Exhausted

Lordy lordy – what a week. Looking back I should have canceled a few of the things I had committed too. The restructuring at work alone has taken its toll and left me scrambling on multiple fronts. On top of that I had house guests for six days in a very small apartment while it was ridiculously hot and humid, I went camping in CT and I’m still trying to make arrangements for my trips before I leave tomorrow.

I made the mistake yesterday of sitting down and taking a breather. I conked out but now there is not enough time. I’m faced with not enough time at work to get the work stuff done and not enough time at home to get the “other” stuff taken care of. Usually I’d have work absorb home or vice versa. I’ve long since given up on having everything the way I’d like to, now it’s just coping so I don’t screw the pooch as they say.

And on top of all this my one hour meeting turned into four hours today and I walked away with a request to attend a critical meeting next month. Except it’s while I’m on vacation but it’s in London – so what’s a quick jaunt over to London during my Paris vacation? I’ve just printed all my confirmations – five different plane tickets, a train ticket and three different hotel reservations. So, really, what’s one more plane ticket and hotel reservation, right? Paris Dublin Glasgow Inverness and London.

It sounds wonderful but I’m already exhausted just trying to figure out how to juggle everything. You do what you can do.

Phish!

I'm having to play things by ear these days. Don't know where the job situation is going. But it's pretty much out of my hands so no point stressing. Especially while I'm still pulling in a paycheck and keeping my options open.

Speaking of which I played today by ear and when I had a friend who had a free ticket tonight for a phish concert, I said “yes”. So after a brief visit to the ER (not for me) we made it to my first Phish concert at Greenwood (i.e. Comcast Center). What an experience! We got there late (due to the ER visit), but before the end of the first set. We walk into the concert venue and there is about 15,000 people, loud music, crazy light show. And the people! It was a strange mix of three groups – the preppy boys, the hippies and the locals (salt of the earth kind – back where I’m from we call them hicks). It was a nice break from the daily grind.

And having had a fair amount of Phishhead friends, I realized it was something I always wanted to check out. Kind of like trying my hand at golf. And just like golf, playing the back nine is all I’m really up for, so it was good we caught just the second half. The friend I went with is a Phish fan. But it was a strange type of fan. I still don’t quite understand it. He doesn’t follow them – doesn’t know what their latest album is, what their new songs are. But he’s a fan. And understandable frustrated he was missing part of the show due to the unplanned ER visit. It wasn’t until we had arrived, parked, and were walking to the stadium that he mentions that he had just seen their show Thursday and Friday down in CT. That was less than four days ago. Crazy!

As I’m standing there, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people (the largest crowd I’ve ever been in I think), swaying to the music, getting high from all the pot around me (not really – it was outdoors) and after a hectic rush filled day, it was good to appreciate the experiences that cross my path. I’m not a big fan of their music. I just don’t get it. The five minute riffs are a bit too much for me. But I appreciate there is a whole culture that has evolved around them which makes the people watching all the more amazing. All in all, glad I went to the concert, even though I didn’t get home until after midnight and had to work the next day. Plus, I had some of the most amazing fried dough. It was so good. I was thinking about getting my own cotton candy machine, now I’m starting to reconsider and am leaning towards a fried dough machine. Mmmm, fried dough.

What a Day

Yesterday gave me a wicked headache. It was so wicked bad, I woke up with it this morning and still can’t shake it after popping some asprin. The only pause I had from it, was from the two gin and tonics I had last night. They seemed to do the trick for awhile. I’m so mentally exhausted. We had some sudden major restructuring of our operations in North America and, well, it feels like the rug got pulled out from under me. I’ve still got a job, but not what I had signed up for. Still assessing the situation.

Not to treat death lightly, but coming into the office today, the atmosphere is very similar. Still a lot of shock and the mental exhaustion is palpable from a mile away. Some folks have been hit really hard by it. I’ve had some good conversations though and although I couldn’t predict what my future holds, I have several options ahead of me which is always good.

So, not to focus on the negative, on the upside I get to add a trip to Dublin and another trip to Glasgow after I’m done with Paris, before flying back home. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a trip to visit the Dublin office for ages now. Sad it’s on these terms, but still good to have. And, believe it or not, guess who is leading the pack on Fantasy Football? Apparently I know how to pick a better team than the diehard Irish and Scottish lads. I’ve got a four point lead and there is a 16 point spread between myself and the bottom of the pack. And this is all me! Who knew what my hidden talents were.

Summer Plans

It all worked out! My summer plans were up in the air the last several months. There were so many elements this summer I thought I’d go batty and never be able to pull it all off, but think I’ve got it all squared away. Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Knitting night this Friday in JP with friends. We’ve been trying to get this to happen for over a year now.
2. After which I swing by Logan to pick up Nick. My brother’s in town for a visit and we head up to VT to celebrate Father’s Day.
3. On my way back home from VT I swing by a friends to kick off a new tradition – a friendly night of cards with the gals.
4. My mother comes out for a visit mid-next week and stays for a long weekend with my brother and I.
5. I go camping with my cousins in CT next weekend. (Yes, there’s a little overlap here with mum and the cousins – if only there was more time. More time though for my brother and mom to hang out together). Mom leaves town Tuesday 6/29.
6. I head off to Nantucket with Cec and the kids on Thursday 7/1. I’ve never been to the island so will be fun. Plus, did I mention her in-laws run a bakery. Heaven!
7. Get back Monday 7/5 and fly out the next day to Scotland for work. Time is split between HQ office in Glasgow and my client meeting up in the lovely highlands of Inverness.
8. At the end of the week I pop over to Paris where I’ll meet up with my brother who will have a long layover ( a couple of days) on his way back to India. And I’m in Paris for over a week to enjoy a nice and restful holiday break.

Crazy, but in a wonderful way. I have a friend who is renting an apartment in Paris for the month of July before going back to grad school and opening it up to friends and family. He’s having others stay at the same time which means it will be crowded at times but think it works out wonderfully as you can head off on your own but still have folks to hang out with when you want to.

This weekend at a friend’s engagement party I was trading travel stories for work with one of the hosts. And he gave some great words of advice he got from his boss - fly cheap but travel well. I have to admit I’ve become soft having flown business for the past two years for all my overseas flights. But this time, the budget has me flyin’ good ol’ steerage. I was tempted to pony up the difference, but quickly came to my senses and will use that money to splurge on delicious food and other scrumptious goodies in Paris.

The great thing is not only is everything working out, but that I’ll end up in Paris in time to celebrate Bastille day AND that I’ll be staying right near Place de la Bastille. Exciting times!

Subway Siting

I meant to post about this earlier. Last week I was in the bustle of the commuter crowd and was face to face with a ? I'm afraid I don't know the PC term for a man who is changing to become a woman. Afterwards I questioned whether I remembered it right. It was a two second encounter.

But just now I got on the bus with the same person. It's interesting that this is the first time I've run into such a person considering my time in San Francisco. Turns out she's a neighbor!

Gremlins and Terabytes

I rarely write about work except for in the broadest terms and even then seldom. Professional courtesy and all that. But I have to say that I took the opportunity when I changed jobs to approach work differently. I’m still a hard worker. I still put in long hours at times, but it’s more balanced. I’m not sucked into the drama (as much). I don’t take things to heart (as much). I work with more realistic deadlines (mostly). I don’t get sucked into the details of perfection (as much). I have the voice of reason speaking more loudly than those little gremlins in there. But those little gremlins do pop up at times.

Case in point was today, I had pushed back on a deadline. It would mean me canceling things both in my professional and personal life and was an unrealistic request really. I wanted to be able to say “yes” but realized that I would have to sacrifice and disappoint other commitments. No go. And then I get push back from higher up in the food chain. And those little gremlins enter in: “well, maybe if I back out on this and this, and have some crazy hours, and I understand why they’re wanting to push up the deadline.” Darn those little gremlins.

You know what was awesome and the reason of this post? I mentioned it to my boss and he was awesome. He even pushed back on the alternative option I proposed, wanting to make sure I wasn’t put in a situation of sacrificing my own time. I was expecting he’d back me up, but not to such a degree. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t under estimate folks and that they can always surprise you. It was good, because it squashed those little gremlins.

This has to be the most cryptic post but I’ve learned over the years – be careful what you put in writing. In other news I just bought a 1.5 TB hard drive this weekend. That’s 1,500,000,000,000 bytes! (If you’re rusty on your metric prefixes, it goes: kilo, mega, giga, tera – I got the terabyte). I’ve been shuffling around data on various external harddrives and realized I needed something that was just for backing up. I got a great portable harddrive for my birthday and end up using it more as a glorified USB drive which is awesome. Now I just need to find time to sit down and get organized. Tonight I’m off to see Sex in the City 2 in the city. This morning I put on my most glamorous piece which is a beaded Magaschoni top and then realized that was it. I didn’t have anything else to go with it that really fit. It’s weird wearing it with my pair of JBrand jeans that don’t quite fit. But paired it with a Barneys sweater (that I just got from my friends used clothing store) and feel like I’m NYC urban and have dropped as many names as I can on the matter.