--
David
www.schons.net
At 5th and Cedar looking north, bus roofs at the bottom of the hill in
the near distance, towards Metro State, in the far distance, on crest
of the Mississippi River valley, realizing that none of the modern
buildings or facades in the vista were present in the streetcar days,
I turn around to see the 1890's Landmark Center and the 1919 Hamm
Buikding.
--
David
www.schons.net
On the phone today with my mother's nursing home nurse, and with my
sister, the power of attorney gal. Arrangements had been made, and my
mom had agreed, to have someone come in once a week, change her
sheets, change the hearing aid batteries. When they came today,
though, she didn't let the person do either. Time for a drug holiday.
Was confronted this morning with water on the floor in the basement.
One-hundred year-old house that we've been in for ten years, and this
is a first, though the portion of the basement wall with the seepage
was noted as a trouble spot when we bought house. The parts of the
yard that aren't bare are now pooled water on top of ice. Took a
"house sick" day and worked from home.
Speaking of work, management is working on a plan to cut costs 5%.
Either a 5% pay cut (most likely) or two weeks of unpaid vacation
(that sounds better)--and then they lay people off.
So all of the above sort of woes, plus approaching 50th--and the
children were wondering why I was so crabby.
--
David
www.schons.net
At Nina's. First time in a long time. I totally skipped August . The
coffee shop is hopping laptops on tables are like--I don't know what.
People texting away on their cellphones. Two older guys trying to help
each other figure ring volume and how to assign different alerts to
emails.
This cellphone is a replacement I got a few weeks ago for the T-mobile
Wing whose speaker had died. I just now got my connectivity again so
that I can post from here to Blogspot.
I have been making a sporadic effort to post some pictures on Some
Kinda Possible. Need to do a card for Dorothea. The birthday note that
I sent her while she was at camp with Liam never got to her.
My manager gave me and two of my colleagues the day off. We all have
been working early and late, weekends. Thursday was a successful
conversion to an upgrades database. Usually a weekend sort of thing,
it was forced through late at night because our DBA was to be on
vacation.
The other thing that I am interested in is getting copies of building
permits for our house.
--
David
www.schons.net
Brewberry's. I haven't sat to write in a coffee shop for awhile--quite
awhile. For one thing, I have mostly been off coffee since April; just
starting again now with the occasional decaf.
One thing that occurred to me as I was biking was that if I want write
regularly, I may need go back to the coffee shop scene. I could drink
tea. But idea of going somewhere else besides home to do something
works. The question is how to work it in.
This morning is a bit like a mini-vacation. I got up at the usual time
and did the usual things, including biking to work, though with a
slight variation. Biked along the river road to Hidden Falls-Crosby
Farms-I 35E and then along Shepard Road to work.
I was in early, before six. I was there to get the phone number of
notary who was to come to our house for a closing on a refinance. Last
evening, Dorothea and I were going over the faxed summary documents
that I had gotten earlier in the day. I was expressing my misgivings.
She had lots of questions. Plus, the magnitude of her and Madeline
leaving today for the last two days of the Rag Brie was just catching
up with her. Her suggestion: postpone. So that is what I did from the
phone in my cube--leave a message on Notary Joe's cellphone. It was
about 6:30 AM.
I am interested in the notion of getting energized to write because of
the men's group I am in. Time will tell.
--
David
www.schons.net
Sitting on a bench at Mounds Park, littered with garbage on the Fifth
of July, listening to a podcast of Seymour Hersch on Fresh Air,
railing rightly so against Dick Cheney's expansion of the war into
Iraq, I find myself, paradoxically, an advocate of a stronger
executive. I don't think we'll see our way out of our current problems
without it.
Last night we went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum.
Sadly disappointing. Afterwards, a beer at Great Waters held us over
to watching the fireworks from the sidewalk by the downtown power
plant. That was spectacular. (The Taste of Minnesota has new owners
who're trying to make an impression.) noticeably multi-ethnic crowd.
--
David
www.schons.net