Friday the 13th arrives. An interesting fact that in the Greek and Spanish traditions, the unlucky day is Tuesday the 13th.
Rise with some difficulty, as we were up late last night. Morning practices, shower, dress and pack for the Cape. Traveling light this weekend - the only real bulk in my bag are the pillows. Also grab some beverages left over from our 4th of July party.
In to work a bit later than I would like, but no big deal. Commiserating a bit with some of the other folks in the office, though there is the news that at least one group will be staying on campus through 2009. There is some hope for the IT people that they may not have to leave for a while. For me, I doubt it changes anything.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
11 July 2007 (Wednesday)
Well then, a full week away from the journal. Back-posting in progress for the weekend.
Rise at 6:25 this morning - pretty good considering the days off this week. Morning practices and out the door, get gas for the car and in to work by 8. My morning is clear, so I spend it going through e-mails and making calls out on projects.
Lunch today is a picnic for the department - the weather isn't great, but it's still good to get outside and mingle with the remaining crew.
Meetings through the afternoon, and heading home (hopefully) at 4.
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Home, and thoroughly unmotivated - so an evening watching A Prairie Home Companion and Superman Returns.
Rise at 6:25 this morning - pretty good considering the days off this week. Morning practices and out the door, get gas for the car and in to work by 8. My morning is clear, so I spend it going through e-mails and making calls out on projects.
Lunch today is a picnic for the department - the weather isn't great, but it's still good to get outside and mingle with the remaining crew.
Meetings through the afternoon, and heading home (hopefully) at 4.
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Home, and thoroughly unmotivated - so an evening watching A Prairie Home Companion and Superman Returns.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
10 July 2007 (Tuesday) Creeping towards 40
A day not at the day-job, but still at work.
Rise at 7:00, morning practices, then outside to water the gardens. Spend about 20 minutes getting things set up, then in to shower. Once showered and dressed, I move the sprinklers around to different parts of the garden and head to DMV.
At DMV, I head to the testing department. It is crowded here with all of the teens in to do their driving tests. All in all, it takes about an hour for me to go in, fill out the paperwork, wait, take the motorcycle test, wait, talk to the person verifying the paperwork and the test, wait, bring my paperwork to the photo guy, wait, take my picture, wait, get my new license.
Back home and move the sprinklers again and head out to grab some breakfast. Out to the Cosmic Omelette for a breakfast burger. Chat with one of the regulars about concerts (he's going to Roger Waters tonight), Harry Potter and the golden age of Science Fiction (Robert Heinlein, in particular). Back home and enter into a silent debate about going to Foxwoods to play some live poker. Opt for a quick on-line game, then change and start working on the shed.
Spend the afternoon building a new 8' shelf in the shed, including cutouts for the framing, a round-over on the edge of the shelf, and shelf supports with angle cuts. Also build folding arms to hold the various spikes and tomato poles. I made these with a bridle joint with certain edges rounded to allow the parts to rotate around a central pin. Unfortunately, I made the joints too loose and had to add an extra pin to stop the rotation. The curves were pretty sloppy as well - I could really use a bandsaw for these types of things. Finally, I put a fake outlet on the wall so I could store the extension cord splitters, rather than putting them in a pot.
Found myself being grumpy again later in the afternoon. I think I know why this is, but it is still difficult to articulate in a way that isn't hurtful.
Lisa naps while I play a few more rounds of poker on-line. After this, out to the movies, then home and to bed. Transformers kick ass.
Rise at 7:00, morning practices, then outside to water the gardens. Spend about 20 minutes getting things set up, then in to shower. Once showered and dressed, I move the sprinklers around to different parts of the garden and head to DMV.
At DMV, I head to the testing department. It is crowded here with all of the teens in to do their driving tests. All in all, it takes about an hour for me to go in, fill out the paperwork, wait, take the motorcycle test, wait, talk to the person verifying the paperwork and the test, wait, bring my paperwork to the photo guy, wait, take my picture, wait, get my new license.
Back home and move the sprinklers again and head out to grab some breakfast. Out to the Cosmic Omelette for a breakfast burger. Chat with one of the regulars about concerts (he's going to Roger Waters tonight), Harry Potter and the golden age of Science Fiction (Robert Heinlein, in particular). Back home and enter into a silent debate about going to Foxwoods to play some live poker. Opt for a quick on-line game, then change and start working on the shed.
Spend the afternoon building a new 8' shelf in the shed, including cutouts for the framing, a round-over on the edge of the shelf, and shelf supports with angle cuts. Also build folding arms to hold the various spikes and tomato poles. I made these with a bridle joint with certain edges rounded to allow the parts to rotate around a central pin. Unfortunately, I made the joints too loose and had to add an extra pin to stop the rotation. The curves were pretty sloppy as well - I could really use a bandsaw for these types of things. Finally, I put a fake outlet on the wall so I could store the extension cord splitters, rather than putting them in a pot.
Found myself being grumpy again later in the afternoon. I think I know why this is, but it is still difficult to articulate in a way that isn't hurtful.
Lisa naps while I play a few more rounds of poker on-line. After this, out to the movies, then home and to bed. Transformers kick ass.
Monday, July 9, 2007
9 July 2007 (Monday) Workin' Them Angels
Rise at 6 with the pets, and then duck back and snooze a bit longer. Rise and putter with Lisa around the gardens, then we opt for an early nap, as we're both tired and we know tonight will be a late night.
Rise and putter some more. Head out for dinner at Abbott''s and then to the Mohegan Sun for Rush (!).
I have to say, I've seen most of their shows in the past 20 years, and the past three tours are as good as they get (the Vapor Trails tour was probably the best). The set list:
Set 1:
01. Limelight
02. Digital Man
03. Entre Nous
04. Mission
05. Freewill
06. The Main Monkey Business
07. The Larger Bowl
08. Secret Touch
09. Circumstances
10. Between The Wheels
11. Dreamline
Intermission
Set 2:
12. Far Cry
13. Workin' Them Angels
14. Armor And Sword
15. Spindrift
16. The Way The Wind Blows
17. Subdivisions
18. Natural Science
19. Witch Hunt
20. Malignant Narcissism
21. Drum Solo
22. Hope
23. Distant Early Warning
24. The Spirit Of Radio
25. Tom Sawyer
Encore:
26. One Little Victory
27. A Passage to Bangkok
28. YYZ
3 hours & 15 minutes of my wife and I dancing and singing at the top of our lungs.
Rise and putter some more. Head out for dinner at Abbott''s and then to the Mohegan Sun for Rush (!).
I have to say, I've seen most of their shows in the past 20 years, and the past three tours are as good as they get (the Vapor Trails tour was probably the best). The set list:
Set 1:
01. Limelight
02. Digital Man
03. Entre Nous
04. Mission
05. Freewill
06. The Main Monkey Business
07. The Larger Bowl
08. Secret Touch
09. Circumstances
10. Between The Wheels
11. Dreamline
Intermission
Set 2:
12. Far Cry
13. Workin' Them Angels
14. Armor And Sword
15. Spindrift
16. The Way The Wind Blows
17. Subdivisions
18. Natural Science
19. Witch Hunt
20. Malignant Narcissism
21. Drum Solo
22. Hope
23. Distant Early Warning
24. The Spirit Of Radio
25. Tom Sawyer
Encore:
26. One Little Victory
27. A Passage to Bangkok
28. YYZ
3 hours & 15 minutes of my wife and I dancing and singing at the top of our lungs.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
4 July 2007 (Wednesday)
Rise at 8:00, and go through the normal morning routines. Out to the yard to help with a few last minute items, then to the store for some forgotten food items, with a final stop at the ice house. Back home, some last minute cleaning and food prep, and then a short break before beginning basic cooking.
The afternoon is spent pleasantly with a number of friends and family, eating well, and enjoying the rain under the awning on the deck.
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How can so many people still find this President is still doing good for our nation, or the world?
The afternoon is spent pleasantly with a number of friends and family, eating well, and enjoying the rain under the awning on the deck.
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How can so many people still find this President is still doing good for our nation, or the world?
Monday, July 2, 2007
2 July 2007 (Monday)
So, a staggered week begins (due to the 4th being in the middle of the week). Rise a bit late, as I was up a bit later than I had expected. One quick check of work e-mail finds another meeting reschedule for my first meeting, so I'll be in to work a little closer to the meeting that I might otherwise like. Short meeting in the end, as Thomas has another meeting that has been rescheduled. More meetings on global financials and the convoluted ways we deal with the global business. Reason is slowly creeping in to the organization, but not at a pace that can save me any time soon.
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Out for lunch, and back to the office feeling a little groggy. Two afternoon meetings, one of which is a project kickoff meeting. I was pretty shaky, and my technical resource was just coming back from a funeral, so the meeting wasn't as sharp as I might have liked, but we got through it. I need to find some meeting resources and make sure that I get the most out of these initial hours of a project. The rest of the day spent dealing with some audit results and recalculating financial information.
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Back home and really dragging. Lisa and I head out to do the bulk shopping for the 4th. Some beef, chicken and salmon for the grill. We were both so distracted that we forgot all of the non-perishable items we had planned on getting. This just means I need to jump into the fire tomorrow. Once home again, we do a little yard clean-up, move the new holly's up to where they will be planted (and out of the sun), do some watering and watch the poppers open. Finally, we pull all of the folding chairs out, hose them down and hit them with Nature's Miracle to see if we can drive out the mildewy smell from the shed. Some light computing and then to bed.
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Out for lunch, and back to the office feeling a little groggy. Two afternoon meetings, one of which is a project kickoff meeting. I was pretty shaky, and my technical resource was just coming back from a funeral, so the meeting wasn't as sharp as I might have liked, but we got through it. I need to find some meeting resources and make sure that I get the most out of these initial hours of a project. The rest of the day spent dealing with some audit results and recalculating financial information.
---------------------------
Back home and really dragging. Lisa and I head out to do the bulk shopping for the 4th. Some beef, chicken and salmon for the grill. We were both so distracted that we forgot all of the non-perishable items we had planned on getting. This just means I need to jump into the fire tomorrow. Once home again, we do a little yard clean-up, move the new holly's up to where they will be planted (and out of the sun), do some watering and watch the poppers open. Finally, we pull all of the folding chairs out, hose them down and hit them with Nature's Miracle to see if we can drive out the mildewy smell from the shed. Some light computing and then to bed.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
7/1/2007 (Sunday) - The Weekend
This weekend was spent at the Basic Motorcycle Riders Safety Course. Now, I was a little intimidated from the class - essentially, there is a lot of material covering what could go wrong when you are on a motorcycle, that you are essentially invisible to most motorists, and very vulnerable. Saturday morning was our first time on the bikes, all 250cc or smaller machines. We worked through the basics - parts, operations, safety, learning the slip zone on the clutch, basic movement and maneuvering and so on. It was a bit warm, but my new helmet is surprisingly well ventilated, and I was warm, but never overly so. After lunch, it was back into the classroom to complete the work from Thursday. The program is well designed, with the classroom material presented in three ways: the written page, verbally from the instructor and visually from a video. I found this interesting, as it covers the common ways people learn in these situations. A quick written "evaluation" and we are done by 3:30 PM.
Home a bit earlier than expected Saturday, though I am thoroughly exhausted from the riding portion of the class. The rain comes in heavy late in the evening and things finally cool off completely.
Sunday began a bit earlier, as we didn't quite get through all of the exercises on the bikes Saturday. The whole day is spent fine tuning and developing our skills. We had two people leave the class today. The first had witnessed a serious bike accident the night before on the way home from class and while she had seemed to have shaken that off before she arrived, after about 20 minutes on the bike she couldn't continue. Quite understandable. The second rolled his ankle under the bike during an exercise, and while it wasn't serious, he felt that he was done - this was a shame really, as he was the shakiest at the outset, and had really developed well, becoming more confident as he went.
At the end of the day, we go through our riding skills evaluations, and all pass. By the end of the day we were all having fun, and even with the stress of being "tested", we all were having a blast. Afterwards, I went with a couple of the other riders for a celebratory beer at a local. The class population was very interesting: about half of us were older and had no riding experience, and the other half were mostly young dudes with some experience, a little showy in some cases but generally good. One of the women in the "older" group (we were all late 30's to early 40's) was really funny (and a bit of a horndog). It was fun watching the mild discomfort of a couple of the dudes when she was hitting on them. A good time overall.
Home, and find that the circle meeting is canceled for tonight, so some quiet time at home. Scrounge a bit for dinner and end up going shopping for some basics.
---------------------------------------
It's sad as I look back on this week - I've spent very little time with the guitar.
Home a bit earlier than expected Saturday, though I am thoroughly exhausted from the riding portion of the class. The rain comes in heavy late in the evening and things finally cool off completely.
Sunday began a bit earlier, as we didn't quite get through all of the exercises on the bikes Saturday. The whole day is spent fine tuning and developing our skills. We had two people leave the class today. The first had witnessed a serious bike accident the night before on the way home from class and while she had seemed to have shaken that off before she arrived, after about 20 minutes on the bike she couldn't continue. Quite understandable. The second rolled his ankle under the bike during an exercise, and while it wasn't serious, he felt that he was done - this was a shame really, as he was the shakiest at the outset, and had really developed well, becoming more confident as he went.
At the end of the day, we go through our riding skills evaluations, and all pass. By the end of the day we were all having fun, and even with the stress of being "tested", we all were having a blast. Afterwards, I went with a couple of the other riders for a celebratory beer at a local. The class population was very interesting: about half of us were older and had no riding experience, and the other half were mostly young dudes with some experience, a little showy in some cases but generally good. One of the women in the "older" group (we were all late 30's to early 40's) was really funny (and a bit of a horndog). It was fun watching the mild discomfort of a couple of the dudes when she was hitting on them. A good time overall.
Home, and find that the circle meeting is canceled for tonight, so some quiet time at home. Scrounge a bit for dinner and end up going shopping for some basics.
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It's sad as I look back on this week - I've spent very little time with the guitar.
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