wherein life stresses me out…
It's been a complex and difficult couple of weeks.
We've had a family member pass away suddenly and unexpectedly. We've had other family members hospitalized and/or have medical procedures. We've had family members lose their jobs. We've had medical problems ourselves, some of which are still unresolved.
We have stress thinking about the pending birth of our second child (a child who still doesn't have a name) and the changes that will bring.
Oh, and our cat is sick. She has to be put on an even more special food than what she's already been taking and will start getting cortisone shots which, if the diagnosis is wrong, could actually make things worse.
I'm trying to think positively though. I'm still employed and financially things are improving for the company. Also the company went 100% business casual which is a nice change. The weather has been improving and I've been able to get out during lunch. Also bernhard.us et al will be migrated to new servers in a couple weeks which should make things much faster and more stable.
catch-up post #n
I was off work from December 23rd through January 4th and it was a really great. 
helloheather and Nate and I relaxed and spent a lot of quality time together.
Christmas was busy, as usual, with events every day from the 24th through the 27th. But, despite the big snowfall, and the driving around, it was really all very good. Nate was a trouper and really seemed to enjoy visiting the family. Lots of photos need to be posted.
We visited the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum after Christmas, mostly to see the Butterfly Haven they have there. I really thought Nate would enjoy it, but he was not impressed. There were other exhibits he liked though, and overall the visit was a good one. Also, with so many people being off work the week between Christmas and New Years, we had no problems driving into and out of Chicago.
Nate and I also spent a lot of time outside in the snow over break, which was really great. I'm very glad we've had all the snow and that it's been cold enough to keep it from melting. Though, I did hear on the news last night that, if it warms up on Wednesday or Thursday, it'll be the first time since Christmas that we've been at or above 32 deg F. So, it's been a little chilly!
Being back at work for a full week (last week) was tough. It's really easy to get into a habit of being lazy and family-oriented around the house and very difficult to get back into work-mode mentality. However, I've managed to chase the mid-day blues away a bit by bringing a DSLR to work and walking around in the cold and snow. Boots and thermals have been a must.
So 2010 is here and the end of March is rapidly approaching. I'm still not really ready for all of this but it's certainly not waiting for me to catch up.
not where but when
I'm coming off a run of late work nights that started back at Thanksgiving and have not been getting home until 8pm. Being gone from home for thirteen and a half hours a day has certainly been trying. I realize that this is not a lot compared to some people, but for me, it's been a significant change in my relationship with work and home.
I finished up the project this past week and was able to take my "normal" train home. Except, I sorta missed the last of the light in the evening sky during my long days. So, when I stepped off the train on Wednesday, I was really rather confused, not about where I was but /when/ I was. It felt so much like a late night that, for part of my walk to my car, I actually thought it was.
Thankfully I was able to take yesterday off. Also I am only working two days next week and then not again until Jan 4th. I'm really looking forward to being home for this long. I really need to be away from work for a while. Also, Monday is the Solstice and soon enough I'll be seeing those trace bits of sunset in the western sky as I step off the train.
Edit:
As an aside, why can't we get some of that east coast snow?! The 2" or so we got today was rather disappointing. Though, it did help cover the harder frozen stuff that's been sitting around. Nate and I enjoyed almost two hours of outdoor play this morning.
sacrifice
I had a draft post started that was going to be your run-of-the-mill "rob posts about some amazing new cameras or lenses or whatever." This summer has been pretty exciting as far as that is concerned, but the post felt hollow and empty after this past Sept 1.
On that Tuesday, in lieu of layoffs or furloughs, my company cut everyone's pay by 10% for the remainder of the year. And, while I'm very grateful to have a job and while I certainly recognize the room for belt-tightening in our finances, I was worried and stressed. I don't think things are magically going to turn around on 01/01/2010.
But these worries seem silly too as people I know or people I'm acquainted with are unemployed or looking at losing half their income.
Then, later that day, my mom emailed me a video file and I realized that this is what I should be writing about.
The file was a 1996 or 1997 interview my paternal grandfather gave World War II historians of the US Army's 12th Armored Division. They simply asked him to recount his time in the Army from when he was drafted until he was discharged. It's not a terribly long story (the video is about 20 minutes) and he and I have talked many times before about his time in the service.
But my point here is this: I far too often forget how blessed I am. How tightening the budget by 10% is so minuscule an act compared to the sacrifices made by our grandparents generation (multiple times within their lifetimes, might I add). 400,000+ sacrificed their lives and millions more sacrificed the food on their tables and the clothes on their backs.
This may seem hyperbolic, but we (as a generation) really do not understand how good we have it. This is natural, given how far we are removed from these time periods, but it's something that I think should be dwelled upon.
This shouldn't be something that needs reminding, but I indeed can lose sight of what's really important. And so, while I'm grateful for what I have, more importantly I'm grateful for the people I have around me.
clean break
Yesterday I spent a rare day out of the office and in the field, as it were. It was actually a rail yard and therefore mostly gravel and broken pavement and dust and wind.
I was there to film a safety video and it was difficult and hot but overall good. I don't spend many days wearing safety boots and a hard-hat and safety glasses but at least I was wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt and not a tie.
An added bonus of the day was that we finished up a little early and I was able to make it home earlier than normal. helloheather suggested we head out to a community water park and we left a few minutes after I arrived home.
So, it is only a little ironic that, part-way through our fun time at the water park, I broke one of my toes. It would have been more ironic if I had broken a toe after filming all day about safety at water parks, (which I hadn't been) but still. Broken toe thanks to an underwater obstruction that I didn't anticipate.
I didn't go to the hospital or doctor, because nothing can be done with a broken toe (unless it's your big one and this isn't). So, I wasn't going to wait hours of my time and a co-pay for someone to tell me 1. yes it's already broken and 2. the only thing you can do is tape it to another toe. I already know what a broken toe looks like (having broken one on my other foot a few years ago through an even MORE IRONIC SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES).
So, I taped it to another toe and am now hobbling around. I didn't let the injury ruin my time at the water park though. Nate had a blast and so did we. It was a really great way to end the day.
lunch today
1. Sweet potato pie
2. Vegetable tempura
3. Sesame beef on a stick
4. Cumin-dusted fries with mango sauce
5. Fruiti de Basco sorbet
6. Water
two thoughts on clothes
1
Every year, when I had my review at work, I'd fill out the space available for comments with the same basic idea:
It would be great if the company business casual a try. A good test could be over the summer and on Fridays only. If people don't abuse it, it could be a permanent Friday thing.
And every year, everyone who saw my review above my boss (directors, vice presidents, various HR staff etc) would ignore it.
Eventually my review form was changed and I no longer had a comments section. (I have no idea if this was a corporate-wide change to the forms or if it was just me. I didn't talk to anyone else about it.)
We got a new CEO in January (after the previous one retired). He's young and full of energy and approved a summer test (starting the Friday before Memorial Day and ending the Friday before Labor Day) of business casual attire. After 10 years it finally has happened.
Except, I sorta have run into a problem: I don't really have any business casual attire. I do have some short-sleeved shirts, but the weather hasn't been quite that warm yet.
The dress code for this test is pretty much: "men can take off their ties and everything else stays the same." But taking off a tie while wearing a dress shirt, to me, just looks like you forgot your tie... You don't look business casual you look business neglectful.
2
Speaking of cool temps...each spring I find it really difficult to stop wearing a coat. I keep walking around thinking I left something or lost something but I just don't know what it is... And then I remember that I'm not wearing a coat and I'm fine for about 10 minutes. Then the feelings start all over again. The first time I sit down in my car to drive to the train station without 2 coats, a hat, gloves, and a sled dog team, I am thrown for a loop.
This long winter and cool spring (save a few days) has reinforced these feelings even more. Not wearing a coat just feels wrong. So on those few warm days that we've been able to gather up, I still have had a spring jacket on. Even if it means carrying it in the heat of the afternoon, I still take one with. I just don't trust Mother Nature. I think she's just waiting to throw a curve ball made of snow...
the morning so far
- coworker brings my recently printed document to me from the printer.
- discover I'm out of staples. refills as well as new automatic cyborg-like stapler back where printer sits.
- walk out of cube and immediately turn around to grab coffee cup (staples and coffee in adjacent and connected rooms) for first cup of the day.
- walk out of cube without document.
- walk back into cube.
- spot folder I will need for 9 am meeting under some papers. set coffee cup and document down to uncover folder so I don't forget it later.
- walk out of cube without coffee cup.
- walk back into cube and grab coffee cup.
- fill cup with the last of the coffee. start a new pot.
- use cyborg-like stapler to staple document.
- return to cube with stapled document, full coffee cup, and no refills for own stapler.
- go to 9 am meeting.
recent news
I'm sick...I have a cold and I feel awful. I'm really glad I'm on vacation (starting tomorrow) until the 5th. I need sleep and I need food. (I can always tell when I'm getting sick because my appetite jumps through the roof.)
Also, my company is closing one of three large facilities, suspending a major project, and is laying off over 200 people. I have tried really hard not to be doom-and-gloom about the economy, because Fear Is The Mind Killer, but this is not good. I am still employed...but I'm more uncertain than ever.
something fishy
Saturday night, helloheather and I left Nate in the care of one of his sets of grandparents and then we drove in the ice and snow and rain and slush and traffic to the company Christmas party at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
Said traffic put us there too late to fully enjoy the aquarium before it was time for dinner. However, unlike a standard visit to the Shedd, there were no busloads of school kids, no strollers blocking the walkways, and far fewer people unable (or unwilling) to turn the flash off on their camera.
What was also missing, due to it being night and all, was anything resembling an appropriate amount of light /for/ photography. If only I had brought my tripod, I could have set up some really amazing long-exposure shots. Ah, well, they probably would have prohibited it.
We didn't get to sit around the Caribbean Reef (those seats were snapped up a long time before we got there) but we did sit in one of the galleries (Rivers of the World). All in all, a nice time.
what is brewing
In the department's little kitchenette we have an industrial 3-burner coffee maker. We have glass coffee pots with the traditional orange handle for decaf and a black handle for regular. We actually have two for regular (one of which is extra-strength indicated by a rubber band on the handle).
It has been, literally, weeks since the orange-handled pot was used. At all.
And so this is the state of things. Even the decaf drinkers have abandoned all hope. It's a good measure of what work has been like recently.
I so hope to enjoy these 70 deg days
I have a 23 mile drive to Buffalo Grove tomorrow that Google Maps laughingly claims will be 45 minutes. Oh Google Maps, you know so very little of humans...
I'll be at a location that appears to be right across from a large green space with walking paths and ponds and whatnot. I will be separated from it by only 6 lanes of traffic but there appear to be tunnels under said road so...hopefully I'll be out and walking during lunch. Also, I hope to meet a friend who works in the area. (This all depends on what kind of time period we get for lunch in the first place, I suppose.)
Somewhat related to this topic: Let's say you have an event on a Monday. If a company tells you they will email you confirmation of something 3 Business Days prior to the event, when would you expect to receive the email? Would it be the Wednesday before, the Thursday morning before, or 5pm the Thursday before?
If you guessed 5pm the Thursday before then you and I do not see eye-to-eye on what "3 Business Days" actually means...
Lunch Today
Lunch today was:
- Vegetarian bbq
- Vegetable tempura
- Sweet Potato Hashbrowns
- Frozen chocolate-covered banana
- Fried-chicken and waffle
- Samosa
Yes, the Taste of Chicago opened today and I went there for lunch. Yum yum. (Doubly-so because we get half-price tickets through work.)
