Geography makes a difference.

Being alone is difficult.  Even if you’re not alone, NOT being with the people you’re normally with, the people you love & care about… sh*t ain’t easy.  I have a renewed respect for any family that’s split between coasts (or more than a 3 hour drive – seems to be the tipping point on whether or not it’s “easy” to get together).

Glad to be closer to all the friends & family in NJ very soon… but sad about all the West coast family & friends we’ll be missing.  (To those of you West coasters I’m referring to, keep in mind that we’re moving the CHEAP direction.  I’m just sayin’.)

Ran my first Mud Run today.  Trail 5K that included some hay bale scaling, tire climbs, “bunk bed bedlam”, a tire-… thing – you know, where all the tires are close together on the ground and you have to land in the holes as you run?  NO IDEA what that’s called – some balance beams, and finally a 20-yard ditch with 3 feet of mud to crawl through while some yokel with a fire hose (at half volume) sprays you with water.  Good fun with the sister & a great start to a nice Saturday on the coast of L.A.

Current status of key indicators:

Stress level:  high but with signs of reducing dramatically this weekend.

Activity level:  low, unless you count work, which I don’t.

Diet:  85% carbs over the last 3 days because I don’t have a real kitchen.  (The other 15% was 14% chocolate and 1% coffee.)

Outlook:  surprisingly bright – on my way to LA tonight, running my first ever Mud Run with my sister tomorrow morning (also the first time we’ve EVER run together), hopefully going to The Griddle (for more Oreo-cookie-laden carbs) on Sunday morning, then coasting into San Diego with my cruise control set to Awesome.  Plus the time horizon for my final return to NJ is getting shorter & shorter… something I’m very excited about.

Scent:  dog.  Been taking care of Emma, Justin’s dog, for several days, and she continues to play Alpha all over the daybed that is supposed to be MY place of respite.  Hence, I smell like dog.

But Happy Friday folks!

Yep, missed a few days, but that’s because I’ve been focused on enjoying an all-too-brief vacation with the fam in NJ. We even went apple-picking. Apple Picking! That definitely goes in the Pleasant Memories box.

Final move is only a few weeks away, but it can’t come soon enough. Truly difficult to be separated from the wyf & the nugget (or “nug”) for this long.

My pricing analyst handed me his letter of resignation today.  He said he’s been looking for a different opportunity ever since our director left… four months ago.

Then I had to turn around a $50MM pricing exercise in 5 hours so that my VP can find out if it has a chance of getting through the gauntlet of approvals & bickering – which he’s going to attempt while I’m out on vacation.

So instead of the nice easy last day in the office that I was looking forward to, I lost a member of the team & trudged through a tangled web of spreadsheets until 7pm.

The trade-off?  I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.  I get to see the wyf tomorrow.  I also get to see the nugget tomorrow.

Worth it.

I haven’t figured out what this means yet, but feel free to form your own opinions.

Today I was on the bus on my way to work & saw one person reading the SAME book I was reading (and she was only 30 pages further along than I was), and across the aisle from her, a different person was reading a book about the strategy & tactics of pricing.

AM I AT THE NEXUS OF THE UNIVERSE?!?

Family is more important than I realized.

Yeah, today was one of those days where I did NOTHING.  Watched hours of football, then Mad Men & then Entourage.  The good news?  I won’t need another one of those days again for quite a while… got it out of my system.

Only 3 days until I head back to NJ for an all-too-short 4-day visit.  Can’t come soon enough… the Nugget is on cereal!

Sent the wyf to the spa for a day, and it sounds like it was very much appreciated.  Meanwhile, I got in a 10-miler, then watched an EMBARRASSING game of PSU football while catching up with a few good friends over a few shitty beers.  Not bad for a Saturday – though I fully intend to do absolutely nothing tomorrow.

* Posting late - but still for Day 6 (Friday 9/10/10).

Just when I started to think I’m far too bored with something to keep doing it for life, along comes a new project that reminds me about the fun part (if I can use the word “fun” in its loosest sense).