Dreamer’s World July 20 2015

It's just after midnight here and I'm waiting for the place to cool down a bit before going to bed. It's still 85 degrees outside as the heatwave continues to plague us. As I grow older, the heat affects me more than it used to. This is especially true when it comes to sleeping. I am a cool place to sleep well.

Therefore, I'm starting this blog post early. Hal has already gone to bed and the Stooges are all sleeping as well. I have my quiet time now. Luckily, since I changed my work schedule I don't have to be up until 0800. I am thankful for the A/C working properly right now. I think I'll be able to get to bed in a few minutes. As the new week begins, I am hopeful that it will be a good one for us all. For myself, I am going to help get things back on track at work with the co-worker who is returning from his vacation. The idea of an actual vacation for myself is very appealing, and I will talk the idea over with Hal this week. If I had to choose a timeframe for it, I would select the week of Labor Day in order to have time without a bunch of kids and families on last-minute trips everywhere. Until that idea is finalized, it is nothing but a hope. I need to find out what the company schedule is for that timeframe before I can make any real decision. Hopefully, it won’t be a problem, but then again, I am not involved in the long-term planning either. This morning gives all the indications of another hot day in store for us. I woke up at just after 0800 and when I stepped outside for a cigarette, the humidity was already awful. We’ll see how this day progresses, but at least working from home keeps me out of it to a large degree.

I just looked at my updated calendar and find that my afternoon is taken up with nearly 4 hours of continuous meetings. It is a small miracle that anything ever gets done around here! The company worships at the altar of process, often at the expense of results. While this is not literally true it certainly seems that way to me. The meetings are certainly an impediment to me as I try to accomplish my tasking. I usually just dial in and remain quiet as I work on other things unless I am called upon for something. Fortunately, this does not happen often since I am not a software developer or a tester. I work as a Data Quality expert and customer liaison, so my perspective is very different.

Monday mornings are usually quiet since most of the developers and testers are in California and won’t be in for another few hours. I can look out the window to see that all the noise I am hearing is caused by landscaping work going on around the apartment complex. I certainly feel for those guys being outside as the day warms up. I am glad that the place finally cooled down last night. I did get a good night of sleep, but I keep sensing snippets of really weird dreams that I must have had. Totally disjointed fragments that mean nothing to me in a waking condition. With any luck, tonight will be a night of sleep without any annoying dreams to pester me the following day.

I just spent some time paying attention to Maxwell. It is not very often that he can be held, so I make sure to spend as much time with him as he wants when he is in one of those moods. He is simply the most solitary of the Stooges, but we love him just the same as we love Spartacus and Stevie Nicks.

This morning would not be complete without some type of issue arising from the company. We have an opportunity to upgrade our laptops, which are 5 years old. The question involves what we will be upgraded to. The company is seriously considering a move to the Surface Pro 3 for everyone in the future. I am not entirely sold on this idea because I have no experience with these devices and how much processing power and RAM they contain. I made my concerns known to the company email, and stressed that I would withhold judgement until more information was available. I would not want to get an “upgrade” to a device that would not meet my requirements. I explained that I wanted to know more about the specs of these devices and also the possible swapping out for an actual new laptop if the Surface Pro 3 proved inadequate for my needs. That response should get them thinking and keep them busy for awhile. Of course, one co-worker has already volunteered to take the Surface Pro 3 for testing. This is not entirely comforting since he does different tasks on his laptop than I do. The only thing I can do is wait and see what develops after the co-worker submits his review back to the company after a trial period. At that time, I will have to indicate whether or not to proceed with the upgrade to Surface Pro 3 or to request a new laptop instead. Personally, I would prefer a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro.

With that behind me, I can now finish up emails and think about lunch. I will need my strength to get me through the endless meetings this afternoon.I can also prepare a quick lunch to help get me through all this.

I am sure that I will write more after work. The urge is strong.I made it through the first meeting of the afternoon and it ended early so I have time to step outside for a cigarette and to do a little more writing as I wait on the next meeting. The first meeting was replete with office politics being mixed in. People are jockeying for position all the time, it gets old after about 5 minutes. I have never played those games, being isolated from the team makes it pointless and dangerous anyway.

I would rather spend my time with the exercise bands that I have during a break. I need to get into better shape, and these should help me provided I actually use them as instructed to work on my shoulders and arms. Improving these areas will give me the motivation to also get this spare tire off my midsection! I hope to make this a more active routine, and not fade off after a few days. Between this and my step counting, I want to make a difference for the better in the future. There is no reason I cannot find a few minutes now and then to use these resistance bands to my benefit.

I appreciate that these resistance bands are nice and compact, they come with an over-the-door attachment so I can generate more exercises with a base to pull against. I feel the burn after a few cycles with the bands, and I can always swap the bands out to increase resistance as I progress.

The next meeting is underway and I have very little inputs to provide. This gives me the chance to get some other work done as I listen in. I am actually all caught up with things. There is one more meeting later today, my 1-1 with my supervisor before the end of the day. After that, I hope to enjoy the late afternoon and evening with Hal. No plans to do anything yet, that might change. If we stay home, there is roast for dinner and we will be all set for dinner. If we go out, we will see what happens. Hal is on the phone with a friend, I don’t know if this signifies a chance that we will get together this evening or not. I am, as usual, undecided about this.

And now there is a break during this long meeting. We will return for another hour after the break. I will do my best to keep my brain from falling asleep in the meantime.

Amazingly, this last hour has involved me to a degree that I would not have imagined. It makes a nice change from just listening to others talk, and it keeps me awake. I still have my 1-1 meeting with my supervisor in about 20 minutes or so, but I strongly suspect that we will push this meeting back a few minutes. I am going to need a break after this.

I am surprised that the weather has NOT turned oppressive outside after the start we had this morning. The temperature has not skyrocketed, and that is a great thing around here.

It is after 1630 and I am wrapping things up for the day here at work. I am able to take the rest of the day easy here now with less than an hour until quitting time. I am on pace to get my steps in for the day whether we go out or not, and that makes me feel even better. As of right now, Hal has not indicated that we are going anywhere after work. I will leave that decision up to him.

I can now relax and try to plan what I will write about this evening if inspiration strikes me.