for Christmas a couple of weeks back. On a whim I looked for it and it was a good thing I did. The store did not have it in stock. I checked online for another location nearby and realized it is becoming scarce. Apparently this particular item is nearly sold out within a 20 mile radius and I imagine will be very hard to find by next weekend. I ended up ordering one at a store west of town. After resting we are going to go pick it up then grab some dinner.