April 2004

Having a good bed is very important in order to function in the daily work world. If you cannot stay awake, you cannot get anything done. My poor bed is just about on its last legs and my sleep has suffered for that one. The good news is that a new mattress has been ordered and arrives middle of next week. Getting good sleep is very important.

Three guesses... Yup, still working towards the deadline.

Working towards the deadline continues...

Guess what... Still working towards the deadline.

Still busy working towards a deadline...

Did I mention that I was busy working towards a deadline...

Busy working towards a deadline. Other than that...

When you are working in a city (or in any job with a long enough commute), you need to figure out ways to working in your errands. I am thinking about the ones that you have to do close to home otherwise, I guess you could just run out a quiet point in the day (or lunch). My father's birthday is coming up this weekend and I found the perfect gift. The only problem is the store is near my house. Luckily, I was able to run there on the way home tonight and they even had it in stock. I have no idea what I would have done if they were out. That would have made for a mess.

I almost forgot to vote in the school elections today. I leave in the morning before the polls open (and I am sure they would be swamped otherwise) so I generally go after work. Luckily, when I got there, it was pretty empty and was able to get it over with quickly. Our town bought new machines. It was strange to have to switch to a newer technology after all these years. I finally got used to the way they worked. Oh well, I guess these are more user friendly.

One of these days we will figure out how to work the themostat. Today was crazy. We froze the entire day. It seems like everyone was having a Monday as it was just me and one of my coworkers for most of the day. We had to take a few outside breaks in order to warm up. You can only stay blue for so long.

I managed to get a lot done today, especially in the school department. I finished my assignment just about on time (give or take a few minutes). I was pretty amazed. Now I need to start working on my major paper assignment for class. I chose the topic of "if email is a replacement for letter writing". I think it sounds pretty interesting. I do not think I previously gave the matter much thought. I wonder how it will turn out?

It is just going to turn out to be one of those days where I do not get much done and am distracted by what is going on around me. At least I finished my lunch shopping so that I will be ready for next week. I have school work to do (a lot of reading and my written assignment) but I do not think I will make much progress today. I need to work on my school planning skills so that I get more done during the week. This particular week was not great with the office project work. Maybe next week will be better.

Working in the city makes for a tight schedule especially when you commute from the 'burbs. I was curious to see if I could get out of the house in 45 minutes and I think I can do that if I add a few time saving tasks to my night. It is something helpful to know for the future. Actually, it is something that I might try to work out now. It is nice to not be frazzled in the morning.

Happy Tax Day. Call me surprised but my tiny state check arrived today. The timing was pretty funny. I have to remember this e-file thing next year. Hopefully I will not have to mail anything in and just have another tiny refund due. Did I mention I hate writing checks? It seems time consuming.

After two days of a push to get those last minute tasks done, I can breathe again. It was a nice day out so I took a few air breaks as I was cooped up for a few days straight. Excuse me while I un-fry.

I think I am coming down with something. The last two days have been fairly crazy and now I am starting to feel pretty unwell. The timing is definately not the best. At least I finished up what I needed to by the end of the day because I plan to go to bed super early. Hopefully I will make it in tomorrow.

I think I mentioned before that I am not a fan of Monday's. This was definately not an exception. Today and tomorrow are going to be crazy with some project work that needs to get done. It definately won't be a boring two days.

Happy Easter! Actually, I spent the day working on school work because I did not get as much done yesterday as I would have hoped. It was a long week. All in all, it was a nice, quiet holiday.

Happy Saturday. I realized in hind sight I probably could have left early. Oh well, no damage done. I finished what I needed to yesterday anyway. Today is catch-up on school work and regular errands. Tomorrow is Easter so I will not be able to run to the shops then if I forget anything.

Looks like half the city is off today. I wonder if we will get out early given that the holiday is being observed by the city offices and trash collectors???

Edit: Never mind, I just realized that I have two late afternoon meetings. Hopefully I will still be able to catch my regular express. cry

I had my usual early start this morning and one of the other roommates came in extra early. We were sitting there and all of a sudden we heard a release of air. At that hour, it was just scary to not know what it was. I realized that a light bulb (one of those floresent ones) was out. I guess that means it released its gas. I guess it was safe enough as I am still around to tell the tale.

Thank goodness. I remembered to wear nice shoes for the big lunch in the boardroom with senior management. A good time was had by all. Since we did not take an offical lunch, we went out for an "air break" in the late afternoon. We walked over to a nearby park to get an a bit of exercise with our "fresh" city air. I probably should try to work that in more often.

I needed a fresh air break by the middle of the afternoon with a few coworkers. I do not think I really took a break all day. I was helping a developer out with some paperwork (he was calling me every few minutes with questions). So I called him to let him know. I did not want him to go frantic if he could not find us. It made him laugh. It is important to get up and move from time to time.

I was really feeling the effects of Daylight Savings Time today. It is days like this that make me wonder what in the world were thinking. Once I got passed leaving in the dark again, arriving home in the light was nice. I guess it can only get better from here. The cold weather today was fairly chilling. Where is spring?

I posted my course assignment with about a half hour to spare. This course upped the due "time" to 5pm from midnight. I noticed that few other people had posted by the time I did... It will be interesting to see how things shake out because of the assumptions based on other classes. I have to work on compiling the digital files for the next weeks so that I can streamline my printing effort. When I made my lunch for tomorrow, I mixed up extra ice teas so that I am ready for the week. One less thing to worry about this week. I am working on timesavers for the weeknights.

There is an ancient history/art exhibit at the University museum in the city that opened up a few weeks ago that I really want to go to. I would prefer not to trek into the city by myself on off hours as its a bit strange in that part of town. Anyway, my dad offered to go but I have enough school work to keep me busy for the rest of the weekend without any outings. Oh well. Maybe another weekend…

Call this unbelievable but they are filming a movie (In Her Shoes) right outside my building at the top of a train station entrance. It is windy and cold and slighly rainy. Bascially, a gloomy day. The real trick will be to see how it turns out in the end with the movie. No, we did not see any actors or anything. I think my favorite cart vendor is going to end up in it. Come to think of it, I need to get lunch from him today as I ran out of cold-cuts to make my sandwich.

Happy April Fool's Day! I guess it has been a while since anyone actually took the holiday seriously. Let me rephrase that... Celebrated the holiday... You know what I mean. One of my coworkers decided to call me up first thing to tel me our project has been put on hold until after September. YIKES! Thank goodness he was only kidding. This partical jokester actully tried stunts on other people too including his very pregnant wife. He taped the refrigerator shut. I wonder how that one will go over ???