random thoughts – Day 1,422 – (Wednesday) – frost and salty tears

February frost.

This morning the car was painted with frost. It was pretty. The car had been warming up for a few minutes before I went out so the windshield was cleared, but the side windows were magical. A couple minutes were spent in the driveway taking pictures of the window and I was calm and ready to take on the day.

Unlike previous drives, the trip downtown was quite civilized. The intersections were mostly unclogged by the usual idiocy and I didn’t even have to swear. Ok, I probably did swear, but it's because I have a terrible case of potty mouth, but today it wasn’t inspired by traffic issues.

Unfortunately, the calm and tranquility evaporated once in the office and seated at the desk. February is asserting itself like an annoying chihuahua, and I need it to calm the heck down.

The first two workdays of the month were quiet and leisurely, but that was because I was on vacation time. These were followed by a weekend of more of the same. Four days of R&R are probably my favorite kind of days. 

Monday, however, exacted it’s revenge with a 150 email greeting and a to-do list that was half of an old-school sheet of lined paper long. By end of the day Tuesday, the sheet was ¾ full thanks to new additions, and only two items had been crossed off as completed. Many of the list items have deadlines in two weeks. Some are sooner. One is overdue, but not my fault.

Today, while checking project statuses with our designer, the old familiar shortness of breath started to kick in. Dang, I had almost forgotten what that was like. Not happy to be reintroduced. The projects and tasks and problems continued to flood in like an avalanche which is super not fun.

By 5:00 today, every single line on the 8.5 x 11 inch sheet was filled with tasks and only the same two from the morning were crossed off. I was resisting a very strong urge to run away. Like, for real. And forever. 

The garage is crying. I feel you.

The 5:20 downtown light was a welcome sight. The bakery and restaurants glowed warmly, but around the corner, the parking garage was another story. What seemed to be salt was caked in  streaks down the outer walls and windows. The structure looked like it was crying, which was kind of how I felt a couple hours earlier. I feel you, salty tear-stained garage. I feel you.

And yes, for the record, as much as I love a spreadsheet, I still track my projects on good old-fashioned notepads. It can take 15 minutes (sometimes longer) to log into the system in the morning, during which time a spreadsheet worklist would be inaccessible. Between all the manual codes and keystrokes for login, I am usually already reviewing the task list and getting into the headspace for the day. See, it’s old-fashioned, but also efficient.