It was 38 degrees yesterday morning. It feels like the season has finally settled in, and I keep hoping for the days where I can wear warmer clothes. There is something so comforting about putting on layers…like building an impenetrable fortress around your body. When I catch myself thinking how cold it is, I have to remind myself of my trip to the Chicago suburbs this year. It was so cold that it just felt like a sharp burn more than anything else. I don’t think my body quite knew how to process the sensation of ten degrees. Hoffman Estates was dramatically less exciting than I thought my trip back to Chicago would be. I suspect that the company offering the training would have a much better turn out if it were in the city…but, then I would have had to insist on my Fruit coming with me.
The days have gotten dramatically shorter, and I find myself thinking it time for bed when it’s only half past eight. My Fruit and I sit on the couch watching TV, and I suspect staring at the clock on the mantle and willing it to be a more reasonable time to go upstairs. Even the girls think it’s time to eat at five because the setting of the sun is their cue.
I still haven’t gotten myself into the rhythm of things. My routine is hopelessly flawed, and I don’t know how to get it to a functional level. The clothes need washing and the carpet needs vacuuming. I haven’t mowed the lawn for a month and am silently grateful that it doesn’t grow as fast in the later seasons. Summer was brutal this year, and all the plants seem to be demonstrating their disdain.
I have to go in to work for a staff meeting this morning. This means that I have been here for one month and I feel like I don’t have much to show for it. There is so much to be done that I don’t know where to start…and without an IT budget to buy anything, I have to focus my efforts on the more tedious tasks. It’s a good thing I’m good at the tedious. I took on too much this time. Sometimes I think of going in early to take care of some SQL tasks that I can’t do at home. Unfortunately, the woman I share space with comes in at six. Last week she was listening to Mariah Carey…yesterday it was an Italian Language course. It seems like the more annoying of the two should be clear, but the language tape was like Japanese water torture. Good…say ‘buon’…”bwan”…good, say ‘buon’…”bwan”. I turned to her after a while and asked her if she had an impending trip to Italy, and she said, “No. I want to broaden my horizons”. Well…I want to get some headphones and blast white noise into my ears, because it’s the only thing that will drown all of you out. Beautiful…say, ‘bello’…”baylow”…Beautiful, say ‘bello’…”baylow”.
I have got to get remote access set up before that woman drives me insane.