A DOWN AND NOT DOWN DAY

Flowers at the gardens near the Chittenden locks.

Where, oh where is the ebullience of yesterday's post? Things just don't (necessarily) happen in a straight grade/line/continuum.

I didn't sleep as well last night, receiving a telephone call at an ... unruly ... hour. I don't think that the telephone call was the only disturbance; perhaps I ate more than I should have of my carmelized onion/sherried mushroom/chicken sausage spaghetti finished with butter and parmesan/gouda cheese. Perhaps the heat in the room was too high. Perhaps I suffered from down withdrawal. I don't really know. I do know that I did not wake up feeling all that grand and that continued to be the case for the entire day. Oh, and all those vegetables I ate for lunch yesterday (most delicious kale) caused an active digestive system.

Dogs are given equal water drinking opportunities here in Seattle.

And then work was difficult. I have never claimed that Excel was my strongest suit in the software universe. In truth, it has been a little bit of a sticking point on some projects that I carry too much data in my head, where it could be destroyed by an oncoming bus or a severe case of the cocktail flu (I did not invent that fine phrase). I have resolved to improve my Excel skills and, indeed, I have. But I was not up to snuff with a 20-something when it came to formatting an asset management list. Then again, I am not familiar with the ins and outs of the project; there is much nomenclature and I am more accustomed to working on entertainment projects than software development (although I am not a thorough stranger).

Another view of the Chittenden Locks and fish ladder.

So, I was slow and began to feel old and in the way. Maybe tomorrow I will not. I did wake up to the first real payday I have seen in 3 years. I celebrated moderately by giving my mother some money, paying a couple of outstanding small-ish bills, treating myself to a Thai meal (great peanut sauce), and feathering my Seattle nest with some goods from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (turns out it helps to have a list when you enter that place). I shopped intelligently and bought the cheapest nice things, not buying the high count Egyptian cotton bath towels (I need some at home), or the best down pillows. I bought the least expensive that seemed reasonable, as well as a pizza pan, some bath salts, hair gel, a Melitta for single cups of coffee (instead of the resident Mr. Coffee or buying a full stovetop espresso rig), et cetera et cetera.

So now, I think I will make a bit of use of the bath salts before I test drive the new down pillow (which I did encase in 700 thread count cotton pillow cases, but only because they were gigantically reduced and not a beautiful color). I can't see color when I sleep except in my dreams.

1) I would like to live in this building. 2) I think this building's doppelganger is in Berkeley. 3) I likes me some yellow and blue.

Tomorrow night, there is a "happy hour" after work which fills me with a certain trepidation. There have been many new people added to the project in the last two weeks, so a mixer is in order. My fear range from non-sociability, to saying the wrong things, to drinking too much. Just so you know.

Also, Iris had been out of town, but called me this morning to give me a full report of Emmylou, who I was able to hear. She is apparently doing just fine, save for a flea issue. Iris was taking her to the vet for a treatment, and all should be hunky-dory.

Now off to a rendez-vous with Logan Pearsall Smith and the new bath salts.