All Tomorrows Questions

I did a movie double-hitter today.  I saw "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" at Cupertino Square and then "Parker" over at AMC 14 Saratoga.  It has been a long time since I have done a movie double-hitter, so it was fairly enjoyable.  It helped that they were both entertaining films - and oddly similar action adventure films.  I would recommend both of them as good popcorn fare.

After the movies I had a ham dinner over at Harry's Hofbrau, which was very filling.  So filling that I came home and felt compelled to take a nap. Following the nap, I took a long, hot, soaking bath and then a hot shower, both of which managed to help me make it into this park of the evening.  The clock seems to be slowly ticking away tonight and I am contemplating a wandering walk in the cool night. I haven't quite made that decision and its wrestling with the urge to spent the night reading.

It's pretty rare for me to censor myself here, but it happens every now and then - I just deleted an entire paragraph because I didn't like where it went.  I have mentioned before that I have strong reservations when it comes to putting other peoples business out online in my journal, even when part of that "business" does, rightfully, belong to me.  Additionally, there are things that I have specifically been asked to not write about, and I always honor those requests. In the paragraph I censored I didn't realize where it was going until I was already deep into the paragraph itself. So, censored, it remains silent.

I think there are times when I am reluctant to delve into deeper topics, in part because I do not like stirring those old still pools any more than necessary. There are other times when the words escape me.  Yet other times when the words and the will are there, but I just want to spend some time thinking about what exactly I am going to say.  This is one of the latter times. The words and the will are there, I just want to carefully craft what it is that I am going to say.

I did decide to work virtually tomorrow - I have seven hours worth of meetings, which almost always makes going into the office a rather pointless exercise, and I am expecting the arrival of a package from UPS tomorrow. I ordered a jacket online and it is supposed to come in tomorrow.  So, with the combination of the two reasons, it will be a perfect day to work from home.  That is one of the things that is nice about my job, that it affords me that opportunity.

In light of concerns about my aging parents and my step-fathers recovery from his fall, I've approached my boss about the possibility of going virtual in my work environment so that, if necessary, I can relocate to South Dakota.  It is not in the immediate plans, but I suspect it may become more and more likely as time goes on. That is also one of those very deep subjects that I need to take the time and dwell upon. The challenge is when to pull that trigger - I would certainly like to be there to support my parents, my only concern is that I could very easily go through the relocation and virtualization process, only to discover that it wasn't necessary, or that I did it too early.

It is made more complex by the fact that I am eligible to retire in just over two years.  This would be taking early retirement, it would mean a limited pension, but it would certainly be financially viable if I relocated to South Dakota.  That is one of the factors that I have to wrap into the whole mix of thoughts. It is tempting to stay in place and let the decisions be made for me, but that does run contrary to the importance I place on making our own decisions and choices as we go through life.

Well, as you can see, it is an evening of a lot of questions and no answers - so I reckon I will wrap it up here and call it a night.  I am sure the questions will remain into tomorrow.

The Second Day of Vacation - I Try Not To Run Errands

Today was the second day of my vacation and I started by lingering in bed. I spent some quality time with TR. I had a bowl of oatmeal. I had a cup of coffee. I sat in the living room in the silence of the morning, drinking my coffee, and listening to the birds sing. I thought about how overstimulated our lives can be in this modern age.

Breakfast was with Bob and Tony at the Hickory Pit, followed by a walk-through at Fry's Electronics, where I picked up a SD memory card for my video camera. I also grabbed a few other miscellaneous things I thought I needed and one of those things was Neil Young's greatest hits. the Neil Young CD kind of reached out and grabbed me because Tony was talking about the song "Cinnamon Girl" while we were at breakfast. Besides, you can never go wrong with Neil Young.

After breakfast I went out to run a couple of errands and had to slow myself down because I found myself rushing through the tasks. I literally stopped myself and reminded myself that there was no reason to rush. Normally I like to knock off all of my errands in one day on the weekend since it will leave me the other day free. Without really thinking about it I had slipped into that rhythm. So I told myself "slow down, slow down, slow down" and picked up assorted odds and ends that I've been needing.

Then I headed home, unpacked the items I bought, put some of them away, and put the rest to use. I spent a very lazy afternoon doing some incidental cleaning and watching the DVR. I watched an episode of "Haven" from SyFy, I watched an episode of "Torchwood: Miracle Day" from Starz, and I watched a Gemma Atherton movie "Tamara Drewe". All of them were worth watching. I especially enjoyed the movie with Gemma Atherton. It was sort of a sweet quirky little movie, which almost always gets me. I thought the best characters in the movie were the two young teenage girls who serve as sort of a Greek chorus, observing and commenting on all the goings-on. I'd recommend it if you can find it On Demand or on Netflix.

While I was sitting in my chair watching the DVR I also engaged in a little bit of cleaning. In my bathroom there are two drawers under the sink, under the vanity - they are incidental drawers and they end up with incidental toiletries. I emptied both the drawers, surveyed all the stuff inside, threw about half of it away, and cleaned the rest and put it back. When I say cleaned I mean scrubbed in hot water and took a toothbrush to them, where appropriate. It was productive and it fulfilled the needs of my cleaning bug.

There is a Zen simplicity in cleaning. The repetitiveness of the tasks, the rhythms, the ability to fall into a sort of mindful state while you're cleaning is powerful stuff. So that was my day in a nutshell. Enjoyable. Simple. Productive. Entertaining.

I also, while I was on my errands, stopped and picked myself up a birthday present. My birthday is coming up next week, and there was an item that I've been meaning to get for several months now, but kept forgetting. It isn't a must-have but it was definitely a want to have kind of thing. It's the Kindle III. I have a Kindle II of course and I've spoken of my love for it. My II is several years old has seen better days so I've decommissioned it and stepped into the newer product. I'm going to enjoy it.