still no net at home

sunday march 20th:

a restful day, interestingly productive (primarily poetically)

out for shopping (surprise assistance from my nephew)

monday 21st:

a really tough night being repeatedly yanked out of fascinating dreams followed by an explosive morning
reviewing the new apartment, looking good
appliance store number one, a good deal
appliance store number two, even better
canal walk and panarotti's pizza ftw (and for the family experience, sure)
aside from an urgent woolworths mission the rest of the day was chilling and sorting out the home network (in particular, my mother's email which has apparently confounded professional IT guys in three companies for well over two years now... what a bunch of idiots :/

a big dinner with gd being pleasantly surprised by the quality of fry's strips, getting to sleep relatively early...

tuesday 22nd:

... and paying for it with multiple lengthy wakings

a rough morning softened just before i had to leave, an experimental day deciding that i'm not unhappy with my present employment but i'm hardly thrilled

electric neck twinge mid-meeting

sunshine and songs from the lion king
paying future rent with today's paycheque
a pleasant end to the workday, coming home to the screams of a small child's eye infection, and the struggle of having reached my mother's internet cap

wednesday 23rd:

most of a night's sleep, sore necks but mr smear looking much better

fifteen minutes to get to work, another fifteen to find parking

slow progress, but progress nonetheless
lunchtime education: that "veggie" burger i was so excited about last week is made with cheese, so i found a vegan-friendly restaurant across the road instead... mimi's for the win

gd and my mom visiting a doctor and learning that mr smear has had an ear infection for months that gd suspected and not a single montreal doctor could detect

ending the day with a dilemma, clanking home, evening tension turning sour, taking notes

thursday 24th:

another rough night

waking up to a banking failure and mobile number porting issues

finally getting the last week's job done with no way of testing it, the reaction to my first big pull request containing precisely 1337 changes and leaving on a great note

driving into the most incredible sunset over de waal's drive without a dashcam
not switching cars as the "better" one kept choking out every few metres

back home to a busy boy and a sick gd

friday 25th:

the saddest pair, one doubled over sick feeding the other hangry with irritated eyes and ears

good friday, crazy friday shopping and running into krybabie and his family, mr smear's amazing progress with standing and eating baby biscuits; fry's pies and a lazy afternoon, gd getting some recovery rest, a big dinner and going to bed early and exhausted

saturday 26th:

getting some sleep before heavy rls, a night of many weird dreams quickly forgotten

rain, milestones, purchasing appliances, seeing cousins from jhb, tax returns and not-mr delivery

a tense evening...

sunday 27th:

... leading into a tense morning, we need to see someone, we need our own space, we need alone time

the only promenade walks are serious ones, comforter cleaning, finally touching base with SxS, a quick chat with my toronto cousin, a ride into an unknown side of town and almost losing to google maps, frankincense and good beats, dinner and finding our saturation point

monday 28th:

dr greger's daily dozen is a must-have app

the longest "i'm ready to go"
don't drive when you can walk followed by an explosive response to the denial of a family outing followed by a walk and some unexpected softness
a shopping mission and running into a cousin who was just about to cancel tea, lots of "healthy" junk food and delicious vegan choc-mint ice-cream!
a pleasant evening and a big dinner

tuesday 29th:

the weirdness of parenting: the joy in seeing mr smear's smile after a long, sleepless night (not sure if physical discomfort or nightmares, but i'm certain the soaked diaper didn't help)

running late for work, the premonition two seconds before my breakfast dropped out of my bag to spill all over my pants and the carpet and then getting in the car to discover that i'd left the lights on...

phpunit hassles, learning new code conventions, developing a cough in a small space, vegucating a coworker, chinese lunch, complex changes throughout the afternoon, leaving late and finding the battery dead and learning that the guy from funcars is a complete asshole, being forced to wait in the rain (drizzle) and trying to uber home with a driver who went the completely wrong way so i made him circle back, my phone port starting just as i needed to be able to take emergency calls and the mechanic running out of battery just after he arrived
not doing de waal drive in the dark rain, a missing petrol cap and delighting the mechanics with love for south africa on the ride back home

mr smear standing up steadying himself with only one hand was AMAZING but then he wobbled and landed from his full height and i was worried that he'd be put off trying again [but he definitely wasn't]

lots of food, lots of dishes

wednesday 30th:

another long night (floor fix stress and an overly-demanding mr smear) and an early morning

too emotional to take the car hire's calls, a busy morning with a great 80's playlist, scraping cheese off an otherwise good lunch, defeating agile with agile, scripting for tester welfare, last minute scope creep handled successfully

a gorgeous sunset including a short walk to the supermarket, steers for chips, eating a big dinner and being amazed by how much mr smear consumed, entertaining an adventurous, remarkably determined little boy

thursday 31st:

rushed morning, missed breakfast, funcars guy being an idiot but not a total jerk, trying to get fun work done with constant interruptions (not including another two-hour meeting)

banking and internetworking and breakfast for lunch (as opposed to the peanut brittle i had when i got into the office)

more meetings, good work with a rushed finish, the mall (and double urgent baby room visit and almost losing a bootie), first moving, mom putting mr smear to bed before we got home, dinner and dessert, the laggies from nowhere

friday 1st:

absolutely horrible night of seemingly ceaseless cries

telkom guy after days of silence i get three calls during a meeting to tell me he's sending an email and that he didn't yet have the info that i wanted

pleasant lunch with the new guy, connecting a leaving coworker with a friend in mauritius, a sleep-deprived friday afternoon "learning"

coffee machine clean, driving back to hold mr smear and plan for the move, big, fun, delicious dinner although ending on a note of great discomfort

the long walk to pick up something at the apartment

saturday 2nd:

sleepless, agony
following along and holding mr smear
damaged floors and broken taps but a great dining room set and beginning to get comfortable in our own space
postacino
cousins good techno
rushed prepaid electricity non-emergency
mouth-burning pie
breaking down and building up
the last mission meltdown

sunday 3rd:

not a bad night, if a little cold

a warm morning, feeling much better and actually taking it easy

crazy canal walk shopping, incompetently long lunch, from funny to not funny in less than a minute, neighbourly parking space management, golf pickup meeting weirdos, more shopping

constructing, carrying, showering, successful self-soothing attempt, mom's dinner

monday 4th:

waking up with a severely pinching nerve and being unable to return to sleep

double flat run and change and no breakfast

getting to work pre-coffee but with a smile, a successful documentation day in spite of fatigue; a stunning sunset and a son who smelled like cookies

waiting for a meeting with SxS's (boss?) that didn't happen but giving SxS the opportunity to impress me with his project

taking a completely knocked out little boy home, finding our shower to be significantly improved, that moment when you've been preparing a shake and you pour in (almond) milk that you knew was bad but assumed that your wife had replaced... (she'd assumed that i'd replaced it)

tuesday 5th:

not a great night, but alright

semi-productive morning
plant has opened in observatory!!! ^_^

killing passion in a grooming session

retail shopping therapy with fake sales, buying a single shoe

a shopping run and a visit from dirk diggler, vish and comics and ice cream and getting into bed as quickly as possible

wednesday 6th:

another tiring night followed by a rushed morning

kneepads and bottle stealing on mr smear's eight month

deliberately guessing the wrong artists from the playlist with hilarious results, playing with videos, a long lunch hour speaking vegan at plant, being sidelined by IT for an interesting strategy session, getting a little done before leaving

chair delivery, another non-meeting, great dinner, relatively early to bed

thursday 7th:

defcon 5 at 5

a morning paying people the last of my money and trying to arrange medical aid while simultaneously being productive at work, an awkward one-on-one with the department head, struggling with our caretaker and building management over floor tiles for the second time, that place for lunch

a lazy afternoon, distracted and disinterested, leaving late on a pleasant evening
emergency curtain shopping fail

an hour and a half interview with someone who's definitely on the same page as me professionally but that ended unclear as to whether we would be proceeding or not

friday 8th:

another long night, an early morning walk on the promenade for a gorgeous sunrise seeing parts of whales breaching

parking lot conversations, a generally successful morning

plant: the most delicious soup i've ever had

a successful afternoon, the company wind-up for the annual awards and the boss introducing us to the new office space

telkom's 7-21 days installation window

a really nice dinner at my aunt's, mr smear's first sedative (an antihistamine for his allergies that lets his parents relax and enjoy the evening

saturday 9th:

the strangeness of waking up after a decent night's rest, being able to look out over the ocean at breakfast

great coffee and bad bagels and an amazing acupuncturist, extra caution before my body reset, awkward coffee shop lunch (the owner's stare and a few tears)

a great walk through the waterfront on a sunny afternoon, not losing my driver's license, "i'm a rocket surgeon" to the guys i'm sharing a parking with, quick shopping and a walk home along the promenade during a magnificent sunset

falling asleep over a delicious dinner, getting into bed early...

sunday 10th:

... and both of us waking up before mr smear after our second almost full night's sleep in a row, getting up to a phenomenally beautiful sunrise with time for coffee and breakfast

napping, shopping and an excellent knead experience (the veggie burger is excellent and our waitress volunteered to take mr smear while we ate - i don't know which of the three parties enjoyed the arrangement more)

sleeping through urgent calls from the neighbours, hanging curtains, mr smear climbing over me and demonstrating a little more cunning than i gave him credit for

picking up my mom who'd won a prize at golf who gave us an hour or so to get drinks and dinner downstairs (rockpool is great!)

monday 11th:

morning stress on top of a hangover

bad headache paused for strong veggie curry, a long afternoon, my first deployment

activating activism, a fast shopping run and a security guard trying to sneak my baby away (it was okay, he was being funny but he totally caught me off... guard)

a quick and quiet evening and everyone going to bed early

tuesday 12th:

so early, in fact, that i woke up around 5am and lay in bed slowly processing from my backlog of unhandled experiences

a stunning sunrise to match the previous sunset, nursery rhymes and car hire calls before breakfast

irritable day on my first mti
scammed! id, prenup status, race, names and numbers, and about 45 minutes afterwards verifying that it wasn't a legit call...

incredible sunset but with a heavy head, an uneventful evening (playing with a lava lamp), and getting to bed on schedule

wednesday 13th:

mr smear unwilling to sleep for about three hours, getting up super early to rent a car, driving the wrong way to work

a slow morning, then a long meeting made longer for our lunches were cooling off right in front of us

it's entirely my fault if i asked for lunch and forgot to specify "no cheese" :/

a raw vegan recipe for putting my foot in my mouth

burgers for lunch and pizzas for dinner... mom's haircut and using her phone to get mr smear walking (with help, but still)

gd witnessing her first forest fire - fortunately not a bad one

thursday 14th:

another difficult night, so much for sedatives... an early morning egg run

the first meeting: now i fully understand that these guys are not going to be resolving their legacy issues any time soon because they're consistently making the problem worse. surprisingly intelligent developers who are applying themselves to small, boring problems instead of the large, exciting ones

airplane miscommunication and an unfortunate series of events leading to a tight reschedule; woodstock's the deli and accidental canderelle and running late for the second meeting and hitting traffic

red velvet cupcakes sans icing, communal agreements and disagreements over documentation and working with a useful tool that some bright spark wrote and didn't tell anyone about :/

taking a long time to leave but finally going on a date night (!!!) - mezepoli was really nice, great service and mostly brilliant dishes and a hilariously embarrassing french reading for dessert

an emergency shower to avoid going to bed covered in pomegranate sorbet

yesterday:

a decent night's rest before a psychological storm: moving chairs and not getting any work done and rushing to the doctor and rushing to the pharmacy and rushing to switch cars and everything being slow and then hitting rush hour traffic because in cape town friday's rush hour is all day and not having time for lunch and being forced to burn a half-day of vacation and getting some work done but ending the day with a weird mystery (the architect losing a contact lens over it) and trying to rush home but being on coffee machine cleaning duty and hitting the special traffic caused by strikers setting the trains alight again and then gobbling down leftovers and rushing off to dinner

a very nice dinner, introducing mr smear to new cousins, much fun and good food and awkward domestic appreciation

today:

a long, early acupuncture visit ended with pee leaking from his diaper, baby city and curtain shopping and exhaustion and stress, my mom winning her golf tournament and us celebrating with a great lunch, an attempted nap followed by a big nap, mr smear's big nap and deciding against doing what needed doing (aside from putting up his new curtain)