Category: daily tedium

Unable to wake up, I’ve resorted to opening up the Syphilis case and popping two Penguin Power Pills. God help us all.

I have two tickets to see The Daily Show‘s first DC show in October!! How cool is that?

I still have my vacation beard. My face is now covered in shrubbery. It’s been almost two weeks since I shaved, and the beard is getting pretty full.

Why do I still have in on my third day back to work? It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m scared. Cutting it off means standing in front of the mirror for 30 minutes with the clippers making sure I get all of it. It means creating a big hairy mess in the sink, and then shaving three times to make sure I get all of it. I just keep putting it off, and the beard just keeps getting bigger.

The strangest part of it is that only one person at work has mentioned it. Do they not see it? Is it that bad? I think I’ll shave off pieces of it and come in tomorrow with mutton chops and see if anyone says anything. I’ll take suggestions as to how I should mold my creation for maximum effect…

I’m back to the grind. I’ve waded through the pile of e-mail waiting for my return. I’ve fixed a dozen problems waiting for me in that pile, and started work on a dozen more. It’s nice to feel needed, but it was even better to take a break. I feel recharged and ready to get back to work, other than leftover pain in my shoulder from my neck thing. There were things left undone on my vacation that I’ll have to try to fit in, like taking Max to the Baltimore Aquarium. I guess I’ll have to take more time off….

There are people we meet, and frequently spend very little time with who stick with us forever. I was thinking about those types of people, the moments shared and circumstances that bring us together tonight for no apparent reason.

I remembered a middle aged woman with grey hair pulled back tightly into a bun, a neatly pressed silk blouse, a denim NPR pledge-drive book bag, and bright battleship grey eyes. We served on the jury in a kidnapping and assault case in county court in Tucson, Arizona. The trial took two days including two hours of deliberation, with an hour and a half for lunch each day. We ate lunch with each other both days and sat next to each other in the jury box look over the others’ shoulder to see what notes we were taking.

She was intelligent, well-read and thoughtful. We spent our first lunch in the sandwich place across from the courthouse, religiously following the judge’s instructions not to discuss the case. We talked about Orson Welles, Monet, Van Gogh and the walk through the woods up to the old Getty in LA. I remember talking about politics, but I don’t remember exactly what was said. I do remember I had a California BLT and a cherry lemonade.

The second day, we went for a walk around downtown, stopped in a used bookstore where I picked up a dog-eared copy of A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I still haven’t read all the way through (this was in 1997 or 1998, I think). We stopped in this amazing hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on Scott for lunch and talked about how much we both loved John Irving, the things we loved and hated about living in Tucson, and my relationship with the fiance whose heart I would break in the next couple months (I don’t remember exactly when the trial happened in relationship to my cancelling the wedding, but it was beautiful in Tucson, so it must have been January or February… The wedding was cancelled in March).

In the jury room, I was elected foreman by reason of insanity (and because no one else wanted to do it). She sat next to me and gave me silent comments on how I was doing and was always writing notes in small tight cursive, taking down important comments from everyone in the room, and asking thoughtful questions at the right time.

We delivered our verdict, which I felt pretty crappy about, but she assured me we had done the right thing. The prosecution had blown the case, she said, and I had to agree with her. What was a domestic dispute with no witnesses and no evidence was prosecuted like a kidnapping on the scale of the Lindbergh baby. We had enough evidence to find him guilty on four lesser counts of the six charges.

I don’t even remember her name, but she was a lovely woman. She reminded me of my favorite English teacher from high school, and treated me like the adult I still haven’t become. We said good-bye at the elevator that night, and I never saw her again, and don’t remember thinking about her until tonight, yet she will forever be entwined in the memory of my experience with the criminal justice system, and the fairness of the jury system. I wish I could remember her name.

The chiropractor hit a magic spot today and I’m feeling much better. There’s some soreness at the base of my neck and left shoulder, but it’s nothing like it has been the past week. This whole neck thing has been a real drain on my vacation, but I’ve still enjoyed my time off. I’m not quite sure how I’ll be able to go back to work!

I wish I had something important to say, or some great truth to reveal, but I’m on vacation. I’ve been keeping up with current events, and have even watched some movies. But, I’m not really in the mood to talk about them at the moment. I’m sure work on Monday will stir up something meaningful.

I’m eight pages into writing FlatCat and I’m a little stuck. I thought I had it all worked out. This would be the first book, soon to be followed by a whole series of FlatCat stories. How do you end the introductory book though? Do I go back and rewrite it so it doesn’t rhyme? I’m pretty happy with what I have so far, but not thrilled. What to do, what to do?

The vacation’s off to a great start. Our A/C died yesterday, so we spent yesterday sweating it out in 95 degree heat, and last night sleeping in a humid sweaty heap. Now, $390 later, we find out that the dryer has been venting lint right into the outdoor A/C unit, and that means if we don’t get it cleaned out soon, it’ll explode on us. For a townhouse that’s apparenltly worth a ton (at least the county says so on our latest tax appraisal), it feels like it was designed and built as a high school shop project.

I’m still sweating. I think I’ve lost about 20 pounds in water alone in the last 36 hours. Now, I have to go figure out how to duct the dryer vent out past the A/C… and we all know how handy I am.

Wish me luck.

My vacation is spread out before me like an unspoiled field after the winter’s first snow. Sixteen days of no conference calls, no urgent submissions to QA, no last minute changes to implement someone’s 11th hour bright idea, no changes because someone finally read the contract. I have sixteen days to finally write FlatCat, play with Max, cook, go to the aquarium, eat meals with my wife, watch movies, stay up late, laugh, go out with friends , take naps and when that all gets old, do nothing at all.

Tonight, I’m going to stay up as late as I want doing nothing at all important. After everything was done at work this afternoon, I downloaded some new games for the Powerbook, so I may play those. I rented a movie, I may watch it. Or, I may watch all the stuff stacked up on TiVo. Who knows? Who cares? I have nothing to do, and I love it. For the first time in about three years, I have a stretch of time in front of me with no urgent things that need to get done. I’m almost unsure how to handle it. We’ll see what happens.

I just tried Pepsi Blue, the new cola variant from the folks who brought you Code Red. I’m a big fan of Code Red. I love it so much, you could call it an addiction.

Pepsi Blue, on the other hand, is crap. Think, carbonated blueberry Kool-Aid with all the sugar removed and replaced with vinegar. It’s that bad.

The cola industry is batting 0 now on their new cola “fusion” products. Vanilla Coke tastes like cough syrup and Pepsi Blue is even worse. When will they learn? Cola is best when it’s just cola. Cherry and Lemon are acceptable variants. Blue is not. Vanilla is only acceptable if fresh.

Why didn’t they ask me before they did this? I could have told them.