I slept pretty miserably Sunday night. I don’t know why. Sometimes when I’m achy from a hard swim, I have trouble sleeping, but I wasn’t feeling it enough for that to be the issue.
So I just got up, much too early, and put the last bit of work into my fantasy football spreadsheet. The thing is pretty cool. This sheet is my annual reminder to myself that for as much as I know about Excel and its ilk, there’s a lot of power beneath the hood most of us never tap into. So each year I tweak the sheet with some modification I don’t know how to execute. This year, it was programmable buttons to execute multiple functions. I didn’t do anything especially tricky — mostly just “look in that cell and place the info in that other cell when I click this button,” or “add five to that number whenever I click this button, but add one to the same number when I click this other button.”
These are the sorta Mickey Mouse functions. I’m eager to try the more advanced ones in another year’s time.
I finished early enough to get a short nap before the draft. We started at two via Zoom. Darren, who owns a design/build company, has a company account, allowing us (me, Marc, Don, Reid, Gregg, Darren) to have our draft. Kendrick, Sean, Marshall, and Byron couldn’t join us.
It took about three hours. And it was pretty fun. My high-school classmates are the only people I feel completely at ease with, totally okay being just myself. It’s a big deal. And I like it when there are enough of us that I don’t have to carry any conversations.
Not that anyone has to worry about carrying a conversation when Reid’s in the room.
Watched the news, did some writing, took a turn with the Beast, getting rid of a whole mess of VHS cassettes left over from when I taught speech. Student videos they used to keep in my classroom (because you weren’t allowed to present on your scheduled day if you didn’t have your tape, and missing a scheduled day was a 10% score reduction) and never picked up when the course was over. Yeah, I still have them twenty-three and twenty-two years later. Some of these tapes are of seniors in the very first speech class I taught. Fall 1997.
I actually kept several. Most had molded or mildewed. Magnetic tape in humid environments is such a fragile thing. But some looked to be in good shape, so they’re suriving the first purge. Some who belong to students I’m still in touch with or whose parents I’m still in touch with.
I don’t think I’m going to get to the Beast Tuesday evening, but when I get to it next (Wednesday?), I think I’m finally going to have a certain section of my house completely cleared. I started there because it’s where I can store the stuff that survives the first purge. I hate the way things get a lot messier before they get neater, when you do a big cleanup like this. Getting this small corner of my house clear is a huge step, and it will decrease some of my stress. Because right now, if I want to get a can of corn out of the closet in my laundry room, I have to move a few plastic tubs into my hallway, get the corn, and move the tubs back so I can get down my hall to the kitchen. Idiocy.
I’ve reduced the number of cooking implements I own by a great number, but there are a few things I need to keep, even if I don’t use them that often. They are in a large green tub I move into and out of my bathroom. More idiocy.
The trash bin went to the curb filled to the top. Very satisfying.
Breakfast was leftovers of the beef broccoli cake noodle. I didn’t even heat it up; just ate it cold out of the plastic container. For lunch right before the draft, I made burrito filling and had a few burritos. This filling’s a bit blander than the last for some reason. Might chop up some peppers and mix them in later.
Oh, I went to the supermarket half an hour before it closed, even though I didn’t need much. The Diet Pepsi supply was low. I wanted backups on dish soap and paper plates, in case of a hurricane. I also really wanted a decent steak.
I mention this because I hit the McD’s drive-through on the way home and picked up dinner. Chicken McNuggets. Just nuggets this time, no fries. Got home and watched an episode of Halt and Catch Fire before turning in around 1:00.
Sylvia and I traded some texts about our weekends. That was nice. Crush Girl texted to ask how my knee was. That was super nice. We talked a little about baking, and how we’re both staying away from Costco.
I run a fantasy football league in our office. Fourteen participants this year, half of them women. It’s very exciting, as team-building is a huge part of my thing at the foundation. We’re drafting Wednesday night, and I’ll be happy to get it over so we can enjoy the season. Draft season is a little hectic.
Ready for a new week. I can feel the productivity building up inside me.
Don’t forget that every day you’re not contributing to the health crisis, you are doing something positive, even if you’re consuming pie and chips at the same time. Cut yourself some slack. Get fresh air and sunshine. Stay connected to people. Connect with me if you could use more connection, ’cause I’m here for it.