1. Work
Out with the new boss in with an old boss… or something like that. After a long while of reporting directly to the CTO (which was interesting in being able to give feedback directly to the upper management.. but boring in that he really didn’t have any tasks for me or know well enough what I was doing to give me solid direction) I have now been given a new boss. Ironically I’m now reporting into the same person who originally hired me at this company and was my manager for the first 2 or so years I worked here.
Back story in case you missed it. 2001 I got hired at CNET. I reported to my new (old) boss for ~2 yrs. ~2004 I got promoted to be manager of my group (new old boss moved to manage a different group), my group (but not me) got laid off, I, as a group of one, got moved to report to a boss on the business side of the house (talk about having the fox in the hen house**), ~2009 CBS buys CNET, I got moved to report to the engineering side of the house (I again hear the song of my people), 2012 TPTB decide to terminate the main product of my engineering group, almost everyone in my engineering group (except for me) gets laid off, I spend a bit waffling about reporting to different folks but still essentially a group of one. Bringing us to today.. where I’m now reporting into the engineer-y group which is closest to what I do which is also coincidentally managed by my original manager. She’s located in New Jersey.
Life’s funny.
**Being an engineer and getting your marching orders directly from the business side.. when you don’t have the authority to say “that’s a really dumb idea, we shouldn’t do that” and are instead required to say “Sure thing boss.. I’ll work on/make/design that” is a recipe for trouble.
2. Home/Erik
At the beginning of this week we put in a bid to buy the house we’re currently renting. $377,000 for a 4BR/2.5BA I’m on pins and needles with anxiety.
Lately we’ve been fiddling with Erik’s sleep routine. Up until this when it was time for Erik to go to sleep either Fearghus or myself would take Erik up to our room and lie down with him until he fell asleep (15 min to 2 hrs). This was becoming.. bothersome so I asked the Internet for help. The Internet suggested a book.. and I read the book (or at least most of it). 90% of it is fluff and testimonials.. but it had a few good nuggets. So now we’re doing sleep training. That is, we do his night time routine, wind down, then put him in his bed and encourage him to lay down and go to sleep. If he complains we “Sh-Sh-Sh” and remind him that we love him and we’re right here.
For nights 1-3 we’re sitting right next to the bed and occasionally pat him (if he needs it.. as little as possible). The first night to took him 1 hour. The second night it took him 20 minutes. The third night it took 1 hr (but I also tried to put him to bed 30 mins early).
For nights 4-6 we’re sitting in the middle of the room about half way between the bed and the door. The fourth and fifth night it took 25 minutes. Tonight is the 6th night.
For nights 7-9 we’ll move to sit right next to the door.
For nights 10-12 we’ll move to sit outside the door but still in sight.
For nights 13+ we’ll move outside the door out of site.
So far it seems to be working. Or at least we’re not having to lay down with him for 2+ hours. So I view that as a win. The goal is to be able to do bedtime rituals, put him to bed and then walk away and do something else. I’m hopeful
Next up is potty training.
3. Health
Weight is holding steady. I’m just now back from a string of vacations and have knuckled down on it again. This week our new plan is to take a walk in the morning before I start work. At the moment I’m 90% work at home (I try to go in every other Wednesday).
4. SCA/Projects
One of the main driving forces behind sleep training for Erik is so I can get some of my evening back. Putting him to bed at 8 and then laying in bed with him until 10 leaves very little time leftover for projects. Over the last week it’s been freeing to have time to work in the evening after he’s gone to sleep.
I have worked on my new kirtle pattern. It’s at a “just think about it for a while” stage. That is, it fits pretty good but has an issue that I can’t immediately figure out so I’m giving my head time to think about it while I work on other things. At the moment the other thing is a green french-seamed tunic for Fearghus. I’m hoping to get this done so I can hand it off to Treásach to be embroidered (we won an auction to have her embroider a tunic a while back and it’s been waiting on me to finish the new tunic).
Project list:
WANT-TO
1. new Kirtle pattern and new kirtle for me
2. white linen partlet (need to document)
3. black velvet loop, frontlet, cap and veil getup (want to develop this out further and need to document)
4. lined 1488-1503 overdress
HAVE-TOS
1. Green Tunic for Fearghus
2. Gift for Killian’s knighting
3. New fighting tunic for Fearghus
4. Medium sized tunic for our loaner garb
5. Fix sleeves on F hemd
5.
We were sneaky sneaky and went to Uprising War (Shelly Idaho) and surprised my parents. It’s a in-Kingdom war in Artemesia. While at Uprising my brother was offered entry into the chivalry. Then we had a week off. Then we spent a week at An Tir West War. Then we had two days off. Then we flew to Missoula Montana to attend Hell’s Gate, the event where my brother was knighted.
Four weeks of off-and-on vacationing is too much. I’m exhausted from vacationing, behind on all my work and glad to get back to my boring day-to-day. Also.. I really hate going to camping events without my full encampment. At Uprising we were on someone else’s food plan so we left the kitchen at home. At Hell’s Gate we flew in so only had whatever we could fit in our luggage. I hated it. I felt lost and kept reaching for things that weren’t there. It’s like I’d left home without my security blanket. I’ll do my best to avoid that in future.
Future:
Aug 8: Go visit Carol and pick up new dog
Aug 14-15: Tudor Tailor Workshop in LA
Aug 21-23: Purgatorio (Arcata CA)
Aug 31: 2nd wedding anniversary
