Evelyn Day 48

Good morning. It is 3 May 2023, a Wednesday.

I’ll return to my virtual on-site (off-site?) in a few hours. In the meantime, there is coffee to be made and bagels to be toasted.

Yesterday was a good day. It was the first day of our team training event, and there were a couple of pleasant surprises that turned up in conversation. One fellow trainer thanked me for the discussions I’ve had with folks recently about neurodivergence. She was grateful to find out she wasn’t alone and that she can now have a support network of other trainers. Another trainer was quite complimentary about my “presence”, and said some nice things about my delivery style and the way I use my voice as a tool.

I do miss gathering with teammates and talking things through. This experience is ok for now, but in the future, I hope we can get together in the same room. Team-building exercises can be a bit more impactful when folks are in the same location, plus there are added opportunities for connection when meals and activities are involved.

One interesting tidbit came out of sessions yesterday – there may be private on-site deliveries in the future. That has a little appeal. Add in some opportunities to record content, and my interest is piqued.

I’m not quite sure what today will hold, but I’m going in with a positive attitude. I readily admit that there are some things about life that are outside of my control, but my attitude is 100% under my control.

Other than that, not much else to share.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 47

Good morning, everybody!
(Sometimes I’d like to open with “Good news, everybody”, and see how many people say they read that hearing the Professor’s voice from “Futurama”. If you did, you are my special friend)

It is 2 May 2023. I start a three-day virtual get-together with my teammates starting in a few hours, hopefully just as my morning coffee is reaching peak effectiveness. I’ve got a chicken-bacon ranch salad on standby in case of an emergency.

Read this morning of the passing of someone I consider to be a legend. Gordon Lightfoot passed at the age of 84. He was a singer and songwriter, known for writing songs for others and kicking out a few pretty good songs on his own as well. I think the first song of his I recall hearing was “If You Could Read My Mind”.

“If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
‘Bout a ghost from a wishin’ well

In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I’m a ghost you can’t see”

He had a number of other great songs, like “Carefree Highway” and “Sundown”. My favorite, however, became a huge hit while I was in 7th grade, about 12 or 13 years old, and this eery and sad song came on the air about a ship on Lake Superior. It was a haunting melody, with compelling lyrics about the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was likely his biggest hit and the first song I ever recall being written of such a tragedy. This was in an era when lots of performers had songs with sad lyrics and melodies – think “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks, or “Wildfire” by Michael Martin Murphey.

One thing I do recall from that time. I regularly wrote a bit for the 8th-grade newspaper, just regurgitating the Guinness Book of World Records that I thought was interesting. Primarily, the whole point was to get out of class and duck the ridicule of classmates (one in particular), but any library time is a good time. If you can find a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records from that era, you might find an entry about “jive” dancing. I recall Gordon Lightfoot was the record holder, having danced continuously for a protracted period of time. I can’t find a reference to it right now… but doggone it, I know it’s there.

Thank you for the songs, Mr. Lightfoot.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

(255) “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot (HD w/ Lyrics) – YouTube

Evelyn Day 46

Today is a day to get stuff done. It is Monday, 1 May 2023.

I spent some quality time on the tractor and the mower this weekend, and there is still plenty more to do. I’ve got a little electric mower that I use over in the dog’s little area, and although I got started in that spot yesterday, there’s still more to do.

Whatever tendencies towards narcissism I may have had in my youth have been evicted from my personality. I really do not like talking about myself. My wife, my kids, my grandkid, and other people in my life and career – that’s all fine. I can talk about my kids all day, and I can talk about my wife for a week, but this is the time time of year when I have to report on myself and what I have done to become a better contributor to my team. I told myself I would have stuff done before I went to bed last night, and I procrastinated, which means my first task today is pretty clear.

No class this week. Team meetings for the next few days.

It’s hard to believe that it is May already.

Not tremendously motivated right at the moment. I hope coffee can help me with that.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 43

Happy Friday, everybody! I wish you all the best on this 28 April 2023.

Time to start blocking out my day. I’ve got some things on my to-do list that require my attention, as well as reaching out to a couple of teammates to answer some questions. I had an old friend ask me to provide some presentation tips to folks who aren’t used to presenting regularly.

Lisa has a banquet tonight, and I get to be arm candy. The menu sounds good, and it’s business casual, so I don’t have to worry about wearing a tie – if y’all see me wearing a tie, that’s a pretty good indicator either somebody is getting married or somebody died (hint: pay attention to the color scheme).

Wrapped up my class yesterday. I enjoy the opportunity to deliver with new trainers, and both of my co-deliverers were less than a year in the role. One had a level of professionalism I expected, the other could stand to be a little more engaged in the communication channel.

Coffee is done brewing, so time to grab a cup. I’ll be heading into town after a bit, finally getting the tires put on Ruby, and having breakfast with my youngest daughter and my favorite granddaughter.

Next week will be an intense week as my team attends a virtual offsite, connected over the ether.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 42

I wish you all a good day. Today is 27 April 2023.

Today is going to be a good day. My two co-trainers and I will wrap up the delivery of our four-day course. We’ve had a good group of international learners this week, very polite, with the occasional joke, but very well engaged.

Tomorrow I will take another run at getting new tires on Ruby. I better check to see if I have another hidden email from Walmart about my appointment – the one they send after the appointment has been confirmed to see if the appointment has been canceled. That one snuck up on me last week. I had made the purchase, and received a confirmation, but later received the cancellation notice. Why send out a confirmation before the product is available? Maybe my perception of what a sequence of events should look like has been tainted by my other experiences.

Social media is going a little nuts. One of the things that I do from time to time is take a look at the photos people use in their avatars. It amazes me sometimes – neo-nazi symbolism, and in one guy’s case, an actual Nazi stormtrooper. His avatar name implies his philosophy, and his posts reinforce that belief. With my browser, I can right-mouse-click a photo and search for it on the web, and this guy is using an actual dead WWII SS officer as his avatar.

Good people don’t put Nazis in the avatar picture.

Another fake account was using the picture of a guy that died several years back, another neo-Nazi wannabe.

These guys aren’t clever. They’re just dangerous.

Time to hunt a few more of ’em down, I guess.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 41

Good morning! It is Wednesday, Hump Day, 26 April 2023.

Last night I wished all of my learners “Peace, Happiness, and Tacos” as we signed off from class for the evening, then realized that maybe they are all synonyms.

I’ve often thought about traveling the world. When I’m teaching here at home, I flip on Youtube for the dogs – yeah, I know, sounds a little weird – but there are these little drone videos from various parts of the world with soft background music and very dramatic landscapes from everywhere.

I think it would be nice to travel to Paris, Australia, Norway. I would love to see the Himalayas firsthand. Bora bora, Fiji, the Seychelles. All would be fun to visit.

And then I start to think.

I’m almost 60. Trips of this nature to see these beautiful spots take time, and as much as I love the idea of destinations, the travel to those destinations can be a huge pain. I’ve been to Europe a few times, Japan once, and neighboring countries more times than I can remember, and indeed, I want to see more of Canada and Mexico.

Those are places on a globe. They look beautiful. But I know that at my age with the responsibilities I have between now and when I retire, I realize that there might be a handful of those destinations that I’ll actually get to see (yes, Wayne, I do want to come visit you in Australia!).

What I’m thinking is maybe I am seeing the world. My world isn’t 26,000 miles around. My world is my wife, my kids, and now, my first grandchild. My dogs look at me as if I’m their world.

Maybe my world is something I can define in the moment. My wife is sitting beside me, and she has three dogs on her lap. Friday I’ll have breakfast with my daughter and my granddaughter.

Nothing like seeing more of the world.

I hope the world, your world, is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 40

Good morning! Today is 25 April 2023.

Began my 4-day class yesterday. I’m not the lead on the course, that role falls to one of my co-deliverers. Another co-deliverer is serving as a shadow, filling on where he says he can fill in as he learns to deliver the course. The shadow was double-booked with another responsibility yesterday and could not cover the module he had volunteered for last week, so I covered that module. If things go as intended today, I’m covering 2 of 3 modules today as well, so of the first 6 modules, 4 go to me. I hope the learners enjoy my presentation style.

Watched some basketball last night with Lisa. We’re generally more focused on college basketball – that comes with living here in the University of Kansas area of dominant influence – but after the college season wraps up, we take a short break, then dive into the NBA post-season. It’s easy to put the NBA on the back burner because there are so many college games every night during the fall and winter. It almost seems like the regular season for the NBA is just staging for the real season that comes after.

Not much else going on. I’ll make the weekly taco run tonight for dinner. Breakfast will be a low-carb bagel with cream cheese and coffee, and lunch = a protein shake.

Time to take the ducks to the parade ground for drill.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 39 

Good morning! It is an early Monday morning on this day 24 April 2023.

I’ll jump back into my virtual classroom here in another hour, my glass of water at the ready, and coffee ready to start here just as soon as I post this missive.

Lisa and I stayed busy here this weekend with work both professional and domestic. We hit the lawn and garden center on Saturday morning and spent some time focused on spring work around here. I was tasked with getting out utility vehicles running after a long winter nap and was pleased that my little tractor and riding lawn mower responded positively to my coaxing. I spent some time yesterday on the riding mower and tended to the dandelion patch in from of the house that someone might mistake for a lawn.

I haven’t slept as well as I would like the last couple of nights. I like to sleep on my left side, but I guess I raised my left arm up and put my hand under my pillow on Friday night, and that has led to a couple of nights of shoulder issues. It was rather frustrating on Saturday when I was changing guitar strings on my Godin Classical (I have three Godin guitars, made in Montreal – a nylon string classical with synth access, an LGxt electric, and a Montreal Premiere jazz guitar) and I had difficulty raising my left arm into a playing position. Not fun. It’s a little better today, and I figure if I choke down some anti-inflammatories and stay on top of my water construction.

My class this week is on Eastern time, so I start a little earlier than a central time zone class, but we wrap up at 5:00 PM Eastern time, 4:00 Central. If the day stays dry, I might get a chance to spend a little time on the tractor this afternoon and start mowing some other spots here on the property..

I get to spend some time with Evelyn and my daughter this coming Friday. I have a tire appointment (again) at Walmart, and we’re going to grab a little breakfast at IHOP.

Other than that, just some reports/paperwork to get done for work.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 36

Happy Friday, everybody! Today is 21 April 2023.

I wrapped up my four-day class yesterday, and the early feedback seems to be positive from my learners, once again a collection of folks from multiple time zones, including people from India and Argentina.

Right now there’s a little drama on the couch with Freya defending her territory from Odin, who has insinuated himself onto Lisa’s lap. Freya is not happy with Odin right now.

I’m headed into town shortly to get some tires on Ruby, my Ford Flex. She’s due… but I’m glad I waited as long as I did. I knew she needed new tires last fall, but I no longer drive that much. I work from home, and I go into Lawrence a couple of times a week for this and that, and there’s the occasional trip into Kansas City for one reason or another. I came across a tire sale, and checked the price tag and the checking account, so, there you go.

The installation is supposed to take about an hour, so I’ll slide across to IHOP and grab a couple of eggs for breakfast. I think they have wifi, so I’ll take a laptop with me and maybe get a little work done. I’ve got some meetings later today, and I have some paperwork (is it safe to call it “paperwork” when there is no paper involved?) to do as the end of the fiscal year approaches.

I need to get the mower running. The weeds are getting long in my dandelion patch.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 35

Good morning, folks! It is 20 April 2023. For those living in the United States, it is 4/20, and that means in certain parts of the country, grooves of all ages will be lighting up the hippy lettuce as part of a pseudo-holiday.

Right now in rural Douglas County, the sky has opened up. This is one of those April prairie monsoons that sets the stage for everybody’s lawn to freak out. When I sat down with my glass of water to start writing this, I was getting just a smidgen of bandwidth, and the satellite TV system was completely out. It came back on briefly a moment ago but is being further interrupted due to the weather. I hope this doesn’t mess with my class here in a couple of hours.

My youngest daughter came by the house yesterday afternoon, and Evelyn came along. Both Lisa and I were thankful to spend time with them both, and I briefly shared Evelyn with my online class,

TV is back up – apparently, the weather isn’t just bad here, as tornadoes have hit Oklahoma. Two supercell storms collided for a perfect recipe for destruction. It has taken lives in Cole, Oklahoma.

OK, might be time for me to pay closer attention to the weather and maybe take a look at where the weather is going and how long we’re going to be sitting in this storm.

Sorry to be abrupt, but this situation requires my attention.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.