Decompression Time

I can't recall whether I've ever been this glad to see the arrival of a weekend. Not that I have anything special planned, mind you (nothing on the agenda other than thesis work, laundry, and chores); it's just that the break from work is most welcome and, more importantly, terribly needed. I've come home from the office late each night this week and have been too emotionally drained to do anything of consequence beyond a little reading.

Unfortunately, I'll be heading into the office for a few hours in the morning to work on some strategic planning. Some of this won't be popular with the staff, but such is life. I'm not paid to be everyone's friend; I'm there to achieve the mission and goals of the organization. I suspect the only problem I'll have will be with two or three old-timers who always resist change and whose mantra is "we've done it this way for 20 years, why do we have to change now!" Of course this sentiment vexes me to no end and those miscreants will vex me further by pouting, calling in sick on critical days, and dragging their feet on projects. But given the ultimate consequences of such action, they eventually come around. And perhaps they'll even see the merit of change.

I've been in public service my entire working life and I've often wondered how workplace change is received/effected in the private sector. I suspect it's better received as profit is typically the ultimate goal and if one doesn't change with the times, you simply lose out.

Ah well....enough rambling for one evening. Off to socialize and decompress from the long, long week.

Back on Schedule

It feels good to be back on schedule. I was up before six and by nine-thirty I had taken care of the morning routine (coffee, shower, and email correspondence), did laundry, and finally made the long-threatened grocery run. The latter was very important as I was absolutely out of provisions save for a dodgy onion and some potatoes, both of which are now in the trash can behind the building where they belong.

I think a cook-a-thon may be on the agenda later today. It's time to once again prepare my special recipe spaghetti sauce (which requires fresh ingredients starting with roma tomatoes and herbs and takes hours of cooking to reach just the right flavor and consistency). Most of the sauce I'll freeze for later use. I might even make some homemade bread today. Haven't done this in a while. I recently picked up a preforated French bread pan from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that needs to be tried out.

Off to clean.

Saturday AM

I must be getting old. I slept in until 8 yet again. While I probably needed the sleep, I nonetheless dislike waking late as the most productive hours of the day have already passed. When I spring out of bed around five (or before) I'm energized sufficiently to lauch full tilt into the day. I can get so much done in those first few early hours and the momentum built then carries me through the day. When I sleep in, as this morning, it takes a while to get going and I am overcome by guilt for being so very pedestrian.

The need/desire to wake early certainly originated back in the days of my youth. It was a habit which began then that has followed me throughout my life. I have many fond memories of waking before the rising of the sun on those carefree days of summer, hopping on my bike and riding down our long driveway to get the morning paper or gathering assorted fishing gear and biking off down the old farm path behind the house to spend a few hours watching a bright red cork bobbing along the shore of the lake, hoping to catch something to make the trip worthwhile. But it really didn't matter if I caught anything. Simply being amidst the quiet grandeur of nature, the chirping of insects, the smell of the wax mytle bushes and the gentle lapping of the water against the cypress knee lined shore as the sun gradually rose over the eastern horizon....this is what mattered.

Wrapping up the Week

I'm just now home from yet another long day at the office and thus ends another work week, and in many respects, the week from hell. Today was the best out of the five so the week more or less ended on a positive note. But the week isnt technically over for me.

In addition to carrying around the emergency pager this weekend (e.g., minimal alcoholic refreshments and other sordid fun), I'm making an appearance at a community health fair tomorrow. Hopefully this thing will be brief (I plan on showing up and saying something like: "Goddamnit... be healthy!!" or if there are children present "&*$#)@#$^......be healty!!" and then go home). But then again, since a church is sponsoring tomorrow's health fair, perhaps "Verily I say unto you....Thou shalt be healty!" is most appropriate.

OK...I think I've technically lost it.

Wednesday Evening Ramblings

A coffee, a cigarette, and the rain pelting the study windows. A somewhat typical, yet nonetheless good evening. I'm savoring just not being at the office. Much work came home with me, but if I don't get to it...oh well. There's always tomorrow. This evening is my time to be productive or do absolutely nothing if I so chose.

Unless, of course, the emergency pager summons me out into the fading, wet twilight.

I suppose I should fix dinner at some point tonight. Not that I'm really hungry; I just want to putter about in the kitchen for a while. Always a very relaxing endeavour and whatever I make I can certainly bring to work tomorrow for lunch. Unfortunately I haven't been grocery shopping in a while, so I'll have to be creative to make something worthwhile from what provisions I have on hand.

Fried

I haven't been home long due to working late at the office and I'm pretty much fried. Yet another wretchedly busy day. My only hope is that this fresh cup of strong coffee will revive me sufficiently to take care of the usual slate of housekeeping and/or reading this evening. I could certainly use a beer (or better yet, a top shelf margarita), but, alas, there will be no alcoholic refreshment tonight as it's my week to carry around the emergency pager.

This morning early I met with my graduate committee to go over a section of my thesis which was more or less well received. One professor threw some rather off the wall (yet oddly relevant) questions at me, which I handled well. So the research project is on track and going well and there was lengthy discussion as to publication of various project components, possibly as early as this winter. The thought of publishing original research in a scientific journal that no one ever reads is...ummm....hmmmmmm. To be honest, it doesn't strike me as exciting as it once did. I have a few small articles floating around in equally small journals and I suppose the novelty of that sort of thing has quite worn off.

One of the benefits of today's meeting was that it helped revive (or refocus) my academic interests which had been flagging over the last month or so. I think much of this was due to the distraction of work which still tends to take on this all-consuming life of its own. I'm still keeping it all in perspective (the well-balanced life thing of which I wrote a while back), though it is difficult.

One final observaton: professors have it easy during the summer. There I was today dressed in shirt and tie (I went straight to the university from work) and sweltering in the awful heat an humidity whilst walking across campus and there they were in t-shirts and shorts. It's soooo not fair!

One More Year

The humidity this evening is absolutely oppressive; in other words, a typcial summer evening in Norfolk. It feels as though I'm sitting in a sauna, not my study. As I may have metioned in a long ago post, I keep my study door closed due to my cats. They have a passion for chewing computer cords and the like, so to avoid the possibility of computer damage and fried cats (not to mention the research arranged neatly on the lab table behind me), I just keep the door shut. Since my apartment lacks central air, it gets a bit uncomfortable in here late in the day during the summer.

Ah well...just one of the minor annoyances of being owned by cats.

Last week I signed and returned my lease renewal so I'll be here for at least another year. When I received the notice two weeks ago, I considered the possibiilty of moving to a newer building. Perhaps something with central air and heat, washer and dryer in the unit, and reserved parking, all things that I lack. I looked around a little and found a few apartments to my liking, but they were all typical in the sense that, no matter how nice, they're managed complexes and not within walking distance of anything. Despite the minor inconveniences of where I live, the one thing that I do have is location. Simply being able to walk out my front door and be right in the middle of the closest thing to urban living Norfolk has to offer is worth more at this point in life than a few modern conveniences. Restaurants and bars, coffee shops, a movie theater that has a wonderful reputation for playing independent films, and assorted shops of all types within a walk of a few minutes. Can't put a price on this.

Afternoon Coffee

Taking a break from cleaning and tidying the apartment to enjoy a coffee and hammer out a few lines to update the blog. It has been a productive day. I cleaned the kitchen this morning then went out to Pier One for a bout of shopping. They have a bedroom furniture set that I like and will probably acquire a piece at a time over the next few weeks, depending on what I find up at the Ikea in northern Virginia, assuming of course I find time to make the trip up there before I begin recreating the bedroom space. Depsite the tempation to start acquiring peices today, I showed restraint and purchased only a small 30 inch tall Nanking cabinet for the living room. It's an odd little piece but perfectly sized for one particular corner and ideal for a piece of Thai statuary art I purchased in January.

So next up on the cleaning agenda for today are the living room and the bathroom before heading off to meet up with a friend for dinner around 7pm.

Morning Routine

I'll be off to the ecological preserve in a bit to do some follow-up fieldwork from yesterday but in the meantime I'm enjoying the morning routine of coffee and cigarettes. A wonderfully stimulating and relaxing combination that clears the mind and puts it into a highly productive gear.

And yes I know that smoking is bad for me. I'm very hit and miss when it comes to this habit. I've quit for months or a year at a time and will occasionally pick it back up. But I believe it was Mark Twain who summed it up so nicely: "quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times myself!"

Saturday AM

For the first time in what seems like forever, I actually slept in this morning, crawling out of bed at the ever-so-late hour of 8:30am. For most normal human beings this is probably still early, but for me, someone who always gets up before the sun rises, this is a significant deviation from routine. Not necessarily a bad thing though as I probably needed the extra sleep.

The two primary activities of today will be a grocery run this morning and thesis research this afternoon/early evening.

Off to get started on things.