back in action

sunday 10th:

another successful piece of the project puzzle
a hot and sunny winter's day
communication breakdown, mom's haircut
failed furniture mission
becoming maul people
the canadian versus the trellidor

monday 11th:

waking up restless at 6am, then getting tired soon after everyone else got up, rushing to meet with my cousin and her partner to explain good dev management and discuss a product proposal, feeling shaky from about halfway through and just before the end learning that my son had faceplanted (nothing too serious, fortunately), hurrying to meet my mom and the frustration of following someone down a route i'm not familiar with while not feeling well and focusing hard on not losing my guide in bad traffic conditions and misunderstanding hand signals and of course the distribution centre's systems went down just as we arrived. an easier (but still grating) drive home, scarfed down lunch and furniture shopping at the hustler's, not getting help at the telkom store and the technical assistant not understanding the meaning of "static ip"

printing beautiful coffee mugs!

spar mission for utopia cashew yoghurt, checkers, stopping at the end of the promenade for sunset photos and mr smear falling asleep to the delight of passers by

someone's developing dad bod - it may be legitimate but it's not okay

an evening of not much, watching the season six GoT finale - the last four episodes were interesting with some cool bits but the consistency and quality of writing wasn't nearly as high as it had been before.

going to bed early with the intention of getting up at mr smear's first feed but

tuesday 12th:

sleeping through to 5am and waking up in a panic over three or four nights spent sleeping instead of working and yet another day filled with important stuff to do

mr smear finding a full spindle bowl, the delivery, the hoisting, the painter, the other delivery and being shocked to see an old classmate who's become obese, furniture hustling and needing a shower after riding in their bakkie, trying to get some work done, napping on our new big couch, an exquisite sunset, mom's visit, deadpool (which was brilliant! what's everyone's problem???), not feeling well and crashing

quote of the day: "oh! i read about my ears..."

wednesday 13th:

waking up from a tough night wherein i twice walked face first into a closed door because i was still mostly asleep

why do so many people get angry over language? skipping pram jam for a walk on the promenade and a little boxing warmup, rushing home to receive our toilet roll holders: don't come in uninvited, and take your damned shoes off. the painter unsuccessfully trying to negotiate less coats but doing a good job nonetheless, a nap, gd's new soup, a particularly needy mr smear, big shopping and my mom joining us for dinner and getting some work done and watching preacher

thursday 14th:

1.30am partial and exciting success
4.30am progress made and wired but needing to sleep
8.30am up and running

car rental "service"
locksmithing success
out in the cold without a sweater for a coffee (the server watched me struggling to pay, neglecting to mention that there was a problem with their payment gateway until my third attempt), utopia cashew yoghurt, the sports store, checkers and waaaay more assholes than i could handle for one day

the cold front rolling in beautifully
the bathtime bedtime routine
the case of the missing meds
jim jefferies - freedumb is brilliant
passing out early, feeling broken all night and it was a difficult one

friday 15th:

another lost night, rushing to be too late for the dentist and the fire alarm keeping us out, quick coffee at home then the physio

sorting out pc issues instead of resting, getting some work done
friday night soup and drinks, another episode of preacher, working till late

saturday 16th:

struggling but making good progress, another difficult night carrying mr smear a lot

early morning blowout, lots of apologizing, the pharmacy, baby city, a fighting gym and then being totally won over by virgin active - their facilities are awesome, but not half as exciting as their crèche. we left mr smear for a while and came back to hear he'd played nicely with the other kids which was a great relief as he's barely had any opportunities to socialize

a hungry, hungry family

sunday 17th:

sleeping all night again, getting up and ready for the first gym outing, mr smear's last minute post-feed mega-poop

overheating outside with a jump rope, good-for-it-having-been-almost-a-year bag work, "eye of the house cat", struggling to move the heavy bags, coffee, picking up gd

bathroom shopping, canal walk, lots of other shopping, home, a little more shopping (wtf?)

putting mr smear to bed with stories for the first time instead of singing him to sleep on my chest, gd too tired for preacher, dinner and the scary, scary story of adhd medication and its long term effects

monday 18th:

3am after drafting the production-ready version of my code so far

not much sleeping in, a nice morning ruined by dishwashing technique and kettle volume

my second gym day, gd joining me and doing great until she injured herself during cool down, mr smear's slap battle with his new little friend (they were taking turns and laughing)

the chiropractor (good timing!), struggling to get home around the roadworks and really hungry so trying to sit down at newport deli and walking out because it was too cold and taking an illegal route home

an amazing and far too short nap in the sun, gorging myself on rice and partially cooked veggies, work and bathing mr smear and putting him to bed freakishly easily and preacher and work and a nap

tuesday 19th:

hard work, it paid off, remembering at 3.30am that i had a dentist appointment at 9am

dentist visit, not bad, trying to find the gorgeous poster above his chair (who is dawie smit?)

waiting out my local anaesthetic, prepping mr smear for the gym
on hold with an agent who's on hold because there's a miscommunication between my health insurance and my gym
a twenty minute run because that's all i could figure out and i'd already started (finding out later that that's the machine maximum); sharing a punching bag and managing not to share my opinions
showering at the gym is pretty good as far as gyms go, but still uncomfortable
the emergency poop change at the gym crèche was uncomfortable enough without an excited and twisty mr smear almost throwing himself backwards of the counter
crazy hungry and eating a huge lunch before napping after mr smear crashed, waking up a couple of hours later and having time for a much needed bath before waking mr smear for a feed and putting him back to bed - he'd slept straight through!

this going to sleep immediately on his back thing is new and magical and intimidating and i wonder how long we've actually been able to do this...

preacher episode six is incredible, going to bed and waking up around midnight to work

wednesday 20th:

going to bed at 5am after learning that internet explorer STILL doesn't support web audio api

crazy dreams, beginning the day still in that state and helping out with a serious poop, a slow start

attempting SARS: after getting frustrated hunting for parking *near* the building, learning that there was plenty *next to* the building. the main in a nice suit with a clipboard begging. the sea of humanity extending two blocks from the entrance in the cold wind and rain making me give up after a few minutes of not going anywhere.

wolfing down a huge serving of leftovers then crashing on the couch for a couple of hours

signing up mr smear for his gym card, getting through the rest of the afternoon, mom arriving just in time to look after mr smear while i took the handyman on a tour (personal items not put away), my israeli pension money apparently being openly stolen (an understandable misunderstanding), the bath and getting mr smear to bed and joining the all hands meeting late because i didn't know i'd been sent a link

the long meeting

thursday 21st:

struggling with microsoft's deficiencies

3am trying to go to bed but mr smear's scary (as much for us) nightmare

the worst bellyache, but getting better just as the courier delivering "c" is for cthulu ruined any chance of mr smear taking his morning nap

the gym for elliptical and jogging and poetry talk and inadvertently suggesting that the woman i was talking to looked ten years older

rushing off to the physio, struggling to get mr smear to sleep but eventually succeeding in spite of the echoes, tiptoeing around the topic of psychiatric medications and taking advantage of the surprisingly long nap to enjoy an amazing smoothie and veggie burger at knead

quick tailor pickup and spar shopping and smoking everyone's cigarettes along the way as usual, coming home to shower and crash and get up exhausted and freezing

a little difficulty getting mr smear ready for bed - this "tantrum" phase is pretty trying even if we're not reacting to it - then another dev meeting

preacher episode 7 is just as good as 6, it's really an excellent story

the deep sense of satisfaction derived from a message from tahoma informing me that my air force section is still using the IDE i created and its added value is significant. my joke when i documented it was calling it "project recursive programmer" intended to provide "a method to replace [myself] with code"; the fact that six years later it's appreciated is not only gratifying in and of itself, but it's a perfect example of how the right kind of laziness can do so much more than what's required by the task at hand.

it's nice to hear "would love to work with you again" when you're looking for a master's student and you get the master instead (the mongoose)

friday 22nd:

finding a promising lead before crashing, waking up exhausted and remaining exhausted through a morning of railing inspection and phone line installation and reading to mr smear

hardcore (possibly ill) tired, making it to friday night dinner on time though. a very pleasant evening and bringing mr smear home in the rain

saturday 23rd:

sleeping late, rushing to get my two babies vaccinated (my son was more stoic than my wife)

another desperate feed and nap
star wars iv and a restless mr smear

postponing our first play date, just getting through until bedtime, paranorman, work

sunday 24th:

working hard and making little progress, crashing at 2am

nerve pinching in the night, becoming progressively less tolerable as the day wore on

our first playdate at the green point park was really cool, it was great catching up with old friends and there was lots to learn, arriving home with a very grubby very tired very happy little boy

a long nap on a hot winter's day, strawberries and a bath, playtime and photo time, mom's visit and bedtime, dinner time and dracula untold (minor script issues, overall fantastic film)

muscle relaxant and anti inflammatory and a perfect chair massage and early to bed

monday 25th:

epic non-stop dreaming the entire night, feeling relaxed with my back better but still sensitive

busy morning of phone calls and shopping and cutting myself on the diaper / tampon bin in the point's baby changing room (we're not the only parents to complain over the past months, it's disgraceful management)

babysitting afternoon with railing cleanup and meeting strange neighbours, mr smear going to sleep early and waking up a lot

revolver is an amazing movie that nobody i know seems to have seen or cared about enough to mention

tuesday 26th:

working solidly until 2am
waking up early for the dentist, a particularly expensive exercise when your health insurance has run out for the year
a short nap and being woken to go to the gym in the pouring rain

a good session - definite improvement - and meeting the capetonian husband of the montrealer we saw at the bank a couple of months ago

retrieving an exhausted mr smear from the crèche (i'm a little concerned about how lax they are in some regards), a big lunch followed by a big nap (i'm trying to follow the "if he naps, you nap" rule), getting up too late to fix leaks and drafts

bathtime and bedtime and showing my obviously tired little boy who's boss by calmly and patiently continuing to put him to bed until he eventually stopped fighting

a big dinner while watching two episodes of preacher, shadowslight in the ICU

wednesday 27th:

waking up at 1am with awful indigestion and realizing i didn't mean to fall asleep