Done last week (20151206Su - 12Sa)

[mdlbear]

The big event this week was Mom's 95^th birthday party (her actual birthday isn't until the 28^th). About a year ago, when it was still in the planning stage, she'd asked me to write a song for her. Needless to say, I was blocked. A few weeks ago, all I had were a couple of lines and a vague sketch for the rhyme scheme. I got on the plane Thursday with those two lines on a piece of paper. And no pen.

It actually went more smoothly on the netbook. By the time I got to Mom's I had two verses and the start of a bridge, minus a couple of lines. By Friday night I'd taken out the lines I was stuck on (having decided that trying to rhyme three lines in each vers simply wasn't working), finished the bridge, and added a repeat of the first verse.

The song, Ninety-Five Years, came off surprisingly well.

The plane trip was hard on my back; a hot bath and naproxen helped. (But I had neglected to refill my naproxen bottle, so I'm going to have to get through today and tomorrow on nothing but hot showers and stretches. Ouch.)

I've been having fun catching up with relatives (including several cousins once removed that I didn't even know about), and did a fair amount of singing last night after dinner.

Aside from that, it was a fairly productive week at work (what little there was of it), and I had a good night out with Colleen last Sunday).

1206Su
  % awake 3:45ish
  * Up 6:00; W=196; laundry
  @ Musician creates perfect music for cats, thanks to scientists (VIDEO). f(slate)
    -> www.musicforcats.com
  @ End the Gun Epidemic in America - The New York Times 
  % mood: good (from weekly post)
  & called upstairs by C after a cat, almost certainly Cricket, knocked off one of the
    display shelves.  Installed a higher shelf (to discourage trying to get onto the lower
    ones), and attached them all to the brackets with screws.
  & recover from not having pulled last night's updates.  That's the trouble with working
    on two computers.  On the other hand, git made it possible to recover.  Win.
  * upload Ticia icon.
  * out with Colleen:  JoAnn's, container store, Duke's for dinner.  (I owed her a night
    out before my trip next weekend.)  Not much bought, thankfully.
  % coming in to the house C ran over my right toes with her power chair.  Ouch.  Don't
    think anything's broken, but it hurts.
  @ Ethan Waldman's Tiny House On Wheels in Vermont
    Tiny House Decisions Guide Book - How to Build Tiny
  @ How to Enable Node.js - DreamHost
  * 15min:  bedroom closet:  took unnecessary section out of vent tubing to unkink the
    path.  Installed wire shelf in back.
  @ Blessing Bags - How to create + FREE Checklist! f(Lisa)

1207Mo
  * up 6:30; W=196.0; laundry
  @ Response To Person Grieving For Friend Might Be Best Internet Comment Of All Time
    " I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don't want to. "
  : broken glass in the kitchen from a glass baking pan left on an accidentally turned on
    burner.  Managed to save most of the baked chicken, so it wasn't a complete disaster.
    % 9:30ish pm - sleepy.  Dozed in the chair in the RR

1208Tu
  * up 6:30; W=196.0; laundry, ..., dishes
  & tried, for the second time, to find the tripped breaker for the kitchen.  No dice.
  * 8:30 Glenn to Swedish
  : in the course of power-cycling the modem I noticed that the medical alert gadget had
    apparently been unplugged for weeks.  And that the battery was inflated.  That did
    *not* look good.
  % I'm still pretty fragile.  Between the breaker and dinner (chicken) not being fully
    cooked and so needing more time, I was freaking out a little.  Not good.
  % last of my scabs from my fall, the one on my right knee, finally off

1209We
  * up 5:30; W=195.2; laundry
  : 6:25 thunderstorm, with hail.  Did a quick push, because...
  * leave by 7:30 for early meetings
  * 9:15 Crown Limo (206) 261-0111
  * 9am Port99 20.103 H0
  * meeting at 10am for technical debt bash Ruby 6.502
  * hang van key on hook
  * Reasonably productive day at work, working on the tech debt bash.  Three quick CRs.
  : The dwarves got the desk set up!!  It's impressively massive.  Or massively impressive.
  * 10:40 packed except for the last-minute items.

1210Th
  * up 5:35; W=195.6;
  * checkin -- a little late, but A30/33 so not too bad
  * 7am Crown Limo
      08:55 AM	Depart Seattle/Tacoma, WA (SEA) on Southwest Airlines Flight #687
      02:35 PM	Arrive in Dallas (Love Field), TX (DAL)
      06:25 PM	Change plane in Dallas (Love Field), TX (DAL) Flight #1030
      09:55 PM	Arrive in Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU)
  * Tried repacking into a rolling backpack, but went back to Rolly.  No way I'm going to
    be carrying a backpack, so there's no point.  With the CPAP and a tote under the seat
    in front of me I'm not too cramped for space.
  ~ managed to forget my NC headphones at work (not that I really had room for them), and
    probably forgot a cable for my guitar.  :P
  * worked on Mom's song on the plane; now (5pm) in DFW stuck for about four lines.  Or
    six, if I throw some away.
  : Got a call from the woman who's going to pick me up -- Sue somebody, driving a grey PT
    Cruiser.  I'll call her when I have my suitcase.
  % The chairs in the airport aren't nearly as comfortable as the ones in the plane.  Some
    back trouble; I'll want naproxen when I arrive.
  % actually, I probably do have the cable -- I seem to remember one wrapped around the
    amp.  We'll see -- it's packed.
  % Oh, yes -- I've been reading The Martian.  Excellent.
  & Good conversation on the second leg of the flight with my seatmate, a chiropractor
    from Chapel Hill.  
    @ bookfresh.com - scheduling for massage, etc.
  * Checked, and, yes, I had packed a guitar cable.  I win.

1211Fr
  * up 7ish EST; ;
    % I seem to have skipped my morning meds yesterday.  :P  Problem with having my
      routine interrupted, I guess.
  * Many people arriving.  I'm sharing an apartment with Caroline.  Lionel, Dolores, and
    David arrived as we were finishing dinner; they kept the kitchen open so they could
    have something to eat.
  * Finally finished "Ninety-Five"; really wants 3 rhyming lines in each verse, but I
    couldn't find any.  It'll have to do.
  * Sang The Travelers and "Bigger on the Inside"

1212Sa
  * up 6:30ish; ; shower
  * 3:30 party in the auditorium
    Great party.  There were an estimated 350 people there.  There was a viola da gamba
    duet by Alice and a colleague of hers from Chapel Hill (who provided an extra gamba so
    that she didn't have to buy a ticket for hers), Al's "family remarks", and my song.
    Al's speech was good, and I even learned something -- apparently my parents had been
    wanting to adopt a girl, but the agency vetoed it because there was only one shared
    bathroom upstairs.  :P
    And Susan was introduced as the daughter Mom never had, which means that I've acquired
    another sister. :)
    Met several cousins I never knew about -- notably Jill and Ginger -- in addition to
    catching up with Alice, Liz Kelne (and her daughter Katy) and others. 
    The song, Ninety-Five Years, went over much better than I expected it to.  
    (It followed Alice's performance and Al's speech.)  Couldn't get Mom's shared printer
    to work, so ended up putting it on my netbook, rotated 90 degrees for aspect ratio.
    Worked.
    After dinner, sang The Travelers (Where the Heart Is two times, since some people had
    missed it the first time), The Bears, Lord of the Buffalo, When I Go, Ship of Stone,
    QV, Waltzing With Bears, Desolation Oh No, When I Go, Get Up and Go,  QV, Waltzing
    With Bears, Mary Ellen Carter.  (Which was one of Marty's favorites.)

Comments

[carol-kitty.livejournal.com]

Congrats to your Mom. Ed's Mom is going to be 90 and we went to my Aunt's 100th birthday in April. It is refreshing to see our elders thriving. Hugs.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Oh, well done! I'm glad you had a good week, though ow back. :/ My thumbs are held.