A healthy habit?

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Getting the kid to school involved some yelling because T. wanted her to give hand-me-downs to friends for their younger siblings, and she objected to the weight in her backpack and the hassle. But other than that it was fine.

Work was fine too. Two meetings, kind of stressful but they turned out fine in the end. I wish I had made more progress on certain documents, it's been a while, but I've been good about lots of side tasks.

An appointment with the psychiatrist's nurse practitioner was a waste, though, because I hadn't sent her the forms. Maybe I'll reschedule, maybe not. After three months of therapy I'm not sure I have any problems that can't be solved with a good night's sleep, efficient use of to-do lists, and a good jog. Two follow-ups about that.

• One thing still on my to-do list is to make a podiatrist's appointment; T.'s never called me back. 
• A few days ago I thought that on weekdays I'd make a habit of getting some kind of physical activity around midday. It's easy to find time around then, and this time of year, that's the best time to be outside. (In midsummer, it might be early in the morning, and T. and the kid could just deal with me being sweaty. I still have no plans for the hot part of the school year.) Yesterday it was as simple as walking to the store, and that might be the norm for Mondays. I got off on the wrong foot (so to speak) by doing it after 1 yesterday due to a meeting, but I'd consider it in the spirit of the rule. Today it'll probably be calisthenics in front of the TV, like many days until I get the plantar fasciitis sorted out.

T. took advantage of her work-from-home day to make brownies. I'm opposed to this, we have enough sugar in the house, but she doesn't care. I'd like to not eat them and let them get stale or let the kid gorge herself on them to show T. it was a bad idea. Unfortunately I doubt I'll have the willpower for the first and the kid will go for Halloween candy before the second. Oh well, maybe next time...

I put a task off at work until the last minute, so we got the kid near the last minute. Fortunately she didn't mind too much. Dinner was chicken and leftover cauliflower. 

We watched some of Beetlejuice in the evening before putting the kid to bed. All the Halloween classics.

Despite (or because of) how active it was and how much I have to say now, I was tired all day. Not sure why exactly, but being up late the night before reading probably didn't help. I'm enjoying For the Wolf.

High-calorie day

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For breakfast yesterday I walked to the bakery at the farmer's market and got pastries and French bread and we had a continental breakfast. Cool.

That arguably wasn't needed, though, because we went to brunch at a friend of the kid's soon after. Lots of food there. T. and I visited and caught up with other parents while the kids ran amok for 3 hours or so. I had a full plate of my own plus leftovers from or stuff "shared" by the other two.  

After that, home for a few minutes. In the afternoon the kid and I had a Scout event. We biked there on the ebike (not really exercise, but closer than driving, so good for us) despite the fact that we brought the tent for a tent-pitching exercise. It went well. 

After that, home. A friend of the kid's came over and I made a quick dinner. I made spaghetti and cauliflower because it was easy to make with what I had on hand and we were confident the kids would like them, but I regret it. Mostly because it was the same thing as two days ago and I usually like more variety, but partly because I had already had a ridiculous amount of carbs today. 

After that we took the kids to a Halloween event at the gymnastics school. They turned out to be on the older side but they had fun while T. and I went to a nearby bar and had cocktails. Then we took them to get ice cream because T. had promised it for some reason. I heroically avoided eating more than a few bites somehow. 

Food

Obviously, I'm not happy with my calorie intake yesterday. I try not to worry about it from Halloween to New Year's, but we aren't even at Halloween yet, and I'm still not getting any exercise worth mentioning...

Relaxing and working

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Yesterday we had pancakes, as usual, although details were off. (Less fruit than we'd like, and thicker batter to finish off the bag of Krusteaz.) We got started on laundry early because today would be busy. We went to the farmer's market after that, and forced the kid to help out around the house a bit. 

In the early afternoon, T. and the kid went to a Girl Scout event. I thought about it but didn't. Instead I went to the store, played Warcraft (of course), took a nap, did more laundry, and cleaned up around the house. The nap was unusual but welcome. My sleep has been just a bit inadequate lately. 

Dinner was steak and asparagus. T. and I watched Totally Killer after the kid was in bed. We were up later than usual, partly due to my nap but also because our neighbors were having a loud party.

Nominally sick kid

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Yesterday the kid was home sick. Nothing serious, just a runny nose and sore throat, but we didn't want to send her to school like that. So she stayed home while I worked. It went well enough. I got the bare minimum done at work (the biweekly report) and on personal projects (looked for information from my old ADHD diagnosis for the new therapist, but then I couldn't find the address to send it to!) and I don't feel bad about that, considering she was there. 

Around 3:30 I logged off work and took her to the park for biking practice. It went well. 

While I made dinner, T. took the kid to a neighborhood Halloween event. It went well too. Dinner was spaghetti and cauliflower.

Textbook ADHD

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Yesterday I spent over 2 hours working on Warcraft mounts. I don't mean trying to get them, or anything else in the game. I mean writing up a guide to them, counting how many can be called "easy" to get, how many are pure RNG, etc. It's a downright crazy use of my time. Pointless for me and probably for literally everyone else. I don't want to be too hard on myself or complain too much of a basically average day (got through the essentials at work, etc.), but it's striking how much I can focus on pointless shit by accident. 

In the evening, I got the kid a little earlier than usual and met T. and some friends at a Halloween event at a nearby park. Dinner was hot dogs from there. We got home at a reasonable hour, watched a little TV together, and got to bed earlyish.

Parenting is hard

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Got the kid to school fine yesterday, and work was adequate. Average. As always, I got the essentials done but wish I had done more. 

I picked the kid up at school a bit earlier than usual. I had brought her yellow bike, the bigger one, as requested last week. That had gone well, so I was optimistic about this biking session and I think she was as well. It was misplaced. She found the bigger bike harder to handle and had age-inappropriate tantrums about it, kicking the bike and blaming it for turning right against her will. Tempers frayed. So I took her home and got her on the purple bike a bit, mostly in the alley. It was better than the yellow bike but not as good as the last week. 

Dinner was a pork roast and broccoli. It was fine. The kid was also manic in the evening when we tried to make some phone calls. I forgot to finish cleaning the kitchen before going to bed.

I tried

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I did a little grocery shopping on the way home from dropping the kid off yesterday. It turned out to not be needed, but there's no harm in getting ahead of things. 

As for personal stuff, I folded laundry, paid a renovation engineer's bill, reached out to the architect with some questions, and reached out to a podiatrist, dentist, and eye doctor about appointments. Two of those were after going to get the kid, but better late than never.

Work was OK too. Two meetings, both productive, some emails sent. There's an urgent task on my to-do list I should have worked on and didn't, which I feel bad about, but that's partly because I tried to close out another task first and it turned out to be much harder than I expected. That also kept me from getting proper exercise, but I got the minimum recommended steps in anyway by the end of the day.

I got the kid to guitar lesson, maybe not earlier than usual, but with more done before it than usual. T. made fried rice for dinner. The evening was relaxing.

I picked the name for the post early, as a sort of apology for not getting more done or an expression of annoyance at the difficulties I had with various things above, but honestly, I don't think I have anything to apologize for. The day seems like it should have been good enough.

Depeche Mode and navel-gazing

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Typical workday yesterday. I had the house to myself, which isn't typical for Monday, but anyways. Minor work on several different tasks, emails, listened in on meetings but no activity required of me in them, a few chores around the house, etc. 

I got the kid a bit earlier than usual and T. got started on dinner (the frozen lasagna, and green beans, and that turned out to not be enough food so we had some miniature microwave pizzas as well) while I was getting her, because we went to a Depeche Mode concert last night. The kid read and played games on T.'s phone through it. I didn't, but kind of wish I had. Not a weeknight activity, but I don't know how to say that to T. because I almost never enjoy concerts anyway. We got home around 11 and went straight to bed.

Journals?

I'm wondering what the point of this is. Not to sound all maudlin when short on sleep, but "this" being journals specifically. I've kept a paper journal ever since August 1st, but lately the entries have been very brief. I kept a spreadsheet tracking my day in half-hour increments, but stopped that when we went to Vermont. And of course there's this. After updating it sporadically for years, I posted 39 times in 2020 about everything going on, and in January 2022 I resolved to update it daily. In hindsight I'm not sure it has been worth it, though. Proximity to a keyboard has not resulted in anything more substantive than daily events. I'm not stopping today, but I might not make it two full years. 

On the other hand, I think some fitness-related stuff has been useful. The spreadsheet was how I identified insomnia (for months if not years I blamed sleeping badly on T.'s snoring, but it wasn't until this that I noticed I wasn't sleeping through the night even when she wasn't around), and I think a journal has been helpful, or at least could be helpful, in tracking my fitness efforts. So maybe I should find some medium better for fitness tracking?

Popcorn, errands, and a fancy dinner

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The usual Sunday brunch yesterday. Despite cooking earlier than usual and T. getting up earlier than usual, we had to rush to get to popcorn selling on time. Mornings are hard... so I dropped them off at the site, drove home, and went to the farmer's market nearby. It has grown on me. Then I walked to the popcorn sales. It went well. 

Shortly after we got home, we finished some housework (laundry, kitchen cleaning, etc.), and then went to Lowe's and Costco. We only got two or three things that weren't on our list. Good for us. 

In the afternoon we relaxed and watched TV. We needed it. We were invited to a friend's for dinner. It was a traditional Indian thing and the kid was the guest of honor. It was fun.

Long day

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Pancakes and sausages for breakfast yesterday.

We spent most of the day cleaning and doing laundry. In addition to general weekend and seasonal stuff, T. says that reducing dust and dust mites might help with the snoring. I wouldn't complain about that. So it was laundry, vacuuming (not unheard of but done by a professional more often than us), cleaning under the bed, and more. It was a lot of work. In the afternoon, just as I was looking forward to getting off my feet, the kid's friend K. came over and it was time to make dinner (chicken, rice, and cucumber salad). 

After that we took them to Boo at the Zoo. Getting there went better than we planned: T. dropped me and the kids off at the top of the zoo, T. parked, we met in the middle. They had fun. K. was more goal-oriented about getting candy than the rest of us, but I still dragged them through a few zoo exhibits. Two chance encounters: on the way in we met a guy we knew from a Thanksgiving party a few days ago. Couldn't chat because managing kids and I forgot my phone in the car - whoops. And then near the end of the event I ran into a co-worker, there with her kid. It was nice to catch up. I knew her from the Before Time but I don't think I've seen her in person since then.

Farm fun

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Yesterday I did about an hour of work first thing in the morning on a couple different tasks, but mostly took the day off because the kid had school inservice. We took the kid to Cox Farms with some friends. it was fun but tiring. Kids outnumbered grownups. There was at least one moment we thought we had lost four of them. 

When we got home I tried to make lasagna for dinner. It was a package T. had bought and didn't come with instructions. I called the place that made them and they said to cook it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I cooked it for 40 minutes and it was still frozen. T. blamed the company, but I confess I blame T. a tiny bit.

Fortunately the kid's gymnastics class was an hour later than last week, so we had time to go out to eat. We went to a Thai place for variety. Mine was spicy. After that, gymnastics for the kid while T. and I went grocery shopping.

Haircuts across town

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OK day overall yesterday. 3 meetings (more than typical, but anyways), all before noon, all easy and productive enough. Lots of Warcraft in my downtime, of course. I did all the housework - folding laundry, cleaning kitchen, unloading dishes, ordering new checks - late, but got to it eventually.

Traffic was terrible when I got the kid. 38 minutes to go 1.3 miles. I should bike in the afternoon more often, but I wouldn't have today anyways because of evening plans. She got to play with her friends there for a few minutes before I took her to Alexandria to join T. for haircuts. (Her friends' mother said we were crazy to do this.)

I was tired before I even left to get the kid, and running around like this didn't help. Getting there wasn't as bad as getting to school, but it was still 40 minutes or so one way. The mutual haircuts were done by around 7:40. We had thought about dinner at a place in Arlington we have a gift certificate too, but at that hour we settled for pizza in the same office park as the stylist. Home by 9.

Fitness

"Procrastination" is such a general topic that complaining about it is pointless. My biggest regret about yesterday is the lack of exercise. (And junk food. I had a lot of it. Maybe the fatigue was a sugar crash?) As it got to be 4 and I took stock of what I still wanted to do, I realized I wouldn't have time for everything, and exercise wouldn't make the cut. Not good, especially how little I've been getting lately. I got my "quota" for most of the past few days just by walking around on various errands, but didn't get there yesterday, and even when I do, the quota imposed by my app, 6,000 paces, is not too strenuous to begin with. 

I'd like to jog again but want the plantar fasciitis to get better first. I originally stopped going to physical therapy because of scheduling conflicts during a few busy weeks, but didn't resume because I'm not sure how much it was helping. I've planned to make a podiatrist appointment since my doctor's appointment, but that's another thing I haven't got around to. Maybe tomorrow, but if not, I'll really try for Monday...

But foot issues aside, I could/should be better about other kinds of exercise too. Something as simple as calisthenics in front of the TV is better than nothing if I get around to it.

Good on all fronts?

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I've started writing this in the morning Wednesday, so I worry the title is tempting fate. But then again, maybe it'll serve as incentive for me to live up to it...

First thing this morning I followed up on two things at work before posting this. Good for me. I had a therapy appointment at 9 and wanted to shower first, so I got the kid to school more promptly than usual. 

The therapy appointment went well. This might be wrapping up. Not sure. 

At work I got that major-in-some-ways-but-not-others task done, and another one like it. Good for me. 

In my free time I played Warcraft, of course. Maybe more than I should in a sense, but it was in fun ways rather than beating my head against the wall, and I still got the important stuff done at work. "Fun" - I spent a lot of the day doing catch-up stuff and cosmetic collection on several undergeared max level characters. Mostly the druid that was my main for years until I got bored with it, the next patch has druid stuff that looks interesting, but also some other characters. Not competitive or time-limited content, but it's still fun putting together the class set, especially since it's a bunch of upgrades, and generally collecting stuff.

Two errands on foot in the afternoon. First to 7/11 because it's the closest in-network ATM and I'm out of cash. Then to the pharmacy to get drugs that weren't ready yesterday. Then I drove to the school to pick up the kid and T. I had the kid's bike with me so I could take her for a biking practice session afterwards. I wasn't sure I'd have time, I wished I had started earlier, but it worked out. I dropped T. off near the house and kept going to the Fields park at RFK. The kid biked for about 20 minutes or so. She's definitely making progress. Needs to work on starting and stopping but could go the length of a block. Awesome. 

Dinner was pork chops and green beans, made more quickly than usual because the kid and I were home late after all that.

Is this what being on top of things feels like? "I want to do X. But wait, no, I should do Y first, because I really should do it before Z, which is coming up soon." It sounds a little like structured procrastination, but not too much, and I'm not sure how useful that concept is anyway. I could complain about putting things off until the last minute and not getting even more done, or the little things that went wrong (dog poop on the bike tire, for example), but on the whole it was a good day.

Typical Tuesday

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Typical day yesterday. No problems dropping the kid off. Morning team meeting went well. My main pasttime was Warcraft, of course, but considering that it's reset day I feel less bad about it than I do the other 6 days. I listened in on two meetings in the afternoon but they required no thought of me besides dealing with J.'s technically-correct-but-annoying commentary. I got a few minor-to-moderate tasks done, or at least noticeably worked on. In the midafternoon I walked to CVS for a few things.

Guitar lesson in the afternoon, which I got the kid to at the last minute. T. made chicken fried rice for dinner. I had the kid do some homework and we watched Casper, the 90s movie, before bed. 'Tis the season.

Boring Monday

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Woo hoo.

Yesterday morning getting the kid to school took longer than usual because I made a detour to return some stuff the kid's friend had left at our place. Unfortunately, they weren't there. Should have planned that better. 

The big personal/home project was, in a rush between a meeting and T. leaving for an appointment, putting the air conditioners in the basement. Fall is here. This semiannual chore is dirty, heavy lifting, and once again facing up to the mess in the basement. I'm looking forward to the fact that renovation will reduce or eliminate this.

Work was typical. Not too busy. Listened in on one meeting, worked on some minor stuff. Also one major-in-some-ways-but-not-others task: urgent and nonstandard, but not big in terms of total pages needed, so I'm not too worried. 

Procrastination took an unusual form: digital sleuthing. (Investigation? Stalking?) Some random reading of askamanager.com reminded me of a high school friend, and unlike the past few times I tried to track her down, I succeeded. Nothing came of it and it's not too impressive how I did so, but still, that was an interesting trip down memory lane.

I didn't play much Warcraft yesterday. Partly because of the aforementioned vagary, partly because it's less fun these days. Competitive content in particular is miserable, at least the way I'm doing it: pushing keys on my warrior main and trying kill just the last boss of the raid on my evoker for a chance at the legendary, both in pickup groups. I'm bored of the season, bored of my mains, hitting the limits of my skill and PUGs, or a combination. (Judging by how I spent this morning, I still enjoy other aspects of the game, though.)

Anyways, getting the kid was fine. T. got her through guitar practice and took her to the park while I made dinner last night.

Popcorn, errands, and insomnia

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Yesterday I made scrambled eggs and home fries for brunch. After Vermont last weekend and camping the weekend before, it's nice to have a return to normalcy. I did so a little earlier and faster than usual because the kid was signed up to sell popcorn, a Scouts' fundraiser. While T. and the kid went straight there, I went to the new neighborhood farmer's market. I got more there than I planned, partly because the baker is genuinely French and we got to chatting. Cool.

The fundraiser went well despite technical difficulties and the fact that her partner didn't show up. After that, a quick snack nearby at Union Market.

After that, home briefly, but we soon went out again. T. drove us to the mall. I needed new underwear and we got the kid a new windbreaker, since she's outgrowing her raincoat, and now that she has an allowance of her own she wanted to spend it at Claire's and a similar place. After that, snacks at Auntie Anne's, and then to a party/costume store for Halloween-related stuff.

Dinner at home, despite how late it was getting. Air fryer chicken drumsticks, a new recipe but the old one probably would have worked. 

I woke up at 3 in the morning and went downstairs to the couch. Getting back to sleep was harder than usual. On the bright side, maybe I've finally got past writer's block on a personal project? Project aside, one bit of advice I've got recently is to do something when insomniac rather than laying there and dwelling on it.

Le Deluge

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Pancakes for breakfast yesterday, despite the fact that we had brunch plans. Later in the morning the kid asked me to take her to the park despite the drizzle, and I said yes. We played with some toys we found there. Funny how that can work...

Met T.'s cousin at Union Market for brunch. It was fun. It really poured right when we were leaving. When we did, we met a friend of the kid, who spent the day hanging out with us as we went to Snallygaster, a beer festival. (Is this bad parenting? On our part, or theirs?) The title is in reference to the rain but also the drinking. I didn't have any drinks for the previous three days, not planned but that's how it worked out, but I made up for it yesterday.

Snallygaster was fun but crowded. In addition to some friends we've seen every few months, or less, there was also L., who we haven't seen since covid. I'm sorry about that. It was good to reconnect with her. No definite plans for the next one. 

Dinner was pasta at home. We weren't starving after all the snacking, but didn't want to eat out yet again.

Friday activities

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Taking the kid to school was fine yesterday. The WAR also went fine. I played a little Warcraft after I was done with the WAR, more than I wanted/meant to, but still got to several little things at work in addition to it. I also got two loads of laundry done.

I went to get the kid early because I had signed up to volunteer at a festival at the school. Fun but frenetic. Afterwards, gymnastics. I had a quick dinner at a burger place nearby. Then I went to Friday Night Magic. Lost two rounds and won two. Progress! Actual record aside, it's still fun. I'm playing the same deck as before with minor updates. It makes big things happen.

Constant vigilance

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Yesterday I was more responsible than the day before. It was tiring. 

Getting the kid to school was fine. I mentioned a to-do list. It was eight items, mostly but not entirely work-related. Six of them were fairly immediate. The last two were more long-term, I couldn't finish them in one day if I tried, but I should get started on them soonish and not forget them. By the end of the day I did all six of the fairly immediate things. I could wish that some of them were finished earlier, further from the last minute, but still, good for me. I also had two meetings for work, which were productive although I wish one was more so. 

I also had a psychiatry intake appointment. That was stressful because I got the intake forms only yesterday, and because it started late and I thought it was my fault, but once it finally started it was nice to talk things over. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with me, but I think there's something, and the appointment felt like a tiny bit of progress.

I didn't play Warcraft at all. That doesn't mean I didn't procrastinate, but it took the form of Reddit, Unfogged, and random things online. 

Around 4 I prepped dinner and left to get the kid - earlier than usual, but we had evening plans, a Halloween event at a museum. Traffic was terrible. It took over an hour to get to the school and back. I'm not sure walking would have been faster but it was pretty close. This gave me plenty of time to dwell on possible problems with the evening that didn't materialize. I made dinner, brussels sprouts and pork chops, while T. and the kid picked out costumes. Then we took the bus there. It wasn't the most direct route, but in addition to traffic today, the bus app has been unreliable lately, and we figured a bus most of the way there is better than a bus all the way there that never arrives. A bird in the hand, and all that.

The event was fun, but tiring. We made masks, enjoyed seeing people in costumes, looked at creepy-art-related books, had gelato, and the kid also had parfait. Got to go up on the terrace of the museum, which was cool. Thought about face-painting but didn't have time. Got home a little before 9, which is past the kid's bedtime.

I woke up this morning to find our dinner dishes still in the kitchen unwashed. Ugh. Forgot about them last night.

A wasted day

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A few things happened yesterday that weren't terrible, which I'll cover in turn, but on the whole it was a waste of a day. 

I got the kid to school fine. And given that I was unproductive at work, I picked a relatively good day for it, with no imminent deadlines. Lucky me. Although there are several that are just a little bit past imminent...

I spent a lot of my time playing Warcraft, of course. I achieved nothing notable. I was in a raid but the boss wasn't going down. I'd blame the luck of having a bad group, but for a good chunk of that time, the leader was me. I'm the problem.

T. was planning to see an author after dinner with our friend C., and around 4 T. called me to let me know C. would be joining us for dinner. This didn't mean more cooking - T. said she'd get a salad - but it did mean more cleaning. I did that when I might have been prepping dinner and left to get the kid around 5.

I had planned to pick the kid up early and give her a bike lesson in the afternoon, but I got her too late for that, considering I'd still have to make dinner. I got home and found that I didn't have to make dinner after all, because T. thought she wouldn't have time and was eating leftovers. Ugh. Bad planning, mostly on my part since I'm the chef. 

Considering that I'd no longer have to (be able to) cook, I seized the moment and got the kid on her bike. There was a lot of protesting, but in the end she did it. We got about a 20-minute session in. It was just on our sidewalk, not the best setting, but anything is better than nothing, right?

I ordered pizza for dinner for just the kid and I, with BBQ wings on the side. Not particularly healthy, but easy and popular. 

While the kid watched YouTube videos before bed, I wrote up my long to-do list for today. Trying to minimize procrastination for a while.

Fall is here

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If going to Vermont for leaf-peeping and cider-making wasn't evidence enough, yesterday morning I wore long pants and long sleeves for the first time when biking the kid in.

Yesterday during the day was OK. Not too productive, but under the circumstances I don't feel too bad about it. I still got stuff done in two meetings. I went grocery shopping in the afternoon, right before one of those meetings. 

At the last minute to get the kid I prepped some stuff for dinner. The guitar lesson went fine. T. had problems with dinner (orange chicken stir-fry), but she got it edible and in time for her to go to her exercise class. I got the kid through a tiny bit more homework and a shower before letting her watch funny cat videos on YouTube. I felt out of sorts through the evening and I'm not sure why.

I woke up this morning and was dismayed to find a new font when I started my computer. Apparently the updates it installed last night, which I thought was a routine security update, was actually Windows 11. Ugh. Now everything looks just a tiny bit different and I have to learn a whole new bunch of settings. It would be set in my ways to the point of self-parody but I'm seriously considering reverting it.

Going home

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Slept in yesterday morning and had brunch with the family. T. and I packed and then went for a walk, this time up an unfamiliar road, to take full advantage of the fall foliage, while the kid played with her cousins and their neighbors for the last time in a while.

My parents started driving us to the airport a little after 1. A late lunch/early dinner at a diner near it around 3. We were through security a little after 4:30. Our flight was originally scheduled for 5:50 and was about half an hour late. We got home around 9 PM.

More cider and family

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Yesterday was relaxing. In addition to local people dropping by, my aunt and cousin came to visit for the day, and we showed them around. They were impressed by how my parents were such farmers. We all worked on cider-making some more. 

Early morning and a date

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Yesterday the kids got up at the ridiculous hour of 6 AM. The sleepover wasn't fun for the grown-ups. My dad and I tried to keep the kids quiet for a few hours while T. and my mom slept. Eventually we made pancakes and bacon; a team effort.

Shortly after noon, T. and I went on a date of our own. We saw The Creator at the Middlebury theater, followed by dinner at Fire & Ice. Fancy place. We would have had a lot more fun if it wasn't raining, but still did some good shopping and sightseeing and got home safely.

Cider

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Yesterday I put in an hour of work to finish off that document with management interest. If there's one thing I appreciate about this place, it's the peace and quiet. 

After the work I generally relaxed. Helped gather a few more apples for my parents' cider-making effort. Went to get the nephews from school and it turned into a big party. 

Dinner was pizza. The nephews slept over down here with our kid while my sister and brother-in-law had a date.

Work plus travel

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Yesterday was fine. Busy. Work was OK. One meeting in the morning. After that I generally stayed on top of things at work but spent most of my time preparing for the trip. I also finished reading Ninth House so I wouldn't have to bring it with me with less than 50 pages left. It was good. Dark but fun urban fantasy. Next up: For the Wolf, a birthday present. 

Near the end of the workday I sent out a reminder about a document that has been in process for a long time. Amazingly, maybe because it has management interest, I got a response. 

I met T. at the school around 3:30 to get the kid. From there we went straight to the airport. Got on the plane around 7, got to Manchester around 9:30, got to my parent's house just before midnight. Good thing T. and I slept on the plane and the kid slept in my parent's van.

A good day

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I didn't deserve that. Made one actual mistake in an earlier guess and generally wasn't smart at all.

Yesterday was a good day. I had a therapy session in the morning that felt good. At work I finished that document I complained about yesterday. Maybe thanks to the momentum, I started two more tasks from the backlog and finished them. They were harder than what I hoped to find a week and a half ago, but still pretty easy. Our numbers are looking good. 

Personally, I went for a jog a little after 1 PM. Only 2 miles, but anything is better than nothing, right? I also finished the "chores" on several characters in Warcraft. Doesn't matter in any objective sense but it was fun, and feels better than how I spent the day before. I could second-guess stuff about today - could have got stuff done earlier in the day, could have got even more done - but it was pretty good.

For dinner, T. and I went to La Cosecha and ate during a school fundraiser. We had to hurry out of there to pick up the kid from a playdate and dinner with a friend.

The only problem was the evening. I took notes on a school parent group's meeting for T. while she read to the kid. We might have switched, but I had read both of the last two nights as well. The meeting took almost 2 hours. Good for us/them but tiring. After that we got ready for the trip. Making my to-do list for today was a bit stressful...

Better than nothing

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Unproductive on several fronts yesterday. I played a lot of Warcraft and got a lot of little things done but no big things. That's not totally my fault - I got invited to a group for something I wanted but the group failed to kill the boss before them - but still seems like a bad sign about my approach to the game at the moment. When playing solo I spent a lot of time in town whispering people about crafting stuff with low rates of response. Seems like it should make money but it turned out not to. 

Work was frustrating and unproductive too. Part of the problem is that even things that seem like they should be simple, aren't. Like all the "reapprovals without changes" from team leads recently that result in an interminable task anyway because they didn't care that the document was missing the usual sections but we do. Or a document for my own team lead. I'd expect something with/for her to be easy, but it just has different problems than usual. I don't want to complain about wordsmithing, in some sense it's my job, but after years of working with troglodytic script jockeys, my standards have been lowered, and now I'm being expected to polish something rigorous. This is the main thing I worked on yesterday and it's not fun.

I figured I had to do something productive or edifying yesterday, so I got a workout: about 20 minutes of calisthenics in front of the TV around noon. Better than nothing, right?

As is the routine for Tuesdays these days, I drove to the school to get the kid to her guitar lesson and T. walked home and made dinner. After dinner T. went to her exercise class, and the kid got a minor playdate with her friend across the street while I cleaned the kitchen and looked into some scheduling issues.

Frustrating Monday

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Biked the kid to school fine yesterday, except for the fact that I was biking her. We keep on seeing younger kids on their own bike. It bugs me to wrestle with T.'s massive e-bike when mine never goes inside the house to begin with and simply to do something for the kid that she could do for herself with just a little more practice. I've started making actual plans to get the kid to practice on her bike. Unfortunately there won't be time this week...

We've been worrying about money for a while - we're doing fine right now, but the renovation will be expensive - so I finally researched a couple of apps and set up Mint. I quickly hit a wall in making it useful, which I think will require either the passage of time for it to register transactions as they happen or adding more accounts, most of which will require T.'s help. I tried to get it started and that'll have to do for now, I guess.

Work was fine. Not busy. Wasn't too productive, but I still got one document to the reviewer. Better than nothing. 

T. was home most of the day, as is usual for Mondays. A little after 1 she left for a doctor's appointment and I started a serious dungeon in World of Warcraft. A +19, one of the highest I've done so far. About 10 minutes in, it was going great, but T. called me because all the bus routes were screwed up and she was going to be late for her appointment and asked me to pick her up. So much for that dungeon... I tried two more later on and they were OK, but not as good.

Getting the kid was fine. While I made dinner - roasted broccoli, fried chicken, and a salad - T. supervised homework. There was more of it than usual because, as I said, we'll be busy later in the week. (She got the harder task, in my opinion. Her choice.)

Relaxing

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Relaxed yesterday afternoon. T. was kind enough to take the kid on a playdate outside the house (or we were lucky enough to get in touch with one) while I cleaned up and started dinner: ribs, in the oven. Took a while but was good.

The only problem was talk about money and the renovation. T. recently sent me some links to vaguely advisory articles about planning this sort of thing. I asked her directly and it turns out she's worried about the money. I'm not saying I'm not, but I think I am more willing to scale back our plans than she is. We really need to plan things in more detail...

Camping semi-solo

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Yesterday we left a little after 8:30 to go camping. It doesn't sound that early, but felt that way when I got up and had to deal with all the prep we hadn't done yet. The kid hadn't packed before bed the night before, the camping gear in the basement was still there and I nearly forgot it (yes, that includes the tent!), and I had to get a few other things together too. 

I was nervous on the way there. Not sure how much of it was generalize free-floating anxiety and how much of it was the practical facts of the busy morning plus the fact that it was a new campsite, without T. But I drove there without major problems. Once I got the kid with her den, things were fine. I finished pitching the tent with minor help from neighbors and rejoined the group before lunch. My actual responsibilities were limited to keeping the kids out of trouble as they went through the scheduled activities.

There was an adult gathering in the evening which I skipped. Thought about it but decided I was too tired. I didn't sleep well probably mostly because I had pitched the tent on a platform which was harder than I'm used to.

The morning was relatively uneventful. Stopped at the camp store and got her a knife, since whittling is on the agenda for the den this year, and an impulse buy of a bear print necklace. Got home a little after noon and had lunch after unpacking.

Stuff we forgot

A broom and bugspray. That's really it. Good for me. I would have also brought the kid's chair if I could have found it and sunscreen, but neither would have been used. I also wished we had had more rope, fastening the tent to the platform would have been easier with more/better rope, but that's not a matter of forgetting anything.