Wednesday, May 18, 2005
That was the week that was
I remember when I wasn't so busy that I could manage a couple of posts in a week. Those were good times. Well, rather than try and pick out one of the handful of topics that popped up in my mind in the days just past, maybe I'll just give y'all a report on my week.
Thursday, May 12: After making the previous post, I went home and went to bed. The rest of the day was nice--mainly because I had the day off. I've taken a "week of Thursdays" off so I can avail myself of some Mandarin lessons from Carol, a lady from church. It's been awhile since I've done any language learning. It was familiar, of course, since I've studied both Spanish and Cantonese in years past. It was also difficult, as Carol is teaching it all verbally, with no visual cheat sheets. Anyway, I can now go to China and, with a bit of hesitation, proudly declare Wa boo shi tau. (I am not a peach.)
Friday, May 13: Friday was uneventful. I had a morning, went in to work, did an hour of overtime, and then went home. I resisted the temptation to stay up late and watch the final two episodes of Enterprise, which was a good thing because...
Saturday, May 14: Road trip, redux. I couldn't sleep in, because I had some biz to attend to. Then in the afternoon, we all piled in the car and headed down to Oregon City for Noddles' cousin's wedding reception. It was slightly different than our last trip to Oregon. No concert, no sleepover at the cousin's house. But it was still a whole lotta driving for a short bit of fun. Not that I'm complaining--I had a great time.
Sunday, May 15: Rolled into town a bit before 1 am. The alarm went off at 6:30 am, so we could get up and make a presentation about the China venture. I ended up taking two naps in the afternoon--bookmarking a visit from one of Poodlepums' friends--and spent a chunk of the evening watching those Enterprise episodes. We also had dinner at Burger King. Surprisingly enough, the ketchup packets didn't have any Star Wars promotions on it.
Monday, May 16: Spent most of my morning at the doctor's office getting my official travel physical. I had to get two forms filled out--one for the Sauerkrauts and one for the Chinese visa application. I had to help the physician assistant fill out the latter, as they asked for my height and weight in centimeters and kilograms and he didn't have a clue as to how to convert from inches and pounds. I referred to the conversion tables printed in my pocket calendar (first time I ever used those...) and did some quick figuring via pen and paper. Sometimes you just can't beat low tech. Anyway, while my weight and blood pressure were lower than last time, they were still too high. But the doc gave me a clean bill of health anyway.
Tuesday, May 17: Oy, what a day. It was supposed to be another day off. But when we got back from a brunch in Puyallup, there was a message on the machine from work. Would I please come in and work, as we are on serious overload? I said yes, as this was the first time in 13 years they've ever asked me to cancel a vacation day. Noodles did not take the news too kindly and we spent a half hour squabbling about it. Then I went in to work--quite resentful over being stuck in the middle of my boss' needs and my family's. I checked in with Noodles later in the evening and we spent an hour on the phone discussing the whole issue again, only this time a bit more pleasantly. After work, we then talked some more, while Noodles finished up the dishes. Then we kissed and made out, er, up.
Wednesday, May 18: Uneventful. A typical busy workday, slightly colored by the fear that they would ask me to cancel tomorrow's day off. But so far they haven't.
Thursday, May 12: After making the previous post, I went home and went to bed. The rest of the day was nice--mainly because I had the day off. I've taken a "week of Thursdays" off so I can avail myself of some Mandarin lessons from Carol, a lady from church. It's been awhile since I've done any language learning. It was familiar, of course, since I've studied both Spanish and Cantonese in years past. It was also difficult, as Carol is teaching it all verbally, with no visual cheat sheets. Anyway, I can now go to China and, with a bit of hesitation, proudly declare Wa boo shi tau. (I am not a peach.)
Friday, May 13: Friday was uneventful. I had a morning, went in to work, did an hour of overtime, and then went home. I resisted the temptation to stay up late and watch the final two episodes of Enterprise, which was a good thing because...
Saturday, May 14: Road trip, redux. I couldn't sleep in, because I had some biz to attend to. Then in the afternoon, we all piled in the car and headed down to Oregon City for Noddles' cousin's wedding reception. It was slightly different than our last trip to Oregon. No concert, no sleepover at the cousin's house. But it was still a whole lotta driving for a short bit of fun. Not that I'm complaining--I had a great time.
Sunday, May 15: Rolled into town a bit before 1 am. The alarm went off at 6:30 am, so we could get up and make a presentation about the China venture. I ended up taking two naps in the afternoon--bookmarking a visit from one of Poodlepums' friends--and spent a chunk of the evening watching those Enterprise episodes. We also had dinner at Burger King. Surprisingly enough, the ketchup packets didn't have any Star Wars promotions on it.
Monday, May 16: Spent most of my morning at the doctor's office getting my official travel physical. I had to get two forms filled out--one for the Sauerkrauts and one for the Chinese visa application. I had to help the physician assistant fill out the latter, as they asked for my height and weight in centimeters and kilograms and he didn't have a clue as to how to convert from inches and pounds. I referred to the conversion tables printed in my pocket calendar (first time I ever used those...) and did some quick figuring via pen and paper. Sometimes you just can't beat low tech. Anyway, while my weight and blood pressure were lower than last time, they were still too high. But the doc gave me a clean bill of health anyway.
Tuesday, May 17: Oy, what a day. It was supposed to be another day off. But when we got back from a brunch in Puyallup, there was a message on the machine from work. Would I please come in and work, as we are on serious overload? I said yes, as this was the first time in 13 years they've ever asked me to cancel a vacation day. Noodles did not take the news too kindly and we spent a half hour squabbling about it. Then I went in to work--quite resentful over being stuck in the middle of my boss' needs and my family's. I checked in with Noodles later in the evening and we spent an hour on the phone discussing the whole issue again, only this time a bit more pleasantly. After work, we then talked some more, while Noodles finished up the dishes. Then we kissed and made out, er, up.
Wednesday, May 18: Uneventful. A typical busy workday, slightly colored by the fear that they would ask me to cancel tomorrow's day off. But so far they haven't.
