Filling the Day

Got through my commute and work day just fine, no real down time at all in the office, but my feet were bothering me too much to visit my partners so I settled for MS Teams conversations. Not sure if it's the new sneakers (possibly not as I was having much the same issue with my previous pair), the socks, or just me getting older. I'll be wearing thicker socks tomorrow with my support slippers to cushion my feet when I go out to get the car inspected (this time for sure!) but that'll be first thing in the morning so it shouldn't affect me too much. What is affecting me, more than I thought, is the death of the saintly Dolly Parton; we won't see her like again.

Like Unto a Zombie

No real news today, I just couldn't wake up after yesterday's driving and car stress. I'm not used to being out and about two weekend days in a row. Also, when we returned around 6 PM we found the landlord's gutter repair/replacement folks hard at work, so I had to park in a different spot than my usual one right in front of the house, and retrieve my car to repark it around 9 PM when the gutter replacement was finished (and that was a bit stressful seeing them walking around the makeshift platforms outside our top-floor living room). I don't drive well at night, even tbe 30 or so feet it took to park it, and when I blearily glanced outside this morning I saw the car was crooked, which I never do in the daytime. Good thing I decided against taking it in for inspection, as I could hardly open my eyes all day. Somehow I got through work and made lots of progress, tried on my new yoga pants which I'm wearing under my kurta for the wedding reception (the first pair got waylaid so I ordered another pair to arrive today and, lo and behold, wound up with both pairs), and now I'm all packed for tomorrow's sojourn into Manhattan. I cannot believe I made it through the day like this.

Drenched

The day started out a bit difficult for me. My back's been bothering me all week, and I had to schlep an Amazon return in to Whole Foods this morning as I wouldn't get the chance at lunch. Turns out the pain I was feeling was more the weight of my laptop than the returned item. I continue to be in great shape at work, just waiting on both partners and client EAs to get back to me on scheduling things, and I'm taking so much self-study that I'm actually starting to remember a lot of the AI terminology, which scares me. Lunch was terrific, my colleague signed off on my and Robin's kurta outfits for the wedding reception, and the Indian food we had was nice but the restaurant not so much (very cramped and unprofessional, much more a takeout place). I'd packed my rain jacket for the afternoon deluge, left work a bit early before it started (only wind on 9th Ave and a little rain on 8th), and by the time I got to my neighborhood it was coming down in sheets. And it still is. Just a bit drenched to the bone! But warm and dry now, watching the Yankees win again, and getting ready for shuteye...

There and Back Again

The back is still twingy, and I'm sure the backpack this morning didn't help, but the naproxen kicked in and by noon I was busy enough at the office that I didn't really notice. This evening we watched the best episode of Beat Bobby Flay I've ever seen because, even though it was scripted up the wazoo with them all pretending it wasn't, they made it extremely official that Flay and Brooke Williamson are A Thing, and it was totes adorbs all the way, lots of huggy kissy and such. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. And it made my back feel better too.

Temporarelief

Not permanent by any means, I'm still doing naproxen in the morning for the next few days, but I could actually move around without pain today, which made job stuff a lot easier. And because it was a work-from-home day I could also relax a bit. Goodness only knows how I'll fare tomorrow when I have to go into the city. Meantime I have to call my former doctor's office to see if I can get a telehealth visit with my new primary doc prior to my annual physical in late October, as I'll need someone in-network to sign off on my prescriptions. Lots of hoops to jump through, it being the US, but another reason I would not have taken the early retirement package this year. Very content to get a steady paycheck for another two years!

Connectivity

Well, I thought my work-related tech issues were behind me, but this morning a firmwide glitch stopped all external emails from arriving, so I had to go onto my email at the client site and stay there for awhile until things got fixed. Not good for a firm where customer connection is key. Thank goodness so many people were still on PTO. My brain is half-there too. Tomorrow I get my hair cut, Sunday I take the car for inspection, just ticking off the things to do before the big September travel (first to Philly for the wedding reception then to Merrie Olde), and expecting fate to throw a spanner in those works as it sometimes does.

OMG Shoes

Now that my tech issues at work are temporarily behind me, I can again concentrate on my personal health and such. To that end, I wore my new sneakers to work. I still have problems with the fourth toe on each foot, particularly the left one, but I'm guessing that's just a breaking-in thing. I love these sneakers, they only cost $50 and they have very wide toe boxes so things should settle by the time we're in England. I just hope the trains are running OK by the time we arrive, the tracks near where we'll be just buckled and three train cars overturned (fortunately no deaths) so it'll be awhile in repairs. I don't mind buses though!

Stuff Do-Age!

Wow, what a difference a good night's sleep makes! Somehow I put away all the laundry yesterday so that helped me get a good start, the Woolite wash was done well before I logged on, I'm trying to get through steaming my clothes but I keep giving up on one particularly stubborn shirt, and best of all a work issue that I've been having for at least a month is finally on its way to being solved. So chalk all that up to a win so far! I kind of wish I had more job stuff to do, but three of my seven partners are out this week and I can't concentrate enough to keep taking self study courses. I should have that problem all the time!

A Tempting Offer

Today was yet another call offering voluntary termination to a portion of my company's workforce. Since I qualify for the maximum I was sore tempted, but we're only given three weeks to decide and my personal finances are not nearly as organized as I want them to be. Besides, I'm still kind of addicted to 26 pay stubs per year, which would be cut down by almost half (only lasting for 8 months) if I were to retire at the end of this September. So I'm on the fence but leaning towards getting off exactly where I stand right now. Having nobody to consult besides Robin, I have to go with my (and his) gut, and my stomach started churning a bit too much at the thought of extremely imminent retirement. For now I'm going to wait and see if they board the merry-go-round again this time next year, at which point my head -- and stomach -- will undoubtedly be in a different place.

Homeward Bound

After three straight days on my feet, especially with yesterday's commute (MTA's BusTime lied to me about my commuter bus not being in operation in the morning so I wound up doing the local bus/subway/ walking thing both ways and that really did a number on the tootsies), I decided to take it easy and work from home the rest of this week, having met my 2-day-in-office mandatory quota. And I really needed it, I'm still very tired from all the flitting about. Fortunately I had a chance to relax a bit, although not really all that much since my workload continues to be surprisingly heavy for this time of year. It does look like things will calm down next month, but I don't want to speak too soon.

Can't Trust That Day

Still somewhat exhausted from yesterday's sojourn, I nonetheless schlepped into the city with my backpack to help greet a bunch of peer reviewers and make sure all was in readiness for this very busy week of both peer reviewing and PCAOB inspections. I'll be so thrilled when the week is over! July has been a heck of a month, and I need a vacation more than ever, but at this point I'll settle for a quiet August. I tried to keep my movements to a minimum, and it was really nice doing the homeward commute unburdened as all my stuff was left at the office in a temporary locker. Still, methinks I'm getting too old for this, Riggs.

Drug Induced

I woke up earlier than I'd planned with what I guess was a touch of indigestion, and my heart area didn't feel quite right for most of the morning. As a result I felt drugged, and although I got a lot done around the apartment (emptying recycling bags, putting away laundry, dealing with more Mom Estate stuff) I felt quite inadequate work-wise, so I took four hours of PTO and just sat quietly, playing my online games and watching the Yankees lose the first game of their double-header, and the Mets lose as well. Not the best day for NY baseball. Oh, and we've responded to a cousin's invite for his wedding in Philadelphia for the weekend before we head to England, so that'll be a fun "dry run" of Being Away. Now, of course, it's evening and I'm wide awake.

Cirdacian What?

Ugh, I've been up since around 4:30 AM, very uncomfortable and too warm in bed, even with the AC on. Fortunately we were finally able to give the ACs a rest during the morning, it's been either too hot or too humid to turn them off, but they were back in business by early afternoon. Such is summer! A nice easy day at work, as most of my partners were either busy with inspections or out of town, so that made for a nice change and I was very grateful considering my lack of sleep. Robin and I both dozed for a bit before putting on the ACs and then again after dinner this evening, so I'm feeling almost human now and ready for whatever comes up at the office tomorrow. But first, perhaps a bit more sleep?

Ping Ponging

Fun day at work and at home, trying to juggle lots of job and personal stuff at the same time. I feel like I'm at a ping pong game or something. But personal stuff (more things from Mom's estate) is done, I have a bunch more papers to file, and I'm in good shape at work as usual. Even had a chance to speak with my uncle this afternoon in his new senior living complex (via FaceTime no less, Mom could never have done that!). Big weekend awaits for footie, with England/France tomorrow in the consolation game and Spain v. Argentina in the big one, commandeered to a ludicrous extent by US insistence on four quarters throughout the tournament (these "hydration breaks" totally ruin the flow of the game) and an actual Halftime Show. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get back on the bike over the weekend, if I can breathe by that point.

The Calm Before

No baseball (Home Run Derby doesn't count, particularly as they've changed the rules again and none of it really matters anyway), no footie, weather is decent enough to have had the windows open for a few hours this morning but we're back to AC... I feel like I'm in a holding pattern again. I got nothin'. Work is well in hand, took a couple hours PTO as I felt positively drugged, but nothing much to watch...

Easing In

I was right, I didn't sleep well at all last night, maybe 3-4 hours at most, and it took its toll today. Thank goodness it was a work-from-home day! I'd also been tossing and turning over work stuff which came to fruition today when I could least handle it, but it's out of my hands now and moved up the chain of command so I think I'll sleep well tonight. Especially as the US men look to be going down in World Cup defeat. Serves our country right for having the grifter in chief get involved.

Sports Rapports

I woke up to the news that the US did not win all three group stage games in the World Cup, which delighted me because I've found the Neanderthalish "oo-ess-eh" chant repulsive since its debut at the 1980 Olympics, and I think the fans and media needed taking down a peg or two. Who didn't need taking down? Carlos Mendoza, the victim of Steve Cohen's bad decisions to sell or give away the heart of the Mets during the off-season resulting in a lousy, injury-prone team with no cohesion. And as with all corporations, the folks at the top who bear ultimate responsibility for the debacle remain in their jobs and the managers or below get the axe. Mendoza's undoubtedly rich and will be sought after by another team, but I mean, really. So the Mets lost again. And the Yankees lost. And Uruguay just lost to Spain in the World Cup group stage and will be going home, just as well considering their dirty play towards the end of that game. Anything going on besides sports? Well, I've logged off work until July 6, although I will be peeping in next week to do a few things like 14-day advance seat bookings and grabbing weekly reports, but for the most part I'm now on a firm-mandated vacation week! And boy howdy do I need it.

The Last Manhattan Day for Awhile

As none of my medical practitioners have called me back regarding some low-level stuff (a rash here, a cyst there, pretty soon you're talking real money) I have no actual plans for next week beyond taking in my orthotics to be refurbished, which means I'll have a couple days when I really don't want to walk around, so I'm spending the week relaxing and catching up on estate stuff and other financial matters. But mostly relaxing! Today was my last in-office day until July 7, so I made the most of it and got lots of stuff out of the way in preparation for a shortened day tomorrow. Even the commute was easy... well, except for the very crowded subway on the way home, wherein I was squeezed in my seat from both sides until we were well into the Bronx. But all's well now, I have a lovely time ahead of me watching the World Cup and playing my online games and planning some house straightening (that microwave definitely needs a good scrub)...

Working Through It

A somewhat icky damp day but a good one in terms of forward movement at work. I met with all three partners I support who actually have designated offices at our HQ, two of whom I hadn't been able to chat with in way too long. The rash is still extant so I've written to my doc for advice and started on hydrocortisone and finger-crossing. And tomorrow, we book the flights, come hell or high water! 

The Good and the Bad

My blood draw jab got done in seconds, I got a clean bill of dental health, and I had a nice surprise on the public transit front! I don't know if it's because of the lane closures due to the World Cup, but I was able to grab a limited-stop M2 at Rockefeller Center, take it two stops to 34th, and grab the crosstown bus which got me to the office a lot earlier than I'd feared. I had to bump a squatter from my seat, but otherwise everything went so well that I packed up early. Alas, I also saw the announcement that a lot of folks with whom I've been working closely will be let go, which saddens me greatly as they've not only helped me immensely but have become close work friends. So I had little incentive to stay until 5 PM during a time when most of the folks I support are in our Florida training center the rest of the week, and was able to take my time commuting home, where I flipped between baseball and footie for much of the evening.