Journal
30 April 2006 (Sunday) [37/365][224] Rose at 8:30 this morning, as I had gone to sleep rather late after watching some anime. Down to a cup of tea and then outside to complete taking down an old fence between our yard and a neighbor in preparation for replacing it. The remains do not fit entirely in the Jeep, so I'll have to make two trips next Saturday. It's just as well as a few other things have accumulated that I need to get rid of. The rest of the morning spent running errands and shopping for dinner and items for next week. Another beautiful day, and pleasant being outside. Returned with a new video card that was quickly installed in the PC. Still having issues geting the system to boot with the new hard drive, so I'm going to start that over again. If it doesn't work, then I'll just set it up as a secondary drive and be done with it. Cleaned up the grill for the first use of the season. Made dinner tonight, mostly on the grill (steak, garlic & butter rice, asparagus, roasted vidalia onions and toasted bread - only the rice not done on the grill). We ate on the deck, and enjoyed the evening air. 29 April 2006 (Saturday) [36/365][224] Rise at 8:00 AM and sit with the dog. Greetings and good wishes out to the community, then get dressed and head downstairs. Do some Kitchen work, and make tea. Scan through a hardware catalog aimed at people restoring houses. Drooled. Out with Lisa and a friend to a hosta farm. We are getting to know the owner, and it was good to see him (first day of the season for him). A nice day to be out and about, though it was a bit chilly in the shade, or if the breeze picked up too much. Good to drive in the sun - the car was quiet on the way home. Out to lunch (vegetable soup and half a steak salad), then back home. Lisa pokes for a bit and then takes a nap. I dive into swapping out the hard drive in my computer (it's sad that I remember the days I was excited to have a 40 MB hard drive and now the 45 GB drive in my PC isn't enough). 28 April 2006 (Friday) [35/365] Usual morning routine. I found myself waking several times during the night, and as soon as I did, my brain kicked in and was working on one item or another from the previous day. I had to actively move to other, arguably happier, thoughts, lest I didn't get back to sleep. Found myself grinding my teeth at one point, and when I wasn't doing that, clenching my jaw without the teeth actually touching. In to work at 8:30, dive into my tea and meeting agendas for the morning. Three good and, happily, productive meetings. Reconnected with the client in North Carolina after an absence - reconnecting was good for both of us. We have made some progress that has made him happy. Afternoon spent on some drudge work, mostly moving files and verifying that directory structures and files match. A big ticket item that just needs some heads-down brute force work to get completed. Ready to begin my weekend once the data copy is complete. 27 April 2006 (Thursday) [34/365][226] Same routine in the morning, dog, alarms, shower, sit, dress, drive. Too routine in some places. Realized this morning that I forgot to send birthday wishes yesterday, so now sending them retroactively. I have the thought that this type of forgetting, of these details, is symptomatic of something. There is a part of me that thinks that when I've got a more balanced sense of myself, my abililty to be available to these ostensibly small items would change, and magically I'd be able to remember and recall and act appropriately on all of these things. On one level, I'm fooling myself by thinking (or expecting) that this will actually be the case; on another level, I'm acting with some degree of self-judgement. Neither one of these is particularly useful, unless I can steer them into some positive action. 11:00 AM, RF - Sending good wishes to the GCNE team performing at MIT for Earth Day. Frustrating conversation with my manager this morning; frustrating for both of us. Part of it is the clarity of our communications, some of it is me laying over something on to what I am hearing. Not sure how to clear this up. ------------------- Afternoon spent in a "State of the Business" meeting with this quarter's results. this was a long and boring two hours, filled with information that we all heave heard from other sources (do I really need another 35 minute explanation of what Sarbanes-Oxley is, where it comes from and why we have to adhere?). The summation of the two hours: our company did well last year, did well in the first quarter, and the executives don't want to go to jail for compliance violations. Needed the hour's drive home to unwind; I'm still revved up from dealing with my manager. Home to a tired wife, so I go out shopping for some dinner supplies, and return to make some soup with bread. To my PC to clear out the e-mail - much porn spam (sporn?), interestingly some coming through with words in the subject line like "aesthetic" and "pulchritudinous". Spammers with a highly developed vocabulary? I doubt it. Now, off to bed. 26 April 2006 (Wednesday) [33/365] Alarms and dog go off at the usual times (Dog: 4:45, Alarms: 5:15, 6:00). I try to reclaim a small bit of sleep and rise at 7:00. Usual morning routine and out to work. Open the outer door to the bedroom to allow some fresh air for the day; it will be cool today, but we still need to open up the house to clear out the funk of Winter. Easy ride into work this morning, noticing the leaves beginning to bud out on the trees. After getting my morning tea, I dive into meetings. One with a colleague who is working on automating a process for our part of the business. My boss is on a part of the team, but seems to want to take more control over the process. This has me confused and my colleague frustrated. I need to schedule some time tomorrow to talk with him about this. More project statusmeetings. Things are on schedule, but a new twist has been thrown: a vendor is releasing their latest software, and in their documentation, they have left out one version of software (Oracle), opting only for the latest version. We don't have that installed, so another delay. The problem I have with this is that the vendor never actually uses or touches that software package, they interface with another package (Documentum) that in turn talks to Oracle. I had a call with their support and began to feel myself get pulled into a space where I wouldn't have been a very good customer. Backed off and asked that someone from engineering get in contact with me. Afternoon spent in the change control meeting and working on another proposal, as well as chasing down something that was due to the customer today. Looks like we won't make it, so with some effort, we should be able to be done in the morning. The customer is on the West Coast, so we have a bit of float time. Leave the office at 5:00 and head home. Since the weather is nice again (if a bit cool) we need to get the dog out and moving. We pack him up and head to the baseball fields, but since it's nice out, they are full, as well as as the tennis courts. The last option is a long walk on the bike trail, which we do. Back home, and decide to go out for sushi, and try a new place in Cromwell. It's not bad, the rolls are tasty and they offer hibachi, so we formulate plans to have a group get-together for that. The one drawback to the place is that they have Jazz on Wednesdays. It's not the good kind of Jazz. Back home and up to bed. Begin to get sucked in to "Top Chef" and make the quick decision not to get completely sucked in by turning the TV off. 25 April 2006 (Tuesday) [32/365][226] Alarms at normal weekday times, rise at 7:00. Greet the day and acknowledge that I am alive before the feet hit the floor. Shower, sit, check the weather, dress, collect tea and tea infuser, and head out to work. In to work by 9:00, clearing out the rest of the mail that had accumulated over the few days I was sick - now down to my "ideal" in-box, under one screen's worth of mail. Work through the morning with breaks to refill my tea cup. When I get to lunchtime, I notice that I am not hungry, and that I have missed the limb of the hour right up until noon, when the left arm comes alive. Afternoon ticking off items on the list of what needs doing, and checking on two items due for my manager next week. Read an e-mail from a colleague - he and his team have gone over budget on a discovery project, but are claiming that two of the tasks are out of the scope of work. Irritated by this, and bring it up with his manager. I will follow up on this tomorrow when I've cooled off a bit (I wrote and then deleted an e-mail - wise choice). Now clearing up my desk and synchronizing some data to my palm pilot. Soon to head home. 24 April 2006 (Monday) [31/365][226] Difficult to rise this morning, so I opt for a sick day. I haven't really had two straight days off in a while, so I feel this is for the best. Down to the computer to send out e-mails and reschedule meetings. One cannot be moved, so I will attend the conference call at noon. Otherwise, schedule cleared. Sit, extending the session to 40 minutes. Finding the longer sittings are now more available to me. Or perhaps, I am just more available to the sitting. Lounge a bit with the dog, then head downstairs for some computational relaxation. Play a game I haven't in a while and get completely absorbed. Take a break long enough to participate in the conference call - csome internal competition for project work that is a bit worrisome, but we'll need to bring the issue higher up in the organization (much higher up) to see any resolution. Took some tea (still no real appetite, so I'm going with it), and dive back into the game. Lisa comes home, her day uneventful, and we talk for a bit. No real sense of what we want for dinner, so we opt to get soup and salad (I lose myself in the moment and get a sandwich and salad), then back home. Dog needs to stretch and run, but it is raining again, and the normal play areas are all soggy. I need to spend some time in the town baseball filed with him soon. A little more play, and then to bed. I avoid all medication tonight, and have a go at sleeping without help. 23 April 2006 (Sunday) [30/365][227] Day off, spent inside avoiding the raw rainy day wherever possible. 22 April 2006 (Saturday) [29/365] [228] Got into the house at 1:15 AM after a delay in our flight arriving from LaGuardia. dog got up shortly after I went to sleep - Lisa took him outside, and stayed downstairs, as I had begun to snore. Rise at 9:30 to the sound of light rain on the awning over the window of our room. Sit and send greetings to the community, now hopefully safely returned to their homes after the course. Downstairs and putter around a bit. Get dressed for the raw and damp weather, and off to the JotD - taking a load of treated wood to the dump. Since it is older pressure treated (chromated copper arsenate) I can't burn it or leave it in the wood piles, so off to the dump it goes (along with all the other heavy metals and poisons). As I drove to the dump, I thought about the process that began months ago that led me to this particular task - back to the removal of the deck that this lumber made, to the stacking of the cut wood, to the moving and restacking after it fell, to loading up the Jeep, to todays trip which included a trip to the cash machine so I could pay for the permit for the vehicle for the season and finally to actually removing the wood from the Jeep. I could go back further, to the parts of this process I was not there for - building the original deck, purchasing the lumber, the pressure treatment, the cutting and milling of the original tree, and the life of the original tree back to its seed and its parent tree, and so on. A little sad that that all should end up in the big pile of detritus that has accumulated in our town dump. Perhaps there is a better way. Back from the dump (and my reverie), I clean up and we go down to Sundial Gardens for a tea tasting. The woman that runs the tea shop is very knowledgeable and takes us through three tea types (green or unoxidized, oolong or partially oxidized, and black - more properly red - or fully oxidized). We learn proper temperatures and breing times to produce less astringent and more flavorful teas for each type, some of the history and methods for harvesting and processing teas, and why most tea bags really aren't very good tea. A nice afternoon with my wife. From the tea tasting, we head out to a garden center to pick up some soil amendments and then head to dinner at a Mexican place near where I work (our travels for the day have put us in southern Connecticut). My appetite is still not driving me, so I only eat about half of the meal I order. After dinner, we head home, play a little on the computer and head to bed. 21 April 2006 (Friday) [28/365] Alarm at 6:00, rise at 6:30. Go through the morning routine, then pack for the return trip home tonight. Still not feeling my best, but the throat & sinus issues are minimal. The only odd things is that I'm sweating profusely. It is pretty humid out, but I'm still wondering at how much I am sweating this morning. Wierd. Into the office at 7:30 and begin clearing out my mail from yesterday, responding to the items of urgency. Chat for a while with my former boss (I'm sitting in his office this week) - some conversation about my new boss. We both seem to react to him the same way, so there is a small comfort in that bit information to me. Still, I need to look at ways I can temper my responses (and actually respond) to him. Limb rotation pretty solid today, with good wishes to those returning from Argentina. I was in no condition to send anything yesterday. -------------------------- Funky sweating seems to have abated somewhat, though I do still feel warm. Good team meeting this morning, moving forward felt like moving forward. Also tidied up a few other bookkeeping items for purchasing cards for the team. No real desire to eat again, even though one of the folks here that owns an Indian restaurant brought in a sampler for the floor. I am seeking to eat because I am hungry, not just because it's time. Afternoon meeting scheduled on the fly with the new boss. Took care to be present within a limb during our conversation, and this helped mightily. Though I am still very tired, I didn't feel the same degree of panic with the topics he had for us to discuss. I was also quiet careful not to commit to anything before I had a sense of what I was committing to. Hurray for the rotation of limbs! Now planning my exodus from Pittsburgh. I have a 9:50 flight, so I can have a leisurely dinner before leaving. Beginning to feel like it is time to eat, so I will honor necessity later. ------------------- Out of the office at 4:30, change into travelling clothes and head down the hill for a nice dinner at Buca di Beppo's (fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, "1863" salad). Nice to not be in a hurry to get to the airport, for a change; dinner is a leisurely affair, am asked for recommendations for what to get by a couple at the next table. read a bit, then head out to fill the rental car and return it. Now, a bit of light video watching via Google Video and YouTube as I wait for the flight to board. 20 April 2006 (Thursday) [27/365] Another sick day spent convalescing in the hotel room. Bleah. 19 April 2006 (Wednesday) [26/365] Alarm at 6:00, body says "No", and I listen. Rise at 7:30 feeling more rested, and with a reasonably clear head. Sleep and some medication seems to have helped me. Sit and acknowledge the last day of the course in Argentina. In to the office at 8:15 and wander to find a place to sit - not too much open space here. Chat for a bit with the team and a few others, then tear into the list of items for the week. I'm a bit behind because of yesterday, but I am not letting this fuel a sense of despair or need to hurry. IM with a colleague, and I have to work very hard not to react to what she tells me (my boss seems to be yanking pretty hard on the reins on a couple things - not appropriate in my view, but we'll see). Good progress through the items on the list, and hear good feedback on another project. ------------- Afternoon, and two more meetings done. I'm beginning to run out of steam, and can feel the general malaise creep back into my body. Will fight to keep my head up, and to complete a few more things. 18 April 2006 (Tuesday) [25/365] Slept poorly (bad sinuses, new room, etc.) Woke up with a blistering headache, sore throat and leaking sinuses. Took today as a sick day and slept for most of it, emerging only long enough to grab some OTC medications and a late lunch. Limb of the hour and connecting to the course in Argentina. I hope they are not epriencing a similar physical.mental malaise. Afternoon listening to music and reading. Evening on the couch watching the Discovery channel. I know that like and dislike are cheap, but I really dislike being sick. 17 April 2006 (Monday) [24/365] Alarms at the usual workday times, but the body fights and wins. Too much fresh air yesterday, sinus and throat troubles, followed by the two Guinness in the evening just wiped me out. Noted the effects of this as I finally rose at 7:00, and acknowledged that maybe, just maybe, I'm getting older, external evidence to the contrary. Also acknowledged the work being done in Argentina, and sent my support as they pass through the middle and head towards the last climb before the end. In to work by 9:00, assessing what needs to be done during the day before I must depart for the airport. Take a step backwards and first look at what time I must leave work to get to Bradley in time for the 6:00 flight (3:30). From there, I recalculate the day and have a more objective set of goals. Parse through e-mails and again, find myself having to take a step back from what I am reading and not react to them. Many emotions flaring up as I read mail fro the new boss. As I walked up to lunch, I reflected on this and noticed that in every one of these e-mails, I read into the words, taking them to mean that I'm currently doing something wrong, and immediately switch into a defensive mode of operation. Reacting, not responding. Contemplate alternatives on the way up the hill, and how I can bring that bit of information to my manager so we can work on it together. ------------------------ 16 April 2006 (Sunday) [23/365] Awake at 8:00, but opt for another hours sleep. Rise shortly after 9:00 and head downstairs to have breakfast (OJ, english mufins w/peanut butter) and read the Sunday paper. A largely quiet morning, not doing too much of anything. Around 11:00, K. calls to let me know what the schedule is for getting her new patio door (part of the preparation for selling her house). Head over there about 12:00, just as she and J. are arriving in the Home Despot rentalmobile with the door. The rest of the afternoon is spent pulling out the old sliding glass door, shimming and installing the new one. K.'s father Mark and I are doing a good portion of the work, with help from J., and some "help" from another friend. I say "help" because while sincere, the other friend has some damage (mostly alcohol related, but some TBI from hockey in his youth). I have the immediate recognition of the alchoholic in him, the ability to sense this particular affliction honed through my youth with my father. The biggest hint for me is the smell - very hard to describe unless you are familiar with it, but very clear and very memorable. I had to fight some habitual responses to the particulars of the personality, chosing to respond, instead, with goodwill. Not sure if it was supportive for him, but it was for me. While K. and I ruminated his presence (actually his absence), I noted that it was far better for him to be here under the watch of supportive eyes than to be out on his own. Back home at about 5:30, and complete moving the leaf bags to the curb and tidying up a few other things for the Monday morning pick-up. Shower and head out to a local bar to meet J., who I really hadn't spoken to for over a year. Allowed myself to be available to him for the evening, to let him unload a little. A good couple hours spent over some beer and wings, hopefully reopening a door for him. Back home again to get the last of the laundry done (Lisa has done nearly all of it today, bless her) and pack for my Pittsburgh trip. 15 April 2006 (Saturday) [22/365][233] Rise at 9:30 sit, and then linger in bed watching DIY. Plan out my morning for running errands, making lists of things that need to be acquired in each location. 10:30 to 12:30 running around and picking up necessities (and a few nice-to-haves). Home for lunch (chiclken parmesian grinder). Afternoon spent outside clearing out the old wood racks and putting in the new ones. Cleared out the last of the leaves against the house and completed the JotD. I found myself noting a point where I could have stopped working for the afternoon with a satisfactory amount of work done, but an inner voice told me I needed to do just a bit more to complete the work. A satifying afternoon's work (and a happy wife, to boot). Now, showered, and comtemplating dinner options. 14 April 2006 (Friday) [21/365] Rise at 9:00 and sit. Spend some time in the tomato bed, clearing out the last of the leaves there. Also, find some other bulbs that had been discarded in the compost pile last fall. They had begun to come up in patches, so I dug them out and repotted them until I find out what they were and wehre I will put them. Pretty tired after doing all the hiking of leaves up the hill, so Lisa and I opt for an afternoon nap. The dog rouses me again at about 3:00, so I get up and putter around downstairs, trying to be quiet while Lisa still slept. After everone is up, we make a dinner choice for Thai with our friend Kerry. It has started to rain, which is good for all the gardens, and all the gardeners are quite pleased. Home, and watch Howl's Moving Castle, then to bed. 13 April 2006 (Thursday) [20/365] Alarms at the usual time, but I can ignore them, as I've taken the day off from work. Finally rise at 10:30, putz about for a bit while watching Top Chef and head out for lunch. Go to the local Vietnamese place and get dumpling soup, summer rolls and vietnamese coffee. A pleasant morning off. Afternoon spent working on leaves on the back hill and in the tomato bed. Large area cleared out and part of the bed complete, as well as a quick rebuild of part of the low wall in back that had fallen down this winter. A beautiful day out, and I enjoyed the occasional waft of hyacinth that would come down of the hill while I worked. Also managed a bit of a sunburn on my face from being out in the sun. Lisa gets home and we runout to do some errands before heading out for our hair appointment. Happy hair (more color added for Lisa) and we head back home, grab a bite to eat (cheese bread and wings) before going to bed. 12 April 2006 (Wednesday) [19/365] After not sleeping the previous night, I chose to sleep in until 7:00 today. Notice that my throat is sore upon waking - my sinuses are going nuts, so I've probably hit my version of allergy season. Light traffic, so I'm in to work by 9:00 and work through the updates I need to make to a project specification. I am relying on a number of other people to provide me the necessary information for several sections of the document, so much of the morning is spent waiting for this information. During that time, I work on the details of another project, and clean up some of my office. Our upper management is here today for a town hall meeting, so we're doing a last clean up on the ofices to make them look spiffy. We basically have the nicest offices and building for IT in the company. I don't expect we'll have it for long with the acquisition that the division at this site is doing, but I'll enjoy it while I can. VP swings by the office to say hello - we usually see each oither when I'm in Pittsburgh. Quiet day otherwise, two hour town hall runs to three hours - lots of questions, and some very honest answers. refreshing. Now, home to relax. I'm off tomorrow, and I am planning on the morining being a complete morning off. I may not even get out of bed until noon, just because I can. 11 April 2006 (Tuesday) [18/365][232] Not sure what happened last night, but from 10:00 PM until 4:00 AM I could not sleep. Not just a typical sleeplessness, but a certain quality of energy. Admittedly, there were some internal things going on, but this was mostly an external feed. Fought it until about 1:30, then gave in, got up, and went downstairs. Some work on the computer until about 4:00 AM, then lie down on the couch. Rise at 6:45 as Lisa comes down to go to work. Shower, sit (still buzzing a bit either from the energy or the lack of sleep), and gather myself for work. In the office at 8:15, traffic not too bad until I hit the merge in New Haven. First morning meeting with an external vendor begins late, then one of the callers has to attend to a family emergency, so we rechedule for Monday. I take the time available to look at some accounting reconciliation and clean up and better arrange the space in the office. My new/old manager is scheduled to be here for 10:30, so I'll strike a few other items off the task list before he arrives. ---------------------- Late morning into early afternnon with the new boss. I found myself reacting rather than responding several times during our conversation. Some of this stems from our past history, some from my personality and some from an obvious language barrier. He has been in the U.S. for 8 years, but there are still gaps in the communication process. I caught myself several times, and worked to back-track and make sure I was understanding what he was asking, rahter than to continue in reaction mode. Clearly, an opportunity for some personal work in the next year. Quick stop out for a late lunch, then back into the office for a heavy afternoon. Caught by another manager and we discussed a potential issue. Fortunately, it was my fault, and was caught early enough that we can address it without much pain. Also, looking at opportunities for sharing resources between the teams. Now, feeling a slight energy lag due to lack of sleep, but not anywhere near what I would expect. Settling into the limb of the hour (RH) and sending good wishes to Argentina. 10 April 2006 (Monday) [17/365] Alarms at the usual weekday times, but I rise at 6:30, sore and tired from sleeping around the dog last night. Getting up this morning had me looking forward to Thursday, and the coming long weekend. Sit, shower, get the breakfast items together for the ride in (meal bar and rooibos tea that I made yesterday). A reasonable ride in this morning, traffic being lighter than usual. Not sure if the upcoming holiday has begin for some people already. Two necessary meetings this morning separated by work on two srpreadsheets for review with my new manager tomorrow - one a complete listing of hardware and software assets in our area, the other a project forcasting worksheet to help us plan out the rest of the year. I'm filling in some things on the 3rd and 4th quarter horizon, now I need to go back to the team and make some calls on the actual day-to-day support time spent so we can get a better picture of actual workload. My sense is we are even or slightly overloaded, but only because we aren't doing some things very efficiently. Lunch with the crew in the cafeteria. I walked up today, as it is clear and beautiful out. the weather has reached that point where it is just too warm to walk with the coat, and just too warm to walk without it. Some talk at lunch about the Gospel of Judas, other books of the Apocrypha and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as other tangentially related Greek and Roman history. Walk back down the hill at a lesiurely pace and back into the office. Now, an afternoon of paperwork and proposals await. Acknowledging the travellers on the hourly rotation of limbs. 9 April 2006 (Sunday) [16/365] Largely, a day off. Rise unhurriedly at 8:30 and sit (no pet distractions today, only the usual internal ones). Downstairs to tea and scones for breakfast while Lisa continues drafting the garden plan for the shade garden off the deck. Lisa decides to make a trip to a garden center, so I have the morning to myself. I spend it on the JotD, which is very necessary at this time. Acknowledge its completion and grab a bite to eat (left-over thenthuk from yesterday). Lisa returns and grabs some lunch and returns to drafting her plans while I have some tea and read the Sunday paper. Eventually, our friend K. comes over and works with Lisa on the garden plan. Amusing to hear two knowledgeable people banter and disagree, without rancor, and with mutual respect. We talk about dinner plans, and with no decisions made in mid-afternoon, Lisa suggests that I make scones from the recipe we got last weekend. I'm interested in doing it as a test to see how long it takes, and if I have everything available. I do, and it takes about one hour, from start to clean-up. K. is impressed with the scones, which is saying something, as she used to do high tea at an herb farm she worked at years ago. We chat about her time there, her ideal business (B&B + Afternoon Tea + Herb Farm/Shop) and my idea for an afternoon tea catering business. More work for the ladies on the garden design, and we head out to a local favorite place for dinner called Tapas. (No actual tapas here, but a Mediterranian menu that is fantastic.) I opt for a salad and soup, since I had indulged in the scones earlier. Now home, relaxing and planning on watching the National Geographic special on the Gospel of Judas. Beyond the controversial nature of the text (it was declared heresy in the second century, as it conflicted with the church's view of Judas), there is controversy in how the National Geographic Society handled the text. Apparently there is an unwritten rule in the antiquities world that in the case of text such as this, the holder typically allows other experts to view and attempt their own analysis and translations - this to minimize the potential for fakery. Also, the NGS special is being aired on Palm Sunday, which has others crying foul. So, to that bit of TV, then to bed for me. 8 April 2006 (Saturday) [15/365][234] No alarms, but wake with the dog at the usual time. Eventually rise at 8:00 and sit - extended this time to send good wishes and safe travels to the folks heading to Argentina. Sitting a challenge, as he head-butts and drools for the first 10 minutes or so, eventually settling down once he realizes he's not getting my attention. After sitting, down to breakfast (OJ, blueberry scone & clotted cream) and laundry detail. Get a few loads through before I have to leave for the Tea Time Treats class. Also working with the guitar as I wait for laundry to dry, discovering that the thing that presented itself at work is actually playable on a standard size guitar, and not just the 3/4 size I have at work. Also, a bass riff presents itself, as well as a little Blackbird-esque thing that has a good flow to it. Get both of them in the hands and Powertab, for good measure. Takes me less time to get to the place (Sundial Gardens) than I expect, despite the rain and sleet that suddenly appears. Good class today, with Chef Tom going through a ginger cake recipe and tartlets. About an hour into the 2 hour session, I find I'm fidgeting, and ready to leave. Manage to sit reasonably still for the last hour, but only just. Near the end of the class it starts to snow, big, fat flakes. Once we're through, we shop a bit and I wait again as people go through the line and chat with the other half of the duo that owns the place. On another day, I'd be just as happy to sit and listen, but today I'm not having any of it. I can hear something inside wanting to say "Hurry up!", but I won't let it. Instead, I let another woman go ahead of me and extend it a little further. Let's be generous call it intentional suffering. On the way home we stop in to an organic store we go to occasionally and pick up laundry detergent and dish soap. After this, over to a favorite Tibetan restaurant - I have a light soup (thenthuk - which is made with ginger and hand pulled noodles), and bod-cha (butter tea). It has already reached 6:00 by this time, so we head home. I finish some laundry and vacuum the bedroom, as well as do the cat litter. Now, feeling like I've accomplished something, I can sit and relax. While standing in the kitchen, I realize that although I completed my JotD, I did not acknowledge it. Late tea before going to bed, run through the music that downloaded today (just to make sure it was still there), and watching some of Constantine. Now, this entry and to bed. 7 April 2006 (Friday) [14/365][234] Alarms at the usual time, rise at 6:30. Not as much doggie fussing today so I was able to sleep a bit longer - I feel better for it. Rise, shower, sit, and head out to work, some attention to the details of leaving and making sure I was collected on the way out the door, as well as more aware. I have no desire of a repeat of yesterday morning's drive into work. In by 8:10, prep for my 9:00 meeting. Larger items are being addressed post-release for the project in North Carolina. good feedback from the team there, as well as feedback from the project lead regarding one of my team who did training for them on Monday. A world of difference in how the training was handled - more user oriented, rather than a blurred overview of the product, which is what I feel was delivered in the first round. I noticed this at the time - I need to find a way to develop this skill in Mark, and reward it in John. This will be part of the project close-out I have planned in two weeks. Second morning meeting to address how we handle an upgrade. We would have liked to have been complete by now, but one of the things I am trying to impress on this team is the necessity of testing and going to reasonable lengths to ensure minimal customer impact. They are slowily getting this concept ingrained, and this is good. It is a hard balance to strike, the need to be current with the need to keep things the same (from the client point of view). Lunch with the crew in the cafeteria, then a quiet afternoon addressing other small items and e-mails - expense reports, status updates, P&L estimates. Soon, I will head home for the weekend. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's class on tea time treats. I may make scones at home this weekend, and try a few other things. the weather may preclude a lot of outdoor activities, so some other tasks will be addressed. 6 April 2006 (Thursday) [13/365] I don't know what side of the bed I woke up on this morning, but it was definitely the wrong one. Had a lie in until about 6:50, seriously considering staying home, but then got up and went through the usual routine. On the way in, I got the finger from someone, which I probably deserved as I wasn't paying enough attention while merging. Once into work, I was geting tea, and one of the other managers was asking me about something ona project which he should have asked over a month ago. I could feel the pressure in my head and the room closing while we talked. Fortunately I had at least a small bit of presence, and got him to defer this discussion until this afternoon, when I might have a clearer head. Morning team meeting was also a bit distracted - I was not all there, and had to fight myself mightily to keep moving forward without abandoning it. In the end, the necessary items were covered, but it felt like a finish. ---------------- Still feeling off (my head still feels stuffed, and my awareness barely covers what is in front of me). Resorting to some on-line humor - as it turns out, Chevrolet, as a sponsor or the TV show The Apprentice, has created a web site where you can make your own commercial about the 2007 Tahoe, using your own text and a series of clips provided by Chevy. This hasn't turned out quite the way they intended. In an interesting display of the viral and underground nature of hte Internet, about 20% of the "ads" carry a distinctly negative tone towards Chevy, SUV's, Global Warming, Peak Oil, cars and masculinity, and the war in Iraq, among other things. Google "Heavy on the Chevy" and you'll find sites aggregating some of these clips. Some are funny, some are darker in tone, all are a fascinating look at how things can be subverted from their original purpose into something new. 5 April 2006 (Wednesday) [12/365] Alarms at the usual times, rise closer to 6:30 today - slowly adjusting to DST. The thing that got me out of bed was my wife telling me that it was snowing out. So we went from rain to sun yesterday, and to snow today. Found my way out of the house at the usual time and into the wonderland. This kind of snow sticks to everything, so the landscape was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, this kind of snow creates conditions where cars go dancing and sliding around the highway. I don't know what it is, but people in Connecticut seem to lose their minds when it snows. In to work at about 8:15, immediately set to todays tasks. Lisa calls just before my 9:00 meeting to tell me we were up to 3" and rising for snowfall. early meeting today to discuss lessons learned from the data center power failure. Good items brought up for both things done wrong and things done well. Refreshing meeting in that very little blame being assigned, only looking at the situation and dealing wiht the event, not the emotions. One manger took some things confrontationally, but this was diffused. Another morning meeting with the Berkeley team geting some items ironed out for the project there. Lunch running errands, picking up an ink refill for my pen and lunch at Five Guys again. Came back to work via the supermarket - picked up more Earl Grey tea and cream. Afternoon in more meetings, one plagued by technical issues. Now, finding a limb and preparing to head out (little contact with the rotation today for some reason). I have doggie duty this evening while Lisa is out at a gardening class (in the snow, I assume). Other than that, a light evening ahead. 4 April 2006 (Tuesday) [11/365][235] Alarms at the usual time and did a bit better on the actual rise time. Considered calling it a sick day until I logged in and looked at the meetings I had for today - two meetings for which my attendance is necessary. So, shower and off to work. A little less deliberate than yesterday, but still with some attention to the details of beginning the day. In by 8:30 and working through items needed before the first meeting. The first necessary meeting was for the new manager to meet everyone and begin to introduce himself and his style of working to the team. Tasks given out at the meeting, one I had already begun, most due for when he comes here to sit with me and a colleague next week. He will be a bit of a culture-shock for many of the people on this team, as he is far more direct and task oriented than our current manager. I think that will actually be a good thing, in the long run, especially for me. More items reviewed in the morning, then out to lunch to pick up some items. Was largely successful, gettin g a hard case for the Palm, so I'm less likely to damage or shut it off while I use it outside. No luck finding an ink refill for one of the pens I have that I really like. Lunch at Five Guys Hamburgers (apparently a Virginian franchise that has made their way up north - still waiting for Waffle House to cross the Manson-Nixon line and come up here). Not a bad burger - plenty of toppings to pile on, and the good kind of messy. Back to work for the second necessary meeting. Getting requirements finalized for this project is like stepping in quicksand. Doing what I can to avoid this becoming another death march. Now, the afternoon and more project proposals and estimates to draft. ----------------------- Quiet afternoon with few interruptions. Somewhere shortly after the last meeting of the day, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It had been steady all day (a good soaking rain - the kind my wife likes for the gardens). Managed good rotation through the limbs. Waited in the office a bit longer for my (ex-)boss to call. Let and he got me in the car on the ride home (as is normal for us). A good talk with some more positive information regarding my rating last year and a raise. Some discussion about the new boss' way of managing people and some of the upcoming things which could become crises. Home to a light dinner (fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, bread, olives) and the agony of taxes. We still owe this year, but not a sbad as we thought, not as bad as last year, and not as bad as I've read for another Crafty. Now, off to bed. 3 April 2006 (Monday) [10/365] Later to bed last night than I suppose I should have been, reading and watching Dark Kingdom, setting up and giving birthday gifts, getting dinner (foiled for most of our choices as most of the sensible restauranteurs are closed by 9:00 PM on a Sunday). The alarms went off at the usual time, but the body was having none of it. How my wife managed to get up, I don't know, but it took me a good 30 minutes to shake off the sleep before even attempting to sit. Moved deliberately this morning in response to the time change, making sure I was bringing everything to work that I needed, that I had my breakfast for the ride in, and that I was aware of my schedule for the day. Checked my calendar and it is clear, so I take a moment to visualize how the day will unfold. A litle hazy at the moment, so I will revisit this when I get in the office. I have various notes for what is upcoming, and I will use that as a basis. Arrive at work about 8:30, get a cup of tea while the computer boots, and review my notes from the end of last week. This gives me a good sense of the day, and what I might accomplish, including some in-depth resource planning for the team, two proposals, checking on the order of tasks for another project, updating project hours estimates on two other projects, and rescheduling a trip that I cluelessly scheduled to begin on Easter Sunday. Seems like a bit much for a Monday, but there you go. None of this includes the normal phone/e-mail/walk-in items that need to be addressed. Knock off a couple things and head to lunch with the local team. A nice walk up to the cafeteria, about a half mile. Lunch with some visitors working on a new technology implementation, and then hike back. It begins to rain as I walk back, though not hard enough to make me hurry. ---------------- Afternoon drags, and I'm not feeling too well, so I opt to leave at 4:15. Home, and the lethargic feeling is shared, so we go up the hill to the Indian restaurant to give it a try. Not bad, and I'm sure they will settle in and improve over time. Had a nice chat with the owner, a gentleman from Pakistan. This restaurant is his retirement, he worked for 27 years for Pakistani Airlines, and when he decided to retire, his family encouraged him to come here and they opened the restaurant. A good conversation with him about the region he comes from, the life cycle of the region, and the recent tempering of relations between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. He was definitely tired (they have been open only 4 days and have been busy the whole time), but in good spirits. Home, and to bed for both of us. 2 April 2006 (Sunday) [9/365][234] Up at what would have been 8:00, without DST. We decide to spend the morning running around doing errands, and return to the yard after noon. So... Breakfast at Rein's Deli in Vernon (everything bagel with cream cheese and nova, plus latkes with sourcream and applesauce). Always a good and relaxing breakfast, we talked about what else we needed, and what we want to get done. Other errands to pick up some items at Sam's, a belated birthday present for K., tracing paper, and some office supplies. Once back at the house, I step into the side yard and spend the next 3 or so hours getting everything raked, bagged and to the corner. So, now all that is left is the back of the house (the area with the most work needed), but with the change in the clock, I can be home at my regular time and still have ample daylight and time to get some things done. After this, a shower and out to have the car washed and do some food shopping. Very little worth eating in the house at the moment, so getting the basics. Some thoughts about what I might make, if we don't opt to try the grandly re-opened Indian place on Main street. 1 April 2006 (Saturday) [8/365] [234] Got in relatively late last night after going over to our friends house for an impromptu game night. I opted not to drive, so I indulged in a beer and a couple limoncello martinis. We split up to keep the boys occupied - my wife with Marie, John and the oldest, Ian playing a new game from the Old World Games Store in Manchester, Vermont. I sat with the youngest, Addison, and played Star Wars Battlefront. I'm pretty good at first-person shooters, but this threw me off a bit, since it was on the PS2, rahter than a PC. I've never been good with these controllers. Keyboard and mouse is how I ride, dude. Still fun all the same, and we always have a good time with these folks and the boys. John and Marie are a fireman and police officer, respectively. And I give them all the respect in the world. I could never do either of their jobs. No alarms this morning, but dog went off at the usual time. I had intended to get up at 8:00 AM, so I remained in bed after the usual doggie shenanigans until then, even managing about another hour's worth of sleep. Up at 8:00 to sit and greet the community. From there, immediately outside to the yard work for the morning. About two hours of leaf and stick removal - the front of the house and the shade gearden are basically done. A variety of music on the headphones, as I had figured out an alternate way to carry the Palm so the music would keep playing. Had a good laugh at the RF commentary at the end of one cut of Heptaparaparshinokh from the DGMLive site. Tomorrow will be the side yard, and we'll move to the back hill during next week. T�te-�-t�te's are up, and the daffodils are following quickly behind. Also the grape hyacinths, crocus and french hyacinths are up. Our afternoon spent at a little tea shop in a class about making afternoon tea. Today, we focused on the bottom two layers of the caddy: cucumber sandwiches and scones. Some good recipes and information about the more formal aspects of an english afternoon tea. Fun and informative. the shop itself has a number of good teas and imported jellies and comfits from a number of countries. Spent some time mulling over the possibilities of this type of tea on a course. Home and meeting a friend for dinner at a new Thai place. Very good food, and a nice relaxing evening. Now, back home and to bed, preparing to make the DST clock change. I am really looking forward to the extra hour of daylight at the end of the day. Losing an hour's sleep tonight, not so much.
Alex Lahoski's Journal for April 2006
Sunday 30th of April, 2006
Saturday 29th of April, 2006
Friday 28th of April, 2006
Thursday 27th of April, 2006
Wednesday 26th of April, 2006
Tuesday 25th of April, 2006
Monday 24th of April, 2006
Sunday 23rd of April, 2006
Saturday 22nd of April, 2006
Friday 21st of April, 2006
Thursday 20th of April, 2006
Wednesday 19th of April, 2006
Tuesday 18th of April, 2006
Monday 17th of April, 2006
Sunday 16th of April, 2006
Saturday 15th of April, 2006
Friday 14th of April, 2006
Thursday 13th of April, 2006
Wednesday 12th of April, 2006
Tuesday 11th of April, 2006
Monday 10th of April, 2006
Sunday 9th of April, 2006
Saturday 8th of April, 2006
Friday 7th of April, 2006
Thursday 6th of April, 2006
Wednesday 5th of April, 2006
Tuesday 4th of April, 2006
Monday 3rd of April, 2006
Sunday 2nd of April, 2006
Saturday 1st of April, 2006
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