Back again...

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!