Say No to DSL

Daylight Savings Times that is. I don’t see us saving any daylight this way. Quite the contrary. As we were heading over to Ashley’s for SNF dinner on Sunday night at 5pm I was pondering the fact that I would probably still be at work at this time and yet it was basically pitch black. Not good considering that we still have over a month left to go of diminishing daylight. I’m beginning to think people weren’t kidding when they said it will be dark out by 3:30pm. Hmmph. I am seriously considering a “happy lamp” as they call them here and Vitamin D pills that they also recommend here. I’m just now keeping in check my spending after the VS obscene order with Ashley, a scooter cover, looking to get plastic sealant to try and bandage my scooter, scooter registration, an apron (?), my fancy shampoo that I love, and now looking at another Groupon buy for the Seven For All Mankind jeans on sale. Adios mios. Am I aware that the holidays are coming up? Apparently not. The weekend was L.A.Z.Y. Like whoa. I did not have much energy for whatever reason and even though it was delightfully sunny out I favored reading books in my bowl chair in the sunlight with a cup of coffee. It was deceivingly chilly out anyways. I’m over football and ready to move on to basketball. I finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy finally and now am reading Water for Elephants which I think I might finish in record time, because I like it that much! So good. I did manage to get my scooter registered, get groceries, do laundry, clean the bathrooms, and make some super tasty banana peanut butter chocolate chip muffins that have been perfect for breakfasts this week. They are yummy and the first thing I have baked in forever!!!!!!

SNF reminded me of Grandma’s house, yup, confirms why I like these weekly dinners so much. We had pot roast with baked potato bar and a rum cake for dessert. It was everything I could have asked for. Though no one else followed my lead of the ketchup with the roast (guess I learned that one from Grandpa and no one else does that, oh well), and I would have done the small potatoes in the roast or mashed potatoes, and when I think of rum cake I think about Jessie Cory’s mom’s chocolate cherry with chocolate chip rum cake that she would make and I still to this day think about, and I thought to myself how moist the roast was and then quietly laughed to myself hearing Mom’s voice in my head, “He (Dad) always comments that it’s a little dry”. But I was full and happy…and ready for bed by 9. I like work again. It goes in cycles. We had a coordination meeting to recap what has been done, what needs to be done, what changes to expect that would affect design, and everyone’s vacation schedules. Phew, it’s okay I can go home for Christmas. Hadn’t exactly got that approved yet. But the next several weeks should be pretty busy here at JA. So my philosophy for the winter is to keep busy and scheduled after work to prevent the inevitable “crash on the couch at 6pm wondering how it is not possibly 11pm yet” syndrom. Good on some days but I don’t want to waste away my evenings on the couch everynight. This week is looking good with an appointment on Monday after work, a SEAW happy hour at the Diller Room around the corner Tuesday, a documentary movie with B and late night sushi happy hour with the girls on Wednesday, and an ATC – Earthquake Damage Safety Assessment Training at the Convention Center for 4 hours AFTER a full day of work on Thursday. Apparently it is a part of my “duty” as a structural engineer in the Pacific Northwest…and I will serve my country even if that means that I will be working 24-hour days for a week post-earthquake.

Well at least I am not going to be a lazy couch potato this week. Chelsea