Houston can handle anything but cold weather

Well, Ron eventually "forgave" me and we got pizza.  We ate it and went to bed. 

Saturday awoke freezing cold, literally a feels like temperature in the teens.  Houston was having hysterics. 

I grew up in a much colder climate so I wasn't fazed.  However, I decided not to take my shower.  In the morning, I take my shower and let my hair air-dry.  On a normal day. 

However, it didn't take a genius to realize that wet hair plus feels like teens would equal pneumonia or something worse.  No, better to wait. 

I checked my hair, it wasn't greasy, and did a sink bath for the rest. 

We went to the warehouse.  I saw a lot of people with 2 coats layered, or coat and sweater combinations.  Like I said, Houston can handle anything but cold weather. 

Ron and I had an argument in the store (on our phones) because he had told me he was "only getting a couple of cases" of drinks.  I left my back brace at home, then he sent me a list of about a dozen items.  I was pretty upset.  If I had known, I told him, he was getting that much I would have brought my brace.  I want to be careful. 

He reluctantly told me to get 2 items and leave it at that.  I did.  Well, I had already put a third item (tea) on the cart and I wasn't putting it back. 

I got all my supplies.  I had plenty of room, enough to get some of Ron's stuff.  I called him back and told him the good news.  He wouldn't give me a firm answer on what he wanted so I got the stuff I knew we needed (like bottled Coke).  I checked out and paid. 

It was only about $180, not a lot of stuff for us. 

We waited a while, Ron had called "Jack" our alternate, a professional driver with a Ford F-150 pickup truck.  Jack lives near us and is a very nice, kind, man. 

Both Ron and I were alarmed by Chuck's red-light-running the last time he took us to work, so we decided to go with Jack.  Besides, we want to keep Jack in rotation.  He is always happy to help. 

He reminds me of Greg the Handyman, a very nice, older, professional, highly moral man.  Maybe they're related. 

They're both black, too, if it matters. 

Jack came and we got the truck loaded.  It wasn't too bad. 

We headed off to work, Jack driving very carefully because we might encounter ice on the freeway.  That's the nice thing about a professional driver.  Very careful. 

We did, in fact, find some ice on the road but Jack evaded it.  Ice is a big deal in Houston because no one knows how to drive on it.  Not unless, like me, they are from colder climates. 

Houston has a lot of imports. 

We got to work.  My two, three shelf carts were loaded with merchandise.  I hauled them out and got the folding mag-liner.  It is a folding hand truck like what you see UPS drivers use. 

I couldn't get it to unfold.  I was getting pretty upset, thinking about Jack and Ron out in the cold, and I just said [censored] it, I'll take it out like this. 

Jack has tailgate issues, and has to use a screwdriver to get it open.  I figured, worst case, I would ask Jack to fix it. 

As I came to the ramp outside of work, the cart unfolded without me even trying.  Thank God. 

We got the cart loaded and into the building.  Jack pushed Ron into the building.  That's as far as he can go, the foyer, because it's "secure".  But he did that, cheerfully said his goodbyes, and left. 

I got the cart over to the fridge and unloaded the water, then I went to check on the bottled vendor.  It was saying "Exact Change Only". 

I knew I had a problem.  The nice thing about the bottled vendor, if the machine can't deliver the drink, it gives a refund.  But that uses up the change bank.  If it gives enough refunds it goes to exact change only. 

So, I had to fill the change bank, and fix the problem.  I fixed the problem first, got it working, did a test vend.  Yup, really, truly, working. 

Then I had to fill up about $35 in change.  First I got a cup each of change.  Quarters, dimes, nickels.  I filled up the quarters.  One or two of them rejected and rolled onto the floor.  When I finished the quarters, I gathered them up and moved onto dimes.  Then I did dimes.  I put in $5 worth.  None of the coins rejected.  Nickels.  As I've said, I put a lot of nickels into the snack machines so I had plenty.  And the stupid machine rejected every other one.  I finally got the bank filled but I had a puddle of nickels at my feet.  I ended up using them to fill the nickels in Snack #1.

Finally, done with the bottled vendor, for now.  We still had to stock it, which we did later.  It took about 4 cases. 

Snacks looked pretty bad, I got to work on them.  I stocked them up with chips, then did candy and crackers.  I didn't have time to do pastry but I will on Monday. 

Ron's on the phone to someone talking about his drinking (defensively).  Good to know I'm not the only one who's worried. 

I helped Ron get canned sodas and stock them.  They needed a fair amount of work as well. 

And, of course, I helped Ron with the bottled vendor. 

We got all that done and came home.  I took a nap for a while, my back a little stiff (which is why I will just automatically bring the back brace to Sam's club even if Ron says he wants a pack of gum). 

Then we went to the BBQ place.  The one nearby, not the one near Ron's former rehab. 

They had good cheesecake, and smoked turkey.  Ron likes their brisket. 

They don't sell the cheesecake anymore, so I got carrot cake and some smoked turkey.  Ron got brisket. 

I watched the end of the game (Texans vs Oakland) on TV.  The Texans won decisively.  I was happy.  I like to see the home team win but I don't really follow them.  I wouldn't have even watched the game but the BBQ place had it on all of their many flat screen TV's. 

Ron got morbid and gloomy, talking about people chasing a ball and how it was pointless.  I won't, but boy I would LOVE to give him some Wellbutrin (antidepressant).  I think Ron is drinking to self medicate depression, which he won't admit he has.  If we could get him to stop drinking for a while, long enough for the antidepressant to kick in, we'd be set.  But he has to admit he has a problem and he has to want a solution. 

We came home, I went to bed after fixing up my humidifier.  I didn't want the heater drying me out all night. 

All of Houston seems to be fighting my cold and sinus infection.  Apparently I got the first wave.  I don't want something else moving in now that I'm finally better. 

I slept pretty well with my heated mattress pad and the humidifier.

I woke up around 8.  I did my God time and watched some Law & order until Baby Girl took over my chair.  I looked in the computer room, Torbie was in my computer chair.  I took a nap (not a very good one). 

When I got up Ron was awake and had just started drinking.  For now his mood is OK but I'm always wary.