Monday, April 27, 2009

Spring?

Did I just say that it is officially spring and that I could move my ice scraper from my backseat to my trunk? Well, fortunately I didn't officially move my ice scraper yet. For the past few days we've had beautiful springlike weather. It's been warm, sunny, and clear. Absolutely beautiful. This past weekend it was a little bit cooler, but not cold, and there was a chance of rain. It rained a little bit in Boulder on Sunday night as I was going to bed. I heard the rain tapping on the roof, and I thought, how cozy! When I woke up this morning, after a nice long catlike stretch, I looked out the window to snow-covered trees, grass, and roofs. What in the world?!

Late-winter/early-spring snowstorms are not unheard of in Colorado, and it has, on occasion, snowed in May, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. But I was. There were about 2 or 3 inches of heavy, wet snow on my car this morning that I had to brush away. Fortunately the snow didn't stick to the roads and it was too warm to be icy, so the roads were just we just wet this morning. It wasn't that bad in Boulder, but apparently it was worse in Denver. Naturally this snow didn't stick around for long and most of it melted away around lunchtime. Just a typical spring day in Colorado...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Publishing Through the Ages

Last week I read a very interesting article, Scrolling Down the Ages, in the New York Times. The article describes "book publishing" in the ancient Roman world and compares it to publishing today. It is not surprising that the two have quite a bit in common. Personally, I think the article is an interesting and amusing one because it combines my two worlds of Classics and publishing. For me, you can't get any better than that!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

This and That, Weekend Edition

There really isn't a whole lot to report from this week.

Work: Work has been incredibly crazy and busy, as usual. I'm really hoping that things calm down soon, because I would really like to take a day off sometime soon. I really don't have any plans to go anywhere or do anything special. I just really want to take a day for myself where I can do absolutely nothing all day and not worry about anything or anyone. Hopefully I can do this in a few weeks after I get some big books to press.

Rest: In spite of being busy at work and really wanting to take a day off, I at least try to take full advantage of my weekends. For whatever reason I was able to sleep in really late this morning. This morning I woke up at about 11:00, and I'm pretty much just starting my day. I suppose that is something that I can be proud of!

Weather: The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately. I think—and hope—that we can say that it is officially spring. The weather has been warm and sunny and clear, and I've been able to take a few walks after work. Things are a bit colder today and we are expecting some rain later this weekend, but I think we're finished with the freak spring blizzards. I might be able to officially move the ice scraper from the backseat to the trunk of my car.

Birds: I still haven't figured out what to do about my bird situation. They are still nesting in the wall of my apartment, and I haven't told management yet. I've sought the advice of some friends and co-workers and I've been getting mixed answers. So far the solutions are split on whether to let the birds stay there for a while longer or to tell management so that they can get rid of the birds and patch up the hole. But I've been hearing a lot of rustling in the wall today. I just put my ear to the wall, and I heard some little chirping. Now I'm starting to wonder if some eggs just hatched and if there are little baby birds in there. So now I really don't want to tell management until the babies are big or strong enough to fly away on their own. Obviously nothing in my life can be easy and simple!

Current mood: a bit tired
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Blondie "Call Me"
Current drink: coffee

Sunday, April 19, 2009

This and That, Weekend Edition

Out of commission: I was out of commission all day yesterday because I was hit pretty hard by a terrible headache/borderline migraine. No, it wasn't a hangover, and I actually haven't had a drink in about a week. But when I'm stressed, working too hard and too many hours, eventually my body gives in and forcibly tells me that I need to rest. Unfortunately my body's way of telling me this is by hitting me hard with a headache. When I woke up at about 9:00 on Saturday morning I felt pretty awful. I took some Excedrin migraine medicine and went back to bed. I hoped that if I slept for a few more hours the headache would go away. I slept until about 2:00 or 3:00 but still felt pretty bad. In addition to still having a headache, my entire body ached. I forced myself to eat and drink something, and I sat and watched TV for a few hours, but I still wasn't feeling too good. So at about 7:00 or so, I went back to bed. Today my headache is gone, but my body, especially my neck, is still a bit achy and sore.

Work and chores: Unfortunately I can't rest too much today. I brought some work home with me this weekend, and I have quite a bit to do. I also have the typical household chores that I need to do. And I also promised to bake some Baklava Bars for a birthday celebration that we are having for my boss at work tomorrow. So, apparently it is back to the same stress-filled grind that puts me out of commission in the first place.

Snow: Because I slept for most of the day yesterday, I wasn't able to continue my live blog on the spring blizzard. When I looked out the window when I initially work up, thing still looked pretty wet and a very thin layer of snow covered the roofs on the buildings around me. But things didn't look too bad. But, like I mentioned during my live blog, Colorado is made up of microclimates. Things might be fine in my area, but things could be horrible just a few miles away. When I woke up this morning, there wasn't a trace of snow and the sidewalks were dry for the most part. But when I went shopping today I realized that things were completely different just 10 miles south. Areas like Louisville and Superior were still covered with a very thick blanket of snow, and the mountains to the west were covered with snow. Even south Boulder was a completely different picture from northeast Boulder. It's just strange.

Strategic bagging: Packing items into grocery bags is a fine art, at least in my opinion. You need to be thoughtful and strategic about how you pack things. For example, it probably isn't wise to throw the 4 pound bag of sugar on top of the potato chips and loaf of bread. And it's probably not wise to pack the heavy, 5 pound bottle of hand soap with the fragile, delicate eggs. I now have a deformed loaf of bread and probably a bag of smashed potato chips, but fortunately the eggs are fine.

Bird nests: Yesterday, when I was trying to sleep off my headache, I would occasionally hear some rustling outside of my apartment. At first I thought that maybe maintenance was doing something outside of my apartment like patching the roof or cleaning the gutters. But more and more I realized that it sounded like birds or some other kind of critter. I heard more of it this morning when I woke up. So before I went shopping today, I went outside to see if I could find what I was hearing, and, lo and behold, a little bird's head popped out of the wall next to my bedroom window. Someway and somehow, some birds have built a nest in the wall outside of my apartment. I have absolutely no idea how they could manage to do that. And, because this hole/nest is on the south side of my apartment, an area where I rarely walk, I never noticed before. So I suppose I need to tell the apartment managers and maintenance about this, but I'm not sure how they will take care of it without disturbing the nest. But also doesn't seem wise to have a bird's nest between my bedroom and the outside world.

Current mood: tired
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Chantal Kreviazuk "Time"
Current drink: Barq's root beer

Friday, April 17, 2009

And a Word from Our Sponsors...

I'd like to interrupt my Live Blogging with a quick message...

Because I drink so much Barq's root beer, I signed up for the "Coke Rewards" program. Basically whenever you buy a Coke product you get a special code. You can enter these codes in your account and later redeem them for a variety of things. This morning I got a promotional e-mail with part of the subject line reading "earn double rewards by celebrating Earth Day." Initially I thought, this is great, something about the environment! Then I opened the e-mail and this is what I read: "Earth Day is a great time to celebrate the many wonders of the world—like cool, crisp refreshing water. In honor of Mother Nature, you can earn Double Points with DASANI." DASANI is a bottled water. If you really wanted to celebrate Earth Day, you wouldn't be promoting bottled water, you MORONS!

Current mood: amused and irritated
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Faith Hill "If My Heart Had Wings"
Current drink: water, filtered from the tap!

Live Blogging - April Blizzard, 2009

8:45 a.m.: A quick post since I'm at work. Run for your lives! The storm is approaching! Last night we had a steady rain, and when I woke up this morning, it was still raining in Boulder. But when I turned on the news, they were doing reports throughout Denver and apparently it was already starting to snow there. By the time I got ready and stepped out of my apartment building, it was still raining. But by the time I got to work, it showed the slightest resemblance to snow. Now the rain/snow is falling harder and it is falling at a 45 degree angle. The predictions are that the storm is only going to get worse, so they already made the decision to close the office at noon today.

10:28 a.m.: It's still not snowing in our particular area in Boulder, but apparently it is snowing really bad elsewhere. Most of the people in our office decided to stay home today, so things around here are really quiet. Normally I would really like this, but unfortunately this makes it a little difficult for me to get things accomplished when the people I need to work with on certain projects are at home. Oh well. In a few more hours, I'll be at home too.

12:03 p.m.: I'm officially home, so now I can feel less guilty about blogging while "working." At about 11:45 I was still at work and it was still raining, and a few minutes later, I was in our office parking lot and it was finally starting to snow in Boulder. The snowflakes are big, fat, heavy, and wet. It still seems like it is too warm for the snow to stick on the pavement and grass, and nothing is accumulating right now. But it seems like the snow is bad and sticking in other cities around here. We'll see what happens through the rest of the day.

1:05 p.m.: The snow is really starting to fall and it is finally starting to stick to the grass and roofs. The trees outside my apartment are swaying, so that must mean that the winds are starting to pick up. The weather people are predicting about 10 inches of total snow by this evening, and more snow is expected throughout the night. So they think that when all is said and done we could very well be up to about 2 feet. And just a few minutes after I started typing this, I looked out the window, and it seems like the snow is falling harder and fast. I'm sort of wondering if I need to make a cup of hot chocolate (spiked with rum) to honor the occasion of our spring blizzard...

3:45 p.m.: Well, it's not exactly snowing, but something is coming down right now. Maybe it's rain, or maybe it's almost sleet. Either way, whatever it is, it is coming down pretty hard. It's still pretty windy and it's kind of cold, but it's not freezing cold. What's happening right now, in Boulder at least, isn't quite a blizzard because the snow isn't exactly sticking and accumulating. I think the temperature is still a tad too warm, so the snow isn't exactly able to pile up. It is just really, really wet right now. A small river actually is starting to form in the greenbelt area behind my apartment building, and it looks quite lovely.

6:20 p.m.: Colorado is obviously made up of many microclimates. The weather in Boulder can be very different from the weather in Denver, and that seems to be very much the case today. Since I got home at around noon there have been periods of snow, followed by periods of hard rain, followed by more periods of snow, followed by more rain. The weather in Colorado also moves in cycles and bands, obviously. As I started writing this particular update, I was going to say how amazed I was with the microclimates throughout the area. Even though we've had a few brief periods of snow in Boulder, we've mostly just had a lot of rain. Denver and other areas around the area, on the other hand, have had a lot of snow. But now, as I look out my windows and sliding glass door, I see some huge, fat snowflakes falling. Again, it looks like the heavy, wet kind of snowflakes, so I wonder how much of it will stick. All I know is that the little river outside my apartment keeps getting bigger. (Don't worry, I'm being dramatic, and there will be no danger of flooding.)

9:31 p.m.: At about 7:45 this evening I went outside to get my mail. When I stepped on the sidewalk, I was feeling pretty thankful that I wore my snow boots. I stepped right into some thick, wet slush, and there were a few puddles along the sidewalk that were a few inches deep. At the time it was still raining/snowing, but it was fairly light. The temperature didn't feel that cold, but it was probably in the low 30s. Yes, apparently I'm getting used to the colder weather. Naturally it is dark now, and I can't tell if it is raining or snowing or if it is the rain/snow mix that we've been having off and on all day. But when I poked my head out onto my balcony, it sounds like it is mostly raining. I just looked out my dining room window and the sidewalk below looks slushy, but there isn't a blanket of snow. This certainly isn't the powdery type of snow that we get in the middle of winter! As I might have mentioned before, this storm is supposed to continue through the night, so we'll have to wait and see what things look like in the morning. If I were at work or if I had someplace to be, I would probably be hating this weather right now. But, from the comfort and warmth of my apartment, I think it is kind of cozy!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Spring or Winter?

We've had several days of absolutely beautiful springlike weather. It's been warm and sunny. But this is Colorado and the weather can suddenly change. It has been gray and cloudy, and a light rain has been falling through most of the day. As I was driving home this evening after work, the rain started to fall a little bit harder. The weather people aren't quite sure what to expect. It all depends on the temperature and how much it will drop this evening. So they are predicting either rain or about 2 feet of snow. Since I don't know if we are going to get rain or a blizzard, I brought some work home with me just in case. If it does snow, it will probably be the wet heavy snow that we occasionally get during spring. But because it has been so warm lately, I doubt that it will be bad enough to keep anyone home for a snow day. But you never know, and you can always hope!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Holidays and Work

Work: This has been a mixed weekend for me. I actually have had a lot of work to do. I need to finish my taxes. No, I didn't wait until the last minute, but the month of April just caught me by surprise. I seriously don't know what happened to the months of January, February, and March, but I was a little surprised this weekend to remember that it is April and that taxes are due in a few days. Why does time fly so much these days? The past few months seem like a total blur, and I think I had a birthday somewhere in that time, but I honestly don't remember that much of the past few months. That is kind of sad, actually.

In addition to doing my taxes this weekend, I also have real work to do. I actually need to drop by the office today to pick up some more work that I can bring home with me. Once again my week was absorbed with another messy project that took up most of my time, so, once again, I had to bring other work home with me to catch up on what I couldn't get to.

Avoidance of work: Even though I've had a lot of work to do this weekend, I'm having a hard time getting motivated. This is probably due to the fact that I'm already exhausted from the past week and just want a "day off." I tried to do a little work yesterday, but I just couldn't focus. So I went for a long walk around Twin Lakes to clear my head. After my walk, I had to go out to do some shopping.

Holidays and shopping: It must be a bitter irony that holidays such as Christmas and Easter bring out the worst in people and shoppers. I wasn't even shopping for holiday stuff. I just needed some basic essentials, and by the time I got to the stores, I was starting to regret ever leaving the house. I went to Target and it was a madhouse. I tried to make my way past an area where there were crowds of people trying to get their hands on Easter baskets, Easter candy, and stuffed animals. It was a mess and if you didn't watch yourself, you could easily get run down with a shopping cart. I happened to pass a very friendly woman—the only friendly person in the area—who was obviously feeling the same way I was feeling. She smiled at me and simply said, "you can feel the desperation in the air, can't you?" That simple statement spoke volumes for the mood of the place. I don't consider myself especially religious, but regardless of the holidays and what they mean and whether or not one believes them, is it too much to ask for some simple kindness and respect toward the people around you? Why is a smile so hard to muster and why is it so difficult to say "excuse me" or "thank you"? Forget that this is a holiday weekend, kindness should be a daily occurrence, in my opinion. But for whatever sad reason, times like this really do bring out the worst in people. Fortunately, though, there are a few good people out there. They are those few glimmers of hope who help to restore a little bit of faith in the people of the world.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Review

I finally had my annual review at work today. In a nutshell, it was a good one. Apparently I've accomplished a lot more this year that I thought I had. When I was trying to write my self-evaluation, I honestly had a difficult time trying to think of what I did all year. When I read my review that was written by my boss with comments from my co-workers, I though, Oh yeah! In addition to the quantity of things I've done--carrying a full load of projects, serving as team leader, serving on editorial committees, working with other departments and freelancers, etc.--apparently the quality was pretty good, too. And apparently I'm also doing well on a personal level. It was said that I'm diplomatic and strategic. And it was also said that I approach things in a calm, thoughtful, and rational manner. Apparently no one knows that I appear calm and rational at work, but when I go home I drink a bottle of whiskey! Anyway, it was also said that I have a good sense of humor and, in general, I'm pretty easy to work with. So, I'm happy. And I'm flattered. I'm happy to get a good review, and even happier to know that a good review means that they are less likely to get rid of me!

Saturday, April 04, 2009

This and That, Weekend Edition

Weather: The weather has been really strange lately. We've had moments of mini-blizzards followed by moments of spring. We've had a few good and serious snowfalls recently, but the days following were warm and sunny. This is typical of Colorado. For the past few days they were predicting a horrible blizzard for Friday night and all day Saturday. Friday was a strange day. For the most part it was dark and gray. There were ominous clouds over the mountains and while I was sitting in my office, I kept thinking that the storm was going to hit before we all left work. We had a brief storm, of rain, not snow. Once that rainstorm passed the clouds parted and the blue skies returned. Clouds rolled in again then rolled out and we had blue skies again. So now everyone was thinking that the storm would hit during the evening commute. Nothing. It was cloudy and starting to get windy, but no rain and no snow. The winds picked up during the evening and it finally started raining at 10:00. I was in bed by 11:00, but I got up around 11:30 or 12:00 and looked out the window and it was starting to snow. This is the blizzard, I thought. When I woke up this morning, I looked out the window and there were about two inches on the ground. Not exactly the two feet they were predicting. Oh well. I guess that means that I will be able to go out this weekend rather than being trapped in the house.

Work: Wednesday marked my 2-year anniversary at my current job. These moments pass with little recognition and fanfare, so I gave myself a pat on the back. It is hard to measure time in publishing. Two years can sometimes feel like two weeks, but other times it can feel like fourteen years. It's kind of like dog years. I have my formal review next week, so I still need to write up my self-evaluation and my goals for the next year. Because of the economy, no one is getting a raise or a bonus this year. Normally that would bother me, but I'm just thankful to have a job considering how bad things are out there. So rather than stew and pout over what I'm not getting, I appreciate what I have. And what did I do to celebrate my anniversary week? I brought work home with me over the weekend! Sad, but I had to. I had one particularly bad and messy project that absorbed most of my time during the week, and I had to put a lot of my other projects aside. So now I have to use this weekend to catch up on everything else. Happy anniversary!

Current mood: productive
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Jessica Andrews "There's More to Me Than You (ballad version)"
Current drink: Barq's root beer

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Semi-Live Blogging - "Blizzard" 2009, Round 2

OK, it's not quite a blizzard yet...

6:56 p.m.: It has stopped snowing, but, baby, it's cold outside!

5:55 p.m.: The winds have died down but it is still snowing. According to the reports on the news, about 3 inches have already fallen in Boulder. Because it was still relatively warm today, 45 degrees, the sidewalks, parking lots, and streets are still warm enough to keep things from getting icy. Yet. When the temperature drops tonight, it might get a bit icy. But, I'm thinking (and hoping!) that the morning drive to work will not be that bad.

4:57 p.m.: Watching the news last night and this morning, the weather people were saying that we were expecting another snowstorm to hit at around noon today. The weather was hit or miss. It was definitely cloudy, but then it would clear up and there would be patches of blue sky. Then at about 3:30 today, the clouds really started to roll over the mountains. They were dark and gray and ominous. Then the cloud level dropped to the point that they were completely hiding the mountains, but it was still dry. Then, within about five minutes, sleet started to fall. And then the wind started to pick up. Then after about ten minutes it was snowing and snowing hard. The wind started to pick up, so the snow was blowing sideways. I decided to leave the office early, and when I was dusting the snow off my car, the snow was really wet and heavy. Fortunately the roads were still OK; they were just wet but not too slick. It's still snowing pretty hard right now, so we'll see what the rest of the evening will look like.