FRB Day

For the third consecutive day I'm headed to the office, the first time I'm doing that since before the pandemic AND I had to be there by 8:30 AM which meant I had to drop Johnnie off at the gate by 7:50. And I made it to my old office with 5 minutes to spare. I did the Communications Meeting, did my presentation and it was all done before 10 AM. And then I went back to my office and did what I always do when I'm here. Try to do some work and then by 11 AM, get down to the gym and do some resistance reps.  Hey if I'm going to be here anyway might as well get a really good workout in. And then it was lunchtime. Today I hung out with the Q Team. Reminisced a little bit. Eating out there on the patio on a nice late September morning, the pace is definitely different. I wondered how I dealt with steps back in the day before the pandemic. I would go up to the 5th floor and do them there with no one looking. Or I would take a walk outside the downtown LA neighborhood in the afternoon. I didn't have time to do that today. In fact, I got put to work since Noriel had the day off and Larry called in sick. I did a software fix for Eloisa and Guadalupe. Hey I can still do techie work couldn't I? I took off at 3 PM today, the latest I had stayed at the FRB. I was still home by 3:30 walking the dog and getting my steps in. And then it was time to pick up Johnnie already. This being Wednesday we had to go to Lisa's office to do Johnnie's Spanish class and then we would usually go to dinner. But Lisa's soccer game has been moved to Wednesday nights so I'm not sure how tonight is going to play out. But I am willing to play it by ear tonight. I picked up Johnnie and his first question was where we were going to go to dinner. I had no answer since I didn't know myself. Hey most of the time we're wondering when we would ever get to leave for dinner anyway, and wonder what kind of mood Lisa would be in. Today she seemed ok, but then again you never know. Johnnie did his class while I parked myself in one of the operators for a half hour and enjoyed the view (see pic). I had to listen to Lisa being the cute dentist with all the info to a patient and I thought this was why she was empty mentally and emotionally most of the time. She does give it all in those interactions. She is wired in that way. When Johnnie got done with his class, Lisa pronounced that we had to go since she had a game at 7:30. She even suggested Daikokuya Ramen which was already more than I expected. We even walked there which gave me more than enough steps for the day already. And we had ribeye steak salad, sashimi, and of course Johnnie's usual ramen. It was actually a very nice dinner. For her part, Lisa claimed she was on overwhelm and she says it's because she has to interview dentist candidates. I mean I have 2 open positions I have to interview for so I'm not feeling that much sympathy for her. But I tried to be supportive and sympathetic and let her solve her own overwhelm. In the meantime, we walked back, there were lots of talks and laughs which was really the VERY BEST I could hope for and then Johnnie and I headed on home. I promised that I would give Claire a bath tonight which was what I did. It had been a really long time and she stunk. She really needed this bath. Johnnie accepted that we wouldn't be to the hot tub tonight but then again we still have the rest of the week. Besides, I discovered some school work he did today where he scored 0/5. ZERO? Oh hell no. I drilled him on the stuff he missed, which was half because he was careless, and half because he didn't take his time to really ask what the question meant. He was being like his dad and got arrogant about his own intelligence. And fell flat on his face. Which gave me a teaching opportunity for him. He knew I would not be messing around and was almost apologetic. Anyway we did his drills and I was confident he picked up what he needed to learn, smart as I know he is. And so middle of the week was over, rest of the work week looks to be much easier and quieter and I am looking forward to that.