arthur_p_dent

You remember I was talking last week about some general sluggishness I had been dealing with? Well here I am a week later and I don't feel like I've shaken that. Hell, I had to nap twice today - not for relaxation, but because I felt like I couldn't physically do one more thing until I slept for a bit. It's contributed to a somewhat rough week.

Friday was a busy day. Work was just a half day, and I did that from home. In the afternoon I went with a friend to an indoor golf facility and spent some time on the simulator. Curling wasn't a regular week because a lot of people travel for the holiday, so it was done as a "fun night" - people could bring guests and teams were made up randomly. I ended up not playing (tiredness again) and I just hung out with a handful of others for some conversation. The night rounded out by going to play pool with some league mates and several of their friends - something different and a lot of fun.

Then came the holiday weekend. I didn't have to do dinner until Monday, so the two days prior were spent getting things in order. Dinner turned out excellent, although coordinating the cooking in two different houses simultaneously was a bit of a challenge (the in-laws don't travel easily anymore, so I go there to get the bird in the oven, and then back home to work on the rest).

Wednesday I worked much of the day (prep for inventories at the 4 US plants), and there was a bit of additional stuff I had to do this morning. In theory this week is supposed to be time off, but in this case I didn't have a choice. It's ok - I'll get that time back later on.

I've been struggling to find any relax time during this week's "time off". My intention for today was to have a lazy day at home, but that never materialized. And I still have a to-do list a mile long, so the next several days will continue to be busy. Kinda like my vacations, I'll have to go back to work in order to get some rest. XD

Stay tuned for an end of the year review, coming out this weekend. In the meantime, I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays, and is looking forward to 2024. =]

 (... and a bit)

Squeezing in a brief post while I try to wake up. I've been fairly busy lately outside of work, and it's kinda thrown me off my routine. Since I only have a few minutes I'll bullet-point the highlights.

Th... Went to a going away gathering for a coworker retiring after 40+ years. Saw sooo many people I haven't seen in years - it was a good time.

Fr... Took the day off but didn't do much as I was starting to feel a bit under the weather. Curling was a close match that we won in the end. Got to hang out with my good friend afterward as well.

Sa/Su/Mo/Tu... Sinus cold kicked my butt. Didn't do much other than get extra sleep (not the way I want to add sleeping hours though).

We... I arranged for our group of work friends to meet for dinner, and I surprised everyone at the end with the hot chocolate bombs. It was a fun time, and hopefully we can keep it going so we don't lose touch.

Th... Went to another going away gathering after work. Not a retirement this time, but someone who has been around more than 25 years and was hit with a huge demotion in the new company structure. Sadly this has become far too common.

Got a couple things coming up on the weekend, and then we're in the final stretch to the holiday. Hope you're all keeping well, and have good and fun things ahead. See you next week (on time?). =]

It's a late start on this week's post, so I'm going to fly through much of the events with the hopes of getting to sleep by midnight. With that in mind, here we go...

That work thing from last week - the "hurry and come up with a pseudo-job-description so we can try to keep this person" thing - I don't think that went over very well when it was presented to them. They saw through the sugar-coating right away, and saw it for what it was - dumping everyone's shit-work on them just to keep them around for a while longer. I'm glad it was that transparent, and I hope they ultimately tell the guy that came up with the idea exactly where he can shove his offer.

Had another Friday off. Did a few chores, drove out to a small local market for some specialty items, did the last of the yard work, and went for a nice late lunch. My friend's sister works at the restaurant I went to, and I've been wanting to try it out for some time. I'm sure the food would have been even better had she been cooking that day, but everything was terrific nonetheless.

Got another check in the win column at curling. It was a really tight match with several lead changes, and in the end I got the winning point by about two inches. We're four weeks into the season now, and I think I've made some good progress with the push stick. Still some adjustments to work on, but it's coming along. And as a team we're starting to work together better as well, which is great.

I haven't talked about goals in a while, so I'll update on that. For the most part I've continued to hover in the mid-sixty percent range each week. Looking back, I think that's about what I've been averaging overall since the start of May when everything went to hell. Considering how much I had to deal with for so many months in a row, I'll take that as a win. I do wish I could get myself trending back upwards again - so far I haven't had much success with that and it's getting a bit frustrating.

It looks like I made pretty good time so far, so I'm going to get into one last thing. Last week I was going to talk about one of the gremlins that has been plaguing me lately, but didn't really have the brain to deal with it. Well the next day I had lunch with my close friend and told her about it, and just getting it off my chest helped quite a bit (I'm glad I have her as a friend). I do still want to write about it here as well, and if you're inclined to read it, it'll be behind the following cut...

( lousy gremlins... )

Well, midnight has long passed, so I should wrap this up. Thanks for reading/listening, have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you in December. =]

It's been another mostly good week, but some unpleasantness is starting to creep in lately (more on that in a minute).

My first Friday off was a good way to get things started. I got a few chores done and made some meals for the freezer, and then took the afternoon to relax. Spreading out the weekend chores over three days is really nice, and I found that I didn't have to try and "schedule in" some downtime - it just happened. I'm looking forward to many more of these long weekends to come.

Curling is going well so far. We had our second win last week, and my new teammates are pretty decent folk. I even had a spectator - my good friend that I usually have lunch with was on day shift last week and was able to come out and watch. We got to hang out afterward as well, which is always great.

We've been spoiled with nice weather all week, and I've been getting outside and taking advantage of it as much as I can. My walks at lunch have been a bit more leisurely - partly to enjoy the stroll (what's five extra minutes?), but it's also helping me get out of my own head. As I mentioned at the beginning, a few things are starting to bug me again.

More changes happening at work. There's been another resignation, one other person is still interviewing regularly, and another is probably getting let go at the end of the year - which would leave only three of us remaining in the department. I still don't have a boss (not one that I'm aware of anyway), and it doesn't really seem like anyone in the new organization even knows I exist. I've been saying all along that I don't expect to be kept around, and nothing that's happened in the past couple months is making me feel any different. Time will tell I guess.

And if that wasn't enough, a couple of the gremlins that pop up in my head every once in a while have made a return. It's not a surprise really - I mean, I've never actually done anything to deal with them other than shove them back in their cage and hope the lock holds (which it never does). Maybe I should get them separate cages so only one can get loose at a time?

Anyway, that's about all for now. It's looking like sleep will be minimal tonight, but at least tomorrow is the last day of the week! =]

Things have been relatively ok this week. Curling season has started, and our team started off with a win against a good opponent. With my knee issues, I decided to begin the season using a push-stick to avoid all the crouching and other things that put strain on the legs. So far so good, but I still need a lot more practice for sure. We had a setback already as well, as two members of my team had to back out over the weekend. But on the plus side two people from the wait list who are new to our league will be joining my team - I'm hoping they're fun people.

I got the outdoor work done that I wanted to over the weekend. Good timing too, since the weather turned cold this week. This weekend I'm hoping to get the garage rearranged so I can finally move my trailer inside and off the driveway. I'm sure the neighbours are tired of seeing it out there (I know I am).

Found out a few things in the last couple of days related to my financial situation and how it could impact my work situation. I still have to review everything in more detail, but it looks promising, and I'm feeling somewhat less "trapped" in my job than I did before. 

One last thing. Ever have someone say something that just made your day? I had that today - still smiley about it too. =]

That's all for me for this week. So long until next time.

Let's do another good/bad list this week...

The good: I had a decent weekend. Everything got done without me getting overloaded, which is a nice change of pace. Even managed to get my brakes done. And even though my goals haven't been great lately, they continue to hold steady.

The other good thing was the completion of the major parts of my backyard project. A few weeks ago I had my back porch epoxy-coated, and this week I had it screened in. I now have a comfortable outdoor space for eating and relaxing - something I've never had before.

The bad: A communication was sent out from the CEO on Friday afternoon (I didn't see the email until Monday). Because of the UAW strikes, the company is temporarily reducing salaries - which they "strongly intend to reimburse" once things are settled. And the real kick in the gut is that there's nothing *technically* wrong with it. I've said it a dozen times - I fully expect to be let go at some point in the not-too-distant future. But after this, I'm not going to wait for that day to come before looking for something new.

The rest: After two long months, I'm finally back in the office tomorrow. And what better way to start it off than to have a half day! Having lunch with my good friend, and after that I'm heading out of town to see a concert. And coming up this weekend I'm planning to get some fall cleanup started outside.

That's it for me this week. I'll talk to you all again soon. =]

This past week?
Work.
6 days straight.
65 hours total.

The only real break was Sunday when I got sushi for dinner and sat by the fire for a bit.

I knew it was coming. Part of the reason for last week's trip was to step back and recharge before going into a very tough stretch - something I didn't have the ability to do when I went though the same thing back at the end of May. And as of today, the need to put in extra hours should be over.

Aside from that, there isn't much to say. Goals took a nosedive, but I expected that too. Oh, and still no news about my knee, but now that my days should be getting back to normal, I can make some calls.

One thing I had difficulty with during this week was keeping in touch with people. Kinda understandable considering, and I know there's no resentment from anyone, but it still bugs me to not at least say Hi once in a while.

Coming up - lunch plans tomorrow, chill time Saturday, and Thanksgiving dinners Sunday and Monday. And next week I should finally get back into the office - no more working from home! =D

Have a great weekend everyone. Talk to you next week.

Yup, a day late again, but I was so exhausted yesterday - I had no capacity for writing anything and I was asleep by 8:00. Oh well, feeling much more coherent today, and there's lots to talk about.

Last week I went to a concert that ended up being infinitely better than I was expecting. It had been a really hard sell to get me to agree to go, but it was a great show. I also spent Saturday afternoon with my good friend at a nearby annual fair. There were several busker-type acts, some aerialists, and lots of people dressed in steam-punk attire. Plenty to see and do, and a really fun day. As well, the epoxy coating on my back porch got completed, and it looks fantastic.

I've taken a couple more impromptu afternoons off work, which has been good for me considering how poorly I tolerate working from home. Still at least two more weeks of that though - and the end can't come soon enough. Work has continued to be OK, but it's getting close to the system launch on October 1 and I have a lot of data validation to get done in advance of that. It's doable, but I'll need to be able to dedicate some time to it this weekend just to be safe.

Goals were pleasantly good this week, up 10% from the week before. I've been starting to get back on track with those daily routine items that had been falling by the wayside, and I'm really happy about that. I finally have my appointment for my knee tomorrow. Haven't had any more flare-ups (thankfully), but it is still achy most of the time, and I hope the tests reveal some answers so I can start on recovery.

Found out earlier this week that my FIL has started on radiation treatments. I'm glad the doctors think it's treatable, but I'm concerned about how he'll hold up to it (he's gotten quite frail over the past couple years). I'm also concerned about my MIL, since she has the burden of getting him to his appointments, and keeping all the day-to-day stuff in order. The other day I went by with several of the prepared meals that I make myself and keep in the freezer, so she has some things she can just pop in the oven. I'm making a few more things this weekend, and I'll bring her some of those as well.

Looking ahead, the weekend should be fairly quiet. But I just finished making some travel plans for the middle of next week that I'm excited for - a well-deserved getaway for us both. I'll probably be a day late posting again next week, but I should have a couple pictures to share to make up for it.

That's it for now. Good night all! =]

What do you get when you combine a holiday Monday and working from home? You forget what the hell day it is! Yes, I'm a day late. And even the fact that I've made a couple posts along the way doesn't make up for it.

I had planned to go get tests done on my knee last week. Unfortunately I didn't realize that one of them required an appointment, and that isn't for another couple weeks. It's been feeling gradually better over the past few days, but I learned my lesson the last time and I'm not taking any chances. 

With my knee the way it is I decided to take exercise off the goals list for this month (I don't want to penalize myself with zeros on something I can't actually do). But even with that change, I still took another beating this week. A big side effect of working from home is that my daily routines have all been disrupted, and that's where all my shortfalls are happening. I realized that last week, but wasn't able to do much about it so far.

I got a reminder yesterday about registration for this year's curling season. I was actually going to be in two leagues this year, but depending on what my test results show, I may not end up playing at all. This will be a wait-and-see item for now.

Well, that'll do it for me this week. Football season back, so that's what I'm watching tonight. Have a great evening everyone. =]

I should really start writing these posts earlier in the day when I'm still in a half-decent mood. By this time I'm usually mired in post-work crabbiness and tiredness, and I'm sure that has some effect on what I talk about. =\

The goals yo-yo is still going strong - scores bounced back up this week, but then again so did my weight. Sleep (surprisingly) and most other daily activities were solid, but exercise was once again almost non-existent due to continuing problems with my knee. Fortunately the worst of the pain has subsided, but some spots still hurt, and I don't feel very sure-footed on stairs yet.

Work threw a wrench at me last week (well, all of us really). We've been getting ready to move to a new office, which was supposed to happen this coming Friday. But last week they told us on Wednesday that they wanted us out in 2 days. Most of us had already done a lot of preparation, but talk a bout a mad scramble to get it all done on time. And to top it off, the new office won't be ready until the second week of September! So now we're all on a three-week stint of working from home.

Anybody out there regularly work from home? Do you like it? Because I hate it. I've barely left the house, my routines are shot to shit, I'm less productive and quicker to get frustrated - and it's only been 3 days. It hasn't helped my activity levels either. My daily step count has averaged just under 2000 this week, compared to my normal average of close to 7000. I was going to go for a short walk today to test out the knee, but we had a storm roll through at lunch-time so I'll try again tomorrow.

I have managed to finalize plans for a couple of home-improvement projects I'm having done next month, which I've been looking forward to all year. And I've got some social plans lining up for later next week that should be a good time. But much of the coming week looks pretty uneventful right now, and I think it would do me well to figure out something fun to do on the weekend.

Well, the house just shook from a clap of thunder, so before I lose power (too often an occurrence around here) I'll sign off for today. Talk to you again soon. =]