Zoom Zoom!

Posted on July 23, 2020 by A Dreamer

Thursday already? This week is certainly flying by and I couldn’t even tell you why.

Haven’t missed a beat at work, which is nice and it was lovely to *not* dread going back on Monday morning. My former boss called me yesterday and my first thought was “FUCK, what did I do?” – I answered the phone with, “It’s not my fault! I didn’t do it! I swear I left the client three voicemails!” LOL. Fortunately, she found it funny. And then tried to get me to do client training. Nope, nope, nope. I’m good at the module in question, but not “client paying extra for in depth training” good.

I mean, I’m not going to lie, if I won the lottery, I’d quit my job and move to the beach, but right now, work is certainly good enough.

Well, off to go to the thing. Have an awesome day.

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Pandemic Side Effect

Posted on July 20, 2020 by A Dreamer

Well, we found out at the beach that all three of us have apparently become morning people. The latest anyone (OK, me) slept was until 9:30 and most days we were all up and about by 8:30. And we all agreed it wasn’t terrible, LOL. So, maybe one tiny not awful thing has come out of this. Mornings are actually kinda nice. Who knew?

Back to work today, where I will spend the first half hour going, “Wait, what is my job again?” I am happy to report, I didn’t think about work AT ALL while I was on vacation – didn’t even check my email. So, the other part of that first half hour will be clearing out my inbox. The good news is that it shouldn’t be the shitshow of emails like it was last year.

Watching BBC news this morning and Boris Johnson is talking about a vaccine and masking up and such and my lord, 45 makes that utter boob look good. (They’ve pivoted to the Chris Wallace interview w/45 and yes, he looks like a fucking idiot.)

In other pandemic bullshit, Virginia was doing really good with Phase 2 + mandatory masks. Phase 3 has undone all that – our 7 day numbers are back where they were around June 2. The county is doing pretty good, and the Governor is blaming it on non-compliance in businesses Hampton Roads, but still, jeez. And we’re going enforcement heavy rather than really trying to figure out WHY Hampton Roads folks are non-compliant. (Personally, I think the state should have sent every household a half dozen reusable masks 3 months ago, but no one asked me.) Here’s an idea – STOP LETTING SO MANY PEOPLE BE INSIDE AT THE SAME TIME, DAMMIT. I resistbot’d the Governor last week about reverting to Phase 2 – may have to be that annoying constituent again this week.

The LilyMonster is still being her usual post-trip velcro kitty self – and has decided she loves her wet food again. She’d been a bit fussy about the dry and had loved some wet treats I got her, so I popped a can of wet for her and she was very, “OMG, THIS IS GREAT, WHY AREN’T YOU GIVING ME THIS ALL THE TIME?!” Um, cause you were turning your nose up at it? So, she will just have ALL the food varieties available to her going forward. Weird kitty.

Looking at a high of 98 today – I know it’s mid-July in DC, but yikes. Especially painful coming off a week of high 80s with an ocean breeze.

Welp, off to go to the thing. You have a great day and don’t melt.

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Home Sweet Home

Posted on July 19, 2020 by A Dreamer

Nothing like spending 90% of daylight hours outside for a week in near perfect weather and then coming home to an oven. I’ve tried to go outside more than a few times this weekend and I last about 5 minutes each time.

It was a very, very, very nice break. And easy to be safe.

But, the LilyMonster is happy that we’re back.

Lily, a black and orange tortoiseshell cat, sleeping

And here are a couple other snaps from the beach:

Frog!

A tiny frog on sandy soil

The tiniest frog I’ve ever seen – not even 1/2 inch!

Bird!
A seagull walking on the beach with waves in the background

Turtle!
A turtle coming out of a creek

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Rest in Power, John.

Posted on July 18, 2020 by A Dreamer

I am just crushed.

I hope we can create the world he deserved.

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Happy sad sigh.

Posted on July 16, 2020 by A Dreamer

Last night at the beach. It’s been the mental reset we all very much needed. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until we got here.

I know we are super lucky to be able to check out for a week. It’s also made me realize I need to figure out better ways to reset at home. Little day trips or something. A change of scenery always does me good.

I’ve been able to make my brain shut off enough to read, and I’ve has some honest to god creative thoughts.

I also used my actual camera this year, so this weekend will be downloading the shots from it. (I’ve only opened my laptop once this week.)

Tonight is another dinner on the deck, then getting as much crap in the car as possible so tomorrow I can be at the coffee shop when they open and roll out to retrieve the LilyMonster. I so wish we could bring her here. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, some turtles.

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Hoo boy…

Posted on July 12, 2020 by A Dreamer

Nothing like a small bit of space away from “fucked up normal” to make you realize how close you were to losing your fucking mind. I mean, I really thought I was doing OK with the whole pandemic and it’s assorted shit, but HOLY SHIT did I need a change of scenery.

For reasons that I definitely need to figure out, I am able to disconnect a bit from the news here, and my brain is settled enough that I can actually sit and read a damn book, which I have not been able to do since mid-March. I finished Empire of Deception this morning – fast read and really fascinating – check it out. I’m on to one of Phillip Kerr’s Berlin Noir novels, The Lady from Zagreb, now.

It’s the second one of his books I’ve read and it’s a bit “the dame had legs that went all the way to the floor” – but it’s certainly enjoyable.

We had BBQ for dinner last night and I had leftover BBQ for lunch today and it was excellent. Tonight is shrimp & grits from a spot just down the road. :-D

I was a bit worried about the turtles as only two showed up Friday afternoon, but it was also blazing hot – this morning, easily 10 of them. You have to not just have treats for them, but talk to them, too. Give them the weather report for the day, the rundown of the headlines, ask how they’re doing – and they show up.

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86 pages today

Posted on July 11, 2020 by A Dreamer

First time I’ve been able to get my brain to settle down enough to read since mid-March.

Book: Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation, Dean Jobb

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Welp, it seems we have a pod now

Posted on July 11, 2020 by A Dreamer

We made it to the happy place and we have a pod of three – me, little bro, and might as well be little bro.

The trip down was crazy fast and I got my pato tacos for lunch before we hit the house. We were even able to get in the house a bit early to boot.

Pato tacos, yum!

We then proceededto accdentally get a bit drunk on the porch. We all had a lot of pent up stuff it seems.

Coffee and paper this morning, and then I took a book to the creek, fully intending to read, but I couldn’t stop watching the turtles.

Oddly indulgent.

Turtles!

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OK, it’s really vacation time :-D

Posted on July 9, 2020 by A Dreamer

Got my bigassed cold brew (no cracked cup today), already popped on & off work and put in my timesheet, and I’M OFF WORK!

Something I am noticing this year is that even with the pandemic – I am way more chill going into vacation this year than in years past. Seems there may be a difference between “ready for a break” and “so wrung out from work you can’t see straight.” Who knew?!

Moth update! Lily lost interest in the moth yesterday morning and then it reappeared last night – and she was on it. It decided to “hide” on the water pitcher for my plants, I remembered that I can open the top sash of the window where there is no screen. Anyone watching from the outside, well – I can only imagine what a disembodied arm sticking outside the window waving a water pitcher going “Go! Go now! Fly away!” must have looked like. But, the moth has been returned to its proper environment. (And was probably promptly eaten by a bird, but I am choosing to not think about that.)

Welp, time to get some bits and bobs done so I can jump out of bed and hit the road tomorrow.

Have an excellent day!

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What a clusterfuck of a day

Posted on July 8, 2020 by A Dreamer

But it’s over and I’m on vacation. (OK, I do need to log in for about 10 minutes tomorrow to check on one thing, but I’m not counting that.)

But today…hoo boy.

Go to Starbucks to pick up my bigassed cold brew and a latte for my brother, cause I’m the best sister ever. They accidentally made an iced latte, no biggie, while they made the hot one, I put my drink & breakfast in the car. Go back and fetch latte. Get in car, notice that cold brew is not full…pick up cup and coffee starts gushing out a crack in the side.

OhShitOhShitOhShitOhShitOhShitOhShit

Compose myself, grab several napkins, stumble back into Starbucks and get a new one.

Get home, start work. Power supply to laptop has crapped out. Hour with IT (they think it’s a driver problem at first?) then acknowledge it is dead and they will ship me a new one. I have 2 hours of battery life. Off to Staples! Get the *last* universal laptop power supply they had. Once the one comes from work, well – it’s good to have a spare. (I may have also popped into Petco for a quick treat pickup for her majesty on the company dime since it is right next to Staples.)

Try work again. 3 bugs that I found with this last round of testing are ready to retest! All small, all easily finished before days end. Bug 1 – PASSED! Bug 2 – PASSED! Bug 3 – Half passed? Well, fuck.

But, it’s all good, once the last one is re-fixed, it’s a ~15 minute test tops – either it does the thing or it doesn’t and it’s a mobile issue, so I just open my phone and get screenshots. So, I can do the nice pretty test plan when I get back, but in the meantime I can least say, “Yeah, it’s working.”

But hey, VACATION TIME!

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