Sunday, June 13 2021

2019-05-23 Thursday

Good Morning Journal!

Noticing that it might be difficult to find journal entries by date alone, I added some topical tags. That way I can query based on things like "easter" and "hospital" and see all the relevant stories in one place. It's been fun watching this journaling project go. I've been noticing the benefits. At first, it was just in the little things - like feeling just a bit more articulate in early morning meetings. But now my writing at work is getting much better. My documentation and written responses to people are much more thorough.

It's also been pretty convenient. If I experience something profound, and want to share it with people, I already have a written record of the event. And people take it more seriously. Instead of just bending their ear for ten or twenty minutes, you can just send them the journal entry from that day. And I imagine getting to read someone's journal entry is pretty special.

I've also since moved things to github. I almost lost a journal entry the morning I decided to do one of them on my laptop, so I added regular git backups. Then I couldn't find something that should have been in my notes, and I decided to make the backups more manual, so I could occasionally tag things to add a unique commit message.

I find it funny that I still have the habit of opening each entry with "Dear Journal". That's straight out of Doug's (the cartoon show) playbook, and I've been doing that much longer than I've been using a computer. I used to write occasional journal entries in this crummy little notebook I bought from our church bookstore. I drew weird bubble letters all over the front of it with sharpie. At the time, I was envious of Kelly's journal. She bought a diary, you see. This was engineered for privacy. It had a lock on the front with a little key that hung on her backpack or something. It didn't matter that the key was literally useless, I just liked that she had a book that was outwardly and visibly private. But boys weren't supposed to have diaries - they had journals. So there's a little antiquated 1990's gender stereotype to amuse you, fresh from the tap of my memory.

Yesterday we tried another one of the new Twilight Zone remakes and I think we're officially done with the show. In fact, it's making us just want to watch the old one. The remake doesn't even come close to the brevity, simplicity, subtly, and charm of the old Rod Stewart version. It's a real tragedy, because Jordan Peele has some good horror ideas, but he's no Rod Stewart. A cameo in a black suit followed by a pithy monologue does not a Rod Stewart make.

I'm not sure if I'm going to Kids Code tonight. Last week's took a lot out of me, and Marissa's been so busy working on the dog agility mural, she'd probably appreciate some reinforcements tonight.

Alrighty - let's have a Thursday. Today, though the week has blown by pretty quickly, let's build some fresh, productive momentum as we roll into Friday. Let's get it done and give us a good reason to relax tomorrow and into the weekend!

2019-05-24 Friday

Good Morning Journal!

Well in spite of the cool, drizzly weather, I'm feeling warm and appreciative that I made it through another week. I just hope I don't get little pecorino crumbs all over my fancy keyboard. Tonight we're making sfincione, so thinking ahead I decided to get this most boorish part over this morning that is finely grating a whole cup. Really, it took most of my morning. I did my best to not leave any evidence, but the dogs are going over my work and frankly I think I could have done better. They're downstairs right now helping themselves to all the cheese dust they could ever want.

Speaking of gluttony, I had a lazy day last night. I had spent pretty much the first six hours of the day working nonstop on a very elusive bug, and decided to call it early at 3 and grab a beer at the Post with Rob. I forgot that all their beers are 24oz, so it was more like grabbing a couple of beers. Felt a little too wobbly to skate, so I just took the bus home. Then we ordered Portillo's and I played baseball in the yard with Rodney until it arrived. That was followed by a long binge of French Cooking Academy videos, some King of the Hill, then bed.

Today is a pretty packed morning, followed by an easy afternoon. I have a demo and an interview all within an hour, so just lightly dreading that block of time, but then after that I'm home free! I'm hoping the weather clears up so we can walk somewhere, but then again I'm on call through the weekend, so no having too much fun.

I had better jump in the shower and wash this cheese dust off of me. What's left of it anyway. Ollie has discovered the source and is giving me a tongue shower. Let's have a Friday, finish out strong, and have an active & mindful weekend, shall we?

2019-05-26 Sunday

Good Morning Journal!

Rod is joining me for my journal time this morning, which is occurring at the breakfast table. I'm not sure why I couldn't get my ass up at 9, but as a result, everyone's morning is starting at pretty much the same time. We've got jazz playing, Rod is contemplatively staring at a bowl of yogurt with a half of banana sliced and folded into it, and Ziggy is circling like a buzzard, waiting for bananas to fall to the ground. Hey - if there's a chance of it happening, you'd better be ready for it.

Today, we're all hanging out at Karben4 while Marissa has her art class. I'm really looking forward to it! Karben4 is very kid friendly, and the little toy corner they have set up can usually keep Rod entertained for a few hours. They got good WiFi, good beer, but the food? Eh, it's so-so. Which is why we're going to head home just before dinner so we have time to grill something. I just decided we're grilling something.

Also kicking around the idea of redoing my blog. For the longest time it's been a completely separate thing, but I'm playing around with the idea of just publishing journal entries tagged =:public:= or something. That way it's constantly updating. And I'm writing anyway, might as well put some of these entries in a place where people can read them, if they care.

Well I have some reading to do. Before I embark on any blog website shenanigans, I have to figure out why my Thinkpad isn't turning on. That would be a real bummer if that computer kicked the bucket.

Let's have a great, productive Sunday!