Month: November 2018

And this is where I’m really overdoing it.

Such a long day, after such a long weekend, and I have so much left to do.

I really just don’t have an idea of how many free hours I’m going to donate this week;  I hope that eventually I’ll reap the benefit of it.

Recap of your year month-by-month.

January:  wintertime in the new place in Norfolk.  I was still working in hell, but I was taking full advantage of the ability to go to and from home on weekdays. at least some of the time.  It was incredibly cold, and it snowed a bunch.

February:  Sarah’s preparations to leave, and I was digging hard looking for a new job.

March:  Sarah came up north, and I continued toiling away in the freezer box where I was.

April:  I got fired.  I also got a replacement job in pretty short order that’d allow me to work from pretty much anywhere after a week’s training on the sinister coast.  It was contract-to-hire until they won the recompete.

May:  I moved north.  I’d heard nothing from the company who’d hired me about preparations for the training on the west coast, so I started looking for something else.  I got an offer on the something else that, while not what I really wanted, would have paid the bills for a bit.

June: After failing to find something different to avoid the job I’d received an offer on, I started there.  This was after I’d finally gotten in touch with the recruiter from the west coast thing.  Turns out they’d lost the recompete, and were scrambling to figure things out.  So I started the job where I’d gotten the offer.  For a change, I had my own cubicle.  But I wasn’t sure that I was really going to like the work.  There was one guy there who I’d worked with before.  I was starting to put some of my experience to use when I got a surreptitious email saying something along the lines of, “I’m not supposed to talk to you, but you need to email this guy.”  While I was composing the email to that guy, he phoned me, and offered me a job with the company that’d won the recompete.  So, eight days after I started at the place I didn’t want to be, I gave notice, and left.  June would have also been my first missed Tysabri dose, and I was not feeling well because of it.  I did see my neurologist at Georgetown for the first time, a week after I’d missed my scheduled Tysabri dose.  The neuro I’m seeing is the lady I’d seen when I came up a couple of years ago looking to be a test subject for whatever MS research they were doing.  She was excited to have me after I’d tried, and failed, to get in with the cutting-edge myelin repair work at George Washington.

July:  Independence Day saw me getting a round of IV steroids. because of the missed Tysabri.  Finally did get the dose two weeks after the round of IV steroids.

August:  See my writings from then, please.

September:  Finally started to get things straight with my medical stuff.

October:  So much work.

And, yeah, this is half-assed.  I’m sorry.  Or not.  My mother is here for Thanksgiving, so I should go be social or something.

What would you do if someone just gave you $1 million?

In a flippant response, I initially typed, “QUIT.”

No, actually, I probably wouldn’t.

I like what I’m doing too much, even after the eleven hour shift on Saturday, and hair-ripping frustration with a project today.  My eyes are swimming, and my shoulders hurt.

But I like it.

This is a good situation for me, far better than the shit I’ve dealt with for the past five-plus years.

Maybe the migration away from that endless streak of bullshit is the reason I’m in such a positive mood?  Maybe it’s also why I have zero desire to visit Norfolk.  Things turned sour so radically that I wonder if they could ever be okay there, again.  I know my wife wants to go back, and I understand why.  I hope she understands why I can’t find the smallest motivation to.

I
Don't
Care

Like Jay Cutler.

What else is there to write about?  I’m not really sure.  The Saints laid a serious beatdown on the Iggles yesterday afternoon.  Alex Smith with the compound fracture in this leg;  ick.  Or seeing the Not-Don’t-Care Bears beat up on the Vikings.

I really still hate the 3-4, but that was a good game last night.

Tonight’s the Chiefs at the Rams.  Could be fun.

If I can stay up.

Eleven hour shifts on Saturdays kinda screw up the the whole weekend.

But I may well not have to work Wednesday, now.  I have stuff planned to work on Friday while most others are coming out of their turkey-induced comas.

What can you do?

What is on your bucket list? (A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die)?

This one is really a lot tougher than I thought it’d be when I chose to recycle it.

Do I feel accomplished?  No.  Am I satisfied with what I’ve done?  Yep.

I mentioned one of the things I was looking forward to doing that I won’t be able to do, but I don’t think that it’d be something where when I die, I, or someone else, might think I missed out.

So, what do I want to do?

Experience NYC.  I would like to take the Acela from DC, stay in a grand old hotel, eat at fancy restaurants, etc.  Though Les Halles is closed, I’m sure there’s something worthwhile.

At the same time, after the last few years, I’m really just looking for an opportunity to relax for awhile;  I don’t know that I could do that in NYC.  Or anywhere.

So go from one thing to another, hoping I might get into a position where I can take a breath.

So, with catching up for yesterday out of the way, on to today.

I’m working in the background.  Thankfully, this is kind of a light day work-wise.

Prompt:

Tell about what triggers anger in you or someone else.

This is a really tough one these days.  There’s very little I get too upset about these days.

Some of that is a feeling of futility;  what can I do about x?

Nothing.

Bubuhbut you could do something to force people to do what you want them to do.

Um, no, I have a problem with that.

Live your life as you choose, but let others do that, too.  If you’re unwilling to do that, that’s your problem, not mine.

But how do I convince others to adopt that way of thinking?  I haven’t figured it out yet.  But convincing people is the only thing I can do without resorting to violence.

Just as I’d been congratulating myself for sticking to this, getting everything togerher on-time, I totally spaced on it until I was already in bed last night.

Another incredibly busy day working, then calculating the particulars of Thanksgiving.

I guess we’re going to my SIL’s family’s gathering.  That means I don’t have to cook.

Um.

I was actually sort of excited about doing that.  My wife isn’t a big turkey fan, so I probably won’t have an excuse to try doing it again this year, unless I get the call to do Christmas dinner.

That said, the incredible success of the homemade prime rib might get calls for that, instead.

It’s fine, though.

I may have to revisit some of my prompts for later in the month, when I’m discussing Thanksgiving plans, and results.

On to yesterday’s prompt…..

What was the last thing on your mind as you fell asleep last night?

These sheets are really warm.  I wish the air coming through my mask was similarly warm.

It snowed here, Thursday, probably more than people had expected.  Very cold in the house, which I don’t like.  For whatever reason, they like to keep this place colder than I would.  Maybe it’s for the benefit of one of the animals, but I’m not going to ask.  It’s just impetus to get out.

I did find some promising landing targets.  They probably aren’t what Sarah’s looking for, but they’re where I’d be, again, comfortable.  Maybe.  Is that even possible?

Halftime.

So, I’ve kept up with this, albeit it some of them have been kind of half-assed.

I’m incredibly busy, and I’m having trouble keeping up with everything lately.  Case in point?  I had to schedule a dental appointment I had scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving.  I got an emergency work task that’ll not let me get away.

To that, too, I’ve been working pretty much continuously since 0800, and am just now stopping at 1800.  Sofa King Tired.

So, what else interesting is going on?  I’m cooking for Thanksgiving.  I’m not doing anything terribly fancy.  I don’t get an opportunity to do much cooking anymore, so I take the opportunities as they come.  About the extent of my culinary adventures lately is either reheating leftovers in the oven, or nuking microwave ramen or pho.

I guess, though, I should be more attentive, but there’s only so many spoons at the ready.

Hmmm.  Spoons.  I want pudding.

Yeah, I’m finished concentrating for the day.  *yawn*  What’s for dinner?

I will say this, though, before I run, I like doing this each November.  It is something on which I can focus apart from my health, and my work.  Maybe I should find better prompts to get the writing flowing a bit more.  Hmmmmmmmm….

Compile a list of words that describe you as a child. Compile a second list that describes you as you are now.  How are these lists the same? How are they different?

Then:  Cartman.

Now:  Husband.  Hard worker.  Mustache platform.  Wife annoyer.

My wife isn’t really enjoying the ‘stache this year.

Very, very long day today.  See the second phrase of the “now” §.

I know for sure I couldn’t pull off the work I’m doing now if I was having to drag myself into an office.

The Chiefs-Rams’ game got moved out of Messico because the players were worried about getting injured.  I guess the players don’t remember Veterans’ Stadium in Philly.

I got my MRI results back.  The person who was reviewing them didn’t have my last one for comparison, but there weren’t any active lesions, at least.

The machine up here was a bit noisier than the one in Norfolk, but not nearly as loud as the one they used when I was diagnosed.

How much do I have to work tomorrow?  Another late night scheduled, plus work on Saturday.  Pffft.

I am looking forward to a bit of a break Christmas and New Year’s.

What is your favorite kind of weather?  Why?

I actually went outside today, so this is kind of applicable.

I really like the early fall;  middle-September to about middle-October.  You still get warm days, but it gets cool at night.  There might still be some tropical weather, but it won’t stay uncomfortably humid.  If the power goes out, it’s not going to be too bothersome.

i write this, of course, just as it looks like it’s going to snow here on Thursday.

Synoptically, the set-up is favorable for a winter storm. However, since it`s so earlier in the season, the quality of the cold air is in question, and ground temperatures aren`t especially cold yet.

I showed Sarah the fun that is the NWS Forecast Discussion for Katrina, which I saw come across the AP wire when I came in to work that evening.

I still get a shiver running up my back when I read it.

After a very long day, though, it’s time for me to stop for the evening.

What has been the biggest disappointment in your life that turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

I’ve been pondering this today, interrupted by an interaction with someone from the past.

I was going to say the job that got me away from radio.  I threw myself into it, and came away with bills that I’d be paying for years.

What can I say?  Perhaps a part of me is a bit obsessive.

But I think writing about that does kind of fit the bill.  I absolutely gave every ounce of energy I had to making that whole thing go.  I wrote.  I engineered.  I traveled.  I spent my own meager funds, and I ended up with a better job.

In that better job, I did the same thing.

Did either end up being a “blessing in disguise?”  That’s tough to say, especially that better job.  The first one gave me the opportunity to meet, and fall in love with, my wife.  I have no idea where I’d be, or what I’d be doing had I not met her.

As I plod through this, I get distracted by things like, “why do I seem to be consistently mistyping ‘I”d,” instead of ‘I’d’?”

Maybe I should improve my retrospection.

There’s lots of people with whom I should be resentful, but I can’t bring myself to be.

Maybe that’s the “blessing in disguise” — that I am able to forgive?  My dad used often bring up the JFK quote, “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”

I could spend a lot of time focusing on how I’ve been wronged, and who did it, but I haven’t the energy.

I’m content with who I am.  I may not be content with my lot in life, but I’m working on that.

Veterans’ Day.

I’ve been watching the services marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I on C-SPAN.

None of the cable news networks had anything on.  Somehow that’s fitting.  It also explains the stupidity I saw when I mistakenly looked at what was out on Facebook. The Marines didn’t want to fly in typically-poor late-fall European weather.

At some point, you have to leave the negativity behind.

So, WWI.  The C-SPAN coverage has been interesting.  One of the callers was talking about his grandfather on a ship out of Newport News.  I looked it up, and one of the photos shown was it sitting pierside at the Coal Piers in Newport News.

Hey!  I’ve worked there before.  On the USNS Red Cloud.

Of course, there’s also the Victory Arch in Newport News, which was built on West Avenue for the returning troops to walk underneath as they were getting off ships from France to get on trains home.

My great-grandfather was a young Army officer during the war.  He died before I was born, but my great-grandmother would tell the story about how, following Infantry Officer Basic, they let the new soldiers go home one last time before shipping out.  They were admonished not to go home, and get married.  All but one or two in my great-grandfather’s company, him included, returned as married men.

My dad turned down a Merchant Marine Academy appointment so he could go be an Army officer like his grandfather.

There’s so little known about all of this, and how it affected world history.

Off to watch Vice President Pence do the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown.