30 Years After the Fair
Yes, yes, I’m old. Har. I turned 30 on Saturday, with mercifully minimal fanfare although I did get a chance to talk to my brother and a few friends who called with warm (and welcome) birthday wishes. I spent nearly the entire day playing XBox which was as much of a celebration as I wanted so even if from the outside it looked like I didn’t do anything, I spent the day more or less exactly as I wanted. And, you know, clearly turning 30 has not sparked any sort of spontaneous maturation so I dodged that bullet.
The real downside of Saturday was the passing of Gin‘s father after a long struggle with heart problems. He had been undergoing some treatments to try and get him healthy enough to get on the heart transplant list but sadly his health was just too poor to get to that point and he passed away sometime in the wee hours of the morning surrounded by his family.
Now I didn’t know Dan all that well, although I met and spoke with him on a number of occasions. He came to our wedding and as he danced with Nikki during the obligatory “money dance” she thanked him for coming. His only reply was, in his typical deadpan simplicity, “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” But I do know that he was a genuine war hero, having served in Vietnam and been awarded the Purple Heart, which is now displayed with honor in Gin’s home. I know that Gin was very close to her dad and she is suffering a great deal right now. I also know that Dan will be missed, for all the world.
If you’re of the disposition to pray, I know Gin and her family could use some prayers for strength and peace. If not, perhaps take a moment to reflect on your own family and how precious they are. Take the time to call them and say, “I love you,” without self-consciousness or ambiguity. Let ’em know for sure. Give them a hug if you can. Make a point to appreciate the everyday heroes all around us who sacrifice on our behalf. We all owe them that much, at the very least.
Sleepless in Silicon Valley
I started my regular shifts at work this week. I, of course, use the term “regular” extremely loosely. I start at midnight and get off work at ten o’clock in the morning so there is pretty much nothing regular about it. One odd thing I didn’t really think about before starting this schedule is that when I used to work from home (way back in the very beginning of ironSoap, remember that? Anyone? No? Okay, then) and I’d work through the night, I would technically be working a similar schedule to what I have now except that even then I would go to bed early in the morning, usually between six and eight. That meant I was up sometime in the early to mid afternoon which isn’t all that different from just sleeping in really late. But now I don’t even get home until almost noon and Nik and I have sort of agreed that in order to spend at least some time together every day I get up around the time she gets home from work.
But that’s like six o’clock in the evening so it’s this truly bizarre state where I go to sleep when it’s all light outside and when I get up it’s dark.
I was given a couple of extra days off last week to try and get my sleep schedule adjusted but I had the hardest time making that happen so instead I’ve been kind of zombie-like all week. Mercifully today is my Friday so I should be able to catch up a bit and continue to adjust and hopefully by next week I’ll start to settle into a groove.
Other Bits
I realize this post is kind of all over the map, but I haven’t done much updating lately so I’m just kind of brain dumping. Sorry.
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