Projects are Hard

I said I was going to start an album-in-a-month on September 1st (yesterday) and I did. I came up with bass lines that will eventually be song #1. I wanted to work on it last night. You know, come up with a song form, tweak the percussion so it fits better, and a guitar part. Stuff like that. Recording nerd stuff.

Instead of doing that, I spent an hour and a half trying and failing to eat about five ounces of chicken (I stopped at about 3.5 oz) and then went to bed early.

So there is that, and there is also a new/continuing photo-a-day thing. I started yesterday and all is well. Today though… let’s just say that in the past three years I was just snapping whatever I saw with my iPhone. Over the last couple of months I’ve put the camera phone away in favor of one of my actual cameras. Does that mean I am no longer willing to consider just any old pic good enough for the photo-a-day thing? That might be the case today. I might need to stage a photo that is better than just a random cat or something. I’m also guessing that within a day or two I will be back to all cat all the time. Just a thought.

I am also getting the urge to get my two 1970’s guitars worked on. Frets, wiring, maybe pickups. I can’t afford any of that, and planned on selling my Stratocaster to fund the work. I just haven’t done anything with the whole selling thing. I think this weekend I might give craigslist.com a shot. If for no other reason that it will require me to take a couple of pictures of that guitar. Heh heh heh. Ain’t I a stinker?

I also want to do some camera walk time this weekend. Andover center, downtown Lowell, Boston/Cambridge. I want to do something. Unfortunately for the camera walk stuff, I also want to clean the house and rearrange the living room and hang out with my wife doing nuttin’. So… the projects are likely to take a back seat.

Where’s my camera… and where’s my cat?

I Am Toast

Methuen, MA to Burlington, VT to Methuen, MA to Burlington, VT to Methuen, MA in a period of about a day and a half. Sweet Christmas, am I exhausted.

Everything went fine on the second trip to school yesterday. No issues at all. I helped bring a few things up to Harry’s room and helped bring a few things back to the car. I stopped at a few random places in order to stretch my legs and all was well. I left the house at about 3:45 and got back at about 10:45. Pretty much exactly on schedule.

About 10 minutes after I got home I zombified completely. I had a few things I needed to do before bed and I did them all, but once that was through I was mentally and physically done. I put out the Poland Springs empties so that they could be picked up today. I brought the trash out to the street so it could be picked up today. I finished my exercise and move rings so that I could keep my perfect month intact.

Note, I said I closed the rings. I did not say I did a full 30 minutes of walkies. Nope, I was too tired. I broke my streak of days with a single 30 minute work out. I did 18 minutes last night and that was enough for me to have all three of my Activity App rings closed and that was all I had in me. The streak ran from June 1, 2022 to August 28, 2022. I started a new streak this morning. Bring it on.

Okay. I have to go to work. I have a busy morning. My goal is to get through the work day, cook some dinner for the love of my life, and then fall asleep in front of the TV until bed time. Bring it on.

Stretching My Legs

Welcome to New Hampshire. I just crossed the state line coming out of Vermont. I still have about 100 miles to go but I pulled over to give my legs a good stretching. I’m in a Walgreens parking lot and the store is closed. That didn’t compute for me until I looked at my watch and saw it was 9:10pm. Oh, yeah. Closing time.

Okay, time to get back on the road. I need to get home with enough time to do my 30 minutes of walkies. Yikes!

Heading Back?

We drove up to Burlington yesterday, had brunch with Bellana (which was wonderful), then dropped a few things off at Harry’s new dorm room and helped him set a few things up. That was great too.

After we were done helping Harry we headed North, which is 100% in the wrong direction. We wanted to make the ride home a sight seeing thing. We drove across the islands in the middle of Lake Champlain. The lake looked amazing. We did get stuck behind a draw bridge for a while, and we also got stuck at a rail road crossing. There was no train. The gates came down and traffic in both directions stopped. It was weird until an ambulance drove up, the gates came up so the ambulance could cross, and they didn’t come back down. There really was no train. Did the ambulance trigger the gates?

Eventually we ran out of islands and just headed South. We left the highway for traffic reasons a couple of times and didn’t get home until after 8:00pm. It felt so good to just get out of the house and road trip like a couple of road tripping road trippers again. I really enjoyed the whole thing. I especially enjoyed the kid time and the Jen time, but the whole thing was great.

……and now we are going to do it again today?

Jen is at a doctors appointment. She’s texting with Harry about some additional things he needs us to bring up to him. I have a half day today for a doctors appointment at 2:00pm. Since I’m already leaving work early, I can just head up to Burlington again and take care of things. Why wait until the weekend? Jen and I are texting about planning things. I’m not clear on whether or not she will come up with me. I’m 100% committed to this today. The only question remaining is will I be able to stop at Quechee Gorge on the way home.

Road Trip Take Two, babie! WOOHOO!

Ready for Tomorrow

Harry’s stuff is all packed and ready to load into the car in the morning. My camera batteries are charged and the Mazda has a full tank of gas.

Harry is planning on getting up after 6:00. I’m thinking of getting up a lot earlier than that. Maybe I’ll be able to get my walkies in before he wakes up.

I’m really going to miss him when he’s gone, but that’s the price you pay for raising smart kids. They go off to college and leave you behind. It’s sad but it’s also awesome. I couldn’t be more proud of both kids.

The Next Phase

We are driving to Vermont tomorrow. 3-4 hours each way. I think it’s time to move my post-surgery diet to a new phase. I’m actually a little nervous. I’ll have to test drive it today, but I’m heading in to visit mom right now so we’ll have to wait a little while.

Another Try?

Thinking about going for some river pics in the morning. I have a ton of things to do before Harry wakes up tomorrow, including visiting my mother. If I get up early enough I might play at picture taking before Market Basket opens at 7:00 and the day starts rolling for really reals.

We’ll see.

It’s Only Thursday?

Going into the office on Tuesday this week has melted my brain’s internal calendar. Yesterday felt like Friday but it was only Wednesday. Today is Thursday and it feels like Friday too. Shit.

This weekend is going to be emotional. Harry comes back from a week at his dad’s tomorrow. Then we have the whole day on Saturday. Then at the crack of dawn on Sunday we move him back to school in Vermont.

I miss the kids when the they go to their dad’s for a night or two. Last year was rough with both of them away at school. We only had Bellana back for a few weeks this summer, but we’ve had Harry for the better part of three months. It’s going to be hard seeing him go again.

He’s moving into a new dorm this year and he’ll be in a suite with a bunch of friends. That’s going to be a great experience. He has some interesting classes on his schedule. He’s going to be challenged but he is also going to enjoy himself. A little piece of me is jealous, but I’ve already been there so not really. I am excited for him but I am also going to miss him. The empty nest is looming again and it just makes me sad.

The drive to school takes us past the town Jen and I stayed in on our wedding night. Maybe we should drive through on our way home and try to sort of cheer ourselves up. Who knows.

Until then, I have a Thursday that feels like a Friday to get through. Wish me luck.

In the Office

We’re in the office today. I’ve already had two meetings (successfully). Only five more to go today.

Traffic was okay. It took a little more than an hour to go 40 miles. Not as bad as it often is. We’ll see how things look on the way home this evening.

Fingers crossed for a quiet day. I want to get home and see my love. We’re so used to remote work meaning that we can just walk to the next room and say hi that it really blows when that’s not possible.

Oh well. Happy Tuesday.

Bad Night

I went to sleep last night at a little after 11:00pm and woke up a little before 1:00am. My CPAP mask was slipping and sliding all over my face and it was leaking like nuts. I pulled the straps as tight as I could stand it and went back to sleep. I woke up again a little before 4:00am with a splitting headache. Were the two things related? I don’t know, but I couldn’t get back to sleep for a while. I got up and walked around for a bit (earning two stand hours! Bright side, babie!) and then managed to get back to sleep.

When I got up at about 7:00am my head was still a little funny, and I was extra tired, but as I started going through my morning routine I definitely felt better. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling 100%, but I’m getting there. I’ll probably take a Covid test this morning, just for paranoia’s sake. I’m sure I’m good though.

Harry has spent most of the summer at our house. Yesterday he went to his dad’s and he’s not coming back here until next Friday. Then he goes back to school on Sunday. We are effectively empty nesters again and we’re both feeling pretty sad about it. I need to play guitar this weekend to cheer myself up. I also need to play photographer this weekend to further cheer myself up. When I spoke to the psychologist during my pre-surgery prep time he asked if I had anything to use instead of food for reward behavior and cheering myself up. I said it would probably end up being guitars and cameras… now is the time, my reward behavior friends.

Also, I started a candle time lapse today because I am a total freakin’ nerd. Also…

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