On Wednesday afternoon I receive word that Ruby's surgery has gone well. I tell her partner that I will visit on Thrusday night. When I get home from work I find that Southern California Edison, the electric company, has placed the spot of the new electric meter in the same place as the old despite me telling three different Edison people, "I want it on the west side of the house so that an electric power line doesn't cut diagonally across a future backyard pool".
Person N_V heads out for a night dancing with friends as I head to sleep near 10 pm. There are a few phone calls in the middle of the night between Person N_V and me, but Person N_V doesn't get home until almost 4am. And I've been awake and unable to sleep for the past few hours. This is not the way to kickoff the chaotic Thursday.
On Thursday I'm up near 5 am to go run before work. I'm at work before 7 am. And the phone starts ringing as the heating/air conditioning/electrical people arrive at home and find things not how they wanted them. After a number of calls between myself, Person N_V, and the site foreman, we get some work arounds until Edison can come and fix the meter spot. Person N_V is rising to the occasion in getting things done.
At 11 am I leave Northrop Grumman on the motorcycle to stop by home to pick up the car and to see how the work is coming along. It is proceeding but not as fast as desired. Did I expect otherwise?
I pick up Joseph and we head out to Riverside for a ResourceScout meeting with Riverside County adoptions workers. We get to the meeting and make our presentation and have discussions with the Riverside County adoptions workers. Seeing that Riverside is smaller than Los Angeles County and Orange County in terms of number of children placed and number of adoptions workers, we didn't quite have the right homework to know what they wanted. But we have good discussions and find a couple of common themes across the various counties. As Joseph and I drive back home, I start the discussion with the rhetorical, "We need to step back. What are we doing wrong?"
I arrive home to find that there hasn't been much apparent progress on the heating/air conditioning/electrical work. They are not going to finish today and will have to clean up at a reasonable hour and then return on Saturday to finish. I hope that it is worth the wait.
I don't get over to see Ruby in the hospital. And Person M_Fl calls at the last minute and says that he has a family responsibility that just came up and we won't be having soda this evening. Instead I go grocery shopping and relax at home and Person N_V goes off to play tennis. I can only consider the fact that nothing has gone right today. I call Person N_V and leave a message on his phone saying, "Please hurry home after tennis. I need to be held."
On Friday I leave work a bit early to lift weights and mow the lawn. Instead I mow the lawn, spend some time with Person N_V, and we get out for a nice dinner. Eventually we read together in bed until midnight.
On Saturday I get out for an early morning run before the heating/electrical/air conditioning people visit for their final day of work. As they are here I get some paperwork done. Person N_V volunteers to go buy rose supplies and when he returns we replace two old roses (that were not doing well) with the two new ones, add more wood chips, trim the roses, and water the roses. At mid afternoon the heating/etc work is done. I get in a brief session with the weights and get out for a long walk.
On Saturday night Person N_V and I both change our minds about 100 times as we decide whether to stay in, go clubbing together, or go clubbing separately. We eventually decide to go to separate clubs. I head for Club Asia in Long Beach where I've told friends that I would meet them. Person N_V heads for West Hollywood where he has told friends that he would meet them.
I get to Club Asia, grab a diet Coke, and find a spot at the bar to lean against and listen to music. I look over to my right and start staring at a guy who looks just like a coworker (who I've known for 6-8 years), but the light is low so I assume that it is just the lighting conditions. But he sees me and smiles, comes over, and enthusiastically says, "So....Ray....how long have you known?" So my coworker and I have a long discussion about a lot of things as I give hugs to friends and introduce them to my coworker. My coworker is surprised to see that I know so many people here, but I steer the conversation away from that subject. Thus I've introduced my coworker to Joe, Person T_V, Person T_U, Person PJ_P, Person W, and Person J_I. It is Person J_I that my coworker starts working on. As the hour approaches 1 am and I'm bored, I decide to leave as my coworker and Person J_I huddle in the corner. (Person J_I is somebody who has always expressed interest in going out with me but whom I've always wanted to remain acquaintances.) I'm home by 1:15 am on Sunday morning and am briefly woken by Person N_V as he returns at 3 am.
Sunday is a blah day of reading the newspaper, watching the Spanish Grand Prix for motorcycles in the rain, and other trivial activities. Person N_V and I get out for about an hour of rollerblading in the hot sun and warm ocean breeze. Though Person N_V is still a bit hungover from the previous night, he does well during his abbreviated skate.
Sunday night I'm in bed by 10 pm to read and prepare for another Monday at Northrop Grumman.