Done last month (20130321 Th - 0331 Su)

[mdlbear]

Long month, the last week and a half. Let's see. A week ago last Thursday I got an offer of a 3-month contract at Amazon, which I took immediately. Since it's through KForce again, I had very little paperwork to do and everything continues much as it has been. Colleen got her diagnosis of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, which is associated with immunosuppressant drugs, hypertension, low K and Mg. All of which she had.

Friday I cancelled my Norwescon concert -- I really wasn't ready, and was already under too much stress.

Saturday it looked as though Colleen was coming home, but by the time I got there her blood pressure had gone up to really scary levels, and they decided to keep her until it stabilized.

I spent most of the weekend shuttling back and forth between North Starport, Rainbow's End, and the hospital in between. I slept at RE, with Naomi and I keeping one another company.

Monday I picked up Chaos and Emmy, and went out to dinner for Emmy's 21st birthday. Blue C Sushi, which was expensive but able to satisfy the YD's craving for plum sake. I have two drinking-age children now.

I didn't notice any hill.

Tuesday Colleen came home. KForce called and told me I was supposed to start Wednesday.

As it turned out, my boss at Amazon had been expecting me to start on Monday the 1st (i.e., today), so things weren't quite ready for me. More or less ok, though; they were at least able to get me a badge and a laptop. (A Thinkpad T400, which isn't half bad.)

Last weekend was Norwescon. The "surprise open mic" that took the place of my concert was Saturday night, and I gave a perfect demonstration of exactly why I cancelled. GAAK. I should know better than to try to sing anything off book. Especially when I'm unprepared and stressed.

I was plagued by charger problems all weekend, but at least my computer charger worked most of Saturday when I really needed it to. The "geek toys" panel was a lot of fun. I read off the specs for the Cray 1 from the web browser on my phone, which had it beat by orders of magnitude. (How many orders of magnitude depending on which spec you looked at. 8MB of RAM? How... quaint.)

Sunday we had dinner at Romio's in Kirkland, on the way to take Chaos home.

Aha! moment -- I figured out that apologizing (which drives Colleen crazy) is my way of trying to make myself feel better after screwing up (especially in a way that hurts somebody else). It mostly doesn't work very well, and if Colleen tells me to stop, or I'm afraid she will, I can spiral downhill very quickly. (Started to write "downhell", which is actually a pretty good description of it. What was I doing in that handbasket, anyway?)

Didn't do a lick of open filking, but I enjoyed the concerts, and spent a fair amount of quiet time in the Green Room. Which was good for (introvert) me, even though I didn't realize at the time that it was what I needed.

0321 Th
  * up 8ish; d, n; shower, 
  * 10am Mike DiBasso - ESPN
  @ Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome 
    Associated with immunosuppressant drugs, hypertension, low K and Mg.  All of
    which she has.  So...
  : Got offer from Amazon  3 month contract
    ! relieved.  Not my first choice, but I'm not going to be picky.
  x noonish Susan coming to help with boxes
  * 1pm  Bigfish
  * Susan visited; took her to lunch in the caffeteria, then drove her to
    Northgate transit center.
  * 7ish pm moved into rm 341  Looks like a 1-bed room; we've slept in smaller (12x12)

0322 Fr
  * up 5:45; W=202.2; d, n, l, t; dishes, 
  ~ Colleen wants fill-ins, glasses (no fill-ins, but brought catalogs, kindle,
    and hairbrush).  
  : something heavy arrived at the apartment office.  From Wayfair.
  : 9:30 snowing fairly heavily.  Not sticking, but if it freezes tonight it'll
    be nasty
  * 10-12 Don Willis - chair
  * get to RE by 11, preferably earlier
  * 11:30 Carly - paperwork for Amazon
  * reschedule cabinets at DB for a Saturday
  ~ am: sofa (chaise?) delivery? Actually I suspect this was N's vanity, which
    was sent to the apartment.
  = the outside walls in the living room are concrete.  This complicates the
    office corner.  The craft corner is also complicated by the windows.
  * Colleen doing very well -- can come home tomorrow if BP down
  * cancelled NWcon concert; I think I can manage the panels
  : Got phone call from an AT+T rep about my bill screwup.  Said it looked
    fixed.  But in fact it is NOT fixed yet -- Ricardo is still on my bill, and
    I'm still getting another bill for Chaos with autopay turned on.  CRAP.

0323 Sa
  * up 6ish; d, n; 
  : Colleen called 6ish -- she's getting sprung between 8 and 9!
  : ... or else not -- her BP was still scary high at 8
  * drop by Naomi's and pick up 3 sets of sheets
  x 10am Dr. Chopra (drove up in case I had one too.  Didn't)
  & home depot, office max; power driver and soldering iron, ext. cord
  * fixed the scooter charger.  Really noisy fan, but the solder joint is nice
    and solid now.
  * Met Susan at the Northgate transit station, and took her down to RE because
    I was running late and N needed a set of sheets.
  * Wayward - Vixy and Tony.  With Susan and Naomi
  * Mar 23 23:23 - probably time to go to bed

0324 Su
  * up 7:30; W=201.2; d, n, l, E; dishes
  : 8ish call from Colleen - BP still too high, PRES still present.  CRAP.
  * needs fill-ins, frosted animal crackers, body butter, herbal tea
  = van easily holds 12 boxes; 20 if we allow two layers in back.  (only put in
    9 on the last trip, though :P)
  : 4pm BP looking good for the last 4 hours.  No headache, less mental fuzziness
    Tomorrow evening?  ! hopeful

0325 Mo
  * up 6:50; W=201.2; d, n, l; shower, exercise, dishes
  % have some kind of rash, mainly on my left arm.  Can't figure out what I
    might have been in contact with, though.  Put aveeno lotion on it.
  * My phone bill seems *finally* to have been straightened out.  After
    receiving a bogus bill.  But ok, I'll take it.
  : Colleen still not able to come home.  Now up in rm 547.  Tomorrow,
    hopefully.  They want to make sure her meds are stable.
  * Connected with Dennis at the house; paid his bill.
  & connected with Susan in Colleen's hospital room.  Nearly said "hotel"
  * get Chaos's zap oven to be "stored" at RE
  * pick up Chaos for YD's birthday dinner out.  AFK -> Blue C Sushi $$$ but good
  & brought the kids to see Colleen after dinner

0326 Tu
  * up 6:20; W=202.8; d, n; 
  % it is way too easy for me to fall back into "retirement mode"
  % R. knee twingeing -- put a brace on it.
  * Heard from KForce - I start at Amazon 9am tomorrow.  Hopefully
  = bamboo flooring $1.98 at Lowes!  Duplicated the house key
  * Colleen is home!!!!
  * dinner:  rice and chicken tikka masala
  * Susan came over (from/to N's) around dinnertime
  * Drove YD down to the house.  Somehow she managed to lose her ORCA card.

0327 We
  * up 6:20; W=201.8; d, n, l; shower, dishes
  : Tablet battery dead.  Will take lappy.
  * 8am drive down to Amazon.
  * 9am starting at Amazon.  Starbuck's  442 Terry Ave N. Seattle, WA 98109
    (PM) Marco was apparently expecting me to show up Monday.  Wish I'd known.
    May be a while before I get my badge and equipment.
  = Dawson 345 Boren, 9th fl.
    Amazon's "desks" are hollow-core doors attached to unfinished 4x4's with
    deck hardware.
  & stupidly misremembered which street my car was parked on, and wandered
    around the wrong block before finally getting it right.
  * 6pm at house to sign paperwork for painter.  Or else at apt to go look at
    kittens.  Depends on N's schedule

0328 Th - 31 Su Norwescon
  * up 7; W=200.8; d, n, l; dishes
  = (16:18:31) Naomi: Oh, I have a message for Colleen. The fireplace costs
    $3995 to get working again, plus a couple hundred for incidental cleanup
    work necessary after it's put together. If she can get more than that for
    her jewelry, I think we can do it. But I'll need to know what she's getting
    for it, for sure, not speculation, to be able to tell them to go ahead. 
  * Went to house, dropped off signed painting receipt; signed slabjack
    estimate.
  * Take the bus to RE after work to pick up the van.
  @ Think Your Money is Safe? Think Again: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for
    US and UK Depositors | Alternet THIS IS SCARY
  @ Earthships 101 part I - YouTube (siliconshaman | Ok,
    so this is where I'm aiming for.)
  @ Breakthrough research suggests simple ways to reverse chronic pain +Cymru Llewes

0329 Fr
  * up 6:30; W=201.4; d, n, l
  * cleaned up rotted fruit in the basket
  * packing:  CC+S stock.  10 copies. -> 5
  @ What does crowdfunding replace or displace? (angels, not VCs)
  * 9:30 meeting at A.
  * pick up the kids' luggage at RE on the way down to NWcon
  * rooms at La Quinta Confirmation No: 3147703274
    Check-In Date:  03/29/2013 Check-In Time: 15:00
    Check-Out Date: 03/31/2013 Check-Out Time: 12:00
    Room Type: ADA Accessible One King Bed
    The rollaway blocks the closet, and takes up most of the space, but at least
    the batroom is huge and accessible.
  % arrived at hotel totally out of cope.  Music and company helped, but...
  & dumb bear forgot figure-8 cord for computer charger, power strip.  :P

0330 Sa
  * up 8:15ish; d, 
  * stole cord from my CPAP, but the charger doesn't work anyway.  :P
  * The geek toys panel was fun.  I read out the specs for the Cray 1 on my cell
    phone, and some people showed up with multirotor drones.  A couple of good
    toys in the audience, too.
  : ... and now my charger is working, so I'm going to stay put and charge for a
    while. ... and now my phone isn't charging.  The connector on the phone, I'm
    pretty sure. -> seems to work fine after reboot :P
  : OK, so "pony prog rock" isn't my thing.
  @ Mirko Ilić Corp. Illustration
    Source of the "Liberty and Justice" pic that's been going around.
  @ The coming evangelical collapse - CSMonitor.com One could hope
  @ Persona | MDN (via LWN)
  @ Responsive Web design - Web Development | MDN 
  : ... and of course the laptop charger isn't working anymore.  Oh, well; it
    worked when I needed it most.

0331 Su
  * up 8:15; d, n
  * checkout at noon.  Got stuff down to the car in good time.
  & Spent a lot of time in the green room, having a couple of conversations and
    catching up on some quiet time (without really realizing what I was doing)
  x stop by RE after the con
  * dinner out:  Romio's in Kirkland, on the way home.
  % AHA!  apologizing is how I try to make myself feel better after screwing up.
    Especially after screwing up enough that somebody might have noticed.
  ! meltdown.  No idea what to call the associated emotion, but it's no fun.
    This was caused by stubbing my toe after Colleen had told me to stop
    apologizing for something else.
  % Also, being yelled at angrily seems to really make things worse.  If Colleen
    yells at me for apologizing -- or I'm afraid she will, which happens more
    often -- I can easily spiral downward out of control.  As I did tonight.

Comments

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

went out to dinner for Emmy's 21st birthday.

I seriously did not read that.

Happy b-day to Emmy!

[mdlbear]

I seriously did not write that. :)

[carol-kitty.livejournal.com]

Emmy is 21...omg....I remember holding her at Kaiser!