Not sore anymore.

I think my previous post had more to do with the double session AND 5am wake up than the double session, because after 8 hours of sleep (LUXURIOUS) I felt just fine and had a good day at the work.

Today I went back to do the weights program, and loved it - the music just works: Drop Dead Gorgeous by Republica for the squats, Love Shack for the bench press, and a great track by MrTimothy called Stand By Me for the Biceps. It's all good, hummable stuff.

I'm doing Step tomorrow, we'll see if the music works for me - it was a bit noisy noisy for me on launch day.

Other news: While I ended last week feeling positive about work, this week we ended feeling a bit defeated: Things didn't go quite so swimmingly - and the team revealed some weaknesses which made me doubt our ability to hit the date. But by the end of the day I was feeling better... we have remediation plans, and the support of management, so we're gonna make it.

While I was driving the rental, I was doing German refreshers, and am happy with my ability to use the subjunctive tense... today I started Spanish back up (I'm on lesson 76 of 90, so I just need to KNOCK it out!!!)

And the Binks' best friend is leaving for 10 days for a family reunion in Indiana - today as Jenny went home, Bella couldn't even give her a hug, she was so sad...

Poor girl!

So.... sore....

Today was "launch day" at the health club that I work out at. That means they got all new workout routines (that they've been training on for weeks) - all new music, new steps, everything.

Launch day is special because they have ALL of the trainers running around teaching people the new moves, which is a great way to get acclimated to the new routines. So I decided to REALLY participate.

Today at 6am, I started with the Weights program "BodyPump". There were 15 of us, and I was by far the most awake. I felt great afterward and rewarded myself with a smoothie from Byerlys... then off to work by 7:30. I worked the full day, no ill effects, and then returned for BodySTEP at 4pm.

I almost died. Having two full hour, no breaks workouts in one day was just a bit much. I did everything, yes. But I also was definitely feeling some burn from this morning, particularly in my legs... so I was not jumping QUITE as high as I would expect. And now the combo of the early morning and the extra exercise has my eyelids heavy like lead. I'm going to sleep VERY well tonight.

Giving up.

When is it too late to give up on a novel? I picked up a well-reviewed sci-fi epic (I'll leave it anonymous), and was intimidated at it's 900 page length... but you know, it might be worth it. I love a good epic.

After 100 pages, I was thinking that it was pretty slow going.
After 300 pages, I was getting a bit frustrated
After 600 pages, I finally gave up and threw it across the room.

The guy just kept on introducing new characters one after another - or a new world, or a new species... and he'd spend 15 pages obsessively detailing said person, world, or creature, only to have it have NO impact on the narrative.

I'm not kidding, around page 500, the following happened: A world was introduced with over 20 pages of description of it's landscape, how it came to be, it's governing system. Then we met a guy on the world. We learned what he's been doing for the past 2 years. We meet his family. We get to know his son's academic history. After 40 pages into this, I realize the ENTIRE chapter is set up to give us a "common man's reaction' to what happened in the PREVIOUS chapter.

Or how about this - a murder mystery set up in the first 50 pages - with well over 200 pages dedicated to the obsessive minutae in solving this case - which turns out to have had NO relevance to the core storyline and only served to introduce another character, the angry GIRLFRIEND of the accused murderer, who figures later into the story... but the mystery had nothing to do with her other than to impoverish her. She could/should have been ANYBODY. We should have met her with a minor backstory and just started there.

For every single situation, there is too much detail that has no relevance to the story, and then for such careful attention to detail, there are huge plot points just thrown away.

I stopped reading at the 2/3 mark, when after eliding over 20 pages describing the evolution of some other damn species, I decided to skip to the end. Turns out, this isn't the end - it's a setup for a second book.

WHY would I suffer this meandering prose even a moment longer if my only reward would be to buy another thousand pages of drivel from this cretin?

Who could have given this a good review? WHO???? AND WHY???

Pictures....

I've been thinking about pictures a lot these days: Putting Grandma Kenning's photo album together started it, losing Pamela's computer and having to re-import 17,000 pictures continued it, and thinking about my 20 year high school reunion has cemented it. One of the Reunion chairs wrote asking for pictures of ourselves from back in HS...

I'm looking at the pictures I have of myself... and realize I actually have almost NO pictures of myself from 1982-1990 - from age 14-22 I may not have actually existed, as far as celluloid can tell. Here's some of the things I have no record of:

Any pictures of me on stage with a band. Any pictures of me with anyone I dated back then. Any pictures of me in a non-holiday context.

Around 1990, I start to find pictures again: Me with a band. Me with Pamela, me at a party... Before 1982, there are pictures of me at Camp... but not many. You need to go back to my early childhood to get pictures of me.

Part of this is the cost of film. Part of this was that I was a VERY geeky/gawky adolescent and shunned photography. Part of this is that when we took family trips, we DREW our adventures in a big book - we didn't take photographs.

There is one record of me through this time - school/college pictures. One a year, and all of them very awkward. My senior HS picture is so laughably bad - I had an ARGYLE VEST on. Come on. They should have said something like "kid, lose the vest". But no.

So back to the Reunion - I'm afraid I really don't have any pictures to share! Maybe someone else took pictures of me, but I don't have 'em.

Compare to the first 3.5 years of Bella's life: Over 8000 photographs on my hard drive include that binks in them. Digital media is cheap, I can take dozens of pictures and never consider the cost... And as a bonus, MY life is finally documented as well!

At the end of the week

1) It doesn't look like that Dotcom idea is going to fly. I did meet with him, but we didn't truly "click", and his idea didn't have enough meat to it to make it through the first round of financing questions as far as I could tell. If anything, it made me realize that MANY of my ideas that I have knocked around (save perhaps the LED-driven corduroy pants) have as much if not more force behind them than what this guy was meeting to get $10m to start. I wish him well, of course! But I don't see spending much time on this.

2) I had a great feeling on Friday at the big client - I got everything done that was overdue from my predecessor. So I was fully caught up... and the team is back on schedule... and I can actually start moving FORWARD on things. Not that I have any time to rest, but it was a peaceful moment to be in!

3) The MINI is back! Sir Nigel Kippers has been thoroughly repaired (not a sign of the Yukon's violation in sight). It is wonderful to have him back...

4) There is no four.

Chuck's Lunch Story

I went to lunch with 5 co-workers at "Big Louie's", a sports bar not far from the client site. They have good sammich food - I usually get a huge chicken sandwich... but the whole menu is pretty good.

Chuck is a 50-ish man who looks a bit like Bob Balaban - short, jewish, with an accent that comes out the more frustrated (or inebriated) he gets. I love Chuck - he's the Project Manager for the phase that follows mine, and because of my time crunch I've been "borrowing" his people which is leading to increased consternation on his part. It doesn't take much to rile him up these days.

Today he started thinking that BREAKFAST lunch would be a good idea. But it's not on the menu, so he asked the waitress. She confirmed that yes, they could do bacon and eggs, or french toast... no problem. So he ordered two eggs, over easy, bacon, and toast.

5 minutes later, she came out to announce that they can't do eggs over easy - only scrambled. Is it because they're bottled eggs or something? No, the kitchen just won't do eggs other than scrambled. Ok, Chuck is willing to work with that. 5 minutes after that, she comes out to announce that actually, they can't do breakfast AT ALL - that's only for the weekends. Chuck decides that he'll just enjoy his diet coke, thanks.

10 minutes later, our meals arrive. Newton is sitting next to me, and he has ordered a "Big Louie Burger". This is a burger with lettuce, tomatoes, BACON, and a FRIED EGG on top.

Chuck's eyes almost bugged out of his head: GOD DAMN IT he yells! "So I got to order a Big Louie Burger, hold the burger, lettuce, tomato, and bun, and THEN I can get eggs and bacon? THIS IS INSANE. This place is CORRUPT".

X-Men... sigh...

Cards on the table, I'm an X-Men NUT. Issues 94-137 documenting the creation of the new X-Men, the Jean Grey Phoenix saga, Sentinels, the Brotherhood, Logan's origin, etc... it was all VERY formative geek literature for me.

Bryan Singer has been so obsessively TRUE to the X-Men spirit that both 1+2 have been delights to view. It was with perhaps a BIT of trepidation that I went to see X-Men3. I had heard very mixed reviews. But I knew that there were Sentinels and they were going to do a little with Dark Phoenix, so I had to do it.

First the positives - there were some very good scenes, and canonically, it was pretty accurate to the characters. I did love Kelsey as The Beast - he was very fun. And the bit about Mystique was so delicious....It had SO much potential... but....

It really was a FLAT movie. I didn't think that it had much energy or impact. I was watching scenes with a slightly removed feel - I kept thinking "Oh, ZZZZ has just died, and I am not feeling sad - why didn't this affect me?" It just didn't feel artistic or impactful.

And for a movie that quite frankly changes the lineup pretty significantly, I was very disappointed in how flat it was! I think that the EXACT same story could have been redone slightly - pacing, angles, delivery... in the hands of Bryan Singer, this could have been GREAT.

Here's the kicker - I felt more emotionally moved by the Superman Trailer BEFORE the movie.

Here's hoping that IF there's an X4, they don't get Uwe Boll. They need to put artistry back in this.

Carpe Diem

Good Evening my friends.

Work continues to be a very busy thing for me. I feel like I had a breakthrough of sorts today, however: Indulge me for a moment.

The BIG project is being managed using a tool called "Microsoft Project". This is basically an overgrown spreadsheet that lets you set up lots of dependencies between tasks, and is a relatively sane way to keep track of 1000 different things that need to get done in a limited amount of time. My predecessor had a very strained relationship with this tool, and with the plan he was managing.

So every week, the plan would be shown to all of the managers, and he would wave his arms at it and say "yeah, it's not right, but the tool is just wrong. Things aren't so bad". That sort of thing works for 1-2 times, but after 10 times, it got annoying for all involved. He is no longer around. But the plan was not in good shape, and it showed a go-live date a good month after the date we are actually planning on. When I took over, I did my best to update the plan, but I started to notice that there really WAS something off with it.

At this week's meeting, I found my self looking at the plan in the big meeting, and almost found myself saying "yeah it's not right, but the tool is just wrong". But I stopped myself. Instead I said "the plan is not right but next week it will be. In the meantime, here are the reasons the plan is off, and how I plan to fix them".

And I took CONTROL of the plan. I went through it, and corrected a bunch of bad linkages, I updated a bunch of old tasks, and reorganized the priorities. And now it does reflect my reality, and I can get this monkey OFF my back.

Fresh off of that administrative "high", I came home to find an email from a stranger. A reference from my SISTER, for a guy who is looking to recruit an officer for his high tech startup. At first I thought 'whatever, I'm busy', but politely inquired for more info.

Turns out, this guy is putting together a massive data mining project startup, very likely to be acquired if done correctly, which maps PRECISELY to skills I have. Which is sort of eerie - like the position was MADE for me. AND he is actually the real deal, having build a couple of companies you might have actually heard of, and raised millions in development capital.

So look for more info on that one!

The life of Jimmy, not a dull moment!

Lisa Store

At a mall near work, there is a big sign announcing vacancies. For rental information, call "Lisa Store" at some number. It just seems like a name that will lead to WAY too many jokes. "Hi this is Lisa Store, how can I help you?" "Yeah, I want to Lease a Store, Lisa Store. GET IT? HA HA HAH AHAHAHAHAHHAHAAA!!!"

Also on the same trip, I a "phenomenon" gelled in my mind. In just about evey auto shop you drive past ONE bay is taken up by a 1970s british car. MG, Triumph, Austin... It got me wondering: Are any 1970s british motorcars actually on the road?

So then I wondered... perhaps they're all owned by one guy, and it's a PLOT to add a "touch 'o' class" to any repair shop - in amid all of the K-Cars and Cutlasses, they do delicate "foreign work". Perhaps there is no actual work ever being done on these cars - maybe they're just allotted centrally to these shops, and they rotate them around, so you don't get suspicious... Maybe they're all fiberglass replicas on a bug chassis...

It's also possible that the stock imagery the aliens are using to create my illusion of freedom in the world (while I am actually being imprisoned for my past deeds of derring do against the empire) is being reused, and they just need to update it a little, stop using the same car over and over.

Back to work, eh?

Update

Update from the Accident:

The mini is in the shop - I'm driving a rental (a maroon ford focus). The repairs will be $2500, but insurance is covering it. There was no suspension damage, it's all body. That's very good.

My neck got stiff, and I saw the chiropractor, and he loosened things up Monday, and today I had an adjustment - sounded like a bag of microwave popcorn going. But it's good because I may only need 1-2 more after this....

And I gave the Rental company the info about THEIR customer who hit-and-ran me. They were quite interested in that information, interestingly.

Update on OTHER THINGS:
Tonight I went to a "work party", which was a strange little affair - only 6 people in a company apartment without art on the walls, no music, and lots of vodka. There was much drinking (I demurred after my polite one of course); I did have a very nice time with the gang, but I must relate one anecdote - they had a Ms PacMac game that was actually crashing for some reason. The little ghosts would stop running after me and just park. In Galaga, my ship was captured, but flew around the screen randomly, invincible, but able to shoot, while the enemy ships sort of winked in and out of existence randomly. It was more like a dream of Galaga.

I'm back to my workouts, and am feeling very good. After an 11 hour day yesterday, I HAD to go do my Step program, and it recharged my batteries. Dang, if only someone had TOLD me that exercise was GOOD for you, maybe I would have started it earler.

Oh wait, they did.

Finally, two stories about food service: I snuck over to Uncle Franky's today for lunch, and the ADD counter guy who obsessively offers anyone in line a beverage was missing... and in his place, an ADD young lady who obsessively offered any one in line a beverage regardless of where she was in the ordering process. And she rounded every order down, and there was STILL no obvious communication with the cook, who sensed every order.

Secondly, there's a coffee shop in north minneapolis (rough territory) where I got a post-lunch espresso... or tried to. The counter lady was sassing a friend/customer with lines like "girl, you lie so hard, you ain't got no truth IN you, now gimme them two dollars or I'm gonna come over there and rip it out of your greedy hands".

The customer in question had a bum tattoo (visible thanks to the low-rise jeans) that spelled in gothic letters "TROUBLEMAKER".

More friends came in, and walked right around Whitey McNerdlinger to place their orders with Miss Sassypants. Fortunately the espresso maker lady took pity and made me what I needed.

T-Boned

And I don't mean steak. I was driving Nigel the red mini home from my workout this evening, and a black Chevy Tahoe decided to blow a red light and whack my car. What's crazy is that the light was green for me, and had been for a while. This guy had been STOPPED at the red. And out of the blue he decides it's time to go. Into my car. On the plus side, that means he was only going 10-15 mph.

But on the negative side, he decided to wait for just long enough for me to pull over and get out, and then took off. I'm on the phone with 911, and they're asking if both cars are there... and I say, "yes - he's pulled over. No wait, he's driving off. He's gone."

Fortunately, there was a swarm of witnesses - I got 3 names/numbers and his license plate. The police filed a report and we even got the VIN of the car (which was a rental).

Nigel has a big dent on the door and rear quarter, but he's driveable, and I don't think I'm hurt (though neck stuff usually takes a day or two to manifest - I'm hitting the chiropractor tomorrow for sure).

A bummer way to end a very good day: Bella and my dad and I went to see Cars, which was a pure delight. I finished the Ny Times Crossword, and I got my weight training workout in too.

So I think I'll call it a night. DANG IT.

Giraffes? GIRAFFES!

Pamela took Bella to the MN Zoo today. There is a new exhibit with Giraffes. Giraffes are simply our favorite animals in the world. They're the strangest things on the planet. They actually got to feed and pet them, which makes me jealous. I may need to sneak off and visit these giraffes.

They met up with Bella's boyfriend Charlie, his brother William, and their mom, Jessica. Bella and Charlie have been in pre-preschool together, and are very affectionate with eachother.

This morning, Bella wanted to get ready for Charlie, and put on LIPSTICK. Then at the zoo, she KISSED him, leaving a big red mark. A bunch of big red marks actually.

I am collecting sheep, goats, and fine silks for her dowry. Perhaps a pet Giraffe as well.

Into the fire!

We dragged back into town Tuesday, and made a solemn vow: We are just NOT road trip people, and we're just going to have to splurge on plane tickets for any trip over 4 hours in the car. It's that simple, especially with Bella. And it's not that she was BAD - but it was just tiring....

I did not sleep particularly well: Since getting the "big promotion", I had been boss for two days, then off for FOUR. I had crazy dreams of the place in total chaos and me powerless to do anything about it. Of course these were ridiculous - the place was in chaos BEFORE I took the job... my little vacation wasn't hurting anything. But uncertainty at work leads to restlessness in my brain - it's a proven fact.

Wednesday was a marathon of a day - meetings back to back, statuses to assemble, decisions to make. It started at 6:45, and went to 5, when we had a consulting company staff meeting... followed by dinner out at Chino Latino. By the time I got home at 9:30, I was ready to pass out. So I did.

I am managing Phase A of the project. My pal Chuck is managing Phase B, which follows mine by 5 months. Chuck had got in at 6:30 on Wednesday, and had an equally hectic day. All day, we were checking in, and he kept saying that his "extra 15 minutes" made him WAY more exhausted than I.

At Chino Latino, we each ordered a Martini. And neither of us were able to really finish it. The first few sips simply let the air out of the balloon, and we melted into the booth.

Thursday was just as busy, but I started feeling a bit more "in control" - I started being proactive, setting a few things in motion to get people working on my diabolical plans to successfully roll out the big project. Today was even better (and an actual 9 hour day, finally), and I left feeling like I was actually caught up.

I had a brief meeting with the CIO today. I asked how I was doing so far, 5 days on the job. He said "I haven't heard any complaints, so I'm taking no news as good news... but I haven't seen them carrying you around on their shoulders yet either. We'll just have to see" with a smile and a wink.

I told him that the Shoulders Carrying thing would be coming in a few months, and it'll be a thing to behold.

More fun in Chi-Town

Today we got up early to go to the Shedd Aquarium. We had to take two cars - Papa and Bam in one, Lilli, Bella, Jimmy and Pamela in the other. We got there good and early and there was only a hint of a line.... though it was pretty crowded already. Some of the things I loved: The Octopus, the Spider Crab, the Snapping Turtle, the beautiful Poisonous Frogs, and the GIGANTIC ALIEN CATFISH. Bella loved the Sea Dragons, the Spiny Lobster, Nemo and Dory, and the tiny luminescent fish. Pamela was a fan of the alien Sea Cucumber.

We did catch a dolphin show, which was fun and educational (FACT: If you go swimming in the ocean, do NOT expect dolphins to rescue you if you start drowning. It's not that they don't care, but they just don't KNOW you - you could be a predator for all they know). And the Venue was gorgeous, with huge windows showing Lake Michigan behind the pool... But as a SHOW, I have to say that Seaworld was a bit snazzier, and actually having all of that blue sky and vista behind the show made the pool itself a little dark, and the contrast wasn't so great. But it was a good time. I guess when a man has got to the point he is comparing the aesthetic merits of various Dolphin shows, he may need more things to focus on.

Afterwards, we went back to the American Girl store for our late lunch.... it was a delightful meal (very healthy and delicious - I was impressed that they had no pop, no fries, nothing aggressively bad for you), in a very nice environment. Bella and Lilli had their dolls. Papa and I were able to "borrow" a pair for the lunch. They had little clip-on chairs so we all had dolls sitting between us, and they even brought little services out for the dolls.

The drive home was long - total rush hour, but we took the route that had us hugging the lake as far north as we were going, then west to the house. It took a hour and a half, alas (twice as long as the trip down did), and Bella and Lilli snoozed most of the ride.

Of course that means that it was a party around here until 9:30 when Bella first showed signs of getting tired... but her eyes weren't closed until 10.

And naturally, I had to check my mail, and deal with a few things relating to my new role.... I'm just not THAT unplugged. Tomorrow will be 100% offline as we drive back to Minnesota. The only question is what we'll do to break up the trip... the dells? Madison? Naughty but Nice? The mind boggles at the possibilities. I may let the location of Chipotle be my guide....

In all, this has been a wonderful, if short, vacation. We did a lot, and I especially loved spending time in the City of Chicago - escaping the suburbs. We really need to plan more excursions! Revisiting the Peninsula was also wonderful... and it got me thinking about planning a 3 day getaway down there.... how romantic it would be!

Four "Bad Dreams" of Bella

As she was dropping off tonight, Bella told me that she had had some "Bad Dreams". Did I want to hear about them?

1) She was hunting for dinosaurs, and found one... it had a big long neck, and it tried to EAT HER.

2) A Heffalump was on the loose. It wasn't a nice pink one, but a REAL one, with white polkadots. It almost ate our HOUSE.

3) She was looking for a baby Gorilla. She found a mommy and two babies, but they were too big to fit in her bag. So she had to go get a BIGGER bag, and they all fit inside of it, and they came home with her.

4) A Tiger Family was out of meat and was out looking for food. Suddenly, they had to go to the bathroom. They were going to go on the ground, but then they found a VOLCANO. They went up and pooped RIGHT INTO the Volcano.

I told Bella that those last two dreams didn't seem so bad... in fact they sounded sort of funny. She said, yeah well they were just Bad Dreams.

Why Chicago, anyway?

With so much going on in my work life, you may be forgiven for asking "why are you in Chicago for a long weekend, and wasn't Memorial Day already a long weekend LAST week?  What's GOING ON?"

It all started with our good friends the Ks.  Bailey and Ty, the 14 year old twins who I have known since birth are about to become high-school freshmen...  so we decided to go down and join their graduation (from Jr High) party.  They had no idea, and we got GREAT surprised looks from them.  Also, they had a moonwalk, and I suspect I would have made the drive for any excuse involving a moonwalk, really.

Backing up, we split the drive into two parts - staying Friday night in the Wisconsin Dells.  Our minds were BLOWN.  The Dells is just insane - like some sort of wholesome Vegas.  All I needed to know about the place was covered in the following scene:  At Starbucks on Sat AM, I watched a high school girl in pajamas order an iced latte with 4 pumps Vanilla, 4 pumps Coconut, and 6 sugars.  Dang.

Fast forward to Today:  Last Month was Pamela's Mom's 60th B-Day.  We didn't celebrate properly at the time, so we took this trip as a chance to rectify the issue.  We took her to downtown Chicago, and we had High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel.  I can't even start to talk about it.  I'll have to do a second posting on this.  

We hadn't visited the Peninsula since our extended stay 4 years ago at the end of our disasterous year of in-vitro fertilization, when we decided to adopt.  It was actually very wonderful to sit in that place again WITH our Bella.  Thinking that we really "conceived" her in that very place!  

More on the trip coming tomorrow! 

The First Day...

Well, my head is spinning - the day started with meetings from 7-noon, then 1-3, and I didn't leave until 5:30. I needed to exercise so I did step aerobics for an hour from 6-7, then got home and it was my turn to tuck Bella in with Stories. I'm only now unwinding from the day, and I'm sure that between the wonder of the day and the workout endorphins, I'll probably be awake for a while.

I did have a transition meeting with the outgoing PM, which was nice. Everybody is feeling a bit strange about how fast it happened, but we're adjusting... I got a lot of warm congratulations, a few high fives... I am feeling 100% supported.

At the end of the day, I walked into the CIO's office and declared success: I made it through one day and nobody had quit on me.

One of the issues that had been raised about the outgoing PM was his communication style. I went around to all of the team leads and took the time to explain how to work with me - that I'm a walk-arounder, that I will want status on the fly, that they can tell me to come back later, that they can ask me questions, and that they can consider me a sounding board AND an advocate - that I'm on their side and that we're all in this to succeed.

I'll be moving to my new super-cube tomorrow, which will be very nice - I can hold tea parties in this thing. Maybe even a rave. We'll see.

And since I'm not busy enough... Things are going well with the interim IT management gig with the friend. We're still trying to get to the heart of what he considers his real PROBLEM, and what a REAL solution is. He's been a bit scattery. I must focus him.

Enough about work: We're heading off for a long weekend (perfect timing - 2 days off just as I'm trying to get traction!) It will be a wonderful break!