Sunday, January 31, 2016

An Update on My Mom

So, things are deteriorating quickly.

Wednesday, mom fell while dad was helping her to the bathroom.  She hurt her leg and her side.  So, dad started her on morphine.  She's in pain still, and has little to no appetite.  Dad's not sure if she'll last through the week.

I've been in Napa most of January, and have two more weeks of fieldwork, but I'm close enough that I can still come back if I'm needed.

If you want the latest update from her written by my dad, you can read her blog:  http://www.ihavenoendings.blogspot.com/

Also, for a great pre-remembrance, my cousin Lisa wrote a great blogpost about my mom.  http://normalnichols.blogspot.com/2016/01/this-blogs-for-you.html

--Erik

Monday, January 18, 2016

A Busy Weekend

Last week was along week in the cold and rain while working in the field.

Our schedule is all kinds of shuffled, but I think we're doing well.  I'm just starting week two and not looking forward to the predicted rain for tomorrow and Friday.

But let's talk this past weekend.

Friday, I got home and got cleaned up and Jennifer and I ran errands taking advantage of having a vehicle.  Not too much, because, we still like walking and such, but kitty litter is bulky and heavy no matter what brand you buy.

Saturday was the monthly GURPS game, and we had lot of fun.  Yes, we could see the railroad tracks, but didn't mean we didn't enjoy ourselves.

Sunday, Jennifer and I went to see "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" on the big screen at the Century Theatre in San Francisco.  That is one of my favorite movies, and i was so cool to see it as it was meant to be views.  This was all through Fathom Events, and in two weeks we get to see "Blazing Saddles" that same way.  We've already decided that right before the film starts we're gong to get the audience's buy in that we're not going to be quiet, but everyone can speak lines along with the movie.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Back to the Field

So today was the end of the second day back in the field for me.

And this is real fieldwork, not just another site remediation.  We performing a massive subsurface investigation for a relatively small site.  And we've had an army out here doing the work.

There's the crew from my company which including the project manager amounts to six.  Then the drillers have five.  There's a pair of guys performing traffic control.  And then there's the public relations representative.  I'm used to less than half of this for a job.

And then on top of this we don't have an office out here like we've had for the last few remediations, so things were arriving all day on Monday.

[Princess Irulan Moment]

Oh, and did I mention that I'm the site supervisor?  Yeah, all deliveries at the site are looking for me, so I have to leave in the middle of whatever I'm doing and take and/or direct the deliveries.

And in addition to all this I've learned a few things:

Humans are smart and invented things like tables and chairs for a reason.  That reason being working on the ground or while sitting on a cooler and writing on a clipboard on your lap wears your back out really quickly.

I've been doing this for almost twenty years in various capacities and for a surprising number of companies.

It's surprisingly easy to rack up 20,000 steps (or more) just walking around the site.

Anchor Brewing has a series called Zymaster.  Whichever one I had last night was very drinkable.

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Books Read in 2015

So, in 2015 I think I read the most books in one year ever for me: 104.

Of course, around half of these were not new.  With the death of Terry Pratchett, I decided to re-read everything he wrote solo as well as Good Omens.  Of the rest, some were bad, and some were just weak.

The most exciting book was probably The Fold by Peter Clines, and the most moving was certainly The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett.