the shortest month

Gotta have at least one entry in February... It might be a disjointed one, just like February was...

There are still several weeks ahead of us before we move into the condo... (Contractors suck)... Am really tired of the temporary living situation -- and anxious to put some new things into play, like the new TV that we have bought (plus blue-ray and all kinds of things that I've never heard of) -- but won't set up until we are moved. Need some permanency again.

Work is relatively permanent, as in it feels like 24/7. Might drive out of town one of these days just to get some perspective.

Still fighting the winter. So sick of cold temperatures.

Seeing some of the Oscar-nominee movies before next Sunday's Academy Awards. They sure don't make movies like they used to.

After working some late nights, I must say it's been refreshing to be able to come home and watch some Winter Olympics. Sad to see them end... And I've learned to love Canada's national anthem -- O Canada! It's a catchy one!

drive, he said

It's like running a marathon for three months, and then suddenly it's over and you have to get used to walking again. Or stopping.

So what's been happening in the world while I was doing nothing but working 12-14 hour days?.. what did I miss?

Let's check: Absurdity still reigns, or is it just that the news prefers reporting the absurdity because we've learned to expect it?

Like how about this one for an example? -- PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) asked the Pet Shop Boys to change their name. Apparently "pet shops" are now politically incorrect. They're afraid animals will have hurt feelings?? (The Pet Shop Boys respectfully declined their request).

So maybe I won't try to catch up on the news after all.

Jerry, meanwhile, is anxiously waiting for me to decide where we should vacation to sometime soon. Right now, I don't care where, as long as it is somewhere relaxing and somewhere other than here. This will be one of our more spontaneous trips, if it happens. I might like to just get in the car one day and just start driving.......... Or go the airport and get on the first plane we see. Or just wait til I have my brain back and think it through.

anyway, for better or worse, the blog is back..............

marching into april again

Tom just got done beating us at cards again. Now, a little while before midnight, he and Jerry are downstairs watching TV, and I'm exhausted -- on a Saturday night! -- but way too wired to go to sleep. The last several weeks for me have been work almost non-stop, and it's kind of peaceful to sit down at the laptop on the Blogger site and realize how blank my brain is. Tschaikovsky is playing on my iPod (through the stereo), followed abruptly by an old Dionne Warwick/Burt Bacharach song. I'm having some herbal tea, drinking from a mug that says "Republicans Are Creepy" (A Christmas gift from Tom).

A few years ago, I read a book called The Joy of Stress, the premise of which was that stress is not necessarily a bad thing, that there is good stress and there is bad stress and that you have to use stress to your advantage. This has been one of my busiest busy seasons but, surprisingly, one where the good stress is far outweighing the bad stress. Assuming that I actually survive through the middle of April, this has been one of my better busy seasons (out of 32), maybe because of outstanding co-workers or the best mix of clients or, who knows?, maybe the stars happen to be aligned just right.

After the busy season ends, I'm expecting a big change in my business, possibly taking on a couple of partners, bringing on decisions that will mean a bunch of new good stress/bad stress issues. In between this and that, I might need a little break, possibly back home, maybe taking a walk in Ocean City, New Jersey, on the beach where one day my ashes will be strewn. Maybe I'll jump in the air once, or, more likely, maybe I won't.

On the stereo, from the iPod, I've Got You Under My Skin, one of my favorite songs. And the tea is making me sleepy.

will work for food

For me, it's easy to lose perspective this time of year... I get kinda weird when I work long hours day after day... A couple nights ago, I was bleary-eyed and goofy when Jerry picked me up at the office... It was late, and I was starving and on the verge of crabbiness (and you've never seen me crabby, I'm sure)... "Where should we go to eat?" Jerry asks, trying to accomodate... I feel the need to drown my sorrows in something greasy, so I say, "I'm really in the mood for Psycho Suzie's!" So he drove me over to Psycho Suzie's, where I ranted at him about my day until the cocktail started taking effect and the sausage-and-mushroom pizza arrived at our table, and suddenly life was good again.

Meanwhile, there are all those people out there suddenly without jobs, and I'm wondering where that will all end... More homeless people?.. Believe me, you don't want to be homeless in Minnesota in winter. Target Corporation and Best Buy are headquartered here in Minneapolis, and even they are laying off significant numbers of corporate staff. So for now, I guess I won't complain about being overworked.
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Didn't watch the SuperBowl this year (Arizona? Pittsburgh? halftime show?.. who cares?), went to a movie instead (Frost/Nixon). Still need to see a couple more Oscar nominees, The Reader and Benjamin Button, maybe The Wrestler and Doubt if I don't run out of time.
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Just finished reading a good book, Polanski by Christopher Sandford. Not the best biography I've ever read, but I enjoyed it very much -- Who has had a more dramatic life than Roman Polanski?
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Am I missing something, or what is the big deal about Michael Phelps smoking some pot? Where's the loyalty, Americans? This guy won eight Olympic gold medals! Let him have some fun!

the office

Joan knew it must have been a busy week for me because I didn't blog all week. True, it was nuts but manageably so, and the next two and a half weeks will be wild. Not to worry, I can handle it.

(Right now, as I write this, it's Sunday night. I walked over to the office and am doing a few things to make Monday morning easier, and it's nice and quiet now, no phones ringing, no interruptions.)

Here's a peek into my office ------>

I just today finished reading a book about contemporary office life, a first novel by Joshua Ferris titled Then We Came to the End. The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2007 (whatever that means), and I also recommend it highly. We, those of us with jobs that is, spend so much of our lives with co-workers, how can they not have an effect on us? And then corporate America, with its economic downturns and heartless layoffs and all that.... well, just give the book a try.

And, as for being too busy to blog, I think maybe I blog more when I'm busy. Gives my mind a ten-minute escape. Some people take a smoke break, I take a blog break.