It has been an interesting and blessed morning so far. I’m trying a new schedule this week in preparation for my parents being here next week. They arrive Saturday afternoon and will be here through the following Friday morning. I’m juggling some devotions right now. Most of them will end by this weekend. In those cases, I’ll not start new ones until mom and dad leave. But I still have The Chosen devotion I’m doing with Chérie that will continue through next week and beyond. I’ve been doing that one after work because it has been more intense than any of the others I’ve been doing. It has been taking me longer than the others and I like to give it the time and effort it deserves. Well, I decided I need to do it in the mornings for now so my parents aren’t waiting for me later in the day…hehehe So, this morning was the first day I’ve done that. Today’s wasn’t as intense as some of the other days. But I don’t know whether that was due to starting my day with it or just that the subject matter didn’t provoke my thoughts in the same manner. Either way, I’m glad I did it in the morning this time. And I still had time for a morning walk afterward. On that walk, I had the blessing of observing a bald eagle. What an amazing way to start my day!
Here’s a video of the bald eagle flying away.
The sunrise was beautiful today.
Trees, table with umbrella, pool, and the sunrise. I don’t often talk about what I do for a living. I suppose it’s mostly due to my working for a publicly traded company. There are so many things I just can’t talk about…hehehe Insider trading laws and all! Plus, we have government contracts. Again, I can’t talk about that either…LOL So, it can be a challenge finding things about work I can talk about. What I can say is that I love my job. I love who I’m currently working for. I haven’t always been able to say either of those regarding where I’ve worked and what I’ve worked on. Something else I can say, and I believe I’ve mentioned before, is that I am not doing what I probably should have chosen for my work. I don’t regret choosing software engineering. God has certainly blessed my journey in my career. It’s just that it isn’t even what I’m truly good at or was ever interested in doing for a living…LOL Simply put, I chose it for the money. Not because I’m going after money. I just wanted to be able to provide for my family. My career has accomplished that goal.
In 3 weeks time, that comes to an end. I don’t know if many people have the privilege of seeing the end of a season like this the way I’m able to in this case. I don’t take this for granted. Child support is coming to an end. After 15 years, I’m no longer responsible for providing financial support directly. I still need to provide medical insurance due to ACA until he is 26. However, the weekly obligation will be complete in 3 weeks. That is a sobering thought, really. Because of the career I’ve chosen, the actual dollar amount is substantial. I’ve been paying more than what a typical American father would be paying for 2 children. I know this first hand. So that is not hyperbole. I don’t have any intention of changing my current budget when that money ends up in my bank account instead of my son’s mother’s account. I’m likely going to just put it away for the time being. But it does remind me that I’m no longer in need of my career. I’ll be able to scale back and perhaps explore other employment opportunities outside of my current industry. That’s another sobering thought…hehehe
On my lunch break, I did my Bible in a Year reading and the devotion I’m doing with Kerry. The Bible reading this year is going really well. I’m seeing new insights into things I’ve read over the years. It’s great that new things come to light every time I go through the Bible. As for the devotional with Kerry, it’s going okay. I’m finding these plans Kerry picks in the Bible app to be a little lite and have less continuity between days than the books Chérie and I have been doing. I have found the ones I’m doing on my own in the Bible app are also more thought provoking than the ones Kerry is finding. Perhaps they are speaking to him more than they are me? I do find value in the fellowship he and I share through it. I’ve picked one before for he and I that I enjoyed. But I’m not sure if he did. It makes me wonder if we just aren’t meant to do devotions together? He also invites other men into them that I don’t know personally. So I tend to hold back on my reflection notes. One thing I don’t like about the Bible app is that all of the notes and discussions are gone once we finish them. So, I think I’m going to start keeping track of my notes outside of the app in order to keep them…hehehe Plus I can go into more detail since I’ll be the only one accessing my notes…LOL
I made an omelette for lunch…hehehe I’ve heard it said that a chef is only as good as their omelette, or some such saying. Well, I haven’t been good at making them in a few years. That was the case until recently. It dawned on me that I always had the stove too hot. My stove is a cheap one provided by my apartment complex. On some of the burners, the temps are way off from where the knob is set. Upon realizing I wasn’t setting the temperature correctly, I can now make an eggcellent (hehehe) omelette. I’ve been making them a lot lately…LOL Like a taco or hamburger, an omelette is a canvas food of endless possibilities…hehehe
I received a much needed message from Tyrese. It was something I didn’t even know I needed to hear…hehehe Lately it seems as though these little messages keep coming. Things I didn’t know I needed to see or hear. I get them from Chérie, Malachi, Tyrese, Dan, Mack, and Jo Jo. They are like warm hugs for my soul. They are special to me because they come from people who are special to me. They are the few who God is using to turn my loneliness into gladness. Although each of them are far away, they feel closer when they send me those messages of encouragement. I’m grateful for them all. I am so blessed…hehehe
Work seems to be having network issues this afternoon. I had to phone into my 3 pm meeting because the Teams app wasn’t connecting. It turns out nothing outside the corporate network is accessible at the moment. I also cannot access third party services when I drop off of the VPN because our single sign on policy prevents it. So I guess I’m done for the day…LOL This doesn’t happen often. I’m just glad it was toward the end of the work day. I was able to accomplish my goals for today before this happened.
For dinner tonight, I’m making quinoa crusted tofu nuggets. I’ve been marinating the tofu chunks in an orange sauce since lunch. I’ll be cooking the quinoa here shortly. Once that is done, I’ll cover the chunks in the quinoa and then bake them in the oven. I’ll use my remaining orange sauce to dip the nuggets. I’ll probably air fry some frites as well.
I’ll also be making bread tonight. It’ll be a green chili and cheddar buckwheat bread with the remaining quinoa. It should be quite tasty and pretty healthy…hehehe It has been a few weeks since I last made bread. I’ve been missing it…hehe
The corporate network is back up…LOL
Ooh, I think I may make Brussel sprouts instead of frites! That sounds really good with quinoa crusted tofu nuggets…hehehe
I’ve also been enjoying an afternoon text chat with Chérie…hehehe I bring that up because we’ve been doing eclipse videos that have been a lot of fun. Her’s today are hilarious…LOL If it were a competition, she’s winning xD In one of them, she tried to maintain a mean face. I need to remember to never make her mad! Her mean face is scary xD
Dinner turned out fantastic! The quinoa crusted tofu nuggets were a tad weird looking. But they had the taste and texture of breaded chicken nuggets. I ended up using sweet and sour sauce to dip them in as I ran out of the orange sauce. The tofu absorbed a lot of the sauce during the marination process. So I added some extra before they took a bath in the quinoa…hehehe It was a bit messy trying to coat the pieces with quinoa because it wanted to stick to my fingers more than the tofu…LOL I kept my fingers moist with warm water to help with that. But I eventually got all of the pieces coated. I placed them all on a rack on a cookie sheet and baked them at 425F for about 22 minutes.
I did end up going with the Brussel sprouts instead of the frites. Good call…hehehe
Quinoa crusted tofu nuggets and Brussel sprouts with sweet and sour sauce I should probably write up a recipe for these nuggets. As I mentioned above, I marinated them in an orange sauce for about 5 hours. But before everything, I froze an entire block of extra firm tofu. I thawed it out in the fridge for a few days and then used a tofu press to remove the remaining moisture. The freezing and thawing process is very important to the texture and flavor. Freezing creates tiny holes throughout the tofu because of the water crystals that form. Pressing the water out removes all the moisture you don’t want to have during the cooking process. The marinating allows the tofu to absorb the sauce into those little holes. The process also makes the texture a little more flesh meat like. The sauce on the tofu helped keep the quinoa attached during the baking process. Once it was all done, the taste and texture closely resembles real chicken nuggets. And since I went with quinoa instead of flour or breadcrumbs, it is a little less carby…hehehe The sauce had some sugars in it. So there are still some carbs. But in general, a pretty healthy way of making this.
Now it’s time to make that bread…hehehe
The bread is in the oven…hehehe It smells so good. I had almost forgotten how great days like these are. I have accomplished so much in a single day and the day is not yet over…hehehe I was just thinking how I wished all days were like today. Everything just clicked. Everything happened at just the right moment. I didn’t stumble along the way. I took my time and just did what was necessary in that moment.
This entry isn’t full of life lessons or profound statements today…hehehe It’s just a day in the life of Greg . I’m glad I went with a timestamp entry. Up through 4:15 pm, I typed everything from my phone…LOL After work, I started using my iPad. This app I’ve been using is working out nicely. I’m also using it to convert my images for the first time to be usable on this website. We’ll see how that goes later when I publish this…hehehe
Along the way today, I got to thinking how nice it would be for me to do a timestamp entry and also one of my deep thoughts entry in the same day. Basically a two parter each day to view my day from both perspectives. I continued to do a lot of thinking throughout the day today that did not make it into this entry. I decided to focus on the day in the life of pattern. I do not do that often. Perhaps, in time, I’ll get into the habit of both? I’m not going to put any pressure on that. I’m just going to think about it and see if it happens…hehehe
The bread’s done!!! Yay!!! And yum!!! It turned out pretty good. I used Heineken Zero (non-alcoholic) beer in place of water. This enhanced the flavor profile and gives the bread a little extra rise. I suppose you might say there’s a touch of Dutch in this loaf…hehehe That, combined with the green chilis and cheddar, really give it an earthy flavor. Of course, the buckwheat adds to that profile as well. Personally, I like buckwheat over standard flour. It doesn’t produce a loaf I can use for sandwich bread. But it satisfies my love for bread in general. I don’t consume many sandwiches now anyway. Most of the food I eat now doesn’t really go in a sandwich.
Slices of bread on a plate with a loaf of bread in the background on a cutting board. Well, it’s time to wrap up this entry. My day isn’t quite finished yet. But my time for writing has come to an end. It was a great day. I learned some new things. I was productive at work. I managed to cook multiple meals and bake bread. I went through 3 devotions and my Bible in a Year plan. I still have another devotion to finish in a little bit and I will be taking a shower. I’ll probably get in some TV time tonight as well. Oh, and I added a video to this entry…first time for that!
Tomorrow is the 5 year anniversary of my paternal grandfather’s passing. I rejoice that he is with Jesus now. I’m looking forward to celebrating him tomorrow. I’m concerned for grandma, though. She really misses him. But she is surrounded by the family they both built. And it’s a good family. We aren’t all with her. However, there are still plenty of my family who will drop by and spend the day with her. I also worry about my dad. He missed grandpa too. I’ll be sure to send them both a note of encouragement tomorrow. I’m grateful for the impact my grandfather made on my life. I get emotional thinking about it. A good emotional. Happy tears of joy. I love you grandpa!
by Greg Marine 