Wind Down Thursday

The day after Tech Council Meeting is almost always a breathe out kind of day. Almost a tank day really. So why do I have 3 meetings lined up today? There's the usual IS Team Meeting, which happens every Thursday, and of course the 3 PM Huddle, also happening every Thursday. But before that I set a meeting with Dr Liao our CMO because he apparently needs me to reach out to him to talk about his reports rather than reaching out to me himself like everyone else does. That's fine. I'll do the work. And that is what made today busier than usual really, the focus on data reports. I'm trying to push against the narrative that people aren't getting reports just because Lam isn't here anymore. There's plenty of data all over the place and if dashboards aren't refreshed, a simple helpdesk ticket fixes it. And so really I'm not that worried about it but it WAS a point of focus nevertheless. Instead of just having a quiet Thursday day focusing on Johnnie's classes instead. Today in fact they even had a play date right after the 12 PM class just so the kids can have time with themselves without the structure of a class. I think it's a good idea really and I'm glad the school thinks of stuff like this. With January almost done, it's pretty clear that the school year is pretty much going to be all virtual all year this year, even IF all the teachers get their vaccinations done in the next month or so. That's because the kids won't get vaccinated. There isn't even a vaccine for them anyway. And even if those get rolled out, those won't happen until close to spring. It does look promising to get to most of the people by summer so maybe fall can start to look normal again. And so there IS hope. We all just have to be patient and trust in the process is all. Even if the process looks not-so-good.

After the 3 PM meeting though, I finally put myself in BREATHE OUT mode. And I deemed the week mostly done from a work standpoint anyway. And by then I was down to appreciating the time left with Johnnie until Lisa picks him up later after her shift is done.  I watched him do his karate lessons and I must say he HAS picked up moves very well. AND he is taking the drills seriously. The rest of the night we just focused on cleaning up. He put up his usual massive dinosaur museum in the living room. So much so it usually takes at least 10 minutes to put everything away. And then of course there was the jaunt to Panda Express Westwood to get his dinner. One month into winter it's already starting to be not as dark at 5 PM. And it's not that cold either although that is apparently going to change by the weekend. In the end I got a text from Lisa letting me know she was already home and in the middle of finishing up a nice short nap. See? what did I tell you? Never the same on any given Thursday and that is not meant as a complaint. I was happy to drop Johnnie off at 7:30 at her house. At least THAT is predictable. And I had plenty of time to go home and watch the post-game of the Lakers-Bucks game. An NBA heavyweight match-up to be sure. And the Lakers won this one almost wire-to-wire after the first quarter. They aRE a different team from last year. And I think they are a better one! They have so many shooters now, it's actually more fun to watch. Near the end of the evening I even goaded myself into cleaning up the living room. Not the usual sweep-and-mop, just sweep thanks. And that was enough. And then I went to bed by 11 PM. The short week is just about over...