can't reach the moon now, can't turn the tide

So it turns out I have covid. I found this out yesterday, as my symptoms continued to escalate and I finally took a covid test; the line for 'yes you have covid' turned bright pink within seconds, so I'd say it's for real. And even if it's not for real, the symptoms are -- sore throat, bad cough, a lot of tiredness / fogginess.

So, due to this unfortunate turn of events, I saw no one and did nothing this weekend. Yesterday, before things got worse, I went out and bought kleenexes and sudafed and covid tests and warm socks; the kleenexes are gone now, so I'm back to using one-ply hotel kleenex like a peasant, and I may have to doordash some tomorrow. Today, I didn't feel like going out at all, but I needed coffee...so finally, around 1pm, I rallied enough to walk a block and a half to get some cold brew + gatorade + several giant bottles of water. I also ordered a pizza, which I only ate half of since my appetite is questionable.

Unfortunately, I have nothing else to report beyond this litany of woe - I watched some SNL, watched some comedy videos, napped, and mostly did absolutely nothing. And now, I'm going to try to go to bed and see if I can kickstart my recovery with more sleep - goodnight!

the otherlands

I'm unfortunately, suddenly, quite sick - about as sick as I was when I got COVID in 2022, which was not a pleasant experience. I'm sure the petri dish of exposure to so many other people, when I'm getting not enough sleep, has not helped matters. I also remember getting horribly sick when I went back to work in 2013 and 2017... And whether it's going back to work that causes it, or just exposure, is a mystery.

Anyway, I had already decided to work from my hotel today, and I thought I took it easy enough physically.... But everything worsened by early evening, despite taking an extremely unusual 6pm nap. So I got some chicken tortilla soup and a ginger ale from the bar (their food is generally excellent, but my tortilla soup is better) and spent the rest of the evening reading to take my mind off my runny nose. And now, I'm going to sleep and hope that tomorrow is better - but I cancelled the massage I'd booked, so that's how you know it's serious. Goodnight!

i want you to be happier

I had a long but good day in the city of sin. I made it to the office in time to grab an iced coffee down the street before my first meeting, and then I had meetings most of the morning. But some of them were chats with people in the office, which was nice - it's amazing how much better my mood is when I have people around. And I had a tasty lunch, more coffee, etc., so all in all it was a win.

The day ended with a going-away dinner for Adam, which was a nice way to meet a bunch of people (and also say hi to Adit). By the time I got back to my hotel, after walking 12,000 steps and being gone for almost thirteen hours, I had just enough time to watch the depressing last ten minutes of the Iowa State basketball game. And now, I should probably do some tings but I'm going to go to bed instead - goodnight!

but there's only so many streets, so many lights

I had a decent enough day - I hit an ebb in the learning curve at the new gig, since I know basically nothing and am not sure how to go about learning everything. But that's to be expected, so hopefully I emerge from the ebb and get into the flow tomorrow.

Otherwise, I have nothing to report - I worked all day, and then I eventually ended up in the hotel bar, where I was going to journal and then go to bed early... but then in true extrovert fashion I ended up chatting with a couple of guys from Baltimore and getting free whisky from the bartender I've befriended. C'est la vie and I've still got it, I guess. But now I need to go to bed so I can get cracking early tomorrow - goodnight!

so park your lexus and throw your keys up

So in an unexpected turn of events, I have a job. Or, at least, I have a job for a few weeks - it's a bit of an odd situation where we're basically testing each other out to see if we want to work together. This has been secretly, v. v. slowly, in the works for several months - and in a bizarre way. The job was never posted and I think I was the only candidate, and the interview process was v. slow until the CEO decided to just hire me for a month and see what happens.

But so far so good - I started yesterday, and the people are all v. friendly, and I think it could be a really good thing if we continue to get along. I'm not going to say more than that yet. But the only other salient fact is that Adit (some people call him the cat) and V's husband both work here, so the people are pretty well-vetted. And as long as Adit doesn't slip and call me Wampface like he usually does, I'll probably do pretty well.

sssanyway, that's why I'm in SF, and that's why I'm not posting anything fun since I'm mostly sitting on a laptop looking at spreadsheets and zoom calls. But perhaps I'll have something fun to post this weekend - we shall see!

Beyond the job, today was good - I grabbed some Nola-style iced coffee at Blue Bottle (which I love), had a v. delicious lunch with the team, and had a nice walk back to my hotel via Union Square. And now, I think I shall go to bed - goodnight!

baby it's all right now

I had a chill day in the city of sin. I got sufficient sleep, and then I showered, grab a cold brew from the Starbucks down the street, and wrote in the lobby for an hour and a half. Then, I embarked on my one plan of the day: I met Katrina for lunch at Pizzeria Delfina.

We usually meet in her neighborhood, but I lured her up the hill to Pac Heights, and I'm glad I did - the gluten free crust at Delfina is perhaps the best ever, and their mushroom pizza is perfection. We caught up for a couple of hours while eating pizza, and it was a v nice interlude.

Then, I grabbed a new notebook at my favorite store in Japantown, sat in the lobby at the Kabuki for a bit, and came back to my hotel, where I wrote for another hour. Eventually I grabbed some food in the bar downstairs, where I caught up with a bartender I've met several times before (pre and post pandemic) and watched the ISU/Stanford game (I was destined to be happy either way, but I can't wait to see what the ISU women do next year). And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

walking on sunshine

Surprise - I'm in San Francisco. I was supposed to be in Tahoe tonight, but there was a risk of a snowstorm, so V and I made a heroic effort to get out of the house and on the road by noon. We were in the city four hours later, which was decent time considering that we had to stop for caffeine and bathrooms. And while I'm v sad for the retreat to be over, I'm excited for some time in the city of sin.

Not that I intend to do much sinning - I'm here for more productive reasons, and also my liver is too old for its old shenanigans. In fact, when I checked into the hotel, I laid on my bed and did absolutely nothing for awhile. But then I rallied and went downstairs to get a Caesar salad and some salmon...

... And inadvertently invited Chandlord to join me. Clearly I wanted to see her or else I wouldn't have texted about dinner later in the week, but she had nothing going on, so she came to my hotel since it's v close to her. She ordered a pizza that took a long time (but that was still better than her pizza at the infamous wedge salad restaurant in 2021), and we caught up v deeply (if you like going deep on the Spice Islands and global nutmeg production). She also came upstairs and laid on my bed for awhile, which was v nice.

And now I need to sleep so that I can accomplish all the things tomorrow - goodnight!

slide into my room

I had a pretty mellow day - after getting so much done yesterday, it was perhaps inevitable that I would crash a bit today. But I got some tings done this morning, and then Veronica drove me to a nearby nail place so I could get a manicure. It was a vain but necessary errands, and the salon was good enough, so that left me feeling good.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon contemplating writing, writing tiny bits, and taking a nap. At some point I realized there was no reason to try to write when I was just refreshing the Iowa State basketball score every couple of minutes, so I watched the end of the game (thanks to the wonders of YouTube TV). It was fun to see them win so handily, and hopefully they'll keep going.

Then, V and I ate takeout Mediterranean for dinner, and I did some laundry and other tasks. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

sand yego

I'm quite fried - I didn't get enough sleep after staying up late reading last night, and I spent approximately ten hours (not exaggerating) working on the website for the mural festival. I should have done it ages ago, but I was never in the mood - and I still am not in the mood, but I want to stop thinking about it. I got all the pages for each individual mural into decent shape, and there are downloadable maps and things. I still need to write up some pages about the sponsors, festival volunteers, more about the artists, etc., and possibly add some more photos, but at least it's in good enough shape that a passing tourist will find some info.

When I wasn't working on the website, I was eating lunch (leftover pizza) or dinner (leftover Mexican) or chatting with Veronica. I did take a break after dinner to start a new book, which I'm enjoying - but I have quite an impressive headache now, so I think I need to sleep. Goodnight!

I can go a little while longer

I had a v nice, v chill day - I got some good writing done, and I also finished reading THE OVERSTORY, which was excellent and also v strange. And Veronica and I picked up pizza for dinner, which was pretty much perfect.

Now, though, it is almost one and I have been trying to go to bed earlier than this, so I think it's time to call it. Goodnight!

system of weights and measures

I had a very lovely day in Tahoe - I did much more than I did yesterday, while still having ample time to follow royal family gossip. V and I both were quite productive, although we took plenty of breaks to chat - and we ordered Indian food for a very early dinner, which was truly excellent.

After dinner, I spent some quality time continuing to read THE OVERSTORY, which I continue to love. And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

be held back by the substitution

I had a lovely, absolutely lazy day. Adam made sweet potato hash and eggs for breakfast, and then I unpacked, guy myself organized, etc. I did a wee but if writing and journaling in the afternoon, but I mostly drank tea and took a nap. And then Veronica and I had an extended happy hour before eating dinner, and we all retired early. I intend to be more productive tomorrow, but this was a good way to ease into Tahoe. Goodnight!

watch the stars fade

No blog tonight...I made it to Tahoe, and the two hour the difference has hit me already - I've already been asleep for an hour. But luckily my flights were uneventful, and I landed to the incredible news about the Cyclones demolishing Houston, so that was v exciting. Then Veronica and Adam picked me (and my absurd amount of luggage) up, and we came home and ate tacos and went deep on the Kate Middleton situation. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

but i don't care for sugar honey if i can't have you

Sorry for not blogging the last couple of days - I've been scrambling to get ready for my trip, and it has made me both more frazzled and more boring than usual. I'm mostly packed, though - I have a couple of last things to do tomorrow, but then I'm heading to Tahoe for some long-anticipated writing fun with Veronica (yayyyyy).

Beyond packing, there were other tings happening the last couple of days. I had both a library board meeting and a PEO meeting on Wednesday, an economic development meeting yesterday, and allergy shots, in addition to my usual attempts to keep my life in order. There was also much basketball to be watched (and so far so good for the Cyclones). And, I had dinner with my parents and [censored] tonight, which was pretty tasty and a nice way to catch up before my trip.

But now, I need to go to bed so I can get approximately two hours less sleep than I normally do before waking up and finishing my task list. Goodnight!

am i not hot when i'm in my feelings

Nothing to report - or lots to report, if you care about royal family gossip, or how many times I've watched the 'I'm Just Ken' video from the Oscars, or various somewhat secret projects I have going on. Today was pretty chill, though - I got a bunch of stuff done, ran some errands, took a walk, chatted with Caroline, and made tofu stirfry for dinner since I had the house and the menu to myself.

But now, I'm going to try to wind down and go to bed at a more reasonable hour so I can continue my quest to get on daylight savings time (before undoing that work by going to Tahoe on Saturday). Goodnight!

who builds the future? do they care why?

I have v. little to report today - I didn't get enough done, which makes me cranky. But I did get to sit on my balcony for awhile, so it's not all bad news. And I bought groceries, removed the gel nail polish from my nails (which took much longer than I wanted to spend on it, but was worth it), and watched some entertaining videos while I dealt with my nails. In other words, it could have been worse.

But now I'm going to go to bed and force tomorrow to be more productive whether it wants to be or not - goodnight!

i'm enough, and i'm great at doing stuff

I did almost nothing today - I stayed up too late last night, slept too late through the time change, had a bit of an upset stomach that encouraged me to linger in bed, and so finally emerged from my room sometime after eleven. I made myself some v. tasty coffee, which only rallied me enough to watch the Big 10 women's basketball championship, which was a pretty exciting battle between Iowa (not my home team, but I'll cheer for them in some circumstances) and Nebraska (never my team).

Eventually, I helped [censored] with a thing, did a wee bit of writing, and discovered it was already 5:30pm, so I watched the Oscars. While watching the Oscars, I also heated up some frozen spaghetti sauce and made spaghetti for dinner, which was a nice thing to eat while watching awards given for a bunch of films I haven't seen. I did really enjoy Ryan Gosling's "I'm Just Ken" performance though, so that was worth the wait.

And now, I should probably consider going to bed and attempting to get on the right time - goodnight!

sing the wrong lines to my own song, you don't mind

I had a pretty lazy day this morning, but I spent some quality time this afternoon working on a website project that I've been putting off for six months. I took a break at some point to take a wee nap, and then I broke for dinner - [censored] and I met our parents in Seymour, where some prime rib and onion rings made a valiant attempt to revive me. It was nice to hang out for a bit, so it was a v. good break...

...and then I came home and worked on the website for another three hours, which means my eyes are starting to cross and I should really go to bed before I revert to my ulcerous workstyle ways. Goodnight!

doc told me to travel but there's covid on the planes

I'm back in my own bed after a nice mini trip away from it. I slept surprisingly well last night considering I was in an unfamiliar room, and the only downside of that was that I didn't wake up early and write this morning. But I got plenty of sleep, then put on some clothes and went around the corner to grab Starbucks, which was a nice treat that I can't get in my hometown. Then I got ready and checked out of the hotel, stored my backpack in my car, and wandered for a bit.

While I suspect that spending more than a few hours in Iowa City would feel even more claustrophobic than Boulder (a university town I universally despise), it was a nice place to spend a morning. I wandered around some shops, stopped in at the famous bookstore, and had lunch (brunch) at a place called Dandy Lion. All in all it was a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Then, I drove home, with a quick stop in Pella to do some reconnaissance for a spring trip. When I got here I needed a nap almost immediately, and then I rallied to talk to [censored], watch some TV, and scrounge for a v late sandwich when I finally felt hungry. And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

the tiniest moves you make, watching the whole world shake

I'm in Iowa City for the night, which is a welcome switch-up from my usual routine. I haven't blogged about this, but my nephew had a pretty horrific accident while I was in Seattle - a car fell on him while he was working on it, and it crushed his chest pretty thoroughly. He's been out of the hospital for a bit, and seems to be doing shockingly well considering how badly he was injured - but since he was up for a visit, I decided to drive up to see him.

Since I'm not a morning person, and since I hadn't packed anything last night or finished tings I needed to do, I didn't leave home until noon, which put me at his house around three. His wife works from home and their toddler was down for a nap, so I got to catch up with them pretty thoroughly for a couple of hours. Their older daughter got home from school in time for me to see her too, and all in all it was a v. nice visit. Hopefully he continues to improve, and hopefully I'll see more of them in the next few months.

Then, I drove over to his sister's house to give her some moving boxes, and she and her husband and I had dinner in Iowa City. We went to Basta, which had a v. nice gluten free pizza and a nice cabernet franc from Scarpetta, which is a wine company owned by the same guy who owns the nicest Italian restaurant in Boulder (and my personal fave Pizzeria Alberico, which used to be Pizzeria Locale). We had a lovely time catching up over dinner, and it was nice to be able to walk to my hotel after (even if it was raining the whole way).

After dinner, I settled into my room, but I was too wiped out to do any writing that I had intended to do. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

she's my alma mater

I have little of interest to report - I woke up and wrote for a couple of hours, which was great. Then I changed my sheets and vacuumed my bedroom and office, talked to my mom, ate a v belated lunch, procrastinated, and eventually took a shower. And I messed around with cleaning and inking a couple of fountain pens before journaling for awhile, which always grounds me.

When I was done with all that, I ate dinner - leftover tater tot casserole with a fried egg on top. And then I started reading THE OVERSTORY, which has been on my shelf for ages - and so far it's spookily in my vein of interests, since it starts in Iowa, has an interlude in the Stanford Prison Experiment, continues into silicon valley, etc. It won a Pulitzer and I can already see why, so I predict I'll be finishing it posthaste.

But I'm proud of myself for closing it at midnight instead of listening to the voracious instinct that said to keep going, and I'm going to go to bed before I change my mind - goodnight!

she ruins my life, but she does it so nice, but she'd often say it's for the art

Today was a great start to the week, all in all - I got up reasonably early (for me; reasonably late for everyone else), poured some cold brew, did a couple of tings, and wrote for an hour. Then I uncharacteristically made hot lunch, as we would have called it at school - there weren't enough leftovers in the fridge for lunch, so I made burrito bowls for me and [censored]. They were tasty, as per usual, and now I have lunch for the next couple of days figured out, which is a real bonus.

After we ate, I cleaned up the kitchen, procrastinated a bit, and then wrote for another hour and a half or so. I was pretty pleased by what I got done, and so I took a break, took a long-overdue shower, and said farewell to [censored]. Then I ran a couple of errands, came home, ate a twice-baked potato that I had thawed out from my freezer stash, messed around online for awhile, etc. Eventually, I retreated to my office - I didn't do any more brainstorming, but I paid some bills and journaled / planned for the rest of the week, so I'll take it.

And now, I need to sleep so I can repeat these feats tomorrow - goodnight!

I can't keep these feelings on the shelf

I had a v nice day today, even if I did have to get dressed before ten. [Censored] and I drove up to Des Moines to have family brunch - Aunt B was in town for the weekend, and so we met her, Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, and my parents at a restaurant in Jordan Creek so we could catch up.

Brunch was pretty good (not amazing, but not bad, and the cheesy potatoes on the buffet were great). And then we adjourned to Drewbaby's house, where we sat in the backyard (it was a lovely day except for that darned wind) until Becky had to leave for her flight. [Censored] and I talked to Drewbaby a bit more while I ill-advisedly tried a hard mountain dew, and then we headed home.

When we got here, I didn't feel like cooking, so we had leftover tater tot casserole and watched SNL. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

the little brush right down the avenue

I had a pretty good day today - I mostly used it to get on top of the various accumulating to-dos that I've been ignoring for awhile, and while the list is daunting, it's not all that bad. I also did a bit of journaling in the sun on my balcony, which is pretty good for March 2. And I trimmed my bangs, which means I can see again, which will probably help my productivity even more than making a list does.

As evening rolled around, I made tater tot casserole for dinner, which turned out quite well. My parents came into town to eat with me and [censored], and I believe a nice time was had by all. And I'm quite glad that I've figured out how to make an excellent gluten free tater tot casserole - now if I could replicate tuna noodle casserole, I'd really be in business.

But that's a project (or a disaster) for another day - for now, it's time for bed!