Shopping all done this morning in somewhat record time, I settled in for a lovely afternoon of post-season baseball and napping, which of course go together because, you know, alpha waves. Good thing I did too, as one of the Yonkers houses around here seems to be in celebration mode, and the "boots and pants" beat has started already and put paid to any further sleep plans for awhile. Can't wait to move to the quiet English countryside! This city mouse has just about had enough.
Saturday, October 03, 2026
Friday, October 02, 2026
Maintaining
I was able to juggle my work stuff and make very good headway on the quarterly meetings for one partner and stay above water regarding meetings for my new one, so that's something I suppose. I just didn't have the mental energy to start on the thing I want to do for her, mapping all her prospective clients and their EAs to be ready for her meetings. Maybe on Monday! Meanwhile, Mango continues to be an exhausting joy, and his "daddy" Jonny has finally left Texas on his week-long drive east. I could really use the rest at this point, especially my IT band; at least I've dug out my exercise pages so I can start on those as soon as I have the wherewithal.
Thursday, October 01, 2026
A New Something or Other
White Rabbits, and welcome to October! Probably one of my favorite months weather-wise, but in terms of my job I still feel a bit lost. I've made headway on my quarterly meeting project, but not on my things for my newest partner. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it sooner or later, but the older I get the less neuroplasticity I seem to have when it comes to work stuff. Retirement is looking better and better. Also, the commute is getting to me a bit, but at least it means I can drop off the rent check at The US' Biggest Post Office. And I still love living in NYC, so there's that.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
One Window Closes, Another Opens
The window for so many of my work colleagues is closing today, and summer appears to be making a brief comeback so we were able to open the windows again for the first time since before the nor'easter, which Mango loved. I'm starting to make headway in catching up on work stuff I'd postponed due to my English vacation, and hope to nail all that down by Friday. I'm also trying to offload the partners I'm supposed to be transitioning, but they're having a difficult time delegating my successors so they're still on my plate for now. Mostly I'm just glad to be working from home today in the relatively fresh air and quiet neighborhood, watching post-season Yankees baseball, and looking forward to autumn!
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello
Not the best day. My morning express bus was canceled and the local bus so crowded that the doors hurt me when they opened. I was only 20 minutes or so late, luckily. Then I attended a lovely breakfast to bid an in-person goodbye to all my fellow executive assistants leaving the firm tomorrow, and almost all of them either thought I was retiring as well or at least wondered why I wasn't. I'm starting to wonder that myself. I tried to settle into my new workstation on our brand-new floor, but the tech betrayed me. The IT guy made sure all the updates that had never been pushed to me got installed, and we still had issues. Two hours in we finally identified the cuprit, the wired mouse that wasn't compatible with the workstation. So I lost pretty much my whole morning but gained a wireless mouse in the process. A win? Homeward subway commute crowded as well, and I'm afraid about an hour ago I developed severe pain in my left calf as though it were about to cramp but never did. The pain lasted at least five minutes, and I've now put Voltaren on it to calm it down. Conclusion: my day really mucked with my IT band. I need to sleep...
Monday, September 28, 2026
Time Time Time, See What's Become of Me
With a fairly organized home office I was able to get through my main objective today, nailing down everyone's fiscal year end timesheets and preparing for tomorrow's expense submissions. Sometimes the transactional stuff can feel quite soothing, but I guess I'm just too tired by my new responsibilities to enjoy it. I still feel like I'm a bit underwater, and tomorrow so many fellow exec assistants are retiring (plus I've relocated to our brand-new floor) that I can't seem to summon up the energy. Thank goodness Mango keeps me entertained, and autumn is well upon us if it ever stops raining...
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Finally Caught Up
Well, at least with personal finances. Still working on the job stuff, but now that my home office is once more inhabitable I'm hoping that won't take too long. We went nowhere today in the nor'easter that still barely touched us, fortunately, but a few miles south of us the Yankees game was canceled, and the Mets went down in a flicker of flames. As this is an international break weekend there was no actual football so we watched a bit of the American brand, played in Rio. The only thing confusing me more than that is the annual Video Music Awards where, as usual, I know way too few artists and I feel more and more like an Old. But I'm not that upset considering the alternative...
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Mostly Nor' and East
The big nor'easter is upon us, and I must say we totally lucked out here in Bronkers. I wasn't about to cancel our appointment for our COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and I didn't have to. We even did our shopping at the strip mall with our favorite conveyor belt sushi place, and all we seemed to get throughout was a bit of rain and very little wind. So we basically danced between the nor'easter and were home for the worst of it. We even missed our temporary power outage, but had to reset our analog clocks and reboot our computers upon our return. Not too shabby! The baseball season in New York continues to dwindle to a whimper, certainly where the Mets are concerned, and the Yankees didn't play today and might not tomorrow. Good time to go analog! Lots of comics to read, and a lovely orange kitty to cuddle. I'm more than ready for autumn!
Friday, September 25, 2026
Dolly Day
Again, probably only in the US, as "9-2-5" only works as a pun in countries that put the month before the day, and I think we're one of the only countries that does that. Nonetheless, Happy Dolly Parton Day, the first of many I'm sure. I tried to be kind today but work made it kind of difficult. Still, all's well that ends well, at least for this week. I have to keep reminding myself that, at my age, I'm there because I mostly want to be, even as my work friends drop off one by one. At least I have a cat around the house again to bring me joy for the next couple weeks. Now to batten down the hatches...
Thursday, September 24, 2026
The Coming Storms
Lots of cautionary tales are starting to make the rounds about a big nor'easter hitting our area this weekend. Naturally Saturday is the day we made our appointment for our COVID and flu shots, and we have to go food shopping, so that's still the plan. Meanwhile, I said farewell to the 16th floor of our firm's NY headquarters, as the business unit on that floor (including the partner I support) is moving to our brand-new 10th floor starting next Tuesday, the next day I'll be in the office. And I'll be busy saying farewell to a lot of coworkers in the next week; I'm starting to think I'm something of a sucker for not taking the early retirement package myself, being past retirement age, but I still want that steady paycheck a little while longer. And as the weather cools I'm starting to feel it in my bones and am very grateful for the temporary presence of a warm kitty body.
