It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
It’s Read Free Sunday (RFS) at The Diary.
Saturday, October 15
Boy, the remodel is going to be a modest, tho temporary, pain in the arse…We reported for duty tonite to find access to the lobby completely secured…The front door was blocked off, the usual lobby entrance was sealed off, and the only way to the back office was thru the restaurant, meaning from the New Front Desk Area (NFDA) you had to turn right and go down past AGM Candace’s and GM Andy’s offices, go out the door, and enter the restaurant’s from a back entrance then make your way to the restaurant proper and go out the front door, which puts you a few steps from the back office’s back entrance.
The big news is we have some zero clue where the 3-hole punch is…We need it to punch 3-holes in the credit card report and regular readers of this crap know that its location in the back office has always been a point of contention…The binders that hold the forms we write the daily credit card totals on and then put the credit card sheets in have been moved to the NFDA but the 3-hole punch must have gone tactical because ol’ Sparrow was unable to locate it…So we put the cash/credit card report in the binder with homemade holes I am not making that up.
Everything went off without a hitch, tho…We did spend significant time in the back office because that is where we make and enjoy our dinner, tho tonite there was a major fly in the ointment because the chef’s station didn’t have any bacon out…Usually, there’s a pretty good quantity in one of those gray metal containers, covered with that cling wrap stuff…It’s already cooked and is standing by for duty when the restaurant opens for breakfast (and you may well be surprised how many leftovers a restaurant uses) and we’ve been requisitioning some for New Spinach a la Sparrow for about a week or so…The lack of provisions, however, obliged us to serve New Spinach a la Sparrow with only olive oil, butter, and some seasonings.
Morning Coffee Service (MCS) is still being made in the back office, of course, and we made it all in one fell swoop – six pots, plus a pot of hot water – and put it on a cart for transport over because with doors to negotiate, not to mention some distance, it was easier than making three trips carrying pots by hand…For the record, MCS was initially placed in the NFDA, but Amy – ever resourceful – moved it into the hall, where the sundry stand freezer and refrigerator are…Plus the table, computer, and printer that are currently constituting our business center.
We still haven’t had any snow and usually, we’ve had a couple-three snowfalls by now…And because of this, we’re just now thinking that we should start thinking about putting the snow tires on…Key is whether we’re going to need new ones or not…We recall looking them over in the spring when we took them off and thinking they were good for another season, but then even more thinking got us thinking that we bought the new ride in November 2018, which would make this the fifth winter for them and that’s more mileage than you usually get out of snow tires…So Monday at the VSO we’ll call the place in the next county to see if we can get an appointment for Thursday to either change them out or get new ones…And if they are good for another winter, we could probably keep them on until next fall, get new snow tires then, and save wear and tear on the summer tires.
36.842 MPG
We don’t know what the deal is, either…We put the gas treatment in a tank or two ago and the roads have been good and cruise control is being used per standard Sparrow policy (SSP) but we mileage is going down…Maybe the cooler weather is having something to do with it.
The big news is it was a strong Dynamic Duo at the gym tonite…Recall last Saturday we had a strong PM session and we had another one tonite and, in fact, were stronger on both legs and the bench press.
We did legs first because the squat machine was open and, while the gym wasn’t all that busy, we didn’t want to chance getting caught waiting…Recall we did three sets of ten without weight last time and today we were a bit stronger, moving two sets of ten and one set of eleven, we are not making that up…So next time we’ll play it by ear…Usually, twelve reps means we can up weight, but if we’re feeling particularly frisky we might put ten pounds on each side for the last set, just for funsies.
The bench press was a triumph…Recall we got 160 up twelve times last time so the plan was to up it to 170 but we can’t add and ended up upping it to 180…Here’s what happened: we put 45s on each side for the first set instead of the usual 35s – and the smart ones, those with actual math skills, might be getting the first rumblings that we upped the weight 20 lbs instead of ten – and then ten pounds on each side for the second set before taking the ten-pounders off and replacing them with 25s on each side…The bar weighs 40 lbs and you do not have to be Einstein to be able to add that up: 180 pounds…We had spot-checked the weight right before diving in on the final set and came up with 180 and when we came up with 180 twice more we shrugged and said screw it, let’s see what we got because there was a gorgeous girl working nearby and there was no reason to let her see ol’ Sparrow taking weights off and we are pleased to report we got 180 up eight times, which is legit…Six to eight reps are what bodybuilders shoot for on their heaviest sets and it builds a nice foundation to build on.
Cardio was very strong, too…About halfway thru we upped the 1-minute intervals from 3.3 to 3.4 mph and we didn’t fall off the machine, so we got a bit more work in than usual…We were in the gym a bit later than we wanted (see Sleep Log below), so there wasn’t time for a soak.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 0900 Saturday until 1800 Saturday…9.0 hours for the day and 52.0 hours for the week, once a laudable weekly total, but regular readers of this crap know it’s pretty standard now.
Recall last Saturday we were up at 1730 and in the gym by 1830 and got the entire troika done, but ol’ Sparrow doesn’t move on a dime and we weren’t on the floor moving weight until 1915, tho it hit us there was no reason we can’t grab a soak Sunday morning after the hotel.
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The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
It was inspired by the 19th-century British novel of the same name.
Coming soon! Gaylon’s books in actual book form!
