• Answer me this, padwan.

    What is tired, white and sore all over? What do you get with four hours sleep and a grueling bicycle ride home?

    Oh, it wasn’t all that bad. Inexplicably, I had one of my most productive days at the office. Maybe there’s something to that medical school of thought? The true test of any finding is to replicate the results. Any takers?

  • Corners.

    Before you can say you’ve turned a corner you have to have started in one direction and ended up in another. The question is: will there be another turn up ahead that will put me back on the original course, or will the change in direction be more or less permanent? Maybe it’s too much to expect from one afternoon, but it’s been a good day. Even when Beth was standing in front of the congregation at the children’s sermon and announced (completely changing the subject of the sermon) that she had a new book, I was able to take it in stride. The pastor indulged Beth and invited her to get her new book to show everyone. She ran back to her seat, collected her book and showed it to the congregation. “It’s a beginner’s bible”, Beth explained. “Wow, that looks nice Beth!” the pastor exclaimed. “Yeah, but my daddy made me bring it today.” The congregation erupted in laughter, just as my cheeks erupted in an orange glow. (For the record, I did not make her bring it this morning.) In the end I thought it was just as funny as everyone else, even if it was at my own expense. She can be a little out of control, but the pastor did indulge her, so I wasn’t mad. He knows to expect this kind of thing so I figure he had it coming. And it did, after all, bring a little humor and joy to the routine church service.

    Yeah, it was a pretty good day.

  • Four days, a lot of talking, and a little perspective.

    More than once in the last several days I’ve made reference to “stripping away the extra layers of bullshit.” I didn’t do it here because I wasn’t writing much, but I’ve said it more than once. I try not to swear often, but when you are emotional, there is no substitute for profanity.

    I left work early on Thursday. I called in absent on Friday. I spoke to no fewer than three senior managers at my office. I spoke to my wife. I spoke to my pastor. In the mean time, I learned something surprising from my wife. At four weeks along, there appear to be two little egg shaped blurs on the scan. Suddenly everything is not about work. Suddenly there is more to work than just writing code in VBA. Suddenly my problems don’t seem so unique or insurmountable. After four days, It is high time I started living my life again. Life wasn’t sitting around waiting for me, so I’ve got to run – I’ve got some catching up to do.