Sunday, March 25, 2012

I think like all places it has been unseasonably warm but supposed to get down to the 40s this week. The daffodils are up and blooming an entire month early. The vernal pools are full and peepers making quite a racket. Spring is definitely here. The early morning light of spring, which enables me to run early, isn't here yet. But on the other end, the later sunsets give a little more time on before dinner.

I have this saying that there are times that I feel like my get up and go just got up and left and most weekends have been like this and definitely tonight.

It's the end of a weekend, I haven't been on here much oe around to other blogs I check in on. A combination of loosing all my bookmarks and still trying to recover software and files from the crash, numerous projects juggling and a couple of my volunteer gigs raising money and a lot of work related shit that drains the energy.

Yesterday was a burn day. The weather good, wind not heavy and a good chance to get rid of the Christmas tree which when I saw it in the yard I recalled how almost all the needles had fallen of it by the time I dragged it out of the house. Lots of dead limbs in the yard and it was dry enough to pull vines down out of trees and cut up some half fallen trees and of course there are the wood pallets that the wood pellets came on. Use to be that you had to trek into the fire department to get a permit and then call on the day you are burning to get put on the list. Now its a county web link that tells you if you can burn on that day and then sends you to an application to records your address and cell phone number, in case you call with an out of control fire, I guess. Then automatically sends you the permit to print down. Easy enough and I am sure it saves the fire departments from having to deal with this. A little bit of the small town stuff lost but in this case progress is good and easier.

A few hours later and I am done with that project and shortly there after learning of the different muscle groups used in pulling vines out of trees that I normally don't use. I am in pretty good shape and usually don't feel much after running or working out or even moving a couple tons of pellets, so that I notice this is remarkable. And of course there comes the tick check when all is done, always made more difficult because my usually 20/20 vision is very fuzzy and unbalanced at close-up and using glasses for this task is a challenge. Ah such daunting obstacles I face. :-D.

Today was another college visit, this time around they are accepted student days so there is a schedule and program and keeping for being overloaded with information and as a parent struggling for that balance between wanting information recognizing that accepting a new level of independence is called for.

Next week winds down a big mailing on a new fundraiser I am coordinating to support a group of programs from a soup kitchen, to community support meetings (AA, NA, teen violence) and general emergency support for those on the fringes that are in need. A new initiative that has taken a while to pull together. The end of the week is my final high school musical volunteer marathon working 5 shows and then counting up and tracking all the concessions money. After 8 years I am ready to be done. Having already backed away qite a bit, especially since I haven't had a kid involved in the past 2 years, this is the final step and I am ready to pass things on. I think I'd be a bit more nostalgic if I had someone still involved but for the past couple years I have been paying back for what others gave to the program and my kids. So it will be a busy week and will distract me from work.

Friday, March 2, 2012

So it is the end of a work week and I am prepping to head off to the gym for a long run.

This week I joined the legions of folk who have experienced having their hard drive crash. It was as much the event as it was that I was pulling together 4 scholarship applications with the kids that had to be out by overnight mail to get places by the 1st. A dead computer means a printer that has nothing to talk to let alone being to update the essays and attachments. So at 3AM I get the printer hooked up to a laptop and everything assembled to go out the next day. Then spend that past couple of days figuring out what happened. Fortunately I have a data backup from a couple of months ago but at year end with taxes and college apps and financial aid forms, a hell of alot changes in a couple of months.

So having spent the last couple of nights doing diagnosics and getting tips from friends on facebook I am ready to declare it as dead and sending it off to a local repair guy to see what he can retrieve. Fortunately in the meantime, there was a spare old computer my son had that was ready to be recycled that is now back in service. A little slower than the other but it works and I can start to rebuild.

Add to this that it has been a tough work week and snow and ice and I am ready for a nice long run.