“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 887 (Friday) – low high

The busy day had stretches of time where it felt like I hadn’t breathed in hours. It was a continuation of the trend of most of the rest of the week. Part of it was the usual flow of project elements that were suddenly ready for next steps needing to be executed by me. Part of it was my effort to clear the desk for a week out of the office. 

Winston!

New today, Winston has something going on that caused him to yelp when I picked him up and a couple times when he got up from laying down. It’s different than the times he had a knee issue and temporarily became a three-legged dog, and I wasn’t able to call the vet until a skosh after 4:00, at which time they were already closed for the day. If it keeps up, we may get to visit the emergency vet this weekend. It’s been one year and five days since that last awful, final visit there with Moose.

In past years and different circumstances, birthday eve and vacations were often kicked off with cocktails with friends. Tonight, the vacation for one kickoff option was dinner for one ordered from the preferred purveyor of home delivered delectable treats. Two coupons arrived from them via email this week – one for the free birthday dessert (expires August 21) and my favorite in the regular coupon rotation, 20 percent off an order of $30 (expires August 17).

The strategic planning of orders and coupon usage was underway. The site was visited with a fried seafood dinner in mind. A narrow banner at the top of the site announced “The store will be closed for summer vacation. We will reopen Monday, August 22nd Happy summer!!!” Umm… seriously? This was feeling a little like a sinking ship.

The unfortunate timing of the pizza parlor vacation leaves the weekends at both sides of vacation with me having to fend for myself for food. What if I find a new favorite place during this time? It could happen. (Probably not.)  And thanks for the poorly timed valuable coupons. I sure hope they are honored the week of the 22^nd.

Luckily, there was still pizza in the freezer from a couple weeks ago and a slice and a beer, while not even close to a fried seafood dinner, became the sad substitute. The beer was Yuengling lager, which may be steeped in history coming from the nation’s oldest brewery, but it’s so lackluster it’s been in the fridge since last fall.

While reaching for the laptop, a glass of water was overturned by an elbow and spilled all over the floor. The usual nighttime foot cramps kicked in with a vengeance. It might be birthday eve and the start of vacation, but it really is just more of the same here.

Evening sky in car windows.

On the cheery side of things, while I didn’t quite see a summer sunset thanks to being surrounded by tall houses and trees that block the view, I saw evidence of the evening magic. While letting Winston out, the evening light was reflected in the car windows where it was more visible than in the sky above. It wasn't a dramatic sunset or a meteor shower or a super moon, but it was something.

To cheer myself up further and take a break from searching from shows to binge, YouTube was visited to see the new video “Goth Beach” by Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, a local band I was introduce to by a friend several years ago. There is a treasure trove of videos by the band on YouTube, and watching a steady string of them was the high point of the night.