Going home

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Work was slow yesterday for obvious reasons. Every other Friday is, and this one had the obvious problem of being the day before a holiday... I got a little done, including on that new urgent task, but nothing all that difficult or interesting. 

We filled the time with packing and generally getting ready to go. There was a fair amount to do, what with Christmas presents to pack and stuff. We left T.'s parents house around 4 PM. (Just getting everyone together was a challenge.) First we checked into the hotel where T., the kid and I would spend the night, then the 5 of us went out to dinner one last time. It was at a seafood place T.'s parents are attached to, so this is a sort of tradition. I just had a cup of chowder, expecting that the kid would have a lot of leftovers, and I was right.

I didn't sleep well last night due in part to snoring.

We got up ridiculously early, at 4:30ish, so that we'd have plenty of time for our 7 AM flight. Breakfast at the airport: 3 bagels, one parfait. The flight took off about an hour late, but between the weather where we were (steady rain) and general news about air travel, I figured that wasn't too bad.

When we landed, we decided to take the Silver Line home, since it had only recently been extended to Dulles. If the weather had been nice, we might have taken it to NoMa and walked the rest of the way home, even with our heavy suitcases. But it was raining here too, so we took it to Eastern Market and got a Lyft the rest of the way.

We unpacked and had pizza for dinner. I went to the store to get milk but otherwise the house is empty of perishables. T. is putting the kid to bed now.

Getting ready to go

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Work wasn't too busy yesterday. I got notice of an upcoming urgent task, but most of it isn't ready for me yet, so I couldn't do all that much. T. went to get the SUV from the shop with her dad, and T.'s mother slept in a bit and even after she got up had a more relaxing morning, so we brought the kid upstairs with me. She read a little and played games on her iPad while I worked. Or that was the idea, but we put her in an educational game and she got frustrated, so there was also a little math lesson. I think I did well on the fly, but I worry we're relying too much on things like that to keep her busy, which among other things is a problem when she gets ahead of herself and gets frustrated. 

Around 1 PM or so, T.'s mother took the kid to play with her friends again, which got her out of the house. Win-win. After we logged off work for the day, we worked on getting ready to go - getting started on packing, cleaning up, etc.

Around 5ish, T. got frustrated trying to set up that stereo for her dad more. As I was inspecting a speaker on a high shelf, I broke the stepladder. No harm done to me, but the ladder is unusable. We've been very destructive on this trip! Also, we eventually figured out that getting satellite radio on the new stereo, T.'s dad's highest priority for the whole thing, requires a separate device. Nice to know all this time we put into it was pointless...

When T.'s mother came home with the kid, they had the kid's friends with them. They played for a bit before dinner and joined us for it (tri-tip and potatoes made by T.'s mom, broccoli made by me). 

This is unusually early because I got up unusually early. T. was snoring and I couldn't sleep, and around 5 I stopped trying and logged into work a bit early to make today easier.

A great day until the end

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Yesterday started out as a normal-by-California-standards work day. While T. and I worked, the kid played in the house or watched TV until 11, when she had a playdate with a friend. I had a meeting at 11 as well (no problem with the overlap with the grandparents in charge of the kid). Before that I set up that new headset to use it. The process was surprisingly smooth. Technology these days...

We also got a little laundry done in the morning and early afternoon. Around 2:30, T. and I logged off work and went to a wine tasting. We haven't been to this winery in a long time (maybe never in my case, not sure), but we can get its wine in DC, so it's nice to know about it. Then we drove to Lodi. Making small talk on the road happened to dwell on T.'s classmates or general school people who had died in car accidents. We browsed a used bookstore and got a few things, mostly for the kid. Then to dinner at a brewery. I had a doppelbock, T. had a Christmas ale, but she didn't like it much so she asked me to finish it. Can't complain. :)

We also went shopping at a couple more used clothing stores. Aside from general browsing, T. is looking for stuff for a new job. 

And then, on the way back to her parent's place, we hit someone's pet in the road. Not "nearly hit"; it's definitely dead. That was or will be traumatizing for a lot of people. (Also, the small talk was all too on the nose.)

Shopping

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Yesterday we went shopping. It was a roughly 90-minute drive to an outlet mall in the suburbs of San Francisco. T. and her mother went shopping for general clothes with a slight focus on office/formal attire, since T. is getting ready for a new job. (Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but she hasn't been happy where she is. She has two two offers contingent on background check, and is now trying to decide between them, but either way, something should be changing soon.)

Meanwhile I kept the kid busy. We zeroed in on a Disney store, and another toy store. After browsing each of them it was a little after 11 so we were ready for a snack and went to the food court. Fruit smoothie for her, garlic bread for me, and we both read our respective books to kill time. (I left her alone in public for 5 minutes while I went to the bathroom and there was no crisis. Yay, we're growing up.) Soon, T. and her mother found us, and soon after that we were joined by a friend in the area and his elderly mother. A brief, casual reunion over fast food. But it was probably only the second time we had seen them since covid started, or maybe even the first, so it was nice. 

After that, more clothes shopping for T., more toy browsing for me and the kid, and our friends joined us as well. The kid also helped our friend's mother browse a jewelry store. Finally we bought the kid a small toy at the 2nd toy store as an informal reward for good behavior. In hindsight I wish T. and I had planned this better - had to be small to go in our luggage when we went home, and not too expensive, and not annoying to us, and something the kid would actually play with - but eventually we found something we were all OK with. 

After that, dinner at a Thai place that's a family favorite. I had duck. Both here and at lunch earlier, I was declining offers of more appetizers, a bigger shared plate, etc. I almost felt bad about it at times, and then I resented feeling bad, but I've mentioned overeating before and am trying to put a limit on it. (Maybe I should have a "food" label in addition to the others? But I certainly hope this will stop being an issue after the holidays are over.)

After we got home, it was basically the kid's bedtime. As we were getting her ready, she threw up again. It was less messy than last time - she had better aim - and she's handling it better than I do. If I throw up, I'm usually absolutely miserable for at least half an hour before and after. Still, once was unpleasant and twice is concerning, so we had her take a covid test but it came back negative, so we're just taking things easy and hoping there isn't a third time.

Going to the movies

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Yesterday morning my parents left, concerned that the weather would be too bad for traveling if they waited any longer. The morning was mostly relaxing for us, although T. and I got a bit frustrated trying to help her dad install a new stereo. It was a Christmas present to himself. We got it set up to receive FM radio, and to send sound to the speakers he already had. We tried and failed to get it to work with the TV or DVD player, but he said he didn't mind, so we decided we shouldn't either. Around then we had leftover ravioli for a snack/lunch. I also spent a lot of time looking for pajamas I had lost. 

In the afternoon T.'s mom stayed home to relax because she has laryngitis, and the rest of us we went out to a second lunch at In 'N Out, and met the kid's friends (2 adults and 5 kids, siblings and cousins). I only ordered a shake for myself. Partly on principle to push back against the overeating of the past few weeks, partly because I strongly suspected the kid wouldn't finish hers and I'd have to. I was right. 

After that, we all went to the movies. We saw Puss in Boots: the Last Wish. It was fine as kid's movies go. Antonio Banderas presumably had fun. Not a horrible way to get out of the house and get the kid more than six feet from a screen. It may seem like cheating to count a movie as getting out of the house, but at least this was social, and a movie she wasn't familiar with. She found some parts scary, and that's an intellectual challenge, right?

Dinner was lasagna and salad. After that, around 7, the kid tried to draw a scene from the movie while the adults were sipping our wine and cleaning up, but she was disappointed in it and got frustrated. So she asked me to do it. I don't like drawing with markers so much but art with a little help/direction from her was as good a way as any to kill time until her bedtime, right? Apparently not, because I used the wrong color for the feather in Puss's hat, and that made her cry. I'm sure this was more being tired than anything else, but still, ugh. T.'s mother put her to bed. 

Right before bed I found the missing pajamas under the dresser in our room. I suspect they fell when T. stripped the bed. Whoops. Shouldn't have blamed T.'s dad for putting them with his laundry by accident.

Christmas

Wordle 555 X/6

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I hate this game. And I just learned that my dad started playing too...

Yesterday I got up a little after 6, as usual, and T. a little after 7. We were surprised to find the house quiet until 8; I expected the kid to get up earlier, because she went to bed early the night before and because she was excited about Christmas, but apparently she needed her sleep, and T.'s parents let her.

Christmas went well. Most of the presents were for the kid. Most of the presents were from or within T.'s side of the family. My family is less generous, at least in this sense. Among the presents T. got for me was a new headset. She had bought it when she went shopping for me later that day. This is an example of the sort of thing that gives me feelings of inadequacy when shopping for presents.

One of the kid's presents was a science kit, and we did several experiments from it together. It was fun. It was a pleasant surprise; the last time we did something like that, I basically had to do it all and give her the finished product, but here she was eager to do every bit she could. Maybe she's aged into it? Maybe school activities have trained her for this sort of thing?

Dinner was lamb. How traditional.

The evening was a little stressful. T. tried to set up a Roku, one of her parents' presents, and it didn't go well, and tried to make reservations for a wine tasting later this week but got the wrong day. But still, overall, fun.

Absolutely nothing going on

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Yesterday, as usual, T.'s mother made a big breakfast. Just a little after that, let's say around 10, the kid complained about a stomachache and soon threw up. I wasn't there for it but I was called in to help with the cleanup. 

Mainly because of that, we did nothing yesterday. The kid spent most of the day watching TV. T. did the same, but on a different TV with different shows. I played WoW and read and generally hung out. We didn't have anything planned anyway, but it was hard to persuade/convince/force the kid to do anything when she was genuinely sick. The parents ran a few minor errands. Later in the afternoon T. and I went on a short, easy walk, and dragged the kid with us without too much protest.

Dinner was corned beef and cabbage, a family favorite recipe, made by my other to give T.'s mom a break.

Little did we know...

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Work was slow yesterday. Not surprising considering it was the day before a holiday weekend. Even so I managed to get a few things done. Good for me. The kid went on a trip with her four grandparents to Sutter Creek. 

By 2ish, we had compared notes with the family and made fun plans for the evening. T. and I would leave around 3 to go shopping (a pair of pajamas for T. as one last Christmas present, but maybe other things too, who knows), followed by dinner, exact location unspecified but there were plenty of options near our last destination: a movie theater showing Violent Night. 

All this would take place within half an hour's drive of T.'s parent's house, so we didn't worry too much about details. T. was driving an SUV that used to be her aunt's. About halfway to the first stop, right as we got on the highway, there was a loud noise and several dashboard lights went on. We guessed we had driven over some piece of trash that temporarily got caught in the axle. We stopped for gas soon. We had no problems getting it and didn't see anything wrong on/under the car, but when we tried to move again, it wouldn't start. We had to push the car into a nearby parking space. Dead battery, apparently, but it was confusing because the car had been fine recently. Some helpful soul saw us and jump-started it. That seemed to work fine for a few minutes, but as soon as T. tried to drive she noticed it had no power steering. We just made it across the lane of parking spaces before it died again. 

We called T.'s and our parents. Fortunately they were only about 20 minutes away. T.'s dad, ever the handyman, quickly noticed that the transmission belt or something was missing. We all decided we'd have the car towed and T. and I would take a Lyft and resume our plans for the date night. 

Well, Lyft couldn't find a car the first time I tried. They just apparently had no drivers in the area. Nor the second time. Eventually T. reinstalled Uber on her phone and we got a driver there. Amusingly enough, he arrived at the same time as the tow truck. We finally got to the movie theater around 6:15 PM. So dinner was more rushed and casual than we had envisioned. But we still were able to have a meal and drink and enjoy the movie. T.'s dad came to pick us up afterwards.

Even more family

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Yesterday my workday was much like the one before. One meeting right at 9 AM EST, a.k.a. 6 AM for me, so I got up a little early. Coffee in the apartment after that, and breakfast as well. The kid watched lots of TV. I don't really object to that on principle considering how active we were for the past few days, but based on behavior later, maybe I should object for practical reasons... we were mostly undisturbed while working. 

Around 1, my parents arrived in their RV. Cool. We all hung out for a while. T.'s mother took the kid to what was supposed to be a puppet show at the library, but there was a schedule mixup or something, so instead was just an arts and crafts event. 

The kid was manic in the afternoon. I don't know if it's grandparent overload, or TV overload, or what, but she was demanding about playing with me and others borderline violent when I got tired of it. Tiring and not great behavior. Dinner was a sort of chicken enchilada bake.

Normal in some respects

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Yesterday I logged on at 6 and more or less got to work. Coffee and breakfast down at the house. I had one meeting around 10 AM PST. After the meeting I noticed that my headset had exposed wiring in the cord connecting the two earpieces. I hadn't noticed it during the call so it was still functional, but there was a chance it wouldn't be soon. Shortly after that, T. went shopping with her mother and the kid. The main agenda item was new shoes for the kid, since she only has one pair here and it was still wet from the beach. T.'s father isn't much more social than I am, so I had time to myself like I haven't in a long time. (Well, a little over a week. But longer than usual.) WoW and some long-term stuff at work.

They finally got back around 5. In addition to shoes they had got her some more clothes, and a few things for the grownups but less than they wanted. The kid made it unpleasant. We had a quick dinner and went to a sort of holiday parade: golf carts and ATVs festooned with Christmas lights. In addition to seeing the sights and picking up some candy, the kid got to hang out with some friends she has made around here.

Backfilling details

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I don't want to complain about getting it in 4, but that third guess was just a brain fart...

Yesterday after writing that we went to a dance recital for the children of some friends of T.'s parents. Or grandchildren, I don't know. And the kid knew them from playdates last summer, so that helped keep her interest. We got home from that around 9 and had a late, light dinner before crashing.

Food

Last night I was hungry for the first time in probably over a week. That seems like it should be important.

• Before we left, I was cooking a lot to use up perishable stuff.
• We pack snacks to fly, just in case there's a crisis. There wasn't. We had plenty of time for a second lunch/early dinner in the airport. Then, after we arrived, T.'s parents hadn't eaten, so we went to an In & Out for burgers for them, and the rest of us might as well have something so I had a milkshake.
• T.'s mother is a traditional homemaker in that she likes company, likes to cook, and is good at cooking for company. If it were just big dinners it wouldn't be worth mentioning but it's also usually a big lunch and keeping cookie jars stocked, and T.'s dad likes donuts from the local store for breakfast, and if they're sitting around all day I'll have some. 
• Yesterday and the day before we had hotel breakfasts, i.e. simple but plentiful and free. For lunch we went to restaurants. I got entrees that would be fine for me. I was also the garbage disposal when the kid was full - she rarely has much of an appetite - and helped T. finish off something she didn't like much as well.

Put it all together and even with the light dinners I've probably been eating 50 percent more than usual compared to September or October. I'm not exactly worried about this, it's exceptional circumstances, but it's a bit annoying. I feel bad about my lack of willpower or something like that.

Family

The "main events" so to speak, over the past few days were fun. Amazing views of the California coast. Maybe I should add pictures here, for the first time ever. In addition to the marine life, we also got to see a ton of deer and at least three different coyotes at the nature preserves. I feel a tiny bit guilty making T. do so much of the planning but it worked out well overall.

Other stuff, though... The kid behaved herself fairly well. Could be worse. And T. and her mother are fine. But T.'s dad worries us a bit. He's always been a bit grouchy. He's hard of hearing by now and rarely is willing to wear his hearing aids. There's nothing specific that's concerning enough to take away the car keys or anything so far, but sometimes it seems close.

Fun

World of Warcraft check-in: my main, a warrior, non-healer for the first time ever, is level 70, ilvl 380, with a Mythic+ score of 602. Far from done for the season, if that means anything to begin with, but he's definitely my main and I'm getting to the point where I need to start doing research and thinking things through. My warlock is level 66 - decent progress on an alt I enjoy. My only regret is the goblin mage I made just because all my existing characters were unplayable on day one. Not sure if I'll ever do anything interesting with him or not.

Feet

I packed two sets of footwear: the slippers T. gave me as a present years ago and my winter boots. I rarely wear either, but space was limited due to presents and I figured I'd need the boots for outdoorsy stuff, so they made the cut and sneakers didn't. Therefore I have a problem I haven't had since covid: a heat rash on my feet. It's annoying.

Point Reyes

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Yesterday and today, sight-seeing around Point Reyes. We saw a beach with elephant seals from about a hundred yards away, and coyotes and deer much closer. Lots of nature walks to and by nice views, individually minor but adding up to a good amount of steps. A late lunch/early dinner at a nice restaurant nearby, then shopping in town, then back to the hotel by 6ish.

This morning, a beach with tide pools. We poked lots of whelks and anemones. The kid's feet got soaked, including her shoes and socks.

We just got back to T.'s parent's house. Writing quickly before an evening event. Maybe I'll go into more detail later...

Road trip

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Yesterday we got ready to go on a trip, a few drive to the Point Reyes area. Around 10 AM, I went to put some bags in the truck and found the lost dog. Chekhov's gun fired! 

We left a little before 11, later than planned. Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant on the way. Good but slow. Understaffed was our guess. We got to the Point Reyes visitors center around 3. Then to the beach and saw the sun set on the Pacific. Cool. Then about 45 minutes drive to our hotel. Not far, but windy rural roads. It was kind of stressful. Dinner was very simple: wine, cheese, bread and general finger foods in the hotel room.

Eating a lot and looking for a missing dog

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Yesterday, as he often does, T.'s father got donuts from the store. That was an appetizer for the real breakfast: pancakes, eggs, and sausages at a school fundraiser. It wasn't as good as mine but it was for a good cause. 

We relaxed around the house for a few hours. The kid asked me to play with her with these new dolls we had given her for Christmas, but apparently I was doing it wrong, so she asked me to watch the show they're based on with her so I'd know what they were supposed to be like. What were we thinking, getting her these? We also did most of the work on her pinewood derby car. T.'s dad supplied the tools, I did most of the tool-using, the kid did some detail work and about half the art with me. A little before noon we noticed that one of the dogs was missing, presumably escaped when someone was careless when a gate, but didn't worry too much.

Lunch was quiche and a salad. Then T., her dad, the kid, and I went for a drive to Sutter Creek. Her dad dropped T.'s late aunt's dog off with a friend for a few days while the rest of us browsed stores. We didn't buy anything but snacks. I only got coffee for myself, correctly assuming the kid wouldn't finish her bagel.

When we got home, the dog still hadn't been found, so we spent some time calling, whistling, and walking and driving around the neighborhood. T. suggested I take out an ATV. I went to the big garage and found that to get it, I'd have to first figure out how to open the garage door and second move the truck that was in its way, so I changed my mind without taking 10 steps into the big garage and instead I just took the car from the small garage. (This minutiae will be important later.) No luck.

Dinner was fried rice and bok choy. Dessert was a massive piece of pecan pie.

Absolutely nothing going on

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Yesterday I worked from home, i.e. from the apartment over the in-laws' garage, from 6 to 3 or so, just like in the summers of 2020 and 2021 except not due to contagion. (And in 2020, I brought my work computer so I couldn't play Warcraft, but I brought my personal computer in 2021 and this time. Work wasn't too busy, as is typical for Fridays that aren't the day of the biweekly report. I had meals and snacks in the house with the family.

In the afternoon, the other four of them ran some minor errands, but I just hung out and relaxed. Dinner was tilapia, brussels sprouts, and roasted potatoes, but reporting this is less interesting since I had no hand in making it, it was T.'s mother.

We were in bed by 8:30 due to both jet lag and lack of sleep in terms of total hours, and up around 6 this morning.

Exhausting

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Yesterday taking the kid to school wasn't uneventful. Or at least, it wasn't on the usual schedule. There was freezing rain in our region (just rain for us, but freezing rain in the suburbs I guess) so school started two hours late. She was fairly well-behaved in the morning and did a pretty good job of entertaining herself without bothering us or relying too much on watching TV. Wow.

Right after writing yesterday's post, I showered and shaved quickly and then went into a meeting at 9. While I was in the meeting, T. took the kid to school. After the meeting I typed up my notes and caught up on sorting my emails; I was able to file over a hundred. No recent action but organizing has value.

Personally and around the house we got ready to go. Packed, packed presents carefully because even if the contents aren't fragile we want the wrapping to arrive intact, packed for the kid because she had helped out as requested but her common sense is only age-appropriate, made sure all the devices were charged... For lunch we stuffed ourselves on leftovers. Then T. left to run a couple errands, including getting the kid from school. While she was gone I cleaned the kitchen, did the final loads of laundry, hand-delivered some holiday cards in the neighborhood, and tried to make sure the cat was comfortable. 

Her errands took longer than planned, but we still had plenty of time. The Lyft was actually early. We got to the airport around 3, security took probably less than 20 minutes, and our flight started boarding at 4:30, so we had a leisurely early dinner: burgers and fries. 

The flight went as well as could be expected. The kid was well behaved and apparently even managed to nap a little bit. I watched A Fish Called Wanda and Iron Man 3, both of which I had seen before but not recently. We landed around 8:30 and finding T.'s parents and our luggage didn't take long. We stopped on the way to their house for burgers and milkshakes, although the kid and I weren't hungry. We got there around 11 PM PST.

And here I am, getting up at or before the usual time despite all that just to have a semblance of a normal work schedule at least for today. I'm going to be tired tonight.

It's always busy

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Yesterday we were busy. Work was average or below-average productivity. I chipped away at some longstanding tasks. Personally, though, we finished the holiday cards (T. did more than me overall, but she has more extended family she likes to keep in touch with than I do; I did more of the cards for our mutual friends, for whatever it's worth) and got ready to travel. 

We also met with the cat-sitter. The cat has not been doing well for the past couple days. I feel bad about this. The surgery appointment, which we cancelled due to both expense and the fact that it would have been hard to schedule around travel and other things, was this morning. So problems yesterday and earlier would have been the same either way. Not sure how comforting that is when we're leaving the problem untreated for two weeks, though...

The kid had a shortened school day due to holiday-related inservice or something. I picked her up by bike around 3 PM. It was warmer than the morning would have been but still cold. To keep her busy we invited a friend of hers over.

Her guitar lesson after that went well. It was the last one with this teacher; she's taken another job elsewhere. 

Dinner was spaghetti and an esoteric peas recipe to use up a few random vegetables.

The last thing we did before bed was opening most of the Christmas presents, rather than bring them with us on the trip.

We were up late last night, with most of what I was talking about above. T. and I finished a bottle of wine, and did so lateish. I'm not saying I can't handle that much alcohol, but wish I had finished earlier in the night and/or had more water.

Maybe I just miss biking specifically

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Yesterday morning, in addition to what I wrote below, before she got up I helped T. get ready for a holiday party at work by baking cinnamon rolls from a kit. I had a long to-do list for the day, so I was kind of stressed. But the trip to drop the kid off at school and T. off at work was uneventful, other than talking about why bedtimes are so hard. Maybe we made progress? We have a plan that might help a bit.

Work was fine. Two meetings, but I was just listening in on the second one. The first one was our team meeting, and most of the discussion was just following up on something minor from the biweekly report, and preparing for my travel. I'm taking a few days vacation soon, but I'll also be in another time zone even when not on vacation, so there was planning. That not-ideal response to an email turned out to be manageable.

As for my to-do list, one part of it was stamps. I walked back to the same post office as yesterday but they didn't have festive holiday stamps anyway, so that was annoying. Picking up the comforter from the dry cleaners was uneventful.

Another part of it was to make progress on Christmas shopping. T. has said she wants tickets to Hadestown. I tried to get them online and by phone but didn't want to deal with Ticketmaster. Principles aside, apparently I would have had to either install an app or log in on a Web site to actually use the tickets? No mail or even email option? Ugh. So instead I physically went to the theater like a savage. Seriously though, I biked, and I'm glad I did. More on this in a minute.

Apparently Ticketmaster is still involved with the tickets somehow, but at least I was able to talk to a person, and don't have to log into anything again if I don't want to. After that I went on another stop, to the Eastern Market area. To another post office, and this one had holiday stamps, although it took 20 minutes to get through the line. Then to the library to return all the many things we have checked out. Then to get a haircut. Not technically required before we leave but it was time. Then to the store next door for just bread, and then home.

By the time I got home from that it was around 5, later than planned. I quickly finished something at work and then drove to get the kid and T. There was also a PTA meeting. It was in the school's gym, with a lot of kids playing while their parents tried to attend the meeting, so it was raucous. I had planned to cook dinner, both for fun and to use stuff up, but there was pizza at the meeting, so we had that plus just some finger food at home.

Musing

I'm glad I ran those errands by bike. Driving might have been faster, but probably not much considering traffic and parking, and the exercise and fresh air was nice. The theater was downtown. I haven't been that way by bike in a long time. Level terrain and I could get up to a decent speed when not actually stopped at a light - not racing or reckless, but faster than the route to the kid's school. It was invigorating, and maybe not just in the physical sense. Round trip, 6.94 miles. Not exactly strenuous exercise, but still overdue, and of a style I miss. 

And despite being stressful, the day didn't feel bad. I didn't enjoy a lot of what I was doing, but in between the stressful bits I felt good. Weird. When I compare it to a day the past few days, which were busy in different ways, my mood was much better. Was it the light exercise before and during the work? The fact that the work was varied and actually productive, unlike much of my job or kid-related activities? Generally better sleep lately?

Busy evening

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Yesterday morning was uneventful. One afternoon meeting went well. I sent several reminders of things right before logging off. Then I walked to the post office to mail several packages (one to Georgia, one planned to Vermont but it was so big I had to put it in two boxes, and one letter that needed special postage because it was going to France). As soon as I got back, T. reminded me that I had also planned to get stamps but forgot. Ugh. There was teasing about it.

Dinner was salmon, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. T. and I thought it was awesome. The kid thought the potatoes and broccoli were acceptable and ate some salmon under protest. 

Bedtime for the kid was T.'s task last night, but it was difficult. The kid just won't let us leave before she falls asleep. This is annoying, boring, and when we have things we actually want to get done in addition to games and watching TV, it's a waste of time. Last night was one of those nights, with Christmas cards to write and a long to-do list to start on, or at least organize.

I slept well last night. My good mood this morning lasted right up until I noticed some cat pee on the floor. The crisis may not be over. Also, one of those reminders I sent out at work yesterday afternoon resulted in a response, which I guess is better than not, but not nearly as helpful a response as I would have liked.

I don't know how they have the energy

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Yesterday breakfast was relatively simple: scrambled eggs and toast. That was partly because we had a busy day ahead of us. At 11 the kid had a performance at her music school. We were joined by two friends of ours who she particularly likes. She was nervous, both because of simple stage fright and because she was performing a longer, more complicated song - something from Hamilton, in fact, where some kids were doing Jingle Bells - but it went well.

After that, brunch reservations, just to visit with those two friends. T., the kid, and I all liked what we had, although it was a lot more food than needed; our two friends didn't. Too bad for them, although I guess they have some reason to be finicky...

After that, home for an hour or so, for laundry and general downtime. Then at 4 we went to the birthday party of a friend of the kid's. It was at a skating rink. So she and her friends spent over 2 hours skating. She was going faster than last time and falling less - definitely learning. Cool. I went for a short walk  during the skating, but mostly just stood around and watched. I had planned to make dinner at home, but there was pizza and general kid's party food at the party around 6, and we were barely hungry anyway after brunch, so we just had a light dinner there. 

As for my alcohol intake, the day before yesterday, in addition to the 1.5ish drinks at the brewery, I had a beer at the neighbor's kid's birthday party. Yesterday I had a Bloody Mary at brunch. Yesterday night after getting home I had an oyster ale. I'm basically back to my normal intake after deliberately reducing it for a while, which is fine - it's the holiday season. I can reconsider things in January or February.

The kid chose to have a bath. We didn't require it, she had cleaned up right before the performance, but weren't going to argue. My parents happened to call then. I put the kid to bed, starting reading around 8, the usual time. After she was down, I went to bed myself without going downstairs, about an hour earlier than usual. 

It didn't hurt. Did it help? Did it help enough? Not sure yet. I wasn't doing much heavy lifting or sweating over the past weekend or earlier, but spent a lot of time on my feet, and supervising the kid is a low, constant level of stress. I was physically tired but also gorging myself so it's probably not a net positive for fitness. This morning I woke up a little before the usual time and I didn't feel tired by this point, like I did the past few days. To some extent it's normal to be busy and stressed this time of year, right? A vacation would be good, and a brief one is coming up, but I didn't have enough PTO for something more extensive. Maybe getting out of this rut would be as simple as job-hunting.

Exhausting

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Yesterday morning was lazy. I got up around 7 and the kid just a little bit after me, even though we were up so late the night before. I played WoW and she watched TV until T. got up on her own, around 9:30, and then I started making pancakes and bacon. Around 10:30 I suddenly noticed that, hey, we have a bunch of stuff to get done today! The kid practiced her guitar. We went to the farmer's market, despite the kid's strenuous objections. I put in a service request on the registration tag, and T. and I worked on laundry. 

Around noon we went to a Krampus event at a brewery. It was fun. I planned to cut back on drinking - not to continue the policy of cutting back, just to pace myself - but had one of my own, and finished one of T.'s she didn't like. Oh well. The kid enjoyed the costumes and a coloring activity.

We went home briefly after that for a late lunch and general regrouping.

Then we went to the birthday party of a friend of the kid, at a trampoline park. She spent more than two hours jumping, bouncing, flipping, etc. I watched her and visited a tiny bit with other parents. Dinner was pizza, fruit, and cupcakes. 

Then, back home, for another birthday party, the neighbor's one-year-old. Their older kid bugged our kid. We visited a tiny bit with adults.

T. put the kid to bed, and I went to bed myself before she finished.

I was feeling bad about depression last night, or just being stuck in a rut and needing to shake things up and the two uses of "tiny bit" abover, but in hindsight, with a day like that and one like today planned, of course I was tired.

Wild and crazy Friday

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I feel bad about doing that, given the walkout, but I didn't know about it until after I had started...

Yesterday dropping the kid off was uneventful. Work was the biweekly report. It was average, i.e. not great. But I had my inputs by noon and was done with my share by 1 or so, so I shouldn't complain too much. 

In the afternoon I went for a long walk: 3.77 miles. (Longer than any of my recent walks for exercise, and longer than my usual jogging route, although not longer than some of the exceptional jogging sessions.) A little shopping on the way back from that (including a snack, so this may have been a net negative for fitness). After that, I got cleaned up and put in a few more minutes at work. Around 4 we went to a happy hour for parents from the kid's school. We were in the minority of parents whose kids weren't with us, but given the location of the happy hour and our plans, it would have been hard. Fortunately she wasn't mad when we got her.

After getting her, she had the usual gymnastics class. Unusually, the gymnastics class had a "parents night" after that, keeping the kids later, so we went out for a nice dinner. Then grocery shopping, then a really quick dessert somewhere else, and we picked up the kid at 9. Wild and crazy, all right. When we did, we found two tickets, one for parking illegally (the other side of the block would have been legal, I think, but apparently not this side) and one for expired registration (we did the inspection and paperwork, but never got the new tag in the mail or even put the temporary tag on the car. Whoops!).

How much is a good cat worth?

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Dropping the kid off yesterday was uneventful. Work was fairly routine. Two meetings, one which required note-taking, one which required attention and could have required work but it turned out not to. 

The big issue is the cat. The emergency vet said he responded well to treatment over the previous night but still recommended surgery. It seems possible but not certain that his bladder stone will resolve itself. (Maybe even not likely? Can't be sure.) We had three options to get it scheduled: with them for $5,000 (and there may have been other problems too - thanks but no thanks), with the usual vet for about $2,000 but the earliest option was in January (if he needs it at all, he could be dead by then - no thanks), or with a vet way out in Manassas for $1,500 but even they didn't have any openings before the day we're scheduled to fly to California for the holidays. So we made the appointment with them but aren't sure if we'll go through with it or, if so, how we'd arrange to get him home from there. 

I'm concerned about the expense, of course, but we can afford it, it's not more than we already spent on the initial emergency, and it may be both necessary and sufficient to get him healthy (not sure yet). T.'s parents were diplomatic and sympathetic but fairly clear that they wouldn't go to that expense. My parents seemed more open to the idea but still were hesitant. T. is leaning towards her parents.

The timing of this is maddening. If he had this problem any time in April or May or August through October, we probably never would have noticed until he had a seizure or something in the front yard or even just died. That would have sucked but at least it would have been cheaper and there would have been certainty about it. $8,000 or euthanasia? We'd have been very sad but taken the second option. If this had happened January through March, after our trip, we could have done the bare minimum and monitored things ourselves indefinitely. But it's happening less than two weeks before we're traveling, so we have to figure out how to make the pet care work around the travel, and hope we get it right. 

At this point we're likely to monitor him closely for the next few days, cancel the appointment if everything seems OK, and just direct the cat-sitter to take extra care. There may be no more problems at all now that the initial problem was dealt with and he's on a new diet. So far, knock on wood, things seem to be going well - eating the new prescription food, not leaking, etc.

He's a great cat! Friendly, a lot of personality, and clean and low-maintenance until a week ago. At 11, he still probably has many happy years ahead of him if this problem is resolved. But has it been already resolved? Will the surgery do it and make things normal again? Or is he going to be incontinent in another 3 weeks or months and have to go through this all over again?

Back to day-to-day stuff... dinner was tilapia, which I haven't made in a while, and a salad from the store. T. put the kid to bed, with difficulty, while I worked on a few Christmas cards.

Vet visits

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Yesterday we dropped the kid off at school, came home, and just about 10 minutes later took the cat to the vet. A "partial urinary tract obstruction." Like kidney stones but not in the kidneys, I guess. We left him at the vet for a few hours for observation, and they said they couldn't take care of him themselves and he should go to the veterinary emergency hospital. Luckily it's convenient, just a few blocks away. He's still there for observation. Apparently this sort of thing can kill cats if it's just a little bit worse than his case. But it's still $3,100 bad so far and we aren't done yet... 

It's funny, talking between us, T. seems eager to find a price point where we stop caring for the cat. When the doctor is in the room, I'm the first to bring up money. We care about the cat, and he was fine two weeks ago and probably still has many years ahead of him, but some of the sums of money they were talking about could pay for a new bathroom.

In between those, work was OK. I wasn't able to put in a full day due to the cat but I'll manage for the week. 

The kid's guitar lesson went fine. Dinner afterwards was fried rice from a kit - easy enough. 

Last night and this morning I missed not having to check for the cat.

Cat pee everywhere

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Tough one.

Work was fine yesterday. Could have been better, could have been worse. One meeting in the morning, productive. After that I called the vet. The cat has an appointment for today. Then I took the comforter to the dry cleaner's, as well as a pair of pants of mine with a broken zipper. After that I decided to treat myself to takeout for lunch. The first place I went to couldn't process my order because their system was updating. (We have also been getting in yelling matches with our Alexa lately. She spontaneously suggested I buy a Mo Willems book, and I told her "stop trying to sell me things", and she acknowledged it, but who knows if it worked. Technology sucks.) The second place I went to was new to me. It was nice, but seemed overpriced. 

On the way to getting the kid, I met T. at the Harris Teeter for a couple more vegetables and more kitty litter. 

Dinner was spaghetti and asparagus. Easy.

The cat had continued peeing every few minutes but it's cold and wet out so we tried to cat-proof the house. I got cleaned up while T. put the kid to bed. T. and I watched a little TV and then I went to bed around 10:30 - earlier than the last few nights but still later than planned. I got up again around 11 because the cat had snuck into our room. Ugh. We've gone through too many blankets over the past couple days.

Not productive but tired anyway

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Should have kept thinking about letters that worked and got it in four. Oh well.

Yesterday was not productive. Did the bare minimum at work: responding to queries, and attended a meeting and tried to contribute but it didn't matter all that much. I wasn't incredibly personally productive either. T. got stuff done for summer plans and Christmas stuff and I was able to meaningfully contribute to that discussion but didn't actually do much myself in those areas either.

I went for a walk in the afternoon for exercise. Afterwards I decided to make a marinade for the steak for dinner, but T. was worried about getting the kid even later, so she went without me. (Turns out she was right. The kid was mad because her friends had already left. My fault, I guess, but we can't always time it exactly...) T. and I liked dinner but the kid didn't all that much. 

We stayed up later than planned, until around 11:30. The main reason was a cliffhanger on the show we were watching (Wednesday, if it matters). I woke up around 5 when the cat came into bed with us, and T. was snoring too. After I went downstairs I found cat pee on the floor, and after T. got up we found some on our bed too. I hope this is just a protest at the state of the litter box, but I fear he's sick. Or rather, I know he's sick, he has had a runny nose and been sneezing for days. I fear he's seriously sick. So a trip to the dry cleaner's and a call to the vet are on my to-do list for today.

Bah Humbug

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Yesterday we had the usual Sunday brunch of eggs and home fries. Then the kid had to practice her guitar, and she actually got into and enjoyed some song lyrics found online. Later in the morning we walked to Politics and Prose, for Christmas shopping and to take advantage of a sale. I think T. and I annoyed each other with her trying to shop for unnecessary presents just to be fair or something. My parents said they didn't want anything, and when pressed, my dad suggested a book. We got him it, and also a book for my mother to be fair, and a Christmas ornament for both of them. but T. got roughly 5 presents for each of her parents so she was worried about my parents feeling left out.

After that, home for laundry. 

At 3 the kid had a cub scouts meeting. It went well enough. She didn't speak up, but participated in the activities, mainly a sign language lesson. We walked there, and walked home with her friend from across the street. (So I got my steps in yesterday. Woo hoo.)

After that, we drove across town for a friend's Christmas party. It was crowded, partly because the party usually spills onto the balcony but it was too cold for that to be comfortable. There were lots of desserts. The kid had fun as soon as we found someone her age she could play with. I spent a lot of my time supervising them and catching up with an old friend-of-a-friend I probably hadn't seen with covid.

Bah Humbug

The title is not in reference to the party, but to the admittedly minor annoyance while shopping. Also, something happened this day that I didn't mention at the time, but seems like a good example of why I don't enjoy this season.

In the evening, T. asked me offhandedly what I wanted for Christmas. I don't remember exactly when, but I had little free time between her question and the next part. This will be important later. I said something like, "Maybe an e-book reader, but I don't know, I want to make sure I can still read the books on my old e-book reader on the new one... I don't like how proprietary everything in the Amazon environment is... and I might want to read comic books on it too... give me a little time to do some research and I'll get back to you."

Later, shortly before the kid's bedtime, we were all sitting on the couch and relaxing, playing our various games or watching our various shows. She asked me what I thought a certain model of reader or two. What do I think? I don't know, I haven't done that research yet! I probably literally hadn't had the chance to do so even if I had wanted to! She didn't seem to want to accept that answer, though, I assume because it was on sale, so I told her I'd do that research that night, while she was putting the kid to bed.

That research involved looking for ways to read my existing books on my computer or other devices. One attempt resulted in my Web browser getting stuck opening tabs infinitely more than once. I had to restart the whole computer to fix that. I dug out my last reader and charged it enough to check it out, and confirmed my vague memories that DRM was a problem for them - I had some books on them with the DRM cracked, which left the text readable but screwed up images and footnotes. I'm not sure if there's any way to fix that at all or access pre-cracked versions. Also, if comic books are a priority, I found that the best option probably isn't an e-reader at all, it's an iPad or something like that, and I don't want one of those, but that shows that a computer should be an option except for the eyestrain... back to books, I figured out how to get an e-book from the library on my computer faster than I resolved my issues with e-books, so I said an e-book reader wasn't worth the effort and took it off my Christmas list. 

That sort of thing seems to be the rule rather than the exception. It's not that she's bad at gift-giving; just the opposite. She's organized and hard-working about it and knows everyone around her well. She puts more time and thought into gift-giving than I want to put into gift-receiving. At best this leaves me feeling inadequate when I give half-assed gifts. Worse, sometimes it results in her getting me something like what I need, but useless because of some basic flaw I didn't warn her about, and then we both feel bad about that.

Now multiply that kind of angst for every gift she thinks about getting me, and every gift I get for someone else, yeah, of course I empathize with Scrooge.

Personally productive too

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Yesterday we had the usual Saturday brunch, pancakes and bacon, but it was a little more rushed than usual because we had a busy day ahead of us. T. had a hair stylist appointment in the morning, and we met a distant relative to exchange Christmas presents at the same time. Then we went to the Kennedy Center for The Day You Begin, a kid-oriented musical, and had a quick lunch at one of their cafes first. 

After the show, we had thought about a playdate for the kid but it didn't work out, so we made a detour by Pennsylvania Ave. SE for several errands for me: picking up my new glasses, picking up some DVDs the library was holding for me, and getting a new Metro card, since I somehow lost my old one. On the way home, some spontaneous grocery shopping.

Then, home, for some rushed cleaning and a yelling match with the kid because we were too busy to help her find something she was looking for. Then company for dinner. It was fun. 

Bedtime for the kid was hard. We have to do something about this... after that, T. and I wrapped most of the Christmas presents. Glad that's mostly done with, I guess.

A productive Friday

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Yesterday was fine. I didn't get absolutely everything done, but I got everything done I needed to do at work. 

At home I did get everything done. (I guess I still have to do some Christmas shopping and didn't, but other than that.) The list was unusually long, too. Several phones calls to make: the eye doctor about when my new glasses would be ready (they had arrived yesterday, I just hadn't been notified yet), the library about a DVD I had meant to return but they hadn't registered (they checked and found it), the credit card company about the time last week it was lost (no harm done, but figuring that out was annoying). Plus some Christmas-related research. At work I talked to my coworkers a lot online and got a few useful things done there. Not quite everything there either, but close enough.

Getting the kid to gymnastic was uneventful. While she was there T. and I we went for a walk. Not as much as the day before but better than nothing. Dinner was a sit-down meal at Matchbox, which we haven't been to in a while. It was nice but took longer than we would have liked. The kid got in bed after 9.

I hate productive days

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Drove the kid to school yesterday. 

Work was busy. One meeting, and I had technical difficulties. For a long time I had a configuration that worked reliably and just took a little setup. Then another setup worked, with less setup - great. Now that's only working sometimes and I can't figure out why, and the previous configuration would require more setup. Maybe I should just use my phone more...

In addition to that, one apparently-minor task from a few days before became maybe-not-so-minor and confusing. And I couldn't put off any longer two different things I had planned to do Monday. I planned to go for a nice long walk around 2 - exercise, plus enjoying a sunny but cold late fall day. I didn't actually get away from my computer until after 4. Which is too bad, because while I was at the most distant point of my loop, T. called me and said she was supposed to be at the school earlier than usual for a Girl Scout thing. Whoops. I tried to plan where we could meet, but she was OK going without me. On the way home I stopped by the grocery store and got a few things we were low on, and then took a detour home from there. 

My route worked out to be about 3 miles, comparable to my old jogging route but slower. I'm glad I did it but still feel like it's the bare minimum. But what else can I do? The kid is outgrowing her bike seat and that too seemed like the bare minimum anyway. Right now there's less room for that exercise bike due to Christmas decorations. I've never jogged in weather this cold before and I still have plantar fasciitis, which I should probably do something about. As I was on my last leg of the walk yesterday, I passed someone jogging. Well, maybe I can do it. On the other hand, maybe I have problems they don't and would need to work my way up to that very carefully. Who knows.

T. and the kid got home just a few minutes after me. I got cleaned up, went to a Scout leadership committee meeting, and took the kid. She had fun playing with friends there, except for two girls basically fighting over who was friends with whom near the end, while I marginally participated in the meeting, but I don't feel like attendance was wasted. 

Bedtime for her wasn't easy. T. and I had beers (4.4 percent ABV) between dinner and going to bed. I didn't expect to sleep well, but it was actually my first completely uninterrupted night in several days. Woo hoo.

Not too busy

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Drove the kid to school yesterday. That's becoming the rule and probably will be until she can bike in on her own bike.

Worked on several different little things at work. Several were due to reminders from my teammate J. Honestly it was kind of annoying. None of them were urgent and none were his responsibility so I felt like I could have let them slide longer. (Not that I'd normally defend procrastination, but this week specifically I don't feel so bad about it.) Maybe he would disagree with me about the urgency or responsibility, but I suspect that the lack of action was simply interfering with his personal filing system. Oh well. I applied for team leadership roughly two years ago now because I thought that me supervising him would be less annoying than the reverse, and this is an example of it: annoying, but not as annoying or stressful as it would be if he actually had authority over me.

In WoW, I got that boosted mage to level 68 and unlocked Adventure Mode, in that order, which unlocks a bunch of stuff for that character and alts. New system. Feels weird even though it's not entirely unlike some stuff in previous expansions. This morning I got them to 70 and it was a letdown in comparison. I plan/hope to make this the last WoW update until something really interesting happens, like Mythic+.

Getting the kid to guitar lessons was uneventful. Dinner was tortellini, her favorite, and leftovers.

A fun and adequately productive day to myself

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Yesterday I drove the kid to school and T. to work and had the house to myself. Woo hoo. By the end of the day I got that completely new character to level 65 and most of the way through the first two zones of the expansion. I also sent a few emails, edited a document, and more or less stayed on top of things at work (although I did put several minor tasks off until this morning). 

Late in the day I ran a couple errands, to the hardware store for a bungee cord to hold up some Christmas decorations, plus some grocery shopping. I did this on foot even though I was short on time; more on this later. I met the kid and T. at school on schedule. Dinner was balsamic beef tips, beets, and leftover cauliflower.

Putting the kid to bed was hard. She can't fall asleep on her own, it took her a while to fall asleep with me there, and her mother gives her melatonin when she asks for a sleep aid but I don't like to. Not sure if I'm being reasonable or not but I didn't feel like doing the research at 9 last night.

Exercise

I haven't got much exercise over the past month or two for a lot of different reasons. We were traveling, I was sick, someone else was sick (so I didn't want to bother them and/or wanted to save my time and energy for taking care of the kid), the weather was too bad to bike, and so on. It really got noticeable yesterday. I don't feel too bad about yesterday itself, since it was effectively the launch day, but still. I made a point to do those errands on foot even though I had procrastinated long enough that I was in a bit of a rush. Walking seems like the bare minimum and I'm tempted to just walk a loop of a couple blocks today, but it's raining...

Launch day

Wordle 528 3/6

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Slow day yesterday. We drove the kid to school. A new request came in and it was minor enough that I could send it out for approval before the end of the day. I had a couple meetings. No technical difficulties in the first, but they caught me by surprise in the second one. It was the weekly repeat of this, with the same issues - maybe my computer doesn't like the host's computer?

Getting the kid was uneventful. Dinner was pork chops, cauliflower, and applesauce. 

Warcraft

Yesterday was the launch of Dragonflight, the new WoW expansion. I didn't mention it here before but I really completely finished my goals for Shadowlands. As I said here, I've been playing new characters a lot lately, both because the event makes it easy/fast and because nothing else was particularly important. 

The launch was at 6 PM EST to be exact. I didn't try to play then, partly because the family dinner and general real life comes first, partly because I expected it to be a mess. They usually are. I was right. My previous main was on a big server but I couldn't even log in there. I have several alts on servers that are normally "low" population but yesterday were "medium" or "high" and I could log in, but the new stuff was glitchy. Eventually I gave up on all my existing characters, found a server that was labeled "low" even last night, and created a completely new character. Not how I planned things and not sure I'll stick with it, but at least I got to play a little last night.

Friendsgiving

Wordle 527 5/6

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Yesterday I didn't feel like making a fancy breakfast and didn't really have any options, but it was still a weekend, so I walked to the bagel shop for breakfast. 

Most of the time when working at home I've been sitting in the same dining room table chair I sit at for meals, but I've noticed recently that it's getting uncomfortable (and even T. noticed). She checked freecycle and found something suitable, so yesterday I drove across town to get it. 

In the afternoon we went to a "friendsgiving". T. wasn't sure about going due to illness but eventually decided to. When we got there, we found out there was a mixup about when it started - we thought it was 3 but it was supposed to be 5. I wish we were right; an earlier start and end would have been better for us, and it's simply hard to find the host's house in the dark. 

The food was good and the company was fun, but more for T. and the kid than for me. The kid was the life of the party, despite or maybe because of the fact that she was the only person there under 40. While everyone else was talking about football or which Congressmen they had met, she was drawing portraits of people and climbing the walls. I managed to make small talk, but by the time we left, a little after 9, I was definitely tired.

Lots of questions

Wordle 526 4/6

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Breakfast yesterday was simple: eggs, toast, and the leftover pancakes. The original plan for the day was Christmas decoration, but T. was feeling a little under the weather, so getting the kid out of the house became a higher priority. 

I made the kid go to the farmer's market with me. While there I noticed my credit card was missing. A little detective work later and I figured out I had left it at the takeout place the day before. Shit! At some point I still need to call my credit card company and see if anyone had used it. So anyways, the kid and I went to get it.

After that she had a playdate planned with a friend. There was a little downtime in between in which the kid entertained herself and T. and I cleaned and did laundry. Her friend came over and they played here for only a few minutes before the parent of another girl, H., texted and suggested we meet up in the park, so we went to the park. They had fun for a while before H. invited the kid and her friend to her house. I walked her there and then went back home to help with the decorating. 

Dinner was baked potatoes and steak with a teriyaki sauce. Fancy-sounding but not really. 

As I put the kid to bed, she got snotty and rude, more than the usual bedtime resistance. When I convinced her that as punishment I wouldn't read to her, she broke down crying. She was jealous or insecure (my words, not hers) about how her friends are older than her and growing up faster and know about all kinds of things she doesn't. Examples given: Sailor Moon, puberty, Zelda, and Mean Girls. Growing up is hard, huh? So I viewed this talk as adequate apology/explanation for her moodiness and read her a book about where babies come from.

Not much to say considering when I posted the previous

Wordle 525 5/6

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After that post, we just relaxed. I took the kid to the playground across the street. Normally we would both have taken her to gymnastics class, but T. wasn't feeling well, so I drove her there alone. We were surprised to find the place closed for the holiday. Whoops! Should have planned better. We ran a quick errand and got takeout for dinner - from the usual place, but home earlier than usual.

Thanksgiving

Wordle 524 4/6

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Made pancakes and bacon for breakfast yesterday, a little more rushed than usual. Then we finished packing for a trip to T.'s cousin and his family for the holiday, in Richmond. We started driving around 10:30 AM. We made good time, about 2 hours, maybe because we almost had the express lane to ourselves. 

The dinner was good. Lucky us (or good planning to see family at a moderate distance, or lazy); we brought wine, crackers, cheese, and a pie, but nothing laborious. After stuffing ourselves, we went on a short walk around a nearby park. Then back to their place for dessert.

In the evening we played card and board games. It was fun. There was at least one we're probably going to buy ourselves. The kid got to stay up late doing so, until almost 10 PM - late for her. She, T., and I all went to bed around the same time.

I got up at 6:30, after an uninterrupted night or very nearly. I have no idea why I sleep better away from home but T.'s snoring probably isn't it. Maybe it's too bright in our bedroom?

We had a simple breakfast, a leisurely morning hanging out (I played chess with one of the cousins; I lost, but it was a closer/better game than any I've had since I was a kid), and a lunch of leftovers. Started driving home around 1 and got here around 4. Not as good as driving there but not as bad as it could have been.

A half-day for us, no school at all for the kid

Wordle 523 5/6

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Yesterday I did the biweekly report - schedule changed due to the holiday, of course - while the kid was home because she had the day off school but we didn't have the day off work. Meanwhile the kid just read or watched TV. T.'s workday was similar. Not great parenting or professionalism, but it was only a half-day right before a holiday. As usual, one of the reports came in late, but we had them all by noon. 

T. logged off around then and took the kid to the park. I had lunch, did my due diligence on the last of the report (and played a little WoW), and logged off about half an hour after her. They came back right around then for snacks. 

Shortly after that we all went out again. I took the kid to a park a little bigger and further away than the one across the street, and T. kept walking to a pharmacy to get her flu shot. While at the park, we saw a kid in the t-shirt of the kid's school, so the kids played and I struck up a conversation with her mother and exchanged phone numbers. Maybe they'll have another playdate at some point. After that we got pastries at a nearby bakery. 

The kid's usual guitar lesson went well enough.

Dinner was grilled cheese and a tomato soup. Easy and didn't generate leftovers for once.

Checking in on the alcohol

Last night I had a beer with dinner. Between this and today I have also had two Manhattans. I haven't kept careful track but I'm pretty sure that's it. I'm a tiny bit relieved I was able to do so, that it wasn't harder. Maybe the difference is simply that this time I tried cutting back, I told T. about it.

The day wasn't as bad as it sounds

Wordle 522 3/6

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I don't want to complain about getting it in 3, but my 3rd guess is a more common word than my 2nd, and uses more letters...

Yesterday I drove the kid to school, despite her cough and sniffling, and T. to work, and had the house to myself. 

Work was OK for me. The team meeting went well. The day didn't go well for someone else on the team, though. Something important was on its way to us and we only found out about it by accident late last week, and we still don't know why it's important, or some details about the process. I like to think I helped a bit but he still has a lot of work ahead of him. We really need to keep people from doing things like this.

Around midday I went to the hardware store to get a bolt to fix the office chair.

Around 2:30, we got a call from the nurse's office at school. Oh well, at least the kid made it through most of the school day before being overwhelmed by nose-blowing. I went to pick her up and got a pie T. had ordered from a fundraiser on the way. I worked a bit more after I got back and the kid wasn't too disruptive. After that, she practiced her guitar. Then I took her to the park as a reward for good behavior. Not that going to the park around the corner is that big a deal, but on the other hand I was doubtful about her going to the park if she's too sick for school.

Dinner was spaghetti and cauliflower. After dinner we played "no stress chess" before putting the kit to bed.

Sick of parenting

Wordle 521 4/6

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Yesterday the kid was sick so we kept her home. It wasn't that straightforward. A covid test was negative, so we weren't worried about anything serious, and it wasn't a great day for either T. or me to have a kid while we were working. But she was definitely coughing and had a runny nose and it didn't seem like allergies. We actually started driving to school before we were convinced that she was too sick for school. 

She behaved okay. I don't want to complain about a 7-year-old failing to keep herself productively and unobtrusively occupied for eight hours straight. It's just that we both had meetings scheduled for the afternoon, by which point her patience was running out...

Late in the morning I took her with me on a few errands. The FedEx center for a financial thing, the grocery store, and the library to return some books, and to get some new ones for her. 

At 3 T. had a job interview and I had a meeting, so naturally, the kid was hungry. I tried to make it very clear that my meeting was less important than T.'s and the kid should see me if she needed anything. She decided she could get herself some water... from T.'s glass, but T. didn't want to share when the kid was sick, so that was disruptive. I tried to help but was distracted by my own meeting, which I was trying to actually participate in, but had technical difficulties with. In hindsight I should have let people know I wouldn't be attending and waited on the kid hand and foot, but that wouldn't have been fun for me...

After we were done work, the kid practiced her guitar grudgingly (she accepted that she had to do it, but she was so congested, it was genuinely harder than usual for her to do the singing), T. took a nap, and I made dinner. It was a stir-fry, beef and mostly broccoli. An awesome recipe for the sauce if I may say so myself. Before I put the kid to bed we played chess with this beginner's rule set we have. She won. I have to stop going easy on her.

A scout activity and playdate should make parenting easier than this

Wordle 520 5/6

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Yesterday I made scrambled eggs and home fries for the first time in a while, due to my illness and various other schedule disruptions. I missed it. But the kid didn't. She doesn't like home fries at all or even scrambled eggs all that much. Normally when we have those, she has leftover pancakes from the day before, but Saturday I didn't make those. It drove her to tears. I apologized because, OK, I guess I should have made plans clearer, but I still think she was a bit overdramatic... so she had a tiny bit of scrambled eggs, and cereal.

A little after noon, we dropped her off at the National Air and Space Museum with her Girl Scout troop, and T. and I drove on to the suburbs to do a little shopping for presents. Two books as birthday presents, one for a friend of the kid and one for the child of a neighbor, and cloth napkins, spontaneous Thanksgiving presents for T.'s cousins. She likes gift-giving. 

When we picked the kid up from the museum, we also picked up two friends of hers. The plan was a playdate, just them watching Addams Family Values or another age-appropriate movie. But the guests thought it was more interesting to play with the kid's cash register and give each other math lessons than watch the movie. I thought it was weird but didn't want to say they weren't allowed to do something educational and had to watch TV... unfortunately our kid isn't as good at math as the other two, so she felt left out and cried, and I encouraged them to play something else. They were still having enough fun that they made saying goodbye hard, though.

Dinner was supposed to be a stir-fry, but despite all the shopping recently we're out of soy sauce, so instead I hastily made chicken and opened a bagged salad.

Exhausting physically, relaxing mentally

Wordle 519 5/6

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Yesterday, instead of the usual pancakes and bacon, we had eggs and bacon, and a big cinnamon roll from a school fundraiser. Then we started the laundry. Later in the morning we walked to REI for a quick errand - my boot laces had broken last spring and I hadn't found or gotten around to replacing them with laces of the right size until now. Afterward we took the kid to a nearby park she liked for about half an hour. 

After that, a friend of hers came over to play. They got antsy in the house, so I walked them over to a park. I guess they could have entertained themselves better, they kept on wanting to play hide and seek with me and hide together, but there weren't behavior issues.

Dinner was spaghetti and green beans. Easy enough.

And after that, I took the kid and her friend across the street to a scout ice skating event. It was fun. The kid fell a lot but her more experienced friends were helpful enough.

So as the title says, this was as much walking as any day since Spain probably, plus ice skating, but in the end I was just supervising the kid. (She and her friends were annoying in age-appropriate ways but there were no major issues. Can't complain.)

I'd feel like an asshole complaining about this

Wordle 518 4/6

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The day before yesterday, we had planned to make cinnamon rolls for a teacher appreciation event yesterday, but forgot. Yesterday T. got up just a few minutes after me and made them. I had thought about doing so but didn't get around to it before she did. 

That teacher appreciation event went well enough, but I scraped my finger opening a package of donuts. 

When we got home, the cleaner was there. T. had put off scheduling her at my request because earlier wouldn't have worked well. So yesterday we were working around that, and everything is now just a little bit out of place. 

Work wasn't as busy if it were a Friday of a biweekly report. But I got reminded to send a reminder about a SOP I was waiting for approval of and didn't want to leave that waiting any more. And that technical thing with a time limit was more annoying; I had to enter a long URL into a link field manually through a cumbersome process. 

At the last minute before getting the kid, I felt I was overdue for a shower and took one. That wasn't why we were late getting her to gymnastics class, though. While she was in there, T. and I ran a few errands.

We had pizza for dinner. The kid's friend from across the street joined us. The girls had fun but were not very civilized dinner companions. (I.e. a lot of "poop".) T. and I were at our wit's end by the time we brought her home. As we did, some neighbors were having a screaming fight. They've done that before at midnight. Doing it at 8 PM is annoying in a different way.

So as the title implies, I was grumpy all day, but couldn't really complain because it was all either objectively good but inconvenient stuff, or even worse for someone else than for me.

Leveling alts

Wordle 517 4/6

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Hard word. Good for me.

Yesterday I biked the kid to school. It felt good to be back in the saddle and doing something physical, even if the kid is getting big for it and it was almost freezing outside. 

Work wasn't too busy, other than one meeting in the morning. Worked on that technical thing with a time limit due to the license and fielded some random questions. 

In World of Warcraft I've been spending a lot of my time on new alts (the new class, and also some completely random characters just to take advantage of recent increases in leveling speed) and the pre-patch event for the upcoming expansion.

Once or twice in the past few days/weeks, we picked the kid up from after-school care about half an hour earlier than the last minute, and she was mad at us because we took her away from playing with her friends, so we made a point of getting her later yesterday. We picked her up 5 minutes earlier than the last minute, and she was mad at us because all her friends had already left. She wasn't the very last kid there, but she wasn't having any fun. So maybe she's just going through a grumpy phase...

Dinner was an improvised chicken teriyaki stir-fry. The kid liked it more than I expected. Personally I could have used more spice. But it was easy, which is always nice. During and after that we listened in on a school board meeting just to stay aware of what's going on.

Slow day

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And then there's games like this, where I make two obvious guesses and get it. Go figure.

Yesterday we drove the kid to school. I considered biking, but... not yet. Maybe today.

And then, the day was boring for me. T. had some important stuff going on and I tried to be more unobtrusive than usual at the time. I sent a few emails, answered a few questions, and generally was available at work, but didn't have much to do. 

The kid's guitar lesson went well. As usual, we got cookies there, but I think mine was too much sugar or something. I had a bit of an upset stomach over dinner (fried rice and leftovers).

Weird Tuesday

Wordle 515 X/6

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Stupid. Note to self, when I have _A_ER, get more letters before trying to guess it. 

Yesterday we drove the kid to school, I dropped T. off at work, I went to the grocery store to return these stamps, and I had the house to myself. One meeting for work in the morning, which went well. A little after that an "urgent" request came in which I volunteered for, and based on the little information we had seemed to be my responsibility anyways. I planned to work out, and got fully ready, including changing clothes, moving furniture to make room, and spreading out a mat, but at the last minute, I got a call with details on the task. Ugh. So much for working out. In hindsight it was more of a technical thing than a documentation task, but I made progress on it. If this sort of thing becomes common we'll have to get/change some software licensing, though. One meeting in the afternoon I only had to listen in on.

I had an eye doctor's appointment at 4. It was raining, so I drove there. In addition to generally being due, my sunglasses' frame broke, so I need to replace those. The exam and picking out new glasses went well enough. 

After that I went straight to pick the ladies up. It was a little early but T. had extra to carry so she needed the car. (I wasn't sure I'd do this straight after the appointment but prepared for the possibility, if only by bringing a snack for the kid. Good for me.)

Dinner was chicken and Brussels sprouts. While I was cooking, the kid was sending GIFs to a friend, and accidentally sent the wrong one or something and got frustrated, and this triggered a truly massive, age-inappropriate meltdown. We tried to be comforting but otherwise let her cry it out. When she was finally willing and able to talk about it, it turned out she had had a rough day at school, and we also suspected she was tired.

Not much to say

Wordle 514 4/6

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Made a mistake, but still, can't complain about getting it in 4.

Yesterday was pleasantly normal. Fall has definitely set in. The cat spent the night before last inside for the first time since last winter, and it was too cold to bike the kid to school. (Maybe if I was fully healthy, but I'm not.) Work was slow, which I'm grateful for. I went for a walk in the afternoon, and I got milk on the way home, but the main reason was simply to stretch my legs, which felt overdue.

The kid practiced her guitar without too much of a fight while I cooked. Dinner was tortellini and squash.

More normally relaxing

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Yesterday the kid came home from her sleepover around 8:30. She had fun and there were little or no problems. Around 9:30, our friend C. came over with donuts for breakfast for a semi-unplanned visit and breakfast. After that, she took the kid to church - she has been expressing interest in religion. Meanwhile I lay down again for a bit. 

At 12:45 we met C. and the kid at a Belgian restaurant we like for brunch. I had a sort of mushroom eggs Benedict and a Blood Mary. (First alcoholic beverage in over a week. Good for me.) After that, the library, and a little Christmas shopping. (T. is crazy.)

Then home. We struggled through the kid's guitar practice and the last of the laundry. Dinner was pork chops, rice, and cauliflower. In hindsight we probably could have skipped the rice.

On the mend?

Wordle 512 4/6

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Yesterday morning, in addition to everything else, I had pinkeye. I assumed it had to be yet another symptom of the general illness I've had, but T. thought it could be separate, and after a simple breakfast at home I saw a doctor and he agreed with her. He prescribed me eyedrops for the pinkeye and two other medicines for the general illness. 

I got home from that a little after noon. (The doctor's office was on H St. between 3rd and 4th, the pharmacy was on H and 7th, and I walked home afterwards despite being under the weather. My parents expressed doubt recently about whether living in a city was worth it but I like things being in walking distance!) I lay down for a couple hours while T. took the kid to a playdate and did some shopping. I also watched a little of the Batman cartoon, since Kevin Conroy had died recently. I never watched much of that show myself, but more of the JLA shows in the same universe, so there's some nostalgia.

Later in the afternoon, the kid went to a trampoline park with a different friend. T. cleaned the car and put away the Halloween decorations. I folded the laundry and generally helped out in low-effort ways. Then we just relaxed. She was exhausted; she almost been single-parenting for the past week. 

Dinner was pork dumplings and salad. 

Last night I went to bed around 9. I got up with a coughing fit around 11 and gargled salt water. Around 5 I woke up with minor general symptoms, took my medication regimen, and lay down on the couch. So, still not flawless, but better than the past several nights.

I picked the wrong day to quit drinking

Wordle 511 5/6

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The title is not in reference to using alcohol to cope with stress or trauma like in the usual usage, exactly. It's just that this was a week ago, but my sleep has sucked for illness-related reasons rather than being too light or anything else. Alcohol might even have had minor therapeutic benefits with a bad cold or minor flu...

Yesterday breakfast was pancakes and bacon, usual for the first day of a weekend. By 11 I was back in bed. T. took the kid to a museum all day, along with a friend of hers. I gather it went well enough. I took it easy. Slept for hours, and didn't do much even when I was awake. Laundry and a little WoW, nothing remotely strenuous.

After gymnastics, dinner was Thai takeout. Good stuff.

Last night I woke up twice, despite progress in various ways. I feel sorry for T. as much as myself at this point.

Little improvement

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Still sick. 

The kid had no school; for her, the three-day weekend was a four-day weekend. For us it wasn't. So in the morning yesterday she watched extra TV and stuff and played with herself and us intermittently while T. and I worked. If today weren't a holiday, it would have been the day for that biweekly report, so that was moved to yesterday. But every Thursday morning I have a meeting and that didn't change. So I had the meeting and S., my teammate, did the first edits, which were usually my job.

At noon, we took the kid to a friend's for the afternoon for a nannyshare. Then I did the second edit on the biweekly report and T. and I had a Zoom meeting with the architect. Progress on planning is being made. 

At around 4, I took another nap until around 6. Then dinner. T. made enchiladas. I went to bed around 8.

Still sick

Wordle 509 3/6

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Drove the kid to school yesterday. 

Officially I worked a full day. One part of that involved finalizing a document just because I happened to get approval because the person I needed it from was back from their vacation, so there was even a task closed out and a new file added to the library, which is normally the main measure of productivity for me. But even so, I tried to relax and mostly succeeded. Still far from cured. 

The kid's school day was shorter than usual due to a dentist's appointment. Afterwards we went across the street to run some quick errands. Then home for some downtime. Then out again for the guitar lesson. It went well enough.

Dinner was spaghetti and salad. Easy enough. I put the kid to bed and went to bed myself right after. I got up several times for coughing fits and therefore medication. I threw out some that was expired and I think had lost its potency.

Not much to say about a sick day

Wordle 508 3/6

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Shortly after posting the last post, I went to bed again for about an hour. I had a meeting scheduled for 10. I had technical difficulties getting into it for some reason, but before I figured it out, I was told that the meeting was over. That was easy. 

T. had a meeting scheduled for 11, and the kid was kind of antsy, so I got dressed and took her to the park. She was kind of cranky there, and didn't appreciate me reminding her that she was sick and therefore she should not push herself too hard and stay away from other kids, but in the end we didn't have big problems.

Around 1 I lay down in bed a bit and encouraged the kid to do the same. Shortly after that, T. went shopping. Shortly after that, the kid told me that she was going to go downstairs and play some games. I checked on her soon, worried that I'd find her watching TV. But no, she was doing some puzzles. Good for her. I joined in and helped. 

I made dinner a little earlier than usual, let's say 5:30. After that I got the kid ready for bed. This is early, but it was T.'s turn to read to her and T. had a school meeting from 7 to 8, and starting to get ready for bed after 8 would have been very late. 

At around 6:30 I said good night to both of them. I took medication and was supine, with various interruptions for more medication, snoring, etc., for most of the following 11 hours.

What is sleep, anyway?

Wordle 507 5/6

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I got up around the usual time yesterday and the kid got up with me, i.e. earlier than usual. Blame daylight savings time. We drove the kid to school. Traffic was bad and the weather was nice but I definitely wasn't up for biking. 

I took it easy. I recorded yesterday as a half-day at work and spent a lot of time in bed. At least half the time, actually sleeping or trying to; the rest, reading or playing phone games. 

We happened to get the kid at the same time as parents of some friends of hers, so they got to play in the playground for a while. Dinner was chicken lo mein from a freezer kit - very easy. I put the kid to bed with minor problems. T. and I watched one episode of Jon Oliver and I took a generic Tylenol PM gelcap before going to bed myself.  

I got up at 2 for some cough medicine. I got up at 4:30 due to snoring and went downstairs.

The kid is now not going to school because she had a bad cough. We hope that we can nip this in the bud early. She has missed a lot of school lately. But I definitely couldn't go into work feeling the way I do, and she's not that bad right now but there's a good chance it's just starting.

One of the things I miss about going to an office is clarity about stuff like this. If I normally went to an office and felt like I do today or yesterday, I'd take the full day off. Maybe I'd regret the PTO spent, depending on exactly how much I had and how bad I felt, but I'd stay home and not worry about how I'm spending my time as long as it's not actually athletic. Now, though? Either way I'd be home dressed casually. Is there a big difference for my health between sitting in front of a computer typing, sitting in front of a computer playing games, or sitting in front of a TV watching it?

Or sleep, hence the title. My fitness tracker app thinks I've been sleeping 9 hours for the past few nights. Does that mean I'm well-rested? There have been two interruptions each night. I lay down for a couple hours yesterday and the day before, but I'm not sure how much I was actually unconscious, as opposed to thinking, reading, playing phone games, or other things. Is lying down a good enough approximation for sleep regardless of my brainwave activity?

Or the kid. If she were three, I unambiguously couldn't work while taking care of her. But she's seven. She can happily watch TV for hours, and sometimes do a good job of entertaining herself quietly without TV. It would be unprofessional to plan on working a full day while parenting, but that doesn't mean I couldn't pull it off with just a little luck... (hypothetical, definitely not doing it today, just explaining my thought process on similar days.)

Getting sicker

Wordle 506 3/6

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Yesterday I skipped home fries for breakfast, because we had had mashed potatoes the night before and wanted to keep things simple, so we just had scrambled eggs and toast. Easy enough.

I wasn't feeling well, so I planned to take it easy. In the mid/late morning we went to Costco. After that we took the kid to a playground she hadn't been to for a while. Then dropped her off at a friend's house and they spent basically the whole afternoon together - the playdate ended when the friend's lacrosse game started, but the kid asked to join her, and her friend's mother didn't mind and it was OK with us. Meanwhile T. and I watched movies. Relaxing, right? 

Dinner was a beef and broccoli stir-fry. I like the recipe but it could have been better; we were missing a couple of ingredients.

Either I didn't do a good enough job of taking it easy, or I did and am just really sick, because I was beat by the end of the day. In bed by 8:30, which is early even taking daylight savings time into account. I got up at 2 AM because I couldn't breathe through my nose, took some appropriate drugs, and tried to get back to sleep.

Taking it easy due to illness

Wordle 505 4/6

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The usual pancakes and bacon for breakfast turned out well. 

After breakfast we got the laundry started, and then T. took the kid to the park and I walked to the farmer's marked for some groceries. Other than that I just took it easy. I lay down for a few hours in the early afternoon. The kid had a class playdate and I had planned to go but T. took her alone. I also finished the laundry and played WoW a little more openly, but still in a relaxing way...

Dinner was pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a salad. The salad green mix I had got turned out to be weird but otherwise it was fine. I put the kid to bed a little later than usual and got to bed a little later than usual, despite not feeling well, but at least I got a fairly good night's sleep.

OK Friday

Wordle 504 3/6

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Yesterday I drove the kid to school, and T. too for a parent's organization meeting. She took time off for it, I didn't, so I watched it on Zoom from home. 

The day was fine. I didn't get any exercise but I was productive otherwise. At work I had five items on my to-to list. I got four of them done and had a (sort of) good reason to put finishing the fifth off until Monday morning. I also took care of a personal call about retirement planning I hadn't got around to all week. It would have been great, if I didn't have a cold I probably got from my parents. Sore throat, fever and chills.

We got the kid to gymnastics class a little bit late, but I gather it was OK. I did a little grocery shopping and stopped by the library while she was in there. Dinner was District Taco.

Getting by

Wordle 503 4/6

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Biked the kid to school yesterday, so that was nice. 

T. went to the office yesterday, so I had the house to myself, so that was also nice. It was a normal day but I took up more space on the table and had my headphones off when playing WoW and in the meeting I didn't have to talk in. I had a second meeting, though, and my computer's built-in microphone apparently isn't as good as my headphones, so I still had to wear them for that. Oh well. I wasn't just talking in that meeting, I was basically giving a presentation, and it went well enough. Good for me. I could have got more done yesterday for work, but I figure that's enough...

I also worked out yesterday on the exercise bike. I kind of wish I had taken advantage of the free time to do even more, like biking on another errand or some upper body work, but on the other hand, who cares, anything is better than nothing. 

T. was going to a happy hour with co-workers, so I had to pick the kid up. It wasn't from school but from a Girl Scout event at a library, so she borrowed a book too, and finished reading it in the car ride home. Part of the reason I want to get her away from graphic novels and more into chapter books is they would keep her busy longer...

Out of concern for my all-too-common sleep issues, I've sworn off alcohol for one week, in hopes a literal detox will help.

Dinner was chicken with a vermouth and caper sauce and glazed carrots. 

I put the kid to bed, and went to bed myself by 9. T. followed shortly. She was disturbed by music from our new neighbors next door around 11 PM. (In their defense, they're deaf, so they had no idea it was loud.) Her snoring woke me around 4. Even so, last night was much better than the night before.