Crazy Busy at Work

 I've let it go almost another two months since I last updated.  Part of that is because there isn't much to report.  And part of that is because I've been super busy.  Yes, at the same time.

Day to day, or course, there isn't too much new to talk about.  I'm staying home and working from home like so much else of the world right now.

But work has been very buys.  November 30th was fiscal year end at the company where I work, and we had a lot of work to do to get everything ready for that deadline.  Fortunately, they did hire a few people back, and it was nice to have the help we wouldn't have made it otherwise.  But it still required lots of work on my part.  Having said that, I didn't put in nearly as much work as others on my team did.

We made it!  Now to rest for a bit before the next round of crazy busy at work happens.  Because I don't think it is going to truly slow down any time soon.

September was About Family

 I've once again let it be two months between updates.  (I'll have more on why that is soon...ish.)

September, I got to see family!  It was so wonderful.

My sister-in-law and niece and nephew kicked off the month.  They spent a couple weeks a little south of me, but they stopped by for dinner on the way down.  We visited, ate, and then played a game.  The best part?  I won!

My parents were next.  We met up for a weekend of camping a couple hours from here.  I really enjoyed getting out of the condo for a couple of days.  And yes, it was wonderful to get to see them.

Finally, when the time came for my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew to head home, I got to see them again.  My brother had joined them, and they all stopped by for lunch one day.  It wasn't nearly long enough, but I'm so glad I got to see them.

Update

It's been HOW long since I posted here?  Wow!  This is going to be my worst year yet at keeping up to date.

Of course, part of that is because there isn't much to actually report.  Like most of the world in 2020, I've been hanging out at home mostly.  Back in March, I started working from home.  I've been at my kitchen table for work ever since.  This is the first time I've been working from home, and I have found I like it.  Even though I had a small commute to begin with, (at least by LA standards), I definitely enjoy not having to drive too and from work each day.  It can be frustrating getting help from co-workers in a timely manner at times, and files don't load quite as quickly, but those are the only real frustrations.

And I'm still working.  I have to keep reminding myself of that fact.  I'm working for a company that has really been impacted by the shut downs, and there have been massive layoffs.  Everyone but me in my sub-department of accounting was laid off at the end of June.  I was shocked about that since I have been here the least amount of time.  But I'm the one they chose to keep.  I have a feeling it has to do with what I handled.

Part of me is honored by that, but part of me isn't sure I want the honor.  With so few people around, it is hard to make sure everything gets done.  And they aren't cutting us any slack and still expecting us to produce the same quality work they did before.  I get it, accounting and numbers are important, but on the other hand, it's just so much work to do.

I'll try to get back to updating a bit more often.  Not that there is much going on on a day to day basis, but I will try to find something.

Left Coast Crime 2020

I find it funny that my last post here was about being strangely productive.  Then I proceeded to not post anything for almost two months.  Actually, it is because I have been so busy I haven't had time to come back and post, but that's a post for another day.

Right now, I'm going to talk about Left Coast Crime 2020.

With the Corona virus beginning to break out in the states, I was surprised that it wasn't cancelled early.  But it was still scheduled as of March 11th, so I headed down.  It took place in San Diego, and I was looking forward to spending some time with fellow mystery lovers.

However, March 12th was a strange day.  For one thing, it was rainy and cold.  The first real rain we'd had since December.  Then, the major bookseller decided the risk to their employees was too great, so at the last possible moment (the books were on the tables to be sold), they backed out of selling books.  Panels were constantly changing since people were cancelling left and right.

But I still managed to have some fun.  I got books signed by most of the authors I brought from home.  I was able to talk to a few friends while maintaining a distance from there.  Still, the entire thing felt surreal somehow.

And I had a panel to moderate.  When I registered, I'd volunteered to moderate a panel if they needed me, and they put me on one for culinary cozies.  Right up my ally, right?  One of the authors cancelled week of, but I had three of the original four panels, and no new panelists.  I consider myself very lucky.

The panel went well.  The authors were engaging and interacted well with each other.  I had way way more questions than I needed for a 45 minute panel, but that was okay.  I'd rather that than the other way around.  The audience was engaged.  I was happy with how it went, and plenty of people said they thought it went well, which made me happy, too.

It was right after the panel that the word came down that San Diego County was banning all gatherings of a large size, so we were shut down effective that evening.  Fortunately, the hotel was willing to not charge me for the rest of my reservation, so I packed up and headed home, going into work the next day.  I stopped in Oceanside for dinner at the Pit Stop Diner, which was fun.

I'm glad I went.  Yes, part of me is disappointed things turned out as they did, but with everything going on in the world, I certainly understand it.

Strangely Productive

I was strangely productive for me this last week.  You have to understand, when I get home from work, the computer, TV, and book are calling to me.  And I have plans that involve doing twice as much on any of them as I can actually get done.  So things tend to not get done that I should be doing when I am home.  Like cleaning.  Or picking up after myself.  And running twice a week after work doesn’t help since that seems to take quite a bit of my evening.

Which is one reason my Christmas decorations didn’t get put away until last week.  On Super Bowl Sunday, I got serious about taking ornaments off my tree.  I had some off, but I took more off.  Monday, I got the rest of the ornaments off and the lights off one tree.  Wednesday, the lights were off and the trees were boxed up.  Thursday, everything related to Christmas was put away and the living room was put back in order.

Then, this weekend, I did my taxes.  I usually have one or two weekends where I intend to do them before I actually do, but this weekend, I sat down and got them done.  I even got stuff done for my blog on Saturday, which meant I could spend a lazy weekend reading.

The result?  I came into work this week feeling like I’d had a relaxing and productive weekend.

I wish I thought this would last, but I figured I should celebrate it while I could.

Master’s University Winter 5K

I did the winter 5K race at my alma mater, The Master’s University, again this month.  It was supposed to be a cold day, but with the sun out, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  The wind, on the other hand did help.  My boss did it with me, and I was glad I was more bundled up than he was.

He stuck with me the entire time.  I was feeling comfortable running, which is a huge improvement over last year, when I felt like I should stop and walk a time or two.  I didn’t last year, and I didn’t this year.

Unfortunately, I was a little slower this year.  4 whole seconds.  I still finished in just under 33 minutes at 32:50, so I am running about an 11 minute mile these days, I guess.  At one time, I was able to run under a 10 minute mile, but I was also logging major miles while training for a Tough Mudder and half marathon.  Those days are obvious behind me.

As always, the course is nice.  And being back on campus is a trip.  They’ve changed so much, and I knew the campus so well since I worked there for so many years.  It looks good, the changes are definitely for the best.  It’s just always fun to see what has changed.

And, I got to run into some friends as well.  That’s always a fun bonus of running this race as opposed to running a race where I know no one.

Two Years Post Surgery

It was two years ago this week that I had my surgery for my colon cancer.  I had another follow up colonoscopy at the beginning of the month, and everything is still looking good.  Also met with my oncologist this month, and he thinks I look healthy as well.  (Well, I need to lose some weight, but that’s a different issue.)

Unfortunately, they did a biopsy to confirm a blood test from two years ago, and it came back positive for Crohn’s disease.  Now I’ll have to meet with a doctor to find out more about that and treatment options.  It explains much about my healthy over my entire life, actually, so I’m not surprised.  I’m just worried because their only solution appears to be medication that has potentially fatal side effects.  I’m thinking I’m better off leaving it as it is, but we’ll see what they say.  Haven’t made the appointment yet.  I’ve been putting it off and buried at work.

December Round Up

Yikes!  It’s been how long since I posted here?  I need to get something posted.  Hang on, we’re going to tackle December in one post.

I started out the month winning big at some mystery events.  First was getting a trivia question right at the Sisters in Crime/Mystery Writers of American holiday lunch.  I got lucky because the question they asked me was fairly easy.  Almost tripped me up until they repeated it.  But some of the questions they asked I had no clue about.  Then, a few nights later, I went to a mystery trivia night at the Culver City library.  The woman who is always on the winning team wasn’t there, and my team won.  It was a team effort, too.  I didn’t know many of the answers, but fortunately, my teammates did.

Unfortunately, I did spend some of the month sick.  The cough I had over Thanksgiving just would not go away.  I even ran a fever a couple of days, taking one sick day along the way.  But I finally got over it just in time for Christmas.

And yes, I went home for Christmas.  I actually took the two days after Christmas off, so I had a good long visit.  I was able to leave early enough on Christmas Eve to make the Christmas Eve service.  Christmas Day morning was spent at my brother’s new house (it’s still nice), then we went to Mom and Dad’s for the rest of the day.  We walked at Spring Lake a couple of times and played some games.  It was a very nice visit.

New Year’s Eve was a quiet evening/day.  I worked, although I got off early.  Went home, went for a run, caught a movie, and was home to ring in the new decade.

And that covers the highlights and lowlights of December.