Thursday, July 25 2019

Dear Journal,

Yesterday was a pretty action-packed day. I had my usual set of meetings in the morning, but in the afternoon we discovered that the thing the interns were building needed access an LDAP server. We were already at a threshold of maximum rules defined around the LDAP server, so I spend most of the day tracking down rules that could be removed to free up space. It was a classic yak-shaving day.

If you're not familiar with the term yak-shaving, it's worth knowing. The back story is a little embellished, depending on the version you hear, but in summary, a guy asks his neighbor for a cup of sugar, and the neighbor asks him to first retrieve something of his from the other neighbor, who in turn asks him to first retrieve something os his from a different neighbor, and on it goes until, the guy finds himself doing various chores - including shaving somebody's yaks - all because he just wanted a cup of sugar. Do you have days where you set out to do something simple and plausible, but ended up fixing a whole chain of things to get there?

Once all the yak-shaving was done, I met Marissa and Rodney at a taco place to grab dinner before the concert on the square. Tacos were a good choice - did you know yesterday was national tequila day? The restaurant was celebrating with lots of free Margarita samples, and Rodney even got a free luchador mask. What would a toddler need with a luchador mask? Who knows, but he was quite smitten with it and I'm sure it will be making unexpected appearances all weekend.

After dinner, we mozied over to our spot on the capital lawn and listened to the concert. Last night's theme was The Beatles, and our friends had a lot of fun teasing us for how few Beatles songs we recognized. I remember things about the Beatles the same way I might remember things about US presidents or street names in a new town. The vague familiarity is there, but hearing Hey Jude isn't going to send me back in time on a wave of nostalgia. There are a few DC talk songs that could do that to me, but nothing by the Beatles unfortunately.

We got home from the concert on the square pretty late, some time around 9:30, then I got started on chores. Wednesdays are a pretty chore heavy day for me, and that's by design. I like being a little busy on Wednesday night and using the momentum to get over the week's hump. I had to catch up on dishes, then I cleaned and wiped down the microwave & stove, and finally cleaned out the fridge. Sometimes I like to snack on food that's nearing the expiration date in an effort to free up more space, but the chimichanga and free Margaritas kicking around in my stomach weren't in the mood for company.

I wrapped up chores around 11:30 - just in time to watch an episode of New Girl. Marissa and I started over from season 1, and it's a great way to end the day. I also sipped on a half shot of tequila - I had 30 minutes remaining in National Tequila day, and it only comes once a year, right?

Today should be another ringer of a day. I'm working from home in the morning, then I'm taking Rodney into the office for Bring Your Kid to Work Day. We're taking the bus in, then we're going to play it by ear. My work has a lot of planned activities for the kids, but we might also just hang out in a conference room and color while I get some work done.

So another action packed day ahead. But it's Thursday, and before you know it, it'll be Friday and we'll have a relaxing weekend ahead of us. We might just have to shave a few yaks to get there.

Let's have a Thursday!