Wed Jul 22
I met with my co-worker from Belarus, he’s a nice guy. I’m glad I can be his ear for venting. Everyone needs a venting partner at work 🙂 But we also put our heads together and get things done. Sometimes I will send him images and ask him to translate Russian rap albums that I like. Turns out my fav artist Max Korzh is from Belarus – how cool is that. I want to go there.
Although we have a lot of maturing to do as an organization, we’ve come a long way in two years. Him and I were just working through some organizational hiccups to figure out next steps
I like me – if I didn’t, we’d have a problem.
Thu Jul 23
My stuff is going to storage today! So I rented a big ass 15′ moving van. I was driving so slow, I felt geriatric. I’m an idiot – there was so much space left in the truck, I could have just gotten a cargo van. Duh!
Anyway, André and I did the bulk of the work. Having to use an elevator is such a pain. Matt accompanied us when it was time to drive over to the storage unit. Because the unit was on the first floor and steps away from the door, we finished offloading in half the time.
I wish I could throw all my stuff over the balcony. It would disappear into a void that led straight to my storage space, and all my stuff would magically drop in there and sort itself out – perfectly packed. Neat!
Of course, I cannot throw my stuff over the balcony, but only because I have a pigeon net. Maybe there is a void there that would have saved me the trouble of renting a truck, putting the elevator on service, etc … I will never know.
My daughter didn’t get to sort through all her artwork and supplies – they’ve been around since high school/university. She has two Loblaws green bins to sort out.
The apartment feels lighter – Matt rearranged his gaming room/ex-storage space. Now I have to get acoustic panels. He wants me to buy him a gaming chair and pre-order the new PS5. I’m thinking about it.
Fri Jul 24
So I’m outside of the club and you think I’m a punk. So I go to my loaded tech nine that’s up in the trunk. … Let the choppa go bam, to your melon. Now the plasma is oozing outta ya cerebellum … I told these motherfuckers, I ain’t never scared – Bone Crusher.
I love that song. I was working and it just popped into my head for no reason. Someone musta pissed me off subconsciously. Then I listed to Tupac – Back in the 90s anytime I got into my bfs car he was playing Tupac – After a while it made me sick, Tupac and weed (I didn’t need to smoke to get high).
My daughter cut my hair – Now I got me fresh mohawk again – Is that offensive? I will relax my hair next weekend – my boss told me that hair relaxers can cause cancer.
Sat Jul 25
When I become an executive of something fantabulous, I will block off Mondays and Fridays in my calendar as non-meeting days. I use those days to plan my week, update projects, work on pet projects, learn new shit, update my to-dos, etc. Those days are my ” all about me days.” Same for the weekends.
When people book meetings on Friday afternoons, I can feel myself getting bent. I don’t even care what the meeting is about. “How DARE you!”
It doesn’t happen at my work often – we’re a pretty laidback bunch. Culturally these guys value balance and family time. When I was a young lad, I didn’t respect or appreciate that. Good thing I wasn’t anybody’s boss
Sun Jul 26
UGH – I can’t remember all what I did. I probably had Mandy on rewind and wished it was Saturday cause that’s what I do every Sunday, wish for a longer weekend. Most times, even when I don’t post my journal, I will jot down thoughts and stuff I wanna write about in OneNote. OneNote and Asana make me happy.
Damn you memory!
Mon Jul 27
I had a strange dream. I was melting or something, and someone was chasing me. I couldn’t see who it was, but I just kept running and hiding. I couldn’t even shake the feeling when I woke up – If I watched Mandy on Sunday, that could explain my dream.
If my life were a movie, it would be a slow burn psychological-thriller-action-comedy.
I finally painted my clay elephants from Thailand – My daughter found acrylic paint. They are white right now, I plan to give them some funky colors. Pink Elephants (Remember that song from Dumbo?)
I still haven’t decided on the bicycle I wanna get.
Tue Jul 28
This isn’t even the Parkinson project anymore. I am calling this French project, The Nine Circles of Hell – I’m in project purgatory. Our divine comedy. This project is our awakening. I will celebrate, but only after I am sure that we’ve woken up – as dictated by our actions.
I shared an edible brownie with my daughter – nothing happened for me. I think I can eat a whole brownie. Although the last time I did it, I felt like my head was burning. I told her that I didn’t do any drugs when I was young (not even weed, which I don’t count as a drug really) because I had her at nineteen, then the following year I started university so I had no time to eff around with all that responsibility. Her response, while smiling “Mom! That’s a good thing.”
I think that’s why now, I am ready to experiment – I’m a big kid now.
Wed Jul 29
I’m so over this French project. If we extend our end date past Sep 15, I’m gonna … (you’ll have to wait and see 🙂 ). First, we were supposed to be live in April, then May, then Jun. It doesn’t even feel like I am working on a project anymore. When I found out our PM in France is returning, I was so excited. Then I learned it would be on a part-time basis, so I guess I will continue to be the primary until this quasi-fiasco is over. Not for nothing though, the organization is learning some valuable lessons.
How many women does it take to install a 12 000 BTU AC? Three. My daughter, her girlfriend and me. It took us over an hour. We had to whip out the drill, but only to drive a screw. Almost had to get the saw out. (when was the last time you sawed wood?) We reread that stupid useless manual a million times, turning it sideways and upside down to figure out the ridiculous diagrams. (we are the stupid ones for trying to understand it). Some sadistic bastard wrote that manual – probably the same guy that writes the Ikea ones. Despite it all, we did it. Hooray!
When finished, we cleaned up and had a drink. We didn’t get the sexy 14 000 BTU LG AC we originally wanted from Factory Direct – That AC was on backorder for weeks. Ended up buying some brand called Cool-Living from Canadian Tire. Now I can cook without sweating bullets and having to shower before I eat.
Thu Jul 30
Our US client didn’t show for the meeting. I think it’s cause he knew my boss was on vacation, but I was hoping to show him what we are working on to get some early feedback. It’s cool. Must be patient sometimes.
Today I watched what I believe to be, the first movie that referenced COVID. The Host on Shudder, is about an online seance. One woman was wearing a mask and fav quote-ish, “You’re not allowed to cough anymore. Now you have to cover your cough with a fart instead of the other way around.”
BTW – I think Mandy is my new favourite movie. I am going to watch Beyond the Black Rainbow this weekend. Same director, Panos Cosmatos.
Fri Jul 31
The last two weeks, every time I wake up and before I go to bed I think about writing. But then I don’t – I am consumed by work and I feel tired and lazy.
I made it outside for lunch with André – We played basketball then handball – best handball game ever – full on HIIT workout. He said it was the first time I didn’t cheat (not true btw). We stopped at the Community Center but couldn’t go in. They only have camp programs right now, the rest of the facilities open on Aug 10.
I booked a meeting with our CTO to to get his estimates on remain work we have to do on the Purgatory Project. I know, I’m a hypocrite but I had to book a Friday meeting, and a Friday afternoon worse of all – I need the numbers for our exec meeting on Monday. I will have to spend some time preparing this weekend, updating spreadsheets and such.
My boss called me, and we spoke for almost 30 minutes. At first, I didn’t hear him say hello, so I figured he butt dialled me. When we got to talking, I asked,
“Did you call me by mistake?”
“I’m offended. Why would you think that?” (or something to that effect he said)
“I thought you were camping for the entire time you were off, so I figured you butt dialled me.”
“Hi Sam. This is Paul’s butt. How are you?”
I cracked up. He told me about his camping adventure. Asked about the boys and we talked about work.
Feature Photo Credit: @vedrana2701 via Twenty20
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