The Ides of Oscar

I'm glad I had so many naps today, we stayed up way too late watching the Oscars and a little bit of the World Baseball Classic during the ads (Oscar ads are not as inspiring or fun as they used to be, seems like everyone goes for their debuts during the Stuporbowl now), and for the most part I enjoyed them. I had no horse in any race here, so I mostly watch it for the fashions. I still don't get the whole sculpted-front dress thing, but it's cool to see feathers making a comeback. Goodness knows how rested I'll be for tomorrow's work-related challenges. At least I remembered to steam my green blouses for Tuesday in Manhattan!

All the Stuff

Not sure if you've twigged onto this yet, but I'm a task-based person. Even the online games I play are almost all task-based. For some reason it's my happy place. And now that the worry over my eye floater is allayed I could concentrate on other needed tasks, like a haircut and the car's oil change. First we shopped and ate at our favorite sushi place, then I got my spring shearing, we rested at home for about an hour before going out again to have the car serviced. They said two hours, so we walked around our local business district, visited the local gourmet grocery store and marijuana dispensary (um, two separate stores), and waited a lot less time than estimated before getting our peace of mind back. Now I can take various trips outside my own vicinity with fewer worries! All the usual and occasional (earring sorting, wool wash) tasks are done too, leaving tomorrow as a much-needed rest day. Hoorah!

The Eyes Have It

Well, Friday the 13th done fall on a Friday again, but it's been kind of a lucky day for me. I got all my immediate job stuff done well before I logged off at 2:15, had to wait too long for the local bus (in each direction) but the doc gave me good news about my eye: the floater isn't affecting my vision at all, and I just need to be patient and let it drop out of my field of vision in time. But overall my eyes are fine, and so I can now get new glasses which I've wanted to do for awhile. Got a lot done electronically too - finally sorted the comics that came in last Monday, took care of emails regarding appointments I wanted to make (both the haircut and car tune-up will be tomorrow) and financial stuff, organized my phone apps so they made a bit more sense to me, even redid our kitchen inventory list so it's actually legible now. And so it's bad to the World Baseball Classic, a well-earned shower, and with any luck sleeping through the night.

Marching Snow

Well, I thought I'd dressed well enough for my day, wearing the lined rainjacket company swag, having very little wait for my bus transfer (the local wasn't even crowded!) and getting into the office before 8 AM. But I wasn't all that prepared for this afternoon, partly because I stayed indoors at lunchtime, getting a salad from our grab-and-go cashless pantry for a long-planned repast with two fellow exec assistants. But I was just finishing up putting out the various fires on my desk when a colleague exclaimed, "It's snowing!" And so it was, looking out of our floor-to-ceiling windows onto the Hudson Yards surroundings. Quite pretty, but I knew it would be trouble in terms of temps, so I cut out as soon as I could, knowing I only had to cross the street to be inside the Moynihan Train Hall and I could walk through that and the LIRR basement of Penn Station to get my subway home. And I had like zero minutes to wait for the homeward bus, as it was just preparing to leave the stop as I arrived. So the only real chill I picked up was the half block from the bus terminus back to the house, which wasn't that bad at all, particularly with Robin meeting me and carrying my backpack. Tomorrow I'm only doing a 5-hour day as I have my ophthalmologist appointment, but I'm in pretty good shape work-wise.

Balmy and Barmy

Still downright warm outside and even in the house (love that we've been able to open the windows and air things out!), but I haven't been able to enjoy very much today as the New Assignment That Ate My Life got me very close to quitting. Fortunately my colleagues who are more experienced in this assignment saved my bacon, and by the end of the day I was on a more even keel and ready to get back to Manhattan tomorrow and deal with the rest of my job!

Piling Off

False spring continues, and I probably overdressed this morning even with a light sweater, but it does tend to be cooler in the mornings and I had to get a 6:30 AM express bus. No more snow piles that I could see! Fortunately I was able to stuff the sweater into an insulated bag for the trip home, as I went to Russ & Daughters on the way back from depositing my checks from Mom's pension, life insurance, etc. into my brand-new savings account. I then got my lunch at Whole Foods (my usual go-to) and picked up tartar sauce to go with my dinner (tasty poached salmon a la Robin), so the contents of the bag wound up being: my laptop, the tartar sauce, my haul from Russ & Daughters, the bank stuff, and my sweater. I'm not used to toting a tote on my shoulder, and this one was surprisingly heavy. Glad I'll have the backpack for Thursday afternoon's homebound commute!

Can't Trust That Day

Sooo much insomnia. Thank goodness I worked from home today. I can't remember if this happens to me every year after the clocks change, or if it's just a function of the suddenly-warm weather and not turning the bedroom fan on last night. Regardless, I powered through my two or three new jobs (personal, Mom's estate, and job-related) and set myself up well for going into the city tomorrow to actually deposit checks into the new savings account, as there's a branch at Hudson Yards near our office. In the meantime I'm still thoroughly enjoying the World Baseball Classic as well as the Milan/Cortina Paralympics...

Forward Movement

The non-automatic clocks in the bedroom and kitchen have been moved forward, I stopped by the local farmers market for the first time this year, Robin has officially put away the shovels and salt, there's baseball galore on the TV, and the temperature reached at least 66 degrees today. I'm a happy camper.

Spring Thing

It's coming, I can feel it. Tonight the clocks move forward an hour, and I can't stop thinking about errands. I just wasn't up to taking the car in to be serviced or doing taxes this weekend, but I think both are in my near future. Today we just did food shopping and relaxing, and that was enough. Oh, and baseball, lots of baseball. Loving the World Baseball Classic so much I haven't even missed watching Premier League footie, not that it was on this weekend anyway (FA Cup break). It's the reawakening of hope, and we need that desperately in today's world.

Money Matters

I took a long lunch hour today so we could get Robin's prescription then go to the local branch of the bank I've chosen which operates in both the US and the UK (and isn't open on weekends) to open an account where I could deposit the checks I've received so far from Mom's estate. The process apparently takes a few days, so I couldn't actually do anything yet with the checks, but fortunately there's another branch near my office so I can do that part in the coming week when I'm in Manhattan. We got home from our sushi lunch (because of course) well before I'd anticipated, so I only wound up taking two hours PTO. Now that the snow is finally melting there are a lot more PTO days to come as I get into the swing of medical appointments. But for now I'm able to tick off one more thing from my Estate To-Do list; next up is organizing all the various beneficiary IRAs and other assets which I'm told are coming my way. Maybe this weekend, although to tell you the truth I'd just rather watch the World Baseball Classic, which I'm quite liking so far.