It was a hard day of ups and downs. At the shoe company, we had a break in data conversions, so the day was focused on work items. This will be a concise blog as the whole day was about work which I don’t blog about–well maybe not that concise.
I started the day early, and there was no hint of a break at first. I was up at 7ish and attended that status meetings, and then, having no issues, I got dressed and headed to see Susie at Hummingbird House.
I stayed a bit longer as yesterday’s visit was cut short. Susie was feeling better. Jennifer told me she had a tummy issue Wednesday night, but it had resolved, and she slept the night. Susie’s speech was more challenging for me to understand today, but that could be me as I have been under some stress at work, so I will just see what others say.
We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and chatted with her for some time. Leta then asked me about some items that I will follow up with. Leta, being far away, always feels guilty about not being there to help and often reminds me of things I need to check on. Will be checking on them soon!
Susie is wearing one of the sweaters I brought her for her vast collection still at the Volvo Cave. This is a fav of mine–it is also dry clean only, and Jennifer is ensuring it does not end up in the laundry!
It was cloudy and overcast as usual for June in the Pacific Northwest, with a temperature of only 64F (18C), so there was no quick trip to the park. Soon it was time for me to go, which made Susie sad as I knew she would like to do more that day, but it was a work day for me, so I had to get going. It is always heartbreaking for me, I have tears in my eyes even as I write this, but work pays the bills and provides health insurance. Thus, I must head to the office.
When I get there, I enter a s**t storm, but as an IT professional, I get out my virtual s**t storm goggles and smile and figure out how to help without adding to the stress levels of others. My job as a computer architect is often to be supportive and only join in when asked. If a bunch of folks have a problem and are managing, my job is to be a cheerleader and help others accept and wait. It is so easy to virtually grab the steering wheel and try to drive a solution, but that is not my job unless needed. Thus I helped by being calm and following up on the few items I could help with.
I cannot place any work details here as that is inappropriate, but my emotions can be described. It was hard to do the right thing and just endure the s**t storm (still going on Friday) and be helpful and calm.
I got free lunch at the trucks, a salad with cornbread. It was good, but I hardly tasted it. Again, hard to enjoy an excellent lunch when you are in a swirl of issues. I sat in the command center for the afternoon and early evening and joined various status calls.
When it became clear that we would wait, I went home. Corwin was home and packing–he moves out on Friday and over the holiday weekend. I ordered some favs from Gyro House for us to recognize this important day for him. I got a lamb gyro with a side of tabbouleh. Corwin and I shared some eggplant dip (baba ghanouj) with Corwin enjoying an Iskender plate from Gyro House for his dinner.
The night continued with various update meetings, but around 10ish, it was clear that I could just get some sleep and either be called or wake in the morning. So I read for a bit. Then remembered it was trash and recycling–somehow, it was almost Friday (trash pickups are on Friday with recycling every other week). So the waste and recycling tasks were done with me in my slippers, taking multiple trips as I found more and more to trash or recycle. After that, I was ready to sleep with my phone set on loud. It did not ring, and that closed a tough work day.
Thank you for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 