work

“Shall I walk you through the history?” “I’m going to explicitly say no.”

It was back to work for me today after a three-day weekend, and I think it’s safe to say I prefer snow days to work days. Not that today was particularly bad or anything — far from it — but it’s always nice to have an excuse to sleep late in the morning.

Overall, it wasn’t a terribly exciting day. I did some work, wrote a little, and watched tonight’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. (It was a decent, if unremarkable episode, but that’s been pretty much the norm for this entire season.) I also finished reading China Miéville’s The City & the City, about which I think I’ll have more to say later. I’m not sure what to read next, although my signed copy of Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead did arrive in the mail today. I already read and really liked Heather‘s story in the collection, and the rest look really interesting. Though, after the Miéville, I’m thinking it might be nice to take a short break from genre fiction. We’ll see.

Right now, though, I think I’m just going to go to bed.

Everybody always talks about the weather

I don’t know about you, but I had a snow day today.

I woke up a little early this morning, and when I noticed the snow that had started to fall in the middle of the night — it was still mostly just half-frozen rain when I went to bed — I debated calling (or rather e-mailing) in to work and taking the day off. It was tough to tell from my bedroom window just how much snow had fallen, much less how bad it would get later in the day, but I really didn’t feel like risking it. I just didn’t want to be the first person in my group to take the day off. But twenty minutes or so went by and nothing seemed to be happening, either by e-mail or on the company’s emergency telephone line. And the office is officially open at 7 AM. I was going to have to commit to either taking a shower, or taking the day and going back to sleep.

In the end, I guess I did a little of both. I took a shower, but no sooner had I finished then an e-mail informing us that the office would be closed for the day was sent out. Had it been sent only ten or fifteen minutes earlier, I could have just gone back to bed, but, hey, a snow day is a snow day. It was pretty unexpected, but I was happy to take it.

I spent a good chunk of the day shoveling and snow-blowing out the driveway, and in trekking out into the backyard with the dog, who seems mystified every time we go out to discover there’s still snow everywhere. I also watched the really terrific Passing Strange, which I have out from Netflix — and which, I’ve got to say, beats venturing into Manhattan to reformat PowerPoint files all day. Which is probably what my day would have entailed, had our office been open.

Right now, I’m thinking about watching this week’s episode of Burn Notice or maybe a little late-night capping. I’m really just enjoying this unexpected three-day weekend.

In review

Today started out a lot like yesterday, although not quite as rainy, and I did manage to make the earlier train into the city. By the time I reached Manhattan, the rain had all but stopped, which made the people still holding up umbrellas look a little silly. (Though I suppose you never do know when a sudden downpour might strike.) I got to the office and started in on some art therapy instructor materials we’re developing for one of our websites. Why, what do you while you’re waiting for the remaining chapters of your counseling older adults book?

I also had my yearly performance review this afternoon. I knew it was coming, since we had already filled out our self-evaluations, but my boss kind of sprung it on me this morning by e-mail. Not that I needed a lot of time to prepare — and the review itself went really well, actually — but I always find that sort of thing a little nerve-wracking, even under the best of circumstances. As I say, though, it luckily went very well, and I do feel very glad to be a part of this team at work.

Other than that, not a whole lot is new around here. They’re predicting snow for tomorrow, but, then, when aren’t they these days? I will say this: I am glad it’s almost the weekend again.

Pegging away

According to the trusty desk calendar, today’s bit of Forgotten English is “peg away,” meaning “to continue determinedly on one’s course.” That seems like an apt enough metaphor for today, which was mostly just your typical Mondayish Monday.

I didn’t sleep so well last night, so I got a later train this morning. And then I spent most of the day working on a counseling book I really need to get into production by the end of the month. Which, now that I look again at the calendar and exactly how much is left of said month, I don’t think I’m actually going to manage. The author still owes me a good five or six revised chapters, and I still have to read through them and make sure there’s no problem with the changes. It’s nothing I can force, and the author’s been really good about getting the work done, but it’s at times like this that I wish there were a few more weeks left in February.

I spent my lunch hour listening to this week’s Radiolab podcast — which I actually heard as the second half of this week’s This American Life — and I have to say, it left me a little shaken up. The whole TAL episode was great stuff, but Lucy’s story was particularly powerful and sad. It’s worth a listen, but don’t expect light and frothy fun.

In other news, my father had a procedure to hopefully fix the blurred vision he’s been having lately. I’d actually managed to forget that today was the day, so it was a little disconcerting to come home this evening and find him lying on the couch, in the dark, with a patch over one eye. He seems okay, though I don’t think the procedure was much fun, and there’s still the worry that it won’t have the desired effect. I’m not sure if he’s planning on going to work tomorrow, but at least the eye patch only has to stay on for a day.

And now, I think, it’s time for bed.

Bezonter!

Today is my mother’s 60th birthday, so we had cake and presents this evening, and then spent several hours watching the Olympics. First curling, which I’m starting to think could be a lot more fun if the games were at least only half as long, then men’s skeleton, and finally ice dancing. NBC is apparently getting a lot of complaints about how they’re airing the Olympics, but beyond Bob Costas’ hair, I didn’t notice anything too egregious. My mother, my sister, and her husband are still downstairs watching, but I used the dog finally getting out of my lap on the couch as an excuse to come up to bed.

Catherine and Brian (the aforementioned sister and brother-in-law) drove down from Maryland to surprise my mother, and we’re all going out to eat tomorrow. According to my Forgotten English desk calendar, today’s word is bezonter, “an expletive denoting surprise,” which seems entirely appropriate. My mother is a big fan of Mary Chapin Carpenter, so over the past few months I’ve been putting together a collection of six CDs featuring rarities and interviews and video clips I don’t think she’s ever seen before. I put together something similar for her last Mother’s Day, but I think this may finally be all the material that’s out there to unearth. (This website was particularly very helpful in finding rare tracks.) I also ordered her a copy of Chapin’s new album, due out in April.

Beyond that, my day was pretty uneventful, though a lot better than I expected when I got to work today. Never underestimate the power of actually accomplishing something to turn the day around. I’ve still got a lot of work on my plate — and today took on another small project — but I made some serious progress today, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for next week.

I am really glad the weekend’s here. Overall, it was a long four-day week.