Systems

I went to a training this week on trauma-informed systems. I went to a class meeting this week that looked at informing management systems. In two days I have to inform a governmental department about procedures and systems at work.

I keep confusing one with the next. I just finished an assignment, and I had to pull out notes and resources to verify that I was working in the right subject area.

I am so glad that we have only about 32 days left before our vacation. Aaaaaah.

Ow

I went dancing this weekend, and I think I twisted my knee. For weeks now, I had been noticing pain and a click in one leg. I assumed it had something to do with working out and the strain of my weight on my joints. Then I danced and danced last night, having a grand old time, and today I can barely stand.

I have about 36 hours before my presentation on my unit at work. I can't focus.

Interesting that both days this weekend (in fact, Thursday and Friday, too) I haven't felt strong, haven't even felt awake enough to get simple things done. I felt strong out dancing, it felt good! But now I wish I'd thought about the drain on personal and physical resources.

Growing

My husband discovered, while clearing away storm debris, that we have daffodils coming up! In FEBRUARY, I can again start thinking about my garden growing. I'm very smiley.

Damages

I am thankful that our costly fence stayed up during the Thursday-night storms. It sounds 'on the street' like new and old, cheap and expensive fences fell victim to the winds (gusting up to 87mph per a reading at a Rockport yacht club, no matter what TV news says). I wish I had pictures to show you all, but my husband toured without his camera, dammit!

A dozen streets had to be closed due to trees and power lines being down. After the peak had passed, lobster pots were up on the Boulevard. Two inns on the back shore lost their roofs, one partially and one completely. Sheds got relocated. Three fishing boats were blown off their berths in the harbor. People were still without power last night, some told to expect no reconnection to the grid during the weekend. MOST of Rockport had no power at 5pm. A power transformer blew at work, meaning folks got an extra day added to their weekends (not me, I was at a training out of town).

A tree is down right next to our house--thank goodness it didn't hit anything. Roof shingles sprinkle the road. In our backyard, the steel garden swing was blown to the back, tree branches were strewn everywhere, and our grill departed from its moorings.

Last Chance

I am told that what I write this weekend will make or break my employment situation. I am reaching out for data that I had not previously assessed, formulating approaches that will make us seem new.

Am I up to this task? A part of me is, and another part is already casting about for the next opportunity. I assume that means that, either way, I'm OK.

Wind

The wind, it is a blowin'--with enough force, up in Gloucester, to take down fences and trees. On Plum Island, a window has blown in on my sister's porch. (Also, reports are that the island is "closed"--what could that mean?)

My husband says it's hurricane weather. Except it's exactly the wrong time of year for a hurricane.

White

I'm watching the Olympics, aka the Co-lympics (have you seen the Colbert poster?).

I am simply astonished at Shaun White. I had seen him on 60 Minutes and thought, OK, a competent athlete. But WOW, this is way more than competent. He must have gone twice as high as those who went before him. I was absolutely startled, sitting here with my mouth wide open, saying, Wow; calling out to my husband, Did you SEE that?

45 Days

Here's another map of New Zealand. It's barely more than a month away now. I'm hoping this one is a better guide to my book Full Astern! An Illustrated History of New Zealand Shipwrecks. The other one didn't feature enough port cities to situate disasters.

I have for three straight business days forgotten to give my neurologist a call, to see whether the prohibtion on scuba diving (in place after my 1987 stroke) still stands.

Hello

I feel like it's been forever since I last posted. A lot's been going on. The most recent of the events--turning in a lengthy project paper with presentation tonight--follows the most distressing of the events, the unexpected death of the single parent of a child with whom I was working.

Boy, am I tired. Falling ill, as well: sneezing and sniffling. A respiratory ailment is probably what took that parent. Nothing resides in my lungs as yet. She was less than my age. The comparison is nearly compulsive.

And I just want to say, my friend T's ex (K) is a total dick. So there.

It's Hard

(No, that's not what I meant.) It's hard to do the Right Thing. Do you remember ever showing courage? Standing up when you stood alone?

It's just not OK to react, without reflection, without consideration. That's what's so bloody infuriating about the Tea Party movement. Reflexive knee-jerk: Lower my taxes! Reflexive knee-jerk: Don't touch my entitlement!

Horrid, stupid Palin with her crib notes on her palm and her constant dissembling: ugh. I'm about ready to up and go.

Oh, and

The Dodge Charger. Can't believe my husband was driving one when we met. The ad revealed naked hostility.

Maddening

I'm watching the Super Bowl tonight. It's not a bad game.

What is terrible and maddening is the number of commercials that slam women. In an era when men protest a rare "man-hating" book or performance, it is utterly typical that I am feeling belittled and devalued just because I elected to watch TV.

Hope the products' and commercials' producers realize that I'm not going to buy any, and I'm asking my friends not to, either:
Bridgestone Tires
FLO TV
--that's a start.