The Holidays and a Monday

I had a very quiet and pleasant Christmas. It was simple, which I enjoy. Christmas dinner was at my friend Bob's house, where we have Beef Wellington, baked yams, stuffing and a big green salad. We capped it off with homemade Angel Food Cake topped with a fresh fruit compote.  All in all an excellent meal prepared by Brandy, Bob's daughter.

Outside of that and some incidental errands I didn't do much.  Had breakfast with Tyrone and Tony, then on Sunday, lunch with Rick.  Rick and I had a wide ranging conversation about - well, pretty much everything.  I tend to enjoy my conversations with him when he is not politically worked up. Rick is one of those liberals that can get a bit passionate and unreasonable about the things he holds as true.  Of course, I can get the same way, so political conversations can have a bit of fire.

I'm going to work virtually today, mainly because there is no real reason to go into the office. I don't have any meetings scheduled this week.  My objective today is to go through my email backlog, which is about 100+ items.  I'd like to get it drilled down to zero or as close to zero as I can. As I weave in and out of email, I'll also knock out a few small things around the house. It should be a very good day, all in all.

The Day After Christmas

I closed out the day with a great little conversation with TR.  It was an excellent capstone on an otherwise beautiful day.  I started the day by sleeping late - I slept until 7:30 AM, which, for me, is late. There was no particular reason for it, other than, well, it felt like the right thing. I may have to do it again tomorrow. 

After I woke up I had a bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee, some wheat toast with jam and I eased into the day with the continuation of my Castle Christmas.  I alternated between watching items off the DVR and cleaning the house. I met Don for lunch at Outback at 12:30, up at the Great Mall, then spent an hour or so walking around the Temple of Mammon and people watching.

From there, I wandered home, stopping for a long walk at the San Tomas Aquino Park, then winding my way home.  Here at home, I took a short nap, then settled in to watch some more DVR, including a couple of Christmas specials. It was right in here that I have that great conversation with TR.  Which brings me right into this moment, here, now - where I am going to watch a little more DVR and then call it a night.

Lunch at La Paloma

A productive and enjoyable day is winding to an end with a bit of DVR before I crawl into bed and curl up with a book.  Had a great conversation with TR, which was the capstone on a nice day. 

I had a lot of meetings at work, but they were actually mostly productive - which is rare, but great when it happens. In the middle of that productive day we had a nice Christmas luncheon at La Paloma on El Camino Real in Santa Clara. 

Dinner was an excellent salad. 

I am looking forward to a good night of sleep. I seem to have gotten over the cranky inducing day I had on Sunday, where I swirled around and around over issues of time and timing. 

I think, in the coming year, one of the things I need to focus on is being more authentically present.  It is not easy but it is worth the struggle that it takes.  The year seems to be ending well and I am looking forward to the new year, even though it is a couple of weeks out.

Though busy, the last two days have been good, on several levels. Spent some quality time with T.R., was productive-though-frustrated at work, and the nephew has been moved out of critical care to a regular hospital room and I've had the opportunity to talk to him. Speaking of which, I am going to call him shortly and hope to have a nice little conversation.

The project at work is still drastically out of synch with reality, but the laborious and painful process of dragging it back into some semblance of normality in underway.  Many a deadline has been missed and I find myself actually hoping that their are consequences and then hoping that those consequences land on the right people, perhaps heavily. How a director can be so far detached from reality and still retain their position is totally beyond me.

I have a handful of project related things ahead of me this week and I suspect I will actually be able to get them accomplished.  I haven't worked any excessive hours this week - and I am not planning on working any. The price of those long days is very high and unfortunately I think it is being paid by good people. As a leader, that type of thing irritates me.  The fundamental responsibility of management is managing resources and the tragedy is, when management fails, it is often those resources that pay the price.

I was planning on watching some TV today, but in the last couple of minutes I've decided against it.  Instead, I think I will make a couple of phone calls, then settle in with my novel and read my way into the night.  There are a couple of sitcoms that come on around 8:00 tonight, but I'm not sure if I am going to watch them - I will make that decision when the hour approaches.

I have my Christmas tree and some decorations, except the full sweep of lights, up, so there is already a bit of a Christmas feeling spreading over the room, which I am enjoying. We have one more California rain storm stacked up to make a sweep through the bay area, so I think I will wait until after it has finished it's run to put the lights up.

Mikasa Angel

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Sunday's Chronicle

I made today an easy day. I slept until about seven a.m., then woke to the sound of heavy rain.  I laid there in bed for a while savoring the sound, that quiet rush of water cascading off the roof of the apartment building, the steady hiss of the rain on the street outside, the occasional loud pop of a large drop against the bedroom window. I rolled out of bed, splashed through the shower, had a cup of coffee then sat and thought and meditated and otherwise enjoyed the rain.

Breakfast at the Hickory Pit with Tony followed.  The restaurant itself was only half full, due to the heavy rain, and it was dark and gloomy outside.  After breakfast I swung over to Target to pick up some odds and ends, then a stop at Michael's and Ross for the same reason. I took a leisurely walk around the mall and people watched for a while, before heading home to a quiet afternoon.

I spent the afternoon split between family calls, true crime stories on the History Channel, and setting my Christmas tree and decorations up.  The only thing I haven't done yet is hand the lights.  I am going to have to wait until the rain stops before I do that, since on the outer string I have to use duct tape to hold the lights in place. My Christmas tree looks great though, I will have to take a picture of it and share that picture with you all.

I took a short nap about three in the afternoon, but actually just kind of laid there, not quite napping, not quite awake, simply admiring the colors of the tree outside the bedroom window, since the afternoon sun had broken out.  About four p.m. I went over to meet Tony for an early dinner at El Burro in the Pruneyard.  I had enchilda suiza, chicken, with rice, beans and cheese.  It was heavy and filling meal, but because I had skipped lunch, it did not weigh me down.

From there, I took a walk through Barnes and Noble (and managed to not buy anything, but I did take pictures of the covers of a couple of books so I will remember to look them up the next time I go through there), then drove home to watch the season finale of "The Walking Dead".  Outstanding bit of television, all in all, and a great mid-season finale.

The rest of the evening is going to be "Once Upon A Time" and then reading.  I am anticipating a full week at work with two main problems that I would like to solve in the early days of the week. One of them is about eight hours of just grinding through details, so I am going to try and clear my calendar so I can deal with that.  I am holding out the hope that, hour wise, it will be a regular week.  And not the regular 12 hour week, but a regular week.

An Industrious Day Dancing With Dragons

I was industrious today. It was mostly just the mood I was in. I slept in an hour or two, then showered and started the day. I ironed and folded laundry. I cleaned the bathroom. I cleaned the kitchen. I had breakfast with friends. I strung Christmas lights. I wandered Fry's. I stopped at the market for groceries. I watched two episodes of "Once Upon A Time", I shot two hours worth of pool. I had dinner at an Italian place (Mama Mia's on Hamilton). I visited with TR. Now, as the day winds down, I am going to continue finishing up George R.R. Martin's "A Dance with Dragons", A good day and an industrious day under the belt.

The Three Days of Christmas

Well, all in all, it was a good Christmas. It was a quiet Christmas, largely by choice. As I mentioned earlier, I kept my decorations and preparations for the holiday to a minimum. I wanted to have a simple Christmas and I was successful. I slept well Christmas Eve, waking early on Christmas Day. I made the pilgrimage to Christmas Mass and then met a couple of friends for an assortment of quiches and a sort of buffet Christmas day breakfast. Okay, the only thing in the buffet was quiche, so it was a simple enough thing.

From there, I went home, stopping at the bank on the way (ATM’s do not require Christmas Day off), and then settling in at home. The plan was to watch “Avatar” on Blu-Ray, but as I settled in I happened to stumble upon another excellent movie that was playing on Starz. It was “Whip It”, with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore. That is a great little movie.

When “Whip It” wrapped up, I headed over to Bob’s for an informal “Bachelor” Christmas dinner (well, I guess it was a Bachelor and Bachelorette dinner, since Brandy was there.) Christmas dinner was a broiled rib-eye steak, mashed potatoes loaded with bacon and cheddar cheese, stuffing, and a green bean casserole. The food was quiet tasty, though Bob later reported that the marinade used on the steak gave him heartburn. There was a pumpkin pie planned for dessert, but that never materialized. Following the pleasant little dinner, I made my way home to wrap of the day with T.R. and Bill Murray (Bill was in “Scrooged”). All told, it was a great little, simple little, Christmas Day.

On the day after Christmas Tyrone and I went to the Hickory Pit for breakfast and Tyrone out did himself eating pork-products. He had the ham steak and eggs, with a side of country sausage AND a side of bacon. I could hear his arteries clogging as he worked his way through breakfast. From there, I stopped at Fry’s and picked up some incidental things. I wanted to get some twist ties to secure computer cables since I was planning on re-arranging the furniture in both my office at work and my office at home.

Additionally, I picked up a pair of movies that were on sale and that are both worthy additions to my Blu-Ray collection – I picked up “Leon The Professional” (Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, and Gary Oldman) and “Escape From New York”, the classic John Carpenter/Kurt Russell team up. I circled homeward with a stop at CVS and a stop for a haircut.

After a quick pit-stop at home I headed back out to La-Z-Boy, when I bought a new chair (the La-Z-Boy “Charlotte” http://www.la-z-boy.com/product/5524-7268/Charlotte-High-Leg-Reclining-Chair/ ), which will be delivered at the end of January. I’ve been meaning to replace my chair, since it has seen better days, so this was the opportunity to do it and it is my Christmas present to myself.

From there, I met Don at Santa Clara Billiards for a few hours of pool, and then it was off to meet Bob and Tony at “True Grit” over at Century 22, followed by a simple dinner at The Flames there on Winchester. I wrapped the day with T.R., and then followed the old adage of early to bed and early to rise.

It’s been quiet here at the office today, with one ongoing technical incident that the team is working on and a blessed change to actually think which at the office. I don’t have anything exciting planned tonight, in fact, I am looking forward to another quiet evening at home and perhaps a bit of DVR watching or maybe a movie. (Oh, and I did rearrange my office – I’m not entirely sure I like it, but it is different and I suspect it will grow on me.)

A Quiet Christmas Eve

It was a very quiet day at work today. No one called. I got one email and it was an automated system generated email. My team got one call on the Help Desk (and I let my analyst who was working the day go home at 9:00 AM). I spent most of the day simply reading, with a pleasant break for sushi (Hon Sushi in Mountain View) and a couple of games of pool with my friend Don (Don won most of them 5 to 2).

After work I stopped at Safeway on the way home and picked up the ingredients for tomorrows simple Christmas dinner over at my friend Bob's. I am very much looking forward to a quiet Christmas Eve and an equally quiet Christmas Day, through Christmas Day will involve some visits (the aforementioned dinner and probably breakfast). I might try and fit a movie in there somewhere, since there are a lot of films in the theaters at this time of year.

I was sitting here trying to remember the last time I had a simple Christmas evening - I did last year, as I was recovering from the toe surgery, but I actually don't recall much of it. Most likely I was sleeping twelve hours a day and dreaming of a hot shower. I still recall quite vividly the sheer pleasure of that first shower. I am sure my neighbors thought I was having wild sex I was moaning so much.

After I got home this evening I took a walk around the neighborhood, looking at the various Christmas lights and breathing in the cool night air. We had another day of sun between rain storms here, so the day was very pleasant and the evening was equally as pleasant. The walk was short and nice and it took me over 10,000 steps for the days, which is the target.

Tonight, I am settling in for a quiet evening, my simple tree lit and my mood expansive and relaxed. Merry Christmas Eve, whoever you are and wherever you are.

How My Mother Lost Santa Claus

I've been meaning to write this little tale for a while - I wanted to capture it because I found it sweet and touching.

Thanksgiving 2008 I am sitting in the living room of the ranch in South Dakota with my mother and the conversation turns to Christmas and from there to Santa Claus. My mother asks me - "Do you remember when you discovered that Santa Claus wasn't real"?

I thought about it for a minute and realized I have no memory of discovering that Santa Claus was not real. My mother found that amusing and commented that as an imaginative child, I most likely discovered Santa Claus wasn't real and just decided that was okay, because I made up all kinds of things that were not real. She also had no recollection of me discovering there was no Santa Claus.

Then, she told me how she figured out there was no Santa Claus. She was a young girl and she and her sister Marie were living with Grandma Valeria in Rosebud, South Dakota. My mother very much wanted a Kewpie doll for Christmas.

Well, Christmas rolled around and her sister Marie got a Kewpie doll, but my mother did not. She was heartbroken by it. Marie (being the older of the two sisters) tried to give my mother her doll, but my mother told her - no, Santa brought that for you, so it's yours.

Grandma Valeria of course saw how heart-broke she was and told her that Santa probably dropped the doll somewhere by mistake. Santa sometimes did that, and then he would back track, find the present and deliver it a few days late. My mom had a tough time swallowing that one, wondering how Santa could possibly find a lost present and know who to take it too, given the number of presents he had to deliver on Christmas day.

A few days later Grandma Valeria asked my mother to go back into the bedroom and remake the bed. My mother, being, I am sure, strong willed even then, refused. It was Marie's turn to make the bed, my mother had seen Marie make the bed, and my mother was not going to remake the bed.

Grandma Valeria insisted, Marie chimed in, and together they finally coerced her into remaking the bed. There, tucked in the bed, under the pillow - was my mothers Kewpie doll. My mother of course was elated and amazed. She had the beloved doll as did her sister.

But, a few days went by, and by that childhood process of logic my mother slowly figured out what had happened. She wasn't sure if, in house-hold chores she found package or wrapping or something, but somehow she deduced that what had happened was that the doll, ordered from a catalogue, had simply been late in arriving. She was a little saddened to discover there was no Santa Claus, but she was happier that Grandma Valeria and Aunt Marie has gone through that for her.

Sometimes We Need To Get A Sandwich...

Well, it is the day before Christmas.

It is very quiet here at work. I got one email this morning, from a customer, thanking me for a piece of work I did yesterday.

The phone has rung three times.

I read the entire San Jose Mercury News from front page to back page.

I am going to head out and get something for lunch in a few moments and maybe when I come back I might actually have a coherent thought or two to share.

But it is one of those days where coherent thoughts are optional.

I spoke with my step-father today. My aunt Marie passed away after being removed from life support. The funeral will be in Rapid City, SD on Monday, December 29th. A tough row for her family, but Aunt Marie never regained consciousness following her accident.

A little later in the day I might take the time to write about her and my memories of her and her family.

But, for now, I think I am going to go out and get a sandwich. Life and death are like that. They are always flowing. And sometimes we need to go get a
sandwich.