Seabright's 2016 Battle Log of Awesomeness

[Seabright]

It's always shocking how fragile we are. Take away my ability to post to my own thread, and my whole program goes out the window.

 

Short update:

• Went to Maui. 
• Stayed pretty steady with yoga.
• Stayed not-so-steady with eating and drinking.
• Alone time out the window.
• Gratitude out the window, at least in a conscious way. Believe me, I was beyond grateful for the long lazy days, the 80 degree weather, the fab view of the water with Lanai in the distance, and, check it, SEA TURTLES that came right up to us while we were swimming. RIGHT UP TO US! So cool.

 

Back on the site, and back on track. 

 

 

[Seabright]

I think a little caffeine-sugar-alcohol reboot is in order.

 

Starting w/caffeine and alcohol today. Will add in sugar and paleo-eating tomorrow.

 

Sat May 21

 

Yoga:

45 mins of getting moving.

 

Diet:

No caffeine. What? You heard me, people. Ate 1/2 of the spousal unit's apricot bar. Leftover pizza for lunch. Baby steps.

 

Alone time:

Sat in the garden and watched the bees a-buzzin'. 

 

Gratitude:

Finally went to the doc about the rototiller-related thumb injury. Did I mention that all the joints in my thumb want to flip back against themselves at random times? Turns out, it's, like, a thing. A thing that will take months to heal. Argh. Very grateful that the x-rays showed nothing was broken or otherwise funkified. Just a wicked, wicked sprain. And temporary. It will get better. So, yah. Could be worse. Could be raining. :-)

 

 

 

[Seabright]

Tues May 31

 

Spent the long weekend detoxing - no caffeine, no sugar, no alcohol from Friday to Monday night. Plus, lots o' yoga-ing. Good for me! Feeling a little more in control of things, now. So, yay!

 

Tomorrow, I'll be once again firing on all cylinders. 

 

Goal for tomorrow: take control of my work life and roll off a few projects. Also, turn my resume into a Google doc and reach out to those that can help me explore other opportunities.

 

Work-wise, it's time to move on.

 

Onward!

[Seabright]

Wed June 1

 

Yoga:

1/2 hour of back-to-basics. Feeling good.

 

Food:

1/2 cup of coffee. Paleo breakfast, followed by mid-morning un-paleo bagel (with nothing on it). No sugar. No alcohol. All's clear.

Update: Spousal unit brought a cookie home from his gig. And I ate it.

 

Alone time:

Found a table-top at work at the end of the day, took an hour and made a list of all the things I'm going to stop doing. And then sent it to  my manager. I prioritized this over getting the ol' resume up on Google docs. Will attack that tomorrow. Right after I draft an email going out to all the project managers whose projects I'm rolling off at the end of the week. (<- That was a crummy sentence but you know what I mean.)

 

Gratitude:

Rolled past a nice full reservoir just as Kathy Kallick's 'Count Your Blessings' came up on shuffle. N-i-i-i-c-e.

 

Goals for tomorrow:

- Insert myself into any possible mobile project.

- Draft project roll-off email to use as template.

- Draft 'no, I'm sorry, I'm working at capacity and can't take on your project' email to use as template.

- Get the resume up on Google docs.

- Reply to my just-learning-how-to-sing-for-the-first-time-ever-and-is-kinda-scared fiddle player and find time to help him work on "Walls of Time."

[Seabright]

Thur June 2

 

Yoga:

1 hour! Finally decided to actually try one of the sequences out of the Yoga Journal, instead of just looking at the pictures.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee. Food all good. 1/2 shot jamison.

 

Alone time:

Took the long way home back from the doc today. Gorgeous drive through the small apple orchards. 

 

Gratitude:

Feel so lucky that there's still a little bit of countryside left to drive through in my area. It's good to see a horse, an apple tree, or a little bit of oak woodland habitat here and there. 

 

Goals from yesterday:

- Insert myself into any possible mobile project. DONE. As far as it goes, anyway. :-)

- Draft project roll-off email to use as template. DONE.

- Draft 'no, I'm sorry, I'm working at capacity and can't take on your project' email to use as template. DONE.

- Get the resume up on Google docs. NOT DONE.

- Reply to my just-learning-how-to-sing-for-the-first-time-ever-and-is-kinda-scared fiddle player and find time to help him work on "Walls of Time." DONE.

 

Goals for today:

- Come up with that pesky definition I've been putting off.

- Do a walk-through on this other project that I've been putting off.

- Get resume up on Google docs. 

[Seabright]

Fri June 3

 

Yoga:

Overslept. Never got it done. This seems to be my Friday morning pattern. Will break it next Fri.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee. Food all good. 1 beer at the end of the day while watching 'To Have and Have Not.' You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?

 

Alone time:

Swung through Los Gatos on the way home. 102 degrees! Didn't stay out on the sidewalk for very long. ;-)

 

Gratitude:

I think I may have found a new person to go to for alterations. Quick as a bunny with lots of style. Dropped my first job off with her today and have high hopes. Yay!

 

Goals from yesterday:

- Come up with that pesky definition I've been putting off. DONE.

- Do a walk-through on this other project that I've been putting off. DONE.

- Get resume up on Google docs. NOT DONE. Thought about how I wanted to update things, though.

 

Goals for tomorrow:

Well, it's going to be Saturday, so none.

[Seabright]

Sat June 4

 

Yoga:

1 hour! Making up for yesterday.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee. All good on other fronts. No sugar. No alcohol.

 

Alonetime:

Hours spent arm-wrestling a climbing rose, and then putting a bit of fertilizer on everyone else. A million puncture holes in me now, but it looks good and I'm happy. 

 

Gratitude:

Met our groovy new neighbor and he seems really nice and totally chill. Plays bluegrass mando, too! How lucky is this?

[Seabright]

Sun June 5

 

Yoga:

1 hour! Trying to loosen up my back.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee. Food good. Skipped the massive-ass bacon burger on the gigantic bun and had a lovely salad w/grilled chicken instead. No sugar. No alcohol.

 

Alonetime:

Strolled through the garden and planned my next attack.

 

Gratitude:

Saw a great blue heron! And a huge gopher snake! Very grateful that we live somewhere where it's only a short way to bird watching and hiking. It reminds me of who I really am.

[Seabright]

Mon June 6

 

Yoga:

40 minutes. Tried to return to strength and balance, with mixed results. Think I may need to sneak up on this.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee, taken in 2 1/2-cup doses. Makes me feel like I'm getting a refill. 1 Diet Coke, 1 shot whiskey at end of day. Liquid fail.

 

Alonetime:

Took a stroll through Macy's at lunchtime to get out of the heat. Walked and window-shopped.

 

Gratitude:

Grateful to find a replacement for my workhorse shirt. Exact match at 50% off! 

 

Goals for today:

- Start telling project managers of de-prioritized (<- nice word, huh?) projects that my time is now limited. OH MY GOD I DID IT! This was really scary for me, because I feel vulnerable to potential backlash, but I used the little template I created last week, held my breath, squinched my eyes up tight, and did it. DONE.

- Get started on new resume by finding a model. DONE.

- Recover my sense of humor. ALMOST done. ;-)

 

New plan of attack for resume: completely rework and modernize. Trim down radically, bring in some visual elements, and refer readers to my LinkedIn profile for detail.

[Seabright]

Tues June 7

 

Yoga:

10 minutes before heading out to vote.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee, 1/2 regular, 1/2 decaf. About the equivalent of my normal 1 cup. Diet Coke fail, though. No alcohol. Ate the cookie the spousal unit brought home from his gig.

 

Alonetime:

- Took the long way back from getting my spiffy new custom thumb brace (hot pink! yay!), and cruised along by the water, down to Natural Bridges and back. Gorgeous day, lots of happy people strolling along, saw a brown pelican and an elderly couple holding hands. 

 

Gratitude:

- Looks like that phone screen that I thought went so awesomely turned out to be not quite awesome enough. Grateful that I know how to learn from this, and that I'm undaunted. Let the clouds fill with thunderous applause!

 

Goals for today:

- Finish that one flow. DONE.

- Take another shot at that one definition. DONE.

- Pursue inserting myself into that mobile project and get all over that bitch. DONE. 

- Pull up old resume version and identify what to keep, what to toss, and what needs revamping. DONE.

 

 

[Seabright]

OMG! OMG!

 

After I said they weren't interested, they just contacted me!! 

 

Next step: the much-feared writing test. 

[Seabright]

Wed June 8

 

Yoga:

45 minutes - arm strength and twists.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee. No sugar. No alcohol.

 

Alonetime:

On-my-owning it in the evening. Lazed around, but the wasn't really 'mindful,' just more like lazing around. 

 

Gratitude:

Grateful to be making it to the next phase in the process. Grateful that after staring at the assignment for a while, I think I have a plan of attack - at least for the first portion of it. Onwards!

 

Goals for today:

- First draft of those messages. DONE.

- Document that one project. NOT.

- Communicate to mobile project team to include me in meetings going forward. NOT.

- Beef up that one section in LinkedIn profile. IN PROGRESS.

- Start writing test as soon as I get it. IN PROGRESS. It looks pretty hard.

- Tell spousal unit not to bring me any treats from his gigs for a while. DONE.

 

[Seabright]

Thur June 9 so far

 

Yoga:

15 minutes. Just the minimum.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee. No sugar, no alcohol, everything else good.

 

Alonetime:

Can't remember. Which isn't a good sign.

 

Gratitude:

Grateful that I've got 3 days to do this writing assignment!!

 

Goals for today:

- First section of compliance training. DONE. Over-achieved and did it all.

- Document the first part of that one project. DONE.

- Writing assignment first pass. DONE.

[Seabright]

Weekend recap:

• Drank GALLONS of coffee while I worked on the writing assignment.
• Finished writing assignment on Saturday morning and sent it off.
• Had beers on Fri and Sat nights. 
• Took a 3-hour yoga class on Saturday. Felt great!
• Took my new thumb-brace out for a spin Sunday morning on horseback. CD was a good boy, mostly because one of the hands road the heck out of him the day before. ;-) Turns out, I can fling the saddle around okay, but I can't adjust a buckle without, you know, issues. Guess I'm going to have to find a way to hide CD's newly adjusted headstall so someone doesn't use it on another horse. 
• Played guitar and practiced for the radio. We left it too late. We're lame. Kinda sore this morning, but hoping it loosens up as the day goes on.

 

 

Mon June 13 so far

 

Yoga:

30 minutes of trying to get my back to work after yesterday's ride.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee. Apple pie after the gig. No alcohol.

 

Alonetime:

Took a nice walk at lunchtime.

 

Gratitude:

We got through the hour on the radio and sounded pretty good. Embarrassment-potential was high, but we did it. A first for me!

 

Goals for today:

- Finalize content for the big project and deliver by noon. NOT DONE.

- Document the dashboard for the big project. NOT DONE.

- Set up doc area for the second project and begin populating. NOT DONE.

- Return to res/linkedin profile. First up: add 3 projects to profile. NOT DONE.

 

 

Okay! Let's get 'er done!

[Seabright]

Yesterday was a bust. Meetings back-to-back starting at 11am, and got no actual work done. Today will be better.

 

Tues June 14

 

Yoga:

10 minutes. The minimum to get moving.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee with breakfast, and just had a mid-morning cup with a friend. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed (I blame last night's slice of apple pie), and wanted the extra boost. Wrong-side-of-the-bedness continued into the afternoon, at which point I had a Snickers bar. The first in several weeks. Also let the work stress get to me and ended the day with a shot of whiskey with my bacon and egg dinner.

 

Alonetime:

Had a really pleasant time catching up on finances and other life-management stuff. One kitty in the bed by the window, one kitty on my lap, and one kitty sitting on her brisket near my feet. 

 

Gratitude:

So grateful to have a friend at work. Someone to talk to, someone to walk over to Starbuck's with, and someone who's cool when I holler, 'Gotta go!' when I realize I'm late for a meeting. 

 

Goals for today (from yesterday, actually):

- Finalize content for the big project and deliver by noon. DONE! I can't believe it!

- Document the dashboard for the big project. 1/2 done. Darn close.

- Set up doc area for the second project and begin populating. Not done.

- Return to res/linkedin profile. First up: add 3 projects to profile. Not done.

[Seabright]

Wed June 15

 

Yoga:

20 minutes. Told myself I only had to do 10, but got involved with that pesky triangle pose and ended up tree-ing it, too.

 

Food:

1 large cup of coffee.

 

Alonetime:

Back garden time.

 

Gratitude:

I'm sure I was grateful at some during the day, but didn't really notice. My bad.

 

Goals for today (from yesterday, actually):

- Document the dashboard for the big project. 

- Set up doc area for the second project and begin populating. 

- Return to res/linkedin profile. First up: add 3 projects to profile.

- Get ready for early departure tomorrow morning. Road trip!

[Seabright]

Tues June 21

 

Yoga:

15 minutes. Getting flexy again.

 

Food:

2 small cups of coffee. Drank a LOT of coffee at the festival, and am well above my limit. Also, a piece of chocolate layer cake. Also, a beer.

Blech. Had a stomach ache. Another detox is in my future. :-)

 

Alonetime:

Sittin' in the garden. Lovely evening.

 

Gratitude:

Hey! Guess what? Guess what? While on the road trip, I was contacted about my writing assignment. Turns out, they liked it and want to bring me to present to a panel, then do a series of 1/1 interviews! Holy moly, guacamole! Breathe...breathe...

 

 

Goals for today (from yesterday, actually):

- Catch up on the next Big Project emails. DONE.

- Document the next Big Project. Not done.

- Flesh out preso using last night's outline. Not done, but thought a lot about it and came up with an approach.

 

[Seabright]

Wed June 22 so far

 

Yoga:

12 minutes. Just above the bare minimum, but I did it and I'm glad.

 

Food:

2 small cups of coffee.

 

Alonetime:

Backyard sitting.

 

Gratitude:

Mercifully, the panel presentation and interviews are scheduled for 2 weeks out. Not enough time to lose 10 pounds and learn to walk in high heels, but enough time to get my hair cut, come up with something to wear, and really nail the preso. If I work steadily, plenty of time to finish it, let it sit, and then revise/refresh. Plus, you know, make sure it isn't riddled with typos. :-)

 

Goals for today:

- Document the next Big Project. 1/2 way done.

- Flesh out preso welcome and approach sections. Done.

- Get hair cut. Done.

- Clean house. Paid someone to do it for me. :-)

[Seabright]

Mon June 27

 

Yoga:

20 minutes. A bit more vigorous than usual to help me wake up. Felt good.

 

Food:

2 small cups of coffee. Didn't get time for lunch, so had 2 granola bars from the vending machine and a scone late in the afternoon. Ick.

 

Alonetime:

After yoga, sat outside in the morning sunshine on the back porch for a few minutes. Soaked in the peacefulness of the quiet morning. Closed my eyes. Breathed. N-i-i-i-c-e.

 

Gratitude:

Well, the mountain road was closed by a brush fire just in time for the evening commute. Grateful that no one lost their home. Grateful that I wasn't already on the road and hence stuck on the side of the mountain for 3 hours. Grateful that even though it took a loooooooooong time, there is still another way (around the mountains, yikes) to get home. Grateful that the spousal unit got dinner. Grateful that I didn't have a beer. Grateful that the next episode of Voyager was a good one. 

 

 

Goals for today:

- FINISH documenting the Big Project. DONE.

- Finish Assignment 1 section of preso. NOT DONE.

 

That's it. Those are the only goals for today, but I need to fit these in between the 8 million meetings I have today.

 

Ready, set, go!

[Seabright]

Tues June 28

 

Yoga:

Instead of yoga, put on my shoes and took a walk this morning. 6am and still chilly here at the beach. Nice change.

 

Food:

2 small cups of coffee. I've got some tea in my hand right now, but I really want more coffee. Had a hideous night's sleep and may step over to the coffee shop to get more mid-morning. Finally got a solid lunch. Fruit smoothie (all fruit, no sugar/milk prods) in the afternoon. Healthy TV dinner for dinner. Slug o' whiskey. (<- That's a very bad habit, and I know it.)

 

Alonetime:

Took a stroll over to Jamba Juice in the afternoon. Let my head air out.

 

Gratitude:

So, it's the memorial service for Ralph Stanley today. I just found out that his family decided to stream the service at 3pm PT. Grateful for that, big time, and hoping the 8 million meetings I have today will magically dissipate so I can attend. The very first song I ever sang all by myself in front of another person was 'Angel Band.' Bluegrass and Ralph's music are the reasons I have met so many friends, how I met the spousal unit, why I learned to play the guitar and the bass, how I learned to sing, and how I learned to sing the tenor part. The source of so much joy and so many good times. The fullness and richness of life.

 

 

Goals for today:

- FINISH Assignment 1 section of preso. DONE!

- Ignore all actual work so I can finish assignment 1 section of the preso. DONE! Well, actually, I did do some work, too.

 

 

[Seabright]

Wed June 29

 

Yoga:

15 mins in the kitchen. Standing room only.

 

Food:

1 cup of coffee. Booked from 8:30am to the end of day. Crap for lunch. More crap for dinner. Drank a beer. Blech.

 

Alonetime:

Had alone time but it was not refreshing by any stretch of the imagination. Fail.

 

Gratitude:

I was grateful that I persevered and finished the strategy slide of my preso. I really wanted to just give up, but I had written it down, and so it had to be done. Grateful to the Rebellion. Big Time.

 

Goals for today:

- Create strategy slide for preso. An outline or rough cut is okay. DONE!

- Put slides in for the rest of assignment #2. Can write the commentary later. DONE!

 

Okay! Meetings alllllllll freakin' day today, so it will be pretty remarkable if I'm actually able to do any work at all, much less get to my goals. I'm a trained professional, though, and this does not phase me.

[Seabright]

Thur June 30

 

Yoga:

25 mins of twists to twist it on out.

 

Food:

2 small cups of coffee. Food okay today, but diet coke-ness and beer-ness messed it up-ness.

 

Alonetime:

Accident on the mountain, so decided to drive home the back way through the hills. Really lovely afternoon through the redwoods. Picked out the little ranch I'm going to buy when I win the lottery.

 

Gratitude:

As always, grateful for where I live. And for being on the little windy road with like-minded folks who aren't in any particular hurry.

 

Goals for today:

- Document the latest info on that one big project. DONE!

- Draft of extended definition of that one term for those who want to geek out over the detail. DONE!

- Finish Assignment 2 section of the preso. Not done.

- Put placeholders in for 'about me' section of the preso. Just a rough cut to flesh out later. Not done.

 

More meetings all day. Deliberately skipped one, foisted another off on the intern. ;-)

 

Feeling unbalanced. Need REAL food at lunchtime today. I just re-read the week, and I know I've had a diet coke or two, but I can't remember when. If I find I want a boost this afternoon, I'll allow myself to go to the jamba juice for a pomegranate paradise.

 

Thinking about a long-weekend-detox, starting tomorrow. I'll be WFH, and plan on coasting in the extreme. 

[Seabright]

Fri July 1

 

Yoga:

Forced myself to do 15 mins to break my Friday non-yogic cycle. 

 

Food:

Decaf today.

 

Update: Okay, so, no way was that decaf. I asked for a large decaf and was a jittery mess an hour later. Food-wise, stayed sugar-free. Presented with a shot by the spousal unit at the end of the day. I consumed half of it and tossed out the rest.

 

Alonetime:

Horseback riding! Wrapped things up at work early, and went to see my little horse-puppy, CD. Lovely afternoon, and he was a good boy.

 

Gratitude:

See above. I'm very lucky to have this opportunity. I know it won't last forever, because he's not my horsie, but I plan to let him know how much I love him as long and as often as I can.

 

Goals for today:

- Rewrite that definition thingie based on feedback. DONE!

- Rewrite that error message based on feedback. DONE!

- Bail on everything else to work on my preso. DONE!

- If everything is done by Noon, I get to knock off for the weekend and go ride a horse. DONE!

[Seabright]

Sat July 2

 

Yoga:

An hour! A little bit of everything.

 

Food:

Drank coffee. I need to fuel the final stretch of this stupid presentation. No sugar. 1 glass red wine with dinner.

 

Alonetime:

Cruised around on the way to and from Shopper's Corner. 

 

Gratitude:

SooooOOOOOOOOooo grateful to be done putting together the presentation. Now, just need to practice it, and maybe dress it up a little. And go over it again and again, looking for typos, grammatical errors, and general stupidity (<- note the use of the Oxford comma).

 

Goals for today:

- Finish the press. Please, let me get this done. DONE! DONE! DONE, I TELL YOU!

- Share final with friend for reality check and proof-reading. ALSO DONE! Eagerly awaiting feedback.

[Seabright]

Did pretty well over the long weekend. Coffee, but no sugar and a glass of red wine instead of beer. I haven't heard back yet from the friend

who was going to critique my preso, which I'm taking as a bad sign. She's probably way too nice to want to tell me how much it sucks. 

 

On to the Big Week!

 

Tues July 5

 

Yoga:

20 mins before hustling out to get my eyes checked.

 

Food:

Grande from Starbucks and an orange-cranberry scone. Diet Coke in the afternoon, followed by a beer at the gig. Blech. Slept poorly all night long.

 

That'll larn me.

 

Alonetime:

Long drive to gig in Moss Landing, through the rolling Gabilan range. Lovely afternoon and lots of singing at very loud volumes. 

 

 

Gratitude:

Bifocals! Can you believe that? Guess I've been limping along with cheaters from Walgreens for years, and hadn't really noticed my deteriorating eye sight. Har har. Very grateful that the spousal unit made me go get my eyes checked, and doubly grateful that eyeballs themselves are as healthy as can be. Just, you know, aging. 

 

Goals for today:

- Prep for interview on Thursday:

     - Clear desktop of everything but preso and small folder containing emergency writing samples. DONE!

     - Write out responses to possible tricky questions, or questions that should have no-brainer answers but never do. DONE!

     - Read all additional materials sent over by the company. DONE!

    - If time, locate template to dress up pathetically boring preso. DONE! And then thought better of it entirely.

- Gig tonight with injured hand. I hereby promise to stop playing if I'm in pain. DONE! Soldiered through.