More Melancholy Seas

The undercurrent of the day was a very powerful strain of melancholy, processing feelings of loss, sorting through things.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I need to do a hard session of self-examination, but I just have not been up to it. I took the feelings of loss that arose today and dealt with each as it arose.  It the morning it was a bit of a tempest, a bit unexpected, out of control, powerful and tough to deal with.  As I moved through the day I settled into it and it just was what it was.

I had a nice lunch with Tony at Patxi's in the Pruneyard, then we popped over the AMC 14 and watched "The Iceman", starring Michael Shannon.  That was an excellent movie - some powerful performances by the lead actors - Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Chris Evans and Ray Liotta.  I'd recommend it if you're into true crime stories.  (And, for the record, Winona Ryder just radiates sensuality).

Then, home for the evening and the latest episode of Game of Thrones, followed by a long, hot soaking bath and a shower, then a few minutes contemplating what to do next before I decided to write a bit, then curl up and read a chapter or two in Leviathan Awakes.

Wish Me Luck

Today has been mostly a working day.  I slept in a bit, got up, sorted laundry, met Tony for breakfast, stopped at Fry's and picked up a new blue tooth (my Plantronics broke the other day), then came home, fired up the work laptop, and spent the the bulk of the day getting ready for the start of UAT tomorrow.  I am not quite as ready as I would like to be, but that is okay. I am as ready as I am going to be. Dinner was pizza at Patxi's, with an amusing over tipping incident - or at least amusing to me. Then, home again for the evening, a two mile walk through the neighborhood (body), futzing with my new blue tooth (which is charging right now), watching a bit of the Superbowl, and planning to do some more work email while I watch elementary, then early to bed and a quiet night reading.  Tomorrow is heavily loaded in the morning (five hours of meetings starting at 7:00 AM), and then a fairly clear afternoon. I am going to have plenty of opportunities for stress to get the best of me in the coming week, so I am going to try and enter it with the appropraite mindset and move as gracefully as I can through the week, trying my best not to let it get the best of me.  Wish me luck!

A Simple Weekend, More or Less

It was a nice weekend, though work felt like the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.  My calendar is mostly clear tomorrow, so I should be able to pull a productive day out of it.  I worked for a couple of hours today, but I couldn't really say that I accomplished anything significant. It was more of a shuffling of data in different directions.

Sunday was a mellow day.  Had breakfast with Bob and Tony, then stopped to pick up a couple of new pairs of blue jeans, then up to Edgie's to play a few hours of pool (I won, 4 out of 7 games), then Patxi's for a pizza, a leisurely after pizza walk - then home to Mythbusters and the Walking Dead and a quiet evening reading The Cloud Atlas.

In short, it was a very ordinary Sunday, which is just what the doctor ordered.  I hope I have a productive week at work and I hope everyone else has a productive week, because we have a lot of ground to try and cover in way too few days and hours.  I am going to try and not psych myself out over the whole thing - going to try and stay focused and stay productive, but that is never easy, especially not in the environment that we currently find ourselves in.

I am enjoying sitting in the quiet of the living room, reading, this evening, since I've turn the television off. I think I am going to slip into bed early today, just so I can read and ease into sleep, to prepare for the week to come.

A Day In A Blender

Today was a day. It is approaching 9:00 PM and I am winding the evening down with a few minutes of writing.  What can I say about the day...

It started okay, a good night sleep, the usual morning routine, but then I slammed right into the wall of frustration at work.  The incompetence associated with this project, the absolute lack of any standards or standard practices, is amazing.  For my portion of the project I was supposed to have the configuration done at close of business - but they way this ship is sailing, that was never going to happen. They continue to make changes and I continue to get new requirements into today. This is such an insane process I actually have no idea which direction to go.

Consequently, it was a very unproductive day, I spent most of it re-reading email that I had already read because things keep popping up that they think they covered earlier, but that I can't find any mention of - and so far, when I have checked the documentation trail, well, there is no evidence of any sort of documentation.  Which is actually a good thing because it means that I am not going insane.

So, in need of break from the insanity at work (notice how many times I've used insane or insanity in this entry), I met Tony and his friend Matt at Patxi's in Campbell for pizza after work.  As usual, truly outstanding Chicago style pizza. Good conversation followed and we lingered into the evening.  I came home, logged on, did some work related email, but the day is basically a write off.  I went through my personal mail (finally catching up on the mail from when I was on vacation), then watched the movie "Hesher" on DVR.  That is a strange but amusing movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman. I'd recommend it.

My plan for the remainder of the evening is to curl up and read a few chapters in "The January Dancer", a science fiction novel that I started while I was on vacation in SD.

And oh, I cannot let the day pass without denoting a monumental event.  For all the time I have known T.R. she has spoken of her desire to move to Charleston and open a small shop there.  (Six plus years now.) Today, with her Kitten Posse (as she calls her circle of family and friends), she made the move - she is now in Charleston. My heart soars at that.  So many people in this world have dreams and then never pursue them, in thrills me and inspires me to know that she is following hers. I cannot help but be excited for her!