It’s Thursday again, which means my boss has been on vacation for 7 days now.  And I only have to make it through four more, as he’ll be back in to work on Monday.

It’s been Fun…

Very busy.  This is really probably a three-person job, but we normally have two people to cover it, and this last week there’s only been me.  So there’s been lots of running around trying to get everything done.

I’ve been keeping up with the day-to-day stuff OK.  Getting the routine stuff done.  Getting random broken things up and running again.  Things like that…

But there’s also a long list of projects I’m supposed to be working on, and I’ve had very little time for those.  I’m supposed to be getting a new laptop rolled out for someone…  And a new workstation up to one of our healthcenters…  And I’m supposed to be looking at various barcode scanners…  And we’re still having some minor issues with one of our interfaces…  And I’m just not making any progress on those things.

It’s frustrating.  I don’t like not being able to make progress.  I don’t like just barely keeping up with the work coming in.  I like to feel like I’m accomplishing something.

Anyway…  Just four more days until my boss is back and this workload lightens a bit.

But then my folks will be up for a visit.  They’ll be here next Thursday – just 7 days from now.

In the mean time, we’ve got to get ready for their visit.  Lots of cleaning to do.

A few months back I posted my thoughts on how stereotypes affect me as a man.

It was not terribly well-received.

Greta Christina has done some research and come up with a much more eloquent version of basically what I said.

Well, that wasn’t so bad…

Wound up going home at about noon.  Tons of people were out for the day, some of the work I had to do couldn’t actually be done because people weren’t there, and my supervisor wasn’t any happier to be there than I was.  I still have about 4 extra hours from a late night last week.  So, I went home early.

Spent the afternoon playing video games, instead of working.

Did not have a restful weekend.

Did not sleep well Friday night…  Did not get to sleep in late Sunday morning…  And the heat made simply breathing exhausting…  I slept fine last night, but that wasn’t enough to make up for all of last week, plus the weekend.

And now I suspect that I’m a fool for showing up to work today.

The drive down was absolutely silent.  Didn’t see another car on the road.  Obviously lots of people had the day off.

The hospital’s parking lot is similarly deserted.  Hardly anyone here.

I was told, last week, that it was not an official holiday.  That I would not get holiday pay.  But my supervisor offered to let me take the day off and use some personal or vacation time on it.  I turned him down, because I don’t have much time accrued yet…

I think that was a stupid decision.

I discovered over the weekend that I can no longer drink red wine.

It now triggers a migraine the likes of which I’ve seldom experienced.

We picked up a bottle of red wine on Friday.  I had a single glass Friday night.  And I spent all day Saturday in mind-melting agony.

Tremendous pain.  Waves of dizziness and nausea.  My right eye wouldn’t focus properly.  And the painkillers I was taking barely touched it.  I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.

Woke up Sunday morning feeling like I’d spent all day Saturday hauling heavy equipment around with my head.  Sore, achy, stiff.  My neck barely worked.  I guess there must have been some kind of muscle tension going along with the migraine…  But I never noticed it.

Today, I still hurt.  My neck is still stiff and I’ve got a headache again.  I don’t know if it has anything to do with the red wine at this point…  Or if I slept on it wrong…  Or what…  But I’m getting tired of my head hurting.  I’ve already popped a couple ibuprofen today, and I can still feel the pressure inside my head.  Makes me want to drill a hole and let the demons out.

I suspect that would not end well…

Monday is Memorial Day, which means I get a three-day weekend.

I’m looking forward to it, but not in the same way I used to look forward to time off.

Used to be I was desperate for any break from work.  Couldn’t wait to get out of the office.  Never wanted to go back in.  Didn’t want to spend any more time at work than absolutely necessary.

Now I’m looking forward to another day of rest.  I’m working more, and harder, and longer hours…  So I’m more tired than I used to be at the end of the day.  So I am certainly looking forward to a day off.

But I’m not desperate to get out of the office.  I’m not dreading coming in here every day.

Weird night last night.  Couldn’t stay asleep.  Woke up around 3:00, then again at 4:00, then again at 5:00…  I was relieved when 6:00 finally rolled around just so I could finally get up and stop trying to sleep.

I’m not sure what was up with that…  I normally sleep through the night with no trouble at all.

Today is off to a rough start…

Fell asleep far earlier than I intended to last night.  Dozed off while watching a movie with Terri.  I don’t think I even made it half-way through the movie.

Woke up this morning feeling like I hadn’t slept at all.  Not sure what’s up with that…  Seems like I should feel more rested, not less.  Had a hell of a time getting out of bed.  Just wanted to go back to sleep.

Was off-kilter while getting ready this morning.  Kept forgetting stuff.  Took me about twice as long to get ready as it should have.

The drive down to work seemed to be more complicated than normal as well.  Maybe it was just because I was sleepy…  But folks seemed to all be traveling either too fast or too slow.  And the sun was in exactly the wrong place…  And the radio was either too loud or too quiet…

Got down to work, stepped out of my car, and a black cat strolled past me.

It is snowing again.

May 9th…  And it is snowing…  This is not right.

Last week we had snow.  Enough snow that the plows were out and my drive in to work was more interesting than it should have been.

Over the weekend it was hot and humid.

And now they’re saying it is supposed to get chilly again.