Wednesday, May 28 - Day 169 - Day 31

Had an okey-dokey day at the office, and started the wheels in motion to determine if I can move from a three-day week to four. It's not a given due to the nature of the contract, and the customer may balk at my extraordinary cost. However, that would be short sighted, I still believe I can help move their operation to the next level, empowering their workforce with easy to use technology, and training their staff to embed the processes needed to ensure continuous improvement. But, ya' never know, and if my biggest problem is I can't work four days a week, I'm living pretty large.

Ooohhh, that bed is calling my name, this has been one tough two-day week!

Tuesday, May 27 - Day 168 - Day 30

Good god, don't know if I'm getting old, or if working a short week makes my workdays more brutal. I'm exhausted. Well, can't whine too much, it's a friggin' two-day week, I'm sure I'll snap back on Thursday!

Started reading "Still Life with Crows", one of the Pendergast novels, and its nice to have a good book to look forward to. Need to get a good nights sleep, and hit it hard tomorrow.

Monday, May 26 - Day 167 - Day 29

Jesus, this entire Memorial Day weekend has blessed us with, hands down, the best weather I can remember in the DC area during May. Crystal clear skies, 70ish degrees, cool breezes and bright, warming sun. Freakin' awesome.

Did my laundry first thing today, and got schooled on how brutal Virginia clay is on jeans. As I mentioned Saturday, it's been a long time since I've been dirty, so I don't have a lot of strategies dealing with dirty clothes. The only difference between the appearance of my jeans before and after they went in the washer was they were wet, the huge red spots at the knees remained untouched. May have to chalk those pants up to experience, don't think they're ever coming clean!

Got a little caught up in bad scheduling today, grabbed a quick workout, hit a barbeque for my friend Jenny (was hoping Pierre would be there, but alas, he toils in Miami still), then hit "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" just on principal. I'm a movie junkie, and for some reason I've lost my passion for the theater recently. And damnit, I wasn't going to miss a huge Memorial Day event movie with a big crowd. I sat next to some way too jaded kids, who ripped on the sophistication of the effect, while simultaneously jumping at the scares. It was kind of hilarious really. It was a satisfying experience, not that the film was brilliant, but it was brilliantly appropriate for the end of the long weekend.

Had to get home and get my food cooked for the week, but couldn't muster the energy to shine my shoes, which are getting that real hobo look about them. Whatever, need to get some sleep!

Sunday, May 25 - Day 166 - Day 28

Started the day at the gym, with a good delt workout, though I chickened out of doing some "real life" stair work afterward. As I think I mentioned earlier, I got seriously winded when the escalator at the subway stalled, and am committed to fixing my wind (even with my horribly banged up leg joints).

Visited a new friend downtown this morning, which was fun, however I forgot about that crazy Rolling Thunder thing that happens every Memorial Day, and found myself confronted with finding alternative routes out of the city. Again, stellar weather made any annoyance small, when just the act of hanging your arm out the window brings little shivers of joy.

Had a late lunch with some friends, then got some shopping taken care of. My novel, like an abused, neglected child, sits in the corner wondering when Daddy's coming home.

Saturday, May 24 - Day 165 - Day 27

What a bodacious day, and a great example of not making assumptions about what'll be fun or not. Victoria has talked about going down south to a crystal mine to dig for crystals for the last couple of years, but we never got around to it. When Kitten suggested we hit the mines this weekend, it sounded like a nice little adventure, so we strapped into the truck and hit the road. (It's important to point out how AWESOME the weather is this Memorial Day weekend, it's the kind of weather that makes taking the trash out a special treat.) Traffic on 95 was predictably hellish, but the vibe of the day made any annoyance hard to feel.

Unbeknownst to either of us, the morefield mine is going to close next Saturday, and when we got there we were treated to a kind of crystal-digging Woodstock. The old lady who runs the place said they had, like, 550 visitors that day, and let me tell ya', they were hungry for some shiny rocks.

I was reminded of two important things, one, that the smell of honeysuckle should always be a part of your life, and two, digging around in the dirt and mud never gets old. I'm kind of ashamed to say that I can't recall the last time I was truly dirty, and that's messed up.

Kitten and I hit a roadside stand, and grabbed some strawberries (a little on the tart side), and enjoyed the ride back to DC. There are few pleasures as subtle and enjoyable as a good road trip, I'll have to come up with someplace else to hit soon.

Friday, May 23 - Day 164 - Day 26

The beautiful and doomed hunchback aunt, loved far longer than she lived. The sister sent to live with the church, never to be spoken to again by the sister left behind. The wanton and outlandish sister, one night bailed out the drunk tank by the loyal and disapproving brother, peppering him with hugs and kisses mumbling "thank you brother bean" in a deep slur. Brother Bean proceeds to shove a fistful of snow into her yap in an attempt to sober her up. The slow uncle, who found an unlikely, sophisticated, educated and life long friend in the army. The twin brothers becoming lifelong addicts, both finding women to marry and care for them at the age of 50. The pious and devout young father of 14 children who succumbs to alcoholism, when banished by the wife who could take no more, swears he'll return to kidnap the baby girl. He lives past 100, surviving not only his constant alcoholism but many brushes with death, only to succumb to a fall down the stairs still in the best of health. His threat to kidnap the little girl is never forgotten, and her brothers protect her every step beyond the house, in the process spoiling her rotten.

These things, which sound like Victorian melodrama, are the stories of my ancestors, two generations removed living their lives in Colorado Springs and Kansas City around the turn of the century. I jot these down for two reasons, one to remind me to get more details from the family, but second to remind me how easily a life is summed up in a sentence or two. Our ego's don't like the idea of being summed up in a sentence, but more than not, its the best we get.

What sentence do you want to be remembered as?

I purchased an abridged audio copy of "Think and Grow Rich" today, and can see why something so old has remained in the consciousness of American success. I'll need to digest the two hours of content a few more times to comment effectively, but the text speaks to where I find my mind of late, and offers strategies for pushing beyond.

Thursday, May 22 - Day 163 - Day 25

Finally got my bike fixed today, but it took freakin' forever! I also got a lot of the shrubs and brush cleared from my life, balanced the check book, scrubbed the tub, threw away old shoes, stored some books, grocery shopped, cleaned up some office shenanigans, caught up on some personal correspondence, got quarters to do laundry, paid the bills.

Forgot to swing by my old office, I never bothered to tell anyone I wouldn't be using it anymore, but I got a note from somebody to get my stuff the hell out. So I'll run over before the morning workout, to avoid the need to put on long pants, and say goodbye to my old life.

This is going to be a five-day weekend, with a road-trip on Saturday, and cook-out on Monday, so I need to squeeze as much as I can out of Friday and Sunday. Yikes, I just realized its Memorial Day weekend, and it's time to run over to the Key Bridge Marriott and get my summer pool membership. I waited late in the season last year, and I'll be damned if I miss any primo pool time this year!

Wednesday, May 21 - Day 162 - Day 24

The epiphanies keep on comin', perhaps predictably, my basic low-level frustrations with the overall arc of my life being what they are. And when things are complex, the best course of action is simplifying. I'm reminded of the Napoleon HIll quote "A goal is a dream with a deadline." So, first things first, set the goal then decide what needs to be sacrificed to achieve it.

I'm living an profoundly comfortable life, and that's something that I tend to be wary of, struggle has the quality of focusing your attention. I need to make peace with my decision to "be smart" and not consign myself to short term poverty, by stripping some of the lower pleasures from my life. This, and full commitment to (again, one of Hill's concepts) a "Definite Major Purpose".

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is all a lot fruity gibberish, I'm just working out an issue rattling in my noggin. Transformation and reinvention are needed, and soon, need to feel that energy that only comes from being driven, and it's that drive that is missing.

Tuesday, May 20 - Day 161 - Day 23

Good god, it's 6:44, gotta' knock this entry out so I can stick to my one-day-old new habits of getting off the box early.

Anyway, had a small epiphany today, need to adjust my psychological relationship with "work". There's a school of religious and psychological thought that defines the concept of "suffering" as trying to control the uncontrollable. Which, more often than not, is the result of incorrectly identifying that which is controllable. What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Put simply, my vision of the scope of my work was broader than it should be, and I was finding myself frustrated by things that I don't have direct control or influence over. And that's just silly.

So, I'm adjusting my reality-o-meter back a bit, so that I only focus on the aspects of the project that I, indeed, control the success or failure of.

Oh, and I almost forgot to call my sister yesterday for her birthday, but thank god for the calendars on my walls to remind me!

No workout today, didn't hit the sack till around 9:30 last night, and it killed me this morning. Think I'll jump under the covers at 8:00 tonight, just to be safe.

Monday, May 19 - Day 160 - Day 22

Had head out to the office at 6:30 this morning, for, what turned out to be no reason this morning. I had worked on Friday (normally a day off) in order to ensure that all was fully prepared for the tests we were to conduct this morning, however a technology snafu meant there was nothing to test. So, 16 hours straight down the tubes, very annoying. Whatever, life stops being hard when you stop breathing, so I'll stop whining.

The escalator at my Metro stop was out of commission this evening, which gave me an opportunity to see just how bad my cardiovascular conditioning is. Will need to add a few walks up the escalator to my weekly routine.

Need to finish up and get this posted, I've decided to stop all computer activity each day at 7:00, and only allow myself 15 minutes in the morning. I've noticed I get into these OCD-like loops (of little value) when I let myself "surf" and email without a time limit. Technology is great, but it also gives the illusion of "doing something" when, in fact, all your doing is typing.

Sunday, May 18 - Day 159 - Day 21

Well, this was a full day, not quite the one I set out to have; but enjoyable nonetheless.

Dropped the hammer early, getting my grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. done in time for a leisurely workout at 11:00. Then got a call from Victoria, who was going to DSW which reminded me of my tattered casual footwear. So I drove over to Silver Spring, and we proceeded to have an excellent afternoon. Although, it wore on much later than I'd expected and I didn't hit the homestead till 8:15ish, so my bedtime got a little out of whack.

Need to hit the office early, so I'll shut this down right now and go hop in the sack.

Saturday, May 17 - Day 158 - Day 20

Okay people, yes, it's been 17 days since I posted, and, yes, I only posted 5 times during April. I'm not happy with that pattern, however, these things happen. And happen rather predictably, if I have one serious weakness, it's that I rely on the discipline of scheduling to get things done, and when the schedule gets compromised (work getting out of control, trips, personal commitments I choose to engage in, whatever) it leads to a period where I start looking at everything as a legit "exception" to the core discipline. It's just sad really, I'm certainly beyond this being a shock, but its still something I'll need to "fix" if I'm going to accomplish the goals I have for myself. So, this is one of those steps, I envision this journal as being both a place to jot down random thoughts, and as a daily check on my long term activities and when I allow it to go fallow, it's a strong indication that I'm not dropping the hammer. So, here we go again, I'll do this for the coming week and then contact some friends and family to ask them to check this from time to time, and grill me if I miss more than a day in a row.

Enough "bookkeeping" talk, I had a strange moment the other day. I was watching a movie, sprawled like a manatee on my couch, when I heard what can only be described as an explosion (or a large thing falling and landing flat), and as I explored the apartment I found that the rear tire on my bike just randomly blew out. Inner tube, tire, the whole caboodle blew out. While I'm glad it didn't happen while I was riding (and the more I think of it, something that catastrophic would likely be very bad given how lackadaisical I am when I ride), I'm still confronted with getting this thing fixed. And after two bike shops and Target, I've yet to find replacement parts.

Whatever, that's the least of my challenges, I still need to contact my firm and change my working arrangement from three days to four, I'm finding that my "very" short work week is causing me some issues with gaining traction with the client. And Daddy needs traction.

Okay, enough of this gibberish, I can check "update the site" off my list, and get on with more amusing things!