drink til i'm sideways

I had a nice early morning (blew out my hair with some new product that was quite lovely, picked up coffee from starbucks, journaled, etc). Then, I had a bunch of meetings that gave me a headache, but I paused for a poke bowl to celebrate being back in a city. Happily, Alyssa helped me to make my headache disappear before I picked up Katie for dinner - we were supposed to go to Ash'kara, but Ash'kara had a plumbing issue and canceled our reservation, so we went to The Kitchen instead.

It wasn't as good as our last experience because we had a different server who somehow wasn't as charmed by us and so didn't comp us an after-dinner drink, but it was still a delight - we caught up on a lot of stuff over food + some madeira to cap off the night, and it was lovely. Katie made a v. strong sales pitch for me to stay in Denver forever, and the madeira helped it along - and it is true that Denver has not gotten a fair tryout since almost all of my time in Denver has been spent in a pandemic, interacting with coworkers on video calls via small laptop screens. So, we'll have to see how things are when I'm no longer stuck in my house...

...but that's a story for a different night. Right now, it's only 10:30 but I really want to go to bed and get as much sleep as possible - goodnight!

i caught a vibe

No time to blog tonight - I'm exhausted, but I'm safely ensconced in my bed in Denver. I didn't leave Iowa as early this morning as I probably should have - I was finding myself loath to make the drive and loath to come back to my Colorado life (especially since this week requires a lot of meetings and a lot of extra work). However, I'm excited to be back in my house here and I'm excited for some social plans this week - and I leave for California next weekend, so it's not like I'm going to languish here.

sssanyway, after I loaded my car and took care of some house tings and said goodbye to [censored], the drive was entirely uneventful - I had to stop for a fifteen minute nap at a rest stop near Kearney, and I ate a proper supper at the Qdoba in North Platte, but otherwise the drive was steady. I spent most of it listening to an audiobook called PEAK PERFORMANCE, which was actually pretty good / inspiring - I haven't been in the mood for peak performance in awhile due to the pandemic, but maybe the war horseman of the apocalypse makes me think I should go out and achieve something before it's too late.

But there's no performing tonight - I need to sleep nine hours so that I can survive work tomorrow. Goodnight!

am i holding for applause

I should have gone to bed an hour ago - but I also should have left for Colorado today, so clearly those things aren't happening. I spent way too much time today doomscrolling about Ukraine, which is probably expected. I also made bolognese sauce, hung out around the house, took care of some things to close up shop here, packed, etc.

[Censored] and I went out to the parents' house for dinner with some of my bolognese sauce in tow, and when we got there we managed to fix their adjustable bed frame (whoever decided that the optimal design of the frame required it to put batteries right in the middle of the frame, requiring you to take apart the whole bed and lift up the mattress and frame to replace them, was clearly a sadist).

So, we hung out there for awhile, and then I said my farewells to my parents and came back to my house. I haven't loaded my car, but almost everything is packed, so hopefully the morning goes smoothly and I can get out of here early enough to make it back to Denver in time for dinner. We'll see how it goes - goodnight!

i see a red door and i want to paint it black

Another day, another doomscroll through the apocalypse. I had a quiet day at work, since I had a no meeting Friday on top of a no meeting week, which meant it actually got honored and I didn't have to talk to anyone at all over video today. So, I was able to get some actual work done, although there are still some tings I need to do (which is tough, since I'm driving back to Colorado this weekend).

All in all, it was a v. quiet day, although my dad did stop by and drank some iced tea while admiring my carpet and telling [censored] and me the latest about what he was hearing from Ukraine. One of our friends (whom we call Little Sergey for reasons that now don't matter since we don't keep in touch with the other Sergeys we knew, which is a real shame because Sergey Pickup was a nice name) evacuated from Kiev with his family (and the older daughter's boyfriend, whom they had never met, which probably made for an extra bit of interest on an already-tense car ride), headed for some resort in western Ukraine that his company had rented to evacuate employees to. The friend and the daughter's boyfriend wouldn't be able to leave Ukraine now since men 18-60 aren't allowed to leave in case they need to be mobilized, but at least they aren't in the city. Our other friend (Svetlana) stayed put, but she's an hour south of Kiev; her son just turned eighteen, so they can't leave either. And our friend Vova, whom some of my college friends met during one epic dinner party at my apartment in ~2014, was already out of Ukraine with all of his family except his father and sister, so hopefully they stay safe.

Still, it's all astonishing and upsetting, so I spent more time reading twitter than getting actual work done. Eventually, around six, [censored] and I picked up takeout from the Mexican restaurant in town (which took longer than usual due to an unusual mixup) and went out to our parents' house to eat. We hung out there for awhile while discussing Ukraine, and while [censored] did some clearing of kitchen drains ([censored] is critical to the upkeep of multiple houses other than his own). Then, [censored] and I came back to my place, moved the sectional back into the living room so that we'd have someplace to sit (even though we hate the sectional), and watched a couple of comedy specials and some news.

And now, I really need to sleep - I need to pack up my car tomorrow, but I also need to get a ton of sleep because I haven't slept enough this week and I need to rest up for the road. Goodnight!

when the sun comes up on a sleepy little town

Honestly, I'm pretty depressed / anxious / angry / sad about the Ukraine situation. Those of you who read this probably know that my family lived in Ukraine for a year when I was twelve, and we went back for a visit in 2007 - all the people my dad got in touch with this weekend in Ukraine didn't think an invasion was happening, so Russia's aggression took them all by surprise.

It's completely crazy to me that we're seeing a massive land/air invasion (against the second-largest country in Europe, to be clear), and also completely crazy to me that 20-30% of the US population will probably casually support Putin on this because Trump says that Putin is very smart, and they because they admire Putin's strong-arm tactics to create a Russian ethnostate and wish to recreate that kind of power in the US. Putin *is* very smart, because he successfully (and provably) used Russian disinformation tactics to 'flood the zone' at various points in the last five years and create extreme confusion and conspiracy theories on American social media, which is a contributing factor to the wedges driven between American groups in the last few years. But I'm hoping that the Ukrainians will be able to hold out, and I'm hoping this stops soon and doesn't domino-effect its way into another world war.

sssanyway. I did have several hours of meetings today, so I couldn't spend all my time doomscrolling. I also had to deal with carpeting - they finished today, which was a day ahead of schedule, and I'm delighted with the results. After they left and I was done with work, I spent some time vacuuming, which is probably a task I will have to repeat regularly for awhile. [censored] and I also went out to our parents' house for dinner - my mom made ham + gluten free mac and cheese, and it was completely delicious. Then we came back to my house, and I did some house stuff, talked to Terry for awhile (it's hard to plan a wedding in a pandemic + a possible world war), got ready for bed, wrote in my journal, etc.

And now, I really need to sleep - even though it's now morning in Ukraine, I'm trying to remember that doomscrolling doesn't actually do anything to help the situation, and I would be better served by getting some sleep instead. Goodnight!

she knows it's too late as she's walking on by

I had a long day but I'm happy enough with what got done. I had to work, which was less onerous than usual due to "no meeting week" (which meant I had 2.5hrs of meetings instead of seven), and the schedule allowed me to get some actual work done. I also spent time 'supervising' the carpet installation - this continues to be a v. entertaining process, mostly because of the conversation happening around the carpet installation. But despite the amount of talking, they're making fast progress - they will likely be done tomorrow instead of Friday, since they only have to do my bedroom and the guest room tomorrow.

Other than that, I worked all day. After work and carpet were over, I spent some time touching up [censored]'s bedroom - the paint looked great, but since we went dark it was less forgiving in terms of places where the original (dingy) light color was still visible right against the trim. But I was able to fix all of that tonight, and I celebrated by eating the pizza that [censored] picked up. Then, I spent the evening dealing with house tings, moving things from my room to my office so that they can carpet in here tomorrow, helping [censored] move all his stuff from the guest room back into his bedroom, etc. I also, of course, obsessed over the news out of Ukraine, which is really not looking good.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

so i start a revolution from my bed

I'm quite tired, mostly because I spent too much time the last few days + today doing house things and am now also trying to do my job on top of them. Today's task was to greet the people installing my carpet - I'm getting new carpet everywhere (except the kitchen, bathrooms, and dining room), and this obviously involves moving and re-moving a lot of furniture and other items to make way for the work.

Since I live in ultimate #smalltownlife, getting carpet installed is quite entertaining - I didn't know one of the guys since he grew up in the next county north of us, but the main installer (part of the family that owns the flooring store; I dealt with his sister to pick out the carpet) has lived around here forever. So, while I don't really know him since he was seven or eight years older than me, we know a lot of the same people. I realized that he's probably a good source of gossip overall, since they're one of the only flooring games in town and so he makes his way through many houses in the county. Things were quite chatty in the morning since he was waiting for some bonding agent to dry before putting tile in front of my front entryway, which was fun.

But then I had to get some actual work done, and they got down to business. No actual carpet went in today, but every room except my bedroom and the guest room are re-padded and ready for carpet tomorrow. When they left, I worked until five, and then I quickly cut in paint around the stairs - I'm not ready to paint the staircase, but the carpet goes all the way to the wall without any trim, and it seemed easier to cut in now so that I won't have to worry quite so much about getting all the way to the carpet when I do paint the stairs. The degree of difficulty on this was higher since the lack of carpet means that tackboard is exposed everywhere, which feels precarious - but I got it done, so at least that's over with.

Then [censored] and I went out to our parents' house, where my mom v. generously fed us a roast. And then we came back to my house and I spent the rest of the evening doing various tings around the house and sending a few work emails. And now, I really need to sleep - carpet work is starting earlyish again tomorrow and I have a lot of work to do, so rest is a good idea. Goodnight!

i'm gonna pop some tags

Today was full of bad global news that I almost entirely ignored - instead, I went super deep on house projects, which means I'm exhausted but also didn't have a lot of time to indulge in the long weekend make-up Sunday Scaries. I got up, made coffee and eggs, and ran to the next town over again to reconsider some cabinet choices + look at appliances. The appliance conversation was informative  - but perhaps more informative for the initial person I talked to at the appliance place, who had never heard of induction cooktops before. However, the owner came in, whom I had talked to before when I bought my dishwasher, and he was all over the induction question. I would normally prefer gas, but gas would require moving a gas line + having a gas stove without a hood since there is no hood in the current setup, and I just don't know that those things are worth doing (although, I guess, I may move a gas line anyway for a grill someday, but that's a different issue).

So, I got some numbers and some printouts of some options, and we parted ways with me promising to get back to him on what I decide. I asked if he needed a deposit or something to order things and he said that normally he would, but I'm on 'another level' and so he'd order it for me before I get back to make a deposit. There are disadvantages to living in small towns and not being able to get lots of tings / order takeout / etc., but there are also advantages in terms of just doing things on some sort of honor system.

While I was there, I looked briefly at washers and dryers, but I didn't pull the trigger because I won't be here to get a delivery and also thought it was a little indulgent to buy them right now even though the current washer is ancient and the dryer isn't perfect. Hilariously, while I was driving home, [censored] called to tell me that the dryer sounded like an airplane engine, which explains why my last load of laundry took absolutely forever to dry. So, that was a bummer. Luckily, [censored] is the kind of [censored] who has spare dryers lying around, so [censored] hauled a dryer into my basement, hooked it up, and was surprised / delighted to find that it works. A new washer/dryer is still on my list (especially since the washer seems to have something disintegrating within it), but at least we have a dryer.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon painting the ceiling in [censored]'s bedroom. It turned out well, all in all - the blue wall color that we painted yesterday is not very forgiving of mistakes (any remaining white between the paint and trim is very noticeable), so there are some places where we need to touch up, but it looks great otherwise. And I supposed I should say that [censored] was actually the one who sprayed the ceiling, but I was the one who taped most of the room and set up / cleaned up the sprayer, so I did my part.

Then I spent a lot of time cleaning up and moving tings around. I also talked to Alyssa at some point and she had me do some squats and presses, which felt good but probably wasn't necessary on top of all my other manual labor. I'm getting new carpet put in the rest of this week, so I had to get a lot done tonight - but I think we're ready.

And now I desperately need to go to bed since I need to get up early tomorrow for the carpet - goodnight!

faster higher stronger together

Today was productive, although I still have a lot I want to do around here - but I got up, made coffee, finished doing some prep work, made eggs, and eventually [censored] and I painted his room. We didn't get the ceiling yet, since we need wall paint to dry before we can tape it and hang plastic to protect it (trust us, this is the best method we've found for spraying) - but the walls look fantastic. [censored] would prefer to sleep in a tomb if at all possible, but as a compromise went for a nice medium-deep blue that complements the rest of the house while being dark enough to suit [censored]'s tastes. I'm delighted with how the color turned out, and I'm looking forward to getting the ceiling done tomorrow.

While we were painting, we also made a list of many possible house projects (too numerous to list). And I roasted another pork shoulder throughout the day - it took a solid nine hours, but that involved less than ten minutes of hands-on time today (plus a lot more time than that to shred seven pounds of meat). I'm intending to freeze most of it, but it made for a good supper tonight - I took it out to my parents' house, and my mom contributed scalloped potatoes and a salad to the cause. Then [censored] and I came back to my house and I watched the Olympics closing ceremonies - I'm always sad for the games to end, but it's time for me to get back to my regularly scheduled life.

And now, I should sleep so that I can accomplish a million things tomorrow - goodnight!

why do all the monsters come out at night

I meant to go to bed an hour ago, so I really need to shut down so that I can get up in the morning. Today was excellent (or at least excellently productive) - Aunt Kathy came down from the city purely to help me with house projects, which was incredibly nice of her. So, I was up and at 'em before nine, since I assumed she would arrive relatively early. We spent the morning prepping and painting the closet in [censored]'s bedroom, and then in the afternoon Aunt Kathy painted the living room / front entrance closet while I finished prepping [censored]'s room to get painted tomorrow. All of this was a huge help since I would not have gotten it done by myself - and now I'm ready to paint a room tomorrow, which is exciting.

So, we spent the whole day doing house stuff, which [censored] joined in on a little after lunch. My parents stopped by somewhere in there to inspect progress, which was fun - we all continue to marvel at how terrible the bathrooms are in this house, but right now the stove and the kitchen in general are my nemeses and will need to be replaced before the bathrooms.

Eventually, we were done, and so Aunt Kathy went to my parents' house and [censored] and I picked up Mexican takeout to supply for dinner. We hung out at my parents' house for a couple of hours, which was nice - Dad told a story about a dead cat [not recently; it died in the 1970s, which I guess you had to be there for. And then [censored] and I came back to my house, where we tested out some tings, watched some Olympics, discussed kitchen options, etc.

And now, I'm desperate for some sleep since I'm 100% committed to painting a bedroom tomorrow - goodnight!

you and me together through the days and nights

I took today off, but I'm still super tired - I stayed up way too late watching the Olympics last night, and I had to get up this morning to meet my mom and go to the next county over to run some errands. I met her at the secondhand store in town since she was there for a different activity, and I ended up spending $15 to basically outfit my whole kitchen (okay, that's an exaggeration, but I got two platters, a pretty serving bowl, and five glasses, so it was a good deal).

Then we drove east, where our first stop was an appointment to look at cabinets and finishes for my kitchen. I think I have a good idea of what I want to do from a cabinetry standpoint, but I need to think some more about other finishes - but I'm hopeful I can kick off the project this summer. I may have to fire the designer, though, because she told me I'm turning into my mom (she designed my mom's kitchen in 2007 and I am apparently planning to pick the exact same style, although I'm planning to go lighter with the wood and different on the hardware). I like my mom's kitchen, so turning into her isn't the end of the world, but hopefully I can maintain some fanciness/travel that my mom doesn't embrace.

Then, we went to Walmart, where I stocked up on many things (and I discovered they have fresh tomatillos in their produce section, as well as a wide variety of peppers, which is game changing). We also went to Fareway and I bought a lot of meat for my freezer, so all in all it was a great excursion.

After that, I dropped my mom off (and ate leftovers there), then came to my house, put things away, tried to take a nap, and instead talked to [censored]. Then I went back to my parents' house to help my mom repot a monstera that was out of hand. I had originally planned to have supper with them, but I was super tired, so I came back to my place, spent some time prepping to do some painting tomorrow, did some dishes and laundry, and watched some Olympics. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

i'm the bad guy

No blog tonight - I had way too many meetings today, so I had no time for anything interesting. I wrapped up around six, and I picked up Mexican takeout for me and my dad. My mom was actually at the same Mexican restaurant for a night out with some women from her church (which was not a surprise, since I knew she would be there and also there are basically no other restaurants in town). But that meant that my dad and I had dinner by ourselves, and we mostly talked about Ukraine (and then a bunch of other stories from when he was younger and did things like drive cattle down the main street in town). And [censored] should be happy to know that we all still intend to have Mexican again this weekend if [censored] is interested.

I hung out at my parents' for a few hours, and then I came back to my house, put on my pajamas, and watched the Olympics. And now I really need to go to bed - I have tomorrow off but I have a lot of things on my to-do list, so I should sleep. Goodnight!

model citizen, zero discipline

I just spent the last few hours answering email, which I should really do more often - it's my least favorite work task by far, but if I could make it just a little bit more consistently, I would probably be CEO by now. Instead, I'm not a CEO, and am just curled up on the couch with a blanket and the Olympics. That's probably a better outcome, but the couch could be much nicer if I were a CEO, so idk.

sssanyway. Today was a slog, mostly since I stayed up late last night and then got up early for morning meetings. But I took a break to eat a potato / cheese / pulled pork for lunch, which was absolutely perfect - I just want to eat that all the time. I also took a break because my dad showed up in my driveway, so I talked to him for a bit (and accepted getting a large painting of the round barn pawned off on me - I do actually want it for my house, but it's hard to deny that by dropping the painting off here, my dad avoided having to carry it into his house). Then I walked halfway across town to drop something at the post office - but this is not really that impressive when town is only seven blocks from north to south, so that three blocks was pretty easy (except for the fact that it was cold and windy).

After that, I had one more meeting, and then I made a double batch of chili so that I would have something for supper + something to freeze. Then I watched some Olympics before picking up my laptop and answering email, and now I'm done with screens for the night. Goodnight!

pull it out of park put it in drive

I'm sleepy - I had meetings earlier than usual this morning, and I stayed up for an 11pm version of a meeting that I could have attended tomorrow instead (but I preferred to watch it in my pajamas). Today was good, though - I had some entertaining and bizarre meetings, which are my jam. Then I went to my parents' house, where I gratefully scrounged leftovers for dinner. And then I came back to my house and watched the Olympics before my late meeting - I continue to be astonished and disgusted over the Russian doping issue, and it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

But now, I should really sleep so that I can make it to tomorrow's meetings - goodnight!

back to the lab again, yo, this whole rhapsody

I had two big presentations today, which is unusual because I haven't had big presentations in awhile due to various work changes and challenges. I must have been out of practice, and I must have been amping myself up for my new VP (whom I know, so it's not that bad), and maybe my post-covid heart is still just a little more likely to beat faster, because my Fitbit thought I got 96 minutes of exercise today 😂. I did not, as it turns out, get 96 minutes of exercise. But my presentations went well, and I'm happy that they're over.

In between presentations, I had lunch with [censored] since he worked from here today before heading back to his real home for the week. And at the end of the day, I changed into non-work-clothes and met with Alyssa. It was weird to wear 'real' work clothes, since I wore jeans and a nice shirt and a sweater/blazer that I used to wear regularly at work and haven't worn in two years - overall it felt good, but it also felt good to switch into leggings and a hoodie.

After I talked to Alyssa, I wrapped some things up, took my trash out, and ate dinner. I'd had the foresight to bake a potato while talking to Alyssa, so my supper was a baked potato with pulled pork and nacho cheese - not my usual dinner, but it was completely delicious. I may need to buy and roast another pork butt just to freeze single portions for future use - I froze a bit tonight, but it's tasty enough that I could see it going with a variety of meals.

Then, I spent the evening mostly vegging out and watching the Olympics, since I don't have the brain power for anything else. And I think I shall go to bed soon - goodnight!

he opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

I need to go to bed right now; the Sunday Scaries hit hard today, and I need to give two presentations at work tomorrow, so I should probably get some rest. But today was otherwise good - I got up in time to put a pork butt in the oven, where it roasted for approximately nine hours, and it was totally perfect for supper.

Then [censored] and I spent a lot of time discussing possible renovations to my Iowa house - I shouldn't do everything I want to do because property values here aren't exactly skyrocketing and I don't want to completely overinvest, but I have also accepted that I'm going to make a nice kitchen because I cannot stand the kitchen I currently have and like cooking enough to invest there. We also spent twenty minutes planning out how we would paint the staircase next weekend before agreeing that there's absolutely no way we'll paint the staircase next weekend, so that was a relief.

At some point in the afternoon, I did a bit of writing, and I also took a tiny nap. We went out to mom and dad's for supper - Mom made scalloped potatoes and baked beans to go with the pulled pork, which made for a v. tasty meal. Then we came back to my place, and I watched the end of the Super Bowl + Olympics coverage. And now, sleep is imperative - goodnight!

same as it ever was

My phone is about to die so I shall keep this brief. I had a nice day overall, although I overdid it - I need to get more sleep than I'm currently getting. So, with that in mind, I'm going to cut this off and go to bed - goodnight!

many days fell away

I'm too tired to blog and meant to go to bed an hour ago. Today was partially good, partially rough - I got up earlier than I wanted to and drove up to the town where I'm getting my carpet so that I could look at remnants of stuff they have on hand for my front entryway. No one uses the front door, and the previous owner had carpet all the way up to it, but it would be better to have some sort of hard surface. So, that was a worthy errand, and I have some samples here to look at this weekend.

Then I came home, did some work, snuck out again to buy some more paint, and then slogged without break until around six p.m. At that point, I went to my parents' house, where my mom served pizza surprise (so named because of the night when we had 'surprise, it's not pizza' in Ukraine many years ago). Then I came back to my place, tidied up some stuff, and watched a ton of Olympics. [censored] showed up at some point and hadn't seen any Olympics so far this year, but within an hour was just as invested in the end of the mixed snowboard cross relay as I was. It was v. exciting, and overall a nice way to relax for the evening.

And now, I really desperately need to sleep - I need to do some work tomorrow, and I also need to cook, and I also want to paint, and clearly I can't do everything. Goodnight!

off off off with your head

I meant to go to bed an hour ago, but I needed to unwind a bit, so I guess I'm not surprised that I'm still awake and watching Olympics at a quarter to midnight. Today was a little rough - I didn't get enough sleep last night, and then I had to do quite a bit of work this afternoon / evening on something that I need to get done for next week. But I did a bit of writing this morning and I had time to make huevos rancheros, so I'll take it.

Eventually, I took a break to go out to my parents' house for supper (cheeseburgers and french fries and creamed peas, yum). Then I came back into town and worked most of the rest of the night, while also keeping an eye on the Olympics in the background. There are a lot of athletes in their late thirties hanging out in the games, and it was crazy to me that Shaun White's last halfpipe event was today and that I now like him after finding him ridiculous (when he was like twenty) in 2006.

And now, I really should go to bed so I can get everything done that I need to do tomorrow - goodnight!

now we are free

I had a better day today than I did yesterday, probably because I spent the last five hours watching the Olympics. I felt a little melancholy while watching some of it tonight - Lindsey Jacobellis finally won gold after losing it back in the 2006 Torino Olympics when she was so far ahead on a snowboard race that she showboated and lost her balance, which was an amazing redemption story after so many years of work. But I watched most of those Olympics, and several others, with Tammy, who unfortunately passed away in 2020. So, as I was watching all sorts of ridiculous skating commentary tonight, I was certainly thinking of her.

But the Olympics were quite enjoyable tonight - I watched a bunch of snowboarding and the men's free skate, and it was a delight. And I got some work done today, took a nap at some point, and did some laundry, so I feel like I had a good combo of productivity (work) and actual joy (the Olympics).

And now, it's after midnight and I should really sleep - I want to stay up and watch the Olympics all night, but that's probably not the best idea. Goodnight!

switch triple cork eighteen hundred

I had a weird day. For the most part, it was because I was in a bad mood, and also tired, which made it hard to focus. I did get some writing done in the morning before work, and I snuck out in the middle of work to buy paint. Paint is still v. hard to come by, but luckily one of the colors I need (for [censored]'s bedroom) uses a darker base, and so Kent had enough paint for that even though he's completely out of the pastel base needed for the colors I would get for the rest of the house.

sssanyway, the rest of my day was sort of fine, sort of annoying. It got better when I left my house and went to my parents', where I hung out for awhile and then made supper. I had a leftover batch of bolognese sauce in my freezer from when I was here in December, so I took that with me and made spaghetti and garlic bread. It was pretty tasty overall, and now I need to make another big batch of sauce so I can freeze it for future evenings.

I came back to my place around 8:30, and happily I didn't get rabies - before I left, there was a massive fight between two big raccoons on our back patio, which was not something you really want to walk into. I spent a bit of time installing my new air fresheners - I deeply judged how many air fresheners the previous owner had and I threw them all away because they gave me a headache, but that made it clear that there's a smell issue that necessitated the air fresheners. [censored] and I are still debating the source, but in the meantime, I got some fancy smart diffusers that can be programmed for when they're on/off, can be used as nightlights, can switch between scents, etc. I'm sure Marvin would be unimpressed by me buying smart air fresheners to make my house smell like Anthropologie (literally - one of the scents I got is the signature scent used in Anthropologie stores), but so far I find it much better than an assorted pack of Glade fresheners competing with each other for dominance.

sssanyway, then I turned on the Olympics and did a couple of hours of work that I should have done this afternoon. And now I need to sleep since I have unusually early meetings tomorrow - goodnight!

grey clouds roll over the hills

I'm falling asleep while sitting up in bed typing this, so I think it's time to sleep. Today was good, though -  I got up early enough to get ready before my first errand of the day. My errand didn't involve me going anywhere - instead, a woman came over from the next county over to measure my kitchen and discuss new cabinets. She's the same woman who designed my parents' kitchen and other cabinetry when they built their house fifteen years ago, so she knows what she's doing and was great to chat with. And I'm pretty excited to design a kitchen from scratch (albeit within the constraints of Marvin's previous strange choices), so we'll see how that goes.

After that, I had to work until five (with a break for a bologna sandwich, lunch of champions), and then I had a call with Alyssa. And then I went out to my parents' house for dinner - it was last night's leftovers + some leftover ham balls that I made at Christmas, so that was all tasty. And I got to see the prices / plans from my parents' kitchen, since my mom saved it all - so I look forward to finding out just how much more expensive cabinets are now.

Then I came to my house and should have done some work or watched Olympics coverage, but I mostly looked at house stuff and dozed off a bit. So now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i can tell that we are gonna be friends

I'm safely ensconced in (one of) my bedrooms in ye olde Iowa, fully unpacked and set up for the week ahead. This took most of my energy - since I made it to Lincoln last night, I got into town around eleven, even with a stop for McDonald's in Shenandoah and another stop for gas. I talked to [censored] for a bit, unloaded some tings, and eventually took a nap since I needed to rest my still-recovering-from-covid body.

Then, I went out to my parents, where I hung out for a bit. I also went to the grocery store so I would have food for this week, she's unloaded most of the rest of my car. Then I went back to my parents' house for a few hours - my mom made pork steaks using an old family recipe, and gluten free mac and cheese that is definitely not an old family recipe but is still excellent.

Eventually, I came back to my house and spent the evening getting settled. My clothes are all unpacked, my desk is set up, and I have all the ingredients for coffee tomorrow, so I'm as ready as I can be for the week ahead. Goodnight!

are you taking it black, are you taking me back

No energy to blog tonight - I expended it all on cramming as much stuff into my car as possible and then driving across Colorado and almost all of Nebraska. I didn't intend to get all the way to Lincoln - due to a variety of factors, I couldn't leave Denver until two (mostly because I hadn't packed anything until this morning, and also I had to pick up the lehenga that I'm wearing to Terry's wedding. But once I was on the road, I was surprisingly full (enough) of energy - I'd planned to stop in Kearney, which is roughly halfway, but when I got to Kearney, I decided to just get gas and push ahead another two hours.

So, I should be able to be home by eleven or twelve tomorrow, provided that I get to sleep and get on the road tomorrow. So that's what I plan to do - goodnight!

death spiral

I had a pretty great day, although I was quite tired at the beginning - for some reason I didn't sleep all that well last night, and it had me dragging. But I got some good work done, and I had a final poke bowl for lunch before my next sojourn in ye olde Iowa.

Eventually, I was done, so I did a bit of housework and prepping to load my car, and then I welcomed Katie for a late afternoon happy hour. We lounged and had aperol spritzes and cheese and jam, and it was pretty great.

And then, the evening stayed great but took a different turn - I'd invited her whole family over to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and so while Katie came early so we could catch up a bit, James and the girls showed up in time for dinner. We ordered pizza and I gave them "baby champagne" (aka sparkling apple grape juice, which hypes them up like nothing else), and then we watched the opening. Overall, it was pretty gorgeous and well done considering the covid restrictions, although it's weird to see a basically empty stadium. And of course it's a prime opportunity for propaganda, which is always interesting to watch.

James and Julia left early, but Katie and Anne stayed until the end. It was v. different than old Olympics parties from days of yore, and I didn't bake any cakes at all, but at least it felt festive and entertaining. And Katie, as always, is great.

Eventually they left, and I did some more house prep while watching some taped skating stuff until I suddenly was too tired to continue. And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

muscle to muscle and toe to toe

I had a pretty good day today - it was the first day where I didn't feel like I had to take a nap, although I do feel like I need to go to bed early. I wrote for a bit before work, which was great, and I survived all of my meetings unscathed. And when I was done with meetings, I probably should have done house stuff or packing stuff to prep for going back to ye olde Iowa this weekend...but instead I made spaghetti all'amatriciana (one of my favorite fast-ish weeknight suppers - cook bacon, red onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes, add some tomato sauce, and toss with spaghetti). It was delicious, and also made me want to go to Italy.

Instead of going to Italy, I spent the rest of the evening torturing myself by reading the first couple of chapters of DIRT - it's a memoir by a guy who moved his family to Lyon so he could learn French cooking. So far so good - his style is easy (he's a writer/journalist by trade, not a chef, so of course the writing is easy) and I'm completely ravenously desperate to go to Europe. I also tortured myself by texting with my family time group; Jess had sent an article yesterday about how all the pandemic group chats are dead, which is quite unfortunately not true of ours, since it mostly consists of unwelcome reminiscences (Adit reminded me tonight that I was in his bottom 8 - aka the least cool people in our dorm), insults (see the aforementioned), and too much discussion of Ritu Rani's nephew the tiktok influencer. But at least I'll be in SF in a month, which is not Europe but is also better than nothing.

And now I need to sleep so that I can power through some work tomorrow and then also power through some house stuff and then also watch some Olympics (YAY) - goodnight!

got stacks on deck like he's saving up

I have nothing of interest to report tonight - I'm still tired, which is probably all you need to know. I was in my pajamas until my nine a.m. meeting (okay, I did take a shower), and I got into them as soon as was feasible after work. Work itself was fine, but I'm finding it hard to muster the energy to get through a full day of meetings. Or perhaps the multiple inches of snow + subfreezing temperatures were impacting my energy - it's hard to tell.

But I ended the day with a chat with [censored], some day job work, a chat with my mother, a late dinner, and some journaling + some interior design exploration, so it could be worse. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

turn the car around

I'm still pretty insanely tired - I had to take two naps today and didn't get to everything I wanted to get to at work. Absolutely nothing of interest happened today (at least nothing I can share), so at least I had some space to take a break. I guess I did talk to Terry for awhile, which was something of interest, so I apologize for misleading you with the last sentence.

And now, I really need to crawl into bed - goodnight!