Home from a great-but-short trip to Florida.
Sorry for the lack of writing while there, but the whole vacationing thing really did consume our hours fully. We did an impressive amount of stuff for such a short getaway, and, on the other side of that coin, I got precisely none of the blogging I had planned done (my halfway best-of list for this year and a new batch of pictures for Keaton were on that list). So, it’s time to catch-up this week if I can.
While we were gone, the birds ate all my almost-ripe apricots (I was looking forward to picking them upon our return, as they looked almost ready the day we left) and the little ants mounted their annual summer invasion of the kitchen to get out of the heat. I was more mad about the fruit – seems like I’ll never be able to grow anything sweet in this yard, ants are just a nuisance. I may have to think about netting in the trees, as they pecked every single fruit, about six in total, right down to the pits – leaving nothing behind. Y’know, you plant a fruit tree, you wean it, you care for it, and then the dang birds come and pillage your fruit. Stupid birds.
I don’t know how I’m writing right now, I’m just doing it in spurts between fretting and sweating over tomorrow’s presentation. I used the flight home today to work through the material I couple times, honing it , analog-style, with a pen so I could do the touchups in PowerPoint when I got home. And, with about an hour of massage the thing is, I think, where I want it. I’m still freaking a bit on time though, as I have to unpack, repack, and practice the deck a few more times before I’m comfortable with what I’m going to say. It’s just an unusual amount of procrastination on my part, and I’m usually comfortable with quite a large amount of the stuff – so this means I’m procrastinating a lot. By tomorrow’s entry, I’ll be able to either share with you my shame or trumpet my by-threads victory.
But, for now, I really have to get to bed. It’s going on 10:30pm and I have to be up around 5am to shave and shower and get all coffee’d-up before heading over to the bay for the conference. I’ve done three “dry runs” of my material now in front of the mirror, using the iPod’s stopwatch functionality to time how long I linger on each slide, and the total time I take for the whole of the material. And, while I’m still not as practiced as I’d like to be, I’m as good as I’m going to get tonight. And, I still have the carpool on the way over tomorrow to get in a few more goes. But, I also need sleep. So…
Before I go, I noticed that Pat has decided to blog through his sabbatical. Might be something worth checking out when ol’ faithful sounds familiar skips a day or disappoints. I also added a link or two to the old “blogroll,” if that’s what they still call it (do they still call it that?). So, poke around there while you wait for me to resume some sort of schedule again.
Until next time though, I love your bones… and, goodnight.
Also written on this day...
- closure - 2021
- ears down - 2019
- the sniff test - 2010
- back to reality - 2009
- my bid - 2006
- even my balls are tired - 2005
- a new wiping technique - 2004