random thoughts – Day 1,694 – (Wednesday) – legal regrets and such

Tonight, I participated in a Zoom webinar called “A Brief introduction to Copyright for Working Artists” offered by Mosaic Lowell as part of their professional development program. It was led by a Boston lawyer and was an interesting presentation about Intellectual Property rights that reminded me of one of my several regrets in life. At least twice, I had considered law school. The first time was when I took Business Law as an undergrad. I liked that class so much I was one of a handful of us who attended all of the Friday afternoon classes, even on the gorgeous spring days when half the school chose to skip out. The Uniform Commercial Code and the implied warranty of merchantability were fascinating. To me, anyway.

There was a point when I started researching law schools, followed by the point where I majorly screwed up, like I did so often as a younger person with a modicum of hope. At supper one night, I expressed my interest in law school out loud to family. 

As so often happened, it was the kiss of death. Instead of being met with questions like "what do you like about it," “is there a specific area you are interested in?” or “what might you want to do with a law degree,” I was met with the same “support” received any and every time I expressed a preference for anything. A torrent of p*ss immediately flowed fast and hot into my bowl of circular oat cereal product. “All lawyers are scum.” “Lawyers are [insert your favorite insult or cuss word here].” “Ewww, why would you want to do that?” And just like my younger self always did in the face of such love and support from people I cared about, I dropped it. Eventually I learned to not share my diminishing number of dreams and hopes because it was easier than seeing them peed upon and stomped.

The second time that law school was considered, I was in my 40s, living in Tennessee, and working full time. I kept the idea to myself, did some research, and then dashed my own budding dream in my own calm, rational, and logical manner. A law school in nearby Nashville had part-time night classes and affordable tuition. A gal pal's father had graduated from there and was enjoying a successful career. The thing that stopped me wasn't the expense, time, or hard work that would be involved, but the lack of American Bar Association accreditation. My brain recognized that the degree might not mean much outside Tennessee and Kentucky and my heart recognized that I likely wouldn’t be living in Tennessee forever.

Anyway. Tonight's webinar on copyright, plus a conversation last Friday where I told colleagues my favorite undergrad class was Business Law, had me all nostalgic and sad about the things I could have/ should have done. A real (and recurring) “what if?” wonderment moment.

If only I could jump into the way-back machine and grow a spine and not let the influential adults in my life dash the few dreams I dared to dream. If only I could go back and learn to just shut up and not say anything until I had fully prepared and could present my arguments. If only there was actually a way-back machine (which, as an invention, would fall under patent protection and not copyright, which I learned tonight). Sigh.

random thoughts – Day 1,693 – (Tuesday) – blocked

Blah, blah. Same old, same old. There was coffee, work, lunch, and more work.

Blocked.

There was also the new weekday, work hours, annoying phone calls. Starting in July, there was a steady stream of calls from unidentified numbers, often in other states located far, far away. Minnesota. Louisiana. Indiana. Florida. Ohio. North Carolina. Oregon. Georgia. Illinois. South Carolina. Michigan. Texas. 

Fortunately, I keep my phone ringer off at work. Perhaps unfortunately, I usually forget to turn it back on and occasionally miss calls I actually want. It works out mostly okay though, because generally I get very few important calls and most of the people I communicate with prefer a nice quiet text message that can be answered when convenient. Works for me.

The calls from the out of state numbers seemed to stop on election day. Or maybe they are on a little rest break. It doesn’t mean I have caught a break, however. 

The out of state calls have been replaced by calls from the (351) area code of northern Massachusetts. Luckily, due to the aforementioned ringer being turned off thing, I am blissfully unaware of them coming in until later. I’ve answered only two of them because I happened to see the call coming in and I was curious. Both times there was nobody on the line. There has never been a voice mail left. I think the object of the game is to have some answer to verify the number is valid. 

Since last week, I’ve blocked seven numbers from the (351) area code. Enough already.

random thoughts – Day 1,692 – (Monday) – concept and plan

As usual, there were several potential plans for the day. Ok, no actual plans per se, more like a concept of a plan. The concept was that I “would do something.” The something part, including what and how to execute it, was where things got fuzzy. Scrolling Facebook events yielded nothing but potential ideas for next weekend. Potential ideas for the current day flitted in my head. Clean out the spare room (or at least start). Dismantle the deck table and put it in the shed. Read a book. Clean off the dining room table. Clean out the kitchen junk drawers.

Supper underway.

Big surprise to absolutely nobody at all, none of those things happened, but a couple other things did. I played games on my phone while shows and movies streamed on Netflix. Ate leftover pizza for lunch. Petted Kiki’s sweet little face every time she showed up to demand it. The dishes in the sink were washed. The floors, rugs, and Kiki’s chair were vacuumed. The trash and recycle bins were taken in from the curb. It was minimal effort at best.

While vegetating on the couch late in the afternoon, supper ideas began to form around sweet potatoes and onions. A sweet potato was sliced thin and sautéed with butter and a sliced onion. Almost everything I cook begins with butter and an onion. Frozen meat substitute crumbles and cranberries were added, and later, pecans. The seasonings were red pepper flakes and cinnamon.

Finished meal.

Normally, I would add diced apples and pears to a concoction like this to provide some moisture, but there were none at the house and I wasn’t going out shopping. A small amount of some sort of liquid was needed, but there was also no orange juice or broth from which to grab a splash. The winner for an on-hand sort-of liquid was strawberry jam. It was a desperate move, but the pretend meat crumbles can be as dry as dust without help. It worked, and the combination of hot red pepper and sweet jelly was tasty. 

It was another successful supper for one. I may fail to make and act on plans most of the time, but at least I manage to feed myself.

random thoughts – Day 1,691 – (Sunday) – perseverance

Perseverance in pink.

There were four or five mums, an echinacea plant, and other plants I didn’t even know the names of in the front yard. With the exception of one of the mums that was surrounded by irises that hid it, all were eaten by some still unidentified yard critter(s) as they began to produce leaves and buds. 

When I bought a couple more plants this year, I stood at the displays calculating how much money I was willing to sacrifice to the front yard mess hall, and also if there any colors the hungry little beasts might not like. The buds of the older plants of several colors were eaten as they emerged, so color might not be a factor. The tender young leaves and buds are probably as exciting to the critters as the early spring fiddleheads and asparagus are for humans.

Hanging tough in yellow.

This morning, I noticed some weary and worn yellow and dark pink flowers in the yard. There is no telling how long they had been there, because I don’t spend time in the yard like I did when Moose and Winston were alive. 

Somehow, two of the plants that had been prime ingredients in the front yard salad buffet managed to produce more leaves and flowers. They persevered through the hardships of being eaten down to little nubs and then a drought that still lingers and has ongoing daily fire danger warnings. 

Good work little plants. Nicely done. 

random thoughts – Day 1,690 – (Saturday) – spices and spending

Spices!

Oh, Saturday, how I love thee. Always so full of hope and promise and impulsive actions.

There was an ambitious start to the day. Friday night, thanks to a work friend’s Facebook post, I learned there was a spice drive taking place today from 10 until noon at a local food pantry. There was even a list provided of the most requested spices, which made it easy. 

My morning was free of commitments and I headed to Market Basket and rounded up several containers of salt, cinnamon, crushed red pepper flakes, and chili powder, then dropped them off at the drive. Did I think to buy any of these to restock my own pantry? No, I did not. Duh.

Next on the list was the gas station to fill the tank (only $2.85/gallon!) and the tires (low pressure again, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot. Cripes). While heading back home, I remembered I had wanted to go to the neighborhood local appliance store (yes, there is still one of those!). My refrigerator, which came with the house, while reliable and functioning properly on the inside, keeps getting rust spots on the outside. They used to scrub off with a ton of effort, but now they are permanent and getting worse. Gross. For months, I looked for appliance vinyl to just cover it up, but everything found is sized for the narrower side-by-side doors. The people with basic models that could really benefit from the stuff are left out. The food chill box has become embarrassing and needs to go.

There was an email last week from the local appliance store about a sale this month and I had already measured the offending unit and looked at the options online. A very suitable option was found that is just like the one I have sans rust spots. It has glass shelves and a deli drawer and two produce drawers and is on sale for a couple hundred dollars off. I could have ordered it online, but wanted to see it in person.

Just my luck, there were none of the old school basic model 28-inch refrigerators on the showroom floor, just the super-super expensive models that are the Mercedes Benz or BMW equivalent models of home appliances. The sales guy and I were at a desk looking at the same website I had viewed at home, and thank goodness I had already done that because I could recognize from the photos which had wire shelves and which had the glass shelves I wanted. Anyway, the thing is ordered and a delivery date scheduled. Then I looked at washer dryer sets, just because.

After the almost-impulse refrigerator purchase, the day's momentum skidded to a stop. Enough money had been spent already for the day/week/month and it was fiscally more responsible to quietly stay home and watch Preacher on Netflix for the rest of the afternoon. So that is what I did. 

random thoughts – Day 1,689 – (Friday) – good day

This was the second of two days this week that included the fun part of marketing. Today's edition featured the graphic designer and another colleague and I as we stood around the work table analyzing potential designs for two projects. It was a smaller scale of when we did the same thing on Wednesday with the first set of design drafts and the full team. Today, we looked at the refinements that were proposed the other day and came up with a few more tweaks.

We discussed the various colors and the extent to which they drew attention to the message (or not). We analyzed the various font treatments and the weight of the text and the spacing. We looked at how the imagery in some versions led the eye into the text. This sort of exercise was done regularly at my old agency job in Tennessee and I've missed it, so it’s been great collaborating like this this week. 

Since the pandemic and then the hybrid schedules, a lot of our creative discussions are handled via email or chat messages from our remote locations. It can be efficient, but it’s just not the same as in person conversations. Efficiency can be isolating, and there is no way we could have captured all the nuances we discussed this week over email. Impossible, really.

Merrimack Street, 5:05 pm.

Another nice thing that happened today was that the three of us onsite in our suite were invited to a pizza lunch in the executive office downstairs with our colleagues on the sales side of our business unit. One of our team members in that group finished the requirements for her degree today. The pizzas and salad were from my favorite pizza purveyor and were predictably delicious. It was a treat sitting in a conference room chatting about all manner of non-work things like New York City, traffic stops, classes we liked in college, and pizza.

At home, the street is dry since the water department crew did work yesterday. It doesn’t seem they are finished yet because there is gravel and safety cones were there used to be asphalt, but the situation is certainly improved.

Today was a good day. Five out of five stars. Even walking in the dark to the garage after 5:00 was nice with the white lights shining in the trees and reflecting on the sidewalk, and the lights glowing in the restaurant windows. Not as nice as the afternoon brightness and sunshine of 5:00 on a June day of course, but still nice in its own different way.

random thoughts – Day 1,688 – (Thursday) – breakfast and drama

Breakfast.

At 7:00 this morning, instead of sitting on my couch drinking coffee and relaxing with the usual emails, Wordle, and Words with Friends, I was dressed in a suit, seated at a table set for breakfast in a function room in Dracut while Christmas music played. Five colleagues soon joined me at the table in the packed room for the Salvation Army of Lowell’s Christmas Castle Breakfast. It wasn’t my usual morning event, but definitely worth getting up and out of the house for.

As I pulled into the parking lot, it wasn't visions of sugarplums dancing through my head, but coffee and French toast with syrup. The buffet felt like a miniature version of the breakfast spreads at the resort in Mexico and had donuts, pastries, eggs, sausages, bacon, fruits, and yes, French toast. Talk about a great start to the day.

After the breakfast, it was back to the remote office where, at 9:30, multiple trucks were lined up on the street and a digger was parked at the end of the street. A crew from the water department was working on the water main leak. It was a little bit loud, but I was glad the problem was being fixed. 

There was drama.

Everything seemed to be moving along nicely for several hours, while big chunks of asphalt being set into the digger, and a big hose thing in the new hole and guys moving around the work site. It all seemed very routine until1:30, when it got spicy. 

Voices were yelling over the sound of an idling engine and a pickup truck was parked in the middle of the street. The yelling included lots and lots of passionate f-bombs that lasted for a few minutes as one worker screamed at another one. I had a front row seat to a real-life workplace drama. 

Eventually, the yelling stopped and the construction sounds resumed. The pickup truck parked at the end of the street briefly, then disappeared. Around 3:30, the entire operation had vacated, leaving nothing but some orange cones where the digging had been and the puddle that still remained at the foot of my driveway. The space in front of the neighbor's house was significantly drier.

My workday was free of the drama of the water crew. My colleagues and I quietly and respectfully moved projects along and responded to emails and Teams messages and exchanged important information and updates. I made more progress on the shared drive file cleanup, which I enjoy a lot more than I thought I would. As work days go, it was a pretty good one.