personal

As Sunday goes, so goes the nation


Photo by Generik

“Given that St. Valentine was a 3rd century Roman priest who was stoned and beheaded, wouldn’t a more appropriate celebration of the evening be taking one’s steady gal to witness a brutal murder?” – The Big Bang Theory

I spent most of today cleaning and watching episodes of Doctor Who (“Time and the Rani” and “Paradise Towers,” specifically), which is…what? Isn’t that how any self-respecting single man spends his Valentine’s Day? Well, it’s what I did. I also worked on the New York Times crossword puzzle for a while and walked the dog. World on a string, has I.

It’s worth noting that I don’t dislike Valentine’s Day; it’s just a holiday that’s all but impossible to enjoy when you’re not with someone. (Or at all when it’s in movie format, apparently.) If I had a girlfriend or wife, I might feel differently, but for now…well, I’ll just have to settle for being amused by poems like this, images like these, the Sunday crossword, and horribly cheesy (but still surprisingly enjoyable) British science fiction from the ’80s.

The cleaning I can take or leave, actually.

Whither Saturday?

Early this morning, I drove with my father over to our local mechanic to have one of the cars submitted to its yearly inspection. Which may be the last time I did much of anything today. I did finish some of the editing I had left for the next issue of Kaleidotrope, copying my handwritten corrections over to the electronic files so I can send them to the authors. I think it’s shaping up to be a really great issue, and I’m growing even more convinced that a third issue for the year in July is a good idea. We’ll see. I definitely have enough material already accepted to fill the extra issue, so that’s not a problem.

Beyond that, I spent a lot of the day pottering around online, playing with the dog (who seems shocked every time by the snow, when he isn’t determined to eat every last ounce of it), and watching a little television. (I could tell trying to explain The Mighty Boosh to my father — much less three episodes into the second season, much less halfway through that episode — was going to be a losing proposition. Heck, I like the show and it’s not like I always understand it.)

And that’s it.

Goodnight, Friday

I spent the better part of the day doing the tedious job of reformatting fourteen chapters’ worth of PowerPoint slides for some online supplemental materials we’re developing. I can think of a lot of things I’d rather spend the day doing. But I think I managed to fix everything, so hopefully we can just upload them sometime next week. And then I can move on…to that other book’s PowerPoint slides I still have to edit. Ah, joy.

At least it’s a three-day weekend. Which is actually really nice, coming so soon after this past week’s unexpected snow day. I know I’m ready for the weekend.

Meanwhile…not much. My father is having a little problem with his eye, some blurred vision he went to see his eye doctor and then a specialist about today. It’s apparently nothing too serious, and also isn’t necessarily indicative of anything else that is serious, but I think he’s a little worried — and therefore so am I — that his vision might not improve, or might get worse. (“Even if you end up losing the eye, you can still drive,” the specialist told him, not very reassuringly.) My father has a follow-up appointment for treatment in a little over a week, so hopefully he’ll be fine.

On the plus side, did I mention it’s the weekend?

Day after snowday

It was back to work for me this morning, after yesterday’s unexpected snow day. The roads were still pretty terrible, at least between here and the train station, but at least the trains themselves were running on time. (Or whatever the Long Island Railroad decides to define as “on time.”) It felt a little like Monday, oddly enough, which just makes the fact that tomorrow is Friday — with a three-day weekend after it, no less — all the sweeter.

We had a couple of planning meetings for upcoming conferences at work today, including one I’ll be attending in San Jose at the end of March. (On my birthday, as it happens.) I shoveled a little more snow this evening, to clear the foot of the driveway, and discovered a huge branch that had fallen from the neighbor’s tree into our back yard sometime last night. And that’s about as exciting as my day ever got.

But hey, tomorrow’s Friday.

Oh, THAT snowpocalypse!

It snowed a whole lot here today, and is in fact still snowing, with no sign of letting up any time soon. The photo up above is from about nine o’clock this morning. I wouldn’t want to guess at how much snow has fallen throughout the day since then, but we’ve had to shovel and snowblow the driveway and path several times just to keep it clear.

Our office closed at noon today, but I’d already decided by around seven not to go in at all. The entire Long Island contingent (all three of us) stayed home, though my father braved the railroads and snow to get to his job. He said it actually wasn’t that bad, though even he came home early, since I think it was the uncertainty of rush hour that everyone was most afraid of. There’s no telling right now what will happen tomorrow, but I suspect I’ll be pulling on my boots and going in to the office. An unexpected snow day is a lot of fun, but there’s only so many of them to go around.

Besides shoveling and playing in the snow with the dog, I didn’t do a whole lot. I wrote a little bit, finished editing what I think is the last story for Kaleidotrope‘s April issue, and watched last night’s episode of Lost. I also watched Moon, which arrived this afternoon from Netflix. I really enjoyed it. It’s a small, quiet piece of science fiction, but it’s atmospheric and Sam Rockwell’s really quite good in it. It was actually kind of nice to have the option of watching a movie in the middle of the day.

Right now, I may watch a little something else or read a little, but then I think it’s time for bed. Despite my snow day, I was actually up a little earlier than usual, deliberating about whether or not I should go into work. Though I was home all day, I’m still kind of sleepy.