que dia larga!

From the moment my eyes opened up to see the ceiling in my parents’ living room this morning, I knew it was going to be one of those ultra busy days. I stayed over last night because I had been down here for my niece’s graduation and thought it would be pointless to drive all the way home only to come back to go to my dentist near here, especially considering the ridiculous price of gas these days. I had hoped to get up, eat a little breakfast and maybe even do a little writing so that I wouldn’t be scrambling to get something in to UTC for my Friday deadline this week. However, brainstorming not being governed by the proverbial on/off switch in my head, I didn’t come up with anything worth until I had only about 15 minutes left. At least it was a start. I packed up and dashed out the door and headed for the dentist’s office.

After the rather thorough cleaning and fairly heavy-handed manipulating of my gum line, I was a tad sore as I headed off to work. I hadn’t planned on going to work today, but the project that I need to ship by the end of the week is dragging on and I need to make some more progress. To make matters even more urgent, it seems as though one of my co-workers is angling to take this project over and I definitely do not want to be marginalized in these tough economic times. I stayed at work absolutely as long as I could and then literally sprinted out of there at 1220pm to make it to my daughter’s 5th grade graduation in time. I knew I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t make it to this, project or no project! I arrived just in time to enjoy the wonderful ceremony. It far exceeded my expectations as each 5th grader came on stage to give a speech about their fondest memory of the time that they’ve spent at the school. I was so proud to see my daughter articulate her story clearly and concisely, even adding inflections for emphasis to keep the audience engaged.

After the ceremony, my mom, my 2 nieces and my son and daughter went for a celebratory lunch at Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers. It’s not like this was in the budget or anything but how could I not choose to “finance” a meal for such a grand occasion. One day of fiscal irresponsibility will not lead to my un-doing. (Enter these into evidence under Exhibit A: Famous Last Words). When we were finished, my mom and my nieces headed back to San Jose while the kids and I headed over to the east side to see if we could get my son involved in the basketball program at the church. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a program to this date as only 1 other kid showed up. Never one to frown on an open gym, we shot around until about 615pm when we had to dip outta there and head to my daughter’s softball banquet. Skyline Pizza was the venue for the 2 time defending Oakland Girls Softball League 10 and Under division undefeated champions’ (haven’t lost since 2006) festivities. Since it was dinner time, I begrudgingly ordered some pizza even though this joint definitely does not rate on my “approved-pizza-list” in this city. That is a very short list of maybe 1 and a half establishments, depending on if I can overlook the surroundings on Telegraph or Powell streets and delight in a slice of Blondie’s or Fat Slice Pizza. Otherwise, it’s strictly Zachary’s (see, My Name is Joe from a few months back).
Unfortunately, my son left me hanging and decided post-haste that he did NOT actually want to share any of the large combination pizza that I ordered. (Note: financed meal number 2 on this day). Oh well, such is life when you base decisions on the reliability of an 8 year old. I wish I could sleep for 12 hours tonight, but I know I must get up and get back into the office again in the morning. This is unprecedented. Only once before have I been to this office on 5 consecutive days, but appears as though it will happen this week.