Reality Me

Today was a great day. I remained focused on my client work and made great progress. I was able to complete some online training, had a small adventure with my family (went to Barnes and Noble then a Salt Water Aquarium), picked up Calhouns for dinner, when to an organizational meeting, returned home to work on my client’s site some more, and am now preparing to relax with my wife. Let all days in January be this productive!

Now the negative. These two weeks of vacation have adjusted my body to sleeping in. I dread the early hour at which I will have to rise tomorrow. Ugh.

I call myself a homeowner but really I rent my house from the bank. So, each month when I receive a text message that reads "We have received your mortgage payment" I do a little cheer in my head and say to myself, "Yea! I get to live in my house one more month!"

For my last day of vacation, I will program all day, then go to a meeting this evening. Livin’ it up!

When I was a small child, I was told that it is unlucky to put your left shoe on first so I’ve spent my entire life putting my right shoe on first. What if I got it backwards?

Much programming occurred and it was good. I’m on a roll and look forward to seeing more progress on the client website. I think Cathy is sad that the holiday is ending. I know I would sacrifice critical body parts for many more weeks of vacation. Seems like just when things are turning productive, the rug gets pulled out from under you. I really wish I had a spare quarter million and a year just to work on the house and focus on my family’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, stay-at-home dad just doesn’t meet my salary requirements.

Saturday night is date night with the wife. I’ve got some reggae playing in the kitchen, shrimp preparing to steam, papaya cut and about to add some mango and kiwi to the mix. There’s a bottle of red and a bottle of malbec standing ready. Time to step away from the computer.

Today thus far, the dedicated circuit for the microwave has been connected to the breaker box. We now have two functioning microwaves! (One too many) Some relatives hit a deer with their car. Noah generously drove the Leaf to Starbucks to bring Cathy a Mocha and returned with an iced beverage. The twelve year old declared how much she loves Spencers in the mall. Oh how they grow up. The dad in me wretched. And I retreated to wearing headphones to accomplish some much needed programming for a client. Must program faster! Welcome 2015.

Ah, a year evenly divisible by 5. And if you divide 20 and 15 by 5 you end up with 43, the smallest prime number expressible as the sum of 2, 3, 4, or 5 different primes: 43 = 41 + 2. 43 = 11 + 13 + 19. 43 = 2 + 11 + 13 + 17. That must mean something. 2015 feels like a year of potential.

2014 I will review later. The photo archives are filled with fun. I mostly remember the year as ad hoc and stressful. I will not make resolutions for 2015 but I will make plans. To survive 2014 I reduced myself to living almost day by day; playing one move at a time and always feeling slightly behind the game. 2015 is to be the year of thinking a few moves ahead and returning to the needs Steven R Covey writes about in First Things First, "To live, to learn, to love, to leave a legacy." I think it is time to move up a rung in Maslow’s pyramid.

Yesterday I succumb to a bad cold or a virus and found myself in bed for 24 hours. That was a day of vacation I burned which should have been a sick day. Today I am much better although the specter of yesterday’s illness lingers over me. I am also a day behind on my client’s project and personal goals. A fitting end to 2014.

This holiday is physically, mentally, and financially exhausting.