arthur_p_dent

Early post today so I can go to bed. I've got an infection of some kind in my tooth/jaw, and I'm pretty drained from a weekend of constant pain (yes, I'll waiting at the dentist's door when they open in the morning).

Work was slow again. This coming week will be busier since there will be inventory counts next weekend, but that too will be short-lived. I don't see any real improvements in the future either, unfortunately.

I had a very active week socially. I think Wednesday and today were the only days that I stayed in. I had lunch with my good friend on Thursday, after work drinks with friends two nights, run club two nights, and a small group hung out after my race yesterday. The week ahead looks to be similarly busy as well.

Speaking of my race, it went quite well. I had planned to push for a new PR, but my tooth and the heat had other ideas. Still, I was very pleased with my results, including being 8th in my age group. That will be my final fast run for a while, as I shift over into training for my two half marathons in the fall.

And that's about it. Time to herd the cats in from the porch (they love it out here, as do I) and get some sleep. Wish me luck with the dentist. I'll be back next week. =]

It's been mostly an OK week, although there were a few things I could have done without.

First, I don't know if you recall the trip I made to one of the plants a few months back, where the production manager was trying to force two incompatible systems to work together - basically trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Well, he's still at it. And in a meeting this week, it came to light that the plant has been allowed to bypass one of the major procedures for scheduling, because "it's easier to use Excel". Not only is this clown wasting time and resources on a project that will never succeed, but they're creating their own problems by not following critical procedures. A colleague asked me afterward why I was so quiet during the meeting. Simple - if I had said anything, I was going to explode. Like, really blow up. F-bombs and everything. Can't do that, even if the level of stupidity is so high that it would be completely justified.

Also work related, we lost another person from the office, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't voluntary. We all got an invitation on Thursday afternoon to go out for lunch on Friday to celebrate B's retirement - pretty last minute. Funny thing is, he had never mentioned anything about retiring. In fact, he and I often joked about when the company would be showing up to let us go. Well, he was at work Friday morning, they went to lunch (I had other plans and didn't go), and when I got back he was gone. Now, you can't tell me he decided to retire spur of the moment like that. No, I'm sure that he falls under the category of "left to pursue other interests" - the corporate world's not-so-subtle way of saying he got the boot.

EDIT: So it turns out B did retire. It seemed sudden because he kept it to himself as long as he could. He's actually moving across the country, in just a few days. Still a shame to see him go, but I'm glad it was on his terms.

In better news, Friday's lunch with my good friend was really great, although for some reason the restaurant I picked was ridiculously busy and there were no parking spaces available. We both ended up parking a block away, on the opposite side of one of the busiest main roads in the city. Fortunately we still had lots of time to eat, and the walk back to our cars was enjoyable once we got over to a side street and away from the traffic.

Running is going well, and I'm continuing to improve. Both run clubs are a lot of fun, and I've been getting a lot of encouragement, and compliments on my progress. I have another 5K race in a couple weeks, and right after that I'll be starting an actual training plan for my half marathon races coming up in the fall. I already know I can run the distance, but obviously I want to perform the best that I can on race day.

Today was a busy day to finish out the week. I started off with my long run, which was a 12 mile trail run (it was supposed to be 11 but I wasn't paying attention for when I needed to turn around). After getting back and cleaning up, I had to start on the weekly food prep, as well as get Sunday family dinner on the go. I finally got to sit down at dinner time, after 10 hours on my feet. Needless to say, I'm fairly worn out and ready for some sleep.

Which is where I'm headed right now. Good night, sleep well, and I'll see you all again next time. =]

Very tired tonight, and almost went to bed except I had a couple other things to do on the computer as well, so here I am.

I'll gloss over the first half of the week. Work, meh. Goals, mediocre. Running, lots. Much the same as most weeks.

I decided recently to start doing my grocery shopping on the way home from work on Thursdays, rather than on the weekend. This week was my first attempt, and I'll say that it went fairly well. Getting that task out of the way opened up quite a bit of time for other things, which has always been a challenge for me. Friday I enjoyed lunch and conversation with my good friend, which is always wonderful. I also went to run club after work. There was a shoe demo going on this week and there must have been over 100 runners there - I've only seen a crowd that size at a race.

We had a holiday here in Canada today, so "yay" for a three-day weekend. I actually made a schedule for the weekend ahead of time - some recreational activities, some chores, and everything spread out so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed looking at the list. Mostly it was a success. Saturday got rearranged a bit - I had planned to go to the driving range, but a running friend was having people over in the afternoon so I did that instead and had a great time. Sunday morning I went for my first long run of the year - 16 km/10 miles - basically to see what my starting point is for when I begin training for my half marathons in the fall. The run went really well, but I got a late start, and then I had another delay afterward, and by the end of the day I had fallen behind on several things and was starting to get frustrated. I had a friend come over to help me take the hard top off my jeep, and I think  that's where things got derailed. I think if I had put that off until next weekend, Sunday would have turned out much better. And today's list went ok, although I didn't get to go out for a bike ride as planned - but there's always next weekend.

That's it in a nutshell. Take it easy, have a great week, and I'll see you soon. =]

Late again, I know. I was out in the sun without a hat yesterday and got a bit burnt on my scalp, and I ended up sleeping almost ten hours straight and even missed my first alarm this morning. A good long rest, but still a tad tender on the top of the old noggin. Anyway, the past week was quite a rollercoaster, so let's get started.

Oddly enough, work has continued to be fairly ok. How long that will last is a good question, but the longer things stay good, the worse I think it'll be when the other shoe drops. Goals, however, were the worst they've been all year, and I think a reality check is in order. I made these goals for a reason, but with several of them I'm almost not trying anymore. Disappointed is a good word, and I do want to correct that moving forward.

Monday I started catching up on some of the chores I didn't finish on the weekend. Unfortunately I got into a snippy mood quickly, and everyone I encountered during that hour or so had to deal with me in that state, warranted or not. I don't feel like I handled those interactions the best way, and probably shouldn't even have initiated one of them.

Tuesday into Wednesday was by far the worst situation I've gone through in I don't know how long. I went to run club, ran decent, and socialized for a few hours afterward as usual. I had three drinks - only three. I remember paying my tab, and then waking up the next morning. I have absolutely no memory at all of the eight hours in between. Now I've had alcohol hit me harder than I expected it to (lots of reasons - low blood sugar, overly tired, etc), but never have I experienced a complete loss of memory - and it's scary as fuck. The question even came up, was I in control of my drinks at all times, or could someone have slipped me something. I don't have answers, but I am making changes and paying close attention to myself and how I feel - I never want to experience that again.

Friday was a nice upswing though. I got to spend the evening with my good friend, and with curling done for the season, we were able to get together earlier than usual and go for dinner. Rain put a slight damper on the night, but it was still a great time. 

Weekend chores went ok, although I did have a moment early Sunday morning where I almost hit panic mode. I had plans in the afternoon which meant I had a timeline to keep to, and there was just so much on the list. But I took a pause, let the panic ease off, and started fresh, and it really helped. Everything got done on time, and I was able to keep my plans. Another friend had invited me to attend a fundraising event, and it turned out to be a really good time (even though, as mentioned earlier, a hat would have been a good idea). I met several of her friends and had some good conversations, and somehow didn't feel as awkward or out of place as I normally do when meeting new people, which was a surprising twist.

And that will wrap things up for another week. Oh wait - somewhere in there (Wednesday I think) I finished the puzzle I was working on. My MIL saw it and really likes it, so we're going to frame it for her at some point soon.

And now that will wrap things up for another week. Take care, enjoy the spring weather, and I'll be back in May. =]

This will be a fairly short post, and yes it's late, but for good reason.

Last week started good. I had my first run event, was productive at work, and run club was a fun night. But then Wednesday rolled around.

Was voluntold to travel to Tennessee on Friday to be there for the plant's inventory on the weekend. Normally not that much of an issue, except for me, two days is very last minute to pull that together. Plus, there were added headaches - i had to deal with a corporate travel department for the first time, and coordinate the trip with other people to travel together. It made for a very stressful couple of days.

The inventory itself went better than I expected, but it was a lonnnng day. 11pm Saturday to 7pm Sunday, with only a couple breaks to run back to the hotel and freshen up. Needless to say I crashed hard after dinner last night (hence why I'm late posting). Now I just need to finish packing up and I'll be heading home.

Coming up, I've got a few social things happening, plus I'll have to deal with the fallout of this inventory trip, so it's going to be another busy week. I hope everyone is doing well and has a great week ahead. Ttyl. =]

Well, let's start this off very simply... read the first two paragraphs of last week's post. The things I wanted to address, I did not address. Minor caveat with running because I had a cold for much of the week, but I could have done other things to make up for it and did not.

Another thing I noticed (OK, I didn't just notice it, but I feel I need to own up to it) is that I've been avoiding being at home as much as I can lately. It's a double-edged sword - I'm hiding from the burden of household responsibilities, but in doing so I'm not getting nearly enough done, which just makes the burden feel even heavier, and makes me want to hide from it even more. It's an exhausting cycle, and I know I'm not coping with it in the right way, but...

The only really enjoyable part of the week was getting to hang out with my good friend Friday evening for a couple beverages and some good conversation. Her BF was there as well - I like him, he's a good guy, but I do wish we had more in common (sometimes I feel it's a bit awkward talking about the same few things all the time).

Coming up this week I've got month end (ugh), there are some things around the house that I must arrange to get taken care of soon (pain in the ass), and I need to try to stop avoiding home (easier said than done). And I need to get some running in because I've got a 5K to do next Sunday (my first run event of the year).

For now I'm off to bed. Have a great week! =]

Most of the non-work portion of the past week has been pretty good, although I did unfortunately fall behind on several chores. Also, even though I haven't had time today to review my goals, I do know that many were missed again. I'm having trouble finding the motivation to getting myself refocused and back on track, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I just put too much on my plate. That's something I'll need to look into soon.

Another less-than-ideal thing was the root canal I had mid-week. The procedure was fine, albeit a long appointment (3 hours). However, this morning I started to get some pain in that area that kinda feels like a new infection could be firing up. If it's still progressing in the morning I'll have to call and see if the dentist can take a look.

Running has been decent, despite only getting out twice. Tuesday at run club I finished my 5K only two seconds short of my personal record. On Thursday I did another 5K around home, and proceeded to beat that record by a full 30 seconds. It's only March and I've already reached one of my running goals for the year - I think I'm going to see a lot of progress over the coming months.

I had a very busy weekend with curling. Friday was a normal night, and then Saturday I was in an all-day tournament with a group of good friends (including my goodest good friend). Our three games went well - a tie, then a close loss, and finally a strong win - and we finished fourth out of eight teams. We met a lot of really nice people from other cities in both Canada and the US, and the meals during the day were wonderful as well. I would definitely play in this one again next year.

The downside to having an entire day of enjoyment is that all of my weekend responsibilities had to be consolidated into today. I had a good plan in place, and probably would have been fine getting everything done, except I ran into some friends from my running club while I was having lunch. They were just coming back from a race, and I ended up hanging out with them for a couple hours. It was a fun afternoon, but it also really overloaded the remainder of my day, and I'll have to get a jump on finishing some things as soon as I get home from work tomorrow.

Nothing much on the calendar for the coming week, although I am taking Friday off and hopefully I can use a bit of the day to recharge.

And with that I'll say so long for another week. Until next time. =]

It's been a fairly busy week, and I'm simply worn out now. More so because today I spent nearly the entire day on my feet - I think between 8am-8pm the total amount of time I spent seated was less than one hour. Yes, I did get a lot done in preparation for the week, but it also left me feeling almost like the weekend didn't really exist.

The week actually started ok since Monday was a holiday. Most of my things got done on Sunday, so I was able to spend a lot of the day just relaxing at home. But then it was back to work, and coming back after a long weekend is always a pain. Wednesday I ended up traveling to one of the US plants to meet with their production manager and look into some challenges with a new monitoring system he installed. I needed to see it in action on the shop floor and to see how the operators interacted with it, and the plan was to figure out how I could update our main system so that both would work together seamlessly. I expected to need an hour - I had his answer in three minutes. What he wanted was impossible. His monitoring system was written to work specifically with one other system in the organization, which functions entirely differently than ours. No amount of data updates or workarounds would help - total incompatibility. I'd say the day was a waste, but had I not gone I never would have been able to see the disconnects, and I could have ended up doing weeks of work for nothing.

Thursday I had an appointment with my new dentist, and since I was a new patient I was there for a couple hours in total. Paperwork, a cleaning, x-rays, the examination, and a consultation - very thorough. That, combined with Wednesday's travels, threw me off my schedule for a lot of things. Trying to get caught up forced me to put off some things, including running, which I didn't do all week long. I did get a couple runs in over the weekend though, so that's good.

Friday I got out for lunch with my good friend, at a local Mexican restaurant known for their variety of tacos. I wasn't feeling all that taco-y though, and their burger special of the month caught my eye. Honestly, it was among the best burgers I've had in the city in a long time, and I'll definitely get one there again. However, curling that night was a much less enjoyable experience. My opponents were the friends that I won against a few weeks back, but this time around it was a much different story. They were simply on, pretty much the entire game, and even when we made fantastic shots they always had the immediate answer. Sometimes it goes that way, but it still doesn't feel all that good when it does.

Saturday there was a group of my curling friends participating in a tournament, and I was able to get out and watch their first match. That was a nice break in the week, and about the first amount of relaxation I had in quite a while. The tournament was at a private country club, I had a very nice lunch while I was there, and I got to watch my friends play from a great vantage point. In a few weeks three of them plus myself will be playing as a team in another tournament, which I'm really looking forward to.

And now, since that was a much longer post than I thought it would be, and since another Monday morning will be here sooner than I want it to be, I'll wrap it up for this week. I hope you're all doing well, and have a wonderful week to come. =]

For several reasons, this past week wasn't the greatest.

First off, work. It started with month end when I discovered a huge system error in three of my companies. I lost half a day getting that all sorted out, which made hitting my deadlines very difficult. Then one of the US controllers offered to "help me out" by taking over doing my entries. This is the same one that refuses to post one of those entries because they "can't understand why a system would work that way, so it must be wrong". This entire week has left me feeling like I'm not taken seriously, even though I'm the one person left with any real knowledge, and the one person trying to help them out. It's been quite a while, but I've gotten back to the point where I think it's time to explore other opportunities and wash my hands of this place.

After work Tuesday I was really aggravated, and even though the temps weren't great I wanted to go run with the run club and burn off some of that negative energy. I had a decent run, and hanging out after helped considerably as well, but when I woke up the next morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Raw throat, dry cough, headache, and a total lack of energy. I tried working from home to finish month end but there were some network issues, and I had to go into the office. And two hours later when I had finished, I was on my way back home. I slept, had some chicken soup, rested, slept some more, and after dinner I went to bed early. That helped a lot with the tiredness, but I've still been sick since then (it moved into my sinuses for the weekend - ugh). Hopefully it clears up in the next couple days.

Despite my cold I was still able to have lunch with my good friend, which I was really looking forward to - it had been a while since were able to get together. I also made it out to curling, and after falling into a very deep hole early on, we made some excellent and exciting shots, got back into it, and eventually came away with the win.

The weekend has been pretty quiet. I kept the chores and other normal things to as much of a minimum as I could, and tried to rest as much as possible. And I made some comfort food for dinner today - pot roast and mashed potatoes, which was super yummy. Unfortunately my goals took a beating this week, but that's to be expected when you're under the weather.

And with that I'm off. Back to work in the morning, so it's time to get some sleep. Hope you're all well. I'll see you next time. =]

Well, here we are for the first monthly goal review of 2025. It was a bit of a truncated month, since I didn't have my goals for the year set until midway through, but overall I think it went fairly well.

( Jan. 31 Goals... )

( Weekly Goals... )

( Monthly Goals... )

( Quarterly Goals... )


By the numbers, the month averaged out at 83%, so quite good overall. Looking forward to continued success in February. =]