I had dropped off low carb eating in advance of surgery and stuck to a varied diet. Now that I was home again, I faced the fact that the primary food shopper, me, has been rendered hors de combate so I had to forage off of whatever foods were still around from before surgery. That meant a lot of baking ingredients and canned goods.

I stared at the can of Chef Boyardee for about 30 seconds, dumped it into a soup bowl, popped it in the microwave and waited for the self-dignity depletion signal/microwave beeper to go off. Stooping to Chef Boyardee is now a milestone on my road to recovery. I had dumped the can’s contents into a bowl, and began staring into the middle distance as I consumed salt, starch, and the meat-like filling of the ravioli when I realized that both my cat and dog were staring at me waiting for me to put the can on the ground. It’s nice to eat beeferoni and not be judged.  I again understand why people have pets.

While my father travels, I’m taking care of the animals which includes a dog, a cat, and a cockatiel. This isn’t time-intensive so much as it’s time restrictive. The cat and cockatiel can safely poop in the house but Max tends to leave… surprises after about 12 hours. Things I’ve missed because of this:

*Barcamp Afterparty
*Drexel Boardgame Night
*UPenn Material Science Night in the Pub
*Philly Start-Up Conference

On the flip-side, I can have people over on a week night and not worry about inundating them with smoke and Jeopardy.  I think it’s a nice break every once in a while.