Today, the president of the United States declared a national emergency in response to a worldwide pandemic. The pandemic is decimating Italy. China is in bad shape. This is playing out like a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Of course, many Republicans are calling the whole thing a hoax. They’ve their minds.
I’ve spent the past half a decade trying but failing to make our household self-sufficient but I’m in the wrong tax bracket. It’s very difficult to garden and generate your own power and supply your own water when you work night and day and barely scrape by.
Amy is in Asheville house-sitting for her sister and her SO who are camping in the woods. Those three are safe for now. Tommy is working at Dominoes dealing with the general public so he cannot self-isolate and is the highest risk of being patient zero in our home. Evan is out of school for Spring Break but wants to go to the gym every day. We are going to have to work on him to convince him that tasks like chopping wood are just as good as the gym. Noah is on mandatory “work from home.” We haven’t let Cathy out of the house in a year so she is used to being shut-in and will lead us through this. I’m on vacation for the week.
What next? I’m spending the evening cooking food.
C’est la vie
Born alone
In a crowded room
Live alone
Surrounded by people
Die alone
Seeking counsel
Therapist: “What issues would you like to discuss?”
Me: “blah blah blah”
Therapist: backs away slowly never taking eyes off of me
At a crossroads
Mark this day. I am at a turning point in my life.
Error messages do not lie
As a programmer, you have to learn to trust the error messages. They can be cryptic and frustrating, but they usually tell you exactly where the problem is if you are willing to listen.
It is 2020. Leave your gun at home.
When I see someone walking the streets of the United States with a gun on their hip or slinging an AK while wearing a bulletproof vest, I do not think of freedom or patriotism. I think sad thoughts for the coward who is so fearful that they cannot function in our society without a weapon and I wish them the freedom I feel from day to day knowing I do not need a gun. I do not view these citizens as protectors as their display distracts our law enforcement from their duties. Instead, I see adult children playing a dangerous game of soldiers. Your arrogance does not make me more confident. It makes me apprehensive as I have to watch for your temper, your clumsiness, your accidental discharge as you are not a good guy with a gun but a wild card and hazard to our free society. Leave your gun at home.
Of Grasshoppers
Student: I cannot do this.
Master: Will you do it anyway?
Walking the dog at night
Dog paces then stops and stares at me.
I respond by grabbing my phone to text one of the children requesting they walk the dog.
As I type, I tell the anxious dog, “Hang on. I’m getting you an Uber pooper.”
Of Grasshoppers
Student: What do you do when you are too tired to continue working?
Master: How hungry are you?
Catalina Trashed My Development Environment
And then made it work so much better than before! In troubleshooting, I applied updates and corrected problems with my previous development environment with lessons learned. While this was a nuisance, my machine is in better shape for it.
Seed catalog arrived!
Very exciting! What shall I grow?
First Sunday 2020
Vacation ends with my todo list more full than it began. This is a binary year…it will either be astoundingly amazing or godawful. I do not see a middle ground. I would kill for a few hundred thousand in the bank and a year off from work. I really want a reboot to regroup and assess what I want to do with the next decade. A month-long meditation retreat would be amazing.
I am simultaneously excited about 2020 and terrified. I have big plans and have documented the anticipated year in a spreadsheet. Let’s hope the plan works.
Welcome 2020
I awoke this morning spooning the dog who turned her head and gave me a sloppy French kiss. I don’t even want to wager a guess as to the omen this is for 2020.
Yesterday, I spent the day trying to plan the year. I made it partially into January. I’ve had a nice relaxing break. 2019 was a great year! Still felt like I was on George Jetson’s treadmill all year. Cue comic moment when movers discard the 2019 treadmill, slide in the 2020 treadmill, and place me and my coffee atop it.
Annual Planning
In scouting, we take a full day to a full weekend to plan the next 15 months. In my personal life, our planning is a bit more ad hoc. Granted, we are usually well booked several weeks in advance. However, my idyllic vision of family life has our family attending weekly family meetings (Sunday post-dinner) to discuss the week and the coming month with a high-level view of the months to follow. The reality is my wife keeps our calendar. We always have the next 4-5 weeks on a dry erase board by the front door. And schedules are coordinated via text messages and shouts as people rush out the door.
On this last day or 2019, I have decided to plan all of 2020. I am setting goals for the year, the months, and the weeks. I am planning meals for every day of the year which should give me the ability to better plan our grocery shopping and couponing. If I can cut out food bill in half of 2019’s then I will be thrilled. I also plan to be serious about growing my own food this year too. I learned much last year and now it is time to put that in practice. At a bare minimum, I don’t want to have to buy another store tomato for the rest of my life. I am listing the Knox County School calendar, specific school calendars, my work calendar, the scout calendars, and the church calendar. I am blocking off time for sharpening the saw for physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual development. And I have time set aside for each of the seven roles of mine (husband, father, homeowner, employee, entrepreneur, scoutmaster, volunteer). Next, I will fill in all the dates which I do not control such as school holidays and federal holidays. I will list birth days and anniversaries. Then I will begin filling in extraneous information. Then I will drink scotch and let the whole chaos wash over me as I begin my longing for 2021.
Too much to do
I find myself decision impaired. Mark the property lines? Finish the shed? Buy food for the year? Recharter the scout troop? Clean house? Repair the drip in the shower? Find the leak in the kitchen? Replace the dishwasher? Repair the car? Rest? Relax? Plot? Plan? Take the dog to the dog park? Land a rover of the moon? Learn Spanish? Automate the house? Decide on meals for 2020? Make a personal mission statement? Work on freelance jobs? Work on my budget?
Crawl under the covers….
