random thoughts – Day 1,654 – (Friday) – wrap-up

The workweek is done, and it wrapped up not a moment too soon. It wasn’t a bad week, but the week before a vacation week is always filled with twitchy anticipation. Or maybe that’s just me because I don’t take enough vacation-vacations and I'm out of practice. Usually, I use random vacation days and staycation weeks for life maintenance stuff like appointments, house estimates or repairs, or dance rehearsals. The annual emails from HR about potential forfeitures of vacation time seem to back up the idea of my needing to use more time off. My need for some fun indicates it should be for leisure and not boring chores.

There has been recent anxiety over packing, an activity which used to feel as natural as sleeping but now is interrupting my sleep. Once upon a different lifetime chapter, I could throw all my favorite little outfits into one of several bags and be packed and ready for an adventure in minutes. Now, it’s an ordeal involving spreadsheets, overthinking, shopping, and imagining what people wear to the normal life activities I haven’t participated in for several years. For instance, what do people wear to a nice restaurant or cocktail party that isn’t guided by the business dress code in the company handbook? I have no clue. 

My summers are usually spent sequestered and freezing in the house/remote office or the downtown office-office, and I don’t know what to wear outside in warm weather. This is probably why I woke up at 4:00 this morning thinking about packing for 80-degree humid weather and the yoga class listed on the hotel’s app and how I better get out of bed right that minute to pack a gym top because a swimsuit top probably won’t be comfortable. And did I pick the right shoes? Will by pants be too long and the hems be stepped on in flat sandals? 

Anway. Work at the office-office was ok today. The drive in was as easy as the summer drives when school is on vacation. It was sunny and the view from the window included the continuing work on the cobblestone street four floors below. The to-do list had items crossed off it and the incomplete items are in a good place. There was time to purge some paper clutter from my desk. I remembered to visit the banking lobby downstairs to take care of some finances.

Pink evening.

After work, there was another stop at CVS for travel necessities recently added to the packing list (Imodium and aloe gel). Despite the traffic, I was home by 5:45 and ready to decompress. At 6:30, the clouds were streaked with pink and orange and I was glad I remembered to look outside to see it. 

Tomorrow, the carry-on bag will be settled and the house will be tidied. Soon, there will be a temporary leave from work and “regular life” at The BungaLowell and the adventure will begin.

random thoughts – Day 1,653 – (Thursday) – week of extras

Maybe too much extra.

So far, the work week has been a bit extra. The vacation packing has been done twice already and there seems to be too much extra stuff pulled from the closet and drawers. The bag was too full and the toiletries hadn't been dealt with yet. This is my own doing. Other extras of the week were beyond my realm of control.

Tuesday morning, the system needed a restart, which meant it took extra long to get logged in and be ready to rock the day. Late Tuesday afternoon, after an email from a colleague in another department, it was discovered that not all the programs that usually log in automatically did, and my work phone line wasn't connected.

Wednesday’s tech extras included all the icons for the latest file versions for my current projects disappearing from the desktop screen on the office-office computer. They were there, and then they were gone. When I tried to save a file to the desktop later, a message said the file was already there. Those must have been some extra-special invisible file icons. They came back to the desktop on the remote computer today, except they weren't all the current ones and some were previously deleted old ones. The haunting by previously deleted desktop files has been going on for months. 

Later on Wednesday, I checked my phone and was informed that the Verizon Message+ text program was going away on November 7. Options were an immediate, optional move to a Google platform, or a forced move in a few weeks. This was just a few days after the extra special surprise of being out of data nine days into the billing cycle.

There was a notice about a program plugin update needed on the work laptops before October 11, which could be done now. The update had to be done before logging into the remote system, which meant printing the instructions on an in-office day so I’d have them available to do the update before being able to log into my email. The plugin seemed to go okay and didn't take forever. Later, after a colleague texted my personal cell phone, I realized that not all the automatic programs logged in. I needed to do separate log ins for two or three programs including the chat messaging program that was showing me as MIA. So much extra nonsense.

Maybe I can take extras!

Also in the mix of extra fun this week was an apparent temperature change and the resultant angry red dashboard message about low tire pressure. Again. This is definitely the second, possibly third time in a few months. I’m starting to think I need to install my own air machine at the house. A computer tech might be a good idea, too.

The thermostat suddenly needed new batteries this morning. The replacing part is easy, but having to reprogram the thing afterward requires digging out the manual and dusting off the engineering degree I don't have. A text arrived, allegedly from a payment app about my supposed purchase of some very expensive computer equipment, with an 800 number I was told to call. Seriously, enough already with the bonus content this week.

When I talked about my extra wardrobe and packing issues with a colleague on Wednesday, she reminded me about the packing brilliance of compression packing cubes. A set was ordered Wednesday night from the mega-online purveyor of, well, everything. They arrived today, and after work I had a chance to check them out. What a difference! The bags zip and squash out the air and fit neatly into the suitcase, and this is the extra boost I needed. Maybe now I can take extra clothes. 

random thoughts – Day 1,652 – (Wednesday) –fall day

It was one of those office days where food was the star. A colleague brought in a platter of his wife’s specialty treat -- insanely decadent brownies with a layer of marshmallow and topped with chocolate frosting. Another colleague brought in mini cupcakes for a colleague's birthday. Then, our department head busted out a sample set of Swiss chocolate from his trip to Germany last week. We pounced like a pack of jackals.  

Outside the office.

The counter nearly collapsed from the heft of the calories heaped upon it. But it was all so good! And it motivated me to get my butt out of my chair and take a walk. 

I needed to create distance between myself and the treats, which looked like a cruise ship dessert buffet. The world outside the office food fest was both cloudy and sunny, and the leaves are becoming gold in the distance. 

I went to my favorite downtown store filled with a fascinating array of cheap stuff from China. There are hair gadgets, dishes, clothing including pajama sets with tags claiming to be Calvin Klein, hardware items, and more. Today’s kitchen treasure discovery was an egg slicer ($1.49) to help with my recent fascination with hard boiled eggs from Market Basket. I’ve eaten more egg salad sandwiches and sliced eggs on garden salads in the past few months than in the past decade, thanks to those eggs. Now it will be easier.

Ripples.

I had boldly set out with no jacket and was chilly, which made me walk faster than usual. The water in the canal that runs under Central Street had a rippled surface similar to the textured glass in my shower doors. I probably burned off one entire pineapple chunk from my lunch slice of leftover pineapple and black olive pizza.

On the way back from the store, there was commotion on Central Street. Traffic was snarled and red lights were flashing from six fire department vehicles scattered on Central and around the corner on Middle Street at the TD Bank building/apartment tower. An icky burned electrical smell hung in the air. I didn’t have time to be a looky-loo and was chilly, so I paused only long enough to grab some poorly composed photos.

random thoughts – Day 1,651 – (Tuesday) – routines

The current Tuesday routine is set. Coffee. Work. Lunch. Work. Supper. Drive. Dance Class. Drive.

Driving isn’t my favorite activity, but it also hasn’t been horrible, because there is a radio. I still miss the music system of my trusty old Honda CRV which included a five-disk CD player. I miss my eclectic collection of belly dance music, Latin church hymns, swear word songs, and old-school country music, a combination not found on any radio station or Sirius Channel. Whatever.

In the Tuesday night drives I’ve enjoyed some music from “back in the day.” It’s fun suddenly hearing Paul Westerberg, Warren Zevon, and The Church mixed in with Billie Eilish and other contemporary artists. The music has been good enough that I have hardly even sworn during the past two Tuesday night adventures.

The new dance class is going well. We are working on several choreography routines, the pace is quick, and it’s interesting and fun, so it’s worth the driving.

Soon, the Sunday class will be back in action. The Sunday morning drive is probably the nicest ride because it’s during daylight hours along country roads. The speed limit is little erratic, which constant shifts in the maximum the whole way, from 40, down to 25, back to 40, but that makes it fun. Or something.

Kiki stretching and rolling on the rug.

Kiki’s routine for most days I’ve seen is to nap, take a walk, nap, engage in some grooming, nap, have some water, engage in some stretching and weird poses on the floor, and nap. There are occasional treats. 

This seems like a pretty good schedule to me. I’m not saying I’m envious of Kiki’s day, and maybe I'd get bored with it eventually, but it sure seems appealing. Napping in the sun for chunks of the day should be allowed for adult humans. Someone feeding me treats would be a delight.