Weekend!
Jaybird is out of the country and we are all trying to be good friends by covering his weekly responsibilities. I chose the Weekend post because it’s my favorite that he does and imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. In preparation I read through a dozen or so of his past posts, trying to figure out why I like them so much. I think the feeling I came away with can best be described as coziness. Allow me to explain…
In the years that I have known Jaybird he has always struck me as someone who is a creature of habit, in all the best ways. I know that he and Maribou both love their books and games and television and movies (all things I also love). I know that they run errands on the weekends, just like my wife and I do. I know they do their gaming on Saturday nights and visit friends and family for special occasions, just like me. I know that sometimes they have long work weeks and the weekend is their chance to recharge the batteries. We can all relate to that.
What I keep taking away from Jaybird’s posts is that settling into a life of semi-predictability in your 40s, enjoying your spouse and your friends, your hobbies and the odd diversions, is a common thing. You’re also probably working harder than you ever have and (hopefully) being a badass at your job so your boss wants you to do important things for him. You get sent on work trips, or get asked to train the new crop of interns, or to head the Big Project. If you’re the religious sort (no religion, no politics!) maybe you realize you now find comfort in all that repetitiveness of the Sunday service that you hated when you were a kid. You appreciate routine and take comfort in the Known. Jaybird’s posts are a reminder every Friday that I’m not the only one craving those things and hearing what he has planned is like chicken & dumplings and a favorite pair of sweats on a cold January evening.
So…what’s my weekend looking like? Well my lovely wife asked for a power washer for Mother’s Day and when your wife wants a power tool, you go to the store. Sears had a good deal on a decent model, so it was purchased and put together and is now ready to do some work. So this weekend we are going to wash everything. The green mold that grows on the siding on the north side of the house. The patio. The driveway. Maybe the cars. It’s going to be crazy home owner fun…
It’s also hot as heck here in Kentucky right now. I keep wondering why my Western European ancestors chose to move to the Ohio Valley before air conditioning, and I can only conclude they must have arrived in November and then were too lazy to move the following July. So when I’m not gardening I am looking for excuses to stay inside. I have a big stack of articles to read, some indoor repairs to do and some cool stuff on the DVR. All told, I’m looking forward to a weekend where I can accomplish a little, relax a lot, and enjoy the family.
As Jaybird always says…what’s on your docket?
“I can only conclude they must have arrived in November and then were too lazy to move the following July.”
I used to feel this way about Oregon, but opposite seasons, of course. All of this rain! Now I love it here, even when it rains. 🙂
Speaking of the love I have for my state, I will be road-tripping it this Sunday! I am literally driving four hours, having lunch with my little brother, and then turning right back around to come home. I will make the best of it, stop to see fun things (berry picking and wine tasting) and I’ll be delivering my niece to spend the summer with family down south.
Saturday is movie and BBQ lunch with my sister and the hoard of children that drastically outnumber us once we get together. Finding Dory here we come! I think I’m the only one that is excited about the movie, actually.Report
My father is being inducted (posthumously) into his home town’s sports hall of fame tomorrow. Go figure. I am the only of his spawn within a reasonable distance (two hours or so), so I am the one attending. My role is to tell an anecdote about him that involves sports. This is within my skill set. They’re going to feed me, so there is that.Report
Care to share here as well?Report
@guy The one I ended up using what how, growing up, when we watched football on TV he would be offended whenever a lineman was penalized for holding. Playing lineman had put him through college, and he had opinions on proper training. He contended that if a lineman was called for holding, it was because he wasn’t doing it right. A properly trained lineman knew how to hold without getting caught.
The second half to this story is the time in a game where he did this, and the opposing player grew indignant about the absence of a penalty. His teammates piously pointed out that he was a pre-ministry student, and would never dream of doing such a thing.Report
I managed to catch up with my correspondence during the week, so I’ll be writing a stack of proposals this weekend.
Alternatively, I managed to shirk my proposal writing all week, so I’ll enjoy a lightened workload in avoiding additional correspondence.
Also, gardening.
Digging up some chickory to transplant back at the house.
Was going to get a paw-paw tree, i.e., go dig one up over by the creek, but resources are limited, and that will have to wait for another day.Report
I miss Jaybird SO MUCH.
In not unrelated news, I have come to the conclusion that if I lived alone, my various physical challenges would preclude me from having 4 cats. They MIGHT preclude me from working full time, I’m not so sure about that one. This week I only worked about 35 hours and yet, today, I am treading on knives. Feh.
But! I am coming up on a 3 day weekend, gaming from 4pm onward on Saturday, Outlander on Sunday, wrestling on Monday, shopping for the week at some point, and otherwise a lot of housework (laundry! cleaning up after the cats! cleaning the bathrooms!) and resting. Sooooooooo much resting. And resting-type exercise (reclining bike) instead of running-around-campus type exercise.
I’m hoping to do a lot of reading and listening to podcasts.Report
Tonight we’re going to watch a pro-tennis match (pro, as in local tennis pros) at the country club. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that we belong to a country club, albeit as social members. Then, out to dinner.
Saturday, is my mother-in-law’s 84th birthday, so we’re going to do something, as yet undecided, to celebrate. Housecleaning, reading, and (hopefully) some writing is also on the agenda.
Sunday, yoga class and a cat adoption fair for the rescue group I volunteer with.Report
In the past two weeks, my youngest graduated from UCSD, got his first full-time job, and bought a car. Within another two weeks, he’ll have found a place to live in San Diego, moved back there, and entered the workforce.
So, a few things to get used to.Report
He has better luck on the job market than I do.Report
Jeez. So now what?Report
Hell of a good question.Report
The second that my sister and I moved out of the house, mom sold it and bought one of those little gramma condos.
“Moving back in with me is not an option!”, she may or may not have actually put into words.
I mean, if you want an example of the last time I saw something like this up close.Report
I’m with Robert Frost on this one. Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.Report
Mmm. You had me at chicken & dumplings.Report
Loved this post so much.Report
We adopted my FIL’s cats, so getting to know them. And next week we drive out there again to pick up belongings and attend to paperwork, probate and all that fun stuff.Report
Normally, when I’m out here, I work every friggin’ day and, usually, I work somewhere between 10s and 12s and, if I’m very lucky, 14s.. Sunday, my “day off”, is usually only a 4-6 hour day at the office and so that’s the day I can handwash and hang up my more intimate clothing in the tub and I spend the rest of the day catching up on paperwork and then futzing around on the ‘tubes.
But, this time, my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss decided to come out here with us. He comes out here once a year, after all, any why not come out at the same time as the team?
This man is wreaking havoc with the schedule.
But he’s also told us that he told my boss’s boss’s boss and my boss’s boss that he doesn’t want us working on Sunday. Like, at all.
So… I guess… I’m doing laundry and catching up on paperwork on Sunday?
At least I get to go into work tonight and do a bunch of work.
My eventual goal is to make it so that the next team who comes out here doesn’t require someone with my level of expertise to accomplish everything on the tasklist. I can just throw together some scripts, get some patches on some CDs, and put together an excel worksheet and tell the person “do backups on days one and two, do patches on days three and four, do regression tests on day five, do backups on days six and seven, and day eight is a day built into the schedule to allow for unforeseen events, mistakes, and catastrophes. Oh, and these are eight hour days. Not 14s.”
I think I might be getting close to that.
Which means that, next time, I might not be the best guy for the job.
Fingers are crossed.
(loved this post, by the way.)Report
My girlfriend is away so I think I will take it easy and despair about the state of my career.Report
Starting a two or three week adventure of sorts. My weekend home was Tues through yesterday noonish so back on the road, but this time I have my little girl as a passenger. (Well, if 12-yrs old and just topping 5-ft counts as “little”.) It’s something her — and her Mom, heh — have been looking forward to for years. Our company rules say kid passengers have to be at least 12 and on a school break, so here we are. Hoping for some interesting sights for her while we get to know each other better. Sorta sad I have to say that I suppose, but the reality is we don’t really get a lot of time together, just the two of us.Report
I started reading this thinking the byline was Schilling, and two paragraphs in I was thinking, “Wow. We are seeing a *completely* different side of Mike Schilling right now.”Report
We moved into our apartment in downtown LA yesterday.
To paraphrase, moving is God’s way of telling you that you have too many books.
But it is as wonderful and strange as I had hoped. Its like living in an episode of Seinfeld/ Friends/ I Love Lucy, the best known examples of urban living this suburban boy has ever known. A farmer’s market is going on right outside our front door, and there is an art gallery/ bookstore next door.Report
…moving is God’s way of telling you that you have too many books.
I’ll have to show this to Mrs. Cain, who sometimes denigrates my ongoing effort to replace several hundred books with .epubs and .pdfs, in anticipation that we’ll be downsizing our housing one of these days.Report
“…moving is God’s way of telling you that you have too many books.”
No, that is god’s way of saying get movers!
Too many books? Pshaw!Report
A bit late to this one, but this past weekend was a much-needed vacation. My wife and I spent the weekend in a one-room cabin on a lake. It was an all-inclusive package with great food from the on-site restaurant. There was no wi-fi nor cell reception, so we were cut off from contact with the outside world. There was a lot of lounging around and not doing anything, and it was wonderful.Report