The ex dreamt of me

My ex-guy wrote to me recently. He had dreamt about me. He said that he missed me.

It was the most expressive that he has been since he broke up with me. By expressive, I mean showing that he isn't emotionless.

The problem is that he thinks that I'd do a staycation in his neighbourhood. Um, no. I used to do them because we could spend more time together. I have no need to be in your area, let alone tell you that I'm there.

You would love to see me. I don't want to see you. It won't happen because I am happy without you.

Nose bleeds

My first nose bleed occurred when I was in grade two. I was standing in line for something with my class. There were two guys in front of me. They were fighting. A fist landed on my nose and blood came out of my right nostril.

My teacher and I headed to the washroom. She got my nose bleed under control. I pinched the top part of my nose and we cleaned myself up.

My next nose bleed occurred last December. I was in the Twin Cities. I managed to get it controlled after 45 minutes. It was trying to get something cold on my head and pinch the top part of my nose. It was tricky, but I got it done.

On my most recent trip, I had a nose bleed three times. I realized that it was way too dry in my room and where I was. I got a portable humidifier that I had on my nightstand and in my car. It helped me out a lot.

The third nose bleed out of the series was scary. I don't recall how long it took me to control it, but I didn't have anything close that did the job to cool my forehead. It felt like an eternity.

I now always travel with a humidifier. I have my home humidifier every night before I go to bed. I need it when I return to Minnesota for sure.

I'm back... again!

It has been well over a month since I last wrote here. It has been both busy and good on my end.

I spent the last 1.5 weeks heading back to the Twin Cities. I took in two Minnesota Wild games. I also made the trip down to Des Moines, IA for the first time to see the farm team, the Iowa Wild.

The drive from Minneapolis to Des Moines is roughly four hours. I don't get why there are so many drivers who simply plop themselves in the left lane and drive the normal speed limit in it. The left lane is for passing, people.

There seemed to be a higher number of folks on this particular route, both northbound and southbound, who occupied the left lane and should have moved over to the right lane. Ugh!

I hope to write more. It has been tough, especially when I'm on the road with my work laptop and don't want to blog from it.

Work anniversary and spaghetti

Yesterday was my work anniversary. I have been with my employer for twelve years.

My manager acknowledged it, and thanked me for supporting and leading our team. It was nice. I essentially got a $100 e-certificate, which I spent at Amazon.

I fell asleep an hour ago. I dreamt of spaghetti. I wonder what it means.

Connecting my satellite radio to my car that doesn't have an aux port

I have been working on an interesting challenge with my new car. It doesn't have an auxiliary (aux) port.

I have owned a SiriusXM satellite radio since my past car didn't have the app built in to the system. It requires an aux port to get the music going.

On Saturday, I managed to get it to work. My car has two USB ports. The one at the front makes Android Auto work. The other one is in the storage compartment next to me.

I managed to get an adapter that has one port for USB C charging and an aux port. This setup only works if I use the USB port on the dashboard and not the adapter.

Instead, I got a transmitter where you insert the audio plug into the aux port of my radio. It then becomes a Bluetooth device. I connect my car to it and I can play music. It works nicely.

The problem is that if I want to use Android Auto, I can't stream from my satellite radio. Android Auto does have the SiriusXM app, but I don't want to stream music as I drive.

So, the key is to use my GPS on my phone and connect my satellite radio as a bluetooth device from my car's console to play music. It's a nice workaround. It's simply a bummer that I can't have my GPS map displayed on my console and listen to music on my satellite radio simultaneously.

It's a minor inconvenience. I'm simply glad that I got my old satellite radio to work.

My new car and my awesome product advisor

I got my new car on Wednesday. I love it. It's like my previous car, but quieter and with more features.

I asked my product advisor (he's really my sales guy, but his new title makes more sense) if I could get protector film on my new car, similar to what I got on my old one. It protects the car from stone chips and such. I remembered this feature a week before getting the new car, so I knew that it may not be applied in time.

Sadly, it wasn't. I went back on Friday to drop off my car to get it installed.

The problem was that the dealership doesn't offer shuttle services since the pandemic. I'd have to wait for the work to be done.

"I'll drive you home," he said.

"Really? Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied.

He took me home and dropped me off at the dealership once the work was done.

He has been my product advisor for three different leased cars. I truly landed a good one.

Concert was fabulous!

The concert last night was wonderful. I saw Boy George and Culture Club for the first time in my life. I'm so glad that I decided to try my hand at getting a ticket.

The drive to get to the venue is roughly 1.5 hours from where I live. I got a t-shirt. Yay

I'm taking it easy today. I will need to briefly head out in a few hours, but it's a quieter day this long Labour Day weekend.

Selling a concert ticket and getting protective film on my new car's hood

Roughly two years ago, I bought three concert tickets for two friends and me. I had a special code for early access. Unfortunately, I couldn't get three tickets together. Instead, I got a single ticket for me and two tickets together for my friend and her boyfriend.

She paid me back for her tickets. The pandemic happened and this concert has been rescheduled to two weeks from now.

Her boyfriend can't go. So, my friend and I will sit together. I need to sell the single ticket.

I have been able to sell my last two tickets for the Minnesota Wild and Lady Gaga. Here's hoping that I can for this concert.

As for car news, I asked my salesperson if I can get protective film installed on my new car's hood. I have it on my current car and it has been wonderful. I do not have any paint chips. I'm happy that it will be installed in time for pickup next Wednesday.

New car on Wednesday that is now insured

Yesterday, I got word towards the end of my workday that my new car will arrive next Wednesday. My hope that it would be ready next week came true!

The last time I had to deal with my insurance company, I was on hold for nearly two hours. This time, I decided to call at 7 pm. I got a representative immediately.

The downside? There was so much feedback on her end. I could hear a male colleague and a female colleague more clearly than my representative. It was frustrating and difficult, but I managed to get through this call that lasted nearly fifty minutes.

At least it's done. Some cool things happened:

• Because I use an app to monitor my driving habits, I got at 25% discount on my insurance rate for the year. I saved roughly $1,100.
• My insurance rate has dropped $13 a month with the new car.

I thanked the woman for helping me out. I let her know that it wasn't her fault that the background was super noisy, but her manager may be able to do something.

I hope to get a survey. She'll get a high rating, but hearing all that noise in the background and envisioning the call centre's sound setup needs help.

It's the Labour Day long weekend coming up. I'm glad that I can spend some time with my car before it gets traded in.

Clearing out my belongings from my car and looking forward to the long weekend

I have been slowly cleaning out my car. What remains are items in the trunk that I need to remove. It won't take too long.

At this rate, I don't think that my new car will arrive this week. I am somewhat relieved, mainly because it's not payday for me this week. Next week would be better. I'm also going into the Labour Day long weekend and don't necessarily want to feel poor before it by putting down my down payment!

I will miss my current car. It has been great. I always feel sad when I trade my current car in, but the sadness doesn't last.

I am more looking forward to having a longer weekend to relax.

My boss recovering from COVID-19 and my sleepiness due to humidity

My manager caught COVID-19, as did his entire family. He returned to work yesterday, working remotely.

We had a virtual interview to conduct. I had asked the person who had set up this interview to reschedule it to accommodate my manager.

My manager started losing his voice today. He talked for maybe two minutes during the interview. I did all the talking in the interview with the candidate.

The kicker is that this candidate wasn't a perfect fit right off the bat. I wanted to shut down the interview immediately because she has no writing experience.

Such a waste of time!

Anyway, I didn't sleep well last night. It was way too humid overnight. Having the air conditioning on has made things better. I've been napping throughout the day to make up for my sleepiness.

Putting my fan together

The weekend is over. Weekends are way too short.

I pulled out a fan that I had bought a year ago. I don't know where its remote is. I also don't know where the rest of its stand is.

It's a sign that I should use what I buy immediately.

Cell phone didn't charge overnight

I plugged in my phone last night to charge. For some reason, I had 33% battery power this morning.

I don't know whether the USB cable is acting up or if my phone had overheated while I was asleep. Weird.

Luckily, I didn't have to go anywhere today, so it continued to charge at home. I typically don't go out on Sundays, so it all worked out nicely.

Anticipating a new car delivery

I am getting a new car within the next week or two. I signed for it with my sales representative back in late June.

Originally, the car's delivery date was scheduled for four to five months from late June. I was thinking that having my car in October or November would give me plenty of time to save up.

Nope, the delivery date's estimate is sometime next week or early September. Thankfully, it has been enough time to put down what I owe upon delivery. 

The most painful part of switching cars is dealing with my insurance company. I don't like being placed on hold with my insurance company to get my policy switched over. Luckily, I don't do it often, but it can take up to a couple of hours. It's not great, but the company has been good to me.

I started clearing out my car last week. There isn't a whole lot. The last thing that I will dismantle will be my Sirius XM satellite radio, which is separate device with cables. I wish that it were built in to the car's stereo, but it hasn't for years.

Expired licence plate

I got a letter in the mail saying that my licence plate on my car had expired. I typically get a letter from the Ontario government that I need to renew it months before it expires. I got nothing.

The process changed this year. You typically pay an exorbitant amount every two years to renew your licence plate. The Ontario government scrapped it, meaning that you don't need to pay and put a sticker on your licence plate every two years.

The confusion is that you still need to renew your licence plate for free. The government is no longer sending paper reminders, so it explains why I didn't know.

I've renewed online. I have a receipt. I don't know whether I get something official in the mail or if my receipt is proof.

Change is confusing in this case. I have been driving with an expired licence plate for nearly a month without knowing until now.

You can get reminders through e-mail or text, or both. I've signed up for both, just to be safe.

My manager is out sick for the entire week

My manager's entire family has the flu. I am pretty sure that he got his yearly flu shot, so the strain must be different and pretty nasty.

He said that he was out for the entire week. We had an interview scheduled for this Friday. I asked the woman who had scheduled it to change it. She was extremely accommodating and it's now set for next Monday.

I like that this week has been light workwise. I hope that it remains that way for a bit. 

My manager and the flu

My manager has been away sick for the last two days. His message to our team was oddly worded.

He said that he has "tested positive for flu symptoms." Wouldn't it be sufficient to just say that he has the flu?

I can't tell if he tested for COVID-19 and was negative and used the same sentence construction for the flu or if he is indeed so sick that he can't form a clear sentence.

Last week, we had a department outing. I didn't go due to heel pain. Perhaps he caught the flu from that event?

I hope that he feels better soon. He said that he may or may not be working later on today. We'll see.

Heel pain and sleep

Last night, I had the worst heel pain. It kept me up. Pain killers took a while to kick in. It was to the point where I finally went to sleep at 6:30 am.

Before I finally went to sleep, I sent a work e-mail to indicate that I'd be taking a sick day. I'm glad that I did. I woke up at 8 am, had breakfast, and then went back to bed.

Here's hoping that I have a better night's sleep tonight.

Weekend thoughts and humidity

Weekends come and go so quickly.

I spent Sunday writing, cooking, and relaxing. It was nice.

The only downside is that I feel like I am overheating at home. With two fans on, it's humid on the top floor of my home. Absolutely no breeze came in when I opened all windows.

Ugh.

Here's hoping that I can sleep better tonight.

Chat with friends and revelations

It's raining right now. It's nearly 2 am.

Yesterday, I had a great time hanging out with a few friends in the afternoon. We chatted, and sipped on teas and shakes. The laughter and conversation were much needed.

For the first time in a while, I could talk about my nearly eight-year relationship with my ex with others. 

I made a few statements that I hadn't said out loud until now:

• I hate the ex's guts
• We work at the same company and have never seen each other since the breakup
• It has been three years and I'm happy not being in a relationship

Hate is a strong word. It's fitting for how I feel.

The ex hurt me, which caused sadness and anxiety for months until I was okay. He came back to ask for sex, but without the relationship. It made me angry. He wanted a free hooker to put out. It wasn't my style.

I also said to do you to my friends. That's exactly what I have been doing. I am doing what feels best to me. I am okay being on my own. Sure, I miss companionship and cuddling, but I'm not ready to be in a relationship again. 

It's all okay.