Today is the last day of my Thirties.
The end of a decade is probably as good of a time as any to reflect on the past. It seems like many people I know who are in the same boat have been doing the same - usually in public on Facebook or Twitter - And after reading some of what they've been saying, I think I'm doing pretty well now... though it certainly wasn't always that way, and it's been a long journey.
Most of the last decade was pretty tough, but that was mostly of my own doing. I mean, it was pretty bad there for a few years. I actually managed to rub quite a few people the wrong way, and I certainly wasn't in a good place emotionally or physically. After struggling for most of my adult life with drugs and alcohol, I finally was able to move past it all (I had a lot of help and support from the woman who ultimately became my wife... I don't think I could have done it without her). Since that time, life has gotten to be exponentially better. A lot has happened over the past few years... My career, my relationship with my wife and kids, and life in general has been better than ever. Because of all of this, instead of longing for the past, I actually find myself looking forward to the future.
What happened today? For the record... let's see:
5:15AM - Woke up and went to the living room. Promptly made some tea (Iron Goddess Oolong)
5:30AM - Working remotely from the couch. Mostly on Deer Park stuff (after just getting back a couple days earlier).
7:00AM - Make tea for Danielle (a mix of French Breakfast and Mint). Get the kids up - Went into Kiya's room and played my bass loudly, but she was already awake. Made Dean a bowl of Cap'm'Crunch and put PBS on for him.
7:40AM - Get the kids out the door, into the car, and drop them off at school. I walked Dean to class while Kiya walked to her bus.
8:00AM - Went back home while Danielle finished getting ready to go to the DMV. Worked some more from the couch (helped a user in Deer Park with a printing issue, then installed Adobe Acrobat for him).
9:00AM - Jump on a conference call with Nikki from Scotland and the guys from Madison, while driving Danielle to the DMV.
9:20AM - Finished the conference call just in time to walk Danielle into the DMV and support her during her appointment...
10:00AM - Danielle passed her Permit test! Took her home and left for the office. Listened to KPFA on the way... Brian Edwards Teakhart (sp?) was talking with the former head of the NRC about the nuclear industry and Fukushima.
10:30AM - Got to work. It was a busy, busy day - There was literally a line outside of my cubicle at one point... Casey kept using his age old expression, "Heyyyy Robin... not to pile on, but..". I helped John a lot with ripping cabling out of the old Telecom room (In between everything else)
12:00PM - Lunch at the food truck. John actually joined me today and that never happened.
5:00PM - I was still working and didn't realize that it was already 5PM.
5:40PM - Picked Dean up and went home. Got Danielle and Kiya and went to Rocket Dog for dinner.
