Ups and downs in unexpected places

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Yesterday I expected work to go poorly. I was right. There was a meeting scheduled about a document that has been stalled for over a year and the subject matter expert didn't show up. About half an hour later they reached out to me. Finally, with some heat to the discussion, it seemed like they achieved understanding what we need/want from them and they agreed to do it in some form, as far as I can tell. I logged off thinking it was in a good place and that was good for a half-day. Unfortunately my teammate J. texted me later to say that it was a mess again, or a mess in a new way, who knows. I didn't answer until this morning.

I found a little time for Warcraft. At first I logged on just to check something, and then it grew to doing something for almost an hour. I feel a bit bad about that, I was planning to stay out of the game MWF during the day, but yesterday was busy enough and today is shaping up that way as well so I don't feel too bad about it.

I took a half-day because the kid's school is always a half-day on Wednesdays, and the extended day program hasn't started yet. I expected to go parenting to go badly. There was one problem, but overall, better than expected.

I picked her up at 1 PM, took her home, made smoothies - yay, food she can eat that's slightly healthier than yogurt! - and prepped dinner, because I had a risotto planned but it would be time-consuming.

After prepping that, we took the bus to the Alamo Drafthouse to see Barbie. We got there at the last minute, unfortunately. It might have been nice to see more of the theater if we weren't running to our theater and ordering in the dark. T. had asked me to get a picture of the kid in the Barbie box but I forgot. The movie was fun. It was the second time seeing it for me. The kid had questions, but more about the mechanics of the ghost and stuff than about feminism. Oh well. 

On the way home was the one big problem of the afternoon with her. She asked for my phone. I said that TV in the morning plus a movie was enough screen time for the day. She wrestled with me for it the whole way home. Not an actual tantrum but close enough to be frustrating.

But once we got home, she spent a few minutes by herself upstairs, and then helped me with dinner politely enough. I don't know if she cried and beat herself up, calmly reviewed things and realized she was out of line, or did something completely unrelated for 5 minutes, and don't really care too much. 

Dinner was a risotto. She ate it. I wasn't too surprised, since she liked it last time, but any peaceful meal time is surprising these days. After dinner, I suggested a walk, and she, wonder of wonders, suggested biking. I was dubious, but wanted to encourage this sort of thing, so agreed. I took her on a loop around the neighborhood, and a tiny bit of riding her own bike as it got dark. I got her in bed only a little later than usual.

Got up at 4 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. (I would have posted this earlier but the platform was broken.) I'm glad I have a doctor's appointment coming up.

Lazy Tuesday

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Awesome.

Got the kid to school uneventfully yesterday. 

Work was OK. Three meetings, but I didn't have to do anything in two of them (in fact, I was significantly late to both of those), and our team meeting was productive. I didn't get too much actually done, but between those and lots of Q&A about various work-related things, I don't feel too bad about it.

One thing I did instead was focus on health-care issues. I went jogging in the late morning, just 2.1 miles, but anything is better than nothing. I also made a primary care physician appointment. It's been over 11 months; close enough, and I'm sort of thinking that I should start looking into the insomnia there. I also finally made an appointment with another therapist. I had another appointment with my current therapist scheduled for yesterday afternoon and wanted to say I had done all my homework. But as soon as I made that appointment with someone else, my appointment this afternoon was cancelled. I felt kind of let down by that.

Another thing I spent time on is Warcraft. Tuesday, of course. It was frustrating. I feel like I'm hitting the limits of my skill - my group members certainly thought so. I started the week with an Uldaman+18 key. The group got stuck on the fourth boss with about 9 minutes left on the timer and fell apart. I figured I'd do the +17. The group got to the fifth boss, the last one, with about 9 minutes left on the timer, but someone died and went AFK and we couldn't finish. I did the +16. We killed the last boss with about one minute left on the timer. My score increased from 2448 to 2449. It's technically progress, but Jesus Christ, it was terrible. Makes me feel like rerolling (but my following two or three characters aren't flavor of the month either) or simply giving up.

I got the kid at her friend's house. It was a struggle dragging them apart. Not cute or fun, just a pain. Talking about punishments got her moving; maybe I should have done that earlier.

Dinner was French onion soup. New, easy, and accommodating to the expander. She liked it in the store. She didn't like it at home. 

I chatted with T. after putting the kid to bed. It was fine.

Single parenting, day one

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Woke up when T. did, which was around 5:30 because her flight was early. The Lyft she had reserved never showed up. Luckily the noise we made woke the kid, so I just drove T. to the airport and took the kid with us.

She had an hour's downtime between that and school in which she watched TV. I biked her to school. Getting back in the swing of things. 

Work was fairly typical: Nothing published, but made minor progress on several tasks. I did the monthly report to my manager and, as expected, we've made progress across the board. That's nice. I ran a couple errands during the day: getting a Waterpik T. found via the Buy Nothing group, to the library to print off a form for the renovation, and to the store for beer.

Our friends got the kid from school and let the girls play for a couple hours. I got her around 5:30.

Dinner was the chicken stew, the second meal I had made the day before. Unfortunately, while its consistency was fine for her expander, the main vegetable was tomatoes and I forgot she doesn't like those. Ugh. Single-parenting is hard. Not that that problem couldn't have occurred any night, and indeed I actually cooked it before T. was gone... this kid is difficult? Parenting is hard in general?

Anyways, we talked to my parents briefly, mostly just to show off the expander, but got cleaned up and went to bed early.

It's a good thing we did because I woke up around 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for over an hour. My concern about my well-being has shifted to insomnia.

A "me" day

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Don't want to complain about getting it in 5, but there was just a boneheaded error in my 4th...

Went jogging yesterday. Slightly different route. A wider loop, but without the zig-zagging I do to add distance. A total of 2.8 miles. 

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and pancakes.

Midmorning was stressful due to work T. was doing. She was having lots of problems getting ready for her trip, so I was cleaning and parenting plus emotional labor. But she got the important stuff done by 10:30 or so, just in time to take the kid to a Girl Scout event as scheduled, followed by going to a pool.

I wound up having almost the whole day to myself. I got my hair cut, did a little shopping, went home, prepped dinner in the slow cooker, and relaxed.

I also watched an episode of Guide to Sleep, as recommended by my therapist. So far I haven't felt like I've got much out of this series, but this episode, plus other things recently, made me think I might have insomnia. Interesting.

A friend of the kid's came over for dinner. Dinner was a chicken curry. It was small, and I probably got some details wrong, but T. and I liked it, at least.

School playdate, dinner guest

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Yesterday was the usual weekend morning to start, with Warcraft for me and TV for the kid. Breakfast was simple, both because we had plans soon and because the kid is still having problems eating. There was a school playdate we agreed to help out with and left the house in a hurry with arguments about what the kid should wear.

The playdate itself was fun. Kids running rampant in a park, there were fountains for if they wanted to cool down, etc. I chatted with some people I knew and some people I didn't.

After that, relatively quiet afternoon. We cleaned around the house with the kid's help, did laundry, and got ready for our friend C. to come over for dinner. T. made enchiladas. The kid ate relatively well despite the expander.

Forgot to expand it before bed last night. Whoops.

I hate productivity

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I'm surprised I haven't used this exact title before, but then again, I have used ones like it before, such as this. 

Yesterday I biked the kid to school and T. accompanied me, both for practice and to chat with other parents. 

I had a meeting yesterday morning shortly after I got back and I scrambled to get ready for it. As soon as it started I realized I had prepared for the wrong meeting. Ugh. The meeting we actually had was productive enough, with lots of follow-ups. 

I kept busy through the day. I found time for a short jog after noon, short both because of time and the heat, and watched some of the Superman cartoon over lunch and an episode of Guide to Sleep, but still, I tried stay focused on work as opposed to Warcraft, Reddit, or Unfogged chatter.

It was hard, and not rewarding, or at least it didn't feel that way. Realistically I have to admit that the efforts to organize things at work will probably make things easier at some point but I didn't get anything actually done, or even to a usually notable milestone of "done" like emailing a draft out. 

It was a Friday. I should be able to let loose a little bit. Maybe I need to make that my designated WoW day, but then again, every other week there's that report...

Getting the kid went better than yesterday. I let her play with friends afterwards at the playground, and that grew into meeting T. at school, going to the friend's house for a playdate, and having dinner with them. It was fun for them, which I guess is nice. 

We got home right around her bedtime at 8. I logged in at work for 5 minutes (I had originally planned do to it around like 5 while T. made dinner, but that obviously didn't happen), and decided that nothing could be done before I ran out of energy, so I just made a to-do list for Monday morning.

First day of school and more orthodontia

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Yesterday we talked about biking to school and T.'s office, but it looked like rain, so we didn't. We regretted it when we saw bikers peacefully passing us in traffic. Just after dropping the kid off, the orthodontist called us back, so that was good. 

Work was OK. Lots of Warcraft, as might be expected since I didn't play the day before, but I still dealt with two weird/complicated/concerning emails and made progress on the latest SOP to be updated on the list. 

I got the kid at the official end of the school day. Despite going to this school for three years, this was actually my first time doing so. There's an extended day program we normally sign her up for but it doesn't start for two weeks, so literally everyone was trying to get their kids in 15 minutes. It was a clusterfuck.

After that, to the orthodontist, to get a little cap on the part of the expander that's poking her. Then shopping for lots of soft foods. 

When I got home I put in a little more work. 

Dinner was spaghetti and grilled squash.

Last day of summer

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Went jogging yesterday morning. Once again, a shorter route than usual, 2.4 miles, although this time I was mainly worried about time, since I had some work going on and also to get the kid to camp. 

I drove her to camp. If she had gone to this camp longer I'd wish I had biked her. It's on the Anacostia and the weather was beautiful. But it would be a long way to do without preparation.

Work was OK. 

I had a therapy session, which went well except for schedule discussion. I may just not be able to make anything work with this therapist.

I didn't play any Warcraft. As discussed here, I'm scaling back a bit. I figure I can play Thursday and either Tuesday or Wednesday, and I did play Tuesday, so I didn't yesterday.

I logged off earlyish to get the kid, because camp ends at 3, and she had an orthodontist's appointment after that to get expanders. There was some schedule mixup (this is a theme!) but we were able to get seen. I was surprised how well it went at first.

After that, a little grocery shopping since we were right there. Then home to drop things off, including the car, and the kid and I took the bus downtown. We met T. at a fancy restaurant for a going-away party for a co-worker of hers. It went well until the kid realized she couldn't eat anything but applesauce. The expander was kicking in.

We got home around her bedtime. It went well until she said she was hungry. It was a struggle to find anything she could eat. Uh oh.

Tired Tuesday

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Yesterday I paid for the raid the night before. (It was just a Normal raid, on an alt!) I was tired all day. 

A neighbor took the kid to camp yesterday, so I had to help her get ready and I got dressed to walk her down the street but in theory I could have sent her without me and stayed in pajamas until after noon. 

Work was OK. Incremental progress on two documents. 3 meetings, none too difficult. 

I logged off earlyish, at 2:30, to get the kid, because camp ends at 3. From there to the school for a start-of-year open house and chance to meet the teachers. For T. and I it was pretty pro forma, but the kid had fun running around with friends she had seen little or not at all over the summer. It was tough corralling everyone when it was finally time to go.

Dinner was fried chicken and snow peas. Messy, and it turns out that 1.19 lbs. of chicken is only actually four drumsticks which doesn't divide easily. Still, not horrible.

I got to bed early last night.

Hard to get a handle on the day

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Yesterday I started out on my computer - a little work, but also the various journals and Reddit commenting. I was due to go jogging but was a tiny bit worried about several things, so I made it very short, just 1.8 miles. Anything is better than nothing.

The day "felt off", to put it in two words. Several little annoyances.

• I had had physical therapy scheduled for that afternoon but had to cancel it at the end of last week due to an All Hands meeting that would be unusually relevant to me, but yesterday morning I found out that the All Hands content would change, so I tried to get my PT appointment back, but it was too late. There's nothing on the calendar with them now and no time over the next two weeks seems good. 
• My therapist had recommended a few others due to my scheduling issues. I looked into them, and scheduling issues aside, insurance was a mess. Her own company's Web site told me a therapist would take my insurance in one place and not take it in another place. In the end I emailed her about our upcoming appointment and she said we could keep it, which was a relief.
• I emailed an engineer working on renovation plans about billing confusion. No answer so far  and the problem might be entirely on their end, but just thinking about it enough to write a clear email was annoying.
• Warcraft: I think I need some kind of simple rule to scale back. Only two days a week, not counting weekend mornings, or something like that. These days I'm working on incremental gains on my Mythic+ score, just to see how high I can go since I've already achieved basically everything I've cared about in the past, I've just finished my last Mage Tower challenge, and I'm working on profession stuff - not particularly for gold so much as the completionism of maxing them out. But even though there's nothing particular going on I'm playing a lot anyway. Not a good use of my time and not even a lot of fun. 

That's personal stuff. Work was OK. Got two different documents sent to the SMEs. Not as good as finishing them but it's progress. 

I had the house to myself for most of the day. T. took the kid to get mani-pedis and go clothes shopping. It was some end-of-summer mother-daughter time, made even more important by T.'s quarantine.

Late in the afternoon I went for a walk just to stretch my legs, since the jog was so short. 

Dinner was easy: tortellini and a salad.

T. put the kid to bed, watched one episode of Nancy Drew with me, and went to bed earlyish herself, around 9:15. As if to prove that tentative resolution of mine above was needed, I wound up playing WoW until 11. I was on my evoker in a pickup group raid. I had done everything else that possibly mattered for this week, but nothing competitive on my evoker, so I might as well take one shot at the legendary, right? Well, I got rejected from one group after another on Heroic, or got invited but they failed badly. So I joined a normal group since there's still a boss or two I need there. I wound up clearing almost the whole raid with them, but they slowed down as they got near the end, and after wiping on the last boss, the one that actually drops the legendary, I had to call it a night. Ugh. Not technically a waste (filled three Great Vault slots and got one upgrade) but it felt that way as I crawled into bed.

Swimming but otherwise lazy

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Relaxing day yesterday. I started making breakfast around 9. I let T. sleep until around 10:30, so I had long since turned off the burners by then and had to restart them. So relaxing, I can't figure out how to fill in a few cells on the day's spreadsheet. In addition to Warcraft and laundry I also went online and bought a few Magic cards so my deck will be a little better for the next Modern night. Uh oh.

In the afternoon we went swimming. It was more fun than the week before. 

I didn't feel like cooking, so dinner was takeout from Roaming Rooster.

I put the kid to bed. It was a compromise between my leniency of the past 2 weeks and T.'s return to school-era rigidity. 

Tiring, productive, not much parenting

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Cool.

Yesterday I went jogging first thing in the morning. Good for me. It was day 10 since T.'s covid test, which means the end of quarantine. So it was nice to be back in my own bed, no longer wear a mask around the house, and touch my wife again.

The usual Saturday brunch was nice. After that I tried weeding out front. It was so overgrown, one battery charge wasn't enough, but I hope it would be if we do it more often. Then we walked the kid to a friend's house, where she spent most of the day. We went to the farmer's market, and then home to get cleaned up (dirty morning!). 

Then we went to Costco for some general shopping and Lowe's. We wound up returning both the trash can we bought two weeks ago and the toilet paper holder. Don't really need the first and can find a better version of the second, I guess.

Around 4 I took a nap. It was needed.

Dinner was ribs and corn on the cob. Very messy. Convenient that they can both go on the grill. Unfortunately I forgot about the kids' tooth issues - rubber bands and also a loose tooth. Oh well.

Bedtime was hard. Fortunately it was T.'s problem for the first time in 10 days. :) I don't blame her for setting limits, we've been letting the kid go nuts over the summer.

Busy Friday

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Weird word today.

Yesterday the kid begged not to go to camp and I gave in. So I worked while she hung out around the house. It wasn't too bad. 

First thing in the morning I finished that mind-numbing task. Persistence aside, it was nice to tick up the numbers for the biweekly report. The report went better than usual. People got stuff in, not on time, but closer than usual. The kid wasn't too much trouble. 

On the personal front, I vacuumed the downstairs - it was overdue - and tried out the new weed whacker in the back alley. Good for me.

Around 2:30 I logged off and went for a bike ride with the kid to a park near the camp. (We've been there before, but not often.) It wasn't as unpleasant as I expected. I hate playing alligator and there was none of that, just climbing and playing with other kids there a tiny bit. On the way home, cookies at a deli. 

Dinner was a risotto. Haven't done that in a while. It was nice for variety, and came out well, despite simply using onion, a pepper, and carrots.

Productivity isn't fun

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Went jogging first thing yesterday morning, the 3-mile route. Wasn't sure about it because I'd also have to get the kid to camp, but I felt like I needed the exercise. Maybe I shouldn't have, or maybe I should have worked harder in the morning to make up for wasting the time on that, because I forgot to make the kid's lunch until the last minute. Whoops.

Drove her to camp instead of biking because she had done something fancy with her hair and didn't want the helmet. Well, good thing I already got my exercise!

I was OK at work. Got one document to the SME and made noticeable progress on another. Based on the time I spent playing Warcraft as tracked in that exhaustive spreadsheet, I feel kind of bad I wasn't more productive. On the other hand, the document I'm working on is just so mind-numbing it makes me feel better. It's 27 pages and I'm just making formatting changes and having problems with Track Changes. This is not the fun part of my job.

The kid was picked up after camp by the mother of a friend, and they have a pool at their condo, so the kid got to swim after camp. I joined them around 6 at District Taco for dinner. That was nice.

Work and orthodontia

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Dropped the kid off at camp at 9, i.e. at the start, for the first time. Wow. Biked there, by the way. 

Work was fine. Didn't get too much done but got the essentials. Had a therapy appointment in the afternoon. It got off on the wrong foot due to scheduling problems, but I still think something like this is probably good for me.

Right after picking the kid up from camp, I took her to the orthodontist to get rubber bands put in, to prepare for an expander next week. After that, a little grocery shopping.

Dinner was beef tips and green beans. The kid was well-behaved, but it was annoying when she asked for basically a second dinner. 

I woke up at midnight when the kid was having foot pains. I woke up again around 3 AM and turned off the window fan with some difficulty. I'm not sure why T. put it there... the first wake-up was unusual, and the specific problem during the second wake-up was as well, but the fact of it is unfortunately not. I haven't slept through the night since I've started keeping a detailed log of my day. I'm not sure how much of that is simply because I've been in the guest room.

Tuesday with suspiciously easy parenting

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Relatively normal morning yesterday. The kid was playing quietly in her room during my team meeting (mostly). When it was time to go, she asked for 5 more minutes, and when I authorized it she set the timer herself. 

Work was fine. More productive than the day before, but that's not saying much.

I had physical therapy at 3 PM. I took the bus. For the first time, I wished I had drove. It poured and I got soaked between getting off the bus and getting to the PT office.

I picked up the kid on the way home. While leaving she saw her friend's mother and wanted to wait for her. She found a pillbug on the sidewalk, named it, and generally treated it like a cute little kitten. Sometimes the kid is deliberately cute. Sometimes it's annoying; sometimes it's just weird.

After I got home, a little more work.

Dinner was spaghetti and broccoli. 

After I read to the kid and had put her down, she decided she was hungry and asked for a second dinner. The fact that she settled for chicken and mango - the easiest protein and easiest fruit in the house - makes me think she was sincere, but still, it was a tiny bit annoying.

Skip day

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Yesterday the kid slept in until around 8:30. I took her to camp after 9. It was uneventful, finally. 

I was lazy yesterday, and after the previous week, I don't feel bad about it. I basically had the house to myself - T. was upstairs and I helped her with a few things here and there, but she's feeling fine, she's just quarantining responsibly. I also had no urgent deadlines at work. Last week I was diligent because tasks were piling up and because I was taking time off without notice. Yesterday, fuck it.

I didn't even have to go get the kid as early as we had expected/feared. She went to a friend's house after camp. I drove to get her, did some grocery shopping on the way, and picked her up more or less uneventfully.

I didn't get any exercise, and I do feel a bit bad about that. I wouldn't have wanted to do anything too strenuous, not after jogging the day before and with physical therapy coming up today, but I wish I had at least hit the 6,000-step mark. 

Dinner was chicken and glazed carrots. Not fancy, but, yet again, relaxation seemed needed.

Shopping and swimming

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Went jogging yesterday morning for the first time in over a week. Good for me. 

The usual Sunday brunch yesterday, eggs and home fries, the only problem being serving T. breakfast in bed.

I wanted to go to the hardware store and bring the kid. She dragged her feet but came eventually. I think it helped when I explained why I wanted her to come (because what if she needs a parent but the only one around is her mother, with covid?). I also relented to a couple requests I might not have otherwise (an extra stop by a gumball machine, and gardening gloves). At the hardware store I got a weed whacker, because the back alley is gross; a new toilet paper holder, because the old one sort of broke, although T. wants to return what I bought and get something more elaborate; and those gardening gloves, which her mother said she actually needed anyway. 

Lunch at Chipotle.

After that I took her to the pool. I had reached out to the parents of some friends of hers but they were busy, so it was just her, me, and diving toys. She had a miniature tantrum every time she failed to get the diving toy before it hit the bottom. She had a real fit when I told her it was time to go. I first tried to leave after an hour and a half because that was a break time, but she begged, so I said we could stay until 15 minutes after going back in the water. It wound up being 20, I had to drag her out, and THEN we had to play on the nearby playground. 

As soon as we got home, she complained about being hungry, even though I wanted to shower and change before going to get takeout. This fucking kid. I actually sneaked in, "Well, it's a good thing we didn't stay longer at the pool, isn't it?" Or to summarize, "I told you so."

Dinner, as I said, was takeout. From a new Chinese place specialized in dumplings, more specifically. It was good.

Grumpy kid

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Yesterday we had the usual Saturday brunch. Around 10:30 the kid and I left the house to go to the book festival, leaving T. behind of course. We met a friend of the kid's there and they enjoyed doing the state stamp stuff together before her friend and her friend's dad had to go. 

The kid was grumpy all day. Stayed up too late the night before, maybe, or just generally woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She denied it when I asked, and sometimes it could have been related to circumstances like waiting for her friend or having to say goodbye to her too early, but there was definitely more to it than that. 

Then again, the circumstances weren't great. Getting lunch was a pain. Probably should have planned better than the food court. We missed getting a signature from the author the kid was interested in. And she got beaded necklaces from Louisiana's table, and over the course of the day they got so twisted that she nearly got strangled waiting for the bus. Not literally, but it was uncomfortable. 

The easiest thing to do for dinner was her favorite, tortellini and cucumber salad, so that's what I did. 

Right before bed we played Exploding Kittens. It went even worse than most games; she threw a fit when she got down to three of the same card in her hand, even though they were very good cards ("Defuse", the only thing that can save you from an exploding kitten. Yes, it's a weird game.) 

Bedtime itself was unremarkable. Afterwards she was reading to herself a bit, but she got frustrated by something, and ripped the book. Ugh. I'll have to tape it today.

The neighbors were so loud that I tried knocking on their door. No answer, of course. I should have shone a light in there instead. Fortunately we all got to sleep.

Friday with an independent kid

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I got to work early yesterday. If nothing else, the detailed log of my day is keeping me honest.

The kid slept until after 9. Up late reading the night before, I guess. I really planned to take her to camp, but she was really opposed, and she said she'd be good all day even after I explained I had work to do, so I relented. And she did. She stayed out of my hair without too much screen time, maybe showing me things but not asking me to join in what she was doing, for the allotted time. 

Around 3:15 I logged off work, with one document sent to a SME and another not, but it was genuinely a lot of work just getting as far as I did. I took the kid shopping. Ice cream, followed by the game store to spend my gift certificate but we wound up getting more things for her, followed by the drug store for more covid tests (they're expensive!), followed by the library, followed by the grocery store.

Dinner was a stir-fry. 

I'm not sure I was the first person to fall asleep, but I was the first one to get annoyed by others making noise.

Unplanned parenting

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The early morning yesterday was uneventful. The camp the kid is signed up for this week starts at 9 AM, but I have a meeting from 9 to 10:30, so the plan was for T. to take her to camp. But of course, T. has covid. So the kid watched TV while I had that meeting, and another one after it starting at 11. She also played with some building blocks a bit so she wasn't just vegetating.

I logged off around 11:30 for some parenting. I took her to the park for a bit. Then home for lunch, and some texting with the father of a friend of hers. Then I took her for a bike ride. She'd be a passenger on the ebike. Getting ready took time; it has been a while. We went further north on the Metropolitan Branch Trail then ever before. We could have gone further than that, but I was worried about the bike's tires and how remote the route was getting - can't put the ebike on a bus if gets a flat. On the way back I got more covid tests, since we're out, and tried to get groceries but the line was long and we were running late for the playdate.

The girls had fun. In the end it was only an hour; I wish we had kept them busy longer. But I think they had somewhere to be, and it was starting to rain. We got back just before it started to pour, so can't complain about that.

I had planned a stir-fry for dinner but only had the energy for pizza. Afterwards the kid put on The Wizard of Oz and I didn't object. She wanted to stay up late reading later than I did.

"Self-care" my ass

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Yesterday I was productive in the morning, cleaning up my inbox and following up on several minor things at work. Sort of productive. Not sure I worked on the right stuff or made enough of a dent in my backlog. Oh well, progress is progress.

So far therapy has resulted in three things: watching a show on Netflix on meditation, tracking my day in more detail (after the first session I started a journal, and after the second, a spreadsheet), and thinking about self-care. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but considering that around 9 AM yesterday T. tested positive for covid, the very idea seemed humorous to me. T. has covid, the kid has an ear infection with symptoms longer/worse than usual; what kind of an asshole would I be trying to self-care? What kind of self-care is even possible under the circumstances?

So anyways, I had a meeting at 11 AM, and logged off work after that on principle. I played a little Warcraft just to unwind but we all wound up napping for a while. In the afternoon I read to the kid. Parenting is easy when she's at the climax of a novel she likes! She finished the seventh Harry Potter book. Big step. She laughed at me when I teared up at a sad part. Cold-blooded of her. She started watching the movie while I went for a walk and ran some errands. 

Dinner was pork chops and corn on the cob. T. ate in the TV room, away from the kid and I, and I served her wearing a mask.

Tuesday with a sick kid

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T. brought the kid to camp yesterday since my team meeting was right at the drop-off time. (Next week maybe I'll take it by phone, not sure.) It went well enough. In the later morning I meant to work and/or watch an episode or two of that meditation show, but got caught up in Warcraft.

I had lunch around 1. While eating, T. called. The kid wasn't feeling well. So I scarfed down lunch, drove to get her, stopped by the library, came home, and got her settled in bed - that part wasn't hard, she was out - just in time for the therapy session. Among other things she suggested I keep a detailed log of my time. Like a journal but much more detailed. This might be helpful but might also be maddening. 

After that, another meeting. After that, a little housework, interrupted by parenting; the kid woke up crying. I read a lot of Harry Potter to her. T. did some shopping on the way home but took a nap while I read to the kid and cooked; she wasn't feeling well.

Dinner was pasta and cauliflower. Not my finest work, but it was a long day. 

I got ready for bed early and was in bed with the lights out by 9. T. wasn't up too much longer.

I woke up at 4 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. T. wasn't snoring, I just had insomnia, I guess. The kid asked me to sit with her for a bit. I went back to bed briefly but got up and went downstairs before 5:15.

Monday on little sleep

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I logged in to work yesterday around the usual time, despite the day before. The kid slept in until after 10, so she wasn't too disruptive. She spent the day reading or being read to, watching TV, and napping. Work was OK for me. One meeting, useful but short. As always, I kept on top of new stuff (or close enough considering the circumstances) but could have been better about my backlog.

I had a physical therapy appointment at 3. I took the bus because I thought I should save my energy. I wound up walking almost halfway home anyway because of some errands.

When I got home I found T. and the kid watching Guardians of the Galaxy. I wound up watching the rest of it with them. Dinner was air fryer chicken and a salad. Easy. The kid went to bed early, and we didn't stay up much later ourselves.

Sick kid, a night out for the girls, rainy birthday

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We had brunch plans for my birthday but cancelled them because the kid was sick. Instead we simply had scrambled eggs and toast, and the kid opted for something even simpler, cereal.

Shortly after that we took her to the only pediatrician we know of that's open on Sundays for walk-ins. She had a fever of 103. Definitely an ear infection. The doctor's visit itself was fine. On the way home we did a little grocery shopping and got one of the prescriptions we needed, uneventfully enough. Then we called the doctor to verify that there were supposed to be two, as we suspected. 

The first CVS said they'd have it by phone, but when I got there, couldn't find it, but said the next-closest CVS would have it. They didn't. The next one I called said they didn't have it either. The next one had their voice mail set up to say they didn't have a pharmacy at all. The one after that didn't answer their phone at all. After that I gave up on that chain and called the Giant pharmacy and they had it. Yay. So I called the doctor back, had them send the prescription to the supermarket, and did a little more shopping while I waited. 

That took about two hours. Shortly after I got back, T. and the kid got ready to go to the Beyoncé concert. I had my doubts, but they were both interested, so they went. I had pizza from Mozzeria for dinner. I planned to get takeout and eat at home, but while I was waiting for it, heavy rain started, so I ate at the bar there. 

After that, a little Warcraft, and then the fifth episode of the meditation series the therapist recommended. What with one thing and another I didn't get to bed until a little after 10 - the usual time, in other words, but I had hoped to get to bed earlier than usual. Something woke me around 12:30 AM. T. and the kid got home after 1:30.

Jumping right back into parenting

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Yesterday we had a leisurely Saturday brunch, walked to the farmer's market, and generally relaxed until it was time to get the kid. (Once again, we got there at the last minute. Whoops.)

After that we went to Costco. The kid slept in the car and complained of feeling cold in the store. Uh oh. Even when we got home she was freezing and burning up in turn. Definitely a fever. 

Dinner was barbequed ribs and green beans for us, and beans and a peach and Cheez-Its for the kid. Not normal, but if she's sick, she's sick...

She woke up at 4 this morning with a temperature of 101.9. We got back to sleep eventually. I've made a doctor's appointment for her.

Magic

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Work was OK yesterday. The biweekly report had more stragglers than usual, which isn't great. 

In the afternoon I got to several things around the house and took a nap. It was overdue. I haven't used the "sleep problems" tag a lot, but I've been having them.

We had dinner a little early because I had plans: I had signed up for Friday Night Magic. Yet another thing that's hard to do with the kid around.

It was a Modern night. I won one round and lost three, but it was fun. I was playing GR Tron, a version so old that I had a banned card in it until the last minute. Whoops! In the first round I was playing against an Amulet Titan deck and just got creamed. In the second round I was against a deck based on the Lord of the Rings mechanics; this is the round I won. I restarted the game at one point. It was funny. In the third round I was against a Ragavan deck, and in the fourth U Tron. I lost both of those but I feel like I had a chance if I was just a bit luckier or more prepared. I can see myself going back to these events. Maybe even Draft, in theory, but I don't want to deal with my collection growing out of control...

Thursday

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I went jogging in the midmorning yesterday - not first thing, but not too late.

Work was quiet. My usual Thursday meeting was cancelled. I attended a plain language workshop, so that was vaguely edifying. I was slightly better about my backlog of tasks than I have been for most of the past few days. 

One assignment from my therapist was to watch a program on Netflix about meditation. I started it. There's more there than I thought. 

In the evening, T. and I went out to dinner at Toki Underground. It's been around for a long time, maybe even in the neighborhood longer than us, but for whatever reason we haven't gone before. But the kid is coming back soon, so we went. The food was good. The location was cramped, with only bar seating. If we go back, it'll probably be to get takeout.

PT, dinner with friends, and an interrupted movie

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Work was typical yesterday except for the fact that physical therapy was in the middle of the day. I got lunch at Chupacabra's on the way home, good but a pain to get and bigger than usual. 

After work, T. and I met up with friends at a nearby pizza place that's also a brewery that T. and I hadn't been to yet. It was good.

After that, to the movies to see Kiki's Delivery Service. I had never seen it before but I might have been the only one of the four of us. While there we shared the theater with two different groups of neighborhood friends (and saw a third family we knew as we were leaving, but they didn't see us). It's cool to have a neighborhood hangout like that. As for the movie, it looked cool but was marred by a power failure in the middle of the movie, of all things. So we said our goodbyes, went home, and finished it on streaming.

Tuesday

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Work was OK yesterday. Two meetings. The first, the team meeting, was kind of frustrating due to personality conflicts with J., but he was nice about it. The second was productive. 

In the afternoon I had my first therapy appointment. Cognitive behavioral. It includes keeping a journal. At least for now I'll do it on paper, and I may include less detail here. In addition to redundancy, what's the point of the detail I've gone into on several occasions? How many ways can I say "I stayed on top of new stuff at work but wish I got to more of my backlog" or "keeping the kid busy is a challenge" (not relevant right now but will be soon)?

After 4 I went grocery shopping. When I got home I weeded the alley a bit. That was my exercise for the day. Certainly got dirty enough.

Dinner was pork chops, yellow beans, and the rest of the salad.

Weird Monday

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First thing in the morning, we took the car to the shop for "maintenance required." It turned out to not be important, just an automatic warning that turns on after a certain amount of time. They recommended rotating the tires, but we happened to do that at Costco last month, so we were out of there in just 15 minutes. Cool. On the way home T. got a breakfast sandwich and I had a donut and that helped us suffer through rush hour. 

Work was OK. Fewer meetings than I thought, but still had two. Got a few things done but still have a big backlog. 

I couldn't go jogging early due to the car thing, but the weather was much more mild than most of the past month, so I went jogging around 11:30. It was fine. I came just in time to get an email about an urgent task, so urgent that it was ridiculous and raised concerns about their work process or what they think ours is.... buuuut after a few more questions, they apologized and said it wasn't needed at all. Yay. Nice little tempest in a teapot. 

I worked on several random minor things until late in the afternoon. Dinner was ravioli, corn on the cob, and a salad - individually simple and easy but a three-course meal is almost always more work than two-course. 

After dinner we called my dad and talked to him, and also talked to the kid for the first time in a while. She's having fun. Around then we also worked on some various paperwork that has been hanging over our heads for a while. Some college savings account planning, some renovation planning, etc. Boring and frustrating but I think we got the essentials done on the college thing for now, which is a big step.

I woke up around 5 AM this morning due to T.'s snoring. Luckily I was able to get roughly another hour of sleep on the couch or I'd really be miserable now.