I am not sure who said it first: “All good things must come to an end…”, but it is a truism. Alas, the holiday shutdown and followup vacation days are now over.
Today I go back to the office for the first time in 11 days. In the interim was Christmas, some time with family, reading a few books, finishing the latest edition of The Baffler (if you are a natural born cynic, who bleeds sarcasm, I highly recommend it, although it can be a tough read at times), and beginning to plot the creation of a custom designed weather monitoring station.
Highlights:
- Way too much eating. Really outdid myself this year. The new year must bring restraint and some self control.
- Quality time with the family. I hosted a brunch for all the locals, and it was a good time.
- Tate is now 30 days seizure free. The fear of a pending seizure during the holidays, possibly necessitating a drastic decision didn’t happen.
- Speaking of Tate, just about EVERY morning we went for a 2.5 – 3.6 mile walk. Phew, at least I got some exercise.
- I splurged on an Arduino “kit” to teach myself the essentials I will need to build a better weather station than our dying Oregon Scientific unit. It was refreshing to remember some of my crusty old C programming skills.
- Set up my blood pressure monitoring for 2016, moving to Excel from Google Docs. That deserves a blob post, but let’s say that the 4 years I used google docs has been a love/hate relationship. It works, but even for trivial things like this long term tracking, it leaves one wanting.
Lowlights:
- I have been weaning myself on sleep aids (melatonin, and benadryl) so my sleep patterns have been screwy. A good thing, but it is not a good transition. However, I have no trouble falling asleep (the reason why I started the Benadryl in the first place), but as a light sleeper, I struggle to make it through the night. Sigh.
- It was a damn cold snap through the last 11 days. I got out for one bike ride, on a day where it was barely 50F, and the wind was brutal. No bueno. Alas, I do not have good cold weather gear, and no money for proper gear. Last Christmas, it was flirting with 70F. I guess I shouldn’t complain, this will help the snowpack, and the drought.
- It is over. Boo.
Of course, expect this 2 day workweek to be catching up on email, filing away the 2015 final flourishes, and then getting ready for a raucous 2016.
Tomorrow, I will summarize my year in posts, and try not to over commit to change for the new year. (one change I need to make: I need to sign the waiver, so I can use the gym at work.)
