Tag: plans

Schedule Shuffle

I woke up this morning with every intention of working in the office. Now it’s 9:07am though and I am sitting at my desk at home.

I woke up a touch later than I wanted to, and that was the first issue. By the time I finished my morning exercise (jogging [pronounced yogging] in place for 45 minutes) I just couldn’t bring myself to drive into the office. Instead of packing up my stuff I just ate breakfast and finished the episode of The X-Files that I was watching (the one where the baseball player in the ’40’s is an alien in disguise… not the best episode).

I am still planning on making tomorrow (Saturday) a major musical day. Jen is going to be at a conference all day so I am on my own. The to-do list includes getting a haircut (which I desperately need) and an oil change for one of the cars. Other than that, it’s music. The Record Every Month Challenge and Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven… and maybe a start on Volume Eight too.

I promise you, owe internets, that there will be guitar playing, song writing, and recording done on Saturday. Unless I change my mind and just sleep and watch TV all day, of course.

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day challenge masterpiece.

204/365
204/365

What a Day

This morning has been the toughest month in years.

Tomorrow is going to be worse. A lot worse. Wednesday will be tough, though mostly after work. Same with Thursday. Friday and Saturday? Nuckin’ Futs!

I need a nap. I need to go to bed early tonight but we all know that won’t happen. I will get up ridiculously early tomorrow too. Same with the next day and the next day and the next day.

As crazy as it has been, and as crazy as it will continue to be in the near future, I am good with it. I am ready for all of it. It’s going to be rough, but it’s also going to be worth it.

Bring it on, babie! Bring it on!

Okay, Robert. Back to work with your bad self. You have stuff to do before the day ends!

To Do List

It’s Saturday. Jen is going to be working today so I will be fending for myself. I’m going to Vermont tomorrow to take my step son to a UMass Lowell vs Vermont NCAA Hockey game so I have to get all of the stuff I need to do this weekend done today.

It’s time for a to do list, babie! Yes!

  • Do my 40 minutes of exercise and eat breakfast. Gotta start the day off on the right foot.
  • Our bathroom tub is a disaster of mildew and soap scum and a partially clogged drain. Clean it!
  • Put together a desk for the new home office work space.
  • Go to BestBuy and curbside pickup two orders of stuff for the new home office work space.
  • Go grocery shopping.
  • Clean the cats’ litter boxes.
  • PLAY YOUR FRIGGIN’ GUITAR!
  • CALL YOUR FATHER!

There. That’s a good list of things that need to be accomplished today. Let’s see how many we can get to before bed time tonight.

How Are We Doing?

Hey folks. How is it going? Are we all doing all right tonight? It’s Friday the 13th, has the universe thrown you any curve balls?

Today has gone okay for me. I found out my nephew has Covid. Sigh in frustration. I hope he’s okay, and I hope he kicks it way faster than I did. I don’t want him to be sick for three weeks the way I was. I have a whole new perspective on this particular plague and somehow it makes everything worse.

I had another one of those empty stomach things that I wrote about last night. Usually it hits about three hours after eating. Today it hit two hours after I finished lunch. I had a snack and thought I would be okay until dinner, but an hour later it came back. Weird. That’s the first time this issue was not predictable. I didn’t eat dinner until 7:00, which was about an hour after the stomach ache came back. We’re going to have to keep an eye on this tonight. I don’t want any weirdness. Unpredictable weirdness is not as fun as you’d think.

Jen and I just watched this week’s episode of Loki. Season two episode two. At lunch today I was poking around news.google.com and I was almost spoiled about seven times. I am going to have to be more careful on Fridays for the next four weeks.

I just checked the weather for the weekend. It is going to be clear at sunrise tomorrow and clear just after sunrise on Sunday. There must be photos this weekend. It’s a necessity. I have a lot of stuff on my agenda and I’m booked pretty solid. Still, from a mental health standpoint a photowalk somewhere must happen. The mornings are getting cold and there are only so many more opportunities left before the winter ruins everything. I have to take advantage of this. Ocean sunrise and maybe some Merrimack River stuff tomorrow and then either around town on Sunday or maybe finally spend an hour or two walking around the city? Boston at sunrise on a Sunday should be easy to social distance, shouldn’t it?

Like I said, there is a lot on my plate this weekend. I need to make time for some creative stuff. I’m still feeling a little shell shocked from the covid journey so my brain needs to stretch its figurative legs a little.

Here’s hoping we can make something happen this weekend. Assuming Friday the 13th lets us through the day, right?

What Comes Next

I was really hoping that Covid would be behind me by today. Nope. I’m still dealing with it. I do feel a lot better though. I feel well enough that I can start thinking of what comes next.

I haven’t exercised in over a week. I haven’t closed my calorie ring on the activity app once in over a week. Do I start tomorrow? I am planning to work a full day so maybe I should skip the exercising in the morning for a few more days. I don’t want to wear myself out before the work day even starts. That’s not ideal, but it is safe.

What about music? There are six days left in the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. There is no way I will finish 50 songs, but I could get myself a whole lot closer than I am. I was looking at my Trello board and I think I could get into the low 40s without killing myself. Do I want to record some guitar parts in the morning? I could probably manage that. I don’t want to do a car vocals until I test negative. I know I wouldn’t run into any human creatures, but why risk it? I will stay home until I test negative and then after that I will mask up if I do anything out of the house. That also means no photography fun outside of the house for at least a few more days.

As for tonight, my water goal is done, my vitamins are done, my protein goal is… almost done. Five grams or so still to go. I can get that easily. I am a bit full now but in 30 minutes or so I’ll be ready to finish that off. I am hoping I will catch the new episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon tonight before I go to sleep. If I can sneak in a little more Doctor Who before I sleep that would be nice too. I think I’ve blown through more than three seasons (or was it four?) during my quarantine. So very much Who.

Next weekend the plan is to clean the house from top to bottom. I want the house to be covid-residue free before we invite anyone over. Safety first, right? After that I want to push to travel again. Maybe just a road trip, or possibly an overnight somewhere. I don’t want us to lose our covid nerve. We’ve fallen off the horse and I want to make sure we get back on as soon as possible. Does that make sense? We locked down so hard that feeling up to leaving the house took a lot of effort. Then to have us catch the plague for the first time during a vacation? I don’t want us to be afraid to travel again. I want us to go somewhere as soon as possible. It’s Fall now, so maybe in a few weeks it will be time for leaf peeping. Maybe an overnight to Manhattan would be a good destination too. I also want us to rebook our long weekend in Disney World. The trip that went bust on us was an experiment to see if it was worth it to fly all the way there for a 3-4 day visit. The answer to that question is still up in the air and we definitely have to do the research. The question is, when? Maybe around Christmas? We’ll have to look into the options.

So there are a few things I am thinking about for the near future. The real question is, do I set my alarm clock for 5:00am tomorrow, or 6:00am. I won’t have an answer until I actually lay down to sleep. Until then…

36 Minutes Left

It is 4:54pm. I get off work at 5:30. 36 minutes to go until the long weekend.

Do I have any plans yet? I want to do some cleaning. Jen and I might take a lunch time drive tomorrow. I want to go grocery shopping in the morning.

Anything else?

The weather is supposed to be clear all three days. There has to be some photography fun. I might get up for some ocean sunrise tomorrow. The sunrise is after 6:00am now. I can handle that. I might shoot some film at the ocean, including some black and white film. How would a sunrise look on black and white? Dreamy and cool or blah? We might find out.

I need to book a Genius Bar appointment. My iPhone’s lightning connection is failing. I need to get that fixed. They probably just need to clean it, but we’ll see. I might wait until next week for that one though.

As previously stated, there is a Disney World trip this month. It’s a short one, but it’s coming up quickly. Is it too early to write up a packing list and start planning that? Do I need to buy a bathing suit? What are the chances of Jen and me hitting the hotel pool? I don’t know. I’ve lost over 200 pounds since the last time I owned a bathing suit or a pair of shorts that could pass for a bathing suit.

In other words… I have no idea what we’re going to end up doing over this upcoming holiday weekend. All I know for sure is that it is now 4:59pm and the weekend is 31 minutes away.

4:35am

It’s 4:35am. The sun will come up at Hampton Beach at 5:31. I should be there. The cameras are packed along with a couple of extra rolls of film that I do not expect to need, I have a breakfast of protein bars in a bag, my morning vitamins are being taken with some sugar free Gatorade as I type this, my defective tripod and a folding chair are still in the car from last time. I am going to need a nap when I get home, but other than that I think we’re good to go.

Let’s go sunrise chasing and cross our fingers that the cloud cover is minimal like the weather app says it should be. The question again is, where do I stop on the way home for bonus photo time? I’m thinking downtown Lowell. We’ll see.

Ocean Visit Tomorrow

The sunrise at Salisbury Beach will be at 5:27 AM tomorrow. Same with Hampton Beach. The forecast is calling for partly cloudy conditions at both locations. Given the horrid luck I have had with sunrise conditions on days when I don’t have to go to work, I think this is good enough to take a shot.

The battery on my Z5 is charged. There is film in both the K1000 and the FG-20 and I have all three cameras and a couple of extra rolls of film in a backpack all ready to go. My broken tripod is packed up too. Google maps says the drive to Hampton Beach takes 34 minutes without traffic. That means, if I want to be on the beach before the sun comes up with enough time to get everything ready, I need to be on the road by 4:45, which means I need to be out of bed by 4:15 or so.

Holy shit that’s early. I am planning on trying this, but there is a better than even chance that I will sleep right through it and then be mad at myself for the rest of the summer.

We’ll see how it goes.

Plans for the Fourth

Does anyone have any plans for the 4th of July? It’s a holiday in the United States tomorrow. Jen and I are both off of work. Independence Day. How are we going to celebrate?

I have no idea.

Jen and I both had a bit of a stomach bug yesterday. She still has it, though I think I’m in the clear now. If she’s still under the weather then I expect us to just sit in the living room flaking in glorious fashion. If she’s feeling better, will we do anything? The weather is supposed to be garbage so I don’t think we’ll be doing much of anything out doors. I’d like to have a mini-cookout or something but I’m not holding my breath.

We have been talking about driving to IKEA and getting some furniture to replace what Harry took to Vermont with him. We’re thinking of turning Harry’s room into a den/bedroom that we can use when he’s not here. When he is here, it’s his room. When he’s not it’s an alternate living room space. We’re thinking of a day bed. Maybe a little desk too? Maybe a comfy chair? We’re thinking of getting another comfy chair for the living room next to the fire place. We have that area marked as a reading nook. IKEA would be ideal for all of this. I just don’t know if our health will be up to it.

Other than that, I plan on doing the next 5k training run. 30 minutes of walk-for-a-minute/run-for-a-minute. I will also hopefully start working on this year’s fake 50/90 challenge. The challenge to write 50 songs in 90 days is real. The fake part is that I am done with the fiftyninety website. No more logging in there for me. Tomorrow is the first day for this challenge. If I were smart I’d write 50 songs tomorrow and then take 90 days to tinker with them. Yes, that was sarcasm.

The 4th of July, 2023 might just turn into a day. More like a plain old Sunday than a huge holiday. We’ll have to see how everyone’s stomach feels. Fingers crossed we can do something fun together. I choose to be optimistic and expect everything to work out fine.

Lots to Do

I have a lot of stuff to do for work this weekend. Being out on Friday dug me a hole that I need to take care of before I go back on Tuesday. I also have a ton of music to do this weekend. I need to do car music so that I can finish my two songs for the month of May. Two songs finished will mean eight songs unfinished but I am thinking of just punting those to next month rather than abandoning them all together. I also want to do some sunrise pictures and the weather looks good tomorrow. It was good today too but I didn’t get out of bed until almost 8:00am soooo… yeah.

All of that to do, but the kids are home this weekend. Bellana is here now and Harry will be here tomorrow. All of that stuff to do and I just want to hang out with them. I’ll figure it out, but not until later today. I just want to veg and be a family guy for a while.