personal

Home work

I tried taking my computer with me and working in the backyard again today, but I wasn’t fooling anybody. One of the first things I did this morning was turn the heat in the house back on, which leads me to suspect that, at this point, April is just toying with us. (Cruelest month indeed! Weather-wise, it’s just kind of a dick.)

I spent most of the day indoors, looking up reviewers for a book I’m working on and sitting through a training session (via web and phone — thank you, technology!) for a purchasing card I’m supposed to be getting at work, to cover mostly travel expenses. (I have a meeting next week with an author in Danubry, Connecticut, for instance.) It wasn’t freezing or anything, but it was definitely nothing like last Tuesday, when I spent the whole day out in the yard and even got a little sunburned.

It’s back to the office tomorrow, though.

April showers

It was a cold and rainy day here, a far cry from what it was just a week ago.

But my boss baked me cookies. Ostensibly, they were a belated gift for my birthday, something she does for everyone in the group, but I think she just enjoys baking. The cookies were actually really good, and I shared them with the rest of the group, my fellow development editors.

I’m home again tomorrow, which is nice, although I have a training session I need to attend (via phone and web) around 10. So there shall be no slacking off, even if the weather improves.

Sunless Sunday

It rained all day, so what can you do? Me, I mostly just did the Sunday crossword, watched some Fringe and Supernatural — both quite good episodes, actually — and wrote this with my weekly free-writing group:

“If you retire, take up hobbies or volunteer work.”

“What’s that?” asked Edgars. Haggerton had his feet propped up on the car’s dash and a reader open in his lap. Edgars tossed him his food and slammed his own door shut.

“It’s this mag,” said Haggerton. “Billie left it behind. It says you gotta plan for retirement, gotta ‘stockpile ideas to keep yourself busy.'”

“Like keeping busy’s ever a problem,” said Edgars. He pulled a french fry, sweaty with oil and cheese, from the bag. “You seen this town lately?”

“Sure, but it ain’t always gonna be like this. Get yourself a wife, a dog, get out of this place, settle down.”

“That’s crazy talk,” said Edgars. “You’re talking crazy.” He sighed, turned the ignition. Nothing but static on the scanner and radio. “These fries are soggy.”

“Those fries are always soggy,” said Haggerton. “I thought that’s why you liked them.” He bit deep into the side of his own burger. “And what’s so crazy about gettin’ out of here?”

“What’s Billie doin’, thinking about retirement? She just joined the force.”

“She’s not. But, y’know, ya gotta plan ahead. Think long-term, big picture.”

“That mag says that?”

“Nah, that’s what Billie says. Even if she makes detective, what good’s that gonna do her? But, hey, you wanna stay in this town til you’re old and gray or somebody puts a bullet in your back, be my guest.” He crumpled the empty wrapper and tossed it out his window. “Where’s my lemonade?”

“They were out.”

“So you didn’t get me nothin’? That’s hardly considerate.”

“We oughta get going. Dispatch says there was another attack over on Baker Street.”

“Sure,” said Haggerton. “Dispatch.”

“What?”

“Nothin’. It’s just…if you’re gonna start hearin’ voices again, you could at least do me the courtesy of not pretending. The radio’s broke.”

I really have no clear idea of what’s going on in this scene, and I was trying more to get the rhythm of the dialogue down than anything else. But there’s something here that I might return to.

Friday

No telecommuting in my pajamas, no scavenger hunts across midtown Manhattan, not even a single meeting to break up the afternoon. I did get this ill-fitting and not exactly stylish hat today, when I agreed to be one of the male searchers for the floor — the folks who, in case of a fire or other emergency, make sure the conference rooms and bathrooms are emptied of people who should be evacuating. But that’s about it.

I did finally finish re-reading Watership Down, though. I’m not at all surprised to re-discover that it’s a thoroughly enjoyable and lovely book. (Not to spoil anything, but “Silflay hraka u embleer rah” may be the greatest insult I’ve ever read.)

Scavengers assemble!

Today was our company’s second annual New York City scavenger hunt. Like last year, it was a lot of running around midtown Manhattan for charity, teamed up with employees from other subdivisions of our parent company, and all of us clad in very bright yellow shirts with cartoon bananas on them. It was also a lot of fun. It’s ten bucks to charity and you get to leave the office at two o’clock on a sunny afternoon, and if you win the scavenger hunt, the company buys your team a round of drinks.

My team didn’t win — and in fact, I didn’t contribute a whole lot beyond running after the other five guys — but it was, like I said, all in good fun, and for a good cause. This year’s hunt was a lot harder, taking us back and forth — from Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to Rockefeller Center to Grand Central to Times Square to Bryant Park — and less open to interpretation and creativity than last year. This year’s was less scavenger hunt and more Amazing Race. (Or so I assume. I’ve never actually seen it.)

Anyway, it was fun, even if I had to buy my own drink at the end. The cold and rainy weather that moved in yesterday moved out well before we went outside. Which is great, because otherwise I might not have had a chance to wear that stylish T-shirt you see up above.