personal

Dreamt of in your philosophy

A lot more of the same at work, trying to get a few things off my plate (or as close as possible) before leaving for a four-day weekend.

I took a short break for one of our semi-regular “brown bag lunches” at work, where they give us pizza or sandwiches and invite somebody in to speak. Today’s speaker was Simon Critchley, chair of the department of philosophy of New School and moderator of the New York Times philosophy blog The Stone. It was reasonably interesting, although maybe more about publishing (and his history as author with our company), and less about philosophy proper, than I had expected. Still, not at all uninteresting, and free pizza.

Meanwhile, I’m taking the four-day weekend in no small part because my parents are away, traveling to Ireland for vacation on a group tour. I didn’t get a chance to see them off this afternoon, but I spoke with them, and expect I probably will again tomorrow after they’ve landed and settled in. The dog stared wistfully towards the door all evening, and maybe whimpered and sighed a little more than usual, but I think he’ll manage.

And that was pretty much my…what was this, Wednesday? Yeah, that was pretty much it.

Another busy day

Today was not quite as crazy-making busy as yesterday, though there was still a lot to do, several projects in one state of not-being-finished-yet or another. I’m actually quite looking forward to tomorrow being my week’s Friday, and taking off a long four-day weekend.

My parents are off to a tour of Ireland for a couple of weeks tomorrow, which is in part why I’m taking these days. It’ll be a quiet number of days, just me and the dog.

Busy day

I’m only working a three-day week this week, but if they’re all as busy as today… woo boy.

Not a bad day, at least in that it seemed to fly past, but…well, the day pretty much just flew past. Lots of work, lots of projects to get squared away, lots of times when I was sure my brain would explode.

But it’s just a three-day week, so there’s that.

Sunday

I gave the dog a bath today.

Or at least, I did the best I could with a bucket of warm water, the garden hose, and a bottle of pet shampoo. Tucker seemed to genuinely enjoy the brushing that followed the bath, removing a lot of shed fur, and he seemed more or less resigned to getting wet initially, but he was not pleased by the bath itself. But he looks and smells a lot better now, so I think it was definitely worth it.

Other than that, I spent the day mostly like yesterday, only more Sundayish than Saturdayesque. I did the Sunday crossword, which was kind of blah. I read some Kaleidotrope slush again, thinking idly about looking for a slush reader to do it instead of me — even though, quite honestly, I don’t know that I’m at that level, and I wouldn’t know what sort of guidelines to offer a reader. (I reject a lot more than I accept, but usually not because it’s completely off the mark from what I want.) And I watched a couple of episodes of The Killing. It’s an okay show; I like that it’s slow and deliberate, although that’s in danger of becoming boring, a show left spinning its wheels, piling on the shocking but not at all game-changing twists each week. Still, I’m enjoying it.

That was Sunday, such as it was.

Rainy day

I thought I might give the dog a much needed bath this afternoon, out in the backyard, but the weather had different ideas in mind. (I suspect the dog and the weather may be in cahoots on this.) It rained on and off all day, and the sun never really peeked out from behind the clouds. Maybe tomorrow, although given the forecast probably not until later in the week.

Instead, I spent the day not doing a whole lot. Reading a little Kaleidotrope slush, watching a little Blackadder, getting a new propane tank for the grill, watching Apollo 13. (I’ve been reading Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars lately, and it put me in the mood to see it again.) That sort of thing. This evening I watched Jaws of Satan online with friends, making fun of what is a pretty lousy and justifiably forgotten horror movie. There’s a halfway decent movie lurking in it somewhere — or at least a quarter-way decent rip-off of Jaws — but it’s bogged down by lousy effects, worse writing, and terrible pacing. It’s notable mainly for being the film debut of Christina Applegate.

And that was Saturday.