A productive, less sober weekend

It's not a strong correlation. Phew... thought I'd have to cut back :)

Friday night was kinda tame, once again. We headed to Bitter's to check out the AngelShakes, who were all right, if a little heavy on the glockenspiel (not often I level that criticism at a group). We decided we had enough of that and then headed to the bowling alley bar again. It's scary; I think it's becoming a watering hole for us lately. But with cheap beer and pizza, how can one really go wrong?

Saturday I once again got an early start on the day. Got a chicken stock made, and got a bit of tidying done in my office (it's still a mess, but it's an ordered mess, you see). Also got a little clock time in, and a Canadian Tire run. Unfortunately, I realized that getting an early start only makes you tired earlier. So I plonked in front of the tube for a solid couple of hours. Then Ginny and I made a supermarket run, and then a liquor store run, and then had a bunch of drinks at her place. It was good fun -- I like guzzling wine and shooting the shit.

Sunday I slept in till 11:00, which was brutal, but I still managed to get a lot of stuff done. After a couple of hours in the workshop, all the clock parts are made, and the first coat of stain applied. Even got some work reading done (which will justify an early departure today) at Hava Java. Then went to the Yellowbelly for some pizza, which was both awesome and not outrageously priced.

On the work front, I may be heading to Calgary next week for a couple of days, in order to attend a kickoff meeting for this new project. Not as exotic as, say, Egypt, but it would move the marker as to how far west I've been in North America (currently the stanchion lies in Minneapolis). Details should become clearer soon.

A productive, relatively sober weekend

I wonder if there's a connection :)

Friday night I popped out for a coffee with Jon and then headed back to my place for a beer and a scotch. Not much was on the go, and I wasn't inventive enough to come up with any kind of plan, so that's as far as the night got. Good every now and then.

Saturday I woke up and was a powerhouse. First thing I did was head up to Kent and buy cheap firewood (compressed hardwood logs which burn for hours and throw off lotsa heat). Then I made my living space on the bottom floor very tidy indeed. Even got the top of the fridge cleared off, and implemented a 'system' of sorts in my pantry cupboards. Also got a crapload of groceries, including some turkey necks, so I can try to make a stock sometime when I have 6-8 contiguous hours at the house.

Domestic, eh?

That night, we headed to the Ship to check out Mopaya and The Discounts. Utah Jon is back in town, as he's defending his thesis on Tuesday, so it was good to chat with him during the breaks. Both groups were pretty good, but all of us were just pooped, so we called it an early night.

Sunday I got more work done on the clock. The only major hurdle now is making a glass door for the top. Gotta cut the frame just right, and then get an appropriate sized piece of glass. I think it's going to be a pane (mwahahaha). That night a bunch of us headed to C&A's for some Rock Band and football. Good times. Alas, I again find myself tired heading into the work week, which is bad because with my Monday and Tuesday schedules, no naps/prolonged sleeps are possible. Bring on Wednesday.

Actually, bring on Friday. Yeah, that'd be better.

Kinda wish it'll be declared a snow day...

...but I also don't want to head out until it's all over. Ah well.

So it looks like another project will be added to my workload sometime soon. I'm awaiting the kickoff meeting. This one should be pretty interesting. I also found out that if I do head to China for the other project, it won't be until the fall, not the spring as previously stated. I'm OK with that.

I had my first lecture in almost five years yesterday. I had missed the first one of the course (owing to a meeting that just had to be held at that time) but I later found out that that class had been cancelled anyway. Two wrongs do make a right. It actually went all right -- this course could be quite interesting. If I sit through all the lectures, and finalize this damn P.Eng paperwork, I'll have my "performance objectives" all completed for this year.

The cooking course gets more and more interesting. We made two cream soups last night -- asparagus and tomato -- and both turned out awesome. When I get a free evening, I'll have to head out and get some ingredients and see if I can replicate that success.

Free time has been hard to come by this week. Not that I'm complaining; I like being on the go. Tonight, it's meeting with the choir director to discuss some other roles she has in mind for me. Hopefully all will become clear.

It's gotten really rotten out -- I could have sworn there was a building across the road...

Dis and dat

I'm glad to have the first week back from Christmas vacation out of the way. Starting to get my groove back at work, and it's a lot easier since I'm back to two projects rather than three (though I have heard through the grapevine that more are coming my way).

My weeks, at least for the rest of the winter, are going to be very front-loaded: French choir on Mondays, and a cooking class on Tuesdays, both of which end at 9:00pm or later, making for long days. But it's all good; both of these things are going well.

The weekend was nice and full. Friday night a bunch of us went bowling, followed by a visit to Steve's Twin Lounge. Blue Star was on sale. I don't really like it that much, but I found myself having about five of them -- the last of which was chugged, leading to momentary nausea.

Saturday I disassembled the entertainment centre and positioned its replacement, which I finished that morning. It looks much better, if I do say so myself. This task took all afternoon -- the old unit held a lot of stuff, and hid most of it quite well, so it had to be moved. It's stashed in my office now, and I need to organize it somehow in the near future.

That night a bunch of us headed to J&J's for a wine tasting party. It went well; sampled some good ones. And then there was the one I brought, which turned out to be horrible. At least one other person agreed with me when I said it had a somewhat coconut finish -- not desirable from something supposed to be made from grapes. And I'm not going to keep it anonymous; its name is Care, a cabernet blend from Spain. The pleasant surprise was this wine from Hungary (whose name escapes me now).

Yesterday afternoon I spent running errands, mostly getting a few things to assist in my organization challenges mentioned above. In the evening a few of us headed to Don Cherry's to take in a football game. The good guys (at least in C&A's eyes, and in the absence of my team being in the playoffs, in mine too) won fairly convincingly.

Woke up to some snow today, but not enough for a snow day. However, it looks like a snow day may become a reality on Wednesday (30+ cm and wind, I hear?)

From 2008 to 2009

I'll break this down into three sections:

Christmas Vacation recap

It wasn't a very busy Christmas break, but I planned it that way, so I consider it a success. The first few days were spent tidying up around the house and finishing off Christmas shopping. I (unexpectedly) got my netbook on the 22nd, a testament to Purolator's delivery speed. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning I spent at Mom's place. In the evening we went to my aunt and uncle's place for an awesome turkey dinner.

After Christmas Day, the vacation got a little "drinkier." Boxing Day we went to Trapper's for some drinks and to watch a hockey game. The day after, House and James came over for a bit and we headed to the Georgetown. And the day after that, myself and Craig did a monster day-boil. Started at 3:00pm and drank till about 2:00am. With, between us, 32 beers during. Nuts.

Took my foot off the pedal then, and had a mellower couple of days. Necessarily, because I was coming down with something. Richard and Jennifer had a nice Christmas gathering at their place, involving most of our visiting high school friends.

New Year's Eve I felt like crap, but knowing that myself and others didn't have a plan for that night, I managed to medicate myself with coffee, chicken soup, and amoxicillin (compliments of Dr. Brown), and have a few souls in. It came to my attention that night how expensive my drinking tastes have become -- scotch and wine were the orders of the night. Party ended at around 5am, I guess, and I managed to get at least a few hours sleep.

From then until yesterday, I battled some kind of flu. The worst is over now, so I'm ready for work tomorrow (shudder). So there it is, vacation in five paragraphs.

2008 New Year's Resolutions Recap

Cooking/lunches -- This started out badly, got a whole lot better, but in the dying days of 2008 when I was so busy with work, etc., it died off. I'm going to claim success, though, since I learned about a 8-9 new recipes, plus the dozens from the BBQ course I took. Also, not a single freezer dinner had in 2008 (I think).

Housework -- I only found myself eyes-deep in chores a few times this year. I did manage to make it part of my daily routine, however, not 30 minutes as I had hoped. I've found that the secret is to let everything have its place. As I'm still making some of those places (see below), my housekeeping system still needs to be streamlined.

Carpentry -- I still really enjoy it, it's just that I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. In 2008, I made two plant stands, a dresser, a wine rack, *almost* got the entertainment centre replacement done (two coats of stain left -- c'mon!!). I had hoped to get six projects done. Obviously, I came up a little short.

Electronics -- Fail. It just reminded me too much of work. That and I need some kind of better system in my workshop so I can keep the sawdust off everything.

Piano -- Success, I claim. I learned a bunch of new songs, and I also got involved with this French choir thingy.

What did I learn? Resolutions are hard to keep. However, I was at least mindful of these five items for most days of the past year, so their statement on this blog was at least somewhat useful.

2009 Resolutions

So what will make the list this year?

One thing: Time management, or just doing it.

It seems like the unifying element in all my misses above is the drive to just get my ass in gear and do it. Often I find myself surfing the net, or turning on the TV, or (and this isn't really bad) playing the same songs on the piano. Or when I'm not that lazy, I waste time thinking about doing stuff, or the best way to do stuff. Before I know it, a couple of hours of my evening have been stolen. And getting started on tasks at hand on weekends is even worse. I wake up thinking "Oh yeah... all day to do that" and then it's 1pm and nothing even started -- sometimes not even dressed.

Worse still is that I find these habits creeping into the workplace. I'll waste time mulling over details rather than just starting and letting the details come naturally. Sometimes I leave work frustrated at how few tangible results have been attained. I realize that sometimes that's the nature of the beast, but other times I feel it could have been prevented.

So how am I going to break this habit, or bore you, the reader, with somehow quantifying it?

That I'm not going to worry about. Right now, I'm going to get off my ass and tidy this damn office.