Stardate 59957.7 - Random Thoughts

Been in a bad mood for the past couple of days. I think the weeks and weeks of not getting more than 4 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep has caught up with me. I'm also trying to stay off caffeine these days, so I'm really tired by the end of the day. I know Cheryl has things MUCH worse because after I've changed a diaper and gone back to sleep she has to stay awake to feed, and while she is getting an occasional afternoon nap in I think she is still getting less sleep than I am. So I don't know how she is doing it, because this sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me. And my mood is starting to take a toll on her, so I need to try and improve my mood.

It may also be the stress of the holidays and trying to get things purchased that is beating me down. It is always doubly stressful for me as Cheryl's birthday and Christmas are in such close proximity...so I have to come up with two interesting ideas/gifts for her, not to mention all the other gift buying that has to occur. Life would be much simpler if everyone just had on-line wish lists. I have a huge Amazon.com wish list, so anyone purchasing stuff for me, please use it!

I think I'm also doubly stressed because my usual stress-reduction of PC game playing has been unavailable. I have a graphics card that does not support Direct-X natively, and I cannot play any game made in the past 12 months or so. But I have fixed that issue (hopefully) by ordering a card today that should permit me to play the more recent games (MSI NX6600GT-VTD128 Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card).

I think I am just worn down with work as well, and the fact that the apartment always seems to be so cluttered and needing of a good clean. (I know, I know, the days of organization are over until I get Loren trained to pick up things). I feel like I get up, refill the humidifiers, water the Christmas Tree, scoop the cat litter, take out the trash, go to work, then I get to spend some short time with Cheryl and Loren, refill the humidifiers, water the Christmas Tree, and then go to bed. Repeat.

And one of my HUGE pet peeves as a telecommuter is when people f*** up the dial-in conference numbers for meetings, and that has happened 3 times in the last 2 days. I love dialing in 2 minutes before a meeting is supposed to start, and having the automated voice tell me "We're sorry, but you access code is not recognized". Or even better, today I got, "Your conference ended 15 minutes ago"...and I dialed in 5 minutes before it was supposed to start! This is such a simple thing to get right, and yet people continue to disappoint me.

Maybe not really getting out of the Apartment for weeks on end also is taking a larger toll on me than I expected. Anyway, we're taking a few days off around Christmas to take a short trip to NJ (about as far a trip as Loren can handle right now), so hopefully we can recharge somewhat. I still have a couple of days of parental leave I have not burned yet, so I may use that time and extend my days off a little bit around Christmas time.

I think I also am missing my typical decompression time at the end of the day between when I stop working and Cheryl gets home from work. I used to use that time to clean up a little, maybe watch part of a Star Trek:TNG episode or the news, or do a little reading. But with Cheryl home I don't have that time anymore. Additionally, I cannot get to the gym. I've dropped around 10 pounds since Loren was born, but some of that has been muscle mass. I can tell because my weight is low but my pants are a little tighter than they were 4 weeks ago. I have to try to get some situps and pushups into my schedule.

So I guess I am done with my random complaining. I know Cheryl has it worse and that I should just keep my big mouth shut, but I need to be able to gripe too. I noticed that I have not done any real ranting in some time, since I am always right and most other people are stupid, so here is a rant for your amusement.


Why do people with speakerphone capability on their cell phones walk down the street, holding their phones 1 foot from their heads, carrying on a conversation using the speaker mode? I don't care about their half of the conversation, and I certainly don't care about hearing both halves of the conversation. Do these idiots not understand what the speakerphone is for? It is for using if your hands are full or if you have other people around you who need to be involved in the call. I have some news for you. First, no-one on the streets of New York cares to be involved in your call, and if the phone is in your hands, you don't need the hands-free capability of speaker-mode! That is just rude behavior. Try to think about someone else for a change.


What else is going on right now? Well, I'm still reading Jess' book. By the time I finish working at the end of the day I am so brain-dead about all I am capable of doing is sitting in front of the TV, so I have not read it as quickly as I had hoped. And when Cheryl is feeding she is kind of trapped in the living room, so if she has read all our magazines then she gets bored and so we tend to watch TV while she is feeding. But I digress. If you are in Virginia, don't forget to stop by on Saturday to buy your own copy of Jessica's book and get it signed.

Oh, and we took some pictures at Cheryl's small Birthday party last night, so once I get onto the home PC later today I'll post some pictures. And it is warm today (48 right now) so Cheryl took Loren out for an hour to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to buy some hypoallergenic sheets. Loren has a bit of a rash on her face and we are guessing that it is due to the sheets on our bed. Guess we'll see if we guessed correctly.