stick season

I have had v little to report since coming home - I was pretty wrecked on Tuesday thanks to the long travel day, and that feeling partially continued into Wednesday.

Yesterday I was a bit more able to get some tings done, which I did - and then I slacked off to go into town and have a margarita with Brenda and Bonita. Brenda and I had meant to get together for awhile and finally made plans after seeing each other at a board meeting last week - and then she invited Bonita so we could discuss various mural-related things. It was nice to hang out with them, and also nice to take a break from my laptop, so I'm glad we did it. 

Then I grabbed takeout for me and [censored], got some groceries, came home, relaxed/almost napped, and then miraculously wrote from nine to midnight. Of course, that made this morning a bit rough, but coffee went a long way toward helping me. I gave [censored] a ride to pick up his [censored], and then I came home and did day job stuff quite diligently all day. I wanted to write again tonight, but my brain refused, so I did some journaling and various other small tasks and generally chilled. 

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

giving up a part of me that no one needs to know

I'm back in ye olde Iowa after a very long travel day yesterday. When I woke up yesterday morning, Chandlord and I finished doing some packing, and then we hung out in the hot tub and pool for a couple of hours. But all good things must come to an end, and so we showered, got ready, and vacated the resort. Then we went to downtown Palm Springs, where we walked around and shopped for an hour, and then had a leisurely lunch at Clandestino. It was yet another delicious meal to cap off our trip - my tacos were tasty, and their chips and guac were perfect. Then we made a brief detour to see a gigantic statue of Marilyn Monroe, which would not have been worth anything more than the half block that we walked to see it. And then we drove the eight arduous minutes to the airport, where we dropped off the rental car, checked in, and hung out before our flights.

I had originally planned to go to San Francisco with Chandlord last night, which would have meant being on the same flight around 7pm. But my travel plans for the next few weeks have changed, so I took a 4pm flight to Denver instead. My flight was uneventful, and when I got to Denver, I had time to grab a mediocre ahi tuna bowl and a decent enough glass of rose at Mercantile in the A Concourse. I usually don't eat in the A Concourse, but since United has expanded there, sometimes I don't have a choice. Then I boarded my flight to Des Moines, and I was very glad that I was upgraded at the last minute because the flight itself was pretty rough. Iowa was having all sorts of weather last night, and there was major turbulence in the last half hour of the flight. Luckily, I had taken dramamine, but it still made for a pretty brutal re-entry.

By the time I got to Des moines, it was 11:30pm. I was able to get my bag pretty quickly, but I didn't make it home until after 1am - and next time I should probably stay in the city overnight, because the drive was very unpleasant. I also shouldn't have tried to get up this morning and have my regular slate of meetings because I was really not feeling in it to win it. But I made it through the day, worked until about six, and then [censored] and I picked up pizza because I didn't have any inclination to cook. We ate while watching this week's SNL season finale, which featured Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney and was overall pretty delightful. And then I came upstairs, did various tasks, and I'm now ready to crash so that hopefully I have enough energy to be more productive tomorrow. Goodnight!

girls are faking, goodness saking

I had another excellent day in the desert, and Vidya is still here, so I think she's having an okay time too. I got up pretty early, did some journaling, and then drove Chandlord to her time share presentation (which she was required to attend to get this room basically for free). Then I hung out at the pool until she got back (without purchasing a time share, which makes her stronger than I probably would have been).

Then we went into Palm Desert to grab brunch, which turned out to be great - we went to a delish Mexican place where the chilequiles were on point. We wandered around the shops for a bit and bought some truly ridiculous clothes, and then we came back and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. 

Eventually we went to the nearby JW Marriott, which had a fancier vibe, where we had cocktails and fries, and then I had a sushi roll and a glass of rosé. And then we came back and watched "Wine Country", which was quite silly and fun. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

jack trainer

I don't know about Chandlord, but I had an excellent day in the desert. I woke up absurdly early due to the time difference, and I drove off site to grab Starbucks as fuel for my morning. Then I came back and did some journaling while Vidya woke up. Then I showered and hung out by the pool while she finished getting ready, and we drove into Palm Springs to avail ourselves of the various tings to do. 

So we put our names in for brunch at Farm, and we window shopped nearby while waiting for a table. Brunch was really excellent, and the vibe was good (for me, at least; unclear if Vidya is enjoying herself at all, but I am delighted). Then we went to various shops and browsed various things, but other than an expensive pair of reading glasses, I was quite frugal. 

Then we came back to the resort, relaxed a bit, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. We grabbed dinner at the only restaurant at the resort, which was tastier than I expected, and we ended it early when the winds picked up and we started tasting sand instead of salt. We got an impromptu golf cart lift back to our room, and then we watched "Lost City", which we have actually watched together before, but I always like Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Again, not sure Vidya is enjoying herself, but c'est la vie I guess. 

And now it's time for bed - but not before wishing [censored] a happy [censored]! Goodnight!

I heard you calling on the megaphone

I had a lovely day in Palm Desert, thanks for asking. I got up early enough to write for a bit, and then I got ready, packed, checked out of my room, and caught an Uber back to the airport. When I got there, I rendezvoused with Chandlord and also picked up a rental car, which we very much need since things are spread out in the desert.

Vidya and I grabbed brunch downtown, which was a delight. Then we checked into the hotel (again) and luckily our room was ready. So we spent the afternoon hanging out at a variety of pools, soaking in a bunch of sun, and generally catching up.

After we showered, cleaned up, etc, we went back into Palm Springs, where we grabbed a drink at Truss and Twine, and then had a v tasty dinner at Eight4Nine. The crowd around here is v eclectic - we saw some moms potentially getting their daughters drunk, a lot of surprisingly cut dresses, and also a lot of gay men. So far so good, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend. 

And now I'm exhausted and need to go to bed - goodnight!

it all just takes over you

I have arrived in Palm Desert after a long but uneventful travel day. My morning was pretty easy peasy since my flight wasn't until 11:30, and I got to the airport in time to eat breakfast before my flight. Today was the first day that the Des Moines airport had new numbers for their gates - after flying out of the A concourse (either A2 or A4) my entire life, suddenly I was flying out of gate 25. This is all in preparation for their new terminal, which should be quite nice. Still, it was v strange, and I'm glad [censored] saw it on the news and told me last night, or else I would have been super confused. 

Anyway, I had a long layover in Denver, so I grabbed a burger at Elway's and then took a glass of wine to go so I could sit in a random gate area and talk to Adit and Baz. Then I boarded and slept most of the eat to Palm Springs, but the landing almost made me vomit, and I've felt pretty off the rest of the night. 

So I Ubered to my hotel, where I did not settle in bc I have to check out and switch rooms tomorrow. Instead, I took a walk around to check things out, grabbed a smoothie, and sat on the balcony while the sun set. My balcony view is perhaps better, but the balcony has no mosquitos, so it's a trade off.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

and we always use the same tired lines

I have been v. busy the last couple of days - it's always a bit chaotic during Iowa Week (tm), which is the week when I have my economic development, city council meeting, and library board meeting within 36hrs of each other. Of course, I also am supposed to do my day job in that period, and also feed and groom myself, so that adds some complexity. And in this particular week, I happen to be leaving tomorrow to go on a weekend trip, which added even more baggage (pun intended).

So I slogged relentlessly yesterday between my 8am economic development meeting and my 6pm city council meeting, and then I came home and sat on my balcony and did a bit of writing. This morning I got up and wrote before work, and then slogged all day before my library board meeting. When I got home, I immediately started packing (while talking to Adit briefly, and occasionally answering various messages). I took a break to eat a late dinner around the time [censored] got home, and so I talked to him and we filled each other in on all the gossip we acquired in 48hrs (which is, as usual, quite a lot).

Then I came upstairs, finished packing, and in a miracle I will most likely be able to get 7.5hrs of sleep before waking up and getting ready for the airport. If everything goes smoothly, I will arrive at my destination tomorrow night and be ready to greet Chandlord for some fun in the sun on Friday. Goodnight!

mississippi moon won't you keep on shining on me

I have basically nothing to report - I spent the day slogging, or attempting to slog, mostly with good results. I got up early enough to journal before work, and I also took a break in the morning to inspect various aspects of the yard with [censored], as we do. And then I sat through many meetings, did many tasks, sent many slack messages, etc.

After [censored] left, and after I was done working, I sat on my balcony with a glass of sancerre and listened to part of a SymSys lecture (my old major occasionally does distinguished guest lectures that are open to alums, and sometimes they are interesting) while also doing various personal finance tasks and knocking some minor tings off my to-do list. Then I had a late girl dinner (cheese, crackers, salami, jam), tidied up, and answered some emails I had been putting off (note: every single email I get is an email I put off, unless I answer it within two minutes of receiving it).

And now, I need to go to bed - I have an early meeting in town tomorrow morning, and a city council meeting tomorrow night, and many tings to do between those events. Goodnight!

surrey with the fringe on top

I had a pretty good weekend, all things considered - and of course the primary thing to be considered was that Dad passed away a year ago yesterday. He has been on my mind the last few weeks, as the light changed and began to mirror the wavelengths present when he went to the hospital for the last time, and the trees and fields began to look generally the same as they looked during his last few days at home.

But despite the melancholy of the anniversary, the weekend overall was good. Yesterday, Mom and I went on a greenhouse tour - we went over to Decatur to check out Yutzy's, which was slammed with people doing Mother's Day shopping. It still feels a little too cool to plant tomatoes and peppers, but this weekend was gorgeous, and everyone is in the mood to get outside.

Yutzy's had a reasonably good selection of various things, and I got some pepper plants to augment my seedling experiment, which I am convinced will fail. They also had some nice-looking patio furniture, although tbd what I will eventually do with my deck. After we escaped the madness there, we decide to go to Ellis, which was a bit of a detour - but the detour meant going through Osceola, where we got McDonald's, which is tastier than it should be given how mass-produced it is. Ellis was also quite busy, but I got a couple of nice-looking shrubs that I need to figure out where to plant. And then we went to Bomgaars, where Mom exhibited surprising restraint and didn't buy anything, while I got a peony and something for [censored].

Thus satisfied with our gardening efforts, we came home, and I spent the rest of the day doing various things around the house, all of which felt reasonably productive and none of which are memorable. I should have gone to bed early, but instead I sat down on my chaise around nine intending to work, and instead dozed until I actually went to bed at midnight.

I woke up this morning determined to seize some momentum, so I made some coffee, and then wrote off and on for about four hours. This was v. fruitful and I'm glad I did, but by the time I wrapped up, I had a headache from staring at my screen for too long, and I had missed much of the best part of the time to be outside. I also had various indoor tasks to take care of (four loads of laundry, changing my sheets, etc.). All of this was so much to process that I took a nap. And then when I woke up, I ran to the grocery store, came home, did some plant prep (mostly moving seedlings around and starting to harden off my tomatoes), and then prepped some stuff for dinner.

Around six, I drove Dad's truck out to Mom's (partially to help [censored] get a load of mulch out there, partially to avoid getting my car dirty since I washed it in Des Moines on Friday and like to have at least forty-eight hours where I don't drive it on gravel). I spent some time cleaning the grill, which didn't really get cleaned last year either - I had kept the grates clean, but I was never in the mood to clean the outside, and we didn't use it much last summer. So I cleaned the outside, brush copious cobwebs out of the inner cabinet, cleaned the grease trap, and then fired it up so that I could brush off any remaining residue on the grates.

Once that was done, I grilled three ribeyes and some burgers, all of which turned out excellently (if I do say so myself). I had sauteed some sweet onions and mushrooms to go with them, which were delicious and well worth the 25+ minutes I spent babysitting the sauteeing process (okay, I didn't babysit too closely, since I was taking care of plants during that time). And Mom threw together a caesar salad and baked some potatoes, so it was a pretty perfect meal. [Censored] took a break from mowing in time to eat, so the three of us celebrated Mother's Day in style.

When we were done, Mom gave me a ride back into town, and I took out the trash, dropped off my water bill payment at city hall, and did various tings until now. And now it's time for bed so that I can hopefully bring some of this productive energy to my day job tomorrow - we shall see. Goodnight!

swedish suicide pods

I had a relatively decent day to wrap up the week, although I feel like I got v. little done compared to what I had intended to do in the last month. That is, perhaps, my usual minimization of my actual accomplishment in favor of comparing them to my grandiose visions of what I should have accomplished, but c'est la vie.

I had to get up pretty early this morning to run to Des Moines for my semiannual botox appointment. My jaw was starting to tighten up, and injecting a reasonably large quantity of toxin into my masseter muscles is the only thing that saves me from having the jaw of a linebacker and the worst of the headaches I have always been prone to. My appointment was as brief as it always in - in and out in ten minutes - and it was worth the three hours of drive time to make it happen.

After I finished there, I speed ran some errands - I got my car washed, stopped at Trader Joes to stock up on gluten free muffins, ran to Best Buy to get a new keyboard and mouse, and stopped in at Container Store because they appear to be going out of business / combining with Bed Bath and Beyond, and I wanted to stock up on a couple of tings that I usually get there and am not sure I'll be able to get in the future. Then I grabbed an iced coffee and refilled my gas tank before heading south.

I made it home just in time for my afternoon string of meetings, which I accomplished without fuss (and with quite a bit of laughter in one of them since we were playing with various filters on the videoconference, which added some levity to our Friday afternoon). Then I ran to the grocery store, came home, and made this chicken orzo pasta casserole thing that has quickly become a favorite. While it was baking, I sat on my balcony and made a to-do list (way too long) and soaked up a little fresh air.

Eventually, [censored] and I ate dinner while watching various tings on tv. And now I need to go to bed so that I can accomplish various things tomorrow, or perhaps just embrace a whole weekend of Sunday Scaries rather than saving them up for Sunday night. Goodnight!

i want to come over, to hell with the consequence

I had a long but productive day of looking at screens - I got a new monitor yesterday thanks to work, and it (at least temporarily) made a difference in my ability to focus. I got up at a reasonable hour, did a couple of hours of work while sipping my coffee, took a quick shower, and ran into town to get allergy shots. Then I came home and slogged until six, which felt quite productive.

As soon as I was done with meetings, [censored] and I went to Chariton (third time this week, which is a new record) to look at some garden supply stuff at Bomgaars. Then we decided to have Mexican food up there for dinner rather than driving back to our town. The service was a little slow, but the food was excellent and I enjoyed my margarita, so I would def go there again.

And now, even though this post is boring, I'm too tired to try to spice it up - so I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight!

catch a rare type specimen

I drove 120 miles today, but in the end I didn't really feel like I got that far. Probably that's because the 120 miles were two trips to Chariton, both of which were to take mom to the eye doctor. The first trip was planned, and it was just a quick check up. But she had also been waiting for new glasses, and when we were up there this morning, they still hadn't come in. Of course, about an hour after we got home, they did come in, and so we went back up there rather than trying to do it tomorrow or Friday. I'm glad she was able to get them since it will dramatically improve her ability to see, but it wasn't quite the afternoon that I expected.

However, that wasn't really that big of a deal. Even though I had a lot of work that I intended to get done, none of it was super pressing, and so this was as good a day as any to make a couple of road trips. I didn't really wrap up until 6:30 because I had a meeting after we got back from the second trip. Then I went downstairs, did a bit of stuff around the kitchen, baked a potato, and had a late dinner. I was ready to eat just as [censored] walked in the door, so I ate while catching up with him, which was nice. And now I need to go to bed so that I can do all the things tomorrow that I intended to do today - goodnight!

my heart runs on gasoline vapors

I have been staring at screens for way too long, so I shall keep this brief. When I woke up this morning, I felt relatively #inittowinit, so I got out of bed, made some coffee, and journaled for awhile. I'm sure the sunlight helped - my mood is always better when it warms up, and today was almost perfect.

Sadly I had to work inside most of the day, but I got through all my meetings in due form, and I managed to squeeze in a little personal business too. I was finally done around six, and then I got to sit out on my balcony and write for awhile. Eventually I came inside and ate some food (a v. unusual dinner of apple, peanut butter, and cottage cheese - I had other food, but I had zero desire to eat any of it) and tidied up the kitchen. And then I switched into sweats and did some work until now.

And now, I can sleep the sleep of the just (or at least the screen-blind) - goodnight!

lead me to the right side, keep this rolling

Apologies for not blogging the last couple of nights - I had a whirlwind end to my week, including breakfast in NYC, a long and much-needed coffee with Emily (all of my coworkers are my favorite, but she is first among them), lunch and various meetings, etc., etc. My trip home was complicated by some stalled vehicle or accident in an NYC tunnel, which made my Uber ride to the airport 90min instead of 45min, which meant I did not have time for a leisurely lounge experience like I had intended. But other than that, my trip was smooth, and it was good to get home.

I spent the weekend doing a variety of household and writing things - I got fully unpacked from both SF and NYC, got my room and desk reorganized, etc. I spent more time than expected yesterday afternoon talking to the neighbors - or rather, the heirs of the neighbor who passed away earlier this year. And then I sped into town and grabbed groceries so that I could cook. I made ham and potatoes au gratin for dinner last night, and Mom came in to eat with me and [censored], which meant I had to turn the dining room back into a dining room instead of a greenhouse (with mixed results, since I couldn't move my seedlings). But dinner was v. nice and we had a good chat, so it was worth it.

Today was more of the same - I actually wrote for three hours this morning, which was excellent but also made my brain feel a little melted. Then I ate lunch and vegged for a couple of hours, and then I spent three hours doing yard work. This resulted in cleaning out part of one bed in front of my house and putting down fresh mulch, which was definitely an improvement even if there is still much work to do. And I am guessing I will be sore tomorrow, since my fingers all seem to hurt and I think my arms and legs do too, but hopefully I can get back outside as the week progresses.

I took a break to put a roast chicken in the oven, and then I finished it with some roasted potatoes and a caesar salad, which [censored] and I v. much enjoyed as the fruits of our labors. And now I need to go to sleep - goodnight!

it's giving me divine feelings

In a surprise turn of events, I am in NYC for less than thirty six hours, which was not in the cards when I went to San Francisco last week. This is entirely a work trip (sorry Terry and various other NYC friends) - I took the only direct flight here this morning, and I shall return on the only direct flight tomorrow afternoon. And I have a million meetings in that time period, so personal time is basically nonexistent.

But today's travels were smooth despite getting up at four am. I made it out of the house on time, and I had time to grab an omelette at the airport before boarding. I slept most of the way to NYC, grabbed an Uber, dropped my bag at the hotel, went to the office, and ate sushi while chatting with Gary. Then I grabbed coffee with Finn, did some meetings, went back to my hotel when my room was ready, and did more meetings until after seven.

By then I was done done, so I went to serafina and had a v mid gf pasta (but a v nice glass of cab) while writing a bit. And now I need to sleep immediately if I have any hope of being on tomorrow - goodnight!

tell me where will it end

No blog tonight - I had a v busy day, starting with allergy shots, then six hours of meetings, and then a city council meeting. When I got home, I had to furiously take care of all the tings that I needed to get done tonight, and now I have to go to bed if I have any hope of getting up early tomorrow. Goodnight!

wish i didn't know now what i didn't know then

I did not blog yesterday because I had a long day of travel - it was all smooth, but I had to get to the airport in time for an 8:30 flight, and since I had to check a bag and also wanted to eat breakfast beforehand, that meant leaving my hotel at an unfortunate hour. However, my flight to Denver got in twenty minutes early, which gave me just enough time to grab a glass of rosé and a caesar salad with salmon for my last 'city' meal before heading back to the countryside.

My flight to Des Moines was on time, and my bag made it within three minutes of my arrival to baggage claim, so I was in my car v. quickly. I stopped for Starbucks on the way home, and then I zoned out to a Trevor Noah podcast while completing my drive. When I got here, I caught up with [censored] and we got takeout Mexican since I didn't feel like cooking. This does not count as a 'city' meal, although it is certainly more convenient than trying to cook after traveling all day.

Today should have been a slog, but I played a bit of hooky. I got up this morning and worked, and I sat through several meetings, but I slacked off at 2:30 to take my mom to one of our favorite greenhouses. I usually don't make it there this early in the season, and they had quite a good selection - but I also don't know exactly what I want to plant, so I didn't load up as much as I could have. But we had a v nice time examining all of their plants, and we got lucky to not end up with rain / tornadoes, so I'll take it.

When we got home, I dropped her and her plants off, and then came back to my place, put my stuff away, said goodbye to [censored], did various household chores, and then ran back into town to grab various dairy products + pizza (not something I usually do, but I have many many things I have to accomplish this week and cooking is not something I have time for). Then I came home, ate, unpacked, did some laundry, tidied up, worked for a couple of hours, etc. And now I need to go to bed because tomorrow is going to be an overwhelming slog - goodnight!

peace of mind

I had an extremely chill day in the city of sin. I slept in, lazed about, and eventually showered and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before wandering out into the city. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon shopping along Fillmore Street, which was as fun as it always is. And then I grabbed some oysters and a glass of wine at Little Shucker while catching up on various reading, which was very nice.

Once evening rolled around, I met Claudia and Adit at a wine bar, where we had drinks and cheeses while waiting a couple of hours for the waitlist to finally clear at Khao Tiew. The wait was worth it - we had some excellent curries and a tasty pad Thai, and the conversation throughout was a delight. We probably could have kept going, but I still needed to pack and I have to get up pretty early for my flight tomorrow, so I called it for the night. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

when in rome

I had a nice final work day in the SF office. I managed to rally and go in despite sleeping v fitfully last night, and the vibe was quite chill since only two of the newest people + Adit were there. I myself bounced around three, and I used my self driving taxi time to talk to my mom, which was a delight. 

Then I got to the hotel, promptly took a nap, did a bit of work, and then walked to maido to see if I needed any stationery (spoiler: I always need stationery). Then I came back, took another break, got ready, and headed out for an absurdly late (for me, this week only) dinner at 8pm.

My destination was Collina, and my friends were Julie and Tom and their spouses. I hadn't seen all of them in far too long, and it was a joy to see them again - we caught up properly over many dishes and a much more moderate amount of alcohol than we used to drink in our youth. And we discussed the usual topics that pervade society these days (AI, the job market, Heated Rivalry). So all in all it was a beautiful evening, even if I am wiped out.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

verbier

I had a v nice, v long day in the city of sin. I woke up at 5:45 not at all in it to win it, but I had to get to the office relatively early because I accidentally left my laptop there last night. So I got ready, took a waymo to Philz (the one bright spot), and then walked to the office during my usual 8am Thursday meeting (which is 10am in Iowa, which is much more civilized).

I then spent the day in a variety of meetings, including some walks and some talks, and I also convinced people to order poke for lunch (a mixed bag, since the delivery took forever, but it was worth it). My big boss showed up at some point and some of us grabbed juice with him, and then I snuck out for a quick happy hour with Martha. And then we went to team dinner at Destapas, which was quite nice - team dinners are always pretty entertaining and this one was no different.

After dinner, the usual suspects (me, Adit, and Geoff) dragged a new inductee (Owen) to Lost Resort for a hot toddy. But it's 10pm and I'm almost ready for bed, so all in all it was quite sedate. Goodnight!

I keep dancing on my own

I slept v fitfully last night, which resulted in a surly morning and a stomachache. But I managed to write in bed for awhile before getting ready for work, which helped my mood. And I took a waymo to the office so that I didn't have to deal with people, which helped even more. 

Once I got to the office, though, I had meetings basically all day - but luckily I like the people I meet with, so it could be much worse. Unfortunately I decided to skip the decadent lunch off-site with one of our vendors and instead had to eat the same slop that Adit, for some reason, orders basically every day, but I survived (and vowed to order sushi tomorrow in total defiance of the pressure to be healthy).

However, overall my day was good, and I left the office a little before six. I was supposed to have dinner with Lauren tonight, but I had cancelled this morning due to not feeling well, and I'm glad I did because I definitely felt too run down to go to burlingame. Instead, I rested a bit when I got back to my room, and then I grabbed a quick dinner at delfina on Fillmore (where the server remembered me, which is always nice).

The other thing that was going on today was that Drewbaby's baby was born! She was a month early and also didn't make it easy on Sammie, which was all a bit concerning - but the end result is v exciting, and I can't wait to meet her.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

all that time spent alone in my tower

I had a long but fun day - I got up before six (unheard of, but I'm trying to stay on Iowa time), start working in bed almost immediately, took a quick shower, took a robot car to the office so I didn't have to interact with humans, and then spent the day in a variety of meetings + various tasks. Then I lured people in the office to a happy hour at Restoration Hardware, which turned into dinner with the finance team - we were welcoming a new team member, and I think we did it in fine fashion. 

But now I must go to bed immediately (even though I've already been dozing for a couple of hours) - goodnight!

raining in baltimore

I have nothing to report - I got up at a reasonable hour but did but feel well rested enough to be maximally productive. But I did write over coffee in the corner of the library for a bit, which felt v good. 

Then I went to work, where I slogged with mixed energy all day. I then took an Uber to Burlingame, where I had a great dinner with Barbara and Anne. I would say more but I'm falling asleep in my bed - goodnight!

ain't that mister mister on the radio

I had an excellent day in the city of sin, thanks for asking. I woke up this morning at 6:00, determined to continue to be on midwestern time. I was able to go downstairs and write while fueling myself with complimentary coffee for a couple of hours, which was great. Then I showered, dried my hair, and took a long walk over the Presidio for my daytime plans. The walk was really lovely and I didn't run into any coyotes, which was a good thing since I'm ill prepared to see coyotes when there is not also a shotgun in grabbing distance. But if I had had a shotgun, I probably would have gotten banned from the Presidio, which would have deeply impacted my future self. So all's well that ends well, I guess. 

My plan today was rather unusual for my trips to San Francisco. I met up with Ritu and her family, as well as Chandlord, for a delightful brunch at the Mexican restaurant in the presidio. I took all of the bites of my food, which were huevos benedictos - an excellent gluten-free twist on eggs benedict. However, the fact that I took all the bites didn't seem to get the same acclaim as if children take all of their bites - although it's hard to tell because Ritu's kids definitely did not take all of their bites, so I didn't see what kind of celebration might ensue if they had actually eaten their meals.

Anyway we had a very delightful brunch and then we walked over to the main park area where all the red chairs are, which is one of my favorite spots in the city. We managed to secure a couple of chairs despite fierce competition, and we also grabbed various ice creams from one of the food trucks that was set up nearby. The weather was gorgeous and it was a delight just to be outside hanging out and watching the kids have a good time (while getting very sticky from their ice cream).

At some point I decided that I really needed a break and that I also wanted to keep writing,and so I grabbed an Uber and came back to my hotel while Ritu and her family continued on with their adventures. However, I had agreed to meet them for dinner so I found them again at 4:30 at Fiorella in Noe. This plan included Adit and Priyanka and their kids, as well as Claude, which meant that we were already a large group. Then Jeevyboi and his girlfriend showed up, which made for quite the party. Luckily it was 4:30 p.m., which is early even for the early bird crowd, and so there was no issue with us taking up a gigantic table and ordering all the various things on the menu.

We had a very delightful conversation, despite the usual interruptions from the children, and then we all ended up walking a few blocks down the street to grab ice cream. I, however, did not grab ice cream because the fact that I had dinner after already being full from brunch meant that I knew that I was going to be way too full for the second dinner that I had planned tonight. 

So I parted ways from the group just in time to waymo over to my dinner with Shedletsky. We had booked this with the intent of including Christina, but she had had to stay home at the last minute due to child care duties. However, Shedletsky and I had a great time - we split a bottle of wine, and I just had a handful of bites of my pork, which I expected givem how full my stomach is. Luckily he did not yell at me because he is not in parent mode, and I wasn't forced to take more bites, but it's too bad I was so full because that pork chop was excellent.

Anyway we caught up on life, went deep on AI, and talked about various novels that we've read in the past few years, all of which did a lot of good for my soul. I'm intentionally trying to see people on this trip that I don't usually get to see, which has been nice so far, and so we will see how this trend continues over the next week. 

But now I really need to go to sleep if I'm going to get up in the morning and do anything before work - goodnight!

I fumbled it when I came down to the wire

I had a couple of very busy days in ye olde Iowa, and I am now in San Francisco after a mad dash to get out of the house this morning, so forgive me for not blogging the last couple of nights. I don't even remember what I did Thursday, except I know that I had intended to cook and instead ate random leftovers like a feral beast. Oh and I talked to Adit for an hour while sitting on my balcony, which was better than working, I suppose, although it's still Adit, so how good can it really be?

Friday was more of the same at work, although I took a break at lunch to run a couple of errands. The weather got spicy in the afternoon, just as it had earlier in the week, and so my last meeting of the day kept getting interrupted by the weather radio. But we all survived, although it seems like every yard and field is mildly flooded.

Since we all survived, Mom and [censored] and I went to Seymour for dinner, where I had my last Iowa steak for the next week or so. Then I spent the rest of the evening packing, and also engaging in some light warfare with the robins that are trying to take over my balcony. They will probably win while I'm gone, which is a real bummer.

This morning I was actually feeling pretty ahead of schedule because my packing was basically done. Of course, that meant that I decided to start a new project a couple of hours before I needed to leave the house, which was ill advised. However, I had been meaning to up pot my tomato seedlings, and I realized this morning that if I didn't do it they were really going to be too root-bound to do much later. So I spent a pretty delightful hour this morning repotting the various seedlings that I had going under my grow light. Almost everything I planted germinated, which means I also needed to thin out the seedlings so that there was only one plant per pot. I seem to have a pretty good start on a bunch of tomato plants, all of my peppers, and my tomatillos. I'm not quite sure that the eggplants are looking super solid, but since I'm the only person who wants to eat eggplant, it's probably not necessary for ten of them to make.

Anyway, as soon as I was done with that, I frantically cleaned up, took a shower, and got out the door within twenty minutes. I made it to Des Moines without any issues and was able to grab a burger and a glass of wine at the airport before boarding my flight. Both of my flights were smooth and my layover in Denver was about as easy as it can be so luckily I got to San Francisco without hidden any of the delays that I expected due to San Francisco's airport construction. And while my Uber driver was a little stinky, he was quite efficient, and so I made it to my hotel and was able to unpack before it even got dark.

I had considered going out tonight, but I'm glad that I didn't make any plans. Instead I ordered Thai food from across the street, ate it while chilling in my room, and now I'm going to try to go to bed before 10 p.m. While that feels absurdly early for my California life, it can be quite helpful to try to stay on central time while I'm here since it means I get up early enough to do things before diving into the slog of work.

But now my eyes are trying to close of their own accord, which I think means it's time for bed - goodnight! 

I don't wanna be false art

I have very little to report today. I got plenty of sleep last night, and then got up, made coffee, and took care of various things before I actually got down to work. Work wasn't quite the slog that it usually is because I only had a couple of hours of meetings. And so while I should have probably done more with the expansive time that I had in front of me, it felt good to be able to ease my way through the day. 

I had originally intended to have dinner with my mom tonight, but when we discussed the plan again we decided to stay in our respective homes since there was a risk of severe weather. This was probably the right call since we ended up with a tornado warning about 10 minutes after we made the decision. The warnings and rather absurd weather continued off and on for the next hour or two, but we didn't get anything really damaging beyond some very heavy rain and a little bit of pea-sized hail.

I spent the rest of the evening taking care of things around the house, eating a bit of a frozen gluten-free pizza, doing a bit of writing, and eventually talking to [censored] when he got home. Now it's time for bed so that I can hit it hard tomorrow - goodnight!

kangaroo court

I had to get up earlier than I usually do because I had an economic development board meeting at the ungodly hour of right am. It took longer than usual, but it was mildly entertaining, so I'll take it. Then I came home and had meetings off and on all day - but it was warm out, so I spent the afternoon working on my balcony, which was great.

After I was done working, I relaxed for a bit, and then worked on some personal projects until my eyes got tired. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

get high like planes

I have nothing to report tonight - I spent the day working, doing laundry, eating leftovers, and taking a much needed walk before unwinding/writing in the evening. But I have to get up early tomorrow for a local meeting, so I really need to go to bed - goodnight!

there ain't enough smoke in my eyes to hide the kinda games you're trying to play

I had a reasonably good weekend, despite the fact that it rained for most of it, which usually doesn't put me in the best mood. Yesterday I slept in until after 9:00, which is very necessary, and then I put it around the house and drank coffee and did various tings. Unfortunately, some of those tings were work tings, but for the most part I was able to focus on my own stuff. Later in the afternoon, Mom and I went to Centerville to stock up on groceries and various goods from walmart, which was a nice use of a rainy afternoon. I didn't need all that much stuff since I'm usually pretty stocked up, but given that I constantly need to cook, there's always something that I can get for my basement hoard.

After we got home, I dropped Mom off along with all her stuff, and then I came home and put my things away. Then [censored] and I ordered Mexican and picked it up to take out to Mom's for dinner. My food was pretty good, and we generally had a nice evening, so I'm glad that we did that. Then we came back to my house, and I spent far too much time awake given how little I actually got done, but no regrets.

Today I slept in again for just a little bit, but then I managed to get up and start getting things done. I spent some time writing this morning and then did various household things. I also kept reorganizing my office, which was a bit of a mess since I tore it apart on Thursday to get a shelf delivered. And [censored] and I had an adventure at the shop where we installed some extra Wi-Fi capability, which went about as smoothly as these things can go given that it's not always obvious where there might be an empty outlet or an available flat and clean surface on which to put something.

After that, [censored] left for the evening and I came home. I did various household activities and made myself a very delicious dinner of roasted chicken thighs and potatoes. This is not something that I can make for my family since neither Mom nor [censored] understand the delights of chicken thighs, so I get to keep the leftovers all to myself. After I ate, I cleaned up the kitchen, watered plants, and then spent the rest of the evening writing and engaging in various other activities. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and so there's a change in your emotions

I unfortunately had a good day at work that turned into a bad day at work, which was not how I intended to go into the weekend. It wasn't anything catastrophic, but after spending the day only having a couple of (mostly enjoyable) meetings and getting allergy shots, I was surprised for everything to take a left turn after I thought I was done for the day. 

But I rallied and made chicken and rice, which [censored] and I ate while watching two episodes of Scrubs and the latest SNL (Jack Black and Jack White were an inspired host + musical guest). And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

give a little bit

I have nothing exciting to report tonight. I spent most of the day slogging as is usual, although I did have a relatively relaxed morning despite all of that. For lunch I was able to eat the last of the leftovers that Mom had sent home after Easter dinner. Then I spent the afternoon in more meetings before running into town to attend my library board meeting. We accomplished everything in due form and adjourned relatively early, so I ran to the grocery store and grabbed some tings to cook before coming home.

The meal I made ended up being slightly weird and mostly driven by the fact that [censored] isn't home tonight, so I was able to cook whatever strange things I felt like cooking. That meant baking some pork chops, which is not something I typically cook, but I happen to love them even if [censored] hates them. I usually pan-fry them, but tonight I tossed them on a cookie sheet with some garlic powder, paprika, oregano and olive oil and just baked them for 12-15 minutes. They were absolutely delicious and v easy, so this will have to be a thing in my midweek rotation.

I ended up pairing them with some gluten-free spaghetti, which I mixed into a random jarred sauce that I bought at Fareway. The sauce was pretty good, although I had wanted to cook a from-scratch sauce with cream and tomato paste and preserved lemon and could not because my preserved lemon jar was unexpectedly v expired and full of mold. But the jarred sauce was fine, and now I have leftovers for lunch. 

I spent the rest of the evening doing a variety of things that were probably not the things that I should have been doing... but there's plenty of time tomorrow to get back into the slog. Goodnight!

dreaming about the things that we could be

I had nothing to report yesterday, and I don't really have anything to report today, but I don't really want to let more than a couple of days go without blogging. I should have been more productive than I was yesterday, but I had quite a headache in the afternoon. After [censored] left I mostly sat around, did a bit of writing, and tried to go to bed early with mixed results.

However today was much better, even though it snowed a bit overnight and I would like it to stop being winter. I woke up, made coffee, and got to work almost immediately, which felt pretty good since I had a lot to accomplish. I slogged straight through until a little before six, when I ate a snack and then went to my city council meeting. Tonight took two hours, which was about an hour longer than I wanted to spend on it, but the meeting itself was productive.

Then I came home, did various gardening-type things around the house, ate some leftovers, and relaxed a bit before deciding that going to bed early again tonight was probably the best move that I could make. So now it's time for bed - goodnight!

you know it's not the same as it was

I am back in ye olde Iowa after a great week in Chicago. I woke up early this morning and was able to hit breakfast before the rush...and before they switched from serving breakfast to serving their insanely priced Easter buffet. Then I went back to my room and wrote for a couple of hours, which felt great. Even with that unusual productivity I was able to get out the door around 11 so that I could start heading west. All in all the hotel was nice and I would stay there again, and I will certainly have to go back to Chicago (hopefully when the weather is warmer and I can do more walking around).

After I got out of the city proper, I spent a couple of hours talking to Katie, which certainly made the drive go a lot faster. We parted ways when I got to the world's largest truck stop, mostly because I desperately needed to go to the bathroom. I then availed myself of the Taco Bell inside the truck stop so that I could eat something that was relatively gluten free (albeit a far cry from the meals I gorged myself on in Chicago). And then I finished the drive with a couple more stops for bathrooms and gas, and made it home a little before six.

When I got home I unloaded my car and then [censored] and I went out to Mom's house for Easter dinner. I had donated some hamballs to the cause before I left, and Mom outdid herself in terms of accompaning them. She made scalloped potatoes, baked beans, layered lettuce, and deviled eggs, so it was a real feast. And the weather was nice today for both a drive and a lovely dinner, although it promises to get rainy later this week.

After dinner, I relaxed a bit, did a bit of unpacking, and generally procrastinated from the very idea of getting back to the day job tomorrow. But that's a problem for Future Sara (in ten hours) - right now I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

ultrafiche of you

I had a much lazier day than I originally planned, but I'll take it. When I woke up, I walked around for a bit and then walked down the street to grab Philz. Thus fortified, I wrote from my room for a couple of hours. I also ordered room service in an attempt to avoid the restaurant, which got significantly busier over the weekend than it was during the week.

At some point I spent an hour or two outside checking out various stores and also visiting the used book sale + gift shop at a library that I may have to come back to on a future visit. However, I wasn't really feeling shopping, and I also didn't feel like wandering around a museum - all I really wanted to do was work. So I went to the hotel bar and had a diet Coke and a glass of wine and wrote for awhile.

At some point I got hungry and didn't want sushi, so I went to a nearby Italian place, where I had an adequate (but not amazing) gluten free pasta. And then I spent the remainder of the evening napping, packing, journaling, and procrastinating, with mixed results. 

And now I need to go to sleep so I can do many things before leaving tomorrow - goodnight!

run from the sunlight dracula

I had an excellent day off in Chicago - so excellent that it's hard to remember why I have a job, although the job does help me pay for things. I did spend too much time in bed this morning, but I snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and forced myself to the restaurant for breakfast. It was significantly busier than it has been this week, but still tasty, and I left fueled for my adventures. 

My main adventure was a pilgrimage to Atlas Stationers. They are my main online purveyor of fountain pens, and they've successfully replaced the Goulets in my affections (the Goulets do send suckers with their orders, but Atlas arrives faster and has a much bigger collection of stickers and paper, which is what won me over). It's clear that Atlas is a pilgrimage for many people - they were quite busy, and the girl who checked me out said that she took the job expecting it to be chill and immediately learned that stationery people are not at all chill. Lol.

Anyway, I bought a bunch of stuff there, and then I walked back to my hotel with a stop at Nordstrom (where I realized I would rather be writing than shopping) and the largest Starbucks Reserve in the world (where I was going to buy a mug, but the crowd on all four floors was overwhelming).

So I spent the afternoon at the hotel bar, where I made some excellent progress on a project I'm theoretically, secretly working on. Then I changed and walked to Topolobampo, which is a Rick Bayless establishment that has a Michelin star and does a Mexican tasting menu that changes every few weeks to reflect a different area's cuisine. The current menu is the Yucatan, and it was excellent -surprisingly the first dessert (a cheese ice cream) may have been my favorite thing, or perhaps the soup appetizer (surprising only because it was actually a soup and usually the soups I make cannot be sipped like this one was). But it was all excellent, and for a decadent meal in Chicago it hit the mark. 

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

long train running

I had an excellent day off, which was exactly what I needed. I got up reasonably early, went to Philz to grab coffee, and then wrote from the window seat in my hotel room for a couple of hours. Then I showered, ate breakfast, and drove to the Art Institute of Chicago to spend an afternoon immersing myself in art.

The museum is massive - I spent five hours there and didn't see it all. But I did see the special Matisse exhibit, which I enjoyed much more than I expected to. And I saw some famous works that I didn't realize were in Chicago (American Gothic; the Edward Hopper 'Nighthawk' painting of people in a late night diner; various European masters and Japanese masters, etc). There was also a totally bonkers wing full of miniatures that were v impressive, a temporary exhibit of Korean art collected by the dynasty who founded Samsung, some excellent photographs, an astonishing mural that took up the entire gallery connecting two buildings, a lot of armor and arms, a mummy inside a coffin, etc etc etc.

So needless to say it was all v enjoyable and inspiring. I could have stayed longer since they are open late on Thursdays, but it was rather stormy this afternoon, so I chose to get to safety. After taking a short break at my hotel, I grabbed dinner at the bar at Petit Pomeroy, which was excellent - I had a nice Beaujolais (which I usually don't like, but the bartender gave me a taste and sold me on it) and an incredible lobster risotto that was pretty much perfect. 

And then I came back to the hotel to beat the rain, and I watched the thunderstorm through my window while finishing A CAUTIOUS TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS, which I quite enjoyed. If you like the idea of the trans Siberian railroad running through a dangerous and arcane wasteland full of magical creatures, this one is for you. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

returning it all

I had a surprisingly delightful day in Chicago. I had to work, and it was also bitterly cold with strong winds coming off the lake, but I made the best of it. When I woke up, I got dressed and walked a couple of blocks (or was blown a couple of blocks) to Philz to grab coffee and work for awhile. Philz is my beloved San Francisco brand, but they have an outpost in Chicago, so I loaded up on caffeine on a familiar setting. Then I grabbed a quick breakfast at the tail end of breakfast service before retreating to my room for an afternoon of meetings. 

Luckily my meetings weren't too onerous, and I'm taking the next two days off, so it could be worse. I had intended to go out for dinner tonight, but it was cold and I wasn't feeling it. So I grabbed a decadent sushi dinner and a glass of wine in my hotel instead. I quite enjoyed journaling and talking to the bartender while eating sushi, so #noregrets. And then I came back to my room, took a v luxurious bath, and read some more of the book I started a couple of weeks ago.

And now I must go to bed...but not without wishing a happy birthday to Ritu Rani, my favorite April fool. Goodnight!

vampire bat

I had a surprisingly delightful day in Chicago, especially given the temperature dropped twenty degrees and I had to slog unceasingly all day. But I got some decent sleep, took a nice shower, availed myself of the v tasty free daily breakfast that I got by booking with Amex, and then did a bunch of work from a nook in the lobby. It rained for a few minutes right as I needed to grab coffee, but I borrowed a hotel umbrella for the incredibly difficult walk down one block to a Starbucks, so I survived. 

Then I slogged in my room for six hours, but I had the best salmon poke bowl from room service for lunch, so it wasn't all suffering. And then I ran an errand to return a sweater I bought in New York (it had some defective stitching, and the maker has no stores in Iowa, so bringing it to Chicago seemed like the most efficient solution). And then I had a v tasty gluten free pasta at a random Italian place, where an even more random guy told me his life story even though he decided not to order any food or drink and just finished his free glass of water. He said at one point that he couldn't believe he was telling me all this stuff, and I thought "I can't believe no one told me their life story on Sunday or Monday because this happens to me all the time".

Anyway, after that I needed to regroup, so I grabbed a glass of wine at my hotel bar, eavesdropped, and journaled quite productively. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

it's always a good time

No blog tonight - I got up this morning after sleeping fairly well, and then I slogged basically all day (over breakfast at the hotel, a late salad that I picked up at Potbelly down the street, and continued late afternoon activities). But I took a break to get my nails done, which was long overdue. Then I grabbed a steak, came back to the hotel and journaled for awhile, and then worked for another hour+.

And now I need to sleep if I have any hope of getting tings done tomorrow - goodnight!

good morning and good night, i wake up at twilight

I had quite the eventful weekend, and so I'm entering the week feeling quite content and not at all rested.

Yesterday, Mom and I went up to Des Moines for Sammie's baby shower. It was a bit of a struggle to get up... which I'm assuming was true for everyone, since everyone in the family had stayed up until midnight on Friday watching the Iowa State game. But I successfully roused myself, made coffee, cleaned up the kitchen, showered, wrapped my gift, etc. And then Mom and I drove up early so that we could meet Aunt Kathy and Aunt Becky for lunch. Becky came in just for the shower, and so the four of us met up at Palmer's and had a delightful lunch while catching up over sandwiches and salads.

Then we went to the shower, which was held at the community center of a retirement home that several of Sammie's family members live in. The shower itself was really nice, and Sammie's friends put a lot of effort into the decorations and food. We had fun hanging out and playing games and celebrating the mom-to-be, and I think we're all excited to see another Wampler join the family. 

Then Mom and I drove home, with a stop in Indianola for me to wash my car, which was long overdue. Once we got back, I spent the evening tidying up the house, eating leftovers, and watching some of last night's basketball games. None of them were as exciting as the Iowa State game, and I also felt a little bit torn because I didn't really want to root for Iowa and yet was still sad that they lost. But Arizona won, which made me happy since I'm hoping that the Big 12 somehow redeems themselves.

I woke up this morning and spent quite a bit of time finishing my preparation for today and also taking care of all of my various plants. Not only do I have a lot of indoor plants, thanks to the various things that I've acquired over the past year, but the seeds that I started the other night were germinating at a rapid clip. I had spent some time on Saturday night after getting home from Des Moines setting up a grow light for the tomatoes, which had already germinated after only four days. This morning, my eggplant were also ready to go, and so I swapped things out from the heat mat to the grow light, watered everything, and generally tried to praise my little seedlings so that they would continue to grow in my absence.

"My absence" is burying in the lede - I ended up driving to Chicago today so that I could treat myself to a solo work/writing/vacation retreat. I can't take the whole week off because I have way too much to do, but I really want to try to take off Thursday and Friday. I decided that the most efficient use of my time was to drive to Chicago today, work from here Monday, Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday, and then spend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday writing / going to museums / refilling my creative well. Oh, and probably shopping and also eating in a lot of great food, which is what I always want from my vacations.

So I spent the rest of the morning packing, cleaning up my kitchen, etc. I also got outside and helped [censored] pick up sticks, which I felt pretty responsible for, given that it is my yard. Since [censored] usually takes care of the lawn care, though, he often gets suckered into picking up sticks, especially because I usually try to schedule trips during these springtime weekends. But we got my yard pretty picked up, which is great, since the fact that it's already been over 80° several times this month and looks to continue that trend means that the grass is growing at a rapid clip.

I left my house around 1:00, which was a couple of hours later than I planned, but since I drove pretty much straight through, I made it to Chicago by seven. I spent the drive drinking coffee, eating snacks, and listening to a variety of podcasts, which did a lot of good for my mental state. When I got to Chicago, I checked into the hotel, got fully unpacked, and grabbed dinner at the hotel bar, which was a delight. And now I should go to bed so that I can get as much done tomorrow as I intend to - goodnight! 

rollies that don't tick tock

I've had an absolutely insane few days of work and now I'm about to go to bed later than I would like, especially since I have more plans tomorrow. Wednesday was not as much of a slog as it usually is, but that's mostly because I took Mom to Chariton to go to the eye doctor. I did get up and do a bunch of work before taking her, and I managed to eat something before we left - which was a good thing, since her appointment took a lot longer than expected. It was scheduled for 12:10, but they had to do various measurements and dilate her eyes, and she didn't actually get seen by the doctor until like 1:30. Other than the lateness of the appointment, though, everything went smoothly. And when I got home, I spent the rest of the day catching up on work, doing more work from my balcony, and eating random things that I found in the freezer. And then [censored] got home after a more traumatic day than I had, so we caught up on life before it was bedtime.

Thursday was another slog. I spent a ton of time working, which is beginning to be a bit annoying, but I suppose that's what they pay me for. But I slacked off around 6:00, and then Mom and I went into town to the museum's annual meeting / fundraising dinner. I've never been, but I want to spend more time at the museum this year, and I thought the speaker sounded relatively interesting. We bought tickets and ate a very tasty meal of ham balls and cheesy potatoes, which was served by a new Seymour restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch. Luckily, when we got to the museum, there were two seats empty next to Margaret and Shelda, and so we had quite an entertaining time talking to them. All in all, there were about 60 people there, which was a pretty good turnout. I have to say that our county's historical society must be one of the best run and supported historical societies for a community of our size. And they have grand plans to get the mastodon exhibit finished this year, which will be pretty exciting to see.

Anyway, the speaker was a guy who lives in Iowa City but has met at a point to travel to all of Iowa's counties and write a poem and also run a mile in every town that he visits. He was kind of a kooky guy, which you might expect given his goals, but he gave a really interesting talk and seems to have built a following around this. So I'm glad I went, even though I'm sure that I got glutened by the meal and also came home and ended up doing some combination of unwinding/working until almost one a.m.

When I woke up this morning, I started working pretty much immediately...although I did have to tell somebody that I couldn't think about their question until I actually made some coffee and got some caffeine in my system. I spent the morning working, and then I snuck out around 2:00 to go to town and go to my garden club meeting. I usually skip garden club because it's on Friday afternoons, which is prime working time, but I happened to have the program this time - so I felt like I had to attend.

Garden Club was at Outlaw this time, and we had the back room, which was perfect for the ten or twelve of us who showed up. We had a good business meeting and talked about plans for the town gardens this summer, and then everyone ate dessert pizza while I gave a very brief program on how to use silica gel to preserve flowers. It seemed to be pretty well-received, and I think I was careful enough when pouring the silica gel that I didn't accidentally give anyone exposure to anything that might cause them lung disease in the future - but we shall see.

Then I picked up some groceries, came home, slogged relentlessly until after six (well, as relentlessly as I can claim to slog when I spent an hour of it talking to Adit), and then realized that if I didn't make some food, [censored] and I would starve. So I took a break to throw together this orzo chicken pasta bake that I've made before, which is extremely tasty and also pretty easy - although the fact that I modified the recipe to add sautéed onions and mushrooms makes it take a little bit more time. Then I wrapped up a little bit of work, did some laundry, and when the pasta was done, [censored] and I ate dinner while watching this week's episode of Scrubs, which continues to be a delight.

Unfortunately, what did not continue to be a delight was the Cyclones basketball season. We watched the game tonight, and it was pretty sad to watch them go down to Tennessee - it probably would have been different if Jefferson had been able to play, but as it stood, they didn't seem to have a lot of opportunity against a team that was so much bigger than them. However, they had an amazing season, and it was really fun to watch all of them this year - especially Tamin Lipsey, who I hope go on to do great things.

But the game didn't start until almost 10pm, and now it's 1am and I have to get up in the morning in time to go to Des Moines for Sammie's baby shower (+ lunch with my aunts beforehand). So I think on that note it's time for bed - goodnight!

but soon as all that money blows, all the pigeons take flight

Sadly, the fact that I worked this weekend didn't mean that I got to relax leading into the week itself. Instead, everything else that is typically part of my job caught up to me, as did another time-sensitive and labor-intensive project that I have to get done absolutely immediately.

I don't actually like working this hard, and I'd rather be spending my time right now figuring out how to use AI to do my job for me, but unfortunately my main skill in corporate America is to bring order to chaos... and since I work someplace where there is always chaos, there are always new and interesting ways for me to attempt to enforce order. But I would like to do it in a way that doesn't make my brain feel like melting quite as much as it has the past few days. 

sssanyway. I slogged yesterday until [censored] left, and then I took a long evening break to journal and otherwise unwind before doing a bunch of work from 10pm to 1am. This morning I woke up and had to start working almost as soon as I was out of bed, which was rough - and I worked from 9 to 7 pretty much without any break at all. I did manage to reheat my leftover ribeye from the other night and make some sweet potato fries while I was prepping for a meeting, so at least my lunch sustenance was better than it usually is.

And as soon as I closed my laptop at 7, I was done done. So done that I couldn't even think about what to eat. Instead, I rather manically started planting seeds in set of seed-starting cells so that I could try to get a jump start on my garden. I can always buy plants at the greenhouse if this seed experiment doesn't work out. But I really wanted to try more peppers than I seem to find around here, as well as some varieties of tomatoes that are less common.

I planted my seeds, and then I took a break to eat the last of my leftover fish tacos for dinner. I then spent quite a bit of time scrolling on Reddit, which I have no regrets about since my brain had already fully melted and I didn't really have much energy for anything else. And then I tidied up the house and unfortunately did about an hour of work just so that I could be caught up going into tomorrow morning and not feel quite so much pressure to get up and do stuff. And now it's time for bed - goodnight! 

it's a kangaroo court

There were many personal things I intended to do today - perhaps journal or write, or reflect on my parents' anniversary, or start some seeds, or repot some plants. Instead, I did day job stuff for many hours. This is extremely unusual, since I pretty much refuse to work weekends - but in this particular case, it couldn't be helped. This was especially true because this project required concentration that I simply could not muster during the usual work day, when I also have many meetings.

I did sleep in until almost nine, but then I made coffee, tidied up the kitchen a bit, and got to work. I worked until around 1:30, and then I took a quick shower before taking a break to watch the Iowa State / Kentucky game. Luckily the second half was much (much) better than the first, and so watching it was quite enjoyable.

Then I did a bit more work, prepped some accoutrements for dinner tonight (mostly making slaw and pickled onions and mixing up the marinade for some tilapia), and worked some more. I ended up spending almost four hours on call with Adit to work through the final sprint on various bugs, although I did take a break to cook the tilapia and eat fish tacos with [censored].

We wrapped up and launched our ting around 10pm my time, which was an extreme relief since this project has been an albatross for months. And now I need to unwind so I can get some sleep - goodnight!

keep me young forever

I have had an absolutely brutal few days at work, which has made blogging fall down to the bottom of my priority list. Even when I do blog, I tend to forget things -- like the fact that on Tuesday night I said that my day was quite boring, but I completely forgot that I had spent an hour talking to Heather (aka dear respected madam), which was a real bright spot and worth documenting.

sssanyway. Thursday was brutal, and I was completely brain-dead by the end of it, which means that I spent the evening eating leftovers and then attempting to recover with limited results. I was so brain-dead that I even picked up a book in an effort to relax, which is very unusual for me these days. I started reading "A Cautious Traveler's Guide To the Wastelands," which is a pretty entertaining version of a journey on the Trans-Siberian Railroad set in an alternative world where Siberia has been completely walled off by China and Russia due to an unknown (to me, at this point in the book) contagion of monsters or something. Hopefully I'll pick it up and finish it sometime soon, but in the meantime I've had to return to slogging.

So yesterday was more of the same, and I worked an absolutely insane number of hours, especially for a Friday. I was also the only person in my family who couldn't watch the Iowa State basketball game because I was stuck in meetings, although I'm glad that I didn't have to see video of Joshua Jefferson injuring his ankle. At the end of the day, I forced [censored] to go to town with me to eat Mexican at the restaurant rather than picking up takeout, as we usually do. Unfortunately, it was the slowest service that we've ever had there -- and so while the food was good, I feel like [censored] somehow claimed the moral high ground in terms of whether we would have saved time by picking up versus eating there.

Today was unfortunately even more of the same, made slightly more apocalyptic because it literally reached 90 degrees, which it should not do in March. I woke up this morning and spent a couple of hours doing my own things, but then I had to sit down and keep working on a project for work that we're trying to launch this weekend. I did most of that work while sitting outside on my balcony, which at least means that I got some fresh air and sunshine, but it wasn't quite the same as being able to putter around the yard and do my own thing at will.

Finally, at 4 p.m., I took a shower, and then, as I was finishing getting ready, [censored] showed up and told me about the fire that was burning in the field east of Mom's house. I ended up going out there with him so that we could drive around in the gator and inspect the property. We couldn't really see much since the fire had burned towards the east and north of us, which means that we weren't able to see the damage beyond the ridgeline of the back of the property. And luckily, it appears that the fire department was able to put it out, which I'm sure was a relief for them since there were multiple grass fires around, given the high temperatures and even higher winds. It was probably also a relief for them because they probably accidentally started it, since they had burned the field at Becky's a couple days ago and it's possible that they didn't get it entirely put out. But it was a nice day for riding around in the gator, so I was happy that we took the opportunity to go back and check things out.

After that, I finished getting ready, and then [censored] and I picked up Mom and went to Seymour for dinner. Mom and Dad's anniversary is tomorrow, and we celebrated their anniversary last year in Seymour, which was the last time he went out to eat before his final decline. So it was a little bittersweet, but it also didn't feel at all the same - I seem to remember that last year was pretty cold, but this year was super hot, and because they had just turned on the mini splits for the first time this season, the AC above our table seemed to be blowing some black crud on the table at regular intervals throughout the meal. I might have been disgusted at another time, but for some reason tonight I just found it on brand and oddly charming. And my ribeye and fries were excellent, so no complaints there.

Then we came home, I spent some time relaxing and reading reddit and watching basketball, and then I sadly did another ninety minutes of work. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

we gonna party like it's the end of the world

I have very little to report. Work has gotten quite busy over the past couple of days and so I feel like all I've really done is slogged, much to my chagrin.

Yesterday was quite boring despite my busy situation, and I ended the day by making spaghetti for me and [censored]. Today was even more brutal in terms of the amount of work done, especially since I thought I would have all morning to work and instead woke up to an invite for a 9:30 meeting that I didn't know was happening. Of course "invite" implies something you can turn down, which is not actually true in corporate life, so I forced myself to get ready in time to attend. 

But I survived the day, and then I took a break in the evening to run to the grocery store so that I could make chicken chile verde in the instant pot for dinner. [Censored] liked it more than expected, perhaps because I pandered to him and used chicken breasts instead of thighs. But it was quite tasty, and we ate while watching Scrubs, which was fun. 

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

it's gonna be a big night

I have done nothing of interest the post couple of days. Yesterday we had a but if a blizzard, and so I hunkered down, cleaned my office, and made tater tot casserole for dinner (which would have been better if my tater tots weren't suffering from freezer burn). Today, I unfortunately had to work - I did not feel in it to win it, but I accomplished just enough to not feel terrible, so I'll take it.

After work, I made a triple batch of Grandma Barb's spaghetti sauce - I do not have a Grandma Barb, but whoever did really was lucky to have that recipe. This resulted in six jars of sauce for future meals + sauce for dinner tomorrow night, which is great. And Ritu fortuitously called while I was cooking, so we talked for over an hour, which was fantastic and long overdue. 

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

you and i flying on an aeroplane tonight

I had a nice day despite getting up much earlier than I wanted to on a Saturday. I had a haircut booked in Des Moines at 10, and I left my house right on time... But I did not realize that the St Patty's Day marathon was being run on a course that directly impacted my salon downtown. Luckily this is Des Moines and not Boston, and so even though I was basically at the finish line, I was able to quickly detour and find parking within two blocks of the salon. So I ended up five minutes late, but they were understanding. 

As for the haircut, I was pretty happy with it - I'm cheating on my other salon and stylist bc she's out getting married, and also bc the salon moved into this new space that is both gorgeous and feels too much like an office park. Tbd on whether I fully switch, but today was a good test run (no marathon pun intended).

When I was done, I went to West Des Moines and met Drewbaby and Sammie for brunch at Homegrown. The wait was surprisingly quite long, but it was worth it - they had excellent gluten free pancakes, as well as a variety of other tasty things. The cousins were in fine form, and it was good to see them even if I did walk away with a box of old plat books that I had forgotten to expect. 

Then I stocked up on wine - I was down to the last dregs of my pre-Christmas stockup, which only lasted this long because we had one fewer day of festivities than I expected. I was going to go to whole foods after that, but I discovered that there's now a fareway west of Jordan Creek where there were empty fields a couple of years ago. It's quite nice, and I was able to get everything I needed (with the exception of chicken, because I don't like their chicken even though their beef is excellent).

So I came home with a couple of stops on Indianola to get gas and wash my car. When I got here, I unloaded, put things away, and made dinner for me and Mom and [censored]. I was too lazy to really cook, but I reverse seared some steaks and reheated some twice baked (now thrice baked) potatoes and made some green beans. Dinner was delayed by the end of the Arizona/Houston game, but it was pretty tasty overall. 

Then we said farewell to Mom, I cleaned the kitchen, and [censored] and I watched scrubs. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

standing in line to see the show tonight, and there's a light on

Yesterday was quite a busy day, and I was wiped out by the end of it. I had a bunch of meetings, followed by a library board meeting, followed by some more work when I got home. Eventually I had a chance to talk to [censored] before it was time for bed, and by then I had no desire to blog or do anything else.

Today I'd hoped to be #inittowinit, but when I woke up this morning, I had a crushing headache. Unfortunately, this happens occasionally, and while I often push through, I wasn't in the mood to even try today. I called in sick to work and spent most of the morning sitting on my chaise and trying to avoid looking at screens...which certainly helped the headache even if it didn't help my productivity.

I rallied enough to make myself a very tasty hot ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, which I ate while watching the second half of the Iowa State vs. Texas Tech game with [censored]. The game was almost as good as my sandwich, which should tell you just how good my sandwich was. Then I closed my eyes for a bit longer before deciding to finally do a couple of hours of meetings just so that tomorrow wouldn't be quite so brutal. I wrapped up the day by making dinner for me and [censored] - chicken and mushroom pasta, which was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. And now it's time for bed - goodnight! 

by the way

I was busy, busy, busy today, as the people say. I had to wake up early this morning so that I could go into town for an economic development meeting, which was complicated by the fact that it was extremely foggy. The meeting went as well as they normally do, and then I had to go to the doctor's office to get allergy shots, which also went as well as they normally do.

Then I came home, took advantage of my only window in which to do some real work, and then sat in meetings from 12:00 to 5:00. This is approximately four hours of more meetings than I wanted to sit in, but at least they were decent enough. Unfortunately I didn't really eat at proper times and so my brain was melting by the end of it. Luckily it was fairly sunny out, so I decided to let my body melt instead - I sat out on the balcony and dozed a bit as I tried to recover.

Recovery was crucial because I also had a city council meeting tonight. I walked at downtown just in time to get started, and the meeting went about as well as can be expected. I also got a surprise tour of the back half of City Hall, which was wilder than you might expect. And then I came home, ate, did some work, did some laundry, procrastinated, etc. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and i your willing victim

It was far too beautiful today to be stuck inside, but duty called. So I spent my Monday in my usual slew of meetings with barely enough time to eat anything, which always gives me a bit of a headache. My headache was perhaps compounded by feeling the sun through the window as I tried to focus on my meetings, but I survived.

And literally as soon as I possibly could, I shut my laptop and took a walk downtown (if you can call it that) to drop off some food for the town play's concession stand later this week. Then I came home and sat on my balcony for the first time this season, where I journaled with a glass of zinfandel, which was just about perfect. Then I talked to Katie for an hour while I fended off the season's first mosquitoes, who seemed to be getting into the game early this year. The birds were all awake and there were a suspicious number of box elder bugs on the side of my garage, which makes me wonder what the season portends.

After I said au revoir to Katie, I procrastinated for a bit and then made myself a sandwich rather than cooking anything like I had planned. I then spent the rest of the evening sitting on my chaise and alternating between journaling, daydreaming, and considering work. Now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

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!

you know, know, know your only mistake is if you stand still

I am ensconced in a very comfy large bed in a very small room in New York, with a very surprising sliver of a view of the Statue of Liberty from my window. Today was as smooth as it could be - I had actually planned to leave yesterday, but I changed my flight to today and I'm v glad I did since I would not have possibly been ready yesterday.

But today I got almost a normal amount of sleep, and then I cleaned the kitchen, watered plants, showered, and grabbed the last few tings before leaving. I was slightly later than I wanted to be, but I still had time for an omelette and a mimosa at the airport before boarding. We took off early and got to New York almost 30min early, and my bags were at the carousel when I walked up to them (I overpacked, partially bc I didn't have time to figure out this week's variable weather, partially to have room in case I buy tings). And I was at my hotel about an hour after landing, which I consider a success.

Then I did a speed round of unpacking and fitting everything Tetris-style into the room's very limited storage. And then I got a manicure at a place around the corner - they were surprisingly good, and so even though I chose a color that may have come out slightly too goth, I'm pretty delighted.

Then I grabbed an early solo dinner at La Pecora Bianca, which has perhaps the best gluten free pasta of any restaurant I've been to (they apparently make it in house). But I was exceedingly tired, and so when I got back to my room, I promptly passed out. It's now midnight NYC time and I've slept most of the last four hours, so I anticipate some struggles tonight...but we shall see. Goodnight!

now and then i think of all the times you screwed me over

I slogged today, of course - it started out somewhat laid back, and so I was able to wander around the house while drinking coffee and recording voice memos to myself of all the tings I need to do and tings I'm thinking through. And, I walked to City Hall to sign something related to my official duties - while it wasn't super warm out, temps in the 40s and plenty of sunshine is better than it has been. So, I enjoyed the walk and I enjoyed my chat with the city clerk, and that was all great.

But then I had five hours of meetings, and then I was a bit fried. Sometime in there [censored] got home, and we ended up watching the first two episodes of the 'Scrubs' reboot, which were surprisingly good and quite nostalgic. I also ate some leftover chili, contemplated various tasks, and started planning my packing list for my next trip.

And now I need to go to sleep since I need to do a million and one things tomorrow. Goodnight!

dancing in the dark

I had an absolutely brutal slog today - meetings straight from 9:30 to 5:30, no breaks, and then a couple of hours of follow ups after. And I had to do some work before my first meeting to pull things together for all these meetings. Luckily they were all internal, so I could wear sweats and also eat leftover beef and noodles while talking, but still. 

By the time I was done, I was done done, and so I poured a glass of zinfandel, ate some leftover frozen gluten free pizza (which was way better than that phrase implies), and spent the evening scrolling / listening to music / doing skincare / journaling. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

someone pour me up a double shot of whisky

I had a v nice weekend, even though it was colder than I would like (I was, perhaps, born to be a snowbird - or maybe eighteen years in california made me weak). Yesterday, I got caught up on various personal tasks that I had been putting off, which felt good. I also made a very delicious dinner - I was in the mood for something cozy, but also beefy, and so I made beef and noodles and mashed potatoes. The beef and noodles are an instant pot recipe that turns out perfectly every time (although it always takes longer than I think it should), and you wouldn't know it's gluten free except for the fact that the noodles soak up every ounce of liquid. And of course, since we're Iowans, we have to put our starch on top of another starch - which is a good thing, since my mashed potatoes are perfection.

So I made supper, and Mom came in to eat, which was v. nice. I'm sure she would have rather had prime rib, but sometimes I would rather not put on a bra and real pants to go to dinner (although that's probably not strictly required at the place we go to for prime rib). After dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen, watched a little bit of Olympics, gave up on it, and read for a couple of hours - I'm deep into a book called THE INFORMATION, which I'm quite enjoying, even if I can't explain it.

Today was a bit more of the same - I spent the morning at my desk doing a variety of personal tings, and I also did four loads of laundry, put together some drawers that I'd ordered six weeks ago, tidied up my room, finished unpacking from Carlsbad, etc. And then I made a fresh batch of mashed potatoes to go with last night's leftovers, which [censored] and I enjoyed. I probably should have watched the Olympics closing ceremonies tonight, but I have been unusually disengaged this year - instead, I cleaned up the kitchen, folded the last of my clothes, and did an hour and a half of work so that tomorrow morning goes just a wee bit smoother.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!