I Don’t Want to Work Tomorrow

The kids are here today. They go to their father’s house tomorrow morning and stay there until Christmas Eve. Then they stay over until Christmas morning before going back to their fathers until the day after New Year. Then on the 4th we hop on a plane and fly to Disney World for the better part of two weeks.

Christmas is one week away. That means we have five grueling work days to go before the first of the two holidays. Then we have a holiday, then four grueling work days until the second holiday which extends into a two week vacation. Damn, I hope it’s warm in Florida in January. We did February in 2020, now we try January.

I don’t want the kids to go, but if we’re going to monopolize their times on the trip to Florida then we should give dad equal time before we leave. It’s fair, even if it sucks donkey balls.

We finally completed the last christmas decoration of the year tonight. We bought this year’s ornaments and hung them on the tree. Can you guess what mine is? Of course you can. It’s a little camera. I’ll see about getting a picture of it later because what’s more artsy then a camera taking a picture of a fake camera?

We’re spending the day with Wes Anderson movies today. The French Dispatch is on right now. Is everyone in his movies a veteran of James Bond movies? I think so.

Stay the Course Don’t Give In

No, this post isn’t about my stupid personal Facebook ban, though you might think so based on the title.

I watched a bunch of film photography vlogs on YouTube tonight. Now I know I said I was putting film photography silliness on hold until around Thanksgiving* but I super want to get a bunch of rolls of cheap black and white film and load it into dad’s Pentax and throw his zoom lens on (because I’ve yet to really use it) and go out shooting film!

No, Robert! Fight the urge! Fight the urge!

*For the first time since I was hired in 2004, I do not have the day after Thanksgiving off this year. I’ll put in for PTO if no one from my staff puts in first. The four day Thanksgiving weekend is literally my favorite holiday of the year. I wonder if Thanksgiving will be weird this year, due to having a mangled stomach and rewired intestines. We will see.

Woops

I got up early this morning to put the trash out on the street. When I came back inside Jen reminded me that yesterday was a state holiday, Patriots Day, and trash pick up will be tomorrow.

Sonofa…

Did you see those pictures of the cellar floor last night? We’re coming to the end, aren’t we. A few more days to finish the floor and all the baseboards and finishing touches. We have a couple of pieces of furniture coming this weekend. Soon enough we’re going to have us a nice little living room down there.

What else is going on? I have another doctors appointment tomorrow. A pre-screening at the hospital. I don’t know what that means, but it has something to do with anesthesia. Prep work.

Two weeks and one day until surgery. Two weeks after that Harry comes home for the summer. The month of May is going to be a busy one, right?

Only Two Days?

New Years gave us a long weekend last week. Christmas gave us a long weekend the week before.

This weekend is just a normal two day weekend? What the hell? You mean I have to go to work tomorrow?

That’s so harsh, bro. So harsh.

Testing as a Family

Earlier today the four of us had the first ever (please don’t make it the first annual) Family Covid-19 Rapid Test.

Jen lined up four test kits on a table and we all got together and festively* swabbed our noses (and possibly our brains, ouch) together. Fifteen minutes later we all checked the results and wouldn’t ya know it, we were all negative!

Let the New Year commence!

I didn’t get a picture of any of it so you’ll have to settle for this picture of Patches sitting on my desk.

Enjoy!

*I say festively, but the truth is Jen had to drag the kids out of bed to do this, so it might not have been all that festive for them. College kids, ya know?

The Last Lunch Break of the Year

December 30th. Tomorrow is a holiday from work. That makes today’s telecommuting lunch break the last lunch break of the year. I am so ready to put 2021 behind me. 2020 was a nightmare. 2021 was worse. 2022 (2020 too) is the great unknown, but for once I am thinking the devil I don’t know is preferable to the devil I know… or something like that. What was I saying? Oh yeah, this is the last lunch break blog post of 2021 and that pleases me.

The United Parcel Service paid me a visit. They brought a box with my name on it. Inside the box was two more, smaller boxes. In one box was a Real McCoy Custom RMC10 Wah pedal. In the other was an EarthQuaker Devices The Depths pedal. A new wah pedal and a new uni-vibe pedal. I don’t know when I am going to have a chance to play them. Maybe tonight? Maybe not. I’m looking forward to it. New boutique guitar pedals for this boutique guitar pedal snob.

We missed out on our Christmas Eve festivities this year because of a Covid scare but we are going to give it another try tomorrow for New Years Eve. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am seriously ready for this. New Year, Christmas Eve, both at the same time. Yes. Gimme gimme gimme.

Three hours and one minute left in the work day. I don’t know if I can make it through. I needs me some long weekend and I needs me some long weekend right now.

Today is Not Friday

Today is the first time since Bellana finished her Fall semester at school (apart from a few hours of miracle on Christmas Day) that both kids are home. They will both be here until Monday morning and I am as happy as a middle aged red head gets.

We were supposed to have a fancy dinner on Christmas Day but we didn’t due to all of the various circumstances. We are having the dinner that we had planned for Christmas tonight. Jen is in the kitchen right now while I watch the clock inch through the last 36 minutes of the work day.

New Years Day is this weekend.

All of these things together have combined to convince my tiny, teeny, tiny little brain that today is Friday. No. Today is not Friday. Today is Wednesday. Wednesday, not Friday. I still have a full day of work tomorrow that I have to get through before the holiday weekend starts.

My brain is broken. My brain cannot process the fact that today is not Friday. I feel like I’m losing my mind!

Three Days

Thanks to some lucky calendar coincidences, I only have a three day work week this week. Talk about a relief.

Christmas is a day off for us. Christmas is Saturday. When Christmas falls on the weekend the rules are we get Friday off for Saturday holidays and Monday off for Sunday. Therefore we get Friday off this year. Sweet.

Christmas Eve is also a day off for us. We’ve had this particular non-national holiday for a few years now, but this is it. Starting in 2022 (2020 too) it’s back to working on Christmas Eve. This year though, Christmas Eve is on Friday, but we’re off on Friday because of Christmas Day, so we “celebrate” Christmas Eve on Thursday and we get Thursday off.

Every once in a while, the calendar just comes through for you, man. In a big way.

So we’re off on Thursday and Friday and we only have a three day week. Next week will also get some calendar magic as New Years Day is also a holiday that falls on Saturday, meaning we get Friday off. We don’t have a New Years Eve holiday, but the schedule works out that we’re off that day anyway.

Let me take this opportunity to praise 2021 for ending on this little up note, even though almost everything else this year has been rotten festering garbage and thanks to omicron there’s no reason to expect 2022 (2020 too) will be better.

HoHoHo!

Coming Home Tomorrow

My step son is coming home tomorrow. Have I mentioned that? Do you/they know it’s christmas time at all?

Jen just came into my bedroom/office/work nook and said that to her, today feels like Friday. It was a great minds think alike moment because I had been thinking the same thing all day. It’s only Wednesday but it totally feels like Friday. That’s going to make the next two days suck. I checked my work schedule tomorrow and it’s blank. I don’t have any meetings booked at all. It’s almost creepy.

My christmas wrapping is almost done. Did I mention that? I’ve still got a couple of things on the way (package delivery, a symptom of ‘Covid Christmas Too’) but as of now, everything I have to wrap is wrapped… and there are still 10 days left until christmas. That is also almost creepy.

I was going to do car music this morning, but I didn’t. I did a couple of errands instead. I snaked the drain like a faux plumber. As it turned out, I was able to sneak in everything I had left to do during lunch. You may have noticed that there wasn’t a lunch break blog post (no you didn’t. No one did. No one should). Two songs need both rhythm and lead guitar parts. Four just need lead guitar. Two more are already ready to mix. Music, ya know?

Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden has a podcast. World class fencer, airline pilot, novelist, metal god. The dude has range. It’s called Psycho Schizo Espresso. It’s Bruce and a psychologist talking about stuff. Okay, I’ll give it a spin.

Four minutes until the work day ends. Fingers crossed nothing comes my way during those four minutes, because I am cooking dinner tonight and the oven is already pre-heated. Chicken and Quinoa. They should call Chicken and Quinoa, ‘The Robert’ because it’s pretty much the only dish I am capable of making.

Three minutes to go…

Okay, clicking Publish now.

The Most Dangerous Part of the Season

It has arrived. We knew it was coming eventually, but now it’s here.

The most dangerous part of the holiday season….

….the time you start baking stuff.

Oh the horror… the horror… the horror…

There has been a request for the no-bake cookies aka Tewksbury Tweets that I started making at the start of the lock down. I guess I can come out of retirement for that.

The only thing left is to start christmas shopping. Wait, now THAT is the most dangerous part of the season.