Guess what I got for Sysadmin Appreciation Day? 4 or 5 calls from work after I'd gone home about how to reset a printer.

Neck hurts.

Made a peach cobbler topped with cinnamon-ginger pinwheel biscuits.

Falling asleep without the TV on = frequent nightmares. Going to turn the TV on.

After an excruciatingly long morning at work, decided I deserved a present & took myself to Holyoke for a hot dog combo with spicy relish. Nice day for a drive.

Returning to treadmill now.

Horribly draining work experience continues.

Last night, after more of that, came home to sultry house & made a pasta salad while L. engaged in some mild inter-generational drama on the phone.

Went out to see some music at People's Pint after supper & a couple episodes of Freaks & Geeks, band I didn't realize I also saw up in Gill last year, very fast, with sheet music.

Driving home, a couple young dudes flagged me down, needed a ride to up by the high school, gave them one. NPR was on in the car, piano music. 'That Bach or Beethoven?" said one. "Certainly not Beethoven," said I. Some more desultory conversation ensued.

Glad I gave those kids a ride, would've been a long walk.

Walking the dogs this morning past where I picked them up, I told L. about it. She tells me I shouldn't be picking up strangers, might get my head bashed in, etc. Eh.

Today, swam in a chlorinated pool for the first time in I don't remember how long, pretty pleasant, did some flips. Little frogs hanging out in the corners.

Before I did that, after a little work, got some blueberry pie from the fine folks at Bashista. And apricots.

Surprised by fireworks over the river, quite a treat.

Slowly recovering from hellish workweek with snacks & beverages. May hang out with Henry & family in a bit. L.'s off swimming with Karen.

Sometimes my head fills up with the most terrible images, going to watch some old Dr. Who to try & drive them out.

Pickles loves looking out the window.

So, beginning & ending my day with calls from work really fucking sucks.

Sound of rain is pleasant though, & I was just brought a cherry vanilla milkshake.

Pretty darn beat.

Got first corn from farm share today, nom nom nom & c.

Called my mom to thank her for shirts, cell kept dropping the call, finally gave up & took the dogs for a walk in the rain. Strangely, in the middle of the walk, Pickles spent some time paying attention to L. rather than his exciting surroundings.

Could use a vacation.

It's pouring, would like to go out to lunch.

Feeling vaguely blue about the deaths of various animals I have known, refreshing myself on Python syntax.

Watched Capricorn One to celebrate.

Headache continues along with my slow & haphazard tracing & retracing of the theme of cynicism in postwar American culture. Ho, ho, ho.

Theme, motif, compare, contrast.

Have an extremely severe headache, looking forward to being home & prone.

Otherwise, not much to report.

First day of two weeks as lone tech staff, going pretty much as per usual so far. Dull, dull, dull.

Yesterday, L. & I spent some time sewing up holes the dogs had made in my comforter, refreshing to wake not covered in feathers, thanks, hon.

Wishing we were at the seaside.

Peter left early, I slept late.

Last night, the first of what I fully expect to be many late night calls from work. Ugh.



Just sayin'.

Been a challenging weekend for going to shows, tonight, the band I wanted to see cancelled.

Been lovely hanging out with Peter, hope he stops hurting soon.

Rain finally came, cool & pleasant.

While L. dished out festival hot dogs with her pals, Peter & I did quick trip to Vermont for quality pizza, also tried to go to show at Bookmill, but it was mostly over before I thought it'd start, odd.

Just watched Bad Day at Black Rock, how much havoc can one man wreak?

Work dragged on a little longer than I'd have liked, stupid vendors.

Another humid day, blech.

Peter's here with scars & war stories.

Drifting through the tail end of a seemingly endless workday. Drowsiness & mundane administrative tasks are never a pleasant mix.

May actually go out to see music later, we are youthful & energetic.

This morning, while drinking coffee, thought about widespread lack of subtlety & felt a little sick.

Would like some new equipment to fool around with, anybody have some?

Spent much of the morning sorting through & approving software updates, hurrah!

Last night, had trouble figuring out what to make for dinner, finally settled on a vegetable soup with grilled sandwiches. Kind of got me on a roll, I guess, as I later made a small blueberry crisp.

Would like to be outside in the sunshine.

There was a show I wanted to go to tonight, had decided I didn't have the energy, then Neil called & offered a ride, so go I did.

Good stuff, quite a contrast to the godawful mess last time I was at that place. Had fun watching the mirror ball spin.

The wife just called to notify me I've got a doppelgänger cruising Greenfield in a painstakingly constructed replica of my car. Figures.

Work after a few days off = usual pile of detritus, feel dirty.

Peretz wishes every night were pizza night & I can't say I blame him.

Muscles hurt, could use more weekend.

Heard from Peter, sounds like he's doing more or less OK with one less kidney, will probably come down next weekend.

Just back from Evelyn & Lea's wedding, pretty fun, smoky meats a plus. Glad we brought bismarcks & bourbon, enjoy making modest contributions to transgression & excess.

Itchy & sore, feels good to be prone in pajamas. A few moments ago, after thunder crashes, another brief, violent downpour.

Back from the beach, good to have been bobbing in waves again. Also played about $5 worth of skee ball, exchanged tickets for two extremely shoddy toy construction vehicles. A little sunburned, muscles ache pleasantly.

Peretz could probably use a walk.

Deep purple morning glories climbing the front porch. Pickles is looking out the window, cleaning his paws.

Bit of a headache. Swimming & skee ball tomorrow.

Taking the day off. Slept like a dead man for about ten hours. Woke to coffee on my night table. Thanks, hon,

Yesterday, drove home from work through more torrential rain, near zero visibility through Deerfield, yikes.

Had our pal Karen over for cocktails & dessert, L. made Bitter Mcs, I made bread pudding with leftover cardamom bread.

Should shower, get an oil change.

Picked up farm share on the way home, once home, started making variation on saag paneer using collards & kale instead of spinach. Got call in the middle of that informing me that critical piece of equipment at work wouldn't turn on. Called my boss to tell him I was going to go deal with that, he being, in this instance anyway, less of a trusting soul than I, said he would call them back to make sure they weren't mistaken. One of these days I will realize that when people say they've checked everything, everything never includes electrical outlets or power strips. Was pretty sure I had already realized that, could be I'm tired.

Another strong thunderstorm came by in time for dinner, almost like being at home.

Day went from bad to worse with arrival of third party support & consequent additional power cut. Finally got home around 8, pretty wired, made some kielbasa & onions, snap peas & carrots sauteed in butter & a nice green salad. Farm share makes everything better.

Most of my muscles hurt, not sure why. Have been trying to drink a lot of water.

Been a horrible grind of a day, fallout from Friday's outage, mostly. Could use a nap.

Last night, fireworks. Love small town fireworks.

Astonishingly lovely day. Took a quick trip north to evade excessive vice taxes, side trip to Brattleboro for Indian groceries & Lebanese wraps.

L.'s still working on her zine, it's coming together, I think.

Oh, boy.

We were going to go to the beach today, but decided the weather forecast for the coast was a bit too gray & dire, so I mostly did nothing & L. worked on her zine. Did go out briefly to Polish roadside stand, bakery, watched the swollen river & canal.

Around 7, work called, reporting problems with the power, went down there, turned out fuses on pole had exploded, dealt with consequences of that for a while, then went to a nearby house show, sat around chatting & feeling agitated, got a follow up call on problems at work, etc., etc.

Once I stopped feeling agitated, I felt tired & like I hadn't had any dinner. Drizzly drive home was a drag.

What's the difference between an open field and an empty one? Not a damn thing.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Made a stew. Rain continues.