Day One-hundred-and-thirty-seven: Checking them off

I'm checking off items on my to do list that must get done one by one and adding them two by two. Fortunately I'm adding them less frequently. I still have a lot to do in now less than two weeks. Today was the most productive day I've had in a long time. I think it was aided by getting out early today, even though that was to the dentist to have two silver amalgams replaced with the new composite fillings. The topical and two numbing shots meant that I didn't feel a thing during the work but now my gum is really sore.

After the dentist, I went and got my free flu shot. Since I'm heading back into truly cold weather for the first time in a long time, I thought I would get a vaccination this year. I haven't gotten sick in previous years without it but then I haven't been in hot houses and cold outdoors in rapid succession for about that long. I was ready to pay my co-pay but it was free.

Then I went down to Les Schwab to buy chains for the Prius. If I don't use them, I can return them for a full refund after April of next year. It was worth driving that far for them with that guarantee. Since this was around noon, I had a brainstorm, unfortunately after I had driven by Sirayvah. Over the last couple of months, I have tried to eat lunch at Sirayvah on a Sunday and this last weekend on Saturday, only to discover that they aren't open for lunch on either day, just dinner. (You'd think that I wouldn't be reading their schedule so precisely to need to discover each day's schedule individually.) But today I remembered that they are open for lunch Monday through Friday. So I went around a long block to get back to it and had a full, and filling, organic Thai meal. It started with a pumpkin soup, followed by a delicious appetizer, and then a spicy eggplant entree. I was going to skip dessert but the waitperson mentioned sticky rice with mango. I ate it all. It's a great place to eat and probably a good thing that I can't seem to eat there more often.

I've also arranged to have my plants watered, all of them, if it doesn't rain, and just the ones under the eaves, if it does. I got the back yard mowed with the clippings put in my compost pile. I finished this cycle of watering, although I decided to wait until tomorrow to apply the deer thwarting stink. I also made a temporary fix to my shed. (I've propped a weighted board up on the plastic corner post to keep it from bowing away from the panels it is supposed to hold securely.) This temporary fix should hold until I can figure out how to permanently stiffen it.

Unfortunately, I've added a couple rather large items. Last night I accepted the responsibility for making my second speech before I go on the road trip. (I keep wanting to say my vacation, but I'm on vacation right now. I'm just going to change the location of my vacation.) I also added something that I should have done in September but technically don't have to do at all, and that is write reviews for the people who reported to me the first six months of the year. Well, as a friend and fellow manager at Amdahl said: "Anything not worth doing is not worth doing well." Doing something poorly just isn't in my make up, more so in my Life after Layoff as everything I do is for me and my standards alone.

My daughters are off on a girl's weekend out in Portland, Oregon. They are staying just a block away from the Powell Street Bookstore. When I talked with my oldest daughter earlier this week, she said that she had already cleared a place to put her new book purchases.

Day One-hundred-and-thirty-five: To do list

Whenever I've found myself under time pressure or feeling overwhelmed with all that I have to do, I address it in two alternative ways: I make a "to do" list both to make sure I am not forgetting things and to give me the satisfaction of marking things off of it; and I go to bed, well, attempt to sleep. Nothing is more tiring to me than having a must do task. Several times in the past I've either stayed up all night doing an overwhelming task or gotten up extremely early after being unable to work the night before and unable to sleep when I needed to be working. Nothing concentrates the mind like a deadline, even an artificially imposed deadline. So, I did both today. I made my list and then went back to bed. I made my bed the second time up so I wouldn't feel tempted to going back into it. My list doesn't have anything on it about resume writing or job hunting. (I think they are related and reflect my reluctance to find another job. If one of the things I like to do don't start paying off, I will need to get a job of some sort by 2010.)

Now, while my must do tasks can vary, I do have a serious, if self-imposed deadline. Adding tasks to my list that must be completed before that deadline is a further time management problem, which brings me back to Comcast and their lack of cutting off my TV. Maybe that is their plan, keep stringing the addict along. I did find out that my son also canceled his cable. Further he now has a specific day for his return to California.

Yesterday, during my ride, I kept thinking about how it was Veteran's day and how my previous company, before it was acquired, gave its workers this day as a holiday. This was really useful when my children were young, and I enjoyed it and Columbus Day off, just not enough to take them off as vacation days when they were no longer holidays for me. Even the memories were pleasant since, once again, I had the day off. The memories didn't stop me from checking for mail when I got back home even though I know that there is no mail delivery on Veterans Day.

My prize for the raffle for making more than 100 calls for Obama came today: two bumper stickers, a button, and a Starbuck's gift card. There were millions of these things out there and these were left over, so I doubt that they have any real value, but I will save them, along with the November 5th newspaper front section, as best I can, except for the Starbuck's card. Maybe my great grandchildren will see some value in them, that is if my children start having children.

Endless "to do" lists appear to be a fact of Life after Layoff. I only wish the discipline to get them done were also a fact.

Day Fifty-three: More bread

I confessed to my daughter that I had made some bread that she would've liked and ate it all. So she said, "Why don't we make some more?" Even before she ate her late dinner, we whipped up another loaf for raising.

Earlier in the day, I took a real nap. This meant that I didn't get as much done as I wanted to but what I did get done was well worth it:

I got a call from someone who will come tomorrow and take the wall unit.

I went to Staples The Office Superstore and bought a foam poster display board. (I had previously bought photo ink.)

I got the stuff off of the guest bed, which my daughter is using now.

I spent at least three hours picking my daughter up at the Oakland Airport.

Then after the bread mixing, dinner eating, and general discussion, we looked at some more of the slides. Tomorrow I will be printing a lot.

Oh yes, I made the following list, a list of what I want to do with my Life after Layoff: (It's actually a list of lists...)

Take care of the house;
Exercise;
Write/blog my Memories of Marilyn;
Start my business(es);
Continue this blog;
Study (at least a language but also whatever is required for my business); and
Have some fun!