the ultimate test in cerebral fitness

I'm back in Iowa and I spent the weekend recovering. Yesterday was a bit of a show mostly because I got unexpectedly delayed in New York. I had gotten up at 5:30 because I hadn't packed yet, and I made it to the airport in time to hang out in the Amex Lounge. My flight boarded on time and everything looked good...but because of turbulence somewhere between New York and Iowa, they decided that they were going to have to reroute north. That meant we needed more fuel. Somehow that took an hour and a half... but at least there was fuel, which seems like something that maybe I should be concerned for future air travel given what's happening in Iran.

sssanyway. I was 2 hours late getting into Des Moines and slightly hangry as a result, but I still wanted to run errands on the way home. I stopped in at a couple of stores in Indianola, got groceries, and made it home just in time to unpack everything before having dinner with Mom and [censored]. We picked up takeout from El Vago, which was tasty, and it was good to hang out for a bit. Then [censored] and I came home and watched the latest episode of Scrubs, which was quite funny. It's pretty amazing that they've managed to pick up right where they left off, with seemingly no issues around chemistry or writing.

Today I of course intended to do all the things and of course didn't do most of them because I was too busy recovering from my trip. I made coffee, cleaned up the kitchen, did a bit of unnecessary organizing of my mug collection, and then helped [censored] with the cleaning out of the garage fridge. It's been having a bit of a crazy buildup of ice ever since I bought it, and we finally decided to tackle the issue. Of course by "we" I mean that I cleaned out what was in the freezer and then [censored] did basically all of the work, including removing the back panel and figuring out what was going on with the blocked drain. But hopefully it's fixed and I can continue with my hoarding of food as I desire.

I spent the rest of the day procrastinating, buying groceries, fixing dinner, and repotting a bunch of plants that I had meant to repot over the past year. [Censored] and I ate dinner while watching last night's SNL, which was fairly funny despite some weird moments. Now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

montepulciano

I have nothing to report tonight - I had a long but productive day at the office, and then a 1:1 with Finn turned into a happy hour for six of us at a wine bar near the office. Someone actually called Adit "the cat" without knowing that supposedly some people call him the cat, which was the most ridiculous moment I've experienced in awhile.

And now I'm going to go to bed early since I need to pack and go to the airport tomorrow - goodnight!

calling out across the line

No blog tonight - I had a lovely day, with plenty of sushi for lunch and a fun dinner with Emily in Brooklyn, but I'm exhausted and already falling asleep. Goodnight!

tyger tyger burning bright

I had a very nice day in New York today. I woke up early enough to get out of the hotel before the elevator apocalypse happened, and then I worked at a Starbucks for a bit before meeting my friend Sherry for brunch down around Union Square.

This was quite the surprise because neither Sherry nor I live in New York, but Sherry had reached out to me last week asking where I was. It turned out we were both going to be in the city this week. She was here for much more exciting reasons than I, since she was accepting an award for best mystery novel from Libby while I'm just here to sit in a conference room with Adit and talk about spreadsheets. I let her buy me breakfast since it was a) really on Random House and b) she felt that perhaps it was deserved for me to partake in her breakfast, since her book had something to do with both rural Iowa and crypto. When she was finishing it in 2024 I was literally the only beta reader she could ask to review both of those things, and so I'm delighted that the final product was a winner. 

After brunch I went to the office, where I slogged for about eight hours straight. Then we all adjourned to Tyger, which is a Pan-Asian restaurant down around Soho. We had a semi private room for a belated Lunar New Year celebration for the New York office. This turned out to be quite fun, and I hung out and ate way too much food while discussing a variety of topics with the people at my table. And now, after a very delightful evening, I'm ready to go to bed - goodnight!

time ain't on my side, time i'll never know

I had another v. busy work day in the city that never sleeps. Unfortunately I slept slightly too long, which resulted in hitting the elevator at peak time, which resulted in a mild bit of claustrophobia because we literally stopped on twenty different floors (and were full within the first six), and it took almost ten minutes to get to the lobby. But I escaped before I totally panicked, and then the cold rain/sleet of New York washed away my nerves. I hung out at a starbucks and worked for an hour, and then I went to the office and spent another long slog sitting in the same conference room with the same people I spent yesterday with.

So, there's nothing to report there other than we made some progress and I still like them. I left the office around 6:30, walked toward my hotel, and stopped for a slightly decadent dinner at Zaytinya (a Jose Andres establishment, with v. tasty scallops and equally tasty halloumi cheese). This delayed my arrival at the hotel long enough that I was the only person in the elevator going up, which was v. welcome. And now I need to go to bed so I can get up early and pursue tomorrow's plans - goodnight!

time everlasting, time to play b sides

I had an excellent day in NYC. I woke up fairly early, got ready, and walked to a nearby Starbucks, where I worked for an hour and a half before going to the office. I tried a new workflow of recording a voice memo to myself while walking, then using AI to translate my thoughts into clear bullet points, and then putting those bullet points into slides. I'd say it saved me a couple of hours, which was a decent return on the rain forest I burned down to fuel the data center needed to achieve this. 

Then I went to the office, where I spent eight hours in a conference room with Adit (among other people) discussing audits (among other topics), which causes some subtle cognitive dissonance since no one there calls him Adit. But no one calls him the cat either, so at least that's consistent. 

When we were done, I did a bit of shopping, and then I had a solo dinner at the same place I went Saturday (no shame, they have the best gf pasta in the world). And now I'm going to bed - goodnight!

I might have lingered in purgatory

I felt a little off today, although I do not know what to attribute it to - but I got nine or ten hours of sleep last night and still needed a nap at six, so idk. I spent the morning messing around in my room, and then I met Terry for lunch at Le Petit Village in Greenwich Village. We had a delightful time - the vibe there was lovely, and then we adjourned to another spot around the corner and had a drink so we could keep the convo going. Unfortunately her plans changed and we couldn't prolong the festivities, but at least we got a proper catch up.

After we parted ways, I walked to Soho and did a bit of shopping. Then I came back to my hotel, took a nap, should have worked, and instead did basically nothing other than order sushi and chill. But now I'm going to go to bed so I can get up early and do the tings I should have done today - goodnight!