Today was actually a beautiful day in Cleveland - blue skies, warm sun. On a day like this I could grow to tolerate a place like that. So far I've written a fair amount about the blighted areas I've driven through and work in daily. What I didn't really know until today is that the blight goes eastward from downtown, getting progressively worse until you hit our office building... There are entire blocks boarded up, with dark factories looming behind. Dead patches of city.
But a mere 8 blocks later on, the blight abruptly ceases and it turns into a blue collar industrial area, with some large, still functioning factory campuses (sporting some awesome 1960s architecture, I might add) and many blocks of well kept houses and shops. It was actually kind of nice. But it was a true timewarp - between the architecture, the wide boulevard roadway, and the blue sky, I felt like I was driving through a corporate brochure of the past. It really did not feel like the present day. Wonder if I actually fell through a time portal? My Nissan rental magically transforms to a Packard, and a stylish fedora appears on my head. As I type this on my trusty underwood....
Work was particularly busy this week - I had triple intensity: Three new team members to bring up to speed and manage, plus organizing a parallel project (coordinating 20 people who aren't on my project), PLUS doing a quick "extra" project for the company - a brain dump/writeup of what I know about web-based personal health records, which is a lot... So it was up at 6, work til 5, quick dinner, catnap, work til midnight. Repeat. I'm ready for a rest. It doesn't help that one of the team is, I'm going to go ahead and say it, a total spaz. Very attention hungry, very eager to show his knowledge, very loud in every way (ringtones, jokes). On Monday I wanted to kill him. On Wednesday I just wanted to ignore him. By today, I was coping with his energy. But he will be an exhausting one. And no, I didn't hire him.
With all of the things to keep straight, my brain had a hard time shutting down, so even that 6 hours of sleep was somewhat less in the end. Plus there was a mysterious noise - a metallic skrriitt skritt from somewhere - it reminded me of a hard drive accessing memory. It was constant, so not a critter. I had my head mashed between pillows.
The flight home was fast, uneventful, and pulled up early - and even better, there was a gate ready for us. Nothing worse than sitting on the tarmac, waiting... waiting... So I got home early!
Speaking of waiting: Bella was waiting up for me full of stories. Tonight she wanted to tell me about something she learned about but couldn't remember the name of. "Ok. There are rules. The first rule, all parts are straight lines. A circle is NOT one. Nor is a moon shape. Second rule is the lines are all connected - there are no gaps". "Are you talking about a Polygon, Bella?" "YES! POLYGON! Say, that would be a great name for a bird. I'm going to draw a polygon bird tomorrow."
Isaac was asleep when I got home, but has been up 4 times unsettled and needing extra cuddles. Pamela reports that he's been very cuddly this week, and I can't wait to see that this weekend. And right now I'm sitting in bed next to Pamela - she's reading, I'm writing, and we're just enjoying being together. I'm looking forward to a good recharge this weekend with my googy. Maybe we'll even watch Star Trek!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
It is getting better
My week in the imperial suite was pretty good for the nerves: Baths have a way of completely draining my energy to the point that I require a full 8 hours to recharge. So naturally I used the Jacuzzi two of the three nights to make sure I was well rested. Work actually went pretty well this week - a couple of minor things which had been nagging at me got resolved and by the end of the week, we (the team) were feeling pretty good about things. Well, pretty good only in that we now know that we're on target and even a little ahead of the game, but are now concerned that the other teams are behind and will begin impacting us.
It's beautiful.
In a relaxed state, I decided to check out the Oscar Winner: The Hurt Locker. Two hours later, I realized my life really isn't that bad. The scene where a character realizes that he loves the action more than his wife and son was just heartbreaking... and after a nanosecond's reflection, I confirmed that I do indeed love my family a lot more than I love my work in Cleveland. Not even CLOSE on that one. ;->
Friday work-from-home was chockablock with activity - conference calls, trainer appointments, haircut. My man Warren went and ordered his iPad at 7:30am. Me? I'm actually waiting a little - not for "rev 2" necessarily, but just "wave 2" of the current crop: I can live without this thing until June, and by then Warren will be telling me all of the things I can do with it that Apple says you can't do... he's sort of a rainman with hacking devices... he had a ring of neighbors sharing satellite TV, he's the first to find the pirated movies and TV shows, he uses his iPhone to get his laptop connected to the internet (which isn't officially supported), and goes on GPS treasure hunts... and yet he cuts hair for a living.
Friday night was the Highlands School Carnival: This year we got a sitter for Isaac and stayed late. Pamela helped organize a bit, and it was a fun affair - mostly games rooms, some crafts/makeup rooms. I had some kids wrap me with gauze and paint on blood in the "Shark Attack" room: I believe I was the only adult to submit to this treatment. And yes, for the third year in a row, Bella did win something in the raffle: Not a big basket this time, but the opportunity to make a ceramic bowl with the art teacher in a one-on-one session.
So now a "going way back" thing: In the past on this blog (and my old Language one) I made some somewhat disparaging statements about Rosetta Stone. Well, I've revisited the program, and I must say that in the past 2 years, their new V3 release changed the game: Its a much better product now. Same method, same slow pace, but the tools and class pacing are much better. In a couple of weeks I'll be starting at level zero with Arabic, a language I haven't done ANY work in in any way, to see how the Rosetta method works when you've got nothing - not even an alphabet - to start with.
I had a dream last night that was disturbingly work-relevant: I was meeting with a contact at the Washington Mall, and was passed the intel that "two major hospitals are ditching Cerner (EMR software) and going to Epic at the same time - it'll be a death blow to Cerner... the project is called 'BLUE HAMMER'." It was just a dream, but... "Blue Hammer?"
Last word: As I was driving Bella to the Carnival last night, she noticed a big crowd of cars at a Holiday station.
B: "Dad, why are all those people at Holiday?"
Me: "Probably they need gas in their cars."
B: "Well, THAT'S not the most important thing in life."
Me: "Bella, what IS the most important thing in life?"
B: "Well, being ALIVE, for one."
Me: "What else?"
B: "You know, air, food, water, space".
Me: "What about love?"
B: "Pfffft."
It's beautiful.
In a relaxed state, I decided to check out the Oscar Winner: The Hurt Locker. Two hours later, I realized my life really isn't that bad. The scene where a character realizes that he loves the action more than his wife and son was just heartbreaking... and after a nanosecond's reflection, I confirmed that I do indeed love my family a lot more than I love my work in Cleveland. Not even CLOSE on that one. ;->
Friday work-from-home was chockablock with activity - conference calls, trainer appointments, haircut. My man Warren went and ordered his iPad at 7:30am. Me? I'm actually waiting a little - not for "rev 2" necessarily, but just "wave 2" of the current crop: I can live without this thing until June, and by then Warren will be telling me all of the things I can do with it that Apple says you can't do... he's sort of a rainman with hacking devices... he had a ring of neighbors sharing satellite TV, he's the first to find the pirated movies and TV shows, he uses his iPhone to get his laptop connected to the internet (which isn't officially supported), and goes on GPS treasure hunts... and yet he cuts hair for a living.
Friday night was the Highlands School Carnival: This year we got a sitter for Isaac and stayed late. Pamela helped organize a bit, and it was a fun affair - mostly games rooms, some crafts/makeup rooms. I had some kids wrap me with gauze and paint on blood in the "Shark Attack" room: I believe I was the only adult to submit to this treatment. And yes, for the third year in a row, Bella did win something in the raffle: Not a big basket this time, but the opportunity to make a ceramic bowl with the art teacher in a one-on-one session.
So now a "going way back" thing: In the past on this blog (and my old Language one) I made some somewhat disparaging statements about Rosetta Stone. Well, I've revisited the program, and I must say that in the past 2 years, their new V3 release changed the game: Its a much better product now. Same method, same slow pace, but the tools and class pacing are much better. In a couple of weeks I'll be starting at level zero with Arabic, a language I haven't done ANY work in in any way, to see how the Rosetta method works when you've got nothing - not even an alphabet - to start with.
I had a dream last night that was disturbingly work-relevant: I was meeting with a contact at the Washington Mall, and was passed the intel that "two major hospitals are ditching Cerner (EMR software) and going to Epic at the same time - it'll be a death blow to Cerner... the project is called 'BLUE HAMMER'." It was just a dream, but... "Blue Hammer?"
Last word: As I was driving Bella to the Carnival last night, she noticed a big crowd of cars at a Holiday station.
B: "Dad, why are all those people at Holiday?"
Me: "Probably they need gas in their cars."
B: "Well, THAT'S not the most important thing in life."
Me: "Bella, what IS the most important thing in life?"
B: "Well, being ALIVE, for one."
Me: "What else?"
B: "You know, air, food, water, space".
Me: "What about love?"
B: "Pfffft."
Monday, March 08, 2010
Living like a Player
Checking in to my hotel in Cleveland, they recognized me and welcomed me back. "Three nights?" "Yes, in the Imperial Suite, if you please - the one with the waterfall" in my best "Grey Poupon" voice.
The manager nudged the clerk and they did something to the computer... And now I have a room with a Jacuzzi. I can't say I even knew such a room existed in this hotel... I was sure to plead with them I was only joking, but they insisted on being nice to me.
This is just ridiculous. But I do love it.
It has been a busy day already, and I have a dinner meeting ahead. The week is stacked with meetings, but also I have a little "side" project I'll be doing in the next 2 weeks to add around 20 hours to my income, which will be nice. Lots of research and decision matrix-ing.
More as it happens, people.
The manager nudged the clerk and they did something to the computer... And now I have a room with a Jacuzzi. I can't say I even knew such a room existed in this hotel... I was sure to plead with them I was only joking, but they insisted on being nice to me.
This is just ridiculous. But I do love it.
It has been a busy day already, and I have a dinner meeting ahead. The week is stacked with meetings, but also I have a little "side" project I'll be doing in the next 2 weeks to add around 20 hours to my income, which will be nice. Lots of research and decision matrix-ing.
More as it happens, people.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Cleveland's Finest
Good food day: Tried another small, Cleveland-only sub shop called GRUM'S, where almost all sandwiches include the word Grum. Like the Grum. The Grumster. The GrumSTEER, the SeaGrum, and Grumizza. We all liked it, but are more fans of Dave's Cosmic Subs a few doors down. Plus, the people weren't that friendly. Sort of just stared us down as we walked in. That's Cleveland Style, though, as our visit to the small italian deli a few weeks back showed.
Speaking of Cleveland Style, I couldn't resist a visit to Cleveland's finest pizza tonight. It was good as I remembered. I took a nap upon returning to the hotel room... though it was short and followed with 3 more hours of work. YES.
At work today, I felt great leaps forward in a few meetings, only to have a frustrating bit at the end: I was engaged in something of a dance with two parties - one who was asking for a date to be moved, one who was directly affected by the date moving. I was trying to get the date asker to qualify the request, so that I didn't have to bug the affected party unduly, and this was NOT critical - I had a few days to get this resolved.
Halfway through the exchange, one of the parties (who was actually only copied on the email, not an active participant) decided this is an "issue" and escalated it to my boss and my boss' boss. Who then called around that made everyone just do that damn thing.
Which means I now have one less card to play with the affected party (I was trying to keep his team's workload low and build some credit), and the asking party now knows they can holler for what they want without justification. I spent the afternoon cleaning that mess up.
People. I had this under control. TRUST THE JIMMY.
Speaking of Cleveland Style, I couldn't resist a visit to Cleveland's finest pizza tonight. It was good as I remembered. I took a nap upon returning to the hotel room... though it was short and followed with 3 more hours of work. YES.
At work today, I felt great leaps forward in a few meetings, only to have a frustrating bit at the end: I was engaged in something of a dance with two parties - one who was asking for a date to be moved, one who was directly affected by the date moving. I was trying to get the date asker to qualify the request, so that I didn't have to bug the affected party unduly, and this was NOT critical - I had a few days to get this resolved.
Halfway through the exchange, one of the parties (who was actually only copied on the email, not an active participant) decided this is an "issue" and escalated it to my boss and my boss' boss. Who then called around that made everyone just do that damn thing.
Which means I now have one less card to play with the affected party (I was trying to keep his team's workload low and build some credit), and the asking party now knows they can holler for what they want without justification. I spent the afternoon cleaning that mess up.
People. I had this under control. TRUST THE JIMMY.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Up in the Air
Travel travel travel. After 10 wonderful days at home, I'm back in the Land of Cleve. The flight out was typical, the rental was ready, the hotel had a room on my favorite floor.
My office was dark and quiet... But as I've described in the past - there's a front door that is locked, and a back way in through a kitchen and an unused office into our workspace. So I barged on through, to find a woman practicing yoga in the unused office. With a TV and DVD player. I murmured an apology and hustled past, actually stepping around her. It was a little awkward. These quiet corners of the gigantic facility we're in - I think everyone has a place they like to hide out in. Another day a woman had her head down on the desk and was blasting music on headphones. Obviously a chill out space. I feel like I should put a sign on the door - "Go ahead and use this space to chill - just don't mind us".
My first room at the hotel tonight was one of those "adjoining" ones with a door between rooms. This is never a problem, unless one person in the arrangement happens to like television. Then that thin door is no match for the audio waves, and we're both enjoying Cleveland's Number One News Team. Fortunately they have a few open rooms here, so they moved me without a fuss (no point in bugging mister TV guy - it's not his fault - in a normal room, nobody would have heard anything).
Bella had another set of Synchro meets this weekend, and did quite well: Her team placed second, and she got 8th place out of 22 girls in her compulsory figures, so good going Bella!!! Isaac, Zinsser, and I held down the fort while that was going on... thought we did go see her performance on Sunday at the hottest (temperature wise) pool in the twin cities. It was muggy, steamy, and unreasonable. But the girls in suits were probably comfortable. Us spectators, trapped in PANTS were left to simmer.
Oh, a followup point on an earlier post: I was able to find the Radio Edit of Boom Boom Pow, in which they don't say "S**t" a dozen times. Which was a good find, though you can't buy it like that from iTunes, Amazon, or anywhere else. So I just say "thank you internet" for my sources for finding a hit song without the cusswords. The kids are happy (and none the wiser).
Allright, off to creative ventures: I'm trying to take at least a half hour of every day and be creative in some way (Blogging sort of counts) - I'm back to Languages for a little, and some music too... no big expectations. Just something to stir the grey matter around a bit. It's good.
My office was dark and quiet... But as I've described in the past - there's a front door that is locked, and a back way in through a kitchen and an unused office into our workspace. So I barged on through, to find a woman practicing yoga in the unused office. With a TV and DVD player. I murmured an apology and hustled past, actually stepping around her. It was a little awkward. These quiet corners of the gigantic facility we're in - I think everyone has a place they like to hide out in. Another day a woman had her head down on the desk and was blasting music on headphones. Obviously a chill out space. I feel like I should put a sign on the door - "Go ahead and use this space to chill - just don't mind us".
My first room at the hotel tonight was one of those "adjoining" ones with a door between rooms. This is never a problem, unless one person in the arrangement happens to like television. Then that thin door is no match for the audio waves, and we're both enjoying Cleveland's Number One News Team. Fortunately they have a few open rooms here, so they moved me without a fuss (no point in bugging mister TV guy - it's not his fault - in a normal room, nobody would have heard anything).
Bella had another set of Synchro meets this weekend, and did quite well: Her team placed second, and she got 8th place out of 22 girls in her compulsory figures, so good going Bella!!! Isaac, Zinsser, and I held down the fort while that was going on... thought we did go see her performance on Sunday at the hottest (temperature wise) pool in the twin cities. It was muggy, steamy, and unreasonable. But the girls in suits were probably comfortable. Us spectators, trapped in PANTS were left to simmer.
Oh, a followup point on an earlier post: I was able to find the Radio Edit of Boom Boom Pow, in which they don't say "S**t" a dozen times. Which was a good find, though you can't buy it like that from iTunes, Amazon, or anywhere else. So I just say "thank you internet" for my sources for finding a hit song without the cusswords. The kids are happy (and none the wiser).
Allright, off to creative ventures: I'm trying to take at least a half hour of every day and be creative in some way (Blogging sort of counts) - I'm back to Languages for a little, and some music too... no big expectations. Just something to stir the grey matter around a bit. It's good.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Two Jokes and a Dream from Bella
Two gems from the "going to sleep" mind of Bella the last few nights.
Two Jokes (Related)
Why couldn't the egg jump on the trampoline? Because it would CRACK.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Egg.
Egg who?
Egg who couldn't jump on the trampoline. I have a question. WHY can't I jump on the trampoline again?
A Dream:
I dreamed that if people touched their butts together, that there would be a tube connecting them and it would stretch, and a hole would open in their pants to let the tube through. And when you're connected, you have powers: If you snap your fingers, you can make everything STOP.
So if there was a bank robber, you could just SNAP, and they'd freeze, and you could carefully take the money out of his hands and put it back in the bank. And then you could grow big and pick him up with your fingers and drop him right in jail.
And then when you snap the tube, it goes away, and the hole in your clothes just closes up like nothing was there.
Two Jokes (Related)
Why couldn't the egg jump on the trampoline? Because it would CRACK.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Egg.
Egg who?
Egg who couldn't jump on the trampoline. I have a question. WHY can't I jump on the trampoline again?
A Dream:
I dreamed that if people touched their butts together, that there would be a tube connecting them and it would stretch, and a hole would open in their pants to let the tube through. And when you're connected, you have powers: If you snap your fingers, you can make everything STOP.
So if there was a bank robber, you could just SNAP, and they'd freeze, and you could carefully take the money out of his hands and put it back in the bank. And then you could grow big and pick him up with your fingers and drop him right in jail.
And then when you snap the tube, it goes away, and the hole in your clothes just closes up like nothing was there.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Back to Normal
I'm sitting here, and my whole family is asleep. Pamela is zonked out in Isaac's bed with Isaac and Zinsser, and Bella is murmuring in her sleep from her room. And it's just after 9pm. YES - Googy is home, and she's just plain exhausted. We went out to the airport to pick her up - the plane was early, but late getting to the gate thanks to a "no room at the inn" situation... which gave Isaac and Bella time to slurp down some hot cocoa from Starbucks. And still they sleep.
On the ride home, we blasted "I got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas, which Bella sang along with, and Isaac did the hollering parts. He loves to shout "tonight's going to be a GOOD GOOD NIGHT!!!" Yes, it's a simple song and over played, but we have fun with it. Unlike Boom Boom Pow, which the kids also love, but is filled with the "S" word, which just bugs me. And there's not a "clean" version available. Dang it. Both songs are prominently featured in the Secret Agent Guinea Pig movie G-Force, which both kids love.
When we walked through the door, the kids ran up and let Zinsser out, and he beelined right down the stairs, around the corner, and up into Pamela's lap, where he just parked himself, unbelievably happy that his mistress had at long last returned.
Thursday will be back in the swing of things: I've done my best to stay on top of things at work this week, but there have been big windows of "doing things with Isaac" time in there where I have been quite off the clock. And I wasn't willing to just park Isaac in front of some shows to get work done - it doesn't seem fair, and frankly it seemed a waste of the opportunity to cuddle and wrestle with him.
In some ways, Isaac and Zinsser are very close in age: Today I spent 45 min in the basement playing catch with Isaac and fetch with Zinsser at the same time. and Isaac was doing "two ball catch" which meant we both had to throw/roll our balls at the same time, and try not to have the balls hit midway. It was pretty advanced, and Isaac was focusing on aiming his ball just to the right, so it would pass the other ball coming at him. Later, upstairs, Zinsser insisted on a round of Fetch/Chase, where fetch is just the start, then a raucous run around the coffee table a dozen times before he lets you have the ball back. Isaac wanted to be the fetcher too, so we did "every other" round - Isaac would fetch/chase, then it was Zinsser's turn.
Zinsser understood that they were taking turns, and when it was Isaac's turn, he'd run a little slower to let Isaac "win". Really. That is a smart dog.
Anyway, back to the house - Pamela apparently had a wonderful trip, and I've heard bits and pieces over the phone these past days... and was looking forward to a little debrief. But Pamela flat out passed out when putting Isaac to bed, and resisted several wakeups. So I'll just let that ride.
In the end, it was 7 days, 6 nights without my googy. That was a long time, and it helps me keep in perspective how things are when I'm on the road. it sure felt like the kids and I fell into an ok routine and we worked together to keep things going. As I hear her snoring in the next room, I'm just happy to have her home.
On the ride home, we blasted "I got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas, which Bella sang along with, and Isaac did the hollering parts. He loves to shout "tonight's going to be a GOOD GOOD NIGHT!!!" Yes, it's a simple song and over played, but we have fun with it. Unlike Boom Boom Pow, which the kids also love, but is filled with the "S" word, which just bugs me. And there's not a "clean" version available. Dang it. Both songs are prominently featured in the Secret Agent Guinea Pig movie G-Force, which both kids love.
When we walked through the door, the kids ran up and let Zinsser out, and he beelined right down the stairs, around the corner, and up into Pamela's lap, where he just parked himself, unbelievably happy that his mistress had at long last returned.
Thursday will be back in the swing of things: I've done my best to stay on top of things at work this week, but there have been big windows of "doing things with Isaac" time in there where I have been quite off the clock. And I wasn't willing to just park Isaac in front of some shows to get work done - it doesn't seem fair, and frankly it seemed a waste of the opportunity to cuddle and wrestle with him.
In some ways, Isaac and Zinsser are very close in age: Today I spent 45 min in the basement playing catch with Isaac and fetch with Zinsser at the same time. and Isaac was doing "two ball catch" which meant we both had to throw/roll our balls at the same time, and try not to have the balls hit midway. It was pretty advanced, and Isaac was focusing on aiming his ball just to the right, so it would pass the other ball coming at him. Later, upstairs, Zinsser insisted on a round of Fetch/Chase, where fetch is just the start, then a raucous run around the coffee table a dozen times before he lets you have the ball back. Isaac wanted to be the fetcher too, so we did "every other" round - Isaac would fetch/chase, then it was Zinsser's turn.
Zinsser understood that they were taking turns, and when it was Isaac's turn, he'd run a little slower to let Isaac "win". Really. That is a smart dog.
Anyway, back to the house - Pamela apparently had a wonderful trip, and I've heard bits and pieces over the phone these past days... and was looking forward to a little debrief. But Pamela flat out passed out when putting Isaac to bed, and resisted several wakeups. So I'll just let that ride.
In the end, it was 7 days, 6 nights without my googy. That was a long time, and it helps me keep in perspective how things are when I'm on the road. it sure felt like the kids and I fell into an ok routine and we worked together to keep things going. As I hear her snoring in the next room, I'm just happy to have her home.
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