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Happy Birthday Curt! (I'd sing "Blast O' Crap Day", but my colleagues already think I'm strange enough).
Rise at the normal time, sit & contact the L4 while Lisa showers. 30 Minutes of NPR, and then quiet on the way in. Meetings today will effectively prevent me from being productive, but I'll manage.
Noticing, today, how strained my right leg feels when the foot is facing forward, rather than off at an angle. This speaks to years of sitting with my right foot wrapped around the leg of the chair, probably seeking some kind of stability. I've noticed it before, but it has been very pronounced for the past week.
Rise reasonably, given the drinks and late-night anime (8:00). A few more things to do, then today becomes a day off.
A few more things needed to be completed than I had planned, but my list was complete as of 2:00 PM. Acknowledge this, and allow myself the rest of the day off. A couple DVDs and Dim Sum are the plans for the evening.
Up reasonably for a Saturday (7:30), sit & greet while Lisa showers. A quick breakfast, then start on the tasks for the day. After competing the first, and beginning the second, I realize I haven't clearly laid out the tasks for the day and weekend, so I set about doing this. This will allow me to clearly acknowledge their beginning and completion.
Many items completed, including planting three new roses. An extra sitting about 5:30 PM felt right, followed by an AT lie down (helped by the cat). After this, spreading compost and cleanup. Dinner (cheese sticks and wings) and a movie (Master and Commander). A couple light drinks, then to bed.
Restless night, up at 3:30, drifting in and out until 5:30. Finally get up at 6:20, shower and head to work. Some NPR and then quiet on the ride in. Reviewing e-mail from overnight, some wierdness with DNS and other servers. A ticket with an artificially elevated severity needs to be looked into.
Reasonably unhurried day today. Home, get dinner (Chicken Pesto Pizza), two bad-in-a-good-way movies, listen to a bit of the Hellboys on internet radio, some UT2k4 and then bed.
Normal rise, but lie in for a few extra minutes until Lisa is out of the shower. She has an important presentation today. Used the extra time to acknowledge the team in Kiel, and to sing the melodies for the Children's Dance and Dance in Canon Form. NPR for 30 minuted on the way in, an interesting story on the surviving employees of the restaurant at the top of the Trade Center forming a restaurant coop. Dovetails with some thoughts I had for a Kitchen Course (with an amusing vision of Curt in restaurant whites). Quiet after this, and more singing of the melodies.
Learned the source of "reading someone their Miranda rights". It also occurred to me that I need to bring my spare metronome to work, so that I can practice the division of attention.
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Lunch, and purchase of more vitamin supplements. It is turning out to be a nice day today. Hair appointment tonight, so I'll be leaving a little early and enjoying a drive in the sun.
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Home, grab a quick bite, while almost getting sucked into "Strictly Ballroom", then to get our hair done. Home again, and practice. This was very difficult tonight; low energy, drifting focus. Worked on the Bass part of the Dance in Canon Form. Played DiCF and CD without the sheet music, finding the difficult spots and focusing on them. Still having difficulty with parts of the CD bass (the transitions in bar 9 and 10). Also worked on 1st Primary, Hammerhead, 2nd Primary and 3rd Primary.
Normal rise (6:30), shower and dress. No practice last night, so in penance, I attend to several items (put away laundry, make bed, clean change and receipts off window sill in dining room). Pause to acknowledge the work done, then off to the day job (7:30). NPR for 30 minutes on the way in, then quiet the rest of the way.
A passel of e-mails this morning. Writing out the task list for the necessary work for the day. Something available this morning, and I need to cultivate it. Children's Dance and Dance in Canon Form MIDIs on endless loop, letting them seep into my psyche. They will be worked on tonight.
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Late meetings, but I still get out at a reasonable time. At home, acquire dinner, and sit with Lisa for a while. After this, walking the dog, and watering some of the plants, while she works on a presentation for tomorrow. Practice tonight mainly with Children's Dance (both parts) and the melody line of the Dance In Canon form. I can hear them playing while I work on them, and it helps greatly.
Normal rise time this morning (6:30), with some slight drag actually getting out of bed. Shower and stop to view the flowers off the back porch. In to work, a slightly off-kilter day. Write an observation about the beginning of the L4 AAD. The new boss schedules a meeting for 05.07. I'll be driving it, as I can't see paying the ridiculous airfare for Hartford to Pittsburgh. I don't really lose all that much time by driving (a few hours each way), and I get to crank the music on what will hopefully be a nice spring day. A server issue in the afternoon (SAN connection lost on the server, effectively stopping all function) interrupts my change control routine. Trying to get a colleague to take a night off from the pager, as his was going off all night last night. Now preparing to go home.
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Retro-entry
Rise slightly late (6:40), and head out. Much going on today, and feeling more agitated than I have a right to be. Not sure why I'm feeling this.
Home after work, Thai takeout (bad, I need to be cooking more), then practice for a little over an hour: 1st Primary, Hammerhead, 2nd Primary, 3rd Primary, Flying Home, Havre de Grace.
Watch a South Park special, and then to bed.
Rise at 8:00, another beautiful day. The windows are opened, and we are off. Breakfast and then out to the garden places to buy the things we looked at yesterday. Bring them home and spend the rest of the day, until about 5:00 PM planting trees and bulbs. Much accomplished.
Shower, dinner, then home, cat litter, practice (1st through 4th Primaries, Hammerhead exercise, Bert's part of Blockhead and the beginning of Where it Goes, all at about 72)
Now to bed.
Rise at 7:00, sit, greet the community. Lisa and I head to breakfast (Cosmic Omelete) and then out to view some plants she thinks that she would like for the garden, including some choices for flowering trees. After this, we come back home, I shower and head out to the YGP meeting. A beautiful day to drive, the sunroof is open, and the back windows partially down. I arrive early to the Katonah station to pick up Tim. Since it's so nice out, I take out the guitar and start warming up. After a short while, I hear some anouncements. It turns out that the train from the city will be late. After some consultation with Alan, we decide that I should stay and wait for the next train. So, an opportunity for more practice, a total of an hour-and-a-half (warm-up with 2nd, 1st and 3rd primaries, YGP #4 and #5, BtA Bass, Calliope Bass, and Flying Home Bass).
Train and Tim arrive, and we go to Alan's for the meeting. Much time spent on YGP #5, many variations and ideas for the piece. There is much available for the piece, and it is interesting to gauge my reaction to each, especially when I'm not all that enthusiastic about an option. Some decisions made by the team that will be very interesting to be a part of.
After the meeting, drop Tim off at Katonah, and back home to a friends 50th+ birthday. Good conversation, surprised by seeing a couple people I used to work with, and haven't seen in at least 6 years. I know the daughter, recently, from working at Special Olympics. Now I undertand her a bit better, knowing her father (one of the folks I used to work with). Highlight of the meal: the Chinese restaurant had disco lights and a disco ball that they turned on, while a wierd birthday song played.
After dinner (and far too much food), back home and watch "The Cat in the Hat". There are words to describe this movie. Awful will have to suffice. Mike Myers was definitely the wrong choice as the Cat. He managed to channel every character he's ever played, plus the Cowardly Lion. Alec Baldwin was pretty funny.
Early rise this morning (5:40) due to a page and a server being down. Read some of the AAD material, including one action that was very difficult: a 5 minute acknowledgement. Why this is difficult could be very illuminating. At my desk this morning, "The Circles" comes, unbidden, and I whistle the first 20 bars quietly. Something just became available.
E-mails sent on technical issues, and a search to find out if Kiel is at GMT +0 or GMT +1 so I can synchronize.
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Meeting to catch up with the general changes in the organization. After 2 years, the changes are finally starting to make sense. Either the management is getting their act together, or I'm becoming conditioned to accept it. After this, lunch for the colleague recovering from her mastectomy, and then a trip to Sears to pick up my router table extension and a mobile base for the saw. The last thing for the day is a process meeting for a business migration (we are spinning off a part of our business). Then, hopefully I can go home.
Rose closer to an appropriate time (6:40). Out the door in a reasonable fashion as well. Anti-histamines and Advil are my friend.
My poison ivy is bad enough that, for the first time since I was married nearly 5 years ago, I am not wearing my wedding ring. The irritation has also spread to the palm of my hand, where the fingers meet the palm.
The rain has returned, with some snow mixed in. Yay Spring. Planning continues for my 5th anniversary.
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I am officially on my 8th manager in two years. A year ago, this might have bothered me. Now, it's a part of daily life.
Many, many application changes tonight. I've been at it for 3 hours. Checking my e-mail, eagerly awaiting my AAD password. Also, very nervous about this. I have a tingling sensation in my fingers that I usually associate with looking over the edge of something tall, or being very high in a tree.
E-mail with password has arrived, web site address sussed out, and checked out. First exercises downloaded. Fingers still tingling.
Overcast and threatening rain and thunderstorms. Still late in rising (7:10), due, in part, to taking anti-histamines to combat the itching from poison ivy. I managed to get this while working on the yard this weekend. No pages in the middle of the night, but, I dreamt my pager went off, so I got up and checked a couple times.
There are definitely worse places to get poison ivy (my mother was once hospitalized after she walked through the smoke of a fire where poison ivy was being burned), but for sheer annoyance, nothing beats having it between the fingers or toes. I'll clearly be in my left hand for most of the day.
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A day of shifting plans and ideas. Some performance issues on one set of servers may shift our long range plans for positioning other servers. A battle to keep from reacting, and to be level headed about the path.
End of the day finds my energy lagging. It is times like this when it is hardest not to give up and go home.
Rain, rain, drizzle, rain. Rose again at 7:00 today, the result of an early morning page for a server that wasn't down. Several more right after I got up, as well. Dragged myself to the shower and work.
Wall-to-wall meetings today, hopefully, they will produce action. Many things on the plate, but still, a sense of motion. It feels like forward motion, but I can rarely tell in the moment. I can also feel a sense of anxiety at the volume of things going on, a feeling like things are on the edge of control. I am finding ways to manage that, both internally and externally.
Lunch today with a colleague on a brief visit back after a radical mastectomy. She looks great, is in good cheer and looks to make a full recovery. Discussion included the "Erotic Nipple", which is a reconstruction option that would allow her to customize a new nipple, with the option of making it erect on demand. Who knew?
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Please don't take the previous paragraph as making light of someone's situation. This woman is very strong, has dealt very clearly and directly with a difficult situation. She has dealt with this and accepted it for herself, her family and her friends and colleagues. And she still has the capacity to find some humor in her situation. She is a tower of strength, and I am humbled by it.
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I notice in Robert's diary today, reading the blasts from the past, that Robert's father apparently died in 1984 and 1985. A great trick if you can pull it off.
For a day that was supposed to begin with rain, it sure is nice out. The sun shines, and the 50 odd bags of refuse from yesterday are gone. Late rise today (7:00), but reasonable traffic on the way in. A good hour changing passwords this morning.
dragging after lunch. I'm back to feeling like I haven't had enough sleep. Lisa called to relay some news about her father. She's going to work from home the rest of the day.
A couple of meetings that weren't life-sucking. Some conversation with co-workers, and now home. Perhaps I can beat the rain home and help Lisa get a few more plants in the ground.
Reasonable rise (8:00), and out to the yard to complete what we started. We ended up putting together 42 bags of leaves, sticks and other yard waste. Late breakfast with friends, and shopping for replacements for a tree that died in front of the house. After this, more yard work, bringing the bag total to 51. Also, started the bonsaiing of the large junipers in the front of the house. Drastic cuts, but the first ones always are.
Rise at 6:50 due to another page. A false alarm this time. Rise anyway, sit, greet the community, send good wishes to two people I love, one I dislike, and one I don't know.
Day off consisting of a trip to New England Bonsai.
Reasonable rise this morning (7:40, it is a holiday, after all). Sit, have breakfast, and begin the day's work: the yard. We begin cleaning more of the hill, bagging leaves and brush. Lisa goes to the garden center with a fiend, and I take this time to work a prototype of the arches for the dining room. A quick run out to pick up material, and then onto the saw to create it. A reasonable facimile, which gets the approval of the boss.
After this, more work on the hill. I get out the saw and take down the junipers. The mountain laurel may wait until it blooms, we're not sure yet. After this, bagging/bundling all the juniper. At this point, the in-laws arrive and we go to lunch.
After lunch, Lisa naps, and I complete the bagging/bundling. After this, more cleanup in the shop. After Lisa wakes, back to the hill, and more leaves. Then popcorn, and a movie ("Something's got to Give"). Good flick.
Back awake at 1:00 AM for a page. Bleah.
After a long restart time, finally to bed (again).
Late rise this morning (6:45) after watching the "Bounce" episode of South Park last night. Slightly disconnected this morning, which meant I for got my badge (so I can't get into the building) and my key (so I can't get into my office).
Reasonably productive day yesterday. After getting home, Lisa and I worked on one of the gardens, clearing away the leaves and other Fall/Winter detritus. A task list for the outside of the house is forming, and an order in which we think they should be done.
Rose later than I would have liked (6:40), as I'd wanted to be in early incase there was any significant fallout from the upgrade. Fortunately, it has been fairly quiet this morning, with only one related ticket. It's shortly after luch now, and I'm beginning to drag. One meeting in the afternoon, and I may bag it after that.
It's now 8:30 PM, and I have had about a 3 hour nap today. Worked straight through the night on the upgrade, and it appears to have been succesful. Tommorow will tell the tale, once clients start really using the server.
It was odd staying up through the time change. I may not be as direcdtly affected by it as a result, though it will be hard to tell after having been awake this long.
Rise late today (8:00 AM) knowing the length of day I am about to have. Greet the day, greet the community, good wishes to Raft Island. Clean the kitchen, and make breakfast (scrambled eggs with asiago, mushrooms, peppers and tomato). Then , off to the YGP meeting.
Good meeting today, much returning to my hands, and a few new things coming in. I talked too much.
Got home, started the backups for the server an hour later than I had planned, and then picked up dinner. Watched the Merlin miniseries on SciFi, then a few other things. Now, on to the server work. Backups have slowed, and will take longer than I had planned. This, coupled with daylight savings (I lose an hour I had not planned to) will likely delay my delivery of the completed upgrade.
Out of bed a little late again (6:40). Felt terrible getting up, but as the morning has moved on, not feeling the same oppressive weight on me. Still dismal outside, but not much rain; just overcast. We may even get snow on Monday. Old Man Winter just won't give up.
Mentally preparing for a long weekend. Saturday with the YGP, followed by the server upgrade effectively for the rest of the weekend. A meeting today reassures me that a backout plan is reasonable, and achievable. The "what if's" have been covered. People are committed to the endeavor, and that reassures me.
Good lunch at Baja's today. Found out a colleague is leaving. He is a contractor, and has found another contract that works better for him, especially monetarily. Two good notions here: he's leaving on his own, rather than having his contract terminated, and the market is creeping up again. Perhaps there is economic hope, instead of hype.
Read JB's diary from yesterday, and it took me about 3/4ths the way through to get it. Would have been nice, though.
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Afternoon tidying up, getting ready for the weekend. All notifications are out, and I have one more thing to do before I go.
All items completed, ready for lift-off. Wish me luck.
Dragged out of bed a little later than normal today (6:40), after staying up a bit later last night watching South Park. Some pretty biting (and harrowing) moments, tempered only by the portrayal of Mel Gibson as a raving, masochistic loon. Didn't quite balance out.
Rain, rain, fog, rain. Pretty bleak day outside, and it will probably continue through the weekend. The body wants to be at home, with my wife, in front of a fire. But, here I am.
Accepted to the L4 AAD. Now need to gather the funds for the first payment, and prepare. I have much to consider that was in my application:
Who are you? Alex Lahoski, Manchester CT, USA
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So, to the question of Aims: what is an Aim? My American Heritage, for this context has n. A purpose or intention; v. To propose to do something, to determine a course. In addition, experientially, Aims or Goals aren't particularly useful unless they are Achieveable (can this be achieved, with effort?) and is it Measurable (how will you know you have met your Aim?). So, more work in the next week to assess whether those three aims are achieveable in the next year, and how I will know I've met them.
No gym today, preparing for a meeting for this weekend's server upgrade. Some lunch. Feeling the weather/season effects - some discussion in the office about Seasonal Affective Disorder. We all eagerly await the sun, which probably won't show itself until Monday.
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Afternoon energy lag. Fighting to keep myself focused for the remainder of the day. A headache has drifted in and out, and I'm feeling less than optimal. I'll hold out for a bit longer and go home.
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