January 12, 2008
My brain woke up before my body wanted to, so I am a little groggy, but somehow that seems to make things more peaceful. The new year has roared in with a vengeance, and I wonder if that portends to the way 2008 will go, or if it is just getting out of the way. The rains and wind that left us without power for a day (and others for five days) has subsided for a while, leaving me with a beautiful sunrise heralding in what looks to be a sun-filled day.
The stillness in the redwoods on mornings like this always seem to alleviate my concerns over my small problems. It is sort of like the seeing the smiles of the respected elderly over the concerns of the young. They have already seen so much, and the smiles enigmatically convey a sense of understanding and the knowledge of what is to come. Of course, I've never been able to figure out if that knowledge was meant to say, 'it will all work out,' or 'don't worry, it will get a lot worse.' That said, I really don't have anything to complain about! In hopes that the Muses will once again rest in my company and I will start writing more often, I figure I can give a quick catch up...
Work continues pretty much as before. I have justsuffered celebrated my tenth year at Sun. It is hard to believe that what was intended to be a five year stint has resulted in a decade. Like the trees I adore, I feel like I was a seed that fell to the ground thinking it would rest for a while, only to wake up later to find I had established roots and would not be leaving any time soon. I had to work over what is supposed to be an annual holiday break, but that is not unusual. I believe I have worked over the break over half of the years I have been with Sun. I guess it is what I get paid for, so I should not complain. That is what management says, so it must be true... I have a new director, and it will be interesting to see how that affects my job and my group.
Our home also continues to go as before. It likes to remind me of the fragility of construction at times. We had been without a dishwasher for over a year. Well, that's not quite true. We had been without an automatic dishwasher for over a year. Given how few dishes Annie and I go through in a day, it had become normal for the sink to slowly fill up until I had to do something about it. I hated seeing the sink like that, so I decided to see if I could fix it. I tinkered with it for a while, but couldn't see anything wrong with the motor assembly (what little I could access). I finally decided to do something I had thought about before: buy the ultimate dishwasher I wanted for the "new" kitchen, install it, then later I will carefully remove it and re-install it afterwards. It was when I got the old dishwasher completely out that I discovered the reason it didn't work. The rats had eaten through the power cord. Unfortunately, I noticed that no charred rat was left. The little bastard survived. I covered the holes in the wall with steel in hopes that I can delay their next intrusion for a couple of years. The new dishwasher is absolutely incredible. It does a good cleaning job, and is so quiet it is difficult to tell that it is on. I will fix the old one and see if I can find it a good home. The garbage disposer died a week ago, and I am grudgingly considering replacing it as well.
The bathroom continues slowly as well. I just finished painting the closet, and I think it is acceptable... for a closet. Drywall texturing is another job that I will never have. My lofty goals for the day include moving the heating register in the floor so it will not be in the shower area. I probably won't get more than that (if that) done today given my other self-appointed tasks.
Annie had a good holiday break, and went back on school schedule fairly easily. She got a lot of clothes for Christmas, and I was very concerned about whether she would wear them or not, but she seems to like everything she got. I think it is ok to throw out the receipts now... Her mother is very upset that the Halloween hair coloring has not washed out, yet. It doesn't bother Annie or me, but I understand that she doesn't want Annie to have punk hair in the upcoming wedding pictures. I have found someone in Boulder Creek who seems to have considerable expertise in these matters, so we will try to work on that this week.
Annie has become increasingly insecure, needing to be around me constantly. I can't be sure, but I suspect it has something to do with the upcoming marriage of her mother. Her ventings to me about her new stepfather have become fairly infrequent. However, I hear from other people that she is quite vocal about it. I try to help her as best I can, but ultimately just have to hope that she comes to grips with it herself.
I guess that is about it. The sun has cleared the mountains, and I guess it is time to get to work.
Conflicted peace.
The stillness in the redwoods on mornings like this always seem to alleviate my concerns over my small problems. It is sort of like the seeing the smiles of the respected elderly over the concerns of the young. They have already seen so much, and the smiles enigmatically convey a sense of understanding and the knowledge of what is to come. Of course, I've never been able to figure out if that knowledge was meant to say, 'it will all work out,' or 'don't worry, it will get a lot worse.' That said, I really don't have anything to complain about! In hopes that the Muses will once again rest in my company and I will start writing more often, I figure I can give a quick catch up...
Work continues pretty much as before. I have just
Our home also continues to go as before. It likes to remind me of the fragility of construction at times. We had been without a dishwasher for over a year. Well, that's not quite true. We had been without an automatic dishwasher for over a year. Given how few dishes Annie and I go through in a day, it had become normal for the sink to slowly fill up until I had to do something about it. I hated seeing the sink like that, so I decided to see if I could fix it. I tinkered with it for a while, but couldn't see anything wrong with the motor assembly (what little I could access). I finally decided to do something I had thought about before: buy the ultimate dishwasher I wanted for the "new" kitchen, install it, then later I will carefully remove it and re-install it afterwards. It was when I got the old dishwasher completely out that I discovered the reason it didn't work. The rats had eaten through the power cord. Unfortunately, I noticed that no charred rat was left. The little bastard survived. I covered the holes in the wall with steel in hopes that I can delay their next intrusion for a couple of years. The new dishwasher is absolutely incredible. It does a good cleaning job, and is so quiet it is difficult to tell that it is on. I will fix the old one and see if I can find it a good home. The garbage disposer died a week ago, and I am grudgingly considering replacing it as well.
The bathroom continues slowly as well. I just finished painting the closet, and I think it is acceptable... for a closet. Drywall texturing is another job that I will never have. My lofty goals for the day include moving the heating register in the floor so it will not be in the shower area. I probably won't get more than that (if that) done today given my other self-appointed tasks.
Annie had a good holiday break, and went back on school schedule fairly easily. She got a lot of clothes for Christmas, and I was very concerned about whether she would wear them or not, but she seems to like everything she got. I think it is ok to throw out the receipts now... Her mother is very upset that the Halloween hair coloring has not washed out, yet. It doesn't bother Annie or me, but I understand that she doesn't want Annie to have punk hair in the upcoming wedding pictures. I have found someone in Boulder Creek who seems to have considerable expertise in these matters, so we will try to work on that this week.
Annie has become increasingly insecure, needing to be around me constantly. I can't be sure, but I suspect it has something to do with the upcoming marriage of her mother. Her ventings to me about her new stepfather have become fairly infrequent. However, I hear from other people that she is quite vocal about it. I try to help her as best I can, but ultimately just have to hope that she comes to grips with it herself.
I guess that is about it. The sun has cleared the mountains, and I guess it is time to get to work.
Conflicted peace.